Ohio History Journal

THE INDIAN IN OHIO

With a Map of the Ohio Country

 

 

BY H. C. SHETRONE, ASSISTANT CURATOR,

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

 

 

FOREWORD.

The accompanying narrative is offered in response to an

apparent demand for a briefly comprehensive account of the

aboriginal inhabitants of the territory comprised within the State

of Ohio.

The need of such an addition to the already extensive litera-

ture on the subject is suggested by frequent inquiry on the part

of visitors to the Museum of the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society.  This inquiry, representing all ages and

classes of visitors, but more particularly pupils and teachers of

the public schools, may be fairly summarized in a representative

query: "Where can I find 'a book' that will give me the facts

about the Indian and the Mound Builder ?"

The difficulty of meeting this inquiry would seem to indicate

that the wealth of research and investigation along the line of

Ohio aboriginal history has not been presented in a form fully

meeting the requirements of the average reader. It is a simple

matter to meet the demands of the special student, with time and

inclination for study; but apparently the numerous productions

pertinent to the subject either are not readily available to the

average reader, are not comprehensive of all its phases, or in

some other way are unsuited to his purpose.

While many important questions relative to the Indian and

the so-called Mound Builder remain as yet unanswered, the re-

sults of recent historic research and archaeological exploration

make possible a fairly accurate sketch of the aboriginal race in

Ohio, both before and since the advent of white men. The pur-

pose, then, of this brief outline is to supplement the Society's

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The Indian in Ohio.                275

 

Publications and Museum exhibits, to the end that visitors and

students may learn, insofar as known, the more important facts

relevant to these "First Ohioans", their activities, and the dis-

tinction and relationship between the several great cultures of the

native American race which, successively or contemporaneously,

made their homes on Ohio soil.

To accomplish this it has been deemed necessary to unify,

under one cover, three aspects of the subject usually presented

separately; namely, the American race as a whole; the Indian in

Ohio (historic period) ; and the prehistoric or archaeological

period in the same territory. Each of these topics has been ex-

haustively presented by masters of thought and expression; and

but for the desirability of combining the three as component parts

of the story of the American aborigine in Ohio, this compilation

would be highly presumptuous and without justification. The

result is the more confidently submitted, in that it follows closely

the writings of the acknowledged authorities from which it is

compiled.

In the pages touching upon the American aborigine in the

broader sense, the publications of the Bureau of American Eth-

nology, the reports of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the

works of a few of the standard authors have been consulted.

The story of the Indian in Ohio, within the historic period, has

been taken mainly from the masterly presentation of Mr. E. O.

Randall in the "History of Ohio - The Rise and Progress of an

American State," by Randall and Ryan. Mr. Randall's treatment

of the Ohio Indian and his activities is most exhaustive, and is

the last word in authenticity and literary style, besides being the

most recent of the several standard productions relating to the

subject. The brief summary of the prehistoric period in Ohio is

based upon the researches and investigations of Professor Wil-

liam C. Mills, Curator of the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Museum, and the acknowledged "foremost exponent of

Mound Exploration in America". The writer has had the honor

of being actively associated with Professor Mills in field explora-

tions in Ohio during the past five years, and through this has

been enabled to form first-hand impressions of the prehistoric

period of Ohio occupancy.

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276       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

In preparing the map of the Ohio country, the sole aim has

been to serve the convenience of the student of the period of

historic Indian occupancy. The Ohio river and Lake Erie, with

their principal tributary streams, will serve to acquaint the reader

with the physical geography of the country, while these, together

with a few of the more important aboriginal trails will indicate

the travel thoroughfares thereof. Several modern cities have

been introduced to assist in determining more easily the relative

locations of the Indian villages, and the forts and battlefields of

the period.

In connection with the Indian towns it has been thought

desirable, where not otherwise obvious, to indicate the tribes to

which they pertained. The dates accompanying these villages do

not purport to show the time of settlement or origin, often un-

known, disputed or unimportant, but rather that of first prominent

mention or of greatest historic interest. The same reservation ap-

plies to the indicated territories of the several tribes, which,

owing to constant change in their boundaries and the fact that

they often overlapped one another cannot be definitely outlined.

Sufficient of the territory adjacent to Ohio proper is shown to

include occurrences inseparable from its Indian history.

If this brief outline of Ohio Indian history serves to supply

the average reader with desired information and, through encour-

agement to those who may have opportunity and inclination for

further study of the early history of Ohio, tends to make "two

readers, where but one read before", its object shall have been

attained.

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THE NATIVE AMERICAN RACE

 

THE INDIAN AND THE PERIOD OF DISCOVERY.

In order properly to understand the Indians and Mound

Builders who made their homes in what is now Ohio, it is neces-

sary to consider briefly the native American race as a whole, to

which these early inhabitants of our state belonged. Just as it

would be impossible to write a complete history of the present

inhabitants of Ohio, without referring to persons and events in

other states, so it would be very difficult to tell the story of these

"first Ohioans" entirely apart from others of their race.

It is well known that when Columbus discovered America

he entertained the mistaken idea that he had touched upon the

shores of India, and that it was in this belief that he named the

natives "Indians". Later, when the New World was christened

America, the natives, for some reason, continued to be known as

Indians. Within recent years numerous attempts have been made

to adopt a more suitable name, but the term Indian has become

so thoroughly incorporated into language and literature that it

still prevails, and with the prefix "American", is generally used

and recognized as designating in a broad sense the native abo-

rigines of the Western hemisphere.

With the possible exception of the Eskimo all the native

tribes of the Americas of both historic and prehistoric times,

despite marked variation in culture and physical type, are classed

as belonging to one great race --the American, or Red race.

The Eskimo are classified by some scientists as a distinct sub-

race, believed to be directly descended from the Mongolians of

Asia; but most authorities now agree that they really belong to

the American race and consider them merely as a variant phys-

ical type, with decided Mongolian traits, and as possibly suggest-

ing a connecting link between the American and the Asiatic

peoples. In a certain sense the Indians are, or were, the real

Americans; but the name American was reserved for the com-

ing great nation of white settlers, who were to explore, colonize

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and develop the country; and the Indian, in name as in more

material respects, was forced to make way for the advance of

civilization.

It would be interesting indeed if we of today could roll

back the years and view the native inhabitants of the newly dis-

covered world as they appeared to Columbus and others of his

time. In this age of the trained explorer and ready press the

minutest details of a hitherto unknown people would be quickly

made known, but at that remote period it is not surprising to

find that often only the more apparent facts were recorded. The

men who were so bold as to navigate unknown and uncharted

seas, in sailing vessels which today would be considered unsafe

even on our inland waters, and who ventured for thousands of

miles from their native shores under conditions which made

their return very uncertain, could not be expected to pay much

attention to minor details. Their purpose, indeed, was as im-

portant as their risk was great. The demand of western Europe

for a new sea route to the Orient usually is considered as the

prime incentive to Columbus' voyages of discovery. The desire

to prove or disprove the sphericity of the earth, a theory just

then attracting marked attention, and the spirit of adventure,

with the prospect of discovering new and strange lands where

treasure might be had for the taking, were of themselves suffi-

cient incentive to lure the hardy mariner into strange waters.

In the fact that the early explorer was enabled to see and

observe the natives before contact with Europeans had influenced

and changed their natural condition, lies the greatest importance

of his records. The study of an uncivilized people before con-

tact with other peoples has modified their habits and customs is

very important, it their true history is to be learned. After

such contact the change is often rapid, and the legibility of the

story decreases in direct ratio as opportunity for its study in-

creases. The early explorers were not handicapped in this re-

spect, although their records, while invaluable, are not always

as satisfactory as might be desired. Often the very things we

most wish to know are left untold, while again descriptions evi-

dently are fanciful and not infrequently conflicting. The latter

is not to be wondered at, since the vast extent of the newly dis-

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The Indian in Ohio.                279

 

covered territory, with its extremes in climate and other natural

conditions, meant corresponding extremes of culture, or progress,

among the inhabitants; so that explorers, touching at different

localities, would form different impressions of the natives. De-

spite these imperfections, the several records of early explora-

tion comprise quite an extensive literature and furnish the basis

upon which all our knowledge of the native inhabitants is

founded.

Touching first at the Bahama Islands and later upon the

South American continent, Columbus had his introduction to,

and received his first impression of the natives. Then followed

the Cabots, Magellan, de Leon, Balboa, Cortez, De Soto, Cartier,

and many others, all within the period of discovery, and all

viewing the native inhabitants in their primitive condition. Had

these men found everywhere the same degree of culture, or de-

velopment, their stories in the main would have been very much

alike, and much less time would have been required in arriving

at a correct understanding of the native race as a whole. But

in view of the diversity in climate, topography and other condi-

tions having an important bearing upon human welfare, it is

but natural that the inhabitants of the several sections of so large

a country should have been unlike in many respects.

As time passed and the new country became better known,

opportunity was afforded for more careful observation and com-

parison, with the result that many discrepancies in the records

of discoverers and explorers were reconciled. These records,

together with those of later and present-day investigators, give

to the historic American Indian an intelligible entity; while the

sum total of this knowledge, supplemented by the work of the

archaeologist, has given us a fairly clear insight into the life of

the race in prehistoric times.

 

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

In the study of the human race, science leaves no stone

unturned. Everything is considered that holds a possibility of

throwing light upon the subject, past, present or future. The

means employed are grouped under three general heads; anthro-

pology, the science which deals with man as a physical being,

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280       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

that is, with the natural history of the species; ethnology, which

treats of the activities of man, such as language, art, industry,

religion, social and political organization, manners and customs;

and archeology, which has to do with man before history began

to record his story. The term anthropology is used also in a

broader sense, as meaning the science of man, and including

everything in any way pertaining to his existence.

Anthropology, in this outline of the American Indian, is

used purely in a physical sense. Physical characteristics usually

are the first to attract attention in the study of a people, and

probably are the most stable and unchanging of the many items

pertaining to such an inquiry. By the color of the skin and

hair, the cast of features and other physical attributes, is deter-

mined the race to which a people belongs. In the case of the

American Indian, science has found that, with the exception

already noted, they pertain to one great race, distinct from any

other.

The type is characterized by a swarthy complexion, reddish-

brown to dark-brown in color; hair, straight and black, with a

bluish luster; eyes brown; face medium to broad, with high

cheek bones. In stature, the Indian compares favorably with

the white inhabitant of today, although the average varies among

different tribes and localities. The term "red-skin" as popu-

larly applied to the Indian is misleading, for while the com-

plexion is often highly colored from sun and exposure due to

an outdoor mode of life, it is far from being red in color, as that

term is generally used. Stories of giants and pigmies among

the American natives likewise are untrue, except that there have

been occasional very tall and very short individuals, their occur-

rence, however, being no more frequent than among other peo-

ples. Rather marked exceptions to this rule are the Eskimos,

who as a people are much undersized, and the Patagonians, of

the extreme southern extension of South America, who are un-

usually tall. The head of the Indian is a trifle smaller than that

of the white man, and the forehead is often low and receding;

the hands and feet are not so large, but the chest and back are

particularly strong and well developed, indicating an active life

in the open. The male Indian naturally has a sparse beard on

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The Indian in Ohio.               281

 

the face which, however, seldom is allowed to grow. On the

whole, the Indian as a race occupies a position, anatomically,

between that of the white man and the negro.

 

 

MENTALITY AND MORALITY.

In considering the mentality, or mind of the Indian, we

should remember that "what the father is the child will be."

The mind of the Indian child is moulded by what he sees and

hears, and he grows up to be like those around him. A child

of civilized parents placed in a similar position would come to be

very like his foster-parents, and the same is almost equally true

of an Indian child reared under the influences and guidance of

a civilized home. The innate, or natural mental capacity of the

Indian, therefore, may be said to be but little inferior to that of

an individual of a civilized people. One distinction, however,

should be kept in mind; namely, that on the part of the unciv-

ilized individual the tendency to revert to his former condition

is particularly strong, and a factor always to be considered.

Many Indians who have attended the higher institutions of learn-

ing, after having shown marked mental capacity and achieve-

ment, have yielded to this strange influence and have returned

to the life of their people.

In the matter of morals and morality the Indian again is the

product of custom and association. What is moral or immoral,

right or wrong, is largely a matter of time and place, since stand-

ards vary so greatly among peoples. In his native state the In-

dian knew and recognized many of the cardinal virtues, such as

truth, honesty and the sanctity of human life. Public opinion,

rather than law and the fear of punishment was the motive

which compelled obedience to social decree, although in many

tribes executive councils, having powers of enforcement, were

recognized. In his own clan or tribe the Indian respected the

rights of others and their property. It was only against hostile

tribes with whom he might be at war that depredations were

committed, as during such times pillage and other forms of re-

prisal were considered proper. On the whole there was much

to be commended in the character of the Indian, and many in-

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282       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

stances are recorded where he displayed generosity, faithfulness

and courage of a high order.

 

 

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.

Aside from a few fundamentals common alike to the great

number of culture planes represented among the American

aborigines, it is impossible to present, in a brief outline, a plan

of social and political organization that will apply to all. Why

this should be so is readily apparent, since we have seen that in

the course of their racial career the Indians became separated

into numerous tribes and nations, each developing its several

institutions in accordance with the influence of environment and

other natural causes. In general, it may be said that aboriginal

social and political organization, always very closely associated,

were based upon kinship, or consanguinity, rather than upon

territorial or geographical districts.

As perhaps the most representative of the several units com-

posing the social and governmental fabric, as well as the most

widely known, we may consider what is designated as the tribe.

A tribe as constituted among the American Indians is, or was,

a body of persons bound together by blood ties or assumed re-

lationship resulting from the almost universal custom of adop-

tion; by the possession of a common language, and by certain

definite ideas as to social, political and religious observances.

While kinship remained the basis of tribal organization and

government, the tribe was more or less fixed as to territorial

district and as to residence, thus uniting the personal and the

geographical idea. The tribe, as such, constituted an independent

state; but when united with other tribes for mutual benefit, it

became part of a confederation. The confederation was the

most highly developed unit of organization, and whereas the

tribe corresponded to the state, the confederation might be likened

to the nation.

Among the more primitive of the Indians, the tribe was

loosely organized, its subdivisions consisting of families and

bands; but in its higher development, it was made up of divi-

sions known as clans or gentes. These consisted of groups of

persons, actually or theoretically related, organized to promote

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their social and political welfare. Members of a clan or gens

often assumed a common class name, or a totem, derived from

some animal or object, by which they were distinguished from

members of another clan. Each tribe might have a number of

clans, which in turn were organized into phratries, or brother-

hoods. These phratries, usually but two to a tribe, were really

social in their province, having to do with ceremonial and re-

ligious assemblies, festivals, and so forth. The members of a

phratry, or rather of the clans composing it, considered them-

selves as brothers, while those of the other phratry they addressed

as cousins.

The clan or gens was composed of the family groups, the

first and simplest of the units of organization. The family cor-

responded rudely to the household or fireside, but varied greatly

in its significance among the different tribes. Thus we have the

family, organized into clans or gentes; these units united to form

phratries; the phratries combining to form the tribe; and occa-

sionally, the tribe uniting with others to form a confederacy.

