USA > Pennsylvania > Early history of western Pennsylvania, and of the West, and of western expeditions and campaigns, from MDCCLIV to MDCCCXXXIII > Part 22
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There were but thirty-three men in the fort at the time, for its defence, besides some women, who rendered no little aid. The attack was kept up for twenty-four hours, when Girty, at the head of the Indians, retired.
Girty returned to the Sandusky towns, in very bad humor, in conse- quence of this unsuccessful expedition. (3)
The border settlements were now overrun in every direction by scalp-
(1) History of the Backwoods, p. 233.
(2) Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 170.
(3) Marshall's History of Kentucky, p. 76.
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ing parties. Western Pennsylvania suffered severely, (1, 2, 3,) and as many of the marauding parties were known to cross the Allegheny, it was proposed to erect a fort up that river, which might serve as a rallying point for scouts, as well as afford protection to those that might take refuge in it. This fort was erected about sixteen miles up the Alle- gheny, from Fort Pitt, on the south side of the stream, a short distance above the mouth of Puckety creek, where there was a shallow place. used by the Indians for fording the river. It was called Crawford's Fort, in consequence of its erection by Colonel William Crawford.
Several other forts were erected about this time, along the Loyalhanna, and one was called Wallace's Fort, on the Kiskiminetas, about two miles above the present town of Blairsville.
GENERAL McINTOSH'S EXPEDITION.
In the spring of the year 1778, government sent a small force of regular troops under the command of Gen. McIntosh, for the defence of the western frontier. The General with a small force composed partly of regulars and partly of militia, descended from Fort Pitt, down the Ohio about thirty miles, to the mouth of Beaver creek, and built Fort
Sufferings of the Rev, JOHN CORBLY and family, related in a letter to the Rev. Wm. Rodgers. (1)
DEAR SIR .- The following is a just and true account of the tragical scene, of my family falling by the savages, which I related at your house in Phila- delphia, and you requested me to forward in writing:
On the second Sabbath in May, in the year 1782, being my appointment at one of my meeting houses, about a mile from my dwelling, I sat out with my dear wife and five children, for public worship. Not suspecting any danger, I walked behind about two hundred yards, with my bible in my hand, medi- tating. As I was thus employed, all on a sudden, I was greatly alarmed with the frightful shrieks of my dear family before me. I immediately ran, with all the speed I could, vainly hunting a club as I ran, till I got within forty yards of them ; my poor wife seeing me, cried to me to make my escape ; an Indian ran up to shoot me; I then fled, and by so doing out-ran him. My wife had a sucking child in her arms; this little infant they killed and scalped .- They then struck my wife several times, but not getting her down, the Indian who aimed to shoot me ran to her, shot her through the body, and scalped her. My little boy, an only son, about six years old, they sunk the hatchet into his brains, and thus dispatched him. A daughter, besides the infant, they also killed and scalped. My oldest daughter, who is yet alive, was hid in a tree, about twenty yards from the place where the rest were killed, and saw the whole proceedings. She seeing all the Indians go off, as she thought, got up, and deliberately crept out from the hollow trunk; but one of them espying her, ran hastily up, knocked her down, and scalped her; also her only sur- viving sister, one on whose head they did not leave more than an inch round either of flesh or skin, besids taking a piece out of her skull. She and the before-mentioned one, are still miraculously preserved; though, as you must think, I have had and still have, a great deal of trouble and expense with thein, besides anxiety about them; insomuch that I am, as to worldly circum- stances, almost ruined. I am yet in hopes of seeing them' cured ; they still, blessed be God, retain their senses, notwithstanding the painful operations they have already and must yet pass through.
MUDDY CREEK, Washington county, July 8, 1785.
(1) Border Life, 168.
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McIntosh on the present site of the town of Beaver. The fort was made of strong stockades-with bastions and mounted with one six pounder. This station was well selected as a point for a small military force always in readiness to pursue, or intercept the war parties of the Indians, who frequently made incursions into the settlements, on the opposite side of the river, in its immediate neighborhood. The fort was well garrisoned and supplied with provisions during the summer.
