More, re: Jack's Creek

From Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends, by Lucian Lamar Knight, published 1913, Byrd Printing Company, State Printers, Georgia:

The Battle of Jack's Creek. On September 21, 1787, there was fought in a thick cane-brake, near the site of the present town of Monroe, a famous engagement between a party of Creek Indians and a band of pioneer settlers. The principal actors in the drama, on the side of the whites, were distinguished veterans of the Revolution, one of whom afterwards became Governor of the State. The attack upon the enemy was made in three divisions. General Elijah Clarke, the illustrious old hero of Kettle Creek, commanded the center, his son, Major John Clarke, led the left wing, while Colonel John Freeman commanded the right. The story is best told in the language of the elder Clarke. Says he, in his report of the battle, dated Long Cane, Sept. 24, 1787: "I had certain information that a man was killed on the 17th of this month by a party of six or seven Indians and that on the day before, Colonel Barber, with a small party was waylaid by fifty or sixty Indians and wounded, and three of his party killed. This determined me to raise what men I could in the course of twenty-four hours and march with them to protect the frontiers; in which space of time I collected 160 men, chiefly volunteers, and proceeded to the place where Colonel Barber had been attacked. There I found the bodies of the three men mentioned above, mangled in a shocking manner, and after burying them I proceeded on the trail of the murderers as far as the south fork of the Ocmulgee where, finding that I had no chance of overtaking them, I left it and went up the river till I met with a fresh trail of Indians, coming toward our frontier settlement. I immediately turned and followed the trail until the morning of the 21st, between 11 and 12 o'clock, when I came up with them. They had just crossed a branch called Jack's Creek, through a thick cane-brake, and were encamped and cooking upon an eminence. My force then consisted of 130 men, 30 having been sent back on account of horses being tired or stolen. I drew up my men in three divisions: the right commanded by Colonel Freeman, the left by Major Clarke, and the middle by myself. Colonel Freeman and Major Clarke were ordered to surround and charge the Indians, which they did with such dexterity and spirit that they immediately drove them from the encampment into the cane-brake, where finding it impossible for them to escape they obstinately returned our fire until half past four o'clock, when they ceased, except now and then a shot. During the latter part of the action, they seized every opportunity of escaping in small parties, leaving the rest to shift for themselves." White states that in this engagement there were not less than 800 Indians. They were commanded by Alexander McGillivray, a famous half-breed.
Colonel Absalom H. Chappell, in discussing General Clarke's account of the battle, makes this comment. Says he: "It is striking to read his report of this battle to Gov. Mathews. No mention is made in it of his having a son in the battle, though with a just paternal pride, commingled with a proper delicacy, he emphasizes together the gallant conduct of Colonel Freeman and Major Clarke, and baptizes the hitherto nameless stream on which the battle was fought, by simply saying that it was called Jack's Creek — a name then but justly bestowed by admiring comrades in arms in compliment to the General's youthful son on this occasion. Long after the youth had ceased to be young and the frosts of winter had gathered upon his warlike and lofty brow, thousands and thousands of Georgians used still to repeat the name of Jack Clarke, without prefix of either Governor or General and to remember him too as the hero of the well- fought battle of Jack's Creek."

Early Burke County, North Carolina, according to Judge Avery

Extract from an address on the "Early History of Burke County," by Judge Alphonso Calhoun Avery (1835-1913):

During the year 1776 the Cherokee Indians as allies of England, crossed the Blue Ridge and invaded the upper part of Burke and what is now McDowell County. They scalped the people, burned the houses and appropriated the live stock along their line of march. It is to be regretted that more of the history of that fearful raid has not been preserved.
With very short notice of their danger, the people living along the foot of the Blue Ridge in McDowell and also in Burke rushed to the different forts for protection, and those who without warning, remained at their homes, were killed, after being subjected, in some instances, to cruel torture. Very few women, even, were spared and taken as prisoners.
The white men then claimed the country to the top of the Blue Ridge, and had occupied it to the foot, while the Watauga settlement west of the mountains extended South of Jonesboro for some distance. The treaty of the next year was concluded at the Long Island of Holston, and contained a formal recognition of the claims of the whites. There was a fort at the present town of Old Fort, which was built for the Catawbas, as we have mentioned, but was used in 1776 by the whites. Another had been erected in the Turkey Cove, a third where the town of Lenoir now stands, and we suppose that many others were scattered along in the exposed settlements of Burke and Tryon.
Old Mrs Hunter, the mother of James Hunter (who formerly lived on Linville where his son Joseph now lives), and grandmother of the late Swan Burnett and Mrs J. Sewell Brown of McDowell county, was scalped by the savages, who appeared at her house without warning. She was left senseless, but recovered, however, lived many years after and raised a large family.
The wife of a man named McFalls, who lived in the North or Turkey Cove, was also scalped and terribly disfigured, but recovered to find herself disowned and deserted by her unfeeling husband because her beauty had been marred by her terrible wounds. This same man McFalls was a Tory, and when captured at King's Mountain was led up to a tree with a rope around his neck, but was released at the earnest request of one of McDowell's men who promised to be responsible for his good behavior thereafter, on taking the oath of allegiance to the colonial government. The Cherokees came down Roaring Creek to Toe River and crossed, we believe, into the North Cove settlement first. Colonel Waightstill Avery passed up Roaring Creek, and hearing the war-whoop behind, spurred his horse and galloped across from the head of the creek to the Watauga settlement on Doe River. When he returned with Col. Sharp and others, who, with him, made the treaty of 1777, on Holston, he ascertained from a woman, who had been a prisoner, that several braves followed him for some distance, and desisted only because they suspected that he was trying to lead them into an ambuscade. Gen. Rutherford raised near the close of the summer of 1776 an army of 2,400 men.
He probably passed up the old Island Ford road a few miles south of Morganton. He was joined in Burke county by both Joseph McDowell, Sr., and Joseph McDowell, Jr., as well as Col. Armstrong's regiment from Wilkes and Surry. He crossed the Blue Ridge at Swannanoa Gap, went down that river to the French Broad, then, after passing up Hominy, crossed the Pigeon just below the mouth of East Fork, and entered the valley of Richland a few miles above Waynesville. He then marched up that creek, crossed Balsam to Scott's Creek, and passed down Scott's Creek to the Tuckaseegee, which he crossed at an Indian town called Stekoeh, located on the farm of Col. W. H. Thomas, in Jackson county, a mile from Whittier Station. After an engagement with the Indians on Cowee Mountains, he went down the Tennessee river to Middletown, then on the 14th of September he met Gen. Williamson, from South Carolina. He returned by the same route, afterwards known as “Rutherford's Trace,” having completely subdued the Indians and paved the way for the treaty of the next year.
Gen. Rutherford, we suppose, followed an old Indian trail, but it is curious to observe how nearly he marked out also the line on which the great highways of the country, first the turnpike and then the railroad were located.
Nearly all of the men of the Piedmont section, who afterwards led in the last campaign of 1780-'81 in Western North Carolina, saw their first service under Rutherford in this expedition.

