USA > Massachusetts > History of the early settlement of the Juniata Valley : embracing an account of the early pioneers, and the trials and privations incident to the settlement of the valley ; predatory incursions, massacres, and abductions by the Indians during the French and Indian wars, and the War of the Revolution, &c. > Part 10
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and they, after passing different sentiments upon it, handed it to a Delaware Indian, who was suspected by the deponents; and they tes- tify and say that as soon as the Indian took the bone in his hand his nose gushed out with blood, and he directly handed it to another. From whence these deponents steered along a path, about three or four miles, to the Narrows of Juniata, where they suspected the murder to have been committed; and where the Alleghany Road crosses the creek these deponents sat down, in order to consult on what measures to take to proceed on a discovery. Whereupon most of the white men, these deponents, crossed the creek again, and went down the creek, and crossed into an island, where these deponents had intelligence the corpse had been thrown; and there they met the rest of the white men and Indians who were in com- pany, and there consulted to go farther down the creek in quest of the corpse. And these deponents further say, they ordered the Indians to go down the creek on the other side; but they all fol- lowed these deponents at a small distance, except one Indian, who crossed the creek again; and soon after these deponents, seeing some bald eagles and other fowls, suspected the corpse to be there- abouts, and then lost sight of the Indians, and immediately found one of the corpses, which these deponents say was the corpse of James Smith, one of said Armstrong's men; and directly upon finding the corpse these deponents heard three shots of guns, which they had great reason to think were the Indians their com- panions, who had deserted from them; and in order to let them know that they had found the corpse these deponents fired three guns, but to no purpose, for they never saw the Indians any more. And about a quarter of a mile down the creek they saw more bald eagles, whereupon they made down toward the place, where they found another corpse (being the corpse of Woodworth Arnold, the other servant of said Armstrong) lying on a rock, and then went to the former sleeping-place, where they had appointed to meet the Indians ; but saw no Indians, only that the Indians had been there, and cooked some victuals for themselves and had gone off.
And that night, the deponents further say, they had great reason to suspect that the Indians were then thereabouts, and intended to do them some damage; for a dog these deponents had with them barked that night, which was remarkable, for the said dog had not barked all the time they were out till that night, nor ever since,
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which occasioned these deponents to stand upon their guard behind the trees, with their guns cocked, that night. Next morning these deponents went back to the corpses, which they found to be bar- barously and inhumanly murdered by very gashed, deep cuts on their hands with a tomahawk, or such like weapon, which had sunk into their skulls and brains; and in one of the corpses there appeared a hole in his skull near the cut, which was supposed to be with a tomahawk, which hole these deponents do believe to be a bullet-hole. And these deponents, after taking as particular view of the corpses as their melancholy condition would admit, they buried them as decently as their circumstances would allow, and returned home to Paxton,-the Alleghany Road to John Harris's, thinking it dangerous to return the same way they went. And further these deponents say not.
These same deponents, being legally qualified before me, James Armstrong, one of his majesty's justices of the peace for the county of Lancaster, have hereunto set their hands in testimony thereof.
JAMES ARMSTRONG.
Alexander Armstrong, Thomas McKee, Francis Ellis, John Florster, William Baskins, James Berry, John Watt, James Arm- strong, David Denny.
After the foregoing facts had been elicited, a regular Indian talk was had upon the matter, when Shickallemy gave the following as a true version of every thing con- nected with the massacre :-
BROTHER THE GOVERNOR :-
We have been all misinformed on both sides about the unhappy accident. Musemeelin has certainly murdered the three white men himself, and, upon the bare accusation of Neshaleeny's son, was seized and made a prisoner. Our cousins, the Delaware Indians, being then drunk, in particular Allumoppies, never examined things, but made an innocent person prisoner, which gave a great deal of disturbance among us. However, the two prisoners were sent, and by the way, in going down the river, they stopped at the house of James Berry. James told the young man, "I am sorry
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to see you in such a condition; I have known you from a boy, and always loved you." Then the young man seemed to be very much struck to the heart, and said, "I have said nothing yet, but I will tell all ; let all the Indians come up, and the white people also ; they shall hear it;" and then told Musemeelin, in the presence of the people, "Now I am going to die for your wickedness; you have killed all the three white men. I never did intend to kill any of them." Then Musemeelin, in anger, said, " It is true, I have killed them. I am a man, you are a coward. It is a great satisfaction to me to have killed them ; I will die for joy for having killed a great rogue and his companions." Upon which the young man was set at liberty by the Indians.
