SQUAW TRAIL
BY GEORGE NELSON HINDS
John and Elizabeth Hinds and their three
sons had emigrated from
the Fen country in England to the New
World, on board a slave ship,
arriving in 1808. Traveling in an
oilskin-covered wagon, drawn by their
oxen, Thomas and Jeremiah, they encamped
at a point about thirty miles
from Albany, New York, on the Squaw
Trail. This trail, variously labeled
"the Iroquois trail,"
"King Philip's road," and described as "a tote road"
and "a trace," was known to
the Indians as Squaw Trail, because it was
sufficiently wide for squaws to move
tribal belongings by means of ponies
dragging their burdens on tote poles. It
is now for most of its course
designated as U. S. Highway No. 20, and
little does the modern traveler
realize its antiquity, for it is thought
by some to have existed before the
days af Babylon.
Frontier conditions and pioneer travel
have been described time and
time again, so, although it is no easy
matter for the modern reader to pic-
ture the scene which was presented to
this venturing party, it is yet possible
to gain some conception of the hardships
and dangers they were enduring.
The Hinds were bound for a cabin in the
heart of the Ohio wilderness,
in the valley of the Whetstone
(Olentangy), several hundred miles west-
ward, near where Squaw Trail merged into
the Indian war trail. This
cabin, built by John's brother, Robert,
in 1779, had been empty from the
time of the burning of Colonel William
Crawford by the Delawares. John
had chosen the long route over Squaw
Trail, avoiding the Great Way
through Fort Pitt, because of warnings
against the character of many of the
white travelers on that road.
As they had been about to break camp to
continue along the trail, they
were agreeably surprised when they were
joined by another westward-bound
pioneer, Yacob Schneider, a German, late
of the British Army, surrendered
by Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. He had
been a German soldier, sold by
his Hessian overlord into the English ranks,
and had chosen to remain in
America after the Revolution. Since then
he had been living in the wilds
among the tribesmen, learning how the
primitive peoples survive. He was,
therefore, a most useful member of the
Hinds party, and the friendship
which therewith began continued
throughout their lives.
Yacob was delighted to observe in John's
outfit two casks of refined
salt and a small copper still. These he
watched over with the same care
(78)
HINDS: SQUAW TRAIL 79
that Elizabeth bestowed on her sons, for
salt in the wilderness was a luxury
and a still was a precious possession.
Yacob taught the Englishmen the
tribal arts in setting snares, how each
tribe marked its set by the form of
slip-noose employed and the way the
spring poles were tied in place. He
explained why the Indians found the
white man's traps impractical and why
the rifle was of little advantage in the
wilderness.
A few miles from the camp site of the
morning the party came upon
a minor Mohawk village. Many of the
members of this tribe had been
driven into the Grand River Valley in
Canada, but a few remained despite
the hatred of the colonists. John
recorded in his diary that his first im-
pression on entering the village was
that of a child turning the first page of
a picture book. These children of the
wild were friendly in the extreme.
Even the dogs showed a disposition to
come more than half way in es-
tablishing amicable relations with a
white man. The day was excessively
hot and braves, squaws and children were
scantily clad. John noticed that
all were wearing armlets, leglets and
anklets of shells and bright beads
worked into ornamental patterns, and he
knew their purpose for he had been
in tropical countries and found the
natives using the same device to pre-
vent snake bites. The sparkling ornament
would attract and receive the
strike of the viper instead of the flesh.
As he moved about among the
wigwams and huts he was met with many
grunts of approval and a young
Mohawk maiden approached him in a
greeting that carried him back in
memory to Asiatic seacoast cities, which
he had visited as a seaman in His
Majesty's service. The approach was as
familiar as it had been among
people of the Buddhist faith.
