History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 24

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

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The savages were amazed at this result, and per- haps regarded it as an interposition of the Great Spirit on behalf of the prisoner. They finally de- cided to allow him to remain alive until morning,

1 Having previously lived much among the Indians, Slover was well acquainted with their language, and spoke it, particularly the Miami all Shawanese dialects, with great fluency.

2 " There was one council at which Slover was not present. The war- riors hund sont for him as usual, but the squaw with whom he lived would not suffer him to go, but hid him under a large quantity of skins. It may have been done that Slover might not hear the determination she feared would be arrived at,-to bain him."-Butterfield's Expedition against Sandusky.

3 James nud George Girty, as well as Capt. Matthew Elliott, of the Brit- ishi service, were present at the Shawanese town, and took part in the Indian councils before mentioned.

4 The Indian village to which he had first been taken.

5 Butterfield's " Expedition ngminst Sandusky."

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

when, as they said, they would recommence the tor- ture, and devote the whole day to it. He was then unbound and made to sit on the ground, where he was beaten, kieked, and otherwise maltreated by the Indians, who continued dancing round him and yell- ing till nearly midnight. Three guards were then de- tailed to watch him during the rest of the night ; he was again bound and taken to a house, where a rope was fastened about his neck and tied to a beam of the house. His guards kept awake taunting him about the torture he was to endure until towards morning, when two of them fell asleep, and not long afterwards the other followed their example. Soon they were all asleep, and when he was entirely sure that they self. He had comparatively little difficulty in slipping the cords from one of his wrists, which left him at liberty to work at the rope around his neck. This he found much more securely tied, and he began to de- spair of loosening it, as the daylight had begun to appear and the Indians would soon be on the alert. At last, however, he succeeded in untying the knots, and rose from his painful position, free, but still in the greatest danger of discovery.

were so Slover commeneed attempts to unbind him- ; Pomoacan's headquarters, on the night before he

Stepping softly over the sleeping warriors, he quickly left the house, and ran through the village into a corn- field. Near by he saw several Indian horses grazing, , killing by the savages was established by John Slover, and having with no little difficulty caught one of these, using the rope with which he had been bound as a halter, he mounted and rode away, first slowly, then more rapidly, and finally with all the speed of which the animal was capable. No alarm had been given in the village, and he had therefore reason to believe that the Indians were still ignorant of his escape.

Slover forced the horse to his utmost speed for a long time, but gradually his pace slackened and grew slower and słower until about two o'clock in the after- noon, when, finding it impossible to urge him beyond a walking gait, he dismounted, left the animal, and pushed on on foot. He had heard the distant halloo- ing of Indians behind him, showing him that he was pursued, but he kept on, using every precaution to eover his trail as he proceeded. No Indians appeared, and he traveled on without a moment's stop until ten o'clock at night, when, being very sick and vomiting, he halted to rest for two hours. At midnight the moon rose, and he proceeded on, striking a trail, which he kept till daylight, and then, as a measure of precaution, left it, and struck through the woods along a ridge at a right angle from his previous course. This he continued for about fifteen miles, and then changed to what he judged to be his true course. From this point he met with no specially notable ad- venture. On the third day he reached the Muskin- gum, on the next he reached and crossed the Still- water, and in the evening of the fifth day of his flight he camped within five miles of Wheeling. Up to this time he had not closed his eyes in sleep since he left his cabin and squaw companion at Wapatomica.

Early on the following morning he came to the Ohio River opposite the island at Wheeling, and see- ing a man on the other side, called to him, and finally induced him to come across and take him over in his canoe, though at first he was very suspicious and un- willing to cross to the west shore. On the 10th of July Slover reached Fort Pitt.

Col. Crawford's nephew, William Crawford,1 the colonel's son-in-law, William Harrison,2 and John McClelland, of Fayette County, the third major of the expeditionary force, all lost their lives at the hands of the Indian barbarians. It has already been noticed that when the unfortunate colonel was at suffered the torture, he was told by Simon Girty that his nephew and son-in-law had been taken prisoners but pardoned by the chiefs. This false story of their escape from death reached the settlements by some means, and the hearts of their relatives and friends were thus cheered by hopes of their ultimate return.

