y 1 » THE PIONEERS. OF THE WEST: OR, LIFE IN THE WOODS. BY W. P. STRICKLAND. WESTWARD THE COURSE OF EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAT. Biehop Berkley. FIFTH THOUSAND* fUto-f 0rJt: CARLTON & PORTER, J. P. MAGEE, Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, BY W. P. STRICKLAND, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New- York. CHAPTER PAGE I. — THE WEST . 9 II. — PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST 21 III. — THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST 47 IV. - THE PIONEER SETTLERS 90 V.— THE PIONEER PREACHERS 137 VI. — PIONEER INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN. . . . 172 VII. — PIONEER BOATMEN \ . . . 185 VIII. — THE PROPHET FRANCIS 211 IX.— LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF 225 X.— THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER 246 XL— INDIAN CAPTIVITY 263 XIL— "THE OLD CHIEF;" OR, THE INDIAN MISSIONARY. . . . 296 XIII. — THE HERMIT 331 XIV. — PIONEER PANTHER HUNTING 358 XV.— THE SQUATTER FAMILY 371 XVI.— THE LOST HUNTER 381 XVII.— THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM 387 lustration* PAGK LOG CABIN 2 MORAVIAN MISSIONARY 26 HUNTERS OF THE WEST 46 PIONEER SETTLERS 91 EMIGRANTS' WAGON 101 PROPHET FRANCIS 210 WYANDOT CHURCH 297 THE HERMIT 830 THE LOST HUNTER 380 THE PIONEERS OF THE WEST. CHAPTEE L THE WEST. The West and its past history have been a prolific theme. Its early exploration and settlement by the Anglo-Saxon race, whose toils, hardships, and deeds of heroic bravery will be the wonder of all times, have called forth the labors of the most gifted pens, both at home and abroad. Nor is the theme yet exhausted. The narratives occasioned by continued investigation and research, grow fresher and more interesting as time rolls on, disclosing more fully the history and romance of the past. The labors of one in this field serve but as an incentive by increasing the aggregate of historic materials for the succeeding labors of others. The pen of Cooper has graphically portrayed the events connected with some of the early settlers of the 10 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. East, and one of the characters in his tale of the Pio- neers, whether real or imaginary, is made to close his days in the "West. " Leather Stocking," the renowned hunter, whose rude hut stood not far from the shores of Otsego, and whose rifle sent its unerring death message alike to the heart of a panther, the head of a turkey, a bird on the wing, a loon on the lake, or a hostile Indian ; or who could pierce a fish with his tri-pronged gig eighteen feet below the surface of the water — this same bold and daring hunter, after the settlers had become too numerous for his comfort, and would too often cross his path in the woods through which he had roamed for upward of half a century, and in which he had made his home for forty years, sought a wider and a freer scope in the boundless "West. On one occasion, when his young friend Edwards, of "York," astonished at his preference for unin- habited regions, said to him, in answer to some remarks on this subject, "Woods! do you not call these endless forests woods ?" the hunter replied, u I don't call them woods, when I can lose myself every day of my life in the clearings. The meanest of God's creatures are made for some use, and I am formed for the wilderness. Let me go where rny soul longs to be again." Thus saying, he shouted to his dogs, that were lying in the grass of the burial- ground, which contained the ashes of his long-tried THE WEST. 11 and trusty friend, the Mohican, an Indian chief, who had shared his hut and fare : " Away, dogs, away ; you'll be foot-sore before you see the end of your journey;" and started out upon his course. Having passed the clearing, with a long last wave of his honest hand he bade adieu to his friends, and was soon lost to sight in the forest, directing his hurried steps toward the setting sun. According to present geographical division, the United States are parceled off into separate classes, denominated the Eastern, Western, Northern or Middle, and Southern. The Northern States are those comprised within the limits included in that portion north of Mason and Dixon's line, and extending to the Lakes; the Southern, all that lie south of that line ; the Eastern, those which lie along the Atlantic; but who can tell the localities and define the boundaries of the Western? what they are, and what they shall be? only that they extend from the foot of the Alleghanies to the great rocky chain that rises from the trackless plains and desert lakes, and from thence spreading away over dense, interminable forests, into which the ax of the woodman has never let the light of the sun fall, to the far-off Pacific. We shall not confine our sketches to what is now usually assigned as the limits of the West. Once the entire continents of North and South America were 12 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. called the West ; and as the patriot knows no North, or East, or South, so we shall know no West; but from, lakes to ocean, and from mountain to mountain, embracing the mighty valley, and all that lies beyond, we shall feel our pen at liberty to describe the events connected with its pioneer history. Other parts of the country are finished, or nearly so ; but the West is in its infancy, and has just begun its development. No imagination is bold and capa- cious enough to grasp its future. There is room sufficient in its wide expanse, and resources enough in its bosom, for the erection and establishment of empires great as the world has ever known. We may refer to its beginnings, and recall the scenes of border life in its once dense, uncultivated forests, and along its mighty rivers, and on its broad plains and almost boundless prairies, where every inch of the pioneer was contested by the native red man, and the wild beasts, which, like him, roamed unfet- tered and free through its equally wild forests ; we may tell of the sacrifices, toils, and perils of the back- woodsman, in leveling these forests, and clearing and cultivating farms, rearing towns and cities, and found- ing institutions of religion and learning; but who shall tell of its future ? What imagination can con- ceive, or what pen describe, the scenes that are to rise up and unroll themselves, like a mighty pano- rama, before the vision of coming generations ? THE WEST. 13 Not more mysterious was it in its beginning, be- wildering the minds of the profoundest archaeologists and ethnologists who have attempted to read its records in the mounds, fortifications, walls, elevated squares, and covered ways, which are scattered thickly over the land, like the monuments of Egypt; but which, unlike the doomed cities of the Nile, have left no Kosetta stone to decipher their meaning, or afford the slightest clew to their origin or uses, or to the race which has long since passed away. Numer- ous books have been written, and authors have ex- hausted both their genius and learning in attempting to fathom the mystery of a race concerning whom the present red man knows nothing. All the different tribes and races inhabiting the West and the South have been questioned, and their traditions from re- motest times rehearsed and interpreted; but a bound- ary beyond which no tradition or conjecture could pass was invariably reached, forming an impassable barrier, and creating a chasm as wide between the primitive race and the present, as that which separ- ates us from the first ages of mankind before the flood, as it regards time ; but vastly more inexplicable as it regards lineal descent. Whence came the first inhabitants of the land I Who reared those immense and numerous fortifications and temples, the ruins of which only can be seen? Who were they? whence came they? and whither did they go? are questions 14 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. alike involved in a mystery deep and profound as the silence which reigns over the graves where they have been slumbering for a thousand years. They are un- known to history, prophecy, or song. No writ, or scroll, or strain, is left among the nations, to tell of their eventful history and fate. Other nations have been blotted from the roll of the living, but have left memorials of their existence which contain records of their history and destiny. Petra, the proud capital of Edom, with its excavated palaces, temples, triumphal arches, and tombs, though the winds of heaven have scattered the very ashes of her dead, has left, written on her everlasting rocks, characters that are legible to the traveler after the last of the nation had been buried a thousand years: but where, in all the mounds and fortifications of this land, can be found a single script to tell of the departed? Huge skulls and giant frames have been plowed up by the hand of civilization; the resting-places of the dead have been invaded by the restless search of the anti- quarian ; but Decay's effacing hand has swept away every line and trace that would either lead to an identification of the race with any of the world's present inhabitants, or to a knowledge of their won- derful history — the more wonderful because of the mystery that enshrouds it. History tells of the Druids, a primitive race who inhabited the island of Britain; and Stonehenge, THE WEST. 15 which gives evidence in its construction of a knowl- edge and skill in mechanical philosophy unknown even to the present age of progress, stands a con- firmation strong of their existence and history; but what record, sacred or profane — what rock, or mound, or wall, contains any allusion to the original inhabit- ants who dwelt on the borders of our lakes, on the banks of our rivers, or on the plains and in the val- leys of the land? All is still and silent as a hushed eve of Indian summer on a vast prairie, whose far-off boundaries are closed in on all sides by the descend- ing sky. "We talk of the East — not New England, with its granite mountains and granite hearts, and rocky shores, and beautiful villas, and magnificent cities, and honest people — but, further on toward the rising sun, of Rome and Jerusalem, of Babylon and Nine- veh, the land of Caesar and Virgil, of Jesus and Paul, of Belus and Ninus ; and we sit enchanted, as a Ste- phens and Robinson, a Layard, Durbin, and Lynch, describe the grandeur of their ancient ruins ; but who can tell if the ruins in our own land, though not so magnificent, are not really as ancient as some of those ? The grand old woods, and mountains, and plains, may even be more ancient, if the geology of some be true ; but whether so or not, they are primeval, and, so far as antiquity is concerned, are alike interesting and wonderful, apart from historic associations, as the 16 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. groves, and mountains, and plains of Italy, Palestine, or Assyria. If among the native inhabitants there were none to record cotemporaneous history, or no u Prophet bard to wake the lyre of song," thus perpetuating their names and memory, enough is left to tell their numbers, and strength, and skill, and of an antiquity little, if any, inferior to the Ori- ental nations of the past. But we must return to our theme, the West. Four centuries have nearly passed away since the first white man cast his eye upon the continent of America, and upward of three hun- dred since the fiftieth degree of north latitude was reached by the daring Spaniard. Not long after, Fernando de Soto, with six hundred stalwart knights, entered the land of flowers in search of gold. Ex- ploring Georgia and Alabama, and destroying the Indian town of Mobile, he pushed his enterprise into Mississippi and Arkansas. Descending the Mis- sissippi to the mouth of Red River, he was invited by the Indians to visit the town of Natchez, where he ended his fruitless search for gold with his life, and was buried beneath the Mississippi's turbid wave. His companions, headed by Moscoso, pushed their journey further; but having been reduced by wars and hardships to one half of their original numbers, disheartened with the prospect, and losing all hopes of gaining the object of their pursuit, they THE WEST. 17 constructed a flotilla, in which they descended the Mississippi; and, finding a voyage to their own country, they returned no more to tempt the dan- gerous wave or enter the wilderness of the New World. The sad fate which befell De la Koque and his company of adventurers to this far-off land of flowers and gold, gave a check, for many years, to the spirit pf enterprise in this direction. The reports from the country, however, were of so enchanting a nature, having lost nothing by the distance between it and Spain, and the time it took to cross the ocean, that the then reigning queen, as a memorial of her state in life, named it Virginia, a name subsequently confined to one of the states. Thus voyages and dis- coveries, attended with successes and disasters, con- tinued to be made; until, at length, a permanent settlement of the whites from England was effected at J amestown in 1607. For more than a century after De Soto's expedition into the Great Western Valley of North America, this vast wilderness remained utterly unknown to the whites. In the year 1616, four years before the May Flower was " moored on wild New-England's shore," Le Caron, from France, had penetrated through the nations of the Iroquois and Wyandots, and found the rivers of the wilderness, one of which he traced to Lake Huron. Shortly after this, Canadian envoys pushed their explorations until they met the Indian 18 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. nations of the northwest, on the far-off shores of Lake Superior. It was not, however, to remain. The wildness of the region was sufficient to intimidate even the spirit of such daring adventurers; and it was twenty years later before even the love of gain could prompt the fur trader to spend the winter on those frozen and inhospitable shores. But the spirit of adventure was abroad ; and enough had been seen and heard of the West, and its rich lands and hunting grounds, to stir the adventurer to action. Soon Michigan is explored, and the French take formal possession of the northwest. Others start out to find the sources of the Mississippi and Missouri, and trace it to its mouth. In these expeditions, what are now the states of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi, were traversed. The first man who crossed the mountains, and entered the Ohio Valley, was John Howard, as early as 1742. It is said of this adventurer that he sailed down the Ohio in a canoe made of a buffalo-skin, from its source to its mouth, and was taken a prisoner by the French on the Mississippi. After him followed others from Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1748 Conrad Weiser was sent as an interpreter, with presents to the Indians, at their town upon the banks of the Ohio, between the head of the river and Beaver Creek; the object of his visit was to open up a friendly intercourse, and secure a trade with the THE WEST. 19 Indians, which had been monopolized by a set of unprincipled, half-savage white men. Following this movement was the formation of companies. in the east, for the purpose of settling the rich, wild lands in the valley of the Ohio. Explorers were sent out in different directions ; and as the whites had appropri- ated the country to themselves, all that was necessary was to obtain grants from the Colonial Government, and run their lines, and mark their boundaries. Thus was the West, the land of the Indians, parceled out ; and thus, from time to time, as it was visited by settlers, did it become the home of the white man. We shall have more to say, not only in regard to the explora- tion, but the settlement of the West, in our sketches. Upward of one hundred years have passed away since the canoe of the first white man parted the waters of the Ohio. Then the entire valley, in all its length and breadth, was occupied by the Indians* But now how changed the scene ? Where occasionally, at distant intervals, he passed an Indian encampment, whose fires gleamed upon the midnight waters, as he glided noiselessly by, now continuous towns and cities dot the entire margin throughout its course, and filled with their teeming thousands, while the valley con- tains its crowding and ever-increasing millions. Town is added to town, and state is added to state, until, stretching from mountain to plain, and from plain to prairie, and from prairie to mountain again, 2 20 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. and from the mountain to the Western ocean, the vast tide of human population wends its westward way. The history of the "West may be embraced within the following periods, each bearing a particular des- ignation, as the country was more or less under the control, or claimed as the possession of the various races which have visited it, since first discovered by the whites : The occupancy by the Spaniards from 1512 to 1819 ; the occupancy by the French from 1635 to 1763 ; the possession by the English from 1758 to the year 1778; and its possession by the Anglo- Americans, or citizens of the United States, from the year 1750 until the present time. PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 21 OHAPTEE H. PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. We have already alluded briefly to some of the early explorers of the West, but we design in this chapter to enter somewhat more into detail in regard to this class of pioneers. The most that had been done was by a rapid transit over those sections of the country inhabited by Indians, who were either peaceful, or with whom temporary treaties had been formed. As these Indians reserved the richest valleys on the Ohio and its tributaries for their hunting grounds, and gen- erally resided elsewhere, there was a terra incognita to the white man, which the Indians, from the knowl- edge already gained of his character, were unwilling they should find out. But what can escape his anx- ious eagle eye, or be beyond the reach of his covetous grasp ? More than even De Soto beheld in his gold- en visions, when the land of flowers greeted his eyes, the eastern settler beheld in the rich valleys of the West. De Soto had explored the South two hundred years before, and had left the footprints of stalwart knights 22 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. on its verdant plains, and on the banks of its rivers ; Le Caron had explored the North, and blazed his way through the interminable forests which border the upper lakes. La Salle and Marquette, nearly a hun- dred years later, had penetrated the northwestern wilds, and finding the far-off Wisconsin, set sail upon its waters in hopes of finding the great river of the West, which led to the Pacific. They found it, and embarking on the yellow flood of the Father of Waters, they followed its windings, and passed through what are now the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Il- linois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Subse- quently, Lewis and Clarke ascended the Missouri to ascertain its sources ; and finding them in the Rocky Mountains, they scale those mighty barriers, and stop not in their fatiguing journey until, far away through dense forests, where the white man had never been before, inhabited by the Nez Perces, Black Feet, and Flat Head Indians, they reach the Columbia, and, embarking on its waters, find the ut- most limit of the West. About fifty years, however, before this great ex- ploration — when the valley was all a wilderness, and unexplored, with the exceptions we have named — bold and daring adventurers started out from the East, and, crossing the Alleghanies, penetrated the valley. It will be our object in this chapter to nar- rate some of these adventures. It would be an easy PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 23 matter, as many have done in their pioneer sketches, to present vivid pictures of the West, which, pano- rama-like, unroll before the mind, without, however, any special connection ; but they lose half their interest by the want of that which is as important to satisfy the mind of the reader, as it is necessary to the western pilot, on one of the broad and rapid rivers of the "West, to have landmarks to guide him on his way. Names and dates are quite as im- portant, in giving interest to a narrative, as any eloquent description can be, and we shall not lose sight of connection, either in the order of dates or events. The frontiers were exposed to the desolations of the savages ; and by the frontiers we mean Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The English and the French both had their allies among the various tribes of Indians. Each were striving hard to gain recruits from the other. The considerations of rum and other articles, with the presents and promises of the English, were outdone by the presents and polite- ness of the French ; and, notwithstanding the solemn treaties which had been entered into, they were frequently seduced from their allegiance, and the French, backed up by soulless English traders, gained many of the British allies. In addition to the treaties which had been formed, another was entered into with the Delawares in Pennsylvania. This, how- 24 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. ever, did not seem to prove binding upon the nation. There were the Shawnees and Mingoes, who were still without even the show of any binding obli- gation to keep the peace. A crisis had arrived. Such was the state of the country, and the weak, disheartened condition of the English, that, unless they could overcome the in- fluence of the wily Frenchman and the heartless trader, whose only love for the Indian was to take advantage of him, and cheat him out of his skins and furs — similar to the love which the boa constrictor has for the kid ; unless this power could be broken, and the Indians of the West gained over, it was feared that the enemy would gain an advantage from which they would not be likely to recover ; but the question was, "How shall it be done? Who is adequate to the undertaking? Whefe shall the man be found possessing the nerve and daring, the knowledge and sagacity indispensable to so great a task?" The oc- casion demanded all these, and more. The man who embarked in this enterprise must have a courage undaunted, and a physical endurance equal to any fatigue. His mission would require him to pass through a country, which was then a howling wil- derness, filled with hostile foes ; and should he meet those between whom and his brethren the tomahawk had been buried, and they had sworn a friendship, no reliance was to be placed upon it, as the avowed PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 27 friends of yesterday might prove the bitterest enemies of to-day. Besides, as we have already intimated, the whole French interest would be roused against him. Every stream in its western flow had been tinged with the blood of the white man ; every mountain and valley had echoed with the wild shouts of war, and the rude cabins of the settlers had been burned to the ground. Among all the brave and gallant men of General Forbes's army, though they lacked not daring and bravery, there was not one who met the description, and possessed the necessary qualifications for so important and hazardous an enterprise. Seventeen years before, there had come out to the "West a band of Moravian missionaries, with a view of establishing missions among the Indians. They seemed to have partaken of the spirit of their breth- ren, who had braved the snows and icebergs of Greenland, to bear the glad tidings to the natives of that desolate shore. Unattended and unarmed, with the words of peace upon their lips, and the love of God and man in their hearts, they pushed their way through trackless forests, and in Western Penn- sylvania had located a mission. Among these missionaries was one whose name was Christian Frederic Post. All eyes were turned to him as the man. Ten years before, Conrad Weiser had been sent on 28 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. a somewhat similar expedition to Logstown, an Indian village on tlie Ohio, seventeen miles below Pitts- burgh; but all treaties and negotiations had failed to bring about peace. The sachem of the Pennsylva- nia savages had exerted his utmost to call his west- ern brethren to peace ; but they would not hear his voice; their cry was still for blood. When intelli- gence came to the brave old warrior, that Post was about to enter upon the mission, he strongly urged him not to go, as it would be of no use whatever, and he would surely lose his life. But he feared not ; with that strong faith which characterized the Mora- vians, mixed with just enough of the romantic ele- ment that entered into the composition of the Chris- tian knight, to give a spirit of adventure, he believed that it was the will of the great Master that he should start out upon this errand. It was precisely in the midsummer of 1758 that our Christian hero left the city of Philadelphia. Habited as a hunter, and provided with the neces- sary outfit for a long and fatiguing journey, he left the city of Penn, and took his course up the Sus- quehanna. As he passed along from settlement to settlement, instead of finding inhabitants, all were deserted; and the plantations and cabins presented nothing but a scene of desolation. Leaving the val- ley, he ascended the mountain; and urging his way through its wild and unbroken solitudes, he at length, PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 29 after a month's travel, reached the Alleghany River, opposite French Creek. He was now in the vicinity of the enemy's fortifications. The garrison of Fort Venango was before him; and further down the stream, at the junction of the Alleghany with the Monongahela, stood intrenched Fort Du Quesne, both of which were occupied by the French, fully armed, and stoutly manned. The former fort was passed without detection or interruption; and he proceeded on his journey to Cuskagee, an Indian town on Big Beaver Creek, not far from a Moravian mission. The Indian town contained ninety huts and two hundred able war- riors. Here Post was known and beloved. His self-sacrificing devotion to the good of the red man for years, had satisfied them that he sought not to advance his own interests by coming among them and cultivating a friendship, but his only aim was to do them good. His name and fame had spread through many Western tribes, as "the good pale face ;" and Indian mothers taught their children to lisp the name of Post, the Christian, with as much interest as patriot mothers subsequently taught their children to lisp the name of Washington. Here, then, he was at home, among his friends. Assem- bling the chiefs, he opened up to them — for he understood their language, and was allied to them by marriage — his mission. He described to them 30 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. the condition of the country, and the relations which the English and French sustained in regard to it ; as well as the distracted state of the various Western tribes, swaying to and fro in their allegiance to both parties, as cunning or cupidity might dictate. At Fort Du Quesne there were fragments of eight nations of Indians, more or less under the power and influence of the French; and the friends of Post, brave though they were, nevertheless had reason to fear that power. Their attachment to him, however, was too great for them not to listen to his proposals in regard to the propriety of holding a council with them. To test the matter, Post said to the chiefs : "Shall I cross the river alone, and enter the fort of my enemies?" "Nay, we will go with thee, and carry thee in our bosom. Thou needest fear nothing, thou man of the Great Spirit." A messenger, however, was sent, and the Indians at the fort were apprised that their brethren of Cus- kagee desired to hold a conference with them, oppo- site the fort, on the other side of the river. Post and the chiefs departed for the place; and on the last day of summer there met on the banks of the Ohio the representatives from the different tribes. Post stated the object of the meeting, presenting everything in its true light to the assembled warriors, who listened with great attention to every word which PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 31 fell from his Hps, for he was not a stranger to them. All seemed disposed to listen to his advice, but an old Onondaga chief of the Six Nations. The old man was evidently in liquor; but as the old Latin proverb holds true, in vinum est Veritas^ so he uttered some truths. In a boisterous manner he replied to Post, exclaim- ing, "The land on which I now stand belongs to the Six Nations, and the English have no right to it." At this a Delaware advanced, and rebuking the Onondaga, he said, addressing Post, "That man speaks not as a man. He endeavors to frighten us by saying this ground is his. He dreams ; and he and his father, the French, have certainly drunk too much liquor; pray, let them go to sleep till they are sober." Then turning to the old chief, he said : "You do not know what your own nation does at home, how much they have to say to the English. Go to sleep with your father, and when you are sober we will speak to you." It was obvious that the Delawares, and nearly all the Western Indians, were wavering in their attach- ment for the French. It takes not an Indian long to find out when a deception is practiced upon him, especially when his suspicion is a little excited ; and, when once deceived, it is hard to restore confidence. The rough, outspoken manner of the old inebriate, was the occasion of awakening in the minds of the Indians present a remembrance of the wrongs they 32 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. Lad suffered, and the deceptions practiced upon them both by the Eiiglish and French, and, as might be expected, they were not exactly ready to listen to the proposals even of the good Post to join the colonies. Some of them uttered bitter com- plaints against the whites for the disposition they manifested to lay their rapacious hands on all the hunting grounds. " Why," said one of them, addressing Post, " did you not fight your battles at home or on the sea, instead of coming into our country to fight them? Your heart is good; you speak sincerely; but we know there is always a great number who wish to get rich, and take away what others have. The white people think we have no brains in our heads ; that they are big, and we a little handful; but, remember, when you hunt for a rattle-snake you cannot find it, and perhaps it will bite you before you see it." Post, however, was not discouraged, but labored on, using every honorable means in his power, with- out resorting to any false promises, to convince them that it would be to their advantage to form a union with the colonies. Besides, the army of General Forbes was approaching Du Quesne, and the strong probability was, from the weakened condition of the fort, that it would fall into the hands of the English. They were at length won by the sincerity and kind- PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 33 ness of Post, and a definite peace was concluded between the various Western tribes there represented and the English. Leaving the treaty ground, he started homeward, and, after suffering incredible perils from French scouts and hostile Indians, Post at length reached the settlements uninjured. But his work was not done. The French had de- stroyed and deserted Du Quesne, and had proceeded to lower posts down the Ohio. Washington was urg- ing his way through the wilderness, and opening a road to the Fork of the Ohio, advancing at the rate of from four to eight miles a day. In the mean time a treaty had been held with the Eight United Na- tions at Easton. Still there was a powerful body who were opposed to the English, and these must be con- ciliated. Post accordingly starts out again for the Ohio. Following in the track of Forbes's army, he finally overtook it, and receiving messages from the general to the West, he traveled on to bear the news of the treaty to the distant tribes. Being successful in finding them, he laid before the chiefs his plans and proposals. The result was, that he was again fortunate in preventing them from joining the French, which they were just on the eve of doing, and had arranged their plans to waylay Forbes and his army. Through his services the key to the Western world was secured to the colonies, and an advantage was 34 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. gained in this respect, over French and Indians, that was never afterward lost. Though the Ohio Indians had been gained over to the English, there were tribes bordering on the lakes, such as the Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas, who adhered to the French. It was important that they should be visited, and, accordingly, Major Rog- ers — Post having gone on a religious mission among the Indians on the Muskingum — was sent out on the expedition. Detroit was given to his charge. In September, 1760, he left Montreal, and passing up Lake Erie to that place, he demanded a surrender. While waiting for an answer, Pontiac, the Ottawa chief, visited him, and in a bold, defiant manner, asked " how the English dared to enter his country." The reply was, that " they only came to put out the French and open up a trade." This quieted the spirit of the brave chief, and he departed. The fort was finally taken, and Rogers received no little assistance from Pontiac. Leaving the position fortified, he start- ed out on an exploring expedition. Crossing the lake, he entered what is now the State of Ohio, at the point where Sandusky city now stands. From thence he crossed the Huron River to Mohiccan town on the Mohiccan Creek, a branch of "White Woman. From thence he went to Beaver town, op- posite Sandy Creek. At this town there were one hundred and eighty warriors, and thousands of acres PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 35 of cleared land. From this point he proceeded up Sandy Creek, crossed the Big Beaver, and went up the Ohio through Logstown to Fort Pitt. This was the first journey by a white man through Ohio. The year following, Alexander Henry, an English trader, went to the straits of Mackinaw, and finding among the Indians great hostility to the English, he assumed the garb of a Canadian, and reached his des- tination in safety. It was not long, however, until his speech betrayed him, and he was visited by Pon- tiac, who, deceived by English promises, had become enraged. Addressing Henry he said, "Englishman! You have conquered the French, but you have not con- quered us ! We are not your slaves ! These lakes, these woods, these mountains, were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread, and pork, and beef. But you ought to know that He, die Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided food for us upon these broad lakes and in these mount- ains." A few years prior to this, Christopher Gist was Kent out, by the Ohio Company, to explore the Mia- mi River. Like Howard and others, he did not pass t] trough the country, but descended the Ohio. "When be arrived at the mouth of the Miami, he ascended 36 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. that river as far as the mouth of Loraimie Creek, one hundred and fifty miles from the Ohio River, where a trading house was built for the purpose of carrying on a traffic with the Miami Indians. In this tour he also descended the Ohio as far as the Falls. He also entered Virginia, and surveyed a tract of land east of the Kanawha, and, in company with General An- drew Lewis, made some surveys in the Greenbrier country. A history is connected with each one of these adventurous pioneers full of thrilling interest; but we have only space to call up their names, and allude to their explorations. In the year 1766, during the first month of sum- mer, there started out from Carolina a pioneer by the name of James Smith. Having received the intelligence that the king's agent, to whom was intrusted the affairs of government with the Indians, had purchased from them all the lands west of the Appalachian chain, extending from the Ohio to the Cherokee Rivers, and knowing from the Indians, with whom he was able to converse in their own tongue, that many portions of this country were exceedingly rich and valuable, he concluded to take a tour of exploration. His plan becoming known to his neighbors, several of them determined on accom- panying him to the El Dorado of the West. The company was composed, besides himself, of Joshua PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST, 37 Horton — who took with him a mulatto slave, a boy eighteen years old — Uriah Stone, and William Baker. They proceeded to the Holston River, and from thence they struck out in a westward direction. They explored the country south of Kentucky, and saw not in all their travels the slightest sign indicating the presence of a white man. They were the first white explorers of this wilderness. They explored the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers from Stone's River — a branch of the Cum- berland, named after one of the party — down to the mouth. "When they reached the mouth of the Tennessee River, Smith's fellow-travelers concluded to strike into "the Illinois," for the purpose of finding out the quality of the land, which the Indians represented as being exceeding rich and beautifully rolling. He, however, concluded that he had been away long- enough from his wife and children, and, fearing lest they should become uneasy about him, and imagine that he had been killed by the Indians, resolved to return home. The party furnished him with the greatest part of their ammunition, and Horton gave him the loan of his colored boy to keep him com- pany. Sending his horse with his companions to Illinois, it being difficult to take one through the mountains, he started out on his homeward journey. 3 38 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. After traveling eight days, he accidentally trod on a sharp cane, with which the region abounded, and his foot was so wounded with it that it soon began to swell, and pained him so much that he was unable to walk. His condition can be better imagined than described. He was in a dense wil- derness, hundreds of miles from human habitation, his ammunition nearly exhausted, and no one to give him any assistance but his negro boy, Jim. Besides, he knew not what moment he might be attacked by the savages. But who ever knew a pioneer hunter to despair? Something must be done, and done speedily, to give him relief, for the swelling was increasing, and with it the pain. He had no surgical instruments, and, if he had, he would scarcely have known how to use them. He accordingly took his knife, and cutting away the flesh as well as he could, he inserted his moc- casin awl into the wound, and, exposing the cane spike, he ordered Jim to take the bullet-mold, which he made answer for pincers, and extract it, which he did, much to the joy of the hunter. He then ordered Jim to search for some Indian medi- cine, directing him to get some bark from a linn- tree, and pound it on a stone with the tomahawk, and boil it in the kettle which they carried with them. "With this decoction he bathed his foot, and the bark answered as a poultice, which he bound up PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 39 with moss, having no linen, and bandaged it with elm bark. By this means the swelling greatly abated, but still he was unable to walk. In the midst of his misfortunes stormy weather set in, and it became necessary to have a shelter. Jim was accordingly ordered to cut forks and poles, and cover them over with cane tops, like a fodder- house. The place where Smith lay was about one hundred yards from a great buffalo road, and, as they were out of provisions, one day Smith ordered Jim to take the gun, and following him on his hands and knees, he succeeded in reaching it, con- cealing himself near the track. It was not long until a herd came along, and he fired and killed one of the fattest. The buffalo was dressed ; and while the lean part served for jerk, the fat part was reserved to cook it with, as occasion might require. While lying , in this lonesome and helpless condi- tion, the pioneer was not without some comfort. He was a religious man, and had taken with him a Psalm Book, and a work entitled "Watts on Prayer." In his musings about his condition, and the loved ones at home, he became melancholy; but his melancholy, as is often the case, took a poetic turn, and while by his adventure he secured the name of being the first explorer of that region, may not his poetic effusions entitle him to the sobriquet of the Pioneer Poet ? His verses ran thus : 40 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. " Six weeks I've in this desert been, With one mulatto lad ; Excepting this poor stupid slave, No company I had. u In solitude I here remain, A cripple very sore ; No friend or neighbor to be found, My case for to deplore. 14 I'm far from home, far from the wife Which in my bosom lay ; Far from the children dear which used Around me for to play. " This doleful circumstance cannot My happiness prevent ; While peace of conscience I enjoy, Great comfort and content." One cannot help being reminded, on reading this, of a certain metrical version of David's Psalms, sung by certain denominations, who abominate the Hymns of "Watts, "Wesley, and others, as they do the seven- headed and ten-horned beast of the Apocalypse. It sonnds, however, much like the early poetry of the "West. What it lacks in strict poetic requirement, it makes up in sense and sentiment. Specimens of pioneer poetry would make a rich chapter. But we must return. Smith continued "a cripple very sore" for some time; but his foot gradually became PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 41 better, and lie was finally enabled to get about pretty well on crutches. Being so near the buffalo road, he feared being surprised by the Indians who might be passing; and, considering prudence the better part of valor, he struck his tent and removed further off. He was afraid to enter upon his journey until his foot was entirely well, or nearly so, lest traveling should inflame it, and nothing would be gained. In this he acted wisely. His next game was an elk, which he shot from his camp. After remaining a few weeks longer he started again for home, which, after a fatiguing journey, he reached, much to his own happiness, and that of his family and friends, who had given him and his party up as lost. He had been in the wilderness eleven months, during three of which he saw no human being but Jim, his companion. When he reached the settlements his few remaining clothes were in rags, and Jim had "nothing on him that ever was spun." He was dressed in buckskin leg- gins and moccasins, and a bearskin, dressed with the hair on, which was belted around him, and a raccoon- skin cap. So strange and wonderful was the simple story Smith told his friends and neighbors of his travels, and the distance he had been from home, that no one believed him; and, as if he had not suffered enough, he was taken into custody, and put under guard on the charge of being crazy. 