USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 2
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JOHN GIBSON.
JOHN GIBSON, Secretary of Indiana Territory from its organ- ization until it became a State, and for a while Acting Governor of the Territory, was born at Lancaster, Pa., May 23, 1740. He received a good education, and when eighteen years old joined General Forbes's expedition against Fort Du Quesne, which stood on the present site of Pittsburg. The expedition was successful, resulting in the capture of the fort, and when peace was declared young Gibson settled at Fort Pitt, formerly Du Quesne, as an Indian trader. Soon afterward he was taken captive by Indians, and, with other white men, condemned to be burned at the stake. An aged squaw, however, who had lost a son in battle, adopted the young trader, and thereby saved his life. He remained with the Indians several years, and learned their language, manners and customs. During his res- idence with them he maintained conjugal relations with a sister of Logan, the chieftain made immortal by his speech on the murder of his family. The life he was compelled to lead among the Indians did not suit Gibson, and he determined to abandon it. A suitable opportunity offering, he left his savage associates, returned to Fort Pitt, and resumed his business as a trader.
In 1774 Mr. Gibson accompanied Lord Dunmore in his march against the Shawanee towns. Previous to this expedition the family of Logan, including his sister, known as "Gibson's squaw," were killed at Yellow creek by a family named Great- house. The Indians, at the time of their murder, were on a friendly visit to the Greathouses, and their " untimely taking off'" was an act of treachery of the basest kind. Logan laid the blame of the foul murders at the door of Colonel Cresap, a celebrated Indian fighter of that day, but history exonerates
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Cresap from the charge. In a deposition made at Pittsburg. on the 4th of April, 1800, General Gibson gives this account of Dunmore's expedition, and of Logan's celebrated speech :
"This deponent further saith that in the year 1774 he accom- panied Lord Dunmore on the expedition against the Shawanees and other Indians on the Scioto; that on their arrival within fifteen miles of the town they were met by a flag and a white man by the name of Elliott, who informed Lord Dunmore that the chiefs of the Shawanees had sent to request his lordship to halt his army and send in some person who understood their language : that this deponent, at the request of Lord Dunmore and the whole of the officers with him, went in; that on his arrival at the town, Logan, the Indian, came to where this deponent was sitting with Cornstalk and other chiefs of the Shawanees and asked him to walk out with him ; that they went into a copse of wood, where they sat down, when Logan, after shedding abundance of tears, delivered to him the speech nearly as related by Mr. Jefferson in his 'Notes on the State of Vir- ginia ;' that he, the deponent, told him that it was not Colonel Cresap who had murdered his relatives, and although his son, Captain Michael Cresap, was with a party who had killed a Shawanee chief and other Indians. yet he was not present when his (Logan's) relatives were killed at Baker's, near the mouth of Yellow creek, on the Ohio ; that this deponent, on his return to camp, delivered the speech to Lord Dunmore, and that the murders perpetrated as above were considered as ultimately the cause of the war of 1774, commonly called Cresap's war."
The speech referred to was as follows :
"I appeal to any white man to say, if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if he ever came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said : 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cresap, who, last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the rela-
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tives of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it ; I have killed many ; I have fully glutted my vengeance ; for my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one !"
On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, Colonel Gib- son raised a regiment and marched at its head to the scene of hostilities. He and his regiment were with the army at New York, and remained with it during its retreat through the Jer- sevs. Soon after this he was assigned to the command of the Western frontier, a position he was admirably qualified to fill. When the war had ended, and the independence of the colonies was assured, he returned to Pittsburg and resumed his former avocation of a trader.
In 1788 General Gibson was elected a member of the conven- tion that made the first constitution of Pennsylvania. Subse- quently he was, for several years, a judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas of Alleghany county, and at the same time he served as general of the State militia.
