SKETCH OF
CORNSTALK.
1759-1777.
[The following sketch of Cornstalk, is
from the Draper MSS.,
Border Forays, 3 D, Chap. XVIII, in the
possession of the Wisconsin
Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.
It is herewith published for
the first time through the courtesy of
Dr. Reuben GoldThwaites, Secre-
tary of the Wisconsin Historical
Society.-EDITOR.]
The early history of Cornstalk1 is
involved in obscurity. Dur-
ing those eventful years of Indian
attack and massacre between
1754 and 1763, there can be no doubt
that he was a prominent
leader. His forays were directed against
the frontier settlements
of Virginia, as most approachable from
the Scioto country, where
the Shawanese were then mostly
concentrated.
The earliest of these expeditions, of
which there is any
record, was one he led against several
families of the name of
Gilmore, and others, who resided on
Carr's Creek, in what is
now Rockbridge County. Suddenly and
unexpectedly Cornstalk
and his war-party fell upon these
people, October tenth, 1759,
and massacred ten persons, men, women
and children, with the
usual shocking barbarity attendant on
Indian warfare; among
them, John Gilmore, wife and son, and
the wife of William Gil-
more. While an Indian was scalping
Thomas Gilmore, he was
knocked down by Mrs. Gilmore with an
iron kettle; when another
Indian ran, with uplifted tomahawk, to
kill her, and was only
prevented from doing so by the Indian
who lay bleeding from the
blows she had given him, exclaimed
quickly, "don't kill her; she
is a good warrior," and this
magnanimity in a savage saved her
life. A little girl whom they tomahawked
and scalped and left for
dead, recovered, and lived thirty or
forty years. They burned
and laid waste the homes of six of the
settlers, killed many
cattle, carried off eleven unhappy
prisoners, and many horses
laden with the spoils they had taken.
1His Indian name was Keigh-tugh-qua,
signifying Cornblade or
Cornstalk; See Hist. of Western Pennsylvania,
App., 162, 164.
(245)
246 Ohio Arch.
and Hist. Society Publications.
Captain Christian pursued the marauders
with a party of
militia who were joined by an equal
number of the frontier bat-
talion under Captain Thomas Fleming,
stationed at Fort Dunlop;
and after following the trail several
days, they finally overtook
the enemy west of the Alleghanies. It
was intended to have
attacked them in their night camp, but
the accidental discharge of
a musket, gave the Indians an
opportunity to escape, which they
improved in such hot haste, that they
abandoned all their
prisoners, seventeen horses, and all the
stolen goods, some money,
beside match-coats2,
blankets, and marry other articles. Six white
scalps were recovered. From the
prisoners they learned, that
there were two Frenchmen with the
Indians; and in the baggage
were found the French orders, directing
the expedition, dated at
Scioto. The loss of the people whose
property was devastated,
exceeded $2,000; but it was no small matter
of congratulation,
in the midst of their sufferings, that
the prisoners were rescued
from an unhappy captivity, and that
Cornstalk and his warriors
were sent home without any trophies, and
destitute of many
articles of their necessary clothing.
The "Carr's Creek Mas-
sacre," with its horrors and its
acts of heroism, was long kept in
remembrance by the people of that region
and their descendants.3
At length the storm of war ceased, and
peace again smiled
in the Western valley. It was only,
however, temporary-more
deceptive than real. Cornstalk was
evidently dissatisfied, and
became a party to the grand Indian
combination under Pontiac
in 1763. He sallied forth from the
Scioto towns, at the head
of about sixty warriors, aiming to
strike the border settlements
of Virginia before the news should reach
them of the simulta-
neous attack on the frontier posts, and
the capture of many of
them. In this he was but too successful.
Reaching the nearest
Greenbrier settlement in June, which was
a German one, on
Muddy Creek, where the new settlers had
raised but two crops,
the Shawanese warriors boldly entered
the people's houses, un-
2A garment made of coarse woolen cloth.
3Virginia Gazette, Nov. 9, 1759. Maryland Gazette, Nov.
22, 1759.
S. C. Gazette, Nov. 24, 1759. Stuart's
Indian Wars, 39. Campbell's
Memoir, 181. Foote's Virginia, Second
Series, 159. Col. Boliver Chris-
tian's Scotch-Irish Settlers of the
Valley of Virginia, 25.
Sketch of Cornstalk. 247
der the guise of friendship, and received every civility of per-
sonal attention and entertainment; when,
on a sudden, they killed
the men, captured the women and
children, plundered the houses,
and reduced them to ashes. Except a few
who had charge of
the prisoners. Cornstalk's party passed
over to the Levels of
Greenbrier, where some seventy-five
people had collected at
Archibald Clendenin's, within two miles
of the present locality of
Lewisburg, and where Ballard Smith long
resided. Here, as at
Muddy Creek, the Indians were hospitably
entertained; for none
suspected any hostile intentions, save
Clendenin's wife alone,
who did not like the manner in which
they were painted, as it
differed from what she had been
accustomed to see.
