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EARLY HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY
AS TAKEN FROM THE FILES OF THE BANNER
BROWNSTOWN INDIANA
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INDIANA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Early History of Jackson County
Hardships and Privations Endured and Encountered With the Indians by Pioneer Settlers.
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Reminiscences of David Sturgeon, an old Pioneer, Compiled by H. W. Chadwick as taken from The Banner Files of 1877 and Republished 1928.
Letters of John H. Benton of Washington, D. C., Giving the Early History of Jackson County, as taken from The Banner Files of 1893.
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Early Jackson County History
Emigrating to Indiana
David Sturgeon, with his father, emigrated from Shelby county, Kentucky, to Indiana, in 1798, settled immediately on the banks of the Ohio river. Theirs was the first cabin erected in the neighborhood. The country was an unbroken wilderness not only for miles around, but over the entire North-West, which at that time was denominated the Great West. Now and then an enterprising pioneer, hunter or trap- per had erected his rude cabin and perhaps cleared a patch as a beginning for a future home; but they were looked upon with distrust, and as an innovation on the rights of their ter- ritory by the tribes of Indians who had undisputed control of the country, and who were not only numerous but vigilant and watchful-ever on the alert to inflict punishment on those isolated settlers. Those tribes, though not positively on the war path, were nevertheless looked upon as dangerous neigh- bors, and the not unfrequent massacres of the settlers served to make them all not only watchful but suspicious of their In- dian neighbors. For the first eight years' residence in Indi- ana, Mr. Sturgeon spent most of his time in assisting his father in opening the new farm and in the cultivation of the same, and in running flatboats to New Orleans and returning home on foot, most of the way through an unbroken forest inhabited by savages, who, though professing friendship, were ' thirsting for the blood of the whites. I have heard Mr. Sturgeon relate an incident which occurred to him and two traveling companions on one of their trips homeward, which he said was calculated to try the nerve of the most coura- geous frontiersman. And accustomed, as he said boatsmen were, to perils of the most startling character from the river pirates and the Indians this was as severe a trial as he ever passed, and one which at the time not only required nerve, but all the executive ability possessed by those most intimate- ly acquainted with Indiana habits. On passing New Madrid, Sturgeon and party learned that a boat's crew of four persons had passed on foot up the river to their home near the Falls
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of the Ohio river, and from the description obtained they were convinced they were acquaintances and friends who had left New Orleans three days in advance of them, and were now less than a day's travel ahead. Their anxiety to overtake them was heightened from the fact that their trail for the next few days passed over a district of country occupied by bands of roving Indians, who, though not positively on the war path, were nevertheless restless and unsafe. The day was one of unusual severity. A cold drenching winter rain storm, with relentless fury beat upon them all day, which, in their anxiety to overtake their friends in advance, they heeded not. Their anxiety was heightened from the fact that they saw fresh tracks of Indians.
Indians or River Banditti
They would follow the trail for some distance and then leave it, returning again at some turn or angle of the same. These signs strongly impressed them with the fact that their friends were being followed by Indians or river banditti, who were as much to be dreaded as the former, and that their in- tentions were evil. The storm continued through the day with such intensity that when night overtook them they found they had not made over a half day's journey. Coming upon a cabin, erected perhaps by some trapper or hunter they de- termined to enter and spend the night. On entering they were presented with unmistakable evidence that the cabin was occupied, or that their friends had dined there during the day. A small pile of burning embers in the middle of the room, and a partially consumed venison ham suspended from a peg on the wall, were proofs sufficient as to the very recent occupancy of the hut by their friends, as they felt and be- lieved. If so, they were but a short half day ahead. After renewing the fire and roasting the remainder of the venison ham which they consumed with a relish, they spread their blankets, barred the wide door, examined and put in order their trusty rifles, renewed the fire with a bountiful supply of fuel, and resigned themselves to rest.
