That Dark and Bloody River

by Allan Eckert

  294. The point at which McCulloch reached the summit is where the Cumberland Road later was built.

  295. At the site of present Woodsdale, Ohio Co., W.Va.

  296. Because of its tremendous feat, Sam McCulloch’s horse was kept and kindly favored until it finally died peacefully at the age of 34 years. The site where the plunge began is now commemorated with a tablet entitled McCulloch’s Leap. Over the years that this incident had been told and retold, somehow the wild ride became attributed to John McCulloch instead of Samuel. The majority of accounts now existing give credit to John and, in an effort to settle it, historian Lyman Draper did extensive research into the subject and interviewed many people who were still alive that had been at Wheeling when the incident occurred. Among those who corroborated the fact that it was Samuel, not John, was Col. Archibald Woods, that interview being made in 1846. Samuel Zane was another of the many interviewed by Draper in 1846, and he, too, said the ride had been made by Samuel. Draper, in his notes (Draper-S-3/150) remarks, “Major Samuel McCulloch, upon full reflection, made the leap.”

  297. Ebenezer and Elizabeth Zane at this time had four surviving children—Catherine, 8, Ann, 5, Sarah, 4, and Rebecca, 1. A boy, Noah, who had been born on October 1, 1774, died in infancy.

  298. Elizabeth Zane gained considerable renown as the heroine of this attack on Wheeling, until some years later when a Mrs. Lydia Cruger, daughter of Capt. John Boggs, made a statement saying the story of Mrs. Zane’s dash for the gunpowder was not true, that the feat had been accomplished all right, but by her relative, Molly Scott. A certain amount of controversy has resulted ever since in regard to who made the effort, but enough solid documentation exists to affirm that it was, indeed, Elizabeth Zane who did it. What Mrs. Cruger’s motives were for corning out with her story is unknown, though the assumption is that she was jealous of the celebrity that had resulted to Mrs. Zane.

  299. Rachel Johnson, a slave belonging to Ebenezer Zane, had been with the Zane family for many years and had moved with the family to Wheeling. She was born October 20, 1736, and was interviewed by Dr. Lyman Draper in October 1845, when she was 109 years old. She had four children and was spoken of highly by all who ever knew her. She died in the summer of 1847 in her 111th year.

  300. It was about this time that documents referring to Andrew Van Swearingen began doing so without the prefix Van. It is not known whether Van Swearingen himself decided to drop it or if this was merely a matter of convenience by writers. There are some documents signed by him in subsequent years in which the name appears as Van Swearingen and, in light of such, that is how his name will be used throughout this narrative.

  301. One account states that Capt. Ogle “lay in pain and terror for two or three days” in the briar thicket, but that is a considerable exaggeration.

  302. Capt. Meason, at this time, lived on Buffalo Creek near Ramsey’s Fort, that fort situated some six miles upstream on the Buffalo from its mouth on the Ohio, at the fording place of the Buffalo, three miles upstream from present McKinleyville, Brooke Co., W.Va.

  303. No accurate accounting of how many Indians were killed or wounded was ever made, although estimates ran from as few as 20 or 30 killed to as many as over 100.

  304. One account says Foreman had two sons and a nephew in the company, but the numbers have been switched. The two nephews were the sons of Foreman’s older brother.

  305. One account states that the Foreman party, before reaching the upper end of The Narrows, paused and sat down and sang songs together, but this seems unlikely, not only in view of the fact that the marchers were still fresh and did not require a rest yet, but also because the idea of a possible ambush would have made them wish to get this rather treacherous portion of the trail behind them.

  306. No full list of the men of Foreman’s company is known to exist, but the following list of known participants has been assembled from the various written accounts:

  Brazier, Thomas Private; killed.

  Clark, James Private; survived.

  Cullen, John Private; killed.

  Cullen, William Private; survived with broken leg.

  Dickerson, Kinzie Private; survived; rescued Cullen.

  Engle, William Private; survived.

  Foreman,______ Private; killed; nephew of commander.

