History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 5

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > West Virginia > Kanawha County > Charleston > History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens > Part 5

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1777 Cornstalk, his son Elenepseco, Red Hawk and another Indian were at Point Pleasant, supposed to have been on a friendly visit to Fort Randolph under command of Capt. Arbuckle, and some Indians killed some white persons near the Fort and the soldiers of the Governor killed all of said Indians. This will be used as an excuse for Indians to continue their bloody work in Virginia. No doubt it was a mistake to kill those pretending to come as friends and in the Fort as such, besides it caused the settlers to suffer so extremely for the wrong.

Colonel Skillem was ordered to march with his Augusta, Botetourt and Greenbrier volun- teers to Point Pleasant, to join forces with Gen- eral Hand, from Fort Pitt, but Hand's forces did not arrive. There has been but little writ- ten about this march. Indians attacked and killed Lieut. Moore and three men near Fort Randolph at Point Pleasant. In 1778 Fort Randolph was besieged by the Indians but they were unable to take it and started up the Kan- awha to find defenceless settlers. Capt. Mc- Kee was in command of the Fort. He called volunteer messengers to warn the settlers of the approach of the Indians. Hammond and Pryor volunteered and went and gave the notice.

An Indian raid subsequently took place into Greenbrier and resulted in the killing of Pryor

and Hugh McIver and the capture of their wives; Henry Baker was also killed; the Brid- ger brothers and old man Monday and his wife, and the wife and children of Thomas Drennon and Mr. Smith were made prisoners. Later William Griffith, wife and daughter, were murdered, and a son taken prisoner. This was the last raid made into Greenbrier.

WHITE MAN'S FORK

The trail of the last raid, showed that there were but two Indians; they were followed by John Young, Ben Morris, William Arbuckle and Robert Aaron. They went up Elk, then up' Little Sandy and their camp was found on a fork of Sandy. They fired on them, killed one and one escaped and the Griffith boy recovered. The one killed proved to be a white man, disguised as an Indian. The creek where this occurred has always since been call- ed "White-Man's Fork" of Aaron Fork, of Little Sandy.

Mr. Carr and his two children were mur- dered on Blue Stone; Thomas Hugh's family captured and some killed in 1782; Thomas Teays captured at the mouth of Coal River, taken in Ohio, condemned to be burned with Col. William Crawford, but was saved by an Indian whom Teays had be friended the year before. This is the first act of gratitude by an Indian that we have come across. 1786 James Moore, Sr., of Abbs Valley made prisoner, two children killed and the others carried off prisoners.

Lewis Tackett was captured by Indians, and on his way to Ohio he was tied to a pine tree at Knob Shoals while his captors went to hunt. A storm came on which wet the buckskin thongs and allowed him to escape. "Tackett's Pine" stood for many years as a landmark. Tackett's Fort was built afterwards at Coal's mouth and afterwards this Fort was attacked and several persons killed.

John and Lewis Tackett and their mother were captured near the Fort. Charles Tackett and John McElheny were the only men in the Fort when captured. Charles was killed, Mc- Elheny and wife, Betsey Tackett, Sam Tackett and a boy made prisoners. McElheny was killed. John Tackett escaped. Lewis and his

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

mother were taken to Ohio and kept two years. John Young was in the Fort but he made his escape with his wife and babe, whom he car- ried to a canoe which he poled up to Clendenin and they were all saved. That babe was Jacob Young, who lived to the age of ninety years, leaving a large family.

Near Point Pleasant the Indians missed the capture of Ben Eulin by his jumping over a cliff fifty feet high, his falling into some pawpaw bushes and grape vines saved his neck. He then made another twelve-foot leap and escaped with his life.

About this time, Capt. John Van Bibber was attacked, near the Point and his daughter, Miss Rhoda, was killed, and Joseph, a younger brother was made a prisoner; he escaped and returned in 1794. It was in 1789 that William Wyatt was killed at mouth of Paint Creek. A party left the Clendenin settlement in a boat going to Maysville, Ky. John May, Jacob Skyles, Charles Johnson and John Flynn, Jr., the son of John Flynn who was murdered on Cabin Creek. At Point Pleasant two sisters, the Misses Fleming from Pittsburg, joined the party. They proceeded down the Ohio and were attacked by Indians. John May was killed, a Miss Fleming also. Skyles was wounded. Johnson, Skyles, Flynn and Miss Fleming were made prisoners. Flynn was burned. Johnson wrote his account of the matter fully.

