OHIO Archaeological and Historical PUBLICATIONS.
BIG BOTTOM AND ITS HISTORY.
CLEMENT L. MARTZOLFF. The history of Big Bottom has no claim on being unique, |
unless the recent action of Mr. Obadiah Brokaw, in erecting a monument at his own expense to mark the site of the block- house can demand such dis- tinction. The events con- nected with this historic ground are decidedly type studies. Its early history is but representative of and part of that general conflict between the Indian and the white man. Its later history typifies what ought to be done with all the similar sites in Ohio. The history of Big Bottom can therefore be divided into two distinct periods, separated by an interval of one hundred and fifteen years. The first story of Big Bottom is a chapter in the narrative of the conquest of America. It forms one step in the onward march of the intrepid Anglo- |
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Saxon as he pushed toward the setting sun. It also exemplifies Vol. XV-1. (1) |
2 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
how that step was arrested and where the
conquerer was for the
time the conquered.
As an historical factor, one Indian
battle or massacre is about
as important as another. They all tell
to the student of history
the same truth. We only repeat it that
men may see its uni-
versality and "lest we
forget."
It was indeed fortunate for our Ohio
"Forefathers" that
when the "Second Mayflower"
came to the mouth of the Mus-
kingum, Fort Harmar was already there
and that from behind her
walls, would belch forth in the name of
the new nation, the edict,
that here the conquest of the continent
would be made under the
dignity of civic law. But this good
fortune was not for long.
The settlement at Marietta was made in
1788. It was not a great
while until the inhabitants began to
cast about for suitable loca-
tions for settlement in the vicinity.
The virgin woods of Ohio
called loud to these pioneers. The river
that ran between them
and Fort Harmar and which joined its
blue waters with the amber
Ohio at the foot of their village, urged
a constant invitation to
follow its winding course. There were
large stretches of bottom
lands on both sides of the stream. It
was the natural highway
that led up into a vast territory fitted
for settlement and coloni-
zation.
But it had not been left for the
Mariettians to discover for
themselves the qualities obtaining along
the banks of the Elk Eye.
Already in 1785, General Parsons,
afterward one of the judges
of the territory north of the Ohio,
while on an inspection tour in
the interests of the proposed Ohio
Company, made a trip up the
Muskingum River. At the Saltlick,
Duncan's Falls, he met Jon-
athan Zane, who was there making salt.
He questioned him about
the Ohio country. Zane knew all about
the territory drained by
the river, and he advised General
Parsons, and later Dr. Cutler,
to make his proposed settlement on the
Muskingum, north of the
Licking.1 It is no wonder
then that the people at Marietta had
predilections for going up the river and
"spying out the land."
Within two and a half years from the
coming of the "Mayflower,"
Marietta consisted of about eighty
houses within a distance of a
mile. There were scattering houses three
miles up the river.
1Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Publications, Vol. 13.
Big Bottom and Its History. 3
There was a set of mills on Duck Creek
four miles distant, and
another mill two miles up the
Muskingum. At Waterford,
twenty-two miles further up stream was a
settlement of twenty
families. Two miles from Waterford, on
Wolf Creek, was a set
of mills and five families. Below
Marietta, and opposite the Lit-
tle Kanawha, was the Belpre settlement
with houses extending
along the river front a distance of
twelve miles and consisting of
some thirty or forty families.2
This was the situation of affairs in the
autumn of 1790.
These scattered settlements were
practically helpless to ward off
an Indian invasion. It is true that
after St. Clair's treaty with
the Indians at Fort Harmar in January,
1789, there was
among the colonists a fancied security.
But the Miamis would
not be bound by any existing agreements
and refused to yield
their Ohio lands. The approaching storm
was not unheralded.
The premonitions of an Indian uprising
were many. To these
signs the people of Marietta were not
altogether oblivious. Dur-
ing the summer General Harmar had
withdrawn from his fort
on the Muskingum nearly all of his
troops to aid in his Miami
campaign. His subsequent defeat only
irritated the savages and
their usual career of slaughter
followed. Returning hunters told
of various attacks made by the Indians
and boats passing the new
settlement would tell the same story.
With the frequent coming
of such ill-boding news and with but a
handful of soldiers at
Fort Harmar, it is no wonder that the
Mariettians were uneasy.
Yet in spite of the unsettled condition
of the western country
and in spite of the warning given by
"older heads" at Marietta
a company of thirty-six men began the
settlement at Big Bottom.
Big Bottom, while not possessed of a
very euphonious title,
was well named. It is about thirty miles
from the mouth of the
Muskingum, and consists of a fine
stretch of level land extending
on the east side of the river a distance
of over four miles. The
most of it is situated upon a terrace.
Between the river bank
and this terrace, at the northern end of
the "Bottom." is where the
ill-fated blockhouse was built in the
late autumn of 1790. To
be specific, the location is one and a
half miles southeast of the
2Gen.
Putman's Letter to President Washington after Big Bottom
Massacre.
4 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
village of Stockport, in the township of
Windsor, Morgan county,
Ohio.
The subsequent occurrences at the
block-house we quote
from Dr. S. P. Hildreth's "Pioneer
History." Dr. Hildreth was
a resident of Marietta and his account
is the only authentic record
we have of the massacre:
"A few yards above the block house,
was a small drain put down from
the plain into the river, forming a
shallow ravine. A small opening had
been cleared about the building, on the
river side, surrounded by the
adjacent forest. The associates were
chiefly young, unmarried men, but
little acquainted with Indian warfare or
military rules.
"Those most familiar with the
Indians, had little doubt of their
hostility, and strongly opposed the
settlers going out that fall, and
advised them to remain until spring, by
which time the question of
war or peace would probably be decided.
But the young men were
impatient of delay, and confident in
their own ability to protect them-
selves. They went; put up a block house,
which might accommodate
the whole of them on an emergency. It
was built of large beech
logs, rather open, and not well filled
in between them. This job was
left for a rainy day, or some more
convenient time. They had also
neglected to inclose their house with
palisades, and ceasing to complete
the work, the general interest was lost
in that of the convenience of
each individual. Another error was the
neglect of any regular system
of defense, and the omission of setting
sentries. Their guns were lying
in different corners of the house,
without order. About 20 men usually
slept in the building, a part of whom
were absent at the time of attack.
At one end of the house was a large,
open fire-place, and when the
day closed, all came in, and built a
large fire and commenced cooking
and eating their supplies." (MSS.
of Colonel Barker.)
"The weather, for some time
previous to the attack, had been
quite cold, and the Muskingum river
frozen over since the 22nd of
December, so as to be passable on the
ice. On Sunday, the 2nd day of
January, 1791, it thawed a little, with
the ground partially covered with
snow. In the depth of winter, it was not
customary for the Indians
to go out on war parties, and the early
borderers had formerly thought
themselves safe from their depredations
during the winter months. About
20 rods above the block house, and a
little back from the river, two
men, Francis and Isaac Choate, members
of the association, had erected
a cabin, and commenced clearing their
lots. Thomas Shaw, a hired
laborer, and James Batten, another of
the company, lived with them.
About the same distance below the
garrison was an old clearing and
a small cabin, made several years
before, under the laws of Virginia,
which two men, Asa and Eleazar Bullard,
had fitted up, and now occu-
pied. The Indian war path, from Sandusky
to the mouth of the Mus-
kingum, passed along on the opposite
ridge, in sight of the river.
Big Bottom and Its History. 5
The Indians, who had been hunting and loitering about the settle- ments during the summer, were well acquainted with the approaches to the white settlements and with the manner in which they lived, each family in their own cabin, not apprehensive of danger. With the knowl- edge of these circumstances, they planned and fitted out a war party for the destruction of the Waterford settlement. It is supposed they were not aware of there being a station at Big Bottom, until they came in sight of it from the high ground on the west side of the river, in the afternoon of the 2nd of January.a From the ridge they had a view of all that part of the bottom, and could see how the men were |
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occupied, and the defenseless condition of the block house. After com- pleting their reconnoisance and holding a council as to the mode of attack, they crossed the river on the ice a little above, and divided their warriors into two divisions; the larger one to assault the block house, a This ridge is the route of the famous Monongehela Indian Trail, which was the war path from the Indian towns in Ohio to frontier settle- ments of Southwestern Pennsylvania. See Hulbert's Article "Indian Thoroughfares in Ohio," Vol. 8, Historical Publications. |
6 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and the smaller one to make prisoners of
the men in the upper cabin
without alarming those below. The plan
was skillfully arranged and
promptly executed. Cautiously
approaching the cabin they found the
inmates at supper; a portion of them
entered the door, while others
stood without, and spoke to the men in a
friendly manner. Suspect-
ing no harm they offered them food, of
which they partook. The In-
dians seeing some leather thongs in a
corner of the room, took the
whites by the arms, making signs that
they were prisoners and bound
them. Finding it useless to resist
against superior numbers, they sub-
mitted to their fate. While this was
transacting at Choate's cabin, the
other party had reached the block house
unobserved; even the dogs gave
no notice of their approach by barking,
as they usually do, the reason
of which probably was that they were
also within by the fire, instead
of being on the watch for their masters'
safety. The door was thrown
open by a large, resolute Indian, who
stepped in and stood by its side
to keep it unclosed, while his comrades
without shot down the white
men around the fire. Zebulon Throop,
from Massachusetts, who had
just returned from the mills with a bag
of meal, was frying meat, and
fell dead into the fire; several others
fell at this discharge. The In-
dians now rushed in and killed all that
were left with the tomahawk.
