VI. The Lochry Expedition - Those Taking Part are Inveigled to Shore by Indians and British and all but Two Killed out of 106 - Capt. Thomas Stokely, Father of Gen. Samuel Stokely, Escapes - He was to have been Burned at the Stake, but is saved by Giving the Masonic Sign of Distress - The Massacre of Lochry's Men an Exciting Cause of the Massacre of the Moravian Indians by the Friends of Lochry from Western Pennsylvania - The Gnadenhutten Expedition of Col. Williamson - The Life of a Moravian Indian Maiden Saved by a Jefferson County Settler who Makes Her His Wife - A Respectable Family of the County a Result of the Union Story of Sweet Corn - A Defense of Williamson and His Men - The Last Victim of Indian Revenge a Resident of Jefferson County.
What is known as the Lochry expedition, organized in Westmoreland county, Pa., in the spring of 1781, by Col. Archibald Lochry, the county lieutenant, under direction of Col. Crawford, has a very close association with the history of Jefferson county. Information of this expedition has been difficult to obtain. In searching the Archives of Pennsylvania, the compiler of these sketches, although aided by Dr. Egle, the painstaking historian and librarian of the state of Pennsylvania, has been able to gather only fragments which, put together, make one of the strongest indictments against the humanity of the British. It was one of the most disastrous expeditions of the Revolutionary period in the west, nearly all of the one hundred and six men in it having been massacred in the most cruel way by the Indians under the British flag and having in their possession British cannon, and, it is supposed, were commanded by a white man. As has been stated, the expedition was organized in 1781, the object being to accompany George Rogers Clark on an expedition to Detroit, where all the Indian enterprises to destroy the settlers were concocted by Gov. Hamilton. Under Col. Lochry was Capt. Thomas Stokely, the progenitor of the noted Stokely family of Steubenville, the father of Gen. Samuel Stokely; Capt. Boyd and Capt.
back, one of Williamson's men. He was a Virginian who had settled on Short creek, and was one of the bravest of the pioneers who won the west with the long rifle. He was with Crawford, but escaping returned to his cabin at the mouth of the creek. Seven years after the massacre, when he had concluded that he was to escape the vengeance of the Indians, both he and his wife were captured by the savages near their cabin. They first captured Bilderback and his brother, Mrs. Bilderback having hid in the bushes; but they were determined to have her also, and told Bilderback to call his wife or they would scalp him alive. He called her, telling her of the fate if she did not come. She then responded and the three were taken to the Tuscarawas. Mrs. Bilderback and her brother-in-law were taken to the site of Uhrichsville, while Bilderback was conveyed to Gnadenhutten. In a few hours the Indians that had Bilderback in charge came to the camp and threw into Mrs. Bilderback's lap the scalp of her husband. She was overcome and fainted, but was taken to the Miami valley, where she remained a captive for nine months, when she was ransomed. In 1791 she married John Green and moved to Fairfield county, and it is said gave birth to the first white child born in that county. Bilderback killed the first Moravian removed on that ill-fated day, the name of his victim being Shabosh. He was the last white man known to have been in the massacre who paid the forfeit of his life for connection therewith. The centennial of this massacre was celebrated at Gnadenhutten by the erection of a monument to the memory of the Christian Indians who were the victims of Col. Williamson's men. The addresses delivered reflected on the brave pioneers who were severely censured, when the crime should have been charged not to the brave hearts who made this state a part of the Republic and a home of peace, but to the Christian nation over the sea that waged warfare with the tomahawk, the scalping knife and the firebrand.
NOTED. Since the above was put in type, a letter to the compiler from Hon. C. W. Butterfield, author of " Washington-Irvine Correspondence," "Crawford's Sandusky Expedition," " Biographies of the Girty's," and certainly the most thorough of writers of pioneer history, questions the masonic story. Girty was with the Indians, there being 600. McKee was in the party, his name being signed to a report of the victory over the Americans sent to Detroit. Capt. Stokely commanded a company of state troops. The British thought they had captured Col. Clarke, whom they had hoped to burn at the stake.