www.greenreunion2008 >Family History >Documents of Interest > Belpre, Ohio

Rifles ready, they rushed out of the open gates as the Sprague boys came screaming and stumbling toward the fort, dragging their bloody, unconscious brother between them. The boys had been running through a hail of bul lets, but suddenly the gunfire ceased and McCullough saw soldiers tall men wearing familiar uniforms — emerging from the forest, calling out in familiar English-speaking voices. “Soldiers from Fort Harmar sent to help us!” the rangers thought as they lowered their rifles.
In that crucial instant, Wanton Devol was looking out of one of the upper-story blockhouses and saw quite a different scene unfolding. From his vantage point, it was obvious to him that the men in uniform were a deceptive vanguard moving out in front of a swarm of Indians who were crouched in the shadows like panthers, waiting for the right moment to attack!

“Look out!” he shouted. “Indians!! They’re going to shoot you!” McCullough discovered his mistake almost too late. The ranger and leaped sideways and began a zigzag run back to the fort, bullets is in whistling and kicking up chunks of earth around him. Screaming f war cries, the Indians came swarming across the clearing behind
By this time every man, woman and child inside the fort was at en on some previously assigned station. Old Judge Devol stood at his post, coping with his failing eyesight by having his granddaughter aim the rifle for him. Two older Sprague brothers who had been on their way to Marietta had turned their canoe around and 1o managed to scramble back into the fort through the watergate.

Fort Frye was bristling with gunbarrels and blazing away with a substantial backing of ammunition, blanketing the valley in a cover of gunsmoke as the hills across the river rocked and echoed since with the blasts; the settlers had known this moment would come, and they were prepared for it. The Indians soon gave up on the fort, and directed their attention to the settlers’ cattle, killing over 30, and driving others away. It was mid-morning before the sounds of gunfire and bellowing cattle ended.

Realizing they had been defeated by not moving quickly enough, the warriors were vowing never to make such a mistake again while they headed south toward the Belpre settlement on the Ohio River. Settlers there had been as unprepared as all the others when news of the attack on Big Bottom reached them in January. Living in frail, defenseless cabins scattered along the d of riverbank, they, too, had counted on the treaties signed at Fort Harmar two years earlier to end the threat of Indian war. But then all plans for clearing more land were put aside and the settlers consolidated their forces in one strong fort. The location chosen was in the middle of a long, level plain along the riverbank with a swamp stretching behind it toward the hill. There were no large growths of trees or heavy brush nearby to hide an enemy’s approach.

Throughout the bitter cold months of January and February, men and teams of oxen worked all day and continued their labors at night by the light of bonfires. By March, they were living in 13 stout blockhouses surrounded by 10-foot-high palisades and guarded day and night by armed sentries. The Belpre farmers proudly proclaimed that they had built for themselves an impregnable castle.

At dawn on Saturday morning, the war party waited in the forest’s edge, across from the gates of the “Farmers’ Castle.” Once again, they found someone milking a cow. However, it was the rule at Farmers’ Castle that no man ever set foot outside the palisades alone for any reason, even for the most routine and ordinary morning chores. So while Waldo Putnam did the milking, Nathaniel Little was standing guard. The warriors could not conceal themselves from Nathaniel Little’s sharp eyes; at the first hint of movement he opened fire into their midst and shouted an alarm as he and Putnam ran for cover. The Indians responded with war whoops and a volley of gunfire.

Once again the Indians found they were facing a settlement that was well armed, well organized, and ready. Again, they retreated after killing a number of the settlers’ cattle. Then the disgruntled warriors headed north toward their villages, planning to stop at the mouth of the Muskingum just long enough to ambush any unwary settlers they might surprise outside the forts.

The three Marietta settlements stood about 12 miles upriver from Belpre at the mouth of the Muskingum. Fort Harmar had been built in 1785 as a military outpost, and since the arrival of Rufus Putnam and the Ohio Company settlers in 1788, two more strong compounds had been established. The settlement located where the Muskingum flowed into the Ohio was known as The Point, and three miles up the Muskingum stood Campus Martius, the largest and strongest of the three. All three garrisons had remained on constant alert ever since runners from Wolf Creek had brought the news of the killings at Big Bottom. Fortifications had been strengthened, sentries posted around the clock and extra scouts and rangers hired to patrol the woods surrounding compounds.