42 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. About two years after this wonderful adventure another expedition set out from North Carolina. They were traders, seeking the Cherokees and other Southern Indians, with whom they had carried on a traffic for many years. Their course, however, was diverted from the South, and they took a northern direction, upon what was called the Warrior's Road. This road led from Cumberland Ford, along the broken country lying on the eastern branch of the Kentucky River, and from thence across the Licking and Ohio, to the mouth of the Scioto River. This Indian war-path formed a communication between the Northern and Southern Indians. On some point along its course, John Finley, in 17 67, opened a trad- ing post with the red men, north of the Ohio, who met him there, at certain seasons, to exchange their skins for such articles as they needed. This daring pioneer trader was the first man to traverse Kentucky to the Ohio River, carrying his goods and merchandise along with his rifle. The valleys of the Holston, Clinch, and New Rivers, contained a number of families, among whom were some bold, adventurous hunters. For the purpose of exploring the country more fully, Col- onel James Knox succeeded in enlisting thirty-nine men, as a company, to be governed by certain rules in their explorations. Their object was not only to chase the bufialo and the Indians, but to find out PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 43 the localities of the country in the region of the Cumberland. Nine men out of this party resolved to cross the mountains, and penetrate the wilderness beyond. They accordingly did so, and all the region on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee was visited by them. They were so long absent on their tour of exploration, that the party was ever after desig- nated, in the traditions of the West, as the "Long Hunters." While they were traversing the valley, other daring spirits from Virginia and Pennsylvania, fired with Western enterprise, penetrated the valley of the Ohio. Among the number of these adven- turers was the world-renowned George Washington, who, among the pioneers as among the soldiers of the West, was the first and best. He had in his posses- sion large claims of land, and his fruitful mind had revolved far-reaching plans of settlement for the great- valley. He was aware of the fertility of the lands along the Ohio, and he could have made the selection with- out the toil and hazard of the journey; but he was resolved to look upon them with his own eyes, and select them according to his own judgment. The surveys made by Washington were mostly confined to the lands in the vicinity of the Kanawha River. In the year 1774 James Harrod entered Kentucky, and, after making many explorations, he resolved to take up his abode there. Other hunters and explorers 44 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. had come and gone, leaving no trace of civiliza- tion behind them. So exciting were the scenes of every-day life, that they had no time to remain long in one spot, and no desire to fix for themselves a local habitation. The place where they camped one night might be fifty miles distant on the return of the suc- ceeding night. Like the children of Israel in the desert, though they might cross and recross their own path a hundred times, they never pitched their tents in the same locality. But Harrod opened a new era for Kentucky. He erected a log cabin, the first ever reared in the valley of the Ohio. It was situated on a spot of ground where the town of Harrodsburg now stands. It was emphatically the pioneer cabin; and standing, as it did, alone in the wilderness, it became the type of the early habita- tions of the settlers of the "West. The year previous to Harrod's location, Thomas Bullit, in company with two brothers by the name of M'Afee, and the following-named persons, Duen- non, Hancock, and Taylor, descended the Ohio as far as the Kentucky River, where they separated, part of them going up that river for the purpose of ex- ploring its banks. In their tour they made some important surveys, including the valley in which the city of Frankfort, the capital of the state, now stands* The other portion continued on down the Ohio as far as the Falls, where they laid out the town of Louisville. THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 47 CHAPTER m. THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. In the early part of the eighteenth century, a stern and sturdy yeoman from England, who, with others, sought a home in America, landed upon these shores. The place he had selected as his home in the new world, was in the state of Pennsylvania. He had been blessed with a large family, consisting of nine sons and ten daughters. All, however, were trained to industry, and it was not many years before the father had acquired a large plantation, and saw his sons and daughters, one after another, happily mar- ried and settled in life. One of his sons, to whom he gave the quaint title of "Squire," married a young woman in the neighborhood ; but, as is frequently the case, he thought he could better his condition by leaving the shadow of home, and, accordingly, he re- moved to a different part of the state. He, also, in process of time, was blessed with a numerous progeny. Among the number of sons that grew up with the rest of the children, like olive plants around his table, was one who seemed to have inherited more of the 48 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. spirit of his enterprising father, than the other boys, and on this account, perhaps, he was looked upon with rather more favor than the rest. "When this favored boy was quite young, his father removed to a still more distant region. To a child in that period of our country's history, the name of an Indian was almost as familiar as the name of any domestic animal to the children of the present day ; but it produced quite different sensations. The boy became accustomed, as he grew up, to all the scenes and incidents of a backwoods life, and early became inured to its toils and hardships. He was not, like many children of the present day, sent to school as soon as he could walk, and shut up in a close room, with his book in his hand, and a rod in terrorem hanging over him, if he did not exhaust his little brain in mastering his lesson. Neither was his mind or body dwarfed by such a training, but, left to breathe the pure air of the woods, and to study nature in spelling out of " the brooks, and stones, and trees," his lessons of instruction, it may readily be conjectur- ed that he developed both a mind and body suited to the times in which he lived. The boy thus reared became a bold and daring youth, and having learned the use of the rifle, he often started out alone on a hunt through the forests. Many romantic stories are told of the hunter boy ; but as there are reliable facts enough connected with his THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 49 history, to make the truth itself stranger than fiction, it is not necessary to embellish our narrative with any imaginative descriptions. The father had heard rumors of richer lands and better hunting grounds in the far-off Southwest, and his enterprising spirit prompted him to start out in quest of them. It was not long until he disposed of his possessions on the head waters of the Schuylkill, and, taking his family, started on pilgrimage for the Canaan. After crossing over the states of Mary- land and Virginia, the adventurous family found themselves on the head waters of the Yadkin, a river which rises among the mountains, forming the west- ern boundary of North Carolina, where they found a wild and romantic scenery, possessing charms to the eye of a pioneer hunter and his family, yet only such as would now be sought, out of mere necessity, by an invalid denizen of some of our pent-up cities. The youth had come to manhood; full, vigorous manhood. In all that wild region he had no superior for strength of muscle, fleetness of foot, or skill with the rifle. He had grown up in the woods, and un- derstood all its mysteries. He felt as much at home in the midst of bears, and wolves, and panthers, as Van Amburg with his lions, though they were as un- tamed as the wilderness in which they roamed. None had penetrated the mountain fastnesses which separated the settlements from the wild, unknown re- 50 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. gion beyond, farther than he. Wild as had become his nature, from the associations by which he was surrounded, and much as he loVed solitude, a period arrived in his history, when a new and strange feeling took possession of his heart. He was in love; a beautiful black-eyed damsel, fleet and pure as the roe of the mountain, had stolen his affections ; and though the poet makes Adam to feel that Eden would have been a wilderness without woman, he felt that his wilderness would become an Eden with one. As " the brave deserve the fair," so he wooed and won, and, erecting a cabin, entered upon the sweets of home. Time passed on, and the inviting country attracted other settlers; the area of improvement increased, and the cabin sent up its curling smoke in valley and glen, and on the mountain side. The hunter became restless and uneasy, if not unhappy. It was not that he coveted the possessions of others, or that he was unwilling others should enjoy like advantages with himself ; but he loved a broad range, and preferred being alone with his family in the woods, out of sight of the smoke of other cabins, and the crack of other rifles. On one of his mountain rambles he met a hunter returning from the West, laden with the rich products of the unknown land. He had been the first to penetrate its wilds, and, like one of the spies sent over from THE HUNTERS OP THE WEST. 51 the encampment of Israel to Canaan, lie was re- turning with a proof of its richness as a hunter's paradise. This was enough to convince the ambi- tious hunter, without listening to the marvelous stories which he told of the far-off Kentucky. Nor did it take much urging, on the part of the returned hunter, to induce him to accompany him on his next tour. Nothing could have been more oppor- tune, or better suited to his feelings. Accordingly, after making the necessary provision for his wife and children — for these pledges of love were to be found in his cabin — he departed with his com- panions, consisting of five besides himself, all his neighbors and friends. In the course of time they reached the long-desired land, and when their eyes rested upon it, they said " the. half had not been told them." It was in the spring of the year. The ver- dant plain was covered with flowers of every hue. The myriad trees spread out their leaves and blos- soms. Wild beasts of all kinds roamed the forests, and herds of buffalo, more numerous than the cattle in the settlements, not fearing because not knowing the vio- lence of the white man, were grazing on the herbage. Here our hunter had all that heart could wish, and all he wanted to complete the sum of his highest joys, was the presence of his wife and children. After remaining for six months, an un- pleasant incident occurred. He and one of his 52 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. companions, being out one day on a hunting excur- sion, were surprised and taken captive by a party of Indians who had been hatching their move- ments, and sprung upon them when they were entirely off their guard, enjoying a pleasant re- laxation in conversation about home. The Indians bound them, and took them to their camps, in a dense cane-brake, with which portions of that region abounded. Here they continued in captivity for seven days, in all which time they were treated with savage barbarity. It was now mid-winter, and at night the Indians would sleep around a large fire. The captives, knowing that if they manifested no desire to escape, the Indians would be less watchful, and, therefore, the probabilities of their escape increased, affected no concern whatever about their condition, keeping always close by the more watchful of the Indians. On the seventh night, as our captives lay side by side in the midst of their swarthy enemies, the -one who was the most vigilant touching the other, being assured that all were locked fast in sleep, they rose noiselessly and left the camp. They imme- diately directed their course toward their own camp, in hopes of finding their companions; but what was their surprise, on arriving, to find it plundered and their companions gone ! Having remained so long in the wilderness, it THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 53 was feared by the wife and father of the daring hunter that he was killed, and so anxious did they become about him, that a younger brother and a companion resolved on going after him; and if they could not find him, it would at least be a comfort to learn some tidings of his fate. After scouring the country, they at length found his camp, and rejoiced to meet him once more alive. A few days after this, the hunter who had been in cap- tivity with him was slain by the Indians; and the man who accompanied his brother, becoming alarmed for his own safety, returned home. But, alas ! that home he never reached. Without a guide, though a hunter, and somewhat skilled in picking his way through a wilderness, he was now in a region unknown and untenanted by man. Either in the tangled thicket, or on the mountain wild, he had been able to direct his course in all his hunting rambles hitherto; but now, sad to re- late, he became bewildered, and, losing all his reckoning, that horrid state of mind which only those can understand who have realized it, took possession of him, and he wandered about, not knowing whither he was going, like one bereft of reason. He was lost ! lost in the wilderness. How long he wandered none could tell. It is supposed that he supplied himself with provisions as long as his ammunition lasted, and when that failed he 54 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. lived on whatever he could find to eat, until he eventually perished for want of food. Many months afterward his bones were found, in all probability on the very spot where he breathed out his worn and weary spirit to its God. The two brothers were now alone, all but they having left. The winter was rapidly approaching, and it was necessary that its rigors should be pro- vided against. Accordingly a camp was made, covered with cane and moss, and made weather- proof. It was not necessary to lay in provisions, as the kind upon which they depended, and, in fact, all the kind that could be had, was to be found in the woods in great abundance ; perhaps greater in win- ter than summer. The brothers were busily engaged, when not hunting, in making up their dressed skins into hunting shirts, moccasins, and breeches. They had no time for idleness ; and as it was necessary they should keep a watchful look-out for the Indians, who might find their camp, and come upon them, they never became listless and apathetic. Thus the winter was passed, and spring returned ; but with it the certainty, which became every day more apparent, that they must return to the settlements, as their ammuni- tion was nearly exhausted. Between them and home intervened five hundred miles of wilderness, in which there was no human being but the Indian. It was concluded, however, that the return of one for fresh THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 55 supplies would answer as well as that of both ; and it was agreed that the younger should return. Much as the elder desired to see his wife and children, still he thought it better to remain, not only with a view of adding to his stock of skins and furs, but of obtain- ing a kind of preemption right to the rich and fertile country which he had explored. Besides, he was not only more accustomed to the wilderness than his brother, but he loved the solitude of the desert, and never felt lonesome while left to communings with nature and nature's God. At length the parting words were spoken, and every setting sun removed them farther and farther from each other's presence. Three months had passed away, and summer, with its fruits and flowers, gladdened the eye of the hunter; but more joyous to him than all other sights — though natural scenes were always to him full of enchantment — was the return of his brother, with two horses laden with every article necessary for life in the woods, and plenty of ammunition, the most important of all supplies. But above and beyond all, the brother brought with him glad tidings from home — intelligence of the health and happiness of his beloved wife and children — which thrilled the hunter's heart with indescribable emotions of joy. Having horses, and being thus newly fitted out for exploration, they started out to make further dis- coveries. Leaving the Kentucky, they explored the 4 56 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. Cumberland and Green Rivers ; and for a period of eight months, on their fleet horses, they scoured the country without being once, attacked by the Indians, or meeting a single white man in all their journeys. Having satisfied their curiosity, they returned to the Kentucky River, finding no section more desirable in which to make a permanent location, or which they would prefer as a home. Having, therefore, fully set- tled the question in regard to locality, the brothers concluded to return home, which they did, greatly to the joy of the dwellers on the Yadkin. The elder had now been absent for nearly three years. Of those who started with him to that far-off land, none but himself returned ; and well might he feel confirmed in the sentiment, which, like an ever- present guiding genius, possessed him as he started out into those unknown wilds, that he was ordained of Heaven to traverse that country, and open up the path for the Pioneer settlers. The wild, romantic stories which had been told of the impassable mountains and impenetrable forests, filled with bears, wolves, and panthers, of enormous size, and giant savages, who delighted in blood and carnage, were all dispelled, as horrid, unreal night-dreams, by the calm, simple story of the elder brother ; and to convince them that it was a region fairer than ever their eyes beheld, and desirable above all lands, he assured the settlers on the Yadkin, that he in- THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 57 tended taking his family to the paradise of the West. What he promised was in course of time fulfilled ; and after getting all things in readiness, he and his brother, with their families and four horses, started for their destined home. The news of their return, and their intended emigration with their families, spread all over the country. Though there were not any daily, or weekly, or monthly papers then con- taining news, and no artificial mode of conveying intelligence whatever, yet fleet-footed backwoods- men, anxious to communicate, and inquirers, eager to learn, were to be found in all directions. It is a matter of wonder, even to this day, with what fa- cility and correctness intelligence is communicated from cabin to cabin, almost with as much dispatch as along the electric wires, and often with greater precision and correctness. What denizen of a large city has not, on visiting the country, often received intelligence of events happening in the city, almost under his eye, which he had not heard of before, and which, on inquiry, he finds to have transpired without his notice. Intelligence, with them, is a common stock ; and each tells the other all he knows and all he hears. So spread the wonderful news communicated by the Kentucky hunters. Accordingly, when the brothers arrived with their families at PowPs Valley, they found a large and 58 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. strong party of emigrants ready to accompany them to their new home. The party consisted of five families and forty men, all well armed, and ready for any fatigue or emergency. Soon they were on their way, and, striking for the gap in the Cumber- land Mountains, the great gateway which nature had constructed for the Western traveler to the New "World, they moved on. At night they would construct rude camps of poles, over which they would spread their tent-cloth for the protection of the wo- men and children; and, kindling their fires, would prepare the homely but healthful repast. Thus from day to day they traveled on, without meeting with any incident to mar their peaceful journey. As they approached a ridge known as Walden's, a sad calamity befell the emigrant band. Seven of the young men of the company, belonging to the different families, had fallen behind the rest, having either been diverted by a chase of some mountain game, or in search of the cattle which may have strayed into the woods. The emigrants were startled at beholding one of the number of the young men bound into their midst, out of breath, exclaiming, " Indians!" The elder hunter's son, a daring, sprightly youth of seventeen, was among the number. Instantly following the one who had escaped, the whole company started for the scene of conflict. THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 59 The Indians had evidently been on the trail of the emigrants, and were watching an opportunity for attacking any portion of the company that might get separated from the rest. Being vastly superior in numbers to the young men whom they attack- ed unawares, the latter soon fell victims to their deadly aim, and all but the one we have alluded to were killed upon the spot. They were several miles from their friends; and though it took some time for the hunters to arrive, yet they were on the spot before a scalp was taken, and the sharp, quick, si- multaneous crack of the unerring rifle, as the fright- ened savages bounded away through the dense forests, was like to the funeral shots over the graves of buried warriors. There before them lay, in Death's embrace, the flower and pride of Yadkin and Powel's Yalley. Slowly and sadly the elder hunter raised his lifeless boy, and bore him away to meet the agonizing grief of a fond, affectionate mother. The others, with grief-smitten hearts, following, took up their dead, and bore them to the camps. We will not attempt a description of the lamenta- tion, mourning, and woe of that sad scene. It was Indian Summer; a soft and dreamy haziness was in the atmosphere ; the skies wore a leaden hue ; and a somber aspect was cast over the face of nature. "Wild, craggy rocks and deep precipices were around, for they were now on the most elevated portion of 60 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. Walden's ridge. A deep gloom settled on every face of that cleeply-afflicted band. It seemed like the night of the Passover to the Egyptians, when the first-born in every house was slain by the avenging angel; and though the pioneer hunter still was im- pressed that it was his destiny to lead the van in the settlement of the country he had explored, all but he and his younger brother came to the conclusion that destiny was against them, and they must return. There was not a mother in that adventurous band who could be persuaded to risk the lives of any of their remaining children in so hazardous a journey. It was enough. After performing the last sad and solemn office of committing their dead to one common grave, " united in life and in death not divided," and marking the spot with nameless stones, moistened with many tears of affection, they started back, with heavy hearts, to the homes they had left. Before reaching, however, their former place of residence, they concluded to take up their abode on the waters of the Clinch River, where the descendants of some of them may be found to this day. Here our hunter remained, contented to wait the openings of Providence for another tour to the West. His name and fame, as a daring and suc- cessful explorer, had spread far and wide ; and before two years had passed since his last unsuc- THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 61 cessful expedition, an order came from Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, requesting him to conduct into the settlements a company of surveyors whom he had some months before sent out to the Falls of the Ohio, for the purpose of effecting a settlement. To this request he complied, regarding it a favor- able opening for the prosecution of that great mis- sion for which he still believed himself to be destined. Taking a companion with him whom he had tried, some of his former fellow-adventurers having " pass'd that bourn From whence no traveler returns," he was once more on his way across the mountains. They had no time to spend in hunting, as the mis- sion with which the hunter was intrusted was urgent. The party at the Falls were in danger of being captured by the Indians, and were not aware of that danger. All the delay on the route was that which was necessarily occasioned in killing and cooking game, sufficient for their supply on the road. After being out two months, during which time they traveled eight hundred miles, they arrived safely at the Falls of the Ohio, and found the com- pany to whom they bore the governor's message. Not believing that there was any immediate danger to be apprehended from the Indians, the 62 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. company continued at the Falls until an incident occurred that convinced them of the truthfulness of the admonition. A party had gone out one day, on what is now the Indiana side of the river, and about a mile from the present site of the city of Jeffersonville, where there was a famous spring of the most pure and delicious water, possessing medicinal properties, and which has since been a place of great resort by the pleasure and health seeking from various parts of the country. To this spring was given, by the pioneers, the name of Fontainebleau. While the party were quaffing the waters of this "Western fountain of Hygeia, they were surprised by the Indians, and one of their number killed. This, with other depredations, and the hostilities which were being commenced in different sections, put an end, for the time being, to the settlement. So satisfactorily was the mission performed with which the governor intrusted the hunter, that it was not long until he received a commission in the army, and was ordered to take charge of three garrisons on the frontier. He per- formed every duty required at his hands with singular skill and fidelity ; and when the great and bloody battle, which we have elsewhere described, was fought at Point Pleasant, he was in the van, doing execution as a gallant soldier, who, to use his own expression, " never knew fear." THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 63 After this he was selected to head a company appointed by government, to whom was assigned the difficult and dangerous task of cutting out a road from the Holston to the Kentucky River. They had cut their way through the wilderness until they had reached a point about fifteen miles from where the town of Boonesborough now stands, when the Indians, beholding this unmistakable sign of civilization, as the path of the pale face was being opened, became enraged, and commenced hostili- ties. The road-makers, headed by the hunter, stood their ground, and succeeded in repelling their attacks with such success that they were enabled, with the rifle and the ax, to make a path in the wil- derness, over which the coming generations might find a home in the rich and fertile valley to which it led. It becoming important to set up a defense against the attacks of the Indians, our hunter caused a strong log fort to be erected. On the completion of this fort, a point was gained in the way of settlement, which was of all things the most desirable. Here the pioneers could rally, if attacked by superior force, and defend themselves from the assaults of the savages. Once more the hunter sighed for the companion- ship of his wife and children, and, feeling that if he could only succeed in bringing them safely across the country, here they would be protected, again he 64 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. returned home, and was successful in prevailing upon his wife to accompany him. Others, hearing of the road cut through the wilderness, and the strong fort which had been erected, united with the family, and before they started the company consisted of twenty- seven armed men. The long journey was performed, and all arrived in safety. Intelligence reaching the settlements of the success of the expedition, others were induced to start, and among the number the bold and daring Henderson filed into the Western highway, with forty full-armed hunters, well pro- visioned for the march. They too arrived, but there was room enough and to spare. It was not long until the ax followed the rifle, and the forest began to fall before the hand of civilization. The fort was the strong point about which they all rallied, as it was dangerous for any of them to ven- ture too far, for savage blood was up, and the en- croachments of the whites had aroused the Indians to desperate deeds. Among all assembled in and around that stronghold, that city of refuge, none was more esteemed and beloved than the pioneer hunter. His superior could not be found, and he towered above his fellows in his own native strength and dignity, though he was kind and complacent to all. Here it was determined to organize a govern- ment, of which the fort was to be the capital. A THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 65 land office was opened by Colonel Henderson, and as there were in the neighborhood four settlements, it was determined that delegates should be summon- ed from each, for the purpose of establishing a pro- visional government. The spring of 1775 witnessed the assembling of this pioneer legislature, composed of delegates representing a constituency of one hun- dred and fifty settlers, and a territory, for extent, fer- tility, beauty, and richness, never equaled. The pres- ident, Colonel Henderson, caMed the assembly to order, and inviting a minister of the Gospel, Rev. John Lythe, a pioneer preacher, to address the throne of grace, the Legislature was opened in the name of His Majesty the King of Great Britain, the alle- giance of the mother country not yet having been thrown off by the colonists. He then delivered his address to the delegates, which would do honor to a governor, or a speaker, of the present day.. He re- minded them of the importance of laying a broad and strong foundation for the future, of enacting such good and wholesome laws as would command the respect, and secure the support of the people, for whom they were made. Among the laws enacted, was one proposed by the hunter, who was a leading delegate, having reference to the preservation of the game, and one, also, prohibiting profane swearing, and the profanation of the Sabbath. Finally, the Legislature adjourned, invoking, through their chap- 66 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. lain, the blessings of Heaven upon their laws and deliberations. In the course of the year, many more families came into the settlements, and among the number, the family of Colonel Callaway, who had come out in advance, and was a member of the Legislature ; Cal- laway had two lovely daughters, and though they had grown in the wilderness, like the desert flower, they had a beauty and loveliness which nature only can impart. The aigival of these girls proved a joy- ous event to the hunter's daughter, who, like them, was just blushing into womanhood. They were pio- neer girls, and, like their fathers, they loved the woods, and the excitement connected with its scenes. One day, the three resolved on a canoe excursion. The Kentucky River, near Boonesborough, presented a most enchanting scenery. Its waters flowed along between banks untouched by the hand of man. Trees, and shrubs, and flowers grew in rank luxuri- ance down to the water's edge, and were reflect- ed back from its transparent surface. Entering their bark and seizing the light paddles, their canoe darted across the waters like a thing of life. Crossing and re-crossing from shore to shore, the current insensibly bore them down, as they would stop to talk, or gather the water lilies which grew along the margin. At times, the solitudes were made to echo with their joyous laugh. As the prow of their THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 67 Indian bark was nestling among the flowers on the opposite bank, a swarthy Indian, who was concealed in the bushes, crawled through them like a black snake, and, sliding unperceived into the water, caught the rope which hung over the bow, and giving it a sudden jerk, turned it up stream. The loud shrieks of the girls were heard at the fort, but it was too late, as four additional Indians immediately seiz- ed them, and rushed into the wilderness. Soon men from the fort were, on the bank, but the canoe, the only means of crossing, was on the opposite shore ; and none dared venture to swim the river, fear- ing the Indians. The fathers were both absent on business, and it was night before they returned. They were not long in selecting a party of brave hunters, and started in pursuit. Crossing the river, they soon entered a thick cane-brake ; and, practiced as they were to track the Indians, they found it difficult to follow them, from the fact that the Indians, to elude detection, had passed through at considerable dis- tances apart from each other. Every sign was care- fully noted, and being conscious that they were ai their track, they hurried onward to overtake Shem. Thirty miles had been passed over, but still they were not found. Their hopes, however, were increased by noticing less caution on the part of the Indians to elude pursuit, as their trail became more plain. Finally they discovered that the Indians had 68 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. entered a buffalo road, and were pursuing it. The pursuers now quickened their pace, being assured that they would soon overtake the savages. Still they moved with caution ; for if they should be dis- covered before getting within rifle shot, they would murder their victims and flee. After traveling about ten miles farther, they came at once upon them in a thick cane-brake. They were just in the act of kin- dling their fire, and camping for the night. Each saw the other at the same moment. Instantly the sharp crack of four rifles was heard ; two of the savages fell as they were in flight, and the rest made their escape, leaving the girls and everything behind them, even their moccasins. The joy of those pio- neers at recovering their captive daughters, may be imagined, but no pen can describe it. About this time General Clark, who had fought bravely at the battle of Point Pleasant, took the lead in military affairs in Kentucky, and the fort having been attacked frequently by the Indians, it was in- ferred that there would be a concentration of warriors to destroy the fort and its inhabitants, as it presented the most formidable barrier in the way of the Indian, of any position in the West. So general was the impression that a darker cloud of war was gathering than had yet come over the country, that three hundred of the settlers returned to their old homes, leaving, comparatively speaking, but a small handful. THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 69 In this crisis it was important to keep a look-out upon the Indians, and watch carefully all their movements, that, forewarned, the pioneers might be forearmed for any emergency. The general thought it most im- portant to have spies sent among the savages, who would not only be able to report their numbers, but their designs. This was no easy matter to secure, and the difficulty was increased by not being able to get the right kind of men. Could the pioneer hunter and legislator be prevailed upon, all would be well ; but he had already been taxed more than any other man, and had performed more onerous duties than all in behalf of the country. Still he was not the man to flinch from responsibility; and, as he still felt convinced that through him the happy destiny of what was then the "Dark and Bloody Ground" was to be secured, he readily acceded to Clark's proposal. The general had selected for him, as a companion, the well-tried and trusty Simon Kenton, a kindred spirit ; and together they started out, scouring the frontiers in quest of the Indians, and, when find- ing them, watching with eagle eye all their move- ments. Kenton was a practiced hunter, as well as a spy. He had acted in that capacity for the colonial army in the vicinity of Fort Pitt, and had, as a wild and daring hunter, descended the Ohio, and ranged through the wilds of "Western Yirginia ; but hearing of the adventures of his now illustrious companion, 70 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. and of the great hunting ground in which he had made his home, he resolved on visiting it. For the first time they had met ; and to them was intrusted the protection of that vast frontier. The spies would start out in different directions ; and, scouring the country for miles along the wild borders of the Ohio, would meet at the time and on the spot they had designated, where they would recount their adventures and arrange their plans. After being satisfied that no immediate danger was to be apprehended from the Indians, the hunter returned to Boonesborough, and Kenton to his favor- ite pursuit. It being important to have salt for domestic use, a party started out to what was called the Blue Licks, for the purpose of engaging in its manufacture. While there, they were surrounded and captured by the Shawnee Indians, and the hunter was one of the number. They were in all twenty-eight. The captives were taken to Old Chilli- cothe, where, after remaining some time, the hunter and ten other captives were sent through the wilder- ness to Detroit; whence, after continuing a month, he returned with his captors to Old Chillicothe. The Indians became so much attached to him that he was adopted into an Indian family. "With his brothers, so great was the confidence reposed in him, he went out frequently on hunting excursions, and thus became acquainted with the localities of one of the THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST, 71 richest valleys in the world. A Shawnee chief, losing his son, adopted him in his place, and paid great attention to him. He submitted to the ceremony of adoption, which consisted in having all his hair pulled out, except a small tuft on the crown of the head. After which all the white blood was washed out of him, by various ablutions, and he was painted a la Indian, the ceremony concluding with a feast and a smoke. Submitting patiently to his captivity, as part of that destiny which he believed he had to work out, he waited the openings of Providence for his release, believing firmly that it would come, and he should return to his loved country. Knowing that he understood the manufacture of salt, he was accordingly sent out with a company to the Scioto Salt Licks for that purpose. Soon after his return he found that the Indians were re-painting their faces, and burnishing their arms, for another attack on the fort at Boonesborough ; and he deter* mined on making his escape in time to save it from the surprise of the desperate savages. Accordingly one morning, with a small piece of jerked venison he started. He was now in his forty-third year, just in life's prime, but perhaps not so fleet as formerly* It was to be a race, he knew, for life ; but he entered upon it with faith. He struck for the Ohio River, and through deep forests, over craggy rocks, and creeks, and rivers, night and day, he urged his tire- 5 72 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. less course. At length he reached the Ohio ; but the river was in full bank, a mile in width. He feared to encounter the rolling tide. Providen- tially he espied an old canoe, which had drifted against the shore, with one end stove in, and, spring- ing on board, paddled himself safely over. He had been out four days and four nights, and had eaten but one meal. He was growing faint, yet pursuing in hope, for he was nearing Boonesborough. At length he arrived, and had he risen from the dead its inhabitants would not have been more surprised; besides, his appearance had changed to that of an Indian. But where were his wife and children ? The faithful and affectionate partner of his joys and sor- rows had given him up for dead, having heard no tidings of him, and alone with her children, with one exception, she had wended her solitary way back to North Carolina. Having apprised the inhabitants of the contem- plated attack on the fort, additional defenses were thrown up, and every means resorted to, to render it impregnable. It had stood many an assault, and, like Gibraltar and Sevastopol, had been untaken by the combined forces of the Indian nations. It was the great stronghold of the West, and much depended upon retaining it, as it seemed to be the only point around which the hopes of the pioneer gathered in the midst of the storms of war. Every- THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 73 thing being in readiness for action, and a force left sufficient to guard it, our hero selected nineteen of the bravest of his companions in arms, and, with a view of cutting off the approach of the enemy, or, at least, weakening their forces, started out on a foray, or sorUe. Their object was, of course, to meet the enemy, and, knowing the route they would probably take, they struck for the Ohio River, and, crossing it, made their way for a small Indian town, called Paint Creek, up the valley of the Scioto. Before, however, reaching this place, they were startled by the crack of a rifle pro- ceeding from a party on their way to join the great body of Indians, with whom there was an understanding to rendezvous at Old Chillicothe, and from thence proceed to the fort. The number of the Indians was thirty, and they were all chosen warriors. As might be expected, a desperate conflict ensued; but the work was soon accom- plished. The battle was soon fought, and soon ended. The unerring shot of the Kentucky hunt- ers told a dreadful work that day, and many a painted savage was made to bite the dust. Not a white man was killed; and the Indians, retreat- ing, left all their baggage and three horses in the rapid flight. The town of Paint Creek was found entirely deserted of inhabitants, and the party, find- ing no more Indians apart from the main body, 74 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. returned with all haste to the fort. Here they found everything in readiness for the contemplated attack. The fort contained in all but sixty-five men, besides the women and the children of the pioneers. It was now that the leader saw the mystery of his captivity revealed, and the inscrutable ways of that Providence which presided over his des- tiny. Had he not been taken captive by the In- dians, he would neither have known their strength nor designs ; and had he not been forced to travel through the wilderness in winter, encount- ering incredible hardships in the weary march, he would not have become acquainted with the relation the Indians sustained to the French, and the assistance they expected from them. But now he understood all their plans and prospects, and had prepared for every emergency that might arise, even beyond his knowledge. It was not long until the enemy made their appearance, and the com- mandant at the fort was not surprised to find among the four hundred and fifty hideously-painted and full-armed warriors, twelve Canadian Frenchmen and Captain Du Quesne — after whom Fort Pitt was named — at the head of the army. Though the chief, Blackfish, was the commander proper, he had resigned the leadership to the skillful Frenchman. This formidable army stood in front of the fort. In all the due forms of war, a sum- THE HUNTEftS OF THE WEST. 75 mons to surrender was sent from the commander. The hunter knew full well that his escape from the Indians, and his subsequent conduct, would secure his death should a surrender be made, and he knew that he could but fall in the defense of the fort, so he chose the latter alternative, and resolved to defend it to the last. In the mean time, a messenger had been dispatched to the eastern settlements for a reinforcement; and, as it would delay matters and give time for their arrival before the siege commenced, the commander asked two days for deliberation, which was granted, and the best possible use made of it in adding greater sup- plies of water and provisions to the fort. Du Quesne, having received orders from Governor Hamilton, at Detroit, to take the fort, but preserve the lives of its inhabitants, and directing him to call out nine men from the garrison to negotiate a treaty, made the communication to the fort. When this order was communicated, those within the fort held a consultation, and, fearing it was a stratagem of the Indians, yet wishing to delay the conflict as long as possible, they agreed to accede to it, pro- vided the treaty-ground should be selected within cover of the fire of the fort. The bold and heroic leader had, from one of the bastions, announced that they would never sur- render while a man was left alive, and that all 76 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. their threats were vain; it was therefore the more probable that it was an Indian device to get the leaders in their power. And such it proved. The hunter and eight picked men went outside the fort, and met the treating party — twice their number — sixty yards from the fort. Du Quesne proposed his terms, which were, that they were to swear alle- giance to George III., and submit to the Canadian government. In this event they were to live in peace, and have all their property. This was too much; and it was well understood by the leader that it was but a crafty device: still the treaty was signed. After this act was performed, Black- fish, the chief, who had adopted the hunter as his son at Old Chillicothe, rose, and commenced a speech to his warriors. He said it was customary, when two great armies entered into a treaty of peace, to shake hands, and in doing so it was the custom for two Indians to shake the hand of each white man. The gauze was too thin not to be seen through at once by him who had studied the Indian character; but both parties