But the tribal form of government remains the prevailing type,

in which the most noticeable feature is the sharp line drawn

between the social and civil functions, and the military func-

tions. The former were lodged in a tribal chief or chiefs, who

in turn were organized into a council exercising legislative, judi-

cial and executive functions. These civil chiefs were not per-

mitted to exercise authority in military affairs, which usually

were left to captains, or war chiefs, and to the grand council of

the tribe. These captains were men chosen on account of their

fitness for the position and were retained or dismissed according

to their success or failure in prosecuting warfare.

 

 

RELIGION OF THE INDIAN.

The religion of the Indian, as with other uncivilized peoples,

was based largely upon the supernatural, or what appeared to

him as supernatural. What he could see and understand, that

is, what could be explained by perfectly obvious standards, he

accepted as natural; everything beyond this was to him something

mysterious and a part of the spiritual. With his limited knowl-

edge of the laws of nature and their causes and effects, it is

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284       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

apparent that many of the phenomena which he observed about

him would partake of the supernatural.

The essence of the Indian's religion was what might be

termed magic power. This power he believed to be vested in

various objects, animals, men, spirits and deities, and to be able

either to injure or benefit him. It was supposed to be some-

thing stronger than the same power or powers within himself,

and to be capable of influencing, or subject to influence by,

human activity. Thus his whole endeavor was to the end that

he might gain and retain the good will of those powers which

were friendly, and control those which were inclined to be hos-

tile. Many methods of accomplishing this were practiced by

the different tribes, among them being charms, prayer, incanta-

tions, fasting, taboos, - the avoidance of certain foods and acts

supposed to be displeasing to the powers,--and offerings of

various kinds. The last named probably never, or very seldom

at least, took the form of human sacrifice, but consisted in offer-

ings of food, ornaments, weapons and other minor objects.

The Indian believed himself possessed of a spirit, or spirits,

which live in the hereafter; that the world has always existed,

rather than that it was specially created; and in some instances

the belief in magic power was carried so far as to suggest in

an indefinite way the idea of deity. Contrary to the general

belief, however, the Indian in his natural state did not conceive

of a definite God, or Creator, but rather of a mystic something

without definite form or attributes. By the Algonquins this

power was called "Manito" -the Gitche Manito of Longfellow's

Hiawatha - while the Iroquois expressed the same idea by the

word Orenda. The Indian conception, as expressed by these

terms, is often referred to by the writers of fiction and Indian

tales as the Great Spirit.

The religious instinct in the Indian is highly developed, and

his inclination toward religious excitement is strong. As in

other creeds, there have been many so-called prophets who from

time to time have introduced new religious beliefs among them.

Among the foremost of these was Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee

prophet, whose teachings stirred the entire Indian population

east of the Mississippi just prior to the War of 1812. Other

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noted prophets were Wovoka, originator of the Ghost Dance

religion or Messiah craze, which swept the Western states in

1888, resulting in serious Indian disturbances; the Delaware

prophet of Pontiac's conspiracy, 1762; and Smohalla, the

"dreamer of the Columbia."

Almost from the beginning European settlers in America

were active in spreading among the Indians their several religious

creeds, with the result that Christianity was widely disseminated

among them. This work was carried on mainly through the

establishment of missions, through which were combined the

teaching of industry, morality and religious belief. Many of the

heads of these missions were men of force and character, who

dedicated their lives to the welfare of the Indians and underwent

almost unbelievable deprivations and hardships in carrying out

their undertakings. To these men we owe much of our knowl-

edge of the early Indian tribes, particularly as regards language,

customs and religion.

 

 

 

THE INDIAN LANGUAGES.

Under the head of ethnology, language has been a very im-

portant factor in the study of the American Indian. While con-

sidered from the physical viewpoint we find that the natives

belong to a single great race, language has shown that this race is

divided into a large number of linguistic, or language, groups or

families. Language is one of the scientist's most powerful aids

in the study of a people. By tracing the history of words and

their meanings it is sometimes possible to follow the migrations

and trace the origins and relationships of peoples apparently

widely separated. In this way, within the territory comprised

within the United States alone upward of sixty different lin-

guistic families have been noted; that is to say, the various tribes

are apportioned among that number of distinct languages. In

turn the various languages, or stocks, are divided into numerous

dialects, just as is true with other and more highly developed

languages.

Of the fifty-six stock languages recognized, a few are of

great extent and importance, while others are comparatively

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286      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

unimportant. Most of the latter are confined to the Pacific coast,

at least twenty-five of them being represented in the three states

of Washington, Oregon and California. The most important of

the language groups was the great Algonquin family, which em-

braced the New England and the East coast, all of south-eastern

Canada and the country surrounding lakes Superior, Huron and

Michigan, and extended southward into the United States over

Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, south-western Ohio,

and Kentucky. This great family comprised most of the Indians

with whom the early Colonists came into contact, and who figure

so largely in our early Indian literature.

The second best known language family, insofar as early

settlement is concerned, were the Iroquois, whose principal terri-

tory encircled lakes Huron and Erie, and extended on both sides

of the St. Lawrence river from these lakes to its mouth. Most

of the territory within the states of New York and Pennsylvania,

and a part of Ohio, was included in this area, which in turn was

almost completely surrounded by the great Algonquin territory.

West of the Mississippi river the principal families were the

Sioux, the Athapascans and the Shoshones. Of these the Sioux

were particularly prominent, figuring conspicuously in the Indian

troubles which attended the opening of the great western country.

The remaining families ranged in importance from a few mem-

bers or a single tribe, to the extensive Mushogean family, com-

prising the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles of the

south-eastern states; and the Caddoan family, farther west,

whose chief tribes were the Caddos, Pawnees and Wichitas.

One unacquainted with the character of language, as used

by uncivilized peoples, might very naturally have some curiosity

to know something of the language of the American Indian. It

would be correctly surmised that the language of a barbarian

people would not be so highly developed as that of a civilized

community. In fact, language is a growth, having its inception

at the time when man begins to realize the need of a means of

expressing thought, and its development is exactly in proportion

to the development of mentality. This growth and development

of language is progressing today just as it has done through all

time. When a new discovery or invention is made, a new word

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usually is created or "coined" to name or describe it. No known

people is so low in intelligence as to be devoid of some sort of

language, yet in the case of many savages the means of orally

expressing thought are very limited and crude.

While in many respects the languages used by the American

Indians are distinct and different one from another, there are

certain traits which are common to practically all of them. For

example, in most cases where in English we use separate words

to convey different shades and modifications of meaning, the same

thing, in the Indian languages, is effected by what grammarians

term "grammatical processes"; that is, by changes in the stem

words or by adding or subtracting prefixes and suffixes and by

certain gestures and movements supplementing the spoken words.

In this way such forms of speech as prepositions, adverbs and

conjunctions often are almost entirely ignored. Many sounds

unfamiliar to English-speaking persons are met with, and a

number of the languages, particularly those of the north-west, are

considered as harsh and unpleasing to the ear. Those of the

central and eastern families, however, are more euphonic. So it

is readily seen that to the student of modern English grammar

the construction and use of the native American languages would

appear strange and difficult indeed.

Naturally the mental process of the Indian is not so delicate

and discriminating as that of highly civilized man, and therefore

his ideas are more likely to be concrete than highly abstract in

form. His language, while possessing a good grammatical basis

and fairly extensive vocabularies, is better adapted to descriptive

expression than to generalized statements. After a manner the

Indian is a fluent speaker, and the race has produced a number of

eloquent and forceful orators, not alone in the present generation

but among those of earlier times.

 

 

ARTS AND INDUSTRIES.

The degree of advancement to which a people has attained

is reflected very clearly in their arts and industries, and these,

coming under the head of ethnology, claim an important place in

the study of the American Indian. By arts and industries is

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288       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

meant the manner in which natural products of the earth were

utilized in the service of man.

In his most primitive state, man depends for subsistence al-

most entirely on what he can reach out and take from nature's

bounty, such as fruits, nuts, roots, plants and game. In this stage

of development--the lowest grade of savagery--an equable

climate is essential to human existence; hence very little in the

way of shelter or clothing is required. Natural caves or crevices

in the rocks, or at best rudely constructed artificial shelters, suffice

for protection and warmth.   A  supply of water, of course,

is pre-supposed, and usually is readily accessible. Thus savage

man finds ready prepared for him in nature and her spontaneous

products the requisites for satisfying the three necessary require-

ments of human life - food, water and shelter.

The growth and development of the human race has been

likened to the changes through which the individual passes in

his progress from infancy to adult life. The savage state cor-

responds to the infant, the barbarian stage to youth, and civiliza-

tion to adult life. In the first of these human intelligence is little

more than instinct and, as in the case of the infant, serves merely

to prompt the individual to reach out and take whatever appeals

to his needs. Beginning with practically nothing in the way of

artificial aids to living, the savage gradually takes advantage of

natural objects suggesting aid or usefulness. One of his first dis-

coveries is that a stone, of proper size and shape to be grasped in

the hand, is useful for pounding; and thus originated the stone

hammer, which has been characterized as the father of all civiliza-

tions. From its first use can be traced directly the development

of all tools arid machinery, and through these the evolution of the

human race to its present high estate.

Quite early in his development the savage learns to modify

the shape and size of his stone hammer, and even to mount it in

a handle; for in striking one stone against another he observes

the principles of cleavage and breakage, which in turn lead to

the art of chipping or flaking stone. This, the most important of

the early accomplishments of man, furnishes him with edged im-

plements for cutting and pointed instruments for perforating.

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The Indian in Ohio.                 289

 

A hollow stone, a shell or a gourd would first serve him as a

container for water or food and would lead to the modification ot

natural objects to more suitable forms. The flexibility of a stick

or twig would suggest to him a latent power which, after a time.

would evolve into the bow and arrow. Through friction and per-

cussion he learns to produce fire, although in this art, as in the

chipping of stone and flint, it would seem that special instinct

came to his aid, so generally and early were they known to savage

man.

Within the United States proper it is not known whether the

lowest stage of human development was represented, as all the

tribes at the time of discovery or of first observation were at least

in the upper stages of savagery. The least advanced of these

probably were some of the tribes of the territory within our

north-western states.

The second stage of development, or barbarism, is char-

acterized by an advanced use of artificial aids to existence and

by a well defined social status; that is, definite ideas as to social

organization, religion, morality and so forth.  This state, as

before mentioned, corresponds to the period of youth in the indi-

vidual. A more or less sedentary or settled life, occupational de-

velopment, and a certain amount of agriculture render man of the

barbaric stage much less dependent upon chance for a livelihood.

The simple lessons learned in the savage state are elaborated and,

through the use of his natural ingenuity and awakening mentality,

he improves upon old methods of utilizing the resources at his

command. The rudely chipped implements and utensils of stone

give place to those of more careful finish and form; the shell and

gourd as containers are replaced by vessels of potteryware;

natural shelters are modified to suit his convenience or are alto-

gether replaced by specially erected dwellings; he learns the art

of weaving fabric for clothing and blankets and the making of

baskets for use as containers; and art, in its finer sense - deco-

rative, ornamental and pictorial--assumes a more important

place in his life. He has added to the list of natural substances

and materials available for his use and now employs metals in

the arts, at first, however, treating these merely as malleable

stone, which he pounds or cold-forges into shape. When he dis-

Vol XXVII-19

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290       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

covers the art of smelting the metals and of casting them into

form, he will be well on the way toward the beginnings of the

civilized stage of development.

 

 

PLACE IN CIVILIZATION.

Within the United States proper the natives were still in the

Stone Age period of culture, but in Mexico, Central America and

Peru, certain tribes had discovered the art of smelting and cast-

ing, and through the use of copper and alloys produced a sort of

bronze, thus passing into the beginning of the Metal Age.

Though the new discovery had not attained to any great degree

of usefulness it was significant of the general advancement of

these peoples, who, it has been remarked, were in many respects

almost as enlightened as were their discoverers.

Among the tribes of the territory within the United States,

the Mound Builders of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys and the

Pueblo or cliff-dwelling Indians of the south-western states, had

attained to the greatest degree of advancement. The mound

building Indians erected great earthworks of complex and geo-

metric design as adjuncts to their religious observances, as

fortifications for defense and as sites for dwellings and villages.

Huge mounds of earth, from which these people take the name

Mound Builders, were erected as monuments over the resting

places of their dead. They erected structures of timber and were

skilled in the arts, such as the weaving of cloth, the making of

potteryware, the working of copper and mica, and particularly

in the carving of stone and other hard substances into artistic

forms. The Pueblo Indians, who in great part occupied the well-

known Cliff-Dwellings of Arizona and New Mexico, were skillful

artisans and had developed agriculture to the point where they

constructed great irrigation canals to convey water to their grow-

ing crops. Intermediate between these highly developed tribes

were the Plains Indians, who in the absence of timber or stone

for the construction of dwellings lived in tents or wigwams of

skins and mats; and the village Indians of the country farther

east.

Thus it is seen that the native inhabitants of the New World

were greatly diversified as to culture and that while it is possible

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The Indian in Ohio.                 291

 

to assign a place in the cultural scale to a given tribe or com-

munity, it is difficult to do so when speaking of the country as a

whole. Man is a creature of environment; that is to say, climate

and conditions surrounding him play an important part in his

development and determine to a great extent his status at a given

time. This accounts in part for the fact that certain tribes ex-

hibited an advanced stage of culture while others were very

primitive, the extremes ranging from savagery to the upper

grades of barbarism.

 

 

THEORIES AS TO ORIGIN.

The origin and antiquity of the native American race are

questions which have engaged the study of many minds since

first the subject came to the attention of thinkers and writers.

A sufficient number of books to fill a library have been written

on these subjects, and yet the problems await definite solution.

As to origin, the simplest suggestion offered is that the natives

were indigenous to the country; that is, that they originated

here, just as did the buffalo and other animals peculiar to

America. Adherents of this theory point out that since the

Indian had to originate somewhere it is just as probable that the

race had its birth on this continent as elsewhere; that other con-

tinents had their indigenous peoples, animals and plants, and

that America is no exception.

Others, however, attribute the origin of the American ab-

origines to a foreign source, believing that evidences of the con-

trary are lacking. Almost every country and people on earth

has been suggested as the source of this origin. Among these,

the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were a favorite with very early

writers; others have professed to trace this origin to the ancient

Egyptians, the Chinese, Japanese and other Mongolian peoples,

and so on, not to mention most peoples of the white race, and

even the negro. It is true, as previously stated, that the Indian

possesses physical characteristics of both the white man and the

negro. Likewise there are certain things suggesting relationship

with the Mongolian or yellow race, and this theory of origin has

many ardent supporters.

