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| ⚫ | '''Daniel Greathouse''' (c. 1752 to 1775) was a settler in [[Colony of Virginia|colonial Virginia]]. His role in the [[Dunmore's War#Yellow Creek massacre|Yellow Creek massacre]] in 1774 was instrumental in starting [[Dunmore's War]]. Greathouse was born in [[Frederick County, Maryland]], one of 11 children of Harmon and Mary Magdalena Stull Greathouse. The Greathouses moved from [[Maryland]] to [[Virginia]] about 1770 and Daniel owned {{convert|400|acre|km2}} of land at Mingo Bottom in [[Ohio County, West Virginia|Ohio County, Virginia]]. Daniel married Mary Morris, and they had two children, Gabriel and John.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} |
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{{Disputed|date=July 2009}} |
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| ⚫ | In the early 18th century, parts of the Ohio Valley were settled by a multi-cultural group of Indians called the [[Mingo]]<ref name="Mingo">{{cite web|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=608|title="Mingo Indians"|accessdate=2008-03-19|author=Ohio Historical Society}}</ref>. Like all other Indians within the region at that time, were subject to the control of the [[Iroquois Confederacy]] (comprising the [[Seneca nation|Seneca]], [[Cayuga nation|Cayuga]], [[Onondaga (tribe)|Onondaga]], [[Oneida tribe|Oneida]], [[Mohawk nation|Mohawk]], and [[Tuscarora (tribe)|Tuscarora]] tribes) headquartered in [[New York]]. By 1774, tension between white settlers and these Indian tribes of the Ohio Country had increased. The rivalry between Pennsylvania and Virginia over the site of Pittsburgh<ref name="FortPitt">{{cite web|url=http://www.fortpittmuseum.com/History.html|title="A History of the Point"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=Fort Pitt Museum}}</ref> increased these unsettled circumstances. Scouts returning to [[Fort Pitt]] reported that war was inevitable, and [[John Connolly]], an agent of Lord Dunmore, governor of the colony of Virginia, sent word for settlers in outlying settlements to be on their guard for an attack.<ref name="Connolly">{{cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books/pdf/The_American_Revolution.pdf?id=mChOHqt3QfEC&output=pdf&sig=5DVvK991CFUTPhcCYQlnOx_11ZI|title="The American Revolution"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=John Fiske}}</ref> |
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'''Daniel Greathouse''' (c. 1752 to 1775) was a settler in [[Colony of Virginia|colonial Virginia]]. His role in the [[Dunmore's War#Yellow Creek massacre|Yellow Creek massacre]] in 1774 was instrumental in starting [[Dunmore's War]]. The view that Daniel Greathouse was the main man in this massacre comes from the fact that he is the only person mentioned by name as having been involved in it in [[William Crawford (soldier)|William Crawford]]'s letter of May 8, 1774 to [[George Washington]]. However, Crawford did not in his letter say that Daniel Greathouse was the leader of the group that perpetrated the massacre, only that Greathouse was involved in it.<ref>''The Washington-Crawford Letters''. (published in 1877) p. 48</ref> |
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| ⚫ | One Mingo village, headed by the leader known as Logan, was near the mouth of Yellow Creek, a small tributary of the [[Ohio River]] located on the western (Ohio) bank about forty miles above Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) and about {{convert|40|mi|km}} west northwest of Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh). Joshua Baker lived opposite the mouth of this creek, on the Virginia shore, where he occasionally sold or traded alcohol to the Natives. Some of the other white inhabitants of the area had already evacuated, due to the warning sent by John Connolly. |
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| ⚫ | Greathouse was born in [[Frederick County, Maryland]], one of 11 children of Harmon and Mary Magdalena Stull Greathouse. The Greathouses moved from [[Maryland]] to [[Virginia]] about 1770 and Daniel owned {{convert|400|acre|km2}} of land at Mingo Bottom in [[Ohio County, West Virginia|Ohio County, Virginia]]. Daniel married Mary Morris, and they had two children, Gabriel and John.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} |
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During this period of unrest, when several small engagements had recently taken place between settlers and Native Americans, Daniel Greathouse and Joshua Baker planned to kill the Mingo at Yellow Creek. After recruiting a party of about thirty men, on [[30 April]] [[1774]] and they lured a small group of Mingo to Baker's cabin, among them Logan's brother and two female relatives, one had a child of about two months old with her, the daughter of a white trader named John Gibson. She was also pregnant with a second child of Gibson's. While in the cabin, all but the child were murdered by the frontiersmen. Several other Mingo who attempted to cross to Baker's by canoe were also killed by men concealed along the shore. Logan was summoned by runners, and shortly after sought revenge on the frontier inhabitants. This massacre was the final break in relations between the white settlers and the Indians and is considered the immediate cause of Lord Dunmore's War of 1774. Terrible vengeance was wreaked on the white settlers by the Indians. Many on the frontier, including Logan, falsely believed [[Michael Cresap|Colonel Cresap]] had been the leader of the brutal massacre. Cresap in turn despised Greathouse for his part in the affair. |
