USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 1st ed > Part 9
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* Mr. William Carlile, now ninety-five years of age, and who resides near the battle ground, informed the author that he removed and settled on Capon soon after the battle was fought. Healso stated that he had frequently heard it asserted that Morgan was in this battle, and acted with great bravery, &c. Mr. Charles Carlile, son of this venerable man, stated the fact of the gun and part of a bomb shell being found.
t Moses Russell, Esq. is under the impression that these people were killed in the summer or fall of the year 1756. The author finds it impossible to fix the dates of the various acts of war committed by the savages. After the most diligent inquiry, he has not been able to and any person who committed to writing any thing upon the subject at the time the several occurrences took place.
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or 1757, and it is probable by the same party who killed Havely and others.
In the year 1758, a party of about 50 Indians and 4 Frenchmen penetrated into the neighborhood of Mill creek, now in the county of Shenandoah, about nine miles south of Woodstock. This was a pretty thickly settled neighborhood ; and among other houses, George Painter had erected a large log one, with a good sized cellar. On the alarm being given, the neighboring people took refuge in this house. Late in the afternoon they were attacked. Mr. Painter, attempting to fly, had three balls shot through his body, and fell dead, when the others surrendered. The Indians dragged the dead body back to the house, threw it in, plundered the house of what they chose, and then set fire to it. While the house was in flames, consuming the body of Mr. Pain- ter, they forced from the arms of their mothers four in- fant children, hung them up in trees, shot them in sa- vage sport. and left them hanging. They then set fire to a stable in which were enclosed a parcel of sheep and calves, thus cruelly and wantonly torturing to death the inoffen sive dumb animals. After these atrocities they moved off with 48 prisoners ; among whom were Mrs. Painter, five of her daughters, and one of her sons; a Mrs. Smith and several of her children ; a Mr. Fisher and several of his children. among them a lad of 12 or 13 years old, a fine well grown boy, and remarkably fleshy. This little fellow. it will presently be seen, was destined to be the victim of savage cruelty.
Two of Painter's sons, and a young man by the name of Jacob Myers, escaped being captured byconcealment. One of the Painters, with Myers, ran over that night to Powell's fort, a distance of at least 15 iniles, and to Kel- It's fort, in quest of aid. They had neither bat nor s 1064, nor any other clothing than a shirt and trowsers each. A small party of men set out early the next morn- ing, well mounted and armed, to avenge the outrage. They reached Mr. Painter's early in the day ; but on learning their strength, (from the other young Painter,
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who had remained concealed all that evening and night, and by that means was enabled to count the number of the enemy,) they declined pursuit, being too weak in numbers to venture further. Thus this savage band got off with their prisoners and booty, without pursuit or interruption.
After six days' travel they reached their villages west of the Allegany mountains, where they held a council, and determined to sacrifice their helpless prisoner Jacob Fisher. "They first ordered him to collect a quantity of dry wood. 'The poor little fellow shuddered, burst into tears. and told his father they intended to burn him. His father replied, " I hope not ;" and advised him to obev. When he had collected a sufficient quantity of wood to answer their purpose, they cleared and smooth- ed a ring around a sapling, to which they tied him by one hand, then formed a trail of wood around the tree, and set it on fire. The poor boy was then compelled to run round in this ring of fire until his rope wound him up to the sapling, and then back until he came in con- tact with the flame, whilst his infernal tormentors were drinking, singing. and dancing around him, with " hor- rid joy." This was continued for several hours ; du- ring which time the savage men became beastly drunk, and as they fell prostrate to the ground, the squaws would keep up the fire. With long sharp poles, prepa- red for the purpose, they would pierce the body of their victim whenever he flagged, until the poor and helpless boy fell and expired with the most excruciating tor- ments, whilst his father and brothers were compelled to · be witnesses of the heart-rending tragedy.
After an absence of about three years, Mrs. Painter, with her son and two of her daughters; Mrs. Smith, who had the honor, if it could be so deemed, of present- ing her husband with an Indian son, + by a distinguish-
" Smith received his wife, and never maltreated her on this account ; but he had a most bitter aversion to the young chief. "The hoy grew up to man- hood, and exhibited the appearance and disposition of his sire. Attempts were made to educate him, but without success. He enlisted into the army of the revolution as a common soldier, and wever returned.
