History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 23

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 23

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

The spot where the party halted on the banks of the Tymochtee was the place3 where Col. Crawford was to die. It had been fully and finally decided by the chiefs that he should suffer death by the torture of fire, and as all the barbarous preparations had been made there was but little delay before the com- mencement of the infernal orgie. The fatal stake had already been set, and fires of hickory sticks were burning in a circle around it. About forty Indian men and twice that number of squaws and young Indians were waiting to take part in the torturing of the unfortunate prisoner.

Immediately on his arrival the colonel was stripped naked and made to sit on the ground, with his hands firmly bound together and tied behind him. Then the yelling, screeching crowd fell upon him and beat

1 The treacherous Wingenund was well acquainted with Col. Crawford, had always professed great friendship for him, and had more than once been entertained by the colonel at his house ou the Youghiogheny. Capt. Pipe was also acquainted with Crawford.

" The Wyan lots Irul advanced much farther on the road towards civilization than had the Delawares or Shawanese, and not only had they, long before that time, wholly abandoned the practice of burning their prisoners, but they discountenanced the horrid custom among the other tribes. The prisoners, knowing this, hal consequently regarded it as a sign in their favor that they were to be taken to the home of the Wyunlot schem, but when they fonnl that they had been deceived, and that their real destination was the towns of the cruel Delawares, they knew too well thil mercy was not to be expected. The fact was fthat Pipe and Wingenund, being fully determined to inflict the fire torture on Crawford and Knight, had recourse to stratagem and deceit to obtain from the Half-King, Pommac.in, his consent to the commission of the barbarity, for, as the Wyandots were more powerful than they,. and in fact masters of that section of the Indian country, they dared not do the dreadful deed without the consent of the Wyandot sngamore, and that consent they knew could never be obtained if their request was accompanied by a straightforward statement of their real inten- tions.

3 The spot where Col. Crawford met his horrible death is on a pirer of slightly rising ground in the creek bottom, as above mentioned, a short distance northeast of the village of Crawfordsville, Wyandot Co., Ohio.

104

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

him without merey until he was exhausted and cov- ered with blood. When they had tired of this the victim was dragged to the centre of the fiery cirele preparatory to the last aet in the hellish drama. A rope had previously been tied around the stake near its foot, and now the other end of it was made fast to the cord with which his wrists were bound together. The rope was some six or eight feet in length, allow- ing him to pass two or three times around the stake. He could also sit or lie down at will.

The infamous Simon Girty was present, and re- mained there during all the dreadful proceedings which followed. When Crawford was led to the stake he called out to the renegade (who stood among the foremost in the ring of savage spectators), asking him if they had determined to burn him to death, and upon Girty's unfeeling reply in the affirmative he replied that if so he would try to endure it with patience and die like a soldier and Christian. Then the vindictive Capt. Pipe addressed the savages with violent gesticulations, and at the elose of his speech the assembled barbarians applauded with wild de- light, whilst some of the erowd rushed in upon the prisoner and cut off both his ear3.1

As a prelude to the still more terrible tortures that were to follow, the Indians closed in on the miserable man and fired charges of powder into his unprotected body. More than fifty times was this repeated, and the pain thus inflicted could scarcely have been less than that produced by the flames. After this satanic procedure was concluded the fires ( which up to this time had been burning but slowly ) were replenished with fresh fuel, and as the heat grew more intense, and the sufferings of the victim became more and more excruciating, the joy and shouting of the red devils rose higher and higher.

Burning at the state is universally regarded as among the most terrible tortures that human cruelty ean infliet. But the Delaware chiefs had prepared for the brave Crawford an agony more intense and pro- traeted than that of the licking flames,-they roasted him alive! The fires were placed at a distance of some fifteen feet from the stake, and within that dreadful circle for three and a half hours he suffered an almost inconceivable physical torment, which death would have terminated in one-tenth part the time if the fagots had been piled close around him.

As the fires burned down the Indians seized burn- ing brands and threw them at the victim, until all the space which his tether allowed him was thickly strewn with coals and burning embers, on which his naked feet must tread as he constantly moved around the stake and back in the delirium of his pain. To in-

tensify and prolong the torture the savages applied every means that their infernal ingenuity could sug- gest, and which to describe or even to think of fills the mind with sickening horror.

