Thomas Glenn (pioneer)
Thomas Glenn | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1750 Pennsylvania, Great Britain |
| Died | September 1777 (aged 26–27) now Wheeling, West Virginia, United States |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Years of service | 1777 |
| Battles/wars | |
Thomas Glenn (1750 - September 1777) was among the first pioneers to venture into the
Thomas Glenn was killed in September 1777 at the Siege of Fort Henry from a thrown tomahawk into his back.[4][5][6]
Glenn's Creek, branched off the
Harrod's Expedition
In April 1774, a few weeks before Harrod set off from Fort Redstone, Thomas Glenn was surveying with a small party of seven along the Ohio River, led by Lawrence Darnell. They were captured by members of the Shawnee tribe and held for three days before being set free and ordered off the river, being told that George Croghan had directed them to "kill all the Virginians they could find on the river and rob & whip the Pennsylvanians".[8][9] Although not named in the letter written by John Floyd or Thomas Hanson's journal, Thomas' brother, David, was probably present as well.
Both brothers joined Harrod's party as he came down the Ohio River and were among the 32 men that came upon The Big Spring where they founded Harrodstown on June 16, 1774.
When Thomas returned home, he was imprisoned for murdering his indentured servant but acquitted and instead fined for "beating his servant ill".[3] He did not rejoin Harrod when he returned to Harrodstown the following year, although his brother, David, did.
Siege of Fort Henry
On the morning of September 1777, a few men were attacked outside the fort by a band of Mingo, Wyandot, Delaware and Shawnee, with only two escaping to give alarm. About 20 militiamen, led by Captain Samuel Mason, turned out to pursue the attackers but fell into an ambush of roughly 200 natives.[5] Thomas Glenn was marching next to Captain Mason and killed a native while Mason was wounded and had his gun damaged by the shot. Mason took cover, as did several others, while Thomas began racing back towards the fort with Colonel David Shepherd's son, William, and Hugh McConnell, chased by "seven or eight howling warriors brandishing tomahawks".[4] Glenn proposed they split up and angled towards the creek, while Shepherd and McConnell created a gap between themselves but still aimed towards the fort. Shepherd tripped and was killed by a smashing tomahawk into his head and scalped. Just before he reached the creek, Thomas was struck with a thrown tomahawk into his back and was hit again before he could get up and was likely scalped as well. McConnell was the only one who made it back to the fort.
In 1780, David, Thomas' brother, claimed his estate on behalf of Thomas' sons.[14][1]
References
- ^ a b Holmberg, Cynthia Brooks (1995). The forgotten frontier. C. B. Holmberg.
- ^ Mason, Kathryn Harrod (April 1951). James Harrod of Kentucky (PDF). Kentucky Historical Society. p. 233.
- ^ JSTOR 23377292.
- ^ ISBN 9780307790460.
- ^ a b Kellogg, Louise Phelps (1912). Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio, 1777-1778. Wisconsin Historical Society. pp. 58, 66.
- ^ "John Williamson, Revolutionary War Patriot, Indian Spy". The St. Marys Oracle. June 22, 2011.
- ISBN 9780811713894.
- ^ Louise, Phelps Kellogg (2009). Documentary History of Dunmore's War 1774. Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 7, 116.
- ^ Williams, Glenn F. (May 5, 2017). Dunmore's War: The Last Conflict of America's Colonial Era. Westholme Publishing.
- ^ a b Collins, Lewis (1877). Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky. University of Chicago. pp. 517, 624.
- ^ Charleston, Max. "The Oldest Town in Kentucky (September, 1929)". Mercer Online. Archived from the original on January 16, 2020. Retrieved Mar 10, 2020.
- ^ a b Lewis, Virgil Anson (1909). History of the Battle of Point Pleasant Fought Between White Men and Indians at the Mouth of the Great Kanawha River (now Point Pleasant, West Virginia) Monday, October 10th, 1774: The Chief Event of Lord Dunmore's War. Tribune Printing Company. p. 119.
- JSTOR 4241740.
- ISBN 9781351662611.