USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > Old Westmoreland : a history of western Pennsylvania during the Revolution > Part 13
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Not far from the river the horsemen came upon a spec- tacle that aroused their fiercest indignation. Beside the trail, impaled upon the sharpened trunk of a sapling, was the naked and torn corpse of Mrs. Wallace. Nearby lay the mutilated body of her hapless infant. Imagine, if pos- sible, the grief and rage of the husband and father and the stern oaths with which his rough companions pledged them- selves to execute his cries for vengeance. On the border of the forest the bodies of the poor victims were buried and the grim-visaged frontiersmen remounted their horses and hurried their course onward along the trail of the murder-
4 The Girtys, p. 155; Crumrine, p. 103; Washington-Irvine Cor- respondence, pp. 101, 102.
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ers. In the evening of March 6 the cavalcade was within striking distance of Gnadenhuetten and scouts brought back the news to the night camp that the once deserted town was again full of Indians. There could not be much doubt in the minds of Williamson's men that the red fiends whom they were seeking were in the village before them and that vengeance should be executed in the morning.
As a matter of fact, nearly all the temporary occupants of Gnadenhuetten and the two other Moravian villages were mission Indians from the Sandusky, who had come back to their old homes to gather their corn. Some of them had left the Sandusky as early as the middle of January, and others had followed in small parties, until about 150 men, women and children were in the Tuscarawas valley by the beginning of March.5 Not all the men who made this journey were mission Delawares. At least ten of them were Wyandot warriors,6 who halted but a short time at Gnadenhuetten and then proceeded on their way to pillage the settlements east of the Ohio. All the circumstances of the time, the many tracks seen in the Raccoon valley, the narrative of John Carpenter and the subsequent discoveries in the Tuscarawas villages, show that these Wyandot war- riors were accompanied in their raiding by a considerable number of the Moravian Indian men, whose savage in- stincts were not entirely destroyed by the teachings of the missionaries. The women and the children had been left to do the corn gathering, with some of the men too old to go upon the war trail .
Colonel Williamson's cautious plan for the capture of Gnadenhuetten indicates that he believed the town to be oc- cupied by hostile warriors. He divided his force into three parties, sending one company to strike the river below the town, a second to cross the stream above and cut off retreat in that direction, while the third company, forming the cen- ter, should advance upon the place directly. The attack was made in the morning of March 7 and not a shot was
5 The Girtys, p. 154.
6 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 540.
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fired by the center or the left. The presence of women and children warned the frontiersmen, when they came within view of the village, that it was not occupied simply by a war party, and Colonel Williamson quickly learned that the Indians were Moravians. No resistance was made, there was no show of hostile action and white men and red were soon mingling freely. A few of the Indian men spoke English. With these Colonel Williamson held council and told them that they must go to Ft. Pitt instead of returning to Sandusky. The Indians appeared to be willing to ac- cept this new destination, and, at the colonel's suggestion, they sent messengers down the river to Salem, to tell the people there to come to Gnadenhuetten.
The men composing the right wing of Williamson's command had a more stirring experience. They found the Tuscarawas in flood and with so swift a current that they could not trust their horses to it. A young man of the name of Sloughter swam the stream to get what he took to be a canoe, but which turned out to be a "sugar trough," a half log hollowed out as a receptacle for maple water. He pushed it back to the eastern shore, and with the help of this trough nearly a score of the borderers crossed the riv- er. Each man stripped, placed his clothing and rifle in the trough and pushed it before him as he swam. Advancing afoot down the western shore, toward corn fields where In- dians had been seen at work, a solitary Indian was en- countered and was instantly fired at. He was wounded in the arm, and as the white men rushed upon him he called out that he was a friend and the son of Shebosh (a Moravian preacher). Charles Bilderback slew the half-breed with a tomahawk and tore off the scalp. This act was seen by an- other Indian called Jacob, who sought to slip away unseen to a canoe he had hidden by the river bank. He was espied by some of the raiders and shot dead on the shore. His body was pushed into the river and floated away with the flood.7
7 Heckewelder's Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren, pp. 320, 321; Crumrine, p. 105; Historical Collections of Ohio, vol. ii., p. 684.
