Think of a line of men standing next to each other's side. You're on the right end of the line. If each man was of a different generation, then 1763's adult male would only be 6 men to your left. Imagine that each man would speak the language of his generation, so by speaking up and down the line, we could communicate truthfully. Historians peruse documents and then write about the content of those documents. That creates filters about actuality of the events those documents describe; hence, what we read in history is a highly filtered description. That's why you must always be alert for bias, because propagandists use these filters to argue their biases. As an long, retired math teacher, who taught statistics, I told my students, "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure." The world's full of liars! America seems to have way too many.
I just went through this epiphany when reading about the last Comanche Chief. I didn't realize the Comanche were still in control of a huge swath of land from Texas to the rockies even after the Civil War. Pretty close to 1900's... we had the world fair in stl 1904 and I just can't fathom a few years before that Natives were still in control of 20% of America.
These men can't be judged by the standards of today. Those were tough times, for settlers and native Americans, as well! Great video, hope to see more!
Scalping native women and children to make porcelain dolls to sell to settlers’ kids to fund more killings- somebody should’ve done that to your lineage cuz yea it’s so complicated to judge today
@@cynthiaayers7696 funny how they change the topic to semantics when they dont like the facts at hand lol. if you actually do care about the semantics, that guy is wrong again though, because the generally acceptable term is Indigenous. its true that most Indigenous peoples of this continent do refer to themselves as Indians, but only because that's what they've been called for centuries. the sentiment is largely "okay so you called us one thing for hundreds of years and now suddenly you want to call us something else out of what, respect? respect is giving the land back lol"
@@cynthiaayers7696 Maybe read The Heart of Everything That Is-Drury & Clavin…or many other recent works. The atrocities that the Indians committed against THEMSELVES ( Tribe on tribe ) shocked the Europeans. When the belligerents became the Europeans and Natives the atrocities compiled. Neither side was clean. When you apply todays standards it makes it worse. Check out this channels account of a captured settler among the Comanche’s. We learn from the past. We shouldn’t place blame. There is nothing you or I can do about our ancestors.
Excatly. Its was just tuff times. The Indians did unspeakable things to settlers. And yes the Europeans took the land, but they also took it from others as well. People seem to forget that part. I love this part of history. But to me there was no right or wrong. Who ever won kept the land. Happens all over the world
After reading accounts from women and men captured by Indians I support Lewis Wetzel. Indians didn't have rules....they were just brutal. Calling him a murderer is wrong. He applied the same tactics the indians used. Indians fought indians and white settlers using torture of prisoners for entertainment. White settlers didn't tie captured indians to a post and burn them. I think you would sing a different tune had you lived in those brutal times and lost most of your family to indian attacks.
My Father was born in 1907. He talked to Civil War veterans. More than likely they talked to veterans from the War of 1812 and the Revolution. That means I am four times removed from the Revolutionary War.
Being from Wheeling, we need to keep in mind, these indians fought and butchered each other over land. This was going on long before white men came to America. Just down the road, there were mound builders in Moundsville. Those Indians vanished and what happened to them is still unsure. Possibly massacred and either burned in fires or dumped in the Ohio River.
Trying to judge a man by todays standards is just foolish. He was a product of the time and environment he lived in. Most of those he killed would have done exactly as he did, he was just a better warrior. Getting caught by any Indian tribe in those days and you would wish you where never borne, the Comanche was unchallenged in their skill set in the art of torture, usually lead by the female. Every native male would know that he would be tortured or killed immediately if caught by any other Indian tribe, anyone not seen valuable would immediately meet the same destiny, infant's, old folks usually got killed on the spot. Every tribe knew this, this was the ways among the native.
@@daghostxxx1797 Of course, it did not happen all the time, friendships between various tribes and settlers developed and lasted long times. But during war times this is absolutely no exaggerations. Very well documented accounts will tell you I am very much aligned with those accounts. The Comanche nearly brought the Apache to extinction.
Wetzel was not a serial killer. He was a man who lived his life with the mindset that he was at war 24/7, just like the Indian warrior did. He took their mindset and way of fighting, and did it better than them. That’s a feat that’s hard to overstate the impressiveness of.
@@peterlynchchannel Bud, frontier white men learned to fight in the back country from the Indians. Look at how Braddock was killed. He was marching in the European fashion and his whole expedition was almost wiped out except for the men who fought the frontier way. Indians didn't learn to fight from where man. They already had that part figured out
@@keithallen8543 What are you talking about? European colonialists massacred Native populations for centuries. The Catholic Church sanctions massacring every known reader of the Mayan language for a 100 years.
one additional note: for years and years the British paid the Native Americans for every American scalp collected; everything from unborn chidden to old women had a bounty. Allen W Eckert's books on the Frontier at this time are amazing.
I have a couple of Erkert’s books. I have a pipe dream of making a video one day based on his Wetzel stories where I learn to reload a muzzle loader on the run.
Ehhhhh...... This is a fallacy. The governments of the British colonies (Americans) paid bounties for scalps occasionally. This was most commonly done during the French and Indian War. They paid colonists and Natives alike for the scalps of enemy Natives and French. There were only a few instances of the British military paying for scalps during the American Revolution. It was not as common as many pretend. There were no bounties for the scalps of unborn children. Eckert's books are not history books, they are historical fiction and are full of embellishment.
Thank you for the context of the times that the settlers lived in. Brutal for both sides. I can imagine if you were born into that environment of hate and violence someone like Wetzel would appear on the scene.
Only victims and more pile forever because get glory not deserved or seen for what is trauma damage when someone should be keeping safe. There Indios in land that time forgot and nothing has gotten better since then but pittance for insane work probably associate in Afghanistan again or Eurasian Turkey maybe crescent triangle and bottom dropped out of any currency there too, it’s USA policy not more to do with others 04 remote.
My mother is a half Mohawk from Montreal. I married a direct descendant of Hannah Dustin (I learned it with an "I"). I make no judgments on anyone...great story, subbed.
Make no judgment you say but natives blame us whites for taking away their “land” maybe it wouldn’t have turned out that way if they just stopped with the satanic rituals and crudeness towards other tribes and us. Very few were kind and willing to take the word of God so there is reasons why they were allowed to swiped like they were
The host is quite naïve about the atrocities committed by the Shawnee. They were paid by the British out of Fort Detroit for as many American scalps as they could harvest
@@mauricematla8379 Why is that ? British put settlers on North America and then paid natives to scalp them when they declared independence. Humans have fought for land as long as history exists, this is no different. Also no different from the Native American tribes killing each other. Love it when people leave the same naïve comment you did regarding this subject.
@@dev-debug French paid the Indian nations to fight against the Brit and colonizers. That tobacco and sugar later on were lucrative commodity in Europe. So let's admit it's always about the Almighty Dollar.
@@mauricematla8379 We are well past the point of no return. No matter what anyone thinks, the ownerships has transferred and will not be given up. Another way has to be found.
I live close to what used to be a home site for revolutionary captain whose family was killed by raiding Shawnee Indians from the Ohio Valley. They marched his wife and daughter to Detroit to be sold. That was after they had previously kidnapped his son some 2 years prior, which he was able to escape and return. Those were hard times to live in both sides had their fair share of atrocities and brutality.
No the natives were savages and had been savages for thousands of years. They would fight amongst each other and when all the warriors were dead, they would go into the enemyies camp, rape all the women, kill, and scalp them, take all the children and scalp them and raise them as slaves if they could work. They seen the act of killing women and children noble as it meant that they killed all the warriors and took what was important to his enemy. They also believed the spirit was in the hair, thus why they loved to scalp. They also sacrificed thier own children to appease gods. So yea like I said, savages, akin to a pack of mangy coyotes
Great job! It's hard to find reliable info on him. Lewis is my 5th great granduncle. I have a 6th great grandpa who was kidnapped by Indians when he was 10 he didn't escape til he was 23ish bit returns to fight the natives and later was a scout in the revolutionary war. Wm (Indian Billy) Galloway Ice
I also have a 2nd great grandfather who’s family was massacred by an Indian raid when he was around 6, he ran out into the cornfields. Went to the civil war at age 16 and when it ended they sent him to Texas “to help quiet the indians” all that is on his newspaper obituary clipping that I own. Crazy times
Wetzel is a German surname originating in Silesia and Bohemia based on the German name Wenzel, which is a pet name for the middle high German Wenze(itself taken from the old Czech Venceslav). It's composed of vece(greater) and slav(glory).
@@cutekanjii Hm... It's very difficult to say, because it can easily become lost in spelling. I speak Serbian, Russian and Slovenian, thus, my educated guess: In "Slavic" wesht... = crafty, wesht-itsa = woman doing dark craft, witch, ugly woman weNch is more like weN-ats = wreath, of flowers... or mountains, like a long ridge weNch-anye = wedding, when you have wreath made of flowers X) Thus even I'm not completely sure, but it could be the case that Germans (we call them Nyem-tsi = people who can't speak) have misheard Slavs = people who share same words
Cool story. Reminds me of John Johnston. There's a decent book about him called "Crow Killer" subtitled: The saga of liver eatin' Johnston. He reportedly spent most of his adult life taking revenge for what some young Crow warriors did to his pregnant wife. A frontiersman that had zero problem killing Crows. Like Lewis Wetzel's story, it's difficult to separate truth from exaggeration.
