USA > Massachusetts > Our western border : its life, combats, adventures, forays, massacres, captivities, scouts, red chiefs, pioneer women, one hundred years ago, containing the cream of all the rare old border chronicles > Part 37
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Wetzel now turned, and, knowing his only escape was in flight, plunged through the enemy, and bounded off at the very extent of his speed. Four fleet Indians followed in rapid pursuit, whooping in proud exultation of soon overhauling their intended victim. After a chase of half a mile, one of the most active savages approached so close that Wetzel was afraid he might throw his tomahawk, and instantly wheeling, shot the fellow dead in his tracks.
In early youth Lewis had acquired the habit of loading his gun while at a full run, and now he felt the great advantage of it. Keeping in advance of his pursuers during another half mile, a second Indian came up, and, turning to fire, the savage caught the end of his gun, and, for a time, the contest was doubtful. At one moment the Indian, by his great strength and dexterity, brought Wetzel to his knee, and had nearly wrenched the rifle from the hands of his antagonist, when Lewis, by a renewed effort, drew the weapon from the grasp of the savage, and, thrusting the muzzle against the side of his neck, pulled the trigger, killing him instantly. The two other Indians, by this time, had nearly overtaken him; but leaping forward, he kept ahead, until his unerring rifle was a third time loaded.
Anxious to have done with that kind of sport, he slackened his pace, and even stopped once or twice to give his pursuers an opportunity to face him. Every time, however, he looked round, the Indians treed, unwilling any longer to encounter his destructive weapon. After run- ning a mile or two farther in this manner, he reached an open piece of ground, and, wheeling suddenly, the foremost Indian jumped behind a tree, but which, not screening his body, Wetzel fired, and dangerously wounded him. The remaining Indian made an immediate retreat, yell- ing as he went, " No catch dat man, him gun alway loaded."
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In the Summer of 1786, the Indians having become troublesome in the neighborhood of Wheeling, particularly in the Short Creek settle- ment, and a party having killed a man near Mingo Bottom, it was de- termined to send an expedition after the retreating enemy, of sufficient force to chastise them most effectually. A subscription or pony purse was made up, and one hundred dollars were offered to the man who should bring in the first Indian scalp. Major McMahan, living at Beach Bottom, headed the expedition, and Lewis Wetzel was one of his men They crossed the river on the 5th of August, and proceeded, by a rapid march, to the Muskingum. The expedition numbered about twenty men ; and an advance of five were detailed to reconnoitre. This party reported to the commander that they had discovered the camp of the enemy, but that it was far too numerous to think of making an attack. A consultation was thereupon held, and an immediate retreat deter- mined on.
During the conference Lew. Wetzel sat upon a log, with his gun care- lessly resting across his knees. The moment it was resolved to retreat, most of the party started in disordered haste ; but the commander, ob- serving Wetzel still sitting on the log, turned to inquire if he was not going along. "No," was his sullen reply; "I came out to hunt In- dians, and now that they are found, I am not going home, like a fool, with my fingers in my mouth. I am determined to take an Indian scalp or lose my own." All arguments were unavailing, and there they were compelled to leave him: a lone man, in a desolate wilderness, surrounded by an enemy-vigilant, cruel, bloodthirsty, and of horrid barbarity- with no friend but his rifle, and no guide but the sure index which an All-Wise Providence has deep set in the heavens above. Once by him- self, and looking around to feel satisfied that they were all gone, he gathered his blanket about him, adjusted his tomahawk and scalping knife, shouldered his rifle, and moved off in an opposite direction, hoping that a small party of Indians might be met with. Keeping away from the larger streams, he strolled on cautiously, peering into every dell and suspicious cover, and keenly sensitive to the least sound of a dubious character.
Nothing, however, crossed his path that day. The night being dark and chilly, it was necessary to have a fire; but to show a light, in the midst of his enemy, would be to invite to certain destruction. To avoid this, he constructed a small coal pit out of bark, dried leaves, etc., and covering these with loose earth, leaving an occasional air hole, he seated himself, encircling the pit with his legs, and then completed the whole by covering his head with the blanket. In this manner he would produce a temperature equal, as he expressed it, to that of a "stove
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room." This was certainly an original and ingenious mode of getting up a fire, without, at the same time, endangering himself by a light.
