Mirror of olden time Border Life, embracing a history of the discovery of America ... also history of Virginia. ... History of the early settlement of Pennsylvania ... to which are added personal narratives ... together with ... sketches of frontier men ... compiled ... by J. Pritts [Second...

Front matter

Mini- \ is in itonm it i ii i- ,,//..<.• of J /,/J,ni,v/.'J4.Hir//inls'l'M' 1NITDL.MS (IF BOK'DBR LIFE. MIRROR OF OLDEN TIME BORDER LIFE; EMBRACING A HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, OF THE LANDING OP OUR FOREFATHERS AT PLYMOUTH, AND OF THEIR MOST REMARKABLE ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE INDIANS. IN NEW ENGLAND, FROM THEIR FIRST LANDING, IN 1620, UNTIL THE FINAL SUBJUGATION OF THE NATIVES, IN 1679. ALSO, HISTORY OF VIRGINIA, EMBRACING ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. AND A NARRATIVE OF THE LONG CONTINUED AND BLOODY STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE WHITE SETTLERS AND INDI- ANS IN NORTH-WESTERN VIRGINIA, KENTUCKY, &c, &c, INCLUDING ACCOUNTS OF ALL THE BATTLES' FROM THE BEGIN- NING TO THE DECISIVE BLOW BY GEN. WAYNE, AND CONSEQUENT PEACE.

ALSO, HISTORY OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, PENN'S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS, AND THE SUBSEQUENT WARFARE WHICH MARKED THE EFFORTS TO SETTLE THE INTERIOR WITH DE- VASTATION, BLOOD AND SUFFERING UNTIL THE FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OF PEACE. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, PERSONAL NARRATIVES OF CAPTIVITIES AND ESCAPES— OF STRANGE AND THRILLING ADVENTURES— PERSONAL-PROWESS, &c, &c. TOGETHER WITH NUMEROUS SKETCHES OF FRONTIER MEN, THE REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS AND INCIDENTS IN THEIR CAREER— WITH NUMEROUS MISCELLANEOUS SKETCHES OF DARING DEEDS, REMARKABLE EVENTS, &c, &c. As flies the eun over Larmon's grassy hill, so pass the tales of old — it is the voice of year* that are gone—they roll hefore me with all their deeds — I seize the tales as they pass and pour them forth.— Ossian. My Countrymen, — These things ought not to be forgotten ; for the benefit of our Children and those that follow them, they should be recorded in history. — Dr. Franklin.

COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES, BY J. PRITTS, CHAMBERSBURG, PA. FROM THE PRESS OF DENNY, REYNOLDS & GEHR. ABINGDON, VA. S. S. MILES, PUBLISHER OF THE PRESENT EDITION. 1849. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1348, By J03EPH PRITT3, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Easier* District of Pennsylvania.

Preface

TO THE SECOND EDITION. In presenting the present work to the public, but few words of introduc tion must suffice. The circumstances that called into existence the first edition of "Border Life," and the reasons of its being likely to prove ac ceptible to the community were fully set forth in the preface to that edition, which is also prefixed to this. The hopes and expectations therein ex pressed were more than realized, and the compiler has yet to hear a single dissenting voice from the general approbation which the work elicited. So successful did the book prove, that not only was a large edition of it rapidly exhausted, but the compiler sound a ready sale for every copy he could procure at second hand. -He was obliged lo decline numerous solicitations to reprint the work, for various reasons — the principal one being a desire to remodel the compilation by a more methodical arrangement of the narratives.

This he trusts has been effected in the present edition, which presents the thrilling incidents of that early period in the settlement of the country more in their natural order of time and place. The compiler flatters himself that he has in a measure succeeded in his anxious endeavor to rescue from oblivion many of the most remarkable and interesting events in American History. Scattered as these were before in dusty and worn out pamphlets and manuscripts, they were in imminent danger of being totally lost. They are now, it is hoped, placed in a safe repo sitory, by which they will be faithfully transmitted to future generations. The History of Indian warfare is always fraught with scenes of cruelty and bloodshed ; and while the reader of these narratives will be often shocked by incidents of horror and suffering, he will be also not unfrequently called, in their perusal, to admire the heroism and constancy of a noble ancestry, and to appreciate better the value of that state of civilized tranquility which he enjoys, by contrasting it with the hardships and privations ot those who bave gone before him. THE COMPILER.

