by Allan Eckert
681. This is the present Indian Run, which empties into the Muskingum River two miles above the Ohio River. The major encampment of the Indian delegates was directly across the Muskingum River from the present Washington County Fairgrounds.
682. This small run flows into the Muskingum opposite of and just a little above present Sacra Via Park in Marietta.
683. One account states that Wetzel was accompanied during this killing by Vachel Dickerson, but since both Dickerson brothers, Vachel and Kinzie, were out on Ranger patrol duty with Capt. Samuel Brady at this time, that is evidently an error. Another account says the Indian, George Washington, was riding a horse and, after being shot, managed to ride his horse the rest of the way to Fort Harmar. That, however, is also erroneous, since not only was he scalped, he was carried to the fort for medical treatment by other Indians.
684. The friend of Wetzel who lived opposite the mouth of the Muskingum is identified in at least one account as Isaac Wiseman, but that is an error. Isaac Williams, brother-in-law of Joseph Tomlinson, is correct.
685. Prior to 1789, Abraham Covalt had purchased a tract of land from Judge Symmes on the Little Miami River for a settlement of seven families from Pennsylvania. It was being located above Columbia and was just now being established as a temporary camp while 17 cabins that would make up Covalt’s Station were being erected. Later the station would be called Bethany Town.
686. Clements’ Station was established by Forgerson and Elizabeth Clements and their nine children. The station has also been referred to in various accounts as Clement’s, Clemen’s, Clemmon’s and Round Bottom Fort. Its precise location in present Cincinnati was at the south end of Miami Avenue at the south edge of Terrace Park, at the northeast boundary of Section 22, T5N, R2W, Madeira Quadrangle USGA 7.5-minute topographical map.
687. Ruhama (Mrs. Charles) Bilderback remained in captivity only a few months before being ransomed back from the Indians in March 1790, at which time she returned to her children who were still in Kentucky and, with them, left the frontier and returned east.
688. During the trek to the Indian villages, Mrs. Davidson gave birth to the baby, but when it became ill after a couple of days, it was thrown into the Tug River and drowned. On arrival at the first Indian town, the two daughters were tied to trees and shot to death for sport, and the two-year-old son was given to an Indian woman, who started away with him in a canoe, but the little boat capsized and the boy drowned. The two indentured children were taken away, and she never saw them again, though they were recovered in Canada three years later.
689. Matthias (Tice) Van Bibber was creased on the forehead by a ball and momentarily stunned, but he managed to regain his senses and escape. Jacob Van Bibber was held captive for two years before finally escaping and returning to Point Pleasant.
690. Shortly after this raid, Shemeneto—Black Snake—fell violently ill and quickly died, upon which Wehyehpihehrsehnwah—Blue Jacket—became war chief of the Shawnee tribe. Blue Jacket, who was originally a white youth captured and adopted into the tribe, became one of the most noteworthy chiefs in Shawnee history. For greater reconstructed details of his life, see the author’s novel Blue Jacket: War Chief of the Shawnees as well as The Frontiersmen and A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh.
691. This installation—Fort Washington—was located at what is present downtown Cincinnati, O., a little east of Broadway, where Seventh Street crosses.
692. Kekionga at this time was also often called the Omee Town, Michikiniqua’s Town, Little Turtle’s Town and the Miami Town. To avoid confusion, the proper name of Kekionga will be used except where, in quotation of letters or reports, one of the other names is used.
693. William Burnett’s trading post, one of the most important in the Northwest, was located at the site of the present city of Niles, Berrien Co., Mich. Burnett was highly favored among the Potawatomies, especially because he had married Kawkeeme, sister of the tribe’s powerful chief, Topenebe (Toe-PEN-uh-bee), whose name meant Sits Quietly. At least one account states that Burnett did not establish his post here until 1783, but that is incorrect; the post on the St. Joseph River was established in the spring of 1778. Another trading post of significant size was operated by trader John Kinzie of Detroit at the adjacent village of Miamitown, a mile or so down the Maumee. Burnett also had a smaller post, similarly named Burnett’s, located at the mouth of the St. Joseph on Lake Michigan, usually operated by his agents.
694. Hamilton County, Ohio, as first established, had as its southern boundary the Ohio River. It extended northward up the Great Miami River to the place called the Standing Stone Forks; from there on a line due east to the Little Miami River and then down that stream to its mouth at the Ohio River.
