USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > Steubenville > Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 20th > Part 15
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In the fall of the same year (1785) they returned, and rebuilt the cabins, and were found in possession by General Butler, who, accompanied by JJames Monroe, afterward President, was sent out to again warn thein off.
Joseph Ross with his wife and son Jacob settled on Mingo Bottom in 1784, and made their abode in the hollow stump of a syca- more tree located on the Wells, now the Wabash farm. Here it is claimed was borz the first white child in Jefferson County.
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although this is disputed by Rev. R. M. dian scout, lived at Mingo from 1783 to Coulter, who in a note to the Cadiz Repub- 1786. His exploits would till a large vol- ume. He killed an Indian at the mouth of the Muskingum and escaped back to Mingo. General Harmar sent a file of soldiers after him, who arrived at Mingo during a shoot- ing match, of which an eye witness says: lican dated October 31, 1895 declared that Jesse Long was born on Short Creek iu 1776 and died in 1882. Ross was building his cabin when his child was born who be- came a fine specimen of physical manhood. His brother was with Van Buskirk in his Indian fight, and shot an Indian in the back, and tried to get his scalp, but the Indian dived beneath some driftwood and roots of a tree. Absalom married Annie Edsell, of Brooke County, Virginia, and died in 1867. Joseph Ross while return- ing home from a visit to Bezaleel Wills iu Steubenville in 1806 was strnek and killed by a falling tree during a storm.
Joseph Tilton came to the Ohio country from Pennsylvania in 1776, and settled on land near the site of Tiltonville. He be- came an expert scout and was at two of the sieges of Fort Henry. After the survey he bought the land, on which he continued to live up to the time of his death, when it was divided among his children. His son, C'aleb Tilton, in his boyhood, was looked upon as the first white child born in Jeff- erson County, the date of birth being previous to 1784, at which time Absalom Ross was born. The farm on which Tilton settled is now owned by William Medill.
Others followed and settled at War- renton and Tiltonville, and in the year 1785 there were large settlements at these points, and many of their descendants are living on the lands then taken by their nn- restors-the Maxwells, MeClearys, Tiltons, and MeCormacks.
The father of Ephraim Cable settled at the month of Island Creck huf 1785, where Ephraim was born the same year, and until recently was noted as the first white child born in the county. The father built a blockhouse, where he lived and reared the elder children of a family of twelve. Eph- raim Cable served in the War of 1812, and his name is connected with above Steuben- ville.
Lewis Wetzel, the famons German In-
"A company of men could as easily have drawn Beelzebub out of the bottomless pit as to take Lewis Wetzel, by force, from the Mingo bottom settlement. As soon as the object of Captain Kingsbury's visit was known, it was determined to ambush the captain's barge, and kill him and his com- pany. Happily Major MeMahan was pres- ent to prevent this castastrophe, who pre- vailed on Wetzel and his friends to suspend attack until he should pay Capt Kingsbury a visit ; perhaps he could induce him to re- turn without making the proposed arrest. With reluctance they agreed to suspend the attack until McMahan should return. The resentment of Wetzel and his friends was burning with fury. 'A pretty affair, this,' said they, 'to hang a man for killing an Indian when the Indians are killing onr people every day.' Major MeMahan in- formed Kingsbury of the disposition of the people in the Mingo settlement, and assured him that if he persisted iu the attempt to seize Wetzel, he would have all the settlers in the country upon him ; that nothing could save him and his command from massacre but a speedy return. The captain took the advice, and Wetzel now considered the af- fair adjusted." General Harmar issned a proclamation offering a reward for the de- livery of Wetzel, who was finally retaken near the Falls of Ohio by Lieutenant Law- ler and delivered to General Harmar, but the protests of the people all along the river from Mingo to the falls were so strong and persistent that the general was compelled to release him. Wetzel afterwards weut to New Orleans, where he was arrested and imprisoned for passing a counterfeit bill, palmed off on him by a trader who had honght his pelts. He lay in prison for a long time, or until released by the inter-
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cession of friends in the neighborhood of the Mingo bottom settlement. He died in Texas and was buried near Austin.