No particulars of the time or manner of the deaths of Harrison, McClelland, or young Crawford are known, except that MeClelland was shot from his horse in the first attack by the Delawares and Shaw- anese on the night of the 5th, but the fact of their

who, on coming to the upper Shawanese town on the evening of the 11th of June, saw there the mangled bodies of three men bloody, powder-burned, and mutilated, who, the Indians assured him, had been killed just before his arrival ; and two of these he at! onee recognized as the bodies of Harrison and young Crawford. The other he was not entirely sure of, but had no doubt that it was the corpse of Maj. McClel- land. At the same time the Indians pointed out two horses, and asked him if he recognized them, to which he answered that he did, and that they were the ones which had been ridden by Harrison and Crawford, to which the Indians replied that he was correct.

John Crawford, the colonel's son, kept with Wil- liamson's forces on their retreat to the Ohio, and reached his home on the Youghiogheny in safety. He afterwards removed to Kentucky, and died in that State soon after his settlement there.

Philip Smith 3 was, as we have seen, an active par- ticipant in the battle of June 4th, in which he received a wound in the elbow. When the retreat commenced on the night of the 5th, he and a companion named

1 Son of Valentine Crawford, of Fayette County.

" Husband of the beautiful Sarah Crawford, the colonel's daughter.

3 At the time when he volunteered for Crawford's expedition, Philip Smith was a resident of that part of Westmoreland County which 8001 after became Fayette, his home being on a small tributary of George Creek. Soon after returning from the expedition (in 1784) he remover to Ohio, and remained in that State during the remainder of his life He was born in Frederick County, Md., in 1761, and died in Euist U'nior township, Wayne Co, Ohio, March 27, 1838. Several of his ch ldren ar yet living in Ohio and Indiana.

109

THE REVOLUTION.

Rankin became separated from their company, and | long distance from them. At this warning they put found themselves under the necessity of shifting for out their fire and moved away, traveling the rest of the night. During the remainder of their flight no incident of an exciting nature occurred, and on the ninth day of their journey they reached the left bank of the Ohio, foot-sore, famished, and emaciated, but safe beyond reach of their savage enemies. themselves. Both had lost their horses, and they were without provisions, but had their guns and am- munition. They struck off from the track of the troops, and for two days were successful in evading . the savages. Most of their traveling was done by night. They suffered greatly for food, for, though there was plenty of game, they were afraid to shoot it, for fear that the noise of their pieces would bring Indians upon them. They ate berries and roots, and once or twice were fortunate enough to catch young birds. Afterwards they found an Indian pony, which (not daring to shoot) Smith killed with his tomahawk after repeated ineffectual strokes at it. The liver of the animal was then taken out and broiled, and it made what seemed to them a delicious meal.

On the night of the 7th, as they were moving along, they were overtaken by two other fugitives, mounted. The four now traveled on together for a time, when, on a sudden, as they had stopped at a stream, a party of Indians fired on them from the high bank, and the two mounted men tumbled from their horses, dead. Smith had just stooped to drink at the stream, and a ball whizzed over his head ; but he was unhurt, and seizing the gun of one of the dead horsemen, he leaped up the opposite bank and fled, but soon threw away his gun. His companion, Rankin, had also escaped injury from the fire of the savages, and was running for life ahead of Smith. As the latter pressed on towards him, Rankin, thinking that it was an enemy who was pursuing, turned to shoot him, but Smith saved himself by taking to a tree. This was repeated three times, but finally Rankin discovered that he was being pursued, not by an enemy, but by his companion, Smith. The latter then joined him, and the two ran on together and made their escape, traveling all night, and making no halt until the middle of the next forenoon, when they suddenly came upon an Indian camp, which appeared to have been very recently left by the party who had occu- pied it, as the fires were still burning, and a kettle of hominy was on one of them cooking. The fugitives were half famished, but dared not eat the inviting mess, fearing that it might have been poisoned. But there was auother object lying near the fire which sent the blood curdling to their hearts. It was the still warm dead body of a man who had been mur- dered by the Indians and scalped, evidently while alive, as the marks showed that he had drawn his hand across the scalp- wound several times and smeared his face with blood from it. It was a sick- ening spectacle, and they were glad to fly from it and from the dangerous proximity of the camp-fire, where they were liable at any moment to be sur- prised by the return of the savages.