Clendenin had just returned from a hunt,
having killed three
fat elk; and, as the warriors asked for
something to eat, a
plentiful feast was promised them. As he
had been very suc-
cessful of late in killing large numbers
of buffalo, elk and deer,
he cut off the clear meat and salted it
down for future use; while
the bones and fragments were boiled up
in a large kettle for the
present supply. His wife was at that
time cooking a kettle full,
under a shed near the house. Handing her
infant to her hus-
band, she took a large pewter dish and
meat-fork in her hand,
and went out to bring some of the food
for the Indians.
At this juncture, an old woman having a
diseased limb,
aware of the medicinal virtues of the
wilderness supposed to be
known to the Indians, explained her
distress to one of the war-
riors, and asked if he could not suggest
or administer some relief?
He promptly said, that he thought he
could; and drawing his
tomahawk, he instantly killed the poor
woman, which was the
signal for others to engage in the
bloody work assigned them.
nearly all the men were quickly
dispatched. Conrad Yoakman
who was some little distance from the
house, being alarmed by
the outcries of the women and children,
made his escape. A
negro woman, who with her husband, was
working in a field near
by, started to run away, followed by her
crying child; she
tarried long enough to kill her little
one, to stop its noise, and
save her own life. With her companion,
she made good her
escape to Augusta.
Clendenin might have saved his life, had
he either sur-
248
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
rendered himself, or not been encumbered
with the child; for
he started to run, and was making an
effort to reach the fence
that separated the door-yard from a
corn-field. Had he gained
the field he would doubtless have eluded
the pursuit of the In-
dians, as the corn was high enough to
have concealed him; but
he was killed in the act of climbing the
fence, he falling one side,
and the child the other.
Mrs. Clendenin has scarcely left the
house, when she heard
Mr. Clendenin exclaim, "Lord, have
mercy on me!" when she
dropped her dish and fork, and, turning
back, saw an Indian
with her husband's scalp in his hand,
which he held up by the
long hair, shaking the blood from it.
She rushed upon the
murderer, and, in a fit of frenzy, asked
him to kill her too, even
spitting in his face to provoke him to
do so. She did not fail
to reproach him and his fellows with
baseness by every epithet
known to her-even charging them with
being cowards, the worst
accusation that could be made against a
warrior; and though the
tomahawk was brandished over her head,
and she threatened
with instant death, and her husband's
bloody scalp thrown in her
face, she nevertheless fearlessly
renewed uttering the several in-
vectives her ready tongue could invent.
Her brother, John
Ewing, who was spared from the general
massacre, said to the
Indian, "Oh, never mind her, she is
a foolish woman." Follow-
ing this suggestion, the warrior
desisted from making the in-
tended tomahawk stroke.
Yoakum fled to Jackson's River, alarming
the people, who
were unwilling to believe his terrible
report, until the approach
of the Indians convinced them of its
fearful reality; many saved
themselves by flight, while not a few of
the aged and helpless
fell victims to their fury. The
newspaper accounts of the time
only refer to the Greenbrier and Jackson
River settlements hav-
ing been cut off, in June, 1763; but
Carr's Creek received an-
other visitation, and there, too, many
families were killed and
taken.4
Near Keeney's Knob, not very far distant
from Clendenin's,
4Stuart's Indian Wars, 39, 60. Sketches
of History, Life and Man-
ners in the United States, Hartford,
1828, 63.
Sketch of Cornstalk. 249
resided a family of the name of Lee, who
shared the fate of the
others-some killed, and others captured.
All the prisoners,
taken at the several places, were
hurried over to Muddy Creek,
where they were detained till the main
body of the warriors re-
turned from Jackson's River, and the
Carr's Creek settlements
with their prisoners and booty. An old
Indian was left in charge
of the captive women and children, Ewing
having been taken
with the war party. Mrs. Clendenin made
up her mind to kill
the old Indian, if the other women would
aid her. Her first
effort was (to) ascertain if the old
fellow could speak or under-
stand English; but making no reply to
her inquiries, she took it
for granted that he could not. She
consequently made her pro-
posal to her sister prisoners, but they
were too timid to consent
to any such heroic attempt. During the
few days' absence of
the warriors, Mrs. Clendenin was too
narrowly watched by the
vigilant old guard to effect anything.
