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BORDER LIFE AND BORDER WARFARE.

     Although history does not furnish any startling incidents in border life or border warfare, as having occurred within the present limit is of Monroe county, yet, from its location on the Ohio river, between Wheeling and Marietta, this territory must have been frequently traversed by the savage Indian and the fearless pioneer.  Many bloody conflicts occurred along the river between the Pennsylvania line and the mouth of the Muskingum.
     Of the early pioneers, Thomas Mills and Henry Johnson died in this county, Monroe.  Martin Baker, who was about twelve years of age at the time of the battle of Captina creek, also died in this county, in the year 1857.

STORY OF THE TWO JOHNSON BOYS.

     The narrative of the heroic adventures of the two Johnson boys, who killed two Indians in what is now Jefferson county, was furnished the writer by Henry, the younger brother, in 1845, for publication in a paper he then published in Woodsfield.  The story is as follows:

     "I was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th day of February, 1777.  When I was about eight years old, my father, having a large family to provide for, sold his farm with the expectation of acquiring larger possessions further west.  Thus he was stimulated to encounter the perils of a pioneer life.  He crossed the Ohio river, and bought some improvements on what was called Beech Bottom Flats, two and a half miles from the river, and three or four miles above the mouth of Short creek.  Shortly after he came there the Indians became troublesome.  They stole horses and various other things, and killed a number of persons in our neighborhood.
     "When I was between eleven and twelve years old, (I think it was in the fall of 1788), I was taken prisoner with my brother John, who was about eighteen months older than I.  The circumstances are as follows:  On Saturday evening we were out with an older brother, and came home late in the evening; one of us had lost a hat, and John and I went back the next day to look for it.  We found the hat, and sat down on a log and were cracking nuts.  After a short time we saw two men coming down from the direction of the house; from their dress we took them to be two of our neighbors, James Perdue and J. Russell.  We paid but little attention to them tll they came quite near to us.  To escape by flight was now impossible, had we been disposed to try it.  We sat still until they came up to us.  One of them said 'How do, brudder?"  My brother then asked them if they were Indians, and they answered in the affirmative, and said we must go with them.  One of them had a blue buckskin, which he gave my brother to carry.  Without further ceremony, we took up our line of march for the wilderness, not knowing whether we should ever return to the cheerful home we had left; and not having much love for our commanding officers, of course we obeyed martial orders rather to__ily.  One Indian walked about ten steps before, and the other about the same distance behind us.  After traveling some distance we halted in a deep hollow, and sat down.  They took out their knives and whet them, and talked some in the Indian tongue, which we could not understand.  I told my brother that I thought they were going to kill us, and I believe he thought so too, for he began to talk to them, and told them that his father was cross to him, and made him work hard; that he did not like hard work, and that he would rather be a hunter and live in the woods.  This seemed to please them, for they put up their knives and talked more lively and pleasantly to us.  We returned to the same familiarity, and many questions passed between us, all parties being very inquisitive. They asked my brother which way home was, and he told them the contrary way every time they would ask him, although he knew the way very well.  This would make them laugh.  They thought we were lost and knew no better.
     "They conducted us over Short creek hill in search of horses, but found none; so we continued on foot.  Night came on, and we halted in a low hollow, about three miles from Carpenter's fort, and about four from where they first took us.  Our route being somewhat circuitous and full of zigzags, we made headway but slowly.  As night began to close in around us  I became fretful; my brother encouraged me by whispering to me that we would kill them that night.  After they had selected the place of encampment, one of them scouted found the camp, while the other struck fire, which was done by stopping the touch-hole of a gun, and flashing powder in the pan.  After the Indian got the fire kindled he reprimed the gun, and went to an old stump to get some dry tinder wood for fire; and while he was thus employed, my brother took the gun, cocked it, and was about to shoot the Indian; but I was alarmed, fearing the other might be close by, and be able to overpower us.  So I remonstrated against his shooting, and took hold of the gun, and prevented the shot.  I, at the same time, begged him to wait till night, and I would help him to kill them both.  The Indian that had taken the scout came back about dark.  We took our supper, talked some time, and went to bed on the naked ground to try supper, talked some time, and went to bed on naked ground to try to rest, and study over the best mode of attack.  They put us between them that they might be better able to guard us.  After a while, one of the Indians, supposing we were asleep, got up and stretched himself on the other side of the fire, and soon began to snore.  John, who had been watching every motion, found they were both sound asleep, and whispered to me to get up.  We got up as carefully as possible.  John took the gun which the Indian had struck fire with, cocked it, and placing it in my hands pointed in the direction of the head of one of the Indians.  He then took a tomahawk and drew it over the head of the other Indian.  I pulled the trigger and he struck at the same instant; the blow falling too far back on the neck, only stunned the Indian.  He attempted to spring to his feet, uttering the most hideous yells.  Although my brother repeated the blows with some effect, the conflict became terrible, and somewhat doubtful.  The Indian, however, was forced to yield to the blows he received upon his head, and, in a short time, he lay quiet and still at our feet.
     "After we were satisfied that they were both dead, and fearing there might be others close by, we hurried off, and took nothing with us but the gun I shot with.  We took our course towards the river, and in about three-quarters of a mile found a path that led to Carpenter's fort.  My brother here hung up his hat, that we might know on our return where to turn off to find our camp.  We got to the fort a little before daybreak.  We related our adventure, and a small party went back with my brother and found the Indian that was tomahawked.  The other had crawled away a short distance with the gun.  A skeleton and a gun were found sometime after, near the place where we had camped."

