Chapter I (2)

Gen. Lewis was in person upwards of six feet high, finely proportioned, of uncommon strength and great activity. His countenance was stern and rather forbidding--his deportment distant and reserved; this rendered his person more awful than engaging. When he was at Fort Stanwich in 1768, as one of the commissioners from the colony of Virginia, to treat, in conjunction with commissioners from the eastern colonies, with the Six Nations, the Governor of New York remarked "that the earth seemed to tremble under his tread."

When the war of the revolution commenced, and General [56] Washington was commissioned commander in chief, he is said to have expressed a wish, that the appointment had been given to Gen. Lewis. Be this as it may, it is certain that he accepted the commission of Brigadier General at the solicitation of Washington; and when, from wounded pride[11] and a shattered constitution, he was induced to express an intention of resigning, Gen. Washington wrote him, entreating that he would not do so, and assuring him that justice should be done, as regarded his rank. Gen. Lewis, however, had become much reduced by disease, and did not think himself able, longer to endure the hardships of a soldier's life--he resigned his commission in 1780, and died in the county of Bedford, on the way to his home in Botetourt on Roanoke river.

When Major Grant, (who had been sent with a detachment for the purpose of reconnoitering the country about Fort du Quesne,) arrived in view of it, he resolved on attempting its reduction. Major Lewis remonstrated with him, on the propriety of that course, and endeavored to dissuade him from the attempt. Grant deemed it practicable to surprise the garrison and effect an easy conquest, and was unwilling that the provincial troops should divide with his Highland regulars the glory of the achievment--he therefore ordered Major Lewis two miles into the rear, with that part of the Virginia regiment then under his command.

Soon after the action had commenced, Lewis discovered by the retreating fire, that Grant was in an unpleasant situation, and leaving Capt. Bullet with fifty men to guard the baggage, hastened to his relief. On arriving at the battle ground, and finding Grant and his detachment surrounded by the Indians, who had passed his rear under covert of the banks of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, Major Lewis commenced a brisk fire and made so vigorous an attack on the Indians as to open a passage through which Grant and some few of his men effected an escape. Lewis and his brave provincials became enclosed within the Indian lines and suffered dreadfully. Out of eight officers five were killed, a sixth wounded and a seventh taken prisoner. Capt. Bullet, [57] who defended the baggage with great bravery and contributed much to save the remnant of the detachment, was the only officer who escaped unhurt.[12] Out of one hundred and sixty-six men, sixty-two were killed on the spot and two were wounded.

Major Lewis was himself made prisoner; and although stripped by the Indians of every article of his clothing, and reduced to perfect nudity, he was protected from bodily injury by a French officer, who took him to his tent and supplied him with clothes. Grant who had wandered all night with five or six of his men, came in, on the morning after the engagement, and surrendered himself a prisoner of war.

While Grant and Lewis were prisoners, the former addressed a letter to Gen. Forbes giving a detailed account of the engagement and attributing the defeat to the ill conduct of the latter. This letter, (being inspected by the French who knew the falsehood of the charge it contained) was handed to Maj. Lewis. Exasperated at this charge, Lewis waited on Major Grant and in the interview between them, after having bestowed on him some abusive epithets, challenged him to the field. Grant declined to accept the invitation; and Lewis, after spitting in his face in the presence of several of the French officers, left him to reflect on his baseness.

After this defeat a council was held by the Indians to determine on the course proper for them to pursue. The most of them had come from about Detroit at the instance of the French commandant there, to fortify Fort du Quesne against an attack by Forbes--the hunting season had arrived and many of them were anxious to return to their town. The question which attracted their attention most seriously was, whether Gen. Forbes would then retreat or advance. As Grant had been most signally defeated, many supposed that the main arm would retire into winter quarters, as Dunbar had, after the battle on the Monongahela. The French expressed a different opinion, and endeavored to prevail on the Indians to remain and witness the result. This however they refused to do, and the greater part of them left du Quesne. Upon this the commandant of the fort, in order to learn the course which Gen. Forbes would pursue, and to impress upon the English, an idea that the French were in return preparing to attack them, ordered the remainder of the Indians, a number of Canadians and some French regulars to reconnoitre the route [58] along which Gen. Forbes would be most likely to march his army, to watch their motions and harrass them as much as possible; determining if they could not thus force him to abandon the idea of attacking Du Quesne during that campaign, they would evacuate the fort and retire into Canada.

When Major Grant with his men had been ordered on to Du Quesne, the main army had been left at Raystown, where it continued for some time; an advance was however posted at fort Ligonier. Between this vanguard and the detachment from Du Quesne there was a partial engagement, which resulted in the loss of some of the Maryland troops. Fort Ligonier was then closely watched by the French and Indians, and several of the sentinels were killed, before the point from which the fires were directed, was discovered; it was at length ascertained that parties of the enemy would creep under the bank of the Loyal Hanna till they could obtain a position from which to do execution. Some soldiers were then stationed to guard this point, who succeeded in killing two Indians, and in wounding and making prisoner of one Frenchman. From him the English obtained information that the greater part of the Indians had left Du Quesne, and that the fort was defenceless: the army then moved forward and taking possession of its ruins established thereon Fort Pitt.[13] The country around began immediately to be settled, and several other forts were erected to protect emigrants, and to keep the Indians in awe.

