The Melissa Smith Simmons Family :Information about John W. Moore
John W. Moore (b. WFT Est. 1762-1801, d. WFT Est. 1804-1882)
Notes for John W. Moore:FRONTIER FORTS OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
By Emory L. Hamilton
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From Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, Number 4, 1968, pages 1 to 26
MOORE'S FORT, RUSSELL COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Russell's Fort Byrd was located in lower Cassell's Woods on the road leading to Dungannon, and is now owned by W. S. Banner and known as the "Sally Meade" place. This fort was built upon the land of Willaim Moore, who along with his brother, Joseph, settled in Castlewood in 1769, hence the name Moore's Fort. The Moore brothers assigned their land warrants to Captain John Snoddy when they left the Clinch and since Captain Snoddy was a militia officer and at times was in command of Moore's Fort, as well as owning it, it was sometimes called Snoddy's Fort. Moore's Fort was the largest and most widely known of the Clinch chain of forts.
No description has been left of the size or shape of Moore's Fort, but we know it had two gates, a front and back one, with the front gate opening toward the spring which one may still see by visiting the spot. This was the fort that sheltered Daniel Boone and his family after their return to the Clinch in 1773, when Boone's son and others were killed by the Indians on Wallen's Creek in his first at a Kentucky settlement. By petition of the people of Blackmore's Fort, Daniel Boone was placed in command of Moore's and Blackmore's Forts in 1774 as a Captain of militia and continued in command of them until he went to Kentucky in the spring of 1775 to found Boonesboro. While living on the Clinch, a son was born to Daniel and Rebecca Boone, whose name was William, and who died soon after birth and lies in an unmarked grave in the old Moore's Fort Cemetery on the brow of a hill overlooking the fort and Clinch River.
An amusing story is told of the Boone family while they were living in Moore's Fort by Mrs. Samuel Scott of Jessamine County, Kentucky, who was also at the time living in the fort. Mrs. Scott says the men had become very careless in guarding the fort, lounging outside the gate, playing ball and in general lax in their duties. One day Mrs. Boone and her daughter, Mrs. Hannah Carr and some of the other ladies loaded their guns lightly, went out from the fort, shut the gates and shot their guns off in rapid succession like the Indians. The men all scrambled for the fort, but finding the gates shut none could get in, but one young man who managed to climb over the stockage wall. So great was their consternation that some of the men ran right through the pond in front of the fort. After they were finally let in at the gates Mrs. Scott says the men were so mad some of them wanted to have the women whipped. (9)
We learn from the pension statement of James Fraley that Moore's Fort must have been Large - perhaps the largest fort on the frontier. He says that there was continuously some 20 families in the fort, with 20 or 25 men out on patrol as Indian Spys. Considering the large size of pioneer families, plus the militia assigned to protect the fort it surely must have sheltered from one hundred and fifty to two hundred people, and it would have taken a large stockage to quarter and shelter this number of people. (10)
Moore's Fort was attacked many times by Indians, and many settlers and militiamen were killed in and around the fort.
2. HENRY MOORE - I know nothing of a Henry Moore. It is possible that this name was Henly Moore who was a militia sergeant and who was in command of Glade Hollow Fort in early 1774.
5. WILLIAM MOORE - William and Joseph Moore, two brothers came to Castlewood in 1769 and built Moore's Fort in 1774. About 1780 they left the Clinch and settled at Crab Orchard in Lincoln Co., Ky. where John Snoddy was with them. It has been stated that the Moore brothers, the previously mentioned Cowan brothers were brothers-in-law. If so, then the Moore's married Cowan sisters. All these people were originally Pennsylvanians coming to the are from Augusta County.
31. JOSEPH MOORE - Joseph Moore was a brother to William Moore and together these brothers built Moore's Fort in Lower Castlewood in 1774, having come there in 1769. Both moved about 1780 to Lincoln Co., Ky.
Masscare of Captain James Moore and His Family in Abbs Valley
By Emory L. Hamilton
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From the unpublished manuscript, Indian Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell and Holston Rivers, pages 149-152.
Captain James Moore moved from Rockbridge Co., VA, to Abbs Valley in Tazewell Co., with his family in 1772. Prior to the massacre of his family his young son James Moore, Jr., had been taken captive by the Indians in 1784, and had not returned from captivity when the family wre so brutally massacred.
