Chapter I (16)

On the last day of September 1790, the army then consisting of fourteen hundred and forty-three men, (of whom only three hundred and twenty were regulars) marched forward, and on the 17th of October reached the Great Miami village.[12] It was found to be entirely deserted and all the valuable buildings in flames--having been fired by the Indians. As it was apparent that the savages had but recently left there, Col. Hardin was detached with two hundred and ten men, sixty of whom were regulars to overtake them. Having marched about six miles, he was suddenly attacked by a body of Indians who were concealed in thickets on every side of an open plain. On the first onset, the militia made a most precipitate retreat, leaving the few, but brave regulars to stand the charge. The conflict was short but bloody. The regular troops, over powered by numbers, were literally cut to pieces; and only seven of them made their escape and rejoined the main army at the Great Miami town.[13]

[292] Among those who were so fortunate as to escape after the shameful flight of the militia, was Capt. Armstrong of the regulars. He reached a pond of water about two hundred yards from the field of action; and plunging himself up to the neck in it, remained there all night, a spectator of the horrid scene of a savage war dance, performed over the dead and wounded bodies of his brave soldiers. The escape of ensign Hartshorn was perhaps owing entirely to a lucky accident. As he was flying at his best speed he faltered over a log, which lay in his path, and by the side of which he concealed himself from the view of the savages.

Notwithstanding the disastrous termination of this engagement, the detachment succeeded in reducing the other towns to ashes, and in destroying their crops of corn and other provisions; and rejoining the main army under Gen. Harmar, commenced their return to Fort Washington. Anxious to wipe off in another action, the disgrace which he felt would attach to the defeat, when within eight miles of Chilicothe, Gen. Harmar halted his men, and again detached Col. Hardin and Major Wylleys, with five hundred militia and sixty regulars, to find the enemy and bring them to an engagement.

Early next morning, a small body of the enemy was discovered, and being attacked, fled in different directions.--The militia pursued them as they ran in despite of orders; and when by this means the regulars were left alone, they were attacked by the whole force of the Indians, excepting the small parties whose flight had drawn off the militia. A severe engagement ensued. The savages fought with desperation; & when the troops which had gone in pursuit of those who fled upon the first onset, returned to take part in the engagement, they threw down their guns and rushed upon the regulars tomahawk in hand. Many of them fell, but being so very far superior in numbers, the regulars were at last overpowered. Their firmness and bravery could not avail much, against so overwhelming a force; for though one of them might thrust his bayonet into the side of an Indian, two other savages were at hand to sink their tomahawks into his head. In his official account of this battle, Gen. Harmar claimed the victory; but the thinned ranks of his troops shewed that they had been severely worsted. Fifty of the regulars and one hundred of the militia were killed in the contest, and many wounded. The loss of the Indians was no doubt considerable, [293] or they would not have suffered the army to retire to Fort Washington unmolested.[14]

Instead of the security from savage hostilities, which it was expected would result from Harmar's campaign, the inhabitants of the frontier suffered from them, more than they had been made to endure since the close of the war with Great Britain. Flushed with the success which had crowned their exertions to repel the invasion which had been made into their country, and infuriated at the destruction of their crops and the conflagration of their villages, they became more active and zealous in the prosecution of hostilities.

The settlements which had been recently made in Ohio up the Muskingum, had ever after their first establishment, continued apparently on the most friendly terms with the Indians; but on the part of the savages, friendship had only been feigned, to lull the whites into a ruinous security. When this end was attained, they too were made to feel the bitterness of savage enmity. On the 2d of January 1791, a party of Indians came to the Big Bottom, and commenced an indiscriminate murder of the inhabitants; fourteen of whom were killed and five taken prisoners. The settlement at Wolf's creek escaped a similar fate, by being apprized of the destruction of Big Bottom by two men who got safely off in time of the massacre. When the Indians arrived there the next morning, finding the place prepared to receive them, they withdrew without making any serious attempt to take it.

On the 24th of April, John Bush (living on Freeman's creek,) having very early sent two of his children to drive up the cattle, became alarmed by their screams, and taking down his gun, was proceeding to learn the cause of it, when he was met at the door by an Indian, who caught hold of the gun, forced it from his grasp, and shot him with it. Bush fell across the threshold, and the savage drew his knife to scalp him. Mrs. Bush ran to the assistance of her husband, and with an axe, aimed a blow at the Indian with such force that it fastened itself in his shoulder, and when he jumped back his exertion pulled the handle from her hand. She then drew her husband into the house and secured the door.

In this time other of the savages had come up, and after endeavoring in vain to force open the door, they commenced shooting through it. Fortunately Mrs. Bush remained unhurt, although eleven bullets passed through her frock and some of [294] them just grazing the skin. One of the savages observing an aperture between the logs, thrust the muzzle of his gun thro' it. With another axe Mrs. Bush struck on the barrel so as to make it ring, and, the savage on drawing it back, exclaimed "_Dern you._" Still they were endeavoring to force an entrance into the house, until they heard what they believed to be a party of whites coming to its relief. It was Adam Bush, who living close by and hearing the screams of the children and the firing of the gun, had set off to learn what had given rise to them, and taking with him his dogs, the noise made by them in crossing the creek alarmed the savages, and caused them to retreat, taking off the two children as prisoners. A company of men were soon collected and went in pursuit of the Indians; but were unable to surprise them and regain the prisoners. They however, came so nearly upon them, on the Little Kenhawa,[15] that they were forced to fly precipitately, leaving the plunder and seven horses which they had taken from the settlement: these were retaken and brought back.

