U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statementon the following page: ----------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER VI. THE END OF THE INDIAN WARS The treaty of Paris, 1783, did not bring peace with the Indians. For twelve years longer the settlements on the western border were subject to sudden attacks and raids conceived and executed with all the fiendish cruelty common in savage warfare. The Indians were, however, unable to press the attack with their former vigor on account of the fact that their supplies were not forthcoming from the British stations at Detroit and other points in the northwest. In Virginia the Indian wars ceased to be carried on for the purpose of extermin- ating the whites and they consisted merely of raids for the purpose of securing plunder and scalps. It was not uncommon for young Indians to come to the set- tlements alone to steal horses or to waylay members of the pioneer families who ventured far from home. If they returned with plunder or a scalp their reputation as warriors was assured. The young warriors were en- couraged to make these raids because they resulted in broadening their experience as Warriors. Alexander West once discovered a lone Indian in the field where Beech fort was afterward erected. He fired, and the Indian made off evidently wounded. West did not pur- sue him, fearing an ambuscade. Two weeks later, upon following the trail, it was found that the warrior had bathed his wound in Indian spring near the mouth of Life's run, and had then crawled into a rock cliff where he perished miserably. The Trans-Alleghany settlers were disappointed in their expectations of strong reinforcements from east- ern Virginia. All possibility of danger from the British had been removed and the people east of the mountains were henceforth left free from attack. They did not choose to devote much attention to the problems of the west. If the new state government of Virginia had been as energetic in the defense of the western frontier as the old royal government under Lord Dunmore, an expedition could have been sent out strong enough to break the power of the northwestern tribes. Much of the difficulty came from the fact that Virginia had ceded her lands northwest of the Ohio river to the fed- eral government, which was then powerless to act. Vir- ginia refused to conquer Indians who lived outside the boundaries of the state. The state was content to con- fine her efforts in defense of the frontier to sending a few militiamen from east of the mountains to assist in garrisoning the forts. The number of men sent was never large enough to be of much service, and appeals were made to the governor every year for more troops. Colonel Benjamin Wilson in 1784, wrote to the gover- nor inviting attention to the fact that their fellow citi- zens who reside east of the mountains were enjoying themselves in peace "while neglecting to secure that privilege to the west." An act was passed by the legislature in 1784 which aided the citizens to organize more effectively against the Indians. The number of settlers who came to the west during the closing years of the Revolution, the prospect for a larger immigration as soon as peace could be made with the Indians and the desire for a more compact political organization, caused the creation of Harrison County in 1784. The first fruits of the creation of the new county, from the standpoint of measures for the protection of the inhabitants, was the appointment of John P. Duvall, one of the most prominent of the early landholders in what is now Lewis County, as colonel of the county militia. Colonel Lowther, upon whom the duties had previously devolved, accepted the appointment as sheriff of the new county. Colonel Duxall immediately made requi- sition on the governor for additional arms and ammuni- tion for the men of militia age in the county. He re- ported that the effective force of the county was in the neighborhood of 215 men, for whom there were but 130 rifles in 1785. Two hundred additional rifles were re- quested at once. It was not to be supposed that there were nearly one hundred settlers in western Virginia in a time of more or less active Indian warfare without fire- arms. Each man carried a flint lock musket, but it was not rifled, and hence not so accurate and effective as the newer firearms which had been introduced into the col- onies after the French and Indian war, but which had not been manufactured in sufficient quantities to supply all. Colonel Duvall reported also that ammunition was very scarce. Colonel Duvall continued in general command of the militiamen formerly led by Colonels Benjamin Wil- son and William Lowther, though the last named, as sheriff, continued to pursue Indians. Duvall went from one end of the county to the other — from the dividing ridge separating the watershed of the Cheat from that of the Potomac to the mouth of the Little Kanawha river — inspecting blockhouses, organizing for defense and giving encouragement. Despite the fact that the settlers continued to be thrown largely upon their own resources, the strength of the settlements became greater than ever before. Beginning about the close of the Revolutionary war there was a rush of emigration to northwestern