A summary view of the controversy between New-York and the people of the New Hampshire Grants, has already been given—in addition to which several incidental allusions have been made to the equivocal movements and intentions of Ethan Allen. Reference was also made, by way of a note in the preceding chapter, to a special message from Governor Clinton to the Legislature of New-York, communicating important information respecting the designs of Allen and his associates, which had been derived from two prisoners who had escaped from Canada in the Autumn of the present year—John Edgar and David Abeel. The substance of the statements of these men was, that several of the leading men of the New Hampshire Grants were forming an alliance with the King's officers in Canada. Among these leaders were Ethan and Ira Allen, and the two Fays. A man named Sherwood, and Doctor Smith of Albany, whose name has already been mentioned, were the agents of the negotiation on the part of Great Britain, and their consultations were sometimes held at Castleton, on the Grants, and sometimes in Canada. According to the statement of Edgar, it was understood that the Grants were to furnish the King with a force of two thousand men. Mr. Abeel's information was, that fifteen hundred was the number of men to be furnished, under the command of Ethan Allen. Mr. Abeel also stated that Ethan Allen was then in Canada upon that business, and that he had seen Major Fay at the Isle au Noix, on board of one of the King's vessels; and that he, Fay, had exchanged upward of thirty Hessians, who had deserted from Burgoyne's army, delivering them up to the British authorities. The statements of Edgar and Abeel, the latter of whom had been taken a prisoner at Catskill the preceding Spring, were given under the sanction of an oath; and although they were not fellow-prisoners, and had derived their information from different sources; and although escaping at different times, under dissimilar circumstances, and by routes widely apart, yet there was a strong coincidence between them. A third account submitted to the Legislature by the Governor was somewhat different, and more particular as to the terms of the proposed arrangement. In this paper it was stated, first, that the territory claimed by the Vermontese should be formed into a distinct colony or government. Secondly, that the form of government should be similar to that of Connecticut, save that the nomination of the Governor should be vested in the crown. Thirdly, that they should be allowed to remain neutral, unless the war should be carried within their own territory. Fourthly, they were to raise two battalions, to be in the pay of the crown, but to be called into service only for the defence of the Colony. Fifthly, they were to be allowed a free trade with Canada. General Haldimand had not deemed himself at liberty to decide definitively upon propositions of so much importance, and had accordingly transmitted them to England for the royal consideration. An answer was then expected. Such was the purport of the intelligence; and such was the weight of the testimony, that the Governor did not hesitate to assert that they "proved a treasonable and dangerous intercourse and connexion between the leaders of the revolt in the north-eastern part of the State, and the common enemy." [FN]
[FN] These and other documents may be found in Almon's Remembrancer, Vol. ix.—for 1732.
The fact is, according to the admissions, and the documents published by the Vermont historians themselves, [FN-1] that the people of Vermont, though doubtless for the most part attached to the cause of their country, nevertheless looked upon New-York "as a more detested enemy" than Great Britain; [FN-2] and the officers of the latter were not slow in their efforts to avail themselves of the schism. Accordingly, Colonel Beverley Robinson sought to open a correspondence with Ethan Allen as early as March, 1780. The first letter was handed to Allen in Arlington, but was not answered. A second letter from Robinson was received by Allen in February, 1781, which, with the first, he enclosed to Congress in March, accompanied by a letter plainly asserting the right of Vermont to agree to a cessation of hostilities with Great Britain, provided its claims, as a State, were still to be rejected by Congress. It does not appear, however, that the threat had any effect upon that body.
[FN-1] Slade's State Papers.
[FN-2] Idem.
In the months of April and May following, the Governor and Council of Vermont commissioned Colonel Ira Allen, a brother of Ethan, to proceed to the Isle au Noix, to settle a cartel with the British in Canada, and also, if possible, to negotiate an armistice in favor of Vermont. The arrangements for this negotiation were conducted with the most profound secrecy; only eight persons being cognizant of the procedure. [FN-1] Colonel Allen, accompanied by one subaltern, [FN-2] two sergeants, and sixteen privates, departed upon his mission on the first of May; and having arrived at the Isle au Noix, entered at once upon his business—negotiating with Major Dundas, the commander of that post, only on the subject of an exchange of prisoners, but more privately with Captain Sherwood and George Smith, Esq. on the subject of an armistice. The stay of Allen at the island was protracted for a considerable time, and the conferences with the two commissioners, Sherwood and Smith, on the subject of the political relations of Vermont, were frequent, but perfectly confidential; Allen carefully avoiding to write any thing, to guard against accidents. But from the beginning, it seems to have been perfectly understood by both parties that they were treating "for an armistice, and to concert measures to establish Vermont as a colony under the crown of Great Britain." [FN-3] In the course of the consultations, Allen freely declared "that such was the extreme hatred of Vermont to the state of New-York, that rather than yield to it, they would see Congress subjected to the British government, provided Vermont could be a distinct colony under the crown on safe and honorable terms." He added, "that the people of Vermont were not disposed any longer to assist in establishing a government in America which might subject them and their posterity to New-York, whose government was more detested than any other in the known world." [FN-4] These were encouraging representations in the ears of his Majesty's officers; and, after a negotiation of seventeen days, the cartel was arranged, and an armistice verbally agreed upon, by virtue of which hostilities were to cease between the British forces and the people under the jurisdiction of Vermont, until after the next session of the Legislature of Vermont, and even longer, if prospects were satisfactory to the Commander-in-chief in Canada. Moreover, as Vermont had then extended her claims of territory to the Hudson river, all that portion of New-York lying east of the river, and north of the western termination of the north line of Massachusetts, was included in the armistice. It was also stipulated that, during the armistice, the leaders in Vermont were to prepare the people by degrees for a change of government, and that the British officers were to have free communication through the territory of the new State—as it claimed to be. [FN-5]
[FN-1] Thomas Chittenden, Moses Robinson, Samuel Safford, Ethan Allen, Ira Allen, Timothy Brownson, John Fassett, and Joseph Fay.
[FN-2] Lieutenant Simeon Lyman.
[FN-3] Political History of Vermont, published by Ira Allen in London, in 1798.
[FN-4] Allen's Political History of Vermont.
[FN-5] Idem.
But, notwithstanding the veil of secrecy drawn over the proceedings, dark suspicions got afloat that all was not right. The sincere Whigs among the people of the Grants became alarmed, and were apprehensive that they might be sold ere yet they were aware of it. When the Legislature met, the people whose jealousies had been awakened, flocked to the place of meeting to ascertain whether all was well; and it was only by much dissimulation on the part of those in the secret, that the friends of the Union were pacified. There were also other spectators present, from different States, who felt an equal interest to ascertain whether the great cause of the nation was not in danger of being compromised. The result was, that the agents succeeded in throwing dust into the eyes of the people; and so adroit was their management, that the Allens held communication with the enemy during the whole Summer without detection. On more than one occasion, British guards, of several men, came to the very precincts of Arlington, delivering and receiving packages in the twilight.
In September the negotiations were renewed, the commissioners of both parties meeting secretly at Skenesborough, within the territory of New-York, and farther progress was made in the terms of the arrangement, by which Vermont was in due time to throw herself "into the arms of her legitimate sovereign." Sir Frederick Haldimand, however, was becoming impatient of longer delay; and a strenuous effort was made for an immediate and open declaration on the part of Vermont. To this proposition the Vermont commissioners, Ira Allen, Joseph Fay, and a third person, whose name is not given, pleaded that there had not yet been time to prepare the people for so great a change, and that they should require the repose of the approaching Winter for that object. It was at length stipulated, however, that inasmuch as the royal authority had been received by Sir Frederick Haldimand for that purpose, an army might ascend the lake, with proclamations offering to confirm Vermont as a colony under the crown, upon the principles and conditions heretofore indicated, on the return of the people to their allegiance; the commissioners interposing a request, that the General commanding the expedition would endeavor to ascertain the temper of the people before the proclamation should be actually distributed.
