CHAPTER II,
INDIAN TRAGEDIES AND LIFE OF THE EARLY PIONEERS.
THE INDIAN SUMMER-ANECDOTES OF LEWIS WETZEL-" HUNTING THE COWS" "THE GOBBLER INDIAN "-THE EARLY SETTLERS-GATHERING THE PIONEER'S CROPS-THE PIONEER'S DRESS-DISEASES AND REMEDIES OF THE PIONEERS-BUSINESS METHODS --LAW AND MORALITY-AMUSEMENTS AND GAMES-THE MECHANIC ARTS-SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PIONEER AGE-CHANGES IN THE WEATHER-THE HORRORS OF SLAVERY - THE INDIAN SUMMER.
As connected with the history of the Indian wars of the Western Country, it may not be amiss to give an explanation of the term "Indian Summer." This expression, like many others, notwithstanding its original import, has continued in general use, while its meaning has been forgotten
A backwoodsman seldom hears this expression without feeling a chill of horror, because it brings to his mind with painful recollection its original application. The reader must here be reminded that during the long continued Indian wars sustained by the first settlers of the Western Country, they enjoyed no peace excepting in the winter season, when, owing to the severity of the weather, the Indians were unable to make their excursions into the settlements. The onset of winter was therefore hailed as a jubilee by the early inhabitants of the country, who throughout the spring and the early part of the fall had been cooped up in their little uncomfortable forts and subjected to all the distresses of the Indian war.
At the approach of winter, therefore, all the farmers, excepting the owner of the fort, removed to their cabins on their farms withthe joyful feelings of a tenant of a prison on recovering his release from confinement. All was bustle and hilarity in preparing for winter by gathering in the corn, digging potatoes, fattening hogs and repairing the cabins.
To our forefathers the gloomy months of winter were more pleasant than the zephyrs of spring and the flowers of May. It, however, sometimes happened that after the apparent onset of winter the weather became warm; the smoky time commenced and lasted for a considerable number of days.
This was the Indian summer, because it afforded the Indians another opportunity of visiting the settlements with their destructive warfare.
The melting of the snow saddened every countenance and the genial warmth of the sun chilled every heart with horror. The apprehension of another visit from the Indians and of being driven back to the detested fort was painful in the highest degree, and the distressing apprehension was frequently realized. Toward the latter part of February we commonly had a fine spell of open warm weather, during which the snow melted away.
This was denominated "Powwowing
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Days," from the supposition that the Indians were then holding their war councils, for planning off their spring campaigns into the settlements. Sad experience taught us that in this conjecture we were not often mistaken. A man of the name of John Carpenter was taken early in the month of March in the neighborhood of Wheeling. There had been several warm days, but the night preceding there was a heavy fall of snow. His two horses which he took with him nearly perished in swimming the river into what is now Belmont County. The Indians as well as himself suffered greatly before they reached the Moravian towns. In the morning after the first day's journey the Indians sent out Carpenter to bring in the horses, which had been turned out in the evening after being hobbled. The horses had fallen into the trail by which they came and were making their way homeward. When he overtook the horses and had taken off their fetters, he had to make a most awful decision. He had a chance, and barely a chance, to make his escape, with a certainty of death should he fail. On the other hand. a horrible prospect of being tortured to death by fire presented itself, as he was the first prisoner taken that spring, and the general custom of the Indians was to burn the first prisoner every spring. After spending a few minutes in making his decision, he resolved on attempting an escape, and effected it, bringing both his horses with him. The capture of Mr. Carpenter and the murder of two families contributed materially to the Moravian campaign and the murder of that unfortunate people.
ANECDOTES OF LEWIS WETZEL.
On the farm of J. B. McMechen, two miles east of St. Clairsville, on the National Road, better known in the early days as the "Zane Trail," there is a celebrated spring known as the "Indian Spring," where in 1782, a short time before the siege of Fort Henry, occurred one of the most stirring events in our history. In the interval after Crawford's defeat and before the attack on Fort Henry in September of this year, occurred an incident of local interest, which shows the dexterity and skill of the famous Indian scout, Louis Wetzel. Thomas Mills; who lived on Wheeling Creek, had accompanied Crawford on his campaign, and on his return had left his horse on the west side of the Ohio River near the spot where St Clairsville now stands, and distant 12 miles from Wheeling. One day, securing the services of Wetzel, Mills and his companion left Fort Henry to get his horse and bring the animal home. When within a mile or two of St. Clairsville they were met by a band numbering 40 or 50 Indians, who were roaming around in search of stragglers on the return from the army of Crawford. The Indians and white men discovered each other about the same time. Wetzel fired first and killed one of the savages, which shot was promptly re turned by one of the Indians. The Indian's fire had wounded Mills in the foot, which prevented him from eluding the savages, who soon succeeded in overtaking and killing him. Four of the Indians then dropped their guns and pursued after Wetzel, who at first succeeded in keeping a respectable distance between him and his pursuers, and loaded his rifle as he ran.
But after running some distance one of the Indians rapidly gained upon him until he approached within a few steps of Wetzel, who wheeled around, shot him down and ran on loading as he ran. After running some distance farther a second Indian came so close to him that, as he turned to fire, the Indian clinched the muzzle of the gun and he and the Indian had quite a tussle for the possession of it. He, however, succeeded in killing the savage. The pursuit was continued by the two remaining Indians, who now exhibited signs of caution, for when Wetzel would wheel to fire on them they would seek cover behind trees. After running some distance Wetzel thought he would practice a little piece of strategy,
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and so made for a small piece of comparatively open ground. The Indians were not far behind him, and as he was passing over this he suddenly wheeled and stopped with a view of shooting the foremost one, who as promptly jumped behind a small tree, which failed to cover his body. Wetzel shot and wounded him in the thigh, which put a stop to further pursuit on his part.
