Swallow KIA and Spotswood MIA
On 6 Oct 1760, The House of Burgesses has to consider again the estate of Alexander Spotswood, a colorful former Lt Gov of Virginia, the man who lead the famous Knights of the Golden Horseshoe sighting the Shenandoah Valley. He is also the man who ordered the mission that killed Edward Teach, "Blackbeard." In the last years of his life he was designated Postmaster for all 13 colonies. He hired Ben Franklin to be postmaster of Philadelphia.
John Spotswood inherited his father's estate. John is the oldest son but he is deceased. His executors are trying to pay some of the estate's debts.
His younger brother was Robert Spotswood. No mention of Robert in these estate discussions. Robert Spotswood has been missing in action since May 1757. He is presumed dead from a mission to scour the woods for enemy. The surviving Cherokees of that mission mention a large French force marching out of Fort Duquesne towards Fort Cumberland. Captain Dagworthy commanding that fort sounds the alarm. He "re-tweets" this Cherokee report so to speak without vetting it by another source. This story alarms Virginia into quickly raising militias they won't need. That story ends up shaming Dagworthy, a man who insisted his expired British Captain commission ranked higher than George Washington's rank of Colonel of the Virginia Regiment. That force might not have been as large as reported. Also that force was sighted later heading towards Fort Augusta PA, high up on the Susquehanna, instead of heading towards Fort Cumberland as reported. Those Cherokees making that erroneous report are the only survivors of that Spotswood mission. Those Cherokees reported that Spotswood ordered everybody to split up to escape the area. Was there more to this story the Cherokees didn't tell or weren't asked?
Alas, Spotswood is listed as MIA and Swallow on a different war party was listed as KIA.
So let us look at Swallow.
Imagine on the Fort Loudoun grounds a statue of the Cherokee warrior Swallow. A visitor walks up to this statue. Is the statue of a tame noble warrior? Or is this statue disconcerting and dramatic? Imagine a sculpture of an Indian caught high in the air with a tomahawk meaning to land on a French soldier who shoots this Indian in the head. And the other Frenchmen shoots his son in both legs. Such drama might not be commissioned. But the colony of Virginia commissioned this assistance with the promise of “presents,” a promise that was never kept.
The visitor looks from the statue to look at the explanation. A historical sign tells a brief story. He uses his cell phone to read the longer story.
He reads of 148 Cherokees who came here to Fort Loudoun upon Virginia’s request. Who do they meet? Our Captain George Mercer. A reenactment group portrays this Captain’s company of the Virginia Regiment. Our Captain George Mercer is in a pickle. There’s no presents. He must tell them this. And when he does tell them, he tries to soften the news with apologies, with wampum and a promise of presents when they get back from their forays. Wawhatchee refusing the wampum, “immediately got up, & went out of the Council in a great passion, and told the rest of the Warriours they might speak to me, if they had anything to say,” writes Captain Mercer. Silence of 148 Cherokees sits over all of them. Just eyes, no sound. Eyes. Mercer waits. And waits. In the backdrop are the walls of Fort Loudoun. Finally, Swallow, First Warrior of the lower Cherokee town of Estatoe, comes forward.
“I don’t understand writing, but got a Man to write a Letter for me to the Governour to acquaint him what things I had promised my young Men to engage them to come up with me, and expected to have found everything I mentioned ready for us. . . .”
Swallow continues,
“Brother we blame the Govr and not you. What you have, you are free of; and it looks to me, the Govr has little Regard for you that are in the back country.”
The word frontier isn’t used until years later. Backcountry implies importance and power lies towards the coast and tidewater lands.
Mercer writes, “But they found from every Action, the Great Men of Virginia were Liars.”
Keerarustikee had come earlier to Winchester. He mentions a classic fubar situation. He is told the presents were promised in Williamsburg. They go there. No presents. Williamsburg tells them Winchester has the presents. But when told Winchester had none, the people in Williamsburg seemed surprised.
Mercer spins it. Even if the presents were here, they would load you down on your war parties. Act as if the presents are here, because when you get back, the presents will be here. But Mercer realizes he is not going to be here when they get back. He’s going with Adam Stephen to Charleston SC. And if he’s not going to be here and the presents are still not here, there will be a Cherokee rebellion. He warns Washington.
