Ohio History Journal

THE INDIAN VILLAGE OF "CUSH-OG-WENK."

 

 

BY THOMAS H. JOHNSON, COSHOCTON.

The generations who were active participants in the events

which constitute the early history of Ohio having passed away,

it seems to me the imperative duty of those now living, whose

early life overlapped the survivors of the active participants in

the stirring events of that earlier period, to place on record any

recollections they may have of the stories told by those old sur-

vivors tending to identify the localities connected with such his-

torical events. I therefore venture to submit the following com-

munication relative to certain localities of historical interest, at

and near the town of Coshocton, with a view to its preservation

in the Archives of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society.

In so doing it is proper to state, in explanation of my source

of information, that I was born and raised in the town of Coshoc-

ton; that my Grand-mother, the widow of David Johnson, of

County Tyrone, Ireland, married James Renfrew, of Coshocton

and brought her five children to that place about 1820, while some

of the Indians still remained in the vicinity.

From statements of my father, W. K. Johnson, and my

Uncle, John Johnson, and also of some of the older settlers who

still survived in my boyhood days, among whom I may mention

Captain Neff and Jesse Workman, I have information which I

feel should be placed of record before it is wholly lost.

First. The Indian Village of "Cush-og-wenk,"* (improperly

*In the records of the several expeditions into this region, the

name of this Indian Village is generally misspelled Gosh-og-wenk. In

the Delaware tongue "Cush" is Bear. "Cush-og," Black Bear, and "wenk"

is town. In central Pennsylvania the word survives in the names of

certain streams, in the following forms, viz.: "Cush Creek"-Bear Creek;

"Cushian Creek"-Cub Creek; "Cush Cushian"-Bear and Cub Creek.

The termination "wenk" was Anglicised by the early settlers, and the

place become known as "Cush-og-town," from which it derived the later

and present form "Coshocton."

(432)

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The Indian Village of "Cush-og-wenk."       433

 

written "Gosh-og-wenk" in some of the early documents) was

situated in that part of the present Town plat lying to the south-

west of the Court House, the street of the Village being not far

from, and probably a little to the South of Main Street.

Second. The Burying Ground of the Village was on the

rising ground or natural terrace east of Fourth Street, at and in

the vicinity of Locust Street. Of this I have personal knowledge

from having seen human bones exhumed from excavations for

cellars in that vicinity.

Third. Col. Broadhead's expedition of 1780, which resulted

in the surprise and capture of the Village of "Cush-og-wenk,"

was marked by two disgraceful incidents:-the treacherous mur-

der of an Indian Chief, by Louis Wetzel, while the Chief was ir

conference with Col. Broadhead; and the equally treacherous

and disgraceful massacre of helpless prisoners.

The former incident occurred while Col. Broadhead and the

Chief were standing in the Street of the Indian Village. Accord-

ing to reported statements of Mr. Abraham Sells during his life,

the spot where this occurred was a little south of the present

Main Street, and east of Water Street. This is probably as

definite as the location can now be fixed.

In Howe's "Historical Sketches of Ohio" it is stated that the

massacre of the prisoners on the return march began when they

were about one-half mile east of the Village and continued along

the line of march until all were killed.

This differs from the story as told me by old settlers, which

was that the army halted at a spring about one mile east of the

village and that during that halt the prisoners were killed, and

that the Indians had marked the site of this massacre by cutting

a tomahawk and scalping knife in the bark of a Beech tree grow-

ing on the spot.

The stump of this tree still existed in my younger days, and

was often pointed out to me by my Uncle, Mr. John Johnson, who

never did so without expressing regret that the tree had been cut,

and waxing indignant at the wanton sacrilege of the act.

It seems to me the latter version is the more probable. This

act of barbarism is far more likely to have occurred, while the

Vol. XXI - 28.

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434       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

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The Indian Village of "Cush-og-wenk."       435

 

military formation was broken during the halt at the spring than

while on the march; and the incident of the symbols cut on the

tree is very strong confirmation of this version.

Fourth. Col. Bouquet's Expedition in 1764, established its

camp "on the highlands about one mile north of the mouth of the

White Woman (or Walhonding) River." These "highlands"

consist of a narrow ridge extending for about three quarters of

a mile in a southwesterly direction, with the valley of the Tus-

carawas River on the one side, and of Mill Creek on the other.

The exact site of the camp cannot now be determined. I

have been told that as late as about 1840, the lines of earthwork

could still be traced, and that skulls and horns of cattle and

sheep still marked the site where these animals had been slaugh-

tered for food. But unfortunately no one then thought to mark

the spot, nor to leave a record that would make the site

recoverable.

The selection of this site is a testimony to Col. Bouquet's

military genius. The top of the ridge is comparatively flat or

gently rounding, and well adapted to the purposes of a camp.

The sides are quite steep, made more so near the top, especially

on the Mill Creek side, by an outcropping ledge of Sandstone.

In all that region there is no other spot that could be so easily

defended against attack. The extreme end of the ridge falls

off with a more gentle slope affording an easy approach for those

having lawful business with the camp or its commander.

I enclose a blue-print map, from which a cut may be made,

of the region showing the localities referred to in this communi-

cation. The site of Col. Bouquet's camp must be taken as only

indicating the ridge on which it was located. The actual site

may have been any where within (say) a half mile along this

ridge.

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