Lone Indian Woman Hut
They awoke early in the morning fully refreshed. After partaking of a hearty meal of parched corn and jerked veni-
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son, they prepared to resume their journey; and though the storm had rather increased and the wind and the rain had assumed the form of a hurricane, they resolved to push for- ward and overtake if possible the advancing party before nightfall. Some twenty miles ahead there lived alone in a rude bark cabin an aged Indian woman, whose bodily infirm- ities had long since deprived her from keeping pace with the warriors of her tribe, whose door was ever open to the trap- per and returning boatsman, at whose hands she often re- ceived some trinket to amuse or present of value. Nothing occurred during the day to relieve the monotony occasioned from the incessant pelting of the storm. The low lands were one continuous stretch of water often from one to two feet deep, and the small streams and creeks were swollen to such proportions as to make the fording exceedingly hazardous; yet nothing daunted, they breasted every obstacle, determined if possible to make the cabin and overtake their friends. But not till darkness set in were their eyes gladdened by the light emanating from the lone Indian's hut. Hither with alacrity they bent their steps, and entered scarce waiting the welcome of the ancient dame. A fire was quickly lighted from some brush wood, around which they sat to warm and refresh themselves. The Indian seemed restless and reserved in her manners so much so as to excite suspicion, and Sturgeon, being acquainted, interrogated her as to her knowledge of his friends, the boatsmen. Ere she had deigned a reply to his question, they were startled by whisperings and stealthy foot- steps without, which to the practiced ear were ominous of evil. The woman's strange conduct and the noise without brought them all, rifle in hand, to their feet. To their sur- prise, as they arose, they saw suspended from a peg on the wall three fresh and bloody scalps, which evidently had but very recently been torn from wreaking victims. To bar the door and secure the scalps, which they believed to be those of their friends, was but the act of a moment.
The Besieged Party
The door of the cabin being securely closed, the besieged party, for such they really were, had a moment, and a mo- ment only for reflection and consultation. The hardy pioneer of those days was not easily surprised or caught off his guard. Accustomed as he was to danger continually, he was
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ever ready to defend himself against whatever foe presented itself, seeming to rejoice in the conflict most when the odds were against him and the chances of success were most doubtful.
A hasty survey of the premises convinced Sturgeon and party of the fact that whilst the hut they occupied was neither impregnable nor bullet proof, yet it was a considera- ble protection, and afforded them an opportunity to measure strength with at least twice their number. They looked each other in the face with that firm resolve which men in greatest danger only feel, examined and re-primed their trusty rifles, adjusted their tomahawks and knives, passed the welcome flask around, and with such resolves which men can make in silence pledged each other that come whatever might they at least would make their scalps worth taking.
In the meantime the party outside had withdrawn a short distance from the house, and were engaged in a consultation as to the means necessary to capture at the least hazard those within. They were, as Sturgeon learned from the old Indian woman, whom, in their haste to secure the door, had also been retained within a band consisting of five Indians and three white men disguised as Indians. She also informed them that the three bloody scalps upon the wall were none other than those of the boatsmen, their friends, whom they had anticipated overtaking, and whom the Indians had killed, scalped and robbed but a short distance from her hut, and that the fourth party made his escape, but whether wounded or not she could not tell and that the Indians were also in- formed of their approach and had resolved on their capture and robbery.
To make the situation more perilous, the old Indian woman was wild with fear while she would have liked to defend Sturgeon and his comrades from the butchery of her tribe, she well knew that to give succor to the white man, or shield him from the tomahawk and scalping knife, was death to her. At this particular juncture the party without came close upon the cabin, surrounded the same, secreted themselves behind trees, and demanded of the old woman that she should eject the party from her house, or they would burn 'it over her head. Three or four of the party outside then attempted to force the door, but a well-directed bullet from one of the men
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within made them fall back and take shelter behind the trees. Again for a short time all was still as the chamber of death, save the peltings of the storm and sobbings of the Indian woman.