PREFACE.

. Several years since, the compiler of this work was in company, in a stage coach, with two gentlemen of the clerical profession, on our way to Philadelphia. In the course of the journey, the conversation happening to turn upon the early history of the region of country through which we were passing, one of our companions was very naturally led to touch upon some of those remarkable and stirring incidents of border life, to which the almost constant state ot hostility between the white settlers and aboriginal inhabitants, so abundantly gave rise. The other of our companions — a gentleman distinguished for his piety, learning, and rarely surpassed pow ers of oratory — became so much interested in the subject of discourse, that he enquired with some earnestness of manner where he should be able to procure a work from which he might become more intimate with the de tails of those frontier events.

To this it was replied, that it was to be re gretted that the written hjstpry of, t.hese^ti tries was so very meagre; and that even what little has sound a'reeord in the detached and homely narratives of some participators in these frontier adventures, or in the equally unpretending and fragmentary chronicles of other, but contemporary wri ters of their deeds, had almost passed from the reach of the general rea der — books of this kind having become extremely scarce. The result of the conversation was an expression of an increased desire on the part of the clergyman to obtain a particular work devoted to the subject, and of a de termination on our part to collect as many of the printed fragments of that part of our country's history as a dilligent research might enable us to pro cure; and from the collection, and such additional resources as might fall within our reach, to compile a volume embracing whatever might seem interesting and suitable to the design and scope of the desired work. — Though years elapsed without putting us in possession of the sought for materials as fully as we wished, we flatter ourselves that we have at length succeeded in bringing together such a collection of narratives, and detail of adventures, as seem sufficiently copious, authentic, and interesting to jus tify committing them to the press and the judgment of the reading public.

In presenting this work to his countrymen, the compiler feels that he has mistaken the American taste and greatly overrated the value attached to the contents of his book, if it does not meet with a welcome reception. It would be strange, indeed, if at a period when even the most extravagant and frivolous creations of fancy find ready consumption in the perhaps growing appetite (or the marvellous and romantic, a narration of exciting scenes, known lo be undoubted facts, and presented in the unadorned Ian- VI guage of truth, should be less acceptable. If the admiration and sympa thy of readers can be so strongly enlisted in the heroism and suffering that never existed save in the creative imagination of the novelist, how much more readily and rationally should their sensibilities be touched by the noble daring, the toils and sufferings of the pioneers, seeking, amidst cease less peril, to convert a howling wilderness into " a land flowing with milk and honey," and preparing the way for us, their successors and children, to sit down in peace under our own vine and fig-tree, where there are none to make us afraid.

On many accounts, we think our volume must be received with great eagerness. As already intimated, there have been but few books ever offered to the world, whether of real or fictitious adventure, so rich in varied, thrilling, and wonderful incident. From the first sound of their axe on the borders of the wilderness, through all the successive stages of improvement, until the forest was gradually cleared away, and other frontier settlements formed by other but kindred adventurers, to be in their turn the scenes of wild and daring exploits, interposed to shield the first against the predatory incursions of a never-tiring foe, the original settlers of any given portion of the country whose early history it is intended to illustrate, passed through so many strange and exciting events that the unadorned record of the life of any one of these back-woods-men, appears far more like an ingenious romance than a sober and veritable biography.

We do not purport to give a book made up entirely of the memorials of individual adventurers. For the most part our volume is filled with only the most remarkable incidents occurring in the settlements, of which any account has been preserved. It is much to be regretted that the entire lives of many more of the pioneers of civilization, are not recorded. — A few such, however, are to be found in the following pages. — And we defy any reader of the least pretension to literary taste, to take up any one of these, the Life of Col. James Smith for instance, which is contained in our volume, and perusing it as a mere story book, independent of its value as a record of very interesting events, and not pronounce that simple and artless narrative one of the most charming compositions he ever read.