Previous to this an attempt had been made by David Tygart and a Mr. Files to establish themselves on an upper branch of the Monongahela river.[14] They had been for some time frontier's men, and were familiar with the scenes usually exhibited on remote and unprotected borders; and nothing daunted by the cruel murders and savage enormities, which they had previously witnessed, were induced by some cause, most probably the uninterrupted enjoyment of the forest in the pursuit of game, to venture still farther into the wilderness. About the year 1754 these two men with their families arrived on the east fork of the Monongahela, and after examining the country, selected positions for their future residence. Files chose a spot on the river, at the mouth of a creek which still bears his name, where Beverly, the county seat of Randolph has been since established. Tygart settled a few miles farther up and also on the river. The valley in which they had thus taken up their abode, has been since called Tygart's [59] valley, and the east fork of the Monongahela, Tygart's-valley river.

The difficulty of procuring bread stuffs for their families, their contiguity to an Indian village, and the fact that an Indian war path passed near their dwellings, soon determined them to retrace their steps.[15] Before they carried this determination into effect, the family of Files became the victims of savage cruelty. At a time when all the family were at their cabin, except an elder son, they were discovered by a party of Indians, supposed to be returning from the South Branch, who inhumanly butchered them all.[16] Young Files being not far from the house and hearing the uproar, approached until he saw, too distinctly, the deeds of death which were doing; and feeling the utter impossibility of affording relief to his own, resolved if he could, to effect the safety of Tygart's family. This was done and the country abandoned by them.

Not long after this, Doctor Thomas Eckarly and his two brothers came from Pennsylvania and camped at the mouth of a creek, emptying into the Monongahela, 8 or 10 miles below Morgantown; they were Dunkards, and from that circumstance, the watercourse on which they fixed themselves for a while, has been called Dunkard's creek. While their camp continued at this place, these men were engaged in exploring the country; and ultimately settled on Cheat river, at the Dunkard bottom. Here they erected a cabin for their dwelling, and made such improvements as enabled them to raise the first year, a crop of corn sufficient for their use, and some culinary vegetables: their guns supplied them with an abundance of meat, of a flavor as delicious as the refined palate of a modern epicure could well wish. Their clothes were made chiefly of the skins of animals, and were easily procured: and although calculated to give a grotesque appearance to a fine gentleman in a city drawing room; yet were they particularly suited to their situation, and afforded them comfort.

Here they spent some years entirely unmolested by the Indians, although a destructive war was then raging, and prosecuted with cruelty, along the whole extent of our frontier. At length to obtain an additional supply of ammunition, salt and shirting, Doctor Eckarly left Cheat, with a pack of furs and skins, to visit a trading post on the Shenandoah. On his return, he stopped at Fort Pleasant, on the South Branch; and having communicated to its inhabitants the place of his residence, and the length of time he had been living there, he was charged with being in confederacy with the Indians, and probably at that instant a spy, examining the condition of the fort. In vain the Doctor protested his innocence and the fact that he had not even seen an Indian in the country; the suffering condition [59] of the border settlements, rendered his account, in their opinion improbable, and he was put in confinement.

The society, of which Doctor Eckarly was a member, was rather obnoxious to a number of the frontier inhabitants. Their intimacy with the Indians, although cultivated with the most laudable motives, and for noble purposes, yet made them objects at least of distrust to many. Laboring under these disadvantages, it was with difficulty that Doctor Eckarly prevailed on the officer of the fort to release him; and when this was done he was only permitted to go home under certain conditions--he was to be escorted by a guard of armed men, who were to carry him back if any discovery were made prejudicial to him. Upon their arrival at Cheat, the truth of his statement was awfully confirmed. The first spectacle which presented itself to their view, when the party came within sight of where the cabin had been, was a heap of ashes. On approaching the ruins, the half decayed, and mutilated bodies of the poor Dunkards, were seen in the yard; the hoops, on which their scalps had been dried, were there, and the ruthless hand of desolation had waved over their little fields. Doctor Eckarly aided in burying the remains of his unfortunate brothers, and returned to the fort on the South Branch.

In the fall of 1758, Thomas Decker and some others commenced a settlement on the Monongahela river, at the mouth of what is now, Decker's creek. In the ensuing spring it was entirely broken up by a party of Delawares and Mingoes; and the greater part of its inhabitants murdered.

There was at this time at Brownsville a fort, then known as Redstone fort, under the command of Capt. Paul.[17] One of Decker's party escaped from the Indians who destroyed the settlement, and making his way to Fort Redstone, gave to its commander the melancholy intelligence. The garrison being too weak to admit of sending a detachment in pursuit, Capt. Paul despatched a runner with the information to Capt. John Gibson, then stationed at Fort Pitt. Leaving the fort under the command of Lieut. Williamson, Capt. Gibson set out with thirty men to intercept the Indians, on their return to their towns.

In consequence of the distance which the pursuers had to go, and the haste with which the Indians had retreated, the expedition failed in its object; they however accidentally came on a party of six or seven Mingoes, on the head of Cross Creek in Ohio (near Steubenville)--these had been prowling about the river, below Fort Pitt, seeking an opportunity of committing depredations.[18] As Capt. Gibson passed the point of a small knoll, just after day break, he came unexpectedly upon them--some of them were lying down; the others were sitting round a fire, making thongs of green hides. Kiskepila or Little Eagle, a Mingo chief, headed the party. So soon as he discovered Capt. Gibson, he raised the war whoop and fired [61] his rifle--the ball passed through Gibson's hunting shirt and wounded a soldier just behind him. Gibson sprang forward, and swinging his sword with herculean force, severed the head of the Little Eagle from his body--two other Indians were shot down, and the remainder escaped to their towns on Muskingum.

