Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-06-01
AFRONTIER ROMANCE.
The Story of Sweet Corn" the Mo
ravian Indian Maiden.
A Reminiscence of the Gnadenhutten Mnssa-
cre---The Mohican L ide of Jshn Hav-
erstocl. Saved from the Siaugh-
ter---iIore Light on the
Massacre.

1t is fact probably little known, that
family named Haverstock, residing in
Belmont county, are descendants in a
direct succession on the maternal side,
from the Indians of the Moravian settle
ments at Gnadenhutten. The grand
mother of the present Haverstocks was
a pretty Indian maiden named Sweet
Corn" and was in the field gathering
grain, with the other unfortunate men,
bers of her tribe, on the morning prece-
ding the Inflated day of the massacre.
It will be recollected that when the
Moravians were carried from the Tusca-
rawas settlements to "Captive's Town
in Wyandot county, the preceding fall,
by order of the British authorities at
Detroit, on suspicion of undue friend
ship for the American settlers, they
passed a winter of great privation and
suffering. They had but hastily and i'll
constructed huts to shelter them from
winter of unusual severity, were pos
sessed of but the scantiest means of pro-
vision and clothing, and in the early
spring the impoverished Moravians
were in state of entire destitution.
1t was thereupon determined to send
portion of the tribe-the younger and
stronger-back to their grain fields in
in Tuscarawas, where thousands OF
bushels of corn of their previous years
husbandry still hung unplucked on the
stalk, to there gather and return with
the sorely needed sustenance for the
aged, the sick and the enfeebled.
AS soon as the subsiding SHOWS per-
mitted, the Moravian relief band start
ed for their old settlements at Gnaden-
hutten, arriving there early in March,
and at once began the work of collect
ing the food.
"Sweet Corn" a lovely Mohican maid
en- and one of the Moravian converts,
accompanied the expedition, and wss in
the fields husking the grain when the
Americad forces, under Col. William
son, approached.
Joining Col. Wiiliamson's command
at Mingo, was a young hunter named
John Haverstock, one of the most in
trepid frontiersman of early times. He
was noted among the pioneers for his
great strength, agility and daring, and
as one of the most skillful hunters of
that day; his boyish life having been
spent in trapping and shooting in the
unbroken forests then lying west of the
Ohio, and now composing the counties
of southern Jefferson and northern Bel
/ mont. Losing his prrents i'll childhood,
he had practically made his home in the
woods, with no companion but his gun,
and sustaining himself on game and da-
ring adventure. Despite his rough life
and habits, Haverstock was handsome
young fellow, and his arrival in any OF
| the border settlements was the signal
for general futtering of pale maidens'
hearts, any of whom would have been
willing to share his wild abode in the
rocky declivities of the western Ohio
shore. But John Haverstock's bride was
destined to come to him of more rO-
mantle wOoing.
On the evening of the 7th, the Amer
ican forces were nearing the quiet and
unsuspecting Indian village. John Hav-
erstock was scouting somewhat IN ad-
vance of the command, and penetrating
to the edge of the heavy forest which
skirted the Tuscarawas bottoms, the
borderer's gaze was suddenly riveted by
the bewitching loveliness of the Mohl'
can maiden, as she industriously husk,
ed her grain for the loved ones who
hungrily waited on the Sandusky plains
From that hour Johns matrimonial fate
was sealed, although he did not then in
dictate his presence to her.
no1 INiliopocan'c a 10 knnwn
were kindly received at the village and
Hospitality entertained-no suspicion OF
the terrible doom impending ever enter
ing the Indian breast. Upon their ad-
vent John Haverstock laid immediate
siege to the heart of the gentle "Sweet
Corn" The maid was not averse to the
noble presence of the young white hunt
} er, and by his impetuous wooing before
nightfall her troth was plighted to the
American,
To his dying day John Haverstock
maintained that no evil design was or
iginally meditated against the Moraviar
settlement, while some of the borderers
attached to the command of Col. Will
Hanson insisted that the settlements
were giving aid and comfort to the Of
Tending tribes of the Northwest; yet NJ
proof existed to give this charge more
than the force of mere suspicion. BuI
blood-stained dress was alleged tt
: have been found in one of the cabin.
suddenly produced among Williamson!
men, which it was insisted had been or
the person of Mrs. Wallace at the time
of her capture by hostile Indians shor
time before. The minds of the front
: iersmen being deeply embittered by tht
: enormity of the Wallace murder, th1!
discovery developed into an immediate
demand for revenge. The determine
, tion was that of wholesale slaughter.
5 In vain Col. Williamson sought tt
stem the mad thirst for indiscriminat'
blood-in vain was the voice Of JohI
, Haverstock, influential as he was among
his fellow-pioneers, heard pleading fo
the mercies at least of further investiga
tion-the infariated frontiersmen would
brook no interference. "Spare not one,
was the command, and the crimson pag
, of Gnadenhutten took its shameful plac
t in our country's history.
q Amid the inhuman carnage, naHgh
' but the known heroic daring and prov
ess of Haverstock saved the weepln
Sweet Corn from the fate of her tribe
AS the WOrk OI DlOOu run lHdu llO1, III
l colossal form of John Haverstock tow
2 cred before the wigwam of the terrifie'
! Indian girl, like an impenetrable wall o
t steel between her and the danger with
out. Rifle and tomahawk clutched il
hand, he warned the maddened butch
t ers of Willitmson's command, that h
q would visit instant death upon any on
e who would attempt to approach he
e place of refuge, and well the woodsme
knew that what John Haverstock said
he would fulfil to the very death.
l. On the return march, he carried tn
a lonely maiden-so cruelty bereft of he
n kindred-to the American settlement a
Norristown, where she became th
bride of her protector, and progenite
e of respected line of descendants, on
: of whom furnished these details.-O.