USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 3rd ed > Part 13
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Our loss in this destructive battle was seventy-five killed, and one hundred and forty wounded. Among the killed were Col. Chas. Lewis, Col. Fields, Captains Buford, Murray, Ward, Wilson and McClenachan ; Lieutenants Allen, Goldsby and Dillion, and several subaltern officers.
Col. Lewis, a distinguished and meritorious officer, was mortal- ly wounded by the first fire of the Indians, but walked into the camp and expired into his own tent.
The number of Indians engaged in the battle of the Point was never ascertained, nor yet the amount of their loss. On the morn- ing after the engagement, twenty-one were found on the battle-ground, and twelve more were afterwards found in the different places where they had been concealed. A great number of their dead were said to have been thrown into the River during the engagement. Con- sidering that the whole number of our men engaged in the conflict were riflemen, and from habit sharp shooters of the first order, it is presumable that the loss on the side of the Indians was at least equal to ours.
The Indians during the battle were commanded by the Corn- stalk warrior, the King of the Shawnees. This son of the forest, in his plans of attack and retreat, and all the manœuvers throughout the engagement, displayed the skill and bravery of the consummate general. During the whole of the day, he was heard from our lines, vociferating, with the voice of a Stentor, "Be strong ! be strong !" It is even said that he killed one of his men with his own hand for cowardice.
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The day following the battle, after burying the dead, entrench- ments were thrown up around the camp, and a competent guard were appointed for the care and protection of the sick and wounded. On the succeeding day Gen. Lewis commenced his march for the Shaw- nee towns on the Scioto. This inarch was made through a track- less desert, and attended with almost insuperable difficulties and privations.
In the meantime the Earl of Dunmore, having collected a force and provided boats at Fort Pitt, descended the River to Wheeling, where the army halted for a few days, and then proceeded down the River in about one hundred canoes, a few keel boats and perouges, to the mouth of the Hockhocking, and from thence overland until the army had got within eight miles of the Shawnee town Chilli- cothe on the Scioto River. Here the army halted, and made a breastwork of fallen trees and entrenchments of such extent as to include about twelve acres of ground, with an enclosure in the cen- ter containing about one acre, surrounded by entrenchmets. This was the citidal which contained the markees of the Earl and his su- perior officers.
Before the army had reached that place, the Indian chiefs had sent several messengers to the Earl asking peace. With this re- quest he soon determined to comply, and therefore sent an express to Gen. Lewis with an order for his immediate retreat. This order Gen. Lewis disregarded, and continued his march until his lordship in person visited his camp, was formally introduced to his officers, and gave the order in person. The army of Gen. Lewis then com- inenced their retreat.
It was with the greatest reluctance and chagrin that the troops of Gen. Lewis returned from the enterprise in which they were en- gaged. The massacres of their relatives and friends at the Big Levels and Muddy Creek, and above all their recent loss at the bat- tle of the Point, had inspired these " Big-knives," as the Indians called the Virginians, with an inveterate thirst for revenge, the gratification of which they supposed was shortly to take place, in the total destruction of the Indians and their towns along the Scioto and Sandusky Rivers. The order of Dunmore was obeyed, but with every expression of regret and disappointment.
The Earl with his officers having returned to the camp, a treaty with the Indians were opened the following day.
In this treaty, every precaution was used on the part of our peo- ple to prevent the Indians from ending a treaty in the tragedy of a massacre. Only eighteen Indians, with their chiefs, were permitted to pass the outer gate of their fortified encampment, after having de- posited their arins with the guard at the gate.
The treaty was opened by Cornstalk, the war chief of the Shaw- nees, in a lengthy speech, in which he boldly charged the white peo- ple with having been the authors of the commencement of the war, in the massacres of the Indians at Captina and Yellow Creek. This
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DODDRIDGE'S ACCOUNT OF DUNMORE'S WAR.
speech he delivered in so loud a tone of voice, that he was heard all over the camp. The terms of the treaty were soon settled and the prisoners delivered up.