When the captives, who were restored under the treaty of 1763, came in, those who were at the Mingo towns when the remnant of Kiskepila's party returned, stated that the Indians represented Gibson as having cut off the Little Eagle's head with a _long knife_. Several of the white persons were then sacrificed to appease the manes of Kiskepila; and a war dance ensued, accompanied with terrific shouts and bitter denunciations of revenge on "_the Big knife warrior_." This name was soon after applied to the Virginia militia generally; and to this day they are known among the north western Indians as the "_Long knives_," or "_Big knife nation_."[19]

These are believed to have been the only attempts to effect a settlement of North Western Virginia, prior to the close of the French war. The capture of Fort du Quesne and the erection and garrisoning of Fort Pitt, although they gave to the English an ascendency in that quarter; yet they did not so far check the hostile irruptions of the Indians, as to render a residence in this portion of Virginia, by any means secure.--It was consequently not attempted 'till some years after the restoration of peace in 1765.

-----
[1] This is misleading. The author has told us, in the
preceding chapter, of several attempts of English coast
colonists to make transmontane settlements, quite apart from
thought of ousting the French. Englishmen had no sooner landed
in America than they attempted to cross the Western mountain
barrier. Ralph Lane made the attempt in 1586, Christopher
Newport and John Smith in 1606, and Newport himself in 1607.
John Lederer, a German surgeon exploring for Governor Berkeley,
of Virginia, reached the top of Blue Ridge in 1609, but did not
descend the western slope. Two years later, Abraham Wood
discovered the Great Kanawha. It is possible that the French
Jesuit Le Moyne was on the Alleghany River as early as 1656. La
Salle was probably at the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville) in
1669. But it was not until about 1700 that French and English
fur-traders met in open rivalry on the Ohio. It was with no
thought of the French that Governor Spottswood, of Virginia,
passed over the Blue Ridge in 1714. The situation in short, was
this: The English colonists early wanted the over-mountain
country watered by the Ohio, but were too weak at first to hold
for agricultural settlement lands so far from home, in the face
of a savage foe. The French wanted the valley solely for the
fur trade, but Iroquois opposition long kept them from
entering; when at last they were able to do so, the English
colonists had also grown strong enough to move in, and then
ensued the long and bloody struggle in which New France
fell.--R. G. T.

[2] In the journal (drawn up for the inspection of Gov.
Dinwiddie) of the events of his mission to the commander of the
French forces on the Ohio; this was the first of those splendid
acts of a public nature, performed by Gen. Washington.

[3] Only five companies of the first Virginia regiment
served on Braddock's campaign--hence there was no second
regiment, nor any Colonel Russell engaged in that service; there
was, however, at this period, a Colonel or Lieut.-Colonel
William Russell, who emigrated from England when a young lawyer,
to Virginia, about 1710, and settled in Culpeper, and by the
readjustment of county lines he was thrown into the new county
of Orange. He was a man of much prominence, and at one time was
high sheriff of Orange; and apparently lieutenant-colonel of
militia, and as such, in the early part of the French and
Indian War, did some frontier service, though rather advanced
in years at the time. In 1753, he was sent as a commissioner
to pacify the Indians in the region where Pittsburg was
subsequently located. He died October 18, 1757, aged about
seventy-two years. His son of the same name served with
reputation at the battle of Point Pleasant, and during the
Revolutionary War, retiring at its close with the brevet rank
of brigadier-general.--L. C. D.

[4] It has already been stated that Col. John Lewis's eldest
son was Thomas, not Samuel.--L. C. D.

[5] Capt. John McDowell was killed in an engagement with the
Indians, in December, 1742, and of course could not have served
under either Andrew or Charles Lewis.--L. C. D.

[6] James Smith, afterwards Col. Smith of Bourbon county in
Kentucky, was then a prisoner at du Quesne. He says that the
Indians in council planned the attack on Braddock's army and
selected the ground from which to make it--that the assailants
did not number more than 400 men, of whom but a small
proportion were French. One of the Indians laughed when he
heard the order of march in Braddock's army, and said "we'll
shoot them down all as one pigeon." Washington beheld the event
in fearful anticipation, and exerted himself in vain with Gen.
Braddock, to alter the order of march.

[7] It is evident that the author never saw the site of
Braddock's defeat, just below the mouth of Turtle Creek, for
his description is quite inaccurate. June 30, 1755, the army,
which had been following the Ohio Company's road from Will's
Creek, _via_ East Meadows, crossed the Youghiogheny and
proceeding in a devious course struck the head of Turtle Creek,
which was followed nearly to its mouth, whence a southern
course was taken to avoid the steep hills. Reaching the
Monongahela just below the mouth of the Youghiogheny, they
crossed (July 9) to the west side, where there is a long,
narrow bottom. Nearly opposite the mouth of Turtle Creek, and
about four miles below the first crossing, hills again closely
approach the west bank, and the east side becomes the more
favorable for marching. Here, only eight miles across country
from Fort Duquesne, Braddock forded the second time, and in
angling up the rather easy slope upon which is now built the
busy iron-making town of Braddock, Pa., was obliged to pass
through a heavily-wooded ravine. This was the place of the
ambuscade, where his army was cut to pieces. Indians from the
Upper Lakes, under the leadership of Charles Langlade, a
Wisconsin fur-trader, were the chief participants in this
affair, on the French side.--R. G. T.

