89:(1763 – 1808) was an American scout and frontiersman. Because of how feared he was by the Native American Tribes, he was nicknamed "Death Wind". He stood about 6 ft with dark brown hair. He was an expert with a knife and tomahawk and was even deadlier with a black powder rifle, or musket. While running at full speed, Death Wind could load powder from his powder horn, a ball round and pack it, aim it and fire with expert marksmanship every time. Raised in what is now the
249:. He requested a peaceful discussion between the main chiefs of the village and three were sent to meet him. He hoped to secure the villagers' allegiance and enlist new warriors into his campaign. However, Lewis Wetzel's younger brother Martin attacked one of the peaceful chiefs with a tomahawk from behind, killing him just as they had crossed the river. Fearing massive losses and an unplanned battle, Brodhead retreated and instead refocused his troops on their
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234:), which the Wetzel men also helped defend in September 1782. Wetzel grew to some six feet tall, and became striking and very athletic, but some considered him socially inept, in part because he never cut his hair, which grew extremely long and was held in a ponytail as often also done by Native Americans. He rationalized it as expecting he would be scalped as he had scalped many. His varied skills in what is now known as
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Lewis Wetzel was implicated in the deaths of several friendly Native
Americans, and he may have knived others to death as they slept. The most famous incident turning public opinion against him involved the Seneca Chief Tegunteh (whom American soldiers called "George Washington" for his upright
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Wetzel later participated in several military campaigns against Native
American tribes in the Ohio region, and claimed to have taken 27 or 37 Native American scalps. He preferred to operate alone; military procedure did not suit him even while serving with the militia. He became renowned for an
189:) also led to attacks at Fort Henry. The elder John Wetzel, his son George and daughter Christina all died in raids in 1786, before Lewis Wetzel reached age 25, and led to his Indian-fighting career. Lewis Wetzel's older brother, Martin (1757–1829), a friend of Daniel Boone and
289:, bragging “I´ll shoot ‘em down like the worthless dogs they are long as I live,” but escaped by sprinting away through the woods, and when recaptured two weeks later, clubbed his jailer with his chains and escaped again before trial; when captured in mid-December near
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In June 1786, four of the Wetzel men were returning by canoe from a hunting trip when they were attacked by tribesmen. Although Lewis Wetzel managed to canoe beyond musket range (and was not wounded), his father John and brother George died before reaching
353:, at the residence of his cousin Philip Sykes, since a skeleton matching Wetzel's description including the long hair was exhumed along with a rifle and other equipment at Sykes' former farm. The remains were reinterred in the McCreary Cemetery in
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asked Wetzel to join their expedition (although mentioned in neither their letters or diaries). Either following a suspended death sentence for killing a Native
American in 1791 or as many Native Americans left the Ohio Valley following the 1795
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Native
Americans, and taken prisoner but managed to escape two days later. A bullet grazed Lewis's breastbone before his capture, but his captors were able to staunch the bleeding and lead the boys away. The boys managed to return to
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ability to load his rifle while sprinting (perhaps by using smaller shot than other frontiersman as well as for always holding a few bullets in his mouth), and which probably saved his life several times during raids although
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to protect settlers from Indian raids). Despite the hardships of frontier living, several Wetzel children survived to adulthood: Martin (1757–1829), Jacob (1765–1827), John and George (d. 1786), as well as daughters
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Goodrich (1767–1828) and
Christina Wetzel Wolfe (1759–1786). As discussed below, the Wetzels suffered many raids by Native Americans. Raids became particularly severe following the murder of Chief
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in 1788. Wetzel ambushed, shot and scalped
Tegunteh on an isolated path; the dying chief survived long enough to identify his attacker. Wetzel readily admitted the deed on November 6 to Colonel
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Accounts about his final years vary. He had no known children, although several of his siblings had children, and some were named in his honor. Most likely Lewis Wetzel died in 1808 in
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729:; after his father Tom Quick Sr was killed by Indians,Tome Quick Jr is purported to have murdered numerous Lenape, an indigenous people of the area-see Quinlan, James E.
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by 1770, as had the Zane, McColloch, Eberly, Rosencranz and other pioneer families. Such settlement had been illegal according to a treaty made by the
British ending the
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149:(1768) (made with the Iroquois, traditional enemies of the Shawnee and other tribes of the areas being ceded) led many pioneers to again try westward settlement.
201:. His younger brother Jacob Wetzel (or Whetzel), helped construct a wagon road into central Indiana after fighting Indian wars in western Pennsylvania and the
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411:. An Ohio historical marker notes Lewis Wetzel's involvement in the Broadhead Massacre of peaceful Indians at the Moravian mission. The Western novelist
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where his parents had moved before 1770, Lewis was the son of Mary Bonnet (1735–1805; daughter of Jean
Jacques Bonnet, Flemish
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Life and Times of Daniel Boone...with
Sketches of Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel, and Other Leaders in the Settlement of the West
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It should be noted the Wetzel was not the only killer of
Indians on the frontier A contemporary was named Tom Quick Jr of
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In 1778, Lewis, then 13, and his brother Jacob, 11, were tending the family's corn field during a raid by
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in 1774, and defended Fort Henry in 1777 and 1782, although one of his favorite frontier weapons was a
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and specifically mentions Lewis Wetzel on the markers for Fort Beeler and Terra Alta in
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while on a seven-month expedition with Wetzel as his scout, and the same account claims
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399:. West Virginia has erected historical markers commemorating the Wetzel family near
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731:"Tom Quick The Indian Slayer and the pioneers of Minisink and Wawarsink"
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reached the main Turtle clan village of Gekelmukpechunk, now known as
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368:(judge and newspaper editor) was one of the founders of the state of
904:"Wetzel: The Scout and Indian Fighter, Being the Life and Adventure"
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357:. Some believe Wetzel married a Spanish woman, settled along the
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The Wetzel family settled in a fairly isolated location near the
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History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of West Virginia
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Further Materials on Lewis Wetzell and the Upper Ohio Frontier
662:. Draper Society and Heritage Books of Bowie, MD. p. 10.
