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THE JOHNSON BROTHERS

(John and Henry)

From the book

"Legends of the Valley"

In the fall of 1793, two boys of the name of John and Henry Johnson, the former thirteen and the latter eleven years old, whose parents lived at CARPENTER'S STATION, a little distance above the mouth of Short Creek, on the East side of the Ohio River, were sent out in the evening to hunt the cows.  At the foot of a  hill, at the back of a bottom, they sat down under a hickory tree to crack some nuts.   They soon saw two men coming towards them, one of whom had a bridle in his hand.  Being dressed like white men, they mistook them for their father and an uncle in search of horses.  When they discovered their mistake, and attempted to run off, the Indians, pointing their guns at them, told them to stop or they would kill them.  They halted, and were taken prisoners.

The Indians being in pursuit of horses conducted the boys by a circuitous route over the Short creek hills in search of them, until late in the evening, when they halted at a spring in a hollow place, about three miles from the fort.  Here they kindled a small fire, cooked and ate some victuals and prepared to repose for the night.  Henry, the younger of the boys, during the ramble, had affected the greatest satisfaction at having been taken prisoner.  He said his father was a hard master, who kept him always at hard work, and allowed no play; but that for his part he wished to live in the woods and be a hunter.  This deportment soon brought him into intimacy with one of the Indians, who could speak very good English.  The Indians frequently asked the boys if they knew of any good horses running in the woods.  Some time before they halted, one of the Indians gave the largest of the boys a little bag, which he supposed contained money, and made him carry it.

When night came on the fire was covered up, the boys pinioned, and made to lie down together.  The Indiana then placed their hoppis straps over them, and lay down, one on each side of them, on the ends of the straps Pretty late in the night the Indians fell asleep; and one of them becoming cold, caught hold of John in his arms, and turned him over on the outside.  In this situation, the boy, who had kept awake, found means to get his hands loose.  He then whispered to his brother, made him get up, and untied his arms.  This done, Henry  thought of nothing but running off as fast as possible; but when about to start, John caught hold of him saying, "W must kill these Indians before we go". After some hesitation, Henry agreed to make the attempt. John then took one of the rifles of the Indians, and placed it on a log, with the muzzle close to the head of one of them. He then cocked the gun and placed his little brother at the breech, with his finger on the trigger, with instructions to putt it as soon as he could strike the other Indian..  He then took one of the Indian's tomahawks, and standing astride of the other Indian, struck him with it.  The blow, however, fell on the back of the neck and to one side, so as not to be fatal.  The Indian then attempted to spring up; but the little fellow repeated his blows with such force and rapidity on the skull, that, as he expressed it, 'the Indian lay still, and began to quiver.'  At the moment of the first stroke given by the elder brother with the tomahawk, the younger one pulled the trigger and show away a considerable portion of the Indian's lower jaw.  This Indian, a moment after receiving the shot, began to flounce about and yell in the most frightful manner.  The boys then made the best of their way to the fort, and reached it a little before day break.  On getting near the fort they found the people all up and in great agitation on their account.  On hearing a woman exclaim 'Poor little fellows, they are killed or taken prisoner!'  the older one answered,. 'No, mother, we are here yet.'

Having brought nothing away with them from the Indian camp, their relation of what had taken place between them and the Indians was not fully credited.  A small party was soon made up to go and ascertain the truth or falsehood of their report.  This party the boys conducted to the spot by the shortest route. On arriving at the place they found the Indian whom the older brother had tomahawked, lying dead in the camp; t he other crawled away, and taken his gun and shot-pouch with him.  After scalping the Indian, the party returned to the fort; and the same day a larger party went out to look after the wounded Indian, who had crawled some distance from the camp and concealed himself in the top of a fallen tree, where, notwithstanding the severity of his wound, with a Spartan bravery he determined to sell his life as dearly as possible.  Having fixed the gun for the purpose, on the approach of the men to proper distance, he took aim at one of them, and pulled the trigger, but his gun missed fire.  On hearing the snap of the lock, one of the men exclaimed, 'I should not like to be killed by a dead Indian!'  The party concluding that the Indian would die at any rate, thought best to retreat and return and look for him after some time. On returning, however, he could not be found, having crawled away and concealed himself in some other place.  His skeleton and gun were found sometime afterwards.

The Indians who were killed were great warriors, and very wealthy. The bag, which was supposed to contain money, it was conjectured, was found by one of the party that went out first in the morning.  On hearing the report of the boys, he slipped off by himself, and reached the place before the party arrived.  For some time afterwards he appeared to have a great deal more money than his neighbors.

After the treaty with General Wayne, a friend of the Indians who were killed, made inquiry of a man from  Short Creek, 'What had become of the boys who killed the Indians?'  He was told that they lived at the same place, with their parents.  The Indian replied, 'You have not done right, you should make kings of those boys.'-Doddridge 

The  above account is substantially the same as that given by Henry Johnson, the younger of the two brothers, in a letter written to De Hass, in 1851.  The only material point in which he differs with Doddridge is in the fixing the date of the transaction in 1788, instead of 1793.  The former, therefore, may be assumed as the true date.  At the date of the letter referred to, Henry Johnson was 'a hale old man, 74 years of age, living in Monroe county, Ohio'.