Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Danville, (Kentucky) to his friend in Baltimore

“It is with great concern I communicate to you the following truly melancholy intelligence: –About three weeks ago, Mr. Richard Chenoweth, had six or eight men allowed him, by the officer of the garrison at the Falls, to guard his exposed plantation, in Bear Crab Settlement, below the Falls. In the evening of their arrival, before they had taken their station as a guard, a number of Indians rushed into Mr. Chenoweth’s house, killed two of the soldiers, and three of Mr. Chenoweth’s children, and tomahawked and scalped his wife, leaving her on the floor for dead– Mr. Chenoweth, (who had his arm broke by the savages) with the rest of the men, made their escape.–There was one of Mr. Chenoweth’s children sick, in a chamber, and, it is reported, she never heard any thing of the dreadful massacre; but, next morning, crawling down stairs, she was inexpressibly shocked at the sight of a beloved parent almost breathless–Mr. Chenoweth returned next day to his house, and carried his wife to a neighbouring plantation, where they are both likely to recover, and, what is remarkable, she wants to return to her own house.–The savages have been very troublesome in this neighbourhood. –A small company are gone to White River, to extirpate 80 or 90 Indians, who, as spies have informed, have upwards of 300 horses, &c. at that place.”


Citation: Glasgow Advertiser (Glasgow, United Kingdom), 23 November 1789, available at the Scissors and Paste Database, http://www.scissorsandpaste.net/28.