Alexander McIntire - Murdered By Tecumseh's Warriors

My great great grandmother, Mary Amelia McIntire, married into the Bramel family of Mason County, Kentucky in 1885. She and Alonzo Wellwood Bramel (known as Wood and Amelia Bramel) were parents to two sons (George Pierce and Leslie B) and two daughters (Nancy Mae and Miriam Hassel). Amelia was the paternal grandmother of my paternal grandfather, Vernon Bramel, son of George Pierce Bramel and Sallie May (Nolan) Bramel. Amelia's father was Alexander McIntire, who died in 1856 at age 65 from injuries sustained from a falling tree. His father's name was also Alexander McIntire (sometimes spelled McIntyre).

Amelia Bramel of Maysville, Kentucky (1849-1927)

The family's roots in America began when the elder Alexander McIntire emigrated from Northern Ireland at the age of nineteen. He went to Kentucky and settled above the banks of the Ohio River at the town of Washington, near current day Maysville in Mason County. There, he married a Miss Goddard, and they had several children.

In the pioneer days of Kentucky, the threat of Indian attacks was a normal part of everyday life. During the 1780's, these uprisings became less frequent with the arrival of thousands of new settlers. But the Ohio River formed a firm boundary between Indian Country and the safer pioneer lands. The Ohio Country in the Northwest Territory was the arena for skirmishes between the frontiersmen and the natives from the Shawnee and other tribes.

Such was the case in the Spring of 1792, just a few weeks before Kentucky became the fifteenth state in the new nation. It seems that a band of Shawnee crossed into Kentucky to the town of Limestone (now Maysville), and made away with 16 horses owned by Kentuckians. In the days to follow, the famous frontiersman Simon Kenton organized a militia of about three dozen men to travel into Ohio to recover their horses. It was presumed that the alleged horse thieves would have taken up at a well known Indian campsite in current day Clermont County east of Cincinnati.

During the trip that ensued over the next few days, about a dozen of the Kentuckians turned back due to bad weather, but the others, including Alexander McIntire, pushed on with their mission. They approached the camp along the East Fork of the Little Miami River across from its confluence with the Grassy Run. Soon they spotted a brave riding on a horse they identified as one of the stolen. Despite Kenton's orders to not fire guns or do anything to alert the Indians to their presence, one of the militia men fired upon the unsuspecting brave, killing him. At this point, several more deserted the mission to return to Kentucky. The others followed the trail of the dead Indian toward the encampment.

As they approached, Kenton could not get an accurate count of how many warriors they would be up against, but estimates ranged upwards of 100 men along with several women and children. A decision was made to wait until the cover of night to make a surprise attack. They listened as warriors called out to their comrade who had not returned to camp, and a drum beat through the midnight hour to direct the missing warrior back. The men could not have known the Indians in this camp were under the leadership of Tecumseh, perhaps the most famous and highly regarded of the Shawnee warriors.

In the rainy darkness, confusion reigned, and when a warrior stepped out of a tent to stoke the fire, panic-stricken riflemen began firing before the signal was given. From that point, confusion gave way to chaos. One Kentuckian was killed by a strike from Tecumseh's war club. The remainder of the outnumbered Kentuckians ultimately retreated in all directions, with the Shawnee giving chase through the next day. While the mission failed in that their horses were not retrieved, the retreating Kentuckians did manage to make their way safely back to Limestone, with one exception.

Alexander McIntire, known as "Redheaded Aleck" to Simon Kenton, was described as a man of extraordinary strength; another account describes him as a short, robust, middle-aged Irishman. McIntire had taken a lunch break to cook a small animal he had shot over a fire he had built. The shot was heard by the Indians, and he was captured by Tecumseh's men. His captors returned him to the camp, where he was tied and held prisoner.

Tecumseh left the camp to check on horses that had dispersed during the melee, leaving instructions that the prisoner was not to be harmed. Tecumseh had strong beliefs that is was wrong to injure or kill a tied and defenseless prisoner. But McIntire may have gone out of his way to antagonize his captors, laughing at one of the braves who had been complaining about injuries from the battle. The brave killed McIntire with his hatchet. One account paints a gory pictures of the victim's limbs being strung from trees, and the head being planted on a pole. When Tecumseh returned to the scene, he was furious.

Stories of the incident, which became known as the Battle of Grassy Run, have survived through the generations. A historical marker nearby commemorates the battle, during which the two Kentuckians died, along with anywhere from two to fourteen Shawnee, according to various accounts. Today, an annual celebration, the Grassy Run Heritage Rendezvois, is hosted by the Grassy Run Historical Arts Committee in Williamsburg, Ohio.

Sources:

A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities, Volume 3, E. Polk Johnson, Lewis Publishing Company, 1912

Tecumseh: A Life, John Sugden, Macmillan, Apr 15, 1999

Battle of Grassy Run, Richard Crawford, Clermont County Historical Society