The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1903-07-29
GENERAL PARSONS FATE
Tragic Epdlng to Brilliant Career Of
Revolutionary Hero.
LAST RESTING PLACE UNKNOWN.
Interesting Early History of Ohio VAL
ley-GeneraI and Helpless compan'
ion Find Watery Grave in Beaver
River.

ion Find Watery Grave in Beaver
River.
The almost forgotten fate Of one OF
Americas ablest and best known
Revolutionary leaders is a sad COM
mentary on the brevity of fame. Ma
jor General Samuel II. Parsons, of
Connecticut, was one of Washington S
trusted lieutenants in the dark years
of the struggle with the mother coun'
try. In 1855 he was honorably grad.
uated from Harvard college and be-
gan the practice of law. In 1776 con.
gress made him a brigadier general
Three years later he succeeded Gen.
eIal Israel Putnam as commander OF
the Connecticut line, and the follow
ing year was made a major general.
His service continued to the end of
the war and was such as to bring him
was appointed to the very responsi-
BILE post of commissioner to treat with
the western Indians at Miami. Some
time later President Washington
made him one of the judges of the
newly created Northwest territory.
and he went to take up his residence
at Marietta, o. His last public labor
was to serve as commissioner rep.
resenting Connecticut in dealing with
the Wyandots and other powerful
tribes concerning lands along the
shores Of Lake Erie in what is now
Northern Ohio. It was on his return
from this service, in which he had
acquitted himself with honor, that his
tragic fate overlook him, the very
fact Of which has so nearly fadel
from human knowledge.
On his journey back to Marietta
from the lake shore in the fall of 1889
the general had reached Pittsburg
and was thero staying in company
with his old friend General Richard
Butler Early in November one Cap.
tain Hart was sent out from Pittsburg
to explore the communication by way
Of Beaver creek, as it was then called.
to Cuyahoga and Lake Erie. With
him went General Parsons on pleas
ure jaunt to visit the famous salt
springs. Their route lay along the
Great Trail from Fort Pitt to the
mouth Of the Beaver, thence up the
Beaver and Mahoning valleys. The
salt springs lay along the left bank
of the Mahoning near an old Indian
town, which is marked in Heckewe,-
der's and other eighteenth century
maps, their location being a little dis
tance above the point where the trail
turned to the west, crossed the Ma
honing, and led on to the Sandusky
country. Having visited the springs,
General Parsons set out to make the
return journey down the Mahoning
and the Beaver, and up the Ohio to
Fort Pitt He had his equipage on
horses, with man to care for them.
To this man he gave directions as
they entered the Beaver river to pro-
ceed to the block house below the
falls of the Beaver and tell the COM
mandant, Lieutenant Mcdowell. to
expect him for dinner. Meantime the
general set out to make the descent
leisurely in a canoe, having in his
company man with a broken leg.
A heavy snow so retarded the horses
and their driver that they did not
reach the block house till evening. T.
being Nov. II. The general and
his injured companion had not yet ar.
rived. About noon Of that day their
canoe, very much broken, passed by
the fort, and some articles which were
recognized as the generals properly
floated by and were picked up by tho
soldiers. No trace of either of the
men was ever found. Somewhere be.
low Beaver Falls. probably in some
sand bank where the eddying floods
gave them cepulture. lie the bones of
this ardent and able patriot hero, the
close friend of Washington.
In report by General Butler TO
General Irvine, now old and musty.
the probable loss of General Parsons
is mentioned, but the manner and
place Of his death have passed from
popular memory. It is sad TO think
that within 50years after it happened
historian on inquiry could find but
two persons who had even hazy ira.
dition of this tragedy. One had heard
that at the falls of the Beaver dis.
tinguished officer had been drowned.
The other mad been told that the VIZ
tim was a British officer. What
striking instance of the uncertainty
Of reputation! In the midst of the
teeming populations which now make
the lower Beaver valley a hive of in.
hustry and wealth there should be.
by the tumbling waters of the stream,
monument in honor of the faithful
servant of liberty, who there, while
caring for a helpless fellow. gave up
mis- life i'm the lev flood Rnt ono