U.S. Data Repository -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia by George A. Dunnington, Publisher 1880 Chapter IX: CONTINUED HOSTILITIES OF THE SAVAGES-- ATTACK ON THE CUNNINGHAMS AND CAPTURE OF MRS. CUNNINGHAM Among the settlers who came into the county about this time (1780-5,) were David Evans, one or two families of Witemans, Henry Leeper, Benjamin Veach, the Holberts and others. The first three settled in the vicinity of Yellow Rock ford on the West Fork. Veach settled upon the farm now occupied by Mr. Zebulon Musgrave, a short distance west of Fairmont. Jonathan Nixon, from whom the Nixons of this county are descended, also located at this time near Boothsville. A great many other immigrants came into this region during these years following the close of the revolutionary war, and the population was thereby greatly increased, but the Indians did not cease their depredations. Up to the middle of the year 1782, the knowledge of the surrender of Cornwallis, which virtually ended the War of Independence, had been kept from the Indians by their British friends; but it was now known to them, and they began to fear that Virginia, now being rid of the English invaders, would concentrate her forces on her frontier and exterminate them at once. A grand council of several tribes convened at Chillicothe, and it was determined, by the advice of Simon Girty--a renegade white--to make the best of the present time, and prosecute with greater effort their war against the frontier, which resolve they carried out. More terrible raids than ever were made upon some of the frontier stations by large bodies of Indians,* but our more secluded and less important settlements did not suffer so much as formerly. There were no serious depredations in this immediate neighborhood until the year 1785, when six Indians came to the farm of Thomas and Edward Cunningham, on Bingamon creek, which empties into the West Fork a short distance above Worthington. The two brothers lived with their respective families in separate houses almost adjoining each other. Thomas was east of the mountains on a trading visit at this time, and his wife and four children were engaged in eating dinner, as was also Edward and his family in their house. Suddenly an Indian entered the former house and closed the door after him. Edward Cunningham, from his cabin, observed the proceeding, and after fastening his own door, stepped to a small window in the wall next the other house, and stood ready to fire the moment he should catch sight of the Indian. But the savage saw at once that if he retired from the house as he went in he would be exposed to Edward's fire; for, through a similar window, he had observed the latter's actions. As soon as he saw Cunningham at the window of the other house he fired at him, but Edward saw the aim of the savage in time to avoid it. The moment the redskin saw he had missed his mark he seized an axe standing in the room and commenced cutting his way out of the house through the back wall, so as not to expose himself to a shot from the other building by going out the front way. In the meantime another Indian came into the yard, and Edward fired at and wounded him. All this time Mrs. Cunningham and her children, who were in the house with the Indian, had remained perfectly quiet, knowing that an attempt to escape would arouse his fury, and that if they succeeded in getting outside they would be killed by the savages in the yard. She hoped that he would withdraw without molesting any of them, after creating the aperture he had commenced. In this she was doomed to be sadly disappointed. When the opening was made sufficiently large, the savage approached the frightened group, and sinking his tomahawk into the brains of one of the children, threw the body into the yard and ordered Mrs. Cunningham to follow. She obeyed, holding an infant in her arms and with two other screaming children clinging to her. She was then made the unwilling witness of the scalping of her murdered son. After setting fire to the house, the Indian retired with his prisoners to an eminence in an adjoining field, where two of his brethren were with the one wounded by Edward. The other two were in the yard watching for the opening of the door of the other house when the fire should drive the family from their shelter. When his cabin caught from the one already burning, however, Edward Cunningham and his son ascended to the loft, and throwing off the loose boards which formed the roof, extinguished the flames. In doing this they were in great risk of losing their lives, for the savages were shooting at them all the while, and the balls would frequently strike very close. Satisfied with the damage already done, the Indians finally abandoned for a time their designs against Edward and his family and made preparations to depart. They first tomahawked and scalped the remaining son of Mrs. Cunningham, and sank the hatchet into the head of her little daughter, whom they then took by the legs and beat her brains out against a tree. Mrs. Cunningham and her babe were carried off into captivity. The party crossed at Bingamon creek and concealed themselves in a cave, here they remained until after nightfall. They then returned to Edward Cunningham's, and finding no signs of life, plundered and set fire to the house. Fearful lest the Indians should renew the attack, the Cunninghams sought shelter in the woods, where they remained through the night, there being no other settlement nearer than eight miles. As soon as morning dawned they proceeded to the nearest house and the alarm, and a company of men was formed to go in pursuit of the Indians. After burying the bodies of the murdered children, a search for the savages was instituted, but the wily foe had so covered up their retreat that it was found impossible to discover any traces of them, and the men returned to their homes. Several days afterwards the search was renewed, owing to circumstances which induced the belief that the Indians had not yet left the country. The trail was found and followed nearly to the cave before mentioned, where it was lost, because of the great care the savages had taken to cover it up. Night finally compelled them to desist. One of the party-- Major Robinson--happened to think of the cave that night, and mentioned to his companions his suspicions that the savages were concealed there. Early next morning the cave was examined, but the Indians had departed during the night; and were by that time far beyond the reach of pursuit. During the search the day previous the Indians were in the cave, and so close were the men to its mouth several times, that Mrs. Cunningham, as she afterwards said, could hear their voices. The savages stood ready to fire in case they should be discovered, and compelled her to keep the babe to her breast that its crying might not attract the attention of the whites. It is beyond the power of pen to describe the sufferings of Mrs. Cunningham, mental and physical, during the journey to the Indian country. Obliged to walk the entire distance, she suffered internally from fatigue. Deprived of the necessary food, she herself almost perished from hunger, while the babe at her breast sought in vain for the milk it needed to sustain its little life--blood only came. Perceiving this, one of the Indians, with a tomahawk, put an end to its sufferings while it was still clinging to the breast. He then cast it to the side of the path. where it was left a prey for beasts. But these were not the worst of Mrs. Cunningham's trials. Her anguish of mind and the intensity of her bodily sufferings during the next ten days, cannot be described. During this whole time her only food consisted of three paw paws and the head of a wild turkey. When she arrived at an Indian town and was permitted for the first time to draw off her stockings, the skin and nails of her feet came off with them, by reason of the scaldings they had received by frequent wadings of water. When they finally arrived at their own town, the Indians delivered Mrs. Cunningham over to the father of the savage who had been wounded by Edward. It soon became apparent to her that she was reserved for some terrible torture; for she was not permitted to change her clothes, but was obliged to wear those she had on, though they were extremely dirty.* One evening Simon Girty arrived at the village, and she resolved to plead with him to intercede for her deliverance, which resolve she acted upon the next day as soon as the opportunity offered. At first he was inclined to make light of her petition; but finally her tears and pleadings melted the hard heart of the wretched white savage and he relented. He paid her ransom and had her conducted to the commissioners for negotiating with the Indians, and by then she was taken to a station in Kentucky. Here she was furnished with a horse, and after experiencing many hardships, reached Holstein, and from thence she proceeded up the valley and home. Her husband was not there to welcome her, having learned some days before that she had been ransomed and taken to Kentucky, and had set out in quest of her. Hearing at Holstein of her having been there, he returned, and the meeting between husband and wife in a few days, was a glad one, though the recollections of the sad fate of their children caused them afterwards many hours of bitter grief. ----- *The celebrated attacks upon Wheeling, (in which Elizabeth Zane distinguished herself,) Rice's fort, on the Ohio river, and the intermediate settlements between Fort Pitt and Wheeling, occurred during these raids. *This is a bad omen for a captive among the Indians.