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 57
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It will be remembered that Colonel Ebenezer Zane's cabin and out- houses stood outside and to the north of the fort. His property had been burned in the 1777 siege, and very much damaged at the Indian visitation of the year before, and he resolved that if Indians came again, he would defend his property to the last. To this end, he had fortified it, so as to make it at least bullet-proof and very dangerous of approach. In the house with him were now several members of his family, including his young and beautiful sister Betty, and a black servant by the name of Sam. So effectually had they defended Zane's property, that it was, as yet, safe, but they had run out of powder, and none to be had except from the fort.
It was now that an event occurred much celebrated in border chronicles, and which goes by the name of " Betty Zane's Gunpowder Exploit." It has been told in various ways : the credit has been given to different persons, and the event attributed to different years. The common version, taken originally from Doddridge and Withers, is that the stock of gunpowder in the fort having been exhausted, it was de- termined to send for a keg of powder known to be in the house of Ebenezer Zane, about sixty yards distant from the fort. The Colonel explained the necessity to his men, and unwilling to order men on so hazardous an expedition, inquired if any would volunteer. Three or four young men promptly stepped forward for the desperate service. Zane said the weak state of the garrison would not allow of the absence of more than one, and a discussion now ensued as to who was to be the one. At this crisis, Elizabeth, a young, lively and spirited sister of the Colonel's, who had been carefully educated at Philadelphia, and had lately returned home, stepped boldly forward and desired that she
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might be allowed to execute the service. The proposition appeared at first so extravagant that it at once met with a peremptory refusal, but she earnestly renewed and pressed the request, and all the remon- strances of her relatives failed to dissuade her. Her main argument was that the garrison was very weak ; that none of the defenders could be spared ; that she was as fleet as any of them, and that if it were her doom to fall, her loss would not be felt.
Her petition was at length granted, and the gate opened for her to pass out. The opening of the gate arrested the attention of several In- dians straggling or lurking about, and their eyes were fastened upon the young girl as she bounded across the interval, but the contemptuous expression of "squaw ! squaw !" arose, and she was allowed to pass without special hindrance. When she reappeared, however, with the powder in her arms, the savages, suspecting by this time the nature of her hazardous errand, rushed tumultuously after her, elevated their pieces and fired a volley at the fearless young girl as she ran like a deer across the exposed green and bounded into the arms of those who stood ready to receive her. All, happily, flew wide of the mark, and the heroic Betty Zane had the honor of saving the garrison.
. That some such event as the above really happened admits of no ques- tion, but as to who did the deed, or whether or not there were two gun- powder exploits, is a serious matter of doubt. All the old books and the original pioneers gave the credit of the exploit to Betty Zane. The chief error, however, in the old versions of the affair, lay in stating that the powder was wanted at the fort, and that it was obtained from Zane's house. The fact is directly contrary, and far more in accordance with probability. The powder was exhausted at Zane's house on account of its prolonged defence, and a messenger was obliged, as would be natural, to go to the fort for a new supply.
To this day, at Wheeling, there exists doubt and controversy as to who performed the "Gunpowder Exploit." Kiernan, Withers and De Hass all give the credit of the feat to Elizabeth Zane, but the latter admits that the more he prosecuted his inquiries, the more the mystery thick- ened. The counter claim is made by the famous Mrs. Cruger, nee Lydia Boggs, on behalf of Molly Scott. She is a very important wit- ness; one entirely reliable, and had unusual opportunities of knowing, since she was the daughter of Captain Boggs, the commandant at the time, and helped to serve the powder.
Mrs. Cruger, so late as 1849, made an affidavit in relation to the siege of 1782, which states, in effect, that there were three hundred In- dians and fifty British soldiers, known as the Queen's Rangers, all under command of the renegade Girty; that, during a temporary withdrawal
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BETTY ZANE'S GUNPOWDER EXPLOIT.
