THE TOWNS CALLED CHILLICOTHE.
[In Volume XI, page 230, of the
Society's Publications was a valu-
able article by Prof. R. W. McFarland of
Oxford, Ohio on the
Chillicothes. This article led to an
interesting discussion in the Chilli-
cothe News-Advertiser, of which
Mr. W. H. Hunter, one of the trustees
of the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society, is editor. We
reprint the articles which speak for
themselves. The communications by
Dr. Morgan and Prof. McFarland appeared
in the daily issue of the above
named paper on the dates of January 7,
and February 2, 1903, respec-
tively.-E. 0. R.].
DR. MORGAN'S CRITICISM.
To the editor of the News-Advertiser.
In your issue of December 19, you make
mention of Dr.
McFarland, a correct historian, having
written an article for
The State Historical Society Quarterly
on the Chillicothes, and
republish the paper.
He writes of five different towns having
that name, and
draws special attention to town No. 2,
which he locates about
three miles north of Xenia.
He states that this town is the one so
often mentioned in
connection with Boone and Kenton, and
admonishes the people
who read the lives of these two hunters
to bear it in mind. The
reader will take notice that he speaks
of these two men as being
only hunters.
The next town of importance in
connection with history in
the mind of the Doctor is Chillicothe
No. 3, which he locates on
the west side of the Scioto river near
the present site of Westfall.
The present writer is very skeptical in
regard to the location of
this town. It is generally conceded that
about all the Pickaway
towns were situated on the east side of
the river. Besides, the
writer is in possession of history that
recites the story of a peri-
lous escape of a company of surveyors
from the Indians in 1794,
and when they halted and camped for the
night it was in the
vicinity of where Westfall is located. A
body of trained men
(167)
168 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
would not be likely to camp in the
vicinity of a town inhabited
by their pursuers.
The Doctor gives no importance whatever
to Old Chillicothe
on the North Fork of Paint creek.
We are willing to admit that the
Chillicothe on the Little
Miami was an important Indian town, but
not willing to con-
cede that the town No. 2, or any
other town is the one always
referred to in connection with the lives
of Boone and Kenton.
The fact is, we have much evidence to
dispute the statement.
We feel strongly fortified when we state
that the Chillicothe on
the North Fork of Paint creek, now
called Frankfort, was the
most important Shawnee town in the
country, unless it was Chilli-
cothe on the Little Miami. We feel that
Dr. McFarland was
much mistaken when he stated that
Chillicothe No. 2 should
always be held in mind when reading of
Boone and Kenton.
The old Chillicothe where Kenton had the
most bitter experi-
ence during his long and eventful life
was the Chillicothe on the
North Fork of Paint creek.
Frankfort now occupies that spot. After
the present Chilli-
cothe was laid out the "Old
Town" was called Old Chillicothe
to distinguish it from the new one. This
was a natural conse-
quence on account of their close
proximity; they being only
eleven miles apart.
From this Old Chillicothe many raids
were made on the
Kentucky frontier. When the Indians
crossed the Ohio river
at or near where Maysville now stands
the Kentucky inhabitants
could be almost absolutely certain that
the Indians were from the
Paint creek and Pickaway towns.
The trail was through Adams, Pike and
Ross counties.
The writer was fortunate, some years
since, in having a
volume of notes put into his hands by a
friend that has been very
valuable to him in regard to the very
early history of a portion
of the Northwest Territory. The notes
were taken by Rev.
David Jones of Revolutionary fame, while
on a missionary visit
to the Shawnees in 1773.
From this little volume we learn that
the first village he
struck was on the west side of Deer
creek, in what is now Union
The Towns Called Chillicothe. 169
township, Ross county. It was called
Pickaweeke, and took its
name from a tribe of Indians called the
Picks. He says that the
inhabitants were a mixture of Shawanee
and other nations, but it
was called a Shawanee town. He went from
Pickaweeke to Blue
Jacket's town, which he locates three or
four miles north on the
same stream. Jones was highly
entertained by Blue Jacket, who,
Rev. Jones says, was called the King.
This Blue Jacket was the
leader of the combined forces of the
Indians when they were
defeated in 1794 by General Wayne. Rev.
