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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346       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

the treachery p e r p e- trated at Sandusky and elsewhere, but Major Gladwyn had received a warning from a friendly Ottawa, and when Pon- tiac gave the   prear- ranged signal, following which, acting in con- junction with those re- maining outside the fort his party were to fall upon the unsuspecting whites, it was answered by the clash of English arms and the beating of English drums.   Pon- tiac, knowing that his plan was foiled, took his departure in illy con- cealed dismay. Several times he attempted to carry out his design of taking the English by surprise, and w h e n hopes of this were lost openly began the siege of the fort.

Pontiac's siege of Detroit, the most remarkable in the annals of Indian warfare, must be passed over lightly. Lack of space and the purpose of this outline confine us to occurrences more closely connected with Ohio proper.  Suffice it to say that after a siege lasting six months - from May 1 to Novem- ber 1, 1763 - during which the Indians employed every strategy and deception known to their cunning, Pontiac was forced to desist  Detroit had proved too strong for him, and he retired from the field to renew his activities elsewhere. Fort Niagara, on Lake Ontario, and Fort Pitt, at the forks of the Ohio, like-

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The Indian in Ohio.               347

 

wise proved too much for the attackers; but aside from these

three, all others of the chain of strongholds which stretched

from the headwaters of the Ohio along the lakes to the Missis-

sippi, and which the English had so recently wrested from the

French, fell before the concerted attack of the red men..

During the remainder of the year 1763 and the early

part of 1764, the Indians concentrated their efforts on a series

of depredations against the border settlements, spreading con-

sternation among the inhabitants.

 

EXPEDITIONS OF BRADSTREET AND BOUQUET.

The spring of 1764 found the Indians of Pontiac's alliance

continuing their forays and depredations against the border

settlements of the whites, and the English planning to crush

their power and bring them to their knees. To accomplish this

it was decided to send two separate expeditions against the

Indians of the harassed western country, the one, under Col.

John Bradstreet, to chastise those contiguous to Lake Erie,

and the second, under Col. Henry Bouquet, to conquer and sub-

due the tribes of the interior.

The story of these expeditions, aside from recording an im-

portant historic event, is an unusual illustration of native Indian

character and diplomacy. Furthermore, it furnishes a striking

example of the extent to which success in dealing with the

American natives depended upon the character of their op-

ponents.

Starting from Albany and traveling by way of the Great

Lakes, Col. Bradstreet and his command of upward of 2,000

men reached Fort Niagara, where the Niagara river enters Lake

Ontario, in June, 1764. There he found assembled more than

2,000 members of the various Indian tribes, who at the sum-

mons of Sir William Johnson, the English Indian agent, had

come to meet him. At the conclave which followed, after the

usual ceremonies attending such occasions, and the distribution

of goods and presents to the amount of many thousands of

dollars, the assembled Indians concluded peace with Bradstreet.

But at this parley the Delawares and Shawnee of Ohio were

not present. Sullen and morose, the fires of hatred which had

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348       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

prompted them to participate in the great conspiracy of the

preceding summer still glowing, they had refused to proceed

to the scene of the conference at Fort Niagara. From their

towns on the Scioto and Muskingum, however, they sent word

to Bradstreet that they were willing to make peace - not because

they were in any way fearful of the English, whom they "re-

garded as old women"-but out of pity for their (the English)

sufferings. A few days later when Bradstreet. proceeding west-

ward with his army, arrived at Presque Isle (Erie, Pa.) he

found awaiting him a deputation of ten Indians from the

Delawares and Shawnee, who ostensibly had come to accede to

his demands and to make peace with the English. This dip-

lomatic ruse, part of a plan to deceive the English commander,

and by "sidetracking" his intended plans, to gain time for the

tribesmen in their preparations for hostilities, was completely

successful.  The gullible Bradstreet, completely "taken in",

agreed to the proposal of the delegates that he desist in further

attempts at chastisement, on condition that the Indians deliver

at Lower Sandusky, within 25 days, all white prisoners, abandon

all claim to English posts in their country, and grant the Eng-

lish the right to erect trading posts wherever their interests

demanded.

Bradstreet Victim of Indian Diplomacy.

Felicitating himself upon the ease with which he had brought

the Ohio tribes to his terms, Bradstreet proceeded to Sandusky

Bay where he arrived late in August. His instructions had pro-

vided that from this point he was to proceed against the Miamis,

Ottawas and Wyandots in that vicinity, but once more the clever

deceit of the natives effected a postponement of action. On their

proposal and promise that they should follow him to Detroit

and there enter into a treaty of peace, Bradstreet proceeded with

his army to the relief of that post. Arrived at Detroit he en-

tered into negotiations with the neighboring tribes, compris-

ing the Ojibways, Sacs, Pottawattomies, Hurons, as well as

representatives of the Miamis, Wyandots and Shawnee. Par-

dons were granted to the Indians for their recent depredations,

and in return the tribesmen pledged themselves to accept the

sovereignty of the King of England over their territory, and

to call him "father" in acknowledgment thereof.

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The Indian in Ohio.                349   His work at Detroit completed Bradstreet in September returned to Sandusky, where he expected the chiefs of the Delawares and Shawnee to assemble in accordance with the promise made him by the supposed delegates. In order to meet them earlier, he proceeded up the Sandusky river to the site of the city of Fremont, but only straggling individuals and bands of Indians made their appearance.  Finally, after a month spent in a futile effort to bring the tribes into a conference, Bradstreet abandoned his plans for proceeding southward where he was to join with the expedition headed by Bouquet, and sailed away toward Albany. Indian cunning and duplicity, taking advantage of Bradstreet's credence, had made of his campaign around Sandusky a veritable farce with little or noth- ing of accomplishment to its credit.   Bouquet's Unqualified Success. The results of the second expedition, fortunately for the English, were very different. Col. Henry Bouquet with an army

of 1,500 men, left Fort Pitt on October 2, and marching through the wilderness of western Penn- sylvania crossed the river into Ohio Advancing westward to the Muskin- gum, Bouquet established his head- quarters a few miles above the site of Coshocton on the Muskingum (Tuscarawas) river. Here, at his Camp, No. 13, Bouquet succeeded in assembling the chiefs of the Shawnee, Delawares and Senecas, who so recently had evaded every effort on the part of Col. Brad- street to bring them to Sandusky.

But the tribesmen had not forgotten how    Bouquet, little more than a year previously had, in connection with the attack on Fort Pitt, defeated the Indians at their own game and thus in winning "one of the greatest victories in western Indian warfare", had blasted the hopes of Pontiac's conspiracy.

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Their wholesome respect for Bouquet, backed by the material

prestige of his army, fully equipped and ready for the work

at hand, had the desired effect and the chiefs, now humble and

contrite, were glad to accede to his demands. Without mincing

words Bouquet tersely informed the Indians of his terms and

gave them two weeks' time in which to deliver to him all white

captives in their possession.

In the meantime Bouquet pushed forward with his army

to the site of the city of Coshocton, where "Camp 16" was

established and where he awaited the compliance of the Indians.

He had not long to wait. From all sections came the chiefs

with their captives-Wyandots, Ottawas and Senecas from

northward toward Lake Erie; Shawnee from the Scioto, and

Delawares from the nearby towns. In all, more than 200 cap-

tives, mostly Pennsylvanians and Virginians captured during the

preceding wars and forays, were surrendered to the English.

The meeting of friends and relatives thus separated for years,

as portrayed in the historic accounts of the event, are most

pathetic and dramatic.

After arranging for a council to be held the following

spring, Bouquet, his mission an unqualified success, on October

18, 1764, began the return march to Fort Pitt.

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IV

THE INDIAN AND THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

 

PRE-REVOLUTIONARY EVENTS.

The Ohio Indian Alliance.

Following the close of the French and Indian war and its

aftermath, Pontiac's conspiracy, in 1764, the Ohio country passed

through a period of five or six years of apparent quiet and

peacefulness. This quiet, however, was like that of a slumber-

ing volcano following a destructive eruption, during which it

gathers force for a more violent upheaval. To the Ohio tribes

it served as a breathing spell, during which they took to them-

selves renewed strength, and laid plans for an aggressive up-

rising which should overtop anything yet attempted by their

race. Their plan had for its object the overwhelming of the

white intruders and the reclaiming for themselves of the coun-

try so rapidly slipping from their grasp. This was to be effected

through an unlimited alliance of the tribes, with the Shawnee

of Ohio as its nucleus and their great chief, Cornstalk, as its

leader. The tribes to the southward, as well as those toward

the west were to be aligned while the Six Nations of Iroquois

to the eastward were either to be won ever or, failing in this,

to be overawed and subdued.

The encroachments of the whites had assumed alarming

proportions, and where individual settlers formerly had been

the rule, surveying parties acting in the interest of prospective

land companies were now in evidence along the Ohio river. The

treaty of Stanwix, held at Rome, N. Y., in 1764, at which the

Six Nations ceded to the English the territory of Kentucky,

West Virginia and part of Pennsylvania, further enraged the

tribes north of the Ohio, who feared that their own territory,

as yet intact, would be the next to be assimilated. In their

resentment they were encouraged by French traders and by

renegade whites from the Colonies, who were present among

them.

(351)

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352       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Formal steps toward consummation of the gigantic plan

were taken at a congress of the interested tribes held at the

Shawnee headquarters on the Pickaway plains in the autumn

of 1770. A second congress followed in the summer of 1771,

at which the Shawnee, Delawares, Wyandots, Miamis, Ottawas,

and the Illinois and other western tribes were present. The

confederacy thus effected promised to be the greatest in the

history of the native race. The southern tribes, who were in

complete accord with the plans of the alliance, were unable,

owing to their geographical location to participate actively

therein. The Six Nations, for the time being, were secure to

the English and through the efforts of Sir William Johnson,

even took some half-hearted steps toward discouraging the plans

of the allies.

By the year 1775 the clouds of impending war were thick-

ening rapidly, with every indication that the storm soon would

envelop the Ohio valley.

Beginning of Hostilities.

The conflict, or series of conflicts, which were to extend

almost without interruption through the next twenty years, were

precipitated by events taking place at the forks of the Ohio,

where Fort Pitt had been recently dismantled by the English,

partly to quiet the fears of the Indians and partly owing to its

no longer being a military necessity. The colony of Virginia had

consistently laid claim to that part of Pennsylvania, contend-

ing that it was embraced within her charter limits and that she

unaided, had borne the brunt of its protection during the French

and Indian war. Thereupon, the governor of Virginia des-

patched Captain John Connolly with an armed force to take

possession of Fort Pitt and the adjacent territory, as the prop-

erty of Virginia. At Fort Pitt, George Croghan, Pennsylvania's

deputy Indian agent, had in his keeping several Shawnee chiefs

who were held temporarily as hostages. The men under Con-

nolly, purporting to be Virginia militia, and finding their plans

blocked by the Pennsylvanians, deliberately opened fire on the

cabins of the Shawnee chiefs. Connolly was arrested and sent

back to the Virginia capital, but returned later and took posses-

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The Indian in Ohio.                353

 

sion of Fort Pitt, where he constructed a stockade, known as

Fort Dunmore. The firing upon the huts of the Shawnee hos-

tages of course created resentment among the Ohio tribes, al-

ready in a highly excited frame of mind; but further fagots

were to be added to the kindling fire of resentment.

For reasons best known to himself, but apparently with the

intention of fomenting trouble between the Ohio Indians and

the settlers along the river, Connolly sent word to the latter that

the Shawnee were about to strike, and advised them to be pre-

pared to protect themselves and to retaliate for any depreda-

tions committed against them. The result of this was the crea-

tion of a feeling of distrust and suspicion on the part of both

the whites and the Indians. About this time the Shawnee,

claiming to have had instructions from George Croghan to attack

any whites found encroaching upon their territory, began a

series of border raids which reached across the Ohio river into

Kentucky and Virginia. The settlers were greatly alarmed and

several surveying parties who were present along the south side

of the river, in the interest of prospective settlers, and land

companies, hurriedly joined forces for mutual protection. They

assembled at the mouth of Wheeling creek, where, alarmed at

the threatening attitude of the Shawnee, they decided to follow

Connolly's instructions, and accordingly assumed the aggressive.

Captain Michael Cresap, a well known and experienced trader,

who was on the Ohio in the interest of Virginia landowners,

was chosen as the leader of the party. Cresap and his men

shot and killed two Indian canoemen on the Ohio, and a few

days later attacked an encampment of Shawnee on Captina

creek, killing several of the Indians. Feeling that they were

not justified in further aggression, Cresap's party then desisted

and returned to their camp.

 

Cresap's War.

These attacks by Cresap and his party, moderate in them-

selves, were the forerunners of and in a measure responsible

for, a series of atrocities which immediately followed, and

which were known as "Cresap's War."

Vol. XXVII-23

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354      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

At the mouth of Yellow Creek, about fifteen miles above

Steubenville, the Mingoes, under Chief Logan, had established

a hunting camp. Logan himself at the time of which we speak,

was absent from the camp, having gone westward into Ohio on

a hunting trip. While it was generally felt by the white settlers

in the vicinity of the Mingo camp that the Indians were in a

friendly mood, news of the attacks by Cresap and his party

led to the fear that the Mingoes might be aroused to retaliation.

With this fear as an excuse for their act a party of irresponsible

whites, under the leadership of Daniel Greathouse, invited the

Indians of the Mingo camp to join him, as his guests, at Baker's

tavern just across the river at "Baker's Bottom." Accepting the

apparent hospitality, a canoe load of the Mingoes crossed the

Ohio, on April 30, 1774, and assembling at Baker's store, were

repeatedly "treated" to the drinks by Greathouse and his party.

Under the influence of rum it was not difficult to provoke the

Indians to afford an excuse for an attack, and of the party of

seven or eight who were present, all but one or two were mur-

dered in cold blood.

 

Logan's Relatives Are Victims.

Among these was a sister of Chief Logan, who had accom-

panied the party with her babe, but who had refused to drink.

She was shot and fatally wounded, but heeding her prayers

for the child, the assassins spared its life. One of the Indians

who fell a victim to the plot was a brother of Logan, who thus

lost two of his closest of kin in this atrocious attack. The

Mingoes who had remained in camp, upon learning of the at-

tack, crossed the river in canoes to avenge the murder of their

kinsmen. They were met by the Greathouse party and repulsed

with the loss of several of their number, after which they fled

down the Ohio river.

Cresap, as a result of his connection with the earlier attacks,

was blamed at the time for the killing of the Mingoes, but in

reality was entirely innocent of the crime. But Logan, the

Mingo chief, believed Cresap to be the guilty man, and from

a warm friend of the whites he at once became their bitterest

enemy, threatening to kill until he had taken vengeance to the

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The Indian in Ohio.               355

 

number of ten for one. In his own words Logan declared "The

white people killed my kin at Conestoga, a great while ago; and

I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin on Yellow

Creek, then I thought I must kill, too." Just how well he carried

out his word he tells in his famous speech, delivered at Dun-

more's treaty, to be referred to presently. According to one

writer, Logan himself, during the summer of 1774, "took 30

scalps and prisoners."

Several additional outrages on the part of whites against

the Indians aroused the resentment of the natives, among them

being the murder of an aged Delaware chief, Bald Eagle, who

was killed and scalped while ascending the Ohio in his canoe;

and the shooting of Silver Heels, a Shawnee chief, friendly to

the English. The situation among the Delawares on the Muskin-

gum was divided, those who had become converts of the

Moravian missionaries remaining loyal to the whites, while the

non-Christian tribesmen espoused the cause of the Shawnee.

The hostile factions of the Delawares, fortunately for the

whites, were held in check through the good offices of Captain

White Eyes and Chief Netawatwees, who stood firmly by the

Moravians and their Indian converts during the trying times that

followed.

Expedition Against Shawnee Towns.

Thoroughly aroused at the gravity of the situation in Ohio,

Governor Dunmore of Virginia resolved upon decisive measures

of repression. In July, Major Angus McDonald, with 400 men,

was despatched against the Shawnee towns on the Scioto. From

Wheeling McDonald and his force penetrated to the Indian

towns on the Muskingum, where they succeeded in destroying

the Shawnee settlements, driving the occupants westward to

their towns on the Scioto. Owing to lack of provisions, Mc-

Donald's expedition was unable to proceed further and retraced

their march to Wheeling, where they arrived after a most

hazardous journey, during which the soldiers suffered greatly

from hunger and exposure.

Meanwhile, learning of the depredations committed by

white men against the Indians on the Ohio, the Six Nations of

Iroquois were on the point of revolt. Many of their near kins-

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356       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. men, particularly the Senecas and Cayugas, were among the Ohio tribes, and efforts were not lacking on the part of these to draw the confederacy into the struggle. Through the great influence of Sir William Johnson, the Indian commissioner, their disaffection was temporarily quieted. This was one of the last acts of Sir Johnson, whose death, which followed shortly after- ward, removed one who was greatly beloved and trusted by the Indians, and who was regarded by the British as the most in- fluential factor in dealing with the tribesmen.     DUNMORE'S WAR. Cornstalk Makes Strategic Move. Not content with the results of McDonald's expedition, which had succeeded in driving the Shawnee from the Muskin- gum but left them undisturbed in their main strongholds upon the Scioto, Governor Dunmore decided to dispense with half measures and to send an army against the hostile tribes which

should be fully adequate to disperse and humble them. A volun- teer army of upwards of 2500 men was recruited from among the Virginians for the Ohio campaign. This army consisted of two divisions, about equally divided as to numbers. One of these was commanded by Lord Dunmore in person, while the second was headed by General Andrew Lewis. The two divi- sions were to proceed to the mouth of the Kanawha river, on

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The Indian in Ohio.                357

the Ohio, where the forces were to be joined; but Dunmore,

first to reach the appointed rendezvous, changed his plans and

proceeding up the Ohio to the mouth of the Hocking river,

ascended that stream, passing through the counties of Athens

and Hocking, and arrived at the Pickaway plains, in southern

Pickaway county, in October, 1774. Meantime, General Lewis

and his army had arrived at Point Pleasant at the mouth of the

Kanawha river, a short distance above the city of Gallipolis,

on the West Virginia side of the river. Here he had expected

to meet the first division of the army, but instead received,

through messengers, orders to join Dunmore on the Pickaway

plains. But before General Lewis could cross the Ohio and

begin the northward march he was to find even more important

work than the carrying out of his superior's orders.

While Governor Dunmore and his lieutenants were busy

recruiting and marching an army to the Ohio country, Cornstalk

and his confederates were not idle. They were not content with

"watchful waiting" for the arrival of the foe, but through an

intricate and effective system of espionage were posted as to

every movement of the Virginia troops. Realizing that the

combined army of Governor Dunmore presented too great odds

to the allied tribes, Cornstalk decided to take advantage of the

situation before the two divisions could be united. Through

his couriers he had informed himself of all necessary details

as to the location and strength of the two divisions of Vir-

ginians, and determined to strike at General Lewis' force on

its arrival at the Ohio. Summoning the warriors at his com-

mand - Shawnee, Miamis, Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawa,

Mingoes, and Ohio Iroquois - he hastened southward, reaching

the Ohio river on October 9. Crossing the Ohio during the

night, the army of Cornstalk took their stand at a point about

three miles above Point Pleasant, where General Lewis' sol-

diers were encamped. The Indian army consisted of about

1200 men, "practically man for man as to that of Lewis."

Many noted chiefs were associated under Cornstalk's command,

among the Shawnee being Elenipsico, the leader's son; Black

Hoof Bluejacket Red Eagle, Packishenoah and Chessekau, the

latter two being the father and brother respectively of Tecumseh.

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358       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Red Hawk was at the head of his Delaware warriors, while

Scrappathus commanded the Mingoes and Chiywee the Wyan-

dots. Never before had so efficient a body of warriors nor

so great a number of able leaders been assembled by the Ohio

tribes.

Battle of Point Pleasant.

Lewis' army spent the night of October 9 in peaceful slum-

ber, never dreaming that the enemy, whom they had expected

to encounter far to the northward on the Pickaway plains, was

within sight of their very campfires. In fact, the outposts of

the encampment had reported that not an Indian was within a

distance of 15 miles of the camp. But on the morning of the

tenth, stragglers from Lewis' camp discovered the presence of

the Indians, and the battle was on. A strong picture of the

action which followed is painted in Mr. Randall's words:

"The hostile lines though a mile and a quarter in length,

were so close together, being at no point more than 20 yards

apart, that many of the combatants grappled in hand-to-hand

fighting, and tomahawked or stabbed each other to death. The

battle was a succession of single combats, each man sheltering

himself behind a stump or rock, or tree-trunk. The superiority

of the backwoodsmen in the use of rifles - they were dead shots,

those Virginia mountaineers -was offset by the agility of the

Indians in the art of hiding and dodging from harm."

Practically all day long the battle raged, at first favorably

to the Indians; but toward evening, by a strategic maneuver,

General Lewis succeeded in throwing a detachment around the

flank of the enemy, in such a position as to be able to attack

from the rear. The Indians thus taken by surprise and believ-

ing that white reinforcements had arrived upon the scene, began

to give way, and even the encouraging voice of the great Corn-

stalk, calling to his warriors "Be strong; be strong" could not

stem the tide of defeat for the allies. Seeing the engagement

lost, Cornstalk hastily withdrew his men, and under cover of

darkness recrossed the river and retreated northward to the

Shawnee towns on the Scioto.

• 85
 

The Indian in Ohio.                 359   Cornstalk's Plans Defeated. Thus the attainment of the ends for which the great Corn- stalk confederation was organized were anticipated and de- feated, though as a result of Cornstalk's strategy, at great cost to the Virginians. The loss of the latter was seventy-five killed

and one hundred and fifty wounded, among the number being eight officers. The Indians' loss is unknown, but was supposedly less than that of the Virginians. The only leader of importance among the slain was the father of Tecumseh. The latter, being too young to fight, was not present at the battle.

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360       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The battle of Point Pleasant has been characterized as "the

most extensive, the most bitterly contested, and fought with the

most potent results of any Indian battle in American history."

The leadership and strategy of Cornstalk on this occasion are

regarded as of a very high order and as on a par with those

of military tacticians of the day among the whites. But the

English had learned much of border warfare since the days of

Braddock's defeat, and the downfall of the native hosts was

inevitable.

His spirit broken by the failure of his cherished plans for

overwhelming the English, Cornstalk led his crestfallen war-

riors back to their towns on the Pickaway plains. It would ap-

pear that from the first, Cornstalk, unusually far-sighted and

keen of judgment for one of his race, had doubted the policy

of engaging so large a force as that thrown into the field by

Lord Dunmore. But his attack upon Lewis' army at Point

Pleasant was practically forced by the blood-lust of his war-

riors, and the Shawnee leader could do nothing but yield. Now

that they had struck the blow and had been hurled back by

the superiority of the white foe, Cornstalk openly advised his

followers to make peace with Dunmore. The warriors, at first

averse to admitting the hopelessness of their position, finally

yielded, and runners were despatched to meet Dunmore's ap-

proaching army, bearing a message to the effect that the In-

dians were desirous of peace. Dunmore's army was within

about 15 miles of the Shawnee towns when this intelligence

reached him. Not to appear in too great haste to consider these

peace overtures, he continued his march to a point within a

short distance of Cornstalk's town, and on October 17, 1774,

encamped on a small stream known as Scippo creek, a few miles

south of Circleville. At this camp, known as Camp Charlotte,

on October 19, Dunmore gave audience to the Shawnee leader

and his followers, Cornstalk pleading the cause of the tribes-

men, citing their wrongs and grievances, and suing for peace.

One of Dunmore's officers who was present at the meeting,

wrote thus of Cornstalk: "His looks, while addressing Dun-

more, were truly grand and majestic, yet graceful and attrac-

tive. I have heard the first orators of Virginia * * * but

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The Indian in Ohio.                361 never have I heard one whose powers of delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk." Dunmore's Peace Terms. The next day Dunmore made known to the Indians the terms upon which he was willing to grant peace. The Indians

were to restore all white prisoners, horses and property in their possession; they must agree never again to make war upon the Virginia border, nor to cross the Ohio into Virginia for any purpose except that of trading.  They were to secure these promises through hostages, who were to be conveyed to Fort

• 88
 

362      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   Dunmore (Pittsburg) and there held until the Virginians were satisfied that the Indian pledges would be fulfilled. On his part, Dunmore agreed that no white men should be permitted to hunt in the Indian country north of the Ohio. There was nothing left to the unfortunate Cornstalk but to accept the terms of his victorious opponent.   Logan and His Famous Speech. But there was one dark-skinned chieftain who did not so readily acquiesce in the terms of Lord Dunmore. Tah-gah-jute,

or Logan, chief of the Mingoes did not personally participate in the battle of Point Pleasant; but he and his tribesmen were considered as members of the Cornstalk confederacy, and Dun-

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The Indian in Ohio.                363

more was insistent that he should acknowledge the terms and

conditions of the pending peace. Accordingly when Logan

failed to appear at the council, John Gibson, as messenger and

interpreter was sent to bring him. Logan was found nursing

his grievances at his cabin, a few miles from Camp Charlotte.

In response to Dunmore's summons, delivered through Gibson,

history records the now famous and eloquent "Logan's Speech."

This speech, which apparently was delivered ex tempore by the

Mingo chief, translated into English, put into writing and de-

livered by Gibson to the council, is as follows:

"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's

cabin hungry and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold

and naked and he clothed him not? During the course of the

last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his camp,

an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites that

my countrymen pointed as I passed and said, 'Logan is the

friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived

with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the

last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the

relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children.

There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living

creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I

have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For

my country I rejoice at the beams of peace; but don't harbor

a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear.

He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to

mourn for Logan. Not one."

Probably no other example of Indian eloquence is so well

known or so greatly admired as this pathetic and forceful ut-

terance of the embittered and ill-fated Logan.

Destruction of the Mingo Towns.

While the Dunmore treaty was in progress, the Mingoes,

thinking to evade the consequences of their connection with the

confederacy, attempted to steal away from the scene and its

turmoil. Their departure was discovered, and Dunmore dis-

patched Col. William Crawford with 240 men to overtake and

subdue them. Crawford's men came up with the Mingoes at

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364       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

their towns located where Columbus now stands, and succeeded

in killing and wounding a number of their band and in capturing

their supplies. The Mingoes on the Scioto thereafter appear

but casually in the historic happenings of Ohio, their tribal

existence apparently having ebbed rapidly as a result of the

Dunmore campaign and attendant misfortunes. Logan, their

great chief, met a tragic death six years later, when, following

an Indian council held at Detroit he was shot and killed by his

own nephew, an Indian named Todkahdohs. Like many other

noted men of his race, Logan was addicted to the use of liquor,

particularly during his later years, and it was as a result of

this indulgence that he lost his life. Having drunk too freely,

it is said, he struck his wife, and fearing that he had killed her,

fled southward from Detroit toward his old town on the San-

dusky. En route, while passing through the forest, he met and

became embroiled with a party of Indians among whom was

Todkahdohs, who fired the fatal shot. Thus ended the career

of one of the greatest of the Ohio Indian chiefs -one in whom

generous impulses and actions were strangely mixed with savage

cruelty and cunning.

 

Significance of Dunmore's Campaign.

On the last day of October, 1774, Lord Dunmore, having

affected a reconciliation with the Ohio tribes and arranged for

a supplemental treaty to be held the following spring at Fort

Dunmore, began his return march toward the Ohio, bearing with

him the hostages from the Shawnee and Delawares.

Thus ended one of the most remarkable campaigns in

American history. Its culminating action-the battle of Point

Pleasant - has been designated as the greatest battle ever fought

between white men and Indians; the battle which saved the

Northwest territory to the colonies, and thus to the United States

of America; the first battle of the Revolutionary war; and the

last battle of the colonists, as English subjects, with the Indians.

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The Indian in Ohio.                365

 

 

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

Situation in the Ohio Country.

The decade beginning with the year 1775 witnessed the

American Revolutionary war and the birth of a new nation on

the American continent. While historic accounts of the events

attending those most momentous occurrences mostly are confined

to the struggle between the American colonists and the mother

country east of the Alleghenies, events almost if not quite equally

important were transpiring in the Ohio country. Although not

a single English settlement existed within the present confines

of Ohio at the time of the Battle of Lexington (April, 1775)

yet its soil was to be the scene of contest in which the Americans

(as we shall now call the Colonists) and the British were to

match diplomacy, strategy, and courage and in the sanguinary

encounters which were to follow, it is feared, too often cruelty

and inhumanity. The Indian, as in the struggle between the

English and the French, once more assumes his place in the

triangle as the party of the third part, wields the "balance of

power" and becomes a factor of no mean importance.

The story of the part played by the Ohio Indians during

these memorable years is most stirring, and if fully told, would

require many times the space at our disposal; so that brief refer-

ence to the "high lights" in the historic picture will suffice for

the purpose we have in view. Briefly, these may be summarized

as consisting of a series of depredations on the part of the

several Indian tribes against the border settlements of Kentucky

and Pennsylvania, and of retaliatory expeditions of the American

colonists against the natives, with the center of activities among

the Shawnee, on the Scioto, the Delawares on the Muskingum.

and the Wyandots on the Sandusky. In order that these events,

crowding rapidly upon one another, may be more intelligible to

the reader, let us refresh our memories as to the Ohio situation

just prior to their occurrence.

Ownership of the Ohio country at this point was a matter

of grave dispute. Primarily, the Indian tribes had succeeded

in retaining possession thereof and in preventing white settle-

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366      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

ment. By the terms of the Quebec Act of 1774, the country,

later known as the Northwest Territory, of which Ohio proper

was a part, was included within the Province of Quebec. De-

troit was made the capital of this northwestern country, and

became the western headquarters of the British army. From

here were conducted the campaigns and operations of the British

and their Indian allies, against the Americans. The city became

the rendezvous and headquarters for the Indians of the Lake

region and further south who were aligned with the British.

As we have seen, in connection with the Dunmore war,

Virginia, through her charter rights, laid claim to the southern

half of Ohio, and, through her successful prosecution of the

afore-mentioned war and the treaty following, felt that she had

gone far toward securing her title thereto. As a result of the

treaty of Ft. Stanwix, in 1768, the Six Nations of Iroquois had

ceded to Virginia the lands lying to the south of the Ohio river;

the Ohio tribes had contested the right of the Iroquois to enter

into such negotiation, but had waived their objections at a

treaty at Fort Pitt, to be referred to presently. With these bar-

riers removed, Virginia colonists, prominent among whom was

the picturesque and courageous Daniel Boone, early in 1775,

took steps toward the settlement of what shortly afterward be-

came the County of Kentucky.

Thus we note that on the north, the Ohio country was once

again, as in the days of French competition, subjected to in-

fluence from Canada, through Detroit; on the east and southeast

were the American colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia, while

the south was contiguous to the newly formed Kentucky settle-

ments. It was against these border settlements, particularly

those of Kentucky, that Indian operations, aided and abetted

by the British at Detroit, were directed during the Revolution-

ary period.

Alignment of the Indians.

The Indians themselves were practically the same tribes,

in the same locations, as we have previously met with. The

Shawnee, most hostile and powerful, were located mainly on

the Scioto and the Miami, where they dwelt in several towns

known as "Chillicothe" - the Shawnee name meaning merely

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The Indian in Ohio.                367

"place where the people dwell." The Delawares, part of whom

had been converted to Christianity through the efforts of the

Moravian missionaries, had their principal towns on the Muskin-

gum, while the Wyandots, the third of the more important

tribes of this period, were strongly intrenched upon the San-

dusky river in the northern part of the state.

As a result of the Dunmore war and the treaty which fol-

lowed, the tribesmen were comparatively quiet during the year

1775 and the early part of 1776. But their inaction was not due

to friendliness toward the colonists, but rather to perplexity and

indecision, and underneath it all lay a sullen resentment of

their defeat at the hands of General Lewis at Point Pleasant.

The Wyandots for the most part were consistently British in

their sympathies. The Delawares were divided--the Chris-

tianized Indians continuing neutral, inclining to favor the

Americans, while the non-Christian members of the tribe were

pro-British. The former, under the leadership of the great war

chief White Eyes, and through the influence of the Moravian

missionaries, were generally successful in holding in check the

hostile proclivities of the latter, under Captain Pipe. The Shaw-

nee, though fostering within their hearts a hatred of the Vir-

ginians, remained neutral, under the guidance of chief Cornstalk,

until the death of the latter, when they again became the most

insatiable enemies of the Americans.

As the import of the Revolution gradually dawned upon

the intelligence of the Indians, they became greatly perturbed.