[8] This statement about Capts. Grant and Lewis having taken
part in the battle of the Monongahela, is altogether a mistake.
It must have originated in some traditional account, and become
confused in some way with Grant's defeat, three years later, in
which Maj. James Grant and Maj. Andrew Lewis both took a
prominent part. There is no record of any Capt. Grant in
Braddock's army. Andrew Lewis, though a major, was still in
command of his company, and at the time of Braddock's defeat
was on detached service. Gov. Dinwiddie, writing to Maj. Lewis,
July 8, 1755, says: "You were ordered to Augusta with your
company to protect the frontier of that county;" and, in a
letter of the same date, to Col. Patton, the Governor adds:
"Enclosed you have a letter to Capt. Lewis, which please
forward to him: _I think he is at Greenbrier._" Capt. Robt.
Orme, aide-de-camp to Gen. Braddock, in his Journal appended to
Sargent's _History of Braddock's Expedition_, states under date
of April, 1755, that the Virginia troops having been clothed,
were ordered to march to Winchester, for arming and drilling,
and then adds: "Capt. Lewis was ordered with his company of
Rangers to Greenbrier river, there to build two stockade forts,
in one of which he was to remain himself and to detach to the
other a subaltern and fifteen men. These forts were to cover
the western settlers of Virginia from any inroads of
Indians."--L. C. D.

[9] The MS. Journal of Col. Charles Lewis, in possession of
the Wisconsin Historical Society, covering the period from
October 10 to December 27, 1755, is an unconsciously eloquent
picture of the hardships of life on the Virginia frontier, at
this time.--R. G. T.

[10] After the capitulation of Fort Necessity, and while
some of the soldiers of each army were intermixed, an
Irishman, exasperated with an Indian near him, "cursed the
copper-coloured scoundrel" and raised his musket to shoot
him. Gen. Lewis who had been twice wounded in the engagement,
and was then hobbling on a staff, raised the Irishman's
gun, as he was in the act of firing, and thus not only saved
the life of the Indian, but probably prevented a general
massacre of the Virginia troops.

[11] Congress had given to Gen. Stephens, and some others
(whose senior Lewis had been in former services) commissions as
Major Generals.

[12] Thomas Bullitt was a native of Prince William county,
Virginia. He was appointed an ensign in Washington's first
Virginia regiment, July 20, 1754, and promoted to a lieutenancy
on October 30th following. It is said that he served in
Braddock's defeat; but the records of the Virginia officers
present do not include Lieut. Bullitt's name. He was, perhaps,
with Capt. Lewis in the Greenbrier country, or on some other
detached service. In May, 1756, he was stationed at Winchester;
in July following, in command of Fort Frederick, on Jackson's
River, and in November of that year, in command of Fort
Cumberland. He was in active service in 1757, and early the
next year we find him a captain; as such, he distinguished
himself in checking the enemy and saving many of the fugitives
at Grant's defeat, and shared in Gen. Forbes's successful
expedition in the capture of Fort Du Quesne. In May, 1759,
while guarding with one hundred men, fifteen wagons loaded with
provisions for the westward, he was attacked and defeated by a
strong party of French and Indians, losing thirty-five of his
party killed and prisoners and all his wagons. In 1760, he was
appointed a surveyor of a district bordering on the Ohio, and
had much to do in early Kentucky exploration and surveys,
making an early location and survey at the Falls of Ohio in
1773. In September, 1775, he was appointed adjutant-general of
all the Virginia forces; and on the 9th of December following,
he aided Colonel Woodford in defeating Capt. Fordyce and party
at the Great Bridge. In March, 1776, Congress appointed him
deputy adjutant-general of the Southern Department with the
rank of lieutenant-colonel, and advanced him in May following
to the full rank of colonel. He died while yet in service, in
1778.--L. C. D.

[13] The French destroyed Fort Duquesne in November, 1758.
During the winter following, Fort Pitt was erected by the
English troops. In his _Journal of a Tour to the Ohio River_
(1770), Washington says of it: "The fort is built on the point
between the rivers Alleghany and Monongahela, but not so near
the pitch of it as Fort Duquesne stood. It is five-sided and
regular, two of which next the land are of brick; the others
stockade. A moat encompasses it." Fort Pitt was invested by the
Indians during Pontiac's War (1763). It was fully garrisoned
until 1772, when a corporal and a few men were left as
care-takers. In October of that year, the property was sold,
and several houses were built out of the material. In the
course of the boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and
Virginia, the latter colony took possession of the ruins,
through Lord Dunmore's agent there, John Conolly.--R. G. T.

[14] The author overlooks the settlement made by Christopher
Gist, the summer of 1753, in the town of Dunbar, Fayette
county, Pa., two or three miles west of the Youghiogheny and
some seventy miles northwest of Will's Creek; the site was
doubtless selected by him in his trip of 1751-52. Washington,
who visited him there in November, 1753, on the way to Fort Le
Boeuf, calls it "Gist's new settlement," but the owner's name
for his place was "Monongahela." It was the first settlement of
which there is record, upon the Ohio Company's lands. Gist
induced eleven families to settle near him; and on his journey
home, in January, 1754, Washington met them going out to the
new lands. The victory of the French over Washington, at Fort
Necessity, in July, led to the expulsion from the region of all
English-speaking settlers. The French commander, De Villiers,
reports that he "burnt down all the settlements" on the
Monongahela (from Redstone down), and in the vicinity of
Gist's.--R. G. T.

[15] This trail was a continuation of the famous "Warrior
Branch," which coming up from Tennessee passed through Kentucky
and Southern Ohio, and threading the valley of Fish Creek
crossed over to Dunkard's Creek and so on to the mouth of
Redstone Creek.--R. G. T.