The Legislature of the Grants assembled at Charlestown in October. Meantime General St. Leger, agreeably to the arrangement with Allen and Fay, ascended the lake to Ticonderoga with a strong force, where he rested. In order to save appearances, the Vermontese had stationed a military force on the opposite shore, under the command of General Enos, to whom was necessarily confided the secret. But on neither side would it answer to entrust that secret to the subordinates. They must, of course, regard each other as enemies in good faith; and the fact that they did so consider themselves, was productive of an affair which placed the Vermontese in a peculiarly awkward predicament The circumstances were these: In order to preserve at least the mimicry of war, scouts and patrols were occasionally sent out by both parties. Unluckily one of these Vermont patrols happened one day to encounter a similar party from the army of St. Leger. Shots were exchanged with hearty goodwill; the Vermont sergeant fell, and his men retreated. The body was decently interred by order of General St. Leger, who sent his clothes to General Enos, accompanied by an open letter apologizing for the occurrence, and expressing his regret at the result.
It was hardly probable that an unsealed letter would pass through many hands, and its contents remain unknown to all save the person to whom it was addressed. Such, certainly, was not the fact in regard to the letter in question. Its contents transpired; and great was the surprise at the civility of General St. Leger in sending back the sergeant's clothes, and deploring his death. A messenger was despatched by General Enos to Governor Chittenden at Charlestown, who, not being in the secrets of his employers, failed not, with honest simplicity, to proclaim the circumstances of the sergeant's death, and the extraordinary message of General St. Leger. The consequence was excitement among the people assembled at Charlestown, attended with a kindling feeling of distrust. "Why should General St Leger send back the clothes?" "Why regret the death of an enemy?" were questions more easily asked by the people, than capable of being safely and ingenuously answered by their leaders. The consequence was, a popular clamor unpleasant to the ears of the initiated. Major Runnels confronted Colonel Ira Allen, and demanded to know why St. Leger was sorry for the death of the sergeant? Allen's answer was evasive and unsatisfactory. The Major repeated the question, and Allen replied that he had better go to St. Leger at the head of his regiment, and demand the reason, for his sorrow, in person. A sharp altercation ensued, which had the effect, for a short time, of diverting the attention of the people from the dispatches which they had been clamoring to have read. These were precious moments for the Governor and the negotiators with the enemy. The Board of War was convened, the members of which were all in the secret, and a set of pretended letters were hastily prepared from such portions of General Enos's dispatches as would serve the purpose in hand, which were read publicly to the Legislature and the people; and which had the effect of allaying the excitement and hushing suspicion into silence.
Meantime a rumor of the capture of Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown was wafted along upon the southern breeze; the effect of which was such upon the people, as to induce Allen and Fay to write to the British commissioners with St Leger, that it would be imprudent at that particular conjuncture for him to promulgate the royal proclamation, and urging delay to a more auspicious moment The messenger with these despatches had not been longer than an hour at the head-quarters of St. Leger at Ticonderoga, before the rumor respecting Cornwallis was confirmed by an express. The effect was prodigious. All ideas or farther operations in that quarter were instantly abandoned; and before evening of the same day, St. Leger's troops and stores were re-embarked, and with a fair wind he made sail immediately, back to St. John's.
From this narrative of facts, as disclosed in London many years afterward by Colonel Ira Allen himself, it will be seen at once that General Heath was in error, when, in his general orders of November 9th, he attributed the inaction of General St. Leger, and his ultimate retreat, to the preparations of Lord Stirling, and Generals Stark and Gansevoort, for his reception. The digression which has been judged necessary to elucidate this portion of the operations in the north, during the Summer and Autumn of 1781, may by some readers be thought wide of the leading design of the present work. Still, it is believed that to a majority of the public, the facts detailed in this connexion will be new, as they must be curious in the estimation of all. They are at the same time held to be essential to a just appreciation of the difficulties with which the military officers in the Northern Department, and the Government of the State of New-York, were obliged to contend during the period under consideration. Strong light is also reflected by them upon that portion of the history of the war itself with which they are interblended. Every close reader of American history is aware that there was a correspondence, of some description, between the leaders of the people occupying the New Hampshire Grants and the common enemy, during the later years of the Revolutionary war. But neither the precise character, nor the extent, of that correspondence, has been generally understood; while it has, for obvious reasons, been the desire of those most directly concerned in those matters, to represent the whole as a game of dissembling with an enemy who had attempted to tamper with the patriotic sons of the Green Mountains. [F-1] Be this as it may, it is in the secret proceedings of the Vermont conspirators, that the key is found to the mysterious movements of the enemy on Lake Champlain, which had so greatly harassed the American commanders at the north during that Autumn. It was known that St. Leger was upon the lake in great force; and having landed at Ticonderoga, to all human calculation an invasion was intended, which the country was then ill prepared to resist. At times he was apparently balancing upon what point to move. With the means of striking, he did not strike; and his dilatoriness, and apparent indecision, were alike inexplicable. The effect was to keep the northern part of the state in constant alarm, and to harass the militia by frequent calls to the field, against an enemy hovering upon the shore of the lake, always, apparently, just ready to make a descent, and yet idling away the season without farther demonstration. Much greater quietness might have been enjoyed by the people of New-York, so far as the common enemy was concerned, had it been known that his hands were fettered by an armistice with a contiguous territory, claiming to be an American state, and professing at the same time to be at open war with the self-same enemy with whom the government of the said territory was at that moment in secret alliance. [FN-2] When to this singularly embarrassing position, those other difficulties which have been passed in review are added, such as an exhausted and ravaged country; an unfed, unclothed, unpaid and deserting army; [FN-3] extensive disaffection among the people immediately at home; continual irruptions of hostile partisan bands in every quarter; mobs of insurgents setting the laws at defiance in one direction; the militia regiments in the district thus lawless, more than half disposed to join the disorganizers; with an actual and somewhat formidable invasion from the west; it must be conceived that both civil and military authorities were laboring under a complication of evils, requiring for their control all that prudence and energy, discretion, perseverance and courage, combined, could accomplish.
[FN-1] Sparks, adopting the views of earlier writers, has noticed the case in this favorable aspect in his late sketch of the Life of Ethan Allen. The author certainly agrees with Mr. Sparks in the opinion that "there was never any serious intention on the part of the Vermontese to listen to the British proposals." But with great deference, after a full examination of the case, the same cannot be said of the leaders of the Vermontese. They had determined that New-York should be dismembered; and if they could not force themselves into the confederation as a State, they were willing to fall back into the arms of Great Britain as a Colony. But it is very certain, from the conduct of the people of the Grants when they heard of St. Leger's regrets at the killing of the sergeant, that they were prepared for no such arrangement.
[FN-2] Of course General Heath was not aware of the proceedings of the Vermontese when he issued his general orders above cited, nor was the Government of New-York acquainted with them. Although, from the necessity of the case, a considerable number of the Vermont leaders must have been in the secret, it was nevertheless exceedingly well kept. It was not until the month of March of the following year, (1782,) that Governor Clinton communicated the affidavits of Edgar and Abeel to the Legislature, the substance of which has been embodied in the preceding narrative. Those affidavits explained the threats murmured by Ethan Allen, when in Albany the Spring before. They also explained the threat contained in a letter from Governor Chittenden, referred to in a preceding page, while they strengthened the suspicions that had for months been entertained by General Schuyler and Governor Clinton. But it was not until years had elapsed that the whole truth came out.
