 | [121] CHAPTER VII. Chronicles of border warfare, or, A history of the settlement by the whites, of north-western Virginia, and of the Indian wars and massacres in that section of the state |  |
[121] CHAPTER VII.
When information of the hostile deportment of the
Indians was carried to Williamsburg, Col. Charles Lewis
sent a messenger with the intelligence to Capt. John
Stuart, and requesting of him, to apprize the inhabitants
on the Greenbrier river that an immediate war was anticipated,
and to send out scouts to watch the warrior's
paths beyond the settlements. The vigilance and activity
of Capt. Stuart, were exerted with some success, to prevent
the re-exhibition of those scenes which had been
previously witnessed on Muddy creek and in the Big
Levels: but they could not avail to repress them altogether.
In the course of the preceding spring, some few individuals
had begun to make improvements on the Kenhawa
river below the Great Falls; and some land adventurers,
to examine and survey portions of the adjoining country.
To these men Capt. Stuart despatched an express, to inform
them that apprehensions were entertained of immediate
irruptions being made upon the frontiers by the
Indians, and advising them to remove from the position
which they then occupied; as from its exposed situation,
without great vigilance and alertness, they must necessarily
fall a prey to the savages.
When the express arrived at the cabin of Walter
Kelly, twelve miles below the falls, Capt. John Field of
Culpepper (who had been in active service during the
French war, and was then engaged in making surveys,)
was there with a young Scotchman and a negro woman.
Kelly with great prudence, directly sent his family to
Greenbrier, under the care of a younger brother. But
Capt. Field, considering the apprehension as groundless,
determined on remaining with Kelly, who from prudential
motives did not wish to subject himself to observation by
Scotchman and negro, they were not long permitted to
doubt the reality of those dangers, of which they had been
forewarned by Capt Stuart.
[122] Very soon after Kelly's family had left the cabin,
and while yet within hearing of it, a party of Indians approached,
unperceived, near to Kelly and Field, who were
engaged in drawing leather from a tan trough in the yard.
The first intimation which Field had of their approach
was the discharge of several guns and the fall of Kelly.
He then ran briskly towards the house to get possession
of a gun, but recollecting that it was unloaded, he changed
his course, and sprang into a cornfield which screened him
from the observation of the Indians; who, supposing that
he had taken shelter in the cabin, rushed immediately into
it. Here they found the Scotchman and the negro woman,
the latter of whom they killed; and making prisoner of
the young man, returned and scalped Kelly.
When Kelly's family reached the Greenbrier settlement,
they mentioned their fears for the fate of those
whom they had left on the Kenhawa, not doubting but
that the guns which they heard soon after leaving the
house, had been dischaaged at them by Indians. Capt.
Stuart, with a promptitude which must ever command admiration,
exerted himself effectually to raise a volunteer
corps, and proceed to the scene of action, with the view
of ascertaining whether the Indians had been there; and
if they had, and he could meet with them, to endeavor to
punish them for the outrage, and thus prevent the repetition
of similar deeds of violence.
They had not however gone far, before they were met
by Capt. Field, whose appearance of itself fully told the
tale of woe. He had ran upwards of eighty miles, naked
except his shirt, and without food; his body nearly exhausted
by fatigue, anxiety and hunger, and his limbs
greviously lacerated with briers and brush. Captain
them to push immediately for the settlements,
thought proper to return and prepare for that event.
In a few weeks after this another party of Indians
came to the settlement on Muddy creek, and as if a certain
fatality attended the Kelly's, they alone fell victims
to the incursion. As the daughter of Walter Kelly was
walking with her uncle (who had conducted the family
from the Kenhawa) some distance from the house, which
had been converted into a temporary fort, and in which
they lived, they were discovered and fired upon; the latter
was killed and scalped, and the former being overtaken in
her flight, was carried into captivity.
After the murder of Brown, and the taking of Hellen
and Robinson, the inhabitants on the Monongahela and
its upper branches, alarmed for their safety, retired into
forts. But in the ensuing September, as Josiah Pricket
and Mrs. Susan Ox, who had left Pricket's fort for the
purpose of driving up their cows, were returning in the
evening they were way laid by a party of Indians, who
had been drawn to the path by the tinkling of the cowbell.
Pricket was killed and scalped, and Mrs. Ox taken
prisoner.
[123] It was in the course of this season, that Lewis
Wetsel[2]
first gave promise of that daring and discretion,
which were so fully developed in his maturer years, and
which rendered him among the most fortunate and successful
of Indian combatants. When about fourteen years
old, he and his brother Jacob, (still younger) were discovered
who had been prowling through the settlements on the
Ohio river, with the expectation of fortunately meeting
with some opportunity of taking scalps or making prisoners.
As the boys were at some distance from them, and in
a situation too open to admit of their being approached
without perceiving those who should advance towards
them, the Indians determined on shooting the larger one,
lest his greater activity might enable him to escape. A
shot was accordingly discharged at him, which, partially
taking effect and removing a portion of his breast bone, so
far deprived him of his wonted powers, that he was easily
overtaken; and both he and his brother were made prisoners.
The Indians immediately directed their steps
towards their towns, and having travelled about twenty
miles beyond the Ohio river, encamped at the Big Lick,
on the waters of McMahon's creek, on the second night
after they had set off. When they had finished eating,
the Indians laid down, without confining the boys as on
the preceding night, and soon fell to sleep. After making
some little movements to test the soundness of their repose,
Lewis whispered to his brother that he must get up and go
home with him; and after some hesitation on the part of
Jacob, they arose and set off. Upon getting about 100
yards from the camp, Lewis stopped, and telling his
brother to await there, returned to the camp and brought
from thence a pair of mocasons for each of them. He then
observed, that he would again go back and get his father's
gun; this he soon effected, and they then commenced their
journey home. The moon shining brightly, they were
easily able to distinguish the trail which they had made in
going out; but had not however pursued it far, before they
heard the Indians coming in pursuit of them. So soon as
Lewis perceived by the sound of their voices that they
were approaching tolerably near to them, he led his brother
aside from the path, and squatting down, concealed themselves
'till their pursuers had passed them; when they
again commenced travelling and in the rear of the Indians.
Not overtaking the boys as soon as was expected, those
who had been sent after them, began to retrace their steps.
object before them, and when they heard the Indians returning,
again secreted themselves in the bushes, and
escaped observation. They were then followed by two, of
the party who had made them prisoners, on horseback;
but by practising the same stratagem, they eluded them
also; and on the next day reached the Ohio river opposite
to Wheeling. Apprehensive that it would be dangerous
to apprize those on the opposite side of the river of their
situation, by hallooing, Lewis set himself to work as
silently, and yet as expeditiously [124] as possible, and with
the aid of his little brother, soon completed a raft on which
they safely crossed the Ohio; and made their way home.
