USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 9
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 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
* A new fort was built on the site of this fort in 1814.
CHAPTER IX.
ORGANIZATION OF THE INDIANA TERRITORY.
TN the previous chapters we have briefly traced the history of the military, political and civil events, in the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio, from its organiza- tion to 1800, when the territory of Indiana was erected. Let us now enter upon what we may call the history of Indiana proper. Heretofore we have been compelled, owing to the very large tract of territory over which the government extended its control, to include the events that transpired in neighboring States. This may now be avoided. We have already said that by the treaty of Greenville the lands of Indiana were made available to settlers. Notwithstanding this event, bat few settlements were made until after the terri- tory was organized. Yet most of those existing at the time the treaty was made were immediately enlarged and improved Vincennes which at this time was the largest settlement in the territory, was, in 1796, quite a town. Defended by Fort Knox, its citizens were enabled to prosecute a paying trade with the Indians, and 'to improve the agricultural resources around them. At this date the town contained about fifty dwelling houses, all presenting a thrifty and tidy appearance. Each house was surrounded by a garden fenced with poles, and peach and apple trees grew in most of the inclosures. Garden vegetables of all kinds were cultivated with success, and corn, tobacco, wheat, barley, and cotton grew in the fields around the village in abundance.
Adjoining the village was Fort Knox, inclosed by a ditch eight feet wide, and by sharp stakes from six to eight feet high. This palisade, protected by the guns of the fort, was a
9
(129)
130
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
sufficient fortification against hostile Indians. A Frenchman who visited Vincennes in 1796, writes of its inhabitants at that date: "The day after my arrival a court was held to which I repaired. On entering, I was surprised to find the
See page 21.
audience divided into races of men in person and feature widely differing from each other. The fair or light brown hair, ruddy complexion, round face, and plump body, indi-
131
ORGANIZATION OF THE INDIANA TERRITORY.
cative of health and ease, of one set, were forcibly contrasted with the emaciated frame and meager, tawny visage of the other. The dress, likewise, of the latter denoted their indi- gence. I soon discovered that the former were new settlers from the neighboring States, whose lands had been reclaimed five or six years before, while the latter were French of sixty years standing in the district. The latter, three or four excepted, knew nothing of English, while the former were almost as ignorant of French. I had acquired, in the course of the year, a sufficient knowledge of English to converse with them, and was thus enabled to hear the tales of both parties. The French, in a querulous tone, recounted the losses and hardships they had suffered, especially since the last Indian war, in 1788. * *
* * They complained that they were cheated and robbed, and especially that their rights were con- tinually violated by the courts, in which two judges only four of five were Frenchmen, who knew little of the laws or lan- guage of the English. Their ignorance, indeed, was profound. Nobody ever opened a school among them till it was done by the able M. Rivet, a polite, well educated, and liberal minded missionary, banished hither by the French revolution. Out of nine of the French, scarcely six could read or write; whereas, nine-tenths of the Americans, or emigrants from the east, could do both. * * * * I could not fix, with accuracy, the date of the first settlement of Vincennes; and notwithstanding the homage paid by some learned men to tradition, I could trace out but few events of the war of 1757, though some of the old men lived before that period. I was only able to form a conjecture that it was planted about 1735. These statements were confirmed, for the most part, by the new settlers. They only placed the same facts in a different point of view. They told me that the Canadians (for by that name the French of the western colonies are known to them) had only themselves to blame for all the hardships they complained of. We must allow, say they, that they are a kind, hospitable, sociable sect; but then, for idleness and ignorance, they beat the Indians themselves. They know nothing at all of our civil or domestic affairs. Their women neither sew, nor spin, nor make butter.
132
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
* * * The men take to nothing but hunting, fishing, roaming through the woods, and loitering in the sun. They do not lay up, as we do for winter, or provide for a rainy day. They can not cure pork or venison, make sourkrout or spruce beer, or distil spirits from apples or rye-all needful arts to the farmer."