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In the early 18th century, the Ohio Valley was settled by a multi-cultural group of Indians called the [[Mingo]]<ref name="Mingo">{{cite web|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=608|title="Mingo Indians"|accessdate=2008-03-19|author=Ohio Historical Society}}</ref>. They were lead by [[Chief Logan]] although he always insisted that all were chiefs. Like all other Indians within the region at that time, were subject to the control of the [[Iroquois Confederacy]] (comprising the [[Seneca nation|Seneca]], [[Cayuga nation|Cayuga]], [[Onondaga (tribe)|Onondaga]], [[Oneida tribe|Oneida]], [[Mohawk nation|Mohawk]], and [[Tuscarora (tribe)|Tuscarora]] tribes) headquartered in [[New York]]. The Mingo originally lived closer to the Atlantic Coast, but European settlement had pushed them into western Virginia and eastern Ohio. During the [[French and Indian War]], the Mingo sided with the French. When the French lost and subsequently ceded their holdings to [[England]], intensified settlement of the Ohio valley by their former enemies led to conflicts.<ref name="CCAWV">{{cite web|url=http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/wv/history.html|title="West Virginia County Histories"|accessdate=2008-03-19|author=County Commissioners' Association of West Virginia}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Yellow Creek |
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Daniel Greathouse and his associates had began attacking various Shawnee groups. They had slaughtered two Shwnee who were traveling with [[Blue Jacket]] but Blue Jacket managed to aboid being killed by them.<ref>Eckert, Allan W. ''That Dark and Bloody River''. (New York: Bantam Books, 1995) p. 49</ref> Blue Jacket warned Cheif Logan of this violent group, but since he had long been a friend of the incoming settlers, his sister being married to [[John Gibson (Indiana)|John Gibson]] one of the prominent English traders in the Ohio-valley region, and thus Logan thought he was safe from attack. |
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Greathouse and company then joined with [[Michael Cresap]] and attacked a Mingo hunting party. However, their thirst for blood was unsatiated. They set out for Yellow Creek to destroy the main Mingo village. However Cresap had second thoughts and convinced the party to give up the attack, so they split up. Greathouse and about 30 followers claimed they would just continue up the river but were secretly plotting to carry out a massacre.<ref>Eckert. ''That Dark and Bloody River''. p. 54-55</ref> |
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Greathouse and company recruited Baker to help them. They got wiskey and rum from him on [[30 April]] [[1774]] and then went out and set up a camp. Daniel and his brother Jacob then went into Talgayeeta's Town and convinced [[Taylaynee]], the leader in the absence of his borther Chief Logan (Talgayeeta) that he should come to their camp and then they share liquor. Taylaynee lead a group of about 25 people to Yellow Creek, where he split them into two smaller groups. Seven Mingo men came across the creek, and two or women and a child. The women were Logan's sister and wife, and possibly his mother as well. The sister of Logan, Koonay, was as mentioned before the wife of John Gibson. The child brought was the daughter of John Gibson and koonay. Koonay was also pregant with their second child. Gibson himself was away on a trading expedition to the [[Shawnee]]. After getting the visitors comfortable Greathouse gave the signal for the main body of his men who had remained hidden to act, and they all rose up and shot the Mingos. The only vistitor spared was John and Koonay's daughter. However, Jacob Greathouse brutally ripped open Koonay's abdomen and scalped her unborn son.<ref>Eckert. ''That Dark and Bloody River''. p. 55-59</ref> Before that happened, the Greathouse party had gotten more Mingos to head across the Yellow Creek to join them. They had not seen the killing, but Koonay who was at this point only wonded and had not suffered the full strength of Jacob's brutality, managed to get somewhat free and scream a warning to the other Mingos. Greathouse then ordered his men who had re-hidden to open fire. This resulted in the killing of most of the occupants of one of the canoes; the others turned back.<ref>Eckert. ''That Dark and Bloody River''. p. 58</ref> It was said that Greathouse took the scalps of his Indian foes and dangled them from his belt,<ref name="DanielBooneTrail">{{cite web|url=http://www.danielboonetrail.com/historicalsites.php?id=86|title="The History of Yellow Creek"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr.}}</ref> scalping being a declaration of war among the Indians.<ref name="Scalping">{{cite web|url=http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo08018.html|title="The Delicate Art Of Scalping"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=George A. Bray III}}</ref> |
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This massacre, following a series of incidents, was the final break in relations between the white settlers and the Indians and is considered the immediate cause of Lord Dunsmore's War of 1774. Terrible vengeance was wreaked on the white settlers by the Indians. John Gibson blamed Cresap for his wife's brutal murder, and even when Cresap protested he had not been at the site of the killing, Gibson pointed out that Cresap had fed the fires of hate that led to it, and proceeded to give Cresap a beating anyway.<ref>Eckert. ''That Dark and Bloody River''. p. 71-72</ref> Chief Logan also blamed [[Michael Cresap|Colonel Cresap]] for his brother's death<ref name="DanielBooneTrail"/> and in turn, Cresap despised and hated Greathouse for his part in the affair. |
