USA > Ohio > Contributions to the early history of the North-west, including the Moravian missions in Ohio > Part 8
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in the cultivation and improvement of the plant- ation his own prowess had rescued from the wilderness. During the Indian war from 1790 to 1795 he remained unmolested in his cabin, protected in some measure from attack by the Ohio River and the proximity of Fort Harmar. Many years before his death he liberated all his slaves, and by his will left valuable tokens of his love and good feeling for the oppressed and despised African. Full of years and of good deeds, and strong in the faith of a blessed immortality through the atoning blood of his Redeemer, he resigned his spirit to Him who gave it on the 25th of September, 1820, aged eighty-four years; and was buried in a beau- tiful grove on his own plantation, surrounded by the trees he so dearly loved when living. !
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HAMILTON KERR.
Hamilton Kerr, the man referred to in the preceding sketch of Isaac Williams, was an- other of those stout-hearted and iron-sided
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men who seem to have been providentially raised up to meet the exigencies of the time in which they lived. It is doubtless one of the laws of nature that all its productions shall be fitted to the climate and soil in which they are placed. The law holds equally good when applied to ma In times of violence, tumult, and strife, the mind and body of man are so constituted as to be readily accommodated to the emergency which requires their service. In peaceable and quiet seasons the passions are lulled into repose, and we dream not that such stern hearts can be found who can look on bloodshed and slaughter with composure; yet such has ever been the condition of poor human nature. It is the animal triumphing over the rational; the fiendish portion of our being over- coming the spiritual and the angelic. Without the holy and purifying precepts of Christianity, subduing and suppressing the animal propens- ities, man would ever remain a degraded and brutish being; with the aid of this Divine gift
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he can be taught to overcome his most violent 1
passions, and to love and do good to those who have heaped upon him the greatest injuries. Even in his savage state, kind and benevolent feelings toward an enemy are sometimes seen; so that the Creator did not leave man without some redeeming qualities, although they have been strangely perverted.
Hamilton Kerr was the intimate friend of Isaac Williams ; and, although many years younger, there was not only that sympathy of feeling which a similar occupation produces, but also that mutual regard which generous and brave men ever entertain for each other. For days and months they had traversed the wilderness together, pursuing the chase of the bear, the buffalo, and the deer, and side by side had fought the common enemy of the country. He was a tall, athletic man, possessed of great 1 muscular power, and one of those brave pioneers who acted as rangers for the garrisons at Ma- rietta and Belpre during the Indian war; a man
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whose heart never knew fear, and would have borne the torture by fire at the stake with the same uncomplaining fortitude and contempt of pain as the savage himself. From a - similarity of pursuits, and by frequent intercourse in times of peace, many of the Western borderers had insensibly imbibed a large share of that stoical philosophy so peculiar to the savages of North America. But fortunately Mr. Kerr was not put to the test, although often in danger from the rifles of his enemies. Several Indians were known to have fallen by his hands in the vicinity _ of the garrisons.
After the close of the war he settled on a farm in Meigs county, Ohio, near the mouth of a creek which still bears his name, and is well known to all who navigate the Ohio as " Kerr's Run." Although he had no advantages of education, yet, like many of the sons of the forest, he possessed superior intellectual powers. He stood high in the estimation of the public, and for many years held the office of a magis-
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trate, bestowed upon him by the free suffrages of his neighbors, as a mark of their confidence in his integrity and talents. He died a few years since, greatly lamented as one of the early friends and protectors of the infant West.
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LEGEND OF "CARPENTER'S BAR."
CHAPTER X.
LEGENDS OF BORDER HISTORY.
LEGEND OF "CARPENTER'S BAR."
