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 72
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Within two hours they reached the designated spot. The canoe was still there, and no track could be seen upon the sand, so that it was evi- dent that their victim had not yet arrived. Hastily dismounting, they tied their horses and concealed themselves within close rifle shot of the canoe. Within ten minutes after their arrival the Indian appeared in sight, walking swiftly towards them. He went straight to the spot where the canoe had been buried, and was in the act of digging it up, when he received a dozen balls through his body, and, leaping high into the air, fell dead upon the sand. He was scalped and buried where he fell, without having seen his brother, and probably without having known the treachery by which he and his father had lost their lives. The deserter remained but a short time in Bourbon, and never regained his tranquillity of mind. He shortly afterwards disappeared, but whether to seek his relations in Virginia or Pennsylvania, or whether, disgusted by the ferocity of the whites, he returned to the Indians, has never yet been known. He was never heard of after- wards.
HOW MAJOR SMITH RECOVERED HIS SWEETHEART.
Among the adventurers whom Boone describes as having reinforced his little colony was a young gentleman named Smith, who had been a Major in the militia of Virginia, and who, in the absence of Boone, was once chosen to command the rude citadel, which contained all the wealth of this patriarchal band-their wives, their children and their herds. It held also an object particularly dear to this young soldier-a lady, the daughter of one of the settlers, to whom he had pledged his „ affections.
It came to pass, upon a certain day, that this young lady, with a female companion, strolled out along the banks of the Kentucky river.
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Having rambled about for some time, they espied a canoe lying by the shore, and, in a frolic, stepped into it with the determination of visiting a neighbor on the opposite bank. It seems that they were not so well skilled in navigation as the Lady of the Lake, who " paddled her own canoe " very dexterously ; for, instead of gliding to the point of destination, they were whirled about by the stream, and at length thrown on a sand bar, from which they were obliged to wade to the shore. Full of the mirth excited by their wild adventure, they hastily arranged their dresses, and were proceeding to climb the bank when three Indians, rushing from a neighboring covert, seized the fair wan- derers and forced them away.
Their savage captors, evincing no sympathy for their distress, nor allowing them time for rest or reflection, hurried them along during the whole day by rugged and thorny paths. Their shoes were worn off by the rocks, their clothes torn and their feet and limbs lacerated and stained with blood. To heighten their misery, one of the savages be- gan to make love to Miss -, (the intended of Major S.,) and while goading her along with a pointed stick, promised, in recompense for . her sufferings, to make her his squaw. This at once roused all the energies of her mind and called its powers into action. In the hope that her friends would soon pursue them, she broke the twigs as she passed along and delayed the party as much as possible by tardy and blundering steps. But why dwell on the heartless and unmanly cruelty of these savages ? The day and the night passed, and another day of . agony had nearly rolled over the heads of these afflicted females, when „heir conductors halted to cook a wild repast of buffalo meat.
The ladies were soon missed from the garrison. The natural courage and sagacity of Smith, now heightened by love, gave him the wings of the wind and the fierceness of the tiger. The light traces of female feet led him to the place of embarkation ; the canoe was traced to the opposite shore ; the deep print of the moccasin in the sand told the rest, and the agonized Smith, accompanied by a few of his best woods- men, pursued " the spoil-encumbered foe."
The track once discovered, they kept it with that unerring sagacity so peculiar to our hunters. The bended grass, the disentangled briers and the compressed shrub, afforded the only but to them the certain indications of the route of the enemy. When they had sufficiently as- certained the general course of the retreat of the Indians, Smith quitted the trace, assuring his companions that they would fall in with them at the pass of a certain stream ahead, for which he now struck a direct course, thus gaining on the foe, who had taken the most difficult paths. Arrived at the stream, they traced its course until they discovered the
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JESSE HUGHES, THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER.
water newly thrown upon the rocks. Smith, leaving his party, now crept forward upon his hands and feet, until he discovered one of the savages seated by a fire, and with deliberate aim shot him through the heart.
