USA > West Virginia > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, West Virginia > Part 6
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Meanwhile old Mrs. West who was alone with her two daughters became uneasy when her husband failed to return. She feared that he had fallen into the hands of Indians, as she could not account for his continued absence in any other way. They went to Alexander West's in the hope of finding old Mr. West and to give them warning. Alexander West was then on a hunting trip with his brother Edmund. The women, now thor- oughly frightened, went to the home of Jesse Hughes, who had become alarmed by that time at the failure of his daughter to return home. He determined to warn the neighbors to be on their guard. Knowing that Ed-
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
mund West, Jr., was not at home he went first to the house to remove Mrs. West to his own home. The ghastly scene which met his eyes at the West home- Mrs. West and the boy weltering in their blood and not yet dead-confirmed all his fears. Hughes determined to protect his own family, and he barricaded his house and watched all through the night. As soon as it was possible to venture forth a party was collected to deter- mine the full extent of the tragedy. Mrs. West was found dead in her home; she had probably lived but a few minutes after Hughes had left. The boy was found standing in the creek about a mile from the West cabin. His skull was fractured and the brains were oozing from his head; yet he lived in extreme suffering for three days. The Hacker girl was found in bed at the cabin of Edmund West, Sr., where she had taken refuge after a night spent in the woods. She survived, grew to maturity, married, gave birth to ten children and died from a nasal hemorrhage caused, it was believed, by the wound she had received in 1787. Martha Hughes was ransomed by her father in 1790.
It seems that for once no attempt at pursuit was made against the Indians who had taken part in the murder at West's. There is a tradition to the effect that the warrior who stabbed the Hacker girl was after- wards killed when he ventured back to the settlement. He was disemboweled, according to the traditionary ac- count, and the body was filled with sand and sunk in Hacker's creek.
In August 1789, some Indians came to the house of John Mack on a branch of Hacker's creek. The hus- band and two of the little girls were away from home; but the savages killed all the other members of the family and set fire to the house.
A year later, the cabin of John Bush on Freeman's creek was besieged by the Indians. Late in the even- ing, 24 August 1790, Bush became alarmed at the screams of his children who had been sent to drive the
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THE END OF THE INDIAN WARS
cattle home, and started with his gun to learn the cause of the trouble. He was met at the door by an Indian who deftly disarmed him and shot him with his own gun. Bush fell across his threshold. The savage drew his knife to scalp him, but at that moment Mrs. Bush ap- peared upon the scene and sank an ax into the back of the Indian's shoulder with such force that when he fell away the ax came off the handle. She then pulled her husband into the house and shut the door. Other Indians came up, and after attempting for some time to force the door open, they began shooting through it. Eleven bullets passed through the clothing of Mrs. Bush, but fortunately she remained unhurt. One of the savages attempted to shoot through a crack in the wall at her, but with another ax she bent the barrel of his gun. The Indian is said to have exclaimed "dern you." At this juncture the Indians were frightened away. Adam Bush, who lived nearby, determined to find out what the trouble was at the home of John, and to aid him if necessary. The noise made by the dogs which ac- companied him in crossing a small stream, led the In- dians to believe that a large party was coming to the relief of Bush and they withdrew. A party from the neighborhood was organized for the pursuit, who came so nearly upon the Indians at the mouth of the Little Kanawha river that they were forced to abandon seven horses they had stolen from the settlement before their attack on Bush.
About the middle of May, 1792, Tecumseh led an ex- pedition of Shawnees against the settlements on Hack- er's creek. He evidently feared to make an attack on any of the houses in the more thickly settled portions of the valley, and led the men to Jesse's run where they came, late in the evening, to the clearing of John Wag- goner. He was discovered sitting on a log resting, with a handspike across his knees. Tecumseh sent the other members of the band to secure those within the house while he should attend to Waggoner. The future Brit-
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
,
ish general was either under the impression that the handspike was a gun or he was excited at the prospect of securing a scalp. His aim was wide, though his in- tended victim was a large man in plain view, and the distance was not more than thirty or forty yards. Wag- goner immediately sprang up, and seeing Indians at the house, ran in the opposite direction, followed at an ever increasing interval by Tecumseh, until the young chief finally gave up the chase.
