USA > Maryland > Harford County > The rocks of Deer Creek, Harford County, Maryland. Their legends and history > Part 2
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
would have been promptly resented, but the Bird had too much regard for the dignity of the occasion, and too much respect for the character and author- ity of his father, the confederate chief, to notice it by immediate and violent resentment. He quietly withdrew from the presence of the maiden, enter- taining, however, the purpose to avenge the insult when the fitting opportunity arrived. That oppor- tunity was not long delayed.
Ten days after the close of the council, there was a gathering of the tribes at the lower village, to participate in the ceremonial connected with the rite of purification, a rite imperative in the case of every male infant of the tribe at its eighth day. From a grove of stately oaks, one of which may be seen at this present time, one hundred yards east of the spot on which now stands the house of Mr. Grafton, a procession moved toward Deer Creek, in the waters of which the child was immersed by the venerable priest of the lower village. The rite per- formed, the procession returned in the order in which it came. The remaining portion of the day was spent in feasting and dancing, in which the Bird participated with seeming enjoyment and for- getful apparently of his purpose to avenge the in- sult perpetrated by Lone Wolf. True, however, to the instincts of his race, that purpose was still cherished, and only awaited the opportunity of its accomplishment. When about to leave for his vil- lage, he challenged Lone Wolf to a trial of skill with the bow and arrow, to take place at the Rocks early on the morning of the succeeding day, sug- gesting at the same time the Fern as ump re, whose decision would be respected by all. These propo- 3
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
sition's were gladly accepted by Lone Wolf, as the trial proposed would afford him an opportunity of displaying his acknowledged skill, and also of en- joying the society of the Fern. On the following day, before the frosts had been melted by the rising sun, the contestants met at the place designated. The contest continued until the shadows fell upon the roots of the trees, when Lone Wolf was declared the victor. The crown of laurel was placed on his brow by the umpire, accompanied by a few words complimentary to the skill of the victor, and seem- ingly expressive of personal interest. The Bird was excited to madness by the seeming preference of the Fern for Lone Wolf, and remembering the insult, suddenly grasped his rival, and rushing with the speed of lightning to the edge of the preci- pice, threw him headlong into the abyss below. As he was falling, a few plaintive notes of the death- song were heard, and the voice of Lone Wolf was hushed forever.
The Bird made no effort to escape. Submissive to the immemorial custom and imperative law of his race, he sternly awaited the coming of the avenger, and would certainly have been slain, but for the in- terposition of the Fern. Drawing from the pocket of a belt which she wore the trinket of two jewels that had not been damaged seriously, she offered them to the sister of Lone Wolf, his only surviving relative, as an atonement for the blood of her broth- er. The offering was accepted by her, as also by her tribe. That trinket of two jewels was the Ar and Thar, erroneously supposed to have been lost by the ancestors of the present race of Indians in their migration to this continent from the East. It
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
had been preserved in the family of Bald Eagle, and highly valued, as its possession gave prosper- ity, and conferred princely authority and rule. That the Fern should have parted with such a treasure is understood in the light of the fact that she had cherished an attachment for the Bird, and secretly hoped to become his wife.
Three moons subsequently, at the feast of the coming spring, always observed when the first birds made their appearance, there was another gather- ing of the tribes at the Rocks, to witness the cele- bration of the nuptials of the Bird-that-Flies-High and of the Fern-Shaken-by-the-Wind. Following immediately this ceremony was the consummation of a design that Bald Eagle had long entertained. Aged and wearied with the responsibilities and la- bors pertaining to his position as chief ruler of the confederate tribes, he abdicated his authority, and nominated his son as his successor. His choice was ratified by all the tribes. Conducted by the aged priest of the upper tribe to the seats on the Rocks, the Bird-that-Flies-High and the Fern-Shaken-by- the-Wind were formally declared King and Queen of the confederate tribes.
They were the last King and Queen of the Rocks of Deer Creek. Ere many moons waxed and waned the pale faces came. Driven from their homes and from the graves of their forefathers, the confederate tribes fled to the land of the setting sun, finding their last hours and their graves among strangers in the distant wilderness.