The women rushed towards their deliverer, and recognizing Smith, clung to him in the transport of newly-awakened joy and gratitude, while a second Indian sprang towards him with his tomahawk. Smith, disengaging himself from the ladies, aimed a blow at his antagonist with his rifle, which the savage avoided by springing aside, but, at the same moment, the latter received a mortal wound from another hand. The other and only remaining Indian fell in attempting to escape. Smith, with his interesting charge, returned in triumph to the fort, where his gallantry was finally repaid by the sweetest of all rewards-the girl herself.
JESSE HUGHES, THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER.
Jesse Hughes was one of the most daring, energetic and successful Indian hunters in the mountain region of Virginia, and was an adept with the rifle and tomahawk. A man of delicate frame but an iron constitution, he could endure more fatigue than any of his associates, and thus was enabled to remain abroad at all seasons without detriment. He averted many a threatened blow and saved the lives of numerous helpless settlers, and, consequently, his memory is still dear in the region which he helped to protect. The following incidents of his career De Hass derives from sources entitled to every credit :
About 1790, no Indian depredations having recently occurred in that vicinity, the inhabitants began to think that difficulties were finally at an end, when, one night, a man heard the fence of a small lot, in which he had a horse confined, fall, and, running out, he saw an Indian spring on the horse and dash off. The whole settlement was soon alarmed, and a company of twenty-five or thirty men raised, prepared to start at daylight. They went around the settlement, and found the trail of eight or ten horses, and they supposed there were about that many In- dians. The Captain, who had been chosen before Hughes arrived, called a halt and held a council to determine in what manner to pursue them. The Captain and a majority of the company were for following on their trail, but Hughes was opposed, and said he could take them
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to the place where the enemy would cross the Ohio, by a shorter way. But the Captain insisted on pursuing the trail.
Hughes then pointed out the danger of trailing the Indians, and insisted that they would waylay their trail, to find whether they were pursued or not, and would choose a situation where they could shoot two or three and set the rest at defiance, and thus out-travel them and make their escape. The commander found that Hughes was likely to get a majority for his plan, and that he (the Captain) would lose the honor of planning the expedition, and so he broke up the council by calling aloud to the men to follow him and let the cowards go home, and dashed off at full speed, the men all following.
Hughes knew the Captain's remark was intended for him, and felt the insult deeply, but followed on with the rest. They had not gone many miles until the trail led down a ravine, where the ridge on one side was very steep, with a ledge of rock for a considerable distance. On the top of this cliff lay two Indians in ambush, and when the com- pany got opposite they made a noise of some kind that caused the men to stop; that instant two of the whites were shot and mortally wounded. They now found Hughes' prediction verified, for they had to ride so far around before they could get up the cliff, that the Indians, with ease, made their escape. They all now agreed that Hughes' plan was the best, and urged him to pilot them to the river where the Indians would cross. He agreed to do it, but was afraid the Indians, knowing they were pursued, would make a desperate push and get ahead. After leav- ing some of the company to take care of the wounded, they started for the Ohio and reached it the next day, but shortly after the Indians had crossed. The water was still muddy, and the rafts they had used in crossing were in sight, floating down close to the opposite shore. The men were now unanimous for returning home. Hughes soon got satis- faction for the insult the Captain had given him. He said he wanted now to find out who the cowards were; that if any of them would go, he would cross the river and scalp some of the Indians. They all re- fused. He then said if one man would go with him, he would under- take it. Hughes then said he would go and take one of their scalps or leave his own.
The company now started home, and Hughes went up the river three or four miles, keeping out of sight of it, for he expected the Indians were watching to see if they would cross. He then made a raft, crossed the river and encamped for the night. The next day he found their trail and pursued it very cautiously, and about ten miles from the Ohio found their camp. There was but one Indian in it; the rest were out hunting. The Indian left to keep camp, in order to pass away the
.
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SAD DEATH OF CAPTAIN VAN BUSKIRK.
time, got to playing the fiddle on some bones they had for the pur- pose. Hughes crept up and shot him, took his scalp, and made the best of his way home.