He had evidently over-
heard her proposition, and sufficiently
comprehended its im-
port; for when their ears were saluted
with the whooping of
the returning warriors, with the
jingling bells of the horses, the
old fellow sprang to his feet,
exclaiming in plain English, with an
oath, "Yes, good news." Mrs.
Clendenin now expected nothing
but death for her plotting his
destruction, but she heard nothing
further of it.
The war party had been successful in
their foray, for they
returned with many additional captives,
and a large number of
horses loaded with booty, and every
horse had on an open bell.
Mrs. Clendenin still resolved on
effecting her escape, even at the
risk of her life. As they started from
the foot of Keeney's Knob,
the Indians mostly in front, the
prisoners next, and the horses
with their tinkling music bringing up
the rear, and one Indian
fellow prisoner to carry; and when they
came to a very steep
precipice on one side of the route, and
the Indians carelessly
pursuing their way, she watched her
opportunity, when unob-
served, to jump down the precipice, and
crept under a large
rock. She lay still until she heard the
last bell pass by; and
concluding they had not yet missed her,
she began to hope that
her scheme was successful. After some
little time elapsed, she
beard footseps approaching very
distinctly and heavily. They
250 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
drew near the place of her concealment;
and in her leaning
posture, on her hands and knees, with
her head bent forward to
the ground, she awaited the fatal stroke
of some unfeeling pur-
suer. She ventured, however, to raise
her eyes, and behold a
large bear was standing over her! The
animal was as mach
surprised as she was, for it gave a
fierce growl, and ran off at its
best speed.
Soon missing her, the Indians took her
child, and laid it on
the ground, thinking its cries would
induce her to return; but she
was too far away for this, when the
wretches would torture and
beat the little thing, saying,
"Make the calf bawl, and the cow
will come." At length they
unfeelingly beat out its brains against
a tree, and went on without the mother;
who remained under the
rock till dark, when she sought her way
back. Traveling all
that night, she concealed herself the
next day, and during the
second night reached her desolate
habitation. As she came in
sight of the place, she thought she
heard wild beasts howling in
every direction, and thought she heard
voices of all sorts, and saw
images of all shapes, moving through the
cornfield-and, with an
almost overpowering sense of mingled
fear and desolation she
imagined she saw a man standing within a
few steps of her. She
withdrew to a spring in the forest, and
remained there till morn-
ing; when she visited the place, found
her husband's body by the
fence, with his body shockingly
mutilated, and her lifeless child
nearby, and covered them, as well as she
could, with a buffalo
hide and some fence rails, finding her
strength unequal to the
task of covering them with earth.
Resuming her journey, Mrs. Clendenin
directed her course
for the nearest settlements in Augusta,
from which the Green-
brier emigrants had originally set out.
At Howard's Creek,
some ten miles from the present locality
of Lewisburg, she met
a party of several white men, who had
heard by the two negro
fugitives, that every soul was killed at
the Greenbrier settlements,
and came to drive away the cattle, and
save whatever else was
spared by the Indians. Among these men
was one who was
heir-at-law of the Clendenin family, who
was evidently much dis-
concerted that she had escaped the
general massacre. This
wretch offered her no sort of sympathy,
nor any relief whatever.
Sketch of Cornstalk. 251
Some of his companions, however, gave
her a piece of bread, and
a cooked duck; but the half-famished
condition of her stomach
loathed food, and she wrapped them up in
her petticoat, and
pursued her journey by herself,
expecting she would enjoy them
when her appetite should return.
Unfortunately she lost them
without ever tasting a single morsel.
While pursuing her lonely journey, she
had the good fortune
to find an Indian blanket, which proved
of great service to her;
as, when her clothes became torn, and
her limbs lacerated, by
briers and brambles, she was enabled to
make leggins of it for
her protection. After nine nights'
painful journeying, secreting
herself by day to avoid the danger of
recapture, she at length
reached Dickinson's, on the Cowpasture
River. During all this
time, she ate nothing but an onion and a
little salt, which she
found on a shelf, in a springhouse, at a
deserted plantation.
The history of the two children of Mrs.
Clendenin who had
been captured-a boy and a girl-require a
brief mention. Her
brother, surrendered probably at
Bouquet's treaty the following
year, narrated the particulars of the
untimely fate of the little
boy. He had been formally adopted by an
aged Indian couple,
all of whose children were dead, who
became very much at-
tached to the lad, and he in return to
them. But one day, the
old man became displeased with his wife
on some account, and
told the child, whom she directed to get
some water, not to go;
for if he did, he would kill him. At
length the old Indian went
out to the field, and the child, glad of
the opportunity to please
his mother, picked up the vessel and set
off for the spring; but
the surly old fellow seeing him from
where he was walked up
behind the unsuspecting lad, and gave
him a fatal blow with his
tomahawk. "I was
obliged," said the conscience-stricken Indian,
"to approach him behind, that I
might not see his face; for if
I had, I could never have had the
courage to kill him."
