History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 38

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854

USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881 > Part 38

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On one of these visits he came upon a camp of four Indians. Hesitating a moment whether to attack a party so much his superior in numerical strength, he determined to make the attempt. At the hour of mid-night, when naught was heard but the long dismal howl of the wolf,

"Cruel as death and hungry as the grave,

Burning for blood, bony, gaunt and grim,"

he moved cautiously from his covert, and gliding through the darkness, stealthily approached the camp, supporting his rifle in one hand and a tomahawk in the other. A dim flicker from the camp fire faintly revealed the forms of the Indians, wrapped in profound slumber, which, to part of them, was to know no waking. There they lay, with their dark faces turned up to the night-sky, in the deep solitude of their own wil- derness, little dreaming that their most relentless enemy was hovering over them. Quietly resting his gun against a tree, he unsheathed his knife and with an intrepidity that could never be sur- passed. stopped boldly forward, like the minister of death, and quick as thought cleft the skull of one of his sleeping victims. In an instant a sec- ond one was similarly served, and as a third attempted to rise, confused by the horrid yells with which Wetzel accompanied his blows, he, too, shared the fate of his companions, and sunk dead at the feet of this ruthless slayer. The

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

fourth darted into the darkness of the wood and escaped, although Wetzel pursued him some dis- tanee. Returning to camp, he sealped his vic- tims, and then left for home. When asked, on his return, what luek, "Not much," he replied : " I treed four Indians, but one got away." This unexampled achievement stamped him as one of the most daring, and at the same time successful hunters of his day. The distance to and from the seene of this adventure could not have been less than 120 miles.

During one of his seouts, in the neighborhood of Wheeling, Wetzel took shelter, on a stormy evening, in a deserted cabin on the bottom, not far from the former residence of Mr. Hamilton Woods. Gathering a few broken boards he pre- pared a place in the loft to sleep. Scarcely had lie got himself adjusted for a nap, when six Indians entered, and striking a fire, commenced preparing their meal. Wetzel watched their movements closely, with drawn knife, determined the moment he was discovered, to leap in their midst, and in the confusion endeavor to escape. Fortunately, they did not see him, and soon after supper the whole six fell asleep. Wetzel now crawled noiselessly down, and hid himself behind a log, at a convenient distance from the door of the cabin. At early dawn, a tall savage stepped from the door, and in an instant Wetzel had his finger upon the trigger, and the next moment the Indian fell heavily to the ground, his life's blood gushing upon the young grass brilliant with the morning due drops. The report of his rifle had not ceased echoing through the valley ere the daring borderer was far away, secure from all pursuit.

Being allowed one day to walk on the point at the mouth of the Muskingum, under a strong guard, he suddenly sprang away from the guards, being determined to risk his life in an attempt to escape. He was nearly a hundred yards away before the guards could recover from their astonishment and fire upon him. They missed their aim; and being more fleet on foot than they, he made his escape to the woods, seereting himself in a dense thicket, two or three miles from the fort. While here a party of soldiers and Indians, sent out by General Harmar in search of him, stood for a time upon the log under which he lay concealed. They did not find him, however, and that night, though still hand-euffed, he swam the Ohio river and took refuge among his many friends on the Virginia side.

After a time, hearing of his whereabouts, Gen- eral Harmar sent a squad of men under Captain Kingsbury to the neighborhood of Wheeling with orders to take him dead or alive. Kings- bury.found Wetzel at Mingo Bottom, attending a shooting match, but as he was surrounded by a large number of his friends, among whom was Major McMahon, and as these, headed by Wetzel, threatened to annihilate the little squad of sol- diers, Kingsbury was pursuaded to return with- out effeeting his object.

Soon after this, however, he was arrested at Limestone by a squad of soldiers and delivered to General Harmar at Fort Washington.

As the news of his arrest spread through the settlement where Wetzel was known and loved, the settlers determined to embody and release him by the forec of arms. It is said that General Harmar secing the storm approaching, set Wet- zel at liberty.