A Prevalent Fear

From Our Savage Neighbors, by Peter Silver, published by W.W. Norton & Company, 2007, pp. 58-59:

Rather surprisingly, the right of at least eventual burial was a basic assumption of the laws of war. As the great Spanish theorist Vitoria had observed, it had been considered a clear right under natural law, even for the corpses of executed criminals, since at least the time of the Israelites: and since "piety is a natural thing, even for the dead . . . [it] is unlawful to abuse their corpses." Unlike those people today who sign up happily for posthumous donations and dissections, early Americans were very far from indifferent about what happened to their bodies after death. When blended with Indians' supposed propensity for mutilating their dead or dying opponents, this dread of posthumous abuse (especially of decaying visibly, or becoming food for animals) accounted for an enormous part of the fear that provincial Americans felt when considering Indian attacks. Their evident fascination with the burning up after death of Indians victims in flaming barns or houses probably sprang, too, from the idea of the dead's being disposed of in horribly unconventional ways.
Body-burying expeditions had a central place in newspaper reporting–a place that makes sense when we understand the special power the damaged or unburied dead had to shock and depress colonists. The parties of men who trudged off to find victims and "[Bury them] in a Christian Manner" became vessels for terror. In late October 1755, after William Parsons heard reports of an attack near Easton and went out "to assist in burying the Dead," he wrote two letters unburdening himself of the horror of the trip. His little party, doubling in numbers as it went, heard of another attack nearer by and decided "to go . . . to these dead Bodies" first, which they soon found "lying dead just in the Road" with "all the Skin of their Heads . . . scalpt off." As darkness fell, the members of the party worried that "their Bodies might be torn to pieces" before morning. So they borrowed a grubbing hoe and shovel from the nearest farm and dug the deepest grave they could in the stony ground, putting them both in one grave . . . as we found them with all their Cloaths on."

The Crawford Expedition

During the Revolutionary War, William Crawford (1732-1782) was commissioned colonel of the 7th Virginia and served with the distinction at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. In late 1777, he took command of the continental troops and militia in western Pennsylvania. After the War, Crawford retired from the military, but his reputation as an Indian fighter soon made him the commander of an ill-fated expedition against the Delaware Indians of Sandusky, Ohio in the spring of 1782. Unfamiliar with the terrain and unable to replenish his troops, Crawford’s army of experienced frontiersman was defeated. Angered by the massacre of neutral and unarmed Indians in the Muskingham Valley by Pennsylvania militia, Indian warriors stripped off Crawford’s clothes, tied his arms around a thick wooden post, and tortured him. Dr. John Knight, a military surgeon who traveled with the Sandusky expedition, witnessed the atrocity:

"Seventy shots of powder were fired at his body. Indians then cut off his ears, prodded him with burning sticks, and tossed hot embers at him. Colonel Crawford continued in the extremities of pain for an hour and three quarters or two hours longer, as near as I can judge, when at last, being almost totally exhausted, he laid down on his belly; they then scalped him and repeatedly threw the scalp in my face, telling me, 'That was your great captain.' An old squaw got a board, took a parcel of coals and ashes and laid them on his back and head, after he had been scalped. Colonel Crawford then raised himself upon his feet and began to walk around the post; they next put a burning stick to him as usual, but he seemed more insensible of pain than before."

After learning of Crawford’s brutal fate on June 11, 1782, the Pennsylvania Packet reported that the state militia was “greatly enraged and determined to have ample satisfaction."

(Source: Beyond Philadelphia: The American Revolution in the Pennsylvania Hinterland, by Gregory T. Knouff, John B. Frantz ed., William Pencak ed., Park, Pa: Penn State Press, 1998)

The Battle of Jack's Creek

from Historical Collections of Georgia, by George White, published 1854, Pudney & Russell, pp.672-673:

Jack's Creek, in Walton County, [Georgia] is noted for a battle with the Indians, the particulars of which are given in the following letter from General Elijah Clarke to Governor [George] Matthews:— 


LONG CREEK, Sept. 24, 1787.


I had certain information that a man was killed on the 17th, near Greenesborough, by a party of six or seven Indians; and that on the 16th, Colonel Barber, with a small party, was waylaid by fifty or sixty Indians, and wounded, and three of his party killed, This determined me to raise what men I could, in the course of twenty-four hours, and march with them to protect the frontiers, in which space of time I collected 160 men, chiefly volunteers, and proceeded to the place where Colonel Barber had been attacked. There I found the bodies of the three men mentioned above, mangled in a shocking manner, and after I had buried them, proceeded on the trail of the murderers as far as the south fork of the Ocmulgee, where, finding that I had no chance of overtaking them, I left it and went up the said river, till I met with a fresh trail of Indians coming towards our frontier settlements. I immediately turned and followed the trail until the morning of the 21st, between eleven and twelve o'clock, when I came up with them. They had just crossed a branch called Jack's Creek, through a thick cane-brake, and were encamped and cooking upon an eminence. My force then consisted of 130 men, thirty having been sent back on account of their horses being tired and lost.