It was difficult for them to understand the meaning of the

struggle between factions of what they had known as a united

people, and consequently to decide upon which side to align

themselves. The Six Nations of Iroquois, in particular, were

greatly agitated. Realizing the importance of retaining or se-

curing the friendship of these and other tribes, the British, as

well as the Americans, early took steps to that end. Colonel

Guy Johnson, son-in-law and successor to Sir William Johnson,

as British superintendent of Indian affairs, assisted by Chief

Joseph Brant, exerted his powerful influence to good advan-

tage in the interest of the English cause. The colonists, through

their agents, likewise were active. The result of the campaign

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368       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

for Iroquoian favor was that the Senecas, Mohawks, Cayugas,

and Onondagas, espoused the cause of the British, while the

Tuscaroras and the Oneidas cast their lot with the Americans-

thus breaking the strong chain of the famous Iroquois federa-

tion, or long-house.

 

Indian Department Is Created.

Realizing the tremendous influence being brought upon the

Ohio tribes by the British at Detroit, the Continental Congress,

in July, 1775, created three Indian departments, one of which --

known as the Middle Department - should have to do with the

Ohio Indians through commissioners appointed to the same.

When Lord Dunmore parted from the tribesmen of the

Cornstalk confederacy following the reconciliation on the Pick-

away plains, he promised the Indians a hearing at Pittsburg

the next spring- 1775. But almost a year had passed, and

the natives were still waiting the call for assembly. Realizing

their unrest and its potential danger, the Virginia house of

Burgesses took steps to convene the gathering, which accord-

ingly was held in September of 1775. Representatives of Vir-

ginia, as well as the commissioners of the newly created Indian

department were present at this important meeting of which

the Indians made a gala affair. Of the Ohio Indians, there were

present the Shawnee, in force, with some twenty of their

chiefs, including Cornstalk, Blue Jacket and Silver Heels; the

Delawares, with Captains White Eyes, Pipe, and Chief Cus-

taloga; the Wyandots, with Chief Dunquod, their half-king;

also representatives of the Mingoes, Ottawas, and, for the

Moravian Christian Indians, Glikkikan and others. After more

than a month spent in formal discussion and debate, the articles

of the preliminary treaty, made at Camp Charlotte, were adopted,

among the items being the important Iroquois cession of lands

to the Virginians, previously referred to.

With the exception of the Delawares, most of the Indians

present joined in affirming the treaty, though their allegiance,

in most cases, was to be of short duration. The attitude of

the Delawares resulted in a split, the result of which was that

the Monsey clan, under Captain Pipe, disavowed friendship for

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The Indian in Ohio.                369

the Americans, and retiring northward toward Lake Erie,

placed themselves in close proximity to the British at Detroit.

The Christian Delawares, however, reiterated their neutrality,

which they maintained to the last.

 

Tribesmen Rendezvous at Detroit..

Following this treaty, the Ohio tribesmen for a time

refrained from extensive depredations against the border settle-

ments, so that the memorable year of 1776, which witnessed

the Declaration of American Independence and important

military engagements east of the Alleghenies, was comparatively

quiet in the western country. But agencies were at work which

were destined very shortly to precipitate the full malevolence

of the Indians against the Americans, just at the time when the

cause of the newly-declared republic seemed least able to cope

with additional opposition. The British, through their Detroit

commandant, Henry Hamilton, were bending every effort to-

ward enlisting the Ohio tribes against the Americans. In the

interest of this enterprise, Detroit became a "wide open" town

for the Indians, who were not slow to avail themselves of the

hospitality, in a very substantial form, which was offered them.

Rum, tobacco, provisions, and firearms were theirs for the tak-

ing. provided only they should show themselves adherents of

the British as against the Americans. The dark-skinned guests

were always welcome to return-provided they brought with

them their meal-tickets, in the form of a few American scalps -

when the good cheer was always awaiting them, with all extras

thrown in.  These Indian allies acted against the American

border either independently, or jointly with the British. In

either case, they usually were under the direction of British

officers, or were led by renegade whites who had been won over

to the British cause.

In the meantime, the colonists were not deaf to the rum-

blings toward the west, unmistakably presaging the bloody occur-

rences which were to follow. In June, 1775, the Continental

Congress authorized General Washington to recruit the friendly

tribesmen of the Six Nations to be used in the Canadian cam-

paign, and at the same time appropriated a sum to be expended

Vol. XXVII-24.

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370      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

for presents, which were distributed among the Indians. If

the years 1775-6 had passed without Indian disturbances of

importance, it was because of the careful watch kept upon the

Ohio tribes by the Colonists. But the succeeding year was to

witness hostile demonstrations which should more than counter-

balance this temporary inaction. With the opening of spring,

1777, the restraint which had availed to keep the Indians from

the war-path had reached the breaking point, and only awaited

excuse for its repudiation. The excuse was amply forthcoming

in an event which was destined to let loose the fury of the

red men which, especially in the case of the Shawnee, was not

to be completely curbed for nearly twenty years.

 

Assassination of Cornstalk.

We have seen how Cornstalk, far-sighted, solicitous for

the welfare of his people, and anxious to abide by the terms

of the Dunmore treaty, had exerted himself to restrain the In-

dians from  pending incursions against the Americans.  De-

spairing of longer averting such a calamity, early in 1777

Cornstalk proceeded to Point Pleasant, where, at Fort Randolph,

the site of his defeat at the hands of General Lewis' army, he

acquainted the commander of the garrison with the threatened

warfare against the border. True to his treaty pledge the great

Shawnee leader, as a last resort, had done his best to avert

what he knew must result in disaster to his people, and had

placed in the hands of the Americans information which en-

abled them to anticipate the threatened upheaval. And for his

pains, Cornstalk was awarded a decree of death, at the hands

of those whom he had befriended.

Whether designedly or not, a member of the garrison at

Ft. Randolph, who had wandered from the post, was shot and

killed by unknown Indians. In their rage at the death of their

comrade, the soldiers of the garrison, unable to find the real

culprits, wreaked their vengeance on the friendly Cornstalk,

whom they attacked and killed while present in the fort as a

temporary hostage. Red Hawk, a Delaware chief, who had

accompanied Cornstalk, and Elenipsico, the latter's son, shared

the fate of their leader.

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The Indian in Ohio.                371

 

Thus ended the career of one of the most remarkable lead-

ers of his race-just, courageous, far-seeing, and alike true

to his people and his promises to the whites; and thus was

sounded "the signal that aroused the Ohio tribes to take up

the tomahawk and go on the war-path."

The character of Cornstalk in many ways suggests the bet-

ter qualities of his white contemporaries. In place of the im-

petuosity of the Indian, he seems to have been consistently cool

and calculating, with a depth of vision and discernment unusual

in his race. His sense of judgment is shown repeatedly, as

when he counseled restraint on the occasion of Dunmore's in-

vasion of the Shawnee country, and again in his reluctance to

be drawn into the struggle pending at the time of his assassina-

tion. That Cornstalk weighed the (then) present in its rela-

tion to the future; that he dreamed of a better destiny for his

race and for mankind at large; in short, that he surveyed the

situation from a cosmopolitan and civilized viewpoint, seems to

be indicated in the following remarks, made by him at Ft. Ran-

dolph a short time preceding his death: "When I was a young

man and went to war, I thought that might be the last time;

and I would return no more. Now I am here among you; you

may kill me if you please; I can die but once".

 

Indians Declare for Vengeance.

All efforts on the part of the Governor of Virginia to ap-

prehend and punish the assassins of Cornstalk, and to appease

the anger of the tribesmen, failed signally. The horror of the

atrocity against their leader could only be atoned for through

blood, and all pretensions of friendship and amity were at

en end.

Although other tribes were more or less concerned in the

incursions upon the border settlements which immediately fol-

lowed the murder of Cornstalk, the Shawnee for some time

were the principal aggressors. During the summer of 1777,

aided and accompanied by British Rangers from Detroit, the

Shawnee, Mingoes, Ottawas, and some non-Christian Delawares,

proceeded to the Ohio river, where at the mouth of Wheeling

creek, they attacked Fort Henry, one of a chain of stockades

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372       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

established by the Americans to protect the Ohio valley settle-

ments. The fort was commanded by Colonel David Shepherd,

the garrison consisting of some 50 soldiers. Upon the approach

of the Indians, a part of this force advanced to meet the at-

tack, but falling into an ambuscade were, with a few exceptions,

killed. The siege of the stockade lasted throughout the day of

September 1, 1777, during which the determination and untiring

defense of the little garrison was matched by the reckless and

persistent attack on the part of the savages "in the name of

Hamilton and the British government".

 

Siege of Fort Henry.

The following day witnessed an event which is one of the

most spectacular and daring in the annals of Ohio history.

Learning of the siege of Fort Henry, Major Samuel McCul-

lough, with 40 men, arrived at the fort to assist its defenders.

In the face of the Indian attack the gates were thrown open

to his men, all of whom succeeded in entering. But McCullough

himself, gallantly permitting his men to enter first, was cut off

by the besiegers, and seeing his only chance for escape to be in

flight, spurred his horse toward Van Meter's stockade, a few

miles away. The trail led along the top of a hill overlooking

Wheeling Creek, and at a point where the precipice was steepest,

McCullough was intercepted by a band of the enemy. Preferring

to choose the manner of his death, he forced his horse over

the brink--a leap of some 50 feet to the brush covered slope

below, from whence the declivity continued sharply for a dis-

tance of more than 200 feet to the stream at its base. Almost

miraculously, McCullough's horse kept or regained its feet, and

both steed and rider escaped unhurt, to the great surprise and

chagrin of the Indians.

The arrival of McCullough's men at the fort discouraged

Indian hopes of success and they abandoned the siege and took

their departure northward. Later in the same month a band

of Wyandots, under the Half King, returned to Ft. Henry and

succeded in ambuscading and killing Captain William Foreman

and 25 volunteers, who were proceeding to the defense of

the fort.

• 99
 

The Indian in Ohio.                373   Events of 1778. The year 1778 witnessed several important events in the Ohio region, which claim our attention. The Shawnee made two spirited raids against the Kentucky settlements, in the first of which they carried into captivity the redoubtable Daniel Boone. In retaliation the Kentuckians, led by Boone, who had escaped, and Simon Kenton, made a dash across the Ohio river against the Shawnee towns on the Scioto, on which occasion Kenton was captured by the enemy. Each of these two pic- turesque characters passed through experiences which in them- selves were most hazardous and romantic. An event which, although not transpiring in Ohio proper, greatly influenced its destiny, was what is known as Clark's conquest of the west. Aside from these events, the year was signalized by the holding of the first treaty between the newly-declared republic, as such, and the Ohio Indians, and by the erection of the first American fort within the present limits of the state.   Daniel Boone Taken Captive. The new year was hardly begun when a band of Shawnee warriors, under chief Black Fish, swooped down from their

towns on the Little Miami and surprised and captured a party of thirty Kentuckians, who, guided by Daniel Boone, had repaired to the salt springs of the Kentucky Licking river to boil salt. This sortie, as is true of others of its kind, was instigated by the British at Detroit, where its commander, Henry Hamilton, had offered the Indians flattering rewards for the delivery of scalps and prisoners.  The "live meat", as the latter were termed by Hamilton, brought the larger

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374       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

reward, and   it was to the interest of the Indians to

deliver their captives alive, rather than to resort to the quicker

and less bothersome method of killing and scalping them.

Therefore, Black Fish and his warriors, accompanied by the

Kentucky captives, essayed the march to Detroit. During the

northward march, the Shawnee chieftain must have been im-

pressed with the sturdy qualities of his prisoners, apparently in

the belief that their acquisition as members of his tribe would

lend added strength and prestige - for upon reaching his town,

little Chillicothe, three miles north of the modern Xenia, Boone

and sixteen of his companions were formally adopted by the

Shawnee.

Boone, who especially commanded the admiration of Black

Fish, was taken into the family of the latter as a "son". After

appropriate ceremonies of feasting and rejoicing over the oc-

casion, the Shawnee proceeded to Detroit, where they disposed

of the unadopted captives, receiving therefor the sum of $100

each. Hamilton was particularly desirous of securing Boone,

but his Indian "father" steadfastly refused to sell, and together

the two, accompanied by the members of the tribe and the

retained Kentuckians wended their way through the winter

snows to little Chillicothe.

As a part of his plan for ultimate escape, Boone simulated

contentment in his new sphere, entering actively into the life

of the Indian tribe and leaving nothing undone that would divert

the suspicion and watchfulness of his captors. In the meantime,

during the summer months, the Shawnee, in connection with

the Mingoes, Ottawas, and the hostile faction of the Delawares,

were preparing for a strong offensive against Boonesborough,

their captive's home settlement, and adjacent towns of Kentucky.

It was well along in June when Boone's chance for escape

presented itself. Successful in eluding the surveillance of the

tribesmen he made for the Ohio river, which he reached in four

days' time, and crossing into Kentucky arrived at Boonesbo-

rough, where he had been mourned as dead.

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The Indian in Ohio.              375

 

Indians Attack Boonesborough.

Rallying his townsmen, among whom was Simon Kenton,

Boone hastily prepared for the attack upon the town, which

he knew would not be long delayed. The attacking party, con-

sisting of 400 warriors under Black Fish, and about fifty

Canadians under Captain DuQuesne, made their appearance in

early September, and in the name of the king of England

demanded the surrender of the stockade. The valiant defenders,

numbering not more than one-tenth of the attacking party,

steadfastly refused to yield and the attack settled down to a

siege. For ten days the result was in doubt but finally, after

sustaining heavy losses in killed and wounded, the Indians and

their Canadian allies abandoned the attack and returned to

their country across the river.

The capture of Simon Kenton took place during the same

month in which the Indians laid siege to Boonesborough. Under

instructions from Colonel John Bowman, whom we shall meet

presently, Kenton with two companions undertook a scouting

trip to the Shawnee towns on the Little Miami. After reaching

their destination and securing the information desired, Kenton

and his companions rode rapidly back to the Ohio. Owing to

the swollen waters of the river they were delayed in crossing,

and the Indians, in pursuit, overtook them and made Kenton

a prisoner. One of his companions escaped while the other was

killed and scalped.

 

Captivity of Simon Kenton.

The captivity of Kenton furnishes one of the most thrilling

and hair-raising chapters in Ohio history. He and his com-

panions upon leaving the Shawnee town on the Little Miami,

had taken advantage of the presence of some of the Indians'

horses, which they appropriated to their own use. This naturally

added to the indignation of the Shawnee, and as a result the

captive was subjected to ill treatment which would have been

unbearable to other than a man of his iron nerve and great

endurance. He was tied upon the back of a wild horse, which

was then released and driven through the brush and timber,

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376      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   the Indians all the while exulting at his discomfiture. At night during the march to the Indian town, he was placed upon his back and his extended feet and hands secured to stakes driven in the ground. Upon reaching the town of Black Fish he was forced several times to run the gantlet, and finally in the Shawnee council-house, was condemned to be burned at the

stake. For this final ceremony Kenton was taken to Wapa- tomika, in Logan county, and while passing through the Shaw- nee towns en route, was twice forced to run the gantlet, and on attempting to escape was frightfully mistreated by the In- dians. At Wapatomika, he was temporarily saved from death by the arrival of Simon Girty, the renegade, who from a posi-

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The Indian in Ohio.                 377

 

tion as interpreter in the American service had deserted to the

British. Girty, recognizing Kenton, and recalling their former

friendship and association, plead long and ardently with the

Indians and finally prevailed upon them to spare his life. After

a few weeks of apparent security during which Kenton was

treated with kindness and consideration, he again came under

the displeasure of his captors and once more was condemned to

die. Girty was unable further to assist him, and he was borne

away to Upper Sandusky, where he was to be put to death.

But at Sandusky, through the intercession of the great Logan,

chief of the Mingoes, with Captain Druyer, of the British Indian

agency, his life was spared and he was taken to Detroit where

he remained a prisoner of war until his escape in the spring

of the following year. Kenton's captivity, up to the time he

reached Detroit, had covered a period of two months. He ef-

fected his escape in June, 1779, and found his way through

the wilderness back to his home at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in

July following.

Autumn of 1778 finds the scene of activities shifted to the

eastward, with the Delawares the principal Indian actors. As

we have seen, Detroit was the western headquarters of the

British Army, while Fort Pitt at Pittsburg was the stronghold

from which the Americans directed their principal operations

having to do with the western country. Throughout the Revo-

lution it was the dream of the British to capture Fort Pitt,

as it was of the Americans to take Detroit; a dream which

neither was to realize. At the close of the war, Detroit, of

course, accrued to the Americans.

 

First United States-Indian Treaty.

With the object of pushing across the Ohio country in a

raid upon Fort Detroit, General McIntosh, commanding Fort

Pitt, late in 1778 erected Fort McIntosh, near the mouth of

Beaver Creek, on the eastern bank of the Ohio. In order to

secure permission to pass through the country of the Ohio

tribes the latter were summoned to appear at Fort Pitt where,

in September, 1778, was consummated the first treaty ever

made between the United States of America and an Indian

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378       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

tribe. This treaty, with the Delawares, provided the desired

permission, and although General McIntosh's original plans for

the march against Detroit were not carried out, he proceeded,

in November, westward to the Tuscarawas river, where, near

the site of the town of Bolivar, Tuscarawas county, he erected

a stockade - Fort Laurens - the first fort built by Americans

upon Ohio soil. Before passing on to the siege of Fort Laurens,

which occurred the following spring, Clark's Conquest of

the West, referred to as an event of the year, demands brief

attention.

Clark's Conquest of the West.

In the spring of 1778, George Rogers Clark, a young Vir-

ginian, with a volunteer force of Virginians and Kentuckians

numbering less than 200 in all, embarked upon an expedition

which had for its object the capturing of the British forts in

the Mississippi valley-and as a grand finale, the coveted De-

troit itself. While Clark did not succeed in the last-named pro-

ject, he came so near realizing his ambition as to capture its

commander, Henry Hamilton, instigator and patron of the atroc-

ities committed against the Americans by the Ohio tribes..

With the tide of fortune turning against them in the eastern

theatre of the war, the British by this time were grounding their

hopes in the great west. As a part of their plan to secure and

obtain the cooperation of the Indian tribes, they maintained sev-

eral strongholds extending in an irregular line east from the

Mississippi to Detroit and Mackinac. Principal of these were

forts Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Vincennes-and the two mentioned

above. In July, Colonel Clark and his force, after a toilsome

march through almost impassable country, captured Kaskaskia.

Cahokia and Vincennes followed in rapid succession.

General Hamilton at Detroit, upon learning of the dashing

successes of the Americans under Clark, made hasty prepara-

tions to retrieve the loss, particularly that of Fort Sackville,

at Vincennes, which in importance was second only to that of

Detroit. In December, at the head of his British forces and

accompanied by many Indians from Ohio and the lake region,

Hamilton reached Vincennes, which he succeeded in retaking.

But Clark was not to be thus easily deprived of his success.

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The Indian in Ohio.                379

Re forming the scattered remnants of his little army, he pro-

ceeded against the stronghold and in February, 1779, surprised

and captured the garrison. General Hamilton was captured and

together with his officers sent as a prisoner of war to Virginia.

Clark proceeded to subdue and pacify the Indians of the region,

and succeeded in assuming possession for America of the vast

territory east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio river.

 

Siege of Fort Laurens.

The principal event in Ohio during the year 1779, was the

siege of Ft. Laurens, which we have seen established on the

Tuscarawas by General McIntosh and his Virginians. After

completion of the stronghold, which, it was believed, would

materially assist in controlling the hostile tribes and in protect-

ing the interests of the Colonists against the depredations of

the British and Indians from the northwest, General McIntosh

returned to Fort Pitt, leaving the Tuscarawas stronghold in

charge of Colonel John Gibson and 150 men.

No sooner had the British commander at Detroit learned

of the establishment of Ft. Laurens than he determined to punish

the audacity of the Virginians in a way that should prove a

lasting lesson. A considerable force of Indians-Mingoes,

Shawnee and Delawares-under the white renegade, Simon

Girty, repaired to the vicinity of the fort. Girty and his war-

riors were under the direct command of Captain Henry Bird,

a British army officer, who had been sent to organize and direct

the Indians. After surprising and killing several members of

the garrison the attacking party laid siege to the fort, which

lasted through the month of March, 1779. Colonel Gibson and

his handful of men valiantly defended the stockade and although

on the verge of starvation, outlasted the besiegers. At this point

General McIntosh arrived at the fort with fresh troops, who,

under Major Ward Vernon, assumed charge of Fort Laurens.

But the Indian assailants had likewise recovered from the ex-

haustion of the siege, and returned to the charge. The garrison

was reduced to the last extremity of hunger and exhaustion

before relief finally arrived from Fort Pitt. Following this

second siege, Ft. Laurens was evacuated, on orders from the

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380       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

commander at Fort Pitt. The site of Fort Laurens, with its

memories of almost superhuman endurance and untold hard-

ships and sufferings on the part of its brave defenders, is now

the property of the State of Ohio, and will be preserved as a

public park, under the care of the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society.

 

Bowman Raids Shawnee Towns.

The remainder of 1779, and the year 1780, were each char-

acterized by an important offensive movement and counter-

attack. Following up his plans for an attack upon the Shawnee

towns on the Little Miami, in anticipation of which we have seen

Simon Kenton sent upon a scouting expedition, Colonel John

Bowman, of Kentucky, proceeded northward from the site of

Covington, with about 300 men. This campaign has been de-

scribed as "the first regular enterprise to attack, in force, the

Indians beyond the Ohio, ever planned in Kentucky". The

army reached Chillicothe, three miles north of the site of

Xenia, the last of May, 1779. It was here that the noted Black

Fish, who had been so ardent in leading his warriors against

the Kentucky settlements, had his home.

Owing to a misunderstanding in orders the Kentucky raid

was but partially successful, although Black Fish was mortally

wounded and the greater part of his town burned, before the

frontiersmen turned their course toward the south. The moral

effect upon the tribesmen, however, who at the time were pre-

paring for further depredations against the border settlements,

was decidedly favorable to the Colonists.

In retaliation for Bowman's raid, the Shawnee, Mingoes

and Wyandots led by Simon and George Girty and Matthew

Elliott, engaged in a series of depredations along the Kentucky

frontier. In October, they intercepted and attacked a party

of 70 Virginians, under David Rogers, who at the time were

ascending the Ohio river, with two flatboats laden with merchan-

dise. More than forty of the party were killed and scalped, amid

scenes of the greatest barbarity. Rogers himself was among

the slain.

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The Indian in Ohio.                381

 

In early spring of 1780, the observant British at Detroit

were fully awake to the tide of emigration from east of the

Alleghenies, by way of the Ohio river, to the Kentucky settle-

ments. These settlements, particularly that at Louisville, were

altogether too thriving and populous to suit the purpose of the

British. To check the threatened danger to their cause, the

commandant at Detroit appointed Captain Henry Bird, whom

we have met with Girty before Fort Laurens, to undertake the

capture of Louisville. Under Bird were 150 Canadian and

British soldiers, and about 100 Indians from the Lake region.

The Girty brothers were engaged as guides. The assemblage

proceeded from Detroit by way of the Maumee and Miami

rivers to the Ohio, where they were joined by several hundred

Ohio Indians, under Captain Alexander McKee.

At the last moment, fearing for their success in an attack

upon Louisville, the combined forces ascended the Licking river,

where at its forks was the settlement of Ruddell's station. The

blockhouse at this place was forced to surrender, and although

its defenders, under Captain Ruddell, had been assured of pro-

tection from the Indians, many of them were killed. Proceed-

ing to Martin's Station, nearby, the invaders easily effected its

capture. Bird and his Canadians and Indians, with about 300

captives and much plunder returned to the Ohio river, where

the Ohio Indians, mostly Shawnee, dispersed to their homes.

The Canadians and the lake Indians proceeded to Detroit.

 

Destruction of Piqua.

And now the Kentuckians, always ready to go the enemy

"one better", were thoroughly aroused, and determined to launch

such a counter-attack against the Ohio tribes as should crush

their power and put an end to the unbearable depredations of

the past three years. It was the valiant George Rogers Clark

who undertook to raise the largest body of men thus far assem-

bled in Kentucky and to lead them against the Shawnee towns

on the Miami and Mad rivers. With Clark were such men as

Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone and James Harrod. The assem-

bling place for the volunteers was at the mouth of the Licking

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382      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

river, and here there gathered upwards of one thousand sturdy

and determined pioneers, armed and equipped for the campaign.

Crossing the Ohio, Colonel Clark and his men erected two block-

houses at the mouth of the Miami river, on the site of Cincin-

nati, for the storage of supplies and for use as hospitals, in case

of need. Ascending along the course of the Miami river, they

reached the Shawnee town, Chillicothe, on August 6, 1780, but

to their disappointment found that the Indians, apprised of their

approach, had fired the town and fled. The following day Clark

pursued the Shawnee to their capital, known as Piqua, and lo-

cated about five miles south of the site of Springfield, Clark

county, on the north side of Mad river. This town is noted as

the birthplace of the great Tecumseh, who at the time of Clark's

attack was a youth of ten or twelve years. Tecumseh is said

to have witnessed the destruction of his home by the Kentucky

raiders. The Indian occupants of Piqua numbered about 700,

with whom were Simon and James Girty. The Kentuckians had

brought with them, at great labor, a small cannon, and this was

mounted and brought to play upon the Indian stronghold. After

several hours of fighting, the natives, realizing the superiority

of the besiegers, abandoned their town and fled to the woods.

Piqua, one of the finest of the Ohio Indian towns, the capital

of the Shawnee and containing their tribal council-house, was

burned to the ground and the crops of growing grain destroyed

to prevent their return. The Kentuckians had succeeded in

carrying out their plans; they had inflicted great material loss

upon the Indians, and left a moral effect which went far to

deter actual hostilities against the settlements south of the Ohio.

George Rogers Clark was loath to relinquish his idea of

an attack upon Fort Detroit, and in the summer of 1781, with

a force of about 400 volunteers, proceeded from Fort Pitt by

way of the Ohio river. It had been arranged that Colonel Archi-

bald Lochry, of Pennsylvania, with additional soldiers, should

join Clark at Fort Henry (Wheeling). Clark was compelled

to keep moving in order to prevent desertion by his men, and

as a result Lochry and his party failed to overtake him. A few

miles below Cincinnati a force of several hundred Ohio Indians,

learning of the situation and taking advantage of the separation

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The Indian in Ohio.                383   of the American forces, attacked Lochry's command, killing Lochry and forty of his men and taking captive the remainder. His plans thus defeated, Clark took refuge at Louisville, and one more attempt against the British western headquarters had been frustrated by the Ohio tribes. Reluctantly we turn our attention to a chapter in the history of Ohio, the events of which cannot but bring the blush of shame to all who pretend to civilized standards of human con- duct. We refer to the story of the Moravian Indians-the Christianized Delawares-whose career in the Muskingum valley of eastern Ohio, after withstanding prolonged persecution, suffered a forced and cruel exile and terminated in a most bar- barous and inhuman massacre.   The Moravian Delawares. In connection with the exploration of the Ohio country, we have referred briefly to the Moravian missions among the

Delawares of eastern Ohio. While the Wyandots, in Michigan and northern Ohio, were the objects of solicitude on the part of French missionaries, the Delawares, enter- ing the state from the east, where they had already been in intimate contact with the whites, were to claim the attention of the Protes- tants. In their Pennsylvania homes they had known and had been favor- ably impressed with the Moravian missionaries, a sect as zealous in spreading Protestantism among the Indians as were the Jesuits in pro-

claiming the Catholic faith. Upon their removal to the westward the Delawares were constantly kept in mind by the Moravians, and when the tribes- men took up their abode on the Muskingum river in Ohio, the missionaries of the sect decided to establish a mission in their midst. In 1761, the Rev. Christian Frederick Post, noted In-

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384       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

dian interpreter and one of the most ardent of the Moravian

missionaries, and John Heckewelder, afterwards to become

famous for his work among the Indians, erected the first cabin

of the proposed mission, near the site of the present town of

Bolivar. Subsequently Post found it necessary to return to

Pennsylvania, and Heckewelder, left alone, was unable to cope

with the unfavorable conditions and growing hostility of the

Indians, and after undergoing untold hardships and dangers

found his way back to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

But ten years later, (1772) the mission was to be successfully

established when David Zeisberger, accompanied by Heckewel-

der and a number of Delaware Indian converts, arrived at the

Tuscarawas town on the Muskingum.      Here the Delaware

chieftain, Netawatwees, received them hospitably and granted

a tract of land for the erection of the mission. With the Zeis-

berger party was Glikkikan, a prominent Delaware chieftain,

who had become a convert to the sect, and who continued until

his death a faithful worker with and friend to the missionaries.

The mission was named Schoenbrunn,-beatuiful spring-

from the fine spring of water nearby; and it was here that were

sown the first seeds of the Protestant religion in the Ohio

country. Other Moravian settlements soon sprung up in the

Muskingum valley, among them, in 1772, the town of Gnaden-

hutten, settled by a band of Christian Mohican Indians, under

the leadership of Joshua, an Indian convert. A third settlement

of the Moravians was at Salem.

Under the leadership of Zeisberger, Heckewelder and their

associates, the native converts were to turn from the ways of

savagery and barbarism to the light of civilization and humanity.

The wilderness with its precarious existence, was to give way

to the settled community with its fields of grain and plenty,

while the tomahawk and scalping knife, emblems of butchery

and bloodshed, were to be supplanted by the axe and the hoe,

symbols of industry and prosperity. In short, residents of the

Moravian settlements, at Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten and Salem

 

"Dwelt in the love of God and of man; alike were they free from

Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics."

• 111
 

The Indian in Ohio.                 385

 

Difficulties of Their Position.

Throughout all the years of contest between the Colonists

and the British for possession of the Ohio country the Mora-

vians, although unfavorably located at the very meeting point

of conflict, as conducted from Fort Pitt and Fort Detroit, main-

tained an attitude of strict neutrality. This very neutrality

made their position a difficult one to maintain, for while

refraining from actively participating with either side, their

creed demanded that they protect non-combatants and prevent

needless suffering and loss of life. The result of this com-

mendable policy was inevitable suspicion on the part either of

the Colonists or the British, as circumstances might seem to sug-

gest; but on the whole, as Colonel Brodhead, then commandant

at Fort Pitt, declared "These (Moravian) Indians had con-

ducted themselves from the commencement of the war, in a

manner that did them honor; that neither the English nor the

Americans, could with justice reproach them with improper con-

duct in their situation."

As early as the spring of 1778 British headquarters at De-

troit, through the Girtys, McKee and Elliott, connived to win

the Delawares from their neutrality. These renegades, visiting

the Delawares at their towns on the Muskingum, particularly

at Goschoschgung, represented to them that the American

republic already was crushed, and that the refugees from the

Continental army were pushing their way westward to attack

the Ohio tribes. Through the efforts of Heckewelder, aided by

the loyal Captain White Eyes, the tribesmen were persuaded of

the falsity of these claims, and those of the Delawares, led by

Captain Pipe, who inclined to the British and advocated imme-

diate war upon the Americans, were temporarily quieted.

It was in the autumn of this same year that the historic

treaty of Fort Pitt, with the Delawares, was effected - the first

treaty between the United States and the Indians. This treaty,

as we have seen, paved the way for the erection of Fort Laurens

-the first fort built by Americans upon Ohio soil. The siege

of this fort by the British and their Indian allies, which oc-

curred in the following spring (1779) foreshadowed the begin-

Vol. XXVII-25.

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386      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

ning of a defection to the British on the part of the Delawares.

This defection, which was to cost them dearly, was in great

part the result of the death of White Eyes, their erstwhile most

influential leader. Shortly after the Fort Pitt treaty, in which

he took a great interest and played an important part, White

Eyes, the staunch friend of the Moravians and of the Americans,

was stricken with smallpox, and died at the Tuscarawas capital

of the Muskingum Delawares. In the death of this "great coun-

sellor and good man," the Moravian missions and the colonists

lost one of their most ardent supporters. To these his death

came as a great calamity; but not so to Captain Pipe, or Hopo-

can, chief of the Monsey clan of Delawares, nor to the British

themselves. Hopocan, who openly championed the cause of the

British, in whose pay he was then acting, seized the opportunity

to widen the scope of his power and to influence his people

against the Americans. His principal opponent in the counsels

of the Delawares was Captain Killbuck, who while generally

favorable to the Americans, lacked the brilliancy and leadership

which were Hopocan's. In the winter of 1780, throwing off

all pretense, Hopocan, accompanied by his band of Monseys,

quitted his town on the Walhonding and removed to the San-

dusky river, where, on the banks of Tymochtee creek he estab-

lished what became known as Pipe's town. Thus located, he

was able the more readily to cooperate with his British employ-

ers, who at this time maintained a sort of secondary headquar-

ters at the Wyandot towns on the Sandusky, from which raids

to the south and east were launched.