To Simon Girty, who was in prominent view among the savage throng,2.Crawford called out in the ex- tremity of his agony, begging the wretch to end his misery by sending a ball through his heart. To this appeal Girty replied, sneeringly, that he had no gun, at the same time uttering a brutal laugh of derisiou and pleasure at the hideous spectacle. If, as tradition has it, he had once heen repelled in his attempted ad- dresses to the colonel's beautiful daughter, Sally Craw- ford, he was now enjoying the satisfaction of a terri- ble revenge on her miserable father for the indignity.

Through it all the brave man bore up with as muell fortitude as is possible to weak human nature, fre- quently praying to his Heavenly Father for the merey which was denied him on earth. Towards the last, being evidently exhausted, lie ceased to move around the stake and lay down, face downwards, upon the ground. The fires being now well burned down the savages rushed in on him, beat him with the glowing brands, heaped coals upon his body, and scalped him. Once more he arose, bloody, blinded, and crisped, and tottered once or twice around the stake, then fell to rise no more. Again the barbarians applied burn- ing brands, and heaped live coals on his scalped head, but he was fast becoming insensible to pain, his end was near, and after a few more vain attempts by the savages to inflict further torments death came to the rescue and the spirit of William Crawford was free.

It was on the 11th of June, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, that the torture commenced. The end came just as the sun was sinking? behind the tops of the trees that bordered the bottom-lands of the Tymochtee. Then the savages heaped the brands together on the charred and swollen hody and burned it to a einder, dancing around the spot for hours, yelling and whooping in a wild frenzy of demoniac exultation.

It will be recollected that Dr. Knight was brought from the Indian old town to the place of torture on the Tymochtee with Col. Crawford, though the two were kept apart and not allowed to converse together. The doctor remained a horrified spectator of the burning of his superior officer until near the time of his death. On his arrival at the place, Knight was fallen upon by the Indians and cruelly beaten. While Crawford was in the midst of his greatest suf- fering Simon Girty came to where Knight was sitting

" It has been stated in some accounts of the death of Cul Crawford that the British captain, Matthew Elliott, was also present during the dreadful scenes of the torture. It may have been so, but the statement lias .never been fully substantiated, and there are serious doubts of its authenticity.

1 This statement is made in the narrative of Dr. Knight, who, after witnessing the dreadful scenes of Col. Crawford's murder, made his es- cape ias will be mentioned in succeeding pages) and wrote an account of the events of the expedition. That narrative and the report of Moj. 3 . It was a tradition long after repeated by the Delawares andl Wyan- It se, the able-de-camp, furnish the facts on which this and other ichable : dots that Crawford breathed his last just at the going down of the sun." accounts of Crawford's campaign are based. -Butterfielit's Expedition against Sandusky.

105

THE REVOLUTION.

and told him that he too must prepare for the same ordeal, and he need have no hope of escaping death by torture, though he would not suffer at the same place, but would be removed to the Shawanese towns to be burned. Soon after an Indian came to him and struck him repeatedly in the face with the bloody scalp which had just been torn from Crawford's head. Towards the end of the diabolical scene, but while Crawford was yet living, Knight was taken away and marched to Capt. Pipe's house, some three-fourthis cf a mile distant, where he remained during the night, securely bound, and closely guarded by the Indian Tutelu, who had him in his especial charge.

In the morning (June 12th) his guard unbound him, and having again painted him with black, started out on horseback, driving Knight before him on foot, bound for the Shawanese towns, where the doctor was to suffer the torture. Passing by the spot where Crawford had suffered on the previous day, they saw all that remained of the colonel, a few burned bones, when the Indian told his horrified prisoner that this was his " big captain." They moved on towards the southwest, on the trail to the Shawanese town of Wapatomica, nearly forty miles away.

Knight had not wholly abandoned the hope of es- caping the torture, though his case looked wellnigh hopeless. He carried as cheerful a countenance as he could, concealed from his guard his knowledge of the import of the black paint on his face, and con- versed with him as well as he could, pretending that he expected to be adopted into the Shawanese tribe on arrival at their destination. Tutelu asked him if he knew how to build a wigwam, and Knight assured him that he was excellent at that business. All this pleased the Indian, and to some extent threw him off his guard. The journey of the first day was about twenty-five miles. At the night-camp Tutelu again bound his captive, and watched him closely through the night, so that the doctor, although he tried hard to free himself, did not succeed.