Sometime in the fall of the same year, Gen. McIntosh received an order from government to make a campaign against the Sandusky towns. This order he attempted to obey with one thousand men ; but owing to the delay in making necessary outfits for the expedition, the officers, on reaching Tuscarawas, thought it best to halt at that place, build and gar- rison a fort, and delay the farther prosecution of the campaign until the next spring. Accordingly they erected Fort Laurens, on the bank of the Tuscarawas. Sometime after the completion of the fort, the General returned with the army to Fort Pitt, leaving Col. John Gibson with a command of one hundred and fifty men to protect the place until spring, The Indians were soon acquainted with the existence of the fort, and
DAVID MORGAN and two Indians. In a letter to a gentleman of Phila- delphia. (2)
DEAR SIR :- I wrote you a note, a few days ago, in ,which I promised you the particulars of an affair between a white man of this county and two Indi- ans. The story is as follows:
The white inan is upwards of sixty years of age; his name is DAVID MOR- GAN, a kinsman of Col. Morgan, of the Rifle Battalion.
This man had, through fear of the Indians, fled to a fort about twenty miles above the provincial line, and near the east side of the Monongahela river .- From thence he sent some of his younger children to his plantation, which was a mile distant, there to do some business in the field. He afterwards thought fit to follow, and see how they fared. Getting to his field, and seating himself upon the fence, within view of his children, where they were at work, he espied two Indians making towards them, on which he called to his child- ren to make their escape. The Indians immediately bent their course towards him. He made the best haste to escape away, that his age and consequent in- firmity would permit; but soon found that he would be overtaken, which made him think of defence. Being armed with a good rifle, he faced about, and found himself under the necessity of running four or five perches towards the Indians, in order to obtain shelter behind a tree of sufficient size.
This unexpected manoeuver obliged the Indians, who were close by, to stop where they had but small timber to shelter behind, which gave Mr. Morgan an opportunity of shooting one of them dead on the spot. The other, taking the advantage of Morgan's empty gun, advanced, and put him to flight a sec- ond time, and being lighter of foot than the old man, soon came up within a few .paces, when he fired at him, but fortunately missed him. On this, Mr. Morgan faced about again, to try his fortune, and clubbed his firelock. The Indian by this time, had got his tomahawk in order for a throw, at which they are very dexterous. Morgan made the blow, and the Indian the throw, almost at the same instant, by which the little finger was cut off Morgan's left hand, and the one next to it almost off, and his gun broke off by the lock. Now they came to close grips. Morgan put the Indian down; but soon found himself overturned, and the Indian upon him, feeling for his knife, and
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soon convinced our people, by sad experience of the bad policy of building and attempting to hold a post, so far in advance of our settle- ments and other forts.
The first annoyance the garrison received from the Indians was some- time in the month of January. In the night time they caught most of the horses belonging to the fort, and taking them off some distance into the woods, they took off their bells, and formed an ambuscade by the side of a path, leading through the high grass of the prairie, at a little dis- tance from the fort. In the morning the Indians rattled the horse bells at the farther end of the line of the ambuscade. The plan succeeded- a fatigue of sixteen men, went out for the horses and fell into the snare. Fourteen were killed on the spot, two were taken prisoners, one of whom was given up at the close of the war; the other was never after- wards heard of.
Gen. Benjamin Biggs, then a captain in the fort, being officer of the day, requested leave of the Colonel to go out with the fatigue party, which fell into the ambuscade. "No," said the Colonel, " this fatigue party does not belong to a Captain's command. When I shall have oc- casion to employ one of that number; I shall be thankful for your ser-
yelling most hideously, as their manner is when they look upon victory to be certain.
However, a woman's apron, which the Indian had plundered out of a house in the neighborhood, and tied on him, above his knife, was now in his way, and so hindered him getting at it quickly, that Morgan got one of his fingers fast in his mouth, and deprived him of the use of that hand, by holding it, and disconcerted him considerably by chewing itf; all the while observing how he would come on with his knife. At length the Indian had got hold of his knife, but so far towards the blade, that Morgan got a small hold on the hin- der end ; and as the Indian pulled it out of the scabbard, Morgan giving his finger a severe screw with his teeth, twitched it out through his hand, cutting it most grievously. By this time they were both got partly on their feet ; the Indian was endeavoring to disengage himself, but Morgan held fast to the fin - ger, and quickly applied the point of the knife to the side of the savage ; a bone happening in the way, prevented its penetrating any great depth, but a second blow, directed more towards the belly, found free passage into his bowels. The old man turned the point upwards, made a large wound, bury- ing the knife therein, and so took his departure instantly to the fort, with the news of his adventure.