The last of the Indians then gave a little yell and exclaimed, "No catch dat man—gun always loaded!" and gave up the chase.
Of this noted hunter it may be said that while his home was on Big Wheeling Creek east of Wheeling, the most of his exploits took place on the Ohio side of the river and in what is now Belmont County. Lewis Wetzel was a son of John Wetzel, a German emigrant, and his education, like that of all the frontiersmen, was that of the hunter and Indian fighter. Attaining manhood, he was courageous, manly, yet cunning as an Indian in warfare.
In stature he was tall,. with jet black hair, broad shoulders and deep chest; though his face was slightly pock-marked, his countenance was pleasing.
Of this noted hunter a writer in the history of Belmont and Jefferson Counties says: "In early youth Lewis Wetzel acquired the habit of loading his gun while at full run, which gave him a great advantage as an Indian fighter, and was of immense consequence in the next important event of his life. This incident in his career occurred when he was but 16 years old, and was a most remakable event, an exploit rarely equaled for courage and daring in any age. Some time during the summer of 1780 a party of Indians had crossed the Ohio and stolen several horses from settlers on Wheeling Creek and were making their way back through Belmont County.
"A party of the whites were soon gathered and en route to recapture the horses and punish the savages. In the pursuit, the party passed the farm of the elder Wetzel, who was then absent. Lewis was engaged in cultivating a crop of corn. They urged him to join their party, but he had been forbidden by his father to leave home, but the adventure was too great a temptation for the spirit of young Wetzel and he was easily persuaded to join them. He accordingly took from the plow a favorite horse of his father and started along in pursuit. They had not proceeded far until they came upon the enemy, who were carelessly loitering about their camp, apparently off their guard. The stolen horses were spanicled and grazing at a short distance. The Indians were easily surprised and fled, leaving the horses, which were recovered. The party of settlers, having accomplished their purpose, prepared to return, but their horses were jaded and hungry and they agreed that they should be turned out to grass, and three of their number left to bring them, after they had refreshed for a short time.
"They had not proceeded many miles until they were overtaken by three of their number they had left behind to bring their horses, who informed them that soon after their departure they were surprised by the savages, leaving them no alternative in saving their lives but to abandon everything and escape by flight.
"A parley was called and the hasty determination was soon formed to continue their way homeward and leave their horses with the Indians.
"To this determination Wetzel earnestly remonstrated. He protested he would never return alive to his father without the favorite horse—swore he preferred the mare without his scalp to his scalp without the mare, and urged the company to return and retake the horses. In this he was overruled. He then swore he would go alone; that the mare he must and would have, when two others who had been active in persuading him to go agreed to accompany him. The three left their companions and soon reached the camp and found the Indians engaged at their meals, with the horses safely secured at a safe distance. The plan of attack was soon
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agreed upon. They were to advance in single file, Wetzel in front until they passed two trees, behind which his companions were to ambush. When he reached the third it was a signal for attack. Wetzel reached his tree and discovered that the Indians had also treed; but in looking around for his companions he found they had retreated at the top of their speed.
"His condition was really critical; to come out in an open field was almost certain death. His only hope was in strategy. He therefore placed his hat on the end of his ramrod and gently pushed it partly from behind the tree. This was no sooner done than all the Indians fired at it.
"The hat was literally riddled, and Wetzel still secure behind the tree, quick, but cautiously, dropped the hat to the ground. At this the Indians, believing they had killed their adversary, all sprung from their ambush and rushed towards him. Wetzel, taking advantage of the enemy, whose guns were empty, left his tree and firing on the foremost, brought him to the ground, and then with the fleetness of the wind ran from the scene, followed by the survivors. Wetzel loaded as he ran and, wheeling quickly, fired into the breast of the foremost savage, again ran, loaded and fired on the last of the Indians just as he was in the act of hurling his tomahawk at the head of Wetzel. His fire was successful, and all three were dead on the plain. Wetzel secured the evidence of his victory, obtained the horses and overtook his companions before they had stopped for the night. The news of this daring adventure soon made him the man of the frontier."
"HUNTING THE COWS."
It was during the summer of 1782 that two boys belonging to Wheeling were sent out for the purpose of driving back some stray cows which had wandered away. They concluded that they had swam the river and crossed to the Ohio side, so jumping into acanoe they paddled across, and commenced their search for them. While so engaged, they were surprised by three Indians, who were watching them, and by them taken prisoners. Cranmer says: "At once the Indians set out on their journey, compelling each of the boys to carry a large bag, of which they had several in their possession
"From the weight of the bags the boys concluded that they must be filled with gold. Urged as they were to their utmost speed, one of them when he could do so unperceived would break off twigs from the branches of trees, to mark the direction in which they had traveled. When night came on, the Indians selected a camping place, and prepared to retire, before doing which, however, they tied the hands of the boys, as well as their feet, with strips of bark. They were then compelled to lie down between two of the Indians, while the third Indian seated himself upon a fallen log in front to keep watch. Deering, the elder of the two boys, who was about 15 years of age, managed to disengage his hands from the thongs which bound them, and slyly drew a knife from the belt of one of the sleeping Indians, with which he succeeded in loosing his feet. Overcome with fatigue, the third Indian had braced his back against the trunk of a friendly tree, with his legs astraddle of the log upon which he sat. Whispering to his companion to lie perfectly quiet, Deering sundered the thongs which bound him. With great caution so as not to disturb the sleeping Indians, they quietly arose, and the elder of the two took the loaded rifle of one of their captors, placing it upon a log for a rest in a line with the head of one of the sleeping savages, and gave it in charge of the younger brother, and instructed him not to fire, until he gave the signal.