No effectual resistance seems to have
been offered, so sudden and unex-
pected was the attack, by any of the
men, but a stout, resolute, back-
woods Virginia woman, the wife of Isaac
Meeks, who was employed as
their hunter, seized an axe and made a
blow at the head of the Indian
who opened the door; a slight turn of
the head saved his skull, and the
axe passed down through his cheek into
the shoulder, leaving a huge
gash that severed nearly half his face.
She was instantly killed with
the tomahawk of one of the other
Indians, before she could repeat the
blow. This was the only injury received
by the savages, as the men
were all killed before they had time to
seize their arms, which were
standing in the corners of the room.
While the slaughter was going
on, John Stacey, a young man in the
prime of life, the son of Colonel
William Stacey, sprang up the ladder
into the upper story and from
thence on to the roof of the house,
hoping to escape that way, while
his brother Philip, a lad of 16 years,
secreted himself under some bed-
ding in one corner of the room. The
Indians on the outside watching
that none escaped, soon discovered John
on the roof and shot him,
while he was in the act of begging them
"for God's sake to spare his
life, as he was the only one left."
His appeal to the Indians was heard
by the two Bullards, who alarmed by the
firing at the block house, had
run out of their cabin to learn the
cause. Discovering the Indians
around the house, they sprung back to
the hut, seized their rifles and
put out into the woods, in a direction
to be hid by the cabin from the
sight of the Indians. They had barely
escaped when they heard their
door burst open by the savages. They did
not pursue them, although
Big Bottom and Its History. 7
they knew they had just fled, as there
was a brisk fire in the chimney,
and their food for supper smoking hot on
the table.
"After the slaughter was over, and
the scalps secured, one of the
most important acts in the warfare of
the American Indians, they pro-
ceeded to collect the plunder. In
removing the bedding, the lad Philip
Stacey was discovered. Their tomahawks
were instantly raised for his
destruction, when he threw himself at
the feet of one of their leading
warriors, begging him to protect him.
The savage either took compassion
on his youth, or else his revenge being
satisfied with the slaughter already
made, interposed his authority and saved
his life. After removing every-
thing they thought valuable, they tore
up the floor, piled it over the
dead bodies, and set it on fire,
thinking to consume the block house
with the carcasses of their enemies. The
structure being made of green
beech logs, would not readily burn, and
the fire only destroyed the floors
and roof, leaving the walls still
standing. A curious fact, showing the
prejudices of the Indians, is related by
William Smith, who was one
of the associates, but providentially
absent at the time of the attack.
He was at the place the second day
after, and says, the Indians carried
out the meal, beans, etc., which they
found in the house before setting
it on fire, and laid them in small heaps
by the stumps of trees, a few
paces distant. They probably thought it
sacrilege to destroy food, or
that it would give offense to the Great
Spirit to do so, for which he
would in some way punish them. No people
were ever more influenced
in their actions by auguries and omens,
than the savages of North
America.
"There were 12 persons killed in
this attack, viz: John Stacey,
Ezra Putnam, son of Major Putnam, of
Marietta; John Camp, and
Zebulon Throop, from Massachusetts;
Jonathan Farewell, and James
Couch, New Hampshire; William James,
Connecticut; John Clark,
Rhode Island; Isaac Meeks, wife, and two
children, from Virginia.
These men were well armed, and no doubt
could have defended them.
selves against the Indians, had they
taken proper precautions. But they
had no veteran revolutionary officers
with them to plan and direct their
operations, as they had at all the other
stations. If they had picketed
their house and kept a regular guard,
the Indians probably would not
have ventured an attack; but seeing the
naked block house, they were
encouraged to attempt its capture.
Colonel Stacey, an old soldier, fam-
iliar with Indian warfare in Cherry
Valley, where he formerly lived,
visited the post on the Saturday
previous, and seeing its insecure con-
dition, gave them a strict charge to
keep a regular guard, and prepare
immediately strong bars to the door, to
be shut every night at sunset.
They, however, apprehending no danger,
did not profit by his advice.
"The two Bullards after effecting
their escape traveled rapidly
down the river about 4 miles to Samuel
Mitchel's hunting camp. Cap-
tain Rogers, a soldier of the
revolution, a fine hunter, and afterwards
8 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
a ranger for the garrison at Marietta,
was living with him, and a Mo-
hican Indian, from Connecticut, by the
name of Dick Layton. Mitchel
was absent at the mills; Rogers and Dick
were lying wrapped up in
their blankets sleeping by the fire.
They were awakened and made
acquainted with the cause of their
untimely visit, and the probable
fate of the people at the block house.
Seizing their weapons without
delay, they crossed the river on the
ice, and shaped their course through
the woods for Wolf Creek Mills, distant
about 6 miles, and reached
there by 10 o'clock that evening.
"On announcing the news of the
attack on Big Bottom, and the
probable approach of the Indians to the
Mills, great was the consterna-
tion and alarm of the helpless women and
children. Several additional
families had joined this station since
the year 1789, but a number of the
leading men were absent to attend the
court of quarter sessions, which
was to set at Marietta on Monday. This
rendered their condition still
more desperate, in case of an attack,
which they had every reason to
expect before daylight in the morning.
The gloom of night greatly added
to their distress, and gave energy to
their fears. Under the direction of
Captain Rogers, who had been familiar
with similar events, the inhabit-
ants, amounting to about 30 souls,
principally women and children, were
all collected into the largest and
strongest cabin, which belonged to
Colonel Oliver, and was the one standing
nearest to the Wolf Creek
mills. The people at Millsburgh had
neglected to erect a block house,
as they were instructed to do, and now
felt the need of one. Into this
cabin they brought a few of their most
valuable goods, with all the tubs,
kettles and pails they could muster,
which Captain Rogers directed to
be filled with water from the creek, for
the purpose of extinguishing
fire, should the Indians attempt to burn
the house, which was one of
their most common modes of attack. The
door was strongly barred,
and windows made fast; the men, seven in
number, were posted in the
loft, who by removing a few chunks
between the logs. with here and
there a shingle from the roof, soon made
port holes from which to fire
upon the enemy. Like a prudent soldier,
their leader posted one man
as a sentry on the outside of the house,
under cover of a fence to give
timely notice of their approach. It was
a long and weary night, never
to be forgotten by the mothers and
children, who occupied the room
below, and thought they should be first
sacrificed if the Indians entered
the house. Just before daylight the
sentinel gave notice of their approach.
Several were obscurely seen, through the
gloom of night, near the saw
mill, and their movements distinctly
heard as they stepped on some loose
boards. Their tracks were also seen the
next morning in some patches
of snow. Finding the people awake, and
on the lookout for an attack,
they did nothing more than reconnoitre
the place, and made their retreat
at day dawn, to the great relief of the
inhabitants.
"Samuel Mitchel was dispatched
early in the night to give the
alarm to the people at Waterford, and
two runners were sent to Marietta.
Big Bottom and Its History. 9
Nothing could better demonstrate the
courage and humanity of Captain
Rogers, than his conduct in this affair,
thus to weaken his own means
of defense by parting with some of his
most active and brave men
to notify the sleeping settlers of their
danger, when he had every reason
to expect an attack from an overwhelming
force in a few hours. Mitchel
on his way to the river called at the
cabin of Harry Maxen, near the
mouth of the creek. He was gone to
Marietta, but his wife, and Major
Tyler, who lived with him, crossed over
with Mitchel on the ice, to
awaken and notify the people of the
danger that awaited them. They
first called at the dwelling of the
Widow Convers, whose husband had
died of smallpox the year before; it
stood near the center of the present
town of Beverly. She was the mother of 8
children; the two oldest
were sons; James, a young man, and
Daniel, a lad of 15, who was shortly
after taken by the Indians. In one hour
from the time the alarm was
given by Mitchel, these two young
fellows had visited every cabin in
the settlement, extending for two miles
up and down the river. With
all the haste the emergency required,
and with as little noise as possible,
the inhabitants assembled in their only
block house, which was quite
small, and stood near the lower part of
the donation lots.
"The terror of the women and
children, hurried out of their beds
at midnight, was not much less than that
of those at the mills; but it
so happened they had a larger number of
old soldiers among them, as
but few were absent at the court. The
block house was about 15 feet
square, and sheltered that night 12
heads of families, with their wives
and children, amounting in all to 67
souls. No alarm took place that
gloomy night, save the noise of the
watch dogs, which were left out of
doors to give notice by their barking of
the approach of the savages.
