Harpe brothers
Encyclopedia
Micajah "Big" Harpe and Wiley "Little" Harpe (1770? – January 1804), pronounced (Mick-ah-zhah) and (Why-lee), were murderers, highwaymen, and river pirates
, who operated in Tennessee
, Kentucky
, Illinois
, and Mississippi
in the late 18th century. Their crimes appear to have been motivated more by blood lust than financial gain and many historians have called them the nation's first true "serial killers".
The Harpes are said to have been brothers (though some sources say cousins), born in Orange County, North Carolina
to Scottish
parents. Their father or their uncles, were allegedly of Tory allegiance, who fought on the British
side during the Revolutionary War. Big Harpe is known to have had two wives, sisters Susan and Betsey Roberts. Little Harpe married Sally Rice, daughter of a Baptist minister.
, in 1759 or 1760, at a young age, from Scotland. Their fathers were brothers, John and William Harper, who settled Orange County, North Carolina between 1761 and 1763. The Harper patriarchs were loyal to the British Crown and were known as Kings Men
, Loyalists
, and Tories
and may also have been regulators involved in the North Carolina Regulator War
. The anti-British Crown neighbors of the Harpers were known as Whigs
, Rebels
, and Patriots
. Around April or May, 1775, the young Harper cousins left North Carolina and went to Virginia to find overseer jobs on a slave plantation.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution
, little is known of the Harpes' whereabouts. According to Smith, from an eyewitness account from Captain
James Wood, they joined a Tory rape gang in North Carolina and took part in the kidnapping of three teenage girls, with a fourth girl being rescued by Captain Wood. These gangs took advantage of the war by raping, stealing, and murdering, and burning and destroying the property, especially farms, of patriot colonists
. In an interview Smith had with the Patriot soldier, Frank Wood, who was the son of Captain James Wood revealed that he was the older brother of Susan Wood Harpe, the later kidnapped
wife of Micajah "Big" Harpe.
Frank Wood claimed to have seen the Harpe brothers, serving "loosely" as Tory militia, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
Banastre Tarleton
's British Legion, at the Battles of Blackstocks, November 20, 1780, and Cowpens
, January 17, 1781. They also appeared in the same supporting role, at the Battle of King's Mountain
, October 7, 1780, under British commander Major Patrick Ferguson
. These battles that the Harpes supposedly participated in resulted in major Patriot victories.
Following the British defeat at Yorktown
in 1781, the Harpes left North Carolina, dispersed with their Indian allies
, the Chickamauga
Cherokees, to Tennessee villages west of the Appalachian Mountains
. On April 2, 1781, they joined war parties of four hundred Chickamauga Cherokee and attacked the Patriot frontier settlement of Bluff Station, at Fort Nashborough
(now Nashville, Tennessee
), which would again be assaulted by them, on either July 20, 1788, or April 9, 1793. A Captain James Leiper was killed in the 1781 attack on the fort and may have been related to the John Leiper, who was later involved in the killing of Micajah "Big" Harpe in Kentucky in 1799. On August 19, 1782, the Harpes accompanied a British-backed, Chickamauga Cherokee war party to Kentucky in the Battle of Blue Licks
, where they helped to defeat an army of Patriot frontiersmen
.
During the Harpe brothers' early frontier period among the Chickamauga Cherokee, they lived in the village of Nickajack, near Chattanooga, Tennessee
, for approximately twelve to thirteen years. During this span of time, they kidnapped Maria Davidson and later, Susan Wood and made them their women. In 1794, the Harpes and their women abandoned their Indian habitation, before the main Chickamauga Cherokee village of Nickajack, in eastern Tennessee, was destroyed in a raid
by American settlers. They would later relocate to Powell's Valley, around Knoxville, Tennessee
, where they stole food and supplies from local pioneers. The whereabouts of the Harpes were unknown between the summer of 1795 and spring of 1797, but by spring they were dwelling in a cabin on Beaver's Creek, near Knoxville. On June 1, 1797, Wiley Harpe married Sarah Rice
, which was recorded in the Knox County, Tennessee
marriage records. Sometime during 1797, the Harpes would begin their trail of death in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois.
and Cherokee
Indians
who committed atrocities against white
settlers and against their own tribes.