The girl stood erect and perfectly
poised before him. The posture he
learned later was the result of
flattening the spine while an infant by a
special Mohawk binding which no other
tribe save the Apache used. Her
left hand shielded her eyes as though
from a blinding light and with her
right hand she made the sign of the
cross, not as it is given by those of the
Roman Catholic faith, but low down with
the same movement of the hand
as that of a Japanese in committing
harakiri. John knew at once that while
the salute was for him it was also a
tribute to his mother for delivering such
a glorious son to her presence that he
blinded her eyes. The greeting was
answered by placing both hands over the
eyes and keeping them there in
recognition of the light of her presence
until the girl stamped the earth with
her right foot. John wondered, and with
good reason, whence the Mohawks
brought this ancient greeting by
maidens. The girl also wore a totem of
her tribe, a white pennant painted on
her left cheek. The right cheek was
bare, indicating that she was pure of
heart, of good disposition and had no
enemies. In the case of the braves the
right cheek carried a black pennant
with one of white on the left. They were
pure of heart and motive with
their friends but black and terrible on
the side of the sword arm to their
enemies. These totems reminded John of
the black and white banners car-
80
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ried by the knights in the first
crusades in the Holy Land, having a similar
interpretation. Thus were two astounding
links with a distant past sug-
gested to the investigating mind.
The visiting youngsters romped with the
tribal children and their
games carried them into harmony and
familiarity with each other. At
length, little George, aged four, the
youngest of the trio consisting of John,
Jr., Thomas and George, disappeared. His
red hair and curly locks had
won the admiration of the young squaw
mentioned and in her wigwam she
had redressed him in buckskin and
moccasins, with his face bearing the
totems of the Mohawk warrior, his hair
glorious in the headdress of a squaw
with the turkey feathers drooping.
Quickly he ran to the wagon with his
linsey-woolsey garb under his arm and
tossed it into the vehicle, fully de-
termined that only buckskins would meet
his needs in the future. This led
to trouble in the morning, for he
stoutly refused to surrender the outfit and
Yacob was obliged to trade five pounds
of salt for it. Their troubles with
little George were not at an end for his
mother soon found him in open
rebellion against face washings. The
work of the young squaw must never
be washed off. This embarrassing
situation continued until Yacob con-
vinced George that he was an expert in
restoring the decorations with a
little deer fat and axle grease and life
again became worth living for the
youngster.
Farther along the trail, near where
Buffalo now stands, the party came
to a large Seneca village. Their
entrance lacked ceremony, though the
Senecas received them with dignity.
Unlike many tribal villages, there was
no eruption of dogs when they arrived.
They were greeted by a tall medicine
man who remained silent while offering
them lumps of maple sugar.
He wore the totem of his people on his
left cheek, a crude outline of
a beaver in black, a figure symbolizing
intelligence, industry and patience.
On his forehead two broad lines in red
crossed each other, forming a cross
of equal length and breadth. This cross
was the source of the Indian magic
of a combination of fours. To the
initiated the cross gave the message that
this Seneca medicine man carried his
wisdom, his faith in the spirits and his
errands of mercy to the four points of
the compass, that the four winds
brought him whispered blessings from
every quarter, that the abundance in
the mighty storehouse of the Great
Spirit was open to his needs through
the productiveness of the four seasons
and the devils of disease feared him
because of his rulership in the kingdoms
of fire, water, roots and herbs.
Yacob then boldly asked for Red Jacket,
the famous Seneca chief.
When he appeared, Yacob thrust his hand
into his bosom and produced a
piece of fabric that not only won him
the confidence of the chief at once
but caused the party to be welcomed in a
meaningful way. Yacob placed on
his own head the red lining from one of
the great hats he had worn as a
British soldier. It was brocaded with
the emblem of the crown, and the
action was like one veteran showing
another the evidence of his service.
HINDS: SQUAW TRAIL 81
The party remained in the Seneca village
two days, during which they were
drawn into closer communion with that
powerful and fascinating force
begotten of the wilderness. John, who
was ever on the alert for evidence
and information having a bearing on the
forbears of the tribesmen, was
convinced that the Indian was merely a
development in the chemistry of
blood derived from Asiatic and European
sources. His eyes and ears were
finding proof of the theory in every
tribal contact.
