Mary Moore afterwards became the wife of Mr. Brown, a presbyterian preacher in Augusta. Her brother James Moore, jr., still resides in Tazewell county; and notwithstanding that he witnessed the cruel murder of his mother and five brothers and sisters by the hands of the savages, he is said to have formed and still retain a strong attachment to the Indians. The anniversary of the burning of Mrs. Moore & her daughter, is kept by many in Tazewell as a day of fasting and prayer; and that tragical event gave rise to some affecting verses, generally called “Moore’s Lamentation.”
At the treaty of Au Glaize, Morgan met with the Indian who had given him this chase, and who still had his gun. After talking over the circumstance, rather more composedly than they had acted it, they agreed to test each other’s speed in a friendly race. The Indian being beaten, rubbed his hams and said, “stiff, stiff; too old, too old.” “Well, said Morgan, you got the gun by outrunning me then, and I should have it now for outrunning you;” and accordingly took it.
McWhorter: “Alexander West was with Col. William Lowther on this expedition. They followed the Indians to the Little Kanawha River.”––R. G. T.
Another case of border superstition is related to me by McWhorter. Alexander West had been doing sentry duty most of the night before, and on being relieved early in the morning, sat with his back to a tree and, rifle across his lap, fell to sleep. On awakening he sprang to his feet and cried, “Boys, look out! Some of us will be killed to-day! I saw the red doe in my dream; that is the sign of death; I never knew it to fail!” When Bonnett fell, it was considered in camp to be a verification of the “red sign.” Bonnett was carried by his comrades on a rude stretcher, but in four days died. His body was placed in a cleft of rock and the entrance securely chinked.––R. G. T.
Footnotes for Chapter 17
The “Wilderness Road” (or “trace”) was the overland highway through Cumberland Gap. It was sometimes called “Boone’s trace.” From North Carolina and Southern Virginia, it was the nearest road to Kentucky; to those living farther north, the Ohio was the favorite highway. While the river was an easier path, it was more dangerous on account of Indians: but travelers of the early period who had come down the Ohio, preferred returning east by the Wilderness Road to poling up stream. See Thomas Speed’s Wilderness Road, in the Filson Club publications (Louisville, 1886.)––R. G. T.