[FN-3] "From the post of Saratoga to that of Dobbs's Ferry inclusive, I believe there it not at this moment one day's supply of meat for the army on hand. Supplies, particularly of beef cattle, must be speedily and regularly provided, or our posts cannot be maintained, nor the army kept in the field much longer."—Letter of Washington to President Weere of New Hampshire.
With the discomfiture and retreat of Major Ross on the one hand, and the return of St. Leger to St. John's on the other, all active operations ceased with the enemy at the north. But the difficulties of the state Government with the New Hampshire Grants were on the increase; and the controversy ran so high, that by the 1st of December an insurrection broke out in the regiments of Colonel John Van Rensselaer and Colonel Henry K. Van Rensselaer, in the north-eastern towns of the State; while the regiment of Colonel Peter Yates—also belonging to the brigade of General Gansevoort—was in a condition not much better. These disturbances arose in Schaghticoke, Hoosic, and a place called St. Coych, and parts adjacent, belonging then to the county of Albany; but being on the east side of the Hudson, north of the parallel of the northern line of Massachusetts, the Government of the New Hampshire Grants had extended its aegis over that section of country, claiming jurisdiction, as heretofore stated, to the Hudson river. General Gansevoort was apprised of the insurrection on the 5th. He immediately directed Colonels Yates and Henry K. Van Rensselaer, whose regiments, at that time, were the least affected with the insurgent spirit, to collect such troops as they could, and repair to St. Coych, to the assistance of Colonel John Van Rensselaer. An express being dispatched to the Governor, at Poughkeepsie, with the unwelcome information, and a request for directions what course to pursue in the emergency, the return of the messenger brought very explicit orders from the indomitable chief magistrate:—"I perfectly approve of your conduct," said the Governor; "and have only to add, that should the force already detached prove insufficient to quell the insurrection, you will make such addition to it as to render it effectual. I have transmitted to General Robert Van Rensselaer the information, and have directed him, in case it should be necessary, on your application, to give assistance from his brigade." [FN-1] Although the fact had not been stated in the dispatches forwarded to Governor Clinton, that the movement was beyond doubt sympathetic with, or instigated from, the Grants, yet the Governor was at no loss at once to attribute it to the "usurped government of that pretended State;" [FN-2] and it was his resolute determination to oppose force to force, and, in regard to the Grants themselves, to repel force by force.
[FN-1] MS. letter of Governor Clinton to General Gansevoort, Dec 11, 1781.
[FN-2] Idem.
Gansevoort did not receive his instructions from the Governor until the 15th. Meantime Colonels Yates and Henry Van Rensselaer had made no progress in quelling the insurrection; the insurgents, on the other hand, being on the increase, and having thrown up a block-house for defence. On the 16th General Gansevoort took the field himself, repairing in the first instance to the head-quarters of General Stark at Saratoga, in order to obtain a detachment of troops and a field-piece. But the troops of Stark were too naked to move from their quarters; and it was thought improper for him to interfere without an order from General Heath. [FN-1] Gansevoort then crossed over to the east side of the river, in order to place himself at the head of such militia as he could muster in Schaghticoke and Hoosic; but was soon met by Colonel Yates, in full retreat from the house of Colonel John Van Rensselaer. He had been able to raise but eighty men to put down the insurgents of John Van Rensselaer's regiment; and on arriving at St. Coych, he discovered a force of five hundred men advancing from the Grants to the assistance of the rebels. Gansevoort retired five miles farther, in order to find comfortable quarters for his men, and then attempted, but without success, to open a correspondence with the leader of the insurgents. Calls had been made upon four regiments, viz. those of Colonels Yates, and Henry K. Van Rensselaer, as heretofore stated, and upon Colonel Van Vechten and Major Taylor. But from the whole no greater force than eighty men could be raised. Of Colonel Van Vechten's regiment, only himself, a few officers, and one private could be brought into the field. Under these discouraging circumstances, the General was compelled to relinquish the expedition, and the insurgents remained the victors, to the no small terror of those of the inhabitants who were well-disposed, inasmuch as they were apprehensive of being taken prisoners and carried away, as had been the case with others, should they refuse taking the oath of allegiance to the government of Vermont. [FN-2] Thus terminated the military events of the north, of all descriptions, for the year 1781.
[FN-1] In his official report upon the subject, Gansevoort rather distrusted whether Stark assigned the true reason for withholding his aid on this occasion. Governor Chittenden, of the Grants, having just addressed him a letter requesting him not to interfere with hie troops.
[FN-2] The materials for this rapid sketch of the insurrection of Dec. 1781, at the north-east of Albany, have been drawn from the Gansevoort papers, which are broken and imperfect. The controversy with Vermont was continued, with greater or less force, and in different ways, for several years. But a calm and powerful letter from General Washington to Governor Chittenden, written early in January, 1782, had great influence in causing the government of the Grants to relinquish the territory of New-York, twenty miles broad, upon the eastern side of the Hudson, upon which they had seized. The leaders who had entered upon the correspondence with the enemy in Canada, continued an interchange of communications during several months of the following year; but the course of things soon stripped that strange negotiation of its danger, and rendered it of no importance. Meantime, although Governor Clinton was fully determined to subdue the refractory spirits of the Green Mountains, the latter continued to gain strength and friends, and as their local government became settled, it was for the most part wisely and efficiently administered. Time and again the question was brought before Congress, where nobody cared to act upon it definitively. Hamilton, Jay, and Governeur Morris, all seemed to think it the part of wisdom to allow the secession and independence of Vermont. Things remained in an unsettled state, however, until after the adoption of the federal constitution by New-York in 1788, after which the controversy was amicably adjusted; Vermont agreeing to pay thirty thousand dollars as a full indemnification to persons in New-York holding titles to lands within its boundaries.
There yet remain a few occurrences, connected with the Indian operations of the year, to be noted before closing the present chapter. It was in the Spring of this year that what was called the Coshocton campaign of Colonel Brodhead was performed, and was attended by circumstances that cannot be recalled with other than painful emotions. [FN-1] It had at different times been the purpose of the Commander-in-chief that Colonel Brodhead should penetrate through the Ohio territory to Detroit; but that design was never accomplished. The expedition now under review was led by Brodhead against the villages of the unfriendly Delaware Indians at the forks of the Muskingum. In passing through the settlement of the Moravian Indians at Salem, under the religious care of the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, some of Brodhead's men manifested a hostile disposition toward those inoffensive noncombatants; but their hostile feelings were repressed by Brodhead, whose exertions were seconded by Colonel Shepherd, of Wheeling. The towns against which the Americans were proceeding were under the control of Captain Pipe, who had espoused the cause of the crown at the instigation of McKee, Elliott, and Girty. On approaching Coshocton, Brodhead's forces were divided into three divisions; and so secret and rapid was their march, that the villages on the eastern bank of the river were fallen upon, and all the Indians who were at home taken, without firing a gun. [FN-2] The immediate object of this visitation was to punish, as it was alleged, the Indians of those towns for some recent cruelties of unwonted atrocity. They had made a late incursion upon the frontiers of Virginia, in the course of which a considerable number of prisoners were taken; but, having been disappointed in the measure of their success, in a moment of rage they bound all the adult male captives to trees, and put them to death by torture, amidst the tears and lamentations of their families. [FN-3] It was now Colonel Brodhead's design to inflict summary vengeance for those murders. He had with him a friendly Delaware chief, named Pekillon, who pointed out sixteen of the captive warriors, upon whom he charged the murders in question. A council of war was convened in the evening, which decided that those sixteen warriors should be put to death. They were therefore bound, and despatched with tomahawk and spear, and scalped. [FN-4]
[FN-1] Doddridge, in his Indian Wars, dates the expedition referred to in 1790. Drake, who follows Heckewelder, states that it occurred in 1781.
