The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1871-06-23
LEWIS wETzEL.

come our historic heritage, must b
named the Wetzels. Five brother
Martin, Lewis, Jacob aid GeOrg
were all noted scouts and Indial
lighters. These men, reared in tn
midst of danger, knew no NOR
mercy for a savage than for rattle
snake. They were, indeed, more
dreaded by their red foes than al
other bordermen. Especially die
the two Oldest of the brothers be-
come a terror. Their old father
(also a famous scout, and a man Of
wonderful courage), having been
shot by the ShaWnees (17S7), the
sons, then young men, made vow
to kill every Indian they encounter
ed, and for years fearfully did they
keep that 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 svnonv-
nous with death.
This vengeful disposition was
once cOmIuon to the settlers of West
Virginia and Pennsylvania. So
many white families had suffered
under the sealping knife of the Del
awares, Shawnees and Wyandottes
that, when the British agents let
loose the savage horde on the west
ern 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 hu-
manity and civilization shudder.
The massacre of the peaceful Mora
Wan converts at Guadenhutten in
the spring of 1882, was a deed of
unexampled brutality. Ninety-six
persons (more than one-half being
women and children were butcher
ed, not in the heat of fbattle-for the
Indians were unarmed and confined
in their hOuses-but in deliberate
assassination. One man alone, with
a cooper's mallet, knocked out the
brains Of fourteen Indians. Wheth-
er or not this brute was Martin
Wetzel we are not told, but as he
was with that expedition of exter-
minatiOn and as, on a previous ex-
peditiOn, he had shown a ferocitv
capable of such an act, it is fair to
presume that his hands were made
red with the blood of these helpless
and really unOfending people.
The slaughter was committed bv
an expedition from the settlements
around Fort Pitt, (now Pittsburgh
under the command of Colonel Dan
iel Williamson. May his name for
ever be execrated.
Returning to Pittsburg, a camp of
peaceful Delawares, then under the
protection Of the government. was
attacked and a number of men, wo-
men and children killed.
Not satisfied with these deeds of
blood and bad faith, a second expe-
dition was organized (composed
wholly of volunteers who
served without pay, and supplied
their own weapons, food, DC, ito
proceed to the Sandusky towns
where the Moravian brethren had
another settlement. Nav 25tb
1882, this expedition, under the
charge Of Col. William Crawford
started. Its avowed purpose was
simply determination of the Mora
Wan converts-men, women and
children. This was openly an
nounced, and such was the frenzy of
the bordermen that all seemed to
applaud the movement. As the In
dians had sought to "wipe out" the
whites, so would they be dealt by
them in return.
Lewis and Martin were with Craw-
ford. The expedition arrived at the
Sandusky towns to find them desert
ed, but the exasperated Indians
close at hand in heavy force, and
the two days battle (June 7th and
Sth which followed, resulted in
Crawtord's defeat. The retreat was
ordered. The sayages hovered on
every side like hungry wolves. The
main body retired in safety, but
large numbers of struggling parties
that tried to escape "on their own
hook" we're mercilessly hunted
down. Colonel Crawford was
among those taken prisoner, and
suffered a horrible death at the
stake. Lewis Wetzel escaped, and
thereafter gave up his life to Indian
hunting and scouting, and his life
record from that time until 1895 be-
comes one of astonishing interest.
To illustrated the mans character,
General Harmer, commander-in-
chief of the northwestern frontier,
erected Fort Harmer, (now Mariet-
ia at the mouth Of the hTuskingum
River. Then, by proclamation, he
summoned the Indians to come and
ratify treaties of peace. Having be
come tired ofthe war both parties
had agreed to "bury the hatchet."
This movement so displeased the
implacable Indian haters that it was
resolved to thwart it by killing the !
first red skin who might come into
the fort. Lewis Wetzel volunteered
to become the assassin. Proceeding
down the Ohio to the vicinity of Fort
Harmer, with only one companion,
he ambushed a young chief riding
along into the fort. The chief shot
through the thigh, rode into the fort
to die. Wetzel knowing that this
deed would arrest all attempts at
peace returned to his home, which
was then on the Mingo bottom Just
below whereSteubenYille now stands.
Harmer ordered his arrest, and a
party of men proceeded to make the
arrest, but the friends of Lewis re-
slowed to ambush and kill the entire
party.
This certainly would have been
done had not the details at once re-
treated. The assasins, having friends
upon every hand, and all along the
border from Fort Fit to Yincennes,
had no fears of a second attempt for
his seizure; but Harmer was infexi-
ible. To punish the treacherous act
perpetrated by the laWless scout he
only awaited the appearance of the
man, sure to follow, for Lewis was a
reckless spirit, and any day might