Mathias Van Bibber and Jacob, his little brother, were fired on by Indians. Mathias was struck in the forehead and slightly wounded but escaped. Jacob was made prisoner and es- caped after two years.

William Carroll and family of Carroll's Branch narrowly escaped being murdered, their home was burned.

The following is the account of the boat party tragedy as detailed in "Johnson's Narratives."

In February, 1790, John May and Charles Johnson started from Petersburg, Va., to Kentucky, by way of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers. They reached the Kana- wha at the mouth of Kelley's Creek, pur- chased a boat and directed some additions and accommodations made, and while wait-

ing thereon, went to Col. George Clenden- in's at the mouth of Elk.

When the boat was ready, Jacob Skiles (or Skyles) joined them. They proceeded to the Ohio river and stopped at Point Pleasant, where they were joined by Will- iam Flinn, Dolly and Peggy Fleming, and they started for Lime Stone, Ky., by way of the Ohio river. Maysville is now known as the place for which the started.

At the mouth of the Scioto, they were hailed by two white men who said they ere escaped prisoners and wanted to get away and go to Kentucky. They landed and were captured by: Indians, and the white men who aided as decoys were De vine and Thomas.

John May and Dolly Fleming were shot and thrown in the river. Flinn was made a prisoner and burned at the stake. Peggy Fleming was redeemed and returned to Pittsburg. Skiles made his escape and got back to his home; he was a surveyor and a large land owner in Kanawha, was re- lated to the Morrises, Rumsey, Barnes fam- ilies, and a sketch of these families is given in the West Virginia Historical Magazine, 1903, page 188.

Charles Johnson was held as a prisoner by the Indians for years and on his return he wrote the "Johnson's Narratives," giv- ing more information of Indian habits, cus- toms and life, than almost any account that had been written, and which is an exceed- ingly interesting book. Mr. Johnson was an ancestor of Mrs. Robert Spillman of Charleston, W. Va. and Mr. Johnson was from Botetourt county, Va. This narra- tive was published in Harper in 1827, and has lately been reprinted by the Burrows Company, Cleveland, Ohio. See also Southern Historical Magazine, 1902, page I39. Hale's Trans-Allegheny Pioneers, 274.

In 1790, Leonard Cooper and William Porter made settlements on Elk: one had Cooper's Creek and the other Porter's Is- land named for them. Squire Staten was killed on his way home from court in Char-

RESIDENCE OF SUPERINTENDENT AND STORE MANAGER, W. VA. COLLIERY CO., WEVACO

WEVACO CHURCHI, W. VA. COL- LIERY CO.

بطعم

W. VA. COLLIERY CO., TIPPLE NO. 1, WEVACO

B STREET LOOKING NORTH FROM MAIN, ST. ALBANS

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

leston at the mouth of a branch called "Staten Run."

James Hale was killed opposite Clen- denin Fort on Hale's Branch. The Indians killed cows on a creek at upper end of the valley and hung their bells on bushes which would ring when the wind blew or when the cows were sent for, and the par- ties were killed. This creek was called "Bell Creek."

1791 Ben Carpenter and wife were killed on Elk. A squad of Indians near Point Pleasant killed Michael See, and Robert Sinclair, Hampton and Northup and See's servants were made prisoners. This ser- vant was son of Dick Painter who helped defend Fort Donnally.

Two daughters of Henry Morris, on Peter's Creek of Gauley were murdered by Indians. They were bringing home the COW'S. Morris made all Indians that he came across suffer for this in after years.

The Misses Tyler were captured at Point Pleasant, the savages using cow bells to deceive them.

John Wheeler, wife and four children were killed in 1792 opposite the mouth of Cabin Creek; and Shadrack Harriman liv- ing at the lower Venable Branch, two miles above Charleston, was killed by Indians in 1794 and is said to have been the last man killed by Indians in Kanawha Valley.

We do not pretend that we have given all the Indian outrages in Kanawha, and in all that we have found and mentioned, we found one case where an Indian saved a white man ; we also admit one case where the white men did wrong in killing Indians.

We are glad to see the monument to Comstalk at Point Pleasant but it was a small pleasure compared to what we ex- perienced when we viewed the monument erected to General Lewis and his men on the battlefield at that place. There have been many excuses made for the savage, brutal Indians, but in fact, that his nature was what it was, is the only excuse.