Logan, the Cayuga chief, assented to the treaty ; but still in- dignant at the murder of his family, he refused to attend with the other chiefs at the camp of Dunmore. According to the Indian mode in such cases, he sent his speech in a belt of wampum by an inter- preter, to be read at the treaty.
Supposing that this work may fall in the hands of some readers who have not seen the speech of Logan, the author thinks it not amiss to insert the celebrated morsel of Indian eloquence in this place, with the observation that the authenticity of the speech is no longer a subject of doubt. The speech is as follows :
"I appeal to any white man to say, if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not ineat ; if he ever came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, 'Lcgan is the friend of the white man,' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Col. Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it ; I have killed many ? I have glutted my vengeance ; for my coun- try I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one."
Thus ended the treaty of Camp Charlotte, in the month of No- vember, 1774, the disastrous war of Dunmore. It began in the wanton and unprovoked murders of the Indians at Captina and Vellow Creek, and ended in an awful sacrifice of life and property to the demon of revenge. On our part we obtained at the treaty a cessation of hostilities and a surrender of prisoners, and nothing more.
The plan of operations adopted by the Indians in the war of Dunmore, shows very clearly that their chiefs were by no means de- ficient in the foresight and skill necessary for making the mnost pru- dent military arrangements for obtaining success and victory in the mode of warfare. At an early period they obtained intelligence of the plan of the campaign against them, concerted between the Earl of Dunmore and Gen. Lewis. With a view, therefore, to at- tack the forces of these commanders separately, they speedily col- lected their warriors, and by forced marches reached the Point before the expected arrival of the troops under Dunmore. Such was the privacy with which they conducted their march to Point Pleasant, that Gen. Lewis knew nothing of the approach of the Indian army
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JACOB'S ACCOUNT OF DUNMORE'S WAR.
until a few minutes before the commencement of the battle, and it is very probable, that if Constalk, the Indian commander, had had a little larger force at the battle of the Point, the whole army of Gen. Lewis would have been cut off, as the wary savage had left them no chance to retreat. Had the army of Lewis been defeated, the army of Dunmore, consisting of a little more than one thousand men, would have shared the fate of those armies which at different periods have suffered defeats in consequence of venturing too far into the Indian country, in numbers too small, and with munitions of war inade- quate to sustain a contest with the united forces of a number of In- dian nations.
It was the general belief among the officers of our army, at the time, that the Earl of Dunmore, while at Wheeling, received advice from his government of the probability of the approaching war be- tween England and the colonies, and that afterwards, all his meas- ures, with regard to the Indians, had for their ultimate object an alliance with those ferocious warriors for the aid of the mother coun- try in their contest with us. This supposition accounts for his not forming a junction with the army of Lewis at Point Pleasant. This deviation from the origin plan of the campaign jeopardized the army of Lewis and well nigh occasioned its total destruction. The con- duct of the Earl at the treaty, shows a good understanding between him the and Indian chiefs. He did not suffer the army of Lewis to form a junction with his own, but sent them back before the treaty was concluded, thus risking the safety of his own forces; for at the time of the treaty, the Indian warriors were about his camp in force sufficient to have intercepted his retreat and destroyed his whole army.
REV. MR. JACOB'S ACCOUNT OF DUNMORE'S WAR.
At this period, to-wit : in the commencement of the year 1774, there existed between our people and the Indians, a kind of doubt- ful, precarious and suspicious peace. In the year 1773, they killed a certain John Martin and Guy Meeks, (Indian traders), on the Hockhocking River, and robbed them of about {200 worth of goods.
