BOWMAN'S
CAMPAIGN-1779.
BY HENRY HALL,
A Survivor, Bourbon Co., Ky.
(From the Draper MSS., in the Archives
of the Wisconsin His-
torical Society.)
Notes taken in April, 1844.
From Henry Hall, of Bourbon Co.,
Ky.; born near Phila.
24th May, 1760-Apr. 1844.)
Mr. Hall was in Wm. Harrod's
company, of about 60 men, from the Falls
of Ohio. Edward
Bulger, who was subsequently killed at
the Blue Licks, was ensign
of Harrod's company. Mr. Hall does not
think James Harrod
nor John Haggin were out-recollects but
four companies, com-
manded by Wm. Harrod, Benj. Logan, Levi
Todd & John Holder.
Bowman's men numbered altogether about 230 men.
Rendezvoused at the mouth of Licking-Wm.
Harrod's
company reached there first, &
turned in to killing buffalo, bear
and deer, for provisions-killed some
game at Big Bone Lick,
& there got some of the bones of
mammoth.
Harrod brought 2 keel boats &
3 canoes--& in these, all
the troops crossed at the mouth of
Licking, save 32 who were
left to take care of the boats. No cabin
was built; they lived
in the boats, & kept plying up &
down until the troops returned-
thus kept moving about, thinking it less
dangerous than to re-
main stationary. Left the mouth of Licking
on Friday morning,
May 25th, & reached the vicinity of
(Little Chillicothe) the
town, on Sunday eve, May 27th
(Note, by L. C. D. [Lyman C.
Draper]-While copying these memos., I
have referred to Gen.
Dan. Smith's Journal of '79 & '80, I
find that the last Friday in
May, '79, was the 28th, &
that the Monday following was the
31st-I w(oul)d naturally think, that Mr.
Hall mistook the
date (28th May of starting for the mouth
of Licking, for the
date of the attack-L. C. D.) &
halted in the prairie a few hun-
dred yards east, or perhaps south east,
of the town, the dogs
(515)
516 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
larking, while the captains went to
reconnoitre. Mr. Hall thinks
it was after midnight when they searched
there-don't recollect
about the moon; but it was quite foggy.
The captains were gone
near an hour. A disposition of the men
was now made-Wm.
Harrod's company were to attack the east
or upper end of the
town, while the other captains went
further around.
One of Cap(t). Wm. Harrod's men, named
Hutton, seeing
an Indian coming into town, shot him and
he fell; & Hutton ran
up to take his scalp, when one of the
others mistaking him for
an Indian, fired & very slightly
wounded Hutton in the side. At
this alarm some five or six Indians came
running out of the
cabins and shot at the men, & were
shot at in turn (& probably
Black Fish was here wounded, as Mr.
Jackson says). Then the
Indians retired; & the fog again
settling, it was thought best to
remain as they were; & while thus
upon their arms, two Indian
drums were beat in the town at a loud
rate. Some of the Indians
did throw themselves (as Jackson says) into some cabins
near
the council-house, & from there
fired, &c.
Laid still for an hour or so; when
daylight came, com-
menced fighting & continued some time.
In a cabin Mr. Hall
saw an Indian repeatedly remove a
shingle from the roof &
shoot out; Hall & some others were
posted behind a deserted
cabin; a left-handed gunner was needed
to get a good shot at the
opening in the roof. Hall, who could
shoot as well left as right
handed, watched, & when the Indian's
gun was seen to take its
place in the aperture, Hall took aim a
little above & fired; this
hole was closed, and no more firing from
that quarter. Win.
Hickman, of Harrod's company, ran from
behind the cabin
where Hall was, & took post behind
the white oak log, & exposing
himself too much, was shot through the
forehead-the sun was
then an hour high. The Indians hollered
out, proposing that they
would fight the whites out in the
woods-& Bowman seemed to
accept, & ordered the men to fall
back into the woods & form;
the men were in confusion & did not
obey. Shortly after, how-
ever, they fired some 10 or 12 cabins at
the east end of the town;
these were set on fire chiefly with the
aid of small bags of powder,
which were found, more or less, in
almost every cabin, furnished
doubtless by the British. This was about
9 or 10 o'clock in the
Bowman's Campaign of 1779. 517
morning. Then gathered up the horses
around the town-got
some five or six hundred. Got strouds,
clothes, leggings, shirts
(one of which Hall had, having on it
1100 brooches) & a great
variety of English goods. While
retreating out of town Jerry
South was shot between the shoulders,
the ball passing through
his body & lodging under the skin of
his breast-he was packed
on a horse, with some one behind to hold
him on-he died the
2nd day after.
