USA > Indiana > Shelby County > Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, Vol. 1 > Part 4
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General military purposes $1,000,000
Purchase of arnis 500,000
Contingent military expenses ICO.000
Organization and support of militia for two years 140,000
Total for war purposes $1.740.000
The total number of men furnished by Indiana in the rebellion amounted to over two hundred thousand, most of whom served three years or more. This included one hundred fifty-six regiments: twenty-six batteries and the number of battles participated in by these soldiers was by states as follows :
Engagements in Virginia, 90: in Tennessee. 51: in Georgia, 41 : Mis- sissippi, 24: Arkansas, 19: Kentucky, 16: Louisiana, 15: Missouri, 9: North Carolina, 8: Maryland, ;: Texas, 3: South Carolina, 2; Indian Territory, 2; Pennsylvania, 1; Ohio. 1 ; Indiana, I. Total of 308 battles.
In all there were connected with the military service of the state. counting the militia, two hundred sixty-seven thousand men.
INDIANA AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.
In 186; the Legislature comprised ninety-one Republicans and fifty-nine Democrats. Governor Morton having resigned to take his seat as a United States Senator, Lieut. Gov. Conrad Baker assumed the executive chair during the remainder of the term. This Legislature, by a very decisive vote. ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, constituting all persons born in the country or subjects to its jurisdiction. citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside, without regard to race or color; reducing the Congressional representation in any state in which there should be restriction of the exercise of the elective franchise on account of race or color ; disfranchising persons therein named who shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, and declaring that the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, shall not be questioned.
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The same Legislature also enacted a strict registration election law, which has been the means of pure election contests ever since.
WAR CLAIMS ALLOWED.
During 1868 Indiana presented her claims to the general government for losses and expenses incurred during the Civil war, amounting to almost two million dollars and they were audited and finally allowed. Four hundred thir- teen thousand five hundred ninety-nine dollars were allowed to parties suf- fering loss by reason of the Morgan cavalry raid.
DIVORCE LAWS.
The divorce laws had been from an early day very lax up to ISto, when the Governor recommended a reform in this particular and such changes were made as to not allow divorce only on statutory grounds, since which date the state has been looked upon in this respect. on a par with other common- - wealths and superior to many states.
FINANCIAL STANDING.
In 1821 Indiana owed a debt of $20.000. The close of the European wars and a reduction of breadstuff prices brought on a panic in Indiana in common with nearly all the states. But in 1823 speculation began to set things right along the financial line. Money was invested in home manu- factories, instead of wilder commercial enterprises. These factories set money in circulation and gave employment to tens of thousands of willing workers. A part of the gain thus made, however, was sunk in useless internal improvements-but not seen at the time. These internal improvements were begun in the face of the Asiatic cholera sweeping along the Ohio river and entering inland at various points in Indiana. The Black Hawk war of 1832 was raging in the Northwest, but these had no bearing on the minds of of- ficials who went ahead with internal improvements as though times were always to be good.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS MADE.
The subject of making roads and improving the streams commenced in 1818, and continued to be urged by all governors up to 1842. Governor IIen- dricks. in 1822, specified as important improvements the navigation of the falls of the Ohio, the Wabash and White rivers. and other lesser streams in Indiana. Also the construction of public highways and National roads through the state. In 1826 Governor Ray considered the making of a system of roads
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and canals as imperative. In 1830 the people became excited over the project of connecting the streams of the country by the National New York & Mis- sissippi Railroad, the National road and the Michigan and Ohio turnpike, the location of which was a long, bitter contest.
In 1832 the real work of internal improvements began. During that and the following year thirty-two miles of the Wabash and Erie canal were placed under contract and work commenced and pushed forward until 1835; and navigation was opened July 4th, when the people assembled to see the mingling of the waters of the St. Joseph and Wabash rivers, uniting with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. During 1836 the canal touched and bene- fited Fort Wayne, Huntington, Lawrenceburg. Brookville, Evansville and Terre Haute.
At the close of 1837 it was found that the state had borrowed three mil- lion eight hundred eighty-seven thousand dollars for internal improvements. of which a million and a quarter dollars was for the construction of the Wabash & Erie canal. The five per cent. interest amounted to over two hundred thousand dollars, and became burdensome.