James Moore, was appointed a Lieutenant of Militia for Mongomery Co., on February 26, 1777, had a Captain of Militia on August 4, 1778. William Davidson says in his Revolutionary War Pension claim filed in Tazewell Co., VA, that James Moore was commander at Davidson’s Fort on Bluestone from 1777 until slain by the Indians. The Montgomery Co. Court, August 23, 1786, "George Peery appointed Captain in place of James Moore, deceased." The court on August 22, 1786, appointed Joseph Moore as Administrator of the estate of James Moore, deceased, with Andrew Moore, David Sayer, James Simpson and James Coulter, as his securities. On the same date, and with the same men as security he was also appointed Administrator of the estate of John Simpson, deceased.
Walter Crockett, County Lieutenant of Montgomery Co., wrote to Governor Patrick Henry, on July 21, 1786, (1) saying:
I am sorry to inform your Excellency that on the 14th instant, a party of Indians supposed to be about 40 or 50 in number, came to the house of Captain James Moore on Bluestone, in this county, and killed himself, and his whole family, eleven in number, and carried off his whole stock, which was very valuable. They likewise burned the house and fencing, and left several war clubs and arrows, and to all appurtenances are for continuing hostilities.
Another letter written by Alexander Barnett, County Lieutenant of Russell Co., VA, to the Governor, dated August 12, 1786, (2) states:
The late attempt of the Indians on Bluestone, when destroying Captain Moore’s family (which I expect you have been informed of), from the best account I can get, was the Cherokees, and not exceeding 10 or 12 in number. Upon receiving report of it, I issued orders to send out spys, three pair, one for the upper part of the county; one for the center, and one for the lower end. The two in the center, that went from Castlewoods, discovered a trace of moccasin tracks and horses that had sometime before traveled along the top of Cumberland mountain. They reported they followed them about 10 miles, still on the Cumberland mountain. They say the Indians, as they suspect them to be, had about 7 or 8 horses, and 4 or 5 on foot. It is assumed that they are the same that was at Moore’s on Bluestone, as it appears that is the number of horses taken from there at that time.
Pendleton’s, History of Tazewell County, page 451, states:
In July, 1786, a party of 47 Indians of the Shawnee tribe, again entered Abb’s Valley. Captain James Moore kept 5 or 6 loaded guns in his house, which was a strong log building, and hoped, by the assistance of his wife, (Elizabeth) who was very active in loading a gun, together with Simpson, a man who lived with him, to be able to repel the attack of a small party of Indians. Relying on his prowess, he had not sought refuge in a fort; as many of the settlers had; a fact of which the Indians seem to have been aware, from their cutting out of the tongues of his horses and cattle, and partially skinning them. It seems they were afraid to attack him openly, and sought rather to drive him to the fort, that they might sack his house.
On the morning of the attack, Captain Moore, was at a lick bog, a short distance from his house, salting his horses, of which he had many. William Clark and an Irishman were reaping wheat in front of the house. Mrs. Moore and the family were engaged int he ordinary business of housework. A man, named Simpson, was sick upstairs.
The two men, who were in the field, at work, saw the Indians coming at full speed, down the hill, toward Captain Moore’s who had ere this time discovered this and started in a run for the house. He was, however, shot through the body and died immediately. Two of his children, William and Rebecca, who were returning from the spring, were killed about the same time. The Indians had not approached near the house and were met by two fierce dogs, which fought manfully to protect the family of their master. After a severe contest, the fiercest one was killed, and the other subdued.
The two men who were reaping, hearing the alarm, and seeing the house surrounded, fled, and alarmed the settlement. At that time the nearest family was distant six miles. As soon as the alarm was given, Mrs. Moore and Martha Evans (who was living in the family), barred the door, but this to no avail. There was no man in the house, at this time except John Simpson, the old Englishman, already alluded to, and he was in the loft, sick and in bed. There were five or six guns in the house, but having been shot off the evening before, they were empty. It was intended to have loaded them after breakfast. Martha Evans took two of them and went upstairs where Simpson was and handing them to him, told him to shoot. He looked up, but had been shot in the head through a crack, and was then near his end.