  Foreman,______ Private; killed; nephew of commander.

  Foreman,______ Private; killed; son of commander.

  Foreman, William Captain, commanding.

  Greathouse, Jacob Private; survived.

  Harkness, Robert Private; survived.

  Linn, William Scout captain; survived.

  McLane, Daniel Private; survived.

  Miller, John (15) Private; survived.

  Pugh, Jonathan Private; captured.

  Sheno, William Private; half-breed; killed.

  Shepherd, Moses (14) Drummer; went back early.

  Tomlinson, James Private; survived.

  Wilson, John Private; survived with wounded arm.

  Jonathan Pugh, long believed dead, remained a captive of the Indians for four and a half years before finally escaping from them.

  307. Daniel McLane later stated he could hear the tomahawk blows “as if the Indians were cutting up beef.” That was probably a stretch of the imagination.

  308. In the various accounts, Cullen’s name is also spelled Culler, Cullers, Cullens and Collins. Cullen appears to be correct. Some accounts say it was John Cullen, brother of William, who had his leg broken, but it was William. John Cullen was killed in the initial ambush.

  309. One account states that Cullen was taken to Shepherd’s Fort, but that is an error. It was not until late the next day that a Dr. Frederick Puzee arrived from Fort Pitt, having been summoned to treat the wounded at Fort Henry. Immediately upon inspecting Cullen’s wound, he announced the leg would have to be amputated. Cullen refused to let him do so and threatened to kill him if he tried. Much against his better judgment, Dr. Puzee cleansed the wound and set the bone as best he could under the circumstances. Cullen suffered great pain for a considerable while. His situation was not helped when, a short time later, he contracted smallpox. However, he survived both disease and injury and regained use of his leg. He lived to an old age, working as a shingle-maker at Wellsburg, Brooke Co., W.Va. After the war, Cullen was awarded the sum of £36 for his injury.

  310. Of the six who were taken captive, Jonathan Pugh was the only survivor, although his family thought he had been buried in the common grave along with the others. Pugh lived with the Wyandots for four and a half years before finally escaping and returning to his parents’ home. His mother had since died. He showed up at his father’s house on May 21, 1782, where he was at first thought to be a ghost. When he finally convinced them that he was flesh and blood, there was great rejoicing by his family and neighbors. His father was greatly overwhelmed to see again the son he had so long thought dead. In 1835 an inscribed stone monument was erected at the site of the ambush, at the extreme northern end of Washington Township at the Union Township line at the head of The Narrows, 4.5 miles upstream from present Moundsville, Marshall Co., W.Va.

  311. The Shepherd family remained in residence in Catfish Camp (later Washington, Pa.) for five years, although David Shepherd himself still spent much time in Wheeling operating his mill.

  312. Actually, in a queer twist of fate, Rachel Grist eventually did die of her wound. It appeared to heal well, and seven years later she married Capt. Henry Jolly of Catfish Camp (later Washington, Pa.). They had five children—four sons and a daughter—and then the old wound abruptly began giving her severe pain. It quickly grew worse until she finally died at age forty in dreadful agony.

  313. One account states that Hokolesqua came to Fort Randolph alone and was incarcerated and that Elinipsico and Red Hawk came later to check on his whereabouts and safety.

