Chronicles of Border Warfare Part 31

Before the troops marched from Fort Was.h.i.+ngton, it was deemed advisable to have an abundant supply of provisions in the different forts in advance of this, as well for the supply of their respective garrisons, as for the subsistence of the general army, in the event of its being driven into them, by untoward circ.u.mstances. With this view, three hundred pack-horses, laden with flour, were sent on to Fort Recovery; and, as it was known that considerable bodies of the enemy were constantly hovering about the forts, and awaiting opportunities of cutting off any detachments from the main army, Major McMahon, with eighty riflemen under Capt. Hartshorn, and fifty dragoons, under Capt.

Taylor, was ordered on as an escort. This force was too great to justify the savages in making an attack, until they could unite the many war parties which were near;.and before this could be effected, Major McMahon reached his destination.

On the 30th of July,[8] as the escort was about leaving Fort Recovery, it was attacked by an army of one thousand Indians, in the immediate vicinity of the fort. Captain Hartshorn had advanced only three or four hundred yards, at the head of the riflemen, when he was unexpectedly beset on every side. With the most consummate bravery and good conduct, he maintained the unequal conflict, until Major McMahon, placing himself at the head of the cavalry, charged upon the enemy, and was repulsed with considerable loss. Maj. McMahon, Capt. Taylor and Cornet Terry fell upon the first onset, and many of the privates were killed or wounded. The whole savage force being now brought to press on Capt. Hartshorn, that brave officer was forced to try and regain the Fort, but the enemy interposed its strength, to prevent this movement. Lieutenant Drake and Ensign Dodd, with twenty volunteers, marched from Fort Recovery and forcing a pa.s.sage through a column of the enemy at the point of the bayonet, joined the rifle corps, at the instant that Capt. Hartshorn received a shot which broke his thigh. Lieut. Craig being killed and Lieut. Marks taken prisoner, Lieut. Drake conducted the retreat; and while endeavoring for an instant to hold the enemy in check, so as to enable the soldiers to bring off their wounded captain, himself received a shot in the groin, and the retreat was resumed, leaving Capt. Hartshorn on the field.

[314] When the remnant of the troops came within the walls of the Fort, Lieut. Michael, who had been early detached by Capt. Hartshorn to the flank of the enemy, was found to be missing, and was given up as lost. But while his friends were deploring his unfortunate fate, he and Lieut. Marks, who had been early taken prisoner, were seen rus.h.i.+ng through the enemy, from opposite directions towards the Fort.

They gained it safely, notwithstanding they were actively pursued, and many shots fired at them. Lieut. Marks had got off by knocking down the Indian who held him prisoner; and Lieut. Michael had lost all of his party, but three men. The entire loss of the Americans was twenty-three killed, and forty wounded.[9] The riflemen brought in ten scalps which were taken early in the action; beyond this the enemy's loss was never ascertained. Many of them were no doubt killed and wounded, as they advanced in solid columns up to the very muzzles of the guns, and were afterwards seen carrying off many of their warriors on pack horses.

At length Gen. Wayne put the army over which he had been given the command, in motion;[10] and upon its arrival at the confluence of the Au Glaize and the Miami of the Lakes, another effort was made for the attainment of peace, without the effusion of blood. Commissioners were sent forward to the Indians to effect this desirable object; who exhorted them to listen to their propositions for terminating the war, and no longer to be deluded by the counsels of white emissaries, who had not the power to afford them protection; but only sought to involve the frontier of the United States in a war, from which much evil, but no good could possibly result to either party. The savages however felt confident that success would again attend their arms, and deriving additional incentives to war from their proximity to the British fort, recently erected at the foot of the rapids, declined the overture for peace, and seemed ardently to desire the battle, which they knew must soon be fought.

The Indian army at this time, amounted to about two thousand warriors, and when reconnoitered on the 19th of August were found encamped in a thick bushy wood and near to the British Fort. The army of Gen. Wayne was equal in numbers to that of the enemy; and when on the morning of the 20th, it took up the line of march, the troops were so disposed as to avoid being surprised, and to come into action on the [315]

shortest notice, and under the most favorable circ.u.mstances. A select battalion of mounted volunteers, commanded by Major Price, moving in advance of the main army, had proceeded but a few miles, when a fire so severe was aimed at it by the savages concealed, as usual, that it was forced to fall back. The enemy had chosen their ground with great judgment, taking a position behind the fallen timber,[11] which had been prostrated by a tornado, and in a woods so thick as to render it impracticable for the cavalry to act with effect. They were formed into three regular lines, much extended in front, within supporting distance of each other, and reaching about two miles; and their first effort was to turn the left flank of the American army.