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ed war chief ; Fisher and his remaining sons ; and sev- eral other prisoners, returned home. Three of Mrs. Painter's daughters remained with the Indians. Mary, the youngest, was about nine years old when taken, and was eighteen years a prisoner: two of the daugh- ters never returned. A man by the name of Michael Copple, who had himself been a prisoner about two years with the Indians, had learned their language, be- come an Indian trader, and traveled much among them, at length found Mary Painter with a wandering party of Cherokees. In conversing with her, he discovered who she was --- that he was acquainted with her family connections, and proposed to her to accompany him home, to which she refused her assent. He then said that her brothers had removed to Point Pleasant, and were desirous of seeing her; upon which she consented to accompany him that far to see her brothers ; but find- ing, on arriving at the Point, that he had deceived her, she manifested much dissatisfaction, and attempted to go back to the Indians. Copple, however, after much entreaty, and promising to make her his wife, prevailed upon her to return home. He performed his promise of marriage, lived several years on Painter's land, and rai- sed a family of children. Mary had lost her mother tung, learned a little English afterwards, but always conversed with her husband in the Indian language." They finally removed to the west.
The garrison at Fort Cumberland was frequently an- noyed by the Indians. There are two high knobs of the mountain, one on the Virginia side of the Cohoogoru- ton on the south, the other on the Maryland side on the north east, within a short distance of the fort. The In- dians frequently took possession of these hights, and fired into the fort. Although they seldom did any in-
* The author deems a particular history of this woman necessary, beenuse it is one among many instances of young white children, when taken prison- ers, becoming attached to a savage life. and leaving it with great reluctance. Bir. George Painter, an aged aud respectable citizen of Shenandoah county, who resides on the spot where this bloody tragedy wasanted, and is a grand- enn of the main whe was murdered and burnt, detailed these particulare to the author:
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- jury in this way, yet it was disagreeable and attended with some danger. On a particular occasion a large party of Indians bad taken possession of the knob on the Maryland side, and fired into the fort. A captain (the author regrets he was not able to learn his name) and seventy-five brave fellows, on a very dark night, volunteered to dislodge the enemy. They sallied out from the fort. surrounded the knob, and cautiously as- cending until they were within reach of the foe, waited for daybreak to make the attack. Light appearing, they opened a tremendous fire, which threw the Indians into utter confusion, rendering them powerless for de- fense, while the whites continued from all sides to pour in volley after volley, spreading death and carnage. But few of the Indians escaped. The knob is called " Bloody Hill" to this day. 'This tradition the author received from several individuals in Cumberland : in- deed, the story appears to be familiar to every aged indi- vidual in the neighborhood.
Shortly after this occurrence, Kill-buck attempted to take Fort Cumberland by stratagem. He approached it at the head of a large force of warriors; and under the guise of friendship, pretending to wish an amicable in- tercourse with the garrison, proposed to Maj. Livingston to admit himself and warriors. Some hints having been given to the commander to be upon his guard. Li- vingston seemingly consented to the proposal ; but no sooner had Kill-buck and his chief officers entered, than the gates were closed upon them. The wily chief being thus entrapped, was roundly charged with his intended treachery, of which the circumstances were too self-evi- dent to be denied. Livingston, however. inflicted no other punishment upon his captives than a mark of hu- miliating disgrace, which to an Indian warrior was more mortifying than death. "This stigma was, it is supposed, dressing them in petticoats, and driving them out of the fort .*
* The venerable John Tomlinson releJ this affair to the author. Jfr. T. does not recollect the particular mark of disgrace inflicted on there Indians. The Rur. Mr. Jamais, of Homopulire, suggested this as the most probable.
