Border Warfare During the War for Independence

       One aspect of the American War for Independence that often gets overlooked in the popular histories of the time period is the border war between the white settlers and the British-allied Indian tribes.  This short passage excerpted here gives a little insight into the kind of savage warfare that was taking place even after the surrender of Cornwallis, where both sides were employed in the attempted extermination of their opponents.

      The expedition of [Col. David] Williamson to the Muskingum [the massacre of the Moravian Indians at Gnadenhutten, March 8 & 9, 1782] did not allay the excitement upon the frontier; it was now prevailing all along the border.  On the 24th of March, a party of borderers attacked a few friendly Delawares who were living on a small island at the mouth of the Allegheny—known as Smoky or Killbuck's island, since gone—just opposite Fort Pitt.  Several of the Indians were killed, including two who held commissions in the service of the government; the remainder effected their escape into the fort, except two who ran into the woods and succeeded in eluding their pursuers.  Even the life of Colonel [John] Gibson was in jeopardy, who, it was conceived, was a friend to the Indians—so great was the agitation throughout the western country. And it is not to be wondered at— savages were making their way into the settlements; the settlers were threatened, on all sides, with massacres, plunderings, burnings, and captivities. There was alarm and dismay in every quarter.

       The people of the border were forced into forts which dotted the country in every direction. These were in the highest degree uncomfortable.  They consisted of cabins, block-houses, and stockades. In some places, where the exposure was not great, a single blockhouse, with a cabin outside, constituted the whole fort.  For a space around, the forest was usually cleared away, so that an enemy could neither find a lurking place nor conceal his approach.

       Near these forts the borderers worked their fields in parties guarded by sentinels. Their necessary labors, therefore, were performed with every danger and difficulty imaginable.  Their work had to be carried on with their arms and all things belonging to their war-dress deposited in some central place in the field.  Sentinels were stationed on the outside of the fence; so that, on the least alarm, the whole company repaired to their arms, and were ready for the combat in a moment.

       It is not surprising that there was a deep and widespread feeling of revenge against the hostile and marauding savages.  The horrid scenes of slaughter which frequently met the view were well calculated to arouse such passions.  Helpless infancy, virgin beauty, and hoary age, dishonored by the ghastly wounds of the tomahawk and scalping-knife, were common sights.  When the slain were the friends or relatives of the beholder—wife, sister, child, father, mother, brother— it is not at all a wonder that pale and quivering lips should mutter revenge.

       From Pittsburg south, including the valleys of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny, and the territory west of these to the Ohio, was a scope of country having, at this time, a considerable population; nevertheless, there were few families who had lived therein any considerable length of time that had not lost some of their number by the merciless Indians.  ¹

Christ, not man, is King!

Dale

1)      C.W. Butterfield, An Historical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky (Cincinnati, OH: Robert Clarke & Co., 1873), p. 38-41.