USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 42
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This part of yr. County is In a seene of Confusion And I make no doubt but the Country will Break up without they Can Get Some Assistance. I am as yet Living at home but Capt Maxwell's Compy are Chiefly Gathered together in Small Parties. Corn is very Scarce Here but if a few men could be raised I think they Could be found, Sir if you have resigned yr Commission Pray let the County Lieut. Have this Letter or a few lines from yr. self which I think will Answer a better End. I expected a few lines from you By Capt Moor but Dont hear of any My family is In Health As I hope yours and I am Sir yr. Most Hum Srt.
Head Clinch 23rd March 1780
Jno Taylor
C B the Murder was Committed In seven Miles of here."
Major Taylor was the same man at whose home Mrs. Jesse Evans and her daughter sought refuge after her children were killed by the Indians in 1779. This report, made by letter to Colonel Preston, not only gives the date of the Roark massaere and the number of victims but furnishes valuable information as to existing military and economic conditions in the Upper Clinch region at that time. The military authorities of Montgomery County had given no assistance to the inhabitants of the Clineh Valley in repelling the repeated invasions made by the Shawnees; and the Evans and Roark massaeres had resulted, as the forts and stations maintained by the settlers were so widely separated that the Indians were able to steal in between the forts and murder the occupants of the outlying cabins. Evidently there was a serious searcity of eorn in the Clinch Valley, which gave a shortage of food for both men and animals. The seareity of grain seemed to be general throughout Montgomery, owing, possibly, to a bad season, or to the employment of so many of the inhabitants in the performance of military duties. In a letter written the 15th of Feb., 1780, by Rev. Caleb Wallace, who was then living near the present town of Christiansburg, to Colonel William Fleming, then loeating lands under military grants in Kentucky, the Reverend Wallace says: "The Condition of this Country is truly distressing. Corn has risen to 10, 12 & 15 pounds the Bushel, and it is to be feared that Multitudes will not get it at any Priee."
James Roark must have lingered for several years upon the scene after his wife and children were murdered by the Indians.
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He was living there in 1783 when Hugh Fulton ran the line between Montgomery and Washington countics. The last course in Fulton's survey is from the west end of Morris' Knob, and is as follows: "Thence from said Knob north crossing the spurs of the same, and Paint Lick mountain the north fork of Clinch by John Hines plan- tation, and over the river ridge by James Roark's in the Baptist Valley, to a sugar tree and two white oaks on the head of Sandy."
Timothy Roark was a juror on the first grand-jury impaneled in Tazewell County, in November, 1800. Whether he was a son or brother of James is not disclosed by any existing record.
CAPTURE AND RESCUE OF INGLES FAMILY.
Of the numerous hostile visits made by the Indians to the set- tlements in Tazewell County, none was more thrilling than the capture of the family of Thomas Ingles in Burke's Garden by Black Wolf and his band of Shawnees. Relying upon tradition, Bickley fixes the date of this incident in the spring of 1787. It occurred in April, 1782.
Thomas Ingles was the son of William and Mary Ingles, and was one of the captives taken at the Draper's Meadows massacre in 1755. He was carried with his mother and the other prisoners to the Shawnee towns in Ohio, and was adopted into an Indian family, where he remained for thirteen years. His father went to Ohio in 1768, ransomed Thomas by the payment of one hundred and fifty dollars, and brought him to his home at Ingles' Ferry on New River, situated about one mile south of the present town of Radford. His kinsmen, Dr. John P. Hale, in his Trans-Alleghany Pioneers, says of Thomas Ingles: "He was very much of a wild Indian in his habits when he first returned;" and: "Notwithstanding he was petted, humored and caressed at home, a wild fit would overcome him now and then, and he would wander off alone in the wilderness with his bow and arrow, and stay for days at a time, and, when he returned, would give no account of himself, nor explanation of his conduct."
His parents were anxious to have him educated, and sent him to Albemarle County, where he was placed under the care of Dr. Thomas Walker, the explorer, surveyor, and agent of the Loyal Company. There was a school for young men in the neighborhood of "Castle Hill," Dr. Walker's residence. While attending this
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school young Ingles made the acquaintance of Miss Eleanor Grills, they became sweethearts, and were married in 1775.