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The company advanced upon the Indians in the corn field, discovered in some way that they were Moravians, made friends with them and conducted them to Gnaden- huetten. Soon afterward the party from Salem arrived, so that the whole number of Indians assembled was not less than 96. They were confined in the log church, after the Indian men had all been disarmed, even to their pocket- knives.
While the Indians were being assembled and conducted to the church, certain discoveries were made which con- firmed the first suspicions of the borderers and again excit- ed their anger and passion for revenge. One of the Indian women was found to be wearing the dress of Mrs. Wallace. The garment was identified by the bereaved husband. A search of the cabins resulted in the finding of household utensils apparently stolen from the settlements. Some of them were recognized by Robert Wallace as his own prop- erty.8 The volunteers immediately began to clamcr for the death of the prisoners. Williamson withstood their de- mand and consulted his captains. Some of them favored the execution of the whole band. It appears that a long council was held and that many of the Indian men were brought before it, one at a time, and closely examined. Not one of them acknowledged his own guilt but confessions were made that some of the prisoners had been upon the war path. In a few cases the trimming of the hair and paint upon the face indicated that the men were warriors." These revelations produced such an effect upon the frontiersmen that the colonel was no longer able to resist the outcry for vengeance. He put the question to vote whether the pris- oners should be taken to Ft. Pitt or put to death on the spot, and it is recorded that only 18 of the whole body of volunteers stood up for mercy. It was decided to slay all the Indians in the morning.
Bishop Loskiel in his History of the Mission of the United Brethren,10 says that the prisoners
8 Crumrine, p. 106.
9 The Girtys, p. 157.
10 Loskiel's History, vol. iii., pp. 177 to 182.
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were informed in the evening of their condemnation and that they spent the night in praying, singing hymns and ex- horting one another to die with the fortitude of Christians. His precise narrative of the things said and done by the cap- tives in the little church during that night of agony must be largely the product of imagination.
In the morning of Friday, March 8, the decree of con- demnation was executed. The Indian men were led, two by two, to the cooper shop and there beaten to death with mallets and hatchets. Some of them died praying ; others strode to their doom chanting the savage war song. Two broke away and ran for the river, but were shot dead, The women and children were led into another building and slain like the men. Not more than 40 of the raiders took part in these murders., There were slaughtered, on that day, two score of men, a score of women and 34 children. It is probable that even the frontiersmen who stood aside and looked on did not consider this deed a crime. It was, in their view, justifiable retaliation for the almost numberless acts of outrage and murder perpetrated in the settlements by savage marauders through a series of bloody years. It was considered no worse to slay an Indian than to shoot a wolf, and the children of the red men were but wolf cubs, whose appetites and fangs were not yet developed.
From this massacre two Indian boys escaped. One hid himself in the cellar under the house where the women and children were butchered and crept forth after nightfall. The other was scalped among the men, but revived and crawled out to the woods under cover of darkness. They found each other in the forest and carried the horrid tale to the villages on the Sandusky.
During the day the militiamen gathered the plunder from the Indian cabins and found a goodly quantity of it, including pelts, blankets and a great store of corn in bags. A large party ascended the river to take and kill the Mo- ravians in the village of Schoenbrun, but found not a soul there. Some Indians traveling from Schoenbrun toward Gnadenhuetten had come upon the scalped body of young
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Shebosh, and, spying about Gnadenhuetten, had learned what was doing there. They had returned and warned their companions in Schoenbrun, and all who were there had es- caped to the northward.
The cabins at Schoenbrun were burned, and during the ensuing night every building in Gnadenhuetten was con- sumed by fire, including the two slaughter houses with their heaped-up corpses. Salem was also destroyed and in the morning the frontiersmen departed on their march to the Ohio, with their booty loaded upon 80 horses taken from their Indian victims. At Mingo Bottom the spoil was di- vided among the raiders, who then scattered to their sev- eral settlements, big with stories of their famous victory."
