History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 29

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 29

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When the volunteers commenced their retreat from the battle-field of the 4th and 5th of June, at about nine o'clock in the evening of the last-mentioned day, Col. Crawford rode at the head of the leading division (McClelland's). A very short time after- wards they were attacked by the Delawares and Shawanese, and (as has already been mentioned) the rear divisions left their positions in the line of march and moved away to the right, leaving the front di- vision to extricate itself from its perilous situation. They left in such haste that no little disorder ensued, in which some of the sick and wounded were left be- hind, though it is believed that all but two were finally saved from the enemy. While the Indian attack on the advance division was in progress, Col. Crawford became anxious concerning his son John, his nephew, William Crawford, and his son-in-law, William Har- rison, and rode back to find them or assure himself of their safety, but in this he was unsuccessful. While engaged in the search he was joined by the surgeon, Dr. Knight, whom he requested to remain with and assist him. With this request the doctor readily com- plied. He thought the missing men were in the front, but as the colonel assured him they were not, the two remained behind a considerable time after the last of the troops had passed on, the commander in the mean- while expressing himself in terms of indignation at the conduct of the three battalions in disobeying his orders by leaving the line of march and pressing on in their semi-panic, forgetting the care of the sick and wounded, and regardless of everything but their own safety.

After the last of the troops had passed on, and when Crawford and the surgeon found it useless to remain longer, they followed as nearly as they could in the track of the larger column, which, however, by this

time was a considerable distance away and lost to view in the darkness. Proceeding rather slowly on (for the colonel's horse had become jaded and nearly worn out by the fatigues of the day ), they were soon after overtaken by two stragglers who came up from the rear, one of them being an old man and the other a stripling. Neither of these had seen or knew any- thing about the two young Crawfords and Harrison.

The colonel and his three companions had not pro- ceeded far when the sound of fire-arms was heard in front of them and not very far away. It was from the attack which the savages made on the rear of the re- treating column at the time when a part of it became entangled in the swamp, as has been mentioned. The noise of the firing before them caused Crawford's party to turn their course in a more northerly direction, on which they continued for two or three miles, when, believing that they were clear of the enemy, they turned at nearly a right angle, now facing nearly east, and moving in single file, Indian fashion. At about midnight they reached and crossed the Sandusky River. Near that stream they lost the old man, who had lagged behind, and was probably killed by Indians.

From the Sandusky they continued in an easterly direction, but when morning came they turned more southerly. Early in the day the horses ridden by Col. Crawford and the boy gave out entirely and were left behind. Early in the afternoon they were joined by Capt. Biggs and Lieut. Ashley, the latter mounted on Biggs' horse, and suffering severely from the wounds received in the battle of the 4th. The captain had bravely and generously stood by the wounded lieutenant, and was now marching on foot by his side, ›resolved to save him if possible, even at the risk of his own life. And a fearful and fatal risk it proved to be.

At almost precisely the time when Biggs and Ashley were found by Col. Crawford's party (about two o'clock P.M. on the 6th of June), the main body of volunteers, under Williamson, were facing to the rear, forming line of battle to meet the attack of the pursuing In- dians, as has already been noticed. The distance from the field where the battle was raging to the place where the party of fugitives were at that time was about six miles in a northwest direction. After being joined by Biggs and Ashley, the colonel and his companions moved on slowly (being encumbered by the care of the wounded officer) for about an hour, when their flight was interrupted by the same thunder- storm that burst over the battle-field of Olentangy at the close of the conflict. Being now drenched with the rain, and wearied by their eighteen hours' flight, the commander thought it best to halt, and accord- ingly they made their night bivouac here,1 amid the most cheerless surroundings, wet, shivering, and in

1 The place where they encamped that night is about two miles north of Bucyrus, Ohio.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

constant dread of being discovered by prowling sav- ages.

Early in the morning of the 7th the party pushed on in nearly the same southeasterly direction, recross- ing the Sandusky River. An hour or two after their start they came to a place where a deer had been killed. The best part of the carcass had been cut off and wrapped in the skin of the animal, as if the owner had intended to return and carry it away. This they took possession of and carried with them, as also a tomahawk which lay on the ground near by. A mile or so farther on they saw smoke rising through the trees. Leaving the wounded officer behind, in charge of the boy, the others advanced cautiously towards the fire. They found no person there, but they judged, from the indications, that some of the volunteers had been there, and had left the place only a short time before. Lieut. Ashley was then brought up, and they proceeded to roast the venison which they had cap- tured. As they were about finishing their meal a white man was seen near by, who, on being called to, came up very cautiously, and was recognized by Col. Crawford as one of his own men. He said he was the slayer of the deer, and that he had been frightened away from the carcass by the approach of the colonel and his companions. Food was given him, and after eating he moved on with the party.

