Person:William Mann (51)

Estate Records

Mann, Wm., dec. Inventory returned, Feb. 1795.

[Source: Early Marriages, Wills and some Revolutionary War Records, Botetourt County, Virginia, Compiled by Anne Lowry Worrell, pg. 59].

Notes

The story of how Thomas and William Mann met their fate goes something like this: After Thomas had moved to present day Monroe county, he and his brother William went to Ohio to fight the Indians. They probably served under General Wayne, who in 1794 overcame the hostile Indians who had broken out about three years before and cut to pieces St. Clair’s army. It appears that the two brothers were on the south side of the Kanawha river when a man named Simon Girty appeared on the opposite side of the river and gave the sign of distress, requesting them to come over in a boat for him, saying that he was being pursued by Indians. After much persuasion, they along with others, agreed to go. As they approached the other shore, the Indians came out of hiding and fired upon them. Thomas is supposed to have been instantly killed. William was badly wounded, but with the assistance of his companions, turned the boat amid a fusillade from the enemy and finally reached their own shore again. William, though suffering from his mortal wound, tried to return to Fort Donally, Greenbrier county, but got only as far as present day Fayette county. There he succumbed to his wounds and was buried at the foot of a beech tree at Stretcher’s Neck. The tree on which his name was cared stood until 1870 when the C&O Railroad was building Stretcher Neck Tunnel. The tree was cut down and the grave lost sight of by his relatives.

The Simon Girty in this tale was the notorious “white Indian” and renegade, a traitor to his own people. He had been a sergeant in the British Army at Fort Pitt and for some reason deserted. His infamy has come down in history; I first made his acquaintance in the novels of Zane Grey, bequeathed to me by grandma Ann Scott. Zane Grey’s own ancestors were instrumental in building Wheeling, Ohio and saw many encounters with hostile Indians.

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