Early in the morning, scouts of the most
active men were sent out to
reconnoitre and search for signs of the
enemy. None however were
seen. In the course of the day they
visited their deserted houses for
food, which they had no time to take
with them in the hurry of the pre-
ceding night. The escape of the two
Bullards was a merciful and provi-
dential event for the settlers of
Waterford. If these men had been killed,
or captured, the Indians would that
night have fallen on the unsuspect-
ing inhabitants in their sleep, who were
far less able to resist than the
people at Big Bottom, nearly all of them
living detached in their log
cabins. It is morally certain this would
have been their fate, as the
Indians fitted out the war party with
the express object of destroying
these two settlements, and had said that
before the leaves again covered
the trees, they would not leave a smoke
of the white man on this side
of the Ohio river.
"The next day, or the 4th of
January, Captain Rogers led a party
of men over to Big Bottom. It was a
melancholy sight to the poor
borderers, as they knew not how soon the
same fate might befall them-
selves. The action of the fire, although
it did not entirely consume, had
so blackened and disfigured the dead
bodies, that few of them could be
10 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
recognized. That of William James, was
known by his great size, being
6 feet and 4 inches in height, and
stoutly made. As the earth was frozen
on the outside, a hole was dug within
the walls of the house, and the
bodies consigned to one grave. No
further attempt was made at a
settlement here, until after the peace.
"The party of warriors from the
mills having joined their com-
panions early in the day, and then,
preparation was made for their home-
ward march. They knew from the escape of
the men from the deserted
cabin, and their observations at the
mills, that the settlement below was
aware of their vicinity, and that
further attempts at that time would be
useless.
"The Indians engaged in this
massacre were Delawares and Wyan-
dots, and from the best information
subsequently collected from the
prisoners, were about 25 in number.
Before departing, they left a war
club in a conspicuous place, which is
their mode of letting their enemies
know that war is begun, and is
equivalent to a written declaration among
civilized powers. As it was quite
uncertain, whether the wounded Indian
would live or die, lots were cast on the
prisoners for one to be sacrificed
as an offering to his spirit, and to
fulfill their law of revenge. The lot
fell on Isaac Choate. He was directly
stripped of his own comfortable
dress, and habited in that of the
wounded Indian, all clotted and soaked
with blood, and loaded with a part of
the plunder; while his own cloth-
ing was put on his disabled enemy. As he
was now a devoted victim,
he was not suffered to travel in company
with the others, but placed under
the charge of two warriors who kept him
a considerable distance in the
rear, but generally in sight of the main
body.
"By careful attention to their
wounded comrade (no civilized people
being more kind than the Indians to
their disabled fellows), he finally
recovered, and Choate's life was spared.
Had he died, his fatal doom
was inevitable. As soon as the distance
and the short days of winter
would permit, the party reached the
British post at the rapids of the
Maumee river; soon after which Colonel
McKee, the Indian agent, re-
deemed Francis Choate from his captors.
It is said that he was in-
duced to this kind act from motives of
humanity, and on account of his
being a member of the brotherhood of
Free Masons. In a few days he
was sent to Detroit, and, embarking in a
sloop, went down the lake to
Niagara; and from thence through the
state of New York to his home
in Leicester, Massachusetts.
"His brother, Isaac, was taken to
Detroit by the Indians at the
same time, and falling in with a citizen
of that place who traded with
them, pursuaded him to advance the
ransom demanded; promising to
remain there and work at his trade, as a
cooper, until he could repay
the money. By his diligence and
activity, in a few months, he earned
the sum required, repaid the debt, and
returned down the lake to his.
home in the same way.
Big Bottom and Its History. 11
"Thomas Shaw was kept by the
Indians at the rapids for some
months, when he was redeemed by the
noted Colonel Brandt, without
any expectation of it being refunded to
him again. He soon after went
to Detroit and worked for a French
farmer, near that place. Colonel
Brandt met with him at that place, and,
finding him an expert axeman
and familiar with clearing land,
pursuaded him to go down and live
with a brother-in-law, a physician,
living on a farm, a few miles out
from the fort, at Niagara.
"Young Philip Stacey died of
sickness, at the rapids.
"James Patten, a middle aged man,
was adopted into the family,
and retained until the peace of
1795."
We have seen what effect the receipt of
the news had
upon the various settlements. It was not until the forenoon
of Monday, the third, that the
messengers, having lost their way,
brought the direful tidings to Marietta.
The court of quarter
sessions had just opened, but it
immediately adjourned that those
in attendance might return to their
homes. There were dreadful
forebodings among them as they departed
homeward. Realizing
their unprotected condition, they had
much reason to anticipate
the probable result.
On the same day, the 3d, the
agents and proprietors of the
Ohio Company held a meeting. On the 5th
they met again and
continued to assemble daily until the
10th. At these meetings
the state of the colony was discussed
and resolutions were passed
looking to the security and the
protection of the settlements.
Governor St. Clair being absent, the
judges of the court were
addressed and asked to represent to the
general government the
condition of the country. On the 7th of
January the court ap-
pointed Charles Green as an express to
carry their views to Phil-
adelphia.3
The situation at Marietta was indeed
alarming. The news
of the disastrous Harmar campaign only
tended to increase their
apprehensions. They were sufficiently
acquainted with the Indian
to believe that unless immediate relief
could come to them that
the settlements north of the Ohio were
doomed. The Indians
had said that before the trees would
again put forth their leaves,
not a single smoke of the white man
should remain on this side
of the river.
3MSS of Prof. M. R. Andrews.
12 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
At Fort Harmar there was but one small
detachment of
troops, about twenty men, under command
of Captain Ziegler.
Because of the governor's absence, no
militia from adjoining
states could be called. At this juncture
the old veterans, schooled
in the Revolution, took the initiative,
and proceeded at once to
put the colony into as good a state of
defense as possible. The
outlying districts were ordered
abandoned and the people cen-
tered at Marietta, Belpre, and
Waterford. The Ohio Company
provided for systematic defense. New
block-houses were built
at these places and the local militia
was detailed to do garrison
duty. Spies and scouts were employed to
scour the woods to
prevent sudden attacks by the savages.
Campus Martius was
also repaired and made better by an
outer wall or palisade. The
expenses incurred, amounting to about
eleven thousand dollars,
were met by the Ohio Company. It was
expected that Congress
would reimburse the company, but the
expectations were never
realized, and the entire amount was a
dead loss.4
General Putnam was most active in
representing to the gov-
ernment the true condition of the
settlements. On January 6th
he addressed a letter to Caleb Strong
and Fisher Ames, members
of Congress. He likened the position of
the settlers to that of
children who have been invited by their
parents to gather plums
under a hornet's nest, and then have the
nest beat over them
without having been given notice to get
out of the way or being
covered while the hornets were provoked.5
Two days later General Putnam wrote to
President Wash-
ington a full account of the recent
attack. He went over the
affair with minuteness, and in
conclusion implored protection
from the government. On the same day he
dispatched a similar
message to Secretary of War Knox.6
We know that the efforts of the
Mariettians for relief were
successful, for the following summer a
company of United States
troop was stationed at Fort Harmar. Everything
was placed
in readiness for an Indian attack, which
fortunately never came.
The disastrous campaign of St. Clair had
no direct results on the
4Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Publications, Vol. 2, page 230.
5Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Publications, Vol. 2.
6MSS of Prof. Andrews.
Big Bottom and Its History.
13
Muskingum, while the very successful
expedition of Mad An-
thony Wayne served as the grand finale
of that chapter in Ohio
history of which Big Bottom is a part.
Again from behind the frontier palisades
issued forth the
intrepid pioneer. Up the beautiful
little river and its winding
creeks went that army of the
"Heroes of the Forest."
Where, on
that winter's eve the war whoop of the
savage was heard, there
was now the merry song of the axe. The
cabin was built. The
clearing grew apace. Primitive boats
laden with the first fruits
of the great west floated down the
silvery current of the "Elk
Eye." Later came the whistle of the
steamboat, echoing from
the high hills on either side.
Prosperous farms and villages dot-
ted the fair valley and over it all
breathed the benediction of "well
done."
The old block-house and its unfortunate
occupants passed
into a memory. In the march of progress
its decaying logs had
been cleared away. The pioneer plow
turned its furrow over the
graves where unhappy victims of the
massacre were sleeping.
Seed time and harvest, summer and winter
passed in their tireless
cycles, until three generations of sons
and daughters had been
born. Then began the second chapter of
the history of Big Bot-
tom.7
When in 1865, Mr. Obadiah Brokaw8 purchased
the farm
7James Ball Naylor, the poet and
novelist has given us an interest-
ing historical novel based upon the Big
Bottom Massacre, "In the Days
of St. Clair."
8 Obadiah
Brokaw was born near Flushing, Belmont County, Ohio,
May 16, 1822. His father was Benjamin
Brokaw who came to Belmont
County from New Jersey. His mother was
Mary Smith. They were
both of Dutch descent. About 1830 they
moved to Morgan County,
settling near New Castle in Meigsville
Township. Mr. Brokaw yet re-
members the great Muskingum flood of
1832 when White's Mill near
his home was carried away. Mr. Brokaw
attended the rude school of that
pioneer day. The school at which he was
a pupil was taught by Timothy
Eastman, who later became citizen of
Athens County. An abandoned
dwelling built by a Frenchman named
LeFord was utilized as a school
building.
