The frontiers were harassed during the
summer months by frequent inroads of the enemy. On the 11th of July [1782], three sons of Mr.
Chambers, of Westmoreland county, were tomahawked and scalped; and on Saturday
afternoon, the 13th of the month, Hanna's-town, the county-town of that county,
was burned by a large party of Indians, and a number of the inhabitants killed
and captured. This place was about
thirty-five miles in the rear of Fort Pitt, on the main road leading to
Philadelphia. "The express,"
wrote Irvine to Moore, on the 16th, "sent by Mr. Hoofnagle, through
timidity and other misconduct, did not arrive here till this moment (Tuesday,
10 o'clock), though he left Hanna's-town Sunday evening; which I fear will put
it out of my power to come up with the enemy, they will have got so far away. However, I have sent several reconnoitering
parties to try to discover whether they have left the settlements, and what
route they have taken."
The people were greatly alarmed. "I fear," continued Irvine in his
letter to Moore, "this stroke will intimidate the inhabitants so much that
it will not be possible to rally them or persuade them to make a stand. Nothing in my power shall be left undone to
countenance and encourage them."
About the I5th of July, a party of seven
Wyandots made an incursion into one of the settlements, some distance below
Fort Pitt, and several miles from the Ohio river. Here, finding an old man alone in a cabin,
they killed him, packed up what "plunder" they could find, and
commenced their retreat.
The news of the visit of the Indians
soon spread through the neighborhood, and a party of eight good riflemen was
collected in a few hours for the purpose of pursuit. Among those assembled were two brothers
—Andrew and Adam Poe. These were both
famous for courage, size, and activity.
The party commenced the pursuit of the
Indians with a determination, if possible, not to suffer them to escape, as
they usually did on such occasions, by making a speedy flight to the river,
crossing it, and then dividing into small parties, to meet at a distant point,
in a given time. The pursuit was
continued the greater part of the night. In the morning, the borderers found themselves
on the trail of the savages, which led to the Ohio. When they had arrived within a little distance
of the river, at a point in what is now Hancock county,West Virginia, about two
miles below the mouth of Yellow creek, a western confluent of the Ohio, Andrew
Poe, fearing an ambuscade, left the party who followed directly on the trail, to
creep along the bank of the stream, under cover of the weeds and bushes, to
fall on the rear of the Indians, should he find them lying in wait.
He had not gone far before he saw some
Indian rafts at the water's edge. Not
seeing any savages, he stepped softly down the bank with his rifle cocked. When about half way down, he discovered two
Indians —one very large, the other small. Both were standing with their guns cocked, and
looking in the direction of the party which was approaching by the trail, and
was some distance down the bottom. Poe
took aim at the big Indian, but his rifle missed fire. The two hearing the snap of the gun, instantly
turned round and discovered their foe, who, being too near to retreat, dropped
his weapon and sprang from the bank upon the savages. He seized the larger one with a powerful grip,
at the same time embracing the neck of the smaller one, and threw them both
upon the ground—all three falling together, but Poe uppermost.
The small Indian soon extricated himself,
ran to the raft, got a tomahawk to dispatch Poe, while the big Indian held the
latter with all his might, the better to enable his companion to effect his
purpose. Poe, however, watched the
motions of the Indian so well, that when in the act of aiming a blow at his
head, by a vigorous and well-directed kick, he staggered the savage, and
knocked the tomahawk out of his hand. This
failure on the part of the smaller Indian was reproved by the larger one with
an exclamation of contempt.
In a moment the Indian caught up his
tomahawk, approached more cautiously, brandishing it, and making a number of
feigned blows, in defiance and derision. Poe, however, still on his guard, averted the
real blow from his head, by throwing up his arm, and receiving it on his wrist.
He was severely wounded, but still able
to use his hand. In this perilous moment, by a violent effort, he broke loose
from the big Indian, snatched up one of the guns of the savages, and shot his
assailant through the breast as he ran up the third time to tomahawk him.
Meanwhile the prostrate Indian got upon
his feet, and now, seizing Poe by the shoulder and leg, threw him, in turn,
upon the ground; but the latter instantly regained his standing; when the
savage again grasped him, and another struggle ensued; which, owing to the
slippery state of the bank, ended in both being precipitated into the river. Each now endeavored to drown the other. Their efforts were continued for some time,
with alternate success—first one being under the water, then the other. Poe, at length, seized his antagonist by the
tuft of hair on 'the scalp, and held his head down until he supposed him
drowned.
Relaxing his hold too soon, Poe found
his gigantic foe ready instantly for another combat. Again they grasped each other; but, in the
contest, they were carried into the water beyond their depth. This compelled each to loose his hold and swim
for life. Each sought the shore, to
seize a gun, and end the strife. The
Indian proved the best swimmer and reached the land first. Poe, seeing this, immediately turned back into
the water to escape being shot, if possible, by diving. Fortunately, the savage caught up the rifle
with which Poe had killed the other warrior!
At this juncture, Adam Poe, missing his
brother from the party, and supposing from the report of the gun, that he was
either killed or engaged in conflict with the Indians, hastened to the spot. On seeing him, Andrew called out to him from
the water to "kill the big Indian." But Adam's gun, like that of the Indian's, was
empty. The contest was now a question of
time only—as to which would load first. The
savage, in using his ramrod, was not as quick as his antagonist. This gave Adam the advantage; and, just as the
Indian was raising his gun, he shot, mortally wounding him.
Adam now jumped into the river to assist
his wounded brother to the shore; but Andrew, thinking more of the honor of
carrying home the scalp of the big Indian as a trophy of victory, than of his
own safety, urged him to go back and prevent the struggling savage from rolling
himself into the stream and escaping. But
Adam's solicitude for the life of his brother prevented him from complying with
his request. The consequence was that
the Indian, although in the agonies of death, succeeded in reaching the water
and getting into the current; so that his scalp was not obtained.
During the conflict, and just as Adam
had arrived at the edge of the bank for the relief of Andrew, one of the party
who had followed close behind him, seeing a person in the river, and supposing
him to be a wounded Indian, shot and wounded him in the shoulder. It was the struggling Andrew who thus received
the second wound; but, from these injuries, he afterward recovered. In the meantime, the remaining Indians had
been overtaken by the borderers, and all but one killed; with the loss,
however, of three of the pursuers—one, a young man by the name of Cherry. The Indian shot by Adam Poe, was a noted chief
of the Wyandots, known as Big Foot. 1
Such was the
nature of the conflict that raged along the Ohio River valley in those
days. It was the intrepidity and courage
of men such as the Poe brothers that secured the western frontier for the
fledgling United States.
Christ, not man, is King!
Dale
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