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Source
- Source:McAllister, W.A., Pioneer Days in Allegheny County, 1902. Va. Mag Hist. and Biography 10:183-187.
Related
- Transcript: The Raid on the Wilson Family, 1763
Transcript
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[Fort Young] was constructed in 1756. Its location was only a few yards from the present site of the large iron furnace at Covington...In 1761, about sixty Shawnee Indians invaded the settlement at the forks of James River, and after killing some half dozen men, captured Mrs. Hannah Dennis, Mrs. Renix and Mrs. Smith with five of Mrs. Renix's children and a servant girl named Sally Jew. Among the massacred were the above named ladies' husbands. The Indians then separated; twenty of them returned to the Ohio with the captives, while the remaining forty started up the Cowpasture River. The settlers were hastily notified and assembled at Paul's fort. From thence the Indians were pursued and overtaken. A brief skirmish ensued in which nine uf the savages were slain and the others put to flight. The remainder of the story is given by Withers: "According to the stipulation of Boquet's treaty with the Shawnees, Mrs. Renix and two of her sons, Robert and William (later Col. Renix—both late of Greenbrier) were brought to Staunton and redeemed. Joshua Renix took an Indian wife, became a chief of the Miamies and died near Detroit (1810)."
Hannah Dennis was allotted to the Chilicothe towns. She learned the Indian language and practiced their manner and customs. She became proficient in nursing the sick and finding the savages believers in necromancy and witchcraft she practiced both. The Indian's being very susceptive, she was given perfect liberty and treated as a queen. In June, 1763, the opportunity of escape which she sought was given and she at once availed herself of it. As soon as her intention was suspected, she was pursued and fired upon, but seeking refuge in the hollow limb of a fallen sycamore she avoided detection and succeeded in making her way safely to the Levels on Greenbrier River. She was found here in an exhausted state and taken to the home of Archibald Clendennin. She had then been upwards of twenty days on her disconsolate journey, alone, and with no other food than green grapes, herbs and wild cherries. When she had sufficiently recuperated, she was taken on horse-back to Fort Young and from thence returned to her relatives.
In October, 1764, about fifty Delaware and Mingo warriors ascended the Big Sandy and came over on New river; there the party divided, a portion going toward the Catawba settlement (in Botetourt), while the other division crossed over to Dunlap's creek. Following that stream to its confluence, they crossed Jackson river above Fort Young, and skirting the settlement about the fort, proceeded to Carpenters Fort, which was at that time in charge of a Mr. Brown. Meeting William Carpenter near the fort, they killed and scalped him, and coming to the fort captured Carpenter's son Joseph, two small Brown children and a woman. No other whites being close the Indians plundered the house, and retreated precipitately by way of Greenbrier river. The shot that killed Carpenter was heard at Fort Young, but the weakness of the garrison there and the paucity of the settlers, necessitated the summoning of aid from Captain Audley Paul at Fort Dinwiddie (twenty-five miles up Jackson river). This worthy leader immediately started in pursuit, but was unable to overtake this party of the savages, though he accidentally encountered those who had gone to the Catawba. The Indians were surprised and easily routed. Joseph Carpenter afterwards became Dr. Carpenter, of Nicholas county, and the younger Brown became Colonel Samuel Brown, late of Greenbrier. The elder Brown cast his lot with the Indians, whom he learned to love, and among his captors sought and won the idol of his heart. The account of his single visit to his aged mother (then residing in Greenbrier) is impressively portrayed by Colonel John G. Gamble and copied by Waddell in his Annals of Augusta. He (J. Brown) died in Michigan (1815) loved and respected for his zeal and philanthropy.
A familiar frequenter at Fort Young was an Indian hunter, Mad Anthony. He was valuable to the whites as he told all he knew of the inimical plots of his race, but as he was a tattler, both sides were cautious in taking him into confidence. He often left the fort ostensibly to hunt, but in reality to get lead and mould a shot-pouch full, with which he would return in the evening. He was always reticent when questioned as to the source of his bullets, and never could he be induced to divulge the secret. The lead-mine (if such it be) yet awaits the prospector's pick.
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