I drew up my men in three divisions; the right commanded by Colonel Freeman, the left by Major [John] Clarke, and the middle by myself. Colonel Freeman and Major Clarke were ordered to surround and charge the Indians, which they did with such dexterity and spirit that they immediately drove them from their encampment back into the cane-brake, where, finding it impossible for them to escape, they obstinately returned our fire until half past four o'clock, when they ceased, except now and then a shot. During the latter part of the action they seized every opportunity of escaping by small parties, leaving the rest to shift for themselves. About sunset I thought it most advisable to draw off, as the men had suffered for provisions for nearly two days, and for want of water during the action, but more particularly to take care of the wounded, which amounted to eleven, and six killed. From every circumstance, I am certain that there were not less than twenty-five Indians killed, and am induced, to suppose that had I remained that night, I should have found forty or fifty dead of their wounds by the morning. In short, they were totally defeated, with the loss of their provisions, clothing, and the following articles: a gun, thirty-two brass kettles, thirty- seven large packs, containing blankets, &c. Colonel Freeman and Major Clarke distinguished themselves, and from the spirit and activity with which the whole of my little party acted during the action, I do not believe that had we met them in the open woods, we should have been more than five minutes in giving them a total overthrow.

"The German Bleeds..," never the Quaker

political cartoon, circulated after the 1763 Conestoga massacre
(click image to enlarge)

"The German bleeds & bears ye Furs
Of Quaker Lords & Savage Airs

The Hibernian frets with new Disaster
And kicks to fling his broad brim'd Master

But help at hand Resolves to hold down
The Hibernian's head or tumble all down"
In 1760s backcountry Pennsylvania Scots-Irish and German settlers became increasingly convinced that Quaker leaders were encouraging and arming neighboring Indians to brutally attack their families in an effort to make them leave the colony altogether. In 1763 their resentment erupted into violence when the Scots-Irish "Paxton Boys" murdered six Indians at the Conestoga town near Lancaster, and afterward burned their cabins. Subsequent attacks followed in an attempt to wipe out their entire local tribe. The gang threatened to march eastward to Philadelphia killing all Indians in their path. In the image above, one of Pennsylvania's first political cartoons, an Indian and Quaker ride on the backs of German and Scots-Irish settlers as a house in the background is burning. A mother and child lie dead in the foreground. It is true that Quakers provided arms to some frontier Indians. More significantly, upon disembarking at the port of Philadelphia, German and Scots-Irish immigrants were maneuvered by the Quaker authorities into settling the western Pennsylvania frontier. Their presence there provided a strategic defense shield between the gentrified coast and hostile Indian nations, without having to compromise their personal Quaker pacifist principles. 

David James Dove, re: The Paxton Boys

From The Quaker Unmask'd, or, Plain Truth, by David James Dove, Philadelphia: Andrew Steuart, 1764:

WHEN the Indian Incursions last Summer laid waste a considerable Part of our Frontier, by which near a thousand Families were drove from their Places, reduced to the utmost Poverty, and thrown upon the Public-Charity for the Support of their miserable Lives.—How did these meek, merciful, compassionate Quakers (who would seem to monopolize Christian Charity, and all the Tenderness of human Nature amongst themselves) behave on so melancholy an Occasion?–To their immortal Infamy be it known, that when every other religious Society in the City, even the Roman-Catholicks, whom they so much despise, (tho' saddled at the Time with the heavy Expence of building a Chapel) were sensibly affected with the Distresses of the poor unhappy Sufferers, and promoted very generous and liberal Contributions for their Relief and Support. These compassionate and merciful Christians [the Quakers], so easily affected with Pity for Indians, would not grant a single Farthing (as a Society) for the Relief of their Fellow Subjects. Tho' Justice requires we should exempt from this Odium a few worthy Individuals in the City, who contributed on the Occasion; as also a few others in the Town and Neighbourhood of Lancaster, who raised about Thirty Pounds for the same Purpose.

WHEREAS when their Good Brethern the Indians (some of whom were well known by Officers now in the City, to have been in the Battle against Col. BOUQUET, and others at the Siege of Fort Pitt, during the Summer) seem'd to be in Danger of receiving their just Deserts from the Hands of a bereft and injured People, no Toils or Fatigues by Night or Day are thought too great, nor no Expence too much to protect those Bosom Friends. Nay, their very fundamental Principles of Non-Resistance, which would never before bend in Defence of King or Country, are cheerfully sacrificed on the interesting Occasion, as a Compliment to perfidious Savages.

THE PAXTON PEOPLE'S coming down armed, in a seemingly hostile Manner, is also justly to be condemned,—But whilst we condemn particular Facts, let us not misrepresent the general Characters of these People.

Let it be considered, that they had, long before, sent several Petitions to the Governor and Assembly, which, its suppos'd, have been conceal'd by some ill designing persons: And tho' his Honour never receiv'd these Remonstances, yet the distress'd People believ'd he had, and look'd upon themselves as utterly neglected, and their sufferings despis'd by the Government. . .

WHAT these People intended by their coming down arm'd let themselves declare. I only observe, that the Manner of their Behavior when they came, did them Honour; as it shew'd them to be brave, loyal and discreet.

Benjamin Franklin, re: The Conestoga Massacre

From A Narrative of the Late Massacres, in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of this Province, By Persons Unknown. With some Observations on the same, by Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, 1764:

On Wednesday, the 14th of December, 1763, Fifty-seven Men, from some of our Frontier Townships, who had projected the Destruction of this little Common-wealth [Conestoga], came, all well-mounted, and armed with Firelocks, Hangers and Hatchets, having traveled through the Country in the Night, to Conestogoe Manor. There they surrounded the small Village of Indian Huts, and just at Break of Day broke into them all at once. Only three Men, two Women, and a young Boy, were found at home, the rest being out among the neighbouring White People, some to sell the Baskets, Brooms and Bowls they manufactured, and others on other Occasions. These poor defenceless Creatures were immediately fired upon, stabbed and hatcheted to Death! The good Shehaes [a Conestoga] among the rest, cut to Pieces in his Bed. All of them were scalped, and otherwise horribly mangled. Then their Huts were set on Fire, and most of them burnt down. When the Troop, pleased with their own Conduct and Bravery, but enraged that any of the poor Indians had escaped the Massacre, rode off, and in small Parties, by different Roads, went home.

The universal Concern of the neighbouring White People on hearing of this Event, and the Lamentations of the younger Indians, when they returned and saw the Desolation, and the butchered half-burnt Bodies of their murdered Parents, and other Relations, cannot well be expressed.

