150 - HISTORY OF OHIO. bloodshed and woe. The contest which ensued, though short, was very sanguinary. It is called Lord Dunmore's War. It originated in this way. On the twenty-seventh of April, 1774, a vagabond desperado by the name of Cresap, residing in the vicinity of the present City of Wheeling, heard of two families of Indians, who were a few miles farther up the river hunting and trapping. He took with him a gang of congenial villains, attacked these unoffending people, in cold blood murdered them all, and carried off their game and furs. These murderers came down the river that night to Wheeling in their canoes, laden with plunder.. They found shooting Indians to be far better sport than shooting any other kind of game. Soon after this they heard that there was a small band of Indian hunters, encamped a few miles farther down the river at the head of Captina Creek. Armed to the teeth, these men went down and robbed and murdered them all. Not long after this, there was quite a large party of Indians peacefully encamped about forty miles up the river, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the right or northern bank of the Ohio. A man by the name of Greathouse, took with him a party of seven men, and ascended the river to attack them. They landed on the south side of the Ohio, at Baker's Station, opposite, but just below the point of the Indian encampment. Greathouse concealed his gang of assassins there, and at night crossed the river in his canoe to reconnoiter the ground, and ascertain how many Indians there were in the encampment. As he was skulking along he fell in with an Indian woman. She was very friendly, and urged him not to show himself to the Indians. She said that they had heard of the murders. which had been perpetrated by Cresap, and that they were drinking, and were very angry. Greathouse paddled back across the river, to Baker's station, and in the morning succeeded in enticing quite a number of the savages across the river to his concealed encampment. Here, after getting them intoxicated, he deliberately shot them. The Indians on the other side of the river hearing the report of the guns, sent two of their number across to ascertain the cause. These men had but just stepped out of their birch canoe upon the shore, when, pierced by bullets, they fell dead. The report of these guns excited suspicion among the Indians, and they sent over quite a large armed force to investigate affairs. They crossed HISTORY OF OHIO - 151 the river in quite a number of birch canoes. But, before they landed, this villainous gang of white men fired upon them from an ambush, and killed a large number. The survivors, in consternation, returned to their encampment. Greathouse and his gang pursued them, and put all to death whom they could reach; men, women and children. In this atrocious massacre, the family of a noted Indian chief, Logan, ever the firm friend of the white men, were all put to death. These unprovoked murders soon reached the ears of all the tribes throughout the great valley. There were hundreds of settlers who had then crossed the Alleghanies, and were quietly cultivating their farms, seeking friendly relations with the Indians, and treating them with true brotherly kindness. They abhorred these deeds as much as any reader of this narrative can abhor them. But the poor Indians knew not how to discriminate. The innocent had to suffer with the guilty. Every where, through the. forest, over mountain and prairie, the war-whoop resounded, and the hosts rallied for war. The governments of Virginia and Pennsylvania immediately dispatched messengers to all the frontier settlements to warn them of their danger. There was universal consternation. Many settlers abandoned every thing, and fled across the mountains. Others sought refuge in forts. In the meantime the Indians were roving in all directions, burning, killing, scalping, without mercy. The Legislature of Virginia raised four hundred volunteers, who were rendezvoused at Wheeling. They descended the Ohio River to the mouth of the Muskingum, where Marietta now stands. Ascending that river, they destroyed the Indian towns as far as Zanesville, killing many Indians, and adding greatly to their exasperation. A vigorous campaign was now organized, to be composed of three thousand men. One division, of eleven hundred men, was to rendezvous in September, at Fort Union, in Green Briar County, Virginia. Near this point the Kanawha River takes its rise, among the western declivities of the Alleghanies. They were then to descend the valley of this river to its mouth, on the Ohio-River. Here, at a spot known as Point Pleasant, they were to encamp and await the arrival of Lord Dunmore. He, with two thousand men, was to ascend the Cumberland, in Maryland. Thence he was to force his way across the Alleghany Mountains. 152 - HISTORY OF OHIO to the Monongahela River. He was to follow that river until he reached the Ohio. Thence he was tc descend to Point Pleasant, where he was to form a junction with Lewis. On the 11th of September, 1774, General Lewis commenced his march. His route lay mainly through a pathless wilderness, where not even the trail of the Indian could be found. All his baggage, including provisions and ammunition, could be carried only on pack-horses. They had to wind their way through wild ravines and dense forests, and over crags, which it would seem that the mountain-goat could with difficulty climb. There is perhaps no region on the continent, of more majestic scenery, than these gloomy gorges and sublime heights of the Alleghany Mountains. For nineteen days this gallant little band was toiling along, sur, mounting innumerable difficulties, until the formidable barrier was passed, and descending the western declivities, they reached the lovely Valley of the Kanawha. The distance across the mountains, from Camp Union, in Virginia, to the mouth of the Great Kanawha, in what is now Kentucky, was one hundred and sixty miles. It is said that the march was more difficult than Hannibal's celebrated passage of the Alps. At Point Pleasant, where the Kanawha enters the Ohio, General Lewis expected to meet, and form a junction with Earl Dunmore. It was the first of October, 1744, when he reached the place of his destination. Finding that Lord Dunmore had not arrived, he went into camp. After waiting nine days, a messenger came with the intelligence that the Governor had changed his plan. Instead of descending the Ohio in his barges, to Point Pleasant, he would stop about thirty miles farther up the stream, at the mouth of the Hocking River. Then, ascending that stream in a northerly direction, as far as the Falls, he would strike directly across the country, to the west, a distance of about sixty miles, till he should reach the banks of the Scioto, where the Indian villages, they were about to attack, were thickly clustered. The Hocking River would, in most countries, be deemed quite an important stream. It flows through one of Ohio's lovely valleys, which is about eighty miles in length, and fifteen or twenty in breadth. Boats can ascend the stream about seventy miles, when they come to falls, forty feet in perpendicular height. Here Lord Dunmore was to leave his boats, as he crossed over to the Scioto. HISTORY OF OHIO - 155 The Scioto, in its peaceful beauty, is one of the most attractive streams on earth. It takes its rise far away in the north, on the prairie-like summit-level which approaches Lake Erie. It has twelve quite important tributaries. These branches the Indians called its Legs. They therefore gave the river its name " Seeyotoh Greatlegs. In Atwater's History of Ohio we find the following very interesting account of this stream : " The soil where these branches rise and run, is as fertile as any can be in the world. At Chillicothe, the Scioto enters a hilly sandstone region, and passes through it to the Ohio River in a valley of several miles in width. Above Chillicothe, the Scioto spreads its branches like the frame-work of a fan fully expanded, forming a semicircle of about seventy miles in diameter at its upper extremity. " The Scioto may be estimated by the contents of the surface of its valley. It is one hundred and thirty miles in a direct line from its summit to its mouth, at Portsmouth. Its breadth, from east to west, will average seventy miles. From the Town of Delaware to Chillicothe, a distance of seventy miles, from north to south, in the summer months, the traveler sees the most beautiful country in Ohio. It is a perfect paradise, waving with grass and grain, as far as his eye can see. The country is animated by a people living either in beautiful towns, or along the roadside on farms. Sometimes are presented to view large droves of cattle, horses and hogs. From Delaware to Columbus the road runs near the Olentangy. From Columbus downwards, the traveler almost everywhere sees the canal, with its boats, he hears the sound of their horns, and sees the Scioto winding its way along to the Ohio River. " This is the Scioto country, famed in all time, since man dwelt on its surface, for its beauty and fertility. That ancient race of men, who were the earliest inhabitants, dwelt here in greater numbers than anywhere else in the Western States. The Indians of the present race preferred this country to any other, and lived here in greater numbers, in towns. Here the wild animals lived in the greatest numbers. And we have placed Columbus, our Capitol, on the most beautiful spot of the Scioto country. Nature has already done her part for this region, and man has done, is doing, and will continue to do his to make it all that man can ever desire it to be forever, A Home, Sweet Home.'" 156 - HISTORY OF OHIO. It was to this beautiful region, and to the villages which fringed the luxuriant banks of the river, that the military expedition was sent to sweep its whole extent with conflagration, ruin and death. Was this dreadful deed a necessity ? Upon that point judgments will differ. The Indians, like demons, were devastating the frontiers. But, by universal admission, they had been roused to these horrible outrages by atrocious wrongs, and wrongs which the government could not prevent, which were inflicted by vagabonds whom the law could not reach. On the tenth of October, the latter part of the afternoon, two of the soldiers of General Lewis were two or three miles from the camp, hunting along the banks of the Ohio River, when a large party of Indian warriors rushed from their concealment upon them. One was instantly killed. The other fled and reached the camp in safety. The Indians had their scouts vigilantly watching every movement of the English. With much military sagacity they had sent a large detachment of their warriors to cross the Ohio some miles above Point Pleasant, and attack the English hemmed in between the Ohio and the Kanawha Rivers. General Lewis, not knowing the strength of the Indians, the next morning sent out two companies to attack them. The Indians were already within a quarter of a mile of the English camp. They were well armed with rifles. Raising hideous yells, they furiously commenced the battle by discharging a volley of well-aimed bullets upon their foes. The English recoiled from an attack so formidable, and so unexpected in its strength. As they were retreating before the savages, the reserve came up and checked the onward rush of the foe. The Indians, not at all disconcerted, and apparently' sure of victory, extended their line of battle from the Ohio River to the Kanawha, thus carrying out their original plan of hemming in their foes between the angle formed by the junction of these rivers, so that there should be no possibility of escape. Here the warriors took their stations, behind logs, and trees, and stumps. It was early in the morning, just as the sun was rising, when the battle commenced. The Indians fought desperately, and there was no cessation of the conflict until evening, when the Indians, abandoning their enterprise, retired. It will be remembered that General Lewis had under his command eleven hundred men. The force of Indian warriors must HISTORY OF OHIO - 157  have been still larger, as they extended in an unbroken line from river to river. The ferocity and ability with which they fought may be inferred from the fact that of the English, two colonels,. five captains, three lieutenants, and about a hundred private soldiers were killed. The wounded, officers and men, amounted to one hundred and forty. Many of these