They learned that the Senecas had
effective remedies against many
common diseases. It is said that all
native American remedies appearing
in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia were first
known and used by the Indian
medicine men. They discovered that the
delicate yellow tinge given to the
buckskins worn by the Senecas was
produced by boiling freshly tanned
skins in deer fat and yellow root, or
Hydrastis. Injuries from claw or
fang inflicted through their clothing
were noticed to heal satisfactorily.
Consequently yellow root was used during
an epidemic of small-pox to paint
the bodies of sufferers, with remarkable
results. Acting on the theory that
the devils of disease entered through
the nostrils, a mixture of yellow root
and fat was applied, thus warding off
head colds.
They learned that the Senecas invited
communication from the spirits
by cutting the lobe of the left ear free
from the head, leaving it dangling
and enlarged. This ear was decorated
with colorful ornaments to attract
the spirits, and receive their whispers
of advice and warning. The scalp-
lock was an invitation to the Great
Spirit to lift them up into the Happy
Hunting Ground, which may possibly be a
survival of a previous age when
they may have associated with the queued
followers of Confucius.
Traveling on, they arrived after several
days at a spot near the present
site of Erie, Pennsylvania, where they
encountered a large party of Shawnee
Indians under the leadership of the
Prophet, Tecumseh's brother, on a visit
to Red Jacket.
Yacob and the Hinds first noted horsemen
who moved single file from
the west along the trail. With scarcely
a glance or a sign of greeting, they
watered their ponies and refreshed
themselves in an atmosphere that pro-
claimed the whites intruders and
themselves owners of the domain. No
special offense was offered, but Yacob
scented trouble. Boldly he left his
own campfire, and, with his left hand
lifted in greeting, he moved among the
braves asking for the "big
chief," who finally chose to make himself known.
Yacob had not before met him, but on the
instant recognized the brawny
and insolent Shawnee as the Prophet. He
was heavily jawed and buck-
toothed with a faint green cross
sweating from his forehead in the heat of
the journey. These proclaimed him the
medicine man, who, with his brother,
Tecumseh, was seeking to cause the war
drums of every tribe from the St.
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico to beat
in one last stand against the en-
croaching whites. The Prophet grunted
his knowledge of the presence of a
guest and Yacob resorted to the strategy
he had used in meeting Red Jacket.
82 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
He produced the red lining from the hat
he had worn as a soldier of the
British crown, and the effect was all
Yacob could have wished.
The Prophet, his left cheek knife-etched
and scarred with the symbol
of the turtle with head turned to the
right, the totem of his tribe, and the
green cross of the Shawnee medicine man
restored, became friendly after a
manner, showing the interest of the fox
cajoling the hen into a feeling of
welcome and security. The Prophet
despised white men, but he found it
convenient to use them at times. As a
result of this meeting the medicine
man learned something that warmed his
heart. His guests informed him
that another war between Great Britain
and her former colonies was in-
evitable and approaching rapidly. It was
his first glimpse of the coming
conflict of 1812 and fitted in perfectly
with the drive to be made by the
federated tribes now being organized
under the leadership of Tecumseh.
The Prophet was given the cause for war
from the English point of view
as Yacob had learned it from John.
John found the Shawnees living in an
environment to which they were
not properly adjusted. Their appearance,
manners, totems, organization and
battle tactics were not those of woods
Indians but could best be identified
with a people of the plains and hills, a
people residing in the open.
