At
the age of sixteen he enlisted as a volunteer, in a company commanded by
Captain John Boyd. It was when the Indians, led by the notorious Butler,
Brant, and Nellis, were committing their depredations and massacres among
the settlers of the frontier, sparing neither age nor sex, from the
tomahawk and scalping knife. With the ardor of youth he engaged in the
active employments of a soldier, and accompanied Captain Boyd on several
important and dangerous expeditions, in which himself and commander had
the good fortune to escape unhurt.
At length in the spring of 1781, while Captain Boyd and his men, numbering
thirty-two, were in pursuit of Nellis, they were surprised by a large
party of Indians, who killed about half their number, and of the rest took
eight prisoners, Jones and his commanding officer being among the number.
The Indians conducted them to their towns on the Genesee river, where they
had to run the gauntlet, and having passed with safety through this trying
ordeal, they next came near losing their lives in a savage frolic. The
warriors, on returning from their excursion, gave themselves up to
drinking and merriment. Partaking freely of the intoxicating bowl, they
soon became much excited, and the ferocity, which a time of war engenders,
was thoroughly aroused among them. One of the prisoners they killed, and
severing his head from the body, carried it about the camp, on the end of
a pole, with wild shouts and frantic yells.
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