 

Brodhead Destroys Delaware Capital.

The opening of spring, 1781-that eventful year which

was to witness the pathetic exodus of the Moravians from their

peaceful homes - found the Delaware nation aligned as follows:

The Moravian Christians maintained their neutrality, but uncon-

sciously leaned toward the Americans, owing to the harshness

of the British in attempts at coercing them to the British cause;

the Monsey clan, under Captain Pipe, had definitely repudiated

the Americans; while the remainder of the non-Christian Dela-

wares were veering ominously toward the British.

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The Indian in Ohio.                387

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Col. Brodhead,

commandant at Fort Pitt, prepared to act. In April, with 300

troops consisting of Regulars and Virginia Militia, he crossed

the Ohio and proceeded to Goschoschgung, the Delaware head-

quarters, on the site of Coshocton. The inhabitants, taken by

surprise, were captured, after which the town was looted, the

newly-planted fields devastated, live-stock killed or driven off,

and much property damaged or burned. Of the captured war-

riors sixteen of the leaders, singled out by Pekillon, a Delaware

who had accompanied the Brodhead expedition, were con-

demned to die. With the approach of night they were led to

the outskirts of the town where they were brutally and in-

humanly tomahawked and scalped. The remaining captives, in

charge of the militia of the raiding party, were billeted to

be taken to Fort Pitt. The return march had not proceeded

far, however, before the militiamen inaugurated a wanton carni-

val of bloodshed, in which some twenty warriors were shot

down. Frightened and enraged, the Delawares hastily with-

drew to the north and west, where they took their stand upon

the Scioto and the Sandusky; and the Muskingum valley, ex-

cept for the fortuitous Moravians, became for the time a

"no-man's-land." Colonel Brodhead strongly urged the Mis-

sionaries and their converts to accompany him to Fort Pitt

and thus avert the threatening vengeance of the non-Christian

Indians, but with a few exceptions the Moravians chose to re-

main and face their destiny in their cherished homes.

 

Exile of the Moravians

The pathetic events which followed might have furnished

a theme equally as promising as that upon which Longfellow

based his immortal Evangeline; for while the Acadian exile

involved a much greater number of individuals, the extra added

feature of cold-blooded massacre perpetrated by those whom

they had in every way befriended, gives to the Moravian atroc-

ity the finishing touch of inhuman barbarity and the last word

in tragedy and atrocity.

"Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into exile,

Exile without an end, and without an example in history."

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388       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

The work of Brodhead had effectively alienated the non-

Christian Delawares and adjacent tribes, who immediately

flocked to the standard of the British. The time was ripe for

the latter to act, and once for all break up the Moravian settle-

ments, which they believed, under guise of neutrality, were aid-

ing the American cause. No sooner had Brodhead finished his

work and returned to Fort Pitt than the British plan of action

was set moving. A force of approximately 150 men consist-

ing of Wyandots under Dunquad (called by the Delawares

Pomoacan); Delawares under Captain Pipe and Wingenund;

small bands of Mingoes and Shawnee; and a few British and

French from Detroit,- the latter under Captain Mathew Elliott,

as commander of the expedition-made their appearance on

the Tuscarawas.   Elliott established his headquarters before

Salem, while others of the party proceeded to Schoenbrunn and

Gnadenhutten. The Moravian missionaries, as was customary,

extended their hospitality to the visitors, despite the ominous

import of their presence. They had not long to await an ex-

planation, if in truth they already had not surmised it. Elliott,

summoning the leaders from the several missions to his head-

quarters at Salem, over which floated the British flag, and hid-

ing the mailed fist under friendly guise, delivered the inexorable

decree of the British.

"Prisoners now I declare you; for such is his Majesty's pleasure."

The decision of the British was, in brief, that the Moravians

either must espouse their cause, or failing in this, that they

must be forcibly removed from the Tuscarawas to a part of

the country where possibility of their collusion with the Amer-

icans would be minimized. The former not being acceptable to

the Moravians, the alternative was carried out. The movable

property and personal effects of the inhabitants of the three

towns were appropriated and divided among the Indians. The

Wyandots, dressing themselves in the clothing of their victims,

vainly paraded themselves for the admiration of their fellows.

As one man, the Indians gave themselves over to celebration

and feasting, the means for which were ready at hand in the

bounteous supplies of cattle, poultry, and products of the soil

• 115
 

The Indian in Ohio.                 389

 

which the Moravians had accumulated. For days this wild

carnival continued, with "Midnight shout and revelry, Tipsey

dance and jollity," while the involuntary hosts of the revelers

were powerless to act.

Finally, on the 11th of September, 1781, the members of

the three settlements, consisting of about 100 families, were

forced to assume the march toward the north, leaving behind

them "a Christian communion never equalled in the history of

the Indians." The pathetic exodus from their homes of the

ardent missionaries and their faithful converts, is eloquently

summarized in the words of Edmund de Schweinitz, biographer

of David Zeisberger:

"They were turning their back upon the scenes of more

than eight years industry, and of a Christian community never

equalled in the history of the Indians. They were leaving behind

rich plantations, with five thousand bushels of unharvested corn,

large quantities of it in store, hundreds of hogs and young

cattle loose in the woods, poultry of every kind, gardens stocked

with vegetables, three flourishing towns, each with a commodious

house of worship, all the heavy articles of furniture and imple-

ments of husbandry-in short, their entire property, excepting

what could be carried on pack horses or stowed in canoes."

After a strenuous journey of three weeks, partly by canoe on

the Tuscarawas and partly by land, the exiles reached the

Sandusky river, in what is now south-eastern Wyandot county.

Here they were abandoned by Dunquad and his Wyandot escort

and allowed to shift for themselves.  Near the juncture of

Broken Sword creek with the Sandusky river they selected a

site, and with sad hearts began the almost hopeless task of re--

establishing themselves and their missions. Log huts for shelter

and a rude structure for religious services were provided; but

scarcely had this been accomplished before calamity again over-

took them.

Moravian Pilgrimage to Detroit.

Late in October the Delaware chief Wingenund appeared

at their village, called Captives' Town, bearing a summons from

Governor de Peyster demanding that the Moravians appear at

Detroit "for trial." After a perilous march through the wilder-

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390       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

ness the little party, escorted by the Indian guides, reached

Detroit and appeared before the commandant. At their hearing

Captain Pipe was the principal witness, and to his credit be

it said, testified favorably to the defendants, declaring that the

Moravians were guiltless of wrong against the British. This

circumstance throws a favorable light upon the character of

Pipe, who though in the pay of the British, had from the first

refused to indulge in any brutality against the Americans, either

from humane motives or in fear of later punishment.

The Moravians, thus absolved from blame, were permitted

to return to their pitiable settlement on the Sandusky, with the

admonition that they abstain from friendly intercourse with the

Americans. De Peyster, more humane than his predecessor,

Henry Hamilton, furnished the pilgrims with needed clothing

and supplies. Returning to Captives' town, the refugees, in a

spirit of thankfulness for their acquittal and safe return, erected

a "temple of worship," a rude structure of poles supported by

upright stakes, the crevices stopped with moss.

The winter which followed was one of intense suffering

for the little band of Christians, and starvation was with dif-

ficulty staved off. Remembering the bountiful supplies of un-

harvested corn left behind at their towns on the Tuscarawas,

they obtained permission from Pomoacan, the Wyandot half-

king, to avail themselves of the grain. Accordingly, in late

February, 1782, about 150 of the more able-bodied of the

inhabitants departed for the Tuscarawas. But it seemed that

misfortune had marked the Moravians for its own. No sooner

had they taken their departure than Simon Girty arrived from

Detroit with a second order summoning their leaders again to

appear for trial. At this point it would seem that the unfor-

tunates, buffeted by the hand of fate, could withstand no more.

Zeisberger, in his bitterness declared "If we were to be slain,

it would be better, we should then be relieved of all our troubles;

but now we seem to be reserved for many deaths."

But with faith and hope sustaining them, the missionaries

sent out runners summoning their members to return to the

village. Those who happened to be near at hand responded and

returned to the town; but from the relief party who had gone

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The Indian in Ohio.                 391

 

to the cornfields on the Tuscarawas, there was no response. A

second summons was answered by a similar silence. This silence

was explained when a Delaware Indian arrived at Captives'

Town with the intelligence that the relief party had been mas-

sacred at Gnadenhutten! Stunned and heart-broken, Zeisberger,

Heckewelder and their associate leaders and families, exhorting

their faithful followers to "stand fast in the faith and endure

to the end," departed with Girty for Detroit, to answer once

more to the suspicion that they had had friendly correspondence

with the Americans.

 

The Moravian Massacre.

The fate of the Moravian Indians was the fate that too

often rewards the would-be peacemaker - ingratitude, distrust

and malevolence on the part both of the British and the Amer-

icans of the border country, between whom they strove to

ameliorate hostilities. We have seen their community harassed

and despoiled by the British-Indian alliance, which like some

great beast of prey had dragged them from their home on the

Tuscarawas toward its lair to the northward; we shall now

witness the completion of the despoliation-the ruthless tear-

ing apart of the body religious - in a manner even more brutal,

and by those who by every token should have been the friends

and protectors of the Moravians. In fixing the blame for the

inhuman massacre of the Moravian Indians at Gnadenhutten

on March 8, 1782, the verdict of the historian finds the frontier

settlers of the border county of Washington, Pennsylvania,

"guilty, with recommendations for mercy."

 

Motives for the Massacre.

The very enormity and perversion of the crime demand

that the convicted be given the benefit of the moderating clause

of the verdict; in fact, it is in this alone that there is to be

found the semblance of a motive for the massacre. Let us then

inquire more closely into the situation with regard to the Mora-

vians and the border settlers across the Ohio, as it existed at

the time under consideration. We have gathered in a general

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392      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

way something of the compromised position of the missionaries

and their converts, especially with reference to the British and

the pro-British tribesmen; namely, that the neutrality of the

Moravians was looked upon as a cloak under which information

was passed on to the Americans. The hostile Indians themselves

regarded the Christian natives as traitors to their race, and lost

no opportunity of embroiling them in the tangles of perversity

with either side. The Americans, on their part, in so far as

official and well-informed circles were concerned, realized that

the Moravians were guiltless of wrong-doing; but among the

frontiersmen of Pennsylvania and Virginia-the backwoods-

men along the Ohio river -there had developed an unfortunate

arid mostly ungrounded suspicion that the Moravian settlements

on the Tuscarawas had much to do with the raids of the Ohio

savages on their settlements. It is not strange, considering the

times and the circumstances, that such should have been the

case. The means of communication, and therefore of news dis-

tribution, were limited, and the frontiersmen were often ignorant

and credulous. Raiding parties from the hostile Ohio tribes

were at the time very much in vogue; and as the Moravian towns

were directly on the route of these forays, and about midway

thereof, they afforded a convenient stopping place for the

raiders, both on the going and returning journeys. Their hos-

pitality, extended either as a result of religious conviction or

through inability on the part of the inhabitants to withhold the

same, was freely made use of, and even abused, by the maraud-

ing bands; and it was only natural that the frontiersmen, in their

ignorance and impulsiveness and constantly irritated by the

dangers which beset their families and homes, should judge the

Moravian settlements "by the company which they kept."

During the winter preceding the Gnadenhutten massacre,

the Indian raids against the border settlements had been par-

ticularly alarming. In one instance a party of Ohio Indians

crossed the river into Pennsylvania, burned the cabin of John

Wallace and took captive his wife and three children. On their

return, which took them through the Moravian towns, the In-

dians cruelly tomahawked the mother and her infant. It would

appear that the savages while availing themselves of the friend-

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The Indian in Ohio.                393

liness of the Moravians, were all the while maliciously plotting

to incur upon their hosts the vengeance of the whites, through

these trails of blood, leading from the settlements of the one

to the towns of the other. How well their plan succeeded, we

shall see.

The Pennsylvania backwoodsmen, at last goaded to despera-

tion and believing that they could not expect security for them-

selves as long as the Moravian towns were in existence took

matters into their own hands and without seeking authority from

council or congress, determined upon their destruction.

 

Details of the Massacre.

During the late winter of 1781-2, the work of raising the

necessary volunteers for the contemplated enterprise was quietly

carried on in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and by the first

of March a force of about 100 men had been secured. Under

the leadership of David Williamson, who had been elected cap-

tain, the raiding party crossed the Ohio and on the sixth of

March, 1782, arrived before Gnadenhutten, their presence being

unknown to the inhabitants. The following morning, after kill-

ing several of the inhabitants who had discovered their presence,

Williamson's party entered the town without opposition.

The inhabitants of Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrunn and Salem

at this time comprised a few Moravians who had escaped

removal to the Sandusky river, and the relief party of 140 who

had returned to their towns from Captives' Town to obtain corn.

On the arrival of Williamson and his men, the Indians were

quietly engaged in gathering and making ready the grain for

the return trip to the Sandusky, where their families, almost

upon the verge of starvation, anxiously awaited the promised

supplies. Simulating a friendly attitude the frontiersmen, sum-

moning the unsuspecting natives from their work in the fields,

made known what they wished the converts to believe to be

the purpose of their visit. They had come, they said, to offer

the protection and friendship of the Americans, who, in view

of the dangers to which the Moravians were subjected from the

British and the hostile Indians, wished to convey them to Fort

Pitt, for their safety and protection. In their credulity, the In-

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394       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

dians surrendered their weapons to Williamson's men, "to be

returned upon arrival at Pittsburg." A detachment was sent

forward to Salem, which returned accompanied by the Mora-

vians at that place; but those at Schoenbrunn, taking alarm, fled

before the emissaries reached their town, and thus escaped the

fate which awaited their fellows.

No sooner had the Indians been disarmed than all pretense

at friendly intentions was thrown aside, and they were rudely

thrust inside the larger buildings as prisoners. The question

as to their fate then became a matter for discussion. A few of

the backwoodsmen, partly recovered from the first excitement

of the undertaking and realizing the innocence of the converts,

favored their release; others, not quite so impetuous as at first

but unwilling to abandon the enterprise, were in favor of remov-

ing the Indians to Fort Pitt and turning them over to the com-

mandant there for disposal. Captain Williamson himself was

inclined to be lenient with the captives, but his attitude and that

of the more humane of his command were overruled by the

greater number of those who demanded the blood of the con-

verts. The question finally resolved itself into "Whether the

Moravian Indians should be taken prisoners to Pittsburg, or

put to death." Of the ninety Pennsylvanians, acting as a council

of war, only one in five favored the former proposition. These

more humane members of the party, eighteen in number, then

withdrew  from  the scene to avoid witnessing the revolting

procedure on the part of their comrades.

As between two suggestions as to the carrying out of sen-

tence of death against the captives, - the one, that they be

burned to death by setting fire to the buildings in which they

were confined, and, the alternative, that they be tomahawked and

scalped,--the latter was decided upon as the most desirable.

Accordingly, the Indians were notified of their impending fate,

and were given until the following morning in which to prepare

to die.

The faith which had supported the Moravians through the

trying times of oppression and persecution was not to desert

them in their martyrdom. At the hands of the British-Indian

allies and to a lesser extent from the Americans, they had suf-

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The Indian in Ohio.                395   fered all but death; and now that the day fixed upon for their return to families and friends with the life-saving supplies of corn, was to be, instead, the day of their doom, they bravely and unhesitatingly prepared to meet death. In the words of Dr. Schweinitz, "As the hours wore away, and the night deepened,

and the end drew near, triumphant anticipations of heaven min- gled with their hymns and prayers; converted heathens taught their Christian slayers what it means to die, as more than conquerors." Early on the morning of March 8, 1782, the Moravian In- dian captives signified their readiness for the ordeal. The men

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396      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

and boys were led or dragged, two by two, to the nearby cooper

shop, where with tomahawks, war clubs, spears, mallets and

knives, they were quickly dispatched and scalped. The slaughter

of the women and children followed in the same gruesome

manner.

We shall not follow in detail the revolting scenes of the

massacre; suffice it to say that of the ninety-eight Moravians

held by the Williamson party, all were killed but two boys, who

made their escape. Among the killed were Glikkikan, the

Delaware chieftain, who several years previously had been con-

verted and who was one of the ablest and most valued of the

Moravian teachers; his wife, who on the occasion of the attack

on Fort Henry, at Wheeling, rode all night through the wilder-

ness to inform the military authorities at Fort McIntosh of the

intended attack; and Captain Johnny, a Delaware chief and

earnest Moravian teacher.

Their lust for blood being satiated, in so far as Gnadenhut-

ten was concerned, the raiders proceeded to Schoenbrunn, where

they expected to repeat their orgies; but the inhabitants of

Schoenbrunn had learned of their presence and had hastily de-

parted from the town. After venting their disappointment by

burning the houses and destroying property, the frontiersmen

hastened eastward and across the Ohio into Pennsylvania. As

a grand finale to their bloody foray, a detachment of Williamson's

men proceeded to Smoky Island, opposite Fort Pitt, where they

attacked and killed a number of Delawares residing there. The

Smoky Island settlement consisted of a band of Ohio Delawares

who, under Killbuck, or Gelelemand, and Chief Big Cat, at the

invitation of the Fort Pitt officials, had taken refuge there,

following the defection of a part of the tribe under Hopocan.

Killbuck managed to escape death in the attack by Williamson's

men, and later joined the Moravians on the Sandusky.

 

Subsequent Career of Moravians.

Before bidding farewell to the Moravians, it is fitting that

we inquire as to their later career. We left Zeisberger and his

assistants at the beginning of their second journey to Detroit,

where they went in answer to a summons from De Peyster. We

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The Indian in Ohio.                397

 

need not concern ourselves with this pilgrimage of the great

missionary, nor with the succeeding years of anxious waiting

and precarious existence. It is sufficient to know that at the

close of their hearing, the Moravians were barred from return-

ing to their settlement at Captives' Town on the Sandusky.

Under De Peyster's orders, either of two things was left them;

to return to their original settlements in Pennsylvania, or to

remain in the Michigan country under the protection of the

British. They chose the latter and established a settlement

known as New Gnadenhutten among the friendly Chippewas

on the Huron river.

But the Moravians had left their hearts in the Ohio country,

and in 1782, peace having been declared between England and

the United States, they found their way to the Cuyahoga river,

where they sojourned for about one year, and then took up their

abode on the Huron river near the present town of Milan. Here

for four years they prospered, and made many converts, among

them the noted Captain Killbuck, who, always inclined to be

friendly, now became a lasting and valued member of the church.

But hostilities between the Ohio Indians and the American gov-

ernment disturbed their security and in 1789 they returned to

Canada.

In the meantime, in passing the Ordinance of 1787 and in

conducting the surveys of the lands thereunder, Congress granted

the Moravian Indians a tract of 12,000 acres of land on the

Tuscarawas river, adjoining and partly including their former

settlements. To this land the pilgrims returned in 1789 and

picking up the raveled ends of their pathetic career set them-

selves to restore the old order of peace and prosperity. For a

time all went well and their dream seemed destined to become

reality; but their leaders, Zeisberger and Heckewelder, had al-

ready left behind them their best years and strength in the fitful

and checkered existence of their beloved mission. Zeisberger

founded the little town of Goshen, about seven miles distant

from Gnadenhutten, where he lived and labored until his death

in 1808. Heckewelder re-established Gnadenhutten on the site

of the infamous massacre, where he resided until 1810, when

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398      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

he returned to Pennsylvania. Their leaders gone, and none

among the converts being of a caliber to fill their places, the

Moravian Brethren rapidly declined, and, as with others of

their race, returned to the ways of their fathers.

 

 

CLOSING EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.

Conflict Centers in Ohio Country.

Before proceeding with the momentous events which, in

addition to the Moravian massacre, characterized the memorable

year of 1782 in the Ohio country, let us pause long enough to

inquire into the progress of the Revolutionary war elsewhere.

It will be recalled that in October of the preceding autumn Gen-

eral Cornwallis had been forced to surrender to Washington,

at Yorktown, Virginia. This event, presaging American victory

and the end of the war, was followed in March, 1782, by a vote

in the British House of Commons, declaring that "Whoever

should advise a continuance of the war, was an enemy to the

king and country." Nevertheless, their hopes of victory blasted

in the eastern front, the British commanders toward the west

staked their last chance upon success in the territory north and

west of the Ohio. From Detroit, in particular, where General

De Peyster commanded, hostile actions against the Americans

continued for a considerable time, aided by their Indian allies,

especially the tribes of the lake region, and the Wyandots,

Delawares, Shawnee and Mingoes of Ohio.

The British, operating from Detroit, were loath to abandon

their dream of taking Fort Pitt, while the Americans, at the

latter post, continued to realize the desirability of sacking De-

troit. In the meantime, the Muskingum valley having been

transformed into a "no-man's-land" through the removal of the

Delawares to the Sandusky, the slaughter of the Moravians, and

the voluntary withdrawal westward of other tribes, the principal

center of Ohio Indian activity came to be the Sandusky river

region, the home of the Wyandots, principal henchmen of the

British in their operations against the Pennsylvania and Vir-

ginia border. The principal town of the Wyandots, at this time,

known as Sandusky, or Sandusky Old Town, was located on the

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The Indian in Ohio.               399

west bank of the Sandusky river, about five miles north of the

modern Upper Sandusky. Here, located on the great water

route between Lake Erie and the Ohio river, (via the Sandusky

river, across the portage and down the Scioto) at what was

an important British trading post, the latter had established their

supply depot, and recruiting headquarters for the purpose of

facilitating their campaigns to the east and south. A few miles

west of the Sandusky town, on Tymochtee creek, was located

the town of the Delawares under Captain Pipe, or Hopocan,

while to the eastward, in the present Crawford county, the

Delaware war chief, Wingenund, with his following, made his

home. With these numerous allies to draw upon-including

practically the whole of the Ohio Indian population, with sev-

eral hundred warriors at their command, and aided by the

Girtys, Elliott and others of the white renegades,-De Peyster,

at Detroit, early in 1782 presented a threatening aspect to the

American colonies bordering the Ohio.

 

Crawford's Sandusky Campaign.

With this situation confronting them the Colonists, encour-

aged by the success, however questionable the methods employed,

of Williamson against the Moravians, clamored for an expedi-

tion against the Sandusky stronghold. This public sentiment

found expression in an army of 180 Pennsylvania and Virginia

volunteers, which, on May 25, 1782, crossed the Ohio and pro-

ceeded toward the Wyandot towns. The expedition was in

command of Colonel William Crawford, whom we have met in

company with Dunmore on the Pickaway plains and elsewhere,

while David Williamson, leader of the raid against the Mora-

vians, was second in command.

But while Colonel Crawford and his command were slowly

and cautiously making their way across the broken country of

eastern Ohio, the British were not idle. De Peyster, through

the vigilance of Simon Girty, had been apprised of the pending

raid and laid his plan to meet it. Two companies of British

Rangers and a band of Lake Indians, under Captain William

Caldwell were immediately dispatched to Sandusky. Arriving

there they were joined by the Wyandots under the half-king

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400      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Dunquod and Simon Girty; the Delawares, from Pipe's Town

and Wingenund's village under Captain Pipe and George Girty;

and bands of Shawnee and Mingoes, the whole of the Indian

force being directly in command of Captain Mathew Elliott.

Arriving at a point just south of the Sandusky town, Craw-

ford led his men carefully up the river and at what is known

as Battle Island, three miles above the present Upper Sandusky,

was confronted by the enemy. The Americans succeeded in

gaining possession of the "island," a small piece of timber in

the midst of the grassland, and with this advantage were able

successfully to withstand the attack which followed and con-

tinued throughout the day. The following morning-June 5-

the British Indian allies were reinforced by the arrival of up-

ward of 200 Shawnee warriors. Seeing his force greatly out-

numbered Crawford decided to take advantage of the first op-

portunity to retreat. This opportunity came with nightfall of

the fifth, when, after burying their dead, five in number, the

Americans cautiously abandoned their friendly grove and under

cover of darkness proceeded to retrace their course.

 

Battle of Olentangy.

But their retreat had been discovered and, with the Indians

in hot pursuit, soon became a rout. The following afternoon

the retreating force was overtaken and forced to give battle.

The contest took place a few miles south-east of Upper San-

dusky, on a fork of the Olentangy creek, from which the strug-

gle takes its name, the Battle of Olentangy. Colonel Williamson,

in the absence of Crawford, rallied his men to the attack with

the result that after an hour's fighting and the loss of three

men the Americans were completely successful and the attackers

hastily beat a retreat.

Profiting by this temporary respite the Americans lost no

time in quitting the Sandusky country, where such unexpected

resistance had developed, and by June 13 had reached the Ohio

river, which they crossed at Mingo Bottoms. The unsuccessful

undertaking had cost the Colonists 70 men, in killed, captured

and missing-and among the last named was Colonel William

Crawford, the commander.

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The Indian in Ohio.                401

 

Capture of Crawford.

In carrying out the retreat from Battle Island, Colonel

Crawford, in his solicitude for the safety of his men, and ow-

ing to the darkness, became separated from the command and

in the confusion which followed was unable to rejoin them.

With Colonel Crawford was Dr. Knight, the surgeon of the

command. Knowing that their safety lay in a direction which

would take them as far as possible from the hostile Indian camps,

the two pursued their way stealthily but rapidly to the north-

east. Following a circuitous course they were able on the

following day to strike the trail of the retreating army, which

they hoped to overtake and rejoin. But on the afternoon of

the seventh they suddenly found themselves face to face with

a party of Delawares who overpowered and conducted them to

the camp of Chief Wingenund, nearby. Here they were joined

by nine additional captives, who, like Crawford and Knight had

become separated from their companions and taken prisoners

by the Delawares.

Crawford and Knight realized that nothing short of death

awaited them, and that no ordinary execution would satisfy the

vengeance of the Delawares. The fact that the "Big Captain"

of the Americans had fallen into their hands was a source of

great satisfaction to the Indians and was celebrated by fiendish

demonstrations of delight. The opportunity for revenge for

past grievances and for setting a forceful example to the "Long

Knives," as the Indians called the frontiersmen, was one they

had hardly dared expect, and nothing short of burning at the

stake with its accompanying savage tortures would suffice for

their purpose.

The recent massacre of the Moravian Indians, who, while

estranged from the Delawares, nevertheless were their kinsmen,

strengthened the unfavorable sentiment against the Colonists.

Captain Pipe, tireless in his support of the British cause and in

his enmity for the Americans, needed no additional stimulus to

evil-doing, while Dunquod or Pomoacan, had but recently lost

two sons, killed by frontiersmen on the Ohio, and while the

Wyandots had abandoned burning as a means of execution,

Vol. XXVII-26.

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402       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

their chief in his bitterness might easily overlook this fact. The

Shawnee still bore the scar of battle inflicted in the recent raids

of the Kentuckians against their towns, while the Mingoes were

not unmindful of the fact that it was Crawford who had razed

their villages at the forks of the Scioto. At any rate, Pipe, or

Hopocan had no difficulty in securing permission from, or at

least acquiescence on the part of the Half-King, Dunquod, and

his Wyandots for the carrying out of his fiendish plans, and

the doom of Crawford and his party was thereby sealed.

Under escort of a party of Delaware warriors, the eleven

captives, among them Crawford and Knight, started for the

vicinity of Pipe's town on Tymochtee creek, which had been

selected as the place of execution. En route, five of the cap-

tives were brutally tomahawked and mutilated by the squaws

and boys of the escorting party.

The site selected by Captain Pipe for the torture and burn-

ing of Crawford was on the east bank of Tymochtee creek, near

the present village of Crawfordsville, and within a short distance

of Pipe's town.   Here there had assembled about thirty

Delaware warriors, besides some sixty squaws and Indian boys,

with Captain Pipe, Wingenund and the renegade Simon Girty.

Crawford appealed repeatedly to the latter for intercession in

his behalf, but his entreaties were met with an amused in-

difference.

Burning of Crawford.

After having his face blackened and his clothing stripped

from him Crawford was tied to a post, and a huge bonfire which

had been prepared nearby was lighted. For three hours the

doomed victim was subjected to every form of torture known

to savage ingenuity, and all the while his friend and companion,

Dr. Knight, was compelled to sit by and witness the agonies,

that he might have a foretaste of what he in turn might expect.

After firing numerous charges of powder into Crawford's

body, the tormentors cut off his ears. The squaws, more fiendish

even than their braves, amused themselves by piercing his body

with burning fagots and poles from the fire, and by carrying

coals of fire and heaping them upon the victim's head and limbs.

Crawford displayed marvelous endurance and fortitude in the

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The Indian in Ohio.                403

 

midst of his tortures, "exceeding in fiendish, ferocious, devilish

cruelty and barbarity, anything recorded in savage annals."

Doctor Knight, while being held preparatory to burning at

the stake, eluded his captors and escaped, as did also John

Slover, the guide. The experiences of both were most hazardous,

and their escape little short of miraculous. To Dr. Knight we

are indebted for knowledge of the details of Crawford's burn-

ing, published by him after his return to Pittsburg. The fate

of Colonel Crawford's son, John Crawford, his nephew, William

Crawford, and William Harrison, his son-in-law who among

others were separated from the command and captured, was

never learned.

The Indians and the Renegades.

The closing events of the Revolutionary War, in the main,

are familiar to our readers. Following the surrender of Corn-

wallis there was a general cessation of fighting between the

armies proper, hostilities being confined to the southern and

western frontiers.  Communication and transportation, in so

vast a territory without modern utilities, such as railroads, the

telegraph and even highways, were necessarily slow and uncer-

tain, and under such conditions much time was required to bring

an end to so gigantic a conflict. Preliminary peace terms be-

tween England and the new-born American republic were agreed

upon at Versailles, in November, 1782. In April of 1783, Wash-

ington disbanded his army of Continentals; the final peace was

ratified in September following, and late in November all British

troops embarked from New York for England.

But the last-named event did not serve entirely to put the

Atlantic ocean between the American republic and the "mother

country"; for by the terms of the treaty, England retained her

possessions in Canada. Notwithstanding the provisions of the

treaty for the withdrawal of garrisons from all posts in American

territory, the British were reluctant to relinquish possession,

with the result that such important posts as Fort Niagara, Fort

Detroit, and posts at the mouths of the Sandusky and the

Maumee rivers, continued in British possession until 1796.

With the object of protecting their extensive and lucrative fur

trade and in the belief that the American republic would prove a

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404      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

failure, the British inaugurated a policy of instigating Indian hos-

tility against the western settlements, which was to involve the

Ohio country in more or less serious conflict for a dozen years to

come, and which, in fact ended only with the War of 1812.

The British excitation of the Indians against the Americans

was conducted, as previously, mainly from Detroit. The tribes

of Ohio as we have seen, were strongly attached to the British,

and following the unsuccessful raid of Colonel Crawford

against the Sandusky towns, their elation and confidence knew

no bounds. Scarcely had Crawford's defeated command re-

turned across the Ohio than the warriors were clamoring for

further victories over the settlers. Detroit and the Indian towns

upon the Sandusky and Mad rivers became veritable bee-hives of

hostile activity. The designs of the British-Indian allies em-

braced the settlers both of the Pennsylvania-Virginia border

and those of Kentucky to the southward.

Under leadership of Simon Girty and Mathew Elliott,

one of the largest Indian armies ever assembled in Ohio was

brought together at Wapatomika, at the source of the Mad river,

in Logan county. The warriors, eleven hundred strong, com-

prised the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnee, Mingoes, Ottawas

and others. At the suggestion of Captain Snake, of the Shaw-

nee, it was decided to direct the first of a series of raids against

Fort Henry, at the site of Wheeling. De Peyster accordingly

despatched a company of Rangers under Captain Bradt, and

these together with the force under Captain Caldwell, fresh

from their participation in the rout of Crawford's command,

joined with the Indian forces. But at this point reports to

the effect that the Kentuckians, under George Rogers Clark,

were advancing against the Ohio towns led the assembled army

to change their plans, and accordingly they marched southward

to meet and intercept Clark's supposed raid. But the expected

Kentuckians failed to appear; and disappointed, many of the

warriors abandoned the campaign and returned to their towns.

 

Battle of Blue Licks.

With the remaining force, consisting of 300 Indians and 60

white rangers, Captain Caldwell in August proceeded to the Ohio

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The Indian in Ohio.                405

 

and crossing into Kentucky laid siege to Bryant's station. The

stockade, however, was so stubbornly defended by the Ken-

tuckians, among whom was Daniel Boone, that the siege was

abandoned and Caldwell led his men back across the Ohio. The

following day the Kentuckians, learning of the attack gathered

from far and near, and prepared to pursue the Indians into their

own country. They came up with the enemy at the Blue Licks

on Licking river, and disregarding the advice of Daniel Boone,

impetuously charged directly into an ambuscade prepared for

them by the Indians. The slaughter which followed was terrific,

and the battle one of the bloodiest fought on Kentucky soil.

