Thanks Billie, for sharing this fascinating bit of history. My Hill ancestors are from the Upper Tract area. Diane Hill Zimmerman Billie Jo Runyon wrote: > >From A History of Pendleton County, West Virginia by Oren F. Morton, > Franklin, West Virginia, February 23, 1910 > Fort Seybert Massacre > A most severe blow now befell the west settlements of Pendleton. The defense > of Fort Upper Tract was intrusted to Captain James Dunlap who had commanded > a detachment in the Big Sandy Expedition. A band of French and Indians > appeared in the Valley and on April 27, 1758, they captured and burned the > fort, killing twenty-two persons, including Dunlap himself. No > circumstantial account of the disaster seems to have been written and we > have no assurance that any of the defenders were spared. If the massacre was > complete, it would go far to explain the silence of local tradition. So > exceedingly little, in fact, has been handed down in this way that some > Pendleton people have thrown doubt on the existence of the fort, to say > nothing of the burning and killing. There is documentary proof, however, on > all these points. > The tragedy of Fort Seybert took place on the following day, April 28, 1758. > In this case our knowledge is more complete. There were survivors to return > from captivity and relate the event. The account they gave us has been kept > very much alive by their descendants in the vicinity. Yet these divergences > are not very material, although in the course of a century and a half, some > variations have crept into the narrative. Through a careful study and > comparison of the various sources of information, it is possible to present > a fairly complete account of the whole incident. > The attacking party was composed of about 40 Shawnees, led by Killbuck. > There is a vague statement that a Frenchman was among them. This force was > doubtless in contact with the one that wrought the havoc at Upper Tract. But > since the recollections of Fort Seybert are nearly silent as to anything > that happened at Upper Tract, it is probable that Killbuck took an > independent course in returning to the Indian Country. The only mention of > Upper Tract in the Fort Seybert narrative is that "an express" was sent > there for aid, but turning back after coming within sight of the telltale > column of smoke from the burning buildings. > The number of persons "Forting" in the Dyer Settlement was, perhaps, forty. > Very few of these were men, several having gone across the Shenandoah > Mountain the day previous. Some of the women of the settlement appear, also, > to have been away. There was a fog shrouding the bottoms of the South Fork > on this fateful morning and the immediate presence of the enemy unsuspected. > Eastward from the site of the stockade the ground falls rapidly to the level > of the river bottom. At the foot of the slope is a damp swale through which > was then flowing a stream crossed by a log bridge. A few yards beyond was > the spring which supplied water for the fort. A willow cutting was > afterwards set near the spring which grew into a tree, four and a half feet > in diameter and dried up the fountain. A woman going there for water was > unaware, at the time, that an Indian, supposed to be Killbuck himself, was > lurking under the bridge. The "brave" did not attempt a capture probably > because the bridge was in sight of the Fort and also within easy shooting > range. > The wife of Peter Hawes, daughter of Roger Dyer, went out with a bound-boy > named Wallace to milk some cows. While following the path toward the present > post office, they were surprised and captured by two Indians. Mrs. Hawes is > said to have had a pair of sheep shears in her hand and to have attempted to > stab one of the savages with the ugly weapon. It may have been the same one > who had attempted to tease her and whom Mrs. Hawes, collecting all of her > strength, pushed over the bank. Reappearing after this unceremonious tumble, > the maddened Redskin was about to dispatch her but was prevented by his > laughing companion, who called him a "squaw man." Bravery, wherever shown, > has always been admired by the American Native. > William Dyer, Roger's son, had gone out to hunt and was waylaid near the > Fort. His flintlock refused to prime and he fell dead, pierced by several > balls from the Indian guns. The presence of the enemy now being known, > Nicholas Seybert, a son of the Captain and about 15 years of age, took his > station in the upper room of the Fort and mortally wounded an Indian who had > raised his head from behind the cover of a rock in the direction of the > spring. > This seems to be the only loss that the enemy sustained. It is said that a > horseman was riding toward the Fort but, hearing the firing and knowing that > something was wrong, he hastened to spread the alarm among the more distant > settlers. > Killbuck called upon the defenders to give up, threatening no mercy if they > did not but good treatment if they did. Captain Seybert took the > extraordinary course of listening to this deceitful parley. Whether the > fewness of adult men or a shortage in supplies and ammunition had anything > to do with his resolve is not known. A thoroughly vigorous defense may not > have been possible but there was nothing to lose in putting up a bold front. > Voluntary surrender to a savage foe is almost unheard of in American Border > Warfare. There was the more reason for resisting to the very last extremity, > since Killbuck was known to have an unenviable name for treachery in > warfare. It is certain that the commander was remonstrated with but, with > what looks like a display of German obstinacy, he yielded to the demand of > the enemy which included the turning over of what money the defenders > possessed. > Just before the gate was opened an incident occurred which might have saved > the day. Young Seybert had taken aim at Killbuck and was about to fire when > the muzzle of his gun was knocked down, the ball only raising the dust at > Killbuck's feet. Accounts differ as to whether the aim was frustrated by the > boy's father or by a man named Robertson. Finding the surrender determined > upon, the boy was so enraged that he attempted to use violence upon his > parent. He did not, himself, surrender but was taken prisoner by being > overpowered by the savages. > As the Indians rushed through the gate, Killbuck dealt the Captain a blow > with the pipe end of this tomahawk, knocking out several teeth. After the > inmates were secured and led outside, the fort was set on fire. A woman > named Hannah Hinkle, perhaps bedfast at the time, perished in the flames. > Taking advantage of the confusion of the moment, the man Robertson managed > to secrete himself and, as the savages withdrew, he hurried toward the > river, followed a shelving bluff so that his footsteps might the less easily > be traced, and made his way across the Shenandoah Mountain. He was the only > person to effect his escape. > The captives appear to have been halted on a hillside about a quarter of a > mile to the west. Here, after some deliberation on the part of the victors, > they were gradually separated into two rows and seated on logs. One row was > for captivity and the other for slaughter. On a signal the doomed persons > were swiftly tomahawked and their scalped and bleeding bodies left where > they fell. Mrs. Hawes fainted when she saw her father sink under the blows > of his executioner and to this circumstance she may have been indebted for > her exemption. James Dyer, a tall, athletic boy of fourteen years broke away > and, being a good runner, attempted to reach a tangled thicket on the river > bank a half mile eastward and the same distance above the present post > office. He almost succeeded in reaching and crossing the river but was > finally headed off and retaken. > It was now probably past noon and the Indians, with their convoy of eleven > captives and their own wounded comrade, borne on an improvised litter, began > the climbing of South Fork Mountain. A woman whose given name was Hannah had > a squalling baby. An Indian seized the infant and stuck its neck in the fork > of a dogwood. The mother found some consolation in the belief that her child > was killed by the blow and not left to a lingering death. Greenwalt Gap, > nine miles distant was reached by nightfall by taking an almost air line > course regardless of the nature of the ground. Here the disabled Indian > died, after suffering intensely from a wound in the head. He was buried in a > cavern 500 feet up the mountain side. Until about sixty years ago portions > of the skeleton were still to be seen. The next halt was near the mouth of > the Seneca and without pursuit or mishap, the raiding party returned to its > village near Chillicothe, Ohio. > The people slain in the massacre were seventeen, some accounts putting the > number at twenty-one or even more. Among them were Captain Seybert, Roger > Dyer and the bound boy Wallace, whose yellow scalp was afterwards recognized > by Mrs. Hawes. It is the brunette captive that Indians have preferred to > spare. Including William Dyer, the four names are the only ones remembered. > It is worthy of note that apart from Seybert and the two Dyers, none of the > heads of families in the region around appear to be missing. Possible > exceptions are John Smith, William Havener and William Stephenson. The > infant son of William Dyer was with his mother's people east of Shenandoah > Mountain. > Of the captives the only remembered names are those of Nicholas Seybert, > James Dyer, the wives of Peter Hawes and Jacob Peterson and a Havener girl. > The girl either escaped or was returned and counseled settlers to be more > careful in the future in exposing themselves to the risk of capture. A brave > took pity on Mrs. Peterson and gave her a pair of moccasins to enable her to > travel with greater comfort. It is not remembered whether any of the > captives returned, except the two boys mentioned, Seybert and Dyer and the > Havener girl. > As the party was about to cross the Ohio, young Seybert remarked upon a > flock of wild turkeys flying high in the distance. "You have sharp eyes," > observed Killbuck. "Was it not you that killed our warrior?" "Yes, and I > would have shot you, too, if my gun had not been knocked down." "You little > devil," commented the chief, "if you had killed me my warriors would have > given up and come away. Brave boy! You'll make a good warrior. But don't > tell my people what you did." Several years after his return the young man > sold his father's farm to John Blizzard and he made a new home on Straight > Creek. Some of his descendants still live in the vicinity. > James Dyer was among the Indians for about two years. He sometimes > accompanied a trading party on a visit to Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh. On his > last trip he resolved to attempt to escape. He eluded the Indians and > slipped into a cabin of a trader and the woman within hid the boy behind a > large closet and chest, piling over him a mass of furs. In trying to find > him the Indians came into the hut and threw off the skins, one by one until > he could see the light through the opening among them but fortunately, for > his purposes, the Indians thought it not worth while to make the search > complete. After remaining a while at the old home in Philadelphia, the young > man returned to Fort Seybert and for more than forty years was one of the > most prominent citizens of the county. > James Dyer is said to have been instrumental in effecting the rescue of his > sister Sarah Hawes by her brother-in-law, Matthew Patton. Her captivity > lasted three and a half years. > A complete account of this tragedy may be found in a pamphlet by Mary Lee > Keister Talbot entitled ""The Dyer Settlement and the Fort Seybert > Massacre." > The following version of the rescue of Mrs. Hawes is given in an article by > Mrs. Alonzo D. Lough, in "The Moorefield Examiner" of Moorefield, West > Virginia. > When Matthew Patton took his cattle to market at Pittsburgh, the dealer to > whom he sold them told him an Indian tribe there had a "red headed woman" > among them. Mr. Patton suspected that this was his wife's sister and had the > dealer to arrange for her to come into his store, where he concealed her > behind his counter, and covered her with furs. The Indians began to search > for her and entered the store, and as in searching for her brother, threw > off part of the covering hides. Thoroughness not being characteristic of > Indian habits, they ceased in both searches, before uncovering the > fugitives. That night Mr. Patton accompanied by Mrs. Hawes, left Pittsburgh > secretly and traveled until daylight when he hid her in the top of a fallen > tree. Night came on and Mr. Patton rejoined her and they traveled again. > After that he provided her with other clothes instead of her Indian apparel > and they traveled by day until their return. Mrs. Hawes had been with the > Indians seven years and had traveled to the Great Lakes and over much of the > prairie of the middle west. > The sale of personal property of James Dyer in 1807, netted $1975. Inventory > included 8 horses, 65 cattle, 62 hogs and 23 sheep. There were 15 books, a > Bible going for $9 and a copy of Johnson's Dictionary at $3.33. The > furnishings of the house amounted to $189, including a clock selling for $60 > and a desk at $25. We here have a man who read books, was considered rich > and owned the best furnished dwelling in the county. Roger's estate, in > 1810, brought $6403.33.