Jones says that Blue
Jacket was not an Indian, but a white
man who had been taken
prisoner when a boy and reared among the
Indians. His right
name was Marmaduke Van Sweringin. I
believe I have never
seen this statement made in history.
(Pardon the digression.)
On Friday, January 22, 1773, Rev. Jones left Blue Jacket's
town in company with a Mr. Irwine for
the Chillicaathee town.
They arrived in the afternoon. Mr. Jones
gives a very interest-
ing account of his experience with the
Chillicothe (Chillicaathee)
Indians. He states that the town was the
chief town of the
Shawanees. The reader will please
remember the last statement.
He locates the town north of a large
plain, adjacent to a branch
of Paint creek. This corresponds to the
location of "Old Town,"
or Frankfort, as it is now called.
I believe that the Jones notes are the
earliest recorded history
that speaks of a Chillicothe in this
portion of the country. In
this I may be mistaken, but I am not
mistaken in the fact that
Jones says that it was the chief town of
the Shawanees, and that
it was located on a branch of Paint
creek.
A little volume lies before me that was
written by Col.
John McDonald, which contains a sketch
of the life of General
Simon Kenton. This little sketch was not
written by a long
distance historian, nor by a stranger.
Instead, it was written
by a companion in the wilderness. When
McDonald was pre-
paring this sketch, although an old man,
he made his way on
horseback from his home on Poplar Ridge
in Ross county, to the
head of Mad river in Logan county, to
the humble cabin of the
old warrior, and gathered many of the
facts that are embodied
in the sketch of the most interesting
career of the most interest-
ing frontiersman of the Northwest
territory.
170 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
McDonald says in his sketch that
"in the year 1789 the
writer first became acquainted with
Kenton, and although young,
was with him in many excursions after
the Indians."
In the sketch we find that in 1778 Boone
and Kenton with
nineteen men made a tour into the Indian
country with the avowed
purpose of attacking a small Indian
village on Paint creek.
When they arrived near the town they
were surprised by
about forty Indians whom they put to
flight. On account of
the town being apprised of the approach
of the whites the pro-
ject of surprising and taking the town
was abandoned. The
reader can here see that Boone and
Kenton were together on
Paint creek.
Again McDonald says "About the
first of September of the
same year, 1778, Kenton again organized
an expedition into the
Indian country. In this expedition he
was joined by Alexander
Montgomery and George Clarke. The
purpose was to obtain
horses from the Indians."
McDonald says that they proceeded to
Chillicothe, (now Old
Town). They succeeded in obtaining seven
horses. They pro-
ceeded to the Ohio and attempted to
cross at the mouth of Eagle
creek, Brown county. The waves ran so
high that the horses
could not be induced to cross. As the
result of this delay they
were overtaken by the Indians.
Montgomery was killed and
Kenton taken prisoner. Clarke made his
escape. McDonald de-
tails the cruel treatment inflicted upon
Kenton while in captivity.
This was the time that Kenton was lashed
to a vicious horse
and turned loose in the woods. The next
day, after their arrival
at Chillicothe, Kenton was made to run
the gauntlet. McDonald
says that some two or three hundred
Indians joined in the sport.
He was kicked and cuffed most
unmercifully, his clothes were
torn from his body, and he was left
naked and exhausted on the
ground.
That was the bitterest experience of
Kenton's eventful life.
Again, McDonald says, "In the year
1787, Kenton asked Col.
Todd to join him in a raid against the
Indians. Kenton said that
with their joint forces they could
destroy the Indian town on the
North Fork of Paint creek, (now Old
Town, then Chillicothe).
The Towns Called Chillicothe. 171
"Kenton as usual commanded a
company and piloted the
expedition to the Chillicothe town. On
their route out, about
five miles south of Old Town, on a place
now called Poplar Ridge,
(this was the home of McDonald,) the
advance guard, com-
manded by Kenton, met four Indians.
Kenton and Helm fired
and killed two Indians, and the other
two were taken prisoners.
"From the prisoners they learned
that there was a large
Indian encampment between them and Old
Chillicothe, about
three miles from the latter place."
On account of the impatience of some of
the men they
failed to surprise the town, word having
reached the inhabitants,
when all took naked to the woods. The
town was burned to
ashes and everything around destroyed.
