USA > Wyoming > Wyoming; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures > Part 19
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of his strong speeches in its support, and it became a law. The bill provided that one mile square of the reserve, embracing the house and improvements of Frances Slocum, should be granted in fee to her and her heirs forever. She remembered the kindness, and went down to the grave, in a goodly old age, with the gratitude of a warm heart, and wishing many blessings upon her good brother.
LAST DAYS OF FRANCES SLOCUM ..
The Miamis had removed West, in accordance with the policy of the government. Frances Slocum was surrounded by white settlers, of whom she naturally entertained suspicions which were not calculated to promote the comfort and quiet of her latter days. She was, in fact, suspicious that she and her family might at last be robbed of the home to which the govern- ment had given them a title. She sent word to her brother Joseph to come and protect her from the frauds which she apprehended were likely to be practiced upon her. As the best that could be done for her, a son of Isaac Slocum took charge of her business. But all her old associates were gone, and a new order of things was established around her. Despairing of the return of the scenes of the past, she sighed for release from the associations and vices of civilization. Con- trasting the freedom and the romance of savage life with the thirst of gain and the overreaching policy of a white frontier settlement, she thought she had truly fallen upon evil times, and was really weary of life. The prestige of her character and her name had de- parted with her tribe, and she was looked upon simply as a favored old Indian woman, whose claims to equal rights with her white neighbors were entitled to very little respect.
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FRANCES SLOCUM.
During her last sickness, which was brief, Frances Slocum refused all medical aid, declaring that, as her people were gone, and she was surrounded by stran- gers, she wished to live no longer. She departed this life March 9th, 1847. She had Christian burial, a prayer being made at her house, and her remains con- ducted to the grave by a clergyman. Her daughter, the wife of Captain Brouriette, overcome with toil and grief, followed her mother to the Spirit-land four days subsequently.
Frances Slocum sleeps upon a beautiful knoll near the confluence of the Missisinewa and the Wabash, by the side of her chief and her children, where her ash- es will rest in peace until the morning of the resur- rection. The tenacity with which she clung to that spot, and her obstinate refusal to leave it for the asso- ciation of civil society, is one of the prominent facts in her wonderful story.
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IX.
QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK.
THIS celebrated rock is situated east of a direct line between the monument and the site of Fort Winter- moot, on the brow of the high, steep bank which is supposed to have been the ancient bank of the river.
The rock is a boulder, and is a sort of conglomerate, principally composed of quartz. It rises about eight. een inches above the surface of the ground. A por- tion of this rock is of a reddish color, which some have been credulous enough to believe to be a blood-stain; hence the name of "Bloody Rock," by which it is known in the neighborhood. This stain-like that, with equal credulity, which is supposed to have been made by the blood of Rizzio upon the floor of Holyrood Palace-is believed to be judicially and miraculously
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QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK.
indelible. We need not say that this is a mere fancy, while it is an undoubted historical fact that blood was spilled upon this rock.
Perhaps the night after the battle, sixteen prisoners were arranged in a circle around the rock in question, to be sacrificed by Queen Esther to the manes of a son who had been killed by a scouting-party before the battle. According to a usage of savage warfare, it was the right, if not, indeed, the duty of the old queen to take sweet vengeance upon the prisoners which had fallen into her hands for the loss of her son. Armed with a death-mall and hatchet, she now as- sumes the office of executioner, according to the most approved Indian forms. The prisoners, one after an-
other, were seated upon the rock, held by two strong Indians, while the priestess of the bloody rites which were performed upon that fatal altar chanted a savage dirge or Indian war-song, and raising the death-mall with both hands, dashed out the brains of the helpless victim, or with one hand buried her hatchet in his skull.
