Saturday, February 20, 2016

Captives of Abb's Valley

In September 1784, James Moore sent his 14-year-old son, James Jr., to fetch a horse a couple miles from their home in Abb's Valley, in southwest Virginia. While on the errand, young James was kidnapped by a Native American chief named Black Wolf, of the Shawnee tribe. He was taken north to what is now Ohio, then sold to a French trader who lived in Canada.

Two years after James Jr.'s abduction, while he was still in Canada, Black Wolf returned to Abb's Valley and attacked the rest of the Moore family at their home. James Sr. and several of the Moore children were killed during the attack; others were captured, most of whom were killed later. Two of the abductees--a daughter, Mary, and a family friend, Martha Evans--survived the ordeal. They eventually reunited with James Jr. and returned to Virginia.

James Moore Sr. is my wife's sixth great-grandfather. His family's story is well documented. In 1854, Mary's son, James Moore Brown--yes, another James--wrote a book about the family's experiences, "The Captives of Abb's Valley," which I quote liberally here. Later descendants also wrote about the Moore family adventures; the stories have been included in historic accounts of Virginia; and they are even memorialized with a roadside marker near the site of the Moore home.

There are minor discrepancies between the various sources, but the basic story is consistent. It begins in the Appalachian wilderness of western Virginia.

Settlement

Abb's Valley is one of many in mountainous Tazewell County, Va., just a mile or so from the West Virginia border. (There was no such border in the 1700s; it was all just Virginia until the Civil War, when West Virginia split from the rest of the state.) Only about 10 miles long and half a mile wide, this tiny swath of Appalachia was named for Absalom Looney. He is believed to be the first settler of European descent to explore the valley, in about 1766.

Abb's Valley, Virginia (Google Maps, INEGI) 
James Moore Sr. and his family settled in the fertile valley about 1775 to raise livestock. He left to serve in the Revolutionary War, then returned to the valley, where his business thrived. "After having lived eight or nine years in the valley, he had nearly a hundred head of horses, and a large number of cattle, from both of which kinds of stock he made profitable sales every year," James Moore Brown wrote.

James and his wife, Martha Poage Moore, saw their family grow along with their fortunes. First came John, then James Jr., followed by Joseph, Mary (also known as Polly), Jane, William, Rebecca, and Alexander. Martha's brother, Robert Poage, lived nearby, as did valley namesake Absalom Looney. For several years, the Moore, Poage, and Looney families had the valley to themselves.

Cherokee and Shawnee tribes had once battled on this land, but had reached a truce and moved on. The Cherokees went south, while the Shawnees settled to the north, across the Ohio River. The Shawnees returned occasionally to resist the westward expansion of the white settlers. During such clashes, it wasn't uncommon for the natives to take prisoners.
"Sometimes the captives were adopted into a family of the tribe; sometimes they were sold to the French, or to Tories who had removed to Canada; sometimes they were restored to their friends by the terms of a treaty of peace; sometimes their relatives ransomed them; and some instances occurred in which captives became attached to savage life and savage friends, and remained with the Indians of choice, after the opportunity of returning to their relatives was presented to them." 
Enough of these incidents happened in the vicinity of Abb's Valley to drive away the Poage and Looney families. But James and Martha Moore stayed. Maybe it was James' war experience--he served as a captain and distinguished himself at the battle of Guilford Court House in North Carolina--that left him feeling well equipped to defend his home. At any rate, the Moores accepted the dangers of pioneer life.

Abduction

Black Wolf passed through the valley often, and in mid-September 1784, he and two accomplices were lying in wait when young James Jr. was heading to the former Poage home to retrieve a horse. James was feeling apprehensive, apparently because he had been up late reading scary stories.
"In this agitated state of mind he went forward until he had almost reached the field where the horses were, when Black Wolf and two younger Indians sprang from behind a large log, and yelling the terrific war whoop, rushed on him, and laid hold of him before he had time to think what to do."
The captors marched James north through the wooded hills. He tried to mark his path by breaking branches and scraping the ground with his feet, but Black Wolf caught on and shook his tomahawk at him. They headed for the Shawnee towns near modern-day Chillicothe, Ohio, about 250 miles north of Abb's Valley. After several days, they arrived at the towns, where James was traded to a woman in the tribe; Black Wolf received an old horse in exchange. James stayed with the Shawnee until the following April, when he was sold to Bateeste Ariome, a French trader who lived with his family in Canada, near Detroit.