At daybreak Tutelu rose, stretched his limbs, un- bound his captive, and renewed the fire, but did not immediately prepare to resume the journey. They had been greatly tormented by gnats during the night, and the doctor asked him if he should make a smudge in their rear to drive the pests away. Tutelu told him to do so, whereupon Knight took two sticks (one of them about a foot and a half in length, which was the largest he could find), and holding a coal betweeu them carried it behind the Indian as if to start the smudge, but as soon as he had got the right position suddenly turned and dealt the savage a blow over the head with all his strength, partially stunning him and knocking him forward head first into the fire. His hands were badly burned, but he immediately recovered himself, rose, and ran away, uttering a hideous yell.1 The doctor seized the Indian's gun

and followed him, determined to kill him ; but in his eagerness he broke or disarranged the lock of the piece, so that he could not fire. This being the case he followed only a short distance, and then returned to the place where they had passed the night.

Here the surgeon lost no time in making prepara- tions for a desperate attempt to effect his escape from the Indian country. He possessed himself of Tutelu's ammunition, his blanket, and an extra pair of mocca- sins, and without delay commenced his long journey, taking a course about east by north, All day he traveled without molestation or notable incident, and at night had emerged from the timbered country and entered the Plains, where he made his lonely bivouac. But he was too uneasy and anxious to remain long, and so after two or three hours' rest resumed his way, and traveling all night, guided by the stars, had crossed the open country and entered the forest to the east before daylight appeared. During this day (June 14th) he struck the track of the troops on their out- ward march, but having already received a severe lesson on the danger of following this he avoided it and took a north course, which he kept during the rest of the day. That night he camped in the forest and slept on undisturbed.

The next morning he shaped his course due east, and moved on with greatly lightened spirits but ex- ceedingly weak from lack of food. He could shoot no game, for his utmost endeavors failed to put the lock of his gun into working condition, and finding at last that it was useless to make further attempts, and that the piece could be only an encumbrance to him, he threw it away. He caught a small turtle, and occasionally succeeded in taking young birds, all of which he ate raw. In this way, and by making use of nourishing roots and herbs, he succeeded in sustaining life through all the weary days of his jour- ney to civilization. As he traveled eastward he found heavier timber, and saw everywhere great quantities of game, which was very tantalizing, as he could not kill or catch any, although nearly famished.

For twenty days from the time of his escape from his guard Tutelu, Dr. Knight traveled on through the wilderness, unmolested by savages, but suffering ter- ribly of hunger and cold, -for he had not the means of making a fire,-and on the evening of July 3d struck the Ohio River about five miles below the mouth of Beaver. On the 5th he arrived safely at Fort Pitt,2 where he remained as surgeon of the

ported the loss of his prisoner, with whom he said he lind a hard battle, and had given the doctor fearful and probable fatal knife-wounds in the Irick and stomach, althoughi (as he said) Knight was a man of immenso proportioos and physical power. Slover told the Delawares that this was false, andl that the doctor was a weak, puny man, whereat the In- dians ridiculed Tuteln without merey.

2 In a letter from G.1. Irvine to President Moore, dated Fort Pitt, July 5, 1782, he says, "This moment Doctor Knight has arrived, the surgeon I sent with the volunteers to Sandusky ; he was several days in the hands of the Indmus, but fortunately made his escape from his keeper, who was conducting him to another settlement to be bound

1 Tutelu fled to the village of the Delawares. and was seen on his ar- rival by John Slover, who was then a captive there. He (Tutel") re- I [burned]. Ile brings the disagreeable account that Col. Crawford aud

106

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Seventh Virginia Regiment until after the declara- tion of peace.

James Paull was but a private soldier in the forces of Col. Crawford, but as he afterwards became an officer of some distinction, and was for many years a very prominent citizen of Fayette County, it is proper to make special mention of his adventures, escape, and return from the disastrous expedition.

