Ohio History Journal




ADDENDA

ADDENDA

TO THE PATHFINDERS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.

 

The time allotted the compiler by the Society in which to

prepare the matter foregoing precluded the possibility of exami-

nation of original papers to the extent necessary for an absolutely

correct historical statement, and the demand for delivery of copy

into the hands of the printer forced completion of manuscript

before the compiler could receive information for which he had

applied to authorities, and consequently the addenda following

appears essential to a clearer understanding of the previous

pages.

THE LOCHRY (CLARK'S) EXPEDITION.

The reference to the difficulty of procuring a fuller account

of the Defeat of Archibald Lochry and his men at the mouth of

the Big Miami, resulting in the massacre of many of his soldiers,

which, many consider, one of the exciting causes of the massacre

of the so-called Moravian Indians at Gnadenhutten, had only

reference to the Archives of Pennsylvania. There are other

accounts of the defeat, among them, that given by Roosevelt in

"Winning of the West," in which according to Consul W. But-

terfield, the most painstaking of all the historians of the West -

the most noted, the most conscientious, so careful in statement

that if at all possible to obtain, he accepts nothing as true with-

out the testimony of the original paper, many errors were made,

Roosevelt even spelling Lochry "Loughrie." George and not

Simon Girty was with the Indians in this battle. He was not

commander of the British forces (the Indians), but was under

Capt. Brant, who, in a quarrel after the battle, struck Simon

Girty on his face with his sword, inflicting a serious wound which

disfigured Girty for life. The quarrel was the result of the boast

made by Brant that he had captured Col. Lochry and his men,

Simon Girty at the time of the battle being at Louisville watching

(384)



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  385

 

for the appearance of George Rogers Clark, with whom Lochry

was to have gone to Detroit on a very important expedition,

the object being the capture of the British garrison at that point.

Brant was so elated over his success that he boasted to Simon

Girty, whose contingent had failed in the expected capture of

Clark, which so angered Simon that he denounced Brant as a liar,

whereupon Brant inflicted the wound that augmented the re-

pulsiveness of his countenance. Girty often boasted of the scar

as having been received in many conflicts with the Americans.

The local interest in Lochry's Defeat comes of the fact that

descendants of the Westmoreland county rangers are residents

of Ohio and Jefferson county.

The accompanying account of the Defeat of Lochry is the

fullest consecutive report of the battle the compiler has been

able to obtain, and for it he is indebted to the editor of The Aurora

(Ind.) Bulletin.

 

LOCHRY'S DISASTROUS DEFEAT.

The surprise and defeat of Archibald Lochry and the mas-

sacre of his men is the first conflict on record between the Indians

and the whites on the soil of Indiana. It took place in the last

year of the Revolutionary war and was really one of the battles

of the Revolution, as the Indians engaged in it were allies of

the British. The winding stream which forms the boundary

between Dearborn and Ohio counties, at the mouth of which

the bloody battle was fought, bears the name of the unfortunate

colonel who there lost his life. It is the purpose of this chapter

to give all the facts now known concerning Col. Lochry's expe-

dition and its disastrous termination.

We have accounts of the expedition by two men who par-

ticipated in it - Capt. Robt. Orr and Lieut. Isaac Anderson.

Capt. Orr, whose account is published in Western Annals, was

wounded by having his arm broken in the engagement; he was

carried off a prisoner to Sandusky, where he remained several

months; at length, finding that they could not cure his wound,

the Indians took him to the hospital at Detroit, whence he was

transferred to Montreal in the winter, and exchanged with other

prisoners at the end of the war; afterward he was appointed a

Vol. VI-25



386 Ohio Arch

386       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

judge of Armstrong county, Penn., which position he held at

his death, in 1833, in his eighty-ninth year. Lieut. Anderson's

account is published in McBride's pioneer Biographies of Butler

county, Ohio. The date of the engagement, as given by Capt.

Orr, is August 25, 1781, by Lieut. Anderson, August 24. The

latter is probably the correct date, as Anderson kept a journal

during the expedition.

Early in the summer of 1781 Col. Archibald Lochry, who

was county lieutenant of Westmoreland county, Penn., was re-

quested by Col. George Rogers Clark to raise a military force

and join him in a contemplated military movement against the

Indian tribes of the Northwest. Capt. Orr, by his own exertions,

raised a company of volunteer riflemen. Capts. Stokely and

Shannon commanded each a company of rangers, and Capt.

Campbell a company of horse. The party amounted to 107 men.

Col. Lochry was the only field officer in command. It was Col.

Clark's original intention to rendezvous at the mouth of the

Great Miami, and to proceed up that river with his expedition,

but he subsequently changed his plan and ordered Col. Lochry

to follow him to the falls of the Ohio.

The force was rendezvoused at Carnahan's block-house,

eleven miles west of Hannastown, July 24, and on the next day

they set out for Fort Henry (Wheeling) by way of Pittsburgh,

where it was arranged that they should join the army under

Clark. On arriving there they found that Clark had gone twelve

miles down the river, leaving for them some provisions and a

traveling boat, with directions to follow him. After preparing

some temporary boats for the transportation of the men and

horses, which occupied ten days, they proceeded to join Clark.

Arriving at the place where he had halted, they found he had

gone down the river the day before, leaving Maj. Creacroft with

a few men and a boat for transportation of the horses, but without

either provisions or ammunition, of which they had an inadequate

supply. Clark had, however, promised to await their arrival at

the mouth of the Kanawha River, but on reaching that point,

they found that he had been obliged, in order to prevent deser-

tion among his men, to proceed down the river, leaving only a

letter fixed to a pole directing them to follow.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  387

 

Their provisions and forage were nearly exhausted; there

was no source of supply but the stores conveyed by Clark; the

river was low and they were unacquainted with the channel, and

could not therefore hope to overtake him. Under these embar-

rassing circumstances Col. Lochry dispatched Capt. Shannon with

four men in a small boat with the hope of overtaking the main

army and securing supplies, leaving Capt. Shannon's company

under the command of Lieut. Isaac Anderson. Before Capt.

