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CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGHS 
 
 " The Valley" of Virginia Character of the first set 
 tlers in the neighbourhood 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A family sketch Origin of the name of Abb s Valley 
 An Indian battle A startling incident 18 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Qualities of the pioneer settler Singular Indian remains 
 Incidents of savage warfare Captain Moore s es 
 cape from the British dragoons , 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Dangers of the settlers from Indian incursions One of 
 Captain Moore s sons carried into captivity Hard 
 ships encountered on his journey Religious feelings 
 of the young captive Is purchased by a French tra 
 der and carried to Canada Communicates his situa 
 tion to his father s family 39 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Indians reconnoitering Captain Moore s house attacked, 
 and he slain The family captured, the house rifled, 
 
 and then burned Situation of the house described 
 
 Vain pursuit of the Indians Two of the children 
 murdered Melancholy journey of the captives 61 
 
 939862 (iii) 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The captives disposed of Mrs. Moore and a daughter 
 murdered Fortitude and piety of little Mary Moore 
 The whites attack the Indian towns and burn them 
 The Indians in consequence go to Canada for aid 
 Hardships 78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 James Moore, the first captive, hears of his sister in 
 Canada, and visits her Her sad condition 90 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Habits of the settlers Intelligence of the massacre 
 Thomas Evans resolves to go in search of his sister 
 Martha, who had been made a captive with the Moores 
 His solitary journey, his courage and endurance 
 Various perils encountered He finds his sister 97 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The captives make arrangement for their return to Vir 
 ginia Their adventures by the way Meeting with 
 friends after the separation of years 118 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Subsequent history of the captives, particularly of 
 Mary Moore, who became the wife of a clergyman 
 Her family .. 132 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 God s faithfulness to his promises as illustrated in the 
 descendants of the nhief subject of these sketehss... 158 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " TRUTH is stranger than fiction." This re 
 mark has been often repeated, and the history of 
 the world teems with incidents that show its cor 
 rectness. The press of the present day throws 
 off numberless works of fiction different in their 
 character, and suited to the various tastes of those 
 who read. In this little volume there is no fic 
 tion. An attempt has been made to gather and 
 arrange the incidents in the lives of a few indi 
 viduals who were actors in scenes of no common 
 kind. It is a matter of regret that more efforts 
 of the same kind have not been made. In many 
 sections of our country, occurrences rich in in 
 terest have been lost hopelessly, by the death of 
 the last of those in whose memories they were 
 treasured. 
 
 In various ways, imperfect sketches of this tale 
 
 have been given to the public. The attempt to 
 
 give it in a more complete form than any in *vhich 
 
 it has appeared heretofore, has been icade at tJxa 
 
 1* (v) 
 
Vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 earnest suggestion of those in whose judgment 
 the writer places much confidence ; and with the 
 hope that it will form neither an unentertaining, nor 
 a useless addition to the many little volumes issu 
 ing from the press. No pains have been spared 
 to make the narrative accurate ; and while it is 
 believed that all the leading incidents have been 
 given, it is at the same time well known that many 
 of the details which would have added no little to 
 the interest of the work, have now passed beyond 
 the reach of recall. 
 
 My mother never gave a detailed narrative to 
 any person ; but on the contrary always showed a 
 disinclination to converse on the subject. Two 
 attempts were made to secure such a relation from 
 her. The first was by my father some months after 
 their marriage. The effort soon brought on her 
 such a paroxysm of grief, that it was abandoned ; 
 and never again attempted by him. The other 
 was made by her oldest son during her last ill 
 ness; and he soon saw that it was exciting her 
 feelings so much, that he dropped the subject. 
 Those who follow her through the scenes related 
 in the following pages, will not be surprised that 
 her feelings were thus excited by the attempt to 
 recall them, and tell them to others. 
 
 As many young persons whom I have never 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 seen, and who never will see me ; will read the 
 narrative, I must say a word or two to them. 
 You desire to be great. I hope you may be all 
 that } T our best friends anticipate. But never for 
 get that the first step towards true greatness is to 
 be good. My mother once repeated to me with 
 tones of voice, and an expression of countenance 
 which I never can forget, and I repeat it to you 
 as my most earnest counsel " Remember the 
 God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect 
 heart and a willing mind. If thou seek him, he 
 will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him, 
 he will cast thee off for ever/ 
 
THE 
 
 CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " THE Valley," as the expression is under 
 stood by those who live in it, denotes the 
 tract of country in Virginia bounded on the 
 east by the Blue Ridge, and on the west by 
 a parallel ridge, called in most of its extent, 
 the North Mountain. It is a fine agricul 
 tural district, presenting the advantages which 
 result from a soil generally fertile, hills and 
 vales, numberless springs of pure water that 
 never fail, streams of various sizes that never 
 go dry, luxuriant forests, a climate suited t<? 
 grains and grasses in great variety, and emi 
 nently favourable to health. Its scenery is 
 not surpassed in variety, beauty, or grandeur 
 by many districts in America. From the 
 tops of its mountains, the eye rests on land 
 scapes lovely bevond description. Here may 
 
 (9) 
 
10 THE CAPTIVES OE ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 be seen in one view, the mountain, the hill, 
 the valley, the forest, the meadow, the cliffs, 
 the stream, the farm, the farm-house, the vil 
 lage, the school-house, and the church. A 
 moral, industrious, contented population dwell 
 here ; intelligent, yet unostentatious in their 
 habits and manners, and to a great extent 
 the descendants of those who settled in this 
 region when it was a wilderness ; and who, 
 while contending with the savage for this fine 
 country, laid the foundation of literary insti 
 tutions, and formed the churches which have 
 contributed largely to make the population 
 what it is. 
 
 Many a dweller in other sections of our 
 happy country turns his thoughts to a region 
 far from his home, and to other days ; and 
 exclaims " The Valley ! I love it ! It was 
 the home of my youth ; and in it are the 
 graves of my fathers !" Peace to their 
 memory. They were a God-fearing and 
 law-abiding people, because they strictly kept 
 the Sabbath holy, and reverenced the sanc 
 tuary. Dangers they met with undaunted 
 firmness; hardships and privations with un- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OP ABB S VALLEY. 11 
 
 repining endurance. The right to worship 
 God according to the dictates of their own 
 conscience, and the advantages of education, 
 they prized above any other blessings which 
 earth could give. To secure the first, they 
 sought a dwelling place in the wilderness, 
 far, far from their fatherland ; and for the 
 second, they relied on their own exertions 
 under the blessing of God. 
 
 The first settlers in this valley, with few 
 exceptions, were from the north of Ireland. 
 They were the descendants of the Scotch, 
 who, for various reasons, had emigrated to 
 that country, and had taken with them the 
 kirk and the school. They were decided 
 Presbyterians. Deep abhorrence of Popery, 
 and a strong dislike to Episcopacy, were to 
 be expected amongst those whose fathers had 
 felt the oppressions and cruelties of Claver- 
 house ; and whose friends had suffered, and 
 fought, and died at Londonderry. 
 
 But if they were free from all interfer 
 ence from Popery after they had settled in 
 America, they did not find the same relief 
 from Episcopacy in the valley of Virginia 
 
12 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 The Church of England was established by 
 law in the colony, and its ministers, with 
 some bright exceptions, were a very different 
 class of men from those who now officiate in 
 the churches of that denomination in the 
 diocese of the state. If they had possessed 
 the piety which all who know their successors 
 award to them, the history of that church 
 in Virginia, and the moral history of the 
 state, would have been very different tales 
 from what truth compels those to tell who 
 now undertake to write them. Under the 
 management of those men, as soon as Pres 
 byterians formed settlements in portions of 
 territory before unoccupied, parishes were 
 established, and the attempt was made to 
 extend over them the authority of a church 
 to which they felt a settled repugnance. 
 This led to things which were sometimes 
 painful and sometimes ludicrous. An ex 
 ample of the latter is presented in the follow 
 ing incident, which tradition tells us occurred 
 in what is now Rockbridge county. A cou 
 ple were to be married who were both Pres 
 byterians ; but the marriage would not be 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY* 13 
 
 legal unless the rites were celebrated by a 
 minister of the established church. The 
 minister of the parish was applied to, and 
 the parties presented thorn selves before him. 
 All went on as usual, till the minister, with 
 the bridegroom repeating after him, came to 
 a clause, which has not been retained in the 
 prayer-book as now used in this country, in 
 which the man said to the woman, " and with 
 my body I thee worship." At this the bride 
 groom ceased repeating, and said, " I ll nae 
 say that ; it s idolatry." The minister re 
 peated the clause, and the man firmly refused 
 to respond. All was thrown into confusion, 
 and the couple left the floor. After a good 
 deal of conference, a sort of compromise was 
 thought to have been arranged, and it was 
 understood that the obnoxious clause would 
 be omitted ; but in the progress of the cere 
 mony it was again read, and the man in 
 stantly said, with anger flashing in his eyes, 
 " I towld ye I wud nt say that ;" but the 
 clergyman, without seeming to notice what he 
 said, read the next clause, the man repeated 
 it, and thus the matter was gone through with 
 2 
 
14 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 As an Episcopal church was built in eacli 
 county town, the Presbyterians always lo 
 cated their places of worship elsewhere. 
 Hence, there is not in the Valley any village 
 in which a Presbyterian church was built till 
 after the commencement of the revolution. 
 The oldest congregations were in the coun 
 try ; and not a few of the churches now oc 
 cupied, stand either on the very spot where the 
 first house for worship was built, or they are 
 near it ; and in every case the burying-ground 
 was enclosed near the church. 
 
 Amongst others, in passing from Staunton 
 to Lexington along the road leading through 
 Brownsburg, about twenty-two miles from 
 Staunton, the traveller will notice a brick 
 church a few hundred yards on his right, and 
 near it a large graveyard, almost filled with 
 the graves of the generations who, for more 
 than a century, have assembled there from 
 Sabbath to Sabbath to worship God. The 
 house that is now occupied, is the third in 
 which the congregation of New Providence 
 have worshipped. The first was a wooden 
 structure, and stood a short distance east of 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 15 
 
 where the road to the church crosses tho 
 creek. The second was of stone, and occu 
 pied in part the ground that is covered hy 
 the present building. This house was built 
 either in 1745 or 1746. It was an era of no 
 little consequence, and a work of no little 
 difficulty to the people who accomplished it. 
 Some of the traditions of the congregation 
 will illustrate this. At that time there was 
 but one vehicle that moved on wheels in the 
 congregation, and it was a one horse cart. 
 The heavy timbers for the roof and galleries 
 were dragged to the place with one end rest 
 ing on the axle of the cart, and the other on 
 the ground. The wheels gave way under the 
 weight of the last one, and the people col 
 lected and carried it nearly a mile. 
 
 It is said that in the year the church was 
 built, the pastor, in visiting through his charge, 
 took dinner on one occasion with a family, 
 by no means amongst the poorest in the con 
 gregation. When all were seated at the ta 
 ble, it was seen that there was not both a knife 
 and a fork for each plate. The mother of 
 the family in making an apology, told him 
 
16 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 
 
 that they had saved money to buy a set of 
 knives and forks ; but since the church was 
 commenced, they had given it to that object, 
 and must do without them till the next year. 
 
 The sand used in plastering the house was 
 carried in sacks on horseback about ten miles ; 
 and this was done chiefly by the girls of the 
 congregation. There are those now living 
 who know that their grandmothers assisted 
 in this. There was then no Committee on 
 Church Extension to aid feeble congrega 
 tions in building houses of worship, arid with 
 the spirit which animated these people, few 
 churches in our country would ask for aid. 
 
 The first pastor of this church was John 
 Brown, whose field of labour extended over 
 the principal part of the territory which is 
 now embraced by the counties of Rockbridge 
 and Augusta. The people at that period 
 were not unfrequently disturbed by alarms 
 of Indians ; and often the whole of a family 
 would go to church on the Sabbath, because 
 they dared not leave any at home. The 
 father and sons carried their weapons with 
 them, prepared to defend their lives ; and a 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 17 
 
 large number of armed men were frequently 
 seen at the church. On one occasion, a 
 musket which had been placed in an inse 
 cure position fell, and was discharged by the 
 fall, during the progress of public worship. 
 The first thought was that the gun had been 
 fired by an Indian ; and the assembly was 
 at once in a state of perfect confusion, until 
 the matter was explained. Mr. Brown con 
 tinued his labours as the pastor of that church 
 for more than forty years, and then removed 
 to Kentucky. 
 
 Near the upper end of the burying-ground 
 is a marble head-stone, the inscription on 
 which tells that it marks the grave of Rev. 
 Samuel Brown, who died October 13th, 1818. 
 He was the second pastor of that church. 
 Close beside this grave, stands another mar 
 ble slab, the inscription on which tells that 
 it marks the grave of Mary, wife of Rev. 
 Samuel Brown. The latter, and her father s 
 family, are the subjects in the melancholy 
 legend of Abb s Valley. 
 2* 
 
CHAPTEK II. 
 
 WHEN God formed the covenant with Abra 
 ham, he said to him, " I will be a God to thee 
 and to thy seed after thee." In the epistle 
 to the Galatians we are taught, "that thej 
 which are of faith, the same are the children 
 of Abraham," and "are blessed with faith 
 ful Abraham." In the following pages an 
 instance of God s faithfulness in fulfilling 
 his covenant will be presented ; and there is 
 no doubt that many equally plain might be 
 furnished, if the proper steps were taken to 
 collect the facts. The following genealogical 
 sketch is designed to aid in illustrating the 
 point. 
 
 About the year 1726, James Moore and 
 his brother Joseph, left Ireland, and settled in 
 Chester county, Pennsylvania. Joseph died 
 in 1728, whilst engaged in preparing for the 
 ministry. James, married Jane Walker, a 
 descendant of the Rutherfords of Scotland. 
 (18) 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S \ALLEY. 19 
 
 The family Bible which was brought by the 
 Walkers from Ireland, having in it the register 
 for several generations, was in the possession 
 of some of their descendants, since the com 
 mencement of the present century. It may 
 still be in existence somewhere in Kentucky ; 
 and if so, is either in the possession of some 
 one bearing the name of Walker, or whose 
 ancestors bore that name. John Walker and 
 his son-in-law, James Moore, left Pennsyl 
 vania and settled in Rockbridge county, Vir 
 ginia, near the Jump Mountain. James 
 Moore died about 1792, and his wife some two 
 years after him. They were both buried in a 
 graveyard near to where they had lived. No 
 stone marks the grave of either, for it was 
 not until a later period that the custom of 
 marking particular graves in that way, was 
 introduced into that part of the country. 
 Their memorial is written on more lasting 
 monuments in the character of their de 
 scendants. 
 
 Their family consisted of five sons and five 
 daughters. From them have descended Moores 
 in Virginia and Kentucky, quite numerous : 
 
20 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 (the oldest grandson was for some time one of 
 the teachers in Transylvania University) Pax- 
 tons, Stuarts, McPheeters, Coalters of Vir 
 ginia and South Carolina, Walkers, Steeles, 
 Harrisons, with many other names in the 
 second generation ; and in succeeding gen 
 erations far too many either to be followed 
 out or enumerated. With the aid of a family 
 sketch prepared in the early part of this cen 
 tury, the writer of this volume has been able 
 to identify many who have descended from 
 James Moore. With gratitude to God he 
 here records, that wherever he has found 
 them, in the third, fourth, and fifth genera 
 tion, he has found them the servants of God. 
 The sixth child and second son of James 
 Moore bore the name of his father. He 
 married Martha Poage, whose parents lived 
 about nine miles south of Lexington on the 
 road leading to the Natural Bridge ; and 
 after his marriage resided some years at a 
 place on the same road, which was known for 
 many years as Newel s Tavern. From this 
 place he removed to the county of Mont 
 gomery, and after a residence of only two or 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ALP/S VALLEY. 21 
 
 three years there, fixed his house in Abb s 
 Valley, in Tazewell county. This valley gets 
 its name from Absalom Looney, who is sup 
 posed to have been the first white man that 
 visited it. It was in about 1766 that the white 
 man first saw this section of the country. A 
 company of hunters is said to have spent 
 several months in the mountains and valleys 
 immediately around where Jeffersonville, the 
 county-seat, now stands. In the following 
 year some of this party returned, accom 
 panied by several others; and at the end of 
 the hunt, two or three of them, instead of re 
 turning as they had designed when they left 
 home, remained with the view of making pre 
 paration for the removal of their famili^, 
 and a permanent location there. Tradition 
 tells that the first corn raised here by the 
 white man, was planted in 1767 or 1768. In 
 two or three years after this, there were 
 several families who had fixed their homes in 
 the various inviting valleys. The names of 
 Bowen, Harman, Carr, Witten, Butler, Peery 
 and Bradshaw, are identified with the tradi 
 tions of frontier life in this region. 
 
22 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 It was in the summer that the first cabins 
 were built here, that the Cherokee and Shaw- 
 nee Indians had a bloody battle in these 
 mountains. A band of the former tribe had 
 formed a summer encampment near one of 
 the licks which was much frequented by the 
 deer and the elk, to avail themselves of the 
 advantage which it afforded in killing these 
 animals. This party is said, to have num 
 bered about two hundred men. A short time 
 after they had encamped ther> , a larger band 
 of Shawnees came to the came neighbourhood, 
 to occupy the same hunting-ground, and ^ent 
 a messenger to the Cherokees with an i> suit 
 ing . order to leave. lie was sent bacK with 
 a defiance, and both parties prepared for bat 
 tle. The Cherokees took their statjon on 
 the top of a ridge, and constructed a rude 
 breast-work, behind which they awaited the 
 attack of their foes. The batcie commenced 
 early in the morning, and lasted until night 
 put an end to it ; and was renewed the next 
 day. The Shawnees found that they could 
 not dislodge their enemies, and towards noon 
 drew off and abandoned the effort. A truce 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALLEY. 23 
 
 followed ; both united in burying the dead in 
 one common grave, and then retired to their 
 homes ; one to the south, and the other across 
 the Ohio. There were two or three hunters 
 in the immediate vicinity, who witnessed this 
 last conflict of the red men in this favourite 
 hunting-ground. 
 
 The valley in which Mr. Moore fixed his 
 residence is about ten miles long, and from 
 one-fourth of a mile to three-fourths wide ; 
 and though not deficient in water, there is no 
 stream that runs along it, or across it. The 
 rivulets that come down the mountains, and 
 the springs that rise at their base, sink at the 
 edge of the bottom, and burst out in a -large 
 spring near the lower end of the valley. 
 When the white man came here, he found 
 the valley in some parts destitute of any 
 forest growth, and clothed with luxuriant 
 grass ; in other portions there were dense 
 thickets of red haw, crab-apple, and the other 
 shrubs which generally are found growing 
 with them. It is a limestone country, and 
 the mountain sides were covered with a mag 
 nificent forest growth, under whose shade the 
 
24 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 wild pea, that most nutritious vine amongst 
 the native herbage of our country, in which 
 cattle delight more than in the rich clover of 
 cultivated fields, and other herbs sprang up 
 in wild luxuriance. It was a quiet, secluded 
 spot, the very paradise of the hunter and 
 grazier. In the summer, stock required little 
 attention, and in the winter, there were but 
 few occasions for feeding them. The grass 
 which had grown up in the thickets, and 
 which was sheltered from the frost, and the 
 browse on the hill sides, furnished them abun 
 dant subsistence. The bear, the deer, and 
 the elk were there in great numbers ; besides 
 smaller game in variety and abundance. 
 Everything that an Indian or a hunter would 
 ask for was found there ; the hand of in 
 dustry alone was needed to add the comforts 
 of civilized life, to the rich plenty of native 
 production. 
 
