TARHE, THE WYANDOT
CHIEF,
AND THE
HARRISON-TARHE PEACE CONFERENCE.
LR. CHAS. E. SLOCUM, DEFIANCE.
It is the desire of this writing to add
somewhat to the men-
tion of Tarhe, the Wyandot Aborigine1
Chief, and to the men-
tion of the character of the Aborigines,
that appeared in the last
number of the QUARTERLY, although this
addition shows their
character different from that there
mentioned.
Tarhe grew to adult life in very
troublous times. He
was reared to savagery, and to
inebriety, like all Aborigine youths
of his range and time--first, in
addition to the habits of his
people, under the tutorship of the
French against the British and
later under the yet more savage policy
of the British against the
Americans. If he was born in the year
1742 (there is always
doubt connected with alleged parentage
and date of birth of the
children of earlier Aborigines) he was
eighteen years of age
when Sandusky, Detroit, Fort Miami (at
the head of the Mau-
mee River) and all of this western
country were surrendered
by the French to the British; and he was
thirty-three years old
when Lieutenant Governor Hamilton began
to send war-parties
of savages from Detroit, with British
outfittings and leaders,
through Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky,
against American
settlers. We may rightfully presume,
therefore, that it was dur-
ing these many savage raids, which
continued throughout the
Revolutionary War, that Tarhe, liberally
supplied by the British
and under their direction, demonstrated
to the British and to
his savage followers the worthiness of
his claim to their chief-
taincy. His tribe continued marauding
excursions as allies of
the British, with but little
intermission after the close of the
Revolutionary War, until General Wayne's
crushing defeat of
them at Fallen Timber.
1The writer desires to discourage the
parrot-like use of the mis-
nomer 'Indian' to designate an American
Aborigine.
(313)
314 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The Wyandots were a warring tribe--an
offshoot from
the Iroquois of the East - and
consequently were quarrel-
some, and brave in battle. But they, in
common with all other
Aborigines, were quick to desert their
allies when the tide of
battle turned against them. General
Wayne took advantage of
this phase of the character of the
tribes and, after his signal suc-
cess at Fallen Timber, he diplomatically
drew them all to the
most important treaty at Greenville in
1795. To his prestige as
conqueror was added his very important
overbidding of the
British in supplies, and the discoursing
of his agents on the
growing power of the United States.
For several years after Wayne's treaty
at Greenville the
Aborigines were satisfied with the
American annuities accord-
ing to the terms of that treaty, and
with their unrestricted hunt-
ing grounds. During this time we catch
glimpses of Tarhe's
ignoble character, including his
inebriety and his disposition to
make Americans his slaves. The Society
of Friends had, from
their first coning to America in 1656,
taken great interest in the
civilization of the Aborigines and had
done much for them with
this end in view. The Baltimore Yearly
Meeting of Friends in
1795 appointed a large committee to
consider the condition and
needs of the western Aborigines; and the
influence of this com-
mittee was felt at the first treaty at
Greenville where General
Wayne, who was reared a neighbor to the
Friends, took occasion
to commend their good offices to the
Aborigines. The Wyandots,
always ready like other tribes to enter
upon anything that prom-
ised an increase of their supplies, sent
a "speech with a large belt
and ten strings of white wampum" to
the Friends' Yearly Meet-
ing at Baltimore the latter part of the
year 1798, inviting them
to visit the chiefs at Upper Sandusky.
To this invitation were
appended, by the white man who did the
writing, the name of
the chiefs Tarhe (Crane), Skah-on-wot
(Adam Brown), and
Mai-i-rai (Walk-on-the-Water). Seven
Friends started west-
ward on horseback May 7, 1799, to accept
this invitation. After
suffering many hardships in their
tortuous way through the for-
est, through the mud and through flooded
streams, they arrived
at Upper Sandusky the third day of June
to be witnesses of
shocking scenes of drunkenness among the
Aborigines, and to
Tarhe, the Wyandot Chief, Etc. 315
be subjected to many indignities by
them. From his intoxicated
condition Tarhe was unable to meet the
Friends until late the
next day; and then, with three other
chiefs, the meeting was brief
and unsatisfactory. The Friends with
difficulty understood that
the council would not meet until the
middle of the month when
Tarhe would present to those assembled
the subject of the
Friends' desire to instruct the people
generally in religion, agri-
culture, mechanical arts, domestic
economy, etc., and as soon as a
decision was obtained they would send a
'speech' to Baltimore
announcing it. The presents then given
by the Friends and the
efforts they offered, were not of the
character to appeal to the
dissolute inclination of the Aborigines;
and request for the return
of the Friends was not made. Being
unable to obtain food for
themselves and their horses, the Friends
were obliged to imme-
diately start homeward.
