OCR Text |
Show ; -? J iv ? , ,t v' r " cO - If fex v ' Vv Mi . . f Ch-K War Dance.. J A, h- kAI y doscpKBra-nt js General, Wayne 7 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON f"B""T SHEMS to be one' of the I ?J j fuiliiifjs of hunum nature for I j I a nation to create' a popular B 1 Kl I about every so often anil a & iniliile in an orgy of hero ES j worship. Conversely it seems I" i necessary for it also to re- j' J quire a popular scapegoat Ptej.jT'A.I upon whose partially-deserv-E S ing and partially-undeserving aojMai5 head It may "pour out- the vials of its blind and unreasoning haired. lu that respect the American reople nre no different from those of any other nation.- We have a choice Kalaxy of "scoundrels," whose' names, if not actually the., proverbial "hissing "hiss-ing words," at least ' kindle In our minds an active feeling of resentment whenever they are mentioned. Nor do the passing of the years, seem to soften the harshness of pur Judgment, for as Kobert W. Chambers, in writing of certain Revolutionary war characters, charac-ters, says, "The faint-hearted who failed are Judged by us as though they failed before the nation yesterday; yester-day; . . . the traitor, to us, is no grotesque Guy Fawkes, but a living Judas of today." There was a time when the American Amer-ican frontier had Its own particular villain, and he has been made the subject sub-ject of a new biography; "Simon Girty. the White Savage," written by Thomas Koyd rnd published recently by Min-ton, Min-ton, Bnlrh and .Company. In writing of this "backwoods roughneck," as Mr. Boyd calls him, he says. "While it would be fatal, to defend him it may be interesting to see how far he can be explained." and In his first chapter, "Glrty's Name and Fame" he sets about his- task as follows: Of all the men remembered from "those years Simon Girty, who has been called the anomaly of western history was perhaps the most widely and deeply deep-ly hated. Pioneer mothers in lonely cabins used to scare their children into obedience by threatening them with the appearance of the dreaded Girty. And afterward it was said of him that "no other country or as;e ever produced perhaps, so ' brutal, depraved, and wicked ft wretch." Another called him a mon.ter. No famished tiger ever sought the blood of a victim with more unrelenting rapacity than Girty sought the blood of a white man. He could laugh, in fiendish mockery, at the agonies of a captive, burning and writhing at the stake. He couid witness wit-ness unmoved the sacrifice of unnffend-' tng women and children. No scene of torture or of bloodshed was sutTieient-ly sutTieient-ly horrible to exeite compassion in his bosom." And In "The Ron mice of Western West-ern History" it is told that he wa- "a wretched miscreant" who had fled from the abode of civilized men; ht became a savage in manners and in principle, and spent his whole life In the perpetration ot a demoniac vengeance venge-ance against his countrymen. tt was with such embellishments as these that Simon Gi.rty's name was handed down from generation to. generation gen-eration of men who had come to live in the land of the Indian, . He was looked on as a monster, and local historians his-torians treated him as one. They, had him killed as they believed he ought tc have been killed. ... . As a matter, of fact Girty survived his own death notice by many years. When he died 1' was from a prosaic illness. . That the early pioneers had cause to hate him there is no doubt. Nor is there any doubt that they hysterically hysteri-cally exaggerated his numerous cruel ties. But that was to be expected. For at least twice in his career he -,tood in the light cast by his own former countrymen burning at the stake; and once he commanded a horde f Wyandot warriors 'who' galloped into in-to an American army which they were foremost in butchering. However, this "wretched miscreant," than, whom no country or age ever produced a "monster so brutal, depraved de-praved and wicked," had a disconcerting disconcert-ing way of showing feelings that would have been praiseworthy even in I men more humane than any that ever fought in a border war. Those frontiersmen fron-tiersmen were not noted fpr their gentleness. gen-tleness. Neither was Simon Girty. Yet a number of times, and nearly always at the risk of offending the Indian chiefs and warriors, he pleaded or demanded de-manded that the lives of white prisoners pris-oners be spared . . . That he often did successfully Intercede for former countrymen of his who had been taken and condemned by the Indians Is proved by records .... In short, Girty displayed too much humanity not to have champions among the