| |
Big Bottom
1790-1791
Attacks by whites and Indians continued as “rumors of raids and murders traveled up and down the Ohio’s length.” In the summer of 1790, General Josiah Harmar commanded troops from Fort Washington, present-day Cincinnati, in a raid on Indian villages in northeastern Indiana. The burning of two settlements was of no consequence.
In 1790, 21 settlers arrived in Marietta and announced their purchase from the Ohio Land Company. This parcel on the Muskingum River, known as Big Bottom, was 40 miles by water from Marietta, and one mile from present-day Stockport. Officers at Fort Harmar and settlers in Marietta had years and experience backing them when they counseled the young men that they would be sitting-ducks for an Indian attack. These daring and foolhardy young men shrugged off the warnings. They would be only 24 miles by land from Fort Harmar and could hightail it to the Fort for refuge. They packed sufficient supplies, tools, and ammunition to carry them through several months.
A runner came upon the settlement and carried news of it to the Indians who were preparing for their winter camp at Waketameki, present-day Dresden. Blue Jacket led a war party of 40 intent on heaping more disgrace on Colonel Harmar with the destruction of a settlement in his neck of the woods under the protection of Fort Harmar. They found settlers living in temporary shelters as they labored to construct heavily fortified housing. The Indians went on the offensive, intending to drive off or kill the settlers. They positioned themselves on a hill across the river with a full view of the settlement. They closed in on January 2, 1791. Eleven men, one woman, and two children were killed. Three settlers escaped to Marietta, and four were taken prisoner.
Judge Rufus Putnam rushed to pen a letter to his close friend, President George Washington, giving a full report on the attack and ending with these words: “Sir, unless the government sends a body of troops for our protection we are a ruined people.”
The escapees returned the next day with a party from Marietta and Belpre. Indians ran raids across the area for several days thereafter. This was more than a random attack on settlers. It was organized, and it sent terror up and down the spines of the settlers. It did not, however, send them packing.
|
