Lewis Wetzel was a frontiersman and Native American fighter.
Background
Lewis Wetzel was born probably in Lancaster County, Pa. , the son of John and Mary (Bonnett) Wetzel. John Wetzel, originally spelling his name Watzel, was born probably in the Netherlands and was brought from Switzerland to Pennsylvania in 1747. Of his five sons, Martin, Lewis, Jacob, John, and George, the first four became prominent Indian fighters, and the fifth was killed while scarcely more than a lad. In 1772, with ten other families, the Wetzels removed to Virginia, near Wheeling, now in West Virginia. Four or five years later Lewis and Jacob were captured by Indians but escaped and made their way home with great difficulty. This event was said to have made Lewis a confirmed Indian hater, and thenceforth in conscious preparation for border warfare he devoted himself to woodcraft and athletic pursuits, became an expert marksman, and trained himself to load his rifle while running.
Education
He never learned to read or write.
Career
While still a boy he was in the first siege of Wheeling in 1777 and served on several war expeditions, notably the one in 1781 against the Indian village on the site of the present town of Coshocton, Ohio, and he found almost continuous employment as a scout. Though it is probable that he never enlisted in a regularly constituted military force and certainly never held a command, he was one of the bestknown and most trusted fighters and scouts on the Ohio border by the time he was of age, and, such was his prowess, that his presence in an endangered community was sufficient to revive the most drooping spirits. An implacable enemy of the Indians, he was never known to give quarter. Once, indeed, his conduct was so merciless that he briefly lost caste even among the frontiersmen, because he murdered an old Indian who had secretly released him after his capture by a war party and sentence to the stake. Wetzel's only comment was: "He made me walk, and he was nothing but an Indian". In 1789 during the negotiations with the Ohio tribes at Fort Harmar, he waylaid and killed a prominent Indian. The circumstances of his capture by the white soldiers and subsequent escape from trial and punishment for this murder are not certain. One account is that he was sentenced to be hanged, but that outraged border sentiment forced his release. Soon afterward he went to New Orleans and there was imprisoned for several years, perhaps as a result of innocently having become involved with a counterfeiter. After his release he spent sometime on the Missouri but lived mostly near Natchez. According to the account of one branch of the family he married a French woman and lived in Arkansas to old age, but the more probable account is that he died unmarried near Natchez in 1808.
Achievements
Wetzel County, West Virginia, is named for him. Zane Grey, the great Western novelist, wrote about Wetzel in his books Spirit of the Border, Betty Zane, and The Last Trail. Wetzel is regarded as a hero by many Americans, a lesser-known version of Daniel Boone.
Personality
He was tall and swarthy, with high cheek bones, scowling, pitted face, piercing black eyes, long black hair, and ears slit and decorated with silk tassels. Though uncouth and silent he was a favorite fiddler at dances.
Connections
According to the account of one branch of the family he married a French woman and lived in Arkansas to old age.