I think that's why truth/exaggeration eventually mutates to becomes legendary. Our instant communication, repetition and crossover fact-checking has devolved Legends into innuendos, except those vague whispers now last forever.
I'm reading your response, and I am wondering, is this the same person that the book "Crow Killer" was written about, that,, my understanding, became the 1972(?) movie "Jeremiah Johnson" starring Robert Redford
@@judegrant6664 Jeremiah Johnson the movie, was a character created from a few different frontiersmen including John Johnston. Some overlap yes, but some big differences too.
I read what claimed to be an interview with him before he died in which he claimed he'd only pretended to eat an indian's liver, using a deer liver instead in order to gross out a younger guy in the group. According to that piece of literature his cannibalistic reputation stemmed from that prank.
@@nonyabeeznuss304 Wow, this is the first I've heard of this. Very much appreciated! Can you point me in the right direction to find that interview? A link maybe?
He was not a murderer it was a war. He did not kill women and children. When the braves stopped murdering women and children the war was over and he stopped fighting.
People will easily call him a murderer and psycho.. but you’re 100% right, if people today lived in that time, they would want a fearless man like him to have their backs no questions asked. Natives opened fire in him and his family nearly killing everyone, it was open season on anyone who didn’t look like you, no one demonizes the ones who killed his family (dog included)
He could have just stopped at the people who did the firing. You're basically saying a Native American who lost their parents would then have the right to kill every White Settler they see.
New liker from Northern Germany here. You make a good content and show interesting history. I don't stake to it that he was baptized and called Ludwig (because no one from protestantic Europe, Belgium or Germany would named his son Louis because of the French catholic kings). He was unique to say it straight and he was at this time sometimes badly needed. Maybe he was the most effective Indian Killer of all times but his life (at his old places all men had never heard of him go and thought he was eventually catched by his foes. A historian of middle age times (and not Englisch as you see), the similar Frontier in the northeastern Europe 1100 years ago and the late 18th in North America is somewhat to think of. Thank you for this vid sir!
Absolutely the king of thing I would love spending some time trying out. It’s baffling to me though, I really would like to see modern videos of people doing it.
I have ancestors, who knew Wetzel. He would howl like the wind so the Indians called him “Death Wind or vent du mort” but he was reportedly very docile in the white settlements and enjoyed playing with settler’s children and they let him. One way to evaluate Wetzel is to read Zane Grey’s first three novels Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border, and The Last Trail. He had found Ebenezer Zane, his great grandfather’s, diary of the early days in Wheeling and used it as source material. Checking this I was once again stricken by how much Grey looked like my grandfather, but then they were distant cousins.
For this video my primary sources were a biography by C.B. Allman and big variety of internet sources. I have since picked up some works by Allen Eckert and Zane Grey and want to revisit the topic. Maybe not just Wetzel but the Ohio River Frontier or Wheeling in particular. It is just insane how different life is in America 200 years later. I’m grateful for it but it was a fascinating and wild time. There are some museums in WV with more I would like to see too.
Not the whole story. The disputed treaty of Fort Stanwix led many settlers to believe that it was okay to settle where the Wetzels did. Then Wetzel saw his father and a brother killed by indians which directly led to his hatred of indians. His capture was just a small part of what developed his hatred. Different time and place. There was no love lost on either side in those days.
Comment section passed the vibe check. Lewis Wetzel was not a serial killer but a warrior on the side of the settlers. If he’s a murderer, so is every soldier.
If everybody hasn’t noticed every single hectare of land on earth has changed hands at one time or another. Almost never peacefully, almost always violently.
The settlers were illegal invaders of government defined Indian territory, and the attacks by Indians on settlers were fully warranted. Retaliatory attacks by the settlers were not warranted by any law of war, because they had no right to be there. Suggestions that we cannot judge these frontiersmen by modern standards because in the 18th and 19th c they had no notion of native territorial rights do not convince; because contemporary fur-traders, British soldiers, and Crown agents did understand the concept of (limited) Indigenous claims to the lands they occupied. The settlers were well aware that others held this different point of view ,but in their greed for free land, they simply chose to ignore it. The purpose of the Line of 1763 was well thought out, it was to allow time for government to negotiate treaties for the peaceful settlement of lands west of the Alleghenies. Wetzel cannot be defended because he represented a frontier community who refused to abide by this sound policy and who intentionally provoked violent confrontation.
@@1stSuper_baby For a settlement pattern which endorsed the peaceful settlement of native territory through a policy of negotiating treaties with the Indigenous peoples - prior to settler occupation - look to Canada. Half a continent was settled, virtually without conflict. The colonial histories of two neighbouring countries could not be more distinct.
I appreciate it. Wetzel is a fascinating and complex figure and an excellent example of how in a different time our individual circumstances could greatly impact who we are and what we value.
Between the frontier conditions, the technology and the frequency of the wars; the 18th & 19th century made some hard men - damn hard men that are difficult to imagine in our times.
He was taught that loading on the run by Bradys Rangers, led by Captain Samuel Brady, but trained and drilled in bush fighting by Captain Richard "Shawtunte" Sparks, my 4th great uncle and a Shawnee captive/adoptee from age 3 in 1760, until age 18 in 1775. He was a full fledged Shawnee warrior before being forcibly repatriated after the death of his adoptive father, Pukshinwah, father of Tecumseh. Sparks loathed Wetzel after the murder of Chief Logans family, who were always friendly to the settlers
@@Mottleydude1 yes. He was one of a handful who were responsible. My 4th great uncle, James Sparks was with the Michael Cresap party, but they didn't participate in the massacre, although Cresap was blamed, being the leader of the group. All of my 4th great uncle's and my 4th great grandfather vouched for Cresap's innocence in the matter.
@@wiseguysoutdoors2954 That I knew about Cresap. If I remember correctly he left the frontier after the incident and did not return as he understood what would happen to him if he were captured by the Indians. I also remember he swore if he ever saw Greathouse again he would tomahawk him.
@@Mottleydude1 absolutely. Poor guy was completely innocent, yet became the most undeserving scapegoat. If you ever get the chance, look up Richard Sparks, the white Indian. It's by a Frances lady. Tennessee history magazine in the 1920's - 1930's
He knew who the enemy was and he took the battle to them, killing them where he found them. He fought Indians Indian-style. That doesn't make him a serial killer. That makes him a warrior.
When you called Wetzel a serial killer I was all in. Wetzel is a hard guy not to understand but to accept. I get exactly why he did what he did. I understand it. I completely get where he is coming from. I just can't bring myself to sanction it. Conversely, men like Jacob Greathouse, Daniel Greathouse, David Williamson, John Rollins, and Michael Cresap I can't begin to accept their actions or understand them. Simon Girty as well. But there is something about Wetzel that makes him understandable. And I almost want to give him a pass. Hard to judge him by today's standards. Completely different world. Nothing he did is acceptable by today's standards. But, back in the day, I can see what he did as heroic to the everyday citizen.
That’s the conclusion I came to while making the video. It’s easy to demonize macro view of westward expansion because of what it meant to native Americans but on the micro level it was just families trying to make a life. if I were a Native American at the time I would surely despise what was happening to my people but I were a settler I would want someone like Wetzel if things were going bad for my town or family, even though he was a monster in some ways. When viewed at the micro level I gain perspective.
@@datesanddeadguys One of the complaints made in the Declaration of Independence was that the Crown was purposely inciting "merciless savages" against the Colonists. Wetzel was freed from imprisonment by the local people in Virginia... he was not an escaped convict and serial killer! Your "death wind" insult demonstrates your motives!
I recommend Zane Grey’s Betty Zane series for insight into the early frontier life. Call him a murderer if you will, but his family was murdered first. The broken treaties and diseases killed far more native Americans than these early bordermen did.
I have watched a few of your videos not. I wanted to say that your audio quality is amazing in all aspects except one. the volume level comes across a little low. even though your compression is spot on.
I heard a story about the way legends can grow: In a war, a plane was shot down. Several observers saw what happened from different angles and distances and reported it. Next thing you know, twelve planes were shot down, not just one.
True. There are some military documents I believe noting a lot of these things. The individual exploits will likely be exaggerated. This dude for sure collected double digits scalps at minimum
Great job on this video I have researched Wetzel quite a bit but still learned a few new things. There definitely is a lot of contradictory information on him, one version of his story that I heard is that when he was on his deathbed he refused medical attention and said, " Let me die, there aren't any more Indians to kill."
