USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 3rd ed > Part 22
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Capt. Arbuckle thought proper to detain the Cornstalk chief and his two companions as hostages for the good conduct of the tribe to which they belonged. They had not been long in this situation before a son of Cornstalk, concerned for the safety of his father, came to the opposite side of the river and hallooed ; his father knowing his voice, answered him. He was brought over the river. The father and son mutually embraced each other with the greatest tenderness.
On the day following, two Indians, who had concealed them- selves in the weeds on the bank of the Kanawha River opposite the Fort, killed a man of the name of Gilmore, as he was returning from hunting. As soon as the dead body was brought over the river, there was a general cry amongst the men who were present, "Let us kill the Indians in the Fort." They immediately ascended the bank of the river with Capt. Hall at their head, to execute their hasty resolution. On their way they were met by Capt. Stuart and Capt. Arbuckle, who endeavored to dissuade them from killing the Indian hostages, saying that they certainly had no concern in the murder of Gilmore : but remonstrance was in vain. Pale as death with rage, they cocked their guns and threatened the captains with instant death, if they should attempt to hinder them from executing their purpose.
When the murderers arrived at the house where the hostages were confined, Cornstalk rose to meet them at the door, but instant- ly received seven bullets through his body ; his son and his other
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DEATH OF CORNSTALK.
two fellow-hostages were instantly dispatched with bullets and tomahawks.
Thus fell the Shawnee war chief Cornstalk, who, like Logan, his companion in arms, was conspicuous for intellectual talent, bravery and misfortune.
The biography of Cornstalk, as far as it is now known, goes to show that he was no way deficient in those mental endowments which constitute true greatness. On the evening preceding the bat- tle of Point Pleasant, he proposed going over the river to the camp of Gen. Lewis, for the purpose of making peace. The majority in the council of warriors voted against the measure. "Well," said Cornstalk, "since you have resolved on fighting, you shall fight, although it is likely we shall have hard work tomorrow ; but if any man shall attempt to run away from the battle, I will kill him with my own hand," and accordingly fulfilled his threat with regard to one cowardly fellow.
After the Indians had returned from the battle, Cornstalk called a council at the Chillicothe town, to consult what was to be done next. In this council he reminded the war chiefs of their folly in preventing him from making peace, before the fatal battle of Point Pleasant, and asked, " What shall we do now? The Long-knives are coming upon us by two routes. Shall we turn out and fight them?" All were silent. He then asked, "Shall we kill our squaws and children, and then fight until we shall be killed our- selves?" To this no reply was made. He then rose up and stuck his tomahawk in the war-post in the middle of the council house, saying, "Since you are not inclined to fight, I will go and make peace ;" and accordingly did so.
On the morning of the day of his death a council was held in the Fort at the Point, in which he was present. During the sitting of the council, it is said that he seemed to have a presentiment of his approaching fate. In one of his speeches, he remarked to the coun- cil, "When I was young, every time I went to war I thought it likely that I might return no more; but I still lived. I am now in your hands, and you may kill me if you choose. I can die but once, and it is alike to me whether I die now or at another time." When the men presented themselves before the door, for the purpose of killing the Indians, Cornstalk's son manifested signs of fear, on ob- serving which, his father said, "Don't be afraid, my son ; the Great Spirit sent you here to die with me, and we must submit to his will. It is all for the best."
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WAPPATOMICA CAMPAIGN.
CHAPTER IV.
WAPPATOMICA CAMPAIGN.