It was the depredations committed by the Indians near where Steubenville now stands, after their victory over St. Clair, that occasioned the John Wetzel expedi- tion against the Indians in the spring of 1792. The Indians had made many raids on the border settlers along the Ohio, especially between the site of Steubenville and Wheeling, sometimes killing or captur- ing whole families, at other times stealing horses and whatever else they could carry away. After one of these forays the set- tlers determined to follow the savages, 'The party organized, with Wetzel as captain. The company consisted of William McCul- lough, John Hough, Joseph Hedges. Thomas Biggs, Kinsie Dickerson and Will- iam Liun, all being experienced scouts. From the site of Steubenville they marched up the river to Yellow Creek and then fol- lowed the old trail to Fort Laurens, in the Tuscarawas Valley. At the first Indian town, which was on Mohican Creek, they found their horses. For better safety they concluded to return by a different route, which brought them to a point on Wills Creek, near the site of Cambridge. Here they camped for a night, and while all were asleep excepting a guard, the party was attacked by the Indians. A party of sav- ages bounded into the camp, yelling and brandishing their tomahawks like the de- mons they were. The sconts fled instantly, leaving all their equipments in the camp. In the fight that ensued Biggs, Hedges and Linn were killed, but Wetzel and the others escaped to Wheeling. The Indians mak- ing the attack were some of the old Mora- vian converts who had reverted to heathen- ism, and who were on the warpath to re- venge the massacre at Gnadenhutten ten years before.
Just previous to 1780 McDonald moved from Northumberland County, Pennsyl- vania, and settled on the Mingo bottoms.
A few years ago the late Capt. Farrer, an active member of the Ohio Historical
and Archeological Society, and Dr. A. M. Reid, the latter of Steubenville, marked the point on the Ohio River at which occurred the fight between Andrew Poe and a big Indian. The place designated by their mark is at the mouth of Tomlin- son's Run, which empties into the Ohio from the Virginia side about three miles above the head of Brown's Island. A short distance from the shore is a small island, and it was between the island and the shore the fight took place. Dr. Doddridge gives the first account of this fight and varions reports have been printed, of which the one given by Mr. Caldwell in his history goes into the most detail. In the fall of 1781 Indian raids were common along the Ohio, and during one of them a party of six Wyandots broke into the cabin of William Jackson, in what was known as the Poe settlement, and took him prisoner. Jack- son's son, aged seventeen, returning to the cabin, saw the Indians in the yard with his father, and fed to Harmon's fort. The next day twelve settlers mounted on horse- back started in pursuit of the savages, and followed the trail until they reached the top of the river hill, a distance of about twelve miles. Here they left their horses and traveled on foot, the hill being very preci- pitons. When they reached the bottom of the hill the trail turned down the river, and in crossing the little stream, Tomlinson's Run, Andrew observed that where the In- diaus had stepped into the water it was still riley, and cantioned the men to keep quiet : that the Indians were very near and would hear them and kill the prisoner, Jackson. After fruitless efforts to quiet the men he left the company, turning off square to the right, went to the bank of the river, and looking down he saw, about twelve feet be- low him, two Indians stooping with their guns in their hands, looking down the river in the direction of the noise. He observed that one of the Indians was a very large man. It occurred to him that he would shoot the larger and take the other a pris- oner. He squatted in the weeds, and crept up to the brow of the bank, put his gun
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through the weeds and took aim, but his dian sprang to the raft, which was about gun missed fire. When the gun snapped, six feet off, and brought a tomahawk with which he struck at Andrew's head, who was still lying on his side on the big Indian, he holding him fast. Andrew threw up his foot as the stroke came and hit the Indian on the wrist with the toe of his shoe and the tomahawk flew into the river. The big Indian yelled at the little Indian furiously. who sprang to the raft and got the other tomahawk, and after making several mo- tions at Andrew's head, who threw np his right arm and received the hlow on his wrist, which broke one bone of his wrist and the chords of three of his fingers. An- drew immediately threw his haud over his head when he was struck, and the toma; hawk catching in the sinews of his arm. drew it out of the Indian's hand and it flew over his head. After the stroke was given, the big Indian let go his hold and Andrew got upon his feet. As he rose he seized the gun which lay by his head, with his left hand, and it being already cocked. he shot the smaller Indian through the body; but scarcely had he done so, when the big Indian arose and placing one haud on his collar and the other on his hip, threw Andrew