The Indians then proceeded to cut down the door, which they soon effected. During this time, Martha Evans went to the far end of the house, lifted up a loose plank, and went under the floor, and requested (Mary) Polly Moore (then 8 years old) who had the youngest child, called Margaret, in her arms, (which was crying), to set the child down, and come under. Polly looked at the child, clasped it to her breast, and determined to share its fate. The Indians having broken into the house, took Mrs. Moore and her children, viz: John, Jane, Polly and Peggy (Margaret) prisoners, and having taken everything that suited them, they set it and other buildings on fire, and went away.
Martha Evans remained under the floor a short time, and then came out and hid herself under a log that lay across a branch, not far from the house. The Indians, having tarried a short time, with a view of catching horses, one of them walked across this log, sat down on the end of it, and began to fix his gun lock. Miss Evans, supposing that she was discovered, and that he was preparing to shoot her, came out and gave up. At this he seemed much pleased. They then set out for their towns.
Perceiving that John Moore was a boy weak in body and mind, and unable to travel, they killed him the first day. The baby they took two or three days, but it being fretful, on account of a wound it had received, they dashed its brains out against a tree. They then moved on with haste to their towns. For sometime, it was usual to tie, very securely, each of the prisoners at night, and for a warrior to lie beside each of them, with tomahawk in hand, so that in case of pursuit, the prisoners might be speedily dispatched.
Shortly after they reached the towns, Mrs. Moore and her daughter Jane, about 16 years old, were put to death, being burned and tortured at the stake. This lasted sometime, during which time she manifested the utmost christian fortitude, and bore it without a murmur, at intervals conversing with her daughter Polly, and Martha Evans, and expressing great anxiety for the moment to arrive when her soul should wing its way to the bosom of the Saviour. At length an old squaw, more humane than the rest, dispatched her with a tomahawk.
Polly Moore and Martha Evans eventually reached home, as described, in the narrative of James Moore.
It is said that Mrs. Moore had her body stuck full of light wood splinters which were fired, and she was thus tortured three days, before she died.
James Moore’s first home was near Natural Bridge in Rockingham Co. (VA). His wife was Elizabeth Poage, and his eldest sister married Major Alexander Stuart of Rockbridge. His cousin, Samuel Walker visited Southwest Virginia, and from his glowing reports, Captain Moore, moved with his family to Abbs Valley.
Martha Evans and Mary (Polly) Moore were ransomed in 1787, by Thomas Evans, brother of Martha. Mary Moore married Rev. Samuel Brown of Rockbridge Co.
(1) Virginia State Papers, Vol. IV, page 159.
(2) Virginia State Papers, Vol. IV, page 163.
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This file contributed by: Rhonda Robertson
INDIANS AND THE MOORE FAMILY
By Luther F. Addington
No family on Virginia's western frontier suffered more at the hands of Indians than that of Captain James Moore, who moved with his family from what is now Rockbridge County to Abb's Valley in 1772. "In September, 1784, a party of Indians entered the present limits of Tazewell County, Virginia and divided themselves into small parties to steal horses and to annoy the settlers; three of them came to Abb's Valley, in which resided Captain James Moore and a brother-in-law named John Poage. The Indians had been for a day or two lurking around, waiting and looking for an opportunity to seize horses or murder the settlers.
"These three Indians were Black Wolf and two youths about eighteen years old, one of them a son of the Wolf. While they were lurking around in Abb's Valley, Captain Moore one morning sent his son, James, Jr., a lad about eighteen years old, to a distant pasture to get a horse to take a bag of corn to mill. While James was on his way to the pasture, he was suddenly set upon by Black Wolf and his companion." (1)
James, like his father, was a hardy frontiersman. He was an expert at shooting as was his father who had shown his bravery and marksmanship in the Revolutionary War not long since closed.
Wolf told James to catch one of the horses, which he did; but, when the Indian insisted on holding to the bridle, he slapped the horse's withers and made him dash away. Unable to catch the horse again, Wolf made James start walking. The two young Indians went in front, Wolf behind, covering their tracks as they went.