Shortly after his marriage his father gave him a tract of land on Wolf Creek, in the present Giles County. It was in the wilder- ness and suited to the wild disposition of the young man. He and his family remained a year or two on Wolf Creek, and then removed to Abb's Valley, where he settled on the one thousand acre tract his father had purchased from the Loyal Company. After a residence of a year or more in Abb's Valley, Ingles became alarmed for the safety of his wife and children, because of the nearness of their home to the Indian trail up the Tug Fork of Sandy, and Bluestone. This trail had been used by the Indians for the raids they had made to the headwaters of the Clinch and the Upper New River Valley; and was considered one of the most dangerous on the frontier. He then located with his family in Burke's Garden on the tract of land where James Burke had once lived, and occupied the house Burke had built. His father, William Ingles, had secured from Burke the right to four hundred acres of land which Burke had gotten from either Colonel Patton or the Loyal Company. There was but one other white man living in the Garden, Joseph Hicks by name, a bachelor, whose cabin was two miles distant from the Ingles home.
Though Ingles had moved to the Garden for safety, in April, 1782, a large party of Shawnees, led by the noted chief, Black Wolf, entered Burke's Garden. They concealed themselves until Ingles went out on his farm to work, and then surrounded his home; and made his wife, their three children and a negro man and woman prisoners. After taking as much loot as they could carry, the Indians started with their prisoners and booty back to Ohio. The cries of the captives attracted the notice of Thomas Ingles and his negro man while they were plowing in a field. They abandoned their plows, and started on a run to investigate the trouble. Seeing a number of Indians, and having no gun, Ingles realized that he could do nothing for the relief of his family. He and the negro ran back to their plows, unhitched the horses, and started to the nearest settlement to get assistance. Knowing that the Indians would make their way to the head of the Clinch, Ingles decided to go in another direction, and crossed the mountains to the nearest settlement on the North Fork of the Holston.
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It happened to be muster day for the Washington County militia and the settlers on the North Fork of Holston River had assembled, and were being drilled by Captain Thomas Maxwell, who had formerly lived at the head of Bluestone, in Tazewell County. Max- well, with a party of fifteen or twenty volunteers, went with Thomas Ingles to Burke's Garden to pursue the Indians and rescue the cap- tives.
Joseph Hicks and his negro man were on their way to the house of Thomas Ingles the morning the Indians made the attack. As soon as Hicks discovered the Indians, and saw what they were doing, he and his negro retreated rapidly, crossed Burke's Garden and Brushy mountains on foot to a small settlement in the present Bland County for help. There they secured six or seven men who returned with Hicks to the Garden, arriving about the same time that Thomas Ingles and Captain Maxwell got there with their party. The two forces were united, and went in immediate pursuit of the savages. Captain Maxwell was put in command of the whole party, and the trail of the Indians was first struck at the head of Clinch. Some of the settlers from the Clinch and Bluestone joined the pur- suing party; and the trail of the Indians was followed with great caution, as it was feared the captives would be killed if the savages found they were being pursued.
On the fifth day after the capture the advance scouts of the white men discovered the Indians, who were encamped for the night in a gap of Tug Mountain. A consultation was held by the pursuers, and it was agreed that Captain Maxwell should take half the men, and, during the night, get around to the front of the Indians, and Thomas Ingles should remain with the other half at the rear; and that at daybreak a simultaneous attack upon the savages be made by the two divisions. The night was very dark and the ground exceed- ingly rough and brushy. Consequently the party with Maxwell lost their way and did not reach the front by daylight.
Maxwell having failed to get to his appointed place on time, and the Indians beginning to rouse from their slumbers, Ingles determined to make an attack with his men. Dr. Thomas Hale, who was a great-grandson of William and Mary Ingles and who col- lected his information from the records of the Ingles family thus relates what transpired after the attack was made:
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"So soon as a shot was fired, some of the Indians began to toma- hawk the prisoners, while others fought and fled. Thomas Ingles rushed in and seized his wife just as she had received a terrible blow on the head with a tomahawk. She fell, covering the infant of a few months old, which she held in her arms. The Indians had no time to devote to it. They had tomahawked his little five-year-old daughter, named Mary, after her mother, and his little three-year- old son, named William, after his father. His negro servants, a man and woman, captured with his family, escaped without injury.