695. The flatboats ascending the river usually stayed very close to the Kentucky shore, not only for protection from Indian attack from the Ohio side but also to minimize the amount of current they would have to buck. The crew of polemen would normally work on the shore side of each boat as they poled the craft upriver, each poleman starting at the front of the boat, jabbing his 20- or 30-foot-long pole into the bottom and then “walking” the boat past the pole until he reached the stern. At that point he would jerk his pole out of the water and rapidly return with it to the bow to start the whole process over again. Two to eight polemen were placed at intervals on the river side of each craft to continually push at the bottom, to keep the ungainly boat fairly close to shore. It was rugged work and progress was slow. Depending upon the weight of the cargo, each boat moved along at the rate of only a mile or two per hour.
696. Edmund Randolph was Governor of Virginia from 1786 to 1788; Beverley Randolph was Governor of Virginia from 1789 to 1791.
697. The Indian camp was located about a mile south of the present town of Ripley, Brown Co., O.
698. The Castleman and Martin children were bought from the Wyandots by British traders. The Martin youngsters were taken to Detroit where, the following fall, Moses and Sarah were redeemed and returned to their mother. Thomas remained in Detroit and eventually became a merchant there. The Castleman girls remained at Half King’s Town with the trader who bought them, Angus McIntosh. Margaret was redeemed by her father in 1796, but it took another four years to get Mary back.
699. Both Purdy girls were later reunited with relatives in the Wheeling area following a prisoner exchange.
700. The spring branch where young Hale went for the water presently bears the name Hale’s Branch.
701. That branch has ever since been known as Staten’s Run.
702. Lewis Tackett and his mother remained captives of the Shawnees for two years before finally being ransomed and released. It is not known what happened to Sam Tackett, Betsy Tackett McElhany and the small boy who were also taken captive.
703. The wounded Indian managed to travel 20 miles before finally collapsing and dying from loss of blood. His remains were found several weeks later.
704. Charlestown managed to withstand any following Indian threats and thrived well, but the name itself did not last. Today that same village is the city of Wellsburg, seat of Brooke Co., W.Va.
705. The New French Store was the name given to a new trading post close to Kekionga that had been established by the trader John Kinzie. That initial name did not last long, and the post and little settlement that sprang up around it had become known as Miamitown. The open ground adjacent to the trading post had become a favored assembly place and staging ground for the Indians.
706. Some accounts say the Ottawa reinforcement amounted to 200 warriors, but that is incorrect. The entire Indian force amounted to 150 warriors and chiefs, almost evenly divided at 50 apiece for the Shawnees, Miamis and Ottawas, plus a few Potawatomies.
707. Gen. Harmar’s contempt for the militia was evident in his report to Secretary of War Henry Knox, in which he wrote: “My whole force was 1,453 (including two troops of cavalry) but from this number we may safely deduct 200 of the Militia as good for nothing.”
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nbsp; 708. Almost all of the many accounts state that this detachment numbered around 200 men. One account, however, says it numbered 310 men, but it mistakes the Hardin detachment for one sent out by Harmar the previous day, numbering 300 men, under command of Lt. Col. James Trotter, consisting of 30 regulars, 40 light horse cavalry under militia Maj. Fontaine, and 230 riflemen. This detachment returned the same evening after having encountered, killed and scalped two Indians. Some accounts say Hardin was so disliked that many of the militia deserted from this detachment after traveling only two miles, but Harmar made no report of this, nor did any of the Indian accounts.
709. Various accounts claim the American loss in this skirmish ranged from a high of 181 men to as few as 22 (this latter number undoubtedly referring only to the regulars). The most frequently quoted number by the more reliable sources is 70, which jibes with Gen. Harmar’s report, which also states that all but 7 of the 30 regulars were killed and bitterly berates the militia, who were at the rear, for fleeing in panic and abandoning the regulars to their fate. This ambush took place where the Indian trail leading toward the Elkhart River crosses the Eel River, six miles northwest of present Fort Wayne, at the place where present U.S. 33 crosses the Eel River, four miles southeast of present Churubusco, Allen Co., Ind. In one extraordinary incident a Maj. John Adams was struck by five different rifle balls and yet survived, carrying the balls within his body for the rest of his life.
