by Allan Eckert
389. This attack occurred directly opposite the present Riverfront baseball stadium in Cincinnati, O.
390. Henry Applegate Jr. had arrived from his parents’ claim on the site of the present town of Point Marion, Fayette Co., Pa., only about a mile from the present West Virginia border.
391. Mamatchtaga—Big Nose—except for one brief reference about him in October 1781, seems to disappear from history at this point until after the Revolutionary War. But his date with the executioner was only deferred, because he reappears as an unruly drunkard who eventually got into a fight while inebriated and shot and stabbed several people who later died of their wounds. He was tried for murder at Pittsburgh, found guilty and subsequently hanged. Pittsburgh merchant William Christy offered five gallons of whiskey to anyone who would skin out the executed Indian for him and tan the hide. Pvt. David Fitzgibbon, an Irishman who would do almost anything for liquor, took him up on it. When Christy received the tanned Indian skin from him, he had a pair of boot-legs made from it, and he cut the rest of it into wide strips that he gave to his friends for use as razor-strops. One of these strops is still part of the memorabilia collection of the Allegheny County Historical Society.
392. This sugar camp was located approximately three miles south and slightly west of the present city of Aliquippa and a half mile northwest of the present community of Gringo, Beaver Co., Pa.
393. The five young men killed were John Fulkes, Thomas Dillow, Lewis Tucker, and the Deavers brothers, Matthew and Richard.
394. The war party had hidden their canoes in the mouth of present Peggs Run, 35 miles below Pittsburgh, where Cristoes Ferry was later established, four miles upstream from the mouth of Little Beaver River, and crossed the Ohio to the present city of Midland, Beaver Co., Pa. All the captives were adopted into the Wyandot tribe and spent quite a few years among them. When at last they were exchanged, one of the young women, who had married a Wyandot and had children with him, refused to return to the whites.
395. This matter of snoring while sleeping in hostile Indian country was no joke. Many travelers had been killed in their sleep when their snores attracted the attention of Indians who might otherwise not have detected their presence. Some experienced frontiersmen would not camp with a party if even one of them snored loudly, but would make camp alone several hundred yards from the party.
396. These prairie regions dotted with clumps of trees became known as the Sandusky Plains and, on the route taken by Brady, had their eastern edge between present North Robinson and Bucyrus in Crawford Co., O. The isolated groups of trees in these prairies were, in fact, called islands—a term that confused many of the early writers who had difficulty understanding its frequent use where there were no major bodies of water. Usually these islands of trees were circular or oval in general shape and ranged in size from a dozen to several hundred acres.
397. This Half King’s Town was located on the left (west) bank of the Sandusky River, about three miles upstream from the present city of Upper Sandusky, Wyandot Co., O., just opposite a brick house, still standing in 1993, that was built in 1840 by an Indian family. A little later, as will be seen, Monakaduto abandoned this village in view of the projected American expedition against the Sandusky Towns and established two other villages, farther down the Sandusky, that would be less vulnerable to attack by the whites. See Notes 497 and 498.
398. Pimoacan’s village was situated east of the present village of Crawford, Wyandot Co., O. The precise location was 1.3 miles east of Crawford on County Road 29 to Hurd Road, then north on Hurd Road for 500 feet, then on a level ground about 300 feet west of Hurd Road. Topographical coordinates are just north of the center of the southwest quarter of Section 25, T1S R13E, Crawford Township. On the northwestern edge of the village, the land dropped quickly a distance of 20 feet to the extensive bottomland of Tymochtee Creek.
399. This is the site of the present southern edge of the town of Mingo Junction, three miles south of present Steubenville, Jefferson Co., O.
400. A number of the accounts state that on his return from this first expedition to the Sandusky Towns, Brady encountered an Indian party that had kidnapped a Mrs. Stoops and that he rescued her and brought her back to Fort Pitt with him, but those accounts confuse a similar mission when he did make this dramatic rescue of Mrs. Stoops twelve years later, as will be seen, in July 1792. They also state that on his return Brady took several squaws prisoner but they escaped; again, this was actually in his later expedition, not this one.
