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 61
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scending to the prairie, he reached the river, and turning a bold spur of a hill, found a very bountiful spring. He filled his canteens and re- turned safely.
It was now determined to have a fresh supply of this delicious water daily, and the duty was performed alternately. One day after White had filled his canteens and was just about retiring, the light sound of footsteps caught his ear and upon turning he saw two squaws within a few feet of him. The elder of them, on sighting the white scout, stood petrified for a moment and then gave out a shrill and far-reaching In- dian yell. White knew his peril on the instant. If the alarm should reach the Indian town, death to him and McClellan was inevitable. Self-preservation demanded that he should sacrifice the squaws, so, with his usual promptness, he sprang upon his victims and grasping the throat of each, leaped with them into the river. He thrust the head of the eldest under the water, but while essaying to do the same to the younger, he met with powerful resistance, and during the sharp struggle with this active and resolute athlete, to his astonishment she addressed him in good English.
Releasing her at once, she informed him that she had been taken captive with her brother below Wheeling ; had been a prisoner for ten years, and that her brother had succeeded in making his escape on the second night. By this time the elder squaw had been drowned and floated off with the current. White now directed the girl to follow him. They had scarce made half way back to the mount when the alarm cry was heard. It was supposed that a party of savages had struck the stream below where the squaw's body was floating past. White and the girl succeeded in regaining McClellan, and almost im- mediately after Indians could be seen scattering in every direction, and a party of some twenty warriors making for the mount. Their swarthy foes were now observed gliding from tree to tree and from rock to rock till their position was surrounded, except on the west perpendicular side, and all hope of escape was cut off. Nothing was left to the scouts but to sell their lives as dearly as possible, and the girl was advised to make her escape and tell the Indians she was forcibly taken prisoner. But, to their astonishment, she replied, "No! death to me, in the com- pany of my own people, is a thousand times sweeter than captivity with slavery. Furnish me with a gun, and I will show you I can fight as well as die. I leave not this place, and should either of you escape, you can carry the tidings of my death to my relations."
Remonstrance proved fruitless. The scouts now matured their plan of defence, and commenced firing in front, where, from the very nar- row backbone of the hill or mount, the savages had to advance in single
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ยท file and without any covert. Beyond this neck the warriors availed themselves of rocks and trees, but, in passing from one to the other, they must expose themselves for a moment, which was enough for such unerring marksmen.
A new danger now threatened. The watchful foe were preparing, also, to attack them in flank, which could be done only in one way- by reaching an isolated rock lying in one of the ravines on the southern hillside, and which dominated the scouts' position. There could then be no escape, and the scouts saw the hopelessness of their situa- tion. Nothing could avert their fate but a brave companion and a far- reaching rifle. Soon McClellan saw a swarthy figure crouching along a ledge of rock and preparing to spring from a covert so near to the fatal rock that a bound or two would reach it. But a small portion of the Indian's body was exposed, but McClellan resolved to risk all rather than have him reach the rock.
So, coolly raising his rifle to his face and shading the sight with his hand, he drew a sure and careful bead. He touched the trigger with . his finger ; the hammer came down, but, in place of the timely spark of fire, the flint broke into many pieces. While hurriedly adjusting another flint, but keeping his eye constantly on the fascinating spot, he saw the fearless savage stretching every muscle for the leap; with the agility of a crouched panther, he made the spring, but instead of reach- ing the rock, he gave a most appalling yell, and his dark body fell, roll- ing down into the valley below.
He had evidently received a death blow from some unknown hand. A hundred voices, from a hundred anxious onlookers, re-echoed the terrible shout. But it would not do to give up the important enterprise with only one failure, so another " brave " was soon seen advancing to take the place of the former. At the same time the attack in front was renewed with increased fury, so as to require the undivided attention of both spies to save their position. With despair McClellan saw the sec- ond warrior in the very act of leaping. The spring was made, and, turning a complete somersault, his corpse, also, rolled down the hill. Again some mysterious agent had interposed in their behalf. This sec- ond misadventure cast dismay into the ranks of the assailants, and they shortly after withdrew to concert some new plan of attack.