In August, 1839. all work on such improvements ceased. In 1840 a statement showed that there had been projected roads and canals to the amount of one thousand two hundred eighty-nine miles, two hundred eighty- one of which miles had been completed at a cost (finished and uncompleted ) of twenty million dollars, estimated cost, of which had been paid out the sum of eight million one hundred sixty-four thousand five hundred twenty-eight. dollars. The state debt at that time was eighteen million four hundred seven- ty-nine thousand one hundred forty-six dollars. Notwithstanding the people were compelled to pay taxes, including a compound interest on large debts con- tracted by the state, her honest, loyal citizens would not think of repudiating such obligations, as was the case in many other states in the Union.
By the year 1850 all so named "Internal Improvements" systems, had been forever abandoned and private capital and ambition pushed forward the needed improvements of the state. During that year four hundred miles of plank road were built, at a cost of about one thousand three hundred dollars per mile. The state then contained two hundred twelve miles of railroad and one thousand more were already surveyed.
As time went on the state forged to the front, and today stands on a high and safe financial plane. With railroads second to no other Central West state, and highways such as wagon roads unequaled. In her school fund and educational institutions she is ahead of most any of hier sister states. Her manufacturing and mining and general mineral resources have developed to a prodigious degree in the last few decades, until mere figures do not signify as a means of telling of her true wealth and greatness as a commonwealth.
CHAPTER IV.
PIONEERS.
Each year, as it rolls its resistless way along the mighty pathway of time. is fast thinning the ranks of the hardy pioneers and their sons and daughters. who, in their adventurous way, first broke the broad pathway of emigration into what is now Shelby county. Indiana. The relentless hand of death. pur- suing his remorseless and unceasing avocation, is cutting down, one by one. the hardy and brave men and women whose fathers and mothers and grand- sires were the first to tread this soil-those who first "blazed" their way through forest and glen, and became the true vanguards to a higher and better type of civilized life.
No pen can portray, no tongue can tell of the hardships and cruel vicis- situdes of fortune endured in those early days by those who justly are now enrolled in history as "first settlers" in Shelby county. It was ninety years ago that the first to make permanent settlement here. wended their way through the dense forest lands, crossing unbridged and angry streams, in the face of wild beasts, camping where but a few moons before the red man had kindled his last camp-fire and vacated. in a peaceful manner. this fair domain and gone on to the great and then little known Mississippi Valley country.
Some had left homes in a far more advanced country. in Ohio. Kentucky. and the Carolinas, while others were foriner residents of Pennsylvania and Virginia. As one looks at the portraits of some of the pioneers of Shelby county, and notes their weather-beaten forms, their furrowed brows, the pre- maturely hoary locks, one is impressed by these sad. yet eloquent evidences that theirs was no holiday life. while weathering the storms and tur- inoil of pioneer life. Penury, hardship and often absolute want were their lot. while trying to conquer dame nature and establish homes for themselves and their families in this boundless wilderness, but now in the garden spot of Indiana.
Let us hasten, then, to put down the words as they fall from the lips of those yet remaining this side the strand, the words of the people whose sires per- formed grandly heroic deeds in those earlier decades, that their actions may find the niche in history which they so richly deserve. Let their words and deeds form a monument that shall long outlast bronze which must ere long mark the place of their rest. Let their epitaph be: "They Have Builded Better Than They Knew."
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But before we take up the history of real historic times, it is the duty of the historian to record the facts as they have existed "down through the dim and misty vista of time, before man was." It therefore is befitting here to ascertain something of the history of the earth beneath, as it was formed in the vast, prehistoric era. before man had lived and moved upon its surface : history not written upon the puny records of man, but gradually engraved by the hand of creation upon the rocks and granite formations of the everlasting hills. Let us therefore begin at the
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY.
From the State Geological Reports of Prof. John Collett in 1881. it is learned that: Remote from great rivers and actual beds of water, one is as- tonished to find almost the whole surface of the county covered with aluvium. either ancient or modern. This explains at once the uniform depth and fer- tility of the soil and asks what great floods of water and ice plowed out these valleys, contrary to the usual direction of the drift southwesterly, and after- wards covered the hilltops and glacial drift with clay, sands of the loess.