In May, as John McIntire and his wife were returning from a visit, they passed through the yard of Uriah Ashcraft; and in a small space of time after, Mr. Ashcraft, startled by the sudden growling and springing up of one of his dogs, stepped quickly to the door to see what had aroused him. He had hardly reached the door, when he espied an Indian on the outside with his gun presented. Closing and making fast the door, he ascended the stairs that he might the better fire upon the unwelcome intruder; and after snapping three several times, and having discovered that there were other Indians in the yard, he raised a loud shout to apprize those who were within the sound of his voice, that he was surrounded by danger. Upon this the Indians moved off; and three brothers of McIntire coming to his relief, they all pursued the trail of the savages. About a mile from Ashcraft's, they found the body of John McIntire, tomahawked, scalped, and stripped; and concluding that Mrs. McIntire, was taken prisoner, they sent intelligence to Clarksburg of what had happened, and requested assistance to follow the Indians and recover the prisoner from captivity. The desired assistance was immediately afforded; and a company of men, led on by Col. John Haymond and Col. George Jackson, went in pursuit. On Middle Island creek,[16] before they were aware of their proximity to the savages, they were fired upon by them, and [295] two of the party very narrowly escaped being shot.--A ball passed through the hankerchief on the head of Col. Haymond, and another through the sleeve of Col. Jackson's shirt. The fire was promptly returned, and the men rushed forward. The Indians however, made good their retreat, though not without having experienced some injury; as was discovered by the blood, and the throwing down some of the plunder which they had taken. It was here first ascertained that Mrs. McIntire had been killed,--her scalp being among the things left--and on the return of the party, her body was found some small distance from where that of her husband had been previously discovered.

Towards the last of June, another party of Indians invaded the settlement on Dunkard creek, in the county of Monongalia. Early in the morning, as Mr. Clegg, Mr. Handsucker, and two of Handsucker's sons were engaged at work in a cornfield near the house, they were shot at by some concealed savages, and Handsucker was wounded and soon overtaken. Clegg and Handsucker's sons ran towards the house, and the former entering it, defended it for a while; but confident that he would soon be driven out by fire, he surrendered on condition that they would spare his life and that of his little daughter with him. The boys passed the house, but were taken by some of the savages who were also concealed in the direction which they ran, and who had just made captive Mrs. Handsucker and her infant. They then plundered and set fire to the house, caught the horses and made off with the prisoners, leaving one of their company, as usual, to watch after their retreat.

When the firing was first heard, Mrs. Clegg being some distance from the house, concealed herself in the creek, under some projecting bushes, until every thing became quiet. She then crept out, but perceiving the Indian who had remained near the burning house, she took to flight; and he having at the same time discovered her, ran in pursuit. She was so far in advance, and ran so well, that the savage, despairing of overtaking her, raised his gun and fired as she ran. The ball just grazed the top of her shoulder, but not impeding her flight, she got safely off. Mr. Handsucker, his wife and child, were murdered on the dividing ridge between Dunkard and Fish creeks.[17] Mr. Clegg after some time got back, and upon the close of the Indian war, ransomed his two daughters.

[296] In the month of September Nicholas Carpenter set off to Marietta with a drove of cattle to sell to those who had established themselves there; and when within some miles from the Ohio river, encamped for the night.[18] In the morning early, and while he and the drovers were yet dressing, they were alarmed by a discharge of guns, which killed one and wounded another of his party. The others endeavored to save themselves by flight; but Carpenter being a cripple (because of a wound received some years before) did not run far, when finding himself becoming faint, he entered a pond of water where he fondly hoped he should escape observation. But no! both he and a son who had likewise sought security there, were discovered, tomahawked and scalped. George Legget, one of the drovers, was never after heard of; but Jesse Hughes succeeded in getting off though under disadvantageous circumstances. He wore long leggins, and when the firing commenced at the camp, they were fastened at top to his belt, but hanging loose below. Although an active runner, yet he found that the pursuers were gaining and must ultimately overtake him if he did not rid himself of this incumbrance. For this purpose he halted somewhat and stepping on the lower part of his leggins, broke the strings which tied them to his belt; but before he accomplished this, one of the savages approached and hurled a tomahawk at him. It merely grazed his head, and he then again took to flight and soon got off.

It was afterwards ascertained that the Indians by whom this mischief was effected, had crossed the Ohio river near the mouth of Little Kenhawa, where they took a negro belonging to Captain James Neal, and continued on towards the settlements on West Fork, until they came upon the trail made by Carpenter's cattle. Supposing that they belonged to families moving, they followed on until they came upon the drovers; and tying the negro to a sapling made an attack on them. The negro availed himself of their employment elsewhere, and loosing the bands which fastened him, returned to his master.

