The pan-religious revivals of the 1800's thrugh the 1830's also changed "history."
Even the Archer family, recorded as the first Roman Catholic family in SW PA, and founders of the first Roman Catholic Church in Ohio... got caught up in the "'Second Great Awakening" that lead to the rise of the Methodists and the Free-Will Baptists. (belieivng that people could, by the act of self-will, accept Salvation from Christ). And abandoned Catholicism for Methodism (and their descendants remain so today.)
Anyways, there was also a "rivalist" in the crowds named Simon Kenton. And, as history moved into romanticism, so did his past.
But that would largely lay dormant, until the oft-forgotten Simon Kenton was given a new lease in Popular History by Allan Eckert.
Anyways....
It is said that children model what they live, and the other "bookend" in the Wetzel family was Jacob, the last son, and second youngest born in 1765. And who would be captured as a kid along with Lewis...
Jacob first gets attention for his and Lewis' capture and escape. Then he resurfaces as the maker of the "False Man" mannequin the Wetzels would put in the doorway of their cabin when first opening the door in the morning to foil the Indian tactic of waiting to shoot the man-of-the-house as he stepped out to tend to his animals. It would be soon be put to use when two Indians showed up while the rest of the Wetzels were away, with only Jacob and the youngest daughter Susannah at home. Susannah opened the door, holding up the dummy, while Jacob stood to the other side. Two shot passed through it. Susannah dropped it, and the two warriors rush out from cover toward the door. Jacob stepped into the doorway, fired, and dropped the leading warrior. He stepped back to speed load, as Susannah slammed and barred the door. Jacob relaoded in a flash, basically puirng down powder and two loose balls. As the Indian gained the door, he stuck the muzzle into the port, and fired- killing the second Indian.
Sometime around 1790, Jacob moved west in KY, to Kenton's Station on Lawrence Creek (modern Washington, KY). Jacob would join Kenton's "ranger/spy" group, and two became friends. (yeah, revised history later distanced itself from Kenton's association and connection with the Wetzel family.)
One Fall, Simon and Jacob had made plans for a hunt near the Kentucky River. But when they arrived at the spot chosen for their camp, at the mouth of the KY River, they saw Indian sign. Giving up the hunt, they decided to "recon" the Indians as to number and possible intent. (Yeah, another war trail fording place..)
On the second day, near dark, they found the Indians' camp of five warriors. Planning to attack before dawn, they found a large downed or fallen tree, and decided to hide for the night. Before daylight, with just enough light to see to shoot, they attacked.
Simon happened to have a "Wender" or double rifle. He fired first, followed by Jacob. Kenton revolved the second barrel, and fired. Three sleeping Indians were hit. The two unhit warriors, awoken by three shots, thought themsleves outnumbered at least 3:2, and bolted with Simon and Jacob in pursuit. They ran them down, and scalped them, before returning to the Indian camp to take the remaining three and any plunder.
In March of 1791, Jacob, the brother of Daniel Greathouse of "Logan fame," had started down the Ohio with a large party of settlers bound for land in KY. Coming up the Ohio, was a group of soldiers whose enlistments had expired and were returning to Fort Pitt- travelling with a group of traders going back for new supplies for "safety in numbers." On March 19, near the mouth of the Scioto River (yeah, sigh, another war trail and ford...) Indians from the Ohio side opened fire and killed several of the soldiers. On March 25 the party that included the Greathouses... passed by the same place and were fired upon (possibly by the same Indians.)
One of the boats made it to Limestone with the news. The lads were rounded up by Alexander Orr, numbering a substantial 300 men who went off to investigate and maybe catch the Indians. Eight miles up from the mouth of the Scioto River, they found the remains of the traders from two weeks before. A half mile to the north, up the Sciota, a scouitng party consisting of Kenton, Jacob Wetzel, Joe Lemon, and some others
found the bodies ofo three dead and rotting Indians haivng been placed in the hole left by a fallen tree's roots, and covered with a little dirt. Despite the stench, Lemon went down into the hole for the three scalps.
Seeing no further sign of interest, the scouts went down to the Ohio and headed west. Three miles below the mouth of the Scioto, they found the site of an attack. And found the mutilated bodies tha tincluded Jacob Greathouse and his wife, disembowled with the sapling method. Plus, left for dead and dying, the Indians left them for the pigs that had been turned loose from the settlers' boats, and the vultures.
Kenton and Jacob Wetzel endured the stench long enough to bury the Greathouses. (In the summer of 1771, 16 year old Kenton, aka "Butler" had first met Greathouse and Fort Pitt, and had bee invited to join his hunting party of William Grills and the two Mahon brothers.) But they could not, or would not, go on. One of the other men in the scouting party, named Luther Calvin, managed to scrape the remains of the other 14 settlers and the slaughtered farm animals and push or drag them to the bank and into the Ohio River.
Next: revenge.
MA
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The men had barely returned back home from the "Greathouse" attack at the Scioto River, when words came in the a large war party had come down the Scioto, passed Limestone Creek, and had moved on into KY. It was thought that they might be the same Indians responsible for the Greathouse business.
Another patrol of spies came in, and reported finding four large war canoes sunk at the mouth of Snag Creek (by the usual metod of hiding canoes by sinking them and filling them with rocks...).
A party of men was quickly organized that included Simon Kenton, Jacob Wetzel, Daniel Boone's cousin Jacob Boone, Fielding Figgans, and Neal Washburn.