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It has already been stated, that, previous to the break- ing out of the war, Kill-buck lived a good part of his time among the white settlers in the neighborhood of Fort Pleasant. An Irish servant, belonging to Peter Casey, absconded, and Casey offered a pistole* reward for his recovery. Kill-buck apprehended the servant, and delivered him to his master ; but from some cause or other, Casey refused to pay the reward. A quarrel ensued, and Casey knocked Kill-buck down with his cane. When the war broke out, Kill-buck sought every opportunity to kill Casey, but never could succeed. Many years afterwards, Casey's son obtained a lieuten- ancy, and was ordered to Wheeling, where Kill-buck then being, young Casey requested some of his friends to introduce him to him. When Kill-buck heard his name, he paused for a moment, and repeating, " Casey ! Casey!" inquired of the young man whether he knew Peter Casey. The lieutenant replied, " Yes, he is my father." Kill-buck immediately exclaimed, "Bad man, bad man, he once knocked me down with his cane." On the young man's proposing to make up the breach, the old chief replied, "Will you pay me the pistole ?" Young Casey refused to do this, but proposed to treat with a quart of rum, to which the old warrior assented, saying, "Peter Casey old man-Kill-buck old man :"" and then stated that he had frequently watched for an opportunity to kill him, " but he was too lazy-would not come out of the fort: Kill-buck now friends with him, and bury the tomahawk."t This Indian chief, it is said, was living about fourteen years ago, but had be- come blind from his great age, being little under, and probably over, a hundred years.
* The pistole is a piece of gold, equal to three dollars and seventy-five cents in value.
! This anecdote ie related, somewhat differentls, by Dr. Turley, page 100 of this work.
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CHAPTER VIII.
Indian incursions and massacres .... Continued.
In a preceding chapter the erection of several stone dwelling-houses is noticed. These houses generally had small stockade forts about them ; and whenever an alarm took place, the neighboring people took shelter in them, as places of security against their savage foe .*
The men never went out of the forts without their guns. The enemy were frequently lurking about them, and at every opportunity would kill some of the people. At the residence of Maj. Robert D. Glass, on Opequon, 5 miles south west of Winchester, part of his dwelling- house was erected in the time of the Indian war : the port holes were plainly to be seen before the body was covered with weather-boarding. The people were close- ly "forted" for about three years. After the termination of hostilities between England and France, the incur- sions of the Indians were less frequent, and never in large parties; but they were continued at intervals un- til the year 1766 or 1767.
About the year 1758, a man by the name of John Stone, near what is called the White House, in the Hawksbill settlement, was killed by Indians. Stone's wife, with her infant child and a son about 7 or 8 years old, and George Grandstaff. a youth of 16 years old, were taken off as prisoners. On the South Branch mountain, the Indians murdered Mrs. Stone and her infant, and took the boy and Grandstaff to their towns. Grandstaff was about three years a prisoner. and then got home. "The little boy, Stone, grew up with the In- dians, came home, and after obtaining possession of his father's property, sold it, got the money, returned to
* The late Mrs. Rebecca Brinker, one of the daughters of George Bow- man, on Cedar creek, informed the author that she recollected when sixteen familiea tool: shelter in her father's house.
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the Indians, and was never heard of by his friends af- terwards.
The same Indians killed Jacob Holtiman's wife and her children, Hotiman escaping. They plundered old Brewbecker's house, piled up the chairs and spinning wheels, and set them on fire. A young woman who lived with Brewbecker had concealed herself in the gar- ret ; and after the Indians left the house, extinguished the fire, and saved the house from burning. Brew- becker's wife got information that the Indians were coming, and ran off with her children to where several men were at work, who conveyed her across the river to a neighboring house. Mr. John Brewbecker now re- sides on the farm where this occurrence took place .*
The following singular tradition, as connected with this occurrence, has been related to the author :
About dusk on the evening previous, Mrs. Brewbeck- er told her husband and family that the Indians would attack them next morning, saying that she could see a party of them on the side of Masinutton mountain. in the act of cooking their supper. She also declared that she saw their fire. and could count the number of In- dians. She pointed to the spot; but no other part of the family saw it; and it was therefore thought that she must be mistaken. Persisting in her declarations. she begged her husband to remove her and her children to a place of safety ; but she was laughed at, told that it was mere superstition, and that she was in no danger. It was however afterwards ascertained that the savages had encamped that night at the place on the mountain pointed out by Mrs. B. It was about two miles off.+
Thess outrages of the Indians drove many of the white settlers below the Blue ridge.