were unarmed, and believing, as he knew his men, that one was a match for two Indians, it was assented to. Just then a gun was fired as a signal, and the In- dians, advancing with open hands, seized each their man, not with the grasp of friendship, but of deadly hate. They were the flower and strength of the THE HUNTEES OF THE WEST. 77 army. A desperate scuffle ensued, which served as a signal for an onset; and soon the Indians from the main body began to pour in, but it was only to receive the deadly fire from the fort, every shot telling with fearful effect upon the advancing party. It was not long until the hunters were enabled to tear themselves from the grasp of the Indians, and flee to the fort, and the heavy gate was closed and bar- ricaded behind them. But one was wounded by the fire of the savages, and that one was the brother of the leader, the intrepid hunter who had four times crossed the wilderness. Du Quesne and Blackfish now ordered a direct attack upon the fort; and as there were woods in the neighborhood, it afforded the assailants considerable protection. The attack was simultaneous; and amid the most unearthly yells a storm of bullets was poured into the fort. Soon as they could load they fired again, and kept up an almost incessant stream of lead. Not so, how- ever, with the hunters of Kentucky. No fire was thrown away. They picked their men, and every shot told its work of death. One day passed, and a night, and then another day and a night, without intermission. The hunter's brave daughter was there. Her love for her father had induced her to remain when the mother left, in hopes of his return from captivity; and now that her loved sire was directing the battle, she, with trusty 78 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. rifle, was taking unerring aim, through the port-holes of the garrison, at the invading foe. But, alas! she, the heroine of the fort, with four others, was wound- ed. A negro who had deserted had climbed a tree in the vicinity of the fort, and was pouring deadly- shots at its inhabitants exposed to his aim. But he was discovered just in the act of firing, when a ball from the hunter's rifle brought the deserter and mur- derer to the ground. On the battle raged. Day- after day the enemy kept up their fire, until, finding they could not succeed in storming the fort, they commenced a mining operation, intending to dig a trench from the bank of the river to the fort. The clay which was thrown into the river discoloring the water, the work was discovered; and instantly a counter-mining operation was commenced, which en- tirely thwarted their plans. Their next resort was to fire the fort; and, accordingly, flaming brands were thrown upon it. The fire caught the timbers, and for a time it seemed that the fate of the fort was sealed. There was no time for thought. Instantly a brave young man, a son of a pioneer who had been wound- ed, mounted to the flames, and, amid a shower of balls from the savages, succeeded in extinguishing them, and descended in safety. At length, after a siege of nine days, the Indians, whose ranks were daily and hourly growing thinner and thinner by the deadly aim of the Kentucky THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 79 marksmen, raised the siege and dispersed, leaving the invincibles in their stronghold. But where was Kenton during this decisive battle? He had joined his fellow spies in their expedition to the Indian town on the Scioto, and in advance of them, daring and impetuous as he was, he had surpris- ed and at one shot killed two Indians, which brought around him at once the thirty warriors with whom the battle was fought that we have described, and in which he took a most active part. Unwilling, how- ever, to return with the nineteen to the fort until more booty had been secured, he went on to the encampment of the Indians, and after ranging the country in the midst of savages, he was not seen or heard of until the day after the siege was raised, when he rode into the fort on an Indian pony. After the battle, thoughts of home and children again preyed upon the heart of the pioneer, and he started to North Carolina to visit them. He arrived safely, and was again in the bosom of his family, who had mourned him as dead. His wife, beginning to believe, notwithstanding the fate of her first-born, whose ashes were resting in a wild glen of the Cum- berland Mountains, and the many disasters that had befallen her husband, that he was ordained of Provi- dence for the successful accomplishment of the work he had undertaken, was not unwilling again to ac- company him to the West, and, after remaining some 80 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. time among his friends, he departed for Boones- borough. Peace and happiness smiled around the dwellings of the settlers, and since the last battle, which we have described, they had not been molest- ed by the Indians. Emigrants were arriving, the village was filling up, and farms were being opened in the rich surrounding plains and cane-brakes. In the fall of the year 1780, the hunter and his brother, who had fully recovered from the wound received at the siege, started out on a salt-making ex- pedition to the Blue Licks, the place where he had before been captured. Past experience induced the greater caution, lest they might be surprised by the wily savage, who was always lying in wait for blood. Having made what salt they wanted for their winter's use, they were returning leisurely home, when they were fired upon by a party of Indians, who were lying in ambush, and had, perhaps, been watching their movements for days. The brother fell dead upon the spot, and the hunter fled, pursued by the Indians, and a keen-scented, ferocious dog. He had reserved his fire, and it was well he had, for though he distanced his pursuers, the dog, uttering terrific howls, was gaining upon him. Turning, he drew his rifle, and the beast uttered his last howl as he rolled dead into a ravine close at hand. He had run three miles, and, quickly re-loading, he hastened on. Finding that his pursuers had abandoned the THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 81 chase, believing, in all probability, that his life was a charmed one, he slackened his pace, and leisurely pursued his journey to the fort. It was a melancholy day, as it added another to the list of the dead of those he fondly loved. The next summer, an attack was made on Bryant's Station, headed by the craven-hearted Girty; and his brother-in-law fell. The Indians were finally repuls- ed, and the settlers, rallying from all parts of the country, determined to pursue the savages, and expel them from the land. A large force met the enemy at the Blue Licks, where one of the most bloody bat- tles was fought that has found record in the annals of the West. In that battle the hunter's son was slain, and many of the bravest of Kentucky's sons found a warrior's grave. General Clark, hearing of the fatal battle, pursued the Indians with a large ar- my to Old Chillicothe ; but, being warned of his ap- proach, they fled. After destroying the towns, and spreading desolation over the country, they left, im- pressing the Indians so forcibly with their strength and power, that it put an end to Indian wars and depredations for a long time. There seemed to be only one thing that the Indians desired, and that was, to make a captive again of the Kentucky hunter, and an expedition was planned for that purpose. Finding that he had partially given himself up to the arts of peace, and was living in 82 PIONEERS OP THE WEST. quiet, cultivating his farm in the neighborhood of Boonesborough, four athletic Shawnees were detailed to go and watch his movements, and bring him, or his scalp, to the Indian settlements. They started on their expedition, and arriving at his place, they secret- ed themselves in the woods, and watched his move- ments. One day he went out a short distance from his cabin, to a house which he had erected for dry- ing tobacco. The house stood in the midst of the patch. In the interior were three tiers, one above the other, on which the tobacco leaves were suspend- ed. The lower tier having become perfectly dry, he was engaged in removing the sticks to the upper tier, preparatory to gathering the remainder. Hav- ing hoisted the sticks from the lower to the second tier, he was standing on the poles that supported them, when the savages entered the low door, and calling him by name, they exclaimed, " Now we've got you ; you will not get away any more. We carry you off to Chillicothe this time ; you no cheat us any more." They grinned horribly, as with upturned faces and pointed guns they uttered these words. The hunter coolly and pleasantly responded, "Ah, my friends! glad to see you. How have you been this 1oll£ time ?" Seeing their impatience to have him come down, he said, "I will go with you, if you will only wait until I finish removing my tobacco. Stay where you THE HUNTEKS OF THE WEST. 83 are. You see I can't get away ; and watch me closely till 1 come down. You like tobacco. "When it is cured I will give it to you, and we will smoke to- gether." Continuing his conversation, inquiring about his friends at the Indian town, and diverting their at- tention as well as he could, he succeeded in getting together a number of sticksful of tobacco, and turn- ing them in such a direction as that they would fall between the poles, directly in their faces, he instantly disengaged them; and, grasping his arms full, he sprang down upon the Indians, filling their mouths and eyes with the dry crushed tobacco until they be- came so blind and suffocated in the close tobacco- house, that he made his escape and reached his cabin, where, seizing his trusty rifle, he gained the door, only to see the Indians running, blind and staggering, to the woods. But he who had braved the dangers of the wilder- ness, and passed unhurt amid its wild beasts and savages, to open the gates of a "Western Paradise, and expel from it all dangers, and guard it against all foes, was even cheated by that most villainous of all classes of men, pioneer land speculators, out of his small inheritance within its wide domain. Cha- grined, disappointed, and disgusted with the conduct of such men, and being unable to obtain redress; realizing that he had so far fulfilled his destiny as 84 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. to open up and secure broad and beautiful homes for others in that verdant, flowery land, though there was none for him, he gathered up what little effects he had, and returned to Virginia. Here he had an interview with "Washington, the pioneer soldier, to whom he related his grievances, and whose manly and generous heart was filled with sympathy at the recital of his wrongs. But no redress came, and the rifle sup- plied the hunter and his family with the necessaries of life. "While residing here, intelligence comes to his ears from his son in the far West, whither he had gone to seek his fortune, of a country rich and glo- rious, beyond the Father of Waters. That country was Louisiana, and belonged to Spain; but it was, nevertheless, open to the adventurer. He had now lived half a century, and his life from childhood had been spent in the woods. He had traveled on foot from the Appalachian chain to the upper lakes, and all over the valley watered by the Ohio and its tributaries ; and though he was verging to three-score, yet the force and fire of his fresh and vigorous life were not abated. Though objects near and small could not be seen with the same clearness as in other days, his vision had increased in its far- reaching power. Like him who had guided the chil- dren of Israel through the desert, when, after six score years, he ascended Nebo, on the borders of Canaan, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 85 So the hunter, in looking from his mountain home to the wide-spread valleys of the sunny South, caught new life, and felt young again. "Mad Anthony," as he was called by the Indians, had spread terror among all the ranks of the Western savages, and had formed a treaty at Greenville, in what is now Western Ohio, which put an end to Indian hostilities; and the country was rapidly set- tling in all directions. The ax in a great measure had taken the place of the rifle, or was always followed and associated with it — the one the type of savage, the other of civilized life. A half century before, our hunter stood alone in the solitudes of the West, chasing the bear, and deer, and buffalo; now the very range of his hunting grounds was peopled by half a million. It was not, as some have vainly im- agined, that he loved and courted solitude because he hated his species. There never beat in man a kindlier or more philanthropic heart. While he was a stranger to selfish and sordid emotions, he was alike above mean actions; and he lived and toiled for others, amid hardships and sufferings that would have crushed a thousand hearts. But we have said his far-reaching vision was on the distant southern portion of the great valley ; and his ever true and faithful wife, who had stood by him in all the early scenes of his eventful life, was willing to accompany him to that far-off land. The 86 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. journey was undertaken; and after the usual toil and danger attendant upon such an expedition in that early day, this pioneer family at length reached the home of their son, and there was, as may well be imagined, a joyful meeting. He had not been long in the country till the news of his advent was spread abroad through the territory. He whose name and fame had filled the upper valley, was not unknown in that distant region. The Lieutenant-Governor of Charles IY., King of Spain, (Don Carlos,) hailed with joy his arrival, regarding him as a most valuable ac- cession to the Spanish government. In a short time he was appointed to the command of the district where he had taken up his abode; and, giving him eight thousand five hundred acres of land on the Missouri River, the governor assured him that he should want for nothing. It is said republics are ungrateful. If they are not, one thing is certain ; and that is, they do not make the same munificent provision for eminent services that monarchies do, nor yet is it so freely done. In the year 1803, Napoleon, the then reigning monarch, having possession of Louisiana, sells and cedes it to the United States, connected with the oracular declaration that he had given England a rival. In this transfer the hunter found himself once more a citizen of the republic ; and with it he also found himself again a houseless, homeless wanderer ; THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST* 87 but his rifle was left, and the forests of Missouri were full of game. Shouldering this friend of his youth, and companion of his later days, he penetrated the wil- derness. He was now in his sixty-fifth year ; but far, far away he traveled, making the desert his home. "While engaged in trapping for beaver he was exposed to many hardships and dangers. It required all the caution of which he was master to elude the savages of the Northwest. He concealed his camp by never striking a fire in the daytime. When well supplied with furs he would visit St. Louis, and dispose of them for such articles as were needed for hunting. On one occasion it is related of him that he took pack horses, and penetrated the country on the Osage River, taking with him a negro boy, about fourteen years of age. Here he camped out for the winter, but was unfortunately taken sick. One has said, " Men did not get sick in those days ; and if they did, their sickness was generally unto death so thought the hunter. And thus impressed, on one pleasant day, he took his staff, and tottering along, told the boy to follow him. On arriving at a small grassy knoll, deep in the wild wood, he marked out the ground in the shape and size of a grave. Then looking at the boy, he said, "If I die, bury me here." But his sickness was not unto death; he had not yet done the errand of his destiny. His health 6 88 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. returned with returning spring ; and breaking up his camp, he returned to the bosom of his family. Old age was now coming upon him ; and, as he would soon be unable to hunt, he memorialized Congress in relation to his Louisiana lands. After many vexa- tious delays, he at length, in lieu of the eight thousand five hundred acres in Louisiana, received a title to eight hundred and fifty. In the mean time, his wife, the brave, the noble- hearted pioneer mother, and faithful companion of the hunter, closed her earthly career. She had passed her three-score years and ten, and calmly she sunk into the slumbers of the grave. Her spirit was kindled with the light of the better world as she neared its portals; and as a summer cloud fades away into the light of heaven, so she passed to the abodes of the blessed. The hunter had now more than ever his thoughts turned to another life, even to that world where injustice and oppression never enter, and where man is not the foe of his fellow-man; where death and sorrow cannot come ; where there are brighter fields and flowers, more verdant plains and mountains, and more beautiful rivers than " eye hath seen." Among his children and grandchildren he passed away in quietness the remainder of his days ; and when the soft breath of Indian summer kissed the lingering flowers of the prairie, in the eighty-sixth year of his THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 89 age, the grave was opened beside that of his wife, that they who were "lovely and pleasant in their lives" might " not in death be divided and all that remained of Daniel Boone, the Hunter of Kentucky, was committed to the dust. 90 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. CHAPTER IV. THE PIONEER SETTLERS. The Six Nations owned the country west of the Alleghanies, including the great valley watered by the Ohio and its tributaries. All this region, as early as 1684, had, by the treaty of Lord How- ard, Governor of Virginia, been placed under the protection of Great Britain. This treaty was re- newed in 1701, and in 1726 a formal deed was drawn up and signed by the chiefs of these nations, formally ceding these lands to the British govern- ment. In addition to this, lands in the West had been purchased. A treaty was held between the king's commissioners and the chiefs of the Six Nations at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744, at which Conrad Weiser, who had before been sent out to Logstown, on the Ohio, acted as interpreter. This treaty was ratified by the payment of certain sums of money and goods for lands already occu- pied which were claimed by the Indians. On the basis of this treaty the Ohio Company was formed in 1748. Among the number of those PIONEER SETTLERS. 93 who composed this company were two brothers of Washington. They had no sooner organized, than they petitioned the King of England for a grant of lands beyond the mountains. Their peti- tion was favorably received, and the monarch ordered the government of Virginia to make the company a grant of one million acres of land in the locality they had designated. Two hundred thousand acres of this land was to be located at once, and the company were to be allowed to hold it for ten years without rent or taxation, pro- vided that within seven years they should settle it with one hundred families, and build a fort suffi- cient to protect themselves from invasion. The proviso was accepted, and an order was imme- diately sent to England for a cargo of goods suited to the Indian trade. Other companies were organized about the same time in Virginia, whose object was to colonize the "West. One of these, denominated the Greenbrier Company, received a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land. To the Loyal Company a grant of eight hundred thousand acres was made, extending from the Canada line north and west. This same year a trading-house was established, and a fort built, called Fort Prudhomme, on the Mississippi, below the Falls of the Ohio, and a trading-house opened among the Creeks, and subsequently pne was est&th 94 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. lished on the Miami. These were necessary and im- portant auxiliaries to the companies, as they served not only to open up a commerce with the various tribes, but they furnished supplies for the settlers. It is astonishing that in that early day there was such a quantity and variety of produce as it is ascertained was taken to the marts of trade. Farm- ers and traders from Illinois took to Fort Prud- homme flour, corn, hams, pickled pork, beans, beef, myrtle wax, cotton, tallow, leather, tobacco, lead, iron, copper, buffalo wool, venison, poultry, bears' grease, oil, skins and coarse furs, and these were shipped from thence to the New-Orleans market. Thousands of barrels of flour were sent from Illinois to this market during the years 1746 and 1747, upward of a hundred years ago. In 1752 a fort was built on Chartier's Creek, not far from the Youghiogheny River, and the goods having arrived from England which the company had sent for, traders from the frontiers, and others who in- tended settling in the West, obtained them at Cumberland, whither they were sent, and packing them on horses — for there were then no roads — transported them across the mountains. In the year 1760 the Ohio Company made addi- tional requests of the British government, to enable them successfully to carry out their plans and pur- poses in the settlement of the West. They were PIONEER SETTLERS. 95 allowed, through a treaty held at Fort Pitt, to erect forts within the lands allotted to them. Up to 1757, England had, through the government of Yirginia, made grants of lands in the "West, amount- ing to upward of three millions of acres. For the purpose of encouraging emigration to these lands, pamphlets were published describing the country, embracing an account of the agricul- tural and mineral resources of the vast valley. These were widely scattered through the East ; and as books were scarce in those days, they were read with avidity and deeply pondered by brave and hardy New-Englanders, who saw, in the fertile val- leys of the Ohio and its numerous tributaries, sources of subsistence and wealth they could never dig out of the thin, rocky soil of their farms. In ad- dition to this, the company sent an agent to England to represent its interests, and make what further negotiations were necessary to enable them to carry out their plans in regard to settlement. About this time, the Transylvania Company was organized, and settlements were effected by emi- grants at and around Boonesborough. North of the Ohio, however, but little was accomplished toward settlements, with the exception of a cabin and small clearing. The adventurous and daring Moravian, Post, had penetrated the wilderness and established a mission on the Muskingum, not far from Beaver- 96 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. town, and erected a cabin. After having made the necessary arrangements with the Indians, among whom he had gone to preach the Gospel, and thus turn them from darkness to light, he returned to the East for assistance, which he secured in the person of the equally enterprising and adventurous Hecke- welder. Having, as we have already stated, made arrangements with the Indians, by which he was al- lowed to preach, and instruct the children in the rudiments of an education, he commenced clearing a piece of ground around his cabin, for the purpose of raising corn, as he did not wish to be dependent upon the Indians for a support. When the chiefs discover- ed what he was doing, they inquired of him, if he had not changed his mind, for, said they, " You came here for the purpose of teaching our children to read and write; but, instead of doing this, you are clearing land ; and if you do this, others may do it, and the next thing a fort will be built to protect them, and then they will claim the land and drive off the In- dians, as they have always done, where they had the power." To this Post replied, " A teacher must live, and as I do not wish to be a burden on you, I wish to raise my own food." They told him that the French priests did not raise corn, and yet they were fat and hearty, and that the Great Spirit, who fed them with- out work, would also feed him, They concluded, PIONEER SETTLERS. 97 however, to give him a garden spot, the boundaries of which they defined, and from this he had to live as best he and his assistant could. These Moravians cultivated their garden, and taught the Indians religion and letters, submitting to all the privations and hardships incident to a fron- tier life, with a zeal, fidelity, and bravery that must ever secure for them the first place among the pio- neer missionaries of the Ohio. Here they continued their missionary labors until the times became so troublous, in a warlike aspect, that the Indians ad- vised them to leave the country, which they did in 1762, and we hear no more of the Moravians until the year 17 67, at which time Zeisberger went to the Alleghany, and, though much opposed by the In- dians, succeeded in establishing a mission among them. He had the true Moravian spirit, and, not- withstanding many threats and dark-concerted plots, he fearlessly pursued his heavenly calling, laboring to convince the children of the forest that he was not their enemy, but their friend, and that he was not seeking theirs, but them. Toiling on in hope, against hope, lie finally succeeded, and several chiefs were converted to Christianity. But his labors stopped not here. The Delaware Indians on the Muskingum invited him to come and establish a mission among them, and in this invitation they were joined by the Wyandots. Accordingly, in the spring of 1772, Zeis- 98 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. berger, with twenty-seven of his native converts, founded the mission at Shoenbrun, on the Muskin- gum, the first Christian mission or Church of any- kind established within the limits of the present State of Ohio, the destruction of which, by worse than heathen white men, we have elsewhere described. Another land company was organized through the influence of Sir William Johnson, and Mr. Thomas Walpole, an eminent London banker, becoming con- nected with it, and taking a large interest in its man- agement, it subsequently assumed his name, and became known as the Walpole Company. The influ- ence of Benjamin Franklin, through his son, was sought and secured in favoring the interests of this company with the British government. In 1767, Sir William was empowered with authority to pur- chase from the Six Nations a large tract of land lying south of the Ohio River. He accordingly call- ed a Congress of the nations at Fort Stanwix. At this Congress, the boundary line between the settlers and the Indian lands was determined as follows, namely : Beginning at the mouth of Tennessee River, and extending up the Ohio to Fort Pitt; thence up the Alleghany to Kittaning; thence across to the Susquehanna, including within this boundary all the lands south of the Ohio River to which the Six Na- tions had any claims. This tract included a district of country between the Kanawha and Monongahela THE PIONEEE SETTLERS. 99 Rivers. The whole was by the treaty ceded to the British government. A grant of a portion of it was made to twenty-two traders, as an indemnity for spoliations made by the Indians in 1763. About this time a new company was formed in Virginia, denominated the Mississippi Company, which petitioned the king for a grant of two millions and a half of acres of land in the West. To this peti- tion the name of Washington, with that of other dis- tinguished men of that day, was affixed. This peti- tion was referred to the Board of Trade, but what was its fate no one knows ; at least, history is silent upon the subject. This same Board of Trade was called upon to report in relation to the application of the Walpole Company, which was opposed by the president, Lord Hillsborough. The report of Hills- borough called forth from Franklin an ably written paper, entitled the " Ohio Settlement." The argu- ments of this document were so cogent and power- ful, that the king's council set aside the adverse report of the president, and granted the petition, much to the chagrin and disappointment of Hills- borough, who, immediately thereupon, resigned the presidency of the Board. The petition received the sanction of the king, and the old Ohio Company was merged into that of Walpole's. Soon after this the Revolutionary war broke out, and resulting, as it did, in dissolving all connection with the mother country, 100 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. nothing more is heard of this company, until Walpole and his associates petitioned Congress respecting their lands. They, however, obtained no satisfac- tion, doubtless upon the ground that Congress regarded all the previous contracts as null and void. In 1773, General Lyman, with quite a number of military adventurers, descended the Ohio and Missis- sippi to the town of Natchez, and surveyed land, locating several townships in that region, and thus inviting the emigrant to people the mighty West. Nor was it long until the tide set in that direction ; and during the summer four hundred families passed down the Ohio in the broad-horns, as the boats were called which floated down the Ohio and Mississippi in that day. Several years before this, however, Ebenezer and Jonathan Zane had effected a settlement at Wheeling. Families had settled in the then distant Illinois, and Kaskaskia and Cahokia contained upward of a hundred, the Illinois and Wabash companies having purchased of the Indians three immense tracts of land, included in what is now the States of Indiana and Illinois, and bordering upon the Ohio, Missis- sippi, and Missouri Rivers. At St. Louis and St. Genevieve there were, in 1771, upward of twelve hun- dred settlers, the most of whom were French, who claimed the country ; and it was not till ten years THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 103 later that the Americans began to migrate to that region. The first fort erected within the present boundary of the State of Ohio, with the exception of Fort Laurens, was that of Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum River. Fort Laurens was built on the Tuscarawas River, in the then heart of the Indian country. Fort Harmar continued a strong- hold for the West until 1790, when the soldiery were ordered down the river to Fort Washington, where Cincinnati now stands. Fort Harmar became the scene of many a thrilling adventure. Plans were frequently made for attacking it by the Indians ; but with such poor success that they abandoned all hopes of taking it, and resorted to every mode of backwoods warfare to annoy and kill the inhabitants. The valley on the west bank of the Muskingum was quite narrow, and the land rose up abruptly and precipitously, spreading back into dense and wild forests. In these solitudes the Indians would secrete themselves ; and whenever they could find any of the inhabitants away from the fort, would spring upon them, and bear them into captivity, or shoot them down in their tracks, taking away their scalps as trophies of victory. Such was the state of the country, it being difficult to obtain provisions, that it became necessary for the inhabitants to cultivate the soil ; and hence all were employed in the proper 104 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. season in raising crops of corn, from the rich alluvion of the narrow valley. The fort was* not occupied exclusively by soldiers; there were to be found among them brave and hardy pioneers, who had come out to seek their fortunes in the West. Among these were men of almost every vo- cation and condition in life, constituting fragments of many families in the older settled parts of the country. Among the number of those who had braved the dangers of the "West, was a young lawyer, by the name of Return Jonathan Meigs. Necessity com- pelled him, with the rest, to lay aside his books and briefs, and take to the plow for a subsistence. He had planted a field of corn on the banks of the river, about half a mile above the fort. Between his field and the fort was a dense wood, with only an obscure, narrow path. Having finished his work, one day, he was returning to the garrison, fatigued with toil, in company with a friend and a colored boy, whom he had brought with him from Connecti- cut. As it was customary, not only for the purposes of defense, should he be attacked by the Indians, but for shooting game, he always carried with him his gun. As they were walking leisurely along, a large serpent came out of the thicket, and crossed the path just in front of the company. Meigs instantly drew up and fired at the monster, but without effect, and he glided furiously away toward the river. THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 105 ■ They had not proceeded far until, from the same thicket, two Indians darted into their path, a few paces behind them. They fired, and shot Symonds, the friend of Meigs, through the shoulder, who, immediately on receiving the wound, rushed to the river, and, plunging in, gained, as well as he could, the middle of the stream, and, turning upon his back, floated down to the fort. The black boy followed Symonds into the stream, and went out as far as he could wade ; but, being unable to swim, he was caught by one of the Indians, who dragged him to the shore, where he dispatched him with his toma- hawk, and scalped him. This he was obliged to do, or lose his prisoner, from the fact that a ball from the gun of a black man, on the opposite shore, whizzed close by the Indian's ear, admonishing him of his danger. After Symonds was shot, and had made his escape, Meigs started with all possible speed for the fort. What was his surprise to find one of the savages, armed with a rifle, directly in his path, waiting his approach! He had not, however, had sufficient time to reload his gun, and, with the exception of the tomahawk and scalping-knife, they were equal. The brave young man saw there was no time to lose, and his life depended upon a desperate onset. Clubbing his gun, or, in other words, converting his gun into a club, he rushed, 106 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. with all the impetuosity of which he was capable, upon the hideous savage, and aimed a blow at his head. But the Indian was prepared in like man- ner to receive him, and blow was given for blow. Both staggered, but neither fell. But he had passed the Indian, and stopping not for a second attack, as he knew there were two of them, he ran with all possible speed to the fort, with the Indian in hot pursuit. Fleet as was the Indian, Meigs outstripped him in the race. For sixty or seventy rods they ran with almost equal swiftness. There was a deep ravine to cross, which lay right athwart the path. Meigs knew he could clear it, but doubted the Indi- an's ability, as he had never tried the feat. Accord- ingly, when he reached its edge, he bounded over. The Indian, seeing the wonderful distance he jumped, was astounded at his activity, and, slackening his pace as he neared the edge, he threw his tomahawk with all the might and precision of which he was master, and uttered a most savage yell. But it missed its mark, and the bold and daring pioneer lawyer escaped unhurt into the fort. Symonds was picked up by a canoe, and recovered of his wound, living afterward many years. Meigs continued on his pursuit of the law, working his way until, by dint of application and toil, the sure precursors of success, he rose to eminence at the bar, and sub- sequently became governor of the State of Ohio. THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 107 The tomahawk which was thrown at him was plowed up in a field, near the spot, in 1834, and is preserved as a relic of pioneer life. The Ohio Company reorganized in 1787, and petitioned Congress for lands, on consideration of a resolution passed by that body, to give to officers and soldiers of the Revolution certain land bounties. At a meeting of the agents of the company, General Parsons, General Putnam, and Rev. Manasseh Cut- ler, were appointed directors. They finally received a grant of nearly five millions of acres ; one million and a half were for the use of the company, and the remainder for private speculation. The com- pany eventually, however, only obtained about seven hundred and fifty thousand acres. All the arrangements having been made by the company in sending forward boat-builders to the Ohio, and having an ordinance passed by Congress for the government of the Northwestern Territory > seven hundred troops being sent out by the govern- ment for the protection of the settlers, many entered upon their westward journey, taking the Indian path, or road, across the mountains. All that was neces- sary to enable them to begin pioneer life with they packed in wagons. Notwithstanding it was in the winter season, they braved the terrors of the wil- derness, and many families urged their way across the dangerous and dreary path, submitting cheer- 108 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. fully to all hardships, in hopes of reaching, ere the spring should open its flowers, the broad and beauti- ful valleys of their Western home. When the various emigrant bands which had started, arrived at Wheeling, on the Ohio, they found boats in readiness to take them down the river to the place of destination. There were forty-eight in all, and a more intelligent, enterprising association, never was formed for any purpose. They were coming out to found an empire in the West ; and well did Washington remark, in relation to them, "No colony in America was ever settled tinder such favorable auspices." Peacefully their barque, the "May Flower," for that was its name, floated on the waters of La Belle Riviere, following its graceful meanderings, and passing its many beautiful islands, in the spring of 1788. At length the voyagers near the spot, on the right bank of the river, where they are to land. Before them, on a bluff at the mouth of the Mus- kingum, Fort Harmar rears its crest, bristling with guns, which command the river. But no hostile foe approaches. They are friends and brethren, and are coming to take possession of the ancient forti- fications, on the opposite bank of the Muskingum, and build up a city on the monumental ruins of a race long since passed away. It is the seventh day of April, and the blossoms THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 109 which line the banks smile them welcome to the "West as they land ; and fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, veterans of the Revolution, with military honors clustering around them; phy- sicians, lawyers, venerable divines, scholars, artists, and farmers, step upon the shore, and take possession of their long-desired home. They pitched their tents and erected their cabins; and the time passed joy- ously away, nothing occurring to mar their happiness or damp their joys. On the second day of July, a meeting of the di- rectors and agents was held on the banks of the Muskingum, for the purpose of giving a name to the city in the West. They had erected a fort on the site of an ancient fortification, for their protec- tion, and had laid out the town into squares, the streets crossing each other at right angles. The name finally agreed upon was Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. The square on which the block-house stood they called Campus Martins. An elevated square, north and east of this, they denominated Capitolium; still another, the Quadranou, they called Cecelia. The covert way, composed of high parallel walls of earth, leading down to the Muskingum, was named Sacra Via. On the fourth day of July, the ever-memorable anniversary of the nation's independence, an oration was delivered, in honor of the day, by the Hon. James 110 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. H. Varnum, who, with Hon. Messrs. Parsons and Armstrong, were appointed to the judicial bench of the territory the year previous. It was an interesting occasion. They were all one party, and no differ- ences of opinion could exist, such as now, unhappily, in too many instances, are found to divide the festivi- ties of this natal day. The day was celebrated at the fort, under the direction of General Harmar ; and as the boom of the six-pounder rolled over the waters, and sent its far-reaching thunder echoing among the hills, and waking the surrounding solitudes, the voyagers by land and river felt their hearts dance within them for joy, and realized a full compensation for all the toils and hardships of their eight weeks' journey through the wilderness. We have already alluded to Fort Washington, farther down the Ohio, situated between the two Miamis, at the mouth of the Licking River, in Ken- tucky, which latter circumstance gave to the town which was built around the fort the classic name of Losantiville — L'os anti ville. General Harmar, as we have before seen, having been ordered to Fort Washington, with his troops, in 1789, the settlers who came in commenced the erection of their cabins. At this time, exclusive of the fort, there were but two. The first-appointed governor of the territory, Arthur St. Clair, having arrived and established a provisional government, and arrangements having THE PIONEER SETTLERS. Ill been made for tlie peace and happiness of the com- munity, the governor changed the name of the town from Losantiville to Cincinnati. The Indians being engaged in committing depreda- tions, and killing many of the settlers, in the Miami country, it was necessary that a force should be sent out to put them in check. Accordingly, General Harmar sent out a company of militia, under Colonel Hardin, from the fort, and soon after started himself, with a large body of regular soldiers. The first en- campment was made abou! seven miles from Fort Washington, on a branch of Mill Creek. Next, they encamped on the waters of Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Miami. At the next encampment, near where the town of Waynesville now stands, they overtook Colonel Hardin's company. Their next encampment was near Xenia; and from thence they passed on, encamping at regular intervals, until they reached Chillicothe, an old deserted Indian village of the Shawnees, on the Maumee River. From thence they took a northwesterly direction, and crossing the Mad River, they continued until they came to the Great Miami, and pursued their march to the Auglaize River. After crossing this river, they were joined by a reinforcement from Cincinnati. Having arrived in the vicinity of the Indians, Colonel Hardin was sent forward with a detachment, and charged with the destruction of all the Indian towns on the Man- 112 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. mee. The main body, continuing its course, joined Hardin again at Omee (Maumee) Town, which had been burned and deserted by the savages. Much corn was found buried by the Indians in the thickets. While reconnoitering in the vicinity of these towns, of which there were several in number, the Indians at night succeeded in stealing a large number of the horses of the army, and it was evident that they were secreted in the woods. A backwoods strata- gem was resorted to for the purpose of entrapping them. A horse was taken a short distance down the Maumee, and, being fettered, the party who took him secreted themselves in the woods. It was not long until he was found by the Indians. While engaged in taking off his fetters, they were shot by the soldiers in ambush. The report of the rifles reached the camp, and soon a large number of troops were at the place. One of the Indians killed was a Delaware chief. The army committed all the depredations they could, destroying the towns, and burning up thou- sands of bushels of corn which they could not carry away, and then returned to Chillicothe. A detach- ment, however, was sent further west, in pursuit of the Indians. This detachment consisted of a com- pany of regulars, commanded by Captain Armstrong, and a company of Kentucky militia. They con tinued their march until they were all united under Colonel Hardin, who ordered Captain Faulkner, of THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 113 the Pennsylvania militia, to form on his left. At length the companies came upon the encampment of the savages. This encampment was well chosen for safety, as each entire side of it was cut off from the enemy by a deep swamp, having barely solid ground enough to reach it at one point. The militia were two hundred in number, and being anxious for the conflict, that they might be revenged for the wrongs they and the pioneer settlers had sustained, they made a charge upon the encampment ; but it was returned by a deadly fire from a large