Shannon and his men had proceeded far they were taken pris-

oners by the Indians, and with them was taken a letter to Clark,

detailing the situation of Lochry's party. About the same time

Col. Lochry arrested a party of nineteen deserters from Clark's

army, whom he afterwards released, and they immediately joined

the Indians.

The savages had been apprised of the expedition, but had

previously supposed that Clark and Lochry were traveling to-

gether, and through fear of the cannon which Clark carried,

refrained from making an attack. Apprised now by the capture

of Shannon and his men and by the reports of the deserters, of

the weakness of Lochry's party, they collected in force below the

mouth of the Great Miami with the determination to destroy

them. They placed these prisoners in a conspicuous position

on the north shore of the Ohio, near, it was said, the head of an

island, and promised to spare their lives on condition that they

would hail their companions as they passed and induce them

to surrender. This island is about three miles below the mouth

of the creek named after the commander. Col. Lochry and his

men made slow progress in descending the Ohio, and despairing

of overtaking Clark's army, they landed, August 24, about 10

o'clock in the morning, at a very attractive spot on the north side

of the Ohio at the mouth of a creek, about ten miles below the

mouth of the Great Miami. Here they removed their horses

ashore and turned them loose to graze. One of the party had

killed a buffalo, and all, except a few set to guard the horses,

were engaged around the fires which they had kindled in prepar-

ing a meal from it. Suddenly they were assailed by a volley of

rifle balls from an overhanging bluff, covered with large trees,

on which the Indians immediately appeared in great force. The



388 Ohio Arch

388       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

men thus surprised, seized their arms and defended themselves

as long as their ammunition lasted, and then attempted to escape

by means of their boats. But the boats were unwieldy, the water

was low, and the force too much weakened to make them avail-

able, and the whole party, unable to escape or defend themselves,

were compelled to surrender.

Immediately the Indians fell upon and massacred Col. Lochry

and several other prisoners, but were restrained by the arrival of

the chief who commanded them, the celebrated Brant, who after-

ward apologized for the massacre. He did not approve, he de-

clared, of such conduct, but it was impossible entirely to control

his Indians. The murder of the prisoners was perpetrated in

revenge for the massacre of the Indian prisoners taken by Broad-

head's army on the Muskingum a few months before. The

Indians engaged numbered 300 or more, and consisted of various

tribes, among whom the prisoners and plunder were divided in

proportion to the number of warriors of each tribe engaged.

The next day they set out on their return to the Delaware

towns. There they were met by a party of British and Indians,

commanded by Col. Caldwell and accompanied by the two Girtys

and McKee, who professed to be on their way to the falls to

attack George Rogers Clark. They remained there two days.

Brant, with the greater part of the Indians, returned with Cald-

well toward the Ohio. A few only remained to take charge of

the prisoners and spoils. These they separated and took to the

towns to which they were assigned. The prisoners remained in

captivity until the next year which brought the Revolutionary

war to a close. More than one-half of the number who left

Pennsylvania under Col. Lochry never returned.

The foregoing account is substantially that given by Capt.

Orr. Some doubt has been expressed whether Brant was the

leader of the Indians. James McBride, in his sketch of Isaac

Anderson, says that the Indians who were waiting opposite the

island below to intercept the party, were informed of the landing

of the whites by runners. According both to McBride and An-

derson there were two attacking parties of Indians, one in the

woods and the other in canoes on the river.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  389

 

Lieut. Isaac Anderson kept a daily journal from the time

he set out on the expedition until his return. Without abridgment

we insert the first part of the journal covering the month of

August, preserving the original spelling of proper names.

 

 

JOURNAL OF LIEUT. ISAAC ANDERSON.

"August 1, 1781. We met at Col. Carnahan's in order to

form a body of men to join Gen. Clark on the expedition against

the Indians.

"Aug. 2d. Rendezvoused at said place.

"Aug. 3d. Marched under command of Col. Lochry to

Maracle's mill, about 83 in number.

"Aug. 4. Crossed Youghagania river.

"Aug. 5. Marched to Dover's ferry.

"Aug. 6. To Raccoon settlement.

"Aug. 7. To Capt. Mason's.

"Aug. 8. To Wheeling Fort, and found Clark had started

down the river about twelve hours.

"Aug. 9. Col. Lochry sent a quartermaster and officer of

the horse after him, which overtook him at Middle Island and

returned; then started all our foot troops on seven boats and our

horses by land to Grave Creek.

"Aug. 13. Moved down to Fishing Creek; we took up

Lieut. Baker and 16 men, deserting from Gen. Clark, and went

that day to middle of Long Reach, where we stayed that night.

"Aug. 15. To the Three Islands, where we found Maj.

Creacroft waiting on us with a horse-boat. He with his guard,

six men, started that night after Gen. Clark.

"Aug. 16. Col. Lochry detailed Capt. Shannon with 7 men

and letter after Gen. Clark, and we moved that day to the Little

Connaway (Kanawha) with all our horses on board the boats.

"Aug. 17. Two men went out to hunt who never returned to

us. We moved that day to Buffalo Island.

"Aug. 18. To Catfish Island.

"Aug. 19. To Bare Banks.

"Aug. 20. We met with two of Shannon's men, who told

us they had put to shore to cook, below the mouth of the Siotha



390 Ohio Arch

390       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

(Scioto) where Shannon sent them and a sergeant out to hunt.

When they got about half a mile in the woods they heard a num-

ber of shots which they supposed to be Indians firing on the

rest of the party, and they immediately took up the river to meet

us; but, unfortunately, the sergeant's knife dropped on the ground

and it ran directly through his foot and he died of the wound in

a few minutes. We sailed all night.

