The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia from 1768 to 1795 Embracing the Life of Jesse Hughes

§imim§MmKîUMMM ^.^?^-?ifVA'.^¥^^f-'-. Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924009239975 Cornell University Library F 241.M17 The border settlers of northwestern Virg 3 1924 009 239 975 DATE DUE M^^ Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia A BORDERMAN OF NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA FROM A DRAWING MADE ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK BY COLISTA M. DOWLING For description of the border dress see pages 34, 145 and 244; also Note 8, Chapter!; Note 9, Chap- ter IX; Note 2, Chapter XII, and Note 6, Chapter XVIII. THE BORDER SETTLERS OF NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA FROM 1768 TO 1795 EMBRACING THE LIFE OF JESSE HUGHES OTHER NOTED SCOUTS OF THE GREAT WOODS OF THE TRANS -ALLEGHENY WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES By LUCULLUS VIRGIL McWHORTER Life Member of the Wisconsin State Historical Society; Member OF THE Washington State University Historical Society, Author of 'The Crime Against the Yakimas." WITH PREFACE AND ADDITIONAL NOTES Sy William Elsey Connelley AND SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR By J. P. MacLean, Ph. D. ILLUSTRATED PUBLISHED FOR JUDGE J. C. McWHORTER MCMXV THE republican PUBLISHING COMPANY HAMILTON, OHIO COPYRIGHTED, 1915 BY J. C. McWhorter, Buckhannon, W. Va. ALL EIGHTS RESERVED To THE Memory of BROTHER AND PLAYMATE OF GOLDEN CHILDHOOD IN THE MONONGAHELA HILLS; AND TO THE REDO- LENT MEMORY OF SPRINGTIME WITH ITS NEW LIFE AND BIRD SONG AND THE CALL OF THE DISTANT "BOB -WHITE." OF SUMMER, WITH ITS SUNSHINE AND SHOWERS; AND THE "OLD OAKEN BUCKET" AND GREAT WILLOW TREE; AND THE TRACKS OF LITTLE BARE FEET IN THE DUST OF THE WINDING VALLEY ROAD: OF TRUANTS FISHING AND THE WEED -FRINGED "SWIMMING HOLE" IN THE VIOLET - SPANGLED MEADOW; OF THE ORCHARD AND THE COOL SHADOWS OF THE DEEP FOREST WITH ITS LEAPING, GAMBOLING SQUIRRELS, SKIPPING RABBITS AND DRUMMING OF THE PHEASANT'S WING: OF THE TWILIGHT GLOAMING AND THE CRY OF THE WHIP-POOR-WILL, AND THE CLOUDS SAILING THROUGH THE SILVERY MOONLIGHT. OF AUTUMN, WITH ITS DREAMY HAZE OF INDIAN SUMMER AND THE FLOATING, STREAMING COBWEBS AND THE WIND MOAN- ING THROUGH THE GOLD AND CRIMSON WOOD -CRESTED HILLS; OF THE SCARLET, DROPPING LEAVES OF THE OLD "SUGAR CAMP;" AND THE CLIFF AND THE "BIG ROCK" WITH THE LICHEN MOSS AND THE BURROWING WOOD- CHUCKS: OF A LITTLE WOOD -WHEELED WAGON AND AN OAKEN -RUNNERED SLED; OF NUT GATHERING AND WILD GRAPE HUNTING: AND THE NIGHT SONG OF THE "KATY-DID" AND "MAJOR'S" DEEP BAYING IN THE DARK- SOME WOODS, CHASING THE WILY 'COON. OF WINTER, WITH ITS NIGHTMARE "TERM" OF SCHOOL IN THE DIS- TANT "LOW GAP;" OF COASTING, AND OF NUT CRACKING AND "TELLING STORIES" AROUND THE EVENING HEARTH OF THE RADIANT WOOD FIRE; OF THE LOW TRUNDLE - BED AND THE HALLOWED PRAYERS OF .DEVOTED PARENTS: IS THIS VOLUME AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY ONE WHO EVER DREAMS OF HIS NATIVE HILLS AND OF THE HAL- CYON DAYS OF YOUTH. —• TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I First Permanent Settlement in the Trans-Allegheny. Pringle Brothers of the Sycamore — Their History — Fugitives