The Magistrates of Lancaster sent out to collect the remaining Indians, brought them into the Town for their better Security against any further Attempt, and it is said condoled with them on the Misfortune that had happened, took them by the Hand, comforted and promised them Protection. They were all put into the Workhouse, a strong Building, as the Place of greatest Safety. . .

. . . those cruel Men again assembled themselves, and hearing that the remaining fourteen Indians were in the Work-House at Lancaster, they suddenly appeared in that Town, on the 27th of December. Fifty of them, armed as before, dismounting, went directly to the Work-House, and by Violence broke open the Door, and entered with the utmost Fury in their Countenances. When the poor Wretches saw they had no Protection nigh, nor could possibly escape, and being without the least Weapon for Defence, they divided into their little Families, the Children clinging to the Parents; they fell on their Knees, protested their Innocence, declared their Love to the English, and that, in their whole Lives, they had never done them Injury; and in this Posture they all received the Hatchet! Men, Women and little Children–were every one inhumanly murdered! – in cold Blood!

The barbarous Men who committed the atrocious act, in Defiance of Government, of all Laws human and divine, and to the eternal Disgrace of their Country and Colour, then mounted their Horses, huzza'd in Triumph, as if they had gained a Victory, and rode off – unmolested!

The Bodies of the Murdered were then brought out and exposed in the Street, till a Hole could be made in the Earth, to receive and cover them.

But the Wickedness cannot be covered, the Guilt will lie on the whole Land, till Justice is done on the Murderers. THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT WILL CRY TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE.

"The Quaker Unmask'd"

From The Quaker Unmask'd, or, Plain Truth, by David James Dove, Philadelphia: Andrew Steuart, 1764:

"Friend . . . It is true, we [Quakers] profess to have an Aversion to War: but . . . we secretly rejoice when we hear of whole Settlements murdered and destroyed. . . . And tho' our Malice at present is openly pointed only at the Presbyterians; yet to be plain with thee, we are as much in our Hearts against all who differ from us in Opinion . . . . thee knows it would be impolitic to discover our Resentment to too many Sects at once . . . ."

John Murray & Lord Dunmore's War

From "John M. Dunmore," Ohio History Central, 2005:

John Murray, Lord Dunmore was a royal governor of Virginia in the years before the American Revolution. He was born in Scotland in 1732. He came from a noble family and was descended from royalty. In 1761, at the young age of twenty-nine years, he was elected to the House of Commons in the English Parliament. He served for the remainder of the 1760s. In 1770, the Earl of Hillsborough selected him to be the royal governor of New York. Such an appointment was viewed as a great honor and would allow the recipient to garner wealth in England's New World colonies. Dunmore accepted the appointment and arrived in New York in October 1770.

In late 1771, Dunmore was promoted to governor of Virginia, England's largest and wealthiest colony in North America. He became an instant celebrity and well-respected leader of the colony. The Virginia elites, including George Washington, welcomed him and viewed him as a capable politician. The Virginians' view of Dunmore would change in 1773. In that year, the governor disbanded the Virginia legislature, the House of Burgesses, for supporting persons opposed to the Mother Country. He dissolved the legislature again in 1774. Opposition arose to the governor as he limited Virginians' ability to govern themselves.

Hoping to regain the support he once enjoyed, Dunmore sought to help the colonists against Native American threats in the Ohio Country. Beginning in 1774, Mingo Indians and Shawnee Indians rose up against white settlers—mainly from Virginia—who hoped to settle in the area. Dunmore also feared that Pennsylvania coveted land claimed by Virginia. To prevent Pennsylvania's expansion into modern-day West Virginia, southeastern Ohio, and Kentucky, Dunmore wished to place Virginia militiamen in these regions. He also hoped to open these lands to white settlement.

In August 1774, Pennsylvania and Virginia militias decided to end the Native American threat. Pennsylvania soldiers entered the Ohio Country and quickly destroyed seven Mingo villages, which the Indians had abandoned as the soldiers approached. At the same time, Lord Dunmore sent one thousand men to the Little Kanawha River in modern-day West Virginia to build a fort and attack the Shawnees. Cornstalk, a Shawnee leader, sent nearly one thousand warriors to drive Dunmore's army from the region. The forces met on October 10, 1774, at what became known as the Battle of Point Pleasant. After several hours of intense fighting, the English drove Cornstalk's followers north of the Ohio River. Dunmore, with a large force of his own, quickly followed the Shawnees across the river into the Ohio Country. Upon nearing the Shawnee villages on the Pickaway Plains near what is now Circleville, Ohio, Dunmore stopped. From his encampment named Camp Charlotte, Dunmore requested that the Shawnees come to him and discuss a peace treaty. The Shawnees agreed, but while negotiations were under way, Colonel Andrew Lewis and a detachment of Virginia militia that Dunmore had left behind at Point Pleasant crossed the Ohio River and destroyed several Shawnee villages. Fearing that Dunmore intended to destroy them, the Shawnees agreed to terms before more blood was shed. This military campaign came to be known as Lord Dunmore's War.

As a result of this war, some Shawnee Indians agreed to the terms of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) and promised to give up some of their lands east and south of the Ohio River. This was the first time that some of the natives who actually lived in the Ohio Country agreed to relinquish some of their land. In addition, these Shawnees also promised to return their white captives and to no longer attack English colonists traveling down the Ohio River.

Dunmore returned to Virginia a hero, but he quickly alienated the colonists once again by removing all of the gunpowder in the Williamsburg arsenal to a British warship. Dunmore feared that the colonists intended to use the gunpowder to overthrow royal authority in the New World. By July 1776, patriots had forced Dunmore to flee from Virginia. He spent the remainder of the American Revolution in England, where he again served in Parliament. From 1787 to 1796, he served as the royal governor of the Bahamas. He then retired to England and died in 1809.

The Moffetts & the Piqua

From Annals of Augusta County, by Joseph Addison Waddell, pub. 1902, C.R. Caldwell, pp. 177-178:

Col. George Moffett, son of John and Mary Christian Moffett, was born in 1735.—His wife was a sister of Colonel Samuel McDowell. He lived on the Middle River farm, owned for many years past by the Dunlap family, called Mount Pleasant, and built the stone dwelling house still on the place. He was not only prominent during the Indian wars and the Revolution, but was so also in civil affairs, having been a justice of the peace, an elder in the Presbyterian church, and one of the first trustees of Washington College, Lexington. He is said to have been a man of commanding presence, and eminently religious. He died in 1811, aged seventy-six years, and was buried in Augusta church graveyard. His children were John, James McD., Samuel, William, Mrs. General McDowell, of Kentucky, Mrs. Col. Joseph McDowell, of North Carolina, Mrs. Kirk, of Kentucky, and Mrs. James Cochran, of Augusta connty. James McDowell Moffett was the father of the late Mrs. John McCue, and Mrs. Cochran was the mother of Messrs. John, George M., and James A. Cochran.