"In making their escape, the Indians ran close to Captain Max- well and party, and, firing on them, killed Captain Maxwell, who was conspicuous from wearing a white hunting shirt.
"The whites remained on the ground until late in the evening burying Captain Maxwell, who was killed outright, and Thomas Ingles' Ittle son, who died from his wounds during the day. Mrs. Ingles and the little girl were still alive though badly wounded."
It was not known definitely whether any of the Indians were killed, but while the whites remained on the scene they heard groans from the adjacent laurel thickets, that seemed to be made by persons who were suffering or dying.
After burying the dead and giving such attention as was pos- sible to the wounds of Mrs. Ingles and her little daughter, Mary, the party began its return march to the settlements. Owing to the critical condition of Mrs. Ingles and her daughter, the party had to move very slowly, and it required four days for them to reach Wil- liam Wynne's fort at Locust Hill, one and a half miles east of the present town of Tazewell.
William Ingles, father of Thomas, received the news of the cap- ture of his son's family a few days after it occurred, and he immed- iately left his home on New River for Burke's Garden. Appre- hending that there would be dire need of surgical attention, he took with him the best surgeon he could get in the New River set- tlements. He reached Wynne's fort about the same time that Thomas Ingles with his wife and children arrived there. No relief could be given little Mary, and she died the morning after the rescue party reached the fort. The surgeon was more successful with the case of Mrs. Ingles. He extracted several pieces of bone from her skull, and treated the wound so skillfully that she was
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able to travel on horseback in a few weeks, when she, with her husband and babe, returned with William Ingles to his home at Ingle's Ferry, on New River. Very soon thereafter, Thomas Ingles, with his wife and infant daughter, moved to Tennessee, and settled in succession on the Watauga River, at Mossy Crcek, and at Fort Knox, now Knoxville. There his daughter, Rhoda, who escaped death at the hands of the Indians, grew up to lovely woman- hood, and became the wife of Patrick Campbell a prominent citizen of Knoxville. Some time subsequent to his daughter's marriage, Thomas Ingles moved to Mississippi, where he remained until he died.
THE CAPTIVITY OF JAMES MOORE.
The pioneer family that suffered most at the hands of the Indians was that of Captain James Moore, who moved with his family from what is now Rockbridge County to Abb's Valley, in 1772. Bickley says: "In September, 1784, a party of Indians had entered the present limits of Tazewell, and dividing themselves into small parties to steal horses and to annoy the settlers, three had entered the Abb's Valley settlement, in which resided Capt. James Moore and a brother-in-law named Jolin Pogue (Poage). The Indians had been for a day or two lurking round, waiting, and looking for an opportunity to seize horses or murder the settlers."
These three Indians were Black Wolf and two youths about eighteen years old, one of them a son of the Wolf. While they were lurking round in Abb's Valley, Captain Moore one morning sent his son, James, a lad about eighteen years old, to a distant pasture to get a horse to take a bag of corn to mill. While James was on his way to the pasture, he was suddenly set upon by Black Wolf and his companions and made a captive. He was taken by his captors to the Indian town in Ohio and adopted by a half sister of the Wolf, she giving the chief an old horse in exchange for the boy. It was five years before James Moore got back home, and three years after the massacre of his father and his family. He had many thrilling experiences while with the Indians. In the spring of 1775, he was so fortunate as to get away from the Indians, and several years after his return home he related the following incidents in connection with his captivity :
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"When we returned from hunting, in the spring, the old man gave me up to Captain Elliot, a trader, from Detroit. But my mistress, on hearing this, became very angry, threatened Elliot, and got me back. Some time in April there was a dance at a town about two miles from where I resided. This I attended, in company with the Indian to whom I belonged. Meeting with a French trader from Detroit, by the name of Batest Ariome, who took a fancy to me on account of my resemblance to one of his sons, he bought me for fifty dollars in Indian money. Before leaving the dance, I met with a Mr. Sherlock, a trader from Kentucky, who had formerly been a prisoner to the same tribe of Indians, and who had rescued a lad by the name of Moffit, who had been captured at the head of Clinch, and whose father was an intimate and particular friend of my father's. I requested Mr. Sherlock to write to my father, through Mr. Moffit, informing him of my captivity, and that I had been pur- chased by a French trader, and was gone to Detroit. This letter, I have reason to believe, father received, and that it gave him the first information of what had become of me.