The army camped that
night on the North Fork of Paint creek.
Again, McDonald says, "In 1795,
Kenton led a party of thirty
men against the Indians. They expected
to head the Indians off
about the moutth of Paint creek on the
Scioto. When they came
to a place known as Reeve's crossing
they came to a fresh trail.
They found the Indians camped on the
bank of Paint creek."
After submitting the foregoing facts we
leave the reader to
judge whether or not Dr. McFarland's
town No. 2 was the town
for the reader to keep in mind when
reading of Boone and Ken-
ton. We are sorry that mistakes occur in
history as often as
they do. But the most careful reader is
liable to misread or to
remember indistinctly. J. B. F.
MORGAN.
It is true that Dr. McFarland, in the
article referred to,
speaks of Boone and Kenton as
"hunters." But it does not fol-
low that he held them in no higher
regard. In other published
articles he gives them due credit for
their manifold services to
the pioneer community; and frequently,
in personal conversation,
I have heard him refer to them in terms
that showed him to be
fully cognizant of the great aid which
they rendered to settlers
in the wilderness, and the part which
they took in preparing it.
for civilization.
There can be no doubt that Blue Jacket
was a white man,
as stated by Jones. He and a younger
brother were captured by
5 Vol. XII-2
172 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Indians; the latter was restored to his
family, but Marmaduke
became one of the tribe by adoption.
This statement is made in
other books, though I do not recall just
where, and the fact is
well known to persons now living in
Chillicothe. Descendants
of Blue Jacket are, or were within a few
years, still living some-
where west of the Mississippi.- G. F.
PROF. MCFARLAND'S REPLY.
To the Editor of the News-Advertiser.
In your issue of January 7th, there was
a review of a brief
article which was originally published
in the Ohio Archaeological
and Historical Quarterly. The reviewer
makes a display of mis-
takes which he claims to have found. I
propose to show that
the reviewer is in error, and that in
his comment he has made
worse mistakes than he charges against
me. The following state-
ment shows how the original article on
the Chillicothes came to
be written:
Some months ago, being in correspondence
with a Columbus
gentleman, a fellow member of the Ohio
Archaeological and His-
torical Society, a man of extensive
literary culture, mention was
made of the fact that there were several
Indian towns, formerly
in Ohio, having the name of Chillicothe;
and that sometimes
confusion arose in the minds of readers
as to the location
of these towns, and the part they played
in the early history of
the state. The suggestion was made that
it might be well to
give a short statement of the facts and
print it in the Quarterly.
It was so done. At all the places named
I have been scores of
times, of course long after they were
abandoned by the Indians.
So far as I can make out, only two
mistakes are claimed to
be found: first, that the Chillicothe on
the Little Miami was not
the town generally meant when Boone and
Kenton were named,
and, secondly, that the Westfall
Chillicothe was on the east side
of the Scioto.
The sole reason adduced to support this
second case, is a
report that some surveyors encamped over
night not far from
Westfall, and if the town had been on
the west side, the survey-
The Towns Called Chillicothe. 173
ors were in danger of being killed; this
in 1794, twenty years
after Dunmore's expedition. And as the
country was being sur-
veyed, what evidence was there to show
that the town was of
any importance; or whether, at that
time, it was inhabited at all?
It is not stated how far away the
surveyors pitched their camp
- whether one mile or ten. One place
would have been about
as dangerous as the other in case the
savages knew of their posi-
tion; and either place was safe if the
enemy did not know where
the party was encamped. Further, how
long would it have taken
the Indians to cross the river, even if
the town had been on the
east side? This claim that the town, for
the above reason, was
east of the Scioto, borders on the
absurd, not to say the ridicu-
lous. Besides, it is contradicted by the
traditions of more than
a hundred and twenty-five years, and by
the testimony of every
writer of Western history who mentions
the town at all;--at
least, all whose works I have read. The
mistake is Dr. Morgan's,
not mine.
Now, as to the other alleged mistake;-
that the Chillicothe
near Xenia was not the town usually
meant when Boone and
Kenton were spoken of in connection with
a town of this name.