Youghtanno from an Overhills town said “Brothers, why do you despise that Wampum . . . for my part, I take the Will for the Deed. I look upon it in the Light he offers it, as a Token that his Heart is good . . . . . . I will stand by him ’till I find he lies. . . . The presents will be here when we return. “
“The Swallow then made an Apology for what he had said. . . he had spoke his Mind thus freely, to let us know how he had been used, and he hoped it would have the desired Effect, . . . that they should never be again disappointed. In his own part, he did not want Presents, but that it was his Promise of great Rewards from the Governour that engaged his young Men to come in, and that the Govr had now made him a Liar amongst his own Warriours: that made him angry.”
This story has no quit.
Prior to coming here Wawhatchee terrorized Colonel Reid’s place in Lunenburg finding no gifts there.
After several days of meetings at Fort Loudoun with debates sounding as noble as the ancient Greek and Roman orators the Cherokees decide to join the Virginia Regiment in several war parties.
One party of Major Andrew Lewis and Ostenaco go to the Patterson Creek in today’s WV.
Another party goes to the Fort Loudoun in Pennsylvania.
Another party led by Spotswood to the Fort Duquesne area never comes back.
But one party led by Lt Baker and Swallow have mixed results.
Swallow and his son and 13 Cherokees along with Lt James Baker and 4 Virginia Regiment soldiers run into 10 French, 3 Officers near the head of Turtle Creek near Fort Duquesne and the old battle site of Braddock’s Defeat. The Cherokees and Virginians shoot first. They don’t stop to reload. They fly towards the surprised French. In midair Swallow gets shot in the head, his son shot in both legs. The other Cherokees had already chased after the French and caught 3 prisoners. Coming back, they find Swallow dead. Enraged, they kill two French prisoners. “Belestre” was the surviving French prisoner. They then ran. They knew the French would come back with a larger force. They ran all the way back to Fort Cumberland, each shifting the load of Swallow’s son on their backs. Three days. They lived on Spring Onions, not having time to hunt on the run.
They take Belestre back to Winchester and interrogate him without checking in with Southern Indian Superintendent Edmond Adkin. He is furious. But so are the soldiers and Cherokees ready to fight Adkin’s imperious insults. Colonel George Washington finds “Belestre” to be a Gascon, a synonym for an exaggerator. To this day the old province of Gascony holds an annual liars festival. Two years later Moytoy, an ambassadorial mission, is given a ceremonial parade up in New York by Northern Superintendent of Indian Affairs Johnson for the Cherokee nation’s loss of Swallow.
Washington - Spotswood letters
1From George Washington to Robert Spotswood, 6 September 1755 (Washington Papers)
As soon as you arrive in Town with your Recruits, you are to put yourself under the Command of...
2From George Washington to Robert Spotswood, 31 October 1755 (Washington Papers)
You are hereby ordered, as soon as the Clothes and Arms arrive to furnish all the men who now...
3From George Washington to Robert Spotswood, 19 May 1756 (Washington Papers)
You are hereby ordered to proceed with the Detachment under your command, to Fort Cumberland; and...
A veteran’s ceremony is long overdue.
For more on this story and sources, see:
To George Washington from Lt James Baker
Fort Cumberland [Md.] June 10th 1757
From George Washington to John Stanwix,
[Fort Loudoun] June 15th 1757.
The French version:
The Indian shot in the 2 legs was Swallow’s son. It is interesting Lt Baker does know that. But the Cherokees are matriarchal, and so the son is more distant from the father than to the mother’s who keeps the lineage intact.
Douglas Southall Freeman tells this story:
The meeting between Captain Mercer and the 148 Cherokees
The Cherokees debate about whether to help or not because of the lack of presents promised:
The Great Men of Virginia are Liars
Belestre was a Gascon?
About Baker and Spotswood war parties
About Adkin angry about the men interrogating the French prisoner Belestre
After promising presents to the Cherokee, Captain George Mercer must leave for Charleston SC
6. This was probably Youghtanno, the Cherokee warrior from the Overhill town of Telassie. He led a party north into Maryland and Pennsylvania with Wawhatchee when he and Wawhatchee left Winchester with Richard Pearis on 29 April.
Spotswood
Robert Spotswood, captain of a company in the Virginia Regiment since September 1755, was in Winchester at this time. He was a son of Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood. Captain Spotswood disappeared while on a scouting mission in Pennsylvania in 1757.
