The pioneers of the West; or, Life in the woods

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THE

PIONEERS OF THE WEST;

OB,

LIFE m THE WOODS.

BY W. P. STRICKLAND.

WESTWARD THE C0UE8E OF EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAT.

Biiahop B«rUey.

SIXTH THOUSAND. .^ 1 '

CAKLTOX & POKTER.

Boston:
J. P. MAGEE.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856*

BY W. P. STRICKLAND,
in the Cleric's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New- York.

€ till it wis.

PASS

I.— THE WEST 9

n.— PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST 21

m.— THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST 47

IV.— THE PIONEER SETTLERS 90

v.— THE PI0NT:ER preachers 137

VL— PIONEER INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN. . . . 172

Vn.— PIONEER BOATMEN 185

Vm.— THE PROPHET FRANCIS 211

IX.— LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF 225

X.— THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER 246

XI.— DyDIAN CAPTIVITY 263

Xn.— "THE OLD CHIEF:" OR, THE INDLAN MISSIONARY. . . . 296

Xin.— THE HERMIT ^ 331

XIV.— PIONTEER PANTHER HUNTING 353

XV.— THE SQUATTER FAMILY 371

XVL— THE LOST HUNTER 381

XVn.— THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM 387

Illustrations*

LOG CABIN 2

MORAVIAN mSSIONAEY 26

HUNTERS OF THE WEST 46

PIONEER SETTLERS 91

EMIGRANTS' WAGON 101

PROPHET FRANCIS 210

WYANDOT CHURCH 297

THE HERMIT 330

THE LOST HUNTEB 880

THE

PIONEERS OF THE AVEST.

CHAPTER 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,

" 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 my
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 tmstj friend, the Mohican, an Indian chief,
who had shared his hut and fare: "Away, dogs,
awaj ; 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 fi-iends, 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 Eastera, Western, I^orthem or
Middle, and Southern. The JS^orthem 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 boimdaries of the "Western? what
they are, and what they shall be? only that they
extend from the foot of the AUeghanies 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 Noi-th and Soutli 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, einbracing 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. l!^o 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 levehng these forests, and clearing and
cultivating farms, rearing towns and cities, and found-
ing institutions of religion and learning; but who
sliall 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 arcbseologists
and ethnologists who have attempted to read its
recoi*ds in the mounds, fortifications, walls, elevated
squares, and covered ways, which are scattered
thickly over the land, like the monuments of Egypt ;
but which, unhke 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. ISTumer-
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 reheated 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 firet
inhabitants of the land ? 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 wliich 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, ti'iumphal
arches, and tombs, though the winds of heaven have
scattered the very ashes of her dead, has left, wi'itten
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 constmction 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 historv ; bnt
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 Xine-
veh, the land of Caesar and Virgil, of Jesus and Paul,
of Belus and Xinus ; and we sit enchanted, as a Ste-
phens and Kobinson, a Layard, Durbin, and Lynch,
describe the grandeur of their ancient ruins ; but who
can tell if the i-uins in our own land, though not so
magnificent, are not reaUy 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 ahke interesting
and wonderful, apai-t from historic associations, as the

16 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

gi'oves, and mountains, and plains of Italy, Palestine,
or Assyria. If among the native inhabitants there
were none to record cotemporaneons history, or no

" 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 l^atchez, 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 Kew
"World. The sad fate which befell De la Eoque and
his company of adventurers to this far-off land of
flowers and gold, gave a check, for many years, to
the spirit of 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 hfe, 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 Jamestown in 1607.

For more^than a century after De Soto's expedition
into the Great Western Yalley of ^N^orth 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 fi'ozen 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.

Tlie fii-st man who crossed the mountains, and
entered the Ohio Yalley, was John Howard, as early
as 174:2. 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, betwe^en 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.

1^

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
difterent 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 ran 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 fiUed
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,

20 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

and from the mountain to the Western ocean, the
vast tide of human population wends its westward
way.

Tlie 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 1Y63 ; the possession by the English from 1Y58 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

CHAPTER n.

PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST.

We Lave 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 wliom temporary treaties had been formed. As
these Indians reserved the richest valleys on the Ohio
and its tributaries for their hunting grounds, arid gen-
erally resided elsewhere, there was a terra incogrdta
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 reacli 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 tlie banks of its rivers :
Le Caron had explored tlie North, and blazed his way
through the interminable forests which border the
npper 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 N^ez 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 om* object in this chapter to nar-
rate some of these adventures. It would be an easv

PIONEEB 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, imroll before the miud, 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 nece^ary
to the western pilot, on one of the broad and rapid
rivers of the West, to have landmarks to guide
him on his way. Xames 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 Yirginia. The English and the
French both had their allies among the varions
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 tlie French ; and, notwithstanding the solemn
ti'eaties 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. Tliere were the Sliawnees 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? Where 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 BXPLOREBS OF THE WEST. 27

friends of yesterday might prove the bitterest enemies
of to-day. Besides, as we have abeady intimated,
the whole French interest would be roused against
him. Every stream in its western flow had been
b'nged 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 necessaiy
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 then- lips, and the love of
God and man in their hearts, they pushed their
way tlirough trackless forests, and in Western Penn-
Bylvania 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 the Ohio, seventeen miles below Pitts-
burgh ; but all treaties and negotiations had failed to
bring about peace. Tlie 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 Eiver,
opposite French Creek. He was now in the vicinity
of the enemy's fortifications. The garrison of Fort
Yenango 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 aUied to them
by marriage — his mission. He described to them

80 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 lips, for he was not a stranger to tliem.
All seemed disposed to listen to his advice, but an old
Onondaga chief of the Six Nations. Tlie old man was
evidently in liqnor ; 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 Xations, 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
m^uch liquor; pray, let them go to sleep till tliey
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.
Gro 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 httle 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 wi'ongs they

S2 PIONEERS, OF THE WEST..

iiad suffered, and the deceptions practiced upon
them both by the English and French, and, as
might be exjjected, they were not exactly ready to
listen to the proposals even of the good Post to join
tlie 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?
You?' 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. Tlie
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 tlie strong
probability was, from the weakened condition of the
fort, that it would fall into the hands of the English.
Tliey were at length won by the sincerity and kind-

PI0:J^EER EXPfiOREBS OF THE WEST. 33

ness of Post, and a definite peace was concluded
between tlie various TVestem 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 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

gained in this respect, over French and Indians, that
was never afterward lost.

Tliough 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 Eog-
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 spu-it
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 lie 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
imong the Indians great hostility to the English, he
issumed the garb of a Canadian, and reached his des-
rination 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 mounta,ins, were left to us by our
ancestors. Tliey are our inheritance, and we wiU
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
i<ent out, by the Ohio Company, to explore the Mia-
mi River. Like Howard and others, he did not pass
tlirough the country, but descended the Ohio. When
he 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 Yirginia, 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 roUing. 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. Tlio pai'ty 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.

88 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

After traveling eight clays, lie 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 imable 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, ho
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 stonny 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 harl 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
. ^lelancholy, 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 sobinq^uet of
the Pioneer Poet ? His verses ran thus :

40 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

" Six weeks I've in this desert been,

With one mulatto lad ;
Excepting this poor stupid slave,

No company I had.

" In solitude I here remain,

A cripple very sore ;
No friend or neighbor to be found,

My case for to deplore.

" 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-homed beast of the Apocalypse. It
sounds, 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 he 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 travehng
should inflame it, and nothing would be gained. In
liiis 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 spim." 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.
Tliey were traders, seeking the Cherokees and other
Southern Indians, with whom they had carried on a
traffic for many years. Tlieir 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 couree, John Finley, in 1767, 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 fii^st 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 Kjiox 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 buffalo and the Indians, but to find out

PIONEER EXPLORERS OF THE WEST. 43

the localities of the country in the region of the
Cumberland.

I^ine men out of this party resolved to cross th.e
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. Tliey 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-
tm-ers was the world-renowned George Washington,
who, among the pioneers as among the soldiei*s 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 1TT4: 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 tliem. 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
liabitation. 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.
Tlie 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 centan-, a stem
and sturdy yeoman from England, who, with others,
sought a home in America, landed upon these shores.
The place lie 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 daughtei-s. 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
terroi'em 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.

Tiie 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

histoiy, to make the truth itself stranger than fiction,
it is not necessary to embellish our narrative "vvith 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, ^^gorous
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.
Ifone had penetrated the mountain fastnesses which
separated the settlements from the wild, unknown ro-

60 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 aifections ; 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 unliappy. It
was not that he coveted the possessions of others,
or that he was unwilling others should enjoy like
advantages with himself; but lie loved a broad
range, and preferred being alone with his family
in the woods, out of sight of the smoke of other
cabins, and tlie 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 ]3enetrate
its wilds, and, like one of. the spies sent over from

THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 51

the encampment of Israel to Canaan, he was re-
turning with a proof of its richness as a hunter's
paradise. Tliis 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 liis
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 bufljalo, 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 PIONEEES 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 watching their more-
ments, and sprung upon them when they were
entirely ofl' 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. Tlie captives,
knowing that if they manifested no desire to escape,
the Indians would be less watchful, and, therefore,
the probabilities of their escape increased, aifected
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 coui-se toward their own
camp, in hopes of finding their companions; but
what was their sui-prise, on arriving, to find it
plundered and their companions gone !

Having remained so long in the wilderness, it

THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 68

•was feared by the wife and father of the daring
hnnter 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 unkno^^^l 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, hke 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

64. PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

lived on whatever lie 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 brothera 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 HUNTEBS OF THE WEST. 66

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 hoi*ses 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 af
his beloved wife and children — which thrilled the
Imnter'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

6Q 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 brothel's
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-ofi"
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 Bettlera on the Yadkin, that he in-

THE HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 67

tended taking his family to tlie paradise of the
West.

"What he promised was in course of time fulfilled ;
and after getting all things in readiness, he and liis
hrother, with their families and four horses, started
for their destined home. Tlie 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 telk 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 Fowl's Yalley, they found a large and

58 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

strong party of emigi-ants ready to accompany thera
to their new liome. Tlie 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
Kcw "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. Tlie 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

Tlie 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 supenor
in numbei's 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. Tliey were several miles
from their friends; and though it took some time for
the huntei*3 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. Tliere before them lay, in Death's
embrace, the flower and pride of Yadkin and Powel's
Valley. Slowly and sadly the elder hunter raised
his lifeless boy, and bore him away to meet the
agonizing grief of a fond, aiFectionate mother. Tlie
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 tliat deeply-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 Eiver, where
the descendants of some of them may be found to
this day.

Here our Imnter 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 Yirginia, requesting him to conduct
into the settlements a company of sm-veyoi-s 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-adventm-ers
having

" pass'd that bourn
From whence no trareler retoms,"

he was once more on his wav across the mountains.
They had no time to spend in himting, 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, dm-ing 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 PIONEEKS 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 ai-my, and was ordered to take
charge of three garrisons on the frontier. He per-
foi*med 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. 6S

After this lie was selected to liead a company
appointed by government, to whom was assigned
the difficult and dangerous task of cutting out a
road j&-om the Holston to the Kentucky Kiver. Tliey
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 vallev 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 hmiters, 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.

a

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. Tlie 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 temtory, for extent, fer-
tility, beauty, and richness, never equaled. The pres-
ident, Colonel Henderson, called 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 liis
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 n umber j
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 arrival 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 excui-sion.
The Kentucky Kiver, 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 watei*s like a thing of life.
Crossing and re-crossing from shore to shore, the
current insensibly bore them down, as they wonld
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
01 their track, they hurried onward to overtake
Jiem. Thirty miles had been passed over, but still
they were not found. Their hopes, however, were
mcreased 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

^ PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

entered a buffalo road, and were pm*8uing it. The
pui-suers 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 npon 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 bari-ier 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. Tlie 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. Tliis 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 himter
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 colom'al
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 Virginia ; 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
tlie 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 pui*suit. It being important to have salt for
domestic use, a party started out to what was called
the Blue Licks, for the pui-pose 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 aU
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 ceremonv 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 manufactm-e 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-
mmed on making his escape in time to save it fi-om
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 Kiver,
and through deep forests, over craggy rocks, and
creeks, and rivers, night and day, he urged his tire-

72 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

less course. At length lie 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 aifectionate 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 amis, and, with
a view of cutting off the approach of tlie enemy,
or, at least, weakening their forces, started out on
a foray, or sortie. 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 aU 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 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

returned with all haste to the fort. Here they
tbnud everything in readiness for the contemplated
altack. The fort contained in all but sixty-live men,
besides the women and the children of the pioneei"S.

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 warrioi's, twelve Canadian Frenchmen
and Captain Du Quesne — after whom Fort Pitt
was named — at the head of the army. Tliough
the chief, Blackfish, was the conmiander proper,
he had resigned the leadership to the skillful
Frenchman. This formidable army stood in front
of the fort. In all tlie due forms of war, a sum-

THE HUNTERS OF THE TTEST. 75

mon> to surrender was sent from the coniniaixler.
The liunter k!»ew 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 consulj:ation, 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 tlie fort.

Tlie 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
leadei^s 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 warriore. 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 HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 77

army. A desperate scuffle ensued, wliicli 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 Imnter 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. Tlie 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. Xot so, how-
ever, with the hunters of Kentucky. Xo 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,
tho 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, tliey
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. Tlieir 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 brouglit
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 lie
started to Xorth 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-bom,
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 liis friends, he departed for Boones-
borougli. 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 w^ait 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. Tlie 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 pursuei*8 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 iroia all parts of the
country, detennined 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 hunters 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 onlv one thinc^ that the Indians
desired, and that was, to make a captive ag^Jn 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 or THE WEST.

quiet, cultivating his farm in the neighborhood of
Boonesborough, four athletic Shawnees were detaile'.l
to go and watch his movements, and bring him, or
his scalp, to the Indian settlements. Tliey started on
their expedition, and arriving at his place, they secret-
ed themselves in the woods, and watched his move-
ments. One day he w^ent 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 louver 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 ns any
more." They grinned horribly, as with upturned
faces and pointed guns they uttered these words.

Tlie hunter coolly and pleasantly responded, "Ah,
my friends! glad to see you. How have you been
this loUj^ 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 HUNTERS OF THE WEST. 83

are. You see I can't get away ; and watch me closely
till 1 come down. Yon like tobacco. "WTien 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 thev 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 sufibcated 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 Avilder-
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 tliat 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 tlie conduct
of such men, and being imable to obtain redress;
realizing that he had so far fulfilled his destiny as

84 PIONEEKS 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. Tliat 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 cliil-
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 lumter, in looking from his monntain home to
the wide-spread valleys of the sunny South, caught
new life, and felt joung again.

"Mad Anthony," as he was called by the Indians,
had spread terror among all the ranks of the TVestem
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 milUon. 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
kindher or more philanthropic heart. While he was
a stranger to selfish and sordid emotions, he was alike
above mean actions; and he hved 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. Tho

86 PIONEERS 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 lY., 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 Kiver, 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
Eiver, 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

88 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

returned with returning spring ; and breaking up liis
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 liad 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.

J

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 fiowers, 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 "lovelj and pleasant in their
lives" might "not in death be divided ;" and all that
remained of DA^^EL Boo>t:, 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
AUeghanies, inehiding 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. Tliis 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. Thev had no sooner organized,
than thev 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 Yirginia, 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 himdred 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 one was estab-

94 PIONEERS OF THE "WEST.

lished on tlie 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.
Tliousands of barrels of flour were sent from Illinois
to this market during the years 1Y46 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, throngli a treaty held at Fort Pitt, to
erect forts within the lands allotted to them. Up
to 1757, England had, through the government of
Virginia, 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 Kew-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. ISTorth of the
Ohio, however, but little was accomphshed toward
settlements, with the exception of a cabin and small
clearing. The adventurous and daring Moravian,
Post, had penetrated the wilderness and established
9 mission on the Musjdngum, not far fron; Beaver-

96 PIONEEKS 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 com, 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 com, 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 thev defined, and from this he had to Uve
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 tliem to leave the country, which they did in
1T62, and we hear no more of the Moravians until
the year 1767, 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, he 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 fii-st 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 settlera
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. Tliis tract included a district
of country between the Kanawha and Monongahela

THE PIONEER 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 gi-ant 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-
fiil, 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

I

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
Lidian country. Fort Harmar continued a strong-
hold for the "West until 1790, when the soldieiy 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. La these solitudes the Lidians 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 alhivion
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. IS^ecessity com-
pelled him, with the rest, to lay aside his books and
briefe, 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 patli
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 dajrted into their path, a few
paces behind them. They fired, and shot Symonds,
the friend of Meigs, through the shoulder, wlio,
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. Tlie 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
tlie 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 PIONEEES 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, Greneral Putnam, and Rev. Manasseh Cut-
ler, were appointed director. 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 Congi*ess
for the government of the Xortliwestern 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, "jN'o
colony in America was ever settled under such
favorable auspices."

Peacefully their barque, the "May Flower," for
that was its name, floated on the waters of La
Belle Hiviere, following its graceful meanderings,
and passing its many beautiful islands, in the spring
of 1Y88. 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

•vrhich line the banks smile them -welcome to the
"West as thej 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
Martms. An elevated square, north and east of
this, they denominated Cajpitolium; still another, the
Quadranmi, 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

no PIONEERS OF THE "WEST.

H. Yarnum, 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 diiFer-
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 watera,
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 fii-st-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 the peace and happiness of the com-
numity, 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 about seven miles from Fort
"Washington, on a branch of Mill Creek. Kext, 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 Eiver. 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 Cincimiati. 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
liorses 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.

Tlie 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
tinned 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 oft' 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, phmged 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, which 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,
tliey 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. Tliey 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 tlieir 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

tlie other divisions, and it seemed as thongli tlie
•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 speedv arrival. Tliey became lost in the thicket,
and only arrived when the battle was about to turn
on the side of the savages. Tliey 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
aftection 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."

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 they
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 Jefi'erson, 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 mih-
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. Tliey
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 stafiT 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 PIO>"EER SETTLERS. 119

the remainder retreated as well as tliey could, forcing
their way through the enemies' lines; and thus was
the sad and melancholy defeat of Harmar foUowed
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 I^ovember, 1788. Here the first church was
built tliat 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. Tliey 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 wliich 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, and 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 PIONEEB SETTLERS. 121

tion ascending gradually its western bank, led along
tlie 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 off 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 tlie stern, with a paddle, which lie
sometimes used as an oar and sometimes as a nid-
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 othei-s 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(v
drunken man staggering along the shore, and re-
marked that he would be '■^hait 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. 128

their rifles brouglit 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 wiUows 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 Thoi^p, 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.

Li the mean time other settlements were being
»nade in different parts of tlie "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,

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 Fort Du Quesne had named La Belle, Riviere^
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, sliip-builders, and other
trades. It was unfortunate for them that they had
biit 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 traDsport them across the conntrr free of
cost, and have erected for their reception suitable
houses, thej 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 Gallipolis^ 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 Chickamauga 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 PIO^•EERS OF THE WEST.

lions, or tigers ; no taxes to pay, no military enroll-
ments, no qiiartei*s 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. Tliey 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, Tlie
" 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 coachmakere, 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 veil, 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
strangei's.

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 tlie 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 bm-ned. Delicate young men, who had
spent tlieir 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 were taken into captivity by the savages. In
addition to all their troubles here, they heard of the
carnage of the infidel revolution, that was filHng
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 its miasma, and many died. Food

THE PIONEER SETTLEBS. 129

vras 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. Xor 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 wfiich they were surrounded. The old log-
houses, in process of time, gave place to good sub-
stantia frame and brick dwellings. A large an(|

130 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

beautiful court-house has taken the plac^ of the old
one, the morasses have been tilled 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. Tliis
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 immindful of the necessity of provid-
ing for moral and intellectual wants. With them
came a minister of the Gospel, Eev. 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 lie could handle the plow and teach
the young idea how to shoot. His fellow pioneer,
Meigs, could take a tight, 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
gTant 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-
cmnstances, 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

182 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

thing 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 fi'om 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 Uved 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. 138

watching all their movements, and ready to pounce
upon them as the panther on his prey. "When the
shades of night gathered aroimd, 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 nnbarred
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 comer, 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 baU 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 Kogers, 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 Rogei-s 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. Xot so, however, with the set-
tlers at Planefield. No sooner had they left than the
heroic Rogers was out, and in advance of them
gathered togetlier 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

vritliin 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 Belpr^, 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 bom
and have grown up in the West can hardly credit
them as realities. Scenes have been enacted on the

136 PIONEERS 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 Y.

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 Fosters,
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 PIONEEES 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 worshijD to the knowledge of a sim-
ple faith and pure form of worship. Yolumes 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
bisliop, 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 Kiver 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 Eiver, and all those on the Clinch Kiver, 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 PIONEEB PREACHERS. 139

The appointments being made for ererv four or six
weeks, the settlers would have a knowledge of the
time of the preacher's visits ; and they wonld collect
together fix>m the distance of many miles. K 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 refi-eshment,
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.
Eeader, have yon 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. Tlie very memory of
the songs of Zion which we heacd in our early life
are pleasant to the soul. Alas ! tliat, like past joys,
they are never to return!

