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From: Source:Laughlin, 1845 Diary of Samuel Hervey Laughlin 1845 From my grandfathers, John Laughlin, and John Duncan(who sometimes spelled his name properly, Dunkin, being a Scottsman by descent) and from my father, my mother in her lifetime, and from my Great Uncle Benjamin Sharp, of Warren Co., Missouri, I have learned the following particulars concerning my forefathers. ... My mother, Sarah Duncan, was born on Sept. 3rd. 1773 in what is now Russell County, Virginia. ... The sons of my grandfather were Thomas, who died in June 1844 in Whitley Co. Kentucky at an advanced age, and married my mother's elder sister, Elizabeth Duncan who is yet living.
John Duncan (sometimes spelled Dunkin erroniously), my maternal grandfather, was a native of Chester Co., Pennsylvania, and married Eleanor, sister of the foregoing John Sharp, before the families emigrated to Virginia about 1764 or 1765. He and his family with many of their relatives removed to Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap and Crabb Orchard, and settled in the country around about where Lexington now stands, then, as I have often heard him describe it, one of the most beautiful and rich new countries the eye of man ever beheld. He located and settled on a little river called Kingston's Ford of Licking, I believe. In the year 1780-or between 1779 and 1781-Butler's and Marshall-s Histories of Kentucky will show the date, a statement in regard to which was communicated in 1842, and published at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the American Pioneer, by Benjamin Sharp, my grandfather's brother, in relation to the affair (see that work Vol. 1 page 359), my grandfather and his family, and all his friends, with all persons captured in Riddles and Martin's Station, old and young, black and white, were carried as prisoners by a party of British and Canadians, and a large number of Indians, and carried to Canada. They were carried down the Licking River to its mouth, between the two present Kentucky towns of Newport, where the United States have extensive barracks, and Covington, and opposite to the present site of the City of Cincinnati. From thence they were taken in boats and canoes down to the mouth of the great Miami, twelve miles, and thence up that river, and then by land and water to Detroit, now the Capitol of the new state of Michigan, and finally to Montreal. There, they were retained as prisoners until the close of the war when they were exchanged and returned to the United States through what is now northern and western New York, and through New Jersey to Philadelphia, where Congress was sitting, and thence to Western Virginia, from whence they had removed four or five years before. My grandfather on returning to Virginia, settled on the north bank of the south fork of Holson river, above the mouth of Spring Creek, just above an island where he died about the year 1818 his wife having died in 1816. By negligence in attending to his head-right or occupant claim for his land in Kentucky, it only requiring his personal attention to identify it which he never gave, he lost it. In fact, after his captivity, he never seems to have recovered his previous energy of character. He commanded one of the companies in Riddle's Station. After he was conveyed to Montreal, his eldest son, John, who afterwards married my father's sister, Polly, and in Kentucky about the year 1817, made his escape from Montreal in company with one or two young Americans, and made their way through the mountains and woods of western New York, and got in safely to Washington's army, having come very near starving on the way, having been driven to eat a polecat, and such wild winter berries and roots as they could find. From the time of this escape, my grandfather was thrown into close prison, being suspected for being the advisor of it, until he was exchanged. In truth, he knew nothing of it. His son, and one or two of this elder girls, who prepared provisions and clothes for their brother being the only persons of the family entrusted with the secret. They kept it secret so as to save their father from implication. John rejoined his family after their return to the United States. The party of British who took these early Kentuckians prisoners, was commanded by a Col. Bird. Among the Indians were many renegade white men. The famous Simon Girty was among them. The white prisoners were retained by the British, but all negroes and slaves, and property of all descriptions was given up as plunder to the Indian allies. Thus, my grandfather lost a number of valuable slaves, and all his personal property. He afterwards, on her being restored after the treaty of Greenville, recovered possession