s murdered by piece-meal; and with almost all those
circumstances of cruelty and horror, which characterize the savage, in
wreaking vengeance upon an enemy.

Cornstalk is said to have had a presentiment of his approaching
fate. On the day preceding his death, a council of officers was
convoked, in consequence of the continued absence of General Hand,
and their entire ignorance of his [155] force or movements, to
consult and determine on what would be the course for them to pursue
under existing circumstances. Cornstalk was admitted to the council;
and in the course of some remarks, with which he addressed it, said,
"When I was young and went to war, I often thought, each might be my
last adventure, and I should return no more. I still lived. Now I
am in the midst of you, and if you choose, may kill me. I can die
but once. It is alike to me, whether now or hereafter." Little did
those who were listening with delight to the eloquence of his
address, and deriving knowledge from his instruction, think to see
him so quickly and inhumanly, driven from the theatre of life. It
was a fearful deed; and dearly was it expiated by others. The
Shawanees were a warlike people, and became henceforward the most
deadly foe, to the inhabitants on the frontiers.

In a few days after the perpetration of this diabolical outrage upon
all propriety, General Hand arrived from Pittsburg without an army,
and without provisions for those who had been awaiting his coming. It
was then determined to abandon the expedition; and the volunteers
returned to their homes.[20]

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[1] Chief among the fomenters of disorder were the
renegades Simon Girty, Matthew Elliott, and Alexander
McKee. The dastardly deeds of this trio are fully set forth
in Butterfield's _History of the Girtys_, an important work
to all students of the annals of the West during the
Revolutionary War.--R. G. T.

[2] James Harrod's father emigrated from England to
Virginia, about 1734, and was one of the first settlers on the
Shenandoah, in the Valley of Virginia. One of his sons, Samuel,
accompanied Michael Stoner on his famous Western hunting and
exploring trip, in 1767; another, William, born at the new
family seat, at Big Cove, in what is now Bedford County, Pa.,
served with distinction under George Rogers Clark. James, born
in 1742, was twelve years old when his father died, leaving a