In June of 1780 (there are different accounts, but June 24 and 26 seemt o be the most accepted dates) Indians attacked Ruddle's Fort, thenMart in's Fort under the direction of British officer Capt. Bird. Thatarea ( Kentucky) was in 1780 a part of Virginia. Some of the people(including w omen and children) were killed right there, the otherswere taken capti ve and taken to Fort Detroit, Canada. Many peopledied onthe way to Can ada.
From The Captives of Ruddell's and Martin's Forts:
Link, John Sr (abt 1742-----) Son of John and Margaret (Zumwalt)Link, n atives of Germany, and he was born about 1742. John's fatherwas killed b y the Indians at Link's blockhouse, PA in 1781. The Linkfamily was sen t from Detroit to Montreal by order of Arent SchuylerDe Peyster on May 1 6, 1782. John appeared on a prisoner return datedNovember 3, 1782 wher e it mentioned that he "remains on an island atCoteau du Lac where he h as obtained permission to build a house."
And from Rebel Prisoners at Quebec 1778-1783:
P 299 Return of Prisoners who have requested leave to remain in thePr ovince; Quebec Nov.3 1782
Jno Link: remains on an island at Coteau du Lac where he has obtainedp ermission to build a house taken at Kentuck, Virginia 24 June 1780.
P 329 Return of American prisoners forwarded from Ticonderoga totheir r espective States, July 18, 1783 by order of His ExcellencyGeneral Hald ermand..
(Ed. Note: The original of this list also enumerates the rationsprovi ded to each prisoner. These vary from _for toddlers, to _ forchildren a nywhere from 5-18, and full for most male adults. Mostfemale adults r eceived_ ration. There is enough variation to suggestthat height and w eight may have been taken into consideration.)
Name Province Return to Date Taken Prisoner Age
Jno Link VA Cantuck June 80 Licking Creek3 4
Margt Link Va ditto ditto 3 6
Jno Link Jr VA ditto ditto 1 3
Caty Link VA ditto ditto 1 0
Molly Link VA ditto ditto 8
Sarah Link VA ditto ditto 6
A Berry Family letter related details of that experience:
Dear George: Your papa's grandfather and grandmother, John and NellieD uncan, and grandfather and grandmother, Frank and Sally Berry movedfro m Virginia during the Revolutionary War to Kentucky. I don't knowjust w here, but it was somewhere in the best part of the state. Therewas qui te a little colony of them but I do not know the names of anyexcept th ese families. They took up claims of land and complied withwhat was ne cessary to secure their claims. I don't know what it wasnor how long t hey had been there til they were compelled to move forsafety to a fort o r blockhouse where they were taken by Britishofficers and soldiers who h ad Indians with them to whom the Britishgave all their household goods e xcept two suits of clothes and twoblankets to each man and the same to e ach woman.
I remember hearing my grandmother tell how the Indians would toss thep illows in the air after they had ripped the ticking to make thefeather s fly in the wind and how they would laugh. They wanted thecloth but n ot the feathers.
They then started on their march to Detroit, where they stayed awhilea nd then on to Montreal where they stayed until peace was declared.They w ere liberated to get back as best they could. There was onefamily alon g who had a young woman, a daughter who complained of atoothache for s ome weeks. When someone examined her mouth, they founda cancer had eat en through her cheek, all but the skin. She died soonafter and the off icers only allowed them to stop long enough to pileup a few rocks on h er body. Charles Gatliffe was the father's name.He came back to Kentuc ky and I saw him after he was eighty years ofage. I also saw two of hi s daughters, Betsy Martin and Sally Feris. Ialso saw his sons, Moses, A aron, Reece, Jim and Cornelius. I supposeJoe remembers having seen one o f his grandsons, Charles Gatliffe, whomoved to Missouri a short time b efore we left Iowa for Princeton. Hiswife was papa's cousin, Polly Ear ly, and your Uncle Harvey Greenmarried their daughter, Lillian.
I heard my grandmother say she saw the Indians kill two children. Itwa s very cold for part of their journey and once when a great fire oflog s was burning where they camped, an Indian picked up a child thatwas s tanding near and threw it on the fire. No one dared to try toget it ou t. On another occasion, a woman was carrying a little babeand she was a lmost exhausted when an Indian jerked it from her armsand thrust his t omahawk in its head and threw the child to one sideof the road and dro ve her on.
While they were in Montreal, the men were made to repair the Englishsh ips and the women cooked and washed for the English officers. Onone oc casion, the men found a case of wine on the ship and drank thewine. Th e officers put them in prison or the guard house and mygrandmother Ber ry went to the guard house and begged for theirrelease until they were r eleased. I don't know what their punishmentwould have been.
I don't know if any of the young men were put on the English ships tom ake them fight against their own country or not. Your GrandfatherDunca n and four other young men were going to be put on a man-of-warin the m orning and your grandfather's oldest sister baked bread andfixed up so me provisions. They stole a canoe and crossed the St.Lawrence to the A merican side and got away. They traveled through thehostile Indian cou ntry til they reached the settlement inPennsylvania. On the outskirts o f the settlement they found adeserted place, an iron pot, and a potato p atch. I heard your fathertell how they boiled potatoes and ate with su ch appetites. YourGrandmother Duncan told me that their friends did no t know, til afterpeace and they returned from Montreal whether these y oung men weredrowned in the St. Lawrence, whether they were killed by I ndians,whether they were lost in the wilderness and perished, or wheth erthey were safe. She did not know the name of a single one of her husband's companions and I never heard her say who they were. I am sorryI d id not ask your Uncle Harve Duncan for he may have known. I do notknow w hether there was any fighting at the fort or not in Kentucky orwhether t hey surrendered to the greater number without fighting.
All the way, I can approximate the time they moved from Virginia toKen tucky. My Grandfather Berry fought in the battle at King'sMountain and h e was also a scout before they moved to Kentucky. Aftermy papa got to p racticing law, he got a pension from a DuncanMcFarland who was a scout w ith my grandfather. I remember how thehair seemed to stand on my head a s I lay in my trundle bed andlistened to McFarland tell papa of their e xploits. At one time, heand a Charlie Miller ran with the Indians afte r them thirty miles toa blockhouse.
As the prisoners were leaving Canada, they crossed some lake in a shipw hich was very crowded and manned by French-Canadian sailors. A stormar ose and the sailors got frightened and quit work. They started topray a nd cross themselves when an Englishman, perhaps an officer cameon them a nd cursed and swore and ripped and tore around and kickedthem and made t hem get to work. Finally, they got safely to land. Iremember hearing g randfather tell of hearing his father laughingabout it. Grandmother sa id there were piles of feathers-floating inthe eddies of the lake shor e that looked like white houses; theshedding of many waterfowls on the l ake.
My Uncle Lewis Berry was born in Montreal. He died in the AmericanArmy i n the War of 1812. As our ancestors were coming home, theypassed the N iagara Falls. All heard its roar and some of the men wentto see it but t he women and children were too weary to go. They wentback to Kentucky t o where they had been captured and found men ontheir claims. Both your g reat grandfathers, John Duncan and FrankBerry, sued at law for their c laims but lost their suit. Berry's longtongue made him say the judge w as a perjured scoundrel. The judgesued him for slander and got judgeme nt for eight hundred dollars.
Then, the poor-weary souls went back to Virginia where they had livedb efore they went to Kentucky and raised their families there."
