Joshua Fleehart
His stature was said to
be herculean, almost seven feet in height, and yet as light and agile
as that of a wildcat. His dress was very similar to that of the
Indians with moccasins and leggings. With small, deep-set eyes and
thick, bushy brows and long, muscular limbs, he could follow a trail,
whether that of Indian or wild beast, with such skill through the
pathless forest that it was often declared that he could scent them,
as the hunting dog does his quarry.
Joshua Fleehart was a legendary
frontiersman whose extraordinary strength and activity, along with
his most daring courage and his thorough knowledge of life in the
woods, won him a high reputation among the first settlers of Western
Virginia and Ohio. When the Ohio Company founded its settlement at
Marietta, in April 1778, Fleehart was employed as a scout and hunter.
The fearless man was invaluable to a frontier community.
Fleehart had three brothers, equally
gigantic in statue, and two sisters, both a full six feet in height.
By long practice and patient observation, aided by a natural
intuition, he had arrived at a degree of skill in hunting that seemed
almost superhuman.
His rifle was of the largest caliber
and, like himself, of unusual size and weight. Few men could have
held it straight and aimed steadily. It was a flintlock, of the then
latest fashion, and, next to his wife and children, Fleehart bestowed
upon it his most affectionate care. Even his beloved dog could not
divide his admiration for “Long John,” as he playfully called his
gun. An exceptional marksman, he could strike a small object at a
hundred yards distance with incredible accuracy – no small feat
considering the weapons of the time.
Farmer's Castle
Farmer's Castle was a defensive
fortification built opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha River on
the Ohio River by the Ohio Company. It was located about 15 miles
downriver of Marietta, Ohio. After the disastrous expedition of
General Harmer into the Shawnee and Miami country and the resulting
Indian war, settlers on the frontier built the fort composed of
thirteen block houses with thick palisades, and very soon pioneer
families moved into the structures.
Joshua Fleehart supplied those at
Farmer's Castle with meat and, as a scout who preferred the woods to
a life of enclosure, he would live close by and give alarms to the
settlers when Indians were expected to attack. Upon attack, he would
typically sally out into the woods to reconnoiter and get a chance to
kill some of the enemy, saying “he could do more service there, and
felt more free and courageous when behind a tree, fighting the
Indians in their own way, than when confined to the shelter of a
blockhouse.”
Tales about Fleehart abound. Here are
two celebrated examples.
In 1791, Joshua Fleehart and Benoni
Huriburt, also a skilled frontiersman, left the fort at Belpre to
hunt and visit their traps at the mouth of Little Hocking. While
passing the narrow's above the creek, they heard turkeys gobbling on
the hillside a short distance from the river. It was common practice
for Indians to imitate the call of this bird to lure settlers within
rifle range. Still, turkeys were prized meat.
Huriburt wanted to land and shoot the
game, but Fleehart, detecting something wrong with the sound, said it
was made by Indians and persuaded Huriburt to stay in the canoe.
When they reached the mouth of the
creek, and seeing no signs of Indians, Huriburt left the canoe and
went up the bank into the woods. In a short time Fleehart heard the
crack of a rifle which he knew was not Huriburt's gun. Pushing the
canoe to the other shore of the creek, he ran up the bank and hid
himself where he could see if anyone came to the place where he had
landed. He directly heard Huriburt's little dog trying to defend the
body of his master, but the Indians soon silenced it with a tomahawk.
Huriburt had been warned of the dangers of such excursions but
reportedly had said he “did not look upon them with dread of a New
England man” and “was not afraid of any Indian.”
After watching for nearly an hour, so
close that he could hear the Indians talk, Fleehart ran to the canoe,
paddled across to near the Virginia shore and hurried back to the
fort.
The next morning a party of men
conducted by Fleehart went down by the water and found Huriburt dead
and scalped and the body of the little dog beside him.
Another story tells of a trip up the
Scioto.
Late in fall of 1795 Joshua Fleehart
took his canoe, rifle, traps, and blanket and left for a long trip
with no companion, not even his trusted dog that he left in the
garrison with his family He made his way down the Ohio and pushed his
canoe up the Scioto River a distance of 15-20 miles into hostile
Indian country – at that time where few, if any, white men dared to
venture.
At the time, the Scioto Valley was rich
with prized game. It was the best hunting ground for Fleehart's main
quarry – the bear and the beaver. The hills of Brush Creek were
said to abound in bear, and small streams like Brush that fed the
Scioto were well-suited to beaver. Fleehart headed for the Scioto River.
Fleehart chose a spot for his winter's
residence within 25-30 miles of the Indian town of Chillicothe. He
knew that the Indians seldom went that far to hunt in the winter;
thus, he didn't fear their interruption. He built a hut of saplings
near the river and prepared for the winter. He was careful to take
great care to cut only small trees and make the cuts near the ground,
concealing stumps with leaves and dead branches.
For 10-12 weeks Fleehart trapped and
hunted unmolested. He “luxuriated on the roasted tails of the
beaver, and drank the oil of the bear, an article of diet considered
by the children of the forest as giving health to the body, with
strength and activity to the limbs.” His success on the trip far exceeded his
expectations, and he found winter to pass away quietly and most
pleasantly.
