USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of Mifflin County : its physical peculiarities, soil, climate, &c. ; including an early sketch of the state of Pennsylvania Volume I > Part 3
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When a young daughter of Mr. Brown was just beginning to walk, her mother expressed a regret in the hearing of Mr. Logan, that she could not get her a pair of shoes to give more firmness to her little step. Logan stood by but said nothing. He soon after asked Mrs. Brown to let the little girl go home with him and spend the day at his cabin. The mother, though somewhat alarmed at the proposition, knew the delicacy and sensitiveness of the Indian's feeling. With secret reluctance, but apparent cheerfulness, she complied with his request.
The hours of the day wore very slowly away, and it was nearly night, and her little one had not returned. But just as the sun was going down the trusty and honorable chief was seen coming down the path with his charge, and in a moment the little one trotted proudly into her mother's arms, proudly exhibiting a new pair of moccasins on her little feet, the product of Logan's skill.
Logan continued his residence here until 1771, enjoying an enviable position of influence among the whites, until they became so numerous as to render game scarce, and hunting an unprofitable pursuit, and he could no longer obtain a subsistance for himself and family with his trusty rifle, so he determined to remove to a country where white settlers were few, and game plenty. Hence at the date above given, he removed with his family to the Ohio River near the mouth of Yellow Creek, about thirty miles above Wheeling, and was there joined by his relatives and some Cayu- gas from Fort Angusta, who recognized him as their chief, and over whom, with the other Indians, he exerted a remarkable influence
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
for good and peace towards all. A village was built by his fol- lowers, and here Heckewelder, the Indian missionary, met and con- versed with him in 1772. At a later period; but subsequent to the massacre of his family by the whites, Heckewelder says he was sometimes melancholy and gloomy, and would even threaten self- destruction. The massacre of his family, of which an account is given in another part of this work, occurred at what was known as . the commencement of the Shawnee war in 1773, while Logan was absent with most of the men of his tribe hunting for their subsis- tence. The heart of the most generous Logan was broken, and that it called for revenge is not to be wondered at. He buried his dead, cared for his wounded, and then gathering around him the men of his tribe, joined the Shawnees in the war they were com- mencing on the whites. His revenge was terrible. How many victims were sacrifieed, no earthly record shows.
But the noble instincts of the MAN that he was, would at times exhibit themselves, as in the following case :
While engaged in this war, he, with two of his men, came upon a newly cleared field, where three men were at work. One of these he killed with his unerring rifle, and the other two took flight The oldest was soon overtaken and captured, but the other, a young Virginian named Robison, was more fleet. Logan threw down his gun and pursued him.
Robison might have escaped, but turning his head to see where his pursuer was, his foot caught on a root and he fell, and he was overtaken by the fleet-footed Logan.
He soon found himself bonnd and Logan seated beside him. They were joined by the others, and the party set out for the nearest Indian village. Robison reports that during their march Logan seldom spoke, seeming melancholy, but as they neared the village, he raised the " sealp hullo," and the Indians, young and old, of both sexes, came out to meet them.
The prisoners were compelled to run the gauntlet, but while pre- parations were making for the ordeal, Logan directed Robison in English, how to act. By following these directions, he reached the council house with few injuries. Not so fared his companion.
Being ignorant of the proceedings, he suffered terribly, and would probably have been killed, had not Robison seized him by the hand and pulled him into the council house.
The next day a couneil was held to dispose of the prisoners. The old man was, after a brief consideration, adopted into the tribe.
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but a majority were determined to make Robison a victim of their vengeance. Logan opposed this decision, and spoke for an hour against sacrificing the prisoner.
Robison describes this speech as wonderfully eloquent in voice, gesture and fluency, and said it surpassed any speech he had ever heard, even those of Patrick Henry. But the efforts of Logan were vain ; they determined to burn Robison at the stake.