It is but recently we heard one of our friends, (alas! now no more,) a gentleman of a remarkably classic turn of mind, and keenly alive to all that is beauti ful in literature, exclaim, unconsciously to himself, as he rose from the perusal of it, "The untutored Defoe!" We have often thought since how appropriately the term was applied. We see throughout the whole narrative, told in language always plain and simple as a child's, though in some places, it is true, not quite grammatically correct, the same minute yet not tiresome detail of circumstances, the same descriptive manner of relating events as they appeared to have occurred, which have made Rob ison Crusoe a favorite with all, from the boy just beginning to read, or the unlettered servant girl half spelling through its pages, up to those most rn. distinguished for learning and cultivation of taste.

But rich in wonderful, yet at the same time apparently natural incident, as this best production of Defoe undoubtedly is, we deem it to be even surpassed in that respect by the humble sketch we have just ventured to compare with il. And what has been said of this article of our volume, might be said also, to a certain ex tent, of nearly every one that follows. We have referred to it as a speci men merely because of its place, and not because of any great superiority, either in matter or in manner, it possesses over a number of the other articles, except that it is somewhat more complete as a biography. Our whole book throughout abounds with scenes and adventures equally ro mantic, and many of them are described as artlessly and as well. Indeed, what almost every one knows generally of the kind of life led by the first settlers in the middle, aud some parts of the western States, will serve to convince him that our compilation must be a work of no little interest.

Almost every one knows something, yet how indefinite is his knowledge, of the early history of this now flourishing part of the country.

He may have some general notion of brave men starting out, with their families, from homes of security, and settling in little groups in the wilderness, erecting their log cabins in their clearings, and a rude stockade fort near the centre of each of these little colonies, to which, at the alarm of an invasion, their wives and children were seen hastily flying — of the whole of one of these little settlements assembled at times of extraordinary danger, and going from farm to farm to plough their fields or to cut down their harvest, their rifles all the time at their sides, or ready to be seized at a moment's warning — ot savages lurking in the woods, shooting down whoever ventured to go forth unarmed and alone to his labor, then rushing into the undefended door to kill or to carry into captivity, all the inmates of his dwelling — of desperate conflicts between the white settlers and their savage foes, sometimes one party victorious, and sometimes the other — of fugitive Indians pursued into the heart of the wilderness, and the captives they had carried off, perhaps the wives, children, brothers, or sisters ol the pursuers, rescued — of other prisoners, when pursuit was eilher unsuccessful or not made, sometimes making their escape by the way, then chased by their disappointed captors, and if not again taken, wandering days and nights in the forest, without food or the means of procuring it, and at length reaching their homes, perhaps only to find them desolate; some times, less fortunate, bound to the stake, and expiring in tortures ; and sometimes carried to the Indian villages, adopted into their families, and becoming learned in their language and traditions, their manners and cus toms, modes of life and of warfare, and then perhaps after long years of captivity, returning to their friends, and describing all the wonders they had witnessed during a s'ojourn among a strange and uncivilized people. — But beyond these vague generalities, how few know any thing of the life these settlers led.

Yet who that knows aught of that life does not long to know more? Who that has heard of any such incidents as we have just now enumerated, does not feel a longing desire to hear them described al length, with all their attending circumstances'? To gratify such a seeling as this was one object of our compilation. Whether we have succeeded to the satisfaction of our readers it is for them to determine ; b-jt for our own part, we repeat, we would not know where to seek, whether in the pages of fiction or of history, a relation of events more romantic, or pos sessing a more absorbing interest, than many of the narratives we have given to the public. But it is not merely as a collection of entertaining and wonderful adven ture, to be read for a winter evening's amusement, and then to be thrown aside as a thing of little worth, our volume recommends itself to the Amer ican reader.

It is still more valuable as a faithful chronicle of the times to which it relates. Decidedly the most interesting portions in the history of any pan of our country, are those relating first lo the period of its early settlement, and secondly to that period commencing with the French and Indian war, and terminating with the struggle of the revolution. But it so happens, that in the greater part of that region of country whose early condition this work is intended to illustrate, these two periods exactly coin cide. Partly for this reason, and partly for others we shall presently men tion, do we deem that very region of country the scene of more varied and stirring adventure than has been witnessed in almost any other section of the land — the incidents of a frontier settlement, and the incidents of one or the other of the wars referred to, all taking place at the same time.