140 PIONEEES 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 si7ie qua
non — a thorough baptism into the truth and Spirit of

THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 141

Grod, a consecration of sonl 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 caetera; but they
drew their systems directly from the Bible, the
living fountain of eternal truth. "Wlien, therefore,
they preached a doctrinal discourse, it was thor-
oughly Biblical and sound. !N^or 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 suflSciently
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 pastoi*s 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
hardv a band as ever entered the wilderness. They
had built their cabins, and felled the forest around
them, even in tbo 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 half
cents per bushel. For their salt, jfv^hich 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 intelhgence 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 boiTow 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 wae
ready for market ; but, as before remarked, there was
no place in all the upper country where it could be
sold. K 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 tliey 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 PREACHEBS. 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. N'one 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 net taken possession
of his sons in the Gospel. At length there rose
fi-om near the altar an aged man. He tottered up
the steps, and presenting himself to the bishop, said,

148 PIOKEERS OF THE WEST.

" 1 will go." 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 PIONEERS 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 univei*sal 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, liis 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. Tlie 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 yomig men, there
was a large snrplns 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'Henr}', 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 OP THE WEST.

on tlieir journey througli 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 which 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. Tliough
the good bishop would not carry arms, he was, never-
theless, not indifi'erent 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. 163

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 gjen,. reached Camp Creek,
where they halted. It was now night, and horses
as well as men were weary with fatigue, and needed
rest. !N^otwithstanding, 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
Kiver. The night was far spent, but stiU they

154 PIONEEES 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. Tlie
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.
Tliey 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
River, 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
saddle and saddle-bags for a pillow, he laid himself

THE PIONEER PREACHEBS. 155

down to rest. In a few moments, "tired nature's

sweet restorer" lulled him into profound repose.

He had not slept an hour when he was aroused

by the cry of "The Indians are coming!" Some

aflBrmed 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 down 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.

Wlien 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.

Tliey 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 eacb other by the narrow path, whicli
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 tbe utmost caution was necessary in
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 Eiver. 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. 167

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. Tlie 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 t<.
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 PBEACHERS. 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 travereed 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-meeting, 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 PIONEERS 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 hoi-se-feed, of
which he thought he had brought suflBicient 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 jfrost-bitten com.
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 preachere 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 PIONEER PREACHERS. 168

Be still, desponding heart! The Lord will pro-
vide. You go forth in his cause, and he ^11 take
care to supply the armor, if you will always keep
it bright and whole I Yes, yes, weak, timid,
trembling soldier of the cross! the Captain of
your salvation wiU 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 fiimish
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 ! K
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 was 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 mo.
But hush ! hush ! poor, doubting, murmuring heart !
Thou shalt not covet thy neighhor's wife, nor his
man-servant, nor his maidservant, 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, tliat 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,
coai*se 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. Kot
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 his 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 botmties 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,

" * What do you think this contains, dear V

"*I don't know, I'm sure,' I said. 'What does it
contain V

" ' You shall see,' was her reply, as she unrolled it.

166 PIONEEKS 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. Tlien there were four frocks
apiece for the little ones, and four new gowns for
wife, besides various other mattei-s, such as muslin
for underclothes, and nice warm Canton flannel, and
stockings !

" ' 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.

"'Amen!' I responded, fervently. In tlie next
moment mv heart smote me for what I had thoujrht
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 <;ould
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 PIO^'EER PREACHERS. 167

about the means the circuit afforded, and mv own
poor condition.

" ' 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
doUars for the sale of some things at the old place,
left in the care of a good brother. It will aU come
right, I know. Brother A. Jt always has come
right.'

" * 1^0 doubt,' he said. ' 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. ' 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.

' 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 I
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

170 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

sentence, the young preacher, with great trepida-
tion, whispered, " General Jackson is in the congre-
gation." Tlie 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 hstened 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 preachers 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

CHAPTER YI.

PIONEER INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN.

The first laws were made to suit the exigences of tlie
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 fii*st permanent
settlement of the l!>J"orthwestern Territory by the
Ohio Company. In the Campus Martins, on the
first day of September, 1Y88, 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 Martins, 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

17# 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. Tliey 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 tlie 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 briUiant 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. Ko inamense estates were then involved

175 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

in the tangled meshes of litigation, nor were any left
to be settled by the demise of their ownera. 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 lawyei-s 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. Tliis 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.

Isor 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 inchna-
tion to leave his office, briefs, and clients, and stump
it around the country for himself or some other candi-
date for political distinction. ISTor could the physician
forsake his patients for any enterprise that might pre-
sent itself. He felt his responsibihty 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.

Tliese 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
laboi-s 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. Tlie Eev. 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 Martins, by a
lady named Mi*s. Andrew Lake. Seeing the children
at the fort spending their Sabbaths in frivolous amuse-

PIONEER INSTITUTIONS. 179

ments, slie thought she -woiild contriye 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. Tlie
r^ult 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 hterary light from Dilworth's
Spelling-book, are fresh in our recollection. Like
other log-houses, the chinmey, 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 wliich 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 OF THE WEST.

teachers was a thorough believer in the Proverbs of
Solomon, "Tlie 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 comer 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. 'Hiis, 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 comer of which the
school-house stood. The master was evidently gain-
ing upon him every jump ; but Jef 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 bomided 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 tlie 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
Qur 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.
Tlie 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 Jef, 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 Xorthwestem 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

IM 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.

PIONEEB BOATMEN. 185

CHAPTER VIL

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 hoUow log, that the
temptation to steal might be lessened by the im-
possibility of using the canoe without the necessary
propellers.

^ext, in the history of navigation, came the
flat bottoms, or broad horns, as they were called,
constructed on a large scale, and of burden sufii-
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 stem.
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 oA 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 witli 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
12

188 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

for the lower trade, but principally New-Orleans.
A trip to Kew-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 Tliompson, 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,'k

I

PIOXEER BOATMEN. 189

and listened with delight to the adventures and
hair-breadth escapes, as narrated bj 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 squin-el
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 caiTj 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-
el's, for a river man in those days was a hunter.

At Zanesville there is quite a fall in the river, oi
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 foraiidable 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 Dela wares, Wy an dots, 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. 1^1

shore, connecting with a wing to the main abntment.
What fishing and skating memories come chistering
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 feU into the raging pool below. The
fall was six or seven feet at that stasre 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 Cassaday, 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.

np 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 fii*st 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. Tlie 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 stonr*
piers of the bridge, two of which stood near the

PIONEER BOATMEN. 198

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
^kiU of the most experienced pilot to steer between
them.

Often have we stood among an excited multitude
booking 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

104 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

bottom,) is still painted on our memory. Hoberts
had two boys, Kat and Charley, and they were chips
of the old block. Captain Roberts was invariably
selected as the man. Whether othei's 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 Roberts, 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, w^ould 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

IN"© 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 -vras 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 couree of the river to witness the out-come.
Just below the bridge a l)oatman 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.

Tliese 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-
sti-ucted 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.

stem, 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 cany 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 BOATilEN. 197

chute. ' It was the business of the men who had the
head poles to prevent such a calaniitr, 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 verv seldom that thej exchanged their occu-
pation for another. To them it was full of romance ;
and there was a chanu 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 '-'■ daum 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 gii-ls 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 PIONEEKS 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. Tliey 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.

Havnng said thus much of keel-boatmen, we must
pass to consider another class of river men, called
barge-men. Barges were constnicted 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 stem, 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 imder 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
M''as 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. Tlie 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 sconts in the border wars, and thns may be
classed with the pioneer soldiers of the West, as well
as the hunters. A milder, gentler race wonld not
have been adapted to the wild, savage region through
which thev roamed ; but thev 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 usefiil in
their sphere in working out the destiny of the
West.

Next in oi-der 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 Xew-Tork.
She started from Pittsburgh in December, 1812, and
arrived at ISTew Orleans the 24th of the same month,
and plied regularly between Xew-Orleans and Is^atch-
ez until the 11th 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

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 stem 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, 1814r, Frank Ogden being captain, and was the
first boat that made any efibrt to reach the Falls,
having left New-Orleans with a freight in the early
part of July of the same year, but gi-ounded on a
sand bar about seven hundred miles up the Missis-
sippi, on the 14:th 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. Tlie succeeding vear she plied betsveen
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 BrownsviUe, 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 fii-st 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-Orle^ms,

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 fii*st 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 I^atchez, she was employed, in
the summer of 1815, towing ships from the mouths or
passes of the Mississippi to Xew-Orleans, the barges
then getting freight, in preference, at eight cents per
pound, from Xew-Orleans to Louisville. Li 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. Tlie 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.

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. Tliey 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 Louisville. 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.
Tliis 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 Slireve, 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 ISTew-Tork Company, in an inferior court,
where a verdict was found for the defendants. Tlie
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 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

to be found against him. Had Shreve possessed less
firmness or principle tlian belonged to him, he might
have yielded to this tempting bait, and thrown back
tlie 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 Yin.

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 him 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 wUd and beautiful scenery he was bom
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
fettera. 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 hia
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

baritj 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
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. "WTien 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 fi-agments of tribes, he went
forth against the enemy, and in many a hard-fought
battle bore away the palm. Such braveiy ehcited
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 soimd of a trumpet announced the

214 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

approach in the procession of the patriot chief
Francis, who fought so gloriously in oui* 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 Enghsh, 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

rioi*s ; 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 stiU 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 PEOPHET FRAXCIS. 217

" He must die," sternlv said the chief.

" IS'aj, mj 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 successfiil, and the life of the young man was
spared. All were astonished at the act of the girL
IS'ot 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 aflection 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 PIONEEKS OF THE WEST.

from her lie 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 conld 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. ISTor 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, thongh 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 I

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
assem"bled 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 rehgion
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

"IsTaj," said he, "when the Gospel makes good
white men, then come to ]S^inigret and his red
brethren, and we will receive yon."

Among that band of American soldiers who stood
aronnd the place of execntion, was one who had been
snatched from a death of cmeltv, bnt 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. Xeed we tell the reader
who he was? IlTeed we sav 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?
Xeverl 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
ann, 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 PIONEERS 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. Tlie 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 T'

Ko 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 hfe, we learn
that he was the second eon of a distinguished chief
of the Cayuga nation. His father, on account of his
attachment to the English nation, was of gi'eat 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 gorem-
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 turned away

226 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

from the door of the kind and generous Sliikellemus,
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
17Y2, 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 MIXGO CHIEF. 227

ated, not far from the neighborhood of Caskagee.
While on his passage down the Ohio River the fol-
lowing year, Heekewelder stopped at the residence
of Logan, and was received in the most hospitable
and cordial manner bj his family.

Here this humane and generous Indian lived in
peace and happiness, surrounded by his family, refus-
ing all efibrts 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 sti-ife, 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 ofiicers in the militia, officiously took ;t

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. Tliese 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 so^il 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

LOGAX, THE MINGO CHIEF. 229

meditating revenge. Though he was in danger, thej
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 liim 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 gims, immediately filled two
canoes with armed warriors, who started for thp

230 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

scene of conflict. But, alas ! it was to meet the
same sad fate which had befallen their brethren.
No 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, Yirginia, between the com-
bined forces of the Shawnees, Delawares, Mingoes,

LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 231

and Carugas, and the soldiers nnder 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 aU 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 aU 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
Lidians about a mile from the camp. Others soon after
came and communicated the same intelligence. Tlie
brave commander, who had served under Generals
Washington and Braddock in the old French war, was
not at aU 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. !N^o sooner did
they come in sight of the Lidians 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 Lidians, 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 houi-s the battle had been ragiug
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. Tlie 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. 23S

Tinerring 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 exliausted energies and fonght
on. The last rays of the snn were tinging the forest
and flashing on the river, and still the fight lasted,
bnt 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 tribntary of the Kanawha
which emptied into that river a short distance from
its month, for the pnrpose of gaining the rear of the
enemy. But there was an eagle-eye npon 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 feU, 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 oflScers 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 thej 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 oflicers and soldiers. After
committing to the sepulcher in the midst of that for-
est the brave who ffeU in action, on the next day the
army commenced their march througli 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 gamson
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 Jaad 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 neighborliood stood Logan's cabin ; for since his
mother, sister, and brother had fallen by the hands
of a race he had more befidended 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 hfe.

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.

286 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 hungiy, 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. Sucji 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. Tliis 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 LOGAN".

Through the wilda 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 iCINGO CHIEF. 289

Erect and majestic Ids 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 haes of the bow on the folds of a clond.

The tones of his voice were the accents of grie^
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 nngratefol, to say

If he e'er fh)m my cabin went hungry away f

If naked and cold unto Logan he came,

And he gave him no blanket, and kindled no flame?

" When war, long and bloody, last deluged the land,

Not L<^an 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 steadfest 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,

" 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 shun.
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.

'♦ This call'd for revenge, and to seek it I rose ;
My hatchet is red with the blood of ray 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, LoGAK, 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 officei-s. 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 fiienda
and kindred been slain in honorable warfare,
none would kave 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 accua-

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 mom, 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 fuiTows 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.

Tlie 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 fii"st 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
ah'eady 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, when they meet a foe
in the woods, armed, to fiy 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 PIONEERS 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 awaj. 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,

" Whose wavdesB 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 beautifal 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« c^ce noble and manly form of Logan.

246 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTEK 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 wife,
and a son ; the first and the last bearing the sobriquet
of " Old Joe," and " Young Joe." Tlieir 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 coidd 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, who 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 Uke
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
aa 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 l^attie, 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,
beai-s, 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 pei*pendicularly, a thousand
feet, there," said the hunter, his eyes flashing with
excitement, " there I see all creation. I was on that
hill when Yaughn 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 cm-led 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
Tinder my feet ; and the day the royal troops burned

THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 249

Jie town, the smoke seemed so near that I thought
I coiild ahnost 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, full 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 happr, 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 modem 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 fiiU 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

30ij| 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 competitoi-s
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 hair's
breadth from the sight of his eagle-eye, and if he

THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER. 251

ever failed to make a center shot, it vras the fault of
the gun, and not the marksman. ]Sro 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 envj 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
Bkill, strength, or valor, sought only to soar above
them by his own 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. Tlie only living beings
he would see for months were deer, beai-s, wolves,
and panthere, 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 govem-
inent, have claimed as his own, he cheerfully relin-
quished to the new comers, and, bidding adieu to the
cabin where he was bom, 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 tho
spring of 1TS7. 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
yeai-s 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. Tlie
Indians came in great numbers. A rude fort had
been erected, and the women iand 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. 266

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 militaiy tactics or
of Indian warfare ; and, following his own impetuous
natu"^, he seemed like a giant, cmshing 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 huntere 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

j^ 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 lie
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-
Tiriant 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 HUNTER. 257

in the breast, inflicting a severe but not dangerous
flesh-wound; the ball of the other pierced the noble
animal on which he was 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 lie
would rather die than run from foes so base. Tlie
moment the guns were fired, one of the Indians, i;
giant in size, like himself, seeing the blood stream-
ing from the bare breast of the hunter, gave a yell ot
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 was 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 pei-sonal 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 Joe
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 baiTel 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. Tliey 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 mider 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 miglit 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 earthlv 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 heavv body along tlie ground.
This trail ^vas 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
liimself to tlie 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 moimtain
hunter was as fall of terror to the Indians as it was
of delight to the frontier settlers. If he was about ia
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 himdreds 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 frontiei*s were infested with
a gang of outlaws, who engaged in the nefarious busi-
ness of hoi-se-steahng 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 AVashington 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
np 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 with 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 shaU receive in accordance with his works.

IlfDIAN CAPTIVITY. 268

CHAPTEK XI.

INDIAN CAPTIVITY.

In the year 1Y91 there lived, on the east side of the
AUeghanj River, abotit 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 yomiger 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. Tlie
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 an-ived
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

PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

his liands beliind his back, and, raising hira from the
ground, commanded him, by signs, to follow. Tlicy
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. Tliey 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 liim
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

Tlie youth, being quite as anxious as lie to have
something to eat, assured him that he would not
leave the spot imtil he returned. Fearing, however,
to tnist 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 efibrt 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 Lidian 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. " Tou 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! Tliey ex-
pressed surprise, as well as joy, at seeing him, and
gave him plenty of food to eat. Here they tan-ied
all night, and next moniing 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 Jiouse, 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 PIONEERS OF THE "WEST.

When tliey 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
aiTanging the gauntlet lines. In this ceremony all
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 jfrom the beating of the drunken warrior
and the stripes of the gauntlet. After remaining
eome time at the Seneca towns, his captor having
taken a wife, concluded on another tour ; and, taking
him along with them, thej 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 an-ived 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 com 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 Kiver 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 Lidian 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. 2T1

Cat 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 bronght axes, gnns, 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 Mauraee. Choate obtain-
ed a liberation before any of his companions, and the
story, as conmiunicated 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 ?"

" 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 tlie 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 sti'uck 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. Tlie 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.
Tlie expedition was a successful one, and after re-
maining two months, well laden with game and

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 278

8kins, 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
com 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. Xot 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 yeai-s 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 yon say so.
You have hved long with me ; you have hunted for

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 276

me ; but onr treaty says you must be free. K yon
choose to go with the people of yoiir own color,
I have no right to say a word; but if you choose
to stay with me, your people hare no right to
speak. Isow 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, mingh'ng
with the affection he had for his Indian father, and
the children he left ciying at^er 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 wiU go with my kin."

Tlie 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 wiU not be able
to hunt any more. I tliought 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. Li this
he was quite successful, and made a considerable

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 27T

sum. Having made enougli to pm-chase a horse
and an outfit for travel, lie started to his brother's
in Pennsylvania. So great had been the change
wrought in his appearance dm-ing 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 Kew-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 Yirginia,
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 obtxiined during three
months in the winter season, from an itinerant
s(ihoolmaster, 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 tliat extent, they
are looked upon as prodigies in "larnin'." Times,
however, have wonderfully changed in this rcBpect.

Our young aspirant for wealth and Hterary 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 Oliio River. Massie was desirous of hav-
ing him go over to his fort, in the then Xorthwestem
Territory ; and being pleased with the man, as well as
desirons of cultivating an acquaintance with the art
of surveying, he complied with his request. Accord-
ingly, the following spring, he took np 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 ofiered him liis 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, imtil he was exhausted and his back galled, he
threw it down. At this they raised a great laugh
amonsr themselves. After their merriment subsided
they examined his back, and finding it chafed ap<

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 281

eore, they applied some bear's oil, and, replacing the
burden, journeyed on. He did not travel far until he
threw it do^vn 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
'eady for a departure. Early next morning they
tvere on their march; and before Kenton arrived,
with his ninety men, who were in pursuit, they were
far on their journey. In the evening they encamped
on the edge of a prairie. After taking supper on
roasted undressed raccoon, they retired to rest. The
prisoner was tied, and placed between two warriors,
each one lying on the ends of the rope which secured
him. When all was still, and sleep had closed the
Benses of the warriors, the prisoner commenced trying
to effect his escape. The rope was made of bark, and

282 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

he began to gnaw it with his teeth. Thus he contin-
ued until near daybreak, when at length he succeeded
in accomplishing his object. Crawling off on his
hands and feet, he succeeded in getting to a log near
the prairie, where he sat down for the purpose of
putting on his moccasins. One was on; but while
in the act of putting on the other, he was missed,
and the alarm raised. Instead of entering the prai-
rie, they took the back track through the woods,
supposing, of course, he had gone in that direction.
Soon as he heard the yell, he started, and crossing a
portion of the prairie, he entered the woods, taking
the poorest ridges, and, when coming to logs, running
along them, and crossing from one to another, to blind
his track. Thus he continued until ten o'clock, when,
ascending a ridge, weary and faint, he crept in Jje-
tween two logs, and soon fell asleep. His slumber
was so profound that he did not wake until the sun
was going down. Where he was, he knew not; nor
how far from or near to his savage foes. Springing
to his feet, he traveled on until he found a hollow
tree, into which he crej)t, and slept until morning.
Much refreshed, though with blistered feet, and hun-
gry, he continued his journey, until, after several
days' travel, during which time all he had to eat was
a couple of turkey's eggs, he reached the Miami
River. He followed this stream down until he struck
Harmar's trace, made the previous fall. Seeing a

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 283

horse, he caught him, and putting on him a bark
bridle, he mounted him, but it was onlv to be thrown
by the wild animal. ]N^ot disheartened, he caught
him, and sprang upon his back again, but again he
was thrown, more violently than before, and lay for
some time insensible. After recovering, he resumed
his journey. His feet had become entirely bare, and
being exposed to briars and thorns, were much swoll-
en, and so sore that he could scarcely walk. He felt
that it would be impossible for him to proceed much
further, and he began to resign himself to his fate-
He knew not how far he was from the Ohio River,
and there were no settlements between him and that
point. The horrible idea of starvation at last came
upon him, and in gloomy despair he laid himself
down at the root of a tree to die.

Scarcely had his head touched the mossy root, ere
he fell into a slumber. It was not, however, a pro-
found sleep, for he dreamed; and as dreams usually
indicate the mind's anxieties, so he imagined himself,
like the pilgrim in Bunyan's "Progress," asleep on
enchanted ground. In his dream he was admonished
by some kind one to wake and pursue his journey;
for he was not far from the city of deliverance, and
by perseverance he would reach it before night. He
awoke, and feeling that new life was infused into him
by the hope the dream inspired, he hastened on. But
his physical energies could not keep pace with his

284 PIOKEERS OF THE WEST.

excited imagination, and, after traveling a short dis-
tance, he sank to the earth, exhausted. A darkness
came over him, and he felt that his hour was come.
He dreamed again, and again he was urged to pro-
ceed, being assured that before the setting sun he
would see the river and find deliverance. Rousing
from his lethargy, he summoned all his remaining
energy, and moved onward. He had not j)roceeded
far until he ascended an elevated but broken plain ;
and he thought he could discover, in the distance, an
opening in the forest. Tliis inspired him with fresh
courage, and he hastened his steps. He was now de-
scending the side of the river hill, and ere he had got
half way down, he heard the sound of an ax, the well-
known harbinger of civilization. The sound was sweet
to his ears, as the harps of the blessed to the pilgrim
when he crossed the river. He had reached the
suburbs of Fort Washington, and proceeding cau-
tiously, for fear of alarming the chopper, looking,
as he did, like an Indian, he succeeded in getting
within speaking distance, and hailed him. Tlie back-
woodsman, Mr. William Woodward, subsequently
founder of the Woodward High School, on seeing a
savage-looking person before him, exclaimed,

" In the name of God, who are you?"

