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cency will not permit me to mention and this even before the unhappy husband, who, not being able to avoid the sight, and incapable of affording her the least relief, intreated them to put an end to his miserable being; but they were as deaf and regardless to the tears, prayers, and intreaties of this venerable sufferer as they had been to those of the others, and proceeded in their hellish purpose of burning and destroying his house, barn, corn, hay, cattle, and every thing the poor man a few hours before was master of. Having saved what they thought proper from the flames, they gave the old man, feeble, weak, and in the miserable condition he then was, as well as myself, burthens to carry, and loading themselves likewise with bread and meat, pursued their journey on towards the Great Swamp; where being arrived, they lay for eight or nine days, sometimes diverting themselves in exercising the most atrocious and barbarous cruelties on their unhappy victim before-mentioned. Many and fervent have been his prayers and mine to be delivered even by death from these scenes of atrocious cruelty and villainy. One night, after he had thus been tormented, whilst he and I were sitting together condoling each other at the misfortunes and miseries we daily suffered, twenty scalps and three prisoners were brought in by another party of Indians. They had unhappily fallen into their hands in Cannocojigge, a small town near the river Susquehana, chiefly inhabited by the Irish. These prisoners gave us some shocking accounts of the murders and devastations committed in their parts. The various and complicated actions of these barbarians would entirely fill a large volume; but what I have already written, with a few other instances which I shall select for their information, will enable my readers to guess at the horrid treatment the English, and Indians in their interest, suffered for many years. I shall therefore only mention in a brief manner, those that suffered about the same time with myself. This party had visited one Jacob Miller, whom, with his wife and six of his family, together with every thing on his plantation, underwent the same fate. The house, mill, barn, twenty head of cattle, two teams of horses, and every thing belonging to the unhappy George Fole, met with the like treatment; himself, wife, and all his miserable family, consisting of nine in number, being inhumanly scalped, then cut in pieces and given to the wild hogs, which devoured them. The three prisoners that were brought with these additional forces, constantly repining at their lot, and almost dead with their excessive hard treatment, contrived at, last to make their escape but, being met by some others, out upon the same business, they were soon brought back again to their diabolical masters, who greatly rejoiced at having them once more in their power to torment. The poor creatures, almost famished for want of sustenance, having had none during their elopement, were no sooner in the clutches of the barbarians, than two of them were tied to a tree and a great fire made round them, where they remained till they were terribly scorched and burnt; when one of the villains, with his scalping knife, ripped open their bellies, took out their entrails, and burnt them before their eyes, whilst the others were cutting, piercing, and tearing the flesh from their breasts, hands, arms, and legs, with red-hot irons, till they were dead. The third unhappy victim was reserved a few hours longer, to be, if possible, sacrificed in a more cruel manner; his arms were tied close to his body, and a hole being dug deep enough for him to stand upright, he was put therein, and earth rammed and beat in all round his body up to his neck, so that his head only appeared above the ground; they then scalped him, and there let him remain for three or four hours in the greatest agonies; after which they made a small fire near his head, causing him to suffer the most excruciating

torments imaginable, whilst the poor creature could only cry for mercy in killing him immediately, for his brains were boiling in his head; inexorable to all his plaints, they continued the fire, whilst, shocking to behold! his eyes gushed out of their sockets; and such agonizing torments did the unhappy creature suffer for near two hours, till he was quite dead. They then cut off his head, and buried it with the other bodies; my task being to dig the graves, which, feeble and terrified as I was, the dread of suffering the same fate enabled me to do. The winter was now far advanced, and the snow laying on the ground made them fearful of our people's discovering their tract by their footsteps, determined them to alter their course, by which in a few days more travelling they reached their own village, which consisted of a straggling number of wigwams full of their women and children. On their arrival, dancing, singing, and shouting were their general amusement. The severity of the season increasing, they stripped me of my clothes which they put on themselves, leaving me nothing but a piece of an old blanket to cover me all over. I suffered much this winter, not being able to obtain the least confidence with them, which a long time retarded my escape. While I was here I had an opportunity of seeing their barbarous mode of disposing of their own aged and infirm companions, which they do in the following most extraordinary and barbarous manner. An old Indian being, through age, feeble and weak, and his eyes failing him, so that he was unable to get his living either by hunting or shooting, was summoned to appear before several of the leading ones, who were to be his judges. Before whom being come, and having nothing to say for himself, as how indeed could he prove himself to be young? they very formally, and with a seeming degree of compassion, passed sentence on him to be put to death. This was soon after executed on him in the following manner-He was tied naked to a tree, and a boy, who was to be his executioner, stood ready with a tomahawk in his hand to beat his brains out; but when the young monster came to inflict the sentence, he was so short of stature that he could not lift the tomahawk high enough; upon which he was held up by some others, a great concourse being present; and then, though the young devil laid on with all his strength, he was not, for some time, able to fracture the old man's scull; so that it was near an hour before he was dead. Thus are they, from their youth inured to barbarity and blood. When they found no remains of life in him, they put him into a hole dug for that purpose, in which he stood upright. Into his hand they put an old gun, and hung a small powder-horn and shot-bag about his shoulder, and a string of wampum round his neck, and into his right hand a little silk purse, with a bit of money in it; then filled the hole round, and covered him over with earth. This I found to be the usual manner of treating the old of both sexes; only that the women are killed by young girls, and put into the ground with nothing but a ladle in one hand, and a wooden dish in the other. I passed a tedious long two months with these creatures, naked and almost starved. Whatever thoughts I entertained of making my escape, to put it into execution was impracticable, being without arms, and so far from any plantation of white people. My liberty of going about, was, indeed, more than I could have expected! but they well knew my incapacity of making my elopement, and the knowledge of their tongue; for all the Indian dialects, for one thousand miles, are so much alike, that a little conversation will accustom any one to any particular tribe. All this time, my greatest anxiety was concerning my wife; what her fate might be, gave me inexpressible concern. At length the time arrived when they prepared to set out. I well knew I should not be left behind,