Meanwhile the Shawnees who had gone to the house found a small boy in the yard and killed and scalped him, after which they took Mrs. Waggoner and her six other children prisoners. On being rejoined by Tecumseh they set off with all possible speed to place the Ohio river between them and any pursuers who might take up the trail. Finding that the smallest boy impeded their progress they beat out his brains and took his scalp before they had gone more than a mile. A short distance farther on they killed and scalped Mrs. Waggoner and two others of her children and from that time forth they made all possible speed to get out of the country. So great was their fear of retaliatory vengeance at the hands of the whites that the party did not even stop to secure food until after they had crossed the Ohio and were well within the Indian country.
Waggoner went to the cabin of Hardman, a neigh- bor, to secure a gun as quickly as he could, but the latter was out hunting at the time with the only gun in the possession of the family. Jesse Hughes was com- municated with and he ran to West's fort, organized a pursuing party, and took up the trail. The pursuit was unsuccessful.
A local tradition states that the Indians in the party numbered but three and that they had lain in a ravine near West's fort all the day before while a relig- ious meeting was in progress in the fort. The dogs within barked furiously at them and ran toward the
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THE END OF THE INDIAN WARS
ravine, trying to lead the settlers, but no attention was paid to them.
The number of successful incursions by the Indians and the utter futility of stopping their outrages by pur- suing them as far as the Ohio river whenever they made their presence known, was by this time apparent. Colonel Duvall was not slow in realizing the strategical importance of the mouth of the Little Kanawha river, and before the year 1785 he had sent a party of scouts to see that a fort was built and properly garrisoned there. In the same year Captain James Neal settled on the southern side of the two rivers. From that time on Neal's station became the first line of defense for the settlements along the West Fork. From that point as a center the scouts ranged the woods on the Virginia side of the river and occasionally crossed into the North- west territory observing the country carefully for indi- cations of Indians, and if any were found, reporting them without delay by swift runners to the exposed settle- ments. In this way the military authorities were able to warn the inhabitants to go into places of safety where they could make better resistance to the attack if one were made. When Indians succeeded in getting past the scouts at Neal's station and first made their presence known by plundering and murdering in the settlements, the scouts could intercept them on their retreat. So effectual was the plan that later parties of Indians who ventured into the settlement on the West Fork, generally came by way of Middle Island creek until the mouth of that stream was also guarded.
From 1786, the Ohio line of defense proved in- creasingly strong. In that year Fort Harmar was built at the mouth of the Muskingum. In 1788 General Rufus Putnam's colony of New Englanders came down the Ohio and settled at Marietta. The next year a settle- ment was made at the mouth of the Little Miami river just above the bottom where Cincinnati was afterwards built. In 1790, the settlements had spread to the in-
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
terior twenty miles above Marietta. It was not long until the national government sent several regiments of regulars into the Northwest territory to protect the set- tlers against the Indians. After the establishment of the Ohio settlements the people there became the main object of the savages, who were being constantly urged on to murder and plunder. Isolated attacks were, how- ever, still being made in western Virginia by the now infuriated savages. Colonel Duvall stated in 1791 that the idea of federal troops being a protection to the set- tlers was "only a shadow without substance."
In 1792 the command of the militia of Harrison and Randolph counties again passed into the able hands of Colonel Lowther, after he had served Harrison County as sheriff. He reported to the governor that he had un- der him " one Insign, two Sergeants, two Corprils, and forty privates." He had also appointed four scouts, of whom he had stationed two at the mouth of the Little Kanawha river and the others along the West Fork. He divided his men into four detachments with one sergeant and eleven men at the mouth of the Little Kanawha and the others at Flesher's Station, now Wes- ton, Salem and the mouth of Ten Mile creek. Adam Flesher (called a captain in the traditional account) had charge of the Weston station, and under him in the beginning were Peter Bonnett, Samuel Bonnett, Louis Bonnett, Jacob Starcher, Thomas Short, Joseph Glan- field and Peter McKensie. The Buckhannon settlement was then being garrisoned by Randolph County militia.
