Life of Joseph Brant—Thayendanegea (Vol. II) / Including the Border Wars of the American Revolution and Sketches of the Indian Campaigns of Generals Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne; And Other Matters Connected with the Indian Relations of the United States and Great Britain, from the Peace of 1783 to the Indian Peace of 1795

by William L. Stone

The first thing I knew from falling asleep, was the Indians pulling me out of the bed by my feet. I then looked up, and saw the house full of Indians, every one having his gun in his left hand and tomahawk in his right. Beholding the dangerous situation in which I was, I immediately jumped to the floor on my feet, with the young child in my arms. I then took a petticoat to put on, having only the one in which I slept; but the Indians took it from me, and as many as I attempted to put on they succeeded in taking from me, that I had to go just as I had been in bed. While I was struggling with some of the savages for clothing, others of them went and took the two children out of another bed, and immediately took the two feather beds to the door and emptied them. The savages immediately began their work of plunder and devastation. What they were unable to carry with them, they destroyed. While they were at their work I made to the door, and succeeded in getting out, with one child in my arms and another by my side; but the other little boy was so much displeased by being so early disturbed in the morning, that he would not come to the door.

When I got out, I saw Mr. Wolf, one of the soldiers, going to the spring for water, and beheld two or three of the savages attempting to get between him and the block-house; but Mr. Wolf was unconscious of his danger, for the savages had not yet been discovered. I then gave a terrific scream, by which means Mr. Wolf discovered his danger, and started to run for the block-house; seven or eight Indians fired at him, but the only injury he received was a bullet in his arm, which broke it. He succeeded in making his escape to the block-house. When I raised the alarm, one of the Indians came up to me with his tomahawk, as though about to take my life; a second came and placed his hand before my mouth, and told me to hush, when a third came with a lifted tomahawk, and attempted to give me a blow; but the first that came raised his tomahawk and averted the blow, and claimed me as his squaw.

The Commissary, with his waiter, slept in the store-house near the block-house; and upon hearing the report of the guns, came to the door to see what was the matter, and beholding the danger he was in made his escape to the block-house, but not without being discovered by the Indians, several of whom fired at him, and one of the bullets went through his handkerchief, which was tied about his head, and took off some of his hair. The handkerchief, with several bullet holes in it, he afterward gave to me.

The waiter, on coming to the door, was met by the Indians, who fired upon him, and he received two bullets through the body and fell dead by the door. The savages then setup one of their tremendous and terrifying yells, and pushed forward, and attempted to scalp the man they had killed; but they were prevented from executing their diabolical purpose by the heavy fire which was kept up through the port-holes from the block-house.

In this scene of horror and alarm I began to meditate an escape, and for that purpose I attempted to direct the attention of the Indians from me, and to fix it on the block-house; and thought if I could succeed in this, I would retreat to a subterranean rock with which I was acquainted, which was in the run near where we were. For this purpose I began to converse with some of those who were near me respecting the strength of the block-house, the number of men in it, &c, and being informed that there were forty men there, and that they were excellent marksmen, they immediately came to the determination to retreat, and for this purpose they ran to those who were besieging the block-house, and brought them away. They then began to flog me with their wiping sticks, and to order me along. Thus what I intended as the means of my escape, was the means of accelerating my departure in the hands of the savages. But it was no doubt ordered by a kind Providence, for the preservation of the fort and the inhabitants in it; for when the savages gave up the attack and retreated, some of the men in the house had the last load of ammunition in their guns, and there was no possibility of procuring any more, for it was all fastened up in the store-house, which was inaccessible.

The Indians, when they had flogged me away along with them, took my oldest boy, a lad about five years of age, along with them, for he was still at the door by my side. My middle little boy, who was about three years of age, had by this time obtained a situation by the fire in the house, and was crying bitterly to me not to go, and making bitter complaints of the depredations of the savages.

But these monsters were not willing to let the child remain behind them; they took him by the hand to drag him along with them, but he was so very unwilling to go, and made such a noise by crying, that they took him up by the feet and dashed his brains out against the threshold of the door. They then scalped and stabbed him, and left him for dead. When I witnessed this inhuman butchery of my own child, I gave a most indescribable and terrific scream, and felt a dimness come over my eyes next to blindness, and my senses were nearly gone. The savages then gave me a blow across my head and face, and brought me to my sight and recollection again. During the whole of this agonizing scene I kept my infant in my arms.

As soon as their murder was effected, they marched me along to the top of the bank, about forty or sixty rods, and there they stopped and divided the plunder which they had taken from our house; and here I counted their number, and found them to be thirty-two, two of whom were white men painted as Indians.

Several of the Indians could speak English well. I knew several of them well, having seen them go up and down the Allegheny river. I knew two of them to be from the Seneca tribe of Indians, and two of them Munsees; for they had called at the shop to get their guns repaired, and I saw them there.

We went from this place about forty rods, and they then caught my uncle, John Currie's horses, and two of them, into whose custody I was put, started with me on the horses, toward the mouth of the Kiskiminetas, and the rest of them went off toward Puckety. When they came to the bank that descended toward the Allegheny, the bank was so very steep, and there appeared so much danger in descending it on horseback, that I threw myself off the horse in opposition to the will and command of the savages.