One hundred of the Kentuckians were killed or captured, among

them being Boone's son, Israel Boone. Hilarious over their

success, the Indians and Rangers returned to Wapatomika and

Sandusky.

Kentuckians Strike Retaliatory Blow.

But the spirited Kentuckians, typical frontiersmen that they

were, refused to acknowledge themselves defeated or even

humbled. They were made of sterner stuff, and the incursion of

Caldwell and his warriors only served to rouse them to a keener

realization of the necessity for checking the onslaughts of the

Indians, which threatened the very existence of their settle-

ments. No sooner had Caldwell departed the scene of his Blue

Licks victory than volunteers began to assemble from all parts

of the Kentucky country with the avowed determination of

avenging the catastrophe and of striking a blow that once for

all would convince the Ohio tribesmen that the country across

the Ohio was anything but a promising field for pillage, plunder

and conquest. Leadership of this supreme effort naturally fell

upon George Rogers Clark, and the man who had inaugurated

the first formidable blow at British dominance in the northwest,

was now successfully to strike the final blow which would end

forever the Indian forays against the Kentucky settlements.

By the last of October, 1782, volunteers to the number of

more than one thousand mounted men had assembled at the

mouth of the Licking river, opposite Cincinnati, and placed

themselves under the command of Colonel Clark. The army,

well equipped and provisioned, proceeded up the Miami river

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406      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

and early in November reached the Indian towns about the

headwaters of that stream. At Lower Piqua, Clark found "a

peaceful people" whom he did not molest. Proceeding to Upper

Piqua, he destroyed an Indian fort and proceeded thence to

Loramie's trading post, on the portage between the Miami and

Lake Erie, which shared a similar fate. This post, presided

over by one Pierre Loramie, a Frenchman, was an important

center of trade between the British and the Indians.

Ineffectual efforts were made by Clark to draw the Shawnee

and their allies into battle, but the Indians, although urged on

by the renegade white leaders, were too well acquainted with

Clark's prowess and too deeply awed by the size of his army

to risk an engagement. After burning the property and cabins

of the Indian towns and destroying their supplies of corn and

provisions, the Kentuckians marched triumphantly back to their

settlements, fully vindicated, and, as time proved, having inflicted

a lesson which would preclude further forays against their towns.

 

Second Siege of Fort Henry.

Having chastised the Kentuckians at Blue Licks, the allies

began preparations for the deferred raid upon Fort Henry. Cap-

tain Bradt and his company of rangers and 200 Indians arrived

at Fort Henry early in September, and began one of the most

spectacular and historic sieges of the war. Fort Henry, at this

time, was in command of Col. Ebenezer Zane, and was gar-

risoned by eighteen men, besides the families of the same, mak-

ing in all some forty or fifty persons, men, women and children.

Before the departure of Bradt and his command from Wapa-

tomika, De Peyster, having been informed of the ending of

hostilities, had despatched a courier into the Ohio country bear-

ing instructions that further attacks against the frontiersmen

should cease. The courier, however, arrived too late to inter-

cept Bradt, who, appearing before Fort Henry with the British

flag flying at the head of his troops, demanded its surrender in

the name of the King of England. For two days and two nights,

the siege of the stockade continued with a fury perhaps never

equalled in Indian warfare. The attackers stormed the fort

from every conceivable angle and with reckless abandon. They

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The Indian in Ohio.                407

 

attempted to set fire to the palisades, and to shoot flaming ar-

rows and firebrands onto the roof, while the unremitting crack

of musketry found every crack and crevice in the walls of the

stockade. The little garrison, in which the women played a

spectacular part, returned the fire with a will, and met every

attempt on the part of the attackers with equal courage and

effect. Despairing of success, the Bradt party finally withdrew

and returned to their towns.

The siege of Fort Henry greatly aroused the frontiersmen,

particularly the border settlers of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Through the joint action of Congress and the Pennsylvania

council, a general campaign against the hostile Indians was

planned. This plan proposed three separate expeditions, one of

which was to operate from Fort Pitt, under General Irvine,

against the Ohio tribes on the Sandusky. However, plans for

these campaigns were countermanded by General Washington

following a manifesto issued by General Carleton, commander

of the British forces in America, ordering a cessation of Indian

incursions against the Americans.  But, although Carleton's

order put an end for the time being to British instigation and

aid of Indian depredations, the Ohio tribesmen, on their own

incentive, continued to molest the border settlers of Pennsylvania.

 

Peace Council at Detroit.

In order to end these forays, Congress, at the suggestion

of the Pennsylvania Council, in June, 1783, sent Major Ephraim

Douglas with a message to the Sandusky towns. This message,

delivered by Douglas under a flag of truce, was to the effect

that, since the war was terminated and the British had ceded

to the United States "the back country," together with all forts

therein, the Indians must discontinue their hostile demonstra-

tions against the Americans, or be exterminated by the Amer-

ican armies. Douglas and his companion, Captain George Cully,

were hospitably received at Sandusky by the Wyandots, under

Dunquod, the Half-King; the Delawares, under Captain Pipe

and Wingenund, and by the Shawnee. From Sandusky the emis-

saries and the Indians proceeded to Detroit, where with De

Peyster's cooperation a great Indian council was held. Besides

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408       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

the Ohio tribes, there were present representatives of the Indians

of the lake region as well as those from farther west and north.

Douglas impressed upon the assembled chiefs the fact that the

war was over, and the necessity that the Indians conduct them-

selves accordingly, or suffer the consequences.

• 135
 

V.

THE INDIAN AND THE OHIO COMMONWEALTH.

 

POST REVOLUTIONARY CAMPAIGNS.

White Settlers Invade Ohio Soil.

We now have traced the story of the Indian in Ohio from

its historic beginning to the close of the Revolutionary war.

For a period of nearly half a century we have seen him, with

varying fortune, engaged in conflict with European Colonists-

French or English. Sometimes he has fought the one, and

again the other; but always the main incentive to hostility has

been the preservation of his land, and always the principal prov-

ocation thereto the determination of the white man to preempt

this land. At times the main issue has been clouded and lost

sight of in the presence of minor considerations; for in the

campaigns conducted by the French, English and Americans to

secure his favor, the Indian has found it often difficult to deter-

mine which most threatened his domain. Indian cupidity for

gain and desire to be aligned with the winner are not lost sight

of; but in the end his resistance resolved itself into an effort

to preserve his territory to himself.

We have witnessed, in the Nicolas Conspiracy, the resent-

ment to threatened occupation by the French; in the Conspiracy

of Pontiac, a similar protest against English encroachment; and

in the later campaigns, a determination to hold back the tide

of American settlement from east and south of the Ohio. For

every blow struck at their title to the Ohio country, the Indians

retaliated in kind.

Up to this point, the enmity of the Ohio Indian has been

directed against the white man, non-resident of his territory;

for through all the years of threatened occupation of his land,

he has succeeded in retaining it intact. From this time forward,

however, the situation is to assume a very different aspect. The

long-repelled occupation of the Ohio country by Americans

(409)

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410       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

finally gains a foothold in Ohio, and henceforth the stand of the

Indian against the enemy, is to be mainly on his own soil.

With the Revolution at an end and American Independence

achieved, the time had arrived when the status of the great

country lying north and west of the Ohio must be defined. This

Northwest territory, embracing what are now the states of Ohio,

Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and ceded to the

United States by England, was subject to charter claims on the

part of the states of Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut and

New York. By a provision of the Articles of Confederation,

which united the several states as a commonwealth, the north-

west territory was to be "disposed of for the common benefit of

all the states, and the territory when ceded (by the claimant

states) should be divided into new states and admitted into the

Union as confederated states on equal footing with the original

thirteen." One by one, though reluctantly, the several states

waived their claims to the territory in question, and by the first

of June, 1786, the Northwest territory had become "the public

domain of the confederated states".

 

Indian Land Titles Assailed.

While these results were pending, and in anticipation thereof,

Congress took action looking to the extinguishment of the Indian

titles to the Northwest territory. A conference was called to

meet at Fort Stanwix, N. Y., in October, 1784, at which a

treaty was entered into with the Iroquois, in which the latter

waived all claim to the territory north and west of the Ohio.

It will be recalled that the Iroquois, since their great conquest

of the western country, had held a proprietary claim thereto,

and had continued to look upon the actual Indian inhabitants

of that country merely as tenants under suffrage. But the Ohio

tribes took a different view of the matter. They strongly main-

tained that the territory belonged to them alone, and denied the

right of the Six Nations to make cession of their lands to the

Americans. Thus, while the claims of the several states were

in a fair way to be extinguished and the Iroquois already had

waived proprietorship, the task of securing clear title to the Ohio

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The Indian in Ohio.                411

 

country was but half finished. For the purpose of an attempted

settlement wtih these Ohio tribes, who had not been represented

at Fort Stanwix and who were highly angered at the proceed-

ings of that conference, a meeting was called at Fort McIntosh,

in January, 1785. At this meeting a treaty was effected with

the Delawares, Wyandots and Ottawas, in which these tribes

agreed to confine themselves to certain sections of central-north-

ern Ohio. A year later, at the mouth of the Great Miami, the

Shawnee entered into a perfunctory agreement by which they

were to occupy land mainly between the Great Miami and the

Wabash rivers. Neither the Fort McIntosh nor the Shawnee

treaty was effective, however, for the tribesmen, on the ground

that no treaty was binding which was made without the consent

of all the Ohio tribes, soon entirely ignored or disregarded them.

 

Fort Harmar and Marietta.

However, Congress proceeded with plans for surveying the

lands ceded by the Iroquois, and in order to facilitate the work

a stockade, known as Fort Harmar, was established late in 1785

at the mouth of the Muskingum river. This fort was garrisoned

by Major John Doughty and a detachment of troops, and under

its protection the work of laying off the land now comprised

in southeastern Ohio was begun.

The famous Ordinance of 1787 was the outcome of the

labored attempts to dispose of the Northwest territory. It pro-

vided that the territory should be temporarily considered as

one single district, subject to later division. A governor was

to be appointed by Congress, who should also be commander-in-

chief of the militia, and should have power to establish tem-

porary counties and townships as the Indian titles should be

extinguished. The territory was to have a general assembly,

composed of a house of representatives and a legislative council;

and when any one of the prospective states, the boundaries of

which were designated, should contain 60,000 free inhabitants

it should be entitled to form a permanent constitution and state

government.

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412      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   Closely following the passage of the ordinance of 1787, Congress took like action in regard to the so-called ordinance

of purchase, by which upwards of 6,000,000 acres of land, adjoining the Ohio river on the Muskingum, was sold to the Ohio company and the Scioto company. The former, com- posed principally of soldiers of the late Revolutionary war, to whom the government had promised restitution for their services and loss of fortune, owned the greater part of this land. In the spring of 1788, under com- mand of Rufus Putnam, forty-seven members of the Ohio company, com- prising the advance guard, reached Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the

Muskingum river, and founded the city of Marietta. In the early days of July following, General Arthur St. Clair, who had been appointed by Congress as governor, arrived upon the scene, and Marietta became the capital city of the Northwest territory. The tide of western immigration had now assumed irresist- ible proportions and each succeeding month witnessed an in- creasing number of flat-boats laden with settlers en route to the Ohio country. Late in 1789 the town of Losantiville, at the site of Cincinnati, was laid out by John Filson and Robert Patterson, and in the ensuing summer a stockade was erected for its protection. In the following autumn the stockade was occupied by General Harmar, and given the name of Fort Wash- ington. At about the same time Governor St. Clair selected Losantiville as the seat of government for the Northwest terri- tory, changing its name to that of Cincinnati.   The Indian and the Immigrant. The matter of first concern to the governor of the North- west territory was the Indian situation, which once more had grown threatening. Settlement of the Ohio country was now

• 139
 

The Indian in Ohio.                 413

 

in active progress, and the great highway of the emigrants en

route to their new homes was the Ohio river. As far west as

Fort Harmar, at the Muskingum, the route was comparatively

safe, but beyond this point the voyagers were subjected to un-

warranted danger from the hostile tribesmen. Centering their

attacks upon the river traffic, the Indians would lie in wait for

the appearance of the river boats and then fall upon them and

their occupants. In this way, from the mouth of the Muskingum

to the falls of the Ohio, at Louisville, many voyagers met with

disaster at the hands of the natives. The force of 500 or 600

troops stationed in the Ohio posts was entirely insufficient to

cope with this condition, and it was the concern of Governor

St. Clair to meet the emergency.

The Indians completely ignored the treaties made with them

at Fort McIntosh and Fort Finney, at the mouth of the Miami,

and encouraged by the British at Detroit and the white renegades

in British pay, resumed depredations with their old-time ardor.

Their excuse for disregarding the treaties mentioned was, as

we have seen, that the land belonged to the tribes in severalty,

and that a treaty which was entered into without the consent

and acceptance of all was necessarily void. Alarmed at the rapid

progress of white settlement north of the Ohio despite their

efforts to check it, the Ohio tribes, in the summer of 1788, met

with representatives of the Six Nations at Detroit. At this

meeting it developed that the Delawares and Wyandots and

more northerly tribes were inclined to leniency toward the set-

tlers along the Ohio, but that the Shawnee, Miami and western

tribes were defiant in their attitude. But aside from showing

the sentiment of the tribes, the Detroit council accomplished

nothing.

General St. Clair, in his capacity as governor and military

chief of the Territory, inaugurated his program for Indian con-

trol by calling all the tribes to assemble at Fort Harmar in the

autumn of 1788. One more attempt at peaceful negotiations

was to be made before sterner measures were adopted. As a

result of this conference two treaties were ratified, in January,

1789, but like those which had preceded them, they failed in

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414       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

their purpose for the reason that the signers of each represented

only a part of the tribes interested. One of these treaties was

with the Iroquois, who confirmed the Ft. Stanwix treaty ces-

sions; but the powerful Mohawk nation and its chief, Joseph

Brant, who was aligned with the British, did not participate.

A treaty was effected with the more northerly tribes, including

the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas and others, who agreed to ob-

serve the provisions of the Ft. McIntosh treaty and to confine

themselves to the territory along the lake, extending roughly from

the Maumee to the Cuyahoga, and southward to the vicinity of

the headwaters of the Scioto.

The tribal situation at this point, immediately preceding the

important Ohio campaigns, is clearly reflected in the Ft. Harmar

treaty. The Iroquois nations, with the exception of the Mo-

hawks and Brant, were favorable to the Americans. Among

the tribes of the Ohio country, a split had resulted in two dis-

tinct factions. Of these, the northern tribes, centering in the

Wyandots, Delawares and Ottawas, and including the more

northerly Chippewas, Pottawatomies and Sacs from the Michigan

country, were inclined toward peace. The western tribes, how-

ever, particularly the Shawnee, the Miamis and kindred tribes

to the west and north, refused to be reconciled to the Americans

and showed unmistakably that they were aligned with the

British. The latter faction refused to respond to General St.

Clair's call, and were not present at the Fort Harmar conference.

 

Governor St. Clair's Indian Policy.

The hostile attitude of the western tribes-on the Miami

and the Wabash - and their allegiance to the British, is force-

fully shown in the next step taken by Governor St. Clair. In

January, 1790, hoping to conciliate these tribes, he prepared

and sent among them messages explaining his aims and purposes.

These messages were delivered in person by Pierre Gamelin,

a French trader favorably and widely known to the Indians and

trusted by the whites. Gamelin everywhere was received with

courtesy and hospitality but the tribal chieftains refused to

commit themselves favorably in reply to St. Clair's advances.

They unhesitatingly expressed their distrust of the settlers and

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The Indian in Ohio.                415

 

their motives and made no secret of their subservience to

the British, whose commandant at Detroit they recognized as

"father". Gamelin visited the Shawnee at Miamitown, on the

headwaters of the Maumee, where their chief, Blue Jacket,

clearly defined the attitude of the western tribes by declaring

that the Shawnee were "in doubt as to the sincerity of the Big

Knives, having clearly been deceived by them; a certain proof

that they intend to encroach upon our lands in their new settle-

ments on the Ohio". The Miamis and their kindred tribes on

the Wabash-the Piankeshaws, Weas and the Kickapoos--

gave similar response, and while declaring themselves anxious

for peace made it plain that they could not commit themselves

to action without first conferring with all other tribes and with

the British commandant at Detroit.

Hoping to intimidate these hostile tribes and to impress

upon them the folly of further resistance, several "raids" were

made against them in the early days of 1789. One of these,

under General Harmar, proceeded from Fort Washington (Cin-

cinnati) to the Paint creek towns, in Ross county, and thence

down the Scioto; another was launched from Vincennes, against

the Weas on the Wabash; but in both instances the Indians fled

before the raiders could attack them.

 

General Harmar's Defeat.

We now turn our attention to the first of three successive

campaigns against the Ohio tribes - two of which were destined

to end in complete failure on the part of the Americans. Acting

under orders of President Washington, an army of 1500 men,

mostly Kentucky and Pennsylvania militia, was assembled at

Fort Washington and, under command of General Josiah Har-

mar, in the last days of September, 1790, took up the march

toward the Miami center at the headwaters of the Maumee.

The army, aside from a few regular troops, was a motley aggre-

gation of untrained men and boys, poorly equipped and

provisioned, and totally unfit for the arduous duties they had

assumed.

On the 17th of October, after a weary march during which

disorder, desertion and threatened mutiny were in evidence, the

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416      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

army reached the principal Miami towns, at the junction of the

St. Marys and St. Joseph rivers. The Indians, apprised of their

approach, had deserted and were nowhere to be seen. Harmar's

men, in default of an encounter, burned the cabins and wigwams

and destroyed several thousand bushels of corn, while the sol-

diers appropriated what plunder there was to be had. On Octo-

ber 20, Colonel John Hardin, with a force of militia and regu-

lars, encountered a force of about 100 warriors and in the battle

which followed was badly defeated, his militia being unmanage-

able and no match for the Indians.

Discouraged at the failure of the campaign, due to the lack

of morale and training of his men, General Harmar began the

return march to Fort Washington; but after proceeding a few

miles he decided upon an attempt to retrieve the defeat, and

ordered Major John Wyllys and Colonel Hardin with a force

of 400 regulars and picked militia to return to the scene of

their reverse and surprise and defeat the Indians. The latter,

in considerable numbers, were found at the site of the former

engagement; but the militia, unmanageable and heedless of com-

mands, allowed themselves to be ambushed, while the regulars,

going to their rescue, met a similar fate. General Harmar had

lost more than 200 killed and wounded, and the discomfited and

defeated army made its way sullenly and dejectedly back to Fort

Washington.

The Indians, in their resistance to the Harmar campaign,

were led by the Miami chief, Little Turtle. The latter was

greatly assisted by his adopted son, William Wells, a white man

whom he had taken captive while still a young boy, from his

home in Kentucky. Wells later married Sweet Breeze, the

daughter of the great Miami chief.

 

St. Clair's Campaign.

As a result of the humiliating defeat of General Harmar's

expedition, the Ohio Indians were greatly emboldened, while

the settlers, Congress and the President were correspondingly

depressed. The latter situation was due not alone to the decisive

and continued successes of the Indians, but as well to the delicate

position in which the government found itself involved as a

• 143
 

The Indian in Ohio.                417

result of the slightly-veiled collusion therein by the British in

Canada. The new Republic, not yet recovered from the debilitat-

ing effects of the Revolutionary struggle, was in no position

to bring upon itself another conflict with the British; yet there

was no alternative to a speedy and successful domination of

the Indian menace.

The necessity for action was made more imperative when,

during the very first week of 1791, a party of Delaware and

Wyandot Indians attacked the Big Bottom settlement, thirty

miles above Marietta on the Muskingum, and wantonly murdered

fourteen of the inhabitants. Big Bottom, which was a branch

settlement from Marietta, was occupied at the time by thirty-six

persons. Only two of the number made their escape, those who

were not killed outright being taken captive. To hide the crime

the Indians set fire to the cabins, and, after placing the bodies

of their victims therein, to the stockade, in process of building.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, President Wash-

ington was not dismayed. A gigantic thrust on a scale and

under conditions to insure its success was planned.  As a

preliminary action to the proposed expedition, General Charles

Scot, in May, led a force of volunteers against the Weas on

the Wabash, which succeeded in destroying several of their

towns, killed many Indians and destroyed the newly planted

cornfields. In July, Colonel James Williamson, who had accom-

panied General Scot, proceeded from Fort Washington with 500

Kentuckians against the Miami and Kickapoo towns on Eel river,

with similar results. These American successes only served to

arouse the fury of the Ohio tribes and the Shawnee, under Blue

Jacket, the Miamis, led by Little Turtle, and the Delawares, with

their chief, Buckongahelas, formed an alliance for mutual of-

fense and defense. They were aided and advised by the rene-

gades, Simon Girty, McKee and Elliott of the British Indian

department, which hastened to supply the Indians with arms and

ammunition for the forthcoming contest.

Meantime, General St. Clair was preparing for his "irresist-

ible" invasion, to be commanded by himself.  The objective

of the expedition was to be the Miami towns on the Maumee,

against which General Harmar had unsuccessfully led his army.

Vol. XXVII-27.

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418      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

By late September St. Clair's army, consisting of 2300 militia

and regulars, had arrived at Fort Hamilton, at the site of the

present city of Hamilton, Butler county. The fort had been

erected by an advance detachment as a part of the plan for

a chain of forts at intervals between the Ohio river and

Lake Erie.

General St. Clair's army, hastily recruited, was a repetition

of the unfitness and inefficiency of that of General Harmar, and

the result of his carefully planned expedition was to be fully

as disastrous. St. Clair himself was in ill health, as was Gen-

eral Richard Butler, his second in command. In addition to

these unpropitious facts -the commander in ill health, the men

untrained, dissipated and disorderly - the supplies and equip-

ment of the army were entirely inadequate, particularly in the

matter of food and clothing. But the army pushed forward

from Fort Hamilton, and by the middle of October arrived at

a point six miles south of Greenville, where the second of the

chain of forts - Fort Jefferson - was erected. On November

3rd the army, now reduced by sickness, deaths and desertions

to a scant 1400 men, went into camp on the east fork of the

Wabash, in Mercer county.

The following morning, their presence all unsuspected by

St. Clair, the Indian hordes burst from the surrounding forest

and charged the camp, stampeding the militia and completely

demoralizing the army. The officers were utterly unable to

bring order out of the chaotic confusion, and the attack be-

came a slaughter. The Indians, apprised of every movement of

St. Clair's army, had deliberately effected an ambuscade and

within a few hours' time had completely defeated the expedition.

General St. Clair narrowly escaped death, several bullets passing

through his clothing. General Butler fell mortally wounded. St.

Clair, in order to save the remnant of his force, managed to

effect a retreat, the fleeing soldiers escaping pursuit only be-

cause the great amount of booty left on the scene of battle was

a greater inducement to the Indians. This plunder consisted

of artillery, arms and ammunition; clothing, commissary sup-

plies and wagons; 200 tents, 300 horses and 130 beef cattle.

General St. Clair's loss exceeded 600 officers and men, while the

• 145
 

The Indian in Ohio.                 419

 

Indian loss, out of perhaps 1200 warriors participating, has been

placed at 150 dead.

Little Turtle, at the head of his Miami warriors, was con-

spicuous in the battle. Simon Girty, at the head of the Wyan-

dots, played a prominent part while Blue Jacket, Buckongahelas

and other prominent chiefs aided in the encounter. In addition,

there was present the famous Mohawk chief, Brant, with fifty

warriors of that nation, besides a number of Canadians and half-

breeds. In this encounter we obtain a first glimpse of the great

Tecumseh, who at the time was a young man of 23 years of

age. Tecumseh had been selected by the leaders of the Indian

alliance to act as the head of a party of spies, whose duty it

was to observe and report the movements and progress of St.

Clair's army. So well did Tecumseh carry this out that Little

Turtle and his aides were at all times aware of St. Clair's

whereabouts, with the result as seen in his disastrous defeat.

 

Indian Successes Depress Settlers.

The days which followed the humiliating defeat of St.

Clair's army- the second disastrous reverse for American arms

on Ohio soil within as many years-were filled with gloomy

foreboding to the success of the prospective state of Ohio. The

settlers who were struggling for a foothold along the Ohio, par-

ticularly on the Muskingum and the Miami, were terror-stricken

at the audacity and barbarity of the Indian attacks, and many

of them sought refuge in the stockades. Moreover, the national

government found itself in a trying situation, which was made

the more difficult owing to a lack of confidence which had de-

veloped in many quarters.   The increasing insolence of the

British in Canada, who were now openly abetting the hostility

of the Indians against the settlers; the no less alarming hostility

of the Spanish authorities at the south, who in turn were Inciting

the southern Indians to depredations and outrages, were added

causes for anxiety to Washington and the government.

But there was no faltering on the part of the president, who

upon the resignation in April, 1792, of General St. Clair as

military commander, appointed as his successor General "Mad"

Anthony Wayne, of revolutionary fame. Rufus Putnam, sur-

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420      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

veyor-general of the Northwest Territory and one of the leaders

of the Ohio company settlement, was appointed to serve under

General Wayne, and was given the title of brigadier general.

General Wayne was instructed to proceed with the work of rais-

ing an army for another invasion of the Indian country, a task

which he carried out quietly but most thoroughly.

In the meantime, during the year 1792 and well into 1793,

every effort was made to pacify the hostile tribesmen and to

avert further bloodshed. Several messengers sent among the

Ohio and the Wabash tribes were murdered by the Indians.

General Putnam, accompanied by the Moravian missionary,

Heckewelder, proceeded to Fort Knox, where they conferred

with the Wabash and Illinois tribes. They were hospitably re-

ceived, but accomplished little. Other councils were held with

the Iroquois, at Philadelphia; with the western tribes at Detroit,

Sandusky, on the Miami, and elsewhere; but all efforts to ap-

pease the tribesmen were futile. The Ohio country remained

the unsurmountable obstacle to a peaceful agreement, for while

the Indians were as determined as ever that the Ohio river

should be the boundary between their country and that of the

white settlers, the latter were just as determined to possess

themselves of the country to the north and west of the Ohio.

The deadlock thus existing could be broken only by force of

arms, and both sides hastened to prepare for the inevitable

conflict.

General Wayne Called to Command.

General Wayne, profiting by the experiences of Harmar

and St. Clair, well knew that no haphazard, inefficient and poorly

equipped army could successfully carry out the purpose for

which his expedition was created. During the summer of 1792,

at Pittsburg, he organized an army of 2500 men who were

divided into companies of cavalry, infantry and artillery. The

fall and winter were spent in drilling and conditioning the men,

who in the following April were transported down the Ohio to

Cincinnati, where until October they were further carefully

trained and disciplined. In October, all being in readiness for

the invasion, Wayne's army began its northward march toward

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The Indian in Ohio.                 421 the scenes where were to be enacted some of the most important events in the annals of the Ohio country. Proceeding by the way of Fort Hamilton the invading army met with its first resistance near Fort St. Clair, at the

present city of Eaton, Preble county. Here the watchful warriors, under command of Little Turtle, hoping to repeat their successes of the preceding campaigns against them, made a sudden and spirited attack on a detachment of the army. Lieu- tenant Lowry, commanding, and 13 of the 100 men composing the de- tachment, were killed, and their horses driven off by the attacking party. This incident served to re- double the already careful watch of the army against attack and surprise. General Wayne proceeded northward

and at the site of the city of Greenville, Darke county, he erected Fort Greenville, and went into winter quarters. The winter of 1793-4 was spent in carefully training the soldiers in the art of Indian warfare, every possible contingency of which was impressed upon them. As a measure insuring against sur- prise attacks, a corps of scouts, runners and spies was organized, the latter, seven in number, being led by William Wells, the son-in-law of Chief Little Turtle. Wells, a Kentuckian, taken captive when a boy by Little Turtle, had served the latter most ably in the preceding campaigns under Harmar and St. Clair, but later had returned to his people in Kentucky. His sym- pathies now being with the people of his own race, he had entered the service of General Wayne, whom he served most faithfully throughout the campaign. Christmas day of 1795 was celebrated in a strange manner by a part at least of the army at Fort Greenville. General Wayne despatched a detachment under Captain Alexander Gibson to take possession of and occupy the scene of St. Clair's defeat. There the soldiers must have received a very forceful reminder

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422       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

of what might await them should the expedition prove a failure.

Hundreds of skulls and skeletons of St. Clair's men still littered

the ground despite the fact that a detachment under Colonel

James Wilkinson had been sent, following the massacre, to inter

the dead. The field of battle was occupied by the troops from

Wayne's army and a stockade, named Fort Recovery, was

erected thereon.

Forts Recovery and Defiance.

Upon this fort and its garrison of 150 men under Major

William McMahon, Little Turtle and his warriors, to the num-

ber of more than one thousand, made a spirited attack in June,

1794. For two days they besieged the little stockade with all

their pent-up fury, but under General Wayne's careful prepara-

tion the site, which had yielded them so decisive a victory against

St. Clair's expedition, withstood their every effort at capture.

The fort indeed had justified its name-Ft. Recovery. The

defending garrison sustained a loss of 22 men killed and about

30 wounded. The loss of the Indians was much greater, and

the reverse not only perceptibly dampened their fighting spirit

but served to check the ardor of the British, who by this time

were actively aiding the tribesmen with arms, ammunition and

men. Simon Girty, attached to the British Indian agency, was

conspicuous among the warriors in their attack on Fort Recov-

ery, the last battle against the Americans in which he took an

active part. Alexander McKee, in charge of the British agency

at the head of the falls of the Maumee, at the site of the modern

town of Perrysburg, was distributing arms and provisions to

the Indians; while nearby, at the foot of the rapids, on the north

side of the river, the British from Canada had erected a strong-

hold which they named Fort Miami. This fort, which repre-

sented "an encroachment of nearly forty miles upon the Amer-

ican soil," was garrisoned by three companies of British sol-

diers. Thus it is seen that General Wayne's expedition faced

the menace not only of the tribesmen but of the British as well.

Near the end of July Wayne's legion of regulars was joined

by 1600 mounted Kentucky militia, under General Charles Scott,

and the long-deferred forward movement against the Indians

was begun. From Fort Greenville, the army moved slowly for-

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The Indian in Ohio.                423

ward, virtually hewing its way through the forests, constructing

roads across the swamp lands or improvising bridges across the

streams. On August 8th they reached the Maumee at the mouth

of the Auglaize, at which highly important and strategic point

General Wayne proceeded to erect Fort Defiance. The army now

had arrived on the threshold of the populous Maumee Indian

country, for from this point northeast to Lake Erie, the banks

of the Maumee were dotted almost continuously with Indian

camps and towns. In Wayne's own words, the region was "the

grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the west". This rich

valley, famed for its natural beauty and fertile soil, was at the

time of Wayne's expedition a veritable garden-spot in the

wilderness. Here the Indians had great fields of corn, which

extended for miles along the Auglaize and the Maumee, attest-

ing to the prosperity of the tribes who were so fortunate as to

occupy so favored a spot. From this vantage point at Fort

Defiance, Wayne invited the tribesmen to cease hostilities and

enter into negotiations looking to the resumption of friendly

relations; but the Indians, confident to the point of arrogance,

and supported by the British, were evasive and unresponsive.

Having done all in his power to avert the now inevitable con-

flict, Wayne and his army advanced from Fort Defiance and on

the 18th of August reached a point 40 miles farther down the

Maumee, and within a few miles of the British Fort Miami.

Here, on the north side of the river, he erected a stockade as

a depot for supplies, which he named Fort Deposit. Finding

the Indians still defiant, Wayne lost no further time, but push-

ing rapidly forward arrived on August 20th at a place known

as Fallen Timbers, from the fact that the ground was strewn

with trees which had been uprooted and scattered by a tornado

a few years previously.

 

Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Here, in close proximity to the encampment of the Indians

and their Canadian allies, and almost under the guns of the

British fort, General Wayne moved his army into line, and the

greatest battle of Ohio Indian warfare was begun. The Indians,

in full force, and numbering perhaps 2,000 warriors, were

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424      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

drawn into three lines, extending for about two miles from and

at right angles to the river. The densely littered ground, with

its covering of fallen trees, was exactly suited to the Indian mode

of fighting; but General Wayne had learned the arts of border

warfare, and his men, perfectly trained and disciplined, were

the equals of the Indians at their own game. As was their wont,

the Indians began the battle with a heavy fusillade of firing, and

then followed with an attempt to turn the flank of the attackers.

