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WAPPATOMICA CAMPAIGN.

CHAPTER IV.

WAPPATOMICA CAMPAIGN.

Under the command of Col. Angus McDonald, four hundred men were collected from the western part of Virginia by the order of the Earl of Dunmore, the then Governor of Virginia. The place of rendezvous was Wheeling, some time in the month of June, 1774. They went down the river in boats and canoes to the mouth of Captina, from thence to the shortest route to Wappatomica town, about sixteen miles below the present Coshocton. The pilots were Jonathan Zane, Thomas Nicholson and Tady Kelly. About six miles from the town, the army was met by a party of Indians, to the number of forty or fifty, who gave a skirmish by the way of ambuscade, in which two of our men were killed and eight or nine wounded. One Indian was killed and several wounded. It was supposed that several more of them were killed, but they were carried off. When the army came to the town, it was found evacuated. The Indians had retreated to the opposite shore of the River, where they had formed an ambuscade, supposing the party would cross the River from the town. This was immediately discovered. The commanding officers then sent sentinels up and down the River, to give notice, in case the Indians should attempt to cross above or below the town. A private in the company of Capt. Cresap, of the name of John Harness, one of the sentinels below the town, displayed the skill of a backwoods sharpshooter. Seeing an Indian behind a blind across the river, raising up his head, at times, to look over the river, Harness charged his rifle with a second ball, and taking deliberate air, passed both balls through the neck of the Indian. The Indians dragged off the body and buried it with the honors of war. It was found the next morning and scalped by Harness.

Soon after the town was taken, the Indians from the opposite shore sued for peace. The commander offered them peace on condition of their sending over their chiefs as hostages. Five of them came over the River and were put under guard as hostages. In the morning they were marched in front of the army over the River. When the party had reached the western bank of the Muskingum, the Indians represented that they could not make peace without the presence of the chiefs of the other towns; on which one of the chiefs