Captain John “Indian Wars” McDowell

John McDowell (born 1714), youngest son of American McDowell patriarch Ephraim and surveyor of Borden’s Grant in Virginia, married Magdalen Woods in 1734 while the family was still in Pennsylvania. Like so many of the McDowells, she had made the crossing to America from Ireland with her parents and siblings. John and “Magdalena” had three children together before John’s untimely death at age 28 on 14 December 1742. 

John received his Captain’s commission in the Virginia militia after numerous Augusta County landholders made a direct plea (in desperate need of spellcheck):

"To the Honorable, William Gooch Esqr His Majestys’ Lieut: Governor &c &c—

Sr

We your pittionours humbly sheweth that we your Honours Loly and Dutifull Subganckes hath ventred our Lives & all that we have In settling ye back parts of Virginia which was a veri Great Hassirt & Dengrous, for it is the Hathins [heathens] Road to ware, which has proved hortfull to severil of ous that were ye first settlers of these back woods & wee your Honibill pittionors some time a goo pittioned your Honnour for to have Commissioned men amungst ous which we your Honnours most Duttifull subjects thought properist men & men that had Hart and Curidg to hed us yn mind of — & to defend your Contray and your poor Sobgacks Intrist from ye voilince of ye Haithen—But yet agine we Humbly perfume to poot your Honnour yn mind of our Great want of them in hopes that your Honner will Grant a Captins’ Commission to John McDowell, with follring ofishers, and your Honnours’ Complyence in this will be Great settisfiction to your most Duttifull and Humbil pittioners—and we as in Duty bond shall Ever pray—

Andrew Moore, David Moore, James Eikins, Geroge Marfit, John Goof, James Sutherland, James Milo, James McDowell, John Anderson, Joabe Anderson, James Anderson, Mathew Lyel, John Gray and many others."*

Captain McDowell assembled a Company of thirty-three men, including his father Ephraim and brother James. In early December 1742, a similar number of Delaware Indians entered the McDowell settlement in Borden’s Grant, “saying that they were on their way to assail the Catawba tribe with which they were at war.” John McDowell met with the Indians, who professed their friendship for the whites. He, in turn, entertained them for a day and “treated them with whiskey.” The Delawares then traveled down the south branch of the North River and camped for about a week. Besides hunting, they proceeded to terrorize local settlers and shoot loose horses at random. In response to grievous complaints, Captain McDowell’s Company was ordered by Colonel James Patton of the Virginia militia to conduct the Delaware Indians beyond the white settlements. On 14 December 1742 they caught up with the suspect Indians at the junction of the James and North rivers. The Company proceeded to gather the group together and initiate the escort. About half of the Indians were on horseback, the rest on foot. One was said to have been lame, not keeping pace with the company, and had walked off into the woods. A soldier at the back of the line fired into the trees at him, and the Indians immediately began a full-fledged attack upon McDowell’s entire Company.** John and eight of his men were killed. At least seventeen Indians also died. In the battle’s aftermath, to avoid all-out war with the multiple nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, Lieutenant Governor George Thomas of Pennsylvania negotiated the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744. Agreement was reached that Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor William Gooch would pay the Iroquois a reparation of 100 pounds sterling. 

After what came to be called the “Massacre at Balcony Downs,” many referred to the Captain as John “Indian Wars” McDowell. By this time there were numerous McDowells up and down the Great Wagon Road, so it became a way to distinguish him from others in the retelling. 

*Petition to Lt. Governor William Gooch of Virginia, dated 30 July 1742, Calendar of Virginia State Papers, i, p. 235

**Joseph Addison Waddell, Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871, 1902, C.R. Caldwell, Augusta County, Virginia. Specifics of the account are from an 1808 letter sent from Judge Samuel McDowell, son of Captain John McDowell, to Colonel Arthur Campbell.

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.'"

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.