USA > Ohio > Biographical and historical memoirs of the early pioneer settlers of Ohio, with narratives of incidents and occurrences in 1775 > Part 33
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that portion of the congregation who were armed, rushed out of the meeting, to face the danger, or pursue the Indians, which several times happened. After the war commenced, the troops under pay, were the special guard for the garris- ons, in the daytime, but were not connected with the citizens in their military duties. The latter were held in prepara- tion, to be called on for scouts and pursuing parties; while the guard was not allowed to leave the garrison, or the sen- tinel his post, but they were both inspected at the same hour by their respective officers, to see if they were prepared for action at all times. Before the arrival of the Rev. Daniel Story, who was the stated pastor, Thomas Lord, Esq., of Connecticut, who had been educated at Yale college, and studied theology preparatory to the ministry, officiated as clergyman for the settlement. Previous to the commence- ment of hostilities by this weekly inspection on the Sabbath, when the most of the people were at home, but absent on other days, the commandant was informed what proportion of them were armed and equipped to defend the settlement; emigrants frequently arrived without arms, so that the num- ber of guns fell short of the number of men, and the de- ficiency could not be made up in the settlement, and those persons only who were known to have arms, were proceeded against as delinquents. A short time previous to hostilities, Col. Sproat had been authorized by the secretary of war to enlist a company of men into the service of the United States, out of the settlers, to be employed in guarding and defending the settlements, and also to superintend and dis- tribute them at the posts which most needed their aid. He was directed to appoint a commissary to furnish provisions to these troops, and employed Paul Fearing, Esq., Col. Sproat being commander-in-chief, his aid was solicited in procuring arms for the citizens, who were deficient. He immediately wrote to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt, who sent down
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about thirty old muskets which had been laid aside as unfit for use; they were put into the hands of the blacksmiths, who repaired them as well as they could, and distributed where most needed. Powder and lead were furnished, and cartridges made to suit each caliber, and deposited in the block-houses ready to be distributed in case of an attack. In June, 1792, Col. Sproat received two boxes, containing twenty-five stands each of United States muskets with bayo- nets fresh from the factory. These were distributed to the soldiers and citizens on their signing a receipt to return them when called for, to Col. Sproat. The arms were never called for, and are still in the county. The inhabitants were now thought to be well armed ; many rifles were procured and brought into the country. The northern men, previous to their coming here, were unacquainted with the rifle and the woods, but by practicing on the example of those who had been edu- cated among the Indians and the forests, they soon became good hunters and expert woodsmen. Those who were well armed and good marksmen, were commonly selected as sentries for the working parties in the fields, and were always ready to start on any discovery of the enemy, or pursue an Indian trail. Thus, by being familiar with dan- ger, and inured to the hazard of a rencounter with their en- emies, they gained that confidence in themselves which promised, in case of meeting an Indian, the odds in their own favor. Several followed hunting continually : others were out with the rangers, or small parties, so that it was difficult for an Indian to make a track within five miles of a garrison without being detected. Thus a large portion of the inhabitants became fearless of danger from the Indians, and preferred some employment or enterprise abroad, to being confined in the garrisons, which is evident from the fact that nearly all the one hundred thousand acres of do- nation land had been taken up, surveyed and deeded away,
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with improvements made on many of the lots, previous to Wayne's treaty. Where the lots bordered on large streams, many had made considerable improvements during the war, and others were ready to do so on the news of peace. All the lots settled along the Ohio river below the Muskingum, belonged to the Ohio Company's purchase, It is an axiom with military men that rangers are the eyes of an army. It proved true with respect to our settlements. The measure of employing rangers was adopted previous to the com- mencement of hostilities, and they were stationed at Mari- etta and Waterford three months before the massacre at Big Bottom; and as the safety of the lives and property of the inhabitants depended much on the vigilance and honesty of these men, none were selected but such as possessed these qualities. Their pay, under the Ohio Company, was one dollar a day ; but under the United States, it was eighty- four cents, or twenty-five dollars a month.