of the foe, those within the fort observed a female leaving Colonel Zane's house and making for the southern gate. She entered in safety, and "that person was none other than Molly Scott, and the object of her mission was to procure powder for those who defended Zane's dwell- ing. The undersigned was then in her seventeenth year; saw Mclly Scott enter the fort; assisted her in getting the powder; saw her leave, and avers, most positively, that she, and she alone, accomplished the feat referred to." She swears, further, that as her father had left for aid at the commencement of the attack, her mother directed her, Lydia, as being the oldest child at home, to go with Molly Scott to the store- house and give her what ammunition she wanted; that she "assisted said Molly Scott in placing the powder in her apron," and that Eliza- beth Zane, whom she knew as a woman brave, generous and single- hearted, was at that time at the residence of her father, near Washing- ton, Pa. Mrs. Cruger states, further, that at the time, the achievement was not considered extraordinary; that those were times when woman's heart was nerved to "do or die," and that more than one within that little stockade would have unhesitatingly done the same thing, if needed.
This affidavit, coming from a reliable living authority, and one per- sonally assisting in the famed "exploit," would seem to settle the ques- tion so far as the siege of 1782 is concerned. We leave the matter for readers to decide, merely adding the following, from De Hass: "The proof in favor of Elizabeth Zane is most abundant. It is barely proba- ble there may have been two gunpowder incidents. One of the par- ties may have carried powder at the first, and the other at the second. This seems the only way in which the conflicting claims can be recon- ciled."
The enemy made more than twenty attempts to fire the stockade by heaping bundles of hemp against the walls and setting fire to them; but, fortunately, the hemp was wet and would not burn readily. Dry wood and other combustibles succeeded no better. Night now closed in, and the at- tack was maintained without intermission until daybreak. Lydia Boggs (afterwards Mrs. General Cruger) was an inmate of the fort during the whole siege, and was constantly employed in moulding bullets and serving out ammunition. She says that the pickets were so decayed in places, they could not have withstood a united pressure from the foe, and that dur- ing this night many, at one corner, where the hottest fire had been kept up, gave way and fell; but, fortunately, the mishap was concealed from the enemy by a heavy growth of peach trees on the outside; also, that just before day, some one who was seen stealthily approaching the sally gate, was fi:ed upon and wounded. The piteous cries from the wound and fright, induced the besieged to let him in, and he proved to be a -
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negro, who asserted he was a deserter, and who gave much information of the enemy, true or false. Thinking he was only a spy or decoy, the intruder was handcuffed and committed to Lydia's care, who stood ready to tomahawk him in case he attempted an escape.
Shortly after sunrise the next day the enemy, despairing of success, commenced killing all the cattle, burning cabins, &c. Very soon a long, peculiar whoop from an Indian spy, who had been sent out to watch the approach of any relief party, was understood by the well- trained hunters in the fort to mean a signal for retreat. Scarcely had the echoes of his shrill voice ceased among the Ohio hills before the entire hostile array moved rapidly to the river, and so the long and try- ing siege was over. In less than an hour, Captains Boggs, Swearengen and Williamson rode up with seventy mounted men, and great was the rejoicing of the gallant but exhausted little garrison.
After raising the siege, a large division of the enemy marched against Rice's Fort, on Buffalo Creek. The savages surrounded the fort and demanded a surrender, crying "Give up ! give up ! too many Injun ! Injun too big ! no kill !" But the defenders shouted bravely back, " come on, you cowards ! Show us your yellow hides, and we'll make holes in them for you !" This, however, was only a game of bluff, for . the whole garrison consisted of only six, the rest having gone over the mountains to buy powder. The savages now set fire to a barn, and by its light kept up a constant fire until morning, when, finding the little fort prepared for defence, they decamped, having lost four warriors -- three killed by the very first fire from the port holes.
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THE NORTHWESTERN CAMPAIGN.
THE NORTHWESTERN CAMPAIGN.
The surrender, in October, 1781, of Lord Cornwallis' army to the French-American forces at Yorktown, was generally deemed the finish of our Revolutionary war, but it was really only "the beginning of the end." It is true that in November of the next year provisional articles of peace had been signed at Paris; that on the 20th of January follow- ing an armistice followed; that on April 19th, 1783, peace was pro- claimed to our armies, and that, on the 3d of September, a definite treaty was concluded ; yet still, for many years to come, hostilities were vir- tually kept up between the outposts of the two nations. On the pretext that the provisions of the treaty of peace were not complied with by the United States, the British still held on to their forts in the North and Northwest, and continued to hold them down to 1796.