When about twenty-five years offage, Wetzel was employed by General Harmar as a scout. While acting in this capacity he shot and killed His short life was full of adventure of the character already mentioned. IIe was univer- sally regarded as one of the most efficient of the scouts and woodsmen of his day. He frequently ac- companied Captain Samuel Brady in his expedi- tions against the Indians, and was often engaged lands, but were afraid of the Indians. Under the protection of Lewis Wetzel, however, they felt safe, and he was thus employed for months at a time. and Indian chief known as George Washington, a large, fine looking savage, who possessed much influence over his tribe. It was a time of com- parative peace, and General Harmar was es- pecially anxious to preserve the good feeling then existing. He justly regarded the act as an out- i by parties who desired to hunt up and locate rage, and caused Wetzel to be arrested and placed in close continement in the fort, heavily ironed. The continement was extremely galling to one accustomed to the freedom of the woods.

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Among those who became largely interested in western lands was John Madison, brother of James, afterward President Madison. He em- ployed Lewis Wetzel to go with him through the Kanawha region. During the expedition they came upon the deserted camp of a hunter, in which were some concealed goods. Each of them helped himself to a blanket, and that day, in crossing the Kanawha, they were fired upon by a party of Indians and Madison killed.

Wetzel was engaged to accompany the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Rocky mountains, but after traveling with the party three months returned home. Shortly after this he went down the river to Mississippi, on a visit to a rela- tive named Philip Sikes, who lived about twenty miles in the interior from Natchez. Here he re- mained until the summer of 1808, when he died.

His personal appearance was somewhat re- markable. He was five feet ten inches in height, very erect, broad across the shoulders, an ex- pansive chest, and limbs denoting great muscular strength. His complexion was very dark and eyes of the most intense blackness, emitting, when excited, such fierce and withering glances as to cause the stoutest adversary to quail be- neath their power. His hair corresponded with his eyes in color, was very luxuriant and reached, when combed out, below his knees. The length of his hair was his greatest peculiarity, and when scen running or stealthily passing through the woods, gave him the appearance of a wild man. No wonder he became a terror to the Indians; he could outrun their fleetest warriors, his gun seemed to be always loaded and he made every shot count, rarely missing his aim; they were never safe from his vengeance, even in their own camp, hundreds of miles from any white settle- ment. They could not lay down to sleep about their camp fires without the thought that Lewis Wetzel might be among them before morning, with his terrible tomahawk and scalping knife.

Such was the man who probably knew every square mile of Coshocton county before the first white settler made his appearance.

CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY was one of the many distinguished characters that figured prominently in western history. He made himself pre-emi-

nently conspicuous in the defense and protection of the early-time settlements on the western frontiers. The traditionary tales and legendary stories current among the border settlers con- nected his name with numerous daring adven- tures and gallant exploits. The unwritten history of the west, with more truth than fiction, coupled his name with many heroic achievements-with many a valorous deed. Few leaders, during the " heroic age on our western borders," could in- spire his brave followers with more hope, courage and enthusiasm than Captain Brady. Few border chieftains commanded public confidence to a larger extent, or secured a readier, more cheerful or more confident following than he. His name, in his generation, was the synonym of courage, skill, daring, energy, perseverance, success. And probably few men that were prominent actors on the fiery theater of war, on which was waged the bloody contest for supremacy between barbarism and civilization, better deserved the well-merited reputation he had acquired than Captain Brady. The annals of western border warfare, which re- cord the heroic achievements of those who par, ticipated therein, present the names of very few men, indeed, who bore a more conspicuously gal- lant part in said warfare ; and none whose memory better deserves to be cherished by posterity than Captain Brady's.

In an address delivered by the late Rev. C. Springer, before the Licking County Pioneer Society, July 4, 1867, he gave an account of an ex- pedition up the Walhonding, or White Woman, from its mouth to Owl creek, or Vernon river, and up the latter stream, and thence down the Licking and Muskingum rivers, which was under the command of Captain Samuel Brady. Mr. Springer was a venerable pioneer whose removal to the Muskingum valley dates back to the early years of the century, and he gave the history of this expedition as obtained from several reputa- ble gentlemen with whom he had been personally well acquainted for many years, and who had been themselves members of said expedition.

Mr. Springer stated that he took a special in- terest in the campaign, when its history was first given him ; its incidents, he said, deeply impressed themselves upon his memory. The narrative may therefore be considered altogether reliable ;

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certainly the venerable author of the address so regarded it.