Probably the same year, several Indians attacked the house of a man named Bingaman, near the present site
* Mr. Brev becker resiles on the west side of the South fork of the She- nandonh river, on Masinetion creek. in the new county of Page, and bas erected a large and elegant brick house on the spot where the ladians plug- dered his father's dwelling.
* This tradition was given the author by Mr. Andrew Keyzer, jr, who mar-
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of Newmarket. Bingaman, who was remarkably stout and active, defended his family with great resolution and firmness, and laid two of the assailants dead at his feet : they succeeded, however, in killing his wife and children, Bingaman escaping with several wounds, from which he finally recovered. The same party took Lewis Bingaman (a nephew of the one just spoken of,) a pri- soner. He was a boy about 13 or 14 years old, grew up with the Indians, and became a man of distinction among them.
About the same time the Indians forcibly entered the house of Mr. Young, who resided on the farm now owned by William Smith, Esq. not more than a mile from Zane's old iron works, and killed several of his family. They took an infant, dashed its head against a rock, beat out its brains, and left it lying on the ground. Two of Young's daughters, pretty well grown, were carried off prisoners. Lieutenant Samuel Fry raised a force of between 30 and 40 men, pursued, and came in sight of them, unobserved, at the Short mountain, near the Allegany. " Fry's party prepared to fire ; but unfortunately one of the white girls stepping acciden- tally before their guns, the intention was frustrated, and Fry being discovered the next moment, he ordered his men to charge. This was no sooner done than the In- dians broke and ran off, leaving their guns, prisoners and plunder : the two young females were thus rescued and brought safely home.
Another family in the same neighborhood, by the name of Day, were attacked, several killed, and two of the daughters taken off. A party of 18 or 20 whites pursued them. The girls, as they traveled through the mountains, expecting pursuit, took the precaution (un- observed by their captors) to tear off and frequently drop small scraps of white linen, as well as.plnek. off branches of bushes, and drop them as a trail, by which means their friends could readily discover their route. A brother to the girls, a young man, was one of the pursuing par- ty. The Indians were overtaken on the South Branch
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mountain ; and as soon as seen, preparations were made to give them a deadly fire. But the young Day, in his eagerness to avenge the death of his father and family, prematurely fired, killing the object of his aim, when the others precipitately fled, leaving every thing behind them. They had cut off the girls' petticoats at the knees, in order that they should be able to make more speed in traveling. The girls were brought safe home.
There were several instances of the Indians commit- ting. murders on the whites about the Potomac and South Branch several years before Braddock's defeat. About the year 1752, a man by the name of James Da- vis was killed, pretty high up the Potomac ; and in the succeeding year, William Zane and several of his fa- mily were taken prisoners on the South Branch, in the now county of Hardy. Isaac Zane, one of his sons, remained during his life with the Indians. The author saw this man at Chilicothe in the autumn of 1797, and had some conversation with him upon the subject of his captivity. He stated that he was captured when about nine years old; was four years without seeing a white person ; had learned the Indian tung quite well, but never lost a knowledge of English, having learned to spell in two syllables, which he could still do, although pretty well advanced in years. He also said that a tra- der came to the Indian village four years after his capti- vity, and spoke to him in English, of which he under- stood every word ; that when he grew up to manhood, he married a sister of the Wyandot king, and raised a family of seven or eight children. His sons were all In- dians in their habits and dispositions ; his daughters, four of them, all married white men, became civilized, and were remarkably fine women, considering the op- portunities they had had for improvement.
This man possessed great influence with the tribes he was acquainted with ; and as he retained a regard for his native countrymen, was several times instrumen- tal in bringing about treaties of peace. The government of the United States granted him a patent for ten thou-
çakı
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sand acres of land, which he claimed as his private pro- perty ; and when the author saw him he was on his way to Philadelphia to apply for a confirmation of his title. He was a near relation to the late Gen. Isaac Zane, of Frederick county, Virginia.
