USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > A history of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana : a complete and concise account from the earliest times to the present, embracing reminiscences of the pioneers and biographical sketches of the men who have been leaders in commercial and other enterprises > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
46
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
uncertain. By the side of the sleepy headed negro he laid and watch- ed for the day to dawn. Seeing the first appearance of light in the morning, he awoke the little negro with much difficulty and said to him, ' You must do something with me-this is no place for me.' The ne- gro arose, unlocked the lower part of the cupboard, and told Isaac to get in there. He did so ; and the boy locked him up and left him.
"He had been there but a short time when he heard the voice of his Indian mother and brother, as they came down the hatchway in pursuit of him. Presently the captain sprang out of his bed and be- gan to rail out at the Indians for disturbing him in that way before he was out of bed. The Indians being easily cowed by a white man of some character, and especially an officer, Isaac's Indian mother soon left the vessel.
"Fortunately for this captain, as well as for Isaac, a large barge which had lain at the wharf, started that same night about midnight for Montreal, which circumstance afforded the captain an opportunity to make the Indians believe that Isaac had gone on board of it, and to convince them that he was innocent and knew nothing about him, he remained there until 8 o'clock in the morning.
"Eight o'clock in the morning, the wind being fair, the Nancy's sails were hoisted, Captain Mills commanding, and Isaac started for the land of freedom.
"Isaac kept close to the negro's room until, in about five days the vessel came safe to port at Detroit.
"Isaac bade Captain Mills adieu, and gave him his hearty thanks for his kindness and protection. He started, and soon found himself at the gate, and passing the pickets, when the sentinel, a raw Irishman, cried, 'Who goes there?' 'A friend,' said Isaac, and added in a hurry, 'I am running away from the Indians and want you to protect me.' 'Oh! be Jasus, my good fellow, come here,' said he, 'and damn the one of them that shall hurt you.' With this sentinel, Isaac waited pa- tiently for some minutes, when the relief guard came around. The sentinel then informed the sergeant that he had a prisoner. Isaac, be- ing delivered to the guard, was taken to the guard house, where the curiosity of the soldiers kept him up all night, giving a history of his sufferings with the Indians.
"About this time Isaac learned that a captain and a company of sol- diers were about to start for Fort Maumee, and having obtained per- mission from the captain to accompany them, Isaac made ready, and early next morning, bidding his kind host adien and drawing rations in common with the soldiers, he went on board the boat, and sailed
47
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
for Fort Manmee which they reached, having favorable wind, in one day.
"Spending a few days at this place, some wagons came to the fort, bringing goods and presents for the Indians, in the interest of Wayne's treaty, and as these wagons were said to be returning to Cincinnati, Isaac asked permission of the wagon master to go with them, stating to him his situation ; he gave his consent and drew rations for him accordingly.
"At Cincinnati he presented himself to the officer commanding, and was told that he could draw provisions until he met with an opportu- nity to go on. Perfectly composed he lay down to sleep, but was presently aronsed and informed by the soldiers that a man by the name of David Pea, who had carried stores from Vincennes, on the Wabash river, to the army at Detroit, was then returning, and was hunting for him. Isaac immediately went in pursuit of Mr. Pea; and, finding him, they drew provisions and started for Louisville in a skiff.
"After running some days they landed at the mouth of Harden creek. Here Isaac met a young married woman, with whom he had gone to school before he was taken by the Indians. They recog- nized each other, and she informed him that his father and friends had removed from the Red Banks to what was then, and is now called Knight's Fall on Green river. He was here advised to land at the Yellow Banks, which he did.
"From this place he started alone and afoot along a path some twelve miles in length, to the house of an old acquaintance, a Mr. Vanada, with whom he had often been forted at Vienna, when but a child.
"Next morning the kindness of Mr. Vanada and one of his sons impelled them to accompany Isaac in a canoe down Green river to his father's house.
"After Isaac's arrival at home, he learned that his fellow prisoners, George Sprinkle and John Upp, had returned some three months be- fore him.