This was a terrible tragedy, but we are happy to know that there was one relieving circumstance con- nected with it. There were two men in that devoted circle possessed of strong will, iron nerve, and almost lightning agility. Lebbeus Hammond and Joseph El- liott were near each other, and their turn was about to come. Eleven had been sacrificed, and Hammond's brother was seated upon the rock, and the ceremony was proceeding: Hammond's soul was stirred to the very bottom. As all eyes were fixed upon the bloody tragedy, Hammond, in a low tone, muttered, "Let's try." In an instant they were both free: they had taken their keepers by surprise. With a sudden jerk
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and spring the bloodhounds that held them were shaken off, and, like two wild deer, they bounded down the bank. They expected to be shot dead, but such was the confusion of the moment that the Indians simply trusted to their legs. Elliott, in relating the story to a friend who related it to us, said he was surprised that they were not fired upon. Their line of flight di- verged, a circumstance which the Indians did not ob- serve. Hammond steered up the river, and, glancing his eye over his shoulder, he discovered that the In- dians were shaping their course with the expectation of intercepting the fugitives in the direction of Forty Fort. He then turned still more directly up stream. He had, however, not proceeded far before a root caught his toe, and he was plunged headlong down the bank under a tree-top with thick foliage, where he immediately judged that he was more secure than he would be upon the run.
When the Indians returned from the pursuit of El- liott, they scoured the hill side in search of Hammond. As they were peeping here and there among the brush and old logs, he tried to hold his breath and to keep his heart still, but in spite of him his breathing seemed to amount to a roar, and the beating of his heart to be like the pounding of a beetle. Once he thought they saw him, and for a moment his heart sunk. He was soon measurably relieved by observing that the In- dians seemed to give up the pursuit as hopeless, and directed their course toward the fatal rock.
Hammond remained in his concealment until all was still, and then swam the river, crossing Monocasy Island, and found his way to the fort at Wilkesbarre. There he found his friend Elliott, who had swum the river to the bar on the lower point of Monocasy Isl-
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QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK.
and, as he thought, all the distance under water. When rising above the water, he received a shot in his shoul- der which seriously disabled him. On reaching the opposite side of the river he providentially found a horse, which he managed to ride, using the bark of a hickory sapling for a bridle. Here Dr. Smith dressed his wound, and the next morning he went down the riv- er, with his wife and child, in a canoe managed by a lad, and found sympathy among kind friends at Catawissa. These two brave fellows lived long to enjoy their well- earned reputation for good conduct under the most ap- palling circumstances.
It has been made a question whether indeed Queen Esther was the savage executioner of the prisoners at "Bloody Rock," and there are some circumstances which would really seem to militate against such a sup- position. Her strong expressions in favor of peace to Esquire Sutton and Colonel Jenkins, and the deep sym- pathies for the settlers which she manifested when visit- ed at her camp by Mrs. Bennet but a short time before seem to indicate a degree of civilization and a spirit of humanity which would render improbable the part at- tributed to her in the awful tragedy at Bloody Rock. In addition to all this, Colonel Stone considers "the statement improbable" upon more general grounds. He says, "Catharine Montour, sometimes called Queen Esther, was a half-breed, who had been well educated in Canada. Her reputed father was one of the French governors of that province when appertaining to the crown of France, and she herself was a lady of com- parative refinement. She was much caressed in Phil- adelphia, and mingled in the best society; hence the remotest belief can not be entertained that she was the Hecate of that fell night."
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All this seems very fair, but it is not only against the best established traditions of the times, but the clearest testimony of contemporaries. Colonels Deni- son and Franklin and Mrs. Myers agree in sanction- ing "the statement." Mr. Miner represents Queen Esther as entering Forty Fort at the head of the In- dian warriors. She here met Colonel Denison, and, drawling out his name, she insultingly said, "Colonel Denison, you told me to bring more Indians ; see here, I have brought you all these." "Be silent," said Col- onel Butler; " women should be seen, but not heard."
The historian of Tryon County, Hon. William W. Campbell, says, "Catrina Montour, who might well be termed a fury, acted a conspicuous part in this tragedy. She followed in the train of the victorious army, ran- sacking the heaps of the slain, and, with her arms cov- ered with gore, barbarously murdering the wounded, who in vain supplicated for their lives."-See Border Warfare of New York, p. 305.
Another illustration is given by Mr. Campbell of the character of this woman. One of her sons made Mr. Cannon a prisoner on the destruction of Cherry Valley. He was an old man, and was severely wounded with a musket ball. When Kate Montour saw him she fell into a rage, and reproached her son for his humanity. " Why," said she, " did you bring that old man a pris- oner? Why did you not kill him when you first took him ?"-Ibid., p. 219.