But Wayne's plan of attack was so carefully calculated that the

Indians quickly found themselves smothered by the fierceness of

his charge and being completely outnumbered, took refuge in

flight. They were pursued for several miles by a part of Wayne's

command, less than one-half their own number. The stampeded

Indians, in their flight, had expected to take shelter in the British

fort, but in the moment of their misfortune they found its gates

closed to them, and as an alternative fled precipitately into the

surrounding forest, where they scattered and disappeared.

In the battle of Fallen Timbers the Americans lost 33 men

killed and 100 wounded. The Indian losses are unknown, but

the field of battle was strewn with their dead. The number of

the latter participating has been estimated at from 1,400 to 2,000

Indians, with an unknown number of British Rangers and

Canadian volunteers. Of the tribes participating, the Delawares

numbered about 500 warriors; the Shawnee 150; Wyandots 300;

Ottawas 250; and Miamis 200, beside small bands and scatter-

ing warriors from other tribes. Previous to the battle the Miami

chief, Little Turtle, realizing the hopelessness of success for his

people, had counselled peace rather than the risk of a battle.

The Indians, he declared, could not expect to emerge victors

from a contest with General Wayne, whom he characterized as

"the chief who never sleeps." But Little Turtle's judgment was

overruled by his fellow chiefs, particularly by Blue Jacket, the

Shawnee, who is supposed to have been chief in command at

the battle which followed.

As a finale to his unqualified victory, Wayne, disregarding

the threats of the British commander of Fort Miami, laid waste

the surrounding country, burned the Indian towns and British

trading posts and destroyed the cornfields of the Indians. He

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The Indian in Ohio.                425

 

then leisurely retraced his march, by way of Fort Defiance, which

was strenghtened and garrisoned; thence to the site of the

present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Fort Wayne was

erected; and thence back to Fort Greenville, where the army

arrived on November 2, 1796. Here General Wayne decided

to rest and await developments.

 

The Greenville Treaty.

The calamitous defeat of the confederated tribes at Fallen

Timbers and the destruction of their towns and cornfields which

followed, left them in much the same state of confusion as that

attending a swarm of bees driven from its hive and the hive

destroyed. Consequently it was some time before the tribesmen

were able to "find" themselves and to assume something like

orderly intercourse and communication with one another. When

the confusion had somewhat abated, sentiment was found to

be divided as to the course to be pursued in repairing their

damaged fortune. Some of the tribes, as the Wyandots and

the Miamis and their respective chiefs, were in favor of seeking

peace with General Wayne and his American army. Others,

however, favored a continuation of the war, and, being assured

of the further support of the British, believed they could yet

dislodge Wayne from his stronghold and force the Americans

back across the Ohio river. Chief Blue Jacket, of the Shawnee,

encouraged by the British governor of Canada and the Mohawk

chief, Brant, was insistent on further hostilities.

But General Wayne, resting on his laurels at Fort Green-

ville, early saw indications that the counsel of the peace faction

was to prevail. The Wyandots from the Sandusky, the first to

openly ask for peace, were followed shortly by the Ottawas,

Miamis, and the Chippewas, Pottawatomies and Sacs from the

Michigan country. Meanwhile, General Wayne had sent forth

the intelligence among the tribesmen that he was expecting to

hear from them, and the response was gratifying in the extreme.

By the end of 1794 the desire for peace had reached a point

where General Wayne felt justified in entering into negotiations

with the tribes. In January, 1795, he entered upon preliminary

negotiations with those already assembled at Greenville, which

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426       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. provided for a grand conference in June for the purpose of con- cluding a treaty between all the hostile tribes and the Americans. On June 15, 1795, the chiefs and representatives of the war- ring tribes having assembled at Greenville, the great council was formally opened. For many days the ceremonies incident to In-

dian negotiations were carried on. The Indian orators, in their turns, set forth their positions and aired their grievances with all the ardor and eloquence of their race. They cited evidences of bad faith on the part of the Americans in former treaties and indicated their doubts as to the good intentions of their con- querors in the pending one; lamented the encroachments of the

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The Indian in Ohio.                 427

 

whites upon their territory, and the consequent unfavorable out-

look for their future welfare; in short, while realizing the hope-

lessness of their position as the inevitable recipients of a bad

bargain, they strove by every diplomatic means to save to them-

selves as much as possible from the wreckage of defeat.

General Wayne, surrounded by his aides and interpreters,

listened with patience and forbearance, and met each argument

as it was presented. Interspersed between the routine proceed-

ings or as a part of them, were the usual festivities - feasting,

smoking, and the exchange of wampum, beads and belts. Finally,

after more than six weeks' duration, the council culminated in

an agreement as to the proposed treaty of peace, and among

much smoking of the peace-pipe, or calumet, and attendant

formalities, the ninety-odd chiefs and representatives of the

Indians affixed their signatures to the document, after which

General Wayne, his aides and interpreters as representatives of

the Government, did likewise.

The Indian tribes represented at the council, and their

respective numbers, were as follows: Delawares, 381; Pottawa-

tomies, 240; Wyandots, 180; Shawnee, 143; Miamis, including

Eel Rivers, 73; Ottawas, 45; and Chippewas, Weas, Piankeshaws,

Kickapoos and Kaskaskias, 68; a total of 1,130. Among the

principal chiefs taking an active part in the council, and whose

names appear on the treaty documents, were Little Turtle, of

the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnee; Tarhe, (The Crane,)

of the Wyandots; and Buckongahelas, of the Delawares.

Among the more renowned signers for the Americans were,

besides General Wayne, William Henry Harrison, of later fame;

William Wells, the son-in-law of Little Turtle, a white captive

from Kentucky; and Isaac Zane.

 

Relics of Wayne's Campaign.

In the Museum Building of the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society the visitor may look upon some interesting

and cherished relics of the famous Greenville Treaty, by which

"Indian dominance of the Northwest Territory was forever

ended, and its soil thrown open to the advance of civilization".

These relics consist of a photographic copy of the famous treaty

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428       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

itself -showing the preamble, and the signatures of the rep-

resentatives of both the whites and the Indians. The latter

make an interesting study, the name of each signer being written

out in its English form and followed by the rude totem or clan

symbol of the signer. Of even greater interest, perhaps, is the

famous Calumet or peace-pipe, smoked by General Wayne and

the Indian chiefs in solemn witness of the vow to stand by the

provisions of the treaty. To the Indian, the calumet ceremony

was the equivalent of the legal oath or affirmation of the white

man, and represented the most solemn vow of which the red

man could conceive. Aside from these reminders of the great

treaty, there are shown personal mementos of General Wayne,

among them his spurs and gold watch-chain, worn and used dur-

ing the memorable campaign.. The calumet and other relics

were given by General Wayne upon his return to Pennsylvania

and shortly before his death, in 1796, to Captain Ezra Kendall,

his aide, from whom they have been handed down as family

heirlooms to his descendant, Alva Kendall Overturf, of

Columbus.

The Greenville Treaty had for its purpose "to put an end

to a destructive war, to settle all controversies and to restore

harmony and friendly intercourse between the United States

and the Indian tribes." It provided for the cessation of hos-

tilities, the exchange of prisoners, establishment of boundary

lines, immediate delivery to the tribesmen of goods to the value

of $20,000 and the annual payment of $9,500 in goods there-

after. The boundary line, known as the Greenville treaty line,

as defined, is shown on the accompanying map.

The Treaty of Greenville stands as one of the most remark-

able agreements entered into between the native Indian race and

the European settlers. Aside from the important results above

referred to, it served greatly to diminish the British antipathy

toward the Americans, and to clear the western country of In-

dian warfare for more than fifteen years. As for the Indians

who signed the document, it is greatly to their credit that few

or none of them failed to observe its provisions.

• 155
 

The Indian in Ohio.                429

 

 

THE WAR OF 1812.

Tecumseh, the Shawnee.

It has beer remarked that the history of a people is the

history of its great men. This is particularly true of the story

of the Indian race in Ohio, and that part of it subsequent to

the treaty of Greenville we shall permit to center in the persons

of three great leaders - Tecumseh, the Shawnee; his brother the

Prophet, and Tarhe, chief of the Wyandots. Around this trium-

virate of influential leaders, representative of the best and

greatest of the native race, center the principal events of the

ultimate period of Indian history in the state - the period which

embraced the War of 1812, and witnessed the final struggle of

the Red Man to withstand the irresistible wave of white settle-

ment in his territory.

Following the Treaty of Greenville, as we have seen, the

Ohio tribes and their chieftains, almost with one accord, sub-

mitted to the inevitable and acknowledged the supremacy of

the Americans. But there was one among them who had refused

to attend the peace councils and who consequently was not en-

rolled with his fellow tribesmen upon the treaty document which

resulted therefrom. This man was the great Tecumseh, chief

of the Shawnee, who is to hold the stage in the role of hero,

or as heavy villain, according to the view of the spectator, dur-

ing the last act of the Ohio Indian drama.

Up to this point we have had but casual glimpses of the

man who was to become the recognized greatest leader of the

Ohio Indians if not of his race.   Tecumseh first appears

prominently in history at the defeat of St. Clair's army, where

we have seen him acting as scout for the Indian allies. At the

battle of Fallen Timbers we learn that his abiltiy was rapidly

becoming recognized when we find him leading a band of his

own tribe into the thickest of the fight. And now, before pro-

ceeding to consider his subsequent career, it is desrable that we

iinquire as to the facts and events of the earlier life of Tecumseh,

and incidentally learn something of another illustrious member

of his family-Elskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet.

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430      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

In recounting the expedition of George Rogers Clark against

the Shawnee towns on the Little Miami and the Mad Rivers,

in 1780, we witnessed the destruction of the Shawnee capital,

Piqua, a few miles south of the present city of Springfield, in

Clark county. Here, in the year 1768 was born Tecumseh, and

a few years later, probably at the same place, his brother

Elskwatawa. Tecumseh's father, Puckshenoah, a chieftain of

note, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant, and the youthful

Tecumseh was placed in the keeping of an older brother,

Cheseekau. The latter was subsequently killed in a battle with

southern tribes, in which the Shawnee were engaged; but in

the meantime the future great chieftain had been carefully

trained to fill the part that was to be his.

We have already noted the attitude of Tecumseh toward

the Treaty of Greenville, which he considered as an agreement

forced upon his people and as without justice to the Indians'

interests. In this frame of mind he continued until the time of

his death to denounce it and to influence others of his people

to disregard its provisions. Needless to add, his views were

shared by his brother, the Prophet.

After General Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers the Shaw-

nee left their Miami settlements and took up their residence

about the headwaters of the Auglaize, and upon the White river,

in Indiana. In the early years of the Nineteenth century, the

scattered bands began to congregate at the site of Greenville,

where General Wayne had effected his notable treaty in 1795.

From this point, operating in conjunction but along entirely dif-

ferent lines, the gifted brothers inaugurated a campaign which

in spectacular interest excels anything in Ohio Indian annals.

Briefly, the joint plan of action contemplated that while the

Prophet, through the medium of a religious mania should en-

gender the desired sentiment among the Ohio and adjacent tribes,

Tecumseh should endeavor, by personal solicitation, to bring

the nations to the south and west into a proposed offensive

alliance. Through this federation of tribes the brothers hoped

to abrogate the treaty of Greenville and to effect the repulse of

the Americans from the Ohio country.

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The Indian in Ohio.                 431

 

Elskwatawa, the Prophet.

It was at this point that the Prophet, whose original name

was Laulewasikau, or "Loud Voice", assumed the name of

Elskwatawa, the "Open Door", as significant of his mission as

a means of restitution of his people. In order to inaugurate

his religious doctrines and to establish his sacred character and

supernatural claims, he fell into a trance so closely simulating

death that it was only when the would-be mourners had assem-

bled for the funeral that the supposed corpse returned to life.

On emerging from his trance, the Prophet explained to his peo-

ple that he had visited the Spirit World, where he had been

permitted to "lift the veil of the past and the future" and that

as a result he returned to them bearing revelations from the

Master of Life. The burden of the Prophet's message was that

the misfortunes of his people were the result of certain practices

of witchcraft and medicine juggleries among the tribes, and of

too close association with the pale-faced invaders. The result

of his preachings against the supposed practice of witchcraft,

we shall observe shortly in the pathetic death of Leatherlips.

Elskwatawa's impeachment of white influence upon the

Indian tribes was in many respects of peculiar force and truth-

fulness. He condemned the firewater of the whites as "poison

and accursed", and to its use he rightly attributed much of the

misfortune which had befallen the tribesmen. He earnestly ex-

horted his followers to define sharply the line between the two

races, patricularly with respect to the intermarriage of Indian

women with white men. Everything adapted from the white

man, - his dress, implements, and even his customs - must be

strictly discarded, and the tribes must return to the ways of

their fathers. To those who would so do, the Prophet promised

a return to divine favor and a restitution of former happiness

and prosperity; but for those who continued to pattern after

the white man, he could promise nothing better than continued

misery and punishment after death.

The new religion found many adherents, and the Prophet

continued to dream  and receive revelations.  The uncanny

knowledge of the white man, so evident in the Prophet's meth-

ods, is strikingly shown by his prediction of an eclipse of the

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sun, which occurred in the summer of 1806. Clearly the Prophet

had taken advantage of advance notice of the event, secured

from some white person, and that he turned the information to

good account, is shown by the acclaim with which he was hailed

as the true prophet and messenger of the Master of Life, fol-

lowing so evident a verification of claims to supernatural powers.

Under the impetus of this seeming miracle, and others equally

spectacular, the new religion spread rapidly, reaching the tribes

of the north, west and south. Its teachings, or rather the ex-

citement engendered thereby was later largely responsible for

the so-called Creek war of 1813, which we have mentioned

previously; and it was at this point that Tecumseh, seeing the

advantages offered by the prevailing enthusiasm and excitement

among the tribesmen, availed himself of the opportunity for

effecting his ambitious scheme of federation.

In the meantime, the State of Ohio, from its capital at

Chillicothe, was keeping close watch upon the "inscrutable

ceremonies, half religious, half martial", which were being car-

ried out at Greenville. Suspicion as to their real intent resulted

in Tecumseh, Blue Jacket and others prominent in the movement

being summoned to Chillicothe where, in 1807, they were called

upon to explain their position. Tecumseh, in a speech of sur-

passing eloquence, disclaimed any hostile significance for the

Greenville revival, and succeeded in allaying the uneasiness

which was appearing among the settlers. The following year,

(1808) Tecumseh and the Prophet removed their headquarters

from Greenville to the Tippecanoe river, in Indiana, where their

settlement, at the junction of that stream with the Wabash, was

known as Prophet's town.

 

Tragic Death of Leatherlips.

We have referred to Leatherlips, a chief of the Wyandots,

as one of the principal characters identified in the history of

Indian activities during the period of the second war with Eng-

land. In the pages immediately preceding, in which are dis-

cussed the religious teachings of the Shawnee Prophet, we learn

that among certain practices of the tribesmen which they tabooed

was that of witchcraft. It is not strange that the Indian, even

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The Indian in Ohio.                433   so intelligent a representative of the race as was the Prophet, should have believed in the existence of this imaginary power or influence. Witchcraft and the supernatural were a very part of the Indian mind, as they are of any uncivilized people; and it had not been so long since a similar belief had held sway among the New England Colonists. At any rate, we find the edict of the Prophet against the practice of witchcraft being carried out as vigorously as in the days of Roger Williams; and that it "covered a multitude of sins" and was used politically to further the plans of the Prophet and Tecumseh, is very evident. The Ohio Wyandots, and particularly their chieftains, Tarhe and Leatherlips, did not look with favor upon the Shawnee en- terprise. They had finished once and for all with intrigue against the settlers, and had so recorded themselves in the treaty of Greenville  Leatherlips especially was outspoken in his opposi- tion, and as a result incurred the particular enmity of the Shaw- nee leaders. Accordingly, it was decreed that his adverse in- fluence must be removed, and to accomplish this, a charge of witchcraft was placed against him. On the first day of June 1810, a band of Wyandot warriors, who had been bribed to the traitorous act, arrived at the camp of Leatherlips, at the time temporarily located about twelve miles north of Columbus. on the Scioto river. After taking the aged chief captive and

pronouncing the sentence of death upon him, the captors hastily dug a shallow  grave.  Leatherlips was forced to kneel at the edge of this grave, and while engaged in prayer to the Great Spirit, was struck from behind with a tomahawk and killed. The body was hastily buried and the traitorous members of his tribe took their departure.  Several white set- tlers who were present and who wit- nessed the execution attempted to save the chief's life, through payment of a ransom, but their efforts were unavailing.

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434       Ohio Arch and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Leatherlips was prominent at the Treaty of Greenville,

where he signed the treaty in behalf of his tribe. His honorable

character and friendship for the whites made him one of the

most popular and trusted of his race.

The spot where Leatherlips was killed is located a short

distance north of the town of Dublin, Franklin county, on the

east bank of the Scioto river. It is marked by an appropriate

monument, erected in 1888 by the Wyandot Club of Columbus.

 

Tecumseh's Proposed Confederacy.

At Prophet's Town, at the junction of the Tippecanoe and

Wabash rivers, the religious "outbreak" reached its culmination;

but the element of hostility and danger to the settlers had

reached such menacing proportions that in August, 181O, Te-

cumseh and 300 of his warriors were called by Governor Harri-

son of Indiana to Vincennes to explain their actions. Tecumseh's

wonderful oratory succeeded only in part in allaying suspicion,

and the feeling persisted, on the part both of the Indians and

the whites, that hostilities were imminent. While Tecumseh

again disavowed any purpose of making war upon the United

States, he was outspoken and unequivocal as to his position.

This position Tecumseh defined by openly admitting that it was

his purpose to effect a gigantic confederacy which should include

every tribe and nation on the continent, if such were possible.

The object of this confederacy, he declared, was to put a stop

to the encroachment of the whites upon the territory north and

west of the Ohio river, which he stoutly maintained was the

natural and proper boundary line between the territory of the

two races, and the only boundary which he would consent to

acknowledge. Tecumseh once more presented the grievances

of his people, and justified his course by declaring that the policy

of the United States in purchasing land from the separate tribes

was "a mighty water, ready to overflow his people", and that

the confederacy which he was planning had for its purpose the

prevntion of the sale of land by individual tribes without the

consent of all, which, he believed would be the dam that would

resist the mighty flood of waters represented by white encroach-

ment. The Americans, he declared, had driven the Indians from

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The Indian in Ohio.                435

 

the sea and now were threatening to push them into the lakes;

and although he should prefer to enlist his warriors on the side

of the Americans in the forthcoming war with England, he

could not do so unless the Ohio river should be fixed upon as

the boundary line between the Indian and the white countries.

General Harrison in reply informed Tecumseh that it was very

unlikely that the President, from whom such a decision must

come, would consent to such a concession. Apparently the two

great leaders, Tecumseh and General Wayne, parted "more in

sorrow than in anger", for the Shawnee chieftain readily

promised the governor that in event of hostilities he would en-

deavor to restrain his warriors from cruelty toward women and

children and torture of prisoners. Thus the humane trait for

which Tecumseh is justly so renowned, was displayed even in

the great bitterness which he felt toward the whites at this tme.

Following his conference with General Harrison, Tecumseh

lost no time in his efforts to perfect the fabric of his con-

federacy. True to his name, the Indian translation of which

signified "one who passes across intervening space, from one

point to another", as a meteor, or shooting star, he began a

series of most remarkable and speedy journeys, which took him

among the tribes from the headwaters of the Mississippi river

to the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern Atlantic seaboard.

In Florida he visited and incited the Seminoles, and then turned

his attention to the Creeks in Alabama. The result of the latter

visit was manifested in the bloody Creek war of 1813, of which

we have spoken previously.

 

The Battle of Tippecanoe.

While Tecumseh was engaged in this campaign of amal-

gamation, affairs around the Tippecanoe headquarters, where

he felt that his plans had been safely matured, were going badly.

The settlers on the Ohio and Indiana border, frightened at the

aspect of the Indian activities and seeing therein the hand of

the British in exciting the Indians to hostilities against the

Americans, petitioned the President for the dispersal of the

Prophet's followers. Pursuant to this Governor Harrison, of

Indiana, sought to restrain the highly frenzied tribesmen in their

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436      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. warlike manifestations, but receiving a direct challenge from the Prophet, who openly announced himself as at war with the United States, he determined to resort to the force of arms. On the fifth of November, 1811, with an army of 900 men, General Harrison marched from Vincennes and encamped a

short distance from the Prophet's Town. He was met by messengers from the Prophet with requests for a truce, to be followed by overtures for peace. This was granted by Gen- eral Harrison who, however, took every precaution against possibility of deception and a surprise attack. His precautions were fully justified, for before daybreak on the morning of November 7, the Indians attacked the camp in force. The battle which followed was characterized by the recklessness and frenzy with which the Indians threw themselves into

the attack, utterly regardless of loss of life, and by the alacrity and spirit with which the Americans met the onslaught. The Prophet had assured his warriors that in the forth- coming fray his supernatural powers would insure them victory. The Great Spirit, he had told them, would render the arms of the enemy unavailing, and that while the latter would fight in darkness, the Indians would have an abundance of light. But while the Indians, spurred on to superhuman effort by the as- surances of their leader, fought with an abandon perhaps unequalled in their race, the havoc wrought by the deadly fire of the Americans could not long be withstood, and with the appearance of daylight, the baffled warriors, disillusioned and defeated, took refuge in flight. Denouncing the Prophet as an impostor, they departed from the Tippecanoe town and returned to their several tribes. As a result of this premature and ill- timed beginning of hostilities the glory that was the Prophet's disappeared forever, and the cherished plans of the great Te- cumseh were sadly impaired.

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The Indian in Ohio.                437

 

In justice to the name of Elskwatawa, it should be stated

that the remarkable religious revival which he inaugurated was

not, to begin with, at least, a military movement. It had its

origin rather in a realization of the inimical effects which con-

tact with white men was exerting upon the Indian, and in a

desire to restore his former prowess and efficiency by a return

to primitive ways. Looked upon as such, the Prophet's scheme

contained much that was admirable and remarkable, marking

its originator as a man not only of keen perception and penetra-

tion, but as one of true patriotism and solicitude for his people.

The fact that the Prophet himself made use of his prestige to

the discomfiture of his personal opponents, and that Tecumseh

early took advantage of the situation to further his plans for

a great federation of tribes as an offensive against the Amer-

icans, can hardly be considered as detracting from the worth-

iness of the movement, at least from the Indian viewpoint.

 

Tecumseh Espouses British Cause.

Tecumseh, returning to the Tippecanoe, was greatly dis-

mayed but not altogether disheartened. Early the following

year we find him once more disclaiming any intention of war-

fare against the United States but very bitter against General

Harrison whom, he claimed, had unjustly proceeded to the at-

tack against the Prophet's Town during his absence. Tecumseh

proposed to Harrison a visit to the President in the interest

of a settlement of the difficulties, but General Harrison ob-

jected to the conditions under which the Shawnee chieftain de-

sired to conduct his pilgrimage.

Following a declaration of war between the United States

and England, and despairing of reconciling his views with those

of the Americans and of realizing his hopes for a successful

federation of the tribes, Tecumseh proceeded to Canada where,

at Malden, opposite the site of Fort Detroit, he joined the British

cause. With him were scattered bands of his followers and

individual Indians from the Ohio country who chose to share

the fortunes of their leader. Under the British standard Tecum-

seh hoped to accomplish, in part at least, the purpose for which

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438       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

his memorable attempt at a country-wide confederation was

made.

His first efforts under the British commander, General

Brock, gave promise of a realization of his dreams. On August

5, in command of a force of Indians fighting with the British,

Tecumseh intercepted and attacked near Brownstown, a detach-

ment of General Hull's American army, then occupying Detroit,

and inflicted upon them a severe defeat. Thus the disappointed

Tecumseh had the satisfaction of commanding the victors of

the first batty of the War of 1812. But a few days later, at

Magauga, a few miles from Detroit, the valiant Tecumseh and

his warriors were not so successful. A second detachment had

been sent by General Hull from Detroit, and in a battle with

these Tecumseh was wounded and his command badly defeated.

At the historic surrender of Detroit to the British, in August

following, Tecumseh was in command of the allied Indians

fighting with General Brock. While no opportunity offered for

further gratification of his enmity toward the Americans, since

the surrender took place without fighting, he took great satis-

faction in the humiliation of General Hull and his army.

With the exception of his reverse at Maguaga, Tecumseh's

success as a leader of the Indian warriors fighting with the

British had been most gratifying. With the surrender of De-

troit and the capture of Hull's army, the British-Indian allies

were greatly encouraged. Tribesmen from far and near flocked

to Tecumseh's standard, and it appeared that his dream of

federation and conquest might yet be realized. By personal

visits to the tribes of the country north and west of Ohio, he

succeeded in augmenting his forces until several thousand In-

dians were at his command.

To counteract the danger of the Indian excitement follow-

ing the failure of General Hull's campaign, and to continue the

work of meeting the British aggression in the western theatre

of the war a new army was recruited, which consisted of volun-

teers from  Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the

country to the westward. William Henry Harrison, governor

of Indiana and hero of Tippecanoe, was commissioned as its

commander.

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The Indian in Ohio.                439   In preparation for his campaign General Harrison, early in 1813, erected a stronghold at the rapids of the Maumee, near the scene of the memorable battle of Fallen Timbers. This re- doubt was named Fort Meigs, in honor of the governor of Ohio.   Siege of Fort Meigs. The commander of the Northwest army had not long to wait; for hardly had Fort Meigs been completed when, in April,

1813, General Proctor, who had succeeded Brock as commander of the British, and Tecumseh, with an army of about 1500 Canadians and an equal number of Indians, made their appear-

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440       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

ance across the Maumee from    the fort. Here they erected

earthworks and having posted a force of Indians on the south

side of the river, in the rear of the fort, began a siege which ter-

minated only after two weeks of desperate attack and defense.

General Harrison at first had but 600 troops, but the garrison

was augmented by the arrival of General Clay with 1500 Kentuck-

ians. Of Clay's force, General Harrison ordered 800 under Col-

onel Dudley to cross to the north side of the river and there en-

gage the British and Indians under Proctor and Tecumseh. Dud-

ley's detachment succeeded in storming and taking the British

batteries, but fell into an ambuscade prepared by Tecumseh. In

their attempt to escape, Dudley and 600 of his men were

mercilessly slain and scalped. At the same time, the remaining

700 troops of Clay's command, under Colonel Miller, were sent

against the British and Indian force back of the fort, but were

driven from the field with heavy losses in dead and wounded.

But the Americans in their stronghold had the advantage, and

Proctor was forced to a realization of his inability to capture

the fort. Reluctantly he raised the siege and with his Canadians

and Indians returned to his headquarters on the Canadian side.

During the siege of Fort Meigs Tecumseh's bravery, gen-

eralship and ability as a leader were impressively displayed.

His generosity and humanity were no less in evidence. Coming

upon the scene of Dudley's defeat and ensuing massacre, he

threw himself between the infuriated Indians and their victims

and in thundering tones commanded a cessation of cruelties, at

the same time denouncing Proctor for his acquiescence in the

slaughter.

In July following, having reorganized their commands,

Proctor and Tecumseh returned to Fort Meigs. With an aug-

mented army of 5,000 men of whom 3,000 were Indians, they

again laid siege to the fort, now commanded by General Clay.

But Clay refused to emerge from the security of the fort, and

thus defeated Tecumseh's hopes of drawing the defenders into

an ambuscade such as had resulted so disastrously to Dudley's

detachment. Countered at every turn the besiegers, after many

days of maneuvering, withdrew their forces.

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The Indian in Ohio.                 441   Proctor's failure to encompass the downfall of Fort Meigs, after one of the bloodiest and fiercest contests in the annals of

Ohio history, was a severe blow to British prestige and a great disappointment to the Indian allies.  To the Prophet, who participated in the siege, the British com- mander had promised the Territory  of Michigan   as compensation for his services. Tecumseh had stipulated that in the event of the capture of the fort, General Harrison should be turned over to him to dispose of as he saw fit. In the complete failure of the campaign both were deprived of their expected rewards, while the warriors from the tribes  participating,  disap- pointed and disgusted, began to desert and gradually to

return to their homes. With his army somewhat reduced but still practically intact, Proctor turned his attention to another quarter-the American stronghold on the Sandusky, known as Fort Stephenson. But before following the British-Indian allies to that place, let us revert a few weeks to an event which was transpiring at Franklinton (Columbus) during the interim between the first and second siege of Fort Meigs.   Peace Council at Franklinton. After successfully withstanding the first siege of Fort Meigs, General Harrison, leaving the fort in command of Gen- eral Clay, returned to Franklinton (Columbus) where he pro- ceeded to dismiss the Ohio militia which had been hastily recruited by Governor Meigs for the purpose of relieving Fort Meigs. The danger in that quarter having been eliminated by

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442      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

the raising of the siege, it was decided that the militia was not

needed and that only regular troops should be employed in the

continuance of the war. The decision to decline the services

of the volunteer militia caused great disappointment, not only

among the Ohio settlers, who were anxious to assist in combat-

ting the British, but among the friendly Indian tribesmen as well.

These latter could not understand why they should not be per-

mitted to fight with General Harrison, especially since a large

percentage of the British army under Proctor were Indians.

While it was the policy of the government in its contest

with the British to hold the Ohio tribes to a strict neutrality,

General Harrison realized that it was entirely foreign to their

natures not to participate on one side or the other and that the

influence being brought to bear by Tecumseh threatened to enlist

many of them on the side of the British. For the purpose of

averting such an unfavorable occurrence and that he might in-

form himself as to the exact attitude of the Ohio tribes, he

summoned their leaders to attend a council, which was held at

Franklinton on the 21st of June, 1813. At this historic meeting

we find Tarhe, the Crane, head chief of the Wyandots, as the

dominant figure on the part of the Indians. There were present

at the council, as participating tribes, the Shawnee, Wyandots,

Delawares and Senecas. Of the fifty chiefs and sachems rep-

resenting these, Tarhe acted as spokesman.

In his address explaining why they had been called together,

General Harrison informed the Indians that the time had ar-

rived for an understanding as to the intentions of the tribes. He

referred to the attempts of the British to align them in the

interest of that side, and declared that nothing short of a definite

avowal of their position would satisfy his purposes. If the

tribesmen were disposed to be friends of the Americans, they

must show this either by moving with their families into the

settlements, or that their warriors should accompany him in the

ensuing campaign, and fight for the United States.

 

Tarhe, the Wyandot Chief.

To this, Tarhe, speaking for the assembled representatives,

replied that the Indians continued to maintain the most indis-

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The Indian in Ohio.              443   soluble attachment for the American government, and a deter- mination to adhere to the Treaty of Greenville. The warriors, he declared, wanted just such an opportunity to prove their allegiance to the President, and would gladly accompany General Harrison's army against the British. In this council we have a forceful example of General Har- rison's understanding of the Indian character and his consequent success in his dealings with them.  Likewise, his humanity

as contrasted with the cruelty of the British commander is manifested. It will be recalled that Proctor had promised that in the event of the capture of Fort Meigs he would turn over to Tecumseh, to do with as he pleased, the person of General Harrison.  Recalling this fact to the Indians present at the Franklinton council, Harrison insisted that the warriors who should accompany him should conform to humane methods and abstain from cruelty to women, children, prisoners and the aged and infirm. As to Proctor, he told them that in case he should be captured that he would be turned over to them provided they

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444       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

would promise to avenge themselves by "putting a petticoat on

him". This treatment, as we have seen in connection with the

Delaware nation, was supposed to reduce the recipient to the

rank of a squaw, and to be the most humiliating treatment pos-

sible to accord. In imposing this condition, General Harrison

remarked that "none but a coward or a squaw would kill a

prisoner".

While the Ohio tribes were not called, as such, to par-

ticipate in the war, many of them as individuals and detached

bands associated themselves with Harrison's army and rendered

good service in the remainder of the campaign. Among these

was Tarhe.

Tarhe, the Crane, was born at Detroit in 1742, and evi-

dently came into Ohio with the Huron bands from that loca-

tion, joining the Wyandots already settled in northern Ohio.

Previous to the Greenville treaty, he lived at Solomonstown,

Logan county. After the treaty he established a town near

Lancaster, Fairfield county, called Tarhe's town, later removing

with his tribe to Cranetown, near Upper Sandusky, in Wyandot

county. Here he resided until his death in 1818.

Tarhe was greatly respected and esteemed by those of his

wide acquaintance among white people. General Harrison, at

the close of the War of 1812, eulogized him as a "venerable,

intelligent and upright man", and of the many Indian chiefs

whom he had met, he designated Chief Crane as the noblest

of them all. Tarhe was keeper of the calumet for the confedera-

tion of tribes north of the Ohio river, this office being vested

in him as chief of his tribe, which tribe in turn was the dominant

one of the several participating in the federation for mutual

protection.