"He himself took a tomahawk, and stealing on the sleeping Indian who had been placed on watch instantly buried his tomahawk in his brains, and then rushed to the Indians lying on the ground, at the same time giving the signal to his companion to fire
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and struck deep into the skull of his sleeping victim. The Indian at which the younger of the two boys had fired, sprang to his feet howling with rage and pain. The boys not stopping to ascertain the result at once took to their heels and, following the trail over which they had passed the preceding day, late in the afternoon of the day following reached the fort in safety, to the surprise of their friends who had given them up as lost A hunter who was present, and heard the recital given by the boys, who stated in the course of their narration that they believed the bags contained gold, was shortly afterward missing.
"This individual, whose conduct in the past justified the belief (which was general among the settlers), was looked upon as dishonest. The scouting party set out, and found the bodies of two Indians who had been tomahawked, just as the boys had stated, but no signs of the bags were visible. On their return to the fort they found the suspected hunter still absent, which confirmed the common belief that he had anticipated the visits of the scouts, and secured the bags of gold; for afterwards he became one of the wealthiest settlers in all the section of country in which he resided."
THE GOBBLER INDIAN.
The gobbler Indian incident is so familiar to the youth of the past generation that its repetition scarcely seems necessary today But for the benefit of future generations we give Joshua Davis' account of it, as related to R. H. Tannyhill 50 years ago: "Well in January, 1783, on the twelfth day, or old Christmas which was always punctually kept at the fort, we had two large turkeys roasted and a lot of twelfth-day cake baked. Twelfth-day cake is made of unleavened dough slightly sweetened with spice, cloves and cinnamon bark worked in it and then baked in a Dutch oven. It was baked a day or two before and eaten cold. When we were killing the turkeys, Wetzel had the feet ofone cut off up where the feathers come on and the wings at the first joint, before it was scalded.
"These he put away in his hunting bag very carefully. Now for several winters in turkey time, we had been plagued by an Indian, who could call so much like a turkey that no one could tell the difference. He would secrete himself, and when our men would be creeping along expecting every minute to shoot a turkey he would shoot them. His operations were carried on usually on the ridges north or south of Wheeling Creek in Belmont County. The next morning, an hour or two before day, Wetzel got up, took his riffle down, flung his hunting bag over his shoulder, and took with him the turkey's feet. The rest I will tell you as he told me.
" 'I crossed over the river, went up the north side of Wheeling Creek about a mile, then made to the top of the ridge.
" `It was now good daylight. I went as carefully as I could down to where the snow was still on and made some tracks along its edge with my turkey feet. I then came on down the ridge within a hundred yards of the place where I intended to hide myself. And wherever there was snow on that line I made turkey tracks, but kept clear of the snow with my own feet. When I got within about 20 steps of my place to hide, I made tracks as near as I could like a turkey does when it is about to fly to roost. I then fixed the wings and flapped them in the snow. I then went up the point of the ridge to my hiding place and took my drumsticks and began to call like a turkey. In a little while my call was answered, and presently a large Indian came in sight, leaning down, and going to and fro, as if hunting a trail. I kept on calling; he answered. After a little, he came to my line of turkey tracks, and examined them closely looked up into the trees and began making long, cautious steps. I still called; he answered, and came on towards me. I now examined my priming and rubbed the flint with a piece of punk to be
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sure of my shot. By this time he had got to the little raise, then looked about in the trees, then down at the tracks again. He kept moving, so I was afraid to shoot. He now lifted his gun in his left hand and turned it sideways, and struck it with his right.
" `He then stood still and looked right towards me. I pulled on him. He threw up his hands, trembled, and fell backwards. He didn't get his turkey this time. We were no longer plagued with the gobbler Indian.' "
THE EARLY SETTLERS.
The deprivations of early settlers of Belmont County were inconceivably great. The farmers and citizens of today with their well filled larders, and overflowing granaries, have little conception of the wants and deprivations of their forefathers.
The first settlers in this mountainous, densely wooded, though rich soiled county, did not find it a paradise. The giant oak, walnut, beech, maple, poplar and ash trees of more than a century's growth, locked and intertwined with grape vines, could only be subdued and removed, so that the rich soil might be utilized, by earnest, persistent labor. There were some favoring circumstances; the land was covered with the wild pea vine, and other forage plants, which proved beneficial to the pioneer, in furnishing forage for his stock. The soil also yielded liberal crops, while the large number of deer, wild turkeys and smaller game, furnished abundant meat for the family. The first effort of the settler was to build a house. At most it was but a rude log cabin. The logs were unhewed, the cracks were stopped with stones, and plastered with mud. The floors
ere of puncheon, and sometimes of mother earth. The doors were of heavy timbers, and the windows were of greased paper, stretched over an opening in the logs. The pine knots and glowing logs, that burned in the great open fireplace, answered for both light and fuel at night. Upon a few pegs in the wall hung the scanty wardrobeof the entire family, and some clapboard shelves, supported by pins in the logs, served the double purpose of cupboard and closet. The scanty furniture consisted of a split slab table, and some three-legged stools, a forked pole with one end fastened to a joist overhead, and the other sunk in the floor, and cross poles extending to cracks between the logs afforded the rude bed. Bunches of seeds and herbs, which the good wife had collected, as simple remedies for the ailments of the family, hung in festoons over the high mantel, and the trusty flintlock and powder horn were suspended from a pair of polished buck's horns. The tableware consisted of a few pewter dishes, with wooden bowls and trenchers, and if these were scarce, gourds and hard shelled squashes supplied the deficiency. The rude articles of furniture corresponded with the plain but wholesome diet that made up the pioneer farmer's bill of fare; hog and hominy for breakfast was followed by mush and milk for supper; roasting ears, pumpkins, potatoes and beans from the little truck patch varied the diet in summer, and wild turkey, venison and bear's meat were the variations in winter. For years, corn bread, corn pone, and johnnycake, were the only form in which bread was made, and sometimes, when the supply of cornmeal was exhausted, pumpkin meal was used instead, or the children grated the new corn upon coarse tin graters to minister to their necessities. As water was a primary object, the location of the home was always near a spring of water or a flowing stream. Their implements of labor were no less simple and rude. Before the days of the water mill, the hominy block and hand mill for crushing and grinding corn were rude attachments to every farmer's home—deerskin sieves took the place of bolting cloth in these primitive machines, and the whole were operated by the good wife and the children, who, in addition, wove and spun the flax and the wool that composed the warp woof of the substantial linseys with which the entire family were clothed. While the needs of the pioneer family were many,
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they were more than counter-balanced by a natural ingenuity that developed in many of them a fertility of resources of which the modern farmer has little knowledge. He was a tanner, a shoemaker, a tailor, a carpenter, and a blacksmith, and to his neighbors who could not exercise the mechanic's art, he was willing to exchange his hand craft for their labor. The implements of labor employed by the farmers of the upper Ohio Valley a century ago were very simple and rude. Primitive plows with wooden mold-boards, and harrows with wooden teeth were employed; and scythes (with straight handles) reaped the wheat and cut the grass, and the grain was threshed with a flail, or trodden by horses or cattle. With these crude instruments of labor, and amid dangers, deprivations and discouragements, the character of which I have only hinted at, our forefathers began the herculean task of felling the primeval forests and opening up its fruitful valleys and fertile plains.