Now, for the first time, they had opportunity to look about for their female companion. She was gone-killed, perhaps, or escaped to her former friends. They were not left long to conjecture. The fair maid was soon seen emerging from a rock with a rifle in her hand, and the mystery was soon cleared up.
During the heat of the fight she had seen a warrior fall who had ad-
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vanced some distance before the rest, and she formed the quick resolve of getting his gun and ammunition. Crouching down beneath the un- derbrush, she slowly crawled to his body and succeeded in gaining his rifle. Her keen and practiced eye had early noticed the fatal rock, as also the attempt to reach it. Hers had been the hand by which the two warriors had fallen, the latter being the most blood-thirsty of the Shawnees and the leader of the very company which had killed her mother and sister, and taken her and her brother prisoners.
Darkness, deep and gloomy, soon shrouded the whole scene. It was determined to use the girl's knowledge of localities to effect their es- cape. Should they stumble across foes, they hoped much from her knowledge of the Indian tongue. Scarcely had they descended half way down, before a low whist ! from the girl warned them of danger. The spies sank silently to earth and awaited the signal from her to move on again. For a quarter of an hour she did not return, and their sus- pense grew intolerable. At length she appeared, telling them she had succeeded in removing two sentinels who were awaiting their descent on the only practicable route.
The journey was noiselessly resumed, and the spies followed their in- trepid leader for a half mile in the profoundest silence, when the sud- den bark of a dog near at hand apprised them of danger. The almost simultaneous click of the scouts' rifles was heard by the girl, who in- formed them they were now in the midst of the Indian camps, and their lives depended on utter silence and closely following in her footsteps.
A moment after the girl was accosted by a squaw from an opening in her wigwam ; she replied in the Shawnee tongue and pressed on with- out stopping. Now she pauses, and assures her companions that the vil- lage is cleared and that the greatest danger is passed. She knew that every pass from the mountain was carefully watched by foes, and adopted the hazardous adventure of passing through the centre of the village during the absence of the men. A course direct for the Ohio was now steered, and after three days' travel the block-house was reached. Their escape saved the station for the present, and the res- cued girl was restored to her friends, proving to be the sister of the in- trepid Corneal Washburn, long known as the renowned spy of Simon Kenton's Kentuckians.
James McBride says, that McClellan was a man of the most extraor- dinary activity. Many marvelous stories are related of his athletic ex- ploits. While at Fort Hamilton, he would frequently leap over the tallest horse without apparent exertion. In the town of Lexington, Ky., when passing along a narrow sidewalk with Matthew Heuston, a yoke of oxen happened to be drawn up on the sidewalk and instead of
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walking around them, as did his companion, he, without a moment's hes- itation, leaped over both at a bound. We have already stated, that when with the army at Greenville, at a special trial of soldiers and teamsters, he leaped over a wagon with a covered top-a height of eight feet and a half.
MCCLELLAN'S ADVENTURES, AS RECORDED BY WASHINGTON IRVING.
After General Wayne had made peace and disbanded the army, Robert McClellan made his home with his brother William, at Hamil- ton, Ohio, spending most of his time on long hunting rambles. In'99 he drifted to New Orleans, and was long ill of the yellow fever, and then went East to secure a pension, but it being much smaller than he thought he had a right to expect, his proud spirit spurned it altogether. General James O'Hara, the enterprising merchant of Pittsburgh, hear- ing much of McClellan and his services, engaged him at Carlisle, and, by care and diligence, he soon became a good scribe and careful ac- countant.
In 1801 Mcclellan went to St. Louis on business connected with the commissary department, and retiring from the service, commenced trad- ing furs with the Indians. He made many long trading expeditions up the Missouri. In 1808 he entered into partnership with Ramsay Crooks, and Washington Irving gives an interesting account of one of his ad- ventures with a large band of Sioux, excited to hostility against them by rival French traders. In 1810 a party of Sioux broke up one of his trading establishments while he was away hunting. But they did not know the fiery and resolute spirit they had to deal with. On his return, he went boldly among them and demanded restoration, and actually compelled a return of all the goods that had not as yet been carried off -about $500 worth. It was while dispirited by a constant run of ill luck, that he was admitted as partner by Astor's Fur Company-the leader of which, Mr. Hunt, had often heard of, and tried to secure him -to accompany them as guide and hunter to the far distant Pacific.