Gen. Wayne ordered the first line of his army to advance with trailed arms, to rouse the enemy from their covert at the point of the bayonet, and when up to deliver a close and well directed fire, to be followed by a charge so brisk as not to allow them time to reload or form their lines. The second line was ordered to the support of the first; and Capt. Campbell at the head of the cavalry, and Gen. Scott at the head of the mounted volunteers were sent forward to turn the left and right wings of the enemy. All these complicated orders were promptly executed; but such was the impetuosity of the charge made by the first line of infantry, so completely and entirely was the enemy broken by it, and so rapid the pursuit, that only a small part of the second line and of the mounted volunteers were in time to partic.i.p.ate in the action, notwithstanding the great exertions of their respective officers to co-operate in the engagement; and in less than one hour, the savages were driven more than two miles and within gunshot of the British Fort, by less than one half their numbers.

Gen. Wayne remained three days on the banks of the Miami, in front of the field of battle left to the full and quiet possession of his army, by the flight and dispersion of the savages. In this time, all the houses and cornfields, both above and below the British Fort, and among the rest, the houses and stores of Col. McKee,[12] an English trader of great influence among the Indians and which had been invariably exerted to prolong the war, were consumed by fire or otherwise entirely destroyed. On the 27th, the American army returned to its head quarters, laying waste the cornfields and villages on each side of the river for about fifty miles; and [316] this too in the most populous and best improved part of the Indian country.

The loss sustained by the American army, in obtaining this brilliant victory, over a savage enemy flushed with former successes, amounted to thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded:[13] that of the enemy was never ascertained. In his official account of the action, Gen.

Wayne says, "The woods were strewed for a considerable distance, with the dead bodies of the Indians and their white auxiliaries;" and at a council held a few days after, when British agents endeavored to prevail on them to risk another engagement, they expressed a determination to "bury the b.l.o.o.d.y hatchet" saying, that they had just lost more than two hundred of their warriors.

Some events occurred during this engagement, which are deemed worthy of being recorded here, although not of general interest. While Capt.

Campbell was engaged in turning the left-flank, of the enemy, three of them plunged into the river, and endeavored to escape the fury of the conflict, by swimming to the opposite sh.o.r.e. They were seen by two negroes, who were on the bank to which the Indians were aiming, and who concealed themselves behind a log for the purpose of intercepting them. When within shooting distance one of the negroes fired and killed one of the Indians. The other two took hold of him to drag him to sh.o.r.e, when one of them was killed, by the fire of the other negro.

The remaining Indian, being now in shoal water, endeavored to draw both the dead to the bank; but before he could effect this, the negro who had first fired, had reloaded, and again discharging his gun, killed him also, and the three floated down the river.

Another circ.u.mstance is related, which shows the obstinacy with which the contest was maintained by individuals in both armies. A soldier and an Indian came in collision, the one having an unloaded gun,--the other a tomahawk. After the action was over, they were both found dead; the soldier with his bayonet in the body of the Indian,--and the Indian with his tomahawk in the head of the soldier.

Notwithstanding the signal victory, obtained by General Wayne over the Indians, yet did their hostility to the whites lead them to acts of occasional violence, and kept them for some time from acceding to the proposals for peace. In [317] consequence of this, their whole country was laid waste, and forts erected in the hearts of their settlements at once to starve and awe them into quiet. The desired effect was produced. Their crops being laid waste, their villages burned, fortresses erected in various parts of their country and kept well garrisoned, and a victorious army ready to bear down upon them at any instant, there was no alternative left them but to sue for peace. When the Shawanees made known their wish to bury the _b.l.o.o.d.y hatchet_, Gen.

Wayne refused to treat singly with them, and declared that all the different tribes of the North Western Indians should be parties to any treaty which he should make. This required some time as they had been much dispersed after the defeat of the 20th of August, and the great devastation committed on their crops and provisions by the American army, had driven many to the woods, to procure a precarious subsistence by hunting. Still however, to such abject want and wretchedness were they reduced, that exertions were immediately made to collect them in general council; and as this was the work of some time, it was not effected until midsummer of 1795.

In this interval of time, there was but a solitary interruption, caused by savage aggression, to the general repose and quiet of North Western Virginia; and that interruption occurred in a settlement which had been exempt from invasion since the year 1782. In the summer of 1795, the trail of a large party of Indians was discovered on Leading creek, and proceeding directly towards the settlements on the head of the West Fork, those on Buchannon river, or in Tygart's Valley. In consequence of the uncertainty against which of them, the savages would direct their operations, intelligence of the discovery which had been made, was sent by express to all; and measures, to guard against the happening of any unpleasant result, were taken by all, save the inhabitants on Buchannon. They had so long been exempt from the murderous incursions of the savages, while other settlements not remote from them, were yearly deluged with blood, that a false security was engendered, in the issue, fatal to the lives and happiness of some of them, by causing them to neglect the use of such precautionary means, as would warn them of the near approach of danger, and ward it when it came.