That persons, should, by going out from the forts,
when the Indians were so generally watching around them,
expose themselves to captivity or death, may at first appear
strange and astonishing. But when the mind reflects on
the tedious and irksome confinement, which they were
compelled to undergo; the absence of the comforts, and
frequently, of the necessaries of life, coupled with an
overweening attachment to the enjoyment of forest
scenes and forest pastimes, it will perhaps be matter
of greater astonishment that they did not more frequently
forego the security of a fortress, for the uncertain
enjoyment of those comforts and necessaries, and
the doubtful gratification of this attachment. Accustomed
as they had been "free to come and free to go,"
they could not brook the restraint under which they
were placed; and rather than chafe and pine in unwilling
confinement, would put themselves at hazard, that they
might revel at large and wanton in the wilderness. Deriving
their sustenance chiefly from the woods, the strong
arm of necessity led many to tempt the perils which environed
them; while to the more chivalric and adventurous
"the danger's self were lure alone." The quiet and stillness
which reigned around, even when the enemy were
lurking nearest and in greater numbers, inspired many
too, with the delusive hope of exemption from risk, not
unfrequently the harbinger of fatal consequences. It
seemed indeed, impracticable at first to realize the existence
until taught by reiterated suffering did they properly appreciate
the perilous situation of those, who ventured
beyond the walls of their forts. But this state of things
was of short duration. The preparations, which were necessary
to be made for the projected campaign into the Indian
country, were completed; and to resist this threatened
invasion, required the concentrated exertions of all their
warriors.
The army destined for this expedition, was composed
of volunteers and militia, chiefly from the counties west
of the Blue ridge, and consisted of two divisions. The
northern division, comprehending the troops, collected in
Frederick, Dunmore,[3]
and the adjacent counties, was to be
commanded by Lord Duhmore, in person;[4]
and the southern,
comprising the different companies raised in Botetourt,
Augusta and the adjoining counties east of the Blue
ridge, was to be led on by Gen. Andrew Lewis. These
two divisions, proceeding by different routes, were to form
a junction at the mouth of the Big Kenhawa, and from
thence penetrate the country north west of the Ohio river,
as far as the season would admit of their going; and destroy
all the Indian towns and villages which they could
reach.
About the first of September, the troops placed under
the command [125] of Gen. Lewis rendezvoused at Camp
Union (now Lewisburg) and consisted of two regiments,
commanded by Col. William Fleming of Botetourt and
Col. Charles Lewis of Augusta, and containing about four
hundred men each. At Camp Union they were joined by
an independent volunteer company under Col. John Field
of Culpepper; a company from Bedford under Capt. Buford
county) under Capts. Evan Shelby and Harbert.
These three latter companies were part of the forces to
be led on by Col. Christian, who was likewise to join the
two main divisions of the army at Point Pleasant, so soon
as the other companies of his regiment could be assembled.
The force under Gen. Lewis, having been thus augmented
to eleven hundred men, commenced its march for the
mouth of Kenhawa on the 11th of September 1774.[5]
From Camp Union to the point proposed for the junction
of the northern and southern divisions of the army,
a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, the intermediate
country was a trackless forest, so rugged and mountainous
as to render the progress of the army, at once,
tedious and laborious. Under the guidance of Capt. Matthew
Arbuckle, they however, succeeded in reaching the
Ohio river after a march of nineteen days; and fixed their
encampment on the point of land immediately between
that river and the Big Kenhawa.[6]
The provisions and
ammunition, transported on packhorses, and the beeves in
droves, arrived soon after.
When the army was preparing to leave Camp Union,
there was for a while some reluctance manifested on the
This proceeded from the fact, that in a former military
service, he had been the senior of Gen. Lewis; and from
the circumstance that the company led on by him were Independent
Volunteers, not raised in pursuance of the orders
of Governor Dunmore, but brought into the field by
his own exertions, after his escape from the Indians at
Kelly's. These circumstances induced him to separate
his men from the main body of the army on its march, and
to take a different way from the one pursued by it,—depending
on his own knowledge of the country to lead
them a practicable route to the river.[7]
While thus detached from the forces under Gen.
Lewis, two of his men (Clay and Coward) who were out
hunting and at some little distance from each other, came
near to where two Indians were concealed. Seeing Clay
only, and supposing him to be alone, one of them fired at
him; and running up to scalp him as he fell, was himself
shot by Coward, who was then about 100 yards off. The
other Indian ran off unarmed, and made his escape. A
bundle of ropes found where Clay was killed, induced the
belief that it was the object of these Indians to steal
horses;—it is not however improbable, that they had been
observing the progress of the army, and endeavoring to
ascertain its numbers. Col. Field, fearing that he might
[126] encounter a party of the enemy in ambush, redoubled
his vigilance 'till he again joined General Lewis;
and the utmost concert and harmony then prevailed in the
whole army.[8]
When the Southern division arrived at Point Pleasant,
Governor Dunmore with the forces under his command,
his failure to form the preconcerted junction at that place,
it was deemed advisable to await that event; as by so
doing, a better opportunity would be afforded to Col.
Christian of coming up, with that portion of the army,
which was then with him.[9] Meanwhile General Lewis, to
learn the cause of the delay of the Northern division, despatched
runners by land, in the direction of Fort Pitt, to
obtain tidings of Lord Dunmore, and to communicate
them to him immediately. In their absence, however, advices
were received from his Lordship, that he had determined
on proceeding across the country, directly to the
Shawanee towns; and ordering General Lewis to cross the
river, march forward and form a junction with him, near
to them. These advices were received on the 9th of October,
and preparations were immediately begun to be made
for the transportation of the troops over the Ohio river.[10]
Early on the morning of Monday the tenth of that
month, two soldiers[11]
left the camp, and proceeded up the
Ohio river, in quest of deer. When they had progressed
about two miles, they unexpectedly came in sight of a
large number of Indians, rising from their encampment,
and who discovering the two hunters fired upon them and
killed one;—the other escaped unhurt, and running briskly
to the camp, communicated the intelligence, "that he had
seen a body of the enemy, covering four acres of ground
as closely as they could stand by the side of each other."
The main part of the army was immediately ordered out
under Colonels Charles Lewis,[12]
and William Fleming; and
having formed into two lines, [127] they proceeded about
four hundred yards, when they met the Indians, and the
action commenced.
At the first onset, Colonel Charles Lewis having fallen,
and Colonel Fleming being wounded, both lines gave way
and were retreating briskly towards the camp, when they
were met by a reinforcement under Colonel Field,[13]
and
rallied. The engagement then became general, and was
sustained with the most obstinate fury on both sides. The
Indians perceiving that the "tug of war" had come, and
determined on affording the Colonial army no chance of
escape, if victory should declare for them, formed a line
extending across the point, from the Ohio to the Kenhawa,
and protected in front, by logs and fallen timber. In this
situation they maintained the contest with unabated vigor,
from sunrise 'till towards the close of evening; bravely
and successfully resisting every charge which was made
on them; and withstanding the impetuosity of every onset,
with the most invincible firmness, until a fortunate movement
on the part of the Virginia troops, decided the day.
