Mr. Wetzel,
   
  Thank you very much for responding to my post.  People who know anything about or are interested in Lewis Wetzel are few and far between.  Personally, he is to me one of the greatest frontiersmen in American history.  My mother used to tell me stories about him when I was little, although her interest in him did not extend beyond his role in Zane Grey's novels.  
   
  I found much of interest in Allen Eckert's "That Dark and Bloody River" with regard to Lew's movements during his years protecting the border.  However, when I became aware that his in-depth treatment of Blue Jacket was totally off-base, I began to wonder if he might have gotten Lew Wetzel wrong, also.  I don't know if you have read the book, but (and I don't have it at hand to quote) he pretty much summed him up as an Indian killer who, when it became illegal to kill Indians east of the Mississippi, shot a few for good measure (as in the "ramrod" episode) before taking off for Texas where years later he was said to have been killing Comanches somewhere around Austin.  
   
  One thing I've always wondered about is how he lived.  Where did he get his food, his clothing; money to buy lead.  Where did he spend his winters.  I believe Eckert made a reference to a cabin somewhere, but I find it hard to believe that a man so hated and feared by Indians would be stupid enough to park himself in one spot for any length of time.  There is so much of his life that is unknown, but what is known is totally fascinating.  
   
  I also think that if the Indians got him in the end, we would know.  Any warrior skillful enough to take THAT scalp would have been celebrated from sea to shining sea.  On the other hand, dying of a disease in Mississippi never seemed like a fitting end to such a man.
   
  
   

  Clara,
      I read your query concerning Lewis Wetzel's exhumation on a list - I forget which one - and thought I might have some information which would be of interest, though of no real value.  I attended a lecture in Wheeling several years ago given by a man - unfortunately, I cannot remember his name - who was supposedly researching Lewis Wetzel for a book.  The lecture was useless as far as history goes.  The man seemed more interested in talking about himself than anything to do with Lewis.  Mostly he spoke of previously unknown information he had uncovered about Lewis Wetzel's life, imprisonment in New Orleans, and death, but when anyone would ask for specifics his reply was invariably he "would get to that some other time."  My friend and I found him quite amusing but quite a few people in attendance were visibly irritated.  I remember that he also passed around the room a stone ax head which he said belonged to Lewis Wetzel himself.  How he knew this and, more
 importantly, why someone in the late eighteenth century would use a stone ax he never explained.  But one thing he did have was very interesting; a film of part of the exhumation.  What I remember of the film was two white men looking on while several blacks dug. (I have read that Dr. Bowser hired several blacks from Rosetta for that purpose). When one of them uncovered something, which I assume was remains, they all threw down their shovels and ran off.  There may have been more to the film but my friend and I were laughing so hard by then that we didn't see it. I do remember reading somewhere that there were a lot of superstitions about the grave and spirits and such, though probably no more than you would find today.  Anyway, my memory of the film would certainly lead me to conclude that it wasn't professionally dug, to say the least.  And being a doctor alone would not qualify someone to identify a body as positively belonging to Lewis Wetzel, especially as it is
 self-evident that the Doctor wanted it to be him.  It would be nice if they could dig again and get some DNA.  I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not convinced it was him or that it wasn't.  There were enough reports of people seeing Lewis Wetzel in later years to make it interesting.  I hope this was of some interest to you.
   
      Craig Wetzel
      E. Liverpool, OH

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