In 1800, at the organization of the territory, the social con dition of Vincennes had advanced considerably from the state which this French writer represented it in 1796. The French settlers had become more industrious from the example set them by the settlers from the eastern States, and like them, had improved their small lots of land, and were living in a greater degree of civilization.
Aside from Vincennes, in 1796, there was a small settlement near where the town of Lawrenceburg now stands, in Dearborn county, and in the course of that year a small settlement was formed at "Armstrong's Station," on the Ohio, within the present limits of Clark county.
In 1800, when the territorial government of Indiana was organized, although many parts of the State had been settled . for more than fifty years by whites, yet the territory was but a wilderness. Its numerous rivers were not disturbed except by an occasional canoe loaded with furs, which the Indians and half-breed propelled with oars. Its scattered settlements were filled with scenes and incidents of border life, many of which were full of romantic situations. In the meanwhile, however, a considerable traffic was carried on with the Indians by fur traders at Vincennes, Fort Wayne, and at different small trading posts which were established on the borders of the Wabash river and its tributaries. "The furs and peltries which were obtained from the Indians," says Dillon, "were generally transported to Detroit. The skins were dried, com- pressed, and secured in packs. Each pack weighed about one hundred pounds. A pirogue, or boat, that was sufficiently large to carry forty packs, required the labor of four men to manage it on its voyage. In favorable stages of the Wabash river, such a vessel, under the management of skillful boat- men, was propelled fifteen or twenty miles a day, against the
133
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
current. After ascending the river Wabash and the Little River to the portage near Fort Wayne, the traders carried their packs over the portage to the head of the river Maumee, where they were again placed in pirogues, or in keel-boats, to be transported to Detroit. At this place the furs and skins were exchanged for blankets, guns, knives, powder, bullets, intoxicating liquors, etc., with which the traders returned to their several posts."
CHAPTER X.
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
I "MMEDIATELY following the organization of the territo- rial government of Indiana, Governor Harrison's attention was directed by necessity as well as by the instructions which he had received from Congress, to settling matters with the various Indian tribes still holding claims to the lands within the limits of the territory. He entered into several treaties with these tribes, by which, at the close of the year 1805, the government of the United States had obtained about forty-six thousand square miles of territory, including all the lands lying on the borders of the Ohio river, between the mouth of the Wabash river and the western boundary of the State of Ohio.
Following the organization of the second grade of govern- ment by creating a General Assembly, the levying of tax caused considerable dissatisfaction among many of the inhabi- tants of the territory. The poll-tax was especially objection- able. So far did they carry their opposition to taxation that at a public meeting on Sunday, August the sixteenth, 1807, a number of French inhabitants resolved that they "would withdraw their confidence and support forever from those men who advocated, or in any manner promoted the second grade of government."
134
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
In 1807 the territorial statutes were revised, and under the new code, treason, murder, arson, and horse-stealing, were each punishable by death. The crime of manslaughter was punishable by the common law. Burglary and robbery were each punishable by whipping, fine, and in some cases by imprisonment "not exceeding forty years." Riotous Persons
HON. MARTIN L. PIERCE. See page 21.
were punishable by fine and imprisonment. The crime of larceny by fine or whipping, and in some cases by being bound to labor for a term not exceeding seven years. Forgery was punishable by fine, disfranchisement, and standing in the pillory. Assault and battery, as a crime was punishable by
135
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
fine, not exceeding one hundred dollars. Hog stealing was punishable by fine and whipping. Gambling, profane swear- ing, and Sabbath-breaking, were each punishable by fine. Bigamy was punishable by fine, whipping, and disfranchise- ment. The code provided for the punishment of disobedient children and servants by the following section: "If any children or servants shall, contrary to the obedience due to their parents or masters, resist or refuse to obey their lawful commands, upon complaint thereof to a justice of the peace, it shall be lawful for such justice to send him or them so offending to the jail or house of correction, there to remain until he or they shall humble themselves to the said parent's or master's satisfaction. And, if any child or servant shall, contrary to his bounden duty, presume to assault or strike his parent or master, upon complaint and conviction thereof, before two or more justices of the peace, the offender shall be whipped not exceeding ten stripes."