of an African negro woman named Dinah, the mother of an old woman named, Easter, now in possession, of my uncle Joseph Duncan in Coffee County, Tennessee. Joseph was my grandfather's second son. My mother, at the time of the captivity of the family, was about seven or eight years old and retained to her death a distinct recollection of the capture of the fort, given up by what was suspected to be Riddle's treachery, and of the voyage down Licking, down the Ohio, and up the Miami, and across the wilderness. She perfectly recollected the clear, limpid water of the lakes, and of the appearances of the Canadian population, their customs and manners, and much in regard to the shipping on the lakes, and of the surprise with which she passed through Philadelphia, and along Market Street on their return home, it appearing to her youthful and backwoods imagination that Philadelphia was surely the largest city in the world at that time. She lived afterwards, however, to be extensively read, even in her younger days, in history, geography, travels etc. and when I was a child, often recounted all the adventures of this captivity, with her fears, feelings, etc. on the various occurrencies of the scenes through which the family passed. Capt. Francis Berry, married to a sister of John and Benj. Sharp, was one of the captives. The Sharp family, John having married my grandfather Laughlin's sister, as before stated, consisted of three brothers as far as I remember, John, Thomas and Benjamin. A notice of John has been inserted. Thomas, who married a Maxwell-relation of Jesse Maxwell, Esq. who lives near Nashville-removed to Barren County Kentucky, and reared a numerous family. Col. Solomon P. Sharp, who was assassinated at Frankfort by Beauchamp, about the year 1823-4, who had been a member of Congress in 1814, and afterwards Atty. General of Kentucky and who was a member of the Kentucky Legislature when he was killed, was one of his sons. Fidelo Sharp, Esq. is another son. Dr. Maxwell Sharp, formerly of Bowlingreen was another, as is Dr. Leander Sharp of Ky. He had two daughters, one named Elleanor after my grandmother Duncan, her aunt, and another whose name I do not know. One of these was the mother of V.K.Stevenson, and Volney S. Stevenson, merchants of Nashville. As Mr. V.K. Stevenson told me on the Ohio, in February, 1845, as we came to Washington City in the suite of President, on his way to his way to his Inauguration, that his father was a curious man in collecting old matters of family biography, I had a copy of old Benjamin Sharp's letter of the 4th of the preceding January made, and sent to him from Washington to Nashville, in March, 1845. The daughters of my grandfather Duncan, the sisters of my mother, married as follows, as nearly as I can ascertain. Elizabeth, the eldest, who was nearly grown at the time of the Canadian captivity, after the return of the family, about the year 1787, married Thomas Laughlin, my father's elder brother. Polly, also older than my mother, married James Hignight, who died in Powell's Valley some years since, about 8 miles east of Cumberland Gap, in Lee County. He left a numerous family. Faithful, another sister, married Abram Locke, who in 1820 removed from Lee Co. Va. to Chariton, Missouri, where and his wife both died near the close of the year 1843 or early in 1844, leaving a large family and a handsome estate in lands. He, in his lifetime, and his son H. P. Locke, have been my correspondents. (see their letters in my letter books). Eleanor, another, and the youngest of my mother's sisters, married Samuel Campbell in Washington county, Va. about the year 1808-and removed to Chariton, Missouri, with my uncle Locke, and he and his wife, surrounded by numerous children, some married, still reside there. Anne, an older sister than the last mentioned, married William Martin in Washington, Va. some time before the year 1797, and in 1798 removed with my father from Virginia, and Uncle Thomas, to what was then Knox County, Ky. My father and Uncle Martin settled on Indian Creek, as is hereafter stated-then Martin moved to what was called "down on Laurel", about 8 miles above the mouth of Laurel River on the road from Barbourville in Knox County, to Somersett, in Pulaski Co. Ky. This was then a wild region, the great falls of Cumberland, and Spruce and Dogslaughter creeks (named by my father-the latter because of the number of dogs he had killed on it in bear hunting-all being in his vicinity. Certain Cherokee Indians, under a reserve of hunting grounds in their treaties of 1805-06, continued to camp in a large cave or rock house near Mr. Martin's in the years 1807, 1808, and 1809. A Col. George, as he was called, was the principal man among them. About the year 1804 