The schoolmaster replied, " I have been a prisoner,
and have escaped from the Indians."

At this Woodward invited him to approach, and,

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 285

seeing his helpless condition, caught a horse, and
helping him on its back, he led it, with its rider, to
his house which was some distance from the lot in
which he was clearing. The settlers, surprised at
the singular appearance of the white Indian on horse-
back, began to gather, and before Woodward reached
his dwelling quite a number had collected. It was
difficult to convince many of them that he was not a
spy. Every attention and kindness was shown him
by his host. Clothes were procured for him, and, as
far as possible, he was restored to the appearance of
a white man. General Harmar, having heard of his
arrival, sent a messenger after him to bring him to
the fort. When he amved, a large number of people
were collected to look upon the stranger. The gen-
eral, not being without suspicious that he was a spy,
was on the point of placing him in custody ; but he
was at length permitted to leave without imprison-
ment. HaAnng recovered his strength, he entered, as
a clerk, the store of Strong & Bartle, gentlemen for
whom he had previously transacted some business.
The store stood near the river, a little above the inter-
section of Main and Front streets. Wliile here he
met an acquaintance from !Xorth Bend, and he was
prevailed upon to go home with him, which he did.
Having been a captive among the Indians, he was an
object of much curiosity among the people. Find-
ing, however, that he was regarded by some as a

PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

spy, notwithstanding his own declarations to the con-
trary, as well as those who were personally acquainted
with him, he thought it best, for the peace of the
community, at least, if not his own safety, to leave.
A contractor's boat coming up the river about this
time, he secured a passage, and arrived, in due course
of time, at Maysville, where he was received with
every demonstration of joy, particularly by the young
people who had been members of his school. After
remaining here some time he went to Manchester,
where, if living, the pioneer schoolmaster may be
found at this day.

We must not omit, in this chapter, the adventures
of the pioneer Kenton, whose name we have intro-
duced elsewhere. A young farmer, at the age of
sixteen he pushed out from home, and braved the
wilderness of the mountains and the deep forests of
the West. From a trader he heard of the famous
Kain-tuck-ee, and he resolved to seek his fortune on
its verdant plains. We propose not to sketch his life
of romance in this chapter, but shall give tbe reader
an account of his captivity.

On a certain occasion he was called upon to take
with him two young men, and go on an expedition to
Chillicothe, an Indian town on the Miami. The
design of the expedition was to ascertain the condi-
tion of the Indians, in view of an attack which was
contemplated by Colonel Bowman. Having reached

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 287

the town, thej marched around the honses and camps

dnring the night unperceived. After ascertaining

the condition of the warriors and their preparation

for war, they started on their homeward journey.

Finding, however, in their path, near the town, a

number of fine horses, belonging to the Indians, they

concluded on eflecting a stampede. Each mounting

a horse, they tried to get the rest to follow. Being

intractable and having some difficulty, they were

discovered, and a wild yell ran through the town that

the "Long Knives" were stealing their horees. They

had haltered all the horses, and started with all their

speed through the woods. They had not proceeded

far until they came to a large swamp, which it was

impossible to pass without being mired. Finding

tliat there was no way of crossing, they changed their

course, as nearly as they could calculate, for the Ohio

Eiver. They rode all night \vithout stopping, and

only halted a few minutes at daylight. Through all

the day they pursued their journey and through the

succeeding night. Such was the rapidity with which

they traveled, that when morning came they found

themselves on the banks of the Ohio. Were they only

on the southern shore they would be out of reach,

or, at least, safe from their pursuei-s ; but there was

no ferry, and the river was extremely rough from the

high winds which were prevailing at that time.

Holding a council in regard to what should be
18

28§ FIOXEEKS OF THE WEST.

done, it was finally resolved that Kenton should cross
with the horses, while the remaining two should
construct a raft for taking over the guns and bag-
gage. Kenton accordingly, after forcing the horses
into the stream, plunged in and swam by their
side ; but the waves rolled so high, and the current
was so rapid, he was soon can-ied down below the
horses, who were much more able to breast the
tide. Being thus left to themselves, they turned and
swam back to the Ohio side. Kenton also returned,
and after resting a little, lie drove them in again,
and plunged after them, but the same result fol-
lowed. What was to be done? It was perfectly
certain that the horses would not cross the river, at
least while it was so boisterous. Tlie question was,
whether they should cross without them, or wait
until the wind should fall and calm the river. The
latter they adopted. The day passed ; but the wind,
instead of lulling, seemed to have increased in vio-
lence, and so continued until morning. The river
having become somewhat calm, they endeavored
again to force the horses into it, but they obstinately
refused to try the waves again, and every effort to
get them into the stream proved unavailing.

Knowing that the Indians would soon be upon
them, no further time could be lost in such fruitless
efforts, and, each one mounting his horee, they
started down the river in the direction of LouisviUe.

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 289

Unwilling, however, to leave the horses, which had
started back on the trail toward home, thej started
after them, Kenton in the center, and the young
men on each side. Tliey had not progressed far
when they heard, about two hundred yards behind
them, the yell of the savage. Instead of instantly
putting his horse to his speed, and fleeing away
through the woods, Kenton deliberately dismounted,
and, leading his horse, he went back to meet the
Indians. Soon three of them made their appear-
ance, in company with a white man. Raising his
rifle to his shoulder, he took deliberate aim at the
foremost Indian, but the powder flashed in the pan.
At this the enemy rushed upon him, and he took
to the woods on foot, pursued by the Indians on
fleet horses. He was a fleet runner, and, as the
forest was dense, and much fallen timber obstructed
the way of the horsemen, he was soon out of reach
of his pursuers. But just as he was coming out
into an open space, he was met by an Indian on
horseback, who had taken a circuit for the purpose
of heading him. The Indian rode up to him at fuU
gallop, extending his hand, and in affectionate tones
of broken English, said, " Brother ! brother !" Ken-
ton shouted that he would surrender, if they would
give him quarter and good treatment. This the
Indian promised, and seizing him violently by the
hand, Kenton raised his gun to strike him, when

PIONEEIIS OF THE WEST.

an Indian from tlie wood sprang upon him. By
this time all had arrived, and, after tying the arms
of their prisoner, the one who first advanced with
tlie words of kindness, seized him by the hair, and
shook him till his teeth rattled. Tlie rest fell on
him with ramrods, and beat him most nnmercifully.
At every stroke on his back and over his head
they would exclaim, "Steal Indian hoss! hey?"
One of Kenton's companions came to his assistance,
but the other made his escape. As soon as the
Indians perceived him they gave chase. Mont-
gomery wheeled and fired, but the Indian's aim was
more certain, and he fell dead in the woods. The
only thing that ever Kenton saw of him afterward
was his bloody scalp, which they exhibited to him
on their return.

They then prepared to torture their prisoner.
Causing him to lie down on his back, they stretch-
ed out his arms at full length. Taking a strong
stick, they laid it across his breast, and tied his
wrists to each extremity with thongs made of buf-
falo hides. Stakes were then driven into the earth
near his feet, and they were both tied in a similar
manner. A halter was then tied around his neck,
and the opposite end fastened to a sapling near by.
Then they drew a strong rope under him, and encir-
cling his body, fastened it to the stick across his
breast and- winding the ends around his arms, tied

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 291

them at the wrists. Bv this means his arms were
tightly pinioned, and thus he was literally bound
hand and foot. During the operation, they exhaust-
ed the vocabulary of English oaths, which they had
learned from huntere and traders.

In this position he remained all night, his hmbs
paining him very much. In the morning he was
mounted upon one of the wildest colts he had stolen,
and his feet fastened by cords under the horse.
"When all was in readiness, the restive animal never
having been backed before, started off with his Ma-
zeppa at a furious bound. Kenton managed to keep
upon his back, and after several ineffectual rears and
pitches to throw his rider, the horse became quiet,
and followed on in company. When night came he
was taken from the horse, and pinioned to the earth
as before. On the third day the party arrived in
the vicinity of Chillicothe, where they halted, and
dispatched a messenger to inform the town of their
anival, that they might be prepared for the recep-
tion of the captive. In a short time the chief Black
Fish came out, and, addressing Kenton, said, in good
English,

" You have been steahng our horses, have you ?"

" Yes, sir," responded Kenton.

" Did Captain Boone tell you to steal our horses ?"

" No, sir ; I did it of my own free wiU and ac-
cord."

292 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

The frank confession had too much of a tantalizing
tone in it, and the chief, approaching him, dealt sev-
eral violent blows with a hickory, across his bare
back, which caused the blood to flow freely. "Wlien
they approached the town, every man, woman, and
child, came out to see the prisoner. All seemed to
be enraged, and with simultaneous cries, they shout-
ed, " To the stake ! to the stake !" He was soon
taken from the horse, a stake was procured, and
driven into the ground. His remaining apparel was
torn from him, his hands were tied above his head to
the stake, and his body lashed securely by ropes to
the fatal wood. After this, the whole company
danced around him until midnight, making the
gloom more hideous by their savage yells. Dry fag-
ots were placed around him, and all that was neces-
sary to complete the execution was, the command of
the chief to apply the torch. Thus he remained in
dreadful suspense and suffering all night. In the morn-
ing he was untied, and taken to the town. No sooner,
however, did he arrive, than he was ordered to pre-
pare to run the gauntlet. It consisted of two rows of
men, women, and boys, reaching a quarter of a mile
in length. At the starting place stood two grim,
stalwart warriors with butcher knives in their hands.
At the extremity of the line, an Indian was stationed
to beat the drum, a few paces beyond which was
the council-house. Along the whole Hnes, clubs,

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 293

switclies, lioe-handles, tomahawks, and butcher-knives,
were brandished in frightful array.

At length the roll of the drum announced the
period of starting ; and the daring hunter sprang into
the lines, and breaking through ere he had received
many blows, he started on a turn, and darting again
in the midst of them, he distanced his pnrsuers in the
direction of the council-house, which he reached
without having received any injury. Immediately
after the race a council was held, as to whether he
should be burned at the stake, or carried round as
a captive among the tribes. The council sat on the
groimd floor of the council-house, and the war-club
was passed, those in favor of burning striking it
violently upon the earth, and those in favor of
retaining him as a captive passing it in silence to the
next; the latter vote prevailed, and it was resolved
that he should be taken to an Indian town on the
"Wabash. They accordingly started; and Kenton,
being suffered to walk untied, passed along in sullen
silence, meditating an escape, should opportunity
offer. As they journeyed on, he was startled by a
loud yell, and the distant roll of a drum. They
were nearing the town, and before his excited imagi-
nation rose the gauntlet and the stake. Instantly he
darted into the thick undergrowth, and distanced the
swiftest pursuers ; but it was only to fall into the hands
of a party of Indian horsemen, who intercepted hia

294 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

path. He was caught and tied, and led into the
town of Pickaway. For this second offense all hope
of escaping with his life was gone. A council was
held ; the war-club passed, and his fate was sealed.
"While sitting in the council-house hearing his doom,
Girty, a white man who had forsworn his race, and
was bloodthirsty as the Indians, came in, and recog-
nizing him as a companion spy in Dunmore's war,
interceded in his behalf with so much perseverance
and eloquence that he was saved. Girty treated
him with the utmost kindness, and took him out
with him in his hunts. But the chiefs were not
satisfied ; and another council was held, from whose
decision it was impossible for Girty, with all his
influence and skill, to effect the escape of his friend.
A halter was placed around his neck, and he was
marched off to the place selected for his execution.

On the way the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan,
came up to him, and, taking him aside, said,

" Well, young man ; these young men seem very
angry at you,"

" Yes," said Kenton, " they are."

"Well, don't be disheartened; I am a great chief.
You are to go to Sandusky; they talk of burning
you there ; but I will send two runners to speak good
for you there."

According to promise, Logan sent his men, but
all the influence he could bring to bear proved of no

INDIAN CAPTIVITY. 296

avail ; and Logan, the kind-hearted, had to yield him
up to his fate. When they reached Sandusky, and
all things had been got in readiness for the execu-
tion, a Frenchman, an officer, stepped forward, and
asked for the release of the prisoner, as he wished
to take him to Detroit, to serve in an important
expedition among the enemy. After much entreaty
he was given up, and they finally arrived at Detroit,
where much kindness was shown him. While here,
Kenton found two young men who had been taken
prisonei-s with Boone at the Bhie Licks ; and, being
anxious to return to his much-loved Kentucky, he
opened up his mind to them about attempting his
escape. To be sure, the distance was nearly three
hundi-ed miles, through a wilderness infested by
Lidians, and the chances were all against them.

At length they succeeded in procuring guns and
ammunition, which they secreted in the woods;
and off they started. They only traveled during
the night season; and, after a weary journey of
thirty nights, they arrived at Louisville, on the Ohio,
about forty miles below the spot from whence Kenton
was taken by the Indians. He subsequently served
in Wayne's army, and shared in the decisive victory
achieved ; and spent the remnant of his days on Mad
River, near the scene of his former adventures.

29ff PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTEK Xn.

"THE OLD CHIEF;" OR, THE INDIAN MISSIONARY.

Half a century ago, in the then far-off wilds of Ohio
embraced within the limits of the IS'orthwestern
TeiTitorj, which extended from the hither shore of
the Northern lakes to the Ohio River on the south,
and fi'om the Alleghanies on the east to the distant
Father of Waters on the west, there dwelt, in his log-
cabin in the woods, a man who had grown up from
childhood amid the stirring scenes of backwoods life.
His father was of the old Puritan stock, and, reared
in New-England, had been early sent to Princeton,
with a view of training him for a minister. Having
passed through his curriculum, and received clerical
orders, he entered upon the work of the ministry.
Prompted by zeal, as well as that adventurous spirit
which ever characterizes the Yankee, and urges him
out to new, distant, and often hazardous enterprises,
whether as a merchant, or tradesman, or minister of
the Gospel, to settle in Hong-Kong, Calcutta, Cape
Town, Buenos Ayres, or Australia, for the purpose of
driving his business ; or, as in the persons of Marsh-

m^-^^m

"THE OLD CHIEF." 299

man or Jiidson, Mills or Bingham, to plant the stand-
ard of tlie cross and call the dying heathen to repent-
ance ; so om* preacher was fired with a zeal to strike
his tent and pitch it in the Western wilderness among
the wandering savages and the widely-scattered desti-
tute population which had been the first to cut a path
tlirough the unbroken wilds, and, leveling the forest,
let in, for the first time, the genial sun to kiss the vir-
gin earth. His passage across the mountains and his
descent of the Ohio, attended, as they were, with
many thrilling incidents and hair-breadth escapes
from the ever-vigilant savage, who resisted every
encroachment of the white man upon his territory,
and contended for every inch of the ground, we shall
pass over, and follow him as he makes a landing, and
penetrates the cane-brakes of Kentucky. Here he
gathered around him a little flock, organized a
Church, and administered the word of life and tho
ordinances of religion. Again and again was the
peaceful quiet of the scattered settlement where he
resided disturbed by the depredations of the Indians.
But he could fight as well as watch and pray, and
often, with his trusty rifle, has he sallied forth in
company with his parishioners to avenge the wrongs
inflicted by the red man.

The first academy of learning ever established in the
West was opened by this stem and sturdy pioneer,
and there, on its puncheon floor, and beside its wooden

300 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

chimney and paper windows, and under its clap
board roof, many a young man was trained in the
Georgics and Bucolics of Yirgil, the Odes of Anac-
reon, and the Iliad of Homer. In those vast cane-
brakes, where, but a few years before, roamed, unmo-
lested and free, the elk, the buffalo, and the Indian,
and naught was heard but the cry of wild beasts and
the yell of the savage, now was to be heard the voice
of praise in the temple of God, and the voice of
classic song in the academic grove. Young men
were there trained who, in after life, figured largely
and usefully in Church and state, and contributed
much to build up the institutions of the mighty
West.

But few, at this day, know how far the present
condition and prosperity of the West, with its liberal
and enlightened government, wholesome laws, politi-
cal, literary, and religious institutions, are directly
traceable to the indomitable energy, zeal, and peree-
verance of that class of pioneers about whom we are
writing. As our country owes its birth and great-
ness, and rapidly-increasing and augmenting pros-
perity, to the Puritans, whose iron will and unfailing
courage prompted them to brave the dangers of a
wintery ocean, in a frail and feeble bark, and seek
a home in this new world, so are the Western States,
which now spread over the Mississippi valley, in-
debted, for their existence and prosperity, to the

"THE OLD CHIEF." 301

descendants of that noble band. But thev hare
passed away ; only here and there can one be found ;
yet they remain as the solitary oak of the clearing-,
to proclaim the ancient glory of the forest which once
stood in grandeur, unscathed by the hand of time.
It is well to reflect upon the past, and gather up its
reminiscences ere they pass away from the memory
of man. Be it ours briefly to sketch the life of one
of these ; and if our readers shall not find it a story of
more romantic interest than ever occupied a page of
fiction, it will not be for want of startling, veritable
facts, but for want of power in the writer so to classily
and present them that they shall be exhibited in such
a light as to awaken the interest of which they are in
the largest sense susceptible.

"We have already informed the reader that the
subject of our sketch was a son of the preacher and
schoolmaster of the frontier. The son, partaking of
the nature and disposition of the sire, was unwilling
to be hemmed in by the settlements ; and like Daniel
Boone, who, when he heard a man had built a cabin
within fifty miles of his own rude hut, would instantly
remove to a less crowded locality, so he resolved to
travel further into the wilderness. He had taken for
himself a wife, a hardy backwoods gui, who was
ready for any adventure and peril her young and
daring husband might see proper to undertake or
brave. So, without even a horse, or farming ntensils,

302 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

save an ax and a hoe, and for domestic purposes a
camp kettle and a rifle, they started out on foot from
Chillicothe, to seek a home in the highlands of central
Ohio. Arriving at the place selected, the first thing
was to cut down timber and erect a camp, a dwelling
smaller and less imposing than a log-cabin. Within
this, stakes were driven into the ground at proper
distances, and a small platform erected and covered
with leaves for a bed. The only dependence for food
was upon the rifle; and as the woods abounded in
game, they did not sutfer, as bear-meat, venison, and
turkey graced their humble board. True, they had
neither salt nor bread ; but these were mere luxuries,
with which they could dispense, as they ate to live,
and did not, like most of the present day, live only
for the purpose of eating. Indeed, it would be well
for the health and happiness, long life and usefulness,
of many, if they were shut up by necessity to this
primitive mode of life.

Fond as he was of backwoods life, with him it was
one continued scene of the most exhilarating enjoy-
ment. When the morning sun tinged the tree-tops,
and illumined the foliage with its golden blaze, he
was out with his gun in quest of game for breakfast ;
or, if supplied, he was busily engaged with his hoe,
which answered the place of a horse and plow in pre-
paring a small piece of land, which he had cleared,
for a crop of com. Though he had received a relig-

"THE OLD CHIEF." 303

ions traming, and had been educated in his fatlier's
academy, and could scan Yirgil and Homer, and had
been for jears engaged in studying medicine, vet he
was wild as the woods in which he hved, and reckless
as the Indian, who dared not meet him in mortal
combat. To a Herculean frame was united a jSeetness
of foot that made him at home the greatest fighter,
wrestler, and runner, that could be found at a "rais-
ing," "log-rolling," "corn-husking," or "quilting."
Many a white man and Indian have felt the power of
his arm, and few were willing to enter the lists with
him in any of the backwoods games we have enu-
merated, which, although not so classical, in their
"knock-down and drag-out" character, as the Olympic
or Isthmian, nevertheless required equally great skill,
strength, and courage. "What pigmies are the present
race, compared with that which leveled the forests of
the West ! We fear that gymnastics and calisthenics
will not save us from a physical deterioration, at least,
unless we shall change our habits and modes of life.
We talk much of the Anglo-Saxon, and are wont to
boast of tlie mental energy and physical courage
which characterize him, as well as the Anglo- Auier-
ican; and we speak of his conquests as if the subju-
gation of the world was the "manifest destiny" he
had to work out ; but we must remember that the
iron constitution of the proud Roman was eventually
undermined and finally gave way to the enervating

304 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

influences of habits which induced effeminacy. Rome
conquered the world, carrying her victorious arais to
every land, and planting her eagle standard on every
shore; but uncultivated Scandinavian hordes came
upon her in an evil hour, and, like Samson, shorn
of her strength by the soft, bewitching arts of the
beautiful Delilah, she fell a victim to her softness of
manners.

While our pioneer fathei*s could travel barefooted
in the snow all day, or, at most, with bark sandals to
protect them, and camp out all night without food,
and often without fire, subsisting for days upon coons
and wild cats, without salt or bread, and peeling bark
with their teeth, it was not likely they would produce
children of dyspeptic habits and stunted growth. It is
not probable that their sons would go shivering from
block to block through our crowded thorouglifares,
with pale faces, under a load of over-garments, and
wrapped up in shawls and fui*s ; or that their daugh-
ters would need rmige to bring the color to their
cheeks, and a little eau de vie to give elasticity to
the step and brightness to the eye. Nay, the sons
could chop throughout a winter's day without the
smell of fire, and the daughters could pile brush and
roll logs, and at night, with pine knot torches, they
could travel miles to a husking, or quilting, or danc-
ing frolic. Such were the exercises and sports of qui
young backwoodsman.