After the defeat of General Harmer, the terrors and the annoyance proceeding from Indian hostilities, still continued to harrass Kentucky, and to spread destruction over its unprotected portions. Seeing that the expeditions of the savages were yet conducted on a small scale, the better to effect their purposes, the inhabitants had recourse to other measures [297] of defence; and established many posts on the frontier, garrisoned by a few men, to watch the motions of the enemy, and intercept them in their progress, or spread the alarm of their approach. It was productive of but little benefit, and all were convinced, that successful offensive war could alone give security from Indian aggression. Convinced of this, preparations were made by the General Government for another campaign to be carried on against them; the objects of which were the destruction of the Indian villages between the Miamies; the expulsion of their inhabitants from the country, and the establishment of a chain of forts to prevent their return, until a general peace should give promise of a cessation of hostilities on their part. Means, deemed adequate to the accomplishment of those objects, were placed by Congress at the disposal of the executive, and of the army destined to effect them, he directed General Arthur St. Clair to take the command.[19]

It was some time before the troops detailed for this campaign, could be assembled at Fort Washington; but as soon as they rendezvoused there, the line of march was taken up.[20] Proceeding immediately for the principal establishments of the Indians on the Miami, General St. Clair had erected the Forts Hamilton and Jefferson,[21] and placing sufficient garrisons in each, continued his march. The opening of a road for the passage of the troops and artillery, necessarily consumed much time; and while it was in progress, small parties of the enemy were often seen hovering near, and some unimportant skirmishes took place; and as the army approached the Indian villages, sixty of the militia deserted in a body. To prevent the evil influence of this example, General St. Clair despatched Major Hamtrack at the head of a regiment, to overtake and bring them back; and the rest of the army moved forward.

On the night of the third of November, General St. Clair encamped near the Great Miami village, and notwithstanding the reduced state of the forces under his command, (by reason of the detachment of so large a body in pursuit of the deserters,) he proposed to march in the morning directly to its attack.[22] Having understood that the Indians were collected in great force, and apprehensive of a night attack, his men were drawn up in a square, and kept under arms until the return of day, when they were dismissed from parade for [298] the purpose of refreshment. Directly after, and about half an hour before sun rise, an attack was begun by the Indians on the rear line, and the militia there immediately gave way, and retreated,--rushing through a battalion of regulars, to the very centre of the camp. The confusion was great. Thrown into disorder by the tumultuous flight of the militia, the utmost exertion of the officers could not entirely compose the regulars, so as to render them as effective as they would otherwise have been.

After the first fire, the Indians rushed forward, tomahawk in hand, until they were checked by the well directed aim of the front line; which being almost simultaneously attacked by another body of the enemy, had to direct their attention to their own assailants, and the action became general. The weight of the enemy being brought to bear on the centre of each line where the artillery had been placed, the men were driven with great slaughter from the guns and these rendered useless by the killing of the matrosses. The enemy taking advantage of this state of things, pushed forward upon the lines, and confusion began to spread itself in every quarter. A charge was ordered, and Lieutenant Colonel Drake succeeded in driving back the Indians three or four hundred yards at the point of the bayonet; but rallying, they returned to the attack, and the troops in turn gave way. At this moment the camp was entered by the left flank: and, another charge was directed. This was made by Butler and Clark's battalions with great effect, and repeated several times with success; but in each of these charges, many being killed, and particularly the officers, it was impossible longer to sustain the conflict, and a retreat was directed.

To enable the troops to effect this they were again formed into line, as well as could be under such circumstances, and another charge was made, as if to turn the right flank of the enemy, but in reality to gain the road. This object was effected; and a precipitate flight commenced which continued until they reached Fort Jefferson, a distance of thirty miles, the men throwing away their guns and accoutrements as they ran.

Great was the havoc done by the Indians in this engagement. Of the twelve hundred men engaged under General St. Clair, nearly six hundred were left dead on the field, and many were wounded. Every officer of the second regiment [299] was killed in the various charges made by it to retrieve the day, except three, and one of these was shot through the body. Major General Butler having been wounded, and carried to a convenient place to have his wounds dressed, an Indian desperately adventurous, broke through the guard in attendance, rushed up, tomahawked and scalped him, before his own life paid the forfeit of his rashness. General St. Clair had many narrow escapes.[23] Early in the action, a number of savages surrounded his tent and seemed resolved on entering it and sacrificing him. They were with difficulty restrained by some regular soldiers at the point of the bayonet. During the engagement eight balls passed through his clothes, and while the troops were retreating, having had his own horse killed, and being mounted on a sorry beast, "which could not be pricked out of a walk," he had to make his way to Fort Jefferson as he could, considerably in the rear of the men. During the action Adjutant Bulgess received a severe wound, but yet continued to fight with distinguished gallantry. Presently a second shot took effect and he fell. A woman who was particularly attached to him had accompanied him in the campaign, raised him up, and while supporting him in her arms, received a ball in the breast which killed her instantly.

The Chicasaws were then in amity with the whites, and some of their warriors were to have cooperated with Gen. St. Clair, but did not arrive in time. There was however one of that nation in the engagement, and he killed and scalped eleven of the enemy with his own hands, and while engaged with the twelfth was himself killed, to the regret of those who witnessed his deeds of daring and of courage.

