The Slaying of John Douglas at Little Moccasin
Gap
By Emory L. Hamilton
From the unpublished manuscript, Indian
Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell, and Holston Rivers, pages
28-30.
This incident has perhaps suffered more abuse as to
correct date than any event on the frontier. L. P. Summers, in his
History of Washington County, has John Douglas and William Benham
chasing the Indians who had captured the wife and children of Capt.
Isaac Newland, near Abingdon in 1789, thirteen years after young
Douglas had been killed. Just what age John Douglas was when slain
is unknown, but he must have been a fairly young, unmarried man,
yet, old enough to have served in the militia as a Sergeant under
Capt. William Cocke, August 5, 1774.
Captain William Russell
Wrote to Colonel Preston, on July 7, 1776, saying:
Dear Colo. - I wrote you yesterday in great haste intendent to
send of the express immediately, but he, being disappointed, shall
enclose that one in this. I omitted giving the account of two men
(no names Given), being killed at Blackmore’s Fort last week, and
since I left Fort Chiswell, poor John Douglas got killed in Little
Moccasin Gap, on his way to Clinch. Captain Daniel Smith saw his
bones yesterday (July 6th) arriving over here.
As evidenced
by Captain Russell’s letter, John Douglas was probably killed either
on July 5th or 6th. Tradition has it that Douglas was accompanied by
his friend William Benham, and that they, as was customary of most
people travelling from Abingdon to the Clinch settlements, had
stopped in Little Moccasin Gap, and were seated on a large flat
rock(1), eating their lunch when a rifle cracked and Douglas was
killed. A bronze plaque has been placed on the rock, probably by the
D. A. R., and just east of the spot a wayside has been built, known
as the "John Douglas Wayside"(3), perpetuating the memory of this
incident.
It has been written that John Douglas was living in
the vicinity of Abingdon at the time, but of this I can find no
confirmation. He, at the time, was a young unmarried man, and his
parents, Edward and Sarah George Douglas were living on a 400 acre
tract of land on both sides of Clinch River at the Flour Ford in
Scott County, VA, where they had settled in 1776. The Douglas family
and that of Captain John Blackmore had intermarried. Sarah Douglas,
a sister of the slain John, having married Thomas, a son of Captain
John Blackmore, and Almore Douglas was married to a daughter of
Captain John Blackmore to the Nashboro settlement when he rafted
down the Clinch to that place in 1779.
There was a connection
between the Douglas, Benham and Hobbs families which may account for
John Douglas’ friend William Benham being with him at the time of
the slaying. For the foregoing data I am indebted to Gordon Aronhime,
of Bristol, VA.
A man named John Benham settled on the north
side of the North Fork of Holston River in 1769. William Benham was
likely his son. He, the elder Benham owned about a thousand acres of
land along the Holston River, about four miles or less below the
village of Holston. John Benham was evidently a brother-in-law of
the elder Vincent Hobbs. Benham had a son named Vincent, and the
Benhams and Hobbs lived next farms to each other, coming to the area
about the same time. John Benham (died 1800) had a fort between
those near Saltville (that of Jeremiah Harrison) and the Anderson
Blockhouse near Big Moccasin Gap. Benham had built his fort before
the Revolutionary War. William Benham married Mary Kendrick.
John Douglas had probably been visiting with his friends and
kindred, Benhams and Hobbs over at Holston, and was returning to the
Clinch, along with William Benham when he was slain.
At a
court held for Washington County, VA, on September 30, 1777, Edward
Douglas (his father) was granted administration of the estate of
John Douglas, deceased, with his securities being William Wilson and
Richard Stanton, the latter living on Stanton’s Creek, below
Dungannon, in Scott County, VA. The appraisers of the estate were
John Blackmore, Blackmore’s Fort, Andrew Davis who lived at the
mouth of Stoney Creek, near Blackmore’s Fort, and Alexander Ritchie,
Sr., who lived on Clinch River, below Dungannon in Scott County.
Who were the two men that Captain Russell says were killed at
Blackmore’s Fort?
Notes:
1. There is a large flat rock at the site
2. Another versions states: John Douglass, son of
Colonel Edward Douglass and
Sarah (George) Douglass, was killed by Indians while on a mission to
them from Colonel Anthony Bledsoe.
3. The plaque reads as follows – To the Memory
of JOHN DOUGLASS, scout killed by the Indians near this spot in 1776
while on the way back from Black’s Fort to warn the settlement of
Castle Woods of an impending Indian raid.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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