John Wetzel, Jr.

Early in the spring of 1786, or a year later, settlers had left their homes and gathered at Shepherd's Fort for protection against the Indians. Two boys left the fort early one morning to hunt horses. They were John Wetzel and Frederick Earliwine. The former was about seventeen years old and the latter several years younger. John Wetzel was much interested in the hunt, as one of the animals wanted was a mare belonging to his sister and she had given a colt to him for caring for its mother.

The boys had not gone far when they heard the tinkle of a bell and they hastened to the spot thinking they would soon have the horses and be on their way home. The horses were in a thicket and the boys went into it to get them but to their surprise they saw four Indians. They tried to run and make their escape by flight but the Indians were too quick for them and fired at them and a bullet struck Wetzel's arm and confused him and he was captured. He seemed to see the situation clearly and when in their hands he became very cheerful and talked with them freely, but the younger boy cried and made so much noise that they tomahawked him. About noon they reached the Flats of Grave Creek. When they reached the mouth of Big Grave Creek they took a canoe from its hiding place and the Indians shot a hog that was roaming in the woods and placed it, their prisoner and guns in it and were ready to start across the river when the Indians were attacked by three white men and three of the Indians killed and the prisoner rescued.

Three men, Isaac Williams, Hamilton Kerr and a German by the name of Jacob, had gone down from Fort Henry that morning to look after some stock belonging to Isaac Williams, and when at the mouth of Little Grave Creek they heard the shot that killed the hog and Williams said that a Kentucky boat (an emigrant boat) had landed and were killing his hogs and they started in a run to get there before they got away with the hog. Kerr being the younger and swifter on foot, reached the bank of the creek a short distance in advance of the others, and to his surprise saw a canoe containing three Indians in the creek near the mouth of it. He shot the one in the stern as he dipped the paddle into the water to start the canoe out into the river from the shore. He fell into the water and at that moment Williams arrived and shot one standing in the bow, leaving one sitting in the center of the canoe. Jacob came rushing up and Kerr gave him his empty gun and took his gun and shot the Indian in the center of the canoe. In a moment their guns were reloaded and as the canoe drifted out with the current a man was seen lying in the bottom of it, a gun was raised when he called out, "Don't shoot, I am a white man." The last Indian was still clinging to the side of the canoe and he was told to loosen him. He answered that he could not as his arm was broken. The canoe drifted to some rocks just below the mouth of the creek and Wetzel waded to the shore but did not or could not draw the canoe to shore with him.

The white men did not cross the creek as it was too deep to wade without going up it quite a distance to find a shallow place and it was permitted to drift down the river.

The fourth Indian who was swimming the horses across the river had so far escaped their attention but was seen and one of the men shot at him. He was nearly half way across the river but the bullet splashed water on him. He saw the situation and slipped from the horse he was on and swam to the canoe that was floating down the river and paddled it to the north bank of the river and taking a rifle from it, he uttered a yell of defiance, mounted a horse and disappeared in the forest. Without the gun he would have had a good opportunity to have suffered hunger before reaching the Indian towns on the Muskingum River.

He shoved the canoe out into the river and it drifted more than two hundred miles with the three rifles and dead hog in it. It was found near Maysville, Kentucky.

In the year 1792, Indians became very troublesome in the Upper Ohio Valley, especially between Wheeling and Mingo Bottom. Numerous murders were committed and several families carried into captivity and many horses were stolen by them.

After one of their forays into the settlement in which a number of valuable horses were stolen, it was determined to pursue them and to make an attempt to recapture the horses and administer some punishment if possible.

A company consisting of John Wetzel, William McCullough, Joseph Hedges, Kinzie Dickerson, Thomas Biggs and William Lynn, with John Wetzel for leader, undertook the hazardous enterprise.

They crossed the Ohio River near where Steubenville now stands and proceeded in a northerly direction till they reached the old trail leading from Fort Pitt to Sandusky. They followed this trail past Fort Laurens till they reached an Indian town on Mohican Creek; there they saw the horses they were after. They lay hid all day and at night they got the horses and started home. They decided not to take the back trail as they feared pursuit, but turned to the southward and followed less traveled trails and crossed the Tuscarawas River at what is now Newcomerstown and reached Wills Creek, a branch of the Muskingum River near where Cambridge now stands.

The party reached this point in the evening of the second day after recapturing their horses. One of the men having been attacked with a sever cramp colic, they went into camp, as he could travel no farther at the time. A guard was detailed to watch the back trail as they were not certain that Indians had not followed them.

Late in the night the guard went to a brook near the camp and found muddy streaks in the water. He immediately returned to the camp and informed Wetzel of it. He was of the opinion that Indians were near but Wetzel said that raccoons or muskrats might have been wading in the water and caused the muddy streaks in it. Raccoons often travel along in the water in small streams in quest of crawfish which they eat and this was the reason Wetzel gave for the streaks in the muddy water. The guard was less vigilant after that and in less than an hour a volley was fired into the camp from behind the bank of the brook and the sick man was riddled with bullets.

The surprise was complete and the men ran from the camp without guns or blankets. In the attack three men were killed. They were Joseph Biggs, Thomas Hedges and William Lynn. The others made their way to Fort Henry suffering from fatigue and hunger.

Captain John McCullough, with a small force of men from the settlement at Wheeling, went to the scene of the disaster and buried the dead a few days later.

The Indians were a party of Munceys with some of the Moravians who had escaped murder ten years before and had joined the hostile Indians. They had been on an unsuccessful foray against settlements on the south side of the Ohio River and had accidentally stumbled upon the camp.

Not long after the return of the ill-fated expedition after stolen horses, John Wetzel and Veach Dickerson started on an expediiton into the Indian country near the head of Sandusky River. They started with the avowed purpose of bringing a prisoner home with them. They were dressed in Indian attire, not omitting the usual paint, and as they could speak Indian language to some extent they felt certain of some success. They reached an Indian town and found a path that appeared to be traveled considerably, and they concealed themselves near it awaiting for Indians to appear. A number of them passed during the day but in too large parties for them to attack. Late in the evening they saw two walking leisurely, talking and laughing, and thought that this was their opportunity. They approached the Indians who never suspected them and walked up to the Indians and spoke in very good language and with one stroke of his tomahawk Wetzel killed one of them, and at the same time Dickerson grabbed the other and threw him to the ground. After securely tying the Indian and scalping the dead one, they started homeward. They did not travel long on the war path toward Wheeling Creek but left it and followed devious courses, keeping on hard ground to make as few tracks as possible in order to avoid pursuit. They made fairly good headway until they crossed the Muskingum River, when the Indian began to give them trouble. They tried to pursuade him to go with them, promising him kind treatment, but to no purpose. He had decided to go no further and they tried the effect of a good hickory but it was of no use as he had resolved to go no further. He said that he would rather die there than to be taken to the settlement south of the Ohio River and there be tortured for the amusement of a large number of people. It was in vain that they insisted that he would not be hurt. He bowed his head and said that they might tomahawk him at any time as he would go no further. They tomahawked him and took his scalp and proceeded home somewhat disappointed as they were very anxious to return with a prisoner.

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