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 40

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 40
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 40

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"I have received discouraging accounts from Cols. Beeler and McClerry, but all those will not deter me from doing every- thing I can for the good inhabitants. I am, &c.,

"D. B.

" Directed,

"Col. DAVID SHEPHERD, Lieut., Ohio county, Va."+

The season had now become so late that the expedition was finally postponed until the succeeding spring.

THE COSHOCTON CAMPAIGN-AN EXPEDITION UNDER THE COM- MAND OF COL. BRODHEAD STARTS FROM WIIEELING AND PUN- ISHES THE DELAWARE INDIANS ON THE MUSKINGUM-1781.

General Brodhead, being constantly urged by the inhabitants of Wheeling, determined that no more time should be lost and early in the spring of 1781 began preparations for the cam- paign. Troops and supplies were gathered at Fort Henry and Col. Brodhead announced his intention to lead the expedition in person.

The number of troops is given by Doddridge, Withers, and De Hass as eight hundred, but later authorities, carefully compiled from records and archives, and the report of Col. Brodhead himself, place the number at only three hundred, nearly half of which were volunteers. The force was largely composed of experienced Indian hunters, and Colonel (after- wards General) Broadhead was a successful commander in Indian warfare. Their rendezvous was at Fort Henry-Wheel- ing. Colonel David Shepherd, Lieutenant of Ohio county, accompanied the expedition and commanded one hundred and thirty-four men. They left Wheeling in April, 1781,

crossed the Ohio, and made a rapid march, by the nearest route, to the principal Delaware village upon the Muskingum, where the present town of Coshocton now stands. The army reached the point of destination by a forced march on the evening of the 19th of April, 1781, completely surprising the Indians. Owing to high water, however, the Indians on the west side of the river escaped, but all on the east side were captured with- out firing a shot. Sixteen Indian warriors captured were taken below the town and scalped, by direction of a council of war held in the camp of Brodhead. The next morning an Indian called from the opposite side of the river for the " big captain," (as they called Brodhead,) saying he wanted peace. Brodhead sent him for his chief, who came over under a promise that he should not be killed. After he got over it is said that the no- torious Indian fighter, Lewis Wetzel, tomahawked him.

Another village, two and a half miles below, was also de- stroyed. The army then commenced their homeward march, up the valley of the Tuscarawas, with some twenty prisoners, but had gone but a short distance when the soldiers killed them all, except a few women and children, who were taken to Fort Pitt, and afterwards exchanged for an equal number of prisoners held by the Indians. On his return up the valley, Brodhead met some friendly Delawares, who accompanied him to Fort Pitt and placed themselves under the protection of the United States.

Before leaving the valley, Brodhead conferred with the Mo- ravian missionaries and Christian Indians who then resided at their villages, called New Schönbrunn, Gnadenhütten, and Sa- lem, all situated in what is now Tuscarawas county. Brodhead advised them, in view of their dangerous position, "between two fires," to break up their settlements and accompany him to Fort Pitt. This they declined doing, and they were left to their fate .*

This sanguinary march and safe return was called the "Co- shocton campaign," and many of the men in it, a year later, were with the expedition under Williamson, which committed the Gnadenhutten massacre.

COLONEL BRODHEAD'S REPORT OF THE EXPEDITION TO PRESIDENT REED OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF PENNSYLVANIA.

"PHILADELPHIA, May 22d, 1781.

"SIR: In the last letter I had the honor to address to your Excellency, I mentioned my intention to carry an expedition against the revolted Delaware towns. I have now the pleasure to inform you, that with about three hundred men (nearly half the number volunteers from the country), I surprised the towns of Cooshasking and Indaochaie, killed fifteen warriors and took upwards of twenty old men, women and children. About four miles above the town, I detached a party to cross the river Muskingum and destroy a party of about forty war- riors, who had just before (as I learned by an Indian whom the advance guard took prisoner), crossed over with some prisoners and scalps, and were drunk, but excessive hard rains having swelled the river bank high, it was found impracticable. After destroying the towns, with great quantities of poultry and other stores, and killing about forty head of cattle, I marched up the river, about seven miles, with a view to send for some craft from the Moravian towns, and cross the river to pursue the In- dians; but when I proposed my plan to the volunteers, I found they conceived they had done enough, and were determined to return, wherefore I marched to Newcomerstown, where a few Indians, who remain in our interest, had withdrawn them- selves, not exceeding thirty men. The troops experienced great kindness from the Moravian Indians and those at New- comerstown, and obtained a sufficient supply of meat and corn to subsist the men and horses to the Ohio river. Captain Kill- buck and Captain Luzerne, upon hearing of our troops being on the Muskingum, immediately pursued the warriors, killed one of their greatest villains and brought his scalp to me. The plunder brought in by the troops, sold for about eighty pounds at Fort Henry. I had upon this expedition Captain Mantour and Wilson and three other faithful Indians who contributed greatly to the success.

