Bartley Clay was a 17-year-old White/Caucasian youth killed during an attack on his family’s frontier settlement at Clover Bottom, the location now tied to Lake Shawnee in present-day Mercer County, West Virginia. The attack is dated to August 1783 in most historical accounts; an online memorial gives the specific date of August 1, 1783. The Clay family settled along the Bluestone River in 1775, eight years before the raid.

Contemporary narratives say Bartley and his brother Ezekiel were building fencing around harvested grain while their sister Tabitha and other family members worked nearby. Eleven Shawnee attackers reportedly approached undetected; Bartley was shot and killed, and an assailant attempted to scalp him. Tabitha was killed defending her brother, and Ezekiel was taken captive. Mitchell Clay returned from hunting to find the home in chaos; Phoebe Clay carried the bodies back to the cabin and then led the smaller children to a neighbor’s house about six miles away.

Armed settlers led by Captain Matthew Farley pursued the raiders, overtook part of the group, and killed several Shawnee, but Ezekiel was carried into Ohio and later reported to have been killed. The historical accounts do not identify the individual shooter or any of the attackers by name, and no arrest, charge, trial, or conviction is recorded. Does anyone have family knowledge or documents that shed light on the Clay family at Clover Bottom or the identities of those involved?