Lewis Wetzel (1763–1808) was an American scout and frontiersman. Because of how feared he was by the Native American Tribes, he was nicknamed "Death Wind". He stood about 5ft 10in with knee length black hair. He was an expert with a knife and tomahawk and was even deadlier with a black powder rifle, or musket. While running at full speed, Death Wind could load powder from his powder horn, a ball round and pack it, aim it and fire with expert marksmanship every time. Raised in what is now the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, his exploits were once hailed as similar to those of Daniel Boone.

Early and family life

Possibly born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1763, or on the South Branch of the Potomac River where his parents had moved before 1770, Lewis was the son of Mary Bonnet (1735–1805; daughter of Jean Jacques Bonnet, Flemish Huguenot) and John Wetzel (1733–1786; indentured servant emigrant from Germany's Palatine region or Friedrichstal, Baden, Germany). The Wetzel and Bonnet families moved to the Wheeling Creek area in what is now the northern panhandle of West Virginia by 1770, as had the Zane, McColloch, Eberly, Rosencranz and other pioneer families.

In 1781, Col. Daniel Brodhead reached the main Turtle clan village of Gekelmukpechunk, now known as Newcomerstown, Ohio. He requested a peaceful discussion between the main chiefs of the village and three were sent to meet him. He hoped to secure the villagers' allegiance and enlist new warriors into his campaign. However, Lewis Wetzel's younger brother Martin attacked one of the peaceful chiefs with a tomahawk from behind, killing him just as they had crossed the river. Fearing massive losses and an unplanned battle, Brodhead retreated and instead refocused his troops on their initial goal of reaching Coshocton. though his brother Martin survived his wound. At some point, the young man vowed to avenge his family.

Wetzel later participated in several military campaigns against Native American tribes in the Ohio region, and claimed to have taken 27 or 37 Native American scalps. He preferred to operate alone; military procedure did not suit him even while serving with the militia. He became renowned for an ability to load his rifle while sprinting (perhaps by using smaller shot than other frontiersman as well as for always holding a few bullets in his mouth), and which probably saved his life several times during raids although lead poisoning would have ongoing mental and physical effects.

Lewis Wetzel was implicated in the deaths of several friendly Native Americans, and he may have knived others to death as they slept. The most famous incident turning public opinion against him involved the Seneca Chief Tegunteh (whom American soldiers called "George Washington" for his upright character), who had traveled to Fort Harmar, near present-day Marietta, Ohio in 1788. Wetzel ambushed, shot and scalped Tegunteh on an isolated path; the dying chief survived long enough to identify his attacker. Wetzel readily admitted the deed on November 6 to Colonel Josiah Harmar, bragging “I´ll shoot ‘em down like the worthless dogs they are long as I live,” but escaped by sprinting away through the woods, and when recaptured two weeks later, clubbed his jailer with his chains and escaped again before trial; when captured in mid-December near Maysville, Kentucky and taken to Fort Washington (now Cincinnati), a 200-man mob led by Kenton threatened the peace and Harmar released Wetzel. The future President James Madison's brother John Madison died in an attack near the Kanawha River while on a seven-month expedition with Wetzel as his scout, and the same account claims Lewis and Clark asked Wetzel to join their expedition (although mentioned in neither their letters or diaries).

Either following a suspended death sentence for killing a Native American in 1791 or as many Native Americans left the Ohio Valley following the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, Wetzel relocated to the Louisiana Territory and eventually to New Orleans, where he spent several years in prison for counterfeiting.

Martin Wetzel's direct descendant, Robert Lewis Wetzel (his middle name reflecting this scout), of Clarksburg, West Virginia, was a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and Corps commander during the Cold War.

Among places in West Virginia, Wetzel County, West Virginia, is named for him or his family, as is the Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area. West Virginia has erected historical markers commemorating the Wetzel family near Limestone in Marshall County and specifically mentions Lewis Wetzel on the markers for Fort Beeler and Terra Alta in Preston County. An Ohio historical marker notes Lewis Wetzel's involvement in the Broadhead Massacre of peaceful Indians at the Moravian mission.

The Western novelist Zane Grey wrote about Wetzel in his books Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border, and The Last Trail. More recently, Allan W. Eckert recounts Wetzel's exploits in That Dark and Bloody River.

References

  • List of books and articles about Wetzel, from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History
  • "Wetzel: The Scout and Indian Fighter, Being the Life and Adventure" by Robert Cornelius V. Meyers (1890)
  • "Warfare Tactics on the Frontier" by George Carroll
  • Lewis Wetzel: Separating the Man from the Myth by Joe Roxby (1998)
  • Wetzel's Rock in Morgan County, Ohio by Rick Shriver