Elliott and Hammond lived long after the conclu- sion of the war. They received a pension from-the government, and were universally considered men of honor and veracity. These men, who so narrowly es- caped the death-mall or the hatchet-who witnessed a portion of the bloody ceremonies which Queen Esther
QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK. . 289
is charged in the popular belief of the times with hav- ing performed with her own hands, give their sanction to the common opinion. These facts are not casily disposed of. The name of the supposed "Hecate of that fell night" being " Catharine Montour"-her be- ing "a half-breed"-her having been "educated in Canada"-her "refinement"-her having been " ca- ressed in Philadelphia," and "mingling in the best so- ciety" there in 1744, may have furnished ground of doubt with regard to the truth of the story of " Bloody Rock" to the mind of Colonel Stone, but to minds less predisposed to vindicate the Indian character from the charge of inhuman cruelties, will do but little toward unsettling the best established traditionary belief and the positive statements of contemporaries, and even of eye-witnesses.
The history of "Kate Montour," as a whole, fur- nishes no evidence of the improbability of the story of " Bloody Rock." Indeed, her savage nature exhib- ited itself on other occasions in a manner which proves but too clearly that it had not all been eradicated by the refined education which she received "in Canada." -See Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. i., p. 358.
The horror in which this same "Catharine Mon- tour" was held is seen in the treatment which she re- ceived from Colonels Hartley and Butler, and General Sullivan. In October, after the Wyoming massacre, Colonel Hartley, of the Pennsylvania line, joined Colo- nel Z. Butler, and they proceeded with 130 men to Sheshequin, where they met the Indians in a battle, burned the Indian settlement, and destroyed Queen Esther's palace, and laid waste her plantation. And when General Sullivan proceeded to the Lake country,
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the first town he ordered destroyed was Catharine, at the head of the Seneca Lake, the town which was named in honor of Catharine Montour, and in which she resided. These proceedings seem consonant with the idea that Catharine Montour deserved special chas- tisement.
It is not doubted but that this " half-breed" woman, uninfluenced by the war spirit, had amiable qualities, 'and a certain polish in her manners. But the sound of the battle and the sight of human gore aroused the demon within her. She who " shed tears" at the pros- pect of war, when it began to rage entered into its spirit. She had lost a son in the expedition, and she must avenge his death, or, in the estimation of her peo- ple, be " no good squaw." Her feelings of resentment and her reputation with the Indians united to urge her on, if, indeed, she needed any urging, to acts of savage barbarity. Then, if she had not been predisposed to take a part in the murder and plunder of the settlers, why was she on hand at all ? Her age, if no other rea- son-for she must have been near eighty-would have justified her remaining at home, instead of following Butler and his Indians and Tories in a murderous on- slaught upon a defenseless settlement.
Upon the whole, we see no good reason for doubt- ing the part attributed to Catharine Montour, or Queen Esther, in the affair of Bloody Rock, in the popular traditions of Wyoming. A little examination into her character will explain the mystery of her being, under some circumstances, almost a saint, and under others a very fiend.
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THE BENNETS AND HAMMOND.
X.
CAPTIVITY AND ESCAPE OF THOMAS AND ANDREW BENNET AND LEBBEUS HAMMOND.
" Near where Meshoppen meets our river, When in the quiet night Through trees we saw the star-beams quiver, We nerved us for the fight.
Where stood the arms we quickly drew, No gentle blows to strike or die ;
Two wounded fled, the rest we slew, In ghastly death we saw them lie :
E'en now I see them glare, as in cold death they lic." Susquehanna, an unpublished Poem.
IN 1779 General Sullivan had pursued the Indians with the scourge of war, and driven them west of the Genesee River. Colonel John Butler and Brant had been worsted at every point, and had fled to Niagara. It was obvious enough to the fierce braves that it was in vain to attempt to meet the Americans in force in the open field, but they shrewdly concluded to take vengeance upon them by visiting their settlements in small parties, and by stealthy approaches to take property and prisoners, or murder and scalp, as the case might be. They consequently, in small gangs, followed down General Sullivan upon the very heels of his army, and he had no sooner disposed the garri- son at Wilkesbarre, and crossed the mountain with his army, than the work of plunder and murder was resumed on the north and the west branches of the Susquehanna and on the Delaware. In some instances these parties were fearfully successful, and in others they met with a terrible retribution.
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WYOMING.
The following is a true account, communicated by the parties engaged, of one of these savage expeditions, and the tragedy with which it wound up.