Under the command of Col. Angus McDonald, four hundred men were collected from the western part of Virginia by the order of the Earl of Dunmore, the then Governor of Virginia. The place . of rendezvous was Wheeling, some time in the month of June, 1774. They went down the river in boats and canoes to the mouth of Cap- tina, from thence to the shortest route to Wappatomica town, about sixteen miles below the present Coshocton. The pilots were Jona- than Zane, Thomas Nicholson and Tady Kelly. About six miles from the town, the army were met by a party of Indians, to the number of forty or fifty, who gave a skirmish by the way of ambus- cade, in which two of our men were killed and eight or nine wound- ed. One Indian was killed and several wounded. It was supposed that several more of them were killed, but they were carried off. When the army came to the town, it was found evacuated. The Indians had retreated to the opposite shore of the River, where they had formed an ambuscade, supposing the party would cross the River from the town. This was immediately discovered. The commanding officers then sent sentinels up and down the River, to give notice, in case the Indians should attempt to cross above or below the town. A private in the company of Capt. Cresap, of the name of John Harness, one of the sentinels below the town, dis- played the skill of a backwoods sharpshooter. Seeing an Indian behind a blind across the river, raising up his head, at times, to look over the river, Harness charged his rifle with a second ball, and tak- ing deliberate aim, passed both balls through the neck of the In- dian. The Indians dragged off the body and buried it with the honors of war. It was found the next morning and scalped by Harness.
Soon after the town was taken, the Indians from the opposite shore sued for peace. The commander offered them peace on con- dition of their sending over their chiefs as hostages. Five of them came over the River and were put under guard as hostages. In the morning they were marched in front of the army over the River. When the party had reached the western bank of the Muskingum, the Indians represented that they could not make peace without the presence of the chiefs of the other towns ; on which one of the chiefs
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WAPPATOMICA CAMPAIGN.
was released to bring in the others. He did not return at the ap- pointed time. Another chief was permitted to go on the same errand, and who in like manner did not return. The party then moved up the River to the next town, which was a mile above the first, and on the oppose shore. Here we had a slight skirimish with the Indians, in which one of them was killed and one of our men wounded. It was then discovered, that during all the time spent in the negotia- tions, the Indians were employed in removing their women and child- ren, old people and effects, from the upper towns. The tows were burned and the corn cut up. The party then returned to the place from which they set out, bringing with them the three remaining chiefs, who were sent to Williamsburg. They were released at the peace the succeding fall.
The army were out of provisions before they left the towns, and had to subsist on weeds, one ear of corn each day, with a very scanty supply of game. The corn was obtained at one of the In- dian towns.
204
GEN. MCINTOSH'S CAMPAIGN.
CHAPTER V.
GEN. MCINTOSH'S CAMPAIGN.
In the spring of the year 1773, the government having sent a small force of regular troops, under the command of Gen. McIntosh, for the defense of the western frontier, the general with the regu- lars and militia from Fort Pitt, descended the Ohio River about . thirty miles, and built Fort McIntosh, on the site of the present Beaver towns. This Fort was made with strong stockades, furn- ished with bastions and mounted with one 6-pounder. This station was well selected as a point for a small military force, always in readines to pursue or intercept and war parties of Indians, who fre- quently made incursions into the settlements on the opposite side of the River in its immediate neighborhood. The Fort was well garri- soned and supplied with provisions during the summer.
Sometime in the fall of the same year, Gen. McIntosh received an order from the government to make a compaign against the San- dusky towns. The order he attempted to obey with one thousand men ; but owing to the delay in making necessary outfits for the ex- pedition, the officers, on reaching Tuscarawa, thought it best to halt at that place, build and garrison a Fort, and delay the further prosecution of the campaign until the next spring. Accordingly they built Fort Laurens on the bank of the Tuscarawa River. Some time after the completion of the Fort, the general returned with the army to Fort Pitt, leaving Col. John Gibson with a com- mand of one hundred and fifty men to protect the Fort until spring. The Indians were soon acquainted with the existence of the Fort, and soon convinced our people, by sad experience, of the bad policy of building and attempting to hold a Fort so far in advance of our settlements and other Forts.
The first annoyance the garrison received from the Indians was some time in the month of January. In the night time they caught most of the horses belonging to the Fort, and taking them off some distance in the woods, they took off their bells, and formed an am- busade by the side of the path leading through the high grass of a prairie at a little distance from the Fort. In the morning the In- dians rattled the horse bells at the further end of the line of the ambuscade. The plan succeeded ; a fatigue of sixteen men went out for the horses and fell in the snare. Fourteen were killed on the
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GEN. MCINTOSH'S CAMPAIGN.
spot, two were taken prisoners, one of whom was given up at the close of the war, the other was never afterwards heard of.