into the river. Andrew threw his hand back and caught the Indinn by his buckskin breech clout and carried him into the river also. The water being deep they both went under. Then a desperate effort was made by each to drown the other: sometimes one was imder the water, some- times the other and sometimes both. In the struggle they were carried about thirty yards out into the river. Poe at length seized the tuft of hair on the scalp of the Indian, by which he held his head under water until he supposed him drowned. Not being able to do nich with his right hand. he threw it on the back of the Indian's neck and swam with his left arm to recruit him self. But the Indian was not dead, and struck out for shore, Por following. When the former got out of the water he picked up a gun and in trying to cock it disabled the lock. He threw it down and picking up both Indians yelled, "Woh! woh!" Poe immediately drew his head back and the Indians did not see him. By this time the other settlers had overtaken the other five Indians with Jackson, who were about one hundred yards down the river, and had be- gun to fire, which drew the attention of the two under the eye of Andrew, who again drew aim, his gun missing fire the second time. He then dropped the riffe and sprang instantly upon theu. On springing about at the snap of the gun, the two Indians were brought side by side, but did not have time to fire at Poe before he was npon them. He threw his weight upon the big Indian. catching each of them about the neck, and threw them both. The big Indian fell on his back, Andrew following with his left arm around his neck. The little Indian fell behind Andrew, whose right arm was around the Indian's neck. Their guns both fell. One of them lay within reach of An- drew, who observed that it was cocked. The Indians had a raft fastened to the shore close by where they were standing, the river beiug very high. The tomahawk and bullet pouch were on the raft. An- drew's knife was in the seabbard attached to his shot pouch, which was pressed be- tween them. He got a slight hold of the handle and was trying to draw it, to dis- patch the big Indian, who, observing it, vaught his hand and spoke in his own tongue very vehemently to the other, who was struggling very hard to get loose. An- drew made several efforts to get his kuife. but in vain. At last he jerked with all his might. The big Indian instantly let go and Andrew, not having a good hold of the handle, and the knife coming out mex- pectedly easy in consequence of the big Indian loosing his grasp, it flew ont of Andrew's hand and the little Indian drew his head from under his arm, his grasp being slackened in the act of drawing his knife. The big Indian instantly threw his long arm around Andrew's body and hugged him like a bear, while the little In- the empty gun with which Andrew had shot
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the other Indian, went to the raft for shot tured by the Indians near the mouth of Harmon's Creek and taken to the Indian towns, where he met Simon Girty. Here he found the Indian whose prize he was to be, Scotash, by whom he was treated like a brother. He was finally released, and returned home, and always remembered with gratitude the kindness of his dusky master. and powder and hegan loading. In the meantime, Andrew swam back into the river and called for his brother Adam, who was with the other party. Adam came ruu- ning along the bank and began to load his gun. It was a race between him and the Indian, but the Indian drew his ramrod too quickly, and it slipped from his hands and fell a short distance from him. He Another characteristic adventure of those days was that of the Johnson boys near what is now the town of Warrenton in 1788. The two boys, John and Henry, the former abont thirteen und the latter eleven years of age, were in the forest cracking nuts when they were captured by two Indians, and after journeying some distance over a cirenitous route the purty halted for the night. The elder, in order caught it up and rammed down his bullet. The delay gave Poe an advantage, so that as the Indian raised his gun to shoot An- drew Adam's ball entered his breast, and he fell forward on his face on the river's margin. Adam jumped into the river to assist his brother to shore, but the latter called him to leave him alone and senlp the Indian. The latter, however, reached deep water before he expired, and the river car- . to keep the Indians from killing thein, pre- ried him off before his sealp could be se- cured. Unfortunately, just as Adam ar- rived at the top of the bank for the relief of his brother, others hearing the cries came running up, and seeing Andrew in the river took him for an Indian, and three of them fired at him, one of them wounding him dangerously. The ball entered the right shoulder, coming out on his left side. During this contest the other Indians were preparing to cross the river on a raft with their prisoner Jackson, who, seeing the whites coming, ran towards them. One of the Indians tomahawked him in the back, making a slight wound. None of the In- dians was captured, and but one of them got across the river, he being badly wounded. A settler named Cherry was shot through the lungs and died in about an hour.