According to the statement of the Indians, they killed six hundred and twenty of the American troops, and took seven pieces of cannon, two hundred head of oxen, many horses, but no prisoners.[24] They gave their own loss in killed at only sixty-five; but it was no doubt much greater. Their force consisted of four thousand warriors, and was led on by a Missasago chief who had served with the British in the late war; and who planned and conducted the attack contrary to the opinion of a majority of the chiefs, who yet, having such confidence in his skill and judgment, yielded their individual plans and gave to him the entire control of their movements. He is reported to have caused the savages to forbear the pursuit of the retreating troops; telling them that they had killed enough, and it was time to enjoy the booty they had gained with the victory. He was then about forty-five years of age, six feet in height, and of a [300] sour, morose countenance. His dress was Indian leggins and moccasons, a blue petticoat coming half way down his thighs, and European waistcoat and surtout. His head was bound with an Indian cap, reaching midway his back, and adorned with upwards of two hundred silver ornaments. In each ear he had two ear rings, the upper part of each of which was formed of three silver meddles of the size of a dollar; the lower part consisted of quarters of dollars, and more than a foot in length; one from each ear hanging down his breast,--the others over his back. In his nose he wore ornaments of silver curiously wrought and painted.

Two days after the action the warriors from the Chicasaw nation arrived at Fort Jefferson, under the command of Piomingo, or the "Mountain Leader." On their march they heard of the fatal battle, and saw one of the enemy; who mistaking Piomingo's party for some of his own comrades, made up to them. He discovered the mistake when it was too late to rectify it. Piomingo accosted him in harsh tones, saying--"Rascal, you have been killing the whites," and immediately ordered two of his warriors to expand his arms, and a third to shoot him. This was done and his scalp taken.

After the disastrous termination of this campaign,[25] the inhabitants of Kentucky were as much as, or perhaps more than ever, exposed to savage enmity and those incursions which mark the bitterness of Indian resentment. Soon after the retreat of the army under Gen. Sinclair, a party of them came upon Salt river, where two men and some boys were fishing; and falling suddenly upon them killed the men and made prisoners of the boys. They then liberated one of the boys, and giving him a tomahawk, directed him to go home; shew it to his friends; inform them what had been the fate of his companions, and what they were to expect for their own. The threat was fearfully executed. Many families were entirely cut off and many individuals sacrificed to their fury. Companies of Indians were constantly traversing the country in secret, and committing depredations, wherever they supposed it could be done with impunity. A remarkable instance of their failure and suffering in attempting to form an entrance into a house where was an almost unprotected family, deserves to be particularly mentioned.

On the 24th of December 1791, a party of savages attacked the house of John Merril, in Nelson county. Mr. Merril, alarmed by the barking of the dogs, hastened to the door to learn the cause.--On opening it, he was fired at by two Indians and his leg and arm were both broken. The savages then ran forward to enter the house, but before they could do this, the door was closed and secured by Mrs. Merril and her daughter. After a fruitless attempt to force it open, they commenced hewing off a part of it with their tomahawks, and when a passage was thus opened, one of them attempted to enter through it. The heroic Mrs. Merril, in the midst of her screaming and affrighted children, and her groaning suffering husband, seized an axe, gave the ruffian a fatal blow, and [301] instantly drew him into the house. Supposing that their end was now nearly attained, the others pressed forward to gain admittance through the same aperture. Four of them were in like manner despatched by Mrs. Merril, before their comrades were aware that any opposition was making in the house. Discovering their mistake the survivors retired for awhile, and returning, two of them endeavored to gain admittance by climbing to the top of the house, and descending in the chimney, while the third was to exert himself at the door. Satisfied from the noise on the top of the house, of the object of the Indians, Mr. Merril directed his little son to rip open a bed and cast its contents on the fire. This produced the desired effect.--The smoke and heat occasioned by the burning of the feathers brought the two Indians down, rather unpleasantly; and Mr. Merril somewhat recovered, exerted every faculty, and with a billet of wood soon despatched those half smothered devils. Mrs. Merril was all this while busily engaged in defending the door against the efforts of the only remaining savage, whom she at length wounded so severely with the axe, that he was glad to get off alive.

A prisoner, who escaped from the Indians soon after the happening of this transaction, reported that the wounded savage was the only one, of a party of eight, who returned to their towns; that on being asked by some one, "what news,"--he replied, "bad news for poor Indian, me lose a son, me lose a brother,--the squaws have taken the breech clout, and fight worse than the Long Knives."

The frequent commission of the most enormous outrages, led to an expedition against the Indians, carried on by the inhabitants of Kentucky alone. An army of one thousand mounted volunteers was raised, and the command of it being given to Gen. Scott, he marched immediately for their towns.[26] When near them, he sent out two spies to learn the state of the enemy; who reported that they had seen a large body of Indians, not far from the fatal spot where St. Clair's bloody battle had been fought, enjoying themselves with the plunder there taken, riding the oxen, and acting in every respect as if drunk. Gen. Scott immediately gave orders to move forward briskly; and arranging his men into three divisions, soon came upon and attacked the savages. The contest was short but decisive.--Two hundred of the enemy were killed on the spot, the cannon and such of the other stores as were in their possession, retaken, and the savage forces completely routed. The loss of the Kentuckians was inconsiderable,--only six men were killed and but few wounded.

Gen. Scott on his return, gave an affecting account of the appearance of the field, where Gen. St. Clair had been encountered by the savages. "The plain," said he, "had a very melancholy appearance. In the space of three hundred and fifty yards, lay three hundred skull bones, which were buried by my men while on the ground; from thence for miles on, and the road was strewed with skeletons, muskets, &c." A striking picture of the desolation wrought there on the bloody fourth of November.

