He asked with eagerness where he was. I replied “he now stands before you”. He looked at me with searching scrutiny for a few moments and commenced pacing the room. He walked up and down the room for two hours before he uttered another syllable. Would you know your brother Henry he said at last, if you should see him? I told him no for he was a mere infant when I went away. He thought I should and, though late in the evening, rode several miles to bring him.
In this part of the conversation I perceived that Ash’s eyes grew moist and that his voice was husky. He rose to depart, but some entreaty, he was induced to return and continue his tale. My father, said he, had become wealthy, possessing Negro’s and fine horses in abundance. My mother was dead and my father had married a second wife, who was not backward in letting me know that there was no place for me.
I started again for the Indian country, crossed the Ohio, and pitched my camp on the spot where my house now stands, on the bank of the Ohio, exactly opposite the mouth of the Kentucky.
After hunting for some time, I determined to make another visit to my red brethren and a friend gave me a horse to ride. I found them preparing a deputation for their great father, the president, and nothing would do but that I should make one of the party. With a number of chiefs I set out for Philadelphia, and after visiting the president and all the great people there, and by them no doubt, thought a very good Indian. I returned to my old camp where I now live.
As a compensation for my services on this mission, the Indians granted me a tract of land, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky, four miles in length on the river and one mile back.When the territory was ceded to the United States, The Indians neglected to reserve my grant. I had cultivated some parts of my land and it was worth more than the government price. It was offered for sale and I petitioned Congress to secure for me what was in fact my own. They denied me the request but permitted me to purchase as much as I could at the government price. I had considered myself rich in lands but I was poor in cash. My domain was reduced to about two hundred acres. On this I have lived ever since; and this completes the history of George Ash!!
Note: Blue Jacket – who was the greatest war chief of the Shawnee tribe. He started out however as a white person, part of a family of whites living on the Virginia frontier and his birth name was Marmaduke van Swearingen. One day while out hunting rabbits with his younger brother, Charles, the boys were surrounded by a small Shawnee war party. Duke, who had studied the Indians and knew a little of their tongue, and who had always envied their way of life, managed to put across to the Indians that he would go with them willingly if they would let his little brother go free. They agreed and took Duke westward, across the Ohio River and deep into Indian Territory in the Ohio country. He gradually rose in prestige and power until he became chief of his own village, then chief of the Maykujay sept of the Shawnees and finally the entire tribe’s war chief, leading his people into some of the most momentous battles the Indians ever fought against the whites.