Extraordinary strength and activity, with the most daring courage and a
thorough knowledge of life in the woods, won for Joshua Fleehart a high
reputation among the first settler's of Western Virginia and Ohio. When
the Ohio Company founded its settlement at Marietta, in April, 1778,
Fleehart was employed as a scout and a hunter. In this service he had no
superior north of the Ohio. At periods of the greatest danger, when the
Indians were known to be much incensed against the whites, he would start
from the settlement with no companion but his dog, and ranging within
about twenty miles of an Indian town, would build his cabin and trap and
hunt during nearly the whole season. On one occasion this reckless
contempt of danger almost cost the hunter his life.
[Illustration: JOSHUA FLEEHART.]
Having became tired of the sameness of garrison life, and panting for that
freedom among the woods and hills to which he had always been accustomed,
late in the fall of 1795, he took his canoe, rifle, traps, and blanket,
with no one to accompany him, leaving even his faithful dog in the
garrison with his family. As he was going into a dangerous neighborhood,
he was fearful lest the voice of his dog might betray him. With a daring
and intrepidity which few men possess, he pushed his canoe up the Sciota
river a distance of fifteen or twenty miles, into the Indian country,
amidst their best hunting-grounds for the bear and the beaver, where no
white man had dared to venture. These two were the main object of his
pursuit, and the hills of Brush creek were said to abound in bear, and the
small streams that fell into the Sciota were well suited to the haunts of
the beaver.
The spot chosen for his winter's residence was within twenty-five or
thirty miles of the Indian town of Chillicothe, but as they seldom go far
to hunt in the winter, he had little to fear from their interruption. For
ten or twelve weeks he trapped and hunted in this solitary region
unmolested; luxuriating on the roasted tails of the beaver, and drinking
the oil of the bear, an article of diet which is considered by the
children of the forest as giving health to the body, with strength and
activity to the limbs. His success had equalled his most sanguine
expectations, and the winter passed away so quietly and so pleasantly,
that he was hardly aware of its progress. About the middle of February, he
began to make up the peltry he had captured into packages, and to load his
canoe with the proceeds of his winter's hunt, which for safety had been
secreted in the willows, a few miles below the little bark hut in which he
had lived. The day before that which he had fixed on for his departure, as
he was returning to his camp, just at evening, Fleehart's acute ear caught
the report of a rifle in the direction of the Indian towns, but at so
remote a distance, that none but a backwoodsman could have distinguished
the sound. This hastened his preparations for decamping. Nevertheless he
slept quietly, but rose the following morning before the dawn; cooked and
ate his last meal in the little hut to which he had become quite
attached.
[Illustration: FLEEHART SHOOTING THE INDIAN.]
The sun had just risen, while he was sitting on the trunk of a fallen
tree, examining the priming and lock of his gun, casually casting a look
up the river bank, he saw an Indian slowly approaching with his eyes
intently fixed on the ground, carefully inspecting the track of his
moccasins, left in the soft earth as he returned to his hut the evening
before. He instantly cocked his gun, stepped behind a tree, and waited
till the Indian came within the sure range of his shot. He then fired and
the Indian fell. Rushing from the cover on his prostrate foe, he was about
to apply the scalping knife; but seeing the shining silver broaches, and
broad bands on his arms, he fell to cutting them loose, and tucking them
into the bosom of his hunting shirt. While busily occupied in securing the
spoils, the sharp crack of a rifle and the passage of the ball through the
bullet pouch at his side, caused him to look up, when he saw three Indians
within a hundred yards of him. They being too numerous for him to
encounter, he seized his rifle and took to flight. The other two, as he
ran, fired at him without effect. The chase was continued for several
miles by two of the Indians, who were the swiftest runners. He often
stopped and "treed," hoping to get a shot and kill or disable one of them,
and then overcome the other at his leisure. His pursuers also "treed," and
by flanking to the right and left, forced him to uncover or stand the
chance of a shot.
He finally concluded to leave the level grounds, on which the contest had
thus far been held, and take to the high hills which lie back of the
bottoms. His strong, muscular limbs here gave him the advantage, as he
could ascend the steep hill sides more rapidly than his pursuers. The
Indians, seeing they could not overtake him, as a last effort stopped and
fired. One of the balls cut away the handle of his hunting-knife, jerking
it so violently against his side, that for a moment he thought he was
wounded. He immediately returned the fire, and, with a yell of vexation,
they gave up the chase.
Fleehart made a circuit among the hills, and just at dark came in to the
river, near where the canoe lay hid. Springing lightly on board, he
paddled down stream. Being greatly fatigued with the efforts of the day,
he lay down in the canoe, and when he awoke in the morning the boat was
just entering the Ohio river. Crossing over to the southern shore, he, in
a few days, pushed his canoe up to Farmer's Castle, without further
adventure, where he showed the rich packages of peltry, as the proceeds of
his winter's hunt, and displayed the brilliant silver ornaments, as
trophies of his victory, to the envy and admiration of his less venturous
companions.[C]
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[C] Hildreth's Pioneer History.
[Illustration: A MOUNTED RANGER.]