  314. Numerous disparate accounts of this incident exist, all of which are similar in the main but vary widely in detail. As best the author can recons
truct the matter, it appears that Capt. James Hall (whose title was evidently not military but one bestowed by his followers) and several of his men had, some time before (anywhere from a week prior to this incident to the day of it, but most often reported as the day before), crossed the Ohio River (some say Kanawha River) to hunt. Two of his hunters encountered two Shawnees (some accounts say were ambushed by them), and in the resultant skirmish a white man named Gilmore was killed. When the survivors returned to the Point Pleasant Settlement adjacent to Fort Randolph and learned of the three Shawnees being held hostage, they raised a group of “enraged soldiers” and, resolved on revenge, headed for the cabin where the trio of Shawnees were being held. The murders were then committed as indicated. In Hokolesqua’s body alone there were nine (some say seven or eight, some eleven) bullet wounds, and the other two were similarly riddled and also bludgeoned repeatedly after death. Red Hawk, in some accounts, is described as a Delaware chief, but that is an error. The bodies of the three Shawnees were buried near the present intersection of Virginia and Kanawha streets in Point Pleasant. Sixty-three years later, in 1841, while excavations were being made at Point Pleasant for these streets, the remains of the three were unearthed. The account states that “the bones were much broken and jammed as if by blows, & five or six balls also found among them.” These bones were buried in the yard of the Mason County Courthouse, but no stone or marker of any kind was erected over them. Just before the Civil War, Charles Dawson, at his own expense and labor, erected a rail fence around the grave, and his sister, Susan Dawson, planted rose bushes atop it. The fence and rose bushes were destroyed, however, by federal troops when they occupied the town in 1863.

  315. Site of present Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., O.

  316. This was the village called Kuskusskee, on the site of present New Castle, Lawrence Co., Pa.

  317. Michikapeche and another squaw taken prisoner were released soon after the army’s return to Fort Pitt. There remains some question as to whether Michikapeche was the wife or the mother of Pimoacan (Pipe). One account states that Pimoacan’s mother was wounded by Gen. Hand’s men but escaped.

  318. One account states that Patrick Henry issued a formal apology to the Shawnee nations, “but the delivery of it was impossible.” Some months later the five men named in the warrant were arrested in Rockbridge County and, according to one report, “went through the forms of a pretended trial, but there was scarcely a family in that region that had not, at some time, suffered from Indian raids and murders, or had not lost friends or relatives in the Battle of the Point, or other Indian wars, and their prejudices were so strong against the Indians generally, that, although the facts were generally known, there was no one to prosecute, no one to testify; the trial was a farce, and the case was dismissed by default.”

  319. There is an account that states while Girty was jailed, he claimed he could escape and was challenged to do so; that he then did escape and was gone eight days before returning to surrender himself. That may have been on another of the three separate occasions when he was arrested and jailed, or it may simply be an exaggeration of the case described here.

  320. Several sources, without confirmation, suggest that the McKee family, originally from the Susquehanna Valley, was part Indian.

  321. The author is indebted to writer/historian Phillip W. Hoffman of Westlake Village, Calif., for his aid in clearing away much of the malevolent mythology that has accumulated around Simon Girty and for helping to bring into greater focus the actual causes for Girty’s defection from the American cause to the British. Mr. Hoffman, after many years of intensive research, is currently preparing the most definitive and penetrating biography of Simon Girty ever written.

  322. Another of Simon Girty’s younger brothers, George, was at this time a lieutenant in the Continental Army, stationed in the Kaskaskia area. As soon as he learned of Simon’s defection to the British at Detroit, accompanied by their other brother, James, George Girty deserted his post, and he, too, defected. The three brothers were reunited at Detroit. For some reason not clearly understood, while McKee, Elliott and James Girty went westward to the Shawnee towns to speak with them, Simon Girty and his cousin, Robin Surphlet, took the more direct Indian trail northwestward to Detroit via Upper Sandusky. Because of Simon’s defection, his land claims at Hannahstown were confiscated, but his Squirrel Hill Farm remained in the possession of his half-brother, John Turner. On his arrival at Detroit he was employed by Gen. Henry Hamilton in the Indian department.

  323. McKee’s Town was where Alexander McKee paused en route to Detroit from Fort Pitt, during his defection, to establish a residence for himself and his Shawnee wife among the Shawnees. Very quickly other Indians moved close to him, and instead of just merely a residence, it became a small village named after him. Later, when the Kispokotha Shawnees moved their principal village of Kispoko Town away from the Scioto River, it was reestablished adjacent to McKee’s Town and actually merged with it, with the two names—McKee’s Town and Kispoko—used as variant names for the same place. It was located on a pleasant ridge on the south bank of an unnamed stream that was then named McKee’s Creek, as it is at present. The precise location of the village was exactly 2.5 miles southeast of the present Logan County Courthouse in present Bellefontaine, O., and almost exactly the same distance northwest of the location at that time of the Shawnee capital village of Wapatomica. It was almost exactly at the point where present Township Road T-181 forms a T intersection with present Township Road T-179.

