Livingston Family
The Last Indian Raid Upon the Western Frontiers
of Virginia
By Emory L. Hamilton
From the unpublished manuscript,
Indian Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell and
Holston Rivers, pages 243-255.
The last Indian raid upon the frontiers of
Southwest Virginia, and the one that cost the life of
the half-breed Indian Chief Benge, who had been a
scourage to the frontier for years with his lightning
assaults on the inhabitants and his barbaric cruelty
took place on April 5, 1794.
Benge sometimes referred to as "the
Bench," was a half-breed whose father, John Benge
lived among the Indians. While a half-breed
Cherokee, for many years, Benge lived among his
adopted people the Shawnees. No Indian attacks on
the frontier were more cruel than those led by
Benge, and he, perhaps of all the Indians, carried
out the most raids and killed the greatest number of
people. Bishop Francis Asbury of the Methodist
Church, who visited this area in the 1790s in his
Journal says that Benge was reported to have killed
and captured upwards of one hundred souls on the
frontier.
R. M. Addington, History of Scott County,
page 115-119, gives an accurate account of this
episode:
One of the most beautiful farms in Scott
County is the 'Livingston Place,' now owned by
the heirs of the late Peter Jett. It is situated on the
North Fork of Holston, near the mouth of
Livingston's Creek. This tract of land was first
occupied, it seems, by William Todd Livingston,
who enjoyed the rather unique distinction of being
the first, and, for some years, the only man in
Washington County to have a double christian
name. Upon the death of William Todd
Livingston, his sons, Peter and Henry, inherited
his estate, including a large number of slaves.
Now for some reason, the Indians often sought out
the Negro slaves for the purpose of capture. This
seems to have been particularly true of Benge,
who, it was thought, sometimes made trips to the
settlements in order to spy out the farms upon
which Negro slaves were employed. The presence
of Negro slaves on the Livingston farm, therefore,
may have caused the attack which Benge and his
gang made upon it. Mrs. Elizabeth, wife of Peter
Livingston, a few days after her rescue, gave the
following account of the affair. This account was
certified to, and forwarded to the Governor of
Virginia.
April 6, 1794, about ten o'clock in the
morning, as I was sitting in my house, the
fierceness of the dog's barking alarmed me. I
looked out and saw seven Indians approaching the
house, armed and painted in a frightful manner.
No person was then within, but a child of ten
years old, and another of two, and my sucking
infant. My husband and his brother Henry had
just walked out to a barn some distance in the
field. My sister-in-law, Susanna, was with the
remaining children in an out house. Old Mrs.
Livingston was in the garden. I immediately shut
and fastened the door; they came furiously up,
and tried to burst it open, demanding of me
several times to open the door which I refused.
They then fired two guns; one ball pierced
through the door, but did not damage. I then
thought of my husband's rifle, took it down but it
being double triggered, I was at a loss; at length
I fired through the door, but it not being well
aimed I did not execution; however, the Indians
retired from that place and soon after that an old
adjoining house was on fire, and I and my
children suffering much from the smoke. I opened
the door and an Indian immediately advanced and
took me prisoner with the two children. I then
discovered that they had my remaining child in
their possession, my sister, Sukey a wench with
her young child, a Negro man of Edward
Callihan's, and a Negro boy of our own about
eight years old. They were fearful of going into
the house I had left, to plunder, supposing that it
had been a man that shot at them, and yet was
within. So our whole clothing and household
furniture were consumed in the flames which I was
then pleased to see, rather than it should be of use
to the savages.
We were hurried a short distance where
the Indians were busy, dividing and putting up in
packs for each to carry his part of the booty taken.
I observed them careless about the children, and
most of the Indians being some distance off in
front, I called with a low voice to my eldest
daughter, gave her my youngest child, and told
them all to run towards neighbor John Russell's.
They were reluctant to leave me,
sometimes halting, sometimes looking back. I
beckoned them to go. I inwardly felt pangs not to
be expressed on account of our doleful separation.
The two Indians in the rear did not notice this
scene, or they were willing the children might run
back.
