The frontier of the Maryland colony was a desperate place inhabited by violent people. The ancient forests hid predators unlike anything we can imagine today. Behind every tree eyes peered toward intruders. Wild animals were the least of your fears. Arrows and tomahawks could fly toward you with deadly accuracy. Only the bravest of men slipped into this hellish battlefield. Without one such man, the frontier would have taken much longer to conquer. His reputation was fierce. A warrior without peer. Even his wife carried a battle axe and swung it with great effect from her horse. His name was Thomas Cresap. Some of his fellow American colonist feared him. He waged a one man war against Pennsylvania along the border with Maryland. They called him the Maryland Monster. Because of or despite his reputation, he engendered intense loyalty from those that soldiered under his command. In one famous case, a slave who served him died on a remote mountain far to the West of any established fort.
The slave in question fought off attacking Indians and helped to save the entire Cresap party. His name was not recorded but his sacrifice was memorialized by Cresap in legend and deed. Even today, in the far West of Maryland there is an official sign atop a lonely mountain that quizzical motorists scratch their heads at. It bears an odd title; Negro Mountain. The Maryland Monster still lives.