  324. Greater details of the capture of Daniel Boone and his saltmakers may be found in the author’s The Frontiersmen and A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh.

  325. One source says that Martin Wetzel and John Wolf were captured near Ryerson’s Station at the head of Wheeling Creek. Actually, while Ryerson’s may have been the nearest station, it was not all that close, being distant about six miles from where the pair were captured.

  326. Skootekitehi is pronounced Skoo-tey-keh-TEY-hee.

  327. Some accounts contend that Lewis Wetzel tussled with the last Indian and finally killed him by stabbing him with his knife. The more reliable sources, however, agree that he reloaded while running, turned and shot his adversary dead.

  328. Years later this incident was turned into a novel by Emerson Bennett, entitled Forest Rose. After returning to Dunkard Creek, Frazier and Rose Forrest remained there only a short time before selling their little place and moving on down the Ohio to Kentucky, where they eventually settled at Harrodsburg.

  329. One source seems to exaggerate somewhat when it states that when John Wolf was being tortured, Martin saw him “then sensibly with his bowels hanging out, & wished Wetzel, when he got in to tell his people of his fate.”

  330. The four whites killed at Donnelly’s Fort included William Pritchet, Alexander Ochiltree, James Burns and James Graham. There were reportedly seventeen Indians slain.

  331. Gov. Patrick Henry’s formal orders to George Rogers Clark were as follows: “You are to proceed with all convenient speed to raise seven companies of soldiers, to consist of 50 men each, officered in the usual manner, and armed most properly for the enterprise, and with this force attack the British post at Kaskaskia. It is conjectured that there are many pieces of cannon, & military stores to considerable amount, at that place, the taking and preservation of which would be a valuable acquisition to the State. If you are so fortunate, therefore, as to succeed in your expedition, you will take every possible measure to secure the artillery & stores and whatever may advantage the State. For the transportation of the troops, provisions, &c. down the Ohio, you are to apply to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt for boats, and, during the whole transaction, you are to take especial care to keep the true destination secret. Its success depends upon this. Orders are therefore given to Captain Smith to secure the two men from Kaskasky. Similar conduct will be proper in similar cases. It is earnestly desired that you shew humanity to such British subjects & other prisoners as fall
in your hands. If the white inhabitants at the post and the neighborhood will give undoubted evidence of their attachment to this State (for it is certain they live within its limits), by taking the test prescribed by law, & by every other way and means in their power, let them be treated as fellow citizens, and their persons and property duly secured. Assistance and protection against all enemies whatsoever shall be afforded them, & the Commonwealth of Virginia is pledged to accomplish it. But if these people will not accede to these reasonable demands, they must feel the miseries of war, under the direction of that humanity that has hitherto distinguished Americans, and which it is expected you will ever consider as the rule of your conduct, and from which you are in no instance to depart. The corps you are to command are to receive the pay and allowance of militia, and to act under the Laws and Regulations of this State now in force, as militia. The inhabitants at this post will be informed by you that in case they accede to the offers of becoming citizens of this Commonwealth, a proper garrison will be maintained among them, and every attention bestowed to render their commerce beneficial, the fairest prospects being opened to the dominions of both France & Spain. It is in contemplation to establish a post near the mouth of Ohio. Cannon will be wanted to fortify it; part of those at Kaskaskia will be easily brought thither, or otherwise secured, as circumstances will make necessary. You are to apply to General Hand for powder and lead necessary for this expedition. If he can’t supply it, the person who has that which Captain Lynn brought from Orleans, can. Lead was sent to Hampshire by my orders, and that may be delivered to you. P. Henry.”