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History - Pioneers - Massa Harbison
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The Story of Massa Harbison
In Her Own Words
A True Story of Kidnap, Murder and Flight in the Indian Lands of the Alle-Kiski Valley, 1792.
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SPECIAL NOTICE: Massa's Diary is now available for you to own! Originally published in 1825, this reprint edition
details Massa's life on the Allegheny frontier during the years 1790-1794, including her famous
capture and escape from the Indians. In association with Amazon.com.
A Narrative of the Sufferings of Massy Harbison: From Indian barbarity,
giving an account of her captivity, the murder of her two children,
her escape with an infant at her breast. (American Biography Series)
PROLOGUE--Massa Harbison and her husband John came to Western Pennsylvania as part
of a mass migration of Revolutionary War Veterans and their families who were to take
up residence in the "depreciation lands" as payment for their wartime service.
The depreciation lands were located north of the Ohio River and west of the
Allegheny and were named as such because the land was to be given to veterans in compensation for the depreciated currency in which they would have otherwise been paid.
The settlers couldn't cross over to their "Promised Land," however, because
the Indian Nations stilled controlled the lands west of the Allegheny.
Massa and John settled somewhere along Chartier's Run in Westmoreland county and lived in a simple cabin, a replica of which now stands across Route 56 from Valley High School (pictured above--additional photos are linked to throughout the text).
As the Indians became more aggressive and crossed the river to attack the settlers,
whole families moved to Reed's Station--a makeshift fort composed of individual
cabins gathered behind wooden palisades--which stood at
the present site of River Forest Golf Course across the Allegheny River from Freeport.
John Harbison was a "spy," he knew the Indian Lands across the Allegheny and
he scouted them for the army. He was scouting for the army in the Spring of
1792 when Massa was captured by a party of Indians at Reed's Station.
Here the story continues in Massa's own words...
The Attack
The Kidnapping
The Escape
The Return
The Epilogue
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