DESTRUCTION OF RUDDLE'S AND
MARTIN'S FORTS
IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
By MAUDE WARD LAFFERTY
From The Register of the Kentucky
Historical Society,
Vol. 54, October, 1956, No. 189
One of the outstanding events of the
Revolutionary War in the West was the invasion of Kentucky by the
British officer, Captain Henry Bird, of the Eighth Regiment of his
Majesty's forces, and the destruction of Ruddle's and Martin's Forts.
Coming in the summer of 1780 with an army of more than a thousand
British regulars, [1] Canadian volunteers,
Indians and Tories, and bringing the first cannon ever used against the
log forts of the wilderness, he captured 470 men, women and children,[2]
loaded them down with the plunder from their own cabin homes and drove
them on foot from Central Kentucky to Detroit, a distance of 600 miles.
There they were divided among their captors and some of them were taken
800 miles farther to Mackinac and to Montreal.[3]
The story of their capture, of the separation of families, of the
hardships endured during the six-weeks journey and of the conditions
under which they lived during the fourteen years of their captivity is
one of the most shocking in the pioneer period of Kentucky's history.
The invasion was planned by British
officers at Detroit, their object being not only to exterminate the
pioneer forts, but to force our western frontier back to the Alleghany
Mountains, thus bringing out in bold relief the policy of Great Britain
in the Revolutionary War-to prevent the westward growth of the American
Colonies.[4]
In executing their plan they waged the
War of the American Revolution on Kentucky soil, for they came under the
command of a British officer flying the British flag, demanding
surrender in the name of his Britannic Majesty, King George III, and
made official report of the expedition to Sir Frederick Haldimand,[5]
the British Lieutenant General, who was then Governor of Canada.[6]
THE STAGE SETTING
In order to understand the tragedy
enacted in the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky that lovely June day, it
will be necessary to go back across the years and set the stage
providing the background. It was a land of running waters, of groves and
glades and canebrakes and of primeval forests of stately trees so
closely grown a man could walk for days without stepping from under the
shade. It was a land teeming with wild game, where the lordly elk roamed
at will and the gentle deer found seclusion, where the panther, the wolf
and the boar prowled undisturbed and where the shaggy-maned buffalo and
his mammoth predecessors had beaten down the earth in moving from salt
lick to salt lick into traces over which the settlers came into the
coveted country. Birds of bright plumage flitted from tree to tree,
flocks of wild geese and wild turkeys abounded and the land was
knee-deep in bluegrass and wild clover.[7]
The beauty of the country was
described by wandering fur traders who had ventured into the hinterland
to trade with the Indians The colonists along the eastern shore heard
their story and became literally obsessed with a desire to find a way
over the seemingly impassable mountain wall of the Alleghenies and
secure homes in this "second paradise," as Boone called it. As
soon as the way through Cumberland Gap was made known, they came in what
seemed to be an endless procession, bringing their wives, their
children, their slaves, their live stock and all their worldly goods.
They came over the Wilderness Road on
foot and on pack horses, the women riding and carrying their babies, the
small children packed amidst the bedding in crates of hickory withes,
swung pander-fashion across the backs of gentle horses. The older boys
drove the live stock ahead, while the men with rifles ready kept
vigilant eyes out for the redskins. There were long, weary days of
travel, long, anxious nights of watching while the exhausted faltered
leaving unnamed graves by the side of the trail. Many gave up the
difficult journey and settled in the secure valleys of the mountains,
but the hardy ones pushed on to the rich lands of Central Kentucky.
There they built strong wooden forts, pre-empted their lands, cleared
the forests, planted crops and established their homes.
THE RIVER ROUTE
Many of the Kentucky settlers came by
the river route,[8] which was far, more
dangerous than the Wilderness Road. No pen can picture a more pitiable
plight than that of a cargo of immigrants on a rude drifting craft,
helpless on the bosom of the Ohio wider the murderous fire of Indians
along the banks. Yet so many came that it almost seemed an endless
procession.
The boats were built at Redstone by
tens of thousands for the journey down the Ohio. They were a mixture of
log cabin, fort, barnyard and country grocery into which were jumbled
men, women, children, horses, pigs, chickens, cows, dogs, powder,
dishes, furniture, provisions and farm implements. As they drifted into
the darkness their loopholes often spurted jets of rifle fire, while the
women loaded the hot rifles of the men in the flickering light of pine
knots held by the silent, frightened children.
The Kentucky flatboat, floating with
the current and steered by a big sweep, was literally "the boat
that never came back." The fact that it could not go upstream was
taken into consideration in its construction, the materials being so cut
that upon arriving at its destination the boat could be broken up and
used to build a home. There were flatboat houses in many of the river
towns, especially in Cincinnati where the first school was taught in a
flatboat house. One such house marked by a D.A.R. chapter still stands
near Maysville, Kentucky, the Limestone of pioneer days.
FORTS
The forts were built usually in the
form of a parallelogram, their site determined by the location of a good
spring. Trees were chopped down and the logs neatly picketed and set
close together in a trench which had been dug the shape and size
desired. When these logs were rammed together, they made a solid wall
from nine to twelve feet high, impervious to rifle fire and arrows used
by the Indians, but not to cannon. The block houses or bastions, built
at each of the four corners, extended over the lower story about
eighteen inches so that no enemy could make lodgement under the walls
without risk of enfilading fire.
The log cabins were built along the
walls of the fort and had clapboard roofs, slab doors hung with deer
thongs and windows covered with oiled paper. All of the cabins opened
into the enclosure. Not a nail nor a scrap of iron was used in their
construction.
The beds in the primitive cabins were
constructed by forcing forked sticks into the floor, running poles
through the forks into the log walls and stretching buffalo skins
tightly over the frame work. Bedding consisted of homespun sheets and
blankets and beautifully-pieced quilts and "kivers" or
coverlets. In very cold weather bear skins or elk skins were added for
warmth. The floor coverings were also of skins of wild animals Cooking
was done at the open fireplaces with spits, pothooks and kettles. The
tables were made of slabs of wood into which pegs were driven for legs.
Noggins, piggies and bowls were neatly turned, and pewter plates and
horn spoons were reserved for grand occasions.[9]
THE DRESS OF THE PIONEER
As a matter of convenience the men
adopted a variation of the Indian dress, a hunting shirt hanging loose
and reaching half way down the thighs. It was open anti overlapping in
front with a most unsanitary wallet or pocket in the bosom in which were
kept a piece of jerked meat, a chunk of bread and tow for wiping the
rifle barrel. The hunting shirt was sometimes made of deer skin, but as
that was cold and uncomfortable in wet weather, it was more frequently
made of linsey-woolsey, a homespun material of flax nod wool. Leggings,
covering the legs to the thighs, were fastened by strings to the belt
which also held the bullet pouch, the tomahawk and the scalping knife.
The breech clout was a piece of linen or cloth, about a yard long and
nine inches wide which passed under the belt front and back, the ends
sometimes embroidered, hanging down before and behind. The feet were
shod in moccasins of dressed deer skin made of a single piece with a
gathering seam along the top of the foot and another from the bottom of
the heel as high as the ankle joint, without gathers. Flaps were left on
each side reaching some distance up the leg and were adjusted by, deer
thongs. In cold weather the moccasins were stuffed with deer hair or
dried leaves to keep the feet warm, a poor protection, however, for many
a brave pioneer suffered torture from "scald feet." The
costume was completed by a coon-skin cap, the tail dangling down behind.
The women's clothing figured little in
pioneer history. The linsey-woolsey petticoat and bed gown are
mentioned, the bodice, the homespun kerchief at the neck and sunbonnets
"of six or seven hundred linen." Some wore shoe packs instead
of moccasins. The children wore diminutive models of the adult dress.[10]
LIFE IN THE FORTS
In these forts friends found friends
neighbors sought former neighbors, kith and kin banded (together in
pre-empting lauds and building homes, and during the intermittent
periods of peace when Indians were not on the warpath, there was
visiting from fort to fort. Love affairs developed, for knights were
bold and ladies fair, and itinerant preachers had many knots to tie. The
young people reared large families, and life within the forts was unique
in the history of the nation.
The duties of the household were
discharged by the women. They milked the cows, prepared the food, spun
and wove material for garments, household linens, "kivers" and
rag carpets. They made the winter coat of the buffalo into a coarse,
warm cloth. and discovered that the lint of the wild nettle could be
made to take the place of flax. By combining it with the buffalo wool,
they made a good substitute for that made by combining sheep's wool and
flax. When their resourcefulness led them to experiment with dyes, they
found that inner bark of the white walnut produces dull yellows; black
walnut, dark; browns; indigo, blues; madder, dingy reds, hickory bark;
yellows; sumac berries, deep reds; oak, purple; cedar berries, dove or
lead color. They made their ink of oak bark mixed with cypress. When war
was the order of the day, they ran the bullets and necked them or took
their own portholes for the defense of the forts, many of them being
expert with the rifle. Boys who had attained the age of twelve were
given their portholes also and were expected to defend them in time of
attack. The men cleared the forests, planted the crops, built the forts
and cabins, hunted the game and constantly watched for the savages.
But there were better times when the
Indians were not on the warpath. The restless forters sought excitement
in sugarings, huskings, quiltings, log-rollings, house-warmings and in
dancing the three- and four-handed jigs and Irish trots. If, perchance a
fiddler found his way into the wilderness, there were gala nights when
young folks reveled in the mazes of the Virginia Reel.
Although they held horse races from
the very beginning, the pioneers were in a little while practicing
Christians, too, as the respites from the Indian raids increased
allowing the settlers a higher degree of civilization.[11]
Their homes were often established far
afort, from which they ventured gun in hand to build their cabins, clear
the forests and till the soil. When danger threatened, a messenger was
sent from farm to farm at risk of his life to warn the settlers to
gather their families and necessities together. Not then daring to light
a candle or stir a fire, noiselessly, they crept through the
savage-infested woodland to the sheltering fort. Even the dog of the
pioneer was trained to silence lest his bark betray his master's
whereabouts to the wily Indians.
Such was the life and such were the
inhabitants of Ruddle's and Martin's Forts.
HINKSON'S SETTLEMENT
Hinkson's Settlement, later known as
Ruddle's Fort, was built one month prior to the Battle of Lexington by
Captain John Hinkson and his company of fifteen men.
Captain Hinkson's company was composed
of:[12]
Captain John Hinkson
- John Martin
- Pat Callihan
- George Gray
- Silas Train
- John Townsend
- William Hoskins
- John Woods
- John Cooper
- Dan Callihan
- William Shields
- John Haggin
- Matthew Fenton
- Thomas Shores
- Samuel Wilson
Hinkson's Company came down the Ohio
and up the Licking River in canoes as far as the forks where Falmouth is
now. There they tarried a few days, then proceeded up the Licking to the
Blue Licks and came over the Buffalo Trace to the point they selected
for their future homes, one of the most beautiful spots in all Kentucky.[13]
They immediately took for themselves
land and built fifteen cabins, named for members of their company. John
Townsend on Townsend Creek, and John Cooper on Cooper's Run, raised corn
in 1775 in sufficient quantities to furnish seed for the 1776 harvest.[14]
MARTIN'S FORT
About four miles away on Stoner Creek,
John Martin built his cabin in 1775 which became a fortified station
about 1779. He brought his family from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, down the
Ohio to Limestone and with other families settled first at Hinkson's
Settlement. then at his own station on Stoner Creek in Bourbon County
where the Buffalo Trace crosses the creek.[15]
HAGGIN'S BLOCKHOUSE
Captain John Haggin built his blockhouse a short distance from Captain
Hinkson's settlement at the place where Paddy's Run empties into the
Licking River.[16]
Haggin's like Martin's, was small and
depended on the larger settlement at Captain Hinkson's in time of
danger.
Captain Hinkson's original fifteen
cabins increased in number, and a thriving community had developed about
his fort when a sharp Indian attack found him short of ammunition and
obliged to surrender. After traveling a short distance with his captors,
Captain Hinkson made his escape, but his little fort was abandoned July,
1776. Some of his people took refuge in McClelland's Fort,[17]
now Georgetown, while others left the country.[18]
For three years there was no sign of
life at Captain Hinkson's settlement. Then in 1779 Captain Isaac Ruddle
arrived at the abandoned fort and established there what is known in
history as Ruddle's Fort.