After naming and describing the persons of a number of the rangers, he says, "Two men, Benjamin Patterson and John Shepherd, from the state of New York, were employed as rangers three of the first years of the war, and then moved down the river. At the time of the controversy be- tween Pennsylvania and Connecticut relative to their con- flicting land claims on the Susquehanna river, the state of Pennsylvania appointed Timothy Pickering, of Salem, Mass., the honest old Federalist, to go upon the ground and meet others to adjust the difference. While there, this same Ben- jamin Patterson was one of two or three men who took Picker- ing from his bed at night, and conveyed him three miles into the woods, and bound him fast to a white-oak sapling and left him there to starve to death; but after two or three days Patterson returned, and went and unbound him, setting him at liberty, for which outrage he fled from Wyoming to the state of New York, and from thence to Marietta. It was
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not uncommon for such characters to call at our settlement, but finding neither plunder nor speculation, and their char- acters soon pursuing them, they floated down the river.
To the plan early adopted of employing rangers, may be attributed the general safety and success of the settlement of Washington county. It was first proposed by Gen. Put- nam, and afterward adopted by Congress. The Indians finding themselves so closely watched by men who were their compeers in their own arts of warfare, as well as more vigilant and untiring soldiers, became indifferent to enter- prises where they were likely to meet with more loss than profit. The hope of reward is the great spring of human action. Men who are not paid, nor fed nor clothed, may make good partizans for a short emergency, but never make good soldiers. Their patriotism soon cools. The hope of plunder is the main stimulus with the Indians. Therefore they crossed the Ohio river below and above-passing by us, went a hundred miles beyond, on to the waters of the Monongahela, where there was more plunder and less watch- fulness. Revenge is sweet, but must not be bought too dear. Parties of fifty or a hundred, who came on to attack us, sel- dom remained about the settlements more than a week; and larger bodies of a thousand or more, such as attacked Gen. St. Clair and Fort Recovery, could not keep together more than four or five days, as they had no means to pro- vide food for the soldier or his family, when fighting the bat- tles of his tribe. It is estimated, that in the seven years previous to the war of 1791, the Indians, along the fron- tiers south of the Ohio river, killed and took prisoners, fif- teen hundred persons, stole two thousand horses, and other property to the amount of fifty thousand dollars. This was the declared object of the party who killed Mr. Carpenter and the family of Armstrong.
The first physician who came to settle in Marietta, was
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Dr. Jabez Farley, a son of Gen. Farley, of Old Ipswich, Mass. He had been educated for a physician, and studied medicine with old Dr. Holyoke, walking with him, as his friends said, three years in the streets of Salem. He was a modest, amiable, young man; always ready to obey the calls of humanity, and had the good-will and confidence of all who knew him. But as there were but few people, and those young and healthy, (except the disease of an empty purse,) his practice was very limited. As he was not fitted for any other business, in the autumn of 1790, his medicine being exhausted, he returned to Ipswich, and did not come out again.
In the first settlement of the country, intermittent fever, or fever and ague, was the prevailing disease, among all classes, along the water-courses. It commenced about the 1st of August, and continued at intervals, until sugar-making in February or March. Maple sugar was a valuable article of diet, in families who had little or no salt meat, as this food was scarce and dear. Sugar was a substitute for many things, and where they could get it, as most people could, who took the pains of making it, was used freely, and some- times exhausted their store, before the sickly season, in Au- gust, arrived; when they were almost certain to be sick; while those who had more substantial and solid food, es- caped. Remitting or bilious fevers were not so common, until long after the war. Industry and temperance were preventives of most disorders, and a remedy for many more.
Gen. Putnam used to relate an anecdote of his own expe- rience in the fever and ague. After concluding a treaty of peace with the Wabash and Illinois Indians, in September, 1792, he was attacked with the fever and ague, and suffered severely with this disorder, on his voyage up, performed in a superb, twelve-oared barge, rowed by United States sol- diers. He had a surgeon on board, who prescribed for him,
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but debarred him from the use of stimulating food and drink. His disease continued unabated, under this course, until he reached this side of Gallipolis, when the boat landed at night- fall, at a camp of hunters on the bank of the Ohio. They had a profusion of bear meat, venison, and turkey. They feasted themselves, and made every person welcome; but the general was interdicted the savory contents of the camp- kettle, by his surgeon, the very fumes of which were quite a feast to a hungry stomach. He lay down on his blanket, before the camp-fire, and tried to sleep, but the thoughts of the rich contents of the camp-kettle, only a few feet from him, prevented. As soon as all around him were lost in slumber, he crept up to the side of the kettle, and feasted his craving appetite on the well-seasoned bear meat and venison, as long as he dared to indulge it. He had not a single return of the ague after this night; showing that all he needed, was more stimulating food than he had been al- lowed to use for several weeks preceding.