Living all his life except the first
eight years upon the Muskingum,
Mr. Brokaw has seen the gradual
evolution of that stream from a pioneer
highway for flat and keel boats until it
has become a part of a great
14 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
on which Big Bottom Block House stood, tradition alone had |
|
marked the site of the massacre. In cultivat- ing the ground, the owner noticed a difference in the soil at certain spots, and he determined in his own mind that the location of the block house as popularly recognized was incorrect. He proceeded at once to make excavations, and soon discovered charred wood, ashes and other remains of the destroyed building. Be- neath it all he exhumed the bones of some of those whose lives had been lost in the Indian attack. Thus convinced, Mr. Brokaw has dur- ing these many years carefully preserved the |
exact site. Realizing from his advanced years that soon the land would pass into other hands, he felt a desire to have the place prop- erly marked that those of the future generations might read a les- son from the pages of pioneer history. Without financial aid from any one he at once contracted with the Jones Monumental Works of McConnelsville, Ohio, to erect for him a fitting monument. The work of placing the monument was personally supervised by Mr. C. L. Bozman, of Beverly, Ohio, on Friday, May 28, 1905. It consists of a marble shaft whose apex is twelve feet above the system of internal navigation. He tells of the riffle in the river at Big Ludlow, where the flooded mill stood. A sand-bar was in the center of the stream. In order that boats might pass over the riffle the United States government at an early date built a dam on one side of the bar that the water might be thrown into the one channel. In Cleveland's administration when it was desired to secure some testimony concerning the early government work on the Muskingum, Mr. Brokaw and Captain I. N. Hook were the only two living witnesses who could testify to this first federal work. At McConnellsville, Robert McConnell had built a similar dam. It was impossible to get canoes through with the strength of four men. Mr. McConnell built a set of locks at his own expense. When the gov- ernment took charge of the Muskingum improvement, these private locks were destroyed. Many iron rods had been used in their construction. Mr. Brokaw then in his teens and a blacksmith's apprentice, helped to get this iron from the water. Their method was to make long handled chisels with which they could reach beneath the water and cut the iron bars. He also helped build the government dam at Stockport. At the age of seventeen Mr. Brokaw was apprenticed to Amos |
Big Bottom and Its History. 15
ground. The shaft proper, is an octagon
seven and a half feet
high. On one of the faces are inscribed
these words: "ERECTED
BY OBADIAH BROKAW, 1905." The shaft
stands on a limestone
base which in turn rests on another base
of concrete. On the
front of the limestone base is carved,
"SITE OF BIG BOTTOM MAS-
SACRE, WINTER OF 1790." On the two
sides are to be found
the names of those killed, as
follows: "JAMES COUCH, WM.
JONES, JOSEPH CLARK, ISAAC MEEKS, HIS
WIFE AND TWO CHIL-
DREN, JOHN STACEY, ZEBULON THROOP, EZRA
PUTNAM, JOHN
CAMP AND JONATHAN FAREWELL." On the rear of the base are
the names of those escaped: ASA BULLARD,
ELEAZER BULLARD
AND PHILIP STACEY. The monument displays
excellent work-
manship. It stands in a beautiful meadow
near the public road
and only a few rods from the bank of the
river. It is plainly
visible to passengers on the passing
boats.
On the day after the erection of the
monument, the writer
happening in the neighborhood and
learning of Mr. Brokaw's
patriotic act, visited him at his home.
During the conversation
that ensued the idea of transferring the
monument and site of
the block house to the Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society
Conoway, a blacksmith. Here he learned
the art of making edged tools
at which he soon became a master and at
which he has worked for over
sixty years. It was in the days before
the machine made product was
in the market. The result was that the
demand for his handiwork was
immense. The axes, mattocks,
butcher-knives and corn cutters made
on his anvil are almost without number.
Even to-day he is kept as busy
as he cares to be at his trade for the
people will not allow him to stop.
In 1843, Mr. Brokaw was married to Miss
Czarina Fletcher of
Meigs County. The six children born to
them are yet living. In 1905,
some time after the decease of his first
wife, Mr. Brokaw was again
married to Mrs. Lydia Daugherty Ellis.
The farm upon which Big Bottom
Blockhouse stood and where
Mr. Brokaw has lived for forty years was
purchased by him in 1865.
It is said that the original purchaser
of the land made enough maple
from it to more than pay for its cost.
Near the block house the settlers
of the community for a numbers of years
buried their dead. This old
cemetery now containing but one rude
gravestone is located on the land
now possessed by the Historical Society.
Robert Henry, an old settler in
the vicinity, told Mr. Brokaw that on
the sight of the blockhouse a
second growth of young timber grew
before the surrounding land finally
cleared.
16 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
was suggested to Mr. Brokaw.
Subsequently, on August 17th,
Secretary Randall, Mr. C. L. Bozman and
the writer visited Mr.
Brokaw, who offered to transfer to the
Society the monument
and two acres of surrounding land, on
the condition that Mr.
Brokaw be elected a life member of the
same, and further, that
the Society provide for the proper care
of the monument and
land transferred as an historic park and
monument, keeping said
property securely enclosed and protected
from destruction and
injury by the public and maintain the
same as a free public park.
These negotiations were approved and
accepted by the Executive
Committee of the Society on August 28th,
1905.
Steps were at once taken for the proper
dedicatory exercises
that should mark the formal transfer of
the property to the Soci-
ety. A committee on arrangements,
consisting of Secretary Ran-
dall and the writer was appointed to
arrange a program for the
occasion. The latter being designated as
chairman of this com-
mittee, appointed a sub-committee of
citizens of the Muskingum
Valley, consisting of Superintendent of
Schools Richardson, of
McConnelsville, Superintendent of
Schools Brown, of Stockport,
and Mr. C. L. Bozman, of Beverly. The
day selected for the
commemoration was Saturday, September
30th. The event
brought out a vast concourse of people,
estimated at about four
thousand. It was a good-natured crowd,
and everybody seemed
to enter into the spirit of the
occasion. Mr. Brokaw, the generous
donor of the historic site, was the
recipient of many congratula-
tions from his fellow citizens.
The program proved to be of great
interest to the people.
It was begun by the writer, who after a
short address, introduced
Secretary Randall, the presiding officer
of the day. The Stock-
port band, which had been secured,
interspersed the program
with musical selections. The addresses
which follow were given
in the order named: Secretary Randall,
President Brinkerhoff,
Judge William B. Crew, of the Supreme
Court, Trustee W. H.
Hunter, of Chillicothe, Trustee M. R.
Andrews, of Marietta, Hon.
Tod B. Galloway, Secretary to the
Governor, and Trustee D. J.
Ryan, Columbus. James Ball Naylor, the
poet and novelist,
closed the exercises with an original
poem written for the occa-
sion.
Big Bottom and Its History. 17
ADDRESS OF C. L. MARTZOLFF. It is said that a minister's text is but a peg upon which to hang his sermon. If I were a minister the peg upon which I |
|
would hang this speech would be found among the jewels of the wonderful mines of King Solomon - The Book of Proverbs. "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set." Man has ever been a monument builder, When the Israelites fought with the hosts of Amalek, when the hands of Moses were stayed by Aaron and Hur until the going down of the sun and the Amalekites had been put to the sword, then it was that Moses builded an altar as a memorial of the |
great victory. When David the warrior king sent forth his mighty Joab to wage war upon the Edomites, he celebrated his success by a mon- ument of triumph, an inscribed tablet carved on the rocks of Edom after the manner of eastern kings. But centuries before the Hebrews built their rude memori- als among the hills of Palestine, the monarchs of the Orient had erected upon the banks of the Euphrates and the Nile, monu- ments to commemorate their achievements in war, or to extol the glories of royalty. We are told that at the portals of the sculptured palaces of Nineveh, there were colossal figures of men and beasts carved from white alabaster; that within the interior stretching for miles and miles, the builder of the palace ranged the illustrated record of his exploits. There cut in the walls were represented vast pro- cessions of warriors, and satraps, and eunuchs, and tributary kings winding and winding through the corridors until the mind grows dizzy with the regal splendor and the heart grows sick at the vanity of kings. To-day the antiquarian digs down beneath the accumulated dust of the centuries and from the broken pieces of pottery and the ruined columns he reads its history. Vol. XV- 2. |
18 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
We cross the borders of Asia and along
the banks of the
Nile we tread the soil of the Pharaohs.
We look about us and
see the wonderful pyramids erected by
Egyptian kings to glorify
their names while living and to cover
their poor carcasses when
dead. We can still see the millions of
tribes wearing away their
lives to satisfy the caprice of princes.
Here in this land of plenty,
capable of sustaining in comfort its
entire population, amid all
this wealth there is hunger and misery
and woe among the people,
that those above them may live in
luxury. Even yet to-day the
Egyptian peasant knows only to suffer
and to die.
A Roman Titus may build an Arch of
Triumph to commem-
orate the destruction of Jerusalem. He
may show upon it how
he led the Hebrews captive bearing upon
their shoulders the
golden candlestick, the trumpet of
Jubilee and other treasures
from the Temple on Mount Zion.
