USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 35
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After the slaughter was over, and the scalps secured, one of the most important acts in the warfare of the American
433
MASSACRE OF SETTLERS.
Indians, they proceeded to collect the plunder. In removing the bedding, the lad Philip Stacey was discovered. Their tomahawks were instantly raised for his destruction, when he threw himself at the feet of one of their leading warriors, begging him to protect him. The savage either took com- passion on his youth, or else his revenge being satisfied with the slaughter already made, interposed his authority and saved his life. After removing every thing they thought val- uable, they tore up the floor, piled it over the dead bodies, and set it on fire, thinking to consume the block house with the carcasses of their enemies. The structure being made of green beech logs, would not readily burn, and the fire only destroyed the floors and roof, leaving the walls still standing. A curious fact, showing the prejudices of the Indians, is related by William Smith, who was one of the associates, but providentially absent at the time of the attack. He was at the place the second day after, and says, the Indians carried out the meal, beans, &c., which they found in the house before setting it on fire, and laid them in small heaps by the stumps of trees, a few paces distant. They proba- bly thought it sacrilege to destroy food, or that it would give offense to the Great Spirit to do so, for which he would in some way punish them. No people were ever more influ- enced in their actions by auguries and omens, than the savages of North America.
There were twelve persons killed in this attack, viz: John Stacey, Ezra Putnam, son of Major Putnam, of Marietta ; John Camp, and Zebulon Throop, from Massachusetts; Jonathan Farewell, and James Couch, New Hampshire ; William James, Connecticut; John Clark, Rhode Island ; Isaac Meeks, wife, and two children, from Virginia. These men were well armed, and no doubt could have defended themselves against the Indians, had they taken proper precau- tions. But they had no veteran revolutionary officers with them to plan and direct their operations, as they had at all the other stations. If they had picketed their house and kept
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434
ALARM AT MILLSBURGH.
1
a regular guard, the Indians probably would not have ven- tured an attack; but seeing the naked block house, they were encouraged to attempt its capture. Colonel Stacey, an old soldier, familiar with Indian warfare in Cherry val- ley, where he formerly lived, visited the post on the Satur- day previous, and seeing its insecure condition, gave them a strict charge to keep a regular guard, and prepare imme- diately strong bars to the door, to be shut every night at sunset. They, however, apprehending no danger, did not profit by his advice.
The two Bullards after effecting their escape traveled rapidly down the river about four miles to Samuel Mitchel's hunting camp. Captain Rogers, a soldier of the revolution, a fine hunter, and afterwards a ranger for the garrison at Marietta, was living with him, and a Mohican Indian, from Connecticut, by the name of Dick Layton. Mitchel was absent at the mills ; Rogers and Dick were lying wrapped up in their blankets sleeping by the fire. They were awa- kened and made acquainted with the cause of their un- timely visit, and the probable fate of the people at the block house. Seizing their weapons without delay, they crossed the river on the ice, and shaped their course through the woods for Wolf creek mills, distant about six miles, and reached there by ten o'clock that evening.
On announcing the news of the attack on Big bottom, and the probable approach of the Indians to the mills ; great was the consternation and alarm of the helpless wo- men and children. Several additional families had joined this station since the year 1789, but a number of the lead- ing men were absent to attend the court of quarter sessions, which was to set at Marietta on Monday. This rendered their condition still more desperate, in case of an attack, which they had every reason to expect before daylight in the morning. The gloom of night greatly added to their distress, and gave energy to their fears. Under the direc- tion of Captain Rogers, who had been familiar with similar
435
ALARM AT MILLSBURGH.