Carnival of Death
It was evident now that something had to be done to rid themselves of this embarrassment, and eject, if possible, the old woman from the hut. To accomplish this was no easy task. To unbar and open the door was but to invite the bloodthirsty savages to enter into the carnival of death. The only other means of exit was through a small opening near the center of the roof, which served to let the smoke out, and this was peculiarly hazardous, for in the darkness the Indians could not distinguish a form sufficiently to tell friend from foe, and they, hearing her footsteps upon the roof, were liable to shoot and kill her. Yet this was deemed the only feasible means of exit, and through it the old woman determined to escape.
The plan was for her to be assisted to the roof, and then to announce to the Indians that if they would remain as they were she would descend to them. This having been done all was quiet for a moment, until the old woman descended from the roof, when all of sudden, as if anticipating such an event, the whole party, impelled by a spirit incarnate, came yelling at the top of their voices and some of them mounted to the top of the cabin, evidently intending to descend through the hole in the roof.
A moment's reflection convinced them that this mode of entrance was exceedingly hazardous, for as but one at a time could descend through the opening, the men within could dis- patch them as they entered. But the mounting of the roof by part of the besiegers was only a ruse to draw the fire from the three heroic men within, who now looked upon the struggle as one of life and death, and attract their attention exclusively to that point, while the remainder of the band made a simultaneous and vigorous attack on the door. In this the brave little party were not taken by surprise. They were accustomed to the treachery and cunning of the Indians, and thus self-guarded they were on the alert and protested every conceivable point of attack with the greatest bravery and care.
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Indians Suffer Defeat
After the Indians had spent some time endeavoring vainly to get the party within to discharge their guns, they made a bold and rapid attack on the door and roof at the same time, accompanying it with the wildest yells. In their united ef- forts they partially forced the door from its fastenings, and for a moment it seemed as if no power could prevent them from entering. At the same moment two rifles were thrust through the opening in the roof and discharged, but the dark- ness was so great that they could not take . aim, and no damage resuited from the shooting.
But the light from the rifle on the roof when discharged served as a mark for one of the parties within, who was guarding that point and quick as thought he discharged his rifle. To the great joy of the three, a heavy groan, accom- panied with the fall of the person from the roof, told very plainly that the leaden messenger had done its work. At the same instant the two guarding the door fired through the small opening made by the Indians, which evidently either killed or wounded some of them, for they beat a hastly re- treat, and from every indication must have suffered the loss of at least three of their number in killed or wounded. This gave the little band a moment to consult, reload their faith- ful rifles, and secure more permanently the door. This having been done, each partook of a small draught from the ever welcome flask to brace the nerves and quicken action.
After this they spread themselves flat upon the ground of the cabin, to guard, to watch and to wait.
It was some time before the Indians returned, but when they did come they came with such stealth that it was hard to distinguish their presence. All of a sudden they attacked and forced the door, and a hand to hand struggle ensued. The little party discharged their rifles with telling effect, and then clubbed their assailants with the same with such un- daunted courage as to again put them to flight. Again they carried off a wounded or dead man. So far but one of Stur- geon's party had received a wound, and it was but a slight flesh one.
It was now the grey of the morning. The heavy storm which had lasted nearly three days had abated and the dark clouds, spent of their fury were broken in fragments and
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and being scattered to give place to the god of day. The sun had mounted far above the tops of the trees ere our little band of three brave souls quitted their prison to renew their journey. With greatest caution they took in all the surround- ings, knowing the foe would lie in ambush for them, to seek revenge for the night's defeat.
The Journey Homeward
The party, after leaving the cabin, pursued their journey with great caution, for they well knew that unless the Indians had suffered much worse in the night's encounter than they had reason to believe they had the savages would lay in am- bush to obtain revenge for the night's defeat, which resulted as near as was ascertained, in the wounding of three or four of their number-perhaps two mortally, if not killed outright. To keep the direct and beaten trail, whose turns and angles they knew so well, or to strike out through a dense wilder- ness with no compass to guide save an instinctive knowledge of the chart and landmarks of nature so well understood by the pioneer, was a matter of importance to be considered and determined upon in the most careful and philosophical man- ner. Sturgeon knew well enough that he at least was well known to the Indians through the old Indian woman, and if they proposed to renew the attack they would lie in wait for them on the beaten trail. To leave the trail was not only to court danger from wandering tribes of which the country was full, but would be throwing themselves at the mercy of the enemy in their own country.
