Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1895-12-13
{ Written for the Beacon
AN INDIAN STORY.
By J. L. S.

recovered from the effects OF the
Revolutionary War and was about
TO enter upon that path of states
manship and internal improvement
which was shortly to place her on
an equality with foreign powers. and
again in short while to far snrnass
them, the western. portion of Vir-
ginia was the western limit 81 set
Element.
1t is true few hardy pioneers
with their no less hardy families
had established themselves beyond
the Alleghanies, but not only were
they far from civilization and a bOr-
der civilization at that but their
lives were held on the precarious
tenure Ct Indian favor-at best un-
certain-bnt at the time Of which
We write PARTICULAR dangerous.
The Indian chiefs SAW with alarm
the victory Of the Colonies in their
struggle for independence, as it
proved to them that the new coun-
try was at last a formidable antag-
onistic unit against which their
scattered tribes could make no
headway, especially as they were
unable to do so by aid of their white
allies, and now that aid was with
drawn, a wave of emigration and
settlement was sweeping eastward to
disposses them Of their fertile fields
and drive them from haunts they
had learned to love to the hunting
grounds further west.
The more astute chiefs recognized
the fact that their people were no
match for the sturdy race which
peopled the shore of the Atlantic,
and that it was but question of
time when the victorious whites
would sweep them away as their
fathers had formerly been swept
westward by the early settler.
1t was no wonder, therefore, that
their anger should be aroused at
seeing the oncoming tide, as evi-
denced by the pioneer, boldly clear
ing the forest for his little cabin.
and that frontier massacres were
he effect rather of despair than of
Indian cruelty and revenge. Indeed.
in civilized people, their leaders
would have been looked upon as pa
triots battling hopelessly against
overwelming odds for the heritage
of their fathers.
Andrew Hofer, the mythical Tell.
the Bruce were not more truly pa
trints than some of the ed-skinned
chiefs who waged a merciless bor-
der warfare with a superior civiliza-
tiOn.
1t is true their warfare was not
waged with scrupulous regard to
humanity and the nice rules of war
Of civilized nations, but they fought
with savagery born of despair and
the cunning of the woods, which
came as natural to them as the Par
THAN warfare to the ligLt-armed
Scythian.
Among the early settlers in Vir.
ginia was German by the name of
John Weisman. By thrift and fru-
gality he managed to save a little
property, and at the outbreak of
the Revolution was a we'll to do
planter. Unfortunately for him.
his leanings were toward the Brit
'sh ascendancy, and upon his es
tate being coniiscated he determin-
ed to move to the west. hoping
against hope that his property would
IN time be restored to him by the
triumphal march of British dra-
goons. Wishing to participate in
the hoped for glory, he determined
to go just beyond the confines of
the settled territory aud wait until
the settlement of the trouble.
Accordingly, with his one son,
Henry Weisman, a bright, intelli-
gent lad of some ten years of age,
he went westward through the beau
teous country of fair Virginia, un-
tll he came to the edge of civiliza-
ton, and plunging into the prime
val forest he cleared himself a small
tract in the western part of what is
now the county of Wye.
Here he lived until the close of
the war, when the hard life telling
upon a not very robust frame, cou-
pied with the heart sickness of hope
long deferred. closed his eyes for
ever.
Henry WAS nUy 0 grvwn man, en-