History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 31

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 31
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 31

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

#Mr. Jefferson also treats the affair at Captina as having occurred at Grave creek, but in his map accompanying the Notes on Virginia, he places the stream which he calls Grave creek on the west side of the Ohio, at the location of the Captina. This may have misled Mr. Craig. There is no doubt that Doddridge and other authors were right in placing it at Captina.

"There is great difficulty in reconciling the different state- ments in relation to the use of Cresap's name, in the speeches usually attributed to Logan.

"Colonel Gibson, who bore the speech from Logan to Dun- more, makes the following statement under oath, that after Logan had delivered to him the speech, 'he,' the deponent (Gibson), 'told Logan that it was not Col. Cresap who had mur- dered his relations, and that although his son, Capt. Michael Cresap, was with the party who killed a Shawanese chief and other Indians, yet he was not present when his (Logan's) rela- tives were killed at Baker's, near the mouth of Yellow creek.' But he (Gibson) does not say whether Logan then ordered the name of Cresap to be stricken out. Joseph Tomlinson, how- ever, who was present when the speech was delivered to Dun- more, states that he heard it read three times, first by Gibson and twice by Dunmore, and that the name of Cresap was not mentioned in it.

"Now the questions arise: 'Did Logan strike out the name of Cresap, when Gibson told him that the charge against him was false? Or did Gibson, knowing the charge to be false, yet consent to carry it to Dunmore with that charge?' He had the best means of knowing the falsehood of the charge, and to have aided in giving it currency, would have been an act of baseness. Tomlinson's statement, however, must exonerate Gibson from all suspicion of such conduct. The name was not in the speech, when it came to Dunmore's hand.

"How then did the name afterwards get into the speech again ?

"Jacobs, in his notice of Cresap, argues that Dunmore had restored the name, or, as it may not have been very effectually erased, and some person copying may have chosen to introduce it. Dunmore was a desperate man. He was willing to go very far to aid his country. He was accused by men of high stand- ing, such as Theodorick Bland, of exciting the Indians against' the frontier; of regretting Lewis' success at Point Pleasant ; and of hoping for a long and bloody Indian war. His coad- jutor, Connelly, was equally desperate, and very hostile to Cresap, who was a whig. So that there was an inducement for Dunmore to introduce the name of Cresap. It was carrying out the very game of which he was accused. It was calculated to excite the Indians against those who were favorable to the American cause. It would also gratify the ill feeling of Con- nelly to Cresap.

"But whether the name was re-introduced by mistake or design, there is no doubt that Cresap was innocent of any par- ticipation in the brutal outrage at Yellow creek."

STATEMENT OF GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK-AN INTEREST- ING STORY OF BORDER WARFARE-CRESAP'S INNOCENCE AS TO THE MINGO MASSACRE,

In 1798, General George Rogers Clark, who was conspicuously identified with the western country during all its perilous times, wrote to Dr. Samuel Brown, giving a complete descrip- tion of the events immediately anterior to the murder of Lo- gan's family. A statement from such a reliable source is worthy of being accepted as evidence of more than ordinary accuracy and value. The incidents he so carefully and min- utely relates, establishes the innocence of Cresap in reference to the murder of Logan's family beyond a doubt, and is an inter- esting story of the border times. To add to our accumulation of evidence upon this subject we make the following extract :

"This country was explored in 1773. A resolution was formed to make a settlement the spring following, and the mouth of the Little Kanawha was appointed the place of general rendezvous, in order to descend the river from thence in a body. Early in the spring the Indians had done some mischief. Reports from their towns were alarming, which de- terred many. About eighty or ninety men only met at the appointed rendezvous, where we lay for some days.

THE ATTACK BY THE INDIANS.

"A small party of hunters, that lay about ten miles below us, were fired upon by the Indians, whom the hunters beat back, and returned to camp. This and many other circumstances led us to believe, that the Indians were determined on war. The whole party was enrolled and determined to execute their pro- ject of forming a settlement in Kentucky, as we had every necessary store that could be thought of. An Indian town called the Horsehead bottom, on the Scioto and near its mouth, lay nearly in our way. The determination was to cross the country and surprise it. Who was to command? was the question. There were but few among us that had experience in Indian warfare,

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

and they were such that we did not choose to be commanded by. We knew of Captain Cresap being on the river about fifteen miles above us, with some hands, settling a plantation; and that he had coneluded to follow us to Kentucky as soon as he had fixed there his people. We also knew that he had been experienced in a former war. He was proposed; and it was unanimously agreed to send for him to command the party. Messengers were dispatched, and in half an hour returned with Cresap. He had heard of our resolution by some of his hunters, that had fallen in with ours, and had set out to come to us.

