Joshua Fleehart of the Ohio Company

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.