body of savage warriors. The lines were broken ; and so desperate was the conflict that, in a few minutes, fifty-two of Hardin's company were killed. In their flight they met Major Fountain, with a company of regulars, who, giving the pursuers battle, they were forced to retire, and the survivors arrived safe in the camp. This battle was fought about twelve miles west of Fort Wayne, in Indiana. Captain Armstrong being pursued, plunged into the swamp, and remained buried up to his chin in mud and water through the entire night, and was com- pelled to listen to the midnight yells and orgies of the savages around the bodies of the slain. When daylight approached they retired to rest; and the captain, chilled and overcome with fatigue, extricated himself, and, crawling into a ravine, he was obliged to kindle a fire to restore feeling to his benumbed 114 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. limbs, wliicli he was enabled to do with his tinder- box, which he had upon his person. After warming and drying himself as well as he could, he started for the camp, which he reached in safety, much to the joy of his fellow-soldiers, who thought him among the slain. The army having been out now nearly a month, they left Chillicothe, and started for the fort at Cin- cinnati. On their way a scouting party ascertained that the Indians had returned to Omee Town. Har- din was again dispatched to give them battle. He divided his force into two parties; the one com- manded by himself was to attack the Indians in front, and the other in the rear. As soon as the Indians saw their enemies, they began instantly to prepare for battle. They were on the opposite bank of the Maumee ; and as their numbers were greater than Hardin's company, he saw at once the necessity of crossing immediately, and giving them battle. Before he had gained the opposite shore the battle commenced. The desperation of the savages was greater than ever known before. They even threw away their rifles, and, taking their tomahawks, they rushed like madmen upon their foes, carrying de- struction in their path. Major Fountain fell in the engagement, being pierced with fourteen balls, and Major Willys, with fifty-one of his bravest men, was subjected to the same fate. Death spread into THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 115 the other divisions, and it seemed as though the whole force would be destroyed. But where was the division that was to attack the enemy in the rear? Until this hour nothing was heard from them, and the brave men fought on in hopes of their speedy arrival. They became lost in the thicket, and only arrived when the battle was about to turn on the side of the savages. They were not, however, able to turn the tide of war; and only arrived in time to save an utter extermination of the brave troops which remained, and allow them, under cover of their protection, to retire from the field. A most affecting incident occurred at the crossing of the river, previous to the general engagement. An Indian father, with his two sons, were in the river, near the opposite shore, when a ball from the rifle of one of the soldiers pierced the elder, and he fell. The father instantly dropped his rifle, and taking his dead son in his arms, was hastening with him to the shore, to get out of the reach of the white men; but, alas! another deadly aim had been taken, and the other son fell lifeless by his side. Shifting the elder to his left arm, he grasped the younger, and bearing them to the shore, he sat down on the beach between his murdered boys, and resting his head upon his hands, in deep but silent agony, he awaited his own fate. Such affection and such heroism should have moved the hearts of any foe; but it was not enough that the 116 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. poor father had lost both his sons — the one the joy of his heart, and the other the light of his eyes — he, too, must share the same sad fate, and the father was soon numbered with his dead. Alas for poor humanity ! " That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me. 1 ' No wonder that the Indians fought with a despera- tion to which they were before strangers. Fearfully was the death of that aged chieftain and his boys avenged. After this disastrous defeat under Harmar, Gov- ernor St. Clair assumed the command of the army, and proceeded to make preparations for another attack. In the mean time, a detachment from Ken- tucky, headed by General Scott, arrived, and taking Colonel Hardin as a guide and commander, they pushed their way to the Indian settlements on the Wabash, and in several engagements were complete- ly successful in routing the savages and destroying their towns. St. Clair receiving instructions from the president to organize an army of three thousand, for regular service at Cincinnati, at once engaged in the work. It being important to establish a fort at the Miami village, two thousand regular soldiers, exclusive of militia, were removed from Fort Washington to Lud- THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 117 low's Station, six miles from Cincinnati, where tliey remained for some time, and from thence removed to Hamilton, twenty miles from Cincinnati, where they built the first in the proposed chain of fortresses for the protection of the frontier. After this was completed and manned, they proceeded on forty miles further, and erected Fort Jefferson, about six miles south of the town of Greenville. After the completion of the fort the governor ordered the army to march, and they entered the wilderness. The army by this time, in consequence of sickness and desertions, growing out of the hard service and poor fare, became much thinned and quite dispirited. Aft- er marching for several days, on the third of Novem- ber, 1791, they reached a branch of the Wabash, not far from the head waters of that river, on the banks of which they formed their encampment. The mili- tia were encamped on the opposite side of the creek, about a quarter of a mile distant. The place of en- campment was about fifteen miles from the Miami village. The Indians, aware of the advance of the enemy, having watched their movements ever since leaving Cincinnati, by means of their spies, had by this time gathered all their forces from the surrounding coun- try, and were in readiness to give them battle. They were aware it would require all the strength and power of their allied forces, and they made prepara- 118 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. tions accordingly. They knew the strength and con- dition of the army, and could calculate with far greater certainty on the probabilities of success than the most experienced American officer in a wilder- ness fight. Before sunrise, on the morning of the fourth, the militia were attacked, and so sudden and desperate was the onset, that they were soon overpowered and driven into the general encampment. They were hotly pursued by the Indians ; and, notwithstanding the confusion and disorder created by the retreat, they received a galling fire. But soon the whole encampment, extending three hundred and fifty yards along the bank of the creek, was surrounded. They poured into the center of the encampment, where the artillery was placed ; though they were mowed down by the heavy fire, their ranks were filled, and with great slaughter they drove the artillery from their post. At this they resorted to the bayonet, which for a while seemed to do execution, and a general charge drove them back three or four hundred yards. But they rallied, and coming on with greater force than ever, again a fierce and bloody contest ensued, in which Major Butler, of the Second Regiment, was dangerously wounded, and every officer but one of his staff was lying dead upon the field. It being im- possible to continue the fight any longer, except at the expense of the total extermination of the army, THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 119 the remainder retreated as well as they could, forcing their way through the enemies' lines; and thus was the sad and melancholy defeat of Harmar followed by that of St. Clair. Subsequent events brought to light the fact, that the renowned chief Little Tur- tle was the leader in both these campaigns. Thus continued expedition after expedition, attended with greater or less success, until General Wayne, called by the Indians " Mad Anthony," took the field, and by his daring and bravery conquered the foe, and succeeded in concluding a treaty of peace at Green- ville, on the third of August, 1795. A settlement was made at Columbia, a few miles above Cincinnati, by a company of twenty-six, in November, 1788. Here the first church was built that is known of in the Northwestern Territory. Many thrilling incidents are connected with the early settlement of this place, as well as that of Cincinnati. They were then separated by a dense forest, but now they are connected by continuous rows of dwelling and business houses. The scenery of the Ohio, between Columbia and Cincinnati, was in those days truly romantic ; scarcely a tree had been cut on either side, be- tween the mouth of Crawfish and that of Deer Creek, a distance of more than four miles. The sand-bar now extending from its left bank, opposite to Sportsman's Hall, was then a small island, be- 120 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. tween which and the Kentucky shore was a nar- row channel, with sufficient depth of water for the passage of boats. The upper and lower points of this island were bare; but its center, embracing about four acres, was covered with small cotton wood, and surrounded by willows extending along its sides almost down to the water's edge. The right bank of the river, crowned with its lofty hills, now gradually ascending, and now rising abruptly to their summits, anci forming a vast amphitheater, was from Columbia, extending down about two miles, very steep, and covered with trees quite down to the beach. From thence, nearly opposite the foot of the island, its ascent became more gradual, and for two miles farther down, bordering the tall trees with which it was covered, was a thick growth of willows, through which, in many places, it was difficult to penetrate. Below this the beach was wide and stony, with only here and there a small tuft of willows, while the wood on the side and on the top of the bank was more open. Not far from this bank, and near the line of the present turnpike, was a narrow road, leading from Columbia to Cincinnati, just wide enough for the passage of a wagon, which, wind- ing round the point of the hill above Deer Creek, descended northwardly about four hundred feet, and crossing that creek, and in a southerly direc- THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 121 tion ascending gradually its western bank, led along the ground, now Symmes-street, directly toward Fort Washington, and diverging at the intersection of Lawrence-street to the right and left of the fort, entered the town. An incident occurred in this vicinity of a thrilling character, in the summer of 1792, which resulted in the capture, by Indians, of O. C. Spencer. Spencer, as he tells us in his own narrative, had got on board a canoe at the bank in front of Fort "Washington, which was just ready to put oif from the shore on the afternoon of the 7th of July. It was a small craft, and hardly fit to accommodate the party, which consisted of a Mr. Jacob Light, a Mr. Clayton, Mrs. Coleman, young Spencer, a boy of thirteen, and one of the garrison soldiers, which last individual, being much intoxicated, lurched from one side of the canoe to the other, and finally, by the time they had got up a short distance above Deer Creek, tumbled out, nearly oversetting the whole party. He then reached the shore, the water not being very deep at the spot. Spencer did not know how to swim, and had be- come afraid to continue in the canoe, and was therefore, at his own request, put on shore where they left the soldier; and the party in the boat, and Spencer on shore, proceeded side by side. Light propelled the boat forward with a pole, while 122 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. Clayton sat at the stern, with a paddle, which he sometimes used as an oar and sometimes as a rud- der, and Mrs. Coleman, a woman of fifty years, sat in the middle of the boat. One mile above Deer Creek, a party of market people, with a woman and child on board a canoe, passed them on their way to Cincinnati. Light and the others had rounded the point of a small cove, less than a mile below the foot of the island, and proceeded a few hundred yards along the close willows here border- ing the beach, at about two rods' distance from tho water, when Clayton, looking back, discovered th(> drunken man staggering along the shore, and re- marked that he would be "bait for Indians? Hardly had he made the remark, when two rifle shots from the rear of the willows struck Light and his comrade, causing the latter to fall toward the shore, and wounding the other by the ball glancing from the oar. The two Indians who had fired, instantly rushed from their concealment to scalp the dead, and impede the escape of the living. Clayton was scalped, and Spencer, in spite of all his efforts to get off, was made prisoner ; but Light soon swam out of reach of his pursuers, and Mrs. Coleman, who had also jumped out, preferring to be drowned to falling into the hands of Indians, floated some distance off. The Indians would prob- ably have reloaded and fired, but the report of THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 123 their rifles brought persons to the opposite shore, and, fearing to create further alarm, they decamped with their young prisoner in haste, saying, " Squaw must drown." Light had first made for the Ken- tucky shore, but, finding himself drifting under all the exertions he could make in his crippled state, directed his way out on the Ohio side. Mrs. Cole- man followed as well as she could by the use of her hands as paddles, and they both got to shore some distance below the scene of these events. Light had barely got out when he fell, so much exhausted that he could not speak ; but, after vomit- ing blood, at length came to. Mrs. Coleman floated nearly a mile, and, when she reached the shore, walked down the path to Cincinnati, and crossed Deer Creek at its mouth, holding on to the willows which overhung its banks, the water there, in those days, flowing in a narrow current that might almost be cleared by a spring from one bank to the other. She went direct to Captain Thorp, at the artificer's yard, with whose lady she was acquainted, and from whom she obtained a change of clothes, and rested a day or two to overcome her fatigue. In the mean time other settlements were being made in different parts of the Western country; but as the history of any one of them would, of itself, make a book larger than the one we contemplate, we can only refer to them, giving the merest outline, 8 124 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. with, some incidents connected with, their history, which may serve as landmarks to the future historian who may wish to enter into detail. Perhaps one of the most interesting, if not roman- tic, settlements made in the West, was that effected by the French, in the spring of 1792. While Wil- kinson, who had succeeded St. Clair in command of the army, was examining the field of carnage where the soldiers from Cincinnati fell, and General Rufus Putnam, the pioneer of Marietta, in company with the pioneer missionary, Heckewelder, was endeavor- ing to effect a peace with the Indians, a large num- ber of families from Paris, in all four hundred, having descended the Ohio, which their countrymen at Port Du Quesne had named La Belle Hiviere^ landed at a point four miles below, the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Among the number were priests, lawyers, physicians, watchmakers, jewelers, portrait and landscape painters, carvers, lapidaries, engravers, engineers, dyers, carpenters, ship-builders, and other trades. It was unfortunate for them that they had but few among them who understood anything about cultivating the soil, and these were hired to accom- pany them, while not one of them knew anything about life in the woods, never having reared a cabin or cleared an acre. The company which sold them the land, in Paris, having agreed, on the payment of one French crown THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 125 per acre, to transport them across the country free of cost, and have erected for their reception suitable houses, they proceeded on their way with that joy and hilarity characteristic of the French people. As we have already intimated, they had arrived at their place of destination, and were about to take pos- session of their distant Western home. When they entered Gallvpolisj the French city, what was their astonishment to find, instead of a beautiful village, with its neat cottages, and trees, and flowers, rows of unhewn log-cabins, with wooden chimneys, clap- board roofs, and puncheon floors, three of which, all of the same size, ranging on each side, con- stituted a street, extending in length about one hundred feet, at each extremity of which were erected two log stockades, for their protection. In the rear of the town — where they had been informed gracefully meandered, among beds of living green, and flowers of every hue, a pearly brook — they found the muddy Ohickamauga Creek, with its red clay banks, covered with burs, briers, and Canada ihistle. This was the country which had been represented to them in Paris, as being watered by the " beautiful river, abounding in fish of enormous size, magnificent forests, containing trees from which the sugar flowed in abundance, and shrubs which yielded candles, venison in greatest plenty, without foxes, wolves, 126 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. lions, or tigers ; no taxes to pay, no military enroll- ments, no quarters to find for soldiers." They had been betrayed, basely betrayed, by the soulless speculator. Finding themselves deceived in all the representations of the agent of the company, they began to think that even the beggarly inherit- ance they had purchased was itself a fraud ; and such proved the fact. Their deeds were not worth a farthing; and they found themselves homeless and penniless in a strange land. Notwithstanding all this, true to the French character, they did not yield to despair. They were not without their dancing- masters and their violins; and the hours of night were made glad with the merry dance. But they were here, and they must make a living. The " magnificent forests," consisting of huge sycamores and elms, must be felled, and a spot cleared for the cultivation of the soil ; but what could carvers, and gilders, and coachmakers, with their feeble instru- ments, accomplish in felling these mighty trees, whose giant arms spread out on all sides? No time, how- ever, was to be lost, and at it they went, surrounding the mighty trunk ; and with picking, and cutting, and hacking, they worked away. While thus engaged, one man was stationed at some distance from the tree, that, when they had nearly hacked their way through it, he might, by its inclination, ascertain the direction in which it would fall. When the hour THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 127 arrived, or rather the fatal moment came, for the fall of the monarch of the Ohio, the sentinel gave a loud, French yell, and instantly every man took to his heels to escape the crashing monster. Unfortunately, some would run in the direction of the falling tree, and would be crushed to death, while others would be caught by the wide-spreading limbs. Had they remained by the trunk, and watched the direction of the falling tree, they would have escaped all danger ; but this was a secret in woodcraft to which they were strangers. When the tree was down, they fell to work to cutting off the limbs ; but having accomplished this, they knew not what to do with the enormous trunk, that cumbered the ground vastly more than when standing. At length they hit upon the expedient of burying it : a work as useless as it was laborious, so far as clearing the ground was concerned. For days they would toil in digging its grave, and, after get- ting all things in readiness, the whole force of the city would be summoned to heave the conquered giant of the woods into the ditch they had dug for him. Finding their present mode of operation a dangerous one, they adopted another, which was to send a man up the tree they intended to cut down, with a rope; and, making it fast above, leave the other end on the ground. When the tree was nearly cut through, all hands would go beyond its reach, 128 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. and, pulling at the rope, would bring the tree down in the direction they wanted it. One good back- woodsman with his ax would accomplish as much in one day, and perhaps more, without fatigue and without danger, than a whole company of these Pari- sians. Instead of cutting up the tops and branches into fire-wood, they were cut up and thrown into heaps, and burned. Delicate young men, who had spent their early life in the schools of Paris, joined with the rest in this laborious toil; and after laboring hard for a year, received one third of an acre of the cleared land as a recompense. Disheartened and sad, many of them removed to French settlements elsewhere in the country; but the majority of them remained and toiled on. They wrote to Washington their grievances, and we have seen his autograph reply, in which he sympathized with them, and demonstrated his sincerity by ex- erting his influence in their behalf with Congress. They came in the midst of the Indian wars which were desolating the country, and five of their num- ber w T ere taken into captivity by the savages. In addition to all their troubles here, they heard of the carnage of the infidel revolution, that was filling their beloved fatherland with the slain. Sickness also came upon them. A stagnant marsh behind the town, near the borders of the "translucent Chick- amauga," sent up ita miasma, and many died. Food THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 129 was scarce, and they had to depend mostly upon the trading boats on the river for provisions, for which they had to pay the most exorbitant prices. Their means were becoming day by day exhausted, and the future wore a most gloomy aspect. Nor yet did they give way to melancholy. Twice each week they came together and joined in the dance, and " All went merry as a marriage bell." Thus they danced away hunger as well as dull care. The Indians, who would lurk in the thickets and prowl around at night, chanced once to hear their music and the sound of their rejoicing; and though they had been sent as spies in advance of a contem- plated attack, they returned with the intelligence that the pale faces would be upon them, as they had heard them at their war-dance. Congress, however, came to their relief, and in 1795 made to them a grant of land containing twen- ty-four thousand acres, on the Ohio, opposite Little Sandy. To this liberal grant was subsequently added twelve hundred additional acres, since known as the "French Grant." The French had continued to oc- cupy their city; and, as they became acquainted with the country and modes of life, they overcame the ob- stacles by which they were surrounded. The old log- houses, in process of time, gave place to good sub- stantial frame and brick dwellings. A large and 130 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. beautiful court-house lias taken the place of the old one, the morasses have been filled up, the streets and landings graded and paved, churches and school edi- fices have been erected, and a large and enterprising population now occupies the site of the gay and hap- py French emigrants who toiled, amid the greatest disasters and discouragements, to leave an inheritance for their children. But we must return to the pioneers on the Muskin- gum, (the Indian name for Elk's eye,) who effected the first permanent settlement in the Ohio valley. This company of emigrants possessed greater elements of strength, and were better adapted for laying the foundations of Western empire, than, perhaps, any other that ever turned their attention to the "West. Unlike the gay, mercurial Frenchman, they belong- ed to a sterner and sturdier race, having grown up amid the toils and hardships of a life in the new world. While they brought with them farmers and tradesmen of all occupations, suited to a frontier life, they were not unmindful of the necessity of provid- ing for moral and intellectual wants. With them came a minister of the Gospel, Rev. Daniel Story, who was charged not only with the care of the citi- zens, but the soldiers in the garrison, and to him, also, was intrusted the education of the youth. Though not the first, he was, nevertheless, a pioneer preacher ; and while he could preach the Gospel, at THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 131 the same time he could handle the plow and teach the young idea how to shoot. His fellow pioneer, Meigs, could take a fight, or a foot race with the savages, and also could invoke the muses from their Parnassian heights to inspire his song. He was the pioneer poet, and his verses would compare favor- ably with much that passes for poetry at the present day. Preaching, and teaching, and poetry aside, let us turn to other things of more interest just now. It being the policy of the agents of the Ohio Company to encourage settlements in some of the more remote points of their purchase, not only for the speedy occupancy of the country, but also to form a frontier for the main portion of the colony, they resolved to grant to settlers in such localities as might be point- ed out, one hundred acres of land. One of the provisos of this resolution was, that no settlement should be made of a less number than twenty strong, healthy men, who should provide themselves with arms and ammunition, and erect a block-house for their defense from the Indians. Under these cir- cumstances, quite a number of settlements were made in 1789, 1790. In the autumn of the latter year, a company of thirty-six organized themselves, and made a selection of a fertile tract on the Muskin- gum, about thirty miles from Marietta, and four miles above the mouth of Meigs's Creek. The first 132 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. tiling they did after arriving at the spot, which was on the west side of the Muskingum, in a rich, low bottom, was to erect their fortifications. A few rods back from the garrison, the land rose in gentle acclivity on to a higher bottom, and spread back in a beautiful plain to the foot of the surrounding hills. The Indian war-path from Sandusky to the mouth of the Muskingum lay on the opposite bank of the river, in full view of the garrison. The company consisted almost entirely of young men, inexperienc- ed in the modes of Indian warfare, though daring and enterprising. They knew not that the Dela- wares and Wyandots had sworn around their council fires, that before the leaves should be green and the trees blossom in the spring, the smoke of the cabin of every pale face this side of the Ohio should not be seen; nor, indeed, was this fact known to any of the settlers. They had erected their block-house, and two of them had marked out their lots and built their cabins, preparatory to clearing in the spring, which they occupied while the remainder lived in the fort. Midwinter had come, and as the weather was ex- tremely cold, they had no idea that the savages would leave their winter-quarters at such a season. But, alas! how were they mistaken. Already, on the opposite shore of the river, which could readily be crossed on the ice, dark, savage eyes are on them, THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 133 watching all their movements, and ready to pounce upon them as the panther on his prey. When the shades of night gathered around, and the party in the unpicketed and unsentineled fort were cooking and eating what proved to be their last earthly meal, a stout, swarthy Mohawk opened the unbarred door, exposing all the inmates, who were gathered around the fire. The signal was given, and before they had time to seize their arms, which were stack- ed in the corner, all fell by the deadly aim of the Indians, except a stout backwoods Virginia woman, the wife of a pioneer hunter, and two young men, one of whom ascended the ladder and escaped to the roof only to be shot the moment he was seen, and the other, hiding in some bed-clothes, was subsequent- ly dragged forth and made a prisoner. The heroic wife of the hunter determined to sell her life as dearly as possible, and seizing an ax, she made a blow at the head of the huge Mohawk, and the whole side of his face and his shoulder were cloven asunder by the force. Soon, however, a rifle ball pierced her, and she fell among the slain. In the mean time, those in one of the cabins were made prisoners, while those in the other, seizing their guns and ammunition, made their escape. Directing their course down the river, they arrived late at night at the hunting camp of Mitchell, with whom Captain Rogers, a soldier of the Revolution, and a fine 134 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. hunter, together with a Mohican Indian, were living, Mitchell being absent. When Rogers and the In- dian heard of the massacre, they took their blankets and rifles, and, crossing the river, started for the set- tlement at Wolf Creek Mills, to apprise them of their danger. As soon as they arrived, and communicated the sad intelligence, all the men, women, and chil- dren took possession of the largest and stoutest cabins, and prepared for an attack. Port-holes were opened in the chinking between the logs ; and, every man at his post, they watched in the stillness and darkness of that gloomy night for the approach of the enemy. At length the savages made their ap- pearance, but they were cautious enough not to come within reach of the hunter's rifle; and after reconnoitering awhile they darted into the woods, and the startled settlers heard of them no more in that neighborhood. Not so, however, with the set- tlers at Planefield. Wo sooner had they left than the heroic Rogers was out, and in advance of them gathered together the families. One of these was a widow with eight children, the two oldest of whom were sons. It was now past midnight; and the peaceful inmates, awakened from their sleep, were obliged to leave their cabins and brave the severity of the wintery weather. James and Daniel Converse ■ — for these were the names of the two sons of the widow — immediately started, and visited every cabin THE PIONEER SETTLERS. 135 within two miles, to warn the settlers of their danger. At length all were assembled in the only block-house in that region. There were in all sixty souls ; and had it not been for the escape of the two from the Big Bottom slaughter, they would all, doubtless, have been murdered in their cabins before morning. The night passed away without any sign of the Indians ; and when the morning came, Rogers and a party of men started for Big Bottom, to look after the fate of the settlers : it was only, however, to find their charred and blackened bodies, as the Indians had partially fired the fort before leaving. Young Daniel, the widow's son, was soon after taken captive by the Indians, and carried to Detroit, but was subsequently liberated. He afterward became a pioneer merchant in the town of Zanes- ville, where he was a useful and respectable citizen until he died. Settlements were made at Belpr6, or Belle Prairie, Manchester, Point Pleasant, Limestone, at the mouth of the Scioto, at North Bend, and other points along the Ohio ; and also in the interior, and out West, as far as Illinois, at all of which border incidents occurred that would take volumes to nar- rate. Some of them are of so wonderful and mar- velous a character, that even those who were born and have grown up in the West can hardly credit them as realities. Scenes have been enacted on the 136 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. very ground where our peaceful dwellings stand, that, for thrilling interest, cannot be outdone by the most fruitful and fervid imagination. We can only select a few, which may serve to show what were the toils, and hardships, and perils of the pioneer settlers of the West. THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 137 CHAPTER V. THE PIONEER PREACHERS. We have elsewhere alluded to these self-sacrificing and devoted men; many of whom, in advance of civilization among the savage Indians and the rude white settlers, came into the wilderness to seek the lost. Before even the cabin was ready for its occu- pant, and before the school-house and court-house were erected, both of which served, in an early day, for places of religious worship, these pioneer heralds of the Gospel blazed their way through the forests ; and in the woods and cabins, and sometimes in the bar-rooms of village taverns, the only public place of meeting, have they opened their mission, and called their fellow-men from the ways of sin and transgres- sion to the ways of righteousness. We have alluded to the Jesuit, who planted his cross on the far-off shores of Western lakes and rivers, and who repeated his Ave Marias and Pater Nosters, and sung his Te Deums, in savage wilds. We have also spoken of the Moravian, who followed the Indian in his wanderings, and instructed him in the arts of 138 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. civilization, as well as in the faith and duties of Chris- tianity; who counted no toil too great, or hardship too severe, to bring the sons of the forest from their wild and savage worship to the knowledge of a sim- ple faith and pure form of worship. Volumes might be written concerning the labors and sufferings of each of these heroic pioneer ministers of the Christian faith. "We shall devote this chapter to the relation of a few incidents. Nearly seventy years ago, a youthful preacher, one whose bones had scarcely hardened into manhood, might have been seen receiving from a pioneer bishop, at an Eastern conference, an appointment to the West. With no outfit but a horse, and a pair of saddle-bags containing his Bible, Discipline, and Hymn Book, and perhaps a change of linen, he turned his course toward the setting sun. His field of labor was the West New River Circuit, in what was then called the Holston country. His circuit included all the settlements on the east and north forks of the Hol- ston River, and all those on the Clinch River, as well as a portion on the Greenbrier, embracing hundreds of miles. Here he continued to preach from cabin to cabin, finding his way as best he could, often without a path in the wilderness, and unattended by any hu- man being. Whole days of weary travel would be spent in going from one settlement to another; and often the night would be far gone before reaching it. THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 139 The appointments being made for every four or six weeks, the settlers would have a knowledge of the time of the preacher's visits ; and they would collect together from the distance of many miles. If the preacher should be belated, they would spend the time in singing and prayer; and often, when he ar- rived, has he left his saddle, the seat of which he has occupied the entire day without rest or refreshment, and, entering the cabin, held forth the word of life. When meeting was over, the people would light their pine torches, if the night was dark, and go home, making the woods echo with some favorite hymn. Reader, have you ever heard pioneer singing in the woods at night? It is not a la operatic, with its screeches and trills, outshaming all nature and mel- ody too; but rich, melodious, natural, and such as fills the heart with sublimest emotions. In it there may not be the highest contralto or lowest soprano; but there will be a spirit, a very soul and power, that will touch the chords of the human heart. Whatever may be said of improvement in sacred music — and we are decidedly progressive in our tastes and habits — give us the full, round chorus of the whole congre- gation uniting in the praise of God, even if it should be at fault in artistic accuracy. The very memory of the songs of Zion which we heard in our early life are pleasant to the soul. Alas! that, like past joys, they are never to return ! 9 140 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. Our itinerant, having preached his sermon and re- ceived refreshment and rest, must start in the morning for his next appointment. Before leaving, he would select the text for his next discourse, and while trav- eling, would study out its divisions, or, in other words, make his skeleton and clothe it with sinews and flesh, and, when he preached it to the people, breathe into it the breath of life. The pioneer preacher had not the helps enjoyed by the preacher of the present day. If he could not walk alone, no crutches were provided. Skeletons and sketch-books, pulpit assistants and preacher's manuals, and sermons and commentaries were then out of the question; and even if he had them, he could not carry them with him in his saddle-bags. They were shut up to the Bible, and its study alone, and this we may safely affirm was the secret of their power. Communing, as they did, with the Divine Mind, through the written word, they came before the people as Moses came down from the burning mountain, and the words they spoke were full of spirit and life. Much is said and written about the ministry needed for the times, and great stress is laid upon a thorough theological training, all which is right, and no minister of the present day, with the facilities enjoyed, should content himself without it ; but, after all, there is a one thing needful — a sine qua non — a thorough baptism into the truth and Spirit of THE PIONEER PREACHERS, 141 God, a consecration of soul and body to the work of the ministry, to the ignoring of everything else, that can only make successful ministers of Jesus Christ. The pioneer preachers did not get their systematic theology from human productions, filled with human speculations and finespun theories about election, reprobation, eternal filiation, et csetera; but they drew their systems directly from the Bible, the living fountain of eternal truth. "When, therefore, they preached a doctrinal discourse, it was thor- oughly Biblical and sound. Nor did they go to any system of moral philosophy to learn what were man's rights on the one hand, or his duties on the other. The ethics of the New Testament were sufficiently copious and clear to shed light on all these subjects. Our pioneer traveled through the wilderness, preaching from place to place, until the Indians invaded the country and commenced their depre- dations. Still, though thus interrupted, wherever he could get a congregation in the woods, or in a cabin, he was always ready and willing to preach to them the Gospel. He did not receive salary enough to keep his horse, had he been under the necessity of purchasing his feed. All that was allowed him was a sum less than one hundred dollars; and should he, by chance, have received more, it must be accounted for, and the proceeds taken to conference, to make up the deficiencies of 142 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. those who had not received their pay. Any small present that might have been made had also to be accounted for; and we recollect distinctly of re- porting a pair of socks given to us by an old lady, in lieu of quarterage, when traveling French Grant Circuit in 1835, the whole amount of salary received during the year by the presiding elder, R. O. Spencer, and two preachers, not amounting to one hundred dollars. Well did General Harrison say, that "though the circuit preachers of early times did not take, like the Jesuits, the vow of poverty, their condition and circumstances were precisely the same as if they had taken such a vow." What is said of the pioneer itinerant may, in a great degree, apply to those pastors of other de- nominations who came out in an early day to feed the sheep in the wilderness. An incident occurred in the western part of Pennsylvania, in an early day, that will illustrate this remark. A Presby- terian minister had crossed the mountains for the purpose of preaching the word of life to two set- tlements, one of which was located at what was called Cross Creek, and the other at Upper Buf- falo. His congregation was much attached to him, and did all they could to promote his welfare, but they were too poor to render him much aid. To be sure, they agreed to pay him a stipulated salary, but were unable to comply with their promises. THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 143 As it was, the pastor was obliged to get a farm, and take to the plow and hoe, to dig a living out of the earth. The settlers were as bold and hardy a band as ever entered the wilderness. They had built their cabins, and felled the forest around them, even in the midst of the greatest perils. The Indians would often cross the Ohio, steal their chil- dren and horses, and kill and scalp every hapless victim that might fall in their way. The conse- quence was, that these pioneer farmers had to work with their rifles by their side. When they repaired to their rude log church to engage in religious worship, their rifles were as necessary an accompaniment as their Psalm Books. Among this people the pioneer herald of the Gospel took up his abode. Having purchased a small farm, partly cultivated, he would toil through the week, when not otherwise engaged in pastoral labor, and preach to his people on Sunday. He expected to pay for his farm out of the salary which his people had pledged for his support. < Years passed away in their rapid flight. The pastor was unpaid, and the debt he owed for the farm was increasing with the accumulating interest on the money. At length the period arrived when the creditor, becoming impatient, demanded his pay, declaring that he would wait no longer, and if the amount was not forthcoming, the occupant must 144 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. leave. Money was out of the question, as there was none in circulation. Of produce there was a great abundance, particularly wheat; but for this there was no market, and it was considered, in backwoods parlance, " a drug," at twelve and a halt cents per bushel. For their salt, which had to be brought on pack-horses across the mountains, they had to give in exchange for one bushel, twenty-one bushels of wheat. Still, cheap as was this latter article, there was enough to pay all the claims of the pastor, and to spare ; but it was impossible to convert it into cash. What was to be done ? The preacher had extended the clearings and made many improvements upon the farm, and all this must be lost and his home given up. Besides, he was becoming advanced in years, and the strength of his youth had departed. With the loss of his farm he must also give up his beloved flock, and return to the East to seek one which could render him a support. At this crisis the people were called together, and the case laid before them. The intelligence com- municated by the pastor greatly moved them ; they all united in prayer to seek the Divine aid and guidance. Suggestions were made and plans pro- posed for meeting the difficulty, but still no light dawned. The congregations of both places we have named were hopelessly in debt to their pastor ; and THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 145 they could neither get nor borrow the money to pay him. Three or four years' salary was behind, and every day only increased their indebtedness. In despair of finding any mode by which to extricate themselves from the difficulty, they adjourned to meet again in a few days, trusting that Providence would open some door of deliverance. In the mean time it was ascertained that a gen- tleman who owned the only mill in that region of country would grind meal for them on moderate terms. Hence it was resolved at the next meeting, that each member should take his wheat to the mill in such quantities as their ability would justify. Some packed on horses as high as fifty bushels ; some even exceeded that amount ; but all were cheerful in contributing, as they were able ; for they were much attached to their pastor, and were unwilling to have him leave. Wheat was thus transported on horses from a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles. After a while the word came that the flour was ready for market ; but, as before remarked, there was no place in all the upper country where it could be sold. If sold at all, it must be conveyed in a boat to New Orleans, down the current of rivers whose banks were untenanted, except by the savage and the wild beasts. Another meeting was called. A link