For the facts presented in the following histori- cal sketch, as well as for the language in which they are related, credit is due and is hereby given to the late Rev. C. Springer, author of the address from which they are taken :

Not long before the defeat of the Indians at the battle of the " Fallen Timbers," on the banks of the Maumee, in August, 1794, by General Wayne, Captain Samuel Brady, of border fame, with a scouting party principally from the "Mo- nongahela country," crossed the Ohio river at Wheeling for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the Indians, and giving annoyance in turn to such small hunting or marauding parties as might fall in their way. They directed their course to the " Forks of the Muskingum," passed up the White Woman and Walhonding

creeks, thence up Owl creek or Vernon river, from its mouth up said stream some twenty miles or more; then passed over to the head waters of the Licking, and down it to the "Falls," four miles west of its mouth, now Zanesville. As none of the party had ever been there before, they sup- posed they were at the "Falls of Hocking," of which they had often heard.

As game was remarkably plenty, and having to procure their subsistence from the forest, the company concluded to make a temporary stay at this place, and having struck up a fire, most of them turned out to hunt, and procure such wild meats as were necessary for their comfort, Near evening all had returned to their camp-fire except Jonathan Evans. After waiting for some time in great suspense, they gave their usual signal for lost persons-by firing guns-but there was no response from Evans. As they had that day seen fresh Indian signs, they entertained no doubt but that these had captured Jonathan ; and fearing ar attack themselves, they left their fires and passed back of the hill, immediately southeast of Dillon's old furnace, where they remained concealed during the night. In the morning they resumed their march down the Licking, and soon reached the Falls of the Mus- kingum, now Zanesville. Some of the expedi- tion having been there before, they understood their whereabouts.

As they had determined to visit the Marietta settlement before their return home, they started down the river, and before going very far below the Falls, to their great astonishment and greater pleasure, they met Jonathan Evans, who was moving up the river for the purpose of rejoining the expedition. The joy on meeting Jonathan, who they apprehended had been captured by the Indians, was great indeed. Having got lost the day before, he lay all night on the banks of a creek the Indians called Moxahala, which empties into the Muskingum river two or three miles below the Falls. The Moxahala has, ever since Jonathan Evans lodged upon its banks, as above related, been generally called Jonathan's creek, in memory of the lost man of Brady's expedi- tion. In the morning, after lodging on the banks of the Moxahala, he followed the creek to its mouth, and seeing no signs of the expedition having passed down, he moved up the river in search of his comrads, when he met them, as above detailed.

In the summer of ISI3, the Rev. Cornelius Springer was passing the "Falls of Licking," in company with a Mr. Simms (his neighbor), who was a member of the expedition, and the conversa- tion naturally turned upon the foregoing events, that being the point . where the Brady expedi- tion passed the night, after Jonathan Evans had strayed away from them unintentionally, and passed the night on the Moxahala, "solitary and alone." After Mr. Simms had circumstantially related the history of the expedition, particularly as it related to Jonathan Evans, his subsequent history was inquired into. In answer, Mr. Simms stated that, many years before, Jonathan had moved down the Ohio river and located at some point unknown, and that he had heard nothing from him since his removal.

In 1817, the writer of this sketch was engaged as an itinerent minister on a circuit which ex- tended many miles along the Ohio river, between the Scioto and Hockhocking. In the course of his ministrations he found Jonathan Evans, who was then a member of one of his congregations. living five miles above " Letart Falls," on the Ohio river, and the head of a large family, a Christian and a class leader in the Methodist church. It was by mere accident, Mr. Springer

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says, that he discovered Mr. Evans to be the Jona- than Evans of the Brady expedition. On invi- tatión he spent an evening with him, enjoying his hospitality. He was rather taciturn and his guest was therefore compelled to lead in the con- versation. In answer to the question as to whether he had ever been up the Muskingum valley, he stated that he passed through it when it was a wilderness. It at once occurred to Mr. S. that he had probably found the man also who gave name to the creek once called Moxahala. " Are you not the man for whom 'Jonathan creek,' a tributary of the Muskingum, was named ?" was the next question put to him, and he smilingly replied in the affirmative, and pro- eceded to give an account of his wanderings from the time he left the camp-fire at the " Falls of Licking," until he rejoined his companions next day, near the "Falls of the Muskingum." As the Rev. Mr. Springer had spent his boyhood near "Jonathan creek," he was well acquainted with the localities that witnessed that day's wan- derings and travels of Jonathan Evans, and knew familiarly the point or bhuiff on which he spent the night, amidst the hideous howlings of wolves, as he said; he was therefore able to trace him as he moved from point to point along his entire line of travels, while away from his eom- rades of the expedition. These circumstances and facts all tended very much to give increased zest to their highly interesting interview.