Some short distance above the entrance of the Kenhawa
river into Ohio, there is a stream, called Crooked creek,
emptying into the former of these, from the North east,[14]
whose banks are tolerably high, and were then covered
with a thick and luxuriant growth of weeds. Seeing the
impracticability of dislodging the Indians, by the most
vigorous attack, and sensible of the great danger, which
must arise to his army, if the contest were not decided before
night, General Lewis detached the three companies
which were commanded by Captains Isaac Shelby, George
Matthews, and John Stuart, with orders to proceed up the
Kenhawa river, and Crooked creek under cover of the
banks and weeds, 'till they should [128] pass some distance
beyond the enemy; when they were to emerge from
the Indians in their rear.[15] The manœuvre thus
planned, was promptly executed, and gave a decided victory
to the Colonial army. The Indians finding themselves
suddenly and unexpectedly encompassed between
two armies, & not doubting but that in their rear, was the
looked for reinforcement under Colonel Christian, soon
gave way, and about sun down, commenced a precipitate
retreat across the Ohio, to their towns on the Scioto.
Some short time after the battle had ended, Colonel
Christian arrived with the troops which he had collected
in the settlements on the Holstein, and relieved the anxiety
of many who were disposed to believe the retreat of the
again speedily made by them, strengthened and reinforced
by those of the enemy who had been observed during the
engagement, on the opposite side of the Ohio and Kenhawa
rivers. But these had been most probably stationed there,
in anticipation of victory, to prevent the Virginia troops
from effecting a retreat across those rivers, (the only possible
chance of escape, had they been overpowered by the enemy
in their front;) and the loss sustained by the Indians was
too great, and the prospect of a better fortune, too gloomy
and unpromising, for them to enter again into an engagement.
Dispirited by the bloody repulse with which they
had met, they hastened to their towns, better disposed to
purchase security from farther hostilities by negotiation,
than risk another battle with an army whose strength and
prowess, they had already tested; and found superior to
their own. The victory indeed, was decisive, and many
advantages were obtained by it; but they were not cheaply
bought. The Virginia army sustained, in this engagement,
a loss of seventy-five killed, and one hundred and
forty wounded.—About one fifth of the entire number of
the troops.
Among the slain were Colonels Lewis and Field; Captains
Buford, Morrow, Wood, Cundiff, Wilson, and Robert
McClannahan; and Lieutenants Allen, Goldsby and Dillon,
with some other subalterns. The loss of the enemy
could not be ascertained. On the morning after the action,
Colonel Christian marched his men over the battle ground
and found twenty-one of the Indians lying dead; and
twelve others [129] were afterwards discovered, where
they had been attempted to be concealed under some old
logs and brush.[17]
From the great facility with which the Indians either
carry off or conceal their dead, it is always difficult to ascertain
the number of their slain; and hence arises, in
some measure, the disparity between their known loss and
that sustained by their opponents in battle. Other reasons
for this disparity, are to be found in their peculiar mode
of warfare, and in the fact, that they rarely continue a
contest, when it has to be maintained with the loss of their
warriors. It would not be easy otherwise to account for
the circumstance, that even when signally vanquished, the
list of their slain does not, frequently, appear more than
half as great, as that of the victors. In this particular
instance, many of the dead were certainly thrown into
the river.
Nor could the number of the enemy engaged, be ever
ascertained. Their army is known to have been composed
of warriors from the different nations, north of the Ohio;
and to have comprised the flower of the Shawanee, Delaware,
Mingo, Wyandotte and Cayuga tribes; led on by
men, whose names were not unknown to fame,[18]
and at the
head of whom was Cornstalk, Sachem of the Shawanees,
and King of the Northern Confederacy.[19]
This distinguished chief and consummate warrior,
proved himself on that day, to be justly entitled to the
prominent station which he occupied. His plan of alternate
retreat & attack, was well conceived, and occasioned
the principal loss sustained by the writes. If at any time
his warriors were believed to waver, his voice could be
heard above the din of arms, exclaiming in his native
tongue, "Be strong! Be strong;" and when one near him,
by trepidation and reluctance to proceed to the charge,
evinced a dastardly disposition, fearing the example might
have a pernicious influence, with one blow of the tomahawk
he severed his skull. It was perhaps a solitary instance
in which terror predominated. Never did men
exhibit a more conclusive evidence of bravery, in making
a charge, and fortitude in withstanding an onset, than did
these undisciplined soldiers of the forest, in the [130] field
at Point Pleasant. Such too was the good conduct of
those who composed the army of Virginia, on that occasion;
and such the noble bravery of many, that high expectations
Nor were those expectations disappointed. In the various
scenes through which they subsequently passed, the pledge
of after eminence then given, was fully redeemed; and the
names of Shelby, Campbell, Matthews, Fleming, Moore,
and others, their compatriots in arms on the memorable
tenth of October, 1774, have been inscribed in brilliant
characters on the roll of fame.[20]
Having buried the dead, and made every arrangement
of which their situation admitted, for the comfort of the
wounded, entrenchments were thrown up, and the army
commenced its march to form a junction with the northern
division, under Lord Dunmore. Proceeding by the
way of the Salt Licks, General Lewis pressed forward
with astonishing rapidity (considering that the march was
through a trackless desert); but before he had gone far, an
express arrived from Dunmore, with orders to return immediately
to the mouth of the Big Kenhawa. Suspecting
the integrity of his Lordship's motives, and urged by the
advice of his officers generally, General [131] Lewis refused
to obey these orders; and continued to advance 'till
he was met, (at Kilkenny creek, and in sight of an Indian
village, which its inhabitants had just fired and deserted,)
him, that he was negotiating a treaty of peace
which would supersede the necessity of the further movement
of the Southern division, and repeating the order for
its retreat.
The army under General Lewis had endured many
privations and suffered many hardships. They had encountered
a savage enemy in great force, and purchased a
victory with the blood of their friends. When arrived
near to the goal of their anxious wishes, and with nothing
to prevent the accomplishment of the object of the
campaign; they received those orders with evident chagrin;
and did not obey them without murmuring. Having,
at his own request, been introduced severally to the
officers of that division; complimenting them for their
gallantry and good conduct in the late engagement, and
assuring them of his high esteem, Lord Dunmore returned
to his camp; and General Lewis commenced his
retreat.[21]
If before the opening of this campaign, the belief was
prevalent, that to the conduct of emissaries from Great
Britain, because of the contest then waging between her
and her American colonies, the Indian depredations of
that year, were mainly attributable; that belief had become
more general, and had received strong confirmation,
from the more portentous aspect which that contest had
assumed, prior to the battle at Point Pleasant. The destruction
of the tea at Boston had taken place in the
March preceding. The Boston Port Bill, the signal for
actual conflict between the colonies and mother country,
had been received early in May. The house of Burgesses
in Virginia, being in session at the time, recommended
that the first of June, the day on which that
the colony "as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer,
imploring the divine interposition to avert the heavy
calamity which threatened destruction to their civil
rights, and the evils of a civil war." In consequence
of this recommendation and its accompanying resolutions,
the Governor had dissolved the Assembly. The Legislature
of Massachusetts had likewise passed declaratory
resolutions, expressive of their sense of the state of public
affairs and the designs of Parliament; and which led
[132] to their dissolution also. The committee of correspondence
at Boston, had framed and promulgated an
agreement, which induced Governor Gage, to issue a
proclamation, denouncing it as "an unlawful, hostile and
traitorous combination, contrary to the allegiance due to
the King, destructive of the legal authority of Parliament,
and of the peace, good order, and safety of the community;"
and requiring of the magistrates, to apprehend
and bring to trial, all such as should be in any wise guilty
of them. A congress, composed of delegates from the
different colonies, and convened for the purpose "of uniting
and guiding the councils, and directing the efforts of
North America," had opened its session on the 4th of September.