SIx miles above Marietta, at a broad expan- sion in the Ohio River, is the location of "Carpenter's Bar," a spot much dreaded by all steamboat pilots in low stages of the water. It took its name from a tragical event which occurred in the early settlement of the country, near the mouth of a small stream, which puts into the Ohio opposite the bar. This stream is called "Carpenter's Run." The inhabitants of Marietta having migrated from a distant part of the United States, were not in a condition to bring many domestic animals with them, and those they did bring were generally stolen from them, or shot down in the woods by the Indians. This state of destitution for several
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years after the settlement in 1788, opened a favorable market for cattle to the older settle- ments on the western branch of the Mononga- hela River, in the vicinity of the present town of Clarksburg, Virginia.
In this region, especially on "the Elk," and "the West Fork," settlements had been made as early as the year 1772; and many large farms were opened, and numerous herds of cattle grown in the rich hills of that country, which has ever been famous for its fine grazing lands. It is distant about eighty miles in nearly a due east direction from the mouth of the Muskingum. Several droves had been sent
in as early as the year 1790. Among others -engaged in this business was Nicholas Carpen- ter, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who had been one of the first settlers of this remote region. He was a man of great energy and activity, and took the lead in all business transactions ; having not only a large farm, with eighty or one hundred acres of cleared
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land, with a fine orchard, but a small store of dry goods. He carried on a smithery, and gun making, at which he worked himself; and also employed a hatter, shoemaker, and clothier, all on his own premises. For so remote a spot, and so early a day, Mr. Carpenter may well be considered a man of much importance to the society among which he dwelt. He was not only a business man, but also a pious man- commencing and closing the labors of each day by prayer and praise to his Maker for the fa- vors he received in this world, and the cheering hope of immortality promised him in the Gospel among the blessed in the next.
At the period of the event which I am about to relate, he was the father of eleven children, all by one mother, In those days such families were not uncommon. Every thing was in its prime. The virgin soil brought forth by hund- red-fold; and mankind multiplied the more rap- idly, not only from their simple food and active lives, but also from the continual dangers that
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surrounded them. As a sample of the fecundity of the climate, there were living about twenty- eight years ago-soon after the period of my settling on the Ohio River, a little below the mouth of Fishing Creek in Virginia-two broth- ers by the name of Wells, whose united progeny amounted to forty-seven; one brother having twenty-four and the other twenty-three chil- dren. The two families used to fill one school- house themselves. They, however, had each of them a second wife; and a number of the children are yet living in that vicinity.
The latter part of September, in the year 1791, Mr. Carpenter left home for Marietta with a large drove of cattle. This place he had visited twice before on the same business. He had in company with him, to assist in driving the cattle through the wilderness by a path, on each side of which the trees had been marked, five men, and his little son, Nicholas, then only ten years of age. He was, however, an uncommonly-active boy, and often traversed
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the woods on horseback, to the distance of twenty and thirty miles, all alone on the busi- ness of his father. As the Indians were then hostile, he was warned of the danger by his mother, who was very sorry to part with him, but he pleaded so earnestly to go, and playfully answered that he could easily escape on his little horse if attacked, which was very swift of foot, that she finally consented. The names of the men who accompanied him were Jesse Hughes, George Leggett, John Paul, Burns, and Ellis. They had traveled three days with- out any signs of danger, and were approaching within sight of the Ohio River, and only six miles from the mouth of the Muskingum, when they encamped for the night on the banks of a small run, a short distance from its mouth- considering themselves as safe from attack, and their journey in a manner completed. Their horses were hoppled and turned loose to feed in the vicinity of the camp, on the wild pea vine and tall plants with which the woods were
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filled at that day; while the drove of cattle lay around and browsed, or ruminated after their weary travel, as best suited their several in- clinations.