It should be noted here that there was no chief in this fight named Big Foot. The two Indians killed by the Poes were sons of Half-King, chief of the Wyandots, and Scotash, who escaped after being wounded, was a third son. His story was received with great grief by his tribe. Some time after the Poe fight Thomas Edgington, father of Jesse Edgington, who resided in the Cove opposite Steubenville, was cap-
tended that they were pleased to be taken, as they had been treated illy at home and desired to get away from their people. During the evening and before they lay down to sleep, John guardedly informed his brother of a plan he had arranged in his mind for escape. After the Indians had tied the boys and had gone to sleep, John loosened his hands and, having also re- leased his brother, they resolved to kill their cuptors. John took a position with a gun one of the Indians had by his side, and Henry was given a tomahawk. At a given signal, one discharged the rifle and the other ahnost severed the head of the other Indian with the tomahawk. The one struck with the tomahawk attempted to rise, but was immediately dispatched by the brave boy. Coming near Fort Carpenter early in the morning, they found the settlers pre- paring to go in an expedition of resene. The story that they had killed the two In- dians, one of whom was a chief, was not believed by the settlers about the fort, but to convince them John accompanied the men to the scene of the encounter, where they found the body of the Indian killed by John with the tomahawk, but the other had been only wounded and had crawled away. His body was found afterwards.
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Doddridge says that after the Wayne vie- tory, a friend of the Indians killed by the Johnson boys, asked what had become of the boys. When told that they still lived with their parents on Short Creek, the In- dian replied, "You have not done right ; you should have made kings of those boys." The land on which the two Indians were killed was donated to the Johnson boys by the Government for this service. This land was purchased from the Johnson boys by Captain Kirkwood, and has been since in the possession of the Howard, Medill and Kirk families.
The two Castleman girls, Mary and Mar- garet, furnish another interesting story. They came from the Virginia side of the river in 1791 to a sugar camp at the mouth of Croxton's Run, above Toronto, accom- panied by their micle, a Mr. Martin. While engaged in boiling sap, they were surprised by Indians, who shot Martin and, capturing Mary, ran in a westerly direction. Mar- garet had hidden in a hollow sycamore, but started to follow her sister. A young In- dian picked her up and elained her as his property. The girls were taken to San- dusky, where Margaret was sokl to a French trader and Mary was married to a half-breed who treated her with great cruelty. When at last he threw his knife at her she ran away and reached her friends on the Ohio, where she married a man named Wells. The father of the girls, after the Wayne treaty, found Margaret at Detroit and brought her home, where she married David Wright, who lived in the upper part of the county. She lived to the age of 103 years, and left a grand-niece, Mrs. Devore, living at Mingo.
A Mr. Riley located on land west of Mingo, where he built a cabin. One day in 1784, while he and his two sons were work- ing in a cornfield, the Indians surprised and killed the father and one son, the other having escaped. At the cabin they found the mother and two daughters. Mrs. Riley was tied to a grapevine and the two dangh- ters carried off, one of whom was soon tomahawked and the other sold to a French
trader at Detroit. The remains of the mur- dered ones were gathered together and buried in what is now Wells Township on the Smiley JJohnson estate, where the graves have been enred for as a patriotic duty. Mrs. Riley had escaped from the grapevine and taken refuge in the block- house that stood at the mouth of Battle Run. Riley's Rnu, the little stream in that neighborhood, is now called Riddle's Run.
In the early days considerable ginseng was dng in this section and taken east to be exchanged for salt and other products. Josiah Davis, with several others, came across the river in canoes, and he, with an old man named Anderson, was engaged in digging the root on what is now the Bus- tard farm, adjoining Steubenville. Sud- denly an Indian whoop was heard and the crack of two rifles. Anderson fell dead and Davis started to run, with the savages after him. The other members of the party, who do not seem to have been noticed by the savages, hastened home and reported both the missing ones dead. Davis, however. wuerceded in distancing his pursuers, and reaching the river near the present site of the La Belle Mills, arrived home in safety, his knife still open in one hand and the stick he had been whitthing to dig the root with in the other.