In fine, the various elements of that tempest,
which soon after overspread the thirteen united colonies,
had been already developed, and were rapidly concentrating,
before the orders for the retreat of the Southern division of
the army, were issued by Lord Dunmore. How far these
were dictated by a spirit of hostility to the cause of the
colonies, and of subservience to the interests of Great
Britain, in the approaching contest, may be inferred from
his conduct during the whole campaign; and the course
pursued by him, on his return to the seat of government.
If indeed there existed (as has been supposed,) between
the Indians and the Governor from the time of his arrival
with the Northern Division of the army at Fort Pitt, a
secret and friendly understanding, looking to the almost
certain result of the commotions which were agitating
America, then was the battle at Point Pleasant, virtually
which burst the bonds of British tyranny; and the blood
of Virginia, there nobly shed, was the first blood spilled
in the sacred cause of American liberty.[22]
It has been already seen that Lord Dunmore failed to
form a junction with General Lewis, at the mouth of the
Great Kenhawa, agreeably to the plan for the campaign,
as concerted at Williamsburg by the commanding officer
of each division. No reason for changing the direction of
his march, appears to have been assigned by him; and
others were left to infer his motives, altogether from circumstances.
While at Fort Pitt Lord Dunmore was joined by the
notorious Simon Girty,[23]
who accompanied him from thence
'till the close of the expedition. The subsequent conduct
of this man, his attachment to the side of Great Britain,
in her [133] attempts to fasten the yoke of slavery upon
the necks of the American people,—his withdrawal from
the garrison at Fort Pitt while commissioners were there
for the purpose of concluding a treaty with the Indians,
as was stipulated in the agreement made with them by
Dunmore,—the exerting of his influence over them, to
prevent the chiefs from attending there, and to win them
to the cause of England,—his ultimate joining the savages
in the war which (very much from his instigation,) they
waged against the border settlements, soon after,—the
horrid cruelties, and fiendish tortures inflicted on unfortunate
combined to form an exact counterpart to the subsequent
conduct of Lord Dunmore when exciting the negroes to
join the British standard;—plundering the property of
those who were attached to the cause of liberty,—and applying
the brand of conflagration to the most flourishing
town in Virginia.
At Wheeling, as they were descending the river, the
army delayed some days; and while proceeding from
thence to form a junction with the division under general
Lewis, was joined, near the mouth of the Little Kenhawa,
by the noted John Connoly, of great fame as a tory.
Of this man, Lord Dunmore thence forward became
an intimate associate; and while encamped at the mouth
of Hock Hocking—seemed to make him his confidential
adviser. It was here too, only seventy miles distant from
the head quarters of General Lewis, that it was determined
to leave the boats and canoes and proceed by land to the
Chilicothe towns.[24]
The messengers, despatched by Lord Dunmore to apprize
the lower army of this change of determination, were
Indian traders; one of whom being asked, if he supposed
the Indians would venture to give battle to the superior
force of the whites, replied that they certainly would, and
This was on the day previous to the engagement. On the
return of these men, on the evening of the same day, they
must have seen the Indian army which made the attack on
the next morning; and the belief was general on the day
of battle, that they had communicated to the Indians, the
present strength and expected reinforcement of the southern
division. It has also been said that on the evening of
the 10th of October, while [134] Dunmore, Connoly and
one or two others were walking together, his Lordship
remarked "by this time General Lewis has warm work."[26]
The acquaintance formed by the Governor with Connoly,
in the ensuing summer was further continued, and at
length ripened into one of the most iniquitous conspiracies,
that ever disgraced civilized man.
In July, 1775, Connoly presented himself to Lord
Dunmore with proposals, well calculated to gain the favor
of the exasperated Governor, and between them a plan
was soon formed, which seemed to promise the most certain
success. Assurances of ample rewards from Lord
Dunmore, were transmitted to such officers of the militia
on the frontiers of Virginia, as were believed to be friendly
to the royal cause, on putting themselves under the command
of Connoly; whose influence with the Indians, was
To perfect this scheme, it was necessary to communicate
with General Gage; and about the middle of September,
Connoly, with despatches from Dunmore, set off for Boston,
and in the course of a few weeks returned, with instructions
from the Governor of Massachusetts, which developed
their whole plan. Connoly was invested with the
rank of Colonel of a regiment, (to be raised among those
on the frontiers, who favored the cause of Great Britain,)
with which he was to proceed forthwith to Detroit, where
he was to receive a considerable reinforcement, and be supplied
with cannon, muskets and ammunition. He was
then to visit the different Indian nations, enlist them in
the projected enterprise, and rendezvous his whole force
at Fort Pitt. From thence he was to cross the Alleghany
mountain, and marching through Virginia join Lord Dunmore,
on the 20th of the ensuing April, at Alexandria.
This scheme, (the execution of which would at once,
have laid waste a considerable portion of Virginia, and
ultimately perhaps, nearly the whole state,) was frustrated
by the taking of Connoly, and all the particulars of it,
made known. This development, served to shew the villainous
connexion existing between Dunmore and Connoly,
and to corroborate the suspicion of General Lewis and
many of his officers, that the conduct of the former, during
the campaign of 1774, was [135] dictated by any thing
else than the interest and well being of the colony of
Virginia.
This suspicion was farther strengthened by the readiness
with which Lord Dunmore embraced the overtures
of peace, and the terms on which a treaty was concluded
with them; while the encamping of his army, without entrenchments,
in the heart of the Indian country, and in
the immediate adjacency of the combined forces of the
Indian nations of Ohio, would indicate, that there must
have been a friendly understanding between him and
them. To have relied solely on the bravery and good
conduct of his troops, would have been the height of imprudence.
His army was less than that, which had been
scarcely delivered from the fury of a body of savages inferior
had to contend; and it would have been folly in him to
suppose, that he could achieve with a smaller force, what
required the utmost exertions of General Lewis and his
brave officers, to effect with a greater one.[27]
When the Northern division of the army resumed its
march for Chilicothe, it left the greater part of its provisions
in a block house which had been erected during its
stay at the mouth of the Hockhocking, under the care of
Captain Froman with a small party of troops to garrison
it. On the third day after it left Fort Gore (the block
house at the mouth of Hockhocking) a white man by the
name of Elliott came to Governor Dunmore, with a request
from the Indians that he would withdraw the army
from their country, and appoint commissioners to meet
their chiefs at Pittsburg to confer about the terms of a
treaty. To this request a reply was given, that the Governor
was well inclined to make peace, and was willing
that hostilities should cease; but as he was then so near
their towns, and all the chiefs of the different nations
were at that time with the army, it would be more conconvenient
to negotiate then, than at a future period. He
then named a place at which he would encamp, and listen
to their proposals; and immediately despatched a courier
to General Lewis with orders for his return.[28]
The Indian spies reporting that General Lewis had
disregarded these orders, and was still marching rapidly
towards their towns, the Indians became apprehensive of
the result; and one of their chiefs (the White Eyes)
waited on Lord Dunmore in person, and complained that
the "Long Knives" [136] were coming upon them and
would destroy all their towns. Dunmore then, in company
with White Eyes, visited the camp of General Lewis,
and prevailed with him, as we have seen, to return across
the Ohio.