Virginia. Dwellers east of the mountains who had been despoiled of their property by the British, who feared the high taxes after the war, or who wanted to get a new start on the cheap lands of the west, braved the dangers of Indian warfare and came in a constant stream. Within a short space of time after the close of the Revolution hundreds of new settlers came into the territory drained by the headwaters of the Monongahela. Among the new comers were William Powers, afterwards one of the first justices of the peace in Lewis County and one of the early chroniclers of the county's history; Henry McWhorter, whose descendants have made their mark in county and state affairs; Patrick McCann, builder of a fort, Indian scout and hero of the border, who settled at the mouth of Edward Hughes' run, afterwards called McCann's run; the Rev. John Mitchell, who was the first preacher in the county; the Browns, who settled on White Oak Flat run, where they built the Mongue (or Mung) fort which stood a short distance from the later site of the Broad Run Baptist church; and a host of others only less prominent. John Waggoner, Joseph Glanfield, Thomas Short, Peter Swisher, Jacob Wolf, George Dobson, John Starcher, Peterman Hardman and Jacob Cozad are names worthy to be recorded. Hack- er's creek was becoming rather thickly settled for a frontier community; and had it not been for the incur- sions of the Ohio Indians, settlement would have been far more rapid. The first attack following the close of the Revolu- tion took place on the spot destined in later years to be chosen as the seat of government of the county. About the middle of October, 1784, assisted by Paulser Butcher, then a mere youth, but later one of the largest landhold- ers in the county, Henry Flesher had been engaged in hauling logs for a stable to be built near where the Bap- tist church now stands. Flesher went to his house to get a bell to put on his horse preparatory to turning him out to graze in woods. When he reached the ravine which came down the hill about where Bank street now is he was fired upon by an Indian lying in wait. The ball passed through his arm, and he immediately started to run to his cabin. The savage ran after him and al- most succeeded in overtaking him at his own door. In attempting to kill him before he entered the house the Indian, using his gun as a club, brought it down against the logs of the house with such force that the stock was shattered. Mrs. Flesher succeeded in pulling her hus- band into the house, and then scared the Indian away by calling upon the other men in the house to fire. The family spent the night in the woods, fearing a renewal of the assault. There is a tradition that Mrs. Flesher carried her husband into a thicket near the house and spent the night under the widespread limbs of a syca- more which stood at the mouth of Stone Coal creek. The next morning she met John Schoolcraft, who sum- moned help from West's fort. Another account states that a young woman of the family reached Hacker's creek the next morning and that the remainder of the family were guided into West's fort by Edward Hughes. The Flesher family and young Butcher remained at West's fort until the near approach of winter made it unlikely that any savages were in the vicinity, when they returned to their home. In December, 1787, occurred perhaps the most frightful of the Indian outrages perpetrated in Lewis County; and for sheer barbarity and brutality its equal is scarcely to be found in any of the border annals. Earlier in the fall the Indians had come into the valley of the West Fork above Clarksburg and had stolen some horses. Their trail was followed by Sheriff Lowther, who overtook them at the mouth of the Little Kanawha river. Three Indians were killed and the stolen property recovered. The Indians never believed the whites justi- fied in killing them to punish plundering and they made swift reprisal — as usual directed against the innocent and the helpless. The war party was accompanied by Leon- ard Schoolcraft who had been taken captive some years before at Bush's fort. The settlers, believing that they were safe from attack owing to the lateness of the sea- son, did not take the precautions usual at other times of the year. The Indians came upon Martha Hughes, a daughter of Jesse Hughes, not far from her father's home and took her a prisoner. Proceeding farther some of them came upon Edmund West, Sr., while he was engaged in bringing in his fodder. He was caught unawares and could not make any resistance. Upon being led to the spot where Martha Hughes was being held by the In- dians, he fell upon his knees and begged that they would spare his life. A stroke of the tomahawk answered the plea. The party then went to the cabin of Edmund West, Jr., where they found his bride of a few months, his 12-year-old brother and Mrs. West's sister, a daugh- ter of John Hacker. Mrs. West and the boy were im- mediately tomahawked. The girl took refuge behind a door. A savage aimed a blow at her head, but she dodged and the tomahawk took effect in her neck, wounding her severely. She had presence of mind to fall to the floor and lie as if dead. The savages then sat down at the table and ate a hearty meal, the little girl silently observing them all