kill him, as he would make a fine little Indian after a while. The Indian made a motion to her to walk on with her child. The other Indian then struck the negro boy with the pipe end of his tomahawk, which knocked him down, and then dispatched him by a blow with the edge across the back of the neck and scalped him.

About 4 o'clock in the evening, they reached the river, about a mile above Wellsburg, and carried a canoe, which had been thrown up in some drift wood, into the river. They got into this canoe, and worked it down. to the mouth of Rush run, a distance of about five miles. They pulled up the canoe into the mouth of the run, as far as they could, then went up the run about a mile, and encamped for the night. The Indians gave the prisoners all their own clothes for covering, and added one of their own blankets. Awhile before daylight, the Indians got up and put another blanket over them.

About sunrise they began their march up a very steep hill, and about 2 o'clock halted on Short creek, about twenty miles from the place whence they had set out in the morning. The place where they halted had been an encampment shortly before, as well as a place of deposit for the plunder which they had recently taken from the house of a Mr. Vanmeter, whose family had been killed. The plunder was deposited in a sycamore tree. Here they kindled a fire and put on a brass kettle, with a turkey which they had killed on the way, to boil in sugar water.

Mr. Glass, the first husband of Mrs. Brown, was working with a hired man in a field, about a quarter of a mile from the house, when his wife and family were taken, but knew nothing of the event until 2 o'clock. After searching about the place, and going to several houses in quest of his family, he went to Mr. Wells's fort, collected ten men besides himself, and the same night lodged in a cabin on the bottom on which the town now stands.

Next morning they discovered the place from which the Indians had taken the canoe from the drift, and their tracks at the place of their embarkation. Mr. Glass could distinguish the track of his wife by the print of the high heel of her shoe. They crossed over the river and went down on the other side until they came near the mouth of Rush run; but discovering no tracks of the Indians, most of the men concluded that they would go to the mouth of Muskingum, by water, and therefore wished to turn back. Mr. Glass begged of them to go as far as the mouth of Short creek, which was only two or three miles farther. To this they agreed. When they got to the mouth of Rush run, they found the canoe of the Indians. This was identified by a proof, which goes to shew the presence of mind of Mrs. Brown. While going down the river, one of the Indians threw into the water several papers, which he had taken out of Mr. Glass's trunk, some of which she picked up out of the water, and under pretence of giving them to the child, dropped them into the bottom of the canoe. These left no doubt. The trail of the Indians and their prisoners up the run to their camp, and then up the river hill, was soon discovered. The trail at the time, owing to the softness of the ground and the hight of the weeds, was easily followed.

About an hour after the Indians had halted, Mr. Glass and his men came within sight of the smoke of their camp. The object then was to save the lives of the prisoners, by attacking the Indians so unexpectedly, as not to allow them time to kill them. With this view they crept as slyly as they could, till they got withinsomething more than one hundred yards from the camp. Fortunately, Mrs. Brown's little son had gone to a sugar tree to get some water; but not being able to get it out of the bark trough, his mother had stepped out of the camp to get it for him. The negro woman was sitting some distance from the two Indians, who were looking attentively at a scarlet jacket which they had taken some time before. On a sudden they drop

ped the jacket, and turned their eyes towards the men, who supposing they were discovered, immediately discharged several guns, and rushed upon them, at full speed, with an Indian yell. One of the Indians, it was supposed, was wounded the first fire, as he fell and dropped his gun and shot pouch. After running about one hundred yards, a second shot was fired after him, by Maj. M'Guire, which brought him to his hands and knees; but there was no time for pursuit, as the Indians had informed Mrs. Brown that there was another encampment close by. They therefore returned home with all speed, and reached the Beach Bottom fort that night.

The other Indian, at the first fire, ran a little distance beyond Mrs. Brown, so that she was in a right line between him and the white men. Here he halted for a little to put on his shot pouch, which Mr. Glass, for the moment, mistook for an attempt to kill his wife with a tomahawk.

This artful maneuver no doubt saved the life of the savage, as his pursuers durst not shoot at him without risking the life of Mrs. Brown.

CHAPTER XIII.

Lewis Wetzel.

The following narrative goes to shew how much may be effected by the skill, bravery, and physical activity of a single individual, in the partisan warfare carried on against the Indians, on the western frontier.

Lewis Wetzel was the son of John Wetzel, a German, who settled on Big Wheeling, about fourteen miles from the river. He was amongst the first adventurers into that part of the country. His education, like that

of his cotemporaries, was that of the hunter and warrior. When a boy he adopted the practice of loading and firing his rifle as he ran. This was a means of making him so destructive to the Indians afterwards.

When about thirteen years old, he was taken pris oner by the Indians, together with his brother Jacob, about eleven years old. Before he was taken he received a slight wound in the breast from a bullet, which carried off a small piece of his breast bone. The second night after they were taken, the Indians encamped at the Big Lick, twenty miles from the river, on the waters of M'Mahan's creek. The boys were not confined. After the Indians had fallen asleep, Lewis whispered to his brother Jacob that he must get up and go back home with him. Jacob at first objected, but afterwards got up and went along with him. When they had got about one hundred yards from the camp, they sat down on a log. "Well," said Lewis, "we can't go home barefooted; I will go back and get a pair of moccasons for each of us;" and accordingly did so, and returned. After sitting a little longer, "Now," says he, "I will go back and get father's gun, and then we'll start." This he effected. They had not traveled far on the trail by which they came, before they heard the Indians coming after them. It was a moonlight night. When the Indians came pretty nigh them, they stepped aside into the bushes, let them pass, then fell into their rear and traveled on. On the return of the Indians they did the same. They were then pursued by two Indians on horseback, whom they dodged in the same way. The next day they reached Wheeling in safety, crossing from the Indian shore to Wheeling island, on a raft of their own making. By this time Lewis had become almost spent from his wound.

In the year 1782, after Crawford's defeat, Lewis went with a Thomas Mills, who had been in the campaign, to get his horse, which he had left near the place where St. Clairsville now stands. At the Indian springs, two miles from St. Clairsville, on the Wheeling road, they

were met by about forty Indians, who were in pursuit of the stragglers from the campaign. The Indians and white men discovered each other about the same moment. Lewis fired first and killed an Indian, while the Indians wounded Mills in the heel, who was soon overtaken and killed. Four of the Indians then singled out, dropped their guns, and pursued Wetzel. Wetzel loaded his rifle as he ran. After running about half a mile, one of the Indians having got within eight or ten steps of him, Wetzel wheeled round and shot him down, ran, and loaded his gun as before. After going about three quarters of a mile farther, a second Indian came so close to him, that when he turned to fire, the Indian caught the muzzle of the gun, and as he expressed it, "he and the Indian had a severe wring." He however succeeded in bringing the muzzle to the Indian's breast, and killed him on the spot. By this time, he as well as the Indians were pretty well tired; yet the pursuit was continued by the two remaining Indians. Wetzel, as before, loaded his gun, and stopped several times during this latter chase: when he did so, the Indians treed themselves. After going something more than a mile, Wetzel took advantage of a little open piece of ground over which the Indians were passing, a short distance behind him, to make a sudden stop for the purpose of shooting the foremost, who got behind a little sapling which was too small to cover his body. Wetzel shot and broke his thigh. The wound, in the issue, proved fatal. The last of the Indians then gave a little yell, and said, "No catch dat man, gun always loaded," and gave up the chase, glad no doubt to get off with his life.

It is said that Lewis Wetzel, in the course of the Indian wars in this part of the country, killed twentyseven Indians, besides a number more along the frontier settlements of Kentucky.