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292       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Just how the Mongolian tribes reached America is a point

in dispute, even among those who consider that race as the

origin of the American natives. Originally it was pretty gener-

ally believed that they crossed over Behring Straits, either in

boats or on the ice, as has been done frequently within historic

times. The close proximity of northeastern Asia and northwest-

ern America, with the narrow straits intervening, would make

passage easy. Yet it is pointed out by some writers that a peo-

ple native to a cold climate never migrate southward, and seldom

migrate at all, as the natural increase in population is not suf-

ficient to stimulate migration. These same thinkers prefer to

trace the Mongolians across the Pacific ocean and to place their

landing somewhere in northwestern South America. From this

point they believe that migration extended in all directions until

both continents were populated. The development and distribu-

tion of maize or Indian corn, which is traced back to a tropical

seed-bearing grass, and various ethnological considerations, speak

strongly in favor of this theory. Whichever may be correct, it

is pretty generally conceded that if America received her first

inhabitants from Asia they landed somewhere upon the western

coast of the continent, and from thence gradually extended into

the interior and eastward.

Regardless of the question as to the place of landing of the

first arrivals on American soil, let us consider as at least plausible

and worthy of entertainment the theory of the Asiastic origin

of the American aborigines, mainly for the purpose of illustrating

the migrations and development of a primitive people. Sup-

posing, then, the newly arrived adventurers safely implanted

upon the western coast of the continent, anywhere from Alaska

to central South America, ready to take advantage of every

favorable condition and to meet every obstacle which imposed

itself in the new and strange land. The greater part of this

coast line would afford a congenial climate and conditions

favorable to human existence, while the ocean itself offered a

never-failing larder. Here the wanderers gradually would in-

crease in strength and numbers and after a time, as is natural

to the human family, the instinct to branch off and seek new

homes would assert itself. This migratory instinct in the human

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The Indian in Ohio.                293

 

race is very marked and is represented today in almost all parts

of the world, a good example being the recent steady stream of

immigration into the United States from Europe and Asia. But

in the case of the people under consideration there were the

great mountain ranges running parallel with the Pacific coast,

almost the entire length of the continents, barring their way to

the eastward. We can imagine them contemplating the passage

of these obstructions, perhaps for centuries, meanwhile pushing

to the north or south where no obstacle intervened. It will

be remembered that the comparatively low Alleghenies held back

the colonists - a civilized people -for a hundred years before

they finally passed over and into our own state of Ohio. But

once accross the mountains the Indians, as we shall now call

them, paused to take their bearings, drew a long breath of in-

spiration and took up their march into the unknown country.

This surmise of what may have happened affords an illustra-

tion of the evolution of different cultures from a common

beginning. We can readily picture this great prehistoric "cross-

ing the divide", and imagine the difference of opinion which

doubtless existed as to which of several directions offered the

best advantages to the aboriginal adventurers. With particular

attention to the country within the United States, let us follow

one band which decided let us say, upon a course that ultimately

brought it into that great square of territory comprised within

the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Al-

though the climate of this section is very mild, shelter of some

sort is always grateful to man, both as a refuge from inclement

weather and for purposes of protection. There being but little

timber at hand for the construction of houses, they took advan-

tage of the natural openings in the cliffs and became what later

were known as the Cliff Dwellers, or Pueblo Indians - in time a

distinct culture group. A second band of adventurers, pushing

farther eastward, arrived on the Great Plains. There, finding

neither wood nor stone with which to build, they became dwellers

in tents or wigwams of skins and mats -our Plains Indians. A

third band, journeying still further eastward and arriving in

the rich and fertile valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers,

met still another kind of environment, which was destined to pro-

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294       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

duce yet another distinct culture-the Mound Builders, or

Mound-building Indians.

 

QUESTION OF ANTIQUITY.

The length of time which has elapsed since man first made

his appearance in America, like the question as to his origin, is

uncertain. Speaking in general terms, however, his advent is

comparatively recent, when we take into consideration the record

of human life in other parts of the globe. In England, Belgium,

France, Germany and other old-world countries, scientists have

demonstrated the existence of human life for more than half

a million years. In Java the bones of a very primitive type of

man have been fouund, which make it probable that the human

race has been in existence nearly double that length of

time. In many sections of France and adjacent countries, the

anthropologist has been able to lay bare a complete record of

occupancy of the same site by several different and successive

cultures. These evidences show, almost as clearly as though

written in a book, the progress of the human race from the

crudest stages of development up to the present time. In France

early man made use of the many large caves and caverns which

occur in the rocky terraces bordering the rivers. On the floors

of some of these caves are found many feet of soil, the result

of countless years of accumulating refuse from the peoples who

used them as places of shelter and refuge. Beginning at the

bottom of this artificial floor will be found a stratum representing

its earliest inhabitants, and containing their rude stone and bone

implements and other objects.  Next above this deposit will

occur another layer, corresponding to the inhabitants who came

second in its use. The record is continued in this way until

perhaps half a dozen distinct habitations are disclosed, each

showing some advancement and improvement over the preceding

ones. By taking into consideration the geological changes which

have occurred since the deposits were made, something ap-

proximating the time elapsed can be reckoned and the age of the

habitations thereby estimated.

In America no such marked series or successions of cultures

is found, which would seem to indicate that human occupation

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The Indian in Ohio.                295

 

of the western hemisphere began much more recently than in the

Old World. The apparent absence of these evidences of very

early and prolonged occupation, and of skeletal remains of other

than the more modern type of man, is the strongest argument

of those who believe that America received her inhabitants

at a comparatively recent time from another part of the world.

On the other hand, there are those who contend that the

course of human existence in the Old and the New worlds has

been very nearly the same. These men point to the fact that the

American natives have developed an absolutely distinct physical

type, characterizing them as a race apart from all others; that

they have developed numerous distinct languages and dialects

thereof and that important changes and modifications in

geological conditions and animal life have taken place, all of

which would require a very considerable period of time for their

accomplishment. At the very least, these facts considered, the

sojourn of the native peoples of America must have covered

several thousands of years, but just how long, even in

approximate terms, remains to be answered.

 

REMOVAL OF THE INDIAN.

The story of the struggle of the Indian against the en-

croachment of the white man, covering a period of more than

three centuries and ultimately ending in his complete subjugation,

is too complex for more than casual reference. Taken as a whole,

it affords the student and reader one of the most tragic and

stirring romances ever written. From the moment of landing

of the Virginia colonists and the Pilgrim Fathers the crowding

back of the Indian and the appropriating of his lands have been

in progress. Beginning with the first friction between the Col-

onists and the Red Men, the struggle soon resolved itself into

open hostilities. At first efforts were made to preserve friendly

relations with the Indians, particularly on the part of English

settlers, as at Jamestown and in the New England colonies.

The friendship between Powhatan and Captain John Smith,

the treaty between Massasoit and the Plymouth colonists, and the

justice of Roger Williams are bright spots in the early history of

the Colonies. But these peaceful years were only the calm before

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296       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

the storm that was to follow, as shown by Indian uprisings in

Virginia and King Philip's War in New England. From this

time on, through the French and Indian war and the war of the

Revolution, the Indian figured largely in Colonial affairs.

After the close of the Revolution, however, one of the first

acts of the new United States was the effecting of a treaty with

the Delawares and the Iroquois, which practically ended Indian

hostilities in the Colonial states. The theatre of the struggle

then moved westward into Ohio and the Northwest territory.

These treaties, and the Indian policy adopted under President

Jefferson's administration, practically established a permanent

basis for dealing with the Indians and laid the foundation for

our present Indian policy.

In the more southerly of the states, however, the Indian

troubles were not so early settled. During the War of 1812

the Indians of Georgia and adjacent states, particularly the

Creeks, began depredations which ended only when General

Jackson, leading the volunteer troops of those states, practically

decimated their army of fighting men. Although President

Monroe, in 1825, through Congress provided for the removal

of all Indians to lands beyond the Mississippi, it was not until

some years later that this was effected.  The Creeks and

Cherokees were successfully removed but the Seminoles, under

Osceola, taking up their stand in the wilderness of Florida,

offered desperate resistance and it was only after a long and

costly warfare that, in 1842, they were conquered. The year

1842 likewise witnessed the removal of the last of the Ohio

tribes. The Winnebagos, Sacs and Foxes of Illinois and adjacent

states, alter a spirited struggle, had been removed in 1832  Thus

the country east of the Mississippi was practically cleared of

hostile Indians before the middle of the last century, leaving

this great expanse of former Indian territory entirely in the

hands of white men.

A few tribes and bands, particularly those which evinced

a tendency toward peaceful pursuits, were never removed to

the western reservations. The principal ones of these are the

Five Nations of Iroquois, in the state of New York; 7,500 Chip-

pewas in Michigan; an equal number of Cherokees in North

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The Indian in Ohio.                297

 

Carolina with a scattering of the same tribes in Georgia, Ten-

nessee and Louisiana; a few hundreds of the New England In-

dians in Maine and Massachusetts, and about 600 Seminoles

in Florida. With the exception of the latter, who constitute

a remnant of the rebellious Seminoles who successfully resisted

removal, the Indians mentioned are civilized, living much as do

their white neighbors.

One of the most spectacular of all the wars with the

Indians, and the last really great struggle, was that of the year

which marked a centennial of American Independence - 1876.

In June of that year, a detachment of regular army troops

under General Custer engaged the rebellious Sioux on the

little Bighorn river, in Montana. This famous campaign, in

which Custer and every man in his command were killed by

the followers of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, is familiar to all.

It was made necessary by the unrest and excitement created

among the Indians by the introduction among them of the

spectacular Ghost Dance religion, or Messiah Craze, previously

referred to. The campaign against the Sioux was vigorously

pushed and within a year they were completely subdued.

 

 

POPULATION, PAST AND PRESENT.

An estimate of the Indian population within the United

States proper at the time of discovery, doubtless will be a sur-

prise to many. The great size of the territory and the popular

conception of Indian life would lead the uninformed to place

the early population far too high. It must not be forgotten

that a given area which under civilized conditions will support,

let us say, a million inhabitants would, under barbaric or savage

tenancy, supply the needs of perhaps not more than one-tenth

that number. While opinion is divided it seems probable that

the population at the time of discovery did not exceed one mil-

lion, and more than likely was less than this number. The

present Indian population according to the report of the Com-

mission of Indian Affairs for the year 1915, is slightly more

than 330,000. This marked decrease from the estimated num-

ber of inhabitants at the time of discovery is due mostly to

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298       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

adverse influences attending the marked change in the life of

the Indians since the coming of white men.

Disease, intoxicating liquors, hardships resulting from en-

forced removals from one location to another, warfare, and to

some extent, the conditions attending upon reservation life are

the main factors in the decrease. The hardships and persecu-

tions to which the Indians were subjected during the first three

centuries following discovery resulted in the complete annihila-

tion of some tribes and the demoralization of many others.

Within recent years, under the more humane government sys-

tem of caring for the Indians their numbers, in some instances

at least, have increased. The greater part of this increase, how-

ever, is of mixed blood, the result of intermarriage of Indians

with whites and negroes. The Navahos appear to be the only

pure-blood tribe of importance to augment its numbers within

recent years.

THE INDIAN AND THE RESERVATION.

With the exception of some scattering bands which still

roam at large over the public domain of the far west, and of

those, already mentioned, who remained in the east and south,

the Indians now reside mostly upon reservations, set apart by

the government for their use. There are about 160 of these

reservations, located mostly west of the Mississippi river, and

comprising some 52,000,000 acres of land. To a great extent

the Indians have abandoned their tribal organizations and in

many instances have been accorded the status of citizenship,

either in full, or restricted, as their qualifications have seemed

to warrant. According to latest available figures, -some 166,000

Indians now enjoy citizenship, although a considerable percent-

age of these are in the restricted classes. The policy of the

government is to prepare the Indians for citizenship as rapidly

as possible and to confer the same whenever such procedure is

justifiable. The laws provide that Indians who sever their tribal

relations and adopt the habits and customs of civilized life,

those who select allotments, and receive patents-in-fee, thereby

become citizens of the United States; those who fail to meet

these requirements remain as wards of the general government

and are confined to the reservations under certain restrictions.

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The Indian in Ohio.                299

 

Of the total number of Indians within the United States,

almost one-third are comprised within what are known as the

Five Civilized tribes, of Oklahoma. Those five tribes, number-

ing slightly more than 100,000, consist of the Creeks, Cherokees,

Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws, who were removed to

their present reservations early in the past century from their

former locations in the south-eastern states. They are mainly

farmers, stock-raisers, artisans and laborers, and live very much

the same as white people, patricularly those of rural com-

munities. They have churches and schools, participate actively

in their own government, and enjoy many social advantages

In the present war with Germany, these Indians have made an

excellent showing, not alone in the matter of financial contribu-

tions to war bonds and other expedients, but in the number

of men which they have furnished as volunteers in the military

service.

The distribution of the remaining Indian tribes, by states,

shows Arizona with approximately 41,000, consisting of Apache,

Mohave, Navaho, Pima and Hopi, New Mexico with 21,000,

mainly Pueblo and Apache; South Dakota, 20,000 Sioux;

California, 16,000, composed of numerous small tribes and

bands; Wisconsin 10,000, Chippewas; North Dakota, 8,000,

Sioux, Mandan and Chippewa; Michigan, 7,500, Chippewa;

Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming,

from 2,000 to 8,000 each; and those in the more eastern states,

already mentioned.

 

OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

In order to administer supervision over its wards among

the Indians, the government maintains an important and highly

organized bureau, known as the Office of Indian Affairs, operat-

ing under the Department of the Interior. The head of this

bureau is known as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and

associated with him are a corps of trained assistants and work-

ers, whose time and energy are given to the interest of the In-

dians. The bureau proper is composed of several distinct divi-

sions, the more important of which are the Land Division, the

Finance Division, the Accounts Division and the Education Divi-

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300       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

sion, the last named being headed by a Superintendent of Indian

Schools.

Aside from regular reservation schools, several special train-

ing and vocational schools have been established by the govern-

ment for Indian students. Among these are the great Carlisle

school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the Chilocco Industrial

school, at Chilocco, Oklahoma. These schools, each with up-

ward of 1,000 students, aim to afford a "practical, productive

education" to their pupils. They aim to further preparation for

citizenship among the body of Indians, and in the individual

to pave the way for educational advantages of the higher in-

stitutions of learning. A number of their students, of both

sexes, have availed themselves of the opportunities offered,

often with gratifying results. The natural ability of the Indian,

as exemplified in such men as Sitting Bull, Brant, Tecumseh, Red

Cloud and a score of others of the earlier period, is reflected in

the success of present-day Indians under modern educational

advantages. As examples of the latter there may be cited, Dr.

Charles A. Eastman, physician and author; Hon. Gabe A. Parker,

registrar of the United States treasury; Henry Roe Cloud, edu-

cator; Arthur C. Parker, archaeologist for the State of New

York; Charles D. Carter and Robert L. Owen, United States con-

gressman and senator, respectively; Mrs. M. L. Baldwin, lawyer;

Dr. Sherman Coolidge, D. D., and many others. For physical

excellence, we have as examples James Thorpe, world-famous

Olympian athlete; Tom Longboat and Lewis Tewanima, the lat-

ter probably America's greatest long-distance runner; and the

well-known football players of Carlisle Indian school.

 

FUTURE OF THE INDIAN.