GATHERING THE PIONEER'S CROPS.
The crops cultivated by these early settlers were gathered with infinite toil and danger; from the opening of spring until the advent of winter, the pioneer farmer was forced to abandon his cabin home and seek protection for his family in the shelter of the block house or the fort.
When the rigors of winter locked field and forest in its icy embrace, he was exempt from the depredations of his savage foes, but just at the time when his constant presence upon the farm was of the utmost need, when the spring was opening and the time of seeding was at hand, the implacable savages started on the war path and began their work of pillage and destruction, hence it was necessary for the farmers to go out upon their farms to work in companies, one party doing guard duty with their muskets in hand, while the other party cultivated the growing crops; thus they alternately worked and stood guard until the shades of night forced them toagain seek the shelter of the block-house or the fort. Not unfrequently, while thus in-voluntarily absent from their cabins, the savages would make a raid during the night, pillaging the home, driving off the stock, and burning their scanty store of grain. Amid dangers and discouragements like these the intrepid farmers of a century ago, aided by their heroic wives and children, "made the wilderness to blossom," and pushed the frontier a little nearer the setting sun each passing year. The necessary labors of these pioneer farmers were performed amid dangers and difficulties little understood or appreciated by their descendants of the present generation. The disheartening losses they sustained by the wolves and bears, destroying their flocks and herds, were oftentimes aggravated and augmented by the total destruction of their crops of corn by the multitudinous squirrels and raccoons, and thus it was that many families, after a hazardous and laborious spring and summer, would enter upon the long and dreary winter but illy provided with the necessaries of life.
THE PIONEER'S DRESS.
Referring to the pioneer's dress, Doddridge says: "On the frontiers, and particularly among those who were in the habit of hunting, and going on scouts and campaigns, the dress of the men was partly Indian and partly that of civilization. The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of loose frock, reaching half-way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted.
"The cape was large and sometimes handsomely fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself.
"The bosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cake, jerk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle, or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior. The belt, which was always tied behind, answered
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several purposes besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather the mittens and sometimes the bullet bag occupied the front pocket. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk; to the left the scalping knife in its leathern sheath. The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins.
"These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. The shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of drawers, or breeches and leggins, were the dress of the thighs and legs; a pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deerskin. They were mostly made of a single piece, with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel without gathers as high as the ankle joint or a little higher.
"Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles and lower part of the leg, by thongs of deerskin, so that no dust, gravel or snow could get within the moccasin. The moccasins in ordinary use cost but a few hours' labor to make. This was done by an instrument denominated a moccasin awl, which was made of the back spring of an old clasp knife. This awl with its buck-horn handle was an appendage of every shot pouch, strapped together with a roll of buckskin, for mending the moccasin. This was the labor of almost every evening. They were sewed together, and patched with deerskin, thongs, or whangs as they were com monly called. In cold weather the moccasins were well stuffed with deer's hair, or dry leaves, so as to keep the feet comfortably warm, but in wet weather it was usually said that wearing them was `a decent way of going barefooted,' and such was the fact, owing to the spongy texture of the leather of which they were made.
"Owing to this defective covering for the feet, more than to any other circumstance, the greater number of our hunters and warriors were afflicted with rheumatism in their limbs. Of this disease they were all apprehensive in cold or wet weather, and therefore always slept with their feet to the fire, to prevent or cure it as well as they could.
"This practice unquestionably prevented many of them from becoming confirmed cripples in early life. In the latter years of the Indian war, our young men became more enamored of the Indian dress throughout, with the exception of the match coat. The young warrior instead of being abashed by his nudity was proud of his Indian-like dress. In some few instances I have seen them go into places of public worship in this dress.
"Their appearance, however, did not add much to the devotion of the occasion. The linsey petticoat and bed gown, which were the universal dress of our women in early times, would make a strange figure in our day.
"A small homemade handkerchief in point of elegance would illy supply the place of the profusion of ruffles with which the necks of our ladies are now ornamented. They went barefooted in warm weather, and in cold, their feet were covered with moccasins, coarse shoes, or shoepacks, which would make but a sorry figure beside the elegant morocco slippers, which at present ornament the feet of their daughters and granddaughters.
"The coats and bed gowns of the women, as well as the hunting skirts of the men, were hung in full display, on wooden pegs round the walls of their cabins. They announced to the stranger, as well as neighbor, the wealth or poverty of the family in the articles of clothing."
DISEASES AND REMEDIES OF THE PIONEERS.