A Napoleon in imitation of the Roman
Caesars, builds two
triumphal arches to celebrate his
victories and to proclaim his
mighty genius. But such is the irony of
fate that at the foot of
the grandest of these arches in 1814 the
allied armies met to re-
joice over the downfall of its builder;
and here again in 1871 the
victorious arms of Prussia emphasized
their victory over the last
of the Napoleons.
Fortunate is he whose words have become
flesh and dwell
among men. No need for him to erect
marble tablet or obelisk
to tell the world what he hath wrought.
But deep in the souls
of men is it inscribed in letters of
fire that shine out with no
uncertain light in their daily lives.
To the "Father of his Country"
there needed not be built
a monument of his works. The patriots at
Bunker Hill need not
the shaft to tell men that they fought
and died there. The
heroes of Gettysburg, where they wore
the Blue or the Gray,
need neither tablet-nor cenotaph to show
that they bled there. Far
more imperishable than marble or bronze
is kept the testimony
of their patriotism among the sons of
men.
In olden times kings erected monuments
in their own honor.
All this has changed. We now erect in
honor of others. It is
the people who live afterward, who have
inherited the patrimony
and who appreciate that heritage, that
now erect memorials and
Big Bottom and Its History. 19
preserve the "landmarks of their
fathers." We do not erect
monuments to the departed simply to show
what they did, but
rather what we are doing with the
memories and inheritance
which they left us. We erect monuments
not so much to show
the character of the patriotism of the
past, but rather the quality
of our own. The monuments we erect
typify our aspiration and
our labor.
As long as people erect monuments in
honor of the deeds of
their fathers so long is that people
tolerably safe from drifting
into the shallows of anarchy and
personal and class aggrandize-
ment, where many nations and people in
times past have been
wrecked and gone to ruin and decay and
their wrecks are strewn
along time's fretful stream.
Monuments are the expression of the
thoughts of the peo-
ple. They show what the people are
thinking about. When peo-
ple complain about setting up memorials
in honor of their fathers,
or when they cease to erect them, it is
a premonition that they
believe in no longer and appreciate no
more the sacrifices and
labors of their sires. It means that
they are ready to cut away
from old moorings and venture upon new
seas, with neither com-
pass nor chart.
While it was justified to no little
extent, such was the con-
dition in France in the Revolution of 1789.
A spirit of iconoclasm
and anarchy swept over that fair land
caring nothing for
their historic heroes and kings because they represented to
them tyranny and oppression. And yet in
that boiling sea of
rebellion the memory of men that had
been an honor to France
was allowed to go down into the
universal maelstrom.
But here in America it is different.
Here monuments are
the free, voluntary declaration of a free people. Here monu-
ments tell us who our heroes are. And if
you would know the
character of a people, learn the
character of its heroes.
It is certainly a matter of
congratulation that in this age of
extreme commercialism, when the hero, or
rather the heroine
of most men is the Goddess of Liberty
stamped on the dollar
and the portraits of our national heroes
have no better place in
our lives than to adorn our bank notes, that men and women are
20 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
yet to be found who do not want to
"remove the landmarks of
the fathers," but are willing to
preserve and remark them.
The erection of this monument is not
only appropriate but
opportune. We erect memorials to our
national military heroes
and to our presidents and statesmen. And
why not to the Amer-
ican pioneer? While we build to
commemorate the achievements
of the battlefield, why not, too, to the
heroes of the forest ? When
we send up a shaft to mark the site
where men fell when fighting
under the impelling stress of battle,
why not to the men who laid
down the axe to take up the rifle and
defend wife and little ones?
Heroes of the war there may be, but
every man who came to
the woods of Ohio to make for himself
and his children a home
is no less a hero. To this man there was
not the shrill voice of
the fife, nor the rattle of the drum to
call him to arms. There
was not the sight of flying colors to
beckon him to do and dare.
There were no comrades keeping step to
the martial music nor
officers to tell him what to do. But
instead he fought in the king-
dom of the woods. In the days of the
reign of the axe, he walked
his domain as a knight errant of old. In
this kingdom of the forest
he stood the king.
The heroes of a thousand battlefields do
not appeal to me as
do these heroes of the forest. The
chronicles of a Caesar or a
Napoleon telling us how men strive for
the vain bauble of an
imperial diadem, do not mean to me so
much as do the simple
annals of the poor, where we learn how
brave men and women
fought with the forces of untamed
nature, wild animals and
wilder men, in order that they might
become kings and queens
whose palace is the home.
The men and women, therefore, who went
to their death
here, amid the cries of the
blood-curdling war whoop, are rep-
resentative of that noble army of
pioneers that came to the woods
of Ohio, not for adventure, but for the
best of God-given insti-
tutions - home. They are types of that
migrating instinct that
has been the genius of progress in the
Anglo-Saxon-Teutonic
race, from the time when from its home
in Asia it spread its suc-
cessive ways over Low Europe and
established the world powers
in modern history. Then beyond the
Atlantic, Puritan and Cava-
lier separately established the genesis
of a new nation. Then from
Big Bottom and Its History. 21
the rocky fortresses of the Appalachians, Puritan and Cavalier looked down together upon the fair valley of the Ohio. To them it was as the revelation to the prophet on Pisgah - the Promised Land. They were permitted to enter. But to hold it they fought with stubborn tenacity. Every foot was contested. But forward went this army across the prairies of Indiana and Illinois until the smoke curled from the settler's cabin on the banks of the Father of Waters. Then pressing on it swept across the western plains. The Rocky Mountains were no barrier and on their west- ern slopes and in the valleys of sunny California and where "rolls the Oregon" went the pathfinders of civilization. And now through the portals of the Golden Gate we send forth our ships to that new old land in which the world seeking Genoese dreamed lay his El Dorado. To this hero of the forest - hunter, scout, pathfinder, trail- maker, home-maker - we dedicate to-day this monument as a memorial to his sacrifices and services and bravery, with the firm and confident hope that the new generations now reaping the fruition of that toil will husband the splendid inheritance left us by such men as fell beneath the tomahawk of the ruthless savage on the banks of the Muskingum on that winter evening over a century ago. ADDRESS OF E. O. RANDALL. This is a red letter day for the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. For many years it has been the custodian |
|
of Fort Ancient, the most extensive and majestic earth enclosure of the Mound Builders in this country and for a somewhat less time has been the owner of Serpent Mound, the most mysterious religious relic left by that vanished and wonder-exciting race. Through the praiseworthy sentiment and generous disposition of Mr. Brokaw the Society becomes the proud possessor of this historic ground, the site of one of the most memorable events in the pioneer period of our state. The story of the birth of the |
American Republic and its sturdy strife for independent exis- |
22 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
tence is unique and powerful. The little nation born
of the
colonies that fringed the Atlantic coast
looked longingly to
the west for opportunities of expansion
and growth. Neither
Athenian annals nor Roman records
present pages so fraught
with recitals of perilous adventure,
strange incident, indom-
itable courage, persistent progress,
unflinching patriotism and
matchless heroism as are revealed in the
accounts of the daunt-
less discoverers and intrepid
pathfinders who pentetrated
their way across streams and swamps and
through the forest
fastnesses of the untrodden west. Then
follows the soul-stirring
story of the settlement of the Ohio
Valley, and the transforma-
tion, almost in a generation, of a
"howling wilderness" into the
peaceful and prosperous garden spot of
civilization - the Buckeye
commonwealth. The poetic classic that
tells of the search of the
Argonauts for the Golden Fleece is not
comparable to the simple
but splendid prose epic describing the journey of the little band
of Revolutionary veterans which
orgainized in the "Bunch of
Grapes Tavern," journeyed over the
snow-clad mountains, where
the foot of the white man had never trod
before, to Simrall's Ferry
on the Youhiogheny and thence in the
"Galley Adventure" floated
down the Beautiful River and made
landing and lodgment at the
mouth of the Muskingum, upon whose
picturesque and peaceful
banks we are now assembled. The details
of that settlement and
the pushing out of the more venturesome
members to the location
of this spot will be told by other
speakers. My personal interest
and ancestral pride rests in another
section of the state. I am a
Western Reserver - a descendant of the
Yankee section of the
New England emigration to Ohio. My
forebears were in the
frontier settlement business. My
grandfather and grandmother
on my mother's side were in the party of
David Hudson which left
the Nutmeg State in the year 1800 and
proceeded overland in ox-
teams to the shores of Lake Ontario-
thence in flat-boats to the
Niagara River, drawing their floats
around the mighty cataract
and pulling along the shore of Lake Erie
to the Cuyahoga, up
which they ascended, finally founding
the town of Hudson.
Many an hour in my early boyhood days
have I sat spell-
bound while listening to the tales which
my mother told of the
trials and adventures which grandfather
and grandmother related
Big Bottom and Its History. 23
to her. Real adventures in the Wild
West. One in particular
indelibly impressed my youthful mind.
The incident is that once
upon a time the larder of the little log
cabin in which they lived
gave out and the cupboard was bare.