Dr. Morgan labors to show that it was
the Paint creek town. He
further claims that this was the chief
town of the Shawnees. I
have something to say on each of these
two points.
The suggestion that I spoke
disparagingly of Boone and Ken-
ton in calling them "hunters,"
is well and fully answered by "G.
F.," in the note printed at the end
of Dr. Morgan's article. I
was not giving my own or the country's
estimate of the two men,
but merely stated (for the information
of any who might wish
to know) that the Little Miami town was
often named in connec-
tion with the two men. The fact that
both men had been at
the Paint creek town, has been known to
me almost all my life.
Again, there is not one word in my
original article on the Chilli-
cothes, which by any possibility can be
twisted to signify that I
gave any estimate of the relative
importance of the several towns.
But as this point has been raised, it
will receive due attention.
The order in which the towns were named
is of no significance.
Any other order would do as well.
174 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
If the Paint creek town was the chief
one, how came it to
pass that of the six great military
expeditions to punish the In-
dians, not one was directed against the
Paint creek Chillicothe,
although a considerable portion of three
of the armies came down
the Ohio, and were within sixty miles of
the place? Here fol-
low the six expeditions:
1st. That of George Rogers Clark, who,
in 1780, with a
mounted regiment, moved on to attack the
Chillicothe on the
Little Miami; then a few hours afterward
fought the great
battle at Piqua, six miles below
Springfield, on Mad river, the
Indians making a "desperate
defense."
2nd. In 1782, Clark, with 1,050 men,
attacked the Shawnees,
at Upper Piqua, on the Great Miami. A
detachment made a
night march of about fifteen miles
farther, and destroyed Lora-
mie's store. In his report of this
expedition Clark says, "We
surprised the principal Shawnee town on
the evening of the 10th
of November." One writer says that the Upper Piqua is
said
at one period to have contained nearly
4,000 Shawnees.
Dr. Morgan gives an account of a
contemplated attack on
the Paint creek town, by Boone and
Kenton, with nineteen others
-a not very formidable army, as men
estimate forces. Refer-
ence to this affair will be made later
on.
3rd. In 1786, Col. Benjamin Logan led a
force of about
1,000 men against the Shawnee towns on
the upper waters of
the Mad river, in what is now Logan
county. Eight towns were
utterly destroyed.
4th. In 1790, Gen. Harmar, with 1,500
men marched against
the Indians of Western Ohio.
5th. In 1791, Gen. St. Clair with more
than 1,400 men made
a like move.
6th. In 1793-4, Gen. Wayne, with 3,000
men, played havoc
with these same Indians before making
his treaty.
In none of these six campaigns was any
mention made of
this "chief town of the Shawnees on
Paint creek." Still, if any-
one wishes so to consider it, I would
not willingly disturb his
serenity of soul.
For his principal historical points, Dr.
Morgan relies on
McDonald's Sketches. I read those
sketches when they were:
The Towns Called Chillicothe. 175
first printed in a weekly newspaper in
Cincinnati. This was some
years after Kenton's death. We are told
that when McDonald
was an "old man" he rode all
the way from Ross to Logan county
to see Kenton, and "gathered many
of the facts" given in his
sketches. This was an honorable way of
proceeding, and the
"old man" should have due
credit for his carefulness. Let us
examine the matter a little further, and
see whether there was
a possibility - nay, even a probability
- of making "mistakes."
Kenton was about eighty years old, and
he had no written account
of his multitudinous exploits. He gave his statements from
memory only. It is also possible that
McDonald has attributed
to one town events which occurred at
another, both towns bearing
the same name. One such case is referred
to below. Remember
that this event took place more than
fifty-five years before McDon-
ald's conference with Kenton. But before
giving a specific ac-
count of this error, it may be well to
show what opportunities I
have had of gaining information on the
general subject.
William Kenton was eighteen years older
than his brother,
Simon. William and his family moved from
Fauquier county,
Virginia, to Kentucky in the fall of
1783, and thence to the val-
ley of Mad river, in Champaign county,
Ohio, in 1801, Simon
having preceded him a year or two.