We desire therefore our brother the governor will not insist to have either of the two young men in prison or condemned to die ; it is not with Indians as with white people, to put people in prison on suspicion or trifles. Indians must first be found guilty of a cause; then judgment is given and immediately executed. We will give you faithfully all the particulars, and at the ensuing treaty entirely satisfy you ; in the mean time, we desire that good friend- ship and harmony continue, and that we may live long together is the hearty desire of your brethren the Indians of the United Six Nations present at Shamokin.
The following is what Shickcalamy declared to be the truth of the story concerning the murder of John Armstrong, Woodworth Arnold, and James Smith, from the beginning to the end, to wit :-
That Musemeelin owing some skins to John Armstrong, the said Armstrong seized a horse of the said Musemeelin and a rifle-gun; the gun was taken by James Smith, deceased. Some time last winter Musemeelin met Armstrong on the river Juniata, and paid all but twenty shillings, for which he offered a neck-belt in pawn to Armstrong, and demanded his horse, and James Armstrong re- fused it, and would not deliver up the horse, but enlarged the debt, as his usual custom was; and after some quarrel the Indian went away in great anger, without his horse, to his hunting-cabin. Some time after this, Armstrong, with his two companions, on their way to Ohio, passed by the said Musemeelin's hunting-cabin ; his wife only being at home, she demanded the horse of Armstrong, because he was her proper goods, but did not get him. Armstrong had by this time sold or lent the horse to James Berry. After
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Musemeelin came from hunting, his wife told him that Armstrong was gone by, and that she had demanded the horse of him, but did not get him; and, as is thought, pressed him to pursue and take revenge of Armstrong. The third day, in the morning, after James Armstrong was gone by, Musemeelin said to the two young men that hunted with him, "Come, let us go toward the Great Hills to hunt bears;" accordingly they went all three in company. After they had gone a good way, Musemeelin, who was foremost, was told by the two young men that they were out of their course. " Come you along," said Musemeelin ; and they accordingly followed him till they came to the path that leads to the Ohio. Then Musemeelin told them he had a good mind to go and fetch his horse back from Armstrong, and desired the two young men to come along. Accordingly they went. It was then almost night, and they travelled till next morning. Musemeelin said, "Now they are not far off. We will make ourselves black; then they will be frightened, and will deliver up the horse immediately ; and I will tell Jack that if he don't give me the horse I will kill him;" and when he said so, he laughed. The young men thought he joked, as he used to do. They did not blacken themselves, but he did. When the sun was above the trees, or about an hour high, they all came to the fire, where they found James Smith sitting; and they also sat down. Musemeelin asked where Jack was. Smith told him that he was gone to clear the road a little. Musemeelin said he wanted to speak with him, and went that way, and after he had gone a little distance from the fire, he said something, and looked back laughing, but, he having a thick throat, and his speech being very bad, and their talking with Smith hindering them from un- derstanding what he said, they did not mind it. They being hungry, Smith told them to kill some turtles, of which there were plenty, and they would make some bread by-and-by, and would all eat together. While they were talking, they heard a gun go off not far off, at which time Woodworth Arnold was killed, as they learned afterward. Soon after, Musemeelin came back and said, " Why did you not kill that white man, according as I bid you? I have laid the other two down." At this they were surprised; and one of the young men, commonly called Jimmy, ran away to the river-side. Musemeelin said to the other, " How will you do to kill Catawbas, if you cannot kill white men ? You cowards ! I'll show
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you how you must do ;" and then, taking up the English axe that lay there, he struck it three times into Smith's head before he died. Smith never stirred. Then he told the young Indian to call the other, but he was so terrified he could not call. Musemeelin then went and fetched him, and said that two of the white men were killed, he must now go and kill the third; then each of them would have killed one. But neither of them dared venture to talk any thing about it. Then he pressed them to go along with him ; he went foremost. Then one of the young men told the other, as they went along, "My friend, don't you kill any of the white people, let him do what he will ; I have not killed Smith ; he has done it himself ; we have no need to do such a