Two of Col. Moffett's brothers removed to Kentucky in 1783, with their half-brother, James Trimble and many other Augusta people. Robert Moffett, one of the two, settled in Jessamine county. He had two sons, John and George, who were captured by Indians soon after their arrival in Kentucky. The ages of the boys were about six and eight years, respectively. They were taken to the Indian town of Piqua, on the Miami river, in Ohio, and John was adopted into the family of Tecumseh's mother. At Wayne's treaty, in 1794, these prisoners were given up, and their father was present with the Kentucky troops to receive back his long-lost sons. George, the younger of the two, was eager to return home; but John was reluctant to leave his Indian mother and friends. He went back, however, with his father, but was restless and unhappy and finally returned to Piqua. There he remained with the Indians till they sold their reservation and removed west of the Mississippi river.

The late John A. Trimble, of Ohio, in a letter dated March 31, 1881, and addressed to Dr. George B. Moffett, of West Virginia, says that when he was a child, in 1807, he saw John Moffett, who was then on his return from a visit to Kentucky. He was in the vigor of manhood, dressed in Indian costume and traveling on foot. Mr. Trimble saw him again in 1828, at his home near Piqua. He had lived during his boyhood and youth with Tecumseh, the celebrated Indian chief, and seemed much attached to him. At the time of Mr. Trimble's visit, Moffett had recently married an elderly lady and settled down to civilized life. But in his early life he had an Indian wife. Mr. Trimble says:

"I was descending the Mississippi in 1819, and landed at a point below Memphis called Mill's Landing. Mr. Mills, the pioneer settler there, had a trading post with the Mississippi Indians, who were encamped about the post. My brother, Cary Trimble, was with me. Mr. Mills, hearing we were from Kentucky, claimed relationship, his wife being a grand-daughter of Robert Moffett, of Woodford. We were invited to his house and my brother at once recognized Mrs. Mills as a relative whom he had known fifteen years before in Kentucky. She related a strange surprise she had a few evenings before from a very old Indian woman. She had noticed for several days the manners of this woman and her close scrutiny and eager gaze as she would meet her. At last she came up to her, exclaiming : 'Moffett! you are Moffett!' Somewhat startled, she called to Mr. Mills, who understood the Indian language, and he learned that the woman was the repudiated wife of John Moffett, a prisoner among the Indians at Piqua, ' long time ago. The woman said she knew Mrs. Mills from her likeness to her uncle when he was a boy. She said also that she had a son, Wicomichee, a young Indian chief, so called 'because his father left him.'"

John Harris to Owen Biddle, 1776

Paxton, July 29th, 1776. 

Sir,

I was informed by two men that came here last week from Sunbury for some Gun Powder stored with me for No. Thumberland Coty, that Two Seneca Indians came to the Great Island on the West Branch of Susquehannah ab't Two Weeks agoe, & that the next day after sd Indians arrived, the Indians in that neighbourhood moved off with their Familys, Effects, &c., & cut down some if not the whole of their Indian Corn; it appears as if they designed to Join the Canada Indians, or such of the Six Nations or other Indian Nations that may chuse to take an active part in the present warr ag't us; the English Officers that made their escape from Lebanon in Lancaster Coty, no doubt did perswade the Indians on their tour up this River, to take up the Hatchet ag't us, You may depend on it that the Indians cannot be kept Neuter, no Treaty or Presents can Prevent their being concern'd in the warr, therefore if a number of their warriors were engaged in our service, it might perhaps, (if not now too late) prevent them Destroying ourselves, our late success in Carolina may encourage the Southern Indians to join us in that quarter, If timely apply'd to, they would be of the greatest service for to assist us to cut off the Northern or Western Ind's, If a general Indian warr shoud Happen, (may God forbid) that an Indian Warr shoud take place, but we ought to use all the means in our power to prevent it ag't ourselves, & if there is now no preventing it, Let the Warr be pushed on with the Greatest Vigour into their own Country, (they Begining first) Surely their Territory of the best lands in America is a fine prize for our Warriors to fight for; the Frontier Co'tys in this Province is in a Deplorable Situation for want of Powder & lead shoud the Indians Break out soon, w'ch I assure you 
is expected, the present Q'tys of ammunition in sd Co'tys is verry Trifling, proper magazines at Posts of Amunition & provisions ought to be laid up in time for the Publick use (If Wanted) before escorts & a Treble Expence in conveying sd necessary articles to proper places might be expedient. I know the Indians well from my infancy, warr is their delight, & they will be concern'd on some side & 
Likely both for & ag't us; the Greatest Spirit Imaginable Reigns among us, I hope it may continue to the end of the Present unjust & cruel warr undertaken by Great Brittain against us, it's Quite Right now, for the Hon'ble the Continental Congress to Get all the Foreign aid Judg'd necessary to assist us, a good Fleet especially, superior with our assistance to that of our Enemy's, with Engineers, &c., from my love for my bleeding country, my acquaintance with yr self, knowing yr situation & Influence, is the Reason I make free to write you this long Incorrect Epistle; there is two places in this county I have found by Enquiry that it's Likely Good flints may be made. If you'll please to write me a Letter Informing me any news, you'll please to communicate [through] Lancaster post or first safe conveyance shall take it as a favor. I am Sir,
with the 
Greatest Respect, your most obed't, 

& most Humble Servant,
JOHN HARRIS.

Directed, 

To Owen Biddle, Esquire, in Philadelphia

Harris' Ferry, Pennsylvania

From the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania website:

John Harris (1673-1748), a native of Yorkshire, England, arrived in Philadelphia as one of the first emigrants to accompany William Penn. In approximately 1719, Harris moved with his wife Esther from Chester County to Lancaster County. They then eventually built a log cabin on the banks of the Susquehanna, near the present juncture of Paxton and Front streets.