"The troops behaved with great spirit and although there was considerable firing between them and the Indians I had not a man killed or wounded, and only one horse shot.

*It is stated by Doddridgo and others that on the way out a party of militia had resolved on destroying the Moravian villages, but were prevented from executing their project by Gen . eral Brodhead, and Colonel Shepherd, of Wheeling.

*App. Penna. Arch , p. 277. +Ibid.

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

" I have the honor to be, with great respect and attachment, your Excellency's most obedient most humble servant,

"DANIEL BRODHEAD, " Col. 1st P. R.

"Directed,

"His Excellency JOSEPH REED, EsQ.'

COLONEL ARCHIBALD LOCHRY'S EXPEDITION.

In the early summer of 1781, Colonel Lochry, the county lieutenant of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, was rc- quested by Colonel George Rogers Clark to raise a military force, and join him in his then contemplated military move- ment against Detroit, and the Indian tribes of the northwest generally. The mouth of the Big Miami river was first named as the place of general rendezvous, but it was, subsequently, changed to the " Falls of the Ohio." Colonel Lochry raised a force of one hundred and six men, who, on the 25th of July, "set out for Fort Henry, (Wheeling,) where they embarked in boats for their destination." They passed down the Ohio river to a point a few miles below the mouth of the Big Miami, where, having landed, they " were suddenly and unexpectedly assailed by a volley of rifle-balls, from an overhanging bluff, covered with large trees, on which the Indians had taken position in great force." The result was, the death of Colonel Lochry and forty-one of his command, and the capture of the remainder, many of whom were wounded-some of the captured being killed and scalped, while prisoners! This occurred August 25, 1781, and such of the captured as were not murdered, died, or escaped, did not reach their homes again until after the peace of 1783, when they were exchanged at Montreal, and sent home, arriving there in May, 1783. The murder of prisoners was al- leged to be in retaliation for the outrages committed by Brod- head's men a few months before; and it has been said that this treatment of Lochry's men was one of the provocations for the brutal murder of the Moravian Indians, on the Tuscarawas, in 1782 !

CAPTURE OF THE MORAVIAN INDIANS BY THE CONFEDERATE TRIBES AND BRITISH TORIES IN 1781-THEY ARE CARRIED TO SANDUSKY.

On the 10th of August, 1781, the Half King, chief of the Wyandots, arrived at the Moravian town of Salem, on the Tusca- rawas, with a hundred and forty armed warriors, accompanied by the tory, Captain Mathew Elliott.

On the following day a party of forty Munceys arrived. All marched to Gnadenhütten. Within four days, upwards of 300 warriors had arrived at the latter place, of the following tribes and nations: The Wyandots, from Upper Sandusky, com- manded by the Half King-others of the same nation from De- troit and Lower Sandusky, commanded by Kuhn, a head war chief of the latter place,-Delawares, from Upper Sandusky, under the command of Captains Pipe and Wingemund-the forty Munceys, commanded by their war chief-and Shawanese from the Scioto, under two chiefs named by traders, John and Thomas Snake. The object of this strong force of warriors was to remove the Christian Indians and Moravian missionaries from the Tuscarawas, or the Muskingum, as it was then called, to Sandusky. They made prisoners of the missionaries, and cont- pelling the compliance of the Christian Indians to leave their towns, they started for Sandusky on the 11th of September, having remained at the Moravian towns one month.

Col. Brodhead, commanding the department, received very prompt information from the missionaries and Christian Indians respecting this affair, and rightly conjectured the purpose of these hostile tribes in removing the friendly nation, was to enable them more readily to penetrate to the frontiers on their bloody mission without being observed and reported, and that they probably expected to be joined by other forces at this time, who were to cooperate with them in some attack. He accord- ingly informs the different county lieutenants in a circular let- ter of the fate of the Moravians, and advises them of the proper measures of defence to be taken to repel any invasion. The circular is as follows:

HEADQUARTERS, FORT PITT, September 7th, 1781.