The forest mould and peatty scils are caused by the decay of leaves, grass and other vegetable remains. The alluvial loams of creeks and rive: bottoms are due to causes now in action. Water in swift motion grinds rolling rocks and pebbles to sand and clay, a slow, but sure and mighty mill. and these by foods, are spread upon overflowed lands. blessing thein with renewed fertility, always productive, and commanding full prices.
There was a period when a great lake of fresh water covered Southern Indiana and adjoining regions in Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri. A sub- tropic, or tropic climate prevailed. A southern vegetation was known to exist. with the elephant, megalonynt. peccary, etc. This lacustral deposit in these parts exhibits a summit level of about eight hundred feet above the ocean. hence, shallow on the elevated plateaus and dotted with island hills, if deeply covered with its waters the valleys previously eroded. The inflowing streams gave rise to slow currents, so that the deposits are often finely and distinctly laminated. Few. or no pebbles, only sands, are found even upon its shores, for the temperature did not admit of the transporting agency of the ice. The loess deposit is seen on many of the highlands of the county, and is well ex- hibited in the wagon road cut at the hill top at Mount Auburn. Long exposure to rainfall and other atmospheric conditions have removed most of the deposit from the slopes, and its material modified by fluviatile action largely forms the tenacious soil of the "flat woods." or enriched by coarse sand. the loams of the river bottoms.
GLACIAL DRIFT.
Of the glacial drift. it may be stated that the surface features of Shelby county are due largely to the agencies of the great Ice Age. The hard-par
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clays, gravel and bowlders indicating the transporting and erosive powers of that slow. solemn river of ice mystery, and its summer sluices of torrent water. which has so wonderfully moulded the contour and blessed the soil of Indiana. including Shelby county.
As a general rule, the northern ice flow filled up ancient valleys, and river beds, as was determined by test bores and shafts in Knox. Clay. Putnam, Fountain and Tippecanoe counties, and as may be recognized in the sand and gravel pits near Waldron : pushing into such valleys, dividing hills and the masses of material beneath and at the foot of the glaciers and forming in- numerable lakes. which dotted the entire surface of the state. At other times the ice flow followed north and south valleys, or depressions parallel with the outcrops of the geological formations, as the rocks were more or less easily eroded by it and the existing conditions.
But all these elements and agencies cannot account for the results ex- hibited in Shelby and adjoining counties. The trend of the streams and the valleys do not coincide with the dip of underlying rocks. On the other liand. with slight southern deflections, they are parallel with the western extension of the axis of Lake Erie, crossing the state from east to west. The northern . ice flow brought white, gray and black granites, and a multitude of specimens. positively indicating the line of transit by lakes Michigan and Superior. In Shelby county few such rocks are found, but instead massive bowlders from small to six. eight and ten feet in diameter, and constantly, abundantly seen in the southern parts, of red felspathic granite. enough laminated to fix their gneissic or sedementary origin, closely resembling the red granites of Lower Canada and Vermont.
HOT WELLS.
The construction of deep wells has developed the singular fact that for every seventy-five feet in depth there is an increase in the temperature of the water in a well of one degree F. The temperature of spring water at the sur- face is also known to be 52 degrees F., so by this law one may determine depth by heat and heat by depth. Hence a change of temperature of twenty-eight degrees indicates a depth of 2,212 feet.
The Shelbyville Thermal well was put down in December. ISto, in the east part of the city. near Blue river bridge. At a depth of eighteen feet the water was found to be warm, and at the bottom, twenty-four feet from the surface, a constant temperature, winter and summer of seventy-six degrees. was maintained.
The Barlow Thermal well, near the old Barlow Mills, four miles west of Shelbyville, where there was an old well. at the residence of Henry Barlow. that was twenty-three feet deep, and had been used for household purposes, and was favorably known for furnishing cold water. 52 degrees F. Suddenly
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this well water became warm, and no longer desirable: the thermometer in- dicating 65 degrees F. A pipe was driven in November. 1870, from the bot- tom through fine sand and pebbles, resting in a bed of gravel. It went to a depth of thirty-nine feet from the surface. The water was found to have a temperature of eighty degrees F. and during the next winter attained a maxi- mum temperature of eighty-six degrees. These wells were excavated for pot- able water only, and being unfit for this use, were neglected and allowed to fill up. If found permanent. these springs will invite the attention of those needing baths of a hot nature. and suggests that it would be far cheaper, and doubtless as beneficial. to use these thermal waters of Shelby county, as to pay large sums at a resort at some of the distant "hot springs" in the far South- west and West.