barbarous thing." Musemeelin being then a good way before them, in a hurry, they soon saw John Armstrong sitting upon an old log. Musemeelin spoke to him and said, "Where is my horse ?" Armstrong made answer and said, "He will come by-and-by ; you shall have him." "I want him now," said Musemeelin. Armstrong answered, " You shall have him. Come, let us go to that fire," (which was at some distance from the place where Armstrong sat,) "and let us talk and smoke together." "Go along, then," said Musemeelin. "I am coming," said Armstrong, " do you go before, Musemeelin ; do you go foremost." Armstrong looked then like a dead man, and went toward the fire, and was immediately shot in his back by Musemeelin, and fell. Musemeelin then took his hatchet and struck it into Armstrong's head, and said, " Give me my horse, I tell you." By this time one of the young men had fled again that had gone away before, but he returned in a short time. Musemeelin then told the young men they must not offer to discover or tell a word about what had been done, for their lives ; but they must help him to bury Jack, and the other two were to be thrown into the river. After that was done, Musemeelin ordered them to load the horses and follow toward the hill, where they intended to hide the goods. Accordingly they did ; and, as they were going, Musemeelin told them that, as there were a great many Indians hunting about that place, if they should happen to meet with any they must be killed to prevent betraying them. As they went along, Musemeelin going before, the two young men agreed to run away as soon as they could meet with any Indians, and not to hurt anybody. They came to the desired place; the horses were unloaded, and Musemeelin opened the bundles, and offered
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the two young men each a parcel of goods. They told him that as they had already sold their skins, and everybody knew they had nothing, they would certainly be charged with a black action were they to bring any goods to the town, and therefore would not ac- cept of any, but promised nevertheless not to betray him. "Now," says Musemeelin, "I know what you were talking about when you stayed so far behind."
The two young men being in great danger of losing their lives -of which they had been much afraid all that day-accepted of what he offered to them, and the rest of the goods they put in a heap and covered them from the rain, and then went to their hunting-cabin. Musemeelin, unexpectedly finding two or three more Indians there, laid down his goods, and said he had killed Jack Armstrong and taken pay for his horse, and should any of them discover it, that person he would likewise kill, but otherwise they might all take a part of the goods. The young man called Jimmy went to Shamokin, after Musemeelin was gone to bury the goods, with three more Indians, with whom he had prevailed ; one of them was Neshaleeny's son, whom he had ordered to kill James Smith; but these Indians would not have any of the goods. Some time after the young Indian had been in Shamokin, it was whis- pered about that some of the Delaware Indians had killed Arm- strong and his men. A drunken Indian came to one of the Tudolous houses at night and told the man of the house that he could tell him a piece of bad news. "What is that ?" said the other. The drunken man said, "Some of our Delaware Indians have killed Armstrong and his men, which if our chiefs should not resent, and take them up, I will kill them myself, to prevent a dis- turbance between us and the white people, our brethren." Next morning Shickcalamy and some other Indians of the Delawares were called to assist Allumoppies in council; when Shickcalamy and Allumoppies got one of the Tudolous Indians to write a letter to me, to desire me to come to Shamokin in all haste-that the Indians were very much dissatisfied in mind. This letter was brought to my house by four Delaware Indians, sent express ; but I was then in Philadelphia, and when I came home and found all particulars mentioned in this letter, and that none of the Indians of the Six Nations had been down, I did not care to meddle with Delaware Indian affairs, and stayed at home till I received the
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governor's orders to go, which was about two weeks after. Allu- moppies was advised by his council to employ a conjuror, or prophet, as they call it, to find out the murderer. Accordingly he did, and the Indians met. The seer, being busy all night, told them in the morning to examine such and such a one that was present when Armstrong was killed, naming the two young men. Musemeelin was present. Accordingly, Allumoppies, Quitheyquent, and Thomas Green, an Indian, went to him that had fled first, and examined him. He told the whole story very freely. Then they went to the other, but he would not say a word, and they went away and left him. The three Indians returned to Shickcalamy and informed them of what discovery they had made, when it