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VOL. III. RICHM
New Pi
The statement of the fact that the Old Stone
ch'urch of New Providence was nearly twenty
years in completion from its beginning tells
more eloquently than any words can express the
determined purpose of the people to have a house
of worship, and again it tells how limited must i
have been the means of those who had under- <
taken to complete this work. For these were the
days of the linsey woolsey for the female, and ]
the moccasin and hunting shirt for the male, ?
and everything necessary for the personal comfort
of each one of the family had to be made <
at home. 1
With the pioneer settler everything was real; :
the stout log cabin which was both home and i
castle, with its clapboard roof, and puncheon ]
floor, scantily, but sufficiently furnished, to enumerate,
the Bible, the rifle, the axe, the large i
and small spinning wheel, the woolen hand cards, 1
the reel, the loom with its warp and woof, the {
whip-sawed table, hickory bark bottom chairs, i
and feather beds would about complete the furni- 1
ture of the well to do pioneer. I
Children born in these primitive homes by na- 1
ture were possessed of the most valuable legacies, c
sound minds and stronc hndips nnrl mora i
prepared for the great battle of forest life. The t
dwelling was built with reference to a good and I
never failing spring, and the clearing on which 1
so much depended for a living, where the giant t
trees had to be chopped down and rolled together, r
and burnt before the crop could be raised, 1
was located near the house. t
The savage Indians of the Illinois and Ohio e
countries were the curse of the white people of 1
the Valley of Virginia for more than a genera- a
tion of successive years, and many are the stories v
of the cruel murders, as well as the captivities >
of the unfortunate settlers.
The Indian hv nntnro woo on nn?fnn+iTT
J V rruo OV xvunj auaptcu g
to the warfare he waged, and the surrounding t
circumstances so perfectly protected his stealth t
and cunning that the frontier settler had no way n
of preparing against the sudden and unexpected c
attack that was so frequently made during this b
long period of time. For in nearly every one fi
of these attacks the very first notice the white b
man would have of the Indian's presence would b
)X be to see a large body of painted Indian war- y
,q . . rior running at him with uplifted tomahawks, tl
* yelling the war whoop like so many fiends, and C
H this scene would cause the heart of the stoutest
,'3 pioneer to auake. and wh?r? t.h? wViifo oawi"- *
4 , OVttlUl LJ
NO. 0-3 was 80 8UrP"8e^> the struggle was generally a b
short, but bloody one for the white man. d
When the father and the older brothers were o
killed and scalped and all the booty secured, the tl
/
IOND, NEW ORLEANS. ATLANTA. Jltt
rovidence <
By JOHN A. McNEEL.
home sacked and burnt, the cruel Indians would I
deftly slip the rawhide head halter over tVi^ I
heads of those who were to be led away as cap- 1
tives to the Indian settlements, and before start- .
ing, would take his great scalping knife and cut {
off the skirt above the knee, of the mother, grown 1
daughter or other female. The Indian's purpose <
in doing this was to make all possible haste in 1
liis flight back to the settlements beyond the I
Ohio. ^
Dr. Foote, in his admirable work, "Sketches 1
if Virginia," relates how James Moore described
when Black Wolf captured him, how quickly he 1
dipped a head halter on, and how tightly it fit, '
and how the rawhide in a day or two wore into ]
his flesh under the jaw. i
With the father and older brothers killed and
scalped, and their bloody scalps dangling from i
the belt of the savage Indian, the mother, the <
ajrown daughters and younger girls and boys 1
ill haltered and hands tied, the home sacked and '
lurnt, and the domestic animals which had *
)een raised and petted, and loved almost as if s
nembers of the family, all killed or permanently c
:rippled, and now the lead straps of the head
miters of tiie captives to be tied to the belt of I
he strongest and most savage of the Indians to j
)e led away hundreds of miles through the track- v
ess forests, with cruel jerks and curses, what s
hese poor people must have suffered no pen c
low can tell. Then to think at the end of that li
ong journey a worse fate awaited them, where v
hey were often tortured and burnt at the stake; a
ould there possibly be a sadder fate of human g
ife? And yet these are the people, and these
re a part of the conditions that surrounded them o
/hen the Old Stone church had its beginning at t
T - - Tk ^
sew jrroviaenee.
For we read in the histories, when the last p
;reat massacre of the white people occurred at a
he Big Spring on Kerr's Creek, in the fall of j
he year 1763 or 1764, that the men folks of the c
leighborhood were absent at Timber Ridge w
hurch attending a protracted meeting that was n
eing conducted by the Rev. John Brown, the ti
irst pastor of New Providence, and at the recess
etween the fore and afternoon service, a runner h
rought word that nearly one hundred women, c
oung people and children had been killed at li
he home of Johnathan Cunningham on Kerr's ii
Jreek. J
The circumstances surrounding this horrible ei
ragedy were, the Indians after reaching the n
order of the settlement lay in hiding several p
ays and planned how to get the white people a
f the neighborhood frightened so as to make
hem gather at one point; one Indian showed nr
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6<5 TERN PfPESB Y TEf?/AAf\
l Presbyter/an
'ERA/ PRESRYTF fP/AA/
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4E 7, 1911. NO. 23.
Church
liimseli' to some boys on the extreme outward
U J ^ * 1 1
uuruvr ox xne neignboriiood, and the boys gave
the alarm, and the white people hastily ran to
Johnathan Cunningham's for the purpose of
joing from there in a body to the fort at Timber
Ridge. When the white people had gathered at
Cunningham's, the Indians, by a short cut, were
here too, and pounced upon them with tomalawk
and scalping knife. Martha Dale, who
witnessed from a distant hill, this, the greatest
nassacre that ever occurred in the Valley of
yiiginia, said that these people were nearly
.veiyone killed with the tomahawk and scalping
mile. This woman had been warned of the
presence of the Indians, but had started late
to accompany her neighbors to the fort, and
when she came over the last hill in sight of the
meeting place, the horrible screams pierced her
ears, and she saw the savacps with
?0 -V** uyuxb^U lUIlialiawks
chasing the children, young people and
vomen through the tall weeds, killing tliera at
i single blow, and in after years told that the
cene reminded her of boys killing chickens with
:lubs.
The Indian is to be pitied for many things;
tut for nothing so much as the fiendish cruelty
uacticed on the innocent captives whose fate
committed to their keeping. And notwithtanding
all that can be truthfully told of their
ruel butcheries of the white people, still they
lave immortal souls just as we have, and the
cry worst characters of the Indian race could
ct magnanimously, and at times did manifest
jreat mercy.
The picture presented with this sketch is that
i? 11 _ "?
i me cemetery oi JNew Providence as it appears
oday. (See page 5.)
This cemetery had its beginning as a burial
lace about the year 1800, but no doubt there
re many persons buried there who suffered in
ust such scenes as we have attempted to desribe,
and among the worthy and notable people
dio lie in this picturesque spot, none stand out
lore conspicuously than Mary Moore, the capive
of Abb's Valley.
The gravestones of Mary Moore and of her *
1 1 1 " ^ ~
uucuueu nusuana, tne neverend Samuel Brown,
an be identified by the presence of two of her
ttle great-grandsons in the cemetery. Well up
i the cemetery will be seen the two little boys, w
ames Moore Brown and Henry Woods, the larg*
one standing between the two headstones which
lark the resting place of their great-great-grand- ;ju
arents, and the stone to the right as you look
t it, of the largest child, is that of Mary Moore.
These little boys are the descendants on the
laternal side of this sainted woman, and their