 Mr. Moore s attention was turned to this 
 spot by a kinsman of his, who, having visited 
 the south-western part of Virginia to procure 
 ginseng, had traversed this valley and some 
 of the mountains and valleys near it. From 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 25 
 
 his representations, Mr. Moore took an ex 
 ploring tour, and selected this as the place 
 for his future abode. Many considerations 
 united their influence in leading to this step. 
 The advantages which the place presented 
 were many, and in his estimation very great. 
 It was out of the usual track of the Indians ; 
 none of them lived near ; stock could be 
 raised with very little trouble ; the climate 
 was fine ; the soil fertile ; game abundant ; 
 and ginseng could be obtained in large quan 
 tities. Some other families had established 
 themselves in the same region ; the attention 
 of many others had been turned thither ; and 
 it was probable that in a few years the num 
 ber of settlers would be much increased. 
 
 In making arrangements to take his family 
 there, he went out in the spring accompanied 
 by some labourers, built u, cabin, planted a 
 crop, and left an Englishman named Simpson, 
 who had been an indented servant in his 
 family and was then free, but still remained 
 in his employment, to cultivate the crop and 
 enclose more land during the summer. Simp 
 son s situation was lonely in the highest de- 
 3 
 
26 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 gree. The nearest family was distant from 
 him more than ten miles, with more than one 
 mountain ridge intervening, over which there 
 was not even a path. On one occasion, a 
 man from the Bluestone settlement spent a 
 couple of days with him, and on the third 
 day they agreed to take a hunt ; but a thick 
 fog coming on, they both got bewildered in 
 the woods. Late in the evening Simpson 
 found his way into the valley, and reached 
 his cabin after night. The other man spent 
 the night in the woods, and the next day 
 went back to Bluestone. Some time after 
 night, Simpson heard what he thought must 
 be the voice of a man calling to him from 
 the other side of the valley. He answered, 
 and the call was repeated. It was extremely 
 dark, and he had no light in the house. Sup 
 posing it to be his guest of the previous 
 night, he shouted, " I ll make a light and 
 come to you;" and going into his cabin he 
 lighted some pieces of split pine. Shelter 
 ing the blaze from the wind with the skirt of 
 his hunting shirt, he started towards the spot 
 from which the voice had proceeded. When 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 27 
 
 he got pretty close to the edge of the thicket, 
 he threw aside the covering of his light, and 
 holding up his torch called aloud, " Where 
 are you?" Just as he uttered the words, a 
 wild terrific scream was heard a few yards 
 from the spot where he was standing, and 
 some large animal dashed through the bushes, 
 evidently very much frightened. He then 
 discovered that he had been visited by a 
 panther, and that his torch had saved him 
 from being, torn to pieces by it. With no 
 other incident worth notice, the months of 
 his solitary life passed away ; and about the 
 middle of autumn Mr. Moore removed his 
 family to the valley. He was accompanied 
 by his brother-in-law, Robert Poage, and Mr. 
 Looney, who has been before mentioned, who 
 each had a small family. These three fami 
 lies fixed their dwellings a mile or two from 
 each other, and for some years no other family 
 resided in Abb s Valley.. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE frontier man and the frontier family 
 of the period to which this narrative refers, 
 are amongst the things of bygone days. 
 Few specimens of them are now to be found. 
 It was necessary that the head of the family 
 should be hardy, fearless, capable of endur 
 ing labour and exposure without injury, and 
 able by day or by night to find his way 
 through the forest with the certainty which 
 characterizes the wolf or the Indian. Fami 
 liarity with the use of the rifle and the toma 
 hawk, was scarcely considered an accomplish 
 ment. It was necessary that every man 
 should possess them. He did not know at 
 what moment all his skill would be called 
 into requisition in defending his cabin against 
 the attack of the Indian. Some knowledge 
 of several different trades was deemed essen 
 tial in each household. Tools of the car 
 penter, the blacksmith, the tanner,, the shoe- 
 (28) 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 29 
 
 maker and the cooper, must be possessed and 
 used. A young woman who did not know 
 how to spin, dye, weave, and make into gar 
 ments the cloth that her own hands had pro 
 duced, stood little chance of finding any man 
 who would ask her to be his helpmeet. 
 Each family formed a sort of independent 
 community, relying on its own exertions to 
 supply its own wants. Owing to their iso 
 lated position, the advantages of schools were 
 enjoyed to a very limited extent ; but educa 
 tion was not wholly neglected. By the per 
 severing efforts of the parents, all were taught 
 to read and write ; the boys were taught 
 arithmetic, and on the Sabbath the Bible 
 and the Catechism were carefully studied in 
 many families. Such a man was James 
 Moore, such a woman was his wife Martha, 
 and such a family was his likely to be in 
 Abb s Valley. 
 
 If they formed an isolated community, 
 there is full evidence that a dense population 
 had at one time occupied this valley. Near 
 the place where Mr. Moore built his cabin, 
 there are found clear indications of an Indian 
 " 
 
30 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 village. The stone hatchets, flint arrow-heads, 
 and broken pieces of their rude pottery have 
 been found there in abundance. But beside 
 these, there are found in the country, caves 
 that seem to have been either places for de 
 positing the bodies of the dead, or of depos 
 iting their bones after the flesh had decayed. 
 It is said that some of these bones are of an 
 extraordinary size, and some have supposed 
 that they belong to an extinct race that once 
 dwelt in this region. Of the great numbers 
 of skeletons in these caves, some idea may 
 be formed from the following remarks, written 
 in 1849, by a gentleman who had passed 
 through the country. " There is in Taze- 
 well a cave, discovered not many years since, 
 which contains a large number of human 
 bones. I am sorry that I cannot give the 
 dimensions of the cave, as this would enable 
 us to form some estimate of the number of 
 skeletons it contains. I was not informed 
 of its existence until after I had left its 
 vicinity. This is my only apology for failing 
 to examine in person this gloomy cavern of 
 the dead. When first discovered, the cave s 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 31 
 
 mouth was walled up with stones, on the re 
 moval of which the entrance was easy. One 
 who had been in it, told me it was crammed 
 with bones filled up all around. Many of the 
 skulls and other bones were whole at that 
 time. His impression was that there had 
 been tons of bones in it." 
 
 If this had been a favourite hunting-ground, 
 or a favourite residence of the Indians, and 
 the sepulchres of their fathers were there, it 
 is not to be wondered that those who first 
 settled there did not find it a safe home. 
 Almost every year, and often more than 
 once in the year, they were alarmed by re 
 ports that the savages were approaching. 
 From the threatening danger they took re 
 fuge by going to other settlements where there 
 were blockhouse forts, and returned when it 
 was supposed the danger existed no longer. 
 An incident or two gathered from tradition 
 will show the dangers that attended their 
 situation. 
 
 Mr. Poage, the nearest neighbour of Cap 
 tain Moore, was a blacksmith. On one occa 
 sion three men had gone from the settlement 
 
32 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY*. 
 
 on Bluestone, to get some work done at his 
 shop ; and as he was unable to finish it that 
 day, they had to spend the night at his house. 
 Some time after dark they all noticed what 
 seemed to be an unusually frequent noise of 
 the screech owl. One of the men remarked 
 rather carelessly, that it did not seem to him 
 to be exactly the noise of the owl, and he 
 would not be surprised if it was made by In 
 dians ; but the suggestion did not seem to 
 excite any apprehension, and they all went 
 to bed. A short time after midnight, the 
 door was burst open. The men sprang to 
 their guns, and one of them, by mistake, got 
 hold of the gun which belonged to another 
 man, and had a double trigger. He placed 
 the muzzle against the breast of an Indian, 
 and in the attempt to discharge it, broke both 
 triggers, and the savage escaped. Finding 
 that there were several men in the house, 
 they made no further attempts to enter it, 
 and after some time went away. 
 
 Early the next morning, a young man, 
 whose name was Richards, left Captain 
 Moore s house to place some deer skins in 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 33 
 
 soak preparatory to dressing them. Although 
 he was going only a few hundred yards, he 
 took his rifle with him, remarking that he might 
 see a deer ; and if they heard him shoot and 
 call aloud, some of them must come and bring 
 the dogs. A short time after he left, the 
 report of a rifle was heard, and immediately 
 Ws voice was recognized. Supposing it to 
 be the signal for the dogs, one of the family 
 started with them, and soon found Richards 
 shot through the body, his head gashed with 
 the tomahawk, and the scalp torn off. He 
 died in the course of the day. Mr. Moore 
 immediately mounted a horse, and rode ra 
 pidly to Mr. Poage s to warn them of dan 
 ger, and from them learned what had taken 
 place the preceding night. The three fami 
 lies living near to each other, Moore s, Poage s 
 and Looney s, went to the fort on Bluestone 
 that day. Mr. Poage never took his family 
 back, but sold out to Mr. Moore, and re 
 turned to R-ockbridge. Mr. Looney remained 
 but a short time longer, and by his removal 
 only one family was left in that part of the 
 valley. 
 
84 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 It may seem strange to those who are un 
 acquainted with the fascinations of frontier 
 life, that Capt. Moore did not follow the ex 
 ample of his neighbours ; and that in the face 
 of so many real dangers, and after so many 
 warnings of them, he still continued to reside 
 in the valley. It is indeed difficult for those 
 who have spent their lives where they never 
 have thought for a moment that they were in 
 danger, either from wild beasts or savage 
 men, to understand how it was possible that 
 either he or his family could feel at ease for 
 a day. But from his childhood he had been 
 familiar with these dangers, and his wife as 
 well as himself had grown up in the midst of 
 them. During i.luit part of the year in which 
 they were most liable to be disturbed by the 
 Indians, he always had hired labourers in his 
 family, each of whom was as familiar with 
 the rifle as with his right hand All had 
 lived from infancy in the midst of dangers, 
 and being accustomed to meet difficulties of 
 every kind, every one possessed .1 determined 
 self-reliance which could meet without dismay 
 anything that might happen. Familiarity 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 35 
 
 vrith danger hardens the mind against its 
 terrors. Families live in habitual cheerful 
 ness on the sides of Etna and Vesuvius, al 
 though they know that the bowels of these 
 mountains are molten masses, and that at 
 any moment fiery torrents may stream down 
 their sides. 
 
 In addition to this, Mr. Moore himself was 
 no ordinary man. We have the best evidence 
 of this from the estimation in which he was 
 held by those who knew him well. At a time 
 when offices in the militia were conferred only 
 on those whom their comrades were willing 
 to trust as their leaders in the hour of dan 
 ger, he had been selected by those who knew 
 him well to command one of the frontier 
 rifle companies; and as captain, led a com 
 pany of his fellow mountaineers in General 
 Green s army, in the hard fought battle at 
 Guilford Court House. His was one of the 
 companies that met the first onset of the foe 
 on that memorable day. They were mounted 
 riflemen, and on going into the engagement, 
 had tied their horses in the woods behind the 
 hill, and out of the reach of injury from the 
 
36 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 balls of the British. After the Virginia mi 
 litia had performed the part assigned them 
 with much credit, they retreated; and this 
 company sought to regain their horses. The 
 animal on which Captain Moore was mounted 
 was fleet, young, spirited, and never before 
 had heard the din of battle. To secure it 
 from breaking its bridle, he had passed the 
 reins in a noose over the end of a limb, which 
 allowed the horse considerable room to move 
 about. When he came up to it, he found it 
 impossible to get it to remain still, and leave 
 the reins slack, so that he could unfasten the 
 noose. The rest of the company were all 
 mounted, and the British dragoons were 
 dashing towards them in a brisk charge. One 
 of his men noticing the difficulty, called out, 
 " Cut the reins, Captain ; cut the reins !" 
 " No, I won t," was the instant reply; and 
 springing up, with a powerful jerk he broke 
 the limb. In an instant he was in the sad 
 dle, but encumbered with his rifle, and the 
 limb still hanging in the bridle. His fright 
 ened horse, instead of following the rest of 
 the company, started directly towards the 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 37 
 
 dragoons. To free his bridle was the work 
 of but a moment ; and when within a few 
 yards of the enemy, who felt sure of either 
 capturing or killing him, he wheeled his horse, 
 and its flectness enabled him to escape. It 
 has been said of him that he never was known 
 to lose his presence of mind in any emer 
 gency in which he was placed. 
 
 At the close of his term of service, he re 
 turned to his home in the valley, the quiet 
 ness of which must have presented a strong 
 contrast to the bustle of life in the army. He 
 was prospering finely in his business. After 
 having lived eight or nine years in the valley, 
 he had nearly a hundred head of horses, and a 
 large number of cattle, from both of which 
 kinds of stock he made profitable sales every 
 year. Providence seemed to smile on him 
 in everything. His family were blessed with 
 fine health, and by giving attention to their 
 education as well as he could by his own and 
 his wife s exertions ; by the careful observ 
 ance of the Sabbath, and by attending to 
 family worship, he and his pious wife sought 
 to remedy as far as possible the privations 
 
38 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB g VALLEY. 
 
 and disadvantages under which they and their 
 children laboured, in being deprived altogether 
 of the privileges of attending on the ordi 
 nances of God s house. If the present was 
 almost unmingled prosperity, the future 
 seemed scarce less bright. He had formed 
 his plans, and had almost secured the means 
 to purchase the whole of the valley ; and 
 here he designed to settle his children around 
 him, and in the midst of them spend his old 
 age. These were his plans, but the purposes 
 of God were very different. " How unsearch 
 able are his judgments, and his ways past 
 finding out !" 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DURING- the interval between the close of 
 the war of the American Revolution, and the 
 treaty made with the Indians after they had 
 been defeated by General Wayne in 1794, 
 the western frontiers were greatly harassed 
 by the savages. The Shawnees, perhaps 
 more frequently than any other tribe, took a 
 part in the inroads on the settlements in 
 Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Virginia. It 
 seemed to be their plan riot to visit the same 
 section of the country very frequently, but 
 to allow time for the settlement to get into a 
 feeling of security after one attack, before 
 they made another. Their feelings towards 
 the whites were bitter. They had been much 
 irritated by some of the occurrences of the 
 war ; they saw the settlements steadily ex 
 tending westward; they had been driven 
 from many hunting-grounds; and many fa 
 vourite districts which were formerly their 
 
 (39) 
 
40 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 dwelling-places, they saw in the possession 
 of strangers. Their hatred was directed to 
 the race, and not to individuals; and they 
 could scalp and torture with as much pleasure 
 the female and the child, as the intrepid man 
 who had met them in battle. They delighted 
 to come by surprise on a defenceless family, 
 to lead mothers and children into captivity, 
 to gather the spoils of the household, and 
 carry them to their distant wigwams. Fre 
 quently they did not inflict needless cruelty 
 on their captives. If they encountered men, 
 they sought to kill them ; but if women or 
 children were put to death, it was usually in 
 the first attack, and before they were sure 
 of victory. Sometimes the captives were 
 adopted into a family of the tribe ; sometimes 
 they W 7 ere sold to the French, or to tories 
 who had removed to Canada ; sometimes they 
 were restored to their friends by the terms 
 of a treaty of peace ; sometimes their rela 
 tives ransomed them ; and some instances 
 occurred in which captives became attached 
 to savage life and savage friends, and re 
 mained with the Indians of choice, after the 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 41 
 
 opportunity of returning to their relatives 
 was presented to them. 
 
 Amongst the Indians who took an active 
 part in harassing the frontiers in the period 
 above referred to, was Black Wolf, an inferior 
 chief of the Shawnees. He lived on the north 
 side of the Ohio, near Chillicothe. He was 
 a man above the ordinary stature, possessing 
 a large share of strength, activity, and cour 
 age ; and was one of the most stern and vin 
 dictive warriors of that tribe. He headed 
 several of the parties that harassed the south 
 western part of Virginia. Tazewell seems 
 to have been a favourite point of attack ; 
 and hence no part of the old frontier was the 
 scene of so many Indian adventures. I have 
 heard at different times, and with more or 
 less particularity, the stories of about twenty 
 of these forays, but must confine my narra 
 tive to Abb s Valley, which Black Wolf 
 visited in 1784, when he took captive James, 
 the second son of Captain Moore. James 
 was then in the fourteenth year of his age, 
 already well versed in the use of the rifle, 
 and accustomed to travel over the mountains ; 
 4* 
 
42 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 an adventurous, keen hunter for his age. On 
 one occasion when out alone with his dogs, 
 they had fallen on the trail of a large pan 
 ther, which they had driven to take refuge in 
 a cliff. It placed itself in one of the crevices 
 of the rocks where it could be approached 
 only in front, and there was entirely safe 
 from all attacks of the dogs ; and in conse 
 quence of a jutting point of one of the rocks, 
 could not be seen except by a near approach. 
 But though the near approach was connected 
 with no little peril, of which he was w r ell 
 aware, James determined not to let the dan 
 gerous animal escape. He advanced cau 
 tiously with his rifle ready to fire, until at the 
 distance of not more than three yards, he 
 got a sight of it, and instantly shot it through 
 the head. 
 
 About the middle of September, in the 
 year above named, he was sent after break 
 fast to bring a horse from the place where 
 Mr. Poage had lived ; the distance was about 
 two miles. He had often gone there alone 
 without fear ; but on this occasion he had scarce 
 lost sight of his father s house, when an unac- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 43 
 
 countable feeling of dread came over him ; 
 which became so distressing that he had at 
 one time determined to go back, but was pre 
 vented from doing so by the fear of his fa 
 ther s displeasure. He never could explain 
 this fear on any other ground, than that it 
 was a strange presentiment of the evil which 
 was about to befall him. There is, however, 
 one circumstance which I suppose makes the 
 case entirely explicable without the necessity 
 of having recourse to supernatural causes. 
 He had spent the previous night till a late 
 hour, reading the wild tale of Valentine and 
 Orson, in which he was greatly interested ; 
 and the influence of the feelings of the past 
 night still existed in his mind to some extent. 
 though he knew not what it was. The ac 
 count which he has since given of the matter, 
 and which is here copied from his dictation, 
 is that it w^as not the dread of Indians, for 
 he was not thinking of them. It was an un 
 defined apprehension of some great calamity 
 that would befall him ; that perhaps some wild 
 beast w 7 ould devour him. In this agitated 
 state oT mind he went forward until he had 
 
44 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 almost reached the field where the horses were, 
 when Black Wolf and two younger Indians 
 sprang from behind a large log, and yelling 
 the terrific war whoop, rushed on him, and 
 laid hold of him before he had time to think 
 what to do. When he first heard their yell, 
 he supposed it was the wild beast which, he 
 had dreaded ; and was relieved in no small 
 degree when he saw it was Indians. He said 
 aloud " It is only Indians. I need not be 
 scared. I shall only have to go to the Shaw- 
 nee towns." Wolf then directed him by 
 signs to catch one of the horses, giving him 
 some salt for this purpose ; but as the young 
 Indian retained the bridle, and ran up to 
 James with it when he saw him take hold of 
 the mane of the horse, he contrived to have 
 the horse break away from him. After two 
 or three unsuccessful attempts it was given 
 up. He says he had no wish to have his 
 father lose one of his best horses. 
 
