Monongalia County WV Archives Biographies.....Morgan, David 
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Alice Warner http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003503 June 16, 2009, 4:46 pm

Author: Virgil A. Lewis

/David Morgan's Encounter with two Indians/ is a record of personal heroism
exhibited by an aged man. In the spring of 1779, the settlements along the upper
Monongahela were comparatively free from Indian attack. Yet the families who the
previous autumn had taken refuge in the forts did not venture to return to their
cabins. Among those who had sought safety in Prickett's Fort—about twelve miles
above the present site of Morgantown—was David Morgan, a bold frontiersman and a
near relative to General Morgan, of Revolutionary fame. At the time of which we
write he was more than sixty years of age. Early in April, feeling somewhat
indisposed, he sent two of his children, Stephen and Sarah, to feed the stock on
his farm, a mile distant. Becoming uneasy at their long absence, he went in
search of them. He found them engaged in clearing a patch for melons, and seated
himself on a log to wait for them. He had been there but a short time when he
saw two Indians come out of his house and walk rapidly toward the children. Not
wishing to frighten them he called to them to go quickly to the fort, and
himself answered the whoop with which the Indians started in pursuit. The
Indians at once turned on him. He first tried to escape by running, but soon
found the fleet warriors gaining on him. He then turned to fire at them. All
three sought trees. One Indian, to gain a nearer position to Morgan, threw
himself behind a log, which only partially concealed him. Morgan at once shot
him, and again tried to escape. Running a short distance, he looked back and saw
the other Indian ready to fire. This timely glance saved his life. He jumped
aside and avoided the missile. The conflict was now hand to hand. The savage,
with a demoniac yell, threw himself on his intended victim. Morgan threw the
Indian, but the latter, younger and more active, turned him, and holding him
down, reached for his knife. He grasped it close to the blade, and Morgan
seizing the handle drew it through his hand, and thrust it into his enemy's
side. The Indian sank on the ground, and Morgan fled to the fort.


Additional Comments:
"History of West Virginia" by Virgil A. Lewis 1889


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