In the cha racter of the aboriginal tribes who disputed with the settlers of this region the occupancy of the lands, and in the features of the country where their contests were had, may be sound other causes both to multiply the adventures and to render them remarkable, beyond those of any other of our frontier settlements. The Indians who here resisted the advance of civilization, were certainly the most heroic and warlike race that ever claimed a portion of the territory we now call our own, and they kept up a more prolonged border warfare than was elsewhere witnessed in defence of it. Dunns* a great part of this protracted warfare, ihe white settlements were on the eastern side of the mountains, and the Indian villages on the western ; the mountainous district between, while it served as a barrier to the tide of civilization, affording secure hiding places to small war parties of the savages, whence they could wait a favorable opportunity, and make an unex pected descent upon the settlements, and then again sheltering themselves in the fastnesses of the hills until at their leisure they could make good their retreat..

And when the intrepid pioneers at length ventured to cross the mountains and establish themselves in the western valley, they were so few in number, and remo**ed so far beyond the reach of any assistance their countrymen might have rendered them, that they were enabled to maintain themselves in their new homes against the formidable attacks of their far more numerous adversaries, only by engaging in the most desperate conflicts. During such a period, and in such a condition of the fron tiers, more remarkable scenes must have been enacted every year, than have been witnessed within the same extent of country, in any half a century since. But, for many reasons, it is of this very period we know the least. The adventurers had too much to do to write their own history. — Indeed the most of them knew far better how to wield the axe or the rifle than the pen.

And even of those who live to enjoy, in the evening of their days, the quietness of a safe and peaceful home, and who were skilled enough to record the various adventures of which they had been witnesses or had borne a part, few, it is evident, thought the occurrences of their eventful lives worth the trouble of narrating. Such incidents as to us would appear strange, were to them of every-day occurrence, and perhaps they thought as little of them in many instances as the men of our own day do of the ordinary events of theirs. We suspect, however, that of the few memorials of the times that have been in print, some have been lost. — They may have fallen into the hands of those whose bad taste would lead them to despise the homeliness of the style in which they were written, and to cast them aside among the rubbish of forgotten things.

This we know, that it was with great difficulty we were enabled to procure a num ber of the most interesting narratives in our volume. The copies of them to be found must be extremely scarce. What few remain of these homely, but at the same time valuable and highly entertaining productions, it is one main object of our publication to preserve. It is a duty which we of the present generation owe to the memory of the pioneers of civilization in the region where we dwell, lo gather up with religious care whatever records of the times there are left, and, studying them well, to transmit them in as enduring a form as possible to the generations that succeed us. We, the children of these hardy adventurers, and the posterity that comes after us, should know how much we are indebted to them, in order to appreciate as we ought the blessings we enjoy, purchased and secured to us at such an expense of peril, suffering, and toil.

How different from ours is the life they led! But where, save in these fragments of history we have en deavored to snatch from oblivion, can we obtain a correct knowledge of their times? If we form an idea of them from a comparison with what at present we may see going on, our impressions must be altogether wrong. There is nothing in the world now that in the least resembles the border scenes of that period. — The frontier adventurers of our own times, differ as much from those ot that day, in all their habits and circumstances of life, as the open prairie lands, where the settler now finds his field ready for the plough, differ from the thickly wooded country, where the early pio neer cut his way through the sorest to make himself a farm. From the materials in our hands, we might have attempted a general outline of the history of the period we have undertaken to illustrate ; we X might have given a more connected narrative of the frontier events we wished to preserve; and conclude with a general description of border life and border character of the period.