tender-hearted. And one of these, far from believing that Girty's "hellish arts surpassed the red man's far," came to his rescue with the following lines: "Oh, great -souled chief, so long maligned. By bold calumniators; The world shall not be always blind, Nor all men be thy haters. If ever on the field of blood, Men's valor merits glory, Then Girty's name and Girty's fame Shall shine in song and story." That optimistic prophecy, made marry years ago, has not yet been fulfilled. Nor is this book an attempt to do so. Stubborn, bull-necked, proud of his strength, murderous yet merciful, Girty the traitor can't be whitewashed. But some credit should be given to the memory of a man who spent twenty vears in the closest contact with the Shawanese, Miamis and Wyandots. rose to a position of trust among them and was, In fact, the only white person to sit as one of them in their tribal war councils. Simon Girty's career began at Cham-' ber's Mill, near Harrisburg, Pa., where be was born in 1741, one of four sons of Simon Girty, senior, an Irish iiu-. iiu-. migrant and a packhorse driver in the Indian trade. After the death of the elder Girty at the hands of a drunken Indian, Mrs. Girty married a man named John Turner who took the family 'farther west. During the French and Indian war the . family was captured cap-tured by . the Indians. Turner was tortured and killed and the other mem-Vrs- divided up among-various tribes as prisoners. Touh"g-Snhon''w"aVgfven to -the Seneens'and'TvIttr these leader -in the - famous- confederacy- of-' the-Long-House heUived for-three years Although he was returned- to- his people at therclo.se-of .the, war, the life among the Indians, had. left a. tj.eep Jm?. print upon his mind. He i,began to., earn his own living as an interpreter for traders among the Indians and by the time he was thirty he ..was a man of considerable influence both among the members of the garrison at Fort Pitt and among the Indians. During the Duumore war of 1774 he served as an interpreter for Dunmore who was so pleased -with his work that he commissioned Girty a second lieutenant lieuten-ant in the Virginia militia. ; At the outbreak out-break of the Revolution he'took up the patriot cause and helped enlist men for the Continental army. For this service he expected to be rewarded with a captaincy, but the reward was not forthcoming. Disappointed by this and other evidences ev-idences of the fact that his possible value to the Contiuental cause was overlooked, he with Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliot decided to go to Detroit and offer their services to Gen. Henry Hamilton, the British commander, com-mander, later notorious as the "Hair Buyer General." Hamilton was quick to realize the' value of Girty's influence influ-ence over the Indians and Immediately placed him in command of a force of Indians which made repeated raids on the settlements in Kentucky. ' For five years Girty continued in this work, during which time he gained the title of "White ' Indian" and, as "Simon Girty, the Renegade." built up for himself such a monument of hatred as . to survive to this day. Although he saved, his old friend. Simon Kenton, from the stake, when that renowned scout and Indian fighter fight-er was captured by the Shawanees, We is said to have consented to the torture of Col. William Crawford, whose capture by the Delawares and death at their hands is one of the most tragic incidents In border history.. his-tory.. By the time the Revolution was over Girty was so loathed In Ohio. Pennsylvania and Kentucky that refuge ref-uge among the Indians and British in Canada was his only safety and there he made his home. Still a leader among the Indians he fought beside the famous Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant when Harmar's army was defeated and St. Clair's army was overwhelmed during the war with the Northwestern tribes. But the fate of the tribes who were try-- try-- ing in vain to resist the oncoming wave of white settlement was sealed when "Mad Anthony" Wayne came into in-to the Northwest to retrieve the Har- j mar and St. Clair disasters. Ami I Simon Girty fought bis last fight ! against his countrymen in the lamous j battle of Fallen Timbers where Wayne won his quick and decisive victory over the confederated tribes. He was too old and Broken by hardships and excessive use of liquor to have a part, in the War of 1S12. The end came one bitterly cold February day In 1S18. A fever brought on by exposure as he was returning to his cabin from a tavern at Amherstburg, Canada, did what many an Anerlcan pioneer would have loved to have done long before It killed Simon Girty, the "White Savage." |