In a few days after this, the Northern division of the
army approached within eight miles of Chilicothe, and encamped
on the plain, at the place appointed for the chiefs
to meet without entrenchments or breast works, or any
protection, save the vigilance of the sentinels and the
bravery of the troops.[29]
On the third day from the halting
of the army eight chiefs, with Cornstalk at their head,
came into camp; and when the interpreters made known
who Cornstalk was, Lord Dunmore addressed them, and
from a written memorandum, recited the various infractions,
on the part of the Indians, of former treaties, and
different murders, unprovokedly committed by them. To
all this Cornstalk replied, mixing a good deal of recrimination
with the defence of his red brethren; and when he
different nations should come in, and proceed to the negotiation
of a treaty.
Before the arrival of that period, Cornstalk came
alone to the camp, and acquainted the Governor that none
of the Mingoes would attend; and that he was apprehensive
there could not a full council be convened. Dunmore
then requested that he would convoke as many chiefs of
the other nations as he could, and bring them to the council
fire without delay, as he was anxious to close the war
at once; and that if this could not be effected peaceably,
he should be forced to resume hostilities. Meantime two
interpreters were despatched to Logan,[30]
by Lord Dunmore,
requesting his attendance;—but Logan replied, that "he
was a warrior, not a councillor, and would not come."[31]
On the night after the return of the interpreters to
camp [137] Charlotte (the name of Dunmore's encampment,)
left the main army about midnight, on an excursion
against a small Mingo village, not far off. Arriving there
before day, the detachment surrounded the town; and on
the first coming out of the Indians from their huts, there
was some little firing on the part of the whites, by which
one squaw and a man were killed—the others about 20 in
number were all made prisoners and taken to the camp;
where they remained until the conclusion of a treaty.
Every thing about the village, indicated an intention of
their speedily deserting it.[32]
Shortly after Cornstalk and two other chiefs, made
their appearance at camp Charlotte, and entered into a negotiation
which soon terminated in an agreement to forbear
all farther hostilities against each other,—to give up
the prisoners then held by them, and to attend at Pittsburgh,
with as many of the Indian chiefs as could be prevailed
on to meet the commissioners from Virginia, in the
ensuing summer, where a treaty was to be concluded and
ratified—Dunmore requiring hostages, to guarantee the
performance of those stipulations, on the part of the Indians.
If in the battle at Point Pleasant, Cornstalk manifested
the bravery and generalship of a mighty captain;
in the negotiations at camp Charlotte, he displayed the
skill of a statesman, joined to powers of oratory, rarely,
if ever surpassed. With the most patriotic devotion to
his country, and in a strain of most commanding eloquence,
he recapitulated the accumulated wrongs, which
had oppressed their fathers, and which were oppressing
them. Sketching in lively colours, the once happy and
powerful condition of the Indians, he placed in striking
Exclaiming against the perfidiousness of the whites, and
the dishonesty of the traders, he proposed as the basis of
a treaty, that no persons should be permitted to carry on a
commerce with the Natives, for individual profit; but that
[138] their white brother should send them such articles
as they needed, by the hands of honest men, who were
to exchange them at a fair price, for their skins and furs;
and that no spirit of any kind should be sent among them,
as from the "fire water" of the whites, proceeded evil to
the Indians.[33]
This truly great man, is said to have been opposed to
the war from its commencement; and to have proposed
on the eve of the battle at Point Pleasant, to send in a
flag, and make overtures for peace; but this proposal was
overruled by the general voice of the chiefs. When a
council was first held after the defeat of the Indians, Cornstalk,
reminding them of their late ill success, and that
the Long Knives were still pressing on them, asked what
should be then done. But no one answered. Rising
again, he proposed that the women and children should
be all killed; and that the warriors should go out and
fight, until they too were slain. Still no one answered.
Then, said he, striking his tomahawk into the council
post, "I will go and make peace." This was done, and
the war of 1774 concluded.
He is said to have committed some offence, in the upper part of
South Carolina, which rendered him obnoxious to the laws of that
colony, and to evade the punishment for which, he had fled to the
wilderness and taken up his abode in it.
Lewis Wetzel, the son of a German settler on Wheeling Creek, some
fourteen miles above its mouth, was born about 1764. He and his brothers
Martin, Jacob, John, and George became famous in border warfare
after the close of the Revolution; the annals of the frontier abound in
tales of their hardy achievements. Martin and Lewis were the heroes
of most remarkable escapes from Indian captivity; John was also famous
as an Indian fighter; and Jacob's name will ever be connected with the
exploits of that other great border scout, Simon Kenton. But of all the
brothers, Lewis achieved the widest celebrity, and two biographies of
him have been published: by Cecil B. Hartley (Phila., 1860), and by
R. C. V. Meyers (Phila., 1883).—R. G. T.
The northern wing was composed of men from Frederick, Berkeley,
and Dunmore (afterwards Shenandoah) counties, and Col. Adam
Stephen was placed in command. With this wing went Lord Dunmore
and Major John Connolly. Counting the forces already in the field under
Maj. Angus McDonald and Capt. William Crawford, this levy numbered
some twelve hundred men. Among them, as scouts, were George
Roger Clark, Simon Kenton, and Michael Cresap.—R. G. T.
Lewis was colonel of the militia of Botetourt county. Camp
Union (so called because several bodies of troops met there) was on the
Big Savannah or Great Levels of Greenbrier River; the town of Lewisburg
now occupies the site.
In Dunmore's letter to Andrew Lewis, dated July 12, he directed
him to raise a sufficient body of men, and proceeding to the mouth of the
Great Kanawha there erect a fort; if he deemed best he was to cross
the Ohio, proceed directly to the Indian towns, and destroy their crops
and supplies; in any event he was to keep communication open between
Fort Wheeling and Fort Dunmore (Pittsburg). It is evident that his
lordship then contemplated no separate expedition of his own, for he
talks of sending Major Angus McDonald's party and a new levy to Lewis's
assistance. But he changed his mind, and August 30 wrote to Lewis
directing that the latter meet him at the mouth of the Little Kanawha.
Lewis replied through Col. William Preston that it was now too late to
change his plans; he should proceed at once with the levy just summoned,
to the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and there await further
orders.—R. G. T.
This cape was called Point Pleasant, and is now occupied by the
West Virginia town of that name.—R. G. T.
This is misleading. On September 6, Col. Charles Lewis, with his
Augusta troops, numbering about six hundred, were detached to proceed
to the mouth of the Elk, and there make canoes for transporting the
supplies to the mouth of the Great Kanawha. This body had in charge
a drove of 108 beef cattle, and 400 pack-horses laden with 54,000 lbs. of
flour. Field's company soon followed this advance.—R. G. T.