In the winter of 1803-04 Tarhe, and near
one hundred other
Aborigines mostly Wyandots, went to the
upper waters of the
Mahoning River to hunt bears. Snow fell
to the depth of about
three feet which, with their previous
improvident use of their
United States Annuity receipts and their
established habit of
beggary, quite incapacitated them in
their opinion for any action
but appeals for help to some families of
Friends who lived about
twenty miles distant. The first appeal,
written by a lounging
white man in their camp, reads in part
as follows after being
straightened out: . . . Brothers, will
you please help me
to fill my kettles and my horses'
troughs, for I am afraid my
horses will not be able to carry me home
again. Neighbors, will
you please to give if it is but a
handful apiece, and fetch it out
to us for my horses are not able to come
after it. [Signed]
Tarhie. Their needs were supplied by the
nearest Friends, and
then came another writing, viz.: . . .
Brothers, I want you
to know I have got help from some of my
near neighbors.
Brothers, I would be glad to know what
you will do for me, if it
is but little. Brothers, if you cannot
come soon, it will do bye
and bye, for my belly is now full. . .
My Brothers, Quakers,
I hope our friendship will last as long
as the world stands. All
I have to say to you now is, that I
shall stay here until two
moons are gone. Tarhie. More food was
taken to them by these
316 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Friends and members of the Redstone,
Pennsylvania, Quarterly
Meeting.
The United States Annuity gifts to these
shiftless people,
large as they were relatively, were
overbid by the British during
their collusion with Tecumseh and the
'Prophet' previous to
the declaration of War of 1812, and
then, as has even been the
case with these wretched people, the
side that bid the highest in
sensual indulgences, including savagery,
obtained their aid for
savage work. The exceedingly lavish
gifts of guns, ammunition,
intoxicating liquors, food and gaudy
raiment, at Malden (Am-
herstburg, Canada) to the Wyandots and
other tribes of this
western country by the British long
before war was declared,
attracted and allied to the British
support during the War of
1812 practically all of the active
warrior Aborigines. The old
and decrepit like Tarhe, and many women
and children, were left
behind--and the United States continued
to feed and clothe
these non-combatant remnants, and to
treat with them, in the
hope thereby to win back to neutrality
the warriors from the
British ranks. To hasten this result
General Harrison sent some
old Wyandots to the hostile camp at
Brownstown, Michigan,
soon after the British withdrew from the
first Siege of Fort
Meigs, but the savage cannibals were yet
cloyed with the flesh
and booty obtained at the Dudley
Massacre - and the ever alert
British agents were at hand to
neutralize the first appearance of
dissatisfaction in the savage camp.
The British were somewhat less
successful in allying the
Shawnees and Delawares to their army for
the War of 1812
than with other tribes. This was due in
part to the influence for
peace exerted on them by the Society of
Friends, but principally
to the chastisements given these tribes
by United States soldiers
and the liberal increase to them of the
United States Annuity.
The following table of United States
Annuity gifts shows in its
blanks which tribes went fully to the
British (including Tarhe's
own tribe), but it cannot show the
number of warriors which
deserted the Americans from other tribes
on account of the rela-
tive increase of annuity to the remnants
of tribes left behind in
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois -and on this
account the Senecas of
the Sandusky River cannot be included in
this table, viz.:
Tarhe, the Wyandot Chief, Etc. 317 |
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In addition to these amounts $496,647.14 was expended by the United States at Sandusky, Fort Wayne, Detroit, Mackinaw, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Chicago, at the seat of government, and other points in effort to keep these wretched people neutral dur- ing the war; but the British appealed to and gave free rein to their savagery and thereby readily won their alliance. The "Harrison-Tarhe Peace Conference" at Franklinton (Columbus) could not keep the Wyandot warriors from the British. It only resulted in adding a few worse than useless old men to the Northwestern army at its advance into Canada. This action, however, was insignificant for good, as they had no part, even in remote influence, in turning the tide in favor of the American arms. The repulses of the British and their savage allies at Fort Meigs, at Fort Stephenson, and on Lake Erie, were |
318 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. more than enough to dishearten all the hostile Aborigines and to turn many of them from the British before and during their flight from Amherstburg. They at once sought favor with the victors, and fully attended the numerous magnanimous treaties to which the United States invited them.2 2 See History of the Maumee River Basin by Charles E. Slocum, pages 309, 312, 365, 385, 442 passim, for reference to authorities and evidence against other misconceptions. |
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