in the chain of Providence had been reached which they could not pass ; and hence it was again necessary to 146 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. enter into consultation, and seek the Divine aid After earnest prayer the question, startling to all present, was asked: "Who will run a boat to New Orleans ? The undertaking at that time was perilous in the extreme. Months must pass before the ad- venturer could hope to return, even though his journey should prove a fortunate one. A fearful hazard was to be run in passing through the wilder- ness on the return trip. Sad and melancholy tales had been told of the treacherous Indians and the Spanish robber. More than one boat's crew had gone on that journey to return no more. Well might it have been ■ considered a question of momentous importance ; and well must he count the cost who would undertake to answer it, and brave the dangers of that journey. All were silent; no one volunteered to go. The young shrunk back, and the stout-hearted middle- aged themselves quailed. A crisis of greater moment had come than any through which they had passed ; and they were obliged to fall back on Providence, and were shut up to the faith. Some one of that con- gregation must embark in the enterprise ; but still no one moved or spoke a word. It seemed that the plan must fail, the preacher lose his home, and the people their pastor. At length the stillness was broken. An aged man, one of the elders of the Church, wrinkled and white with hoary hairs, and bending beneath the weight of three-score years and four, THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 147 advanced in front of the pulpit, and turning round to the wondering audience, he said, " Here am I ; send me." The movement produced an indescribable thrill in all hearts. Pastor and people wept like children, as they beheld their venerated elder thus, as it were, offer up himself as a sacrifice for the cause of religion. We witnessed a scene something similar to this many years ago, at a conference held in Spring- field. One of the most sublimely eloquent ser- mons to which we ever listened was preached by Bascom, the pioneer orator of the West, on the subject of missions. The presiding bishop, at its close, asked for volunteers for the then distant wilds of Missouri and Texas. The conference was composed of many stalwart young men, most of whom had been subjected to the toils and hardships of frontier life. But no one responded to the call. The bishop (the venerable Soule) said he had noth- ing to offer but hard service and poor fare in this world, though he would guarantee to the faithful eternal life in heaven. None rose or indicated any desire to brave the dangers of the Missouri or Texian wilds. It seemed as though the spirit of Wesley had forsaken or had ne t taken possession of his sons in the Gospel. At length there rose from near the altar an aged man. He tottered up the steps, and presenting himself to the bishop, said, 148 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. " 1 will go. 55 He had passed his three-score years and ten ; had been a pioneer preacher in the wil- derness of Kentucky, and had opened the first acade- my of learning in the great valley. It was the venerable Finley, the father of the " old chief," who instantly followed him, and offered himself in his place. The spell of fear and danger was broken, and a number of young, devoted spirits met the bishop's call. The bones of some of those young preachers lie bleaching on the plains of Texas and Missouri ; but their ranks have been filled, and the Gospel is now proclaimed all over the "West and South. But to return to our narrative. The congregation gathered around the elder, and to questions about his resolution to undertake the enterprise, he replied that he would brave all danger, and even death itself, rather than his children should lose their beloved heavenly guide. Two young men were induced to accompany him as assistants in managing the boat. After the craft which had been construct- ed for the purpose was loaded, and everything got in readiness for departure, the people were all assem- bled at the Church, whence, after meeting, they start- ed down to the river to bid the old man farewell. A parting hymn was sung upon the beach, followed by a most fervent prayer, invoking the protection and blessing of Heaven upon the voyager. After it THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 149 was ended, the venerable man ascended the deck, and seizing the oar, said, "Farewell, brethren! Untie the cable, and let us see what the Lord will do for ns." The cable was untied, and the boat swung round into the current, and glided softly and smooth- ly away. More than nine months passed away since the adventurous boat cleared the landing, and started out on her distant voyage. No tidings came back to the settlements of its fate or fortune. Many and ardent were the prayers offered up for the devoted elder. At the return of every Sabbath many an anxious eye turned to the vacant seat, and as the pastor invited the congregation to unite with him in prayer for the absent ones, every heart responded, and every head was bowed in solemn supplication for his protection and safe return. It could not be that an enterprise thus undertaken for the Lord, and baptized in prayer, could fail. Surely, He who "holds the hearts of men in his hands, and turns them as the rivers of the south are turned," will watch over his servant, and bring him back in safety to the loved ones left behind. Those prayers were not in vain. On a beautiful Sabbath morning, when all nature smiled beneath its repose, parents and children were seen coming from their cabin homes to the house of God. There stands the man of God, in simple garb, 150 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. within the sacred desk. He has offered prayer — a short invocation; and now he reads the hymn: "Come, sound his praise abroad, And hymns of glory sing ; Jehovah is the sov'reign Lord, The universal King." Then followed a prayer, full of thanksgiving and praise. The pastor's heart was touched with unusual emotion; and well it might be, for there sat before him, on the rude bench so long vacant, his beloved elder. After the services were completed, the con- gregation was invited to meet on a certain day, early in the week, to hear the report of the venerable man. All gathered around him, to welcome him home and receive his blessing. Old and young rejoiced to be- hold once more the light of his smile. The other congregation was also informed, by the pastor, of his safe return, and requested to meet at the time ap- pointed. The day at length arrived; and at the hour all were convened in the church. After prayer and thanksgiving, the old man rose and related his story. He remarked that the Lord had granted him a peace- ful and prosperous voyage, and that he had sold all the flour at twenty-seven dollars per barrel. He then took up a leathern bag, and, untying it, poured out its contents upon the communion table. None there THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 151 had ever seen so large a pile of gold before. Truly the Lord had favored the mission; for, after paying for the pastor's farm, and a year's salary in advance, together with a good sum to the young men, there was a large surplus to be divided among those who had furnished the flour. More than half a century has passed away since pastor and elder were called to their reward in the upper and better sanctuary. Side by side their ashes rest in the old church-yard, to wait the resurrection of the just. But we must now resume our sketch of the young itinerant. He had finished his year of service, and had gone to conference. Here he met the pioneer bishop, Asbury; and also the pioneer preachers, M'Henry, Hill, "Ward, and others. The preachers in those times could only see each other once a year, and when they met to recount their toils and triumphs, they had a joyous time. The ministers of the West are now so numerous that they often get in the way of each other. But it was not so then ; hundreds of miles of wilderness stretched between their fields of labor; and if the circuits did, in their vast sweep, happen to touch each other, they were generally at points remote from preaching places, so that they would not be likely to meet each other. The labors of the conference being ended, his assigned field of labor for the coming year was in Kentucky; and he, with the bishop and several preachers, started 152 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. on their journey through the wilderness. Before proceeding far, however, others were joined to the expedition, and the number amounted to sixteen. They had one hundred and fifty miles to travel, without a cabin or settlement on the route, and they were to traverse a region then known as the " dark and bloody ground," in consequence of the savage barbarities w^hich had been perpetrated. Of course, it would not do to go unarmed ; and hence all were supplied with weapons of defense, except the bishop. Having crossed the Cumberland range, they were now in the very bosom of the wilderness. Though the good bishop would not carry arms, he was, never- theless, not indifferent to the importance of adopting modes of defense from the attacks of the savages. At his suggestion the following was selected, viz.: when they stopped at night, a rope was to be ex- tended round the entire camp, a short distance from the ground, except a small passage, which should be left open for a retreat should the Indians come upon them. They pursued their journey undisturbed until one afternoon, just as the sun was sinking behind the western hills. They had entered a narrow, rocky glen, not far from the war-path of the northern Indians to the southern tribes. While in this glen a noise was heard, over the point of the hill which rose abruptly from the glen, resembling the cry THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 153 of a child in great distress. They had been too long in the woods thus to be decoyed by the savages, who had adopted this mode from the fact that, but a short time before, they had attacked a company of movers, and killed a number, and it was supposed that several children were lost in the woods. Instead of heeding the cries of these Indians, each traveler put whip and spur to his horse, and, clearing the glen, reached Camp Creek, where they halted. It was now night, and horses as well as men were weary with fatigue, and needed rest. Notwithstanding, as they were not out of the reach of the savages, it was concluded to take the vote in regard to the propriety of camping for the night. All were in favor of proceeding on the journey, as the Indians were in too fearful prox- imity, except one preacher, who said if they traveled any further it would kill his horse. At this the bishop, who had his fears somewhat aroused, said, " Kill man, kill horse first and, putting spurs to his spirited animal, he led the van. It soon became so dark that they could not discover the narrow path. Two were appointed to go on foot in front, and thus pick out the path, while two others were left to proceed some distance behind as a kind of rear-guard, to keep a look-out for the enemy. At length the company reached Big Laurel Eiver. The night was far spent, but still they 154 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. resolved to proceed, though the darkness was so great that each one had to dismount and lead his horse. Thus they continued on foot until daylight, when they entered a hazel thicket and fed their horses, and took some refreshment themselves. The guard behind, on coming up, reported that they were followed by the Indians until twelve o'clock, when they left the track. The itinerant career of our pioneer preacher was almost as full of perilous incidents as that of the pioneer hunter. On one occasion he raised a com- pany of twelve, for the purpose of going from Kentucky beyond the Cumberland, again to pilot out the bishop to the seat of the conference. One day, as they were traveling on their journey, they came to a spot where, a few days before, four preachers, who had started to travel through the wilderness, had been surprised and murdered by the savages. They had been scalped, and their bodies presented a shocking appearance, from having been torn by the wild beasts. Being the commander of the party, the itinerant had not closed his eyes for two days and nights, and when they reached the Cumberland Eiver, and stopped to encamp for the night, he resolved to take some rest. After stationing his sentinels at their posts, he took his saddle blanket and spread it on the ground. Then taking his Baddle and saddle-bags for a pillow, he laid himself THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 155 down to rest. In a few moments, "tired nature's sweet restorer" lulled liim into profound repose. He had not slept an hour when he was aroused by the cry of "The Indians are coming!" Some affirmed that they heard their dogs bark, and others that they heard them cutting cane for their horses. The preacher rose and tried to allay their fears, but all proved of no avail, as each one mounted his horse and was off. Finding himself left, he called in his sentinels, and they departed after the fugitives. The next night they continued to travel, until the darkness became so great that they could not see an inch before them. Concluding to stop, the preacher ordered the company to separate right and left and dismount, each man holding his horse by the bridle, while they would lie dow T n at their feet and sleep until daybreak. The command was obeyed, and it was not long until the tired travelers were sound asleep. In the morning they resumed their journey, and, crossing the mountains, were soon at their place of destination. "When they returned they were joined by a large party of emigrants, consisting of men, women, and children, to the number of one hundred and twenty. They were well supplied with horses to ride, besides a large number of pack-horses. It was what might be called a caravan of the Western wilderness The preacher was unanimously chosen to the com- 10 156 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. mand. The caravan extended a mile in length. The commander, with a well-skilled explorer, led the van, and a chosen number of those who had gone out with him brought up the rear. Separated as they were from each other by the narrow path, which obliged them to go in single file, they were liable at any moment to be attacked, and would fall an easy prey to a party of Indians on foot with their rifles ; hence the utmost caution was necessary w proceeding. For two days and nights they traveled on without meeting with any incident worthy of special notice. At length they reached the ford of the Cumberland River. The stream was much swollen by recent rains, but, still, it was thought practica- ble to undertake the crossing. Soon the whole com- pany came up to the bank, and while they were crowded together the sharp crack of several rifles was heard on the opposite bank. The shots were from a party of Indians, but the distance was so far, fortunately, none took effect. The greatest conster- nation prevailed. Many emigrant bands had been wholly exterminated by the Indians, and there was not a child of any years among that number, who had not heard of the sad story of their fate. The women, affrighted, clung to their little ones, and begged to return. But they had gone too far to return, and would have to encounter as much dan- ger, and perhaps more than if thev should proceed. THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 157 One day more would bring them to the settlements, where they would be safe ; and if they returned, the Indians could rally their forces, and, pursuing, soon overtake them and cut them off. The only chance of deliverance was to go forward and press their way through the enemy. A crisis had come, and the pioneer preacher proved himself, as on former occasions, adequate to the trial. Riding out from the company a short distance, with his rifle resting upon his arm, he said he was going to cross the river, and asked if there were any who would accompany him in the under- taking. Out of the whole number, the chosen eleven with whom he had crossed the mountains only acceded, and, following their leader, they plunged into the river. When they reached the opposite bank, expecting an immediate attack from the Indians, they instantly alighted from their horses, and each man took a tree to wait the onset. After remaining some time, and no Indians approach- ing, they made search through the adjacent woods, but finding none, they returned to the bank of the river. The preacher then beckoned to the company on the other shore to cross over. Finding they could cross in safety, and especially having so brave a guard, one after another they entered the river, and arrived safe on the other side. A thunder- storm coming up toward the close of the afternoon, 158 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. the company halted and prepared to encamp for the night ; striking their tents and building their fires, they sought refreshment and rest. The itinerant posted his sentinels, but kept on his feet all night, passing round from post to post, and through the camp, to see that all was righi. The next day they arrived at the Crab Orchard, and having passed the dangers of the wilderness and reached the settle- ments, the preacher left the company and started tc the seat of the conference. Here he met Poythress who presided in the place of the bishop, and Scott, a young preacher from the Baltimore Conference, who but a few months since died at his residence in Chillicothe. From this conference he started out to travel a new circuit, bounded east by the frontier settlements, and west by the Kentucky River. Thus, from year to year, he received appointments on the frontiers, extending his ranges wherever he could hear of a newly-erected cabin. The clothes which he had when he started from his home in the East, were worn into tatters, being no longer able to sustain a patch. The amount which he received for one year's labor was barely sufficient to enable him to purchase a waistcoat. Still he had a mission to per- form, and he kept on his way from year to year, from circuit to circuit, covering his tattered garb with a blanket, as a mantle, and enduring the hard service incident to a pioneer itinerant. At one time, in the THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 159 beginning of the present century, his field of labor included nearly the entire state of Ohio, besides por- tions of Virginia and Kentucky ; and the loved work in which he was employed engrossed his whole atten- tion, until, through toil and exposure, he lost his voice, and was obliged to seek other employment to obtain a livelihood. President Monroe, or Madison, we do not recollect which, gave him a commission as post- master of Cincinnati, which office he held until the Tyler administration, when he was removed. But his work is done. The young and daring pioneer preacher, who traversed the wilderness, and crossed the mountains eleven times, on the errand of his Master, has passed away to the rest of the grave. He died a few months since in Cincinnati. William Burke will long be remembered in the West ; indeed, his whole life is so interwoven with its history that he cannot be forgotten. About the same period a preacher by the name of Wilkinson was transferred from the Virginia Confer- ence to the Western Conference. He was young and eloquent, a son of thunder ; and many a stout heart at the camp-meetings, among the sturdy pioneer hunters and settlers, had been smitten by the power of his words. As a legate of heaven, " By him the violated law Spoke out its thunders." 160 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. And whether in the rude log-church, at the camp- meetings in the forest, or in the crowded city, the power of his eloquence was felt. Having attended conference in Tennessee, and received his appointment, he started, accompanied with others, to cross the wilderness for the destined field of his labors. They had not proceeded far on their journey before his horse became so lame that it was impossible for him to proceed. The company, unwilling to wait, and not knowing how long it would take to restore his horse, proceeded on without him. After remaining some days, his horse had so far recovered as to enable him to proceed ; but he found himself in a dilemma almost as great as the one from which he had been extricated. His horse-feed, of which he thought he had brought sufficient to last the journey, and it, doubtless, would have proved ad- equate but for the detention, was exhausted ; and in addition to this, his own provision spoiled, with the exception of a small piece of dried beef. At Bean's Station, on the frontier, he obtained a cup of milk and a piece of corn bread. The people there en- deavored to dissuade him from the undertaking, and earnestly advised him to wait until he could obtain company to travel with him. But he would listen to no advice ; he had sent on his appointments in ad- vance, and he was resolved, if it was possible, to reach them, that the people should not be disap- THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 161 pointed. The station was so scarce of provision that he could obtain no supply for himself; and all he could get for his horse was some frost-bitten corn. On, therefore, with his meager supply he journeyed. Between him and Crab Orchard, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, there was naught but a tenantless wilderness. Occasionally he would stop and let his horse graze upon the herbage, while he would sparingly partake of his dried beef. At length the settlements were reached; but preacher and horse were so much exhausted that they scarcely had strength to eat. He, perhaps, would not have suffered so much from want, if he had not met half- way in the wilderness a starving soldier, returning home from Wayne's army, with whom he divided his last morsel. The pioneer soldier, as well as the pioneer preacher of those days, not only " smelt powder," but often were subjected to other trials, to which the epauletted, brass-buttoned soldier and white- cravated, black-vested preacher of the present day are strangers. It was some time before the young itinerant re- covered, and his horse, a noble animal, to which he was much attached, did not recover for six months. What added to the gloom of his weary and desolate journey, was the fact that he passed what was called the " Deserted Camp," where a company of 162 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. thirty-two white persons had been murdered and scalped by the Indians. Hard times with the preachers have not yet passed away from the West. There are yet frontier regions where the people are poor, and the Gospel must be preached to them. We have an interest- ing incident connected with the experience of an itinerant, which we will give. We shall, however, let him relate it in his own simple, touching lan- guage, premising that the reader imagine him at the seat of a conference in a Western city, with his wife and children stopping at the house of a wealthy member of the Church : " Up to the close of conference, I have kept faithfully the forty dollars reserved for the purchase of a horse so soon as I should reach my new cir- cuit. But over and above that I have not five dol- lars, and my wife and children all want new shoes, and my boots have given way at the side; they have been twice half-soled, and the uppers won't stand it any longer. My only coat is all thread- bare, and white at the seams; that, however, is no matter; it will look well enough back in the woods, although it has rather a shabby appearance here among so many shining new black ones. But, besides the absolute want of shoes and boots, it will cost us all of thirty dollars to get to our new home. Where then, is the horse to come from? THE PIONEEE PREACHERS. 163 Be still, desponding heart! The Lord will pro- vide. You go forth in his cause, and he will take care to supply the armor, if you will always keep it bright and whole! Yes, yes, weak, timid, trembling soldier of the cross! the Captain of your salvation will go before you, and lead you on to certain victory. Only be faithful : look not back for a moment, but press forward. "I have just had a talk with Brother. T. He called in very kindly to give me all the advice, encouragement, and instruction that he could in regard to my new appointment ; and also to furnish me with a list of the names of some of the promi- nent brethren. There is no parsonage provided for the preacher's family; nor do the people pay the rent for one. But a log cottage, he says, with a little patch of ground for a garden and pasturage, can be had for about twenty dollars a year. A cow will cost as much more. But where is the money to buy her to come from? Ah me! If I had just about as much as it costs three or four of the sisters here for ribbons and laces, how rich I should be! The elegant dinner-set, upon which our food is served here every day, the good sister told my wife cost eighty dollars. There w^as a plainer set for sixty; but the first set had a gold band, and she liked it best, and gave twenty dollars more for the sake of the gold band. Now, just 164 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. the price of that gold band on the dinner-set would buy me a cow. Ah me ! These thoughts trouble me. But hush ! hush ! poor, doubting, murmuring heart ! Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. If the good Master has prospered our brother and sister in their basket and store, I ought to be thankful to him on their account, that he has given them the good things of life with a liberal hand. " I met old father H y this morning, with his cowhide shoes and leather strings, wool hat, coarse coat, and shirt-collar unbound with a neck- cloth. It is two years since last I saw him. "We talked for half an hour about matters and things. He is no happier than when I last met him. Not so happy, I think. The luxurious living of our rich professors troubles his soul. He has lifted his voice against it faithfully, and enforced his precepts of temperance and moderation by a rigid, self-denying example, but it is all of no avail. There is no diminu- tion of the evil he complains of. His own perverse heart, too, causes him great affliction. The bitter things which he is daily compelled to write against himself, humble *his soul to the dust. He finds, he says, every day, lower and lower depths of evil in his own heart, the discovery of which fills his soul with the deepest anguish. Dear, good old man! THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 165 His troubles and liis trials here will, I trust, make him richer there. I cannot, however, coincide with him in all his positions. I cannot follow him in all his examples. The bounties provided by nature, her delicious fruits, sweet flowers, honey from the rock, were not all made in vain, or only for those who look not for good things beyond this world. They are all for us, if in our power to obtain them ; and to me it seems a greater sin to put aside the blessings thus provided by our Father's hand, than to receive them, and use them with thank- fulness. " But he is sincere, and the Lord looks at the neart. I wish more of us had a portion of his self- denying spirit. I am sure I need some of it to en- able me to bear up more patiently than I do. I do wish I could never feel troubled about anything ; that I could really say from the heart, 'Thy will, not mine, be done.' I often say as much with the lips ; but, alas ! it is, I fear, only from the teeth out- ward. " I had written thus far in my journal, when my wife came in, and, holding a stout bundle in her hand, said, with a cheerful smile, " 6 What do you think this contains, dear ?' "'I don't know, I'm sure,' I said. ' What does it contain ?' " ' You shall see,' was her reply, as she unrolled it. 166 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. "There were three pairs of shoes apiece for the children, and three pairs for wife, enough to last them all the next year. Then there were four frocks apiece for the little ones, and four new gowns for wife, besides various other matters, such as muslin for underclothes, and nice warm Canton flannel, and stockings ! " 6 Not all for us V I exclaimed, in astonishment, as Mary displayed these before my eyes. " ' Yes, all for us. May the Lord reward Sister A. for her goodness : we cannot.' Tears of thank- fulness were in her eyes. " 1 Amen !' I responded, fervently. In the next moment my heart smote me for what I had thought and written about the gold bands on the dinner-set. Several times since I have turned to the page of my journal where it lies recorded, and taken up my pen to erase it. But I have as often determined to let it remain. It presents a true history of my feelings, and I cannot blot it out. " After supper that evening, the last we were to spend in the kind family of Brother and Sister A., Brother A. began to ask about my new circuit, and how I expected to get along on it. I felt a little delicacy about replying to his questions, for I could not speak very encouragingly, and I never like to make a poor mouth. But he was in earnest, and cornered me so closely, that I had to tell all the truth THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 167 about the means the circuit afforded, and my own poor condition. " i And so you still have your " horse money" safe V he said, smiling, after he had got all out of me. " ' Yes, that still remains untouched. But a part will have to go for stage hire. That can't be helped. Though I doubt not something will turn up, and that I shall get a horse after I get there easily enough. Horses don't cost much in that section of the country ; and then, to add to what is left after paying our fare, I hope to receive about ten dollars for the sale of some things at the old place, left in the care of a good brother. It will all come right, I know, Brother A. It always has come right. 5 " ' No doubt,' he said. 6 The Lord will provide.' " Brother A. seemed thoughtful after he had said this. After sitting for a little while, he said, rising, " < Come, Brother B.' " I followed him up stairs into his chamber. He closed the door, and then opened a large mahogany wardrobe, well stocked with clothes. " ' You and I are near about the same size,' he said, taking down a black frock coat, that was very little worn. i Try on this, and see how near it will come to fitting you. I have not worn it for some months, and it is a pity to let the moths get into it. There!' he continued, as I drew on the coat, 168 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. c it fits you just as well as if it had been made for you, and scarcely shows the wear it has had. Let me see,' he added, turning again to the wardrobe, ' what else we have here. Ah ! this is just the thing for you,' bringing out an overcoat, made of stout beaver cloth. ' You will want just such a thing as this next winter. It will keep you as warm as toast while riding among those snowy hills. I found it almost too heavy for me last winter. But to ride in it will be the dandy.' " He did not stop here. Two pairs of good panta- loons, as many vests, and a pair of excellent boots, were added to these. I tried to thank him, but my voice was so husky that I could not articulate dis- tinctly. The remembrance, too, of what I had thought and written down about the gold bands on the dinner-set, with other reflections not clothed in words, choked me. Nor did he stop yet. Next morning, as I shook hands with him, and bade him farewell, he left two pieces of gold in my hands, saying as he did so, with a smile, " ' Don't touch the " horse money," Brother B. A minister can't walk around his circuit.' " Excellent man ! May the Lord reward him ! As for me, I feel humbled before my Master for my want of faith. So many, many times has he brought me safely out of the wilderness into a clear place, and yet I am unwilling to trust him." THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 169 The preachers of those days were not as fastidious as some we wot of at the present day. They were usually fearless and independent, and uttered the truth without regard to their audience. We recol- lect distinctly a petition in their prayers at that time that we rarely or never hear at the present day. It ran thus : " O Lord, deliver us from the fear of man which bringeth a snare, and grant that we may not shun to declare thy whole counsel to dying sinners, whether they will hear or forbear. May we preach without fear or favor, and attend thy word with the demonstration of the Spirit and power." As illustrative of this class of pioneer preachers, we will relate an incident that occurred in the Southwest. A certain presiding elder, on his round, came to a town on one of the circuits where quar- terly meeting was to be held, and, putting up his horse late on Saturday evening, waited for the Sabbath. The church, as is usual on such occa- sions, was crowded in every part. The preacher in charge was a young man of not much experience, though devoted to his work, and striving hard to please the people in all things, so that he might win them to religion. Just as the elder, a fine, sturdy specimen of a backwoods preacher, was announcing his text, he felt the tail of his coat sud- denly jerked. Turning round in the midst of the 1T0 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. sentence, the young preacher, with great trepida- tion, whispered, " General Jackson is in the congre- gation." The elder, feeling indignant at the inter- ruption, which was noticed by all, raising his voice, still looking at the preacher, who had his head down, exclaimed, "Who is General Jackson? God Almighty will damn him, if he don't repent, as soon as he would an unconverted Guinea nigger." Then, turning, he resumed the reading of his text. The general, then President of the United States, on a visit to the West, was standing in the aisle, leaning against a post. He listened with great attention and interest to the sermon, showing, as he did on all occasions, great respect for religion and the worship of God. The young preacher was so mortified that he could not hold up his head during the meeting; and when it was over, he modestly hinted to the elder that his rough remark had ruined everything, and, as he was the innocent occasion of it, his ser- vices would be of no further benefit in that place. The elder chid him for his pusillanimity, and told him to have more of the fear of God than man be- fore his eyes. Early next morning the young divine took the earliest opportunity to visit the general, having some acquaintance with him, for the purpose of making an apology. He had scarcely commenced, THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 171 when Old Hickory said, "Give yourself no uneasi- ness, my young friend. I like that preacher's fear- less, independent manner. He fears his Master more than man, and such a preacher I admire." As the elder was passing down street in the afternoon, the general saw him from the opposite side, and, crossing over, introduced himself. After some words of conversation, he remarked that the young preacher had been to see him, and related the conversation which passed between them. On taking the elder by the hand at leaving, he pre- sented him with twenty-five dollars, saying, "This may help you in your work. Go on, and discharge it in the fear of God." It was this same old Roman who, on hearing a complaint from one of his officers against a party of Methodist soldiers in his camp, who were holding prayer-meeting, said in reply, " God forbid that the voice of prayer in my camp should be disorderly. Go, sir, to your post." 11 172 PIONEERS OF THE WEST CHAPTEE VI. PIONEER INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN. The first laws were made to suit the exigences of the times, and were adapted to the condition and circum- stances of those who were to be governed by them. Hence, the laws made by the general government for the Western territories, though in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, and in all general features resembling those of the states, were, never- theless, accommodated in some particulars to the condition of the people. Under these laws the terri- torial governments were organized, and the judiciary constituted. We have already alluded to the first permanent settlement of the Northwestern Territory by the Ohio Company. In the Campus Martius, on the first day of September, 1788, the first court under the forms of civil jurisprudence was opened. The deci- sions at the council fires of the Indian, or at the camp of the pioneer, constituted, until this time, the only rule of action for the savage and the civilized. At the time of which we are writing, General Harmar, PIONEER INSTITUTIONS. 173 with his regulars, occupied Fort Harmar. Governor St. Clair, and Judges .S. H. Parsons and J. M. Yar- num, of the Supreme Court, having arrived and made arrangements for the adoption of such laws as were adapted to the new colony, the governor appointed such civil officers as were necessary for carrying into effect said laws. The period for the opening of the Temple of Justice in the West had come. It was an important era, and destined to mark with its influence all subsequent time. Great importance was accordingly attached to the event by the pioneers. All things being in readi- ness, a procession was formed at the point on the banks of the Ohio where most of the settlers resided; and the high sheriff, with his drawn sword, stepping in front, was followed by the citizens, then by the officers of the garrison. After these came the members of the bar, then the Supreme judges, followed by the governor and clergyman; and, finally, the newly-ap- pointed judges of the Court of Common Pleas, Gen- erals Putnam and Tupper. The procession marched along a path that had been cut and cleared through the forest for that purpose, up to Campus Martius, or " the stockade," as it was called. On arriving at the place, the procession countermarched, and Putnam and Tupper advanced to the hall in the northwest block-house, where they took their seats : the first judges enthroned upon a 174 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. bench in the Western wilderness, to dispense equal and exact justice to all. When all was still, the Rev. Dr. Cutler addressed the throne of grace, invoking most fervently the blessings of heaven upon the court and its officers. The sheriff was then directed to call the court, which he did by the following outcry : " O yes, O yes! The Court is opened for the administration of even- handed justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and innocent, without respect of persons ; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case." It was an interesting, if not a sublime spectacle, to witness the solemn and imposing ceremonies con- nected with the opening of this, the first court north- west of the Ohio. The scene was rendered still more interesting by the presence of a large body of Indians, who had been collected together from the most pow- erful tribes occupying the entire West. They were assembled at Marietta for the purpose of making a treaty; and as the dark chiefs looked upon the council of the pale face, who, in the name of the Great Spirit, had taken possession of the land, their minds must have been excited with peculiar emotions. The hall of the block-house was occupied as a court- room for ten years, when, under the superintendence of Dudley Woodbridge and Griffin Green, Esqs., a building was erected for that purpose. This court- PIONEER INSTITUTIONS. 175 house inclosed the prison also, which was built of such heavy material, and so securely barred, that whoever crossed its threshold shut out all hope, until the law was satisfied with the penalty it inflicted. No prisoner was ever known to escape from its walls; and to this day it is one of the strongest prisons in the state. In the then spacious court-room, many of the pioneer lawyers displayed their legal abilities, and uttered their forensic eloquence, in the presence of the numerous settlers who, on court days, would come from all parts of the West, some out of curiosity, and others as principals or witnesses in suits. In this room, now deserted, having in process of time been superseded by one larger and more elegant in the new brick court-house, on the opposite side of the street, Meigs, and Fearing, and Burnet, and Ham- mond, and Beecher, and Ewing, with many others, commenced, as lawyers, their brilliant career. The pioneer lawyer, like the pioneer explorer, and settler, and preacher, had to undergo like toils and hardships. They had to travel hundreds of miles, and pack their provisions on horses, often encountering Indians on their blazed path through the desert, swim- ming rivers and camping out in the woods. They could not then sit in their offices, and, by whispering a few words to their clients, turn round on their cush- ioned chairs and charge a hundred dollars for their legal advice. No immense estates were then involved 176 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. in the tangled meslies of litigation, nor were any left to be settled by the demise of their owners. The most that the settler had was a cabin and a patch, and if he should unfortunately get into litigation about a land boundary, or a stray sheep or hog, or a con- tract, the most that the lawyer could hope for was a limited fee, and often that had to be paid in country produce, such as ginseng, beeswax, and tallow, or coon skins. Heavy suits and fat fees were reserved for other times, such as it is our privilege or misfortune to have fallen upon. The lawyers of those days, like the preachers and the doctors, were not only of that nerve and daring of which the pioneers of all new countries are com- posed, but they were men of thought and study, of diligence and enterprise, and they contributed much toward laying the foundations of the mighty empire of the West. They were not, generally speaking, so wrapped up in selfishness that they could only look after their own interests, but they were alive to what- ever had a tendency to develop the resources of the West, educationally, religiously, and politically. Though many of the Western lawyers were, like the members of the other professions, poor, and lived in their cabins and raised their corn, they were benevo- lent, and always ready to lend a helping hand at a raising or a log-rolling. This remark will apply par- ticularly to the early physicians, whose long rides, by PIONEER INSTITUTIONS. 177 day and night, to visit the sick in distant settlements, often without the hope of fee or reward, gave evidence of the generousness of their nature. They deserved a competency, but many of them lived and died poor. Nor were the pioneers in the learned professions a whit behind, in attainments, their more favored brethren of the present day. If they had fewer books, they were the more thoroughly studied. Their minds were not diverted every week by a fresh importation of law, medicine, and theology, from England, Ger- many, or France, or from the thousands of presses of our own country. The lawyer was shut up to Black- stone, the physician to Cullen, and the divine to his Bible ; and the result was, that they were alike thor- oughly grounded in the principles of their profes- sions. Nor did they turn aside from their avocations to dabble in other matters foreign to their several pur- suits. The lawyer then had neither time nor inclina- tion to leave his office, briefs, and clients, and stump it around the country for himself or some other candi- date for political distinction. Nor could the physician forsake his patients for any enterprise that might pre- sent itself. He felt his responsibility press upon him too heavily for that. The preacher had no disposi- tion, and dare not encourage it if he had, either to connect some other profession with his, and become a 178 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. preaching doctor or a praying lawyer, or much less to engage in stock-jobbing and land speculations. Every man stood to his post, and nobly battled with the difficulties with which he was surrounded. These men lived and toiled nobly in laying the foundations of the civil, literary, and religious insti- tutions of the West ; and we have entered into their labors and received the rich inheritance purchased by their toils. Following the log-church and court-house came the school-house. At a very early day, how- ever, before a government was organized, the Mora- vian missionaries had opened schools among the Indians at Bethlehem, Shonbrun, and Gnadenhut- ten. The Rev. D. Story, who had been sent out to Marietta, came as a minister and a teacher, and was, doubtless, the pioneer professional teacher of the West. About this time, however, a lady, by the name of Rouse, taught a school of boys and girls at Belpr6, and it is thought by some that this was the first school opened in the West. From this place she went several successive summers and taught school within the walls of Farmer's Castle, the name of a strong garrison built on the Ohio, about sixteen miles below Marietta. The probability is that the first Sunday school in America was commenced in Campus Martius, by a lady named Mrs. Andrew Lake. Seeing the children at the fort spending their Sabbaths in frivolous amuse- PIONEER INSTITUTIONS. 