Meanwhile, hostilities with the Indians were, with smaller and greater intervals and violence, still kept up. In 1782, as stated, occurred the massacre of the Moravians, which unhallowed atrocity was followed by Crawford's expedition and defeat, the invasion of Kentucky and the battle of Blue Licks, the second siege of Wheeling and the burning of Hannastown, Pennsylvania. For several years afterwards the Indians, led by tory renegades like Girty, Elliott and McKee, and instigated and supplied by the British from their forts on the Maumee and De- troit, kept up their harassing depredations. In 1787 the northwest ter- ritory had been organized, and General Arthur St. Clair appointed Governor. For three years the seat of this territorial government was located at Marietta-the first American settlement made in Ohio-but in 1790 Governor St. Clair, with the officers of the infant government, descended the Ohio and located at Fort Washington, then growing into the town of Cincinnati.
The troubles with the western tribes, meanwhile, had grown so grave and their depredations had became so grievous and harassing as to de- mand the most serious notice of our government. Then commenced what is known in our history as the Northwestern Campaign, embrac- ing the three separate expeditions of General Harmar, in 1790, of Gen- eral St. Clair, in '91, and of Mad Anthony Wagne, in '94, his victory at the battle of the Fallen Timbers, forever crushing the power and bursting asunder the coherence of the Indian Confederacy.
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EXPEDITION OF GENERAL HARMAR AGAINST THE MIAMI TOWNS.
On the last day of September, 1790, General Harmar left Fort Wash- ington with a raw, undisciplined and badly-equipped force of fourteen hundred men, consisting of three hundred regulars, and the rest Ken- tucky and Pennsylvania militia. His object was the Miami villages. He had many brave and experienced fighters under him, but the com- mand, as a whole, lacked compactness, was ill-assorted and all proper esprit du corps prevented by jealousies and dissensions. The country was rough, swampy, and in many places almost impassable, so that sev- enteen days were consumed before the main body could come within striking distance of the enemy. In the meantime, the great scarcity of provisions rendered it necessary for the General to sweep the forest with numerous small detachments, and as the woods swarmed with rov- ing bands of Indians, most of these parties were cut off.
At length, the main body, considerably reduced by this petty war- fare, came within a few miles of their towns. Here the General ordered Captain Armstrong, at the head of thirty regulars, and Colonel Hardin, of Kentucky, with several hundred militia, to advance and reconnoitre. In the execution of this order they suddenly found themselves in the presence of a superior number of Indians, who suddenly arose from the bushes and opened a heavy fire upon them. The militia instantly gave way ; while the regulars, accustomed to more orderly movements, attempted a regular retreat. The enemy rushed upon them, tomahawk in hand, and completely surrounded them. The regulars attempted to open a passage with the bayonet, but in vain. They were all destroyed, with the exception of their Captain and one Lieutenant.
Captain Armstrong was remarkably stout and active, and succeeded in breaking through the enemy's line, although not without receiving several severe wounds. Finding himself hard pressed, he plunged into a deep and miry swamp, where he lay concealed during the whole night, within two hundred yards of the Indian camp, and witnessed the dances and joyous festivity with which they celebrated their victory. The Lieutenant (Hartshorn) escaped by accidentally stumbling over a log and falling into a pit, where he lay concealed by the rank grass which grew around him. The loss of the militia was very trifling. Notwithstanding this severe check, Harmar advanced with the main body upon their villages, which he found deserted and in flames, the
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EXPEDITION OF GENERAL HARMAR.
Indians having fired them with their own hands. Here he found seve- ral hundred acres of corn, which was completely destroyed. He then advanced upon the adjoining villages, which he found deserted and burned as the first had been. Having destroyed all the corn which he found, the army commenced its retreat from the Indian country, sup- posing the enemy sufficiently intimidated.
