The Hochstetler Massacre - His Arrival

His Dream
There is a tradition that he found a dead opossum full of maggots. He was so hungry that it tasted good and he ate till his hunger was appeased and then fell asleep, when his murdered wife appeared to him in a dream telling him to go on, that he was on the right way. When he awoke he took to his raft, determined never to leave it until he reached the white settlements. Thus he reached Fort Harris on the site of the present city of Harrisburg. He was too weak to stand, made efforts to be noticed, but failed to be observed until past the place. A little below the fort there was a place where the river was forded when low; here a man was watering a horse, who observed a strange object floating down stream; he went and reported. The commander at the fort with his spyglass discovered that there was a white man on a small raft and signalled to him, but all Jacob was able to do was to hold up his arm. He was accordingly rescued with a skiff. A woman, probably Mrs. Harris, prepared his first meals for him. He soon regained his strength and from here had no trouble in reaching his home. Before arriving at Fort Harris he must have passed two other forts, Fort Hunter about five miles above and Fort Augusta at the forks of the Susquehanna. From the latter the stream could not well be seen and Fort Hunter he may have passed in the nighttime. Take it all in all, his adventures were hazardous, the escape marvelous, and his whole life replete with incidents worthy of being preserved to posterity.

Taken from pp. 39 and 40 of Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler, by Rev. Harvey Hostetler, D.D., 1912. This portion was prepared by William F. Hochstetler.

I had wondered about his being recognized as a white man since he probably had the appearance of an Indian. Perhaps the spyglass was strong enough that the commander could differentiate the color of skin.