Despite these encouraging examples, the Indian labors under

many handicaps and his future welfare seems by no means

secure. Health and disease are matters of grave concern at

the present time, particularly in view of the inroads made by

tuberculosis, trachoma- a disease which attacks the eyes and

often results in blindness - and some others. The pulmonary

diseases are due in part to the change in manner of living, par-

ticularly as regards housing. It is difficult to impress upon the

• 27
 

The Indian in Ohio.               301   Indian the principles and importance of ventilation and sanita- tion, the result being that the abandonment of his former life in the open and the substituting of modern houses with artificial heat for the accustomed tent or tepee, has worked too sudden a change. Intemperance, especially in the use of alcoholic drinks, has been another source of detriment. Like other uncivilized peoples the Indian has been more ready to assimilate the vices

of the white man than to accept his virtues, with the inevitable result. The Indian and his friends among the whites find many objections to the government reservation system, in which they see insurmountable barriers to the desired improvement in the native race. There seems to be no doubt that many drawbacks exist, as claimed, which in the past at least, often have amounted to abuse; but those best acquainted with the Indian problem

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302       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

and its solution seem so far to have been unable to reconcile

the differences between the Indian department and its wards.

The encouraging aspect of the situation is an awakened

interest in the welfare of the Indian, fostered not alone by the

government but by private individuals and societies, both of his

own race and of whites. Several organizations exist for the

purpose of carrying on the work, among which are the Indian

Rights association, the Indian Industries league, the National

Indian association and the Society of American Indians. The

latter is composed entirely of members of the Indian race, and

comprises among its associates the leading Indian men and

women of the country. It is worthy of note that Ohio, which

of all the individual states has given most attention to the pre-

historic inhabitants of its territory, through scientific exploration

and the upbuilding of a great archaeological museum, furnished

the impetus for the organization of the Society of American

Indians. In 191, Professor A. W. McKenzie, for many years

an ardent friend of the American Indian, brought about a con-

ference of the leading men and women of the race. This con-

ference, held in Columbus, resulted in the formation of the

Society, the efforts of which promise to be the most potent

factor in the future welfare of the Indian. The organization

"seeks to promote the highest interests of the race through

every legitimate channel," basing its appeal on the latent power

of the Indian to do for himself rather than to depend upon

others. The Society maintains a Washington office, lends its

surveillance to national legislation affecting the race, holds an

annual conference of country-wide interest, and publishes as its

official organ the American Indian Magazine, which is managed

and edited entirely by Indians.

In view of this earnest activity, there is hope that the native

American race may yet emerge from the unhappy state which

has been its lot for four hundred years, and through its own

efforts and those of its friends among the whites, eventually

succeed in reviving from the ashes of misfortune a flame of

progress, which will burn all the brighter for having been so

nearly quenched.

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304       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

wholly in the past while others still obtain; as a rule, however,

it is considered advisable to treat the native race as of the past,

except where the use of the present tense obviously is required.

In this, and in minor particulars, which need not be specified,

the reader's indulgence is asked.

The story of the Indian in Ohio falls naturally into two

distinct periods with respect to time -the Historic and the Pre-

historic. The two will be considered in the order named, in

the belief that an understanding of the latter will be facilitated

by using the more definite knowledge of the Historic period as

a basis.

For the sake of convenience, the Historic period will be

considered under several more or less arbitrary sub-periods or

divisions. The first of these, "The Ohio Country - The Land

and Its People" - will serve as an introduction to those which

follow, by discussing briefly the territory involved and the In-

dian tribes identified with its history. The second division,

"The Indians, the French and the English", will embrace the

time of French-English activity in its bearing upon the Ohio

country; that is, from the first historic occurrences to the pass-

ing of French sovereignty and influence, at the close of the

French and Indian war, of which Pontiac's conspiracy is taken

to be an after-part.

The third division, "The Indian and the Revolutionary

Period", is made to include the events subsequent to the last-

named, up to and including the peace conference held at Detroit,

July 4, 1783. This conference, between representatives of the

United States government and the Indians of the Ohio country,

may be taken as marking the close of the Revolutionary war,

about which this assumed division centers.

The fourth assumed division of the Historical period-

"The Indian and the Ohio Commonwealth"-has been made

to include the so-called post-revolution campaigns, the events

of the War of 1812, and the close of Indian occupancy of the

state, which followed. These divisions, centering in the three

great wars, while by no means well defined in themselves, will

serve to furnish convenient stations from which the reader

may the more easily follow the events of the narrative.

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The Indian in Ohio.                305

 

 

GEOGRAPHY OF THE TERRITORY.

In the drama enacted by the Ohio Indians, the stage was

not the prescribed platform of the conventional playhouse, but

a great open-air amphitheatre, covering hundreds of square

miles of territory. This territory, known in the early days as

the Ohio Country, was not comprised entirely in what is now

the State of Ohio, for it must be remembered that in pre-

historic and early historic times there were no political

boundaries such as we now recognize. Instead, they were those

of nature, rather than of man's convenience, and consisted of

rivers, lakes, mountains, and other natural barriers and bound-

aries. Thus it is seen that topography, rather than imaginary

lines was the important factor in outlining the territory and

determining the settlement of a given tribe or nation.

A glance at the map of the United States shows that the

territory comprised therein naturally falls into several divisions

or areas, with respect to topography. The country lying east

of the Allegheny mountains and bordering the Atlantic ocean,

is a natural division in itself from which, as we have seen, the

colonists were practically a century in making their way across

the mountains into the country beyond; bordering the Gulf of

Mexico we have another distinct area, comprising what are

known as the Gulf States; while extending westward from the

Alleghenies with Lake Erie on the north and bordering the

Ohio river on the south, lies the great Ohio Country, where

during the latter half of the Eighteenth and the first quarter of

the Nineteenth centuries, was staged the stirring drama of human

life which we are considering.

Perhaps no region on the continent was better adapted to

human habitation than this Ohio Country, which fact may have

had much to do with the keen competition among the native

tribes for its possession. The climate was most favorable since

man, whether savage, barbarian or civilized, is at his best in a

temperate clime. The geography of the region was ideal. There

were mountainous sections and level plateaus; broad valleys and

extensive plains; rich forest and open prairies, each with its own

peculiar products of animal, vegetable and mineral wealth.

Vol. XXVII-20.

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306      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. Two great drainage systems - the Ohio river on the south and the Great Lakes on the north - afforded the best of facilities for travel and transportation. Both systems were extensively used in east and west travel by the Indians, and later by white men; while the numerous rivers tributary thereto, - particularly the Miamis, the Scioto and the Muskingum, flowing into the Ohio; and the Maumee, the Sandusky and the Cuyahoga, dis- charging their waters into the lake-the headwaters of which were separated only by short portages, furnished natural high-

ways for travel north and south. Both the Ohio river and the Lakes seem to have been looked upon by the Indian as natural boundary lines, and the territory enclosed between them as a distinct section from that to the north or south. In connection with the water highways of the country, there should be mentioned the numerous Indian trails which either supplemented or replaced them. These trails, while not natural highways in the sense that the lakes and rivers were, did follow

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The Indian in Ohio.                307

natural lines of travel, and many of them doubtless were as old

as the human occupation of the country itself. They not only

traversed those districts devoid of waterways and crossed the

portages between the headwaters of the navigable streams, but

often followed the course of the water routes throughout their

entire extent. The reason for this is obvious. The streams

were not navigable in seasons of extreme drought, while in

winter they often were frozen. Besides, some of the tribes pre-

ferred land travel, while all of them found it more convenient

at times than that by boat or canoe.

The Indian trails often followed the high ground through

which they passed, later becoming what are known as the "ridge

roads" of the present time. The importance of the trails as fac-

tors in the settlement and development of the State of Ohio

cannot be over-estimated. In many instances they determined

the location of white settlements, forts and military roads, some

of them later becoming public highways. Along these aboriginal

trails the native tribes passed to and fro from one location to an-

other, whether engaged in warfare, the chase, trade or migration.

Later, together with the navigable streams, they served as the

means of entrance to the white traders and settlers who pushed

their way into the country north and west of the Ohio river.

Among the more important of these aboriginal highways

was the so-called Great Trail, which was the western extension

of the great highway between the Indian country around Dela-

ware and Chesapeake Bays, and the Forks of the Ohio. Pass-

ing westward from Pittsburg this trail traversed northeastern

Ohio to Sandusky Bay, from whence it led around the west end

of Lake Erie and northward to Detroit. Later it was the im-

portant military highway connecting Fort Pitt, Fort Laurens,

Fort Sandusky and Fort Detroit.

The most important of the north and south trails of the

state was the Scioto trail, between Sandusky Bay on the north

and the Ohio river at the mouth of the Scioto on the south.

Ascending the Sandusky river from its mouth, crossing the

portage and descending the Scioto, it crossed the Ohio and

joined the famous "Warriors' Trail" leading far away into the

Indian country of the southland. Other important trails con-

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308      Ohio Arch and Hist. Society Publications. nected the Muskingum towns of the Delawares, the Shawnee towns on the Scioto and the Shawnee and Miami towns on the Miamis. Many trails of lesser importance traversed the country in all directions. Toward the west, the Ohio Country extended till it merged with the Mississippi valley, while its eastern boundary was the

Allegheny mountains. At the "forks of the Ohio", where Pitts- burg now stands, was its eastern gateway, through which the native tribes passed in either direction, and which not only served the European explorer and settler for the same purpose but was the scene of many of the early activities which characterized the struggle between the French and the English for possession of the rich prize lying to the westward.

• 35
 

The Indian in Ohio.                309

 

 

THE DAWN OF OHIO INDIAN HISTORY.

Intervening between historic and prehistoric times in Ohio,

serving as a connecting link between the two, and belonging

almost equally to each, is a period of perhaps a century's dura-

tion. Looking back through the dim vista of these years, the

student of Ohio may discern the shadowy forms of its primitive

inhabitants and may even glimpse the outline of important events

which transpired in this "forest primeval" before white men had

set foot upon its soil. The characters and actions are not clearly

defined, and it is only with the advent of European actors upon

the stage that we can follow the lines of the drama with exacti-

tude. However, in the same manner that by reading the latter

chapters of a book, we are able to gain a more or less exact

knowledge of its story, we can formulate a fairly intelligent

conception of the life of the Ohio aborigines before the arrival

of white men. A few scattered pages of the story here, a sentence

or a word there, have been preserved to us, partly through the

records and traditions of the Indians themselves and in part

through the mounds and earthworks, the relics of stone and

flint, and other remains left behind. The earlier or more remote

parts of this period will be accredited to the chapter on archeol-

ogy, while those events which appear to belong more properly

to the historic period will be referred to briefly at this point.

 

 

THE IROQUOIAN CONQUEST.

Just previous to exploration by Europeans, the Ohio terri-

tory seems to have been occupied by tribes and representatives

both of the Algonquian and the Iroquoian families. The dawn

of recorded history, however, finds the powerful Iroquois federa-

tion, living mostly south of Lake Erie in the present state of

New York, waging a determined warfare for its possession,

even to the exclusion and annihilation of other tribes of their

own family. Having effected the most admirable confederation

ever known among the American Indians, and profiting by the

advantages accruing to them through the possesion of firearms

secured from the colonists, the Iroquois, at the height of their

power, had become a source of terror to other tribes  and

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310       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

nations within reach of their relentless persecutions. About the

year 1650 they had almost exterminated the Hurons, themselves

an Iroquoian people living north of Lake Erie, and had driven

the remnant of those tribes from their settlements. The sur-

vivors took refuge with the Huron de Petun, or Tobacco nation,

and with the Neutral nation, Iroquoian peoples living to the

westward of their territory. After being persecuted for many

years and driven from place to place the surviving refugees

from the Huron and Tobacco tribes, about 1745, found their

way from the vicinity of the Detroit river into northern Ohio.

Here they were destined to retrieve their former prowess and

to become one of the leading nations of the Ohio country, under

the name of Wyandots. Of their career on Ohio soil we shall

learn later.

THE EARLY HISTORIC TRIBES.

One of the earliest of the Ohio nations of which we have

record was the Erie or Cat nation, whose territory lay south

of Lake Erie and probably extended over the northern half

of the state. The Eries, an Iroquoian people, are said to have

taken their name from the abundance of wildcats in their coun-

try, the fighting qualities of this animal apparently having been

accepted as a symbol of the courage of the people who bore its

name. The Eries are believed to have been a populous nation,

with more or less fixed habits of life and occupying numerous

towns and villages. They were powerful fighters, using almost

exclusively the bow and arrow, the latter fitted with poisoned

points.

The Cat nation, along with the Hurons and other adjacent

tribes, apparently had been at war with the Iroquois proper for

many years preceding 1650, always giving a good account of

themselves. But the acquisition by the eastern Iroquois of fire-

arms and the effecting of their powerful federation gave them

a decided advantage over tribes not possessing these, and in

1653 the Eries succumbed to their more powerful adversaries.

The story of their defeat, which virtually meant the extermina-

tion of the great Erie nation, is strikingly told in the Jesuit Rela-

tion for 1655-6. At the time immediately preceding the final

struggle it would seem that the two peoples had been at peace

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The Indian in Ohio.                311

 

for a considerable period. The Eries had despatched to the

capital of the Iroquois a delegation of thirty men for the pur-

pose of renewing the existing peace, but the overture was des-

tined to defeat its own purpose. Through an accident a mem-

ber of the Seneca tribe of the federated Iroquois was killed by

the Erie ambassadors, and in revenge the Senecas put to death

all but five of the visiting delegation.  The latter nation

retaliated by sacking and burning a Seneca town, defeating a

war party, and taking captive one of its leading war captains.

Thoroughly aroused, the Iroquois began recruiting men for a

gigantic thrust at the Eries, which culminated in an attack by

1800 picked warriors of the Onondaga tribe upon Rique, one

of the principal towns of the Eries, located about where Erie,

Pennsylvania, now stands. Although defended by more than

3,000 fighting men, the palisade was carried and the defendants

either were massacred or carried into captivity.

This defeat, together with minor ones at about the same

time completely obliterated the Eries, and thus passed one of

the greatest of the Ohio nations of which we have record. Noth-

ing remains as a monument to their erstwhile greatness except

their name, as given to the great lake along which their country

lay, to the Ohio county of Erie, and to the city and county

of the same name in Pennsylvania.

The Shawnee.

The mere mention of the name Shawnee is suggestive of

aggressiveness, hostility, restlessness and fearlessness - charac-

teristics of this most typical of the Ohio Indian tribes. The

Shawnee, whose tribal territory in Ohio lay principally in the

valley of the Scioto, may well be taken as the best type, or rep-

resentative, of the aborigines of the state, as they were the most

warlike, persistent and consistently hostile of the natives. Per-

haps no tribe or nation was the source of more anxiety and per-

plexity to the whites than were the Shawnee, partly owing to

their unremitting hostility and partly to their propensity for

migrating from place to place and the consequent uncertainty

as to their whereabouts and their affinity and relationship to

other tribes.  These "aboriginal Arabs of America" appear

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312      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

originally to have had their home in the Cumberland basin of

Tennessee, extending thence into South Carolina and adjacent

territory. According to the Delawares, they and the Shawnee,

together with the Nanticoke, originally formed a single nation

of the Algonquian family.