[FN-2] Doddridge.
[FN-3] Drake.
[FN-4] Doddridge.
A heavy rain had swollen the river, so that Colonel Brodhead could not cross over to the villages upon the opposite side. On the following morning an Indian presented himself upon the other side, and called for an interview with the "Great Captain," meaning the commander of the expedition. Colonel Brodhead presented himself, and inquired what he wanted. "I want peace," was the reply. "Send over some of your chiefs," said the Colonel. "Maybe you kill," rejoined the Indian. "They shall not be killed," was the answer. A fine-looking sachem thereupon crossed the river, and while engaged in conversation with Colonel Brodhead, a white savage, named Wetzel, stole treacherously behind the unsuspecting warrior, and struck him dead to the earth. [FN]
[FN] Doddridge.
Some ten or twelve prisoners were taken from another village farther up the river; and Brodhead commenced his return on the same day, committing the prisoners to a guard of militia. They had not proceeded far, however, before the barbarian guards began to butcher their captives; and all, save a few women and children, were presently despatched in cold blood. [FN]
[FN] Idem.
Glancing yet farther south, the Cherokee Indians having again become troublesome, and made an incursion into South Carolina, massacring some of the inhabitants and burning their houses, General Pickens proceeded into their own country, and inflicted upon them severe and summary chastisement. In the space of fourteen days, at the head of less than four hundred men, he killed upward of forty of the Indians, and destroyed thirteen towns. His troops were mounted men, who charged rapidly upon the Indians, cutting them down with their sabres with great effect. Unused to this mode of warfare, they sued immediately for peace.
The fall of Cornwallis was, in fact, the last important act of that great drama—The American Revolution. Although the British were yet in considerable force in New-York, and were likewise in the occupancy of various posts in the southern states, still the season for active operations was past; and after the loss of the army of Cornwallis, they were not in sufficient force in the north to resist the troops that could now be directed against them. The campaigning of the year 1781, and in fact of the war of the Revolution, were therefore at an end. Still, there were other belligerent incidents occurring for months afterward, the record of which will require another chapter.
Character of Joseph Bettys—His exploits—Capture and execution—Progress of the war—Gradual cessation of hostilities—Dwindling down to mere affairs of outposts and scouting parties—Commissioners appointed to negotiate a treaty of peace—Indian battles on the Kentucky frontier—Defeat of Colonel Boon—Destruction of the Shawanese towns—The Moravians on the Muskingum—Their removal to Sandusky by the Wyandots—Return to secure their crops—Invasion of their towns by Colonel Williamson—Treachery of Williamson and his men to the Indians—Horrible massacre—Invasion of the Sandusky country by Crawford and Williamson—Defeat of their army—Colonel Crawford captured—Sentenced to die by torture—His interview with the sachem Wingemond—His execution—Close of the year—Doubts as to a treaty of peace—Colonel Willett's attempt to surprise Oswego—The news of peace—Sufferings of Tryon County—Return of its population—End of the wars of the Mohawk.
Among the minor, but yet not unimportant events of the border war at the north and west of Albany, was the capture, some time in the Winter of 1781—'82, of the celebrated loyalist marauder, Joseph Bettys, whose name has occurred in connexion with that of John Waltermeyer in the preceding chapter. Bettys, or "Joe Bettys" as he was commonly called, was a man of uncommon shrewdness and intelligence. Bold, athletic, and of untiring activity; revengeful and cruel in his disposition; inflexible in his purposes; his bosom cold as the marble to the impulses of humanity; he ranged the border settlements like a chafed tiger snuffing every tainted breeze for blood, until his name had become as terrific to the borderers, as were those of Kidd and Pierre le Grande upon the ocean in the preceding century. At the commencement of the war, Bettys was an inhabitant of Ballston. He early took the field in the cause of the republic, and a sergeant's warrant was conferred upon him in Colonel Wynkoop's regiment. But he had a proud, independent spirit, that could ill brook the severity of military discipline; and for some act of contumacy, he was reduced to the ranks. Still, knowing well his determined character and unflinching courage, and unwilling that his country should lose his services, the same gentleman [FN] who had obtained his first warrant, procured him another, and a transfer to the fleet under the command of General Arnold on Lake Champlain, in the Summer of 1776.
[FN] The late Colonel Ball, of Balston.
In the severe naval engagement fought on that lake between Arnold and Sir Guy Carleton, on the 11th of October of that year, Bettys exhibited great bravery, and was of signal service during the battle, which lasted four hours. He fought until every commissioned officer on board his vessel was either killed or wounded. Assuming the command then himself, he continued the fight with such reckless and desperate intrepidity, that General Waterbury, Arnold's second in command, perceiving that his vessel was about to sink, was obliged to order Bettys and the survivors of his crew on board his own vessel. Having thus observed his good conduct, General Waterbury stationed him by his side on the quarter-deck, and gave orders through him, until his own vessel in turn became entirely crippled—the crew mostly killed—the General himself wounded—and only two others, exclusive of Bettys, left in fighting condition—when his colors were struck to the enemy. General Waterbury afterward spoke in the most exalted terms of the high courage of Bettys, adding, that the shrewdness of his management showed that his conduct was not inferior to his courage.
While a prisoner in Canada, the arts of the enemy subverted his principles. He was seduced from the service of his country, and entered that of the enemy with the rank of ensign—proving himself an enemy equally subtle and formidable. From his intimate knowledge of the country and his artful address, he was frequently employed, sometimes as a messenger, at others as a spy, and at others, again, in the double capacity of both. During one of his missions of this nature, he was captured, tried, and condemned to the gallows. But the entreaties of his aged parents, and the solicitations of influential Whigs, induced General Washington, on a promise of reformation, to grant him a pardon. Yet if honor, generosity, and gratitude, had ever been qualities of his soul, they had taken their departure.
Losing no time in rejoining the ranks of the enemy, he became alike reckless of character and the dictates of humanity; and instead of suitably requiting the kindness which had successfully interposed to save him from an ignominious death, he became the greatest scourge of his former friends and neighborhood. Ballston, in particular, had long reason to deplore the ill-judged leniency. He returned, and recruited soldiers for the King in the midst of the settlements; he captured and carried off the most zealous and efficient Whigs, and subjected them to the severest sufferings; and those against whom he bore the strongest hate, lost their dwellings by fire or their lives by murder. No fatigue weakened his resolution—no distance was an obstacle to his purpose—and no danger appalled his courage. No one of the borderers felt secure. Sometimes in the darkness of the night he fell upon them by stealth; and at others, even at mid-day, he was seen prowling about, as if scorning disguise, and unconscious of danger. Indeed, he boldly proclaimed himself a desperado—carrying his life in his hand—equally careless of it as he said he should be of the lives of others were any again to attempt his arrest. His liberty, he declared, would only be yielded with his life; and whoever should attempt to take him, might rest assured that their heart's blood would in the same moment be drunk by the earth. His threats were well understood to be no unmeaning words; and, what added to the apprehension of the people, was the well-known fact, that he had always at his beck, openly or in concealment, according to the nature of the purpose immediately in hand, a band of refugees partaking of his own desperate character.