Gen. Benjamin. Biggs, then a Captain in the Fort, being officer of the day, requested leave of the Colonel to go out with the fatigue party, which fell into the ambuscade. "No," said the Colonel, " this fatigue party does not belong to a Captain's command. When I shall have occasion to employ one of that number, I shall be thankful for your services ; at present you must attend to your duty in the Fort." On what trivial circumstances do life and death sometimes depend !
In the evening of the day of the ambuscade, the whole Indian army, in full war dress and painted, marched in single file through a prarie in view of the Fort. Their number, as counted from one of the bastions, was eight hundred and forty-seven. They then took up their encampment on an elevated piece of ground at a small dis- tance from the Fort, on the opposite side of the River. From this camp they frequently held conversations with the people of our gar- rison. In these conversations, they seemed to deplore the long con- tinuance of the war and hoped for peace ; but were mich exasper- ated at the Americans for attempting to penetrate so far into their country. This great body of Indians continued the investment of the Fort, as long as they could obtain subsistence, which was about six weeks.
An old Indian by the name of John Thompson, who was with the American Army in the Fort, frequently went out among the Indians during their stay at their encampment, with the mutual con- sent of both parties. A short time before the Indians left the place, they sent word to Col. Gibson, by the old Indian, that they were desirous of peace, and that if he would send them a barrel of flour they would send in their proposals the next day ; but although the Colonel complied with their request, they marched off without fulfilling their engagement.
The commander, supposing the whole number of the Indians had gone off, gave permission to Col. Clark, of the Pennsylvania line to escort the invalids, to the number of eleven or twelve, to Fort McIntosh. The whole number of this detachment was fifteen. The wary Indians had left a party behind, for the purpose of doing mischief. These attacked this party of invalids and the escort, about two miles from their Fort, and killed the whole of them with the exception of four, amongst whom were the Captain, who ran back to the Fort. On the same day a detachment went out from the Fort, brought in the dead, and buried them with the honors of war, in front of the Fort gate.
In three or four days after this disaster a relief of seven hun- dred men, under Gen. McIntosh, arrived at the Fort with a supply of provisions, a great part of which was lost by an untoward acci- dent. When the relief had reached within about one hundred yards of the Fort, the garrison gave them a salute of a general discharge
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GEN. MCINTOSH'S CAMPAIGN.
of inusketry, at the report of which the pack-horses took fright, broke loose and scattered the provisions in every direction through the woods, so that the greater part of them could never be recov- ered again.
Among other transactions which took place about this time, was that of gathering up the remains of the fourteen men for inter- ment, who had fallen in the ambuscade during the winter, and which could not be done during the investment of the place by the Indians. They were found mostly devoured by the wolves. The fatigue party dug a pit large enough to contain the remains of all of them, and after depositing them in the pit, merely covering them with a little earth, with a view to have revenge on the wolves for devouring their companions, they covered the pit with slender sticks, rotten wood and bits of bark, not of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the wolf. On the top of this covering they placed a piece of meat, as a bait for the wolves. The next morn- ing seven of them were found in the pit. They were shot and the . pit filled up.
For about two weeks before the relief arrived, the garrison had been put on short allowance of half pound of sour flour and an equal weight of stinking meat for every two days. The greater part of the last week, they had nothing to subsist on but such roots as they could find in the woods and prairies, and raw hides. Two men lost their lives by eating wild parsnip roots by mistake. Four more nearly shared the same fate, but were saved by medical aid.
On the evening of the arrival of the relief, two days' rations were issued to each man in the Fort. These rations were intended as their allowance during their march to Fort McIntosh ; but many of the men, supposing them to have been back rations, ate up the whole of their allowance before the next morning. In consequence of this imprudence, in eating immoderately after such extreme starvation from the want of provisions, about forty of the men became faint and sick during the first days march. On the second day, however, the sufferers were met by a great number of their friends from the settlements to which they belonged, by whom they were amply sup- plied with provisions, and thus saved from perishing.