events, the inhabitants, amounting to about thirty souls, principally women and children, were all collected into the largest and strongest cabin, which belonged to Colonel Oliver, and is the one standing nearest to the mills, in the drawing. The people at Millsburgh had neglected to erect a block house, as they were instructed to do, and now felt the need of one. Into this cabin they brought a few of their most valuable goods, with all the tubs, kettles and pails they could muster, which Captain Rogers directed to be filled with water from the creek, for the purpose of extin- guishing fire, should the Indians attempt to burn the house, which was one of their most common modes of attack. The door was strongly barred, and windows made fast; the men, seven in number, were posted in the loft, who by removing a few chunks between the logs, with here and there a shingle from the roof, soon made port holes from which to fire upon the enemy. Like a prudent soldier, their leader posted one man as a sentry on the outside of the house, under cover of a fence, to give timely notice of their approach. It was a long and weary night, never to be for- gotten by the mothers and children, who occupied the room below, and thought they should be first sacrificed if the In- dians entered the house. Just before daylight the sentinel gave notice of their approach. Several were obscurely seen, through the gloom of night, near the saw mill, and their movements distinctly heard as they stepped on some loose boards. Their tracks were also seen the next morn- ing in some patches of snow. Finding the people awake, and on the look out for an attack, they did nothing more than reconnoitre the place, and made their retreat at day dawn, to the great relief of the inhabitants.
Samuel Mitchel was dispatched early in the night to give the alarm to the people at Waterford, and two runners were * sent to Marietta. Nothing could better demonstrate the courage and humanity of Captain Rogers, than his conduct in this affair, thus to weaken his own means of defense by
436
ALARM AT WATERFORD.
parting with some of his most active and brave men to no- tify the sleeping settlers of their danger, when he had every reason to expect an attack from an overwhelming force in a few hours. Mitchel on his way to the river called at the cabin of Harry Maxon, near the mouth of the creek. He was gone to Marietta, but his wife, and Major Tyler, who lived with him, crossed over with Mitchel on the ice, to awaken and notify the people of the danger that awaited them. They first called at the dwelling of the widow Con- vers, whose husband had died of small pox the year before ; it stood near the center of the present town of Beverly. She was the mother of eight children ; the two oldest were sons ; James, a young man, and Daniel, a lad of fifteen, who was shortly after taken by the Indians. In one hour from the time the alarm was given by Mitchel, these two young fellows had visited every cabin in the settlement, ex- tending for two miles up and down the river. With all the haste the emergency required, and with as little noise as possible, the inhabitants assembled in their only block house, which was quite small, and stood near the lower part of the donation lots.
The terror of the women and children, hurried out of their beds at midnight, was not much less than that of those . at the mills ; but it so happened they had a larger number of old soldiers among them, as but few were absent at the court. The blockhouse was about fifteen feet square, and sheltered that night twelve heads of families, with their wives and children, amounting in all to sixty-seven souls. no alarm took place that gloomy night, save the noise of the watch dogs, which were left out of doors to give notice by their barking of the approach of the savages. Early in the morning, scouts of the most active men were sent out to reconnoitre and search for signs of the enemy. None how- ever were seen. In the course of the day they visited their deserted houses for food, which they had no time to take with them in the hurry of the preceding night. The escape
437
BURIAL OF THE VICTIMS.
of the two Bullards was a merciful and providential event for the settlers of Waterford. If these men had been killed, or captured, the Indians would that night have fallen on the unsuspecting inhabitants in their sleep, who were far less able to resist than the people at Big bottom, nearly all of them living detached in their log cabins. It is morally certain this would have been their fate, as the In- dians fitted out the war party with the express object of de- stroying these two settlements, and had said that before the leaves again covered the trees, they would not leave a smoke of the white man on this side of the Ohio river.
The next day, or the 4th of January, Captain Rogers led a party of men over to Big bottom. It was a melancholy sight to the poor borderers, as they knew not how soon the same fate might befall themselves. The action of the fire, although it did not entirely consume, had so blackened and disfigured the dead bodies, that few of them could be recog- nized. That of William James was known by his great size, being six feet and four inches in hight, and stoutly made. As the earth was frozen on the outside, a hole was dug within the walls of the house, and the bodies con- signed to one grave. No further attempt was made at a settlement here, until after the peace. Big bottom now forms a quiet and beautiful agricultural district, in the town- ship of Windsor, Morgan county.
The party of warriors from the mills having joined their companions early in the day, preparation was made for their homeward march. They knew from the escape of the men from the deserted cabin, and their observations at the mills, that the settlement below was aware of their vicinity, and that further attempts at that time would be useless.