After covering about 25 miles downstream, they came to the mouth of Snag Creek, and crossed over the Ohio, setting up a camp inland and lying in ambush back form the shore for the Indians to return. And waited. And waited through the next day. And into the third day...
Finally a canoe with three Indians swimming seven stolen horses was seen. As the canoe aproached the Ohio bank, they opened fire, killing two and wounding the third Indian. They waded out, and tomahawked the wounded Indian to death. Jacob Wetzel drew his knife to flay one of the Indians to pieces to make a razor strop, but Kenton talked him out of it.
The Indians were dumped in the river, the canoe hidden, the horses taken a ways off shore, and the ambush reset.
The next day, three of warriors appeared on the KY side and started to raise ar canoe at Snag Creek, with five horses in tow.
As before, they were allowed to paddle across swimming teh five horses, and as they neared the Ohio shore they were shot down.
And once again, the ambush reset.
The next day, late at night, a number of Indians called out to the Ohio side expecting to hear from the other warriors who were to meet up and rendezvous with them there. But there was only silence. The Indians sent a spy across unbeknownst to the frontiersmen, who spied their camp, and returned across the Ohio to warn the rest.
The next morning, the Indians had not crossed or even been seen on the KY shore. The Kentuckians decided they were gone, and crossed back to the KY side. Figuring they had hung aorund in one spot long enough, and might be needed elsewhere in KY, they had to be content with killing six Indians in revenge for the 16 Whites killed at the mouth of the Scioto River, and the 12 horses recovered (assumed to have plunder on them, but it was not recorded).
The "Indian Wars" would start in January of 1791 at Big Bottom.
In the Spring of 1792 after the Arthur St. CLair disaster in November 1791, the winter on the frontier had been pretty rough due to the unchecked Indians.
St. CLair had been sacked, and replaced by "Mad" Anthony Wayne who prepared for another invasion. But there were "doves" in Congress hoping for peace with the Indians, and in April a bill was passed making it illegal to pursue Indians north of the Ohio River or to go campaigning into "Indian Country (Ohio).
Not so much for Simon Kenton...
On April 7, 1792, Kenton with about 40 mounted men- including his favorites of Lemon, Figgans, Calvin, Washburn, Alex McIntire, Samukel Frazee, Jacob Wetzel, and Joshua Davis (cousin of the Thomas Mills killed with Lewis Wetzel back at Indian Springs (St. Clairsville.) headed across the Ohio River off toward a Shawnee camp said to located on the Little Miami River.
(Insert Michael Archer Broken Record mantra about war trails here...)
But aside from Kenton's small group "favorites," there were other KY locals not that keen on breaking the "law," and not that keen on their small number going against a whole village. On teh second day, about ten were quite vocal. At nightfall, pretending to go get water for their camp, they kept on going and headed back to KY.
They were not that wrong...
The rest continued up the Little Miami trail, and the next night their forward spies came back to report they had found the Shawnee camp. And a fine camp it was. Unknown to them at the time, was a large war party including such notables as Black Snake, Black Hoof, and even a young Tecumseh.
McIntire and Washburn were sent to spy on the camp, and reported back that they thought there were too many warriros for the 30 Kentuckians to attack in daylight.
Kenton called a conference.
The men were divided on what to do. Some wanted to leave and go back to KY. Some wanted to fortify their camp and build breastworks to defend against a Shawnee attack. But the more bold, wanted to use the Indian ways against them, and attack before first dawn in the morning. Somehow the decision was made to attack.
Samuel Frazee and Jacob Wetzel were sent as "night spies" to watch the Shawnee, and to get close enough to see by the light of their fires how the camp was laid out or organized.
Later, Wetzel and Frazee returned reporting that the camp was large, consisting mostly of bark shelters and a large officer's marquee taken from St. Clair's men (believed set up for the chiefs)..
Wetzel's recon was not well received by the less than enthusiastic Kentuckians who had given in about attacking. Again, a faction wanted to pull out. Somehow they were persuaded not to (the romantic version credits Wetzel's passionate and eloquent speech about if no others would go, he would still go alone and kill at least one Indian.
Kenton wisely divided up his men to get a "mix" in each of three groups of ten. He took command of the center group, and with McIntire and Calvin on either flank, they moved toward the camp in the darkk of night. They crept up upon the sleeping camp, the Shawnees confident they were safe based on where they were at. And they waited for dawn, some three hours away.
But, a camp dog smelled them on the wind, and started barking. A number of Indians got up to investigate and followed after the dark towards Calvin's men. As the Indians approached, the more nervous men in Calvin's group cocked their rifles. The element of srprise lost, Calvin dropped the leading Indian closest to him, and the fight was on.
It was dark, and the fighting was off-and-on as individual warriors or small groups of warriors found individual or small groups of Kentuckians to shoot or engage hand-to-hand.
That continued until near first light, when Calvin heard splashing from the creek he had placed his men in front of, and an Indian bullet cut down the man in front of him, Samuel Barr. ThHnking that the Indians had them surrounded, Calvin yelled that they were surrounded.
For some reason, first one man or two, and then all of the surviving 30 men, heard things as "run away," and they all bolted for their camp, paired off in prearranged two's, and rode off toward KY.
Kenton and Lemon were the last two to come into the redezvous site (one of Robert Rogers' "rules" from the F & I War actually).
Two Kentuckians were lost- Samuel Barr that Calvin had seen killed, and Alexander McIntire ("little red-headed Aleck") who was missing and presumed KIA or capture/tortured/killed.
Years later, it would be learned that he Shawnee had lost 17 killed or wounded.
MA
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