Hawk's Nest; or, The Last of the Cahoonshees.: A Tale of the Delaware Valley and Historical Romance of 1690.Allerton, James M. (James Martin)
General
Hawk's Nest; or, The Last of the Cahoonshees.: A Tale of the Delaware Valley and Historical Romance of 1690.
Allerton, James M. (James Martin)
Delaware River Valley (N.Y.-Del. and N.J.) -- Fiction; Historical fiction
This was in 1756. In 1764 the bounties by Penn were:—“For every male
above ten years captured $150, scalped, being killed $134; for every
female Indian enemy, and every male under ten years of age, captured
$130; for every female above ten years of age, scalped being killed $30.”
But we have no record that Tom received any bounty. The presumption is
that he scalped to revenge his father’s death and not for money. But
the strongest proof that Tom’s actions were approved by the people, and
that he was looked upon by the settlers as a protector of their homes
and the guardian of their wives and children, is the fact that he was
always welcome to their houses, and a plate placed for him at the table.
Not only this, but the fact that they universally screened him from the
Government officers. In a word, they were proud to think that one of
their number had the courage to face the whole Indian nation of red skins.
Such was the opinion of the early settlers of the character of our hero,
and time has not changed that opinion.
His life and character has been published to the world. Historians have
eulogized his merits. Dramatists have exemplified his life and character
on the stage, and the descendants of the early settlers have raised a
monument over his dust in his native town, at the spot where he was born
to perpetuate his memory.
His historians have been James Quinlan of Monticello, N. Y., P. H. Smith,
of Newburgh, N. Y., Wm. Bross, of Chicago, Ills., and A. S. Gardner, of
Milford, Pa.
In 1888, James M. Allerton of Port Jervis, N. Y., published a drama in
five acts entitled, “Tom Quick the Avenger, or One Hundred for One,”
which was well received by the public.
And then to crown all, his descendants on the 28th of August 1889,
unveiled a monument to his memory, in the presence of a thousand persons,
amid the roar of cannon and the huzzahs of a thousand voices.
The monument stands in a street sixty feet wide, a street which is
destined to be a part of one of the leading pleasure drives of Milford.
From the monument can be seen a range of hills extending all around the
village. Also in the distance the Shawangunk mountains in New Jersey.
Near by is the Van de Mark, which comes from a distance among the hills
towards the northwest, and flows southeastward until it empties at
Milford eddy into the Delaware.
The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:
On the side looking east: Emblem on shaft, a wreath. Inscription on die:
Tom Quick was the first white child born within the limits
of the present Borough of Milford. This spot was
his birth-place and home till the cruel death of
his father by the Indians, 1756.
On the base next to the die:
Tom Quick, the Indian Slayer;
or
The Avenger of the Delaware.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account