In April, 1793, President Washington appointed Benjamin Lincoln, of Massachusetts, Beverly Randolph, of Virginia. and Timothy Pickering, of Pennsylvania, commissioners to treat with the Indians northwest of the river Ohio. These gen- tlemen requested General Gibson, under date of May 26, 1793. " to point out the most suitable persons for interpreters, and we request your aid in engaging them," etc. They also asked him to procure for them 80,000 white wampum, to use in their nego- tiations with the Indians. At that time General Gibson was a general of the Pennsylvania militia, and under date of. July II, 1794, he wrote Governor Mifflin as follows :
"I have written to the different inspectors of my division. pressing them to have the men ready, agreeably to the requisi- tion of the adjutant-general, and you may rely on my using every means in my power for the protection of the western frontiers."
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The historian of St. Clair's defeat gives this account of the Gibson family :
" Colonel George Gibson, who was mortally wounded at St. Clair's defeat, was the father of General George Gibson, of the War Department, and of the late Chief Justice of Pennsyl- vania. He was the brother of General John Gibson, commonly called by the nom de guerre ' Horsehead,' the well known Indian interpreter in Dunmore's war. Colonel George Gibson, besides being a gallant soldier, was an accomplished gentleman, a man of wit and of fine imagination. Had he, instead of his brother, been at the treaty of Camp Charlotte, and present at the deliv- ery of Logan's speech, that posthumous leaf from the plants of Sir William Johnson might have been imputed to him."
On the 7th of May, 1800, Congress passed an act dividing the Northwestern Territory, and creating that of Indiana. Soon afterward, President Jefferson appointed General Gibson Secre- tary of the new Territory, and he at once started for its capital. He reached Vincennes in July, 1800, and the Governor, Wil- liam Henry Harrison, not having arrived, he commenced to organize the Territorial government. He made several appoint- ments of Territorial officers, and did other things in the direction of creating a civil government. He continued in charge of the executive department of the Territory until the arrival of Gov- ernor Harrison, the next January, when his executive functions ceased. He confined himself to the Secretary's office until the summer of 1812, when he again became Acting Governor, administering the affairs of the Territory at the most critical period of its existence. On the 18th of June, 1812, Congress declared war against Great Britain, and on the 4th of the next September, Fort Harrison, then commanded by Captain Zach- ary Taylor, afterward President of the United States, was attacked by a large body of Indians. The day after the attack, and even before the news of it had reached Vincennes, Gov- ernor Gibson took active measures for the gathering of mil- itary forces at Vincennes, in anticipation of trouble with the Indians. He wrote to Governor Harrison, at Frankfort, Ky., for one company of regular troops and two companies of Ken tucky militia, with stores, wagons, etc., asking that they be sent
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as expeditiously as possible. There being some delay from lack of arms and equipments for some six hundred men, who were at Louisville, and Governor Gibson meantime being advised of the investment of Fort Harrison, on September 9, 1812, wrote a second letter urging the immediate march of the troops without their baggage, as the danger seemed imminent. Responding to this appeal, by the 20th of September Gen- eral Winlock reported at White river, sixteen miles from Vin- cennes, with six hundred and forty infantry and six hundred mounted men, but one day behind. Nor was the commandant at Louisville the only officer to whom Governor Gibson applied for help. He also informed General Samuel Hopkins, of Hen- derson county, Kentucky, of Indiana's emergency, and asked for volunteers from Kentucky at once, saying, "The exigency is such as to preclude the possibility of applying for aid from your quarter through the proper channel." In response to this, Colonel Philip Barbour, at Henderson, on the 11th of Septem- ber, dispatched Major William R. McGary, with two hundred and forty-one men, for Vincennes, with promise of the rest of the regiment just as soon as arms could be procured for them. Barbour wrote of Major McGary to Governor Gibson :
" The Major is brave, firm and determined, and, I doubt not, will give you a good account of any command you may be pleased to order him on."
In the latter part of September General Hopkins reached Vincennes with two thousand mounted volunteers from Ken- tucky. Colonel William Russell, of the United States Army, was also there with a considerable number of men. These, with the soldiers of General Winlock and Major McGary, made a large army, and one which had been mainly gotten together within a single month.