Nicholas Dawson (whose home was in what is now North Union township, Fayette Co.) was one of the volunteers under Crawford. In the disorder of the night of the 5th of June he became separated from his command and wandered away, with nothing to guide him in the right direction. While attempting thus to make his way alone he was met by James Workman and another straggler, who saw that he was heading towards Sandusky, and consequently running directly into danger instead of escaping from it. They tried to convince him that he was wrong, but he obstinately insisted that he was not. Finding it impossible to persuade him to change his course, they at last told him that as he would cer- tainly be taken by the Indians if he kept on, and as it was better for him to die by the hands of white men than to be tortured by savages, they were deter- mined to shoot him then and there unless he con- sented to turn his course and go with them. This was an unanswerable argument, and Dawson finally yielded to it, though with a very bad grace. He changed his route, joined company with the two men, and so succeeded in making his escape, and arrived in safety at his home beyond the Monongahela.

John Sherrard, a private in the Sandusky expedi- tion, was a man well and favorably known among the early residents of Fayette County, and as he was also one of Col. Crawford's most valuable men, it is not improper to make special mention of his services and adventures in the campaign. He does not come into particular notice until the afternoon of June 4th, when the northern and western borders of the grove known as Battle Island were fringed with the fire of the Pennsylvanians' rifles. In that conflict he held his own with the best among the volunteers, until in the excitement of the fight he drove a ball into the barrel of his rifle without any powder behind it, and by this means disarmed himself by rendering his piece useless.

From this time he employed himself in bringing water to his comrades in the grove from a stagnant pool which he discovered beneath the roots of an up- turned tree. This employment lacked the pleasur- able excitement which was with the marksmen on the battle-line, but it was quite as dangerous, for the balls whistled past him continually as he passed to and fro; and it was also a service which could not be dispensed with, for the battle-ground was entirely without water (the river being more than a mile

They moved on in haste, and from that time saw no Indians, nor any sign of any, though during the succeeding night they heard whoopings, apparently a | away), and the terrible heat of the afternoon brought

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

extreme thirst to the brave men who held the flaming line on the edge of the timber. Sherrard performed this service well, and was uninjured by the bullets which flew so thickly about him.

Again, on the 5th (his rifle being still unserviceable for the reason before noticed), he was employed as a water-carrier to the skirmishers. Years afterwards he spoke of his experience on that day as follows : " After searching the grove around I was fortunate enough to find another supply, and again busied my- self relieving the men of my company. At length, overcome with heat and fatigue, I sat down at the foot of a large oak-tree, and in a short time fell asleep. How long I slept I cannot say. I was aroused by some bark falling upon my head from above, which had been knocked off the tree by the enemy. I then resumed my task of carrying water."

In the disorder of the retreat on the night of the 5th, Sherrard, like many others, became separated from his command, and being left in the extreme rear, followed as well as he was able the trail of the three divisions which took the route to the southwest of the prescribed line of march. With him was Daniel Harbaugh, also from Fayette County, and to- gether these two moved on in the darkness, expecting every moment to be confronted by Indians, but in some unaccountable way they escaped discovery by the savages during the night. Early in the following morning, as they were riding through the woods, an Indian was seen skulking in the undergrowth to their left. Sherrard, who was first to see the savage, in- stantly dismounted and took cover behind a tree, at the same time warning Harbaugh to take a like pre- caution. The latter not seeing the Indian and mis- apprehending the direction of the danger took the wrong side of his tree, and being thus fully exposed was immediately shot, receiving the fatal bullet in his right breast. He sunk to the earth, moaning, " Lord have mercy on me ! I am a dead man," and died in a few moments. Sherrard, with his gun at his shoulder, watched closely for the Indian, intending to send a bullet through him, but the smoke of the savage's rifle hid him for a few seconds, and when this cleared away Sherrard saw him running for his life and beyond the range of his piece.