Maj. Vernon, who succeeded Col. Gibson in the command of Fort Laurens, continued its possession until the next fall, when the garrison, after being, like their predecessors, reduced almost to star- vation, evacuated the place.
Thus ended the disastrous business of Fort Laurens, in which much fatigue and suffering were endured and many lives lost, but without any beneficial result to the country.
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MORAVIAN CAMPAIGN.
CHAPTER VI.
THE MORAVIAN CAMPAIGN.
This ever memorable campaign took place in the month of March, 1782. The weather, during the greater part of the month of February, had been uncommonly fine, so that the war parties from Sandusky visited the settlements, and committed depredations earlier than usual. The family of a William Wallace, consisting of, wife and five or six children were killed, and John Carpenter taken prisoner. These events took place the latter part of February. The early period at which these fatal visitations of the Indians took place, led to the conclusion that the murderers were either Moravians, or that the warriors had had their winter quarters at their towns on the Muskingumn River. In either case, the Moravians being in fault, the safety of the frontier settlements required the destruction of their establishments at that place.
Accordingly between eighty and ninety men were hastily col- lected together for the fatal enterprise. They rendezvoused and encamped the first night on the Mingo Bottom, on the west side of the Ohio River. Each man furnished himself with his own arms, ammunition and provisions. Many of them had horses. The second days march brought them within one mile of the middle Moravian town, where they had encamped for the night. In the morning the men were divided into two equal parties, one of which was to cross the River about a mile above the town, their videttes having report- ed that there were Indians on both sides of the River. The other party was divided into three divisions one of which was to take a circuit in the woods, and reach the River a little distance below the town, on the east side. Another division was to fall into the middle of the town, and the third at its upper end.
When the party which designed to make the attack on the west side had reached the River, they found no craft to take them over, but something like a canoe was seen on the opposite bank. The River was high with some floating ice. A young man of the name of Slaughter swam the River and brought over, not a canoe, but a trough designed for holding sugar water. This trough could carry but two men at a time. In order to expedite their passage, a num- ber of men stripped off their clothes, put them into the trough, to- gether with their guns, and swam by its side, holding its edges with
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MORAVIAN CAMPAIGN.
their hands. When about sixteen had crossed the River, their two sentinels, who had been posted in advance, discovered an Indian whose name was Shabosh. One of them broke one of his arms by a shot. A shot from the other sentinel killed him. These heroes then scalped at tomahawked him.
By this time about sixteen men had got over the River, and supposing that the firing of guns which killed Shabosh, would lead to an instant discovery, they sent word to the party designed to at- tack the town on the east side of the River to move on instantly, which they did.
In the mean time, the small party which had crossed the River, marched with all speed to the main town on the west side of the River. Here they found a large company of Indians gathering the corn which they had left in their fields the preceding fall when they removed to Sandusky. On the arrival of the men at the town, they professed peace and good will to the Moravians, and informed them that they came to take them to Fort Pitt for their safety. The In- dians surrendered, delivered up their arms, and appeared highly de- - lighted with the prospect of their removal, and began with all speed to prepare victuals for the white men and for themselves on their journey.
A party of white men and Indians were immediately dispatched to Salemi, a short distance from Gnadenhutten, where the Indians were gathering in their corn, to bring them into Gnadenhutten. The party soon arrived with the whole number of the Indians from Salem.
In the mean time the Indians from Gnadenhutten were confined in two houses some distance apart, and placed under guard ; and when those from Salem arrived, they were divided, and placed in the same houses with their brethern in Gnadenhutten.
The prisoners being thus secured, a council of war was held to decide on their fate. The officers, unwilling to take on themselves the whole responsibility of the decision, agreed to refer the question to the whole number of the men. The men were accordingly drawn up in a line. The commandant of the party, Col. David William- son, them put the question to them in form, " Whether the Mora- vian Indians should be taken prisoners to Pittsburg, or put to death, and requested that all those who were in favor of saving their lives should step out of the line and form a second rank." On this six- teen, some say eighteen, stepped out of the rank, and formed themi- selves into a second line ; but alas ! this line of mercy was far too short for that of vengeance.