RUDDLE'S FORT
Captain Ruddle, who came from the
Shenandoah Valley, was one of Kentucky's earliest settlers. While
General Clark was conquering the Northwest, he lived on Corn Island and
later at Logan's Fort[19] near what is now
Stanford, Kentucky. In 1779 he established his own settlement at
Ruddle's on Hinkson Creek in what is now Bourbon County.
Ruddle's wife, Elizabeth, came of
heroic stock, being a sister of Colonel John Bowman, first Military
Governor of Kentucky County, Virginia, and granddaughter of Jost Hite,
one of the historic characters of the Shenandoah Valley.
As the Revolutionary War progressed,
the Indians, incited by the British, traveled in war parties and
committed depradations on isolated settlements such as Ruddle's Mills.
Ruddle, therefore, decided for the safety of his own family and those
that had gathered about him to move into Hinkson's deserted fort on the
Licking River. He added to and fortified it, making it one of the
largest and strongest in the Kentucky wilderness capable of
accommodating from two to three hundred people.[20]
His garrison was composed of forty-nine men as follows:
- Isaac Ruddle, Captain
- John Haggin, Lieutenant
- John Mather, Ensign
- Joseph Isaacs, Quartermaster
- John Waters, Sergeant
- John Cloyd, Drummer
- Andrew Baker
- Edward Low
- Henry Loyl
- George Loyl
- Peter Loyl
- Thomas Machen
- Charles Munger, Sr.
- Andrew Bartell
- George Bronker
- Ruben Boughner
- John Burger, Sr.
- Lconard Croft
- David Erdman
- George Baker
- John Bird
- Casper Brown
- John Burger, Jr.
- Peter Call
- William Delinger
- Thomas Emory
- Paul Fisher
- John Hulton
- James Ruddle
- John
Smith, Sr.
- Martin Tuffleman
- Andrew Pirtenbustle
- Henry Pirtenbustle
- Len Pirtenbustle
- H. Pirtenbustle, Jr.
- Peter Rough
- Stephen Ruddle
- Patrick Ryan
- William Scott
- John Smith, Jr.
- Frederick Tanner
- Moses Waters
- Jacob Leach, Sr.
- William Marshall
- George Hatfall
- William Munger, Jr.
- George Ruddle
- William Sandidge
- James Stewart
THE SPRING OF 1780
The land owners living near Ruddle's
and Martin's Stations pre-empted lands for miles around, farming during
intervals of peace and taking refuge within the forts when the Indians
were on the warpath.[21] In the immediate
neighborhood were Samuel McMillain, John Miller, Alex Pollock, Samuel
Nesbitt, William McFall, Captain Asa Reese and E. E. Williams; Pat and
Dan Callahan, who lived two miles from Ruddle's; Andrew Linn on Hinkson
Creek; James Sodowsky and John Shelp on the Middle Fork of Licking;
William Field at the mouth of Stone Creek; William Gillispie on Boone's
Creek; John Cooper on Cooper's Run and Michael Stoner[22]
on Stoner's Creek.
The spring following the hard winter
of 1779 was unusually fine, and the inhabitants of Martin's and Ruddle's
Stations saw their cattle grow fat on the luscious bluegrass and the
rich soil give promise of bounteous crops. Everywhere there was an
atmosphere of peace and prosperity and general well-being, and they went
hopefully about their spring work with no premonition of the tragedy
that awaited them unaware that a formidable force was being collected at
Detroit for the invasion of Kentucky to counteract Clark's success in
the West.[23]
Major A. S. DePeyster,[24]
who replaced Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton[25]
when he was captured by Clark, ordered the invading force to march under
the command of Captain Bird. Bird at once began preparations by
assembling an army of 150 British, Tories and Canadians and several
hundred Indians whose numbers were increased as they advanced southward
until they finally totaled between 1,000 and 1,200 men.[26]
The attackers were equipped with sailing vessels, bateaux, and birch
canoes in which they were floated down the Detroit River, across Lake
Erie to the Maumee, up that river to the Great Miami, down the Great
Miami to the Ohio and from there to the Licking on which they ascended
to Ruddle's Station.[27]
BRITISH AND CANADIANS IN BIRD'S
EXPEDITION TO KENTUCKY
The names of the British and Canadians
who participated in the expedition of Captain Bird against Ruddle's and
Martin's Forts are listed in an old ledger in the Burton Collection at
Detroit.[28] The list of those who served
from March 24 to May 24, 1780 contains eighty-six names and a payroll of
1165 pounds, 10 shillings and 8 1/2 pence. The list of those who served
from May 25 to August 4, a term of seventy-two days, contains the names
of fifty-eight and a payroll of 1079 pounds, 12 sllillings and 3 1/4
pence. The payrolls did not include all the cost of provisions and
equipment. At the head of the militia muster were Captain Louis
Jonclaire Chabert, Lieutenant Jonathan Scheiffeling,[29]
Sergeants Francis Babault, Antoine Charon, William Gregg and James
McAlphie, and Corporals Joseph Carrier, Joseph Touillier and Joseph
Rough.
Captain Bird in his letter to Major
DePeyster adds the names of Monsieur LeDuc who made himself useful
"mending shafts and repairing carriages," Mr. Reynolds,
"an excellent woodsman," and Duperon Baby who was one of the
most influential of the French residents in Detroit.[30]
The Tories of the expedition included
Matthew Elliott,[31] Alexander McKee[32]
whose lands were escheated by Virginia for the benefit of Transylvania
Seminary in 1783 and the two hated renegades, Simon and George Girty,[33]
who frequently led the Indians in attacks on Kentucky settlers.
Finding it difficult to secure enough
pack animals to transport his supplies, Captain Bird ordered Captain
Alexander McKee, the Loyalist, to gather them for him. His letters
indicate that the Indians were willing to do their part but were slow
and inclined to act according to their own custom rather than according
to his orders. He expressed anxiety lest certain persons who had escaped
might carry a warning to the Falls and spoil the surprise he was
planning for the Kentuckians. In his letter to DePeyster, dated May 21,
1789, he says:[34]
I have the pleasure to inform you
that everything is six leagues below the portage, where the perrogues
are making, they are not yet finished, therefore nothing on our part
retards.
At the portage for some unaccountable
reason, Bird took two weeks to transport his army and supplies from the
Auglaise River to the Big Miami, a distance not exceeding twenty miles.
his plans were set forth in a letter to Major DePeyster, dated June 3,
1780, the principal portion of which is shown below:[35]
The Prisoners who were sent off by
the Hurons, or rather by Zeans, with their silent consent arrived some
time ago at the Falls, with Intelligence of our approach, they went
off to Col. Clarke to return immediately. He will not be able to join
the Rebels assembling at the Falls-before the 15th of this month-He
has certainly 200 Soldiers with him.
By what we can learn they are
gathering as many as possible at the Falls to meet us-but there is
much division amongst them.
I went to Capt. McKee ;and told him,
I could wish he would attempt to biass the Indians as far as proper to
proceed immediately to the Falls-I stated my reasons as follows-
It is possible before Col. Clark's
arrival, they may raise 800 men, probably they may raise 600 certain
they can raise 400.
Col. Clarke's arrival will add
considerably to their numbers, and to their confidence. Therefore the
Rebels should be attacked before the arrival, now it is possible he
may return by the 14th probable by the 22nd certain by the 1st of
July.
Tho possible for us to get to the
Falls by the 10th of this month, certain by the 14th. The Indians have
their full spirits, the ammunition and every thing plenty, and in the
state we could wish it. After taking the Falls the Country on our
return, will be submissive & in a manner subdued, but if we attack
the nearer Forts first, as we advance we shall have continual
desertion of Indians, the ammunition wasted, or expended, and our
People far from fresh, our Difficulties will increase as we advance
& Col. Clarke will he at the Falls with all his People collected
to fight US at the close.
I have another reason for attacking
the Falls, should he succeed, we can ambuscade Mr. Clarke as he
returns.
Captain McKee thinks my reasons
just, if this plan is not followed, it will be owing to the Indians
who may adopt theirs.
THE ATTACK AS DESCRIBED IN BRADFORD'S
NOTES
John Bradford's Notes 8 and 9,
published in the Kentucky Gazette October 13 and October 20, 1826,
presents a thrilling account of the attack based on contemporary pioneer
statements.[36]
- BRADFORD'S .NOTES No. 8
- Kentucky Gazette, Oct. 13, 1826
After Clark had established Fort
Jefferson, he went to Coho and to St. Louis- the latter place attacked
by an invading army from Michilimackimack; while at Coho French
deserters came in and gave him the information of the intended
expedition against Kentucky under the command of Colonel Byrd from
Detroit. He sent three or four hundred men up the Illinois and to Rock
River, who destroyed several towns.
Soon after receiving intelligence of
Byrd's intentions General Clark, Major Harlan and Captain Consola,
with a few others, set out from St. Louis for Fort Jefferson and sent
fifty men up to Louisville with ammunition for the purpose of carrying
an expedition into the enemy's country and if possible, intercept Byrd
on his march for Kentucky.
From Fort Jefferson, Clark, Harlan
and Consola set off on foot for Harrodsburg in Kentucky. It was a
remarkably wet season, all the rivers were very full, so that they
were obliged to make rafts to cross both the Tennessee and Cumberland
Rivers, the smaller rivers, they swam. A short distance from the
Tennessee River they were discovered by a party of Indians and pursued
and very narrowly escaped, the Indians having crossed the Tennessee
above them and waited to meet them on their landing; but fortunately
they discovered the Indians in time to make their landing below the
mouth of a wide deep creek. and immediately on landing were out of
sight; not long after leaving the Tennessee they came across a bear,
and being almost out of provisions, they killed it, but did not wait
to skin it, but cut off eacha piece with the skin on and pushed on
until night, when they found a sinkhole in which they made a fire and
cooked and slept until morning. They crossed the Cumberland River not
far below Nashville, and fell into the path from there to Kentucky,
and arrived at Wilson's Station near Harrodsburg about one hour before
the express. which brought the news that Ruddle's and Martin's
Stations were taken. The plan of this expedition was laid by the
British at Detroit, and with the aid of the northern tribes of Indians
calculated on breaking up the settlements in Kentucky and bringing the
whole country under their control to effect this project, the whole
Indian force under the influence of the British were collected with
Simon Girty and McKee, and joined by Colonel Byrd with some British
regulars and Canadian volunteers; and besides small arms were provided
with six pieces of artillery.
The original design of this
expedition was first to have gone to Louisville and taken that, and
establish their headquarters at that place, but on their approach to
the Ohio, received information that the waters of Licking River, were
sufficiently high to admit their boats to ascend that river, and from
the unwillingness of the Indians to come in contact with a place where
there was a cannon,[37] the project was
changed.
The first intimation the people of
Kentucky received of this meditated attack was from Major A. Chapline[38]
who was taken prisoner by the Indians when Captain Rogers was killed
in an attempt to ascend the Ohio the preceding fall, as has been
noticed. Upon receiving information of the meditated attack on
Kentucky, Major Chapline determined to appraise his country of their
danger or perish in the attempt; he therefore made his escape and
safely arrived at Harrodsburg, early in the month of May, and gave the
information.
Immediately on the arrival of Major
Chapline, the information he gave was sent to every station in the
country and consultations were held to devise the best mode to defeat
them. From the best calculations that could be made, it was considered
impossible that they could arrive with such an army earlier shall the
last of July or first of August, and all arrangements for defense were
made according to that calculation; nor was that opinion changed until
about the first of June, when a party of twenty-five men attempted to
cross the Kentucky River at the ford below Frankfort on their way from
Bryan's Station to Louisville, to purchase corn. As this party
descended the bank, they were fired upon by a party of Indians with
muskets charged with ball and buckshot. These were arms not generally
used by Indians; it was therefore immediately conjectured that it was
an advance party of the army that was expected.
