Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-29
AN INDIANS REVENGE.
The story of a Skull in Which Birds
Have Nested Many Years.

Have Nested Many Years.
There is in the possession of a family
living on Baldwin's Greek, near the scene
of the bloody and decisive battle between
the American forces under Gen. Sullivan
and the Six Nations under Brant and
other great chiefs, in 1879, says a South
port { y. y special to the New York
Times, a curious relic of that battle,
which has tragic story of its own. 1t is
the skull of an Indian, with bullet hole
in the centre of the forehead. The ances-
tor Of the present owner settled on the
farm still occupied by the family just after
the Revolutionary war. The story that
has been handed down with the skull is as
follows:
The Indian to whom the skull belonged
was one of Brant's blOOdiest and braVest
warriors. He participated in the Wvom-
ing brutalities, the horrors at Minisink.
and the bloody Cherry Valley massacre.
lie was the leader of the marauding band
that burned the settlement at Harpers.
field, Delaware county, and murdered the
settlers there. An act of his at that mas
sacre is alleged to have led to his own
death at the hands of an Indian enemy.
an adopted son of the peaceable chief,
COrnplanter.' Young COrnplanter, who
was friendly to the whites, hearing that
an attack on the Harperstield settle
ment was contemplated, sent a sduaw
OF his tribe clear from the shores
OF the Allegheny river to warn the set
tiers. She arrived too late to perform the
service, as the saYages had reached there
first and accomplished their work. She
was captured, however, and, known to be
Cornplanter squaw and her errand sus-
pected, she was killed and scalped by the
leader Of the hostile band.
When this became known to youno
COrnplanter, he sw0re vengeance against
the murderer of his squaw. When Sulli-
van was sent into the Susquehanna
country on his errand of destruction.
Cornplanter was employed as a scout to
precede the army and keep the General in
formed as to the plans and strength of the
Indians. In the performance of this duty
he was creeping through the woods near
the present village of Wellsburg. when
suddenly he saw an Indian also stealing
along. COrnplanter stopped behind a
chestnut tree. The other Indian was a
Seneca and hid himself behind a fallen
tree. COrnplanter, uncertain whether
the Seneca had seen him, remained mo-
uOnless behind the chestnut, but peered
around the trunk with one eve, bring
ing the hiding place of the other Indian
III view. 1Ieoenbly IQe mead OF the
Seneca rose stealthily above the fallen
trunk, and Il moment later the Indian
rose TO his feet and glanced cautiously
about. Cornplanter recognized his bitter
enemy, the slayer Of his squaw, and the
Indian he had sworn to kill. The next
instant his rifle covered the Seneca brave,
and the report that followed was 9he
bloody warriors death-knell. Corn
planter scalped the chief and left him
lying where he fell. The next dav the
battle of BaldwIn's Greek was fought, and
the Indians were routed.
Twenty years later Young COrnplanter,
whe had gone to the West, returned to the
vicinity of Baldwin's Greek. One day
he was walking in the woods with the
grandfather of the present owner of the
Indian skull, whose guest ne was, and,
stopping suddenly and looking about him
on every side, said to his host that it was
on that spot that he had killed Brant's
warrior in l779. COrnplanter went to a
certain spot, and digging away a deep
layer of leaves, uncovered the moulder-
ing bones of the Seneca brave. The
skull was as sound as ever. COrnpIanter
kicked it spitefully away from him into
the woods. His companion picked it up.
and taking it home, put it on a tall pole.
and the blue birds nested in 1t for years.
1t now serves as a retreat for two pet
ground squirrels. The small hole in the
forehead shows how unerring was the In
dian C0rnplanter's ann.