Cyrus Edwards of Horse Cave, Kentucky was author of the 1924 story "The Murders at Frenchman's Knob." The story is of the murder of William Smuthers and Gilbert LeClerc by Indians in 1782/3 in the "Barrens" of western Kentucky.
In the story Cyrus Edwards states about Henry Skaggs...
"...that in the month of March 1783 he (Henry Skaggs) was with a party of Pennsylvanians directing the location of lands in the "Barrens" south of the Big Barren River and southeastward of the present site of Bowling Green. One evening in April, two men, George Middleton and Richard Perry, arrived at his camp with a letter which stated that a party of of Virginians had arrived at Lexington with warrants for about one hundred thousand acres of land which they wished to locate, north of the Cumberland River if possible, and south of the Kentucky (then Virginia) line as the warrants were North Carolina, and as Skaggs had worked with some of the party previously, they wished to employ him as guide. The party would wait in Lexington, outfitting, until the return of Middleton and Perry, and would then try to join Skaggs in the "Barrens" if he would take charge of them. Skaggs wrote them to get an old friend of his named McGrary to guide them to his camp and to take the Pennsylvanian party back to Lexington. Middleton was competent and reliable; and been with Skaggs in that region previously, and knew the country well. They had come by a trail that crossed the Green River near Greensburg and crossed the great "Warriors Trail" (from KY to the Cherokee Settlement near Chattanooga) at the Big Blue Spring at the head of Blue Spring Creek, in what is now Metcalfe County, KY and they returned over the same route. Skaggs never met Middleton afterward, but met with Perry some 15 years later, and the meeting led to the discovery of a chain of circumstances which constitute an important part of the story of "The Murders at Frenchman's Knob" in 1783."
"Middleton and Perry made the trip safely and in good time, and explained to McGrary the location of the camp, and advised him to follow the Nashville trace to a point a little below Pruitt's Knob and NOT to try to go by the Big Blue Spring, as it was rainy weather and there were many creeks to cross on that trail but very strangely did NOT tell him of an adventure he and Perry had at the Blue Spring, the first account of which reached Skaggs some 15 years later."
"McGrary arrived at the camp in good time and took charge of the Pennsylvania party and guided them back to Lexington, and Skaggs led the Virginia party to the Cumberland River and down the same - selecting and surveying lands all summer, and about October he brought them to the settlement on Nolin, where some of them owned and wished to see lands that had been taken up several years previously. Here at Phillips' Station, he first learned of the Murder of LeClerc and Smuthers and met Madam LeClerc. She was overjoyed to find that he could speak her native tongue and gave him perhaps the first full and complete account of herself and her husband and of the circumstances of her husband's death. Skaggs afterward heard of her second marriage to Frazier, who was a friend of his on the Holston, and visited them once in the their home in Tennessee. Late in the Fall of 1802-1803, SKAGGS, who had then for years been making his home with my grandfather, in what is now Metcalfe County, KY returned there and spent the winter. He had been away since early spring and during his absence quite a few settlers had come into Barren and adjoining counties, and with them was an old trapper named (Richard) Perry, who had come from the mountains on Laurel River and settled about a mile from my grandfather's home. During the winter Skaggs got acquainted with him and soon found that he was Richard Perry, with Middleton, had visited his camp in the "Barrens" in the Spring of 1783. In some of their chats Perry told that on their return trip on that occasion, as they approaching the Big Blue Springs, about sunset, they discovered a party of about six Indians just leaving the springs. Four of them, driving two packhorses, were a hundred yards or more away from the spring on the southern trail while one, on foot, was at the springs and apparently assisting the other Indian who was mounted on the third pack horse."
"The two men knew at a glance that it was a raiding party escaping with their plunder, and (George) Middleton directed (Richard) Perry to shoot and reload as quickly as possible and said he would not shoot until Perry reloaded in case the party should show fight. At the crack of Perry's rifle, the Indian on the two horses fell dead, and the others of the party fled, but whipped up the two horses in advance and got away from them. Middleton then shot the Indian who was at the spring while he was running and barely out of range, but the shot failed to bring him down and he too escaped. The party had evidently expected pursuit, and thought that a large party was after them, and the living ones were satisfied to get away with what plunder they had and their lives, and doubtless made quick time to the mountains. The two men found what for them was rich booty - a fine young mare, two rifles, one of them being a very fine one; some ammunition and two valuable knives; and they found in the Indians' bullet pouch several dollars in money. The goods on the horses were such as movers of the better sort generally carried when emigrating - including some fine articles of women's wear - and were, at that time in Kentucky of considerable value. On talking the matter over, the two men decided that in all probability the persons from which the plunder had been captured were all dead and they themselves were the rightful owners, so they divided the goods and agreed to say nothing about the adventure for a while, hoping to retain the plunder, but agreed that if they should later find the proper owner to be alive they would restore it."