"GENTLEMEN: By the inclosed extract of a letter just come to hand by express, you will learn the fate of the Moravians on the Muskingum and the dangers to which our dependent posts and the settlements are exposed. -

" I think it probable that this large party of Indians would

not have remained so long at the Moravian town had they not expected a greater force from another quarter down the Alle- gheny river to cooperate with them. It will therefore be highly expedient for the militia immediately to assemble in bodies consisting of at least one hundred men, and step to the fron- tiers to cover them to keep out spies and small scouts at least for a few days, or until we can ascertain what the principal object of the enemy is.

" You will therefore immediately appoint such places of ren- dezvous as may be best calculated for the purpose I have men- tioned, and give me notice thereof that in case of extreme necessity they may be collected to a general rendezvous, in order to raise a siege, or otherwise act according to circun- stances.

"County lieutenants who have not and cannot otherwise pro- cure a supply of ammunition are immediately to apply to me to have a suitable quantity deposited in their respective coun- try to enable the militia to act in conjunction with the regular troops, and this application with the means of transportation must not be delayed. I am, &c.,

" Circular to the County Lieutenants." "D. B.

WHEELING THREATENED-LETTER FROM COL. BRODHEAD TO COM- MANDER OF FORT HENRY. -

From some of his many sources of information, Col. Brod- head received intelligence that a large force of Indians were moving to the attack of the border, and were particularly ex- pected to concentrate their efforts against Wheeling. He ac- cordingly dispatched an Express with the following note of warning :

" FORT PITT, August 24th, 1781.

"SIR: I have this moment received certain intelligence that the enemy are coming in great force against us and particular- ly against Wheeling.

" You will immediately put your garrison in the best posture of defence and lay in as great a quantity of water as circum- stances will admit, and receive them coolly; they intend to decoy your garrison, but you are to guard against stratagem, and defend the post to the last extremity.

" You may rely on every aid in my power to frustrate the designs of the enemy, but you must not fail to give the alarm to the inhabitants in your reach and make it as general as pos- sible, in order that every man may be prepared at this crisis.

" I am, Sir, your most ob't servant, " D. B. "Col. commanding W. D. "To the commanding officer at Fort Henry, (Wheeling.)"

RAID ON WHEELING IN 1781.

Accordingly, some time in September, the Indians made their second attempt on Wheeling. The particulars of the at- tack are not known, neither as to the numbers of the Indian force, by whom commanded, nor the results, except that the savages were baffled in their efforts to surprise the settlement and capture the fortress. As it was on the 11th of September that the Moravian Christian Indians were carried away cap- tive to the Sandusky plains by the confederate tribes, under Captain Pipe, it has been supposed by some, that the force left behind at the Moravian towns was the one which made the raid on Wheeling at this time. Heckwelder's account of the removal of the Moravians states that the Half King of the Wyandots remained with his warriors at the towns, and did not join the other forces until the 19th, although they had pro- ceeded but a short distance up the Walhonding. It is barely possible, therefore, that the Half King may have marched from the Moravian towns, in the meantime, and attempted a sur- prise on Wheeling, but the inhabitants being timely warned the expedition failed of success.

It was during this raid, as is understood, that the house of Col. Ebenezer Zane was burned the second time. He thereupon declared his intention to build the next house for defence and remain in it, which he did in the siege of the ensuing year.

Perhaps, also, it was about this time that the following inci- dents occurred, related by Mr. John Caldwell and his daughter, Nancy, at Wheeling in 1797, to Meshach Browning, then in Mr. Caldwell's employ, and who published this account of them in a narrative of his own personal adventures.

"Some years ago," Nancy tells him, "before Gen. St. Clair lost so many men in a great fight with the Indians, father and mother were compelled to leave this place, (their home, on

*Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. IX. p. 161.

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

Caldwell's run, about a mile and a half south of the site of the old fort,) and we all went up to the town fort. The neighbors were obliged to leave their farms and go into the fort also. My father and three or four of his friends used to go out, and some stood guard while the others worked, and either dressed their corn or chopped their wood, all the time expecting to be shot by those yellow savages.