Lone Wolf, whose romantic history and tragic death have been related, was buried on the banks of Deer Creek, about six hundred yards above the
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
present residence of Joshua Rutledge, Esq., and often, during the autumnal nights, in the faint light of the waning moon, is seen at that locality a strange apparition. It is thought to be the spirit of the murdered chieftain mingling with the shadows that fall on the rippling waters.
THE LAST INDIAN OF DEER CREEK.
MINGO PARK is the name of the estate of our well-known and respected fellow-citizen, James Stansbury, Esq. This place is most appropriately named. It is derived from Mingo Hill, an abrupt eminence immediately opposite the residence of that gentleman, at the base of which runs and ripples the waters of the far-famed Deer Creek. The hill itself takes its name from Mingo-one of the Min- goes-whose wigwam was located on the lowlands, an hundred yards or more above the position now occupied by the mill of Mr. Stansbury, and on the left bank of the stream.
The Mingoes have become celebrated in Indian history. They originally occupied a large part of the territory now included in the State of New York. They were known by several names. The English called them the Five Nations, because they consti- tuted a confederacy of that number of distinct nations, increased to six by the accession of the
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
Tuscaroras of Carolina. The French called them Iroquois ; the Dutch, Maquas, and the Virginia Indians gave them the name of Massawomikes. At home they were known by the name of Mingoes. At first their habits had been rather agricultural than warlike, but unhappily for their peace, and the well-being of others of their race, they were attacked by the powerful tribe of the Adirondacks, then occupying the country three hundred miles above Trois-Rivieres in Canada. Necessity drove them to war, and by their prowess and success they earned the proud title of the Romans of the West. Nearly exterminating the Adironacks, and proudly exalting themselves on their overthrow, the Iroquois or Mingoes grew rapidly to be the leading tribe of the North, and finally of the whole continent. But, like many of the mighty nations of the earth, they have yielded to a superior force, and there now remains only an handful to recount mournfully the mighty deeds of their valorous fathers. Another race, with its teeming millions, occupies their hunt- ing-grounds and controls their waters. Their fate is the melancholy recollection of a greatness never to be recovered, and the agonizing anticipation of the utter extinction of their race.
The Mingo whose history we record had, as we have seen, his home among the wild, weird scenes of the Upper Deer Creek. His wigwam at first was one of many, for in the locality designated there was a considerable village of his tribe. The coming of the white man drove them from their homes, and they migrated northward and westward, resting for a time in the forests of Pennsylvania and on the plains of Ohio. Mingo alone remained,
3*
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
occupying his wigwam, with his wife and children, - and finding his support in the waters of Deer Creek and in the wooded hills that bordered it. The rea- son of this seemingly singular procedure is, as will appear, but another illustration of the mysterious nature of man and the power of a sentiment.
The Mingoes of Deer Creek made frequent forays upon the Indians living on the waters of the lower Patapsco, and occasionally extended their incursions into Eastern Maryland and Virginia. In one of their adventures they penetrated the country as far south as the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, opposite the mouth of the Potomac, and attacking suddenly and unexpectedly, surprised and captured a large village, with much booty and some prison- ers. Among the captives was Watumpka, the daughter of Wesaco, in his day the most celebrated chieftain of the Wicomicos. Brought by her cap- tors to the Rocks of Deer Creek, which at the period referred to was the general rendezvous of the Mingo warriors of the vicinity, and from which they con- ducted their warlike expeditions, and to which they returned to make distribution of the common spoils, -happily for Watumpka, in the allotment of the prisoners, she fell to the share of Mingo, who had participated in the expedition. This youthful war- rior had seen twenty summers. He had already at that age developed into the noblest type of manhood. Six feet in height, of corresponding weight, straight as the arrow he let go from his bow, of perfect fea- tures, rather Roman than Indian, and of dignified mien, he was the admiration of his tribe. Added to these physical attractions was a mind and heart intellectual, sympathetic and loving. The artist
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
would have selected him as his ideal, and the female heart chosen him as its possession forever. Of Watumpka it might have been said, Indian though she was, what the immortal bard said of the gentle Desdemona :
" A maiden never bold, Of spirit so still and quiet that her motion Blushed at itself."
