07/19/2025
Posted by Julene Shaffner
A Chenoweth family was one of the first settlers in Clark County, Illinois. And they came from Kentucky. He became successful and built a.large brick house in the early 1800s on the Wabash River east of West Union which still stands.. The Chenoweth name has faded from the county. This family is buried in the old section of the Walnut Prairie (Brick) Cemetary overlooking the river and about 1/2 mile south of the house. . Where they related to those in this story? I don't know but it is possible.This is an interesting story
July 17, 1789 - A large band of Native Americans, believed to have been Shawnee, attacked the homestead fort-springhouse of Capt. Richard Chenoweth in what is now Middletown in Jefferson County. Richard’s wife, Margaret “Peggy” Chenoweth, recounted a few days later the details of the attack. In turn, her son James Chenoweth, left this account:
“In a few days, Mother was strong enough to tell us of her dreadful experience. When the Indians broke in upon us, we all ran in every direction and Mother had started toward the spring-house, when she was shot between the shoulder blades with an arrow. She stumbled and fell on her face. The Indian followed her, and probably supposing her dead, drew the arrow out, putting his foot on her back as he did so. He then began his triumphant work of scalping her. He first wound her long hair around one hand in order to get a better purchase. Then with ‘the dullest and jaggedest knife that she ever felt,’ he cut the skin around her head just below the hair line. With both hands wrapped in her hair and with his foot on her back, he tore off the entire scalp, leaving her bare skull dripping blood from a thousand little blood vessels. To finish his work, he gave two blows from the butt of his tomahawk.
“She was conscious all this time, which seemed weeks to her. She suffered agonies beyond description without a shriek, or groan, or murmur. She wanted so much to live for such of her family might escape, so she pretended to be dead. She lay in this place until the Indians had left. She then tottered toward the spring-house, falling from weakness and pain from her wounds. She struggled on until she came to the plank which led to the door in the garret of the spring-house. Here, she fell, unable to rise and walk the little distance on the plank. She lay there trying to gain strength. A bright light, caused by the Indians’ attempt to burn the house, and their loud whoops, as they rushed about finishing their dreadful job, kept her conscious. … She suffered from her wounds for a long time but finally fully recovered. However, she was a curiosity to see without hair, or any place on her head for it to grow.”
Peggy Chenoweth wore a skullcap the rest of her life. Three of the Chenoweth children were killed in the attack and two soldiers charged with guarding the area were captured and burned alive.
Richard Chenoweth was one of the earliest settlers in the area and is considered a founder of Louisville. The family was one of a handful who arrived at the Falls of the Ohio with George Rogers Clark and began farming on Corn Island. Chenoweth was responsible for the building of Fort Nelson and another fort in the area. He was the first Sheriff of Kentucky County, Virginia and held the oldest commission as Justice of the Peace in what eventually became the state of Kentucky.
Chenoweth Lane in Louisville is named for the family.
For those wishing to know more about Richard Chenoweth, visit: http://www.chenowethsite.com/chfilson.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawLl2uZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFQTDVhc1lpUnJPMUxjb2YwAR6t_wlFvIwmC6z039NgdQ7JCLL64PLa7Yp87R2WoQXyaltNRk_m-V9yDJnLHg_aem_N6cQkBxww3mfKXNT9oxCfg