That evening the Indians crossed Clinch
Mountain and went as far as Copper Creek,
distant about eight miles.
April 7, set off early in the morning,
crossed Clinch River at McLean's Fish Dam (1)
about twelve o'clock, then steered northwardly
toward the head of Stoney Creek. There the
Indians camped carelessly, had no back spy, and
kept sentries out. This day's journey was about
twenty miles.
April 8, continued in camp until the sun
was more than an hour high; then set out slowly
and traveled five or six miles and camped near the
foot of Powell's Mountain. This day Benge, the
Indian Chief, became more pleasant, and spoke
freely to the prisoners. He told them he was about
to carry them to the Cherokee towns. That in the
route in the wilderness was his brother with two
other Indians hunting, so that he might have
provisions when he returned. That at this camp
were several white prisoners taken from Kentucky,
with horses and saddles to carry them to the
towns. He made inquiry for several persons on
Holston, particularly old General Shelby, and
said he would pay him a visit during the ensuing
summer, and take away all his Negroes. He
frequently inquired who had Negroes, and
threatened he would have them all off the North
Holston. He said all the Chickamauga towns were
for war, and soon would be very troublesome to
the white folks.
This day two of the party were sent by
Benge ahead to hunt.
April 9, After traveling about five miles
which was over Powell's Mountain, (2) a party of
thirteen men under command of Lieutenant
Vincent Hobbs, of the militia of Lee County met
the enemy in front, attacked and killed Benge the
first fire, I being at that time some distance off in
the rear. The Indian who was my guard at first
halted on hearing the firing. He then ordered me
to run, which I performed slowly. He attempted to
strike me in the head with a tomahawk, which I
defended as well as I could with my arm. By this
time two of our people came in view, which
encouraged me to struggle all I could. The Indian
making an effort at this instant pushed me
backward, and I fell over a log, at the same time
aiming a violent blow at my head, which in part
spent its force on me and laid me for dead. The
first thing I afterward remembered was my good
friends around me, giving me all the assistance in
their power for my relief. They told me I was
senseless for about an hour.
Certified this 15th day of April, 1794. A.
Campbell.
The Lee County Court was in session
when the news came that the Indians had invaded
the Holston settlements. Court immediately
adjourned, and a company of men hastily
organized, under Lieutenant Vincent Hobbs, to go
in search of the enemy. Hobb's company proceeded
at once to a gap int he mountain through which, it
was surmised, the Indians would be most likely to
pass on the return to their towns. Hobbs, upon
arriving at this gap, however, found some Indians
had already passed through before him. Pressing on
in great eagerness to overtake the enemy, he soon
came up with two Indians kindling a fire. These
were killed, and, upon examination, it was found
they were in possession of plunder which must
have been taken from the Livingstons. Hobbs
concluded that these two Indians had been sent on
ahead to hunt and collect provisions for the main
body. The object of Hobbs was now to make a
quick retreat to cover his own sign if possible, at
the gap, before the Indians could discover it, and
perhaps kill the prisoners and escape. Having
gained this point, he chose a place of abuscade; but
not exactly liking this position he left the men
there, and taking one with him by the name of Van
Bibber, he went some little distance in advance to
try to find a place more suitable for his purpose. As
they stood around looking for such a place, they
discovered the Indians coming up with their
prisoners. They cautiously concealed themselves
and each singled out his man. Benge, having charge
of the younger Mrs. Livingston, led the van, and
the others followed in succession; but the Indian
who had charge of the elder Mrs. Livingston was
considerably behind, she not being able to march
with the same elastic step as her sister. When the
front came directly opposite to Hobbs and Van
Bibber they both fired, Hobbs killing Benge, and
Van Bibber the one next behind him. At the crack
of the rifle the other men rushed forward, but the
Indians had escaped into a laurel thicket, taking
with them a Negro fellow. The Indian who had
charge of the elder Mrs. Livingston tried his best to
kill her, but he was so hurried that he missed his
aim. Her arms were badly cut by defending her
head from the blows of his tomahawk. The
prisoners had scarcely time to recover from their
surprise before the two Livingstons, who heard the
guns and were now in close pursuit with a party of
men from Washington, came running up and with
a gust of joy received their wives at the hands of
Hobbs. Four Indians were killed and five escaped.
