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N0KFQ > TODAY 31.08.14 18:58l 58 Lines 2549 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 34836_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 31
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Sent: 140831/1655Z 34836@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
Aug 31, 1777:
Sam Mason survives Indian attack
Samuel Mason, a Patriot captain in command of Fort Henry on the
Ohio frontier, survives a devastating Indian attack on this day
in 1777.
The son of a distinguished Virginia family, Samuel Mason became a
militia officer and was assigned to the western frontier post of
Fort Henry in present-day West Virginia. In the summer of 1777,
with the colonies fighting a war for independence, Mason feared
attacks by the Indian allies of the British. He was proven
correct on August 31, 1777, when a band of Native Americans from
several eastern tribes attacked the fort.
The Indians initially fired only on several men who were outside
the fort rounding up horses. Hearing the shots, Mason gathered 14
men and rode to their rescue; this was exactly what the warriors
hoped he would do. They ambushed the party, killing all but
Mason. Badly wounded, Mason escaped death by hiding behind a log.
A second party that attempted to come to his rescue suffered the
same fate as the first. All told, Mason lost 15 men, compared to
only one fatality among the attackers.
Mason recovered from his wounds and continued to command Fort
Henry for several years. Following the end of the war, though, he
fell on hard times. Repeatedly accused of being a thief, he moved
farther west into the lawless frontier of the young American
nation. By 1797, he had become a pirate on the Mississippi River,
preying on boatmen who moved valuable goods up and down the
river. He also reportedly took to robbing travelers along the
Natchez Trace (or trail) in Tennessee, often with the assistance
of his four sons.
By the early 1800s, Mason had become one of the most notorious
desperados on the American frontier, a precursor to Jesse James,
Cole Younger and later outlaws of the "Wild West." In January
1803, Spanish authorities arrested Mason and his four sons and
decided to turn them over to the Americans. En route to Natchez,
Tennessee, Mason and his sons killed the commander of the boat
and escaped.
Determined to apprehend Mason, the Americans upped the reward for
his capture, dead or alive. The reward money soon proved too
tempting for two members of Mason's gang; in July 1803 they
killed Mason, cut off his head and brought it into the
Mississippi territorial offices to prove that they had earned the
reward. The men were soon identified as members of Mason's gang,
however, and they were arrested and hanged.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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