Meantime, Captain Taylor, in command at Fort Harrison, informed Governor Gibson by messenger that he had been able to maintain his garrison against a severe assault by the In- dians, lasting seven hours. On September 12, Governor Gibson instructed Colonel. Robert Robertson to use such militia as could be so employed to guard the boundaries of Clark and Harrison
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counties, " taking care to have an eye to Linley's settlement, the Drift Wood and Pigeon Roost settlements." He added, " You will give particular orders to the officers commanding to employ their men continually in reconnoitering and scouring through the country on the frontier, and should anything extra- ordinary or alarming occur, you will give me the earliest infor- mation thereof by express." Colonel Paddock, at the same time, received instructions identical with the above.
September 9, 1812, Governor Gibson wrote Colonel Robert- son, who, at the head of a body of men. was on the way to the Delaware towns, as follows :
" VINCENNES, September the 9th. 1812.
" SIR-I have just been informed that a body of men have undertaken an expedition against the Delaware towns, under an impression that the Delawares had done or countenanced the murders which have been committed on the frontiers of Clark county. I have official information that the great body of the Delaware tribe are now in council at Piquea, with commission- ers appointed by the President, to hold a treaty with the Indi- ans, or such of them as wish to remain the friends of the United States. They being under the immediate protection of the United States, I do hereby forbid all citizens of this Territory from proceeding against the Delawares without permission from government, assuring you, at the same time, that no person will be more willing to punish them than myself if they are found to be guilty.
Very truly, "JOHN GIBSON, "Acting Governor."
The above letter shows Governor Gibson to have been a just man. In the excited state of the people at that time there are few who would have troubled themselves about seeing that jus- tice was done an Indian. Retribution, not justice, was what the people were clamoring for.
Colonel Russell reached Fort Harrison in due time, and soon after General Hopkins followed him with his army. In a letter written to Governor Gibson by General Hopkins, dated Fort Harrison, November 8, 1812, he says :
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"Letters, etc., sent to Fort Harrison by safe hands might probably find their way to us ; we are kept wholly uninformed of everything passing. We feel the want of whisky badly ; any other thing could be better done without. General Butler informs me the contractor had a supply, which, by this time, might have arrived here had it been sent on. Our supply of bread-stuff's and meat will, I hope, suffice."
It seems the pioneer soldiers of Indiana loved their grog. General Hopkins puts it before powder and ball in importance, and, in fact, it might have done about as good execution if it had possessed the qualities of the modern article.
The temptation to outline the history of the Wabash and Illi- nois campaigns of 1812 is a strong one, as I have original mate- rials at hand which could be used for the purpose, but my ob- ject is not to write history, except incidentally, but to sketch men. I have made these slight digressions to show the reader that Governor Gibson was equal to the occasion, that he took good care of the people under his jurisdiction, and that, too, when great watchfulness and discretion were demanded.
Governor Gibson was in charge of the Governor's office for about one year, and then gave place to Governor Posey. All this time-that is to say, from the day of his arrival at Vincennes until the commencement of Governor Posey's administration, and thence on until Indiana became a State-General Gibson was in charge of the Secretary's office. No complaint was ever made of the way he discharged its duties ; nor was there of his actions as Governor. In his double capacity of Secretary and Governor he so conducted the affairs of the Territory as to escape criticism from the ambitious and plotting men around him, some- thing his chief, General Harrison, a good and patriotic man, was unable to do. He kept aloof from the cabals and intrigues of Territorial days, confining himself to the discharge of his public duties. He did not become involved in the quarrels about him, and as a consequence enjoyed the good-will and friendship of those who were hostile among themselves.
