Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-04-20

The Wonderfui carser Of an Early
Indian Fighter.
Arrest and In prisonment in Wheeling "a
1895, of John Ross, the Father. OF
the First White Child Born
in Eastern Ohio.

SATURDAYS S~teubenville Gazette, that VIZ
pinia attempted to exercise authority over
the northwest territory, the title to when
was acquired by charters from James l. IL
1906 and l6ll. In that year the county
of Botetourt was established n IN TITO
Virginia claimed an additional right BY the
bold and successful conquest OF Colonel
George Rogers Clark. In the same year
of Clark's campaign the House OF Bur
gesses established the county OF Illinois,
having for its boundaries on the east Penn
sylyania, on the south and southeast the
Ohio river, on the west the Mis-
sissippi and on the north the
GREAT lakes. In 1884 this same terri
tory was coded to the general government
of the United States by the Commonwealth
of Virginia, but Congress pursued the poacy
followed during the war Of the Revolutiou
Of discouragipg and preventing settlements
ON the west side of the Ohio until all the
Indian titles had been extinguished and the
lands regularly surveyed and ready for sale,
During the Revolution General Washington
deemed any attempts at settlement oy the
whites on this territory inexpedient and In.
furious to the American cause and used
every means in his power to maintain peace
with the Indians then occupying the regions
west of the Ohio.
But Notwithstanding the efforts Of Wash
inpton and afterwards of the general gov
ernment to prevent settlements, the venture.
some pioneer ~disregarded the orders issued
and established his log cabin and made a
small clearing for his corn along the river
front in Jefferson and Belmont counties. In
1873, General Brodhead, then in command
of the Western department, dispatched an
expedition to apprehend the trespassers
upon the soil and to destroy all the huts and
babitations Of the squatters. This expedi-
ton does not appear to have been productive
OF any good result and in 1885 a detachment
under command of John Armstrong was
sent out with instructions to eject the squat
tiers by force and destroy all improvements
they might have made. His report shows
that there were settlements at the mouth OF
Yellow Creek, opposite Browns Island, and
on Mingo Bottom. The chief man OF the
settlement at Mingo was Joseph Ross, who
claimed that Armstrong; instructions never
came from Congress and that if his house
was destroyed he would build six
more within a week. He treated
the whole matter with such contempt that
Armstrong, conceiving him to be a danger
GUS nan, arrested him and sent him under
guard to Wheeling. At q number Of other
places the squatters along the west bank oil
The Ohio banded together to resist the
troops, and were organized and equipped
with all the munitions of war Many Of
hem Welded upon a compromise being eff
tected by which they were allowed to build
cabins on the Virginia side, but soon came
back and acquired titles to the lands origi
nally occupied by purchase from the gov
eminent. These lands were surveyed 10
1856 and divided into seven ranges; the
sales were made in New York, Philadelphia
and Pittsburg until 1901, when q land office
| was established in Steubenville with David
Hoge as register. The first lands sold were
to the Ohio Company, formed in Boston in
1856, for fve!shillings per acre, and in thus
year the first legal settlements were made
in Ohio.
Joseph Ross was born in 1880, in New
| York State. From his boyhood he was
noted for his great physical strength and
endurance, as we'll as for his spirit Of bold
independence. He was almost a giant in
stature, standing six feet five in his mecca
| sins and weighing about three hundred
pounds. When about twenty years OF age
be was captured by a prowling band Of
| Indians and conducted to their village
| somewhere in Ohio. Possessing so many
| physical qualities he commanded the re
spect of the ssvsges, and as in all Of the
many and severe trials to which he was put
he beat every antagonist, he was we'll treat
ed BY the warriors. The tribe lost q CHIEF
by sickness soon after the arrival Of Ross
and after the funeral ceremonies were per.
formed the ssyages dressed him in the In
dian costume and invested him with al
the authority and privileges of the
| deceased-as one of the chiefs of the
tribe, and as husband of the widow. This
latter arrangement appears to have been
very satisfactory to Ross, who was ever
somewhat a Solomon in his domestic rela.
tons; he made the widow his wife in the
manner consistent with Indian customs
and is said to have become the father oil
three daughters of uncommon beauty and
comeliness during the five years he was
chief. The squaw to which he stood in the
relation of husband was a younger sister Of
the mother of Joseph Brant, or Thsyen'
danega, the celebrated Mohawk c~hieftain,
whom tradition AYERS was born during an
expedition Of his parents to the hunting
grounds of the Ohio Valley.
Upon the outbreak Of the French and In.
dian war, Ross made a pretense Of going to
Join the French at Fort Duquesne aud es,
capped to his old home in New York State,
where he Immediately Joined the expedition
10 Fort Edward under General Putnam.
He wa badly wounded by an arrow during
an attack by the Indians and was recap
tured. Upon their retreat, he was Invested
of his moccasins, q load Of plumber was
strapped to his back, and, with his hands
tied behiLd him, bleeding and suffering
from his wound, he was compelled to keep
pace with his r~etreating captors. His pow.
erful frame at length succumbed, and com.
pletely exhausted he begged the French
officer either to release or kill him. He
was relieved of a part of his load and
moccasins were gwen him for his feet, bat
one oil the Indians gave him q blow with q
tomsbswk which opened his cheek with q
terrible cash and disfgured his handsome
face. At night he was compelled to lie
down on his back with his hands and feet
separately tied to as many trees, poles laid
across his body and a savage at each side
of him. he was regarded as q great war
rior, and his Indian captors resolved to
burn him at the stake. He was accordingly
stripped and bound to q tree, raggots were
piled around him and the fire kiudled.
Hope began to fail him, but a heavy shower
Of rain deadened the flames and o French
officer discovered his condition and re-
leased him, scorched, blistered and halt dead
from wounds and fatigue. After his recov.
cry he entered into q warfare against the
Indians with his customary boldness, and
passed the whole time until the outbreak Of
the revolutionary war in a relentless
slaughter of the sayages to ayenge bis tor
ture. On one occasion in a combat with
two Indians, both of whom he t~omahawked