Saturday, the 10th, Clay and Coward were sent out to hunt deer
for Field's company, on the banks of the Little Meadow. Then occurred
the incident related by Withers. The Indian who escaped, hurried on
to the Shawnee towns and gave them their first notice of the approach of
the army. Alarmed at this incident, Field hurried and caught up with
the advance under Charles Lewis. The text reads as though he had
hastened back to Andrew Lewis, who had not yet left Camp Union.—
R. G. T.
Col. Andrew Lewis marched out of Camp Union the 12th, with
about 450 men. These consisted of Fleming's Botetourt troops, three
companies of Fincastle men under Capts. Evan Shelby, William Herbert,
and William Russell, the Bedford men under Thomas Buford, and
Dunmore men under Slaughter. They had with them 200 pack-horses
laden with flour, and the remainder of the beeves. Col. William
Christian, who arrived at Camp Union the day Andrew Lewis left, was
ordered, with the rest of the Fincastle men, to remain there, to guard
the residue of the provisions, and when the brigade of horses sent to
the mouth of the Elk had returned, to hurry every thing forward to
the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Five weeks were thus consumed
in transporting the troops and the supplies a distance of 160 miles
through the tangled forest, to Point Pleasant, where the main army,
upwards of 1,100 strong, had arrived, quite spent with exertions, on the
6th of October.
When Christian left Camp Union for the front, Anthony Bledsoe,
with a company of Fincastle men, was detailed to remain behind with
the sick, while the base of supplies at the mouth of the Elk was placed
in charge of Slaughter. As will be seen, Christian arrived too late to
engage in the battle of Point Pleasant.—R. G. T.
When Lewis arrived at Point Pleasant (October 6th), he found
awaiting him in a hollow tree dispatches from Dunmore, brought by
Simon Kenton and two companions, directing him to join his lordship
at the mouth of the Big Hockhocking, where the governor's northern
wing, under Major Crawford, was building a stockade. But Lewis's
men were spent, and pens had to be built for the cattle, and shelter for
the stores, so no move was made. On Saturday, the 8th, came a further
message from the governor, who was still at the Big Hockhocking.
Lewis replied that he would join him there as soon as the troops, food
supply, and powder had all reached Point Pleasant. His men were
angry at Dunmore's interference, and argued with Lewis that it was
sixty miles by river and over half that by land, to Dunmore's camp,
whereas it was less than either to the hostile towns which they had
started out to attack; and to turn aside from this purpose was to leave
open for the hostiles the back-door to the frontier settlements of Virginia.
The 9th was Sunday, and these sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterians
spent the day in religious exercises, listening to a stout sermon from
their chaplain. On the morrow, they were surprised by the Indians, as
the sequel relates.—R. G. T.
James Mooney, of Russell's company, and Joseph Hughey, of
Shelby's. They were surprised at the mouth of Old Town Creek, three
miles distant. Hughey was killed by a shot fired by Tavenor Ross, a
white renegade in Cornstalk's party.—R. G. T.
Few officers were ever more, or more deservedly, endeared to
those under their command than Col. Charles Lewis. In the many
skirmishes, which it was his fortune to have, with the Indians he was
uncommonly successful; and in the various scenes of life, thro' which
he passed, his conduct was invariably marked by the distinguishing
characteristicks of a mind, of no ordinary stamp. His early fall on this
bloody field, was severely felt during the whole engagement; and to it
has been attributed the partial advantages gained by the Indian army
near the commencement of the action. When the [127] fatal ball struck
him, he fell at the root of a tree; from whence he was carried to his
tent, against his wish, by Capt. Wm. Morrow and a Mr. Bailey, of Captain
Paul's company, and died in a few hours afterwards. In remembrance
of his great worth, the legislature named the county of Lewis
after him.
An active, enterprising and meritorious officer, who had been in service
in Braddock's war, and profited by his experience of the Indian mode
of fighting. His death checked for a time the ardor of his troops, and
spread a gloom over the countenances of those, who had accompanied
him on this campaign.
From MS. journals and letters in possession of the Wisconsin Historical
Society, it appears that the conduct of the battle was as follows:
Andrew Lewis, who as yet thought the enemy to be but a scouting
party, and not an army equal in size to his own, had the drums beat to
arms, for many of his men were asleep in their tents; and while still
smoking his pipe, ordered a detachment from each of the Augusta companies,
to form 150 strong under Col. Charles Lewis, with John Dickinson,
Benjamin Harrison, and John Skidmore as the captains. Another
party of like size was formed under Col. Fleming, with Captains Shelby,
Russell, Buford, and Philip Love. Lewis's party marched to the right,
near the foot of the hills skirting the east side of Crooked Creek. Fleming's
party marched to the left, 200 yards apart from the other. A quarter
of a mile from camp, and half a mile from the point of the cape, the
right-going party met the enemy lurking behind trees and fallen logs at
the base of the hill, and there Charles Lewis was mortally wounded.
Fleming marched to a pond three-quarters of a mile from camp, and fifty
rods inland from the Ohio—this pond being one of the sources of
Crooked Creek. The hostile line was found to extend from this pond
along Crooked Creek, half way to its mouth. The Indians, under
Cornstalk, thought by rushes to drive the whites into the two rivers,
"like so many bullocks," as the chief later explained; and indeed both
lines had frequently to fall back, but they were skillfully reinforced each
time, and by dusk the savages placed Old Town Creek between them and
the whites. This movement was hastened, a half hour before sunset,
by a movement which Withers confounds with the main tactics. Captains
Matthews, Arbuckle, Shelby, and Stuart were sent with a detachment
up Crooked creek under cover of the bank, with a view to securing
a ridge in the rear of the enemy, from which their line could be enfiladed.
They were discovered in the act, but Cornstalk supposed that
this party was Christian's advance, and in alarm hurried his people to
the other side of Old Town Creek. The battle was, by dark, really a
drawn game; but Cornstalk had had enough, and fled during the
night.—R. G. T.
During the day, a messenger had been dispatched to hurry on
Christian, who with 250 men was convoying cattle and powder. In the
early evening, fifteen miles from Point Pleasant, this rear party was
found, toiling painfully over the wilderness trail. Christian at once left
his property in charge of a small party, and arrived in camp by midnight.—R.
G. T.
Most of the killed and wounded, on both sides, were shot in the
head or breast, which indicates good marksmanship. The Indians,
though skillful marksmen, did not exhibit sufficient mechanical knowledge
to enable them properly to clean their guns, and thus were at some
disadvantage.
The statistician was at work in those days, as now, for we learn from
an old diary that at Old Town Creek were found by the white victors,
78 rafts with which the Indians had crossed the Ohio to the attack, the
night of October 9-10; and on the battlefield during the 10th and 12th,
were collected 23 guns, 27 tomahawks, 80 blankets, and great numbers
of war-clubs, shot-pouches, powder-horns, match-coats, deer-skins, "and
other articles," all of which were put up at auction by the careful commissary,
and brought nearly £100 to the army chest.—R. G. T.
Such were Redhawk, a Delaware chief,—Scoppathus, a Mingo,—
Ellinipsico, a Shawanee, and son to Cornstalk,—Chiyawee, a Wyandotte,
and Logan, a Cayuga.
