Hosea and Jesse Cook, Apr. 28, 1792, KY

Indian Massacre - Female Heroism Exemplified by Cook Wives

Brothers of William Cook III, Seth Cook, Rev. Abraham Cook, Shelby Co., KY

Hosea Cook
b. abt. 1769, Pittsylvania Co., VA
d. Apr. 28, 1792, Woodford Co., KY (Franklin Co.)
m. Dec. 3, 1791 Woodford Co. KY (Franklin Co.)
Spouse: Elizabeth "Betsy" Edrington
Child: Hosea Cook, Jr., b. July 1792

Jesse Cook
b. abt. 1765, Halifax Co., VA
d. Apr. 28, 1792. Woodford Co., KY (Franklin Co.)
m. Sept. 1, 1785, Henry Co., VA
Spouse: Elizabeth "Betsy" Bohannon
Children:
William B. Cook, b. abt. 1785
Seth Cook, b. abt. 1786

Parents of Hosea & Jesse Cook
Father: William Cook II, abt. 1725-abt. 1784
Mother: Margaret Jones, abt. 1734-1798

Reference: A History of Kentucky Baptists by J. H. Spencer, Vol. 1, p. 432

Indian Massacre at Cook Station, in Innis’Bottom, on the Elkhorn Creek, Woodford Co., KY (Franklin Co., KY)

About Christmas, in the year 1791, two of her (Margaret Jones Cook) sons, Hosea and Jesse, having married, and one of her daughters having married Lewis Mastin, the three young families, together with three or four others, settled three or four miles lower down on Elkhorn, in what was called Innis’Bottom. Here they remained undisturbed more than a year.

"But on the 28th of April, 1792, the settlement was attacked at three different points, almost simultaneously, by about one hundred Indians. The two Cooks were shearing sheep. At the first fire of the Indians, one of them fell dead, and the other was mortally wounded. The wounded man ran to the cabin, got his and his brother’s wife, and their two infants, and a black child into the house, barred the door, and fell dead. The two Mrs. Cooks were now left to defend themselves and their babes against the bloodthirsty savages. They had a rifle in the house, but could find no bullets. One of them, finding a musket ball, bit it in two with her teeth, rammed one piece down the rifle, and, putting the gun through a small aperture in the wall, fired it at an Indian who sitting on a log near the cabin. At the crack of the rifle he sprang high in the air and fell dead.

"The Indians tried to break the door open. Failing in this, they fired several balls against it. But it was made of thick puncheons, and the balls would not penetrate it. As a last resort, they sprang on top of the cabin and kindled a fire; but one of the heroic women climbed up in the loft, and threw water on the fire till she put it out. Again the Indians fired the roof, and, this time, there was no water in the house. But when did a mothers courage or resources fail when the life of her babe was at stake? Still remaining in the loft, though an Indian had shot down through the roof at her, she had called for the eggs which had been collected in the house. These she broke and threw on the fire till it was extinguished.

"Once more the baffled and infuriated savages kindled a fire on the cabin roof. This time there was neither water nor eggs. But another expedient was soon found. The jacket, thoroughly saturated with blood, was taken from the body of the murdered man, and thrown over the newly kindled fire. At this moment, a ball from the Indian’s rifle passed through a hank of yarn near the woman’s head. but did her no harm. The savages at last retired, and left the young mother to weep over the bloody corpses of their husbands. Lewis Mastin was killed about the same time. The Indians were pursued, but they all escaped across the Ohio river, except the one killed by Mrs. Cook and one other.

Other References:
Books:
"History of Kentucky" by Lewis Collins
"Forks of Elkhorn Church" by Ermina Jett Darnell
"Old Kentucky" by Dr. J. F. Cook
Newspapers:
"A Fragment of Kentucky History" by R. T. Dillard
"Cook Village Indian Massacre on Elkhorn Creek" by J. T. King
"Cabin, Graveyard Mark Massacre Site" in State Journal
"One of Kentucky’s Historic Spots" in The Courier-Journal
"Valiant Battle" by Dave Baker