During most of the following day he roamed through the forest with- out noticing any " signs " of Indians. At length smoke was discovered, and going in the direction of it, he found a camp, but tenantless. It contained two blankets and a small kettle, which Wetzel at once knew belonged to two Indians, who were, doubtless, out hunting. Conceal- ing himself in the matted undergrowth, he patiently awaited the re- turn of the occupants. About sunset, one of the Indians came in and made up the fire, and went to cooking his supper. Shortly after, the other came in. They ate their supper, and began to sing, and amuse themselves by telling comic stories, at which they would burst into roars of laughter. Singing and telling amusing stories, was the common practice of the white and redmen, when lying in their hunting camps.
About nine or ten o'clock, one of the Indians wrapped his blanket around him, shouldered his rifle, took a chunk of fire in his hand and left the camp, doubtless with the intention of going to watch a deer- lick. The fire and smoke would serve to keep off the gnats and mos- quitoes. It is a remarkable fact, that deer are not alarmed at seeing fire, from the circumstance of meeting it so frequently in the Fall and Winter seasons, when the leaves and grass are dry, and the woods on fire. The absence of the Indian was a cause of vexation and disap- pointment to our hero, whose trap was so happily set that he consid- ered his game secure. He still indulged the hope that the Indian would return to camp before day, but in this he was disappointed. There are birds in the woods which commence chirping just before break of day, and, like the cock, give notice to the woodsman that light will soon appear. Lewis heard the wooded songsters begin to chatter, and determined to delay no longer the work of death for the return of the other Indian.
He walked to the camp with a noiseless step, and found his victim buried in profound sleep, lying upon one side. He drew his scalping knife, and with the utmost force, impelled by revenge, sent the blade through his heart. He said the Indian gave a short quiver, a convul- sive motion, and then laid still in the sleep of death. Lewis scalped him, and set out for home. He arrived at the Mingo Bottom only one day after his unsuccessful companions. He claimed and received the re- ward.
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HE SHOOTS A RED GOBBLER AND ATTACKS A CAMP OF FOUR.
A most fatal decoy, on the frontier, was the turkey call. On sev- eral occasions, men from the fort at Wheeling had gone across the hill in quest of a turkey, whose plaintive cries had elicited their attention, and, on more than one occasion, the men never returned. Wetzel suspected the cause, and determined to satisfy himself. On the east side of the Creek Hill, and at a point elevated at least sixty feet above the water, there is a capacious cavern, (we have seen this cavern within the year,) the entrance to which, at that time, was almost obscured by a heavy growth of vines and foliage. Into this the alluring savage would crawl, and could there have an extensive view of the hill front on the opposite side. From that cavern issued the decoy of death to more than one incautious soldier and settler. Wetzel knew of the existence and ex- act locality of the cave, and accordingly started out before day, and, by a circuitous route, reached the spot from the rear. Posting himself so as to command a view of the opening, he waited patiently for the expected cry. Directly the twisted tuft of an Indian warrior slowly rose in the mouth of the cave, and, looking cautiously about, sent forth the long, shrill, peculiar " cry," sounding like chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug, chug, and immediately sank back out of view. Lewis screened himself in his position, cocked his gun, and anxiously waited for a reappearance of the head. In a few minutes up rose. the tuft; Lewis drew a fine aim at the polished head, and the next instant the brains of the savage were scattered about the cave. That turkey troubled the inhabitants no longer, and tradition does not say whether the place was ever after similarly occupied.
A singular custom with this daring borderer was to take a Fall hunt into the Indian country. Equipping himself, he set out and penetrated to the Muskingum, and fell upon a camp of four Indians. Hesitating a moment, whether to attack a party so much his superior in numerical strength, he determined to make the attempt. At the hour of mid- night, when naught was heard but the long, dismal howl of the wolf,
" Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave, Burning for blood, bony, gaunt and grim,"
he moved cautiously from his covert, and, gliding through the darkness, stealthily approached the camp, supporting his rifle in one hand and a tomahawk in the other. A dim flicker from the camp fire faintly re- vealed the forms of the sleepers, wrapped in that profound slumber, which, to part of them, was to know no waking. There they lay, with their dark faces turned up to the night-sky, in the deep solitude of their
HE SHOOTS A RED GOBBLER AND ATTACKS A CAMP OF FOUR. 333
own wilderness, little dreaming that their most relentless enemy was hovering over them.