was agreed to secure the murderers and deliver them up to the white people. Then a great noise arose among the Delaware Indians, and some were afraid of their lives and went into the woods. Not one cared to meddle with Musemeelin and the other that could not be prevailed on to discover any thing, because of the resentment of their families ; but they being pressed by Shickcalamy's son to secure the murderers, otherwise they would be cut off from the chain of friendship, four or five of the Delawares made Musemeelin and the other young man prisoners, and tied them both. They lay twenty-four hours, and none would venture to conduct them down, because of the great division among the Delaware Indians ; and Allumoppies, in danger of being killed, fled to Shickcalamy and begged his protection. At last Shickcalamy's son, Jack, went to the Delawares,-most of them being drunk, as they had been for several days,-and told them to deliver the prisoners to Alexander Armstrong, and they were afraid to do it; they might separate their heads from their bodies and lay them in the canoe, and carry them to Alexander to roast and eat them; that would satisfy his revenge, as he wants to eat Indians. They prevailed with the said Jack to assist them; and accordingly he and his brother, and some of the Delawares, went with two canoes and carried them off.
Conrad Weiser, in a letter to a friend, dated Heidelberg, 1746, adverts to an interesting incident which occurred at the conclusion of this interview at Shamokin. He says, "Two years ago I was sent by the governor to Shamokin, on account of the unhappy death of John Armstrong, the Indian trader, (1744.) After I had performed my errand, there was a feast prepared, to which the
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governor's messengers were invited. There were about one hun- dred persons present, to whom, after we had in great silence de- voured a fat bear, the eldest of the chiefs made a speech, in which he said, that by a great misfortune three of the brethren, the white men, had been killed by an Indian; that, neverthe- less, the sun was not set, (meaning there was no war;) it had only been somewhat darkened by a small cloud, which was now done away. He that had done evil was like to be punished, and the land remain in peace; therefore he exhorted his people to thankfulness to God; and thereupon he began to sing with an awful solemnity, but without expressing any words ; the others accompanying him with great earnestness of fervor, spoke these words: 'Thanks, thanks be to thee, thou great Lord of the world, in that thou hast again caused the sun to shine, and hast dispersed the dark cloud ! The Indians are thine.'"
Among the first settlers in Aughwick Valley was Cap- tain Jack, certainly one of the most noted characters of his day. He flourished about Aughwick between 1750 and 1755, when, with two or three companions, he went to the Juniata and built himself a cabin near a beautiful spring. His sole pursuit, it would appear, was hunting and fishing ; by which he procured the means of subsistence for his family. There was a mystery about him which no person ever succeeded in fathoming, and even his com- panions never learned his history or his real name.
He was a man of almost Herculean proportions, with extremely swarthy complexion. In fact, he was supposed by some to be a half-breed and by others a quadroon. Colonel Armstrong, in a letter to the governor, called him the "Half-Indian." The truth of it, however, is that he was a white man, possessing a more than ordinary share of intelligence for a backwoodsman, but his early history is altogether shrouded in mystery. It appears that in 10
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the summer of 1752 Captain Jack and his companions were on a fishing excursion. Returning late in the even- ing, Jack found his cabin in ruins and his wife and two children murdered. From that moment he became an altered man, quit the haunts of men, and roamed the woods alone, sleeping in caves, hollow logs, or wherever he could find a shelter. The loss of his family, no doubt, crazed him for a time, as he did not appear among the settlers until the fall of 1753. In the interim, however, he was frequently seen, and, we may add, frequently felt, by the savages, but he studiously avoided all intercourse with his fellow-men. If we may judge of his subsequent career, there is every reason to believe that on the dis- covery of the wrongs done him by the savages he made a vow to devote the balance of his life to slaying Indians. If he did, right faithfully was his vow kept, for his fame spread far and wide among the red-skins, and many a one bit the dust by his trusty rifle and unerring aim. The settlers about Aughwick, as well as those in Path Valley and along the river, frequently found dead savages, some in a state of partial decay, and others with their flesh stripped by the bald-eagles and their bones bleaching in the sun on the spot where Jack's rifle had laid them low.
