State County KyArchives News.....Adventures of Two Boys November 21, 1883
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Kenneth Stacy klstacyfamily@aol.com January 22, 2008, 8:30 pm

The Huntsville (AL) Weekly Democrat November 21, 1883
Adventures of Two Boys.
----------
Major Riddle’s Two Sons Captured and Brought Up by Indians
--------
  Stephen and Abraham Riddle, sons of Major Riddle, of Kentucky, were stolen in 
the early days of Kentucky by the Indians and carried North.  The youths were 
raised among the Indians and became warriors. Stephen married a squaw and 
became a chief on account of his bravery.  But Abraham was never anything more 
than a common, dirty Indian.  At last Stephen tired of his Indian life and 
longed to see the faces of white people.  He could remember his home in 
Kentucky, his father and mother and sister.  He was a powerful chief and 
commanded many warriors.  One day he called council and told his warriors that 
he thought of going to see General Wayne, then at Fort Wayne.  The warriors all 
declared their determination to go with him and they set off on their journey.  
They traveled from the northwestern part of Indiana to near Fort Wayne.  Chief 
Stephen did not wish to present himself suddenly before the fort with his 
warriors, for fear that it would create alarm.  He waited in the timber till 
one of the soldiers came out to hunt, and captured him.  He told the soldier 
that he meant him no harm and that he wanted to see General Wayne.  The soldier 
conducted him and his band to within a few hundred yards of the fort, when, 
fearing treachery to the fort, he ran away from the Indians and alarmed the 
garrison.  But Chief Steve succeeded in making the soldiers understand that he 
was friendly, and General Wayne, accompanied by a guard, came out to treat with 
him.  General Wayne expressed astonishment that he chief should talk such good 
English, and asked him why it was.  Then the chief told him his story and how 
his heart yearned to see his pale-faced father and mother.  General Wayne was 
astonished.  He knew Major Riddle, and knew that he had two stolen boys.  
  “Where is your brother?” asked General Wayne.
  “Here he is,” said Chief Steve, leading Abraham forward.
  But Abraham was an ornery-looking Indian, and General Wayne did not “take a 
shine to him.”
  “You return here when the moon has twice filled, and I will show you your 
father,” said the General.
  The Indians went their way, and the general sent a message to Major Riddle, 
in Kentucky, telling him that he had found his long lost sons.  The Major came 
to the fort.  His tow sons had been there several days waiting for him.  Chief 
Steve met his father with a dignified and chiefly air and offered him the pipe 
of peace.  The father recognized him.
  “Where is my other son?” asked the father.
  “My brother will not be here before to-morrow, as he is with the soldiers,” 
said Chief Steve.
  Abraham, in true Indian style, had picked up with the soldiers and got drunk 
on fire water.  He had thrashed every soldier in the fort, and it had been 
found necessary to “buck and gag” him to make him quiet.
  Major Riddle raved, and demanded that his other son be brought forthwith 
before him, and General Wayne ordered him to be brought.  When the father gazed 
upon him he declared him no son of his, and wanted to brain him.  But General 
Wayne reasoned with him.
  The two sons returned to Kentucky with their father, Steve taking his squaw.  
Steve was one of the soldiers in Fort Harrison during the fight, and he 
declared that Tecumseh commanded, and that he could have killed him if he had 
so desired.  Stephen afterward became a Baptist preacher and preached in Terra 
Haute in early Days.  His squaw did not take to civilized life, and he gave her 
ponies and sent her back to the tribe

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/state/newspapers/adventur477gnw.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/