Coleman Puett was a native of North Carolina. During the
war of 1812 he was detailed to carry provisions for the army of General
Jackson which he did hauling the supplies across the country to the waiting
soldiers. .In 1814 he brought his family consisting of his wife three sons
Elisha, Johnson and Alexander and two daughters Myra and Lucinda to Monroe
County Indiana . There he entered a tract of Government land. They
were one of the first white families in that part of the state the area
was alive with Indians who resented the presence of the white family. As
more settlers arrived trouble soon erupted. In 1828 the family moved
to a farm three miles northwest of Rockville in Parke County. The past
has written itself and it is not for me to judge between the Indians and
white settlers of Indiana. The following is simply an account of
an event that took place during those troubled times.
The True Story of Johnny Green, by Shelby Puett about 1890
Johnny Green was the last Indian in those parts to live the wild life in
the woods, all others having gone further west. He was a frequent unwelcome
visitor at the homes of settlers. He had a long unpronounceable name, which
the settlers got around by calling him Johnny Green.
His savage brutal stories and his ugly ill-tempered disposition when
drunk, always created a feeling of distrust and of fear on the part of
many, especially with the women and children. He was so much given
to of relating his many deeds of barbarous cruelties committed on defenseless
women and children while the men were away from home fighting in the war
with the Indians. He never failed to relate the most horrible and cruel
things that he had done, things many of them to horrible to relate in this
print.
On one occasion he visited the home of Coleman Puett, he soon began
telling one of his cruel stories about creeping up to the cabins of the
settlers when the women and children were alone, slipping the nozzle of
his gun through an open crack and shooting them while standing before
the fire as he said "fleaing themselves", and then relate how they would
fall into the fire, and would go through motions showing how they would
kick and flounce around in their dying agonies. On this occasion he was
promptly knocked down and out by Coleman Puett, and was thrown out of the
door. He lay for sometime before he came to himself, and when he did and
was able to get up and walk he went down below the road to Hethco Pond
and fixed up a temporary shelter by a large tree where he spent the night.
He was watched by members of the family until morning to see that he did
not attempt revenge for the rough treatment he had received.
The following morning he started for Sugar Creek. Coleman Puett and
his oldest son Elisha took their rifles and went for the same locality.
The next day after this he was located on a rock fishing in Sugar
Creek, and was there and then shot and killed by Coleman Puett.
Captain John C. Campbell who war raised on Sugar Creek and who was
familiar with the resent happenings was sent to investigate. There is no
doubt that he was shot by Mr. Puett. His wife Judith and his son Alexander
along with other members of the family was there and witnessed the trouble
at the Puett home and were familiar with the whole affair from the start
at the house to the killing of Johnny Green on Sugar Creek two days after.
The above account of the tragedy was written by Shelby C. Puett
Grandson of Coleman Puett who recalls all the facts as related to him many
times by his father and his Grandmother and others of the old settlers.
BACK
TO FAMILY STORIES INDEX