Samuel Leiper

Died about Nov 1792 in Tennessee [uncertain]

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Biography

Captain Handley, when marching with his company of forty-two men, two hundred miles, for the protection of the stations on Cumberland, was attacked near the Crab-Orchard by a party of Indians, fifty-six in number, commanded by the Middle Striker. The party consisted of Cherokees^ Creeks and Shawnees. When the attack was made upon his company, a panic seized most of them, and they fell back. Handley laboured in vain to rally them. He believed that if this could have been done, the Indians would have been defeated. He saw one of his men, named Leiper, in a most liazardous position, at a little distance from the Indians, and unhorsed. Handley conceived the design of rescuing him instantly, by seizing the horse's bridle and running him to the place where he was, to give the soldier an opportunity to re-mount. In doing this, he ran too near the enemy, and his own horse fell under him, pierccfl with wounds. Handley was immediately surrounded by Indians, furiously brandishing their uplifted tomahawks, the signal of death or submis- sioQ. He jumped behind a tree, and was met by a warrior, who held over him a tomahawk, in the act of striking. He arrested the stroke, by seizing the weapon, with the cry •* Canawlla" — friendship. '* CanawUa" was responded by the Indian, who instantly began to seek his rescue. This he at length effected, by hurrying the captain around, till he brought him to the principal chief, where, for a short time, he was free from danger. While the Indian was thus drawing him off, Handley received numerous licks from other Indians, some of which seemed to be inoffensive, being made with the flat side of the hatchet. One was made by his own sword, from which he narrowly escaped. In another instance, a gun was fired at him, the muzzle not ten feet distant, which was only escaped, by some other Indians. Striking the gun upwards at the moment of its discbarge. The efforts of Handley to rally his men, and in labouring for the escape of Leiper, seem to have drawn off the attention of the enemy from his men, and to have concentrated it nearly on himself. Only three of them were killed. The rest all escaped. Poor Leiper was seen by Handley lying scalped and lacerated with wounds. He exclaimed, " dear captain," to one who could no longer command nor protect, who was hurried away by his Indian captor, and never saw him more. Captain McClelland was, at this time, at South- West Point, and, with his company of light horse, was di spatched to the scene of the discomfiture, to bury the dead, and to rescue the survivors, if possible, from their captivity, and cut off the enemies' retreat. The first report was, that Captain Handley was killed, as the last time he was seen by his men, he was fighting hand to hand, surrounded by a crowd of warriors. But the light horse, in pursuing the Indian trail, found that wherever they had encamped, there were left the fixtures used by the Indians in securing a prisoner. Along the trail, too, at different places, they found slips of torn paper, which, on being put together, were found to be parts of Handley's muster-roll, which he had considerately torn and dropped along the path, hoping there- by to furnish those who might attempt his rescue the means of ascertaining the route his captors had taken. The pursuit was, however, unsuccessful, and the light horse returned to South-West Point. Captain Handley was taken to Wills Town. On his way, he was confined carefully at night, and watched closely by his captors through the day. Arriving at the end of their journey, the Indians debated three days whether he should be killed or permitted to live. At length, he was adopted into the Wolf Tribe of the Cherokees, and treated like one of them, from November till March. Before his adoption into the tribe, he received repeated insults and injuries. He was made to run the gauntlet. Another mode of torture, was that of tying his hands and feet fast, and then hurling him over their heads, at the imminent hazard of dashing his nose and face against the ground. During his captivity, the Cherokees became tired of war, and requested....

He passed away in 1792.

Sources

• *https://archive.org/details/annalstennessee00ramsgoog/page/570/mode/2up?q=leiper

• McDaniel Family, some ancestors and kin has a a source The Annals of TN name Leiper as Samuel the page number was 571 not 517 as reported in the book. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/876820/?offset=&return=1#page=215&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=Leiper