Pursuing their usual avocations in despite of the warning which had been given them, on the day after the express had [318] sounded an alarm among them, as John Bozarth, sen. and his sons George and John were busied in drawing grain from the field to the barn, the agonizing shrieks of those at the house rent the air around them; and they hastened to ascertain, and if practicable avert the cause. The elasticity of youth enabled George to approach the house some few paces in advance of his father, but the practised eye of the old gentleman, first discovered an Indian, only a small distance from his son, and with his gun raised to fire upon him. With parental solicitude he exclaimed, "See George, an Indian is going to shoot you." George was then too near the savage, to think of escaping by flight. He looked at him steadily, and when he supposed the fatal aim was taken and the finger just pressing on the trigger, he fell, and the ball whistled by him. Not doubting but that the youth had fallen in death, the savage pa.s.sed by him and pressed in pursuit of the father.

Mr. Bozarth had not attained to that age when the sinews become too much relaxed for active exertion, but was yet springy and agile, and was enabled to keep ahead of his pursuer. Despairing of overtaking him, by reason of his great speed, the savage hurled a tomahawk at his head. It pa.s.sed harmless by; and the old gentleman got safely off.

When George Bozarth fell as the Indian fired, he lay still as if dead, and supposing the scalping knife would be next applied to his head, determined on seizing the savage by the legs as he would stoop over him, and endeavor to bring him to the ground; when he hoped to be able to gain the mastery over him. Seeing him pa.s.s on in pursuit of his father, he arose and took to flight also. On his way he overtook a younger brother, who had become alarmed, and was hobbling slowly away on a sore foot. George gave him every aid in his power to facilitate his flight, until he discovered that another of the savages was pressing close upon them. Knowing that if he remained with his brother, both must inevitably perish, he was reluctantly forced to leave him to his fate. Proceeding on, he came up with his father, who not doubting but he was killed when the savage fired at him, broke forth with the exclamation, "_Why George, I thought you were dead_,"

and manifested, even in that sorrowful moment, a joyful feeling at his mistake.

The Indians who were at the house, wrought their work of blood upon such as would have been impediments to their [319] retreat; and killing two or three smaller children, took Mrs. Bozarth and two boys prisoners. With these they made their way to their towns and arrived in time to surrender their captives to Gen. Wayne.

This was the last mischief done by the Indians in North Western Virginia. For twenty years the inhabitants of that section of the country, had suffered all the horrors of savage warfare, and all the woes which spring from the uncurbed indulgence of those barbarous and vindicitive pa.s.sions, which bear sway in savage b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The treaty of Greenville, concluded on the 3d of August 1795, put a period to the war, and with it, to those acts of devastation and death which had so long spread dismay and gloom throughout the land.

FINIS.

----- [1] Drake, in _Aboriginal Races of North America_ (15th ed.), p. 616, cites the Waggoner ma.s.sacre as "the first exploit in which we find Tec.u.mseh engaged." L. V. McWhorter sends me this interesting note, giving the local tradition regarding the affair: "John Waggoner lived on Jesse's Run, more than two miles above its junction with Hacker's Creek. While engaged in burning logs in his clearing, he was sitting upon a log, with a handspike lying across his lap. It was thought that Tec.u.mseh mistook this tool for a gun, and was nervous. But three in number, the Indians had entered the district with some trepidation. Over Sunday, while the settlers were holding religious services in West's Fort, the savages lay in a neighboring ravine. The dogs of the settlement barked furiously at them, and ran toward their hiding place, trying to lead their masters; but the latter supposed that the animals had merely scented wolves, hence paid no attention to them.

Tec.u.mseh was but thirty paces from Waggoner when he fired, and it is singular that he missed, for the latter was a large man and in fair view. Waggoner sprang up and started for his cabin, a short distance only, but when about fifteen yards away saw an Indian chasing one of the children around the house. Waggoner was unarmed; his gun was in the house, but he feared to enter, so ran for help to the cabin of Hardman, a neighbor. But Hardman was out hunting, and there was no gun left there. The screams of his family were now plainly heard by Waggoner, and he was with difficulty restrained from rus.h.i.+ng back to help them, unarmed. Jesse Hughes carried the news into the fort, and a rescue party at once set out. Mrs. Waggoner and her three youngest children had been carried across the ridge to where is now Rev. Mansfield McWhorter's farm, on McKenley's Run, and here they were tomahawked and scalped. Henry McWhorter helped to carry the bodies to the fort, but made no mention of their being 'mangled in the most barbarous and shocking manner.'"