the time. At the close of the meal they scalped Mrs. West and the boy and plundered the house, even emptying the feathers to carry off the ticking. They then dragged the Hacker girl by the hair to a fence about fifty yards from the cabin where she was scalped and thrown over it. Schoolcraft, noticing some signs of life, observed, "That is not enough;" whereupon the savage thrust a knife into her side. Fortunately the knife came into contact with a rib and did little injury. Meanwhile old Mrs. West who was alone with her two daughters became uneasy when her husband failed to return. She feared that he had fallen into the hands of Indians, as she could not account for his continued absence in any other way. They went to Alexander West's in the hope of finding old Mr. West and to give them warning. Alexander West was then on a hunting trip with his brother Edmund. The women, now thor- oughly frightened, went to the home of Jesse Hughes, who had become alarmed by that time at the failure of his daughter to return home. He determined to warn the neighbors to be on their guard. Knowing that Ed- mund West, Jr., was not at home he went first to the house to remove Mrs. West to his own home. The ghastly scene which met his eyes at the West home — Mrs. West and the boy weltering in their blood and not yet dead — confirmed all his fears. Hughes determined to protect his own family, and he barricaded his house and watched all through the night. As soon as it was possible to venture forth a party was collected to deter- mine the full extent of the tragedy. Mrs. West was found dead in her home; she had probably lived but a few minutes after Hughes had left. The boy was found standing in the creek about a mile from the West cabin. His skull was fractured and the brains were oozing from his head; yet he lived in extreme suffering for three days. The Hacker girl was found in bed at the cabin of Edmund West, Sr., where she had taken refuge after a night spent in the woods. She survived, grew to maturity, married, gave birth to ten children and died from a nasal hemorrhage caused, it was believed, by the wound she had received in 1787. Martha Hughes was ransomed by her father in 1790. It seems that for once no attempt at pursuit was made against the Indians who had taken part in the murder at West's. There is a tradition to the effect that the warrior who stabbed the Hacker girl was after- wards killed when he ventured back to the settlement. He was disemboweled, according to the traditionary ac- count, and the body was filled with sand and sunk in Hacker's creek. In August 1789, some Indians came to the house of John Mack on a branch of Hacker's creek. The hus- band and two of the little girls were away from home; but the savages killed all the other members of the family and set fire to the house. A year later, the cabin of John Bush on Freeman's creek was besieged by the Indians. Late in the even- ing, 24 August 1790, Bush became alarmed at the screams of his children who had been sent to drive the cattle home, and started with his gun to learn the cause of the trouble. He was met at the door by an Indian who deftly disarmed him and shot him with his own gun. Bush fell across his threshold. The savage drew his knife to scalp him, but at that moment Mrs. Bush ap- peared upon the scene and sank an ax into the back of the Indian's shoulder with such force that when he fell away the ax came off the handle. She then pulled her husband into the house and shut the door. Other Indians came up, and after attempting for some time to force the door open, they began shooting through it. Eleven bullets passed through the clothing of Mrs. Bush, but fortunately she remained unhurt. One of the savages attempted to shoot through a crack in the wall at her, but with another ax she bent the barrel of his gun. The Indian is said to have exclaimed "dern you." At this juncture the Indians were frightened away. Adam Bush, who lived nearby, determined to find out what the trouble was at the home of John, and to aid him if necessary. The noise made by the dogs which ac- companied him in crossing a small stream, led the In- dians to believe that a large party was coming to the relief of Bush and they withdrew. A party from the neighborhood was organized for the pursuit, who came so nearly upon the Indians at the mouth of the Little Kanawha river that they were forced to abandon seven horses they had stolen from the settlement before their attack on Bush. About the middle of May, 1792, Tecumseh led an ex- pedition of Shawnees against the settlements on Hack- er's creek. He evidently feared to make an attack on any of the houses in the more thickly settled portions of the valley, and led the men to Jesse's run where they came, late in the evening, to the clearing of John Wag- goner. He was discovered sitting on a log resting, with a handspike across his knees. Tecumseh sent the other members of the band to secure those within the house while he should attend to Waggoner. The future Brit- ish general was either under the impression that the handspike was a gun or he was excited at the prospect of securing a scalp. His aim was wide, though his in- tended victim was a large man in plain view, and the distance was not more than thirty or forty