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 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80
Nothing could be more striking than the fearless confidence with which he walked through the foremost ranks of the Kentuckians, evi- dently highly pleased with his own appearance, and enjoying the admira- tion which he doubted not that his cocked hat and splendid shawl inspired. Many of the Kentuckians were highly amused at the mixture of dandyism and gallantry which the poor old man exhibited, and shook hands with him very cordially. Unfortunately, however, he at length approached Major McGary, whose temper, never particularly sweet, was as much inflamed by the sight of an Indian, as that of a wild bull by the waving of a red flag. It happened, unfortunately, too, that Mo- luntha had been one of the chiefs who commanded at the Blue Licks, a disaster which McGary had not yet forgotten.
Instead of giving his hand as the others had done, McGary scowled upon the old man, and asked him if "he recollected the Blue Licks?" Moluntha smiled, and merely repeated the word "Blue Licks!" when McGary instantly drew his tomahawk and cleft him to the brain. The old man received the blow without flinching for a second, and fell dead at the feet of his destroyer. Great excitement instantly prevailed in the army. Some called it a ruthless murder, and others swore that he had done right; that an Indian was not to be regarded as a human be- ing, but ought to be shot down as a wolf whenever and wherever he appeared. McGary himself raved like a madman at the reproach of his countrymen, and declared, with many bitter oaths, that he would not
359
ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF MOLUNTHA'S MURDER.
only kill every Indian whom he met, whether in peace or war, at church or market, but that he would equally as readily tomahawk the man who blamed him for the act.
Nothing else, worthy of being mentioned, occurred during the expe- dition, and Logan, upon his return, devoted himself exclusively to the civil affairs of the country, which about this time began to assume an important aspect.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF MOLUNTHA'S MURDER-A SPIRITED LAD. 1
General Lytle, then a lad of only sixteen, was present at Logan's destruction of the Mack-a-chack towns on Mad river, and gives a graphic account of the whole affair. Logan, he says, burned eight towns, destroyed many fields of corn, took seventy or eighty prisoners, and killed twenty warriors, among them Moluntha, the head chief of the nation. This last act caused deep shame, regret and humiliation to the commander-in-chief and his troops.
" I was extremely solicitous, says Lytle, to try myself in battle. The commander of the centre line waved his sword over his head as a signal for the troops to advance. Colonel Daniel Boone and Major Simon Kenton commanded the advance, and Colonel Trotter the rear. As we approached within half a mile of the town on the left, we saw the savages retreating in all directions, making for the swamps, thickets and high prairie grass. General Logan waved his sword, and in a voice of thunder exclaimed, ' Charge ! from right to left !' The horses ap- peared as impatient for the onset as their riders. I heard of but one savage, with the exception of the chief, cry for quarter. They fought with desperation so long as they could raise gun, knife or tomahawk. We dispatched all the warriors we overtook, and sent the women and children prisoners to the rear.
" We pushed ahead, still hoping to overtake a larger body, when we might have something like a general engagement. I was mounted on a very fleet grey horse. Fifty of my companions followed me. I had not advanced more than a mile before I discovered some of the enemy running along the edge of a thicket of hazel and plum bushes. I made signs to the men in my rear to come on. I obliqued across the plain to get ahead of them, and when I had arrived within easy shot I dis- mounted and raised my gun. The warrior I was about to shoot held up his hand in token of surrender, and I heard him order the other In- dians to stop.
"By this time the men behind had arrived, and were in the act of firing. I called them not to fire, as the Indians had surrendered. The
1
360
OUR WESTERN BORDER.
warrior who had surrendered to me, came walking towards me, calling his women and children to follow. I advanced to meet him, with my right hand extended, but before I could reach him, our men of the right wing had surrounded him. I rushed in among the horses. While he was giving me his hand, several of our men wished to tomahawk him. I informed them they would have to tomahawk me first. We led him back to the place where his flag had been. Among the prisoners we then took were the chief, his three wives-one of them a young and handsome woman-another of them, the famous Grenadier Squaw, and two or three fine young lads. The rest were children.
"One of these lads was a remarkably interesting youth, about my own age and size. He clung closely to me, and appeared to notice nearly everything that was going on.