William's children were
Philip, Thomas, Elizabeth, Mark, Jane,
Mary and William. With
the first four of these I was well
acquainted for more than a
score of years, the other three having
died before my time; but
I was acquainted with the children and
grandchildren of all the
seven, as also with Simon Kenton and his
children and grand-
children. My father married Philip's
oldest daughter. The
first twenty-five years of my life were
spent among the Kentons.
The Kentons formed a sort of colony of
no mean dimensions.
In the early 40's I taught school for
more than two years, in
three adjoining districts, and in each
about half the pupils be-
longed to some branch of the Kenton
family. 'For the last thirty
years of Simon's life, his residence and
my father's were not
many miles apart, although each of the
men had changed his
place of residence at least three times.
In the last four or five
years of Simon's life, when unable to
undergo the fatigue of
constant labor, he was accustomed to
visit his children, his neph-
176 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
ews and nieces, and he was always
heartily welcomed. On these
occasions, the lads of eight, ten or
twelve years, always beset
the old "hunter," and begged
him to tell of his fights with the
Indians. I was one of those youngsters,
and heard the stories
from Simon's own lips.
One item I mention here -an
item, so far as I know, now
for the first time put on record. To the
question as to how many
Indians he had killed, the answer was
that when he was entirely
alone, he had shot sixteen, but he did
not know how many he
had killed when he was in company with
others. Hundreds of
times I have heard the exploits of Simon
talked over by his
relatives -accounts told them by Simon
himself. It was a sub-
ject that never grew old.
In 1838 I read to Thomas Kenton
McClung's sketch of
Simon. Like many other pioneers he had
never learned to read.
Many times when I had finished one story
he had me read it
over again, and slowly, so that he might
see whether it agreed
with Simon's account of the same story.
In this way the whole
sketch was read over two or three times.
He detected but one
mistake, and that was of no moment. All
the rest agreed with
what Simon had always said - only that
the author had not men-
tioned one-quarter of the scouting
expeditions which Simon had
made. My father, who, for thirty years
was associated with
Kenton, had a like opinion of McClung's
sketch. I claim, there-
fore, that McClung's account is
substantially correct.
I return now to the mistake above
referred to; it is the ac-
count of the horse-capturing raid. Dr.
Morgan says: "The old
Chillicothe where Kenton had the most
bitter experience of his
long and eventful life, was the
Chillicothe on the North Fork of
Paint creek." This statement I
flatly contradict; and I will show
to the satisfaction of any fair-minded
person that it was the Chilli-
cothe on the Little Miami, north of
Xenia, and I will also point
out how the mistake was most probably
made. Dr. Morgan states
that Boone and Kenton, with nineteen
others, undertook an ex-
pedition against a Paint creek Indian
town. The account, as
printed in Dr. Morgan's article, is as
follows: "In the sketch we
find that in 1778, Boone and Kenton,
with nineteen men, made a
tour into the Indian country with the
avowed purpose of attack-
The Towns Called Chillicothe. 177
ing a small Indian village on Paint
creek. When they arrived
near the town they were surprised by
about forty Indians whom
they put to flight. On account of the
town being apprised of the
approach of the whites, the project of
surprising and taking the
town was abandoned."
McClung's version gives a more detailed
statement, as fol-
lows: "Kenton sustained two sieges
in Boonesborough and served
as a spy with equal diligence and
success, until the summer of
1778, when Boone, returning from
captivity, concerted an expe-
dition against the small Indian town on
Paint creek. Kenton
acted as a spy in this expedition. * * *
Being some distance
in advance of the rest, he was suddenly
startled by hearing a
loud laugh from an adjoining thicket
which he was about to enter.
Instantly halting, he took his position
behind a tree, and anxiously
awaited a repetition of the noise. In a
few minutes, two Indians
approached the spot where he lay, both
mounted upon a small
pony, and chatting and laughing in high
good humor. Having
permitted them to approach within good
rifle distance, he raised
his gun, and, aiming at the breast of
the foremost, pulled the
trigger. Both Indians fell - one shot
dead, the other severely
wounded. Their frightened pony galloped
back into the cane,
giving alarm to the rest of the party,
who were some distance in
the rear." I abbreviate the
remainder of the account. Kenton
ran forward to dispatch the wounded
Indian and secure the scalps,
but while thus engaged, he heard a
rustling in the cane, and look-
ing up, "he beheld two Indians
within twenty steps of him, very
deliberately taking aim at his
person." Kenton jumped aside
and the bullets whistled near his head.