While Secretary of Indiana Territory General Gibson was not conspicuous in public affairs outside of his official duties. He seemed content with attending to his business, leaving to
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others the task of righting neighborhood wrongs and settling private grievances. It was only on extraordinary occasions that his name appears in the proceedings of the public gatherings of these days. In July, 1812, a public meeting was held at Vin- cennes to consider the subject of the war with England. General Gibson was chosen its president, and strong resolutions were passed approving the declaration of war, and indorsing the course of the Madison administration. The Western Sun, a paper pub- lished at Vincennes by Elihu Stout, the grandfather of Hon. Henry S.Cauthorn, makes frequent mention, during the summer of 1812, of the valuable information furnished by General Gibson, then the Acting Governor of the Territory, in relation to public mat- ters generally, and particularly in regard to Indian affairs. In the Sun of September 1, 1812, is a proclamation of General Gibson, as Acting Governor, requiring all aliens in the Territory to report, conformably to the law of Congress passed July 6, 1798, to him in person, in the county of Knox, and to certain persons named by him in the other counties of the Territory.
On the 26th of December, 1812, the Sun contains General Gibson's proclamation, as Acting Governor of the Territory. convening the Legislature, and naming February 1, 1813, as the time for its meeting.
On the 16th of January, 1813, the Sun contains the general orders of General Gibson as commander-in-chief of the Terri- torial militia, promoting Daniel Sullivan to the rank of colonel, and ordering that " on account. of the present aspect of affairs the whole of the militia of the Territory hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's warning, and when warned, will rendezvous according to law."
In the Sun, of February 6, 1813, is the address of General Gibson, as Acting Governor, delivered before the Legislature on the previous Tuesday. It is plain, pointed and brief. He says he is no speaker. The topics alluded to by him are " the de- volving of the gubernatorial duties upon him ; " " his promise to discharge them fairly and justly," etc. He alludes " to the just war with England," and approves of the course of President Madison. Attention is called in the address "to the frequent and numerous Indian massacres, and the uncertainty of life and property in the Territory." He calls attention to the necessity
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of reform in "the militia organization of the Territory, the revenue laws and the salaries of public officers."
On the 6th of March the Sun contained the reply of James Scott, the Speaker of the Territorial Legislature, to General Gibson's speech before that body, in which the Speaker said:
"Your patriotism has long drawn down the attention of the only nation upon earth enjoying the liberal exercise of national liberty. We are happy, sir, in congratulating you that, not- withstanding the many years that the critical eye of envy has had an opportunity of observing you in the discharge of your duties of a national concern, and important trusts confided in you by your nation, that yet, for the most cogent reasons. national patronage is extended to you in the evening of your life."
This florid and prolix speech does not indicate an embryo jurist ; nevertheless, the Speaker afterwards became a very eminent judge of our Supreme Court. On the 12th of March, 1813, Governor Gibson prorogued the Legislature, after a ses- sion of forty days, and directed it to reassemble at Corydon on the first Monday of the next December. In the meantime the records and offices of the Territorial government were removed to Corydon, Governor Gibson accompanying them. In May, 1813, he was superseded in the Governor's office by General Thomas Posey, and from that time until the admission of Indi- ana into the Union he acted as Territorial Secretary.
General Gibson's knowledge of the Indian language most probably once saved General Harrison's life. At a conference between the latter and Tecumseh, at Vincennes, the Indian, becoming angry, arose to his feet, flourished his tomahawk, and directed his followers to be ready to obey his command. Gen- eral Gibson, who was present, understanding the Shawanee tongue, called the guard, which he had stationed near by, and on their appearance the cowed savage resumed his seat. When his threatening language was translated for the Governor, he broke up the conference and ordered Tecumseh away.
After much research I have been unable to find the origin of General Gibson's pseudonym of " Horsehead." I assume that it was his Indian name ; at least that it was given him by the
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Indians. He was known by it long before he came to Indiana Territory, and it clung to him while he lived. It may be that it was given to him because of his strong common sense, com- mon sense sometimes being denominated " horse sense."
When the State government of Indiana was formed, General Gibson went back to Vincennes, his old home, to live. Soon afterward he left Indiana, and during the remainder of his life resided with his son-in-law, George Wallace, at Braddock's Field, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, at whose house he died April 10, 1822.