It appears they were separated into parties of three
and two. The first had the Negro fellow with them,
and by his account, they lodged that night in a
cave, where he escaped from them and got home.
In the meantime a party of hardy
mountaineers from Russell collected and proceeded
in haste to waylay a noted Indian crossing-place
high upon the Kentucky river. When they got there
they found some Indians had just passed. They
immediately drew the same conclusion that Hobbs
had done, and hastened back to the river for fear
those behind should discover their sign. Shortly
after they had stationed themselves, the other three
made their appearance; the men fired upon them,
two fell and the other fled, but left a trail of blood
behind him, which readily conducted his pursuers
to where he had taken refuge in a thick canebrake.
It was thought imprudent to follow him any further,
as he might be concealed and kill some of them
before they could discover him. Thus eight of the
party were killed and the other perhaps mortally
wounded. (Manuscript letter of Benjamin Sharpe,
quoted in Summers, Annals of Southwest
Virginia.)
The following letters relating to Benge's
raid on the Livingstons are to be found in the
Calender of Virginia State Papers, Vol. VII.
Andrew Lewis to the Governor:
April 17, 1794.
Sir: Since I wrote you on yesterday I have
received the particulars of the mischief done at
Mr. Livingstons within fifteen miles of Abingdon.
The Indians murdered one white woman
(3) and one Negro child, prisoners, two white
women, one Negro woman and man; they were
also in possession of a number of children. After
setting the house on fire, they set the children at
liberty. They were immediately pursued on their
trail; two other parties pushed on to take
possession of certain gaps, that in all probability
they would pass. One of these parties last
mentioned fell in with them and fired on them,
killed the white man that conducted the Indians in,
and one of the Indians. At the time fire was made,
both other parties of the whites were in hearing of
the guns. By their passing through the Stone Gap,
in Powell's Mountain, expect they were the
Southern Indians.
P. S. The prisoners were retaken, all but
the Negro man who ran off with the Indians. (The
Negro man didn't run off, but was captured and
escaped from the Indians and returned.)
Under the date of April 19, 1794, Andrew
Lewis again writes to the Governor:
The inhabitants in pursuit of the Indians
retook the prisoners and killed two of them (Bench
and Indian). The rest run off. Captain William
Dorton, one of my scouts, who was with a party
endeavoring to catch them, fell in with them that
ran off, being three in number, two of which he
killed on the ground; the other run off mortally
wounded. One only escaped without a wound.
Col. Arthur Campbell, in a letter to the
Governor, dated April 19, 1794:
I now send the scalp of Captain Bench
that noted murderer, as requested by Lieutenant
Hobbs, to your Excellency, as proof that he is no
more, and of the activity and good conduct of
Lieutenant Hobbs, in killing him and relieving the
prisoners. Could it be spared from our treasury.
I would beg leave to hint that a present of a neat
rifle to Mr. Hobbs would be accepted as a reward
for his late services, and the Executive may rest
assured that it would serve as a stimulus for
future exertions against the enemy.
In accordance with Col. Campbell's
recommendations, the General Assembly voted
Lieutenant Hobbs a beautiful silver mounted rifle.
At another time, Col. Campbell in a letter
to the Governor, expressed solicitude for the safety
of Lt. Hobbs, and his men. He says: By
intelligence from Knoxville, the Uncle of Captain
Bench is out with thirty warriors to take revenge
in Virginia. The necessity of having some men on
duty near Moccasin Gap, the former place of his
haunts, and now we suppose of his avengers,
seems urgent. Were Captain (Andrew) Lewis'
company so arranged to cover that settlement,
and he be active in ranging the woods, it might, in
a degree, appease the fears of the inhabitants.
