Born in 1742 in Liverpool, England, Ann Hennis came to America, probably as an indentured servant, in 1761. Her first husband, Richard Trotter, a Shenandoah valley settler and survivor of General Edward Braddock╒s disastrous expedition of 1755, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774. Thereupon his widow adopted male dress, took up rifle and tomahawk, and became a frontier scout, messenger, spy, and Indian fighter. She was the subject of numerous adventures, both true and legendary, and became widely known as the ╥white squaw of the Kanawha╙ and more bluntly as ╥Mad Ann.╙ In 1788 she moved with her second husband, John Bailey, also a scout, to ╥Clendenin╒s Settlement╙ on the site of present-day Charleston, West Virginia. The settlement╒s principal feature was Fort Lee, and its siege by Native Americans in 1791 provided the occasion for Ann Bailey╒s most famous exploit. When the defenders╒ powder ran low she volunteered to ride for help. She dashed from the fort and through the host of besiegers, rode a hundred miles through the forest to Fort Union (present-day Lewisburg), and returned on the third day with powder. After her second husband╒s death she went to live with her son in Ohio. She died in Gallia County, Ohio, on November 22, 1825.
