Historical Collections of Georgia
Rev. George White, New York 1855

Duncan McKrimmon

Dunan McKrimmon, a resident of this town, was a Georgia militiaman in the service of the United States during the late Seminolean War. While stationed at Fort Gadsden on the Appalachicola, he one morning went fishing, and in attempting to return, missed his way, and was several days lost in the surrounding wilderness. After wandering about in various directions, he was espied and captured by a party of hostile Indians, headed by the well-known Prophet, Francis, who had an elegant uniform, a fine brace of pistols, and a British commission of Brigadier-General, which he exultingly showed to the prisoner.

Having obtained the satisfaction they wanted respecting the strength and position of the American army, they began to prepare for the intended sacrifice. McKrimmon was placed at a stake - and the ruthless savages, having shaved his head and reduced his body to a state of nudity, formed themselves into a circle, and danced around him some hours, yelling all the while most horribly.

The youngest daughter of the Prophet (who is about fifteen years of age, and represented by officers of the army we have conversed with to be a woman very superior to her associates) was sad and silent the whole time - she participated not in the general joy, but was evidently, even to the affrighted prisoner, much pained at the savage scene she was compelled to witness. When the fatal tomahawk was raised to terminate for ever the mortal existence of the unfortunate McKrimmon - at that critical, that awful moment, Milly Francis, like an angel of mercy, placed herself between it and death, resolutely bidding the astonished executioner, if he thirsted for human blood, to shed hers, being determined, she said, not to survive the prisoner's death. A momentary pause was produced by the unexpected occurrence; and she took advantage of the circumstance to implore the pity of her ferocious father, who finally yielded to her wishes, with the intention, however, it is believed, of murdering them both, if he could not sell McKrimmon to the Spaniards, which was luckily effected a few days after at St. Mark's, for seven gallons and a half of rum. As long as he remained a prisoner, McKrimmon's benefactress continued to show him acts of kindness.

Now, the fortune of war has placed her in the power of the white people - she arrived at Fort Gadsden not long since, with a number of others that had surrendered, in a starving condition. We are gratified to learn, that a proper respect of her virtues induced the commanding officer, Colonel Arbuckle, to relieve her immediate wants. McKrimmon appears to have a due sense of the obligation he owes the woman who saved his life at the hazard of his own - he left town last week to seek her, and as far as may be in his power to alleviate her misfortunes. It is also his firm determination, we understand, if she will consent, to make her his wife, an reside, provided he can prevail upon her to do so, within the settled parts of Georgia.

 

If you have a Baldwin County biography you would like to see here, send an email to Claire

 

© 2000-2004 Genealogy Quest - All Rights Reserved
Email: webmaster@genealogy-quest.com
Last Amended: 2-Jan-2004