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Daniel died of the [[measles]] in 1775<ref name="Measles">{{cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books/pdf/Documentary_History_of_Dunmore_s_War__17.pdf?id=RnVLAAAAMAAJ&output=pdf&sig=b2P4y67CfYE_iZ5naTrTjtLEhIY|title="Documentary History of Dunmore's War, 1774"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=Reuben Gold Thwaites, Louise Phelps Kellogg}}</ref> in Yohogania County, Virginia at about 23 years of age. Cresap died the same year. |
Daniel died of the [[measles]] in 1775<ref name="Measles">{{cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books/pdf/Documentary_History_of_Dunmore_s_War__17.pdf?id=RnVLAAAAMAAJ&output=pdf&sig=b2P4y67CfYE_iZ5naTrTjtLEhIY|title="Documentary History of Dunmore's War, 1774"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=Reuben Gold Thwaites, Louise Phelps Kellogg}}</ref> in Yohogania County, Virginia at about 23 years of age. Cresap died the same year. |
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==Jacob Greathouse== |
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Daniel had a brother Jacob Greathouse. According to [[Allan Eckert]]'s "The Frontiersman," Jacob Greathouse was captured, tortured and killed by [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] in 1791 for participation in the Yellow Creek Massacre. However, other documentation demonstrates that Jacob Greathouse died prior to April 1780.<ref name="GreathouseFamily">{{cite web|url=http://home.earthlink.net/~leota_m/grathous.html|title="The Greathouse Family"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=Marjorie Greathouse}}</ref><ref name="GreathouseDescendants">{{cite web|url=http://greathouse.us/herman1670/des/d3.htm|title="Descendants of Herman Groethausen - Third Generation"|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=Greathouse Point}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 04:11, 30 July 2009
Daniel Greathouse (c. 1752 to 1775) was a settler in colonial Virginia. His role in the Yellow Creek massacre in 1774 was instrumental in starting Dunmore's War. Greathouse was born in Frederick County, Maryland, one of 11 children of Harmon and Mary Magdalena Stull Greathouse. The Greathouses moved from Maryland to Virginia about 1770 and Daniel owned 400 acres (1.6 km2) of land at Mingo Bottom in Ohio County, Virginia. Daniel married Mary Morris, and they had two children, Gabriel and John.[citation needed]
In the early 18th century, parts of the Ohio Valley were settled by a multi-cultural group of Indians called the Mingo[1]. Like all other Indians within the region at that time, were subject to the control of the Iroquois Confederacy (comprising the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora tribes) headquartered in New York. By 1774, tension between white settlers and these Indian tribes of the Ohio Country had increased. The rivalry between Pennsylvania and Virginia over the site of Pittsburgh[2] increased these unsettled circumstances. Scouts returning to Fort Pitt reported that war was inevitable, and John Connolly, an agent of Lord Dunmore, governor of the colony of Virginia, sent word for settlers in outlying settlements to be on their guard for an attack.[3]
One Mingo village, headed by the leader known as Logan, was near the mouth of Yellow Creek, a small tributary of the Ohio River located on the western (Ohio) bank about forty miles above Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) and about 40 miles (64 km) west northwest of Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh). Joshua Baker lived opposite the mouth of this creek, on the Virginia shore, where he occasionally sold or traded alcohol to the Natives. Some of the other white inhabitants of the area had already evacuated, due to the warning sent by John Connolly.
During this period of unrest, when several small engagements had recently taken place between settlers and Native Americans, Daniel Greathouse and Joshua Baker planned to kill the Mingo at Yellow Creek. After recruiting a party of about thirty men, on 30 April 1774 and they lured a small group of Mingo to Baker's cabin, among them Logan's brother and two female relatives, one had a child of about two months old with her, the daughter of a white trader named John Gibson. She was also pregnant with a second child of Gibson's. While in the cabin, all but the child were murdered by the frontiersmen. Several other Mingo who attempted to cross to Baker's by canoe were also killed by men concealed along the shore. Logan was summoned by runners, and shortly after sought revenge on the frontier inhabitants. This massacre was the final break in relations between the white settlers and the Indians and is considered the immediate cause of Lord Dunmore's War of 1774. Terrible vengeance was wreaked on the white settlers by the Indians. Many on the frontier, including Logan, falsely believed Colonel Cresap had been the leader of the brutal massacre. Cresap in turn despised Greathouse for his part in the affair.
Daniel died of the measles in 1775[4] in Yohogania County, Virginia at about 23 years of age. Cresap died the same year.
References
- ^ Ohio Historical Society. ""Mingo Indians"". Retrieved 2008-03-19.
- ^ Fort Pitt Museum. ""A History of the Point"". Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ John Fiske. ""The American Revolution"" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ Reuben Gold Thwaites, Louise Phelps Kellogg. ""Documentary History of Dunmore's War, 1774"" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-20.