This silver medal was later
found near the site of Ruddle's Fort. It shows the effigy of the
British lion on one side, and on the other side, King George
III.[39]
BRADFORD'S NOTES No.9 Kentucky
Gazette, Oct. 20, 1826
It has already been noticed that the
summer of 1780 was exceedingly wet, and that all the water courses
were full. This circumstance induced Colonel Byrd to change his
original purpose of attacking Louisville first. He therefore decided
to ascend Licking River into the heart of the country, by which means
he would be enabled to take with him his artillery to Ruddle's
Station, and would easily take it by land from Ruddle's to Martin's
and Bryan's and Lexington, the ground being level and the roads easily
made passable. Colonel Byrd landed his artillery, stores and baggage
on the point at the forks of Licking, where he put up some huts to
shelter them from the weather; and from there marched at the head of
1,000 men. In consequence of the extreme wetness of the weather which
had continued for many days, the men at Ruddle's and Martin's Stations
who were accustomed to be in the woods, had all come in, therefore
Byrd taking advantage of that circumstance, arrived within gunshot of
the fort, undiscovered, and the first information the people received
of the approach of an enemy was the report from a discharge of one of
the field pieces. Byrd sent in a flag and demanded surrender at
discretion, to which demand Captain Ruddle answered that he could not
consent to surrender, but on certain conditions, one of which was that
the prisoners should be under the protection of the British and not
suffered to be prisoners of the Indians; to these terms Colonel Byrd
consented, and immediately the gates were opened to him. No sooner
were the gates opened than the Indians rushed into the station and
each seized the first person they could lay their hands on and claimed
them as their own prisoner. In this way the members of every family
were separated from each other, the husband from the wife, and the
parents from their children. The piercing screams of the children,
when torn from their mothers, the distracted throes of the mothers
when forced from their tender offspring, are indescribable. Ruddle
remonstrated with Colonel Byrd against this barbarous conduct of the
Indians, but to no effect. He confessed that it was out of his power
to restrain them, their numbers being so much greater than that of the
troops over which he had control; that he himself was completely in
their power.
After the people were entirely
stripped of all their property and the prisoners divided among the
captors, the Indians proposed to Colonel Byrd to march to and take
Martin's Station which was about five miles from Ruddle's: but Colonel
Byrd was so affected by the conduct of the Indians to the prisoners
taken, that he peremptorily refused unless the chiefs would pledge
themselves on behalf of the Indians that all the prisoners taken
should be entirely under his control, and that the Indians should only
be entitled to the plunder. Upon these propositions being agreed to by
the chiefs, the army marched to Martin's Station and took it without
opposition. The Indians divided the spoil among themselves, and
Colonel Byrd took charge of the prisoners.
The ease with which these two
stations were taken so animated the Indians that they pressed Colonel
Byrd to go forward and assist them to take Bryan's Station and
Lexington. Byrd declined going and urged as a reason the improbability
of success: and besides the impossibility of procuring provisions to
support the prisoners they already had, also the impracticability of
transporting their artillery by land to any part of the Ohio River,
therefore the necessity of descending Licking before the waters fell,
which might be expected to take place in a few days.
Immediately after it was decided not
to go forward to Bryan's Station, the army commenced their retreat to
the forks of Licking, where they had left their boats, and with all
possible dispatch got their artillery and military stores on board and
moved off. At this place the Indians separated from Byrd and took with
them the whole of the prisoners taken at Ruddle's Station.
The Indians not only collected all
the horses belonging to Ruddle's and Martin's Station, but a great
many from Bryan's and Lexington, and with their booty crossed the Ohio
River near the mouth of Licking, and there dispersed. The British
descended Licking River to the Ohio, down the Ohio to the mouth of Big
Miami, and up the Miami as far as it was navigable for their boats,
where they hid their artillery and marched by land to Detroit. The
rains fell so low that they were able to ascend the Miami but a short
distance by water.
The route of Bird's march from the
mouth of Licking to Ruddle's and Martin's Forts is clearly outlined on On
a map "Filson's Map of Kentucky.
THE ATTACK ON RUDDLE'S FORT AS
DESCRIBED BY CONTEMPORARIES
Alexander McKee, the noted Tory, in a
letter to Major DePeyster, dated July 8, 1780,[40]
says that he advanced with 200 Indians to surround the fort before
daylight, but remained concealed until the main body arrived with
cannon. The firing continued from daybreak; until noon. Captain Bird
came up with a small gun and had two charges fired at the fort At the
same time a six pounder was summoned. This determined the majority in
Ruddle's Fort to capitulate.
Governor Jeremiah Morrow of Ohio later
said that "the picketts were cut down like cornstalks," and
"twenty persons were tomahawked in cold blood."[41]
The articles of capitulation were
written by James Trabue, Deputy Surveyor under John May, who arrived at
the fort the night before the disaster. His brother, Daniel Trabue, in
an interview with Lyman Draper,[42] said that
Bird sent in a flag demanding surrender, and that the cannon was only
fired twice, knocking a log in about six inches. James Trabue and
Captain Hinkson, according to Trabue, wanted to defend the fort, but
Ruddle and the majority were for capitulation. The flag was sent back
and forth several times.
By the terms of surrender Bird agreed
that the women and children should be protected and taken to the nearest
station and there safely delivered. The men were to be prisoners with
the privilege of taking their rifles and such articles as they pleased.
CLARK'S RETALIATION AS SEEN IN
SECTIONS 8 & 9 OF BRADFORD'S NOTES[43]
The information of taking Ruddle's
and Martin's Stations entirely changed the project that had been
conceived of intercepting the army on its way to Louisville, where
Major Chapline informed, was the place on which they designed to make
their first attack. General Clark therefore recommended that the whole
force that could possibly be raised should pursue the Indians to their
towns and destroy all their provisions at least. This proposition was
unanimously agreed to by all the officers of the Militia, and as there
were a considerable number of men on a visit to the country, immediate
orders were given to enroll every man and to prevent any from leaving
the country. An officer with a sufficient force was stationed at Crab
Orchard, the only outlet from the settled parts, with orders to stop
all who attempted to leave the Country, and if they refused to return
and join the expedition, to take from them their arms and ammunition.
The great panic occasioned
throughout Kentucky by the taking of Ruddle's and Martin's Stations
caused the people to look up to General Clark as their only hope. His
counsel and advice was received as coming from an oracle. He advised
that a levy of four-fifths should be made of all the men in the
country capable of bearing arms, whether inhabitants or strangers, and
to meet at the mouth of Licking on the 20th July. Those from Lincoln
and Fayette, under the command of Colonel Logan, were to march down
Licking-those from Jefferson under General Clark were to march up the
Ohio.
As soon as it was decided that an
expedition should be carried on against the Indians. Ceneral Clark
gave orders to have a number of small skiffs built at Louisville
capable of taking fifteen or twenty men, which together with batteaux,
the provisions and military stores, were taken by water from
Louisville to the mouth of the Licking. The vessels were under the
direction of Colonel George Slaughter, who commanded about 150 troops
raised by him in Virginia for Western Service.
In ascending the river, it was
necessary to keep the vessels close to the shore, some of which were
on one side and some on the other; it happened whilst one of these
skiffs was near the north side of the river a party of Indians ran
down to the water's edge and fired into it and killed and wounded
several before assistance could be obtained from the other boats.
That party of the army commanded by
Colonel Logan assembled at Bryan's Spring, about eight miles from
Lexington, and on the following night a man by the name of Clarke
stole a valuable horse and went off. It was generally believed that he
intended to go to North Carolina. When the army arrived at the mouth
of Licking, the horse was found there, when the conjecture was that he
had been taken prisoner by the Indians; but it was afterwards
discovered that he had gone to the Indians voluntarily in order to
give them notice of the approach of an army from Kentucky.
The army rendezvoused and encamped
on the ground where Cincinnati now stands, and the next day built two
blockhouses, in which was deposited a quantity of corn, and where
several men who were sick left with a small guard, until the return of
the army.
The division of the army commanded
by Colonel Logan took with them generally provisions, only sufficient
to last them to the mouth of Licking, as it was understood a
sufficient quantity for the campaign would be brought up from
Louisville to that place; but when the army was about to march, the
provisions were distributed among the men, and was only six quarts of
Indian corn, measured in a quart pot for each man, most of whom were
obliged to carry it on their backs, not having a sufficiency of pack
horses to convey the whole, together with the military stores and the
baggage of the army.
THE JOURNEY TO DETROIT
While General Clark was destroying the
Indian towns and their provisions in retaliation, the captives from
Ruddle's and Martin's Stations were wearily marching northward.
Involuntarily we ask: Who were they? Where did they go? How were they
treated?
The details of the route they took are
given in a statement by Captain John Dunkin,[44]
who says:
June 26, 1780, I was taken from
Licking Creek in Kentucky County by Captain Henry Bird of the 8th
Regiment of his Majestie's forces in conjunction with about eight
hundred Indians of different Nations-Viz. Mingoes; Delawares,
Shawnees, Hurons, Ottaways, 'Taways and Chippeways. We marched from
our village the 27th, being in number 129 men, women and children. We
marched down Licking about 50 miles to the Ohio and from thence up ye
Big Miami River about 170 miles to the Standing Stone, and from thence
up said river to Larramie's [Lorimer's] Store 14 miles on the head of
the Miami; and from thence across by land 18 miles to the Landing on
the River Glaise-and from thence down said river passing a Taway
village and to the mouth of said river about 80 miles at a small
village of Miami Indians on the River Miami; from thence down said
river about 40 miles to an Indian village called Rose de Boo-and from
thence down said river about 18 miles to Lake Erie, where we went on
board the Hope, mounted six pounders, Captain Graves commander; and so
across the said lake to the mouth of the Detroit River, and 18 miles
up to the same to the fort and town of Detroit, which place we arrived
at the 4th of August, 1780-where they were kept until the 24th when 33
of us were put on board the Gage, Captain Burnit commander, mounted 8
guns, and from thence to Fort Erie- and thence in battoes 18 miles
down thc River Niagara to Fort Slusher, at the head of the great
fall-and from thence in wagons, 9 miles, where we again went in
battoes down said river to Fort Niagara at the mouth of said river on
the 29th; and on the 5th of September we were again put on board the
Ontario, Captain Cowan commander, and so across the Lake Ontario to
Carlton Island on the 8th, and on the 10th we sent off down the long
Sac and into Sandijest Lake, and so down Rapids into Grand River and
through a small lake and so the Lasheen. From thence by land 9 miles
to Montreal on the 14th of September, 1780, and on tile 17th we were
sent into Grant's Island and remained there until the 25th of October,
when we were again taken back into Montreal and billetted in St.
Lawrence suburbs. I was put in confinement in the Long Gaol September
1st, and remained in close confinement until the 17th day of October,
when I was permitted to go and live with my faintly with the privilege
of walking the town and suburbs.
Over that narrow trail, the largest
body of people ever gathered together in the wilderness of Kentucky
wended their way into the Indian country, about 1,200 of these
consisting of the invading force, and about 470 miserable prisoners,
loaded down with household plunder from their own cabin homes. Captain
Bird himself reported the miserable northward trek in a letter to Major
DePeyster, written July 1, 1780:[45]
I marched the poor women &
children 20 miles in one day over very high mountains, frightening
them with frequent alarms to push them forward, in short, Sir, by
water & land we came with all our cannon &c., 40 miles in 4
days rowing fifty miles the last day-we have no meat and must subsist
on flour if there is nothing for us at Lorimiers [Lorimers].
A kettle on the head of a gentlewoman,
Mrs. Peter Smith, so injured her scalp that the hair never grew on her
head again, and she wore a cap the rest of her days.[46]
Joseph Conway, who had been scalped by
the Indians two weeks before, was claimed by an old Indian whose
daughter was allowed to travel with him to dress his bandaged head.[47]
Milo M. Quaife, in his monograph
entitled, "When Detroit Invaded Kentucky,"[48]
tells the story of Leonard Kratz, who had guided the Munger family into
Kentucky and married their daughter Mary. Kratz was forced by his
captors to carry a huge copper kettle strapped to his back, causing him
to be unable to lie down for the soreness. He was rescued from
starvation by a kindly squaw. He and his young wife and baby were
separated on the march.