At this time he wrote home to his brother William: "Six days ago I arrived at this place from my establishment, two hundred miles above on the Missouri. My mare is with you at Hamilton, having two colts. I wish you to give one to brother John, the other to your son James, and the mare to your wife. If I possessed anything more but my gun, I would throw it into the river or give it away, as I intend to begin the world anew to-morrow."
At that time the expedition to the mouth of the Columbia river was like going to the end of the world.
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MCCLELLAN'S ADVENTURES.
Frequent mention is made of Mcclellan in Irving's Astoria; in fact, the distinguished author has therein immortalized the scout. He thus describes his hero: "McClellan was a remarkable man. He had been a partisan under General Wayne, and had distinguished himself by his ' fiery spirit and reckless daring, and most marvelous stories were told of his exploits. His frame was meagre but muscular, showing strength, activity and iron firmness. His eyes were dark, deep-set and piercing. He was reckless, fearless, but of impetuous and sometimes ungovernable temper."
We need not mention all the adventures and vicissitudes he passed through on that long and perilous excursion, lasting several years, but will only condense one passage from Irving's charming book, to show the obstinacy and fearless, independent spirit of the man.
When Mr. Reed determined to make an expedition to the States, McClellan, who was very decided and self-willed, concluded to go with it. The expedition had terrible times with the Indians, and was com- pletely broken up. Robert Stuart afterwards started, with four trusty, well-tried men as guides and hunters. McClellan again determined to join the return party, and set out from Astoria on the 28th of June, 1812. After ascending the Columbia for ninety miles, one of the hunt- ers became insane, and had to be sent back in charge of Indians. The remaining six went up the river slowly and painfully for six hundred miles, and, on July 31st, struck off, on horseback, for the overland jour- ney.
They soon found themselves approaching the fatal region of the Snake river, and had not long proceeded on those craggy wastes and wilds, ere they found themselves among baked and naked hills, without water, a burning sky above and a parched desert beneath. Their sufferings from thirst became intense. They toiled and struggled on and on, and on September 12th, were surrounded with insolent and hostile Crow In- dians, who dogged the party for six days, and finally succeeded in steal- ing and driving off every horse they had. They were now on foot, in a barren wilderness, having a journey of two thousand miles before them, and the danger of starvation imminent. Their adventures were exceedingly perilous and interesting, but we must hurry on.
They soon built some rafts and embarked on Mad river, and kept along for six days longer, when a landing was effected and preparations made to resume the journey on foot. Each had a pack of about twenty pounds of jerked meat. Their march was slow and toilsome, along the base of a mountain. Discovering Indian sign, however, a consultation was held, and it was thought prudent, in order to avoid wandering parties of Indians, to strike directly across the mountains.
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This counsel was indignantly derided by Mcclellan as pusillanimous. Impatient and hot-headed at all times, he was now made more irascible by the fatigues of the journey and the condition of his feet, which were chafed and sore. He could not endure facing a lofty and craggy moun- tain, and swore he would rather cope with all the Blackfeet in the coun- try.
He was overruled, however, and the party began to ascend, striving, with the ardor of young men, who should be first up. McClellan, who was double the age of most of his companions, soon began to lose breath and fall in the rear. It now became his turn, too, to carry the old beaver trap. Piqued and irritated, he suddenly came to a halt, swore he would not carry it any further, and jerked it half way down the hill. He was offered, in place of it, a package of dried meat, but this he scornfully threw upon the ground. They might carry it, he said, who needed it, but for his part, he could provide his daily food with his rifle. He concluded by turning directly off from the party and keep- ing along the skirt of the mountain, leaving those, he said, to climb rocks who were afraid of Indians.
MCCLELLAN ALONE IN A DESERT-REDUCED TO STARVATION.
In vain the rashness of his course was pointed out to him, and the dangers to which he exposed himself. He rejected such counsels as craven. He turned a deaf ear to every remonstrance, and kept on his willful and solitary way.