During January, 1785, when the well known Indian chief, Joe White Eyes, was en route to Fort MeIntosh at the mouth of the Beaver River to sign a treaty, he stole some horses from a farmer named Sullivan, in what is now Wells Township. Sullivan called his dog and gave chase. Approaching the Indian, the dog raised a great connotion, when White Eyes turned and shooting Sullivan, continued his jour- ney. Afterwards referring to the matter, he coolly remarked: "He must have been a fool; he knew he was in danger when the dog kicked up so, and he knew I was not going to be thus detected, therefore he com- pelled me to shoot him-I couldn't help myself," a philosophical reflection charac- teristie of the horder.
It is said that Richard Wells, known as
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ZION'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, STEUBENVILLE
HEBREW SYNAGOGUE, STEUBENVILLE
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STANTON SCHOOL BUILDING, STEUBENVILLE
RESIDENCE OF J. A. MANSFIELD, STEUBENVILLE
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"Greybeard," purchased from the Indians the entire frontage of the Virginia Hill opposite Steubenville from the old paper mill coal banks to Clark's Run, a distance of two miles, for two bottles of whisky. Another story concerning him is that, about the year 1800 he, with Bezaleel Wells and wife and John Ward and wife were walk- ing along the river bank in front of Steubenville, when the "toot" of an In- dian was heard. Looking across the river they noticed a redskin standing on a large rock near the ferry making offensive ges- tures at the ladies. Bringing his rifle to his shoulder, he fired at the Indian, who dropped off the rock into the river and was seen no more.
About the close of the eighteenth cen- tnry four Indians journeyed into the town of Warrenton, and bought some whisky, from which they soon became greatly in- toxicated. When they started for home they were followed by a party of whites to a short distance back of what is now Port- land Station on Short Creek, where they laid down to rest and were soon in a drunken stupor. Here they were attacked by the whites and all killed. The farm was afterwards owned by J. D. Stringer, who plowed up a number of bones supposed to belong to these unfortunates.
Jack Tilton, of that same neighborhood, was killed by Indians when he was about fourteen years old, having been run down and shot and scalped while out after cows. His dead body was found on the bank of Short Creek, about half a mile west of Portland, where the house of George S. Bigger now stands.
On March 27, 1789, as Mrs. Glass, after- wards Mrs. Brown, of Brooke County, Vir- ginia, was spinning at her home, her black woman who was gathering sugar water ontside, screamed, "Here are Indians." She ran to the door, where an Indian pre- sented his gun at her. She begged him not to shoot, but take her prisoner. Another Indian caught her boy and the negro woman, and after stealing some articles, started for the river, having for captives
Mrs. Brown, her son, and the negro woman with her two children, four and one year old. After a short march they stopped for consultation, and to one of the Indians who could speak English she held out her son and begged for his life, saying he would make a fine little Indian. The Indian mo- tioned her to walk on with her child, when the other Indian strnek the negro boy with the pipe end of his tomahawk, knocking him down, and dispatched and scalped him. They reached the river three miles below Mingo abont 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and taking their canoe, made for Rush Run, where they eucamped for the night abont a mile above the mouth. At sunrise they crossed the divide on to Short Creek, where they again camped in the afternoon and de- posited their plunder with the fruits of previous robberies. Mr. Glass was work- ing with a hired man in a field abont a quarter of a mile from the house when his family was taken, but knew nothing of it until abont 2 p. m., four hours after. After a fruitless search for the missing ones, he 'went to Wells fort and collected ten men, and that night lodged in a cabin where Wellsburg now stands. Next morning they found the place where the party had em- barked, Mr. Glass recognizing the print of his wife's shoe in the earth. They crossed the river and examined the shore down nearly as far as Rush Run without result, when most of the men, concluding that the Indians had gone down the river to the Muskingum, wanted to turn back. Mr. Glass begged them to go at least as far as Short Creek, to which they agreed, and at Rush Run found the canoes. While going down the river one of the Indians threw into the water some papers which he had taken from Mr. Glass's trunk. Mrs. Glass picked several of the pieces out of the water, and under pretense of giving them to hier boy dropped them into the bottom of the canoe, where her husband found them. The trail of the party up the run was soon discovered and easily followed, owing to the softness of the ground and the derangement of the weeds standing from
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