After marching about ten miles on the homeward route, General Harmar received information which induced him to suppose that a body of Indians had returned and taken possession of the village which he had just left. He detached, therefore, eighty regular troops, under the orders of Major Wyllys, and nearly the whole of his mili- tia, under Colonel Hardin, with orders to return to the village and destroy such of the enemy as presented themselves. The detachment accordingly counter-marched and proceeded, with all possible dispatch, to the appointed spot, fearful only that the enemy might hear of their movement and escape before they could come up. The militia, in loose order, took the advance; the regulars, moving in a hollow square, brought up the rear. Upon the plain in front of the town, a number of Indians were seen, between whom and the militia a sharp action commenced. After a few rounds, with considerable effect upon both sides, the savages fled in disorder, and were eagerly and impetuously pursued by the militia, who, in the ardor of the chase, were drawn into the woods to a considerable distance from the regulars.
Suddenly, from the opposite quarter, several hundred Indians appeared, rushing with loud yells upon the unsupported regulars. Major Wyllys, who was a brave and experienced officer, formed his men in a square, and endeavored to gain a more favorable spot of ground, but was pre- vented by the desperate impetuosity with which the enemy assailed him. Unchecked by the murderous fire which was poured upon them from the different sides of the square, they rushed in masses up to the points of the bayonets, hurled their tomahawks with fatal accuracy, and put- ting aside the bayonets with their hands, or clogging them with their bodies, they were quickly mingled with the troops, and handled their long knives with destructive effect. In two minutes the bloody strug- gle was over. Major Wyllys fell, together with seventy-three privates and one Lieutenant. One Captain, one Ensign, and seven privates- three of whom were wounded-were the sole survivors of this short but desperate encounter.
The Indian loss was nearly equal, as they sustained several heavy fires which the closeness of their masses rendered very destructive, and as they rushed upon the bayonets of the troops with the most astonishing disregard to their own safety. Their object was to overwhelm the regu- .
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ยท lars before the militia could return to their support, and it was as boldly executed as it had been finely conceived. In a short time the militia returned from the pursuit of the flying party, which had decoyed them to a distance; but it was now too late to retrieve the fortune of the day. After some sharp skirmishing, they effected their retreat to the main body, with the loss of one hundred and eight killed and twenty-eight wounded. This dreadful slaughter so reduced the strength and spirits of Harmar's army that he was happy in being permitted to retreat unmo- lested, having totally failed in accomplishing the objects of the expedi- tion, and, by obstinately persevering in the ruinous plan of acting in detachments, having thrown away the lives of more than half of his regular force. This abortive expedition served only to encourage the enemy and to give additional rancor to their incursions.
THE SINGULAR ADVENTURE OF JACKSON JOHONNET.
Among Harmar's soldiers was a gay young fellow from Connecticut, Jackson Johonnet by name, who, being entrapped by a Boston recruit- ing officer, enlisted in a company for the West, and soon found himself descending the Ohio from Pittsburgh in a flatboat. On the tenth day of the march, Johonnet, who had conceived the idea that war was but a succession of battles and triumphs, accompanied by gay music, splen- did uniforms and showy parades, awoke from his dream. Hard march- ing, terrible work, gnawing hunger and constant exposure were his daily portion, but still he conducted himself so well that, having been pro- moted to the rank of sergeant, he was sent out on an exploring expedi- tion at the head of ten men. Being all about as accomplished as him- self in Indian warfare, they were quickly decoyed into an ambush, made prisoners, bound and secured, and driven before their captors like a herd of bullocks, in long marches, without a morsel of food.
On the second day George Aikens, an Irishman, was unable to en- dure his sufferings any longer, and sunk under his pack in the middle of the path. They instantly scalped him as he lay, and, stripping him naked, pricked him with their knives in the most sensitive parts of the body until they had aroused him to a consciousness of his situation, when they tortured him to death in the usual manner.
The march then recommenced, and the wretched prisoners, faint and famished as they were, were so shocked at the fate of their companion, that they bore up for eight days under all their sufferings. On the ninth, however, they reached a small village, where crowds of both sexes came out to meet them, with shrieks and yells which filled them with terror. Here they were compelled, as usual, to run the gauntlet,
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SINGULAR ADVENTURE OF JACKSON JOHONNET.
and as they were much worn down by hunger and fatigue, four of the party, viz : Durgee, Forsythe, Deloy, and Benton, all of New England, were unable to reach the council house, but fainted in the midst of the. course. The boys and squaws instantly fell upon them, and put them to death by torture.
