Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-03-19

the Indians, and disturbed by per-
petual rumOrs of the i'll intentions
Of the white people Of the frontier
settlements towards them; yet
their Iabors, schools and religions
exercises, wenton without interrap-
ton.
In the revolutionary war, which
began in 1915, the situation Of the
Moravian settlements was truly
deplorable. The English had as
sociated with their own means OF
warfare against the Americans, the
scalping knife and tOmahawk OF
the merciless Indians. These allies
of England committed the most
horried depredatons along the
whole extent of our defenseless
frontier. From early in the spring
until late in the fall, the early
settlers of the western parts Of
Virginia and Pennsylvania had to
submit to the severest hardships
and privations. CoOped up in little
stockade forts, they worked their
little fields in parties under aims
guarded by sentinels, and were
doomed from day to day to witness
or hear reports of the murders or
captivity OF their people, the burn
ing of their houses, and the plum
der of their property.
The war with the English fleets
and armies, on the other side of
the mountains, was Of such char
acter as to engage the whole atten-
ton and resources of our govern
ment, 30 that, poor as the first set
tiers of this country were, they had
to bear almost the whole burden Of
the war during the Revolutionary
contest. They chose their own oili-
GERS, furnished their own means,
and conducted the war in their own
way. Thus circumstancod, "tbey
became law unto themselves" and
OH certain occasions perpetrated
acts which government was COM
PEELED to disapprove. This lawless
temper Of our people was never
fully dissipAted until the conclusion
of the whisky rebellion in 1894.
The Moravian villages were stu
ated between the settlements Of the
whites and the towns Of the war
riors, about sixty miles from the
former, and not much farther from
| the latter. On this account they
were denominated "the halfway
houses of the Warriors Thus
placed between two rival powers
engaged In furious wsrfare the pre-
Eervation Of their neutrality was no
easy task, perhaps impossible. If
it requires the same physical force
to preserve neutral station among
belligercnt nations that it does to
prosecute a war, rs is unquestion-
ably the case, this pacific people
had no chance for the preservation
of theirs. The very goodness OF
their hearts, their aversion TO the
shedding of human blood, brought
them into diilicnlties with both par
ties. When they sent their runners
to Fort Pitt, to inform us Of the ap-
proach Of the war parties, or re-
ceived, fed, secreted and sent home
prisoners who had made their es-
cape from the savages, they made
breaches of their neutrality as to
the belligerent Indians. Their fur
nishing the warriors with resting
place and provisions was contrary
to their neutral engagements to us;
but their local situation rendered
those accommodations to the war
riors unavoidable on their part, as
the warriors possessed both the will
and the means to compel them to
give whatever they wanted from
them.
The peaceable Indians first fell
under suspicion with the Indian
warriors and the English comman.
dant at Detroit, to whom it was re-
ported that their teachers were in
close cOnfederscy with the Ameri-
can congress, for preventing not
only their own people, but also the
! Delawares and some other nations,
from assOciating their arms with
those of the British for carrying on
the war against the American col
Onies.
The frequent failures of the war
expeditions of the Indians was at
tributed to the MOrayians, who
often sent runners to Fort Pitt to
give notice of their approach. This
charge against them was certainly
not without foundation. In the
spring of the year 1871 the wal
chiefs Of the Delawares fully ap-
prised the missionaries aud their
followers of their danger both from
the whites and Indians, and re-
quested them to remove to place
of safety from both. This request
was not complied with, and tue al.
most prophetic predictions Of the
chiefs were literally fulfilled.
r In the fall of the year 1881 the
settlements of the MoraviaDs were
broken up by upwards of three
hundred warriors, and the mission
r aries taken prisoners, after being
robbed of almost every thing. The
Indians were left to shift for them
selves in the barren plains Of San
dusky, where most of their horses