Captain Brady while on this expedition, it is said, gave name to the Bowling Green, on the Licking, four miles below Newark. He had seen a place of similar appearance, to this locality, somewhere, perhaps in Virginia, hence he gave the same name to the beautiful and extensive prairie on the Licking, and which it has borne ever since.

The same expedition gave to "Duncan's Falls" its name. After Jonathan Evans had rojoined the expedition, having now less apprehension of the Indians, the men took time to construct ca- noes in which to descend the Muskingum to its mouth An Irishman named Duncan. in passing over the rapids or falls in the Muskingum, ten miles below the mouth of the Licking, (now Zanesville,) by some mishap to his canoe, prob- ably striking a rock, was plunged into the river, |

and that circumstance gave name to "Duncan's Falls."

One more incident of this expedition : When it had reached a point about half way to the mouth of the Muskingum, from the mouth of the Lieking, it was deemed advisable to come to anchor, and take to the forest for game, their supply of provisions having been nearly exhausted. Their first day's quest for game, not having been entirely successful. they encamped at night on Wolf creek, where, after having fallen asleep, a large tree fell near their camp, with a tremendous crash. All thought it was probably a sudden and overpowering attack by Indians; at any rate being thus suddenly aroused from their slumbers, by such a sudden and fearful noise as the falling of a large tree would pro- duce, it was a matter of course that great excite- ment and trepidation should immediately pre- vail in their camp. The temporary confusion and alarm that existed around that camp-fire on Wolf creek, among the hunters, soldiers, frontiers- men, and adventurers of Captain Brady's expedi- tion, naturally enough, led toa good deal of mer- riment afterward among themselves, when de- tailing circumstantially, the effects produced upon each and every one of the occupants of the camp on Wolf creek. The talents of the dog- gerel rhymster, even, were called into requisi- tion, in order to give full effect, to descriptions of scenes, real and imaginary, that were wit- nessed on that memorable night on Wolf creek. Captain Brady's men being not only the witnesses but also the victims.

The expedition under consideration was prob- ably disbanded or dispersed, at or soon after leaving the mouth of the Muskingum, most of them, however, likely went up the Ohio in their canoes to Wheeling, and there dispersed.

As has been stated, Rev. C. Springer, on ae- credited authority, was the historian of the Brady expedition, as above narrated. And it is emi- nently proper to say that his facts are given on the authority of four ereditable actors in the ex- pedition, whose history is given. These were Jonathan Evans and three of his neighbors named Simms, Hamilton and Darrah, for whose veracity he vouches.

The leader of the foregoing expedition, Capt.

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Samuel Brady, was born at Shippensburg, Penn- sylvania, in 1756. His father, John Brady, was made a captain in the colonial army, for his services in the old French and Indian wars. The historian, DeHass, to whom we are in- debted for many of the incidents in the life of Captain Brady here presented, says that at an carly day Capt. John Brady, with his family, moved to the Susquehanna.

On the breaking out of the Revolution, Samuel Brady joined a volunteer company and marched to Boston. The patriotic fervor of the youth prompted the commander to offer young Brady a commission, but his father objected, thinking he was too young, saying : "First let him learn the duties of a soldier, and then he will better know how to act as an officer."

But the gallant young soldier's patriotism and ability were soon recognized. On the 17th of July, 1776, he received a lieutenant's commission, and bore himself gallantly through most of the principal battles until after the engagement at Monmouth, when he was promoted (in 1779) to a brevet captaincy, and ordered to the West for duty under Col. Brodhead. His father, in 1776, had accepted a captaincy in the 12th Pennsylva- nia regiment, had been badly wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and was then at home. Whilst there Captain Brady heard of his brother's death, who had been murdered by the Indians on the 9th of August, 1778. He remained at home until 1779, and then rejnined his regiment at Pittsburgh. During the same year his father was murdered by the Indians; and then it was that our hero swore vengeance against the whole race. Terribly, too, did he keep that vow.