It was well known to all tribes that the
Shawnee forbears had in-
troduced into their warfare strategy the
flying wedge, now so commonly
used by American schoolboys in their
football games. It was also known
that the running of the gauntlet was
another product of these tribesmen
brought from whence no man knew. It was
not a measure of punishment
to be meted out to unfortunate captives;
instead it was a test of manhood
and physical courage to show the
pleasure of the Great Spirit in the preser-
vation of the life of the deserving. The
man who ran the gauntlet upright
and manfully was not only given his
liberty but was often richly rewarded
and honored by his captors. The case of
McPherson at Fremont is an
example.
The flying wedge, it should not be
forgotten, was used by the Shawnee
to cut the force of General Arthur St.
Clair in twain at the Battle of the
Wabash, and the great Tecumseh was killed
at the point of such a wedge
in the Battle of the Thames. This method
of warfare would seem to be
related to that of Alexander the Great,
who invented the flying wedge, and
among whose warriors the running of the
gauntlet is said to have been a
custom. At least, so it seemed to John
Hinds and Yacob Schneider. As the
little party moved westward it passed
the site of Ashtabula and thence to
Cleveland, where a transient village of
Cayugas had just elected a new
tribal chieftain, and days and nights of
ceremony and revelry were in prog-
ress. The selection had been made in
accord with a custom largely prevail-
ing among the woods Indians, the choice
being given over largely to the
spirits, the voting tribesmen serving as
worthy and conscientious representa-
tives of those who had passed into the
glorious Regions of wisdom and
HINDS: SQUAW TRAIL 83
power. When a mother wished her son to
be a chief of his tribe she could,
at any time before his birth or until he
was seven years of age, announce
the fact of her aspirations. With the
announcement the child came under
the direct supervision of the tribal
spirits and his development was watched
by all. Any unusual hint of power or
intelligence was received with en-
thusiasm and when the voting time came
every ballot was cast under spirit
direction, regardless of relationship or
personal attachment to any candidate.
Here John recorded special interest in a
half lance used by these
peoples in the killing of big game. It
was a lance similar to those used in
Japan and by the wild horsemen under
Genghis Khan. Made of ash, it was
as light as could be wished, and being
as hard as bone it showed the ancient
tempering by the use of clay and fire. A
brave's life always depended on
this weapon being substantial and it was
a work of art in balance and
quality.
Squaw Trail turned south to Cuyahoga
Falls, where the Delawares
under old Captain Pipe had found
lodgment. The Delawares were one of
the four Turtle tribes. They designated
themselves by the totem of the
turtle, knife-etched or painted on the
left cheek with the head turned to
the left. Captain Pipe treated the
visitors with cold indifference; his
experience with the whites had not
inspired confidence in them.
Thomas and Jeremiah toiled patiently,
drawing the great wagon over
the rock-strewn hills and the boggy
dales where Squaw Trail wound its
primitive course. The present site of
Akron was passed and the party
followed closely what is now the line of
the Erie railway to the site of
present-day Mansfield. Thence they moved
to Chesterville, where the trail
joined with the old Owl River Trail
leading from Fort Pitt. In due time
the site of Mt. Gilead was reached. From
there the journey was continued
through the present Denmark to a point
one mile east of Claridon, bringing
the travelers to a fairly good
high-ground road which turned to the north-
west because of swampy ground. Crossing
of the Whetstone was made at
Douce's Ford, where the trail merged with
"The Way of the Great Spirit,"
or Moccasin Trail, for a quarter of a
mile north. A turn to the west and
they were less than a half mile from the
end of the long trek to a home in
the Ohio country.
Yacob shouted and fired a charge from
his brass-mounted Hessian
musket in celebration when the clearing
came into sight, the clearing where
many years before, Robert, the elder
brother of John, had toiled to prepare
them a home. Soon the massive oaken door
of the cabin was forced open,
exposing to view a single room with dirt
floor, and big fireplace where
faggots were quickly brought to prepare
for the evening meal. The end
of the Squaw Trail had come for John and
his family and their friend
Yacob. George, who was the grandfather
of the writer, could recall these
events with clarity, and delighted most
to tell of the event of their arrival.