179 ments, she thought she would contrive to get them together, and impart instruction to them. Accord- ingly, one Sabbath, after the Rev. Mr. Story had concluded his religious exercises, she proposed to as many children as would come together, that she should devote her time to their instruction. The result was, that she obtained about twenty; and every Sabbath she would meet them, and teach them the questions and answers of the "Westminster Catechism, and lessons from the Bible. We have a vivid recollection of these pioneer schools, both of those taught on the Sabbath and week days. The old log school-houses in which we received the first literary light from Dilworth's Spelling-book, are fresh in our recollection. Like other log-houses, the chimney, or fire-place, extended nearly across one entire end of the building ; and in the winter season, the time when these schools were most patronized, a huge log-fire was built, which sent out its genial heat, and often its annoying smoke. It was supplied with more windows than cabins for dwellings usually had, to allow greater light to schol- ars as well as to master. We imagine that we can see Master Black, or Spry, or Pherson, now standing beside one of those windows, the panes of which were of paper, and made transparent by oiling or greasing them, making a pen, with a scholar standing beside, casting furtive glances around. The former of these 180 PIONEERS OP THE WEST. teachers was a thorough believer in the Proverbs of Solomon, "The rod and reproof give wisdom;" "A rod for the fool's back ;" " He that spareth the rod is not wise," &c. At least, such was our opinion ; for he was never seen in the school-room without having a stout hickory in his hand or under his arm ; and oft- en have we felt its power to stir the sluggish thought, and make "the young idea shoot." Sometimes, when he was not in a particularly good humor, he would, at finding a slight disturbance on one of the seats, apply his rod to the backs of all who happened to be sitting upon it ; calculating that if any of them were not then deserving punishment, it would not be long before they would merit all they got. There was one scholar in the school for whom the master had a particular dislike, from some cause or other. He did not seem to make very rapid advance- ment in his studies ; whether he lacked the capacity or not we are not able to tell, as we always had enough to do to work out our own sums. " Jef," for that was the name by which he was known, had a wonderful proclivity to go fishing, or swimming, or apple-stealing, which latter could easily be done by swimming the river and entering the orchard, which stood on its banks. He was a stout, burly fellow, and did not seem much to mind a whaling or lick- ing, and would coolly make his calculations accord- ingly. PIONEER INSTITUTIONS. 181 One afternoon, just after the boys had been called in from play, Jef was seen turning the corner of a fence, which inclosed an open lot in the town. The master spied him, and, spitting on both his hands, he grasped tightly his hickory, and sallied forth to meet him. Jef saw him coming, and took to his heels. This, of course, brought out all the scholars to see the sport. It would not do to run into the thickly-settled parts of the town; Jef was too old, and had too much pride for that ; so, taking a circuit, he broke for the meadow, in the corner of which the school-house stood. The master was evidently gain- ing upon him every jump ; but J ef cleared the stake and ridered fence, and gained the other side ere he felt the rod. Now* our pedagogue was a resolute man, and he was not to be out-done or out-run by such a lubber; and as he saw that the whole school was witnessing the race Olympic, he bounded over the fence after him with renewed vigor, determined to capture the fugitive, paying him well, not only for playing truant, but for running away from him. Hotly pursued, Jef turned his head round, to see how near his foe was upon him, when he stumbled and fell, and the master, close behind, being unable to stop, tumbled over him. Jef gathered up and took the back track ; for the mas- ter, like the good wolf-dog the fellow bragged about, "was a leetle ahead." About half way between the 182 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. place of his fall and the school-house, he was over- taken, and at every jump Jef caught the hickory, receiving the last as he tumbled over the fence and crawled into the school-house. We looked for a general overhauling when the old fellow came in, for our disorder; but he had exhausted his wrath on poor Jef 's back, and the remainder of the day was spent in quietness. It did seem that he took particular pleasure in beating poor Jef, who bore it like an ox, and grew fat upon it. There was in the school another scholar, whom we will call Jim, who was also rather stupid, or indis- posed to learn. He lisped very much. He could read tolerably well, and write; but how to cipher was the mischief. For many a day he had been toiling to get the multiplication table; but he invari- ably stalled when he got as far as three times seven. The master thought, one day, that he was so much confused by the noise in the school, that perhaps, if he would let him go out and sit in the shade, in the rear of the school-house, his mind would become clear, and he could penetrate the mystery. Ac- cordingly, he sent him out, telling him when he had mastered the difficulty to return. After remaining out about an hour, he sent one of the scholars to call him in. The one he sent — a bright-eyed boy, long since passed away — crept softly round the house to listen to Jim's arithmetical exercises. There he sat, PIONEER INSTITUTIONS. 183 with his slate on his lap and his head resting upon one of his hands, repeating, "Theven and theven are fowerteen ; but thee time theven the devil couldn't yeckon without figying, and figying, and figying." He was aroused from his profound mental abstrac- tion, and called in. Whether he ever learned how much three times seven are, we have never ascer- tained. He is now a merchant, and can speak for himself. Poor J ef, we wot not what became of him. The other teachers were of a different cast; and though they sometimes inflicted punishment, it was in a different way. They were qualified for their business; and did not, as many young men of the present day, teach a quarter to make a raise simply, but they made it a profession. Provision was made at an early day for the ed- ucation of the youth of the West. One of the ar- rangements of the Ohio Company provided for the endowment of a Northwestern University, by set- ting apart two townships of land; and the Ohio University, or Athens College, is the result of that endowment. A similar appropriation was made in the Symmes purchase, and the Miami University was endowed. Both of these are flourishing institutions, and many of the first minds of the West have been educated within their walls. The present system of common school education adopted by most of the Western states, providing 184 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. as it does for graded schools, is one of the most admirable in the world; and its peculiar advantage is, that all children are thus provided with the facilities for obtaining a thorough education. Indeed, the system is in advance of our present race of educators, the most of whom are verdant young men and women from the East, educated, vigorous Western minds seeking other and more profitable employment. PIONEER BOATMEN. 185 CHAPTEK VII. PIONEER BOATMEN. The broad and beautiful rivers of the West were first navigated by the light bark canoe of the In- dian, which sped over their surface, scarcely creat- ing a ripple. Softly and swiftly they glided up and down the streams, and along the shores. Where nothing broke the solitude but the dip of the paddle or the crack of the rifle, they might have been found tied, and almost concealed from sight among the willows and shrubs which lined the banks. The paddles were never left in the canoe, but were always taken into the forest and hid in a brush heap, or a hollow log, that the temptation to steal might be lessened by the im- possibility of using the canoe without the necessary propellers. Next, in the history of navigation, came the flat bottoms, or broad horns, as they were called, constructed on a large scale, and of burden suffi- cient to carry a large freight, besides capacity for stowing away numerous families. They were, how- 186 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. ever, so unmanageable as to be of but little ser- vice, except when the rivers were at high flood; for if they should fail to strike the channel, they would, in consequence of the amount of water which they drew, in boatmen's parlance, or the depth they sunk, be liable to be staved by the rocks and snags in the bed of the stream. Many are the wrecks which have been strewed along the "Western rivers, occasioned by attempting to pass down them in a low stage of water. One of this description comes painfully to the remembrance of the writer. In the summer of 1815, the father of the writer, with his family, consisting of five children, in company with several other families, left Pittsburgh in one of these crafts, for the mouth of the Muskingum, the destination being Zanesville. Without meeting with any accident, save that the writer fell overboard and was near being drowned, they arrived safe at Wheeling. After remaining there a short time, the cable was untied, and the broad horn, sweeping around in a graceful curve, took the current and floated on her journey. A huge oar was attached to each side of the boat on the deck, near the center, and a steering oar, about twenty-five feet long, extended from the stern. Having approached a ripple, or falls, in the Ohio, every one was summoned to the oars to keep the boat in the channel. But, with all their exertions. PIONEER BOATMEN. 187 this could not be effected, and our ill-fated bark ran upon a large, smooth, round rock, and stove in the bottom. She soon swung round, and the water came rushing through the chasm. Women and children were quickly hoisted on deck, and every- thing that could be raised was placed there to pro- tect it from the water. The boat having sunk all it could, settled down in the sand. With the skiff the passengers were by successive loads taken ashore, where tents were constructed on the beach of the sheets sewed together, and stretched on poles cut from the adjoining forest. There we remained until the boat was unloaded, hauled out of the water, brought on shore, turned over on its side, and repaired, which took many days. At length the time for a launch came, and the boat was again on the waters. Having passed the danger- ous ripples and chutes, the voyagers met with no ob- struction until they arrived safe at their destination, where, procuring wagons, the families were trans- ported across the country to Zanesville. At this place we have often seen feats performed in boating by the Muskingum river-men that were truly astonishing. During the spring and fall freshets boats would be built at Zanesville and Putnam of the same kind we have been describing, only bearing the name of " Orleans boats," from the fact that they were usu- ally loaded with flour and produce of various kinds 188 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. for the lower trade, but principally New-Orleans. A trip to New-Orleans in those days was considered a tremendous journey, equal to, if not greater than, one across the plains to California now. Many young men of our acquaintance considered it the sum of romance to take a trip to New-Orleans. The voyage down, beset as it was with all the dangers of the river and the disease of a Southern climate, exposed upon the turbid Mississippi, with a broiling sun pouring down its rays, living upon " Brock's" water-crackers, and " Taylor's " bacon, with an occasional draught of " Buckingham's store coffee," without milk, was, nevertheless, not as tedious and perilous as the return trips through the wilderness. There were then no steamers to breast the tide, and, on horseback or, as was more frequently the case, on foot, the boatmen had to push their way, with their hard earnings, through the swamps and forests, exposed to the sav- ages, and liable, as the Irishman said, to be " kilt, murthered, and drownded." Often have we sat, on a moonlight night, in the office of the adventurous and noble-hearted Thompson, in company with the hunters and boatmen, Scales and Boyd, and the fearless Hahn, (whom we afterward, with others, assisted in carrying to his grave in the mountain cemetery which overlooks the town, whose sacred dust incloses the adventurous pioneer Zane and others, with hosts of loved ones sleeping there,"! PIONEER BOATMEN. 189 and listened with delight to the adventures and hair-breadth escapes, as narrated by these pioneer boatmen. Scales and the Boyds — Hercules and Absalom — were unrivaled hunters and marksmen, and such was their reputation that none would enter the lists at a shooting match where they had a chance. Who that recollects these men cannot call to remembrance the loads of venison and turkeys with which they supplied the Zanesville market for years? They were all river men, and, though they had families, they would be gone from them on their hunts or Orleans trips for months. Scales has taken many a boat to the far South for the merchants of Zanesville. As a steersman, he could strike a channel with as much precision as he could drive a center with a ball from his long rifle. "We have often seen him shoot a squirrel at the distance of a hundred yards. "Boys," said he to a party of us one day, as we were return- ing home from a visit to his cabin on the Muskingum, " do you see that black squirrel yonder, on the side of that oak?" We looked in the direction. It was far on the other side of the fence, so far that it was difficult to distinguish it. " I will shoot that squirrel for you, as it is right in your path home." We laughed at the idea ; but he drew up his rifle and fired, and down came the squirrel, to the astonish- ment of all. We hear a great deal about Sharp's 190 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. rifles, of their ability to carry a ball nearly a mile, but we doubt if they will ever be of much service unless they can be placed in the hands of such marks- men as roamed the Western forests when " we were but a boy." But we have wandered. We intended to describe more particularly the pioneer boatmen of the West. They cannot, however, be dissociated from the hunt- ers, for a river man in those days was a hunter. At Zanesville there is quite a fall in the river, 01 rather a succession of them, and, until the upper and lower dams were built, the one just above the uppei bridge, connecting the town with West Zanesville, and the other just above the lower bridge, connecting it with Putnam, these Falls were quite formidable in their appearance; and when Zane made his trace from Fort Henry westward to Maysville, the Falls in the river and the romantic scenery, with the rocky and precipitous cliffs on the southern shore, presented quite an attraction to the Delawares, Wyandots, and Shawnees, who wandered along the banks of the " Elks-eye," as the name Muskingum in Indian signi- fies. Many an Indian canoe has been wrecked as it essayed to pass over these rapids. Before the flat boats were built, the exceeding favorableness of the site for mill-seats excited the enterprise of the citi- zens, and, a company being formed, a dam was con- structed and a canal cut through the rocks near the PIONEER BOATMEN. 191 shore, connecting with a wing to the main abutment. What fishing and skating memories come clustering around us while we write of these localities ; and with what vividness do we recollect, that when a boy, and unable to swim, we were standing about ten feet from the abutment, the water pouring over, and how we slipped and fell into the raging pool below. The fall was six or seven feet at that stage of the water, and we were forced by the descending column under the surface; and, on rising, the suc- tion created by the falling water would bring us back, until, being again struck, we would be again submerged. Well do we recollect the thoughts that came rushing upon the mind of home and friends, of being grappled for in the " deep hole," and carried on the little black bier of undertaker Sheward or Oassaday, after the funeral sermon of the ever-revered and lamented " parson," (Zanesville has never had but one, unless we think of the name given in jest to Parson Jones,) to the rural cemetery on the hill. Strange as it may appear to the reader, and stranger still as it is to ourself, we could breathe under that white foam, and were as unharmed as though lying among the flowers in " Old Jeffery's " meadow on the afternoon of a quiet summer's Sab- bath. After being forced under the dam six times, and with such violence that my shoes were wrenched from my feet, I found myself standing on the rocks, 192 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. up to my knees in water, about ten feet from the dam and near the edge of the " deep hole," without any effort on my part, so far, at least, as my consciousness extends. Howland, the fisherman, caught me at one time with his hook in my sleeve, but I broke his line. My old friend Cargill carried me to the shore. It was not the first time he had done me a kindness. But stay — pardon the egotism. Well, up the Muskingum and its tributaries the country had become somewhat thickly settled. Mills were erected, and flour and produce increased beyond all home demand. A market must be found for it, and where but to the lower country could it be sent? Accordingly, the inhabitants of the up country would build their boats, and float them down to Zanesville at high water, when there were but a few feet of fall on the dam. When they would arrive, however, none were daring enough to tempt the dangerous flood. The boat had to be un- loaded, and the cargo carted round below the lower bridge. The boats usually, unless the river was very high, would break in two, or open the seams so widely, as to fill with water in going over, in consequence of their great length ; but they could soon be hauled out on the beach and repaired. But taking the plunge was not the worst. The stono piers of the bridge, two of which stood near the PIONEER BOATMEN. 193 center of the river, must be avoided, and then a greater danger awaited the boat below. That navi- gation might not be entirely impeded, the lower dam was not constructed entirely across the river, but left an opening on the Zanesville side for the passage of boats. Here the fall was so great that the current was very rapid, and, besides, the chan- nel being narrow, the water turned by the dam rushed with violence against the ragged, rocky, hither shore. The pier of the lower bridge on the one hand, and the jagged rocks on the other, made a perfect Scylla and Charybdis, requiring all the skill of the most experienced pilot to steer between them. Often have we stood among an excited multitude looking out from Granger's mill, at boats going over the dam, loaded with lumber; and running to the lower bridge, have stood upon the rocks, and seen the fragments of the wreck, with the hap- less, inexperienced boatmen clinging to them as they passed down the roaring tide. But Zanesville had a boatman adequate to the task of piloting the up-river crafts over the danger- ous passes. His name was Roberts. He was also a pioneer tavern-keeper, and his sign, which bore a picture of Commodore Perry, (we knew it, as the man found out the picture of a certain animal by having the name painted in large letters at the 194 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. bottom,) is still painted on our memory. Koberts had two boys, Nat and Charley, and they were chips of the old block. Captain Eoberts was invariably selected as the man. "Whether others were afraid to go, or the old gentleman did not wish to be troubled with too much company, we cannot say, but he only took with him his boys. They were stout young men, as were most of the young men of that day. When the up-river men would get their boat unloaded, they would send for Eoberts, and as he would be seen passing down Main-street with a red bandanna tied around his head, spitting upon his hands and rubbing them, crowds would follow to the bank to witness the scene. Arriving at the boat, they would untie the cable and jump on board, the old man taking the steering oar, and the boys the side sweeps. They would pull out far enough to escape the abutment of the wing-dam, and then, with bow directly down stream, would pull hard until within about fifty yards of the dam, when, letting the side oars swing round by the boat, they would stand and wait the plunge. The last time we saw them go over, there was about three feet fall in the water, perhaps more. When the boat got half-way over we saw her open at the sides. The shock threw Nat overboard, but Charley soon seized him, and dragged him out of the boiling flood. PIONEER BOATMEN. 195 No sooner did he reach the deck than, to the amuse- ment of the hundreds on the banks, he turned three summersets in succession on the deck, and sprang to his oar. The boat was now nearly filled with water, but they managed it, notwithstanding ; and clearing the upper piers, they descended to the nar- row, rapid channel, which they also passed amid the shouts of the admiring populace, who followed the course of the river to witness the out-come. Just below the bridge a boatman was stationed with a skiff and cordell, and, rowing out, it was made fast to the boat, and a multitude were always ready to pull the voyagers to the shore. These boats were the immediate successors of the canoe, but they were only of service in descending the rivers. As yet no craft except the canoe, and that could not carry a very heavy burden, had been con- structed with a view to ascend the streams. At length what were denominated keel-boats were con- structed for this purpose. Much of the surplus pro- ducts of the central and lower portion of the Ohio could not find sale in the South to advantage, and hence it was necessary to take it up stream to Pitts- burgh. This rendered an ascending navigation neces- sary ; and as " necessity is the mother of invention," as she is also of industry, the keel-boats were con- structed to meet the emergency. These boats were long and narrow, being made sharp at the bow and 196 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. stern, and of as light draught as possible. On the sides were constructed running boards, on which were nailed cleats. These extended from bow to stern. The space between the running boards was inclosed with boards, making a cabin and a deck. They were constructed to carry from twenty to thirty tons of freight, being well protected from the weather by the cabin which we have described. It required from six to ten men, besides the captain, who was the steersman, to propel them up stream. Each man was provided with a pole, having a heavy socket. The boatmen were divided equally on each side. Those at the bow would set their poles, and the rest behind fol lowing the example, they would place the end against their shoulders, and throwing the weight of their bodies upon them, with their feet against the cleats, would push until the farthest from the bow would reach the stern, when all would run back and reset their poles for another push. In ascending rap- ids, it would not do for all to leave their poles unset at the same time. Generally, while half of them were still pushing, the remainder would run back and set their poles, and the others would follow. Should the keel swing in a rocky, rapid channel, there was great danger of being staved to pieces, and hence great care was necessary to prevent such a result; besides, it would be a lasting stigma to a boatman who should let his boat swing, or be backed in a PIONEER BOATMEN. 197 chute. It was the business of the men who had the head poles to prevent such a calamity, and it often required the greatest possible muscular exertion of every man to avoid it. Toilsome and severe as was the life of a boatman, it was very seldom that they exchanged their occu- pation for another. To them it was full of romance ; and there was a charm on the river, amid the often wild but always exciting scenes of a boatman's life, that had a power above all others. Often have the wild banks of the Western rivers echoed with the "head to" "set off" and "down on her" of the captain of a keel ; or the woods made to ring with the merry shouts of the boatmen. Sometimes, when going along merrily, they would strike into a boat- man's song, and the swelling chorus would be borne for miles over the otherwise silent waters. At night, especially when ascending, they would tie up ; and if they did not take a coon-hunt with their dogs and guns, which they always had with them, they would "trip the light fantastic toe" to the sound of the fiddle. Should they chance to stop near a settlement, they would go to some house, if the settler was the boatman's friend, and gather the girls of the neigh- borhood, when they would, like the fashionables of upper-tendom at the present day, intrude upon the short hours. We recollect one of their songs ; it ran after this wise : 198 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. "Dance, boatman, dance, Dance, dance away ; Dance all night, till broad daylight, And go home with the gals in the morning." In consequence of these midnight orgies, or revels, in which whisky in the tin cup, instead of wine in the goblet, flowed freely, families of respectability would not settle immediately on the banks, but back from the river, out of the reach of the "rowdy set," as they were called in those days. As a " professional class" of men, they strove to maintain their dignity, and looked down with con- tempt upon that inferior class denominated flat- boatmen and raftsmen. Against them they declared a perpetual war; and often the most bloody battles were fought between the pugilists. They were gen- erally, though there were honorable exceptions, a hard set; and many places at the end of their voyages have witnessed their outlawry. The Ohio could be ascended at all seasons, but many of its branches had to be navigated during the spring and fall freshets. When the rivers were too low for the boats to pass, the boatmen would gather together at camp-meetings ; and we have witnessd several of them entirely broken up by their riotous proceedings. They would also attend general militia trainings, and often succeeded in vanquishing the sons of Mars. We believe that steam has done more in producing a moral revolution PIONEER BOATMEN, 199 in the West, than perhaps all the school-masters and most of the preachers combined; and what Fulton's steamboat has accomplished in breaking np the row- dyism of the boatmen, we confidently expect will be accomplished by Latta's steam fire-engine in breaking np the riots of firemen. But though these boatmen set the laws at defiance, they were nevertheless not without law ; they had a law among themselves, and they were strictly honest. They would peril their lives to save the property of another. Money un- counted was safe in their hands ; and they generally, if not invariably, assumed the cause of the weaker party — always, such was their respect for age, de- fending an old man, whether right or wrong. Such were their habits, that they were generally short- lived ; but their ranks would be filled by young men ambitious of the calling. Having said thus much of keel-boatmen, we must pass to consider another class of river men, called barge-men. Barges were constructed somewhat after the manner of keel-boats, but they were much larger, being broader and longer. They were from seventy- five to one hundred and twenty feet in length, with a breadth of beam of from fifteen to twenty feet, and from sixty to a hundred tons burden. They were constructed with two cabins ; one to protect the cargo and shelter the boatmen, and the other in the stern, about eight feet long, for the captain and pilot. On 200 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. the roof of the latter, which sloped gradually toward the stern, the pilot was stationed to steer the barge. These barges usually carried two masts. The crew consisted of from thirty to as high as fifty men, with as many oars ; and when under way, the craft looked more like a mammoth milleped walking on the surface of the water, than anything else by which it can be described. In a stiff current, where the beach was unobstructed by trees, the cordelle was resorted to, which, being fastened to the forward mast, would be carried along on the shoulders of the whole boat's crew, stationed at regular distances, who would pull the barge against the current. "When obstructed by trees, the cordelle would be thrown into the yawl, and as it ascended, it would let off the rope from its coil, until its utmost length would be gained, when, making it fast to a tree, the men at the capstan would wind it up, and a fresh cordelle would be ready when the barge reached the fastening at the tree. This was called, by the boatmen, warping. We have since seen steamers warp themselves through the sand, in low stages of the Ohio, by sending an anchor ahead, with a cable, and attaching the other end to the shaft of the engine. The barges were not without their setting poles, especially on the Ohio; though they were of no use on the Mississippi. The first race of boatmen, we have already re- marked, were hunters; they served, also as spies PIONEER BOATMEN. 201 and scouts in the border wars, and thus may be classed with the pioneer soldiers of the "West, as well as the hunters. A milder, gentler race would not have been adapted to the wild, savage region through which they roamed ; but they have passed away. These men have fulfilled their mission in the settle- ment of the West; and whether they belonged to a class represented by the savage and reckless Fink, or the wild, daring Girty, they were alike useful in their sphere in working out the destiny of the West. Next in order comes the steamer, whose breath of fire and muscle of iron soon caused the keels and barges to rot and molder on the shore. The first steamboat that ever navigated the Ohio and Mississippi was the " Orleans." She was built at Pittsburgh in 1812, carried three hundred tons, had a low pressure engine, and was owned by, and con- structed for, Fulton and Livingston, of New- York. She started from Pittsburgh in December, 1812, and arrived at New Orleans the 24th of the same month, and plied regularly between New-Orleans and Natch- ez until the 14th July, 1814, when, on her trip to the latter place, being opposite Baton Rouge, while lying by at night, and the river falling at the time, she settled on a sharp stump and became wrecked. Her trips during that period averaged seventeen days. She was abandoned, and her engine, with a 202 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. new copper boiler, made in New- York, was put into a new boat in 1818, called the " New-Orleans," which only ran until the spring of 1819, when she also was sunk by a stump on the same side of the river, below Baton Rouge, but was raised by two schooners, brought to New-Orleans between them, and there totally lost near the Batture. The next, in order of time, was the " Comet," one hundred and forty-five tons, owned by Samuel Smith, also built at Pittsburgh, on French's stern wheel and vibrating cylinder patent, granted in 1809. The "Comet" made a trip to Louisville in the summer of 1813, and reached New-Orleans in the spring of 1814; made two voyages to Natchez, and was then sold, and the engine put up in a cotton gin. Next came the " Vesuvius," of three hundred and ninety tons, built at Pittsburgh, November, 1813, by R. Fulton, and owned by a company in New-York and New-Orleans. She started for New-Orleans in May, 1814, Frank Ogden being captain, and was the first boat that made any effort to reach the Falls, having left New-Orleans with a freight in the early part of July of the same year, but grounded on a sand bar about seven hundred miles up the Missis- sippi, on the 14th of July, and lay there till the 3d of December, when a rise in the river floated her off, and she returned to New-Orleans, when she was put in requisition for military service by General Jack- PIONEER BOATMEN. 203 son; but, in starting up the river for wood, she grounded on the Batture, and became useless to the government. The succeeding year she plied between New-Orleans and Natchez, under the command of Captain Clement, who was succeeded by Captain John De Hart. In 1816 she took fire near New- Orleans, and burned to the water's edge, having a valuable cargo on board. The fire communicated from the boilers, which in the first style of building were in the hold. The hull was afterward raised and built up at New-Orleans. After making several trips to Louisville, she was broken up in 1820. The fourth steamboat was the " Enterprise," of one hundred tons, built at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, by Daniel French, on his patent, and owned by a company at that place. She made two voyages to Louisville in the summer of 1814, under command of Captain J. Gregg. On the first of December, of the same year, she took in a cargo of ordnance stores at Pittsburgh, and started for New-Orleans, Henry M. Shreve commander. She made the voy- age in fourteen days, being a quick trip, all circum- stances considered ; and was then dispatched up the river to meet two keels which had been delayed on the passage, laden with small arms. These she met twelve miles above Natchez, took their masters and the cargoes on board, and returned to New-Orleans, having been six and a half days absent, in which 13 204 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. time she ran six hundred and twenty-four miles. She was then for some time actively employed transport- ing troops and supplies for the army, engaged under General Jackson in the defense of New-Orleans. She made one voyage to the Gulf of Mexico as a cartel, one to the rapids of Red River, with troops, and nine voyages to Natchez. Set out for Pitts- burgh on the 6th of May, and arrived at Shipping- port on the 13th, being twenty-five days out, and pro- ceeded thence to Pittsburgh, being the first steamboat that ever ascended the whole length of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. A public dinner was given at Louisville to Captain Shreve, for effecting a passage in that space of time, so wonderful and important was it considered. The man who at that dinner would have predicted that there were those present who would live to see steamboats perform that trip in five days, twenty days less than Shreve's effort, would have been pronounced insane, or, at any rate, a mere visionary; yet less than a lapse of thirty years has served to accomplish it. She made one more trip down, her captain being D. Worley ; when she was lost in Rock Harbor, at Shippingport. The " Etna," of three hundred and sixty tons, was the next one built, owned by the same company as the " Vesuvius ;" length one hundred and fifty-three feet, breadth twenty-eight feet, and nine feet depth of hold. She left for New-Orleans under the command PIONEER BOATMEN. 205 of Captain A. Gale, and made trips successively to Natchez and Louisville. There being some want of confidence in steam power to ascend the Mississippi with a cargo above Natchez, she was employed, in the summer of 1815, towing ships from the mouths or passes of the Mississippi to New-Orleans, the barges then getting freight, in preference, at eight cents per pound, from New-Orleans to Louisville. In the fall of 1815, the Mississippi being very low, the owners of the "Etna" made another attempt to ascend the river, and put in about two hundred tons, for which they charged four and a half cents per pound for heavy, and six cents for light goods. She had very few passengers above Natchez. The dependence was on drift-wood, and occasionally lying by two or three days, where settlements were made, waiting while wood was being cut and hauled, broke a wrought-iron water-wheel shaft near the mouth of the Ohio, and laid by at Henderson, Kentucky, fifteen days, trying to weld it, and had at last to end the passage with one wheel to Shippingport in sixty days. At Louisville she had two shafts cast. Her next trip down, with three hundred tons, at one cent per pound, and a few passengers, was made in seven days. The succeeding trip up, under many of the same difficulties, was made in thirty days, breaking the other wrought-iron shaft, by driftwood, in ascend- ing the Ohio. 206 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. The sixth, in order of time, was the " Dispatch," Captain J. Gregg, built at Brownsville, on French's patent, and owned by the same company with the " Enterprise." She made several voyages from Pitts- burgh to Louisville, and back ; and one from the Falls to New-Orleans, and back to Shippingport, when she gave out, in 1818. The next were the " Buffalo," three hundred tons and "James Monroe," ninety tons, built at Pitts burgh by B. H. Latrobe, for a company at New York. He failed to finish them for want of funds. They were sold by the sheriff, and fell into the hands of Ithamar Whiting, who furnished them with engines. They were both dull sailers. The " Washington" was the ninth, and the first at Wheeling, Virginia, where she was built under the superintendence of Captain H. M. Shreve, who was owner in part. The engines were made at Browns- ville. This was the first boat with boilers on deck. The "Washington" crossed the Falls in September, 1816, went to New-Orleans, and returning, wintered at Louisvflle. In March, 1817, she left Shippingport for New-Orleans, and made her trip up and down in forty-five days, including detention at New-Orleans. This was the trip which was considered to settle the practicability of steamboat navigation in the West. There are some incidents connected with steamboat navigation on the Western waters worthy of notice. PIONEER BOATMEN. 207 Captain Shreve, referred to already as the captain of the "Enterprise," believing the patent granted to Fulton and Livingston destructive to the interests of the West, and unconstitutional in its character, took early measures to test its validity. The " Enterprise" reached New-Orleans on the 14th of December, 1814, and was seized the next day for alleged violation of that patent, and suit commenced against the owners of the New- York Company, in an inferior court, where a verdict was found for the defendants. The case was then removed, by writ of error, to the Supreme Court of the United States. Before the question came up before this tribunal, Shreve returned to New-Orleans with the " Washing- ton," which was also seized by the company, to whom she was abandoned without opposition by Captain Shreve, who was owner in part. On application, however, to the court, on behalf of the "Washington" and her owners, an order was obtained to hold the company to bail to answer the damages that might arise by the detention of the vessel. The agents of the company, in this stage of the business, fearing the downfall of the mo- nopoly which they sought to preserve, directly, and through the medium of their attorney, proposed to admit Shreve to an equal share with themselves in all the privileges of the patent right, provided he would so arrange the business in court as to allow a verdict 208 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. to be found against him. Had Shreve possessed less firmness or principle than belonged to him, he might have yielded to this tempting bait, and thrown back the steamboat operations in the West for ten years, before another individual of sufficient energy had ap- peared to contest the patent. It is hardly necessary to add that the Supreme Court finally set the patent aside. THE PROPHET FRANCIS. 211 CHAPTEE VIII. THE PROPHET FRANCIS. In the early part of the nineteenth century there lived in the South a chief who bore the name of Francis the Prophet, a title which had been bestowed upon hirn by his tribe on account of the superior wisdom and skill which he manifested in all those cases of emergency to which, the Indians were sub- jected in that eventful period of their history. He was a Seminole of proud and lofty bearing. Nature, amid whose wild and beautiful scenery he was born and reared, had given him a cast in one of her most elegant molds. He was tall and graceful, with round and beautiful features, resembling more a Cas- tilian or an Italian than an Indian. He had two daughters, young and beautiful as their sire, one of whom in particular, the younger, was a model of womanly grace. Like her father, she was a child of nature, and her first lessons, in which she had the Great Spirit for a teacher, and the stars and flowers, the latter of which are thickly strewn over hill, and dale, and plain, in the sunny South, seeming as the 212 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. alphabet of the angels to nature's children, were received from these sources. Nor was this all the education she received. We are informed that she had made considerable proficiency in book learning, and could speak the English language with great fluency. Like her father, who was the pride of his nation, she was regarded as the fairest and most ac- complished of the fair among her sex. Her sister was also accomplished and handsome, but not to the same extent as the more favored one which we have been more particular in describing. Francis was a chief and a warrior. When his war-cry was heard on the hills it roused every brave to action, and none were too faint-hearted to follow their leader wherever fate or fortune might direct the way. He was a terror to all the hostile tribes, and whenever his band met them in mortal combat the issue never proved doubtful, though assailed by a superior force. He never had been taken captive. His manly, well-formed limbs never were bound in fetters. Like the wild eagle of the forest, sweeping the whole heavens in its flight, unfettered and free, so he roamed, lord of the forests and everglades in his native dominion. He had heard of the atrocities perpetrated by the white man who had entered his country, and set up his claims to the red man's hunting-ground, and he had himself been witness to acts of baseness and bar- THE PROPHET FRANCIS. 213 barity that would have disgraced the most savage of his nation; and hence it is not to be wondered at that he yielded to the solicitations and promises of reward held out by British officers to unite with them in expelling the colonists from the land. His name I had become a terror to every American soldier's ears, and his skill and bravery were more to be dreaded than the combined force of many tribes. When he was gained over to the side of the British, an acqui- sition was secured that inspired them with fresh hopes of redeeming, in part at least, what they had lost in the desperate struggles of the Revolution. At the head of his nation, with which was con- nected other tribes, and fragments of tribes, he went forth against the enemy, and in many a hard-fought battle bore away the palm. Such bravery elicited the warmest encomiums from the British officers, who invited him to their tent, and made him party to all their councils of war. At the close of the war, so greatly were the officers and soldiers attached to the chief, that they invited him to accompany them on their return to England, which offer, after making the necessary arrange- ments for his family, he accepted. When the British forces arrived in London, the following description of a military pageant appeared in one of the papers of that city : "The double sound of a trumpet announced the 214 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. approach in the procession of the patriot chief Francis, who fought " so gloriously in our cause in America. He was dressed in a uniform of red trim- ming, decorated with gold. In his sash he wore a tomahawk with gold mountings." His princely bearing and accomplished manners attracted the attention of all, and thousands flocked to gaze upon one whose name and fame had pre- ceded him across the waters. All seemed ready to do homage to this son of the forest for his daring and bravery in the British cause, while many were at- tracted by his fine form and nobleness of person. Perhaps a better specimen of the Indian race has not been found. After remaining long enough to satisfy his own curiosity and that of the multitudes who everywhere crowded to look upon him, he returned in a British vessel, loaded with presents, once more to his fatherland. As it might be expected that his identification with the English, and the kind treat- ment he had received at their hands, would secure his friendship, so it was also probable that he would retain his hostility to the Americans, from whom he and his fellow red men had received repeated and irreparable injuries. He had taken the oath of the Indian of eternal hostility to the enemies of his race, and, as he asked no quarter, he determined to give none while life should last. These sentiments he had strongly instilled into the minds of his fellow-war- THE PROPHET FRANCIS. 