The boy had been a captive about four years. He had become per- fectly acquainted with the redskins' cunning, and learned their habits, manners, and methods of life to an extent that afterwards availed him in gnarding against their sudden and unexpected attacks. Until the return of Sprinkle and Upp his parents knew nothing about him. Naturally they supposed him dead. He was overjoyed to get back home again. Four years of such experience as his had made great changes in his life.
.
48
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
CHARLES HARRINGTON.
Charles Harrington settled in Evansville about 1830. He was one of the prominent and active business men of the city until 1860. Having acquired considerable property, he retired from active business and passed his declining years in comfort, in the enjoyment of the fruits of the labor of his earlier years. His residence was on First street, near the corner of Ingle street, at which place he died in 1874. He was born near Nashville, Tenn., in 1794. His father, William Harrington, moved to Indiana territory in 1804, and settled about one mile west of where the city of Princeton is now located. The first court in Gibson county was held at the residence of William Harrington, it being the largest house in the county. The Hon. Isaac Blackford was the presiding judge.
The following experience of Mr. Harrington gives us an idea of the dangers and hardships endured by the early settlers of this state. At the beginning of the war of 1812, in anticipation of trouble with the Indians, a company of rangers was organized in Gibson county. Charles Harrington and his brother George joined the company. Af- terwards the company joined General Harrison's forces at Vincennes, when it became rumored that Tecumseh was marching toward Vin- cennes for the purpose of attacking the town. Volunteers were called for to form a scouting party to go out and try to ascertain the position of Tecumseh and the number and character of his forces. Both Charles and George Harrington volunteered to join the scouting party. Gen- eral Harrison, after inspecting those who had volunteered, selected sixteen whom he thought the best qualified to perform the dangerous services required of them, among the number so selected were the two Harrington boys. Just after dark they started on their perilous undertaking. After leaving Vincennes they went in a northerly dir- ection, as Tecumseh was supposed to be approaching from that direc- tion. They followed almost the same course that is now occupied by the tracks of the E. & T. H. railroad. The country north of Vincennes at that time was an unbroken wilderness of dense trees. During the night, and until about eight o'clock in the morning, they were constantly moving forward, watching, as only experienced fron- tiersmen could, for any signs that might indicate the presence of In- dians. Having traveled about fifteen miles, and being tired and worn out, they stopped for a rest, it then being after eight o'clock in the morning, the sun shining brightly. They did not expect an imme- diate attack, for it was the common practice of the Indians to make
-
49
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
their attacks about daybreak. Being very tired, the scouts decided to take a short sleep. Two of their number were selected to stand guard while the remainder lay down to rest. While the others were sleep- ing the guards concluded to prepare something to eat, and went a short distance away to a branch to get some water with which to make coffee. At that unlucky moment a large number of Indians rushed upon the sleeping scouts. When Charles Harrington awoke they were surrounded by Indians. As he arose to his feet he shot down an Indian that was coming at him with an uplifted tomahawk. At the same moment his brother George fell pierced by a bullet and almost at the same instant Charles Harrington received a bullet through his right arm, breaking the bones between the elbow and wrist. Being disabled and his comrades all being either killed or wounded, there was but one chance in a thousand of escaping, and that was to dash through the Indians that surrounded him and dodge the blows of their tomahawks and their bullets, if possible. To think was to act. That one chance in a thousand proved to be his, and the next second found him plunging through the dense undergrowth of bushes and weeds that grew in the forest. Being an unusually swift runner he gained on his pursuers, and when he became exhausted from running and loss of blood he hid in some thick undergrowth. Several times during the day Indians that were hunting for him passed within a few feet of his hiding place. He soon discovered that it was necessary to do some- thing to stop the flow of blood from his wound, to keep himself from bleeding to death. He took his hunting knife and cut strips from his shirt with which to bandage his arm. As he could only use his left hand he found it a difficult matter to get a bandage around his arm tight enough to stop the flow of blood. He remained in his hiding place until after dark. He then started for Vincennes, where he arrived in the morning. Only two of his comrades escaped. Thirteen were killed.
Mr. Harrington was the uncle of Attorney Brownlee, of this city.
GEN. ROBERT M. EVANS.