Preparations were soon made, the prisoner bound, and wood piled up for the sacrifice. While this was being done, Logan stood apart from the throng with his arms folded and a look of stern displeasure on his face. When the fire was about to be kindled he strode into the circle, the other Indians making way for him, cut the fastenings of the prisoner loose, and led him, without a word, into his wigwam. The Indians did not attempt to interfere, but as soon as their sur- prise had abated, mutterings arose among them, and symptoms of a tumult showed themselves. To these Logan paid no attention, and in a few hours all was quiet again. Robison remained with the chief about a year, and when the treaty of Fort Pitt was made,. was released and returned to his home in Virginia.
Frontier Incidents.
Vicissitude is a characteristic feature of human life in all ages of the world and in all countries. All are subject to the changes in a greater or less degree, but the inhabitant of the frontier, who goes in advance of civilization to work and hazard his life, his all and his family, as well for the good of future generations, for those he may never see, he, more than any other, incurs more than is the average lot of man. Some of the human family pass through those that are infinitely more severe than others. Some seem to pass over the season of life without encountering those awfully agitat- ing billows which threaten their immediate destruction, while with others the passage to the tomb is fraught with awful tempests and overwhelming billows. Happy is it for those, who, after having sailed over the boisterous ocean of time, shall eventually be wafted by a divine breeze into the haven of eternal repose.
In citing the trials, the sufferings and dangers of the early set- tler we find none more remarkable than the one noted below, though not in this county, is was near here, and so remarkable that we give it in the words of the suffering heroine herself. Fortunately few of the human race are called on for to endure these horrible expe- riences.
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.
She says : "On the return of my husband from General St. Clair's defeat, and on his recovery from a wound received in battle, he was made a spy and ordered to the woods for duty, about the 23d of March, 1792. The appointment of spies to watch the movement of the savages was so consonant with the desires and interests of the inhabitants, that the frontiers now assumed the appearance of quiet and confidence. Those who had for nearly a year been huddled to- gether in a block-house, were scattered to their own habitations and began the cultivation of their farms.
" The spies saw nothing to alarm them or to induce them to ap- prehend danger till the fatal morning of my captivity. They re- peatedly came to our house for refreshments and to lodge. On the 15th of May my husband, with Captain Guthrie and other spies, came home about dark and wanted supper, to procure which I re- quested one of them to accompany me to the spring-house, and William Maxwell complied with my request. While we were at the spring and spring-house we both distinctly heard a sound like the bleating of a lamb or fawn. This greatly alarmed us and in- duced us to make a hasty retreat into the house. Whether this was an Indian decoy or a warning of what I was to pass through, I am unable to determine. But from this time and circumstance I be- came considerably alarmed and to remove me to some place more secure from Indian cruelties. But Providence had a design that I should become a victim of their rage, and that his mercy should be made manifest in my deliverance. On the night of the 21st of May, two spies, James Davis and Mr. Sutton, came to lodge at our house, and in the morning, when the horn blew at the block-house, which was within sight of our house, and distant about two hundred yards, the two men got up and went out. I was also awake and saw the open door and thought when I was taken prisoner that the scouts had left it open. I intended to rise immediately, but having a child at the breast, I lay with it to get it asleep again, and acci- dently fell asleep myself.
"The spies have since informed me that they returned to the house again and found that I was sleeping, and they softly fastened the door and returned to the block-house, and those who examined it after the scene was over, say that both doors had the appearance of being broken open. The first thing I knew from falling asleep was the Indians pulling me out of bed by my feet. I then looked up and saw the house full of Indians, every one having his gun in his left hand and his tomahawk in his right. Beholding the dan -.