TERRIFIC REGISTER.

and therefore kept myself up in the hopes of once more regaining my liberty. Just as they were setting out, they were joined by a formidable party of Indians from the French fort, Duquesne, well stored with muskets and ammunition; but still I could not obtain the liberty of carrying a gun.

As soon as the snow was quite gone, and no traces of their footsteps could be perceived, they set forth on their journey towards the back part of the province of Pennsylvania, leaving their wives and children behind in their wigwams. They were now a terrible and formidable body, amounting to near one hundred and fifty. My duty was to carry what they thought proper to load me with, but they never intrusted me with a gun. We marched on several days without any thing particular occurring, almost famished for want of provisions; for my part, I had nothing but a few stalks of Indian corn, which I was glad to eat dry: nor did the Indians themselves fare much better; for, as we drew near the plantations, they were afraid to kill any game, lest the noise of their guns should alarm the inhabitants. When we again arrived at the Blue Hills, about thirty miles from Cannocojigge, the Irish settlement before mentioned, we encamped for three days, though, God knows, we had neither tents nor any thing else to defend us from the inclemency of the air, having nothing to lie on by night but the grass; their usual method of lodging, pitching or encamping, by night, being in parcels of ten or twelve men to a fire, where they lie upon the grass or bushes, wrapped up in a blanket, with their feet to the fire. During our stay here, a sort of council of war was held, when it was agreed to divide themselves into companies of about twenty men each; after which every captain marched with his party where he thought proper. I still belonged to my old masters, but was left behind, on the mountains, with ten Indians, to stay until the rest should return not thinking it proper to carry me nearer the Cannocojigge, or the other plantations. Here being left, I began to meditate on my escape; and, though I knew the country round extremely well, having been often thereabouts with shooting parties, I was yet very cautious of creating the least suspicion of my intention. However, the third day after the grand body left us, my companions, or keepers thought proper to visit the mountains in search of game for their subsistence, leaving me bound in such a manner that I could not escape. At night, when they returned, having unbound me, we all sat down together to supper on two pole cats, being what they had killed, and soon after (being greatly fatigued with their day's excursion), they composed themselves to rest as usual. Observing them to be asleep, I tried various ways to see whether it was a scheme to prove my intentions or not; but, after making a noise, and walking about, My sometimes touching them with my feet, I found there was no fallacy. heart then exulted with joy at seeing a time come that I might, in all probability, be delivered from my captivity; but this joy was soon damped by the dread of being discovered by them, or taken by any straggling parties; to *prevent which, I resolved, if possible, to get one of their guns, and, if discovered, to die in my defence, rather than be taken. For that purpose I made various efforts to get one from under their heads (where they always secured them), but in vain. Frustrated in this my first essay towards regaining my liberty, I dreaded the thoughts of carrying my design into execution; yet, after a little consideration, and trusting myself to the divine protection, I set A rash and dangerous enterprise ! forward, naked and defenceless as I was. Such was my terror, however, that, in going from them, I halted and paused every four or five yards, looking fearfully towards the spot where I had left them, lest they should awake and miss me; but when I was about two hundred

