First settlement of ohio* 163 



Sd day of* January 1791, the settlement at the Big Bottom was 

 attacked by the Indians; fourteen persons were killed and five 

 persons were carried into captivity. Among the slain, at Big 

 Bottom, January 2d 1791, were a woman and two children; 

 the remainder were young men. The Indians, up to this time, 

 had often visited the settlement in a friendly manner, and the 

 Indian war had been confined to parts distant from this settle- 

 ment. The settlers were of}' their guard. The Indians from 

 the summit of a neighboring hill, had watched our people all 

 day, and just at the twilight of the evening, commenced their 

 attack. One party visited a cabin in a friendly manner while 

 another party visited the block house. The cabin was occu' 

 pied by four men of the name of Choat. The Indians entered 

 the cabin, beckoned to the men to keep silent, bound them with 

 cords and made them prisoners. Another party of the Indians 

 had reached the block house, where the occupants were at sup' 

 per who had their arms standing in a corner of the room. A 

 large Mohawk opened the door, while his companions fired upon 

 the astonished men at their supper table. A woman assailed 

 the bio- Mohawk with an axe, and cleaved the flesh from the side 

 of his scull down to his shoulder. She was killed, and all the 

 persons in the room as the Indians supposed, shared her fale. 

 After the slaughter was over, the Indians plundered the house. 

 Under the beds in a corner of the room, they found a boy) 

 fourteen or fifteen years old. Him they made prisoner and 

 carried him off to Detroit, with them. Another cabin was oc- 

 cupied by two men of the name of Ballard, who hearing the 

 guns, rushed out of the house, and made their escape to the 

 settlement at Wolf creek which had been begun simultaneously 

 with the one at Big Bottom. Reaching that settlement, the 

 Ballards gave the alarm, so that being prepared for their re- 

 ception, when they appeared there early next morning, the 

 Indians made no attack on the Wolf creek settlement. The 

 Indians next attacked the settlement at Waterford, but were 

 beaten off without loss of lives, though the Indians destroyed 

 their cattle, In 1794, Abel Sherman was killed at Waterford, 

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