Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-04-06
The Native Tribes of West Virginia.

What Indian tribes last inhabited
the territory now embraced in West
Virginia between tn. Alleghsnie. and
the Ohio, and when did their occupa-
ton cease? This question is more
easily asked than answered, yet the
answer can be given within certain
limits. The one bold fact stands out
prominently, and it is full Of meaning,
viz: that when West Virginia first
became known to civilized man, it was
desert in which th-re seems to have
been not one permanent Indian abode.
In all the valleys, and on all the
mountains, from river to summit, not
one aboriginal village existed. The
land was totally uninhabited. Thi,
is a sweeping statement, and may oc-
ca.ion surprise but l believe that
thorough investigation will show that
it is true. Early writers spoke OF In
dian villages, but they seldom located
them, and if they did locate them, it
has since been shown that the towns
did not exist, OF were only temporary.
Bulltown, on the Little Kanawha,
was supposed by some Of the early
writers to have been permanent vii
lage, until destroyed by settlers from
Hackers creek but it was not The
town had not been there ten years
when destroyed. 1t was settled by
strolling Indians from New York.
In the Border Warfare, Withers
speaks of the proximity of the first
settlers of Tygart, Valley to an In
dian village. 1t cannot be determined
to what town he referred, or what was
its location. Bulitown was not yet
founded at that time, but Withers did
not know it, and he may have alluded
to it. think, however, that he had
In mind a place thirty-two miles south
of the first settlement in Tygart's val
ley, and that he supposed an Indian
/ VILLAGE was there when the whites
made their settle on the site Of Bever-
| ly. To this day the old inhabitants
of the region point out the spot on
Mingo run, and insist that the Min
goes lived there, and that the founda-
tious Of their houses could be seen at
the beginning of this century. in
vestigated the matter with a good
deal of care, hoping that | might find
some evidence that Indians occupied
the place as late as the middle of last
century but I found no such evi-
dence. | found the site of the town,
and I fancy there are some remains of
shallow excavations, which may have
been freplaces and there are plenty
of Clipped dints, and other traces of
Indians but every scrap of evidence
shows that the inhabitants belonged
to the stone age. Iron and steel I'M
plements are not found, although an
old iron knife, few tomahawks and
an old coin have been found within a
few miles of the place; but they were
probably lost by early settlers; and
the coin certainly was, as it was
French, dated 1897, which was after
Indian raids into West Virginia had
ceased
believe that every other reputed
Indian town in this State will, upon
investigation, be found to belong to a
period ante-dating the first settlement
west of the Alleghanies by the pion-
eers, say, prior to 1853 In fact l be-
lieve that the Indian towns Of West
Virginia all belong to time dating
earlier than two hundred years from
the present. The inference drawn
from the earliest writing, Of mission
aries and others, who attempted to
write the history of this region, as they
gathered it from tradition and legend,
is that the country was occupied by
Huron Indians, and that they were
exterminated or driven out by the
powerful Mohawks from New York
between the years 1850 and 1872.
The Mohawks obtained firearms from
the Dutch colonists along the Hudson,
and then set out as conquerors
into Western Pennsylvania, and
sweeping down tn. Allegheny river,
aud up the Monongahela, in twenty
two years over-rsn the whole region
between the Ohio and the Alleghanies,
and as far south a. Kentucky.
It seems to have been conquest
and an extirpatlon without cOloDiza-
ton, for the Mohawks did not settle
in the country they had desOlated.
| There is no evidence that it ever again
was the home Of Indians. They hunt
ed through it, camped in it, and made
it highway over which they had
their hunting and military expedi-
/ 49, -. ,bo,- lri1t M xiIIaoea