The little girl was seven years with the
Indians, and when
brought to her mother, the latter could
recognize nothing what-
ever to indicate her as her child, and
she disowned her, saying,
"She is not mine." The little
waif scampered off among other
captive children, who had not yet been
reclaimed. Thinking
over the matter, the mother called to
mind a mark on the
252 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
body of her daughter, when she ran to
her to see if she could
find this evidence of identity. Upon
examination, she found it.
Her long-lost child was indeed restored
to her; but with such
thorough Indian habits, that it was a
long time before the mother
felt any particular attachment for her.
It need only be added,
that Mrs. Clendenin, returning from her
captivity to her old neigh-
borhood in Augusta, subsequently married
a man named Rogers;
and, when peace was restored, she again
settled on the place
where the massacre occurred, and, on
looking about the old
premises, Mrs. Rogers found the dish and
meat-fork where she
dropped them on the day her former
husband was killed; and
there she resided till 1817, when she
died at the age of seventy-
nine years. She is represented to have
been a woman of strong
mind, invincible courage and unequalled
fortitude. Her daughter,
an heiress to a valuable landed estate,
had many suitors when
she grew to womanhood, and at length
gave her hand to a man
by the name of Davis. One of her
daughters became the wife
of Ballard Smith, of Greenbrier, one of
the first lawyers in the
western country, and six years a
representative from his district
in Congress.5
It is related that when the captive
survivors of the Carr's
Creek Massacre, reached the Shawanese
towns, the Indians, in
cruel sport, called on them to sing, as
they had done at their
evening camps while journeying through
the wilderness. Un-
appalled by the bloody scenes they had
already witnessed, and the
fearful tortures that might yet be in
reserve for them, within
that dark forest where all hope of
rescue seemed forbidden, and
undaunted by the fiendish revellings of
their savage captors, they
sang aloud, with the most pious fervor,
from Rouse's version of
the one hundred and thirty-seventh
psalm, as they had often
done, in more hopeful days, within the
sacred walls of old
"Timber Ridge Church," near
which they lived.
Penn. Gaz. July 28, 1763. Sketches of
History, Life and Manners
in the United States, 60-66. The author
of this work obtained his nar-
rative from Mrs. Maiz, a step-daughter of Mrs. Clendenin in 1824,
corroborated by several others. Stuart's
Indian Wars, 39, 40. Withers'
Chronicles, 70, 71.
Sketch of Cornstalk. 253
"On Babel's stream we sat and wept
when Zion we thought on,
In midst thereof we hanged our harps the
willow trees among,
For then a song required they who did us
captive bring,
Our Spoilers called for mirth, and
said-a song of Zion sing."6
It were difficult to judge, whether the
captive Jews, or the
captives of Carr's Creek, felt the most
poignantly their desolate
condition; but Time, that sweet restorer
of hopes and joys,
eventually brought them alike out of
their unhappy bondage.
What particular part Cornstalk enacted
in all this, save that he
was the leader of the forayers, history
is silent.
When Colonel Bouquet, the ensuing year,
penetrated the
Ohio country and compelled the Indians
to make peace, Corn-
stalk was one of the designated
hostages, on the part of the
Shawanese sent to Fort Pitt, in
fulfillment of the terms of the
treaty; but they soon afterward managed
to effect their escape.7
Nothing further is heard of him, during
the long interval of
nominal peace which followed, till the
war of 1774, already
related, and with which his name and
fame are so intimately in-
terwoven.
At a critical period of this border
out-break, in the month of
May, after the alarming affairs at
Captina and Yellow Creek
were well-known in the Indian towns, and
while Logan was upon
the war-path, the head Shawanese chiefs
of the Scioto towns
shielded Richard Butler and other
Pennsylvania traders among
them from the fury of the Mingoes; and
when the latter, towards
the close of that month, were ready to
depart with their goods,
Cornstalk sent his brother, Silver
Heels, to protect them on their
homeward journey. On the return of this chief, with two In-
dian companions, from this friendly
mission, they were waylaid
and fired on, by a party of frontiersmen
under William Linn,
near the mouth of Beaver, and Silver
Heels dangerously
wounded. Nor was this all. Cornstalk, at
the same time, sent
a speech, by the united advice of
several of his associate chiefs,
6Christian's
Scotch-Irish settlers, 11.
Hist. of Western Pennsylvania, Appendix,
164. Historical Account
of Bouquet's Expedition, (Lond., 1766),
34. Stone's Life and Times of
Sir Wm. Johnson, II, 238.
