midnight
Girty spoke most of the Indian languages , and Hamilton employed him to go among the different Indian tribes and incite them to greater hatred of the pioneers . This proved to be just the life that suited him . He soon rose to have a great and bad influence on all the tribes . He became noted for his assisting the Indians in marauds , for his midnight forays , for his scalpings , and his efforts to capture white women , and for his devilish cunning and cruelty . For many years Girty was the Deathshead of the frontier . The mention of his name alone created terror in any household ; in every pioneer 's cabin it made the children cry out in fear and paled the cheeks of the stoutest-hearted wife . It is difficult to conceive of a white man 's being such a fiend in human guise .