"Aug. 21. We moved to the Two Islands.

"Aug. 22. To the Sassafras Bottom.

"Aug. 23. Went all day and all night.

"Aug. 24. Col. Lochry ordered the boats to land on the

Indian shore, about 10 miles below the mouth of the great Mey-

amee (Miami) river to cook provisions and cut grass for the

horses, when we were fired on by a party of Indians from the

bank. We took to our boats, expecting to cross the river, and was

fired on by another party in a number of canoes, and soon we

became a prey to them. They killed the Col. and a number

more after they were prisoners. The number of our killed was

about forty. They marched us that night about eight miles up

the river and encamped.

"Aug. 25. We marched eight miles up the Meyamee river

and encamped.

"Aug. 26. Lay in camp.

"Aug. 27. The party that took us was joined by one hun-

dred white men under the command of Capt. Thompson and

three hundred Indians under the command of Capt. McKee.

"Aug. 28. The whole of the Indians and whites went down

against the settlements of Kentucky, excepting a sergeant and

eighteen men, which were left to take care of sixteen prisoners

and stores that were left there. We lay there until the fifteenth

of Sept.

"Sept. 15, 1781. We started toward the Shawna towns on

our way to Detroit."

Return of the men killed and taken August 24, 1781, upon

the Ohio river under the command of Col. Lochry.

Killed: Col. Lochry, Capt. Campbell, Ensigns Ralph Max-

well and Cabel.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  391

 

Prisoners: Maj. Creacroft, Adj't Guthree, Quartermaster

Wallace, Capts. Thomas Stokely, Samuel Shannon and Robert

Orr; Lieuts. Isaac Anderson, Joseph Robinson, Samuel Craig,

John Scott, Milr Baker; Ensign Hunter.

Privates killed and taken prisoners in Capt. Stokely's com-

pany:

Killed: Hugh Gallagher, Isaac Patton, Douglass, Pheasant,

Young, Gibson, Smith, Stratton, Baily and John Burns.

Prisoners: John Trimble, William Mars, John Seace, Michael

Miller, Robert Watson, John Allenton, Richard Fleman, James

Cain, Patrick Murphy, Abraham Anderson, Michael Haire.

Capt. Campbell's company:

Killed: William Allison, James McRight, Jonathan Mc-

Kinley.

Prisoners: William Husk, Robert Wilson, James Dunseth,

William Weatherington, Keany Quigley, Ezekiel Lewis.

Capt. Orr's company:

Killed: John Forsyth, William Cain, Adam Erwin, Peter

Maclin, Archibald Erskin, John Black, John Stewart, Joseph

Crawford.

Prisoners: Adam Owry, Samuel Lefaver, John Hunter,

Joseph Erwin, Mans Kite, Hugh Steer, Hugh Moore.

Capt. Shannon's company:

Killed: Ebenezer Burns, killed by accident.

Prisoners: Solomon Aikens, John Lever, Jonas Fisher,

George Hill, John Porter, John Smith.

Lieut. Baker's company:

Killed: D'Allinger, George Butcher, John Rowe, Peter

Brickman, Jonas Peters, Jonas Brooks.

Prisoners: John Catt, Vol Lawrence, Jacob Lawrence,

Christopher Tait, Charles Martlin, William Rourk, Wnd. Franks,

Abraham Righley, George Mason.

Lieut. Anderson's company:

Killed: Samuel Evans, Sergt. Zeanz Harden, Matthew Lamb,

John Milegan, John Corn.

Prisoners: Norman McLeod, Sergt. James McFerson, Wil-

liam Marshall, Denis McCarty, Peter Conely, John Ferrel.



392 Ohio Arch

392       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

Taken prisoners in Maj. Creacroft's company:

Thomas James, Thomas Adkson, John Stakehouse, William

Clark, Elihu Risely, Alexander Burns.

Forty-eight privates and twelve officers taken; five officers

and thirty-six privates killed. - (From History of Dearborn and

Ohio Counties, Ind. 1885.)

 

 

SIEGE OF FORT LAURENS AND ITS RELIEF.

The fact that the relief of Fort Laurens of which siege Hil-

dreth's account is given on page 186, rendezvoused at Mingo gives

additional interest to Jefferson county in the first fortification

built by the Federal Government in the territory northwest of

the Ohio. The accompanying account of Fort Laurens was

kindly prepared for the compiler by Consul W. Butterfield from

his work "Washington-Irvine Correspondence," an authority

accepted and quoted by all writers of Trans-Allegheny History.

In the "History of the Girtys," one of the most valuable of

his contributions to Western history in that he corrects many

of the errors of statement made by early writers and perpetuated

by others, Butterfield makes many references to Fort Laurens.

On page 95 he says: "The siege (although a failure), considering

that the fort was a regularly built fortification, planned by an

engineer of the regular army of the United States, and garrisoned

by regular troops, and considering, also, the persistency of the

besiegers, nearly all of whom were savages, and who closely

invested the post for twenty-five days, was the most notable

of any in the West during the Revolution." Aside from its gen-

eral importance there is peculiar local interest in Fort Laurens

on account of the fact that it was at this fort that White Eyes

was killed by an American soldier, either through treachery

or by accident. White Eyes was one of the Indian chiefs loyal

to the Americans in the Revolutionary conflict, and was the

father of Capt. White Eyes, the Indian killed in Jefferson county

after peace was declared after Wayne's victory, by Carpenter,

who was indicted for the crime, this being the first murder case

in the county.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.      393

 

 

HISTORY OF FORT LAURENS.1

 

BY CONSUL WILLSHIRE BUTTERFIELD.

[ Extracts from the Washington-Irvine Correspondence.]