"We now thought our army, as we called it, complete, and the destruction of the Indians sure. A council was called, and, to our astonishment, our intended Commander-in-Chief was the person that dissuaded us from the enterprise. He said that ap- pearances were very suspicious, but there was no certainty of a war. That if we made the attempt proposed, he had no doubt of success, but a war would, at any rate, be the result, and that we should be blamed for it; and perhaps justly. But if we were determined to proceed, he would lay aside all considera- tions, send to his camp for his people, and share our fortunes.

RETURNING TO WHEELING.

"He was then asked what he would advise. His answer was, that we should return to Wheeling, as a convenient post, to hear what was going forward. That a few weeks would deter- mine. As it was early in the spring, if we found the Indians were not disposed for war, we should have full time to return, and make our establishment in Kentucky. This was adopted, and in two hours the whole were under way. As we ascended the river we met Killbuck, an Indian chief, with a small party. We had a long conference with him, but received little satis- faction as to the disposition of the Indians. It was observed that Cresap did not come to this conference, but kept on the opposite side of the river. He said that he was afraid to trust himself with the Indians. That Killbuck had frequently at- tempted to waylay his father to kill him. That if he crossed the river, perhaps his fortitude might fail him, and that he might put Killbuck to death. On our arrival at Wheeling, (the country being pretty well settled thereabouts,) the whole of the inhabitants appeared to be alarmed. They flocked to our camp from every direction; and all that we could say could not keep them from under our wings. We offered to cover their neighborhood with scouts, until further information, if they would return to their plantations; but nothing would prevail. By this time we had got to be a formidable party. All the hunters, men without families, etc., in that quarter, had 'joined our party.

WORD FROM PITTSBURGH.

"Our arrival at Wheeling was soon known at Pittsburgh. The whole of that country, at that time, being under the juris- diction of Virginia, Dr. Connelly had been appointed by Dun- more, captain commandant of the District, which was called West Augusta. He, learning of us, sent a message addressed to the party, letting us know that a war was to be apprehendcd, and requesting that we would keep our position for a few days, as messages had been sent to the Indians, and a few days would determine the doubt. The answer he got was, that we had no inclination to quit our quarters for some time. That during our stay we should be careful that the enemy should not harass the neighborhood that we lay in. But before this answer could reach Pittsburgh, he sent a second express, addressed to Capt. Cresap, as the most influential man amongst us, informing him that the messages had returned from the Indians, that war was inevitable, and begging him to use his influence with the party, to get them to eover the country by scouts until the in- habitants could fortify themselves. The reception of this letter was the epoch of open hostilities with the Indians. A war post was planted, a council was called, and the letter read by Cresap, all the Indian traders being summoned on so important an occasion. Action was had, and war declared in the most solemn manner; and the same evening two scalps were brought into eamp.

INDIANS DISCOVERED.

"The next day some" canoes of Indians were discovered on the river, keeping the advantage of an island to cover them- selves from our view. They were chased fifteen miles down the river and driven ashore. A battle ensued; a few were wounded on both sides; one Indian only taken prisoner. On examining their canoes we found a considerable quantity of ammunition and other warlike stores. Ou our return to camp

a resolution was adopted to march the next day and attack Logan's camp, on the Ohio, about thirty miles above Wheeling. We did mareh about five miles, and then halted to take some refreshments. Here the impropriety of executing the projected enterprise was argued. The conversation was brought forward by Cresap himself. It was generally agreed those Indians had no hostile intentions, as they were hunting, and their party was composed of men, women and children, with all their stuff with them. This we knew, as I, myself, and others present had been in their canıp about four weeks past on our deseend- ing the river from Pittsburgh. In short, every person seemed to detest the resolution we had set out with. We returned in the evening, decamped, and took the road to Redstone.

"It was two days after this that Logan's family was killed. And, from the manner in which it was done, it was viewed as a horrid murder. From Logan's hearing of Cresap being at the head of this party on the river, it is no wonder that he supposed he had a hand in the destruction of his family."