yards. Wag- goner immediately sprang up, and seeing Indians at the house, ran in the opposite direction, followed at an ever increasing interval by Tecumseh, until the young chief finally gave up the chase. Meanwhile the Shawnees who had gone to the house found a small boy in the yard and killed and scalped him, after which they took Mrs. Waggoner and her six other children prisoners. On being rejoined by Tecumseh they set off with all possible speed to place the Ohio river between them and any pursuers who might take up the trail. Finding that the smallest boy impeded their progress they beat out his brains and took his scalp before they had gone more than a mile. A short distance farther on they killed and scalped Mrs. Waggoner and two others of her children and from that time forth they made all possible speed to get out of the country. So great was their fear of retaliatory vengeance at the hands of the whites that the party did not even stop to secure food until after they had crossed the Ohio and were well within the Indian country. Waggoner went to the cabin of Hardman, a neigh- bor, to secure a gun as quickly as he could, but the latter was out hunting at the time with the only gun in the possession of the family. Jesse Hughes was com- municated with and he ran to West's fort, organized a pursuing party, and took up the trail. The pursuit was unsuccessful. A local tradition states that the Indians in the party numbered but three and that they had lain in a ravine near West's fort all the day before while a relig- ious meeting was in progress in the fort. The dogs within barked furiously at them and ran toward the ravine, trying to lead the settlers, but no attention was paid to them. The number of successful incursions by the Indians and the utter futility of stopping their outrages by pur- suing them as far as the Ohio river whenever they made their presence known, was by this time apparent. Colonel Duvall was not slow in realizing the strategical importance of the mouth of the Little Kanawha river, and before the year 1785 he had sent a party of scouts to see that a fort was built and properly garrisoned there. In the same year Captain James Neal settled on the southern side of the two rivers. From that time on Neal's station became the first line of defense for the settlements along the West Fork. From that point as a center the scouts ranged the woods on the Virginia side of the river and occasionally crossed into the North- west territory observing the country carefully for indi- cations of Indians, and if any were found, reporting them without delay by swift runners to the exposed settle- ments. In this way the military authorities were able to warn the inhabitants to go into places of safety where they could make better resistance to the attack if one were made. When Indians succeeded in getting past the scouts at Neal's station and first made their presence known by plundering and murdering in the settlements, the scouts could intercept them on their retreat. So effectual was the plan that later parties of Indians who ventured into the settlement on the West Fork, generally came by way of Middle Island creek until the mouth of that stream was also guarded. From 1786, the Ohio line of defense proved in- creasingly strong. In that year Fort Harmar was built at the mouth of the Muskingum. In 1788 General Rufus Putnam's colony of New Englanders came down the Ohio and settled at Marietta. The next year a settle- ment was made at the mouth of the Little Miami river just above the bottom where Cincinnati was afterwards built. In 1790, the settlements had spread to the in- terior twenty miles above Marietta. It was not long until the national government sent several regiments of regulars into the Northwest territory to protect the set- tlers against the Indians. After the establishment of the Ohio settlements the people there became the main object of the savages, who were being constantly urged on to murder and plunder. Isolated attacks were, how- ever, still being made in western Virginia by the now infuriated savages. Colonel Duvall stated in 1791 that the idea of federal troops being a protection to the set- tlers was "only a shadow without substance." In 1792 the command of the militia of Harrison and Randolph counties again passed into the able hands of Colonel Lowther, after he had served Harrison County as sheriff. He reported to the governor that he had un- der him " one Insign, two Sergeants, two Corprils, and forty privates." He had also appointed four scouts, of whom he had stationed two at the mouth of the Little Kanawha river and the others along the West Fork. He divided his men into four detachments with one sergeant and eleven men at the mouth of the Little Kanawha and the others at Flesher's Station, now Wes- ton, Salem and the mouth of Ten Mile creek. Adam Flesher (called a captain in the traditional account) had charge of the Weston station, and under him in the beginning were Peter Bonnett, Samuel Bonnett, Louis Bonnett, Jacob Starcher, Thomas Short, Joseph Glan- field and Peter McKensie. The Buckhannon settlement was then being garrisoned by Randolph County militia. The men who had seen service in preceding years had not received their pay and consequently Colonel Lowther had