The following anecdote illustrates the great discernment and instanta- neous arrangement of plans of this Virginia hunter. At a time of great danger from incursions of the Indians, when the citizens of the neigh- borhood were in a fort at Clarksburg, Hughes, one morning, observed a lad very intently fixing his gun. "Jim," said he, "what are you doing that for ?" "I am going to shoot a turkey that I hear gobbling on the hillside," said Jim. "I hear no turkey," said the other. " Listen," said Jim: "There, didn't you hear it? Listen again." "Well," says Hughes, after hearing it repeatedly, "I'll go and kill it." "No, you won't," said the boy, "it is my turkey; I heard it first." "Well," said Hughes, "but you know I am the best shot. I'll go and kill it, and give you the turkey !" The lad de- murred, but at length agreed. Hughes went out of the fort on the side that was furthest from the supposed turkey, and passing along the river, went up a ravine, and cautiously creeping through the bushes behind the spot, came in whence the cries issued, and, as he expected, espied a large Indian sitting on a chestnut stump surrounded by sprouts, gobbling, and watching if any one would come from the fort at his decoy. Hughes shot him before the Indian knew of his approach, took off the scalp and went into the fort, where Jim was waiting for his prize. "There now," says Jim, "you have let the turkey go. I would have killed it if I had gone." "No," says Hughes, " I didn't let it go;" and, taking out the scalp, threw it down. "There, take your turkey, Jim, I don't want it." The lad was overcome, and nearly fainted to think of the certain death he had escaped, purely by the keen perception of Jesse Hughes.
SAD DEATH OF CAPTAIN VAN BUSKIRK. .
Early in June, 1792, occurred the last conflict on the upper Ohio, between an organized party of Virginians and Indians. In consequence of the numerous depredations on the settlements now embraced in Brooke and Hancock counties, it was determined to summarily chastise these marauders ; and, accordingly, a party of men organized under the command of Captain Van Buskirk, an officer of tried courage and ac- knowledged efficiency. A party of Indians had committed sundry acts of violence, and it was believed they would endeavor to cross the Ohio,
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on their retreat, at some point near Mingo Bottom. Van Buskirk's party consisted of about forty experienced frontiermen, some of whom were veteran Indian hunters. The number of the enemy was known to be about thirty.
The whites crossed the river below the mouth of Cross Creek, and marched up the bottom, looking cautiously for the enemy's trail. They had discovered it along the run, but missing it, they concluded to take the ridge, hoping thus to cross it. Descending the ridge, and just as they gained the river, the Indians fired upon them, killing Captain Van Buskirk and wounding John Aidy.
The enemy were concealed in a ravine amidst a dense cluster of paw- paw bushes. The whites marched in single file, headed by their Cap- tain, whose exposed situation will account for the fact that he was rid- dled with thirteen balls. The ambush quartered on their flank, and they were totally unsuspicious of it. The plan of the Indians was to permit the whites to advance in numbers along the line before firing upon them. This was done; but instead of each selecting his man, every gun was directed at the Captain, who fell with thirteen bullet- holes in his body. The whites and Indians instantly treed, and the contest lasted more than an hour. The Indians, however, were de- feated, and retreated towards the Muskingum, with the loss of several killed ; while the Virginians, with the exception of their Captain, had none killed, and but three wounded.
Captain Van Buskirk's wife was killed just eleven months previous to the death of her husband. They lived about three miles from West Liberty. She had been taken prisoner by the Indians, and on their march towards the river her ankle was sprained so that she could not walk without pain. Finding her an incumbrance, the wretches put her to death on the hill just above where Wellsville now stands. On the following day her body was discovered by a party who had gone out in pursuit.
MASSACRE OF THE PURDY FAMILY.
One of the boldest murders perpetrated in the neighborhood of Wheeling, in 1790, was that of the family of James Purdy, a worthy and industrious settler on the hill above Bedelion's mill. The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Purdy and their four children. The cabin in which they lived was unfinished ; a blanket supplying the place of a door. But this was not deemed unsafe, as no Indians had appeared in
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MASSACRE OF THE TUSH FAMILY.
the settlements for some months. Soon after dark four Indians stepped into the cabin, and, without uttering a word, commenced butchering the defenceless family. Two of them fell upon Purdy, who called to his wife for a knife, which she handed him; but he was then too much exhausted from the repeated blows of the tomahawk to use it, and the next moment sank lifeless to the floor. Mrs. Purdy was knocked down with a war club; one child was dashed against the doorway and its brains scattered over the room, while an interesting little boy, who was screaming with fright, was quieted by a blow from the tomahawk. The two remaining children, daughters, were then made prisoners, and after plundering the house, the Indians made a rapid retreat across the Ohio. The girls were released after ten years' captivity. Mrs. Purdy was only stunned by the blow with the war club, and falling near the door, crawled off and secreted herself while the Indians were eating.
