Attack some 40 miles south of Winchester in 1760
This Kercheval story is quite incredible. The horror captures the attention. So too does the rapid fire ability of an Indian using a self priming musket captures our attention.
"About the year 1760, two Indians were discovered lurking in the neighborhood of Mill Creek. Mathias Painter, John Painter and William Moore armed themselves and went in pursuit. They had not proceeded before they approached a large fallen pine, with a very bushy top. As they neared the tree, Matthias Painter observed, " We had better look sharp; it is quite likely the Indians are concealed under the tops of this tree.' He had scarcely uttered the words before one of the Indians rose up and fired. The ball grazed the temple of John Painter. Moore and Painter fired at the same instant; one of their balls passed through the Indian's body, and he fell, they supposed, dead enough.
The other fellow fled, leaving his gun and every thing else behind. The white men pursued him some distance; but the fugitive was too fleet for them.
The Dead Indian was not Dead:
Finding they could not overhaul him, they gave up the chase and returned to the pine tree: but to their astonishment, the supposed dead Indian had moved off with both guns and a large pack of skins, &c.
Incredible account of an Indian's ability to fire with "self primer" musket:
They pursued his trail and when he found they were gaining upon him, he got into a sink hole, and as soon as they approached pretty near, commenced firing at them. He had poured out a quantity of powder on dry leaves, filled his mouth with bullets and using a musket which was a self-primer, he was enabled to load and fire with astonishing quickness. He thus fired at least thirty times before they could get a chance to dispatch him. At last Mr. Moore got an opportunity, and shot him through the head. Moore and Painter had many disputes which gave the fellow the first wound. Painter, at length, yielded, and Moore got the premium allowed by law for Indian scalps.*
The escaped fugitive:
"The fugitive who made his escape, unfortunately met with a young woman on horseback, named Seehon, whom he tore from her horse, and forced off" with him. This occurred near the present site of Newmarket, in the county of Shenandoah. After traveling about 20 miles, chiefly in the night, and getting nearly opposite Keisletown, in the county of Ptockingham, it is supposed the poor girl broke down from fatigue, and the savage monster beat her to death with a heavy pine knot. Her screams were heard by some people who lived upwards of a mile from this scene of horror, and who next day, on going to the place to ascertain the cause, found her stripped naked, and weltering in her blood."
Kercheval's source for this story? kercheval states, "Mr George Painter communicated this adventure to the author."
Bottom of page 137 in this link:
By the way, there are more stories of Indian attacks with the Painters involved in Kercheval's book.
See links:
Self Priming Musket?
Firing so many rounds and so quickly is this narration by Kercheval: "He had poured out a quantity of powder on dry leaves, filled his mouth with bullets and using a musket which was a self-primer, he was enabled to load and fire with astonishing quickness. He thus fired at least thirty times . . . " So we want to know what a self priming musket is.
But first some fundamentals about priming:
This video describes priming as filling powder in the pan and then closing the frizzen. If you fill powder to cover the flash hole or touch hole then a slow fuse effect occurs, where the powder burns slowly reaching the hole. By filling powder in the pan below the flash hole, then when the powder in the pan ignites, a spark will go directly to the hole.
Getting a musket ready to fire:
Self Priming discussion
When did this occur?
Kercheval tells many stories of the Painters in this area. We are still working on narrowing down corroboration of a specific date.
Where did this event occur?
We cannot pinpoint it beyond a large area between Painter's Run and Mill Creek (there are many Mill Creeks).
Touch or click on this map. This will open the Google interactive map to move around.
Compiled by Jim Moyer 6/4/2024, updated 6/9/2024
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