considerable difficulty in enlisting a suffi- cient force. Subsequently Captain James Wood came to the west to inspect the condition of affairs and to sug- gest changes. His determined action infused new cour- age into the people. Colonel Lowther was given com- mand of the Monongahela district including all of north- western Virginia. The disposition which he made of his troops was changed only slightly, the force at Neal's station being a little more than doubled and the garrison on the upper West Fork being placed near the mouth of Freeman's creek instead of at Flesher's station. The last named change was not permanent. No Indian forays were made in the year 1793 into what is now Lewis County. A settlement made by the Carpenters on the Elk river in what is now Braxton County was completely broken up. One family was murdered and the others, owing to the fact that their numbers were too small to cope with the savages, moved to the West Fork. Jesse Hughes afterwards avenged the murder of the Carpenter family by killing the two Indians concerned. He took strips of skin from their backs from which he made razor strops. In 1794 as Joseph Cox, a trapper, was riding down Leading creek for a load of furs which he had left at the mouth of the creek the fall before, he unexpectedly came upon a small party of Indians in a defile. He im- mediately wheeled his horse and applied the whip, but the animal became balky and would not move. Cox was captured and taken beyond the Ohio, but he escaped the same year. On July 24 of the same year they took prisoner the daughter of John Runyon near the mouth of Freeman's creek. Two of the savages were detailed to conduct her to the Indian villages, but after going about ten miles, they tomahawked and scalped her. The other four attacked the house of William Carder which stood just below the mouth of Lost Creek, but were frightened away. A few days later while proceeding toward the head of Hacker's creek by the ridge on one side of it, the In- dians were attracted to the swimming hole just above the mouth of Little Stone Coal creek by the shouts of four sons of Jacob Cozad who were bathing. The In- dians cautiously approached the place and took all four of the boys prisoners. The youngest boy, Benny, aged six, began to cry piteously for his mother and could not be hushed. One of the warriors seized him by the heels and dashed his brains out against the roots of a beech tree, The others of the party climbed the ridge and proceeded westward. The oldest boy, Jacob, hoping to attract the attention of the settlers, gave a prolonged whoop when the party had reached the summit, but he was immediately knocked senseless by a blow from a gun barrel. When he regained consciousness he was being dragged up the hill by one foot by a squaw, ac- cording to his later statement. The party encamped that night on the West Fork near the spot where Ed- ward Jackson's mill was afterwards built. The Indians escaped pursuit. After the peace made with the whites in 1795 the three boys were returned by their captors. The prolonged stay of this small party in the West Fork valley and the great amount of damage done pro- duced a panic among the settlers. In order to prevent the people from abandoning their habitations Colonel Lowther felt impelled to grant them a guard of men and two scouts. One Indian was killed, another was wounded and the scalp of the Runyon girl was recovered in an attack made later in the year by Colonel Lowther's rangers. The next year, 1795, the last Indian outrage was perpetrated in northwestern Virginia. The trail of a party of Indians going up Leading creek was discovered and all the settlements were notified. The settlers on the Buckhannon who had not suffered from Indian raids for ten years, failed to heed the warning. As a result of their carelessness several members of the Bo- zarth family were killed. Some time afterwards the last Indian killed in Lewis County is said to have been shot by Henry Flesher as he was trying to escape by climbing up the west bank of the river near the mouth of Polk creek. The issue between the whites and the Indians was decided far away on the plains of northwestern Ohio at the battle of Fallen Timbers. There General "Mad An- thony" Wayne, at the head of an army of 2,000 regu- lars, went into battle with the flower of the tribes of the northwest who had chosen their positions with remarka- ble strategic insight. The Indians were unable to with- stand the rush of the first line of the whites, and they gave way in confusion. The Shawnees sued for peace, followed by all the tribes of the northwest. By the treaty of Greenville, 1795, they agreed to give up all their lands in what is now Ohio with the exception of a strip in the northern part of the state. The Indians remained peaceful for several years until another forward movement of the settlers induced them to take up arms again. The later wars were waged at such a distance from the West Fork valley that the inhabitants knew of them only by reports that reached them from the frontier. The settlements which had been maintained through nearly twenty years of incessant Indian warfare were at last free to expand without fear of further massacres. -----------------------------------------------------------