His adventures while engaged in this species of warfare were many and hazardous. Nor did he always confine his operations to the border-settlements, since he at one time entered the precincts of Albany, and made a similar attempt to that of Waltermeyer to abduct General Schuyler from the mansion of the Patroon, where he was then lodged. [FN]
[FN] This account of Joe Bettys has been written from a Fourth-of-July speech delivered by the late Colonel Ball some ten or twelve years ago. Among the prisoners made by Bettys and Waltermeyer from Ballston, in the Spring of 1781, were the following persons, viz: Samuel Nash, Joseph Chord, Uri Tracy, Ephraim Tracy, Samuel Patchin, Epenetus White, John Fulmer, and two men named Bontas, who were brothers. They were all taken to Canada, and roughly used.
It must not be supposed, however, that all hearts quailed before Joe Bettys. Far from it; and many were the ineffectual attempts made for his arrest before the measures undertaken for that purpose were again crowned with success. But in the course of the Winter now under consideration his wonted vigilance was at fault. A suspicious stranger having been observed in the neighborhood of Ballston, upon snow-shoes, and well-armed, three men of that town, named Cory, Perkins, and Fulmer, little doubting as to the identity of the man, immediately armed themselves and went in pursuit. He was traced by a circuitous track to the house of a well-known loyalist, which was fortunately approached with so much circumspection as to enable the scouts to reach the door unobserved. Breaking the barrier by a sudden effort, they sprang in upon the black and doubly-dyed traitor, and seized him before he had opportunity of resistance. He was seated at dinner when they entered, his pistols lying upon the table, and his rifle resting upon his arm. He made an attempt to discharge the latter; but forgetting to remove the deer-skin cover of the lock, did not succeed. Powerful and muscular as he was, the three were an over-match for him, and he was immediately so securely pinioned as to render resistance useless and escape morally impossible.
Apparently resigning himself to his fate, Bettys now requested permission to smoke, which was readily granted. While taking the tobacco from his box, and making the usual preparations, he was observed by Cory adroitly to cast something into the fire. It was instantly snatched from thence with a handful of coals, and proved to be a small leaden box, about the eighth of an inch in thickness, and containing a paper in cipher, which the captors could not read; but it was subsequently ascertained to be a despatch addressed to the British commander in New-York. It also contained an order for thirty guineas, provided the despatch should be safely delivered. Bettys pleaded hard for permission to burn the paper, and offered a hundred guineas for the privilege. But they refused his gold, and all his proffered bribes for the means of escape, with the most unyielding firmness. He then exclaimed—"I am a dead man!" It was even so. He was taken to Albany, where he was tried, convicted, and executed as a spy and traitor.
If the conduct of the three captors of Major André was patriotic, that of the three captors of Joe Bettys was both patriotic and brave. Andre was a gentleman, and without the means of defence; Bettys was formidably armed, and known to be a desperado. The capture of Andre was by accident; that of Bettys, by enterprise and design. The taking of the former was without danger; that of the latter a feat of imminent peril. Andre was a more important man, by rank and station, than Bettys; but not more dangerous. Both tempted their captors by gold, and both were foiled. [FN] The captors of Andre were richly rewarded, and the achievement has been emblazoned in history, and commemorated by monumental granite. The captors of Bettys have, until now, never been known to history; and their only visible reward was the rifle and pistols of their terrible captive. With such partial hand are the honors and rewards of this world bestowed!
[FN] Colonel Ball.
As already remarked, the substantial fighting of the war was ended by the surrender of Cornwallis. It is true, there were affairs of outposts occurring afterward, and some partial fighting took place at the south early in the season of 1782, between General Wayne and sundry small British posts, after General Greene had detached the former into Georgia. The most serious of these affairs was a smart brush with a party of Creek Indians, near Savannah, on which occasion the British garrison sallied out to their assistance, but were repulsed. For the most part, however, the year 1782 was rather a period of armed neutrality than of active war. The news of the catastrophe at Yorktown at once and materially strengthened the opposition to the farther prosecution of the contest in the House of Commons, by which a resolution was soon afterward passed, declaring "That the House would consider as enemies to his Majesty and the country, all who should advise or attempt the farther prosecution of offensive war on the Continent of North America." Sir Henry Clinton was superseded in the chief command by Sir Guy Carleton, who was specially instructed to use his endeavors to effect an accommodation with America. Commissioners for the negotiation of a treaty of peace were soon afterward appointed, viz: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens on the part of the United States, and Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Oswald on that of Great Britain. On the 30th of November these commissioners had agreed on provisional articles of peace, as the basis of a treaty by which the Independence of the United States was acknowledged in its fullest extent.
As the surrender of Earl Cornwallis was the last important military event between the main armies, so was the disastrous expedition of Majors Ross and Butler the last attempt of any magnitude upon the Valley of the Mohawk. True, indeed, that beautiful region of country had been so utterly laid waste, that there was little more of evil to be accomplished. But the chastisement of Major Ross, equally severe and unexpected, had discouraged the enemy from making any farther attempt in that quarter. Not, however, that the Indians were entirely quiet. On the contrary, they hung around the borders of the settlements in small parties, sometimes causing serious alarms, and at others great trouble and fatigue, and likewise inflicting considerable injury. On one occasion a party of thirty-five Indians crossed over from Oswegatchie to Palatine. Falling in with a scouting party, consisting of Jacob Timmerman and five others, the Indians fired upon them. Timmerman was wounded, and with one of his comrades taken prisoner. Two of the party were killed, and the other two succeeded in making their escape. The prisoners were taken to Oswegatchie, and thence down to Montreal, where they were confined until the peace. In consequence of exposures of this description, a vigilant watchfulness was necessary at all points; and Colonel Willett, who retained the command, was exactly the officer for the station. He had frequent occasion to despatch considerable bodies of troops against the straggling parties of Indians and Tories; but their lightness of foot, and dexterity in threading the mazes of the forests, generally, if not always, enabled them to escape. So that no important event transpired in that section of country during the year.
But while there was so little active warfare on the frontiers of New-York during the Summer of 1782, the Indians of the remoter west were more active along the Kentucky frontier than in the preceding year. In May they ravished, killed, and scalped a woman and her two daughters near Ashton's station. [FN] The Indians perpetrating this outrage were pursued by Captain Ashton, at the head of a band of twenty-five men. Being overtaken, a battle ensued, in which the Indians were victorious. The Captain was killed, together with eight of his men, and four others were mortally wounded. In the month of August another Kentucky settlement, called Hoy's Station, was visited by the Indians, by whom two lads were carried into captivity. This band was also pursued by Captain Holder, with a party of seventeen men, who, coming up with the Indians, were likewise defeated with a loss of seven killed and two wounded. [FN]
[FN] Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon. There is strong reason to doubt whether the Indians abused the persons of the women. If true, it was the only instance of the kind that is believed to have occurred during the war. It is a proud characteristic of the Indians, that they never violate the chastity of their female prisoners.