Patrick Mahan, a Pennsylvanian, came
with his large family of three sons, John, Thomas and William and
son-in-law, James Morrow. With Morrow were his wife and three single
daughters, Isabella, Margaret and Jane, the latter of which who later
married James Breckinridge. They emigrated to Kentucky from Bottetourt
County, Virginia, with twenty pack animals besides the horses they rode,
stopping at Bryan's Station on their way to Martin's Station.
James Breckinridge and his wife (Jane
Mahan Breckinridge ) in their interview with Rev. John D Shane,[49]
said that Bird was "an inhuman wretch" who gave them for
rations only a pint of musty flour which sometimes turned green, though
he had ample supply. When George Girty killed some deer and brought it
in, Bird purchased it for himself and his officers, but gave none to the
prisoners. According to the Breckenridges, thereupon, Girty cursed Bird
"as being meaner than any Indian, having plenty of rations and
carrying his prisoners back to starve without them." They declared
that the British officer at Detroit was very much displeased and talked
of breaking Bird's commission.[50] Jane
Morrow later told Draper that Bird was court-martialed for his conduct
at Ruddle's, but was acquitted.[51]
James Morrow was captured while
hunting and was forced to run the gauntlet which he did successfully. A
1ittle later, however, the Indians decided to burn him at the stake and
had made all their ghastly preparations when a hard rain set in. He was
finally saved by an Indian who bought him for twenty buckskins. The
Indian took him to the house where the British bought both prisoners and
scalps and sold him for five pounds, a neat profit since a buckskin
usually sold for a dollar and the price of twenty buckskins in the
parlance of the woods was "twenty bucks." While Morrow was in
that house he beheld the scalps of the prisoners taken, a large number
of which were those of little children and heard an old Indian tearfully
declare that the Great Spirit would be angry because they had scalped so
many little infants.
To Mrs. Wilson, another daughter of
Patrick Mahan, who lived to a ripe old age in Woodford County, we are
indebted for many details of that sad journey.[52]
She says that Bird gave the men a cup of flour and the women and
children only half a cup. She says an Indian comfortably riding one of
her father's best horses "and her saddle," while she was
compelled to walk during that journey of six weeks and four days and
carry a heavy pack. She says when they were taken to an island, the men
had to work or go to prison. A Captain Grant was building a mill and
made the men haul rock like horses, paying them a York shilling a day
for their labors. While at Montreal, she says:
We had a very good house to stay in.
After we were taken first, they wanted us, the single ladies, to go
into the gentlemen's kitchens and cook for them. We single ladies and
Captain Dunkin's lady and Mrs. Lapost and Mrs. Mahan, my mother and
Mrs. Agnes Mahan, my brother's wife, sent a petition to Major
Halserman [Haldimand], telling him we had never been accustomed to
work in the kitchen and we wanted houses to live in. We considered it
was too low, we never kind been used to such business. General
Halderman [Haldimand] granted the petition. The second petition also,
to let our men be out with us, and if that couldn't be, to let us have
some one to wait upon us. They made them give oath that they wouldn't
leave, and sent them out on parole...
An old adage says, it takes three
generations of ladies to make a needlewoman, and these were ladies. Mrs.
Wilson continues:
The women of us were generally
pretty good at our needles, and we had pretty good employment at that.
Got a dollar and a half for every fine ruffled shirt we made. They
were in the habit of putting lace edging on their ruffles. We worked
an open edge on them, and they took a great fancy to that, and we
charged them another dollar and a half for that, making three dollars.
Our needles were very well capable of supporting us decently. When we
came to leave we had seven pieces of Irish linen in the house that we
had to return. The people that we sewed for were mighty sorry. They
always advanced the money, or were ready to pay when we brought the
work.
A loyalist lady came to the
prisoners' house to get washing. Miss Judy Lapost and her brother were
just going to town. They said they were going to town to get a
washerwoman. One day their mother was in a store in town and a town
lady came and wanted to know if she wasn't one of the Virginia
prisoners [Kentucky being part of Virginia]. Said the report was
through the town that the Virginia prisoners were the proudest people
in town. She said-Why shouldn't we be? We all had good homes and
always had a-plenty.
Major Dupaster [DePeyster] was a
great friend to the prisoners. We had no want of food after we got to
Montreal.
Captain Hare was very kind. Would
stay behind out of Byrd's sight to give Mahan, the old man, an
opportunity of riding his horse.
Mrs. Honn and her daughter, Katherine,
were among the captives from Ruddle's. Katherine, a fleet-footed girl of
eighteen, was chased by the Indians a half a mile while running the
gauntlet and was knocked down by an Indian club. She married first,
Charles Munger, then Joseph Fenis. The mother, Mrs. Honn, was placed in
Blue Jacket's family where she kept the cows and made the butter,
esteeming herself fortunate to be so well placed.[53]
While the Indians were attacking
Ruddle's Fort, one Indian succeeded in getting under the puncheon floor
of Mrs. McFall's cabin.[54] She poured
boiling water through the cracks routing him in a hurry. She remained in
captivity many years, but her husband soon escaped during an attack by
Clark upon the Indians.
The Indians killed and scalped a
number of children because they could not keep up on the march. They
seemed, however, to have taken a fancy to little Johnnie Lail, two years
odd, and decided to see if he would make a "good Indian,"
rolling him rapidly down the river bank. He didn't cry, thus securing
his own adoption and that of his brother George, three years older.
Johnnie came back after Wayne's Treaty and lived to be an old and useful
citizen of Harrison County. George married an Indian and lived among the
Indians for many years. Finally, however, he came back to the home of
his childhood, but his Indian wile deserted him and went back to her
people.
One of the most important prisoners
taken from Ruddle's was Captain John Hinkson, who had built the original
fort. The second night after leaving the forks of the Licking, the
Indians encamped near the river. They had difficulty in lighting a fire
as everything was wet. There was a guard placed over the prisoners, but
his attention was attracted by the efforts to start the fire. Hinkson
saw this and realizing that the night was dark he sprang from his
captors and dashed out of sight, lying down by the side of a log where
it was quite dark until the excitement occasioned by his escape had
subsided. Then he started toward Lexington, but it was too dark to see
the moss on the sides of the trees, and there were no stars to guide
him. In this dilemma, he dipped his hand in water and holding it above
his head noted that one side of his hand immediately became cold. That
he knew must be the side from which the wind came, and so for the rest
of the night he followed the cold side of his hand which he knew to be
toward the west, the course best suited to his purpose. He finally
arrived safely at Lexington bearing the first news of the tragedy that
had taken place at Ruddle's and Martin's Forts.[55]
THE CANNON
Bombardier Homan, who had charge of
artillery, referred to his battery as "the gun" and
"smaller ordnance," presumably swivels.[56]
Captain Bird in his report to DePeyster, says:[57]
The three pounder was not
sufficient, our People raised a Battery of Rails and earth within
eighty yards of the fort, taking advantage of a very violent storm of
rain, which prevented their being seen clearly. They stood two
discharges of the little gun, which only cut down a spar, and stuck
the shot in the side of a house. When they saw the Six Pounder moving
across the field, they immediately surrendered. They thought the Three
Pounder a swivel.
One of Bird's cannon is probably lying
today on the bottom of the Licking, just below Boyd Station at Bird's
Crossing. After the two forts had been taken, the Indians mounted the
horses of the Kentuckians to ride in comfort and drove the livestock and
the prisoners along the trail, crossing the Licking at the Buffalo Ford
just beyond Ruddle's Fort, crossing Gray's Run at Cynthiana, then Mill
Creek and Raven Creek and the Licking again at a sweeping curve in the
river still known as Bird's Crossing. At that point Bird built a
temporary bridge by throwing rocks into the river and then having logs
first crosswise then lengthwise the stream allowing passage for his
cannon and other equipment and supplies. In his rapid retreat, one
artillery piece slipped off the hastily constructed bridge and was mired
in the river where it remained an object of interest to small boys of
the neighborhood for fifty years afterward who went swimming there. It
was their ambition to dive into the river and "touch the
cannon."[58]
From Bird's Crossing they marched up
the dry bed of Snake Lick, then across the country to the forks of the
Licking where Falmouth is now andl from thence to the Ohio where the
Indians scattered to their villages taking their captives with them.
Captain Bird proceeded to Detroit with so many prisoners that DePeyster
was filled with consternation, having difficulty in distributing them
among various sections of the surrounding countryside. Finally he
divided them among Detroit, Niagara and Michillimackinac. Those who
remained at Detroit lived on Hog Island; some were sent to Carlton
Island and as many as possible were distributed among the farmers to
help with the harvest.
WAYNE'S TREATY
And so the years passed. After the
Ordinance of 1787 Ohio was opened up for settlement and "the men
who wore hats" began to build homes in the Indian country.
Cincinnati and Marietta were laid out as towns, and the Ohio Company of
Associates led by Israel Putman and Manasseh Cutler began a colonization
scheme which was retarded by Indian atrocities. Notwithstanding the
surrender of Yorktown and the end of the Revolution. England still held
fast to Niagara and Detroit and continued to incite the Indians against
the whites forcing the government to take measures to protect the infant
settlements. General Harmer and General St. Clair suffered defeat, but
Mad Anthony Wayne with his well-trained army and his careful plans won
so decisive a victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers that the Indians
sued for peace. The final treaty was signed August 3, 1795, at
Greenville, Ohio. A general exchange of all prisoners still held by the
British and the Indians took place. Wives and husbands were united who
had been separated for years, and Kentucky parents welcomed to their
hearthstones little children who had grown up among savages.
THE RUDDLE FAMILY
The fate of the Ruddle family was the
most tragic of all. When the gates of Ruddle's Fort were opened the
three-year-old baby of Mrs. Ruddle was snatched from her arms and thrown
into the fire. Mrs. Ruddle had a bad cut across her forehead and one day
while toiling along toward the Indian Country, she sent her little son,
Stephen, into the woods to hunt some ginseng root to apply to it. The
child was caught by an Indian and whipped, and when Stephen heard the
report of a gun he supposed his mother had been killed. On the way an
Indian forced Mrs. Ruddle to lie down across three roots threatening to
beat her if she were caught trying to get into an easier position. After
reaching Canada, however, she and her husband were treated so kindly it
aroused some jealousy, but this kindness may have been due to the fact
that Captain Ruddle was a Mason.[59]
Their two small sons, Stephen, age
twelve, and Abraham, age six, were handed over to Shawnee Indians.
Stephen entered the family of Blackfish as foster brother of the great
Tecumseh.[60] Both boys became more like
Indians than white men siding with the former against the latter. On one
occasion Stephen came into Kentucky with a party of Indians to steal
horses. His father owned a stud horse which he decided to take. When he
reached his home and saw Isaac Ruddle kneeling in prayer, the boy raised
his gun to shoot him, later saying that something, he knew not what,
prevented this from happening. It did not, however, keep him from taking
the horse.[61] Stephen served as interpreter
for the Shawnees, and both he and Abraham married Indian women. Stephen
Shelton, a friend of the family, was sent to find Stephen and Abraham
Ruddle and bring them to Greenville for the Treaty. He found Abraham at
a little town near Mackinaw and Stephen at the Lake of the Woods.
Abraham came cheerfully, but Stephen refused to come unless he could
bring his squaw. .At the Treaty of Greenville the kind father, Isaac
Ruddle, was waiting for his sons with a nice new suit of clothes for
each, but a few hours later they were both in Indian dress again.[62]
Another reason for Stephen returning
was that he learned that his mother was living. This determined him to
go back to Kentucky. When he returned he found that Kentucky had become
a state and that a few forts which were still standing were used to
shelter the stock of peaceful farmers. Old landmarks were obliterated,
buffalo traces were being worked into roads, wheeled vehicles had
succeeded Indian drags and pioneer pack trains, hewn log houses were
going out of fashion while colonial mansions were being built of stone
and brick. New neighbors had come from Culpepper and Fauquier and
Bottecourt Counties in Virginia, from Scott's Plains in Jersey State,
from Frederickstown, Maryland, and a few from Georgia, all of whom
extended him a cordial welcome.[63]
The Ruddle family returned to their
settlement at Ruddle's Mills in Bourbon County, Kentucky, where they
operated a log mill on Hinkson Creek. Captain Isaac Ruddle's daughter,
Elizabeth, married an Irishman named Mulharen who became a partner of
his father-in-law.