The Crane was conspicuous at the Battle of Point Pleasant,

in 1774, and of thirteen Wyandot chiefs who opposed General

Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794, he is said to

have been the only one who escaped, although he was among

the foremost of the fighters, and was severely wounded in the

engagement. Tarhe is given credit for using his great influence

in bringing about the Treaty of Greenville in the following year.

He was the first signer of the treaty document, and from that

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The Indian in Ohio.               445   time until his death, more than 30 years later, he continued to look upon that act as binding him in unquestioned loyalty to the American cause. In this attitude, he strenuously opposed the policy of Tecumseh in siding with the British in the War of 1812, and bore out his convictions by accompanying General Harrison in his campaign against the British in Canada.   Attack on Ft. Stephenson. At the site of the city of Fremont, Sandusky county, was located Fort Stephenson. It had been erected by a detachment of General Harrison's army at the time that Fort Meigs was

built, and was the most northerly of the American northwestern outposts. Following their failure to reduce Fort Meigs, Proc- tor and Tecumseh, with their armies, proceeded to Fort Stephen- son where they expected an easy victory, in partial reparation for their previous failures. Fort Stephenson at the time was

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446       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

in command of Lieut. George Croghan and a garrison of 160

militiamen. The fort, little more than a stockade, was supplied

with one mounted gun. But so courageously and tirelessly did

the little band of frontiersmen defend the fort that their besiegers,

outnumbering them 25 to one, found themselves completely out-

fought and demoralized. By dextrously maneuvering the one

small cannon from port-hole to port-hole of their "forest

Gibraltar", Croghan's men so devastated the ranks of the on-

rushing attack that the Canadians and Indians fell back in dis-

order and dismay. Croghan had made good his reply to Har-

rison's suggestion that he abandon the stockade: "We have

determined to maintain this place, and by heavens, we can".

The British attacking force, numbering 2,000 Canadians and an

equal number of Indians, departed the scenes of their failures

and defeats, and took up the march toward their base at Malden,

Canada.

Tecumseh Foresees the End.

The last chapter in the life of Tecumseh leads us to Cana-

dian soil, whither we shall follow him briefly. The unfavorable

outcome of the campaigns against Fort Meigs and Fort Stephen-

son had served completely to disillusion the great Shawnee

leader, and he now realized that the cause for which he was

so valiantly striving was hopeless of success. In fact for some

time previous to the repulse of the British and Indians at Fort

Stephenson, Tecumseh, in his keenly discerning mind had fore-

seen inevitable defeat and following the failure to reduce Fort

Meigs had despaired of success against the "Long Knives". He

had urged upon Proctor the idea of a bold offensive against the

Americans in their territory south of the Maumee, but the timid

British commander dared not risk such a campaign; and when

instead the latter informed him of his purpose to retire to the

Thames and from there conduct future operations, Tecumseh

no longer could contain his bitter disappointment. To the war-

riors under his command he expressed his unwillingness longer

to continue in a cause which was costing the lives of his people

without the least hope of success, and proposed a withdrawal of

Indian participation in the struggle. His immediate followers,

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The Indian in Ohio.                 447

the Shawnee, Wyandots and Ottawas, favored his proposition;

but many of the tribesmen from the western country, particu-

larly the Sioux and the Chippewas, insisted that since he had

induced them to enter the contest he continue in its prosecution.

Feeling that their claim upon him was a matter of honor, he

acquiesced and prepared for what he knew must be the beginning

of the end.

It was now the early autumn of 1813. Proctor, under pro-

test from Tecumseh, continued his dis-spirited retreat toward

the Thames, while at the head of his Northwestern army Gen-

eral Harrison was pushing his way northward in pursuit. Te-

cumseh, realizing the folly of further retreat, finally prevailed

upon Proctor to make a stand against the pursuingAmericans,

and on October 5, 1813, on the north side of the Thames river,

near the town of Chatham, Ontario, was fought the historic Bat-

tle of the Thames.

By this time the Canadians, as well as the Indian warriors,

fully realized the weakness and inefficiency of Proctor; and it

was to Tecumseh, who already had won for himself the rank

of brigadier general in the British army, that they looked for

leadership in the pending conflict. Tecumseh, in full realization

of its tragic ending, accepted the responsibility for the plan of

battle, while Proctor, solicitous only for his own safety, took

himself to a position of safety some distance away.

 

Battle of the Thames.

Tecumseh's prevision of the result of the battle is shown

in these words, addressed to his followers: "Brother War-

riors, we are now about to enter an engagement from which I

shall never come out; my body will remain on the battlefield".

He then unbuckled his sword and handed it to one of his sub-

ordinates, saying: When my son becomes a noted warrior,

give him this". Removing his British uniform, Tecumseh then

assumed his place at the head of his warriors, clad only in the

usual buckskin costume of his tribesmen. The explanation of

this act is found in the following words, from Mr. Randall's

"Tecumseh, the Shawnee Chief": "The sentiment of the true

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448       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

patriot dominated the soul of this savage in the face of impend-

ing fate; to the ignominy of death in a failing cause on a foreign

field, afar from the forest of his beloved native soil, he would

not add the disgrace of wearing as his shroud the insignia of a

nation professedly his friend, but really his treacherous foe".

We need not dwell upon the details of the battle which

followed. General Harrison, with his army of 2,500 men so

completely overwhelmed the British and Indians that General

Proctor and his "red coats" fled precipitately, leaving the defense

entirely in the hands of the one thousand warriors under Tecum-

seh. These, so greatly outnumbered, fought as perhaps Indians

had never before fought, cheered on by the voice of their leader.

But of a sudden the sustaining "Be brave, be brave" was heard

no more; the voice of their leader had been silenced by death,

and there was none to take his place. The warriors fled from

overwhelming odds, and the arms of the white man had

triumphed.

In taking leave of Tecumseh, we quote the following from

the eloquent tribute of Mr. Randall: "The tongue that for years

had called aloud at the council fires and 'neath the forest boughs,

ever for justice to his people, was stilled forever, nor was there

to be other voice to renew the summons to rise and repel the

invading whites. For fifty years, a full half century, from the

conspiracy of Pontiac to the confederacy of Tecumseh, the war

for the possession of the Ohio country had been waged; the

battle of the Thames was the culmination of that contest and

with the death of the heroic Shawnee there vanished the last

hope of the tribesmen that they might regain the lost lands of

their wigwams and hunting grounds. From now on the irresist-

ible tide of civilization was to sweep the savages across the

Father of Waters and yet far beyond where they were to be-

come the helpless wards of the conquering nation".

 

 

PASSING OF THE OHIO TRIBES.

The Last of the Miamis.

The victory of General Harrison at the Battle of the

Thames ended the War of 1812 and restored to the United

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The Indian in Ohio.                449

 

States possession of Detroit and the Michigan peninsula. With

the consequent passing of British influence and support, there

remained to the Indian tribes of the Ohio country the choice

of peaceful acceptance of conditions imposed by the state and

nation or, as an alternative withdrawal to more congenial terri-

tory. The tribes which had favored the British, particularly

the Shawnee and the Miamis, chose the latter while the friendly

Wyandots, Ottawas and Delawares chose to remain for the time

as they had been; but it was only a matter of a short time until

they too yielded to the pressure of advancing civilization and

passed westward and southward beyond the border of settle-

ment. The career of the Indians as a race had terminated,

in so far as Ohio was concerned; and it remains only to note

briefly the final disappearance from the.state of the tribes and

their leaders whom we have followed as year by year they con-

tinued valiantly and courageously to play the losing game.

The Miamis, earliest of the historic tribes to make their

appearance on Ohio soil, were the first to take their departure

therefrom. At the close of the French and Indian war, as a

result of the peace of 1763, the Miamis, as a tribe, removed

from Ohio to Indiana, the Shawnee then occupying their lands.

By 1827 they had sold most of their lands in Indiana and had

moved to Kansas and thence to Indian territory, where the

remnant of the tribe continues to live. One band however, con-

tinued in Wabash county, Indiana, until 1872, when their land

was divided and apportioned among the individual representa-

tives. The Miamis at the present time number about 400 in all,

as compared with perhaps 1,500 persons at an earlier date. De-

spite their early disappearance as a tribe from Ohio, the Miamis

figured in the last treaty concerning Ohio lands held by the

Indians under the claim of original possession. By this treaty,

held at St. Marys in October, 1818, the Miamis ceded to the

state of Ohio a small tract on the St. Mary's river, in Mercer

county. The remaining Indian lands were in the nature of

reservations which they were permitted to occupy after the

territory in which they were located had been relinquished

Vol. XXVII-29.

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450      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. by cession. They were gradually ceded to the United States. the last being the Wyandot reservation at Upper Sandusky,

in 1842. Of the great Miami chieftain, Little Turtle, much could be deservedly added to what already has been said. We must part company with him, however, by recording that his pledge made in signing the Treaty of Green- ville, when he declared "I am the last to sign it, and I will be the last to break it" was faithfully kept. Up until his death at Fort Wayne in 1812, he continued a staunch friend of the white man and proved himself worthy of the trust that had been placed in him.

The Delawares and the Senecas. The Delawares, whose tempestuous career we have fol- lowed from the time they left their earlier home east of the Alleghenies, were next in point of time to relinquish their Ohio lands. As a people they disappeared from the state compara- tively early, so of the many Delawares participating at the treaty of Greenville we find but few representatives of the tribe from Ohio. Their noted chief, Hopocan or Captain Pipe, had died a year previous to that event, at his town near Upper Sandusky, and the tribe, destined to continue a career perhaps more check- ered than that of any other of the Ohio Indians, had become scattered and divided. The little reservation of nine square miles-the last of the Delaware lands in Ohio-was ceded to the United States in August, 1829. This reservation was lo- cated directly to the south of and adjoining that of the Wyan- dots at Upper Sandusky, and contained the town of Captain Pipe. Just prior to the Revolutionary war the greater part of the Delawares removed to the country lying between the Ohio and the White rivers, in Indiana. From that place, after wandering through the country to the south, they arrived in Indian territory

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The Indian in Ohio.                451

and Oklahoma. Other bands found their way to Canada where

they are known as the Moravians of the Thames, Munsees of the

Thames, and so forth. At the present time the Delawares num-

ber close to 2,000, scattered throughout Indian territory (Okla-

homa), Wisconsin, Kansas, and in Ontario, Canada.

The Senecas of the Sandusky, who occupied a reservation

of 30,000 acres on the east side of the Sandusky river, in the

county which bears their name, ceded their lands to the gov-

ernment early in 1831 as did also the so-called "mixed Senecas,"

affiliated with the Shawnee on the reservation at Lewistown, in

Logan county. The two bands removed first to Kansas and in

1867 to Indian territory, where they now live. Their number

at the present time is perhaps 400.

Within the Seneca reservation on the Sandusky, referred

to above, was located Seneca town. This town was occupied

principally by the remnant of Chief Logan's band of Mingoes,

who, following the Dunmore war, fled from the middle Scioto

and joined their kinsmen on the Sandusky. As we have seen,

the Senecas and the Mingoes were the same people under dif-

ferent names. They were detached bands of Iroquois, mostly

Senecas and Cayugas, who entered Ohio shortly before the

Revolution. The Mingoes, as the bands on the middle Scioto

were known, were not much in evidence after the Dunmore War

and the death of Logan, which occurred in 1780.

 

The Shawnee and Ottawas.

Following the Battle of Tippecanoe the Shawnee, defeated

and scattered, mostly departed from Ohio, some of them seek-

ing less fortuitous existence in the south and others passing to

the westward. The remnant of the tribe in August, 1831, ceded

their remaining lands consisting of a tract ten miles square at

Wapakoneta, and a smaller reserve of 25 square miles adjoining

it on Hog Creek. They removed first to Kansas and thence to

Indian Territory, where the descendants of the several bands,

numbering about 1,400, continue to live. Of their great chiefs,

Tecumseh and Cornstalk, we have spoken. Black Hoof, hardly

less worthy, merits a parting word. He was a brilliant aide to

Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant, and later an active

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452      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

leader of his people in their campaigns against Generals Har-

mar and St. Clair. After the victory of General Wayne, Black

Hoof realized the hopelessness of the Indian cause and became

an ardent advocate of peace and harmony between the two races.

He died at Wapakoneta in 1831, his long life having spanned

the entire period of the struggle between his people and the

white man. He was present at the defeat of General Braddock

in 1755, participated in all the active campaigns which followed,

and passed away just as his tribe was quitting forever their

Ohio hunting grounds.

In August, 1831, the Ottawas ceded to the government a

reservation five miles square on the Blanchard fork of the Aug-

laize, in Putnam county, and a smaller tract, a few miles far-

ther west, on the Auglaize. In February, 1833, their remaining

reservation, a tract of 34 square miles including the site of East

Toledo and Presque Isle at the mouth of the Maumee, was

ceded, and the tribe withdrew from the state. A remnant of

the Ohio Ottawas now lives in Oklahoma, but the Ottawa tribe

proper remained in Michigan, where they still reside.

 

Wyandots Last to Leave Ohio.

The Wyandots, entering the Ohio country as refugees from

the Iroquois conquest, were to be the last to take their departure

from its soil. They contributed to Indian history one of its

most spectacular events, Nicolas' Conspiracy, and one of its

greatest leaders, Tarhe, the Crane. The Wyandots, in March,

1842, ceded their large reservation of twelve miles square, of

which Upper Sandusky was the center, and removed first to

Wyandot county, Kansas, and then to Oklahoma, where they

now are. The last of their great chiefs was the famous Half

King, Pomoacan, or Dunquad, who died subsequent to the War

of 1812.

The historic Wyandot reservation existed within the

memory of men yet living, and from its size and the fact that

it was the last to be relinquished is the best known of the In-

dian reservations of the state. In the Museum of the Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Society there are preserved a

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The Indian in Ohio.                453

 

number of relics found on the site of the towns at Upper

Sandusky.

It will be understood that the foregoing reservations were

merely tracts reserved by the Indians within areas ceded to the

United States. The treaties by which the areas themselves,

comprising the great bulk of the land, were ceded, were as

follows:

Indian Land Cessions.

The Greenville Treaty, 1795, by which the Indians ceded

all land lying south and east of the Greenville Treaty line

(shown on the map) and comprising practically two-thirds of

the state.

A treaty at Fort Industry, (Toledo) in 1805, by which

was ceded practically one-third of the remaining Indian lands,

comprising the eastern portion thereof.

A treaty at Detroit, in November, 1807, by which was ceded

the land lying north of the Maumee as far westward as the

mouth of the Auglaize.

A treaty held at the Rapids of the Maumee, September,

1817, at which the Wyandots, and the Pottawatomies, Ottawas

and Chippewas, ceded the remainder of the Ohio lands.

The cession by the Miamis of the small tract in Mercer

county, already cited, completed the extinguishment of Indian

title to all Ohio lands. There remained to the tribesmen only

the reservations, from which we have seen them, one by one,

take their departure.

The Indian as a people had now disappeared from Ohio.

In all the wide expanse of their ancestral hunting grounds there

remained only a few stragglers to represent the race which once

had held undisputed sway.

 

Opinions as to Indian Character.

From the preceding pages the reader, it is hoped, will have

obtained something approaching a concrete estimate of the In-

dian. We have touched upon the native race from the physical,

mental and religious standpoints, and have learned something

of his habits, customs, and arts. From these we are enabled to

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454      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

form an intelligent conception as to what manner of man he

was; but as between the two extremes of those who see in the

Indian nothing more than a brutal savage and those to whom

he appeals as "the noble Red Man", how shall we decide?

With this thought in mind, it seems appropriate before bid-

ding farewell to the Indian of the historic period, to cite the

opinions of a few of those who, through intimate contact with

and knowledge of the Indian are best qualified to speak.

Judged from results obtained, no one better understood the

Indian nor knew better how to deal with him than William

Penn, the Quaker governor of Pennsylvania. Following his

famous first treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon, in 1683,

he tersely characterized them as "a careless, merry people, yet

in affairs of property strict in their dealings. In council they

are deliberate, in speech short, grave and eloquent. I have

never seen in Europe anything more wise, cautious and dex-

trous". This opinion, of course, was formed very early in

Penn's acquaintance with the red man, and may have been some-

what modified later. However, the policy of the Quakers to-

ward the natives was so just and humane that it was declared

that "not a drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by an Indian".

Christian Frederick Post, the Moravian missionary, in re-

porting his historic mission to the Ohio Indians, in 1758, said:

"There is not a prouder, or more high minded people, in

themselves than the Indians. They think themselves the wisest

and prudentest men in the world; and that they can overpower

the French and English when they please. They are a very

distrustful people. Through their imagination and reason they

think themselves a thousand times stronger than all other people".

 

Zeisberger's Summary.

The opinions of David Zeisberger, of Moravian Indian

renown, must bear much weight, for having spent many years

as one of them he was eminently qualified to judge of the char-

acter of the Indians. In his history of the Indians, he says:

The * * * Indians * * * are by nature (I speak of savages)

lazy as far as work is concerned. If they are at home and not

engaged in the chase they lie all day on their britchen and

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The Indian in Ohio.                455

sleep; when night comes they go to the dance or wander about

in disorderly fashion. * * * They are proud and haughty, even

a miserable Indian, capable in no respect, imagines himself to

be a great lord. They hold themselves in high regard as if they

were capable of great and wonderful things. * * * They are

masters in the art of deceit and at the same time are very

credulous; they are given over to cheating and stealing and are

not put to shame when caught. * * * They are capable of hid-

ing their anger readily, but await an opportunity to avenge

themselves * * * and this generally occurs secretly and quietly.

* * * They are courageous where no danger is to be found,

but in the face of danger or resistance they are fearful and the

worst cowards. * * *

"Yet there are Indians, even among the savages, who main-

tain peaceful and orderly family life. The Indians have both

capacity and skill for work, if they only had the inclination."

Zeisberger, it will be noted, in thus speaking refers to the

"savage" Indians and their natural attributes, which he uses to

some extent as a contrast to the better nature of the natives

as brought out under Christian teachings. Under the latter

conditions he finds many good qualities, as set forth in his

history.

We now turn to one whose fitness for judging the charac-

ter of the Indian is most happy--William Henry Harrison.

His career as a participant in the post-Revolution campaigns

in the Ohio country, as governor of Indiana territory, superin-

tendent of Indian affairs, commander of the Army of the

Northwest in the War of 1812, and as president of the United

States, afforded him a knowledge and understanding of the native

race possessed by but few.

 

General Harrison's Comment.

From a discourse delivered at Cincinnati in 1839, by Gen-

eral Harrison we quote these excerpts:

"An erroneous opinion has prevailed in relation to the

character of the Indians of North America. By many, they are

supposed to be stoics, who willingly encounter deprivations.

The very reverse is the fact; * * * For no Indian will forego

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456      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

an enjoyment or suffer an inconvenience, if he can avoid it.

But under peculiar circumstances; when for instance, he is

stimulated by some strong passion - but even the gratification

of this he is ever ready to postpone, whenever its accomplish-

ment is attended with unlooked for danger, or unexpected hard-

ships. Hence, their military operations were always feeble-

their expeditions few and far between, and much the greater

number abandoned without an efficient stroke, from whim,

caprice, or an aversion to encounter difficulties. * * *

"Their bravery has never been questioned, although there

was certainly a considerable difference between the several tribes,

in this respect. With all but the Wyandots, flight in battle,

when meeting with unexpected resistance, or obstacle, brought

with it no disgrace. * * * With the Wyandots it was other-

wise. Their youth were taught to consider anything that had

the appearance of an acknowledgement of the superiority of

an enemy, as disgraceful. * * *

"As it regards their moral and intellectual qualities, the dif-

ference between the tribes was still greater. The Shawnee, Dela-

wares, and Miamis, were much superior to the other members

of the confederacy. I have known individuals among them of

very high order of talents, but these were not generally to be

relied upon for sincerity. The Little Turtle, of the Miami tribe,

was one of this description, as was the Blue Jacket, a Shawnee

chief. I think it probable that Tecumseh possessed more in-

tegrity than any other of the chiefs, who attained to much

distinction; but he violated a solemn engagement, which he had

freely contracted, * * * but these instances are more than

counterbalanced by the number of individuals of high moral

character, which were to be found amongst the principal, and

secondary chiefs, of the four tribes above mentioned. This was

particularly the case with Tarhe, or the Crane, the grand sachem

of the Wyandots, and Black Hoof, the chief of the Shawnee."

These instances are sufficient to show the liberal admixture

of good and bad in the Indian character. To expect anything

else would be unreasonable, since they were typically human

judged by the standards of any time or people. "That he was

a child of nature, none can deny. That he was a son-of-man,

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The Indian in Ohio.                457

 

linked to the human family by all the bonds of ethnologic law

is patent to the superficial observer". The character of the

average Indian might be summarized in the words of Mr. Ran-

dall, as applied to the career of an Ohio chief, as one of "crime,

passion and occasional humanity".  A  transposition of the

phraseology to read "humanity, passion and occasional crime"

might perhaps describe that element of the native race, rep-

resented by such individuals as Tarhe, the Wyandot, and Te-

cumseh the Shawnee.

It is difficult to resist the desire to speak of many interest-

ing and important details of Ohio Indian annals, necessarily

slighted or altogether ignored in a sketch of this nature. The

history of the State of Ohio weaves many fascinating and thrill-

ing stories around the persons of the early frontiersmen, scouts

and Indian fighters; the heroes and heroines of both the red and

white race; the captive white men and women among the Indian

tribes; the picturesque white renegades, and so forth.  But

having followed the Ohio tribes through the historic period

of their career, we must now turn to their predecessors, the In-

dians and Mound Builders of the pre-historic Ohio.

• 184
 

VI

THE PRE-HISTORIC OHIO INDIAN

 

HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY

The history of a people may be defined as the story of its

activities. If it has arrived at that point in human progress

where the importance of preserving a record thereof becomes

apparent, and has attained to the use of written language, it

records its own history; or, this lacking, another people, obser-

vant of its existence and qualified for the task, may chronicle

the events of its career. In the absence of these requirements

its annals remain unwritten, at best but partially and unsatis-

factorily preserved in tradition and folklore, awaiting the ap-

pearance of a historian competent to glean some facts therefrom.

We may summarize the achievements of the historian by

saying that he has recorded the activities of his own people, and

of others who have come to his attention, since first he became

cognizant of the importance of the task and capable of its execu-

tion. As a result of his exertions the annals of civilized men,

and to a great extent of contemporaneous uncivilized peoples,

have been voluntarily recorded.

Written history carries the story of the human race back-

ward to a very considerable antiquity. Through it we are ap-

prised of such ancient civilizations as that of China, India, Egypt,

Assyria, Greece and Rome, and others of the Levantine and

Mediterranean countries. But beyond this point, history, in its

generally accepted sense, fails to enlighten us. Its records be-

come dim and uncertain, and finally altogether wanting. This

is true (I) of all peoples of the earth preceding the advent of

the historian; (2) of those eras in the lives of peoples which,

while lying within the historic period, have escaped his attention;

and (3) of the entire careers of certain peoples who have existed

and disappeared without finding a chronicler of their activities.

In those remote periods preceding the historic beginnings of

human activities, we surmise that there were races, peoples and

(458)

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The Indian in Ohio.                459

nations, and that at least some of them had attained to a con-

siderable degree of advancement; and to meet our inquiry, his-

tory broadens her scope and summons the aid of her sister-

science, archaeology.

Archaeology, the science of antiquities, is a very important

part of history in its broader sense. It has been termed the

"hand-maiden of history", and together with kindred sciences-

geology, anthropology, ethnology and anatomy-has played an

important part in extending the story of mankind backward be-

yond the so-called historic period.

It is the province of archaeology to consider the material

relics strewn along the pathway of prehistoric human progress,

to interpret their meaning, and to add the information so ob-

tained to existing knowledge of past facts recorded in history.

A people may exist without a written history, or even may dis-

appear without leaving a voluntary record of its activities; but

always there remain certain incidental evidences of its existence.

Practically every habitable portion of the globe yields some

evidence of habitation earlier than that recorded in history, or

of later habitation which has remained unrecorded. Many cities

and towns of the present, particularly in the Old World, are

built upon the ruins of towns and villages of the past, which

in turn not infrequently rest upon the debris of still earlier

human habitations.  Scattered over the countries of both

hemispheres are structures of earth and stone, erected by peo-

ples of prehistoric times as monuments to their dead, as ad-

juncts to their religious and social observances, and for

domiciliary purposes. Wherever men live today, the existence

of prehistoric inhabitants is demonstrated by the presence of

ancient sites, marking the location of camp, village or town.

On and about these are found innumerable objects of their arts

and industries-implements, utensils and ornaments of stone,

bone, metal, and other decay-resisting materials.

The archaeologist readily recognizes even the least con-

spicuous of these relics as being artificial in origin and character,

and as pertaining to the handiwork of man. The smallest chip

of flint or stone, the fragment of shell or bone, oftentimes fur-

nishes a clue to the habitation site of a people whose existence

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460       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

has escaped record in history. By following out this clue and

studying the developments to which it leads, it often is possible

to trace the story of a family, a tribe, or a people which other-

wise never would have been preserved. The evidence offered

by these "foot-prints of the past" is not always voluminous nor

easily interpreted, but once extracted, it is at least truthful,

unbiased and unprejudiced.

The prehistoric inhabitants of Ohio may be said to have

been a people without a recorded history. While European ad-

venturers and explorers found tribes of the native American

race dwelling upon Ohio soil, and wrote much concerning them,

it will be recalled that these tribes were not native to the terri-

tory, but were merely sojourners, recently arrived from other

localities. The Shawnee, Miamis, Wyandots, Delawares and

others of the historic period all had entered Ohio as a result

of unsettlement resulting from European colonization of the

country to the east and north. Their knowledge of the native

Ohio tribes was little more than vague and indefinite tradition,

of doubtful value from a historical viewpoint.

The nearest approach to definite knowledge of a native

Ohio tribe was with respect to the Eries, or Cat Nation, formerly

inhabiting the northern portion of the state, and extending along

Lake Erie into Pennsylvaia and New York. The claim of the

Iroquois confederation that, about the year 1650, they had con-

quered and annihilated the Eries, is borne out in part by his-

toric record; but of the Eries as a people, their habits, customs

and culture, little is known. In brief, the tribes native to Ohio

soil had disappeared before the arrival of the historian, and

none could say how or whither they had gone.

The logical inference was that, in common with other sec-

tions of the continent, the Ohio of prehistoric times had been

inhabited by tribes closely related to the Indians whom the

Europeans observed everywhere about them. The wide distribu-

tion of these tribes and the unique character of their physical

type and cultural attainments, bespoke a comparatively long

residence in America, and it would have been unreasonable to

suppose that during their prehistoric career they should have

avoided so inviting a locality as Ohio - than which no spot on

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The Indian in Ohio.                461

 

earth was better adapted, by climate, geography and natural

resources, to maintain a primitive population.

But perplexing evidence followed shortly upon a closer

acquaintance with the territory in question. Early settlers, and

even explorers before them, were made aware of the existence

of numerous and extensive artificial structures of earth and

stone. Many of these, judging from the fact that they were

covered by mature forest trees, already were centuries old; and

yet the existing tribes neither erected such structures, nor offered

an explanation of their origin. These facts seemed to indicate

that, in addition to the Indian tribes, Ohio once had been the

home of another people who, after achieving a comparatively

high degree of civilization, had mysteriously and completely

disappeared. This strange vanished people, supposedly distinct

in race and culture, was given the name Mound Builders, in

recognition of the most apparent and impressive evidence of

their existence. The task of unraveling the mystery-of dis-

covering the identity of the Mound Builder, and his rela-

tionship to, or distinction from, the Indian--rested with the

archaeologist.

 

 

OHIO EARTHWORKS AND EARLY EXPLORATION

The first serious attention given the Ohio mounds and other

earthworks was in 1820, when the observations of Caleb Atwater

were published by the American Antiquarian society. The

author, who has been styled "Ohio's first historian", made sur-

veys of a number of important works, principally in the Scioto

valley, described their external features, and in several instances

conducted examinations thereof. Following upon the work of

Atwater, Col. Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland, made important

surveys of a number of the more prominent works of the state.

It was not until 1847, however, that any pretentious explora-

tion of the Ohio tumuli was attempted. In that year, E. G.

Squier and E. H. Davis, then residing in Chillicothe, carried

out extensive surveys and explorations, the results of which

were published by the Smithsonian Institution. In their volume,

they availed themselves of the efforts of Colonel Whittlesey.

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462       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The efforts of Atwater, Whittlesey, and Squier and Davis

are noteworthy, especially since they labored under limitations

imposed by lack of precedent and the general dearth of knowl-

edge of the native race, both in its historic and prehistoric

aspects.

Following these pioneers in Ohio archaeology, representa-

tives of the Smithsonian Institution did a considerable amount

of rather perfunctory work in the state, which netted them

many interesting specimens. Professor Frederick W. Putnam,

of Peabody Museum, Harvard University, a few years later con-

ducted extensive explorations, principally in the southern and

southern-western portions of the state. Professor Putnam's

work was based upon scientific principles and added appreciably

to the knowledge of the earthworks and their builders.

Acting in the interest of the commissioners of the World's

Columbian exposition, Warren K. Moorehead, in 1893, con-

ducted explorations at what are known as the Hopewell group

of earthworks, in Ross county. The great number of artis-

tically executed specimens secured by Mr. Moorehead awakened

the archaeological world to a realization that the Ohio Mound

Builders occupied a place in the human cultural scale hitherto

unsuspected.

In the meantime, an organization which was to become the

most potent factor in developing archaeological and historical re-

search in Ohio was awakening to the importance of the task. For

the purpose of making an Ohio archaeological exhibit at the Phila-

delphia centennial, in 1875, a state Archaeological Association

was organized. Out of this, in 1885, grew the present Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society, the aims and pur-

poses of which are expressed in its name. During the first

decade of its existence, the Society published much valuable

information relating to the aborigines of the State, both his-

toric and pre-historic; but owing to lack of funds, explorations

of the earthworks, while gratifying in results, were on a limited

scale. Subsequent to the year 1900, however, the investigations

of the Society were to assume an importance unequalled by

those of any other of the states, and to develop a field by far

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The Indian in Ohio.                463

 

the most interesting and responsive of any equal area within

the United States.

In the interim between the explorations of Squier and

Davis and the close of the century, the Mound Builders were

the subject of very general and widespread consideration. With

the settlement and development of the country, it became ap-

parent that the area of habitation of this interesting people was

by no means confined to the state of Ohio. Broadly speaking,

they were found to have populated the Ohio and the Mississippi

valleys, or such portions thereof as suited their purpose, and

to have extended eastward from the Mississippi, south of the

Alleghenies, over the Gulf states.  But the center of their

greatest activities and highest development was shown to have

been in Ohio, particularly in the valleys of the Miamis, the Scioto

and the Muskingum, tributary to the Ohio river.

As a result of consideration accorded the subject prior to

1900 by such agencies as the Smithsonian Institution, the

Bureau of American Ethnology, the Peabody Museum of Har-

vard University, various state institutions and museums and

by individuals, a basic knowledge of the prehistoric earthworks

of Ohio and their contents had been attained. Progress in the

direction of determining the racial status of the people them-

selves, however, was not so rapid. From an early date certain

scientists had maintained that, racially considered, the Mound

Builder and the historic Indian were a unit, basing their opinion

mainly upon a comparison of skeletal remains and of relics

found in the mounds, with those of existing or known tribes.

Many students of the subject, unable to justify this view in their

own minds, continued to argue separate and distinct racial af-

finities for the two peoples. In brief, the progress of Ohio

archaeological research at the close of the first century of

statehood may be summarized as follows:

The presence in Ohio during prehistoric times of earlier

tribes of the American Indians, was accepted as an obvious fact.

The existence, within the territory comprising the state, of

a prehistoric people who erected pretentious and numerous

earthworks, presumably as monuments to their dead, as works

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464       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

of defense, and as adjuncts to ceremonial and religious obser-

vances was fully recognized.

The principal ones of the earthworks had been located and

described, many of them surveyed, and a sufficient number ex-

plored to afford a general understanding of their character and

to show that at least two distinct culture groups had been re-

sponsible for their construction.

The relationship or distinction between the so-called Mound

Builders and the hitsoric Indians remained a matter of dis-

agreement.