Alarming intelligence now reached McIntosh from the wilder-

ness west. He was reproached for his tardiness by friendly In-

dians, who threatened that all their nations would unite in the

Tuscarawas valley to give him battle, and oppose his progress to

Detroit. Orders were, therefore, immediately issued for twelve

hundred men to get ready to march. On the fifth of November,

the movement of the army westward commenced, including the

whole force, except one company, which was left under command

of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Campbell, of the Thirteenth Vir-

ginia regiment, to bring on the "long-looked for supplies."2 For

fourteen days, the march continued before the Tuscarawas was

reached,3 a distance of only about seventy miles from Fort Mc-

Intosh. This slow progress was caused by the "horses and cattle

tiring every four or five miles." It was upon this river, where

the army had now encamped, that the commander anticipated

meeting the enemy; but only a few Delawares from Coshocton,

and some Moravian Indians4 were found, and they were friendly.

 

1 Written in 1881. In the History of the Girtys, (pp. 88, 89, 90, 91, 92,

93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 109, 113, 114) written nearly ten years after, may be

found much additional information concerning the fort, also a few correc-

tions.-C. W. B.

2McIntosh to Washington, 27 Apr., 1779, in Sparks' Corr. Amer. Rev.,

vol. II, p. 284. Jacob White's pension statement, 1833, MS. copy. Dunlavy's

pension statement, MS. copy, previously cited. McIntosh's orderly book,

1778, MS.

3 That is to say there were fourteen marching days. The army did not

make its camp on the Tuscarawas until November 21st: McIntosh's orderly

book, 1778, MS. McIntosh in his letter to Washington, of 27 Apr., 1779, just

cited, says: "We were fourteen days upon our march." The route was

the same as the one followed by Colonel Henry Bouquet, on his march

against western Indians in 1764. For a description of the course taken by

that officer, consult Bouquet's Expedition against the Ohio Indians, Phila-

delphia printed, London reprinted, 1766, pp. 11-13; or, Robert Clarke & Co.'s

reprint, Cincinnati, 1868, pp. 46-51.

4The Moravian Indians (themselves mostly Delawares) were of those

gathered in the valley of the Tuscarawas, by Moravian missionaries.



394 Ohio Arch

394        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

The gathering of the savages to impede his march, he was told,

had been abandoned.5

At this juncture, McIntosh was informed that the necessary

supplies for the winter had not reached Fort McIntosh, and that

very little could be expected. He was thus disappointed in all

his "flattering prospects and schemes" against Detroit. There

was now no other alternative but to return as he came, without

effecting any valuable purpose, thereby confirming the savages

in the opinion already formed of the weakness of the Americans,

and combining them all more completely with the British,-or,

to build a strong stockade fort upon the Tuscarawas, and leave

as many men as provisions would justify, to secure it until the

next season, to serve as a bridle upon the Indians in their own

country.6 The commander, with the unanimous approbation of

his principal officers, chose the latter alternative; and a post was

commenced where there had been one formerly,7 on the west bank

of the river, below the mouth of Sandy creek,--the whole army

being employed upon it while provisions lasted; not, however,

without some trouble, as the militia whose homes were west of the

mountains, were in a mutinous condition. The fortification was

a regularly laid out work, inclosing less than an acre of ground,

and was named Fort Laurens, in honor of the president of con-

gress. It was the first military post of the government erected

upon any portion of the territory now constituting the State of

Ohio. Leaving a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, with

5 That the enemy seriously contemplated meeting McIntosh in the val-

ley of the Tuscarawas, there is no evidence.

6 Such were the reasons given by McIntosh to Washington, sometime

afterward, for building Fort Laurens, as -, -, and their dependents,

for want of other matter, have cried it down, as a designed slaughter-pen,

impossible to maintain; and endeavored to prejudice the whole country

against it, although the former laid the plan that was afterwards adopted

for taking and keeping Detroit."-McIntosh to Washington 27 April, 1779,

previously cited.

7Compare Bouquet's Expedition, London reprint, p. 13, or Cincinnati

reprint, pp. 51, 52, as to the erection of a fort upon the right bank of the

Tuscarawas, in 1764, by Col. Bouquet. The fortification commenced by

McIntosh was close by the site of Bouquet's.

8A short distance south of the present village of Bolivar, Tuscarawas

county, Ohio.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  395

 

scanty supplies, under command of Colonel John Gibson, to finish

and protect the work, McIntosh, with the rest of his army, returned,

very short of provisions,9 to Fort McIntosh, where the militia under

his command were discharged "precipitately.'10

Washington soon after, in ignorance of McIntosh's move-

ments beyond the mountains, declared that the latter ought to

decide finally, if he had not already done so, whether he could,

with the force, provisions, stores, prospect of supplies, and means

of transportation, which he then had, advance to Detroit; and

whether the advantages or disadvantages of a winter expedition

preponderated. The return of the Fort Pitt commander to the

Ohio river was an emphatic decision, already given, in opposition

to a winter campaign against that post.

McIntosh now made such disposition of his continental troops

and independent companies for the winter as, in his judgment,

would protect the border, and facilitate future operations. The

Eighth Pennsylvania regiment was assigned to Fort Pitt. The

men left in Fort Laurens were a part of the Thirteenth Virginia.

The residue, with the independent companies, were divided be-

tween Fort McIntosh, Fort Henry, Fort Randolph, and Fort

Hand; with a few at inferior stations. There was not one of the

militia retained under pay at either of these posts.

After the main army left Fort Laurens, the work upon that

post was continued. "I have already finished setting up the

pickets," wrote the officer in charge, toward the latter part of De-

cember, "and, in a few days, I think I can bid defiance to the

enemy." "The distressed situation of the men," he continued,

"prevents the work from going on as briskly as it otherwise

would." In the meantime, he had opened negotiations with the

friendly Delawares at Coshocton for the purchase of some cattle.

"With these," he added, "I am in hopes we shall have beef enough,

9"On our march in, we were obliged to eat beef-hides, which had been

left to dry; they were first roasted: " Statement of Stephen Burkham, 1845.