In writing of the diseases that afflicted the early settlers the same author says: "For many years there was no person who bore even the name of a doctor. The diseases of children were mostly ascribed to worms for the expulsion of which a solution of common
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salt was given. The dose was always large. I well remember having been compelled to take half a tablespoonful when quite small. To the best of my recollection it answered the purpose.
Scrapings of pewter spoons was another remedy. This dose was also large and commonly given in sugar. Green copperas was a third remedy for this disease. The dose of this was larger than we would venture to give at this time. For burns a poultice of Indian meal was a common remedy. A poultice of scraped potatoes was also a favorite remedy with some people. Roasted turnips made into a poultice was often used by others.
The croup, or what was then called the 'bold hives,' was a common disease among the children, many of whom died of it. For the cure of this, the juice of roasted onions or garlic was given in large doses. Wall ink was also a favorite remedy with many of the old ladies. For fevers, sweating was the general remedy. This was generally performed by means of a strong decoction of Virginia snakeroot. The dose was also large. If a purge was used, it was about half a pint of a strong decoction of white walnut bark. This when intended for a purge was pealed downwards; if for a vomit, it was pealed upwards. For the bite of a rattle or copperhead snake a great variety of specifics were used." Doddridge says when a small boy he saw a man, bitten by a rattlesnake, brought into the fort on a man's back.
"One of the company dragged the snake after him by a forked stick fastened in its head. The body of the snake was cut into pieces, which were split open in succession and laid on the wound to draw out the poison. When this was over, a fire was kindled in the fort yard and the whole of the serpent burned to ashes. After this process was over, a large quantity of chestnut leaves was collected and boiled in a pot. The whole of the wounded man's leg and part of his thigh were placed in a piece of chestnut bark fresh from the tree and the decoction poured on the leg so as to run down into thepot again. After continuing this process for some time a quantity of boiled leaves were bound to the leg. This was repeated several times a day. Whether owing to the treatment or not, the man got well.
"Cupping, sucking the wound and making deep incisions which were filled with salt and gunpowder were among the remedies for snake bites. The cure of the fever occasioned by this animal poison must be effected with reference to those general indications which are regarded in the cure of other fevers of equal force. The truth is that the bite of a rattle or copperhead snake in a fleshy or tenderous part, where the blood vessels are neither numerous or large, soon healed under any kind of treatment. But when the fangs of a serpent, which are hollow, eject the poison into a blood vessel of any considerable size, a malignant and incurable fever was the immediate consequence, and the patient often expired in the first paroxysm. Horses were frequently killed by them, as they were commonly bitten somewhere about the nose, in which the blood vessels are numerous and large. Cattle were less frequently killed because their noses are of a gristly texture. Hogs when in tolerable order were never hurt by them, owing to the thick layer of fat between the skin and blood vessels.
"The hog took immediate revenge by instantly tearing to pieces and devouring the serpent which bit it. The itch, which was a very common disease in early times, was commonly cured by an ointment made of brimstone and hog's lard. Gunshot and other wounds were treated with slippery elm bark, flaxseed and other such poultices. Many lost their lives from wounds which would now be considered trifling and easily cured. For the relief of rheumatism, the oil of rattlesnakes, geese, wolves, bears, ground-hogs and pole cats was applied to swelled joints and bathed in before the fire. Coughs and pulmonary consumption were treated with a variety of syrups; the principal ingredient was commonly spikenard. These certainly gave but little relief. Charms and
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incantations were in use for the cure of many diseases. The erysipelas or St. Anthony's fire was circumscribed by the blood of a black cat. Hence there was scarcely a black cat to be seen whose ears and tail had not been frequently cropped for a contribution of blood. The pleurisy was the only disease which was in any considerable degree understood by our people. A pain in the side called for the use of the lancet if there was any to be had, but owing to its sparing use the patient was apt to be left with a spitting of blood, which sometimes ended in consumption. Remittent and intermittent fevers were treated with warm drinks for the purpose of sweating.
"The patients were denied the use of cold water and fresh air. By reason of which many of them died.
BUSINESS METHODS.
"They had no stores of any kind," says Doddridge, "no salt, iron nor iron works, nor had they money to make purchases where those articles could be obtained. Peltry and furs were their only resources before they began to raise cattle and horses for sale in the Atlantic States.
"Every family collected what peltry and fur they could obtain through the year for the purpose of sending them over the mountains for barter.
"In the fall of the year, after seeding time, every family formed an association with their neighbors for starting a little caravan. A master driver was selected from among them, who was to be assisted by one or more young men and sometimes a boy or two. The horses were fitted out with pack saddles to the hinder part of which was fastened a pair of hobbles made of hickory withes; a bell and collar ornamented his neck. The bags provided for the conveyance of the salt were filled with feed for the horses; on the journey a part of this feed was left at convenient stages on the way down to support the return of the caravan; large wallets well filledwith bread, jerk, boiled ham, and cheese, furnished provisions for the driver.
"At night after feeding, the horses were put in pasture or turned into the woods, were hobbled and the bells were opened.
"The barter for salt and iron was made first at Baltimore, Frederick, Hagerstown, Oldtown and Fort Cumberland in succession became the place of exchange. Each horse carried two bushels of alum salt, weighing 84 pounds to the bushel. The common price of a bushel of alum salt was a good cow and calf; and until weights were introduced the salt was measured into the half bushel by hand as lightly as possible. No one was permitted to walk heavily over the floor while the operation of measuring was going on. The following anecdote will serve to show how little the sons of the forest knew of the etiquette of the Atlantic cities. Among the hands employed to drive a caravan from here was one who never had seen any society but that of a woodsman. At one of their lodging places in the mountain the landlord and his hired man in the course of the night stole two of the bells belonging to the drove. The drove had not gone far in the morning before the bells were missed and a detachment went back to recover the stolen bells. The men were accused of the theft, but denied the charge.
"The torture of sweating, according to the custom of that time, that of suspension by the arms pinioned behind their backs, brought a confession.