They scorned to give up bleared pathway through the for- est, which they knew led to the door of their humble cabin on the banks of the beautiful Ohio, because, perchance, some lurking savages lay in ambush for them on the way. No- they knew no fear. They were ready to meet the foe. They had joy in the strife. Thus decided they pushed forward with such caution as those accustomed to danger every moment can exercise.
But what seemed most strange was that as the morning wore away no sign of the Indian trail was seen. Could it be possible they had been so completely defeated as to give up the conflict, or had they gone to some neighboring tribe or party to tell the story of their disaster and solicit aid. Time
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wore on. The sun had mounted the altitude of the south, and the "weary traveler" began to look for some quiet and secure retreat in which to prepare refreshments for the noon's re- past. The fear, anxiety and excitement of the night and morning had worn all, and the cravings of an overfasted appetite, accompanied with some physical exhaustion, began to assert their right and demand consideration.
To obtain some food was the next consideration, as the supply of jerked venison and parched corn had been ex- hausted. They determined to leave the path at right angles for a short distance, to see if they could not kill a bear or deer from which to make the noon's meal. They had gone but a short distance from the direct route, when from the depth of a valley, surrounded by beautiful hills came up a curling smoke from the fire of some friend or foe.
Friend or Foe
There was nothing to indicate the occupancy of the valley. No path seemed to lead to the camp, if such it was. No in- dications of human footprints could be seen -nothing to in- dicate that aught was there save the one clear blue column of smoke emanating from the valley below. Just as they were consulting as to the probable occupants of the valley, a beau- tiful doe came bounding along, and paused not more than one hundred yards in front of the party and began browsing the twigs of the young cane. Quick as thought came from Stur- geon's rifle its report, and the doe was prostrate on the ground. The act was instantaneous and a surprise to all, for they deemed themselves perhaps near the camp of the enemy. For a moment all was quite, and the party were on the alert. They fancied they heard in the direction of the camp-fire footsteps approaching them, and each one took a tree for safety, after the manner of those days, when to their surprise they beheld nothing daunted, approaching from the valley, the old Indian woman, who occupied the cabin of the pre- vious night's encounter.
She made her way to the fallen deer, and helped herself to the choice of the same , when Sturgeon determined to quit his ambush and interview her. He learned from her that, as he and his party had anticipated, two of the Indians had been killed in the night's fray, and one of the Indians and one of
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the river bandits were badly wounded-that the wounded had been taken into camp some miles distant-and that one of the Indians and one of the bandits had followed on the track of the remaining boatsmen of the previous day's massacre. She stated that her camp was occupied only by herself to the hospitalities of which they were welcome. They repaired to her hut, and partook of a simple meal of roast venison.
After dinner the refreshed party pushed forward in hope of overtaking either their friend, the boatsman, or the Indians whom they knew to be in pursuit. The evening wore on, and nothing presented itself to surprise or alarm, save for last two miles or so two footprints-one Indian and one white, (the pioneer could distinguish the difference in the same)- were visible. Yet they pressed on, and just before sunset, as they were preparing a raft to cross a stream which was full to swimming, they heard an exclamation from the other bank, and looking in the direction they beheld a man sheltered be- hind a tree, apparently from some near foe. A moment's ob- servation revealed his form behind a neighboring tree. There was a sharp crack of a rifle, a blue curl of smoke, one bound of an Indian, and the comrade came forth relieved from the hiding place, rescued from the jaws of death, to join his friends. His story was that he had been pursued by two par- ties, one of whom he shot, and then took to a tree to escape the other, and that he and the Indian had been skirmishing for four hours, each afraid to quit his tree.