were severely wounded,. and subsequently died of their injuries. The loss of the Indians was never known. They were in the habit of carrying off or concealing their dead. As the English soldiers were all sharpshooters, it is supposed that the savages suffered very severely. This opinion is confirmed by the fact that the Indians retreated in the night, and did not venture again to attack either body of the invading army. Thirty-three dead were found.. Many others it is supposed were thrown into the two rivers. The savages were commanded by a distinguished Indian chieftain called Cornstalk. While the conflict raged, his voice was often heard rising above the din of battle, shouting to the men in their own language, " Be strong! Be strong ! In the night the vanquished savages crossed the Ohio in their canoes, and retreated, greatly disheartened, as it afterwards appeared, to their villages on the Scioto. The warriors of four tribes were united in this great battle, the Shawnees, Delawares, Mingoes and Wyandots. This bloody conflict was long remembered in the homes of the pioneers: Some rural bard celebrated it in a ballad, which for many years was sung in the hamlets of the great valley. We give three of the verses : " Let us mind the tenth day of October Seventy-four, which caused woe, The Indian savages, they did cover The pleasant banks of the Ohio. " Seven score lay dead and wounded. Of champions who did face their foe, By which the heathen were confounded Upon the banks of Ohio. " O, bless the mighty King of Heaven, For all his wondrous works below, Who hath to us this victory given, Upon the banks of Ohio." Military genius is rare. General Lewis, after the battle and the loss in killed and wounded of about two hundred and fifty 158 - HISTORY OF OHIO. men, fortified his camp by throwing up entrenchments of earth and logs. Had he done this before the battle, during the nine days when his soldiers were idle, he might have been spared this slaughter. Great is the responsibility of one who is entrusted with the lives of a thousand men. It is but a poor excuse, for the want of precaution manifested, that General Lewis, upon his arrival at Point Pleasant, expected every hour to see the batteaux of Lord Dunmore descending the river, and that he had no idea that the Indians would venture across the Ohio to attack him. In a few days, after burying the dead and making the wounded as comfortable as possible, he left the latter under a strong guard, and, in obedience to orders from Governor Dunmore, marched up the Ohio River, along the southern banks, to effect a junction, at the mouth of the Hocking, with the Governor's troops. We must now leave this little band, struggling through the dense and pathless forest, and turn to the adventures of the other division of the army. Lord Dunmore, with two thousand efficient, well armed men, crossed the mountains by the same route which Braddock took in his fatal expedition. Ascending the beautiful, and then somewhat settled Valley of the Potomac to Cumberland, he effected the arduous passage of the mountains in safety, and descended into the Valley of the Monongahela in good condition. He marched up this beautiful region, which was sprinkled with the cabins of the settlers, until he reached Fort Pitt. Here he obtained several large flat bottomed boats, and a hundred canoes of various sizes. With these he floated his army down the gentle current of the Ohio to Wheeling, which had then become quite an important settlement. After the delay of a few days here, obtaining additional supplies, he continued his truly delightful voyage upon the placid stream to the mouth of the Hocking. It was the month of October, the most lovely season of the year in that clime. The majestic river rolled its broad, silver current through most charming scenery of hills and vales, crowned with luxuriant verdure, presenting Eden-like charms, which neither ax nor plow had disturbed. There was no toil in that voyage. The flotilla was borne along by the power of the stream alone. War seemed to have lost all its horrors, in this apparently holiday excursion. HISTORY OF OHIO - 159 At this spot he left his flotilla, having first thrown up efficient entrenchments, which he strongly garrisoned. This military post he called Fort Gower. He then ascended the Hocking River, in a. march of two or three days, until he reached a point near where the Town of Logan now stands. In the meantime he had sent orders to General Lewis to cross the Ohio, and direct his steps, as rapid:y as possibly, towards the Indian villages on the Scioto, near the present site of Circleville. The two armies were to form a junction on this march. Governor Dunmore left the Valley of the Hocking, and, in a. march of about two days, passed over the gentle eminences between the two rivers. When he had arrived within three or four miles of the Indian towns, he constructed an entrenched camp, awaiting the arrival of General Lewis. Lord Dunmore was cautious as well as brave. He had no idea of being the victim of Indian cunning, as so many of the English leaders had been before him. His encampment consisted of an enclosure of about. twelve acres, surrounded by a strong breastwork of trees and logs. Behind these ramparts his two thousand sharpshooters could defend themselves against any force which the Indians could bring foiward. But to render assurance doubly sure, he erected in the center of this enclosure another fortress, or citadel, of still stronger construction. It consisted of an area of about an acre of land, encircled by a ditch and earthworks, and these were so surmounted with logs as to render the citadel quite impregnable to a foe who could assail him only with arrows and bullets. His whole force. could promptly be concentrated within this inner inclosure, in case of necessity. In the center of this citadel Lord Dunmore. pitched the elegant and commodious marquee provided for himself and his superior officers. Over the marquee proudly floated the flag of England. This fort he named Charlotte, in honor of the then reigning queen. The intelligent Indian chieftains, disheartened by the repulse. at Point Pleasant, appreciating the military ability of Lord Dunmore, and conscious that the two armies would in a few days be united in an attack upon their villages, which attack they knew they were entirely unable to repel, were in consternation. They sent delegation after delegation, more and more importunately, soliciting peace. Lord Dunmore was a humane man. He knew full well that unendurable outrages, inflicted by vagabond white 160 - HISTORY OF OHIO. men, had driven the Indians into the war. He had no disposition to burn their villages and to consign the inhabitants to indiscriminate slaughter. Still, he wished the Indians to be taught that the power which they had set at defiance was one which had no fear of the conflict. With characteristic caution, he would allow but eighteen warriors to enter even his outer gate. There they were compelled to leave their arms. They were then conducted into the citadel and presented to the governor, who, surrounded by his officers in thee: most imposing attire, received them in state. A distinguished chief, whose English name was Corn Planter, opened the council by a truly powerful and impressive speech, in a tone of voice so loud and impassioned that it could be heard by every man in the garrison. He described the former power of the Indians, the number and population of their tribes, in their undisturbed hunting grounds. He then, with a very full comprehension of his subject, described the several treaties which the Indians had made with the white men, ceding to them certain portions of their territory. He then affirmed, with a proud spirit of conscious right, and with truthfulness that none could deny, that the Indians had been perfectly faithful in their observance of these treaties. Then, growing warm in his just indignation, he exclaimed : " What, on the contrary, has been the conduct of the white men ? They have paid no regard to these treaties. They have encroached upon our lands, they have cut down our forests, they have reared their houses on our soil,—soil which we had sacredly reserved ; they have robbed again and again, and murdered Indians peacefully engaged in hunting. For years we have patiently endured these wrongs, till at length we have been driven into this bloody war. We do not wish for war ; we wish for peace. We know the power of the white man ; we know that he can overpower the Indian. But the white man is the sole cause of this war. Had we not resented the wrongs we have endured, even the white man would have despised us for cowardice." Another celebrated Indian chief, whose name has obtained renown in two hemispheres, sent in his speech carefully written, probably by some interpreter. Logan would not condescend to accompany commissioners who were suing for peace. He was then at Shawnee Town, a large Indian village on the Scioto, about four miles from Fort Charlotte. Speaking of this remarkable man, and HISTORY OF OHIO - 161 his still more remarkable speech, Mr. Atwater writes, in his History of Ohio : " Though he would not attend on Dunmore's council in person, yet, being urged by the Indians, who were anxious to be relieved from Dunmore's army, he sent his speech in a belt of wampum, to be delivered to Lord Dunmore, by a faithful interpreter. Under an oak on the farm of Mr. Wolf this splendid effort of heart-stirring eloquence was faithfully delivered by the person who carried the wampum. The oak tree, under which it was delivered to Lord Dunmore, still stands in a field seven miles from Circleville, in a southern direction. An interpreter delivered it, sentence by sentence, and it was written as it was delivered. Its authenticity is placed beyond the shadow of a doubt, and it of right belongs, and forever will belong, to the history of Ohio." LOGAN'S SPEECH. I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if he came naked and cold, and I clothed him not. During the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen, as they passed me, said, Logan is the friend of the whites. I had thoughts of living among you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, last Spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not one drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice in the beams of peace. But do not harbor the thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? President Jefferson has written, of this powerful address of Logan, " I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage superior to the speech of Logan." The poet Campbell, in his Gertrude of Wyoming, has thus beautifully verified its sentiments : 162 - HISTORY OF OHIO. " He left, of all my tribe, Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth ; No ! not the dog that watched my household hearth Escaped that night of blood upon our plains. All perished. I alone am left on earth! To whom mot relative nor blood remains, No! not a kindred drop that runs in human veins." While these scenes were transpiring, General Lewis had marched up the southern bank of the Ohio, to a point nearly opposite the mouth of the Hocking. Here his troops were ferried across the river, by Lord Dunmore's flotilla. They were on a rapid march to effect a junction with the Governor's army, when a messenger met them from the Governor, with the information that peace was about to be concluded, and that, therefore, they were ordered to return to Virginia. But neither General Lewis nor his men were disposed to pay any attention to this message. Many of them had lost friends, who had been murdered by the savages, and all were burning with a desire for vengeance. In defiance, therefore, of the order of the Governor, they pressed forward, .resolved to inflict the most terrible punishment upon the Indians, now in their power, by sweeping the Valley of the Scioto with war's utmost devastation of fire and blood. General Lewis had arrived within a few miles of Fort Charlotte, when Lord Dunmore, accompanied by his staff, rode out to meet him. He then peremptorily ordered the angry general and his equally irritated army, to return immediately to Virginia. General Lewis and his men very reluctantly obeyed. But when they reflected that the Governor had double the force of their own, and that he could instantly call to his aid all the Indian warriors, whose friendship he seemed to be courting, they judged it best to' conceal their chagrin, and