Negro Mountain - History

History

Details behind the naming of Negro Mountain are not precisely known and a number of local stories have circulated in the past. The various stories seem to share, however, a couple of elements. One is that of a band of white soldiers or hunters skirmishing with Indians on the mountain during colonial times. The other is the presence with the whites of an African-American companion — variously named "Nemisis" or "Goliath" indicating his great strength or size — who accompanied the whites and died valiantly during the fight. The most popular version of the story takes place during the French and Indian War, in the year 1756, when frontiersman Colonel Thomas Cresap is known to have led a force against Native Americans on the mountain. A member of his force, a black slave or a scout named "Nemisis," was killed in the battle. The mountain was accordingly named "Negro Mountain" in his honor.

Another version of the story has a Captain Andrew Friend on a hunting trip on the mountain with a few companions. The party was attacked by Indians and during the ensuing skirmish, an African-American servant of Friend was gravely wounded and died the following morning on the mountain. Again, the mountain where he died defending the life of his master was named in his honor.

Yet another version, this time from local family lore, tells of:

John Hyatt, one of the early settlers, was a native of Maryland. He came with several others, accompanied by a number of slaves, to Turkey-Foot soon after the settlement began. While crossing the Negro mountain, a party of Indians fired upon them and mortally wounded one of the negroes, the strongest man in the company. A piece of a hollow log was found and placed over the negro to shelter him. Throwing it off, he said, "Save yourselves and never mind me; I shall die soon." It is said that Negro Mountain took its name from this circumstance.

The Cresap version is supported by the fact that Cresap is known to have written an account of such an expedition for Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette of June 17, 1756 mentioning that "an old Negro presented his gun at ". The Maryland Gazette had already described the same expedition on June 10, 1756, mentioning that a "free Negro" had been killed with the English.