On the 15th of August, the post at Briant's station, five miles from Lexington, was invested by a far more considerable party of the enemy, numbering five hundred Indians and Canadians. After killing all the cattle in the neighborhood, they assaulted the post on the third day but were repulsed with a loss of about eighty killed and numbers wounded;—how many, was not known. They were pursued on their retreat by Colonels Todd, Trigg, and Boon, and Major Harland, at the head of one hundred and seventy-six men, well armed and provided. The Indians drew the pursuers into an unfavorable position on the 19th, when a severe battle ensued, in which the Kentuckians were beaten with the loss of seventy-six men; among whom were Colonels Todd and Trigg, Major Harland, and a son of Colonel Boon. The battle lasted only fifteen minutes. The retreat from the field was yet more disastrous than the battle itself. It was fought on the banks of the main fork of the Licking river, at the great bend, forty-three miles from Lexington. The Kentuckians were pursued across the river, some on horseback and others on foot. Some were killed in the river, and others while ascending the cliffs beyond. The arrival of the fugitives at Lexington with the melancholy tidings, occasioned a scene of weeping and deep lamentation, since a large portion of the male population had fallen. Being reinforced a few days afterward, Colonel Boon returned to bury the dead, which he represents as an affair of a most painful description. So mangled and disfigured were the bodies, that their identity could not be ascertained. The Colonel was afterward informed that when the Indians discovered their own loss to have been four more than that of the Kentuckians, four of the seven prisoners they had taken were handed over to their young men to be put to death by torture.
On hearing of this disastrous affair, General Clark, who was at the Falls of the Ohio, directed a pursuit of the Indians to their own towns of Old and New Chilicothe, Peccaway, and Wills Town. Colonel Boon seems to have led this expedition, although the fact is not expressly stated in his narrative. Failing in an attempt to fall upon the Indians by surprise, the Colonel took possession of their deserted towns, which were burnt with fire. Seven prisoners and fifteen scalps were taken by the Kentuckians, whose own loss was but four men; two of whom were killed by accident, not by Indians. With these incidents closed the Indian war of the Revolution on the Kentucky border.
But there yet remains a tale of murderous character to be recorded, which, in its black and inexcusable atrocity, transcends any and every Indian massacre which marked that protracted and unnatural contest It is a tale of blood, too, in which the white men—not the Indians—are to be branded as the savages.
On the banks of the Muskingum resided several communities of Indians, who had embraced the peaceable tenets of the Moravians. They were of the Delaware nation, and had removed to the Muskingum from Friedenshutten on the Big Beaver, and from Wyalusing and Sheshequon on the Susquehanna, in the year 1772. Notwithstanding the annoyance experienced by them in consequence of the Cresap war, in 1774, their settlements, which were named Schoenbrunn, Salem, and Gnadenhuetten, rose rapidly in importance, and in a short time numbered upward of four hundred people. Among their converts was the celebrated Delaware chief Glickhickan, famous alike for his bravery on the war-path, his wisdom in council, and his eloquence in debate. Their location, being a kind of half-way station between the white settlements and the hostile Indians of the lakes, was unpleasant after the war of the Revolution came on, and subjected them to difficulties alternately arising from the suspicions of both or all of the belligerent parties, against whose evil intentions toward them they were occasionally admonished. Still, their labors, their schools, and their religions exercises were conducted and practised as usual.
Their spiritual guides, at the period now under discussion, were, Michael Jung, David Zeisberger, and John Heckewelder, known in later times as the Indian Historian. These people looked upon war with abhorrence; maintaining that "the Great Being did not make men to destroy men, but to love and assist each other." They had endeavored to dissuade some of their own race from taking any part in the contest, and had likewise given occasional information to the white settlements when threatened with Indian invasions.
The hostile Indians frequently hovered around their settlements, and sometimes threatened their destruction, under the pretext that their neutrality was equivocal, and that they were secretly in alliance with the Americans, to whom they were in the practice of giving timely notice of the hostile advances of the Indians in the service of the King. [FN] In 1777 they were visited by the noted Huron chief, Half King, at the head of two hundred of his warriors, on his way to attack some of the frontier settlements of Virginia. Half King at first menaced the Moravian non-combatants; but Glickhickan appeased his ire by a timely supply of refreshments, and diverted him from his purpose by an opportune speech, declaring their religious sentiments and praising their missionaries.
[FN] Doddridge.
The British authorities at Detroit were by no means friendly to these Moravian towns; early in the year 1781 they applied to the Great Council of the Six Nations, assembled at Niagara, to remove them out of the country. A message was accordingly sent by the Iroquois to the Ottawas and Chippewas to this effect: "We herewith make you a present of the Christian Indians to make soup of;" a figurative Indian expression equivalent to saying—"We deliver these people to you to be killed." But neither the Ottawas nor Chippewas would receive the message, which was returned with the laconic reply—"We have no cause for doing this." The same message was next sent to the Wyandots, but they at that time were equally indisposed to make war upon their inoffensive brethren. [FN] But in the Autumn of the same year, under the influence of McKee and Elliott, who had now become captains in the ranks of the crown connected with the Indian service at Detroit, and by reason of the more immediate persuasions of Simon Girty, the bloodthirsty refugee associate of McKee and Elliott, who was living among the Wyandots, over whom he had acquired great influence, the poor Moravians, with their pious and self-denying ministers, were forcibly removed, or rather compelled, by the hostile Indians, at the instigation of those men, to remove to Sandusky. The leaders of the Wyandots compelling this emigration, were Girty, Half King, and the celebrated Captain Pipe. The sachem-convert, Glickhickan, was also carried to Sandusky; and a young female relation of his, by her courage and generosity, had well-nigh cost him his life. Apprehending that evil would befall her friends, she stole a fine horse belonging to Captain Pipe, and rode to Pittsburgh, to give the alarm in regard to the captive missionaries and their congregations. In revenge for this courageous action, Glickhickan was seized by a party of the Wyandot, or Huron warriors, who raised the death-song, and would have put him to death but for the interference of the Half King in his favor. Glickhickan was subsequently examined by his captors, and his innocence of all participation in the mission of the heroic squaw fully made to appear.
[FN] Heckewelder.
It was at a great sacrifice of property and comfort that these Indians were torn thus from their homes. They had more than two hundred heads of black cattle, and upward of four hundred swine, of which they were deprived, together with large stores of corn, and three hundred acres more just ripening for the harvest. They arrived at Sandusky on the 11th of October—a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles from their homes. They were treated with great harshness on their march, especially by Girty, who, in the course of the Winter subsequent to their removal, caused their missionaries to be arrested by order of the commandant at Detroit, to which place they were transferred. [FN]
[FN] These good men, after many trials and vexations, were ultimately released, and Half King charged all the blame upon Girty, whose iniquity in the premises the Indian prince indignantly exposed and denounced. The British Government also censured the conduct of its officers in regard to the proceedings, especially the harsh treatment of the missionaries.
While the meek and pious missionaries, amid the tears and other manifestations of grief of their people, were preparing for the journey to Detroit, intelligence of a most painful character was received. Being pressed by hunger at Sandusky, a considerable number of the Moravian Indians, with some of their families, had been allowed to return to their former habitations on the Muskingum, to secure their corn, and such other provisions as they could find, and forward the same from time to time to their suffering brethren. Unhappily, while this peaceable party were thus engaged at Salem and Gnadenhuetten, the weather being favorable for the operations of scalping parties, a few hostile Indians of Sandusky had made a descent upon the Pennsylvania frontier, and murdered the family of Mr. William Wallace, consisting of his wife and five or six children. A man named John Carpenter was taken prisoner at the same time.
Enraged at these outrages, a band of between one and two hundred men, from the settlements of the Monongahela, turned out in quest of the marauders, thirsting for vengeance, under the command of Colonel David Williamson. Each man provided himself with arms, ammunition, and provisions, and the greater number were mounted. They bent their course directly for the settlements of Salem and Gnadenhuetten, arriving within a mile of the latter place at the close of the second day's march. Colonel Gibson, commanding at Pittsburgh, having heard of Williamson's expedition, despatched messengers to apprise the Indians of the circumstance, but they arrived too late.