Thanks for not demonizing or apologizing for a random guy in history who did what he had to do to survive and according to what he believes is right. Unrelated story: I’m not native and live in a town that is probably 90-95% one particular native tribe and they’re not too subtle about not liking non-natives. Most people are tribal and have CDIB card even if they appear to be non-native. I have a lot of people who despise me despite being a complete introvert and homebody with almost no social life and very few people I’d call friends. A month ago I was attacked in my home and robbed at gunpoint, beaten into a bloody mess and threatened for no reason whatsoever or at least none was given. I go to the tribal police station since they’re the only jurisdiction that can do anything and guess what? Nothing will happen to them as a result. That’s what I’m told anyway. The Indians look after their own and since I’m half white/ half hispanic and not a tribal member, essentially no crime was committed. Makes you feel like you are the only person who you can count on in this world full of violent and unremarkable savages. Dooming them to a life of subjugation and eventual extinction seems excessive at first. Once you live amongst them and witness how much better off we aré since their population has tanked, I have nothing but respect and admiration for wetzel and all the other settlers, conquistadors and vaqueros who had the right idea of how to deal with the natives in America. Stay based
I have recently found out I am related to William Crawford. I find these stories very interesting and am so glad we are not living in those times. Brutal for everyone. Indians and settlers. I hate when people try to judge people of the past comparing it with today is a complete joke.
Lots of those frontiersmen and buffalo hunters on a chase kept the shot in their mouths for quick reloading. The metis hunters on the prairie here in canada would riding on a buffalo hunt with their shot in their mouths so they could spit the shot into the barrel. Yeah lead is bad news for sure but they didnt know that and they did do it! Great videos friend! Just found this channel and love it. And dont forget the horrific things the natives did to settlers. These were people who had no idea who they were displacing. They were escaping the tyranny of the British. Trying to find a home. They entered a world where being burnt and skinned alive was what the native were doing to them and Wetzel was protecting them. He was an avenger they would say.
I grew up in Concord NH and the Hannah Duston statue was right near me, it's where the Contoocook River empties into the the Merrimack River. That's a wild story, have you covered that?
I'm certain other's caught this, but the narrator's humorous remark about "Death Wind" not being "Flatulence" was very quick-witted. Enjoyed the video very much.
@@datesanddeadguys Well, I'm delighted you put it in. I chuckled, when I heard the witty remark. As an aside, I always thought Lewis Wetzel was a made-up character of Zane Grey. I read most all of Grey's books, when I was a kid back in the early 50s, and Wetzel became a main character in my psyche. I'm ashamed to say, little did I know he was a real person until my adulthood. He was quite a man. As other commenters have posted, we should view his life in the era he lived in, which was a very harsh and brutal times, and had to be to survive. Be that as it may, again, I enjoyed what you composed as to Wetzel's life and history. Best regards, Ernie
@@datesanddeadguys The list of Indian massacres of White settlers is endless... the fact that 25% of the American West is Indian territory, as well as half of Canada and all of Central and South America is a testament to the kindness that the settlers brought with them. Wetzel among them!
One game is still relevant. Intentionally inciting groups of people against each other. The settlers were sent into the area precisely for this land seizure.
100%. It gave the government justification for putting more forts on the frontier. The Natives and the settlers get into conflict. Raids take place. Murders on both sides. What is the government to do? They have to defend their settlers and the only way for them to do that is with force. And wouldn’t you know it? The borders expand. Then they need to be defended. People getting mad at the settlers I think miss a much larger point. They were useful fodder for the grander goals of government.
@@datesanddeadguys It is a British game that is still successful today. Artificial borders that allow two tures to collide. Areas of others promise a party. To build dictators who can later be removed when you have done the intended work.
Great man. The savage culture he was fighting revolved around murder, kidnapping, rape, theft and slavery, among other things. He beat those mongrels at their own game.
oh really? sounds exactly like what europeans have done for thousands of years to each other and then to the world. you don’t know ANYthing about a single Indigenous culture of this continent.
Indigenous peoples are still being killed to this day, especially women girls and two spirit peoples. what little land they’ve been left is poisoned with industry or barren, and some don’t even have running water. colonization is happening as we speak. the entire west cost of so-called canada is unceded land, there has never been a battle fought, a treaty signed, a sale or seizure of any legal validity. nothing. this is not the past.
Would love to see one on the mining town and statehood of Deadwood, South Dakota AND/OR any of the Southern Oregon gold mining town stories... Enjoyed the Indian stories... Some may say we have come a long way since then and that may be true. I'd say it will remain so until the food runs out...
Life was then so much more peaceful than today. Today on average there is more than 1 massshooting each day, defined as where 3 people or more are killed in one shooting.
I hope your joking. How many shootings have you or anyone you know experienced? Or are you just ingesting CNN and MSNBC propaganda all day. I'm sure you'd much rather go back in time and live in the Ohio Valley in the times discussed here.
Simon Kenton also known as Simon Butler was a hated enemy of the Shawnee. He was as good at the Indian game as they were. Wetzel got good but Kenton was probably the best.
@@datesanddeadguys Allen Eckert’s narrative The Frontiersman is a great read and biopic on Kenton though tad bit of hyperbole. But the Lyman Copeland Draper manuscripts are a better source of information on Simon Kenton as he has a whole section of his manuscripts dedicated to Kenton.
I have to suspect with the frontiersman that some myth comes into play. I’m the Wetzel video there are 3-4 stories I left out because I just don’t think it’s likely they really happened. I have thought about addressing them in a different video talking about them as likely myths.
Allan Eckerts book: A dark and bloody river is full of Wetzels experiences and MANY other frontiersmen sam brady,simon kenton,Daniel boone and more..this channel has great content thank you i hope to hear more
The Romans viewed native Europeans in a similar way when they first started conquering and colonizing Europe, they were terrified of the savage warlike Germanic tribes. They even hired one of them, a man called Charietto who hunted and took the heads of Rome's enemies.
One of the very first books that I read was "Ohio River Trilogy" by Zane Grey, whose ancestors were contemporaries of Wietzel. The second book in the set is more or less dedicated to the exploits of Lewis Wetzel -- Death Wind.
Great story. What a harsh time to be alive. We have gotten so soft. Thanks for the video. I might suggest a microphone of sorts and not in a room with an echo.
I think one has to be very careful when examining Lewis Wetzel. Though you need to be careful about not creating an anachronism about him by judging him by todays standards or not understanding the conditions or the environment in which he was born into and raised and his experiences. That doesn’t change the fact that Wetzel was still a cold blooded psychopathic killer and that there were plenty of eye witness accounts of Wetzel murdering Native Americans who were innocent of any crimes against the white settlers. Even the adults in the communities where Wetzel lived were uncomfortable around him due to his erratic and violent behavior. It has been documented that Wetzel got along very well with children but many of the adults in his community thought he was insane. This is not a man who should be romanticized. Wetzel made killing a sport and many of his victims were innocent of wrong doing. There were many frontiersman who made a reputation as Indian fighters who fought them from necessity. Then there were cold blooded killers like Lewis Wetzel and Jacob Greathouse who were vicious killers and were beyond the pale by even the standards of the frontier settlers. Hell Greathouse set of a frontier war when he brutally murdered Chief Logan’s entire family and Logan was a peaceful man who was conciliatory towards the white settlers and who had personally prevented a lot of blood shed on the frontier. Greathouse should have been hanged for what he did to Chief Logan’s pregnant daughter as it was a disgusting and barbaric act of murder. Though eventually Karma caught up with Greathouse and he and his family met a grizzly end at the hands of the Shawnee many years later. Wetzel, to me, is the stuff nightmares are made of and though a fascinating character study I find him as being an incredibly repellent human being.
@@DANTHETUBEMAN I agree with your observation. I would add, we(as a modern culture)assume that morality is a constant. It's entirely possible(probable)that people 200 hundred years from now will find that our current actions and beliefs are just as offensive.
@@empoweryou1 I can't see any advancement, I think anything reported in history is just as likely today, the American construction is really laws restraint human nature.
And let's remember, the natives had a very long, bloody, brutal history of killing one another, and stealing land from the tribes they defeated. I mean how do you think they developed a "warrior culture"? Playing X-Box live call of duty in the teepee was not yet an option. And it was a reason natives were often eager to act as scouts. An example would be when the Comanche nearly genocided the Apache right out of existence and drove them off their land (before whites were around). So of course, the Apache were more than happy to act as scouts for the US Cavalry when we went to war against the Comanche
that’s not true at all, the “Comanche” (not the name they call themselves) were pacifistic and constantly raided by “Apaches” (again not the name they use themselves) before euro invasion, and only became raiders themselves after the spanish decimated their way of life and forced them to adapt to the violence that had been brought from across the ocean. wars between Indigenous nations were not at all comparable to wars fought in eurasia, there were completely different “rules” and customs, reasons and outcomes. they weren’t “constantly” fighting one another any more than european clans were. yes there was some, but fighting isn’t the only part of their culture, it’s just the part that you and i know because our history only talks about Indigenous peoples as they relate to us- that is, resisting our colonization and genocide of them. ACTUAL genocide, not conjecture like you speak of.