MASSACRE OF THE TUSH FAMILY.
The valley of Wheeling Creek, one of the most beautiful and pro- ductive in West Virginia, was the theatre of many a painful and bloody drama. Scarcely a quiet bend, or a surrounding hill, or a rippling trib- utary, that is not memorable as connected with the wars of the Indians. To one unacquainted with its tragic history, it would indeed be diffi- cult to imagine that those clear waters were once tinged with the blood of helpless women and children, and those stern old hills ever echoed to the terrible whoop of the savage. Of those who settled at an early day in this region, was George Tush. His residence was about twelve: miles from the river, and his family consisted of himself, wife and five: children. During the year 1794 the settlements on Wheeling Creek. had been almost entirely exempt from Indian visitation, and many of the inhabitants began to console themselves with the reflection that day was about to dawn upon their long night of terror.
On the evening of Saturday, September 6th, as George Tush was in the act of feeding his hogs, in a sty close to his cabin, he was fired upon by three savages, who had concealed themselves and waited until he should leave the house. A ball struck him transversely upon the breast, cutting a deep gash and inflicting a serious and painful wound, as it carried off a portion of the bone. It lodged in the shoulder blade. Tush, losing entirely his presence of mind, or, in all charitableness, we may allow that his pain deprived him of self-control, rushed madly by 43
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his own door, in direction of the forest, leaving his helpless family to the mercy of relentless savages. The next moment the Indians were in the house.
The mother was instantly made prisoner, and in powerless but quiv- ering agony, compelled to witness the horrid butchery of her innocent children. In an instant the youngest-born was dashed against a tree, and the other four fell beneath the reeking tomahawk. Pillaging the house of such articles as they could carry off, a hurried retreat was made, lest the escaped husband should follow in pursuit. The feeble woman was brutally urged on before them. But, alas! the scenes which she had just witnessed, together with her own situation, rendered her movements both slow and painful. Fearing discovery, the wretches tomahawked their helpless victim and left her at a point about eight miles from the place of captivity. Her bleached remains were found some years afterwards by her husband while hunting.
Of the children tomahawked and scalped, one, a little girl of four years, recovered, and the infant, whose brains were supposed to have been dashed out, was found alive on the following day, lying upon its dead sisters and brothers. That child lives and became the wife of George Goodrich, residing near Shelbyville, Ind. The children had, a few days before, gathered a quantity of acorns, which, it is supposed, prevented the hogs disturbing the remains.
MASSACRE OF CAPTAIN THOMAS AND FAMILY.
On the night of the 5th of March, 1781, a party of Indians came to the house of Captain John Thomas, on Booth's Creek, one of the branches of the Monongahela. Captain Thomas was a man of much piety, and had regular family devotion. While thus engaged, sur- rounded by his wife and seven children, the Indians approached his cabin. The settlement had as yet felt no apprehension of Indian depredation, as the season was not sufficiently advanced to cause alarm. Anticipating no attack, Captain Thomas was therefore not prepared, and his house not so well secured as was his custom. He had just re- peated the line of the hymn, "Go worship at Immanuel's feet," when the Indians approached and fired. The Christian father fell dead at the moment, and a band of savages, forcing the door, entered and com- menced the work of death. Mrs. Thomas implored their mercy for herself and children; but, alas ! the savage knows no mercy for feeble woman or helpless infancy. The tomahawk did its work until the
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AN ATTACK UPON KIRKWOOD'S CABIN.
mother and six children lay weltering in blood by the side of the slaughtered father. They then proceeded to scalp the fallen and plun- der the house and then departed, taking with them one little boy as a prisoner.
