Daniel Greathouse
 | This article's factual accuracy is disputed. |
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. 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's letter of May 8th, 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.[1]
Greathouse was born in Frederick County, Maryland, one of 11 children of Harmon and Mary Magdalena Stull Greathouse. The Greathouses moved from Maryland toVirginia 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, the Ohio Valley was settled by a multi-cultural group of Indians called the Mingo[2]. 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, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and 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.[3]
By 1774, tension between the settlers and the Indian tribes had increased. This was largely helped by John Connolly spreading lies about attacks on settlers perpetrated by the Shawnee.[4] The rivalry between Pennsylvania and Virginia over the site of Pittsburgh[5] increased these unsettled circumstances. Scouts returning to Fort Pitt reported that war was inevitable, and John Connolly sent word for settlers in outlying settlements to be on their guard for an attack.[6]
Yellow Creek is 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 at the mouth of this creek and operated an inn or tavern of sorts, selling grog to both whoever came to his place. Many of the inhabitants of the area had already evacuated, due to the warning sent by John Connolly. Baker was likewise preparing to leave but had not yet.
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.[7] 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 one of the prominent English traders in the Ohio-valley region, and thus Logan thought he was safe from attack.
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.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10] It was said that Greathouse took the scalps of his Indian foes and dangled them from his belt,[11] scalping being a declaration of war among the Indians.[12]
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.[13] Chief Logan also blamed Colonel Cresap for his brother's death[11] and in turn, Cresap despised and hated Greathouse for his part in the affair.
Daniel died of the measles in 1775[14] in Yohogania County, Virginia at about 23 years of age. Cresap died the same year.
Jacob Greathouse
Daniel had a brother Jacob Greathouse. According to Allan Eckert's "The Frontiersman," Jacob Greathouse was captured, tortured and killed by Indians in 1791 for participation in the Yellow Creek Massacre. However, other documentation demonstrates that Jacob Greathouse died prior to April 1780.[15][16]
References
- ^ The Washington-Crawford Letters. (published in 1877) p. 48
- ^ Ohio Historical Society. ""Mingo Indians"". Retrieved 2008-03-19.
- ^ County Commissioners' Association of West Virginia. ""West Virginia County Histories"". Retrieved 2008-03-19.
- ^ Earl P. Olmstead. David zeisberger: A Life Among the Indiana. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1997) p. 220
- ^ Fort Pitt Museum. ""A History of the Point"". Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ John Fiske. ""The American Revolution"" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ Eckert, Allan W. That Dark and Bloody River. (New York: Bantam Books, 1995) p. 49
- ^ Eckert. That Dark and Bloody River. p. 54-55
- ^ Eckert. That Dark and Bloody River. p. 55-59
- ^ Eckert. That Dark and Bloody River. p. 58
- ^ a b Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr. ""The History of Yellow Creek"". Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ George A. Bray III. ""The Delicate Art Of Scalping"". Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ Eckert. That Dark and Bloody River. p. 71-72
- ^ Reuben Gold Thwaites, Louise Phelps Kellogg. ""Documentary History of Dunmore's War, 1774"" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ Marjorie Greathouse. ""The Greathouse Family"". Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ Greathouse Point. ""Descendants of Herman Groethausen - Third Generation"". Retrieved 2008-03-20.