When, on the evening of the 5th of June, the forces of Col. Crawford commenced their retreat from Battle Island, and the combined Delawares and Shawanese attacked the advance battalion under Maj. McClel- land, it will be recollected that the three other divi- sions precipitately abandoned the line of march and moved away on a route diverging to the west, and that soon afterwards the head of the column marched by mistake into a bog or swamp, where a number of the volunteers lost their horses by reason of their becoming mired in the soft muddy soil. Among those who were thus dismounted were James Paull1 and the guide, John Slover, who was also a Fayette County man (or rather a resident of that part of West- moreland which afterwards became Fayette). Of course they could not keep up with the mounted men of the column, and as the Indians were then attack- ing the rear, their situation was a very critical one.

L'uder these circumstances instant flight was neces- sary, and accordingly Paull and Slover, with five other dismounted men, struck into the woods in a northerly direction, thinking it most prudent to keep at a distance from the route of the column. They continued on their course till the latter part of the night, when they suddenly found themselves flounder- ing in the mud of a hog, and were then compelled to remain stationary until daylight enabled them to move with more certainty and safety. They then changed their course towards the west, but as they progressed gradually wore round more to the south, skirting the edge of the Plains, until they found them- selves headed nearly southeast. During the day two or three small parties of Indians were seen to pass them, but by hiding in the long grass the party re- mained undiscovered. At about three o'clock they were overtaken by the furious rain-storm which (as before noticed) came down just at the close of Wil-

all the rest (about twelve, to the doctor's knowledge) who fell into his [their] hands were burned to death in a most shocking manner; the unfortunate colonel in particular was upwards of four hour- burning. The reason they assign for this nucommon barbuity is retaliation for the Moravian affair. The ductor adds thit he understood those people had laid aside their religions principles and have gone to war; that he saw two of them bring in scalps who he formerly kuew."-Penne, Ar- chires, 1781-83, p. 576.

liamson's battle with the Indians and Rangers. Paull and his companions, being drenched and chilled through, made a balt, and remained stationary until evening. Then they again moved on to the eastern edge of the Plains, and thenee into the forest. Their route since the morning had been the arc of a circle, heading successively west, southwest, south, south- east, east, and northeast, the latter being the di- rection of their course when they entered the woods. A few miles farther on they turned nearly due east, thinking that they were far enough north of Wil- liamson's track to be comparatively free from danger of the pursuing savages. They had made rather slow progress, for one of the men was suffering from rheu- matism in one of his knees, and one of Paull's feet was quite as much disabled by his accidentally step- ping on a hot spade which some of the men were using (in the afternoon of the 5th) for baking bread in preparation for the retreat of that evening.

On the following day (June 7th) the party con- tinned on the same course, crossed the waters of the tributaries of the Muskingum about noon, and at their camp of the same night cooking the flesh of a fawn which they had been fortunate enough to catch dur- ing the day, this being the second meal that they had eaten since leaving Battle Island. On their march of this day the man afflicted with rheumatism had fallen out, and the party now numbered but six.

Danger was now before them. They started on their way at daybreak in the morning of the 8th, and had made some nine or ten miles' progress, when, at about nine o'clock in the forenoon, they fell into an ambuscade of Shawanese Indians, who had followed their trail from the Plains. The savages fired on them and two of the men fell. Paull rau for his life and made his escape, notwithstanding his burned foot, but Slover and the other two men were taken prisoners and conducted back to the Shawanese towns.

Paull in his flight was followed by two Indians, but he felt that his life was at stake, and strained his limbs to their utmost speed, regardless of the pain to his disabled foot. His pursuers found that he was gaining on them and fired after him, but their shots passed harmlessly by. He soon came to the bluff bank of a small stream, and unhesitatingly leaped down. The savages came up to the bank, but there gave up the pursuit. IIe soon discovered that he was no longer followed, but he was still very cautious in his movements, using every precaution to cover his trail. That night he slept in the hollow trunk of a fallen tree.

From this time he pursued his way unmolested. Passing down Sugar Creek, a tributary of the Mus- kingum, he came to the main stream at a place where it was too deep to ford, which compelled him to where he crossed in safety and with ease. Near by this crossing was an old Indian camp, "where there were a large number of empty kegs and barrels

1 John Sherrard, whose home was with the widowed mother of James Panli, and who was his particular friend, said that when the forces commenced moving on the retreat he found young Paull fast asleep, | change his course up the river to a shallow place, and shook him, telling him that the troops were moving off, und that lie was in danger of being left behind. Upon that Panll started to his feet, but disappeared at once in the darkness, and he (Sherrard) then lost sight of him, and saw him no more during the retreat.