On the 27th of March, 1780, Thomas Bennet, with his son Andrew, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years of age, commenced plowing on the flats on land now owned by Elijah Shoemaker, of Kingston. They took their guns with them, and tried to shoot some ducks in the river. Hiding their guns, they commenced their work. Their team consisted of a yoke of oxen and a horse, the boy riding the horse. They had been watched by four Indians, who stole up to the place where the guns were concealed and broke them. They then sprang upon Mr. Bennet and his son, and hurried them away.
On the same morning, Lebbeus Hammond had left Wilkesbarre in pursuit of a fine horse, which he found on a place he had occupied a few miles up the river, on the west side. He made a bridle of hickory withes, and was proceeding homeward, when he saw moccasin tracks. He was much alarmed, and expected every minute to be fired upon. All at once two Indians leaped from the bushes, and one seized his horse, while the other pulled him off. After a brief consultation in Indian, which Hammond did not understand, they led him a short distance into the woods and pinioned his arms, and then tied him to a tree. In this situa- tion they left him for about an hour, when they re- turned with four others, having Bennet and his son as prisoners. Their greetings were such as might have been expected. Hammond had made an almost mi- raculous escape from "Bloody Rock," and Bennet was a notorious patriot, and their prospects now were any thing but agreeable.
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THE BENNETS AND HAMMOND.
An Indian mounted Hammond's horse, but when they came to the marsh, which lies between the river and the mountain, he ran the horse into the mire and left him there. The Indians hurried on with their prisoners over the mountain, and lodged that night near the foot' of " Cummings's Pond," in what is now Northmoreland. The Indians evidently did not know the prisoners, for they left them unbound; and Bennet was for attempting to escape, but Hammond thought it not possible to succeed, and the idea was given up. The next day they proceeded on to Bowman's Creek, and when they came into "the green woods" they found the snow " waistband deep." Of course it was laborious traveling, especially for a man of years like Mr. Bennet. But the party pushed on, and made what progress they could. Occasionally one of the Indians would yell horribly, as though he wished to attract the attention of another party. At length they met a party of about forty Indians, commanded by a white man-a Tory, of course. An old Indian belonging to the party sung out, " Ah! old Bennet; I'd rather see your scalp."
Some of the Indians fell back and held a council, while the Tory asked Bennet many questions with re- gard to the situation of the fort, the number of fight- ing men, the number of inhabitants in the settlement, and the like. He was told that there were three hund- red fighting men in the fort, that they were well armed and provisioned, and that they had cannon, and that the settlers had all taken refuge there. They then concluded to strike the river below the fort. They divided their company into three parties, and com- mitted various outrages, some of which will be noticed in another connection. Before the two parties sep-
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WYOMING.
arated, an Indian went up to a burnt stump and black- ened his face, and coming up to Mr. Bennet, he directed his attention to his face, with the significant sentence, " Ho! Bennet." The movement was well understood. One of the party of Indians which they met joined their party, which made seven.
That night the prisoners were pappoosed, that is, fast- ened down with poles laid across them, with an Indian on each end of the poles. The prisoners had as yet little or nothing to eat, and were heavily burdened with the luggage belonging to the Indians. Of course, they were worn down, and nearly ready to give up and die. The next day-the third day of their cap- tivity-Mr. Bennet accidentally pulled a button from his coat, and put it in his pocket. They were now searched, and the button being found, Bennet asked for it, saying he wished to put it on again. The In- dian flung it away, saying, "Fool, Bennet; only one day more. You die at Wyallusing." That day the Indians hunted for deer, and starting one, left the pris- oners a few rods behind, and gave them an opportuni- ty to consult. Bennet said to Hammond, "We must rise upon them to-night." "It will be a great under- taking," said Hammond, "but it may be our last chance." "They will kill me," answered Bennet, "and I know not with what cruel tortures. It may be we shall succeed, and if we do we will again return to our families; but if I am to die, I will sell my life as dearly as possible." In the consultation the boy said little, but thought much. In his heart he said with Percy,
" I tender you my service,
Such as it is, being tender, raw, and young, Which elder days shall ripen and confirm
To more approved service and desert."
-- -
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THE BENNETS AND HAMMOND.
How he acted his part will appear as the story pro- ceeds. The arrangement was made by the time the deer was taken, and the party proceeded to cross the river. They came up to the Meshappen, which was much swollen by the melted snow, and before they could venture to wade the stream they went up two or three miles.