The Indian had to be exterminated or the county would have remained unsettled. He could not be permitted to run at large,

any more than bears, wolves and cata- mounts. The only way was to stop his running in any way. Either he had to go, or the white man stay away. This ques- tion had to be decided, and it was decided, and there has never been any appeal al- lowed to the decision.

It has been said that one cause of the Indians' cruelties was the fact that they were always cheated by the Indian traders -made drunk and cheated.

It has been written of the Pennsylvania Indian trader that all this was about the truth as far as the cheating was concerned, and that the trader was as bad as the In- dian. But cheating done at Pittsburg was hardly the excuse for murder and outrage etc., on the Kanawha by Indians from the Scioto.

Indians, like some animals, never become lost: they always knew where they were, knew the creeks and high-ways of the streams. They went in small squads so they could subsist on the country, which a large number could not do.

It may be that the inhabitants of Amer- ica had some rights to the country now known as West Virginia, but their title was very shadowy.

They had no title except by mere claim to it; they had no possessions, no special tribe; no chief, no particular Indian laid claim to it. They had no boundary, noth- ing except the mere claim to it for the pur- pose of hunting thereon and that claim was only sustained by might, which is the same right possessed of a robber, and if a robber can establish title, why not any one?

It may be that the Indian first discovered this territory and claims it under that pre- text, which is but little better than none. The white man discovered it and took pos- session with no one thereon and to yield it simply because the Indian said he wanted it, is not a good ground of right.

To permit the entire territory of America to be held exclusively by some Indians, without government or title or possession, and probably after having sold it two or three times, which sale was not ever recog-

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

nized by other Indians makes the Indian right depend on his gun or his tomahawk.

CORNSTALK

He was said to have been a Shawnee In- dian and was known to have been a Shaw- nee Indian Chief; it was guessed that he was born about 1727 and it may have been a good guess. Some have said that he was born in some Chillicothe town, in Ohio and some have said that he was born in the Kanawha Valley but it is not known that there were Indians in this valley residing at this or a near date thereto; and it might be said that it is not known that there were Indians here, nor known that Cornstalk was not born here at that time. All of which want of information, or ignorance, we must admit. He is also said to have been tutored under Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawas, and may have taken a post-grad- uate course under Killbuck ; but we, in our opinion, think he needed no such educa- tion, but it was born in him and his life work was to murder and kill white people and all he had to do was to develop this inborn proclivity. He is said to have caused great distress and did much murder and destruction on the Virginia side of the Ohio river; that he even went to places under pretext of being friendly and commit- ted the most atrocious outrages.

He has been credited with great military ability; that he managed to collect from the Ohio tribes quite an army, about eleven hundred or more and made ready to meet Governor Lord Dunmore of Virginia, who had sent General Andrew Lewis with eleven hundred men to the mouth of the Kanawha river, and Dunmore was to meet him there and together they would march into Ohio and play Indian awhile on their joint account; but Dunmore went into Ohio a short distance above General Lewis and went into camp, and Cornstalk, instead of attacking Dunmore with the smaller army, passed the Ohio and attacked Lewis, and got defeated and then made peace with Dunmore, which was quite like an Indian and which was better than Dunmore's

treatment of Lewis; but of all this we have elsewhere written.

Unless Cornstalk knew that Dunmore was not going to join Lewis and was not going to aid Lews, nor was going to attack Cornstalk, we can see no great military abil- ity in attacking Lewis first, but if he did know these facts, then he had nothing else to do.

Cornstalk crossed the Ohio river in the night and attacked Lewis early in the morning and was so near that Dunmore heard the battle going on, on October 10, 1774, but took no action and let Cornstalk get back into his own towns. Had Corn- stalk supposed that Dunmore was going to aid Lewis, he did right in attacking one before they had united forces, but it would have been better generalship to have de- feated Dunmore. Mr. John Stuart of Greenbrier says of Cornstalk that he was a great man in war and an eloquent and dis- tinguished man; that in his personal ap- pearance, his gracefulness of manner, strength, influence, he was great. That he moved about among his men encouraging them to be strong and to fight a good fight, and that he would have permitted no cowardice among his men. But he seemed to know that reinforcements were ex- pected, and when he saw the new attack- ing line on his flank, he supposed it was the reinforcements and he permitted his men to drop back and get away from Lewis. His death was not like a warrior's. He went under pretext of giving information that the British emissaries were attempting to induce the Indian to aid them against the Virginians, and because some Indian had just killed a soldier, the other soldiers could not be restrained from killing Corn- stalk, his son and another with him, and they did kill all of the Indians in the fort. These Indians were buried at the fort and a monument was erected a few years ago with the name "Cornstalk" engraved there- on. It was in 1777 that he was killed and the Indians never seemed to have been satisfied thereafter, but committed havoc

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

on the settlements ever after when they dared to try.

