During the long warfare maintained between the pioneers of the west and
the Indians, the latter were greatly assisted by some renegade white men.
Of these, Simon Girty was the most noted and influential. He led several
important expeditions against the settlements of Virginia and Kentucky,
displayed much courage, energy, and conduct, and was the object of bitter
hatred on the frontier. Recent investigations into the stirring events of
his career have shown that however bad he might have been, much injustice
has been done his memory by border historians.
Simon Girty was born and reared in Western Pennsylvania, near the Virginia
line. His parents are said to have been very dissipated, and this,
perhaps, had some influence in disgusting him with life in the
settlements. Becoming skilled in woodcraft, he served with young Simon
Kenton, as a scout upon the frontiers. He joined the Virginia army in
Dunmore's wars, and, it is said, showed considerable ambition to become
distinguished as a soldier. He was disappointed, and so far from gaining
promotion, was, for a trifling offence, publicly disgraced, it is said,
through the influence of Colonel Gibson. The proud spirit of Girty could
not brook such a blow. With a burning thirst for revenge, he fled from the
settlements, and took refuge among the Wyandottes.
The talents of the renegade were of the kind and of the degree to secure
influence among the red men. He excelled the majority of them in council
and field, and neither forgave a foe, nor forgot a friend. He was
successful in many expeditions after plunder and scalps, and spared none
because they were of his own race. He was cruel as many of the borderers
were cruel. Becoming an Indian, he had an Indian's hatred of the whites.
The borderers seldom showed a red man mercy, and they could not expect any
better treatment in return.
The exertions of Girty to save his friend, Simon Kenton, from a horrible
death, have been noticed in another place. That he did not make such
exertions more frequently on the side of humanity is scarcely a matter of
wonder--inasmuch as he could not have done so consistently with a due
regard to his own safety. After he had become a renegade, the borderers
would not permit a return; and as he was forced to reside among the
Indians, he was right in securing their favor. Besides saving Kenton, he
posted his brother, James Girty, upon the banks of the Ohio, to warn
passengers in boats not to be lured to the shore by the arts of the
Indians, or of the white men in their service. This was a pure act of
humanity. The conduct of Girty on another memorable occasion, the burning
of Colonel William Crawford, was more suspicious.
[Illustration: COLONEL CRAWFORD AND HIS FRIENDS, PRISONERS.]
In the early part of the year 1782, the incursions of the Indians became
so harassing and destructive to the inhabitants of Western Pennsylvania,
that an expedition against the Wyandotte towns was concerted, and the
command given to Colonel Crawford. On the 22d of May, the army, consisting
of four hundred and fifty men, commenced its march, and proceeded due west
as far as the Moravian towns, where some of the volunteers deserted. The
main body, however, marched on, with unabated spirit. The Indians,
discovering the advance of the invaders gathered a considerable force, and
took up a strong position, determined to fight. Crawford moved forward in
order of battle, and on the afternoon of the 6th of June, encountered the
enemy. The conflict continued fiercely until night, when the Indians drew
off, and Crawford's men slept on the field. In the morning, the battle was
renewed, but at a greater distance, and, during the day, neither party
suffered much. The delay, however, was fatal to Crawford; for the Indians
received large reinforcements. As soon as it was dark, a council of war
was held, and it was resolved to retreat as rapidly as possible. By nine
o'clock, all the necessary arrangements had been made, and the retreat
began in good order. After an advance of about a hundred yards, a firing
was heard in the rear, and the troops, seized with a panic, broke and fled
in confusion, each man trying to save himself. The Indians came on rapidly
in pursuit and plied the tomahawk and scalping-knife without mercy.
Colonel Crawford and Dr. Knight were captured, at a distance from the main
body--which was soon dispersed in every direction.
On the morning of the 10th of June, Crawford, Knight, and nine other
prisoners, were conducted to the old town of Sandusky. The main body of
the Indians halted within eight miles of the village; but as Colonel
Crawford expressed great anxiety to speak with Simon Girty, who was then
at Sandusky, he was permitted to go under the care of the Indians. On the
morning of the 11th of June, the colonel was brought back from Sandusky on
purpose to march into town with the other prisoners. To Knight's inquiry
as to whether he had seen Girty, he replied in the affirmative, and added,
that the renegade had promised to use his influence for the safety of the
prisoners, though as the Indians were much exasperated by the recent
outrages of the whites at Guadenhutten upon the unresisting Moravian red
men, he was fearful that all pleading would be in vain.
Soon afterwards, Captain Pipe, the great chief of the Delawares, appeared.
This distinguished warrior had a prepossessing appearance and bland
manners, and his language to the prisoners was kind. His purposes,
however, were bloody and revengeful. With his own hands he painted every
prisoner black! As they were conducted towards the town, the captives
observed the bodies of four of their friends, tomahawked and scalped. This
was regarded as a sad presage. In a short time, they overtook the five
prisoners who remained alive. They were seated on the ground, and
surrounded by a crowd of Indian squaws and boys, who taunted and menaced
them. Crawford and Knight were compelled to sit down apart from the rest,
and immediately afterwards the doctor was given to a Shawnee warrior, to
be conducted to their town. The boys and squaws then fell upon the other
prisoners, and tomahawked them in a moment. Crawford was then driven
towards the village, Girty accompanying the party on horseback.
Presently, a large fire was seen, around which were more than thirty
warriors, and about double that number of boys and squaws. As soon as the
colonel arrived, he was stripped naked, and compelled to sit on the
ground. The squaws and boys then fell upon him, and beat him severely with
their fists and sticks. In a few minutes, a large stake was fixed in the
ground, and piles of hickory poles were spread around it.