Grandmother in the emer-
gency repaired some two or three miles
to a neighbor's cabin for
the loan of provisions. She started back
with the basket of pioneer
edibles, chief among which were
numerous chunks of "jerked"
venison. She was overtaken by some
wolves which frightened
her into greatest possible speed for her
cabin. It was one of those
occasions when "be it ever so
humble, there's no place like home."
As her hungry and fierce pursuers gained
upon her she deftly
threw out a chunk of the venison, a sort
of a sop to Cerebus, over
which they would stop to wrangle; during
their contest and delay
grandmother was sprightly sprinting for
the home goal; the
bait having been fought over and
devoured, another dash of the
wolves would again bring them close upon
the heels of their flee-
ing victim. Another chunk of venison was
thrown out as the sec-
ond prize for their competition. This
perilous act was encored
several times until the last piece was
hurled at the pack just as
grandmother breathlessly reached the
cabin door. As grand-
mother encountered this thrilling
experience some years before
the birth of my mother, it follows that
had not that stock of
"jerked" venison held out, I
would not be here to-day to regale
you with its faithful recital. You can
believe me that in recogni-
tion of that preservation, venison has
ever since been "deer" meat
in our family.
We are here to-day to commemorate, by
the dedication of this
simple and substantial shaft, a tragedy
in our western pioneer
history that reminds us most forcibly of
the unparalleled perils,
sufferings and sacrifices of the Ohio
pioneers. Truly the corner-
stone of this state was laid in blood.
Our New England fore-
fathers fought the British soldiers and
the despised ally, the Hes-
sians. But it was civilized warfare. The
Ohio pioneers fought
the British and his ally, the cruel,
bloodthirsty savage. Immortal
history was written on the banks of the
Maumee, the Miamis, the
Sandusky, the Scioto, the Muskingum and
the Tuscarawas, a his-
tory of more lasting benefit to mankind
than that written on the
banks of the Tiber, the Danube, the
Rhine, the Seine, or the
24 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
Thames. It was upon the hills and amid
the valleys of the Ohio
rivers that the final struggle ensued
between the Saxon and the
savage. It was here the Redman, child of
the forest, took his
stand and defiantly and desperately
declared he would retreat no
further, but instead would drive the
pale face intruder back over
the Ohio and beyond the Alleghanies. It
was the most bitterly
contested racial war in the annals of
man. It opened with the
Conspiracy of Pontiac (1763) and
continued with varying degrees
of fierceness for fifty years until the
Confederacy of Tecumseh,
the greatest warrior of his race who
yielded not till defeat and
death overtook him at the Battle of the
Thames (1813). Ohio
was the rallying ground of the great
Indian nations - here were
born and here fought the most
illustrious chiefs. Pontiac, Corn-
stock, Logan, Little Turtle, Tarhe,
Tecumseh and a score of
others renowned in war, in the chase,
and in oratory. Within the
boundaries of our state, moreover, were
enacted some of the most
eventful scenes of the American
Revolution. The British western
headquarters were at Detroit, the
American western headquarters
were at Fort Pitt. The sparsely located
settlers of Ohio and
Kentucky were between the two. The war
was that of infuriated
savages, spurred on by unscrupulous,
treacherous and shrewd
British soldiers and officers. Their
weapons were not merely the
flint lock but the tomahawk and the
scalping knife. The Eastern
Colonists knew little of the horrors of
warfare endured by the
western frontiersman -a warfare
continued for twenty years,
from the Battle of Point Pleasant on the
banks of the Ohio (1774)
to the Battle of Fallen Timbers on the
banks of the Maumee
(1794). It is a tragic and unprecedented
history.
It is difficult, almost impossible, for
us who are assembled
here to-day, gathered from hundreds of
homes of comfort and lux-
ury, to realize that this spot, now the
center of a picturesque and
peaceful landscape, with its flowing
river, tree-clad hills, grain-
enriched fields and thriving village was
little more than a century
ago the scene of a horrible,
blood-curdling massacre, a fiendish
slaughter in which the darkness of the
forest was illumined by the
flames of the burning hut, and the
stillness of the valley was
broken by the gruesome war cries of the
savages and the shrieks
Big Bottom and Its History. 25
of their defenseless victims. As with
the magic of a wizard's
wand, civilization has changed the
picture.
Daniel Webster in his resplendent
oration at the dedication
of the Bunker Hill Monument in 1825
began with these words:
"We live in a most extraordinary
age. Events so various and so
important that they might crowd and
distinguish centuries, are in
our times compressed within the compass
of a single life." He
then in magnificent rhetoric described
the progress of American
history during the fifty years beginning
with the Battle of Bunker
Hill and ending with the date of the
dedication of the monument
before which he stood. If it were
possible, how much more elo-
quent might have been Mr. Webster's
words were he here to-day
to compare the incredible progress of
American life in the three-
quarters of a century following the date
of the dedication at
Bunker Hill? At that time the population
of this country was
but twelve million and the western
movement had scarcely crossed
the Mississippi. To-day we number eighty
millions of people
and our vast republic reaches with
almost evenly distributed enter-
prise from the Great Lakes to the Gulf
and from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. Mr. Webster closed his
speech wishing "By the bless-
ing of God may this country become a
vast and splendid monu-
ment, not of oppression and terror, but
of wisdom, of peace and
of liberty, upon which the world may
gaze with admiration for-
ever." We have more than fulfilled
the optimistic faith of the
great orator. The plucky and persevering
pioneers who fought
and bled and died in the conflict with
the relentless savages for the
conquest of this fair Ohio Valley,
builded better than they knew.
The Ohio Valley, particularly that
portion between the Great
Lakes and the River, the Alleghany
Mountains and the Wabash,
has given to the Union one of the
brightest gems in the jeweled
crown of states. The survivors of the
Revolution, wearied and
worn, homeless and poverty stricken,
sought this fair country for
homes in their declining years and for a
heritage to their children
and their children's children. The soil
of Ohio was made sacred
by the dust of the three thousand
Revolutionary soldiers who were
buried beneath its sod, and that
precious patriotic seed brought
forth loyal fruit an hundred fold, for
it was Ohio that furnished
26 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
three hundred thousand soldiers in the great Civil War that was to cement and weld into one indissoluble federation the nation the forefathers made independent. With filial reverence we erect monuments of marble and tablets of brass upon the sites most memorable in the storm and stress of the early pioneer days. But greater than all the memorials of art to noble founders are the products of industry, progress, prosperity and humanity, which their sons have reared upon the firm foundation laid by their an- cestors. Beneath the floor in the crypt of St. Paul's. London, lie the remains of Sir Christopher Wren, the great genius who built that temple, a spacious altar scarcely second to any reared to a Christian faith. On the little bronze plate that so modestly marks the last resting place of the great architect, are these words; Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." (If you seek his monument, look about you.) And so we say to-day, if you seek for the monument of the patriotic pioneers, look about you and behold our grand and stately commonwealth, with its crowded cities, its teeming villages, its freight-laden thoroughfares, its marvelous, unrivalled and world-inspiring civilization.
ADDRESS OF GEN. R. BRINKERHOFF. As President of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Soci- |
ety it is not incumibent upon me to make an extended address but simply to accept the obligation imposed upon us by the state to properly care for, in the future, the monument, which we are here to-day to dedicate. We are here also to remember and com- memorate the event which this monument perpetuates. We are here also to remember gratefully the many other sacrifices made by the early settlers of Ohio in building up the civiliza- |
|
tion we now enjoy. At this place where we are now gathered, in the late autumn of the year 1790, one hundred and fifteen years ago, twelve set- tlers were slaughtered by the Indians. |
Big Bottom and Its History. 27
This was the first massacre and the
principal one, during the
Indian war then just opening.
Marietta had been settled two years
before, and Big Bot-
tom, as this place was then known, was
an overflow from that
place and comprised altogether
thirty-six persons.
The year before several other
settlements were established
from Marietta, but thus far this was the
most remote.
No state in the Union was settled by a
more worthy or en-
terprising class of citizens. They were
largely the soldiers or
sons of soldiers of the Revolutionary
War. Many were college
graduates, and practically all of them
were well educated, and
they brought to the west the very best
civilization of the east.
Ohio at that time was an unbroken
wilderness filled with
wild animals and wilder men, and to
conquer it the highest cour-
age and ability were required. The
result was the founding of
a state which in all the requirements of
a high civilization has
no superior. Even in wealth and population to-day there is
no state in the Union that equals it if
we leave out the great cities
of New York, Chicago and Philadelphia,
which are mainly for-
eign and not native.
The men or women, therefore, who founded
this state and
gave their lives to its development and
established the institutions
we now enjoy, are well worthy of
remembrance and honor by
those who come after them and now enjoy
the fruits of their
labors and sacrifices.
What these labors and sacrifices were,
will be indicated in
the address of the distinguished
speakers who are here to-day
and to whom I now give opportunity to be
heard.
ADDRESS OF JUDGE W. B. CREW.
