John Van Cleave ¹

  General Notes:

The following is from the web page of, "The Order of the Indian Wars of the United States", located at, http://www.oiwus.org/oiwus_web_site_026.htm

In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed the trail into Kentucky, built the Wilderness Road and founded Fort Boonesborough. It was not long, that with his brothers, Ben, Billy, and Ralph: John Van Cleave was one of the early settlers of Ft. Boonesborough, Kentucky, then part of the State of Virginia. By 1779, the Van Cleaves had settled in Painted Stone Station, which was established by Daniel's brother, Squire Boone. Squire Boone was the husband of Jane Van Cleave who was a sister to the Brothers.

During the Revolutionary period, 1775 - 1782, the Indians of the Kentucky Frontier and the Old Northwest Territory sided with the British against the American Colonists. The Indians constantly harassed the settlers such as the Van Cleaves with a brand of terrorism that made settling the frontier for only the steadfast of families. Captain Bland W. Ballard of Lynn Station discovered Indian war parties approaching settlements in the region. Ballard raced from station to station alarming the settlers of the impending danger. Like most settlers of the area, the families of Painted Stone Station decided to temporarilly move to Lynn Station to unite themselves against the enemy.
For reasons of safety it was decided to split the settlers into two groups of families and move the groups one at a time. Accompanied by Capt. Ballard, the first set of families began the move on September 14th, 1781. Included in that first group was John Van Cleave and his family which was made up of his wife, Mary Shepherd and their children, Rachel 19, Leah 17, John Jr. 15, Aaron 11, Benjamin 9, Elizabeth 7 and twin girls Nancy and Sally 2. As the settlers approached the Long Run tributary they were ambushed by Miamis & Herons, Commanded by British Captain Alexander McKee. The first attack came on the front with musket fire from the Indians, which lured Capt. Ballard and the men in pursuit of the Indians and away from the main party. With the majority of the men concentrating on the front, the Savages rushed the main party of settlers from the exposed rear. Mary was carrying Nancy, with Rachel carrying Sally when the blood curdling terror began. It did not take long for the attackers to overtake the party. Mary was killed almost instantly by repeated blows from an Indian's tomahawk crushing her skull and splattering her brain matter into the bloody stream. Three of John and Mary's daughters Rachel, Sally and Nancy were captured by the Red Devils. With baby-Sally crying so, the Indians motioned to Rachel to suckle Sally, not knowing that she wasn't the mother. When Rachel was unable to calm the baby down, the Savages were about ready to kill both her and the child, when Ballard to try and rally the men in order save what was left of the settlers. This last ditch effort managed to distract the Indians long enough for the settlers scatter for cover. Aaron and Benjamin managed to escape on one of the horses, with Benjamin grabbing the horse's trail and being dragged as he got aboard. Rachel and Sally escaped with their lives. What was left of the party limped back to back to Painted Stone Station and into Lynn's Station. Historians disagree on how many of the settlers were killed, but as many as 60 whites lost their lives to the "Red Devils" that day. The Battle would be known as "The Long Run Massacre."
Hearing of the disaster, Col. John Floyd of Beargrass Station managed to scrape together a company of 37 men, which included John Van Cleave and others from Painted Stone and Lynn Stations. The next morning, the Company went back to the Long Run tributary to recover the dead and search for survivors. Many of the bodies that were recovered were mutilated beyond recognition. John was only able to identify Mary by the rings on her fingers. She was buried in the forest; the exact spot has been lost. John Jr., a "fleshy" boy that could not run very fast, managed to hide in a hollow tree where he stayed though the night and was discovered by the company in that morning. Unfortunately, the Indians escaped with Nancy who was never seen or heard from again.

John married Mary Shepherd, daughter of Thomas Shepherd and Elizabeth Van Metre. (Mary Shepherd was born in 1740 and died on 14 Sep 1781 in Long Run, Jefferson Co., KY ².)

John next married Rachel Demaree, daughter of Samuel Demaree and Leah Demarest, in 1783 in Shelby County, Kentucky, USA. (Rachel Demaree was born on 19 Nov 1743 in Schrallenburg, NJ and died in 1814 in Madison, Jefferson County, Indiana, USA.)