"Thirty-six dry hides were cut up and roasted in one night:" Ellis' Recol-

lections, 1845.

10McIntosh to Washington, 11 Jan., 1779, MS. Mem. of Francis Dun-

lavy, MS. The army left Fort Laurens on the morning of the 9th Dec., ar-

riving at Fort McIntosh the 13th.



396 Ohio Arch

396       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

and that we shall have a sufficient quantity of flour until a farther

supply can be sent us."11

While McIntosh was at Fort Laurens, he ordered one hun-

dred and fifty militia from Westmoreland county, to march as

secretly as possible to "the forks of the Alleghany river," and

endeavor to destroy some Indians settled on French creek, who

were the perpetrators of much of the mischief done in the northern

settlements. The men reached a point within "ten miles of the

savages, when they returned," declared McIntosh, "without see-

ing the face of a single Indian."12 "We proceeded on to French

creek," is the subsequent language of the officer having chief

command of the expedition, "where we found the Indian town

evacuated." "I then went on further than my orders called for,"

he adds, "in quest of Indians; but our provisions being nearly

exhausted, we were obliged to return."13

More than half of the month of January, 1779, wore away

without anything of importance occurring to the westward of

Pittsburg, when Samuel Sample, an assistant quartermaster, sent

by Colonel Gibson from Fort Laurens to Coshocton, for corn and

other articles, had one man killed,14 and another desperately

wounded,15 by treacherous Delawares.16 Toward the close of the

month, Captain John Clark, of the Eighth Pennsylvania regiment,

who had commanded an escort of provisions to Gibson, was, on

his return, with a sergeant and fourteen men, when only about

three miles distant from the fort, attacked by seventeen Indians,

chiefly Mingoes, led by Simon Girty, the renegade from Pittsburg,

who, immediately after his arrival at Detroit, was employed in the

11 Col. John Gibson to McIntosh, from Fort Laurens, 21 Dec., 1778, MS.

12McIntosh to Washington, 11 Jan., 1779, MS. previously cited.

13 This was the first expedition in force to the northward from the

vicinity of Fort Pitt during the war. It was commanded by Col. James

Smith. For this officer's account of the march see his Narr. (Lexington,

Ky., 1799), p. 75, or Robert Clarke & Co's reprint (Cincinnati, 1870), p.

135-137. Mention of the "French creek expedition," as it was called, is to

be found in Col. Rec. of Pa., XIV, 662.

14John Nash, of the thirteenth Virginia regiment; killed Jan. 22d.

15 Peter Parchment, of the same regiment as Nash; wounded on the 27th

of the same month; he finally recovered.

16 Gibson to McIntosh, from Fort Laurens, 13 Feb., 1779, MS.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.      397

 

Indian department as interpreter, and sent back to the savages.

The Americans suffered a loss of two killed, four wounded, and

one taken prisoner. The remainder, including the captain, fought

their way back to the fort.  Letters written by the commander

of the post, and containing valuable information, were captured

by Girty.17  McIntosh, upon receipt of this intelligence, endeav-

ored to send supplies to the garrison by way of the Ohio and Mus-

kingum rivers, but the attempt proved abortive.18 By the middle

of February, provisions began to grow scarce. The commander

sent word to McIntosh at Fort Pitt, informing him of the state

of affairs, concluding with these brave words: "You may depend

on my defending the fort to the last extremity."

On the twenty-third, a wagoner was sent out of Fort Laurens

for the horses belonging to the post, to draw wood. With him

went a guard of eighteen men. The party were fired upon by

lurking savages and all killed and scalped in sight of the fort,

except two, who were made prisoners.19    The post was immedi-

ately thereafter invested by the Indians-mostly Wyandots and

Mingoes-in force.20   They continued the siege until the garrison

was reduced to the verge of starvation; a quarter of a pound of

17 Capt. John Killbuck to Gibson, 30 Jan., 1779, original letter. Hecke-

welder to same, 8 Feb., 1779, original letter. McIntosh to Lochry, 29 Jan.,

1779, in Penn. Arch., First Series, VII, 173.

18 "I am now happily relieved by the arrival of Maj. Taylor here, who

returned with one hundred men and two hundred kegs of flour. He was

six days going up the Muskingum river about twenty miles, the waters

were so high and stream so rapid; and as he had about one hundred and

thirty miles more to go, he judged it impossible to relieve Col. Gibson in

time, and therefore returned, having lost two of his men sent to flank him

upon the shore, who were killed and scalped by some warriors coming

down the Muskingum river:" McIntosh to Washington, from Fort Pitt, 12

March, 1779, MS.

19McIntosh to Washington, 12 March, 1779, MS., just cited. Brodhead

to same, 21 March, 1779, MS.

20 "The attacking party consisted of one hundred and eighty:" Hil-

dreth's Pion. Hist., p. 138. " Near three hundred :" Heckewelder to McIn-

tosh, 12 March, 1779, MS. Hildreth is the better authority in this matter.

He cites Geo. Morgan, who got his information from the Delaware chiefs.

The cunning foe, it seems, by stratagem, made their number so appear,

that eight hundred and forty-seven were counted from one of the bastions

of the fort.



398 Ohio Arch

398        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

sour flour and an equal weight of spoiled meat constituting a

daily ration. The assailants, however, were finally compelled to

return home, as their supplies had also become exhausted.

Before the enemy left, a soldier managed to steal through

their lines, reaching McIntosh on the third of March, with a

message from Colonel Gibson informing him of his critical situa-

tion.21  The Fort Pitt commander immediately made exertions

to set on foot an expedition for his relief. In the event of not

meeting the foe upon the Tuscarawas, McIntosh planned, in his

own mind, to march before his return, against Sandusky and

destroy the Wyandot towns; "and if we could not get any supplies

there," are his words, "proceed farther."22 On the nineteenth of

March, with about two hundred militia quickly raised from the

counties west of the mountains, and over three hundred conti-

nental troops from Fort McIntosh and Fort Pitt, he left the

former post upon his second march to the Tuscarawas;23 arriving

there in four days,24 to find the siege of Fort Laurens abandoned

and the savages gone. A salute, fired by the garrison upon the

arrival of the relief in sight of the post, frightened the packhorses,

causing them to break loose, scattering the supplies in the woods

and resulting in the loss of a number of the horses and some of

the provisions.

