Families who Killed together: The Harpe Brothers and The Borgia Family

The Harpe brothers

Micajah “Big” Harpe and Wiley “Little” Harpewere 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 America’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.

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 have acknowledged. 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, emigrated, 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 Royalists, 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.

Atrocities

As young men, the Harpes lived with renegade Creek 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. 

Deaths

In July 1799, John Leiper raised a posse 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.

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 courthouse 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.

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 Earp is a famous example said - though unconfirmed - to have been a member of the Harpe family. There are still descendants of the family today, including those that have changed their surname back to the original spelling.

The House of Borgia

The Borgias, also known as the Borjas, Borjia, were a European Papal family of Italian and Spanish origin with the name stemming from the familial fief seat of Borja belonging to their Aragonese Lords; they became prominent during the Renaissance. The Borgias were patrons of the arts, and their support allowed many artists of the Renaissance to realize their potential. The most brilliant personalities of this era regularly visited their court.

The Borgias became prominent in ecclesiastical and political affairs in the 1400s and 1500s. They produced two popes during this period, Alfons de Borja who ruled as Pope Calixtus III during 1455–1458, and Rodrigo Lanzol Borgia, as Pope Alexander VI, during 1492–1503. Today they are remembered for their corrupt rule during the reign of Alexander VI. They have been accused of many different crimes, including adultery, simony, theft, rape, bribery, incest, and murder (especially murder by arsenic poisoning ). Because of their search for power, they made enemies of other powerful families such as the Medici and the Sforza, as well as the influential Dominican friar Savonarola.

Rodrigo Borgia (1431 – 1503),

one of Alfons’s nephews, was born in Xàtiva, also in the Kingdom of Valencia. While a cardinal, he maintained an illicit relationship with Vanozza dei Cattanei from the House of Candia, and they had four children: Cesare, Giovanni, Lucrezia and Gioffre. He also had children by women other than Vannozza; Giulia Farnese was among his other mistresses. He was raised to the papal chair in 1492 and he chose the name of Alexander VI.

He was considered a good politician and diplomat, but he was also criticized for over-spending, simony and nepotism. His main interests lay in acquiring more wealth, seducing women, and making his family as powerful as possible. He planned to establish an empire with the assistance of his second oldest son, Giovanni, who was appointed captain-general of the papal army. Rodrigo had also honored his eldest son, Cesare, by nominating him cardinal when he was 18.

Alexander organized alliances through the marriages of his children. The Sforza family, which comprised the Milanese faction, was at the time one of the most powerful in Europe. Alexander married Lucrezia to Giovanni Sforza; in so doing, he united the Borgia and Sforza families. He also found another way of establishing his position – he married his youngest son from Vannozza, Gioffre, to Sancia of Aragon of the Kingdom of Aragon and Naples.

Rodrigo Borgia was said to have died in 1503 in Rome from a poisoned apple, but the actual cause of death was malarial fever. His pontificate is frequently characterized in extremities – he is often said to have been the worst of all Popes. The era in which Alexander VI held supreme papal power was full of scandals, infringements and signs of moral offense among the highest authorities of the Latin Church.

Controversies

There are many controversies connected with Rodrigo. He was not only accused of simony and nepotism, but also of attending public orgies, along with his daughter Lucrezia. The “Banquet of Chestnuts” (also called the “Ballet of the Chestnuts”) is considered one of the most disreputable balls of this kind. It was held on October 30, 1501. Not only Pope Alexander VI was present, but also two of his children, Lucrezia and Cesare.

Rodrigo is also remembered for other crimes, many of them including torture and execution. The famous Florentine preacher Savonarola was executed under Rodrigo’s reign. He accused Alexander VI of corruption and called for his removal as Pope. Savonarola was tortured and then hanged and burned publicly. Alexander VI is also remembered for bringing his mistresses to the papal court. One of them, Vanozza Cattanei gave him four children, and another two were born by Giulia Farnese. Alexander took Giulia as his mistress when she was a fifteen-year-old girl and he was over 60.

Cesare Borgia

Cesare’s education was precisely planned by his father. Until his 12th birthday, he was educated by tutors in Rome. He studied law and the humanities at the University of Perugia, then went to the University of Pisa to study theology. As soon as he graduated from the university, his father made him a cardinal.

Cesare was suspected of murdering his brother, Giovanni, but there is no clear evidence that he committed this crime. However, Giovanni’s death cleared the path for Cesare to become a layman and gain the honors his brother received from their father, Pope Alexander VI. Although Cesare had been a cardinal, he left the holy orders to gain power and take over the position Giovanni once held – Cesare became a condottiero. He was finally married to French princess Charlotte d’Albret.

After Alexander’s death in 1503, Cesare affected the choice of a next Pope. He needed a candidate who would not be a threat to his plans of creating his own principality in Central Italy. Cesare’s candidate did become Pope; however, he also died a month after the selection. Cesare was now forced to support Giuliano della Rovere. The cardinal promised Cesare that he could keep all of his titles and honors. Despite all of his promises, della Rovere betrayed him and became his fiercest enemy.