Just when the Shawnee made their appearance in Ohio is

not known, for although it is generally conceded that the main

body of the tribe from the Cumberland valley crossed over into

Ohio about 1730, and were joined by their kinsmen from South

Carolina several years later, it is certain that the Shawnee were

by no means an inconsiderable factor in this territory long before

that time. As early as 1669, LaSalle, then preparing to descend

the Ohio on his historic tour of exploration, was cautioned by

the Iroquois to beware of the hostile Shawnee along the upper

reaches of that stream. Further, it is recorded that the Iroquois

federation, returning from their victorious conquest of the Illinois

in 1690, attacked the Miamis giving as their reason that the

latter had invited the Shawnee into Ohio to make war upon

the Iroquois.

At any rate, by 1750, we find the two divisions of the Shaw-

nee- that of the Cumberland valley driven northward through

conflict with enemies of their own race, and that from Carolina,

crowded northward into the Susquehanna valley through con-

flict with English settlers and their Indian allies - uniting on

Ohio soil and taking unto themselves new strength and prestige.

From this time on, through the French and Indian war, the

Revolutionary war and the War of 1812, we find them a source

of great enmity and concern to the Colonists and the settlers

of Ohio.

During the French and Indian war, particularly in the

operations about the forks of the Ohio, the Shawnee, together

with the Delawares were extremely hostile to the English and

friendly to the French. Throughout the Revolutionary war and

during the spectacular post-Revolutionary period, they continued

to maintain their reputation for irreconcilable hostility against

those of the whites whom they regarded as coveting their lands.

As in the earlier war in which they had looked upon the Eng-

lish colonists as the more aggressive in this respect, and as a

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The Indian in Ohio.                313

 

result had lent their support to the French cause, so now, scent-

ing danger from the American quarter, they sided with the

British as the less threatening of the two. Aided and encouraged

by the latter, they waged a continual campaign of harassment

against the border settlements of the Colonists, particularly those

of Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia, just across the Ohio

river from their own zealously guarded domain. As a result

of expeditions sent against them in retaliation for these raids

upon the border, a number of the Shawnee were dislodged from

their towns upon the Scioto and for a time took up their abode

about the headwaters of the Miami.

Although General Wayne's victory over the Ohio tribes at

the battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794, went far toward terminat-

ing the depredations of the Shawnee, they were again in evidence

as detached bands and individuals, under the leadership of the

great Tecumseh, in the War of 1812.

The principal chiefs of the Shawnee who figure prominently

in the Ohio history of the tribe, were Black Hoof, Cornstalk,

Black Fish, Blue Jacket, and Tecumseh. The first named we

shall meet as early as the defeat of General Braddock at the

forks of the Ohio, in 1755, in which, as a mere youth, he took

an active part; again, at the Battle of Point Pleasant, and thence

through the post-Revolutionary campaigns and the Treaty of

Greenville. Cornstalk we shall encounter as the leader of the

allied Indians at the Battle of Point Pleasant, while Black Fish

will figure most prominently in the raids of the Shawnee against

the Kentucky settlements which characterized the closing years

of the Revolution, and in connection with the captivity of Daniel

Boone. Bluejacket will appear as the leading spirit in the Indian

aggression to the campaigns of Generals Harmar, St. Clair, and

Wayne, while Tecumseh will hold the center of the stage in con-

nection with Indian participation in the war of 1812.

 

The Delawares.

In the Delawares we have an example of a people who could,

and did, "come back." Although originally the most important

confederacy of the great Iroquoian family, they fell prey to the

consuming conquest of the Iroquois and were, about the year

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314       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

1720, reduced by their conquerors to a state of abject humility.

This consisted in assigning to their men and warriors the rank

of women, or as the Iroquois expressed it "putting petticoats on

the men." This, from the Indian point of view was the most

humiliating treatment that could be accorded, and carried with

it the depriving of the victims of all rights usually accredited

to equals.

The Delawares, prior to their subjection to the Iroquois,

held sway in eastern Pennsylvania, south-eastern New York, and

in Delaware and New Jersey. On account of their central loca-

tion in the Algonquian territory and their position as the nucleus

from which the cognate tribes had sprung, they were addressed

by others of the Algonquins as "Grandfather," in acknowledg-

ment of their high rank and standing. The name they gave

themselves was Lenape, meaning "real men," or native, genuine

men - in other words, as a prominent writer has phrased it,

"the real thing." One of their best known chiefs of the early

period was Temenend, from which the noted Tammany political

society takes its name.

In common with other tribes of the eastern country the

Delawares early felt the pressure brought against them by the

whites, and yielding to a force they could not successfully resist

began slowly to push their way to the westward. About the

year 1750 they began to cross the river into the Ohio country,

and within a few years most of them were located upon the

Muskingum and other eastern Ohio streams. At this point in

their history, being strengthened by the acquisition into their

ranks of bands of Munsee, Mohican and Tuscarawas, and

through proximity to the friendly French, the Delawares not

only succeeded in throwing off the dominance of the Iroquois

but became one of the strongest opponents of the advance of

English settlers into Ohio. With the exception of the Shawnee,

with whom they were in close sympathy, they proved to be the

most unruly and troublesome of the resident tribes during the

French and Indian war and subsequent campaigns

The history of the Delawares in Ohio centers about two im-

portant localities--the forks of the Muskingum, and the San-

dusky river, the latter in what is now Wyandot county - where

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The Indian in Ohio.                 315

occurred the most stirring events of their career upon Ohio soil.

As early as 1750 the Moravian missionaries had been active in

their solicitude for the Delawares and had established several

mission villages among them during the time of their migration

from their early home to Ohio. In 1772 these missionaries es-

tablished a mission at the site of the present town of Gnaden-

hutten, Tuscarawas county, where Zeisberger, Heckewelder and

other noted missionaries succeeded in winning many converts

among the natives. In 1782 these mission Indians were for a

time absent at Sandusky, and upon returning to harvest their

corn were massacred by irresponsible whites in a most brutal

manner. This event, as we shall see, was one of the darkest

blots on the pages of Ohio history, and a blunder which was

destined to be in no small way responsible for another atrocity,

the burning of Crawford, the scene of which was laid further

north on the Sandusky river.

The chiefs of the Delawares who figure most prominently

in the Ohio history of the tribe were Captain White Eyes, the

faithful friend of the Moravian missionaries and of the Ameri-

can colonists; Killbuck, who in later life became a faithful

Moravian convert; Captain Wingenund, noted war chief and

prominently connected with the events attending the campaign

and burning of Col. William Crawford; Hopacan, or Captain

Pipe, who led the hostile factions of his tribes in the interest of

the British, and Buckongahelas, head chief of the western

Delawares during the Revolution and the Ohio campaigns which

followed.  Buckongahelas, although generally favoring the

British as against the Americans, was noted for his honorable

and humane conduct. He was prominent at the Battle of Fallen

Timbers, was a signer of the Greenville treaty, and thereafter

a staunch friend of the Ohio settlers.

 

The Miamis.

The Miami Indians, while not native to Ohio soil, at least

held the distinction of having been tenants thereof longer than

any other of the historic tribes with which settlers of the state

came in contact. Like the Shawnee, Delawares, Wyandots and

others, the Miamis found their way into the Ohio Country as

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316       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

a result of unsettled conditions following the advent of Euro-

peans into America, with the consequent thrusting back from

the frontiers of the native inhabitants. While the Miamis were

not dislodged from their earlier home in Wisconsin directly by

the whites, but rather by other Indian tribes of the northwest,

their change of location was indirectly a part of the same great

unsettlement which began immediately following the founding

of European colonies on the Atlantic coast and the St. Lawrence

river.

When first noted, about the year 1660, the Miamis were

resident mainly in Wisconsin, northern Illinois and Indiana,

one of their principal towns being at the present site of Chicago.

From there they soon extended into Western Ohio, probably

reaching as far east as the Scioto river. At the beginning of

the Eighteenth century their territory was described as lying

mainly on the St. Joseph, Wabash and Maumee, with one of

their most important towns at the head of the latter river. Their

principal town on Ohio soil was Pickawillanee, at the juncture

of the St. Marys and the Miami rivers, near the present city of

Piqua. In all treaty negotiations between the whites and the

Indians the Miamis were considered as the original owners of

the western Ohio and the Wabash countries.

In tracing the migrations of the Miamis it is interesting to

note the declaration of Little Turtle, the Miami chief, in which

he said: "My fathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; thence

they extended their lines to the headwaters of the Scioto; thence

to its mouth; thence down the Ohio to the Wabash, and thence

to Chicago over Lake Michigan." This doubtless is intended to

cover the wanderings of the tribe prior to the historic period.

The Miamis originally consisted of six bands, of which the

Piankashaw and the Wea were the best known. Among their

totems were the elk, the crane and the turtle. According to the

early explorers the Miamis were physically above the average

of their race and in manners were mild, courteous and affable.

They lived in huts covered with rush thatches, were industrious

and had a considerable agriculture, particularly in maize or Indian

corn. Although living on and adjacent to some of the larger

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The Indian in Ohio.                317

 

streams of the state, they were land travelers rather than canoe-

men.

The early history of the Miamis centers about their chief

town, Pickawillanee. This town, which has been styled "the

Ohio capital of the western savages," was the scene of picturesque

events during the years when the French and English each were

endeavoring to secure for themselves the rich country lying west

of the Scioto. An important trail center, it early became a trad-

ing post of no mean pretensions. The resident Miami chief was

LaDamoiselle, so called by the French on account of his pro-

clivities for fancy dress and ornament, and known to the Eng-

lish as "Old Britain," in acknowledgment of his loyalty to the

British. The Miamis were prominent in all the early Indian

wars with the whites. Little Turtle, their most noted chief, will

appear frequently and prominently in the pages which follow.

 

The Wyandots.

In glimpsing the great Iroquoian conquest, we have seen

how the tribes of. the Huron confederacy, living around Lake

Simcoe and Georgian Bay, in Ontario, were driven from their

homes and almost annihilated. Of the several Huron tribes

close kinsmen of the devastating Iroquois, the only one escaping

complete demoralization was the Tionontati, or Tobacco tribe,

called by the French the Huron de Petun. The fact that they

suffered less severely than their associated tribes was due to

their location, which was at the extreme west of the territory

occupied by the confederacy, and therefore not so easily acces-

sible to their enemies. With the Tobacco tribe, the remnant of

the Hurons proper took refuge; but they were not permitted

long to enjoy surcease from persecution, for the invading hosts

soon sought them out and succeeded in dislodging them. To-

gether the survivors of the Tobacco tribe and their refugees

fled, first to the Island of St. Joseph and thence from place to

place, until in 1670 they reached Mackinac straits.  From

Mackinac they gradually pushed their way southward, a portion

of them sojourning at Detroit and others passing into Ohio,

where they settled along the south shore of Lake Erie, mainly

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318       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

on and around Sandusky bay and westward to the Maumee

river. After a time bands of the Hurons who had tarried at

Detroit joined their kinsmen at Sandusky, and here we find them

in 1745, under Chief Nicolas, or Orontony, who was destined

to figure largely in the early relations between the Indians and

the white men. We shall speak presently of the conspiracy,

launched by Nicolas, which marked the first conflict between the

French and English interests in their contest to establish them-

selves on Ohio soil, and which, but for an unforeseen event,

might have resulted very seriously, particularly for the French.

The Hurons were to find the Ohio country a most grateful

contrast to their years of wandering and persecution to the

north of Lake Erie, for once firmly established they not only

found themselves possessed of new vitality and stamina, but

likewise of a new name. The appellation, Huron, first given

them by the French as a term of derogation, signified ruffians

or uncouth people. In their own language, the Hurons called

themselves Wendat, from which is derived the English form

Wyandot. Shortly after their arrival in Ohio, they began to

be known as Wyandots, which name soon supplanted entirely

that of Hurons.

From their humble beginnings at settlements on the Sandusky

and Maumee, the Wyandots gradually extended their influence

and territory until they occupied the greater part of northern

Ohio, corresponding to the country formerly inhabited by the

extinct Eries. On the west, they touched hands with the Miamis,

and found their way to and even beyond the Muskingum on

the east. They extended their activities far down the Scioto

valley and as far south as the valley of the Hocking. In short,

they were to become the dominant tribe of the country between

the Ohio river and the lakes, and while at no time able to

muster more than a few hundred fighting men, their counsel,

advice and cooperation was held paramount to that of any other

tribe among the Indians of the Northwest territory.  The

presence of the Delawares and Shawnee in Ohio was entirely

with their consent, as most of the territory occupied by these

was considered as belonging to the Wyandots.

• 45
 

The Indian in Ohio.                319

 

From the Wyandot tribe came one of the greatest of the

Ohio chieftains, Tarhe, or as he was called by the English, the

Crane, Although for the most part the Wyandots were fa-

vorable to the British as against the Americans in the Indian

wars, it is a matter of history that after the signing of the Treaty

of Greenville, in 1795, Tarhe bent every effort toward securing

for the Americans the good will and support of the Indian

tribes - his own as well as others. Up to the time of the treaty

referred to, no braver warrior ever opposed the advance of

white men than Tarhe.

 

The Mingoes (Senecas).

Of less general importance and fewer in numbers than

any of the tribes previously described, the Mingoes nevertheless,

in their brief career upon Ohio soil, left a most interesting and

spectacular history. They were a detached band of the Iroquois

-mainly Senecas-who just prior to the Revolutionary war

had taken up their abode on the Ohio river, their settlement,

near the present city of Steubenville, and consisting of about

sixty families, being known as the Mingo town. From there they

later found their way westward and settled in the Wyandot

country, upon the headwaters of the Scioto and Sandusky rivers.

Here, about the year 1800 they were joined by stragglers from

the Cayuga tribe of Iroquois, the affiliated bands thereafter being

generally known as the Senecas of the Sandusky. Although

few in numbers, these Senecas made themselves widely known

in the early wars. Their sojourn in Ohio is commemorated in

their name, as given to Seneca county, Ohio. A small band of

these Senecas incorporated themselves with a band of Shawnee,

at Lewistown, Logan county, from 1817 until 1831. These

affiliated bands were known as the "Mixed Senecas and Shaw-

nee," as distinguished from the Senecas of the Sandusky.

In addition to the settlements on the Sandusky and at

Lewistown the Mingoes had several villages farther south along

the Scioto.  One of these is recorded as being located in

Delaware county, while three are described as existing at the site

of Columbus. The late Col. E. L. Taylor, in his "Ohio Indians,"

mentions these Mingo towns, one of which he says was located

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320       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

just south from where the Ohio penitentiary now stands, while

a second stood on the west bank of the river at the site of the

city work-house, and the third on the east side of the river south

of Greenlawn Avenue. These three towns met a most tragic

fate, being destroyed by the whites under Col. William Craw-

ford, in 1774, as a part of the campaign of Lord Dunmore

against the Shawnee and Mingoes. The destruction of these

Mingo towns which will be referred to in connection with the

Dunmore war, apparently put an end to Mingo communities in

the central Scioto valley. It is through Chief Logan, the great-

est of the Mingoes, that the tribe is best known. We shall hear

also of Logan in considering the Dunmore war.