The Indians engaged in this massacre were Delawares and Wyandots, and from the best information subsequently collected from the prisoners, were about twenty-five in num- ber. Before departing, they left a war club in a conspicuous place, which is their mode of letting their enemies know
438
CHOATE RANSOMED.
that war is begun, and is equivalent to a written declaration among civilized powers. As it was quite uncertain, whether the wounded Indian would live or die, lots were cast on the prisoners for one to be sacrificed as an offering to his spirit, and to fulfill their law of revenge. The lot fell on Isaac Choate. He was directly stripped of his own comfortable dress, and habited in that of the wounded Indian, all clot- ted and soaked with blood, and loaded with a part of the plunder ; while his own clothing was put on his disabled enemy. As he was now a devoted victim, he was not suf- fered to travel in company with the others, but placed under the charge of two warriors who kept him a consid- erable distance in the rear, but generally in sight of the main body.
By careful attention to their wounded comrade (no civil- ized people being more kind than the Indians to their dis- abled fellows), he finally recovered, and Choate's life was spared. Had he died, his fatal doom was inevitable. As soon as the distance and the short days of winter would permit, the party reached the British post at the rapids of the Maumee river; soon after which Colonel McKee, the Indian agent, redeemed Francis Choate from his captors. It is said he was induced to this kind act from motives of humanity, and on account of his being a member of the brotherhood of Free Masons. In a few days he was sent to Detroit, and, embarking in a sloop, went down the lake to Niagara; and from thence through the state of New York to his home in Leicester, Massachusetts.
His brother, Isaac, was taken to Detroit by the Indians at the same time, and falling in with a citizen of that place who traded with them, persuaded him to advance the ran- som demanded; promising to remain there and work at his trade, as a cooper, until he could repay the money. By his diligence and activity, in a few months, he earned the sum required, repaid the debt, and returned down the lake to his home in the same way.
439
SHAW RANSOMED BY BRANDT.
Thomas Shaw was kept by the Indians at the rapids for some months, when he was redeemed by the noted Colonel Brandt, without any expectation of its being refunded to him again. He soon after went to Detroit and worked for a French farmer, near that place. Colonel Brandt met with him at that place, and, finding him an expert axeman and familiar with clearing land, persuaded him to go down and live with a brother-in-law, a physician, living on a farm, a few miles out from the fort, at Niagara.
Young Philip Stacey died of sickness, at the rapids.
James Patten, a middle aged man, was adopted into an Indian family, and retained until the peace of 1795.
440
AFFAIRS AT WATERFORD.
CHAPTER XXI.
Affairs at Waterford .- Garrison built .- Description and plate of Fort Frye .- Names of families .- Attack on the new garrison. - Anecdotes of that affair. -John Miller, a young Mohican, gives notice. - Particulars of the event .- Jabez Barlow's adventure .- Captivity of Daniel Convers. - History of the event .- Taken to Sandusky .- Events by the way. - Sold to an Indian .- Adopted into the family .- Kind usage of his Indian mother .- Escapes at Detroit .- J. Van Sheik Riley .- Passage down the lake .- Gentlemanly treatment of the British officers. - Return home.
THE next day after the attack at Big bottom, the settlers at the mills and at Waterford held a council to decide on what was the best course to pursue in the present emer- gency. They were not able to retain and defend both stations. It was finally decided to build a strong garrison on the east side of the river, and to evacuate the settlement at the mills. Several of the leading men at this place moved to Marietta, while others joined the station at Wa- terford.
The spot chosen for the location of the fort was in a bend of the river, about half a mile below the present town of Beverly. The land near it is fertile, and extends back, nearly half a mile, to the base of the hills. On the opposite shore, it rises abruptly into a high hill, or ridge, which, with artillery, would command the ground on which the fort stood. But as their enemies had no guns larger than rifles, no danger was apprehended from this source. The only disadvantage would be the facility it gave their enemies for inspecting the interior of the garrison from its lofty summit, at least two hundred feet above the river, and learning the movements of the whites. The form of the fort was trian- gular, which is rather uncommon in military defenses.
GR
FORT FRYE Paterfur-
441
FORT FRYE BUILT.
But as they were in a hurry, and it saved them one line of curtains, while the block houses at the angles defended the sides just as well as in any other form, it was adopted.