The activities of the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society are inseparably identified with the unraveling of

the life-story of the prehistoric inhabitants of America, particu-

larly as regards the great mound-building cultures of the Ohio

and Mississippi valleys. Early realizing the importance of the

study of the Mound Builders and the fact that the key to their

mysterious career lay within the confines of its home state, the

Society dedicated itself to the preservation and study of the

ancient monuments which they had left behind them, and,

through scientific exploration of these to the work of determin-

ing the facts pertaining to their life career.

The task of exploring the ruins and interpreting their mute

records, to the end that data might be supplied for the history

of a people who had vanished without leaving a voluntary record

of its career, was assigned by the Society to its curator, Profes-

sor William C. Mills. Availing himself of the labors of the

pathfinders in Ohio archaeological research and of those who

preceded him in the field, Professor Mills began a series of ex-

plorations which have extended over a period of 18 years. The

importance of the results obtained thereby will be obvious in

the brief outline of the work as set forth in subsequent pages.

 

 

PROBLEMS OF THE MOUNDS

In the meantime, various agencies -national, state and in-

dividual-were engaged with the larger aspect of the problem

of prehistoric man in America. It was early realized that the

task was too great for any one person or institution to attempt,

and that its successful prosecution depended upon specialization

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The Indian in Ohio.                465

 

of scientists in limited areas and the ultimate summing up of

their several findings. The questions most urgently demanding

answers were as follows:

Were the various cultures of prehistoric inhabitants-

Mound Builders, Cliff Dwellers, Pueblos, and others of the

United States, and the several groups in Mexico, Central and

South America - representatives of several separate and dis-

tinct races, or were they merely diversified groups of a single

great race? In either case, what was their relation to one an-

other and to the modern or historic Indian?

Were the prehistoric inhabitants of America indigenous, or

native, to the country? If not, from whence did they come, and

how?

What of the antiquity, comparative or approximate, of the

native race, or races?

From the introductory pages, in which is discussed the native

American race as a whole, the reader will have noted the present

status of scientific opinion regarding these problems. They are

cited at this point merely as indicating the lines of investigation

to be followed in the Ohio field, wherein lay the solution to the

life-story of one of the great prehistoric culture groups-the

Mound Builders of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.

In Ohio, the problem of cultures and cultural distinctions

had received considerable attention, but as yet remained unsolved.

The work of earlier explorers, including that of Squier and

Davis, Charles Whittlesey, Professor Putnam, Warren K. Moore-

head and others, had shown a decided dissimilarity between cer-

tain mounds and their contents as compared with others of the

Ohio tumuli. In the Mounds of Ross county and elsewhere,

the first-mentioned explorers had unearthed many objects of a

high order of workmanship, and exhibiting evidence of a far-

reaching inter-tribal commerce. Professor Putnam, at the so-

called Turner group of earthworks, in the lower valley of the

Little Miami river, had duplicated these; while Moorehead, in

examining the Hopewell group of Ross county, in 1893, had

brought to light what up to that time represented the highest

development of prehistoric man in Ohio. It was clearly evident

that, while differing in minor and unimportant details, the ob-

Vol. XXVII-30.

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466      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

jects found in these mounds might have been the products of

a common workmanship and that the builders of the several

works were of a common culture. But this analogy did not ex-

tend to the Ohio mounds and sites as a whole.

At the great Madisonville site, near Cincinnati, Professor

Putnam found a very different culture, in which the relics of

its occupants were distinct in character and workmanship..

Moorehead, in his extensive explorations at Fort Ancient, War-

ren county, 1888-91, found the inhabitants of this great prehis-

toric site to have been members of the same group, with only

minor and local deviations to be expected in the several com-

munities of a primitive people. Other sites examined prior to

1900, with a few interesting exceptions, exhibited the same rather

sharply defined characteristics of one or the other of these two

distinctive prehistoric culture groups. But it was by no means

certain that still another culture of mound-building peoples had

not existed in Ohio. Certain instances of incomplete or unsatis-

factory examination seemed to indicate that possibly a third

group, or even two additional groups, conforming to neither of

those recognized, were yet to be determined, while the question

as to whether or not there had existed a prehistoric culture, or

cultures, which were not mound-builders, presented itself to the

inquiring mind.

A detailed description of the Society's explorations through-

out the period under consideration is aside from the purpose

of this review. Reference to the more important examinations

and descriptions of a few typical instances, will serve to illus-

trate the manner in which certain conclusions have been reached.

For complete and exhaustive details of field-work, the reader

is referred to "Certain Mounds and Village Sites," published

by the Society.

The more important of the Society's explorations, since the

year 1900, are as follows:

The Adena mound, in central Ross county, in 1901; the

Baum village site, western Ross county, 1902-03; the Gartner

mound and village site, northern Ross county, 1904; the Edwin

Harness mound, southern Ross county, 1906; the Seip mound,

western Ross county, 1908; the Westenhaver mound, southern

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The Indian in Ohio.                 467

Pickaway county, 1915; the Tremper mound, Scioto county,

191₅; and the Feurt mounds and village site, Scioto county, 1916.

Of these, the Baum, Gartner and Feurt sites were found

to be attributable to the low-culture peoples, as represented by

the builders of Fort Ancient, Warren county, and the inhabitants

of the Madisonville site, near Cincinnati; the Harness, Seip and

Tremper mounds proved to have been erected by the high-cul-

ture group, as represented at Hopewell's, in Ross county; while

the Adena and Westenhaver mounds apparently represented a

group, or sub-culture intermediary between these two.

In recognition of the early exploration of Fort Ancient and

Hopewells, and in view of the fact that they were the most

nearly typical of their respective classes examined up to the

time, Professor Mills has bestowed their names upon the two

great aboriginal cultures which they represent. The intermediary

group may be designated as the Adena, since the mound of that

name was the first really typical site of its kind to be fully

explored.

 

 

DISTRIBUTION AND CHARACTER OF THE MOUNDS

The accompanying map, taken from the Archaeological Atlas

of Ohio, shows the distribution of the mounds and other earth-

works of the state. The mounds are designated by dots, and the

enclosures, fortifications and other major works by the charac-

ter X. It will be noted that, for obvious reasons, the principal

centers of habitation are located upon the more important

streams. A few isolated sections owe their comparative im-

portance to special conditions, as that of Jackson county, where

the abundant supply of salt invited aboriginal visitors, and Lick-

ing county, where the great deposits of flint were drawn upon

by tribes from far and near.

Perhaps no equal area in the world contains so many pre-

historic earthworks as the territory comprised within the state

of Ohio. The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical society,

in its recently published Archaeological Atlas of Ohio, locates

a total of 5396 prehistoric sites of the various classes. Of these,

3513 are mounds proper, 587 enclosures and fortifications, 354

village sites, 39 cemeteries, 5 effigy mounds, 17 petroglyphs, or

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468       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. pictured rocks, and 35 rock shelters, or shelter caves. Besides these, 109 flint quarries, and many individual burials, stone graves, and other sites, are located.

A brief explanation of the uses and purposes of the various classes of prehistoric remains may be of value to the reader. The mounds, so-called, are the most abundant and the best known.

• 195
 

The Indian in Ohio.               469   In form they are usually low, broad, flat-topped cones, some shapely and others irregular. In size, they vary from almost im- perceptible elevations to imposing structures, 60 feet or more in height. Formerly the mounds were attributed to various uses, as look-out mounds, signal mounds, altar mounds, and burial mounds, but recent exploration has determined that almost with- out exception they served the last named purpose solely. In other words, the mounds are for the most part simply great tomb-stones or monuments erected over the resting-places of

the dead. The largest mound in Ohio is the Miamisburg mound, in Montgomery county, which is 67 feet in height. The enclosures, so-called, are much less numerous than the mounds, and served more or less evident purposes. In form they are circular, crescent, rectangular or irregular, and vary in size from a few yards in diameter to those enclosing more than one hundred acres. With respect to purpose and location, the enclosures may be defined as follows: "Hill-top" enclosures, of irregular form, conforming to the topography of the ground on

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470       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

which they are situated and from the natural strategic advantages

of their positions, suggesting a military, or defensive use; en-

closures, of geometric forms, as the square, circle, crescent, or

combinations of two or more of these, located on low or level

ground, and probably partly defensive and partly social or

religious in their origin; and enclosures partaking somewhat of

the characteristics of each of the foregoing, but usually small

and irregular in form, and located on high or low land, appar-

ently with little regard to topography.

Of the first-named class of enclosures, the best example is

Fort Ancient, in Warren county, which has been called the

greatest prehistoric fortification in the world. As before noted,

this impressive earthwork is attributable to the low-culture

aborigines of Ohio, to whom it gives its name. Other examples

of fortifications are Fort Hill, in Highland county; the Glenford

Fort, Perry county, Spruce Hill, Ross county; Fortified Hill,

Hamilton county, and numerous others. In connection with

them there often occur village-sites and burial mounds, as at

Fort Ancient.

Earthworks or enclosures of the second class are attributed

mostly to the Hopewell culture of Mound Builders. They con-

stitute the most impressive of the prehistoric monuments of the

state, both on account of their size and the apparent geometric

precision with which they are laid out. While many of them

approximate true circles, squares, and other figures, it has been

found that no exact system of measurement was responsible for

their form. The purpose of these complex enclosures is unde-

termined, but apparently they had their origin in social and

religious observances of their builders. Burial mounds, as at

Hopewell's, Seip's, Tremper's and elsewhere, often occur in con-

nection with the enclosures. Among the important enclosures

of this class are the great earthworks at Newark, Licking county;

the Marietta works; the Mound City group, on the land occupied

by Camp Sherman, at Chillicothe; the Hopewell group, on the

north fork of Paint Creek, Ross county; works formerly lo-

cated at Circleville, from which the city takes its name; the Seip

and the Harness groups, of Ross county, and the Portsmouth

works, of Scioto county.

• 197
 

The Indian in Ohio.               471   Enclosures of the third class are rather abundant but com- paratively unimportant. They occur generally over the state, good examples being those near Norwalk, Huron county, and those of Ashland county. They probably pertain to the low- culture inhabitants. Of the effigy mounds, the greatest is the Serpent Mound, of Adams county. This impressive work is attributable to the Fort Ancient culture, and like Fort Ancient, is the greatest monu- ment of its kind in the world. Both of these masterpieces of the Ohio Mound Builders are now preserved as state parks, in the keeping of the Archaeological and Historical society.  Near

Granville, Licking county, is the so-called Opossum Mound which is second in importance only to the Serpent mound as a representative of the effigy mounds of Ohio, while in Warren county, a few miles south of Fort Ancient, is another Serpent mound, resembling that of Adams county. In the matter of areas inhabited by the several mound- building cultures, it can be said that perhaps nine-tenths of those appearing upon the map are attributable to the Fort Ancient culture. These Spartans of the Mound Builders, while much more primitive than either the Hopewell or the Adena group, insofar as artistic and esthetic attainments are concerned, were clearly the dominant prehistoric inhabitants. The evidence in-

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472       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

dicates that they were greatly superior to other cultures in num-

ber, eminently practical, and fitted to hold their own with their

more highly civilized neighbors. Such monumental works as

Fort Ancient, the Serpent Mound and numerous others scarcely

less impressive, attest to their greatness.

The Hopewell culture appears to have confined its habita-

tion to the central southern valleys of the Miamis, the Scioto and

the Muskingum. Ross county, with its many mounds and pre-

tentious and complicated earthworks, was the center of activity

of this, Ohio's most highly civilized prehistoric people.

The Adena group appears principally in the central valleys

of the Miami and the Scioto rivers. The great Miamisburg

mound, the largest in Ohio, apparently is attributable to this

group.

THE FORT ANCIENT PREHISTORIC CULTURE.

A brief review of the exploration of some typical sites of

each class will acquaint the reader with the character of the

several cultures.

The extensive occupation of prehistoric Ohio by the low-

culture, or Fort Ancient people, is attested by the numerous

mounds and village sites attributable to them. As is true in

general of the aboriginal population of the state, they appear

to have favored the southern portion, particularly the valleys

of rivers tributary to the Ohio, but their mounds, village and

camp sites are not wanting in other sections. An extensive area

in northwestern Ohio was, in prehistoric times, too low and

swampy to accommodate human habitation, while the hill lands

of the southeastern and southern portions were avoided for

obvious reasons. On the whole the favored areas, as will be

seen on the map, were the valleys of the Miamis, the Scioto and

the Muskingum, with their tributary streams.

In studying the Fort Ancient culture, it at once becomes ap-

parent that they were essentially a village people. Within the

area most favored by them, there is scarcely a square mile of

territory that does not disclose to the interested observer some

trace of their habitations. Many of these are of considerable

extent, and evident long occupation. This fact indicates an agri-

cultural people, with a comparatively high development of the

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The Indian in Ohio.                473   domestic arts, since a primitive people cannot long subsist in one location without these artificial aids to existence. While wild game, fruits and nuts - the sole subsistence of the hunter- fisher, or purely nomadic state- would continue to be an im- portant and perhaps the chief source of food supply, they would soon cease to be adequate for an even moderately populous com- munity, and their successful pursuit would be at ever-increasing distances from the base of consumption. To offset this, some degree of agriculture, or artificial propagation of food supplies, would be necessary. That this condition obtained with the Fort

Ancient peoples will be shown in reviewing the explorations of their sites. The Feurt mounds and village, of Scioto county, may be taken as a typical habitation site of the Fort Ancient culture. This site was explored for the Society in 1916 by Professor William C. Mills, assisted by the writer. It is situated five miles north of the city of Portsmouth, on the east side of the Scioto river, and occupies a picturesque and strategic location on the second terrace projecting promontory-like into the low ground comprising the river bottom. The Scioto bottoms at this point

• 200
 

474      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   are very broad, and the second terrace, extremely narrow, is ter- minated immediately on the east by the high hills characteristic of the county. The site of this prehistoric village, comprising some four acres, had long been under cultivation. Its soil, of apparently inexhaustible fertility from the accumulated debris of human oc- cupation, was filled with numerous bones of animals, occasional human skeletons turned up by the plow, broken potteryware,

and implements, utensils and ornaments of flint, stone, bone and shell. Several excellent collections of these prehistoric relics had been gathered from the soil within the "plow line" by local col- lectors, aside from hundreds of specimens in the hands of in- dividual finders, and to the casual observer nothing of interest remained to be found on the site. Little did the plowman dream that beneath the few inches of soil disturbed in the yearly routine of cultivation there reposed the life-story of a prehistoric Ohio people. But to the trained explorer, a certain primitive custom,

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The Indian in Ohio.                 475

 

which will be referred to presently, encouraged the hope that

this perfunctory disturbance of the surface had not obliterated

the records of the human drama, as enacted by this aboriginal

Ohio community.

In exploring the Feurt site, the Society's expedition had as

its purpose the removal and examination of the soil and debris

of human occupation and the securing of whatever artificial ob-

jects it might contain; the uncovering of the original surface

level, as it was when first occupied, and of any sub-surface

burials or deposits underlying it; and the examination of the

three accompanying earthen mounds, with the object of ascer-

taining their purpose, contents, and relation to the village proper.

The work of uncovering, step by step, the site of this once

populous village of a prehistoric Ohio people, afforded repeated

glimpses of their intimate, every-day life and made possible a

very accurate and detailed understanding of their customs, arts

and industries. A force of workmen, with picks, shovels and

trowels, was employed for several weeks in cutting down the

accumulated soil, from its surface to the original level of the

ground, or until all trace of human habitation disappeared. As

this soil was removed it was closely examined, and everything

of artificial origin carefully scrutinized for any possible infor-

mation it might contain.

The reader perhaps might find a detailed account of this

process somewhat tiresome, although every step thereof, to the

explorers at least, proved fascinating and instructive. As of

possibly greater interest, it is proposed to invite the reader to

pay a visit to the village and its inhabitants, as they were at

the time of their greatest prosperity, as seen through the eyes

of the explorer, followinghis examination of their long-deserted

village and interpretation of the evidence found therein. Such

an imaginary visit, or let us say, sojourn--for it should be

sufficiently prolonged to include the various activities of the

inhabitants as influenced by the several seasons of the year-

should be both interesting and instructive. The Fort Ancient

aboriginal culture, besides being the most extensive and rep-

resentative of the several which occupied the state, is also the

best known; and a satisfactory impression of the Feurt village

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476       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

and its inhabitants will afford an understanding of the great

culture as a whole.

From the foregoing reference to its location, the reader

can readily picture the site selected for the village and appre-

ciate the natural advantages which it possessed. Thus happily

situated, this capital of our Scioto county hosts has at its back

door the extensive hill country with its forest products of game,

fruit and nuts; in front and on either side of the promontory

on which it lies are the great river bottoms, or Scioto flood-

plain, furnishing an ideal hunting ground and unsurpassed soil

for the cultivation of corn and other products; while within easy

access is the river itself, with its never-failing supply of water

and its offerings of fish, mussels and waterfowl.

 

The Feurt Pre-historic Village.

Approaching the village, by way of the trail which flanks

the high hills along the eastern side of the narrow second ter-

race on which it is located, we first note that it comprises a

community of several hundred persons. These-men, women and

children -are seen to be of average size and physique, and in

all physical respects similar to the well-known Indian of his-

toric times. Before giving attention to their costumes and other

personal details, we are impatient to satisfy our curiosity as

to their village, at which we now have arrived. It appears to

be rather carelessly and unevenly laid out, yet with a semblance

of streets or passageways. On either side of these are ranged

tepees of skins and bark and rude huts, built of poles and bark,

and apparently, in some instances "chinked" with clay and grass,

forming a sort of wattlework. Within these domiciles, or im-

mediately adjacent thereto, are the family fire-places, made basin-

shaped, of puddled clay. They serve both for cooking and for

supplying warmth. Everywhere, in and about these rude homes,

are the residents of the village, variously occupied in their

respective pursuits.

The costumes of the inhabitants are made from skins of

wild animals, feathers, and coarse fabric or cloth, woven from

vegetable fiber, grass and hair. The amount of clothing worn

varies from practically nothing in hot weather to heavy gar-

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The Indian in Ohio.                477   ments, made principally from the furs of native wild animals, in the colder seasons. As ornaments, men, women and children alike are profusely adorned with necklaces, bracelets and arm- bands of beads, made from shell, bone or stone. As in the case of other primitive peoples, we find that the arts and industries of the Feurt village inhabitants center about three distinct purposes, or usages; namely, the securing of food, the preparation of food for consumption, and amusement or recreation. As we turn with interest to observe how these are

effected under such primitive conditions, we are quickly im- pressed with the fact that with these people the three most ser- viceable materials in the manufacture of implements, utensils and ornaments are wood, stone, and bone.    The first-named serves a wide range of usefulness, from the construction of tepees and the kindling of fires for warmth and cooking, to the manufacture of bows and arrows, spears, and innumerable other objects. In various kinds of stone, they find their nearest ap-

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478       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. proach to metal for the manufacture of cutting, scraping, pound- ing and perforating implements, and in its disintegrated product -clay -the material for their potteryware. Bone of differing kinds (including antler and shell) is employed in making fish- hooks, awls, perforators, needles, arrow and spear points, scrap- ers, hoes, chisels, and ornaments, as beads, pendants and so forth. We are not surprised to note the extensive use of wood,

but the employment of stone and bone draws our attention to the work of certain individuals, who appear to be especially engaged in the manufacture of articles from these materials. On the one hand, we pause to observe a workman who is fashioning various tools and implements from granite, sandstone and other hard stones. The most abundant type of implement from the workshop of this particular artisan is a wedge-shaped, or

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The Indian in Ohio.                479

 

thick chisel-like tool shaped something after the manner of an

axe-blade. These are mounted in wooden handles, and used as

axes, hatchets, or tomahawks, serving the purposes of those

implements, not only in the chase and the domestic routine, but

in warfare, if such should prevail; or, held in the hand, as a

chisel, they serve for skinning game and dressing hides. Other

implements are the hand hammer, usually a natural water-worn

stone, of convenient size and shape to be held readily in the

hand, and sometimes modified to conform to that purpose, used

in cracking nuts, in pounding grain, in breaking bones, and in

the multiplicity of purposes which the hammer serves in civilized

communities; mortars, or metates, made from a convenient slab

of sandstone, one face of which is ground out, basin-shaped,

to be used in grinding corn into meal; and gaming stones, made

usually of sandstone, fashioned into disks, from the size of a

silver dollar to that of a biscuit. These latter often bear designs,

graved upon their surfaces, and are used in a pitching game,

somewhat resembling our game of horseshoes, or quoits, and

also in gambling or gaming, after the fashion of dominoes

and chess.

While all the material used in the manufacture of the ob-

jects described is obtained on the site or from the nearby river

banks, we find that for the manufacture of certain articles, the

inhabitants find it necessary to resort to a distant source of

supply. This is true of flint, which is obtained to some degree

locally but mostly from the flint deposits across the Ohio river

in Kentucky and from Flint Ridge, in Licking and Muskingum

counties. As we turn our attention to the flint-chipper, we find

that his is one of the most highly developed arts of the village.

We find him seated on the ground beside a supply of flint, in

rough blocks, secured at considerable cost of time and labor

through special journeys to the source of supply. With a stone

hammer, the workman fractures the block of flint in such a

way that he obtains large and comparatively thin and regular

flakes therefrom. Then, by means of simple pencil-shaped im-

plements of bone and antler, he skillfully forces off secondary

flakes, or chips, by means of concentrated pressure, applied at

the edges of the flake, and in such a way as to take advantage

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480      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   of the grain or cleavage of the flint. Among his finished prod- ucts are beautifully wrought arrow and spear points, triangular in outline; blades used as knives and scrapers, and drills, for boring wood, stone, bone and other materials. Nearby sits the pipe-maker of the community, likewise sup- plied with material suitable to his purpose. Much of this is a variety of pipe-stone, of fine grain and texture, and varying in color from almost white, through the various subdued grays,

tans and browns, to flesh, pink and even red. This material is secured on the crest of the high hills to the east of the village. The workman, using first his stone hammer, then a tough stone or flint, for pecking, and finally the ever-present whetstone of gritty sandstone for rubbing and polishing, turns out his finished products. These are usually plainly oval in shape, but some- times L-shaped or otherwise, and not infrequently decorated with pleasing conventional carvings or the images of animals, birds, or the human face.

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The Indian in Ohio.                481   Perhaps as important as any other of the village industries, is that of pottery-making. Selecting a supply of tough clean clay, the potter first tempers it by liberal admixture with pow- dered mussel shells. It is deftly formed into vessels, often dec- orated with incised designs, and then is baked in the fireplaces. The vessels are used for containing water, for storing food and in cooking. We note at a glance that the inhabitants of the Feurt vil- lage are in the so-called stone age of human development; and yet, from the extensive use of bone as a material for fashioning implements and ornaments, the designation of a bone-age peo- ple would not be far amiss. At various places throughout the village workmen are en- gaged in the manufacture of objects of bone in great profusion. Principal of these are awl-like implements, or perforators, made mostly from the leg-bones of the deer and the wild turkey, al- though suitable bones of other animals and birds are not slighted. These leg-bones are first cut or broken in two at the center, and the inner end then ground to a sharp point, by rubbing upon or with a grinding stone of gritty sandstone. These awls are used in perforating hides and leather in making clothing and moccasins, and for other similar purposes. They likewise play an important part in eating, by serving as forks for removing meat and other foods from the common dinner kettle, and in

extracting marrow from bones. Besides the awls, the workmen are producing implements resembling the carpenter's drawing knife, by beveling and sharpen- ing one face of the leg- bones of the deer and elk; chisel-like implements, used. in cutting and scraping; and long bodkin-shaped objects,  sometimes  dec- orated with incised de-

Vol. XXVII-31.

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482       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

signs, worn in the hair as ornaments or hair-pins.   From

deer antler, they fashion small cylindrical instruments for chip-

ping flint, and from the hollow wing bones of the eagle, owl,

and other birds, they cut tubular sections to be worn as beads.

Certain close-grained sections of bone are selected and made

into fish-hooks, much the same in size and shape as those with

which we are acquainted, except that their makers have not

learned the importance of the barb, or retaining point.

In working bone, the artisan resorts to numerous expedients,

such as breaking, by means of his hand-hammer; cutting, with

a flint knife; burning, until the action of the fire has so weak-

ened the material that it can be broken; and finally, by grinding

and polishing on the whetstones or grindstones of gritty rock.

 

Primitive Agriculture and Food Sources.

Below the terrace on which the village stands is a busy

group of workers, mostly women and girls. They are "tending"

their gardens, or truck-patches, in which have been planted their

staple cereal, Indian corn, or maize. Besides corn, there is a

variety of beans, a sort of squash or pumpkin, and perhaps a few

other vegetables. Second only in importance to corn is the crop

of tobacco, a very important adjunct to the life of the village.

The loose rich soil selected for the growing crops needs but

little cultivation. Rude hoes, made from mussel-shells or shoul-

der-blades of the deer, supplied with wooden handles, and sharp-

ened sticks, are the tools used in working the soil.  The prod-

ucts of the garden are consumed as they become available, and

any surplus is dried and preserved for winter use. For the

storage of these supplies of corn and other products, pits are

dug in the ground and lined with bark.

Having satisfied our curiosity as to the manner in which

food supplies are obtained by artificial propagation or cultiva-

tion, we are glad to have the opportunity of observing how the

natural or spontaneous products of nature are utilized. A party

of hunters has just returned from the chase. They are armed

with bows and arrows, spears, and various traps and weapons.

They bring with them a bear, a deer, wild turkey, and numerous

smaller animals and birds, as well as fish and mussels, taken

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The Indian in Ohio.                483

 

from the river. Wild fruits and nuts, in season, are also a

part of the bounty. Arrived in the village, the successful hunt-

ers turn over their supplies to the women, who dress and prepare

the game for food.

The repast ready, the hungry hunters and their families

squat upon the ground around the common kettle in which has

been cooked a mixture of whatever may have been available.

With their bone forks, used spear-like, they help themselves to

its contents.

After the feast there is much smoking of tobacco, and al-

though the weed, as produced in the village gardens, and smoked

in the rude pipes of wood or stone, would hardly meet the re-

quirements of civilized taste in tobacco, evidently it quite satis-

fies our hosts. Recreation is provided in the way of games, in

which the stone disks which we have seen manufactured are

used. Some are engaged in pitching these, quoits-like, white

others are engrossed in a game of chance, in which the disks,

bearing marks signifying their relative import or value, are used

as counters.

We of course are properly sympathetic when we learn that

a member of the community has died, but are not averse to

learning the use of the heaps of earth, or mounds, in connection

with the village, which, we already have guessed, hold some

relationship to burial. After the usual ceremonies incident to

such occasions, which, in the case of uncivilized peoples usually

are very marked and pretentious, the body of the deceased is

conveyed to one of the mounds. There it is laid on the ground,

hurriedly covered with bark, grass and roughly woven fabric,

and then with earth, carried from the surface of the village

wherever conveniently obtainable. No regard is paid to direc-

tion in placing the body, which is deposited in the position it

assumed when life became extinct.

On inquiry, we learn that others already have been similarly

buried in or on the mound, and that still others will find their

last resting-place in the same manner.  While burials are

sometimes made in ordinary graves elsewhere throughout the

village, not infrequently within the very teepees where the de-

parted had lived, the mounds are the designated and usual

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484       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. places of burial, and their sole function lies in providing a rest- ing-place for and a monument to the departed dead. From the modern, or civilized point of view, we are inclined to wonder- ment that the usual method of burial in graves dug beneath the surface is not generally practiced, especially since we learn that the Feurt inhabitants knew and used this method to a consider- able extent. But upon further reflection, we conclude that after all the mound burial has its advantages, since it not only results in interring the bodies beneath the ground but at the same time

also provides for them a fitting and a lasting monument. The mound burial, apparently so different from the usual grave burial, but really very similar, consists in reversing the operation of excavating a receptacle beneath the surface level, by heaping the covering of earth above the surface. Thus, the mound burial of the Feurt inhabitants, we conclude, may be termed an "inverted" burial. While the Feurt residents are loath to acquaint us with the details of their social and religious customs and rites, we

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The Indian in Ohio.                 485

 

are able to gather sufficient evidence to convince us that they

bear out the rule of marked similarity as among various uncivil-

ized peoples of a similar degree of advancement. This assumes

a considerable degree of social order, in which the family and

the tribe exert a restraining influence; a conception of right and

wrong, and therefore of morality; and government of the limited

sort necessary for so primitive a community. Their religion

consists mainly in a reverence for, or fear of, natural objects and

phenomena, in which they vest magic powers for good and evil,

and in propitiating which they indulge the usual ceremonies and

superstitious rites.

A feature of the life of these primitive villagers which per-

haps is the least pleasing of any we have observed, is the method

employed in maintaining a semblance of public sanitation. While

the accumulation of debris and garbage from the chase, the

kitchen and other domestic activities, in and around their

domiciles, is to be expected in an uncivilized people, it would

seem that the Feurt villagers are determined to outdo all others

in this respect. Instead of collecting and removing this garbage,

they prefer the much more laborious method, when the accumu-

lation becomes so great as to be unbearably obnoxious, of carry-

ing earth and covering over or burying the debris where it lies

scattered about. As a result of this, it is apparent that the level

of the village already has been raised at some points as much

as several feet above the original surface of the ground.

The only apparent justification that occurs to us, as we

contemplate this peculiar proceeding, is that, should the

archaeologist, at some far distant date, chance upon the site

where this village once had stood, and choose to explore its

ruins, what a gratifying record of its erstwhile activities he

would find!

THE HOPEWELL CULTURE.

With this brief visit to the Fort Ancient culture at the

Feurt village, let us turn our attention to the people of the

Hopewell culture, passing, for the time being, the intermediary

or Adena group. We have but to proceed westward from the

Feurt site, immediately across the Scioto river, to locate a site

which is typical in every essential respect of this remarkable

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486      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. culture of Ohio aborigines. This site is the Tremper mound, so named from the owner of the land on which it is located- Senator William D. Tremper, of Portsmouth. The geographical description of the Feurt site applies equally to the Tremper mound, with the difference that the two are situated upon op- posite sides of the river. The Tremper Mound. The Tremper mound, as a result of its peculiar form, for many years was considered as an effigy mound, and was sup-

posed to represent in outline the image of an animal. It was variously called the Elephant Mound, the Tapir Mound, and otherwise, according to the individual impressions of observers and writers. By Squier and Davis, the first to describe the mound, it was accredited to the so-called effigy mounds, found abundantly in Wisconsin and adjacent states of the northwest,

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The Indian in Ohio.                 487

 

and in origin and purpose attributable to religous observance

on the part of their builders. A few similar mounds, to be

referred to presently, occur in Ohio, and in the light of knowl-

edge obtaining at the time, it is not strange that early writers

should have identified the Tremper mound as one of that class.

Subsequent exploration, however, disclosed much that was

new respecting the prehistoric earthworks of the state. Among

other things demonstrated was that exploration of the so-called

effigy mounds is barren of results in so far as relics of their

builders are concerned. From this fact, it is obvious that ex-

ploration of the Tremper mound, provided it were of the effigy

class, would not be justified; but after careful examination, the

curator of the Society decided, on evidence which will appear

shortly, that it was not effigy in character, but in reality was a

great sepulchral mound which would yield valuable information

respecting the Hopewell group of Ohio aborigines. Accordingly,

in 1915, he undertook the work of its exploration, assisted by

the writer and a force of workmen.

As is characteristic of mounds of this culture, as shown in

the Hopewell, the Seip, the Edwin Harness and others previously

explored, the Tremper mound was found to cover the site of

a building or structure of a sacred nature. This building, which

might be termed the temple of those responsible for its construc-

tion, clearly served as a place wherein were celebrated the

sacred rites and ceremonies which enter so largely into the

lives of primitive peoples. It requires no stretch of imagination

to picture the observance of religious--and perhaps social-

functions of this prehistoric tribe or community living in the

fertile and picturesque valley of the Scioto. Given some previous

knowledge of the culture, the examination of this, their sacred

edifice, is almost as illuminating as though actors and play were

projected upon the screen of the modern picture theatre. Chiefs

and councils; priests and portents; and medicine men and

magic, appear noiselessly upon the scene, not sharply defined,

it is true, but none the less realistic and life-like. Visualized in

this light, the sacred structure of the Hopewell people strongly

suggests the council-house and the long-house of the Iroquois

Nations of historic fame. But it was much more. In addition

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488       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

to staging the religious and probably the social functions of the

tribe or community, it served as a place for cremation of the

dead, deposition of their ashes in prepared receptacles or de-

positories, and observance of the obsequies incident thereto.

In this respect, it might be likened to the church and its

accompanying graveyard of present-day rural communities.