 

The Ottawas and Others.

But for the purpose of introducing their great chief, Pon-

tiac, one of the most renowned men of his race, it would

scarcely be necessary to dwell upon the Ottawa tribe of Indians,

in so far as Ohio is concerned. Although a great and powerful

people, dwelling principally around Georgian Bay and on Mani-

toulin Island in Lake Huron, but few of them chose to make

their homes on Ohio soil. Although an Algonquin people, the

Ottawas were firm friends and allies of the Wyandots, and like

these latter had been ousted from their tribal home in Ontario.

Those who entered Ohio, later known as the Ottawas of Blan-

chard Fork of Auglaize river, and the Roche de Boeuf, living on

the Maumee, fraternized closely with the Wyandots, the vil-

lages of the two tribes often being contiguous. The Ottawas

took an active part in the early Indian wars in the Ohio coun-

try. They were originally, according to the early French writers,

a very uncouth and barbarous people but improved greatly after

contact with the Wyandots. They were noted as skilful canoe-

men and were foremost among the Indian tribes in the matter

of trade and barter, whence the name Ottawa, carrying this

meaning, bestowed upon them by the French. They gave their

name to two rivers-the Ottawa of Canada, and the Ottawa

of Ohio, the latter more generally known as the Auglaize. Ot-

tawa county, Ohio, likewise took its name from the tribe.

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The Indian in Ohio.                321

 

Like the Mingoes, and some other tribes, chief interest in

the Ohio Ottawas centers about one man--Pontiac. He was

born about 1715 near where Defiance now stands, at the juncture

of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers. The first historic notice

of importance of Pontiac is that contained in the diary of Major

Robert Rogers, commander of Rogers Rangers, who in 1760 had

been commissioned by the English to proceed by way of Ohio to

Detroit, there to take possession of that fort, surrendered by

the French. At the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, according to

Major Rogers, he encountered a band of Ottawas, in command

of Pontiac, who was inclined to resent the intrusion of the

Rangers into his country. On learning its import, however,

Pontiac permitted the British force to proceed, he himself ac-

companying them and lending every assistance in his power.

Pontiac is described by Rogers as the "King or Emperor of the

greatest authority and the largest empire of any Indian chief on

the continent since our acquaintance with it." He proceeds to

describe the air of haughty dignity and "princely grandeur" of

the Ottawa chieftain.

Pontiac is best known as a result of the gigantic and

disastrous conspiracy which he headed against the British in

1760, and which will be referred to presently. After the close

of the French and Indian war Pontiac continued hostile for a

time against the British, but finally made peace with them in

1765. His death, as was the case with several important Ohio

chiefs, was a tragic one. He was murdered by an Indian dur-

ing a drinking bout at Cahokia, Illinois, in 1769.

In addition to the tribes specified, there were bands of

Tuscarawas (Iroquoian) in the eastern part of the state, prin-

cipally on the Muskingum and the river bearing their name.

They were of little importance and few in numbers. Other

representatives of the Iroquois were at various times present in

northeastern Ohio, mainly on hunting expeditions. They played

no important part in the Indian history of the Ohio Country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. XXVII-21.

• 48
 

IIl

THE INDIANS, THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH

 

 

THE IMPENDING CONFLICT

French and English Covet Ohio

It will be recalled that in the early settlement of America,

the English established their first colonies in Virginia and New

England, gradually absorbed the territory intervening between

the two, and came to occupy all the country along the Atlantic

seaboard from Nova Scotia to Florida. The French, on the

other hand, chose to settle the region adjacent to the St. Law-

rence river and, through right of discovery, quite early laid

claim to all the country within the basin of the St. Lawrence,

the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river, with the Appalachian

mountains as its eastern boundary. The English, however, under

their charter grants, contended that their territory extended from

sea to sea, and from the first evinced no intention of permitting

the French to retain control of the land west of the Alleghenies.

In the absence of exact knowledge as to the size and extent

of the new continent and uncertainty as to political boundaries

and charter grants, it is not strange that almost from the be-

ginning there was dispute and conflict between the French and

English as to ownership of territory outside their immediate

settlements. The French, pushing southward and westward from

Lake Erie into the Ohio country, were met by the English mak-

ing their way westward into the same region, and the natural

rivalry for so rich a prize, fanned by bitter enmity between the

two nations in the Old World, soon took the form of open hos-

tilities.

Position of the Indian

The culmination of this unhappy situation was the so-called

French and Indian war, which terminated in the defeat of the

French and the accruing to the English of all French territory

east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio rivers. In this

(322)

• 49
 

The Indian in Ohio.                323

 

gigantic struggle, accredited to the years 1755-1763, but having

its inception as early as 1724 in disputes regarding title to parts

of the New England coast, the Indian played an important,

though pathetic part. The situation, in a word, was this: the

French colonies, through right of discovery, laid claim to the

vast territory of which the Ohio country was the heart; the

English colonies, through their charter grants, emphatically af-

firmed their title to the same territory; while the Indian, as the

native race, and the original owner, felt constrained to dispute

the claims of both newcomers and to retain his ancestral heritage

for himself. The solution to this triangular controversy was

to be worked out under

 

"The simple plan,

That they should take who have the power

And they should keep who can."

 

While the French were building a great chain of forts from

the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi, the English

were quietly edging westward, making sure of their ground as

they advanced. Meantime both were bidding heavily for the

favor of the Indian, in anticipation of successfully separating

him from his hunting grounds - a proceeding in which the red

man was to be asked to furnish the means for his own undoing.

Succeeding events have justified this displacement of the Indian

race by the whites; for the interests of human advancement de-

manded that so vast a country as that comprised within the

United States should serve a better purpose than that of sup-

porting less than one million savages-or but one person to

three square miles of territory, as compared with approximately

one hundred times that number, as at present. While the fact

of the supplanting of the native race by the European is beyond

question of propriety, unfortunately so much cannot be said of

the manner in which it was effected. In many instances where

the Indian has been dispossessed or otherwise coerced, it has

been at the hands of individuals, rather than by action of organ-

ized government, and attended with unnecessary hardship and

even abuse.

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324       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

The efforts expended by the Indians in resisting the relent-

less tide of white settlement are by no means to be despised.

In fact, in many instances they displayed the stubbornness, dar-

ing and courage of desperation. But in the absence of centralized

governing power, so necessary to concerted action, they were in

the end futile. Even with his limited powers of judgment and

lacking all precedent, the Indian could not but realize in a degree

that the great wave of European settlers was inimical to his in-

terests. While in any event the Indian ultimately must have

yielded to the human readjustment, but for the lack of two

things--precedent, and centralized authority- the struggle

must have been greatly prolonged.

The position of the Indian in the conflict with the whites

has been described in many appropriate phrases, as for example,

in the words of an Ohio chief: "The Indians are like a piece of

cloth between the blades of a pair of scissors, of which the Eng-

lish are one blade and the French the other". Nevertheless, the

red man held the balance of power as between the French and

the English in their struggle for possession of his country. Just

how true this is we shall see in connection with the deciding

event in the western theatre of the war--the capture by the

British of Fort DuQuesne-when the defection of the Indians

from their allegiance to the French swayed the balance in favor

of the English.

Having taken brief notice of the Ohio country, its native

inhabitants and their attitude, on the one hand; and of the

French and English colonists and their motives on the other,

we should be able at this point to draw a mental picture of

existing conditions, let us say, about the year 1740. Previous

to that time there had been, of course, considerable activity on

the part of both the French and the English, looking to ultimate

exploitation of the section under consideration. But these ac-

tivities for the most part were tentative, as both sides were well

occupied in making certain their foothold upon the American

continent-"digging themselves in" preparatory to the forth-

coming struggle -and had but little time to give to affairs very

far removed from their immediate colonies.

• 51
 

The Indian in Ohio.                325

 

Intimate contact between the Indians of the Ohio country

and the whites very naturally came with the advent into their

territory of French and English traders. Preceding these were

numerous adventurers and explorers, but the relationship be-

tween these and the Indians was of passing importance; and,

too, we must not forget that most of the Ohio tribes already

had met the whites, since, with one or two exceptions, their

presence in this territory was due to their having been dis-

lodged from previously occupied localities.

 

Traders and Missionaries.

The ubiquitous trader, then, may be regarded as the first

bona fide representative of white men among the Indians in

their Ohio homes. Following closely upon the trader came the

missionary; and to these two advance guards of civilization fell

the task of breaking the path over which should march the hosts

who were to follow them. "The merchants and missionaries

vied with each other in their indefatigable efforts to penetrate

every nook and corner of the undiscovered country and estab-

lish therein trading posts and proselyting stations".

In the matter of traders and trading posts the French

and English were equally energetic; with respect to missions,

however, the French were especially zealous, particularly among

the Iroquois in New York and the Hurons in Michigan and

Canada. Their labors in the Ohio field were not destined to be

of importance, owing to the unsettled condition of the Ohio

tribes and to the comparatively late date at which that terri-

tory was explored and settled. Their sole effort at establishing

a mission was at the site of Sandusky, where for some time a

branch of the Wyandot mission at Detroit was maintained.

Thus the only religious influence of importance brought to bear

by the French was that which they had exerted upon the Indians

entering Ohio from the north.   While the Catholic religion

was not destined to play an important part with the Ohio In-

dians, Protestantism, on the other hand, succeeded in sowing

fertile seeds among the Delawares residing upon the Muskin-

gum. This was accomplished through the zeal and ardor of

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326       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

the Moravian Brethren, of whose activities we shall learn

presently.

"Coureurs-des-Bois are they, and famous hunters and trappers."

But to revert to the trader-The Coureur-du-Bois of the

French, the bushwhacker and woodsranger of the English. At

the start these traders were hardy, venturesome men, fitted for

the dangerous lives they led, and as a rule not too conscientious

or scrupulous in their moral codes. However, this hardy type

was very necessary to the reconnoissance of the wilderness and

their part in its conquest was highly important. At first they

operated entirely upon their own initiative, with no very definite

end in view, spurred on by the element of novelty and danger

that offered. In time, the trader became a very well defined

institution with fixed posts where the trinkets and commodities

of the white man were to be had by the Indian in exchange for

furs and other products. With a keen eye for business and

profit, the trader soon learned to know just what would appeal

most strongly to the needs and fancy of the Indian. Bright

colored cloth, necklaces and beads of glass, bracelets, buckles,

brooches and ornaments of silver, kettles and containers of cop-

per, knives, tomahawks and spears of iron, to say nothing of

firearms and ammunition were a few of the things from his

stock in trade. For these the red man displayed the fascina-

tion of a child over a new toy, and gladly paid in exchange

whatever price might be asked, which often was limited only

by what he possessed. These trading posts became the outworks

of the white settlement, and definitely influenced the location

of forts and towns.

The year 1745 found these traders, both English and French,

but particularly the former, stubbornly pushing their way into

the Ohio wilderness and establishing more or less permanent

trading posts among the Indians. Activities centered about the

western extension of Lake Erie, particularly in the Maumee

valley and around Sandusky bay, the English trader coming

from Pennsylvania and the French from the neighborhood of

Detroit. The importance of this location was due to its being

directly in the path of travel east and west, by way of the lakes

• 53
 

The Indian in Ohio.                327

 

and the Maumee, across the portage to the Wabash, and thence

down the Ohio to the Mississippi.

 

Nicolas' Conspiracy.

We already have learned how the Hurons, thenceforward

to be known as the Wyandots, had descended from Detroit into

northern Ohio, under the guidance of Chief Nicolas. Nicolas,

unscrupulous, energetic and ambitious, had incurred the dis-

pleasure of the French and as a part of his scheme for revenge

cultivated the friendship of the English. In 1745 he went so

far as to allow English traders from Pennsylvania to erect a

trading post on Sandusky bay, near the site of Port Clinton,

in Ottawa county. The seriousness of this offense, from the

French viewpoint, will be understood when it is remembered

that the latter claimed, and zealously resented any interference

in the country in question. The English erected also at this

point, a blockhouse, and this, known as Fort Sandoski, in addi-

tion to being the first real military stronghold erected by white

men on Ohio soil, was to become the scene of opening hostilities

attendant upon the rivalry of the French and English for the

possession of Ohio. Nicolas - Orontony, in his own tongue-

now thoroughly embittered against the French and strengthened

by his friendship with the English, conceived a bold plan for the

extermination of the French from Ohio and the country to the

northward. This plan was nothing less than a widespread con-

spiracy, in which he enlisted the cooperation of Miamis, Ottawas,

Shawnee and several western tribes. Nicolas' plans were care-

fully laid and a date was set for carrying out attacks on the

various French posts. These attacks were to be made simul-

taneously and were apportioned among the allies. The Wyan-

dots themselves were to attack the French on the Maumee while

to the Miamis fell the lot of destroying those in their imme-

diate territory. Detroit, the headquarters of the French and

their strongest western post, was to be the object of an espe-

cially directed blow to be delivered by chosen men from the

Hurons.   But with all his precautions Nicolas' plans were

doomed to failure, and his conspiracy was short-lived. Certain

premature indiscretions on the part of his allies excited the

• 54
 

328       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

suspicion of the French and put them upon their guard; while

just in time to prevent the consummation of the massacres, an

Indian squaw, of Nicolas' own people, betrayed the secret to a

French missionary.

 

First Mission to Ohio Indians.

During the five years following Nicolas' conspiracy events

crowded upon one another thick and fast, until, in 1754, the

first real action of the French and Indian war occurred at the

Forks of the Ohio. These intervening years were filled by a

series of constant thrusts and parries between the English and

the French for an opening in the decisive contest which was

drawing close to hand.

The French were made keenly aware of the necessity of

circumventing the rapid encroachments of the English if their

claim to Ohio was to be maintained, while the English colonies,

with redoubled determination, set themselves to the task of

securing what they wanted. The friendly overtures of the Ohio

tribes offered a good opening for negotiations, and of this hos-

pitable attitude of the natives the colonists determined to take

advantage. Besides, during the summer of 1748, there had been

consummated at Lancaster, Pa., a treaty between the Miamis,

Delawares and Shawnee of Ohio and the six Nations of Iroquois.

on the one side, and the commissioners of Pennsylvania and

Virginia, on the other, which encouraged the colonists to hope

for the support of the Indians as against the French. At this

treaty the Miamis, in particular, were outspoken in their pledges

of friendship and allegiance to the English.

In order doubly to assure themselves of the favor of the

tribesmen the English colonists decided to send a special em-

bassy, bearing with it substantial tokens of the affection and

solicitude of the white men for the savages. The Pennsylvania

council, therefore, late in 1748, dispatched Conrad Weiser, of-

ficial Indian interpreter, with messages of good will and presents

aggregating in value more than $5,000. Weiser was accom-

panied by George Croghan, "king of the traders," who already

had established trading posts on the Muskingum and at the

mouth of the Cuyahoga river, and by Andrew Montour, inter-

• 55
 

The Indian in Ohio.                329

 

preter and go-between, of mixed Indian and French blood.