The first recorded foray of Cornstalk was on October 10, 1759, against
the Gilmore family and others, on Carr's Creek, in what is now Rockbridge
county, Va. "The Carr's Creek massacre" was long remembered
on the border as one of the most daring and cruel on record. He was
again heard of during the Pontiac conspiracy, in 1763, when he led a
large war-party from the Scioto towns against the Virginia frontier.
Both at Muddy Creek, and the Clendenning farm near Lewisburg, on the
Levels of the Greenbrier, the marauders pretended to be friendly with
the settlers, and in an unguarded moment fell upon and slew them.
Other massacres, in connection with the same foray, were at Carr's
Creek, Keeney's Knob, and Jackson's River. The story of the captivity
of Mrs. Clendenning and her children, who were taken to the Shawnee
towns on the Scioto, is one of the most heartrendering in Western history.
In 1764, Bouquet raided these towns, and Cornstalk was one of
the hostages sent to Fort Pitt in fulfillment of the terms of the treaty,
but later he effected his escape. Nothing more is heard of this warrior
until 1774, when he became famous as leader of the Indians at the battle
of Point Pleasant. Cornstalk's intelligence was far above that of
the average Shawnee. He had, before the Dunmore War, strongly
counseled his people to observe the peace, as their only salvation; but
when defeated in council, he with great valor led the tribesmen to war.
After the treaty of Fort Charlotte, he renewed his peace policy, and
was almost alone in refusing to join the Shawnee uprising in 1777. Late
in September, that year, he visited his white friends at Fort Randolph
(Point Pleasant), and was retained as one of several hostages for the tribe.
Infuriated at some murders in the vicinity, the private soldiers in the
fort turned upon the Indian prisoners and basely killed them, Cornstalk
among the number. Governor Patrick Henry and General Hand—the
latter then organizing his futile expedition against the Shawnees—
wished to punish the murderers; but in the prevalent state of public
opinion on the border, it was easy for them to escape prosecution.—
R. G. T.
The following gentlemen, with others of high reputation in private
life, were officers in the battle at Point Pleasant. Gen. Isaac Shelby,
the first governor of Kentucky, and afterwards, secretary of war;—Gen.
William Campbell and Col. John Campbell, heroes of King's mountain
and Long Island;—Gen. Evan Shelby, one of the most favored citizens
of Tennessee, often honored with the confidence of that state;—Col.
William Fleming, an active governor of Virginia during the revolutionary
war;—Gen. Andrew Moore of Rockbridge, the only man ever elected
by Virginia, from the country west of the Blue ridge, to the senate of
the United States;—Col. John Stuart, of Greenbrier;—Gen. Tate, of
Washington county, Virginia;—Col. William McKee, of Lincoln county,
Kentucky;—Col. John Steele, since a governor of Mississippi territory;
—Col. Charles Cameron, of Bath;—Gen. Bazaleel Wells, of Ohio; and
Gen. George Matthews, a distinguished officer in the war of the revolution,
the hero of Brandywine, Germantown, and of Guilford;—a governor
of Georgia, and a senator from that state in the congress of the
United States. The salvation of the American army at Germantown,
is ascribed, in Johnston's life of Gen. Green, to the bravery and good
conduct of two regiments, one of which was commanded by General,
then Col. Matthews.
In order to get a clearer view of the situation, a few more details
are essential here. For several days after the battle of Point Pleasant,
Lewis was busy in burying the dead, caring for the wounded, collecting
the scattered cattle, and building a store-house and small stockade fort.
Early on the morning of October 13th, messengers who had been sent
on to Dunmore, advising him of the battle, returned with orders to Lewis
to march at once with all his available force, against the Shawnee
towns, and when within twenty-five miles of Chillicothe to write to his
lordship. The next day, the last rear guard, with the remaining beeves,
arrived from the mouth of the Elk, and while work on the defenses at
the Point was hurried, preparations were made for the march. By
evening of the 17th, Lewis, with 1,150 men in good condition, had
crossed the Ohio and gone into camp on the north side. Each man
had ten days' supply of flour, a half pound of powder, and a pound and
a half of bullets; while to each company was assigned a pack-horse for
the tents. Point Pleasant was left in command of Col. Fleming,—who
had been severely wounded in the battle,—Captains Dickinson, Lockridge,
Herbert, and Slaughter, and 278 men, few of whom were fit for
service. On the 18th, Lewis, with Captain Arbuckle as guide, advanced
towards the Shawnee towns, eighty miles distant in a straight line, and
probably a hundred and twenty-five by the circuitous Indian trails.
The army marched about eleven miles a day, frequently seeing hostile
parties but engaging none. Reaching the salt licks near the head of
the south branch of Salt Creek (in the present Lick township, Jackson
county, O.), they descended that valley to the Scioto, and thence to a
prairie on Kinnikinnick (not Kilkenny) Creek, where was the freshly-deserted
Indian village referred to above, by Withers. This was thirteen
miles south of Chillicothe (now Westfall). Here they were met,
early on the 24th, by a messenger from his lordship, ordering them to
halt, as a treaty was nearly concluded at Camp Charlotte. But Lewis's
army had been fired on that morning, and the place was untenable for
a camp in a hostile country, so he concluded to seek better ground. A
few hours later another messenger came, again peremptorily ordering a
halt, as the Shawnees had practically come to terms. Lewis now concluded
to join the northern division in force, at Camp Charlotte, not
liking to have the two armies separated in the face of a treacherous
enemy; but his guide mistook the trail, and took one leading directly
to the Grenadier Squaw's Town. Lewis camped that night on the
west bank of Congo Creek, two miles above its mouth, and five and a
quarter miles from Chillicothe, with the Indian town half-way between.
The Shawnees were now greatly alarmed and angered, and Dunmore
himself, accompanied by the Delaware chief White Eyes, a trader, John
Gibson, and fifty volunteers, rode over in hot haste that evening to stop
Lewis, and reprimand him. His lordship was mollified by Lewis's explanations,
but the latter's men, and indeed Dunmore's, were furious
over being stopped when within sight of their hated quarry, and tradition
has it that it was necessary to treble the guards during the night
to prevent Dunmore and White Eyes from being killed. The following
morning (the 25th), his lordship met and courteously thanked Lewis's
officers for their valiant service; but said that now the Shawnees had
acceded to his wishes, the further presence of the southern division
might engender bad blood. Thus dismissed, Lewis led his army
back to Point Pleasant, which was reached on the 28th. He left there
a garrison of fifty men under Captain Russell, and then by companies
the volunteers marched through the wilderness to their respective
homes, where they disbanded early in November.—R. G. T.
This is not the view of students in our own day, coolly looking at
the affair from the distance of a hundred and twenty years. There now
seems no room to doubt that Dunmore was thoroughly in earnest, that
he prosecuted the war with vigor, and knew when to stop in order to
secure the best possible terms. Our author wrote at a time when many
heroes of Point Pleasant were still alive, and his neighbors; he reflected
their views, and the passions of the day. That it was, in view of
the events then transpiring, the best policy to turn back the southern
army, after the great battle, and not insist too closely on following up
the advantage gained, seems now incontrovertible.—R. G. T.
Butterfield's History of the Girtys (Cincinnati, 1890) is a valuable contribution
to Western history. Simon, James, and George Girty were
notorious renegade whites, who aided the Indians against the borderers
from 1778 to 1783; Simon and George were similarly active in the Indian
war of 1790-95.—R. G. T.
