Tales, Traditions and Romance of Border and Revolutionary TimesEllis, Edward Sylvester
History
Tales, Traditions and Romance of Border and Revolutionary Times
Ellis, Edward Sylvester
Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- Anecdotes; United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Anecdotes
Some days they would make but two or three miles, and again, when the
way was less obstructed, would make ten, fifteen or eighteen miles. On
the fourth day of their march, near some deserted Indian huts, they came
upon the skull of a child, stuck upon a pole.
There was a large number of men in the army who had wives, children and
friends prisoners among the Indians, and who had accompanied the
expedition for the purpose of recovering them. To these the skull of
this little child brought sad reflections. Some one among them was,
perhaps, its father, while the thought that it might stand as an index,
to tell the fate of all who were captured, made each one shudder. As
they looked at it, bleached by the sun and rain, the anxious heart asked
questions it dared not answer.
Keeping on their course, they pursued their difficult march, day after
day, much of the time through a tangled wilderness, but occasionally,
from some high point, catching glimpses of marvellous splendor of sky
and scenery, the purpled sunlight of October wrapping all objects in a
kind of enchantment. At times the path was so overgrown with bushes,
that every step had to be cleared with the ax; again, it would be over
marshes, so wet that bridges had to be constructed, to keep the cattle
from sinking; and still again, the men would be cheered by an easy and
rapid day's journey, along the banks of some pleasant stream. Ohio is
even yet renowned for its glorious forests, and these, now dressed in
all the gorgeous coloring of Indian summer, gave frequent pictures of
beauty which impressed the roughest of the sturdy soldiers.
At length they descended to a small river, which they followed until it
joined the main force of the Muskingum, where a scene of a very
different character awaited them. A little above and below the forks,
the shores had been cultivated, and lined with Indian houses. The place
was called Tuscarora, and, for beauty of situation, could not well be
surpassed. The high, luxuriant banks, the placid rivers, meeting and
flowing on together, the green fields, sprinkled with huts, and bordered
with rich, autumnal foliage, all basking in the mellow October light,
and so out of the way there in the wilderness, combined to form a sweet
picture, which was doubly lovely to them after being so long shut up in
the forest. They reached this beautiful spot Saturday afternoon, and,
the next day being Sunday, they remained in camp, men and cattle being
allowed a day of rest. The latter, revived under the swell of green
grass, and, roaming over the fields, gave a still more civilized aspect
to the quiet scene. The next day, the army moved two miles further down
the Muskingum, and encamped on a high bank, where the stream was three
hundred feet wide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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