[16] In Col. Preston's MS. Register of Indian Depredations,
in the Wisconsin Historical Society's library, it is stated
that Robert Foyle, wife and five children, were killed on the
Monongahela in 1754. Gov. Dinwiddie, in his speech to the
Virginia house of burgesses in February, 1754, refers to this
barbarous affair, giving the same number of the family
destroyed; and the gazettes of that period state that Robert
Foyle, together with his wife and five children, the youngest
about ten years of age, were killed at the head of the
Monongahela; their bodies, scalped, were discovered February
4th, and were supposed to have been killed about two months
before.--L. C. D.

[17] In 1750, the Ohio Company, as a base of operations and
supplies, built a fortified warehouse at Will's Creek (now
Cumberland, Md.), on the upper waters of the Potomac. Col.
Thomas Cresap, an energetic frontiersman, and one of the
principal agents of the Company, was directed to blaze a
pack-horse trail over the Laurel Hills to the Monongahela. He
employed as his guide an Indian named Nemacolin, whose camp was
at the mouth of Dunlap Creek (site of the present Brownsville,
Pa.), an affluent of the Monongahela. Nemacolin pointed out an
old Indian trace which had its origin, doubtless, in an
over-mountain buffalo trail; and this, widened a little by
Cresap, was at first known as Nemacolin's Path. It led through
Little Meadows and Great Meadows--open marshes grown to grass,
and useful for feeding traders' and explorers' horses.
Washington traveled this path in 1753, when he went to warn the
French at Fort Le Boeuf. Again, but widened somewhat, it was
his highway in 1754, as far north as Gist's plantation; and at
Great Meadows he built Fort Necessity, where he was defeated.
Braddock followed it in great part, in 1755, and henceforth it
became known as "Braddock's Road." The present National Road
from Cumberland to Brownsville, via Uniontown, differs in
direction but little from Nemacolin's Path. For a map of
Braddock's Road, see Lowdermilk's _History of Cumberland, Md._,
p. 140, with description on pages 51, 52, 140-148. Ellis's
_History of Fayette Co., Pa._, also has valuable data.

The terminus of Nemacolin's Path was Dunlap's Creek (Brownsville).
A mile-and-a-quarter below Dunlap's, enters Redstone Creek, and
the name "Redstone" became affixed to the entire region hereabout,
although "Monongahela" was sometimes used to indicate the
panhandle between the Monongahela and the Youghiogheny. In 1752,
the Ohio Company built a temporary warehouse at the mouth of
Dunlap's Creek, at the end of the over-mountain trail. In 1754,
Washington's advance party (Capt. Trent) built a log fort, called
"The Hangard," at the mouth of the Redstone, but this was, later
in the year, destroyed by the French officer De Villiers. In 1759,
Colonel Burd, as one of the features of Forbes's campaign against
Fort Duquesne, erected Fort Burd at the mouth of Dunlap's,
which was a better site. This fort was garrisoned as late as
the Dunmore War (1774), but was probably abandoned soon after the
Revolutionary War. The name "Redstone Old Fort" became attached
to the place, because within the present limits of Brownsville
were found by the earliest comers, and can still be traced,
extensive earthworks of the mound-building era.--R. G. T.

[18] Cross Creek empties into the Ohio through Mingo Bottom
(site of Mingo Junction, O.). On this bottom was, for many
years, a considerable Mingo village.--R. G. T.

[19] This statement, that Capt. Audley Paul commanded at
Redstone, and of his attempting to intercept a foraging Indian
party, can not possibly be true. There was no fort, and
consequently no garrison, at Redstone in 1758. It was not built
'till 1759, and then by Col. James Burd, of the Pennsylvania
forces. James L. Bowman, a native of Brownsville, the locality
of Redstone Old Fort, wrote a sketch of the history of that
place, which appeared in the _American Pioneer_ in February,
1843, in which he says: "We have seen it stated in a creditable
work, that the fort was built by Capt. Paul--doubtless an
error, as the Journal of Col. Burd is ample evidence to settle
that matter." Col. Burd records in his Journal: "Ordered, in
Aug. 1759, to march with two hundred of my battalion to the
mouth of Redstone Creek, to cut a road to that place, and to
erect a fort." He adds: "When I had cut the road, and finished
the fort," etc.

The other part of the story, about Capt. John Gibson commanding
at Fort Pitt in "the fall of 1758," is equally erroneous, as
Gen. Forbes did not possess himself of Fort Duquesne till Nov.
25th, 1758, within five days of the conclusion of "fall" in
that year; and Gen. Forbes commanded there in person until he
left for Philadelphia, Dec. 3d following. There is, moreover,
no evidence that Gibson was then in service. The story of his
decapitating Kis-ke-pi-la, or the Little Eagle, if there was
such a person, or of his beheading any other Indian, is not at
all probable. He was an Indian trader for many years, and was
made prisoner by the Indians in 1763, and detained a long time
in captivity.

Gibson could not by any such decapitating exploit, have
originated the designation of "Big Knife," or "Big Knife
warrior," for this appellation had long before been applied
to the Virginians. Gist says in his Journal, Dec. 7th, 1750, in
speaking of crossing Elk's Eye Creek--the Muskingum--and
reaching an Indian hamlet, that the Indians were all out
hunting; that "the old Frenchman, Mark Coonce, living there,
was civil to me; but after I was gone to my camp, upon his
understanding I came from Virginia, he called me _Big
Knife_." Col. James Smith, then a prisoner with the Indians,
says the Indians assigned as a reason why they did not oppose
Gen. Forbes in 1758, that if they had been only red coats
they could have subdued them; "but they could not withstand
_Ash-a-le-co-a_, or the _Great Knife_, which was the name they
gave the Virginians."--L. C. D.

