Note 274 — Chapter XVIII · 1763. FRONTIER FORTS AND SETTLEMENTS.

MS. Letter—Bouquet to Amherst, June 5.

Extract from a letter—Fort Pitt, May 31 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1798).

“We have most melancholy Accounts here—The Indians have broke out in several Places, and murdered Colonel Clapham and his Family; also two of our Soldiers at the Saw-mill, near the Fort, and two Scalps are taken from each man. An Indian has brought a War-Belt to Tuscarora, and says Detroit is invested; and that St. Dusky is cut off, and Ensign Pawley made Prisoner—Levy’s Goods are stopt at Tuscarora by the Indians—Last Night Eleven men were attacked at Beaver Creek, eight or nine of whom, it is said, were killed—And Twenty-five of Macrae’s and Alison’s Horses, loaded with Skins, are all taken.”

Extract from a MS. Letter—Ecuyer to Bouquet.

“Fort Pitt, 29th May, 1763.

“Just as I had finished my Letter, Three men came in from Clapham’s, with the Melancholy News, that Yesterday, at three O’clock in the Afternoon, the Indians Murdered Clapham, and Every Body in his House: These three men were out at work, & Escaped through the Woods. I Immediately Armed them, and sent them to Assist our People at Bushy Run. The Indians have told Byerly (at Bushy Run) to Leave his Place in Four Days, or he and his Family would all be murdered: I am Uneasy for the little Posts—As for this, I will answer for it.”

The above is a contemporary translation. The original, which is before me, is in French, like all Ecuyer’s letters to Bouquet.