The boy Peter, then eight years old, remained with the Indians for twenty years. The manner of his return, as related to me by Mr. McWhorter, was singular, and furnishes an interesting and instructive romance of the border. One Baker, one of John Waggoner's neighbors, went to Ohio to "squat," and on Paint Creek saw Peter with a band of Indians, recognizing him by the strong family resemblance. Baker at once wrote to the elder Waggoner, telling him of his discovery, and the latter soon visited the Paint Creek band, with a view to inducing his son to return home. But Peter was loth to go. He was united to a squaw, and by her had two children. In tears, she bitterly opposed his going. When finally he yielded to parental appeals, he promised her he would soon be back again. When the time for his return to the forest came, his relatives kept him under guard; when it had pa.s.sed, he was afraid to return to his Indian relatives, having broken his word. Gradually he became reconciled in a measure to his new surroundings, but was ever melancholy, frequently lamenting that he had left his savage family. "Some time after his return to civilization," continues McWhorter, "an Indian woman, supposed to be his wife, pa.s.sed through the Hacker Creek settlements, inquiring for Peter, and going on toward the East. She appeared to be demented, and sang s.n.a.t.c.hes of savage songs. Peter never knew of her presence, nor would any one inform her of his whereabouts. He was reticent about his life among the Indians, and no details of that feature of his career became known to his white friends."

Tec.u.mseh, who is said to have been born on Hacker's Creek, possibly at a village near the mouth of Jesse's Run, visited the white settlements there, after the peace, and told the whites of his experiences in connection with the Waggoner ma.s.sacre.--R. G. T.

[2] It must be acknowledged that many of these militia forays against the Indians partook of the nature of buccaneering. The spoils were often considerable. Clark, in his Kaskaskia campaign (1778), captured so much booty, in property and slaves, that he declares his men were made "almost rich."--R. G. T.

[3] In the spring of 1792, Major Trueman, Colonel Hardin, and Mr. Freeman were dispatched from Fort Was.h.i.+ngton by different routes, to open peace negotiations, but they were murdered by the savages. Gen. Rufus Putnam, aided by Hekewelder, the Moravian, succeeded in binding the Wabash and Illinois Indians to keep the peace. Later, Benjamin Lincoln, Timothy Pickering, and Beverly Randolph were ordered by the president to go to the Maumee to conclude a general treaty which Indians had declared their willingness to enter into. But the commissioners were detained at Niagara by sham conferences with Gov. John Graves Simcoe, of Canada, until the middle of July, when the Indians sent them word that unless they would in advance "agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary between us," the proposed "meeting would be altogether unnecessary."

The commissioners declined to accept this ultimatum, and returned home. Meanwhile, General Wayne was prosecuting preparations for an active campaign against the hostiles.--R.

G. T.

[4] On a plain near the old French-Indian-English trading village, called Logstown (just below the present Economy, Pa., on the north side of the Ohio, 18 miles below Pittsburg), Wayne's army lay encamped from November, 1792, to April 30, 1793. The army was fancifully called the "Legion of the United States," and the camp was known as Legionville. From here, Wayne proceeded to Cincinnati, and took up his headquarters in Fort Was.h.i.+ngton.--R. G. T.

[5] Fis.h.i.+ng Creek enters the Ohio 128 miles below Pittsburgh. At its mouth is now the town of New Martinsville, W. Va.--R. G. T.

[6] This was an expedition made by Gen. James Wilkinson, second in command under Wayne, in December, 1793. He marched to the field from Fort Was.h.i.+ngton at the head of a thousand men, and left a garrison at the new fort.--R. G. T.

[7] McWhorter says that the capture of the Cozad boys took place at the mouth of Lanson Run, near Berlin, W. Va. The boy who was killed was but six years of age; crying for his mother, an Indian grasped him by the heels and cracked his head against a tree,--a favorite method of murdering white children, among Indian war parties. "Jacob yelled once, after starting with the Indians, but was knocked down by a gun in the hands of one of the savages. When he came to his senses, a squaw was dragging him up hill by one foot. He remained with the Indians for about two years, being adopted into a chief's family. He died in 1862, in his eighty-ninth year."--R. G. T.

[8] Thirtieth of June.--R. G. T.

[9] The white loss, in killed, was 22, including Major McMahon.--R. G. T.

[10] The force started August 8. Besides the regulars, were about 1,100 mounted Kentucky militia, under Gen. Charles Scott.--R. G. T.

[11] Hence the popular name of the engagement, "Battle of Fallen Timbers."--R. G. T.

[12] Alexander McKee, the renegade, of whom mention has frequently been made in foregoing pages.--R. G. T.

[13] Later authorities place the white loss at 107, killed and wounded.--R. G. T.