"When we arrived at the town, a crowd of our men pressed around to see the chief. I stepped aside to fasten my horse, and my prisoner lad clung close to my side. A young man by the name of Cumer had been to one of the springs to drink. He discovered the young savage by my side, and came running towards me. The young Indian supposed he was advancing to kill him. As I turned around, in the twinkling of an eye, he let fly an arrow at Cumer, for he was armed with a bow. It passed through Cumer's dress and grazed his side. The jerk I gave his arm undoubtedly saved Cumer. I took away his arrows and sternly reprimanded him. I then led him back to the crowd which surrounded the prisoners.
"At the same moment Colonel Hugh McGary, the same man who had caused the disaster at the battle of the Blue Licks some years before, coming up, General Logan's eye caught that of McGary's. 'Colonel McGary,' said he, 'you must not molest these prisoners!' 'I will see to that,' said McGary, in reply. I forced my way through the crowd to the chief, with my young charge by the hand. McGary ordered the crowd to open and let him in. He came up to the chief, and his first salutation was, 'Were you at the defeat of the Blue Licks?' The Indian, not knowing the meaning of the words, or not understand- ing the purport of the question, answered, 'Yes.' McGary instantly seized an axe from the hands of the Grenadier Squaw, and raised it to make a blow at the chief. I threw up my arm to ward off the blow. The handle of the axe struck me across the left wrist, and came near breaking it. The axe sunk into the head of the chief to the eyes, and he fell dead at my feet. Provoked beyond measure at this wanton bar- barity, I drew my knife for the purpose of avenging the cruelty by dis- patching McGary. My arm was arrested by one of our men, which prevented me from inflicting the thrust. McGary escaped from the crowd.
361
A SPIRITED LAD.
"While out with Captain Stucker after a drove of hogs we saw run- hing about, I saw an Indian coming along with a deer on his back. The fellow happened to raise his eyes the same moment, and look across the prairie to the upper town and saw it all in flames. In the act of turn- ing my head to tell Captain Stucker of the savage, I discovered Hugh Ross, at a distance of sixty or seventy yards, approaching us. I made a motion with my hand to Ross to squat down; then taking a tree between me and the Indian, I stepped somewhat nearer to get a fairer shot-when, at the instant I raised my gun past the tree, the Indian being about a hundred yards distant, Ross's ball whistled by me so close that I felt the wind of it, and struck the savage in the calf of one of his legs. The Indian that moment dropped his deer and sprang into the high grass of the prairie, when, before I could draw sight on him, he was lost to view.
" I was provoked at Ross for shooting when I was near enough to have killed him, and now the consequence would be that some of our men would lose their lives, as an Indian will only give up with life itself. Captain Irwin rode up at this moment with his troop of horse, and asked me where the Indian was. I pointed as nearly as I could to the spot, cautioning the Captain if he missed him the first charge to pass on out of his reach before he wheeled to recharge, or the Indian would kill some of his men in the act of wheeling. Whether the Cap- tain heard me, I cannot say; at any rate, the warning was not attended to, for after passing the Indian a few steps, Captain Irwin ordered his men to wheel and recharge across the woods, and in the act of exe- cuting the movement, the Indian raised up and shot the Captain dead on the spot, still keeping below the level of the grass to deprive us of any opportunity of putting a bullet through him. The troop charged again ; but the Indian was so active that he had darted into the grass some rods from where he had fired at Irwin, and they again missed him.
" By this time several footmen had came up. Captain Stucker and myself had each of us taken a tree that stood out on the edge of the prairie among the grass, when a Mr. Stofford came up and put his head first past one side and then past the other of the tree I was behind. I told him not to expose himself that way or he would get shot in a twinkling. I had hardly spoken the last word, when the Indian again raised up out of the grass. His gun, Stucker's and my own, with four or five behind us, all cracked at the same instant. Stofford fell at my side, while we rushed on the wounded Indian with our tomahawks. Before we had got him dispatched he had made ready the powder in his gun and a ball in his mouth, preparing for a third fire, with bullet holes
362
OUR WESTERN BORDER.
in his breast that might all have been covered with a man's open hand. We found with him Captain Beaseley's rifle-the Captain having been killed at the Lower Blue Licks a few days before the army passed through that place on their way to the towns.
