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The following was sent to me via
eMail by Judith Weeks Ancell
On February 1, 2005
Henry Howe LLD, Historical Collections of
Encyclopedia of the State, Volume II, (Published by the State of
Laning
Printing Co., Public Printers,
ADAM AND ANDREW POE, THE INDIAN FIGHTERS
Adam Poe, who, with his brother Andrew,
had the noted fight with the
Indians, once resided in
this county, in
Little Beaver. The son of Andrew__Deacon Adam Poe__ was living late as 1846
in the vicinity of
the Indian struck his
father. The locality where the struggle occurred, he
then told the author, was
nearly opposite the mouth of Little Yellow creek.
We annex the particulars of
this affair from "Doddridge's Notes,"
substituting, however, the
name of Andrew for Adam, and vice versus, as he
then stated they should be
placed:
In the summer of 1782 a party of seven Wyandots made an incursion
into a settlement some
distance below
packed up what plunder they
could find, and commenced their retreat. Among
their party was a
celebrated Wyandot chief, who, in addition to his fame as
a warrior and counsellor, was, as to his size and strength, a real giant.
The news of the visit of the Indians
soon spread through the
neighborhood, and a party
of eight good riflemen was collected, in a few
hours, for the purpose of
pursuing the indians. In this party were two
brothers of the names of
Adam and Andrew Poe. They were both famous for
courage, size and activity.
This little party commenced the pursuit
of the Indians, with a
determination, if possible,
not to suffer them to escape, as they usually
did on such occasions, by
making a speedy flight to the river, crossing it,
and then dividing into
small parties to meet at a distant point in a given
time.
The pursuit was continued the greater
part of the night after the
Indians had done the
mischief. In the morning the party found themselves on
the trail of the Indians,
which led to the river. When arrived within a
little distance of the
river, Andrew Poe, fearing an ambuscade, left the
party, who followed
directly on the trail, to creep along the brink of the
river bank, under cover of
the weeds and bushes, to fall on the rear of the
Indians, should he find
them in ambuscade. He had not gone far before he saw
the Indian rafts at the
water's edge. Not seeing any Indians, he stepped
softly down the bank, with
his rifle cocked. When about half-way down he
discovered the large
Wyandot chief and a small Indian, within a few steps of
him. They were standing
with their guns cocked, and looking in the direction
of our party, who by this
time had gone some distance lower down the bottom.
Poe took aim at the large
chief, but his rifle missed fire. The
Indians, hearing the snap
of the gun-lock, instantly turned round and
discovered Poe, who being
too near to retreat, dropped his gun and instantly
sprang from the bank upon
them, and seizing the large Indian by the cloths
on his breast, and at the
same time embracing the neck of the small one,
threw them both down on the
ground, himself being upmost. The Indian soon
extricated himself, ran to
the raft,
got his tomahawk, and
attempted to dispatch Poe, the large Indian holding
fast in his arms with all
his might, the better to enable his fellow to
effect his purpose. Poe,
however, so well watched the motions of the Indian
that when in the act of
aiming his blow at his head, by a vigorous and
well-directed kick with one
his feet he staggered the savage and knocked the
tomahawk out of his hand.
This failure on the part of the small Indian was
reproved by an exclamation
of contempt from the large one.
In a moment the Indian caught up his
tomahawk again, approached more
cautiously brandishing his
tomahawk, and making a number of feigned blows,
in defiance and derision.
Poe, however, still on his guard, averted the real
blow from his head by
throwing up his arm and receiving it on his wrist, in
which he was severely
wounded, but not so as to lose entirely the use of his
hand.
In this perilous moment, Poe, by a
violent effort, broke loose from
the Indian, snatched up one
of the Indian's guns, and shot the small Indian
through the breast, as he
ran up the third time to tomahawk him.
The large Indian was now on his feet,
and grasping Poe by a shoulder
and leg, threw him down on
the bank. Poe instantly disengaged
himself and got on his
feet. The Indian then seized him again and a new
struggle ensued, which,
owing to the slippery state of the bank, ended in
the fall of both combatants
into the water.
In this situation, it was the object of
each to drown the other.
Their efforts to effect
their purpose were continued for some time with
alternate success, sometimes
one being under the water, and sometimes the
other. Poe at length seized
the tuft of hair on the scalp of the Indian,
with which he held his head
under the water until he supposed him drowned.
Relaxing his hold too soon, Poe
instantly found his gigantic
antagonist on his feet
again and ready for another combat. In this, they
were carried into the water
beyond their depth. In this situation, they were
compelled to loose their
hold on each other and swim for mutual
safety. Both sought the shore
to seize a gun and end the contest with
bullets. The Indian being
the best swimmer, reached the land first. Poe,
seeing this, immediately
turned back into the water to escape, if possible,
being shot, by diving.
Fortunately, the Indian caught up the rifle with
which Poe had killed the
other warrior.
At this juncture Adam Poe, missing his
brother from the party, and
supposing, from the report
of the gun which he shot, that he was either
killed or engaged in
conflict with the Indians, hastened to the spot. On
seeing him, Andrew called
out to him to "kill the big Indian on shore." But
Adam's gun like that of the
Indian's was empty. The contest was now between
the white man and the
Indian, who should load and fire first. Very
fortunately for Poe, the
Indian, in loading, drew the ramrod from the
thimbles of the stock of
the gun with so much violence, that it slipped out
of his hand and fell a
little distance from him; he quickly caught it up,
and rammed down his bullet.
This little delay gave Poe the advantage. He
shot the Indian as he was
raising his gun to take aim at him.
As soon as Adam had shot the Indian, he
jumped into the river to
assist his wounded brother
to shore; but Andrew, thinking more of the honor
of carrying the big Indian
home, as a trophy of victory, than of his own
safety, urged Adam to go
back, and prevent the struggling savage from
rolling into the river, and
escaping. Adam's solicitude for the life of his
brother prevented him for
complying with this request.
In the mean time, the Indian, jealous
of the honor of his scalp,
even in the agonies of
death, succeeded in reaching the river and getting
into the current, so that
his body was never obtained.
An unfortunate occurrence took place
during this conflict. Just as
Adam arrived at the top of
the bank, for the relief of his brother, one of
the party who had followed
close behind him, seeing Andrew in the river, and
mistaking him for a wounded
Indian, shot at him and wounded him in the
shoulder. He, however,
recovered from his wounds.
During the contest between Andrew Poe
and the Indians, the party had
overtaken the remaining six
of them. A desperate conflict ensued, in which
five of the Indians were
killed. Our loss was three men killed, and Andrew
Poe, severely wounded.
Thus ended this Spartan conflict, with
the loss of three valiant men
on our part, and with that
of the whole of the Indian party, with the
exception of one warrior.
Never, on any occasion, was there a greater
display of desperate
bravery, and seldom did a conflict take place which, in
the issue, proved fatal to
so great a proportion of those engaged in it.
The fatal issue of this little campaign
on the side of the Indians,
occasioned an universal
mourning among the Wyandot nation. The big Indian,
and his four brothers, all
of whom were killed at the same place, were among
the most distinguished
chiefs and warriors of their nation.
The big Indian was magnanimous, as well
as brave. He, more that any
other individual,
contributed by his example and influence to the good
character of the Wyandots, for lenity towards their prisoners. He would not
suffer them to be killed or
ill treated. This mercy to captives was an
honorable distinction in
the character of the Wyandots, and was well
understood by our first
settlers, who, in case of captivity, thought it a
fortunate circumstance to fall into their hands.