-----
[1] The "Wilderness Road" (or "trace") was the overland
highway through Cumberland Gap. It was sometimes called
"Boone's trace." From North Carolina and Southern Virginia, it
was the nearest road to Kentucky; to those living farther
north, the Ohio was the favorite highway. While the river was
an easier path, it was more dangerous on account of Indians:
but travelers of the early period who had come down the Ohio,
preferred returning east by the Wilderness Road to poling up
stream. See Thomas Speed's _Wilderness Road_, in the Filson
Club publications (Louisville, 1886.)--R. G. T.

[2] Col. William Christian, who served in Lord Dunmore's
War. He was killed in April, 1786. John May, writing to
Governor Henry from Crab Orchard, Ky., April 19, says: "The
Indians about the Wabash had frequently been on Bear Grass, and
Col. Christian, in order to induce others to go in pursuit of
them, has upon every occasion gone himself. And last week he
with about twenty men crossed the Ohio, and overtook three
Indians, whom they killed; but his men not obeying his orders,
which were to rush altogether on them, he with three others
only overtook the Indians, and was so unfortunate as to receive
a mortal wound himself and Capt. Isaac Kellar received
another."--R. G. T.

[3] The time for rendezvous was September 10, 1786 (letter
of Col. Levi Todd to Governor Henry, August 29).--R. G. T.

[4] Clark was roundly scored in contemporary accounts, for
being much of the time under the influence of liquor. His
futile expedition was against the Indians around Vincennes,
while Logan's party, which appears practically to have revolted
from Clark, had a successful campaign against the towns on Mad
River. See Green's _Spanish Conspiracy_, ch. v., and
Roosevelt's _Winning of the West_, iii., _passim_.--R. G. T.

[5] Col. Benjamin Logan to Governor Randolph, Dec. 17, 1786:
"Sept. 14, 1786, I received orders [from Clark] to collect a
sufficient number of men in the District of Kentucky to march
against the Shawnee's Towns. Agreeable to said orders I
collected 790 men, and on the 6th of October I attacked the
above mentioned Towns, killed ten of the chiefs of that nation,
captured thirty-two prisoners, burnt upwards of two hundred
dwelling houses and supposed to have burnt fifteen thousand
bushels of corn, took some horses and cattle, killed a number
of hogs, and took near one thousand pounds value of Indian
furniture, and the quantity of furniture we burnt I can not
account for." The force was on duty "not above twenty-seven
days ... and I would venture to say the expenses will be found
to be very moderate."--R. G. T.

[6] William Lytle, born in Carlisle, Pa., September 1, 1770.
He came to Ohio with his father, at the age of ten, and
subsequently became surveyor-general of the Northwest
Territory. His father served as a captain in the French and
Indian War, and as a colonel in the Revolution, and headed a
large colony to Ohio in 1780.--R. G. T.

[7] This name is sometimes written Magery. It is the same
individual who caused the disaster at the Blue Licks in August
1782.

[8] The treaty with the Shawnees was negotiated January 30,
1786, at Fort Finney, near the mouth of the Great Miami, by
George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Samuel H. Parsons,
commissioners. The treaty with the Wyandots, Delawares,
Chippewas, and Ottawas was negotiated at Fort McIntosh, January
21, 1785, by Clark, Butler, and Arthur Lee. These treaties were
of little avail, so long as British agents like McKee, Elliott,
and Simon Girty lived among the Indians and kept them in a
constant ferment against the Americans.--R. G. T.

[9] The several states which, under their colonial charters
had claims to territory beyond the Ohio River,--Virginia, New
York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts,--had (1781-84)
relinquished their several claims to the newly-formed United
States, and the Ordinance of 1787 had provided for this
Northwest Territory an enlightened form of government which was
to be the model of the constitutions of the five states into
which it was ultimately to be divided. There was formed in
Boston, in March, 1786, the Ohio Company of Associates, and
October 17, 1787, it purchased from Congress a million and a
half acres in the new territory, about the mouth of the
Muskingum. Many of the shareholders were Revolutionary
soldiers, and great care was taken to select only good men as
colonists--oftentimes these were the best and most prosperous
men of their several localities. Gen. Rufus Putnam, a cousin of
Israel, and a near friend of Washington, was chosen as
superintendent of the pioneers. Two parties--one rendezvousing
at Danvers, Mass., and the other at Hartford, Conn.--arrived
after a difficult passage through the mountains at Simrall's
Ferry (now West Newton), on the Youghiogheny, the middle of
February, 1788. A company of boat-builders and other mechanics
had preceded them a month, yet it was still six weeks more
before the little flotilla could leave: "The Union Gally of 45
tons burden; the Adelphia ferry boat, 3 tons; & three log
canoes of different sizes. No. of pioneers, 48." The winter had
been one of the severest known on the Upper Ohio, and the
spring was cold, wet, and backward; so that amid many hardships
it was the seventh of April before they arrived at the
Muskingum and founded Marietta, named for the unfortunate Marie
Antoinette, for the love of France was still strong in the
breasts of Revolutionary veterans.--R. G. T.

[10] Perhaps there never was a more strange compound
derivative term than this. Being situated opposite to the mouth
of Licking, the name was made expressive of its locality, by
uniting the Latin word _os_, (the mouth) with the Greek, _anti_
(opposite) and the French, _ville_, (a town,) and prefixing to
this union from such different sources, the initial (_L_) of
the river. The author of this word, must have been good at
invention, and in these days of _town making_ could find ample
employment for his talent.