"THE OLD CHIEF." 306

But scarcely had the second winter passed in
which he had exchanged his Indian camp for a log-
cabin, and stored its loft with the yellow com which
he had reared with his hoe in the plum bottom,
than an incident occmTed, which at once swept
from him all his earthly hopes. He had, unwittingly,
gone security for one of his neighbors, and judg-
ment being rendered against him, in default of the
principal to pay, his cabin and land were sold by
the sheriff to satisfy said judgment, and he and his
wife turned out homeless. "iV7^ desperandum"
which having cut with his hunting-knife deep in
the bark of a beech-tree, he took his wife to a
friend's, and shouldered his rifle, determined to take
a winter's hunt, and see if he could not retriere his
fallen fortunes. With a firm resolution to do his
utmost, he penetrated deep into the wilderness,
hunting all day, and camping by night at the root
of some tree, whose branches made the only cover-
ing that protected him. Fear, he had none, for he
had grappled with bears and wolves, as well as with
savage white aad red men. So perfectly daring, if
not reckless, had he become, that his feats at elec-
tions and shooting-matches secured for him the
sobiiquet of the '■'■New Market DevilP His winter's
hunt was crowned with success, and his venison
and skins of different kinds brought him as much

in market as he had lost by becoming surety for
19

306 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

another, and again lie returned to the cultivation of
the soil.

Many were the deep, tumultuous upheavings of
his soul, while free from the excitement of the
chase, when solitude and darkness were around
him. He feared not man, nor the wild beasts that
prowled around him; but, wicked as he was, he
feared God. Well could he say he had wronged
no man, he had robbed no man ; but his catechism
had taught him, that it was not all of man's duty
to do justly, that the " chief end of every being
was to glorify God and enjoy him forever." Often
would he gaze up into the heavens when the mid-
night storm was careering in majesty, and the forest
roared like the surges of the sea in its rocky caves;
and the reflection that he had not devoted himself
to the service of his God would come with power to
his enlightened conscience, and make him tremble.

" As coward guilt and pallid fear

To sheltering caverns fly,
And justly dread the vengeful fate

That thunders 'long the sky,"

SO would he fain have hidden himself from the
Almighty ; but his awful presence was felt in the
deep sohtude of the desert as none can feel it,
hemmed in by the works of man. We need not
Bay that he was educated in the faith which, accord-

"THE OLD CHIEF." 807

ing to the venerable Saybrook platform, makes God
a Sovereign, and refers to his will solely the destiny
of man, electing seme to everlasting life, and passing
by others to be left to the doom that awaits their
gnilty state. On one occasion his thoughts became
so intense upon this subject, that, comparing his
ungracious state with the doctrine of election, he
came to the conclusion that he was a reprobate,
and a dark and fearful doom awaited him, Is^othing
preys upon the mind of man more intensely than
his relations to God and eternity. Only let the
subject once fairly pervade it, and there is no power
so potent to control and guide it as the possession
of such a faith. Let the conviction seize the soul
of a man that he is doomed, and that no provision
iu the scheme of mercy can reach his case, and all
the arguments of men and angels cannot chase from
his mind the sullen despair which settles down,
shade ailer shade, in blackness upon his forlorn
spirit. How many have been driven to madness
and death, or to the lunatic asylum, by the deep,
insupportable agony which has been induced by
allowing their minds to take a ^vrong turn in this
matter, or whose religious instructions have been
such as to produce a result of this description. Of
all the forms of mania, this is the worst, and the
most to be dreaded, because its tendency is almost
invariably to suicide. "WTiatever may be the pur-

308 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

poses of God in the ultimate destiny of any man,
these purposes cannot be known to mortals; and
those who have the care of souls should be careful
to reveal the Almighty in those forms in which he
lias the most clearly manifested himself. The clergy
will forgive me for these suggestions, as a vast
amount of mental misery, without working any ulti-
mate evil, may be avoided by attention thereto.

Added to the instructions the backwoods hunter
had received was a volume of sermons, which dwelt
altogether upon the somber side of religion, and were
as full of wrath as Milton's lake of fire was full of
fiends. A gloomy dyspeptic, or one who has the
moral delirium tremens, should neither be allowed to
write songs nor sermons for the public mind. Tliey
may engage in such exercise for their own amuse-
ment and profit, as in that case they will hurt
none but themselves ; but to strike the public mind
with the horrid forms in which their distempered
imaginations see God, and his plans of grace and
providence, is what, if tolerated, should not, to say
the least, be encouraged. Filled with such terrific
images of wrath, it was no wonder that even the
strong, educated mind of the subject of om* sketch
should sink into despair.

That dreadful crisis he reached, and away in the
deep, awful silence of the forest, with liis rifle
loaded, and his foot raised to bring down the ham-

-THE OLD CHIEF." 309

mer, he meditated the frightful deed. Like many
othei-3, who have "fled to ills they know not of,"
rather than bear their present agony, he would
have "passed the bourn from whence no traveler
returns," but for some mysterious, nnaecountable
change of mind, which, like a flash from out a deep-
pervading gloom, startled his soul, and he instantly
fired oft' his rifle and returned to his camp. He
was saved — saved from a melancholy death — saved
to a long life of usefulness, for it was not many days
until tlie peace and joy of heaven broke into his
soul, like the light of morning, carrying the most clear
and convincing demonsti'ation, that God was love.

It was a wonderful conversion, and most wonderful
were its results. Without waiting for Presbytery or
Conference to give him a commission to preach the
Gospel, he started out under an impulse he had never
felt before, and from cabin to cabin, far and near, he
told the wondering neighbors what God had done for
his soul.

It was only occasionally that some wandering
preacher would visit the neighborhood, and hold
forth the word of life in the cabins of the settler.
He, as if providentially raised up for that very pur-
pose, from among his backwoods brethren, called
together the neighborhood, and with a heaven-bom
zeal, and native eloquence, such as no arts of oratory
can give, poured out his sovd in exhortation. In a

310 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

short time, many were converted through his instru-
mentality, and a Church was organized upon the
apostolic plan. Had those backwoodsmen waited
until a congregation had assembled of their own
accord, and in deliberate session called a pastor to
feed them with the bread of life, that large and des-
titute neighborhood would have remained to this
day unsupplied. God called the preacher, and the
preacher called the people, not they him, and through
his labors, " the wilderness and solitary places were
made to blossom like the rose."

Though we speak thus, we do not object to Church
order in regard to the call and qualifications of the
ministry by any means ; but here were extraordinary
circumstances, and extraordinary means were neces-
sary to meet them, and the will of the Great Father
can as readily be indicated by them, as the putting
forth of the leaves of the forest indicate the approach
of summer. As, in the order of God, his labors were
recognized by the Church, he was soon invested
with her authority to do the work of an evangelist.
No longer as a hunter, with knife, and tomahawk, and
rifle, chasing the deer or treeing the bear, but as a
backwoods preacher, he might be seen blazing a
path to distant settlements to preach the everlasting
Gospel, and gather the wanderers into the fold.
Though his fare was even harder, and his labors more
toilsome and abundant than they had been, yet,

"THE OLD CHIEF." 311

without fee or reward from man, lie urged his way
through dense forests, tangled thickets, over hill and
dale, and rapid river, taking circuits of a thousand
miles to preach to his fellow-men.

On one of his excursions, he came to a point on
the Tuscarawas River, where the Christian Indians
had formerly established a settlement Among these
Indians, years before, the Moravians had organized a
mission Church. They had become Christianized,
and thus were civilized, as Christianity can only be-
come the civilizer of barbarous nations. Every other
policy has failed, and, indeed, must fail. Savages
must be made new creatures, by the transforming in-
fluence of the Gospel ; grace only can successfully
control and guide them in the path of civilized life.
A military government may hold them in check, but
that very restraint will only serve to exasperate
them, as the chain chafes the spirit of the untamed
tiger, and only whets his appetite for blood. Schools
may be organized among them, but only so far as
they partake of the Christian element, will they be
promotive of good. These Indians had laid down
the tomahawk and scalping-knife, and only at par-
ticular seasons of the year did they resort to hunting,
and then not to depend on it for a livelihood. They
had turned their attention to the cultivation of the
soil, and had built them towns, in which the Church
and mission school stood side by side.

312 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

Early one morning, in tlie spring of 1Y82, a com
pany of militia, under the command of Colonel
Williamson, encamped on the river, opposite to
Gnadenhutten, one of the Indian to^vns. The in-
habitants were at work in the corn-fields adjacent
thereto, with the exception of an old Indian and
a squaw. Sixteen of this company crossed the river,
and, entering the town, basely murdered these two
unprotected Indians. They then went into the corn-
fields, and, through protestations of friendship, and
promises of protection, and holding out the most
flattering inducements, prevailed upon them to con-
sent to go with them to Fort Pitt. They also pre-
vailed upon them to send a deputation to Salem,
another Indian town, for the purpose of persuading
their brethren to go with them to a place where they
would be safe from the attacks of hostile Indians,
and have everything they could desire to make them
happy. The demon arts of the white man succeeded,
and it was not long until a deputation was sent, and
they succeeded in inducing their brethren to join
them; and soon, all things having been got in
readiness, they started to join their brethren, and
the kind, white friends who had promised to do so
much for them. Poor, unsuspecting red man ; httle
did you think that your wives and your little ones,
in leaving your peaceful village, were going into
the very jaws of death ! They had not been gone

"THE OLD CHIEF." 313

long before "Williamson and his gang of desperadoes
— for thej had now all crossed the river — gave the
Tinsuspeeting Indians an evidence of their fi-iend-
ship, by binding them all hand and foot, and confin-
ing them in two houses, the males in one and the
females in the other. On the arrival of the Indians
from Salem, for thej were alike deceived bv the vil-
lainous arts of the white men, they also were seized,
and bound, and thrust into prison with their com-
panions. And now comes a scene of horror and cold-
blooded cruelty which is enough to make one loathe
his race. A council was held, and, with but few ex-
ceptions, these inhuman soldiers deliberately resolved
on tomahawking every man, woman, and child of the
one hundred prisoners that had been decoyed into
tlieir power. "We talk of savage barbarity, and teach
our children to look upon the painted savage as
bloodthirsty and cruel ; but the scene we are about
to describe, for base, craven-hearted enormity and
inhumanity, is almost without a parallel in all the
annals of crime.

No sooner had they arrived, than their sworn
protectors rushed upon them, and, seizing them
with the rest, with savage cruelty, converted their
homes and altai-s into dungeons and stakes. The
fearful apprehension of their fate came upon them ;
and, like Christians, they submitted with resignation.
That gloomy night was spent in prayer and praise to

814 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

God; and when the morning sun flashed its first
beams on wood and river they were led out, one by
one, to execution. Every one of that helpless and
innocent band, some of whom had been members of
the pious Brainard's flock, and had listened to the
eloquence of the meek and devoted Zinzendorif —
fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives,
and prattling, unconscious children — were led out
separately to the block; and the tomahawk of the
white man did its work of death. God truly is mer-
ciful, or the red bolts of his avenging wrath would
have descended upon that murderous and cowardly
band. But the work of death was done ; nor prayere
nor tears could move the savage hearts of Williamson
and his men. The lifeless bodies were thrown into
the houses, the torch applied, and soon the homes of
the Indians became their graves.

Talk about merciless savages and their revengeful
disposition! "When we consider the depredations
and cruelties of the Christian white man, we wonder
that there is a peaceful or a Christian Indian in all
the vast territory, where they are permitted, by the
merest sufferance, to find a home. What would we
think if a nation mightier than we, intellectually as
well as physically, should invade our country, and
kill our fathers, and mothei"s, and brothers, and
sisters, and drive us from our homes, our altars, and
the gi'aves of our kindred ? Whatever we might

"THE OLD CHIEF." 816

think, it would take centuries of better dealing
to make us believe tbat tbeir religion was anything
else than that which we could receive. Is it not a
thousand wonders that any Indian has been converted
to Christianity?

Alas! we spend our sympathies on the poor hea-
then, in their wild and desert homes, and pray that
their "wilderness and solitary places may be made
glad" by our rehgion, when a wilder desert and a
deeper gloom are around us. There is a finghtfal
moral wilderness in our midst,

" More dreary than the deepest shade

Of India's tiger-haunted wood.
Or "Western forests nnsarvey'd,

"Where crouching panthers lurk for blood."

The blood of those one hundred Indians, which was
shed in that peacefiil village, on the banks of the
Tuscarawas, has left a stain of itself, without adding
the innumerable catalogue of butcheries which have
disgraced the annals of our nation, that neither sum-
mer's rains nor winter's snows can ever wash out
of the earth. It cries to God for vengeance, and, as
nations are judged in time, the day of recompense
will come. It may be postponed ; the fearful retribu-
tion may not come in this generation or a succeeding
one, for the cup of national iniquity may not yet be
sufficiently full ; but nothing can avert it. God is just.

816 PIOiSrEERS OF THE WEST,

and come it must. On the side of the oppressor
there may be a power which may shield him for a
time, and he may revel in conscious security ; but a
righteous destiny will follow him through all the hid-
ings of that power, and track him to his fate. In an
hour when he least looks for and least dreads the
approach of danger, when, perhaps, like the guilty
monarch of Babylon, a thousand incense-burners are
gleaming on the faces of the joyous throng, a light
above their brightness, and in whose glare every
earthly fire shall pale, will flash out his doom. Provi-
dence may give this nation space for repentance and
restitution ; but if the harvest of its merciful visitation
and the summer of its grace shall pass away without
the one and the other, then, though territory after
territory be annexed, island after island, and conti-
nent after continent, and it can boast of more magni-
ficent cities and a wider and wealthier domain than
ever belonged to Assyria, or Egypt, or Babylonia, or
Greece, or Home, in their palmiest days, God will
blot it from the record of nations.

But we must return to the dark and bloody scene
we have been describing. Nothing was to be seen
when our young missionary visited the spot but the
charred and blackened ruins, standing as a grim and
ghastly monument of the inhuman act. Once he felt
a hatred for the Indian race, and thought nothing of
the sacrifice of their lives ; but now that grace had

"THE OLD CHIEF." 317

changed his heart, and he was under the influence of
that religion which teaches that " he who hateth his
brother is a mnrderer" in his heart, he felt his whole
nature drawn out in sympathy for the poor Indian,
As he dropped the tear of affection upon the ashes
of the slain where he stood, his manly heart formed a
deliberate and firm resolve that he would, should
Providence open his way, consecrate his life to the
present and eternal interests of that outcast, perse-
cuted race of his fellow-men. He saw that they
were rapidly melting away before the approach of a
civilization, which lacked the element of a human-
izing, peace-breathing Christianity, as snow at the
approach of the sun, and what was done must be
done quickly. He had read the wail of tlie mountain
chief, which, like the dying notes of the swan, had
a melancholy sweetness, and he resolved to keep an
eye upon the openings of Providence, and enter
any door that might be opened for the relief of the
poor Indian.

It was not long until an opportunity was afforded
him of benefiting one of that race for which his spirit
longed. There came, on one occasion, to a meeting
where he preached, an Indian woman, leading a bright
and beautiful little boy. She was habited in Indian
costume, but the simplicity of her dress only revealed
more clearly the beauty of her person. Her flowing
tresses feU in massy ringlets over her finely-molded

318 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

neck and shoulders. After the exercises of preach-
ing were over, the missionary approached her, and
addressed her on the subject of religion, for she could
speak English. She was interested in that subject,
for it was to hear something about the white man's
God that she had come. This child of the forest was
not long in finding the way of salvation, and when
the rich tidings of a Saviour's love touched her heart,
her dark, lustrous eye was kindled with an unearthly
radiance, and beamed with the light of heaven.
Soon after her husband, who had been a prisoner in
lier tribe, was converted, and was made a partaker
of the same joy. The success which attended his
labors in this particular direction were, to him, doubly
encouraging, as they not only inspired him with
strong hopes of success in his contemplated mission,
but strengthened his purpose to devote himself en-
tirely to the promotion of the salvation of the Indian
race. It served as a kind of first-fruits, which be-
tokened not only the nature, but the extent of the
harvest.

The pioneer preacher continued in his itinerant
labors, pitching his cabin on the different fields
assigned him by the Church, and with his buckskin
pants, and a blanket for an overcoat, often going
for a whole day without food, he threaded his way
through the wilderness, hunting up the cabins of
the scattered settlers, and preaching to them the

"THE OLD CHIEF." 319

"Word of life. His circuits, which he traveled suc-
cessively, extended from the Ohio Kiver to the
lakes, aud from the Pennsylvania line to the dis-
tant plains of Indiana.

At length the period arrived, when the way was
opened for entering upon a mission among the In-
dians. Years before, the Gospel had been received
among the Wyandots, a brave, and once powerful
nation, occupying a reservation bordering upon
Lake Erie, where were located the Indian towns
of Upper Sandusky, Big Spring, and Tawawa. He
had the Wyandot mission embraced in his field of
labor, which extended from Southern Ohio to the
shores of Lake St. Clair.

It was late in the fall of the year, when he left
the white settlements to attend a meeting which
had been appointed at the Maumee Rapids. A
deep, dense wilderness stretched away before him,
and between him and his destination lay the Black
Swamp, which, on account of the autumnal rains
that had set in, would be rendered more difiicult
to cross. A journey was before him more difficult
and hazardous by far than a trip, at the present
day, across the ocean in winter storms. He had no
companion, and left to his thoughts and feelings, he
picked out his way as best he could through the
wilderness. Two nights he camped out, or, in other
words, made a pillow of his saddle at the root of

820 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

some tree, with tlie branches for a covering. He at
length reached the rapids, and there, in the midst of
a dense wilderness, stretching all around him, from
lake to river, and from river to mountain, he preach-
ed the Gospel, and administered the first holy sacra-
ment ever celebrated by a Protestant in those wilds.
From thence he went to the "Wyandot reservation,
and at Big Spring he opened up his mission to the
red men of the forest, multitudes of whom had come
together to listen to the white man's preacher, and
hear about the white man's God. After making
arrangements for future operations among them, he
returned through the wilderness home again.

When the time arrived for him to start out for -his
final residence among the Indians, he collected
together the necessary materials for housekeeping
and farming. The mission company consisted of
himself and wife, two young women, and two young
men, whom he had hired to assist him in farming.
One of these young ladies started out as a teacher for
the mission. She had been tenderly raised, and was
well educated, having enjoyed advantages, in botli
these respects, above backwoods girls in general.
Yet she had conceived an ardent desire to engage in
the missionary work, and bear to the J^oung, benight-
ed cliildren of the forest, the blessings of that educa-
tion and rehgion with which she had been so highly
favored.

"THE OLD CHIEF." 321

Eight days of weaiy travel passed away before
they reached the Indian nation, and the only prep-
aration made for their reception was a newly raised
cabin, without chinking or danbing, with neither
floor, chimney, window, nor door. To any other but
a pioneer preacher, this would have been discourag-
ing indeed; and we imagine it would take a louder
call than the inducements offered to the hardy pio-
neer, to move upon the most zealous, even of those
who offer themselves as missionaries of the present
day, to urge them out into the field. Then, there
were no missionary societies, with thousands in their
coffers, to back the missionaries in their work and
labor of love for the perishing. Literally without
scrip, without purse, with nothing but the prospect
of hard sei-vice and poor fare, but in the end a
victor's wreath, or, perhaps, a martyr's crown, they
started out ; sometimes, like Abraham, not knowing
whither they went, but always with the definite
object of bearing the glad tidings to the poor and
destitute wanderers. But our missionary was not to
be discouraged by such unpromising appearances.
He had, as we have already seen, a brawny arm and
a Herculean frame. Soon the cabin was made ten-
antable, and employing a white man, with his own
forces he went into the woods for the purpose of
felling timber, for the erection of a mission-house.

He did not go among the Indians to receive of
20

322 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

their labor and temporal things, but to labor for
them, and make them the sole beneficiaries of his
toils. He had no idea of making them "hewers
of wood and drawers of water," to be borne on their
shoulders in palankeens, and receive of their choicest
furs and products of the chase. Not he. He went
there for the high and glorious purpose of teaching
them the doctrine of a pure benevolence, in imitation
of the sacrifices which the Divine Lord himself had
made; and to set them an example of industry and
thrift, which they needed, if not equally, yet as cer-
tainly as they required the Gospel. Such examples
will do more toward Christianizing and civilizing the
heathen, than all the prayers, and psalms, and ser-
mons, of all the troops of divinity-trained preachers
that ever started from Oxford, Princeton, New
Haven, or Newberry. While we would not decry
education, believing that a minister of the Gospel
should have, as far as possible, a thorough literary
and theological training to fit him for his high and
holy vocation, we are well assured that a knowledge
of the society among whom he labors, and their
habits and arts, with an adaptation thereto, will give
him a greater access to the people, by identifying
him with their every-day life, than all the perform-
ances of the closet, the study, or the pulpit. "What
are our missionaries doing in China? While they are
poring over the grammars and lexicons of the court

"THE OLD CHIEF." 323

language of the Celestial Empire, and quarreling over
the translation of the Scriptures, instead of learning
the popular language bj mixing with the masses, and
becoming identified with their interests, the millions
are perishing. But our thoughts have led our pen
astray, and we shall come back from our wandering;
remarking, as we return, that it would be well, per-
haps, for the Church to look a little into this matter;
and by "the Church" we mean, of course, the entire
Church of Christ, but more especially those portions
engaged in the work of missions.

