The States And Union

No. 3.

LEWIS WETZEL.

Among the fiercest of all the Indian Haters, whose deeds have become our historic heritage, must be named the Wetzels. Four brothers - Martin, Lewis, Jacob and George - were all noted scouts and Indian fighters. These men reared in the midst of danger, knew no more mercy for a savage than for a rattlesnake. They were, indeed, more dreaded by their red foes than all other border men. Especially did the two oldest of the brothers become a terror. Their old father (also a famous scout, and a man of wonderful courage) having been shot by the Shawnees (1787), the sons, then young men, made a vow to kill every Indian they encountered, and for years fearfully did they keep their bloody vow. Their hands were red with Indian gore; their belts hung thick with scalps and their courage, skill and implacable will, rendered their name synonymous with death.

This vengeful disposition was one common to the settlers of the West Virginian and Pennsylvania border. So many white families had suffered under the scalping knife of Delaware, Shawnee and Wyandot, that, when the British agents let loose the savage horde on the western settlements, the most terrible passions were aroused in the breasts of the hardy settlers, and to kill an Indian was to rid the earth of a thing despised and detested. This barbarous feeling led to atrocities on the part of the whites at which humanity and civilization shudder. The massacre of the peaceful Moravian converts at Gnadenhutten in the spring of 1782, was a deed of unexampled brutality. Ninety six persons (more than one half being women and children) were butchered, not in the heat of battle - for the Indians were unarmed and confined in their houses - but in deliberate assassination. One man alone, with a cooper's mallet, knocking out the brains of fourteen Indians. Whether or not this brute was Martin Wetzel we are not told, but as he was with that expedition of extermination and as, on a previous expedition, he had shown a ferocity capable of an act, it is fair to presume that his hands were made red with the blood of these helpless and really unoffending people.

This slaughter was committed by an expedition from the settlements around Fort Pitt, (now Pittsburgh) under the command of Col. Daniel Williamson. May his name forever be execrated. Returning to Pittsburgh, a camp of peaceful Delawares, then under government protection was attacked and a number of men, women and children killed.

Not satisfied with these deeds of blood and bad faith, a second expedition (composed wholly of "volunteers" - men who served without pay, and supplied their own weapons, food, &c.,) - to proceed to the Sandusky towns, where the Moravian brethren had another settlement. May 25th, 1782 this expedition, under charge of Col. Wm. Crawford started. Its avowed purpose was simply extermination of the Moravian converts - men, women and children. This was openly announced, and such was the frenzy of the bordermen that all seemed to applaud the movement. As the Indians had sought to "wipe out" the whites, so would they be dealt with in return.

Lewis and Martin were with Crawford. The expedition arrived at the Sandusky towns to find them deserted. but the exasperated Indians close at hand in heavy force, and the two days battle (June 7th and 8th) which followed resulted in Crawford's defeat. The retreat was ordered. The savages hovered on every side like hungry wolves. The main body retired in safety, but large numbers of straggling parties that tried to escape on their own hook," were mercilessly hunted down. Col. Crawford was among those taken prisoner, and suffered a [missing text, likely 'terrible fate']. Thus he was arrested and heavily ironed; but after a few days confinement, escaped still having the handcuffs on his wrists. This was bold and hazardous but successful.

A heavy reward was now offered for his apprehension, but no person was found willing to undertake the dangerous job - no bordermen indeed approved of any arrest for merely killing an Indian. He was re-arrested, however, by a guard of soldiers, one day, a few weeks later, and taken to Cincinnati for trial. The second seizure aroused the settlements among which the young scout was a favorite, and great excitement followed. The people resolved to rescue the prisoner at all hazards - an enterprise thwarted by the good sense of a civil magistrate, who, under action of a writ of habeas corpus set him free. A real ovation followed, and Lewis was reconfirmed in his zeal for Indian killing by these plaudits.

He was thus described at this time (August 26th, 1789) being then about 26 years of age:

He was full breasted, very broad across the shoulders, his arms were large, skin darker than the other brothers, face badly pitted with small pox; and his hair, of which he was very careful, reached, when combed out, to the calves of his legs; his eyes, remarkably black, when excited, sparkling with such a vindictive glance as to indicate the dreadful fury of nature. He was taciturn in mixed company, but joyous enough with his chosen companions. His morals and habits compared with those of his associates, were quite exemplary.

He usually hunted Indians alone, going off on his expeditions for murder just as other hunters would to hunt ordinary forest game. He seemed literally to know no fear. He would attack at any hazard, relying on his skill and immense power of endurance for escape. He became a kind of forest knight, befriending the weak settlers, and ever ready to take the trail where Indians had made an appearance. Once on their trail he was a dreadful foe, and he became at once their dread and the object of intense hate. Many a noted brave vowed his death, but no savage was fortunate enough to seize his coveted scalp, so richly loaded with its magnificent length of raven hair. This pursuit of the implacable Shawnee and of the wily Wyandot only ceased as the line of the settlements advanced and Wayne's treaty of 1795 gave peace to the border.

After this peace, Wetzel led a roving wood life. Finding it now a dangerous matter to kill a peaceable Indian, he grew restless and finally embarked on a flat boat for New Orleans. There getting into trouble with a Spaniard, he was arrested and thrown into prison. New Orleans then being under Spanish dominion, (the Louisiana Territory was a Spanish colony from 1769 to 1803 when it was transferred to our government), the friendless man was incarcerated for two years, and treated most ignominiously by the tyrannical powers in authority, and not until our government authorities interceded was he at length released. This incarceration much impaired his robust health and spirits. He returned north by sailing vessel to Philadelphia. For a few months he hovered around his old haunts among his friends along the Ohio; but, at length, suddenly disappeared down the river. It is stated that he went to New Orleans and took ample revenge for his wrongs; but nothing certain is known regarding his acts. He never returned north, but died with a relative near Natchez in 1808.

His brothers became settlers and farmers, and their descendants are, now to be found in the Ohio valley in considerable numbers. Lewis never married. It was not possible for his wild, restless nature to submit to the bonds of wedlock. He lives on the page of history an avenging spirit, whose mission was one of blood. Such men should not leave descendants. Like the red savage, whom he resembled in form, feature, complexion and disposition, there is no place for such greatness as was his in our new civilization. - N. Y. Weekly.