------

_Comment by R. G. T._--See note on p. 77, regarding erection of
early forts at Redstone. James Veech, in _Monongahela of Old_,
says, "We know that the late Col. James Paull served a month's
duty in a drafted militia company in guarding Continental
stores here [Fort Burd] in 1778." The term "Big Knives" or
"Long Knives" may have had reference either to the long knives
carried by early white hunters, or the swords worn by backwoods
militia officers. See Roosevelt's _Winning of the West_, I., p.
197.

[62] CHAPTER III.

The destruction of the Roanoke settlement in the spring of 1757, by a party of Shawanees, gave rise to the campaign, which was called by the old settlers the "Sandy creek voyage." To avenge this outrage, Governor Dinwiddie ordered out a company of regulars (taken chiefly from the garrison at Fort Dinwiddie, on Jackson's river) under the command of Capt. Audley Paul; a company of minute-men from Boutetourt, under the command of Capt. William Preston; and two companies from Augusta, under Captains John Alexander[1] and William Hogg. In Capt. Alexander's company, John M'Nutt, afterwards governor of Nova Scotia, was a subaltern. The whole were placed under the command of Andrew Lewis.[2]

Beside the chastisement of the Indians, the expedition had for its object, the establishment of a military post at the mouth of the Great Sandy. This would have enabled them, not only to maintain a constant watch over marauding parties of Indians from that quarter; but to check the communication between them and the post at Galliopolis; and thus counteract the influence which the French there had obtained over them.[3]

The different companies detailed upon the Shawanee expedition, were required to rendezvous on the Roanoke, near to the present town of Salem in Bottetourt, where Col. Lewis was then posted. The company commanded by Capt. Hogg failed to attend at the appointed time; and Col. Lewis after delaying a week for its arrival, marched forward, expecting to be speedily overtaken by it.

To avoid an early discovery by the Indians, which would have been the consequence of their taking the more public route by the Great Kenhawa; and that they might fall upon the Indians towns in the valley of the Scioto, without being interrupted or seen by the French at Galliopolis, they took the route by the way of New river and Sandy. Crossing New river below the Horse-shoe, they descended it to the mouth of Wolf creek; and ascending this to its source, passed over to the head of Bluestone river; where they delayed another week awaiting the arrival of Capt. Hogg and his company.[4]--They then marched to the head of the north fork of Sandy, and continued down it to the great Burning Spring, where they also remained a day. Here the salt and provisions, which had been conveyed [63] on pack horses, were entirely exhausted. Two buffaloes, killed just above the spring, were also eaten while the army continued here; and their hides were hung upon a beech tree. After this their subsistence was procured exclusively by hunting.

The army then resumed their march; and in a few days after, it was overtaken by a runner with the intelligence that Capt. Hogg and his company were only a day's march in the rear. Col. Lewis again halted; and the day after he was overtaken by Hogg, he was likewise overtaken by an express from Francis Fauquier[5] with orders for the army to return home; and for the disbanding of all the troops except Capt. Paul's regulars,[6] who were to return to Fort Dinwiddie.

This was one of the first of Gov. Fauquier's official acts; and it was far from endearing him to the inhabitants west of the Blue ridge. They had the utmost confidence in the courage and good conduct of Col. Lewis, and of the officers and men under his command--they did not for an instant doubt the success of the expedition, and looked forward with much satisfaction, to their consequent exemption in a great degree, from future attacks from the Indians. It was not therefore without considerable regret, that they heard of their countermanding orders.

Nor were they received by Lewis and his men with very different feelings. They had endured much during their march, from the inclemency of the weather; more from the want of provisions--They had borne these hardships without repining; anticipating a chastisement of the Indians, and the deriving of an abundant supply of provisions from their conquered towns--They had arrived within ten miles of the Ohio river, and could not witness the blasting of their expectations, without murmuring. A council of war was held--disappointment and indignation were expressed in every feature. A majority of the officers were in favor of proceeding to the Ohio river, under the expectation that they might fall in with some of the enemy--they marched to the river and encamped two nights on its banks. Discovering nothing of an enemy, they then turned to retrace their steps through pathless mountains, a distance of three hundred miles, in the midst of winter and without provisions.

The reasons assigned by the friends of Gov. Fauquier, for the issuing of those orders were, that the force detailed by Gov. Dinwiddie, was not sufficient to render secure an establishment at the contemplated point--near the Indian towns on the Scioto--within a few days journey of several thousand warriors on the Miami--in the vicinity of the hostile post at Galliopolis and so remote from the settled part of Virginia, that they could not be furnished with assistance, and supplied with provisions and military stores, without incurring an expenditure, both of blood and money, beyond what the colony could spare, for the accomplishment of that object.

Had Capt. Hogg with his company, been at the place of rendezvous at the appointed time, the countermanding orders of the governor [64] could not have reached the army, until it had penetrated the enemy's country. What might have been its fate, it is impossible to say--the bravery of the troops--their familiar acquaintance with the Indian mode of warfare--their confidence in the officers and the experience of many of them, seemed to give every assurance of success--While the unfortunate result of many subsequent expeditions of a similar nature, would induce the opinion that the governor's apprehensions were perhaps prudent and well founded. That the army would soon have had to encounter the enemy, there can be no doubt; for although not an Indian had been seen, yet it seems probable from after circumstances, that it had been discovered and watched by them previous to its return.

On the second night of their march homeward, while encamped at the Great falls, some of Hogg's men went out on the hills to hunt turkeys, and fell in with a party of Indians, painted as for war. As soon as they saw that they were discovered, they fired, and two of Hogg's men were killed--the fire was returned and a Shawanee warrior was wounded and taken prisoner. The remaining Indians, yelling their war whoop, fled down the river.

