Big Bottom Massacre

Lisaja

BOY ESCAPED MASSACRE AT BIG BOTTOM

Killings By Indians Occur In An Attack Near Waterford

A single survivor remained to tell of the Big Bottom massacre, where 12 whites died at the hands of Indians in the bloodiest slaughter of early settlers. in the lower Muskingum Valley. this occurred on the evening of January 2, 1791. It was a planned attack carried out with such speed and ferocity as to permit of no resistance.

The Indian War was on in the Ohio Country, and although it raged chiefly in the northwest, there appeared to have been a confederacy of tribes conspiring to annihilate the white settlements. Open threats had been made that “before the trees again put forth their leaves” there should not remain a single chimney smoke of the white man northwest of the Ohio River.

In Morgan County, north of Waterford, and just across the Washington County line, was the scene of carnage.

---Taken By Surprise

Thirteen men and youths in the Big Bottom settlement were assembled that evening around a large fire in a fortification they had built. Suddenly a hoard of Indians crashed in the door, shot their victims and leaped through the smoke to complete their work with tomahawk and scalping knife.

All the whites, with the exception of 16-year old Philip STACY, were quickly dispatched. The boy hid in a corner beneath some bed clothing. His brother, John STACY was killed. the leader of the little colony was Colonel William STACY, ancestor of the STACY families in Washington County. He and several others were absent from the settlement when the massacre occurred.

---List Of The Victims

The persons killed were John STACY, son of Colonel William STACY, Ezra PUTNAM, son of Colonel PUTNAM of Marietta, John CAMP and Zebulon THROOP of Massachusetts, Johnathan FARWELL and James COUCH, who came from New Hampshire, William JAMES of Connecticut, Joseph CLARK of Rhode Island, Isaac MEEKS, his wife and two children, who lived with Isaac and Rebecca WILLIAMS at Williamstown,W. Va.

Asa and Eleazer BALLARD, living in a cabin near the scene, heard the firing of muskets. Sensing danger, they grabbed up their rifles and ran out just before the Indians burst into the cabin. Of the 20 persons imperiled in the surprise attack, they and Philip STACY were the only ones to escape.

Only one of the Indians was wounded in this affair. He is said to have been shot by Isaac MEEKS, a Virginia hunter who was a friend of Isaac WILLIAMS, and was employed as a hunter by the Big Bottom settlers.

When news of the massacre reached Marietta, many of the heads of families in all the settlements were here attending the Court of Quarter Sessions. In the grief, midst of the general alarm court was adjourned. In the Waterford community, around Fort Frye, there were mingled emotions of grief, indignation and anxiety. This was true also of settlers in Marietta, Belpre and Williamstown.

Anselm TUPPER and a company of men from Marietta visited the scene two days after the tragedy. They found that the Indians had ripped up the flooring, piled it on the bodies of their victims, and fired it.

The fortification had been comparatively new. Constructed of green beech long, it was not entirely consumed by the fire. Most of the bodies were disfigured by tomahawk and flame. They were buried within the walls of the building. Not until after the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, which ended Indian warfare in Ohio, was there a futher attempt at the settlement by whites in the Big Bottom region.

---Massacre Site Marked

A marker, suitably inscribed, now identifies for travelers along the Muskingum the site of the massacre. Indians who committed the outraged are said to have included 25 Delawares and Wyandottes, members of tribes hither to tolerant in their relations with the settlers. Apparently, they had been drawn into an alliance with hostile tribes active in the Indian War. a war club was found on the ground at the scene of the killings. This, according to Indian tradition, was a formal declaration of war.

The Ohio Company officials at Marietta communicated with the secretary of war, with the result that all inhabitants of the outlying settlements were advised to remove their women and children to Marietta for protection in the fortifications. A large sum was expended by the Ohio Company for protection of the settlers during the Indian War. History does not show that any of the expense was refunded by the government.

Extracted from The Marietta Daily Times, Thursday April 7, 1938

150th Anniversary Edition - Section 2, page 2, col. 1