Such attempts have been often made. But they are usually wanting in interest; they fail to give any vivid impressions of what they describe; and very frequently they are only calculated to mislead. We have chosen rather to give our Incidents of Border Life in detached pieces as we sound them. And especially where the adventurers themselves, or those who were their contemporaries, have related the events of their times, we have greatly preferred preserv ing their own stories in their own homely language. Their deeds are best told in their own words. We have scarcely changed a syllable. This the taste of some may condemn, but in our opinion it is one of the chief merits of the work. — To have altered the style of the witnesses would have greatly marred and weakened their evidence.— To have attempted to improve the pictures they have drawn, would only have destroyed their identity ; they would have been no longer, as they now are, perfect representations of border life — scenes of days gone by, fixed, at the time, in enduring colors, by the rude but faithful artists who were witnesses of what they paint with such untutored yet such graphic skill. 9 mm CONTENTS.

FAQJ!.

NEW ENGLAND.— Chap. I.— Discovery of America by Columbus, 13 " II. — Landings of our Forefathers at Plymouth, ----- 18 " III.— Hostilities with the Natives, - 25 VIRGINIA— History of, -------- 62 Braddock's Defeat, - 109 Border Warfare, - - - - ... - 121 PENNSYLVANIA— History of its early settlement, - - - 315 Border Warfare, ------ 318 PERSONAL NARRATIVES.— Of Col. James Smith, - - - 385 Of John M'Cullousrh, Esq.,- -455 Of Richard Bard, Esq., - - 473 " " Of Lieut. Moses Van Campen, - 481 Of Mr. Catliu, - - - 609 ADVENTURES— Of Capt. Samuel Brady, - - - - - 491 Of the Whetzels, ------ 513 Of Col. Daniel Boone, - - - - - 545 " Of Simon Kenton, ------ 573 " Of Gen. Benjamin Logan, - - - 593 " Of May, Johnston, Flinn, and Sidles, - ■ 621 Of Ward, Calvin, and Kenton, - - - - 644 " Of Ward, Baker, and Kenton, - -648 Of Capt William Hubbell, - - - - 649 " Of Alexander M'Connel, - - - - - 654 Of Robert and Samuel M'Afee, - - - - 656 " Of Bryant and Hogan, - 657 Of Mrs. Woods, ------ 659 • Of Davis, Caffree, and M'Clure, - - - 660 " Of Francis Downing, ----- 662 Of Col. Thomas Marshall, - - - - 663 Of Captain James Waard, - 664 " Of The Widow Scraggs, - - - - - 666 Of John Merril, 668 Frontier Men. — Gen. Wavne, Capt. Wells, ----- 533 " " William Kennan, - - - - - - 541 Black Hawk War, --------- 601 The Lost Sister, — Valley of Wyoming, ----- 669 Murder of Miss M'Crea, 673 Incidents, ----------- 675 The Captured Children, - - - - . - - - - 678 The Dead Clearing, --------- 685 The Last Arrow, --------- 691 Indian Parents at their Child's Grave, - - - - - HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA— OF THE LANDING OF OUR FOREFATHERS, AT PLYMOUTH, AND OF THEIR MOST REMARKABLE ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE INDI- ANS IN NEW ENGLAND, FROM THEIR FIRST LANDING, IN 1620, UNTIL THE FINAL SUBJUGATION OF THE NA- TIVES, IN 1679. — By H. Trumbull.— 1812.

CHAPTER L DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS.

Mankind owe the discovery of the Western World to the gold, the silver, the precious stones, the spices, silks, and costly manufactures of the East; and even these incentives were, for a considerable time, insufficient to prompt the undertaking, although the most skillful navigator of the age proffered to risk his life in the attempt. Christopher Columbus, who was destined to the high honor of revealing a new hemisphere to Europeans, was by birth a Genoese, who had been early trained to a seafaring life, and, having acquired every branch of knowledge connected with that profession, was no less distinguished by his skill and abilities, than for his intrepid and persevering spirit. — This man, when about forty years of age, had formed the great idea of reaching the East Indies by sailing westward ; but, as his fortune was very small, and the attempt required very effectual patronage, desirous that his native country should profit by his success, he laid his plan before the Senate of Genoa, but the scheme appearing chimerical, it was rejected. — He then repaired to the Court of Portugal; and although the Portuguese were at that time distinguished for their commercial spirit, and John II., who then reigned, was a discerning and enterprising prince, yet the preposses sions of the great men in his court, to whom the matter was referred, caused Columbus finally to fail in his attempt there also.