254 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
addressed to the Governors of
Pennsylvania and Virginia, and
the commandant at Pittsburgh, entreating
them to put a stop to
any further hostilities, and they would
endeavor to do the same.8
The invasions of the Ohio country by
Bouquet and Brad-
street, in 1764, served to convince this
sagacious chieftain, that
neither his own nation, nor indeed the
confederated tribes of the
Northwest, were able to cope with the
strong and growing power
of the colonies; and, hence it was, no
doubt, that he so readily
yielded himself as one of the hostages
on that occasion, in order
to secure an honorable peace for his
people. In 1774, he had
a trying part to perform-in earnest
endeavors to pacify both
the frontier settlers and Indians, and
restrain, if possible, the
half-smothered fires ready to burst
along the whole border. His
experience and observation taught him,
that peace was the true
policy of both races. But he soon found
that the counsels of the
wise and the aged were utterly lost on
the fiery and turbulent
young spirits of his nation. Though he
failed in dissuading them
from the folly of imbruing their hands
in the bloody contest, he
was too much of a patriot to forsake his
people, heady and
reckless though they were, and went
forth with them to battle.
His whole conduct evinces the highest
exhibition of tact and
wisdom in council, with the loftiest
traits of bravery in the field.
He fought like a hero; and yielded with
becoming grace and
dignity when fighting was no longer of
any avail, giving up his
own son, the Wolf, at the treaty of Camp
Charlotte, as one of
the hostages for the faithful
fulfillment of its stipulations.
Captain Wm. Russell, who was left in
command of Fort
Blair-afterwards called Fort Randolph-at
the mouth of the
Great Kanawha, proved himself a wise and
discreet officer.
Thither Cornstalk frequently resorted to
brighten the chain of
friendship, and sometimes to deliver up
horses in accordance
with the stipulations of the treaty of
Camp Charlotte. During
the winter of 1774-5, he made such a
visit. On the fourth of
June, 1775, he again arrived at the
fort, and spent four days with
Captain Russell, reporting that the news
of the affairs of Concord
8Heckewelder's Indian Nations, 174, 223,
274. Richard Butler's
deposition, Aug. 23, 1774, in Penn.
Archives, IV, 569-70,
Sketch of Cornstalk. 255
and Lexington had been received at the
Shaw anese towns eight
or ten days before his departure. The Mingoes, according to
Cornstalk's information, were behaving
very insolently, calling
the Shawanese the Big Knife people, and
upbraiding them with
having, in a cowardly manner, made the
treaty with Lord Dun-
more. The Picts, or Miamies, were also
represented as un-
friendly in their feeling toward the
Colonies.
Cornstalk had scarcely returned to his
people, when he sent
a very friendly letter to Captain
Russell, written, at the chief's
dictation, by a trader, in which he
assured the Captain that the
Shawanese were always willing to comply
with any reasonable
request that the Big Knife should ask;
that a negro woman had
been returned as desired, but her two
children were retained, as
the Indians claimed them as their own
"flesh and blood" and
could not consent that they should be
enslaved, and that they
had sent in all the horses they had
taken from the white people.
He expressed the hope, that the
Shawanese would not be charged
with having taken all the horses the
Virginians may have lost, as
several other nations took horses as
well as they. He further
said, that he, his brother, Nimwha, and
his son, would soon start
for Fort Pitt to confirm the treaty made
at Camp Charlotte, by
which the Shawanese expected to abide.9
The contemplated treaty at Pittsburgh,
was at first intended
to elaborate minor details for which
time did not permit at
Camp Charlotte; but which, in the
changed circumstances of the
country, was more particularly designed
to ratify the former
treaty,10 and conciliate the
Western tribes generally. It was at
length held in the autumn of 1775.
Cornstalk participated in it,
and, as an assurance of keeping his
plighted faith with the
Colonies, he cited the fact that when
some of the Cherokees
robbed the new settlers in Kentucky the
preceding Spring, he
and his people wrested two of the stolen
horses from the
plunderers, and delivered them at the
mouth of the Kanawha,
whither they had likewise returned a
negro woman; and claimed
9Cornstalk to Russell, June 15, 1775:
MS. letter, written in beau-
tiful vermillion ink. MS. letter of
Russell to Preston, June 12, 1775.
10 Burk's Hist. Virginia, III.
428.