And of the attractions of her person what Michael Cassio said of the gentle maiden :
"Tempests themselves, high seas and howling winds, As having sense of beauty, do omit Their mortal natures, letting safe go by The divine" Watumpka.
Mingo saw and was conquered. His captive was the captor. Watumpka submitting resignedly to the fate of the captured-expatriation from her home-and yielding to the ardent wooing of her lover, consented to become his bride. The celebra- tion of the nuptials was in accordance with the rites of the Mingoes, after which she occupied with her husband his wigwam on the banks of the Upper Deer Creek. There, under the shadows of Mingo Hill, in the quiet and patient performance of the duties of her position as wife and mother, she passed the days of her allotted life. Not indeed without feeling the weight of the shadows that fell upon her heart in the recollection of the happy scenes of childhood and youth, and in the remembrance of the loss of a noble father and the care of a tender mother. These were but occasional experiences. The duties of life and the sense of the affections of him she had chosen generally absorbed her thought.
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
How long Mingo remained on Deer Creek after the occupancy of the country by the whites is not known. The ancestors of some of the present res- idents of upper Harford knew him to have been there several years after they had settled in the neighborhood-among them Richard Deaver, the great-grandfather of the present George and Rich- ard Deaver, Seniors. That after a time he followed his tribe westward is conjectured ; but if so, not until after the death of Watumpka, his captured bride. By the side of the river, under the shadows of the trees, was laid in deepest grief what was mortal of Watumpka, the child of Wesaco the Wi- comico, and the wife of Mingo the Massawomike. And it is not difficult, we think, for the occupants of Mingo Park, as they sit by the blazing fire in the winter nights, to imagine that they hear the voice of Mingo, who long since joined Watumpka in the land of spirits, mingling with the voices of the winds without. It is the voice of the shade of the yet living and loving Mingo, which seeks to com- mune with the shade of the still living and loving Watumpka.
Honnis, a venerable chief of the Wyandots, said to an acquaintance of the writer of this narrative, that the warriors of his nation were called upon to put each one grain of corn into a wooden tray that would hold more than half a bushel, and that before all had done so the tray was full and running over. The Mingoes were a more numerous and pow- erful nation, covering a great tract of country, esti- mated to have been twelve hundred miles in length and seven hundred miles in breadth. Along the Susquehanna and its tributaries, among the forests
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
of Deer Creek and in its valleys, were once many of these people. There remained for a while after their departure a single representative of this once mighty nation. He lingered because his captive wife, the beautiful and loving Watumpka, was alien to his people. They had killed her father, Wesaco, the honored chief of the Wicomicos, and made her a captive in a strange land and among a strange people. Obedient to a mysterious quality of the human mind, she became the wife of a Mingo, par- ticipating in his toils and sharing in his sympathies. Him alone she loved, and for him and the children she bore to him she lived-to the Mingoes alien forever,-a sentiment that led her to end her life and find her grave among the pale faces, also the inexorable foes of her race.
THE HERMIT OF THE OTTER ROCK.