As the Indians came into the treaty at Fort Harmer in the fall of 1788, they employed themselves in hunting and destroying the game, for which they had no use, (as they were supplied with rations from the garrison,) except for the skins of the deer. So great was their industry and per- severance, that in the fall and winter they brought in deer and turkeys, piling them up on the bank of the Muskingum, at the Point, like a stack of hay, until the inhabitants were obliged to assemble and throw them into the river, to abate the nuisance. They left the carcasses about the woods, which brought in the wolves and panthers, but destroyed all the deer. A man by the name of Bagley, who was a fiddler, and lived at Wolf creek mills, on his way to Mari- etta one cold, snow-stormy day in March, was attacked by a gang of wolves, who drove him up a tree, where he had to sit and play the fiddle for them all night, until they left
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him in the morning. When the Indians were asked why they destroyed and wasted the game in such a manner, they answered they meant to destroy and starve out every white man north of the Ohio. They frequently alluded to the prospect of repossessing their lands, and recovering their good hunting grounds. One old Indian, when he drew his blanket at the treaty, threw it over his shoulders, saying he had got his cornfield on his back, but he would have it to walk on next year. It was said there were four hundred Indians, men, women, and children; and so thoroughly did they destroy the game within ten miles of Marietta, that scarcely a deer could be seen ; where, before, a good hunter could kill from fifteen to twenty in a day. I have heard Ham- ilton Kerr say, that the hills between Duck creek and Little Muskingum, were the best hunting ground he had ever seen ; that he could easily kill fifteen deer in a day, and frequently in a morning. The Indians, by burning the woods every year, kept down the undergrowth, and made good pasture for the game and good hunting for themselves. The famine of 1790 was much aggravated by this destruction of the wild animals.
Early in March, 1791, Capt. Joseph Rogers, one of the rangers, was killed by the Indians. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and about fifty years old; a gentlemanly, brave, humane soldier, and had been an officer in Col. Morgan's rifle corps at the capture of Burgoyne. Having served honorably through the Revolution, he, with many an old soldier, marched toward the setting sun, on the forma- tion of the Ohio Company, in the hope of finding a new home in the west. He was in company with Edward Hen- derson, another of the rangers, on their return from a tour of duty, and was shot by a party of four Indians, on the side of a hill a mile north of Campus Martius. Henderson
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had several balls shot through his clothes, but made his escape after being chased several miles, and reached the garrison at the Point about twelve o'clock at night, where he was recognized by the sentinel on duty, and admitted at the gate on Ohio street. The commander was roused, the cannon fired, and answered at Campus Martius and Fort Harmer. The alarm ran through the garrison that Rogers was killed, and Henderson chased into the post by a large body of Indians, who were now at the gate making an attack. All was consternation in the darkness of night, but every one hastened to his alarm post. Some incidents occurred which marked the propensities of different individ- uals. The first person for admittance into the central block- house was Col. Sproat, with a box of papers. Then came some young men with their arms. Then a woman with her bed and children. Next old Mr. William Moulton, from Newburyport, aged seventy, with his leather apron full of old goldsmith tools and tobacco. Close at his heels came his daughter Anna, with the China teapot, cups and saucers : Lydia brought the great Bible; but when all were in, their mother was missing. Where was mother? She must be killed ! No, says Lydia, mother said she would not leave the house looking so; she would put things a little more to rights, and then she would come. Directly mother came. bringing the looking-glass, knives and forks, &c.