The fate of the Moravians was then decided on, and they were told to prepare for death.
The prisoners, from the time they were placed in the guard- house foresaw their fate, and began their devotions by singing hymns, praying and exhorting each other to place a firm reliance in the mercy of the Saviour of men. When their fate was announced to
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MORAVIAN CAMPAIGN.
them, these devoted people embraced, kissed, and bedewed each others' faces and bossoms with their mutual tears, asked pardon of the brothers and sisters for any offense they might have given them through life. Thus, at peace with their God and each other, on being asked by those who were impatient for the slaughter, " Whether they were ready to die?" they answered " that they had commended their souls to God, and were ready to die."
The particulars of this dreadful catastrophe are too horrid to relate. Suffice it to say, that in a few minutes these two slaughter- houses, as they were then called, exhibited in their ghastly interior, the mangled, bleeding remains, of these poor unfortunate people, of all ages and sexes, from the aged, gray-headed parent, down to the helpless infant at the mother's breast, dishonored by the fatal wounds of the tomahawk, mallet, war club, spear and scalping- knife.
Thus, O Brainard and Zeisberger ! faithful missionaries, who devoted your whole life to incessant toil and sufferings in your en- deavors to make the wilderness of paganism "rejoice and blossom as the rose," in faith and piety to God ! thus perished your faithful followers, by the murderous hand of the more than savage white men. Faithful pastors ! Your spirits are again associated with those of your flock, "where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest !"
The number of the slain, as reported by the men on ther return from the campaign, was eiglity-seven or eighty-nine ; but the Mora- vian account, which no doubt is correct, makes the number ninety- six. Of these, sixty-two were grown persons, one-third of whom were women ; the remaining thirty-four were children. All these. with few exceptions, were killed in the houses. Shabosh was killed about a mile above the town, on the west side of the River. His wife was killed while endeavoring to conceal herself in a bunch of bushes at the water's edge, on the arrival of the men at the town, on the east side of the river. A man at the same time was shot in a canoe, while attempting to make his escape from the east to the west side of the River. Two others were shot while attempting to escape by swimming the River. A few men, who were supposed to be war- riors, were tied and taken some distance from the slaughter-house, to be tomahawked. One of these had liked to have made his escape at the expense of the life of one of the murderers. The rope by which he was led was of some length. The two men who were con- ducting him to death fell into a dispute who should have the scalp. The Indian while marching with a kind of dancing motion, and singing his death song, drew a knife from a scabbard suspended front his neck, cut the rope, and aimed at stabbing one of the men ; but the jerk of the rope occasioned one of the men to look around. The Indian then fled towards the woods, and while running, dexter- ously untied the rope from his wrists. He was instantly pur- sued by several who fired at him, one of whom wounded him in the
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MORAVIAN CAMPAIGN.
arm. After a few shots the firing was forbidden, for the men might kill each other as they were running in a straggling manner. A young man then mounted a horse and pursued the Indian, who when overtaken struck the horse on the head with a club. The rider sprang from the horse, on which the Indian seized, threw him down and drew his tomahawk to kill him. At that instant, one of the party got near enough to shoot the Indian, which he did merely in tinie to save the life of his companion.
Of the whole number of Indians at Gnadenhutten and Salem, only two made their escape. These were two lads of fourteen or fifteen years of age. One of them, after being knocked down and scalped, but not killed, had the presence of mind to lie still among the dead, until the dusk of the evening, when he silently crept out offthe door and made his escape. The other lad slipped through a trap door into the cellar of one of the slaughter-houses, from which he made his escape through a small cellar window.
These two lads were fortunate in getting together in the woods the same night. Another, lad, somewhat larger, in attempt- fing to pass through the same window, it is supposed stuck fast and was burnt alive.
The Indians of the upper town were apprised of their danger in due time to make their escape, two of them having found the mang- led body of Shabosh. Providentially they all made their escape al- though they might have been easily overtaken by the party, if they had undertaken their pursuit. A division of the men were ordered to go to Shonbron ; and finding the place deserted, they took what plunder they could find, and returned to their companions without looking farther after the Indians.
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