and Hunters — Employed by Simpson the Trapper — Brings Settlers to the Buckhannon Valley. Jesse Hughes the Indian Fighter — Nationality — Personal Appearance — Dress and Habits. Other Settlers, Hunters and Explorers — What Became of Them.? — Military Records. Notes — South Branch of the Potomac. — Indian Names: — Delaware, Shawnee, — Iroquois. Monongahela, Meaning of. The Pringle Sycamore. The Hunting Shirt. Chapter II Dearth of the Written Record. Withers' Recognized, Authority. Frag- mentary Narrative. Who Wrote Border Warfare? — Authorship Disputed. Claim of William Hacker and William Powers — Were They Wronged of Title.' Powers Commander of Scouts — His Ability as Chronicler — Achievements of Hacker — His Education. Partisan Writers Unjust to the Indian. Incidents in Modern Border Wars — Suppressing Facts. Notes — The Hacker Family. Captivity of Mrs. Cunningham. Simon Girty. The Bonnetts as Indian Spies. Other Scouts. Military Records. Fraud- ulent Pension Claims. Chapter III Printed Record of Jesse Hughes — Sagacity as Scout — Fatal Ambuscade — Determining a Coward — Alone in the Wilderness — Kills an Indian — The Turkey Decoy — Is the Hughes Turkey Story a Myth.' Notes — Tragedies — Capt. Shaylor at Fort Jefferson. Chapter IV The Hughes Family — Birth Place — Traditions of Jesse — Father Killed — A Deadly Vow. Thomas Hughes Lieut, of Scouts — Bravery of — His Pathetic Death — A Country's Ingratitude. Other Hughes. Dogs in Indian Warfare. Marriage of Jesse — A Noble Wife — Settles on Hacker's Creek — Cabin in the Wilderness — A Dangerous Bed-fellow — Poisonous Reptiles — Jesse Shoots an Indian Hunter. Notes — Woodson's Memoranda of the Hughes Family in Powhatan Co., Virginia. French Huguenots. Lowther Killed. The Washburn Family. Trage- dies. Romance. Lewis Wetzel. McClellan the Ranger. Military Records. Singleton, Pension Agent — Unjust Ruling — Wages of Scouts — Land Laws — Tomahawk Claims — Unreliable Data of Settlements. Rattlesnakes. Chapter V Indian Settlements on Hacker's Creek. Discovery of Prehistoric Interest. Mysterious Finds: — Village Sites — Unusual Remains — Burial Grounds' — Mounds — Ancient Art — Indian Fields — Ash Circles. Notes — Superstitions — Buried Treasure — Ghost Stories. —• 8 Table or Contents Chapter VI Shawnee Towns on Hacker's Creek — Wi-ya-ni-pe, Birth Place of Tecumseh; Old Chillicothe. Shawnee Cist Burial. Tecumseh's Pipe — Wi-ya-ni-pe, the Indian's Paradise. Wild Fruits — Game — Fish. Alexander West, Scout and Hunter — Bear Fight in the Dark. Wild Boars. Hunting Stories — Dangerous Joke — A Fearful Tragedy. John Hacker First Settler — Chases Buffaloes — Exploration. Dearth of Bread — Pathetic Incident. Deadly Cold of the Moun- tains. Death of a Guide.—A Mountain Tragedy. Notes — Traditions of Mines. The Shawnees — Summary of History. Statesmen and Warriors. Descendants of Tecumseh. Chapter VII The Stroud Family Murdered by Shawnees. Delaware Settlement on Little Kanawha. Captain Bull Friend of the Whites — His Village and People Destroyed — Treachery of the Settlers — Names of the Murderers — Pathetic Story of Capt. Bull. Notes — Gaulouise the Trapper. / The Delawares — Their Home — Tribal Status — Story of the "Woman." Reiiegade White Kills Indians — Shawnees riot the