Cesare died in 1507, at Viana Castle in Navarre, Spain while besieging the rebellious army of Count de Lerin. The castle was held by Louis de Beaumont at the time it was besieged by Cesare Borgia and King John’s army of 10,000 men in 1507. In order to attempt to breach the extremely strong, natural fortification of the castle, Cesare counted on a desperate surprise attack. However, he not only failed to take the castle but also was killed during the battle.

Controversies

After Cesare became a leading general of the French King Louis XII, he returned to Rome. Behind him, dragged in golden chains, was Caterina Sforza, the Lady of two of the cities Cesare had conquered. She was imprisoned and held hostage in awful conditions. She would have died had the French not interceded for her release.

When Lucrezia’s second husband, Alfonso, the Duke of Bisceglie, was no longer important to the Borgias, Cesare strangled him (or had him strangled) when he was still recovering from another attempt of assassination on his life. The first attack was also most likely organised by Cesare and his men.

Between 1501 and 1503 Cesare hired Leonardo da Vinci as military architect and engineer, which means that da Vinci helped him conquer and then fortify fortresses. It is said that Leonardo invented war machines for Cesare and da Vinci received protection in return. Cesare allowed Leonardo to have full control over all planned and ongoing construction in his domain. Thanks to Leonardo’s merits, he received a vineyard from the family, which he later had to abandon, because of the fall of the Borgia empire. When Leonardo completed his work for Cesare, he had difficulties finding another patron in Italy. Finally, Francis I of France was able to convince him to enter his service, where Leonardo would work for the final three years of his life.

Some historians say that Cesare Borgia also murdered his brother Giovanni; however there is no clear evidence that he actually did. There is also the case of Perotto, Lucrezia’s lover. When Cesare found out about Lucrezia’s pregnancy, he was so furious that he had the father of the child murdered. The body of Perotto (young chamberlain, the father of the child) was fished out of the Tiber. Also the body of a chambermaid was found in the river – because she had given the lovers a chance to meet in secret. Both murders are believed to have been commissioned by Cesare. Historian Johann Burchard, a contemporary of Alexander VI, who lived in the Vatican, states about Cesare:

One day he went so far as to have the square of St Peter enclosed by a palisade, into which he ordered some prisoners - men, women and children - to be brought. He then had them bound, hand and foot, and being armed and mounted on a fiery charger, commenced a horrible attack upon them. Some he shot, and others he cut down with his sword, trampling them under his horse’s feet. In less than half-an-hour, he wheeled around alone in a puddle of blood, among the dead bodies of his victims, while his Holiness and Madam Lucrezia, from a balcony, enjoyed the sight of that horrid scene.

Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia was 13 years old when her father married her to Giovanni Sforza in 1493. It was a typical political marriage, however, the relationship was annulled in 1497, when Pope Alexander VI did not need the Sforzas any more. While terms of the divorce were being bargained, Lucrezia was resting in a convent. She was completely isolated from the world, and the only contact she had with the members of her family was through Perotto, a young chamberlain. Half a year later she attended a ceremony in which judges from Vatican stated that she was a virgin. The divorce could be permitted, since as a putative virgin Lucrezia could not have consummated her marriage with Giovanni. On the other hand, at the time of examination Lucrezia was pregnant, carrying a baby by Perotto. The child was born in secret, and given the name of Giovanni. He was passed from one protector to another, and finally resided with Lucrezia as her half-brother.

Lucrezia’s second marriage, to young and wealthy Prince Alfonso of Aragon, allowed the Borgias to form an alliance with another powerful family. However, this relationship did not last long either. Cesare wished to strengthen his relations with France and completely break off those with Kingdom of Naples. As Alfonso’s father was the ruler of the Kingdom of Naples, the young husband was in great danger. Although the first attempt at murder did not succeed, Alfonso was eventually strangled in his own quarters.

The third and final husband of Lucrezia was Alfonso d’Este. Though there appeared to be an emotional connection between the couple, and Lucrezia became a beloved wife, she had a few affairs on the side. All of them eventually ended.

Lucrezia gave birth to many children; most of whom died soon after birth. When she died in 1519, she was buried in a tomb with her husband and one of her prematurely deceased children, Isabella Maria. Lucrezia Borgia died ten days after the death of her daughter, Isabella, of complications during childbirth.

Controversies

She was rumored to be a notorious poisoner and she became famous for her skill at political intrigue. However, recently historians have started to look at her in a more positive light: she is often seen as a victim of her family’s deceptions. Many people believe that she was a criminal, but the crimes of her father, Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI), and some of her other siblings including Cesare Borgia are what gave her a bad name. Also, it is believed that Cesare and Lucrezia committed incest.