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During my absence from Kentucke, Col. Bowman carried on an expedition against
the Shawanese, at Old Chelicothe, with one hundred and sixty men, in July, 1779.
Here they arrived undiscovered, and a battle ensued, which lasted until ten
o'clock, A. M. when Col. Bowman, finding he could not succeed at this time,
retreated about thirty miles. The Indians, in the meantime, collecting all their
forces, pursued and overtook him, when a smart fight continued near two hours,
not to the advantage of Col. Bowman's party.
Col. Harrod proposed to mount a number of horse, and furiously to rush upon the
savages, who at this time fought with remarkable fury. This desperate step had a
happy effect, broke their line of battle, and the savages fled on all sides. In
these two battles we had nine killed, and one wounded. The enemy's loss
uncertain, only two scalps being taken.
On the twenty-second day of June, 1780, a large party of Indians and Canadians,
about six hundred in number, commanded by Col. Bird, attacked Riddle's and
Martin's stations, at the Forks of Licking River, with six pieces of artillery.
They carried this expedition so secretly, that the unwary inhabitants did not
discover them, until they fired upon the forts; and, not being prepared to
oppose them, were obliged to surrender themselves miserable captives to
barbarous savages, who immediately after tomahawked one man and two women, and
loaded all the others with heavy baggage, forcing them along toward their towns,
able or unable to march. Such as were weak and faint by the way, they
tomahawked. The tender women, and helpless children, fell victims to their
cruelty. This, and the savage treatment they received afterwards, is shocking to
humanity, and too barbarous to relate.
The hostile disposition of the savages, and their allies, caused General Clark,
the commandant at the Falls of the Ohio, immediately to begin an expedition with
his own regiment, and the armed force of the country, against Pecaway, the
principal town of the Shawanese, on a branch of Great Miami, which he finished
with great success, took seventeen scalps, and burnt the town to ashes, with the
loss of seventeen men.
Adventure 16
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