In about 1727, John Harris, Jr. was born. Harris, Jr. became the founder of Harrisburg and the leader in the movement to establish Dauphin County. Other settlers soon followed in the footsteps of John Harris, Sr., and on December 17, 1733, the proprietaries of Pennsylvania granted to him by patent, 300 acres of land, within which was included the present site of the Dauphin County Court House. He developed a large trade with the Indians in fur and skins and established numerous trading posts. He also began farming on a small scale and introduced the first plow to the vicinity. Harris, Sr. established the first ferry across the Susquehanna, which in time became so popular that that place was no longer called by its Indian name of Peixtan, but Harris' Ferry.

John Harris, Sr. died in 1748, and was buried, at his request, beneath the shade of a mulberry tree in River Park below Harrisburg Hospital. He had once been tied to this tree by hostile Indians who were prepared to burn him, but fortuitously, his Indian friends rescued him in the nick of time. John Harris, Jr. operated the ferry established by his father, over which were taken many boatloads of supplies for the Continental army west of the Susquehanna River.

Bouquet & Amherst, re: the "Blanketts"

Postscripts from letters between British Colonel Henry Bouquet and General Jeffrey Amherst:

Bouquet to Amherst, dated 13 July 1763:

P.S. I will try to inocculate the the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands, taking care however not to get the disease myself. As it is pity to oppose good men against them, I wish we could make use of the Spaniard's Method, and hunt them with english dogs, supported by Rangers, and some Light Horse, who would I think effectively extirpate or remove that Vermine.

Amherst's response to Bouquet, dated 16 July 1763:

P.S. You will do well to try to Innoculate the Indians by means of Blanketts, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race. I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect effect, but England is at too great a Distance to think of that at present.

Bouquet to Amherst, dated 26 July 1763:

Sir, I received yesterday your Excellency's letters of 16th with their Inclosures. The signal for Indian Messengers, and all your directions will be observed.

Fort Pitt & Biological Warfare

"A Plan of the New Fort at Pitts-Burgh"
(click image to enlarge)

In May and June of 1763, a loose confederation of tribes inspired by the Ottawa war leader Pontiac launched attacks on British-held posts throughout the Great Lakes and Midwest. On May 29, 1763, they began a siege of Fort Pitt, located in western Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. The officer in charge at Fort Pitt was Swiss-born captain Simeon Ecuyer. On June 16, 1763, Captain Ecuyer reported to Colonel Henry Bouquet at Philadelphia that the frontier outpost's situation had taken a turn for the worse. Local Indians had escalated the hostilities, burning nearby houses and attempting to lure Ecuyer into an engagement beyond the walls of the well-protected post, where traders and colonists had taken refuge. "We are so crowded in the fort that I fear disease," wrote Ecuyer, "for in spite of all my care I cannot keep the place as clean as I should like; moreover, the small pox is among us. For this reason I have had a hospital built under the bridge beyond musket-fire." Henry Bouquet, in a letter dated June 23, passed the news on to Jeffery Amherst, the British commander-in-chief, at New York. "Fort Pitt is in good State of Defence against all attempts from Savages," Bouquet reported, but "Unluckily the small Pox has broken out in the Garrison." By June 16, then, smallpox had already established itself inside Fort Pitt.
General Amherst subsequently suggested using smallpox as a weapon for ending the siege of Fort Pitt. In a series of letters exchanged with Bouquet, the two men discussed the possibility of infecting the attacking tribes with smallpox through gifts of blankets exposed to the disease. Reportedly, unknown to Amherst and Bouquet, Ecuyer had already attempted this very tactic. Although Amherst's name is usually connected with this incident, because he was overall commander and because of his correspondence with Bouquet, evidence appears to indicate that the attempt was made without Amherst's prior knowledge. The success or failure of Ecuyer's attempt is unknown.

(Source: Journal of American History, "Biological Warfare in Eighteenth-Century North America: Beyond Jeffery Amherst", by Elizabeth A. Fenn; also, Wikipedia)

A song of the time:

Free states, attend the song,
Now independent on
The British throne:
To earth's remotest bound
Echoing skies resound
The sweet melodious sound—
Liberty's our Own

Virginia's fields unfold,
Where our great fathers bold
Intrepid stood:
On what embattled plain
The ever glorious train
Pil'd hills of Indians slain—
Pour'd seas of blood

—sung to the tune of "God Save The King"

(Source: Dixon and Hunter's Virginia Gazette, 24 August 1776, pg. 8)

The Yamasee War & The Cherokee Factor

From Jackson's Way, by John Buchanan, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001, pp. 18-19:

The Yamasee War came close to destroying South Carolina. Four hundred settlers (6% of the population) were killed. Ninety percent of the traders were killed in the Yamasee and Creek Nations, from South Carolina’s Low Country to central Alabama. Charleston’s defensive perimeter was reduced to a radius of some thirty-five miles and that was not totally secure. In August 1715 several hundred warriors penetrated the outskirts of Charleston before being repulsed. The degree of danger can be measured by the arming of hundreds of black slaves to fight alongside white militiamen. All of the southeastern tribes had risen except two: the Chickasaws on the Mississippi, who stayed loyal and protected their traders; and the Cherokees, who were thinking over Creek overtures. The Chickasaws were too far away and too few to intervene. The Cherokees, however, were quite a different story. They were on the doorsteps of both Carolinas and they could muster 4,000 warriors. If the Cherokees joined the alliance, what could follow? The evacuation of Charleston?
In the late fall of 1715 Colonels James Moore and George Chicken with 300 militiamen were sent up-country to the lower Cherokee towns as a show of force and to negotiate an alliance. At the same time Creek envoys were in the towns seeking their own alliance, and a large force of Creek warriors were concealed in the forests awaiting the signal for a Cherokee-Creek attack on the English force. The Cherokees took their time and negotiated with both sides. Finally, in January 1716, they made their decision. The Creek envoys were murdered by their hosts and a Cherokee-English force did the attacking and sent the waiting Creek warriors fleeing for their lives.
The Cherokee decision saved South Carolina. Historians have given pride of place to the Indian alliances that led to the Pequot War (1636–1638) and King Philip’s War (1675–1676) in New England, and the rising of the northwestern tribes in Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763–1765). This is not unusual, given the general neglect of southern history during the colonial and revolutionary periods. But the alliance that led to the Yamasee War was the “greatest Indian alliance in colonial history with the potential to eradicate not just South Carolina but also North Carolina and Virginia.”