[11] In 1788, John Cleves Symmes--uncle of he of "Symmes's
Hole"--the first United States judge of the Northwest
Territory, purchased from congress a million acres of land on
the Ohio, lying between the two Miami Rivers. Matthias Denman
bought from him a square mile at the eastern end of the grant,
"on a most delightful high bank" opposite the Licking, and--on
a cash valuation for the land of two hundred dollars--took in
with him as partners Robert Patterson and John Filson. Filson
was a schoolmaster, had written the first history of Kentucky,
and seems to have enjoyed much local distinction. To him was
entrusted the task of inventing a name for the settlement which
the partners proposed to plant here. The outcome was
"Losantiville," a pedagogical hash of Greek, Latin, and French:
_L_, for Licking; _os_, Greek for mouth; _anti_, Latin for
opposite; _ville_, French for city--Licking-opposite-City, or
City-opposite-Licking, whichever is preferred. This was in
August; the Fates work quickly, for in October poor Filson was
scalped by the Indians in the neighborhood of the Big Miami,
before a settler had yet been enticed to Losantiville. But the
survivors knew how to "boom" a town; lots were given away by
lottery to intending actual settlers, who moved thither late in
December or early in January, and in a few months Judge Symmes
was able to write that "it populates considerably."

A few weeks previous to the planting of Losantiville, a party
of men from Redstone had settled at the mouth of the Little
Miami, about where the suburb of California now is; and a
few weeks later, a third colony was started by Symmes
himself at North Bend, near the Big Miami, at the western
extremity of his grant, and this the judge wished to make the
capital of the new Northwest Territory. At first it was a race
between these three colonies. A few miles below North Bend,
Fort Finney had been built in 1785-86, hence the Bend had at
first the start; but a high flood dampened its prospects, the
troops were withdrawn from this neighborhood to Louisville,
and in the winter of 1789-90 Fort Washington was built at
Losantiville by General Harmar. The neighborhood of the new
fortress became in the ensuing Indian war the center of the
district. To Losantiville, with its fort, came Arthur St.
Clair, the new governor of the Northwest Territory (January,
1790), and making his headquarters here, laid violent hands
on Filson's invention, at once changing the name to Cincinnati,
in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which the new
official was a prominent member--"so that," Judge Symmes
sorrowfully writes, "Losantiville will become extinct." It
was a winter of suffering for the Western Cincinnati. The
troops were in danger of starvation, and three professional
hunters were contracted with to supply them with game, till
corn could come in from Columbia and other older settlements
on the river.--R. G. T.

[12] Col. Josiah Harmar's militia were from Virginia, Kentucky,
and Pennsylvania. He left Fort Washington (Cincinnati), October 3.
At this time the Miami Indians had seven villages in the
neighborhood of the junction of St. Joseph and St. Mary's, which
streams unite to form the Maumee. The village which lay in the
forks of the St. Joseph and the Maumee, was the principal; one
in the forks of the St. Mary's and the Maumee, which was called
Kekionga, had 30 houses; at Chillicothe, on the north bank of
the Maumee, were 58 houses, and opposite these 18 houses. The
Delawares had two villages on the St. Mary's, 45 houses in all,
and a town on the St. Joseph of 36 houses.--R. G. T.

[13] A third expedition, under Maj. J. F. Hamtramck,
went against the Wabash Indians, successfully destroyed
several deserted villages, and reached Vincennes without
loss.--R. G. T.

[14] In his report to the Secretary of War, October 29,
1790, Governor St. Clair said: "I have the pleasure to
inform you of the entire success of Gen. Harmar at the Indian
towns on the Miami and St. Joseph Rivers, of which he has
destroyed five in number, and a very great quantity of corn
and other vegetable provisions. It is supposed that about
two hundred of the Indians have likewise fallen in the
different encounters that have happened between them and
the detachment, for there has been no general action; but it
has not been without considerable loss on our part.... Of the
Federal troops, Major Wyllys and Lieutenant Frothingham and
seventy-seven men; of the militia, Major Fontaine, Captain
McMurtry, and Captain Scott, a son of General Scott, and
seventy-three men, are among the slain."--R. G. T.

[15] Thirteen miles below Marietta.--R. G. T.

[16] Eighteen miles above Marietta, and one above St. Mary's,
W. Va.--R. G. T.

[17] Dunkard Creek flows eastward into the Monongahela. Fish
Creek flows southwestward into the Ohio, emptying 113 miles
below Pittsburg, and 58 above Marietta. A famous Indian
war-trail ran up Fish and down Dunkard--a short-cut from Ohio
to the western borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia.--R. G. T.

[18] Soon after the establishment of Marietta, a rude wagon
road was opened through the forest between that colony and
Redstone (Brownsville, Pa.) This was the road Carpenter was
following.--R. G. T.

[19] With Gen. Richard Butler, who was killed in the final
battle, second in command.--R. G. T.

[20] Early in September, 1791. St. Clair had 2,000 men,
fifty per cent less than had been promised him by the war
department.--R. G. T.

