Christopher Garvey

The following account has been copied out of an old history
of Ohio. The spine of this book is stamped

OHIO
HISTORICAL

COLLECTIONS
The title page, first eight pages of text, and the back cover
are missing. The front cover is stamped with The Great Seal of
the State of Ohio. The publishers were probably Bradley & Anthony,
of Cincinnati, since the last four pages of the book list books
published by this firm.

Moses Hewit is the great-great-grandfather of Helen, Ruth, Hewitt,
Ben and Isabel Garvey on the side of their mother's mother.
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This county (Athens County) was settled shortly after Wayne's
victory. The following named persons are recollected as settling
in Athens and vicinity, two or three years subsequent to that
event, viz: Solomon Tuttle, Christopher Stevens, Jonathan Watkins,
Alvan and Silas Binghamo, Henry and David Bartlett, John Chandler,
and John and Moses Hewit. On Federal creek, also, were Nathan
Woodbury, George Ewing--father of Hon. Thomas Ewing--Ephraim Cutler
and Benjamin Brown. The first mill was erected about 1800, on Mar-
garets creek, prior to which some of the settlers were accustomed
to make tedious voyages, in canoes, down the Hocking, up the Ohio,
and 4 miles up the Muskingum, above Marietta, to got their corn
ground, while others, comprising a majority, depended on hand mills
and hommony blocks.

The annexed vivid sketch of the captivity and Escape of
Moses Hewit (one of the earliest settlers in this county from the
Indians, in from the history of the Bellville settlement, written
by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, and published in the Hesperian, edited by
William D. Gallagher.

Moses Hewit was a native of New England, the land of
active and enterprising men, and born in Worcester, Massa-
chusetts, in the year 1767. He removed to the waters of the
Ohio, in 1790, in company with his uncle, Captain John Hewit
soon after the settlement of the Ohio Company; at the break-
ing out of the Indian war he resided on the island now known
by the name of *Blennerhasset," in the block house of Captain
James, where he married a cousin, the daughter of Captain
Hewit. After his marriage he lived a short time at the mouth
of the Little Kenawha, but as the Indiana became dangerous,
he joined the company of settlers at "Neil's station," a
short distance above, on the same stream. At this period, all
the settlements on both banks of the Ohio were broken up, and
the inhabitants retired to their garrisons for mutual defence.

The garrison at the middle settlement in Belprie, was
called "Farmer's Castle," and was a strong stockaded defences

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with comfortable dwelling houses erected along the margin
of the stout palisades which surrounded it. It stood near
the bank of the Ohio river, on the waters of which nearly
all the intercourse between the stations was conducted in
light canoes. At this garrison, Mr. Hewit was a frequent
visitor, but not an inmate. Some of the more fearless in-
habitants, on the left bank, still continued to live in
their own dwellings, considering themselves in a manner pro-
tected by the Ohio river, and by the vigilance of the "spies,"
who daily scoured the adjacent forests. Mr. Hewit was, at this
time, in the prime of life and manhood; possessed of a vigor-
ous frame, nearly six foot high, with limbs of the finest
mould, not surpassed by the Belvedere Apollo, for manly
beauty. The hands and feet were small in proportion to the
muscles of the ams and legs. Of their strength, some es-
timate may be formed, when it is stated that he could, with
a single hand, lift with ease a large blacksmith's anvil, by
grasping the tapering horn which projects from its aid*. To
this great muscular strength was added a quickness of motion,
which gave the dash of his fist the rapidity of thought, as
it was driven into the face or breast of his adversary. The
eye was coal black, small and sunken, but when excited or
enraged, flashed fire like that of a tiger. The face and
head were well developed, with such powerful masseter and
temporal muscles, that the fingers of the strongest man,
when once confined between his teeth, could no more be with-
drawn than from the jaws of a vice.
With such physical powers united to an and
rather irritable mind, who shall wonder at his propensity for,
and delight in, personal combat; especially when placed in
the midst of rude and unlettered companions, where courage
and bodily strength were held in unlimited estimation.