retire. Lord Dunmore tarried sometime at the fort, until he had entered into very amicable relations with the Indians, when he also returned to Virginia. The fate of Logan was a very sad one. His few past years were melancholy in the extreme. Homeless, childless, friendless, he wandered about, from tribe to tribe, with never a smile, and apparently without a joy. His friends were all dead, his tribe dwindling away, and, in his great dejection, he resorted to the fatal stimulus of strong drink. He was at last murdered by an Indian. Logan was sitting by the camp-fire, silently musing with his blanket over his head, his elbows upon his knees and head upon 164 - HISTORY OF OHIO. his hands. An Indian, influenced by some unknown motive of revenge, stealthily approached him from behind, and buried his tomahawk in his brain. Thus fell this unfortunate chieftain, the last of his race. It is very evident that many of these Indian sachems were men of sound judgment, and very considerable intelligence. But, as in more civilized communities, they were often forced, by popular clamor, to act in opposition to their own views. The chieftain, Cornstalk, who led the Indians at the assault at Point Pleasant, was a man of true greatness of soul. By his scouts he had kept himself informed of the numbers of the English troops, and of their movements. He was confident that the Indians could not cope with so formidable a force, and urged that before risking a battle, they should make proposals of peace. But the young warriors would not listen to these counsels. Being compelled to yield; with commensurate ability and bravery, he led his troops to the onset. They fought with determination, never before surpassed on any Indian battle-field. Though they inflicted terrible loss upon their foe, they retired hopelessly discomfited. Cornstalk, with his remaining band, repaired to the Scioto, where he convened a general council. A large number of warriors were gathered around him dejected and despairing. " What," said Cornstalk, " is now to be done. We ought to have made peace before we had exasperated our enemy by a battle. The Longknives are coming upon us in resistless strength. We shall all be killed. There is no escape. Let us put our women and children to death, and then go and fight until we all are slain." To this speech there was no response. All were silent. After a moment's pause, Cornstalk struck his tomahawk into a log, in sign that it was no longer to be used in battle, and said : " I will try to make peace." To this there was a general ejaculation of assent. Peace commissioners were immediately dispatched to Fort Charlotte, and thus the Lord Dunmore war came to an end. Many persons have expressed doubts whether the speech of Logan was genuine. They have thought it impossible that an unlettered savage could have spoken with such beauty of rhetoric and force of logic. The following extract of a letter upon this subject, from President Jefferson, to Governor Henry, of Maryland, must put this question at rest in all candid minds : HISTORY OF OHIO - 165 " President Jefferson speaks of Mr. Gibson as translating the speech. He probably should have said he wrote it down. William Robinson, who took the speech from Logan's lips, says that Logan spoke English well.' Simon Kenton, who was intimately acquainted with Logan, says of him, ' His form was striking and manly, his countenance calm and noble, and he spoke the English language with fluency and correctness.' " When Lord Dunmore returned from the expedition against the Indians, in 1774, he and his officers brought the speech of Logan, and related the circumstances connected with it. These were so affecting, and the speech itself so fine a morsel of eloquence, that it became the theme of every conversation, in Williamsburgh particularly, and generally indeed wherever any of the officers resided or resorted. I learned it in Williamsburgh—I believe at Lord Dunmore's ; and I find in my pocket-book of that year (1774) an entry of the narrative, as taken from the mouth of some person, whose name however is not noted, nor recollected, precisely in the words stated in the notes on Virginia. The speech was published in the Virginia Gazette of that time (I have it myself in the volume of Gazettes of that year), and though in a style by no means elegant, yet it was so admired that it flew through all public papers of the continent, and through the magazines and other periodical publications of Great Britain; and those who were boys at that day, will now attest that the speech of Logan used to be given them as a school exercise for repetition. It was not till about thirteen or fourteen years after the newspaper publications, that the notes on Virginia were published in America. Combating in these the contumelious theory of certain European writers, whose celebrity gave currency and weight to their opinions, that our country, from the combined effects of soil and climate, degenerated animal nature, in the general, and particularly the moral faculties of man, I consider the speech of Logan as an apt proof of the contrary, and used it as such ; and I copied, verbatim, the narrative I had taken down in 1774, and the speech as it had been given us in a better translation by Lord Dunmore I knew nothing of the Cresaps, and could not possibly have a motive to do them an injury with design. I repeated what thousands had done before, on as good authority as we have for most of the facts we learn through life, and such as, to this moment, I have seen no reason to doubt. That any body questioned it, was never sus- 166 - HISTORY OF OHIO. pected by me, till I saw the letter of Mr. Martin, in the Baltimore paper. I endeavored then to recollect who, among my contemporaries of the same circle of society, and consequently_ f the same recollections, might still be alive. Three-and-twenty years of death and dispersion had left very few. I remembered, however,. that General Gibson was still living, and knew that he had been the translator of the speech. I wrote to him immediately. He, in answer, declares to me that he was the very person sent by Lord Dunmore to the Indian town ; that, after he had delivered his message there, Logan took him out to a neighboring wood, sat down with him, and rehearsing with tears, the catastrophe of his family, gave him that speech for Lord Dunmore ; that he carried it to Lord Dunmore ; translated it for him ; has turned to it in the Encylopedia, as taken from the notes on Virginia, and finds that it was his translation I had used, with only two or three verbal variations of no importance. These, I suppose, had arisen in the course of successive copies. I cite General Gibson's letter by memory, not having it with me ; but I am sure I cite it substantially right. It establishes, unquestionably, that the speech of Logan is genuine ; and, that being established, it is Logan himself who is author of all the important facts." CHAPTER IX. BATTLES ON THE FRONTIER, DISSATISFACTION WITH LORD DUNMORE CONDUCT OF GREAT BRITAIN - INDIAN ELOQUENCE - EFFORTS OF COLONEL MORGAN - INFAMOUS CONDUCT OF CAPTAIN ARBUCKLE - INDIAN MURDER, AND CRUEL REVENGE - TORY VILLANY - DEATH OF CORNSTALK - REV. MR. HECKEWELDER - SPIRITED ADDRESS OF THE DELAWARE CHIEF - DEATH OF WHITE EYES - HIS CHARACTER - REMARKABLE SPEECH OF CHIEFTAIN PIPE - SIMON GIRTY, THE TORY - THE SIEGE OF FORT HENRY -HEROISM OF ELIZABETH ZANE WONDERFUL ESCAPE OF GENERAL MCCULLOCK - THE SIEGE RAISED. LORD DUNMORE was the last royal governor of Virginia. Very serious difficulties were now rising between the colonists and the mother country. These difficulties in a few months led to the Declaration of Independence. Lord Dunmore was very unpopular in Virginia, and was soon compelled to seek protection on board a British fleet. The Virginians were greatly exasperated with the peace which the governor had made with the Indians. They firmly believed that the governor, in anticipation of the strife, which soon after arose between the colonists and the mother country, had framed this peace, so as to make the Indians friendly to the British Crown, and hostile to the colonists. Even then it was believed that he was contemplating the alliance of the tomahawk and scalping knife of the savage, with the powerful enginery of war, which Great Britian could send to crush her rebellious subjects. George Washington, and Chief Justice Marshall, two of the most candid and illustrious of Virginia's sons, were ever of this opinion. We must not omit to mention, that while Lord Dunmore was on the march, the inhabitants of Wheeling sent a volunteer force of four hundred men, across the Ohio river, to move directly west, 168 - HISTORY OF OHIO. a distance of fifty or sixty miles, to destroy the Indian villages ort the Muskingum. This river takes its rise within thirty miles of Lake Erie, and draining by its tributaries a very rich valley,, nearly two hundred miles in breadth, empties into the Ohio at Marietta, after a serpentine flow of between two and three hundred miles. The Indians in this region, unprepared for war, fled in all directions. The expedition, unopposed, burned their towns, destroyed their crops, and took a few prisoners, who were subsequently exchanged at the Dunmore treaty. Six months before the peace made with the Indians at Fort Charlotte, the first skirmish between the colonists and the British troops took place at Lexington, Massachusetts. The British government, hoping to alarm the colonists with the menace of a. frontier war with the Indians, aided by the strength of the British armies, sent agents to all the prominent tribes, to rally their warriors under the flag of the English monarchy. Colonel Guy Johnson was sent by the British government to enlist the aid of the Iroquois Indians in its war against the infant colonies. The Iroquois then occupied a laxge territory, whose central power seems to have been in the heart of the present State of New York. It was the most powerful Indian nation on the continent, and was composed of a confederacy of five very warlike tribes,— the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onandagas and Senecas. Smith, in his History of New York, writes : " The Five Nations laid claim to all the territory from the mouth of Sorel River, south of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and on both sides of the Ohio River, until it falls into the Mississippi; and on the north side of these lakes, the whole tract between. the Outawas River and Lake Huron." This would give them a territory twelve hundred miles in length by eight hundred in breadth. They could bring nearly twenty-five hundred warriors into the field. Indeed, the English actually enlisted under their banners fifteen hundred of these savage war-. riors. When we consider what savage warfare is, with its conflagrations of peaceful homes, and its indiscriminate butchery of men, women and children, this must be pronounced a very inhuman deed. But the rich British government could offer very powerful bribes to the poor Indians and, on the other hand, the English colonists had treated the Indians so haughtily, with so HISTORY OF OHIO - 169 little spirit of conciliation, that they were not at all reluctant to take up arms with the prospect of gratifying their revenge. It would seem that the intelligent Indian chiefs had a pretty clear comprehension of the nature of the conflict in which they were solicited to engage. At a council held about this time by the chiefs on the Miami River, one of them, a very renowned warrior, by the name of Buckongahelas, addressed his brethren in the following eloquent and logical strain : " Friends, listen! a great and powerful nation is divided. The father is fighting against the son ; the son against the father. The father has called on his Indian children to help him punish his children the Americans. I took time to consider whether I should receive the hatchet of my father to assist him. At first I thought it a family quarrel, in which I was not interested. At length it appeared to me that the father was right, and that the children deserved to be punished a little. I so thought from the many cruel acts his children have committed on the Indians. "They have encroached on our lands, stolen our property, murdered, without provocation, men, women and children. Yes they have murdered those who were friendly to them, who were placed for protection under the roof of their father's house, the father himself standing sentry at the door at the time." Here the