They were much irritated with our people, who were about this time beginning to settle Kentucky, and with them they waged an unceasing and destructive predatory war ; and whoever saw an In- dian in Kentucky, saw an enemy ; no questions were asked on either side but from the muzzles of their rifles. Many other circumstances at this period combined to show that our peace with the Indians rested upon such dubious and uncertain ground, that it must soon be dispersed with a whirlwind of carnage and war. And as I con- sider this an all-important point in the thread of our history, and an interesting link in the causes combining to produce Dunmore's war, I will present the reader with another fact directly in point. It is
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extracted from the journal of a 'Squire McConnel, in my possession. The writer says, that about the 3d of March, 1774, while himself and six other men, who were in company with him, were asleep in their camp in the night, they were awakened by the fierce barking of their dogs, and thought they saw something like men creeping towards them. Alarmed at this, they sprang up, seized their rifles, and flew to trees. By this time one Indian had reached their fire ; but hearing them cock their guns, he drew back, stumbled and fell. The whole party now came up, and appearing friendly, he ordered his men not to fire, and shook hands with his new guests. They tarried all night, and appearing so friendly, prevailed with him and one of his men to go with them to their town, at no great distance from their camp ; but when they arrived he was taken with his company- ion to their council, or war house ; a war dance performed around them, the war club shook at or over them, and they were detained close prisoners, and narrowly guarded for two or three days. A council was then held over them, and it was decreed that they should be threatened severely and discharged, provided they would give their women some flour and salt. Being dismissed, they set out on their journey to the camp, but met on their way about twenty- five warriors and some boys. A second council was held over them, and it was decreed that they should not be killed, but robbed, which was accordingly done; and all their flour, salt, powder and lead, and all their rifles that were good, were taken from them ; and being further threatened, the Indians left them as already noticed. This party consisted of seven men, viz: 'Squire McConnel, Andrew Mc- Connel, Lawrence Darnel, William Ganet, Matthew Riddle, John Laferty and Thos. Canady.
We have also in reserve some more material facts, that go to show the aspect of affairs at this period and that may be considered as evident precursors to an impending war. And it is certainly not a trifling item in the catalogue of these events, that early in the spring of 1774, whether preceeding or subsequent to Connoly's fam- ous circular letter, I am not prepared to say, having no positive data ; but was, however, about the time that the Indians killed two men in a canoe belonging to a Mr. Butler, of Pittsburg, and robbed the canoe of the property therein. This was the Ist of May, 1774, and took place near the mouth of Little Beaver, a small creek that empties into the Ohio River, between Pittsburg and Wheeling ; and this fact is so certain and well established, that Benjamin Tomlin- son, Esq., is now living (1826) and who assisted in burying the dead, can and will bear testimony to its truth. And it is presumed it was this circumstance which produced that prompt and terrible vengeance taken on the Indians at Yellow Creek immediately after- ward, to-wit : on the 3rd day of May, which gave rise to, and furn- ished matter for, the pretended lying speech of Logan, which I shall hereafter prove a counterfeit, and if it was genuine, yet a genuine fabrication of lies.
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Thus we find from an examination into the state of affairs in the west, that there was a predisposition to war, at least on the part of the Indians. But we may not suspect that other latest causes, working behind the scenes and in the dark, were silently marching to the same result ?
Be it remembered, then, that this Indian war was but a portico to our revolutionary war, the fuel for which was then preparing, and which burst into a flame the ensuing year.
Neither let us forget that the Earl of Dunmore was at this time governor of Virginia ; and that he was acquainted with the views and designs of the British Cabinet, can scarcely be doubted. What then, suppose ye, would be the conduct of a man possessing his means, filling a high, official station, attached to the British gov- ernment, and master of consumate diplomatic skill ?
Dunmore's penetrating eye could not but see, and he no doubt did see, two all-important objects, that, if accomplished, would go to subserve and promote the grand object of the British Cabinet, viz : the establishment of an unbounded and unrestrained authority over our North American continent.
These two objects were, first, setting the new settlers on the west side of the Alleghany Mountain by the ears ; and secondly, embroil- ing the western people in a war with the Indians. These two objects accomplished, would put it in his power to direct the storm to any and every point conducive to the grand object he liad in view. But as in the nature of the thing he could not, and policy forbidding that he should, always appear personally in promoting and effecting these objects, it was necessary he should obtain a confidential agent at- tached to his person and to the British government, and one that would promote his views either publicly or covertly, as circumstances required.
