Mother Saves Reason from the Indians
Warpaint at the door, her son hidden in the attic — and Sarah met a war party with gentleness, baby clothes, sugar, and nerve.
Sarah Barnes Plaskett was alone at the homestead with her young son Reason when the Indians came.
The trouble was real: Reason had shot an Indian dog that was killing Plaskett sheep, and the Indians arrived warpainted and ready for revenge — a life for a life was the frontier’s arithmetic. Sarah hid Reason in the attic of the house.
Then, alone against a war party, she went to work with the only weapons she had. She spoke gently. She took up an Indian baby and dressed him in her own nicest baby clothes. She gave the party gifts of sugar and flour. And slowly — through courage, diplomacy, and sheer maternal nerve — the anger cooled. Eventually they were placated. Eventually they left.
Reason lived to grow up, to strike the family’s ore on Plaskett Ridge, and to build St. Luke’s church at Jolon with his brothers. He owed all of it to his mother’s nerve on the day the cabin was surrounded.