256 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
that they had been all the past winter
delivering up horses taken
from the white people. Colonel Andrew
Lewis, one of the Com-
missioners at the treaty, remarked that
Cornstalk was the most
dignified Indian chief, particularly in
council, he ever knew.ll
In June, 1776, William Wilson was
dispatched by the Indian
Agent, Colonel George Morgan, to visit
the western tribes, whom
Cornstalk cheerfully aided in every
measure calculated to pre-
serve the neutrality of the Indians,
accompanying him to the
Wyandotts, near Detroit, for that
purpose. In November of
this year, Cornstalk again visited the
fort at Point Pleasant, then
commanded by Captain Arbuckle. But the storm was fast
gathering, which was soon to burst, with
all its fury, upon the
frontier settlements. British presents
and British influence were
too powerful with the fickle Indian
tribes, the younger portions
of which were always but too ready to be
enticed into war, when
the double prospect of glory and plunder
was glitteringly held
out before them.
Trusty messengers were still dispatched
to the Indian coun-
try, and treaties appointed, with the
fond hope of averting the
impending storm; but all to no purpose.
It was as much as
Cornstalk could do to restrain his own
particular tribe of the
Shawanese, from engaging in the war; all
the others took up the
tomahawk; ammunition was forwarded to
them, early in 1777,
from Detroit, and hostile parties were
quickly on the war-path.
In his intercourse at the Moravian
Mission at Gnadenhutten, on
the Tuscarawas, Cornstalk had formed so
great a regard for
John Jacob Schmick and wife, that he
adopted them both into
the Shawanese nation as his brother and
sister. But all whose
hearts were poisoned with British
sentiments were proof against
the good principles of peace inculcated
by the noble and disin-
terested Cornstalk.
On the nineteenth of September, two
prominent Shawanese,
Red Hawk's son, and a one-eyed Indian,
familiarly called Old
Yie, arrived at Point Pleasant with a
string of white wampum,
which they delivered with a speech
replete with strong protesta-
11MS. Proceedings of the Treaty. MS.
letter of Andrew Lewis, Jr.,
to Dr. S. L. Campbell, April 25, 1840.
Sketch of Cornstalk. 257
tions of friendship. They then submitted
a suspicious black
string, which they said was sent to the
Delawares by George
Morgan, the American Indian agent, and
forwarded by the Del-
awares to the Shawanese, the
significance of which they professed
to be desirous of learning. Their
understanding of it, however,
they sufficiently explained, when they
confessed, that on the
receipt of the black string, with
information of an army about
to invade their country-referring
doubtless, to an intended ex-
pedition by General Edward Hand, then in
command at Pitts-
burgh,-the Indians embodied themselves.
They concluded by
begging strenuously that Cornstalk and
his particular tribe might
be exempt from any hostile blow. Under
the circumstances,
Captain Arbuckle, suspecting them to be
spies, felt himself jus-
tified in detaining these Indian
messengers.12
Some eight days after, Cornstalk's son,
El-i-nip-si-co, and an
Indian youth of some twelve years, made
their appearance on
horseback, on the northern bank of the
Ohio, opposite to Point
Pleasant; and hallooing over, the
interpreter, Scoppathan, an old
German, and his wife, formerly prisoners
with the Indians, as-
sured them that they could safely visit
the fort and depart un-
molested whenever they pleased.
El-i-nip-si-co's errand was, to
learn why the messengers were detained,
giving assurances that
his father, as well as the Hardman and
other chiefs, would soon
pay the garrison a friendly visit.13
El-i-nip-si-co remained but
a brief period.
What message Arbuckle sent to Cornstalk
can only be con-
jectured. Writing to General Hand at
this period, he gave the
reason for detaining the Indian
messengers, adding that he should
hold in custody as many more as should
fall into his hands, save
those engaged in carrying intelligence,
until he should receive
further instructions. Duplicity, on his
part was, perhaps, deemed
fair in war-time-the end justifying the
means. At all events,
Cornstalk, sometime in October, with his
heart filled only with
12Arbuckle to Hand, Oct. 6, 1777. Recollections of James
Ward,
of Kentucky.
13 Arbuckle to Hand Oct. 6, 1777.
Murphy's Recollections.
Vol. XXI -17.
258 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
good will to his Big Knife friends, came
fearlessly to the gar-
rison, to renew pledges of friendship,
and report the movements
of the Indians in the British interest.
With his open-hearted
frankness, he made no effort at
concealment of the hostile disposi-
tion of the Indians generally; declaring
that, for himself, he was
opposed to joining the British in the
war; but that all his
nation, save his own tribe, were fully
resolved, despite all his
efforts to the contrary, to engage in
it; and that, of course, he
and his clan would have to run with the
stream, as he expressed
it. Cornstalk was now, with the others,
detained as a hostage
for the neutrality of his people; Capt.