The materials for his first object were abundant, and already prepared. The emigrants to the western country were almost all from the three states of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The line between the two states of Virginia and Pennsylvania was un- settled, and both these states claimed the whole of the western coun- try. This motly mixture of men from different states did not harmonize. The Virginians and Marylanders disliked the Pennsyl- vania laws, nor did the Pennsylanians relish those of Virginia. Thus many disputes, much warm blood, broils, and sometimes battles, cattled fisticuffs, followed,
The Earl of Dunmore, with becoming zeal for the honor of the " ancient dominion," seized upon this stage or things so propitious to his views ; and having found Dr. John Connoly, a Pennsylvanian, with whom I think he could not have had much previous acquaint- ance, by the art of hocuspocus or some other art, converted him into a staunch Virginian, and appointed him vice-governor and com- mandant of Pittsburg and its dependencies, that is to say of all the western country. Affairs on that side of the mountain began to
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wear a serious aspect ; attempts were made by both States to enforce their laws ; and the strong arm of power and coercion was let loose by Virginians. Some magistrates acting under the authority of Pennsylvania were arrested, sent to Virginia and imprisoned.
But that the reader may be well assured that the hand of Dun- more was in all this, I present him with a copy of his proclamation. It is, however, deficient as to date :
WHEREAS, I have reason to apprehend that the Governor of Pennsylvania, in prosecution of their claims to Pittsburg and its de- pendencies, will endeavor to obstruct his majesty's government thereof, under my administration, by illegal and unwarrantable com- mitment of the officers I have appointed for the purpose, and that settlement is in some danger of annoyance from the Indians also ; and it being necessary to support the dignity of his majesty's gov- ernment and protect his subjects in the quiet and peaceable enjoy- ment of their rights ; I have therefore thought proper, by and with the consent and advice of his majesty's council, by this proclama- tion in his majesty's name, to order and require the officers of the militia in that district to embody a sufficient number of men to repel any insult whatsoever ; and all his majesty's liege subject with- in this colony are hereby strictly required to be aiding and assisting therein, or they shall answer the contrary at their peril ; and I fur- ther enjoin and require the several inhabitants of the territories aforesaid to pay his majesty's quitrents and public dues to such offi- cers as are or shall be appointed to collect the same within this dominion, until his majesty's pleasure therein shall be known."
It is much to be regretted that my copy of this proclamation is without date. There can, however, be no doubt it was issued in 1774 or early in 1775, and I am inclined to think it was issued in 1774 ; but it would be satisfactory to know precisely the day, be- cause chronology is the soul of history.
But this state of things in the west, it seems from subsequent events, was not the mere effervescence of a transcient and momen- tary excitement, but continued a long season. The seeds of discord had fallen unhappily on ground too naturally productive, and were also too well cultivated by the Earl of Dunmore, Connoly, and the Pennsylvania officers, to evaporate in an instant.
We find by recurring to the history of our revolutionary war, that that awful tornado, if it had not the effect to sweep away dis- putes about state rights and local interests, yet it had the effect to silence and suspend everything of that nature pending our dubious and arduous struggle for national existence ; but yet we find, in fact, that whatever concilitory effect this state of things had upon other sections of the country, and upon the nation at large, it was not sufficient to extinguish this fire in the west. For in the latter end of the year 1776, or in the year 1777, we find these people petitioning
16
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Congress to interpose their authority, and redress their grevances. I have this petition before me, but it is too long to copy ; I therefore only give a short abstract.
It begins with stating that whereas Virginia and Pennsylvania both set up claims to the western country, it was productive of the most serious and distressing consequences ; that as each State per- tinaciously supported their respective pretensions, the result was, as described by themselves, "frauds, impositions, violences, depreda- tions, animosities," &c., &c.