Having crossed the creek, and descended to the place of encampment near the Susquehanna, they built a fire under a shelving rock. While the Indians were seated around the fire, roasting and eating the meat of the deer, the leader of the party entered into conversation with Mr. Hammond. He spoke tolera- ble English, and seemed particularly free and commu- nicative. He said he had expected to meet a large company of Indians at that place, but he supposed they had encamped farther up the river. He then asked him various questions about the war. Would there be peace? Did the white men wish to make peace with the red men ? He had been told so. Did he know Lieutenant Boyd? Hammond said he was intimately acquainted with him. In September Boyd had been sent out with a reconnoitring party by Gen- eral Sullivan, in Genesee, and had been surrounded by a superior force, taken, and most barbarously tortured. The Indian said he led the party that took Boyd, and he further said, " Boyd brave man-as good a soldier as ever fought against the red man." . He said they tortured Boyd, cut off his fingers and toes, plucked out his eyes, etc., "still brave Boyd neither asked for mer- cy nor uttered a complaint." Ah! ".brave Boyd" knew very well the character of the Indians.
"You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main flood bate his usual height ;
-
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WYOMING.
You may as well use question with a wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ; You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven ; You may as well do any thing most hard, As seek to soften that-than which what's harder ? His [Indian] heart." SHAKSPEARE.
He then brought a sword and said, "There Boyd's sword." Hammond took the sword, and discovered the initials of Boyd's name stamped on the blade near the hilt. To the whole tale Hammond listened with- out expressing the slightest emotion, well knowing the consequences of the least manifestation of the indigna- tion which he felt burning in his bosom.
When the Indians were ready to lie down, they pappoosed the prisoners as on the preceding night; then they drew their blankets over their heads and fell into a sound sleep. One only seemed to be on the watch. About midnight Bennet manifested great uneasiness, and asked to get up. He received for answer, "Most day-lie down, dog." He insisted that he was sick, and must get up. About one o'clock the Indians all got up and relieved the prisoners, allowing them to get up and walk about. Bennet brought wood and flung it on the fire. In about two hours all the Indians were snoring again except the old watchman, and he commenced roasting the deer's head, first sticking it in the fire, and then scraping off the meat with his knife and eating it. Finally the old fellow began to nod over his early breakfast. Hammond placed him- self by an Indian axe, and Andrew Bennet, the boy, stood by the guns, which were stacked. Both watched the movements of Mr. Bennet, who was poking up the brands. He had on a long great-coat, and, as he came
LOSSING-BARRITT
SLAUGHTER OF INDIANS BY THE BENNETS AND HAMMOND.
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THE BENNETS AND HAMMOND.
round near the Indian, he cautiously took hold of a spontoon, or war-spear, which lay by his side, and stepped back with the instrument covered by his coat, holding it in a perpendicular position behind him. When he had reached the right point behind the In- dian he plunged it through him. He gave a tremen- dous jump and a hideous yell, and fell upon the fire.
" If death so terrible appear, die thou. With cruel spear he lanced his naked side, Warm streams of blood his arms o'erflow :
His panting bosom heaves with dying sighs, Hard lab'ring to retain departing breath ;
At length he yields ; black darkness veils his eyes, Sealed in eternal sleep of iron death."
SAMUEL WESLEY-Battle of the Frogs and Mice.
The spontoon was so firmly fixed in the body of the Indian that Bennet was obliged to abandon it, and to use a gun and a tomahawk during the rest of the fight. Hammond used the axe, dashing it into the head which was: first lifted. The old Indian who had given the account of Boyd's massacre was the first to take the alarm. He yelled out " Chee-woo ! chee-woo !" when Hammond buried the head of the axe in his brains, and he fell headlong into the fire. The next blow took an Indian on the side of the neck, just below the ear, and he fell upon the fire. The boy snapped three guns, not one of which happened to be loaded, but his operations made the Indians dodge and jump straight under Hammond's axe, or the breech of a gun which old Mr. Bennet had clubbed, and with which he did terrible execution. A stout Indian undertook to se- cure a weapon by a rush upon the boy. He sprang upon him with the fury of a demon, his eyes seeming to blaze, when the brave little fellow swung the breech of a gun, and buried the cock in the top of his head.
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