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September 9, 2007
Without a Benevolent Spider, I Might Not Be Here Today
Shirley found the following concerning my fifth great grandfather, Bladen Ashby, in a June 16, 1942, account of his life.
Bladen Ashby was born in Baldensburg, Md, in 1759. He was named after the town of his birth. He early imbibed the revolutionary spirit. As a boy of 15 he was well known to George Washington, his senior by 27 years, who had been stationed at this point in his early activities. As this territory was in the path of Washington's early exploits, young Ashby soon found himself attached to Washington's staff as a aide de camp and he took charge of some of his scouting parties.His first enlistment shows him on the muster roll of Capt. John Lemmor's company, 13th Virginia, commanded by Col. William Russell in 1777. Another shows him as a private in Capt. Uriah Springer's company of light infantry in another Virginia regiment commanded by Col. John Gibson. His last enlistment was made at Fort Pitt, which indicates further association with Washington on his expeditions in that part of the state. His last enlistment was fro a period of three years. He served until the end of the war.
After the war Ashby and his family moved to Elizabethtown in Kentucky. He was married to Catherine Van Meter. There were 11 children. In Kentucky he became a companion of Daniel Boone and joined him in many of his exploits. Boone was a frequent visitor in his home where he was cordially entertained. We find that he also was active in civic affairs in his newly adopted city. He became justice of the peace and was active in the promotion of education. He was one of the trustees of Elizabethtown academy.
It was while in Kentucky that he joined himself to General Clark's enterprises in Indiana territory. He was at the capture of Vincennes. A tradition comes down in the family that Bladen and two other men went out scouting and were discovered by the Indians who immediately gave chase. The three ran for their lives through the dense forest until overcome. One of them became blinded. By his own request he was left behind and in a few moments, shrieks indicated his capture and death by the tomahawk.
Ashby and his companion, exhausted and unable to go any further, saw a hollow log as the only place of refuge. They crawled into the log as far as they could go. They had hardly entered when a spider began to spin a web across the opening. A short time later two Indians arrived to look for them. They were mystified at the sudden disappearance of the men. Ashby, who understood their language, heard one of them say that possibly they had gone into the log. The other one discovered the spider's web across the opening and said that the web would not be there if they had entered. The Indians left and the men escaped later.
Now, I'm not so sure about the veracity of any of this, but I do believe that whoever propagated the story of the Indians, the hollow log and the spider web needed some help. With proper training and experience, he could have become a liar.
Posted by Duane Smith at September 9, 2007 2:58 PM | Read more on Odds and Ends |
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Comments
That is, of course, an ancient tale. Centuries before your ancestor came along, Prophet Muhammad is believed to have escaped from the unbelievers who were chasing him by hiding into a cave the entrance of which was then covered by a spider's web. There are many accounts of this on the, well, Web.
Posted by: Aydin at September 10, 2007 8:25 AM
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