14 Facts About Samuel Mason

Samuel Mason was associated with outlaws around Red Banks, Cave-in-Rock, Stack Island, and the Natchez Trace.

Samuel Mason was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and raised in what is Charles Town, West Virginia, formerly a part of Virginia.

Samuel Mason moved from Charles Town to what is Ohio County, West Virginia, at that time a part of Virginia, in 1773.

Samuel Mason appeared at the court martials and was present as a witness for military proceedings against other soldiers.

Samuel Mason's surname was spelled interchangeably as Meason in many of the early frontier records.

Samuel Mason later settled downriver on Diamond Island and engaged in river piracy.

Samuel Mason had a brief association with the first known serial killers in America, Micajah and Wiley Harpe, as well as Peter Alston, and possibly John Duff, the counterfeiter.

Samuel Mason moved his operations down the Mississippi River and settled his family in the territory of Spanish Louisiana, now the present-day state of Missouri, and became a highwayman along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi Territory, now the present-day state of Mississippi.

Samuel Mason would leave a message after each crime proudly stating, "Done by Mason of the Woods".

Fort Henry, formerly in Pennsylvania, now West Virginia, in 1777, at the time, Captain Samuel Mason was wounded and survived an ambush by Native Americans.

Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania where in 1779 Captain Samuel Mason joined the expedition of Colonel Daniel Brodhead against the pro-British Seneca tribe.

The Samuel Mason Gang was captured in 1803 and brought before the Spanish Territorial commandant, Colonel Robert McCoy, in New Madrid, Spanish Upper Louisiana Territory, New Spain.

Wiley Harpe and Peter Alston brought in the head of Samuel Mason to collect the reward and were identified and hanged.

Samuel Mason was later accused of being the leader of an outlaw gang, the Innocents, who stole gold shipments from Bannick, and was hanged by Bannick vigilantes.