After they had been at home nearly two weeks, the militiamen who belonged in the Chartiers settlement assem- bled again and marched toward Pittsburg, to kill the Dela- wares who were living on Killbuck island. The attack was made on Sunday morning, March 24. On the island was an officer with a small guard of regular soldiers. These were surprised by the Chartiers men and made prisoners, and the Indians were then assailed. Several were killed, including Nanowland, the friend of Brady, and one other who held a captain's commission. Chief Killbuck and most of his band escaped in canoes to Ft. Pitt, where Col- onel Gibson was in temporary command. Two of the war- riors fled into the woods on the northern side of the river and made their way to Sandusky. One of these was the chief Big Cat, who was afterward a bitter and effective foe of the Americans. Before the Chartiers men returned home they sent word into Ft. Pitt that they would kill and scalp Colonel Gibson at the first opportunity, simply be- cause he had been the protector of friendly Indians.12
General Irvine, who had been at Philadelphia and Car- lisle, returned to Ft. Pitt on the day following the attack on the island and immediately took measures, by confer-
11 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 101, 102; Pennsylvania Ar- ehives, vol. ix., pp. 523 to 525.
12 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 100 to 103, 108; Ft. Pitt, p. 239.
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ences with the militia officers of the neighboring counties, to put a stop to the criminal and reckless raids. A few weeks afterward he received an order from the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to investigate and report on the affair at Gnadenhuetten. He made diligent inquiry of the chief men of the frontier, including Colonel William- son and some of his captains, but was unable to uncover all the details and responsibilities of the transaction. He soon learned that the sentiment of the border sustained the acts of Williamson's men and that any formal inquiry or at- tempt at punishment would be violently resisted. He was persuaded at length to report to Philadelphia that the pre- cise facts could not be ascertained and that it would be wise to let the affair drop. That was the end of the mat- ter.13
13 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., pp. 525, 540, 541, 552; Washington- Irvine Correspondence, pp. 236-242, 245, 246. See Three Villages (Gnaden- huetten), by W. D. Howells, Boston, 1884; this publication is entertain- Ing literature but not history.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION AND DEATH.
The disgraceful exploit of David Williamson, at Gna- denhuetten, whetted the Scotch appetite for Indian blood. Although many frontiersmen approved Williamson's butch- ery of women and children, they felt, after all, that it was hardly a glorious deed, and it did not satisfy them as being a real revenge on their savage foes. A general desire was expressed for a campaign against Indians whose hostility was beyond question, and it was agreed that the blow ought to fall on the Wyandot and Delaware towns along the San- dusky river. A successful raid into that nest of vipers might obliterate the stain and obscure the recollection of Gnadenhuetten. So a general call went throughout the Washington county border, from Pittsburg to the Cheat river, for volunteers to invade again the land of the Indians and strike the savage tribes in one of their chief dwelling places.
This was not a militia movement. It did not issue from the county lieutenant or from any man in authority. It came from the leading men in the several centers of set- tlement, and met with a hearty response.1 Through hard experience the borderers had become convinced that they must be their own defenders, and that the best way to pro- tect their homes, their women and children, was to carry the war into the Indian country. They no longer relied on the garrison at Fort Pitt. They knew that garrison to
1 Pennsylvania Archives, First Serles, vol. 1x., p. 540.
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be too feeble and too miserably equipped to do any effective work. Moreover, the Scotch pioneers of Western Penn- sylvania were by nature self-reliant. They were men of spunk, quite ready to do their own fighting in their own rough way.
The promoters of the movement requested General Ir- vine to lead them, but he declined to command a purely volunteer force and could spare no soldiers from his slender garrison. He was then asked to give to the expedition his approval and some little assistance. To this he agreed, re- quiring a pledge from the border leaders that they would furnish their own equipment and provisions, would conform to militia laws and regulations and would acknowledge their conquests as made in behalf of the United States. He fur- nished some gun-flints and a small supply of powder and de- tailed for the expedition Surgeon John Knight, of the Seventh Virginia, and one of his own aides, Lieutenant John Rose, a Russian nobleman, who served the American cause with singular fidelity, energy and ability.2
While the expedition was forming Indian ravages on the frontier became more virulent. The butchery on the Tuscarawas had stirred the savages to a fiercer hostility. Small war parties invaded Washington and Westmoreland counties and killed or captured many of the settlers in the immediate neighborhood of the companies of mustering yeomanry. Thomas Edgerton was captured on Harman's creek and John Stevenson near West Liberty. Five sol- diers were ambushed in the woods near Ft. McIntosh ; two were killed and the three others were taken to Lower San- dusky, where they successfully ran the gauntlet.3 Two men were killed on the border of Washington county.4 At Walthour's blockhouse, near Brush creek, in Westmore- land, a man of the name of Willard was killed and his daughter carried away and murdered in the woods.5 On
2 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 113 to 117. The real name of John Rose was Henri Gustave Rosenthal.