That part of Lee Co. Which turned out so cleverly
under Lieutenant Hobbs in pursuit of Bench is
altogether exposed; that is they have no part of
the guard on duty, nearer than forty miles. My
own conjecture is, that Hobbs and his friends may
be the sufferers. All late accounts say that all the
lower Cherokees are for war.
The following account of the killing of
Benge, related by Dr. James Huff, the last
surviving member of Hobb's party, differs in some
minor details from the account given above,
though, probably, not more than a perfectly
credible witness speaking fifty-two years later
might be expected to vary. The story was printed in
the "Jacksonian", a paper published at Abingdon,
VA, in 1846:
Mr. Editor: Having recently had an
interview with the venerable Dr. James Huff of
Kentucky, the last of the brave party that defeated
the celebrated Indian Benge and party, who gave
me the following account of that affair. That
sometime in the month of April 1794 just before
daylight, a man by the name of John Henderson
rode up to Yokums Station in Powell's Valley, now
Lee County, and informed the station that the
Indians had taken the wives of Peter and Henry
Livingston and two servants of the former and
also a black man from Edward Callahan, and that
the men of the station desired to fall in ahead of
the retiring party, as they were all well acquainted
with their route, and as was common in those
times the cry of Indians was sufficient to call to
arms, they very soon mustered the following brave
little band of mountain soldiers: Vincent Hobbs,
John Benbever, Stephen Jones, James Huff, James
Benbever, Peter Benbever, Job Hobbs, Abraham
Hobbs, Adam Ely, Samuel Livingston, George
Yokum and ______ Dotson, (4) who were all soon
equipped and on their march to a pass in
Cumberland Mountain, where they soon arrived,
but seeing no sign in the trace of the recent
passage of Indians they divided their company
into small parties, to examine the small streams,
which were thickly lined with laurel and ivy to the
Kentucky side, where a short distance from the
base of the mountain, one of the party, discovered
a small stream of smoke rise from the edge of the
laurel, and upon nearer approach, he perceived
through he dusk of the evening, that it proceeded
from the camp of an Indian, who at the moment
was stooped down kindling his fire, whereupon he
deliberately raised his deadly rifle, at the sharp
crack of which the Indian received a mortal
wound, and his comrades the signal that the foe
was found. They soon gathered and after
examination, pronounced their victim a
forerunner or hunter sent forward to prepare
provisions, so they camped by the dead Indian
during the night, at early dawn next morning
recrossed the mountain, ascended the valley,
marching rapidly to gain a position in a deep
hollow in the mountain, that they supposed Benge
and his party would pass, the writer has seen this
spot, it is one of those dark, deep mountain passes
where the ridge on each side seemed to reach the
clouds, and the center of the deep gloomy valley
below is covered with large masses of unshaken
rocks, filled everywhere with laurel and ivy, with
a wild furious stream, tumbling and rolling in the
midst.
In this dismal place the little band of
soldiers took their stand, determined to dispute
the passage of Benge to the last; and to rescue the
prisoners or forfeit their life in the attempt. For
the purpose of attacking the enemy, they divided
into two companies, and took their stations near
each other in the edge of the laurel, adopting the
following as the mode of attack. The first company
was not to fire until the rear of the enemy had
passed them and thus attack in front and rear,
while the mountain upon either side afforded no
possible passage for the coward or the conquered.