The men who had seen service in preceding years had not received their pay and consequently Colonel Lowther had considerable difficulty in enlisting a suffi- cient force. Subsequently Captain James Wood came to the west to inspect the condition of affairs and to sug- gest changes. His determined action infused new cour- age into the people. Colonel Lowther was given com- mand of the Monongahela district including all of north- western Virginia. The disposition which he made of his-
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THE END OF THE INDIAN WARS
troops was changed only slightly, the force at Neal's station being a little more than doubled and the garrison on the upper West Fork being placed near the mouth of Freeman's creek instead of at Flesher's station. The last named change was not permanent.
No Indian forays were made in the year 1793 into what is now Lewis County. A settlement made by the Carpenters on the Elk river in what is now Braxton County was completely broken up. One family was murdered and the others, owing to the fact that their numbers were too small to cope with the savages, moved to the West Fork. Jesse Hughes afterwards avenged the murder of the Carpenter family by killing the two Indians concerned. He took strips of skin from their backs from which he made razor strops.
In 1794 as Joseph Cox, a trapper, was riding down Leading creek for a load of furs which he had left at the mouth of the creek the fall before, he unexpectedly came upon a small party of Indians in a defile. He im- mediately wheeled his horse and applied the whip, but the animal became balky and would not move. Cox was captured and taken beyond the Ohio, but he escaped the same year.
On July 24 of the same year they took prisoner the daughter of John Runyon near the mouth of Freeman's creek. Two of the savages were detailed to conduct her to the Indian villages, but after going about ten miles, they tomahawked and scalped her. The other four attacked the house of William Carder which stood just below the mouth of Lost Creek, but were frightened away.
A few days later while proceeding toward the head of Hacker's creek by the ridge on one side of it, the In- dians were attracted to the swimming hole just above the mouth of Little Stone Coal creek by the shouts of four sons of Jacob Cozad who were bathing. The In- dians cautiously approached the place and took all four of the boys prisoners. The youngest boy, Benny, aged
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
six, began to cry piteously for his mother and could not be hushed. One of the warriors seized him by the heels and dashed his brains out against the roots of a beech tree. The others of the party climbed the ridge and proceeded westward. The oldest boy, Jacob, hoping to attract the attention of the settlers, gave a prolonged whoop when the party had reached the summit, but he was immediately knocked senseless by a blow from a gun barrel. When he regained consciousness he was being dragged up the hill by one foot by a squaw, ac- cording to his later statement. The party encamped that night on the West Fork near the spot where Ed- ward Jackson's mill was afterwards built. The Indians escaped pursuit. After the peace made with the whites in 1795 the three boys were returned by their captors.
The prolonged stay of this small party in the West Fork valley and the great amount of damage done pro- duced a panic among the settlers. In order to prevent the people from abandoning their habitations Colonel Lowther felt impelled to grant them a guard of men and two scouts. One Indian was killed, another was wounded and the scalp of the Runyon girl was recovered in an attack made later in the year by Colonel Lowther's rangers.
The next year, 1795, the last Indian outrage was perpetrated in northwestern Virginia. The trail of a party of Indians going up Leading creek was discovered and all the settlements were notified. The settlers on the Buckhannon who had not suffered, from Indian raids for ten years, failed to heed the warning. As a result of their carelessness several members of the Bo- zarth family were killed.
Some time afterwards the last Indian killed in Lewis County is said to have been shot by Henry Flesher as he was trying to escape by climbing up the west bank of the river near the mouth of Polk creek,
The issue between the whites and the Indians was decided far away on the plains of northwestern Ohio at
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THE END OF THE INDIAN WARS
the battle of Fallen Timbers. There General "Mad An- thony" Wayne, at the head of an army of 2,000 regu- lars, went into battle with the flower of the tribes of the northwest who had chosen their positions with remarka- ble strategic insight. The Indians were unable to with- stand the rush of the first line of the whites, and they gave way in confusion. The Shawnees sued for peace, followed by all the tribes of the northwest. By the treaty of Greenville, 1795, they agreed to give up all their lands in what is now Ohio with the exception of a strip in the northern part of the state.