or 1805, the Indians, two skulking fellows, murdered a man named Johnson for his gun a few miles north of where Martin afterwards settled. About 1806, two others stole horses from my Uncle Thomas L. on Watts. These marauders in both cases, on application at the Cherokee Agency, at South West Point, at the mouth of Clinch, where it empties into Tennessee, Col. R J. Meigs being Agent, were arrested by the Indians, given up, the property restored, and punished.... "On one occasion while he (Capt. Dunkin) lived on the Clinch, a predatory band of Indians came into the settlement and murdered a man named Bush and his wife, and took their children, three daughters and a son, prisoner. The son was nearly grown. Captain Dunkin with a few men followed the trail and, by hard marching, overtook them, killed three of the Indians, and rescued the prisoners without losing a man. "Further to the northwest where Powell Valley had begun to be settled, in what is now Lee County, Virginia, the Indians were in the habit of murdering travellers. Before settlement had become permanent, the great buffalo trace to Kentucky, or that part of Virginia forming Kentucky - by way of Cumberland Gap, from 1766 to 1775 was a route for hunters and adventurous explorers on whom numerous murders and robberies were committed by various tribes of Indians, but mostly by Cherokee and Shawnee. Captain Dunkin and his little faithful band frequently went out and remained for different periods on tours of duty in protecting the settlers of this valley and on the road. "On one of these tours, he and his company fell in with a band of Indians whom they instantly attacked, killing four and wounding a fifth. They followed the wounded Indian some distance to a place where he had entered a cave. Captain Joseph Martin (builder of Martin's Station in Lee Co., VA) was along with other Rangers, having met Capt. Dunkin, and was with him when it was agreed between the two that while others kept guard outside, they would enter the cave and take the Indian or kill him. "They entered each with a blazing torch in one hand and a pistol in the other, cocked and primed. After going in sixty or seventy yards, Captain Dunkin saw the Indian's eyes shining in the distance and taking deliberate aim, not knowing but that the Indian had a gun, and supposing others to be with him, was so lucky as to shoot him through the head. "In the year 1777 he went to Kentucky, raised corn, and made improvements by raising a cabin in the forks between Hingstons and Stoners Forks of Licking River. After thus preparing in Kentucky in 1777 and 1778 he moved his family, including his aged mother, and two sisters and their husbands, Samuel Porter and Solomon Litton, out from the Clinch to Kentucky in 1779. I say he removed them, for besides being the head of his family, he was the commander and leader of the immigrants, though Porter and Litton, and others who went along, were men of enterprise and good soldiers and woodsmen. These two (Porter and Litton) had farms begun also by improvements near Martin's Station. Martin's Station was on Stoner's River (or fork of Licking) five miles above its confluence with Hingston or Licking River. Ruddle's Station (pronounced Riddle's) was three miles below the junction or forks, consequently the forts were eight miles apart. "The winter of 1779 and 1780 was unusually severe and is remembered in the history of the time, and traditionally as the "hard winter." The rivers and the streams were all frozen - cattle and domestic animals died by the hundreds and thousands, as doubtless did the wild game, Wild meat, when it could be procured by the border settlers, was very poor, and the corn and grain were early consumed, and the people put to great straits to procure subsistence of any sort, however common or coarse. Settlers were reduced to the very point of starvation, so much so that they were compelled to live on the most unwholesome meats without bread. "Many families traveling out to Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap and the Wilderness road were compelled to encamp, erect huts and such other shelter as they could obtain, and subsist on the dead carcasses of their cattle, sheep, etc. as died from the effects of the weather and want. "When the spring of 1781 was ushered in there was an unusual bustle among the new settlers of Kentucky. They had the finest land in the world to cultivate, much of it easily cleared so as to fit it with corn crops, potatoes, etc. The previous winter had admonished them of the necessity of making as much provisions for the next winter as possible. In the spring there seemed to be but little danger from the Indians. In the vicinity of the forts, the planters pitched or planted large crops and