On the report of Mr. Morgan, a party went out from the fort, and found the first Indian where he had fallen : the second they found not yet dead, at one hundred yards distance from the scene of action, hid in the top of a fallen tree, where he had picked the knife out of his body, after which had come out parched corn, &c., and had bound up his wound with the apron aforemen- tioned : and on first sight he saluted them with " How do do, broder? How do do, broder?" But alas! poor savage, their brotherhood extended only to tomahawking, scalping, and, to gratify some peculiar feelings of their own, skinning them both ; and they have made drum-heads of their skins.
Westmoreland, April 26, 1779.
(2) Border Life, 169.
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vices, at present you must attend to your duty in the fort. On what trivial circumstances do life and death sometimes depend !"
In the evening of the day of the ambuscade, the whole Indian army in full war dress and painted, marched in single file, through a prairie in view of the fort-their number, as counted from one of the bastions was 847. They then took up their encampment on an elevated piece of ground at a small distance from the fort, on the opposite side of the river. From this camp they frequently held conversations with the people of our garrison. In these conversations, they seemed to deplore the long continuance of the war, and hoped for peace ; but were much exasper- ated at the Americans for attempting to penetrate so far into their coun- try. This great body of Indians continued the investment of the fort, as long as they could obtain subsistence, which was about six weeks. An old Indian, of the name of John Thompson, who was with the American army in the fort, frequently went out among the Indians during
Singular prowess of Mrs. EXPERIENCE BOZARTH, in a combat with the Indians, related in a letter to a lady in Philadelphia, April 26, 1779. (3)
MADAM :- I am now to give you a relation in which you will see how a person of your sex acquitted herself in defence of her own life, and that of her husband and children.
The lady who is the subject of this story is named EXPERIENCE BO- ZARTH. She lives on a creek called Dunkard creek, in the south-west cor- ner of this county. About the middle of March last, two or three families, who were afraid to stay at home, gathered to her house and there stayed- looking on themselves to be safer than when all scattered about at their own houses.
On a certain day, some of the children thus collected, came running in from play, in great haste, saying, there were ugly red men." One of the men in the house stepped to the door, where he received a ball in the side of his breast, which caused him to fall back into the house. The Indian was immediately in over him, and engaged with another man in the house. The man tossed the Indian on a bed, and called for a knife to kill him. (Observe, these were all the men that were in the house.) Now, Mrs. Bozarth appears the only help, who, not finding a knife at hand, took up an axe that lay by, and with one blow cut out the brains of the Indian. At that instant, (for all was instanta- neous,) a second Indian entered the door, and shot the man dead, who was engaged with the Indian on the bed. Mrs. Bozarth turned to this second lo- dian, and with her axe gave him several large cuts, some of' which let his en- trails appear. He bawled out, murder, murder. On this, sundry other Indians who had been fully employed killing some children out of doors, came rushing to his relief ; the head of one of these, Mrs. Bozarth clave in two with her axe, as he stuck it in at the door, which laid him flat upon the ground. Ano- ther snatched hold of the wounded, bellowing fellow, and pulled him out of doors, and Mrs. Bozarth, with the assistance of the man who was first shot in the door, and by this time a little recovered, shut the door after them, and fastened it, where they kept garrison for several days ; the dead white man and dead Indian both in the house with them, and the Indians about the house besieging them. At length they were relieved by a party sent out for that purpose.
This whole affair, to shutting the door, was not perhaps more than three minutes in acting.
WESTMORELAND, April 26, 1779.
(3) Border Life, p. 171.