When a short way out, James began to break bushes, hoping to leave sign; but Wolf surmised his intention and made him quit. Next James made tracks in muddy spots - he was barefoot; but the old savage noticed his tracks and, shaking a tomahawk, told him to walk outside the path.
When night came, Wolf left the captive into a laurel thicket, where his arms and feet were bound with rawhide thongs. Then, a long strap was tied about his body; and the other end wolf tied to his own arm.
While he lay there in the thicket, James wondered what was happening at home. Would there be a party trailing his captives? Wolf had been so careful to blot out all trail sign, it as doubtful whether his father could find the direction they had taken. But James knew he was young and strong and he could endure hardships and, perhaps, sometime get a chance to escape captivity and make his way back through the mountains.
At dawn Wolf started again, making his way to Maxwell Gap in a high ridge. In this gap, Wolf brought from its hiding place an old iron Dutch oven which he gave to James, demanding that he carry it. With a rawhide strap he slung it to his back without protest; but, when he grew tired, he threw the oven down. Seeing what he had done, Wolf ordered him to go on carrying it. Knowing that he must do as bidden or be brutally chastised, he filled the oven with leaves, put it on his head, over his hat, and resumed walking.
Some miles north of the gap when rain began to fall, one of the young Indians stopped James, removed the oven from his head, and reached for his hat. This infuriated the captive; and he struck the savage, showing he would rebel at any such robbery of his clothes. Then, the Indian made signs to his gun lock; and, learning that the hat was wanted to keep the gun lock dry, James handed it over. Then, they went on. When the rain ceased, the young Indian returned the hat.
The party traveled along the crest of a ridge which pointed toward the Ohio River; on this high ridge no game was to be found; neither were there berries; nuts were not yet ready for eating. Therefore, James, as well as his captors, became very hungry. But, Wolf knew how to relieve hunger temporarily; he skinned bark from a yellow poplar, took out the inner part and boiled it in the Dutch oven. This bark tea they drank.
On the fourth day out they killed a buffalo, made broth and drank freely of it. They took along some meat which they broiled next day.
Soon they were so far on the trail that Wolf believed they were out of danger of pursuit. Then, he slowed down, killed game and feasted on it until their hunger was gone.
Reaching the Ohio River, they crossed by means of a raft which they made from dead timber found in a drift. Once across, they went to the Shawnee town at the mouth of the Scioto River. During the trip James had suffered from exposure; he was wearing clothing fitting only for warm weather and the nights had been cold. He wore neither shoes nor moccasins, and his feet were covered with blisters.
At first, wolf did not take the boy into the Indian village lest the celebrating savages do him harm; Wolf wanted to keep him alive in order to sell him to become someone's slave. And later he was sold. Wolf traded him to his sister for an old horse.
Winter set in early, bringing a deep snow. During the while, hunting parties killed very little game; and it was necessary to live on parched corn. James, as well as the Indians, felt the pangs of hunger.
But endure the winter the lad did. All the while, he hoped to escape and return home. But, in April of the following spring he found that a chance to escape was made almost impossible, when his owner attended a festival with him.
At this festival a French trader, Baptist Ariome, decided he wanted him; and a trade was made. For a bundle of goods, the Frenchman bought him and took him to his home in Canada, not far from Detroit.
Not long after James was bought by Mr. Ariome, he met a Mr. Sherlock, a trader from Kentucky, who had once been a prisoner in this same tribe. Through Mr. Sherlock's help, a young man named Moffat, whose father lived in the same region as James' father, had been freed from captivity and was going back home. So, James asked Moffat to tell his father that he had been moved from Indian captivity to a white man's family in Canada.
Mr. Moffat took the message to Captain Moore, and it was the first he'd heard from his son since his capture.
Captain Moore Plans to Go Get James
Upon learning of James' whereabouts, Captain Moore began to make plans to go get him; but obstacles seemed almost insurmountable. Scheme after scheme was planned, but each one fell through. Yet, Captain Moore was consoled in one thing: James was now living with a kind man, so Moffat had told him.
Black Wolf Strikes Again
Time ticked along. Then, in June 1789, nearly two years after James' capture, Black Wolf with forty warriors started out to make another attack upon the Abb's Valley settlement. On July 13, just after nightfall, the party came to the vicinity of Captain Moore's house and lay in hiding through the night.