@@тито-к9в A large percentage of the US is set aside as "Tribal Land." Considering that half of Canada and all of Central and South America is a home for mongoloid Indians makes your claim of genocide ridiculous!
Thank you for mentioning looking at this from the perspective of the lens of THAT time. The HUGE problem with today is so many of the WOKE people are trying to view and REWRITE history through a lens of today.
i’m so sorry that you have to deal with these insane people in the comments and in the real world celebrating such evil. colonizers have stolen the world from Indigenous peoples, but also from themselves. i have never seen the full, true night sky. i have never seen a white oak 20 feet thick, never seen a white pine 200 feet tall, never seen the sky darkened by a nation of passenger pigeons numbering in the millions, never felt the earth rumble under the great buffalo nations, never seen the rivers thick with sturgeon so numerous you could walk from bank to bank without getting wet. truly, my people have denied the wonders of the earth to Everyone and for that i am eternally, profoundly sorry.
If you’re trying to paint him as the bad guy you failed miserably. Many settlers were brutally killed and the women raped by raiding Indians . Brutal times .
Americans, would be even more brutal,put in the same position. Gangster mentality, rape is happening south of our boarder today, and this government, cares not!
@Watan you are obviously not living in reality. The southern border, is in fact, the southern border. Unless Ukrainian borders matter, and nobody else has a border. Poland, has no border, along with finland, Russia can roll right in, according to your logic. Like I said, women and children are being brutalized south, of the us border. Your shooting from the hip. If you are from south of the border, you know the truth. I'd your a bleeding heart liberal, here in the US, your obviously saying "no borders" and should have no right to ownership, of any lands, that were stolen by the colonies. I have skin in that game. Ps, if your in Mexico, and think your opinion is valid, open your southern border. See how Russia, sets up anew Moscow, in Paris while your at it.
@Watan PS, the first borders in the west, were started by the Spanish, these areas were claimed, despite tribal claims. Tribal removal, had nothing to do with any of that. North America was claimed, by European empires, prior to removal of any native tribe. I don't really understand what your getting at, by defending murder and rape, and brutality, in Mexico,
You can paint him, and all like him, as a "bad guy" I'm sure, there are good nazis, bad ones to. This was a genocide, up until the 1900's the "Indian problem" is clearly documented in history, we fought harder tgen the Jewish, but make no mistake, the "Indian problem" "kill woman and children" was a policy, of the US government.
@Watan every inch of the America's was claimed. Long meadows, or Laramie, that was a violation of the Supreme law of the land per the constitution. Along with the army corps "flood control" land theft, the DAWES act, and the Indian removal act of 1830. Un seeded lands, in ND, are all the same. Like I said, you guys would be more brutal, if China invaded. Either way, when you guys, tear each other apart, once the lights go out, the next people, to occupy these lands, will say the same thing, to your survivors, as the nazis, would say, about the Jewish removal and genocide.
I don't get it... In war snipers count their targets, whatever they are doing. Parisans attacked field kitchens and unarmed transport troops, right?. Why would you call him a mass murderer? Were they not in war? A hunting party today is a warparty tomorrow, isn't it?
We must take into account the times brutal harsh and he was doing what he was taught and what he had too do to stay alive ,he was actually a hero not a murderer ,he saved lives .
For me, I have no need to judge him as a hero or a murderer. He is a product of his environment and responded as many would. I think it's kinda bizarre to look back in time and attach our current day version of morality. How will we be judged in several hundred years about what we consider "normal" today?
What a badass! A movie about him would be an absolute blockbuster but nowadays no chance of such a movie. I believe there were many more like Wetzel on the frontier but they never got the advertising. However by the way he talks (very much like an indian) he must have had other interactions with indians apart from just killing them. From the stories narrated so far he never killed any indians unless forced to defend himself.
Would love this channel if you'd fix a couple of things first. It's very blurry and the audio sounds as if your recording in a cavernous hall. Will check back later to see.
Damn, I've never heard of this individual, too much testimony of other more well known figures in history like Davy Crockett and daniel boone. Is it possible to shed some light on certain individuals during the Seminole war if not the war itself in future videos? I find this war to be lacking in the public spot light unlike the later wars that have been better documented.
Its definitely possible. This aspect of history has a ton of elements that I find fascinating. The dichotomy between cultures and the tragedy of the interaction makes the research very engaging. I’m currently researching Francisco de Orellana’s voyage down the Amazon for a video and had considered doing one down the line on the Yemassee War in Colonial South Carolina.
You might like links listed in the Library of the Institute of American Indian Arts and Culture, I learned lots of legendary legacies lamented as lost are likely little more than mislabeled, although I was a 3-D student that relit the blacksmith's forge and I disagreed with the emphasis on loss from the 2-D writers' clique, the school has some resources unavailable even to the Library of Congress. Just a thought.
The older you get the more you realize how all this happened not long ago.
Think of a line of men standing next to each other's side. You're on the right end of the line. If each man was of a different generation, then 1763's adult male would only be 6 men to your left. Imagine that each man would speak the language of his generation, so by speaking up and down the line, we could communicate truthfully. Historians peruse documents and then write about the content of those documents. That creates filters about actuality of the events those documents describe; hence, what we read in history is a highly filtered description. That's why you must always be alert for bias, because propagandists use these filters to argue their biases. As an long, retired math teacher, who taught statistics, I told my students, "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure." The world's full of liars! America seems to have way too many.
Good OP. Later? BOO BACKWARDS BABY BOOMERS
I just went through this epiphany when reading about the last Comanche Chief. I didn't realize the Comanche were still in control of a huge swath of land from Texas to the rockies even after the Civil War. Pretty close to 1900's... we had the world fair in stl 1904 and I just can't fathom a few years before that Natives were still in control of 20% of America.
@@chancecarlton8403 free apache in 1930s
@@chancecarlton8403Do your references include Alaska?
These men can't be judged by the standards of today. Those were tough times, for settlers and native Americans, as well! Great video, hope to see more!
Scalping native women and children to make porcelain dolls to sell to settlers’ kids to fund more killings- somebody should’ve done that to your lineage cuz yea it’s so complicated to judge today
@@cynthiaayers7696 murder just means you killed someone. Murder can be justified you know, especially when it’s in self defense
@@cynthiaayers7696 they’re called Indians or America Indians. Native Americans just means you’re born on American soil. Being PC isn’t being correct
@@cynthiaayers7696 funny how they change the topic to semantics when they dont like the facts at hand lol. if you actually do care about the semantics, that guy is wrong again though, because the generally acceptable term is Indigenous. its true that most Indigenous peoples of this continent do refer to themselves as Indians, but only because that's what they've been called for centuries. the sentiment is largely "okay so you called us one thing for hundreds of years and now suddenly you want to call us something else out of what, respect? respect is giving the land back lol"
@@cynthiaayers7696 Maybe read The Heart of Everything That Is-Drury & Clavin…or many other recent works. The atrocities that the Indians committed against THEMSELVES ( Tribe on tribe ) shocked the Europeans. When the belligerents became the Europeans and Natives the atrocities compiled. Neither side was clean. When you apply todays standards it makes it worse. Check out this channels account of a captured settler among the Comanche’s. We learn from the past. We shouldn’t place blame. There is nothing you or I can do about our ancestors.
"murderer" is such a hard word, if he would be a native, theyd call him "warrior".
Excatly. Its was just tuff times. The Indians did unspeakable things to settlers. And yes the Europeans took the land, but they also took it from others as well. People seem to forget that part. I love this part of history. But to me there was no right or wrong. Who ever won kept the land. Happens all over the world
Y'all shouldn't complain about the immigration to the west then @@80Ragincajun
After reading accounts from women and men captured by Indians I support Lewis Wetzel. Indians didn't have rules....they were just brutal. Calling him a murderer is wrong. He applied the same tactics the indians used. Indians fought indians and white settlers using torture of prisoners for entertainment. White settlers didn't tie captured indians to a post and burn them. I think you would sing a different tune had you lived in those brutal times and lost most of your family to indian attacks.
Keep the videos coming,you present them in such a way that it doesn't take forever to get an understanding or into the story.
I appreciate it. Thank you!
My 5x grandfather, John McWilliams, fought Indians around Wheeling, WV. He helped save the fort from an Indian raid there.
yea i remember him. he gave them😂😂 whisky
My Father was born in 1907. He talked to Civil War veterans. More than likely they talked to veterans from the War of 1812 and the Revolution. That means I am four times removed from the Revolutionary War.
Being from Wheeling, we need to keep in mind, these indians fought and butchered each other over land. This was going on long before white men came to America. Just down the road, there were mound builders in Moundsville. Those Indians vanished and what happened to them is still unsure. Possibly massacred and either burned in fires or dumped in the Ohio River.
Trying to judge a man by todays standards is just foolish. He was a product of the time and environment he lived in. Most of those he killed would have done exactly as he did, he was just a better warrior. Getting caught by any Indian tribe in those days and you would wish you where never borne, the Comanche was unchallenged in their skill set in the art of torture, usually lead by the female. Every native male would know that he would be tortured or killed immediately if caught by any other Indian tribe, anyone not seen valuable would immediately meet the same destiny, infant's, old folks usually got killed on the spot. Every tribe knew this, this was the ways among the native.