3 The Girtys, p. 141; Ft. Pltt, p. 240; Historical Collections of Ohio, vol. fi., p. 531.
4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 541.
5 Pa. Magazine of History and Biography, vol. i., pp. 46 to 48.
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Sunday, May 12, Rev. John Corbly and his family, while walking to their meeting house on Muddy creek, in what is now Greene county, were attacked by savages. The preacher alone escaped without injury. The wife and three children were killed and scalped. Two daughters were scalped, but survived to endure years of suffering.6
The general muster was fixed for Monday, May 20, at Mingo Bottom, a beautiful level on the Ohio river, three miles below Steubenville. Edward Cook and James Mar- shel, the lieutenants of Westmoreland and Washington counties, had agreed that every man who joined this expe- dition, providing his own horse, gun and food, should be excused from two tours of militia duty. It was a cavalry force of Scotch farmers and their sons who trooped to the place of rendezvous during three or four days. By Friday 480 horsemen were assembled, who then proceeded to or- ganize by electing officers.
Colonel William Crawford, who was at the time a regular officer of the Virginia line, was the principal candi- date for the chief command, and, through the influence of General Irvine, was elected by five votes over David Will- iamson. The staff was chosen as follows: majors, David Williamson, Thomas Gaddis, John McClelland and John Brinton; brigade major, Daniel Leet. Major Rose served as adjutant, and the wilderness guides were Jonathan Zane, John Slover and Thomas Nicholson. Gaddis and McClel- land were from Westmoreland county. The companies from the several communities attended under their own mil- itia officers. Of some companies nearly all the members volunteered, while of others there were only ten or fifteen. In all, there were 18 companies, with the following cap- tains: Josph Bane, John Beeson, John Biggs, Charles Bilderback, William Bruce, Timothy Downing, William Fife, John Hardin, John Hoagland, Andrew Hood, William Leet, Duncan McGeehan, John Miller, James Munn, Thomas Rankin, David Reed, Craig Ritchie and Ezekiel Ross.
6 Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, p. 359.
7 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 114.
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The rolls of this expedition show that nearly all of its members were of Scotch descent. With them were a few Irishmen and an occasional German was represented on the lists.
It was on Saturday, May 25, that the expedition left the Ohio and followed the Indian trail toward the north- west. Almost from the beginning of the march the whites were watched by Indian spies, and swift runners bore the news to Sandusky and onward to Detroit. Crawford's ex- pectation of success was based on a hope that he could sur- prise the Indian towns. This hope was not realized. The borderers were ten days riding to the Sandusky river, and in that time the savages had ample opportunity to prepare for battle. Their women and children were hurried away down the river, the warriors were summoned from the scattered villages and a body of British partisans came to their aid from Detroit. This force of white men consisted of a com- pany of rangers under Lieutenant John Turney and Cana- dian volunteers commanded by Captain William Caldwell, somewhat exceeding 100 men. While Crawford was ad- vancing leisurely his enemies were moving with remark- able celerity.
On the fourth day of their march the Pennsylvanians turned aside to visit the ruins of the Moravian town at Schoenbrun. They found little plunder there, but fed their horses on the standing corn. The entire distance traveled from the Ohio to Upper Sandusky was about 160 miles. The cavalcade reached the upper Indian town, on the Sandusky river, in the evening of Monday, June 3. The place was deserted and Colonel Crawford learned that the Indians had abundant warning of his approach. In view of this fact, Crawford advised a retirement®, but a majority of the council decided to make another day's march, toward the principal Wyandot town. In the morning the command went for- ward, through the beautiful green plain on the west side of the Sandusky river, seeing no enemy until afternoon.