About the same time that Mr. Zane's family were ta- ken prisoners, as just related, an Indian killed a white man near Oldtown, in Maryland, but was, in return, killed by the late Capt. Michael Cresap, then a boy, with a pistol, while he was in the act of scalping the white man .*
About the year 1758 there were two white men who disguised themselves in the habit of Indians, and ap- peared in the neighborhood of the present site of Mar- tinsburg. "They were pursued and killed, supposing them to be Indians.t It was no uncommon thing for unprincipled scoundrels to act in this manner. Their object was to frighten people to leave their homes, in order that they might rob and plunder them of their most valuable articles.# The Indians were frequently charged with outrages they never committed.
A man by the name of Edes, with his family, resi- ded in a cave for several years, about three miles above the mouth of Capon. This cave is in a large rock, and when other people would take shelter at a fort in the neighborhood, Edes would remain in his cave. At length the Indians found them, by trailing the children when driving up their cows, and took Edes and his fa- mily prisoners. §
A Mr. Smith, a bachelor, resided on the west side of Capon river, in a small cabin. Three Indians one morn - ing entered his house, split up his wooden bowls and trenchers (plates made of wood), destroyed his house- hold goods generally, and took him off as a prisoner. They crossed the Cohongoruten, and halted at a place called Grass lick, on the Maryland side, with the inten- tion of stealing horses. Two of them went into a mes-
* Jacoha's Life of Cieran. - + Related by Cap ?. James Glean.
+ Rokuted by Lewis Neill.
$ Capt. Glenn.
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dow for this purpose, while the third remained to guard Smith. The two men soon haltered a young unbroken horse, delivered him to the guard, and went in pursuit of more. The fellow who held the horse, discovering the animal was easily frightened, several times scared him for his amusement, till at length he became so much alarmed that he made a sudden wheel, and ran off with the Indian hanging to the halter, dragging. him a considerable distance. Smith took this opportu- nity to escape, and succeeded in getting off. The next morning a party of white men collected with the inten- tion of giving pursuit. They went to Smith's cabin, and found him mending his bowls and trenchers by sewing them up with wax-ends .*
At Hedges's fort, on the present road from Martins- burg to Bath, west of Back creek, a man was killed while watching the spring.t
On Lost river there were two forts, one on the land now the residence of Jeremiah Inskeep, Esq. called Riddle's fort, where a man named Chesmer was killed; the other called Warden's fort, t where William Warden and a Mr. Taff were killed, and the fort burnt down.
Just before the massacre on Looney's creek, (related on the succeeding page,) seven Indians surrounded the cabin of Samuel Bingaman, not far distant from the present village of Petersburg, in the county of Hardy. It was just before daybreak, that being the time when the Indians generally made their surprises. Mr. B.'s family consisted of himself and wife, his father and mo- ther, and a hired man. The first four were asleep in the room below, and the hired man in the loft above. A shot was fired into the cabin, the ball passing through the fleshy part of the younger Mrs. Bingaman's left breast. The family sprung to their feet, Bingaman seizing his rifle, and the Indians at the same moment rushing in at the door. Bingaman told his wife and fa- .
* Related by Capt. Glenn. The same.
Warden's fort was at the present residence of Mr. Benjamin Werden, a grandann of the mac that was killed, about 36 miles south west of Winchester.
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ther and mother to get out of the way, under the bed, and called to the man in the loft to come down, who, however, never moved. It was still dark, and the In- dians were prevented from firing, by a fear of injuring one of their number. Bingaman, unrestrained by any fears of this kind, laid about him with desperation. At the first blow, his rifle broke at the britch, shivering the stock to pieces ; but with the barrel he continued his blows until he cleared the room. Daylight now ap- pearing, he discovered that he had killed five, and that the remaining two were retreating across the field. He stepped out, and seizing a rifle which had been left by the party, fired at one of the fugitives, wounded, and to- mahawked him. Tradition relates that the other fled to the Indian camp, and told his comrades that they had had a fight with a man who was a devi !- that he had killed six of them, and if they went again, would kill them all. When Bingaman, after the battle, discovered that his wife was wounded, he became frantic with rage at the cowardice of the hired man, and would have dis- " patched him but for the entreatios of Mrs. B. to spare --- his life. She recovered from her wound in a short time."
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