Colonel Crawford's hands were then tied behind his back; a strong rope was
produced, one end of which was fastened to the ligature between his
wrists, and the other tied to the bottom of the stake. The rope was long
enough to permit him to walk round the stake several times and then
return. Fire was then applied to the hickory poles, which lay in piles at
the distance of six or seven yards from the stake.
The colonel observing these terrible preparations, called to Girty, who
sat on horseback, at the distance of a few yards from the fire, and asked
if the Indians were going to burn him. Girty replied in the affirmative.
The colonel heard the intelligence with firmness, merely observing that he
would bear it with fortitude. When the hickory poles had been burnt
asunder in the middle, Captain Pipe arose and addressed the crowd, in a
tone of great energy, and with animated gestures, pointing frequently to
the colonel, who regarded him with an appearance of unruffled composure.
As soon as he had ended, a loud whoop burst from the assembled throng, and
they all rushed at once upon the unfortunate Crawford. For several
seconds, the crowd was so great around him, that Knight could not see what
they were doing; but in a short time, they had dispersed sufficiently to
give him a view of the colonel.
His ears had been cut off, and the blood was streaming down each side of
his face. A terrible scene of torture now commenced. The warriors shot
charges of powder into his naked body, commencing with the calves of his
legs, and continuing to his neck. The boys snatched the burning hickory
poles and applied them to his flesh. As fast as he ran around the stake,
to avoid one party of tormentors, he was promptly met at every turn by
others, with burning poles, red hot irons, and rifles loaded with powder
only; so that in a few minutes nearly one hundred charges of powder had
been shot into his body, which had become black and blistered in a
dreadful manner. The squaws would take up a quantity of coals and hot
ashes, and throw them upon his body, so that in a few minutes he had
nothing but fire to walk upon.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN PIPE.]
In the extremity of his agony, the unhappy colonel called aloud upon
Girty, in tones which rang through Knight's brain with maddening effect:
"Girty! Girty!! shoot me through the heart!! Quick! quick!! Do not refuse
me!!"
"Don't you see I have no gun, colonel!!" replied the renegade, bursting
into a loud laugh, and then turning to an Indian beside him, he uttered
some brutal jests upon the naked and miserable appearance of the prisoner.
While this awful scene was being acted, Girty rode up to the spot where
Dr. Knight stood, and told him that he had now had a foretaste of what was
in reserve for him at the Shawnee towns. He swore that he need not expect
to escape death, but should suffer it in all the extremity of torture.
Knight, whose mind was deeply agitated at the sight of the fearful scene
before him, took no notice of Girty, but preserved an impenetrable
silence. Girty, after contemplating the colonel's sufferings for a few
moments, turned again to Knight, and indulged in a bitter invective
against a certain Colonel Gibson, from whom, he said, he had received deep
injury; and dwelt upon the delight with which he would see him undergo
such tortures as those which Crawford was then suffering. He observed, in
a taunting tone, that most of the prisoners had said, that the white
people would not injure him, if the chance of war was to throw him into
their power; but that for his own part, he should be loath to try the
experiment. "I think, (added he with a laugh,) that they would roast me
alive, with more pleasure than those red fellows are now broiling the
colonel! What is your opinion, doctor? Do you think they would be glad to
see me?" Still Knight made no answer, and in a few minutes Girty rejoined
the Indians.
The terrible scene had now lasted more than two hours, and Crawford had
become much exhausted. He walked slowly around the stake, spoke in a low
tone, and earnestly besought God to look with compassion upon him, and
pardon his sins. His nerves had lost much of their sensibility, and he no
longer shrunk from the firebrands with which they incessantly touched him.
At length he sunk in a fainting fit upon his face, and lay motionless.
Instantly an Indian sprung upon his back, knelt lightly upon one knee,
made a circular incision with his knife upon the crown of his head, and
clapping the knife between his teeth, tore the scalp off with both hands.
Scarcely had this been done, when a withered hag approached with a board
full of burning embers, and poured them upon the crown of his head, now
laid bare to the bone. The colonel groaned deeply, arose, and again walked
slowly around the stake! But why continue a description so horrible?
Nature at length could endure no more, and at a late hour in the night, he
was released by death from the hands of his tormentors.[B]
Whether Girty really took pleasure in the torture of Colonel Crawford, or
was forced by circumstances to seem to enjoy it is a question which
historians have generally been in too much haste to determine. It is well
known that at the time of Crawford's expedition the Indians were very much
exasperated by the cold-blooded slaughter of the Moravian red men at
Guadenhutten--an atrocity without a parallel in border warfare, and to
have seemed merciful to the whites for a single moment would have been
fatal to Girty. Indeed, it is said, that, when he spoke of ransoming the
colonel, Captain Pipe threatened him with death at the stake. Let justice
be rendered even to the worst of criminals.
Dr. Knight, made bold or desperate by the torture he had witnessed,
effected his escape from the Shawnee warrior to whose care he was
committed, and after much suffering, reached the settlements. From him the
greater portion of the account of Crawford's death is derived, and
corrected by the statements of Indians present on the occasion. Simon
Girty never forsook the Indians among whom he had made his home; but his
influence gradually diminished. Some accounts say that he perished in the
battle of the Thames; while others assert that he lived to extreme old age
in Canada, where his descendants are now highly respected citizens.
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[B] M'Clurg.