Early next morning two men, William Clark and Irish John, began reaping wheat near Captain Moore's home. Captain Moore himself went out to salt some horses. Two children, William and Rebecca, had gone to the spring for water. Another child, Mary, ten years old, went to call the reapers to breakfast. A boy, Alexander, was also outside somewhere.
Just then, Indians swarmed down from a ridge, some going to the place Captain Moore was salting horses, and the other surrounding the house. Upon seeing the onrush of savages, Mary ran into the house where her mother, Margaret, John and Jane were. Also in the house was Martha Evans, a visitor from Walker's Creek, now in Giles County.
The doors of the house were of heavy timbers, which a bullet would not penetrate; the windows ere small and high and equipped with heavy shutters. In the excitement Mrs. Moore and Martha Evans closed and barred the doors, not thinking about Captain Moore and part of the children being outside.
Captain Moore started running to the house and could have got in had the doors been open. Upon seeing the closed door, which he would have entered, he ran past it and stopped at a fence. Just as he paused, several bullets struck him; he ran a few steps and fell dead. Immediately he was scalped.
The three children, William, Rebecca and Alexander, who were outside, were immediately slain. There were several guns in the house; two of these Martha Evans took upstairs, hoping that John Simpson who was up there ill might be able to point the muzzles out a crack and fire at the savages. But upon gaining the upper room she found Simpson already dying, having been shot while he looked out a crack.
Coming down from the upstairs room, Martha raised a puncheon in the floor and crawled through the hole. Mary, who had called the reapers to breakfast, started through the hole also, the youngest child, an infant, in her arms. The child was crying as the result of a wound in its shoulder.
Martha told Mary not to bring it down since its crying would betray them. But Mary would not go down without it. Then, the puncheon was replaced, hiding Martha.
Fortunately, the child, Joseph, was away from home at his grandfather Poage's at Lexington, and thus escaped the tragedy.
The Indians managed to batter a door down, entered and took Mrs. Moore and her four children prisoners. Then, the attackers gathered up what spoils they could carry and piled them outside; but they did not immediately leave. Instead, they gobbled up the breakfast which was on the dining table.
The reapers had gone to the few scattered houses in the vicinity to get help, but the Indians seemed to know that help would not be here for some time; so, they went about dividing the plunder. Then, they killed all the cattle and horses, save three, in the nearby fields.
While this was going on, Martha Evans stole from her hiding place and ran outside opposite the Indians; in a nearby ravine she again hid, this time under a shelving rock on which rested the end of a log.
When the savages were about ready to leave, one of them seated himself on the log and began to work with his gun. Martha thought the Indian had seen her and was getting ready to shoot her, so she came out and gave herself up. She was not killed but was taken prisoner and made to join the others.
When help reached Captain Moore's cabin, the Indians had gone with their captives, so they buried the three slain children and Simpson; then, they departed to get a larger company of men to pursue the Shawnees. One of the men went seventy miles to notify Colonel Cloyd who was in command of the nearest detachment of militia. On the fourth day after the attack a company of forty men arrived at the Captain Moore cabin, found the body of Captain Moore, which the first party of men had missed, buried it and then started northward in pursuit of the raiding party.
Of the three horses the Indians started away with, one was a vicious young stallion called Yorick. No one had been able to manage him but John Simpson. On the second day on the trail some of the Indians who had been leading him decided to ride him. One who mounted him was thrown and stomped to death. A second young Indian who prided himself in being able to manage wild horses mounted Yorick, was thrown and while down was bitten and kicked until dead. Then, the vengeful nature of the savages asserted itself; and they shot and killed the unmanageable animal.
The terrain between Abb's Valley and the Ohio River bore an unbroken forest, and the journey brought almost unbearable fatigue to the prisoners. The Indians were always in fear of pursuit and the possible escape of the prisoners, each of whom they tied with a leather strap at night; and an Indian guarded each with the strap in his hand and a tomahawk within easy reach.
And on their grueling journey the Indians began to kill off the laggards. Little boy John was the first casualty. And Indian held him back out of sight of his mother, killed and scalped him and, then, took the scalp to show his mother what had happened. But this did not end the cruelty. The infant whom the mother had been carrying was one day snatched from her arms and brained against a tree and the body tossed out of the trail.