WILL OF CAPTAIN ISAAC RUDDLE
Captain Isaac Ruddle's will, located
in the Bourbon County Court House, dated March 1, 1806, and probated
February 1812, shows, in addition to familiar names, those of other
members of the family. It names sons, Stephen, Abraham, George, Isaac,
Jr. (deceased), Cornelius (deceased), daughter Elizabeth Mulharen and
daughter Margaret Dewit, and her sons, Isaac and John and Cornelius' two
daughters, Polly and Nancy.
Abraham went west. He is said to have
married Mary Culp in 1797. Isaac, Jr., probably married Mary Foster and
died in 1794. George, Cornelius, James and John took pre-emtions. George
and his wife Theodosia of New Madrid conveyed Bourbon County property.
This may be the George of the Rockingham County Virginia Militia. One
George Ruddle is said to have married Clorinda Gore and had a son,
Ambrose Gore Ruddle. Mary Lair, sister of Lieutenant Andrew Lair of
Logans Fort, Captain Matthias Lair of the Cedars and John Lair of
Boscobel; and her husband, Ambrose Ruddle, are said to have been in
Ruddle's Fort. However, their names are not included in any list found
thus far, Dr. William E. Connelley, the eminent Kansas historian, adds
the history of another member of the Isaac Ruddle Family. He says:[64]
A daughter of Isaac Ruddle [Sarah]
was carried away captive when the station was destroyed and remained
among the Shawnee Indians for a number of years. Later she married a
man named Davis and settled at Fayette, Missouri. Her daughter married
Rev. Thomas Johnson, a Methodist preacher, who founded the Old Shawnee
Mission in what is now Johnson County, Kansas. When she came to live
with her daughter she found many Shawnees she had known in Ohio when
in captivity. They were much attached to her before she was rescued
and they were greatly pleased to have her with them there. She knew
the Shawnee language as well as she knew her own and the Shawnees
spent hours and hours talking to her about old times.
WHERE MARTIN'S FORT STOOD
On the site of Martin's Fort stands
Mt. Lebanon, the historic home of James Garrard, second governor of
Kentucky, a Revolutionary soldier and a scholar and gentleman of the old
school.[65] At his home was held the first
court of Bourbon County in 1786 when that county extended from the
Fayette County line to the Ohio River. There in a walled-in graveyard
which is on the exact site of Martin's Fort, a marker was erected by the
Jemima Suggett Johnson Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, June 24, 1921. The marker is dedicated to the memory of the
brave pioneers who settled the fort and who were captured by Captain
Bird in June, 1780. Only a short distance from the graveyard is Cooper's
Run Meeting House.
COOPER'S RUN MEETING HOUSE
When the captives returned after the
Treaty of Greenville, they found no fort where the buffalo trace had
crossed Stoner Creek, but in its stead, a stone church-The Cooper's Run
Meeting House. Its church book of hand-tanned leather, dated June, 1787,
gives the history of the community which gathered around Martin's Fort.
It was written in longhand by James Garrard who used a quill pen and
home-made ink. This document describes a crude structure without heat
and with many inconveniences. Absences were severely dealt with, and
members careless about attending divine worship were excluded from
fellowship with no exception being made regardless of color or social
position until the backsliders had mended their ways.[66]
It was one and the same whether the offender was Sister Conway or
Brother Isaac Ruddle's Black George.
STEPHEN RUDDLE, TIIE FIRST LIVING LINK
MISSIONARY
Cooper's Run maintained an Indian
mission. Among the church records, we can read about the mission and its
most prominent missionary, Stephen Ruddle. Coming back to the land of
his fathers after his long captivity, Stephen lived for a while in
Kentucky, welcoming Indians to his home. With true Christian fortitude,
he obeyed the Scriptural injunction: "Love your enemies; bless them
that curse you; do good to them that despitefully use and persecute
you." In 1806 he reported to the Cooper's Run Church that at their
request he "had proceeded on his mission to thc [Shawnee] Indians
and found them collected and awaiting his arrival." He described
them as having been attentive and desirous of being further instructed
in the Christian religion. "They," he said, "approved the
doctrines delivered to them and gave him a string of beads as a token of
friendship for the Society which had sent him on a mission so desirable
to them." With great formality, he then presented the beads to the
church. Furthermore, Ruddle told the church, he had "attempted to
remove some fears respecting the justice of the government toward them
and succeeded in a very satisfactory way!" As an evidence of the
entire satisfaction they felt, they sent a string of wampum also, which
he likewise delivered. He said that it was his "belief that if
proper and prudent measures were adopted 'to enlighten their minds with
the blessing of God, the Gospel would become beneficial to these poor,
unenlightened savages."[67]
The records of Cooper's Run Meeting
House[68] show that the strings of wampum and
the beads were received by the church and deposited among the church
papers.
Messages were sent to the nearby
churches at Indian Creek, Flat Lick, Somerset, Jacks Creek and Green
Creek, asking that contributions be made to continue the work of
"Brother" Ruddle. In 1810 Stephen was ordained a minister of
the Gospel.
THE GRAVES OF CAPTAIN AND MRS. ISAAC
RUDDLE
Captain Ruddle and his wife Elizabeth,
lived out their allotted time, passing away about 1812. They are buried
at Ruddle's Mills, Bourbon County, Kentucky, in the old Presbyterian
graveyard, a tract of two acres which had been donated by Ruddle as a
cemetery. There they lie in oblivion, for no gravestones mark the last
resting place of these pioneers.
A TENTATIVE LIST OF THOSE CAPTURED AT
RUDDLE'S AND MARTIN'S FORTS
What of the rest of the captives? Who
were they? What became of them after that sorrowful six-week journey to
Detroit, Montreal and Mackinac?
Some of these questions can be
answered because Lyman Draper became interested, followed them up and
interviewed many of them. He discovered that they were often separated
from their families and divided among the British and the Indians. Those
held by the Indians either became like the Indians themselves or lived
in slavery. After Wayne's Treaty of Greenville was signed, many of these
captives returned to their Kentucky homes and attempted to reunite
themselves with other scattered members of their families. From the
Draper Papers and such materials as have been preserved for us in the
form of old letters. newspapers, wills and settlements of estates, the
following incomplete list has been compiled in the hope that others will
take up the search and find a more complete answer to the questions we
have posed. Approximately 250 names of soldiers and captives have been
uncovered all total.
RUDDLE. The first and foremost family
was that of Captain Isaac Ruddle, commander of the fort of the same
name. With him at the time of Bird's raid was his wife, Elizabeth Bowman
Ruddle, who had helped to defend the fort at a porthole; two sons,
Stephen, twelve, and Abraham, six; two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah;
two men, James and Ambrose Ruddle. Elizabeth later married a man by the
name of Mulharen. Sarah, after being freed by the Indians, married
Thomas Davis. She and her husband lived in Pike County, Missouri. There
her Shawnee friends visited her, and there she died in 1865 at the age
of ninety-seven. An infant had been torn from the arms of Mrs. Ruddle
and thrown into the fire that black day at Ruddle's Fort, June 24, 1780.
At least two children were born later to Elizabeth Ruddle in Canada,
both boys, Isaac, Jr. and John.
MAHAN. The family of Patrick Mahan
settled in Martin's Fort. They were Patrick and his wife, John, Thomas,
William, Isabella, Margaret, Jane and Agnes. The latter, Agnes, married
first James Morrow, later Governor of Ohio, and second, a man by the
name of Wilson with whom she lived in Woodford County, Kentucky. The
family returned to Kentucky and have left descendants in Bourbon,
Harrison and Woodford Counties.[69]
DUNCAN. Captain John Duncan, Mrs.
Duncan and one son, Captain Duncan later told that he and 129 others
were taken prisoners at Ruddle's Fort. The Duncans returned to Kentucky
and settled in Whitley County.[70]
LAPOST. Mrs. LaPost, one son and a
daughter, Judy.[71]
GOODNIGHT. Michael Goodnight, Peter
Goodnight, John Goodnight and some girl children.[72]
WHITESIDES. William Whitesides.
WHITE. David White.
HINKSON. Captain John Hinkson and his
family. In Dunmore's War, he was known as Major Hinkson. In 1775 he came
to Kentucky where with a company of fifteen men he erected a fort on the
Licking River. In July he was forced to abandon the fort by a superior
force of Indians. In 1780 when he returned to Kentucky, he found his
fort occupied by the Ruddles and other families. He had scarcely settled
his family there when it was captured. His small sons were taken
northward, but Hinkson escaped on the third night and carried the news
of the disaster to Clark at Fort Nelson. He became a prominent citizen
of Bourbon County where he was elected a major of militia in 1786 and a
sheriff in 1788. He died at New Madrid in 1789. Many prominent
descendants of his live today in Bourbon and Harrison Counties, some of
whom own his original tract of land.[73]
McFALL. John McFall and his wife. At
the time of Clark's retaliation into Indian country, John McFall escaped
from Detroit. When Mrs. McFall was released, following Wayne's treaty
with the Indians, the two settled in Harrison County on Mill Creek.[74]
LONG. John W. Long, his wife [formerly
a Conway], and Rhoda, age six. Rhoda later married a man by the name of
Ground and was living in Warren County, Kentucky, in 1844.[75]
RITTENHOUSE. Edmund Rittenhouse and
family. They descended the Ohio in a flatboat and up the Licking to
Ruddle's Fort. When they returned to Kentucky some time alter I793, they
settled near Covington. Edmund was a cousin of the celebrated
astronomer, David Rittenhouse.
MORROW. James Morrow. Married Agnes
Mahan.
BROOKS. Samuel Brooks.
BERRY. Francis and wife, from Martin's
Fort.[76]
HONN. Joseph Honn, his wife,
Katherine, eighteen, Polly, Margaret and Joseph. The family returned to
Kentucky to live in Montgomery County.[77]
MARKLE. Jacob Markle.[78]
KYLES or KELSO.[79]
McDANIELS. Robert McDaniels.
SPEARS. Christian Spears and wife.
Mrs. Spears was drowned while crossing the Licking River. In Detroit,
Christian married a fellow prisoner. They made their home in Paris,
Kentucky, after peace was signed.
TUFFLEMAN. Martin Tuffelman, wife and
six children.[80]
CONWAY. Samuel Conway, a brother, his
wife, two daughters and a son, Joseph. Joseph, born in 1763, had been
wounded by Indians two weeks before his capture.[81]
GRUFF or ERUFF. Henry Gruff. He
returned to Kentucky where he settled in Whitley County.[81]
PURSLEY. A man by that name from
Ruddle's Station.[83]
TRABUE. James Trabue, a surveyor. He
wrote the terms of capitulation for Ruddle's Station. His diary says
that he and one White arrived at Ruddle's the day before the siege.
After the attack Trabue buried his compass at the root of a tree before
surrendering to his pursuers. After two years of imprisonment, he
escaped and moved to Virginia. Prominent descendants of his now reside
in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky.[84]
BENTON. John Benton, wife and a
daughter.[85]
SELLERS. A family of them were taken
prisoners.
CONWAY. John Conway, wife and seven
children. Among the children were Elizabeth Sallie, six, John,
twenty-two and Joseph, fifteen. Elizabeth later married W. M. Daugherty.
Sallie was returned to Kentucky when she was fifteen.
RAVENSCRAFT. Known as Lieutenant
Ravenscraft. He was cruelly tortured by the Indians at the stake and was
made to run the gauntlet. Kinney said of him: "If this is a man;
then a man is a strange looking thing." Ravenscraft returned to
live and die in Harrison County, Kentucky. His sufferings have been told
and retold, but his grave is still unmarked. [Note: Later research shows
that Thomas Ravenscraft was not at Ruddell's or Martin's forts. He was
taken captive by the Indians at Floyd's Defeat and met some of the
captives while in Detroit.--REF]
WISEMAN. A Mrs. Wiseman.
BURGER. John Burger.
VANHOOK. Samuel VanHook. He was the
tailor in Ruddle's Fort noted there for his leather breeches. Later he
was a farmer and hunter in Harrison County.
