ly of John Gibson were surprised at their
sugar camp, on a branch of the Valley river, and made prisoners. Mrs.
Gibson, being incapable of supporting the fatigue of walking so far
and fast, was tomahawked and scalped in the presence of her children.

West's fort on Hacker's creek, was also visited by the savages, early
in this year.[3] The frequent incursions of the Indians into this
settlement, in the year 1778, had caused the inhabitants to desert
their homes the next year, and shelter themselves in places of greater
security; but being unwilling to give up the improvements which they
had already made and commence anew in the woods, some few families
returned to it during the winter, & on the approach of spring, moved
into the fort. They had not been long here, before the savages made
their appearance, and continued to invest the fort for some time. Too
weak to sally out and give them battle, and not knowing when to expect
relief, the inhabitants were almost reduced to despair, when Jesse
Hughs resolved at his own hazard, to try to obtain assistance to drive
off the enemy. Leaving the fort at night, he broke by their sentinels
and ran with speed to the Buchannon fort. Here he prevailed on a party
of the men to accompany him to West's, and relieve those who had been
so long confined there. They arrived before day, and it was thought
advisable to abandon the place once more, and remove to Buchannon. On
their way, the [209] Indians used every artifice to separate the
party, so as to gain an advantageous opportunity of attacking them;
but in vain. They exercised so much caution, and kept so well
together, that every stratagem was frustrated, and they all reached
the fort in safety.

Two days after this, as Jeremiah Curl, Henry Fink and Edmund West, who
were old men, and Alexander West,[4] Peter Cutright, and Simon
Schoolcraft, were returning to the fort with some of their neighbor's
property, they were fired at by the Indians who were lying concealed
along a run bank. Curl was slightly wounded under the chin, but
disdaining to fly without making a stand he called to his companions,
"_stand your ground, for we are able to whip them._" At this instant a
lusty warrior drew a tomahawk from his belt and rushed towards him.
Nothing daunted by the danger which seemed to threaten him, Curl
raised his gun; but the powder being damped by the blood from his
wound, it did not fire. He instantly picked up West's gun (which he
had be