"The bells were procured and hung around the necks of the thieves. In this condition they were driven on foot, before the detachment, until they overtook the drove, which by this time had gone nine miles. A halt was called and a jury selected to try the culprits. They were condemned to receive a certain number of lashes on the bare back, from the hand of each drover. The man who was the owner of the bells, when it came his turn to use the hickory, said to the thief, `You infernal scoundrel, I'll work your jacket nineteen to the dozen. Only think what a
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rascally figure I should make in the streets of Baltimore without a bell on my horse.
"The man was in earnest, having seen no horses used without bells, he thought they were requisite in every situation."
LAW AND MORALITY.
Before the establishment of a civil government, disorderly characters by common consent were punished by the whipping post and stocks.
Although there was no legal compulsion to the performance of military duty, every man on attaining majority was expected to do his full share of public service. Such was the situation of our people along the frontier of our settlements. Doddridge says that they had no civil, military or ecclesiastical laws, at least none that were enforced, and yet they were a law unto themselves. The turpitude of vice and the majesty of moral virtue were then as apparent as they are now, and they were then regarded with the same sentiments of aversion or respect which they inspire at the present time. Industry in working and hunting, bravery in war, candor, honesty, hospitality, and steadiness of deportment, received their full reward of public confidence. The punishments which they inflicted upon offenders by the imperial court of public opinion were well adapted for the reformation of the culprit or his expulsion from the community.
The punishment for idleness, lying, dishonesty, and ill fame was generally that of "hating the offender out." This mode of chastisement was a public expression in various ways, of indignation against such as transgressed the moral maxims of the community to which they belonged.
This commonly resulted either in the reformation or banishment of the person against whom it was directed. At house raisings, log rollings, harvest parties, everyone was expected to do his duty faithfully.
A person who did not perform his share of labor on these occasions was designatedby the opprobrious epithet of "Lawrence." A man who without a reasonable cause did not perform military duty was hated as a coward. A man failing to go on a scout or campaign when it came his turn met with an expression of indignation, and epithets of dishonor were heaped upon him without mercy. Debts which make such an uproar in civilized life were but little known by our forefathers at the settlement of this country. They had no money of any kind; everything purchased was paid for in produce or labor. If a contract was not punctually fulfilled, the credit of the delinquent was at an end. Any petty theft was punished with all the infamy that could be heaped on the offender. If a theft was detected in any of the frontier settlements, a summary code of punishment was always resorted to; their maxim was a thief must be whipped.
If the theft was of some value, a kind of jury of the neighborhood after hearing the testimony would condemn the culprit to Moses' law, that is, "forty stripes save one." If the theft was of some small article, the offender was doomed to carry on his back the stripes of the flag of the Union, which then consisted of 13, and the stripes were sure to he well laid on. This punishment was followed by a sentence of exile: if he did not decamp in so many days the stripes were doubled. If a woman was given to tattling or slandering she was by common consent given the right to say whatever she pleased without being believed.
Her tongue was then said to be harmless. If one man called another a liar he was considered as having given a challenge to fight, which the person who received it must accept or be deemed a coward, and the charge was generally answered on the spot with a blow. If the injured person was unable to fight he might get a friend to do it for him. The same thing took place on a charge of cowardice or any other dishonorable action.
The mode of single combats in those days was dangerous in the extreme; although no weapons were used, fists, teeth and feet were
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employed at will; but above all the detestable practice of gouging, by which eyes were sometimes put out, rendered this mode of fighting frightful indeed.
AMUSEMENTS AND GAMES.
The pioneers were not without diversions, though they were such as might be expected among a people who owing to their circumstances, as well as education, set a higher value on physical than on mental endowments, and on skill in hunting, and bravery in war, than on any polite accomplishments or fine arts. Doddridge says: "Amusements are in many instances either imitations of the business of life, or some of its particular objects of pursuit. Many of the sports of the early settlers of this country were imitative of the exercises and strategems of hunting and war. Boys were taught the use of the bow and arrow at an early age, so they acquired considerable adroitness in the use of them so as to kill birds or squirrels. Dancing and horse-racing were regarded as a preparation for the personal deportment, in public and military life. One important pastime of our boys was that of imitating the noise of every bird and beast in the woods. This faculty was not merely a pastime, but a very necessary part of education, on account of its utility in hunting. The imitations of the gobbling and other sounds of wild turkeys often brought those keen-eyed, and ever watchful, tenants of the forest within the reach of the rifle. The bleating of the fawn brought its dam to her death in the same way. Throwing the tomahawk was another boyish sport, in which many acquired great skill. A little experience enabled the boy to measure the distance with his eye, when walking through the woods, and strike a tree with his tomahawk in any way he chose. The athletic sports of running, jumping and wrestling were the pastimes of boys in common with the men.
"A well grown boy, at the age of 12 or 13, was furnished with a small rifle and shotpouch. Shooting at marks was a common diversion among the men when their stock of ammunition would allow it.
"Singing and dancing was another, but not very common, amusement among our first settlers. Their dances, to be sure, were of the simplest form.
"Three and four-handed reels and jigs, Cotillions and minuets were unknown. In singing, their tunes were rude enough, to be sure. Robin Hood furnished a number of our songs, the balance were mostly tragical. The last were denominated `love songs about murder.' Cards, dice, and other games of chance were unknown. These are among the gifts of civilization."
THE MECHANIC ARTS.
The same author says: "Our readers will ask where were the mills for grinding grain, the tanners for making leather, where were the smith shops for making and repairing farming utensils? Who were the carpenters tailors, cabinet workmen, shoemakers and weavers? The answer is those manufacturers did not exist, nor had they any professional tradesmen.
"Every family were under the necessity of doing everything for themselves. The hominy block and hand mill were in use in most of our houses.
