Note 1 — CHRONICLES OF BORDER WARFARE (continued 8)

Drake, in Aboriginal Races of North America (15th ed.), p. 616, cites the Waggoner massacre as “the first exploit in which we find Tecumseh engaged.” L. V. McWhorter sends me this interesting note, giving the local tradition regarding the affair: “John Waggoner lived on Jesse’s Run, more than two miles above its junction with Hacker’s Creek. While engaged in burning logs in his clearing, he was sitting upon a log, with a handspike lying across his lap. It was thought that Tecumseh mistook this tool for a gun, and was nervous. But three in number, the Indians had entered the district with some trepidation. Over Sunday, while the settlers were holding religious services in West’s Fort, the savages lay in a neighboring ravine. The dogs of the settlement barked furiously at them, and ran toward their hiding place, trying to lead their masters; but the latter supposed that the animals had merely scented wolves, hence paid no attention to them. Tecumseh was but thirty paces from Waggoner when he fired, and it is singular that he missed, for the latter was a large man and in fair view. Waggoner sprang up and started for his cabin, a short distance only, but when about fifteen yards away saw an Indian chasing one of the children around the house. Waggoner was unarmed; his gun was in the house, but he feared to enter, so ran for help to the cabin of Hardman, a neighbor. But Hardman was out hunting, and there was no gun left there. The screams of his family were now plainly heard by Waggoner, and he was with difficulty restrained from rushing back to help them, unarmed. Jesse Hughes carried the news into the fort, and a rescue party at once set out. Mrs. Waggoner and her three youngest children had been carried across the ridge to where is now Rev. Mansfield McWhorter’s farm, on McKenley’s Run, and here they were tomahawked and scalped. Henry McWhorter helped to carry the bodies to the fort, but made no mention of their being ‘mangled in the most barbarous and shocking manner.’”

The boy Peter, then eight years old, remained with the Indians for twenty years. The manner of his return, as related to me by Mr. McWhorter, was singular, and furnishes an interesting and instructive romance of the border. One Baker, one of John Waggoner’s neighbors, went to Ohio to “squat,” and on Paint Creek saw Peter with a band of Indians, recognizing him by the strong family resemblance. Baker at once wrote to the elder Waggoner, telling him of his discovery, and the latter soon visited the Paint Creek band, with a view to inducing his son to return home. But Peter was loth to go. He was united to a squaw, and by her had two children. In tears, she bitterly opposed his going. When finally he yielded to parental appeals, he promised her he would soon be back again. When the time for his return to the forest came, his relatives kept him under guard; when it had passed, he was afraid to return to his Indian relatives, having broken his word. Gradually he became reconciled in a measure to his new surroundings, but was ever melancholy, frequently lamenting that he had left his savage family. “Some time after his return to civilization,” continues McWhorter, “an Indian woman, supposed to be his wife, passed through the Hacker Creek settlements, inquiring for Peter, and going on toward the East. She appeared to be demented, and sang snatches of savage songs. Peter never knew of her presence, nor would any one inform her of his whereabouts. He was reticent about his life among the Indians, and no details of that feature of his career became known to his white friends.”

Tecumseh, who is said to have been born on Hacker’s Creek, possibly at a village near the mouth of Jesse’s Run, visited the white settlements there, after the peace, and told the whites of his experiences in connection with the Waggoner massacre.––R. G. T.