Washington had a spirit of romance in his nature which led him intensely to enjoy such scenes. And yet he was at the farthest remove from a mere pleasure-seeker. His journal shows that his mind was much engrossed with the great object of the expedition. He carefully examined the soil, the growth of timber, and the tracts of land most suitable for immediate settlement.
At Logstown, Colonel Crogan, and the officers of the fort returned up the river, and left the adventurers to pursue their voyage into the solitary realms beyond. About seventy-five miles below Fort Pitt they came to quite an important Indian village, called Mingotown. Here again, amid all these scenes of peace and beauty, where man might enjoy almost the bliss of Eden, they came to the sad evidences of our fallen race. The whole population was in turmoil. Sixty warriors, hideously painted and armed to the teeth, were just setting out on the warpath.
Their savage natures were roused to the highest pitch of hatred against the Cherokees, for some real or imagined wrong. With demoniac rage they were going to rush upon some Cherokee village, at midnight; to apply the torch, to dash out the brains of women and children, to tomahawk the men; and, having made such captives as they could, to bring them back to their villages, and there, burning them at the stake, to inflict upon them the most fiend-like torture.
It was also said that, about forty miles farther down the river, two white men had been recently killed. Who their murderers were was not known, or whether their object was plunder or revenge. This troubled state of affairs led Washington to hesitate whether to continue his voyage. He, however, decided to proceed, though with great circumspection. Having arrived at the spot, at the mouth of Captema creek, where the murder were said to have taken place, he found a small Indian village, two women only being there, as the men were all absent hunting. Here he learned that rumor had, as usual, been exaggerating the facts. Two traders had attempted to cross the Ohio, on the backs of their horses, swimming them; and one of them had been drowned. This was all.
The voyage of two additional days, through unbroken solitudes, brought the party to an Indian hunting camp, at the mouth of the Muskingum river. An illustrious chieftain resided here, by the name of Kiashuta. He was a sachem of the Senecas, and was considered head chief of the river tribes.[71]
Kiashuta was a renowned warrior. He had been one of the most energetic of the Indian chieftains in Pontiac’s conspiracy for the extermination of the English. The chief instantly recognized Washington. Seventeen years before, in 1753, he had formed one of the escort of the youthful Washington, across the wilderness country, to the French posts near Lake Erie.
The chief received Washington with every demonstration of friendship, presented him with a quarter of a fine buffalo, just killed, aided him in establishing his camp, and, at the camp fire, engaged in earnest conversation until near the dawn of the morning. He was a very intelligent man, of decided views as to Indian policy, and was well informed respecting the plans and measures of the English. As was the case with nearly all the chiefs, he was very anxious for peace with the white men. He expressed the earnest desire, to Washington, that friendly relations might continue to exist between them and the English, and that trade might be carried on between them upon equitable terms. Impartial history must declare that the Indians seldom if ever commenced hostilities, unless goaded to do so by intolerable wrongs.
Early the next morning the delightful voyage was resumed, beneath unclouded skies, through charming scenery, over a placid river, and in the enjoyment of as genial a clime as this earth can anywhere afford. They reached the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Here, upon a spot on the southern, or Kentucky shore, appropriately called Point Pleasant, they encamped for several days to explore the solitudes of the grand realms spreading around them.[72]
Washington describes the country as charming in the extreme. There were, in the vicinity, many beautiful lakelets of crystal water fringed with the grand forest in its autumnal vesture. Over these still waters, ducks, geese, and swans floated in numbers which could not be counted. Their gambols and their joyous notes excited the mind with the most pleasurable emotions. Flocks of fat turkeys would scarcely step aside from the path of the hunter, while buffalo, deer, and other similar game, met the eye in great abundance. The larder of our voyagers was profusely stored, and among those back woodsmen there were cooks who knew well how to find the tender cuts, and how to prepare them for their repasts with the most appetizing effect.