By 1797 the Harpes were living near Knoxville, Tennessee
. However, they were driven from the town after being charged with stealing hogs and horses. They were also accused of murdering a man named Johnson, whose body was found in a river, ripped open and weighted with stones. This became a characteristic of the Harpes' murders. They butchered anyone at the slightest provocation, even babies. R.E. Banta in The Ohio claims that Micajah Harpe even bashed his infant daughter's head against a tree because her constant crying annoyed him. This was the only crime for which he would later confess genuine remorse.
From Knoxville they fled north into Kentucky
. They entered the state on the Wilderness Road
, near the Cumberland Gap
. They are believed to have murdered a peddler named Peyton, taking his horse and some of his goods. They then murdered two travellers from Maryland
.
to avenge the murder of Mrs. Stegal, including Moses Stegal, the victim's husband. Leiper reached Harpe first, and managed to shoot Big Harpe. After a scuffle with a tomahawk
, Leiper overcame Harpe. When Stegal arrived, he decapitated Harpe and stuck his head on a pole, at a crossroads still known as "Harpe's Head" or Harpe's Head Road in Webster County, Kentucky
. By the end of their reign of terror, the "Bloody Harpes" were responsible for the known murders of no less than 40 men, women, and children. Little Harpe eluded the authorities for some time, using the alias John Setton, until allegedly being caught in an effort to get a reward of his own on the head of an outlaw, Samuel Mason
. He was captured in 1803, tried and hanged on February 8, 1804.
and later released. Sally Rice Harpe went back to Knoxville, Tennessee to live in her father's house. For a time, Susan Wood Harpe and Maria Davidson (aka Betsey Roberts Harpe) lived in Russellville. Susan Wood remarried later, and died in Tennessee. According to Ralph Harrelson, a McLeansboro, Illinois
historian, records show that on September 27, 1803, Betsey Roberts married John Huffstutler, moved with her husband to Hamilton County, Illinois in 1828, had many children, and eventually the couple passed away in the 1860s. Cave-In-Rock historian, Otto A. Rothert, believed that Susan Wood died in Tennessee and her daughter went to Texas
. According to the former sheriff of Hamilton County, Illinois, in 1820, Sally Rice, who had remarried, travelled with her husband and father to their new home in Illinois via the Cave-In-Rock ferry.
is a famous example said - though unconfirmed - to have been a member of the Harpe family.
There are still descendant
s of the family today, including those that have changed their surname back to the original spelling.
was written in 2009 by Chad Kinkle and illustrated by Adam Show called Harpe America's First Serial Killers.
The Harpe brothers, identified as "Big Harp" and "Little Harp" are among the characters in the stage musical The Robber Bridegroom
, adapted by Alfred Uhry
and Robert Waldman
from the novel by Eudora Welty
. In this musical, Big Harp has already been decapitated at the beginning of the story, but his disembodied head is still alive: the head is portrayed by an actor whose body is concealed behind the scenery.
Robert Hayden
's poem "Theory of Evil" takes the Harpe brothers' crimes, and Big Harpe's demise, as its explicit subject.
In the 1941 film version of The Devil and Daniel Webster
, both Harpes are among the jury the Devil
calls, but do not appear in the original story.
Big and Little Harpe appeared in Disneyland's Davy Crockett miniseries
.
Both Harpes and their decedents play a key role in the Silver John
book The Voice Of The Mountain by Manly Wade Wellman
, though their real-life accounts were fictionalize and morphed into more supernatural abilities.
The Harpe brothers were the inspiration for Big and Little Drum in Lois McMaster Bujold
's The Sharing Knife
:Passage.