 They then started towards the Ohio, the 
 two young men before, James next, and W^olf 
 behind, who with care covered any marks 
 which the others had made. James com- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 45 
 
 menced breaking the tops of the bushes as 
 lie went along, but Wolf immediately noticed 
 it, and shaking his tomahawk over his head, 
 compelled him to desist. He next began, to 
 turn up the leaves with his toes as he walked, 
 but this did not escape the notice of the 
 watchful savage, who at once understood his ob 
 ject in doing it. Coming forward, he showed 
 him how to set his foot flat on the ground, 
 and how to lift it in taking the step without 
 leaving any marks ; and with an angry shake 
 of the tomahawk, compelled him to obey the 
 directions he had given him. In the after 
 noon, the rain began to fall, and the evening 
 was quite cool. About the time that it be 
 came dark, the party stopped in a dense 
 laurel thicket, and spent the night without 
 fire, shelter, or food. This was a dismal 
 night to the captive. His clothing was only 
 such as was suited to the hottest part of a 
 summer day ; his arms were securely tied 
 with straps of un tanned skin ; he was placed 
 between the two young Indians, and another 
 strap which Wolf held in his hand was tied 
 round his body. In this situation he re- 
 
46 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB^S VALLET. 
 
 volved in an endless variety of ways all the 
 circumstances of his condition. He had often 
 heard of Indian captivities, of persons escap 
 ing from them, and of the cruelties sometimes 
 practised on captives ; and anxiously did he 
 endeavour to settle his mind on some proba 
 ble issue in his case. Often his thoughts 
 turned to his late happy home ; and he vainly 
 wished that he could communicate the know 
 ledge of his situation to those from whom he 
 had been separated so unexpectedly. He well 
 knew that an anxious group would be gathered 
 around his father s fireside that night ; and 
 that he would be the subject of conversation, 
 conjecture, and of earnest prayer when the 
 family kneeled together in their evening 
 devotions. Strange as it may seem, he at 
 length fell into a sound sleep, and passed 
 some hours in unconsciousness of the trials 
 that were pressing upon him. 
 
 All that his imagination pictured, actually 
 passed in the family that night. In the after 
 noon, Mr. Moore surprised at his son s delay 
 in returning, went to the field where the 
 horses were, and from various indications, 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALLEY. 47 
 
 felt convinced that his son had been taken 
 captive, and had not been killed. But Wolf 
 had been so careful not to leave any trace of 
 the direction his party took when leaving the 
 valley, that Captain Moore was not able to 
 find any indications that would enable him to 
 form satisfactory conjectures, either as to the 
 numbers of the party, or the route they had 
 taken. The only point on which he could 
 form a fixed opinion was, that his son had not 
 been killed ; but whether he had been taken 
 southward, or toward the Ohio, he could not 
 tell. His son was a captive amongst the 
 savages ; but even here hope sought for 
 something to rest upon, and soon found it. 
 James was healthy, hardy, active, cheerful, 
 and would not be likely to suffer material 
 injury from anything an Indian could endure. 
 And through the traders, intelligence would 
 be gained concerning him, and he would be 
 restored to his parents and to his friends 
 again. Such were the reasonings and the 
 hopes, which in time gave to the family all 
 the alleviation which their circumstances 
 admitted. Often, often, was James the sub- 
 
48 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 ject of conversation ; and various plans were 
 talked over, and some of them executed, to 
 ascertain where he was. 
 
 At the dawn of day Wolf and his party 
 resumed their journey, making their way to 
 wards the ridge in which is found a low pass 
 that is called Maxwell s Gap. This pass is 
 called by this name, from the circumstance 
 of a man named Maxwell having been killed 
 there in a fight with some Indians. In this 
 gap they halted for a short time, and Wolf 
 brought from the place where he had con 
 cealed it on a former expedition, an iron oven, 
 which he required James to carry. At first 
 it was placed on his back somewhat after the 
 manner of a knapsack ; but as its weight 
 and position gave him great pain, he threw 
 it down, and by signs expressed his determina 
 tion not to carry it any further. Wolf then 
 laid down his load, and bade him take it ; 
 but when James found that he could not even 
 place h on his back, he took the oven again, 
 filled it Avith leaves, and turning it down on 
 his head, carried it without much difficulty or 
 pain. The day after they left the gap, it 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 49 
 
 commenced raining, and one of the young 
 Indians attempted to take James s hat. He 
 understood enough of Indian character to 
 know that all his chance of faring well with 
 them, depended on showing a spirit which 
 would not quail at any appearance of dan 
 ger, and which would resist everything like 
 oppression. He therefore firmly resisted the 
 attempt to take his hat ; and when it was per 
 sisted in, he struck his assailant. The In 
 dian then explained that he wanted the hat 
 to protect the lock of his gun from the rain, 
 to which use of it James assented ; and when 
 the rain ceased, it was returned to him. 
 
 The Indians had no food with them, the 
 chestnuts and acorns were not yet ripe, and 
 they met with neither roots nor berries which 
 they could use as food ; and as they pursued 
 the route which could be travelled with the 
 greatest expedition, they kept on the top of 
 the ridges where no game was to be met with. 
 In this condition, they resorted to an expe 
 dient for relieving the cravings of hunger 
 which dire necessity had taught the savage. 
 They took the inner bark of the yellow pop- 
 5 
 
50 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 lar from near the root, boiled it, and drank 
 the decoction with evident benefit. On the 
 third day they killed a bear, but it was so 
 poor the Indians would not eat any of it. On 
 the fourth day they killed a buffalo. As 
 soon as they could, they made some broth 
 from a portion of the intestines hastily 
 washed in the branch that happened to be 
 near, and drank heartily of it. At night 
 they again made broth, and drank freely, but 
 did not eat any of the meat till the next 
 morning. Had they eaten the meat at first, 
 it would have produced sickness, if not death ; 
 but by the course they pursued, no incon 
 venience was experienced. After this they 
 did not suffer from the want of food ; and 
 being now out of danger from pursuit, they 
 travelled less rapidly than at first. After 
 the party felt themselves free from danger, 
 Black Wolf gave one loud, long whoop every 
 evening at sundown, and every morning at 
 sunrise, indicating that he had one prisoner. 
 When within about one day s journey of 
 the Ohio, they stopped for the night on the 
 top of a ridge. A small camp-kettle was 
 
THE PRAYER FOR HELP. Page 51. 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 51 
 
 given to the captive to go down to the foot 
 of the ridge for water. As he started down 
 the hill, Wolf wrapped himself in his blanket, 
 and lay down as if to sleep. As soon as 
 James got to the foot of the hill, supposing 
 himself entirely unobserved, he kneeled down 
 and engaged in prayer to God. He had been 
 taught this and other duties of religion by 
 his parents ; and now he realized as he never 
 had before the privilege of calling on God, 
 and feeling that though unseen He was a 
 friend near at hand; the only friend to whom 
 he could tell his sorrows ; the friend that 
 could guide and protect him. It is said in God s 
 word, u Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
 whose mind is stayed on thee, because he 
 trusteth in thee." In part at least, this was 
 fulfilled in the case of the young captive. 
 When he had cast himself on God, he rose 
 from his knees in a state of entire tranquillity 
 of mind. So great was the change in his 
 feelings, that for the first time since his capti 
 vity the tears burst from his eyes, and he wept 
 abundantly. From that hour he felt no trou 
 blesome apprehension of evil. He had made 
 
52 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S PALLET. 
 
 God his refuge, and God took care of him. 
 When he returned with the water, the marks 
 of the tears were on his cheeks ; and Wolf 
 coming up to him pointed to them, and an 
 grily shaking the tomahawk over his head, 
 intimated to him that he must cry no more. 
 He afterwards found out that every move 
 ment of his had been watched carefully ; and 
 that it was a trial of him to see whether he 
 would attempt to escape. From this time he 
 was guarded less strictly. 
 
 The party pursued their way leisurely un 
 til they reached the Ohio, which they crossed 
 on a raft formed of pieces of dead timber 
 which they found on the bank, and fastened 
 together with grape-vines. They crossed 
 somewhere between the mouths of Guyan- 
 dotte and Sandy rivers, and probably near 
 the mouth of the latter. Thence they took 
 the trail to the Indian settlements on the 
 Scioto. During the journey James suffered 
 very much. When he was taken prisoner his 
 clothing was thin, suited to the warm weather 
 of the latter part of summer, and he had on 
 neither shoes nor moccasins. But the first 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB iS VA1LEY. 53 
 
 night of his captivity the weather changed 
 to the cool temperature of early autumn ; and 
 lefore he reached the end of his journey, he 
 had several large ulcers on the soles of his 
 feet, occasioned by bruises on stones. 
 
 To save his captive from any cruel treat 
 ment, Wolf did not take him directly to his 
 own village. But after some days there was 
 a council in the village where he was, at 
 which he was present. An old chief spoke 
 with great earnestness, and by the manner in 
 which he and others looked at him, the cap 
 tive understood that the speech had reference 
 to him. He learned afterwards that the old 
 chief was reprimanding Wolf for his coarse 
 in harassing the whites ; and warned him and 
 others, that they would draw down on their 
 tribe the vengeance of those whom they were 
 provoking. Not long after this Wolf sold 
 his captive for an old horse. 
 
 About this time the season for the fall 
 hunting of the Indians commenced, and James 
 was sent with a party to a distant point, where 
 they were to continue their hunt till after 
 mid-winter ; by which time it was supposed 
 5* 
 
04 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 the party, beside procuring valuable peltries, 
 would get meat for the latter part of the win 
 ter and the spring. Before starting on his 
 expedition, he was left for several days alone 
 in the wigwam of his mistress. Some boiled 
 hominy was given him for food each clay, 
 but none of the family remained with 
 him. lie never learned what the design of 
 this treatment w r as. During the time of 
 this solitude he often engaged in prayer, 
 and found much comfort in it. Few in 
 cidents show the value of early religious in 
 struction more clearly than this does. The 
 good seed had been sov>~n by parental care, 
 and now it bore fruit in circumstances where 
 it was much needed. " There is a friend that 
 sticketh closer than a brother;" a friend 
 there is that can help when all other aid is 
 far off; that can console when removed from 
 every other source of comfort. That friend 
 has said " I love them that love me, and 
 they that seek me early shall find me." 
 
 A few days after this period of solitude in 
 the hut, the company started. In this expe- 
 iition they suffered severely. James fared 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? VALLEY. 55 
 
 as the rest of the party. Indeed, he never 
 met with any special ill treatment during the 
 time he was with them. But this year the 
 winter set in early, and the snow fell very 
 deep. They killed very little game, and sub 
 sisted almost entirely on parched corn. Their 
 method of preparing it was to parch it, then 
 throw it for a short time into hot water. 
 Each one would take a small handful after it 
 had been a little softened in the water, and 
 placing a single grain at a time on a smooth 
 stone, would strike on it with another until 
 it was crushed as fine as they could well make 
 it ; when it was thrown back into the water 
 and boiled for some time. They then drank 
 the water, and ate the corn from the bottom 
 of the pot. This was often their whole liv 
 ing while exposed to the severity of a cold 
 winter in the wilderness, unsheltered by any 
 thing except the poor protection of a misera 
 ble hut, a thin, small blanket to each, and 
 clothing which would not have been consi 
 dered more than comfortable in the mild 
 weather of April. To aid them in enduring 
 the hardships which they had to suffer, a 
 
56 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALLEY. 
 
 large fire was made early in the morning, and 
 each one plunged into the stream usually 
 covered with ice. As quickly as possible they 
 dressed by the fire, then partook of their 
 scanty breakfast, and entered on the business 
 of the day, seldom eating again until they 
 met at the hut in the evening. In this way 
 the captive lad spent the winter, not knowing 
 but that many similar winters were before 
 him. But that God on whom he had called, 
 and on whose care he had cast himself, had 
 better things in store for him. 
 
 In the month of April there was an Indian 
 festival at one of the villages near to the one 
 in which James lived, which he attended with 
 the family to which he belonged. Here he 
 met with a French trader, Bateeste (Baptist) 
 Ariome, who s;nv in him a striking likeness 
 to a son of his who had died a few months 
 before ; and on this account, as well as for 
 other reasons, became much interested in 
 him. For fifty dollars paid in goods, he pur 
 chased him of the woman to whom he be 
 longed. By Mr. Ariome he was taken to his 
 residence in Canada, not far from Detroit, 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF AlB S VALLEY. 57 
 
 and was treated as a son. Thus ended his 
 captivity amongst the savages. 
 
 After he had been purchased by Mr. 
 Ariome, but before leaving the village, he 
 met with a Mr. Sherlock, a trader from Ken 
 tucky, who had once been a prisoner in this 
 same tribe, and had in this way become ac 
 quainted with them ; and afterwards visited 
 them with goods to barter for skins and furs. 
 Through his agency, a young man named 
 MofFat, whose father lived in the same region 
 from which James came, had been released 
 from captivity. He requested him, on his 
 return, to communicate to Captain Moore the 
 intelligence that he was no longer with the 
 Indians, and had gone to Canada. After 
 several months the message was received, and 
 gave to Mr. Moore the first certain intelli 
 gence of the fate of his son ; and afforded 
 joy to hearts that had indulged hopes based 
 on they scarce knew what, but still clinging 
 to them, though it seemed as " against hope, 
 believing in hope." 
 
 Not knowing how long he would continue 
 amongst the Indians, and in the buoyancy 
 
58 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 of youth accommodating himself to the cir 
 cumstances in which he was placed, the young 
 captive had used his best efforts to learn the 
 Shawnee language ; and had succeeded to 
 such an extent that he could speak it with 
 some ease, and understand almost every 
 thing that was said in his presence. Amongst 
 other things which he has related as coming 
 under his notice, are some which it may not 
 be amiss to mention. 
 
 In the tribe to which his captors belonged, 
 there was a sort of association called the 
 u Powow Brothers." No mean, worthless In 
 dian could belong to it, and no female was 
 allowed to be a member. During certain 
 seasons of the year, the brotherhood met fre 
 quently, and often remained together for 
 several hours. The object of their meetings 
 ho never ascertained. From one of them, 
 the husband of his mistress returned with a 
 serious and even a sad countenance, and sat 
 silent in the wigwam. After some time his 
 wife went to him, and earnestly inquired the 
 cause of his sadness. He told her that dur 
 ing their meeting the Great Spirit had ap- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 59 
 
 peared to them ; that at first it was not larger 
 than a man s hand ; that it increased until it 
 got to be the size of a boy twelve years old ; 
 that the Spirit was angry with them and 
 would punish them for forsaking the ways of 
 their fathers. In former times, their paths 
 were marked with the tracks of men and 
 dogs ; now only with the tracks of horses. 
 They were more proud, and less kind to one 
 another than formerly, of which he mentioned 
 several evidences. Addressing her, he said 
 in the most solemn manner, " The Great 
 Spirit will punish you for your pride." She 
 was rich according to the Indian notion of 
 riches, and was vain and overbearing. 
 
 This took place only a few weeks before 
 James left the tribe ; and it is a matter not 
 devoid of interest to know that the prediction 
 was fulfilled. Several months after this, an 
 other tribe, provoked by the pilfering of the 
 men of this village, attacked them, and de 
 stroyed their town entirely, burning all their 
 wigwams and laying waste their fields. This 
 woman barely escaped with her life and her 
 children, losing everything she possessed. 
 
GO THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 
 
 James met her in Canada after her reverse of 
 fortune, and gave her a loaf of bread, which 
 she received with the warmest expressions of 
 gratitude. 
 
 Whilst a captive he frequently saw large 
 rattlesnakes, but was not allowed to kill any 
 of them. The reason given by the Indians 
 was, that the rattlesnakes were their friends, 
 and therefore they would not allow T them to 
 be injured. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 As soon as Captain Moore was informed 
 of his son s situation, he formed the purpose 
 to go for him and bring him home. But to 
 accomplish this was a thing of no little diffi 
 culty. The entire distance was either a wil 
 derness, or inhabited by hostile Indians ; and 
 he had no knowledge of the country north of 
 the Ohio. In this state of things, even if he 
 should succeed in making his way to where 
 James was, he could not reasonably expect 
 to be absent from his family less than nine 
 months or a year; and in the meantime he 
 must leave them without a protector. The 
 subject was often talked over, and every 
 scheme that affection and ingenuity could 
 suggest was examined in all its bearings. 
 The result of all was, that for the present 
 the attempt must be postponed. To this 
 conclusion all submitted with the less reluc 
 tance, because they knew that James was 
 6 (61) 
 
62 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 with a kind man, an intelligent man in busi 
 ness matters, under whose care he would be 
 gaining knowledge that would be useful to 
 him. 
 
 In the meantime Mr. Moore was diligently 
 and successfully prosecuting the object which 
 has been mentioned before the purchase of 
 the entire valley. About a year after the 
 capture of his son, such progress had been 
 made, that the first steps toward securing the 
 title had been taken ; and he expected that 
 in another year it would be perfected. But 
 these expectations were destined to meet a 
 melancholy disappointment. 
 
 In June 1786, Black Wolf, at the head of 
 between thirty and forty warriors started for 
 the south-western part of Virginia. On the 
 thirteenth of July, they killed a man and his 
 wife, and having plundered and burnt his 
 dwelling, they passed on in the direction of 
 Mr. Moore s residence ; and late in the after 
 noon, reached the foot of the mountain which 
 bounds Abb s Valley on the west. Two of 
 them ascended the mountain late in the even 
 ing, and after night approached so near to 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S PALLET. 63 
 
 the house that they were able to count the 
 family when they were at supper. At the 
 usual time all retired to rest, not thinking of 
 any unusual danger. It was noticed that 
 about dark the dogs were much excited, and 
 some horses near the house seemed to be 
 frightened; but this was supposed to be pro 
 duced by some wild animal, a bear or a pan 
 ther, that had been prowling about. 
 
 Daylight dawned on a happy family in 
 Abb s Valley on the morning of the 14th. 
 They rose early, and engaged in their respec 
 tive employments. It was the busy, joyous 
 season of harvest. Two men were reaping 
 wheat a few hundred yards from the house. 
 Mr. Moore was giving salt to some young 
 horses not far off. Two of the children had 
 gone for water to the place from which the 
 supply was usually obtained, and which was 
 somewhat in the direction of the spot where 
 their father was. Another had gone to the 
 fence which enclosed the yard to give the 
 signal to Mr. Moore and the reapers to come 
 to breakfast. In this juncture, the fearful 
 war-whoop was heard, arid the savages were 
 
64 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 Been rushing down two ridges of the moun 
 tain, one party to the salting blocks, where 
 Mr. Moore was, and the other to the house. 
 At the first alarm, Mary, who was calling to 
 her father and the reapers, ran into the house, 
 in which were her mother, Margaret, John, 
 and Jane ; and Martha Evans, a young wo 
 man from Walker s Creek, in what is now 
 Giles county, who happened to be at Mr. 
 Moore s at this time. The house, like almost 
 all the frontier houses of that period, was 
 constructed with a view to defence against 
 the Indians, and was what was called a block 
 house cabin. Amongst other things, the 
 doors were made of plank too thick to be 
 penetrated by a rifle ball, and were furnished 
 with strong fosterlings in the inside ; and the 
 windows were high and small, and could be 
 secured instantly. In the confusion of the 
 moment, Mrs. Moore and Martha Evans shut 
 the doors and secured the windows, without 
 it once occurring to them that they were 
 shutting out Mr. Moore and the other child 
 ren. As soon as he heard the yell of the 
 savages, Mr Moore started to the house with 
 
THE CAi TIVES OF ABB S VALLEf. G5 
 
 his utmost speed, and could Lave got in, 
 if the door had been open ; but seeing it 
 closed, he ran past the end of the house, and 
 halted for a moment on the yard fence. This 
 halt was fatal to him, for he was pierced with 
 seven balls. Springing from the fence he 
 ran about forty paces and fell. He was im 
 mediately tomahawked, and his scalp torn off. 
 Had he succeeded in getting into his house, 
 the opinion of those who well knew him was, 
 that the issue of the attack would have been 
 very different from what it was. There were 
 six or seven rifles in the house, and with the 
 advantages which the construction of the house 
 gave, the defence would have been such as to 
 cost the assailants dear, even if it had not 
 been successful. The Indians said afterwards 
 that he might have escaped, had it not been 
 for his halt on the fence. Why he made 
 that pause we cannot know. Did he think 
 of some way to rescue his family ? Was it 
 only the promptings of an agonized heart 
 without any definite object? W 7 e may con 
 jecture about his thoughts in that bitter mo 
 ment, but we never can know what passed in 
 6* 
 
66 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 his mind. William and Rebecca, who had 
 gone for water, were overtaken before they 
 reached the house and killed, and another 
 son Alexander, was killed nearer the house. 
 Simpson, the Englishman spoken of in the 
 former part of this narrative, was in the up 
 per part of the house somewhat indisposed ; 
 and Martha Evans, taking two of the guns in 
 her hands, went up where he was, and called 
 to him to fire at the Indians, but found that 
 he was lying on his bed dying. He had been 
 looking out through a crack between two of 
 the logs, and was shot in the side of the head. 
 When she came down, she raised a plank in 
 the floor, and crept under. Mary was going 
 under with her, but had in her arms the 
 youngest child, an infant, which was crying 
 from the pain of a wound in its shoulder. 
 Martha remonstrated against its being brought 
 under, as it would betray them, and Mary 
 would not leave it. The plank was replaced, 
 concealing only Martha. In this trying mo 
 ment, when two fierce dogs that had defended 
 the door had been killed, and the Indians 
 were at work with their tomahawks cutting 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 67 
 
 it down, Mrs. Moore kneeled with her chil 
 dren, and having commended all to God, 
 rose and removed the bars from the door ; 
 and herself and her four children became 
 captives. 
 