NM, you make largely exaggerated claims, yes some of these things happened, not between every tribe, at every time !
@@daghostxxx1797 Of course, it did not happen all the time, friendships between various tribes and settlers developed and lasted long times. But during war times this is absolutely no exaggerations. Very well documented accounts will tell you I am very much aligned with those accounts. The Comanche nearly brought the Apache to extinction.
@@daghostxxx1797 read about the Mexican / Apache wars.. no such thing as noble savage
@@daghostxxx1797 quite common
@@norseman5041 Attempts to live among the Indians were always proven to be regretted by those who survived the encounter. Good post!
I can't fault him for what he did if we had caught him we'd have done the same thing those were brutal times.
Yep he just defended himself
Ur a racist pos just say that
@@teddyhaynes9876 he did a little more than defend.
@@victorhopper6774offense is defense
Wetzel was not a serial killer. He was a man who lived his life with the mindset that he was at war 24/7, just like the Indian warrior did. He took their mindset and way of fighting, and did it better than them. That’s a feat that’s hard to overstate the impressiveness of.
If anything, it was the Indians who took that mindset from the Europeans. Wetzel was the quintessential European "adventurer".
@@peterlynchchannelcap
@@peterlynchchannelwhy did you make up that bs?
@@peterlynchchannel Bud, frontier white men learned to fight in the back country from the Indians. Look at how Braddock was killed. He was marching in the European fashion and his whole expedition was almost wiped out except for the men who fought the frontier way. Indians didn't learn to fight from where man. They already had that part figured out
@@keithallen8543 What are you talking about? European colonialists massacred Native populations for centuries. The Catholic Church sanctions massacring every known reader of the Mayan language for a 100 years.
one additional note: for years and years the British paid the Native Americans for every American scalp collected; everything from unborn chidden to old women had a bounty. Allen W Eckert's books on the Frontier at this time are amazing.
I have a couple of Erkert’s books. I have a pipe dream of making a video one day based on his Wetzel stories where I learn to reload a muzzle loader on the run.
Ehhhhh...... This is a fallacy. The governments of the British colonies (Americans) paid bounties for scalps occasionally. This was most commonly done during the French and Indian War. They paid colonists and Natives alike for the scalps of enemy Natives and French. There were only a few instances of the British military paying for scalps during the American Revolution. It was not as common as many pretend. There were no bounties for the scalps of unborn children. Eckert's books are not history books, they are historical fiction and are full of embellishment.
Thank you for the context of the times that the settlers lived in. Brutal for both sides. I can imagine if you were born into that environment of hate and violence someone like Wetzel would appear on the scene.
A great worrior.....and a fierce fighter....LEWIS WETZEL...YOUR NAME AND YOUR STORY, WILL REMEMBERED!
Only victims and more pile forever because get glory not deserved or seen for what is trauma damage when someone should be keeping safe. There Indios in land that time forgot and nothing has gotten better since then but pittance for insane work probably associate in Afghanistan again or Eurasian Turkey maybe crescent triangle and bottom dropped out of any currency there too, it’s USA policy not more to do with others 04 remote.
My mother is a half Mohawk from Montreal. I married a direct descendant of Hannah Dustin (I learned it with an "I"). I make no judgments on anyone...great story, subbed.
Make no judgment you say but natives blame us whites for taking away their “land” maybe it wouldn’t have turned out that way if they just stopped with the satanic rituals and crudeness towards other tribes and us. Very few were kind and willing to take the word of God so there is reasons why they were allowed to swiped like they were
The host is quite naïve about the atrocities committed by the Shawnee. They were paid by the British out of Fort Detroit for as many American scalps as they could harvest
On the other hand. Westeners had no business there in the first place.
@@mauricematla8379 Why is that ? British put settlers on North America and then paid natives to scalp them when they declared independence. Humans have fought for land as long as history exists, this is no different. Also no different from the Native American tribes killing each other. Love it when people leave the same naïve comment you did regarding this subject.
@@dev-debug So it is OK just because we have been doing it for a long time ? Those settlers had a choice. Their decendent as well....
@@dev-debug French paid the Indian nations to fight against the Brit and colonizers.
That tobacco and sugar later on were lucrative commodity in Europe.
So let's admit it's always about the Almighty Dollar.
@@mauricematla8379 We are well past the point of no return. No matter what anyone thinks, the ownerships has transferred and will not be given up. Another way has to be found.
I live close to what used to be a home site for revolutionary captain whose family was killed by raiding Shawnee Indians from the Ohio Valley. They marched his wife and daughter to Detroit to be sold. That was after they had previously kidnapped his son some 2 years prior, which he was able to escape and return. Those were hard times to live in both sides had their fair share of atrocities and brutality.
I think the captain is my ancestor...Captain Baker
Both the American Indians and Lewis Wetzel were unnecessarily brutal. Sometimes there isn't a good guy in war
No the natives were savages and had been savages for thousands of years. They would fight amongst each other and when all the warriors were dead, they would go into the enemyies camp, rape all the women, kill, and scalp them, take all the children and scalp them and raise them as slaves if they could work. They seen the act of killing women and children noble as it meant that they killed all the warriors and took what was important to his enemy. They also believed the spirit was in the hair, thus why they loved to scalp. They also sacrificed thier own children to appease gods. So yea like I said, savages, akin to a pack of mangy coyotes
Great job! It's hard to find reliable info on him. Lewis is my 5th great granduncle. I have a 6th great grandpa who was kidnapped by Indians when he was 10 he didn't escape til he was 23ish bit returns to fight the natives and later was a scout in the revolutionary war. Wm (Indian Billy) Galloway Ice
Was Indian Billy one of the Morgantown Ices?
I also have a 2nd great grandfather who’s family was massacred by an Indian raid when he was around 6, he ran out into the cornfields. Went to the civil war at age 16 and when it ended they sent him to Texas “to help quiet the indians” all that is on his newspaper obituary clipping that I own. Crazy times
Hey cousin! I'm descended from the three John Wetzels - Sr, Jr, and III. How do you come down the tree?
Wetzel is a American hero.This narrator is full of it.
Your mom is full of it
@@meledog1357 ur sister is full of it
Your sister identifies as a Native American
@@meledog1357 should I identifies as trailer park trash
Wetzel is a German surname originating in Silesia and Bohemia based on the German name Wenzel, which is a pet name for the middle high German Wenze(itself taken from the old Czech Venceslav). It's composed of vece(greater) and slav(glory).
Auzgeziechnet!
Is that where the term "wench" comes from? Which I've never fully understood, is it a name for an ugly woman or something?
@@cutekanjii Hm... It's very difficult to say, because it can easily become lost in spelling. I speak Serbian, Russian and Slovenian, thus, my educated guess:
In "Slavic" wesht... = crafty, wesht-itsa = woman doing dark craft, witch, ugly woman
weNch is more like weN-ats = wreath, of flowers... or mountains, like a long ridge
weNch-anye = wedding, when you have wreath made of flowers X)
Thus even I'm not completely sure, but it could be the case that Germans (we call them Nyem-tsi = people who can't speak) have misheard Slavs = people who share same words
You're ommiting the most important part ;)
Cool story. Reminds me of John Johnston. There's a decent book about him called "Crow Killer" subtitled: The saga of liver eatin' Johnston. He reportedly spent most of his adult life taking revenge for what some young Crow warriors did to his pregnant wife. A frontiersman that had zero problem killing Crows. Like Lewis Wetzel's story, it's difficult to separate truth from exaggeration.
I think that's why truth/exaggeration eventually mutates to becomes legendary. Our instant communication, repetition and crossover fact-checking has devolved Legends into innuendos, except those vague whispers now last forever.
I'm reading your response, and I am wondering, is this the same person that the book "Crow Killer" was written about, that,, my understanding, became the 1972(?) movie "Jeremiah Johnson" starring Robert Redford
@@judegrant6664 Jeremiah Johnson the movie, was a character created from a few different frontiersmen including John Johnston. Some overlap yes, but some big differences too.
I read what claimed to be an interview with him before he died in which he claimed he'd only pretended to eat an indian's liver, using a deer liver instead in order to gross out a younger guy in the group. According to that piece of literature his cannibalistic reputation stemmed from that prank.
@@nonyabeeznuss304 Wow, this is the first I've heard of this. Very much appreciated! Can you point me in the right direction to find that interview? A link maybe?
He was not a murderer it was a war. He did not kill women and children. When the braves stopped murdering women and children the war was over and he stopped fighting.
The beta has to present everything in a neutral manner.
@@kdworak4754your moms a beta
He self-admittedly killed during periods of truce, and that is legally murder.
Lew Wetzel was an ancestor of mine, according to my late dad. Thanks for the info.
wetzel , was big medicine.
great man
Lewis was a relative, perhaps, but not an ancestor. He has no descendants.