107

THE REVOLUTION.

lying scattered around. It was now nearly dark ; so he built a fire-the first he had ventured to kindle since his escape from the ambuscade-and cooked some of his venison (he had shot a deer in this day's journey, it being the first time he had dared to dis- charge his gun, for fear it might bring Indians upon him); the smoke, as he lay down to rest for the night, protecting him from the gnats and mosquitoes, which were very troublesome."

Two days after he made this night-camp on the Muskingum, James Paull reached the west bank of the Ohio River at a point a short distance above the present site of Bridgeport. A little higher up the river he found a favorable place for crossing, and building a rude raft he ferried himself to the Virginia side without much difficulty, and for the first time since the evening of the disastrous 5th of June felt himself absolutely secure against eapture.

Near the place where he landed on Virginia soil he found a number of horses running loose. Impro- vising a halter of twisted strips of elm bark, he com- menced operations, having for their object the catch- ing of one of the animals. For a long time his efforts were unavailing, but necessity compelled him to per- severe, and at last he succeeded in placing his rude halter-bridle on the head of a rather debilitated old mare, on whose back he then mounted and started on his homeward journey. At Short Creek he procured another horse and proceeded to Catfish (now Wash- ington, Pa.), where he stopped for some time on account of his foot being badly inflamed and very painful. This soon became better under proper treat- ment, and he returned home to l.is overjoyed mother, who had been apprised of his arrival at Catfish, but who had previously almost abandoned all hope of ever again seeing her son.

John Slover and the two other men who had been made prisoners by the Shawanese party at the time when Paull made his escape from them were taken by their captors back to the Indian main body on the Plains, and thence to the Shawanese towns on Mad River, which they reached on the 11th of June. On their arrival they were received by an Indian crowd such as always collected on such an occasion, and were made to "run the gauntlet" between two files of squaws and boys for a distance of some three hundred yards to the council-house. One of the men had been painted black (though why the Indians had thus discriminated against this man does not appear), and he was made a special target for the abuse and blows of the barbarous gang. He reached the door of the council-house barely alive, but was then pulled back and beaten and mangled to death, his body cut in pieces, and these stuck on poles about the village.

Slover and the other man ran the gauntlet without fatal or very serious injury, but the latter was sent away the same evening to another village, and no more was heard of him. As to Slover, he was kept

at the village for two weeks, during which time coun- cils were held daily and war-dances every night, to all of which he was invited and most of which he at- tended.1 The Indians also assigned to him a squaw as a companion, with whom he lived in comparative freedom during his stay at the village.2 Finally, a council was held, at which it was decided that he should be put to death by torture.

The next day "about forty warriors, accompanied by George Girty, an adopted Delaware, a brother of Simon and James Girty," came early in the morning round the house where Slover was. He was sitting before the door. The squaw gave him up. They put a rope around his neck, tied his arms behind his back, stripped him naked, and blacked him in the usual manner. Girty, as soon as he was tied, cursed him, telling him he would get what he had many years deserved. Slover was led to a town about five miles away, to which a messenger had been dispatched to desire them to prepare to receive him. Arriving at the town, he was beaten with clubs and the pipe-ends of their tomahawks, and was kept for some time tied to a tree before a house-door. In the mean time the inhabitants set out for another town about two miles distant, where Slover was to be burnt, and where he arrived about three o'clock in the afternoon. They were now at Mac-a-chack, not far from the present site of West Liberty, in Logan County. Here there was a council-house also, as at Wapatomica,4 but only a part of it was covered. In the part without a roof was a post about sixteen feet in height. Around this, at a distance of about four feet, were three piles of wood about three feet high. Slover was brought to the post, his arms again tied behind him, and the thong or cord with which they were bound was fastened to it. A rope was also put about his neck and tied to the post about four feet above his head. While they were tying him the wood was kindled and began to flame. Just then the wind began to blow, and in a very short time the rain fell violently. The fire, which by this time had begun to blaze considerably, was instantly extin- guished. The rain lasted about a quarter of an hour." 5

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 23

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314