 There was one son of the family that twice 
 escaped captivity or death. On the day that 
 James was taken, Joseph, his younger brother, 
 was anxious to go with him to bring the horse, 
 but for some reason his parents would not 
 permit him; and thus he escaped at that 
 time. He was not at home on this melan 
 choly day. In the previous spring he had 
 accompanied his father to Lexington, where 
 he had gone to barter the productions of the 
 valley, and procure necessaries for his family. 
 On the way he took the measles, and being 
 too unwell to travel, was left at his grand 
 father Poage s ; and thus made his second 
 escape. 
 
 The Indians, having everything now in 
 their power, went leisurely to the work of 
 gathering the spoil. The breakfast which 
 had been prepared for the family, with such 
 additions as were required by the increase of 
 
68 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLE1T. 
 
 numbers, became the repast of the hungry 
 savages. They were in no fear of any inter 
 ruption, for several hours at least ; for their 
 numbers were such that the few scattered 
 families in the valley thereabout could i_ot 
 muster a force sufficient to attack them with 
 any hope of success. They took out of the 
 house everything they wished to carry away. 
 Indeed, they first brought out everything, and 
 then made a sort of partition of the spoils 
 amongst themselves, leaving the remainder in. 
 a pile to be burned. They then spent some 
 hours in killing all the stock of every kind 
 they could find ; and then in the afternoon 
 started for the Ohio, after setting on fire the 
 dwelling house, and all the out-buildings of 
 every description. While they were busily 
 engaged in the division of the spoils on one 
 side of the house, Martha Evans crept from 
 her place of concealment, and unobserved by 
 them, made her way to a ravine not far oft , 
 and concealed herself under a shelving rock, 
 on which rested the end of a fallen tree that 
 Jay across the ravine. About the time that 
 the party were starting off, one of the Indians 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 69 
 
 passing that way, seated himself on the log, 
 and commenced working with the lock of his 
 gun. He had not noticed her, but she sup 
 posing that he had seen her, and was about 
 to kill her, carne out and gave herself up, and 
 thus became a fellow captive with the survi 
 vors of the family. 
 
 Not a few of the readers of this legend 
 will feel more than a little desire to know 
 something of the scenery around Mr. Moore s 
 dwelling, and the state of things existing 
 there when the captives left the valley. I 
 will give them the best help I can in gratify 
 ing their wishes, at the same time referring 
 them to the frontispiece for additional aid. 
 
 At the distance of about half a mile in 
 front of the dwelling of Mr. Moore, which 
 faced towards the southeast, stood a lofty 
 mountain covered to its top with a dense 
 forest. To the right and left lay the mea 
 dow and the cultivated fields of the farm. 
 The house was placed at the foot of a spur 
 which branched off from the mountain that 
 bounded the valley on the northwest. One 
 of the ridges of this spur leads down into 
 
70 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 the valley near where the house stood, and 
 another a short distance southwest of it. The 
 yard was enclosed by a worm fence, made of 
 rails, and at a short distance from the south 
 west end of the house there was a deep, nar 
 row ravine. This was the channel of a spring 
 branch, which, opposite the end of the house, 
 poured its clear water over a perpendicular 
 limestone rock, forming a beautiful cascade 
 about ten feet high. To this place the family 
 usually went for the water that was used for 
 all household purposes, except cooking and 
 drinking. A few paces below the cascade 
 the stream disappeared under another ledge 
 of limestone. A few yards south of the cas 
 cade were the blocks where salt was given to 
 the -stock; arid a little farther in the same 
 direction were the barn, stables, and some 
 other out-buildings. This was the condition 
 of things on the morning of that fatal day. 
 In the afternoon the scene was sadly changed. 
 Smoking ruins marked the place where the 
 building stood. Sad indeed the day had 
 been to that frontier family ; arid melancholy 
 beyond description must have been the feel- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 71 
 
 ings of that little band of captives as they 
 left the valley with their merciless captors. 
 
 When the men that were reaping heard 
 the war-whoop, and saw the Indians rushing 
 down towards the house, they set off as fast 
 as they could run through the wheat field to 
 the woods on the other side of the valley; 
 and as soon as they felt themselves secure 
 from pursuit separated, one of them going to 
 the settlement on Bluestone, and the other 
 going to give warning of danger to some 
 other families. The man who went to the 
 Bluestone settlement was an Irishman, not 
 much accustomed to travel in the forests, and 
 but little acquainted with that region of coun 
 try. He lost his way, and was some hours 
 longer in reaching the point at which he was 
 aiming than a more expert woodsman would 
 have been. As soon as provision could be 
 made for the safety of the families there, a 
 small company of men, not exceeding ten, 
 started for Abb s Valley, and reached the 
 scene of the disaster somewhat late in the 
 afternoon ; and certainly very soon after the 
 savages had started. Convinced from ap- 
 
72 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 pearances that the number of Indians was 
 far too great to render it prudent for them 
 to attempt to follow, they hastily buried the 
 bodies of the three children, by placing them 
 together in a sunken place in the earth, and 
 throwing some clay over them, and returned 
 to Bluestone the same evening, to secure the 
 safety of their own families, and raise a larger 
 force to go in pursuit of the Indians. Joseph 
 Davidson immediately started to Colonel 
 Cloyd, the officer in command of the militia 
 in that part of Virginia. The distance he 
 had to travel was about seventy miles. On 
 the evening of the fourth day, a company of 
 forty men reached the valley. They at once 
 started on the trail with the hope of over 
 taking the Indians before they reached the 
 Ohio, but afterwards abandoned the enter 
 prise. On their return, they found the body 
 of Captain Moore, and buried it where it had 
 fallen. The grave was made by removing 
 some earth from the place where a large tree 
 had been uprooted by a storm ; the body was 
 wrapped in a saddle-blanket and covered up. 
 A Lead-stone now marks the place, put up 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 73 
 
 many years afterward by his two sons, and 
 the husband of his daughter, bearing this in 
 scription : " Captain James Moore, killed by 
 the Indians 1786." 
 
 Amongst the other things taken by the 
 Indians, were three horses, one of which, 
 though very valuable to a man largely en 
 gaged in raising this kind of stock, as his 
 owner had been, was so vicious that none of 
 the family ever attempted to manage him, 
 except the Englishman, Simpson, who had 
 been trained to the business of ostler in Eng 
 land. This horse, whose name was Yorick, 
 had never been used for either working or 
 riding, except when Simpson rode him occa 
 sionally. Sometime in the second day, the 
 Indians who had hitherto led him, concluded 
 that they would ride him ; and one of them 
 mounted him. The horse instantly threw 
 him, and killed him by striking him with his 
 fore-feet. Not daunted by this, another of 
 them attempted to ride him, and soon shared 
 the fate of the first. A third, a large and 
 very strong man, who prided himself on his 
 power and skill in managing a wild horse, 
 7 
 
74 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 
 
 then mounted him to subdue him ; but with a 
 few plunges the horse threw him off, and lay 
 ing hold of him with his teeth, killed him 
 also. He was then given up as too vicious 
 to be managed, and was killed. This is 
 the tradition current in that region a,t this 
 time. 
 
 The country between Abb s Valley and the 
 Ohio river is one of the most mountainous 
 tracts in Virginia ; and at the period to which 
 this narrative refers, it was an uninterrupted 
 forest. Through this the savages conducted 
 their prisoners with as much speed as they 
 could, encumbered as they were with the 
 spoils gathered in their attack on the fron 
 tiers. The fatigues of the journey were met 
 t>y them and their prisoners with very differ 
 ent feelings. Not feeling secure from pur 
 suit until after they had crossed the Ohio, it 
 was their custom to tie each of the prisoners 
 securely at night, and an Indian lay down to 
 sleep beside each prisoner with the end of 
 the strap in one hand, and the tomahawk in 
 the other. It was understood to be their de 
 sign to kill the prisoners if any attempt 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ALB*S VALLEY. 75 
 
 should be made to rescue them. But they 
 did not travel far before they found occasion 
 to gratify their thirst for the blood of their 
 captives. John was a feeble lad, and finding 
 him unable to bear the fatigue of the journey, 
 at the rate they were travelling, he was suf 
 fered to fall behind with one of their num 
 ber, on the second day. When out of sight 
 Df the company, his head was split with the 
 tomahawk ; and the bloody scalp hanging in 
 the belt of him by whom he was murdered, 
 told the mother what had been the fate of 
 her son. The infant was fretful, and was 
 taken from the arms of her mother, her 
 brains dashed out against a tree, and the life 
 less body thrown away. What the feelings 
 of the captive mother were under these ac 
 cumulated trials cannot be imagined. Truly 
 her cup of sorrow was full ; and if anything 
 could make her desire to live, it could only 
 be her two captive daughters. In her cir 
 cumstances she needed a large measure of 
 the grace of God to sustain her ; and although 
 we know not what the exercises of her mind 
 were, there is no reason to doubt that God 
 
76 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALLEY. 
 
 upheld her ; for he hath said, " I will never 
 leave tliee nor forsake thee." 
 
 The Ohio was crossed at the mouth of 
 Sandy, and then the party directed their 
 course to the Scioto. At several points 
 Black Wolf showed Mrs. Moore the marks 
 he had made on the return from his former 
 expedition, and gave her to understand that 
 it was by him her son had been taken pri 
 soner. 
 
 The return of the warriors bringing so 
 many scalps, so many prisoners, and such a 
 rich booty as had been gained in the destruc 
 tion of the two families in Tazewell, produced 
 much rejoicing in the villages to which they 
 belonged. But in this rejoicing there was 
 one of their number who did not share. The 
 same chief who had reproved Wolf when he 
 returned with James in captivity, again assem 
 bled the warriors, and delivered an earnest 
 address to them. The captives afterwards 
 understood that he attempted to convince 
 them, that these plundering expeditions did 
 not weaken the strength of their enemies, and 
 would certainly produce a war with the white 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 77 
 
 man, which would lead to the invasion of their 
 country, and the great injury, if not the ruin, 
 of their tribe. This he clearly foresaw. But 
 the restless, plunder-loving warriors thought 
 not so. They listened to him, but when he 
 had concluded, they shook their heads in 
 token of disapprobation, and went away in 
 sullen silence. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AFTER Mrs. Moore and her fellow captives 
 reached the Indian towns, they were not 
 treated with cruelty. Martha Evans and 
 Mary were taken to one village, Jane and 
 her mother to another. In being thus thrown 
 together there was some alleviation to their 
 sorrows. The mother and the daughter in 
 one case, and the young woman and the little 
 girl in the other, could see each other every 
 day. The sight of a well-known face would 
 give comfort ; and they could talk about the 
 possibility of the success of some plan that 
 might be adopted by their friends to rescue 
 them ; and in all the forlornness of their 
 present condition, hope would sometimes 
 cheer them with the prospect of happier days, 
 and paint brighter scenes in the future. With 
 a part of them, these cheerful glimmerings 
 were all illusions. The days of their cap- 
 (78) 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 79 
 
 tivity speedily and unexpectedly came to a 
 tragical end. 
 
 A party of Cherokees had made a march 
 to attack some of the settlements in western 
 Pennsylvania, and had been unsuccessful. 
 They were discovered on their approach, were 
 defeated, and some of their number killed. 
 On their return, with spirits chafed by dis 
 appointment and burning for vengeance, they 
 came to the towns where the captives taken 
 in the late expedition of the Shawnecs were 
 living ; and as these were the only white per 
 sons in their reach, they determined to put 
 them to death, if by any means they could 
 accomplish it. Their plan was to get the 
 Shawnees drunk, and then they could be in 
 duced to join in killing their captives. The 
 first part of the plan was accomplished very 
 easily ; but some of the Indian women sus 
 pecting their object, removed M;rtha and 
 Mary, and secreted them at a distance from 
 the town, and kept them there until after the 
 Cherokees had started for their homes, 
 
 The precise manner in which Mrs. Moore 
 and her daughter were put to death is 
 
80 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 not known. It was generally believed that 
 they were tortured with all the cruelty that 
 savage malignity could practise. In confir 
 mation of this opinion, there is the fullest 
 evidence that they were burned ; and it is 
 not known that the savages ever burned the 
 bodies of any but those whom they put to 
 death by torture. In this way, this woman 
 of sorrow, whose husband and five children 
 had been murdered in the commencement of 
 her trials, was called to exchange days of 
 exile from her friends, and captivity amongst 
 the savages, for the rest that remaineth for 
 the people of God. If the last step to that 
 rest was painful as barbarous malignity could 
 make it, in that hour she was sustained by 
 Him, to whom years before she had committed 
 her deathless soul, with all her interests in 
 time and eternity. And who will not hope, 
 yea rather believe, that her daughter, that 
 child of the covenant, the object of the pious 
 mother s anxious prayers in her last moments, 
 passed with her into that blessed abode, 
 "where the wicked cease from troubling, 
 and the weary are at rest ;" where the 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 81 
 
 good Shepherd leads Iris flock to the living 
 waters, and the Lord God wipes away all 
 tears from all faces. 
 
 A few days subsequent to this bloody scene, 
 the last in the melancholy tragedy of Abb s 
 Valley, Mary and Martha were brought to 
 the town where it had taken place. She 
 missed her mother and her sister. No one 
 told her what had become of them ; but when 
 she saw the half-burned bones amongst the 
 ashes and extinguished brands, she knew 
 at once what their end had been. It is not 
 known whether, in the desolation of her heart, 
 she sat down and wept, or whether her sor 
 row was too deep to vent itself in that way. 
 But this little girl, now in the tenth year of 
 her age, felt that there was still one duty that 
 devolved on her. She got a hoe from an In 
 dian woman, dug as deep as she could in the 
 earth, gathered the bones with her own hands, 
 placed them in the imperfect grave which she 
 had prepared, covered them with the earth, 
 and placed a stone there. Of her it might 
 be said with truth, " She hath done what she 
 could." Now she was an orphan indeed 
 
82 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY 
 
 She had no parents on earth, but she had a 
 Father in heaven. There is reason to belie v* 
 that at this early period in hev life, her affec 
 tions rested on him; and that her trust was 
 in him who said, " Suffer the little children 
 to come unto me, and forbid them not, for 
 of such is the kingdom of heaven." One 
 fact in her history illustrating the state of 
 her mind may be related in this connection. 
 When the Indians had gathered everything out 
 of her father s house, and had placed in a pile 
 to be burned all they did not design to carry 
 away ; after they had kindled -the fire, she 
 stepped to the place, took up two New Tes 
 taments, placed them under her arm, and 
 with them started into her captivity. One 
 of these she retained in every vicissitude, till 
 she was free from all who had injured arid 
 oppressed her. Whatever else she may have 
 left or lost, she retained her Testament ; and 
 whatever else God may have suffered her to 
 be deprived of, he did not permit his word to 
 be taken from her. When brighter days shone 
 upon her, she could say with the Psalmist, 
 " Thy statutes have been my songs in the 
 house of my pilgrimage." 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 8d 
 
 The Shawnees of the Chillicothe towns had 
 been more successful than most other bands, 
 in their marauding expeditions to the frontier 
 settlements ; and the wise and pacific counsels 
 of their old chief had been disregarded ; but 
 the day of retribution came. Late in the 
 autumn of 1786, a party of the whites made 
 an incursion into the Indian country for the 
 purpose of destroying these villages. Whether 
 this was a force sent out by the United States, 
 or whether it was a partisan band ; where it 
 was from, or who commanded it, are points 
 on which the writer of this story never has 
 learned anything satisfactory. All that he 
 ever has known respecting it was communi 
 cated to him by one of the captives. These 
 did not see it. They only saw the work of 
 desolation which had been wrought, and felt 
 its effects. In the first instance, its effects on 
 them were a great increase of their suffer 
 ings ; but resulted in the speedy termination 
 of their stay with the Indians. 
 
 The Indians had but short notice of the 
 approach of their enemies, and the strength 
 of the party that was coming against them, 
 
84 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 They were convinced, however, that there 
 was no chance for successful resistance ; and 
 hastily removing all their effects that they 
 could carry with them they made their escape 
 into the interminable forests by which they 
 were surrounded. Martha Evans, who, from 
 the movements of the Indians, suspected what 
 was about to take place, endeavoured to give 
 some information respecting herself and her 
 fellow-captive, by writing on the doors of some 
 of the huts, and on the bark of some of the 
 trees with charcoal. It is not known that this 
 was noticed by any of those for whom it was 
 intended. 
 
 When the forces reached the towns, they 
 found them entirely deserted, and everything 
 carried off that could be taken away. The 
 scanty stock of provisions for the winter, and 
 the rude huts were all that was left. Fire 
 was applied to these, and everything was con 
 sumed. The troops in due time returned to 
 tell of their success ; but this expedition, like 
 the plunderings of the Indians, did no good ; 
 but on the contrary, produced evil and only 
 evil. Its result was a winter of intense suf- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 85 
 
 fering to the Indians, a state of increased 
 exasperation of feeling, and a stern deter 
 mination to avenge themselves the next sum 
 mer. If it is right to render evil for evil, 
 then the Indian had as many wrongs to re 
 dress as the white man. But if God s law is, 
 " Render evil for evil to no man ;" " if thine 
 enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst give 
 him drink;" then the whole of this system 
 was wrong on both sides ; and so much the 
 more wrong on the part of the w r hite man, aa 
 he was so much better informed concerning 
 the law of God than the red man was. 
 
 When the Indians returned after the troops 
 had left, they saw at once the utter impossi 
 bility of spending the winter there. The 
 only resource left them was to go to Canada, 
 and from the French inhabitants, whose allies 
 they had been in the wars that preceded the 
 American revolution, and from the British 
 whom they had aided in that struggle, seek 
 the means of avoiding starvation in the long 
 winter that was before them. No time was 
 to be lost, for winter was at hand, and they 
 had before them a journey of several hundred 
 8 
 
86 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALLEY. 
 
 miles to be made by men, women, and child 
 ren, through a dreary wilderness in this in 
 hospitable season. 
 
 The sufferings of the whole party were 
 very great. At an early stage in their jour 
 ney the snow commenced falling, they killed 
 very little game, all were scantily clad, their 
 tents were indifferent ; and in part of their 
 journey the fruit of the hackberry was almost 
 their only food. * This they broke in their 
 iron mortars, then boiled it, and drank the 
 broth. It was in the month of December 
 that they got to Detroit, which was not then 
 as it is now, a flourishing city, with a dense 
 population around it ; but merely a military 
 and trading post, with a few scattered inha 
 bitants in its vicinity. The Indians crossed 
 over into Canada, and spent the winter in the 
 peninsula between Detroit and Lake Erie. 
 In a drunken frolic, Mary was sold for a few 
 gallons of rum to a man named Stogwell, who 
 had been an active tory during the war, and 
 had removed to Canada after it closed, for 
 fear of losing his life if he remained in the 
 United States. 
 