Messengers were soon exchanged with Campus Martius, and no appearance of hostilities was discovered. All re- turned to their homes in the morning, and peace was re- stored to the little anxious community. A strong party of men went out that forenoon, brought in the dead body of Rogers, and buried him in second street, near the brink of the plain."
Mr. Barker, as orderly-sergeant, had charge of the block-
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house at the Point, where the inhabitants assembled at the alarm of Indians, and was an eye-witness of the scene described.
During the continuance of the war, he was exposed to many dangers and trials, which he met with the fortitude of a brave man, and was ready at all times to lead or to follow wherever duty called him. Soon after the massacre at Big Bottom, he was on the ground with a party of volunteers from Marietta, and assisted in burying the burnt and mu- tilated bodies of his countrymen. Also in the autumn of 1791, when Capt. Carpenter and four others were killed by the Indians seven miles above Marietta, in Virginia, he was early at the spot, and assisted in committing to the earth their mangled bodies, which was a dangerous service, as the savages might still be lurking in the vicinity of the place, watching for their approach.
In August, 1793, the small-pox again visited Marietta, and to avoid the infection in his family, he moved to Stone's garrison, in the upper settlement of Belpre, built in the spring of that year. But this enemy of the human race, more subtle than the savage, could not be eluded, and Mrs. Barker took the disease in the natural way. It proved to be of the malignant, confluent kind, and she barely escaped with her life, bearing about her person the marks of its vio- lence the rest of her days. All the inhabitants of Belpre who had not previously had the small-pox, were now inocu- lated, turning their garrisons into so many hospitals. Be- tween the Indians without their walls, and disease and want within, they suffered extremely.
In the spring of 1794, a family by the name of Armstrong, on the Virginia shore of the Ohio, in sight of Stone's garri- son, was attacked by the Indians, four killed and three taken prisoners. On this occasion he was one of the volunteers who, on the first alarm, turned out from the garrison to 29
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pursue the Indians, bury the dead, and give succor to such of the family as escaped by not being in the house at the time. These melancholy scenes were common during the war, and tried the courage and the hearts of the bravest of the settlers.
In the winter of 1793-4, he taught a school in the garri- son. This post was about one hundred yards in length by fifty yards in breadth, and contained five block-houses, and six log dwelling-houses, with a school-house. The whole were inclosed with stout palisades. The inmates consisted of twelve families, and being generally prolific in children, averaging from three or four to eight or ten in a family, they could furnish a school of forty between the ages of four years and twenty years. The heads of families in this garrison were Capt. Jonathan Stone, Capt. William Dana, Capt. Elias Gates, Col. Silas Bent, Stephen Guthrie, Israel Stone, Simeon Wright, Isaac Barker, Joseph Barker, Wan- ton Cosey, Benjamin Patterson, and Stephen Smith. The school was an interesting one, and he spent the winter very pleasantly in teaching the young idea how to shoot.
In February, 1795, the inhabitants of this little garrison were doomed to lose one of their own number by the Indians. Jonas Davis, an intelligent young man from New England, and at the time living in Mr. Barker's family, incautiously left the station one morning alone, and went about three miles up the bank of the Ohio, for the purpose of getting the boards and nails from a small boat he had discovered wrecked in the ice on the shore, as he came down from Ma- · rietta the day before. Not returning that night, fears were felt for his safety. The following morning all the inhabit- ants of the garrison fit to bear arms, excepting Capt. Dana and Col. Bent, who were rather infirm, were mustered to go out in search of Davis. After cautiously reconnoitering their way, he was found killed and scalped near the mouth of
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Crooked creek, stripped of all his clothing but a shirt. Pre- parations were soon made, for bringing the dead body to the garrison, by lashing it with hickory withes to a pole.
