USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial history of Grant County, Indiana, 1812 to 1912 : compiled from records of the Grant county historical society, archives of the county, data of personal interviews, and other authentic sources of local information > Part 7
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dians on his hands. General Harrison had been successful in his treaty- making with the Indians and was satisfied with the progress the wil derness of Indiana was making until about 1806 when he found that Termusch, a Shawnee, and his brother, known in history as The Prophet,' were causing trouble. The Indians organized against the eneroachuents of the white man and finally General Harrison was Forced to order them to disband. They refused and it was then that he led an expedition against them which ended in the battle of Tippe canoe on November 7. 1811.
"The Indians were scattered, but the beginning of the War of 1812, about a year later, gave them new courage and new opportunity for hostilities. As a result of their activities and the success of the British in the Northwest, a command was issued from Washington that General Harrison take charge of the forces in this part of the country. and this he did about a year after he had so sigually distinguished him self at the battle of Tippecanoe, making his headquarters at Piqua. Ohio. "
While the use of clippings has meant a twice told tale in some of its parts, it is giving honor to whom honor is due in the endless re- search, and the people who peruse these pages will understand that it is the most reliable information possible one hundred years after the battle of the Mississinewa.
THE BATTLE OF THE MISSISSINEWA By W. W. Johnson
The following verse is the production of a man who has passed his four score milestone -- an octogenarian, and it is a sort of tableaux on the foregoing chapter, and therefore of interest.
"ITwas in the eighteen hundred and twelve war Some tribes of Indians hostile as before Became the allies of the British Crown And 'twas thought best to try to fone them down. So Colonel Campbell with his small coumand Was sent against the dreaded hostile band, To harass them and to hold them at bay Along the river Mississinewa.
In that loyal though mixed Forlorn command Were some men from the south ; Kentucky's land. And some reliable and valiant men Gathered from the Eastern land of Penn. Men of the regular army were there. All had the courage to do and to dare. They were making a short and warlike stay Along the river Mississinowa.
It was late in the cold and wintry night. An hour or more before the morning light. Little Thunder and his braves yelled and thundered On Campbell's brave and Joyal six hundred. Colonel Campbell's men were not unprepared, Those hardy valiant men could not be scared ; They held the savage warriors at bay Right there along the Mississinewa.
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Soon was there many spots of crimson flow Scattered over the trampled, frozen show, Saddening was the sight when morning light Revealed the dreadful carnage of the night. Old little Thunder's braves sadly bhundered When they struck the gallant six hundred. They had to run away at break of day On the banks of the Mississinewa.
Soldiers, horses and many braves, lay low Scattered around v'er the blood stained show. All honor to the brave and loyal men Who so nobly, so bravely, there and then. Battled and fought the dreadful, deadly fight In the dismal darkness of the winter night, And won the battle at the dawn of day On the banks of the Mississinewa.
IN. THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL HISTORY AND THE BEST METHODS OF PRESERVING IT
Hon. Benjamin S. Parker
At the September meeting of the Historical Society in '06, the Hon. B. S. Parker, of the Henry County Historical Society, was a guest, having been invited with the thought that he would inject some more enthusiasm into the local society. Mr. Parker was anthor of the bill m the Indiana legislature providing for historical societies under state law, and he has been considered one of the literary geniuses of Indiana. lle knew the traditions along the Old National Road and embodied many of them in both prose and poetry. While the guest of the local society he commended its effort, and the Following excerpts are taken from his paper: "It seems almost needless to urge the value of his- tory to mankind, since no tribe, nation nor race has ever progressed very far before it began to invent and make use of means for the pres- ervation of its story. Even savage tribes left crude records of their prowess in the chase or upon the field of battle.
"These various records were carved in the barks of trees, written upon serolls of papyrus, traced upon the faces of sun dried bricks and tiles, or chiseled in the long enduring granite. History is, as one of the impassioned orators of the early days of the American republic declared, the torch by which our steps are lighted, and the neglect of history is the longest backward stride toward savagery that any peo- ple can take. The wisdom of remote ages recognized this fact. They were not all as wise. however, as the Grecians in the choice of their methods for its preservation They devoted the genius of their ports and prophets to it while Athens adorned and illustrated it by the splendid creations of her painters and sculptors.
"All history is wrought from the threads of local thought, deed and adventure that become national or racial when they affect the characters and destinies of races and nations. But with all its want of consideration for the common people, and its imperfect realization of the higher missions of the government, the world would still be savage and sitting in darkness were it not for the survival of history." So much for Mr. Parker's treatment of general history, but when he came to local conditions his paper is followed in detail. For the
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greatness of a nation depends not upon the extent of its territory, the greatness of its cities, the splendors of its pageants, the grandeur of its public buildings, the numbers and equipments of its soldiers, the power of its navies, nor the colossal fortunes of the rich; but upon the character of its men and women and the future promises and hopes of and for its children.