Quietly resting his gun against a tree, he unsheathed his knife, and, with an intrepidity that could never be surpassed, stepped boldly for- ward like the minister of death, and, quick as thought, cleft the skull of one of his sleeping victims. In an instant, a second one was similarly served ; and, as a third attempted to rise, confused by the horrid yells with which Wetzel accompanied his blows, he too shared the fate of his companions, and sank dead at the feet of his ruthless slayer. The fourth darted into the darkness of the woods and escaped, although Wetzel pursued him some distance. Returning to camp, he scalped his victims, and then left for home. When asked, on his return, what luck ? ' " Not much," he replied. "I treed four Indians, but one got away." This unexampled achievement stamped him as one of the most daring, and, at the same time, successful hunters of his day. The dis- tance to and from the scene of this adventure could not have been less than one hundred and seventy miles.
During one of his scouts in the immediate neighborhood of Wheeling, our hero took shelter, on a stormy evening, in a deserted cabin on the bottom, not far from what was then the residence of Mr. Hamilton Woods. Gathering a few broken boards, he prepared a place, in the loft, to sleep. Scarcely had he got himself adjusted for a nap when six Indians entered, and, striking a fire, commenced preparing their homely meal. Wetzel watched their movements closely, with drawn knife, de- termined, the moment he was discovered, to leap into their midst, and, in the confusion, endeavor to escape. Fortunately, they did not see him; and, soon after supper, the whole six fell asleep. Wetzel now crawled noiselessly down, and hid himself behind a log, at a convenient distance from the door of the cabin. At early dawn, a tall savage stepped from the door, and stretching up both hands in a long, hearty yawn, seemed to draw in new life from the pure, invigorating atmos- phere. In an instant Wetzel had his finger upon the trigger, and the next moment the Indian fell heavily to the ground, his life's blood gushing upon the young grass, brilliant with the morning dew-drops. The report of the rifle had not ceased echoing through the valley, ere the daring borderer was far away, secure from all pursuit.
Some time after General Harmar had erected a fort at the mouth of the Muskingum river, where Marietta now stands, about 1789, he em- ployed some white men to go, with a flag, among the nearest Indian tribes, to prevail with them to come to the fort, and there to conclude a treaty of peace. A large number of Indians came, on the general invitation, and encamped on the Muskingum river, a few miles above
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its mouth. General Harmar issued a proclamation, giving notice that a cessation of arms was mutually agreed upon, between the white and redmen, till an effort for a treaty of peace should be concluded.
As treaties of peace with Indians had been so frequently violated, but little faith was placed in the stability of such engagements by the frontiermen ; notwithstanding that they were as frequently the aggres- sors as were the Indians. Half the backwoodsmen of that day had been born in a fort, and grew to manhood, as it were, in a siege. Ihre Indian war had continued so long, and was so bloody, that they be- lieved war with them was to continue as long as both survived to fight. With these impressions, as they considered the Indians faithless, it was difficult to inspire confidence in the stability of treaties. While Gen- eral Harmar was diligently engaged with the Indians, endeavoring to make peace, Lewis Wetzel concluded to go to Fort Harmar, and, as the Indians would be passing and repassing between their camp and the fort, he would have a fair opportunity of killing one.
He associated with himself in this enterprise, a man named Veach Dickerson, who was only a small grade below him in restless daring. As soon as the enterprise was resolved on, they were impatient to put it in execution, The more danger, the more excited and impatient they were to execute their plan. They set off without delay, and arrived at the desired point, and sat themselves down in ambush, near the path leading from the fort to the Indian camp. Shortly after they had con- cealed themselves by the wayside, they saw an Indian approaching on horseback, running his horse at full speed. They called to him, but, owing to the clatter of the horse's feet, he did not hear or heed their call, but kept on at a sweeping gallop. When the Indian had nearly passed, they concluded to give him a shot as he rode. They fired; but, as the Indian did not fall, they thought they had missed him.