Upon leaving Pittsburg,—where the governor held a council with
several Delaware and Mingo chiefs, to whom he recited the outrages
perpetrated by the Shawnees since Bouquet's treaty of 1764—the northern
division divided into two wings. One, 700 strong, under Dunmore,
descended the river in boats; the other 500 went across the "pan-handle"
by land, with the cattle, and both rendezvoused, September 30th,
at Wheeling, 91 miles below Pittsburg. Next day, Crawford resumed
his march along the south bank of the Ohio, to a point opposite the
mouth of Big Hockhocking, 107 miles farther down. Here the men,
the 200 bullocks, and the 50 pack-horses swam the Ohio, and just above
the Big Hockhocking (the site of the present Hockingport) erected
a blockhouse and stockade, which they called Fort Gower, in honor of
the English earl of that name. A part of the earthwork can still (1894)
be seen in the garden of a Hockingport residence. Dunmore's party, in
100 canoes and pirogues, arrived a few days later. While at Fort Gower,
he was joined by the Delaware chiefs, White Eyes and John Montour,
the former of whom was utilized as an agent to negotiate with the
Shawnees—R. G. T.
The authority for this is Stuart's Indian Wars, p. 56. Abraham
Thomas, in his Sketches, relates that the governor, placing his ear at the
surface of the river, said he thought he heard the firing of guns; and
Thomas, then a young militiaman, was asked to do likewise, and reported
that it was the rattle of musketry. The distance across country
to Point Pleasant was but twenty-eight miles, but by the river windings
was sixty-six. These anecdotes have been related as proof that Dunmore
desired Lewis beaten. White Eyes had notified the governor that a conflict
was expected, though he had reported a much smaller Indian army
than Lewis's; hence his lordship had no fear of the result. Had he known
that the opposing forces were equal in number, and that the whites had
been surprised, he doubtless would have sent relief. Knowing the
Shawnee warriors were away from home, fighting Lewis, whom he
had reason to suppose was very well able to handle them, he determined
to advance inland to the deserted towns on the Scioto and destroy their
houses and crops. He was upon this errand when met and stopped by
the messengers of peace.—R. G. T.
The two wings of the white army had about the same strength—
1100 under Dunmore, and 1150 (after leaving Point Pleasant) under
Lewis. The fighting quality was also the same, in both. It is to be remembered
that in the army under Dunmore there was very little discontent
at the issue, and at the close of the campaign the men heartily
thanked his lordship for his valuable services in behalf of the people.
They did this, too, at a time when they knew from Eastern news received
in camp, that the Revolution was near at hand, and Dunmore
must soon be fighting against them in behalf of his royal master.
—R. G. T.
Dunmore had, through White Eyes, summoned the Shawnee chiefs
to treat with him at Fort Gower (not Gore), but they had declined to
come in. He then set out, October 11th, to waste their towns on the
Scioto, as previously noted, leaving the fort in charge of Captain Kuykendall
(not Froman), with whom remained the disabled and the
beeves. Each man on the expedition carried flour for sixteen days.
Just after the Point Pleasant battle, Lewis had dispatched a messenger
to his lordship with news of the affair; Dunmore's messenger to Lewis,
with instructions to the latter to join him en route, crossed Lewis's express
on the way. The messenger from Lewis found that his lordship
had marched up the Big Hockhocking valley for the Scioto, and hurried
after him. The governor was overtaken at the third camp out (west
of the present Nelsonville, Athens county, O.), and the good news
caused great joy among the soldiers. October 17th, Dunmore arrived
at what he styled Camp Charlotte (on the northern bank of Sippo
Creek, Pickaway county, eight miles east of Chillicothe, in view of
Pickaway Plains), and here the treaty of peace was concluded.—R. G. T.
Doddridge's Notes says that the camp was surrounded by a breastwork
of fallen trees, and an entrenchment, and Roosevelt's Winning of
the West follows him. But Dr. Draper was distinctly told (in 1846-51) by
two survivors of the campaign, Samuel Murphy and John Grim, that
Withers's account is correct; and this is confirmed in Whittlesey's Fugitive
Essays. In the center of the field, a building of poles was erected,
in which to hold the council; around this, the army encamped. A large
white oak having been peeled, Dunmore wrote upon it in red chalk,
"Camp Charlotte," thus honoring the then English queen.—R. G. T.
Logan was the Mingo chief, the massacre of whose family at Baker's
Bottom, the previous April, has already been described. He had
just returned (October 21) from a foray on the Holston border, bringing
several scalps and three prisoners, when the trader Gibson and the
scout Simon Girty were sent to him by his lordship.—R. G. T.
Colonel Benjamin Wilson, Sen. (then an officer in Dunmore's
army, and whose narrative of the campaign furnished the facts which
are here detailed) says that he conversed freely with one of the interpreters
(Nicholson) in regard to the mission to Logan, and that neither
from the interpreter, nor any other one during the campaign, did he
hear of the charge preferred in Logan's speech against Captain Cresap,
as being engaged in the affair at Yellow creek.—Captain Cresap was an
officer in the division of the army under Lord Dunmore; and it would
seem strange indeed, if Logan's speech had been made public, at camp
Charlotte, and neither he, (who was so materially interested in it, and
could at once have proved the falsehood of the allegation which it contained),
nor Colonel Wilson, (who was present during the whole conference
between Lord Dunmore and the Indian chiefs, and at the time
when the speeches were delivered sat immediately behind and close to
Dunmore,) should have heard nothing of it until years after.
Comment by R. G. T.—Withers thus shortly disposes of the famous
speech by Logan, which schoolboys have been reciting for nearly a
hundred years as one of the best specimens extant, of Indian eloquence.
The evidence in regard to the speech, which was undoubtedly recited
to Gibson, and by him written out for Lord Dunmore's perusal, and
later "improved" by Jefferson, is clearly stated in Roosevelt's Winning
of the West, I., app. iii.
The reason for the attack was, that the Mingoes were implacable,
and Dunmore had learned that instead of coming into the treaty they
purposed retreating to the Great Lakes with their prisoners and stolen
horses. This Mingo village was Seekonk (sometimes called the Hill Town),
30 or 40 miles up the Scioto. Crawford left Camp Charlotte the night
of the 25th, and surprised the town early in the morning of the 27th.
Six were killed, several wounded, and fourteen captured; the rest
escaping into the forest. Crawford burned several Mingo towns in the
neighborhood.—R. G. T.
In remarking on the appearance and manner of Cornstalk while
speaking, Colonel Wilson says, "When he arose, he was in no wise confused
or daunted, but spoke in a distinct, and audible voice, without
stammering or repetition, and with peculiar emphasis. His looks while
addressing Dunmore, were truly grand and majestic; yet graceful and
attractive. I have heard the first orators in Virginia, Patrick Henry
and Richard Henry Lee, but never have I heard one whose powers of
delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk on that occasion."
| [121] CHAPTER VII. Chronicles of border warfare, or, A history of the settlement by the whites, of north-western Virginia, and of the Indian wars and massacres in that section of the state | |