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gerous situation I was in I immediately jumped to the floor on my feet with the young child, in my arms. I then took a petticoat to put on, having only the one in which I slept, but the Indians took it from me, and as many as I attempted to put on they succeeded in taking from me, so I had to go just as I had been in bed. While I was struggling with the savages for clothing others went and took the two other children out of bed and immediately took the two feather beds to the door and emptied them. The savages immedi- ately began their work of plunder and devastation. What they were unable to carry with them they destroyed. While they were at this work I made to the door and succeeded in getting out with one child in my arms and another beside me, but the other little boy was so much displeased by being so early disturbed in the morning that he would not come to the door. When I got out I saw Mr. Wolf, one of the soldiers, going to the spring for water and beheld two or three savages attempting to get between him and the house, but Mr. Wolf was unconscious of his danger, for the savages had not yet been discovered. I then gave a terrific scream, by which means Mr. Wolf discovered his dauger and started to run for the block-house, when seven or eight Indians fired at him, but the only injury he received was a bullet in his arm, which broke it. He suc- ceeded in making his escape to the block-house.
"When I gave the alarm one of the Indians came up as though he would tomahawk me and take my life, and a second came and placed his hand upon my mouth and told me to hush, when a third came up and with uplifted tomahawk attempted to give me a blow, but the first that came raised his tomahawk and arrested the blow and claimed me as his squaw.
"The commissary with his waiter slept in the store-house near the block-house and upon hearing the report of guns came to the door to see what was the matter and beholding the danger he was in, made his escape to the block-house, but not without being discovered by the Indians, several of whom fired at him, and one of the bullets went through the handkerchief that was tied about his head and took off some of his hair. This handkerchief with the bullet holes in it he afterwards gave to me. The waiter on coming to the door was met by two Indians who fired upon him and he received two bullets through his body and fell dead at the door.
"The savages then set up one of their tremendeous and terrifying yells and pushed forward and attempted to scalp the man they had killed, but they were prevented from executing their diabolical de-
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
signs by the heavy fire kept up through the port holes of the block- house. In this scene of horror and alarm, I began to meditate an escape, and for this purpose I attempted to direct the attention of the Indians from me, and fix it on the block-house, and thought if I could succeed in this I would retreat to a subterranean rock with which I was acquainted, which was in the run near where we were. For this purpose I began to converse with some of those who were near me, and they began to question me respecting the strength of the block-house, the number of men in it, &c., and being informed that there were forty men there and that they were excellent marks- men they immediately came to the determination to retreat, and for this purpose they run to those who were beseiging the block-house and brought them away. They then began to flog me with their whipping sticks and order me along. Thus what I intended as a means of my escape was the means of accelerating my departure in the hands of the savages. But it was no doubt so ordered by a kind Providence, for the preservation of the fort and the inhabitants in it, for when the savages gave up their attack and retreated, some of the men in the house had their last load of ammunition in their guns and there was no possibility of procuring more, for it was all fastened up in the store-house which was inaccessible. The Indians, when they had flogged me away along with them, took my oldest boy, a lad of about five years of age, along with them, for he was still by my side.
"My middle little boy, who was about three years of age, had by this time obtained a situation by the fire in the house and was cry- ing bitterly for me not to go, and making little complaints of the depredations of the savages.
"But these monsters were not willing to let the child remain be- hind them, they took him by the hand todrag him along with them, but he was so very unwilling to go and made such a noise by crying that they took him up by the feet and dashed his brains against the threshhold of the door. They then scalped and stabbed him and left him for dead. When I witnessed this inhuman butchery of my own child, I gave a most indescribable and terrific scream and felt a dim- ness come over my eyes, next to blindness and my senses were nearly gone. The savages gave me a blow across my head and face- which brought me to my sight and recollections again. During the whole of this agonizing scene I kept my infant in my arms. As soon as their murder was affected they marched me along to the top of the bank about forty or sixty rods and there they stopped and.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
divided the plunder they had taken from my house, and here I counted their number and found to be thirty-two, and two of them were white men, painted as Indians. Several of the Indians could speak English well. I knew several of them, having seen them going up and down the Allegheny River, and knew them to be from the Seneca tribe of Indians, and two of them to be Munsecs, for they had called at the shops to have their guns fixed, and I saw them there. We went from this place about forty rods and they then caught my uncle John Currie's horses, and two of thein, into whose custody I was put, started with me and the horses towards the month of the Kiskiminetas, and the rest of them went off towards Puckety. When they came to the bank they descended towards the Allegheny, the bank was very steep and there appeared so much danger of descending it on horseback that I threw myself off the horse in opposition to the will and commands of the Indians.
