HOSEA & JESSE COOK, APR. 28, 1792, KY

INDIAN MASSACRE OF HOSEA & JESSE COOK, APR. 28, 1792, KY
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