HART. Nicholas Hart. When the Indians
came to Kentucky in 1782 to besiege Bryan's Station and to fight the
Battle of Blue Licks, they brought Nicholas Hart and others to witness
their cruel deeds.
LAIL. George and Johnnie Lail. George
married an Indian. Johnnie returned to live in Harrison County.
DAVIS. Members of this family who were
captured were relations of Thomas Davis, the husband of Sarah Ruddle.
The Davises returned to live in Whitley County.[86]
EASTON. Mrs. Easton. She was drowned
along with Mrs. Christian Spears while crossing the Licking River.
GATLIFFE. Charles Gatliffe, his wife
and five children. They were from Martin's Fort. He was captured while
hunting. His wife and children stayed together in captivity. Following
their release, the family resettled in Whitley County where numerous
descendants of theirs now live.[87]
MUNGER. He, his wife and daughter,
Mary.[88]
KRATZ. Leonard Kratz, wife and baby.
Leonard was called "Scratch" by the British. The baby died in
captivity. When reunited with his wife, she had undergone such a
physical strain that he didn't recognize her at first.[89]
LAFORCE or FORCE. Agnes. La Force, her
five children and thirteen slaves. The slaves were taken by the British
and the Indians, but upon protest to Sir Frederick Haldimand, some of
them were returned.[90]
SHELTON. Stephen Shelton. From
Ruddle's Fort. Later he was sent to find Abraham and Stephen Ruddle. He
found both boys, but Stephen did not want to return to his true parents,
but finally consented.[91]
KAVANAUGH. Joe Kavanaugh and his
father's family.
CRAYCRAFT. Major Craycraft.
ORR. Captain Orr.
BAIGE. James Baige.
CRAWFORD. Joe Crawford.
MCGUIRE FAMILY.
WILSON.
SMITH. Peter Smith and his wife, from
Ruddle's Fort.[92]
KENNEDY. "Escaped."
KINNEY.
HARDEN. Serena Harden. Captured at the
age of seven. She was adopted by the Wyandotts, but later escaped. She
married Thomas Hutton.[93]
BERRY. Francis Berry. He later
returned to Kentucky and settled in Whitley County.[94]
CARROLL. Man and wife.[95]
BRECKINRIDGE. James Breckinridge.
Married Jane Mahan.
THE
CEDARS
After the Revolutionary War, Captain
Matthias Lair and his brother, John, settled on their 2,000 acre tract
of land in the bend of the Licking on the site of Ruddle's Fort.
Matthias built The Cedars, and John built Boscobel, a stone house which
still stands. In 1825 Charles Lair, son of Matthias, remodeled The
Cedars at a cost of $40,000, making it a showplace of the countryside.
This handsome old home after more than a century of gracious living was
burned in June, 1930. It was an architectural gem set in a forest of
cedars on the river front. Today only the dining room, the two kitchens
and the library (in a corner of the yard) remain. The remainder of the
fifteen rooms are no longer existent: the drawing room with its reeded
work and delicately carved mantel, the hall with its exquisite stairway
and fan-lighted doors on both sides, the six bedrooms and the loom,
sewing and utility rooms. Gone also are the old slave cabins. One
interesting item which remains is the famous mapcase hanging from the
ceiling of the library. Charles Lair used to open a window frame and
pull one of five cords, letting down a canvas upon which were printed
two maps. There he would stand by his books, recessed in nearby cabinets
around the wall, and examine his ten maps at will. The books, some of
which were printed in London, were purchased in Philadelphia. They were
brought by Walters from Pittsburgh to Maysville and from Maysville by
pack horses to The Cedars. The beautiful furniture is cherished today by
the descendants of Charles Lair.
The most interesting spot today,
however, at The Cedars is the family vault. Charles Lair blasted it out
of the stone cliff along the Licking River and then called together all
his relations to witness the removal of the ancestral Lairs from the
family graveyard, which had been in the orchard, to his vault. Iron
coffins were purchased in Philadelphia. As he opened each grave he moved
the body from its crumbling casket into an iron one. Some of these were
covered with black cloth, some with gray, and at least one with brown.
They were placed in the vault together with the stone coffins in which
the bodies of the twenty persons massacred at Ruddle's Fort had been
preserved.
Appendix
A.[96]
LETTER OF CAPTAIN BIRD TO MAJOR ARENT
S. DEPEYSTER
- Ohio opposite Licking Creek
- July 1st, 1780
Sir
After fatigues which only those that
were present can entertain a proper idea of we arrived before Fort
Liberty the 24th of June. I had before that day entreated every Indian
officer that appeared to have influence among the Savages, to persuade
them not to engage with the fort, untill the guns were up-fearing if any
were killed it might exasperate the Indians & make them commit
cruelties when the rebels surrendered.
Poor McCarty in every other respect an
extreme, attentive, serviceable fellow, perished by disobeying this
order. An Indian was shot through the arm. The Three Pounder was not
sufficient, our people raised a battery of rails & earth within 80
yards of the fort-taking some advantage of a very violent storm of rain
which prevented them being seen clearly-They stood two discharges of the
little gun, which only cut down a spar and stuck the shot in the side of
a house-When they saw the Six Pounder moving across the field, they
immediately surrendered, they thought the Three Pounder a Swivel the
Indians and their department had got with them - The conditions granted
that their lives should be saved, and themselves taken to Detroit, I
forewam'd them that the Savages would adopt some of their children. The
Indians gave in council the cattle for food for our people & the
prisoners and were not to enter till the next day: But whilst Capt.
McKee and myself were in the fort settling these matters with the poor
people, they rushed in, tore the poor children from their mothers
breasts, killed a wounded man and every one of the cattle, leaving the
whole to stink. We had brought no pork with us & were now reduced to
great distress, & the poor prisoners in danger of being starved.
I talked hardly to them of their
breach of promise-But however we marched to the next fort, which
surrendered without firing a gun. The same promises were made &
broke in the same manner, not one pound of meat & near 300
prisoners-Indians breaking into the forts after the treaties were
concluded. The rebels ran from the next fort and the Indians burn's it -
They then heard news of Col. Clark's coming against them & proposed
returning-which indeed had they not proposed I must have insisted on, as
I had then fasted some time & the prisoners in danger of
starving-incessant rains rotted our people's feet the Indians almost all
left us within a days march of the enemy. It was with difficulty I
procured a guide thro' the woods - I marched the poor women &
children 20 miles in one day over very high mountains, frightening them
with frequent alarms to push them forward, in short, Sir, by water and
land we came with all our cannon &c 90 miles in 4 days, one day out
of which we lay by entirely, rowing 50 miles the last day-we have no
meat and must subsist on flour if there is nothing for us at Lorimiers.
I am out of hope of getting any Indians to hunt, or accompany us,
however George Girty I detain to assist me-I could Sir by all accounts
have gone through the whole country without any opposition, had the
Indians preserved the cattle. Everything is safe, so far, but we are not
yet out of reach of pursuit-As a very smart fellow escaped. from me
within 26 miles of the Enemy-Provisions and perougues we shall want at
the glaize and the vessel at the mouth of the Miamis.
I refer you to the bearer for
particulars.
[I] am Sir with respect
Your most obdt Servant
Henry Bird
Appendix
B.[97]
VOLUNTEERSON THE EXPEDITION OF CAPTAIN
BIRD WITH THEIR PAY FROM MARCH 24 TO MAY 24, 1780
Capt. Chabert (61 Days) 10/. Sterling
52/5/81/2
Lt. Jonathan Scheiffeling 8/. York
24/8/0
Antoine Charon Sargent 6/. 18/6/0
Francis Baubault Sargent 6/. 18/6/0
Joseph Carrie Corporal 5/. 15/5/0
Louis Somlers Private 4/. 12/4/0
F. Trudelle Private 4/. 12/4/0
Antoine Truttie Private 4/. 12/4/0
Claude Richard Private 4/. 12/4/0
Bazil Moran Private 4/. 12/4/0
Jean Mary Plante Private 4/. 12/4/0
Pierre Loson Private 4/. 12/4/0
Andrew Bertiaume Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph LaFont Private 4/. 12/4/0
Guillaum Mallet Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Baazau Private 4/. 12/4/0
John Jones Private 4/. 12/4/0
Jean Marie Marion Private 4/. 12/4/0
Pierre Tesier Private 4/. 12/4/0
Francois Tepier Private 4/. 12/4/0
Antoine Martell Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph Longuiel Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph Laliberte Private 4/. 12/4/0
William Greg Private 4/. 12/4/0
Edward Shehe Private 4/. 12/4/0
John Flurry Private 4/. 12/4/0
John Stockwell Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph Reigh Private 4/. 12/4/0
John Murray Private 4/. 12/4/0
James Tussy Private 4/. 12/4/0
Jean Marie Le Cerp Private 4/. 12/4/0
Jacques Prudhomme Private 4/. 12/4/0
Pierre Labutte Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Labady Private 4/. 12/4/0
Louis Desaunier Private 4/. 12/4/0
Etienne Tramblay Private 4/. 12/4/0
Caleb Reynolds Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Tavaun Private 4/. 12/4/0
Jacques Loson Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph Cote Private 4/. 12/4/0
Charles Campau Private 4/. 12/4/0
Amable St. Etienne Private 4/. 12/4/0
Benjamin Chapu Private 4/. 12/4/0
Pierre Misee Private 4/. 12/4/0
Louis Moine Private 4/. 12/4/0
Simon Bergeron Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Lajeunepe Private 4/. 12/4/0
Pierre St. Louis Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Ladaux Private 4/. 12/4/0
Charleboy Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Peltier Private 4/. 12/4/0
Francois Bylair Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph Droulliart Private 4/. 12/4/0
Alex'r Johnson Private 4/. 12/4/0
Julien Labutte Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Trambley Private 4/. 12/4/0
Pierre Miney Private 4/. 12/4/0
Charles Roseau Private 4/. 12/4/0
Simon Yax Private 4/. 12/4/0
Michael Tramblay Private 4/. 12/4/0
Chrisostome St. Louis Private 4/.
12/4/0
Ignace Billette Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Mouinerel Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph Grimard Private 4/. 12/4/0
Andre Viger Private 4/. 12/4/0
Vincent Maw Private 4/. 12/4/0
Etienne Lebeau Private 4/. 12/4/0
Jean B. Lajeunepe Private 4/. 12/4/0
Francois Prudhomme Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.P. Yax Private 4/. 12/4/0
J.B. Labady, Jr. Private 4/. 12/4/0
Jacques Chauvin Private 4/. 12/4/0
Joseph Blay Private 8/. 12/8/0
Joseph Degagne Private 8/. 12/8/0
Charles Leblane Private 8/. 12/8/0
Pierre Robert Private 8/. 12/8/0
James McPhee Private 8/. 12/8/0
J.B. Ledue Private 4/. 12/4/0
Pierre Clenchette Private 4/. 12/4/0
Total 1165£ 10/8 1/2
PAY ROLL OF VOLUNTEERS WITH CAPTAIN
BIRD MAY 25 TO AUGUST 4, 1780
Louis Jeancaire Chabert Captain @ 10/.
61/14/3 1/4
Jonathan Scheiffeling Lieutenant 8/.
28/16/3 1/4
Baubault Sergeant 6/. 21/12/3 1/4
Chanon Sergeant 6/. 21/12/3 1/4
Wm. Gregg Sergeant 6/. 21/12/3 1/4
James McAphie Sergeant 6/. 21/12/3 1/4
Joseph Carrier Corporal 5/. 18/0/0
Joseph Touillier Corporal 5/. 18/0/0
Joseph Rough Corporal 5/. 18/0/0
Francois Trudell Private 4/. 14/8/0
Guillaume Mallet Private 4/. 14/8/0
B. Brazaw Private 4/. 14/8/0
Claud Richard Private 4/. 14/8/0
Bazil Morran Private 4/. 14/8/0
Jean Marie Plant Private 4/. 14/8/0
Antoine Truttier Private 4/. 14/8/0
John Fleury Private 4/. 14/8/0
Pierre Lazon Private 4/. 14/8/0
Andre Berthiaume Private 4/. 14/8/0
Joseph LaForest Private 4/. 14/8/0
Joseph Longile Private 4/. 14/8/0
Edward Shehe Private 4/. 14/8/0
John Stockwell Private 4/. 14/8/0
John Johnes Private 4/. 14/8/0
John Murry Private 4/. 14/8/0
James Tussy Private 4/. 14/8/0
Jean Marie Marion Private 4/. 14/8/0
Pierre Tisier Private 4/. 14/8/0
Francis Tisier Private 4/. 14/8/0
Antoine Martell Private 4/. 14/8/0
Joseph Laliberty Private 4/. 14/8/0
J. B. Labadee Private 4/. 14/8/0
Jean Marie LeCerp Private 4/. 14/8/0
Joseph Bergeron Private 4/. 14/8/0
Bonavanture Lariviere Private 4/.