About the middle of the afternoon they struck the route of the army's outward march, at a bend in the Sandusky, less than two miles distant from the place where Williamson's force had bivouacked the night before, and where, in the morning of the same day, the pursuing Indians had made their last attack on the retreating column. They were still nearer to the camping-place occupied by the Indians during the previous night, and it is difficult to understand how the practiced eye of Col. Crawford could have failed to discover the proximity of Indians, but it is cer- tain that such was the case, for when Dr. Knight and Capt. Biggs advised him to avoid following the trace, for fear of encountering the enemy, he replied with confidence that there was little danger of it, for the savages would not follow the retreating column after it reached the timbered country, but would abandon the pursuit as soon as they reached the eastern verge of the Plains.

From the point where they struck the trail at the bend of the river, then, they moved on over the route which had been passed by the troops in their out- ward march. Col. Crawford and Dr. Knight, both on foot, led the way ; Capt. Biggs (now riding the doctor's horse) followed some fifteen or twenty rods behind, and in the rear marched the boy and the killer of the deer, both dismounted. In this manner they proceeded along the south side of the river until they came very near the place where Williamson had made his camp of the previous evening. It does not appear that they had yet detected the proximity of an enemy, or that they were using more than ordinary

precaution as they traveled. Suddenly, directly in front of Crawford and Knight, and not more than fifty feet from them, three Indians started up in full view. Crawford stood his ground, not attempting to gain cover, but the surgeon instantly took to a tree and raised his piece to fire, but desisted from doing so at the peremptory command of the colonel. Immedi- ately afterwards, however, Capt. Biggs saw the sav- ages and fired, but without effect. One of the Indians came up to Crawford and took him by the hand, while another in like manner advanced and took the hand of the surgeon, at the same time calling him " doc- tor," for they had previously been acquainted with each other at Fort Pitt.

The Indians told Crawford to order Biggs and Ash- ley, with the two other men in the rear, to come up and surrender, otherwise they would go and kill them. The colonel complied, calling out to them to advance, but this was disregarded, and all four of them es- caped, though Biggs and Ashley were afterwards taken and killed by the savages.

It was a party of the Delawares who captured Col. Crawford and Dr. Knight, and they immediately took their captives to the camp of their chief, Winge- nund. The time this occurred was in the afternoon of the 7th of June (Friday), only five days after the army had passed by the same place in its outward march in the highest spirits, and with the brave Crawford riding at its head, happily unconscious of the awful doom which awaited him.

Crawford and Knight remained at the camp of the Delawares for three days. During their stay there (in the evening of Sunday, the 9th) a party of out- lying scouts came in, bringing the scalps of Lieut. Ashley and Capt. Biggs, as also the horses which had been ridden by those unfortunate officers. Besides Crawford and Knight, there were nine other white prisoners at the Delaware camp, all half-starved and guarded with the utmost vigilance by the seventeen warriors who composed the war party at the camp. Several of these savages were personally known to Crawford and Knight.

On the morning of the 10th the camp was broken up, and the warriors set out with their prisoners for the Sandusky towns. All of them except Crawford were taken to the old town at Upper Sandusky ; but the colonel was taken by a different route to the head- quarters of Pomoacan, the great sachem of the Wyan- dots. There were two reasons for his being sent to that village, one of them being to have him guide his captors over the route by which he and Knight had come, so that they might possibly find the horses which had been left behind, and the other reason being to allow the colonel to see Simon Girty, who was known to be at the Half-King's town. Girty was an old acquaintance of Crawford's, as has been seen, and the latter had a faint hope that by a personal in- terview with the renegade he might be induced to

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THE REVOLUTION.

use his influence with the Indians to save the prison- genund and Pipe. They had not proceeded far from the village before they passed the corpse of one of the prisoners who preceded them. A little farther on er's life, or at least to save him from the torture by fire. The hope was a vain and delusive one, as the event proved, but the doomed man in his extremity . they saw another, then another and another, four in clung to it as drowning men catch at straws. His 1 all, killed by their guards only a few minutes before, and all bearing the bloody marks made by the scalp- ing-knife. savage custodians well knew that he would gain nothing by the interview with Girty, but they granted his request, apparently for the demoniac satisfaction of witnessing the despair and agony of his certain disappointment.

The prisoners bound for the old town arrived there the same evening. Later in the night Crawford and his guards reached Pomoacan's village, where he had the desired interview with Girty, during which he offered the wretch one thousand dollars to interfere and save his life. Girty promised to do what he could, though he had not the slightest intention of keeping his word. He also told the colonel that his nephew, William Crawford, and his son-in-law, Wil- liam Harrison, had been captured by Shawanese scouts, but that the chiefs of that tribe had decided to spare their lives, the latter portion of his statement being false, as he well knew. But the story, with the promise to intercede in his behalf, had the effect to allay for the time the colonel's worst fears.