 READING THE BIBLE. Page 87 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 87 
 
 A little before she ceased to live with the 
 Indians, Martha Evans was purchased from 
 them by a man whose name was Caldwell. 
 He was an unprincipled man, and treated her 
 very badly. How long she remained with 
 him is not now known ; but by some means 
 she passed out of his hands, and became an 
 inmate of the family of Mr. Dolson, a wealthy, 
 kind, respectable Englishman, in whose family 
 her situation was as comfortable as separation 
 from her home would permit it to be. Thus 
 the young woman and the little girl were both 
 released from their captors before the spring 
 opened, when they set off to return to their 
 place of abode. 
 
 Mary s stay with her captors had been 
 attended with peculiar danger. She was 
 placed in the family of an inferior chief, who 
 always showed kindness to her. He often 
 called her to read to him out of her New 
 Testament ; and although he did not under 
 stand the language, it amused him to hear 
 her read. Sometimes the other children of 
 the family would hide her books to tease her, 
 and pretend that they were lost or destroyed ; 
 
88 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 and one of them was at last lost in this way. 
 When she appealed to him, he always promptly 
 interfered and caused them to be restored. 
 His wife was a woman of violent passions, 
 and sometimes vented them on the children 
 in a storm of rage ; but it is not known that 
 she ever manifested any special unkindness 
 to the captive little girl. Her danger came 
 from another source. It never had been fully 
 settled to which of her captors she belonged, 
 and several of them claimed her. The con 
 sequence was, that in the angry discussions 
 of the question of property, they were often 
 on the point of killing her to end the dispute. 
 The young squaws were all kind to her ; and 
 it was by their timely interference that she 
 was snatched from danger more than once. 
 Her only means of safety when the subject 
 of dispute had been started, was concealment 
 till the anger produced by it had passed 
 away. After night, on one occasion, two 
 young women came in haste to where she 
 was, with terror in their countenances, saying, 
 as they drew near, " Run, Mary, run !" She 
 instantly ran from the fire into the forest, so 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 89 
 
 as to be entirely concealed by the darkness, 
 and soon saw the angry disputants come in 
 search of her. It was a very cold night. She 
 had not taken with her the thin blanket which 
 she usually, wrapped round her in very cold 
 weathei ; her clothing was very thin, and to 
 preserve herself from being frozen, she was 
 obliged to move about briskly for several 
 hours before she dared return to the fire. In 
 all these dangers the unseen hand of God 
 was her protection. In his purpose she had 
 some not unimportant service to render to her 
 generation ; and till her work was accom 
 plished, her life could not end. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 JAMES MOORE had been actively employed, 
 and not unpleasantly situated, in the family 
 of Mr. Ariome. They treated him as a son, 
 gave him good advice, and Mrs. Ariome urged 
 him not to abandon the idea of returning to 
 his friends. He sometimes assisted in the 
 labours of the farm, and at other time ac 
 companied Mr. Ariome in his trading trips. 
 In one of these expeditions, he met with a 
 Shawnee, who had been one of the party 
 that made the attack on his father s family, 
 who told him what had happened to them. 
 This intelligence he received in the latter 
 part of the same summer in which the family 
 was broke?, up. In the following winter he 
 learned that his sister was in Canada, and 
 heard of her leaving the Indians soon after 
 that event took place. As soon as he heard 
 where she was, he made preparation to visit 
 iier. This was not an easy thing, for the 
 (90) 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 91 
 
 distance was over sixty miles, and the way he 
 must go led principally through a wilderness. 
 To pass through it in the depth of a Canada 
 winter was not only difficult, but attended 
 with danger. Before he could make his 
 arrangements for starting, he met Mr. Stog- 
 well, who informed him that as early as he 
 could travel in the spring, he would remove 
 his family to the neighbourhood in which Mr. 
 Ariome was living ; and in consequence of 
 this information, he abandoned the plan of 
 visiting her where she then was. As soon 
 as he heard that Mr. Stogwell had arrived at 
 his new home, he went to see his sister. The 
 meeting was one of intense interest to both 
 of them. How different w r as their situation 
 then from what it had been when last they 
 had seen each other in Abb s Valley ! Through 
 what toils, and dangers, and trials had both 
 of them passed ! What a crowd of recollec 
 tions would rush into the mind of each ! How 
 much would each have to tell the other ! But 
 on some accounts the meeting was far mure 
 painful to the brother than to the sister. She 
 saw every evidence that his new home was to 
 
92 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALL1SY. 
 
 him a place of comfort, where he was treated 
 with kindness. But everything showed him 
 that her home was a place of deep suffering. 
 Except in point of safety, her situation wa? 
 worse than when she was with the Indians 
 He has since told what his impressions were 
 when he first saw her. She was clothed in 
 rags, emaciated and care-worn, the picture 
 of destitution and wretchedness. When far 
 advanced in life, he said he had never seen a 
 person who looked so miserable as she did. 
 
 Stogwell, into whose hands she had fallen, 
 was a base, cruel man. He had no feeling 
 of compassion for the orphan girl ; and had 
 bought her from the savages, not to do her a 
 kindness, but to make her his slave, and after 
 a few years at most, receive a much larger 
 sum for her ransom than he had paid for her. 
 She never could speak of her treatment in 
 that family, but with deep feeling. In the 
 extremity of her hunger, she often went to 
 the vessel in which the dishes had been 
 washed, and gathered the crumbs of bread 
 that were floating in the water, and ate them. 
 Hardship in every shape was her portion. 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 93 
 
 Simon Girty is a name that has descended 
 with infamy from the period of the Revolu 
 tion. There will be occasion to speak of him 
 again in another part of this narrative. But 
 he performed at least one generous act; and 
 as his evil deeds have been handed down, it 
 is but just that the only praiseworthy act 
 which he is known to have done, should not pass 
 unrecorded. He witnessed the sufferings of 
 Mary Moore, and advised her brother to 
 lodge a complaint against Stogwell before 
 Colonel McKee, the British agent for Indian 
 affairs. James acted according to his advice, 
 in the hope that he could get his sister out 
 of Stogwtdl a possession. In this expecta 
 tion he was disappointed ; but the cruel man 
 was reprimanded, and it was decided that if 
 an opportunity for her return to Virginia 
 should offer, she should be given up without 
 ransom. From this time her oppressor, know 
 ing that his course toward her was watched, 
 was compelled to be less inhuman than he 
 had been. 
 
 Martha, James, and Mary were now in the 
 same neigYibourhood, and frequently were to 
 
94 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 getlier. In all their meetings there was one 
 subject of which they never failed to speak, 
 their return to Virginia. But strange as it may 
 seem, there was some difference of feeling 
 about it. Martha h^d a father and mother, 
 brothers and sisters, and a home to return to. 
 She often thought of that distant home, and 
 all the pleasure she could have there in the 
 society of those she loved. With her, the 
 subject of returning was always one of much 
 anxiety. With James Moore, the case was 
 very different. His home, his once happy 
 home, was a desolation. His little sister was 
 near him ; he had only one brother left, and 
 the family in which he lived had adopted him 
 as one of their own number. There was also 
 in that family a daughter, on whom the affec 
 tions of his young heart were fixed, and wLo 
 was believed to return them. It is not a 
 matter of wonder then that he desired to re 
 main where he was, and endeavoured to dis 
 courage the other two from thinking of re 
 turning to the mountains from which they 
 had been torn, and the scenes associated with 
 all the pleasant recollections of the sweet 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 95 
 
 days of early youth, and the sports of joyous 
 childhood. In his feelings on this subject 
 his sister did not share. Her desires were 
 fixed strongly on the land in which her kin 
 dred were dwelling. While with the Indians 
 there was a feeling of dread constantly pres 
 ent with her, lest she might become recon 
 ciled to live with them. She had heard of 
 cases in which captives had become attached 
 to the savages and their mode of life, and 
 had remained with them because they pre 
 ferred dom so. The very thought that she 
 might do this, filled her mind with horror. 
 She had met with nothing to attach her to 
 anything in Canada ; and her thoughts and 
 her affections constantly tended far to the 
 south, to the land in which her father and 
 her mother were born. There, she knew, 
 were many near kindred, amongst whom she 
 would find a home. Martha and Mary 
 were often together ; and the young woman 
 and the little girl, whose lots had been cast 
 together in scenes of bitter suffering, often 
 conversed on the subject on which their feel 
 ings harmonized so perfectly, and talked over 
 
96 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 many plans to accomplish that which they so 
 earnestly desired. They did not know of the 
 self-sacrificing efforts of one who was meeting 
 every danger, and bearing every hardship 
 with unflinching perseverance, whilst endea 
 vouring to find them, and take them to kind 
 friends and kinsmen who had bitterly mourned 
 over their hard fate. God was about to un 
 fold to them the workings of his counsel, and 
 lead them back in a way they had not thought 
 of. We must now go back, and trace the 
 course of another actor in the drama we have 
 been reciting. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THOSE who are familiar with the frontiers, 
 or the sparsely settled sections of our coun 
 try, cannot fail to have noticed one custom, 
 which is in a great measure peculiar to them. 
 It seems to have existed from the period of 
 the formation of the first settlements in the 
 country, and is still found prevailing in many 
 regions with all the freshness of a new fash 
 ion. The thing to which I allude is, doing 
 much of their work, not hy each family la 
 bouring alone at its own business, but by 
 neighbours exchanging work and assisting 
 each other. In their heavier operations, such 
 as building their log dwellings and their 
 barns, and rolling together the heavy logs in 
 their clearings, and in other things requiring 
 the strength of many, we can see at once the 
 necessity for collecting more force than is 
 usually found in one family. But it is by 
 no means confined to operations of this kind, 
 9 (97) 
 
98 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 Those who dwell in the solitude of the forest, 
 and cannot see from their own doors the fields 
 or the dwellings of others, and at night can 
 not hear the barking of any dogs but their 
 own sentinels, are glad of any occasion that 
 brings them to spend a day in the society of 
 their neighbours in the woods. Under the 
 influence of this feeling, though perhaps not 
 conscious what prompts them to do it, to n 
 small extent, the forests are cut down, the 
 fences are put up, the harvests are gathered 
 by what are called in some places u bees," 
 and others " frolics." To the hard-handed 
 yeomanry, with their simple habits and rural 
 tastes, these gatherings are seasons of no lit 
 tle pleasure. Each expects to do a day of 
 hard work, when he joins a company of his 
 neighbours, either before sunrise or after an 
 early breakfast ; and many trials of strength 
 and skill are witnessed, in which intense exer 
 tions are put forth for hours together. But 
 they are used to the toil ; and the day, and 
 if circumstances admit of it, a part of the 
 night, is spent in not less real pleasure than 
 city beaux and belles find at their places of 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLLY. 99 
 
 public, fashionable resort, or in their brilliant 
 parties. And if the results on health, morals, 
 and happiness are to be regarded, the ad 
 vantage is greatly on the side of those who, 
 clothed in their substantial homespun, seek 
 their pleasure in that toil which a wise God 
 has appointed to man as the means of pro 
 curing his bread. 
 
 On the fourteenth of July, 1786, a few men 
 had met on one of the small farms in the 
 settlement on one of the branches of Blue- 
 stone, in what is now Giles county, to reap the 
 harvest of John Craw, whose log cabin and 
 other rude buildings marked the recent lo 
 cation of a frontier family. A short time 
 before dinner, when they were resting in the 
 shade for a few minutes, and refreshing them 
 selves with the cool water of a sparkling 
 spring that gushed from the foot of a hill, 
 one of the females of the family was seen, 
 coming towards them from the house at a 
 rapid walk. There was something in her 
 manner, which told them, as soon as they saw 
 her, that she w r as coming on no usual errand* 
 " What is the matter ?" said one. " Look 
 
100 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 how Ann walks." Their merriment was 
 hushed at once, and one of their number re 
 marked, in a subdued, anxious tone of voice, 
 " Something has happened." Every eye was 
 fixed on her as she drew nearer, and each 
 mind was busy in conjecturing what her tid 
 ings would be. When she had approached 
 near enough to be heard, she ended their 
 suspense by saying, " There is dreadful news 
 from Abb s Valley." She then went on tc 
 tell them that about breakfast time that morn 
 ing, as William Clark and Irish John were 
 reaping, they saw the Indians make the at 
 tack, and heard the firing of their guns ; that 
 they made their escape from the field into 
 the woods ; that Clark had started for Da 
 vidson s fort, and John for the settlement on 
 Bluestone ; that he had missed the way, and 
 instead of passing over the distance in an 
 hour and a half or two hours, he had been 
 five hours in coming ; that he found the way 
 at last by finding some horses in the range 
 which he frightened, and they ran home, and 
 he followed their trail. Long before her 
 story was finished the sickles were gathered 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB 3 VALLE7 , 101 
 
 up, and they were on their way to the Louse. 
 As soon as possible the settlement vas in 
 formed of the danger, the families gathered 
 into the fort, and all the men that could be 
 spared, started for the valley. The state of 
 things which they found when they got there, 
 and the course they adopted, have been re 
 lated in a previous chapter. 
 
 One of the company that w T cnt to the val 
 ley on this occasion was Thomas Evans> a 
 brother of Martha Evans, whose story as con 
 nected with Mr. Moore s family has been re 
 lated with that of her fellow captives. While 
 returning from the scene of desolation, of 
 course the fate of that unfortunate family 
 was the chief topic of conversation. They 
 felt certain that the father of the family had 
 been killed, and as they saw the half-burned 
 bones of a grown person in the ashes of the 
 consumed dwelling, they knew T that some one 
 of the family had been killed, and left in the 
 house and burned with it. It was found out 
 afterwards that this was Simpson, but all was 
 uncertain then; and various opinions were 
 expressed on the subject. In the midst of 
 9* 
 
1C)2 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 this talk, Thomas, who took but little part in 
 it, was revolving in his mind the question of 
 going for his sister. It was several days be 
 fore he hinted to any one the matter on which 
 his thoughts had been employed. When he 
 had formed his determination, he first men 
 tioned the plan to his mother. He did not 
 tell her that he had determined to go for his 
 sister, but in a conversation respecting her, 
 started the inquiry whether it would be possi 
 ble to rescue her. The question was again and 
 again earnestly discussed in the family, and 
 by them and their neighbours, and viewed in 
 all its bearings before he told any one that 
 his resolution to go for his sister had been 
 formed on the first day, and that in regard 
 to it, his mind had never wavered. 
 
 He well understood from the first all the 
 difficulties of the undertaking, and they were 
 many. It was not known by what tribe she 
 had been taken prisoner. All that was known 
 was, that when leaving the valley, the trail 
 led toward the Ohio, and from this it was in 
 ferred that it was one of the tribes living 
 north of that river which had done the mis- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 103 
 
 chief; but it could not be ascertained which 
 of them it was, and all these tribes were alike 
 hostile. He dared not, therefore, venture 
 openly and alone amongst them. To do so, 
 would be to expose himself to certain death, 
 or to a captivity scarce less to be dreaded. 
 In these circumstances, how could he begin 
 the enterprise with any prospect of success ? 
 How could he learn where his sister was ? 
 And if he could gain this intelligence, how 
 was he to gain access to her ? And if he 
 could get to her, how was he to procure her 
 release from her captors, and travel with her 
 hundreds of miles, in the whole extent of which 
 they would be exposed to savage enemies ? 
 He thought of all these things, and without 
 being able to see how the difficulties were to 
 be surmounted, his purpose was firmly fixed 
 to commence the undertaking, and under God 
 rely on himself to meet each emergency as 
 it might arise. The man that had the 
 generosity to do this, and the mind which 
 qualified him to succeed in the undertak 
 ing, and the cool courage to carry him 
 through all its dangers, deserves to be hon- 
 
104 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 oured with a monument more lasting than 
 marble. 
 
 After the resolution was announced, it be 
 came a matter of much anxiety, and of no 
 little difficulty, to arrange the plan on which 
 the attempt should be made. Thinking it 
 most probable that it was the Shawnees that 
 had carried off his sister, he determined to 
 go to that tribe first. And then it was by no 
 means an easy thing to determine in what 
 manner he should go. His own feelings 
 prompted him to take his trusty rifle, both as 
 the surest means of procuring food, and his 
 best protection in the many dangers to which 
 he w^ell knew he would be exposed. But 
 there were others who thought differently, 
 and it became a point of anxious reflection 
 and of much consultation. The older men, 
 and those best acquainted with Indian habits 
 and feelings, advised that the rifle should be 
 left at home : that he should not appear as a 
 warrior, but as a peaceful man, on an errand 
 of peace, and that he should carry with him 
 as much provisions as would last him till he 
 should reach the Indian towns. This coun- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 105 
 
 sel lie at length acceded to, and made his 
 preparations accordingly. 
 
 It was about the first of September, 1786, 
 that he left his father s, and plunged into the 
 unbroken forests of the west to seek his sis 
 ter. It was a day of deep interest to the 
 settlement generally, and to his father s fam 
 ily especially. For some time the prepara 
 tions had been in progress and on the pre 
 vious day, an affectionate mother, who had 
 two children at stake in the enterprise, had 
 been busily engaged in preparing the food he 
 was to carry with him. She would not trust 
 that work to any other hands. Many of the 
 neighbours had assembled to see him start , 
 and amongst others, and by no means the 
 least interested of the group, was Ann Crow, 
 to whom he was to have been married in the 
 following month. The whole thing had been 
 thought over, and talked over by them again 
 and again. They could not but feel that 
 they might be parting to meet no more ; but 
 on this they did not suffer their minds to 
 dwell. He felt that he must make the at 
 tempt to find and bring back his sister ; that 
 
106 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 
 
 if lie did not, his future life would be rendered 
 bitter by the reflection, that she had been 
 abandoned to her hard fate without an effort 
 to save her. And whatever may have been 
 the feelings that moved in the lowest depths 
 of Ann s heart, they were repressed, and she 
 was one of those who most steadily cheered 
 him to undertake the enterprise. No one in 
 the company shed a tear, when with his knap 
 sack on his shoulders, his knife and tomahawk 
 in his belt, and a trusty pistol concealed under 
 his clothing, he bade all farewell ; and, fol 
 lowed by many hearty prayers to God that 
 he would crown his efforts with success, turned 
 his steps toward the Ohio. 
 
 Few men could have been found better 
 calculated to succeed in the enterprise in 
 which he had engaged. He was in the full 
 strength of early manhood, healthy, hardy, 
 active, capable of enduring much hardship, 
 an expert woodsman, fearless, cautious, cool, 
 and well acquainted with the habits and no 
 tions of the Indians. 
 
 Most of the incidents of his travels are now 
 "hopelessly lost. The effort to secure them in 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 107 
 
 a form that would not depend on tradition 
 for their preservation, was not made till it 
 was too lato All that is known are the lead 
 ing points in the story, and some of its de 
 tails gathered from those who in by-gone 
 days often heard them, but for many years 
 have tnought very little, and talked less about 
 them. 
 
 At the period when Mr. Evans started to 
 seek for his sister, the Indians north of the 
 Ohio were constantly committing depreda 
 tions on the frontiers ; but still there were 
 occasional opportunities of access to them. 
 There was always very great risk run by any 
 white man who placed himself in their power ; 
 except a few who in time of peace had traded 
 with them. But this risk, Thomas understood 
 fully from the first, was part of the danger 
 he had to encounter. By some means not now 
 remembered, he succeeded in getting into the 
 company of Girty and Conoly, two renegade 
 white men who generally staid amongst the 
 Indians, and were engaged in trading with 
 them. These two men were thought to have 
 instigated much of the plundering which the 
 
108 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALLEY. 
 