The Indian missionary and his own hired hands
went vigorously to work, felling the timber, and cut-
ting it into saw-logs. At night they would haul them
to a saw-mill some distance ofi", and sit up all night to
saw them into such kinds of lumber as they wanted.
When the Indians saw their missionary at work, and
the blood running from his blistered hands, occasioned
by the rough treatment to which they were exposed
in the woods, no wonder they exclaimed, '•'■Great man,
he .''" in their astonishment. They had never seen it
before on this wise. Hunters, and trappers, and trad-
ers, and government officers, had never set them such
an example. His strength in shouldering a log, his
skill in shooting with the rifle, and his fleetness in the
chase, were equally remarkable, and kept up, in the
minds of these children of the forest, a continuous ex-
citement.

324 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

At length the house was reared and finished, and
the mission family, before winter, were comfortably
housed in their new home. From daylight on Mon-
day morning until late Saturday night, the missionary
wrought with his hands, but when the Sabbath came,
that sweet day of rest, which God has provided for
man and beast, he would assemble his brethren of the
forest to hear him discourse the words of life. We
have already remarked that these Indians had re-
ceived the Gospel. But few of them, however, had
renounced their heathen rites and ceremonies; and
about all that had been gained, with few exceptions,
was their consent to place themselves under the care
and instructions of a missionary.

The first children received into the mission school
were four orphans, presented by a poor Indian moth-
er. To these others were added from time to time, and
the family increased. The young lady who had volun-
teered to teach the Indian children was unremitting
in her labors, and proved a sister of mercy to the poor,
uncared-for young heathen. They became much
attached to her, and through them, an influence was
exerted upon the minds of the parents such as could
have been accomplished in no other way. We have
often thought, that among Christian as well as heathen
nations, a mightier influence was exerted through
the instrumentality of schools, than even the preach-
ing of the Gospel, not only as it regards its efiects

"THE OLD CHIEF." 325

upon the minds of the youth directly, in molding
their character and securing their destiny, but in its
reflex action upon the minds of the parents. The
self-sacrificing devotion of this young female mission-
ary, connected with the zeal and unflagging devotion
of the missionary himself, "vron upon the hearts of the
savages, and many were induced to renounce their
heathenism for the white man's rehgion. Such were
the inroads that were continually being made upon
the rites and practices of the Indian religion and
worship by the well-directed efforts of the missionary.

As might be expected, opposition arose, and the
enemies of Christianity, because its profession re-
quired all to abstain from the use of intoxicating
liquors, and the sinful customs in which they for-
merly indulged, would sneeringly point at a Christian
Indian, and say, "He sign away his liberty; he slave
to white man." So far did the opposition extend,
that the head chief and his secretary of war would
hold meetings at the same hour on the Sabbath, to
prevent the Indians from attending worship at the
mission.

Still he labored on, teaching the Indians, both by
precept and example, the arts of civilization and the
faith and duties of Christianity, without fee or reward,
until heathenism began to yield, and the leaven of
Christianity began to work and spread. It was not
long until one of the chiefe embraced religion, tlius

326 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

exerting a wonderful influence upon his tribe; and
then another renounced his rites, and still another,
until, from a mere handful of converts, the number
increased to hundreds. These, spreading out in their
hunts and councils with other nations, carried with
them a knowledge of the white man's religion, until
the influence was felt far and wide. The Wyandots,
with their allies, the Shawnees, Delawares, and
others, had been bitter enemies of the white race,
and many a village and cabin on the frontiers, as we
have seen, had felt the force of their anns. Less en-
mity could not have been expected from those who
understood not the mild and peaceful principles of
religion, especially when their hunting ground bad
been invaded and many of their bravest slain. But
now that they had received a kind and benignant Gos-
pel, breathing peace and good-will to all mankind,
the tomahawk and scalping-knife were more deeply
and efiectually buried than ever before.

Tlie name and person of the missionary became
beloved and revered throughout the nation, and it
would not have been difficult for him, such was the
regard for him, to have taken advantage of their sim-
plicity and attachment, and the reverence they paid
him, to secure even their homage. As it was,
they were anxious that he should have a part in the
government of the nation. He did not leave the
al)odes of civilized and Christian life for a heathen

"THE OLD CHIEF." 327

land with any view whatever of deriving temporal
advantage. He sought not theirs, but them. Wliile
he was preaching and praying, his heart was not
upon their furs and rich lands ; but his whole soul
was burdened, and went out in strong supplications
to the Great Father for their salvation.

He continued in the mission for a period of five
years. In the mean time a Church was built, inclosed
in a neat fence, around which was a rural cemetery,
also inclosed, an engraving of which the reader will
find at the beginning of this chapter. There was
also a large mission school-house erected, where chil-
dren of both sexes, from different tribes, were edu-
cated. In this Church Indian voices joined, in time-
ful melody, to sing tlie praises of God, in their own
langTiage. What Eliot and Brainard did for the
Indians in tlie East, our missionary and his associates
were accomplishing for the Indians in the West.

As we have before intimated, the Wyandots were
anxious to have the missionary, their father, as they
called him, adopted into the nation and made a chief.
To their many and urgent solicitations he at length
consented. A chief had died, and they wished him
to take the place of the departed. Having become
Christian, and renounced, to a very great extent, their
Indian customs, the ceremony of adoption and pro-
motion was done by a simple vote. The name given
\o liini was Re-worwa-way^ which signifies, in thp

328 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

Indian tongue, strong in his own way. This was an
apt and appropriate name, and shows how well the
Indians studied and understood human character.
Since then he has gone by the name of the '''^Old
Chief i''^ and those who know him, for he yet lives,
and preaches almost with the sprightliness and power
of other days, will not fail to assent to the appropriate-
ness of the Indian name. Though full of benevolence
and kindness, with a heart overflowing with sympa-
thy for others, he is sternly firm in his adherence to
what, in his conscience and judgment, he believes to
be right. At the same time, to supply the place of
the sister of another chief who had died, his wife was
adopted and made a queen in the nation, with the
name of Ya-ra-quas, which signifies, mother of a
large family., as, at that time, she had under her care,
in the mission-school, between sixty and seventy In-
dian children.

The " Old Chief" has lived to see the West grow
up from infancy to giant manhood ; and where, when
as a hunter he lighted his camp-fire, or as a pioneer
preacher he pitched his cabin, there was naught but
a wilderness, now he beholds thriving towns and
siniling farms.

THE HERMIT. 331

CHAPTEE Xm.

THE HEEMIT.

Toward the close of the last century there lived, not
far from the month of Elk Eirer, in the then un-
broken wilds of Western Virginia, an old hunter, who,
at an early day, with his companion, a man of similar
habits, had started out in advance of either explora-
tion or settlement, for the purpose of having an
unlimited hunting range in the mountains, with
which that section of country abounds. This region
was inhabited by nothing but wild animals, which
existed in the greatest variety and plenty, such as
wolves, bears, panthers, deer, elk, and every kind of
wild beast peculiar to the West. Indeed, the country
was so savagely wild, that its dark mountains, deep
solitudes, gloomy dells, and wild, dashing rivers,
roaming and foaming through the gorges, were
looked upon with dread, even by the Indians. All
the enemies our adventm-ous hunters had to contend
with were the beasts of the wilderness, with whom
they shared undisputed possession for many years.
In proof of the savageness of the country we may

332 PIONEERS OF THE "WEST.

remark, that many parts of it remain uninhabited
and unbroken to this day, and the primeval forests
stand as first they stood when they came from the
all-creating Hand ; the flowers bloom in their wild,
native beauty, as fii*st they bloomed ; and the rivers
flow on in their wonted channels, undiverted by the
hand of man. A traveler now, after the lapse of
three quarters of a century, might travel for a day
through continuous forests, and not find a single
habitation, nor meet a single human being, unless it
should be a roving hunter who might chance to cross
his path, in hot pureuit of game.

We heard a lecturer in one of our "Western cities,
a few years ago, gravely state from the pulpit of an
orthodox Church, that human nature was pure and
undepraved in proportion as it was found approxi-
mating the native state. Tlie idea was the same as
that advanced by a certain geologist, that ores were
but the rust of metals. The truth of the assertion in
regard to native purity needs considerable qualifica-
tion. If the lecturer meant by it that man in his
original state was pure, it will readily be admitted.
When God created him he was pure as the morning
light, the lily of the mountain, or the spring which
gushes out fresh and free at its base, for he pro-
nounced all good; but, since then, "he has sought
out many inventions," and the result shows a won-
derful deterioration from the native state. Still the

THE HERMIT. 333

remark of onr lecturer is worthy of some consider-
ation ; and it is susceptible of proof, that there are
more vices and crimes to be found in the midst of
civilized, enlightened, and Christianized society, than
are to be found, or even known, amoijg the wild, un-
tutored children of nature. Just as it was in ancient
times, when pollution and crime reigned in Babylon,
Nineveh, and Sodom, purity and strength were alone
to be found in the wild mountain districts. The
sacred record assures us that " the dark places of the
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty ;" but how
far this " cruelty " which abounds is exotic, or indig-
enous in its character, we may not be able folly to de-
termine. One thing we do know, and that is, that the
Indians of this country, before they were visited by
the Christian white man, were in a state of purity,
peace, and happiness, to which they have ever since
been strangers ; and that the vices, and even customs
and habits, introduced among them by the civilized
and enlightened, have done more to degrade and
ruin them, than any agency growing out of their
native condition.

But we intended not to philosophize, and shall
return to our subject. No field could be presented
where man might enjoy a wilder Eden of delight in
communion with nature, than the region we have
been describing among the Elk River mountains.
Though man, in this region, was not as wild as the

334 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

animals which roamed through its forests, he was,
nevertheless, so far as human learning is concerned,
quite as ignorant. If he knew there was a God,
whose providence extends to the minutest affairs of
life, he had derived that knowledge from others ; for
though "the heavens declare his glory, and the
firmament showeth his handiwork," though the
mountains, and vales, and trees, and flowei-s, pro-
claim the hand that made them Divine, and

"Every rill and mighty river

Flows, mingling with his praise forever,"

still all is mystery without the voice of revelation.
Mysterious truths may be written in the stars, and
the beautiful allusion of the poet may be true, that
" the wild flowers are the alphabet of angels, whereby
they write on hills and fields the mystery of heaven,"
yet all is mystery, deep, unsealed, unfathomable to
the child of nature until it is revealed.

We venture to affirm that at this day there are men
— ^white men and women — in the wilds of Western
Virginia, and especially in what is called the neutral
ground between that state and Kentucky, who not
only can neither read nor write, but who have no
more knowledge of the nature and character of God
and the scheme of Christianity, than an inhabitant
of interior Africa or India, or one of the islands
unvisited by a missionary. Many incidents illustra-

THE HERMIT. 335

tive of this truth have come to our knowledge, and
we shall relate one.

The incident which we are about to give did not
liappen in the wildest district of country of which
we have been speaking, but further on toward the
borders of civilization, and not many miles from a
post route. It happened several yeai-s ago, and the
gentleman who related it, a minister of the Gospel,
has finished the errand of his Master and gone to
his rest. He was one of those pioneer preachers
who, in advance of civilization almost, had gone out
into the wilderness to seek for the lost. He was one
whom no labor could tire, no danger intimidate, and
no scene disgust in the service of his Master, as he
sought out, in the abodes of poverty, wretchedness,
and vice, his feUow-creatures, and conveyed to them
the soul-saving truths of the Gospel.

On one of his missionary tours through the mount-
ains, after traveling a whole day without food,
fatigued and hungry, he espied smoke curling from
a cabin by the side of his mountain-path, for
there were no roads in that region, and it is said
of the county-seat of that county, that its streets had
never been indented by a wheeled carriage of any
description. The day was spent, and further he
could not go, without camping out all night in the
woods. Eiding up, he alighted, and, hitching his
horse to a limb of a sapling which stood near the

336 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

door, he entered the humble abode. He found
within a motlier with her children. The husband
was a hunter, and was out with his dogs and gun
in quest of game. Addressing the ladj, who re-
ceived him with a frank, honest smile, he said,
" Good woman, can I get something for myself and
horse to eat, and obtain lodging here to-night ?"

" Might I ask you, what is your business ?" replied
the lady, keenly eyeing him from head to foot.

" I am a preacher, madam ; a preacher of the Gos-
pel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who died
to save lost sinners."

" Goody gracious ! is he dead ? I've never hearn
tell of the name, but I'm sorry he is dead. I told
John [alluding to her husband] that all our neighbors
might die and we would not know it, and I've been
trying to git him to take the papers from the post-
boy who stops here every four weeks, but he wont,
because its too costive. But," she continued, "who's
lost ? I never hear tell of one lost but I think of my
poor father, who was lost in the mountains and was
kilt by the wolves." Here she brushed away with
her tow apron a tear, and a truer, brighter one never
fell from mortal eye. " Dear me," she added, with
a face suffused, " how I feel for the lost. Did
what d'ye call him git kilt hunting for the chil-
drens?"

The preacher would have been unable to main-

THE HERMIT. 337

tain his gra-vity, but for the earnest, childlike sim-
plicity of this woman, and he replied, " It was not
children he was seeking, but sinners ; lost sinners,
such as you and L"

" Well, I never heara tell of that name afore. How
long has Mister Sinners been lost ?"

Tlie preacher felt at a loss what to answer, or how
to instruct this child of nature, and involuntarily said,

" Good woman, you are in great darkness."

" Yes, I've been at John, ever sence our cabin was
built, to cut a winder in the eend on it ; but he's so
taken with his hunt he's no time to do it."

More confused than ever, the teacher of religion
again exclaimed, in the form of a prayer, but with
subdued tone, for the sympathies of his noble and
generous heart were moved, " O Lord, what weak-
ness is here !"

" Weak, did you say, mister ? I reckon you'd be
seeak if you'd been dauncy as long as I've been."

Seeing that he would have to begin to instruct her
^ a child without any training, he, for the mean time,
abandoned further conversation on the subject of
religion, and returned to himself and horse.

" Good woman, you have not told me if I could
stay here to-night."

" Well, John's not at home, and it's night, and you're
a stranger, I s'pose, in these woods ; you might git lost
like Sinners and my own father, and I'd be sorry

338 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

forever. I have no truck for your horse ; John never
had one. I'll gin you some johnny cake, and you
may sleep on my bed, and the children and me will
sleep by the fire."

The simple meal was prepared, and the preacher
sat down to the repast with a thankful heart, con-
versing with the mother and her children as they
were able to bear.

Before the hour for rest had come, the faithful
preacher had opened up to that poor woman's mind,
as well as to her children's, the glad tidings ; and,
without a single shade of doubt, she heard and
believed the wliole story of the cross, and was at
once converted and made happy in the love ot God.
Before retiring, John came home, and the joy of his
wife at seeing him was greater than she ever before
experienced, as the religion of the Saviour had
opened up in her hitherto sealed heart fountains
of living joy. The simple-hearted hunter also soon
believed the same Gospel story, as it came fresh
from his converted wife, became a penitent, and
was soon a pardoned man. They both joined the
Church, and their house was ever after the stopping-
place of the itinerant. Tlie seed sown by this pioneer
preacher was in good ground. It fell not among
briers and thorns, or in stony places, but in the vir-
gin soil of honest hearts. It was not " choked by
the cares of the world, nor the deceitfulness of

THE HERMIT. 339

riches." It pprang np quickly, bnt it did not as
quickly wither away, for it brought forth thirty-six
and a hundred-fold.

But again we have wandered, and must return to
our two hunters on Elk River. The reader must
not imagine that they came from the East away
beyond the Blue Ridge alone. They brought their
families with them from the land of their nativity.
They were but fairly started in life. One of the
hunters, whom we shall designate as the elder, had
two sons, fine growing boys, inured to hardship from
their birth ; the other was blessed witji but one child,
and that was a daughter.

We need not say that these children were the
idols of their parents : whose children ai*e not, be
the parents ever so humble and poor, and the chil-
dren ever so homely and ragged? But the latter
was not the case. The boys were strong, well-
formed, and hearty, with cheeks fat and mddy as
the blush of morning, and the girl goodly-fashioned,
fair as the wild rose of the mountain, and pure as
the snow that mantles its summit where it kisses
the sky. The hunters had selected a spot which
nature seemed to have formed for the very purpose
whereon to erect their cabins. It was formed by a
notch in the mountain, having a southern exposm*e,
and protected from the winds of the north and the
west. Here they were constructed, side by side.

21

340 PIONEERS OF THF. WEST.

They had brought with them guns and plenty of am-
munition, and it was not long until the hunters,
with their wives and children, were arrayed in well-
dressed buckskin and furs. The boys were already
able to follow their fathers in their mountain hunts,
and, as they each had guns, they soon became skill-
ful hunters and expert marksmen. The daughter,
who was about the age of the younger son, between
whom and his brother there was a difference of two
years, remained at home as company for her mother
and their companion. "VYe need not say that these
families lived in peace, without envious thoughts or
evil surmisings. Carrying out the idea of the Boston
lecturer, whom we mentioned, they were too far re-
moved from refined and fashionable society for that ;
and even had there been any susceptibility in their
nature, which might have made them assailable to the
tempter, the occasion was wanting to call it out. No
new dress or bonnet, or equipage, or splendid party,
where one might be taken and the other left, could
intrude themselves as occasions of envy and ill-feeling
in this Eden of the wilderness. They were constantly
in each other's society, and each seemed to strive
to the utmost to make the other happy. They lived
in cabins exactly alike on the same sunny side of
the mountain, wore the same kind and fashion of
clothes, and partook of the same fare. They did
not grow pale in the gas light, amid the short hours

THE HERMIT. 341

ot the night, with compressed lungs and heated air
in sufibcating rooms, dancing polkas, or go into
ecstasies, for the sake of taste and genteel breed-
ing, over the performance at an opera or theater.
Ignorance of all these appendages of "genteel
society," to them was bliss, and where it was it
were folly and madness for them to be wise. They
were happy, and no feigned smile from painted face
was necessary to convince any of the fact who conld
look into their Eden-home. And yet the rich, the
gay, and the fashionable, are the ones that people
envy. A quaint old book, which is coeval with
the pyramids, and has come down to us, preserved
intact like those gigantic monuments of the past,
somewhere says, and we recollect having often read
it, "Ye call the proud happy, and they that tempt
God are set up ; they have all that heart can wish ;
but in a moment how are they consumed with ter-
rors ! When thou awakest, O Lord, thou wilt despise
their image." Yain boast ! shallow appearance !

Our hunters enjoyed more happiness, in pursuit
of the wild beasts which God had given man as his
inheritance, and in the pleasures of the fireside, than
all that gold ever purchased. Their evenings were
spent at home, not yawning over the last perform-
ance of a brain that brought its author a living at
the expense of his over-taxed mind, goaded to ex-
citement as the slave of the thousands who feed

342 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

upon liis words, but in less doubtful and more
healthful amusements, both for body and mind.
Books they had none, not even Bibles ; and if they
had possessed them, they could not have read them ;
but the exciting chase, the perilous adventure and
hair-breadth escape, supplied them with stories of
real life and happiness.

Years j)assed on, during which time they had
cleared a small farm in the valley, which spread
out to the bank of the river. The boys had both
grown up to manhood, and the girl to pure and
blushing womanhood. During all this time nothing
had occiirred to mar the happiness of the families,
or cast even a momentary shadow over the briglit
scene. But even there, in that far-off, secluded
Eden, sorrow, whose teary eye, and trembling steps,
and faltering voice visit alike the Init and the
palace, entered that peaceful vale.

At the close of a bright and balmy day in spring,
all nature having awakened from her winter's sleep
and put on lier most beautiful garments, tlie perfume
of which filled the air with fragrance and the heart
with joy, all was gloom and sadness in the hunter's
home. James, their youngest son, was missing. For
a day and a night, and still another day, he had been
lost. He had gone out hunting with the party, but
they separated, as it was necessary they should in
searching game, and since that separation no tidings

THE HERMIT. 343

had been heard from him. Tliere were no neighbors
upon whom the disconsolate could call for assistance,
and they had themselves scoured the mountain and
valleys for miles around. The hunter's horn, which
rang out clear its reverberations along the valleys
and among the hills, might have been heard for
many miles. Reader, did you ever hear one of those
horns blown by the strong lungs of a mountaineer ?
K you ever did, you will say, with us, for far-reaching
sound and sweetness of tone, they cannot be excelled.
It is many a long year since we heard one ; but their
sweet and plaintive sound still lingers in our memory
like a pleasant dream. The soul of the hunter father
went out in that sound, in quest of his idol boy ; and,
as it grew ftiint and more faint in the far solitude, till
it died on the portals of heaven, it was like the voice
of mercy, whispering to the sorrowing heart of the
mother, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away. Stay the anguish of thy heart, for though thy
son is gone, he is not lost ; the separated on earth shall
meet again in the communings of that better world,"

" Where no farewell words are spoken,
And no separation known."

She had had a premonition. She read it in the
sad face . of her son as he gave the parting word
" good-by " on the fatal morning. Xow that he
was gone, aU recollected something peculiar in the

344 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

manner and actions of James on that morning,
wliich would have been forgotten but for his mysteri-
ous disappearance. There was one in that little
group who could solve that dreadful mystery. She
had been fortifying herself, and struggling with a
breaking heart in hope against hope, that he would
repent of his vow and return.

