CHAPTER IL

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THE treaty of peace between his British majesty and the kings of France, Spain and Portugal, concluded at Paris on the 10th of February, 1763, did not put an end to the Indian war against the frontier parts and back settlements of the colonies of Great Britain.

The spring and summer of 1763, as well as those of 1764, deserve to be memorable in history, for the great extent and destructive results of a war of extermination, carried on by the united force of all the Indian nations of the western country, along the shore of the northern lakes, and throughout the whole extent of the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.

The events of this war, as they relate to the frontier of Pennsylvania and the shores of the lakes, are matters of history already, and therefore shall be no farther related here than is necessary to give a connected view of the military events of those disastrous seasons. The massacres by the Indians in the southwestern part of Virginia, so far as they have come to the knowlenge of the author, shall be related more in detail.

The English historians (Hist. of England, vol. x. p. 399,) attribute this terrible war to the influence of the French Jesuits over the Indians; but whether with much truth and candor, is, to say the least of it, extremely doubtful.

The peace of 1763, by which the provinces of Canada were ceded to Britain, was offensive to the Indians, especially as they very well knew that the English government, on the ground of this treaty, claimed the jurisdiction of the western country generally; and as an Indian sees no difference between the right of jurisdiction and that of possession, they considered themselves as about to be dispossessed of the whole of their country, as rapidly as the English might find it convenient to take possession of it. In this opinion they were confirmed by the building of forts on the Susquehanna, on lands to which the Indians laid claim. The forts and posts of Pittsburg, Bedford, Ligonier, Niagara, Detroit, Presque Isle, St. Joseph and Michilimackinac, were either built, or improved and strengthened, with additions to their garrisons. Thus the Indians saw themselves surrounded on the north and cast by a strong line of forts, while those of Bedford, Ligonier and Pittsburg, threatened an extension of them into the heart of their country. Thus circumstanced, the aboriginals of the country had to choose between the prospect of being driven to the inhospitable regions of the north and west, of negotiating with the British government for continuance of the possession of their own land, or of taking up arms for its defense. They chose the lat

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ter course, in which a view of the smallness of their numbers, and the scantiness of their resources, ought to have taught them, that although they might do much mischief, they could not ultimately succeed; but the Indians, as well as their brethren of the white skin, are often driven by their impetuous passions to rash and destructive enterprises, which reason, were it permitted to give it counsels, would disapprove,

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The plan resolved on by the Indians for the prosecution of the war, was that of a general massacre of all the inhabitants of the English settlements in the western country, as well as of those on the lands on the Susquehanna, to which they laid claim.

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Never did military commanders of any nation display more skill, or their troops more steady and determined bravery, than did those red men of the wilderness in the prosecution of their gigantic plan for the recovery of their country from the possession of the English. It was indeed a war of utter extermination on an extensive scale, a conflict which exhibited human nature in its native state, in which the cunning of the fox is associated with the cruelty of the tiger. We read the history of this war with feelings of the deepest horror; but why? On the part of the savages, theirs was the ancient mode of warfare, in which there was nothing of mercy. If science, associated with the benign influence of the christian system, has limited the carnage of war to those in arms, so as to give the right of life and hospitality to women, infancy, old age, the sick, wounded and prisoners, may not a farther extension of the influence of those powerful but salutary agents put an end to war altogether? May not future generations read the history of our civilized warfare with equal horror and wonder, that with our science and piety we had wars at all!

The English traders among the Indians were the first victims in this contest. Out of one hundred and twenty of them, among the different nations, only two or three escaped being murdered, The forts of Presque Isle, St. Joseph and Michilimackinac were taken, with a general slaughter of their garrisons.

The fortresses of Bedford, Ligonier, Niagara, Detroit and Pitt, were with difficulty preserved from being taken.

It was a principal object with the Indians to get possession of Detroit and Fort Pitt, either by assault or famine. The former was attempted with regard to Detroit. Fort Pitt, being at a considerable distance from the settlements, where alone supplies could be obtained, determined the savages to attempt its reduction by famine.