While Weiser and his embassy did not enter Ohio proper all the

important Ohio tribes, by appointment, were present at the

meeting place, which was at Logstown on the Ohio river, a few

miles across the Ohio line in Pennsylvania. Logstown was one

of the most important of the Indian towns west of the Al-

leghenies, and "being on the borderline between the red and the

white peoples, was the common center for commercial activity

and political intrigue."  Here, amid scenes of feasting and

merrymaking, during which the Indians were liberally supplied

with rum and tobacco, the spokesmen for the assembled tribes

aired their grievances and made known their demands, while

the English emissaries forcefully presented the advantages to

the Indians of an alliance with their colonies. Thus was suc-

cessfully consummated "the first mission of the English to the

Ohio Indians."

Pickawillany, the Ohio Indian Capital.

It was now the move of the French in this gigantic game

of chess, "in which Ohio was the stake and the Indians were

the pawns." They responded by sending Captain Bienville de

Celoron on his historic mission through the Ohio country, for

the purpose of preempting that territory to themselves, and of

erecting "no trespass" signs of warning against the English.

Celoron's mission, aimed to counteract the effect of the Logs-

town conference and the activities of the Ohio Company, was

most spectacular and dramatic. With a party of about 270 men.

consisting of Canadians and Indians, Celoron started for the

Ohio country by way of Lakes Ontario and Erie, thence south-

ward to the Allegheny, which they reached at the site of War-

ren, Pa. The company traveled in birchbark canoes and bore

with them all necessary paraphernalia for "staking their claims"

to the exclusion of all squatters. A series of lead plates,

bearing appropriate legends of preemption had been sup-

plied, and these were buried at strategic points en route,

the first at Warren, Penn., the second at the junction of

French creek with the Ohio, a third near the mouth of

Wheeling Creek, and the others at the mouths of the Musk-

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330      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

ingum, the Great Kanawha, the Scioto and the Great Miami

rivers. Arriving at the last named place, Celoron and his

party ascended the Miami, arriving at Pickawillany, the

wilderness capital of the Piankashaw tribe of Miamis. Here

he was received by Old Britain, whom he endeavored to in-

fluence in behalf of the French, but with small success.

The following summer, 1760, the French at Montreal sent

their agent, Joncaire, with gifts for the Ohio Indians. The

Pennsylvania council, learning of Joncaire's mission, dispatched

George Croghan and Andrew Montour to the same Indians to

remind them of their recent promises of friendship. Croghan

and Montour, bearing presents with them, reached Wyandot

Town, on the site of Coshocton, where they succeeded in fav-

orably influencing the vacillating sentiment of the Wyandots

and Mingoes on the Muskingum.

 

Gist Visits the Ohio Tribes.

Later in the same year "Old Britain" again entertained im-

portant visitors at Pickawillany. The Ohio company, recently

organized by a number of Virginia colonists for the purpose

of securing and settling lands in the Ohio valley, secured the

services of Christopher Gist, a surveyor and trader, to examine

and report upon the Ohio country and its inhabitants, with a

view to selecting the most promising location for the new enter-

prise. Gist, after visiting the Indian towns on the Muskingum

and passing westward over the state, arrived at Pickawillany,

where his reception by La Damoiselle was most cordial. As

a result of two weeks' feasting during which Gist's party be-

stowed upon the Miami chieftain presents to the value of $500,

an alliance between the Miamis and the colony of Pennsylvania

was effected. In addition the Indians expressed their intention

to be present at Logstown the next year, where they promised

to enter into a treaty with the Virginia colony. The results of

this visit materially strengthened the cause of the colonists and

of the Ohio company with the western Indians.

An incident which illustrates the friendship of Old Britain

for the English occurred during Gist's stay at Pickawillany.

While the old chief and his English guests were making merry

• 57
 

The Indian in Ohio.                331

 

there arrived from Detroit a delegation of Ottawa Indians in

the interest of the French. The chief accorded them an im-

partial hearing, along with Gist and Croghan, but in the end

waived acceptance of the presents which the Ottawas had

brought with them and dismissed them with the following

speech: "We have been taken by the hand by our brothers,

the English *  *  * and we assure you that in that road we

will go; and as you threaten us with war in the spring, we

tell you if you are angry, we are ready to receive you, and re-

solve to die here before we will go with you; and that you may

know that this is our mind, we give you- this string of black

wampum." The reference to war was in reply to threats of

the French, through the Ottawas, to that effect.

Gist and his party were the first Englishmen to travel ex-

tensively through Ohio.  The journey, faithfully and fully

recorded in Gist's journal, is most interesting and valuable.

 

Indian Treaty at Logstown.

With a keen knowledge of the Indiar temperament and his

proneness to change allegiance whenever and as often as his

personal interests seemed to indicate, the governor of Pennsyl-

vania determined not to lose the advantage already gained in

the contest for favor of the tribesmen. Accordingly the ser-

vices of Croghan and Montour were enlisted for two important

conferences with the Indians at Logstown, one in the spring

of 1752 and the other one year later. At both meetings the

Ohio tribes-Delawares, Shawnee, Miamis and Wyandots-

were present in force to strengthen the chain of friendship be-

tween themselves and the English-and to share in the rich

gifts provided for them.  At the first conference, presents

amounting in value to $3,500 were distributed among the tribes.

At the second meeting delegates from Virginia also were present,

and succeeded in securing a ratification of the rather doubtful

concessions made by the Indians at the Lancaster treaty of 1744,

by which Virginia was authorized to effect settlements south of

the Ohio river, and to erect a fort at the forks of the Ohio.

The results of this conference were of very great importance,

since the securing of the site at the forks of the Ohio was to

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332      Ohio Arch. and list. Society Publications.

mean much to the English in the forthcoming struggle with the

French, while the Ohio company, out of which was to be born

the new state of Ohio, was greatly benefited.

 

Destruction of Pickawillany.

Scarcely had the Logstown conference come to a close

when the French, determined to rid the Miami country of Eng-

lish traders, struck a blow which was destined to precipitate the

actual hostilities of the French and Indian war. Pickawillany,

as we have seen, was not only the capital of the Ohio Miamis,

but the most important trading center in western Ohio. Many

trails converged here and the town became the center of an

important inter-racial commerce. At the time of Gist's visit

it consisted of about 400 families, among whom were a con-

siderable number of white traders.

In the late spring of 1752 the French in Canada sent an

expedition under Charles Langlade, of Indian and French ex-

traction, to destroy Pickawillany and to expel the English

traders. Langlade and his force, consisting of 250 Ottawa and

Chippewa Indians and a few French soldiers, reached Picka-

willany in June, 1752. The Indians, their ferocity spurred to

violence by their commander, Langlade, swooped down upon

the Miami village with all the fury of their savage natures.

Most of the men of the village were absent, either engaged in

the hunt, or not yet having returned from Logstown. Old Brit-

ain, with 14 others of the tribe was killed, while of eight English

traders in the town five were carried prisoners to Detroit, one

was killed and two escaped.

The old King, who had played so important a part in the

dealings of the Indians and whites and who had entertained

so many notable guests, furnished the "piece de resistance" at

the savage feast which followed. His body, it is said, was

cooked and eaten by the infuriated Ottawas, who, as Mr. Ran-

dall suggests, doubtless had not forgotten the repulse the Ottawa

embassadors had received in the council house of the Pianka-

shaw king, Old Britain, at the time of their visit, while Gist

and his party were guests at his "royal" house.

• 59
 

The Indian in Ohio.                333

 

The success of the French in this enterprise, "which might

be called the preliminary bloodshed, if not the first battle of

the French and Indian war," so emboldened the French that

they soon began the construction of armed posts from Lake

Erie to the headwaters of the Ohio, and so on down the Ohio

valley. It was this action which finally provoked armed ag-

gression on the part of the English.

 

 

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

Beginning of Hostilities.

The battles about the forks of the Ohio, where occurred

most of the hostilities of the French and Indian war, in so far

as the Ohio country was concerned, are familiar to all. Wash-

ington's mission to the French--a final but unsuccessful at-

tempt on the part of Virginia to avert armed aggression; the

erection of the fort at the Ohio forks, and its seizure by the

French before completion; Washington's encounter with and

defeat of LaForce at Great Meadows, and his evacuation of

Fort Necessity; the disgraceful defeat by the French of General

Braddock and his English and colonial troops; and, marking

the close of the war on the western frontier, the occupation of

Fort Duquesne by Washington and his soldiers, comprise a

chapter of American history which is indelibly impressed upon

the mind of every school boy, and need not be recounted here.

We have but to consider the connection of the Indian with these

momentous occurrences, and our purpose will be served.

 

Tanacharison, the Seneca Half King.

As we have seen, the Ohio Indians were inclined to be

friendly to the English, and this inclination had been strength-

ened by every possible attention on the part of the colonies.

As indicative of this amicable sentiment on the part of the

tribesmen, the friendship of Tanacharison, the Seneca chief,

for the English may be cited. Tanacharison, known familiarly

as the Half King, (thus called, because while chief of his own

tribe he was still subject to the authority of the Iroquoian Six

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334      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Nations,) may be taken as representative of the best intelligence

and loyalty, on the part of the natives. Residing at or near

Logstown, on the Ohio, he early made the acquaintance of the

English officials passing to and fro between the colonies and the

Ohio country, and through his trustworthiness and ability soon

gained from them a remarkable degree of confidence. We first

meet him in 1753, when W ashington, on his memorable mission

to the French stopped at Logstown. On this occasion the Half

King greatly assisted Washington by supplying information re-

garding the country and its people, both Indians and French, and

by accompanying him to Venango, where Joncaire, the French

commander was located. A few months later we find the Half

King present with the English at the building of the fort at the

Ohio forks, and upon the arrival of the French under Contre-

coeur and their demand for the surrender of the unfinished

stockade, lending his advice and assistance to Ensign Ward, in

charge of its erection. Following the temporary set-back to the

English through the loss of this strategic site, we again find

Tanacharison "on hand" at the arrival of Washington at Great

Meadows, doing scout duty and, with his faithful followers,

fighting side by side with Washington against LaForce and

his French and Indians. This great chief, together with Scar-

ouady, Oneida half king, and others, thus participated with

Washington in his "baptism of fire", in the "skirmish which set

the world on fire", and which was to lead the English to victory

over the French for the possession of the Ohio country and

to instill into the colonists the self-reliance and training which

enabled them to break away from England and to become a

free and separate nation. But with all his loyalty and merit,

Tanacharison perhaps displayed a prominent characteristic of

the Indian temperament when after Washington's evacuation

of Fort Necessity, he severely criticized the Colonial commander

for his methods of fighting. Like most of his nationality, he

was not a good loser, although doubtless altogether convinced

in his own mind that Washington's tactics as against the French

and Indians were not the most conducive to success. The Half

King declared that the "French were cowards; the English

fools" and that neither knew how to fight. He believed that

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The Indian in Ohio.                335

had Washington taken the advice of his Indian associates, ex-

perienced in methods of Indian warfare, the English might

easily have prevailed over the French at Fort Necessity, de-

spite the fact that the latter more than twice outnumbered the

Colonial forces.  Tanacharison died shortly afterwards near

Harrisburg, where with his family he had retired. He had re-

mained a consistent friend to the English and his services were

greatly missed.

Tanacharison was not alone in his deprecation of English

methods of fighting and in his opinion as to their chances of

ultimate victory over the French. From their attitude of co-

operation and alliance many of the Ohio tribes began to veer

toward the French, in the belief that the latter were destined

to be the victors in the ensuing struggle. Thus in a few short

months the situation, from the English point of view, had swung

around so that instead of the promise held forth by a propitious

beginning, they now found themselves on the defensive, with

their Indian allies forsaking them and the French in full posses-

sion of the Ohio valley from the lakes to the Mississippi.

The struggle, thus far confined to the colonies of France

and England, was now to demand and secure the attention and

participation of the mother countries themselves. Troops were

rushed from France and England, and the result of their meet-

ing on the western frontier at Fort Duquesne, where General

Braddock was so disastrously defeated, only added to the serious-

ness of the outlook for the English cause.

While doubt in the minds of the Indians as to the strength

and ultimate success of the English over the French was per-

haps the principal reason for their wholesale defection to the

latter, there were others scarcely less potent. The partial change

of fealty on the part of the Iroquois Nations had a disturbing

effect upon the Ohio tribes, with whom they were in a measure

allied; while the active propaganda of the French to turn the

Indians against the English and the slowness with which the

latter responded to appeals of the tribesmen for aid, were like-

wise of very decided advantage to the French; but doubtless

the desire of the Indians to be on the winning side outweighed

all other considerations.

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336      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Indians Desert the British.

The Delawares and Shawnee were the Ohio tribes whose

loss was most keenly felt by theEnglish. At a council held in

Philadelphia in 1755, the Delawares presented their ultimatum

in the following words: "We, the Delawares of Ohio, do pro-

claim war against the English. We have been their friends

many years but now have taken up the hatchet against them

and we will never make it up with them whilst there is an Eng-

lish man alive". The following year a representative of the

Delawares and Shawnee summed up the situation as follows:

"Last year the French brought a powerful army into our coun-

try and soon after the English marched another army, which

appeared to us like two clouds hanging over us; we looked on

until the battle was over and then we saw some of the Six Na-

tions with the French hatchets in their hands killing the English

and as we were in strict alliance with the Six Nations, we

thought it our duty to do the same."

The confusion in which the Indians found themselves at

this period is attested in the numerous and eloquent speeches

recorded in historic records and documents of the time. The

conflicting emotions and the various motives and factors which

governed their actions can be understood only when we take into

consideration the Indian as a people. Facing so great, and to

him unprecedented, an event as the invasion by so vastly su-

perior a people as the Europeans, he was unable, with his lim-

ited knowledge and perspective, to grasp its real meaning and

significance. It was like the first visit of a boy of six years to

a three-ring circus, who could see an elephant here, a trapeze

performer there and a clown somewhere else. But aside from

the few superior minds among them it is doubtful whether the

Indians as a whole ever fully grasped the fullness of the situa-

tion as it existed. But following Braddock's defeat he under-

stood well enough that the French were in the ascendancy, for

the time being, at least, and as between two evils he chose what

appeared to him the lesser.

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The Indian in Ohio.                337

 

Indians Hold Balance of Power.