14/8/0
Jacques Prudhomme Private 4/. 14/8/0
Pierre Labutte Private 4/. 14/8/0
Louis Debonier Private 4/. 14/8/0
Etienne Tramblay Private 4/. 14/8/0
J. B. Favenau Private 4/. 14/8/0
Jacques Loson Private 4/. 14/8/0
Benjamin Chapue Private 4/. 14/8/0
Pierre Mizie Private 4/. 14/8/0
Louis Morran Private 4/. 14/8/0
J. B. Laduke Private 4/. 14/8/0
Touisaint Charleboy Private 4/. 14/8/0
J. B. Peltier Private 4/. 14/8/0
Julien Labutte Private 4/. 14/8/0
Jean B. Tramblay Private 4/. 14/8/0
Alex'r Johnson Private 4/. 14/8/0
Daniel Whaler May 25 - June 20 4/. (27
days) 5/8/0
Joseph Guilbeaux May 25 - July 1 4/.
(38 days) 7/12/0
Henry Aunger May 25 - June 18 4/. (25
days) 5/0/0
John Rix May 25 - June 23 4/. (30
days) 6/0/0
Roger Welsh May 25 - June 23 4/.
Pierre Chinchett 4/. (72 days) 14/8/0
Caleb Reynolds 4/. (72 days) 14/8/0
Caitain Morran, 1 Lieut., 1 Sargt.,
and 40 men, 21 days on Survey with provisions for Captain Bird's party
199/10/0
Total 1079/12/3 1/4
Appendix C
LETTER FROM ALEXANDER MCKEE TO MAJOR
ARENT S. DEPEYSTER
- Shawanese Village
- July 8, 1780
Sir/
The last letter I did myself the honor
of writing you was dated from the Plains of the Great Miamis containing
an account of every thing material to that time, and that our Force was
to be collected upon the Ohio, at the mouth of that river we arrived the
13th of June & waited some days for a few chiefs of Chollicorthy
[Chillicothe], who had fallen upon the river some miles above us, and
upon their arrival at our camp, the number of Indians exceeded seven
hundred when it was proposed and strongly urged by us, to proceed down
the river against the enemies forts at the Falls of the Ohio, where we
could have arrived in four days by water with the current. Besides this
advantage we had previously received intelligence that Col. Clarke was
gone from that place some weeks before with all the troops under his
command to take post at the Iron Banks upon the Mississippi below the
mouth of the Ohio, and that the inhabitants of the Falls, upon receiving
advice of our approach (by two prisoners who escaped from the Hurons )
they had dispatched an Express to recall him to their assistance, but as
he had a long distance, & against the current, it was not possible
for him to return in time to interrup us in the execution of our design
upon that place-but notwithstanding this favourable prospect, which
would have been a fatal stroke to the enemies settlement in that
country, the Indians could not be prevailed upon to come into it, and in
a full council of the chiefs of their several Nations, determined to
proceed to the nearest forts by way of Licking Creek giving for their
reasons that it could not be prudent to leave their villages naked &
defenceless in the neighborhood of those forts. Accordingly we advanced
by this river [Licking] as far up as the forks, where we found it
impracticable to get farther by water on account of its lowness,
therefore were obliged to get out by land, and the 20th of June I
accompanied about two hundred Indians and surrounded the enemys first
fort [Ruddle's] before day, this was done before they were in the least
apprised of us. It was then advised to remain in this situation and by
no means to alarm the fort, if it could be avoided, until the arrival of
the main body with the cannon, unless parties came out, in this case
then to endeavour to take prisoners in order to gain intelligence of the
enemies force and situation, but the eagerness of some Indians upon our
left, fired upon a small party, who came out after day-break to cut
grass-this commenced a firing, both from the fort and our Indians, which
lasted till about 12 o'clock, when Capt. Bird came up with the small
gun, and a battery being erected, after two discharges upon the enemy's
fort, & the six pounder at the same time arriving in sight
determined them to surrender the place.
The Indian chiefs agreed to the
proposals, as well for the preservation of the prisoners as an equal
distribution of the plunder amongst their several nations, to prevent
jealousies or dissatisfaction, but the violence of the Lake Indians in
seizing the Prisoners, contrary to agreement, threw everything into
confusion, however the other nations next morning return all they had
taken, back into Capt. Bird's charge.
The 27th I had dispatched some spies
toward the enemies second fort [Martin's], who returned in the afternoon
with a prisoner, having intercepted two men going express to alarm the
other forts of our approach. The intelligence received from this
prisoner determined us to set out immediately for the second fort, and
reached it the next morning about 10 o'clock, being the 28th. The
prisoner taken the day before was sent in to inform them of the
situation- they agree'd to surrender, & being removed under a guard
of the troops, the great propensity for plunder again occasioned
discontent amongst them, and several parties set out toward the adjacent
forts to plunder horses.
The prisoners now becoming numerous
amounting to between three and four hundred, with a scarcity of
provisions, added to many other insurmountable difficulties that must
have attended going farther, determined the chiefs to return from this
place, and the next day we were back at the first fort: here we were
overtaken by one of the small parties with a prisoner, who had left the
Falls of the Ohio eight days before; he says, that Col. Clarke was daily
expected there and was to command an army against the Indians, who were
to leave that place the 10th of July. He also adds that an account was
brought there fron~ the inhabitants, that Charles Town South Carolina
was in actual possession of the British Troops. I accompanied Capt. Bird
back to the Forks of Licking Creek, from whence he was to proceed by
water & having a very high flood would be able to reach the big
Miamis in a very short time, the scarcity of provisions obliged the
Indians to disperse.
I engaged a few of the chiefs to stay
with Capt. Bird, more would be useless and troublesome to him, as there
could be no apprehension of danger immediately from the enemy, however I
have engaged the chiefs of the lower villages since my arrival, to send
a party down upon the Ohio in his rear, and to send spies towards the
Falls. The enemy abandoned two other forts, which has been set on fire
by the Indians. These are the most material circumstances relative to
this expedition carried on by the Indians in conjunction with the King's
troops.
I am with great respect &c. &c
A. McKee
Notes
[1] Milo
Quaife, "When Detroit Invaded Kentucky, " The Filson Club
History Quarterly, I (January, 1927), 53-57.
[2] Letter,
Col. Benjamin Logan to Governor Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, August
81, 1782, Calendar of Virginia State Papers, (Richmond: James E.
Goode, 1883), III, 280-83.
[3] Draper
MSS, 10S81-85. The Draper Manuscripts are owned by the Wisconsin
Historical Society.
[4]
Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West (New York: The
Knickerbocker Press, 1909), II, 102.
[5] Sir
Frederick Haldimand, a British Lieutenant General, succeeded Sir Guy
Carleton as Governor of Canada in 1778, serving until 1784. His papers
which have been bequeathed to the British Museum, cover 232 volumes of
manuscript.
[6] Quaife,
"When Detroit Invaded Kentucky," op cit., I, 53.
Captain Henry Bird's report to Major Arent S. DePeyster, British
Commander at Detroit, reinforces the contention that the raid on
Martin's and Ruddle's Stations constituted a British invasion of
Kentucky. See letter, Captain Bird to Major Arent S. DePeyster, July 1,
1780, Appendix A.
[7] Robert
S. Cotterill, History of Pioneer Kentucky (Cincinnati: Johnson
& Hardin, 1917), 1-15.
[8] See
Lewis and Richard H. Collins, History of Kentucky. . . (Louisville: John
P. Morton, 1924), I, 17-20, for the increasing rate at which settlers
came to Kentucky by the Ohio River route.
[9] Henry
Howe, Historical Collections of the Great West (Cincinnati: Henry
Howe, 1873), 211, 217.
[10]
Cotterill, op. cit., 248; Howe, op. cit., 215-17.
[11] Thomas
D. Clark, A History of Kentucky (Lexington, Ky.: The John
Bradford Press, 1954), 66-76; Robert Davidson, History of the
Presbyterian Church in the State of Kentucky. (New York: Robert
Carter, 1847), 63-87; Daniel Drake, Pioneer Life in Kentucky
(Cincinnati: The Robert Clark & Co., 1870), 41-138; William C.
Watts, Chronicles of a Kentucky Settlement ( New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1897), 458-62; John W. Wayland, A History of
Rockingham County Virginia (Dayton, Va.; Ruebush - Elkins Company,
1912), 382-83.
[12]
Collins, op. cit., II, 325.
[13] At
Lair, Kentucky, a station on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad,
between Cincinnati and Lexington, about four miles south of Cynthiana.
[14]
Collins op. cit., 11, 325-26.
[15] John
Martin was born on the Atlantic Ocean, 1723, three days after his Quaker
parents had left the shore of Ireland for America. He was one of Clark's
six river spies, appointed by Colonel Logan to serve with John Conrad.
Boone had appointed Simon Kenton and Thomas Brooks, and Harrod had
appointed Samuel Moore and Bates Collier. It was their duty to go two by
two each week and range up and down the Ohio River to watch for Indian
signs and give timely warning to the forters. Collins, op cit., II,
423-24; William H. Perrin and Robert Peter, History of Bourbon,
Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties. . . (Chicago: O. O. Baskin
& Co., 1882). 36-37.
[16] John
Haggin joined Colonel Bowman's Expedition in 1779 as Lieutenant Haggin
with forty men from Ruddle's and Martin's Forts. As Captain Haggin he
acted as one of Clark's river spies. He fell at the Battle of Blue Licks
in 1782 while leading a charge. His blockhouse, built on a high bluff
was surrounded by six or seven cabins. There, in a sharp Indian attack,
two men, McFall and McCombs, were killed. Collins, op. cit., II,
325, 425, 445-46, 732.
[17]
Situated at the Big Spring on the Buffalo Trace in Scott County where
Georgetown now stands.
[18] Draper
MSS, 17CC130.
[19] Also
called St. Asaphs.
[20]
Collins, op cit., II, 327-28; Draper MSS, 11CC268; William H.
English, Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio
(Indianapolis & Kansas City: The Bowen - Merrill Company, 1896) I,
142-43.
[21]
Collins, op. cit., I, 13.
[22]
Michael Stoner was one of the most courageous of the early settlers. He
was in Kentucky as early as 1767, hunting on Rockcastle River with James
Harrod. He planted Strode's Field on Stoner, between Paris and
Winchester, Kentucky, in 1774. He lived in Boonesboro Fort in 1775 and
was called by Henderson in his journal, "our hunter". He owned
large bodies of land on Stoner Creek, giving fifty acres of it to James
Kennedy for "stocking" a plow for him and one thousand acres
to Samuel Clay for a negro woman, a horse and a gun. He was selected by
Boone and appointed with him by Governor Dunmore to conduct the
surveyors into the settlements when the Indians were on the warpath,
preceding the Battle of Point Pleasant. They made two trips over the
mountains, covering about eight hundred miles in sixty days, probably
breaking all records for speed and endurance for that day.
[23] Bird's
raid into Kentucky was one of four British offensive plans to recover
the west. Temple Bodley, George Roger Clark. . . (Cambridge:
Houghten Mifflin Company, 1926), p. 160.
[24] Arent
Schuyler DePeyster was born in New York City, June 27, 1736. At the age
of nineteen he entered the 8th Regiment and saw service abroad and in
various parts of North America. His service in the Northwest during the
Revolution was particularly notable. He was Commandant of Mackinac from
1774 until after the capture of Governor Henry Hamilton by George Rogers
Clark at Vincennes, when (1779) DePeyster was promoted to the command at
Detroit. He continued to command at Detroit until 1784. DePeyster and
Askin were staunch friends, as many letters in the Askin papers attest.
