Eight miles from Westfall, on Sippo Creek, Dunmore had his camp, known in history as "Camp Charlotte." There he had an interview with the Shawanoe chief Cornstalk, and arranged for a treaty. The Mingo village was in the vicinity, but the Mingoes refused to join in the treaty, and Colonel Crawford was sent against their town. It was on this occasion that Logan, the Mingo chief, made his celebrated speech. Lord Dunmore then returned from the west, leaving small garrisons at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, Pittsburgh and Fort Fincastle, now Wheeling.
The year 1775, the last of our colonial existence under the British crown, was not marked by any very important events, so far as related to the western Indians, except that agents in the British interest were endeavoring to induce the Indians to identify themselves with their cause. During the revolutionary struggle a far greater number of the Indians were with the British than were in the service of the
Americans. No serious trouble occurred with the Indians until the blow came in retaliation for an act on the part of the whites, for which there was no excuse or palliation. This was the murder of Cornstalk, the leading chief of the Scioto Shawanoes, early in the summer of 1777. While his people, under the influence of British agents, were generally for war, he remained steadfastly in favor of peace, and in the interest of peace had gone over to the American fort at Point Pleasant. There Cornstalk and Red Hawk, a young chief of some note, were held by Captain Arbuckle as hostages for the good conduct of their people. When the two chiefs had been held in cofinement a couple of days, Cornstalk's son appeared at the fort, and he too was held as a hostage. On the third day two unknown savages shot a white man who was hunting in that vicinity. The dead man's comrades raised the cry of "kill the red dogs in the fort!" Captain Arbuckle protested, but the three Indian captives were slain by the infuriated men. Cornstalk was a man whose bravery, energy and good sense placed him among the greatest Indian heroes of this country. His unprovoked murder again roused the savage desire for vengeance, and was immediately followed by retaliation upon the whites.
The Zanes and some other families had settled at Wheeling in 1770, and four years later Fort Fincastle was built there. In 1776 the name was changed to Fort Henry, in honor of the eloquent governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry. It was occupied by a garrison of forty-two fighting men, when on the 26th of September, 1777, several prowling savages appeared in the vicinity, causing such alarm that the settlers took refuge in the fort. On that day two men
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Introductory Page| Portrait of MA-KA-TAI-ME-SHE-KIA-KIAH (Black Hawk)| Title Page| Page 2|
Preface (pages 3 - 6)| Illustrations (page 7)| Contents (pages 8 - 17)
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