The Yamasee & "à petit feu"

From Jackson's Way, by John Buchanan, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001, pg. 18:

On 14 April [1715] Thomas Nairne, William Bray, and Samuel Warner met at the Yamasee town of Pocataligo [South Carolina] to offer the Indians redress of grievances. The traders Bray and Warner were on an official mission. They had brought warnings to Charleston and had been sent to Pocataligo to head off a rising. Nairne had learned of the planned uprising independently and had come from his plantation on Saint Helena Island. They slept that night in Pocataligo. On Good Friday morning they were awakened by war cries and seized by warriors painted red and black. William Bray and Samuel Warner were killed immediately. But for Thomas Nairne the Yamasee reserved a special treatment, as befitted an important man who had won honors in war.
He was stripped and tied to a stake, probably with the customary thong that allowed him some freedom of movement. Splinters were stuck into his body and lighted. The Indians would have watched him closely. If he showed signs of fear, or begged for mercy, they would have laughed at him, for that was their way. A fire was built. Not a large fire. That would have ended his travail too quickly. For three days he was roasted "à petit feu" (a small fire). On the third day he died.

The Yamasee War (1715-1717)

The Yamasee War was a conflict between colonial South Carolina and various Indian tribes including the Yamasee, Creek, Catawba, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Yuchi, Savannah River Shawnee, Congaree, Waxhaws, Pee Dee, Cheraw, and others. Some tribes played minor roles while others launched attacks throughout South Carolina. Hundreds of colonists were killed and many settlements were destroyed.
Causes of the war were multiple, and differed between the many Indian tribes that participated. Commitment differed as well; some groups fought for the duration, others only briefly. Some were divided; some changed sides. Contributing factors included: the trading system, trader abuses, Indian slave trade, depletion of the deer population (for deerskin trade), increasing Indian debts (coupled with increasing colonial wealth), land encroachment, the spread of rice plantation agriculture, growth of French trading power (as an alternative to British trade), established Indian links to Spanish Florida, power struggles between Indian tribes, an increasingly robust inter-tribal communication network, and recent military collaborations among previously distant tribes.
Traders "in the field" were killed throughout the American southeast. Much of South Carolina's settled territory was abandoned as people fled to Charles Town, where starvation set in as supplies ran low. The survival of South Carolina itself was in question during 1715. About 6-7% of the colony's white citizenry was killed, resulting in casualties more severe than King Philip's War, which is often cited as America's bloodiest. The tide turned in early 1716, when the Cherokee sided with South Carolina and began to attack the Creek Indians. The last of South Carolina's major foes withdrew from the conflict in 1717, bringing a fragile peace to a traumatized colony.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Rev. William Smith vs The Quakers

Reverend William Smith, D.D. (1727-1803)
portrait by Gilbert Stuart, oil on canvas

Rev. Dr. William Smith was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, to Thomas and Elizabeth (Duncan) Smith. He attended the University of Aberdeen. In 1753, Smith wrote a pamphlet outlining his thoughts about education. The book fell into the hands of Benjamin Franklin, who asked Smith to come to Philadelphia and teach at the newly established academy there (now the University of Pennsylvania). In 1755 Smith became the first provost of the school. He held the post until 1779.

Smith was an Anglican priest and, together with William Moore, was briefly jailed in 1758 for his criticism of the military policy in the Quaker-run colony. Indeed, during the French and Indian War, Smith published two anti-Quaker pamphlets that advocated the disenfranchisement of all Quakers, who were, at the time, the political elite in Pennsylvania. Pacifist beliefs made Quakers in government reluctant to provide funds for defense. Consequently, anti-Quaker sentiment ran high, especially in the backcountry which suffered frequent raids from Indians allied with the French. Smith's second pamphlet, A Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania, For the Year 1755 went so far as to suggest that while one way of "ridding our Assembly of Quakers” would be to require an oath, “another way of getting rid of them" would be "by cutting their Throats.” Smith's virulent attacks on Quakers alienated him from Franklin, who was closely allied with the Pennsylvania Assembly.

(Source: Wikipedia)

David Hood, aka "The Possum"

From History of Middle Tennessee, by Albigence Waldo Putnam, published 1859, page 154:

In the narrative of John Rains, the account of "the said Hood," or David Hood, "the Possum," is stated thus:
"One of the most interesting incidents connected with the early history of Tennessee, is one in which a man named David Hood figured. He was coming up from 'Freclaud's Station,' below the Sulphur Spring adjoining Nashville, when several Indians [likely Chickasaws, per John Buchanan] gave chase to him, firing upon him as he ran. He, thinking there was no other chance for his life, concluded to try 'possuming it,' and so fell flat upon his face in the weeds, as if dead. The Indians ran up and gathered around him and one of them very deliberately twisted his fingers into his hair, to scalp him. His knife being very dull, he let go, took a better hold, and sawed away, until he could pull it off, poor Hood bearing it meanwhile without a groan or show of life.
"After the deed was done, they stood around a little while, reloaded their guns, and started on towards town, (or the Bluff Fort.) One of the Indians gave him a few stamps in the back as they started away. After a while, Hood raised his head cautiously, peeped out under his arms, and at last, finding the coast clear, got up and started towards town.
"Mounting the ridge above the Spring, what was his dismay to find himself once more in the presence of the whole gang! Again he started, but again they fired upon him as he ran. One of their bullets cut him deeply across the breast, but finally, after getting so close as to pull off one of the skirts of his coat, the Indians abandoned him. When quite spent, he dropped behind a log in the corn-field near by, after facing around to get one fire at them, and was rescued by some whites who came out at the sound of the firing."

