ON Wednesday the Twenty-Ninth Day of June, 1785, late in the Evening, a large Com­pany of armed Men passed the [Page 8] House, on their Way to Kentucky; some Part of whom incamped within two Miles. Mr. Scott liv­ing on a Frontier Part, generally made the Family watchful; but on this calamitous Day, after so large a Body of Men had passed, shortly after Night, he lay down in his Bed, and imprudently left one of the Doors of his House open; the Children were also in Bed and asleep. Mrs. Scott was nearly undressed, when, to her un­utterable Astonishment and Horror, she saw rushing in through the Door that was left open, pain­ted Savages with presented Arms, raising a hideous Shriek;—Mr. Scott being awake, instantly jum­ped out of his Bed, but was imme­diately fired at: He forced his [Page 9] Way through the Middle of the Enemy and got out of the Door, but fell a few Paces from thence. An Indian seized Mrs. Scott and ordered her to a particular Spot and not to move; others stabbed and cut the Throats of the three youngest Children in their Bed, and afterwards lifted them up and dashed them down on the Floor, near the Mother; the eldest, a beau­tiful Girl of eight Years old, awoke and escaped out of the Bed, and ran to her Parent, and, with the most plaintive Accents, cried, 'O Mam­ma! Mamma! save me!' The Mother, in the deepest Anguish of Spirit and with a Flood of Tears, in­treated the Savages to spare her Child; but with a brutal Fierce­ness, they tomahawked and stab­bed her in the Mother's Arms. Adjacent to Mr. Scott's Dwelling-House, [Page 10] another Family lived, of the name of Ball. The Indians also attacked them at the same Instant they did Mr. Scott's; but the Door being shut, the Enemy fired into the House thro' an Opening be­tween two Logs, and killed a young Lad, and then essayed to force the Door open; but a surviving Bro­ther fired through the Door, and the Enemy desisted and went off: The remaining Part of the Family ran out of the House and escaped. In Mr. Scott's House were four good Rifles well loaded, and a great Quantity of Cloathing and Furni­ture, Part of which belonged to People that had left it on their Way to Kentucky. The Indians loaded themselves with the Plunder, being thirteen in Number, then speedily made off, and continued travelling all Night; next Morning their [Page 11] Chief allotted to each Man his Share and detached Nine of the Party to steal Horses from the Inha­bitants on Clinch.

The Eleventh Day after Mrs. Scott's Captivity, the four Indians that had her in Charge stopped at a Place of Rendezvous, and to hunt, being now in great want of Provi­sions. Three went out, and the Chief, being an old Man, was left to take Care of the Prisoner, who, by this Time expressed a Willing­ness to proceed to the Indian Towns, which seemed to have the desired Effect of lessening her Kee­per's Vigilance. In the Day-Time, as the old Man was graining a Deer Skin, the Captive, pondering on her Situation, and anxiously look­ing for an Opportunity to make her Escape, took the Resolution, and [Page 12] going to the Indian carelesly, ask­ed

Liberty to go a small Distance to a Stream of Water, to wash the Blood off her Apron, that had re­mained besmeared since the fatal Night of the Murder of her little Daughter. He said to her in the English Tongue, "Go along;" she then passed by him, his Face being in a contrary Direction from that she was going, and he very bu­sy. She, after getting to the [Page 13] Water, proceeded on without Delay, made to a high barren Mountain, and travelled until late in the Evening, when she came down to the Valley, in search of the Track she had been taken along; hop­ing thereby to find the Way back, with­out the Risque of being lost, and perish­ing with Hunger in uninhabited Parts.