For an Indian, Cornstalk may have been a brave warrior, but he was an Indian, and had done much harm to the prisoners and it was not unnatural that they should have put an end to him, even if it was wrong.

In Harris's History of Virginia, Col. John Stuart wrote: "In the year 1777 Cornstalk, with Red Hawk, paid a visit to the garrison at Point Pleasant, and he told them that the British agents were urging the Indians to join them in their war with the Virginians. £ He admitted that the dispositions of the Indians was to unite and give as much trouble to the settlers as pos- sible, but he declared that on his own part he was opposed to joining with the British; that all the Indians except him and his tribe were determined to engage in it and that he and his tribe would have to run with the stream. Capt. Arbuckle thought proper to detain him, Red Hawk and another fellow as hostages to prevent the nation from joining the British.

"Col. Geo. Skillern had agreed to come from Botetourt to Point Pleasant and meet Gen. Hand and go to Ohio and chastise the Indians. The Greenbrier men joined Col. Skillern but did not find Gen. Hand and no preparation for an army. While we were there, two young men, Hamilton and Gil- more, went one day to hunt, as our pro- visions were about out. On their return to camp, some Indians had concealed them- selves on the bank and as Gilmore came along they fired on him and killed him. Capt. Arbuckle and I were standing on the bank when we saw Hamilton run down the bank and called out that Gilmore was killed. Capt. Hall's men jumped into a canoe and went to the relief of Hamilton, who was expecting to be shot. They brought Gil- more's body to the canoe, bloody and scalped, and brought him over in the canoe, and I remarked that the men would kill the hostages, which Arbuckle did not think they would do, but they had hardly touched the bank before the cry was raised "Let us kill the Indians in the fort," and they came

up pale with rage. Capt. Hall was with his men and was their leader. Capt. Arbuckle and I were with them and tried to dissuade them, but they cocked their guns and threatened us with instant death if we did not desist and they rushed by us into the fort and put the Indians to death. "

An interpreter's wife said that the men had said that the men that killed Gilmore had come with Elenippico the day before, but he denied this. Cornstalk told his son that the Great Man Above had sent him to come and die with him. Red Hawk tried to go up the chimney but was shot down."

Cornstalk was undoubtedly a hero, and had he been spared he would have been friendly to the Americans and nothing would have induced him to come to the garrison but to let them know the disposi- tion of the Indians and their purpose to unite with the British, that all the Indians were joining the British.

The Governor of Virginia offered a re- ward for the apprehension of the men that killed him but it was without effect. After the battle of Point Pleasant when he re- turned to the Shawnee town he called a council of the nation to consult what was to be done and to upraid them for not let- ting him make peace before the battle. He told them they would have to fight now, for the "Big Knife" was coming and we will all be killed, but they said nothing. He then proposed that they kill all their women and children and then go and fight till they died, but no one said anything. Then he struck the tomahawk in the post in the center of the town house and said "I'll go and make peace," and this suited them and they sent runters to Governor Dunmore to solicit peace and the interposition of the Governor in their behalf.

He made a speech while in counsel with the Virginians, when he called "Long Knives" and seemed to be impressed with an awful premonition of his approaching fate, when he said: "When I was young and went to war I thought it might be the last time and I would return no more. Now I am here among you, you may kill

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

me if you please; I can die but once and it's all one to me now or another time." This sentence he repeated often and at the end of each sentence of his speech, and he was killed within an hour after the coun- cil closed.

We do not see exactly the purpose of Cornstalk coming to this fort. He admits that all the Indians are going to help the British and he has to go with them. He had led the Indians into Virginia to mur- der and burn and now he expects to begin anew under the auspices and pay of the British. Why was it not best to kill him at once and stop as much of it as possible. If ordinary war is hell, Indian war, with Cornstalk at the head, would be two hells, a pandemonium and a purgatory.

PETITION OF SETTLERS ON THE GREAT KANA- WHA RIVER, IN THE COUNTY OF GREENBRIER, SEPT. 19, 1781 .