By the act of Congress of 1804, three land offices were opened for the sale of lands in Indiana territory. One of these was located at Detroit, another at Vincennes, and another at Kaskaskia. By an act of Congress approved 1807, a fourth land office for the sale of Indiana lands was opened in Jeffer- sonville, Clark county. This town was first laid out in 1802, agreeably to the plans suggested by Mr. Jefferson, who was then President of the United States.
In his annual message to the territorial legislature, in 1806, Governor Harrison congratulated the people upon the peaceful disposition of the Indians. He was inclined to the opinion that they would never again have recourse to arms, unless driven to it by a series of injustice and oppression. They did, as we shall see, again resort to arms, and it is not improper, even at this late day, to make the inquiry as to whether or not they were not driven to do so by the very policy which Gov- ernor Harrison pointed out as dangerous in 1806. In the same message the Governor remarked that they were already making complaints-complaints far from being groundless. The laws of the territory provided the same punishment for offenses committed against Indians as against white men, but
136
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
unhappily there was always a wide difference in the execution of those laws. The Indian was, in all cases, the sufferer. This partiality did not escape their observation. On the contrary, it afforded them an opportunity of making strong comparisons between their own observance of treaties and that of their boasted superiors.
All along,from 1805 to 1810, the Indians complained bitterly against the encroachments of the white people upon the lands that belonged to them. The invasion of their favorite hunting grounds, and the unjustifiable killing of many of their people were the sources of their discontent. An old chief, in laying the trouble of his people before Governor Harrison, remarked: " You call us your children; why do you not make us as happy as our fathers, the French, did? They never took from us our lands; indeed, they were in common between us. They planted where they pleased; and they cut wood where they pleased; and so did we. But now, if a poor Indian attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree as his own."
These complaints were not groundless, nor will any fair minded person blame the savages for lifting up the hatchet in their defense. Indeed, at this time, it was the only thing in their characters worthy of admiration. Surely here was an opportunity for an Indian patriot to leave a name worthy of remembrance and example among the nations of civilization. Nor was the opportunity neglected. Law-le-was-i-kaw, no doubt at the suggestion of his brother, the sagacious warrior, Tecumseh, took upon himself the character of a prophet, and assumed the name of Pems-quat-a-wah, or the Open Door. Thus was the crafty Shawanee warrior enabled to work effect- ually, both upon the superstitious and the rational sides of the dissatisfied tribes around him.
The Prophet was a good orator, somewhat peculiar in his appearance, and withal, well calculated to win the attention and respect of the savages. He began by denouncing witch- craft, the use of intoxicating liquors, the custom of Indian women intermarrying with white men, the dress and habits
137
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
of the white people, and the practice of selling Indian lands to the United States. "He told the Indians that the commands of the Great Spirit required them to punish, with death, those who practiced the arts of witchcraft and magic. He told them,
CROSSUURAWEST. PHILA.
John Curque
See page 21.
also, that the Great Spirit had given him power to find out and expose such persons; to cure all kinds of diseases; to confound his enemies, and to stay the arm of death in sickness, and on the battlefield. His harangues aroused, among some bands
138
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
of Indians, a high degree of superstitious excitement. An old Delaware chief, whose name was Tate-e-bock-o-she, through whose influence a treaty had been made with the Delawares in 1804, was accused of witchcraft, tried, condemned, and toma- hawked. His body was then consumed by fire. The wife of the old chief, his nephew, who was known by the name of Billy Patterson, and an aged Indian whose name was Joshua, were then accused of witchcraft, and condemned to death. The two men were burnt at the stake; but the life of the wife of Tate-e-bock-o-she was saved by her brother, who suddenly approached her, took her by the hand, and, without meeting with any opposition from the Indians who were present, led her out of the council-house. He then immediately returned and checked the growing influence of the prophet by exclaim- ing, in a strong, earnest voice: 'The evil spirit has come among us, and we are killing each other.' "*
As soon as Governor Harrison was made acquainted with these events he sent a special messenger to the Indians, strongly entreating them to renounce the Prophet and his works, which, to a small extent, destroyed the Prophet's influence. In the spring of 1808, having aroused nearly all the tribes of the lake region, the Prophet, with a considerable number of followers, settled near the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, at a place which afterwards bore the name of the Prophet's Town.