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their stay at their encampment, with the mutual consent of both parties. A short time before the Indians left the place, they sent word to Col. Gibson, by the old Indian, that they were desirous of peace, and that if he would send them a barrel of flour they would send in their propo- sals the next day ; but, although the Colonel complied with their request, they marched off without fulfilling their engagement.
'The commander, supposing the whole number of the Indians had gone off, gave permission to Col. Clark, of the Pennsylvania line, to escort the invalids, to the number of eleven or twelve to Fort McIntosh. The whole number of this detachment was fifteen. The wary Indians had left a party behind, for the purpose of doing mischief. These at- tacked this party of invalids and their escort, about two miles from the fort, and killed the whole of them with the exception of four, amongst whom was the Captain, who ran back to the fort. On the same day a detachment went out from the fort, brought in the dead, and buried them with the honors of war, in front of the fort gate.
In three or four days after this disaster, a relief of seven hundred men, under Gen. McIntosh, arrived with a supply of provisions ; a great part of which was lost by an untoward accident. When the relief had reached within one hundred yards of the fort, the garrison gave them a salute of a general discharge of musketry, at the report of which the pack horses took fright, broke loose and scattered the pro- visions in every direction through the woods, so that the greater part of it could never be again recovered.
Among other transactions which took place about this time, was that of gathering up the remains of the fourteen men who had fallen in the ambuscade during the winter for interment, and which could not be done during the investment of the place by the Indians. They were found mostly devoured by wolves. The fatigue party dug a large pit, large enough to contain the remains of all of them, and after depositing them in the pit, merely covering them with a little earth, with a view to have revenge on the wolves for devouring their companions, they cov- ered the pit with slen der sticks, rotten wood, and bits of bark, not of sufficient strength to bear the weight of a wolf. On the top of this covering they pleaced meat as bait for the wolves. The next morning seven of them were found in the pit. They were shot and the pit filled up.
For about two weeks before the relief arrived, the garrison had been put on a short allowance of half a pound of sour flour, and an equal weight of spoiled meat, for every two days. The greater part of the last
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week, they had nothing to subsist on but such roots as they could find in the woods and prairies, and raw hides. Two mnen lost their lives by eating wild parsnips, by mistake. Four more nearly shared the same fate, but were saved by medical aid.
On the evening of the arrival of the relief, two days' rations were issued to each man in the fort. These rations were intended as their allowance during their march to Fort M'Intosh ; but many of the men, supposing to have been back rations, eat up the whole of their allow- ance before the next morning. In consequence of this imprudence, in eating immoderately, after such extreme starvation for the want of provisions, about forty of the men became faint and sick during the first day's march. On the second day, however, the sufferers were met by a great number of their friends from the settlements to which they belonged, by whom they were amply supplied with provisions.
Major Vernon, who succeeded Col. Gibson in the command of Fort Laurens, continued in its possession until the next fall, when the gar- rison, after being, like their predecessors, reduced almost to starvation, evacuated the place.
Thus ended the disasterous occupancy of Fort Laurens, in which much fatigue and suffering were endured, and many lives lost; but without any beneficial results to the country.
BRODHEAD'S CAMPAIGN.
This campaign took place in the summer of 1780, and was directed against the Indian villages at the forks of the Muskingum.
The place of rendezvous was Wheeling, where about eight hundred regulars and militia collected. From Wheeling, they made a rapid march by the nearest route to the Muskingum. When the army had reached the river, a little below Salem, the lowest Moravian town, Gen. Brodhead sent an express to the missionary of the place, the Rev. John Heckewelder, informing him of his arrival in the neighborhood with his army, requesting a small supply of provisions, and a visit from him in his camp. (1) The christian Indians sent the supply of provisions, and Mr. Heckewelder repaired to General Brodhead's camp. General Brodhead then said, " that being on an expedition against the hostile In- dians, at or near the forks of the river, he was anxious to know before he proceeded any further, whether any of the christian Indians were out hunting, or on business in the direction he was going." Being an- swered in the negvtive, he declared that, " nothing would give him
(1) Doddridge's Notes, p. 291.