Accordingly, we find him engaged in numberless personal contests,
in which he almost universally came off victorious. One in-
stance of his activity and reckless daring took place at
Marietta, about the year 1796. In some quarrel at a tavern,
the vigor of his arm was laid so heavily, upon one of his opponents,

that serious apprehensions were felt for his life.
Complaint was made to the magistrate, and a warrant issued
for his apprehension. Of this he had timely notice, and not
relishing the inside of a jail at that inclement season of
the year, it being in February, he started for the river, in-
tending to cross into Virginia, out of the jurisdiction of
the constable. It so happened that the rains on the head
waters had raised the river to half bank, and broken up the
ice, which completely covered the stream with fragments of
all dimensions, so closely arranged that no canoe could be
forced through them. Although late in the night, there was
yet the light of the moon, and rushing down the bank, with
the constable and a numerous posse at his back, he leaped
fearlessly on to the floating ice, and springing from frag-
ment to fragment, with the activity of a fox, he reached the
opposite shore in safety, about half a mile below the point
where he commenced this perilous adventure. The constable,
seeing the object of his pursuit afloat on the ice, came to

a halt, concluding that-, although he had escaped from the
penalty of the law, he could not avoid the fate which
awaited him, and that he would Certainly be drowned before
he Could gain the shore. But, as fortune is said to favor
the brave, he es-caped without harm, and his life was pre-
served for wise and providential purposes.
Sometime in the month of May, 1732, while living
at Neil's Station on the little Kanawha, Mr. Hewit rose
early in the morning and went out about a mile from the
garrison in search of a stray horse, little expecting any
Indians to be near, having heard of none in that vicinity
for some time. He was sauntering along at his ease, in an
obscure cattle path, thinking more of his stray animal
than of danger, when all at once three Indians sprang from
behind, two large trees, that stood one on each side of the
track, where they had been watching his approach.. So sudden
was the onset, and so completely was in their grasp,
that resistance was in vain, and would probably have been
the cause of his death. He therefore quietly surrendered,
thinking that in a few days he should find scene way of
escape, For himself he felt but little uneasiness; his
great concern was for his wife little child from whom, -with
the yearnings of a father's heart, he was thus forcibly
separated, and whom he might never see again.
In their progress to the towns on the Sandusky
plains, the Indians treated their prisoner, hewit with as
little harshness as could be expected. He was always con-
fined at night by fastening his wrists and ankles to
saplings, as he lay extended upon his back Upon the ground,
with an Indian on each side. By day his limbs were free,
but always marching with one Indian before, and two Indian's
behind him. As they approached the prairies, frequent halts
were made to search for honey, the wild bee being found in
every hallow tree, and often, in the ground beneath decayed
roots, in astonishing numbers, This afforded them many
luscious repasts, of which the prisoner was allowed to par-
take. The naturalization of the honey bee to the forests
of North America, since its colonization by the whites, is,
in fact, the only real addition to its comforts that the
red man has ever received from the destroyer of his race;
and this industrious insect, so fond o-f the society of man
seems also destined to destruction by the bee-moth, and
like the buffalo and the deer, will soon vanish from the
woods and prairies of the West.

While the Indians were occupied in these searches,
Hewit closely watched an opportunity for escape, but his
captors were equally vigilant. As they receded from the
danger of pursuit, they became less hurried in their march,
and often stopped to hunt and amuse themselves. The level
prairie afforded fine ground for one of their favorite

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sports, the foot race. In this, Hewit was invited to join,
and soon found that he could easily outrun two of them,
but the other was more than his match, which discouraged
him from trying to escape, until a more favorable opportunity.

They treated him familiarly, and were much pleased
with his lively, cheerful manners. After they had reached
within one or two day's march of their village, they made
a halt to hunt, and left their prisoner at their camp, al-
though they had usually taken him with them, as he

complained of being sick. To make all safe, they placed him
on his back, confining his wrists with stout thongs of
raw-hide to saplings, and his legs raised at a considerable
elevation, to a small tree. After they had been gone a
short time, he began to put in operation the plan he had
been meditating for escape, trusting that the thickness of
his wrists, in comparison with the smallness of his hands,
would enable him to withdraw them from the ligatures. After
long and violent exertions, he succeeded in liberating hia
hands, but not without severely lacerating the skin and
covering them with blood. His legs were next freed by un-
tying them, but not without a great effort, from their
elevation.