" My horse descended without falling, but the one on which the Indian rode who had my little boy, in descending fell and rolled over repeatedly, and my little boy fell back over the horse but was not injured materially, but he was taken up by the Indians and we got to the river, where they had secreted some bark canoes under the rocks opposite the island, near the mouth of the Kiskiminetas. They attempted in vain to make the horses take the river. After trying for sometime to effect this, they left the horses behind them, and took us in one of the canoes to the point of the island where they left the canoe. Here I had to behold another hard scene, for as soon as we landed, my little boy, who was still mourning and lamenting the loss of his brother, and who complained that he was injured by the fall in descending the bank, was murdered. One of the Indians ordered me along, probably that I should not see the horrid deed about to be perpetrated. The other then took his tomahawk from his side, and, with this instrument of death, killed and scalped him. When I beheld this second scene of inhuman butchery, I fell to the ground senseless, with my infant in my arms, and it being under and its little hands in the hair of my head .. How long I remained in this state of insensibility I know not. The first thing I know was my raising my head from the ground, and feeling myself exceedingly overcome by sleep. I cast my eyes around and saw the scalp of my dear little boy fresh bleeding from his head, in the hand of one of the savages, and I sank down to the earth again upon my infant child. The first thing I remember after witnessing this spectacle of woe, was the severe blows I was
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
receiving from the hands of the savages, though at the time I was unconscious of the injury I was sustaining.
"After a severe castigation, they assisted me to get up, and sup- ported me when up. * * * We now proceeded on our journey by crossing the island and coming to a shallow place where we could wade out, and thus arrive at the Indian side of the country. Here they pushed me into the river before them and had to conduct me through it. The water was up to my breast, but I suspended my child above the water, and through the assistance of the savages I got safely through.
"From thence we proceeded rapidly forward and came to Big Buffalo, here the stream was very rapid and the Indians had again to assist me through. When we had crossed this creek, we made a straight course to the Conoquenessing Creek, the very place where Butler now stands, and from thence we traveled five or six miles to Little Buffalo, and crossed it at the very place where Sarver's saw-mill now stands, and ascended the hill. I now felt weary of my life, and had a full determination to make the savages kill me, thinking that death would be exceedingly welcome when compared with the fatigne and the cruelty and miseries I had the prospect of enduring. To have my purpose effected I stood still, and one of the savages being before me and the other walking on behind me, and I took from off my shoulder a large powder horn that they had made me carry, in addition to my child, who was one and a-half years old. I threw the horn on the ground and closed my eyes, and expected every moment to feel the deadly tomahawk. But to my surprise, the Indians took it up, cursed me bitterly, and put it on my shoulder again. I took it off a second time and threw it on the ground, and again closed my eyes with the assurance that I should meet death; but instead of this, the savages again took up the horn, and with an indignant and frightful countenance placed it there again. I took it off the third time, and was determined to effect them, and therefore threw it as far as I was able, from me, over the rocks. The savage immediately went after it, while the other who claimed me as his squaw, and who stood and witnessed the transaction, came up to me and said ' I was a good squaw, and did right, that the other Indian was lazy.'
"The savages now changed their position, and the one who claimed me as his squaw went behind. This movement I believe was to pre- vent the others from doing me any injury, and we went on till we struck the Conoquenessing at Salt Lick, about two miles above
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
Butler, where was an Indian camp, where we arrived a little before dark, having no refreshments during the day. The camp was made by stakes driven in the ground sloping, covered with chestnut bark and appeared sufficiently long for fifty men. The camp ap- peared to have been occupied for some time. It was very much beaten and large beaten paths went out from it in different direc- tions.