When I look over this audience and see
here this afternoon
so many friendly and familiar faces. I
feel that I need hardly
assure this company that I am glad to be
with you on this occa-
sion. It is always a very great pleasure
to me, upon any
occasion, to meet and greet my friends
and neighbors of good
old Morgan, the county of my birth. And
I think I may be
pardoned for saying that on this
occasion the pleasure is doubled
28 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
by reason of the fact that I find myself in such distinguished company. And I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and through you, the society under whose auspices these exercises are held, for the courtesy which has afforded me the opportunity of being with you on this interesting occasion. If I remember rightly, it was Isaak Walton who said in his "Angler," that Dr. Botelier was accustomed to remark, "that doubtless God might have made a better berry than the strawberry, but doubtless He never did," and I suppose that I but voice the sentiments of this com- pany, and assert a truth, when I say, that doubtless there might |
|
have been a better place to be born in than Morgan county, but doubtless no such place exists. And those of us who are to the manor born, but whose business has for a season called us into other fields, are, I assure you, always glad to get back home. My friends, I came here to-day at the kind invitation of my friend, Mr. Randall, not as one of the orators of this occasion, and not expecting or intending to make a speech, but I came, doubtless as most of you have come, only that I might, as a |
citizen of Morgan county, testify by my presence my appreciation and approval of what has been done by one of our patriotic, public-spirited fellow-citizens, Mr. Brokaw, in erecting, at his own expense, this beautiful monument, which he has generously donated to The Archaeological and Historical Society of Ohio, to the end that there may be preserved and perpetuated the memory of one of the greatest, if not the greatest historic event in the pioneer history of Morgan county. This upon his part was certainly a most generous and gracious act, and I want here and now, for myself and for you, as citizens of Morgan county,- for whom I think I may assume to speak on this occasion,--to thus publicly thank Mr. Brokaw for his generous gift. As we have been so eloquently told by Prof. Martzolff, this custom of erecting monuments or tablets to commemorate great happenings or events of public interest, is a custom of great antiquity; as old perhaps as the centuries themselves. And when |
Big Bottom and Its History. 29
we consider that but for this custom and the preservation of these monuments and tablets, much that we now recognize and accept as historic truths would have been lost to us and all future generations, it is matter of earnest congratulation upon our part, that this monument, which we are met here to-day to dedicate, has been donated to, and has been formally accepted by the Archaeological and Historical Society of Ohio. For we feel and know that its acceptance by this Society gives abundant assurance that with such a custodian, it will be so cared for and preserved that in the years to come it will remain in place to tell its sad historic story. That this may be so, and that many years of health and happiness may yet remain to its generous donor, is, I am sure, the earnest, heartfelt wish of each and all of us.
ADDRESS OF W. H. HUNTER. I am a Presbyterian and believe in destiny as did Mr. Bro- kaw, whose ancestor I surmise, was Abraham Brokaw who set- |
|
tled in what is now Nottingham township, Harrison county, in 1798, and who with others organized the Nottingham Presbyte- rian Church in 1802. He believed in des- tiny: that the pioneer followed at the right hand of God and nothing was done not directed by Divine power. I can see des- tiny in the horrid massacre of the pioneers on this spot and which we commemorate to-day. It pointed the way to the achieve- ment which is the great state of Ohio. That massacre called the attention of the |
authorities at Philadelphia to the need of a strong arm: it called attention to the fact that there really were settlers beyond the Alleghanies. But you may ask why did not Harmar and St. Clair, when they took up arms save the hour? Had they succeeded the treaties would have made the English line at the Ohio river in- stead of at the lakes. Their defeats only pointed the way for the intrepid Anthony Wayne, whose victory at Fallen Timbers and whose treaty at Greenville ended the Revolutionary War as the |
30 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Battle of Point Pleasant Treaty twenty years before was its be- ginning. Had the pioneers been successful in that conflict the Americans would not have rebelled. It would have shown the impossibility of success. But Colonel Lewis was successful, and Anthony Wayne was successful. The Revolution culminated in independence, but not for Ohio until Wayne fought the last battle that gave our people instead of England the land upon which we now stand. England could not be induced to accept the provisions of the Treaty of Paris as it related to the Northwest, whose conquest was made by George Rogers Clark, and she persisted in her claim to the land northwest of the river Ohio, and she persisted in sending her savage allies into the settlements hoping to thus make American settlement impossible. The incursion that massacred the settlers at the place known in history as Big Bottom, called attention to England's intention as God directed, and Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, under the same powerful Director, made it possible for us to dedicate this monument. ADDRESS OF PROF. M. R. ANDREWS. The young men who came to this spot a hundred and fifteen years ago formed the extreme outpost of the New England |
|
settlement that had been made at Marietta two years earlier. It is almost impossible for us now to realize the difficulties and dangers which beset those struggling colo- nies. I doubt if there were more than two thousand actual settlers on this side of the Ohio, from the Muskingum to the Miami, when the little band of pioneers were mas- sacred at this place. On the edge of this great territory small parties of bold men watched and toiled, waiting for the time when British agents would cease to send the |
savage on his errands of murder. The first seven years of the settlement along this border was, as has already been said, a continuation of the Revolutionary War, which began at |
Big Bottom and Its History. 31
Point Pleasant and ended at Fallen
Timbers. After Wayne had
made a treaty with the Indians, and Jay
with the British, the
occupation of the savage was gone, and
the settlements began
to extend beyond the banks of the
rivers.
Yet long before this consummation, even
within the period
of border warfare, these pioneers from
New England, officers
and soldiers of the Revolution, began to
make arrangements
for the education of their children.
They were determined
that religion, morality and
knowledge" should "be encouraged"
from the very beginning. In the first
winter Major Anselm
Tupper taught a school in the Marietta
block-house, and in the
first summer Manasseh Cutler had
suggested Harmar Hill as
a suitable place for a university. The
rapid settlement of the
Scioto country so changed the center of
population that a few
years later General Rufus Putnam found
it expedient to choose
another site- Chandler's Hill--where
Ohio University now
stands. Ere this was done the citizens
of Marietta had taken
steps towards having an institution for
higher education in their
own town. Within a year after the close
of the Indian War
they began Muskingum Academy, from which
grew Marietta
College. The first body of emigrants to
this valley, those from
New England, have left us, then, two
worthy monuments of
their zeal in behalf of higher
education, Ohio University and
Marietta College.
When peace had been established the
Western Reserve was
opened for settlement, and from that
time New England sent
comparatively few to
"Muskingum," as this whole valley was
then called. The hardy yeomen of
Virginia came across the
country and occupied the land north of
the Marietta settlements.
Their path is marked by the names of
Monroe and Morgan
counties, commemorating two of
Virginia's distinguished sons.
North of these and mingling with them
came the Scotch-Irish
from Pennsylvania, building Presbyterian
churches and acade-
mies and preaching "righteousness,
temperance and judgment
to come." Some of those academies
have grown to Colleges,
and one of them, Muskingum College,
though little among the
tribes of Israel, has sent out many a
Saul to lead the people. A
college that has given us the Finleys,
the Stevensons and such
32 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
university presidents as Dr. Thompson
and Dr. Harper deserves
grateful remembrance from the whole
people.
North of the Scotch-Irish zone there
came from Pennsyl-
vania to the Muskingum, as the
Tuscarawas was then called,
the Moravians to occupy the land where
their disciples, the
Christian Indians had been murdered.
John Heckewelder, the
pioneer of this movement, had visited
this valley as early as 1762.
A group of Moravian churches in
Tuscarawas county remains
as a fitting memorial of his Christian
labors.
Early in the nineteenth century
immigrants from Ger-
many and Ireland came in considerable
numbers to this valley.
Their settlements are marked by
Lutheran and Catholic churches.
The blending of all these elements could
not be accomplished
at once. Even the native Americans had little acquaintance
with their neighbors from other states,
and there were differ-
ences in faith and in customs which for
a time kept the little
qroups asunder. I have often heard a
tradition of a New Eng-
land family that was surrounded by
Virginians. A girl from
this family had gone on some errand to
the cabin of a neighbor.
While she was there a child exclaimed,
"Mother, give her a
piece of bread. I want to see how a
Yankee eats." There were
also differences and mutual prejudices
between Americans and
foreigners, but comradeship in battling
with the wilderness
changed these feelings into sympathy and
respect. The Amer-
ican soon learned that the Irishman or
the German was as handy
at a log-rolling or a raising as any
other man, and these learned
in their turn that the Yankee or the
Virginian was not unwilling
to be neighborly. Whatever traces of old
differences remained
were obliterated by the storm of
Civil War. The strife which,
for a time, divided the nation united
the section. In the regiment
to which I had the honor to belong, as
well as in others raised
in this valley, there were worthy
descendants of all these classes.
Cavalier and Puritan, Catholic and
Protestant, German, Irish,
and American, were all united in
defending a common country,
and thus in the fiery trial of war all
the elements were fused into
a united people.