George Washington A Biography Vol II by Douglas Southall Freeman Publication date 1948
The official letters of Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia
In the county of Spotsylvania, Spotswood had, about the year 1716, founded on a horseshoe peninsula of four hundred acres on the Rapidan, the little town of Germanna, so called after the Germans, sent over by Queen Anne, and settled in that quarter, and at this place he resided after his retirement.
A church was built there mainly at his expense.
Possessing an extensive tract of forty-five thousand acres of land, which abounded in iron ore, he engaged largely in connection with Robert Cary of England, and others in Virginia, in the iron manufacture.
In the year 1730 he was made deputy postmaster-general for the American Colonies, and held the office until 1739; and it was he who promoted Benjamin Franklin to the office of post-master for the Province of Pennsylvania.
He married in 1724, Ann Butler, the daughter xiv of Richard Bryan, Esq., of Westminster. She derived her middle name from James Butler, Duke of Ormond, her god-father.
She had issue: John, Robert, Anne Catharine, and Dorothea.
Members of the House of Burgesses
The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jan., 1901), pp. 245-260 (16 pages)
House of Burgesses going over Estate
#135 (p. 109)- 1 matching term
...II. 1759 UPON a Motion made, Ordered, That Leave be given to bring in a Bill To impower Bernard Moore, Gentleman, adling Executor of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq; to apply the Rents and Profits of the entailed Eftate; whereof he died feized, to the Payment of the Debts and Legacies of his Father Major-General Spotfwood, deceafed ; and it is referred to M'' Wythe to prepare and bring in the fame....
#141 (p. 115)- 1 matching term
...M'' Wythe prefented to the Houfe, according to Order, a Bill To enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq ; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned ; and the fame was read the firft Time, and ordered to be read a fecond Time....
#148 (p. 122)- 1 matching term
...Ordered, That the said Bill be engroffed, and read a third Time. A Bill To enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned, was read a fecond Time, and committed to M"' Pendleton, M"' Wythe, M' Attorney, M'' Nicholas, and the Members for Spotfylvania, Orange, and Culpeper....
#151 (p. 125)- 1 matching term
...M' Pendleton reported, That the Committee to whom the Bill To enable the Execu- tors of the Will of John Spotfwood Efq; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned, was committed, had made feveral Amendments thereto, which he read in his Place, and then delivered the Bill, with the Amendments, in at the Table, where the Amendments were again twice read, and agreed to by the Houfe....
#152 (p. 126)- 1 matching term
...AN engroffed Bill, Intituled, An Ad to enable the Executors of the Will of JohnSpotf- wood, Efq; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major- 6^eKfra/ Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned, was read a third Time. Refolved, That the Bill do pafs....
#153 (p. 127)- 1 matching term
...Alfo to the Bill, intituled. An Adl to enable the Executors of the Will of Johyi Spotf- wood, Efq; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-Gen- eral Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned. Alfo to the Refolve of this Houfe, For giving inftrudions to the Cotmnittee of Corref- pondence appointed by an Ad paffed this Seffion of Affembly, intituled....
#154 (p. 128)- 1 matching term
...For paying the Burgeffes Wages in Money. 34. To enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq; to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Pur- pofes therein mentioned. His •Hening VII, 251 ff...
.
#165 (p. 139)- 1 matching term
A Petition of Bernard Moore, Gentleman, was presented to the House and read, setting forth, That at the last Session of this present General Assembly an Act passed impowering him to keep together all the Estate of John Spotswood, Esq; and to apply the Profits towards the Discharge of his Fathers and his own Debts; and when that should be accomplished, the Sons of the said John Spotswood
#166 (p. 140)- 3 matching terms
Nov 8 1759
...[ I40 ] were to be entitled to their respective Parts of the Estate;. That the said John Spotswood being impowered by his Father's Will to sell certain entailed Lands for the Payment of his Sisters Fortunes and other Purposes, did, in his Lifetime, amongst other Parcels of the said Land, sell and convey to John Thornton, of the County of Spotsylvania, Gentleman, 9000 Acres, lying in the County of Culpeper, and re-purchased the said Land to himself in Fee Simple, and by his Will devised the same to his younger Son John;
but some Doubts remain whether by such Repurchase the said John Spotswood was not restored to his old Estate; Tail, so that his younger Son could not be entitled to the said Lands under his Will :
And to prevent Law Suits and Animosities in the Family,
the Petitioner, in his Petition for the said Act of Assembly (which was calculated to preserve the Estate; to the Family in an equitable Manner, according to the Ancestors Wills)
prayed that the said 9000 Acres of Land might be confirmed to the said younger Son, as his Father had paid his Money for it, and was in the Light of a fair Purchase ; but not being able at that Time to discover the Deeds for the said Land to and from the said John Thornton, the Matter was then dropped....