[21] Fort Hamilton, a stockade with four bastions, was on the
Big Miami, 24 miles from Fort Washington (Cincinnati), on the
site of the present Hamilton, O. Fort Jefferson, built of logs
laid horizontally, was six miles south of the present
Greenville, O. The army left Fort Jefferson, October
24.--R. G. T.

[22] The army then numbered 1,400 men, and was encamped at
the site of the present Fort Recovery, O., 55 miles away, as
the crow flies, from the head of the Maumee, the objective
point of the expedition.--R. G. T.

[23] He lay sick in his tent, when the action opened, but
arose and acted with remarkable courage throughout the fight.
General Butler was acting commandant while St. Clair was ill,
and was credibly informed by his scouts, the night before the
battle, of the proximity of the enemy. But he took no
precautions against surprise, neither did he communicate his
news to his superior. Upon Butler's head appears to rest much
of the blame for the disaster.--R. G. T.

[24] The Americans lost 37 officers and 593 men, killed and
missing, and 31 officers and 252 men, wounded. See _St. Clair
Papers_, edited by William Henry Smith (Cincinnati: Robert
Clarke & Co., 1882), for official details of the disaster. For
Simon Girty's part, consult Butterfield's _History of the
Girtys, passim._--R. G. T.

[25] St. Clair arrived at Fort Washington, on his return,
November 8--R. G. T.

[26] This expedition under Gen. Charles Scott, one of the
Kentucky committee of safety, was made in June, 1791, against
the Miami and Wabash Indians. It was followed in August by a
second expedition under Gen. James Wilkinson. In the course of
the second campaign, at the head of 500 Kentuckians, Wilkinson
laid waste the Miami village of L'Anguille, killing and
capturing 42 of the savages.--R. G. T.

[302] CHAPTER XVIII.

Neither the signal success of the expedition under General Scott, nor the preparations which were being made by the general government, for the more rigorous prosecution of the war against them, caused the Indians to relax their exertions to harrass the frontier inhabitants. The ease with which they had overcome the two armies sent against them under Harmar and St. Clair, inspired them with contempt for our troops, and induced a belief of their own invincibility, if practising the vigilance necessary to guard against a surprise. To the want of this vigilance, they ascribed the success of Gen. Scott; and deeming it necessary only to exercise greater precaution to avoid similar results, they guarded more diligently the passes into their country, while discursive parties of their warriors would perpetrate their accustomed acts of aggression upon the persons and property of the whites.

About the middle of May, 1792, a party of savages came upon a branch of Hacker's creek, and approaching late in the evening a field recently cleared by John Waggoner, found him seated on a log, resting himself after the labors of the day. In this company of Indians was the since justly celebrated General Tecumseh, who leaving his companions to make sure of those in the house, placed his gun on the fence and fired deliberately at Waggoner. The leaden messenger of death failed of its errand, and passing through the sleeve of his shirt, left Waggoner uninjured, to try his speed with the Indian. Taking a direction opposite the house, to avoid coming in contact with the savages there, he outstripped his pursuer, and got safely off.

[303] In the mean time, those who had been left to operate against those of the family who were at the house, finding a small boy in the yard, killed and scalped him; and proceeding on, made prisoners of Mrs. Waggoner and her six children, and departed immediately with them, lest the escape of her husband, should lead to their instant pursuit. They were disappointed in this expectation. A company of men was soon collected, who repaired to the then desolate mansion, and from thence followed on the trail of the savages. About a mile from the house, one of the children was found where its brains had been beaten out with a club, and the scalp torn from its head. A small distance farther, lay Mrs. Waggoner and two others of her children,--their lifeless bodies mangled in the most barbarous and shocking manner. Having thus freed themselves from the principal impediments to a rapid retreat, the savages hastened on; and the pursuit was unavailing. They reached their towns with the remaining prisoners--two girls and a boy--and avoided chastisement for the outrage. The elder of the two girls did not long remain with them; but escaping to the neighborhood of Detroit with another female prisoner, continued there until after the treaty of 1795. Her sister abided with her captors 'till the close of the war; and the boy until during the war of 1812. He was then seen among some friendly Indians, and bearing a strong resemblance in features to his father, was recognized as Waggoner's captive son. He had married a squaw, by whom he had several children, was attached to his manner of life, and for a time resisted every importunity, to withdraw himself from among them. When his father visited him, it was with difficulty he was enticed to return to the haunts of his childhood, and the associates of his younger days, even on a temporary visit. When however he did return to them, the attention and kindly conduct of his friends, prevailed with him to remain, until he married and took up his permanent abode amid the habitations of civilized men. Still with the feelings natural to a father, his heart yearns towards his children in the forest; and at times he seems to lament that he ever forsook them.[1]

In the summer of this year, a parcel of horses were taken from the West Fork, and the Indians who had stolen them, being discovered as they were retiring, they were pursued by Captain Coburn, who was stationed at the mouth of Little [304] Kenhawa with a party of men as scouts. Following them across the Ohio river, he overtook them some distance in the Indian country, and retaking the horses, returned to his station. Hitherto property recovered from the savages, had been invariably restored to those from whom it had been stolen; but on the present occasion a different course was pursued. Contending that they received compensation for services rendered by them in Virginia, and were not bound to treat without its limits in pursuit of the savages or to retake the property of which they had divested its rightful owners, they claimed the horses as plunder taken from the Indians, sold them, and divided the proceeds of sale among themselves--much to the dissatisfaction of those from whom the savages had taken them.[2]

In the course of the ensuing fall, Henry Neal, William Triplett and Daniel Rowell, from Neal's station ascended the Little Kenhawa in canoes to the mouth of the Burning Spring run, from whence they proceeded on a Buffoloe hunt in the adjoining woods. But they had been seen as they plied their canoes up the river, by a party of Indians, who no sooner saw them placed in a situation favoring the bloody purposes of their hearts, than they fired upon them. Neal and Triplett were killed, and fell into the river.--Rowell was missed and escaped by swimming the Kenhawa, the Indians shooting at him as he swam. In a few days after the dead were found in a ripple and buried. The Indians had not been able to draw them from their watery grave, and obtain their scalps.