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
, who operated in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
in the late 18th century. Their crimes appear to have been motivated more by blood lust than financial gain and many historians have called them the nation's first true "serial killers".
The Harpes are said to have been brothers (though some sources say cousins), born in Orange County, North Carolina
Orange County, North Carolina
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 133,801. Its county seat is Hillsborough...
to Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
parents. Their father or their uncles, were allegedly of Tory allegiance, who fought on the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
side during the Revolutionary War. Big Harpe is known to have had two wives, sisters Susan and Betsey Roberts. Little Harpe married Sally Rice, daughter of a Baptist minister.
Disputed claims of early lives and involvement in Revolutionary War and Indian Wars
In Jon Musgrave's article of Oct. 23, 1998, in the southern Illinois newspaper, American Weekend, through thorough research, he cited the T. Marshall Smith 1855 book, Legends of the War of Independence, and of the Earlier Settlements in the West, that the Harpes were much older than most mainstream historians indicated. Smith stated he had heard stories from his grandfather, older pioneers, and those who had interviewed two of the Harpe wives. One of his stories was that the Harpe brothers were actually cousins, William and Joshua Harper, who would sometime later take the alias Harpe, emigratedImmigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, in 1759 or 1760, at a young age, from Scotland. Their fathers were brothers, John and William Harper, who settled Orange County, North Carolina between 1761 and 1763. The Harper patriarchs were loyal to the British Crown and were known as Kings Men
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
, Loyalists
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
, and Tories
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
and may also have been regulators involved in the North Carolina Regulator War
War of the Regulation
The War of the Regulation was a North Carolina uprising, lasting from approximately 1760 to 1771, in which citizens took up arms against corrupt colonial officials...
. The anti-British Crown neighbors of the Harpers were known as Whigs
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
, Rebels
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
, and Patriots
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
. Around April or May, 1775, the young Harper cousins left North Carolina and went to Virginia to find overseer jobs on a slave plantation.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, little is known of the Harpes' whereabouts. According to Smith, from an eyewitness account from Captain
Militia (United States)
The role of militia, also known as military service and duty, in the United States is complex and has transformed over time.Spitzer, Robert J.: The Politics of Gun Control, Page 36. Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1995. " The term militia can be used to describe any number of groups within the...
James Wood, they joined a Tory rape gang in North Carolina and took part in the kidnapping of three teenage girls, with a fourth girl being rescued by Captain Wood. These gangs took advantage of the war by raping, stealing, and murdering, and burning and destroying the property, especially farms, of patriot colonists
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
. In an interview Smith had with the Patriot soldier, Frank Wood, who was the son of Captain James Wood revealed that he was the older brother of Susan Wood Harpe, the later kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
wife of Micajah "Big" Harpe.
Frank Wood claimed to have seen the Harpe brothers, serving "loosely" as Tory militia, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Banastre Tarleton
Banastre Tarleton
General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British soldier and politician.He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that he had fired upon surrendering Continental...
's British Legion, at the Battles of Blackstocks, November 20, 1780, and Cowpens
Battle of Cowpens
The Battle of Cowpens was a decisive victory by Patriot Revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
, January 17, 1781. They also appeared in the same supporting role, at the Battle of King's Mountain
Battle of Kings Mountain
The Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
, October 7, 1780, under British commander Major Patrick Ferguson
Patrick Ferguson
Major Patrick Ferguson was a Scottish officer in the British Army, early advocate of light infantry and designer of the Ferguson rifle. He is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles Cornwallis, in which he aggressively recruited Loyalists and harshly treated Patriot...
. These battles that the Harpes supposedly participated in resulted in major Patriot victories.
Following the British defeat at Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
in 1781, the Harpes left North Carolina, dispersed with their Indian allies
Allies
In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...
, the Chickamauga
Chickamauga Indian
The Chickamauga or Lower Cherokee, were a band of Cherokee who supported Great Britain at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. They were followers of the Cherokee chief Dragging Canoe...