471:
Philip Sturm (2006). "Lewis Wetzel". In Ken Sullivan (ed.).
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Killing George Washington: The American West in Five Voices
674:"June 19, 1786: Indian Ambush Changes Lewis Wetzel's Life"
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Monticello, N.Y.: De Voe & Quinlan, Publishers (1851)
900:, from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History
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Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel, the Virginia Range
93:, his exploits were once hailed as similar to those of
305:'s brother John Madison died in an attack near the
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193:, helped his father fight Native Americans in the
644:. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates. p. 256.
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273:would have ongoing mental and physical effects.
342:Lewis Wetzel resting place, McCreary Cemetery,
177:). The execution of Chief Cornstalk in 1777 at
133:). The Wetzel and Bonnet families moved to the
916:Lewis Wetzel: Separating the Man from the Myth
515:"Natural Born Killers — Part I — Lewis Wetzel"
958:People of Virginia in the American Revolution
611:"Before Daniel Boone, there was Lewis Wetzel"
372:, but murdered by another pro-Union founder,
326:, where he spent several years in prison for
173:family near Fort Henry in 1774 (which led to
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395:, is named for him or his family, as is the
380:(his middle name reflecting this scout), of
707:"Scout, Indian hunter a hero to Virginians"
160:(which had been built at the confluence of
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968:People from pre-statehood West Virginia
898:List of books and articles about Wetzel
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109:in 1763, or on the South Branch of the
874:"Broadhead Massacre Historical Marker"
978:Native American genocide perpetrators
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494:"Lewis Wetzel, Dark Hero of the Ohio"
397:Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area
376:. Martin Wetzel's direct descendant,
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922:Wetzel's Rock in Morgan County, Ohio
906:by Robert Cornelius V. Meyers (1890)
793:(also bio by Carolyn S. Quinlan for
364:Another Lewis Wetzel (1825–1862) of
553:"Baker's Station Historical Marker"
181:(at the confluence of the Ohio and
139:northern panhandle of West Virginia
91:Northern Panhandle of West Virginia
80:frontiersman, scout, Indian fighter
788:. October 25, 1862. Archived from
566:"The Extraordinary Lewis Wetzel".
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953:American people of German descent
910:"Warfare Tactics on the Frontier"
678:West Virginia Public Broadcasting
529:"West Virginia History Volume 50"
415:wrote about Wetzel in his books
277:character), who had traveled to
983:18th-century American criminals
832:"Fort Beeler Historical Marker"
811:"Fort Wetzel Historical Marker"
589:. Ooligan Press. pp. 1–6.
391:Among places in West Virginia,
205:with Kenton and under Generals
853:"Terra Alta Historical Marker"
616:Potomac Appalachian Trail Club
479:The West Virginia Encyclopedia
433:recounts Wetzel's exploits in
355:Marshall County, West Virginia
107:Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
63:Marshall County, West Virginia
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963:People from colonial Virginia
782:"The Killing of Lewis Wetzel"
583:Paris, Anne Jennings (2009).
366:Point Pleasant, West Virginia
187:Point Pleasant, West Virginia
973:Wetzel County, West Virginia
393:Wetzel County, West Virginia
435:That Dark and Bloody River.
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318:, Wetzel relocated to the
743:Cecil B. Hartley (1860).
382:Clarksburg, West Virginia
474:E-WV | Lewis Wetzel
422:The Spirit of the Border
195:Battle of Point Pleasant
137:area in what is now the
37:Province of Pennsylvania
988:American counterfeiters
638:Ellis, Edward Sylvester
232:Wheeling, West Virginia
948:West Virginia pioneers
786:Wheeling Intelligencer
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211:William Henry Harrison
147:Treaty of Fort Stanwix
727:Milford, Pennsylvania
715:. September 25, 2008.
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143:French and Indian War
101:Early and family life
712:The Washington Times
351:Natchez, Mississippi
316:Treaty of Greenville
156:about 14 miles from
51:Natchez, Mississippi
918:by Joe Roxby (1998)
795:Marshall University
378:Robert Lewis Wetzel
344:Marshall County, WV
320:Louisiana Territory
291:Maysville, Kentucky
281:, near present-day
247:Newcomerstown, Ohio
203:Northwest Territory
145:, but the disputed
61:McCreary Cemetery,
693:, pp. 256–261
517:. August 29, 2016.
361:and died in 1839.
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175:Lord Dunmore's War
912:by George Carroll
799:on July 18, 2017.
533:www.wvculture.org
492:James B. Pierce.
452:C. B. Allman 1931
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943:1808 deaths
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879:January 13,
858:January 13,
837:January 13,
816:January 13,
622:January 13,
324:New Orleans
279:Fort Harmar
69:Nationality
932:Categories
769:Ellis 1884
691:Ellis 1884
538:2018-07-28
440:References
417:Betty Zane
299:Cincinnati
228:Fort Henry
158:Fort Henry
154:Ohio River
413:Zane Grey
401:Limestone
374:John Hall
255:Coshocton
185:, modern
658:(1994).
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386:Cold War
230:(modern
199:tomahawk
115:Huguenot
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223:Wyandot
171:Logan's
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