From Virginia State Papers, Vol. II, pp. 468-469.

"To His Excellency the Governor, and the Honorable Council of Virginia :

"The petition of sundry inhabitants of the County of Greenbrier, humbly showeth: that during the time a garrison was maintained at Fort Randolph, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha river, your petitioners emboldened by the protection thereof, had taken up and set- tled themselves on sundry plantations on the Great Kanawha, above the said station, which on the withdrawal of the troops stationed at the Fort Randolph aforesaid, they were through fear of the Indians obliged to abandon and leave desolate, to the great loss and detri- ment of your petitioners and to the no less pre- judice of the inhabitants of this county in gen- eral, as they thereby lost a barrier, which in a great measure covered the frontiers. Under these difficulties and hardships have we lain for these three years past, hoping that a peace might come by which we might be permitted to return to our habitations with safety; but the much desired blessing not having arrived and worn out with the hardships we have sus- tained, your petitioners humbly beg leave to inform your Excellency and the Honorable

Council that we are determined to return to the aforesaid habitations, and propose in the first place to erect a station at the mouth of Elk river for the protection of themselves and families and only request of the Government that a lieutenant and thirty (30) men of the militia of Greenbrier county may be stationed there for our assistance. The benefits which station there are so obvious that they need not be mentioned. The finding provision for them will occasion no such difficulty as formerly, as the tax grain annually paid by the inhabitants would accrue to this county in having such a may be applied to their support. As some of the Honorable Council are intimately acquainted with the situation of the place we propose to erect a station and the advantages which would result to this county therefrom, so we purpose- ly omit mention of them and only pray your Excellency and Honorable Council to take our petition into your consideration and we, as we as in duty bound will ever pray.

James Hugart, Samuel Varner, John Os- borne, John Jones, John Patton, Pat- rick Murphy, Charles Gromer, John McCaslin, W. H. Cavendish, William Jones, Charles McClung, Simon Akers. Sam'l McGanaugh, Leonard Cooper, Thos. Teass, John Bellew, William Hu- gart, John Williams, Will Hamilton, James Jarrett, Peter Shoemaker, Jo- seph McClung, Jacob Lockhart, John Rogers, John Archer, William Craige, Charles Howard, Sampson Archer, Leonard Morris, James Smythe, Mich- ael See, Jas. McCay, Thomas Cooper, Richard Williams, Sam'1 McClung, Jas. Jordan, Jas. Patterson, Will Fullerton, John Lewis, Jas. Hugart, Jr., Peter Van Bibber, William Bleak, John Dyer, And. McFarran, Andrew Donnally, Thos. Ellis, John Patterson, William Dyer, John Graham, Spencer Cooper, Jas. Thompson, John Viney, John Van Bib- ber, John Piper, Her. Miller, David Williams, John McFerren, Daniel Mc- Dowell, William Dunn, David McCoy, Jas. Kitchen, Shadrock Hareman, Geo. Malham, Jas. Hewston, Jos. Claypoole, John Harris, Arch Smithers, Jas. Flinn, Thos. Hoof."

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

(This county, at this time, was Greenbrier, but these inhabitants were in the Kanawha Valley.)

CAMPBELL'S CREEK INDIAN LEGEND

About four miles above Elk river this stream pours its turgid spring flood into the Kanawha. In the summer it comes trickling down through a deep, wild, densely wooded gulch; just be- low its mouth, a curious mound juts out from the bank, near this mound are three large trees. Beyond these trees, further up the creek, is a natural open space, giving a free view of the mountain to its very top. On this mountain top stands a gigantic oak, rising up from a thicket of undergrowth.

From no other point in the gulch is this oak visible, but up through this undergrowth, along the edge of the open space and up to this oak is a trail not noticed except to those who are seeking the top of the mountain and start from the points mentioned.

It has been noticed for many ages back, that Indians have been accustomed to make some pilgrimage to this creek and always to this oak on this mountain top by way of this certain trail. No record has ever been kept of the time of their coming, of the number of their coming, from whence they come, nor for the purpose of their coming. In fact, they come in the fall about the time of the first snow, and the number has been noticed to grow less each time; their visit is always made at the full of the moon and after night, so that if they are seen at all, it is only a glimpse.

They make no explanations, they tell no stories and no questions have been answered, if any have been asked, and long before they come again their visit has been forgotten, until again repeated.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 5

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066