" Next morning General Logan ordered an attack on a town seven or eight miles northwest of where we then were. This town was also burnt, together with an English block-house, of huge size and thickness. Mr. Isaac Zane was at that time living at the village, he being married to a squaw, and having there at the time his wife and several children. The name of the Indian chief killed by McGary was Moluntha, the Great Sachem of the Shawnee's. The Grenadier Squaw, his wife, was sister to Cornstalk, who (basely murdered) died at Point Pleasant."
Jonathan Alder, an account of whose captivity we give further on, was living with the Indians at the time. He says the approach of Logan's army was communicated by a Frenchman, but that as the whites arrived sooner than expected, the surprise was complete. Most of the Indians were absent hunting at the time. A runner came early one morning to the village where Alder lived, and said that Mack-a- chack had been destroyed. Alder, with the people of the village, principally squaws and children, retreated two days, and suffered great- ly for want of food. Not one among them could hunt, and they had to live for eight days on paw-paws, muscles and craw fish. All that Winter they lived on raccoons, with no salt, and without bread, hominy or corn. So hard were they pushed that for a time they had to subsist on a sort of wild potato, as the raccoons had been suckled down so poor that dogs would hardly eat them, but they threw them on the fire, singed the hair off, and ate skin and all."
At Colonel Grant's defeat in Indiana, a desperate action, this same Lytle, then but seventeen years of age, had both his arms shattered, his face powder-burnt, his hair singed to the roots, and no less than nine- teen bullets passed through his body and clothing. In this condition, a retreat being ordered, he succeeded in bringing off the field several of his friends, generously aiding the wounded and exhausted by placing them on horses, while he himself ran forward in advance of the last remnant of the retreating party to stop the only boat on the Ohio at that time which could take them across the river and save them. On reaching the water he found the boat just putting for the Kentucky shore and the ferrymen very reluctant to obey his order, one of them declaring "that it was better a few should perish than that all should be sacrificed." Taking aim with his rifle, Lytle now swore he would shoot the first man who pulled an oar until all his friends were aboard. In this way all were secured, but the boat being crowded
363
MOLUNTHA'S SON LAWBA AND HIS ROMANTIC DEATH.
almost to dipping Lytle disdained to get aboard, but running up the bank to where some horses stood panting under the willows, he leaped to the back of the strongest he could find, boldly plunged into the stream and holding on to the mane by his teeth, succeeded in reaching the middle of the river, where he was taken aboard bleeding and almost fainting from his wounds. By this time the balls of the enemy were rattling like hail about the boat, but they escaped after all.
MOLUNTHA'S SON LAWBA AND HIS ROMANTIC DEATH.
The brave and spirited lad, son of Moluntha, who was saved by Lytle, had afterwards a prominent and honorable career. He was taken with other prisoners to Kentucky, but General Logan was so pleased with his spirit and brightness, that he made him a member of his own house- hold, and he there grew up to manhood, being afterwards known as Captain Logan. His Indian name was Spemica Lawba, or The High Horn. He afterwards rose to the rank of Civil Chief, on account of his many estimable qualities. His personal appearance was command- ing, he being six feet in height and weighing near two hundred pounds. . He, from that time, continued the unwavering friend of the Americans, and fought on their side with great bravery. He lost his life in 1812 under melancholy and romantic circumstances, which indicated that he was a man of the keenest sense of honor.
In November, 1812, General Harrison directed Logan to take a small party and reconnoitre the country towards Maumee Rapids. Being met by a far superior body of the enemy, they were compelled to retreat. Logan, Bright Horn and Captain Johnny, effected their escape to the left wing of the army, under command of General Winchester. A cer- tain general of Kentucky troops, without the slightest grounds, accused Logan of infidelity to the cause and of giving intelligence to the en- emy. Indignant and outraged at the base charge, Logan determined to give proof of his loyalty in a way that could not be mistaken, and said he would start out on a scout the very next morning, and either re- turn with trophies or leave his bones bleaching in the woods.