"Mr. and Mrs. Ariome were to me parents indeed. They treated me like one of their own sons. I ate at their table, and slept with their sons, in a good feather bed. They always gave me good counsel, and advised me (particularly Mrs. Ariome) not to abandon the idea of returning to my friends. I worked on the farm with his sons, and occasionally assisted him in his trading expeditions. We traded at different places, and sometimes went a considerable dis- tance in the country.
"On one of these occasions, four young Indians began to boast of their bravery and among other things, said that one Indian could whip four white men. This provoked me, and I told them that I could whip all four of them. They immediately attacked me, but Mr. Ariome, hearing the noise, came and took me away. This I considered a kind providence; for the Indians are very unskillful in boxing, and in this manner of fighting, I could easily have whip- ped all of them; but when they began to find themselves worsted, I expected them to attack me with clubs, or some other weapon, and if so, had laid my plans to kill them all with a knife, which I had concealed in my belt, mount a fleet horse, which was close at hand, and escape to Detroit.
"It was on one of these trading expeditions, that I first heard of
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the destruction of father's family. This I learned through a Shaw- nee Indian, with whom I had been acquainted when I lived with them, and who was one of the party on that occasion. I received this information some time in the same summer after it occurred. In the following winter, I learned that my sister Polly had been purchased by Mr. Stogwell, an American by birth, but unfriendly to the American cause. He was a man of bad character-an unfeel- ing wretch-and treated my sister with great unkindness. At that time he resided a considerable distance from me. When I heard of my sister, I immediately prepared to go and see her; but as it was then in the dead of winter, and the journey would have been attended with great difficulties, on being told, by Mr. S., that he intended to remove to the neighborhood where I resided in the following spring, I declined it. When I heard that Mr. Stogwell had removed, as was contemplated, I immediately went to see her. I found her in the most abject condition, almost naked, being clothed with only a few dirty and tattered rags, exhibiting to my mind, an object of pity indeed. It is impossible to describe my feelings on that occasion; sorrow and joy were both combined; and I have no doubt the feelings of my sister were similar to my own. On being advised, I applied to the commanding officer at Detroit, informing him of her treatment, with the hope of effecting her release. I went to Mr. Simon Girty, and to Col. McKee, the super- intendent of the Indians, who had Mr. Stogwell brought to trial to answer the complaint brought against him. But I failed to pro- cure her release. It was decided, however, when an opportunity should occur for our returning to our friends, she should be released without remuneration. This was punctually performed, on applica- tion of Mr. Thomas Ivins, who had come in search of his sister Martha, already alluded to, who had been purchased from the Indians by some family in the neighborhood, and was, at that time, with a Mr. Donaldson, a worthy and wealthy English farmer, and working for herself.
"All being now at liberty, we made preparations for our journey to our distant friends, and set out, I think, some time in the month of October, 1789; it being a little more than five years from the time of my captivity, and a little more than three years from the time of the captivity of my sister and Martha Ivins. A trading boat coming down the lakes, we obtained a passage, for myself and sister,
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to the Moravian towns, a distance of about two hundred miles, and on the route to Pittsburgh. There, according to appointment, we met with Mr. Ivins and his sister, the day after our arrival. He
This apple tree was carried from Rockbridge County, by James Moore, the captive, to Abb's Valley, and planted near the place where his father and kindred were massacred. Four years ago, when the tree was 116 years old, it bore 116 bushels of excellent apples. Since then large portions of the tree were torn off by a storm.