401. This cave was located in the bluffs less than a mile from the present town of Cave In Rock, Hardin Co., Ill.
402. Meason’s two sons-in-law took part in his murder, but his son, John, escaped the attack and went to Canada, where he disappears from history.
403. It is recorded that 29 years later, when he was 50, Caleb Wells weighed 275 pounds, reportedly “without an ounce of fat.” In 1860, shortly before his death at age 101, he still weighed 175 pounds.
404. Pryor’s wife and daughter were never heard of again, and it was presumed at the time that they had been killed, since they could not travel as swiftly as the war party wished to travel.
405. This was near the site of the present town of Pocatalico, Putnam Co., W.Va.
406. So far as can be determined, Elizabeth Griffith was never seen again.
407. The Montour’s Run settlement had been burned and the few inhabitants killed, so the recovered goods were subsequently sold at auction in Pittsburgh, with the proceeds used to procure supplies for Brady’s company of Rangers. The body of one of the Indians who had been shot dead from the canoe resurfaced a few days later and drifted downstream, eventually becoming lodged on Brown’s Island, 27 miles below where the action occurred and opposite Holliday’s Cove Fort. Some weeks later Thomas Edgington’s 12-year-old son, George, found the decayed remains of the body there and reported it. He was allowed to take the skull, which he cleaned. It was still a grisly memento in the George Edgington household when he was 92 years old in 1860, the bullet hole clearly evident. One of the other settlers who went to the island to view the remains took the finger bones home with him, intent upon making them into a set of knife and fork handles, but his wife vehemently objected, and he eventually discarded them.
408. When Brady’s party returned to Fort McIntosh, they found that Pvt. Eldon Andrews had already placed himself under arrest and was in the guardhouse. Brady and his Rangers related what had occurred, and Andrews was cashiered and drummed out of the fort. He was last reported in Pittsburgh, where he joined with a party heading for Philadelphia. There seems to be no historical record of him subsequent to that.
409. Ira Marsh, interviewed by Lyman C. Draper in 1850, had as his neighbor some years earlier a man named Benjamin Williams of the Cold Springs Reservation who, though a white man, was a friend of Warhoytonehteh—Cornplanter—and who once possessed the Cornplanter Narrative. Marsh said that Williams corroborated this entire incident but related that there were more Indians killed and more prisoners rescued than was actually so. Williams also said he had it from Cornplanter’s own lips that four of the Senecas escaped Brady’s attack, Cornplanter by swimming the Allegheny and protecting his head from bullets with a piece of wood; but that Cornplanter, who was always shy about confessing he had any part in barbarities, blamed “some Wyandots who were with the party for wanting to burn the prisoners.”
410. Ruddell’s Station, an outgrowth of the former Hinkson’s Station and also known variously as The Cedars and Ruddell’s Fort, was located on the north bank of the South Fork of the Licking River, three miles below present Ruddell’s Mills, almost on the Nicholas-Harrison county line and about a half-mile in a straight course below the mouth of Townsend Creek, some twenty straight-line miles northeast of present Lexington, Ky. Martin’s Station was located on Stoner Creek five miles from Ruddell’s Station, three miles below present Paris, Bourbon Co., Ky.
411. Peckuwe—also known as Piqua Town—was located on a flat fertile bott
om five miles west of present Springfield, Clark Co., O., between the present George Rogers Clark Memorial and the Mad River in George Rogers Clark State Park. The site is now bisected by Interstate Route 70.
412. This crossing by Girty and his Indians occurred just below the present site of the Warrenton Drive-In Theater, where the Ohio River begins a moderate curve to the west, forming a broad point of sorts—a place that has ever after been known as Girty’s Point. It is directly across the river from the northern limits of the present village of Windsor Heights, Brooke Co., W.Va.
413. Dreams and “signs” before an expedition very often had great effect upon the Indians. Many expeditions that might have been very successful were aborted when a dream—especially one experienced by a sachem or wise man of the tribe—began coming true; very often other expeditions were aborted simply because an owl was seen flying in daylight or the shadow of a soaring vulture passed across the leader of the expedition.