Many of the whites, thinking that so small a party of Indians would not have pursued the army alone, were of opinion that it was only an advanced scout of a large body of the enemy, who were following them: the wounded Indian refused to give any information of their number or object. A council of war was convoked; and much diversity of opinion prevailed at the board. It was proposed by Capt. Paul to cross the Ohio river, invade the towns on the Scioto, and burn them, or perish in the attempt.[7] The proposition was supported by Lieut. M'Nutt, but overruled; and the officers, deeming it right to act in conformity with the governor's orders, determined on pursuing their way home. Orders were then given that no more guns should be fired, and no fires kindled in camp, as their safe return depended very much on silence and secrecy.

An obedience to this order, produced a very considerable degree of suffering, as well from extreme cold as from hunger. The pack horses, which were no longer serviceable (having no provisions to transport) and some of which had given out for want of provender, were killed and eaten. When the army arrived at the Burning spring, the buffalo hides, which had been left there on their way down, were cut into tuggs, or long thongs, and eaten by the troops, after having been exposed to the heat produced by the flame from the spring.--Hence they called it Tugg river--a name by which it is still known. After this the army subsisted for a while on beachnuts; but a deep snow falling these could no longer be obtained, and the restrictions were removed.

About thirty men then detached themselves from the main body, to hunt their way home. Several of them were known to have perished from cold and hunger--others were lost and never afterwards [65] heard of; as they had separated into small parties, the more certainly to find game on which to live. The main body of the army was conducted home by Col. Lewis, after much suffering--the strings of their mocasons, the belts of their hunting shirts, and the flaps of their shot pouches, having been all the food which they had eaten for some days.[8]

A journal of this campaign was kept by Lieut. M'Nutt, a gentleman of liberal education and fine mind. On his return to Williamsburg he presented it to Governor Fauquier by whom it was deposited in the executive archives. In this journal Col. Lewis was censured for not having proceeded directly to the Scioto towns; and for imposing on the army the restrictions, as to fire and shooting, which have been mentioned.--This produced an altercation between Lewis and M'Nutt, which was terminated by a personal encounter.[9]

During the continuance of this war, many depredations were committed by hostile Indians, along the whole extent of the Virginia frontier. Individuals, leaving the forts on any occasion, scarcely ever returned; but were, almost always, intercepted by Indians, who were constantly prowling along the border settlements, for purposes of rapine and murder. The particulars of occurrences of this kind, and indeed of many of a more important character, no longer exist in the memory of man--they died with them who were contemporaneous with the happening of them.[10] On one occasion however, such was the extent of savage duplicity, and such, and so full of horror, the catastrophe resulting from misplaced confidence, that the events which marked it, still live in the recollection of the descendants of some of those, who suffered on the theatre of treachery and blood.

On the south fork of the South Branch of Potomac, in, what is now, the county of Pendleton, was the fort of Capt. Sivert.[11] In this fort, the inhabitants of what was then called the "Upper Tract," all sought shelter from the tempest of savage ferocity; and at the time the Indians appeared before [66] it, there were contained within its walls between thirty and forty persons of both sexes and of different ages. Among them was Mr. Dyer, (the father of Col. Dyer now of Pendleton) and his family. On the morning of the fatal day, Col. Dyer and his sister left the fort for the accomplishment of some object, and although no Indians had been seen there for some time, yet did they not proceed far, before they came in view of a party of forty or fifty Shawanees, going directly towards the fort. Alarmed for their own safety, as well as for the safety of their friends, the brother and sister endeavored by a hasty flight to reach the gate and gain admittance into the garrison; but before they could effect this, they were overtaken and made captives.

The Indians rushed immediately to the fort and commenced a furious assault on it. Capt. Sivert prevailed, (not without much opposition,) on the besieged, to forbear firing 'till he should endeavor to negotiate with, and buy off the enemy. With this view, and under the protection of a flag he went out, and soon succeeded in making the wished for arrangement. When he returned, the gates were thrown open, and the enemy admitted.

No sooner had the money and other articles, stipulated to be given, been handed over to the Indians, than a most bloody tragedy was begun to be acted. Arranging the inmates of the fort, in two rows, with a space of about ten feet between them, two Indians were selected; who taking each his station at the head of a row, with their tomahawks most cruelly murdered almost every white person in the fort; some few, whom caprice or some other cause, induced them to spare, were carried into captivity,--such articles as could be well carried away were taken off by the Indians; the remainder was consumed, with the fort, by fire.

The course pursued by Capt. Sivert, has been supposed to have been dictated by timidity and an ill founded apprehension of danger from the attack. It is certain that strong opposition was made to it by many; and it has been said that his own son raised his rifle to shoot him, when he ordered the gates to be thrown open; and was only prevented from executing his purpose, by the interference of some near to him. Capt. Sivert was also supported by many, in the plan which he proposed to rid the fort of its assailants: it was known to be weak, and incapable of withstanding a vigorous onset; and [67] its garrison was illy supplied with the munitions of war. Experience might have taught them, however, the futility of any measure of security, founded in a reliance on Indian faith, in time of hostility; and in deep and bitter anguish, they were made to feel its realization in the present instance.