Sherrard examined the body of his fallen compan- ion and found that life was extinct. The ghastly fea- tures of the dead man and the suddenness of the event horrified and almost unmanned him, but, collecting his thoughts, in a moment he took the saddle and bri- dle from the riderless horse and turned him loose. Then he took from his own horse the rude and un- comfortable saddle on which he had been riding, and substituting for it the good one which he had taken from Harbaugh's horse, he mounted and rode on. He had not gone far, however, before he recollected that in his excitement he had left behind his blanket and provisions strapped to the abandoned saddle. In his present situation he could not think of losing

these, so he returned to secure them. On reaching the spot be found that the savage had returned, stripped the scalp from Harbaugh's head, and cap- tured the dead man's horse, bridle, and gun. But he had not discovered the abandoned saddle, and Sher- rard found it with the blanket and provisions undis- turbed. These he at once secured, and having done so left the spot and rode swiftly away. No more In- dians were encountered by him, and two or three hours later he had the good fortune to come up with the retreating force under Maj. Williamson. Soon after he rejoined his company, the battle of the 6th : of June (at Olentangy Creek ) occurred, as has been related.

From this place Sherrard marched with the column on its retreat to Mingo Bottom, and arrived in safety at his home, which at that time was at the house of Mrs. Paull, the mother of James. To her he brought the sad intelligence that her son was missing, and had not been seen nor heard of since the night of the 5th, when the troops left Battle Island. This ominous re- port nearly crushed the widowed mother, but she was afterwards made happy by the return of her son in safety, as we have seen.

Some of the stragglers from the retreating column under Williamson had reached the Ohio considerably in advance of the main body. These stragglers im- mediately returned to their homes, and spread through the frontier settlements the most alarming and exag- gerated reports1 of the disaster which had befallen the expedition. These reports not only caused great grief and extreme anxiety for the fate of relatives and friends who were with the forces of Col. Craw- ford, but the wildlest consternation also, for it was feared and believed that the victorious savages-red and white-would soon be across the Ohio, and would carry devastation and butchery to the valleys of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny. When the grief and anxiety of the people was to a great extent al- layed by the return of the volunteers, and the conse- quent discovery that the disaster was by no means as overwhelming as had at first been reported, the dread of Indian invasion still remained, and the bold fron- tiersmen, discarding the idea of waiting for the coming of the foe and then merely standing on the defensive, began at once to urge the forming of a new expedi- tion to carry the war into the heart of the Indian country, and to prosecute it to the point of extermi- nation, or at least to the destruction of the Wyandot, Delaware, and Shawanese towns, for they believed that in no other way could security be had for the settle- ments along the border. It was the wish of the lead-

1 The earliest reports which obta'ned currency were to the effect that the army of Crawford was almost annihilated, and that the Indians were pursuing them to the Ohio, and would doubtless cross the river and carry rapine and desolation through the border settlements, The fact was that, including all those killed in battle, those who afterwards died of wounds, those who suffered death at the hands of their savage captors and those who were missing and never heard from, the total loss sus- tained by Craw ford's forces was less than seventy-five men.

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THE REVOLUTION.

ing spirits-such men as Maj. Gaddis, Williamson, Marshal, and Edward Cook-that the proposed expe- lition should be made as strong, numerically, as pos- sible, that it should include, besides volunteers from the militia of Westmoreland and Washington Coun- ties and the Pan Handle of Virginia, as many regu- lar Continental troops as could be spared from Fort Pitt, and that it should be commanded by Gen. Irvine in person.