In the meantime, one of the party, unused to such scenes, became much alarmed at the sight of the dead and mangled body, together with the surmises of Patterson, the ranger, that the Indians were still lurking in the vicinity, watching their motions, suffered his fears to get the better of his rea- ·son, and started, full speed, for home. So much alarmed was the man, that he fancied an Indian in every bush, and thought he could see their dusky forms stalking from tree to tree, ready to intercept him. In the meantime, the inmates of the garrison were waiting, in anxious suspense, the return of the party, and to hear the result of their search. At length the person in the watch-tower gave notice of the ap- proach of a messenger, at his utmost speed. A general rush of the women and children, was made to the gate, to learn the tidings. The man, out of breath, and pale with affright, had hardly strength enough to relate that he had been chased by the Indians, who filled the woods, and barely escaped with his life, and he had no doubt the whole party were either killed or taken prisoners. The gates were immediately closed and barred, while every preparation in their power, was made for defense, by the two old veterans, Dana and Bent, who had both seen service in the American Revo- lution. Grief, anguish, and confusion, for a short time per- vaded this wretched group of mothers, wives, and children, at the false intelligence of the fate of their dearest friends. On more closely questioning the alarmed fugitive, as to the particulars of the fight with the Indians, from his incoherent account, they were led to hope the matter was not so disas- trous as represented, and quiet began to be restored, while they waited, in great anxiety, the return of the party.
It was a slow and laborious task, to bring the dead body
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on their shoulders, and not regarding the flight of the run- away as of any importance, or that he might cause need- less alarm to their friends at home, they returned cautiously along, keeping a good look-out for their wily foes, if any were near. They, at length, to the great relief of the in- mates of the garrison, made their appearance with the dead body; and as it was naked, they halted a few rods from the gate, and called for a blanket to cover it. The article re- quired, was carried out to them by Mr. Barker's little son, Joseph, then only four years old, who, to this day, remem- bers that distressing scene, with the anguish and alarm of the occasion, with all the vividness of a recent event. This was the last trial they had with the savages, as in August following, the peace of Greenville was completed with the western tribes.
From the time of his first coming to Marietta, Mr. Bar- ker's intention was, to become the owner of a farm, but had thus far been prevented by the hostilities of the Indians. The donation lands of one hundred acres, had previously been distributed to actual settlers, and his lot fell in Wise- man's bottom, seven miles above Marietta ; to this he subse- quently added three other lots, making a fertile and valuable farm, of four hundred acres, the seat of his future home.
In April, 1795, he left the garrison, in a canoe, with two of his wife's brothers, William and Edmond Bancroft Dana, to assist him in making the first opening on his wilderness farm, taking with him-, in addition to his cooking utensils, farming tools, and provisions-fifty young apple, and twelve cherry trees; it being one of the first acts of the thrifty New Englanders, to provide their families with fruit, as well as bread. The name of Wiseman's bottom originated from a backwoodsman, who, while Virginia claimed the right to all the lands northwest of the Ohio river, had made an entry at this spot, of four hundred acres, called a settlement right.
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It was upon this little improvement, that Mr. Barker began his first clearing. There was yet considerable danger from the Indians, as peace was not yet concluded, and a man was killed by them about ten miles distant, on Wolf creek, in a short time after. Nevertheless, the adventurers proceeded up the Muskingum and commenced their labor. About the time of their arrival a block-house had been built at Rain- bow creek, on the opposite side of the river, by Gen. Put- nam, where he proposed to erect a mill, distant about a mile. In this building, during the time of their stay, the party took shelter every night, returning to their work in the morning with a gun on each one's shoulder, and an axe in the hand. While at their work chopping down the trees, one of the party was constantly kept on the lookout for danger. In addition to their own watchfulness, they had the aid of a faithful old dog, called Pedro, who accompanied them from New Hampshire, and had been with them during the war in Belpre. He would instinctively post himself on some elevation, such as a big log, or the stump of a tree, on the watch for the approach of an enemy, ready to give the alarm on the least sign of its appearance, whether from wild beast or savage.
They were thus occupied for three weeks, and made the first permanent improvement in the Wiseman's bottom set- tlement, a tract embracing two or three thousand acres, and which subsequently became one of the most beautiful, well cultivated tracts, and intellectual community on the Mus- kingum river. During this time they had cleared about two acres of ground in the rich bottom, which was thickly cov- ered with immense trees of black-walnut and sugar-ma- ple, the labor of removing and burning which no one can tell, but him who has actually tried it. Holes were dug in the fresh virgin soil, and apple trees planted out amidst the gigantic sons of the forest, whose lofty heads were made to
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