He next applied to Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Arragon and Castile, and at the same time sent his brother Bartholomew (who followed the same profession, and who was well qualified to fill the immediate place under such a leader) to England, to lay the proposal before Henry VII., which, likewise, very fortunately for the future well-being of the country, met with no success. — Many were the years which Christopher Columbus spent in ineffectual attendance at the Caslillian court; the impoverished state into which the finan ces of the united kingdoms were reduced, the war with Granada, re pressing every disposition to attempt great designs ; but the war being at length terminated, the powerful mind of Isabella broke through all obstacles; she declared herself the patroness of Colum bus, whilst her husband, Ferdinand, declining to partake as an ad venturer in the voyage, only gave it the sanction of his name.

Thus did the superior genius of a woman effect the discovery of one-half the Globe! The ships sent on this important search were only three in num ber, two of them very small: they had ninety men on board. Al though the expense of the expedition had long remained the sole ob stacle to its being undertaken, yet, when every thing was provided, the cost did not amount to more than $17,760, and there were twelve months provisions put on board. Columbus set sail from port Palos, in the province of Andalusia. on the 3d of August, 1492: he proceeded to the Canary Islands, and from thence directed his course due W. in the latitude of about 28 N. — In this course he continued for two months, without falling in with any land, which caused sucli a spirit of discontent, and mutiny to arise as the superior address and management of the commander became unequal to suppress, although for these qualities he was eminently distinguished. — He was at length reduced to the necessity of entering into a solemn engagement to abandon the enterprise and re turn home, if land did not appear in three days. — Probably he would not have been able to retain his people so long from acts of violence and outrage, in pursuing so untried and dreary a course, had they not been sensible that their safety in returning home depended very much on his skill, as a navigator, in conducting the vessel.

At length the appearance of land changed their despondency to the most exulting rapture. — It was an island abounding with inhabitants. both sexes of which were quite naked; their manners kind, gentle. and unsuspecting. — Columbus named it San Salvador: it is one of the clusters which bears the general name of Bahamia; it was only 3° 30' lat. to the S. of the Island of Gomora, one of the Canaries, from whence he took his departure. This navigator was still so con firmed in the opinion which he had formed before he undertook the voyage, that he believed himself then to be on an island which was adjacent to the Indies. — Proceeding to the S. he saw three other islands, which he named St. Mary of the Conception, Ferdinand and Isabella. — At length he arrived at a very large island, and as he had taken seven of the natives of San Salvador on board, he learned from them it was called Cuba, but he gave it the name of Juanna.— He next proceeded to an island which he called Espagnola, in honor of the kingdom by which he "as employed, and it still bears the name of Hispaniola. — Here he built a fort and formed a small settlement; he then returned home, having on board some of the natives, whom he had taken from the different islands: steering a more southern course, he sell in with some of the Carribee islands, and arrived at the Port of Palos on the 15th of March, 1493; having been seven months and eleven days on this most important voyage.

On his arrival letters patent were issued by the King and Queen, confirming to Columbus and to his heirs all the privileges contained in a capitulation which had been executed before his departure, and his family was ennobled. Not only the Spaniards, but the other nations of Europe, seem to have adopted the opinion of Columbus, in considering the countries which he had discovered as a part of India — whence Ferdinand and Isabella gave them the name "Indies " in the ratification of their former agreement with Columbus. — Even after the error was detect ed, the name was retained, and the appellation of " West Indies" is now given by all Europe to this country, and that of Indians to the inhabitants. Nothing could possibly tend more effectually to rouse every active principle of human nature, than the discoveries which Columbus had made ; no lime was therefore lost, nor expense spared, in preparing a fleet of ships, with which this great man should revisit the countries he had made known. — Seventeen ships were got ready in six months, and fifteen hundred persons embarked on board them, among whom were many of noble families, and who had filled honorable stations. — These engaged in the enterprise from the expectation that the new discovered country was either the Cipango of Marco Paulo, or the Ophir from which Solomon obtained his gold and precious merchandize.