215 riors ; and at every council fire his eloquence rose to thunder tones, invoking vengeance on the foe that had invaded their territory, and robbed them of their property and the lives of their friends. At that time there were many military stations and forts established throughout the South, for the defense of the inhabitants against the attacks of the Indians, who still remained, contending for every inch of the land they justly called their own, and of which no government authority or diplomacy had a right to deprive them. It happened on a certain day, that while the chief and his men were out on a hunting or scouting expe- dition, they made a prisoner of a soldier who belong- ed to Fort Gadsden, in Georgia. He had gone out on a fishing excursion, and, on his return, had lost himself in the forest. He was taken into camp, and being a soldier, a council of war was held, to decide his fate. It was unanimously resolved that he must die. Blood for blood; for had an Indian been thus seen in the woods, he would not have been allowed that respite ; no, not even the form of a trial, but would have been shot down in his tracks, as a wild beast. Many had thus been cruelly mur- dered ; and had mercy been exercised by the whites, the Indians might have been taught to resort to other modes of warfare in treating with them. But the die was cast, the doom of the poor soldier was sealed. 216 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. After the solemn ceremonies had passed — for the Prophet Francis would allow no victim to be tor- mented before his time, nor yet to be ushered into the presence of the Great Spirit without due time for preparation — the soldier was taken out and bound to a tree, around which were placed dry fagots, which were to be kindled by the torch of execu- tion. At length the fatal moment came. The Indians were ranged around the victim. The torch has been lighted at the council fire, and its bearer is seen approaching, brandishing it over his head. He is a young and noble-looking Indian, the same age as the victim whose death he is about to seal. "With rapid steps he advances, and the ranks open to let him pass. He stands in front of the victim ready to apply the torch. But the voice of the chief has not uttered the command, the death warrant has not been given. All eyes are turned in that direc- tion. But what do they see ? A young and beauti- ful maiden at her father's feet, pleading for mercy in behalf of the soldier. She was no stranger to battle, for in the thickest of the fight, habited as a young warrior, she dealt many a fatal blow. Nor was she a stranger to the scene which was about to be enacted. She had often heard the fatal word given by her chieftain father, and had seen the smoke and flames bear away the spirit of the victim to a world unknown. THE PROPHET FRANCIS. 217 " He must die," sternly said the chief. " Nay, my father ; spare the young man. Though his race may have wronged and injured us, it may be he is not like them guilty." " The council have adjudged him to death, and he must die." " Then will I die with him." So saying, she sprang to her feet, and before the word was given, flew to the stake, and throwing her arms around the neck of the victim, awaited the result. The entreaties and perseverance of the daughter proved successful, and the life of the young man was spared. All were astonished at the act of the girl. Not a word had she spoken before in his behalf, nor had she betrayed the least signs of commiseration, or manifested the slightest interest in the prisoner. Whether the act of the heroic girl was prompted by the emotions of her humane and benevolent heart, or whether she had conceived an affection for the young American soldier, was a secret which died with her ; for to all entreaties that she would reveal the motives which prompted her interference in be- half of the victim, she was silent. Though ransomed from death by the intercession of the Indian maiden, the soldier was not released from captivity. He was, however, allowed the largest liberty, and treated, for the sake of the chief's daughter, with the greatest kindness, and 218 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. from her he received many proofs of the noble generosity which first manifested itself in offering herself as a sacrifice to save his life. Such were the liberties allowed him, that he could almost at any time have made his escape ; but, for the sake of her who had rescued him from a cruel death, he chose to remain in bondage until his release should be effected by other hands than his own. Nor was it a great while until the period arrived when he was set at liberty. A party of Spaniards finding him one day, as he was hunting in the woods, re- captured him, and he was by them restored to the American army, in which he resumed his duties as a soldier. Not long after this the Americans were reinforced, and efficient measures were taken to destroy the Indian and Spanish forts and towns along the frontier ; and among the most important which they wished to demolish, was the garrison of St. Mark's, which contained the Prophet Francis and his men. The forces were all gathered together, and stealthily, under the cover of the night, they made a descent upon the unsuspecting warriors. Under such cir- cumstances, with such a force, the fortress was stormed, and fell a prey to the assailants. The chief and his family, with his brave warriors, fell into the hands of the enemy. As captives they were bound, and led away to execution. One, and THE PROPHET FRANCIS. 219 one only, had made an escape. The eldest daughter, vigilant and fleet of foot, escaped from the garrison, and, though pursued, she distanced all who gave chase, until, in the darkness and solitude, she was safe from the avenger. The chief and wife, with his younger daughter, were taken on board an American schooner. With them, also, was a confederate chief. The daughter who was at liberty, knowing that her father and sister would inevitably be put to death, resolved on making an effort, at least, to effect their de- liverance. She was led to indulge in the hope of success, by being informed that they had been taken on board a British vessel. She accordingly procured a light canoe, and with the soft but rapid dip of her oar, sped like an arrow over the waters, and was soon in speaking distance of the vessel. "What was her dismay to hear from the hoarse, gruff voice that accosted her, and to see from the stripes and stars at the mast-head, that she was mistaken! Slowly and sadly she turned her prow from the floating prison which contained all that was dear to her on earth. Her wail, as she gave up all for lost, was only heard by the waves and borne by the winds which rocked the little bark that carried her to the now desolate shore. Invok- ing the Great Spirit, she fled into the wilderness to seek help from some of her race. But, alas! 220 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. that help never came ; and without even a form of trial, without ceremony, or the slightest show of sympathy, the Prophet Francis and his fellow-chief were hung. It may be that he deserved death, but not the death of a felon or a traitor. He had, in the defense of his own soil and race, spread death through many ranks, and many were made widows and orphans by his hand; but it was in what is denominated honorable war, and the justice of his cause; in comparison with that of his enemies, the white men, will appear when all nations shall be assembled at the last tribunal. Well has one, who is identified with the history of this country, and who gallantly fought many of her battles, said, " From the landing at Jamestown, down to the last war with the Indians, the white man has invariably been the aggressor." Is it a wonder that the red man, who has witnessed such aggressions and re- ceived such inhuman treatment from the white man, should look with suspicion and distrust upon his religion? It is said of Ninigret, the proud and noble chief of the Narragansets, that he op- posed the introduction of the white man's religion among his tribe, and that he was deaf to all the entreaties of the missionaries, who plead that their religion would infuse a greater benevolence, kind- ness of heart, and humanity, as well as raise his people in the scale of civilization and refinement. THE PROPHET FRANCIS. 221 " Nay," said he, " when the Gospel makes good white men, then come to Ninigret and his red brethren, and we will receive you." Among that band of American soldiers who stood around the place of execution, was one who had been snatched from a death of cruelty, but one of far less ignominy than the chief was now suffering. And while his angel deliverer stood weeping as if her heart would break, at the foot of that scaffold, he was silent and unmoved. Need we tell the reader who he was? Need we say that, after the dreadful scene had passed, when that craven-hearted soldier offered his hand to the beautiful, sorrow-stricken maiden, she recoiled from him as from the touch of an adder, and indignantly exclaimed, "Become the wife of a man who could stand unmoved and silent at the death of a chief whose child had saved him from the stake? Become the daughter of a people who have murdered my father in cold blood? Never! My own heart would despise me; my nation would abhor me; and an ignominy, worse than death upon the scaffold, would cover my name and memory forever." Thus saying, the heroic girl took her mother by the arm, and they turned mournfully away, seeking the deep solitude of the wilderness. From that day and that hour, they were never seen or heard of after- ward. They fled from a society where justice and 14 222 PIONEEES OF THE WEST. mercy had no abode, and sought, in the depths of the forest, communion with that Great Spirit who will, in the council of angels, justify and reward the innocent, and condemn and punish the guilty. The blood of the red man, which has been poured out like water over the length and breadth of this land, crieth aloud to heaven; and a sin-avenging God will hear that cry. The day of recompense will come; and as na- tions must be judged in time, after place for repent- ance and restitution has been given, the Judge of all the earth, if that restitution is not made, will strike this nation from the roll of existence, and commission his curse to dig its grave. LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 225 CHAPTEE IX. LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. "Where is my home, my forest home, the proud land of my sires? Where stands the wigwam of my pride, where gleam the council fires ? Where are my kindred's hallowed graves, my friends so light and free? Gone, gone forever from my view ! Great Spirit, can it be ?" No name connected with Indian story has spread further, or exerted a greater influence in the early- history of the West, than that of Logan. From what we can gather in regard to his early life, we learn that he was the second son of a distinguished chief of the Cayuga nation. His father, on account of his attachment to the English nation, was of great service to the country, having the confidence of all the Six Nations, as well as that of the English; and served frequently as mediator during the early Indian wars which prevailed. He was highly esteemed by the officer of the Indian Department, under the govern- ment, with whom he acted conjointly, serving the country with great fidelity until his death. His residence was at Shamokin, and his house was the home of hospitality. No one was ever toned away 226 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. from the door of the kind and generous Shikellemus, for that was the name of the venerable chief. He was always the friend of the whites, and never for a moment faltered in his attachment and friendship. It remained with him during his long and useful life; and when death closed his career, the white man felt that he had lost a friend, whose place it would be difficult to fill by any of the red race. His name and fame had spread far and wide, and when Count Zinzendorf, who introduced Moravianism into England, visited this country to look after his scat- tered flock in the wilderness, in the year 1742, he visited him at his house in Shamokin. Heckewelder, the associate of Post and Zeisberger, who were the earliest Protestant missionaries among the Indians in the West, and who had established missions among the Delawares, and were acquainted with numerous Western tribes, became acquainted with Logan in 1772, who was introduced to him as the son of the distinguished and friendly chief Shikellemus. He found, in the person of the son, a fit representative of the father, a true and faithful friend of the white man. The missionary says he not only spoke with fluency the English language, but that he had adopt- ed, to a great degree, the habits of the whites, and was then living in his cabin, and cultivating a piece of ground at the mouth of Big Beaver Creek, on the same stream on which the Moravian town was situ- LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 227 ated, not far from the neighborhood of Cuskagee. "While on his passage down the Ohio River the fol- lowing year, Heckewelder stopped at the residence of Logan, and was received in the most hospitable and cordial manner by his family. Here this humane and generous Indian lived in peace and happiness, surrounded by his family, refus- ing all efforts and inducements on the part of his fel- low-Indians to engage with the French in their wars with the English. So far from yielding to these solicitations, he sought, by every means in his power, to stop the deadly strife, and bring about peace be- tween the belligerent forces. Alas! that his fidelity and kindness should be rewarded with the most bar- barous act of cruelty perpetrated by those whom he befriended. The Western country having been thrown open to land speculators, whose only God is self, and whose only ambition is gain, at an early day they were found scouring the country and selecting the best lands. These land-sharks, happening to be robbed on a cer- tain occasion — in all probability by some of their own people — charged, as they did every mishap or misfor- tune that befell them, the robbery upon the Indians. The robbery occurred on the Ohio River, not many miles from the residence of Logan. A man by the name of Cressap, and another by the name of Great- house, petty officers in the militia, officiously took it 228 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. into their hands to avenge this wrong upon the Indians, and, collecting a party, they started out to scour the country. Their first attack was on two defenseless Indians, encamped a few miles above Wheeling Creek, on the Ohio River. These they surprised and killed. Having learned that there were some more further down the river, and flushed with their valorous achievement, they started in hot pursuit. When the company, headed by Cressap, arrived at the encampment, they did not make an immediate attack; they were too cowardly and crav- en-hearted for that ; but, assuming the garb of friendship and professing the utmost kindness, the Indians were, in an unsuspecting hour, fallen upon and murdered in cold blood. Among the number of the slain were some of the family of Logan. This dastardly act was followed by another, in which Greathouse figured conspicuously. Opposite to him, on the Ohio side of the river, was an encampment of friendly Indians, from whom he had received many kindnesses. But his soul was beyond the reach of generous emotions, and the friendships and sympa- thies of life were ignored in his inhuman nature. Collecting together about thirty men, he secreted them in the vicinity, and went into the camp, under the guise of friendship, for the purpose of ascertain- ing their condition and numbers. They had been apprised of the murder of their brethren, and were LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 229 meditating revenge. Though he was in danger, they were too magnanimous to take the life of one un- armed man. Some there were, however, that be- came much excited at his appearance, believing that he was not a stranger to the deeds of violence which had been committed. An Indian woman, fearing he might be roughly dealt with, came to him and secretly warned him of his danger, advising him to leave. But he was bent on their destruction, and he could not let so favorable an opportunity pass without improvement. Knowing the love of many of them for strong drink, he invited as many as would to cross over the river with him, as he had good rum and plenty of it for all who would come. Quite a num- ber accepted the invitation, crossed the river, and went with Greathouse into a tavern in the white set- tlements, and after drinking until they were intoxi- cated, the brave and heroic party of Greathouse, fully armed, fell upon them and murdered every one, ex- cept a little girl. Among the number thus brutally butchered were the only brother of Logan and his sister, whose delicate condition gave to the horrid crime a greater aggravation. But that was not all. She was the one who had given the friendly warning to Greathouse. The remaining Indians on the other side, on hear- ing the reports of the guns, immediately filled two canoes with armed warriors, who started for the 230 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. scene of conflict. But, alas ! it was to meet the same sad fate which had befallen their brethren. ]STo sooner did they approach within gun-shot, than they were fired upon by the whites, who lay conceal- ed among the bushes on the shore. Many were kill- ed and wounded, and those that escaped returned to the other shore. This conduct on the part of the whites stung Lo- gan to the heart: the very iron entered his soul. They, from whom he had reason to expect kindness and protection, had, without provocation, murdered his family and his friends. It was more than mortal could bear, and, filled with despair and madness, he resolved to be avenged. Sounding the war cry, he summoned the Indians to arms. The first blow he struck was upon a white settlement on the Monon- gahela. One man who was taken prisoner by the Indians in this attack, was treated by Logan with the greatest kindness. When they arrived at the Indian town a council of war was held, and he was condemned to be burned at the stake. The fearful hour had come, and all the preparations had been made for the execution of the victim ; but the elo- quence of Logan prevailed in his behalf, and he was saved. In the fall of 1774, a fierce and deadly battle was fought at Point Pleasant, Virginia, between the com- bined forces of the Shawnees, Delawares, Mingoes, LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 231 and Cayugas, and the soldiers under the command of General Lewis. The scene of action lay on the southern shore of the Ohio River. The troops, col- lected together from different parts of the country, amounting in all to about eleven hundred, were ex- pecting the arrival of Governor Dunmore, whose men would augment their numbers to twenty-three hun- dred. They were divided into three regiments, one of which was commanded by Charles Lewis, another by Doctor Fleming, while the third was under the command of John Field ; and all under the general command of Andrew Lewis. About half an hour before sunrise on the morning of Monday, the tenth day of October, some of the soldiers discovered the Indians about a mile from the camp. Others soon after came and communicated the same intelligence. The brave commander, who had served under Generals Washington and Braddock in the old French war, was not at all terrified at the approach of the hostile foe. He immediately ordered his brother, Colonel Charles Lewis, and Colonel Fleming, to take out their com- panies and reconnoiter the ground. No sooner did they come in sight of the Indians than an engagement commenced, and it was not long until the war cry resounded throughout the American forces, and the battle became general. It was a hot and deadly con- flict. The Indians, goaded to madness by the cruel- ties inflicted upon them and their fellow red men, 232 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. fought with a desperation and courage truly remark- able. No less remarkable was the discipline they sustained throughout the contest. But Logan was there, and his master spirit like a magnet held them together, and the tones of his eloquence, rising above the din of battle, inspired them with courage, and nerved them for the deadly strife. Soon both colonels fell in the battle, one dead, and the other wounded, having received three balls from the death- dealing rifle of the enemy. The fight became more and more terrific, and more and more terrible was the slaughter, the Indians evidently having the ad- vantage, and gaining rapidly upon the forces of the whites. For six long hours the battle had been raging without any cessation, and as the sun rose to high noon, and commenced his descent down the Western sky, it seemed to forebode the fate of the army. For one hour more the Americans fought breast to breast with the foe, but they were growing fewer and fewer in numbers, and weaker in power. The crisis was rapidly approaching, and soon the fate of the army would be decided; but just as they were about to abandon the field, or resign themselves into the hands of their enemies, the gallant Colonel Field, with his regiment, rushed to the scene of action. Alas! that it was to meet his death, for, like the ill- fated colonels who preceded him, a ball from some LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 233 unerring rifle pierced his heart, and the intrepid soldier fell dead on the spot where he was nobly fighting. Still the battle raged. The fatigued troops, having been reinforced by the gallant conduct of Field's regiment, rallied their exhausted energies and fought on. The last rays of the sun were tinging the forest and flashing on the river, and still the fight lasted, but not with the same vigor and fury as before. As night approached a stratagem was resorted to. A company of the bravest men were ordered to ascend Crooked Creek, a small tributary of the Kanawha which emptied into that river a short distance from its mouth, for the purpose of gaining the rear of the enemy. But there was an eagle-eye upon their movements, and, fearing the result, night having ar- rived and spread its dark mantle over the forest, the Indians retreated ; and thus terminated one of the most desperate and long-continued battles ever fought in the West. It was emphatically a Western battle, fought by Western pioneers, as there was not a man in that army who fought and fell, or survived the con- flict, that did not hail from some region west of the Alleghanies. Left dead upon that triangular spot of ground formed by the junction of the Ohio and Kanawha, were one half of the commissioned officers of that gallant army. Many were slain on both sides. 234 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. Cornstalk, for that was the name of the chief who had the general command of the Indians, retreated with his forces to Old Chillicothe, on the west bank of the Scioto, where the town of Westfall now stands, that being head-quarters, and the place from whence they had started out to intercept Lewis and his men, who were on their route to join Dunmore. The Americans were well satisfied with the terri- ble conflicts of that eventful day, fatal as it was to many of their gallant officers and soldiers. After committing to the sepulcher in the midst of that for- est the brave who fell in action, on the next day the army commenced their march through an unbroken wilderness to join the other wing, under Lord Dun- more, encamped on the Pickaway plains, on the Scioto, near a hundred miles distant. They did not leave, however, before establishing a small garrison at the Point, if for nothing else, to guard the sacred ashes of their dead. After a fatiguing march, Colonel Lewis and his men ; arrived, and found Dunmore encamped in the neighborhood of the Indian town. Not far north were the ancient works of a forgotten race, who had constructed an immense circle of earth with gateways and a ditch surrounding the whole, like that which was made by Cyrus around the walls of Babylon, to divert the course of its river. Here in LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 235 the neighborhood stood Logan's cabin ; for since his mother, sister, and brother had fallen by the hands of a race he had more befriended than his own, he had turned away with despair and madness from the calm and quiet scenes of his rural life on the Ohio, to pitch his tent among his savage brethren, and with them unite his destiny forever. It was a hard strug- gle for a humane, generous son of a noble and gener- ous father, the invariable friend of the whites, to break over the ties and associations that linked him to the friends of other days ; but there is a point of endurance beyond which the most magnanimous and generous spirit cannot go, and as the sweetest wines are said to make the strongest vinegar, so love and friendship sometimes turn to wormwood and gall. So it was with Logan ; the genial sunshine and the bright flowers of his life were changed by the cold, desolate winter of an adversity which left no ray to shine upon his heart and no bloom to shed happiness upon his life. Can it be thought strange that he who, on return- ing home from a hunting excursion, should find his house desolate, his aged mother slain, his only brother and sister murdered in cold blood, suddenly, without warning or provocation — can it be thought strange that he should become an enemy of the race who could be guilty of such cruelty? No. We only wonder at his forbearance. 236 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. The two branches of the army having united, and their force being such that it would be impossible for all the Indian tribes that could then be rallied to overcome the army of Dunmore, and seeing that they would soon be driven from the plains, a treaty of peace was concluded upon ; and soon a white man, by the name of Elliot, is seen approaching the lines of the encampment of Dunmore's army with a flag of truce. Accordingly, though much to the dissatisfac- tion of the Yirginians, who wished to avenge their loss at Point Pleasant, a council was held in the pres- ence of the troops, consisting of upward of two thou- sand. Many Shawnee chiefs were there in council, but Cornstalk was the principal speaker. He boldly charged upon the whites the cause and consequences of the last war, and referred to the inhuman treat- ment of Logan and his family. The Mingo chief was not there to speak for him- self. It was not, however, because he was un- avoidably detained, or that it was impossible for him to be present at the council. No; he was in his cabin, not many miles distant from the treaty ground; but his proud soul disdained to meet or treat with a race from whom he had received such inhuman treatment, and from whom he had a right to expect nothing but acts of kindness. Dunmore dispatched a messenger to bring him to the council, but he was deaf to all his entreaties. Taking the LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 237 messenger out a short distance from the cabin into the forest, they sat down on a log together, and there, while scalding tears chased each other down his manly cheeks, he recited the sad story of his wrongs. The interview ended, and the messenger was about to depart, but, before leaving, he asked Logan what answer he should return to Governor Dunmore. Rising from his seat, and straightening up his tall, graceful form, which had been bent with sadness as he spoke of the desolations wrought in his quiet, peaceful home by the hand of the white man, he said, in firm and commanding tones : " Tell Lord Dunmore and his officers in council, that I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him no meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed, as they passed, and said, Logan is the friend of the white man. I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cressap, the last spring, in cold blood murdered all the rela- tions of Logan, not even sparing my women and chil- dren. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins 238 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. of any living creature. This called on me for re- venge. I have sought, I have killed many ; I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice in the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one." The following paraphrase of Logan's speech was written by J. D. Canning, Esq., of Massachusetts : THE SHADE OF LOGAK Through the wilds of the West, in the fall of the year, A wanderer stray'd in pursuit of the deer ; And clad in the garb of the hunter was he — The moccasin'd foot, and the bead-garter'd knee. Though far toward sunrise the wanderer's home, He loved in the gardens of nature to roam ; By her melodies charm'd, by her varying tale, He follow'd through forest and prairie her trail. By the shore of a river at sunset he stray'd, And linger' d to rest 'neath a sycamore shade ; For soft was the breath of the summer-like air, And the sweetest of scenes for a painter was there. He mused : and in slumber the past was restored ; When thy waters, Scioto, a wilderness shored ! And the Shade of a Mingo before him uprose — The friend of the white man, the fear of his foes. LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 239 Erect and majestic his form as of yore ; The mists of the stream as a mantle he wore ; And o'er his dark bosom the bright wampum show'd, Like the hues of the bow on the folds of a cloud. The tones of his voice were the accents of grief, For gloomy and sad was the Shade of the Chief ; And low as the strain of the whispering shell, His words on the ear of the slumberer fell : " I appeal to the white man ungrateful, to say If he e'er from my cabin went hungry away ? If naked and cold unto Logan he came, And he gave him no blanket, and kindled no flame ? u When war, long and bloody, last deluged the land, Not Logan was seen at the head of his band ; From his cabin he look'd for the fighting to cease, And, scorn' d by his brethren, wrought the wampum of peace. " My love to the white man was steadfast and true, Unlike the deep hatred my red brothers knew ; With him I had thought to have builded my home, No more o'er the forest and prairie to roam. u When the leaf which pale Autumn is withering now Was fresh from its budding, and green on the bough, Unprovoked, by the white man my kindred were slain, And Logan became the wild Indian again ! " There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins Of any who lives — not a mortal remains ! Not even my wife or my children were spared — All alike at the hand of the murderer shared I 15 240 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. K This call'd for revenge, and to seek it I rose ; My hatchet is red with the blood of my foes, The ghosts of the dead are appeased by their sire — I have glutted my vengeance, and scorn to retire ! " I joy for my country that peace should appear, But think not that mine is the gladness of fear. Logan never felt fear. In the deadliest strife He'll not turn on his heel for the saving of life. " "Who is there to sorrow for Logan ? Not one !" Thus spoke, and the Shade of the Mingo was gone ! But, Logan, thy words in his mem'ry are borne, Who waking did mourn thee, and ever will mourn. When Logan finished his message, Gibson de- parted for the camp of Lord Dunmore, and delivered it to him and his officers. The treaty progressed, and was finally concluded. A messenger was dis- patched to Old Chillicothe, where Logan resided, who communicated the result to the Indians and whites who were there ; that hostilities had ceased, peace was declared, the tomahawk was buried, and the white and red man were to live as friends. The intelligence received was a cause of general re- joicing. The soldiers, who had been dispatched by Dunmore to watch the movements of Logan after his message had been sent to the council, united with the Indians, and a general scene of back- woods festivity ensued, in which there was dancing LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 241 and frolicking, and firing of guns, and the air rung with the glad shouts of peace. But Logan was not there. He had refused to enter into the treaty, and he could take no part in the celebration of a peace with those who had for- feited all right to his friendship. Had his friends and kindred been slain in honorable warfare, none would have been more ready than he to hail the approach of peace, or to unite with them in celebrating that event. But such was not the case; and feeling in his heart that he had no true friendship for such enemies, he could not and would not feign an amity that did not exist. Leaving his cabin, he started out on a hunting ex- cursion, and pitched his camp near what was called the Big Spring, one of the most noted springs of clear living water to be found in the West, and now known as "Logan's Spring." The camp of Logan was on the hill, not far distant from the spring, and commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. Here, after the toils and fatigues of the chase, he would sit for hours in melancholy musing over the fate of those of his race who had passed away, and meditating upon the destiny which must sooner or later overtake the remainder, as the white man encroached upon their hunting grounds. Early one morning, just as the sun tinged the tops of the trees of the forest, he rose as he was accus- 242 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. tomed, and left his camp to go down to the spring. It was a lovely morning. All nature lay in calm repose beneath the first blush of the morn, genial as the smile of a mother over the sleeping loved ones of her household. The birds, those early harbingers of day, were up, and caroling their matin songs among the trees and wild flowers which bloomed in fra- grance around. As Logan cast his eyes in the direction of the spring, he saw, stretched at full length upon its grassy border, a hunter, asleep, with his faithful dog beside him. The sight of the white man was the occasion, at once, of raising a tumult in that dark, deep sea of passion, which only slumbered when his thoughts were diverted to other objects than those which never failed to plow up the deep- est furrows of his soul. Instinctively he raised his rifle to his eye, but at that moment the growl of the hunter's dog awoke his sleeping master. The hunter had been out surveying the lands in the neighborhood of the spring, with a view of entering them as his own. In the evening, on arriving at the spring, at whose pure bright waters he quenched his thirst, fatigued and weary with the toils of the day, he partook of his venison and other articles of food which he had with him, and concluded to rest there for the night. He was a fine specimen of a backwoodsman, tall, well proportioned, and athletic. He seemed LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 243 formed for endurance as well as fleetness; and a backwoods training had qualified him for all the incidents and emergencies of a border life. The growl of his dog, who lay close by his side, roused him from his slumbers. As he opened his eyes, the first object that met their gaze was the figure of an Indian warrior, reflected from the surface of the bright water, standing on the opposite hill, in the clear light of the morning, with his rifle at his shoulder, pointing toward him. Was it a dream? Was the image on the mirror- like surface of that transparent pool a mere shadow, without a substan- tial basis? Such might have been his impressions, but for the growl of his quick-scented, keen-eyed, ever-watchful dog, whose eyes were fastened upon a distant object. Without waiting a moment to confirm his suspicion, he seized his rifle and sprang to his feet. About fifty yards from him, as we have already described, on a hill overlooking the spring, stood an Indian, whose figure stood out boldly against the clear morning sky. There he stood, fixed as a statue, just as he had seen his form and attitude represented in the water. It is usual for Indians, as well as white men, w T hen they meet a foe in the woods, armed, to fly to the covert of the near- est tree. But the Indian stirred not, neither did he fire. Just as the hunter was about to pull his trigger, the Indian lowered his rifle, and, throwing the. barrel 244 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. upon his left arm, opened the pan and threw out the powder. Instantly the hunter did the same; and, throwing down his rifle, he bounded up the hill, and with outstretched hand, in token of peace and friend- ship, received the wonderful stranger. Who but Logan, the Mingo chief and white man's friend, could have acted thus magnanimously, and, in danger of losing his life, thus set an example which every true and generous heart must regard with en- thusiasm, as a species of moral sublimity rarely, if ever, equaled? Well did he say to Dunmore, "Logan knows no fear, and would not turn on his heel to save his life." How strongly does this contrast with the conduct of those who, on seeing an Indian canoe, filled by the wife and children of an Indian chief, floating on the placid waters of the Kanawha, sought the cover of the bushes which lined its margin, and from their ambuscade fired and killed the helpless and unprotected mother and her little ones! But when that winding stream shall cease to flow, and mingle its waters with the " beautiful river," and the surrounding hills shall exist no more, the inno- cent and the guilty, the slain and the slayer, shall meet a judgment, from the decision of which neither power, nor wealth, nor influence can escape ; whose Judge no arts can bribe, and whose decisions will be eternal. LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 245 Logan — the kind, generous-hearted, and magnani- mous Mingo chief — has passed away. His ashes rest, if not in the same locality with his kindred, at least in the same common grave. To a world of spirits, beyond the dark and shoreless river, u Whose waveless tide The known and unknown worlds divide, Where all must go," he has gone to mingle with the departed. On a grassy knoll in that rich and beautiful valley, watered by the Scioto, and not far from the very spot where he delivered his speech to General Gibson, among the wild flowers which nature has strewn over his grave, repose in silence all that remains of th» cr*ce noble and manly form of Logan. 