yards from them, I mended my pace, and made as much haste as I could to the foot of the mountains; when, on a sudden, I was struck with the greatest terror and amaze, at hearing the wood-cry, as it is called, they make when any accident happens them. However fear hastened my steps, and, though they dispersed, not one happened to hit upon the track I had taken. When I had run near five miles, I met with a hollow tree, in whtch I concealed myself till the evening of the next day, when I renewed my flight, and at night slept in a cane-brake. The next morning I crossed a brook, and got more leisurely along, returning thanks to Providence, in my heart, for my happy escape, and praying for future protection. The third day, in the morning, I perceived two Indians armed, at a short distance, which I verily believed were in pursuit of me, by their alternately climbing into the highest trees, no doubt to look over the country to discover me. This retarded my flight for that day : but at night I resumed my travels, frightened, and trembling at every bush I passed, thinking each shrub that I touched, a savage concealed to take me. It was moon-light nights till near morning, which favoured my escape. But how shall I describe the fear, terror and shock that I felt on the fourth night, when, by the rustling I made among the leaves, a party of Indians, that lay round a small fire, nearly out, which I did not perceive, started from the ground, and seizing their arms, ran from the fire among the woods. Whether to move forward, or to rest where I was, I knew not, so distracted was my imagination. In this melancholy state, revolving in my thoughts the now inevitable fate I thought waited on me, to my great consternation and joy, I was relieved by a parcel of swine that made towards the place where I guessed the savages to be; who, on seeing the hogs, conjectured that their alarm had been occasioned by them, and directly returned to the fire, and lay down to sleep as before. As soon as I perceived my enemies so disposed of, with more cautious step and silent tread, I pursued my course, sweating (though severely cold), with the fear I had just been relieved from. Bruised, cut, mangled, and terrified as I was, I still, through the Divine assistance, was enabled to pursue my journey until break of day, when, thinking myself far off from any of those miscreants I so much dreaded, I lay down under a great log, and slept undisturbed until about noon, when, getting up, I reached the summit of a great hill with some difficulty; and looking out if I could spy any inhabitants of white people, to my unutterable joy I saw some, which I guessed to be about ten miles distance. This pleasure was in some measure abated, by my not being able to get among them that night; therefore, when evening approached, I again recommended myself to the Almighty, and composed my weary, mangled limbs to rest. In the morning I continued my journey towards the nearest cleared, lands I had seen the day before; and about four o'clock in the afternoon I arrived at the house of John Bell, an acquaintance of mine, and one of my companions in the route to Kentucky. He did not know me at first; and a woman servant of his having alarmed him, he came out to meet me with his gun. As soon as I had recalled his attention, he invited me in, where I found his household all under arms, they taking me for a marauding Indian; but their suspicion was turned into joy at finding me alive, whom they had, for some months, numbered with the sacrifices of Indian and French cruelty. The news of my return spread very fast, and my father-in-law sent an Indian domestic all the way from his plantation to conduct me home. His message would have been much more welcome had it not brought me the news of my wife's death, occasioned by her grief and fears of another visit from the inhuman monsters. Soon after my arrival, I was sent for by his excellency Governor Morris, then

Governor of Pennsylvania, a very worthy man, who, after several long examinations, as to my treatment in my captivity, earnestly recommended me to the Assembly, who were then sitting in the state-house at Philadelphia, and he generously accompanied it with five pounds currency, to enable me to appear before that remarkable jurisdiction with credit. When I arrived, I was conducted into the lower house, where the assembly then sat, and was there interrogated by the speaker, very particularly, as to all I had before given the governor an account of. The next day I underwent a second examination, when I was courteously dismissed, with a promise that all proper methods should be taken, not only to accommodate and reimburse all those who had suffered by the savages, but to prevent them from committing the like hostilities for the future. Now returned, and once more at liberty, I soon began to look about me for some employment; for no persuasion could tempt me to settle again on my plantation, though an exceeding good one. My poor wife's unhappy fate, and my own sufferings, were too recent to be so soon forgotten. What my fate would have been if I had, may be easily conceived. And there being at this time (as the assembly, too late for many of us found), a necessity for raising men to check those barbarians in their ravaging depredations, I inlisted myself as one, with the greatest alacrity, and most determined resolution, to exert the utmost of my power, in being revenged on the hellish authors of my ruin. General Shirley, Governor of New England, and commander-in-chief of his Majesty's land-forces in North America, was pitched upon, to direct the operations of the war in that part of the world. Into this regiment it was my lot to be placed for three years. This regiment was intended for the frontiers, to destroy the forts erected by the French, as soon as it should be completely furnished with arms, &c. at Boston in New England, where it was ordered for that purpose. Being then very weak, and infirm in body, though possessed of my resolution, it was thought adviseable to leave me for two months in winter-quarters. At the end of which, being recruited in strength, I set out for Boston, to join the regiment with some others, likewise left behind and after crossing the river Delaware, we arrived at New Jersey, and from thence proceeded through the same by New York, Middletown, Mendon in Connecticut, to Boston, where we arrived about the end of March, and found the regiment ready to receive us. Having been in the service before, I was, for the first three months, closely employed in the town, to drill the recruits, who came in with great alacrity from all quarters, for this service was quite popular. The first service we were called out on, was to meet a party of French Indians, who had plundered and massacred J. Long's family, and burnt his plantation, carrying his son and daughter off in captivity. This gentleman had been active in repressing these marauding barbarians, and had thereby incurred their resentment, for which they scalped, mangled, and cut to pieces the unfortunate gentleman, his wife, and nine servants, burning the house, barns, cattle, and every thing he possessed, while his son and daughter were reserved for more lingering torments. Among the first of those who offered themselves to go against the savages, was James Crawford. Esq. who was then at Boston, and heard of this tragedy; he was a young gentleman, who had, for some years, paid his addresses to Miss Long, and was in a very little time to have been married to her. Distracted as he was, he lost no time, but instantly raised one hundred resolute and bold young fellows, to go in quest of the villains. As I had been so long among them, and was pretty well acquainted with their manners and customs, and particularly their skulking places in the woods, I was recommended to him as one proper for