With the disposal of the dead and the holding of the accompany-

ing ceremonies an important function of each, the Tremper site

differed mainly in that instead of burial in conventional graves,

the dead usually were cremated.

The building, over the site of which the Tremper mound

had been erected, originally had been in the form of an oval

enclosure, to which additions had been made from time to time.

It had consisted of a framework of upright posts set into the

ground with the interstices filled by wattlework and clay, thus

forming the walls. Portions of the structure apparently had

been roofed or thatched, while interior partitions had divided

it into several distinct compartments. The floor had been pre-

pared by levelling and firming the natural surface, and strewing

it with fine sand. Several doors gave entrance from without and

between the various compartments or rooms.

Considering for the moment the Tremper mound from the

view-point of early writers, that is, as representing the figure

of an animal, it will be noted that it faces to the southeast, to-

ward the junction of the Scioto and the Ohio river. Description

of the floor-plan of the structure will readily explain its pur-

poses and use, its resemblance to the figure of an animal, and

why the Society's representatives decided that this resemblance

was purely unintentional in so far as its builders were concerned.

The main portion of the mound, comprising the supposed

body of the animal, represented the original structure-an

oblong oval building or apartment, approximately 200 feet long

and 100 feet wide. Previous examination of mounds of this

culture had shown that in almost every instance the original

structure, after prolonged usage, became inadequate for the

continuation of the rites to which it was consecrated. The only

alternative to abandonment, in such an event, was the building

of supplemental apartments or additions, which in the Tremper

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The Indian in Ohio.                489   mound as in most others of its class, had been done, not once but successively. It was found that three large additions had been erected at the south-east end of the main structure, and at right angles thereto, and that these compartments corre- sponded to the head and trunk of the elephant or tapir. Smaller additions, along the north side of the main building, occupied the places of the feet and tail respectively. The reader thus will readily perceive how, in erecting the mound over the site of this compound structure, and desiring to cover all portions thereof with a minimum of effort, the completed earthwork would result in a figure suggesting the outline of an animal.

In addition to the post-molds and their charred remains of posts, by which the outline or walls of the structure and its compartments and partitions were traced, there were found the mutely eloquent evidences of human activities of centuries past. These consisted of crematories, or basin-shaped depressions on the earthen floor, in which the bodies of the dead were cremated; depositories, or trough-like receptacles, formed of puddled clay, hardened by burning, in which the ashes from the crematories were deposited; an extensive deposit or offering, of various ob- jects, placed on or about a shrine, and apparently comprising the

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490      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. personal possessions of the dead; and minor evidences of the activities of the occupants, scattered throughout the structure and the mound overlying it. While these various evidences, particularly the crematories and the depositories, were not confined to any one portion of the structure, their arrangement and position was such as to suggest special usages for its several compartments. From its great size, the principal compartment might be designated as the audience room, and it was here, judging from the prepon- derance of crematories, that cremation and the ceremonies at-

tending it were observed. In a smaller compartment, which might be considered as the principal vault, there was located a great communal depository, more than ten feet in length, in which were human ashes representing probably several hundred cremations. This receptacle in appearance might be compared to a great trough of cement, with its rounded edges projecting several inches above the surface of the floor upon and below which it rested. A third compartment, the shrine room, contained a remark- able collection of articles which plainly had been cherished per-

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The Indian in Ohio.                491   sonal possessions of those whose remains reposed in the nearby depositories, or objects placed there by friends as offerings to their departed companions. These comprised a great number of stone tobacco pipes, some of plain design, but mostly made in the images of birds and animals native to the locality. In addition to the pipes, there were many ornaments and imple- ments of stone, flint, bone, copper, mica, pearl and other mate- rials, all displaying the same ingenious skill.

Another compartment plainly had served as a kitchen and workroom. The bones of various animals and birds, used for food, and fragments of burned clay vessels, were strewn about the floor, while the presence of mica, flint and other materials suggested the manufacture of implements and ornaments. Within the compartments dedicated to the great depository for ashes and the offering of personal artifacts, were located highly specialized fire-places, built basin-shaped upon the floor,

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492       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

from carefully puddled and troweled clay. These were filled

with ashes and charred wood, and the ground beneath them was

burned to a considerable depth. Their location and appearance

suggested that they were used for perpetual sacred fires, which

play so important a part in the ceremonial observances of

primitive peoples, and which often are kept burning continuously.

The sculptural art displayed in the pipes taken from the

Tremper mound represents the highest esthetic attainment of

the Hopewell culture, and probably never has been surpassed

by any people in the stone-age period of its existence. The

technique displayed in the portrayal of life forms is not more

admirable than the faculty of the artist for observing and ap-

preciating the habits and peculiar characteristics of the birds and

animals with which he was familiar. The forms depicted in the

pipes represent more than thirty varieties of birds and animals.

Examination of the Tremper mound showed that, as is

true of others of its kind, it had been in use by its builders for

many years, and that, when it no longer sufficed for its purpose

or when for some reason it was abandoned, it was intentionally

burned to the ground and the great mound of earth heaped up

over its site, to serve as a lasting and impressive monument to

those whose ashes it covered and protected.

 

The Cultures Contrasted.

The casual student hardly would expect to find two prehis-

toric cultures, separated by less than two miles, so radically dif-

ferent in degree of civilization; and his surprise would increase

on learning that they actually were co-existent in their habitation.

That this is true, nevertheless, was demonstrated by the finding

in the site of each of certain objects pertaining unmistakably

to the other, and evidently obtained in the course of common

contact, either through barter, exchange, or conquest. In the

Feurt site were found several ornaments of copper-a metal

which they, as a people did not possess - of forms typical of

the Hopewell culture, while from the Tremper mound there

were taken implements of stone foreign to its builders but com-

mon to the Fort Ancient peoples. The same evidence has been

noted in other sites, particularly at Fort Ancient, where a great

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The Indian in Ohio.               493   cache of highly specialized ornaments of copper, typically Hope- well, was found. Thus it is shown that for a time, at least, the occupation of the common territory was contemporaneous by the two cul- tures; but whether this was for an extended time, or whether one or the other was more remote or more recent in its occupa- tion, is unknown. We cannot so readily visualize the Hopewell peoples, par-

ticularly as regards their every-day home life, as we have done the Fort Ancient inhabitants at the Feurt village. Notwithstand- ing that their high development indicates a sedentary mode of life, strangely enough no well-defined village sites of the culture have been located, with the possible exception of that at Hope- well's, the extent and importance of which has not been fully determined.  Future exploration doubtless will discover the

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494       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Hopewell culture sites and acquaint us with the intimate details

of their life-stories. In the meantime, we may be assured that

they possessed everything enjoyed by the Fort Ancient peoples,

and in many respects had out-distanced the latter to a surprising

degree. Fortunately, the custom of placing with the remains

of the dead a great profusoin of personal possessions of the

more artistic and esthetic phases of their activities, more than

atones for the lack of the homelier relics of domestic life which

the absence of village sites entails. We may look upon the Fort

Ancient culture as confining its source of raw materials, used

in the arts and industries, to its immediate vicinity, or to nearby

localities within easy distance from their habitations. These ma-

terials consisted of various kinds of clay and earths, stone, flint,

and pipe-stone; wood, bark, and fibers; plants and their prod-

ucts; animals, birds and fish, and their bones, skins and other

products, all from the immediate or nearby localities. In addi-

tion to these we find from the deposits within the great sacred

structures, unearthed from beneath the mounds covering them,

that the Hopewell peoples enjoyed many materials secured from

afar, obtained either through special journeys or through trade

and barter with other tribes. Principal of these substances was

copper, of which they made extensive use. This metal they

obtained from the Lake Superior copper district, where it oc-

curred abundantly in nugget form, and almost free from ad-

mixture. Although they never learned to melt and cast copper,

using it rather as a malleable stone, which they cold-forged into

thin sheets and other desired forms, the Hopewell peoples be-

came extremely skilfull in its use. In the Tremper mound, and

in those formerly explored were found many objects of copper,

such as thin plates worn on the chest and head, often worked

into artistically curved forms; spool-shaped ear-ornaments;

necklaces of beads; axes and chisels, bracelets, fingers rings and

other forms.

Another material profusely employed was mica, secured

from the south-eastern seaboard, and used for decoration, orna-

mentation, mirrors, and other purposes. They obtained great

numbers of pearls from the fresh-water clam, which were per-

forated and used as beads in necklaces. But the art in which

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The Indian in Ohio.                495   the Hopewell culture excelled was that of sculpture and carv- ing. Their depiction of life forms, as displayed in the tobacco pipes of stone, and the carvings of conventional and emblematic designs on bone, shell, and cut from sheet mica, are remarkable examples of artistic conception and execution, and would not be unworthy of the efforts of the modern artist. Their superior skill is further evinced in the finely made pottery vessels, textiles and cloths, found in their ruins. This high artistic development,

together with the custom of erecting sacred structures and cremating the dead, will convince the reader that the Hopewell and the Fort Ancient peoples were widely separated in point of cultural development and advancement. In the preceding pages we have referred to local deviations obtaining among the various communities of a given culture group. In connection with the Hopewell people, an instance of this is of so great importance as to demand particular mention. In connection with the Tremper mound, we have seen that its

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496       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

builders had developed the communal idea to a point where,

instead of constructing individual graves for the ashes of their

dead, a single common depository sufficed for all. The same

condition, in so far as can be determined from its rather per-

functory examination, obtained in one of the mounds of the

Mound City group, of Ross county, explored by Squier and

Davis.

In other mounds of this culture, however, which have been

explored by the Society, this highly developed communal custom

did not prevail. Instead of the common depository, such mounds

as the Seip and the Edwin Harness showed that their builders

had employed separate graves for the ashes of their individual

dead. As a result of this procedure, the floor space of the

sacred structures was exhausted much sooner than under the

plan as used at the Tremper and the Mound City works. The

advantage of the latter plan is readily apparent, in that much

less space would be required for burial purposes, and conse-

quently, the usefulness of the structure greatly prolonged.

 

 

THE ADENA GROUP -ADENA MOUND

In considering the Adena type of mounds and their builders,

it should be understood that they have not authoritatively been

assigned a place as a separate culture group of the Ohio Mound

Builders. Future exploration may demonstrate that the are but

variations of the Hopewell culture; but the evidence up to the

present time seems to justify their classification as a sub-culture,

at the very least, since those examined have shown such marked

individual characteristics. The more important mounds of this

class explored by the Society are the Adena mound, of Ross

county, which may be accepted as the type, and the Westenhaver

mound, of Pickaway county. A brief review of the examina-

tion of the Adena mound will illustrate the characteristic features

of the group, and serve as a comparison thereof with the works

of the Fort Ancient and the Hopewell peoples.

The Adena mound was located upon the estate of Thomas

Worthington, one of Ohio's early governors, just north of the

city of Chillicothe, and was explored by the Society in 19O1.

It stood some 26 feet in height, measured 140 feet in diameter

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The Indian in Ohio.                497   at the base, and was unusually shapely in form. While the mounds of the Hopewell culture often are irregular in shape, those of the Adena type usually are distinguished by their sym- metry, often approaching as nearly to the figure of a cone as is practical to construct from loose earth. In this respect the mounds of the Fort Ancient peoples are intermediate, their form being conical, but as a rule they are not so carefully constructed as the Adena mounds. From its graves and their contents, examination of the Adena mound showed that its builders in many respects resem- bled the peoples of the Hopewell group, yet with many distinc-

tive characteristics of their own. The abundant possession and use of copper, mica, and other materials procured from a dis- tance, and their skill in weaving fabrics and in carving stone, bone, and so forth, indicates that they were but little inferior to the latter. On the other hand, the absence of the sacred structures and of the practice of cremation suggest affinity with the Fort Ancient peoples; yet, while their graves were not the carefully prepared receptacles of puddled clay, they were far more distinctive than the crude and careless methods of the low culture inhabitants. In fact, very pretentious graves were the rule. These were constructed of logs, laid up in log-cabin Vol. XXVII-32.

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498       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. fashion to form vaults or sepulchers. Within these the bodies were placed, usually enveloped in wrappings of woven cloth and accompanied by personal ornaments and implements. A tier of logs was then placed over the grave as a covering, after which the earth was heaped above it. Objects found with burials of the Adena mound comprised many finely wrought ornaments and implements of copper, such

as bracelets, finger rings, awls and perforators; beads, necklaces and other ornaments of bone and shell; flint  knives,  arrow-points  and spear-points; stone and slate cere- monial ornaments; and a remark- able stone tobacco pipe, made in the image of a human being. While a sufficient number of the Adena type of mounds have not been examined to determine def- initely the status of their builders, exploration of the Adena and the Westenhaver mounds, and other minor ones of the same class in- dicate the following characteris- tics: Non-cremated burial, in log sepulchres, with cremation occa- sionally resorted to, as in the case of the central grave of the Westen- haver mound; burial made below, as well as above and upon the surface-level or base-line of the mound, the central or most im- portant grave often being in the first-named position; in culture and artistic development, inter-

mediary between the Fort Ancient and the Hopewell group, but inclining strongly toward the latter.

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The Indian in Ohio.                 499

 

 

MINOR CULTURES OR GROUPS

In addition to these sharply-defined groups of mound-

building peoples, it seems possible if not probable that several

minor and less important ones existed within the state. Whether

or not these are distinctive, or merely variations of the recognized

cultures will be determined only by future exploration.

It would be a mistaken idea to imagine that all prehistoric

inhabitants of Ohio were mound-building peoples. While the

custom apparently was widespread and natural among the

aborigines of the state, its practice doubtless ranged from those

tribes and communities which had most highly developed the

art, to those which, as with the tribes of historic times, seldom

or never erected such structures. That there were extensive

cultures throughout the territory which were only occasionally,

if at all, given to erecting mounds, is indicated by the great

abundance of relics of certain types, found scattered over the

surface of the soil, but very rarely found in the mounds or

upon the village sites of the mound-building peoples. These

relics, comprising such objects as grooved stone axes, certain

forms of flint arrow and spear-points, and bell-shaped pestles,

apparently pertained to the nomadic tribes inhabiting the Ohio

country just prior to its exploration, and corresponding to the

historic Indian tribes. They no doubt were closely related to,

if not actually descended from, the builders of the mounds and

earthworks.

ORIGIN, ANTIQUITY AND DISAPPEARANCE

With this hasty survey of the Ohio earthworks and their

builders, we turn for a moment to the significance of exploration

and study thereof with respect to the questions of origin, anti-

quity, disappearance and race. The first of these resolves Itself

into the broader question of the origin of the American Indian,

or the native American race, of which, as will be shown, the

Ohio aborigines were a part. When it is recalled that the origin

of any particular race, and its history, beyond a certain period,

are matters mostly of conjecture, we should not be surprised

to find that the same is true of the native American race. The

reader thus is permitted to choose between two theories; that

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500       Ohio Arch. and, Hist. Society Publications.

the American race is indigenous, or native, in its strict sense, to

America; or, as the alternative, that it originated elsewhere and

eventually found its way into America. The latter theory, from

the evidence obtaining, seems the more tenable.

Again, the antiquity of the Ohio aborigines may be said

to be merged in the question of the antiquity of the aborigines

of the country as a whole. As in many others of the states,

certain evidence has been adduced pointing to the existence of

human beings in Ohio, during or preceding the great glacial

epoch, estimated to have obtained some ten thousand years ago.

This evidence, however, in the nature of rude stone implements,

found in apparently undisturbed glacial drift, is considered as

too meager and uncertain to be accepted as proof. Conditions

prevailing in the mounds and village sites of the state indicate

that many of them were constructed or used to within a very

short time preceding exploration and settlement. Their evidence

is to the effect that prehistoric occupation extended from a

period of perhaps two thousand or three thousand years ago

and that the custom of building mounds, in some instances, pre-

vailed until and possibly after the discovery of America.

Taking into consideration the histories of human races,

nations and peoples, the disappearance of the Mound Builders

should not present a particularly strange nor incomprehensible

phenomenon. When the stories of the nations of the world

are considered, it is found that many, if not most of them

reached certain stages of development and then as such, ceased

to exist. The causes leading to their downfall are many and

varied, but when set forth in recorded history are plainly ap-

parent. The stories of some of these are plainly told, while

those of others, which lie beyond the historic horizon, are but

dimly discernible.

In all the pages of history, there are but few nations that

survive from great antiquity. Under this law, those best fitted

to cope with untoward conditions imposed both by nature and

by their fellow men, survive and continue their careers, while

the weaker or less resistent nations succumb and make way for

their stronger competitors. Unsuccessful warfare, followed by

annihilation, subjugation and assimilation by victorious op-

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ponents; decadence following social and moral depravity; and

other lesser causes contribute to the downfall of nations.

In the case of the Ohio Mound Builders, any of these

causes may have played its part. Again, they may have gradually

retrograded until the practice of building mounds was abandoned

with the loss of their erstwhile cultural ascendancy; or they

may have voluntarily and gradually migrated to other parts of

the country. Many authorities however, see in the mound-build-

ing peoples the direct ancestors of the historic Indians who

occupied in general the country included within the mound-

building area. They believe that the Mound Builders, as a

class, were not so superior to some of the historic tribes -for

example, the Iroquois Nations, the Cherokee and others - and

that they were merely the earlier representatives of the same

peoples of which the modern tribes were the historic descendants.

 

 

THE QUESTION OF RACE

The question of race, as applying to the Ohio Mound

Builders and Indians, is of particular interest, not alone from

the fact that it has been definitely answered, but in that the long

period of discussion and disagreement in regard thereto ap-

pears to have rested upon nothing more substantial than a trivial

misunderstanding or oversight.

Before examining the evidence leading to the solution of

the problem, let us consider the meaning of the word race, and

of kindred terms used in connection therewith. Race, strictly

defined, means those persons descended from a common an-

cestor, and thus construed may embrace many tribes, peoples

or nations of widely differing degrees of civilization. As an

illustration, the Caucasian, or White race, has embraced such

varied peoples as the ancient Egyptians and Ethiopians, of the

Hamitic family; the Babylonians, the Hebrews and the Arabs,

of the Semitic family, and the Greeks, Romans, Britons, Scan-

dinavians, Poles and others, from which the modern Europeans

mostly have descended. The peoples of the world formerly

were classified under five distinct divisions with regard to

ancestry and origin -the White, the Black, the Brown, the

Yellow and the Red races. Later authorities comprised all hu-

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502       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

man-kind under three divisions - the White, the Black and the

Yellow races, the American aborigines being classified with the

last-named. Thus it is seen that the term race, while limited

and exclusive in its use, is very broad and comprehensive in

its application. The term people, on the other hand, refers to

the body of persons composing a nation, tribe, or community

irrespective of race, ancestry or origin, and is usually inter-

changeable with those terms.

With these distinctions in mind, it will be readily seen that

those who maintain that the Mound Builders and the historic

Indians were distinct and different peoples, nations or tribes.

are manifestly in the right; but what shall we say of those who

have maintained that the two represented distinct and separate

racial entities? It appears to the writer that the disagreement is

due in great part to careless interpretation or loose construing

of the word race on the one hand, and of people and its kindred

terms, on the other, rather than to actual disparity of opinion

Those who hold the latter view, while in error on the basis of

strict interpretation of the word race, probably for the most

part really hold to the correct view - namely, that the Ohio

aborigines, while comprising many distinct peoples, nations and

tribes, were of a single distinctive race.

 

Significance of Mound-building

In the assumption of this theory of a single race, compris-

ing alike the various mound-building cultures and the so-called

Indians, the reader naturally will demand the evidence adduced

from the earthworks and their contents. In the first place, then,

it may be asked, does the fact that a people built mounds prove

or even indicate that it was of a race distinct from others? This

query necessitates a further inquiry as to the practice and extent

of mound-building as a human custom. If we find that this

custom was limited to the Ohio aborigines or to territory which

they may have populated, then it will bear appreciable evidence in

the assumption of a distinct racial affinity. Unfortunately for

this theory, we find that the practice of mound-building not only

obtained throughout the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, but that,

generally speaking, it was world-wide in its extent. Investiga-

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The Indian in Ohio.               503

 

tion discloses that the practice, in some form, has obtained in

practically every country on earth and in almost every stage of

human development   it appears to be instinctive with the hu-

man family to erect some sort of monument to its dead, and in

the less advanced stages of human progress the most natural

and most easily constructed memorial is a simple mound of

earth or stones  Nothing so readily suggests itself to the savage

mind, is easier of accomplishment or more enduring. As their

builders advance in the scale of progress, the simple heaps of

earth or stone become more elaborate and of greater size, and,

passing through corresponding stages of development, eventually

evolve into the pretentious and artistic monuments of granite

and marble- the present-day representatives of the primitive

mounds of the savage.

Aside from  the great pyramids of Egypt--themselves

highly developed sepulchral mounds - and their almost equally

impressive structures of Central and South America, practically

every country of Europe and Asia is dotted with the monuments

of its earlier inhabitants, constructed either as memorials to the

dead or as adjuncts to religious observances. Thus it is appar-

ent that, as proof of separate race-hood, the building of mounds

is not even indicative.

Furthermore, we must take into account the fact that in-

stances of mound-building have been noted within historic times,

and that in certain instances objects of white men's manufac-

ture have been found in the tumuli.  Several of the early ex-

plorers recorded the use and erection of mounds by the historic

tribes. De Soto, in his journey through the Gulf states in 1540-41

found this to be true of the Creeks, Chickasaws, Natchez, and

the Indians of Arkansas. There is also evidence that the Texas

Indians, the Shawnee and the Cherokee were mound-builders,

and it is held as not improbable that the latter two may have

been the authors of some of the Ohio mounds.

An instance which came to the personal attention of the

writer may be significant in this connection. While engaged in

field-work in the Little Miami valley, a certain mound not far

distant from Fort Ancient became the subject of inquiry. An

aged resident vouched the information that his father, a pioneer

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504       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

of the vicinity, often had related the fact that at certain seasons

of the year, usually about corn-planting time, the squaws of

the Shawnee Indians resident in the district would repair to the

mound and indulge in certain ceremonies. These consisted, in

so far as the witness could ascertain or understand, in carrying

earth either in baskets or in their apron-like buckskin skirts, and

to the accompanyment of much wailing and other evidences of

mourning, in heaping it upon the top and sides of the mound.

These visits, according to the narrator, occurred annually or

oftener and were continued until the departure of the Indians

from the vicinity.

Again, we have observed that among the mound-building

peoples of Ohio, there existed at least two distinct culture

groups. Granting that between the highest of these and the

historic Indian there existed a very marked difference, it will

hardly be denied, after consideration of the evidence, that the

difference was not greater than that between the highest and

the lowest of the Mound Builders. Then, if we persist in iden-

tifying the high-culture Mound Builders with a race distinct

from the Indian, shall we assume that the remaining mound-

building cultures and sub-cultures represented still other races,

or that they were of the same rame, yet exhibiting even greater

differences than that between the Hopewell culture and the

modern Indian? And what of the Pueblos, the Cliff Dwellers,

the Aztec, the Toltec, the Inca and numerous others of North

and South America?

To complete the solution of the problem, we turn to further

evidence of the contents of the mounds and village sites. Com-

parison of the human skeletons taken from sites of the several

mound-building cultures, with those of the modern Indian, show

all to belong to a single race- the native American race, the

Red race, or the American Indian, as one may choose to de-

nominate it.

Conclusions as to Race

In brief, while it might be interesting to find that the

aborignal population of Ohio and of America pertained to

several distinct races of mankind, we are forced to conclude

that in truth they pertained solely to a single great race, which

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The Indian in Ohio.                505

 

in itself is distinct from any other. The deviation in cultural

attainments was not greater than naturally would occur, all con-

ditions considered, nor than has occurred in the development of

other races.

The Mound Builder- as with others, as the Pueblo, and

the comparatively highly advanced peoples of Mexico, Central

and South America -must be regarded merely as a stock of

the native race, which, under favorable environment and en-

joyment of a period of peace and plenty, found time to develop

its arts, industries; and social, governmental and religious insti-

tutions. The innate instinct of human kind to erect mounds

of earth as monuments to their dead and as expressions of

religious sentiment was developed in a correspondingly high

degree.

THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF ARCHAEOLOGY

Passing from this hasty survey of the Ohio earthworks and

their builders, let us summarize the results of archaeological re-

search in the state and the conclusions to be drawn therefrom.

That the reader may appreciate the importance of these,

it should be borne in mind that less than a century ago the

problem of the aboriginal inhabitants of the state had not even

been considered, much less solved. It was surmised-if any

took the trouble to accord it a thought- that the Ohio country

had sheltered a prehistoric population.  The only material

evidence supporting this supposition were the earthworks and

minor relics which at the time were just beginning to attract at-

tention. Such a thing as definite knowledge regarding their

builders and users was entirely non-existent, and their story as

yet lay wholly within the pale of speculation.

Beginning with no records other than these mute and ap-

parently unresponsive relics of a vanished people, archaeology

has written a history of the prehistoric inhabitants of Ohio,

which, in most essential respects, is as complete as that of many

another early people whose annals appear in the pages of his-

tory. From this story we learn that the Ohio of prehistoric

times supported an extensive and active population, and that,

while its territory was occupied as a whole, certain sections were

particularly favored. We know just where these favored sec-

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506      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

tions are located, and why they were more densely populated

than others. It has been shown that these primitive peoples

had developed the custom of erecting earthen mounds as monu-

ments to their dead, earthworks as places of defense, and com-

plicated earthen structures as accessories to their social and

religous observances. The examination of these sites has dis-

closed the fact that their builders pertained to at least two, and

possibly three distinct culture groups, showing marked differences

one from another, and to several sub-groups, of minor im-

portance. We have been enabled to picture these denizens of

the Ohio wilderness with respect to physical appearance, cloth-

ing and ornamentation, arts and industries, social and religious

customs, village and domestic life, and agriculture and food

resources.

Ordinarily, this array of facts would be considered as com-

prising an adequate description of a people lying wholly beyond

the dawn of historic record, and few readers would demand

more. Certainly they comprise the more important information;

but in the case of the Ohio Mound Builders, it has become cus-

tomary to be more exacting. The essential facts are accepted

as a matter of course, and then follow the usual questions as

to origin, antiquity, disappearance and race. The first-named of

these is a part of the question as to the origin of the race as

a whole, and as yet has not been definitely answered; the sec-

ond and third queries have been satisfied in a general way, and

in the only way in which questions relating to the remote past

can be answered, since specific dates and statements are not

to be expected; while the matter of race has been definitely set

at rest.

The importance of archaeological research and of the

archaeological museum as educational factors long has been

recognized throughout Europe and in the older established com-

munities of this country. In the more recently settled states,

however, there is a tendency to question the value of their

services. This is a perfectly natural attitude of mind, in newly

settled communities, where time and energy are fully utilized

in establishing and fostering the arts and industries necessary

to human comfort; but with increasing prosperity and conse-

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The Indian in Ohio.                 507

 

quent opportunity, the public mind arrives at a keener appre-

ciation of educational institutions, and, therefore, of the museum

and the research which makes it possible. The more enlight-

ened the community, the greater is the realization that civilized

man is justified in expecting more from life than the mere

requisites of existence. The lower animals, and savage man, as

we have seen, demand from nature but three things-food,

water and shelter; and with nothing more than these, man would

have remained forever a savage.

It is doubtful whether any agency has produced so much

new knowledge, from original sources, at so small an outlay

in money, time and effort, as that given to the world through

archaeological research as conducted in the State of Ohio. Fur-

thermore, the material so secured, in the form of relics of

prehistoric man, has made possible a great museum, which for

all time will serve as a source of information and entertainment

for untold thousands of interested spectators.

 

Why do we leave our quest for daily bread

To seek for relics of the savage dead?

 

Some sense of common comradery and kin

For human life, wherever it has been-

There lies the answer; and therein we find

Enlargement for the human heart and mind.

 

 

THE OHIO SOCIETY AND ITS MUSEUM

The story of the Indian in Ohio would be incomplete with-

out some further reference to the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society, and its Museum. The origin and early

accomplishments of the Society have been noted in the preceding

pages. Its annual Publications, dealing exhaustively and in the

minutest detail with Ohio archaeology and history, and allied

subjects, now number 26 volumes. Aside from these, a num-

ber of separate books have been published, among which are

an "Archaeological History of Ohio", by Gerard Fowke; "Ohio

Centennial Celebration," by E. O. Randall; "History of the

Northern American Indians", by David Zeisberger; a History of

the Ohio Canals; the "Archaeological Atlas of Ohio", by William

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508       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

C. Mills, and "Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio", in

3 Volumes, which comprise the field explorations of William C.

Mills, as curator of the Society.

The Publications of the Society, under the able editorship

of Professor E. O. Randall, its secretary-editor, hold a high

place in the literary world, while the Museum, for many years

in direct charge of Professor William C. Mills, its curator, is

the greatest of its kind to be found anywhere.

The Society is a membership organization, fostered by the

State. Membership, available at a nominal sum, is either Annual

or Life. The former entitles the holder thereof to the current

publications of the Society, and the latter to the complete set.

A number of important historic and prehistoric sites,

which have come into the keeping of the State of Ohio,

have been placed in the custody of the Society.    Among

these are Spiegel Grove, Fremont, the home of President Ruther-

ford B. Hayes, where an impressive Memorial Building has

been erected; the old Campus Martius, at Marietta; the site of

Ft. Laurens, Tuscarawas county; the famous Logan Elm, in

Pickaway county; and the site of the Big Bottom Massacre,

Morgan county. Fort Ancient, in Warren county, and the Ser-

pent Mound Adams county, have been converted into State

parks, and thus will be preserved to the people of Ohio for

all time.

The Museum of the Society occupies a stately edifice lo-

cated on the grounds of the Ohio State University, at Columbus.

The structure, which is shown as the frontispiece of this volume,

was erected in 1915, through funds appropriated for the purpose

by the Ohio legislature. It contains the finest display of ma-

terial pertaining to the great mound-building cultures in existence,

with the result that scientists and students who wish to study

these prehistoric aborigines must come to Ohio for information.

These unequalled exhibits are free to the public every day in

the year.

Aside from its archaeological exhibits, the Museum contains

important and interesting pioneer and historical displays, and

an excellent reference library of some ten thousand volumes,

based upon history, archaeology and allied subjects.

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The Indian in Ohio.509

 

Officers and Trustees of the Society

The officers of the Society are:

G. Frederick Wright, President.

George F. Bareis, First Vice President.

Daniel J. Ryan, Second Vice President.

Emilius O. Randall, Secretary and Editor.

Edwin F. Wood, Treasurer.

William C. Mills, Curator and Librarian.

Henry C. Shetrone, Assistant Curator.

 

Trustees elected by the Society:

George F. Bareis, Canal Winchester.

Edwin F. Wood, Columbus.

Henri E. Buck, Delaware.

Lewis P. Schaus, Columbus.

Daniel J. Ryan, Columbus.

Francis W. Treadway, Cleveland.

G. Frederick Wright, Oberlin.

William O. Thompson, Columbus.

Webb C. Hayes, Fremont.

 

Trustees appointed by the Governor:

Emilius O. Randall, Columbus.

Benjamin F. Prince, Springfield.

Waldo C. Moore, Lewisburg.

William H. Cole, Sabina.

William P. Palmer, Cleveland.

James E. Campbell, Columbus.

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510       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following list comprises a few of the many books

concerning the native American race, the historic Indian period

in Ohio, and the prehistoric period, or archaeology, of the state.

These, and others relative to the subject, may be found in the

Library of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,

and many, if not all, of them   in other libraries available to

the reader and student. Those enumerated will furnish a fairly

broad and comprehensive course of reading, and will suggest

further lines of study, if desired.

 

BOOKS DEALING WITH THE NATIVE RACE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART:

Publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Handbook of American Indians- Bureau of American Ethnology.

The North American Indians - Catlin.

The North Americans of Yesterday--Dellenbaugh.

Indian Tribes of the United States - Schoolcraft.

Prehistoric America - Nadaillac.

The Aboriginal Races of North America--Drake.

Antiquity of the Red Race in America--Wilson.

 

BOOKS TREATING WHOLLY, OR IN PART, OF THE OHIO INDIANS:

Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications.

History of Ohio-Randall and Ryan.

History of the Northern American Indians--Zeisberger.

The Conspiracy of Pontiac-Parkman.

Life of Tecumseh -Drake.

History of the Shawnee Indians-Harvey.

History of the Girtys - Butterfield.

The Wilderness Trail-Hanna.

Indian Thoroughfares- Hulbert.

 

OHIO ARCHAEOLOGY (MOUND BUILDERS-PRE-HISTORIC INDIANS):

Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio - Mills.

Archaeological History of Ohio-Fowke.

Archaeological Atlas of Ohio-Mills.

Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications.

• 237