414. This tributary was the East Fork of the Little Miami, with the hunting occurring in the vicinity of present Batavia, Clermont Co., O. One account states that the party was doing its hunting on the headwaters of the Sandusky River, but that is an error.
415. Bryan’s Station (often erroneously written as Bryant’s Station) was established by William Bryan, an uncle of Rebecca Boone, wife of Daniel. The settlement was located on North Elkhorn Creek, five miles northeast of present Lexington, Fayette Co., Ky., adjacent to where present Bryan Station Pike (State Route 57) crosses North Elkhorn Creek, near the site of the present village of Avon, at the Fayette-Bourbon county line. One account states that Wetzel made his escape to Grant’s Station, but that is incorrect.
416. When Clark’s letter was received by Congress, a notation was appended to it as follows: “(Rhd. Peters of War Office, Apl. 13th 1781, Brig. Genl. Clark’s letter before Congress—which was the first official intimation they had had of his expedition, except an application we had for 4 tons of powder on behalf of Va., wh. was furnished. The stores demanded may be furnished in a great degree.)”
417. The John Vanmetre claim and cabin was located in a small bottomland along the west bank of Stott’s Run about a mile and a half north of the present town of West Liberty, Ohio Co., W.Va., and the same distance southwest of the present town of Bethany, Brooke Co., W.Va.
418. Johnny Vanmetre was adopted into the Wyandot tribe and grew up with them. After the Indian wars he returned on several occasions to visit his father, but he always returned to the Wyandots. When the senior John Vanmetre eventually died, he left a bequest of part of his estate to Johnny, who came and got its value in cash and then returned to the Wyandots and was never heard of again.
419. The hostiles on the west side of the river, who escaped Brodhead’s army, fled to the Indian towns on the upper Sandusky River and took up residence there.
420. Indayochee—spelled Indaochaie in Brodhead’s report—was situated at about the location of the south end of the present Norfolk & Western Railroad bridge, two miles west and slightly north of the present town of West Lafayette, Coshocton Co., O.
421. Brodhead’s camp was located at the site of the present town of Isleta, Coshocton Co., O. Salem, at the site of present Newcomerstown, was another four miles upstream, and Gnadenhütten some 12 miles above that, both on the sites of the present towns of the same name in Tuscarawas Co., O. The third Moravian missionary village, Schoenbrun, was located a dozen miles upstream on the Tuscarawas at the site of the present Schoenbrun Village State Memorial, two miles south of present New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas Co., O.
422. The Talgayeeta cabin was located on the southeast end of the small bridge presently crossing the Scioto River headwaters within the limits of the present city of Kenton, Hardin Co., O. Two years before, Kenton, who had been condemned to death by the Shawnees, had been rescued by his old friend Girty. However, a few weeks later, because of reverses the Indians had suffered in the war with the whites, Kenton was retaken by them and recondemned, at which time Talgayeeta had been instrumental in getting Kenton’s death sentence waived so that he could be taken to Detroit for questioning by the British. Full details of Kenton’s captivity, this incident and Kenton’s ultimate escape from Detroit and return to Kentucky may be found in the author’s The Frontiersmen.
423. During his captivity Billy Boggs remained greatly afraid that his part in Killbuck’s murder would be discovered and that he would suffer a terrible death by torture. That did not happen, however. While being taken back to their villages by the Indians, he was tied to stakes, spread-eagled, at night without covering of any kind from the elements—and it rained often, causing him to contract a severe case of the ague. At the villages he was forced to run the gauntlet and nearly died under the beating he received. Along with young Presley Peek and several other captives, he was finally sold to the British at Detroit, where he was forced to undergo intensive questioning. Having been held captive for a year and a half, he was finally released as part of a prisoner exchange and returned to the upper Ohio Valley.
424. Shortly after the capture of his son and attack on his cabin, Capt. John Boggs temporarily abandoned his claim and moved his family to Wheeling.