As the alarm would soon be spread that an Indian had been shot at, and as large numbers of them were near at hand, they commenced an immediate retreat to their home. As their neighbors knew the object of their expedition, as soon as they returned they were asked, what luck ? Wetzel answered that they had bad luck-they had seen but one Indian, and he on horseback-that they had fired at him as he rode, but he did not fall, but went off scratching his back, as if he had been stung by a yellowjacket. The truth was, they had shot him through the hips and lower part of the belly. He rode to the fort, and that night expired of his wounds. It proved to be a large, fine-looking savage, of considerable celebrity, and known by the name of George Washington.
It was soon rumored to Genera1 Harmar that Lewis Wetzel was the
HE SHOOTS.A RED GOBBLER AND ATTACKS A CAMP OF FOUR. 335
murderer. General Harmar sent a Captain Kingsbury, with a company of men, to the Mingo Bottom, with orders to take Wetzel, alive or dead -a useless and impotent order. A company of men could as easily have drawn Beelzebub out of the bottomless pit, as take Lewis Wetzel, by force, from the Mingo Bottom settlement. On the day that Captain Kingsbury arrived, there was a shooting match in the neighborhood, and Lewis was there. As soon as the object of Captain Kingsbury was ascertained, it was resolved to ambush the Captain's barge, and kill him and his company.
Happily Major McMahan was present to prevent this catastrophe, who prevailed on Wetzel and his friends to suspend the attack till he would pay Captain Kingsbury a visit; perhaps he would induce him to return without making an attempt to take Wetzel. With a great deal of reluctance, they agreed to suspend the attack till Major McMahan should return. The resentment and fury of Wetzel and his friends were boiling and blowing like the steam from a scape pipe of a steam- boat. "A pretty affair this," said they, "to hang a man for killing an Indian, when they are killing some of our men almost every day." Major McMahan informed Captain Kingsbury of the force and fury of the people, and assured him that, if he persisted in the attempt to seize Wetzel, he would have all the settlers in the country upon him; that nothing could save him and his fellows from massacre but a speedy return. The Captain took his advice, and forthwith returned to Fort Harmar. Wetzel considered the affair now as finally adjusted.
As Lewis was never long stationary, but ranged, at will, along the river from Fort Pitt to the Falls of the Ohio, and was a welcome guest and perfectly at home wherever he went, shortly after the attempt to seize him by Captain Kingsbury, he got into a canoe, with the intention of proceeding down the Ohio to Kentucky. He had a friend, by the name of Hamilton Carr, who had lately settled on the island near Fort Harmar. Here he stopped, with the view of lodging for the night. By some means, which never were explained, General Harmar was advised of his being on the island. A guard was sent, who crossed to the island, surrounded Mr. Carr's house, went in, and, as Wetzel lay asleep, he was seized by numbers, his hands and feet securely bound, and he was hurried off into a boat, and from thence placed in a guard-room, where he was loaded with irons.
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HANDCUFFED BY GENERAL HARMAR AND MAKES HIS ESCAPE.
The ignominy of wearing iron handcuffs and hobbles, and being chained down, to a man of his independent and resolute spirit, was more painful than death. Shortly after he was confined, he sent for General Harmar, and requested a visit. The General went. Wetzel admitted, without hesitation, "that he had shot the Indian." As he did not wish to be hung like a dog, he requested the General to give him up to the Indians, there being a large number of them present. "He might place them all in a circle, with their scalping knives and tomahawks, and give him a tomahawk and place him in the midst of the circle, and then let him and the Indians fight it out the best way they could." The General told him, " that he was an officer appointed by the law, by which he must be governed. As the law did not authorize him to make such a compromise, he could not grant his request." After a few days' longer confinement, he again sent for the General to come and see him ; and he did so. Wetzel said " he had never been confined, and could not live much longer if he was not permitted some room to walk about in."
The General ordered the officer on guard to knock off his iron fetters, but to leave on his handcuffs, and permit him to walk about on the point at the mouth of the Muskingum ; but to be sure and keep a close watch upon him. As soon as they were outside the fort gate, Lewis began to caper and dance about like a wild colt broke loose from the stall. He would start and run a few yards, as if he was about making an escape, then turn round and join the guards. The next start he would run farther, and then stop. In this way he amused the guard for some time, at every start running a little farther. At length he called forth all his strength, resolution and activity, and determined on freedom or an early grave. He gave a sudden spring forward, and bounded off at the top of his speed for the shelter of his beloved woods. His move- ment was so quick, and so unexpected, that the guards were taken by surprise, and he got nearly a hundred yards before they recovered from their astonishment. They fired, but all missed ; they followed in pur- suit, but he soon left them out of sight.