The men in the fort were found in a most deplorable con-

dition. For nearly a week, they had subsisted on raw hides and

such roots as they could find in the vicinity after the Indians had

gone. Mcintosh called a council of war and laid before the

officers assembled his plan for marching against the Wyandots and

striking a blow at their towns on the Sandusky. But the project

was unanimously opposed, as the ground so early in the season

was very wet and there was a scanty supply of forage for their

21"A messenger came to me the third of March, instant, who slipped

out of Fort Laurens on the night of Sunday, the twenty-eighth of Febru-

ary, by whom Col. Gibson would not venture to write:" McIntosh to

Washington, 12 Mar., 1779, previously cited.

22McIntosh to Washington, 3 Apr., 1779, MS.

23McIntosh to Washington, 19 March, 1779, MS. Orderly book of McIn-

tosh, 1779, MS. Col. Brodhead was left in command of Fort McIntosh.

24McIntosh to Washington, 3 Apr., 1779, MS., previously cited. McIn-

tosh's orderly book, MS.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  399

 

horses, and less than two weeks' provisions for the whole army.

So the matter was dropped.25 Leaving one hundred and six men,

rank and file, of the Eighth Pennsylvania regiment, under com-

mand of Major Frederick Vernon, to garrison the post, and a

supply of food for less than two months, he returned with the

residue of his force to Fort McIntosh, reaching there after a march

of six days.

The erection of Forts McIntosh and Laurens as a precau-

tionary measure was approved by [Washington] the commander-

in-chief. "The establishing of posts of communication," he wrote,

"which McIntosh has done for the security of his convoys and

the army, is a proceeding grounded on military practice and ex-

perience."

The condition of Fort Laurens early engaged the attention of

[Col. Daniel] Brodhead [who, in March, 1779, was appointed

McIntosh's successor in command of the Western Department.]

Major Vernon, at that post, experienced, from the commence-

ment of his charge, many hardships. Scarcely had the command

been turned over to him when small parties of savages began to

make their appearance in the vicinity. He soon had two men

killed out of a party of forty who were outside the fort gathering

fire-wood.26 The throwing of supplies into the post was at-

tended with much difficulty and expense, and its evacuation seemed

desirable. But "it is to be preserved," wrote Washington, "if,

under a full consideration of circumstances, it is judged a post of

importance, and can be maintained without running too great a

risk." The commander-in-chief was apprehensive its abandon-

ment would give great encouragement to the savages about De-

troit,-which was his reason for holding it; not on account of any

opinion of its usefulness as a protection to the border. Brodhead

found "that the state of provisions there," was by no means what

he had supposed it to be.27 The language of Vernon, in a letter

 

25McIntosh to Washington, 3 Apr., (just cited) and 3 May, 1779, MS.

letters.

26Vernon to McIntosh from Fort Laurens, 28 March, 1779, MS. Same

to Brodhead, same date, MS. The attack was made on the day on which

these letters were written. Ensign John Clark was one of the killed.

27Brodhead to Lochry, 23 Apr., 1779, MS.



400 Ohio Arch

400        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

from the fort, dated the twenty-ninth of April, was expressive and

startling:  "Should you not send us provisions in a very short

time, necessity will oblige us to begin on some cow-hides the In-

dians left."

"I am just now fitting out one hundred and fifty men," wrote

Brodhead, on the fourth of May, "to escort a small quantity of

supplies to Fort Laurens." "Indeed," was his earnest declara-

tion, in addition, "I cannot send a larger party, as the Indians are

at present very troublesome on the northern frontiers of West-

moreland and a large party would consume all the salt provisions

on the march; as for fresh ones, I have none."28 But the greatest

part of the garrison, by the middle of the month, had to be sent

in, or they would have perished by starvation, as no relief had ar-

rived. Major Vernon held the post ten days longer with only

twenty-five men, living on herbs, salt and cow-hides, when sup-

plies from Fort Pitt, escorted by a party of regulars, who marched

by a new route,29 reached the fort.

At this time, the garrison was so much reduced for want of

provisions that they were scarcely able to stand on their feet. "I

dare say," are the words of Brodhead to the Fort Laurens com-

mander, on the thirtieth, "you took good care not to suffer your

starved men to eat much at a time, after the supplies arrived, and

that the whisky added to their relief." Past the middle of June,

the post was relieved by seventy-five men, well supplied with

 

28Brodhead to Washington, MS. letter.

29 The relief was commanded by Capt. Robert Beall* of the 13th [9th]

Va. Reg't. They dropped down the Ohio to an old, deserted Mingo town,

at the mouth of Cross creek, just below the present Steubenville, Ohio;

marching thence to Fort Laurens.-Brodhead to Beall: MS. Instructions.

Same to Major Vernon, at Port Laurens 14 May, 1779, MS. Same to Lieut.

John Hardin, of the 8th Pa. Reg't., same date, MS. The detachment was

detained for some time at Fort McIntosh, "while the garrison at Fort

Laurens were starving:" Brodhead to Capt. John Clark, June 6th, 1779, MS.

The new route to Fort Laurens was not again used,-" the old Tuscarawas

path" being takan in subsequent marches to and from that post.

 

*In making up the Index to the Washington-Irvine Correspondence, this officer is

confounded wiih Capt. Robert Beall of the Westmoreland County Militia, mentioned on

pp. 124, 328, 379.-Washington-Irvine Letters. They were not one and the same person.

