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? m. by 1760 ?Orange Co. NC b. d. |
Joshua "Micajah" b. 1760? ?Orange Co. NC k. Aug 24, 1799 Muhlenberg Co. KY |
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John Harper and his brother William immigrated from Scotland by 1760 and
settled in Orange Co. NC between 1761 and 1763. |
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| In NC, John and William Harper knew a Revolutionary War soldier named Frank Wood, and a Regulator named John Davidson. Micajah's two women, possibly kidnapped by him, were a younger sister of Frank Wood and a daughter of Davidson [Musgrave, 1998]. | |||
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The Harpe cousins are believed to have fought under British General Ferguson at
the battle of King's Mountain in 1780.
Map of Western
Carolinas during the Revolution shows location of King's Mt. and Quaker Meadows,
where the Patriots assembled before the battle. |
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In 1781, the Harpes participated in the Indian attack on the Bluffs Station in
the Cumberland Settlement in Washington Co. NC.
Map of
the Cumberland Settlement in 1780. |
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Washington Co., previously Washington District, was formed by North Carolina in
1777 and extended west to the Mississippi River, mostly containing land inhabited
by five different tribes of Native Americans, but mostly Cherokee. In 1779, the
Cumberland Settlement was created by the granting of land by the NC government.
In 1783 this settlement was mostly contained in the newly formed Davidson Co. and
surrounded by Indian Lands, and Virginia and Kentucky to the North.
Map of
the Cumberland Settlements showing Forts, known as Stations, in present-day counties. |
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On Aug 19, 1782 the Harpes were part of a war party of Chickamauga Cherokee
Indians, supported by the British, to the Battle of Blue Licks in Kentucky,
claiming victory over a group of Patriot settlers. For the next dozen years,
they continued to live among the tribe in a village named Nickajack,
which was located near Chattanooga. |
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On Jun 1, 1797 cousin Wiley Harpe married Sally Rice, the
daughter of Baptist minister John Rice. Wiley (known as "Little Harpe") and Micajah
shared 3 different women as wives while committing crimes between 1797 and 1799. The women had
children, including one that was killed by Micajah for being a bother, and were
briefly jailed but were set free and were said to have lived regular lives afterwards. |
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In Apr 1799, 32 year old Frederick Stump Jr., son of
Frederick Stump became the latest victim of
the outlaws known as the Harpe Brothers. On Apr 22, the Governor of Kentucky
issued a $300 reward "on each of the Harpe's heads" and one of the Harpes, Micajah,
was soon captured by bounty hunters and his head hung on the Wilderness Trail in
Warren Co. KY, where Frederick and his wife, Anna Maria ("Mary") lived. |
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In Kentucky, the cousins were tracked down by bounty hunters in Muhlenberg Co. KY
on Aug 24, 1799. Micajah Harpe was soon killed by the husband of one of their
victims. |
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Historical
marker in KY at the place, then along the Wilderness Trail, where the
severed head of Micajah Harpe was displayed after he
caught and killed nearby. |
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Cousin Wiley Harpe known as "Little Harpe" escaped the
bounty hunters in KY and fled down the Natchez Trace where he hoped to rejoin the
Samuel Mason Gang under an alias John Setton. He continued the crime spree with
a Mason Gang member Peter Alston, son of Philip
Alston. |
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Map of
the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799. |
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On May 16, 1801 John Stump, twin brother of
the Harpes' victim, married Rebecca Wilkins Hyde (1780-1853) in Davidson Co. TN. |
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Miss. Territory Governor Claiborne raised the reward for capture of
Wiley Harpe to $500. Wiley was finally found in 1804
when he and Peter Alston tried to collect the reward, now over $2,000, for his
head with the head of gang leader Samuel Mason. He was recognized and the two
were imprisoned. |
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One month after Wiley Harpe was executed, on Mar 24, 1804,
John Stump, twin brother of the Harpes' murder
victim in 1799, claimed a lot in Natchez in the Mississippi Territory.
Lot no. 4, Square no. 26 in the town of Natchez was originally granted on Oct 3, 1795
to Louisa Higdon, the wife of
John Wylie. Louisa and John Wylie
deeded the lot to John Stump "of Davidson Co. Tennessee" [McBee, p. 450]. A niece
of John Stump was named Louisa Guice when she was born in 1807. |
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John Stump's son John and sister Anna's daughter
Louisa were both born after John and Louisa Wylie
deeded a Natchez lot to John Stump after the outlaw Wiley Harpe was
captured and the reward of over $2,000 claimed. The brothers of John Wylie and
John Stump could have been two of his victims. |
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Sources: Cumberland Compact, original document signed May 13, 1780, Washington County NC, website. Clayton, Prof. W.W., History of Davidson County Tennessee, reprod. 1971 by Charles Elder, Nashville TN. Drake, Doug, Jack Masters and Bill Puryear, Founding of the Cumberland Settlements, The First Atlas, 1779-1804, Warioto Press, 2009, pp. 23, map E7. Imbert, J. Leopold, map maker, Carte des Possessions Angloises... 1777, reprinted by the Museum of the American Revolution from map image at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library. McBee, May Wilson, comp., "Land Claims", in Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Book F, p.21, Book D, pp. 450, 458. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, p. 450, 541. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, rootsweb, Americans Arriving in Spanish-Held Natchez 1780-1790. MSGenWeb, Natchez District 1792 Census Index, comp. by Ellen Pack, website, transcribed and translated from Spanish. Musgrave, Jon, "Frontier serial killers: The Harpes", article in American Weekend, Oct 23, 1998. North Carolina Land Grants, vol. 2, at Morganton NC Library, p. 6, #1476, transcribed by Lisabeth M. Holloway Oct 9, 1987. Rowland, Dunbar, "1816 Census for Franklin Co. Miss.", taken from The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi,Centennial Edition, 1917, rootsweb website. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, pp. 101, 144-5, 151, |
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