About middle of February, Fleehart
began to load his canoes with the meat and he had taken when he
heard a report of a rifle in the direction of the Indian towns.
Nevertheless, no problem followed, and he slept quietly that night.
Fleehart rose the following morning
before dawn and saw an Indian slowly approaching, closely inspecting
his mocassin tracks. He fired and the Indian fell. Fleehart rushed to
his prostrate foe. He was about to “apply the scalping knife,”
but seeing shining silver broaches and broad bands on his arms, he
fell to cutting them loose and stuffing them away. Then, out of
nowhere came the crack of a rifle as the passage of a lead ball
passed through the bullet pouch at his side. He looked to find three
Indians withing a hundred yards of him.
* Historical Note – The reference to
scalping is a historical find. I am shocked by this behavior, and, I
present the research as I found it even though it is so
reprehensible. The French and Indian War (1754-1760) is replete with
incidents of scalping by French, English and Native American
combatants. Newspapers, diaries, journals, and other period sources
all document these occurrences.
While Europeans did not originate
scalping, they did encourage its spread through the establishment of
bounties. J. C. B. writes that "the French and English were
accustomed to pay for the scalps, to the amount of thirty francs'
worth of trade goods. Their purpose was then to encourage the savages
to take as many scalps as they could, and to know the number of the
foe who had fallen."
Fleehart knew the enemy was too
numerous to encounter, so he ran. He concluded to leave level grounds
and take to the high hills that lie back of the bottoms. He and his
pursuers began a deadly game of chase, often stopping to climb trees
while hoping to get a shot and kill or disable each other. His
pursuers finally “treed” and successfully flanked him while
forcing him from cover.
At that point, Fleehart used his
exceptional physical skills to run like hell. Indians could not
overtake the fast, strong man – not even their best runners could
keep up. The chase continued for several miles. In desperation, the
Indians stopped and fired, and one of their projectiles almost found
its mark while shattering the handle of Fleehart's hunting knife,
jerking it so violently against his side, that for a moment he
thought he was wounded. He immediately returned the fire, and, with a
yell of vexation, the Indians gave up the chase.
Fleehart made a circuit among the
hills, and at dark he went to the river where he had secreted his
canoe. He was so fatigued that he lay down in the canoe and drifted
downstream. He awoke in the morning as the boat “was just entering
the Ohio River.” He quickly crossed over to the southern shore –
a more desirable, less dangerous location – and in a few days,
pushed his canoe up to Farmer's Castle.
According to Hildreth's Pioneer
History, with his rich packages of peltry and brilliant silver
ornaments as trophies of his victory, Fleehart became the envy and
admiration of “his less venturous companions.”
The adventures of Fleehart would fill a
volume and in relating them, he modestly kept himself in the
background and gave “Long John” the lion's share of credit.
Though not as popular today as Danial Boone and Simon Kenton, one
must wonder why. Perhaps it was his humble character that led to
obscurity. I couldn't even find a wiki to confirms birth and death
dates.
Yet, hold the presses. One footnote MAY
be in order.
* Footnote
What eventually happened to Joshua
Fleehart? I cannot confirm this is the same man, however, a person by
that name ran away with a certain “Miss Vera Maddox,” and in this
endeavor they were aided by Moses and Ellen Jane Stegall.
* Historical Note – It is
written that Moses Stegall, the person who cut off the head of one of
“America's first serial killers,” Micajah "Big" Harpe, was himself a
drunkard with less than a sterling reputation. Brothers Micajah and
Wiley Harpe were notorious war criminals who raped, stole, burned
down properties, and murdered patriot colonists. In 1799, they killed
members of Stegall's family. Moses became a member of a posse that
captured and killed Micajah Harpe.
After he confessed to 20 murders, Moses
Stegall cut off the murderer’s head. The head was spiked on a pole
near the Stegall homestead at Henderson, Kentucky. The place where
the head was standing is still known as Harpe’s Head Road.
Back to Joshua Fleehart ...
Peak Fletcher, who was in love with
Maddox, and a brother of the young woman followed the runaways and
overtook them in the now state of Illinois. They were found at night
in a cabin, and, at a signal, Maddox and Fletcher fired through the
chinks and killed them. Miss Maddox was sitting at the time in the
lap of her lover, with an arm around his neck.
It was said after dragging them out of
cabin, the men left the bodies of Fleehart and Stegall there for wild
animals to eat and started back with Ellen Jane and Vera. The women
supposedly escaped on the way home when Maddox and Fletcher got
stupid drunk.
Sources
Lou V. Chapin. The Line of Fire, Or,
The Advance Guard of Civilization in America. 2010.
Lewis Collins. Collins' Historical
Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Volume 2. 1874.
John Frost. Heroes and Hunters of
the West: Comprising Sketches and Adventures of Boone … 2017.
Samuel P. Hildreth. Pioneer History:
An Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley and … 1848.
“History of Washington Bottom”
http://www.wvculture.org/history/agrext/washbott.html
Jim Ridley and Read Ridley. “Killing
Cousins.” The Nashville Scene. October 31, 2013.
Edmund Lyne Starling. History of
Henderson County, Kentucky: Comprising History of County and City …
1878.
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