"(Richard) Perry, who was old now, was a rough, unlettered trapper, but not a bad man by any means. He cared for little more in the world then enough to eat for a day ahead, a hunting shirt, a pair of buckskin pants and moccasins, a coonskin cap, a rifle and a good store of ammunition, and a fine trap, and an occasional shot at Indians; but his wife was a woman of some natural refinement and taste, and hoped and struggled for something better in life. (Richard) Perry, in describing the contents of the pack, said that there were some "wimmen fixens" in the lot "the old woman was might'ly sot on and would not sell or wear em". Mrs. Richard Perry then produced the "fixens", which proved to be something like a women's undervest, with the upper part of the front and neck elaborately trimmed with lace, and fastened with silver clips, with a pair of wristlets to match which fastened with a small silver button. The material was of very fine silk throughout and the lace trimming was of the finest home-made, and the garment was evidently intended to be worn with a dress cut down the front so as to leave the trimmed portion of the vest exposed.
"Wimmen Fixens"
Skaggs made minute inquiries as to every article of the plunder, all of which had been used or sold except the garment above described which the poor woman (Mrs. Richard Perry) had treasured all these years as the one beautiful thing which came into her life, but she had not been able to get anything to wear with it - and he inquired as to whether there was any writing or papers in the pack. The old lady (Mrs. Richard Perry) showed a small pocket on the inside of the vest and said that there was a "letter" in it which she had shown many educated people, but that no one could read it. She produced the letter, which was written in the French language and in a good hand (but showing the trembling marks of old age in the writer), but was neither dated nor signed. It proved to be a short statement of moral and religious duties addressed to a young woman on the eve of her marriage, and appeared to be from a Priest to one of his parishioners."
"Skaggs, on learning all of these facts, came to the conclusion that the Indian killed at the Big Blue Springs was the one that was shot by Mr. Gilbert LeClerc near the Frenchman's Knob, and that he was sure that the garment described above belonged to his wife, Mrs. Gilbert LeClerc (the former Miss Vittorie Monet) Skaggs told Mrs. Richard Perry that he was sure that the vest belonged to a friend of his, but that if it proved to be so she need not be disappointed at losing it, for if it had to be given up she would be paid much more than the value of it, and paid in something she could use and, getting possession of the vest, Skaggs went the following Spring to see Mrs. Frazier in Tennessee. Mrs. Frazier identified the vest and the papers in pocket instantly, and after a good cry over them, she told him that it was part of her wedding dress-made with her own hands in France - and that the balance of the dress was among the goods captured at the time of her husbands' death. On Skaggs' return, at Glasgow - then a small village with one or two stores, Skaggs purchased materials for a complete outfit for Mrs. Richard Perry of as fine quality as could be had at the time in the stores of frontier, and paid for having the same made up in good style, thus succeeded in adding to the happiness of two good women."
"Sometime during the next summer, while Perry was again telling his story of the killing of the Indian to some admiring listeners in the presence of Skaggs, Perry chanced to remark that the savage had five fingers on one hand and four on the other, with a stub "where on finger" had been cut off or otherwise lost, showing that he originally had five fingers on each hand and stated he looked like an old man to be on the war path. On hearing this statement Henry Skaggs was at once to attention, for he, by this description, recognized the dead savage as "Old Cinquo" a renegade Creek Indian who had been expelled from his nation and taken shelter with the Cherokees, and whom he had known many years before as one of the meanest savages on the Tennessee River, and he well knew the history of the loss of the missing finger. Skaggs had now quit the land business, which was no longer very remunerative, as nearly all the good land was taken up. He was 70 years old but was hale and hearty. He had enough money to supply his wants for the remainder of his life, and some for the relief of the poor."
This story continues with more regarding Skaggs visiting "Old French Louie" a trader three-quarters French Creole and one-quarter Creek Indian who had purchased the plunder and the two pack horses that the Indians escaped with after their encounter with Middleton and Perry.
So, in summary, William Smuthers and Gilbert LeClerc were murdered by "Old Cinquo" in 1783 at Frenchman's Knob in present-day Hart County. Henry Skaggs didn't find out about the murders until 1798 and returned the stolen "wimmen fixens" to the remarried Mrs. Gilbert LeClerc.
Who was this Henry Skaggs?
- Henry the Long Hunter, hunter and settler at Pitman's Creek in Green County?
- "Hunting" Henry Skaggs, died 1851 in Grayson County?
- Some other Henry?
Thank you for writing this. I enjoyed reading it! -Donna
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