In their first attempt on Fort Detroit, the Indians calculated on taking possession of it by stratagem. A large number of Indians appeared before the place under pretence of holding a congress with Maj. Gladwin, the commandant. He was on his guard and refused them admittance, On the next day, about five hundred more of the Indians arrived in arms, and demanded leave to go into the fort, to hold a treaty. The commandant refused to admit a greater number than forty The Indians understood his design of detaining them as hostages, for the good conduct of their comrades on the outside of the fort, and therefore did not send them into the place. The whole number of men in the fort and on board two yessels of war in the river, did not exceed one hundred and ten or twelye;

but by means of the cannon they possessed, they made shift to keep the Indians at a distance, and convince them that they could not take the place. When the Indians were about to retire, Capt. Dalyel arrived at 'the fort with a considerable reinforcement for the relief of the place. He made a sortie against the breastworks which the Indians had thrown up, with two hundred and forty-five men. This detachment was driven back with the loss of seventy men killed and forty-two wounded. Capt. Dalyel was among the slain. Of one hundred men who were escorting a large quantity of provisions to Detroit, sixty-seven were massacred.

Fort Pitt had been invested for some time, before Capt Ecayer had the least prospect of relief. In this situation he and his garrison had resolved to stand it out to the last extremity, and even perish of famine, rather than fall into the hands of the savages, notwithstanding the fort was a bad one, the garrison weak, and the country between the fort and Ligonier in possession of the savages, and his messengers killed or compelled to return back. In this situation, Col. Bouquet was sent by Gen Amhurst to the relief of the place, with a large quantity of provisions under a strong escort. This escort was attacked by a large body of Indians, in a narrow defile on Turtle creek, and would have been entirely defeated, had it not been for a successful stratagem employed by the commander for extricating themselves from the savage army. After sustaining a furious contest from one o'clock till night, and for several hours the next morning, a retreat was pretended, with a view to draw the Indians into a close engagement. Previous to this movement, four companies of infantry and grenadiers were placed in ambuscade. The plan succeeded. When the retreat commenced, the Indians thought themselves secure of victory, and pressing forward with great vigor, fell into the ambuscade, and were dispersed with great slaughter. The loss on the side of the English was above one hundred killed and wounded; that of the Indians could not have been less. The loss was severely felt by the Indians, as in addition to the number of warriors who fell in the engagement, several of the most distinguished chiefs were among the slain. Fort Pitt, the reduction of which they had much at heart, was now placed out of their reach, by being effectually relieved and supplied with the munitions of war.

The historian of the western region of our country cannot help regarding Pittsburg, the present flourishing emporium of the northern part of that region, and its immediate neighborhood, as classic ground, on account of the memorable battles which took place for its possession in the infancy of our settlements. Braddock's defeat, Maj. Grant's defeat, its conquest by Gen. Forbes, the victory over the Indians above related by Maj. Bouquet, serve to show the importance in which this post was held in early times, and that it was obtained and supported by the English government, at the price of no small amount of blood and treasure. the neighborhood of this place, as well as in the war-worn regions of the old world, the plowshare of the farmer turns up from beneath the surface of the earth, the broken and rusty implements of war, and the bones of the slain in battle.

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It was in the course of this war that the dreadful massacre at Wyoming

took place, and desolated the fine settlements of the New-England people along the Susquehanna,

The extensive and indiscriminate slaughter of both sexes and all ages. by the Indians, at Wyoming and other places, so exasperated a large number of men, denominated the "Paxton boys," that they rivalled the most ferocious of the Indians themselves in deeds of cruelty, which have dishonored the history of our country, by the record of the shedding of innocent blood without the slightest provocation-deeds of the most atrocious barbarity.

The Conestoga Indians had lived in peace for more than a century in the neighborhood of Lancaster, Pa. Their number did not exceed forty, Against these unoffending descendants of the first friends of the famous William Penn, the Paxton boys first directed their more than savage vengeance. Fifty-seven of them, in military array, poured into their little village, and instantly murdered all whom they found at home, to the number of fourteen men, women and children. Those of them who did not happen to be at home at the massacre, were lodged in the jail of Lancaster for safety. But alas! this precaution was unavailing. The Paxton boys broke open the jail door, and murdered the whole of them, in number about fifteen to twenty. It was in vain that these poor defenseless people protested their innocence and begged for mercy on their knees. Blood was the order of the day with those ferocious Paxton boys. The death of the victims of their cruelties did not satisfy their rage for slaughter; they mangled the dead bodies of the Indians with their scalping knives and tomahawks in the most shocking and brutal manner, scalping even the children and chopping off the hands and feet of most of them.