It is the home, the neighborhood, the township, the road, or school district, the city ward, the town and the village that in our form of government most affect the life of the citizen and the training of the child. Add to these the county, city and state governments and you have the forces which, with their churches, schools, benevolent and industrial institutions, most intimately impress themselves upon the character of our people and shape their destinies.
If the affairs of these smaller divisions of our governmental fabric are well managed, it will require an immense amount of incapacity or corruption in the direction of national policies to greatly oppress the average citizen. And, again, when all matters of local government, morals, religion, education, industry and economy are wisely directed in all, or even in a majority of the states, the national government. can- not go far wrong.
And so we come to realize the fact that the things of first importance to the individual and to the community are the local affairs, begin- ning with the family and widening out through all the divisions, insti- tutions and energies heretofore mentioned until the state is reached and taken into the account. In a few words, then, the history that lies at the root of all history is that which affects the local life, the homes and the daily conditions of the people.
It is the history of small beginnings, many privations and small economies, and of dauntless courage and determined perseverance. It is the story of varying degrees of progress under many varying conditions, of some failures and many successes that were so small when considered singly that those who won them looked upon them as failures; but which, taken in the mass, constituted great advances, not along difficult paths, but in tangled wilds through which there were . no paths, and nothing bni the sun, the moon and the stars to gnide the feet of the adventurous pioneer.
With us in central and eastern Indiana and western Ohio it is the history of the wilderness and the log cabin, the hard toils of farm and road making and town building; of the undrained swamp and the bridgeless stream; of fatal miasmas and deadly epidemies. It is the story of self-conseerations to high purposes, of the often slow and dif- fienlt, but always sure and steady progress in the methods of toil and in invention and enterprise that has developed from hard and dis- couraging conditions one of the richest, most fertile, best-improved and most healthful regions that the sun shines upon in all his course.
It is the story of a native animal, bird and plant life of surpassingly wonderful abundance and beauty and of incalculable value.
It is the history of a manhood and womanhood which from the days of the first log cabins to the present time have had few equals and no superiors among the pioneers in new countries. It is also the story of much ignorance, erudeness and poverty which handicapped the first settlers in their efforts to lay those foundations of education and good eitzenship in the western wilderness from which has evolved in less than a century a civilization that is admired and honored wher- ever its story is known.
Is the history of such a country and such a people worthy of preservation ?
Is it worth while to make and preserve records of the steps by Vol. 1-3
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which such a people has advanced, or to collect and treasure such objects as may serve to illustrate the records and make them easy of comprehension to the young people and children of the present and to those who are to follow in the future? To these questions I can con- ceive of but one answer and that is an unqualified affirmative. Nor do I look upon any young man or young woman as thoroughly pre- pared to face the future and its problems and successfully meet its demands who is not well grounded in the things which belong to and make up our history and by and through which our country and its institutions have been developed from savage nature, the uneulti- vated wild and the lessons of older civilizations.
And so we arrive at the foundations of local history.
The first and most important question to be solved in this conner- tion is what constitutes local history? In response to this query it may be said, that whatever affects the life, character, methods of thought. or manners and modes of living of any community, including the experiences of the people and their toils, accomplishments and fail ures, together with their environments, make up the greater sum of the local record. In another, and wider sense, all the history of civilized humanity and even that of savagery is related to it and affects it. In the United States it is not possible to draw a very distinct line be- tween the local, the state and the national history. In this country we are so essentially one people, and one community or state is so connected with and affected by the others that our histories overlap and merge, cach with the other, at a great many points. In most. or at least, in many of our cities, villages and country neighborhoods, the New England family of Puritan origin has for next-door neighbors Carolina or Virginia families of Cavalier extraction, while people of English, Irish, Scottish, Germanic, French and Scandinavian origin touch shoulders with the natives of Indiana and other middle western states. Their children unite in marriage and their intermingled blood becomes that of our common citizenship, and thus we inherit character from every tributary to the commingling or commingled stream, and the national and local life of the lands from which they came with vari- ous peruliarities, customs, speech, methods of thought and industry, education, morals and religion affect our life directly and become a part of our history which we cannot fail to consider without losing thereby the ability to comprehend our own composite society. In addi- tion to these, once alien, but now intimate influences, we are all so affected by the national spirit, as embodied in the constitution, laws and governmental policies and so connected by the ties of kindred, friendly relations, social sympathies and commercial intercourse with every state, territory and part of our national domain that we can have no history that is not affected by that of any and every other portion of the country, or of neighboring governments. It follows then that the local history can be intelligently considered only as it is affected by the whole body of history.
There exists, however, in every community a world of fact and experience that is of the highest valne to the local life, which cannot, in the nature of things, go into the general history of the country only as condensed by the statistician, the census-taker and the health offi- eer, that is to say, in bulk sums, represented by figures, as so much edu- cation, religion, social life, character, population, industrial produc- tion, wealth and health or disease, with such and such numbers of births and deaths.
It is not very encouraging to local effort and aspiration to see the local life valued in history only by a few cold figures and to receive all their warmth and light from the glories of large cities, the few world-
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famous great and the sum of the national wealth, power and prestige in war and peace.
Especially is it true of us Americans in the smaller commonwealths and communities that we must not only make our own histories, but. also write and preserve them, or have none worthy of the name. But it is precisely those parts of our local histories that do not get into the records of general history which most affect our lives and characters, appeal to our sympathies and make up the greater sums of our joys and sorrows. More than that it is the preservation of such branches of our history that is, and must continue to be, of the most peen- niary, economical and social advantage to the people either as individ- nals, families or communities. It is not a mere matter of family pride or local sentiment that prompts the local historian to sacrifice case and give of his strength to the often thankless task of preserving what- ever he may of the local history for the benefit of the present and future generations. No matter how Imumble, nor how poorly equipped he may be for the work, he is entitled to be loved and honored as a benefactor, and it is, as far as may be practicable, to relieve him of his burden, multiply his strength and add it to a greater strength than can possibly be attained to by the unaided efforts of the individual, which has led to the organization of historical societies.
This need for union of effort has long been recognized and met in many of the older states by societies that are now doing great service to the canse and devoting large sums of money to its prosecution. In Indiana the public is just waking up to the urgency of the need. I am not acurately informed, but aside from the State Historical So- ciety-for which a small biennial appropriation is made by each suc- veeding legislature-1 doubt if there is in the state more than one or two societies that have fifty years of life and activity to their credit, and, as yet, the greater number of the states, cities and countjes are not represented at all by such organizations, but there are reasons to hope that they, soon, may be.
In Wayne and Henry counties the present historical societies have each, as I remember, been in active existence about a score of years. To be accurate as to our own organization in Henry county, it was begun twenty years ago last April. From one point of view it seems that we have accomplished very little, from another and more prae- tical viewpoint, the amount of good that has been accomplished is surprisingly large, and in the two counties the work is moving on much more easily and effectively than inthe earlier and often dis- couraging years of its infancy. 2011520
The Northern Indiana Historical Society is a district society and covers several counties. It seems to be very prosperous and has ae- complished some work of incalentable value in the collection and pres- ervation of the history of the early aboriginal, French and English occupations of that part of Indiana. Of your own and the other local societies I have less knowledge, but the field is white for the begin- ning of the harvest, though the harvesters are as yet comparatively few.
I think that the state has thus far given no aid to the preservation of the state and local history other than to undertake and complete the splendid monument at the capital of the state to the Indiana soldiers and sailors and to erect some momments and memorials upon historie grounds to a few of the state's gallant defenders in former wars, a memorial to Nancy Hanks, the mother of Lincoln, and to appropriate certain sums of money, as before mentioned, to the State Historical Society. The legislature of 1901. however, passed an act permitting county councils, when so advised by the county commis- sioners, to appropriate any necessary sum of money not to exceed live
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thousand dollars for the erection or purchase of buildings, or the con- struction of rooms in connection with county court houses, for the use of county historical societies in counties wherein such. societies have proven their worth and ability by tive consecutive years of actual work. Probably this law does not give the county councils and boards any authority that they did not possess before its passage, but it hedges such appropriations about with other provisions so that the county is so seeured in the ownership of the property on the one hand that it cannot be frittered away or lost, except by its own act or carelessness, and on the other hand the historical society is made secure in a home where it can gather its collections, preserve its books, its papers and its records and hold its meetings as long as it maintains its existence and proceeds with its work. The county very properly, however, leaves all other matters of cost and expenditure, except those of main- tenance, necessary improvements and repairs to the society. At the present time the Wayne county society ocenpies two rooms in the court house at Richmond, but they are not adequate to its needs and it is now looking forward to the securing of a larger and more permanent home, and some efforts have been made to seenre the old home of Gov- ernor Morton in, Centerville for the purpose, which would be a most appropriate thing to do. I noticed recently a statement that S1. Joseph county has appropriated the old court house at South Bend to the use of the Northern Indiana Society, which, with the needful changes, should give that society ample quarters. In our own county the fine mansion formerly the home of the late Major General Wil- liams Grose at New Castle has been secured and has been occupied by the Henry county society for about five years. There we hold our meetings and store our collections. The Wayne county society holds four meetings per year, and moves them about to different parts of the county, which it will probably cease to do when it seeures a per manent home at which its meetings may be held. ' The Henry county society holls Iwo meetings per year, an animal on the third Saturday m April and a semi-annual meeting on the third Saturday in October I am not advised as to the meetings of other historical societies.