Cherokees, to Tennessee villages west of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
. On April 2, 1781, they joined war parties of four hundred Chickamauga Cherokee and attacked the Patriot frontier settlement of Bluff Station, at Fort Nashborough
Fort Nashborough
Fort Nashborough was the stockade for the settlement that became the city of Nashville, Tennessee, USA. A reconstruction, maintained by Nashville Parks and Recreation today stands on the banks of the Cumberland River near the site of the original fort....
(now Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
), which would again be assaulted by them, on either July 20, 1788, or April 9, 1793. A Captain James Leiper was killed in the 1781 attack on the fort and may have been related to the John Leiper, who was later involved in the killing of Micajah "Big" Harpe in Kentucky in 1799. On August 19, 1782, the Harpes accompanied a British-backed, Chickamauga Cherokee war party to Kentucky in the Battle of Blue Licks
Battle of Blue Licks
The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis's famous surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war in the east...
, where they helped to defeat an army of Patriot frontiersmen
Western theater of the American Revolutionary War
The Western theater of the American Revolutionary War was the area of conflict west of the Appalachian Mountains, the region which became the Northwest Territory of the United States as well as the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri...
.
During the Harpe brothers' early frontier period among the Chickamauga Cherokee, they lived in the village of Nickajack, near Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
, for approximately twelve to thirteen years. During this span of time, they kidnapped Maria Davidson and later, Susan Wood and made them their women. In 1794, the Harpes and their women abandoned their Indian habitation, before the main Chickamauga Cherokee village of Nickajack, in eastern Tennessee, was destroyed in a raid
Raid (military)
Raid, also known as depredation, is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which has a specific purpose and is not normally intended to capture and hold terrain, but instead finish with the raiding force quickly retreating to a previous defended position prior to the enemy forces being...
by American settlers. They would later relocate to Powell's Valley, around Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, where they stole food and supplies from local pioneers. The whereabouts of the Harpes were unknown between the summer of 1795 and spring of 1797, but by spring they were dwelling in a cabin on Beaver's Creek, near Knoxville. On June 1, 1797, Wiley Harpe married Sarah Rice
Sarah Rice
Sarah Rice is an actress whose career in theatre has spanned across many leading theatrical productions, including Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music, both by Stephen Sondheim. She has been well known for her numerous operatic performances, including The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville...
, which was recorded in the Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...
marriage records. Sometime during 1797, the Harpes would begin their trail of death in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois.
Atrocities
As young men, the Harpes lived with renegade CreekCreek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
and Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
who committed atrocities against white
Caucasian peoples
This article deals with the various ethnic groups inhabiting the Caucasus region. There are more than50 ethnic groups living in the region.-Peoples speaking Caucasian languages:...
settlers and against their own tribes.
By 1797 the Harpes were living near Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
. However, they were driven from the town after being charged with stealing hogs and horses. They were also accused of murdering a man named Johnson, whose body was found in a river, ripped open and weighted with stones. This became a characteristic of the Harpes' murders. They butchered anyone at the slightest provocation, even babies. R.E. Banta in The Ohio claims that Micajah Harpe even bashed his infant daughter's head against a tree because her constant crying annoyed him. This was the only crime for which he would later confess genuine remorse.
From Knoxville they fled north into Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. They entered the state on the Wilderness Road
Wilderness Road
The Wilderness Road was the principal route used by settlers for more than fifty years to reach Kentucky from the East. In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened,...
, near the Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia...
. They are believed to have murdered a peddler named Peyton, taking his horse and some of his goods. They then murdered two travellers from Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
.
Deaths
In July 1799, John Leiper raised a possePosse comitatus (common law)
Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...
to avenge the murder of Mrs. Stegal, including Moses Stegal, the victim's husband. Leiper reached Harpe first, and managed to shoot Big Harpe. After a scuffle with a tomahawk
Tomahawk (axe)
A tomahawk is a type of axe native to North America, traditionally resembling a hatchet with a straight shaft. The name came into the English language in the 17th century as a transliteration of the Powhatan word.Tomahawks were general purpose tools used by Native Americans and European Colonials...