People will easily call him a murderer and psycho.. but you’re 100% right, if people today lived in that time, they would want a fearless man like him to have their backs no questions asked. Natives opened fire in him and his family nearly killing everyone, it was open season on anyone who didn’t look like you, no one demonizes the ones who killed his family (dog included)
He could have just stopped at the people who did the firing. You're basically saying a Native American who lost their parents would then have the right to kill every White Settler they see.
a truly surreal era when you start digging into the history, but arent they all? Thanks for all the research, Love these vids.
They really are a different world. Thanks for watching and the kind words.
Narrator needs a man bun
New liker from Northern Germany here. You make a good content and show interesting history. I don't stake to it that he was baptized and called Ludwig (because no one from protestantic Europe, Belgium or Germany would named his son Louis because of the French catholic kings). He was unique to say it straight and he was at this time sometimes badly needed. Maybe he was the most effective Indian Killer of all times but his life (at his old places all men had never heard of him go and thought he was eventually catched by his foes. A historian of middle age times (and not Englisch as you see), the similar Frontier in the northeastern Europe 1100 years ago and the late 18th in North America is somewhat to think of. Thank you for this vid sir!
The knack with the rifle loading while running was told about half a dozen frontiers man! Looked at the training of Mister Day-Lewis, amazing!
Absolutely the king of thing I would love spending some time trying out. It’s baffling to me though, I really would like to see modern videos of people doing it.
according to family records his name was Lewis Ludwig Whetzel. So you were close.
I have ancestors, who knew Wetzel. He would howl like the wind so the Indians called him “Death Wind or vent du mort” but he was reportedly very docile in the white settlements and enjoyed playing with settler’s children and they let him. One way to evaluate Wetzel is to read Zane Grey’s first three novels Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border, and The Last Trail. He had found Ebenezer Zane, his great grandfather’s, diary of the early days in Wheeling and used it as source material. Checking this I was once again stricken by how much Grey looked like my grandfather, but then they were distant cousins.
For this video my primary sources were a biography by C.B. Allman and big variety of internet sources. I have since picked up some works by Allen Eckert and Zane Grey and want to revisit the topic. Maybe not just Wetzel but the Ohio River Frontier or Wheeling in particular. It is just insane how different life is in America 200 years later. I’m grateful for it but it was a fascinating and wild time. There are some museums in WV with more I would like to see too.
He was also a devil
@@datesanddeadguys Lewis was a great uncle of my greatxxx grandmother Margaret Wetzel. Thank you for the episode!
Not the whole story. The disputed treaty of Fort Stanwix led many settlers to believe that it was okay to settle where the Wetzels did. Then Wetzel saw his father and a brother killed by indians which directly led to his hatred of indians. His capture was just a small part of what developed his hatred. Different time and place. There was no love lost on either side in those days.
Comment section passed the vibe check. Lewis Wetzel was not a serial killer but a warrior on the side of the settlers. If he’s a murderer, so is every soldier.
If everybody hasn’t noticed every single hectare of land on earth has changed hands at one time or another. Almost never peacefully, almost always violently.
@@1stSuper_baby I appreciate the reality of this world... but it doesn't make it OK, though.
@@mikef.1000 No you’re correct, none of it is OK.
The settlers were illegal invaders of government defined Indian territory, and the attacks by Indians on settlers were fully warranted. Retaliatory attacks by the settlers were not warranted by any law of war, because they had no right to be there. Suggestions that we cannot judge these frontiersmen by modern standards because in the 18th and 19th c they had no notion of native territorial rights do not convince; because contemporary fur-traders, British soldiers, and Crown agents did understand the concept of (limited) Indigenous claims to the lands they occupied. The settlers were well aware that others held this different point of view ,but in their greed for free land, they simply chose to ignore it. The purpose of the Line of 1763 was well thought out, it was to allow time for government to negotiate treaties for the peaceful settlement of lands west of the Alleghenies. Wetzel cannot be defended because he represented a frontier community who refused to abide by this sound policy and who intentionally provoked violent confrontation.
@@1stSuper_baby For a settlement pattern which endorsed the peaceful settlement of native territory through a policy of negotiating treaties with the Indigenous peoples - prior to settler occupation - look to Canada. Half a continent was settled, virtually without conflict. The colonial histories of two neighbouring countries could not be more distinct.
Serial killer? It's called a survivor. He is a hero in my book. I bet the Indians had great respect for him as well.
This like saying Hitler is a hero. R
Naw he's a devil will pay men like him in kind
Yea serial killer taking over ppls lands
You are pathetic just like him.
Lol
Great telling of the tale of Wetzel. Could you do a video about Simon Kenton. He was a true legend in 18th Century frontiersmen. Thanks.
“No catch that man, his gun is always loaded”. 😂😂😂
A superb series. Educational in a fascinating way. Spiced with intelligent humor. How refreshing
I appreciate it. Wetzel is a fascinating and complex figure and an excellent example of how in a different time our individual circumstances could greatly impact who we are and what we value.
Between the frontier conditions, the technology and the frequency of the wars; the 18th & 19th century made some hard men - damn hard men that are difficult to imagine in our times.
He was taught that loading on the run by Bradys Rangers, led by Captain Samuel Brady, but trained and drilled in bush fighting by Captain Richard "Shawtunte" Sparks, my 4th great uncle and a Shawnee captive/adoptee from age 3 in 1760, until age 18 in 1775. He was a full fledged Shawnee warrior before being forcibly repatriated after the death of his adoptive father, Pukshinwah, father of Tecumseh. Sparks loathed Wetzel after the murder of Chief Logans family, who were always friendly to the settlers
Was Lewis Wetzel involved in the murder of Logan’s family by Jacob Greathouse et. el.?
@@Mottleydude1 yes. He was one of a handful who were responsible. My 4th great uncle, James Sparks was with the Michael Cresap party, but they didn't participate in the massacre, although Cresap was blamed, being the leader of the group. All of my 4th great uncle's and my 4th great grandfather vouched for Cresap's innocence in the matter.
@@wiseguysoutdoors2954 That I knew about Cresap. If I remember correctly he left the frontier after the incident and did not return as he understood what would happen to him if he were captured by the Indians. I also remember he swore if he ever saw Greathouse again he would tomahawk him.
@@Mottleydude1 absolutely. Poor guy was completely innocent, yet became the most undeserving scapegoat. If you ever get the chance, look up Richard Sparks, the white Indian. It's by a Frances lady. Tennessee history magazine in the 1920's - 1930's
@@wiseguysoutdoors2954 I will have to do that.
I’ve been to Lewis Wetzel’s Wildlife Management Area here in WV, but I’d never heard his story. Very interesting
Lewis Wetzel was , and is an American Hero who spent his life protecting his people
Amen!
Amen. 🙏
He was like my great x12 uncle or something on my mom's side
He and many others were the beginning of special ops.
Sounds more like he was a murdering bastard ?
He knew who the enemy was and he took the battle to them, killing them where he found them. He fought Indians Indian-style. That doesn't make him a serial killer. That makes him a warrior.
He was a pansy
When you called Wetzel a serial killer I was all in. Wetzel is a hard guy not to understand but to accept. I get exactly why he did what he did. I understand it. I completely get where he is coming from. I just can't bring myself to sanction it. Conversely, men like Jacob Greathouse, Daniel Greathouse, David Williamson, John Rollins, and Michael Cresap I can't begin to accept their actions or understand them. Simon Girty as well. But there is something about Wetzel that makes him understandable. And I almost want to give him a pass. Hard to judge him by today's standards. Completely different world. Nothing he did is acceptable by today's standards. But, back in the day, I can see what he did as heroic to the everyday citizen.
That’s the conclusion I came to while making the video. It’s easy to demonize macro view of westward expansion because of what it meant to native Americans but on the micro level it was just families trying to make a life. if I were a Native American at the time I would surely despise what was happening to my people but I were a settler I would want someone like Wetzel if things were going bad for my town or family, even though he was a monster in some ways. When viewed at the micro level I gain perspective.
@@datesanddeadguys One of the complaints made in the Declaration of Independence was that the Crown was purposely inciting "merciless savages" against the Colonists. Wetzel was freed from imprisonment by the local people in Virginia... he was not an escaped convict and serial killer! Your "death wind" insult demonstrates your motives!
I recommend Zane Grey’s Betty Zane series for insight into the early frontier life. Call him a murderer if you will, but his family was murdered first.
The broken treaties and diseases killed far more native Americans than these early bordermen did.
I have watched a few of your videos not. I wanted to say that your audio quality is amazing in all aspects except one. the volume level comes across a little low. even though your compression is spot on.
At some point he carved into a rock saying
"Lewis Whetzel born in Vir Feb the 21 1752" and the message
"Enjoy the peace which I have prepared for you"
Wetzel was the Rambo of the late 1700s huh?
You know, I see what you see.
You did the best story i have heard about Death Wind Thanks again.