 Indians did on the frontiers. To this day 
 their names and memories are detested, by 
 the descendants of those who were harassed 
 with perpetual uneasiness, from the tamper 
 ing of these men with the savages. Evans 
 feelings revolted at having anything to do 
 with such men ; but through them he sup 
 posed he might get to one of the Shawnee 
 towns in safety, and then the first great dan 
 ger would be over. When he met with them, 
 they both professed a willingness to aid him, 
 but at the same time told him that they did 
 not believe that either his sister or any of the 
 Moore family had been taken captive by the 
 Shawnees. He travelled much in the com 
 pany of these two men ; and in the course of 
 the autumn, arid winter, and spring, visited 
 twenty-one towns in different tribes, but 
 could not hear any tidings of his sister. He 
 was fully satisfied afterward, that the two 
 renegades had taken active measures to pre 
 vent the Indians from giving him the infor 
 mation he sought ; and they were aided in 
 this effort by the circumstance which has been 
 mentioned before, that the Indians, amongst 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB ? S VALLEY. 109 
 
 whom Martha was, had been compelled to go 
 to Canada. In the latter part of the spring, 
 he heard that there was to be a meeting 
 somewhere on the border of Kentucky, for 
 the purpose of the ransom of prisoners. To 
 that treaty he went, in company with some of 
 the savages, hoping to meet with his sister 
 there, or at least that he would get some 
 tidings of her. At that place he saw some 
 one who had been a prisoner, from whom he 
 got the information that his sister had been 
 sold to a white man in Canada, and was liv 
 ing not far from Detroit. This at once de 
 termined his future course. He went home 
 to get more money, and a supply of clothing, 
 before setting off for Canada. 
 
 It was a moment of intense anxiety when 
 he was seen approaching his father s house 
 alone. As each one in succession grasped 
 his hand with eyes filled with tears, no one 
 could gather courage to say, " Where is 
 Martha ?" Who can tell the relief that was 
 given to anxious hearts when he, seeing their 
 suspense, said, " Martha is safe with the Eng 
 lish in Canada." Then he recounted all the 
 10 
 
110 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 incidents that had occurred from the time he 
 had started. The family had never heard 
 anything of him after he had passed the first 
 fifty miles on his way ; and it was a tale of 
 thrilling interest to which they listened. He 
 had been absent rather more than nine 
 months, and these had been months of con 
 stant danger and exposure; as almost the 
 whole time had been spent either alone in the 
 wilderness, or in the company of hostile sava 
 ges. It has been stated already, that most 
 of the incidents of this trip have been lost ; 
 but some facts are remembered which show 
 very clearly the great dangers to which he 
 was exposed. 
 
 On one occasion he was travelling in com 
 pany with Girty and Conoly, and two Indi 
 ans. They halted for a day under the pre 
 text of hunting ; and as Thomas had no gun, 
 he was left at the camp. As they had stayed 
 away much longer than he had expected, he 
 determined to leave the camp and go on, and 
 leave them to overtake him that evening. He 
 accordingly arranged everything, and having 
 fastened a stick in the ground, he made a slit 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. Ill 
 
 in the top, and placed a leaf in it, to point 
 out to them the direction he had taken. Just 
 as he was about starting, he saw the four 
 coming toward the camp with their faces 
 painted black. This at once told him that 
 an attempt would be made to take his life. 
 If he had been fully armed, it would have 
 seemed a hopeless thing for him to contend 
 with the four ; how much more desperate was 
 his condition, unarmed as he was ! Retaining 
 his presence of mind, and keeping his eye on 
 every movement, at the distance of about fifty 
 steps, he saw two of them level their guns to 
 shoot at him. At this instant he sprang be 
 hind a small sugar maple, not more than half 
 the thickness of his body, which, of course, 
 left him much exposed. Both rifles were 
 fired, and he felt himself untouched. He 
 immediately sprang to another small tree, 
 and the other two discharged their rifles at 
 him, but missed him. As all the guns were 
 then empty, he started to run, and the four 
 pursued. After he had gone a short distance, 
 he noticed a tall tree lying across his course, 
 which, resting on some of the limbs and the 
 
112 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 roots, was raised so much from the ground as 
 to render it doubtful whether he could spring 
 over it, and certain that he could not pass 
 under it without a fatal loss of time. Neither 
 could he pass round either end of it, without 
 such a loss of distance as might enable one 
 or more of them to overtake him ; for, cast 
 ing a look behind, lie discovered that they 
 had noticed the state of things sooner than 
 he had, and that one of them was bearing 
 to the right, and another to the left, with the 
 view of intercepting him. As he came near 
 the log, they all shouted ; but gathering his 
 strength for an effort on which his life de 
 pended, he succeeded in leaping over. Three 
 of the pursuers gave up the chase, and the other 
 only followed to assure him that if he would 
 come back they would not hurt him. When 
 he came back he found three of them wash 
 ing the black off their faces, arid the fourth 
 engaged in plundering his knapsack. Tak 
 ing hold of one of the guns that was lying 
 near, he leveled it at the man, and told him 
 he would shoot him if he did not return every 
 thing he had taken out. The man thus 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 113 
 
 threatened, looked to his comrades, but find 
 ing that they showed no disposition to inter 
 fere, he was compelled to give up all. Tho 
 mas asked no explanation of the cause which 
 had led to the attempt to kill him, and they 
 never said anything to him about it. On ex 
 amining, he found that both of the bullets 
 which were first fired at him, had cut the ba,rk 
 of the tree behind which he was, and this had 
 so changed their course that they had missed 
 him. After this he travelled in the company 
 of Girty and Conoly, at different times, more 
 than tw T o hundred miles, and on other occa 
 sions he was shot at with the rifle seven times ; 
 both the sleeves of his coat were cut with the 
 bullets, but he never was wounded. The cir 
 cumstances attending any of these attempts 
 to kill him are not now remembered. He 
 never felt himself safe, and said that he 
 never slept so sound that he did not hear 
 every movement that was made. 
 
 Before Thomas could get his preparations 
 
 made for starting to Canada, the season w r as 
 
 so far advanced as to render it certain that 
 
 he could not reach Detroit before winter, and 
 
 10* 
 
11-1 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 lie was compelled to put off commencing his 
 journey till the spring was somewhat ad 
 vanced. When he set oft he did not know 
 how long it would take him to pass through 
 the wilderness to the settlements in Canada, 
 where his sister was ; but from his past ex 
 perience he was fully aware that perils at 
 tended him at every step. I have not been 
 able to learn any of the incidents of this tour, 
 previous to the time when he reached Canada, 
 except one. 
 
 It was judged best that this journey should 
 be made on horseback. On the route which 
 he determined to take, which led down New 
 River, there lived a man whose name was 
 Hays, that bore the reputation of being a 
 horse-thief. Mr. Evans did not know exactly 
 where this man resided, though he had an 
 impression that after having passed a given 
 locality, he would be out of danger from him. 
 Late in the evening of the day during which 
 he had supposed he was on the dangerous 
 ground, and after he thought he had passed 
 Hays s dwelling ten miles or more, he came 
 to a pretty, good-looking cabin, and asked the 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB^S VALLEY. 115 
 
 man of the house whom he found sitting at 
 the door, whether he could stay there all 
 night, and what he would take to insure the 
 safe-keeping of his horse till morning. The 
 reply w T as, " You can stay, and I will insure 
 the safety of your horse for a dollar." Evans 
 agreed to give this. After his horse had been 
 disposed of, and he had been in the house 
 some time, his host inquired what had made 
 him so anxious about his horse, and willing 
 to give such an extravagant price for its safe 
 keeping. Thomas replied by telling him on 
 what errand be had started, and the import 
 ance of his horse to him in the journey that 
 was before him, and that he had been told 
 that there was a man named Hays who lived 
 on that road somewhere, who bore the repu 
 tation of being a horse-thief; that he supposed 
 he had passed his house about ten miles, but 
 that he did not yet feel entirely safe. To 
 his great surprise the answer was, " My name 
 is Hays, and there is no other man of the 
 name living in this part of the country. My 
 enemies tell lies upon me, and I do not blame 
 you for your caution." The horse was safe 
 
116 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 1 
 
 the next morning. Hays refused the dollar, 
 and on parting expressed the warmest interest 
 and most earnest wishes for the success of 
 Thomas in the long and dangerous journey 
 he had before him. 
 
 It was late in the month of August, when 
 Thomas rode to the gate of a yard which en 
 closed a house that indicated wealth and taste 
 in its possessor. Betsy Dolson was standing 
 in her father s door, when she observed a 
 stranger dismount from a jaded horse, and 
 take the path that led to the house. He was 
 then at the distance of about one hundred 
 yards. After looking at him for a few mo 
 ments, she said to a young woman, who was 
 engaged in a part of the room from which 
 she could not see the path, " Martha, that is 
 your brother who is coming up the path. * 
 "0 no," replied Martha, "my brother is 
 many hundred miles off." When he had come 
 within about twenty-five steps of the door, 
 Betsy turned aw r ay from it, and said, " That 
 is your brother, for he walks like you, and 
 looks like you." Soon the brother and sister 
 were locked in each other s arms. She only 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 117 
 
 said, "Are they all alive?" and heard him 
 say " Yes," when the feelings that had been 
 pent up for more than two years, found vent 
 in a gush of tears. My reader may imagine 
 what were the feelings of that brother and 
 sister, but I will not attempt to describe them. 
 Many subjects of deep interest were talked 
 over by them before they laid their heads on 
 their pillows that night, for each had much 
 to communicate. He had the tale of his ad 
 ventures in his efforts to find her, and some 
 thing of family matters, and more of neigh 
 bourhood affairs to tell; and she had the his 
 tory of her captivity, with all its incidents. 
 For the first time he learned what had be 
 come of the members of that family in whose 
 fate his sister had been so involved, and was 
 not a little surprised when he found that 
 James and Mary Moore were in the neigh 
 bourhood in which he had found his sister. 
 Sweet were the slumbers of Thomas that 
 night, and the dreams of Martha were about 
 her distant home, to which she now hoped to 
 be restoied speedily. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THOMAS EVANS had now accomplished part 
 of what he had undertaken. He had found 
 his sister, but the hazard and difficulty of 
 taking her home were yet to be encountered. 
 As soon as he saw Mary Moore, she expressed 
 an earnest desire to go with them, and al 
 though restoring her to her friends had not 
 formed a part of his plan, his generous heart 
 disdained the thought of leaving her in her 
 cruel bondage. James Moore was rather 
 more than willing to remain where he was. 
 He was now in his seventeenth year, an ac 
 tive, hardy young man ; and when the ques 
 tion was presented to him whether he would 
 let his sister set off for Virginia under the pro 
 tection of Mr. Evans alone, he felt that it 
 would be base in him not to go with her. He 
 would have preferred that she should remain 
 where she was, and after a year or two come 
 and live with him in the home which he 
 (118) 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 119 
 
 thought he would, by that time, be able to 
 offer her. But when he saw that her whole 
 soul was centered on the prospect of return 
 ing to her kindred, he concluded to be one 
 of the party, and, after seeing his relations, 
 to return to Canada. 
 
 To get all things prepared for this journey 
 was not the work of a day. It was about 
 the middle of October that the preparations 
 were completed, and the four set out, not 
 knowing what things might befall them by 
 the way. A company of traders that were 
 starting on a trip amongst the Indians, and who 
 were going in boats to the opposite side of 
 Lake Erie, took two of them, and the luggage 
 of all, to the Moravian towns, where they 
 were joined by the other two who had tra 
 velled round the end of the lake with the 
 three horses they had for the trip. And 
 here the providence of God found protectors 
 for them through a dangerous part of their 
 journey. The Indians of these towns had 
 been instructed by the Moravian missionaries ; 
 many of them were pious, all of them op 
 posed to war, and desirous to pursue their 
 
120 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 1 
 
 own avocations, and live peaceably with all 
 men. The massacre of the inhabitants of 
 these villages, at a time subsequent to the 
 period of this narrative, forms one of the 
 dark chapters in the bloody annals of man s 
 cruelty and wickedness. It also shows the 
 influence of the principles of Christianity, in 
 the manner in which these deeply injured 
 sons of the forest, who had been brought un 
 der its influence, met their fate at the hands 
 of their blood-thirsty murderers. 
 
 A party of these Indians was almost ready 
 to start on their fall hunt, and the route 
 which they designed to take was that which 
 Thomas Evans and his party were to travel. 
 They were anxious to travel with them for 
 two reasons. A few days before they started 
 from Canada, they learned that a son of 
 Simon Girty had formed a plan to waylay 
 them in the wilderness, kill Thomas and 
 James, and bring the two girls back to cap 
 tivity, and had hired some Indians to aid him 
 in his villany. But while he was waiting 
 for them to start, he had a violent quarrel 
 with his father, and was so much exasperated 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 121 
 
 at the result, that he committed suicide. 
 And though he was dead, they did not know 
 but that some other person, equally vile, might 
 attempt to execute his plan, against which 
 the presence of these Moravian Indians would 
 be an effectual protection. And moreover, 
 the route to the hunting-grounds would cross 
 tracts of country frequented by some of the 
 most hostile of the Indians, who would be 
 much less likely to disturb Thomas and his 
 company, if found with other Indians, than if 
 found alone. They, therefore, waited a few 
 days for them, and afterwards found they had 
 acted wisely. One evening their encampment 
 for the night was quite near a party of In 
 dian hunters, and the next morning five of 
 the warriors came to them painted as if for 
 war. They had a long conference with the 
 Moravians, and at last went away without 
 doing any violence ; for which result this de 
 fenceless party were indebted to the friend 
 ship of those in whose company they were. 
 
 After leaving them, they had about five 
 days travel before they would reach the first 
 settlements in Pennsylvania ; and during four 
 11 
 
122 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 of these days they knew they were beset with 
 perils. On the forenoon of the last day but 
 one before they got out of the wilderness, 
 they came to the place where a party of sava 
 ges had encamped the night before, and had 
 left the spot so late in the morning that their 
 fire was still burning. This excited their ap 
 prehension of danger very much. They 
 travelled that day, keeping a careful look out, 
 and lay down at night not without fear that 
 they would be disturbed before morning. 
 Thomas had given them particular instruc 
 tions about the streams and other landmarks 
 that would guide them in case anything should 
 separate them from him, and a plan for act 
 ing in case of an attack by day or by night 
 was arranged. Thomas would bear the brunt ; 
 and the others were to escape, and be careful 
 to keep together ; and whatever might befall 
 him, they could reach the settlements in the 
 neighbourhood of Fort Pitt. On the night 
 of this anxious day, they put out their fire 
 soon after dark, and lay down, wrapped in 
 their blankets. Before any one of the party 
 had fallen asleep, they heard something step- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 123 
 
 ping along the track en which they had 
 travelled. It sounded to them exactly like 
 the footsteps of a man walking carefully in 
 the dark. A hasty whisper passed around 
 the anxious group. Nearer and nearer the 
 step approached, and then suddenly stopped. 
 Just as they were on the point of springing 
 up, the snort of a deer was heard, and the 
 innocent cause of their alarm bounded off 
 amongst the bushes. The next day passed 
 without any occurrence to excite their appre 
 hensions, and at its close they felt themselves 
 out of danger, as before the evening of the 
 following day they would be within the fron 
 tier settlements of Pennsylvania. When 
 they had arranged everything for the night, 
 the conversation became more animated than 
 on any evening since they had started from 
 Canada. They talked cheerfully of past 
 dangers, and even ventured to chat about the 
 bright future that was now before them. In 
 after days, speaking of that evening, Thomas 
 used to tell, that as they were in the midst of 
 their cheerful conversation, Mary remarked : 
 u Well, Thomas, I never can forget your 
 
124 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 kindness to me." Without noticing her 
 countenance as she spoke, he replied ; " Oh, 
 when you get home you will be amongst your 
 rich kindred, and will soon forget me." As 
 he finished the sentence he looked at her, 
 and to his surprise saw her eyes filled with 
 tears, as she said with deep earnestness, 
 "No, Thomas, whatever my future lot may 
 be, I never can forget you ; and if ever I 
 have a house of my own, the time never can 
 came when the door will not be open to you." 
 Many years after both Thomas and Mary 
 were dead, his son, in relating this little in 
 cident to her son, said that the last time he 
 ever heard his father mention it, he followed 
 it with the remark, u There is no person on 
 earth I would be so much rejoiced to see as 
 Mary Moore." 
 
 It was near the middle of November when 
 the little party arrived at the residence of 
 Home of the relatives of Thomas and Martha. 
 Amongst them Thomas designed to remain a 
 short time to rest, and prepare for the re 
 maining part of their journey. The hand of 
 the Lord had been upon them for good, and 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 125 
 
 he had delivered them from those that lay in 
 wait by the way. The danger was now past, 
 and henceforth their journey would not be in 
 pathless forests amongst enemies, but in the 
 midst of those who, from sympathy in their 
 sufferings, would extend to them all needed 
 aid in the several hundred miles that must 
 yet be passed over, before Martha would see 
 her home, and James and Mary would be 
 amongst their kindred. The plan was to re 
 main but a short time, and cross the Alle 
 gheny mountains before the winter set in. 
 But in a few days after they had arrived at 
 their place of temporary rest, Thomas dislo 
 cated his shoulder, and in an unskilful at 
 tempt to set it, his arm was broken above the 
 elbow ; and long before he was able to travel 
 winter was upon them. At that time the 
 settlements were so sparse on the route from 
 Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) to Winchester, and 
 the road so little travelled, that it was deemed 
 unsafe to attempt the journey with the girls 
 in company before spring ; and when the 
 route was deemed safe in the spring, for 
 some cause not now known, it was thought 
 11* 
 
126 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 best that Martha should remain where she 
 was, while Thomas should go on with James 
 and Mary, and return, for his sister. They 
 followed Braddock s military road to Win 
 chester ; thence took the route usually tra 
 velled up the valley to Augusta, where the 
 Moores found the first of their kindred. 
 
 But two incidents in this last part of their 
 journey were ever mentioned by them. While 
 waiting for breakfast one morning, Mary took 
 out the Testament which she had carried 
 through all the dangers and sufferings of her 
 captivity, and spent the time in reading it. 
 When summoned to breakfast she laid it 
 down, and when she started forgot it. It 
 was not known that she had left it, until after 
 they had passed over several miles, and she 
 then proposed to return for it, but there was 
 not time to do this, and get to the only house 
 where they could spend the night. To lose 
 it thus, was no small trial to her. It was the 
 only thing she had taken with her from the 
 ruins of her home, and it had been her in 
 structor and comforter in the dark days of 
 sorrow and suffering. Doubtless the God 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 127 
 
 who had protected and guided her in her 
 whole course, had some end to accomplish by 
 this. The book may have been left in a 
 family where there was no part of the word 
 of God, while she was going where she would 
 have opportunity to read the sacred Scrip 
 tures. It may have been used to instruct 
 others who were without an instructor, as it 
 had instructed her when removed far from 
 all opportunity of attending on the ordinances 
 of God s house. After the lapse of more than 
 sixty years, there is no probability that it has 
 not long since been worn out arid destroyed ; 
 but if it has been preserved, arid could now be 
 identified, what an interesting relic would it 
 be to the descendants of her who prized it so 
 highly ! 
 