While they are thus quietly resting we will travel to another part of the forest. It so happened that not far from the time of their leaving home with the drove, a marauding party of six Shawnee Indians, headed as was afterward ascertained, by Tecumseh, then about twenty years of age, and finally so. celebrated for bravery and talents, crossed the Ohio River a short distance above the mouth of the Little Kanawha. They had left Old Chillicothe, a noted Indian town on the Scioto River, with the intention of making a foray on the west branch of the Monongahela, for the purpose of stealing horses and killing the inhabitants. Passing by "Neal's Station " on the Kanawha, they met with a colored boy of Mr. Neal's, about fourteen years old, who was at some distance from the house collecting the cows,
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it being just at evening. They took him a prisoner and forced him to go along with them, . but did no other mischief lest alarm should be given and pursuit made, and the main object of - their excursion be frustrated. The route from Kanawha to the west branch was well known to the Indians and all the old hunters. And although the country was a continued wilder- ness, their main war paths were as familiar to them as our modern turnpikes are to travelers. On this route a part of the old Indian trail, for nearly twenty miles, lies on the top of a narrow ridge, now known to all this region as "Dry Ridge." It is so named from its being desti- tute of any water for all this distance, and is the dividing line between the streams which fall into Hughes River on one side, and those which flow into Middle-Island Creek on the other.
I well remember traveling on this ridge thirty years ago. It was to visit a patient thirty-two miles from Marietta, and we reached our desti-
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nation a little before midnight. The sick man was in the agonies of death, and expired shortly after. The house, a small log-cabin, was so * crowded with visitors, and there was so much talking and noise that I could not sleep, and concluded to mount my horse and return. It was the last of October, and a clear starlight night, about two o'clock, and was not the less dreary from my being all alone, and the rec- ollection of the scene I had just witnessed. There was not a house for twenty miles. Ever and anon the howl of a wolf, or the shrill yell of a panther, only a few rods from the path, made both the horse and the rider prick up their ears. After a solitary ride of four hours I reached a cabin at the foot of the ridge, where on inquiry I learned that a great many deer had been lately killed along the ridge, and that an unusual number of wolves, attracted by the smell of the blood, had assembled to feast on the offal. This path was then pointed out to me as "the old Indian trail," and was
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doubtless the same along which Tecumseh and his party had marched.
But to return from this episode. Before they reached the waters of the Monongahela Frank, the black boy, became much tired with his long walk, when the Indians, to encourage him, prom- ised him a horse to ride on their return. Soon after leaving the ridge they came upon the trail of Mr. Carpenter's drove, and thinking them a caravan of new settlers on their way to the Ohio, they immediately gave up any further progress east, and turned with great energy and high spirits on the fresh large trail, which they saw had been made only the day before. So broad was the track made by the drove of more than a hundred cattle and six or seven horses, that they followed it without difficulty all night, and came upon the cattle and the camp fire a little before day.
Previously to commencing the attack they took the precaution of securing the black boy with thongs to a stout sapling, a short distance
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from the camp, telling him if he made any noise the tomahawk would be his fate. The tramping and noise of the cattle assisted the Indians in making their approaches to recon- noiter the camp, as their own movements would be blended with those of the cattle in the ears of the sentries, had there been any. But this precaution they had not taken, as they in fact considered themselves in no danger. Tecumseh, with the caution that ever after distinguished him, placed his men behind the trunk of a large fallen tree, only a few rods from the camp, where they could watch the movements of their enemies and not be seen themselves. At the first dawn of morning, Carpenter, who was the first to rise, awakened his men, saying it was time to be moving; and when their ablutions were completed, he called them together that they might begin the day with the accustomed acts of devotion. As the men sat around the fire, he commenced reading and singing a hymn, in which the men all joined, from the old " West-
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End" Baptist collection, and was in the act of reading the following lines of the third verse :
" Awake our souls, away our fears, Let every trembling thought begone; Awake and run the heavenly race, And put a cheerful courage on."