orator described a very atrocious case, in which a number of Indians were massacred in a jail in Pennsylvania. They were not known to be guilty of any crime, but that of being Indians. In a time of popular excitement, they were in danger of being put to death by the mob. The government, for their protection, gave them shelter in the jail. The mob broke in and killed them all. He then continued : " Often has the father been compelled to make amends for the crimes of his children. But they do not grow better. They will continue the same they have been, so long as any land remains to us. Look at the murders committed by them upon our friends who were living peaceably on the banks of the Ohio. Did they not kill them without any provocation ? Are they any better now ? No! " The colonists were much alarmed by the many indications that the savages in a body would become the allies of the British government. The emissaries of England were visiting nearly all the 170 - HISTORY OF OHIO. tribes from Canada to the Gulf, and westward even to the shores of the Pacific, to combine them in the most dreadful of conceivable warfares, against the long line of frontier settlements. To use the language of the Indian, " the indignant father hoped by this severe punishment to bring back his refractory children to obedience." To thwart these plans, the colonial government promptly organized three Indian departments. Over each of these commissioners were appointed, who were to make constant and earnest endeavors to win over to the colonists those tribes who had not yet joined the English, or, at least, to induce them to remain neutral. At one of the conferences, one of the American commissioners made use of the following illustration to explain to the Indians the origin of the quarrel between the colonists and the British government. " A cruel father placed upon the back of his son a pack heavier than he could bear. The boy complained, and said the burden was too heavy. The father paid no heed to his complaint. The boy totters along, staggering beneath his pack, when he again told his father that the load was heavier than he could possibly bear. The father, instead of lightening it, added to the burden. The boy toiled along a little farther, until crushed by the weight, and with his back almost broken, he threw the load to the ground. The angry father came with a whip to compel his son again to lift the burden and carry it." Still it was very manifest that the sympathies of the Indians were with the British government, and against the colonists, from whom they had received so many wrongs. Among the colonists there was a Colonel Morgan, who had been a trader among the Indians, and, from his upright dealings, was respected and beloved. He was, very judiciously, appointed as commissioner for the middle departments. He took up his residence at Pittsburgh, and devoted his energies to conciliate the tribes in Ohio. But though they respected Morgan as a man, they were not friendly to his cause. With great difficulty he succeeded in convening a small council of the chiefs of a few of the tribes at Pittsburgh. While arduously engaged in the endeavor to win these tribes whose villages were upon the banks of the Muskingum, the Scioto, and the Miami, his efforts were frustrated by a very untoward event. These tribes were then smarting from the blows which HISTORY OF OHIO - 173 they had received in the Dunmore war, and in those preceding outrages which had goaded them into the conflict. It will be remembered that the illustrious Shawanese chief, Cornstalk, who led the warriors at the battle of Point Pleasant, was opposed to the war. He did not deem it unjust, on the part of the Indians, but his intelligence convinced him that they were not sufficiently strong to contend with so powerful a foe. It will be remembered that after the battle, which he conducted with so much ability and bravery, it was his influence which led to proposals for peace. Neither will it be forgotten that Lord Dunmore, in anticipation of the conflict which had now arisen, did, as was supposed, everything in his power, to win the Indians to the British arms. And the Indians perfectly understood that when the colonial army, under General Lewis, were inflamed by the intense desire utterly to annihilate their tribes, Lord Dunmore stood between them and destruction. And now the time had come when there was a fair opportunity for these Indians to satiate that spirit of revenge, which is so dear to the savage heart. Notwithstanding all this, Cornstalk, a man of great native strength of mind, and of unusual intelligence, was opposed to taking any part in the war between the Americans and the English, as we shall designate the two parties. He knew that war could bring to his tribe only disaster and suffering ; that the paths of prosperity could lead only through fields of peace. But the masses of the Indian people, like those of more enlightened communities, in those hours of excitement were deaf to the voice of reason. With great unanimity they clamored for vengeance and war Cornstalk found it almost impossible to stem the torrent. Still, desirous of peace, he repaired to the American Fort Randolph, at Point Pleasant, which was then under the command of Captain Arbuckle. Another Shawanee chief, Red Hawk by name, with a private Indian, accompanied him. Cornstalk held an interview with Arbuckle, and informed him of his earnest desire to avoid the war, and of his wish to confer with him, to see if anything could be done to prevent hostilities. He said that so far as he knew, he was the only man in his tribe who was not eager to enter upon the war-path, and that the war feeling was so unanimous and strong that he was afraid that he himself would be swept along by the resistless current. 174 - HISTORY OF OHIO. In response to this communication, Arbuckle infamously ordered the two Shawanese chieftains, and their attendant, to be arrested and held in close confinement in the fort. He then sent word to the Shawanese tribe that should they manifest any hostility against the Americans, he should retaliate upon his prisoners. Soon after the son of Cornstalk, Ellenipsico, came to the fort to visit his father, probably not aware that he was held a prisoner. He also was arrested. Thus Arbuckle had four Shawanese captives, whom he detained as hostages. The morning after the arrival of Ellenipsico, two soldiers, by the names of Hamilton and Gillmore, crossed the Kanawha and followed down the southern banks of the Ohio for several miles in the pursuit of game. In the meantime a small party of Indians came stealthily through the forest, and from lurking places on the western side of the river, were carefully examining the condition of the fort, its assailable points, and its means of defense While thus employed the two hunters commenced their return. Passing very near one of these scouts, the Indian fired upon them, and Gillmore was instantly killed. It so happened that Captain Arbuckle, with Colonel Stuart, were standing on the bank of the river at that time looking across to the opposite shore. The stream was about two hundred yards wide. Surprised that a gun should be fired so near the fort, which was contrary to orders, they suddenly saw Hamilton rushing down the bank shouting for help, and saying that Gillmore was killed. Several soldiers immediately leaped into a canoe, shot across the river, and rescued Hamilton. The Indians had disappeared. They brought back with them the bloody corpse of Gillmore, his head being scalped. The canoe had scarcely reached the shore, when the soldiers, exasperated by the sight of the gory body of their slain comrade, cried out with one accord : " Let us kill the Indians in the fort." Pale with rage, and with their loaded muskets in their hands, they ascended the river's bank, and rushed towards the cabin where the captives were confined. Captain Arbuckle and Colonel Stuart did every thing in their power to dissuade the men from the atrocious deed. But, mad with rage, and reckless of consequences, they cocked their guns and threatened. their commanders with instant death, if they made any opposition to their vengeance. HISTORY OF OHIO - 175 There was in the camp an Indian woman, the wife of the interpreter. She ran to the cabin, and informed the captives of the doom which awaited them. The clamor of the approaching soldiers was now distinctly heard by the prisoners. The young son of Cornstalk was greatly agitated. His noble father, apparently as calm as if no danger threatened, said to him : " My son, do not give place to fear. If the Great Spirit has sent you here to be killed, submit to his will. Die like a man." As a mob rushed in at the door, Cornstalk advanced with dignity to meet them. He instantly fell dead, pierced by eight bullets. His companion, Red Hawk, endeavored to escape by climbing the chimney. He was immediately shot down. " The other. Indian," writes Colonel Stewart, indignantly, " was shamefully. mangled. I grieved to see him so long dying." The tidings of the atrocious murders reached the chiefs in council at Pittsburgh. They dispersed angrily. There was no longer hope that they could be induced to side with the colonists. There was, at this time, a distinguished chief of the Delaware Indians, by the name of White Eyes. Though his tribe was infuriated against the Americans, he espoused their cause. His enemies accused him of having been bribed by the colonists to act the part of a traitor to the Indians. A large council of the Delawares was called. Some Tories, as the American partisans of England were called, escaping from Pittsburgh, appeared at this council, and urged the Indians to immediate hostilities. They represented that the colonists were marching upon them in great strength, to annihilate them, if possible, before the British could come to their aid. They assured the Indians that their only salvation was to be found in assailing the Americans all along their frontiers before they had time to organize their armies for the invasion of the Indian territory. White Eyes found it impossible. to stem the torrent of popular feeling. He, however, ventured to urge that they should delay hostilities for ten days, till they could ascertain the truth of these rumors. A rival chief, who was eager for the war, rose and said, knowing that his words would meet with the sympathy of nearly every one present : " I declare that every man should be called an enemy to his nation who throws any obstacle whatever in the way of instantly taking up arms against the American people." 176 - HISTORY OF OHIO. This blow, which White Eyes knew was aimed at himself, called forth from him the following strain of impassioned eloquence : " If you will go out in this war, you shall not go without 'me. I have been for peace that I might save my tribe from destruction. If you think me wrong, if you give more credit to runaway vagabonds than to your friends — to me, a man, a warrior and a Delaware — if you insist upon fighting the Americans, go! and I will go with you. And I will not go like the bear-hunter, who sets his dogs upon the animal, to be beaten about by his 'paws, while he keeps himself at 'a safe distance. No ! I will lead you. I will be in the front. I will fall with the first of you. I will not survive. I will not live to bewail the destruction of a 'brave people who deserved, as you do, a better fate." This very spirited address produced such an impression upon the Indians, that, with much unanimity, they voted to wait ten ,clays before committing themselves to hostilities. The nature of the representations made to the Delawares by the renegade Tories may be inferred from the following incident. A few days before the appointed time had expired, a clergyman, Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, who had been a missionary among the Indians, and who was highly respected by them, came to the Delawares to endeavor to influence them not to join the British. White Eyes immediately convened a large council, which Mr. Heckewelder was invited to attend. Then addressing the missionary, he said, with emphatic words " You will tell us the truth with regard to the questions I now put to you. Are the American warriors all cut to pieces by the British troops ? Is General Washington killed ? Is there no longer a Congress ? Have the British hung some of the members, and taken the rest to England to be hung? Is the whole country, beyond the mountains, in the possession of the British ? Are all ,of the Americans, who have escaped the vengeance of the British, now huddled together on this side of the mountains, preparing to seize our country by killing all our men, women and children? Is this true ? Such were the reports which had been brought to them by the, 'Tories to stimulate them to war. Mr. Heckewelder replied: " There is not one word of truth in these statements. The Americans were never more determined in their opposition to the British than now. They were never more sure of finally con- HISTORY OF OHIO - 177 quering them. Instead of wishing to destroy your villages, or to kill your people, they earnestly desire to live with you as brothers. They have sent me to offer to you the right hand of friendship." These influences held back the Delawares for a few months.. But nearly all the tribes in Ohio joined the British. Not long after this White Eyes took the small pox, and died. Through his whole life he had proved the warm friend of the colonists. To the honor of the American Congress, it should be stated, that: they took his son under their protection to be educated. The following entry is to be found in the journal of that body in the year 1785 : " Resolved, That Mr. Morgan be empowered to continue the care and direction of George White Eyes for one year; and that the Board of Treasury take orders for the payment of the expenses necessary to carry into execution the views of Congress in this respect." White Eyes was, in all respects, a very remarkable man. He: had listened reverently to the teachings of the missionaries. The Moravian Christians had established a mission among the Dela wares. Many of the pagan Indians were for driving the mission aries away. Loskiel, in his history of these missions, says that "God raised up for their protection White Eyes, the ablest chief among the Delawares." He at length succeeded in inducing the tribe to vote that the Christian missionaries should be taken under their special protection. The good old chief was so overjoyed at this that he said in the council : " I am an old man, and know not how long I may live. I, therefore, rejoice, that I have been able to induce you to this decision. Our children and grandchildren will reap the benefit of it. Now I am ready to die whenever God pleases." Not long before his death he took the Bible in his hands and said to the assembled council of the nation : " My friends, it is, my dying wish that the Delawares should hear the word of God. I will, therefore, gather together my young men and their children. I will kneel down before that Great Spirit who created them and me, and I will pray unto Him that He may have mercy upon us, and reveal His will to us. And as we can not declare that will to those who are yet unborn, we will pray unto the Lord our God to make it known unto our children and our children's children." Mr. B. B. Thatcher, in his Indian Biography, writing of White. 178 - HISTORY OF OHIO. Eyes, says : " He was a man of enlarged political views, and no less a patriot than a statesman. The ends he aimed at were far more his country's than his own. He observed the superiority of the white man to the red ; and, nearer home, the prosperity and happiness of the Christian Delawares ; and he convinced himself thoroughly of the true causes of both. He therefore earnestly desired that his whole nation might be civilized, to which result 'he considered Christianity, as he had seen it taught by the good Moravians, the best possible promotive." Mr. Loskiel writes : "The chieftain, White Eyes, who had often advised other Indians, with great earnestness, to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but had always postponed joining the believers himself, on account of being yet entangled in political concerns, was unexpectedly called into eternity. The Indian church, to whom he had rendered very essential services, was much affected at the news of his death. And they could not but hope that God our Saviour had received his soul in mercy," The death of White Eyes left the Delawares under almost the exclusive influence of the Chieftain Pipe. He was a very different man a confirmed pagan, immoral in his habits, and a reviler of Christianity. Still he was a man of much intelligence, of remarkable abilities. He had heard of negro slavery, and loved to tell stories of the unmerciful beating of negroes. " These are the benefits," he would add mockingly, " of what you call Christian civilization." Chieftain Pipe frankly confessed that he deemed it for the interest of the nation to join the English against the Americans, though he declared that he hated both parties alike. "The Americans," said he, " are so poor that they cannot give a blanket or a shirt in exchange for our peltries. But the English are rich. They will give us all we need. Unless we make them our friends we shall perish of want." A few months after the death of White Eyes, and after the Delawares had joined the English in many bloody forays against the settlers on the frontiers, there was a large council of the Indian allies convened by the British authorities, at Detroit, Chieftain Pipe was present. Fixing his eyes sternly upon the commandant he made the following extraordinary speech : " Father ! then pausing for a moment, and turning to the Indian chiefs around him, he pointed his finger to the command- HISTORY OF OHIO - 179 ant and said, scornfully : " I do not know why I should call him Father. I have never known any father but the French. Still as this name is imposed upon us, I will use it. " Father! sometime ago you put a war hatchet into my hands. You said, ' Take this, and try it on the heads of my enemies, the Long Knives. Then let me know if it is sharp and good.' When you gave me the hatchet, I had no wish to go to war against a foe who had done me no harm. But you say that you are my father ; that I am your child. I obeyed. I knew that if I did not, you would withhold from my tribe the necessaries of life. We could obtain them nowhere else. " Father! perhaps you think me a fool for risking my life at your bidding, and in a cause where I could gain nothing. It is your cause, not mine. You Long-Knives raised a quarrel among yourselves, and you ought to fight it out. You should not compel your children, the Indians, to expose themselves to danger for your sake. " Father ! many lives have already been lost on your account. The tribes have suffered, and have been weakened. Children have lost parents and brothers. Wives have lost husbands. It is not known how many more will perish before your war will end. " I have said that you may think me a fool for rushing thoughtlessly on your enemy. Do not believe this. Do not think that I am ignorant that soon you may make peace with the Long-Knives. You say that you love the Indians. It is for your interest to say so, that you may have them at your service. "Father! listen, while you are setting us on your enemy as the hunter sets his dog upon the game ; while we are rushing on that enemy of yours, with the bloody hatchet you have given us, we may chance to look back to the place from which you started us. And what shall we see ? Perhaps we shall see our Father shaking hands with the Long-Knives, with those he now calls his enemies. I may then see him laugh at my folly for obeying his orders. And yet am I not risking my life at his command? Father remember this." Then handing the commandant a stick, upon which there was strung a large number of scalps of Americans, he continued : "This is what has been done with the hatchet you gave me. I have obeyed your commands. The hatchet I found sharp. And yet I did not do all that I might have done. No! I did not. My 180 - HISTORY OF OHIO. heart failed me. I felt compassion for your enemy. Innocent women and children had no part in your quarrels. Therefore I spared them. I took some prisoners. As I was bringing them to you, I spied one of your large canoes, upon which I placed them. In a few days you will receive these prisoners. If you examine their skin you will find that it is of the same color as your own. " Father ! I hope you will not destroy what I have spared. You have the means of preserving that which would perish with us from want. The Indian warrior is poor. His cabin is always empty. Your house is always full." This remarkable and well authenticated speech certainly indicates anything but a strong attachment for the English on the part of their Indian allies. The State of Virginia had quite an important fort on the south banks of the Ohio, about a quarter of a mile above the creek at Wheeling. This fort contained a square enclosure of nearly an acre. The pickets which enclosed it were eight feet high, with a strong block-house at each of the corners. It was called Fort Henry, in honor of Patrick Henry, Virginia's renowned orator and patriotic governor, Within the enclosure was a magazine for provisions and ammunition, an unfailing well, barracks for the soldiers, and a number of small log cabins for the use of families. Its location was admirable, in beauty as well as in utility. The fertile land around was cleared and cultivated, so as to afford pleasant accommodations for thirty cabins. This happy and thriving little village was the commencement of what is now the City of Wheeling. The works were considered sufficiently strong to repel any assaults which savages could make. As the requisition of the war called for the services in the field of all the vigorous men, the works were feebly garrisoned with but forty soldiers. Half of those were enfeebled old men, and the remainder were mere boys. It is remarkable that the savages themselves were often more merciful in their treatment of the colonists, than the renegade white men who joined them. One of the most notorious of these renegades, who proclaimed himself a Tory, and who fought under the banners of Great Britain, was a man named Simon Girty. He had become an adopted member of the Wyandot tribe. He stood high among them as hunter, orator and warrior. In all the councils of the Indians, the most ferocious sentiments came from HISTORY OF OHIO - 181 his lips. The cause of the peculiar venom of this man has probably the following explanation. In Lord Dunmore's war, he, Girty, was attached to the division of General Lewis. It would appear that this general was an arrogant, opinionated, passionate man. Girty was merely a private in the ranks. He had, however, performed some very important services as a scout, and was an exceedingly bold and self-reliant man. In some altercation with the General, Lewis struck him over the head with his cane, cutting a deep gash in his forehead, and causing the blood to stream profusely down his cheek and upon the floor. Girty turned to leave the apartment. Upon reaching the door, he stopped for a minute, fixed his eyes sternly upon the General, and said, with an oath : " Your quarters, sir, shall swim in blood for this." He immediately escaped from the fort, and joined the army of Wyandots, under Cornstalk, then advancing upon Point Pleasant. He fought fiercely by the side of his new Indian friends during all that bloody day. Maddened almost to frenzy, it is probable not a few of his former comrades fell by the bullets; from his rifle. When the Wyandots, after their repulse, retired to their distant homes on the Sandusky, he declared that he had foresworn his white blood, and hereafter leagued himself with the red. mar, forever. Dressed in the garb of the Indian, with his plumed head-dress, his painted flesh, his features bronzed by long exposure, no ordinary observer could distinguish him from the rest of the tribe. Perfectly acquainted with the state of affairs at Fort Henry, he organized, secretly, an army to strike it by surprise. Five hundred Indian warriors, armed with rifles and accustomed to their use, and led by his intelligence, would, it was thought, make short work with a garrison of forty old men and young boys. The British government furnished them with the best of rifles and a full supply of ammunition. With stealthy tread these mocassined warriors crossed nearly the whole breadth of Ohio, and effecting the passage of the river, in their canoes, took their positions, undiscovered, in the dense surrounding forest. Their first object was, to prevent any possibility of escape, that no messenger might be sent to distant stations with tidings of the siege. The next was, to prevent any parties from reaching the fort with reinforcements or supplies. 