 The last day of their journey was a day 
 not to be forgotten by them. On the morn 
 ing of that day Thomas paid out the last 
 shilling he had. This occasioned him no un 
 easiness, as he knew that a few miles would 
 tako them to those who had heard the sad 
 tale of the breaking up of Captain Moore s 
 family, and from any of these he felt sure 
 
128 THE CAPTIVES OF AEB*S VALLEY. 
 
 that lie and his party would receive a hearty 
 welcome. The day was one of alternate snow 
 and rain. When they approached a farm, 
 which Thomas had found by his inquiries was 
 occupied by a family that had known the 
 story of the misfortunes of those who were 
 under his care, he cheered them by telling 
 them of the kind reception they would meet, 
 and that as it was such unfavourable weather, 
 they would spend the rest of the day and the 
 night there. But when they presented them 
 selves, their clothes wet through and their 
 limbs chilled with the cold, the reception they 
 met was more chilling than the storm with 
 out. No invitation was given them to re 
 main, no interest was manifested at seeing 
 the captive children brought back. Thomas 
 was indignant at this conduct, and, therefore, 
 scorned to ask as a favour that which he 
 thought they should consider a privilege to 
 give. After remaining a short time they 
 started out into the storm, and after this dis 
 appointment they would not run the risk of 
 such another reception. They knew that be 
 fore bed-time they could get to a place where 
 
THE CAPTIVES .OF ABB S VALLEY. 129 
 
 they would be received very differently. The 
 storm they did not fear. They had often en 
 countered far worse when they had no such 
 hope as that which now cheered them. Some 
 time after dark they got to the residence of 
 William McPheeters, about eight miles from 
 Staunton. Mrs. McPheeters was the sister 
 of Captain Moore, and here James and Mary 
 met their grandfather and grandmother. The 
 arrival of the guests of that night was unex 
 pected to the family. But here Thomas be 
 gan to receive his reward for the generous 
 kindness he had shown to the orphans. That 
 reward was in the melting of hearts which he 
 witnessed in the meeting of that evening. 
 The aged grand-parents were deeply affected, 
 and every heart sympathized with them. 
 " There were tears, and there were smiles, 
 there was joy and there was sorrow." Those 
 who had wept over the destruction of the 
 family, rejoiced and wept to see the remnant 
 brought back. This night ended the wander 
 ings of James and Mary ; not quite three 
 years after Mary s had commenced, and five 
 
ISO THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 months short of six years after James had 
 been taken prisoner. 
 
 After resting a day or two, Thomas went 
 on to Rockbridge county, and received from 
 the administrator of Captain Moore s estate, 
 the full amount of all he had expended ir 
 defraying the expenses of James and Mary 
 on their journey, but entirely refused any 
 additional compensation. Some time in the 
 summer he returned for his sister, whom, as 
 has been stated, he left in Pennsylvania. 
 Then the object to which he had devoted 
 himself for nearly three years, and in which 
 he had endured so many hardships, and had 
 been exposed to so many dangers, was ac 
 complished. He saw his sister the happy 
 member of a family made happy by her re 
 turn. How great his pleasure must have 
 been ! Generous, noble young man ! You 
 have had your reward in part. All that you 
 asked, was the happiness of seeing your be 
 loved sister under the paternal roof again, 
 and this you did see. But the orphan s God 
 gave you more than this ; and in the cher 
 ished recollections of those who trace their 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 181 
 
 lineage to the captives of Abb s Valley, jour 
 name lives, and will live, honoured and re 
 vered, for your self-sacrificing devotion to the 
 welfare of others. And the thousands who 
 may read this narrative, will remember your 
 unostentatious heroism with admiration. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 NOTHING of romantic character remains m 
 the history of those who went into captivity 
 from Abb s Valley. And yet there is no 
 doubt that each reader who has followed them 
 to their return, would feel disappointed if the 
 narrative should be closed there. " What be 
 came of them ? I should like to know some 
 thing of their future history/ would be the 
 question and the feeling of every mind. As 
 far as the materials for answering the ques 
 tion are at hand, they will be used. 
 
 Thomas Evans and Ann Crow were mar 
 ried in the autumn after his sister arrived at 
 home. The next spring he removed to Ken 
 tucky, and lived in Shelby county, until some 
 time in the year 1809. He then removed to 
 Indiana, and settled in what is now Washing 
 ton county, and near to where Salem, the 
 county seat, now stands. It was then the 
 frontier, and was often exposed to danger 
 (132) 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 133 
 
 from the savages. More than once when 
 past the prime of life, he was a volunteer in 
 detachments of troops that were sent against 
 the Indians, and sometimes was one of the 
 spies that were sent out to watch their move* 
 ments when danger was apprehended. In 
 these expeditions his knowledge of Indian 
 habits was much relied on ; and though an 
 old man, he was considered a desirable com 
 panion in these seasons of danger. He be 
 came the father of six sons and six daugh 
 ters, some of whom reside now (1854) on 
 and near the farm owned by their father* 
 He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, 
 and died in September, 1829. 
 
 Martha Evans married Mr. Hummer. Two 
 of her sons, William and Michael, entered the 
 ministry in the Presbyterian Church. She 
 spent the last years of her life in Salem, and 
 was a member of the Presbyterian Church 
 there. She lived beloved and respected by 
 all who knew her. Her death happened in 
 the winter of 1827. 
 
 James Moore expressed a desire and de 
 sign to return to Canada, for some time after 
 12 
 
134 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 he had been amongst his friends in Virginia, 
 but at last abandoned the plan. Early in life 
 he married a Miss Taylor, of Rockbridge 
 county, settled on the farm which his father 
 had occupied in Abb s Valley, and became 
 the father of a numerous family, who, with 
 few exceptions, reside in the same section of 
 country. At an early period after he had 
 gone to reside in the valley, he became a 
 member of the Methodist Church, and con 
 tinued in the communion of that church until 
 his death, which occurred in the autumn of 
 1851. He was spared to see his descendants 
 of the third generation. 
 
 Joseph Moore, who twice narrowly escaped 
 captivity, lived in the same neighbourhood, a 
 pious man, blessed with a pious family, and 
 died in the winter of 1848. He was an ac 
 tive, useful member of the Methodist Church. 
 
 Mary Moore lived with her maternal grand 
 mother for two or three years after her re 
 turn to Rockbridge, and afterward had her 
 home in the family of Joseph Walker, who 
 was married to her father s sister. His fam 
 ily belonged to the Falling Spring congrega- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 135 
 
 tion, the pastor of which, at that time was 
 the Rev. Samuel Houston. In a letter writ 
 ten in 1836, he says, " When I first became 
 acquainted with your mother, she was a mild, 
 sweet little girl, living in her uncle s family. 
 When I conversed with her on the subject of 
 religion, she gave evidence of having obtained 
 a saving knowledge of the truth. In conse 
 quence of this, I advised her to be baptized, 
 and become a member of the church in full 
 communion. Not long after, when her uncle 
 presented a child for baptism, she, of her own 
 accord, stepped up beside her aunt, and thus 
 by her own act was consecrated to God, and 
 shortly after was admitted to the Lord s table. 
 She continued to reside in her uncle s family 
 more as a daughter than as a niece, was very 
 affectionate to all, and her affection was re 
 ciprocated by young and old. Her worth 
 will never be forgotten by those who knew 
 her." 
 
 In October 1798, Mary Moore was married 
 to the Rev. Samuel Brown, pastor of New 
 Providence church. In the active discharge 
 of the duties of this station, she passed many 
 
136 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 happy, busy years. There are two records 
 of her worth. One of these is in the memo 
 ries of those who were her neighbours, and 
 the people of her husband s pastoral charge. 
 With them her memory is fondly cherished. 
 Few of those who were her equals in age now 
 remain. Like her, they have finished their 
 work on earth. But while those survive who 
 grew up after her removal to that congrega 
 tion, and while their children continue to 
 worship in the church in which her husband 
 preached, those who look on the marble that 
 marks her grave, will remember her with ten 
 derness and respect. She lived the respected 
 wife of a beloved pastor ; a man who was re 
 garded by those who best knew him, as the 
 equal of the most distinguished ministers of 
 his day, in the Synod of Virginia. And no 
 one ever thought that he was wedded to one 
 who was his inferior. In her sphere, she 
 lived as much respected as he did in his. 
 
 The other record of her worth is the fam 
 ily that she brought up. She was the mother 
 of eleven children. Of these one son died 
 in infancy, and one daughter in early youth. 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 137 
 
 Seven sons and two daughters lived to mature 
 life. 
 
 In no part of her life did her character 
 shine more brightly, than when she was left 
 a widow with this family of ten children, the 
 youngest of whom was less than two years 
 old. This event occurred on the 13th of Oc 
 tober, 1818. The precious Sabbath was a 
 communion Sabbath in the New Providence 
 church. During all the services of this sa 
 cramental meeting, Mr. Brown seemed more 
 than usually animated, and preached with 
 more freedom and power than common. It 
 is a singular coincidence that on Saturday 
 his forenoon discourse was a lecture on the 
 last chapter of the book of Revelation, which 
 ^as the last of a course of lectures that had 
 commenced with Genesis. From various 
 causes he had been prevented for several Sab 
 baths from delivering this lecture. His oldest 
 son who heard it, has a distinct recollection 
 of the freedom, and solemnity, and power of 
 that discourse, and of the deep feeling which 
 he manifested when speaking of the solemn 
 account which he must render at God s bar 
 12* 
 
138 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 for what he had spoken in explaining and en 
 forcing the truths of the Bible, and his solemn 
 appeal to the Searcher of hearts, that he had 
 honestly endeavoured to declare the whole 
 counsel of God. In administering the Lord s 
 supper on Sabbath, he was so carried away 
 by his feelings in his address to the commu 
 nicants at the last table, that he forgot to 
 distribute the cup, and was about to close the 
 service when one of the elders reminded him 
 of the omission. On Sabbath afternoon, and 
 on Monday, he delivered two discourses which 
 were regarded as sermons of unusual ability, 
 and were for a long time spoken of by the 
 congregation, as amongst the most striking 
 they had ever heard from him. On Tuesday he 
 ate a hearty dinner, and soon after engaged 
 in some active exercise. This brought on an 
 attack of pain in the heart, and in less than 
 half an hour he ceased to breathe. 
 
 In the Evangelical Magazine for Decem 
 ber, 1818, in an article headed, "An Excur 
 sion to the Country," written by the late 
 John H. Rice, D.D., an intimate friend of 
 Mr. Brown, is found a notice of this sad 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 139 
 
 event. " The record of this clay (14th of Oc 
 tober), presents something like a map of hu 
 man life. In the morning we were gay and 
 cheerful, amusing ourselves with remarks on 
 the comparative genius and habits of our 
 countrymen, and a thousand things just as 
 the thoughts of them occurred, anticipating 
 a joyful meeting in the evening with some 
 well tried, faithful and beloved friends ; when 
 suddenly, as the flash of lightning breaks from 
 the cloud, we were informed of the death of 
 one of the choicest of those friends, and one 
 of the most valuable of men, the Rev. Samuel 
 Brown. The road which we should travel 
 led by the house in which he was accustomed 
 to preach, and on inquiring for it, we were 
 asked if we were going to the funeral ! Thus 
 in a moment was hope turned into deep de 
 spondency, and gladness of heart exchanged 
 for the bitterness of sorrow. We journeyed 
 on in mournful silence, interrupted by occa 
 sional remarks, which showed our unwilling 
 ness to believe the truth of what had been an 
 nounced, and how reluctantly hope takes her 
 flight from the human bosom. It might have 
 
140 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLET. 
 
 been a fainting fit, an apoplectic stroke mis 
 taken for the invasion of death, and still he 
 might be alive. The roads trampled by mul 
 titudes of horses, all directed to the dwelling 
 of our friend, dissipated the illusion, and 
 convinced us of the sad reality. Still, how 
 ever, when we arrived at the church, and saw 
 the people assembling, and the pile of red 
 clay (the sure indication of a newly opened 
 grave) in the church-yard, it seemed that we 
 were for the first time assured that Samuel 
 Brown was dead. Only a few of the people 
 had come together on our arrival. Some in 
 small groups were conversing in a low tone 
 of voice, interrupted by frequent and bitter 
 sighs, and showing in strong terms how deeply 
 they felt their loss. Others, whose emotions 
 were too powerful for conversation, stood 
 apart, and leaning on the tombstones, looked 
 like pictures of woe. 
 
 " Presently the sound of the multitude was 
 heard. They came on in great crowds. The 
 elders of the church assisted in committing 
 the body to the grave, after which a solemn 
 silence, interrupted only by smothered sobs, 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 141 
 
 ensued for several minutes. The widow, sur 
 rounded by her children, stood at the head of 
 the grave, exhibiting signs of unutterable 
 anguish, yet seeming to say, "It is the Lord, 
 let him do as seemeth him good." After 
 a little while, on a signal being given, some 
 young men began to fill the grave. The first 
 clods that fell on the coffin gave forth the 
 most mournful sound that I ever heard. At 
 that moment the chorister of the congregation 
 was asked to sing a specified hymn, to a tune 
 which was known to be a favourite of the de 
 ceased minister. His voice faltered so that 
 it required several efforts to raise the tune ; 
 the whole congregation attempted to join 
 him, but at first the sound was rather a scream 
 of anguish than music. As they advanced, 
 however, the precious truths expressed in the 
 words of the hymn seemed to enter their 
 souls. Their voices became more firm, and 
 while their eyes streamed with tears, their 
 countenances were radiant with Christian 
 hope, and the singing of the last stanza was 
 like a shout of triumph. 
 
 " The words of the hymn are well known 
 
142 THE CAPTIVES OP ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 to many, but we think it riot amiss to record 
 them here. 
 
 When I can rend my title clear, 
 
 To mansions in the skies, 
 I bid farewell to every fear, 
 And wipe nay weeping eyes. 
 
 Should earth against my soul engage, 
 
 And hellish darts be hurled; 
 Then I can smile at Satan s rage, 
 And face a frowning world. 
 
 Let cares like a wild deluge come, 
 
 And storms of sorrow fall ; 
 May I but safely reach my home, 
 My God, iny heaven, my all. 
 
 There shall I bathe my weary soul 
 
 In seas of heavenly rest, 
 And not a wave of trouble roll 
 Across my peaceful breast. 
 
 " By the time these words were finished, 
 the grave was closed, and the congregation 
 in solemn silence retired to their homes. 
 
 " We lodged that night with one of the 
 members of the church. The family seemed 
 bereaved as though the head of the house 
 had just been buried. Every allusion to the 
 event brought forth a flood of tears. I could 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 143 
 
 not help exclaiming, Behold, how they loved 
 hirn! And I thought the lamentation of 
 fathers and mothers, of young men and 
 maidens over their departed pastor, a more 
 eloquent and affecting eulogium than oratory 
 with all its pomp and pretensions could pro 
 nounce. After this I shall not attempt a 
 panegyric. Let those who wish to know the 
 character of Samuel Brown, go and see the 
 sod that covers his body, wet with the tears 
 of his congregation. * 
 
 The death of the father of the family de 
 volved on the mother a heavy additional 
 amount of care and responsibility, but she 
 met it in the strength of God, and was sus 
 tained. A day or two after the sad event, 
 she remarked to an intimate friend who had 
 come to sympathize with her, " When I look 
 over my past life, and remember through 
 what God has brought me, I do feel that it 
 would be unspeakably sinful iu me to indulge 
 for one moment any fear that he will not take 
 care of me and mine. I do cast myself and 
 my children on his promises. I do not doubt 
 their fulfilment, and in this I have strength 
 
144 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 and comfort." With these views she met her 
 increased responsibilities, not bowed down in 
 despondency, but with a spirit of unrepining 
 submission, and girded herself to the task 
 laid upon her, strong in the Lord and in the 
 power of his might. In her case was seen 
 the fulfilment of the passage in God s word, 
 which was the text from which her husband 
 had preached his last sermon, " Even the 
 youths shall faint and be weary, and the 
 young men shall utterly fall. But they that 
 wait on the Lord shall renew their strength ; 
 they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; 
 they shall run and not be weary ; they shall 
 walk and not faint." 
 
 The religious instruction of the children 
 and servants she had considered her special 
 field of duty before her partner s death. To 
 this she attended with exemplary fidelity. 
 On the evening of the Sabbath, both the 
 children and the servants were carefully in 
 structed in the Shorter Catechism ; and on 
 that day the servants were taught to read. 
 The result was, that almost all of them learned 
 to read with facility in the Bible, and com- 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 145 
 
 mitted the Catechism to memory. After her 
 death, the seed which she had sown sprang 
 up, and four out of six of the grown servants 
 made a profession of religion. Her example 
 was to her family a steady light, holding 
 forth the word of truth. Of her it may be 
 said with perfect truth, she was " diligent in 
 business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 
 There was no other thing in regard to which 
 she was more careful, than the strict sanctifi- 
 cation of the Sabbath-day. When from any 
 cause the members of the family generally 
 were prevented from attending church, every 
 proper expedient was resorted to, to fill up 
 the day profitably, and prevent it from be 
 coming a weariness to those of her household 
 who were not pious. In varied instruction 
 the day passed away, not unpleasantly to 
 any, and profitably to all. 
 
 The tenderness of her feelings, her ac 
 quaintance with the truths of the Bible, her 
 fervent and deep-toned piety, made her excel 
 in prayer. Before the death of her husband, 
 when he was from home, she led the devotions 
 of the family, and none who heard her will 
 13 
 
146 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 
 
 ever forget the impressions produced under 
 her prayers. Out of the abundance of the 
 heart words came with fluency, and in a pe 
 culiar manner she seemed to realize the pres 
 ence of her covenant God. In humility, and 
 in that earnestness which could not he con 
 tented with a denial, she pled with the God 
 whom she loved with a pure heart fervently. 
 She lived to see her heavenly Father gra 
 ciously answering the prayers which she 
 offered for the conversion of her children. 
 The oldest child of the family was received 
 into the communion of the church, the spring 
 following his father s death, and not long 
 after the next two, and soon after the next 
 two. Each of the children made a profession 
 of religion early in life. The oldest was fur 
 ther advanced when this step was taken, than 
 any of the others, and he was less than 
 twenty years of age when he took on himself 
 the vows of a Christian. 
 
 To manage the affairs of a family as large 
 as that of which Mrs. Brown had the charge, 
 to provide for them, and attend to the educa 
 tion of her children, was no light task. She 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 147 
 
 felt the burden, and was fully aware of the 
 importance of the trust which, in the provi 
 dence of God, had been placed in her hands. 
 Part of a letter to a brother-in-law, to whom 
 she looked for advice, and on whose judgment 
 she relied very much, exhibits her anxieties 
 and her support at this period. It bears date, 
 August 10th, 1819. 
 