The base of the triangle rested on the river, distant only a few paces from the bank, and was about two hundred feet in length. One of the other sides was somewhat lon- ger, so that the work was not a regular triangle. At each corner, was a two story block house, twenty feet square below, and a foot or two more above. The two longer sides were filled in with dwelling houses, some of which were two stories high, and others of a less hight, while a considerable portion were built barrack fashion, with only one roof, pitched inward, so that the rain from it fell within the garrison. The spaces not occupied by buildings were filled in with stout pickets. Broad, substantial gates, near the northern block house, led out through the palisades into the highway and fields, while a smaller one in the curtain on the bank, called the water gate, afforded an opening to the river.
A line of palisades, twelve feet high, at the distance of thirty feet, inclosed the whole, and descended to the river. The space covered by the fort contained about three fourths of an acre. Near the center of the interior, they dug a well, lest in a seige the Indians might cut them off from the river. A blacksmith's shop was also built in this area. Their wood for fuel was kept on the outside, between the pickets and the walls of the fort. By diligent and assiduous labor, aided by ten or twelve men sent up by the Ohio company, the buildings were erected, and pickets set by the last of February, but the gates were not hung until early in March ..
The accompanying drawing, made from the recollection of Colonel Convers, who lived there and assisted in build- ing it, is probably a pretty correct representation of "Fort Frye," as it was called by the inhabitants.
The following is a list of the heads of families, and single men, who lived here during the war:
442
NAMES OF FAMILIES AT FORT FRYEE.
Captain William Gray, wife, and two children, comman- der of the garrison ; Major Phinehas Coburn, wife, and three sons, young men, Phinehas, Nicholas, and Asa ; Judge Gil- bert Devoll, wife, and two sons, young men, Gideon, and Jonathan - one daughter ; also, Wanton Devoll, wife, and one child; Allen Devoll, wife, and three or four children ; Andrew Storer, wife, and five children ; Widow of B. Con- vers, and eight children, James a young man, and Daniel a lad of fifteen years ; George Wilson, wife, and two chil- dren ; Jeremiah Wilson, two sons, and two daughters; Benjamin Shaw, wife, and three children ; Nathan Kinney, and wife ; Joshua Sprague, wife, and two children ; Major John White, and wife; William Sprague, wife and two children ; Noah Fearing, wife, and several children ; An- drew Webster, and son ; Harry Maxen, and wife; Daniel Davis, wife, and two sons, young men, William, and Daniel, jr .; David Wilson, wife, and one child; Benjamin Beadle, and wife. Single men - William McCullock, Neal McGuf- fey, Andrew McLure, William Newel, these four served as rangers, for the garrison ; Samuel Cushing, William Lunt, Jabez Barlow, Nathaniel Hinkly ; Doctor Thomas Farley, was a physician and practiced medicine ; Doctor Nathan McIntosh, was surgeon's mate, appointed by the Ohio com- pany for the soldiers, and afterwards accepted and paid among the troops in the service of the United States. The spring after the war began, eight or ten soldiers were sent up from Fort Harmer, and continued through its course, to assist in defense of the settlement.
Attack of the Indians on the garrison.
Toward the last of February, following the massacre at Big bottom, the Delawares and Wyandots, at Sandusky, planned another war party, to strike a blow at the settle- ments of Duck creek and Waterford, as they had failed to do so in January, on account of the notice given to the inhabitants, by the escape of the Bullards.
443
JOHN MILLER.
It so happened that a civilized Indian, named John Miller, a descendant of King Philip's tribe, who had come out with General Varnum, as a servant, from Rhode Island, in 1788, was there at the time. He had spent the summer of 1790, in Waterford, and being an expert hunter, supplied the settlers with wild meat from the woods. In the fall of that year, young George White Eyes, a son of the Delaware chief of that name, passed through Marietta, on his way home to his tribe, he having been educated at Dartmouth college, by the United States, as a token of respect for his father, who was always a friend to the whites.