Taking advantage of the influence which the Prophet was exerting over the tribes, as well as of his own popularity as a warrior, Tecumseh actively engaged himself in forming the various tribes into a confederacy. In his speeches before the many Indian councils that he assembled, he proclaimed that the treaties by which the United States had acquired lands northwest of the river Ohio, were not made with fairness, and should be considered void. He said that no single tribe of Indians was invested with the power to sell lands without the consent of all the other tribes, and that he and his brother, the Prophet, would oppose and resist all future attempts
* Dillon's Early History of Indiana.
139
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
which the white people might make to extend their settle ments in the lands that belonged to the Indian.
Early in the year 1808, Governor Harrison sent a speech to the Shawanee tribe of Indians, which was delivered to them in the presence of the Prophet. It contained this passage: " My children, this business must be stopped; I will no longer suffer it. You have called a number of men from the most distant tribes to listen to a fool, who speaks not the words of the Great Spirit, but those of the devil and the British agents. My children, your conduct has much alarmed the white set- tlers near you. They desire that you will send away those people, and if they wish to have the impostor with them, they can carry him along with them. Let him go to the lakes; he can hear the British more distinctly." This message wounded the pride of the Prophet, and he prevailed on the messenger to inform Governor Harrison that he was not in league with the British, but that he was truly speaking the words of the Great Spirit.
In August the Prophet visited Vincennes, and remained at that place several weeks, for the purpose of holding interviews with Governor Harrison. At one of these interviews the Prophet said: "Father, it is three years since I first began with that system of religion which I now practice. The white people and some of the Indians were against me; but I had no other intention but to introduce, among the Indians, those good principles of religion which the white people profess. The Great Spirit told me to tell the Indians that he had made them, and made the world; that he had placed them on it to do good, and not evil. I told all the red skins that the way they were in was not good, and that they ought to abandon it; that we ought to consider ourselves as one man; but we ought to live agreeable to our several customs -the red people after their mode, and the white people after theirs- particularly that they should not drink whisky; that it was not made for them, but the white people, who alone knew how to use it; and that it is the cause of all the mischiefs which the Indians suffer; that we must always follow the directions of the Great Spirit, and we must listen to Him, as it was He that made us.
140
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Determine to listen to nothing that is bad. Do not take up the tomahawk, should it be offered by the British or Long Knives."
At these interviews Harrison was led to believe that the
BAKER-CO CLE
At Pase
See page 21.
Prophet's motives were honest, but it was not long before he discovered that he was designing, cunning, crafty, and unreli- able; that both he and Tecumseh were enemies to the United
141
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
States and friends of the English, in sympathy with them, and that in case of a war between the United States and Great Britain they would induce the tribes to join the latter.
In 1809, the Prophet again visited Vincennes, with assur- ances that he was not in sympathy with the English, but the Governor was not disposed to believe him, and in a letter to the Secretary of War, in July, 1809, he stated that he regarded the bands of Indians at the Prophet's Town as a combination which had been produced by British intrigue and influence, in anticipation of a war between them and the United States.
In the face of all these difficulties, Governor Harrison con- tinued to prosecute the work of extinguishing Indian titles to the lands in the Indiana territory with very good success. In the latter part of the year 1809, the total quantity of land ceded to the United States, under treaties which had been effected by Governor Harrison, exceeded thirty million acres. He prosecuted this work in direct opposition to the influence of Tecumseh and the Prophet.