During this year unsuccessful attempts were made by the general government, to terminate Indian hostilities by negotiation. They were too much elated with their recent success, to think of burying their resentments in a treaty of peace; and so little did they fear the operation of the governmental forces, and such was their confidence in their own strength, that they not only refused to negotiate at all, but put to death two of those who were sent to them as messengers of peace. Major Truman and Col. Hardin, severally sent upon this mission, were murdered by them; and when commissioners to treat with them, were received by them, their only answer was, a positive refusal to enter into a treaty.[3]

When this determination was made known to the President, every precaution which could be used, was taken by him to prevent the recurrence of these enormities which were daily committed on the [305] frontier, and particularly in the new state of Kentucky. Gen. St. Clair, after having asked that a court of enquiry should be held, to consider of his conduct in the campaign of 1791, and finding that his request could not be granted, resigned the command of the army, and was succeeded by Gen. Anthony Wayne. That the operations of the army might not be defeated as heretofore, by a too great reliance on undisciplined militia, it was recommended to Congress to authorize the raising of three additional regiments of regular soldiers; and the bill for complying with this recommendation, notwithstanding it was strenuously opposed by a strong party hostile to the then administration, was finally passed.[4]

The forts Hamilton and Jefferson, erected by Gen. St. Clair, continued to be well garrisoned; but there was some difficulty in supplying them with provisions--the Indians being always in readiness to intercept them on their way. As early as April 1792, they taught us the necessity of having a strong guard to escort supplies with safety, by a successful attack on Major Adair; who with one hundred and twenty volunteers from Kentucky, had charge of a number of pack horses laden with provisions. He was engaged by a body of savages, not much superior in number, and although he was under cover of Fort St. Clair, yet did they drive him into the fort, and carry off the provisions and pack horses. The courage and bold daring of the Indians, was eminently conspicuous on this occasion. They fought with nearly equal numbers, against a body of troops, better tutored in the science of open warfare, well mounted and equipped, armed with every necessary weapon, and almost under the guns of the fort. And they fought successfully,--killing one captain and ten privates, wounding several, and taking property estimated to be worth fifteen thousand dollars. Nothing seemed to abate their ardor for war. Neither the strong garrisons placed in the forts erected so far in advance of the settlements, nor the great preparations which were making for striking an effectual blow at them, caused them for an instant to slacken in hostilities, or check their movements against the frontier.

In the spring of 1793, a party of warriors proceeding towards the head waters of the Monongahela river, discovered a marked way, leading a direction which they did not know to be inhabited by whites. It led to a settlement which had been recently made on Elk river, by Jeremiah and Benjamin Carpenter and a few others from Bath county, and who had been particularly careful to make nor leave any path which might lead to a discovery of their situation, but Adam O'Brien moving into the same section of country in the spring of 1792, and being rather an indifferent woodsman, incautiously blazed the trees in several directions so as to enable him readily to find his home, when business or pleasure should have drawn him from it. It was upon one of these marked traces that the Indians chanced to fall; and pursuing it, came to the deserted cabin of [306] O'Brien: he having returned to the interior, because of his not making a sufficiency of grain for the subsistence of his family. Proceeding from O'Brien's, they came to the House of Benjamin Carpenter, whom they found alone and killed. Mrs. Carpenter being discovered by them, before she was aware of their presence, was tomahawked and scalped, a small distance from the yard.

The burning of Benjamin Carpenter's house, led to a discovery of these outrages; and the remaining inhabitants of that neighborhood, remote from any fort or populous settlement to which they could fly for security, retired to the mountains and remained for several days concealed in a cave. They then caught their horses and moved their families to the West Fork; and when they visited the places of their former habitancy for the purpose of collecting their stock and carrying it off with their other property, scarce a vestige of them was to be seen,--the Indians had been there after they left the cave, and burned the houses, pillaged their movable property, and destroyed the cattle and hogs.

Among the few interesting incidents which occurred in the upper country, during this year, was the captivity and remarkable escape of two brothers, John and Henry Johnson:--the former thirteen, the latter eleven years of age. They lived at a station on the west side of the Ohio river near above Indian Short creek; and being at some distance from the house, engaged in the sportive amusements of youth, became fatigued and seated themselves on an old log for the purpose of resting. They presently observed two men coming towards them, whom they believed to be white men from the station until they approached so close as to leave no prospect of escape by flight, when to their great grief they saw that two Indians were beside them. They were made prisoners, and taken about four miles, when after partaking of some roasted meat and parched corn given them by their captors, they were arranged for the night, by being placed between the two Indians and each encircled in the arms of the one next him.