BATTLE OF CAPTINA.

     Captina creek is a considerable stream, entering the Ohio about one mile above this county.  On the banks of that stream, at an early day, a sanguinary contest took place, known as the "Battle of Captina."  Its incidents are given below, as related by Martin Baker, referred to above.
     "One mile below the mouth of Captina, on the Virginia shore, was Baker's Fort, so named after my father.  One morning in May, 1794, four men were sent over, according to custom, to the Ohio side, to reconnoitre.  They were Adam Miller, John Daniels, Isaac McCowan and John Shoptaw.  Miller and Daniels took upstream, the other two down.  The upper scouts were soon attacked by Indians and Miller killed.  Daniels ran up Captina about three miles, but being weak from the loss of blood issuing from a wound in his arm, was taken prisoner, carried into captivity, and subsequently released at the treaty of Greenville.  The lower scouts having discovered signed of the enemy, Shoptaw swam across the Ohio and escaped; but McCowan, going up towards the canoe, was shot by Indians in ambush.  Upon this, he ran down the bank and sprang into the water, pursued by the enemy, who overtook and scalped him.  The firing being heard at the fort, they beat up for volunteers, there being about fifty men in the fort.  Being much reluctance among them to volunteer, may sister exclaimed, 'She wouldn't be a coward."  This aroused the pride of my brother, John Baker, who before had determined not to go.  He joined the others, fourteen in number, including Captain Abram Enochs.  They soon crossed the river and went up Captina in single file, a distance of a mile and a half, following the Indian trail.  The enemy came back on their trails, and were in ambush on the hillside, awaiting their approach.  When sufficiently near, they fired on our people, but being on an elevated position, their balls passed harmless over them.  The whites then treed.  Some of the Indians came behind and shot Captain Enochs and Mr. Hoffman.  Our people soon retreated, and the Indians pursued but a short distance.  On their retreat my brother was shot in the hip.  Determined to sell his life as dearly as possible, he drew off one side and secreted himself in a hollow, with a rock at his back, offering no chance for the enemy to approach but in front.  Shortly after, two shots were heard in quick succession.  Doubtless, one of them was fired by my brother, and from the signs afterward, it was supposed he had killed an Indian.  The next day the men turned out and visited the spot.  Enochs, Hoffman and John Baker were found dead and scalped.  Enochs' bowels were torn out, his eyes, and those of Hoffman, screwed out with a wiping stick.  The dead were wrapped in white hickery-bark and brought over to the Virginia shore and buried in their bark coffins.  Their were about thirty Indians engaged in this action, and seven skeletons of their slain were found long after, secreted in the crevices of rocks."
     The youngest man among the whites in this action, was Duncan McArthur, afterwards Governor of Ohio.  After the death of Captain Enochs, he was chosen to command, and conducted the battle and retreat with marked ability.  The Indians were the worsted party, having lost at least half their number in killed and wounded.

THOMAS MILLS - RIDDLED WITH BULLETS.

     The writer has, on more than one occasion, heard Thomas Mills relate his adventures with the Indians, while fishing.  By some authors it is given as follows:
     "On the 30th of July, 1783, Mills and two other men, Henry Smith and Hambleton Kerr, started on an excursion up the river from Wheeling in a canoe, after night, for the purpose of spearing fish.  Mills was standing up in the bow of the canoe holding a torch, thus affording a conspicuous mark to the Indians concealed on the shore, who fired upon the party, wounding Mills in fourteen places, breaking one arm and one leg, in addition to the flesh wounds.  The others escaped unhurt.  Fortunately, Mills fell in the canoe, and the party made their way back to the fort, literally covered with blood and sand.  Attended by Rebecca Williams and Elizabeth Zane, both skilled nurses, Mills recovered.  He was, in his time, a most useful man on the frontier, possessing great experience as a hunter and scout."