12 182 - HISTORY OF OHIO. Colonel David Shepherd, who was in command, was a brave and resolute officer. Though he had a sufficient supply of small arms within the fort, the magazine was not well supplied with ammunition. There was, however, another magazine only about sixty yards from the fort, where larger supplies were stored. Colonel Shepherd kept out his scouts in all directions to give warning of approaching danger. Though Girty succeeded in eluding their vigilance, still a vague rumor had reached the garrison that a large army had been concentrated on the Sandusky to enter upon some military expedition. But its destination was not known. On the morning of the 26th of September, 1777, the alarming report spread through the little village that Indian warriors had been seen in the vicinity, prowling through the woods. Almost instantly there was a simultaneous rush into the fort. The villagers caught up such articles as were nearest at hand, and abandoned their homes. The next morning, Colonel Shepherd thought it expedient to dispatch an express to the nearest settlement for reinforcements. A negro and a white man were sent out to a pasture, at a little distance from the fort, to bring in some horses. As they were passing through a corn-field, six Indians suddenly rose upon them. The white man, at whom they probably all first aimed, instantly fell dead, riddled with bullets. The fleet-footed negro reached the fort unharmed. Colonel Shepherd immediately sent fourteen of the most able of his men to pursue the Indians. They passed through the cornfield, and were cautiously proceeding, down the river, when they fell into an ambush, and were suddenly assailed in front, flank and rear by several hundred of Girty's party. Eleven of these men were almost instantly killed. Captain Mason, though severely wounded, succeeded in creeping, unseen by the Indians, into a heap of logs and brush, where, in the endurance of terrible suffering, he concealed himself till the Indians abandoned the siege. Two of his soldiers also escaped death in the same way. Colonel Shepherd, in the fort, hearing the firing, immediately sent Captain Ogle, with twelve men, to rescue the imperiled party. He also fell into an ambush, and two-thirds of his party were immediately killed. Captain Ogle was severely wounded, but succeeded in concealing himself. Three of the soldiers, one of them mortally wounded, escaped into the woods. Thus out HISTORY OF OHIO - 183 of the garrison of forty, thirty were either killed or dispersed. Ten only were left in the fort. Still it is probable that some of the villagers, who had fled from the surrounding cabins, were men accustomed to the rifle. Many of the women, also, in those stormy times, were taught to use that weapon with skill. Girty now, with his whole force, advanced to the assault, rending the air with hideous yells. He encountered, however, shots from the garrison, which, though, few in number, were so accurately aimed, striking down several of his warriors, that the Indians recoiled. He then changed his plan of attack. Parties of his sharpshooters were placed in every house in the village, and at every other point where they could find protection, and which commanded the fort. These men kept up an incessant fire whenever there was the slightest chance of striking one within the palisades. At length Girty approached the window of one of the cabins, and waving a white flag, with a loud shout demanded the surrender of the fort to the King of Great Britain. All the inmates were threatened with massacre should the garrison attempt any further defense. The response came back, through one of the port-holes, that Colonel Shepherd would never surrender the fort to the renegade so long as a single man was left to defend it. Immediately the battle was renewed, and a spirited fire was kept up on both sides. The Indians were very much more exposed than the garrison. And generally even boys of sixteen were keen marksmen. Almost every report from behind the pickets was death to some Indian warrior. This was one of the most beautiful of autumnal days, calm, serene and brilliant. The surrounding scene of the placid river, the green hills and the fertile vales was very lovely. It seemed as though God intended this for a happy world, and that his children might live here in the enjoyment of peace and prosperity. But the infuriate passions of men were converting the Eden-like loveliness into a pandemonium. Yells of demoniac savages, blended with the uproar of the battle, and horrid war held high carnival. For six hours there was no cessation of the conflict which had commenced early in the morning. There was a blacksmith's shop in the village. Girty got a large oaken log, which he converted into a cannon, binding it firmly around with iron hoops. This he loaded almost to the muzzle with slugs of iron. With this he hoped to batter HISTORY OF OHIO - 185 clown the gate. Though he took the precaution to stand at a safe distance himself, many of the Indians, thinking it impossible for such a gun to explode, gathered around to witness the effect of the discharge. The match was applied. The gun burst into a hundred fragments. Many of the warriors were killed and others severely wounded. A loud yell proclaimed to the inmates of the fort the disaster. One act of heroism merits special notice. The ammunition:in the fort was nearly exhausted. It will be remembered that there was another magazine within about sixty yards of the fort. The Indians had not seized it, for they could not do so without being shot. It was a necessity that some one should go to bring a keg of powder. The enterprise was hazardous in the extreme, for hundreds of Indian sharpshooters were on the watch. Colonel Shepherd, unwilling to order any man thus to expose himself to almost certain death, called for a volunteer. Several young men promptly stepped forward. Colonel Shepherd said that the weakness of the garrison was such, that one only would be permitted to go. As they were discussing the question, a young girl, Elizabeth Zane, stepped forward and said : " In the present weak state of the garrison no man ought to be allowed needlessly to peril his life I can perform the duty as well as any man can perform it. If I fall the loss is of but little consequence , if one of our soldiers fall, it may prove a fatal calamity, involving the captivity and death of all in the garrison." After some hesitation the proposition of the heroic girl was accepted, and she sallied forth on her dangerous errand. On leaving the gate the savages observed her, but not molesting her, she secured the prize for which she went and commenced her return. The Indians, on seeing a keg of powder in her hand, discharged a volley at her ; but with the swiftness of a deer she sped on and into the gate unharmed. By her daring she infused new courage into the trembling garrison, and by her cheery words, and constant labors, in running bullets, and in every other way rendering assistance, "she did what she could” to help those who were struggling for life. As night came on the Indians dispersed, in small bands, throughout the forest, and gathered around their camp-fires to rehearse the events of the day. Their defiant yells, songs and revelry fell painfully upon the ears of the feeble and exhausted garrison. 186 - HISTORY OF OHIO. The Indians, five hundred in number, had no fear that the few men in the fort could think of venturipg outside of the palisades to attack them. They, therefore, took no pains to establish sentinels. In some unknown way, tidings of the attack reached one of the American stations not far distant. A little after midnight, Colonel Swearingen, from Cross Creek, at the head of fourteen men, succeeded in cautiously creeping through the Indian lines, and in entering the fort unharmed. Just before the day was breaking, General Samuel M'Culloch, who had already obtained much renown as a frontier warrior, reached the fort, with forty mounted grenadiers, from Short Creek. In this movement the post of danger was the rear. There the heroic general was found, anxious to see all his men safe in the fort before he entered himself. The men, though closely beset by the Indians, crowded in at the gate, which was thrown open to receive them. But the leader was cut off. With all ease the Indians could have shot him, but they were desirous of taking him a captive— perhaps, that they might satisfy their vengeance by putting him to the torture, — perhaps, admiring his courage they hoped to adopt him, as a chief, like Girty, into their tribe. It is said that he had participated in so many conflicts with the Indians that almost every warrior was familiar with his person. His name had been among them all a word of terror. There was not a Wyandotte chief, before Fort Henry, who would not have given twenty of his warriors to secure the living body of General M'Culloch. When, therefore, the man, whom they had long marked out as the first object of their vengeance, appeared in their midst, they made almost superhuman efforts to acquire possession of his person. A large number of Indians rushed to secure him. Mounted on a very fleet and powerful steed, he wheeled his charger, and plunging, through the line of his foes, reached the top of Wheeling Hill, at some little distance east of the fort. Hundreds of Indians were pursuing him, like hounds after a hare, and the solitudes of the forest resounded with their clamorous war cries. His situation now seemed hopeless. On two sides he was surrounded by his pursuers. The third side presented impending cliffs and rocky steeps which were quite inaccessible. On the fourth side there was a long precipice, nearly perpendicular, 188 - HISTORY OF OHIO. descending about one hundred and fifty feet to Wheeling Creek. There was no time for deliberation. Capture was, in his view, certain death, and probably' death by the most dreadful tortures. The howling savages were close upon him. Leaning far back in his saddle, and, firmly bracing his feet in the stirrups, he pressed his spurs into his horse's flanks. The noble steed seemed to share the consciousness of his master. Terrified by the fiend-like yells rising from several hundred throats, he glared with distended eye-balls for a moment upon the savages, rapidly approaching, in their flaunting war dress resembling demons rather than men, and gave the awful plunge. For a moment it seemed as though both horse and rider must roll over and over, down the almost perpendicular declivity, till they should reach the bottom in a mangled mass of death. But over the rocks, and through the thickets, the well trained steed, sliding and stumbling, held his way, until, almost miraculously, the bottom was reached in safety. Horse and rider then instantly disappeared in the depths of the forest, and the heroic general returned to his friends with new laurels of victory upon his brow. The Indians had sufficient intelligence to perceiie that the fort thus reinforced could not be taken. They, however, before retiring, set fire to all the houses and fences in the village, destroyed everything which could be destroyed, and killed or carried off three hundred head of cattle. The loss of the colonists was a little over thirty in killed and wounded. Twenty-six were killed outright. It was estimated that the loss of the savages was from sixty to one hundred. This, however, was mostly a matter of conjecture, as the savages either concealed or carried off then dead. Such were the horrid ravages of this storm of war, thus bursting upon the peaceful village, in one of the most lovely of autumnal days. The storm passed speedily away, but left behind it smouldering ruins, blood, death, tears, and, with many a mourner, life-long woe. CHAPTER X. THE INDIANS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. LETTER OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - BRITISH EFFORTS WITH THE IROQUOIS-GRAND COUNCIL AT OSWEGO- DANIEL BOONE AND HIS COLONY - MAKING SALT - BOONE'S CAPTURE - HIS TREATMENT BY BRITISH OFFICERS- HIS ADOPTION - LIFE WITH THE SAVAGES- NEW CAUSE OF ALARM TO BOONE HIS ESCAPE AND ARRIVAL AT BOONESBOROUGH - MEASURES FOR DEFENCE-AFFAIR NEAR PAINT CREEK - MARCH OF THE ARMY - DEMAND OF CAPTAIN DUQUESNE - HIS TREACHERY -THE SIEGE-WORDS OF DEFIANCE. THE BRITISH government had sent its agents to all the Indian tribes, to enlist the savages against the Colonists. The Americans sent Benjamin Franklin to Paris, to secure, if possible, the aid of France in favor of his countrymen. Dr. Franklin wrote an article for