A few days brought them home. The little cabin on the banks of the Ohio was still there, with father and mother to welcome the returning son. But they had many a tale of horror to relate. The Indians had grown more hostile. The campfire had been lighted, and many a settler's family had been butchered and many a lonely cabin consumed to light the midnight hour. The war drum was beating at Corydon, Captain Bigger was calling for volunteers, and thither Stur- geon, with rifle in hand, repaired the following day.
Joining the Rangers
The dreadful massacre by the Indians of citizens at the Pigeon Roost, in Clark county, the many depredations com- mitted by them near Vincennes, Fort Wayne and on the line of settlements bordering the Wabash, greatly aroused and
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incensed the whites and called for immediate action. The shrill whistle of the fife and the beat of the drum, calling to arms for the defense of their countrymen, was answered by many a gray-haired sire and many a youthful pioneer. Capt. Biggers, at Corydon, was organizing a company of rangers to scour the country from New Albany to the Wabash and pun- ish the roving bands of Indians, whose depredations and mur- ders were a terror to the isolated settlers of the frontier. At the beat of the drum David Sturgeon, clad in buckskin breeches, hunting shirt and moccasins, rifle in hand put in his appearance and demanded to be enrolled as a soldier. Young, tall and sinewy, he was the embodiment of manly strength and beauty. The young captain at once saw in the new recruit of the company an acquisition most desirable.
The organization of the company having been completed, each member mounted his own steed, with such provisious of dried meat and corn meal as they could carry, and with pow- der horn and shot pouch well supplied with ammunition, they bade their friends a hasty good-bye and passed into the forest in pursuit of their foe. The first trip made was to Vincennes. A few settlers had erected their cabins in the wilderness ex- tending from the Ohio west to the Wabash, and the smoke of their burning cabins and shrieks of the massacred children, gave nightly attestations of the murderous deeds of the Indi- ans and their determination to exterminate the whites. Te- cumseh and his brother, the prophet, were busy amongst the various tribes of the west inciting them to open hostilities and while they did not propose to bring on an immediate con- flict of arms with the general government, they nevertheless intended by the numerous murders committed to either in- timidate the lonely settlers of the forest and compel them to abandon their homes and return to the east or else make the attack on the Indians, thus giving them (the Indians) an ex- cuse for a violation of the treaty by which they were bound. But each humble cabin in the wilderness was a fort and an arsenal, and the savages too often found that those isolated houses cost dearly to the invader-that the stalwart back- woodsman and his wife, when once barricaded within their log hut, were almost invincible, and at all times able to de- fend themselves, if not taken by surprise, against thrice their number.
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More Footprints of Indians
The second day of their travels, when, as Mr. Sturgeon thought, they were in the southwestern part of Washington county, or perhaps the edge of Orange, they came upon the footprints of some Indians. The tracks were fresh, and they were traveling in the same direction with the Rangers. A consultation was held, and it was decided to send two or three parties ahead as skirmishers. Accordingly a volunteer corps of three was called for, and Mr. Sturgeon and ' two others stepped forward and signified their readiness to accept the po- sition. Their instructions were to follow cautiously the trail of the Indians so long at least as they pursued the direction that they were then traveling and the main column of twenty- two men with horses would remain some distance behind. They dismounted reprimed their rifles, divested themselves of all superfluous baggage, and started in pursuit of the Indians. After traveling a short distance they came to where the Indi- ans had evidently held a council. They had stood in a circle close together facing each other, and when they started on the march they had dropped in line and marched as one man, the rear party stepping in the tracks of the front one, so as to indicate that but one person had passed. This to the prac- ticed eye was indicative of the fact that the Indians were in pursuit of some object to be taken by surprise. Some humble pioneer perhaps was to be unexpectedly surprised and mur- dered and his cabin burned over the heads of his frantic wife and childern, or, worse, to be carried into a wretched and cruel captivity, worse than death. They had not traveled far until they came in view of a clearing of perhaps four or five acres, with a small but strongly built log cabin at the oppo- site side. The Indians had passed to the right under cover of the weeds. Smoke was issuing from the chimney, showing the house to be occupied, and freshly chopped trees just fallen were burning on the ground.
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