As he was well acquainted with the country, he made for a dense thicket, about two or three miles from the fort. In the midst of this thicket, he found a tree which had fallen across a log, where the brush was very close. Under this tree he squeezed his body. The brush was so thick that he could not be discovered unless his pursuers examined very closely. As soon as his escape was announced, General Harmar started the soldiers and Indians in pursuit. After he had lain about two
HANDCUFFED BY GENERAL HARMAR AND MAKES HIS ESCAPE. 337
hours in his place of concealment, two Indians came into the thicket, and stood on the same log under which he lay concealed ; his heart beat so violently he was afraid they would hear it thumping. He could hear them hallooing in every direction as they hunted through the brush. At length, as the evening wore away the day, he found himself alone in the friendly thicket. But what should he do? His hands were fastened with iron cuffs and bolts, and he knew of no friend, on the same side of the Ohio, to whom he could apply for assistance.
He had a friend who had recently put up a cabin on the Virginia side of the Ohio, who, he had no doubt, would lend him every assistance in his power. But to cross the river was the difficulty. He could not make a raft with his hands bound, and though an excellent swimmer, it would be risking too much to trust himself to the stream in that dis- abled condition. With the most gloomy foreboding of the future, he left the thicket as soon as the shades of night began to gather, and directed his way to the Ohio, by a circuitous route, which brought him to a lonely spot, three or four miles below the fort. He made to this place, as he expected guards would be set at every point where he could find a canoe. On the opposite shore he saw an acquaintance, Isaac Wiseman by name, fishing in a canoe. Not daring to call to him, as he could not know whether his enemies were not within sound of his voice, he waved his hat for some time to attract the notice of his friend, hav- ing previously induced him to direct his eye that course by a gentle splashing in the water.
This brought Wiseman to his assistance, who readily aided his escape. Once on the Virginia shore he had nothing to fear, as he had well- wishers all through the country, who would have shed blood, if neces- sary, for his defence. It was not, however, until years had elapsed, and General Harmar returned to Philadelphia, that it became safe for Wise- man to avow the act, such was the weakness of civil authority and the absolute supremacy of military rule on the frontier. A file and hammer soon released him from the heavy handcuffs. After the night's rest had recruited his energies, he set out for fresh adventures, his friend having supplied him with a rifle, ammunition and blanket. He took a canoe and went down the river for Kentucky, where he should feel safe from the grasp of Harmar and his myrmidons.
Subsequently to Wetzel's escape, General Harmar removed his head- quarters to Fort Washington, Cincinnati. One of his first official acts there, was to issue a proclamation, offering considerable rewards for the apprehension and delivery of Lewis at the garrison there. No man, however, was found base or daring enough to attempt this service.
On his way down Wetzel landed at Point Pleasant, and, following his 22
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usual humor, when he had no work among Indians on the carpet, ranged the town, for a few days, with as much unconcern as if he were on his own farm. Lieutenant Kingsbury, attached to Harmar's own command, happened to be at the mouth of the Kanawha at the time, and scouting about, while ignorant of Wetzel's presence, met him-unexpectedly to both parties. Lewis, being generally on the qui vive, saw Kingsbury first, and halted with great firmness in the path, leaving to the Lieuten- ant to decide his own course of procedure, feeling himself prepared and ready, whatever that might be. Kingsbury, a brave man himself, had too much good feeling toward such a gallant spirit as Wetzel to attempt his injury, if it were even safe to do so. He contented himself with saying, " Get out of my sight, you Indian killer !" And Lewis, who was implacable to the savage only, retired slowly and watchfully, as a lion draws off measuring his steps in the presence of the hunters, being as willing to avoid unnecessary danger as to seek it when duty called him to act.
He regained his canoe and put off for Limestone, Ky., at which place, and at Washington, the county town, he established his headquar- ters for some time. Here he engaged on hunting parties, or went out with the scouts after Indians. When not actually engaged in such ser- vice, he filled up his leisure hours at shooting matches, foot racing or wrestling with other hunters. Major Fowler, of Washington, who knew him well during this period, described him as a general favorite, no less from his personal qualities than for his services.
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