Capts. Robert Beall and Thomas Moore, of the Westmoreland County militia, wrote from near Stew- art's Crossings, under date of June 23d, to Gen. Irvine, uforming of the sentiment of the people in favor of a new expedition. "The unfortunate miscarriage of the late expedition," they said, " the common interest of our country, and the loss of our friends induce is to be thus forward in proposing another. . .. We lo not wish to be understood as giving our own pri- yate sentiments, but of those of the people generally n our quarter; for which purpose we are authorized to address you, and from accounts well authenticated ve assure you it is the wish of the people on this side he Monongahela River without a dissenting voice." From the west side of the Monongahela, John Evans, lieutenant of Monongalia County, Va., wrote Irvine week later (June 30th), informing him that Indians ad made their appearance in that quarter, and that great alarm was felt in consequence, adding, "With- out your assistance I much fear our settlements will reak. The defeat of Col. Crawford occasions much Iread."

In his reply to Beall and Moore (dated June 26th) Gen. Irvine said, "Inclination as well as duty is a continual spur to me, not only to acquiesce in, but to encourage every measure adopted for the public good. Your proposals on this occasion are so truly patriotic nd spirited that I should look on myself unpardon- ble were I to pass them unnoticed." In a letter f the same date, addressed to Col. Edward Cook, lieutenant of Westmoreland County,1 Irvine said, Your people seem so much in earnest that I am led o think, if other parts of the country are so spirited nd patriotic, something may probably be done, but s it will take some time to come to a proper knowl- dge of this matter, and that must be accurately done, here can be no harın in making the experiment. .. . have no intimation of any plan being on foot in Washington County for this purpose, though it is said he. people wish another expedition."

The project of raising another force for the invasion of the Indian country seems to have originated with he people of that part of Westmoreland which is now Fayette County. The manner in which it was pro- bosed to form it and carry it through to a successful ssue is indicated in a letter written by Gen. Irvine o the Secretary of War, Gen. Lincoln, on the 1st of

July, from which the following extracts are made : " The disaster has not abated the ardor or desire for revenge (as they term it) of these people. A number of the most respectable are urging me strenuously to take command of them, and add as many Continental officers and soldiers as can be spared, particularly ofli- cers, as they attribute the defeat to the want of expe- rience in their officers. They cannot nor will not rest under any plan on the defensive, however well exe- cuted, and think their only safety depends on the total destruction of all the Indian settlements within two hundred miles; this, it is true, they are taught by dear-bought experience.

"They propose to raise by subscription six or seven hundred men, provisions for them for forty days, and horses to carry it, clear of expense to the public, un- less government at its own time shall think proper to reimburse them. The 1st of August they talk of as- sembling, if I think proper to encourage them. I am by no means fond of such commands, nor am I san- guine in my expectations, but rather doubtful of the consequences ; and yet absolutely to refuse having anything to do with them, when their proposals are so generous and seemingly spirited, I conceive would not do well either, especially as people too generally, particularly in this quarter, are subject to be clamorous and to charge Continental officers with want of zeal, activity, and inclination of doing the needful for their protection. I have declined giving tbem an immedi- ate, direct answer, and have informed them that my going depends on circumstances, and in the mean time I have called for returns of the men who may be de- pended on to go, and the subscriptions of provisions and horses. The distance to headquarters is so great that it is uncertain whether an express could return in time with the commander-in-chief's instructions.

" As you must know whether any movements will take place in this quarter, or if you are of the opinion it would on any account be improper for me to leave the post, I request you would please to write me by express. But if no answer arrives before or about the 1st of August, I shall take for granted you have no objections, and that I may act discretionally. Should it be judged expedient for me to go the greatest number of troops fit to march will not exceed one hundred. The militia are pressing that I shall take all the Continentals along, and leave the defense of the fort to them ; but this I shall by no means do. If circumstances should seem to require it, I shall throw in a few militia with those regulars left, but under Continental officers."

There were good grounds for the alarm felt by the people between the Ohio and the mountains, for a few days after the return of Williamson's forces the Indians appeared in large numbers along the west bank of the Ohio, their main force being concentrated at Mingo Bottom, with smaller parties at varions points on both sides of the river, and these were closely and constantly watched by several detachments

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 24

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