The Petitioner having since found the said Conveyances, prays that an Act may pass to confirm the Title of the said John Spotswood, the Younger, to the said 9000 Acres of Land, after he has paid the Debts according to the former Act.
Ordered, That a Bill be brought in pursuant to the Prayer of the said Petition ; and it is referred to M"' Pendleton to prepare and bring in the fame.
#166 (p.140)
page 183 1760
#210 (p. 184)- 1 matching term
Monday 6th of October 34 Geo II 1760
King George II dies 25 Oct 1760
An Adl to enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq ; to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned. — Faffed April, 1759. For reafons apparent in the Order leading to the faid Order of Repeal....
- 1 matching term
...On a Motion made, Ordered, That Leave be given to bring in a Bill To enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned; and it is referred to M'' Pendleton to prepare and bring in the fame....
page 188
oct 6 council
An Act to enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotswood Esquire to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Estate of Major General Alexander Spotswood , and for other purposes therein mentioned were this Day produced by the Governour and read
.
#274 (p. 248)- 1 matching term
April 1 1761
...M'' Pendleton prefented to the Houfe, according to Order, a Bill To enable the Exe- cutors of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq ; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned ; and the fame was read the firft Time, and ordered to be read a fecond Time....
#275 (p. 249)- 1 matching term
...Ordered, That M'' Charles Carter do carry up the faid Bill to the Council for their Concurrence.
A Bill To enable the Executors of the Will of John Spoifwood, Efq ; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, was read a fecond Time, and committed to M' Edmund Pendleton, M'' Henry Pendleton, M'' James Taylor and M'' Fielding Lewis....
#278 (p. 252)- 1 matching term
...Edmund Pendleton reported that the Committee to whom the Bill To enable the Executors of the Will of yo/i« Spotfwood, E£q; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned, was committed, had examined into the Allegations thereof, and found them to be true, and had made feveral Amendments thereto, which he read in his Place, and then delivered the Bill with the Amendments in at the Table, where the Amendments were again twice read, and agreed to by the Hotife....
#279 (p. 253)- 1 matching term
...An engroffed Bill, entitled, An Ad to enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotf- wood, Efq; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned, was read a third Time. Refolved, That the Bill do pafs. Ordered, That M-- Pendleton do carry up the faid Bill to the Coimcil for their Con- currence....
#280 (p. 254)- 1 matching term
April 8, 1761
...Alfo to the Bill, entitled. An Aft to enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotf- wood, Efq ; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major Gen- eral Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned, without any Amend- ments. And that they have agreed to the Bill, entitled....
#283 (p. 257)- 1 matching term
April 10, 1761
...To empower the Executors of the Will of Gawin Corbin, Gent, deceafed, to fell certain entailed Lands and Slaves for the Payment of his Debts, and for fettling other Land of greater Value to the fame Ufes. 28. Te enable the Executors of the Will of John Spotfwood, Efq; deceafed, to pay the Debts and Legacies due from the Eftate; of Major-General Alexander Spotfwood, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned. 2g. For vefting certain Lands therein mentioned in Philip Johnfon, Gent, adding the fame to the City of Williamfburg, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned. 50....
https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/library/materials/manuscripts/view/index.cfm?id=SpotswoodA
burial place of John Spotswood found in 1931 in New Post VA
In 1760, The House of Burgesses consider the estate of Alexander Spotswood, a former Lt Gov of Va. John Spotswood inherited and is trying to pay some of the debts. His brother was Robert Stewart. No mention of him in these estate discussions. But he has been missing in action since May 1757. He is presumed dead from a mission to scour the woods for enemy. The surviving Cherokees of that town mention a large French force marching out of Fort Duquesne. Other reports said Spotswood ordered everybody to split up to escape this danger.
.
Spotswood is listed as MIA and Swallow on a different war party was listed as KIA.
.
Moytoy on a diplomatic mission to Philadelphia and later to Supt Johnston in NY got a ceremony to honor the fallen Swallow.
.
So should we at Fort Loudoun. A ceremony maybe? A sign maybe? A sculpture maybe? And a request to the Cherokee nation to help us in this ceremony?
Comments