Having thus secreted themselves along the gloomy
gulf, which has terrors enough in itself to chill the
blood of the timid, without the excpectation of a
deadly foe, these twelve brave backswoodsmen
who were accustomed to the scream of the panther
and the growls of the bear, sat but a short time
calmly and unterrified in their hiding places, until
two of them highest up the precipe (V. Hobbs and
J. Benbever), saw an Indian and the wife of Peter
Livingston, marching down the passage, but none
of the rest of the party in sight, the prisoner in
front of the dark rough savage, the two soldier's
iron nerves grew stronger when they saw the fair
lady driven over the logs, brush, and stones by an
unfeeling savage, and each man cocked his gun an
crouched behind a large rock, and waited with
breathless silence the approach of the Indian,
which must pass within a few yards of them, bu
being desirous to know whether the rest of the
party was yet in sight. Benbever cautiously raised
his head above the rocks to make the discovery
and the keen eyed savage saw him at the distance
of forty yards, the rest not yet being in sight, at
the sight of the white man's head he stooped
forward and threw off a pack and made the dark
deep hollow rang with a terrific Indian yell, at the
same time making a blow with his tomahawk,
struck the woman on the head and she fell dead at
his feet; he wheeled and bounded off the way he
had come, the two heroes seeing their plan was all
frustrated, rose from their hiding place and
Benbever fired at the fleeing savage without
effect; Hobbs a celebrated marksman leveled his
piece an dheld her steadily upon a spot until the
Indian passed before his sight, when with that
quickness, with which the backwoods riflemen are
so wonderfully gifted he fired and the Indian fell
shot through the brains, and this was the
celebrated Benge. All the party then left their
hiding places and rushed foward to rescue the rest
of the prisoners when they found the Indians
striving to make their escape into the laurel, and
as they rushed upon the enemy who were striving
to get into the laurel with their prisoners, my
informant says he ran up very near the Indian,
who had the other white woman, and raised his
rifle to shoot him, at that instant he raised his
tomahawk to strike the woman, who caught his
arm and held it until my informant made several
attempts to shoot the Indian as he was dragging
her by the arm, but at every attempt, one of his
comrades would seize his gun telling him not to
shoot he would kill the woman, he then threw
down his gun, drew his butcher knife and rushed
toward the Indian, at that instant the Indian
having crossed a log, jerked the female against it
and extricated his arm and as quick as lightning
entered the thicket, but as he entered he received
the contents of another man's rifle, which sent
him bleeding to death in the laurel. The party then
collected all their prisoners and returned to the
tomahawked woman and to their great joy found
she was yet alive, and was shortly afterwards with
the other prisoners delivered to her friends to the
great joy of all.
I would pursue this narrative further, but
fearing this unvarnished relation would not be
worthy of a place in your excellent paper, I for the
present say no more. (5)
(1) McClain's Fish Trap was just below
Dungannon, near what today is known as Gray's
Island. Scott Co. Deed Book 3, page 300, dated 20
August, 1821, Simon Cockrell and wife Polly of
Estill Co., KY, deed 75 acres to James Fullen ont
he north side of Clinch River adjoining William
McClain and Jeremiah Herral, land including an
island in said river and a "fish trap", etc.
(2) From the description of travel of Mrs.
Livingston, after leaving Stony Creek the party
must have traveled through Rye Cove, crossing
Powell Mountain at Maple Gap, descending down
to Cracker's Neck, with Benge and party being
killed in the gap between Big Stone Gap and
Appalachia. Her description of travel will not take
the party across High Knob to the present Benge's
Gap near Norton, and, too, if Benge was, as she
stated making for the Cherokee towns the latter
route would have been away from instead of
toward the Cherokee Towns.
NOTE: There is no doubt that the Lee County
Court was in session at the time of Benge's raid, as
April is usually a court month, but it is the belief of
this writer, and, evidence points to the fact that
Hobbs organized his party at Yokum's Station near
the present village of Dryden in Lee County.
Hobbs had settled in Turkey Cove a short ways
from Yokum's Station in the year 1780, and the list
of men in his party are all men from upper Lee
County. Unless Hobbs had received word of the
raid almost immediately, and this is doubtful, the
distance from Jonesville to the spot where Benge
was killed would hardly have given them time to
make ready and head the Indians off, Jonesville
being some 25 or 30 miles away down Powell
Valley.
(3) The white woman was old Mrs. Livingston,
wife of William Todd Livingston, and mother of
Peter and Henry Livingston.
(4) All this party except Peter Benbever, Job and
Abraham Hobbs and Dotson were members of
Capt. Andrew Lewis' militia of Powell Valley in
1792.
(5) Draper MSS 26 CC 60.
NOTE: The name Benbever is a variant spelling of
the name Van Bever or Van Bibber.
Contact: Rhonda Robertson at: rsr@mounet.com
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