He ran to the shelter of
a tree, and a dozen more Indians emerged
from the canebrake;
but just then Boone and the others ran
up, "and opening a brisk
fire upon the Indians, quickly compelled
them to regain the shelter
of the canebrake, with the loss of
several wounded." A surprise
of the town being now impossible, Boone
returned with all the
men except Kenton and Montgomery. These
two "determined to
proceed alone to the Indian town, and at
least obtain some recom-
pense for the trouble of their
journey." They did so, took four
horses, and making a rapid night's
march, returned in safety to
Kentucky. McClung continues,
"Scarcely had he returned when
178 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Col. Bowman ordered him to take his
friend Montgomery, and
another young man named Clark, and go on
a secret expedition
to an Indian town on the Little Miami,
against which the Colonel
meditated an expedition, and of the
exact condition of which he
wished to have certain information. They
instantly set out in
obedience of their orders, and reached
the neighborhood of the
town without being discovered." From this point on the
accounts
given by McDonald (or quoted) and by
McClung agree in all
the essential points. The small
difference is that McDonald says
they attempted to cross the Ohio at the
mouth of Eagle creek,
but the Kentons said that in the first
raid, when four horses had
been taken, they crossed the Ohio at
Eagle creek, but in the
second, the attempt to cross was made at
the mouth of White
Oak, ten miles further down the Ohio.
The pursuit, the failure
to cross, the death of Montgomery, the
escape of Clark, the cap-
ture of Kenton, the wild ride back to
Chillicothe, the gauntlet,
etc., etc., are the same in both
narratives. McClung says "on
the Little Miami;" McDonald, as
quoted, says "they proceeded to
Chillicothe," and so they did, but
it was not the town on Paint
creek.
The council decided not to burn Kenton
at Chillicothe, but
to go to Wapatomica, on the upper waters
of Mad river. Kenton
asked a renegade white man what would be
done with him at
Wapatomica. He replied, "Burn you,
G-d d-n you." Ken-
ton resolved to escape. His conductors
started on the trip. Ken-
ton "meditating an effort for
liberty, and as often shrinking from
the attempt. At length he was aroused
from his reverie by the
Indians firing off their guns, and raising
the scalp halloo. The
signal was soon answered, and the deep
roll of a drum was heard
in front." Then Kenton "sprung
into the bushes and fled with
the speed of a wild deer. The pursuit
was instant and keen,
some on foot, some on horseback."
In his flight Kenton ran into
a company of horsemen who were coming
from the village to
meet those who were conducting
Kenton. "He was again
haltered and driven before them to the
town like an ox to the
slaughter house. Upon reaching the
village (Pickaway), he was
fastened to a stake near the door of the
council house, and the
warriors again assembled in debate. In a
short time they issued
The Towns
Called Chillicothe. 179
from the
council house, and surrounding him, they danced, yelled,
etc., for
several hours. * * * On the following morning
their journey
was continued * * * and
on the second day
he arrived at
Waughcotomoco." [This
is McClung's way of
spelling;
others usually write Wapatomica.]
The
correctness of this account is confirmed by all the testi-
mony touching
it. The journey from Chillicothe to Pickaway,
[usually
written Piqua, six miles from Springfield, down Mad
river] was
made in one day, with several hours to spare. The
distance from
the Chillicothe on the Little Miami is about twelve
miles in a
straight line, the distance from the Chillicothe on Paint
creek is about
fifty miles similarly measured. To travel the dis-
tance in one
day and have "several hours" to spare, was easily
practicable
from the town on the Little Miami. But to travel
the distance
from the Chillicothe on Paint creek, to Piqua, and
have
"several hours" to spare, when you reflect that the windings
of the journey
would add some miles to the distance, was abso-
lutely
impossible. Some one has confused his Chillicothes.
"He that
diggeth a pit shall fall into it."
It is with great
reluctance that I have taken time to expose
the
"mistakes" made by Dr. Morgan, or those on whom he relied,
and I decline
any further controversy on the subject.
R. W.
MCFARLANLD.