In the summer of 1761, about sixty Shawanee warriors penetrated the settlements on James river. To avoid the fort at the mouth of Looney's creek, on this river, they passed through Bowen's gap in Purgatory mountain, in the night; and ascending Purgatory creek, killed Thomas Perry, Joseph Dennis and his child and made prisoner his wife, Hannah Dennis. They then proceeded to the house of Robert Renix, where they captured Mrs. Renix, (a daughter of Sampson Archer) and her five children, William, Robert, Thomas, Joshua and Betsy--Mr. Renix not being at home. They then went to the house of Thomas Smith, where Renix was; and shot and scalped him and Smith; and took with them, Mrs. Smith and Sally Jew, a white servant girl.[12]

William and Audley Maxwell, and George Matthews, (afterwards governor of Georgia,) were then going to Smith's house; and hearing the report of the guns, supposed that there was a shooting match. But when they rode to the front of the house and saw the dead bodies of Smith and Renix lying in the yard, they discovered their mistake; and contemplating for a moment the awful spectacle, wheeled to ride back. At this instant several guns were fired at them; fortunately without doing any execution, except the cutting off the club of Mr. Matthews' cue. The door of the house was then suddenly opened; the Indians rushed out and raising the war cry, several of them fired--Audley Maxwell was slightly wounded in the arm.

It appeared afterwards, that the Indians had seen Matthews and the Maxwells coming; and that some of them had crowded into the house, while the others with the prisoners went to the north side of it, and concealed themselves behind some fallen timber. Mrs. Renix, after she was restored to her friends in 1766, stated that she was sitting tied, in the midst of four Indians, who laying their guns on a log, took deliberate aim at Matthews; the others firing at the Maxwells--The sudden wheeling of their horses no doubt saved the lives of all three.

The Indians then divided, and twenty of them taking the [68] prisoners, the plunder and some horses which they had stolen, set off by the way of Jackson's river, for the Ohio; the remainder started towards Cedar creek, with the ostensible view of committing farther depredations. But Matthews and the Maxwells had sounded the alarm, and the whole settlement were soon collected at Paul's stockade fort, at the Big spring near to Springfield. Here the women and children were left to be defended by Audley Maxwell and five other men; while the others, forming a party of twenty-two, with George Matthews at their head, set out in quest of the enemy.

The Indians were soon overtaken, and after a severe engagement, were forced to give ground. Matthews and his party followed in pursuit, as far as Purgatory creek; but the night being very dark in consequence of a continued rain, the fugitives effected an escape; and overtaking their comrades with the prisoners and plunder, on the next evening, at the forks of the James and Cowpasture rivers, proceeded to Ohio without further molestation.

When Matthews and his men, on the morning succeeding the engagement, returned to the field of battle, they found nine Indians dead; whom they buried on the spot. Benjamin Smith, Thomas Maury and the father of Sally Jew, were the only persons of Matthews' party, who were killed--these, together with those who had been murdered on the preceding day, were buried near the fork of a branch, in (what is now) the meadow of Thomas Cross sr.

In Boquet's treaty with the Ohio Indians, it was stipulated that the whites detained by them in captivity were to be brought in and redeemed. In compliance with this stipulation, Mrs. Renix was brought to Staunton in 1767 and ransomed, together with two of her sons, William, the late Col. Renix of Greenbrier, and Robert, also of Greenbrier--Betsy, her daughter, had died on the Miami. Thomas returned in 1783, but soon after removed and settled, on the Scioto, near Chilicothe. Joshua never came back; he took an Indian wife and became a Chief among the Miamies--he amassed a considerable fortune and died near Detroit in 1810.

Hannah Dennis was separated from the other captives, and allotted to live at the Chilicothe towns.[13] She learned their language; painted herself as they do; and in many respects conformed to their manners and customs. She was attentive to sick persons and was highly esteemed by the Indians, as [69] one well skilled in the art of curing diseases. Finding them very superstitious and believers in necromancy; she professed witchcraft, and affected to be a prophetess. In this manner she conducted herself, 'till she became so great a favorite with them, that they gave her full liberty and honored her as a queen. Notwithstanding this, Mrs. Dennis was always determined to effect her escape, when a favorable opportunity should occur; and having remained so long with them, apparently well satisfied, they ceased to entertain any suspicions of such a design.

In June 1763, she left the Chilicothe towns, _ostensibly_ to procure herbs for medicinal purposes, (as she had before frequently done,) but _really_ to attempt an escape. As she did not return that night, her intention became suspected; and in the morning, some warriors were sent in pursuit of her. In order to leave as little trail as possible, she had crossed the Scioto river three times, and was just getting over the fourth time 40 miles below the towns, when she was discovered by her pursuers. They fired at her across the river without effect; but in endeavoring to make a rapid flight, she had one of her feet severely cut by a sharp stone.

The Indians then rushed across the river to overtake and catch her, but she eluded them by crawling into the hollow limb, of a large fallen sycamore. They searched around for her some time, frequently stepping on the log which concealed her; and encamped near it that night. On the next day they went on to the Ohio river, but finding no trace of her, they returned home.

Mrs. Dennis remained at that place three days, doctoring her wound, and then set off for home. She crossed the Ohio river, at the mouth of Great Kenhawa, on a log of driftwood, travelling only during the night, for fear of discovery--She subsisted on roots, herbs, green grapes, wild cherries and river muscles--and entirely exhausted by fatigue and hunger, sat down by the side of Greenbrier river, with no expectation of ever proceeding farther. In this situation she was found by Thomas Athol and three others from Clendennin's settlement, which she had passed without knowing it. She had been then upwards of twenty days on her disconsolate journey, alone, on foot--but 'till then, cheered with the hope of again being with her friends.

She was taken back to Clendennin's, where they kindly [70] ministered to her, 'till she became so far invigorated, as to travel on horseback with an escort, to Fort Young on Jackson's river; from whence she was carried home to her relations.