The Indians remained peaceful for several years until another forward movement of the settlers induced them to take up arms again. The later wars were waged at such a distance from the West Fork valley that the inhabitants knew of them only by reports that reached them from the frontier. The settlements which had been maintained through nearly twenty years of incessant Indian warfare were at last free to expand without fear of further massacres.
CHAPTER VII.
THE BEGINNING OF LAW AND ORDER
The lawless state of the country during the first few years of the settlement of Lewis County has been alluded to briefly in other chapters. It is now proposed to show how the legal processes of England and America took the place of community remonstrances, and became the basis of united action. It was the year 1779 before the Virginia legislature was made to realize that it had not incorporated all the inhabited Trans-Alleghany ter- ritory into Trans-Alleghany counties. From an over- sight due to the lack of geographical knowledge, the region now contained in Harrison and Lewis counties was still included in Augusta County, which paid little or no attention to the life and death struggle with the Indians which was being waged in its western marches. In the absence of other authority, Monongalia County exercised jurisdiction over the whole West Fork valley. Petitions for the formal inclusion of the region in that county which were presented to the General Assem- bly in 1779 resulted in the extension of the boundaries of the county to include all the territory drained by the Monongahela and its branches and nearly all that drain- ed by the Little Kanawha.
The territory included in the new county was far larger than that of some of the states lying on the east- ern coast. It extended from the Maryland boundary westward to the Ohio river, and from the headwaters of the Elk river almost to Pittsburgh. The seat of jus- tice was first at Fort Redstone, afterward at Morgan- town. By far the largest part of the population at first lived on that part of the Monongahela valley now in- cluded in the state of Pennsylvania. Most of the inter-
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THE BEGINNING OF LAW AND ORDER
ests of the governing authorities of the county were in that section. Later it was in the district immediately surrounding the court house at Morgantown.
The southern part of the county, embracing the headwaters of the West Fork and the Tygart's Valley rivers was far from the county seat and separated from the other settlements by a comparatively unsettled re- gion where the land was more rugged and where wide river bottoms did not exist. The enormous extent of the county resulted in considerable difficulty in the ad- ministration of justice. The settlers at West's fort and other places were at great inconvenience in attending court, and the officials of the county were at equal diffi- culty in collecting taxes, levying on property and ar- resting violators of the law.
Under the circumstances it was inevitable that be- fore long there should be agitation for the division of the county. A strong memorial was presented to the General Assembly by residents of the upper valleys. The representatives from Monongalia County did not appear to object to the division, and in 1784, the south- ern part of the county was formed into the county of Harrison. The boundaries of the new counties were as follows : beginning at the point where Ford fork crosses the Maryland boundary ; thence by a straight line to the headwaters of Big Sandy creek; thence down Big Sandy creek and the Tygart's Valley river to the mouth of West Fork; thence up West Fork and Bingamon creek to its source; thence with the ridges separating the waters of the Monongahela from the Ohio to the head of Middle Island creek; thence with that creek to the Ohio. On the east the county was bounded by the ridge separating the Potomac from the Monongahela drain- age basin; and on the south the line extended from the point on the Alleghany Mountains where Rockingham and Botetourt counties meet, north fifty-five degrees west to the Ohio river, a distance of 1083/4 miles. The area of the county was not much less than 4,000 square
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
miles, and the population in 1784 is estimated to have been about 2,000.
The act providing for the formation of the new county specified that the justices to be named in the commission of the peace should meet at the house of George Jackson, near Bush's old fort, to take the oath of office, select a site for the court house, and transact other business. The location was probably chosen be- cause it was midway between the settlements of the upper Tygart's Valley and those of the West Fork. In the discussion as to the permanent location of the county seat, most of the justices objected to Bush's fort. The settlers in that vicinity were not numerous, and the location probably pleased none of the justices, the ma- jority of whom were residents of the prosperous com- munity around Nutter's fort. This fact probably de- termined the location of the county seat at Clarksburg.