710. One account, usually reliable, states that the army did not stop its first retreat until it reached the remains of old Chalahgawtha on the Little Miami River, three miles north of present Xenia, Green Co., O., and that it was from that point that the second detachment was sent out, but this is entirely in error. The second ambush of the Americans took place only three days after the first—on October 22—and old Chalahgawtha was at least 160 miles distant from the scene of the first ambush. Even if the army troops had all been mounted, which they were not, the detachment could not have traveled such a great distance with the army and then returned the same distance, a total of at least 320 miles, in three days. The old Chalahgawtha mentioned must, in fact, have been the temporary town of that name established by the Shawnees just a mile upstream on the Maumee from the mouth of the Auglaize River, about 35 miles downstream from where the second ambush occurred, on the site of present Fort Wayne, Allen Co., Ind. After leaving the Chalahgawtha a mile upstream from the mouth of the Auglaize, the Shawnees established another Chalahgawtha on the Maumee River, this one on the north (left) bank, about three miles below Kekionga (in present Fort Wayne, Ind., just east of present Coliseum Blvd., which is U.S. Rt. 24). Over the years of their stay in Ohio, the Shawnees used a total of seven different locations for Chalahgawtha. These seven Ohio Chalahgawthas are identified and located in Amplification Note 3 of the author’s A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh. The one located on the Maumee near the mouth of the Auglaize was the seventh and final one in Ohio. The one located on the Maumee in present Fort Wayne was the first and only Chalahgawtha the Shawnees established in Indiana.
711. Sgt. Benjamin Whiteman of the Kentucky militia, who kept a daily detailed log of events of the expedition and who, following its termination, wrote one of the more accurate accounts of the entire campaign, wrote: “Harmar was intemperate in his habits. He had never been accustomed to Indian fighting. His habits had disqualified him for the command and it was unquestionably the opinion of many of the officers and men of the army that General Harmar was panic stricken with the report made by spies that Girty was near the fort with a large party of Indians. Had he marched with two or three hundred men to the relief of Hardin on the morning of the 22nd, it is more than probable that the Indians would have been signally defeated.” Whiteman later rose to military renown as a general and was an important figure in the War of 1812.
712. Gen. Harmar, in the first draft of his report, stated, “Our loss is about 160 killed,” but in this he erred and later corrected himself. His official return of killed and wounded, written on November 4, 1790, at Fort Washington, listed the following: total federal troops killed, 75, including Maj. Wyllys and Lt. Frothingham; total militia killed, 108, including Maj. Fontaine, Capts. Tharp, Scott and McMurtry, Lts. Clark and Rogers, and Enss. Sweet, Bridges, Higgens and Therlkeld. The Capt. Scott mentioned was Merritt Scott, son of Gen. Charles Scott.
713. Gen. Harmar claimed in his report that “the Indians killed is supposed to be 200.” Other accounts say about 100 Indians were killed and wounded. Since the Indians had only 150 warriors in their total force when they engaged the Americans, these figures are obviously grossly inflated. Michikiniqua and Blue Jacket both later stated the same figures for the loss of the Indians in killed and wounded—a total of 30 dead and 15 who survived being wounded.
714. President George Washington, immediately upon learning the particulars of Harmar’s abortive campaign, remarked to Secretary Knox, “I expected little from it from the moment I heard he was a drunkard.”
715. The Big Bottom Settlement was established on a fine high bottom above the right bank of the Muskingum River, less than a mile south of present Stockport, Morgan Co., O. The place is now marked by the Big Bottom State Memorial.
716. One of those who surrendered was 41-year-old James Patton, who remained a captive of the Delawares for just over four years and was finally surrendered to the Americans on February 6, 1795.
717. Covalt’s Station was located on the site of the Little Miami River, near present Miamitown, 15 miles northeast of present downtown Cincinnati, O.
718. Colerain (Dunlap’s) Station was located 15 miles from present downtown Cincinnati, on the site of present Colerain.
719. This was at the mouth of present Snag Creek, just below the present town of Bradford, Bracken Co., Ky.
720. The Francis Riley claim and cabin were located at the east base of the ridge separating present Riddle’s Run from Blockhouse Hollow, about 2,000 feet west of the Ohio River, approximately where the gravel pit is located, 1.2 miles southwest of the U.S. Post Office in present Brilliant, Jefferson Co., O.
721. This settlement was located on the site of present Wellsburg, Brooke Co., W.Va.
722. Carpenter’s Station was located at the mouth of McKim’s Run, at the northern edge of the present town of Brilliant, Jefferson Co., O.