Thank you. I find Wetzel absolutely fascinating.
I heard a story about the way legends can grow: In a war, a plane was shot down. Several observers saw what happened from different angles and distances and reported it. Next thing you know, twelve planes were shot down, not just one.
True. There are some military documents I believe noting a lot of these things. The individual exploits will likely be exaggerated. This dude for sure collected double digits scalps at minimum
Another excellent video! Thanks!
Indians were fighting each other long before Europeans arrived.
Still are
The murder rate is always higher on the 'res...
Great job on this video I have researched Wetzel quite a bit but still learned a few new things. There definitely is a lot of contradictory information on him, one version of his story that I heard is that when he was on his deathbed he refused medical attention and said, " Let me die, there aren't any more Indians to kill."
You should NEVER judge a man until you have lived his life for a year.
😂😂😂😂😂
Depends. I’m not living the life of a map but I’ll still judge them as scum
I mean nah, don’t do something if you don’t want others to judge you for it
I’m a judge Hitler all I want
Thanks for not demonizing or apologizing for a random guy in history who did what he had to do to survive and according to what he believes is right.
Unrelated story: I’m not native and live in a town that is probably 90-95% one particular native tribe and they’re not too subtle about not liking non-natives. Most people are tribal and have CDIB card even if they appear to be non-native. I have a lot of people who despise me despite being a complete introvert and homebody with almost no social life and very few people I’d call friends. A month ago I was attacked in my home and robbed at gunpoint, beaten into a bloody mess and threatened for no reason whatsoever or at least none was given. I go to the tribal police station since they’re the only jurisdiction that can do anything and guess what? Nothing will happen to them as a result. That’s what I’m told anyway. The Indians look after their own and since I’m half white/ half hispanic and not a tribal member, essentially no crime was committed. Makes you feel like you are the only person who you can count on in this world full of violent and unremarkable savages. Dooming them to a life of subjugation and eventual extinction seems excessive at first. Once you live amongst them and witness how much better off we aré since their population has tanked, I have nothing but respect and admiration for wetzel and all the other settlers, conquistadors and vaqueros who had the right idea of how to deal with the natives in America. Stay based
I have recently found out I am related to William Crawford. I find these stories very interesting and am so glad we are not living in those times. Brutal for everyone. Indians and settlers. I hate when people try to judge people of the past comparing it with today is a complete joke.
Lots of those frontiersmen and buffalo hunters on a chase kept the shot in their mouths for quick reloading. The metis hunters on the prairie here in canada would riding on a buffalo hunt with their shot in their mouths so they could spit the shot into the barrel. Yeah lead is bad news for sure but they didnt know that and they did do it! Great videos friend! Just found this channel and love it. And dont forget the horrific things the natives did to settlers. These were people who had no idea who they were displacing. They were escaping the tyranny of the British. Trying to find a home. They entered a world where being burnt and skinned alive was what the native were doing to them and Wetzel was protecting them. He was an avenger they would say.
Wetzel is a hero! Good job defending yourself, mister :)
I grew up in Concord NH and the Hannah Duston statue was right near me, it's where the Contoocook River empties into the the Merrimack River. That's a wild story, have you covered that?
I actually have. That video stays with the same series title as this one. It’s called Hannah Duston and the brutal Abenaki murders.
I'm certain other's caught this, but the narrator's humorous remark about "Death Wind" not being "Flatulence" was very quick-witted. Enjoyed the video very much.
Validation! Thank you. I probably debated myself for 20 minutes on if I should cut that joke.
@@datesanddeadguys Well, I'm delighted you put it in. I chuckled, when I heard the witty remark.
As an aside, I always thought Lewis Wetzel was a made-up character of Zane Grey. I read most all of Grey's books, when I was a kid back in the early 50s, and Wetzel became a main character in my psyche. I'm ashamed to say, little did I know he was a real person until my adulthood. He was quite a man. As other commenters have posted, we should view his life in the era he lived in, which was a very harsh and brutal times, and had to be to survive.
Be that as it may, again, I enjoyed what you composed as to Wetzel's life and history.
Best regards, Ernie
@@datesanddeadguys The list of Indian massacres of White settlers is endless... the fact that 25% of the American West is Indian territory, as well as half of Canada and all of Central and South America is a testament to the kindness that the settlers brought with them. Wetzel among them!
Really good channel, but you need to start using a good condenser mic.
One game is still relevant. Intentionally inciting groups of people against each other.
The settlers were sent into the area precisely for this land seizure.
100%. It gave the government justification for putting more forts on the frontier. The Natives and the settlers get into conflict. Raids take place. Murders on both sides. What is the government to do? They have to defend their settlers and the only way for them to do that is with force. And wouldn’t you know it? The borders expand. Then they need to be defended. People getting mad at the settlers I think miss a much larger point. They were useful fodder for the grander goals of government.
@@datesanddeadguys It is a British game that is still successful today.
Artificial borders that allow two tures to collide.
Areas of others promise a party.
To build dictators who can later be removed when you have done the intended work.
There is always a new frontier. There is a phrase about the romans for this. It goes “The Romans conquered the world in self defense.”
Who needs fictional stories when men like him lived storied lives. A movie based on him could never be made in today’s world
Another great segment thank you.
Dude I love your channel just found it!
Great man. The savage culture he was fighting revolved around murder, kidnapping, rape, theft and slavery, among other things.
He beat those mongrels at their own game.
oh really? sounds exactly like what europeans have done for thousands of years to each other and then to the world. you don’t know ANYthing about a single Indigenous culture of this continent.
Well said!
These are the people in our history we need to celebrate and cherish.
Such a fierce time. Make sure grateful for today.
Indigenous peoples are still being killed to this day, especially women girls and two spirit peoples. what little land they’ve been left is poisoned with industry or barren, and some don’t even have running water. colonization is happening as we speak. the entire west cost of so-called canada is unceded land, there has never been a battle fought, a treaty signed, a sale or seizure of any legal validity. nothing. this is not the past.
Including the King's proclamation, a very balanced presentation.
Thank you.
Would love to see one on the mining town and statehood of Deadwood, South Dakota AND/OR any of the Southern Oregon gold mining town stories... Enjoyed the Indian stories...
Some may say we have come a long way since then and that may be true. I'd say it will remain so until the food runs out...
Good too see accurate and not woke takes. Great showing
Interesting topic, thanks! But the sound quality is poor...that echo is so bad. Consider decicated mic, instead of the one on the ipad.
Very knowledgeable love watching your videos. Love from a British ally
Life was then so much more peaceful than today. Today on average there is more than 1 massshooting each day, defined as where 3 people or more are killed in one shooting.
Always will have evil acts. Some between organized communities and some within their own communities. Mankind has never had peace.
Stupid
I hope your joking. How many shootings have you or anyone you know experienced? Or are you just ingesting CNN and MSNBC propaganda all day. I'm sure you'd much rather go back in time and live in the Ohio Valley in the times discussed here.
You sir, gained a subscriber.
Simon Kenton also known as Simon Butler was a hated enemy of the Shawnee. He was as good at the Indian game as they were. Wetzel got good but Kenton was probably the best.
I have a long reading list but I’ll get to Kenton at some point.
@@datesanddeadguys Allen Eckert’s narrative The Frontiersman is a great read and biopic on Kenton though tad bit of hyperbole.
But the Lyman Copeland Draper manuscripts are a better source of information on Simon Kenton as he has a whole section of his manuscripts dedicated to Kenton.
I have to suspect with the frontiersman that some myth comes into play. I’m the Wetzel video there are 3-4 stories I left out because I just don’t think it’s likely they really happened. I have thought about addressing them in a different video talking about them as likely myths.
Allan Eckerts book:
A dark and bloody river is full of Wetzels experiences and MANY other frontiersmen sam brady,simon kenton,Daniel boone and more..this channel has great content thank you i hope to hear more
I made this video before I bought that book. I hope to revisit the topic at some point.
@Dates and Dead Guys I look forward to that! You have awesome content and I am looking forward to watching more of it.
The Romans viewed native Europeans in a similar way when they first started conquering and colonizing Europe, they were terrified of the savage warlike Germanic tribes.
They even hired one of them, a man called Charietto who hunted and took the heads of Rome's enemies.
not just the Romans but Greeks also considered Germanic tribes as barbarians.. outside of " civilization"...
Lewis Wetzel is a hero. The Indian fought the Black and White establishing America lets NEVER forget that.
One of the very first books that I read was "Ohio River Trilogy" by Zane Grey, whose ancestors were contemporaries of Wietzel. The second book in the set is more or less dedicated to the exploits of Lewis Wetzel -- Death Wind.
Great video covering a sensational topic.
Good videos sir, I look forward to more like this. Very interesting and entertaining thank you so much!
Great story. What a harsh time to be alive. We have gotten so soft. Thanks for the video. I might suggest a microphone of sorts and not in a room with an echo.
I think one has to be very careful when examining Lewis Wetzel. Though you need to be careful about not creating an anachronism about him by judging him by todays standards or not understanding the conditions or the environment in which he was born into and raised and his experiences.