As they drew near to a large grove, standing like an
8 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ix., p. 557.
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island in the broad meadow, Crawford's men were saluted with a volley, and discovered the British and Indians dart- ing among the trees. The Americans charged, drove their enemies from the covert and occupied the grove. The men dismounted, formed line along the northern side of the for- est and for several hours exchanged a brisk fire with the British and Indians lying in the grass and bushes. Dark- ness closed the combat. In this first day's fight five Americans were killed and 19 wounded, while the enemy lost six killed and II wounded. One of the wounded was Captain Caldwell, the British commander.
During the night the savages howled and hooted all about the grove, and occasional shots allowed the frontiers- men little rest. When day came the Indians lay at a dis- tance and the opposing sides engaged in long-range fight- ing. A band of Shawnee warriors, 140 in number, joined the foe in the afternoon. Their arrival was observed by the Americans, who were convinced that they were greatly outnumbered. As a matter of fact, however, the two forces were about equal. Toward evening the savages made a vigorous attack, but were repulsed. Crawford held another council of war and decided to retreat during the night. Watch fires were built along the edge of the grove, pickets were stationed in the shadows near them to discharge an occasional shot toward the enemy, and then, late in the night, the main body of Crawford's force began its silent re- treat toward the Ohio.
Soon after the beginning of this night march one of the strange panics common in Indian warfare, seized upon the Scotch volunteers. On many occasions during the border wars bodies of ordinarily brave and well armed white men were affected by an unreasonable fear, especially dur- ing the night time, in the presence of savage foes, and fled away through the forest as if pursued by demons. This almost supernatural dread often turned victory into defeat. There is no other explanation for the unexpected retreats that followed many a good fight.
The silent retreat became a noisy one. Men called to
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one another. Some fired their guns into the darkness. Others left the ranks and ran away, like insane men, across the pathless prairie. Then the savages came upon them in the night and began to slay and scalp the straggling fugi- tives. Many of the whites were without horses. Some of the animals had been shot ; others had been lost. The re- treat led into swamps where horses stuck fast and were de- serted. A few of the men, weary of long fighting, had fal- len asleep in the grove and were left behind. They awoke to find themselves deserted, and in little bands they set out, with no idea of direction, to escape from the savage terror. They heard the firing of guns to the southward and that sound they avoided. Some of them were overtaken and killed ; others made their way to their homes after remark- able escapes and excessive hardships. The Indians ranged widely over the level country and glutted themselves with blood.
Among the members of the expedition were three of Colonel Crawford's kinsmen, John Crawford, his only son , William Crawford, a nephew, and William Harrison, a son- in-law. Not one of these could Colonel Crawford find. He stood by the trail, as the long line passed, and called for his son. No answer came and the colonel fell to the rear. He became lost, but met with Dr. Knight and nine other men. They wandered for two days and were then captured by a band of Delawares.
Colonel Williamson and Lieutenant Rose kept the main body of the Americans together. When day returned the panic subsided and order was restored. On the Olentangy, in the southern part of what is now Crawford county, the Delawares and Shawnees viciously assailed the rear guard, but the men stood firm and the savages were driven off with loss. After that the Indians did not molest the main force, but scattered in search of the many strag- glers. Colonel Williamson reached the Ohio, at Mingo Bottom, on June 12, with about 300 men, and he safely brought home 20 of the wounded. During the succeeding two weeks other members of the expedition reached the set-
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tlements, singly or in bands of three and four. Ultimately the number of the missing was very small. Indeed, the killed did not exceed fifty during the whole campaign, and it is safe to say that at least half of these were slain by the In- dians after they were made prisoners. In revenge for the deed at Gnadenhuetten, all of the prisoners were doomed to die. They were divided among the several villages and put to death with every device of savage ingenuity. So far as known, only two of the captives escaped from their tormentors. These were Dr. Knight, the Virginia sur- geon, and John Slover, one of the guides.
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