, Leiper overcame Harpe. When Stegal arrived, he decapitated Harpe and stuck his head on a pole, at a crossroads still known as "Harpe's Head" or Harpe's Head Road in Webster County, Kentucky
Webster County, Kentucky
Webster County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Webster County was formed in 1860 from parts of the counties of Henderson, Hopkins, and Union. As of 2000, the population is 14,120. Its county seat is Dixon. The county was named for American statesman Daniel Webster...
. By the end of their reign of terror, the "Bloody Harpes" were responsible for the known murders of no less than 40 men, women, and children. Little Harpe eluded the authorities for some time, using the alias John Setton, until allegedly being caught in an effort to get a reward of his own on the head of an outlaw, Samuel Mason
Samuel Mason
Samuel Mason or Meason was a Revolutionary War militia captain on the frontier, who following the war, became the leader of a gang of river pirates and highwaymen on the lower Ohio River and the Mississippi River in the late 18th and early 19th centuries...
. He was captured in 1803, tried and hanged on February 8, 1804.
Harpe women
According to Jon Musgrave, the Harpe women, after cohabitation with the Harpe brothers, led lives that were relatively respectable and normal. Upon the death of Micajah "Big" Harpe in Kentucky, Wiley "Little" Harpe fled and went into hiding and their women were apprehended and taken to the Russellville, Kentucky state courthouseRussellville, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,149 people, 3,064 households, and 1,973 families residing in the city. The population density was 672.1 people per square mile . There were 3,458 housing units at an average density of 325.1 per square mile...
and later released. Sally Rice Harpe went back to Knoxville, Tennessee to live in her father's house. For a time, Susan Wood Harpe and Maria Davidson (aka Betsey Roberts Harpe) lived in Russellville. Susan Wood remarried later, and died in Tennessee. According to Ralph Harrelson, a McLeansboro, Illinois
McLeansboro, Illinois
McLeansboro is a city in Hamilton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,883 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Hamilton County. Located in Southern Illinois, the town was named for Dr. William B. McLean, who donated the land for its founding...
historian, records show that on September 27, 1803, Betsey Roberts married John Huffstutler, moved with her husband to Hamilton County, Illinois in 1828, had many children, and eventually the couple passed away in the 1860s. Cave-In-Rock historian, Otto A. Rothert, believed that Susan Wood died in Tennessee and her daughter went to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. According to the former sheriff of Hamilton County, Illinois, in 1820, Sally Rice, who had remarried, travelled with her husband and father to their new home in Illinois via the Cave-In-Rock ferry.
Descendants
After the atrocities committed by the Harpes, many members bearing the family name changed their name, in some way, to hide the heritage of their infamous ancestors. The Harpes may have disguised their Tory past from their Patriot neighbours, by changing their original name of "Harper," which was a common Loyalist name in Revolutionary War-era North Carolina. Some went by "Harp" merely removing the final "E" in Harpe, but leaving the pronunciation the same. Others changed the name significantly. Wyatt EarpWyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
is a famous example said - though unconfirmed - to have been a member of the Harpe family.
There are still descendant
Lineal descendant
A lineal descendant, in legal usage, refers to a blood relative in the direct line of descent. The children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc...
s of the family today, including those that have changed their surname back to the original spelling.
Appearances in literature, stage, television, and film
E. Don Harpe, perhaps the only Harpe descendant to openly acknowledge and write about the Harpe brothers, currently, has two books born wolf DIE WOLF The Last Rampage of the Terrible Harpes and Resurrection: Rebirth of the Terrible Harpes with a third book being written. His short work, The True Story of America's First Serial Killers, may be as close to the truth about the story of the Harpes, as has been written. A graphic novelGraphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
was written in 2009 by Chad Kinkle and illustrated by Adam Show called Harpe America's First Serial Killers.