" That night they took me about three hundred yards from the camp up a run in a large dark bottom, where they cut the brush in a thicket and placed a blanket on the ground and permitted me to sit down with my child. They pinioned my arms back and left my hands only with a little liberty so that it was with difficulty that I managed my child. Here in this dreary situation, without fire or refreshment, having an infant to take care of, and my arms bound behind me, and having a savage on each side of me, who had killed two of my dear children that day, I had to pass the night, the first of my captivity. But the trials and dangers of the day I had passed had so completely exhausted nature, that notwithstanding my unpleasant situation, and my determination to escape, if pos- sible, I insensibly fell asleep and repeatedly dreamed of my escape and safe arrival in Pittsburgh, and of several things relating to that town, of which I knew nothing at the time, but found to be true on my arrival there. The first night passed away and I found no means of escape, for the savages kept watch the whole of the . night without any sleep. In the morning one of them left us to watch the trail or the path we had come, to see if the whites were pursuing us. During the absence of the Indian who was the one who claimed me, the savage who remained with me and who was the murderer of my last boy, took from his bosom his scalp and pre- pared a hoop to stretch the scalp on it. I meditated revenge. While he was in the very act I attempted to take his tomahawk which hung by his side and rested on the ground, and had, I thought, nearly succeeded, and was, as I thought, about to give the fatal blow, when, alas, I was detected. The savage felt me at his toma- hawk handle, turned around upon me and cursed me, and told me I was a Yankee, thus intimating that he understood my intentions, and to prevent me from doing so faced me again. My excuse to him was that my child wanted to play with the handle of it. The savage who went out upon the lookout in the morning came back .at 12 o'clock and had discovered no pursuers.
" Then the one who had been guarding mne went on the same 3
.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
errand. The savage who was now on guard began to examine me about the white people, the strength of the armies going against them. &c., and boasted largely of their achievements in the fall in the defeat of St. Clair.
" He then examined into the plunder which he had taken from my house the day before, and he found my pocketbook and money in his plunder. There were ten dollars in silver, and a half a guinea in gold in the pocketbook. During this day he gave me a piece of dry venison, about the bulk of an egg, and'a piece about the same size the day we were marching for my support and that of my child, but owing to the blows I had received on my jaws, I was unable to eat a bit of it. I broke it up and gave it to the child. The savage on the lookout returned abont dark. This evening, Monday, the 23d, they moved me to another station in the same valley, and secured me as they did the previous night. Thus I found myself a second night between two Indians, without fire or refreshment. During this night I was frequently asleep, and as often dreamed of my arrival in Pittsburgh. Early on the morning of the 24th, a flock of mocking birds and robins hovered over us as we lay in an uncomfortable bed and sung and said, in my im- agination at least, that I was to get up and off. As soon as the day broke, one of the Indians went off' again to watch the trail as on the preceding day, and he who was left to take care of me seemed to be sleeping. When I perceived this, I lay still and begun to snore as though asleep, and he fell asleep. Then I concluded it was time to escape. I found it impossible to injure him, for my child at the breast, as I could not affect anything without putting the child down, and then it would cry and give the alarm, so I con- tented myself, with taking from a pillow case of plunder taken from our home a short gown, handkerchief and child's frock, and so made my escape; the sun then being about half an hour high. I took a direction from home, at first being guided by the birds before mentioned, and in order to deceive the Indians, then took over the hill and struck the Conoquenessing Creek, about two miles from where I crossed it with the Indians and went down the stream, until about two o'clock in the afternoon, over rock, precipices, thorns, briers, &c., with my bare feet and legs. I then discovered by the stream and the direction of the sun that I was on the wrong course, and going from, instead of coming nearer home. I then changed my course, ascended a hill and sat down till sunset, and when the evening star made its appearance I discovered the way I
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