Charles Polk II & Delilah Tyler: Patriots on the Frontier

I know it's been a while since I have done an actual ancestor story, so I really hope you enjoy this one. The reason I have been delaying so long is because I've been doing some in depth research on one line thats taking forever...but for this story, I ventured up a line I haven't done any research on and I was pleasantly surprised to find the Polk's and their story. And it's a great story.

WARING: This is one of my longer posts

Charles Polk II  and Delilah Tyler are my 6th great-grandparents on my Grandpa Wilson's side. Charles was born on the 2nd of February, 1745 in Frederick, Maryland. And coincidentally, Delilah was born on February 10th, 1755 in Frederick, Virginia. Two different Fredericks in two different states.

Anyways. Charles' father died when he was real young, leaving his mother and older brother to run their trading post thing-a-ma-jig. When Charles got old enough he left Maryland and was among the first "adventures" into the wild area around the Ohio River. 16 miles north of where Louisville, Kentucky is today. But back then it was all still part of the Virginia wilderness He was a regular ol' Daniel Boone. In fact, he was attempting to settle his area at the same time Daniel Boone was attempting his first settlement in the area as well. And since Charles became a prominent figure in the area, I have no doubts he actually met Daniel Boone.

Lucky for Charles, he did not immediately encounter the violent opposition from Native Americans that Daniel Boone did. Unfortunately for Charles, the Native American/Colonist conflict soon came to a head locally in 1774 when a band of drunk idiots, led by Daniel Greathouse, massacred a group of Native Americans in a needless show of death. This event, as well as the attack on Daniel Boone's settlement by the Delaware and Shawnee tribes, were some of the first events in what we call Lord Dunmore's war. In his book, William Harrison Polk stated "The frontier families would suffer a bloody penalty for Greathouse's infamy."

Charles wrote a sort of testimony down (overseen by a judge) that he sent to Thomas Jefferson, explaining what happened. Thomas Jefferson himself (FREAKIN THOMAS JEFFERSON) actually talks about Charles Polk, and includes his testimony in his "Appendix to the Notes on Virginia, Relative to the Murder of Logan's Family." Published in 1800. You can look at the whole thing here. But here is Charles Polk's entry. Note the publisher spelled his name wrong. Note that they use "f's" as "s's". Also note that Thomas freakin Jefferson said that Charles was a reputable character.

Charles fought under Colonel Andrew Lewis during Lord Dunmore's War, including the Battle of Point Pleasant. Where Daniel Boone also fought. This battle ended the conflict for a time and the Shawnee agreed to let the settlers....settle. After the fighting, Charles married one Delilah Tyler in the winter of 1774. And boy were they in for a ride. They moved down the Ohio River to the area that is now Nelson County, Kentucky. He built his own "station" which was like...a fort/settlement thingy. But nearby was a much better defended "station" called Kincheloe's Station and Polk had his family live there off and on when the "Indian Terror Level" was high and when he was gone fighting.

Charles Polk in the 1776/77 Muster Rolls

For back story, you need to know that Kentucky was the western front of the Revolutionary war. The British thought it would be a grand idea to arm the Native Americans in the wilderness of  Virginia against the settling colonists. Charles, and a lot of the other settlers in the area were not so happy about this. And they, under the command of George Rogers Clark, took up arms against the British AND the Native Americans in the area. Their plan: take back control of the area. Charles Polk was made a captain in the frontier militia, a branch that was considered part of the North Carolina Militia since there wasn't exactly a local one. It's in the records of the North Carolina militia that Charles Polk's service records can be found.

Charles fought locally under George Rogers Clark. And was able to return often to his growing family. A notable event was when he marched with Clark 200 miles, "much of it through freezing floodwaters, in February 1779" to Vincennes, Indiana. There, Clark's quick thinking and devilishly smart trickery led the British forces at Fort Sackville to surrender.