Eventually the party gained the mouth of the Big Sandy, and here they crossed the Ohio River and soon they were in the Shawnee camp at Scioto.
There was much dancing, singing and celebrating when the party entered the Scioto village with so many scalps, prisoners and plunder. But one old chief called a council and warned his people that they were making a mistake by plundering the homes of the settlers on Virginia's frontier. Such might bring war with the whites, and their own country would be invaded. But the plunderers disagreed with him, shook their heads and went away in sullen silence.
In a few days the captives were separated, Martha Evans and Mary were taken to one village, Mrs. Evans and her daughter Jane to another. Their being allowed to stay two together gave them some comfort. Mrs. Moore in one camp and Martha Evans in another, talked with the younger ones about possible rescue or escape; but the days came and went and no hope came.
One day there came into the two villages a party of Cherokees who had attacked settlers in western Pennsylvania and had been routed. Still bitter from the defeat, they saw the white captives and at once threatened to kill them just to avenge their hatred of whites.
They planned to get the Shawnees drunk and then persuade them to kill their captives. But some of the squaws heard the plotting and stole Martha and Mary away and hid them until the Cherokees left. However, Mrs. Moore and little Jane were not so fortunate; they were put to death, but just how, history does not record.
Afterwards, when Martha and Mary were brought to the village where her mother and Jane had been left, they were shown an ash heap in which lay human bones. Mary inquired about Jane and her mother; and no one would tell her anything, so she felt certain that they had bene burned. Although Mary was then but ten years old, she secured an old hoe from the Indians, dug a hole and buried the bones.
Then, there were just Martha and Mary left among the savages. They wondered what would become of them. Mary knew that in Canada far to the north she had a brother, James; but would she ever see him?
Whites Make a Raid on Shawnee Villages
Late in the autumn of 1786 a party of whites made an excursions into Shawnee territory, destroying villages as they went. Those of Mary and Martha's village heard about the approaching whites and decided they most move out. Knowing that they were going to move, Martha Evans wrote words on trees and rocks which she thought the invading whites might see, and pursue and thereby rescue her and Mary.
But nothing came of the written words. The white men came and burned the villages and went back east. They, like the Shawnees in their attacks on the Virginia frontier, settled nothing; they merely aroused the savages to a greater state of fury. Upon their return to the vacant towns, the Indians found that they had neither shelter nor food. Therefore, there was nothing left for them to do but travel north into Canada and hope to find shelter and food among the French whom they had once aided in war.
Already winter was upon them, and they must move as fast as possible. Immediately they set out on the long journey. Everyone was poorly clad, and each suffered from cold. Oftentimes the squaws cut down huckleberry bushes, boiled the twigs and the members of the party drank the water.
Despite the hardships they encountered December found the Shawnee refugees in Detroit, from which place they crossed over into Canada and spent the winter on the peninsula between Detroit and Lake Erie.
Here during a frolic, when most of the Indians got drunk, Mary was sold for a few gallons of rum to an unscrupulous man named Stogwell, who had been a Tory in the Revolution and had escaped to Canada to save his life.
Martha Evans was bought by a man by the name of Caldwell, who also was an unprincipled man. Fortunately for her, though, she was traded to an Englishman named Dolson, a wealthy and quite respectable man.
James Finds His Sister
In the family of Mr. Ariome, James had been treated as one of the family. Also, Mr. Ariome told him not to give up his idea of returning to his home in Abb's Valley. On one of his trips he had learned, through a Shawnee hunter who had been in the party which made the attack on his father, what had happened at his old cabin home.
And the winter afterwards he learned that his sister Mary and Martha Evans were in Canada. He at once made plans to visit Mary, but she was sixty miles away; the winter was cold and traveling was hazardous.
Then, one day he chanced to meet Mr. Stogwell who now owned Mary. He told the Englishman that he wanted to see his sister and meant to set out on a journey for that purpose. Mr. Stogwell told him that after winter was over he would move to the same community in which
More About John W. Moore and Margaret Ross:
Marriage: WFT Est. 1786-18392291
Children of John W. Moore and Margaret Ross are: