USA > Indiana > Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time > Part 10
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A spirited fight at the house of William Col- lings, in which three Indians were killed, prob- ably prevented a greater slaughter, as the check to the savages enabled the rest of the settlement to escape to blockhouses that stood within a few miles. Some of these escapes were attended with risks and horrors equal to any to be found in the Indian annals of Kentucky. The wife of John Biggs, fortunately for her, had gone into the woods to look for their cow, having with her their three children, one a babe in arms. On her way home she discovered the savages about the empty cabin and took flight toward one of the
* Taylor's official report.
* Dillon, p. 492. Dunn's account in "True Indian Stories" varies slightly from this.
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blockhouses, but the Indians, believing the miss- ing family was in the vicinity, began searching the adjacent forest. At one time they passed so near Mrs. Biggs that their footsteps were audi- ble. At this critical moment the baby began to cry and to check it she was obliged to press her shawl over its mouth. When the searchers had passed she made the dreadful discovery that the infant had been smothered to death. With the dead child in her arms and the two living ones clinging to her she spent the night in the wilder- ness, arriving at the blockhouse about daybreak. A Dr. John Richie took his sick wife on his back, and together they spent the night in the woods, as did Mrs. Beal and her two children. who hid in a sinkhole until after dark, then made their way to one of the protecting strongholds which they reached at two o'clock next morning.
The news of the massacre was carried to Charlestown, Clark county, and by two o'clock in the afternoon of September + a body of two hundred armed men reached the scene of the tragedy, where only one house remained stand- ing, and in and about the ruins of the charred cabins lay the mutilated remains of women and children. The trail of the savages was taken up and followed till dark, but they never were overtaken, and to the present day it is a matter of considerable doubt as to what Indians were guilty of the atrocity.
Two children were carried away as prisoners
Fort Harrison, Near Terre Haute. Erected in 1811. -- From an old vicce .*
from this raid. One, a little girl three years of age, named Ginsey McCoy, was a niece of the Indian missionary, the Rev. Isaac McCoy. Years
* See "Blockhouses," p. 64.
after Mr. McCoy himself found her west of the Mississippi river as the wife of an Indian chici and the mother of several children. She re- turned to Indiana for a visit to her relatives but soon went back to her Indian home. The other captive, a boy named Peter Huffman, was sold to some other Indians and carried to Canada.
Mcknight Fort. This is one of fifteen forts that were built in Washington county as protection against the Indians in 1812. The Mcknight Fort was converted into a dwelling by William McKnight, who lived in it until his death. It was occupied by his son and grandson later and was used as a residence until the spring of 1898. It was torn down in 1911 .- Courtesy of Orra Hopper.
His whereabouts and identity were discovered after much pains and trouble, and he was re- turned to Indiana in 1824: but he, too, was wedded to the Indian life and returned to it .*
The spot where the victims of the massacre were buried was for many years marked by an immense sassafras tree. In 1903 an appropria- tion of $2,000 for a monument was made by the Legislature, and a shaft of Bedford limestone. forty-four feet in height, was dedicated October 1, 1904, "mutely calling to memory the most fearful Indian tragedy that was ever known to the soil of Indiana."
Frontier Defense .- The conditions in Indi- ana before the declaration of war on June 19. 1812. were such as to call forth from Governor Harrison a military circular which gives us a glimpse of the times and of the steps taken to meet its dangers. It is dated loth April. 1812. and under the heading of "General Orders for the Militia" the circular reads :
"As the late murders upon the frontiers of this and the neighboring Territories leave is little to hope of our being able to avoid a war with the neighboring tribes of Indians, the commander-in-chief directs that the colonels and other commandants of corps should
. Dunn's "True Indian Stories "
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
take immediate measures to put their commands in the best possible state for active service. The field officers who command battalions will visit and critically inspect the several companies which compose them and make a report in detail of their situation, particularly noting the deficiencies in arms, ammunition and accoutrements, and such measures as the laws authorize must be im- mediately taken to remedy those deficiencies. The commander-in-chief informs the officers that the most prompt obedience and the most unremitting attention to their duty will be required of them-the situation of the country calls for exertion on the part of the militia, and the officers must set the example to their men. If there are amongst them any who have accepted appoint- ments for the mere motive of gratifying their vanity by the possession of a commission to which a title is annexed, without having the ability or the inclination to encounter arduous service, in justice to their country and to their own fame they should now retire and not stand in the way of those who are more able or more willing to encounter the fatigue and dangers incidental to actual service in the Indian war. From the specimen which the commander-in-chief has had of their conduct in the field he has every reason to be proud of them, nor does he believe that there are better militia officers to be found anywhere than those of Indiana, but in a crisis like the present they should be' all good.
"The field officers are to see that proper places are appointed for the rendezvous of the companies upon an alarm or the appearance of danger, and will give orders relatively to the mode of their proceeding in such exi- gencies as the situation of the companies respectively call for. When mischief is done by the Indians in any of the settlements, they must be pursued, and the officer nearest to the spot, if the number of men under his command is not inferior to the supposed number of the enemy, is to commence it as soon as he can collect his men. If his force should be too small he is to send for aid to the next officer to him, and in the meantime to take a position capable of being defended, or watch the motions of the enemy, as circumstances require. The pursuit must be conducted with vigor, and the officer commanding will be held responsible for making every exertion in his power to overtake the enemy. Upon his return, whether successful or not, a particular account of his proceedings must be transmitted to the com- mander-in-chief and a copy of it to the colonel of the regiment.
"The commander-in-chief recommends it to the citi- zens on the frontiers of Knox county, from the Wabash eastwardly across the two branches of the White river, those on the northwest of the Wabash and those in the Driftwood settlement in Harrison, to erect blocked houses or picketed forts. It will depend upon the dis- position of the Delawares whether measures of this kind will be necessary or not upon the frontiers of Clark, Jefferson, Dearborn, Franklin or Wayne. Means will be taken to ascertain this as soon as possible and the result communicated. The Indians who profess to be friendly have been warned to keep clear of the set- tlements, and the commander-in-chief is far from wish- ing that the citizens should run any risk by admitting any Indians to come amongst them whose designs are in the least equivocal .. He recommends, however, to those settlements which the Delawares have frequented as much forbearances as possible toward that tribe, be- cause they have ever performed with punctuality and good faith their engagements with the United States, and as yet there is not the least reason to doubt their fidelity. It is also certain that if they should be forced to join the other tribes in war, from their intimate knowledge of the settlements upon the frontiers they would be enabled to do more mischief than any other tribe.
"By the commander-in-chief.
"A HURST, Aide-de-camp."
Blockhouses .- As the war came on and the dangers became more threatening, a great many of the settlers forsook their farms and betook themselves to more protected territory. Others remained, however, and Dillon tells us that "in the course of the spring and summer of the year 1812 blockhouses or picketed forts were erected throughout the Indiana Territory." The follow- ing year more were built by the military authori- ties. Of many of these no specific record re- mains but in various local chronicles a number are mentioned and the localities of some of them given. The very outpost of them all, if we ex- cept Fort Wayne, which was entirely isolated from the frontier, was Fort Harrison. In Sul- livan county there was one about midway be- tween New Lebanon and Carlisle, and one near the Wabash river some distance above Merom. In Knox county, we are told, forts were erected in every neighborhood, and five are specified in Widner township. In Daviess county ten are mentioned, and in Jackson three, one of them at Vallonia. In the north part of Union were two and in Wayne three or four, one of these being about four miles west of Richmond and another a mile north of Washington. We also find tradi- tion of several in Jefferson county.
. An anecdote or two will show that amid these preparations for grim war the American sense of humor was not wanting. One of the stockades in Knox county was known as "Fort Petticoat," because, the men being absent in the army, its defense depended chiefly upon the women. In Jackson county when one of the forts was build- ing four or five practical jokers, pretending to be Indians, tried to scare a green "Dutchman" in the woods but he showed fight in such deadly earnest that the jokers ignominiously fled.
The Rev. W. C. Smith, a settler of the White- water region, father of the historian W. H. Smith, describes in an interesting book of rem- iniscences ("Indiana Miscellany") the old log forts. The stockade consisted of "two rows of split timber, twelve to fourteen feet long, planted in the ground two-and-a-half or three feet deep. The timbers of the second row were so placed as to cover the cracks of the first. Small cabins were erected inside of the stockades for the ac- commodation of the families. Usually one blockhouse was built in each fort. The block- houses were two stories high, the upper story
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projecting over the lower, say two feet, with portholes in the floor of the projection so that the men could see to shoot the Indians if they succeeded in getting to the walls of the block- house." Sometimes two of these blockhouses were built at opposite corners of the stockade in such a manner that the projecting story of each commanded two of the outer walls. Many of the blockhouses, built for temporary refuge in emergencies, had no stockade but were simply two-story buildings with portholes and the second story overhanging. Many of the residence cabins, also, were provided with portholes and built strongly for defense.
Rangers of 1813 .- In 1813 Acting-Governor John Gibson called into service several com- panies of mounted rangers each consisting of about one hundred men. These were in the em- ploy of the United States. The accoutrement consisted of a rifle, knife and tomahawk and each man carried with him his own supply of pro- visions (Dillon). The office of these rangers was, seemingly, the same as that of the frontier patrol of 1807, described in another place.
INDIAN CAMPAIGNS
Attack on Ft. Wayne .- After the attack on Fort Harrison and the Pigeon Roost Massacre there were several offensive campaigns directed against the hostile tribes of northern Indiana. Be- fore the two events mentioned about five hundred warriors surrounded Fort Wayne, which was garrisoned with something less than a hundred men, under a Captain Rhea. The Indians ar- ranged for a conference inside the fort, their object being treachery, but they were frustrated. Then they laid siege to the place and, aided by some ingenious British, made a "bluff" of having artillery by constructing two wooden cannon, re- inforced by hoopiron, which promptly burst when fired. Meanwhile General Harrison, who had relinquished his civil duties for military service. was advancing northward with an army of more than a thousand men (Dunn), and this force reached Fort Wayne on September 12, raising the siege. Detachments of these troops scoured the surrounding country, and destroyed several deserted Indian villages besides quantities of food supplies growing in the cultivated places.
Hopkins' Expedition .- Early in November
General Samuel Hopkins, after a previous at- tempt at a campaign in Illinois which resulted in mutiny and a premature return, started up the Wabash with three regiments of Kentucky mili- tia and one company each of regulars, rangers and scouts, the objective being the old "Prophet's Town" at the mouth of the Tippecanoe and va- rious villages in that locality. The town named. which was destroyed after the battle of Tippe- canoe, had been rebuilt and now consisted of about forty huts. This and two other towns of the Kickapoos and Winnebagos, were destroyed, along with what corn was found, leaving the Indians, at the beginning of winter, without shelter or provisions. This expedition continued its operations throughout November, and the chief loss suffered was that of sixteen men killed in an ambuscade.
Mississinewa Expedition .- The most notable expedition of this period as estimated by results was that of Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell with about six hundred mounted men against the Mi- ami villages on the Mississinewa river. This campaign was conducted, virtually, in the heart of winter, the troops moving from Dayton, Ohio, on December 14, 1812. After three days of hard riding one of the villages was surprised. eight warriors killed, forty-two prisoners taken and the place burned. Following this three other villages were destroyed. Campbell then debated the advisability of returning without further of- fensive operations, owing to the hardships to which the men were subjected, the weather being severe, and at four o'clock on the morning of the 18th had convened his officers for a con- ference, when they were suddenly and furiously attacked by a body of Indians. The fight that followed, by Campbell's official report, was well- nigh as fierce and stubbornly contested as was that at Tippecanoe. After an hour's engagement the assailants drew off, leaving fifteen of their dead on the ground and, probably, carrying others off with them. Of the whites, eight were kille 1 and forty-two wounded. The exact number of the attacking Indians was never known, though Campbell in his official report estimates them at "not less than three hundred." This engage- ment, known as the Battle of The Mississinewa. occurred within the bounds of the present Grant county, on the bank of the Mississinewa river. about a mile from the village of Jalapa. The
5
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
field is privately owned and is unmarked by any memorial.
Bartholomew's White River Expedition .- During the earlier part of the war the Delaware Indians on White river professed to be friendly to the United States, and were so regarded, but in the numerous forays made against the settlers in 1813 there was evidence that this tribe at least harbored hostile bands. In March of 1813 John Tipton, then in command of militia that was guarding the frontier of Harrison and Clark counties, pursued a party of marauders that had killed one man and wounded three others near Vallonia, Jackson county. At an island on the Driftwood river he overhauled the band and after a "smart skirmish" killed one and routed the rest. In April he pursued another party that had killed two men and stolen some horses and recovered the horses and "other plunder." Tip- ton was convinced that these miscreants made directly for the Delaware towns. He expressed the opinion that "while the government is sup- porting one part of that tribe the other part is murdering our citizens," and added that "those rascals, of whatever tribe they may be harboring about those towns, should be routed .*
In June of that year a force of about one hun- dred and thirty-seven mounted men under Col. Joseph Bartholomew rode to the Delaware towns to discover and surprise, if possible, hostile In- dians who, it was believed, operated from there. By Bartholomew's report these towns all seem to have been deserted and three of them had been already burned, though why or by whom is not recorded. Considerable corn was found and some- thing like eight hundred or one thousand bushels destroyed.+
Russell's Expedition .- Following hard upon Bartholomew's raid a much larger force under Col. William Russell circled the Indian country with an expedition covering upward of five hun- dred miles. Russell started from Vallonia, as did Bartholomew the month before, with five hun- dred seventy-three men (Dillon), and his route took in the Delaware towns on White river, the Mississinewa towns, and all those on the Wa- bash below the Mississinewa, bringing up at Fort Harrison, on the northwestern frontier. No encounters are spoken of in Colonel Russell's
report of this long march. It was a campaign of destruction based on the theory (or knowledge) that the surest way to prevent depredations on the borders was to break up the nesting places of those who committed the depredations.
End of Indian Hostilities .- Colonel Russell's expedition was the last one against the Indians. These drastic visitations of vengeance reduced the victims of them to destitution and starvation, and when a series of American successes, cul- minating in the defeat of the British and Indians in the battle of the Thames, still further dis- couraged them, they were ready to sue for peace on pretty much any terms. In January of 1814 something like a thousand starving Miamis as- sembled at Fort Wayne for food and ammuni- tion for hunting, from the government ; these were soon followed by the Potawatomies, and the United States was in a position to dictate terms, so far, at least, as the Indiana tribes were con- cerned. For a year after, indeed, the border was not entirely safe from depredations from de- tached, irresponsible bands, but these were not serious and threatening enough to stem the re- turning tide of settlers who began to fill up the new country.
Intemperance Among the Indians .- Gover- nor Harrison repeatedly deplored the disastrous effects of intoxicating liquor among the Indians and its continual introduction by unscrupulous traders. In a letter to the Secretary of War, un- der date of July 15, 1801, he states that "the In- dian chiefs complained of the enormous quantity of whisky introduced by the traders," there be- ing, according to report, upward of six thousand gallons brought annually among the Indians of the Wabash, who numbered perhaps six hundred warriors. The result was that the Piankeshaws, Weas and Eel river tribes had almost exter- minated their chiefs by murder. Little Beaver, a Wea, was killed by his own son, and another chief, Little Fox, was slain by his own people in the streets of Vincennes. The drunken savages so terrorized the citizens of Vincennes that Har- rison solicited a garrison at Fort Knox for pro- tection. In the letter the Governor says: "I can at once tell by looking at an Indian whom I chance to meet whether he belongs to a neigh- boring or a more distant tribe. The latter is generally well-clothed, healthy and vigorous ; the former half-naked, filthy and enfeebled with in-
* Tipton's report to Governor Gibson.
+ Bartholomew's report to Governor Posey.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
toxication, and many of them without arms ex- cept a knife which they carry for the most vil- lainous purposes." The chiefs earnestly desired the prevention of the evil. Some of these wished the introduction among their people of agricul- tural implements and domestic animals.
In his message to the first general assembly (1805) the governor said : "The interests of your constituents, the interests of the miserable In- dians, and your own feelings will sufficiently urge you to take it into your most serious considera- tion and provide the remedy which is to save thousands of our fellow creatures. You are witnesses to the abuses ; you have seen our towns crowded with furious and drunken savages; our streets flowing with their blood; their arms and clothing bartered for the liquor that destroys them, and their miserable women and children enduring all the extremities of cold and hunger. So destructive has the progress of intemperance been among them that whole villages have been swept away. A miserable remnant is all that re- mains to mark the names and situations of many
All the central and northern portions of the state belonged to the Indiane
Whyno
Franpo
Dear born
Jeffetdor
Jackson
Switzer- land
Orange
Washington
Clark
Cibeon
Harrieon
Perry
POBCY
Warrick
Map of Indiana at Time of Admission in 1816. -By E. V. Shockley.
numerous and warlike tribes. In the energetic language of one of their orators, it is a dreadful conflagration which spreads misery and desola-
tion throughout the country and threatens the annihilation of the whole race."
At one time a law existed forbidding the sale of liquor to savages, but no law and no appeal
...
ANOX
NAP
IBSON
INDIANA
JOHN MELISH IM BOT
KENTUCKY
The First Published Map of Indiana State. 1817. The same territory is occupied as at the time of the ad- mission, but by this date seven more counties were created by subdivision.
was sufficient to counteract the cupidity of those who flourished by the traffic.
The Passing of Governor Harrison .- For twelve years Governor Harrison sustained a most intimate relation to the affairs of Indiana Terri- tory, he being by far the most conspicuous figure of that period of our history. By virtue of his military experience and ability he logically be- came a leader in the western country when the outbreak of war threatened the frontier. In August, 1812, he was asked by Kentucky to take chief command of all the troops raised there, and this, in view of the military talent and ambition existing in Kentucky. Harrison regarded as the most flattering appointment he had ever fe- ceived .*
* Autobiographical letter.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
A little later he was made a brigadier-general in the United States army and on September 17, 1812, he was appointed to the command of the whole army of the northwest with large discre- tion as to his military plans and movements. This ended his civil relation to Indiana, Secretary John Gibson succeeding him as acting-gover- nor until the appointment of Governor Posey in February of 1813. The part he subsequently played in the war, culminating in the brilliant victory at the Thames which secured safety to the northwest, belongs to the larger history of the country. He retired from military service in 1814 and became a citizen of Ohio.
Militarism .- In this chapter it has been shown that during the first twelve or thirteen years of the territory's existence the element of danger and violence from without was a factor in the territorial life. This danger, arising from the hostility of the Indians, and which culmi- nated in the war of 1812, was a deterrent to set- tlement and growth, especially in the war period, when many who were already on the ground temporarily forsook their homes. This situation, following the militarism of the revolutionary times, kept alive the question of a militia system for self-defense. This was Governor Harri- son's most famous hobby. In his advocacy of schools for popular education, he pleaded that military branches, to be connected with such schools, be not forgotten. His theory was that even the masters in the lower schools should be obliged to qualify themselves to give instructions in military evolutions, while the Vincennes Uni- versity should have a professor of tactics, "in which all the sciences connected with the art of war may be taught" (Dillon). He also recom- mended, at another time, that camps of discipline be established "for instructing those who are al- ready capable of bearing arms ;" that there should be professors of tactics in all seminaries, and that "even the amusements of the children should resemble the Gymnasia of the Greeks, that they may grow up in the practise of those exercises which will enable them to bear with the duties of the camp and the labors of the field."*
The first statutes passed in the territory (1807) include an elaborate militia law covering thirty- eight pages. By its provisions, every able-bodied white male citizen ( with certain exemptions), be- tween the ages of eighteen to forty-five years, was compelled to be of the militia and to provide himself with "a good musket, a sufficient bayonet and belt, or a fusee, two spare flints, a knapsack and a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges or a good rifle, knapsack, pouch and powder-horn, with twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder." A dragoon was to furnish his own horse, saddle and bridle, and holster with pistol. Officers were to have a sword or hanger and "espontoons," and to wear "some cheap uniforms at musters." The militia equipment was exempt from seizure in cases of debt. Company musters were to be held every two months ; battalion musters once a year, and regimental musters once a year. For failure to attend these musters, officers were subject to a fine of two to twenty dollars and privates to one that might range from one to six dollars, though these could be remitted for good cause shown. The fines were to be applied to the purchase of drums, fifes and colors and to the pay of offi- cers. The military training was to be by "the rules and instructions" of Baron Steuben, the famous drill-master of Revolutionary days. The exempts from this militia service were the judges and clerk of the Supreme Court, the attorney- general, ministers of the gospel, keepers of jails and "such other persons as are exempt by the law of the United States." By the incorporation act, establishing Vincennes University, the faculty and students of that institution were exempted.
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