Accordingly, at the earliest dawn, he was off, in company with Cap- tain Johnny and Bright Horn. At their first nooning they were sud- denly surprised by a party of seven savages, among whom were young Elliott, a half breed, and the famous Pottawattamie Chief, Winnemac. Logan made no resistance, but, with great presence of mind, extended his hand to Winnemac, and proceeded to inform him that he and his com- panions had been disgusted with the American service, and were on their way to the British. Winnemac was suspicious, and proceeded to
364
OUR WESTERN BORDER.
disarm and surround the three, and then started off for the British camp. Winnemac afterwards became more confident and was induced to restore to the prisoners their arms again. While doggedly trudging along, Logan managed to communicate to his two friends a plan of at- tack. The guns being loaded, they only had to put some extra bullets in their mouths to be ready for a prompt reload. Captain Johnny was noticed in this sly manœuvre and adroitly averted suspicion by remark- ing, " me chaw heap tobac."
Evening camp was made on Turkeyfoot, and while most of the cap- tors were roaming around after supper in search of blackhaws, Logan gave the signal, and all fired at those remaining. Two dropped at once, but the third required a second shot, and in the meantime the re- mainder of the party hurried back, returned the fire, and all " treed." There being four of the enemy and only three of Logan's party, all the movements of the enemy could not be watched. The unwatched foe thus was enabled to pass around until Logan's person was uncovered by his tree, and then shot him through the body. By this time Logan's party had wounded two of the four, causing them to fall back.
Captain Johnny now mounted Logan on one horse and Bright Horn, also wounded, on another, and started them for Winchester's Camp, which they reached about midnight. Captain Johnny, with Winnemac's scalp, got in on foot next morning. It was subsequently learned that the two wounded of the enemy died, making five out of the seven slain by Cap- tain Logan's party. When Logan's wound and the occasion of it be- came noised about the camp, it produced a deep and mournful sensa- tion. Logan's popularity was great, being very largely esteemed for his fidelity and the nobility of his nature. He lived but two or three days, ever in extreme bodily agony, and was buried at Fort Winches- ter with the honors of war.
Previous to his death, he related the particulars of the fight to a friend, declaring that he prized his honor more than his life, and now that he had vindicated that, he died satisfied. Shortly after, while writhing with pain, he was observed to smile, and, upon being asked the cause, replied that when he recalled the manner in which Captain Johnny took off the scalp of Winnemac, while at the same time he was obliged to keep moving around with one eye watching the movements of the rov- ing fourth Indian, he could not refrain from laughing-an incident showing "the ruling passion strong in death."
Logan left a dying request to Colonel Johnston, that his two sons should be educated in Kentucky, under care of Major Hardin. When peace was restored, Johnston made application to the chiefs of Lawba's tribe to fulfill his dying wish, but they were embarrassed and unwilling
365
TWO ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHNNY.
to comply, and in this the mother of the two boys agreed. On no ac- count would they send them to Kentucky, but would consent that they might be schooled at Piqua, Ohio, which was done, the boys boarding in a religious family. The mother, however, was a bad woman, and thwarted all plans for her sons' improvement, frequently taking them off for weeks, giving them bad advice and buying whiskey several times to make them drunk. She finally persuaded them off altogether. Both mother and children afterwards emigrated west, and there became the wildest of their race.
TWO ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHNNY-A DESPERATE INDIAN DUEL.
There was a certain Indian called John Cush, who lived much among the whites about Chillicothe. He was a large, muscular man, pleasant and good humored. Every Fall he would take to the woods on a grand hunt. In the Fall of 1779, he happened on Captain Johnny's camp while a white rum trader was there. Cush and Johnny, being pretty wild with liquor, fell into a quarrel but were separated. Both, how- ever, being terribly enraged, arranged for a duel next morning with knives and tomahawks. They stuck a post on the south side of a log; made on the log a notch, and agreed that when the shadow of the post struck the notch the duel should commence. When the shadow drew near the spot, they deliberately and in gloomy silence took their station on the log.
At length, the shadow having touched the notch, the two desperadoes, thirsting for each other's blood, simultaneously sprang to their feet with each a tomahawk in the right hand and a scalping knife in the left hand, and flew at each other with the fury of catamounts, swinging their tomahawks around their heads and yelling in the most terrific manner. Language fails to describe the horrid scene. After several passes and many wounds, Johnny's tomahawk fell on Cush's head and left him lifeless on the ground.