The author's first knowledge and acquaintance of Gen. Robert M. Evans was in February, 1837. At that time General Evans was a little past middle age, but showed signs of the effect of camp life while engaged in the war of 1812-1813 in suppressing the Indians that in-
50
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
fested the territory of Indiana, and the states of Kentucky and Illi- nois.
He was a general under General Harrison, whose headquarters at that time were at Vincennes, Indiana. He was at the battle of Tip- pecanoe in command of a regiment or brigade, and was on the staff of General William Henry Harrison.
General Evans located in New Harmony, Indiana, about 1826 and kept a hotel at that place. He came to Evansville a second time about 1828 and bought a half interest in Hugh McGary's purchase, and laid out the city of Evansville above Main street, known as the original plan of Evansville.
General Harrison and General Evans, so long as they both lived, were warm friends, and in 1839 General Harrison visited him at Ev- ansville. This country was then full of military enthusiasm and there were three substantially equipped, volunteer companies, well-drilled in this city and county.
Three companies eseorted General William Henry Harrison and General Evans, who went arm in arm from the Evans homestead through the various streets of the city.
Not many years after this, these two great and distinguished patriots passed to the beyond, beloved and respected by thousands.
It is said that in the early part ot 1827, Rev. Alexander Campbell visited New Harmony and stopped at the community hotel, and while there General Evans had a lively religous controversy with the cele- brated divine. General Evans' family consisted, at this time, of him- self and wife, son Cornelius and daughter, Miss Julia Evans, a beauti- ful young woman. His brother's name was Leyle, and his sisters were Mrs. Dr. Thompson and Mrs. John Schnee. When he was a candi- date for Congress he stumped the district.
CHAPTER VI.
REMINISCENCES OF MR. FICKAS.
Personal Recollections of Pioneer Times-Where Many of the Early Settlers Located-First Campmeeting-Schools-Rude Flouring Mills-Abundant Game-Robbing an Indian Grave-First Steam- boat on the Ohio-Journey of the Socialists to New Harmony- Early Times-Threshing Methods.
D URING the days of the Vanderburgh Historical aud Biographical Society, a valuable historical paper, relating to early times and written by John B. Fickas, was read. The following is the paper which has never before been published, as it was presented to the society:
Evansville, Washington's Birthday.
Gentlemen of the Vanderburgh Historical and Biographical Society:
I do not know that I can commemorate the birthday of the Father of Our Country more acceptably than by complying with a promise long since made to your secretary, to give you a memorandum of my observations as one of the very early settlers of Southwestern Indiana.
I am a genuine descendant of Adam and Eve; that is to say, I am a son of Adam and Eve Fickas, who settled near Race creek in Hen- derson, Ky., in the winter of 1806, and removed from there to the In- diana bank of the Ohio river, opposite Three Mile Island, to the farm in Warrick county adjoining Vanderburgh county, for many years since occupied by Simon Lane. Here my father died and was buried in 1818. My brother who resides in Missouri, and myself are the only survivors of nine children, three sons and six daughters of my par- ents.
Our nearest neighbors were John Sprinkle, who lived on the site of Newburgh, which town he afterwards platted and sold. It was first called Sprinklesburgh. Above Newburgh were the settlements of William Briscoe, Solomon Vanada and Julius Wiggins, all of whom lived in the vicinity of Cypress creck.
The earliest tragedy in the thinly populated settlements along the river, that I remember, was the derangement of a Mrs. Peacoll, who
52
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
became crazy about the year 1810, and cut off the head of her infant child. There being no place of confinement where she could be se- cured nearer than the county seat, which was at Vincennes, (it being all Knox county in the southwestern part of Indiana at that time) the woman was sent to the Vincennes jail, where she died.
Daniel Noble settled below Newburgh, in the vicinity of Three Mile Island, and Daniel James, the uncle of Nathaniel J. and John James, still farther below him. Next came Samuel Lewis, on the place afterwards known as the homestead of General Joe Lane. All these persons made settlements between 1810 and 1812. Aenas McCallister, the progenitor of the well known family of that name, settled opposite the mouth of Green river about the time my father located on the Kentucky side. Our neighbors on the Kentucky side were Martin Vanada, Charles Winfrey, John Fuquay, John Vankirk, Samuel Miller, George Kincaid and Isaac Knight. Mr. Knight soon removed to the Indiana side, four miles above Evansville. In 1814 Elijah King settled on the point immediately opposite Evansville, where he lived until the time of his death about twenty-five years ago.