We have already said that two days and a night
had passed in fruitless search, and the weeping ones
had gathered together in the cabin of the father.
Tlie mother, overcome with grief, had fallen npon lier
couch, and was wringing her hands and weeping most
piteously for the lost. " O," said she, " some wolf,
or bear, or panther has devoured him. O, if I could
only look upon his face again ; if I only knew he was
alive."

The strong men were bowed in agony, with their
faces buried in their rough but honest hands. The
wife of the other hunter was, in sobs, striving to
assuage the grief of the bereaved mother, and her
daughter stood leaning upon the shoulder of her first
and only love, for she and the elder brother were be-
trothed. But she could rejjress her feelings no longer ;
what she had resolved should die with her must be
revealed. Staggering to the couch, whereon the
weeping mother lay, uttering her cries and calling
the name of the lost, the maiden fell upon her knees,
and, with a heart bursting, she exclaimed, " James is

THE HERillT. 345

not dead ! He told me lie loved me, and asked me
to be his wife. I told him I loved but one, and that
was his brother, and we would be married. He then
said, ' I will never see your face again.' It was early
that morning, when we were out in the field together.
He said he wanted to talk to me alone. Taking my
hand, he said, 'Farewell! we'll meet no more. I will
go to the great river, and live by myself forever.' "

This was some relief to the mother, and proved of
comfort to all to know that he was, in all probability,
living. As hope is ever springing in the human
breast, the mother rose, and said, "I know James
will return after this boyish freak is ended."

But that group never looked upon his face again.
Many a spring came, and

" To wood and waters round,
Brought bloom and joy again,"

and was succeeded by summer and winter, and re-
turned again ; but with it came not the lost, nor any
tidings of him. He was never heard of by any of the
family afterward. The stroke was too great for the
poor girl, and she often bitterly reproved herself for not
telling her mother immediately what had happened ;
but she was young, timid, and inexperienced, and
knew not what to do until it was too late. Like the
mountain flower, whose fit representative she was,
when summer had passed and winter came, she

346 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

drooped ; a melancholy came over her spirit that the
love of father, mother, and affianced one could not
dispel, and ere the next summer had come, they laid
her in her quiet grave in the valley. As pure and
noble a heart as ever beat in an earthly casement
ceased its throbbings, and was at rest forever; and
she who was loved by both the brothers became the
wife of neither.

James, as soon as he got out of sight of the party,
struck directly for the Ohio Eiver. Pie had been on
the banks of the Kanawha, and knew that stream
emptied itself into the " Great Eiver," as the hunter
named it who told them of it. In the course
of several days' travel he reached the mouth of the
Kanawha, and for the first time beheld the Ohio.
At the mouth, where Point Pleasant now stands, was
a fort and several buildings ; but he had connected
with his vow of leaving home forever, one equally
rash — that he would pass the remainder of his days as
a hermit, away from the abodes of any human being.
He had subsisted thus far on his journey by his gun,
and the supply which he took from home on the
morning of his departure.

He was now twenty-one years of age; a well-
formed, handsome man. His height was about five
feet ten inches, with a frame rather slender, but
tough and elastic as hickory, able for the endurance
of any fatigue or hardship. His dress, as we have

THE HEEMIT. 347

already said, was entirely composed of buckskin.
The cuffs, and collar, and fringe of his coat "were
made of far, taken from the wild cat. His coat was
fastened around him by a belt, in which he carried
his knife. His feet were inclosed in nicely wrought
moccasins, made by the fair hand of the one on
whose account he had abandoned home forever,
while his head was surmounted by a coon-skin cap,
ornamented with the tail of a black squirrel, which
curled gracefully down the side of his face like the
plume of a knight.

Finding that he had got into the settlements, he
cast his eye over the Ohio side of the river, and saw
its unbroken wilderness stretching away as far as his
vision could extend. Finding some boys at play on
the bank, he prevailed upon them to ferry him across
the river in a canoe which was tied to the shore,
which they did, receiving a pair of buckskin gloves,
the only thing as a compensation he had to give.
He was again out of sight of human beings; and,
with a bounding step, he plimged into the wilderness,
taking a northwesterly direction. On and on he
traveled, over hill and dale, craggy precipices, and
deep ravines, and tangled thickets, not knowing
whither he was going, nor yet caring, so that he
could find a home in the wild wood, far from the
haunts of man. The iron had entered his soul; and,
like the stricken deer, he was seeking the deeped

848 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

solitude to die. At night lie would kindle a fire, and
cook his wild game which he had taken ; which would
not only answer for his supper, but serve as a supply
for the next day's journey. Occasionally he would
cross a trail, or path. At other times he would find
the trees blazed, all indicating to "his experienced
eye the presence of man; and no sooner did his
eye fall upon them than he started, as if met by an
apparition, in a different direction from which they
led.

He had now been absent from home a week,
having notched the number of days on the stock of
his rifle. Though far away, his heart was at home ;
but a cruel fate impelled him on, and on he wended
his solitary way. For the last day he had not dis-
covered any traces whatever of the presence of
human beings, or even domestic animals. He had
reached a wild, rocky glen, covered by giant trees ;
So thickly set that their branches interlocked, and
shut out the light of the sun. Around it rose up,
almost perpendicularly, high hills. The ground,
where not occupied by the trees, was covered thickly
with plum and hazel bushes. Here was no sign of
human life ; and neither foot-print of white man nor
Indian had ever before been made in that deep,
dark, narrow glen. A cave, which might have been
the den of a wolf, had been scooped out by nature
in the rooky side of the precipitous acclivity, on the

THE HERMIT. 349

right ; and a small rivnlet, almost lost in the grass and
bushes, which grew in rank luxuriance upon its bor-
der, meandered through the ravine. Here our wan-
derer concluded — after thoroughly reconnoitering the
surrounding country for many miles, to be certain of
solitude — ^to take up his abode. After arranging
some stones, as a fire-place, in the mouth of his cave,
and gathering some wood, he kindled, -with his flint
and steel, the first fire ever kindled by man in aU
that region. "With smooth bark, and leaves, and
mountain moss, he made a bed ; and after the toils of
the day were ended, and he had partaken of his
evening repast, he would quietly slumber in his cave
till morning. The woods were full of game ; and he
bad collected a considerable amount of furs and
skins, which he must dispose of; besides, his powder
and lead were nearly exhausted, and he must obtain
a supply. Where to go to find them he knew not.
To travel back to Point Pleasant, if he could even
find the way, was rather too great an undertaking.
Necessity crowded upon him, and wrought a some-
what dijfferent state of feeling in his mind. Before,
he would have shunned the approach of a white
man with infinitely greater readiness than he would
that of a panther ; but now he would gladly meet one
for the purpose of obtaining information with regard
to the supply of his pressing wants.

One day, as he sat by his cave, in a more sad and

860 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

melanclioly mood than formerly — for no smile had
lighted up the countenance of that once joyous youth
since, with a burdened heart, he left his father's
house, nor was he ever known to smile — one day,
just as the sun was setting, he heard voices in the
distance. From the direction of the sound, the per-
sons from whom it proceeded were evidently coming
up the ravine. At fii-st he felt joyful, !he first ray of
sunshine that had lighted up the dark surface of his
heart since he became a wanderer; but it was in-
stantly expelled, leaving it darker than ever, at the
thought that his cave would be discovered, and
that he would be obliged to move from a place to
which he had become attached. Secreting him-
self in his cave, his fire not yet having been kindled
for the night, he waited their approach in breathless
suspense.

It happened to be a surveying party, on their route
from Portsmouth to Chillicothe. As they came near,
one exclaimed:

"We have got to the Stony Battery and Dividing
Kidge, just half way from Pee Pee to home."

"Can we reach there to-night?" said another of the
company to the man who had made the first remark
heard by the hermit.

"Well, I reckon not, unless we push on faster than
we have, and you don't stop 80 often to hunt for
curiosities."

THE HERMIT. 351

Just then, attracted by tbe wildness of the rocky
Bceuery, he was about to step aside, in the direction
of the cave, but the last remark called his attention
homeward, and he resumed his journey.

Seizing his gun and skins, the hermit started in
pursuit; and, keeping a respectful distance behind,
with them he scaled the Dividing Ridge, following
the pioneers toward Chillicothe. Before they had
traveled many miles, night overtook them ; but they
had resolved on reaching home, and pressed on
through the darkness. Hitherto, the hennit was
enabled to elude detection by picking his way ; but
now the darkness forbade it, and he feared that he
might accidentally tread on a dry stick, whose crack
would betray him to the keen and practiced ear of
these frontier men.

Kothing occurred during the journey to expose his
proximity to the travelers. The moon had risen, and
was casting her silvery light on the fleecy clouds
which were drifting

"Onward like beautiful vessels of heaven,
To their far-away harbor all silently driven,
Bearing on in their bosom the children of light,
Who've escaped from this dark world of sorrow and night."

At length the weary travelers descended the hill
which rises on the south of the Scioto valley, about
half a mile from the river, on the opposite shore of

352 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

which is Chillicothe, the name given by the Indians
to the town.

But here a difficulty presents itself to the hermit :
how shall he cross the river without making himself
known to the travelers? Unwilling to do this, he
halted, and allowed them to proceed and cross the
river, which they did, after some considerable diffi-
culty in getting a craft. Concluding to wait till
morning, he laid himself down at the root of a tree,
and slept until sunrise. Rising refreshed, he went to
the river, and for a coon-skin obtained a passage across.

His next object was to obtain a purchaser for his
skins and furs, which he was enabled to do in the
first store that he entered. The first stores which
were opened in the West depended mostly on their
trade in country produce, such as bees-wax, ginseng,
feathers, eggs, chickens, turkeys, skins and furs of all
kinds, hickory brooms, ax handles, country sugar and
molasses, hoop poles and barrel staves, shingles and
hominy blocks — in fact, everything that the country
produced; and would give in exchange for it gro-
ceries, whisky, powder, shot and lead, iron, salt, and
dry goods. There was then but little money, and
what there was was Owl Creek, "Wild Cat, Muskin-
gum, and Belmont, which proved to be of little
value. The great amount of business transactions
was carried on in trade. Houses and lots in town,
and lands in the country, were bought and sold for

THE HEBMIT. 353

horses, cattle, guns, and even dogs have been ex-
changed for valuable considerations.

The hermit was taken by many for an Indian; so
straight and well formed, and dressed so much like
one, with a face bronzed bv exposure, he only wanted
a tomahawk and some Indian ornaments to make the
by-standers — and there were always plenty of that
description loafing round a village store in those ear-
ly days — beheve he was one. Many were the ques-
tions asked him about his home, and the "craps in his
neighborhood," to all of which he was silent. After
he had transacted his business, seUing his skins and
furs at the price put upon them by the store-keeper,
receiving in exchange powder and lead, and a small
tea-kettle and tin cup, he departed, but left the town
in an entirely different direction from that in which
he had entered it, intending, after he had got out of
sight, to make a circuit and strike the path by which
he came, for home.

There followed him from the village a dog, who,
whether he had lost his master, or had been attracted
by the peculiar appearance of the man of the woods,
we know not. Is^otwithstanding he stopped several
times on the way, and attempted to drive him back,
the dog would crouch down at his feet, and refuse
to move an inch. So obstinately did he persist in
following, that he finally gave up his opposition
to his company, and, beginning to feel an attach-

$54 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

ment for the animal, he at length patted him on the
head, gave him a piece of jerked venison, and they
continued the journey as friends, never to he
separated until death. Toward the close of the
day he arrived at his cave, and, with his new-found
acquaintance, sought rest from his travels.

He remained in his solitary home all winter,
when he was not out hunting for game, and saw no
one since he left Chillicothe. Early, however, in
the spring, a company of surveyors were sent out
to locate a road from Chillicothe to Piketon, a dis-
tance of about twenty miles. They would labor
all day, surveying the most practicable route and
driving their stakes, and at night would camp out.
On one occasion he was surprised by a party of
these surveyors, who had grown scarce of provi-
sions, and had gone out on a hunt. One of the
party recognized him as the stranger with the skins
at Chillicothe, though months had passed since he
saw him. They seemed glad at falling in with
him, as they had been unsuccessful in procuring
game ; and, knowing that he was a practiced hunter,
besought him to take them where there was game,
promising to reward him by furnishing him with
ammunition. To their proposal he assented, and
after traveling a few miles they started a deer.
Instantly every gun was fired, so anxious was the
party, but without effect, as the deer bounded away.

THE HERMIT. 355

He did not, however, get out of sight before the
unerring aim of the elk mountain hunter brought
him to the ground.

" There, men," said he, " is your game ;" and
•with that he bounded away, and they saw him no
more.

The road was made; and as the hermit had
several times been seen in that locality years after-
ward by travelers and hunters, it was generally
believed that he made his home somewhere near,
or on the Dividing Ridge. Having found out tlie
locality of Piketon, a village situated on the Scioto,
the location of which, by Simon Kenton and his
party in 1795, occasioned the unhappy death of
Miller, whose bones are interred beneath the bank
which bears his name, he went to that place, instead
of Chilli cothe, the next time he wished to barter
his skins for ammunition. Here he was equally an
object of wonder and astonishment, both from the
peculiarity of his dress and the. wildness of his
manners. It was not long until he was pretty gen-
erally kno^vn, though to all entreaties about his
mysterious mode of life he was silent. Many were
the surmises as to the cause of his abandoning the
society of his species, and living the life of a hermit ;
but it was not until toward the close of his life that
the secret became known. His cave was at last

found by a hunter, who left him some com bread,

22

§56 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

and it was afterward frequently visited. He had
inhabited it, unmolested, for many years, and none
but his own foot had crossed the threshold. Much
as he dreaded the invasion of his fellow-man, he
had become too much attached to his home to
leave it, and, besides, he was growing old, and he
concluded to end his days there. In the mean time,
wild and broken as the region was, other settlers
had come in and erected their cabins, some within
a few miles of him.

Teal's passed, and in the progress of improve-
ment a canal, leading from Chillicothe to Ports-
mouth, was constructed, which passed to the east
of him not many miles. It was finished, and other
improvements begun, while farms were opening all
around him ; still he clung to this wild, sequestered
spot.

One day, in a deserted shanty on the bank of the
canal, he was found lying sick and unattended,
except by his faithful dog. How long he had been
there none knew. All who had seen him, or heard
of him, felt an interest in him; and when it was
known that the hermit was thus exposed, he was
visited by friends, who took him to Waverly, and
procured for him a physician and nurse. But his
sickness was unto death, his wanderings at an end.
He breathed his last, and was buried in the village
graveyard.

THE HERMIT. 357

Some years after his death a turnpike road was
laid out between Chillicothe and Portsmouth, and
it was located so as to run right by the side of the
hermit's cave. After the road was finished, the
bones of the hermit were removed to the cave, its
mouth was filled up with heavy masonry, and on
the surface of the rock above a monument was
erected. And now, as the traveler crosses the
Dividing Ridge, on one of the most smooth, beauti-
ful, and romantically-winding Macadamized roads
we ever saw, and comes in sight, as he descends
toward Pleasant Yalley, a village which has re-
cently sprung up, he will see on his left a plain
obelisk of stone, bearing the inscription,

" ERECTED TO THE MEMOET OF

JAMES HEVVETT,

THE HERMir."

358 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XIY.

PIONEER PANTHER HUNTING.

Of all the wild beasts that inhabit the Western
forests, none are more the hunter's dread than the
panther. Their sly, stealthy, cat-like tread, scarcely
making a rustle among dry leaves, their frightful
spring, and the certainty of securing their victim in
their long, knife-like claws, has assigned to them a
place in the West, similar to that occupied by the
lion in the forests of Africa. Tliey have not, to be
sure, the strength of the bear, nor the prowling
nature of the wolf, but what they lack in strength,
they make up in quickness of motion, and terrific
fierceness of attack. While the bear is getting
ready for a hug, the panther will tear his victim to
pieces. The scream of the panther, like the rattle of
the Western serpent, is a sound that never fails to
create a tremor in the nerves of the bravest back-
woodsman, and when one is heard in a settlement, it
creates as great an excitement as the presence of a
rabid dog would among the inhabitants of a village.
They attack almost all kinds of beasts, but generally

PIONEER PANTHER HUNTING. 359

they have a preference for the deer, elk, and bnffalo.
Large as the latter animal is, it falls a victim to the
panther's deadly spring. When, from some over-
hanging cliff, or the branches of some tree, it springs
npon a buffalo, striking its claws deep intx) the flesh,
there is no escape ; for its claws are so sharp and
strong, that thev penetrate the bark of the hardest
tree, enabling them to ascend with the fleetnese of
a cat. The affrighted animal may plnnge through
the thicket and endeavor to shake off the terrible
foe, but all is of no avail ; the panther, grappling the
neck, soon extracts the life-blood, and the victim falls.
In their native wildness they were as fearless as they
were ferocious, until the deadly hunter's rifle taught
them the power of man. They will, notwithstand-
ing, when they are confident of success, attack a
man, though they will run from a dog, not because
they fear him — for with one stroke of their paw they
could put a stop to his chase and silence his barking
forever — but because of the proximity of the himter
with his rifle.

An incident occurred in Western Yirginia during
the last half century, that will serve to illustrate the
nature of the attacks of these animals on defenseless
man. A pioneer preacher had left the rude cabin
of his host, which had but one apartment, and was
well supplied with children, whose noise interrupted
his studies, and had sought a retired place in the

360 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

woods. The place lie selected was beneath the
spreading branches of a majestic oak. Here he
placed himself in a recumbent posture with his
book in hand, and was soon lost in the mazes of
thought which the author's ideas opened up to his
mind. While indulging in these abstractions, his at-
tention was diverted from his book by the crack of a
dry stick, producing a sound like that of one walking
in the woods. Turning his head in the direction of
the sound, his eyes met those of his host not thirty
yards distant. Instantly the hunter gave a low, quick,
whist ! and raising his rifle in the direction of the
branch immediately over the head of the reclining
preacher, he fired, and down came, cracking througli
the lower branches, a huge panther, whom the hunter
discovered just making ready to spring upon the un-
conscious preacher.

We have two veritable panther stories, related by
hunters who were themselves the actors in the scenes
they represent, and as they will serve to illustrate
pioneer life among the wild beasts of the West, as
well as what we have given in other chapters is
designed to illustrate life among the savages — both
of which disputed with the white man for the occu-
pancy of the soil — they will be given to the reader.

The story which follows was taken from the lips of
a mountain hunter, and runs thus :

The settlement on the mountain here is very scat-

PIONEER PANTHER HUNTING. 361

tered, and there are no inhabitants for a considerable
distance back from the road. I heard that a person
had been hunting, and said that he had seen three
panthers ; upon which I called on him, and he told
me that, at a certain place on Spring Brook, about
ten miles from this, he had come across three pan-
thers, and had tried to fire at them, but could not get
his gun to go off. I thought the fellow was a coward,
that only part of his story was true, and that he had
been afraid to fire at them ; but as I knew exactly
the place which he described, (for I had been fre-
quently there on hunting excursions,) I thought I
would go and see whether there had been any pan-
thers there ; so I started off next morning with my
dog. You know what a terrible thicket of laurel, and
spruce, and hemlock there is about here ; well, it is
as bad all the way to the place where the fellow said
he saw the panthers. At last, however, I got to it,
and sure enough the panthers had been there. There
was a little snow upon the ground, and I found where
they had killed a deer, and eaten part of it ; but I
knew that after I had been at the place they would
not go back to it again; for a panther will never
touch his game a second time, if anything else has
been at it. I marked which way they went, as it
was two days since they had been there ; and as I did
not know how loner I might be in the woods in chase
of them, I thought it would be best to go home and

362 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

get a supply of provisions for a good long hnnt, and
then take a fresh start ; but as it was almost night,
I struck a fire, and laid down till morning.

As soon as it was light, I started off, taking my
back track to go home, and got about half way, when,
behold, I came right on the panthers' tracks ! They
had crossed the path I had made in the snow the day
before. I knew they had crossed in the daytime, for
it had been warm, and the snow had melted a little,
and I could easily tell that they had crossed my path
before night. I started on the track, and followed
till almost evening, when I saw a light place in the
woods, and going into it, I found I was on a road
about three miles from home. I then concluded it
would be the best way for me to go home that night,
and get my knapsack of provisions, as I had intended,
for I did not know but the varmints might keep
me running after them a whole week ; and I was
determined, if I once started them, to give them no
time to rest or kill game, as long as I could see to
follow them, let them go where they would; and
sometimes they lead one an awful long chase.

So home I went, filled my knapsack with provi-
sions, and started out with my dog. He is a good fel-
low for a panther, and likes hunting as well as I do.
Well, as I said, as soon as it was daylight next morn
ing, out I went, and got on the track again where I
had left it the evening before, and followed it all day

PIONEER PANTHER HUNTING. 363

long, up one valley and down another, over hills and
tlirough laurel swamps, till just before sunset, when I
came on a fine buck which the panthers had killed
and partly eaten, and which was still warm. They had
killed him where he lay : he had never got up. He
had been lying behind a large hemlock-tree, which was
blo^vn down ; and it appeared, by the marks in the
snow, as if they had smelt him, crawled up close to
liim, jumped over the tree, and seized him in his bed.
Tliey always take their game by surprise. They
never make more than two or three jumps after it:
if it then escapes, they turn off another way. They
had eaten as much as they wished of the buck, and
after getting their fill, they appeared to have been in
a very good humor, for their marks showed where
they had played about, and had jumped up and
down all the small trees around. They did not know
who was aftei*them. I had not expected to come on
them so soon, and had pushed ahead without any
caution, so that they had heard my approach ; and I
soon found, by the appearance of things, that they
must have started away just as I came up, for instead
of keeping together as they had done all day before,
thev had set off in different directions. I thouffht,
as it was sunset, that I had better encamp where 1
was, for they would hardly come back in the night to
claim their buck ; but first, I thought I would look
around a little more, to see which track it would be

364 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

best to follow in the morning, and so just went a lit-
tle way into the swamp, which was close by me,
when, only think ! one of the fierce animals had been
watching all the time, and I heard him start within
ten rods of me ; but the laurel was so thick that I
could not see him. As soon as he started, away
went the dog after him, full yelp. I stood still,
and there was a glorious threshing among the laurels,
when all at once I heard the panther take up a tree.
I heard his nails strike the bark the first dash he
made. It was a beautiful still evening, and I said to
myself, I have one of you, any way ; and I ran as
hard as I could through the thicket, tumbling over
logs, and scrambling through the laurels, until I came
to where Toby was, barking, and jumping, and shak-
ing his tail, and looking mightily tickled at having
got one of them up the tree.