the American .Remembrancer, which, in that day, exerted a very powerful influence, in both Europe and America. It purported to be a letter from a British officer to the Governor of Canada, accompanying a present of eight packages of scalps of the Colonists, which he had received from the chief of the Seneca tribe. As a very important part of the history of the times, the letter should be recorded. It was as follows : " May it Please Your Excellency : " At the request of the Seneca Chief, I hereby send to youf Excellency, under the care of James Hoyd, eight packages of scalps, cured, dried, hooped, and painted with all the triumphal marks, of which the following is the invoice and explanation : "No. I. Containing forty-three scalps of Congress soldiers, killed in different skirmishes. These are stretched on black hoops, four inches in diameter. The inside of the skin is painted red, with a small black spot, to note their being killed with bullets ; 190 - HISTORY OF OHIO. the hoops painted red, the skin painted brown, and marked with a hoe ; a black circle all round, to denote their being surprised in the night ; and a black hatchet in the middle, signifying their being killed with that weapon. " No. 2. Containing ninety-eight of farmers killed in their houses ; hoops red, figure of a hoe, to mark their profession ; great white circle and sun, to show they were surprised in the day time; a little red foot to show they stood upon their defense, and died fighting for their lives and families. " No. 3. Containing ninety-seven of farmers ; hoops green to show they were killed in the fields ; a large white circle, with a little round mark on it, for a sun, to show it was in the day time; black bullet mark on some, a hatchet mark on others. " No. 4. Containing one hundred and two of farmers, mixture of several of the marks above ; only eighteen marked with a little yellow flame, to denote their being of prisoners burnt alive, after being scalped ; their nails pulled out by the roots, and other torments. One of these latter being supposed to be an American clergyman, his band being fixed to the hook of his scalp. Most of the farmers appear, by the hair, to have been young or middle aged men, there being but sixty-seven very gray heads among them all, which makes the service more essential. " No. 5. Containing eighty-eight scalps of women ; hair long, braided in the Indian fashion, to show they were mothers ; hoops blue, skin yellow ground, with little red tadpoles, to represent, by way of triumph, the tears of grief occasioned to their relatives; a black scalping knife or hatchet at the bottom to mark their being killed by those instruments. Seventeen others, hair very gray, black hoops, plain brown color, no marks but the short club or cassetete, to show they were knocked down dead, or had their brains beat out. " No. 6. Containing one hundred and ninety-three boys' scalps of various ages. Small green hoops, whitish ground on the skin, with red tears in the middle, and black marks, knife, hatchet, or club, as their death happened. " No. 7. Containing two hundred and eleven girls' scalps, big and little; small yellow hoops, white ground tears, hatchet, scalp ing knife. " No. 8. This package is a mixture of all the varieties abol e mentioned, to the number of one hundred and twenty-two, with HISTORY OF OHIO - 191 a box of birch bark, containing twenty-nine little infants' scalps, of various sizes; small white hoops, white ground, to show that they were nipped out of their mothers' wombs. With these packs,. the chiefs send to your Excellency the following speech delivered by Conicogatchie, in council, interpreted by the elder Moore, the trader, and taken down by me in writing : " Father,— We send you here with many scalps, that you may see we are not idle friends. We wish you to send these scalps to the great king, that he may regard them and be refreshed ; and that he may see our faithfulness in destroying his enemies, and be convinced that his presents have not been made to an ungrateful people," etc. This document was a true representation of the nature of the conflict which the government of Great Britain was waging, against its revolted colonies. There was not the slightest exaggeration in this. All alike were compelled to admit its truthfulness. The impression which it consequently produced throughout the courts of Europe was very profound. It should be remembered that at the time of which we are now writing, about one hundred years ago, the names Ohio, Kentucky,. Tennessee, Indiana, were quite unknown as designations of states. The whole vast Valley of the Ohio west of the Alleghanies, to the head waters of the streams flowing both from the north and the south, was a wilderness, almost entirely uninhabited by white men. It was a sublime wilderness, of apparently boundless extent, upon most of whose wonders of forests, prairies and rivers, no white man's eye had ever gazed. South of the Ohio, in what is now Kentucky, a few white settlers, following the adventurous footsteps of Daniel Boone, had reared their block-houses at three points only — Boonesborough, Harrod's Station and Logan's Fort. North of the Ohio, in the region now embraced in that magnificent state, there was probably not a single settlement. The few trading posts which had been established at the mouths of several of the rivers had been abandoned. But the numerous and powerful tribes clustered in the valleys of the Great and Little Miami, the Scioto, to the Muskingum and the Sandusky, were em ployed by the British Government, to march hundreds of miles to assail the colonial settlements, wherever they could be found, along the western frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and especially those in the region of Kentucky. 192 - HISTORY OF OHIO. Consequently, as a measure of defense, colonial troops were frequently sent into the heart of Ohio, to check the incursions, and weaken the power of the savages, by attacking them in their own homes. The narrative of these bloody conflicts constitutes an essential part of the history of the state. Immediately after Lord Dunmore's War, the colonial authorities made strenuous endeavors to induce all the Indian tribes in the West to remain neutral during the conflict of the Revolution. This war was already assuming very terrible proportions. We have already alluded to the successful efforts of the British Government to enlist the warriors of the six nations on their side. This case illustrates all the rest. The circumstances were as follows : Early in June, 1776, General Schuyler, duly authorized by the colonial government, met the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations in a grand council at German Flats. After many very imposing ceremonies and eloquent speeches, the pipe of peace was smoked, a treaty was formed, and the Indians stipulated to observe a strict neutrality in the impending conflict. About a year after this, in 1777, the British Government sent commisioners to each of these tribes requesting their chiefs and warriors to meet in a grand council at Oswego, on the southern shores of Lake Ontario. We give an account of the proceedings of this council as described by the distinguished British traveler, Mr. Buckingham, in his " Travels in America." He quotes from a narrative, which he pronounces to bo of unquestionable historical truthfulness " The council convened, and the British commissioners informed the chiefs, that the object in calling a council of the Six Nations, was to engage their assistance in subduing the rebels who had risen up against the good king, their master, and were about to rob him of a great part of his possessions. The commissioners added, that they would reward the Indians for all their services. The chiefs then informed the commissioners of the nature and extent of the treaty, into which they had entered with the people of the States the year before ; informing them also that they should not violate it now by taking up the hatchet against them. " The commissioners continued their entreaties without success, until they addressed their avarice and their appetites. They told the Indians that the people of the States were few in number, HISTORY OF OHIO - 193 and easily subdued ; and that, on account of their disobedience to the king, they justly merited all the punishment which white men and Indians could inflict upon them. They added that the king was rich and powerful, both in subjects and money ; that his rum was as plenty as the water in Lake Ontario ; that his men were as numerous as the sands on the lake shore ; that if the Indians would assist in the war until the close, as the friends of the king, they should never want for money or goods." These savage chieftains and warriors disregarded their stipulated neutrality, and entered into a treaty with the British commissioners, for abundant rewards, many of which were already before their eyes, and others still more alluring were promised for the future. They agreed to assail the colonists with tomahawk and scalping knife till the war should end. The commissioners were delighted with their success. They immediately presented to each Indian warrior a suit of clothes, a brass kettle, a gun, a tomahawk, a scalping knife, and one piece of gold. They also promised a bounty for every scalp which should be brought in. These demoniac warriors immediately entered upon a career of devastation and blood, against men, women, boys, girls, and even unborn babes, whose horrors no imagination can conceive. Inspired by British gold and British rum, they swept with flame and blood the lovely valleys of the Wyoming, the Cherry, the Mohawk and the Susquehanna. While his majesty's government was perpetrating such crimes in the north, Sir John Stewart was sent to rouse the Cherokees to a similar war against the frontiers of Virginia and the two Carolinas. We hesitate in recording these fiend-like atrocities of the British government. But history would be false to herself in, spreading any veil over such crimes. It was thus that the flame of Indian war was simultaneously lighted up, over all the region west of the Alleghany mountains. Wherever a settler had reared his lonely but in the wilderness, he was sure soon to be surrounded by a gang of yelling savages. Fortunate was he if he and his family could perish in the flames of his own dwelling. If any of them were taken alive, they were probably reserved for the most awful of conceivable deaths, torture by the Indians. Daniel Boone, one of the most heroic of the pioneers of the 194 - HISTORY OF OHIO. wilderness, had formed a small colony at Boonesborough in Kentucky. The little settlement consisted of twenty six men, four women, and four or five boys and girls of various ages. It was surrounded with palisades, with strong block-houses at the corners, arranged with loop holes for defense. Daniel Boone was a very remarkable man, combining almost feminine delicacy of sensibilities, with heroism, fortitude and courage, never surpassed. A powerful war party of the savages on the Little Miami River and Scioto, amounting to several hundred in number, was organized to march down to the Ohio River, cross in their canoes, steal silently through the forest upon Boonesborough, and utterly destroy it. Colonel Boone, himself, was absent from the fort a few miles, with a few men well armed, making salt, of which the garrison stood in pressing need. He was at a place called Salt Licks, on the Licking River. The salt was obtained by evaporating the water, boiling it in large kettles. Colonel Boone had succeeded in obtaining a small reinforcement to his garrison, so that he took with him thirty-two well armed men, on this enterprise. It was one of the boldest of adventures, for they had to thread their way through the wilderness, a distance of nearly one hundred miles, to reach the Salt Springs. It was certain that the powerful tribes on the Miami and Scioto, would have their scouts out, and would learn of this movement. This would lead them, not only to attack the weakened garrison, but to surround and to cut off, if possible, the party at the Springs. They consequently worked night and day, never allowing themselves to be for one moment beyond the grasp of their rifles. The news of this enterprise speedily reached the Indians, and they immediately made vigorous preparations to attack both the fort and the detachment at the Licks. Daniel Boone, like Kit Carson at a later day, was feared, respected and beloved by the Indians. He was universally known by the warriors, and had ever treated them with courtesy and consideration. They had no personal antagonism to him. The leading chiefs were very anxious to take him alive. They feared his prowess, and they probably hoped that he, like Simon Girty, might be incorporated into their tribe. A party of more than one hundred picked warriors, was immediately sent forward, from old Chillicothe, on the Little Miami, to capture the detachment on the Licks, while another party   HISTORY OF OHIO - 195 advanced upon Boonesborough. On the morning of the 7th of February, Colonel Boone had gone a little distance into the forest, in search of game for his men. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by more than one hundred savages. Being exceedingly fleet of foot, he endeavored to escape. But the whole band was after him, and they soon ran him down. Daniel Boone was never depressed by disaster. He took everything good naturedly. He knew many of his captors, and the cheerfulness with which he submitted to his fate, quite won their kindness. They promised him that if the party at the Springs would surrender without resistance, they should meet with no unkind treatment. The Indians knew full well that should these well armed white men make a desperate fight, many of their own warriors would inevitably fall by their unerring bullets. Boone, who was almost supernaturally brave, was greatly perplexed. Had he been with his men, he would have fought to the last gasp. His presence would invigorate them to the most heroic, and possibly successful defense. But taken by surprise, deprived of their leader, and surrounded by veteran warriors, three or four to one, and these armed with the best of rifles, provided with an ample supply of ammunition furnished by the British Government, their case seemed hopeless. Colonel Boone had sent three or four of his men back to Boonesborough, laden with salt. There were therefore only twenty-seven at the Licks. Should they be captured after a desperate resistance, which had resulted in the fall of many of the warriors, the prisoners would all certainly be put to death by the most dreadful tortures. Under these circumstances, Colonel Boone wisely decided upon a surrender. As a humane man he could not do otherwise. Boone having once given his word, the Indian chiefs had implicit confidence in it. It was a curious spectacle to see these hundred plumed and painted warriors, silently following their captive through the forest, towards the camp of the white men. The trust of these savages in the honor of their prisoner was so extraordinary, that they allowed him to leave them, and go to his men in the camp, to explain to them the necessity of the surrender. They all saw the necessity and laid down their arms. The victors were so elated with this great achievement, which had been accomplished without the loss of a single warrior, that 196 - HISTORY OF OHIO. they immediately set out with their captives for one of their headquarters, on the Little Miami River. This beautiful little stream is about eighty miles in length, and flows through a rich, warm and fertile valley, about twenty miles in breadth. It enters the Ohio River only a few miles above the mouth of the Licking: Several miles up the Valley of the Little Miami there was a celebrated Indian village called Old Chillicothe. The exultant savages led their prisoners by a rapid march to the Ohio River, crossed the broad stream in their birch canoes, and ascended the beautiful valley, through clustered Indian villages, in. a triumphal march to their central rendezvous. It seems that there were two Indian towns called Chillicothe — one on the Little Miami and one on the Scioto. Daniel Boone in the account which he gives of these transactions, writes: " The generous usage the Indians had promised before my capitulation was afterwards fully complied with. We proceeded with them as prisoners to Old Chillicothe, the principal Indian town on Little Miami. Here we arrived, after an uncomfortable journey, in very severe weather, on the eighteenth of February, and received as good treatment as prisoners could expect from savages. I and ten of my men were conducted by forty Indians to Detroit, where we arrived on the thirtieth day, and were treated by Governor Hamilton, the British commander at that post, with great humanity. During our travels the Indians entertained me well and their affection for me was so great that they utterly refused to leave me there with the others, although the Governor offered them one hundred pounds sterling for me on purpose to give me a parole to go home. " Several English gentlemen there, being sensible of my adverse fortune, and touched with human sympathy, generously offered a friendly supply for my wants, which I refused with many thanks for their kindness, adding ' that I never expected it would be in my power to recompense such unmerited generosity.' " The British officers at Detroit were fully aware that their Indian allies were not united to them by any ties of affection whatever. They could pay higher bribes to the chieftains than the colonists could pay. Still they were ever fearful that the capricious savages might desert their cause, and they were placing great dependence upon the terrors of the tomahawk and the scalping knife to force HISTORY OF OHIO - 197 the colonists back to subjection. Under these circumstances they could not venture to do anything which would be displeasing to these wayward chieftains. There was much in the character of Daniel Boone which was peculiarly calculated to win the admiration of the Indians. His gentle demeanor, his unvarying cheerfulness, and his marvelous bravery, won their highest commendation. They all admitted that he was more than the equal of their most accomplished warriors in traversing the pathless forest. No Indian could surpass him on the hunting ground. Many of these chiefs fully appreciated the vast superiority of the white man on the war path, and they would gladly adopt Boone into their tribe as one of their chiefs. The party spent ten days at Detroit, where they disposed, for a ransom, of all their captives excepting Colonel Boone. They then returned, by a weary journey of hundreds of miles, to their villages on the Little Miami. The country they then traversed, now so full of wealth, activity and all the appliances of the highest civilization, was then an almost unbroken wilderness of silent prairies and lonely forests, only occasionally trodden by small hunting bands. Having reached the Indian villages, which, far removed from the clamor of war, were reposing on the banks of this lovely stream, Colonel Boone was adopted by a chief of the Shawanese tribe, whose name was Blackfish. The Colonel in his autobiography, in the following words alludes to this event : "At Chillicothe, I spent my time as comfortably as I could expect. I was adopted, according to their custom, into a family where I became a son, and had a great share in the affection of my new parents, brothers, sisters and friends. I was exceedingly familiar and friendly with them, always appearing as cheerful and satisfied as possible, and they put great confidence in me. I often went hunting with them, and frequently gained their applause for my activity at their shooting matches. I was careful not to excel them when shooting, for no people are more envious than they in their sports. " I could observe in their countenances and gestures, the greatest expressions of joy when they excelled me ; and when the reverse happened, of envy. The Shawanese King took great notice of me, and treated me with profound respect, and entire friendship, often trusting me to hunt at my liberty. I frequently 13 198 - HISTORY OF OHIO. returned with the spoils of the woods, and as often presented some of what I had taken to him expressive of my duty to my sovereign. My food and lodging were in common with them. Not so good, indeed, as I could desire, but necessity makes everything acceptable." The spirit which Boone manifested, while thus held for months in almost hopeless captivity, was not influenced by policy alone. He was fully aware of the outrages which the Indians had endured from unprincipled white men, and he could hardly blame the savages for seeking revenge. He had himself always treated them, not only with the strictest justice, but with kindness. The generous treatment he was receiving in return called forth his gratitude. Naturally endowed with a remarkably placid disposition, which virtue he had very carefully cultivated, he was never known to complain or worry, even under the most adverse circumstances. He could not, however, forget his home and the beloved wife and children whom he had left. He was, therefore, continually on the alert to avail himself of any opportunity to escape which might occur. The ceremony of his adoption into the tribe, and as the son of one of the chiefs, was severe and painful. By a very tedious operation every hair of his head was plucked out, one by one, excepting a small tuft, three or four inches in diameter on the crown. This was called the scalp lock. It was a point of honor with the warrior to lea it, that, should he fall in battle, his antagonist might have the opportunity of bearing away this trophy of his bravery. The scalp lock was like the banner of an army, the pledge of victory. The hair was allowed to grow very long, and was quite gaudily decorated with ribbons and feathers. After the head of Boone was thus denuded of all its superfluous hairs, and the scalp lock carefully dressed, he was taken to the river and very thoroughly scrubbed, that all the white blood might be washed out of him. His face was then painted in the most imposing style of an Indian brave. He was then led to the council lodge. The chiefs and the warriors were there assembled in full dress. One of the leading chiefs then addressed him in a long and formal harangue, in which he expatiated upon the honor thus conferred, and upon the corresponding duties expected of him. After this transformation it would require an eagle eye to dis- HISTORY OF OHIO - 199 tinguish the adopted son from a native of the tribe. The Indians, however, notwithstanding the kindness with which they treated their captive, seemed to be conscious that it must be his desire to return to his friends. Though they had sufficient delicacy of feeling not to apprise him of their suspicions, they adopted very careful precautions to prevent his escape. Though it was one hundred and sixty miles from the Indian village, on the Little Miami, to his home at Boonesborough, such a skillful hunter as Boone, with his rifle and ammunition, would find no difficulty in supplying himself with ample game by the way. But if deprived of his rifle, or of the necessary ammunition, he would almost inevitably starve. The Indians were, therefore, very careful not to allow him more powder and shot than were just sufficient for his daily hunting excursions. As he never missed his aim, they always knew, by the game he brought in, just how many times he had discharged his rifle. But the white man can outwit the Indian. Boone cut his bullets in halves, and, creeping very near his game, used but half charges of powder. Thus he gradually accumulated quite an amount of ammunition, which he concealed in the hollow of a tree. His plans for an immediate escape were, however, frustrated. The Scioto, as we have mentioned, runs through the heart of Ohio, in a line nearly parallel with the Little Miami, and about sixty miles east of that stream. Upon one of the branches of the Scioto, there were some salt springs, or licks, to which the Indians were in the habit of resorting to make salt. Early in June, a party of the Indians set out for these licks. They took Colonel Boone with them, as he was perfectly acquainted with the process, was a very energetic workman, and would be more safe from escape with them than if left behind. After the absence of a fortnight they returned to the Little Miami with an ample supply. Here Boone found, much to his alarm, that during his absence, a war party of four hundred and fifty of the most distinguished braves of the tribe had been organized to march, under the lead of British officers, to attack Boonesborough. His wife and children were, as he supposed, there. He knew that the garrison would not yield without a desperate fight. He knew that such a force of warriors, guided by British intelligence, would in all probability take the fort. He