I think it is the general usage with our historical societies to devote such parts of their meetings as are not taken up with business mat. ters, or with matters connected with such historical collections as they may be making, to the reading of papers on various branches of local, state or other historical themes that may have affected or now affect the life of the county or district and to the hearing of remarks and discussions of such papers, or to speeches and addresses upon events and experiences in the past history of the country, or to short sketches, biographies, town, township. neighborhood, school, family. or church histories, records of the courts, carly trials, stories of the pioneer days. of the early toils, and in fact all things connected with pioneer life, ancedotes, experiences and so on, to which are often added papers upon the physical geography and geology of the local territory covered by the society, papers on the native forests, animals, birds, fishes and plants and upon the early and subsequent industries and agricultural operations, the progress of the people along every line of effort; public works and roads and methods of conveyance, from the first blazed paths through the woods to the railroads, turnpikes and interurban roads and from the rude sled or tireless cart to the automobile.
Indeed the subjects that should and do come properly within the field of an historical society's investigations and studies are practi- cally unlimited. It requires all that age and experience can offer, all that youth and vigor may secure, all that ripe scholarship may donate, and all that alert researches and careful study may bring to
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light to properly meet the demands of the local historical society and make its services to the public it represents as great and effective as they should be. It is a perennial work, a work for all time. Though its buds may be obscure and its early bloom unattractive, its later blossom and fruitage are as sure to be of great interest and value as it is to require time and perseverance to produce them. It is said truly, "that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, " and, being mindful of this, we. in our little. county society, have found it well to lighten the heavier programs with music and song and recitation, and occasionally the pranks of the comie muse or the pathos of more tender inspirations. Another valuable and instructive form of effort which adds greatly to the attractiveness of the meetings is the realistic display, in which the old-time methods of household and other indus- tries are illustrated by actual work with the old-time tools, implements and appliances, in such manner that the entire audience may witness it. For instance, an old-time fax brake is set up, a man brings a bunch of fax that has been sufficiently exposed to sun, shower and dew to be ready for the breaking and proceeds to break it, another sets up a sentehing board and with his wooden seutching knife separates the fibre from the woody portions of the flax, then, the fibre is passed to the women, who. with their coarse and fine hatchels, complete the separation and also separate the long silky flax tibre from the tow. The flax then goes on to the little wheel, is wound about the head of the distaff by the lady in charge, a portion of it passed through the fliers to the spool. The lady sits down to the wheel with her foot upon the treadle, the wheel begins to Imm its merry song and the thread begins to wind upon the spool, and so the old-time industry of con- verting the flax into thread is made plain to all, and, if an old hand loom, with the warp in place, can also be in view, the thread may be passed into the shuttle and the whole process of the conversion of tlax from the straw to the cloth, be illustrated before the audience within the space of thirty minutes. The same may be done with wool from the fleece, using the old hand cards, the big wheel, and either the old winding blades or elock reel, and so on, to the loom. Old methods of cookery and a score of other industries may be illustrated in the same manner. Of course such exhibitions are only to be made ocra- sional use of. At other times natural history exhibits, accompanied by explanatory lectures or talks, may be, and offen are, made exceed- ingly entertaining and profitable. If a competent botanist or natural- ist. or even one who is familiar with the native woods and plants or the native animal or bird or inseet life, and using the best collection of plants and timbers, or birds, or insects at command, or such illustra- tions of the native animal life as may be had, can be secured for a, half hour of that sort of most practical instruction, it will be found to' be an exceedingly good investment. The natural history of our various localities is changing with everything else and many of the younger people of today do not know and fail to realize what it was and how varied and how abundant was the wild life of even a few years ago. It is one of the important provinces of the historical society 10 pre- serve something of this once abounding life and as much of the knowl edge of it as possible. Taken with the local geography and geology, the field of natural history and biological studies and investigations that belongs to the purview of the historical society is almost unlimited in scope and interest. But do not imbibe the false notion that it is sim- ply a society for the old folks in which to renew the memories of old times and old associations, for, though that is an excellent thing to do, occasionally, the work of an historical society is one of great interest
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