THE WETZEL FAMILY.

      Probably the most noted family, as Indian fighters, about Wheeling and in eastern Ohio, were the Wetzels.  John Wetzel came out with the Zane

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in 1770, and settled on Wheeling creek.  He had five sons and two daughters.  The sons were Martin, Lewis, Jacob, George and John.  The whole family became celebrated hunters and Indian fighters, but the most daring and successful was Lewis.
     It is said that Martin Wetzel, when a prisoner among the Indians, was brought about twenty miles up Sunfish creek.  This would be near where Woodsfield now stands.  It is a tradition that Wetzel said the Indians stopped under a ledge of rock, and then left him under guard and went off.  After having been gone about an hour they returned with a large quantity of lead, which they moulded into bullets.  They fused the metal ina large wooden ladle with live coals.  After Wetzel had escaped from the Indians he returned to search of the lead, but was unable to find it.

DEATH OF JOHN WETZEL

     John Wetzel, the elder, was killed near Captina, in 1777, on his return from Middle Island creek.  He and a companion were in a canoe, paddling slowly near the shore.  He and a companion were in a canoe, paddling slowly near the shore.  They were fired upon by a party of Indians, and Wetzel was shot through the body.  Feeling himself mortally wounded, he directed his companion to lie down in the canoe, while he (Wetzel) so long as strength remained, would paddle the frail vessel beyond the reach of the savages.  In this way he saved the life of his friend, while his own was ebbing fast.  He died soon after reaching the shore at Baker's Station, and his humble grave can still be seen near the site of that primitive fortress.  A rough stone marks the spot, bearing in rude, but perfectly distinct characters, "J. W., 1787."

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.

     On the 29th day of January, 1813, "An act to erect the county of Monroe: was passed by the legislature.  Section one provided that so much of the counties of Belmont, Washington and Guernsey as comes within the following boundaries, viz: beginning at the Ohio river, in Belmont county, on the township line, between the third and fourth townships in the third range; thence running west along the township line to the line running between the seventh and eighth ranges, in the county of Guernsey; thence running south with said range line to the line running between the fourth and fifth townships in the said seventh range; thence east with said township line to the Ohio river; thence up said river, by and with the meanders thereof, to the place of beginning, be and is hereby erected into a county, by the name of Monroe, to be organized whenever the legislature shall hereafter think proper; but to remain attached to the said counties of Belmont, Washington and Guernsey as already by law provided, until the said county of Monroe shall be organized.
     Section two provided for the appointment of commissioners to locate the county seat and make report to the court of common pleas for the county of Belmont.
     On the 21st day of December, 1814, the following resolution was passed:
     "Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:  That James Dunlap of Ross county, John Barr, of Pickaway county, and George Clark, of Columbiana county, he and they are hereby appointed commissioners to fix the seat of justice of the county of Monroe.
     On the 3d day of February, 1815, "An act to attach part of the county of Washington to the county of Monroe, and to organize the county of Monroe into a separate county," was passed.  By the first section of said act, fractional township number one, in the fourth range, in Washington county, was attached to and made part of Monroe county.
     By section two said county of Monroe was declared organized into a separate county.
     Section three provided that all suits and actions then before instituted should be prosecuted to final judgment and execution the same as if the county had not been erected; and that all taxes levied and unpaid at that time, should be collected by the collectors of Belmont, Washington and Guernsey counties, respectively.
     By section four it was provided that the then jusices of the peace should hold their offices until their respective terms should expire.
     Section five provided that the county officers should be elected on the first Monday of April, 1815, to hold their offices until the next annual election; and where any election township should be divided by the establishment of Monroe county, in such manner that the place of holding the township election should fall within the counties of Belmont, Guernsey, or Washington, in that case, the electors of said fractional township should vote at the net adjoining township in the county of Monroe.
     Section six provided that the courts for the county should be holden at the house of Levin Okey until the permanent seat of justice should be established, and that the act should take effect on the first day of March, 1815.
     On the 24th day of December, 1819, "An act to attach part of the county of Morgan in the county of Monroe," was passed.  By said act so much of the county of Morgan as was contained in the sixth and seventh townships of range eight, were attached to the county of Monroe; and the same provisions as to justices of the peace, suits or actions, and taxes, were made as in the preceding act.
     By the erection of Noble County, in 1851, the townships of Elk, Enoch, Union, Stock, and parts of Seneca and Franklin were detached from Monroe, and a strip of territory two miles wide and thirteen miles in length, or twenty-six sections, were taken from Washington county and added to Monroe.
     The greatest extent of the county, east and west, is twenty-six and a half miles, by twenty-two miles north and south, and contains 470 square miles.
     The old line between Belmont and Washington counties began on the Ohio river between sections twenty-one and twenty-two, in township one, of range three, thence west between sections three and four to the boundary line.

