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 VI: MURDER OF JOSIAH PRICKETT -- CONTINUATION OF IN DIAN ATROCITIES -- MURDER OF MISS COON -- ATTACK ON FORT HARBERT. As soon as the news of the depredations committed by Logan and his band became known in the settlements of this vicinity, the inhabitants very much alarmed for their safety, retired immediately into the forts and other places of refuge. Strolling parties of savages were heard of occasionally; but no acts of violence took place in our settlements until the month of September. One day during that month Josiah Prickett and Mrs. Susan Ox left Prickett's fort, near Newport, for the purpose of driving up their cows. A party of Indians, attracted by the tinkling of the cow-bells, waylaid them on their return to the fort and succeeded in killing and scalping Prickett and taking Mrs. Ox prisoner. It may be a matter of astonishment to the reader, that the settlers could thus recklessly expose themselves, by leaving the fort, knowing that Indians were lurking in the vicinity. Some explanation may be found in the fact, that previous to this our settlers had been accustomed to come and go at will, hence the confinement of the forts was very irksome to them, and rather than pine under this present restraint they would hazard their lives in pursuit of their principal means of existence--game, or to attend to some duty connected with their farm work. Often, for weeks not a hostile sound would disturb the peaceful quiet reigning over the surrounding hills and valleys, until some settlers, deceived by the quiet stillness, ventured from his retreat, only to meet his death at the hands of the wily savage, who had awaited all this time for an unguarded moment in which to spring upon his deluded victim. Others, unwilling to risk the danger, would remain within the fort, tortured with the thought that their crops, long ago "ripe unto the harvest," and for the production of which they had toiled many weary days, were rotting in the fields. This latter fact, coupled with the necessity of procuring the necessaries of life, would cause many to brave even death itself. On the 10th of October of this year (1774), the battle of Point Pleasant virtually put an. end to what has since been known as Gov. Dunmore's war, but the outrages by these strolling bands of Indians continued. Instead of following up the victory of Point Pleasant by a raid into the Indian territory and reducing their towns, the army disbanded, leaving the Indians at liberty to make further inroads upon our frontiers, in the pursuit of vengeance on those who had recently sent so many of their bravest warriors to the " happy hunting grounds." The character of the relations between Great Britain and the American colonies was becoming more and more unfriendly; and the whole attention of the colonists was directed to it, leaving the frontier settlements for a. time forgotten. The Indians, knowing that Virginia needed all her available strength to defend herself from the invading hosts of Great Britain, and could not extend any aid to the frontier settlements, took advantage of this state of affairs and re-opened hostilities, utterly ignoring the treaty of peace made after the battle of Point Pleasant. The respite, then, after the close of the Dunmore war, was but momentary. Between Wheeling and Point Pleasant, a distance of nearly two hundred miles by the Ohio river, there was no obstacle to prevent the raids of the Indian war parties from their territories west of the river upon our settlements on the upper Monongahela and its branches; yet, for two years after the killing of Josiah Prickett, there were no serious outrages in this immediate vicinity. Subsequent to this, the next important event of the kind occurred in a settlement near the West Fork, in Harrison county, at the house of Charles Grisby. During the absence of Mr. Grisby, a party of Indians entered his house, and after plundering it of everything valuable, departed, taking with them Mrs. Grisby and her two children as prisoners. The husband and father returned soon after, comprehending instantly what had been done, and knowing the terrible danger of his wife and little ones, he hastily gathered together some of his neighbors and set out in hot pursuit. After following the trail about six miles, they suddenly came upon a ghastly scene, which put to flight all the hopes they had entertained of being able to recover at least two of the captives; for lying on the ground were the bodies of Mrs. Grisby and her younger child, both scalped and killed by their inhuman captors. The settlers, leaving two of their number to take care of the remains of the unfortunate victims, pushed forward with renewed exertions in pursuit of the Indians, earnestly desiring to overtake them and avenge the bloody deed; but they did not succeed, and were obliged to give up in despair and return home. Shortly after this, two Indians secreted themselves near Coon's fort on West Fork, waiting an opportunity to do some mischief; the occasion was not long in presenting itself, for a daughter of Mr. Coon came out of the fort for the purpose of performing some slight labor in a field near the roadside. Two men, Enoch Jones and Thomas Cunningham, came down the road, and after a short conversation with her, walked on. In the meantime the Indians were waiting for her to come near enough for them to capture her without alarming the people in the fort; but she, turning suddenly, observed them and started to run home; instantly one of the savages shot at her, while the other rushed to her, tomahawked and scalped her before the eyes of the horrified men who had only gone a short distance down the road, yet were not near enough to render any assistance. The settlers immediately turned out in pursuit of the murderers, but no traces of them could be discovered. In the month of March following, a party of Indians came suddenly on a number of children playing in a yard on Ten Mile. The children ran screaming to the house (which was serving as a place of refuge for the settlers in that neighborhood, and was known as Fort Harbert,) and apprised the inmates of the Indians approach. John Murphey, rushing to the door to see if danger really was near, was instantly shot and fell back into the house; the Indian who had fired the shot; not knowing there were other men in the house, sprang in and was instantly grappled by Mr. Harbert, who threw him upon the floor and struck him with his tomahawk. While maintaining his position over the prostrate savage, two shots were fired at Harbert from without-- the first wounding him, and the second, passing through his head, killed him. In the meantime, Edward Cunningham was having a terrible struggle with a warrior who had entered immediately after the first one. He drew up his gun to shoot the savage, but it flashed, and the two men closed in a hand-to-hand encounter. After a contest of some moments, Cunningham wrenched from the hand of the Indian his tomahawk, and buried the spike end of it in his back, while Mrs. Cunningham, rushing up to the savage, struck him with an axe, causing him to release his hold upon Mr. Cunningham and retire bleeding from the house. The third Indian who entered the door wore a cap made of the unshorn front of a buffalo, with the ears and horns still attached to it, presenting the most hideous aspect; a Miss Reece was standing near him and at her he aimed a blow which wounded her severely. Mrs. Reece seeing her daughter's terrible danger, seized the horrible head-dress of the savage by its horns, hoping to turn aside the blow, but it came off in her hands and the blow fell on the head of the girl. The father of the girl then attacked the Indian, but was quickly thrown to the floor, and the savage would have made short work of him had not Cunningham rushed to the rescue and tomahawked his assailant. During this time the rest of the Indians, who had been prevented from entering the door by the women, were engaged in securing such of the children in the yard as were capable of being carried away prisoners. These, evidently not relishing the idea of further attack, retreated, carrying with them the children they had captured. In this attack one white person was killed in the house and four wounded. In the yard eight children were either killed or taken prisoners, while the Indians had one killed and two wounded. This was the most serious of the Indian depredations of that year in this section, and, although it did not transpire within the boundaries of what is now called Marion county; but in Harrison, it is given here for reasons that are obvious. Some of the settlers concerned in the incident belonged to this vicinity, or were inhabitants of this county; it is therefore appropriate as well as interesting to give it in this connection.