Capt. Elias Hughes

A Patriot of the American Revolution for VIRGINIA with the rank of PRIVATE, SCOUT. DAR Ancestor # A059119

Elias Hughes was born around 1755 by the south branch of the Potomac River in what is now West Virginia.

He became known as an Indian fighter after his own father, brother and fiancée were killed by them.

He served in the Revolutionary War under General Lewis at the Battle of Point Pleasant.

He married Jane Sleeth in 1780 or 1781, and they had twelve children before 1797.

Between the Battle of Point Pleasant and the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, he was a scout and spy around the Ohio River settlements. In 1796 he served as hunter for the party that surveyed the U.S. Military District under General Rufus Putman. This is when he saw the land in what became Licking County and decided to move his family here.

Elias with 132 days service in Lord Dunmore's OH campaign in 1774.

The 1782 census of Monongalia County VA (WV) lists Elias and his family in that county. In 1796, Elias became a hunter for a surveying party in present day Licking County OH. In 1797, he moved to the Muskingum River in OH and lived for a while at present Zanesville, OH.

On April 6, 1798, Elias and his family began the trek to Licking County, OH. When the first militia was raised in that county in 1802, Elias was elected Captain. In the War of 1812, he was a Captain of Militia and was commissioned a Lieutenant in Colonel Rennick's Mounted OH Volunteers.

One authority has said, "The history of Licking Co. without the name of Elias Hughes would be as incomplete as the history of the U.S. with the name of George Washington omitted." He was the first settler of Licking Co. "Elias Hughes, Sur. File 8,747, b. in Hardy Co., Va., enlisted at Clarksburg to serve against the Indians. In 1774 he assisted in the building of Nutter's Fort, W. Augusta Co., Va., and was in the battle of Point Pleasant. In 1775 enlisted as a private in Capt. James Booth's Co., serving until the Spring of 1778, when his father, Thomas Hughes, was killed by Indians on Hacker's Creek, and he was commissioned a Capt. of Rangers and Spies, under Col. Benjamin Wilson and Wilson Louther, for 3 years.; from 1781 to 1783 he served as a private under Col. Geo. Jackson. After peace was proclaimed 1783, he continued to serve against the Indians until after Gen. Wayne's treaty with them in 1795." It was in the last mentioned capacity that first brought him to Licking Co. He was made Lieut. in the War of 1812 at which time 3 sons accompanied the Regiment. There were 12 children.

Sources

• William Elsey Connelley, John Patterson MacLean, The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia from 1768 to 1795 (1915).
• Wills De Hass, History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of Western Virginia (1851).
• Cecil B. Hartley Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel, the Virginia Ranger'' (1860).
• http://myplace.frontier.com/~degh/lisa/I2444.html
• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via brother Jesse D. Hughes by SmartCopy: Nov 24 2015, 23:15:53 UTC
• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Aug 6 2017, 17:18:17 UTC

  ---

https://archive.org/stream/historyofritchie00lowt/historyofritchie0...

Elias Hughes was born on the South Branch of the Poto-
mac river, in what is now Hardy count}^ West Virginia, in 1757, and with his parents and the rest of the family, removed to Harrison county in the early seventies.

He, too, served under the command of General Lewis at the battle of Point Pleasant and was one of the last survivors' of this desperate conflict.

PTe had been born and reared in the midst of savage war- fare, and his father and a young lady whom he ardently ad- mired having been killed by the ruthless hand of the dusky foe, he vowed vengeance on the race, and the return to peace did not serve to mitigate his intense hatred.

In 1797, tw^o years after General Wayne's treaty with the Indians, leaving his native hills (with one John Radcliffe), he went to Ohio and settled on the Muskingum river, and during the following year, removed to the Licking river and became the first settler in what is now Licking county ; the scene of this settlement being in some old Indian cornfields, near five miles below^ the present site of Newark, Ohio.

"One night in April, 1800, not long after his arrival here, two Indians stole his and Radclifife's horses from a small in- closure near their cabins and succeeded in getting aw^ay with them unobserved." But finding them missing in the morning, they, well-armed, and accompanied by a man by the name of Bland, set out in pursuit, following their trail in a northerly direction all day and camping in the forest at night : but at the dawn of the next day, they came upon them fast asleep and all unconscious of danger. Concealing themselves behind

'Though Elias Hughes has been repeatedly recognized as the last sur- vivor of this battle (at Point Pleasant), Samuel" Bonnifield. of Tucker county, is entitled to this distinction, as he died in 1847, at the .ige of ninety-six years. The house which he occupied from 1824-1847 still stands. He was four times sheriff of Randolph county. To Hon. Hu Maxwell, who recently visited his grave, we are indebted for this information.

THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE COUNTY 21

some trees, they waited until the Indians had awakened and were making preparations for their departure, when they drew their rifles to fire upon them; and just at that moment one of them, instinctively clapping his hands upon his breast, as if to ward ofT the fatal ball, exclaimed in tones of dismay, "Me bad Indian! me no do so more!" But the appeal was all in vain. "The smoke curled from the glistening barrels, the report rang out upon the morniiig air, and the poor In- dians fell dead !" Recovering their horses and securing what plunder the savages had, they returned to their homes, swear- ing: mutual secrecv for this violation of the treatv laws.

But one evening some time afterwards, when Hughes vv^as sitting quietly in his cabin, he was startled by the entrance of two powerful and well-armed savages. Concealing his emotion, he bade them welcome and profifered them seats. His wife, a large muscular woman, stepping aside, privately sent for Radclitfe, whose cabin was near by ; and presently Radclifife, who had made a detour, entered with his rifle from an opposite direction, as if he had been out hunting, and found Hughes talking with his visitors about the murder with his scalping-knife and tomahawk in his belt, and his rifle, which he deemed imprudent to try to obtain, hanging fron: the cabin wall. There all night long sat the little party, mutually fearing each other, but neither being able to sum- mon sufficient courage to stir ; but when the morning dawned the savages withdrew, shaking hands and bidding adieu to their rehictant hosts, using every precaution in their retreat lest they should be shot by the daring borderer-

Elias Hughes was captain of a band of scouts in Indian times, and was a soldier of the war of 1812. He married Miss Jane Sleeth, who, doubtless, belonged to the same family of Sleeths who have a place in the Smithville chapter, and they were the parents of sixteen children. Mrs. Hughes died in 1827, and he passed away near Utica, Ohio, on December 22, 1844, in the hope of a "glorious immortality." Military honors and other demonstrations of respect were in evidence at his funeral, and near Utica he lies at rest.