residence in it, for some time, insecure and unpleasant. Between
the Alleghany mountains and the Ohio river, within the present limits
of Virginia, there were some villages interspersed, inhabited by small
numbers of Indians; the most [40] of whom retired north west of that
river, as the tide of emigration rolled towards it. Some however
remained in the interior, after settlements began to be made in their
vicinity.

North of the present boundary of Virginia, and particularly near the
junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, and in the
circumjacent country the Indians were more numerous, and their
villages larger. In 1753, when Gen. Washington visited the French
posts on the Ohio, the spot which had been selected by the Ohio
company, as the site for a fort, was occupied by Shingess, king of the
Delawares; and other parts of the proximate country, were inhabited by
Mingoes and Shawanees.[1] When the French were forced to abandon the
position, which they had taken at the forks of Ohio, the greater part
of the adjacent tribes removed farther west. So that when improvements
were begun to be made in the wilderness of North Western Virginia, it
had been almost entirely deserted by the natives; and excepting a few
straggling hunters and warriors, who occasionally traversed it in
quest of game, or of human beings on whom to wreak their vengeance,
almost its only tenants were beasts of the forest.

In the country north west of the Ohio river, there were many
warlike tribes of Indians, strongly imbued with feelings of
rancorous hostility to the neighboring colonists. Among the more
powerful of these were the Delawares, who resided on branches of
Beaver Creek, Cayahoga, and Muskingum; and whose towns contained
about six hundred inhabitants--The Shawanees, who to the number of
300, dwelt upon the Scioto and Muskingum--The Chippewas, near
Mackinaw, of 400--Cohunnewagos, of 300, and who inhabited near
Sandusky--The Wyandots, whose villages were near fort St. Joseph,
and embraced a population of 250--The Twightees, near fort Miami,
with a like population--The Miamis, on the river Miami, near the
fort of that name, reckoning 300 persons--The Pottowatomies of 300,
and the Ottawas of 550, in their villages near to forts St. Joseph
and Detroit,[2] and of 250, in the towns near Mackinaw. Besides
these, there were in the same district of country, others of less
note, yet equally inimical to the whites; and who contributed much