-C. W. B.



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.   401

 

provisions, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell.30

Vernon returned to Fort Pitt, but his detachment was left at Fort

McIntosh.31 After being once more seriosuly threatened by the

Indians in force, Fort Laurens, early in August was evacuated;

orders to that effect having been previously sent by Col. Brod-

head,32 that the garrison stationed there might be added to troops

already collected at Pittsburg for a contemplated expedition

against the northern Indians. Before the soldiers left, two of their

number were killed by lurking savages within sight of the post.

As the fort might again be occupied, Colonel Campbell was en-

joined not to destroy it. It was never after garrisoned. It re-

mained intact during the war, but was subsequently demolished.

 

THE MASSACRE OF THE MORAVIAN INDIANS.

There is much evidence to show that it was the belief of

Williamson and his men from Western Pennsylvania, that some at

least of the Christian Indians were in the expedition that resulted

in the killing of Mrs. Wallace and her child. Many articles of

clothing recognized as having been worn by persons murdered

by Indians, were found in possession of the Moravians. Butter-

field quotes (History of the Girtys) H. H. Brackenbridge, a man

of prominence, a noted lawyer and writer, as saying on the 3d of

August of the year of the massacre: "I am disposed to believe

that the greater part of the men put to death at Gnadenhutten

were warriors; this appears to be the testimony of one against an-

other, from the confession of many, from their singing the war

song when ordered out to be tomahawked, from the cut and paint-

ing of their hair, and from  other circumstances."  Butterfield

prints much other evidence of like strength of character to show

 

30Brodhead to Campbell, MS. Instructions, 14 June, 1779. Same to

Vernon, same date, MS. Instructions. Same to Campbell, 16 June, 1779,

MS. letter.

31 Brodhead's orderly book, 1779, MS. Zeisberger to Campbell at Fort

Laurens (no date) MS.

32 The first order to leave was issued by Brodhead on the 16th of July:

Brodhead to Campbell, MS. Instructions. This informed the commander

that the post was to be evacuated as soon as horses could be sent to bring

in the stores; subsequent orders were more pressing and imperative.

Vol. VI-26



402 Ohio Arch

402       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

that the good Indians were not always so very good. That the

people of Western Pennsylvania approved of Col. Williamson's

work is shown in the fact that he was afterwards repeatedly elected

sheriff of his county.

The story of the escape of "Sweet Corn" given on page 144,

came to the compiler from a most reliable source, the relator

claiming to be a descendant, but as only two boys escaped, having

eluded the soldiers, the Story of Sweet Corn is likely fiction, al-

though it is possible that at the time Sweet Corn may have been

mistaken for a boy.

Butterfield, in whose statements all must place the fullest con-

fidence, insists (History of the Girtys) that the Gnadenhutten mas-

sacre was not planned by the British at Detroit, although to the

compiler it requires very little, even circumstantial, evidence to

convict the British of the crime, and certainly circumstantial evi-

dence is strong in this case.

 

 

ANDREW AND ADAM POE AND THE BIG FOOT INDIAN.

The story of the Poes and their fight with the "Big Foot"

Indian is so closely associated with the history of this region,

that it seems like sacrilege to take from this story the embellish-

ments that have made it so deeply interesting to those who enjoy

narrative of border warfare, but in his account Butterfield (His-

tory of the Girtys) reduces the story to the plain statement of

fact: "While the savages were on their way back to Sandusky

[from the Moravian missions] seven of the Wyandots, of whom

three were sons of the Half King, left the main party and again

marched for the border, raiding into a small settlement on Har-

mon's creek, in Washington county, taking one prisoner - a

man about seventy years of age. The savages immediately started

on their return, but were soon pursued by a number of settlers,

to the Ohio river, where they were overtaken and all killed

except one; and he, their leader, Scotosh by name, one of the

three brothers before alluded to, escaped wounded. The white

prisoner was released. Andrew Poe, one of the pursuers, his

gun missing fire, boldly sprang upon and grappled two of the

Indians - sons of the Half King. During a most violent



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  403

 

struggle, which was continued, first on the shore and then in

the river, Andrew killed one of the Indians, but was himself

badly wounded. Adam Poe, a brother, coming to his relief,

shot the other savage. Meanwhile, Andrew Poe, then in the

water, by mistake, received a second wound from one of his own

men. The settlers lost one of their number. Neither of the

Indians killed by the Poes was named Big Foot, nor was either

of them of unusual size, as has been so long and persistently claimed

by Western writers." In a foot note Butterfield adds: The story

of the Poe fight was first written for, and printed in, a magazine,

with a number of fanciful embellishments, about "Big Foot," etc.

The whole article was copied by Doddridge as veritable history

in his notes.

 

 

THE PURITANS DESTROY A PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The reference to the destruction by the Puritan Fathers of the

first Presbyterian church in Massachusetts on page 97 seems

such an unusual performance that it is deemed prudent to give

fuller authority for the statement. In the "History of Worcester"

by William Lincoln, published in Worcester, Mass., in 1837,

page 47, is found an account of the first Scotch-Irish immigrants

to arrive in New England, the date being 1718. They settled at

Worcester * * * "and here suffered illiberal opposition, and

even active hostility. Having formed a religious society, they

commenced the erection of a meeting house on the west side

of the Boston road. The timbers had been raised and the build-

ing was in the progress of construction, when the inhabitants

gathered tumultuously by night, and demolished the structure.

Persons of consideration and respectability aided in the riotous

work of violence, and the defenceless foreigners were compelled

to submit to the wrong. Many, unable to endure the insults and

bitter prejudices they encountered, joined their brethren of the

same (Presbyterian) denomination, who, under the charge of the

Rev. Mr. Abercrumbie, commenced the settlement of the town

of Pelham, in the county of Hampshire."