It was on the morning of the 7th of March that Williamson and his gang reached the settlement of Gnadenhuetten, the very day on which the Indians, having accomplished their labors, were bundling up their luggage for retracing their steps to Sandusky. Some of their number, however, were yet in the fields gathering corn, as were many others in the town of Salem, at no great distance thence. The party of Williamson divided themselves into three detachments, so disposed as to approach the settlements from as many different points at once. The Indians had indeed been apprised of Williamson's approach by four Delaware Indians on the day before; but, conscious of their own innocence, and least of all anticipating harm from the Americans, they continued in their pacific occupations without suspicion of danger.
When within a short distance of the settlement, though yet in the woods, the advance guard of one of Williamson's divisions met a young Indian half-blood, named Joseph Shabosh, whom they murdered in the most cruel and wanton manner. The youth was catching horses, when he was shot at and wounded so badly that he could not escape. He then informed them who he was; stated that his father was a white man and a Christian; and begged for his life. But they regarded not his entreaties. His arm had been broken by the first shot. He was killed by a second, tomahawked and scalped, and cut into pieces with the hatchets of his murderers. Another Indian youth, a brother-in-law of young Shabosh, who was engaged in binding corn, about one hundred and fifty yards from the town, saw the white men approaching. Knowing some of them, however, and supposing them to be friends, he addressed them as such. But he was soon undeceived. He saw them shoot one of his Indian brethren who was crossing the river in a canoe, and immediately ran away in affright. Unfortunately, in his panic he ran from the village instead of toward it, so that no alarm was given until the Americans had quite proceeded into the heart of the town.
Many of the Indians were scattered over the fields at work, and were hailed by Williamson's men representing themselves as "friends and brothers, who had come purposely from Fort Pitt to relieve them from the distress brought upon them by the enemy, on account of their being friends to the American people." The Indians, not doubting their sincerity, gave credence to their professions, and walking up to them, thanked them for their kindness. Their treacherous visitors next persuaded them to cease work and go into the village; as it was their purpose to take them to Fort Pitt, in order to their greater security from the Wyandots, where they would be abundantly supplied with all they might want. Delighted with such an unexpected friendly visitation, the Indians mingled with the strangers with the utmost cordiality, walking and conversing with them like old acquaintances. They delivered up their arms, and began with all alacrity to prepare food for their refreshment. Meantime a messenger was despatched to Salem, "to inform the brethren and sisters there of what had taken place at Gnadenhuetten; the messenger giving it as his opinion that perhaps God had ordained it so, that they should not perish upon the barrens of Sandusky, and that those people were sent to relieve them."
Pleased with the communication, and yet unwilling to act precipitately, the party at Salem deputed two of their number to confer with their brethren and the white men at Gnadenhuetten. Communications were interchanged, which were mutually satisfactory. The dissembling of Williamson and his men was so complete as to win the entire confidence of the simple-minded people; and at the solicitation of the party at Gnadenhuetten, those at Salem came over and joined their insidious visitors, for the purpose of removing to the white settlements, where, as they were farther assured, all their wants would be supplied by the Moravian brethren at Bethlehem. A party of Williamson's men were detached to Salem to assist in bringing all the Indians and their effects to Gnadenhuetten; and, still farther to win upon the easy confidence of their victims, this precious collection of assassins made zealous professions of piety, and discoursed to the Indians, and among each other, upon religious subjects. On leaving Salem, the white men applied the torch to the houses and church of the village, under the pretext of depriving the hostile Indians of their benefit.
Having, like their brethren at Gnadenhuetten, delivered up all their arms, their axes, hatchets, and working-tools, under the stipulation that they were all to be returned to them at Pittsburgh, the party from Salem set out with light hearts to enjoy the white man's kind protection. But on approaching the other village, their apprehensions were awakened, by marks in the sand, as though an Indian had recently been weltering there in his blood. They, nevertheless, proceeded to the village to join their brethren; but on their arrival thither a sad change came over their waking dream of happiness. Instead of being treated as Christian friends and brothers, they were at once roughly designated as warriors and prisoners; and already, previous to their arrival, had their brethren, sisters, and children at Gnadenhuetten, been seized and confined for the purpose of being put to death. The party from Salem were now completely within the toils of their enemies. They could neither fight nor fly. Besides that their religious creed forbade them to do the one, they had no weapons of defence, and they were surrounded by armed men, who would not suffer them to escape.
As a pretext for this usage, Williamson and his men now charged them with having stolen their horses, and all their working tools and furniture—charges not only untrue, but known to be so by their accusers. A more humble, devout, and exemplary community of Christians, probably, was not at that day to be found in the new world. Under the untiring instructions of their missionaries, they had been taught the dress and practices of civilized life. They were tillers of the soil, and had become so well acquainted with the usages of society, and were so well furnished with the necessaries and some of the luxuries of life, that they could set a comfortable table and a cup of coffee before a stranger. All the animals and articles charged upon them as having been stolen, were their own private property, honestly acquired. But their protestations of innocence, and their entreaties, alike were vain. Their betrayers were bent upon shedding their blood.
Still, the officers were unwilling to take upon themselves the exclusive responsibility of putting them to death, and the solemn farce of a council was held upon the subject. By this tribunal it was determined that the question of life or death should be decided by a vote of the whole detachment. The men were thereupon paraded, and Williamson put the question, "whether the Moravian Indians should be taken prisoners to Pittsburgh, or put to death?" requesting all in favor of saving their lives to advance in front of the line. Only sixteen or eighteen of the whole number were by this process found to be inclined to mercy, and the poor trembling prisoners were immediately admonished that they must prepare to die.
Some, indeed, there were among the blood-thirsty gang eager to commence the work of death instanter; but as the victims united in begging a short delay for their devotions, the request was granted. "Then, asking pardon for whatever offence they had given or grief they had occasioned to each other, the Indians kneeled down, offering prayers to God their Saviour—and kissing one another under a flood of tears, fully resigned to his will, they sang praises unto Him, in the joyful hope that they would soon be relieved from all pains, and join their Redeemer in everlasting bliss. During the time of their devotions, the murderers were consulting on the manner in which they would put them to death." Some were for setting fire to the houses, and dispatching them as by an auto da fé; others were for killing them outright, and bearing their scalps as trophies back to their homes; while those who had opposed the execution yet protested against "the deep damnation of their taking off," and withdrew. Impatient of delay, the blood-thirsty wretches interrupted the last hymn they could sing in this world, and demanded if they were not ready for death. They were answered in the affirmative—the victims adding: "That they had commended their immortal souls to God, who had given them the assurance in their hearts that he would receive their souls." Then seizing a mallet from a cooper's shop, one of the ruffians commenced the work of murder by knocking the Indians on the head. Having killed fourteen successively in this manner, he desisted, and handing the weapon over to another, remarked—"Go on in the same way; I think I have done pretty well!" Those who had opposed the murder stood at a distance, wringing their hands, and calling God to witness "that they were innocent of the lives of these harmless Christian Indians."