That doesn’t change the fact that Wetzel was still a cold blooded psychopathic killer and that there were plenty of eye witness accounts of Wetzel murdering Native Americans who were innocent of any crimes against the white settlers. Even the adults in the communities where Wetzel lived were uncomfortable around him due to his erratic and violent behavior. It has been documented that Wetzel got along very well with children but many of the adults in his community thought he was insane.
This is not a man who should be romanticized. Wetzel made killing a sport and many of his victims were innocent of wrong doing. There were many frontiersman who made a reputation as Indian fighters who fought them from necessity. Then there were cold blooded killers like Lewis Wetzel and Jacob Greathouse who were vicious killers and were beyond the pale by even the standards of the frontier settlers.
Hell Greathouse set of a frontier war when he brutally murdered Chief Logan’s entire family and Logan was a peaceful man who was conciliatory towards the white settlers and who had personally prevented a lot of blood shed on the frontier. Greathouse should have been hanged for what he did to Chief Logan’s pregnant daughter as it was a disgusting and barbaric act of murder. Though eventually Karma caught up with Greathouse and he and his family met a grizzly end at the hands of the Shawnee many years later.
Wetzel, to me, is the stuff nightmares are made of and though a fascinating character study I find him as being an incredibly repellent human being.
the situation radicalized him, war does that to both sides especially gorilla warfare invasion.
@@DANTHETUBEMAN I agree with your observation. I would add, we(as a modern culture)assume that morality is a constant. It's entirely possible(probable)that people 200 hundred years from now will find that our current actions and beliefs are just as offensive.
@@empoweryou1 I can't see any advancement, I think anything reported in history is just as likely today, the American construction is really laws restraint human nature.
He speaks well of you...
@@empoweryou1 like abortion...
This video is close to home for me . Crawfords defeat happened 5 miles west of my house and I attended Colonel Crawford High School.
And let's remember, the natives had a very long, bloody, brutal history of killing one another, and stealing land from the tribes they defeated. I mean how do you think they developed a "warrior culture"? Playing X-Box live call of duty in the teepee was not yet an option. And it was a reason natives were often eager to act as scouts. An example would be when the Comanche nearly genocided the Apache right out of existence and drove them off their land (before whites were around). So of course, the Apache were more than happy to act as scouts for the US Cavalry when we went to war against the Comanche
that’s not true at all, the “Comanche” (not the name they call themselves) were pacifistic and constantly raided by “Apaches” (again not the name they use themselves) before euro invasion, and only became raiders themselves after the spanish decimated their way of life and forced them to adapt to the violence that had been brought from across the ocean. wars between Indigenous nations were not at all comparable to wars fought in eurasia, there were completely different “rules” and customs, reasons and outcomes. they weren’t “constantly” fighting one another any more than european clans were. yes there was some, but fighting isn’t the only part of their culture, it’s just the part that you and i know because our history only talks about Indigenous peoples as they relate to us- that is, resisting our colonization and genocide of them. ACTUAL genocide, not conjecture like you speak of.
@@тито-к9в A large percentage of the US is set aside as "Tribal Land." Considering that half of Canada and all of Central and South America is a home for mongoloid Indians makes your claim of genocide ridiculous!
Thank you for mentioning looking at this from the perspective of the lens of THAT time. The HUGE problem with today is so many of the WOKE people are trying to view and REWRITE history through a lens of today.
Good channel. Good stories. Keep it up. I hope your subscribers grow.
I appreciate that. History is fascinating. I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Just found this channel. Now I am addicted.
This would make an excellent Hollywood movie!!
oh hell no . the would do nothing but put a liberal slant to it.
Great video, please get a microphone.
Great presentation. Very interesting. Hes like the tom quick of my area in pa.
To think that the body of Death Wind with his rifle in hand is out there is out of this world interesting...
We are nearly gone now. I am one of the last chepoussa, chicasha. We were brutal, but we were fighting to survive.
i’m so sorry that you have to deal with these insane people in the comments and in the real world celebrating such evil. colonizers have stolen the world from Indigenous peoples, but also from themselves. i have never seen the full, true night sky. i have never seen a white oak 20 feet thick, never seen a white pine 200 feet tall, never seen the sky darkened by a nation of passenger pigeons numbering in the millions, never felt the earth rumble under the great buffalo nations, never seen the rivers thick with sturgeon so numerous you could walk from bank to bank without getting wet. truly, my people have denied the wonders of the earth to Everyone and for that i am eternally, profoundly sorry.
Get a mic that eliminates the echo off your barren walls, please
If you’re trying to paint him as the bad guy you failed miserably. Many settlers were brutally killed and the women raped by raiding Indians . Brutal times .
Americans, would be even more brutal,put in the same position. Gangster mentality, rape is happening south of our boarder today, and this government, cares not!
@Watan you are obviously not living in reality. The southern border, is in fact, the southern border. Unless Ukrainian borders matter, and nobody else has a border. Poland, has no border, along with finland, Russia can roll right in, according to your logic. Like I said, women and children are being brutalized south, of the us border. Your shooting from the hip. If you are from south of the border, you know the truth. I'd your a bleeding heart liberal, here in the US, your obviously saying "no borders" and should have no right to ownership, of any lands, that were stolen by the colonies. I have skin in that game. Ps, if your in Mexico, and think your opinion is valid, open your southern border. See how Russia, sets up anew Moscow, in Paris while your at it.
@Watan PS, the first borders in the west, were started by the Spanish, these areas were claimed, despite tribal claims. Tribal removal, had nothing to do with any of that. North America was claimed, by European empires, prior to removal of any native tribe. I don't really understand what your getting at, by defending murder and rape, and brutality, in Mexico,
You can paint him, and all like him, as a "bad guy" I'm sure, there are good nazis, bad ones to. This was a genocide, up until the 1900's the "Indian problem" is clearly documented in history, we fought harder tgen the Jewish, but make no mistake, the "Indian problem" "kill woman and children" was a policy, of the US government.
@Watan every inch of the America's was claimed. Long meadows, or Laramie, that was a violation of the Supreme law of the land per the constitution. Along with the army corps "flood control" land theft, the DAWES act, and the Indian removal act of 1830. Un seeded lands, in ND, are all the same. Like I said, you guys would be more brutal, if China invaded. Either way, when you guys, tear each other apart, once the lights go out, the next people, to occupy these lands, will say the same thing, to your survivors, as the nazis, would say, about the Jewish removal and genocide.
Subbed 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿💯‼️
If you want a snapshot of how brutal the natives could be, look up the killing of Daniel Boone's son at 16 years old.
If you want a factual read, try the "American Holocaust" !
His daughter was kidnapped, too. Boone got her back!
I don't get it... In war snipers count their targets, whatever they are doing. Parisans attacked field kitchens and unarmed transport troops, right?. Why would you call him a mass murderer? Were they not in war? A hunting party today is a warparty tomorrow, isn't it?
We must take into account the times brutal harsh and he was doing what he was taught and what he had too do to stay alive ,he was actually a hero not a murderer ,he saved lives .
We must take into account that he was an illiterate Bible-thumper that swallowed the same lie that makes him your hero. God Hates Us All
Agreed
For me, I have no need to judge him as a hero or a murderer. He is a product of his environment and responded as many would. I think it's kinda bizarre to look back in time and attach our current day version of morality. How will we be judged in several hundred years about what we consider "normal" today?
Very good presentation; thanks!
What a badass! A movie about him would be an absolute blockbuster but nowadays no chance of such a movie. I believe there were many more like Wetzel on the frontier but they never got the advertising. However by the way he talks (very much like an indian) he must have had other interactions with indians apart from just killing them. From the stories narrated so far he never killed any indians unless forced to defend himself.
Would love this channel if you'd fix a couple of things first. It's very blurry and the audio sounds as if your recording in a cavernous hall. Will check back later to see.
Working on the sound. New episode out this week. Should be better.
Damn, I've never heard of this individual, too much testimony of other more well known figures in history like Davy Crockett and daniel boone. Is it possible to shed some light on certain individuals during the Seminole war if not the war itself in future videos? I find this war to be lacking in the public spot light unlike the later wars that have been better documented.
Its definitely possible. This aspect of history has a ton of elements that I find fascinating. The dichotomy between cultures and the tragedy of the interaction makes the research very engaging. I’m currently researching Francisco de Orellana’s voyage down the Amazon for a video and had considered doing one down the line on the Yemassee War in Colonial South Carolina.
@@datesanddeadguys muy bien, looking forward to the next one
You might like links listed in the Library of the Institute of American Indian Arts and Culture, I learned lots of legendary legacies lamented as lost are likely little more than mislabeled, although I was a 3-D student that relit the blacksmith's forge and I disagreed with the emphasis on loss from the 2-D writers' clique, the school has some resources unavailable even to the Library of Congress. Just a thought.
I never heard of him before and I'm from Steubenville Ohio. Thank you. That was cool 😎