The Western Clarion, a paper published at Madison, Indiana, in its issue of June 10, 1822, contains a letter supposed to have been written by Mr. Wallace, dated Pittsburg, April 19, 1822, which says that " General Gibson died recently at Braddock's Field, near Pittsburg." It also says that "he had been care- fully educated, with uncommon pains, as he was a good scholar, and his classical attainments were considerable." It gives a summary of the leading incidents of his life, to the time In- diana became a State, and concludes as follows :
" At this period, having become somewhat infirm, and being afflicted with an incurable cataract, he, with his amiable wife, removed from Vincennes to the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. George Wallace, in the neighborhood of this place, where he was attended till the moment of his death with the most ex- emplary filial piety."
Having safely passed the dangers of field and flood, of both civilized and savage warfare, he was mercifully permitted to live far beyond the allotted years of man, and to die with his fam- ily about him. God was with the old pioneer to the end. Gib- son county, in this State, was named in his honor, and it is. therefore, his most enduring monument.
THOMAS POSEY.
THOMAS POSEY, the last Governor of Indiana Territory, was born in Virginia, on the banks of the Potomac, July 9, 1750. He was the son of a farmer, and grew up a farmer's boy. His education was scanty, being confined to those branches ordina- rily taught in the country schools of that day. The family was respectable, but not wealthy, and the high distinction afterward reached by General Posey can not be attributed to family influ- ence, nor the efforts of powerful friends. It was the work of himself.
When nineteen years old young Posey left his paternal home and went into the western part of the State, then the frontier of civilization. He was, no doubt, prompted to this change by a spirit of adventure and a desire to find full scope for his dar- ing nature. Soon after locating in his new home the occasion offered for him to go soldiering, and he eagerly embraced it. It was in the year 1774, the year of Dunmore's expedition against the Indians, that he first put on the knapsack and shouldered his musket. Dunmore's army was in two divisions. one of which was commanded by himself and the other by General Lewis. The plan of the campaign was for Dunmore to march to Pittsburg and thence down the Ohio river to the mouth of the Kanawha, where the united army was to rendez- vous. Lewis was to cross the mountain, march down the Ka- nawha valley and join Dunmore. Posey was with Lewis, and when that General reached the appointed rendezvous he en- camped, to await the arrival of his superior. But when Dun- more reached Pittsburg he changed his mind, and, instead of going forward to join Lewis, he marched his army against the
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Shawanee towns on the Scioto. On the Ioth of October, 1774, Lewis was attacked by a large body of Indians under Cornstalk, and one of the bloodiest battles ever fought by Indians and white men took place. Seventy-five Virginians were killed out- right and one hundred and forty wounded, while the loss of the Indians was still greater. The latter were defeated and driven away, and soon afterward peace was established, at Camp Char- lotte, by the treaty between Lord Dunmore and the Indians. The battle between General Lewis and Cornstalk is known in history as the battle of Point Pleasant. Posey behaved with great gallantry, giving evidence of the coolness and bravery which afterward made him one of the most conspicuous figures in the military service of his country.
The war having ended, Posey went back to his home in West- ern Virginia, but did not long pursue his peaceful avocations. The next year (1775) war broke out between the colonies and Great Britain. Posey was elected a member of the committee of correspondence of his county, similar committees being chosen in the other counties of the colony, the purpose being to keep ยท the people advised of what was going on and to draw them to- gether in closer union. Shortly after hostilities had commenced Posey raised a company of infantry and took it to the field. His commander was the General Lewis under whom he had already fought, and the enemy against whom he marched was led by Lord Dunmore, who had been Lewis's superior officer the year before. The two armies met at Gwyn's Island, and in the battle which followed Dunmore was beaten and driven off the field.
After the Virginia campaign had ended, the regiment to which Captain Posey was attached joined the army of Wash- ington in the Jerseys. The company then became a part of a regiment of picked men, armed with the rifle and commanded by Colonel Morgan, which did gallant service on many a field. At Piscataway it was surrounded by the enemy and cut its way out in a hand to hand fight, which left many a brave man on the ground. Afterwards it was with Gates at Saratoga. and helped compass the surrender of Burgoyne there. Subsequently Captain Posey was given command of this noted regiment, and headed it at the drawn battle of Monmouth. In 1778 the regi-
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