The physical phenomena of Shelby county represents ages of life. cen- turies of energy, cycles of time, writing with a mightier hand than wields pen of lead or iron, events on the rocks forever. The romantic history it tells of a deep, cold, quiet sea. an unseen life of mollusk and radiate : it records attend- ing astronomic changes of climate and time, and leaves a thousand log-books of wondrous ships of crystal silver. floating on a river-sea of icy water.
ARCHAEOLOGY.
The only earthworks by pre-historic man are to be seen at St. Paul. so far as Shelby county is concerned. says the expert in this line of investigation. A mound thirty-two fect in diameter and nearly six feet high, is built on the brow of the terrace bluff overlooking the river in the valley and commanding a wide view toward "sunrise" between the rocky hills. When explored it con- tained human bones, which on exposure, quickly went to dust. They were covered with flags supported by a stone wall, indicating a national vault or grave. Several smaller tumuli. possibly habitation mounds, were seen near by. Many interesting stone implements have been found scattered along the valley of Flat Rock river, evincing the taste as well as the skill of the ancient inhabitants, and if not their permanent home, this was at times a favorite hunting and visiting locality.
INDIAN OCCUPANCY.
When the white race first settled America it was believed that the conti- nent was peopled by one family of Indians, and that they had one language. with a few modifications, as the English language has when spoken in different sections of the world. But this false notion did not long prevail among the white people who found that there were many tribes and dialects, all unknown one to the other.
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The principal division known at this time is the Algonquin. embracing, among other powerful tribes, the Miamis, recognized as one of the most per- fcct types, and one of the most extensive on the continent. Next in rank to the Miamis, if, indeed they are not entitled to the first place, are the Dela- wares. The Delawares are the tribe which the history of Shelby county has mostly to deal with.
Schoolcraft, a good authority on Indian tribal relations, says that this great Indian tribe had their homes on the Atlantic, on the Delaware and Sus- quehanna and the tributaries of these great rivers. Here it was that peace- ful William Penn found them and made his first treaty with them in 1682. They were a powerful nation during Penn's lifetime, and lived on terms of peace with the whites. After Penn's death things suddenly changed. Prior to 1736 the powerful federation of the Six Nations had waged successful war against one of the divisions of the Delawares, and had compelled it to acknowl- edge its supremacy. They claimed that by right of conquest they had acquired the ownership. not only of the lands belonging to the conquered portion, but to the whole territory belonging to the Delawares : they made a treaty without the knowledge of the rightful owners of the soil, transferring their pretended right and title to the whites.
A few years later, the Delawares were driven from their homes and passed beyond the Alleghany mountains: they built their wigwams upon the banks of the river Mahoning in Western Pennsylvania. Here they sojourned for a time, but civilization kept up its ever march toward the sinking sun, and the sullen savages disdaining enlightenment of white men. retired constantly to the gloom of their native forests. Their next stopping places were in Eastern and Central Indiana, and parts of Ohio. Here they remained until by treaties made from time to time. they extinguished their title to all the rich domain, and agreed to go beyond the Mississippi river.
The last and most important treaty made with the Delawares was that of 1818, which was as follows :
Articles of a treaty with the Delawares at St. Mary's. in the state of Ohio, between Jonathan Jennings. Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, commissioners of the United States, and the Delaware Indians.
Article 1. The Delaware Nation of Indians cede to the United States, all their claims to land in the state of Indiana.
Article 2. In consideration of the aforesaid cession, the United States agrees to provide for the Delawares a country to reside in upon the west side of the Mississippi river, and to guarantee to them peaceable possession of the same.
