In 1750, 18 year-old Mary Draper married 21 year-old William Ingles.  In 1755, Shawnees attacked the Ingle’s homestead located in Western Virginia.  Chased through the cornfield, William hid under a fallen tree but pregnant Mary Ingles and her 02 boys aged two and four were captured.  Arriving in a village off the Ohio River, Mary Ingles was separated from her 02 boys.–

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Mary Ingles was later moved further up the Ohio River to Big Bone Lick now called Boone County, Kentucky.  Mary Ingles was considered a “good squaw” and known for her sewing.  Here she met another enslaved white woman of Dutch origin.

One day both women were sent out on their own to collect grapes and walnuts and it was at this time they decided to escape their life of slavery.  When the women failed to return to the village with their bounty of grapes and walnuts, the Shawnee fired their guns to help the lost women home-in on the village.  But when the women didn’t show, the Shawnee assumed they were lost and killed by the wildlife in the area.

Mary Ingles and the Dutch women carefully followed the banks of the Ohio River going eastward past the modern day Cincinnati, Ohio.  The women evaded further to modern day Greenup & Ashlund Ohio, Cattlesburg & Louisa Kentucky, and to Huntington, West Virginia,…  Travelling such great distances their moccasins were in shreds.  Using their dresses, they tore strips and wrapped their feet.  At night they slept in hollow logs and under rock shelves and used gathered moss for their blankets.

The evading women came across a decomposing dear head left behind by an Indian hunting party.  They took the dear head and ate as much as they could.

Getting closer to home to what is today St. Albans, West Virginia, the women walked on buffalo and elk trails.  It was at this time the hungry Dutch women attacked Mary Ingles wanting to kill her and eat her.  Mary Ingles fought-off her attacker but both women were so weak the short fight had the women exhausted real quick.  Mary Ingles departed leaving the hungry Dutch women behind.

Wandering towards home, on a full moon night, Mary Ingles found a canoe.  Launching the canoe, she used a branch as a paddle and crossed the Bluestone River.  Reaching the far side of the river, she found a cabin and slept overnight.  The next morning, she scratched out 02 raw turnips from the ground and ate them for breakfast.

Now late November with snow falling, Mary Ingles canoeing through the river system and just past the mouth of Wolf Creek, she recognized a former neighbor and sought safety.  The Harmons bathed Mary’s battered body in warm water followed by wrapping her in a blanket and feeding her plenty of venison (deer meat).  Years later, Mary Ingles paid a ransom to get one of their sons back.  Not speaking a lick of English, he would often leave the house for the woods and spend several days on his own.

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