I was young when my father made his residence in the vicinity of the present city of Evansville, the date of my birth being October 30, 1804. I am a native of Green Briar County, Virginia, now part of West Virginia, but young as I was, I have a vivid recollection of the earthquake which upset the town of New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811, and cansed the sinking of the earth in that locality to such an extent that a lake appeared where previously there had been dry land. The shock of the earthquake was sensibly felt through all our river settle- ments. In consequence, a religious fever suddenly seized upon the minds of the people, and they thought of little else except to attend religious worship. Many persons were fully convinced that the world was coming to an end. About this time James McGrady, who was the founder of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, appeared in this section and preached to the people. The result of his preaching was the formation of a church organization that has been a powerful element in the religious sentiment of this section of Indiana down to the pres- ent day. Finas Ewing and Hiram A. Hunter followed soon after McGrady, and under their inspiration the campmecting system sprang into existence. A camp-ground was opened on the farm of Jessie McCallister, about three miles from Evansville, in 1815 or 1816. In about two years it was removed to the farm of Isaac Knight in the same neighborhood.
The next season the Baptists held a campmeeting in the upper
53
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
bayou settlement, at the farm of Jesse Lane. This system of religious service was kept up year after year, invariably in the autumn season, for a period of thirty or forty years. In after years the Cumberland Presbyterian church opened a camp-ground at New Salem, four miles north of Evansville, and near the mouth of Cypress creek, above Newburgh. They also had other camp-grounds in the adjoining counties of Posey and Gibson and in other quarters. For a long time camp-meetings continued to be annual popular assemblages of the peo- ple. There was a great crowd present at one of the Sunday services held in a log house, and during the sermon the floor gave way and the audience was precipitated to the earth, several feet below, as the house was built high above the ground, so as to be above the annual freshets which inundated the river bottom. Of course, the excitement was intense, while screams, groans and prayers were strangely commingled in the audience. But above the din and crashing of the falling house could be heard the deep voice of a very devout old colored woman crying, "Trust in de Lord, and not a hair on your head shall be hurt." Strange to say, beyond a few slight bruises, no person in the house was harmed.
I attended my first school when I was between nine and ten years old. James Patton opened a school about two miles and a half above Green river, in the year 1814. It was a comical assortment of school books that we used in that school house. An old English reader or two, one or two histories, a few testaments and elementary arithmetics, and Noah Webster's first edition of the spelling book made up the literary department of this seminary of learning. The school was made up by individual subscription, for there was no public school fund in those days. It was many years before our grand school sys- tem was devised and put into operation.
The settlers on both sides of the river had their grinding done at Anthony's mill ou Pigeon creek, which afterwards became the prop- erty of David Negley and Joel Lambert, or they went to a mill built on Race creek, on the Kentucky side, a mile or two above Spottsville.
Very often we were unable to have our meal ground at all, and then we used home-made hominy as a substitute for bread. Before An- thony built his mill on Pigeon creek, my father had improvised a hand- mill, a kind of a rude corn crusher, which answered the purpose for pulverizing the corn, and this was in use among our neighbors, until the Anthony mill and the one on Race creek were built.
A man named Hayden, who lived at Bardstown, Ky., used to pass down the Ohio in the fall season of the year, and traded with the set-
54
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
tlers for their surplus corn and coon skins. Corn was worth 25 cents per bushel, delivered on the boat, and coon skins were a quarter apiece. In fact, the coon skin was the circulating medium, and it was frecly passed back and forth in store-house transactions. The annual visit of Mr. Hayden was held by the neighborhood as an important event because from him was purchased ammunition and such necessary supplies as made mere living at all tolerable, or even possible. At very rare intervals a store boat passed down the river and its landing varied the monotony of commerce. There was also a trading post at the Red Banks, but the settlement was a small affair, the entire popn- lation not numbering as many as one hundred souls.