The next object of those Paxton boys was the murder of the christian Indians of the villages of Wequetank and Nain. From the execution of this infernal design they were prevented by the humane interference of the government of Pennsylvania, which removed the inhabitants of both places under a strong guard to Philadelphia for protection. They remained under guard from November, 1763, until the close of the war in December, 1764: the greater part of this time they occupied the barracks of that city. The Paxton boys twice assembled in great force, at no great distance from the city, with a view to assault the barracks and murder the Indians; but owing to the military preparations made for their reception, they at last reluctantly desisted from the enterprise.

While we read, with feelings of the deepest horror, the record of the murders which have at different periods been inflicted on the unoffending christian Indians of the Moravian profession, it is some consolation to reflect, that our government has had no participation in those murders; but on the contrary, has at all times afforded them all the protection which circumstances allowed.

The principal settlements in Greenbrier were those of Muddy Creek and the Big Levels, distant about fifteen or twenty miles from each other. Before these settlers were aware of the existence of the war, and supposing that the peace made with the French comprehended their Indian allies also, about sixty Indians visited the settlement on Muddy Creek.

They made the visit under the mask of friendship. They were cordially received and treated with all the hospitality which it was in the power of these new settlers to bestow upon them; but on a sudden, and without any previous intimation of any thing like an hostile intention, the Indians murdered, in cold blood, all the men belonging to the settlement, and made prisoners of the women and children.

Leaving a guard with their prisoners, they then marched to the settlements in the Levels, before the fate of the Muddy Creek settlement was known. Here, as at Muddy Creek, they were treated with the most kind and attentive hospitality, at the house of Archibald Glendennin, who gave the Indians a sumptuous feast of three fat elks, which he had recently killed. Here a scene of slaughter, similar to that which had recently taken place at Muddy Creek, occurred at the conclusion of the feast. It commenced with an old woman, who having a very sore leg, showed it to an Indian, desiring his advice how she might cure it. This request he answered with a blow of the tomahawk, which instantly killed her. In a few minutes all the men belonging to the place shared the same fate. The women and children were made prisoners.

In the time of the slaughter, a negro woman at the spring near the house where it happened, killed her own child for fear it should fall into the hands of the Indians, or hinder her from making her escape.

Mrs. Glendennin, whose husband was among the slain, and herself with her children prisoners, boldly charged the Indians with perfidy and cowardice, in taking advantage of the mask of friendship to commit murder. One of the Indians exasperated at her boldness, and stung, no doubt, at the justice of her charge against them, brandished his tomahawk over her head, and dashed her husband's scalp in her face. In defiance of all his threats, the heroine still reiterated the charges of perfidy and cowardice against the Indians.

On the next day, after marching about ten miles, while passing through a thicket, the Indians forming a front and rear guard, Mrs. Glendennin gave her infant to a neighbor woman, stepped into the bushes without being perceived by the Indians, and made her escape. The cries of the child made the Indians inquire for the mother. She was not to be found. "Well," says one of them, "I will soon bring the cow to her calf;" and taking the child by the feet, beat its brains out against a tree. Mrs. Glendennin returned home in the course of the succeeding night, and covered the corpse of her husband with fence rails. Having performed this pious office for her murdered husband, she chose, as a place of safety, a cornfield, where, as she related, her heroic resolution was succeeded by a paroxysm of grief and despondency, during which she imagined she saw a man with the aspect of a murderer standing within a few steps of her. The reader of this narrative, instead of regarding this fit of despondency as a feminine weakness on the part of this daughter of affliction, will commisserate her situation of unparalleled destitution and distress. Alone, in the dead of night, the survivor of all the infant settlements of that district, while all her relatives and neighbors of both settlements were either prisoners or lying dead, dishonored by ghastly wounds of the toma