About the year 1800, while Johnny was at his hunting camp, he and his wife had a quarrel and mutually agreed to separate. After they had divided their property, the wife insisted on keeping the one child, a lit- tle boy of two or three years. The wife laid hold of the child and the wrathful husband attempted to wrest it from her. At length, Johnny's passion being roused to fury, he raised his ponderous fist, knocked his wife down, seized the boy, and, carrying him to a neighboring log, de- liberately cut him into two parts, and then throwing one-half to his wife, bade her take it but never again to show her face or he would treat her in the same manner. Thus ended this cruel and brutal scene of savage tragedy.
366
OUR WESTERN BORDER.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM HARDIN, PIONEER OF KENTUCKY.
One of the earliest settlers in Kentucky was Captain William Hardin, a noted hunter and Indian fighter-a man of dauntless courage and reso- lution-cool, calm and self-possessed in the midst of most appalling dangers, and perfectly skilled in all the wiles and arts of border warfare. Soon after Captain Hardin had erected a station in what is now the county of Breckinridge, intelligence was received that the Indians were building a town on Saline Creek, in the present State of Illinois. Har- din, not well pleased that the savages should establish themselves in such close vicinity to his little settlement, determined to dislodge them. He soon had collected around him a force of eighty select men ; the hardiest and boldest of those noted hunters whose lives were passed in a continual round of perilous adventure.
When this force reached the vicinity of the lick, they discovered In- dian signs, and approaching the town cautiously, they found it in the possession of three warriors who had been left to guard the camp. Hardin ordered his men to fire on them, which they did, killing two. The third attempted to make his escape, but was shot down as he ran. He succeeded, however, in regaining his feet and ran fifty yards, leaped up a perpendicular bank, six feet high, and fell dead.
In the meantime, Hardin, correctly supposing that the main body of the Indians were out on a hunting expedition, and would shortly return, made immediate preparation for battle. He accordingly selected a place where a few acres of timbered land were surrounded on all sides by the prairie. Here he posted his men with orders to conceal them- selves behind the trees, and reserve their fire until the Indians should approach within twenty-five yards. Soon after the little band had taken their position, they discovered the Indians rapidly approaching on their trail and numbering apparently between eighty and a hundred men. When the savages had arrived within one hundred yards of the position of the Kentuckians, one of the men, in his impatience to begin the bat- tle, forgot the order of the Captain, and fired his gun. Immediately the Indians charged, and the fight commenced in earnest.
At the first fire Captain Hardin was shot through the thighs. With- out, however, resigning his command, or yielding to the pain of his wound, he sat down on a large log, and, during the whole action, con- tjnued to encourage his men and give forth his orders, with as much
367
CAPTAIN BLAND BALLARD AND HIS ADVENTURES.
coolness, promptitude and self-possession, as if engaged in the most ordinary avocation. This more than Spartan firmness and resolution was not, however, anything very remarkable in the early history of Kentucky. Every battlefield furnished many examples of similar hero- ism. The iron men of those times seem, indeed, to have been born insensible to fear and impregnable to pain. The coolness, courage and unyielding determination of Hardin, in this trying situation, no doubt contributed greatly to the success of the day ; and after a severe con- test, in which some thirty of the savages fell, they were finally repulsed. The loss of the whites, in. killed and wounded, was very considerable. During the action the parties were frequently engaged hand to hand.
-
CAPTAIN BLAND BALLARD AND HIS ADVENTURES
This distinguished pioneer went to Kentucky in 1777; was, like his compeers, long engaged in the defence of the country of his adoption, and, after serving in Bowman's campaign in '79, accompanied General Clark's expedition against the Pickaway towns in '81, on which occa- sion he was severely wounded. In '86 he served as a spy for Clark, and in '91 as guide, and was with General Wayne at the decisive battle of Fallen Timbers in '94.
During his three years' service as spy with Clark he had many exciting rencontres with Indians. One occurred near Louisville. He was scouting down the river and heard, early one morning, a noise on the Indiana shore. He sought concealment, and, when the fog cleared, discovered a canoe with three savages approaching. When within range he fired and killed one. The others jumped overboard and tried to get their canoe into deep water, but before they succeeded he shot a second, and finally the third. Upon reporting to General Clark the game he had bagged, a party was sent down and buried the three bodies. For this service Clark gave him a linen shirt, of which the tough pioneer was very proud, his previous shirts being only of buckskin.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.