In eoneluding his letter, Mr. Clarke says: "What I have re- lated is fact. I was intimate with Cresap. Logan I was better acquainted with at that time than any other Indian in the Western country. Cresap's conduct was as I have related it."

THE TOMB OF MICHAEL CRESAP.

It may serve to round off the conclusion of this chapter by saying that after the termination of the Dunmore campaign, Captain Cresap at once took an active part in defence of his country in the opening struggle of the Revolution, which was then impending. He came to New York at the head of a com- pany of Maryland Riflemen in the summer of 1775-the first of the battalion of Riflemen which was authorized to be raised by the Continental Congress, and the first of that historically great body of men which subsequently became of world-wide celebrity as the Continental army. He had not been long in New York when he was attacked with sickness, and, on the 18th of October, of that year, he died, without having gained the laurels that doubtless awaited him, had he lived to partici- pate in the struggle for his country's liberty.

The visitor of Trinity churchyard, in the city of New York, who shall wander among the tombs in that ancient resting- place of the dead of old New York, will find on the north side of that celebrated church edifice, and within twenty feet of it, a heavy brownstone slab, standing with its face toward Broad- way, and bearing beneath a very rude carving of a cherub, the following inscription :

In Memory of Michael Cresap First Cap' Of the Rifle Batalions And Son to Col' Thomas Cresap. Who Departed this Life October the 18: 1775.

CHAPTER XIII.

LORD DUNMORE'S WAR-CRAWFORD DESCENDS THE OHIO TO WHEEL- ING AND GRAVE CREEK TO WATCH THE SAVAGES-MAKES A SEC- OND EXPEDITION TO WHEELING-ERECTION OF FORT FINCASTLE -ARRIVAL OF MAJOR ANGUS M DONALD-A FORCE OF 700 MEN AT WIIEELING-THE WAKATOMICA EXPEDITION-THE DUNMORE CAMPAIGN-BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT-ARRIVAL OF DUNMORE AND CRAWFORD AT WHEELING WITH 1,200 MEN-DUNMORE'S CONDUCT-RECEIVES ADVICES FROM GREAT BRITAIN AT WHEEL- ING AND DISPLAYS TREACHERY TOWARD THE COLONISTS-CAP- TAIN STUART'S NARRATIVE OF GENERAL LEWIS' EXPEDITION- DUNMORE'S TREACHERY-MURDER OF CORNSTALK, AND OTHER EVENTS.

N the preceding chapter we have given at great length the events which caused the sudden uprising of the Indians "against the frontier settlements in the spring of 1774, and led to the Shawancse or Lord Dunmore war.

Those alone who have resided upon the frontier are aware of the thrill of terror, spread by such an event, among the scat- tered inhabitants of the border. Anticipating immediate re- taliation, and not knowing at what moment, or from what quarter, the blow may come, the panie spreads with the rapidity

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

of the wind. Bold and hardy as the borderers are, when trav- ersing the forest alone in pursuit of game, or when assembled for battle, they cannot, at the first rumor of an Indian war, a void quailing under the anticipated terrors of a sudden inroad of savage hostility. They know that their enemy will steal upon them in the night, in the unguarded hour of repose, and that the innocent child and helpless female will derive no pro- tection from their sex or weakness; and they shrink at the idea of a violated fireside and a slaughtered family. The man who may be cool when his own life alone is exposed to danger, or whose spirit may kindle into enthusiastic gallantry, amid the animating scenes of the battlefield, where armed men are his companions and his foes, becomes panic-struek at the contem- plation of a merciless warfare which shall offer his dwelling to the firebrand of the incendiary, and his family to the toma- hawk of the infuriated savage.

Such was the effect of the unadvised and criminal aets which we have related. A sudden consternation pervaded the whole frontier. A war unwelcome, unexpected, and for which they were wholly unprepared, was suddenly precipitated upon them by the unbridled passions of a few lawless men; and a foe always quick to resent, and ever eager to shed the blood of the white race, was roused to a revenge which he would not delay in obtaining. The settlers began to remove to the interior, or collect in log forts hastily erected for the occasion. Men who had acquired homes by years of perilous and toilsome labor, who had plied the axe incessantly in clearing away the im- mense trees of the forest, in making fences, in building houses, in disencumbering the land of its tangled thickets, and bring- ing it into culture-abandoned all, and fled in precipitation to places of safety. In every path might be seen the sturdy pioneer, striding hastily forward, with his rifle on his shoulder, casting wary glances into each suspicious dell and covert; and followed by a train of pack-horses, burthened with his wife, his children, and such moveables as could be transported by this mode of conveyance.