"The first was made of a large block of wood about three feet long, with an excavation burned in one end, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so that the action of the pestle on the bottom threw the corn up to the sides toward the top, from whence it continually fell down into the center. In consequence of this movement, the whole mass of the grain was subjected to the strokes of the pestle. In the fall of the year when the Indian corn was soft the block and pestle did very well for making meal, but were rather slow when the corn became hard The sweep was sometimes used to lessen the toil of pounding grain into meal. This was a pole of some springy wood 30 feet long or
42 - CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,
more, the butt end was placed under the side of a house or a large stump; this pole was supported by two forks placed about one-third of its length from the butt end so as to elevate the smaller end about 15 feet from the ground.
"To this was attached by a large mortice a piece of sapling about five or six inches in diameter and eight or ten feet long. The lower end of this was shaped so as to answer for a pestle. A pin of wood was put through it at a proper height so that two persons could work at the sweep at once. This simple machine very much lessened the labor and it was kept going almost constantly from morning to night by our neighbors for several weeks. Our first water mills were of the description denominated tub mills. It consists of a perpendicular shaft to the lower end of which an horizontal wheel of about five feet in diameter was attached. These mills were built with but very little expense. Instead of bolting cloths, sifters were in general use. These were made of deerskins in a state of parchment, stretched over a hoop and perforated with a hot wire. Our clothing was all of domestic manufacture. We had no other resource for clothing and this indeed was a poor one. The crops of flax often failed and the sheep were destroyed by wolves. Linsey, which is made of flax and wool, the former the chain and the latter the filling, was the warmest and most substantial cloth we could make.
"Almost every house contained a loom and almost every woman was a weaver Every family tanned their own leather. The tan vat was a large trough sunk to the upper edge in the ground. A quantity of bark was easily obtained every spring in clearing and fencing the land. This, after drying, was brought in, and on wet days was shaved and pounded on a block of wood. Ashes were used in place of lime for taking off the hair Bear's oil, hog's lard and tallow answered the place of fish oil. The leather to be sure was coarse but good. The blacking for the leather was made of soot and hog's lard.
Almost every family contained its own tailors and shoemakers. Those who could not make shoes could make shoe packs. These like moccasins were made of a single piece of leather, with the exception of a tongue piece on top of the foot. To the shoe pack a sole was sometimes added. The women did the tailor work. They could all cut out and make hunting shirts, leggins and drawers. There was almost in every neighborhood someone whose natural ingenuity enabled him to do many things for himself and his neighbors, far above what could have been reasonably expected with the few tools which they brought with them into the country.
SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PIONEER AGE.
"The belief in witchcraft was prevalent among the early settlers of the Western Country. To the witch was ascribed the power of inflicting strange and incurable diseases, particularly of children; of destroying cattle by shooting them with hair balls, and a great variety of other means of destruction; of inflicting spells and curses on guns, and other things; and lastly, of changing men into horses, and after driving and saddling them, riding them in full speed over hill and dale to their frolics, and other places of rendezvous. Wizards were men supposed to possess the same mischievous powers as witches; but these were seldom exercised for bad purposes. The powers of the wizard were exercised almost exclusively for the purpose of counteracting the malevolent influences of the witches of the other sex. The means by which the witch was supposed to inflict diseases, curses and spells could not be learned: they were sciences which no one was supposed to understand except the witch herself. Diseases which could neither be accounted for nor cured were usually ascribed to some supernatural agency of a malignant kind. For the cure of the diseases inflicted by witchcraft, the picture of the supposed witch was drawn on a stump or piece of board and shot at with a bullet containing a little
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bit of silver. This silver bullet transferred a painful and sometimes a mortal spell on that part of the witch corresponding with the part of the portrait struck by the bullet. The witch had but one way of relieving herself from any spell inflicted on her in any way, which was that of borrowing something of a family to which the subject of the exercise of her witchcraft belonged. When cattle or dogs were supposed to be under the influence of witchcraft they were burned in the forehead by a branding iron, or when dead burned wholly to ashes. This inflicted a spell upon the witch which could only be removed by borrowing as above stated.
"Witches were often said to milk the cows of their neighbors. This they did by fixing a new pin in a new towel for each cow intended to be milked. This towel was hung over her own door and by the means of certain incantations the milk was extracted from the fringes of the towel after the manner of milking a cow."
CHANGES IN THE WEATHER.
Since the settlement of our country great changes have taken place in our weather system. Doddridge says: "These changes have been so gradual that it is no easy task to describe them. For many years we scarcely ever had a single warm night during the whole summer. At the first settlement of the country, the evenings were cool and the mornings frequently uncomfortably cold. The coldness of the nights was owing to the deep shade of the forest trees which everywhere covered the ground.
"At sundown the air began to become damp and cool, and continued to increase in coldness until warmed by the sunshine of the succeeding day.
"Our summers in early times were mostly very dry. The beds of our large creeks, excepting in the deep holes, presented nothing but deep rocks.
"The mills were not expected to do any grinding after the end of May. It was a frequent saying among our farmers that three good rains were sufficient to make a crop of corn if they happened at the proper time.
"Hunting snows usually commenced about the middle of October. November was regarded as a winter month. The winter frequently set in with severity that month and sometimes at an earlier period. For a long time after the settlement of the country we had an abundance of snow in comparison to the amount we usually have now. It was no unusual thing to have snows from one to three feet in depth and of long continuance. Our people often became tired of seeing the monotonous aspect of the country so long covered with a deep snow, and longed to see the ground bare once more.