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greater pain, than to hear that any one of the Moravian Indians had been molested by his troops: as these Indians had conducted them- selves from the commencement of the war, in a manner that did them honor."(1)
While, however, he was assuring Mr. Heckewelder that the chris- tian Indians had nothing to fear, an officer came with great speed from one quarter of the camp, and reported that a particular division of the militia " were preparing to break off for the purpose of destroying the Moravian settlements up the river, and he feared they could not be re- strained from so doing." Gen. Brodhead and Col. Shepherd of Wheel- ing, immediately took such measures as prevented it. (2)
The army then proceeded until within a few miles of Coshockton, when an Indian prisoner was taken. Soon after, two more Indians were discovered and fired upon, but notwithstanding one of them was woun- ded, both made their escape.
General Brodhead, knowing that these two Indians would endeavor to give immediate notice of the approach of the army, ordered a rapid march, in order to reach the town before them, and take it by supprise. This was done in the midst of a heavy fall of rain, and the plan suc- ceeded. The army reached the place in three divisions,-the right and left wings approached the river a little above and below the town, while the centre marched directly upon it. The whole number of the Indians in the village, on the east side of the river, together with ten or twelve from a little village some distance above, were made prisoners, without firing a single shot. The river having risen to a great height, owing to the recent fall of rain, the army could not cross it. Owing to this, the villages on the west side of the river escaped destruction.
Among the prisoners, sixteen warriors were pointed out by Pekillon, a friendly Delaware chief, who was with the army of General Brodhead. A little.after dark, a council of war was held, to determine on the fate of the warriors. They were doomed to death. They were then bound, taken a little distance below the town, dispatched with tomahawks and spears, and scalped.
Early the next morning an Indian presented himself on the opposite bank of the river, and asked for the " Big Captain." General Brod- head presented himself, and asked the Indian what he wanted? The Indian replied, "I want peace." "Send over some of your chiefs," said Brodhead. "May be you kill." He was answered, " They shall
(1) Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 214.
Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 215.
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not be killed." One of the chiefs, a well looking man, came over the river and entered into conversation with General Brodhead in the street ; but while engaged in conversation, a cowardly wretch, by the name of Wetzel, belonging to the army, came up behind him, with a tomahawk concealed in the bosom of his hunting shirt, and struck him a blow on the back of his head. He fell and instantly expired.
About mid-day the army commenced its retreat from Coshocton. General Brodhead committed the care of the prisoners to the militia. They were about twenty in number. After marching about a mile, the men commenced killing them, and did not cease until the whole were murdered and scalped, except a few women and children, who were spared and taken to Fort Pitt.(1)
WILLIAMSON'S CAMPAIGN, AND MURDER OF THE MO- RAVIAN INDIANS.
About the year 1772, some missionaries of the order of Moravian brethren succeeded in establishing a community of Indians, who em- braced their faith, and who were collected into three villages on the Muskingum. These villages were called Salem, Gnadenhuetten, and Shoenbrunn. Here they were induced to live in peace, and to engage in the cultivation of the soil, and had increased their numbers to four hundred people.
Occupying a position midway between the advanced settlements of the whites and the villages of some of the hostile Indians, and prac- tising a pacific demeanor, which both parties alike despised, they were suspected by each alternately of secretly favoring the other .*
In the latter end of the year 1781, the militia of the frontier came to a determination to break up the Moravian villages on the Muskingum. They were called " The Half-way House of the Warriors ;" and this phrase began to be used in fierce derision, by the stern and lawless men on the frontier, who despised the peaceable Indians, who opened their doors alike to all comers. A detachment of men went out under the command of Col. Daniel Williamson, for the purpose of inducing the Indians with their teachers to move farther off, or bring them prisoners to Fort Pitt. When they arrived at the villages they found but few Indians, the greater number of them having removed to Sandusky. Those few were well treated, taken to Fort Pitt, and delivered to the commandant of that station, who, after a short detention sent them home again.
(I) Doddridge's Notes, p. 292-293.
* Hall's Sketches of the West, p. 208-'9.
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This procedure gave great offence to the people of the country, who thought that the Indians ought to have been killed. Colonel William- son, who before this little campaign, had been very popular on account of his activity and bravery in war, now became the subject of severe animadversions on account of his lenity to the Moravian Indians.(1)
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