TIMBER AND SOIL.

     In its natural state, the county was covered with a dense growth of timber, principally of the various kinds of oak, poplar, white and sugar maple, black and white walnut, beech, chestnut, hickory, sycamore, ash, linn, wild cherry, buckeye, elm, ironwood, dogwood, pawpaw, June or se__ice berry, Judas tree or red bud, and some pine.  These species of timber abound throughout the county generally, and it is thought unnecessary to refer to this subject again when describing particular localities.  In the early settlement much valuable timber was necessarily destroyed in clearing up farms, and for the want of a market.
     The survace of the county is broken and uneven, and especially are the hills high and precipitous along the streams.  The upland is rolling and well adapted for farming purposes.  The soil along the valleys of the streams is very productive, and on the upland generally good.

NATURAL DRAINAGE - NAMES OF STREAMS.

     The county is watered by numerous streams, and abounds with springs of excellent water.  The northwestern part of the county is drained by the several branches of Wills creek, viz:  Seneca, Brister and Fort's forks, and several smaller branches.  The southwestern, middle, southern and southeastern portions, are drained by the Little Muskingum river and its various branches, viz:  Clear, Indian, Witten, Crane's Nest, Rich, Cronin, Straight and Whitten forks, and other smaller branches.  The central, northern, northeastern, and eastern parts of the county, are drained by Sunfish creek and its several branches, viz: Baker, Grassy, Death and Piney forks, and Standing Stone, Hurd's, Fish Pot, Atkinson's, Payne's and Negro runs, - branches of the main stream.  Opossum creek has its source in the southeastern part of the county, and empties into the Ohio river some two miles below the mouth of Sunfish creek, draining a large portion of the eastern part of the county.  The principal runs emptying into the Ohio river, are Big and Johnston's runs, in Switzerland township; Cumming's run in Salem; Narrows and Bare's runs, in Ohio; Davis' or Patton's and Narrows' runs, in Lee, and Barnes', Miller's and James' runs in Jackson.  Cat's run, a considerable stream, and a branch of Captina creek, flows through a portion of the northeastern part of the county.

SURVEYS AND LAND SALES.

      This county lies in what is known as the "Seven Ranges."  These seven ranges were the first public lands ever surveyed by the General Government west of the Ohio river.  They are bounded on the north by a line drawn due west from the Pennsylvania State line, where it crosses the Ohio river, to the United States military lands, forty-two miles; thence south to the Ohio river, at the southeast corner of Marietta township, thence up the river to the place of beginning.
     The county was surveyed into townships and ranges in 1786, by James Sherman of Connecticut, Ebenezer Sproat, of Rhode Island, Absalom Martin of New Jersey, James Simpson, of Maryland, and Israel Ludlow, of Ohio.  Into four mile blocks in 1801-2, by Elnathan Schofield, Ebenezer Buckingham, and Levi Barber, of Ohio; and into sections and quarters in 1805, by Philip Green, Elnathan Schofield, and Levi Barber, of Ohio and Joseph Woods of Virginia.

MINERALS - WATER LEVEL.

     Prof. E. B. Andrews, Assistant State Geologist, in his report on the geology of Monroe county, says: "The soil of the county is generally good.  In many sections there is considerable limestone, of much fertilizing value.  The county lies not only wholly within the Coal Measures, but nearer the summit of the series than any other county in the district.  The highest seam of coal found in the district is on a very high hill near Barnesville, Ohio township.  The determination of the relation of the coals in this county to those of Noble and Belmont is attended with unusual difficulties.  The Pittsburgh, or Pomeroy seam of coal, if continuous, is everywhere below the level of the valleys, and the Cumberland, or Upper Bellaire seam, is generally thin and unimportant.  There are no coal seams, well-marked and of ready identification, and no fossiliferous limestones, like the Ames or Cambridge limestones of other counties. *     *     *     *     The supposition that the Evans coal, near Woodsfield, is the diminished equivalent of the Cumberland, or Upper Barnesville seam, appears the more probable one."
     The finest strata of coals are found on Sunfish Creek, in Adams township, near Cameron; on  the Little Muskingum, in Perry township, near Antioch; on the west boundary lines of Bethel and Franklin townships, and what at Woodsfield, is called "creek coal," some two miles north of the town.
     On Sunfish creek, in Center township, there is a stratum of cement limestone, of excellent quality, which extends all the way down the creek through Adams township, to Cameron, where it dips below the bed of the stream.
     Free sand rock abounds throughout the county, affording an abundant supply of superior building stone.

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