Through a network of traders, James was able to get a message to his parents. This was their first news from him; at least they knew that he was still alive. James Sr. considered going after his son, but after much discussion he decided that James Jr.--strong, smart, and resourceful--was able to take care of himself. James Sr. was needed at home, so he had to trust that his son would find his way home one day.

James Jr. caught a lucky break with Mr. and Mrs. Ariome. He reminded them of their own son, who had died a few months earlier, and they treated him as their own. He helped out on their farm, and accompanied Mr. Ariome on his trading excursions. On one of these trips, about two years after his abduction, he met a Shawnee who shared the latest news from Abb's Valley. It was not good.

The Moore home, as illustrated in "Captives of Abb's Valley"
Massacre

In July 1786, almost two years after kidnapping James Jr., Black Wolf returned to the valley. He brought about 30 or 40 Shawnee warriors with him, and during the evening of July 13, they hid along the ridge overlooking the Moore home.

The family was up early the next morning; they were busy preparing breakfast, drawing water, and salting the horses while two hired hands were reaping wheat. The children helped with various chores. Since James Jr.'s abduction, the Moores had welcomed a new member to the family, the infant Margaret. Joseph was not there that day. He had taken ill and was staying with his grandfather Poage, who had left the valley. Two years earlier, on the day James Jr. was abducted, Joseph had asked to go with him to retrieve the horse, but his parents wouldn't allow it. Joseph thus escaped both dangers, and was one of the three surviving members of the family.

Just as breakfast was about to be served, the natives came rushing down from the ridge near the house, sounds of war whoops echoing through the valley. As James Moore Brown relates in "Captives":
"At the first alarm, Mary, who was calling to her father and the reapers, ran into the house, in which were her mother, Margaret, John, and Jane; and Martha Evans, a young woman from Walker's Creek, in what is now Giles County, who happened to be at Mr. Moore's at this time. The house, like almost all the frontier houses of that period, was constructed with a view to defence against the Indians, and was what was called a blockhouse cabin. Amongst other things, the doors were made of plank too thick to be penetrated by a rifle ball, and were furnished with strong fastenings in the inside; and the windows were were high and small, and could be secured instantly. In the confusion of the moment, Mrs. Moore and Martha Evans shut the doors and secured the windows, without it once occurring to them that they were shutting out Mr. Moore and the other children.
"As soon as he heard the yell of the savages, Mr. Moore started to the house with his utmost speed, and could have got in, if the door had been open; but seeing it closed, he ran past the end of the house, and halted for a moment on the yard fence. This halt was fatal to him, for he was pierced with seven balls. Springing from the fence he ran about forty paces and fell. He was immediately tomahawked, and his scalp torn off. Had he succeeded in getting into his house, the opinion of those who well knew him was, that the issue of the attack would have been very different from what it was. There were six or seven rifles in the house, and with the advantages which the construction of the house gave, the defence would have been such as to cost the assailants dear, even if it had not been successful. 
"The Indians said afterwards that he might have escaped, had it not been for his halt on the fence. Why he made that pause we cannot know. Did he think of some way to rescue his family? Was it only the promptings of an agonized heart without any definite object? We may conjecture about his thoughts in that bitter moment, but we never can know what passed in his mind. William and Rebecca, who had gone for water, were overtaken before they reached the house and killed, and another son Alexander, was killed nearer the house."
Things were not much better inside. A hired hand named Simpson was in the "upper part" of the house--a sleeping loft, perhaps, since he was sick--and was watching the attack through a gap between two logs when he was shot in the head, right between the logs. The rest of the family seemed to be in chaos. Martha Evans hid under a plank in the floor. Mary tried to crawl in with her, bringing little Margaret, who was crying. Martha objected, thinking the baby would give them away. While this was going on, the Shawnee warriors reached the house.
"In this trying moment, when two fierce dogs that had defended the door had been killed, and the Indians were at work with their tomahawks cutting it down, Mrs. Moore kneeled with her children, and having commended all to God, rose and removed the bars from the door; and herself and her four children became captives."
And so Martha Moore and four of her children--Mary, Jane, John, and Margaret--along with Martha Evans, were taken along the same route as young James Jr. almost two years earlier to the Shawnee towns in Ohio. They didn't all make it there. John was weak and slow, and was killed and scalped along the way. Margaret was also killed; apparently the infant's cries were too much for the captors, who bashed her head against a tree.