In 1781, Col. Brodhead sent Captain Brady on a secret mission (accompanied by John Williamson and one of the Wetzels) to some western Indian towns to ascertain their strength and resources. On this expedition they reached the Indian town at Upper Sandusky, from which it was found ex- pedient to make a prompt retreat. The restora- tion to their friends of a woman and her child, who had been captured by some Indians, one or more of whom Captain Brady killed, was one of the results of this movement.

The incursions of the Indians, says De Hass, had become so frequent, and their outrages so

alarming, that it was thought advisable to retaliate upon them the injuries of war, and carry into the country occupied by them, the same methods that they practiced toward the white settlements. For this purpose an adequate force was raised and placed under the immediate command of Col. Brodhead, the command of the advance guard of which was confided to Captain Brady.

The force proceeded up the Allegheny river, and had arrived near the Redbank creek, now known by the name of "Brady's Bend," without encountering an enemy. Brady and his rangers were some distance in front of the main body, as their duty required, when they suddenly dis- covered a war party of Indians approaching them. Relying on the strength of the main body, and its ability to force the Indians to retreat, and antici- pating, as Napoleon did in the battle with the Mamelukes, that when driven back they would return by the same route they had advanced on. Brady permitted them to proceed withont hin- drance, and hastened to seize a narrow pass, higher up the river, where the rocks, nearly per- pendicular, approached the river, and a few deter- mined men might successfully combat superior numbers. Soon the Indians encountered the main body under Brodhead, and, as Brady antici- pated, were driven back. In full and swift retreat they pressed on to gain the pass between the rocks and the river, but it was occupied by Brady and his rangers, who failed not to pour into their flying columns a most destructive fire. Many were killed on the bank, and many more in the stream. Cornplanter, afterward the distinguished chief of the Senecas, but then a young man, saved him- self by swimming.

The celebrated war-chief of this tribe, Bald- Eagle, was of the number slain on this occasion. After destroying all the Indians' corn, the army returned to Pittsburgh.

Another movement up the Allegheny river, of which Captain Brady was the master mind, was successful, the details of which are given by De Hass.

Beaver Valley was the scene of many of Cap- tain Brady's stirring adventures. Many interest- ing localities are there pointed out as Brady's theater of action, and which were witnesses of many of his thrilling exploits, and of his daring

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

and success, as well as his numerous hair-breadth escapes by " field and flood."

The following, illustrative of Brady's adven- tures in the region referred to, we give from a published source : In one of his trapping and hunting excursions, he was surprised and taken prisoner by a party of Indians who had closely watched his movements. To have shot or toma- hawked and scalped him would have been but a small gratification to that of satiating their re- venge by burning him at a slow fire, in presence of all the Indians of their village. He was there- fore taken alive to their encampment, on the west bank of the Beaver river, about a mile and a half above where it empties into the Ohio river.

After the usual exultations and rejoicings at the capture of a noted enemy, and causing him to run the gauntlet, a fire was prepared, near which Brady was placed, after being stripped and with his arms unbound. Previous to tying him to the stake, a large circle was formed around him of Indian nien, women and children, dancing and yelling, and uttering all manner of threats and abuses that their limited knowledge of the English language afforded. The prisoner looked on these preparations for death, and on his savage foe with a firm countenance and a steady eye, meeting all their threats with truly savage forti- tude. In the midst of their dancing and rejoicing a squaw of one of their chiefs came near him with a child in her arms. Quick as thought, and with intuitive prescience, he snatched it from her and threw it into the midst of the flames, Horror- stricken at the sudden outrage, the Indians simultaneously rushed to rescue the infant from the fire. In the midst of this confusion, Brady darted from the circle, overturning all that came in his way, and rushed into the adjacent thicket, with the Indians yelling at his heels. He ascended the steep side of a hill amidst a shower of bullets, and, darting down the opposite declivity, secreted himself in the deep ravines and laurel thickets that abounded for several miles to the west.

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 38

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 854

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854