Thus we find the situation at the opening of hostilities in

the year 1756. The French, victorious in their encounters with

the English, had automatically won over the Indians. Further,

they had strengthened their hold on the Ohio country by the

erection of forts along the upper reaches of the Ohio valley, and

by the construction of Fort Junundat, on Sandusky Bay. But

the English, having allowed this advantage to accrue to the

French mainly through slowness in acting, set about to make

good the loss. To offset the defection of the tribesmen a great

council was held at Albany in 1754, at which representatives

of the several colonies succeeded in temporarily bolster-

ing up the wavering allegiance of the Six Nations; an Important

accomplishment, since the Iroquois were in more or less close

sympathy with the Ohio tribes, and were able greatly to influ-

ence their attitude. But the patched-up loyalty of the Iroquois

was not to be lasting; for before long the Six Nations, (with

the exception of the Mohawks, who to the last remained friendly

to the English) were either openly espousing the French cause,

or at best were neutral in their attitude. This change of heart

on the part of the Iroquois was reflected in the behavior of the

Ohio tribes, who, despite their efforts to fix the Allegheny

mountains as the western barrier of the colonies, found the

English, especially the Virginians, persistent in extending their

charter lines into the Ohio valley. The Delawares of Ohio and

eastern Pennsylvania, recruiting at the Delaware town of Kittan-

ing, launched expeditions of destruction and slaughter against

the Pennsylvania colonists. They were finally quelled by troops

under Col. John Armstrong, who in the autumn of 1756 de-

stroyed Kittaning and scattered its inhabitants. The Shawnee,

in close sympathy with the Delawares, directed their depreda-

tions mostly to the southward, crossing the Ohio river and

penetrating the Virginia country along the eastern slopes of the

Alleghenies. With their well-known audacity and disregard for

distances they even descended upon the headwaters of the James,

Shenandoah and Roanoke rivers, and in 1757, from their homes

Vol. XXVII-22.

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338      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

on the Scioto and Miami, they devastated an English settlement

on the last named river. So persistent were these attacks that

the governor of Virginia sent a force of Virginia troops, under

Colonel Andrew Lewis, to retaliate upon the Ohio settlements

of the Shawnee. The expedition, however, owing to inclement

weather and unfavorable conditions, was unsuccessful.

The importance of the Indian as a factor in the contest be-

tween the French and the English now becomes most apparent,

and it would have been difficult for either to win without his

assistance. We have seen how Washington was enabled to rout

LaForce and his command of Frenchmen through the aid of

the Half King and his Indian followers, and how, on the other

hand, he was forced to evacuate Fort Necessity owing to the

superiority of De Villiers' force, many of whom were Indians,

giving the French the advantage of their knowledge of border

warfare. At Braddock's defeat the French force of 900 con-

sisted principally of Indians, and the battle was conducted by

the French along Indian lines of warfare. It was indeed an

"Indian army", in which were prominent Shawnee and Mingoes

from Ohio, Ottawas under the great Pontiac, and numerous

other tribes to the northward.

We are now to see how, under more efficient management

of their affairs, the English were to swing the favor of the In-

dians and to demoralize the French.

 

Posts Mission Wins Indian Support.

Following two years of warfare with the French, during

which time the tide of battle flowed steadily against them, the

English in the spring of 1758 succeeded in effecting a complete

reorganization of their plans for the campaign. General John

Forbes was entrusted with the command of an army which was

to be sent against Fort Duquesne, the gateway to the Ohio coun-

try. Col. Henry Bouquet, whom we shall meet at a later date,

was second in command under Forbes, while General George

Washington was at the head of one of the two regiments of

Colonial troops raised by Virginia.

It was while Forbes' army was preparing to move upon

Fort DuQuesne that the council of Pennsylvania was occupied

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The Indian in Ohio.                339

 

in a quiet way with a plan which was to prove of as much im-

portance in reducing the French fort at the forks of the Ohio,

as the army of 7,000 men which soon was to lay siege thereto.

This plan was nothing more nor less than the sending of Chris-

tian Frederick Post, noted Moravian missionary of Pennsyl-

vania, among the Indians in a final effort to secure their coop-

eration against the French, or at least the promise of neutrality

on their part.

Equipped with an intimate knowledge of the Indians with

whom he had to deal, as a result of many years spent among

the Pennsylvania tribes, as well as with undaunted courage, tact,

and judgment, Post, with a few companions, departed upon

what was to be one of the most eventful missions of the English

to the Indians. The story of his experiences, surrounded on all

sides by hostile natives, his life threatened at every turn, is one

to keep the reader's attention at high pitch throughout. The

meeting place, as arranged, was opposite Fort DuQuesne, near

the forks of the Ohio, where Post arrived in midsummer, 1758.

Through the cooperation or rather by the promise of Teddyus-

kung, king of the Delawares, representatives of the various tribes

including the Delawares, Shawnee and Mingoes from Ohio were

present. In the face of great difficulties Post succeeded in effect-

ing a nominal peace with the assembled chiefs, among whom

were Captains White Eyes and Killbuck, from the Muskingum

Delawares. The Indian conferees promised to abandon their

depredations against the English and to use their good offices

in persuading other tribes to follow their example.

October following saw the culmination of Post's good work,

when at Easton, Pa., an important conference of the Pennsyl-

vanians with the Iroquois and other eastern tribes was held.

The Indians agreed to the peace proposals of the colonists and

voted to send confirmation of this, through the medium of a

message and a belt of wampum, to their kindred of Ohio. Post

was selected to carry these to the Ohio Indians who, upon their

receipt, ratified the terms of peace and formally declared an

end to hostilities.

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340       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

War Ends with English Successful.

It is unnecessary to recount the circumstances attending the

evacuation of Fort DuQuesne in November following. After

months of active preparation to meet the attack of the English

the French, without firing a single shot, suddenly abandoned

the fort, after setting it in flames. The work of Post had

accomplished more quickly and more effectively what the arms

of the English had prepared to do. The French, all at once

deserted by the Indians who had embraced their cause, found

themselves unable to meet the English onslaught soon to come

and fled precipitately, leaving the Ohio valley definitely and for

all time in the hands of the English.

The English had learned the lesson pressed upon them by

Tanacharison, the Half King, and his associates.  They had

learned to fight the fight of the borderland as the Indians them-

selves fought. Washington, in particular, not only recognized

the importance of the Indian mode of warfare, declaring that

"in this country we must learn the art of war from enemy In-

dians, or anybody else who has seen it carried on here", but

even fitted out his soldiers in Indian costume. Of the Indians

in his command Washington said, "I think them indispensable

in our present circumstances."

Thus ended on the western frontier the French and Indian

war and to the Indians, almost as much as to General Forbes

and Washington, or to the Pennsylvania council and Post, is

due the credit, regardless of motive, of the end of French sov-

ereignty in the Ohio country. One side of the triangle, repre-

sented by the French, had been eliminated, and the Indian hence-

forth had to deal only with the English. Within a few years,

however, there was to be a very considerable modification of the

English side, in which the English colonies in America were to

assert their independence of the mother country, and through

their success therein were, as Americans, to assume the place

and power until then exercised by England.

Dilemma of the Indians.

With the long and bitter struggle of the French and Indian

war ended and the French eliminated from the contest, it would

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The Indian in Ohio.                341

 

seem that the Indians of the Ohio country were justified in

expecting an amelioration of the hardships, trials and tribula-

tions through which they had passed. Having played an im-

portant part in ending French dominance over their territory,

they naturally would expect to benefit through relief from the

pressure and persecution which had borne upon them from the

north. But apparently there was not room in all the great ex-

panse of America for both the red man and the white man, and

one of the two remaining sides of the triangle was yet to be

eliminated.

The Indian had been invaluable to the English as long as

they were engaged in contest with the French; but this contest

ended, the native tribesman no longer figured as a strategic issue.

Instead of finding his troubles ended, he soon learned that for

him, in his ancestral home, there was no such thing as life,

liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Time passed by and the

expected acknowledgment of service to the English, in the way

of treaties and presents, was not forthcoming. On the contrary,

the Indians found themselves deprecated, slighted and even

abused, as venturesome spirits from the colonies flocked across

the Alleghenies, each one bent on securing for himself a share

in the great country wrested from the French. It soon became

the usual thing for white adventurers to regard the Indian as

little better than the wild beasts of the forest and it was not

unusual for these precursors of white settlement to shoot down

the natives without provocation, just "for sport".

The King of England, in a proclamation issued in 1763,

had set apart the Northwest Territory as an Indian reservation,

and had specified that no white settlement was to be attempted

therein, that all settlers already located thereupon should at once

take their departure, and that no lands should be purchased

from the Indians.  This famous proclamation, known as the

Quebec Act, was prompted, according to the English royalty

by "solicitude for the Indians, and anxiety for the peace and

safety of the colonists."  This thoughtfulness for the Indian

apparently was most unselfish, as it gave to him "as hunting

grounds" the great territory in question, but it has been surmised

that King George had deeper motives than the well-being of the

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342       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Indians, namely, "restriction of the growing power and terri-

tory of the colonists, and to placate the red man and retain

their friendly alliance with him in case warfare should make

his cooperation desirable." This indication of the growing real-

ization on the part of England of the possibility of the Colonists

seeking to establish themselves as an independent nation, was

thus accompanied by the precaution of using the Indian as a

check against such a contingency.

Paying little heed to the mandate of the Quebec Act, plans

for settlement of the Ohio country proceeded apace, not alone

on the part of individuals but through organized effort. The

Ohio Company, organized some years earlier for the purpose of

settling land in the Ohio valley, took steps to carry out its tem-

porarily quiescent program. These signs of activity on the part

of English colonists awakened the Indian to a realization of the

futility of his hopes for readjustment of his difficulties. Rest-

lessness, distrust and hostility pervaded the Indian ranks, and it

soon became apparent to the English that the embers of their

dissatisfaction needed but a breath to resolve it into a flame

of vengeance.

Some time earlier, following the close of the war, Sir Wil-

liam Johnson, Indian agent for the English, had anticipated the

impending conflagration and had temporarily averted its out-

break through a great council with the Indians held at Detroit.

Through his intimate understanding of the Indians and the great

influence which he exerted, Johnson succeeded for the time in

quieting them. But the truce was of short duration.

As Randall sums up the situation at this point, "The dark-

eyed Latin and the blue-eyed Saxon had fought out their dif-

ferences and divided up the new continent, but the red-skinned,

raven-haired native savage, who claimed the territories that had

been the prize of the world's war, was not represented nor recog-

nized in the family compact of Fontainebleau, nor the final di-

vision of the spoils at Paris. The Indian, especially of the Ohio

valley, was yet to be reckoned with and for a half a century

he bravely and unyieldingly resisted the right of the civilized

free-booting invaders to despoil him of land and home. To

him the seven years war had merely exchanged one 'pale-face'

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The Indian in Ohio.               343   conqueror for another. Indeed the last successful invader was less welcome and more dreaded than the first."   PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY. Indians Resent French Land Cessions. The final provocation which turned the balance and let loose the flood of Indian vengeance against white encroachment was the intelligence, reaching the Ottawas and associated tribes around Detroit in 1763, that the French, at the treaty of Paris, had ceded the Indian lands to the English. These tribes, in common with others, never had been able to appreciate the meaning of ownership of territory as the French and English understood, or intended it. They continued to the last to con- sider the country occupied by the whites as the property of the Indians and looked upon the French and English merely as so- journers through sufferance on the part of the natives. But the meaning of the white occupancy was gradually dawning upon them and this act of the French, to whom the Ottawa confed- eracy had been consistently friendly was, in common parlance, "too much for them". Their indignation resolved itself into fury, and their cause found its champion in the great Pontiac,

chief of the Ottawas. Pontiac and his remarkable conspiracy, which we are now to consider present a striking parallel to the Huron chief, Nicolas, and the uprising under his direction some fifteen years previously. The two leaders were remarkably similar in type, while their conspiracies, having the same end in view, were conducted along very much the same lines. Nicolas, a miniature of his great Ottawa prototype, while of inferior calibre to the latter, possessed in a marked degree the qualities and tempera- ment of the Indian, as exemplified in Pontiac. Both were remarkable

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344       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

for their courage and fortitude, cunning and sagacity, treachery

and cruelty. Each had as his aim the destruction of the whites

in his territory, Pontiac striking at the English and the chain of

forts against which, occupied by the French, Nicolas had

launched his savage warriors. The tribes most actively con-

cerned in the uprising were the same, and in both instances Fort

Detroit was the center of the most determined attack, Nicolas

choosing the warriors of his own Hurons for that particular task,

and Pontiac in person leading his Ottawas against its defenders.

Its capture, in each case, was frustrated through betrayal of the

Indians by members of their own race.

But while Pontiac's conspiracy in these respects is almost

a fac simile of the uprising of the Huron chief, its conception,

execution and results were on a most gigantic and hitherto un-

dreamed-of scale. Through couriers and messengers, and by

his own personal exertions and exhortations, Pontiac had suc-

ceeded in quietly enlisting in his support practically all the tribes

of the great Algonquin family, as well as some of the Iroquois,

particularly the Senecas. Again, as in Nicolas' conspiracy, a

simultaneous attack was planned on all the forts and garrisons

marked for destruction.

 

Fort Sandusky is Captured.

The Ohio tribes, particularly the Wyandots, Miamis, Shaw-

nee and Delawares, had entered the conspiracy with great avidity

and were assigned their share in the anticipated destruction.

They did their work well, for of the dozen or more English

posts selected for destruction, Fort Sandusky was the first to

fall. This fort, as already mentioned was the first stockade

erected by white men on Ohio soil, having been built by the

English in 1745. It had much to do with Nicolas' conspiracy

and, having been erected with his permission, against the wishes

of the French, precipitated the opening of the French and In-

dian war. Several times destroyed and rebuilt it was, at the

time of which we speak, garrisoned by Ensign Pauli, in com-

mand of 15 English soldiers. Early in May, 1763, amid appa-

rent peace and quiet on the part of the Wyandots living in the

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The Indian in Ohio.                345

 

vicinity of the post, was struck the first successful blow of the

calamitous movement set on foot by Pontiac. A party of the

Indians, feigning friendship, called at the fort, and being known

and trusted by Ensign Pauli were permitted to enter. But what

purported to be a friendly call was in reality a hostile ruse, and

no sooner had entrance been accorded the Indians than they

seized Pauli. overpowered the guard and murdered the soldiers

of the garrison, as well as all English traders found at the post.

After burning the stockade the attacking party carried Pauli

captive to Detroit, which was already being besieged by Pontiac

and his warriors. There Pauli was listed to be put to death but

was saved through the whim of an Ottawa squaw who desired

him for a husband. Having no voice in the matter of the selec-

tion of his bride, Pauli was forced to yield and accordingly

he was "plunged into the river that the white blood might be

washed from his veins" and the ceremony performed which

made him at once the husband of an Ottawa woman and a

warrior of the Ottawa tribe. Pauli subsequently escaped and

joined the besieged soldiers in the Detroit stockade.

Siege of Fort Detroit.

Meanwhile, Pontiac and his following of Ottawas, Pot-

tawattomies, Ojibways and Wyandots, foiled in their attempt

to gain admission to Fort Detroit through false pretensions of

friendship and thus to overpower the garrison, as the Wyandots

had done at Sandusky, were laying siege thereto. They expected

to be able, through the use of Indian strategy, "flaming arrows"

and firebrands to dislodge the English, or failing in this to starve

out the defenders. As a last resort, Pontiac believed that the

French could be prevailed upon to come to his assistance, once

the siege was well under way and the prospect favorable for

their reoccupation of the country wrested from them by the

English.

On the day fixed for the attack Pontiac, with a few of his

trusted accomplices, called at the fort where Major Henry

Gladwyn, in command, permitted them to enter. Pontiac prof-

fered the pipe of peace and professed the warmest feelings of

friendship toward the English. All this was of a part with

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