After a few days the whole scene was changed. The frontier, so lately peaceful, had become the seat of war. The fields of the husbandman were ravaged by the Indian; the cabins were burned, and the labor of many years desolated. The few set- tlers that incautiously remained in their homes were slaugh- tered, or with difficulty rescued by their friends. The prudent men whose backs had lately been turned upon the foe, having placed their families in security, were now seen in arms, either defending the rude fortresses, or eagerly scouring the woods in search of the enemy. However reluctantly they had been forced into the war, they had now entered into the spirit of the contest ; the inconveniences they had suffered, the danger of their families, and the sight of their desolated hearths and blasted fields, had awakened in their bosoms a hatred not less implacable than that of their savage foemen.

As we have already stated, expresses were sent to Williams- burg, the seat of government of Virginia, announcing the commencement of hostilities, and a plan was immediately ma- tured for a campaign against the Indians. The active com- mander was Gen. Lewis, of Botetourt county. The forces were to rendezvous in Greenbrier county. The Earl of Dunmore was to raise another army to be assembled at Fort Pitt, and thence to descend the river to Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Kanawha.

A full account of the activity of Virginia in raising an army sufficient to carry the war into the Indian country, and of the expedition of General Lewis, is given in the narrative of Capt. John Stuart, in another part of this chapter.

As it required considerable time to raise and equip such a force, and convey it with the supplies to the frontier, and as much individual suffering was certain to result from the un- avoidable delay, it was deemed advisable to take some pre- liminary step to prevent the threatened invasion of the ex- posed and defenceless portions of the country.

The most feasible plan for the accomplishment of this object seemed to be the sending of an advance army into the Indian country, to act offensively against their towns before a con- federacy of the tribes could be formed, and drive home the straggling parties of warriors who were committing depreda- tions against the defenceless settlers.

WILLIAM CRAWFORD DESCENDS THE OHIO WITH ONE HUNDRED MEN TO WATCH THE MOVEMENTS OF THE SAVAGES.

William Crawford (afterwards Colonel) was commissioned a Captain by Lord Dunmore, and sent down the Ohio at the head of about one hundred men, to watch the motions of the Indians

-the Mingoes and the Shawanese. In his letter to Washing- ton of the Sth of May, 1774 .* after describing the killing of the Indians at Yellow creek and elsewhere, he says :

" I am now setting out for Fort Pitt at the head of one hun- dred men. Many others are to meet me there and at Wheeling, where we shall wait the motions of the Indians, and shall act accordingly. We are in great want of some proper person to direct us, who may command-Mr. Connelly, who now com- mands, having incurred the displeasure of the people. He is unable to take command for two reasons; one is, the contradic- tion between us and the Pennsylvanians; and the other that he carries matters too much in a military way, and is not able to go through with it. I have some hopes that we may still have matters settled with the Indians upon a method properly adopted for that purpose.";

In this first expedition of Crawford's, we find nothing in its results, further than to watch the movements of the savages. In his letter to Washington of the 8th of June, he explains that he had been on a scouting party as low as Grave creek, saw no signs of Indians, but as soon as he returned, they had crossed the river and committed the depredations on Dunkard's creek.

CRAWFORD AGAIN ARRIVES AT WHEELING-ERECTION OF FORT FIN- CASTLE-ARRIVAL OF MAJOR M'DONALD-700 MEN AT WHEELING -THE WAKATOMICA EXPEDITION.

On the 13th of June, Crawford started on his second expe- dition down the river, at the head of his company, with orders from Connelly, at Fort Pitt, to erect a stockade fort at Wheel- ing. This was the first thing deemed necessary for defense against the Indians, and it was called Fort Fincastle.} Con- nelly had intended coming on this expedition himself, with a force of two hundred men, || but for obvious reasons sent Craw- ford.

The movement to send an advance army into the Indian country to strike their towns, is known as the Wakatomica ex- pedition.

For this campaign the forces all rendezvoused at Wheeling in the month of July.