Big Bottom and Its History. 33
ADDRESS OF TOD B. GALLOWAY. If I were to ask you what I should talk about, I suppose you would answer me as the small boy did in Sunday School |
|
one day when a man got up and said, "Now, children, what shall I talk about?" and the bright boy said, "about one minute." I am somewhat like an old Scotch preacher I once heard of: A man went to church one day, and he noticed that the preacher was crying a great deal during the delivery of his ser- mon. Finally the stranger turned to an old lady who was sitting near him. "What makes your preacher cry so much?" he asked her. She answered, "Hoot mon, if you dinna have more to say than he has, you would cry too." |
So if you see great streams of tears running down my face before I finish talking you will know the reason of it. It happened to be my good fortune to be sent with other gentlemen representing the commission appointed by the Ohio Legislature to investigate the State Hospitals erected for the care of those afflicted with tuber- culosis; one of the places we visited was the town of Rutland, Mass. After we were through our investigation of the splendid hospital at that place, I happened to wander through the old town of Rutland, and soon found myself standing before the historical Putnam house, and by a strange coincidence I stood there on the anniversary day on which that band had started out from that home, and it struck me with peculiar force that we were from Ohio endeavoring to carry out a splendid purpose, that of erecting a hospital for the care of those unfortunately afflicted with disease, just as our forefathers had left the little town of Rutland, Mass., to aid others of their nationality to pro- cure homes in this wilderness. Little did I think on that April morning as I stood there that I would be privileged to be here on this occasion, at the dedication of this monument, erected to commemorate the mas- sacre of the sons of that splendid band of pioneers who set out to people this valley. My friends, we of Ohio do not have to Vol. XV-3. |
34 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
search history other than that of our
own state for noble ideas.
The story of the foundation of our state
and its progress is like
a romance.
Well did Washington say in the dark days
of the Revolution
when he was questioned as to what he
would do if he met defeat,
that he would come out here and settle
in the valley of the Mus-
kingum. Several years ago a friend of
mine, a lady of Ohio,
met an English woman whose whole idea of
America was based
upon a winter spent on a ranch in
Colorado, and she said to this
lady: "What do you raise in
Oao?" "We call it Ohio, and we
raise chiefly great men and women."
And that was a very apt
reply, my friends, because that is what
we have done in this state
from its foundation. We have, from the
days of the passage of
the ordinance of 1787 down to the
present time, been in history.
It is useless for me to try to explain
to you what Ohio has done
for this Union; you already know. I
merely want to say that a
day like to-day marks a patriotic epoch;
and also, that it is par-
ticularly gratifying to me to see so
many children here, because
they learn by precept, and a day like
this is a wonderful object
lesson to the citizens of the future.
You know in former times
it used to be the custom when they
wanted to mark boundary
lines between two places they would take
the children out and
whip them and the children remembered
where they were whipped,
and in that way the record of the
boundaries was preserved. I
think this is on the same principle.
ADDRESS OF D. J.
RYAN.
I congratulate Morgan county and I
congratulate our society
on this occasion in doing honor to
itself and credit to the people
of this county in remembering in the
manner that they have the
noble pioneers who went before them, of
a century ago, and I
congratulate Mr. Brokaw on living to see
the day when his
judgment and patriotism inspired him to
contribute something
that will bear in the mind and keep the
memory green of the
younger generation, of those men and
women who laid the foun-
dation of this commonwealth. The
greatest thing that Ohio has
are its plain men and women who live
among the hills and on
the plains, and that consecrate their
lives to the dignity and
Big Bottom and Its History. 35
nobility of the home. It is greater than all the wealth and all the power and all the fame that is won on any field, be it the field of commerce, the field of finance, or the field of war; greater than the greatest money magnate of to-day; more loved in the memory of the people of Ohio is the memory of these peo- ple who lived a century ago, and who gave up their lives and became martyrs to the progress of the state of Ohio in order that its great foundation might be built like unto that of a stone. The state of Ohio is great; this state of Ohio has taken the position that it has in history because the best blood, the best brawn, and the best brains of America contributed to lay the foun- |
|
dation of Ohio, and we assembling here to- day do more honor to ourselves than even we do to their memory; nothing that we can do or say to-day can consecrate this ground any more than it was consecrated when the wonderful act was performed by which this people were made martyrs to the development of Ohio. I do not think Mr. Randall has said as much as he ought to have said about our society; it was founded in 1885 by General Brinkerhoff, Allen Thurman, Rutherford B. |
Hayes and Mr. Sessions. The object of this society is, in the midst of all this rush and bustle to turn backward and to perpetuate by monument, by speech, and by writings the deeds and acts of our forefathers. It is good for the people to be reminded that there was a great solid race that preceded them; it is well that in this age when men think of nothing but chasing the almighty dollar that some organ- ization be formed for the purpose of preserving the memory of the deeds of our forefathers in order that their sons may not for- get them entirely. We are not here to-day to share in this honor; we are here simply as your agents, believing that we meet the expectations of your patriotism. Whenever and wherever this society can do anything to make the memory of Ohio greater or to perpetuate the memory of her former sons, she does it with the approval of the people of Ohio. |
36 Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
This state was the thoroughfare for all the races and all the people in their struggle to reach the west. Its foundations were laid by the very best brains of this country, when that great Amer- ican stream of settlers founded this composite Ohio. Wherever you look you will find the Ohio man; and as long as we have The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society to per- petuate the greatness of the Ohioan, and mark the places where they have accomplished their great acts, Ohio will live long in the history of the country.
DR. NAYLOR'S POEM-"THE HARDY PIONEER." |
|
When the century old was dying And the new was waking to birth, When the shortening days were flying Like the shadows across the earth; When the speeding months were a-shiver In the fall of the fading year, To the banks of the bonny river Came the hardy pioneer.
No castle secure and massy, No orchard or field of grain, No meadowland smooth and grassy |
Found he in his vast domain; For the earth in its pristine glory Knew naught of the tiller's ban- And the solitude lisped the story Of a land unspoiled by man.
But the woods were his for the asking, And the streams at his door, and the fish - While the game on the hillsides basking Was the fruitful fact of his wish. And the nuts, in a fit of vagrance, Dropped into his waiting hand - And the fall flow'rs shed their fragrance Over all the bounteous land. |
Big Bottom and Its History. 37
His home was a log-built cottage,
His hearth was a bed of clay;
And a pone and a mess of pottage
Were his at the close of day.
No longer had he to stifle -
His domain was the trackless wild;
And his dogs and his flintlock rifle
Stood next to his wife and child.
The sun, in its midday splendor,
Lent cheer with its kindly light,
And the moon, wan-faced and tender,
Smiled down on his cot at night.
But his heart was a-dread with the
vastness,
And a-chill with the Frost King's
breath-
And afar in the forest fastness
Lurked the skeleton shade of Death!
The old year died - and was shrouded
In a mantle of spotless white,
And the pall of his bier beclouded
The moon and the stars from sight;
But the settler, safe in his shelter-
Where the flames on his hearth leaped
high,
Cared naught for the fearsome skelter
Of the North Wind moaning by.
But is that the voice of the mourner
A-wail through the leafless trees,
That brings the gaunt hound from his
corner-
And the child to his father's knees?
Ah, no! 'Tis no night wind benignant
That the poor settler knows so well;
'Tis the sound of the awful, malignant,
And devilish Indian yell!
Small need is there now for reciting-
Meager need for the poet to tell
38 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
How the brave pioneer fell fighting,
How his dauntless wife fought and fell.
Let the autumn breeze whisper the story,
Till the rustling reeds quiver and wave
-
Till the goldenrod showers its glory
O'er the pioneer's lowly grave.
As for us - when the spring flow'rs are
peeping
From the frost-freed mould beneath,
And the ice-freed river is leaping
Like a flashing blade from its sheath,
Let us gather the first wild beauty
We can find on the brown earth's breast,
And place it here -as a duty -
Where the pioneer lies at rest.
And again - when the summer is dying,
And the year is growing old,
When the russet leaves falling and
flying
Fetch a message of coming cold,
Let us deem it a noble pleasure
Once more to assemble here
And bring a late autumn treasure
To the hardy old pioneer.
Thus in the "falling of the
year" almost one hundred and
fifteen years after the first scenes
were enacted at Big Bottom,
a patriotic people assemble, and with
music, speech and poetry
do honor to the noble army of pioneers,
who gained for them
the land they now hold, and to the
venerable man who has given
over to his fellow citizens, a perpetual
memorial to the "winning
of the west" and to his own
generous spirit.
The Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Society willingly
accepts the guardianship of this
historic site. It feels that as a
state institution, organized for the
purpose of furthering interest
in our state's history, that it can do
nothing better than to aid in
preserving for the coming generations,
the "land marks of the
fathers."
OHIO Archaeological and Historical PUBLICATIONS.
BIG BOTTOM AND ITS HISTORY.
CLEMENT L. MARTZOLFF. The history of Big Bottom has no claim on being unique, |
unless the recent action of Mr. Obadiah Brokaw, in erecting a monument at his own expense to mark the site of the block- house can demand such dis- tinction. The events con- nected with this historic ground are decidedly type studies. Its early history is but representative of and part of that general conflict between the Indian and the white man. Its later history typifies what ought to be done with all the similar sites in Ohio. The history of Big Bottom can therefore be divided into two distinct periods, separated by an interval of one hundred and fifteen years. The first story of Big Bottom is a chapter in the narrative of the conquest of America. It forms one step in the onward march of the intrepid Anglo- |
|
Saxon as he pushed toward the setting sun. It also exemplifies Vol. XV-1. (1) |