425. Lower Sandusky was located about ten miles up the Sandusky River from its mouth at the western end of Sandusky Bay, on the site of the present city of Fremont, Sandusky Co., O. The name of Chief Coon has sometimes been spelled Kuhn.
426. Though all thought the wound Simon Girty suffered would prove mortal, he miraculously survived due to the treatment from the Indian healer. He was back on his feet in two weeks, though it was several months before he was fully functioning again. It is said that when Girty regained his health, he confronted Thayendanegea and placed two swords and two pistols on a table and told the Mohawk to take his pick and they would fight it out; but that Thayendanegea shed tears and begged forgiveness and Girty forgave him, but this is believed to be entirely spurious. In later years Girty went blind, it was believed perhaps justifiably, as the result of the injury he received from Thayendanegea’s sword that night. One source, also believed unreliable, states that a trepanning operation was done on Girty and a silver plate was inserted in his head at that time. A deep dent remained in Girty’s head ever after this injury. One account states that Girty’s injury from Brant’s sword did not occur until the war party was on its way back to Detroit with prisoners after the Ohio River attacks, but this does not fit with the facts presented in more verifiable accounts in other sources.
427. Through one cause and another, the Moravians and the party of Delawares and Wyandots assigned to escort them, did not leave the Gnadenhütten area until September. Scotach, pronounced SKO-tash, is spelled Scotash in some of the accounts; Scotach is correct. Scoleh is pronounced SKO-leh. Dakadulah is pronounced Duh-KAH-ju-luh.
428. This island later became famous as Blennerhasset Island, where Aaron Burr conceived and developed his conspiracy at the great mansion built there by Harmon Blennerhasset.
429. One account states that Craycraft and Wallace were part of Lochry’s force and were sent forward to overtake Clark and procure ammunition from him so Lochry and his men could hunt and defend themselves. This is unlikely, since Lochry and his men had plenty of ammunition when they left Wheeling.
430. At least one account has placed Simon Girty, along with McKee, on the Kentucky side of the Ohio when this ambush was effected, but McKee was definitely on the Indiana side of the river for the ambush. If, in fact, a Girty was on the opposite side, it would have to be James Girty, who may have been part of the contingent of Indians that took post on that side. Gen. Irvine at Fort Pitt stated in his report that the Girty involved in the attack was George Girty, but this is an error; it was James.
431. There is a frequently recurring story in the accounts of Thayendanegea—Joseph Brant—wherein he saved a number of prisoners when he discovered that they were members of the Masons, since he was alleged to be a Mason, too. In this case, it is reported in one account that after
Lochry was tomahawked, “a silver Masonic medal was found in Lochry’s bosom & when Brant saw it he regretted his death & would have prevented the murder (by perhaps assigning some of his own Mohawks to guard him) had he known of Lochry being a Mason.” That story is very suspect.
432. In addition to Capt. Orr, other captains who survived capture included John Guthine (who later married Archibald Lochry’s widow), Joseph Irvine, Thomas Shannon and Thomas Stokeley. The deserters, Lts. Paddy Hunter and Samuel Craig, also survived.
433. Capt. Thomas Shannon, of Ligonier Valley in Pennsylvania, was claimed by a Shawnee warrior and, after successfully running a gauntlet line at his village, was adopted by him. While other prisoners were sold to the British at Detroit, the Shawnees refused to surrender Shannon, who remained with them until the succeeding fall. At that time, after having previously shown his skill in shooting, he was permitted to accompany a hunting party of Shawnees to the Walhonding Valley in the vicinity of present Millwood, Knox Co., O. The Indians gave him a gun to hunt with and let him go out to hunt, but he felt sure they were watching him closely. He quickly killed a fine buck, brought it into camp and was patted on the shoulder and congratulated. The next day they gave him the gun again, and once more he set out. This time, not being watched so closely, he immediately struck out overland for Wheeling. He was close to his destination, still on the Ohio side of the river, when he unfortunately encountered a party of Wyandots returning from a raid against the settlements. He tried to flee but was overtaken and killed.