DePeyster accompanied his regiment to England where he died, November 2,
1832, in his 97th year. He was a man of literary tastes and a confirmed
rhymster. A close friend and neighbor of DePeyster at Dumfries was
Robert Burns, and what was said to have been the last poem ever composed
by the latter was one addressed to DePeyster in reply to an inquiry
concerning Burns' health. Milo M. Quaife (ed.) The John Askin Papers
(Detroit: The Detroit Library Commission, 1928), I, 72.
[25] Henry
Hamilton, a native of Ireland, came to America as a soldier in the
French and Indian War. He served under Amherst at Louisville and under
Wolf at Quebeq. From 1761-1763 he was in the West Indies, and some time
later his regiment was returned to England. Prior to the Revolution the
civil administration of all Canada had been entrusted to a governor with
headquarters at Quebec. Soon after the war began, the Earl of Dartmouth
created the office of lieutenant governor at Mackinac, Detroit, and
Vincennes, and Hamilton receive d the appointment at Detroit. He reached
detroit November, 9, 1775, and his vigorous and stormy administration
was terminated by his departure on the Vincennes campaign in the Autumn
of 1778 from which he was never to return to Detroit. Consigned to
imprisonment in Virginia, on securing his release, he went to England
whence he returned to Canada in 1782 bearing the appointment of
Lieutenant-Governor. His administration was beset with difficulties even
as the earlier one at Detroit had been. Ibid. I, 72-73.
[26] Quaife,
"When Detroit Invaded Kentucky," op.cit., I, 55-56.
[27] Ibid.,
I, 56.
[28] See
Appendix B, photostated from the ledger of Macomb, Edgar and Macomb,
British Fiscal Agents, The Askin Papers, Burton Collection,
Detroit, Michigan.
[29] Both
Jacob and Jonathan Schieffling were active on the British side of the
Revolution. Jonathan served as lieutenant in Louis Chabert De Joncaire's
company of Detroiters which went on Captain Henry Bird's invasion of
Kentucky in 1780.
[30]
Appendix A.
[31]
Matthew Elliott was a native of Ireland who came to America as a young
man in 1761. He served in Bouquet's expedition for the relief of Fort
Pitt in 1763. For many years thereafter he was engaged in the Indian
trade or the government service, or both with headquarters at Pittsburg.
By the opening of the Revolution he was conducting rather extensive
trading operations and had acquired much influence over the Indians of
the Ohio Valley. Probably by reason of his government employment,
Elliott remained loyal to the King, and in the autumn of 1776 set out
with two or three followers and a considerable train of goods for
Detroit. En route his goods and slaves were seized by the Indians, but
Elliott himself reached Detroit in safety. There, however, he incurred
the suspicion of disloyalty and was arrested and sent down to Quebec by
Gov. Hamilton. On being released he made his way back to Pittsburg,
where he associated with other loyalists and became known as a dangerous
character. On March 28, 1778, Elliott again sought refuge at Detroit in
company with Alexander McKee and Simon Girtv. This time he won the
confidence of the British authorities and was soon employed in the
Indian department. Throughout the remainder of the Revolution he was an
active leader of Indians in the warfare in the West, participating in
almost every important expedition in the Ohio region during the war. He
led 300 Indians in the defeat of Col. Crawford's expedition, aided in
the slaughter of the Kentuckians at the Blue Licks and served with
Hamilton on the Vincennes campaign and with Bird on his invasion of
Kentucky in 1780. He effectively served his country in the operations in
Western Ohio from 1790 to 1794, and July, 1796, was promoted to
superintendency of Indian Affairs. When war with the United States
seemed again impending, the government found that no one else could
control the western Indians, and Elliott was reappointed Superintendent
of Indian Affairs. He was as much as any man responsible for the River
Raisin Massacre. Few men have known how to control the American Indian
as successfully as did Elliott, and none have been such bitter foes of
the United States. He died at Burlington Heights, May 7, 1814, a
fugitive from his home which had been ravaged by the victorious
Americans. Elliott married Sarah Donovan, daughter of Matthew Donovan,
one of Detroit's early schoolmasters. The outward shell of his home
still stands on the shore of the Detroit River, a short distance below
Amherstberg. The John Askin Papers, I, 257-58.
[32]
Alexander McKee was a native of Pennsylvania who engaged in the Indian
trade, and in 1772 was appointed Deputy Agent of Indian Affairs at Fort
Pitt. When the Revolution came on, McKee sympathized with the British
government. In 1777 he was imprisoned by General Hand. Being released on
parole, he fled to Detroit in the spring of 1778, in company with Simon
Girty and Matthew Elliott. In the same year he was appointed captain in
the British Indian Department, and before long was given rank of deputy
agent, and subsequently became Superintendent of Indian Affairs at
Detroit. In 1789 he was made a member of the Land Board of the District
of Hesse. McKee was an inveterate foe of the Americans and had much to
do with inciting the Indians to war against them. The Battle of Fallen
Timbers in August, 1794, was fought in the immediate vicinity of his
trading establishment on the Maumee River, and at its conclusion, Wayne
proceeded to raze his property. The day before the battle McKee
intending to participate in it, made his will. A copy of this will is
now in the Burton Historical Collection. McKee removed to the River
Thames upon the American occupation of Detroit, and died there of
lockjaw on January 13, 1799. Ibid., I, 801.
[33] Simon
Girty was born in Pennsylvania in 1741. At the age of fifteen captured
by the Senecas and lived with them as a prisoner for three years. He
subsequently acted as an interpreter, and in this capacity served in
Lord Dunmore's campaign. Loyalist in his sympathies, Girty in the spring
of 1778 accompanied Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliott on their flight
from Pittsburg to Detroit. Girty, like Elliott and McKee, became a
notable leader of the Indians in the Northwest in their warfare with the
Americans. For some reason Simon Girty was regarded by the Americans
with greater detestation than any other of their foes, and he seems to
have returned their feeling in full measure. In the summer of 1784 Girty
married Catherine Malott, who had been living for several years as a
captive of the Delaware tribe in Ohio, and established a home a short
distance below Amherstberg. For a decade longer he continued to lead, or
encourage, the western Indians in their warfare with the Americans, but
this phase of his career was definitely closed by Wayne's victory at
Fallen Timbers and the peace which followed it. Save for a considerable
period of exile during the War of 1812 when the Americans were in
control of Amherstberg, Girty continued to reside there until his death,
Februarv 18, 1818. Ibid. I, 308-09.
[34] Pioneer
Collections Report of the Pioneer and Historical Society of the State of
Michigan (Lansing: Thorp & Godfrey, 1886), IX, 584.
[35]Ibid.,
XIX, 528.
[36] John
Bradford in 1787 founded the Kentucky Gazette, the second
newspaper west of the Alleghanies. In this newspaper, from August 25,
1826 to January 9, 1829, Bradford wrote his invaluable "Notes on
Kentucky," a contemporary account of the pioneer period. The Public
Library of Lexington, Kentucky, has in its possession, the most complete
file of the Kentucky Gazette.
[37]
General Clark had cannon at the fort on the Falls of the Ohio.
[38]
Abraham Chapline, a native of Virginia, came to Kentucky in 1774 with
James Harrod. He took part in the battle of Point Pleasant and went with
Clark on his Illinois expedition. Detailed to escort Colonel Roger's
party to Fort Pitt, he was captured at its defeat and taken by the
Indians to the head waters of Miami River, where he was forced to run
the gauntlet and was then adopted into an Indian family. He later
escaped, served till the end of the war, and settled in Mercer County,
Kentucky, where he practiced medicine. He also served in the Kentucky
Legislature. He died January, 1824, at Harrodsburg. Chapline Creek in
Mercer County is named for him.
[39] The
British, following the practice of the French, presented to the Indian
Chiefs large silver medals in recognition of services and as tokens of
chieftanship. A number of such medals, some with the effigy of George
III, are in the Museum of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
[40] See
Appendix C.
[41] Draper
MSS, 29J23.
[42] Ibid.,
57J51-52.
[43]
Lexington Public Library. Also found in Douglas S. Watson (ed.), John
Bradford's Historical, Etc. Notes on Kentucky (San Francisco: The
Grabhorn Press, 1932), 79-80, 87-90.
[44] Draper
MSS, 29J25.
[45] See
Appendix A.
[46] Mrs.
Peter Smith. William A. Galloway, Old Chillicothe Shawnee and Pioneer
History (Xenia, Ohio: The Buckeye Press, 1934), 52.
[47] Draper
MSS, 24S169-176.
[48]Op
cit., 58-60.
[49] Draper
MSS, 11CC28.
[50]Ibid.,
11CC35.
[51]Ibid.,
29J23.
[52]Ibid.,
11CC276-80.
[53]Ibid.,
17S200.
[54]Ibid.,
18S113.
[55]
Collins, op. cit., II, 329.
[56]
Footnote, Roosevelt, op. cit., II, 103.
[57] See
Appendix A.
[58]
Letters and affidavits of citizens, whose fathers and grandfathers had
told them the story, in possession of the writer.
[59]
English, op. cit., I, 142-43.
[60]
Galloway, op. cit., 122-23; Glenn Tucker, Tecumseh, Vision of
Glory (Indianapolis & New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.,
1956), 40-41. George W. Ruddle, a cousin of the two boys, told Lyman
Draper in 1845 that both Stephen and Abraham were adopted brothers of
Tecumseh and the Prophet and that both boys returned home seventeen
years after their capture. Draper MSS, 20J24.
[61] Draper
MSS, 13CC3.
[62] Draper
MSS, 11CC267, 13CC2.
[63]
Cooper's Run Church records in possession of Dr. Daugherty, Paris,
Kentucky.
[64] Letter
in possession of the writer.
[65] Just
back of Runnymeade, famous horse farm of Colonel Zeke Clay, Bourbon
County, Kentucky.
[66] The
Kentucky colored people were members of the church but sat in the
balcony.
[67]
Cooper's Run Church records.
[68] Now in
the possession of Dr. Daugherty, a descendant of James Garrard.
[69] Draper
MSS, 11CC33, 11CC35, 11CC276, 11CC277, 11CC278, and 29J25.
[70]Ibid.,
29J25, 11CC278.
[71]Ibid.,
11CC578.
[72]Ibid.,
12CC253.
[73] Watson
(ed.), John Bradford's Notes, op. cit., 85-87; Collins, op.
cit., II, 325-26; Draper MSS 25, Book 7:10-13, 388.
[74] Draper
MSS, 10S178.
[75] Ibid.,
29J18.
[76] Ibid.,
29J25.
[77] Ibid.,
17S200.
[78] Ibid.,
20S220.
[79] Ibid.,
18S114.
[80] Ibid.,
20S218.
[81] Ibid.,
24S169, 24S176.
[82] Ibid.
[83] Ibid.
[84]Ibid.,
57J51.
[85] Ibid.,
57J51, 57J52.
[86] Mattie
R. Davis of Lexington, Kentucky, who is a descendant of this family.
[87] Draper
MSS, 11CC137.
[88] Ibid.,
17S200.
[89] Quaife,
"When Detroit Invaded Kentucky," op cit., I, 59-60.
[90] Ibid.,
58-59.
[91] Draper
MSS, 11CC266, 267.
[92] Ibid.,
18S434, 18S435.
[93] Hubert
Hutton, 209 York Street, Louisville, Kentucky. Jap King and other
leading citizens of Cynthiana, Kentucky, are descended from Serena and
Thomas Hutton.
[94] Mattie
Davis of Lexington, Kentucky.
[95] Draper
MSS, 13CC207.
[96] This
is a copy of photostats in the possession of the author of the original
in the British Museum, through the courtesy of the Ottawa Archives. It
is a part of the collection of 232 volumes of manuscripts known as the
Haldiman Manuscripts in England and the Ottawa Manuscripts in Canada.
Sir Frederick Haldiman was Governor of Canada at the time of Bird's
invasion of Kentucky.
[97] Ibid.
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