YEARS ago-I will not say how many-there lived in the Valley of Virginia a family of English origin. They had emigrated to America, not to better their worldly condition, but to relieve themselves, if possible, of the shadow of a great trouble which had fallen upon them at their former home. The head of the household was of noble birth-the blood of the -ran in his veins. Unhappily his temper was irascible, and he lacked ability to control its
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
violence. In a controversy with a fellow-nobleman he yielded to its exactions, and struck a blow that almost instantly proved fatal to his antagonist. Conscious of the insufficiency of the provocation that led to the fatal result, and properly fearing the majesty of that equal justice which is a distinguish- ing characteristic of English law, he fled his country, and under an assumed name came to America, and found, as he thought, a refuge of safety in the prov- ince of New Jersey. Having brought with him abundant means, he purchased an estate in the vicin- ity of what is now -, and made preparation for the reception of his family. The large reward that had been offered for his arrest stimulated inquiry, and it was learned that he had fled to America. Detectives were put upon his track, and they were likely to accomplish the arrest of the object of their search. Information of these facts coming . to the knowledge of the criminal and fugitive, he suddenly and secretly left the locality in which he had been living, and by concealed travel eventually reached the forests of Virginia. Purchasing from Lord Fairfax, then proprietor of the northern neck of Virginia, a tract of land consisting of two thou- sand acres, a few miles east of the present site of
-, he again prepared for the reception of his - wife and children. Here he was secure, and was in a brief time rejoined by his family. At that dis- tant period of the past there were not, as now, large towns, substantially built, and attractive villages, with communities in town and country possessing all the refinements of highly cultured society. There was not a hamlet ; only an occasional cabin, connected by paths or the blazings of the trees, and
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
with rare exceptions, the few, isolated inhabitants were as rude and uncultivated as their surround- ings. An exception was the family of noble lineage. The oldest child of that family was a son, and at the time of which we write was a young man twenty- four years of age, of cultivated mind, and of much personal attraction. In heart he was as his mother, a woman of gentle nature and sweetness of disposi- tion. And from her he inherited a love of solitude. Though she was the wife of a nobleman of large wealth, and constrained by her position when at home to mingle much in society, it was always with- out pleasure, and gladly intermitted. This predis- position to solitude was intensified by the occurrence which led to the removal of the family to America. In its wilds at that day, where solitude reigned almost supreme, Walter realized the fullest gratification of the inherited and now cultivated predisposition. He communed with nature and with his own spirit, saddened by the remembrance of a great misfortune.
Calamities come not singly. To that family of stricken ones death came in the character of a mys- terious plague, and all save Walter - - fell victims to its relentless power. The solitude that he had coveted and enjoyed, now intensified, became insup- portable, and he sought relief from its oppressions. Having heard from a trapper of the wild of north- eastern Maryland, with its wondrous lake abound- ing in fish, of the cataract falling from the summit of a rocky ridge four hundred feet in height, and of the rapid river, in the waters of which the otter and the beaver abounded, and of the forests in which roamed the elk, the bear and the deer, he resolved
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
to make it his home, where, undisturbed by human associations, he might commune alone with nature and the denizens of forest and river ; and forgetting, if such were possible, that crime of a parent which had smitten his heart with an inexpressible anguish, wait patiently and submissively for that event which comes to all. Early on the morning of May - he bade adieu to the forests of Virginia, and, after a fatiguing journey of some days, reached his desti- nation. He had not been deceived by the represen- tations of the trapper. He found lake and cataract, waters abounding in fish and forests in game. About one-half mile east of the Rocks of Deer Creek is a massive rock projecting from a precipitous hill into the water. The rock is cavernous, and was a home of otters ; hence its name, the " Otter Rock." On the hill, one hundred yards above the rock, in a thick growth of laurel, the hermit erected a rude
hut of fallen logs. The cabin was well concealed from view by the thicket of undergrowth, and having to and from it a narrow, circuitous path, he deemed himself secure from intrusion. The once " petted child of fortune " took up his abode in this solitary place of the wilderness, trusting in his skill in the use of gun and trap and hook to supply him with the material necessary to sustain his physical life, and hoping to escape the recollections of the great wrong that had poisoned so soon the springs of his earthly felicity.
Solitude, to be advantageous, must be for a season only. Communing with ones self cannot long be protracted. Too long apart from his fellows, man will conjure up a thousand beings to converse with his thoughts ; he will give sentiment and even lan-
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
guage to inanimate objects. The wild man will people the solitudes of the wilderness with society, and the untutored man in his solitary watchings and walkings among hills and valleys has his fears aroused by traditions of places haunted by spirits and ghouls: Where human associations break not the monotony of speechless existence, there it al- ways is
"Fast in the wilderness and dream of spirits."
So it became with the hermit. Now he lived in an ideal world. Educated from his youth to be- lieve in spiritual existences, he peopled the solitudes with real though invisible beings, and often in his dreams, as also in his waking reveries, communed with them. The Puckwudjimmenees-those fairy beings whom the Algonquins thought planted the acorns from which the forests of oaks grow-not infrequently to his vision
"- came fleeting by In the pale autumnal ray."
In the vicinity of his retreat was a gentle spring of cool, limpid water, which he imagined was haunted by those mysterious little people. There is, perhaps, some apology for the superstition, for an ancient legend tells
" How that old fountain was peopled erst by fairies ; That the spirit of their spells And flowery rites yet on its margin tarries, And that upon the summer eve, in the silent air still lingers The wild, sweet music of a band of fay-like singers."
