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by James Rada, Jr.
Richar d Bar d Rescues His W ife
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of columns about Richard Bard’s escape from captivity and the rescue of his wife.
After the Delaware Indians had
captured the Bard Family in 1758,
Richard Bard managed to escape
his captivity after a few days. His
wife, Catherine, wasn’t so lucky. She
remained a prisoner of the Indians.
The Delawares initially beat
her, but once the war party arrived
back in their village, two braves
adopted Catherine as a sister. “She
was treated during this time by
her adopted relations with much
kindness, even more than she had
reason to expect,” Catherine’s son,
Archibald, wrote in Incidents of
Border Life.
In the meantime, Richard Bard
recovered from his ordeal and began
hunting for his wife. The Indians had
already killed one of his children,
and he wasn’t going to lose his wife.
“From the time that my father was
taken by the Indians until my mother
was released, he did little else than
wander from place to place in quest
of information respecting her and
after he was informed where she was
his whole mind bent upon contriving
plans for her redemption,” Archibald
wrote.
Bard traveled to Fort Duquesne
in the fall of 1758. A treaty had been
signed with the Indians there, and
Bard went to meet with them to ask
about his wife to see if he could find
out where she had been taken.
Some of these Indians were the
ones who had raided Bard’s mill and
captured him, his family, and friends.
www.TheCatoctinBanner.com The Catoctin Banner Newspaper July 2018 Page 35
1758
“My father observed among them he jumped behind a tree. Bard then
several who were there when he was moved around the tree to keep it
taken prisoner, to these he discovered between himself and the Indian. The
himself they professed not to know other Indians found this amusing,
him on which he enquired of them until one of them finally grew tired of
they did not recollect having been at it and disarmed White Eyes.
the taking of nine persons referring White Eyes then grabbed a stick
them to the time and place,” and began beating Bard, but Bard
Archibald wrote. managed to make his way to a horse
When Bard left the Indians and and escape. Courtesy Photo
returned to Fort Duquesne, he was Following up on information
followed by a young man. The man about his wife being at the Indian
told Bard that after he had gone, the village of Shamokin (Sunbury,
Indians had said “that they never Pennsylvania), Bard made his way
had a stronger desire for anything to Pittsburgh. He wrote a letter to
than to have sunk the tomahawk into his wife, saying that if her adopted
his head, and that they had agreed friends would bring her to Pittsburgh
to kill him on his return next day,” and release her, he would pay 40
according to Archibald. The young pounds. Bard was hoping that even Captured and forced to stay with the
Indian warned Bard not to return the if they didn’t release her, some other Delawares tribe for over two years, Catherine
Bard kept one memento of her time with the
next day if he wanted to live. Indians would hear about the reward Delawares, a horn spoon, given to her to help
Instead, Bard chose to travel with offer and find a way to free her. her in her work as a woman of the trible.
a wagon convoy to Fort Bedford, While the Indians who had
where he met an Indian named adopted Catherine Bard were willing One interesting post-captivity
Captain White Eyes, who was friends to free her, they feared that they story is that one of Catherine’s
with the Moravian missionaries wouldn’t be paid the bounty. “brothers” came to visit the Bards.
in the area. A few miles from Fort “To allay their suspicions he While there, he went to a tavern and
Bedford, the Indians with the convoy told them to keep him as a hostage, got a bit drunk. He was attacked by
got drunk. One of the wagon drivers while they sent Mrs. Bard into the a white man who tried to kill him,
was scalped, and Bard was once town with an order for the money. but only severely wounded him.
again captured. This put the savages in good humor, According to the book, The Bard
“Captain White Eyes was soon and they took them into the town, Family, “The Indian was cared for at
under the influence of liquor, and where the money was paid and his Mr. Bard’s house until he recovered,
told Bard if he tried to escape, he wife was released,” Calimer wrote. but he was afterward put to death by
would be shot. He told Bard that he Catherine had been a captive of his tribe on the pretense that he had
knew that he had escaped from the the Delawares for two years and five joined the white people.”
Delawares before,” wrote L. Dean months. Catherine died in 1811. She is
Calimer in Franklin County Archives Following her release, the buried in the Church Hill Graveyard
VII. White Eyes fired at Bard, but Bards returned to Franklin County with her husband.
and bought a plantation near
Marie’s Williamson.
Bard went on to serve in the
Beauty Salon Revolutionary War. He was also
a member of the Pennsylvania
21 Meadow Lane • Thurmont Convention in 1787, which was the
group of Pennsylvanians who were
301-271-4551 asked to ratify the U.S. Constitution
in the Commonwealth.
He died in 1799. He is buried
Senior Citizen in the Church Hill Graveyard in
Perms $30 Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
Catherine kept one memento—if
you can call it that—of her time
Tue 1 - 8 p.m. • Thu 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. among the Delawares. It is a horn
Fri 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Sat 7 a.m. - 1 p.m. spoon that was given to her to help
Call 301-271-4551 for appointment. her in her work as a woman of the
Please leave message after 4 rings. tribe. It was passed down through
the females of the family.