Elizabeth Juggins was in the house at the time the Indians came, but as soon as she heard the report of the guns and saw Captain Thomas fall, she threw herself under the bed and escaped the observation of the savages. When they had left the house, fearing they might still be in the neighborhood, she remained where she was until she discovered the house was on fire. When she crawled forth from her asylum, Mrs. Thomas was still alive, though unable to move, and casting a pitying glance towards her murdered infant, asked that it might be handed to her. Upon seeing Miss Juggins about to leave the house, she ex- claimed, " Oh, Betty, do not leave us!" Still anxious for her own safety, the girl rushed out, and taking refuge for the night between two logs, in the morning early spread the alarm. When the scene of the murder was visited, Mrs. Thomas was found in the yard, much mangled by the tomahawk and considerably torn by hogs-she had, perhaps in the death-struggle, thrown herself out at the door. The house, together with the remains of Captain Thomas and the children, was a heap of ashes.
AN ATTACK UPON KIRKWOOD'S CABIN.
Early in the Spring of 1790 a large body of Indians made an attack upon the settlement at the mouth of Indian Wheeling Creek, opposite Wheeling, Virginia. A block-house was in course of erection, but was not in condition to be occupied ; the cabin of Captain Robert Kirk- wood was used as a place of resort for the neighborhood. On this oc- casion Captain Joseph Biggs, who commanded a company of scouts, was in the cabin with fourteen of his men. About four o'clock in the morning Captain Diggs, feeling restless, arose and went out into the air. Returning, he closed the door, and, what was unusual, rolled a barrel of pork against it, in order to make it more secure. He had scarcely time to get into bed when the attack was commenced, and a furious assault made upon the door by means of rails, logs, &c.
The besieged placed themselves under the command of Captain Biggs, by whom the defence was maintained in a manner highly credit- able to him as a brave and skillful officer. He ordered every particle
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
of light to be extinguished, and so stationed his men as to fire upon the enemy from every direction. The night was clear and beautiful; the moon, being nearly full, gave those within great advantage over the enemy, as they were enabled, by the light, to shoot the savages when- ever they presented themselves. Early in the engagement Captain Biggs received a serious wound, but, with the courage of a true soldier, concealed the nature of it until daylight. In noticing the movements of the enemy through one of the windows of the cabin, an Indian, who had slipped close under the side of the house, suddenly thrust his rifle through the window at which Captain Biggs was standing, and, dis- charging it, lodged the ball in the left arm of the Captain, just below the shoulder. The bone was badly fractured, and parts of it afterwards came away.
Foiled in their attempt to effect an entrance at the door, (which had been well secured by puncheons from the floor,) the savages determined to try the effect of fire, and, accordingly, hurled burning fagots upon the roof, which, in a few minutes, was enveloped in flames. But again they were unsuccessful, for the whites pushed the roof off the house. The Indians now became furious, and commenced piling brush against the side of the house and set it on fire. At one time the noble little band thought their fate was sealed, as the flames would often mount to the top of the walls. With perseverance and caution, however, they succeeded in extinguishing the fire. This they did first with water, milk, and such other liquids as could be commanded, and finally with sand from beneath the cabin floor. Early in the attack the mortar was removed from the chinks of the walls and the savages, having suffered severely from the steady aim of the scouts through these convenient port holes, retired behind the half-finished block-house.
Shortly after daybreak the boom of a cannon was heard echoing among the hills, which the besieged hailed as the harbinger of help. The firing had been heard at Wheeling, and the gun announced that assistance would soon be at hand. The savages, too, understood it, and without delay gathered up their wounded and disappeared in the forest. Five of the whites were severely wounded, one mortally. These were Captain Joseph Biggs, John Walker, Elijah Hedges, John Barrett and Joseph Van Metre. Walker was shot through the hip, causing his death early the next day. He was removed to the residence of Colonel Zane, Wheeling, where he died, and was buried with military honors. A coat belonging to some of the inmates, which had been suspended by the centre log and was left hanging after the roof had been thrown off, was found, on examination, to be completely riddled with bullets. The number of Indians was never fully ascertained, nor the extent of
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A "PERFECT DEVIL" KILLS SEVEN INDIANS.
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