246 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. CHAPTEE X. THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. In that wild, romantic region, in which the north branch of the Potomac takes its rise, there lived, in an early day, a family consisting of a man, his w T ife, and a son ; the first and the last bearing the sobriquet of " Old Joe," and " Young Joe." Their cabin stood in a notch of the Alleghany Mountains, where nature appeared in her gloomiest, and grandest, and yet most romantic moods. Not a solitary human being had pitched his tent, or camp, or erected his cabin within thirty miles. Well could Old Joe exclaim, when from some craggy peak he looked down upon the interminable forest, with Alexander Selkirk, " I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute." None knew, w T ho knew anything of the locality, which was obtained from Indians and hunters who sometimes penetrated the wilds, how or when he came there. Some even conjectured that he always lived there, and was a product of the mountain on THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 247 whose craggy sides he had his home. He was as much a child of nature as the Indian himself, and was perfectly familiar with all her moods. He took delight in baring his brow to the wild winds which, in winter's storm, swept in howling gusts over the mountain ; or, away up amid the nursing-place of tempests, where, in summer storm, the lightnings seemed, as of old on cloud-covered Sinai, to issue like fiery darts from a magazine on its summit, has he gone up, like Moses, undaunted, and held communion with the God of the storm. There is a rapture enkindled in the heart of a child of nature, in witnessing her various phases and representations, more sublime and transporting than ever can be inspired by art. To him, when bleak and dreary winter comes, and the trees, stripped of their foliage, stretch out their skeleton arms, like giant sentinels on the mountain, and the earth is covered with a winding-sheet of snow, there are charms that the denizen of a city, wrapped up and shivering in his mantles of fur, never can discover. Or when summer comes, and spreads its smiles over mountain and valley, only such as breathe the air of the woods and mountains know the heaven of enjoy- ment imparted by her exhilarating breath. Old Joe loved the solitudes of the wilderness as well as Cooper's wild "Nattie," when only an occasional band of Indian warriors crossed his immense hunting 248 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. grounds. After clearings had been made, and the eye, instead of resting upon thick forests, beheld fields -of waving corn, one said to Nattie, who re- ferred to the pleasure of the past, "It must have been a melancholy pleasure." "Nay," replied the hunter ; " have I not told you it was cheerful ; and that when the trees began to be covered with leaves, and the ice had melted away from the lake, it was a perfect paradise. But," said the hunter, " there was a more magnificent place away up in the Catskill Mountains, where I went often in search of wolves, bears, and panthers. Up there," pointing in the direction, " where the summit looks as blue as a piece of clear sky holding the clouds as a drapery, like the smoke which curls over the head of an Indian chief at a council fire. Just there, where one of the crags juts out and overhangs the river, and where the rocks thunder down, almost perpendicularly, a thousand feet, there," said the hunter, his eyes flashing with excitement, " there I see all creation. I was on that hill when Vaughn burned 'Sopus in the last war, and I saw the vessels come out of the Highlands. The river was in sight for seventy miles, under my feet, looking like a curled shaving, though it was eight long miles from where I stood to its banks. I could see the place where Albany stands, and the Hamp- shire Mountains, looking like haystacks of green grass under my feet ; and the day the royal troops burned THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 249 die town, the smoke seemed so near that I thought [ could almost hear the screams of the women. All that God has done, or man can do, is to be seen there." To the child of nature there is no solitude in the desert or on the mountain. The city, fall of its teem- ing thousands, would be to him a desolate place. So felt Leather Stocking, so felt Boone, and so felt Old Joe. In his mountain home he was happy, and that happiness continued until the days of his earthly pil- grimage ended, and he breathed out his spirit into the hands of that God who gave it. Young Joe had grown up to manhood, and such a manhood as would take the materials composing half a dozen young men of the present day to manufac- ture. His father was a large, athletic man, of fine form and Herculean strength, and his mother had the strength and endurance of a dozen modern ladies. From such a parentage everything might be expect- ed in the way of strength, activity, and courage. In- deed, in physical strength, as well as size, he exceed- ed his father, and when at full maturity he was known by the name of Big Joe, in contradistinction from his father, Old Joe. As he would sometimes descend the mountain heights into the valleys, and penetrate the settlements which were here and there to be found, widely separated in the wilderness, for the purpose of exchanging the skins of the wild 250 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. beasts which he had slain, for powder, lead, and other articles for the use of the family, he became an object of attention far and near, not only on accoun- of his enormous size, but for his strength and activi- ty ; and whenever a young man rose above his fel- lows in size, it would be said of him, " You will soon become as large as Big Joe." His strength as a wrestler and fighter, his activity as a racer, and his skill as a marksman, on these occasions had been re- peatedly put to the test ; but in all trials he came off the victor, and remained the lion of the mountain and the valley. Like all large, strong men, he was good natured, kind and gentle, always giving rather than taking the advantage of any of his competitors for the prize in the ring, the race-course,- or target shooting. Everything was game to him, as he would throw down in rapid succession, one after another, of the pick and choice of the country. So in the race. Giving all the start, he would bound forth and distance all upon the course, sometimes, in his play- ful glee, seizing and carrying a competitor with him, and awarding him the prize, by casting him in ad- vance at the goal. No one could beat him with the rifle, an instrument with which he was more familiar than the ax. He could load as he run, with the greatest ease, and his aim was unerring. His nerves of brass never allowed his gun to waver a hairs breadth from the sight of hfe eagle-eye, and if he THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 251 ever failed to make a center shot, it was the fault of the gun, and not the marksman. No Indian could match him in the use of the tomahawk, because none could throw it as far as he. In fine, all loved him, and none sought a quarrel with him ; even those famed for their strength and pugilistic power, and whose envy was excited by the rivalry his presence among the settlers occasioned, though they would have given the world if they could have conquered him, never sought an opportunity for a fight, con- sidering, as they did, prudence in such a case the better part of valor ; for even a Tom Hyer or a Yan- kee Sullivan would have soon lost his wind in a contest with Big Joe. Though the latter class of which we have been speaking, formed an exception to our general remark about the esteem for the mountain hunter, yet they had too much respect for his power, and too great a fear of his arm, even "To hint a fault, Or hesitate dislike." As it was, he commanded the homage and respect, if not the love, of all. Envy he had none, because there was nothing out of which to manufacture so base and ignoble a feeling. He was not, however, without ambition ; nor was there ever a truly great and noble spirit in the world without such a God- given impulse to action. But his ambition was to 252 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. outrun, not by throwing impediments in the way of his competitor, or by crossing his track, but, giving all a start, and an open field, and fair play, to distance them in the race. Like the proud eagle of his native mountain, which in mighty circles sweeps away into mid-heaven, with its undazzled eye on the sun, leav- ing all the birds of the mountain below him, so he, above a mean act, and untempted by any lure to take advantage by any attempt to disparage or weaken the fame of his fellows, either in regard to skill, strength, or valor, sought only to soar above them by his ow T n inherent power. To all entreaties to leave his mountain home, and take up his abode in the settlements, he turned a deaf ear. He loved the creations of God as seen in their native, unadorned wildness and beauty, more than all the creations of man; and after the sports were ended, in all of which he entered with spirit and glee, and he had supplied himself with powder and lead, he would return to his home, as the eagle to his eyrie, on the mountain. The only living beings he would see for months were deer, bears, wolves, and panthers, and the various tribes of animals in- habiting a primeval forest. His solitude, however, in process of time, was broken in upon, and his sacred retreat in danger of being too closely invaded. One man erected his camp six miles east of him, and he could sometimes THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 253 hear the report of his rifle in the woods. Another erected a cabin about the same distance in a westerly direction ; and, finally, a hunter, with a numerous family, came and pitched his cabin within the short distance of three miles. We have said he was not envious ; and to show that no such feeling existed in his mind, or that the slightest degree of selfishness had disturbed the deep, calm quiet of his transparent soul, what he might, by the laws of squatter govern- ment, have claimed as his own, he cheerfully relin- quished to the new comers, and, bidding adieu to the cabin where he was born, and dropping a tear upon the mountain burial-place of his father and mother, he started for more distant Western wilds, and pitched his camp where he could not hear the crack of an- other's rifle. The time of his departure was in the spring of 1787. He bent his course toward the set- ting sun, and, after traveling upward of a thousand miles, he at length called a halt a little south of Green River, in Kentucky. Those who are ac- quainted with that section of the country, know that many portions now, after the lapse of more than half a century since Big Joe took up his abode there, is still unbroken by the hand of civilization. Here Joe found plenty of game, and, as he knew of no settlers within many miles of him, he concluded, for the time being at least, to take up his abode in that region, and accordingly pitched his camp and lighted his fire. 254 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. After remaining in his new location for some time unmolested, his retreat was found by a Kentucky hunter. The Southern Indians had invaded the country. A desperate battle had been fought, several years before, on the southern side of the Ohio River, where the gallant Lewis fell. Boone and Kenton had established forts in Kentucky, and every effort was made to defend the settlements. The object of the hunter was to apprise Joe of the anticipated ap- proach of the Indians, and, it being necessary to unite all the forces of the whites, to invite him to join them in defending their homes. To this reasonable request he of course could make no objection ; so once more leaving his habitation, he started out with the hunter for the settlements. He had not been long with his new-made friends until an attack was made. The Indians came in great numbers. A rude fort had been erected, and the women and children were placed within it for security. Having been informed by spies, sent out for the purpose of reconnoitering, of their approach, and the direction in which they were coming, the little band went out to meet them. Joe was comparatively a stranger to all of them, and, as true courage never sounds its own trumpet, none knew the full character of their friend and ally until it was tested. That opportunity soon presented itself, and when foe met foe in deadly strife, foremost and in the thickest of the fight, which, after the first shots THE MOUNTAIN HUNTEB. 255 were exchanged, was hand to hand, was to be seen the mountain hunter, spreading death and destruc- tion at every blow, until he had fairly made a path through the entire ranks of the enemy, leaving the slain in his wake. He swept through them with the power and impetuosity of a hurricane, which levels the forest in its course. It was the first time he had been roused to fight, the first battle in which he had ever been. He knew nothing of military tactics or of Indian warfare ; and, following his own impetuous nature, he seemed like a giant, crushing all before him. Though he made such fearful slaughter, yet his comrades were overpowered by numbers, and ere he had slain the last man in his track of death, they had retreated to the fort, leaving him alone with the enemy. He could run as well as fight, and, know* ing that his services might be needed for another occasion, he fled, taking a circuit for the fort. Toma- hawks flew by him and fleet-footed Indians pursued him, but he distanced all and gained the fort, to the joy of his comrades. Several brave hunters fell on that well-fought field, but a tenfold greater number of Indian warriors. They were in constant expectation of another attack, but they were too weak in numbers to leave the fort and meet the enemy again in the woods. Accordingly, they made every preparation, and resolved to defend themselves, their wives and 16 256 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. children, to the last. Such confinement did not suit our hero. To be shut up in a fort was as galling to his feelings, as the cage would be to the lion or the eagle ; and he became restless and uneasy. One day he proposed to some of them to go out into the woods with him, for the purpose of hunting the cows; but knowing the danger better, or fearing it more, than he did, to all his entreaties they were silent. Finding, at length, that he could get no one to accompany him, he started out alone, on horseback, taking with him his true and trusty rifle. The whole forenoon was spent in scouring the woods for many miles around the fort. In all his travels he found no cattle. They had either been killed, or driven off by the Indians. The descending sun indicated the approach of even- ing, and he turned his horse in the direction of the fort. As he was pursuing the path, he came to a lux- uriant vine, from whose pendent branches hung large clusters of grapes. As he had taken no food during the day, he concluded to stay his appetite with the fruit which hung so invitingly in his path. Laying his gun across the pommel of his saddle, and taking off his cap, he commenced filling it with grapes. He had been watched. Evil eyes, intent on his destruction, and burning with revenge for the losses they had sustained by his dreadful arm, are fastened on him; and from both sides of the path the crack of deadly rifles is heard. The ball of one struck him THE MOUNTAIN HUNTEK, 257 in the breast, inflicting a severe but not dangerous flesh-wound; the ball of the other pierced the noble animal on which he w r as seated, and he fell dead under him. Springing to his feet in an instant, with his rifle in his hand, he might have fled, and no foot could have overtaken him, though wounded, and bleeding profusely. But the lion was roused, and he would rather die than run from foes so base. The moment the guns were fired, one of the Indians, u giant in size, like himself, seeing the blood stream- ing from the bare breast of the hunter, gave a yell of savage delight, and sprang toward him with toma- hawk in hand. The eye of Joe was upon him, and his gun to his eye, ready, as soon as he approached near enough, to make a sure shot. As soon as the Indian saw the hunter's gun leveled, he darted, quick as thought, behind a tree, not quite large enough, however, to cover his person. Finding that he was not safe from the aim of a backwoods rifleman, he sprang to another; but that was also not quite large enough to protect him from the fire. As a last resort, he kept bounding from one to the other, with his eye intently fixed on the hunter. But the other Indian, where w T as he ? Just there, in another direction, behind a tree, in the act of ram- ming down his bullet preparatory to firing again. Only a very small part of his person was exposed, and that was produced by the slight curvature of his back 258 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. made by the action necessary for forcing down the ball. The keen eye of the hunter was upon him, and instantly turning, he leveled his rifle and fired. The Indian's back was broken by the unerring ball. An- other yell, more terrific than the scream of a panther, waked the echoes of the forest, and the big Indian was now bounding toward his victim. When he had approached within tomahawk distance, for he feared a personal encounter, he halted, and threw it with all his force ; but the eagle eye saw the deadly weapon : it was dodged, and flew far out of the reach of either of the combatants. The Indian then, as he saw J or coming, jumped into the brush. Joe had clubbed his gun, and making a blow which the Indian dodged, the stock was shivered to atoms against a tree stand- ing close by. He made another blow, and such was its force, that, meeting with no resistance, the Indian again having dodged it, the naked barrel flew out of his hands, beyond the reach of both. At this the Indian gave another yell. They were now equal, unarmed ; two of nature's children, in giant strength and manhood. One, however, was wounded and bleeding, the other unharmed. They grappled. The struggle was short. Almost in an instant, the Indian was thrown full length upon the ground. But he could not be held there, even by the strong grip of the lion hunter. He was naked, except about the waist, and his skin had been saturated with bear's THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 259 oil. Six times did he gain his feet, and six times were they knocked from under him, with all the ease that a nine-pin could be tripped by the ball, but with greater certainty. But Joe was growing faint from loss of blood, and it became obvious that something more decisive must be done to terminate the contest. Besides, he knew not to what extent the other Indian had been wounded, and it became him to change his mode of warfare. This last consideration decided the fate of the poor Indian. Joe might have played with him as a cat with a mouse, and saved his life, but that there was greater danger of losing his own. The last time he threw the Indian, he did not attempt to hold him, but springing from him, he aimed a blow with his fist at his head, just as the Indian was in the act of rising. It came with crushing power, and the Indian fell as if he had been smitten with a thunder bolt. Again he tried to rise, and again the terrible blow sent him back again to the earth. At the third blow the Indian fell heavily, as if dead. To make sure work, he grasped him by the throat with his left hand, leaving the other free for any contin- gencies that might occur. Just as he was about to give him the death grip, the Indian slipped his knife from its sheath by his side; but it was too late, the agony was over, and the spirit of the Indian had gone where earthly conflicts are unknown. We know 260 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. not which to pity the most, the fate of the Indian, or the sad necessity which impelled the generous-heart- ed hunter to take his life. When Joe rose from that fearful contest, and look- ed in the direction of the other Indian, he had crawled some distance toward them, and had prop- ped his broken back against a log, endeavoring to raise his rifle to fire. Seeing his helpless condition, and being unwilling even to run the risk of being shot by a crippled Indian, he walked off leisurely toward the fort. It was night when he arrived, and, covered as he was, from head to foot, with blood and earth, hatless and gunless, he presented a sin- gular spectacle to his comrades. When he related his adventure, they could scarcely believe him. He, however, quieted all their suspicions by telling them the work would show for itself; and promising them in the morning to take them to the scene of conflict, he had his wounds dressed and retired for the night. When the morning came, a company was raised, and they started. On arriving at the spot, they found the dead horse, and the ground torn up con- siderably for some distance around, but they found no dead Indian, or any appearance of one. This was a mystery to Joe, and his companions thought they were hoaxed. At length, one of them found a trail in the leaves, which looked as if it had been made THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 261 by dragging some heavy body along the ground. This trail was followed, and about one hundred yards from the path they saw the big Indian lying beside a log, covered up with leaves. As the wounded Indian was obliged to crawl, in consequence of his back being broken, he would also leave a track in the leaves, which was soon found, though not so plain as the other. After following it about two hundred yards further, they found him lying on his back, dead. He had taken his own knife, and with it stabbed himself to the heart, preferring thus to die, than to fall by the hand of the pale face. On returning to the spot where the conflict occurred, search was made for the knife of the big Indian, and it was at length found, driven down into the earth, even with the surface. In all his after life the name of the mountain hunter was as full of terror to the Indians as it was of delight to the frontier settlers. If he was about in camp, or fort, or field, mothers with their little ones went to rest with a greater sense of security. The very fear and dread of the man by the Indians, we have no doubt, saved hundreds of lives where his right arm destroyed one. We say that Washington was raised by an overruling Providence for the times in which he lived, and so of other heroes and bene- factors. May we not say the same of Big Joe ? Some years after peace was restored and Indian 262 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. depredations ceased, the frontiers were infested with a gang of outlaws, who engaged in the nefarious busi- ness of horse-stealing and counterfeiting, and who secreted themselves in the depths of the wilderness and in the caves of the mountains. It required a man of the nerve of Israel Putnam, the wolf-killer, to beard these desperadoes in their den. In the person of Big Joe a man was found every way adequate to the task, and, accordingly, he formed a company denomi- nated " Regulators," which started out on an expe- dition against the lawless banditti. While engaged in this enterprise, in a desperate contest which ensued at one of their strongholds, that brave, valorous, and self-sacrificing man lost his life. May we not say of him what Washington is repre- sented as saying of Harvey Birch, in the Spy, a tale of the neutral ground, "He was a faithful and unrequited servant of his country ; though man did not, may God reward him for his conduct." He was, as we have said, a child of nature. He grew up in the forest, among wild beasts and savage men, and to him little was given beyond natural endow- ments ; at least, he did not receive any of the advant- ages connected w r ith moral and intellectual culture ; of him we know but little will be required by the Creator and Judge of all, in that day when every man shall receive in accordance with his works. INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 263 CHAPTEE XL INDIAN CAPTIVITY. In the year 1791 there lived, on the east side of the Alleghany River, about two miles above Pittsburgh, two brothers, the elder of whom was married, who had settled on a small piece of ground and had opened a farm. One day, while the younger was engaged at work in the field about a quarter of a mile from the cabin, an Indian approached him, and, deliberately taking his ax out of his hand, and plac- ing it alongside of his rifle on his shoulder, he took him by the hand, and, pointing out the direction he wished him to go, began to urge him forward. The youth, taking him for a peaceful Indian, and suppos- ing he wished him to do some chopping for him, yielded to his directions, and started. They had not entered the woods a great distance until they arrived at the Indian's camp. Suspecting that all was not right, the young man made an effort to escape, and started to run, but he was soon overtaken by the Indian, who threw him violently upon his face, and, taking a rope which he had about his person, he tied 264 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. his liands behind his back, and, raising him from the ground, commanded him, by signs, to follow. They had not proceeded far until they fell in with another Indian, who spoke English, and who assured him that it would be useless for him to try to make his escape, and if he did so again, he would be tomahawked and his scalp taken to the Indian town. Pursuing their journey through the wilderness, they at length arrived at the crossings of Big Beaver, about twenty miles from the mouth of that stream, and nearly on a direct line between Pittsburgh and New-Philadelphia, on the Tuscarawas River. Cross- ing the river on a raft, which the Indians constructed of some branches of trees, they crept into a cave in the rock, where, without fire or food, they remained till morning. They were afraid to make a fire, lest they might be discovered by the hunters ; and as they had already run a risk of being detected by the sound of the ax, in chopping branches for the raft, they were the more cautious. When morning came the Indian who had captured the boy delivered him over to the safe-keeping of the other, charging him strictly not to let him escape. On they traveled, weary and hungry, until toward the close of another day, when the Indian, feeling the pressing wants of his appetite, said to his captive, after having kindled a fire, "If I thought you would not run away, I would leave you here, and go and kill some game." INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 265 The youth, being quite as anxious as he to have something to eat, assured him that he would not leave the spot until he returned. Fearing, however, to trust his word, he tied him to a sapling a short distance from the fire, and departed. The position was itself not only uncomfortable, but the young man was weary with travel, and faint for the want of food. He accordingly made an effort to dis- engage, himself, and by patient perseverance, finally succeeded in untying the rope. He did not attempt to run away. That would have been useless, as he knew not which course to take, and might perish in the woods ; besides, he would be as likely to run into the track of the Indian as to escape it. He, therefore, went to the fire, and laid down by it to rest. In about an hour the Indian returned, but without any game, and, being surprised at finding his prisoner released, asked him why he untied him- self. The captive told him he was cold, and wanted to warm himself. "You no run away, then?" "O no," said the young man; "I don't wish to run away." He then gave as a reason for his returning so soon and without game, that there were Indians close by, and he was afraid they would discover him and take him away, finding him alone. They then went to the camp of the Indians. What was the joy of the captive to find among the party some Indians who were acquainted with him intimately, 266 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. and who had often been at his home ! They ex- pressed surprise, as well as joy, at seeing him, and gave him plenty of food to eat. Here they tarried all night, and next morning they all started together for the Tuscarawas. After traveling two days, they at length arrived late in the evening, where they met the main body of the hunters and warriors from the Alleghany, having made that point their place of rendezvous. Among the Indians assembled, composed of different tribes, were two captives, a man and his wife, by the name of Dick. These, to the astonishment of the young man, were persons with whom he was acquainted, having been his nearest neighbors. As soon as he had an opportunity, and was allowed the privilege, he went to that part of the encampment where they were confined, and making himself known, they were allowed to have an hour's conversation together. From them "the young man received intelligence that two of their neighbors, with whom he was well acquainted, had been killed by the Indians, one in his own house, and the other near his dwelling. After remaining a few days, ten of the Indians were sent to Pittsburgh, with instructions from the chiefs to feign themselves friendly, for the purpose of trading with the inhabitants. Among the num- ber was the one who had taken the young captive. INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 267 When they returned, which they did in about two weeks, well supplied with store goods, ammunition, and whisky, the company divided, part going in one direction, and part in another. The Indian who had taken the young man into captivity, united with the party they met on their way to Tuscarawas, and they started for Sandusky. When within about a day's journey of an Indian town, where Fort Seneca was afterward built, they met two war- riors on the war path to the frontiers. With the whisky which had been supplied them, the war- riors soon became intoxicated, and one of them, out of mere recklessness or malice to the whites, fell on the youth, and beat him most unmercifully. The probability is, that he would have killed him if he had not taken advantage of the darkness of the night, and made his escape to a log in the woods, where he secreted himself till morning. Being missed, search was made for him with lights in the woods, in every direction; but he was so securely concealed his hiding-place was not found. From his position he could see what was going on in the camp ; and when morning came, and the drunken warriors started on their journey, he came from his place of concealment, and was gladly received by the company, who expressed sympathy for him on account of the bruises he had received from the savage warrior. 268 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST. When they got in sight of the Indian town they halted, as is the Indian custom, to make preparation for a grand entree. When all things were in readi- ness they commenced their march, yelling and whooping most frightfully. The Indians, hearing the sound, came out and received them with corre- sponding yells. Seeing they had a captive in the person of a stout young pale face, they commenced arranging the gauntlet lines. In this ceremony al) take a part. The young man, wounded and bruised as he was, could not escape the ordeal. He was informed that he must pass through the lines, and take whatever came. As he passed, every one gave him a stroke, until finally he was felled to the earth ; and, pouncing upon him, like bloodhounds on a prey, they would have dispatched him, had it not been for the timely interference of the athletic and powerful Captain Pipe, who subsequently burned Colonel Crawford at the stake on the Pickaway Plains. Pipe, throwing aside the young man's enemies, seized him by the arm, and, bearing him almost like a child through the air, reached the end of the lines, when the ceremony ceased. Many a pale face has had his back scored with the blows of the gauntlet. When it was over, those who had been the most savage in inflicting stripes were the most ready in offering commiseration; he was stripped, taken to the river near at hand, and his stripes washed and INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 269 bound up. It was not until after two months that he recovered from the beating of the drunken warrior and the stripes of the gauntlet. After remaining some time at the Seneca towns, his captor having taken a wife, concluded on another tour ; and, taking him along with them, they journeyed through the Black Swamp, toward the Maumee towns. The jour- ney was painful and difficult ; but, notwithstanding his disabled condition, he kept up with the Indian and his wife until they arrived at the Auglaize River. Here his captor met an Indian whom he called his brother ; and the captive being presented to him, he was, after due ceremony, adopted into his family, and received the name of the son of Big Cat. In this family every kindness was shown him that savages are capable of manifesting. They taught him their religion and ceremonies. They instructed him in the use of the bow, and how to throw a tomahawk, as well as how to hunt. During the summer they remained mostly in their encampment, on the bank of the Auglaize, cultivating a field of corn consisting of seven acres; and in the winter they started out on their hunting excursions. The finest hunting grounds, in that day, lay along the Licking River and Jonathan's Creek, in what is now Licking, Muskingum, Perry, and other counties ; and in the valleys of the Scioto and Hockhocking ; the former now including Franklin, Ross, Pike, and 270 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. Scioto, and the latter Fairfield, Pickaway, Hocking, and Athens counties, all now densely populated, and from which the wild game is mostly scared away. During his continuance with this Indian family, every attention was paid to his wants, and he was with the utmost care instructed in everthing per- taining to their religion. The time passed so pleas- antly that he almost forgot that he was a captive, and though he occasionally sighed for home, his de- spondency on that account would soon be dispelled by the ever-varying excitements by which he was surrounded. Having returned with his adopted father and brothers, one day, from the hunt, they were surprised at finding the Indian town in an up- roar of excitement and confusion. Rumors had reached them, that an army of white men had en- tered the country, and they expected every moment to be attacked. Soon as things could be got in readi- ness, the squaws and boys were removed, with the goods, to an encampment further down the Maumee, where they were to remain until after the war. The chief and his braves started for the scene of conflict, and were engaged in the battles fought with the army of St. Clair, whose defeat we have narrat- ed in a preceding chapter. Having returned with the spoils of war, the families were removed back to the town. Among that portion which fell to Big INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 271 Gat were two fine horses and four tents, one of which, was the splendid marquee of the general. This was pitched, and became the residence of the family. With him, also, he brought axes, guns, sol- diers' uniforms, &c, and one belonging to an officer who had fallen, which would fit the captive youth, was given to him. Many prisoners had been taken, and when, some time afterward, the young man visited the Chippewas, at their town, he saw and conversed with the young men Patton, Choate, and Stacy, who had been taken captive at the massacre at Big Bottom. He also saw young Spencer, who was taken captive at Cincinnati. The latter he found at the rapids on the Maumee. Choate obtain- ed a liberation before any of his companions, and the story, as communicated by an Indian, is one of affect- ing interest. He was observed by one of his captors sitting on a log, with a downcast and melancholy look. As he approached him he said, " What makes you look so sorry ?" u I cannot help it," he replied. " I am thinking about my wife and children, and no one to provide for them." " I," said the Indian, with a tear glistening in his eye, as he turned away his head to conceal his emo- tion, " I, too, have a squaw and children, and I would feel sorry if I was taken away from them." Saying this, he advanced, and putting his hand on 17 272 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. the prisoner's head, remarked : " You shall not stay away from your wife and children. I will let you go home ; but I will not turn you out alone in the woods : I will go with you." The next morning, before the sun's rays lighted up the forest, having got all things in readiness, they started. They struck for the Muskingum, on the banks of which his family resided, and after having arrived on its banks, the Indian, taking Choate by the hand, bade him, in the name of the Great Spirit, good speed to his wife and children. Dick and his wife subsequently made their escape, and going to Chillicothe, they there took up their abode. Mrs. Dick's escape was effected in a singu- lar manner. She was sent for by a black man, a servant of McKee and Elliott, who, finding her in the woods, took her to a boat, and she was headed up in an empty hogshead. The Indians scoured the woods for her ; came and examined every part of the boat, and turned over the cargo, but she was nowhere to be found. The black man was also sent to effect the liberation of the young captive; but he was too closely watched to allow any opportunity of escape. In the summer of 1794 he started out with a party on. a candle-light hunt, in the forks of the Auglaize. The expedition was a successful one, and after re- maining two months, well laden with game and INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 273 skins, they moved for home. "What was their aston- ishment, on returning to the town, to find it deserted. Supposing the inhabitants had gone to the rapids, as is customary every year, to receive presents, they encamped on the lower island, in the middle of a corn field. In the morning they were aroused from their slumbers by the loud yell of a savage, whose war-whoop conveyed to every Indian's ear the intel- ligence that the enemy was upon them. Instantly the hunting party scattered, and they had scarcely left their camp when the Kentucky riflemen, seeing their smoke, entered it. Not being able to take any- thing with them but their guns, the Kentuckians took all their game and skins. Wayne was only four miles from the Indian town, and this was the van-guard of the army. The hunters finally met at the rapids, but they had not been there more than two or three days, until Wayne's spies came into the camp, and fired upon the Indians. Several were killed, and many wounded. The Indians returned the fire, and the spies fleeing, were pursued. One of them, by the name of May, was chased to a smooth rock in the bed of the Maumee, where his horse fell, and he was captured, while the re- mainder made their escape. When he was brought into the camp, he was recognized as having been a prisoner in one of the tribes before, but had made his escape. The chiefs said to him, that they 274 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. knew him, and that it would be impossible for him to escape the second time. Near the British fort, at the edge of the clearing, was a large oak tree. Taking the prisoner, they bound him to this tree. He was adjudged to be shot, and, a company of Indians being called out as his executioners, a volley was fired, and his body was pierced by every shot from the deadly rifle. The battle which ensued at this time, between the Indians and "Wayne's army, resulted in a treaty of peace, and a consequent cessation of hostilities. Big Cat took his family to Fort Defiance, and, halt- ing a short distance this side, he took his captive over with him, and, placing him in the midst of the officers, he said : " My son, there are men of the same color as yourself. There may be some of your kin there, or your kin may be a great way off from you. You have lived a long time with us. I call on you to say, if I have not been a father to you ; if I have not used you as a father would his son ?" The young man, who had been five years in the family, and who was much attached to the chief and his children, all of whom wept at his leaving, could but reply, "Yes, you have been as kind to me as a father could be." " I am glad," said Big Cat, " to hear you say so. You have lived long with me ; you have hunted for INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 275 me ; but our treaty says you must be free. If you choose to go with the people of your own color, I have no right to say a word; but if you choose to stay with me, your people have no right to speak. Now reflect on it, and take your choice, and, when you have made up your mind, tell me." The young man was now grown. Thoughts of home and friends came rushing upon him, mingling; with the affection he had for his Indian father, and the children he left crying after him at the camp. Much, however, as he had become attached to the Indians and a hunter's life, in the then wilds of Ohio, and its ever-varying and exciting scenes, the ties of kindred and the influence of early associa- tions prevailed, and he replied at length, with tremulous emotion, " I will go with my kin." The chief replied, "I have raised you; I have taught you to hunt — you are a good hunter — you have been better to me than my own sons; I am now getting old, and soon will not be able to hunt any more. I thought you would be a sup- port to my age — a staff on which I might lean ; but now that staff is broken. You are going to leave me, and I have no right to say one word ; but I am ruined," and, sinking into his seat, he gave vent to his feelings in a flood of tears. The young man, too, was overcome with emotion, and bent over his Indian father with grief. But he had fully resolved 276 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. to return to the abodes of the white man; and, taking the old chief's hand, he bade him farewell, and left the fort, never to look upon that kind- hearted, honest face again. Having been furnished with a horse, he started for Fort Greenville, in company with Lieutenant Blue, who treated him kindly, and had a suit of clothes made for him to exchange for his Indian dress. Except in his color, and that was dark, his face and hands being much bronzed by exposure to the wind and sun, he was in every other respect an Indian, being now able to speak the Delaware language as well as his mother tongue. After remaining at the fort about one week, a company of men arrived from Cincinnati, among whom was a brother-in-law of his brother, with whom he lived, and from whose field he was taken. From him he learned about home, and was also informed that he had a sister who had married since his captivity, and was then living about nine miles from Cincinnati, on the banks of the Licking, in Kentucky. This to him was joyful intelligence, and he soon started for her residence, where he was received as one raised from the dead. Being fond of hunting, he went out to hunt for the neighbors, receiving, for every deer he killed, a dollar, and for each turkey twelve and a half pence* In this he was quite successful, and made a considerable INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 277 sum. Having made enough to purchase a horse and an outfit for travel, he started to his brother's in Pennsylvania. So great had been the change wrought in his appearance during his absence, that he was not known ; but when the brother and his wife became satisfied that he was their lost brother, they were overjoyed. After remaining some time with his brother, he returned to Ohio, and settled on the Scioto, within the hunting grounds he traversed when in captivity, on a spot where the city of Columbus, the capital of the State of Ohio, now stands, and where he lives to this day. In this connection we will relate another remark- able captivity, which occurred at about the same time. A young man, residing in New-Jersey, who had reached his majority, started out to the Western wilds to seek his fortune. Having crossed that great barrier in those days, the Alleghany Mountains, he reached the banks of the Ohio, in "Western Virginia, where he engaged in farming in the summer time, and teaching school in the winter. In many sections of the West, even to this day, all the schooling the children get, is what can be obtained during three months in the winter season, from an itinerant schoolmaster, whose highest attainments are com- prised in a knowledge of reading, writing, and ciphering to the single rule of three; and should any boy or girl be fortunate enough to fathom 278 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. the mysteries of the latter branch to that extent, they are looked upon as prodigies in "larninV Times, however, have wonderfully changed in this respect. Our young aspirant for wealth and literary dis- tinction was not a whit, however, behind his illustrious compeers in " teaching the young idea how to shoot/' We have said part of his time was engaged in farm- ing, and three months in school-teaching; but this did not consume the whole time, nor did it exhaust the capabilities of the young man. He spent about four months of the year as a ranger, at the Mingo town, about twenty miles above Wheeling. After being engaged in farming, school-teaching, and ranging among the Indians in the wilds, he con- cluded to penetrate further into the West. Accord- ingly, embarking on a flat-boat, he started down the Ohio, in company with a fleet of others, number- ing, in all, nineteen. It was necessary then, as a protection from the Indians, that boats should go in company. It was in the spring of the year ; and, as the river was high, the passage was quickly made from Wheeling to Limestone, now Maysville, where they landed. Having reached his journey's end, our schoolmaster again opened a school, and commenced teaching the children of the pioneer settlers in the rudiments of an English education. While here, he became acquainted with Nathaniel Massie, the pio- neer surveyor, and founder of the town of Manches- INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 279 ter, on the Ohio Kiver. Massie was desirous of hav- ing him go over to his fort, in the then Northwestern Territory ; and being pleased with the man, as well as desirous of cultivating an acquaintance with the art of surveying, he complied with his request. Accord- ingly, the following spring, he took up his residence in Massie's fort. A gentleman having arrived from Kentucky, who was desirous of entering some land, Mr. Massie requested the schoolmaster to accompany him, and assist in laying it out. In the fort was a young man by the name of William Lytle, who had some knowledge of surveying, and they all started together. They took passage up the river in a canoe, for about four miles, when they entered the mouth of a creek now bearing the name of the School- master. Here they landed ; and, making a point, Lytle and the schoolmaster carrying the chain, Massie proceeded to survey and lay off the grounds. After proceeding about one hundred and fifty poles, they came to a large mound, which attracted their attention. While pointing out to the purchaser the eligibility of the site for a dwelling, they were startled by the approach of a party of Indians. Instantly dropping the compass and chain, they started at full speed, the Indians after them in hot pursuit. Arriving at a deep ravine, all cleared it but the schoolmaster, whose foot becoming entangled in a vine, as he was about making the spring, he fell near 280 PIONEERS OF THE WEST. the opposite bank. Three warriors were immediately by his side, and, before he had risen, presented their guns to his breast, as though they would shoot him on the spot ; but, before they fired, their atten- tion was diverted by Lytle's hat, which came whiz- zing back, he being but a short distance in advance, and having thrown it to prevent their fire. Seeing the prisoner made no resistance, they brought down their guns, and one of them offered him his hand, to assist him in rising. The Indians then took their captive to the bank of the river, and gathering up their plunder, and bidding him follow, they departed. After traveling the remainder of the day, they en- camped at night on the waters of Eagle Creek. The next morning they took an early start in the rain. As they journeyed on, they had several runs and branches to cross, some of which were quite high and dangerous. A tall, athletic Indian, seeing the prisoner was fearful about crossing, would put his arm in his, and assist him in getting over. On Sunday morning, the Indians, having killed two bears, and jerked the meat, put it up in a rude box which they constructed, and placed it on the prisoner's back. It weighed about fifty pounds; and, after carrying it for some time, until he was exhausted and his back galled, he threw it down. At this they raised a great laugh among themselves. After their merriment subsided they examined his back, and finding it chafed anC INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 281 sore, they applied some bear's oil, and, replacing the burden, journeyed on. He did not travel far until he threw it down a second time ; and the strong, friendly Indian, throwing it upon his own back, they pursued their way. Thus they continued in Indian file, the prisoner in the center, until they arrived at the Shawnee camp, where they halted. Here they made an Indian of their prisoner, by pulling out all his hair except a tuft on the top, which was inclosed in a band, and decorated with turkey feathers. Next they bored a hole through his nose, and inserted a ring. The camp was large, and quite a number of warriors had collected there. One day an Indian spy came, and informed them of the destruction of a large party of Indians on the Ohio. The intelligence alarmed them, and the horses were caught up, amounting to a hundred, and packed