From Jackson's Way, by John Buchanan, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001, pp. 65-66:

[David Hood] probably would have died had it not been for James Robertson, who could do many things: travel thousands of miles alone through perilous wilderness, establish a settlement in hostile country, treat with or fight Indians as the occasion demanded, and a myriad of things necessary for survival on a frontier. Much of what he could do was expected of a seasoned frontiersman. But few could properly treat a scalped man, which James Robertson now proceeded to do for David Hood. He had seen scalps pegged in East Tennessee, and an anonymous French surgeon had taught him how to use a shoemaker's awl to make small holes in the "outer table of the skull, pretty close together." The blood oozing out formed a protective scab under which the terrible wound healed. David Hood's scalp would never be one for a woman to run her fingers over, and as with many scalping victims who survived he may never have been the same again in mind or body, but he lived for several years.

George Moffett (1735-1811)

From Historic Families of Kentucky, by Thomas Marshall Green, published 1889, R. Clarke, Kentucky, pp. 15-16:

Captain John McDowell and Magdalena Wood had three children—Samuel, James, and Sarah. The latter married George Moftett, probably a son of the Captain John Moffett, whose name appears among the Scotch-Irish emigrants who early settled in the "Manor" and in the "Grant." After the death of the father of George Moffett, the widow married John Trimble, grandfather of the distinguished Allen Trimble, Governor of Ohio. George Moffett bore a manly part in the French and Indian war, and in all the subsequent border warfare with the savage foe. His step-father, John Trimble, fell a victim in one of their murderous raids; several members of his family and many of the neighbors were captured and carried off. The large band of savage murderers were swiftly pursued by Captain George Moffett and his hardy company, overtaken at Kerr's creek, were attacked with vigor, and defeated with heavy loss; the despairing victims were released and returned to their friends. Among them was James Trimble, half brother of Captain Moffett, and father of Governor Allen Trimble.

The Kerr's Creek Massacre

From Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871, by Joseph Addison Waddell, published 1902, C.R. Caldwell, Virginia, pp. 171-172:

The smaller band of Indians made their descent upon Kerr's creek, on the 17th of July [1763]. Their number was twenty-seven, Robert Irvin having counted them from a bluff near the road at the head of the creek. Some weeks before, two boys, named Telford, reported that when returning from school they had seen a naked man near their path. This report was not much thought of till the massacre, when it was supposed that the man seen by the boys was an Indian spy sent out to reconnoitre.
Leaving the site of old Millborough, the savages passed over Mill mountain at a low place still called the "Indian Trail." Coming on the waters of Bratton's Run, they crossed the North mountain, where it is now crossed by the road leading from Lexington to the Rockbridge Alum Springs, and where there is a large heap of stones, supposed to have been piled up by Indians. From this point they had a full view of the peaceful valley of Kerr's creek. Hastening down the mountain, they began the work of indiscriminate slaughter. Coming first to the house of Charles Daugherty, he and his whole family were murdered. They next came to the house of Jacob Cunningham, who was from home, but his wife was killed, and his daughter, about ten years of age, scalped and left for dead. She revived, was carried off as a prisoner in the second invasion, was redeemed, and lived for forty years afterwards, but finally died from the effects of the scalping. The Indians then proceeded to the house of Thomas Gilmore, and he and his wife were killed, the other members of the family escaping at that time. The house of Robert Hamilton came next. This family consisted of ten persons, and one-half of them were slain. By this time the alarm had spread through the neighborhood, and the inhabitants were flying in every direction. For some reason the main body of the Indians went no farther. Perhaps they were sated with blood and plunder; most probably they feared to remain longer with so small a band. A single Indian pursued John McKee and his wife as they were flying from their house. By the entreaty of his wife, McKee did not wait for her, and she was overtaken and killed. He escaped. His six children had been sent to the house of a friend on Timber Ridge, on account of some uneasiness, caused probably by the report about the naked man.

Pontiac's War: Shawnees in Virginia

From A History of Rockbridge County,* Virginia, by Oren Frederic Morton, published 1920, The McClure Co., Virginia, pp. 68-69:

What is known as the Pontiac war broke out very suddenly in June, 1763, and continued more than a year. It was a concerted effort, on the part of a confederacy of tribes, to sweep the whites out of the country beyond the Alleghenies. To a band of Shawnees was assigned the task of operating in the Rockbridge [Virginia] latitude. Their first blow completely destroyed the Greenbrier settlements, and their next attention was given to Jackson's River and the Cow pasture. Thence a party crossed Mill and North mountains to devastate the valley of Kerr's Creek.

*Note: Rockbridge County was formed in 1778 from parts of Augusta and Botetourt Counties.

George Washington, re: Braddock's Defeat

George Washington, age 23, to his mother Mary Washington, 18 Jul 1755:

Honored Madam: As I doubt not but you have heard of our defeat, and, perhaps, had it represented in a worse light, if possible, than it deserves, I have taken this earliest opportunity to give you some account of the engagement as it happened, within ten miles of the French fort, on Wednesday the 9th instant.

We marched to that place, without any considerable loss, having only now and then a straggler picked up by the French and scouting Indians. When we came there, we were attacked by a party of French and Indians, whose number, I am persuaded, did not exceed three hundred men; while ours consisted of about one thousand three hundred well-armed troops, chiefly regular soldiers, who were struck with such a panic that they behaved with more cowardice than it is possible to conceive. The officers behaved gallantly, in order to encourage their men, for which they suffered greatly, there being near sixty killed and wounded; a large proportion of the number we had.

The Virginia troops showed a good deal of bravery, and were nearly all killed; for I believe, out of three companies that were there, scarcely thirty men are left alive. Captain Peyrouny, and all his officers down to a corporal, were killed. Captain Polson had nearly as hard a fate, for only one of his was left. In short, the dastardly behavior of those they call regulars exposed all others, that were inclined to do their duty, to almost certain death; and, at last, in despite of all the efforts of the officers to the contrary, they ran, as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to rally them.

The General was wounded, of which he died three days after. Sir Peter Halket was killed in the field, where died many other brave officers. I luckily escaped without a wound, though I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me. Captains Orme and Morris, two of the aids-de-camp, were wounded early in the engagement, which rendered the duty harder upon me, as I was the only person then left to distribute the General's orders, which I was scarcely able to do, as I was not half recovered from a violent illness, that had confined me to my bed and a wagon for above ten days. I am still in a weak and feeble condition, which induces me to halt here two or three days in the hope of recovering a little strength, to enable me to proceed homewards; from whence, I fear, I shall not be able to stir till toward September; so that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you till then, unless it be in Fairfax... I am, honored Madam, your most dutiful son.