At this moment the Indians all fired, follow- ing the discharge with a most terrific yell, and immediately rushed upon their astonished and unprepared victims with their tomahawks. The fire of the Indians was not very well directed, as it killed only one man, Ellis, from Green- brier, and wounded John Paul through the hand. Ellis immediately fell, exclaiming, "O Lord! I am killed." The rest sprang to their feet, and before they could all get their rifles, which were standing against a tree, the Indians were among them. Hughes, who had been an old Indian hunter, in his confusion seized on two guns, his own and Mr. Carpenter's, and pushed into the woods with an Indian at his heels. He discharged one of them, but whether 14
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with effect is not known, and threw the other down. Not having completed dressing himself before the attack, his long leather leggins were only fastened to the belt around his waist, but were hanging loose below, and getting between his legs greatly impeded his flight. Finding he should be soon overtaken unless he could ·rid himself of their incumbrance, he stopped, and placing his foot on the lower ends tore them loose from the belt, leaving his legs naked from the hips downward. This operation, al- though the work of a moment, nearly cost him his life, for his pursuer, then within a few yards, threw his tomahawk so accurately as to graze his head. Freed from this impediment he soon left his foe far behind and escaped. My in- formant, a son of Mr. Carpenter, now living in Marietta, but then a small boy, says he well remembers seeing the bullet holes in Hughes's hunting shirt, so narrow was his escape.
John Paul, with his wounded hand, was saved by his superior activity in running. George
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Leggett was pursued for nearly four miles, over- taken and killed. Burns, a strong, athletic man, and not much of- a runner, was slain near the camp after a desperate resistance, as the vines and weeds were all trampled down for more than a rod square around where he lay. When found a few days after, his stout jack-knife was ' still clasped in his hand, with which he had doubtless inflicted some wounds on his foes. Mr. Carpenter, although lame, having had his ankle joint shattered by a rifle shot many years before, would have done some execution on his enemies could he have found his rifle, which Hughes in his hurry and confusion had carried off. Although a very brave man, yet without arms he could do nothing, and being too lame for a long race, he sought safety by conceal- ment behind a clump of willows in the bed of the run, but was soon discovered. His little son was also taken near him. They were hur- ried to the spot where black Frank was left, and both of them killed; the father by the
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plunge of a knife, and the son by the stroke of a tomahawk. What led to the slaughter after they had surrendered is not known, but probably from the Indians' thirst for the blood of white men. Negroes when captured by them ` they seldom killed, but treated kindly, either from pity at their condition, or the fancy that they were, from their color, in some way re- motely connected. The body of Mr. Carpen- ter was found carefully wrapped up in his own new blanket, with a pair of new Indian mocca- sins on his feet, and his scalp not removed, while all the others had been subjected to this operation. The removal of the scalp is con- sidered the greatest disgrace that can befall a warrior. These marks of respect after his death were shown him by an Indian of the party, whose gun Mr. Carpenter had repaired a few months before, and had refused any com- pensation for the service. This fact was told to Christopher Carpenter by one of the Indians, many years after, at Urbana, in Ohio.
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Tecumseh's party, after collecting the plunder of the camp, retreated in such haste, fearing a pursuit from the garrison at Fort Harmar, that they left all the horses, which had probably scattered in the woods alarmed at the noise of the attack. Before starting from this scene of blood, they sent out one of their number to unloose the black boy Frank, and take him along with them, but to save them this trouble he had already unloosed himself. In the midst of the confusion of the assault, by great exer- tions he broke the thongs which bound him, and hid himself in a thick patch of tall weeds near by. After all was quiet, and he supposed the Indians had departed, he raised his head cautiously and looked around, when much to his amazement he saw a tall Indian within a few paces of him, but who being occupied with other thoughts fortunately did not see him, and went off in another direction. Frank returned to his master, and died only a few months since. The death of Mr. Carpenter and his
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comrades filled the settlement on Monongahela with grief and consternation, for he was greatly esteemed, and his loss for many years deeply lamented.
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- DESCRIPTION OF FORT HARMAR.
CHAPTER XI.
MISCELLANEOUS SCRAPS.
