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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.
��the weeds that grew hixuriantly around the base of the hill, it was found that they had retreated around the southern brow of the bluff, gone up a ravine about a quarter of a mile away, and fled in the direction of Quaker Springs, in Vermillion Township, and hence pursuit was abandoned.
Mr. Copus and the murdered soldiers were buried bj' the command in one grave, at the foot of an apple-tree, a few yards south of the cabin, where their bones yet repose. Capt. Martin then took the famil}^ and wounded, and began his march to the block-house. Proceed- ing up the valley about half a mile, they halted for the night, placing pickets about the camp to prevent surprise. In all, there were about one hundred persons in this camp that night. The wounded were carried on poles, over which linen sheets had been sewed, making a sort of stretcher. The next morning the little armj' passed up the trail, near the deserted cabin of Martin Kuffner ; crossing the Black Fork about where the State road is now located ; that being the route by which Martin had advanced. The whole party reached the block-house in safety that evening. About six weeks after this, Henry Copus and five or six soldiers returned to the cabin, and, on their wa}', found Mr. War- nock leaning against a tree, as before stated, dead. They buried him near by. The two dead Indians, the one in the front yard and the one at the foot of the hill below the oak, were still there, and were, doubtless, afterward devoured l)y wolves.
Thus ends the last tragedy of the Grreentown Indians. Their reasons for killing the Zimmer family have been noticed. Their reasons for killing Mr. Copus probably were that he had been instrumental in getting them removed ; that is, feai-ing bloodshed, he had used his influ- ence to get them away peaceably, on promise that their property should be protected. Find- ing their village destroyed, they entertained bitter and revengeful feelings toward Mr. Copus.
��As to the number of Indians engaged, nothing whatever is known. It was found on examina- tion of the neighborhood of the Copus cabin, that forty-five fires had been kindled, just south of the corn-field, near where Sarah had seen the Indian. These fires had been kindled in small holes, scooped out of the ground to prevent their being seen. Mrs. Vail thought the Indians had feasted on roasted corn the even- ing before the attack. Some writers upon this subject have inferred from the number of fires that there were forty-five Indians engaged in the attack. This reasoning is erroneous, as Indians have frequently lieen known to build fires for the purpose of deceiving their enemies ; and, on the other hand, half a dozen Indians might have used one fire.
Mrs. Copus and her fixmily were removed to Guernsey County, Ohio, by Joseph Archer and Gleorge Carroll. They were hauled through the forest to Clinton, Newark, Zanesville and Cam- bridge, by a yoke of cattle, in an ordinary cart. The journey consumed many days, during which most of the family were compelled, on little food, to walk over a rough path, wade small streams, encamp by the waj^side, and al- ways in fear of being pursued and captured by the savages. They returned in 1815, and found their cabin as they had left it. A few of the Greentown Indians had also returned and re- erected their cabins, but peace had come by that time, and changed, somewhat, the savage nature of their Indian neighbors, with whom they ever after lived in peace and friendship.
There are yet a few mementos of that battle on the Black Fork remaining. A single log of the old cabin remains, and is doing duty in a smokehouse on the premises. The oak, behind which the Indian was shot, still stands on the hillside, its top partly dead. A neat frame house stands a few feet west of where the cabin stood, and is oc- cupied by Mr. John W. Vail. The spot is a lovel}' one. To the east, the steep, precipitous
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