At the first session of court held, 20 July 1784, the justices recommended persons suitable for appointment for the offices of surveyor, heads of the militia, coroner, and justices of the peace to the Governor of the Com- monwealth. They also appointed constables and view- ers and overseers of the roads. A grand jury was sum- moned, a mill seat established, a donation of lots ac- cepted for the court house and jail, and one civil suit was brought before the court adjourned. John Sleeth, a resident of Hacker's creek, was recommended for ap- pointment as justice of the peace and for authorization to celebrate the rites of matrimony. John Runyon, whose cabin stood not far from the mouth of Freeman's creek, was one of the constables. The civil suit was brought by John Hacker against Elijah Stout for "de- taining said Hacker out of his landed rights."
The duties of the county courts were many and varied. From the year 1623 the county courts of Vir- ginia were supreme in the county government, in both administrative and judicial affairs.
OHIO 1776
BingamonCr +Coon's Fr
1776
MARYLAND
Ohio
Neal's Station
*Salem
+Powers' FE Clarksburg 4Nutters FT
1799
Piver
ost Fork!
Richards' Ft
+Mincar's Ft
ittl
Flesher's Sta.
West's Fort
O
1
LEWIS 18 /6
Bush's Fim
RAN
L
P
W
SteerCr
Buckhanno
Middle Fert
787) +Wilson's Ft Westfolks Ft
HAMPSHIRE 1754
THE BEGINNING OF LAW AND ORDER
HARRISON COUNTY 1784 Showing losses of Territory, 1787, 1799,1816 By E.C. Smith
GREENBRIER
1777
Gauley R.
Greenbrier River
MONTONGALIA
River
Middle Island
Creek
-
Hughes
/
Tygg
Kanawha Rivers
1
KANAWHA 1777
Bull Town.
Elk River
Cheat River
87
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
The county court was composed of all the justices of the peace in the county, who were appointed by the governor. No new justices were appointed without the recommendation of the justices already sitting, and the body thus became self-perpetuating and all-powerful. The important office of sheriff was filled by appointment by the governor, but the justices recommended three freeholders for the office from among whom the ap- pointment was made. It was the custom of the county court to recommend three of their own number, and the office was handed around among them according to seniority. With the system of fees then in force, one or two years incumbency in the sheriffalty was sufficient to lay the foundations for the fortune of the holder. All the other officers of the county were either recommend- ed by the court for appointment by the Governor, or were appointed outright. The only officers elected un- der this democratic (?) system of local government were overseers of the poor and the delegates to the legisla- ture.
The court also possessed real judicial functions. The county court was the only tribunal in Harrison County for fifteen years after its formation. It settled small disputes, punished breaches of the peace and es- tablished law and order throughout the county.
As might be expected the administrative functions of the county government were altogether in the hands of the court. It laid out roads, established mills, built bridges, granted licenses, levied and collected taxes, recorded deeds, wills and mortgages, erected public buildings, exercised a general guardianship over orphans and fixed prices at taverns besides a host of other mat- ters too numerous to mention.
The authority to license establishments presupposes the right to regulate; and the right to regulate at that time included the right to fix prices. The court at its first meeting licensed one or two ordinaries or taverns, and proceeded to fix rates for liquors, victuals and for-
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THE BEGINNING OF LAW AND ORDER
age for horses. Beer was to be sold for twelve cents a quart, and rye whiskey, cider and apple and peach brandy were the same for one-half pint. A warm break- fast cost nine pence, or eighteen cents, a warm dinner, one shilling, or twenty-four cents and a warm supper nine pence. A bed for one night with clean sheets was four pence (eight cents). The custom of fixing prices at ordinaries continued for many years after the forma- tion of Lewis County, the schedule of rates being re- vised at intervals.
The assessors who had been appointed by the Har- rison County court had a much easier task than the as- sessor has nowadays. At the June term, 1785, the court entered an order that a list of all the whites and of all the buildings should be taken by the assessors, in order that the court could proceed with the business of laying a levy. The total of the whole county, comprising, with few exceptions, only the valleys of the Tygart's Valley and the West Fork, was 318. John Sleeth, of Hacker's creek, was appointed to make a list of all those residing "from the mouth of Lost creek, upwards, including the whole of the livers in the West Fork settlement." The district included all the territory in Lewis County that was then inhabited, and also the settlements on Lost creek and above West Milford on the river. The whole list is as follows.
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