" At length news came that the Indians were in the neigh- borhood. The fort was put in the best condition for defence, and we awaited their approach. But no attack was made. Sev- eral days passed by, when it was supposed they had given up the assault. At length two Indians made their appearance on the high hill above the town. This hill runs from north to south, while Wheeling creck runs from east to west, passes this elevation about a mile north of the town, and then turns south, coursing along the foot of the hill until it arrives at a point a little south of the fort, where it empties into the river, thus leaving the hill a mile north of the mouth of the creek, with that stream on one side of the hill and the river on the other, with a space of not more than three-quarters of a mile between them. Whenever the river is a little high the water is backed up the creek to the depth of ten or twelve feet. On this hill, opposite the fort, these two Indians showed themselves, fired a shot or two at the fort, and then went off slowly, slapping their hands behind them in token of derision and contempt of those within the fortification.

"Fired with such an insult, our men commenced running out, and would have all gone had not the commanding officer stood in the gate and stopped them.

" While the men advanced up the hill the Indians were to be seen still retreating until the top of the hill was reached, when to their great dismay the white men found themselves henmed in between two galling fires.

"The only hope left them was to break through the north line of the enemy and escape down the river to the fort.

" As they approached the enemy they made a desperate push through the line and many fell, but some escaped unhurt, though they were pursued and shot as they ran. My father was one of the last three of this brave party. As he was run- ning for his life, with a friend of his a little before him, he saw his friend fall. As he passed him, the wounded man called to him, 'John, don't leave me.' But on he ran, and after that he saw him no more. My father, however, perceived a white man who had left the settlement some years before, and whom he recognized at first sight. This fellow carried a spear, mounted on a handle like that of a pitchfork. and ran before all the Indians. He was close at my father's heels when he arrived at the break of the hill next the fort. There was a large tree lying on the ground and another small one standing very near it. Something tripped up my father's feet, and in he fell bc- tween two trees; and as he went down the white Indian made a furious lunge at him. The spear, however, glanced off the log, turned its point upward, and stuck so fast in the standing tree that the white savage could not withdraw it before my father slipped out of his position, escaped unhurt, and reached the fort in safety. A short time after in came another with one arm broken; the balance of the party fell a sacrifice to the savages."

Mr. James Caldwell, father of the gentleman above referred to, was one of the early and prominent settlers of Wheeling. He came from Baltimore, or that neighborhood, in the early part of 1774, and remained, for many years, a respected and influen- tial citizen of the place. He reared a large family, some of whom occupied prominent and responsible public positions. Among them, his son, Hon. Alexander Caldwell, was for many years a distinguished Judge of the United States Court for the Western District of Virginia.

The rest of the family were John, above referred to; Samuel, who resided in the neighborhood of Whecling, until the latter part of his life, when he removed, with his family, to Illinois; James, the father of the late Hon. Alfred Caldwell, who lived, during the early part of his life, in St. Clairsville, O., and afterwards, moved to Wheeling, and became one of the prom- inent citizens of the place, and Joseph, father of A. Bolton Caldwell, Esq., Henry C. Caldwell and Alexander J. Caldwell, all of whom now live in Wheeling or vicinity, who resided in Wheeling all his life, and was, for many years, President of the Merchants and Mechanics Bank.

BRIG. GEN'L IRVINE, IN COMMAND OF DEPARTMENT-GARRISON OF CONTINENTAL TROOPS AT FORT HENRY RELIEVED-LIEUT. HAY PUT IN CHARGE OF THE FORT.

On the 24th of September, 1781, General William Irvine was appointed eommander of the Western Department, with head- quarters at Fort Pitt. Immediately on his taking command of the Department, he set about making arrangements to meet the various emergencies for the protection of the frontier.

The Post at Wheeling, (Fort Henry,) was found, November, 1781, to have a garrison of one Continental officer and fifteen privates. Irvine did not sce how he could spare any of the soldiers at Fort Pitt for their relicf. The latter was so few and ill provided for, so irregular, and, in every respeet, so unlike soldiers, that it seemed absolutely necessary they should be kept together as much as possible for the present. Neither did the commander desire to make haste to draw out all the citizens of the different counties for tours of military duty. He would try whether enough volunteers could not be obtained, to take the place of the men at Fort Henry. In case of failure, however, he resolved to call out, for that purpose, according to law, a suf- ficient number of the militia.

