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 X: A BOY'S ADVENTURE-- THE INDIANS ON BUFFALO CREEK-- LEVI MORGAN'S ADVENTURE Among the many incidents which serve to show the hardships to which the settlers were exposed, the following is not the least interesting: Early in the month of March, 1786, Jonathan Nixon, with his eldest son, George--then a lad nine years of age-- went from Edwards' fort* to his farm, for the purpose of building a house and improving the land. After working two days in the woods, late on the second evening, Jonathan started for the house of John Tucker, where he spent the night, and directed his son to go back to the fort, a distance of five miles. The boy started but soon lost his way, and after wandering about in the forest for some time, he returned to the camp and laid down for the night. Next morning he awoke to find that a snow had fallen to the depth of eight or ten inches. After a second unsuccessful effort to find his way to the fort, the little fellow returned again to the camp and lay down, covering himself with a blanket. In the meantime, his father, on awakening at Tucker's and finding that the snow had fallen, concluded not to return to his work, but to go hunting instead in company with Isaac Tucker. Sometime during the day, the hunters happened to come near the camp where George was, and observed the boy lying there almost frozen and unconscious. It was only by great exertions on the part of the men that the brave little fellow was resuscitated. In the fall of the same year (1786), John Ice and James Snodgrass, left home to look for some horses they had lost while hunting buffalo on Fishing creek, and were attacked by the Indians, killed and scalped. The particulars of this tragedy were never known. Their remains, when afterwards found, were torn very much by the wolves. A few days after this occurrence, a party of Indians came to Buffalo creek. Mrs. Dragoo and her son were in a cornfield gathering beans, when the savages suddenly came upon them and took them prisoners. In hopes that the detention of their captives would be noticed, and parties from the house come to look for them, the Indians concealed themselves in ambush by the side of the path leading from the house. They were not disappointed, for, uneasy at the continued absence of Mrs. Dragoo and her son, Nicholas Wood and Jacob Straight came out to ascertain the cause. The Indians fired at them, killing Wood, and Straight took to flight, but was after a short chase, captured. The wife and daughter of Mr. Straight heard the firing, and seeing the savages in pursuit of the husband and father, also fled--not, however, unobserved by the Indians, who gave chase. The daughter concealed herself in a thicket, and Mrs. Straight sought shelter under a shelving rock, neither of them being afterwards discovered by the pursuers, though they passed very close to where the mother was sheltered. After Straight had been captured he said to a warrior, "don't kill me, and I will go with you." "Will you?" said the monster, and raising the fatal hatchet, he sank it into the brain of the wretched captive. Mrs. Straight could hear all this from her place of concealment. Mrs. Dragoo was afterwards murdered, being too infirm to travel to the towns of the Indians. Her son, who was then a lad of seven years, was taken into captivity and remained with the savages nearly twenty years. He married a squaw and became the father of four children by her. At length he forsook the Indians and returned to his home on Buffalo creek, bringing with him two of his children. In the following year (1787), the Indians came again to the settlement on Buffalo creek, near where stands the town of Farmington. Levi Morgan was not far from his home engaged in skinning a wolf which he had just caught in a trap, and on looking up from his occupation, observed three Indians coming toward him. One of them was mounted upon a horse, which Morgan recognized as belonging to a near neighbor, and he supposed at first that the rider was the owner. A second glance showed him his mistake, and seizing his gun, he sprang quickly behind a large rock near by, the Indians taking refuge behind a tree. Looking out from his shelter, he observed the savages watching the far side of the rocks, evidently expecting him to make his appearance there. He fired at them and killed one, and on attempting to reload his gun, was obliged to desist, owing to his powder having all been wasted, by reason of the stopper coming out of the horn while he was engaged in skinning the wolf. His only recourse then was flight, and he started off, one of the savages pursuing him. Finding his pursuer rapidly gaining on him, Morgan threw down his gun, hoping that it would tempt the Indian to delay a moment, but in vain. He then threw off his coat and shot pouch, but this design failed, and the Indian still gained upon him. Morgan finally thought of another plan to arrest the pursuit, and immediately acted upon the idea. Arriving at the summit of a hill up which he had taken his flight, he halted, and making motions as if he observed some friends approaching from the other side, he shouted "Come on! come on--make haste; here is one!" The Indian, supposing there were really some friends of Morgan ascending from the other side, turned and fled as precipitately as the latter had run from him. Levi, overjoyed at the success of his ruse, kept up the deception by shouting, "shoot quick, or he will get away!" hearing which the Indian seemed to redouble his exertions, and was soon out of sight. Morgan then hastened home, leaving his gun and coat for the savage. Sometime after this, Morgan attended the treaty of Au Glaize, and met with this same Indian, who still had his gun. After good-humoredly talking over the circumstance, Levi proposed that they test each other's speed in a friendly race, to which the Indian assented and was beaten. Whereupon he rubbed his limbs and said, "stiff, stiff; too old, too old." Morgan laughed, and replied, "Well, you got my gun by outrunning me then, and I should have it back now for outrunning you," and he took it from the Indian, who yielded it cheerfully. About this time (in the year 1791,) a small company of settlers, including Horatio and Levi Morgan, Jacob and John Hayes, and several others made an expedition from here to an Indian town on Sunfish creek, in Ohio, for the purpose of destroying it. Arriving there they found the village deserted by the warriors, and the only remaining inhabitants a few women and children, and old men. They stole up to the outskirts of the town, where they could obtain a good view of the situation. Observing an old man sitting quietly smoking a pipe in the door of his wigwam, Levi Morgan told the rest of the party to watch him exhibit his extraordinary marksmanship, and taking steady aim at the center of the old man's forhead, fired. The ball did not vary a hair's breadth from the spot, and the Indian rolled over dead. This was a signal for the attack, and the men plundered the village and returned home, bringing with them several prisoners. ----- *Edwards' fort was located upon the George T. Martin farm, five miles south of Boothsville.