"The labor of getting wood after a deep fall of snow and opening of the roads was in the highest degree disagreeable. A tree when fallen was literally buried in the snow, so that the driver of the horses had to plunge the whole length of his arm into it to get the log chain around the butt end of the trees in order to haul it home. The depth of the snows, the extreme cold and length of our winters, were indeed distressing to the first settlers, who were but poorly provided with clothing, and whose cabins were mostly very open and uncomfortable. Getting wood, making fires, feeding the stock, going to the mill, were considered sufficient employment for any family, and truly those labors left them but little time for anything else. As our roads in early times did not admit of the use of sleighs, the only sport we had in the time of a deep snow was that of racing about on the crust on its surface. This was formed by a slight thaw, succedeed by a severe frost. On this crust we could haul our logs and brush, and owing to great drifts of snow in many places, over the highest fences. These crusts were often fatal to the deer. Wolves, dogs and men could pursue them without breaking through the crust. The deer on the contrary, when pursued, owing to the smallness of their hoofs, always broke through it, unless when it was uncommonly
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hard." The hunters never killed the deer in the dead of winter, as their skins and flesh was then of but little value. On the whole, although the same variable system of weather continued, our springs were formerly some what colder, and accompanied with more snow than they are now. But the change in these respects is not favorable to vegetation, as our late springs are uniformly followed by the most fruitful seasons. It is the law of the vegetable world that the longer the vegetative principle is delayed, the more rapid when put in motion. From this it appears that our seasons have already undergone great and important changes. Our summers are much warmer, our falls much milder and longer, and our winters shorter by at least one month and accompanied with much less snow and cold than formerly. What causes have affected these changes in our system of weather, and what we may reasonably suppose will be the extent of this revolution we can only conjecture."
THE HORRORS OF SLAVERY.
The horrors of slavery as practiced in pioneer days and in the slave State adjoining Belmont County, is but little understood by the people of this generation and in this free State. When Dr. Doddridge lost his mother he was placed under the care of relations in Maryland for the purpose of being sent to school. The Doctor says: "When I arrived there I was in a new world. I had left the backwoods behind me. I had exchanged its rough manners and poor living for the buildings, plenty, and polish of civilized life. My residence was in a neighborhood were slaves and convicts were numerous and where tortures inflicted upon them had become the occurrences of almost every day, so that they were viewed with indifference by the population of the neighborhood as matters of course.
"Thus it is that custom reconciles human nature with all its native sympathies to the grossest barbarities and hardens the heart against the most intense suffering of a fellow creature. Not so with me who never had witnessed such tortures. I had not been long in my new habitation before I witnessed a scene which I shall never forget. A servant accused of some trivial offense was doomed to the whip, tied with his arms extended upwards to the limb of a tree, a bundle of hickories were thrown down before him, and he was ordered to look at them and told that they should all be worn out on him, and a great many more, if he did not make a confession of the crime charged against him. The operation began by tucking up the shirt over his head so as to leave the back and shoulders naked. The master then took two of the hickories in his hand and by forward and backhanded strokes, each of which sounded like a wagon whip, and applied with the utmost rapidity and with his whole muscular strength. In a few seconds the lacerated shoulders of the poor miserable sufferer were covered with not less than 50 scourges, so that in a little time the whole of his shoulders had the appearance of a mass of blood, streams of which soon began to flow down his back and sides; he then made a confession of his fault. A fault not worth naming. but this did not save him from further torture. He had put his master to the trouble of whipping him and he must have a little more. His trousers were then unbuttoned and suffered to fall about his feet; two hickories were selected from the bundle and were so applied that in a short time his posteriors like his shoulders exhibited nothing but laceration and blood. A consultation was then held between the master and the bystanders, who had been cooly looking on, in which it was humanely concluded that `he had got enough.
"A basin of brine and a cloth were ordered to be brought, and with this his stripes were washed, or salted, as they called it. During this operation the suffering wretch writhed and groaned as if in the agonies of death. He was then untied and told to go home, and mistress would tell him what to do.
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From this scene of torture I went home with a heavy heart and wished myself in the backwoods again. It frequently happened that torture was inflicted upon slaves and convicts in a more protracted manner than in that above described. When the victim of cruelty was doomed by his master to receive the lash several of his neighbors were called on for their assistance. They attended at the time and place appointed.
"A jug of rum and water was provided for the occasion. After the trembling wretch was brought forward and tied up, the number of lashes which he was to receive was determined on by lot or otherwise, and it was decided who should begin the operation; this done, the torture commenced; at the conclusion of the first course, the operator pretending great weariness, called for a drink of rum and water, in which he was joined by the company.
"A certain time was allowed for the subject of their cruelty to cool, as they called it. When the allotted time had expired, the next one took his turn, and in like manner ended with a drink and so on until the appointed number of lashes were all imposed. This operation lasted several hours, sometimes half a day, at the conclusion of which the sufferer, with his hands swollen with the cords, was unbound and suffered to put on his shirt. His executioners, to whom the operation was rather a frolic than otherwise, returned home from the scene of their labors, half drunk.
"Another method of punishment still more protracted than this, was that of dooming a slave to receive so many lashes, during several days in succession; each of those whippings excepting the first was called `tickling up the old scabs.' Female servants, both white and black, were subjected to the whip in common with the males. Having to pass through the yard of a neighbor on the way to school it happened that on going my usual route on a cold snowy morning, when I came within view of the house, I was much surprised at seeing a naked woman standing at the whipping post, and her master with a hickory in his hand. When I got to the place I stopped to see what was going on; after the woman had received a certain number of lashes, a female black slave was ordered from the kitchen, stripped, and fastened by the irons of the whipping post, her scars exhibiting the stripes and corrugations of former years. Both these women had handkerchiefs tied around their eyes to prevent them from seeing when the blow was coming. The hickory used by this man was a forked one twisted together and tied. A hickory of this kind, owing to the inequlity of its surface, gives the greater pain. With this he scourged the backs of these two women alternately, but for what length of time I do not know; being shocked at the sight, I hurried on to school and left the master at his work. I might here relate many other methods of torture, of which I have been an eye witness, among these people, such as the thumb screw, sweating, the birch, and etc., but it is enough; the heart sickens at such cruelties."