On coming across the Valley to the River-Side, supposed to be the Easterly Branch of Kentucky-River, she observed in the Sand, Tracks of two Men, that had gone up the River, and had just re­turned.—She concluded these to have been her Pursuers, which excited Emo­tions of Gratitude and Thankfulness to Divine Providence for so timeous a De­liverance. Being without any Provisions, having no kind of Weapon or Tool to assist her in getting any, and being al­most destitute of Cloathing, also know­ing that a vast Tract of rugged high Mountains intervened, between where where she was and the Inhabitants East­wardly; and the Distance of the Ken­tucky Settlements unknown, and she al­most as ignorant as a Child of the Me­thod of steering through the Woods, ex­cited [Page 14] painful Sensations.—But certain Death, either by Hunger or by wild Beasts, seemed preferrable, rather than to be in the Power of Beings who had excited in her Mind such Horrour. She addressed Heaven for Protection, and taking Courage, proceeded onward. Af­ter travelling three Days she had nearly met with the Indians, as she supposed, that had been sent to Clinch to steal Hor­ses, but providentially hearing their ap­proach, concealed herself among the Cane, until the Enemy had passed. This giving a fresh Alarm, and her Mind be­ing filled with Consternation, she got lost, proceeding backwards and forwards for several Days: At length she came to a River, that seemed to come from the East▪ concluding it was Sandy-River, she resolved to trace it to its Source, which is adjacent to the Clinch Settle­ment. After proceeding up the River several Days, she came to where the Ri­ver runs through the Great Laurel Moun­tain, where is a prodigious Water-Fall, and numerous high craggy Clifts along the Water-Edge; that Way seemed im­passable, the Mountain steep and difficult: However, our mournful Traveller con­cluded [Page 15] that the latter Way was the best. She therefore ascended for some Time, but coming to a Range of inaccessible Rocks, she turned her Course towards the Mountain and the River-Side; after getting into a deep Gulley, and passing over several high steep Rocks, she rea­ched the River-Side, where to her inex­pressible Affliction, she found that a per­pendicular Rock, or rather one that hung over, of Fifteen or Twenty Feet high, formed the Bank. Here a solemn Pause took Place; she essayed to return, but the Height of the steep Rocks she had descended over prevented her. She then returned to the Edge of the Precipice, and viewed the Bottom of it as the cer­tain Place to end all her Troubles, or remain on the Top to pine away with Hunger, or be devoured by wild Beasts. After serious Meditation, and devout Ex­ercises, she determined on leaping from the Height, and accordingly jumped off. Although the Place she had to alight on, was covered with uneven Rocks, not a Bone was broken; but being exceeding-stunned with the Fall, she remained un­able to proceed for some Space of Time. [Page 16] The dry Season caused the River to be shallow—she travelled in it, where she could, by its Edge, until she got through the Mountain, which, she concluded was several Miles. After this, as she was travelling along the Bank of the River, a venomous Snake bit her on the Ankle: She had Strength to kill it, and knowing its Kind, concluded that Death must soon, overtake her. By this time Mrs. Scott was reduced to a mere Skeleton, with Fatigue, Hunger and Grief; pro­bably this State of her Body was the Means of preserving her from the Ef­fects of the Poison; be that as it may, so it was, that very little Pain suceeeded the Bite, and what little Swelling there was fell into her Feet.

Our Wanderer now left the River, and after proceeding a good Distance, she came to where the Valley parted into two, each leading a different Course. Here a painful Suspense again took Place: A forlorn Creature almost exhausted and certain, if she was far led out of the Way, she should never see a human Creature. During this Soliloquy, a [Page 17]

beautiful Bird passed close by her, flutter­ing along the Ground, and went out of Sight up one of the Vallies. This drew her Attention, and whilst considering what it might mean, another Bird of the same Appearance, flattered past her, and took the same Valley the other had done. This determined her Choice of the Way; and, in two Days, which was on the Eleventh Day of August, she reached that Settlement on Clinch called New-Garden: Whereas (she has since been informed by Woods-Men) had she taken the other Valley, it would have led her back to the Ohio. Mrs. Scott relates, that the Indians told her, that the Party was composed of four different Na­tions, two of whom she thinks they nam­ed Delawares and Mingoes.

[Page 18]She further relates, that, wandering from the Tenth of July to the Eleventh of August, she had no other Subsistence but chewing and swallowing the Juice of young Cane-Stalks, Sassafras-Leaves, and some other Plants she did not know the Name of; that, on her Journey, she saw Buffaloes, Serpents, Elks, Deers, and frequently Bears and Wolves; not one of which offered her the least Harm. One Day a Bear came near her, with a young Fawn in his Mouth, and, on discovering her, he dropped his Prey and run off. Hunger prompted her to go and take the Flesh and eat it; but, on Re­flection, she desisted, thinking the Bear might return and devour her: Besides, she had an Aversion to taste raw Flesh.— Mrs. Scott continues in a low State of Health, and remains inconsolable for the Loss of her Family, particularly be­wailing the cruel Death of her little Daughter.

[Page 20]I Was taken Prisoner about fifty Miles to the Westward of Fort-Pitt, about Eighteen Years ago, by the Indians, and carried away by them to the Wabash, with many more White Men, who were execut­ed with Circumstances of horrid Barbarity; it was my good Fortune to call forth the Sympathy of what is called the Good Wo­man of the Town, who was permitted to redeem me from the Flames, by giving, as my Ransom, a Horse.