Arbuckle assuring them
that no other violence should be offered
them, provided the
treaty of 1774 should still be observed
by the nation.14
During this visit Captain William McKee,
one of the officers
assembled there for Hand's intended
campaign, had frequent
conversations with Cornstalk with
reference to the antiquities of
the West, in which the old chief evinced
much intelligence and
reflection. In reply to an inquiry
respecting the mound and fort-
builders, he stated that it was the
current and assured tradition
among his people, that Ohio and Kentucky
had once been settled
by a white race, possessed of arts of
which the Indians had no
knowledge that, after many sanguinary
contests with the na-
tives, these invaders were at length
exterminated. McKee in-
quired why the Indians had not learned
these arts of those
ancient white people? Cornstalk replied indefinitely, relating
that the Great Spirit had once given the
Indians a book which
taught them all these arts; but they had
lost it, and had never
since regained a knowledge of them. What
people were they,
McKee asked, who made so many graves on
the Ohio, and at
other places ? He declared that he did
not know, and remarked
that it was not his nation, or any he
had been acquainted with.
The Captain next practically repeated a
former inquiry, by ask-
ing Cornstalk if he could tell who made
those old forts, which
14MS. letter of Arbuckle to Hand, Oct.
6, 1777. Murphy's Recol-
lections; the relator was at Point
Pleasant a part of the time while
the Indians were confined there.
Stuart's Indian Wars, 58. Campbell's
MS. Memoir.
Sketch of Cornstalk. 259
displayed so much skill in fortifying?
He answered, that he only
knew that a story had been handed down
from a very long ago
people, that there had been a white race inhabiting the country
who made the graves and forts; and,
added, that some Indians,
who had travelled very far west, or
north-west, had found a
nation or people, who lived as Indians
generally do, although of
a different complexion.15
On the ninth of November, El-i-nip-si-co
came on the filial
errand to learn if his revered father
was alive and well. Arriving
at the river, opposite the fort, he
hallooed over desiring that a
canoe might be sent for him. Cornstalk
was, at the moment, by
request of the officers, in the act of
delineating, with chalk upon
the floor, a map of the country between
the Shawanese towns
and the Mississippi. Recognizing the
voice of his son, he arose,
went out, and answered him. When
El-i-nip-si-co landed, the
father and son embraced each other in
the most tender and affec-
tionate manner.
The next day a council was held, at
which Cornstalk was
present. His countenance was dejected,
as if he had some ter-
rible presentiment of evil. He made a
speech which indicated
an honest and manly disposition. He
frankly acknowledged that
he expected that he and his party would
have to run with the
stream-an expressive phrase he was wont
to utter; for, he said,
all the Indians on the Lakes and
northwardly were taking up the
hatchet for the British. He adverted to
his efforts, in the inter-
est of peace, both before and after the
battle of Point Pleasant.
At the conclusion of every sentence, he
would sadly repeat this
expression: "When I was young, and
went to war, I thought
that each expedition might prove the
last, and I would return
no more. Now I am here amongst you; you
may kill me if you
please; I can die but once; and it is
all one to me, now or an-
oth r time." This repeated
declaration seemed, in the light of
subsequent events, almost a revelation
of his impending fate.
Within an hour of the conclusion of the
council, Ensign
Robert Gilmore, of Captain John Hall's
company of Rockbridge
men, designed to take part in Hand's
expedition-one of the Gil-
15 John P. Campbell, in the Port Folio,
June, 1816.
260 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
more connections who suffered so
severely in the Carr's Creek
Massacre by Cornstalk's party in 1759
and 1763-together with
a man named Hamilton, struggled over the
Kenawha to hunt.
Soon after crossing the river, they
separated, and Gilmore was
shot and scalped, within a short
distance, by some of the Enemy
concealed in the weeds and willows on
the bank of the stream.
Hamilton escaped. A party of Hall's men
crossed over, and
soon returned with the bleeding corpse
of their late comrade.
They had scarcely touched the shore,
when they raised the retali-
tory shout-"Let us kill the Indians
in the fort !"
Hearing this ominous out-cry, the wife
of Scoppathan, the
interpreter, ran with all haste to the
cabin where the hostages
were, for whom, having once lived among
them, she retained a
kind regard, and informed them of
Gilmore's death; that the
soldiers charged the act upon Indians,
who, they averred, must
have come with El-i-nip-si-co the
previous day, and the maddened
white people were now coming to kill
them, by way of retalia-
tion. El-i-nip-si-co, trembling
exceedingly with emotions of fear
and terror, utterly denied that any of
the enemy accompanied
him, and declared that he knew nothing
whatever of them. Corn-
stalk calmly encouraged him not to be
afraid, for the Great Spirit
has sent him there to die with him; and
shamed him for showing
a disposition to hide in the loft, that
he had but once to die,
and should die like a warrior. The Great
Spirit, he added, knew
better than they did when they ought to
die; and as they had
come there with good intentions, the
Great Spirit would do good
to them.