On the 27th of July, 1774, Valentine Crawford wrote a letter from Jacob's creek to George Washington, and after stating that his brother, William Crawford, had gone down in an ex- pedition against the Indian towns, says: "Since they started there have been some savages seen about the Monongahela. We hourly expect them to strike somewhere. They have killed and taken, within the last ten days, thirteen people up about the forks of Cheat river, which is about twenty-five miles from me. * * * I have above two hundred people in my fort at this time, chiefly women and children. All the men have gone to the Indian towns, and ever since they set off all their families have flown to the forts.

"It seems to me that our standing our ground here depends a good deal on the success of our men who have gone against the savages. The Governor wrote very earnestly to Captain Connelly to give my brother, William Crawford, the command of all the men that are gone against the Indian towns. They number, including the militia that came from below, seven hundred men. It was also the wish of the Governor that Con- nelly himself should reside at Fort Pitt. However, Major Mc- Donald came up here and is gone down to Wheeling, in order to take the command, but I have seen several letters from Lord Dunmore, both to my brother and to Connelly, and he has not mentioned McDonald's name in them. I heard by Mr. Brown, the express, who told me himself that, on Thursday last, he parted with Lord Dunmore, at Winchester, and he was to proceed immediately to this neighborhood, where I hope he will regulate matters himself."

It will be seen by this letter that the force assembled at Wheeling as early as July, numbered seven hundred men. Major Angus McDonald arrived over the mountains with four hundred Virginia militia. William Crawford doubtless brought down from Fort Pitt two hundred men, and about one hundred, therefore, came from " below," or were gathered from the ad- jacent settlements. Major McDonald, who took command, pro-

*Mentioned in Chapter XI.

TA council was held at Pittsburgh in May, 1774, at the suggestion of George Croghan, for the purpose of avoiding a war with the Indians, at which several chiefs of the Delawares and Six Nations attended, who manifested a desire for peace. But the wrath of Logan could not he assuaged with words, and his influence with the Mingoes of this region and the hostile Shaw- anese made war inevitable.

#See History of Fort Henry.

ISee letter of Devereaux Smith, given in Chapter XI. from Penn. Archives, IV. 632.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

ceeded to organize the expedition to make the incursion into the Indian country. On the 26th of July he left Wheeling with a force of about four hundred men, descending the Ohio in boats and canoes to the mouth of Captina, and from thence pro- eeeded by the shortest route to the Indian town of Wakatomica, near where Dresden, Ohio, now stands. Three skillful woods- men, Jonathan Zanc, Thomas Nicholson and Tady Kelly, ac- companied the expedition as guides .*

When McDonald's force neared the Indian town, it met and dispersed a band of fifty warriors, killing several and losing two, with eight wounded. On reaching the town, they found it deserted, the Indians having retreated across the Muskingum river ; and failing to draw McDonald into an ambuscade, they sued for peace and sent over five chicfs as hostages.

The army then crossed the river, but when a negotiation was begun, the Indians asked that one of the hostages be sent for the other chiefs, whose presence they claimed was necessary to ratify à peace. One was accordingly released, but not return- ing at the appointed time another was sent on the same errand, who in like manner failed to return. McDonald became con- vinced of their treachery, whereupon he burned Wakatomica and other towns, and destroyed their crops; and being then in want of provisions was compelled to retrace his steps to Wheel- ing, taking with him the three remaining hostages, who were sent to Williamsburg.

Being out of provisions before they left the Indian towns, the little army were reduced to the necessity of subsisting on weeds, an ear of corn per man each day, and a scanty supply of game.

While McDonald prosecuted this campaign, Crawford re- mained in command with a portion of the forces at Wheeling. No sooner had this army withdrew from the Indian country than the savages, in small bands, invaded and attacked the scattered settlements, spreading terror in all directions.

The settlers fled to the forts and block houses, but many were either murdered or carried into captivity.

THE DUNMORE CAMPAIGN-BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT.

On the 11th of September, General Lewis, with eleven hun- dred men, commenced his march from his rendezvous in Green- briar, for Point Pleasant, distant one hundred and sixty miles. The country to be traversed was at that time a trackless desert, wholly impassable for wheeled carriages; the ammunition and provisions were carried on pack-horses, and the army, led by a pilot acquainted with the passes of the mountains and the Indian pathways, reached Point Pleasant after a laborious march of nineteen days.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 31

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728