American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1856-02-16
% ri9inal.
p' WRITTEN FOR THE AMERIcAN UNION.
INDrAN RECoLEECTToNS, Or
RENdITJzsCHNgEs. srt
BY JOSEPH II. POWELL.

In the month Of April last (1S55),
chance drew me to the house of MI.
JAMES MORGAN, at the mouth of Indian
creek, on the Monongahcla river, in
Marion county; and knowing him, to
be one of those few who had lived and
suffered through those fierce border
times which render Western Virginia
( famous in the annals Of savage and
thrilling history;- having a penchaat
i for the adyentuous, and knowing that
if l could but arouse the old gentleman
| to the point of free and unreserYed con
versation and communicativeness, !
should have access to q volume of in
teresting history, embracing the imme-
diate events of near q century. L in
quired, after q preliminary discourse
of half an hour, how it was that he
could consent to exchange q home Of
ease and comfort in the fertile Valley
of the Southwest, for one within the
rough borders.of Western Virgimia?7b
| "Well, said he =" / amnow settled
in the neighborhoodof my early
| The dust Of a father and mother and
kindred dear, render hall6wea in my
eyes, my soul and the affections thereof,
the broken and barren borders OF my
native soil. / have. always hoped to
die here and be buried here. This
impression has ever haunted me; and
| it seemsIto be natural in the human
breast to cling withla tenaciousness in.
explicable to the cndearmentsl that are
ever associated with our early child
hoods, homes, Thesterner qualities in
man seem never to have, been able to
overcome this prominent passion in the
composition of our nature.iU isad adi ai
,ys' / am now, hccontinued, Win my
eightylsixti1 year, ana I'M tho common.
course Of nature and its eVonts, can
Iexpect to have but few more allotted
me. But, Ia, me !! what rcan compre-
hond at a retrospective glance of tho
mind! /! Well do | remember the time
when scarce a stick of timber from Red
Stone Fort in Pennsylvania, around to
Bedford in the same state, down. to
Cumberland, Nd, up or across to Win,
chester, in this state, bore the stroke.
of the white mans axe-7-of toward the
| Ohio river Northwest, and Southwest
ldown to Point Pleasant, save at some
four on five points in this then yastex-
tent of rough wilderness country.
"The Indian tomahawk had here
Innd there family marked the timber,
asa future guide toits savage possessor
in his incursions after scalps. so. g.
( "Father resided where Morgahtown,
now fourislles, and the nearest neigh
bors to this point were those of Prick
! ett's Fort, at the mouth Of the stream
J of that name in Marion county, now.
/ Small lots we're cleared out at several
\ points in the county soon after. [ was
but about five years old, but the fierce
ness of the times gave mo a vivid re-
collection Of passing events. | believe
can recollect every occurrence from
4. that time to the present" sys "a 81.
! l suppose, said /, you could relate
4 some Indian incidents ofmterest which
q have never found place among the
published accounts of those times? 'f
j 4" Oh, yes, as interesting and excit-
I ing as any published. | was sorry |
4 could not have seen Mr.. Alexander
4 Withers, of Weston, Lewis county, be-
fore he compiled his work on" Border
j Warfare" for he is an elegant writer,
and was truthful in his accounts; but
| being from Eastern Virginia but
j short time previous to the compilation
and publication of his book, he learned
but few of the less prominent events of
/ those times. a7ib w" ia#tn .ai
i "I frequently urged Enos ID. Nor
gan, my nephew, who published a paper
lin Morgantown, to give to the public
some of those reserved minor occurren-
ces; but from motives of dclicacy he
tdeclined--the principal actors were his
Immediate relatives, and thinking the
task Of giving publicity to them be-
lohgcd moro properly to some one else
than he or those engaged, ] suppose
they will be lost with inc. There arc
occurrences which have not been spo.
ken of for more than Fifty years, but
had become stale proyiousto that time;
consequently they were suffered to run
ont of the rising mind, which, on re-
hcarsibg would assume their early In
lterest. s..t
| "Now, just across there, beyond
that point, UP White Day, less than a
quarter Of q mile, was one Of theeyents
of my earliest recollection. You re.
member o cliff Of rocks just out Of sight
up the creek, he said, pointing across
! theriyor in the direction, I" the walls Of
which yet present visibly burned and