723. Waxler’s Station was located near the mouth of Short Creek at the site of present Warrenton, Jefferson Co., O.
724. One account says several other people were killed inside the cabin but does not identify them, and since no other account mentions this, it is believed to be in error.
725. Obviously killed, Abigail Riley was never heard of again, and there is no record that her remains were ever discovered. Ruth Schemmerhorn, who was to be executed, was saved by a French trader, who bought her from the Indians, and taken by him to his home in Canada, where the two were subsequently married.
726. Mrs. Riley was reunited with her husband, Francis, and the two subsequently returned to their cabin and lived their lives out there, Mrs. Riley finally dying just short of her hundredth birthday. Moses Riley eventually settled on Stillwater Creek, near the present town of Tippecanoe, Harrison Co., O., but his homestead is now beneath the waters of the impoundment known as Clendening Lake.
727. This camp made by the Brady party was located on or near the site of present Cadiz Junction, Harrison Co., O.
728. Most accounts state that Capt. Brady had 26 men with him. A close study of the various details in each, however, indicates that they were 27 plus himself. The other members of Brady’s party were Joseph Biggs, Peter Brown, James Campbell, Henry Darnell, Frank Dodd, James Downing, Joseph Edgington, William Griffith, Thomas Harper, William Harper, Solomon Hedges (who was only 16 years old), James Hoagland, William Huff, Thomas Madden, John McCormick, Francis McGuire, Thomas Patterson, William Sherrod, John Van Buskirk, Lawrence Van Buskirk (his name given as Lawson in some accounts), Caleb Wells, Charles Wells, Thomas Wells, Lewis Wetzel, James Williams, J
oseph Williams and William Williams.
729. The small stream they were following is now known by the name of Brady Run. The smoke they detected was coming from the site of present Fallston, Beaver Co., Pa.
730. Beaver Blockhouse was located on the east bank of the Beaver River at the mouth of present Blockhouse Run, at the southern outskirts of present New Brighton, Beaver Co., Pa.
731. This warrior’s skeleton, his rusted gun beside him, was found several years later still in the hollow of the black oak.
732. Most accounts place the number of Indians killed at four or five, a few as many as seven. The correct number of those dead at the scene of the attack was eight. Actually, if one includes the warrior shot by young Solomon Hedges, who took refuge in the hollow tree and died there of his wound, the final total of dead Indians in this attack was nine.
733. One account states that Wilson hailed Brady from the far shore and berated him for the killing, and that Brady called back for Wilson to mind his own business or they would serve him in the same way. No other account mentions this, and the account is believed spurious and made in an effort to demean Brady.
734. The Indian seen at this point was the Piankeshaw chief known as Captain Bull.
735. This was Lt. Col. James Wilkinson, a regular army officer prominent on this frontier.
736. The actual name of the village was Kithtippecanoe, and it was situated at the site of the present city of Logansport, Cass Co., Ind.
737. Col. Wilkinson’s report to Gen. Scott was as follows: “Camp, Ouiattanan, June 3, 1791, One o’clock P.M. Sir:—The detachment under my command, destined to attack the village Kethlipecanunk, was put in motion at half after five o’clock last evening. Knowing that an enemy whose chief dependence is in his dexterity as a marksman and alertness in covering himself behind trees, stumps and other impediments to fair sight, would not hazard an action in the light, I determined to push my march until I approached the vicinity of the villages, where I knew the country to be champagne [actually, champaign, meaning level and open]. I gained my point without a halt, twenty minutes before 11 o’clock and half an hour [later] assaulted the town at all quarters. The enemy was vigilant, gave way on my approach and in canoes crossed Eel Creek [River] which washed the north-east part of the town. That creek was not fordable. My corps dashed forward with the impetuosity becoming volunteers, and were saluted by the enemy with a brisk fire from the opposite side of the creek. Dauntless, they rushed on the water’s edge, uncovered to the occasion, and finding it impassible [sic], returned a volley, which so galled and disconcerted their antagonists that they threw away their fire without effect. In five minutes the Indians were driven from the covering and fled with precipitation. I have three men slightly wounded. At half past 5 the town was in flames, and at 6 o’clock I commenced my retreat. I want language to do justice to the courage and good conduct of the gentlemen who composed my detachment; in neither could they be exceeded by veteran troops. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, James Wilkinson.”