Once fairly at liberty, the first object was to secure
some food for the long journey which was before him. But as
the Indian's larder is seldom well stocked, with all his
search, he could only find two small pieces of jerked

venison, not more than sufficient for a single meal. With this
light stock of provision, he body nearly naked, and without
even a knife or a tomahawk, to assist in securing more, he
started for the settlements on the Muskingum, as the nearest
point where he could meet with friends. It seems that the
Indians returned to the camp soon after his escape, for that
night while cautiously traversing a wood, he heard the crack-
ing of a breaking twig not far from him. Dropping silently
on to the ground where he stood, he beheld his three enemies
in pursuit. To say that he was not agitated would not be
true; his senses were wide awake, and his heart beat quick,
but it was a heart that never knew fear. It so happened that
they passed a few yards to one side of him, and he remained
unseen. As soon as they were at a sufficient distance, he altered
his course and saw no more of them.
Suffering everything but death, from the exhausting
effects of hunger and fatigue, he, after nine days, struck
the waters of the big Muskingum, and came in to the garrison,
at Wolf creek mills. During this time he had no food but
roots and the bark of the slipper-elm, after the two bits
of venison were expanded. When he came in sight of the sta-
tion, he was so completely exhausted that he could not stand
or halloo. His body was entirely naked except a small strip
of cloth around the loins, and so torn, bloody and dis-
figured, by the briers and brush, that he thought it impru-
dent to show himself, lest he should be taken for an Indian,
and shot by the centries. It is a curious physiological
fact, that famine and hunger will actually darken the skin
in the manner mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah when fore-
telling the fate of the Israelites; and may be accounted

5

for by the absorption of the bile into the blood, when not
used up in the process of digesting the food. In this for-
lorn state, Hewit remained until evening, when he crawled
silently to the gateway, which was open, and crept in
before any one was aware of his being near. As they all had
heard of his capture, and some personally knew him, he was
instantly recognized by a young man, as the light of the
fire fell on his face, who exclaimed, "here is Hewit."
They soon clothed and fed him, and his fine constitution
directly restored his health.
The course pursued by Mr. Hewit was in the direction
of a favorite and well known trail, or war path of the Indians,
from Sandusky to the settlements on the Muskingum, and struck
that river at a point called "Big Rock" from the enormous
block of sandstone that had tumbled out of a cliff and lay on
the shore. The line of the trail lay between the waters of
the Muskingum and those of the Scioto, crossing some of the
branches of both these rivers. The war paths of the Indians
were generally known to the old hunters, as in times of
peace there was considerable intercourse for trade and hunt-
ing between the borderers and the Indian tribes. After the
war was closed, by the masterly campaign of Gen. Wayne, the
sturdy settlers on the shores of the Ohio, sallied out from
their garrisons, where they had been more or less closely
confined for five years, and took possession of the various
farms, which had fallen to their lots either as "donation
lands," or as proprietors in the Ohio Company, some of
which had been partially cleared and cultivated before the
commencement of hostilities. During this period, they suf-
fered from famine, sickness, and death, in addition to the
depredations of the Indians. The small-pox and putrid sore
throat, had both visited them in their garrisons, destroying,
in some instances, whole families of children in a few days.
The murderous savage without, with sickness and famine with-
in, had made their castles wearisome dwelling places, although
they protected them from the tomahawk, and saved the settle-
ments from being entirely broken up.
In the year 1797, Mr.. Hewit cast his lot in the valley
of the Hockhocking river, near the town of Athens, and set-
tled quietly down to clearing his farm. He was by nature en-
dowed with a clear, discriminating, and vigorous mind; and,
although his education was very limited, extending only to
reading and writing, yet his judgment was acute, and his
reasoning powers highly matured by intercourse with his
fellow-men. For some years before his death, he was a member
of the Methodist church, which has the praise of reclaiming
more depraved men than perhaps any other sect, and became a
valuable citizen and useful man in society. A short time
previous to his decease, which took place in the year 1814,
he was appointed a Trustee of the Ohio University, at
Athens. At that early time, the duties of a Trustee mainly
consisted in leasing out and managing the fiscal affairs of

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the college domain, embracing two townships of land. For
this business he was well fitted, and his judgment and good
sense, were of real value to the institution, however little
he might be qualified to act in literary matters.

The life of Mr. Hewit affords an interesting subject
of contemplation. Hundreds of others, who were among the
western borderers in early days, afford similar examples of
reckless daring, and outrageous acts, while surrounded with
war, tumult and danger, who, when peace was restored and
they returned to the quiet scones of domestic and civil
life, became some of the most useful, influential, and dis-
tinguished men. It shows how much man is the creature of
habit; and that he is often governed more by the character,
and the outward example of men around him, and the times in
which he lives, than by any innate principle of good or evil,
which may happen to predominate within him.