Even after the British surrendered over on the east coast, fighting on the frontier pretty much kept going. During his absence, several other families had settled near Charles. Things were pretty chill until the Battle of Blue Licks in August of 1782 happened. A butt-load of Loyalists and their Native American allies (prbably all really pissed at Cornwallis' surrender 10 months previous in the east) fought with a much small band of Kentucky militi-men. (Charles may or may not have been there, but Daniel Boone was!). The Native's won, and were pretty pumped about it

Clark's march to Vincennes

Well... As the Indians were coming back from the battle, they were so pumped up that they decided to sack Kincheloe's Station...which is where Charles' family was staying while he was gone. The events would come to be known as "Burnt Station." Everything was set on fire, any remaining adult men were killed, and everyone else taken prisoner. Including a very pregnant Delilah Polk (formally Tyler) and her four kids (Including Elizabeth, my 5th great-grandma who was like 5 at the time).

William, the eldest of Charles and Delilah and was also one of the four kids, wrote this all down, and its in his first hand account that I am getting a lot of my information. His account was included in William Harrison Polk's book (Which is owned by the National Archives) and can be found in full on pages 374-389 here.

William said the Indians found out they were the wife and children of Charles, the white chief and decided he would be pretty pissed off they had taken his family. This made them treat them better I guess, and William says their better treatment was the only reason his mother lived through it. They still marched them around 12 miles that day. 12 miles, pregnant, and carrying a kid still under 1. Delilah Tyler was no joke.

At some point on this march William remarked that his mother stopped and demanded something to quench her thirst. They gave all the prisoners some watermelon, but a Mrs Ash refused. This...didn't go over well with the Indian warriors. They took the baby she was carrying and stripped off her clothes. William said "After they had proceeded a short distance we distinctly heard the tomahawk strike her head. She uttered a scream simultaneous with their war-whoop, and all was silent."

"Taken Captive by Indians" by McClurg 1849, rumpored to be
based on Mrs Polk and the events at Burnt Station

They were marched 15 more miles that day until they stopped for the night. Delilah was threatened several times through the night by the Indian warrior who had "claimed her". They were marched two more days, at roughly the same distance. On the third day Delilah slipped. She did not get up, instead waited on the ground for what she assumed would be her immediate execution. She was helped up by the brother of the Indian who claimed her. He was much nicer. He helped her into a canoe and cut off her shoes. William says his mothers toe-nails and a "long portion of her skin" fell off. Which garnered the sympathy of the other Natives in the canoe. The nice Indian helped her wash her feet and rubbed buffalo bone marrow on them. She clung to her youngest daughter, not even one year old, the whole time.

The next day they were split up. Delilah went with one group, along with her two youngest, and her two oldest, William and Elizabeth went with another. They stayed in a Native American Village for some time. Until on September 25th, they got to Detroit and were handed over to the British forces under Colonel De Peyster. He treated them very nice and put them up in a house with some other prisoners. Delilah had her baby on October 27th, but was constantly worrying for William and Elizabeth, whom she had not seen since they split up. Coloner De Peyster sent out scouts and in the following July, they were able to secure Elizabeth and William from the Native Americans and bring them back to their mom in Detroit.

Charles Polk in the 1779/80 Muster Roll

So little did they know that Charles, upon returning to find his family gone, set out after them. He found the body of Mrs Ash, and apparently stopped looking for a time. That winter, Captain Polk, authorized by General George Rogers Clark, led men around to destroy Indian villages and take back any prisoners. Charles never found his family in any of these raids. But they did find out they were being held in Detroit.

Post-war legal stuff prevented Charles from immediately seeking his family. It took him quite a while to get himself a "passport" that allowed him to travel through the Indian territory between Kentucky and Detroit. Finally on October 10th 1783, Charles was reunited with Delilah, over a year since she had been taken prisoner. It wasn't until that December that they made it back to their cabin near Kincheloe's Station (it was spared from the burning). But apparently all of these events were quite costly, and to avoid poverty, Charles had to sell the majority of his property.

They lived in his cabin on that small property in peace for a long time. Delilah died on June 7th, 1797 in childbirth of their 12th child. Charles kept his family together there until his kids started getting married. He served on the Kentucky Legislature from 1806-07. After his term was up, he moved with his sons to Knox, Indiana. In 1816, Charles was elected to represent his county at the convention in Croydon to form the constitution of Indiana. Charles died on October 11, 1823.

Charles Polk original tombstone

Charles Polk new headstone, provided by the
Sons of the American Revolution