Strange instance of perverseness in this odd character thus to fling himself off amid those savage wilds, where not only solitude must have been insupportably dismal, but where every step was full of peril. Mc- Clellan, however, was a man of peculiar temper, ungovernable in his will, of a courage that absolutely knew no fear and somewhat, too, of a braggart spirit, that took special pride in doing desperate and hair- brained things. Stuart and his party pursued their course. When on the mountain they could descry McClellan pushing his own solitary route.
Ten days after they encamped on a small stream where they met traces of McClellan, who was still keeping ahead of them through those desolate mountains. They found the embers of the fire by which he had slept and the remains of a wolf on which he had supped. He had fared better than they, for they had nothing to eat. The next night the famishing wanderers perceived a large smoke to the southeast, and such was their dread of starvation that they joyfully forged ahead, thinking it an Indian encampment.
Le Claire, a Canadian, was dispatched to reconnoitre, while they lay
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down supperless to sleep. Next day they saw Le Claire approaching, with no news except from that strange wanderer McClellan. It was his encampment which had taken fire while he was absent fishing. He, too, was in a forlorn condition, and had wandered twelve days with scarce anything to eat. He had been ill, wayworn, sick at heart, yet still he kept on, but now his strength and stubbornness were both exhausted, and he said he would wait at his camp until the rest came up.
When they reached the spot, they found the old scout lying on a parcel of withered grass, wasted to a skeleton and so feeble that he could scarcely raise his head to speak. They had no food for him, but they urged him to rise and go with them. He shook his head. It was all in vain. He argued he might as well stay and die where he was. At length they got him on his legs, carried his rifle and effects and cheered and aided him forward.
They proceeded about seventeen mile oand were preparing to lie down to sleep when Le Claire, gaunt and wild with hunger, approached Stuart, gun in hand, and urged that it was vain to go further without food, and proposed that lots should be cast and one should die to save the rest, and adding, as an inducement for Stuart to assent, that he, as leader, should be exempt from the lot. Stuart was shocked, and attempted to reason with the man, but in vain. At length, snatching up his rifle, he threatened to shoot him if he ever proposed such a thing again. The man was cowed, begged pardon and promised never to so offend again.
We need not follow them on their mournful route. They traveled on thus until the 2d of November, when they came to a river bottom, covered with a thick growth of willow and trees for fuel and shelter, and plenty of game about. Here they made their Winter camp, and in the course of only two days, killed thirty-two buffalo, and the next day fifteen more from a herd which tramped right through their en- campment. They now built a comfortable cabin, and new clothes were made from the deer skins so abundantly brought in. They made the mountains echo with their rifles, and in two days more, killed twenty- eight big-horns and black-tailed deer.
The party now commenced to live like fighting cocks, and enjoyed their repose for several weeks, when, alas! (sic gloria transit mundi) one morning, at daybreak, they were startled by a savage yelp, and peep- . ing out, they beheld several Indian warriors among the trees, all armed and painted for war. McClellan was just at home in an Indian scrim- mage. He had taken his gun apart the evening before, and while now putting it together with all haste, he proposed they should break out the clay from between the logs of their cabin, so as to be able to fire at
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the intruders. Not a word was uttered by the rest, but all silently slung their horns and pouches and prepared for battle.
Stuart thought best, however, to first try the effect of a parley, so, holding his rifle in one hand and extending the other to him who looked as if he were leader, he boldly advanced. The Indian chief took the proffered hand, and all his men did the same. It now appeared they were a war party of Arapahoes in pursuit of a band of Crows. This party of twenty-three remained two whole days, being liberally feasted by the whites, but no sooner had they gone when the luckless travelers held council. On one side of them were their old enemies, the Crows, and on the other the Arapahoes, no less dangerous freebooters. The security of their cabin was at an end, and with it all their dreams of a quiet and cosey Winter. It was reluctantly concluded to abandon their princely quarters and to turn out upon the plains again, now covered with snow.
For fourteen days they struggled on. The snow lay fifteen inches deep. No game, but miserable, broken-down bull buffalo. At length they came to an immense plain, with no vestige of timber or living animal. Here their hearts failed them. The river on which they were, they judged to be the Platte, but to go on at that season was dangerous in the extreme. It was at length concluded to retrace their last three days' journey of seventy-seven miles to a place where they had ob- served both timber and abundance of game. They reached the spot. Herds of buffalo were scattered about the neighboring prairie, and a shed was put up and plenty of game killed.