The Harpe brothers, identified as "Big Harp" and "Little Harp" are among the characters in the stage musical The Robber Bridegroom
The Robber Bridegroom (musical)
The Robber Bridegroom is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry and music by Robert Waldman. The story is based on the 1942 novella by Eudora Welty of the same name, with a Robin Hood-like hero; the adaptation placed it in a late 18th century American setting...
, adapted by Alfred Uhry
Alfred Uhry
Alfred Fox Uhry is an American playwright, screenwriter, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He is one of very few writers to receive an Academy Award, Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing....
and Robert Waldman
Robert Waldman
Robert Waldman is an American composer, musical arranger, and orchestrator.Waldman has collaborated with Alfred Uhry twice, on Here's Where I Belong, the disastrous 1968 adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden that closed on opening night, and the considerably more successful The Robber...
from the novel by Eudora Welty
Eudora Welty
Eudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
. In this musical, Big Harp has already been decapitated at the beginning of the story, but his disembodied head is still alive: the head is portrayed by an actor whose body is concealed behind the scenery.
Robert Hayden
Robert Hayden
Robert Hayden was an American poet, essayist, educator. He was appointed Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1976.-Biography:...
's poem "Theory of Evil" takes the Harpe brothers' crimes, and Big Harpe's demise, as its explicit subject.
In the 1941 film version of The Devil and Daniel Webster
The Devil and Daniel Webster
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" is a short story by Stephen Vincent Benét. This retelling of the classic German Faust tale is based on the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker", written by Washington Irving...
, both Harpes are among the jury the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
calls, but do not appear in the original story.
Big and Little Harpe appeared in Disneyland's Davy Crockett miniseries
Davy Crockett (TV miniseries)
Davy Crockett is a five part serial which aired on ABC in one-hour episodes on the Disneyland series. The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his fictional best friend, George Russel....
.
Both Harpes and their decedents play a key role in the Silver John
Silver John
Silver John is a fictional character from a series of fantasy stories by Manly Wade Wellman. Though fans refer to him as Silver John or as John the Balladeer, the stories call him simply John....
book The Voice Of The Mountain by Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...
, though their real-life accounts were fictionalize and morphed into more supernatural abilities.
The Harpe brothers were the inspiration for Big and Little Drum in Lois McMaster Bujold
Lois McMaster Bujold
Lois McMaster Bujold is an American author of science fiction and fantasy works. Bujold is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the prestigious Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record. Her novella The Mountains of Mourning won both the Hugo...
's The Sharing Knife
The Sharing Knife
The Sharing Knife is a romance/fantasy crossover series by Lois McMaster Bujold, published in 2006–09. The original story grew so long in the telling that it was split into two volumes: Beguilement and Legacy ....
:Passage.
External links
- Frontier serial killers: The Harpes, Southern Illinois History Page
- Outlaws of Cave-In-Rock, Southern Illinois History Page
- A Bloody Legend, Sketch of Big and Little Harpe, Henderson County, Kentucky
- The Vicious Harpes - First American Serial Killers, Old West Legends
- The Harpes, America's first serial killers, trutv Crime Library
- The Harpes: America's 1st Serial Killers,? The Butcher's Floor
- http://home.comcast.net/~hendersoncountyky/history/harpe_brothers.html "Fearsome twosome had a reign of terror in these parts," The GleanerHenderson GleanerThe Henderson Gleaner is the daily newspaper in Henderson, Kentucky. Its paid circulation is approximately 10,200 copies daily and 11,200 on Sundays, according to the ....
, March 27, 1988] - "Big Harpe and Little Harpe," Murder by Gaslight, October 24, 2010
- The Harpes, Mississippi Local History Network
- Samuel Mason and Little Harpe, Mississippi Local History Network
- Outlaws, Rascals & Ruffians,! Mississippi Local History Network