1 DESCRIPTION OF FORT HARMAR.
FORT HARMAR Was built in the Autumn of the year 1786, by a detachment of United States troops under the command of Lieut .- Col. Harmar. The form of the fort was pen- tagonal, or five-sided, with a bastion of the same form at each corner. The walls or cur- tains between the bastions were each about one hundred and twenty feet in length and twelve feet high, constructed of hewed logs. The bar- racks for the soldiers were built against the curtains, the walls of which formed the out- side of the buildings, while the roofs descended within, throwing the rain-water inside the in- closure. The rooms in these were large, form- ing ample quarters for the troops, and buildings
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for the provisions and stores. The bastions were constructed with large palisades, made of the trunks of trees set upright in the earth, and of an equal hight with the curtains; the sides of the bastions measured about forty feet each, the outlines of which are still distinctly marked in the earth where they stood. Con- veniept dwelling-houses for the officers were built in each bastion, with two rooms at least twenty feet square. An arsenal was built, near the center of the fort, of logs covered with earth, for the protection of the powder, and was a kind of bomb-proof structure. The main gate was placed on the side next the river, and a sally-port on that looking toward the hill, which is distant about eighty rods.
In the center of that line of barracks which stood in the curtain next the Muskingum, and which was probably the guard-house, there arose a square tower like a cupola, in- which was stationed the sentry. Cannon were mounted in the bastions-four and six-pounders-so as
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to rake the curtains in case of an assault. The main or water gate was at least fifty feet from the edge of the second bank of the river, whence the surface gradually sloped down about eight feet to the first bank, similar to what now is seen above the ferry. On this first bank or bottom stood three large log buildings, which were occupied by the artisans of the fort as blacksmith's, wheelwright's, and carpenter's shops ; a few yards beyond these buildings was the verge of the river bank. All this original space between the river and the fort had been washed away some years since by the crumbling of the loose earth, against which the waters of the Ohio rushed with great vio- lence during the times of high floods. At this period the old well, which was dug in the mid- dle of the works, is seen projecting from the upright face of the bank from the gradual waste of fifty years, and has partly tumbled down the slope; in a few years more it will all be gone. Shots of four and six pounds are still picked
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up in the soil, and were probably buried when the troops under General Harmar left the place in the year 1790. In the rear of the fort, but close to the walls, were laid out nice gardens, and cultivated by the soldiers; in these were grown many varieties of culinary vegetables, and very superior peaches, planted by Major Doughty. At that time the virgin soil pro- duced fruit from the wood of three years' growth. A fine variety of peach is still known about Marietta by the name of "the Doughty peach." The Major was a tasteful horticul- turist as well as a brave soldier.
This continual crumbling of the banks has widened the mouth of the Muskingum River more than two hundred feet; the effect of which has been that a dry sand-bar or island now occupies the spot where once, previous to the building of the fort, the water in the Sum- mer months was ten or twelve feet deep, with a smooth rock bottom. The huge sycamore trees, as they reclined over the water on the
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opposite shores, nearly touched their tops; and to a person passing hastily by in the middle of the Ohio the mouth of the Muskingum would be hardly noticed, so deeply was it enshrouded by these giants of the forest.
About the year 1800 there was found in the mouth of the Muskingum, by a boy who was bathing, a plate of lead of several pounds weight, on which was engraven a Latin in- scription, indicating that formal possession was taken of the country in the name of the king of France; but whether by Louis XIV or XV, or in what year, my informant had forgotten, although it was found by one of his own sons. It would have been a very interesting relic, but was unfortunately destroyed several years since by being melted and cast into rifle bul- lets. It seems that this was a common mode of taking possession of a new country by the early discoverers; the leaden tablet being either fastened to a large wooden cross set up on the shore, or else thrown into the mouth of the
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stream. Several tragical events transpired during the war in the vicinity of the fort; among others, the one in which the late Gov- ernor Meigs was an actor is worthy of being recited among the contributions to the early history of the Valley of the Ohio.
THE ESCAPE OF R. J. MEIGS, ESQ.
During the whole war it was customary for the inmates of all the garrisons to cultivate considerable fields of corn and other vegetables near the walls of their defenses; although a 1 very hazardous pursuit, it was preferable to starvation. For a part of the time no pro- visions could be obtained from the older settle- ments above on the Monongahela and Ohio; sometimes from scarcity among the settlers themselves; and was procured at great hazard from the attack of the Indians, who watched the river for the capture of boats. Another reason was the want of money, many of the early inhabitants having spent a large share of
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