everything seemed to smile and promise future prosperity. They seemed to be removed from the constant dangers and troubles with the Revolutionary War, still in progress, brought to the neighborhood of their brethren in all the country east of the mountains. "Early the crops of corn began to ripen and heaven seemed to be suspending the cornucopia over the famished land. There was a smile on every man's countenance, as he looked out upon the luminescence of the growing Indian corn. There was happiness and security in the forest. Happiness there really was, and security there seemed to be where they all lived, each fort like a great family. While living there in the snug and fancied security, they sang their domestic tedeums around blazing wood fires. While this happy sylvan state of things existed upon the fair frontier Colonel Byrd was busily employed at Detroit, plotting their destruction in combination with the northern nations of Indians in alliance with Great Britain in our Revolutionary War, a conspiracy against the peace and happiness of these unoffending frontier settlers which was soon to turn all their rejoicing and supposed security into a scene of sorrow and mourning. "On or about the first of June, 1780, Colonel Byrd, a British officer, collected a body of about 600 Canadians and Indians at or near Detroit, and after marching by land to the Great Miami where it was navigable, they took canoes, boats, priogues, etc., and floated down the river to the Ohio. They rowed up the latter river to the mouth of Licking River, opposite to where Cincinnati now stands, and on the banks of which at its mouth now stands the thriving town of Newport and Covington; thence up the Licking River to the north fork of that river, a short distance below Ruddle's Station and thence by land. On the 22nd of June they appeared suddenly before Ruddle's Station as if they had fallen from the clouds or rose out of the ground by enchantment. The people hastily closed their gates and began to prepare for defense, but the show of artillery and the overwhelming number of the enemy appalled the stout hearts. Therefore they surrendered on pledges of personal safety from the Indians, but the whole of their property was given up to the plunder and rapine of the savages. After the fort was sacked, and the march was commenced, many prisoners were forced to carry the spoils on their backs for their captors. Every kind of property was taken. "Hearing the roar of artillery at Martin's Station which greatly surprised the people, two runners, a man named McGuire, and Thomas Berry, a relation of my grandfather, were dispatched to ascertain what was the matter at Ruddle's Fort. They were met on the way by the enemy, and on attempting to retreat were fired on. McGuire's horse was killed and he was taken prisoner. Berry, escaped back to the fort. "On the next day (June 23, 1780) the enemy appeared before the fort and summoned them to surrender. Two hours were given these brave men in Martin's Station to consider - and they were notified if they did not surrender that the Indians would be let loose upon them to deal with as they pleased. They surrendered without firing a gun. (Withers in his History of Border Wars, says that Colonel Byrd took pain and had to exert all his authority to save the prisoners from slaughter.) "The prisoners taken at Martin's were united with the prisoners from Ruddle's. There was understood to be an agreement between the British and Indians that the prisoners taken at Ruddle's should belong to the Indians, and those at Martin's to the British. Let this be as it may; according to Marshall, Butler, Withers, and other historians of these times the hole of the property of the Americans, including their Negroes, was given to the Indians. "My grandfather Dunkin likely had ten or twelve Negroes, and a fine personal property in stock and furniture, etc., of which he was althogether plundered. After the treaty of Greenville, he got back an old African woman named Dinnah, and a boy. This robbery and captivity reduced my grandfather to poverty. "The prisoners were all taken down the Licking River, by the route which the British had ascended to the Ohio, down that river to the mouth of the Great Miami, up that river as far as navigable, and thence to Detroit, and then to Montreal. My grandfather and my mother who was old enough to remember, often described to me the sight of the falls of the Niagara, as they passed round by a portage on their way to Detroit. In recounting these adventures to me and my brothers, my mother used to dwell upon the hardships of the whole journey from Kentucky. When the march started, my grandfather carried one of his children. All packed what few clothes were allowed them. She said