University of Virginia Library

ATTACK UPON KIRKWOOD'S CABIN.

Early in the spring of this year, a large body of Indians
made an attack upon the settlement at the mouth of Indian
Wheeling creek, opposite Wheeling, Virginia. A block-house
was in course of erection, but not in a condition to be occupied;
the cabin of Captain Robert Kirkwood[46] was used as a
place of resort for the neighborhood. On this occasion, Captain
Joseph Biggs, who commanded a company of scouts,
was in the cabin with fourteen of his men. About four
o'clock in the morning, Captain Biggs, feeling restless, arose
and went out into the air. Returning, he closed the door,
and what was unusual, rolled a barrel of pork against it, in
order to make it more secure. He had scarcely time to get

into bed, when the attack was commenced, and a furious
assault made upon the door by means of rails, logs, &c. The
besieged placed themselves under Captain Biggs, by whom
the defence was maintained in a manner highly creditable to
him as a brave and skilful officer. He ordered every particle
of light to be extinguished, and so stationed his men as to fire
upon the enemy from every direction. The night was clear
and beautiful; the moon being nearly full, gave those within
great advantage over the enemy, as they were enabled by the
light, to shoot the savages whenever they presented themselves.
Early in the engagement, Captain Biggs received a
serious wound, but with the courage of a true soldier concealed
the nature of it until day-light. In noticing the
movements of the enemy through one of the windows of the
cabin, an Indian, who had slipped close under the side of the
house, suddenly thrust his rifle through the window at which
Captain Biggs was standing, and discharging it, lodged the
ball in the left arm of the captain, just below the shoulder.
The bone was badly fractured, and parts of it afterwards
came away.

Foiled in their attempt to effect an entrance at the door,
(which had been well secured by puncheons from the floor,)
the savages determined to try the effect of fire; and accordingly
hurled burning fagots upon the roof, which, in a few
minutes, was enveloped in flames. But again they were unsuccessful,
for the whites pushed off the roof. The Indians now
became furious, and commenced piling brush against the sides
of the house, which they fired. At one time that noble little
band thought their fate was sealed, as the flames would often
mount to the top of the walls. With perseverance and caution,
however, they succeeded in subduing the fire, and finally
extinguishing it. This they did first with water, milk, and
such other liquids as could be commanded, and finally with
sand from beneath the cabin floor. Early in the attack,
the mortar was removed from the chinks of the wall, and the
savages having suffered severely from the steady aim of the

scouts through these convenient port-holes, retired behind the
half-finished block-house.[47]

Shortly before day-break, the boom of a cannon was heard
echoing among the hills, which the besieged hailed as the
harbinger of help. The firing had been heard at Wheeling,
and the gun announced that assistance would soon be at
hand. The savages, too, understood it, and without delay
gathered up their wounded and disappeared in the forest. Five
of the whites were severely wounded, one mortally. These
were, Captain Joseph Biggs, John Walker, Elijah Hedges,
John Barrett, and Joseph Van Meter. Walker was shot
through the hip, severing the urethra, and causing his death
early next day. He was removed to the residence of Colonel
Zane, Wheeling, where he died, and was buried with military
honors. A coat belonging to some of the inmates, which had
been suspended by the centre-log, and was left hanging after
the roof had been thrown off, was found, on examination, to
be completely riddled with bullets. The number of Indians
was never fully ascertained, nor the extent of their killed
and wounded. They were supposed to have been the same
concerned in the engagement with Captain Van Buskirk's
company at the mouth of Brush run, an account of which is
elsewhere given.