Commenced the return march about eleven
o'clock, & went
some distance-2 or 3 miles-towards
Detroit (this going to-
wards Detroit must be an error-went
perhaps S. E. to Xenia,
then tacked to L. W.-L. C. D.). Then
Bowman ordered the
spies to tack, and steer for the mouth
of the Little Miami. Bow-
man was advised to ambush the trail, as
the Indians were seen
following at a distance; when the whites
would leave a small
prairie, the Indians would be seen
entering it on the other side.
Got some 6 or 8 miles, & just
crossed a creek, when they found
themselves surrounded by the Indians.
The ground was a pretty
good piece; the Indians had, in this
particular, no advantage;
timber thick on the north east side,
& pretty much barren on the
other sides, with scattering trees &
shrubbery. It was now about
one o'clock. The men had thus far
marched in three lines, with
the horses within the lines. A hollow
square or circle was now
formed, & a scattering fire
commenced which soon became quite
brisk.
During the fight John Moredock was shot
in the head.
Tho(ma)s Guthrie was shot in the mouth,
though not danger-
ously. Some one was shot in the thigh,
& was lying down in the
hollow square, & seeing the firing
slack on one side of the line,
& some Indians attempting to cut him
off, mounted a horse &
dashed off, hotly pursued by three
Indians-he managed to escape
them, though several times they came in
view. At night he lay
down, fastening the bridle to his wrist
& fell asleep-awoke,
found the horse gone, & felt that he
must perish in his lone &
almost helpless situation, but
over-powered with fatigue &
weariness he again fell asleep; awoke by
the singing of birds at
daybreak, & was rejoiced to find his
horse close by him! Crept
518 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
up and got on, & that day fell in
upon Bowman's trail and over-
took the troops.
After fighting some time, Hall got a
fair shot not over ten
steps off, at an Indian loading his
gun-the Indian jumped up
several feet & fell, when Hall had
to escape from several Indians
around him.
Edward Bulger proposed, as the only way
of extricating
themselves, to mount several of the
horses, dash out, rouse up
the Indians from their coverts, fire and
return. Accordingly
Bulger, Hall and three others thus made
a sally and returned-
& every one of the five horses were
shot, some fell dead as they
re-entered the hollow square or
circle-it made no great differ-
ence, as the horses were Indian plunder.
This new mode of carry-
ing on operation placed the
Indians-instead of the whites, as
heretofore--on the defensive. Other
horses were mounted-the
number of men increased a little, &
again dashed out;-& be-
tween that and dark made some six or
seven sallies-the last
one near after dark, when the flashes of
the guns on both sides
were distinctly visible. The Indians now
drew off; & Bowman
renewed his march-went two or three
hours, passed through a
piece of swampy ground, & down a
branch or creek; when emerg-
ing from the low ground, a halt of two
hours was ordered for
the men to rest, & then resumed the
march.
The men were in great confusion &
anger-blaming Bowman
for bad management, & for not taking
an active and vigilant part
himself; & while thus bandying
complaints a great many of the
horses strayed off-men were nearly
starved.
It should be remarked, that on Sunday
evening, while lying
on the prairie for the officers to
reconnoitre, it was quite cold,
& the men mostly took their blankets
& threw them around them
-in these, were their small supply of
provisions; & when they
were ordered to take their respective
positions in surrounding
the town, they left their blankets
there-& when they left next
day, they were too much confused to
re-possess their blankets,
& thus lost their provisions.
Had Bowman been attacked during this
return march, after
the afternoon fight, it must have
resulted disastrously.
Bowman's Campaign of 1779. 519 Mr. Hall thinks Bowman's loss was seven or eight killed, & three or four wounded. At the mouth of the Little Miami they found the boats, which had been directed to be there-crossed the Ohio-got but 163 horses over-were slower in getting back to the Ohio than in going out. Had the sale on the South bank of the Ohio, a little above the mouth of the Little Miami. The property sold, amounted, when apportioned off, to about 11O [pounds] to each man; little, however, was ever collected or distributed-& thus, as it proved in the sequel, each got what he bid off. Capt. Wm. Harrod, with 6 others, went up the Ohio to Red Stone in the two keel boats &c.-and took along several bones & tusks got at the Big Bone Lick. |
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