Here they remained in close confinement and upon very scanty diet for several days, in the course of which the news of Harmar's defeat arrived. Piles of scalps, together with canteens, sashes, military hats, etc., were brought into the village, and several white women and chil- dren were taken through the town on their way to the villages farther west. At the same time, four more of his companions were led off to the western villages, and never heard of afterwards. Himself and a corporal, named Sackville, were now the only survivors. They remained in close confinement two weeks longer. Their rations were barely suf- ficient to sustain life, and upon the receipt of any unpleasant intelli- gence, they were taken out, whipped severely, and compelled to run the gauntlet.
At length, on the fourteenth night of their confinement, they deter- mined to make an effort to escape. Sackville had concealed a sharp penknife in a secret pocket, which the Indians had been unable to dis- cover. They were guarded by four warriors and one old hag of seventy, whose temper was as crooked as her person. The prisoners having been securely bound, the warriors lay down about midnight to sleep, order- ing the old squaw to sit up during the rest of the night. Their guns stood in the corner of the hut, and their tomahawks, as usual, were attached to their sides. Their hopes of escape were founded upon the probability of eluding the vigilance of the hag, cutting their cords, and either avoiding or destroying their guard. The snoring of the war- riors quickly announced them asleep, and the old squaw hung in a drowsy attitude over the fire. Sackville cautiously cut his own cords, and, after a few minutes' delay, succeeded in performing the same office for Jackson.
But their work was scarcely begun yet. It was absolutely necessary that the old squaw should fall asleep, or be silenced in some other way, before they could either leave the hut or attack the sleeping warriors. They waited impatiently for half an hour, but perceiving that, although occasionally dozing, she would rouse herself at short intervals and regard them suspiciously, they exchanged looks of intelligence (being afraid even to whisper) and prepared for the decisive effort. Jackson suddenly sprang up as silently as possible, and grasping the old woman by the throat, drew her head back with violence, when Sackville, who had watched his movements attentively, instantly cut her throat from
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ear to ear. A short, gurgling moan was the only sound which escaped her, as the violence with which Jackson grasped her throat effectually prevented her speaking.
The sleepers were not awakened, although they appeared somewhat disturbed at the noise ; and the two adventurers, seizing each a rifle, struck at the same moment with such fury as to disable two of their enemies. The other two instantly sprang to their feet, but before they could draw their tomahawks, or give the alarm, they were prostrated by the blows of the white men, who attacked them at the moment that they had gained their feet. Their enemies, although stunned, were not yet dead. They drew their tomahawks from their sides, therefore, and striking each Indian repeatedly upon the head, completed the work by piercing the heart of each with his own scalping knife. Selecting two rifles from the corner, together with their usual appendages, and taking such provisions as the hut afforded, they left the village as rapidly as possible, and, fervently invoking the protection of heaven, committed themselves to the wilderness.
Neither of them were good woodsmen, nor were either of them ex- pert hunters. They attempted a southeastern course, however, as nearly as they could ascertain it, but were much embarrassed by the frequent recurrence of impassable bogs, which compelled them to change their course, and greatly retarded their progress. Knowing that the pursuit would be keen and persevering, they resorted to every method of baffling their enemies. They waded down many streams, and occasionally surmounted rocky precipices, which, under other cir- cumstances, nothing could have induced them to attempt. Their suf- ferings from hunger were excessive, as they were so indifferently skilled in hunting as to be unable to kill a sufficient quantity of game, although the woods abounded with deer, beaver and buffalo.
AN ASSAULT UPON A QUARTETTE OF SAVAGES DESPERATE COMBAT.
On the fourth day, about ten o'clock, they came to a fine spring, where they halted and determined to prepare their breakfast. Before kindling a fire, however, Sackville, either upon some vague suspicion of the proximity of an enemy, or from some other cause, thought proper to ascend an adjoining hillock and reconnoitre the ground around the spring. No measure was ever more providential. Jackson presently beheld him returning cautiously and silently to the spring, and being satisfied from his manner that danger was at hand, he held his rifle in readiness for action at a moment's warning. Sackville presently re- joined him with a countenance in which anxiety and resolution were
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