Anticipating the commencement of
hostilities at an earlier period of the season, than usual, several families
retired into [Thomas] Harbert's block-house, on Ten Mile (a branch of the West
Fork,)[in modern day Harrison County, WV] in the month of February [1778]. And notwithstanding the prudent caution manifested
by them in the step thus taken; yet, the state of the weather lulling them into
false security, they did not afterwards exercise the vigilance and provident
care, which were necessary to ensure their future safety. On the third of March, some children, playing
with a crippled crow, at a short distance from the yard, espied a number of
Indians proceeding towards them; and running briskly to the house, told "that
a number of red men were close by."
John Murphey stepped to the door to see if danger had really approached,
when one of the Indians, turning the corner of the house, fired at him. The ball took effect, and Murphey fell back
into the house. The Indian springing
directly in, was grappled by Harbert, and thrown on the floor. A shot from without, wounded Harbert, yet he
continued to maintain his advantage over the prostrate savage, striking him as
effectually as he could with his tomahawk, when another gun was fired at him
from without the house. The ball passed
through his head, and he fell lifeless. His antagonist then slipped out at the door,
sorely wounded in the encounter.
Just after the first Indian had
entered, an active young warrior, holding in his hand a tomahawk with a long
spike at the end, also came in. Edward
Cunningham instantly drew up his gun to shoot him; but it flashed, and they
closed in doubtful strife. Both were active and athletic; and sensible of the
high prize for which they were contending, each put forth his utmost strength,
and strained his every nerve, to gain the ascendency. For a while, the issue seemed doubtful. At length, by great exertion, Cunningham
wrenched the tomahawk from the hand of the Indian, and buried the spike end to
the handle, in his back. Mrs. Cunningham
closed the contest. Seeing her husband
struggling closely with the savage, she struck at him with an axe. The edge wounding his face severely, he
loosened his hold, and made his way out of the house.
The third Indian, which had entered
before the door was closed, presented an appearance almost as frightful as the
object which he had in view. He wore a
cap made of the unshorn front of a buffalo, with the ears and horns still
attached to it, and which hanging loosely about his head, gave to him a most
hideous aspect. On entering the room,
this infernal monster, aimed a blow with his tomahawk at a Miss Reece, which
alighting on her head, wounded her severely. The mother of this girl, seeing the uplifted
arm about to descend on her daughter, seized the monster by the horns; but his
false head coming readily off, she did not succeed in changing the direction of
the weapon. The father then caught hold
of him; but far inferior in strength and agility, he was soon thrown on the
floor, and must have been killed, but for the timely interference of
Cunningham. Having succeeded in ridding
the room of one Indian, he wheeled, and sunk a tomahawk into the head of the
other.
During all this time the door was
kept by the women, tho' not without great exertion. The Indians from without endeavored several
times to force it open and gain admittance; and would at one time have
succeeded, but that, as it was yielding to their effort to open it, the Indian,
who had been wounded by Cunningham and his wife, squeezing out at the aperture
which had been made, caused a momentary relaxation of the exertions of those
without, and enabled the women again to close it, and prevent the entrance of
others. These were not however,
unemployed. They were engaged in
securing such of the children in the yard, as were capable of being carried
away as prisoners, and in killing and scalping the others; and when they had effected
this, despairing of being able to do farther mischief, they retreated to their
towns.
Of the whites in the house, one
only was killed and four were wounded; and seven or eight children in the yard,
were killed or taken prisoners. One
Indian was killed, and two badly wounded. Had Reece engaged sooner in the conflict, the
other two who had entered the house, would no doubt have been likewise killed;
but being a quaker, he looked on, without participating in the conflict, until
his daughter was wounded. Having then to
contend singly, with superior prowess, he was indebted for the preservation of
his life, to the assistance of those whom he refused to aid in pressing need.
On the eleventh of April, some
Indians visited the house of Wm. Morgan, at the Dunkard bottom of Cheat river. They there killed a young man by the name of
Brain, Mrs. Morgan, (the mother of William) and her grand daughter, and Mrs.
Dillon and her two children; and took Mrs. Morgan (the wife) and her child
prisoners. When, on their way home, they
came near to Pricket's fort, they bound Mrs. Morgan to a bush, and went in
quest of a horse for her to ride, leaving her child with her. She succeeded in untying with her teeth, the
bands which confined her, and wandered the balance of that day and part of the
next before she came in sight of the fort. Here she was kindly treated and in a few days
sent home. Some men going out from
Pricket's fort some short time after, found at the spot where Mrs. Morgan had been
left by the Indians, a fine mare stabbed to the heart. Exasperated at the escape of Mrs. Morgan,
they had no doubt vented their rage on the animal which they had destined to bear
her weight. 1
Two things really struck me upon reading this story. The first was the failure of Reece to do his duty as husband, father and neighbor in aiding in the defense of his friends and family. Reacting only after his wife took the initiative, his resistance was too late and too futile. The religion that teaches a man to stand idly by as his friends and family are being murdered is not a Gospel religion! Such was not the admonition of Nehemiah (Neh. 4:14). The other thing that struck me was the wasteful slaughter of the mare by the Indians because that seems to be contradictory to what modern scholars teach us about the eco-friendly Native American. Wither's assumption is that they killed the animal out of rage, but there may have been another reason. Perhaps the horse would have been an encumbrance to the Indians or would have aided the whites in tracking their party. If that were the case the natives could have simply left the horse there, so this seems to lend credence to Wither's speculation. In any case, this is just another example that helps to dispel the modern myth that the native tribes venerated animal life and were never wasteful in their use of it.
Christ, not man, is King!
Dale
1) Alexander Scott
Withers, Chronicles of Border Warfare (Cincinnati, OH: Stewart & Kidd
Company, 1912), p. 238-40.
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