On one occasion Captain Jack had concealed himself in the woods by the side of the Aughwick Path, where he lay in wait for a stray Indian. Presently a painted war- rior, with a red feather waving from his head and his body bedizened with gewgaws recently purchased from a trader, came down the path. A crack from Captain Jack's rifle, and the savage bounded into the air and fell dead
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without a groan in the path. It appears that three others were in company, but had tarried at a spring, who, on hearing the discharge of the rifle, under the impression that their companion had shot a deer or bear, gave a loud "whoop." Captain Jack immediately loaded, and when the Indians came up to the dead body Jack again, shot, and killed a second one. The Indians then rushed into the thicket, and one of them, getting a glimpse of Jack, shot at him, but missed him. The wild hunter, seeing that the chances were desperate, jumped out and engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter-the fourth savage being only armed with a tomahawk. He soon despatched the third one by beating his brains out with his rifle; but the fourth one, an athletic fellow, grappled, and a long and bloody fight with knives followed, and only ceased when both were exhausted by the loss of blood. The In- dian managed to get away, and left the Black Hunter the victor on the field of battle. Weak and faint as Jack was, he scalped the three savages, fixed their scalps upon bushes overhanging the path, and then, without deigning to touch their gewgaws or their arms, he managed to work his way to the settlement, where his wounds, con- sisting of eight or ten stabs, were dressed. The settlers, then squatters, cared little about the loss of the Indians, since they deemed it right for Captain Jack to wreak his vengeance on any and every savage whom chance should throw in his way; and so little did they care about the proprietors knowing their whereabouts that no report of the case was ever made to the government of this combat.
It is said that one night the family of an Irishman named Moore, residing in Aughwick, was suddenly
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awakened by the report of a gun. This unusual circum- stance at such a late hour in the night caused them to get up to discover the cause; and on opening the door they found a dead Indian lying upon the very threshold. By the feeble light which shone through the door they discovered the dim outline of the wild hunter, who merely said " I have saved your lives," and then plunged into the dark ravine and disappeared.
With an eye like the eagle, an aim that was unerring, daring intrepidity, and a constitution that could brave the heat of summer as well as the frosts of winter, he roamed the valley like an uncaged tiger, the most formidable foe that ever crossed the red man's path. Various were the plans and stratagems resorted to by the Indians to capture him, but they all proved unavailing. He fought them upon their own ground, with their own weapons, and against them adopted their own merciless and savage mode of warfare. In stratagem he was an adept, and in the skilful use of the rifle his superior probably did not exist in his day and generation.
These qualifications not only made him a terror to the Indians, but made him famous among the settlers, who for their own protection formed a scout, or company of rangers, and tendered to Captain Jack the command, which he accepted. This company was uniformed like Indians, with hunting-shirts, leather leggings, and moc- casins, and, as they were not acting under sanction of government, styled themselves "Captain Jack's Hunters." All the hunting done, however, after securing game to supply their wants, was probably confined to hunting for scalps of Indians ; and, as it was a penal offence then to
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occupy the hunting-grounds of the Juniata Valley, much more so to shed the blood of any of the savages, it is not likely that the hunters ever furnished the Quaker pro- prietors with an official list of the "killed and wounded." These exploits gave Captain Jack a number of names or sobriquets in the absence of his real name; he was known as the " Black Rifle," " Black Hunter," "Wild Hunter of the Juniata," &c. On one occasion, with his band, he fol- lowed a party of marauding Indians to the Conococheague, and put them to rout. This act reached the authorities in Philadelphia, and Governor Hamilton granted him a sort of irregular roving commission to hold in check the unfriendly Indians of the frontier. With this authority he routed the savages from the Cove and several other places, and the general fear he inspired among them no doubt prevented a deal of mischief in the Juniata Valley.
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