They were fortunate in this encampment, for the Winter passed with- out anything to molest. They shaped two large canoes, and, as Spring opened, prepared to embark. They tried navigation, but the water was too shallow, and they had to go afoot again. Their future travels, though interesting, had nothing very remarkable about them. They struck the Missouri, embarked on its rapid and turbid bosom, and on April 30th, having been ten months making their toilsome and perilous return expedition, they arrived safely at St. Louis.
Their return created quite a sensation, as it was the first news from Hunt's party in his adventurous expedition across the Rocky Moun- tains. But so many hardships and privations had broken down the iron constitution of the once agile and hardy scout. He never recovered from that extraordinary series of wilderness tramps. He settled at Cape Girardeau, but the decline of his health was so rapid that he died towards the end of 1814, aged over fifty.
P
CHAPTER IX.
A SERIES OF THRILLING EVENTS.
ADVENTURES OF MAY, JOHNSTON, FLINN AND SKYLES. 1
In vain ! the tide of life flows on, On the daring hunters' track, And not the Indians' high emprise Can turn the current back .- Julian.
Mr. John May, a gentleman of Virginia and surveyor of Kentucky lands, had become so extensively involved in business as to require the aid of a clerk. In 1789 he employed Charles Johnston, a young man scarcely twenty years of age. Johnston accompanied his employer to Kentucky in the Summer of '89 ; returned to Virginia in the Autumn of the same year, and in February, 1790, it became necessary to re- turn to Kentucky, in order to complete the business which had been left unfinished on the former trip. Heretofore they had traveled by land, but on the present occasion, May determined to descend the Great Kanawha and Ohio by water.
They, accordingly, traveled by the usual route to Green Briar court house, where the town of Lewisburg has since been built, and from thence crossed the wilderness which lay between that point and the Great Kanawha. After suffering much from the weather, which was intensely cold, they at length reached Kelly's station upon the Kanawha, from which point May proposed to embark. Having purchased a boat, such as was then used for the navigation of the western waters, they em- barked in company with Mr. Jacob Skyles, a gentleman of Virginia, who had at that time a stock of dry goods intended for Lexington, and without any accident, in the course of a few days, they arrived at Point Pleasant. Here there was an accession to their number of three per- sons, a man named Flinn and two sisters of the name of Fleming. Flinn was a hardy borderer, accustomed from his youth to all the dangers of the frontiers, and the two Misses Fleming were women of low station. They were all natives of Pittsburgh and were on their way to Kentucky.
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At Point Pleasant they learned that roving bands of Indians were constantly hovering upon either bank of the Ohio, and were in the habit of decoying boats ashore under various pretences, and murdering or taking captives all who were on board ; so that, upon leaving, they de- termined that no considerations should induce them to approach either shore, but, steeling their hearts against every entreaty, they would reso- lutely keep the middle of the current and leave distressed individuals to shift for themselves. The Spring freshet was at its height at the time of their embarkation, and their boat was wafted rapidly down the stream. There was no occasion to use the side oars, and it was only necessary for one to watch at the steering oar, in order to keep the boat in the current.
On the morning of the 20th, when near the junction of the Scioto, they were awakened at daylight by Flinn, whose turn it was to watch, and informed that danger was at hand. All sprang to their feet, and hastened upon deck. The cause of Flinn's alarm was quickly evident. Far down the river a smoke was seen, ascending in thick wreaths above the trees, and floating in thinner masses over the bed of the river. They perceived that it could only proceed from a large fire. As the boat drifted on, it became evident that the fire was upon the Ohio shore, and it was determined to put over to the opposite side. Before this could be done, however, two white men ran down upon the beach, and clasp- ing their hands in the most earnest manner, implored the crew to take them on board. They declared that they had been taken by a party of Indians in Kennedy's Bottom, a few days before-had been conducted across the Ohio, and had just effected their escape. They added, that the enemy was in close pursuit of them, and that their death was cer- tain, unless admitted on board.
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