Simon Girty, White Renegade - Part 5

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: Simon Girty - pt. 5

: Awaiting the arrival of the boats from Detroit, the missionaries became uneasy lest GIRTY should return from his murderous foray against the Americans and find his orders disobeyed; in which event they would have the worst to fear. "He did return," is the testimony of HECKWELDER, "and behaved like a madman on hearing that we were here, and that our conductor had disobeyed his orders, and had sent a letter to the commandant at Detroit respecting us. He flew at the Frenchman, who was in the room adjoining ours, most furiously, striking at him, and threatening to split his head in two for disobeying the orders he had given him. He swore the most horrid oaths respecting us, and continued in that way until after midnight. His oaths were all to the purport that he would never leave the house until he split our heads in two with his tomahawk and made our brains stick to the walls of the room in which we were! I omit the names he called us by, and the words he made use of while swearing, as also the place he would go to if he did not fulfill all which he had sworn he would do to us. He had somewhere procured liquor, and would as we were told by those who were near him, at every drink renew his oaths, which he repeated until he fell asleep.

: "Never before did any of us hear the like oaths, or know any one to rave like him. He appeared like an host of evil spirits. He would sometimes come up to the bolted door between us and him, threatening to chop it in pieces to get at us. No Indian we ever saw drunk would have been a match for him. How we should escape the clutches of this white beast in human form no one could foresee. Yet at the proper time, relief was at hand; for, in the morning, at the break of day, and while he was still sleeping, two large flat bottomed boats arrived from Detroit, for the purpose of taking us to that place. This was joyful news! And seeing the letter written by the commandant to Mr ARUNDLE respecting us, we were satisfied we would be relieved from the hands of this wicked white savage, whose equal, we were led to believe, was perhaps not to be found among mankind."

: GIRTY afterwards returned to Sandusky and plotted against the Christian Indians, who after their teachers were gone, disbanded, most of them proceeding to the Scioto, while others, as before mentioned, stopped for a while in the neighboorhood, at Pipe's town-all intending to meet together, after some time, on the Maumee and there establish themselves-when, CRAWFORD's army approaching, a few, as already intimated, took up arms and joined the Delawares, under Captain PIPE. Shortly after the Christian Indians were thus scattered, news arrived of the probable invasion of the Sandusky country by the Americans and GIRTY now busied himself in assisting the gathering was as great with the war-chiefs of the Delawares as with Zhaus-sho-toh or the Half King. ELLIOTT, therefore, upon his arrival at Sandusky, as before stated, found GIRTY full of excitement and ferocious zeal.

: Passing over the events of the few days following the advent of ELLIOTT to the Indian lines, wherein GIRTY, as we shall hereafter see, played a notable part, we loose trace of him to August following, when the 16th of that month, we find him the leader of a large Indian force against BRYANT'S Station, five miles from Lexington, Kentucky. The Kentuckians made such a gallant resistance that the Indians become disheartened and were about abandoning the siege, when GIRTY, thinking he might frighten the garrison into a surrender, mounted a stump within speaking distance and commenced a parley. He told them who he was; that he looked hourly for reinforcements with cannon, and that they had better surrender at once, if they did so, no one should be hurt; otherwise he feared they would all be killed. The garrison were intimidated; but one young man named REYNOLDS, seeing the effect of this harrangue, and believing his story, as it was, to be false, of his own accord answered him: "You need not be so particular to tell us your name, we know your name and you too. I've had a villanous, untrustworthy cur-dog this long while, named Simon GIRTY, in compliment to you; he's so like you-just as ugly and just as wicked. As to the cannon, let them come on; the country's roused, and the scalps of your red cut-throats, and your own too, will be drying on our cabins in twenty-four hours." This spirited reply produced good results. GIRTY in turn was disheartened, and, with his Indians, soon withdrew. The country was indeed aroused. The enemy were pursued to the Blue Licks, where lying in ambuscade, the Kentuckians, three days after, suffered a cruel defeat. This, it is believed, was the last battle GIRTY was in during the Revolution, as peace was soon after declared, and comparative tranquillity was restored along the western border.


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