The first victim in the other slaughter-house—for such both in which the Indians were confined became—was an aged Indian woman named Judith, a widow, of great piety. In a few minutes the work of death was completed. Ninety Indians, Christians and unarmed—unoffending in every respect—were murdered in cold blood. Among them were old men and matrons, young men and maidens, and infants at their mothers' breasts. Sixty-two of the number were grown persons, one third of whom were women, and the remaining thirty-four were children. Five of the slain were assistant teachers, two of whom had been exemplary members of the pious Brainard's congregation in New Jersey. The convert chief Isaac Glickhickan, was also among the slain. Only two of the captives escaped this shocking massacre. They were both young. One of them eluded the murderers by creeping unobserved into a cellar, from whence he stole into the woods; and the other having been knocked down and scalped, feigned death, and escaped after the murderers left the place. This they did not do, however, until they supposed all were dead. On completing the work, they retired for a short distance to recruit their strength; but, as though resolved that not a living soul should have the remotest chance of escape, they returned to take another look at the dead; and observing a youth, scalped and bloody, supporting himself with his hands upon the floor in order to rise, the monsters dispatched him with their hatchets! As night drew on, they set fire to the buildings, and thereupon departed for their own homes, singing and yelling with demoniac joy at the victory they had achieved. According to the accounts of the American newspapers of that day, this massacre was a very commendable transaction; it was represented that the attack of Williamson was made upon a body of warriors, who had been collecting a large quantity of provisions in the Muskingum, for supplying their own warriors and other hostile savages. It was stated, as the cause of their destruction having been so complete, that they were surprised and attacked in their cabins at night; and it was exultingly added, that "about eighty horses fell into the hands of the victors, which they loaded with the plunder, the greatest part furs and skins—and returned to the Ohio without the loss of a man!" [FN]
[FN] Pennsylvania Gazette, April 17,1782. The author will add, in this place, that the preceding account of this unparalleled case of wholesale murder has been chiefly prepared from the accurate and laborious Heckewelder, together with extracts from Doddridge's Notes on the Indian Wars, and Loekiel, as quoted in Drake's Book of the Indians.
If through the whole extent of the voluminous records of savage wars in America, a deed of darker treachery, or of deeper atrocity, than this massacre of the Moravian Indians, is to be found, it has thus far escaped the research of the author of the present work. The uncivilized and unchristianized savages themselves were amazed at the enormity of the bloody deed. But the construction they put upon the transaction, as a providential occurrence, was curious and striking. They said they had envied the condition of their relations, the believing Indians, and could not bear to look upon their happy and peaceful lives in contrast with their own lives of privation and war. Hence they had endeavored to take them from their own tranquil homes, and draw them back, into heathenism, that they might be reduced again to a level with themselves. But the Great Spirit would not suffer it to be so, and had taken them to himself. [FN]
[FN] Heckewelder—Nar. Moravian Missions.
After this massacre, the Indians at Sandusky—not only those who were Christians, but the Wyandots, and others who were hostile, watched the movements of the whites along the Ohio with ceaseless vigilance. Two months having expired after the destruction of the Moravians, another expedition was organized to go against the Wyandots and other Indian tribes in the Sandusky country. The number of men volunteering for the campaign, was four hundred and eighty. They were mustered at the old Mingo towns on the western bank of the Ohio. An election was held for the office of Commander-in-chief of the expedition—Colonels Williamson and William Crawford being the candidates. The choice devolved upon the latter, who was an unwilling candidate, and accepted the post with reluctance. The same men who had murdered the Moravians, composed the present army in part, and the march was commenced with a determination that not the life of an Indian, friend or foe, should be spared. The expedition had been organized with great secrecy, as it was supposed; and as the men were mounted, the intention was by a rapid march to fall upon the Wyandot towns by surprise. Arriving, however, at the Moravian towns where the murders had been committed, three Indians were discovered by Crawford, who fled at a pace too rapid to be overtaken. The pursuit of them was disorderly, and from the conduct of his men on that occasion, their commander lost confidence in them, and from that moment entertained a presentiment of defeat. So far from the advance of Crawford being a secret, it ultimately appeared that the Indians had been narrowly watching his progress at every step. They saw the gathering at the Mingo towns, and counted their numbers. They had also been apprised of the resolve that "no quarter was in any instance to be given." [FN] It was to be expected, then, that at some point they would be prepared for Crawford's reception.
[FN] Doddridge.
Crawford and Williamson had intended first to strike upon the Moravian town on the Sandusky; but on arriving at that place, they discovered that the Indians had seasonably withdrawn so that the brave Williamson had no non-combatants to vanquish. The town was, in fact, covered with tall grass, the Indians having removed to the Scioto some time before. Crawford and Williamson then directed their course for several towns of the hostile Indians—by whom they were unexpectedly drawn into an engagement upon an open prairie, the Indian warriors themselves being concealed by the shrubbery upon its margin. Night came on before the battle was terminated; and the Indians, expecting a reinforcement from the Shawanese before morning, made their dispositions for surrounding the Americans at daylight. But when morning came, the white man was not there. The Americans, indeed, had not acquitted themselves like soldiers during the engagement of the preceding afternoon, and they availed themselves of the darkness to escape—greatly to the mortification of the Indians and their daring leader, Captain Pipe. They had encamped upon the prairie; and so silent was their flight, that some of them, not aware of the retreat, were found by the Indians in the morning still sleeping amid the tall prairie-grass, where they had laid themselves down.
An active pursuit of the fugitives took place, and many straggling parties were overtaken and cut to pieces. Upward of a hundred were thus either killed outright or taken. Among the latter were Colonel William Crawford, his son, and Doctor McKnight. The former of these gentlemen had rendered himself particularly offensive to the Indians by his successful campaigns against them, so that his capture was a triumph. It was still more unfortunate for him that he was taken while serving with such a commander as Williamson—against whom, for his cruel treachery at Gnadenhuetten, the savages were cherishing the bitterest feelings of revenge. Crawford, however, had not been engaged in that shameful affair, but being found among the same men who had murdered their friends and relations in March, the Indians could not draw the distinction. They had anxiously sought for Williamson, but on being informed that he was among the first to escape, they called out "revenge! revenge!" on whomsoever they had in their power.
Crawford would probably have made good his retreat but that he lingered behind in anxiety for his son, whom he supposed yet to be in the rear. After wandering two days in the woods with Dr. McKnight, both were taken by a party of Delawares, and conducted to the Old Wyandot town. Here Captain Pipe, with his own hands, painted the prisoners black, a certain premonition of the doom that awaited them. From thence they were taken to the New Wyandot town, passing on the way the mangled remains of a number of their fellow-captives. At the new town, the place appointed for the execution of Crawford, they found the noted Simon Girty. It had been decided that Crawford should die by the most aggravated torture, to atone in some degree for the murders by Williamson and his men at Gnadenhuetten. After he was bound to the fatal post, the surviving Christian Indians were called upon to come forth and take vengeance on the prisoner; but they had withdrawn, and their savage relations stepped forward in their stead. Before the work of torture was commenced, Captain Pipe addressed the Indians at some length, and in the most earnest manner, at the close of which they all joined in a hideous yell, and prepared for the work in hand. The fire was kindled, when it occurred to poor Crawford, that among the sachems he had a particular friend, named Wingemund. "Where is my friend Wingemund?" he asked, "I wish to see him." It is true that this chief had been the warm friend of Colonel Crawford, by whom he had been entertained at his own house. Under these circumstances Crawford indulged, a faint degree of hope, that if he could see the chief, his life might yet be saved. Wingemund was not far distant, having, in fact, retired from the place of execution, that he might not behold what he could not prevent. He was sent for, however, and an interesting and even affecting conversation ensued between himself and the prisoner. This conversation was commenced by Crawford, who asked the chief if he knew him. He replied that he believed he did, and asked—"Are you not Colonel Crawford?" "I am," replied the Colonel; and the conversation was thus continued—the chief discovering much agitation and embarrassment, and ejaculating—"So!—Yes!—Indeed!"