Colonel Lochry Musters Westmoreland County Troops August 2, 1781

In 1781, General George Rogers Clark, of Virginia, raised an expedition, ostensibly to destroy the Indian towns of the Shawnee, Delaware, and Wyandot, which were situated on the Scioto, Muskingum and Sandusky Rivers, in what is now the State of Ohio, but his real and earnest purpose was the reduction of the British post at Detroit, and the winning by conquest of another empire for the Dominion of Virginia.

At this time Virginia claimed ownership to that part of Pennsylvania, which laid west of the Laurel Hill range including what is now Fayette, Westmoreland, Green, Washington, Allegheny and part of Beaver Counties. In spite of the fact that the boundary line had been settled in 1779, many of the inhabitants and officials still acknowledged allegiance to the Old Dominion.

A force of volunteers to the number of one hundred was raised in Westmoreland County and placed under the command of that intrepid soldier, Colonel Archibald Lochry.

Colonel Lochry’s command was composed of a company raised and commanded by Captain Thomas Stokely, another under Captain Samuel Shannon; a small company of riflemen under Captain Robert Orr, was raised in Hannastown, now Greensburg; and Captain William Campbell commanded a squad of horsemen.

The men recruited for this service remained on their settlements until harvest was finished in July, and on August 1, rendezvoused at Carnaghan’s blockhouse, eleven miles northwest of Hannastown. Here they mustered August 2, and on the following day Colonel Lochry began his march to join General Clark at Wheeling.

528The determined little band crossed the Youghiogheny at the site of West Newton, then crossed the Monongahela at Devore’s Ferry, where Monongahela City now stands; went overland by the settlements on the headwaters of Chartiers and Raccoon Creeks, and reached Fort Henry in the evening of Wednesday, August 8.

Here was a disappointment. General Clark had left by boats early that morning, and he left a message that he would wait for Colonel Lochry at the mouth of Little Kanawha. But no boats were provided for Lochry’s command, and he waited at Wheeling four days, while seven boats were being built, but these four days were fatal.

On August 13, Colonel Lochry embarked in the seven boats, the horses following along the shores of the river. At this time the Ohio was the dividing line between the white man’s country and that of the Indians. The boats kept near the southern shore and all encampments were made on the left bank. Although Colonel Lochry did not know it, his men and their movements were watched by Indian spies who followed them through the forests and thickets on the opposite shore of the Ohio.

Colonel Lochry met seventeen men at Fishing Creek, who had deserted from Clark, who were making their way back to Fort Pitt. These he forced to join his party. At the Three Islands, Lochry found Major Charles Crascraft and six men who had been left by Clark in charge of a large house boat, intended for Lochry’s horses, which were put aboard, and this enabled the force to move with increased speed.

On the following day, August 16, Colonel Lochry sent Captain Shannon and seven men in a small boat to endeavor to overtake Clark and beg him to leave some provisions for his command. Lochry’s flour was about exhausted, and food could only be secured by sending out hunters, whose excursions delayed progress. On August 17, the two men sent out for food failed to return, and were never heard from again.

Three days later two of Captain Shannon’s men, half starved, were picked up from the southern shore. They told the story of the first disaster to Lochry’s command. This little detail had landed on the Kentucky shore to prepare a meal and the two survivors, with a sergeant, had gone off to hunt. When they had gone a half mile into the woods, they heard the firing of guns in the direction of their camp. Fearing Indians had attacked the rest of Captain Shannon’s little party, these three were afraid to return to investigate and started to join Lochry. In scrambling through the thick underbrush the sergeant’s knife fell from its sheath, and, sticking point upward, the sergeant trod upon it, the blade passing through his foot, and the young man died in great agony in a few hours.

The expedition suffered not only the death of Captain Shannon and his men but the Indians captured the letter from Colonel Lochry to 529General Clark, revealing the distressed condition of his men, through which information their doom was sealed.

Lochry now realized that his movement down the stream was being watched by the savages from both shores, and for two days and nights no landing or halt was made. The little flotilla glided swiftly down the stream, until necessity compelled landing, to graze the horses and seek meat for the men.

The boats approached the mouth of a small creek, in the forenoon of August 24. This creek has since been called Lochry’s Run. A buffalo was drinking at the river’s edge and a soldier brought it down, when Colonel Lochry ordered a landing, for here was meat and fine grass for the horses.

No sooner had a landing been made than a hundred rifles cracked from the wooded bank, many white men were killed and many wounded.

The men made for the boats and shoved off for the opposite shore. Painted savages then appeared, shrieking and firing, and a fleet of canoes filled with other savages shot out from the Kentucky shore, completely cutting off the escape of Lochry’s men. The volunteers returned the fire for a few moments, but were entrapped, and Colonel Lochry offered to surrender. The fight ceased, the boats poled back to shore and the force again landed.

The Westmorelanders found themselves the prisoners of Joseph Brant, the most famous Mohawk Chief, who commanded a large force of Iroquois, Shawnee and Wyandot. George Girty, brother of the notorious Simon, also commanded an Indian force. The Shawnee could not be controlled and killed the prisoners they claimed as their share. While Colonel Lochry was sitting on a log a Shawnee warrior slipped up behind him and sank a tomahawk into his skull, tearing off his scalp before life was extinct. It was with great difficulty Brant was able to prevent the massacre of the men assigned to the Mohawk and Wyandot.

In this massacre forty Westmoreland volunteers were slain, and sixty-four taken captives. Among those who escaped death were Captains Stokely and Orr, the latter being severely wounded. The dead were left unburied and the prisoners hurried away to Detroit, where most of them were turned over to the British, and afterward transferred to Montreal. Only nineteen of the men ever returned to Westmoreland County.

530