had, in the meantime procured three horses, and we immediately set out for Pittsburgh. Fortunately for us, a party of friendly Indians, from these towns, were about starting on a hunting excur- sion, and accompanied us for a considerable distance on our route,
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which was through a wilderness, and the hunting-ground of an unfriendly tribe. On one of the nights, during our journey, we encamped near a large party of these hostile Indians. The next morning four or five of their warriors, painted red, came into our camp. This much alarmed us. They made many inquiries, but did not molest us, which might not have been the case, if we had not been in company with other Indians. After this, nothing occurred, worthy of notice, until we reached Pittsburgh. Probably we would have reached Rockbridge that fall, if Mr. Ivins had not, unfortu- nately, got his shoulder dislocated. In consequence of this, we remained until spring with an uncle of his, in the vicinity of Pitts- burgh. Having expended nearly all his money in traveling, and with the physician, he left his sister and proceeded on with sister Polly and myself, to the house of our uncle, William McPhaetus, about ten miles south-west of Staunton, near the Middle river. He received, from uncle Joseph Moore, the administrator of father's estate, compensation for his services, and afterward returned and brought in his sister."
MASSACRE OF THE MOORES.
Of the many cruel massacres committed by the Indians within the bounds of the present Tazewell County that of the Moore family was the most tragic and pathetic. Captain Moore had shown such wonderful fortitude as a frontiersman, and proved himself such a gallant soldier in the Indians Wars and in the Revolution, that his death was a grievous loss to his county and State. Dr. Bickley's acccount of the tragedy is based upon information he received from the immediate descendants of Captain Moore, and from contem- porary written narratives. Therefore it must be an accurate narra- tive of the terrible affair, and I will reproduce it in full, as follows:
"In July, 1786, a party of forty-seven Indians, of the Shawnees tribe, again entered Abb's Valley. Capt. James Moore usually kept five or six loaded guns in his house, which was a strong log building, and hoped, by the assistance of his wife, who was very active in loading a gun, together with Simpson, a man who lived with him, to be able to repel the attack of any small party of Indians. Rely- ing on his prowess, he had not sought refuge in a fort, as many of the settlers had; a fact of which the Indians seem to have been aware, from their cutting out the tongues of his horses and cattle,
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and partially skinning them. It seems they were afraid to attack him openly, and sought rather to drive him to the fort, that they might sack his house.
"On the morning of the attack, Capt. Moore, who had pre- viously distinguished himself at Alamance, was at a lick bog, a short distance from his house, salting his horses, of which he had many. William Clark and an Irishman were reaping wheat in front of the house. Mrs. Moore and the family were engaged in the ordinary business of housework. A man, named Simpson, was sick up-stairs.
"The two men, who were in the field, at work, saw the Indians coming, in full speed, down the hill, toward Captain Moore's who had ere this discovered them, and started in a run for the house. He was, however, shot through the body, and died immediately. Two of his children, William and Rebecca, who were returning from the spring, were killed about the same time. The Indians had now approached near the house, and were met by two fierce dogs, which fought manfully to protect the family of their master. After a severe contest, the fiercest one was killed, and the other subdued. I shall again use Mr. Brown's narrative, it being quite authentic.
"The two men who were reaping, hearing the alarm, and seeing the house surrounded, fled, and alarmed the settlement. At that time, the nearest family was distant six miles. As soon as the alarm was given, Mrs. Moore and Martha Ivins (who was living in the family) barred the door, but this was of no avail. There was no man in the house, at this time except John Simpson, the old English- man, already alluded to, and he was in the loft, sick and in bed. There were five or six guns in the house, but having been shot off the evening before, they were then empty. It was intended to have loaded them after breakfast. Martha Ivins took two of them and went up stairs where Simpson was, and handing them to him, told him to shoot. He looked up, but had been shot in the head through a crack, and was then near his end. The Indians then proceeded to cut down the door, which they soon effected. During this time, Martha Ivins went to the far end of the house, lifted up a loose plank, and went under the floor, and requested Polly Moore (then eight years of age) who had the youngest child, called Margaret, in her arms (which was crying), to set the child down, and come under. Polly looked at the child, clasped it to her breast, and determined to share its fate. The Indians, having broken into the
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house, took Mrs. Moore and children, viz; John, Jane, Polly, and Peggy prisoners, and having taken everything that suited them, they set it and the other buildings on fire, and went away. Martha Ivins remained under the floor a short time, and then came out and hid herself under a log that lay across a branch, not far from the house. The Indians, having tarried a short time, with a view of catching horses, one of them walked across this log, sat down on the end of it, and began to fix his gunlock. Miss Ivins, supposing that
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