"On the 18th of November, Irvine wrote to James Marshall, lieutenant of Washington county-which then comprehended all the territory west of the Monongahela and south of the Ohio, to the State line-asking him to engage, if practicable, "one discreet, intelligent subaltern officer, with six or seven men," to march to the relief of the garrison, at Wheeling, "to take charge of the Post by the 1st of Deeember, at furthest, and to re- main there till the Ist of Mareh, unless sooner discharged or re- lieved-they to be allowed for it as having served a tour of mi- litia duty, and every other emolument and allowance, agreeable to law." If this force could not be engaged as volunteers, then Marshall was to order out one subaltern, one sergeant, one cor- poral, and fifteen privates of the militia; and, when ready to march, they were to be sent to Fort Pitt, for instructions.

"I can not comply with your requisition," was the answer of Marshal, two days after, " of engaging a number of men for the defense of Fort Wheeling, as I am heartily tired out with volunteer plans." But he was ready and willing to obey orders : "I shall order out, according to elass, the number of militia you have demanded, and order the officer to wait upon you for instructions." Marshall made good his word. Lieutenant Hay waited upon General Irvine; and, on the 28th, received his or- ders " to proceed to Wheeling with the detachment under his command, there to relieve the garrison of Continental troops- taking upon himself the charge of the post."*

In December Lieut. John Hay was, aceordingly, placed in com- mand at Fort Henry, with a garrison consisting of one ser- geant and fifteen privates of Washington county militia.

On the first day of February. 1782, Lieut. Hay and his men were relieved by a lieutenant (name unknown), sergeant and fifteen Washington county militia. This lieutenant remained in charge with his force about two months.

MASSACRE OF THE MORAVIAN INDIANS AT GNADENHUTTEN, MARCH 6, 1782.

The British at Detroit, their auxiliaries, and the hostile Indians at Sandusky, used their influence conjointly in the fall of 1781 to induce the missionaries and their Indian converts to leave Tuscarawas and join the enemies of the United States. Failing in this, a party of British and Indians came down to the valley, captured Zeisberger, Heckwelder, and other mis- sionaries, gathered together the converts from Schönbrunn, Salem, and Gnadenhütten and drove them to the Sandusky country, leaving their cattle, hogs, corn, and other winter pro- visions behind. Zeisberger, Heckwelder, and the other mis- sionaries, were taken to Detroit to be tried as spies, having been charged with holding correspondence with the agents of the American colonies, but after a trial were acquitted and re- turned to Sandusky.

Ignorant of these events, David Williamson, a colonel of militia in Washington county, marched, some time afterward, to the Muskingum with a detachment of men, to compel the missionaries to remove further away from the border; or, in case of a refusal, to take them prisoners. Upon their arrival in the valley they found this task anticipated by the enemy. They captured a small party, however, who had returned from Sandusky to gather corn left standing in the fields; and with

*Butterfield's Crawford's expedition.

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

these they returned to the settlements. These " Moravians" were immediately set at liberty by Gen. Irvine.

Early in the winter the missionaries at Sandusky heard that a party of Virginians, under Captain Benjamin Biggs, had gone out from the Ohio to Schönbrunn and murdered a number of Christian Indians found there gathering corn.

Captain Biggs had been in 1778 and 1779 one of the defend- ers of Fort Laurens, and in the fall of 1781 was sent from Wheeling with a party to rout out and kill the Muncey and other Indian warriors who had, after the missionaries were carried off, taken possession of Schönbrunn and the other for- saken settlements in the valley. When Biggs got to Schön- brunn he found only some straggling Christian Indians; these he took to Fort Pitt, and they had liberty to go and come as they pleased. Biggs' campaign had drawn no blood in the valley, and this dissatisfied the border settlers along the Ohio who were continually being raided upon by western Indian warriors, and their families murdered or carried into captivity. The abandoned Schönbrunn, Gnadenhütten and Salem, were during the winter, made the resting places of the warriors. going to or returning from the Ohio with scalps and prisoners; and small pursuing parties of whites from the east, as well as par- ties of Christian Indians who had ran back from Sandusky to the warmer Tuscarawas, made the valley one continual scene of excitement and discordant border warfare until the bloody scenes of 1782 began to unfold.

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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 40

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