Such solitude could not be sustained, and the hermit turned to the living instincts around him 4
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
for relief. In so doing he found pleasure. He found in his communings with the occupants of forest and lake, grove and river, rare and exquisite enjoyments, joys denied him by the presence of civil- ized life, and not found in the dreamy existence he had been living. The birds entertained him with rarest songs of sweetest melodies, and to his ear the howl of the wolf and the cry of the panther were music. So also the scream of the eagle and the hissing of the serpent. With all the habitants of woods and waters he cultivated intimate relations. He recognized them as friends, and deported him- self towards them as such. His friendship was reciprocated, and on their part was confiding. Had he been seen in his wanderings through the wood- lands, or in his solitary walkings by the river's side, strange phenomena would have been witnessed. The birds accompanied him, flitting after him from tree to tree, or bush to bush, reluctant, seemingly, to be absent from one whom they manifestly esteemed and loved. The fish recognized his voice, and upon his appearance on the banks of the streams would gather to his presence. They fed from his hand as trustingly as the child feeds from the hands of a loving mother. The raccoon, the opossum, the wildcat and the timid deer were equally confiding. An Adam in his Eden, he ruled the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the waters. If his physical necessities required the of- fering of the confiding, that sacrifice was made with the utmost tenderness and consideration.
The hermit was not always indifferent to human associations. Rarely, indeed, did he leave his seclu- sion to mingle with men. At distant intervals the
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THEIR LEGENDS AND HISTORY.
hermitage was visited by persons prompted by curi- osity, if by no other motive. These rare occasions were enjoyed by him, and to his visitors were of great interest. His facility of communication was great, and at the times referred to his conversations were intensive in their character, the logical reaction from the life of seclusion he had led.
Age came to the hermit, and with it thoughts of other days and sweeter joys. Present to his vision often was the image of his mother, and in the slum- bers of the night he would dream that he heard her, as in the days of his childhood, breathing blessings upon him. £ He awoke to find it but an illusive dream. Sickness came, and with it fever, picturing images of terror. The vigils of the night brought with them the sense of loneliness, and the mornings gave no relief. Alone in the wilderness, without the sympathy of his kind, and by infirmity denied the happiness he had derived from association with the instincts around him, he passed the days of his closing life. He was then heard to say he was thinking of his mother-
"Thy gentle hand seems lightly still caressing The flaxen hair so loved, so prized by thee, And as in days gone by, I hear thy blessing Breathed, oh ! so earnestly."
The end came. The solitary watcher by the couch of the departing was a lone star. Looking upward, he gazed long and intently upon it, and interpreted the beautiful phenomenon as prophetic of joys beyond it, where He abides who dwells in the light inaccessible. His last earthly vision was the fading image of his mother.
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
"Even thine image now,
The image of the lovely form, that shone, The starlight of my childhood, seems to fade From memory's vision. 'Tis as some pale tint Upon the twilight wave, a broken glimpse Of something beautiful and dearly loved In far gone years, a dim and tender dream, That, like a faint bow, on a darkened sky, Lies on my clouded brain."
Times change, and men and things change with them. The lake and cataract no longer exist. Under the shadows of the Rocks human habitations are built. The waters of Deer Creek are utilized in the production of the necessities and conveniences of civilized and, in a certain sense, artificial life. The rude hut of the hermit has long since dis- appeared, and the progress of the age threatens greater innovations. But a very brief space of time ago men of singular mien were seen among the hills and along the valleys of Deer Creek, with peculiar instruments in their hands, measuring the surface of the earth as they passed. Unknowingly they stood on the very spot on which rested. the Her- mit of the Otter Rock, and had they not been so in- tent on pursuing their curious vocation, they might have heard the voice of a mysterious though invisi- ble stranger bidding them, " Begone !" For have not these men reported that these hills and valleys shall soon reverberate with the loud whistlings of the "locomotive" and the thunderings of the " train ?" And such will be the substitution for the poetries of nature in the solitudes of the wilder- ness.
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