On the following morning (June 11th) Crawford was informed that he must go to the old town, to join the other prisoners, so that all could be marched in a body to the village of the Half-King. Under this order he was taken to the upper village, where he arrived about the middle of the forenoon, and there found the main body of the white prisoners, including Dr. Knight, and the Delaware chiefs, Pipe and Win- genund, who had come there at an earlier hour in the morning. Here the hopes which had been raised in Crawford's mind by the promise of Girty were sud- denly extinguished when Wingenund approached him and painted his face black. The hypocritical chief,1 while he was performing the ominous operation, pro- fessed to be extremely glad to see the colonel, and assured him that he was to be adopted as an Indian ; but Crawford was not deceived by this dissimulation, for he well knew that when the Indians painted the face of a prisoner black it meant but one thing,-that the person so marked had been doomed to death. All the other prisoners, including Dr. Knight, had previously been painted black by the implacable Delaware, Capt. Pipe.

A little later in the day the whole party of pris- oners, under their Indian guards, moved out from the old town and took the trail down the river. Col. Crawford and Dr. Knight (who were regarded by the Indians as their principal prizes) were marched some distance in the rear of the others, and were kept in charge by no less personages than the chiefs Win-

They had supposed that their destination was the town of the Wyandot sachem, Pomoacan, but their hearts sank within them 2 when, at the Big Springs, on the present site of Upper Sandusky, the Indians left the trail leading to the Wyandot headquarters and took that leading to the villages of the Delawares. On this trail they proceeded in a northwesterly course until they reached Little Tymochtee Creek, where Crawford and Knight, with their guards, overtook the other surviving prisoners, only five in number. Here several squaws and young Indians were met, and all the prisoners were halted and made to sit on the ground. The object of this movement became appa- rent when, a few minutes later, the five prisoners were set upon by the squaws and boys, who tomahawked and scalped them all. One of these five was John McKinley, of Washington County, whose scalped head they cut off and rolled about on the ground. The Indian boys took the warm and bloody scalps and repeatedly dashed them into the faces of Craw- ford and Knight, who had also been seated on the ground a short distance away from, but in full view of, the butchery.

Of the prisoners who had set out from the old town only Crawford and Knight now remained. The march was resumed on the trail to Pipe's town, the two prisoners being now separated and made to walk a hundred yards or more apart. On their way they were met by Simon Girty on horseback and accom- panied by several Indians. Girty spoke to Crawford and also to Knight, heaping upon the latter the vilest epithets and abuse. As the party moved on they were met by many Indians, all of whom maltreated the prisoners, striking them with clubs and beating them with their fists. About the middle of the after- noon the party with their dejected captives arrived at a piece of bottom-land on the east bank of Ty-

2 The Wyandots had advanced much farther on the road towards civ- ilization 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, had consequently regarded it as a sign in their favor that they were to be taken to the home of the Wyan- dot sachem, but when they found that they had been deceived, and that their real destination was the towns of the cruel Delawares, they knew too well that mercy was not to be expected. The fact was that 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, Pomoacan, 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 sagamore, and that consent they kuew could never be obtained if their request was accompanied by a straightforward statement of their real inten- tions.

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 on the Youghiogheny. Capt. Pipe was also acquainted with Crawford.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

mochtee Creek, where a halt was made, and it became at once apparent that with this halt, the journeying of one at least of the prisoners was ended. Craw- ford and Knight were still separated, and were not again allowed to hold any conversation together. Knight was in charge of a peculiarly villanous-look- ing Indian named Tutelu, who had been made his special guard, and who was to take him on the fol- lowing day to the Shawanese towns, which had been decided on as the place where he was to be put to death.

The spot where the party halted on the banks of the Tymochtee was the place1 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 In- dians were waiting to take part in the torturing of the unfortunate prisoners.

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 him without mercy 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 circle preparatory to the last act 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 close of his speech the assembled barbarians applauded with wild de- light, whilst some of the crowd rushed in upon the prisoner and cut off both of his ears.2

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 stake is universally regarded as among the most terrible tortures that human cruelty 'can inflict. But the Delaware chiefs had prepared for the brave Crawford an agony more intense and pro- tracted 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 dread- ful 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, Crawford called out in the extrem- ity 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 derision and pleasure at the hideous spectacle. If, as tradition has it, he had once been repelled in his attempted addresses to the colonel's beautiful daughter, Sally Crawford, he was now enjoying the satisfaction of a terrible revenge on her miserable father, for the in- dignity.

Through it all, the brave man bore up with as much fortitude as is possible to weak human nature, fre- quently praying to his Heavenly Father for the mercy which was denied him on earth. Towards the last, being evidently exhausted, he 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.

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

2 This statement is made in the narrative of Dr. Kuight, who, after witnessing the dreadful scenes of Col. Crawford's murder, made his es- cape (as will be mentioned in succeeding pages) and wrote an account of the events of the expedition. That narrative and the report of Maj. Rose, the aide-de-camp, furnish the facts on which this and other reliable accounts of Crawford's campaign are based.

3 It has been stated in some accounts of the death of Col. 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 has never been fully substantiated, and there are serious doubts of its authenticity.

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THE REVOLUTION.

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 Tymoch- tee. Then the savages heaped the brands together on the charred and swollen body and burned it to a cin- der, 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 suffering Simon Girty came to where Knight was sitting and told him that he too must prepare for the same ordeal, and he need have no hope of escaping death by tor- ture, 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-fourths of 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.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 29

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216