I soon saw the panther lying at His full length
on a limb : it was on a very large hemlock. I did
not know well what to do ; for it was now so late
that I could scarcely see the foresight of my rifle,
and I could not see the notch of the hindsight at all ;
but, as I knew my gun, I thought I had better ven-
ture a shot, rather than keep watch at the tree all
night; and so I drew up, and took the best aim I
could, and fired away. The tarnal thing never
stirred, but I said to myself, I am sure I can't have
missed you. In a short time I saw a motion in his

PIONEER PANTHER HUNTING. 866

tail, which hung over the hmb on which he lay, and
directly after, I could hear his nails gritting on the
bark ; and I saw his body begin to slide round the
limb, till at last he slung fairly under it, suspended
by his claws, and in a minute afler he let go his hold,
and down he came, cosouse! so nearly dead, that
when I ran to keep Toby from taking hold of him
(for they are dreadful to fight, and can tear a dog to
pieces in no time) I found him unable to stretch out
a claw. I knew that I could find the place again,
and so I just let him lay where he fell, and I went
back to the buck, and made a good fire, and lay
down there tiU morning. But first I cut some good
slices off the buck, and roasted them for supper. He
was a fine fat fellow, and killed as nicely as a butcher
could have killed him. I don't like to eat part of a
deer which has been kiUed by the wolves, but a
panther is a different thing.

The next morning I started bright and early,
and I soon came on the tracks of the other two pan-
thers. It appeared as if they had been tracing about
separately, and had kept around the swamp nearly
all night ; but at last they got together and started off.
As soon as I got on the track I followed it briskly
tiU about noon, when I started them afresh, and let-
ting out Toby, they, and he, and I, all ran as fast as
we could ; but they got about a quarter of a mile ahead
of me, when dash I one of them took up a tree, which I

366 PIONEERS OF TH.E WEST.

*

80011 knew by the manner of the dog's barking. O,
said I, I've got another one ! "When I came up to
the dog, there, sm-e enough, was a panther up a tree,
shaking his tail and looking just like a cat when she
is about to jump on a mouse ; but, says I, my fine fel-
low, I'll soon put a stop to your jumping. So I ups
with my rifle, and down he came, as dead as if he
had never been alive. I skinned him, and fast-
ened his skin to my knapsack, and away I started
after the other one.

The last fellow did not like to travel without his
companions. I suppose he wondered what had be-
come of them. He kept dodging about, first one
way, then another, as if he expected them to come
up with him ; but he had another kind of companion
hunting for him. Well, as I said, after I skinned the
second one, I started after the third, and in about two
hours I roused him from behind a log, and Toby and
he had a fine run for about ten minutes. I stood
still ; for I thought maybe the panther would take a
circuit to hunt for the other ones, and so he did ; but
the dog was so close to him he thought it best to tree,
in order, I suppose, to see who, and how many were
after him. As soon as I knew, by the barking, he
had treed, away I ran, and soon got on tlie track. I
took notice of it on a leaning tree, which I ran past
to the dog, who was about ten rods further, looking
up at a large hemlock, and making a great racket.

PIONEER PANTHER HUNTING. 867

I looked up, but I could see no panther. I went off
a little where I could see every Hmb ; but there was
no panther there. Why, said I, this can be no ghost,
to vanish in this way ; he must be on some of these
trees ; but let us go where I last saw the track. So I
went back to the leaning tree, where I had last seen
the track. It was a pretty large hemlock, which had
fallen against another, and, looking uip, there I saw
the fellow, sure enough, crouching right in the crotch,
where the leaning tree lay across the other, close
down, so hidden by the limbs and green leaves of
the hemlock that I could see only a small part of his
body. In running to the dog I had gone right under
him. Although I could see but little of him from the
place where 1 stood, yet, as I was sure that what I
saw was his shoulders, I did not wait to see any more
of him, but took a fair sight and drew my trigger.
Well, he didn't budge! I looked at him for some
time, but he didn't stir. I was sure I had shot him
through ; I thought it a pity to waste any more lead
on him. His tail hung over the crotch of the large
tree, and there was a smaller tree which grew up
close to the crotch, and I thought I could climb up
the little tree, so as to catch his tail, and see whether
he was dead or no ; but just as I was about half up I
saw his tail begin to move, and, before I could get to
the ground, his head and foreparts slid over the crotch,
and down he came, as dead as a door-nail. So I

368 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

skinned him, and went back to the one I killed first,
and skinned him, and got home that night; and
sent word to the fellow who saw them by the Spring
Brook, that if he would come to me I would show
him the skins of his three panthers.

The next is from a pioneer hunter of Kentucky,
who is said to have killed the last buffalo in the
cane-brakes of that state, and who for years sup-
plied the Covington and Cincinnati markets with
bear meat and venison. His story is told as follows :

I was living on a branch of Bigbone, called
Panther Eun, from the circumstance to this day. It
was the year after I had been out with General
"Wayne. I had left home for a deer hunt, with
rifle, tomahawk, and butcher-knife in my belt, as
customary, and, scouring about the woods, I came
to a thick piece of brush ; in short, a perfect thicket
of hoop-poles. I discovered some dreadful growling
and scuflling was going on by the sound, apparently
within a hundred yards or so. I crept as cautiously
and silently as possible through the thicket, and
kept on until I found myself within, perhaps, twenty
steps of two very large male panthers, who were
making a desperate fight, screaming, spitting, and
yelling like a couple of ram cats, only much louder,
as you may guess. At last one of them seemed to
have absolutely killed the other, for he lay quite
motionless. This was what I had been waiting for;

PIONEEE PANTHER HUNTING. 369

and while the other was swinging backward and for-
ward over him in triumph, I blazed away; but,
owing to his singular motion, I shot him through the
bulge of the ribs, a little too far back to kill him
instantly. Thev are very hard to kill. But he
made one prodigious bound through the brush, and
cleared himself out of sight, the ground where we
were being quite broken, as well as sideling. I
then walked up to the other, mistrusting nothing,
and was within a yard of him, when he made one
spring to his feet, and fastened on my left shoulder
with his teeth and claws, where he inflicted sereral
deep wounds. I was uncommonly active, as well
as stout, in those days, and feared neither man nor
mortal in a scuffle; but I had hard work to keep
my feet under the weight of such a beast. I had
my knife out in an instant, and put it into him as
fast as possible for dear life. So we tussled away,
and the ground being sideling and steep at that,
which increased my trouble to keep from falling,
we gradually worked down hill till I was forced
against a large log, and we both came to the
ground, I inside and the panther outside of it, he
still keeping hold, although evidently weakening
under the repeated digs and rips he was getting.
I kept on knifing away till I found his hold slack-
ening, and he let go at last, to my great rejoicing.
I got to my feet, made for my rifle, which I had

370 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

dropped early in tlie scuffle, got it, and ran home.
I gathered the neighbors, with tlieir dogs, and on
returning found the panthers not more than fifteen
rods apart; the one I had knifed dying, and the
one I had shot making an effort to climb a tree to
the height of eight or ten feet, when he fell, and
was speedily dispatched. Next day I stripped them
of their skins, which I sold to a saddler in Lexing-
ton for two dollars apiece. You may depend I never
got into such a grip again with a panther.

THE SQUATTER FAMILY, 871

CHAPTEK XV.

THE SQUATTER FAMILY.

Among the early settlers of the "West were many
who moved out and selected sites for their homes
upon any unoccupied land they might find, and,
by clearing a portion of it and building a cabin,
they obtained a preemption right to the soil, or, at
least, a certain portion of it, and in possession of
which they have been protected by the government,
at least so far as that none could dispossess them
without paying an equivalent for the improvements ;
and even then they had a prior claim, or the privilege
of purchasing, at government price, over every other
purchaser. Such pioneers have been denominated
" Squatters."

In an early day a man, who had left the sterile
soil of an Eastern state, started with his young
and rising family to better his condition in the rich
and fertile valley of the West. He was a poor, but
honest man ; had struggled hai-d to raise his family,
and by patient industry was enabled to obtain an
outfit of a horse and cart to journey to the "West

23

ii12 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

Passing through what was then a wilderness, he at
length reached a spot on the Illinois River, about two
hundred railes fi-om its mouth, where he pitched
his tent, and subsequently erected his cabin. His.
family consisted of a wife and three children ; the
eldest, a boy, was in his nineteenth year, the next
a girl in her eighteenth year, and the youngest a
boy of fourteen. They were all healthy and vig-
orous, the very material suited for the hard toil and
poor fare of pioneer life.

One day there came to the squatter's cabin three
Indians, professing to be friendly, who invited him
to go out on a hunting excursion with them. As the
family subsisted mostly upon game, he finally con-
cluded to accompany them, taking with him his
eldest son. They expected to be absent about a
week, as they intended to take a somewhat exten-
sive range. After three days had passed away, one
of the Indians returned to the squatter's house, and
deliberately lighting his pipe and taking his seat by
the fire, he commenced smoking in silence. The
wife was not startled at his appearance, as it was
frequently the case that one, and sometimes more,
of a party of Indian hunters, getting discouraged,
would leave the rest and return. Tliis was usually
the case when they imagined they discovered some
bad sign, and it would not only be useless, but dis-
astrous, for them to hunt under such circumstances.

THE SQUATTER FAMILY. 373

The Indian sat for some time in sullen silence,
and at length, removing his pipe from his mouth, he
gave a significant grunt to awaken attention, and
said, "White man die." The squatter's wife at this
replied,

"What is the matter?"

"He sick, tree fall on him, he die. You go see
him."

Her suspicions being somewhat aroused at the
manner of the savage, she asked him a number of
questions. The evasiveness and evident want of
consistency in the answers, at length convinced her
that something was wrong. She judged it best not
to go herself, but sent her youngest son, the eldest,
as we have seen, having gone on the hunt with
his father. Kight came, but it brought not the son
or the Indian. All its gloomy hours were spent in
that lone cabin by the mother and daughter; but
morning came without their return. The whole day
passed in the same fruitless look-out for the boy; the
mother felt grieved that she had sent her child on the
errand, but it was now too late. Her suspicions were
now confirmed that the Indians had decoyed away
her husband and sons. She felt that they would not
stop in their evil designs, and that, if they had slain
the father and his boys, they would next attack the
mother and her daughter.

No time was to be lost; and she and her daughter.

374 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

as night was approaching, went to work to barri-
cade the door and windows of the cabin in the best
manner they could. Tlie rifle of the youngest boy
was all the weapon in the house, as he did not take
it when he went to seek his father. This was taken
from its hangings, and carefully examined to see that
it was well loaded and primed. To her daughter she
gave the ax, and thus armed, they determined to
watch all night, and, if attacked by the savages, to
fight to the last.

About midnight they made their appearance, ex
pecting to find the mother and daughter asleep, but
in this they were disappointed. They approached
stealthily, and one of the number knocked loudly at
the door, crying, "Mother! mother!"

The mother's ear was too acute to be deceived by
the wily savage, and she replied, "Where are the In-
dians, my son?"

The answer, "Um gone," would have satisfied her,
if she had not been before aware of the deceit.

"Come up, my son, and put your ear to the latch-
hole. I want to tell you something before I open the
door."

The Indian applied his ear to the latch-hole. Tlie
crack of the rifle followed, and he fell dead.

As soon as she fired, she stepped on one side of the
door, and immediately two rifle balls passed through
it, either of which would have killed her.

THE SQUATTER FAMILY. 375

"Thank God," said the mother in a whisper to her
daughter, "there are but two. They are the three
that went to hunt with your father, and one of them
is dead. If we can only kill or cripple another, we
shall be safe. Take courage, my child; God will not
forsake us in this trying hour. We must both be still
after they fire again. Supposing they have killed us,
they will break down the door. I may be able to
shoot another one," for in the mean time she had
re-loaded the rifle; "but if I miss, you must use the
ax with all your might."

The daughter, equally courageous with her mother,
assured her that she would do her best.

The conversation had scarcely ceased when two
more rifle balls came crashing through the window.
A death-like stillness ensued for the space of several
minutes, when two more balls, in quick succession,
came through the door, followed by tremendous
strokes against it with a heavv stake. At length the
door gave way, and an Indian, with a fiendish yell,
was in the act of springing into the house ; but a
ball from the boy's rifle, in the mothers hand,
pierced his heart, and he fell dead across the thresh-
old. The surviving Indian, daring not to venture —
and it was well for his skull that he did not — ^fired
at random, and ran away.

"Kow," said the mother to the daughter, "we
must leave ;" and taking the rifle and the ax, tliey

876 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

hastened to the river, jumped into the canoe, and
without a morsel of provision, except a wild duck,
and two blackbirds which the mother shot on the
voyage, and which they ate raw, they paddled their
canoe down the river until they reached the residence
of the French settlers at St. Louis.

Some time after, a party of hunters started over
into Illinois, and scoured the country in every direc-
tion ; but they returned without finding either the
squatter or his boys. Nor have they been heard
from to this day. Should the traveler pass by the
beautiful city of Peoria, in his "Westward wanderings,
the old settlers in that neighborhood can point out the
spot where stood the cabin of the squatter, so heroical-'
ly defended by his wife and daughter, and who so
nobly avenged the death of the father and his sons.

The pioneer women of the West, like the men,
were made of sterner stuff than enters into the com-
position of most of our modern ladies and gentlemen.
They were brave in entering the wilderness, and they
showed themselves equally so in grappling with its
difficulties and encountering its perils. Who has
not heard of the heroic Miss Elizabeth Zane, at Fort
Henry, in 1YT7, where the city of Wheeling now
stands ? When a large army of savages had been
collected, under the infamous Girty, and had at-
tacked the fort, having killed in an outside skirmish
several officera and men, a fearful crisis had arrived.

THE SQUATTER FAMILY. 377

The fort was reduced to but eleven men and boys.
The houses of the villagers were occupied by the
savage foe, who for the moment had ceased lios-
tilities, and had withdrawn to the base of the hill,
which rose abruptly and precipitously from the nar-
row valley. The ammunition of the fort was nearly
exhausted ; and the stock must be replenished, or all
would fall — men, women, and children — a prey to the
merciless savages. About sixty yards distant, at the
house of Ebenezer Zane, there was a keg of powder.
K that could be procured they would be enabled suc-
cessfully to defend the fort, and keep the Indians at bay.
Not a man or boy, for they were almost equally good
marksmen, could be spared ; and yet some one must
hazard his life in the undertaking. It was the for-
lorn hope of that little band, and on it their fate was
to turn. The commander, Colonel Shepherd, called
for a volunteer in this perilous undertaking. Several
promptly offered their services, both men and boys ;
but they were the bravest of the band, and could
least be spared. The difficulty seemed to be not so
much in finding the heart stout enough for the fear-
ful undertaking, but in making the selection. Just
then, up stepped a slender, delicate girl. "With the
spirit of her noble father, she said to the commander,
" I will bring the powder. If I die in the attempt,
my loss will not be felt." In vain they strove to dis-
suade her, as she would most certainly be shotj

378 PIO^'EERS OF THE WEST.

besides, she could not run witli the fleetness of a
man. All enti'eaties were vain, and she heroically
exclaimed, " Open the gates, and let me go !" With
tearful eyes the gates were opened, and the intrepid
girl bounded toward the house. The moment she
emerged from the fort she was seen by the Indians,
who, instead of firing at her, seemed to be taken
by a surprise and astonishment that for a moment
suspended their murderous purposes. She reached
the house, entered it, secured the desired keg, and
started back to the fort. The soul of the heroic girl
was in the effort, and bravely it sustained her. As
she sped across the space with her burden a dozen
rifles were raised, and their sharp, simultaneous
crack seemed to announce her doom; but she
neither feU nor faltered. On with accelerated speed
she urged her way; and, passing the gates, she
entered the fort in safety. Tlie deed of that brave
girl saved the fort; and an advantage was gained
over the savages from which they did not recover so
as to renew their depredations in future on that
frontier outpost. Pioneer life in the "West abounds
with incidents of female heroism; and the simple
story of their deeds possesses a more thrilling interest
than can be infused by the most fervent and fruitful
imagination into any scene of fiction.

THE LOST HUNTBB. 881

CHAPTER XYL

THE LOST HUNTER.

" When spring to woods and waters round

Brought bloom and joy again,
The Western hunter's bones were found
Far down a narrow glen."

In the Western wilderness, at an early day, a himter
with his family penetrated beyond the settlements in
advance of civilization, with a view eventually of
effecting a clearing and securing for himself a home.
He was young and athletic, and, with his wife, had
been reared in the woods. Both were inured to
hardships, and they were alike fitted to brave the
dangei-s and endure the ills of a forest hfe. Having
reached their destination, the wife carrying the child,
a fine healthy boy of one summer's growth, and the
hunter his gun, ax, and other articles necessary for
life in a camp, they halted in the afternoon of a balmy
day, in Indian summer, on the bank of a sparkling
rivulet, in a dense but beautiful forest. The tent, the
cloth of which had been made before they started,
was soon pitched, and ere night they were safely
housed in their new home. That night they were

382 PIONEEES OF THE WEST.

lulled to sleep, after their weaiy journey, by the rip-
pling of the stream over its pebbly bed. Crouched at
the door, which was composed of a curtain, as a sen-
tinel, was the hunter's dog, a large, noble animal, which
he had raised expressly for hunting, and whose saga-
city had proved equal to any emergency to which he
had been subjected.

Thus opened to that young and enterprising family,
life in the then far-distant West. The young husband
with his gun was at no difficulty in securing plenty of
game, which roamed unscared in the forest, except
by an occasional Indian hunter, who might chance to
pass that way in his winter range. He felled the
forest around his cabin, cut and split up the timber
for fire wood, cleared out the under-brush, and had, by
the approach of winter, quite a patch in readiness for
planting in the coming spring. Having devoted his
attention to clearing while the weather remained
good, or at least so that he could work profitably, he
had but little time to hunt. But this was not all ; lie
had reared for his little family a cabin composed of
such small trees and limbs as he was able of himself,
with the assistance of his wife, to put in their places.
It was small, but it answered every purpose, and
being well chinked and daubed, would keep out the
wintery blast.

Having, as before remarked, been unable to devote
much attention to hunting, his stock of provisions

THE LOST HUNTER. 383

had become quite limited, and it became necessary
for him to sally out into the surrounding wilderness
to replenish his store. Early one morning, in the
besrinnins of winter, he furnished himself with
a piece of jerked venison, and bidding his wife and
child good-by, with the promise of returning in the
afternoon, he started out on a hunt. He traveled
several miles without starting any game except a
flock of turkeys, which were too quick of wing to allow
a shot. The day, which in the morning had been
rather bright for a winter's day, began now to assume
a somber and portentous aspect. Dark clouds came
drifting np from the West, threatening a winter
storm. He thought of his wife and child, and it was
not strange that we imagine such thoughts to possess
his mind, when we consider they were left alone in.
the woods many miles from human habitation. But
they were not entirely alone : the faithful dog had
been left to guard them in their solitude.

The snow began to descend, and the day was wear-
ing away, but he was in quest of provision for the
loved ones at home, and he pushed on through the
forest, heedless of the storm and reckless of danger.
At length a large buck sprang from a thicket just in
advance of him, and bounded away. The hunter
gave chase ; and over rock and crag, and deep ravine,
and tangled thicket, he pursued it, until, gaining the
base of a hill, he directed his course around it, hoping

384 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

to get a shot at the affrighted animal. In this he
was fortunate. ISTot hearing the hunter's feet behind,
it stopped on the descent, and the well-directed aim
brought it to the ground. The hunter, delighted with
his success, shouldered his game, and started in the
direction of home. The storm, however, began to
increase in violence, and the heavens were darkened
by the thick flakes of snow which buried the earth
and the trees in its mantle. On he traveled, but the
forest signs by which he was accustomed to find his
way were obliterated, and he knew not whither he
was traveling. Night was coming on, and he was
many miles from home, but that were nothing, did
he only know the way thither. The load was heavy,
and the depth of the snow had now become so great
that he could make but slow progress.

He was lost — lost in the depths of a dense and
dreary forest ; still he Wandered on. No sound fell
upon his ear but the moaning winds, which, like a
funeral dirge, added to the gloom. With the storm
the cold increased ; and the snow-crystals, sharpened
by the frost, were like so many stings to the hunter's
face. Over rock, and through glen and thicket he
urged his way, nerved by thoughts of home. All
burdens and hardships are light, and readily endured,
for those we love ; and the poor hunter, though lost,
was still not destitute of hope that he might find his
home. The brave, stout heart, however, could not

THE LOST HUNTER. 385

sustain tlie weary and benumbed frame. Xature,
overtasked, at last must sink beneath her load. A
chillness comes over bim as tbe piercing -wind scat-
ters its frosts around; and tbe exliausted traveler,
unable to proceed any further, sinks down beneath
his burden, at the foot of a tree, in a deep, nan'ow
glen. He was too far gone to recover himself, and
he yielded to his fate.