After remaining two Years in Bondage amongst the Indians, a Spaniard came to the Nation, having been sent from Mexico on Discoveries. He made Application to the Chiefs for redeeming me, and another White Man who was in a like Situation, a Native of Wales, named John Davey; which they complied with, and we took our Departure in Company with the Spa­niard, and travelled to the Westward, cros­sing the Missisippi, near the River-Rouge, or Red-River, up which we travelled se­ven Hundred Miles, when we came to a Na­tion of Indians remarkable white, and whose Hair was of a redish Colour, at least mostly so; they lived on the Banks of a small River that empties itself into the Red River, which is called the River-Post. In the Morning of the Day after our Arrival among these Indians, the Welchman infor­med [Page 21] me that he determined to tarry with them, giving as a Reason that he under­stood their Language, it being very little different from the Welch. My Curiosity was excited very much by this Informa­tion, and I went with my Companion to the Chief Men of the Town, who inform­ed him (in a Language that I had no Knowledge of, and which had no Affinity to that of any other Indian Tongue that I ever heard) that the Forefathers of this Nation came from a Foreign Country, and landed on the East-Side of the Missisippi, describing particularly the Country now called West-Florida, and that on the Spani­ards taking Possession of Mexico, they fled to their then abode; and, as a Proof of the Truth of what they advanced, they bro't forth Rolls of Parchment carefully tied up in Otter-Skins, on which were large Cha­racters written with blue Ink; the Charac­ters I did not understand, and the Welch­man being unacquained with Letters, even of his own Language, I was not able to know the Meaning of the Writing. They were a bold, hardy, intrepid People, very warlike, and the Women beautiful, when compared with other Indians.

We left this Nation, after being kindly treated, and requested to remain amongst them, being only two in Number, the [Page 22] Spaniard and myself, and we continued our Course up the Waters of the Red-River, until we came to a Nation of Indians, cal­led Windots, that had never seen a White Man before, and who were unacquainted with the Use of Fire-Arms. On our Way we came to a transparent Stream, which we, to our great Surprise, found to de­scend into the Earth, and, at the Foot of a Ridge of Mountains, disappeared; it was remarkable clear, and near to it we found the Bones of two Animals, of such a Size that a Man might walk under the Ribs, and the Teeth were very heavy.

The Nation of Indians that had never seen a White Man, lived near the Source of the Red-River, and there the Spaniard discovered to his great Joy, Gold-Dust in the Brooks and Rivulets, and being infor­med by the Indians that a Nation lived further West, who were very rich, and whose Arrows were pointed with Gold, we set out in hope of reaching their Country, and we travelled about five Hundred Miles until we came to a Ridge of Mountains, which we crossed, and from which the Streams run due West, and at the Foot of the Mountains the Spaniard gave Proofs of Joy and great Satisfaction, having found Gold in great Abundance. I was not ac­quainted with the Nature of the Ore, but [Page 23] I lifted up what he called Gold-Dust from the Bottom of the little Rivulets issuing from the Cavities of the Rocks, and it had a yellowish cast, and was remarkable hea­vy; but so much was the Spaniard's Satis­faction, he relinquished his Plan of a Jour­ney, convinced he had found a gold Country.

On our return we took a different Rout and when we reached the Missisippi, we went in a Canoe to the Mouth of Missouri, where we found a Spanish Post; there I was discharged by the Spaniard, went to the Country of the Chickesaws, from thence to the Cherokees, and soon reach­ed Ninety-Six, in South-Carolina.

It is impossible for me to give an ade­quate Description of the Country on the South-West Side of the Missisippi; I was charmed with the Richness of the Land on the North-East Side of that noble River, until I beheld the other Country; the Luxuriance of the Soil, the Richness of the Herbage, the Majesty of the Forests, and the Fertility of the Meadows, which in many Places are of amazing extent, and covered with rich Grass and Clover, in Height at least three Feet; the Woods are full of Deer, Elk, Buffalo, &c. and, in the Autumn, Grapes and Apples are eve­ry where to be found; in short, every other [Page 24] that Country known in Europe by the Name of Louisiana; the air is pure and serene, and the Climate as healthy as any in the World; Nature has been wonderfully bountiful in furnishing Water in the greatest Abun­dance, and in many Places Acres of ground are covered with Salt-Rock, where Ani­mals go at certain Seasons, and it is ex­tremely pleasing to observe the Marks of the Tongues of various wild Beasts on the Surface of the Salt-Rocks.

No Country in the World is better cal­culated for the culture of Rice, Indigo and Tobacco, when it is considered that, on the Banks of the Missouri and the Red River Set­tlements, a Quantity of these Articles might be made sufficient to supply all Eu­rope; and, for 1000 Miles from the Con­fluence of each River, Ships could be built, and for 3 Months of the Year, the current runs with such Rapidity that they could go down the Stream 100 Miles in 24 Hours.