Our supply of salt at the beginning was home-made. The settlers repaired in squads to the Saline banks at Shawneetown, where they made salt and brought it home in sacks on horseback. My father owned the only wagon in the settlement which he had brought with him from Virginia. In the course of a few years, when the trading posts began to pass along the river, we were enabled to procure salt from them manufactured on the Kanawha.
Game of all kinds was so abundant as to be a nuisance. Most of the openings or plantations were very small, embracing only twenty or thirty acres of cleared land, and the settlers were obliged to go around their fields every day, armed with rifles-there were no shotguns in the vicinity-and at night made the same circuits accompanied by a pack of dogs, as a measure of protection against the incursions of all kinds of vermin-raccoons, minks, bears and indeed all kinds of game. When I was nine years old I handled a rifle, as I thought, with the percision of a veteran. One day I saw a large bear swimming across the Ohio. I watched till he scrambled up the bank, close to the house, when I gave him the contents of my gun, and killed the fellow at the first shot. Isaac Knight came along and dressed my bear for me.
My eldest brother, John Fickas-for many years a well known resi- dent of Vanderburgh County-Tom Skillett, Sam Butler and Elisha Brumfield were drafted for the defense of New Orleans during the war of 1812. They went with "The Hunters of Kentucky," to swell the ranks of Jackson in his campaign against Packenham. After Jack- son's great victory at New Orleans, they were discharged from service and set out for home on foot. They walked all the way, sleeping in the woods and killing game for their support, on their long and weari- some journey. They brought with them the first intelligence received at Red Banks, or the Green river settlement, of the result of the battle of New Orleans.
55
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
I remember very well the circumstances of Absalom Dover, Isaac Strain and others, robbing the grave of an Indian warrior who died while passing through our neighborhood with a small remnant of his tribe. He was buried with his gun, accouterments and trappings placed at his side. It was the intention to procure these trophies that caused the grave to be violated. The gun was found to be the same that had been captured by the Indians when they made a prisoner of Isaac Knight some years before. It had the name of John Small, Vincennes, Ind., sunk on the barrel. I owned the gun after I was grown for a number of years.
The first steamboat that plied the waters of the Ohio was the wonder of the age. Word had been circulated along the river the season be- fore that a real steamboat was being built at Pittsburgh, with the view of plying between that point and New Orleans. Everybody was on the lookout for the wonderful steamer. Finally she appeared, waking the silence of the forest with her voice, and attracting to the river side all the inhabitants along the shore. The boat was called " Robert Fulton." She had but one engine, and a single deck, the cabin being built immediately above the hull. She was a side-wheel, as were all the early steamboats. The next boats were the Aetua and the Wash- ington, both of them fashioned like the Fulton. The time made by the early steamers was remarkable only for its exceeding slowness. On one occasion my brother John had gone down the river, and he started on foot and alone to walk home from Natchez. A steamboat started up the river, the same morning he set out on foot. When he reached the mouth of Green river the waves were yet dashing against the shore, waves made by the same steamboat which had just passed up the Ohio.
Notwithstanding the introduction of steam, the business of shipping continued to be done in a great measure by keel boats and barges, using sails for a motive power, when it was practicable, and resorting to the use of cordel, when the wind was adverse. The trips were long and tedious and the navigators dearly earned all the money they made.
I remember distinctly when George and Frederick Rapp, with their German socialists, passed down the Ohio, en route for their settlement at New Harmony. They landed at my father's house and were amazed to find here in the wild west a man who could speak the German lan- guage with fluency. I saw the town of Evansville the first two years of its existence. It was then a little hamlet composed of five or six log cabins, surrounded by a dense forest in its natural state. Where the public square was laid out, and the old court-house subsequently built, was a dense growth of timber yet untouched by the axe. From
56
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
such a beginning our beautiful eity has grown. In its infaney and in its maturity I have watched its progress, and there are not many liv- ing who have watched the whole of its development as I have. For seventy-five years I have lived in the town, for within a dozen miles of it, and I am glad to know that before I elose my eyes forever, the record is likely to be made up that will link the seenes of the past with the events of the present, in a firm, unbroken ehain.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.