Narrative of Mr. John Dodge during his Captivity at DetroitDodge, John
History
Narrative of Mr. John Dodge during his Captivity at Detroit
Dodge, John
Detroit (Mich.); Indian captivities; United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Prisoners and prisons
A letter to Philip Boyle at Sandusky, July 13, 1779, in Farmer's Hist.
of Detroit 1. 173. This letter was intercepted by the British. It
enclosed the proceedings of the Virginia Council concerning Hamilton.
Dodge was a great traveler in his day. Born in Connecticut in 1751, he
went to Sandusky, Ohio, in 1770, thence to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg), thence
back to Sandusky, thence in succession to Detroit, Michillimackinac
(Mackinac), Detroit, Quebec, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Fort Pitt,
Vincennes (Indiana), Kaskaskia (Illinois), Ste. Genevieve (Missouri),
and New Orleans. We find mention of the man at these places and it is
very probable that his travels were much more extensive.[13]
In the Harman papers, as reported by the Missouri Historical Society, is
the following reference to Dodge in a letter from John Rice Jones, dated
October, 1789: "John Dodge and Michael Antanya, with a party of whites
and armed Piankeshaw Indians, came over from the Spanish side and
attempted to carry off some slaves of Mr. John Edgar, and otherwise were
guilty of outlandish conduct, threatening to burn the village." Dodge
and Edgar were old friends and fellow prisoners at Detroit. They were
both arrested and confined in that place as being too friendly towards
the American cause. Edgar was one of the witnesses relied upon to prove
that Dodge was entitled to the land grant for which he had made
application as a Canadian refugee.
James Wood[14] of Frederick County, Va., who is mentioned in the
Narrative, was appointed to command an expedition against the Shawanese,
and armed his company at his own expense. He was also deputed, by the
House of Burgesses, in 1775, to go among the several tribes of Western
Indians and invite them to a treaty at Fort Pitt. He set out on his
errand June 25, 1775, and was gone two months. He "underwent the
greatest fatigues, difficulties and dangers." He was ordered paid £250
for "the great service he hath done to this colony, by his diligent and
faithful execution of the commission with which he was intrusted."
The meeting of the Indians, which is referred to in the Narrative, took
place at Fort Pitt in October, 1775. One of the Indian chiefs who was
present on the occasion, was Shegenaba, the son of the famous Pontiac.
His father had recently been killed in a war between the Indians, and he
refers to this event in his speech, a part of which is as follows:
Fathers: From the information I have had of the commandant of
Detroit, with distrust I accepted your invitation, and measured my
way to the council fire with trembling feet. Your reception of me
convinces me of his falsehood, and the groundlessness of my fears.
Truth and he has long been enemies. My father, and many of my
chiefs, have lately tasted death. The remembrance of that misfortune
almost unmans me, and fills my eyes with tears.
The following is another letter by Dodge:
Fort Pitt Decr 13th 1781.
Sir
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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