As recounted by Willis De Haas in History of Early Settlement and Indian Wars of West Virginia,[2] mysterious smoke was reported south of Wheeling in the McMechen area.
Frontier guides familiar with the area suggested to Captain Foreman that he and his party should leave the path at the river bottom and return to Wheeling by way of the ridge.
When the party reached the extreme upper end of the McMechen Narrows, the men under Foreman's command broke ranks to investigate a display of Indian trinkets strewn across the path.
Lynn and his party, upon hearing the guns, rushed down the hill toward the site of the ambush "hallooing as if they were five times as numerous" (De Haas).
[4] However, De Haas stated on page 233 of the cited source 'We give a list of losses sustained by members of Captain Foreman's company, but there is nothing to indicate who were killed.'
[5] Several days after the ambush, a group from Wheeling reinforced by troops from Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania) and led by Colonel Shepherd buried the dead in one grave at the head of the narrows where they fell.