ruption of an
earthquake, when a volcanic explosion has given notice of its
approach;--rendered more awful by the uncertainty where its desolating
influence would be felt. It was however, a stillness of but short
duration. The gathering storm soon burst over the devoted heads of
those, who had neglected to seek a shelter from its wrath. The traders
in the Indian country were the first victims sacrificed on the altar
of savage ferocity; and a general massacre of all the whites found
among them, quickly followed. A young man, discovered near the falls
of Muskingum and within sight of White Eyes town, was murdered,
scalped; literally cut to pieces, and the mangled members of his body,
hung up on trees. White Eyes, a chief of the friendly Delawares,
hearing the scalp halloo, went out with a party of his men; and seeing
what had been done, collected the scattered limbs of the young man,
and buried them. On the next day, they were torn from the ground,
severed into smaller pieces, and thrown dispersedly at greater
distances from each other.

[114] Apprized of impending danger, many of the inhabitants on the
frontiers of North Western Virginia, retired into the interior, before
any depredations were committed, in the upper country; some took
refuge in forts which had been previously built; while others,
collecting together at particular houses, converted them into
temporary fortresses, answering well the purposes of protection, to
those who sought shelter in them. Fort Redstone, which had been
erected after the successful expedition of General Forbes; and Fort
Pitt, at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers,
afforded an asylum to many. Several private forts were likewise
established in various parts of the country;[12] and every thing which
individual exertion could effect, to ensure protection to the border
inhabitants, was done.

Nor did the colonial government of Virginia neglect the security of
her frontier citizens. When intelligence of the hostile disposition of
the Natives, reached Williamsburg, the house of Burgesses was in
session; and measures were immediately adopted, to prevent massacres,
and to restore tranquillity. That these objects might be the more
certainly accomplished, it was proposed by General Andrew Lewis (then
a delegate from Bottetourt,) to organize a force, sufficient to
overcome all intermediate opposition, and to carry the war into the
enemy's country. In accordance to this propos