Article 3. The United States also agrees to pay the Delawares the full value of their improvements in the country hereby ceded, which valuation shall be made by persons to be appointed for that purpose by the President of the
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United States, and to furnish the Delawares with one hundred and twenty horses, not to exceed in value forty dollars each. and a sufficient of pirogues to aid in transporting them to the west side of the Mississippi river, and a quantity of provisions proportioned to their numbers, and the extent of their journey.
Article 4. The Delawares shall be allowed the use of occupation of their improvements for the term of three years from the date of this treaty if they so long require it.
Article 5. The United States agree to pay to the Delawares a perpetual annuity of four thousand dollars ( $4,000), which together with all annuities which the United States by former treaty agreed to pay them, shall be paid in silver any place to which the Delawares may remove.
Article 6. The United States agree to provide and support a blacksmith for the Delawares, after their removal to the west side of the Mississippi.
Article 8. . \ sum not exceeding thirteen thousand three hundred twelve dollars and twenty-five cents ( $13,312.25) shall be paid by the United States to satisfy certain claims against the Delaware Nation.
Article 9. This treaty after it shall be ratified by the President and Sen- ate, shall be binding on the contracting parties.
In testimony the said Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, aforesaid, and the chiefs and warriors of the Delaware Nation of In- dians, have hereunto set their hands at St. Mary's, in the state of Ohio, this 23d day of October, 1818.
(SIGNED)
JONATHAN JENNINGS, LEWIS CASS. BENJAMIN PARKE.
While the Delawares were permitted to remain in this territory for three years after the said treaty described above, there were in fact but few here at the end of that period. Those that did remain were peaceable and gave the settlers no trouble. Indeed so short a time did they remain after the white settlers came in. that but little may be said of them in connection with the settlement made by the white race. We draw not from imagination. but from a well written reminiscence from the ready pen of the venerable Isaac Wilson. who was but twelve years of age when he accompanied his father, who, by the way, was Shelby county's first white settler. When an aged and well matured. well posted man, Mr. Isaac Wilson wrote these words :
"By the terms of the treaty of October, 1818, the Indians reserved the right to remain and hunt and trap in the New Purchase for the space of three
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years. And during this period there were occasional encampments of the red men in various parts of what is now Shelby county. Near Marion, James Wilson established a trading post and exchanged coarse clothing. blankets. flints, knives, etc., for furs they brought in. Sometimes as high as a hundred up to possibly one hundred and fifty would come to this post in a single day. As a general thing. they were quiet and friendly, and gave little trouble or aların to the whites. During the entire winter of 1810-20, two Indian fam- ilies remained encamped within half a mile of Mr. Wilson's home. Their names were Pishan Quenim and Captain Canam. Their household consisted solely of themselves and their wives. The latter having but little to do during the hunting season often called on Mrs. Wilson. One one occasion they and their husbands were invited to tea and to spend the evening. The ladies ar- rived first. mounted on handsome ponies and seated upon perfectly beautiful side-saddles. The horns of the saddles, also the neat slippers in the stirrups. were literally covered with graceful silver bands of their own workmanship. Their toilets consisted of colored calico chemise, with ruffles upon the neck. bosom and wrists, brick-cloth leggins, moccasins, highly ornamented with beads and porcupine quills, together with the indispensable blanket. Their arms, both above and below the elbow, were encased in silver bracelets, three- fourths of an inch in width : upon their bosoms they wore broaches nearly as large as an ordinary tea-saucer. At the table they and their husbands handled the tea cups and knives and forks in a most civilized manner. In the conver- sation but one at a time took part. A little boy of Mrs. Wilson's was the object of much caressing to the Indians-especially the ladies. When they were about to depart, after spending a very pleasant evening, one of them took her hus- band apart, and after talking and laughing a little sprang toward the little white baby boy, clasped her hand around the instep of his tiny foot, then placed the heel between her thumb and finger, and extended her hand lengthwise of the foot, at the same time calling the attention of her husband, who gave a short grunt. as if to say, 'all right.' Not long afterward. when she visited Mrs. Wilson again, she caught up the baby and put upon his chubby little fect a beautiful pair of moccasins. They fitted as neatly as a pair of kid gloves. This pleasant incident indicates not only the friendly relations that existed, but also a degree of refinement we do not look for among the aborigines."
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