Judge Temple (Puritan, Cavalier and Covenanter) quotes

Bryant as recording that this Scotch settlement at Worcester



404 Ohio Arch

404       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

held the first public meeting (in 1773) in the Colonies, which set

forth the precise essential principles of the Declaration of Inde-

pendence. From this settlement came Matthew Thornton and

Asa Gray.

 

RELIGIOUS STATUS OF THE PATHFINDERS OF THE WESTERN

RESERVE.

The statement as to the religious status of the pathfinders

of the Northern portion of the original Jefferson county having

been previously made by the compiler and questioned, on the

ground that the settlers of the Western Reserve were from New

England and therefore Puritans, it is proper that full authority

be given for the declaration that these people were lacking in

the spirituality characteristic of the portions of the county settled

by Pennsylvanians and Virginians.

The belief has long obtained that the influence of the path-

finders of the Reserve was along religious more than material

lines, but this is not true. In the element of character on which

the descendants base the greatness of the fathers, the fathers

were very deficient. They were ungodly to an alarming degree.

As to the truth of the statement we have the testimony of

Rev. Thomas Robbins, an early missionary, and of Rev. Joseph

Badger, who labored also in the Reserve vineyard when the

sturdy pathfinder was felling the forest and cutting the way for

the advance of civilization. These ministers recorded the events

of their journeying to and fro and their journals tell the story

to which only reference has been made in the foregoing pages.

In 1804 Mr. Robbins visited Cleveland and spoke of the

people as "loose in principles and conduct; few had heard a

sermon or a hymn for eighteen months."

In Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Rev. Robbins found the

people "much inclined to infidelity." In Mentor, Lake county,

they were not only inclined to "infidelity, but immorality." In

Willoughby, Lake county, they were irritated at the presence

of missionaries. In Newburg "profaning the Sabbath" was a

favorite pastime. At Warren the citizens were openly hostile

to the cause of religion. At Canfield, Mahoning county, they were

"much inclined to infidelity." At Burton, Geauga county, there



Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County

Addenda to the Pathfinders of Jefferson County.  405

 

were two or three Christians, but at Middlefield, in the same

county, there was scarcely anyone with serious thoughts upon

religious subjects. "The greater part of the New England people

in the country are pretty loose characters," said Rev. Mr. Robbins

in summing up his opinion of the pioneers in a sentence.

Rev. Mr. Badger, another minister, in telling of a visit he

paid Painesville, says that "not one seemed to have the least

regard for the Sabbath." He attended a Fourth of July celebration

at Hudson - at that time the religious center of the Reserve.

Hon. Benjamin Tappan made the oration of the day, which, Mr.

Badger says, was "interlarded with grossly illiberal remarks

against Christians and Christianity."

Whites settled Cleveland in 1796, but it was not until 1816

that a church organization was effected, and it was not until

1829, thirty-three years after Moses Cleveland landed, that the

first meeting house was erected. Newburg was as large as Cleve-

land in that early day, but the first church building was not erected

there until as late as 1841.

"On one occasion," says a historical writer in the Cleveland

Plain Dealer, "it is a fact so well attested as to be beyond ques-

tion, that citizens of Cleveland formed a procession and marched

in mockery through the streets bearing an effigy which they

called Jesus."

 

 

JAMES AND NOT SIMON GIRTY AT SIEGE OF FORT HENRY.

In accounts of the siege of Fort Henry in 1777, Butterfield

(History of the Girtys) presents a large amount of evidence to

show that neither Simon, George, Thomas nor James Girty

assisted in the investment, for at that time none of the Girtys

had deserted the Americans. They were then all in the employ

of the United States as interpreters, but after all but Thomas

deserted, or rather renounced allegiance to America and took

the oath in the British service. James, and not Simon, Girty

was with the besiegers of Fort Henry in 1782. Says Butterfield

(History of the Girtys, p. 289): "In going with the enemy to assail

Fort Henry at Wheeling, in September, 1782, James Girty, for

the last time, so far as it is known, marched to attack his own



406 Ohio Arch

406      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

countrymen." In a note on page 132, Butterfield says that neither

James nor Simon Girty were of the plotters of the scheme which

resulted in breaking up the missionary establishments upon the

Tuscarawas [Moravian], neither having anything to do with it

directly or indirectly.

In this connection it is proper to note that the last census

shows that there were 121,324 natives of Pennsylvania, 60,429

natives of the two Virginias, and only 25,093 natives of all the

New England states in Ohio at the time the census was taken.

The name of the "witch" mentioned on page 288 should be

McCauley and not Dougherty.

According to a history of the M. E. Church in Ohio, printed

in the Columbus Press-Post, the first Methodist preaching in the

territory northwest of the Ohio, was by Rev. Geo. Callahan, a

rider of the circuit lying in Virginia between Wheeling and Pitts-

burg. This was at Carpenter's fort, at the mouth of Short creek,

in September, 1787. [See Gen. Butler's journal note in chapter

on churches.] His congregation was guarded by a score of hardy

backwoodsmen armed with rifles, who stood at the edge of the

assembly.

A daughter of Obediah Jennings, the second receiver of the

Steubenville Land office, and a noted Presbyterian minister after-

wards, became the wife of Gov. Wise of Virginia and the mother

of Obediah Jennings Wise, the Confederate general who was

killed during the war between the States.

According to an account published by Rev. R. M. Coulter, in

the Cadiz Republican, Oct. 31, 1895, Jesse Delong was born on

Short Creek in 1776, and died at the age of 106 years. He was

possibly a son of Solomon Delong mentioned on p. 137.

Wm. Howells, father of Wm. Dean Howells, in " Life in

Ohio: 1813-1840," mentions the fact that his father settled on

Wills creek, five miles above Steubenville in 1819. The chimney

place of the old log house is yet in evidence, together with the

spring, apple trees and the thyme of which he speaks. The ruins

of the old mill dam are still to be seen as evidence of the enter-

prise of the Pathfinders.