Once in Ohio, the women were separated. Martha Moore and Jane lived in one town, while Martha Evans and Mary lived in another. They saw each other often and, despite all, they still had hope that they might be rescued and return home. Instead, a band of Cherokees came to the Shawnee villages and, when they noticed the white captives among the natives, determined to do them harm. Their plan was to get the Shawnees drunk, then gang up on the captives and kill them. Some of the Shawnee women anticipated the plan, and took Martha Evans and Mary away from the villages and into hiding. Martha Moore and Jane, however, were killed. According to "Captives," they most likely were tortured and burned to death.

A few days later, Martha Evans and Mary were brought back to the villages, where they found the remains of Mary's mother and sister. Mary dug a shallow grave and buried their bones.

During Mary Moore's captivity, she was placed in the
care of a kind Shawnee chief. "He often called her
to read to him out of her New Testament; and although
he did not understand the language, it amused him to hear
her read." Illustration from "Captives of Abb's Valley."
Northward

In the fall of 1786, white men staged an attack on the Shawnee villages, but the natives caught wind of the plan and, before the attack, escaped into the wilderness. When they returned, they found the villages burned. Rebuilding was too big a task with winter upon them, so they decided to move closer to their old allies, the British and French settlers of Canada. They encamped near Detroit, which was little more than a trading post, and, once there, Mary Moore was sold to a British loyalist named Stogwell. Martha Evans was sold to a man named Dolson.

James Jr. soon learned that his sister was living nearby, and before long they were reunited. Her master, Stogwell, was a harsh man, and her neglected condition greatly upset her brother. He reported her mistreatment to the British officials, who leaned on Stogwell but allowed Mary to remain under his control. The effect was that her treatment improved, though not much. "Captives" says that Stogwell simply became "less inhuman" toward her than he had been.

James, Mary, and Martha were now living near each other, and though they often talked about returning to Virginia, they were still captives. Not only that, but James actually wanted to stay. The Ariomes had treated him well, and he seems to have developed feelings for their daughter, feelings that might have been mutual.

Rescue

In the confusion of that terrible morning of July 14, 1786, the Moores' hired hands, William Clark and a man known as Irish John, managed to escape. They split up to tell nearby settlers of the tragedy at Abb's Valley. Soon, men from neighboring valleys descended upon the Moore residence to witness the carnage and plan for their own defense. One of those men was Thomas Evans, brother of Martha. He decided then to find and rescue his sister. After meticulous planning, he set out almost two months later, in early September, with a knapsack, a knife, a tomahawk, and a pistol.

Through the fall and winter, he negotiated the complex network of traders and natives and finally, late the following spring, learned that his sister was in Canada. He returned home for money and supplies, and waited through another winter before again heading north. Finally, in August 1788, he found his sister at the Dolson home.

Martha and Mary couldn't wait to get back to Virginia. Despite his intention to stay, James couldn't bear to again be separated from his sister, so he agreed to return with her. In October, the party of four set out for Virginia, and despite many obstacles they returned home to Abb's Valley in the summer of 1789.

James Jr. decided not to return to Canada. He married Barbara Taylor of nearby Rockbridge County and raised seven children on the same land where his father lived. He died in Abb's Valley in 1851. Mary Moore became the wife of the Rev. Samuel Brown and had 11 children. She died in 1824. Joseph, the lucky son who missed out on the abduction and the massacre two years later, also married and had several children. He died in 1848. Thomas and Martha Evans also married and had families of their own.

"Captives"

Leonaur version
Ostara version
"The Captives of Abb's Valley" is available online as a free PDF from Internet Archive, and it has been republished in print by two different publishers. One is called "The Captives of Abb's Valley: The Massacre & Captivity of Settlers in Virginia by Indians, 1786" (Leonaur). The other is called "The Captives of Abb's Valley: A Legend of Frontier Life" (Ostara Publications).

I purchased both, thinking they might be separate accounts because of the different subtitles, but they are the same book. Each has its pros and cons. The Ostara book is typeset poorly in a sans-serif font and contains several typos, but the quality of the illustrations (reproduced from the original) is very good. The Leonaur book is typeset professionally in an easier-to-read serif font, but the illustrations look muddy, like third- or fourth-generation photocopies. Both publishers offer soft- and hardcover versions.

I have used "Captives" as the main source here, but I also recommend "Historical Collections of Virginia" by Henry Howe for a first-person account of James Jr.'s abduction. It is also available online for free.

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1 comment:

  1. karla l phelpsMay 4, 2024 at 9:47 PM

    hello James Moore b 1711 in ireland d in 1791is my 6th great grandfather his wife was Jane walker b in 1712 in ireland and died in 1793 in walkers creek VA there daughter mary Margaret Moore m Samuel Denton in 1750 at the home of Roger Moore

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