As a part of the history of Indiana, we should state in this connection, that between the summer of 1805 and the spring of 1807, the unpatriotic movements of Aaron Burr in the Ohio valley, caused considerable excitement in Indiana. The full scope of Burr's intentions are not given to us in history, but enough is known to warrant the belief that he intended to invade Mexico, and meeting with success in this enterprise, to found an independent republic composed of States lying west of the Alleghany mountains. Walter Taylor, in a letter to Governor Harrison, dated Louisville, January, 1807, says: "I arrived at Jeffersonville on Saturday morning last. * * * The public mind at this place appears to be much agitated on account of Colonel Burr's mysterious movements. Conjectures are various about his intentions; but nothing certain has transpired to throw any light on his views. There is stationed at this place about two hundred militia, who examine all boats that descend the river. No discoveries have yet been made by them, and only two boats have yet been detained, which were built by Burr's direction at Jeffersonville, or this place, I am not certain which. A large drove of horses, said to be pur-
142
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
chased for the expedition, will be seized to-day by the civil authority of the State. It seems to me that the precautions now taken are perfectly useless, because Burr, I believe, has got all the force he could raise from this State, and is, probably, before this time, at Natchez."* Burr was arrested in the year 1807, in the Mississippi territory, by authority of the procla mation of the President of the United States, but, previous to his arrest, he had abandoned his expedition and his followers had dispersed.
CHAPTER XI.
STATISTICS - LAND TITLES-INDIAN AFFAIRS.
F ROM the sources of information at our command, we are enabled to give the following statistics of the condition of the Indiana territory in 1810:
Total population . 24,520
Number of grist mills
33
Number of saw mills
14
Number of horse mills
3
Number of tanneries
18
Number of distilleries
28
Number of powder mills
3
Number of looms .
1,256
Number of spinning wheels.
1,350
Value of manufactures- woolen, cotton, hempen and flaxen cloths $159,052
Cotton and wool spun in mills 150,000
Nails, (30,000 lbs.) 4,000
Leather tanned .: 9,300
Products of distilleries, (35,950 galls.). . 16,230
Gunpowder, (3,600 lbs.)
1,800
Wine, from grapes, (96 bbls.).
6,000
Maple sugar, (50,000 lbs.) ..
* Dillon's Early History of Indiana.
4
143
STATISTICAL - LAND TITLES-INDIAN AFFAIRS.
This table shows the "extent and magnitude " of the great industries of Indiana in 1810.
During the year 1810, a board of commissioners was estab- lished in Indiana to straighten out the confused condition into which the "land title controversy " had been carried by
30
O
S.S Bass
See page 21.
the various conflicting administrations that had previously exercised jurisdiction in this regard. This work was attended with much labor on the part of the commissioners and great dissatisfaction on the part of a few designing speculators, who thought no extreme of perjury too hazardous in their mad
144
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
attempts to obtain lands fraudulently. In closing their report the commissioners used the following expressive language: "We close this melancholy picture of human depravity by rendering our devout acknowledgment that, in the awful alternative in which we have been placed, of either admitting perjured testimony in support of the claims before us, or hav- ing it turned against our characters and lives, it has, as yet, pleased that Divine Providence, which rules over the affairs of men, to preserve us both from legal murder and private assassination."
The question of a division of the territory of Indiana was discussed in 1806, 1807, and 1808, and, in 1809, Congress passed an act declaring that "all that part of Indiana territory lying west of the Wabash river and a direct line drawn from the said Wabash river and Post Vincennes, due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada," should constitute a separate territory, and be called Illinois. This occasioned some confusion in the government of the territory of Indiana, but in due time the new elections were confirmed and the new territory started off on a journey of prosperity which its people are still pursuing with great advantage.
CHAPTER XII.
HARRISON'S CAMPAIGN.
D URING the year 1810, the movements of Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet, excited considerable alarm among the people, and retarded the progress of the settlement of Indiana. Their confessed object was to unite the tribes with a view to prevent the sale of their lands, but the train of circumstances which followed proved that English revenge was at the bottom of the whole scheme of Tecumseh's con-
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.