Aggressors. f Chapter VJH Terrible Culmination to the Bulltown Massacre — Unrestrained Fierceness of the Borderers — Jesse Hughes and Capt. îlliam White Leaders — Indians Dis- covered at Indian Camp on the Buckhanh^n — The Surprise and Butchery — A Wounded Indian's Greeting — The LeadenfReply ;— Were the Victims Buried? An Aged Nimrod's Gruesome Find. Interesting Tradition. Abundance of Game — A Bear Shambles. / Chapter IX '( John Cutright, Scout of the Buckhannon — An Indian Moccasin Maker — Confusion of Names — Indian Incursions — Shoots Indian Horse Thief— Wounded by an Indian — Primitive Surgery —/ Revolutionary Soldier — Declaration for Pension — Services as Scout and Sdldier — Branded an Impostor — Honesty Proven — Ability as a Warrior — Etrors Corrected — Personal Appearance of Cutright — Hatred for the Red Race — Attempts to Kill Indian in Time of Peace. Notes — Virginia Hard Pressed for Troops — Loss in Battle of Germantown — Appalling Destitution Among the State Soldiery. Disputed Boundary Between Virginia and Pennsylvania — Hauteur of the Virginia Minute Man — Efficiency in Indian Warfare — Unreliability in Open Battle. —British Estimate of the "Shirt Man." Chapter X Requisites of a Scout Leader — Capt. White, Chief of Buckhannon Spies — Ancestry — Associate of Col. Crawford — Kills Indians in the Glades — Impris- oned — Liberated by Mob — Status of Border Society — A Romance of the Wilder- ness — An Indian Runner — Cunning Ruse — Mysterious Captive — Insatiate Venom — Indian Camp Surprised — Desperate Chase — Sickening Scene — An Indian's Revenge — Death of Capt. White. John Fink Killed. Timothy Dor- man, Renegade. Buckhannon Fort Abandoned. Jacob Bush, Scout and Soldier In Clark's Campaign 1781. Incidents — Drink of Whiskey for Brain of a Deer. Descendants — Lieut. Jacob Westfall — Military Record — With Gen. Clark — Lochry's Defeat — Failure of Expedition. "Flight of 1770" — Doubtful Narra- tive—Shaver the Spy — KasKraJia Campaign — Wounded in Battle — Suffered' ' Injustice. ' '\ Notes — Lieut. John White Kilte^. — Deserters or Indians? Outrages by Settlers Laid to Indians. Col. John Seiier. Capture of Capt. White and Petro — Table of Contents 9 Escapee *;,qf White — Fate of Petro — Mrs. White Witnesses Killing of Husband. Monument .to White and Fink. Treaty of Fort Stanwix. Indian Claims to the TransÂUegheny.— Twenty Years War. Chapter XI Cause of Dunmore's War. Storm Brewing — Facts Perverted. Boone in Kentucky — Long Hunters — Indians Killed — Connolly's Warning.— Creasap's Declaration of War — Massacre of Logan's Family. Death of Bald Eagle — Kill- ing of Cat Eye — Number of Friendly Indians Murdered — Indian Law of Reprisal. Storm Bursts on Virginia Border — Bloody Sequel — Murder of Cornstalk — Vengeful Shawnees. Jesse Hughes Defender of the Border — Hacker's Creek Invaded by Indians — West's Fort Besieged — Fort Abandoned.—Beech Fort — Hughes Memorable Night Run -^ Signal Cry from the Hill — Dangers of the Night Trail — Panthers — Wolves — A Daring Feat — Hughes Chased by Three Indians — Remarkable Endurance. Notes — Character of the .Kentucky Settlers. Franklin on War 1774 — Indians Murdered East of Mountains — Sympathy for Logan. David Sleeth the

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