It is said a wild but delicious delirium seizes the
mind of those who are on the point of freezing to
death ; and, if so, it may not be too great a stretch
of the imagination to suppose that the lost man
dreamed of his quiet cabin, and the joys of his peace-
ful home, and, in the language of the poet, though

" Reason forsook her shatter'd throne,

He dream'd that summer hoars
Again around him brightly shone,

In sunshine, leaves, and flowers ;
Again the fresh, green, forest sod.
Rifle in hand, he lightly trod.

He heard the deer's Iotv bleat ;
Or, couch'd within the shadowy nook,
"Was lull'd by music of the brook.

That murmur'd at his feet.

" It changed ; his cabin roof o'erspread.

Rafter, and wall, and chair,
Gleam'd in the crack'ling fire that shed

Its warmth, and he was there ;

386 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

His wife had clasp'd his hand, and now
Her gentle kiss was on his brow,

His child was prattling by ;
The dog couch'd dozing near the door,
And through the pane, frost-pictured o'er,

He saw the white drifts fly.

" That pass'd ; before his swimming sight

Does not a figure bound ?
And a soft voice, with wild delight,

Proclaim the lost is found?
No, hunter, no ! 'tis but the streak
Of whirling snow — the tempest shriek-
No human aid is near !
Kever again that form will meet
Thy clasp'd embrace ; those accents sweet
Speak music to thine ear I"

The hunter and his victim lay side by side in the
icy arms of death ; and ere the morning broke over
that dreary forest they were inclosed in a winding-
sheet of snow. It were vain to search for the lost
amid the ruins of such a storm. Nor until spring
came and melted away the snow, and brought its
leaves and flowers, did a brother hunter find his
bones, and bear to the heart-broken widow the sad
news of his death, and the only mementoes that were
left, his rifle and his knife.

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM. 387

CHAPTEE XYn.

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM.

It was a cold, wet day in April. The wind sighed
and moaned through the trees, and the driving rain
came down, pitilessly drenching the tender buds that
but yesterday were swollen, well-nigh to bursting,
with a new and buoyant life. Anon the heavy drops
were changed to large snow flakes, which alighted in
the veiy bosoms of the bright-eyed hepatica, the star-
flowered bloodroot, and bowed still lower the modest
heads of the erythronium. An early spring, and a
long succession of bright, Wisconsin suns, had called
these out somewhat earlier than their wont ; but they
found that, if winter had not " lingered in the lap of
spring," he had come back to bid her a very boister-
ous adieu, and, in doing so, he forgot not to tread on
the little ones.

" See there, ma'am, if there aint a man and woman
on horseback, with an umbrell ;" and the next mo-
ment no less than four little tow-heads were crowded
into the six-paned window of the cabin, with the
mother's head above them all, ga2dng at the stran-

888 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

gers ; and when the latter were out of sight fi-om the
window, the "young 'uns" ran out in the rain, and
watched them away down the ravine, in spite of re-
peated injunctions to "come into the Jieouse^'^ and
" shut that air door."

A few minutes after " dad" came in with a neigh-
bor, saying that he had just met the " elder," as he
called the circuit preacher, taking his daughter to be
" inspected," in order to teach their school that sum-
mer. Then followed some conjecturing as to whethei
she would get a certificate.

" Git a sirtificate ? Of course she will ! She is one
of the smartest teachers in the country. They are
going to give her a dollar and twelve and a half cents
a week, and that's more than they have ever gin a
schoolma'am afore."

" Yes ; but you know Dr. Dean has to do all the
examining. He lives down to Woupekon, and they
don't want us to have any school here, because they
aint going to have any down there; they are too
stingy to have a school, and they are afraid that we
shall git the start on 'em."

" O, they git eout ! It's of no use for them to be
so mighty smart ; they han't got the nateral advant-
ages that we have, no how they can fix it."

And then followed a long string of reasons, all pro
and none con.^ why this particular "settlement" was a
" leetle ahead" of any other for some miles around,

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM. 389

to say nothing of the advantages which thev enjoyed
over those who lived in Illinois or Michigan, or any-
other state East or South. As for the West, they
supposed that there were some nice situations out in
Iowa, where nobody had " gone in ;" and the owner
of the cabin rather thought that he should try his
luck out there before long. Neighbors were getting
" a 'most too thick here ; he'd thought so ever since
Jones had come in a mile below him." For his part,
he did not like to be crowded. He would not want
to live in such a place as it was down at the village,
where you could stand in your own door and see half
a dozen houses, all in the same " clearin'."

It will be readily perceived that our log-cabin man
was a specimen of tlie genuine Yankee pioneer, a
character, it must be confessed, quite rare in North-
ern Wisconsin. The pioneere of that country were
the Canadian French, whose settlements were com-
menced as early as the first lialf of the eighteenth
century. Their descendants still remain, a mino-led
race of half-breeds, that, with a few honorable excep-
tions, do no credit to their illustrious ancestoi-s, either
by their enterprise* or intelligence.

The tide of immigration here from the Eastern
states, unlike that of the states further South, came
on, when it did begin, with a rush that mostly swal-
lowed up its own pioneers, instead of ever bearing
them forward and casting them upon the further
24

390 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

shore of civilization. That may be partly accounted
for in the fact that this northern region was, till within
a short time, supposed to be inhospitably cold. In-
stances are not wanting within the last twenty years
where immigrants have found it almost impossible to
convince their friends, who yet lingered behind, that
Indian corn actually gi'ew rankly and ripened in one
season, yielding an ample harvest, in central Wis-
consin. And it is credibly stated that, a little longer
since, oflScial instructions were given to a government
officer, en route for Green Bay, to go from Milwaukie
thither by sleighing in the month of May.

When these illusions were dispelled, and it became
known that a fair and fertile country, beautifully
variegated with prairie and woodland, and of a
warmer climate than the same latitudes East, was all
unappropriated, the tide of Eastern emigration set in
this direction. At this time the Erie Canal, and soon
afterward the Central Railroad, were in full opera-
tion, and semi-weekly lake steamers swept the whole
Michigan shore of the new Eden, thus affording
opportunities for its rapid settlement which few other
Western states could boast. Taking these things into
account, it is not surprising that its settlers presented
traces of unusual refinement at a very early period.
Coming by water, they could and did bring their
furniture with them ; the same facilities brought their
weekly newspapers and their lettei*s, and thus they

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'Ail. 391

were never shut out so completely from Eastern ciyil-
ization, and left to grow barbarous, as they would
under more unfavorable circumstances. This may
explain the appearance of refinement in the school-
mistress, who was usually, as " down East," the daugh-
ter of the farmer, and who there considers it a neces-
sary finish to her education to teach school a year or
two before getting married. (Vide Miss Lyon.)

Thus it is evident that the points we are to trace
must be the peculiarities that privation would induce,
and the energies which the circumstances would
naturally develop. Accordingly, we find one Mary
Catlin prompt to her engagement, and, determined ta
avoid giving a pretext for a ruse, starting out on this
unpleasant day to meet the town commissionere. It
was a long, weary ride on the crupper, ten miles,
across bare, fenceless prairies, through cross-cuts and
byways, to shorten the route ; but the log-cabin of
the second commissioner, the appointed place of
meeting, was at last in sight. It must be confessed
that Mary dreaded a formal examination, and, indeed,
it was not usual to have anything critical on such
occasions, unless rivalry or some similar cause de-
manded it.

Take, for example, Mary's first examination, the
previous summer, conducted, as usual, by a Dr.,
(mind, we did not say an M. J?.,) which character
was supposed to embody about as much profound

892 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

learning as any other individual corporation in a
new country, not even excepting the general run of
those land-sharks who pompously placarded them-
selves as " Attorneys at Law ;" for the West, even at
an early date, was by no means deficient in this very
important element of (trouble in) society.

But in the case referred to, the worthy doctor had
evidently grown rusty on the "rudiments," and the
examination consisted of a few common-place ques-
tions on geography and arithmetic, and an attempt
at orthography, which, after proceeding as far as the
number of letters in the alphabet and their divisions,
was rounded off with a laugh, and the remark that
he believed he had "really forgotten the fore-part of
the spelling-book !"

Meanwhile, to answer the requirements of the law
and append his name to the certificate, tliere sat by
a burly Dutchman, who could hardly comprehend a
whole sentence in English; and, the examination
finished, they '-'■ sertified that Miss Mary Catlin was
qualified to teach a comon school !"

In the present case it would not be so, for Dr. Dean
had taught school himself, which was an argument to
the point.

Meanwhile, they arrived at the house, after go-
ing away up hill, through a pair of bars, and inen
away down around a swamp. A cordial welcome
from the inmates of the cottage, and a smoking din-

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AiT. 393

ner, awaited them; the latter more remarkable for its
savoriness, abmidance, and the geueroiis hospitality
with which it was offered, than for its variety;
though Westerners, after a year or two, generally live
one or two thirds better than they did "down East."
The conversation at dinner led to mutual congratula-
tions on the excellent promise of educational privi-
leges to be enjoyed in their state that was to be, and
ended with the satisfied assurance of every one that
they were really among the most fortunate beings in
the world, simply because they had become badgers.
Dinner being ended, in due time the momentous
subject was introduced, and it soon became evident
that Dr. Dean intended to discharge his duty consci-
entiously; for he questioned the young lady up hill
and down, on all the ordinary branches of education,
and some of the extraordinary. He certainly thought
it necessary to impress her duly with the fact that she
could not and did not know too much for a school
teacher, both of which convictions, he considered,
would be best brought about by a due display of his
own superior knowledge. Although she could not
answer all the questions that he propounded, yet he
discovered her to be so much better qualified than
many of the dollar and six-shilling girls that he
would be obliged to pass, that it would not answer
to refuse her a certificate, even if he felt disposed to
gratify local prejudices. So, after giving some very

394 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

good advice, he ended by gayly saying, "Now, Miss
Catlin, I will give you a certificate if you can tell me
which side of a shirt wristband to put the button-hole
in." A general laugh followed, which was heightened
by her quick reply, " O, on the right side, of course !"
and the certificate was made out forthwith.

In selecting our model, we may not have taken the
most common type of the Western schoolmistress.
The universal schoolmistress that we used to see in
our childish days, was young, somewhere between
fifteen and eighteen, romping and wild, though good-
hearted enough; by some chance yet unmarried, but
by no chance without a beau to take her to parties,
hops, and huskings. She had enjoyed all the advant-
ages of a district school in the winter since she was
twelve years old ; and now — well, she made no secret
of it, and I see no reason why I should^ — the gist of
the matter was, she was to be married in the fall; and
while her "feller" was "breaking up" a few acres,
and chinking his cabin for the winter, she must teach
a three-months' school somewhere, as the only chance
at her command for getting a little money to buy her
a smart wedding gown, and a table, or a high-post
bedstead, or a looking glass, or something of the kind,
as a sort of an apology for the setting-out that her poor
squatter father, with his half a dozen children, could
not give her. This was before the days in which
Governor Slade commenced sending out teachers

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM. 395

into Wisconsin, or we might have given you a da-
gnerreotvpe of a sclioolniistress by profession, and a
matrimonial-alliance hunter by practice, for as snch
these self-denying women are looked npon all through
the West.

But Mary Catlin, as we remember her, had the
spirit of the genuine educator, and her character
was not without its duplicates even in the new
settlements of Wisconsin. She saw the necessity of
mental and moral development in herself, and in
others, and, as the surest mode of securing both,
she tm-ned her attention to teaching. As example
is great beyond all other influences, so her earnest
thirst for knowledge infused itself even into the
vounsr minds that attended the summer school ; and
long afterward did the mothers tell, to the annoy-
ance of transient teachers, how fast Jim and Mat
learned the summer that they went to school to
Mary Catlin.

But not the least of Mary's qualifications were
her energy and promptitude, for without these she
would have effected Kttle. In the commotion inci-
dent to making a new home, to selecting and secur-
ing a desirable "eighty" or quarter section, to
neighborhood rivalries in securing for this or that
place the school-house, the post-office, the court-
house, or even the direction of the plank-road, to say
nothing of locating and laying out city and village

396 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

plots; all of these were of such vital importance,
as affecting the "future interests of the country,"
as to keep individuals, and community in general,
in a state of perpetual excitement; and no small
amount of long-headedness and sharp-sightedness
was required to see through and steer through all
these conflicting interests. Then woe be to the poor
fellow whose wits failed him in the crisis ! He was
sure to go under, and he might about as well go
back East at once. But what has all this to do
with the schoolmistress? Much every way, but
especially with the ground on which was based the
general estimate of any person's abilities, and his
consequent social standing and influence. And
now for examples of Mary's energy. Does the log
school-house want cleaning before Mary can com-
mence the summer school? She boldly heads the
little band that have come to help her, and it is
done up in a trice. Does the house look dreary, as
it stands on a corner where two ways meet, with
no tree near it, and no fence, except one to shut it
out from the green fields, with its high windows
sprinkled with shingle-panes, and its high slab-benches
and rickety writing-tables? She makes the best
of it ; allows that land is too scarce in a new country,
or, at least, that it will one day be too valuable to
waste much on a school-house site, and that shade-
trees might rot the roof, or blow over upon it, and so

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLM A'AM. 397

she has it kept nicely brushed out -with the cedar-
broom, and the walls trimmed with fresh branches
of oak leaves, until the children really love the once
uninviting place. Are the houses in the district scat-
tered, and many of the patrons living at the distance
of one and a half or two miles? Mary does not
play the lady, but boards out her full quota of
time at each place, though she sometimes thinks
to herself that she would like to know who first
invented "boarding round." She considers that he
deserved a premium of some kind. "Were some of
her homes not quite so neat as they might be ? She
made no faces, but took her dose quietly, although
some of her places for repose might be so uncom-
fortable as to induce a belief in the story boldly
asserted by some Western housekeepers, that bugs
grow wild in the woods !

In going across lots, does she rend her dress sadly
in scaling a seven-railed fence? or does she slip off
the little two-poled bridge into the black, mucky bot-
tom of the creek two feet deep ? She takes it coolly
turns her course at once toward her temporary
home, and is dressed and at school before the time.

This readiness for emergencies gained for her a
confidence, and commanded a respect that she
could not otherwise have enjoyed; and in no in-
stance was the truth of this more fully verified than
with regard to the devotional exercises of Mary's

398 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

school. She had previously been in the hahit of
opening school by reading the Scriptures and prayer.
On coming here, she learned that one Mr. Gray,
an influential man in school matters, had openly
opposed one of the winter teachers in having devo-
tional exercises in school, and obliged him to desist.
This man was formerly a Hicksite, now an infidel,
and read the Age of Reason instead of the Bible.
What was to be done ? She concluded that if they
put her out of the school for that, she could leave,
with the blessing of God, but she could not remain
without it. That resolution taken, she entered school
the first morning, and, after kindly greetings all
around, she talked to them so sensibly and so lov-
ingly about their object in coming there, and the
best means of attaining that object, and the necessity
of asking the blessing of God on all that was to be
done, that there was not a thoughtless face in the
room; and when she said, "Let us pray," every
little knee was bowed. After this, by her proposal,
they gladly came every morning at a quarter before
nine, to read their Testaments and listen to Mary's
earnest prayer before the regular hour for com-
mencing the duties of the day.

Against this arrangement Mr. Gray could find
nothing to say, as the children came of their own
accord, and his among the number.

It is by no means our intention to detail tho

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM. 399

occurrences of the summer, but one more scene and
we hare done.

We have not explained whv Mary Catlin, at the
age of twenty, was yet unmarried, a very uncommon
occurrence just at that stage of new country progress.
Neither did she often have a beau, and some said that
she carried her head too high. Perhaps the young
men thought so too; for one bit of Yankee shrewd-
ness and self-importance they must have the credit,
they never adventured themselves far without
being pretty sure of their footing. Then, too, they
wanted house-keepers right away, if at all, and they
had not much time to waste in playing the gallant,
but drove away at those they thought themselves
likeliest to get without much trouble. Xo doubt
many a young farmer would have sought Mary's
hand, but she had other thoughts. Getting a "likely
young man" was not so much in her mind, as being
suitably qualified to discharge any of the great re-
sponsibilities of life that might fall to her share, so
that she was in no haste ; but more than all the rest,
no one had looked into her heart or stirred its depth of
feeling.

Mary was quite a little botanist in her way; she
had picked up an old treatise on Flora somewhere,
and this summer especially, in the pursuit of this
study, her genuine love of nature rose to a perfect
enthusiasm. Fearlessly she roamed the woods, the

400 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

prairies, and the openings, all alone, and culled
many a beautiful wild flower, and then sat down to
find its name and nature. And if by chance slie
succeeded, how tenderly would she caress the little
thing, and call it her new friend. Others, she said,
might gather it for a momentary nosegay, or pass it
by unheeded ; but she would always call its name,
and recognize its hidden nature. And this was the
deepest sympathy the lone girl knew for any created
thing.

One night upon going to one of her many homes,
with her old Botany, and her arms full of flowers as
usual, she found Mr. "Winslow there. She had already
formed some slight acquaintance with him;' he was
the last winter's teacher, a man of such refinement
and gentleness of manner, as could but win her
esteem.

"You seem quite fond of flowers, Miss Catlin," he
said pleasantly.

" Indeed I am," was the reply. " I call them my
little friends ; all the friends that I have."

" All the friends that you have ?" echoed he.

" Yes, heart friends, I mean," she returned apolo-
getically; but she blushed a conscious acknowledg-
ment that she had not mended the matter, and her
eye fell beneath his earnest responsive gaze.

"You deserve more sympathizing friends than
these," said he, with tenderness ; and then, silently

THE "WISCONSIN' SCHOOLMA'AM. 401

taking a wild rose, he wore it in his button-hole the
remainder "of the evening.

This was far from being the last evening that they
spent together. He, too, turned botanist ; and the
topics of their conversation were in endless variety.
I^atiiral science, poetry, school-teaching, and human
nature, they never wearied of, and on all these topics
their views and feelings were so much alike, that
interchange of thought became only a source of the
most refined pleasure to the unsophisticated Mary.
But their evident regard for each other soon became
a matter of neighborhood gossip, and the coarse jokes
that were passed grated harshly on her sensitive ear.
In the course of time, however, these jokes had their
usual injurious eflfect. "Was he not indeed very
attentive to her ? she asked herself. Were they not
one heart and one soul, and would it not be well to
secure such a friend? True, he was not professedly
religious. They had never conversed on that sub-
ject; she had not the courage to mention it ; but she
did really think that he must be pious at heart ; at
all events, he was very moral outwardly. Yet, in
spite of her reasoning, there were misgivings within
on this important subject.

Thus the summer passed away. Brown autumn
came, and spread the prairies over with the golden
rod, and dotted the openings with the blue gentian,
and filled the wood with innumerable asters. The

402 PIONEERS OF THE WEST.

summer school had closed. Mary would go home
to-morrow, and as yet Hemy, for so she loved to call
him to herself, had not said one tender word about
their parting. Could it be that he did not care for
her? "What meant all the earnest glances of those
deep, serious eyes ? "Were they truthful ? She
scarcely harbored a doubt, and yet there had been a
touch of coldness in his manner toward her that day.
It was in the dusk of evening, and Mary stood thus
thoughtfully among the wild shrubbery of the yard.
The road was concealed from her sight, but she heard
her own name mentioned by some one passing ; it
was Mr. "Winslow's voice, in an undertone. " I like
that Mary Catlin," said he to his companion, " and
if I had not told any one about here that I was a
married man, I'd make her an offer." And the two
entered the house, but Mary stood still. An hour
passed, and another; she did not come in, and so they
departed. Could we scan that little gi*ove near by, in
the faint star-light we miglit discern the bowed form
of the smitten one, but we will not trespass on her
retirement.

Most fortunate would it be for our "VTestem girls,
if the antecedents of their suitors' lives were always
found out even so early in the day as in the present
case; but the difficulties that often prevent any in-
vestigations in the matter, together with their ear-
nestness and love of change, led on by the enterprise

THE WISCONSIN SCHOOLMA'AM. 403

wliich is a part of their very being, often plunge them
into nn^written disasters.

But what became of Mary? "Well, slie neither
drowned herself, took prussic acid, nor ate poisonous
berries. Is^o, no ; she had too much good sense to do
any such thing. Besides, women are not plenty
enough out West ; they cannot afford to throw them-
selves away. I am afraid that you will not think it
romantic, but I will tell you. She took the Pioneer's
TJniversal Sanative — went further West. She taught
school a couple of years upon the Iowa bank of the
Mississippi, and then married a widower with chil-
dren. Well, poor man ! he had just come on from
the East. His wife had died soon after his arrival
here ; he had left all his friends behind ; strangere
were very kind to him, but they all had children
enough of their own to care for ; was not our Mary a
godsend to him ? And then he was a worthy, sensible,
pious, and reliable man, one whom she certainly could
respect. And her cheerful devotedness to liim and
his, and the happy, contented look which she wears
to this day, wiU tell you, if you are willing to see it,
that she does more than respect, she reverences also.
Meantime her foster childi'en, with her own, have
arisen up to caU her blessed ; and the eldst of them
now occupies a seat in the legislature of his adopted
state.

THE END.

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