Unhappily none of the militia officers
who had assembled
there for Hand's expedition, save
Captain Stuart, were present,
at the moment, to aid Arbuckle in
restraining the enraged men,
and they were powerless for good. Headed
by their Captain, the
infuriated soldiers rushed, with rifles
in hand, for their devoted
victim-stopping only a moment, when
appealed to by Captains
Arbuckle and Stuart, cocking their guns,
and threatening them
with instant death, if they interposed
to save the Indians. As
they reached the cabin door, Cornstalk
rose up and met them,
baring his breast, and remarking,
"if any Big Knife has anything
against me, let him now avenge
himself;" when a volley was
Sketch of Cornstalk. 261
fired, seven or eight balls passing
through his body. He fell
lifeless upon the floor. El-i-nip-si-co
was shot dead, as he sat
upon a stool, awaiting his inexorable
fate. The Red Hawk's son,
who attempted to climb up the chimney,
was pulled down and
shot; while the other Indian-Old
Yie,-was shamefully man-
gled, and was long in the agonies of
death.16
Thus fell the great and noble
Cornstalk-"whose name was
bestowed upon him by the consent of the
nation, as their great
strength and support." 17 It was a sad
and sickening tragedy--
one of those frenzied acts that
occasionally grow out of the
frequent contact of impulsive men with
the unnatural scenes of
war and its consequent desolations.
Eight days after this tragic event,
General Hand arrived at
Point Pleasant, and was much concerned
to learn of the unhappy
occurrence. Though the officers united
in expressing the greatest
abhorrence of the deed, yet he was
convinced, from the actions
of the soldiers, that it would be in
vain for him to try to bring
the perpetrators to justice-so he wrote
to Patrick Henry, then
Governor of Virginia; but suggested that
Colonels Dickinson
and Skillern, who were present, knew the
most active of the
participants. Governor Henry's letters,
at the time, evinced the
strongest determination that the
offenders should be brought be-
fore the courts, on their return home,
and the guilty punished.
It was not only a flagrant crime against
humanity, but one highly
detrimental to public policy. The few
troops assembled at Point
Pleasant, altogether too inadequate for
the contemplated expedi-
tion, were discharged; and, arriving in
Rockbridge, some of the
ring leaders fled the country to avoid
prosecution, and none were
ever brought to justice.
"From this event," wrote
General Hand, "we have little
reason to expect a reconciliation with
the Shawanese, except fear
16A rude
versifier of that day commemorated the tragedy, in lan-
guage more truthful than poetic:
Cornstalk, the Shawanees' greatest
boast,
Old Yie, by whom much blood was lost,
Red Hawk and El-i-nip-si-co,
Lie dead beside the Ohio.
17 Stuart's Indian Wars, 61.
262 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
operates on them; for, if we had any
friends among them, those
unfortunate wretches were so; Cornstalk
particularly appearing
to be the most active of the nation in
promoting peace."18 The
Indians, in this instance, were at a
loss to determine on whom
the blame should be laid; whether on the
perpetrators of the
act or on their superiors for not using
their authority in prevent-
ing it; and their accusations against
the white people at Point
Pleasant were the more severe, since
they knew the friendly dis-
position of their chief toward them, and
the important errand on
which he was engaged at the time.19
In all the long line of Shawanese
chiefs, the one in whom
was most blended the sterling qualities
of bravery, eloquence,
wisdom and justice, was unquestionably
Keigh-tugh-qua-the
Cornstalk. His noble personal
appearance, as well as his many
brave and manly acts, combine to
constitute him one of the most
remarkable men savage life has yet
produced. In 1774, when his
nation rushed headlong into war, in
opposition to his vehement
protestations, he nevertheless risked
his life in leading them into
battle, and, by his powerful personal
presence, kept them hotly
engaged the whole day; and, in 1777,
when they again resolved
on hostilities, against his strong
admonitions, he made the mission
of peace and good will to Point
Pleasant, pleading in their behalf,
and sealing his devotion to his people
by the sacrifice of life itself.
Such a man was truly a hero and a
patriot, though not educated
in the schools, nor trained in military
academies. Whoever visits
his grave, yet pointed out at Point
Pleasant, may worthily drop
a tear to his memory.
18 Hand to Richard Peters, Sec. of Board
of War, Dec. 24, 1777.
19 MS.
letters of Hand to Patrick Henry, Dec. 9th, and to Richard
Peters, Dec. 24th, 1777. MS. Deposition
of John Anderson, Wm. Ward,
and Richard Thomas, relative to the
murder of Cornstalk and com-
panions Nov. 10th, 1777. MS. Fleming and
Preston Papers, Murphy's
Collections. Stuart's Indian Wars,
59-61. Campbell's MS. Memoir.
Heckewelder's Narrative, 150, 151.