the British treated them humanely. The Indians who had the Ruddle's Fort prisoners sold most all of them to the British for trifles. The British wanted them to exchange for their own prisoners, then in possession of our armies in the colonies. "I do not know, nor do I remember from the relations of my grandfather, or from the statements of my mother or her older sister, Aunt Betty Laughlin (wife of James Laughlin), whether all the prisoners were carried on to Montreal. My grandfather was, however, with his family, and a letter from Uncle Benjamin Sharp gives the reason why he was imprisoned in jail at that place. His eldest son, John Dunkin, Jr., made his escape from the British at Montreal, and his father who was known to have been an officer of standing, was suspected of having aided his son to escape to carry communications across the wilderness through New York to General Washington's army, the headquarters being then perhaps in Pennsylvania. John Dunkin, Jr. reported personally to General Washington, by whom he was well provided for until his father and family were exchanged and met him in Pennsylvania on their return home, they having come through western New York and by Philadelphia, through Pennsylvania and Maryland and to that part of Washington County in western Virginia where, or nearly where he had moved from when he went to Kentucky, and there he continued to live for the rest of his life. "After his return he never went back to Kentucky to look after his land and improvements, and thereby lost a "head right" to one of the best tracts of land on Licking River. "My great grandmother, the mother of my grandfather Dunkin, came from Pennsylvania with him, removed to Kentucky with him, was a prisoner with him in Canada, and returned to Holston with him, being seventy when captured, and lived many years after their return. "On return from Canada the prisoners came by way of Lake Champlain, by Saratoga, down the Hudson by water and across New Jersey to Philadelphia. My mother has often told me of the astonishing scenes of rejoicing in Philadelphia at the final achievement of our national independence as they passed through that city, and of the kindness everywhere of the people to them on their journey. "On the march to Canada and at Detroit and Montreal, my grandfather often saw among the Indians, and associating with the British officers of rank the renegade and incarnate devil, Simon Girty. This demon in human shape dealt in the scalps of American men, women and children, bought and paid for by the British authorities. Girty's influence among the Indians was very great. In history his name descends embalmed in the execrations of all mankind. "My grandfather Dunkin, ever after I knew him, was a taciturn, serious, and rather melancholy man. He was a large stout man, and in his younger days, and until his spirit was broken and his health impaired by his Canadian captivity, and the loss of his property, had been a man of great vigor of mind and body, and fond of hazardous and arduous adventure." Historical Summary: The first mention of John Dunkin is found in an old Fincastle County Court record for May 5, 1773, when he was appointed on a road commission to "view" a road from the Townhouse (Chilhowie, VA) to Castlewood. Then on January 29, 1777 he was recommended by the court of newly formed Washington County, Virginia, as a member of the Commission of Peace, serving on that body through November, 1778. He was recommended by the court of Washington County for a Captain of Militia on February 26, 1777, although he had long been in the frontier militia for we find him as a Sergeant in command of Glade Hollow Fort when it was first garrisoned in 1774. At a court held for Washington County, Virginia, on the 20th of March, 1781, there is entered this interesting order: "On motion of James Litton (brother of Solomon) and James Laughlin, and by consent and order of the Court they are appointed guardians of the estates of Captain John Dunkin and Solomon Litton, prisoners of the enemy in Canada, and to use all legal methods for saving and securing the said estates, whereupon they, together with William Davidson and John Vance entered into and acknowledged their bonds for eight thousand pounds for the faithful performance of the same. " After returning from captivity Captain Dunkin went to live on Spring Creek near Abingdon, Va. Solomon Litton returned to his old home at Elk Garden, and Samuel Porter to Temple Hill, Castlewood, VA, but the latter was not returning to the peace he probably anticipated. Shortly after his return Samuel Porter was charged by Col. Arthur Campbell for Courts martial on charges of treason while a prisoner in Canada.
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