As he passed up the Muskingum river he met with John, and hired him at a certain price per month, to go with him to Sandusky, and hunt for him on the route. The time having expired for which he had engaged with White Eyes, he felt desirous of returning to his old friends at Waterford. He therefore joined the young men in their war dances, as is their custom before going on the war path, and gained their consent to go with them, with considerable reluctance on their part, as they were jealous of his attachment to the whites. Early in March the party arrived at the foot of Duncan's falls, on the Muskingum river, about forty miles above Waterford. As they approached the vicinity of their enemies, their jealousy of John increased, and one old warrior, in their council, proposed putting him to death, alleging as a reason, that he had been visited with ominous dreams the last night, by which he was assured that John would betray them by giving notice to the whites of their designs. He however protested his innocence of any such intention, and his great regard for the Indians. As it hap- pens in most questions, the warriors were divided in their opinion of John's integrity, and finally concluded not to kill him. To strengthen the favor of his friends, and induce them to leave him at the camp, he purposely cut his foot with a hatchet, while preparing wood for the fire, so badly that he could not travel.
444
JOHN TIED BY INDIANS.
Before leaving him on the morning of their departure, the jealous old warrior insisted that he should be tied and secured in the camp so that he could not escape. His arms were fastened, but so loosely that he could easily get his hands to his mouth, and then tied to a stout sapling by the camp fire. A little dry venison was left for food, with a large portion of their camp equipage, and a considerable quantity of powder and lead. As soon as John thought them at a proper distance, he commenced the trial of freeing himself from confinement, but so securely had they bound him that it was nearly sun-set before it was accomplished. Deeply intent on giving notice to his Waterford friends, and highly indignant at the treatment of the Indians, he imme- diately set to work with his hatchet to cut grape vines and fasten together some logs and dry wood into a raft. Before leaving the camp he threw a large portion of their ammu- nition into the river, putting however a good share on to the raft, for his own use, and as presents to his friends at Water- ford; to whom nothing was more acceptable than the nice glazed rifle powder procured by the Indians from the English traders at Detroit.
It was nearly dark when his preparations were completed. He immediately put out into the stream, which happened to be almost full bank, from the late rains, for the garrison at Waterford, well knowing that the lives of the people at that place might depend on his reaching there before the Indians.
The settlers had treated him with uniform kindness, and his whole life had been passed in the society of white men, so that his attachment to them was much greater than to his own color. The current was so strong that it wafted his light craft at a rapid rate, and he passed the camp of the Indians, at the mouth of Bald Eagle creek, just as day was breaking in the east. With fear and trembling he saw their camp fire on the bank of the river, and started at the crack of their rifles as they shot at the turkeys on their
.
445
JOHN ALARMS WHITES.
roosts on the tall trees of the bottom, a few rods from the river. John lay close and quiet on the raft, not daring to move either hand or foot to accelerate his progress from this dangerous neighborhood. By good fortune he passed without being discovered, or if seen in the dim twilight of the morning, the raft was taken for one of those clumps of drift wood so often found floating on the river after a rise of the water. As soon as he was out of sight of the camp fire, he plied his paddle with such diligence, that he landed his flotilla, about nine o'clock, a little above the garrison.
He had to approach the post with caution, lest he should be mistaken for a hostile Indian and fired at by the sentry. As soon as he could be heard, he hailed and announced his name. He was told to approach ; and on the guard being called, was admitted within the fort. John soon made known the cause of his visit to Captain Gray, the com- mandant. A council of the officers and older men was assembled, who carefully questioned him as to his know- ledge of the approach and intentions of the Indians. After relating all he knew of their designs, and his escape, as above related, he requested the loan of a canoe to take him to Marietta, saying he intended to return with all speed to Rhode Island, for if they caught him, they would roast him with a slow fire. They gave him a canoe, and a letter to the directors of the Ohio company, who rewarded him for his fidelity. He soon after returned to his old home, and never again visited Ohio.
Various were the opinions of the council of war at Fort Frye, as to the motives of John in bringing the intelligence. Some thought he was in league with the Indians, and sent in as a spy to view the condition of the garrison, and then make his escape to their enemies. They, however, con- cluded to act as if the notice was the truth, and proceeded with all haste to finish and strengthen their defenses, dou- bling their guards at night, and keeping a vigilant watch. The large gates were not yet made, nor all their outworks
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