These evils they ascribe (as indeed the fact was) to the conflict- ing claims of the two States ; and so warm were the partizans on each side, as in some cases to produce battles and shedding of blood. But they superadd another reason of this ill-humor, namely, the proceedings of Dunmore's warrant officers, in laying land warrants on land claimed by others, and many other claims for land granted by the crown of England to individuals, companies, &c., cover- ing a vast extent of country, and including most of the lands already settled and occupied by the greatest part of the inhabi- tants of the western country ; and they finally prayed Congress to erect them into a separate State and admit them into the Union as a fourteenth State.
As the petition recites the treaty of Pittsburg, in October, 1775, it is probable we may fix its date (for it has none) to the lat- ter part of 1776 or 1777. I rather think the latter, not only from my own recollection of the circumstances of the period, but especially from the request in the petition to be erected into a new State, which certainly would not have been thought of before the Declaration of Independence.
But the unhappy state of the western country will appear still more evident, when we advert to another important document which I have also before me. It is a proclamation issued by the delegates in Congress from the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and bears date Philadelphia, July 25, 1775.
But the heat of fire, and inflexible obstinacy of the parties en- gaged in this controversy, will appear in colors still stronger, when we see the unavailing efforts made by the delegates in Congress from the two States of Virginia and Pennsylvania in the year 1775. These gentlemen, it was obvious, under the influence of the best of motives, and certainly with a view to the best interests, peace, and happiness to the western people, sent them a proclamation, couched in terms directly calculated ro restore tranquility and harmony among them ; but the little effect produced by this proclamation, their subsequent petition just recited, and sent the next year or year after to Congress, fully demonstrates.
But as I consider this proclamation an important document, and as it is nowhere recorded, I give it to the reader entire :
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" To the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the west side of the Laurel Hill.
"FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN :- It gives us much concern to find disburbances have arisen, and still continue among you, con- cerning the boundaries of our colonies. In the character in which we now address you, it is necessary to inquire in the origin of those unhappy disputes, and it would be improper for us to express our approbation or censure on either side ; but as representatives of two of the colonies, united among many others for the defence of the liberties of America, we think it our duty to remove, as far as lies in our power, every obstacle that may prevent her sons from co- operating as vigorously as they would wish to do towards the attain- ment of the great and important end. Influenced solely by this motive, our joint and earnest request to you is, that all animosities, which have heretofore subsisted among you, as inhabitants of dis- tinct colonies, may now give place to generous and concurring efforts for the preservation of everything that can make our common coun- try dear to us.
" We are fully persuaded that you, as well as we, wish to see your differences terminate in this happy issue. For this desirable purpose we recommend it to you that all bodies of armed men, kept under either province, be dismissed ; that all those on either side, who are in confinement, or under bail for taking part in the contest, be discharged ; and that until the dispute be decided, every person be permitted to retain his possessions unmolested.
" By observing these directions, the public tranquility will be secured without injury to the titles on either side. The period, we flatter ourselves will soon arrive, when this unfortunate dispute, which has produced much mischief, and as far as we can learn no good, will be peaceably and constitutionally determined.
"We are your friends and countrymen,
"P. HENRY, RICHARD HENRY LEE, BENJAMIN HARRISON, THOS. JEFFERSON, JOHN DICKINSON,
GEO. Ross, B. FRANKLIN, JAS. WILSON, CHARLES HUMPHREYS.
" Philadelphia, July 25th, 1775.
But to conclude this part of our subject, I think the reader can- not but see from Dunmore's proclamation, the violent measures of his Lieutenant Connoly and the Virginia officers, and from the com- plexion of the times, and subsequent conduct of both Dunmore and
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Connoly, as we shall see hereafter ; that this unhappy state of things, if not actually produced, was certainly improved by Dun- more to subserve the views of the British court.
We now proceed to examine the question, how far facts and circumstances justify us in supposing the Earl of Dunmore himself was instrumental in producing the Indian war of 1774.
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