 " DEAR BROTHER, Although I have been expect 
 ing a letter from you for some time, I have failed to 
 receive it- I am often at a loss for your advice, but 
 the distance is such, and the way of obtaining it by 
 letter so uncertain, that I am often obliged to exer 
 cise my own judgment. I very much miss James 
 and the girls who are at school, but the latter will 
 soon be at home, and will be company and a comfort 
 to me in my bereaved and lonely pilgrimage. The 
 loss of one of the best of husbands is a trial that re 
 quires the support of the religion of Christ. When 
 I remember, however, that his warfare is over, that 
 he has entered into the full enjoyment of God, and 
 that it is to last for ever, I am filled with comfort. 
 for the continued support of the everlasting gos 
 pel ! * Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. 
 Dear brother, when difficulties present themselves 
 like mountains, I find great comfort in that text 
 * Leave thy fatherless children ; I will presprve them 
 
148 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 alive, and let thy widows trust in me. This is the 
 promise of the Almighty, and have I not been an oV 
 ject of his peculiar care? Robbed of my parents 
 when quite small, his providence has brought me 
 thus far, and his mighty arm is able to sustain me 
 under any trial. for that faith in constant exer 
 cise, that works by love, and purifies the heart/ 
 
 The God in whom she expressed such con 
 fident trust gave her strength equal to her 
 day. Blessed with health, attending dili 
 gently and cheerfully to the interests com 
 mitted to her care, she passed the years of 
 her widowhood, until it became manifest in 
 1823, that the hand of serious disease was 
 on her. In the meantime, her second daugh 
 ter had been married to the Rev. James 
 Morrison, who succeeded her husband as 
 pastor of New Providence congregation, and 
 was one of the great sources of her comfort 
 in the last years of her life. Her oldest son 
 having finished his collegiate course, had 
 been received under the care of Lexington 
 Presbytery, and was at home aiding in the 
 care of the family, and pursuing his studies 
 under the direction of the late Rev. George 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEJT. 149 
 
 A. Baxter, D. D., at that time president of 
 Washington College. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1823 that the 
 health of Mrs. Brown began to fail. In the 
 autumn of that year it became manifest that 
 disease had fixed itself upon her, and the 
 winter passed in the insidious progress of pul 
 monary consumption, while every means was 
 unavailingly used to arrest it. To no one did 
 it become manifest sooner than to herself, 
 that the sickness was unto death. She ex 
 pressed her conviction as to the issue, long 
 before her family and friends had abandoned 
 hope in her case ; but to gratify them, she 
 continued to use means to counteract the 
 workings of disease, long after she was fully 
 convinced that they were entirely ineffectual. 
 In no part of her course did her character 
 and piety shine more brightly. She was not 
 only calm, she was cheerful, and was sustained 
 to the end by Him who hath said, " I will 
 never leave thee nor forsake thee." 
 
 And yet there were considerations arising 
 from the state of her family that w^ere calcu 
 lated to put her faith to a severe trial. Her 
 
150 THE CAPTIVES OP ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 maternal anxieties were particularly directed 
 to the youngest four of her children. In the 
 latter part of February she called her oldest 
 son into her chamber, telling him that it was 
 her wish to settle some family matters. She 
 then said it was useless for her family to con 
 ceal from themselves that which was perfectly 
 manifest to her, that she was steadily sinking, 
 and could not live much longer. She said she 
 had no fear of death, and her only wish was 
 to have some plan fixed for disposing of the 
 four younger children ; expressing at the 
 same time her entire comfort in committing 
 them into the hands of God, that they were 
 the children of the covenant, and the God of 
 their fathers would take care of them. In 
 the course of a few days this was arranged 
 to her entire satisfaction. They were to live 
 with their brother-in-law, and into his and 
 their sister s hands she solemnly committed 
 them, and dismissed all worldly cares from 
 her mind. About the same time she directed 
 that a neat pocket Bible should be purchased 
 for each of her children, and presented as the 
 legacy o f their dying mother. This occurred 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 151 
 
 nearly two months before her death, and it is 
 not recollected by any of her family that she 
 spoke on any subject connected with worldly 
 matters after this. 
 
 There is nothing witnessed on earth which 
 has more of the moral sublime in it, than the 
 Christian, in the full exercise of his intellec 
 tual powers, perfectly aware of what his con 
 dition is, watching his own progress to the 
 entrance of the dark valley. The testimony 
 of God and the promise of Christ are his 
 only, but his all-sufficient support his ground 
 of hope and joy. Knowing in whom he has 
 believed, and that He is able to take care of 
 all that has been committed to him, that he 
 is faithful and will do it, instead of shrinking 
 from the meeting, he cheerfully holds out the 
 hand to welcome death, not to him the king 
 of terrors, but the messenger of his heavenly 
 Father, sent to release him from a state of 
 warfare and sin, and introduce him to the 
 rest that remaineth for the people of God. 
 To witness such a scene is a high privilege, 
 and such was witnessed in the death of Mrs. 
 Brown. Her friends were allowed the privi- 
 
152 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 lege of being informed of all the exercises 
 of her mind, as step by step disease moved 
 her forward, till she passed into the darkness 
 of the transit from earth into the city, where 
 " there is no night, and they need no candle, 
 neither light of the sun, for the Lord God 
 giveth them light." 
 
 In the last weeks of her life, her sufferings 
 were not intensely severe. For only a short 
 time was it necessary to watch by her bed. 
 The 18th of April, 1824, was a communion 
 Sabbath in New Providence. Until Friday 
 she had spoken with ease, and conversed 
 freely with all friends who called to see her. 
 But at that time it became a labour for her 
 to talk, and she seemed not disposed to con 
 verse with any one. Her family were aware 
 that this distinctly marked one stage in her 
 disease ; that it would pass away and be suc 
 ceeded by the power to talk with ease and a 
 disposition to converse, and then in a short 
 time, possibly in a few hours, certainly in a 
 few days at most, all suffering would end 
 with her for ever. It was in the latter part 
 of the night of Tuesday, the 20th, that the 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 153 
 
 difficulty in speaking passed away, and she 
 then knew the end was near. The meeting 
 of Lexington Presbytery was to take place 
 on Thursday, and it was expected that her 
 oldest son would be licensed to preach the 
 gospel during that meeting. About this 
 event she had felt much interest. It seemed 
 to be her last wish concerning the things of 
 earth to see him enter on the work of the 
 ministry. On Wednesday morning, soon after 
 breakfast, she inquired of him whether he 
 was preparing to start to Presbytery, as she 
 knew it would be necessary for him to set off 
 that forenoon to reach the place in time. He 
 told her he did not wish to leave her, and 
 was not going. She at once expressed her 
 decided wish that he should go, saying that 
 she might live till his return, and if she did 
 not, it would be a greater comfort to her to 
 know that he was gone to receive his licensure, 
 than to have him stay with her. She then 
 directed that the servants first, and then her 
 children, should be called in, that she might 
 take leave of them. To each she gave some 
 words of counsel and exhortation, again com- 
 
154 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 mitted the four youngest to those who had 
 undertaken to supply her place when she was 
 gone, invoked the blessing of God on all, and 
 then felt she had nothing more to do but 
 to die. 
 
 Through this solemn, touching scene, while 
 every other cheek was wet with tears, she 
 alone was perfectly composed. With the 
 fulness of tranquil Christian hope she felt it 
 her privilege to adopt the language of the 
 apostle, " The time of my departure is at 
 hand. I have fought a good fight, I have 
 finished my course, I have kept the faith : 
 henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
 of righteousness, which the Lord, the right 
 eous Judge, shall give me at that day." 
 
 On Friday, between three and four o clock, 
 P. M., her son was licensed to preach the 
 gospel in the church of Mossy Creek, a dis 
 tance of about forty miles from his mother, 
 and immediately set off for home. He had 
 heard nothing from her after leaving her on 
 Wednesday. If she had died any time be 
 fore Thursday noon, he knew she must be 
 buried before his return. When he came to 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 155 
 
 the residences of the families from whom he 
 could expect to get any intelligence respect 
 ing his mother, they had gone to bed, and of 
 course he could hear nothing. But there was 
 one spot which he knew would give him some 
 information before he reached home. His 
 road led him past the church, and the grave 
 yard would show whether it had received an 
 other tenant since he had passed it. His 
 approach to it was at the end opposite that 
 in which his mother s grave would be : there 
 was no moonlight, and as he drew near he 
 endeavoured to strain his sight through the 
 darkness, and learn the state of the case. It 
 was not until he rode up to the enclosure, 
 only a few yards from his father s grave, that 
 he could see plainly the ground had not been 
 disturbed there. It was then certain that his 
 mother was not dead on the morning of that 
 day, and hope whispered he might still find 
 her alive. He had about three miles to ride, 
 and spurring on his jaded horse the distance 
 was soon passed over. 
 
 It was a few minutes before one o clock that 
 he dropped the saddle-bags off his arm in the 
 
156 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 liall, and opened the door that led into his 
 mother s room. He found her unable tc 
 speak, though she had spoken quite intelli 
 gibly less than half an hour before. But it 
 was noticed by those in the room, that when 
 the door was opened, she turned her eyes in 
 that direction, and fixing them on him, fol 
 lowed him as he approached her bedside. lir 
 about two hours after this she ceased to 
 breathe, and her ransomed spirit passed into 
 that world, 
 
 " Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
 Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet ; 
 While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
 And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul." 
 
 On the forenoon of the following Sabbath, 
 her remains were placed beside those of her 
 husband, and her son went from the grave 
 of his mother into the pulpit, which had been 
 occupied by his father, and preached his first 
 sermon. Few men commence the work of 
 the ministry in circumstances so solemn, sc 
 deeply affecting as those in which he was 
 placed. He has often expressed the opinion 
 that his mother s prayers placed him in the 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 157 
 
 pulpit. Contrary to his father s plans for his 
 course in life, and contrary to his own plans, 
 the providence of God made the path of duty 
 very plain, when the time came for him to 
 decide to what his life should he devoted, 
 and this decision accorded with the cherished 
 desire of his mother. 
 
 Mary Moore was a small woman, slender, 
 and delicate in her person. Her usual 
 weight was about one hundred pounds. The 
 only remarkable feature in her face was the 
 large, prominent eyes, which were a light 
 blue. Her forehead was broad and rather 
 square. No exposure could produce freckles 
 on her cheeks, or change her complexion. It 
 is said that in her youth she was thought to 
 be handsome ; but her chief ornament then, 
 and through life, was a meek and quiet spirit, 
 which, in the sight of the Lord, is of great 
 price. The period at which she became pious 
 is not known, but most probably it was before 
 the breaking up of her father s family ; and 
 if so, it must have been before she was ten 
 years of age. 
 14 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 IT is now (1854) more than thirty years 
 since Mary Moore closed her eventful life, 
 and left her young family orphans. These 
 years have not passed away without working 
 their changes. The seed that was sown has 
 been springing up, and bringing forth fruit. 
 Without detailing the steps in the progress 
 of events, some of the results will be briefly 
 presented. 
 
 Of the seven sons of the little captive girl, 
 five have entered the ministry in the Presby 
 terian church, and one has been for several 
 years a ruling elder in the congregation of 
 which his father was the pastor. The 
 youngest son studied medicine, and settled 
 at Russelville, in Tennessee, where he re 
 sided until his death in 1851. He was emi 
 nent in his profession. It was said of him in 
 the brief obituary notice, " The widow, the 
 orphan, and the poor will long remember him 
 (158) 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 159 
 
 with gratitude." He met death sustained by 
 the same faith which had cheered his mother, 
 and none who were acquainted with him doubt 
 that he has gone to join her in the kingdom 
 of heaven. The third daughter died in early 
 youth, after having given satisfactory evi 
 dence that she had made her peace with God. 
 She had lived for some years in Rogersville, 
 Tennessee, with her elder sister, Lavinia, the 
 wife of Dr. William A. Walker. Her health 
 never had been vigorous, and she was the 
 first of the family that was called to follow 
 the parents to the land where " the weary are 
 at rest. * All Mary s grandchildren, who 
 have arrived at the age of mature life, are 
 members of the Presbyterian church; two 
 of her grand-daughters have married Presby 
 terian ministers, and three of her grandsons 
 are preparing to enter the ministry in the 
 same church. 
 
 The question has been asked sometimes, 
 " To what are we to attribute this marked and 
 happy result in this family?" Perhaps it 
 never can be satisfactorily answered. The 
 only answer may be, " Even so, Father, for 
 
160 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 60 it seemed good in thy sight." But so far 
 as second causes are concerned, there are 
 some considerations which it may not be amiss 
 to mention, as tending to the solution of this 
 question. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown did not bring up their 
 children for this world. In their whole inter 
 course with their family, they made it evident 
 to them that their great and ever present 
 concern was that their children should serve 
 God. They did not neglect to attend to their 
 worldly interests, but they were careful to set 
 before them in their daily walk, and in all 
 their conversation, the infinite importance of 
 serving God, and the comparative unimport 
 ance of all the wealth and honours of this 
 world. The father once said to one of the 
 beloved elders of his church, in the hearing 
 of his oldest son, then quite a youth, without 
 knowing that the remark was heard by him, 
 " I have no wish that my children should be 
 wealthy, or rise to places of worldly distinc 
 tion ; but it is the ever anxious desire of my 
 heart that they shall be pious, and consecrate 
 themselves to God s service, and I daily feel 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 161 
 
 that 1 can trust him to provide for them." 
 Several years after the date of this conver 
 sation, he had serious thoughts of removing 
 westward to the region bordering on the Mis 
 sissippi, and visited that section of country. 
 After his return, in assigning the reasons 
 that determined his mind not to remove there, 
 he said that he was not willing to bring up 
 his family in the state of morals which existed 
 in that region, and run the risk to which his 
 children would be exposed. These incidents 
 indicate distinctly what his views were. The 
 views of the mother and father perfectly co 
 incided. To the oldest son she once said, 
 when urging on him the claims of God for the 
 affections of his heart, and the service of his 
 life, " Ever since we have had any children, 
 your father and I have often kneeled by your 
 bed when you were asleep, and solemnly dedi 
 cated you to God and his service." This 
 feeling thus expressed by both parents, was 
 carried out in their whole course of action 
 toward their children, and for them ; and 
 there can be no doubt that much of the future 
 result is to be attributed to this. 
 14* 
 
162 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 The death of the father while most of the 
 children were quite young, devolved on the 
 mother the duty of attending to their educa 
 tion for several years, and most faithfully did 
 she discharge it. An extract from a sermon 
 on the subject of education, delivered before 
 the Lexington Presbytery by a member of 
 that body, in which allusion is made to her, 
 may be introduced here as illustrating this 
 point. 
 
 "I was once acquainted with an eminently 
 pious mother, who was left a widow with a 
 family of ten children, the oldest only nine 
 teen years of age. Soon after her husband s 
 death, she had the pleasure of seeing some of 
 the oldest unite themselves with the church 
 of Christ. Her own health soon failed, and 
 it became evident that she had almost finished 
 her course on earth. No one discovered this 
 sooner than she did herself. For at least a 
 year previous to her death she often con 
 versed freely with her friends on the subject. 
 She was calm and composed. Death had no 
 terror to her. She knew that if her earthly 
 house of this tabernacle were dissolved, she 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 163 
 
 had a building of God, an house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens. But 
 whilst she had no anxiety for herself, her 
 heart yearned with all the strength of mater 
 nal tenderness over her children, soon to be 
 left in this world of sin and temptation with 
 out either father or mother. She often talked 
 to me on this subject with the tears flowing 
 over her pale cheeks. She never expressed 
 the least desire that her children might pos 
 sess the riches, the honours, or the pleasures 
 of this world; but she did express the most 
 earnest anxiety that they might be well edu 
 cated, brought up in the fear of God, and be 
 come true Christians, glorify God on earth, 
 and be prepared for heaven. I have every 
 reason to know that she ceased not to pray 
 for her children as long as she had breath. 
 One of the most affecting scenes I ever wit 
 nessed took place three or four days before 
 her death. When she found that her strength 
 was fast failing, and that the time of her de 
 parture was at hand, she caused her servants 
 to be called around her bed, gave them her 
 dying counsel, suited to the character and age 
 
J64 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 of each, and then bade them farewell. After 
 this she had her children called to her, be 
 ginning with the oldest, and most solemnly 
 and affectionately counselled and exhorted 
 them to serve the Lord God of their fathers, 
 and then looking on the four youngest with 
 inexpressible tenderness, first committed them 
 to her covenant-keeping God, and then to 
 those who had promised her that as far as 
 God would enable them, they would act 
 toward them the part of earthly parents. 
 She directed that a Bible should be given to 
 each of them as a legacy from their mother. 
 I saw that mother die. Her end was peace. 
 Her departure was like the sun setting in a 
 clear summer evening, calm, peaceful, beau 
 tiful, glorious. I have lived to see all her 
 children members of the church, five of them 
 ministers of the gospel, one a valuable elder 
 in the church, and all I trust following her 
 footsteps to heaven. I need not tell some 
 who hear me who that mother was." 
 
 When she was taken away, and that which 
 she had so wisely commenced and so faith 
 fully attended to devolved on the Rev. Mr. 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 165 
 
 Morrison and his wife, it was carried on in 
 the same spirit. The younger children of 
 the family owe very much to them. 
 
 Another thing which deserves notice from 
 the influence which it exerted in this matter, 
 is the character of the community in which 
 this family grew up. Of the population c:zn- 
 posing the congregation of New Providence, 
 it may be said with truth, that a more orderly, 
 pious population can hardly be found in the 
 United States. It has been so from the first 
 settlement of that section of the country. It 
 is a plain, intelligent, contented community. 
 Not much of wealth has ever existed amongst 
 them, and still less of poverty. They have 
 lived in the possession of comfortable inde 
 pendence, with very little anxiety for any 
 thing more. From a very early period they 
 have b^en blessed with an able ministry. 
 The consequence of all these influences has 
 been, that the gathering of whole families 
 into the communion of the church has not 
 been an unfrequent thing in that congrega 
 tion. In this community where there was so 
 little to counteract, and so much to enforce 
 
166 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 
 
 the influence of the instruction given to this 
 family, and of the example set before them, 
 it was their happy lot to spend the first years 
 of their lives, and form their characters. The 
 result is not surprising. In many other cases 
 where there may be unquestioned, and even 
 ardent piety in the parents, there is seen in 
 their conduct a marked and eager grasping 
 after the things of this world, and in their 
 conversation before their children an import 
 ance is attached to them, which fills the youth 
 ful mind with false ideas of their value, and 
 fixes the desires on them so inordinately, that 
 they are not likely to seek first the kingdom 
 ^6f God and his righteousness. 
 
 And whv/re there is no defect, either in 
 parental instruction or example, other perni 
 cious influences may be brought to bear with 
 ruinous effect, while the moral character is 
 forming for future life and for eternity. " Lot 
 dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched 
 his tent towards Sodom. But the men of 
 Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the 
 Lord exceedingly." And while his righteous 
 soul was vexed with the filthy conversation 
 
THE CAPTIVES OF ABB S VALLEY. 167 
 
 of the wicked, his children were brought up 
 in this ungodly society. The deplorable re 
 sult is seen in the disastrous history of his 
 family. And in numberless instances in this 
 day, similar consequences are seen to the un 
 speakable grief of pious parents, and the 
 scandal of the church of God. Parents who, 
 for the sake of worldly advantages, place their 
 families in the midst of prevailing ungodli 
 ness, and as is too often the case, where they 
 are deprived of the advantages of the faith 
 ful preaching of the gospel, and exposed to 
 the constant influence of wicked associates, 
 are endangering the souls of their children 
 in a fearful degree. It is no wonderful thin 
 if they live in sin, become scoffers at sacred 
 things, and pierce with many sorrows the 
 souls of those who have placed them in the 
 midst of strong and constant temptations. 
 There are no promises more explicit than 
 those annexed to the covenant, " I will be a 
 God to thee, and to thy seed after thee." 
 But to secure the blessings, parents must 
 pursue the course of conduct which always 
 points to them, and is calculated to lay hold 
 of them. 
 
168 THE CAPTIVES OF ABB*S VALLEY. 
 
 In 1849 one of the sons of this family 
 visited Abb s Valley. Part of a letter writ 
 ten after his return forms not an unsuitable 
 conclusion to the tale recorded in the fore 
 going pages. " While I was with our rela 
 tions in the Valley, I counted up the de 
 scendants of the three children of our grand 
 father. There are one hundred and sixteen 
 now living. Most of the grand-children who 
 have come to the years of mature life are 
 members of the church, giving pleasing evi 
 dence of piety. my brother, may we not 
 look on this as in answer to the prayers of 
 our grandmother, when amidst the flames she 
 committed the little remnant of her murdered 
 family to a covenant-keeping God ? And 
 how much richer is the legacy to her descend 
 ants than all the world beside ! 
 
 My boast is not that I deduce ray birth 
 From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth; 
 But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
 The son of parents passed into the skies." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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