USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Charcoal sketches of old times in Fort Wayne > Part 4
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11.
. . . now we must separate . .
April 3, 1872
dent conduct of Captain Heald -- the little garrison set out for Fort Wayne, Captain Wells with it. He and nearly all the men were massacred three miles this way from the fort on the Lake Shore, on August 15, 1812. The scalp of Captain Wells was taken by an Indian, Pee-sa-tum, his heart taken out, cut to pieces, and distributed among and eaten by the Indians. His mutilated remains were then taken by one Billy Caldwell, and buried in the sand, over which now the city of Chicago is built.
This 320 acres of land was, about 1825, divided among five of the children of Captain Wells, viz .: Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Hackley, Mrs. Wol- cott, Lieutenant William Wayne Wells and Yelverton P. Wells.
In connection with this division of the land, I will note a tragedy which occurred. Captain Hackley lived prior to the partition, on the north bank of the St. Mary's in a line with Clinton Street, now a part of the City Park, and Mrs. Turner on the east side of Spy Run, and before the partition took place it was agreed that if the lot of either should be assigned to the other, then they would quit claim mutually so as to let each remain in statu quo. But when this assignment was made Mrs. Turner drew Captain Hack- ley's part, and refusing to exchange, moved in with Captain Hackley. This enraged him and it seems he resolved to take her life and after it his own.
On a certain evening there was a party given for the children at Colonel Hugh Hanna's in town, and which Captain Hackley attended and en- joyed much. While there he delivered two letters to a Mr. Daniels with instruction to deliver them the next night precisely at 12 o'clock, one to General John Tipton, (afterwards U. S. Senator) the other to Mr. Kercheval. He returned from the party, and on the next night he told his wife to stay in a certain room and not to follow him. He then went to Mrs. Turner's room and seeing from his countenance that he intended harm and knowing of his ill will, she sprang out of a window and escaped. He then went to a small room near by and hanged himself. At the appointed hour General Tipton and Mr. Kercheval received the letters and were informed thereby to go at once to Captain Hackley's house. Suspecting something tragic they took Dr. L. G. Thompson with them and hastened to the house. They found Mrs. Hackley alone in a close, dark room to which Captain Hackley had directed her. On further search they found Captain Hackley quite dead, hanging by the neck. He was buried in his own allotment, and not a hundred feet east of my present residence on Spy Run Avenue, and where I am chronicling his death over half a century after it transpired. This was in the year 1826. He left two children -- Jack W. and Ann -- who are the re- servers each of a section of land granted them by the Miami Indians, by the treaty of Paradise Springs, near Wabash, Indiana, in the fall of 1826. These two sections of land lie on the east bank of the St. Joseph River -- one at the mouth of Cedar Creek, the other two miles below. In this county Mrs. Turner died a widow and without issue, hence her allotment descended to Mrs. Wolcott.
Ann Hackley, the daughter, and Jack W. Hackley, the son of Re- becca, were well known here. The former married Nathan Farrand, a merchant, and surviving him married Mr. Blystone. Jack was about my
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April 3, 1872
age. I knew him well, and went to school with him. They were both well respected here, and having moved many years ago to Kansas, I suppose near the lands left with abundant property, neither seemed capable of even pre- serving it from improvident sale, and I apprehend both died poor.
At a fitting time I shall notice the great Chief Little Turtle, whose Indian name was Me-chi-can-no-quah, sometimes spelt, Mesh-e-kun-nagh- quah, pronounced Mish-e-cun-no-quah, accent on first and fourth syllables.
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Number XI
CHARCOAL SKETCHES OF OLD TIMES IN FORT WAYNE
DAILY SENTINEL
Fort Wayne, Friday, April 5, 1872
Page 3, Col. 5
The Flagpole
By Hon. J. W. Dawson
Relics are always sought after! The older they are the better! To those who have faith, spurious ones are just as good as the genuine, and for that, they might pass as real; but when the truth of history is involved, then the real is alone of consequence.
These suggestions are prefatory to some remarks made in the ga- zette a few days ago, on the piece of wood which Mr. Thomas Stevens had taken from a stump of a pole found in the rear of his lot, on the northwest corner of Clay and Berry streets, and said to be the stump of the veritable flagpole of old "Fort Wayne." Now a few sentences on this subject by way of "Charcoal Sketches" may be of interest to our people.
The first fort erected here in 1794 by General Wayne, was a very rude one, built of round logs. It is quite probable very nearly on the same spot that the next one was built in 1804, which latter certainly occupied the same ground that the one did built by Major Whistler, under order of Gen- eral Armstrong, Secretary of War in the year 1815. It was a very excel- lent one, and was evacuated in 1819. The presumption that commands the approach of the three rivers, is at the boat landing. Near by there was a very fine spring of water which supplied the garrison until a well was sunk when the second fort was built, and which may yet be seen giving forth its free and pure water from the bank of the Maumee just below the south end of the river bridge. In the center of the esplanade, and very nearly at the same spot where Peter Kiser's "liberty pole" stands at this writing (lot 40, Taber's Addition -- now owned by the city) was the flagpole of the "Post, " when the "Post" was evacuated, and even up to 1840 or later. This is as much as 250 feet from where Mr. Stevens is said to have found the stump of the "old flagpole, " and that much further from the bank of the river, and from the spring. These data, added to the fact that no timber of the size of a flagpole -- cut green and set in the ground could endure with any identity for a period of seventy years and upwards, leaves the stump which was so lately found, void of the interest which would attach to it were it the veri- table stump.
A fact in political history may throw some light on the subject. It is a matter of history so notorious that needs scarcely an allusion thereto, that this place was the scene of much of General Harrison's early military life. He was a subaltern in the army of General Wayne, an aid-de-camp in the family of that General prior to 1795, Secretary of the Northwestern Territory in 1797, delegate in Congress from the same in 1799, appointed
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April 5, 1872
Governor of Indiana Territory by President John Adams, in 1801, and ex- officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs; commanded at the battle of Tippe- canoe, in 1811; raised the siege of Fort Wayne, September 12, 1812; Fort Meigs and Thames, 1813; later a Senator of the United States, from Ohio; and in November, 1840, elected President of the United States of America by the heartfelt voice of a large majority of his grateful countrymen. It was during this campaign in the summer of 1840 that, on the square on which Mr. Stevens lives (then vacant), immediately in front and south of the Fort grounds, that many ash poles were raised by the Whigs in honor of General Harrison; and the Democrats hickory ones in honor of President Van Buren, then a candidate for re-election; and this was repeated with but little less ardor in 1844, in the contest between Henry Clay and James K. Polk for the Presidency. Indeed during these two contests those of proper memory will call to mind that this place, as others in the West, ran up so many poles, that the traveler approaching the town was reminded of the spars of ship- ping in some harbor. And I am not inclined to doubt that it is one of these political poles the stump of which Mr. Stevens has mistaken for the rem- nant of the flagpole of the ancient fort at this place. One of the same kind in my opinion, may be found at the southeast angle of Columbia and Calhoun streets, which was planted there by the Whigs in 1844. It was so large that no garrison of men seventy years ago could have elevated, for the want of facilities to do it with, and it is not improbable that the size of the stump in question, so lately unearthed, on close inspection will be found so large as to leave us to infer that so large a pole was unnecessary at a small fort in the Indian country, 180 miles from fair settlements, and that it was not in the power of the garrison to have raised so large a one.
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Number XII
CHARCOAL SKETCHES OF OLD TIMES IN FORT WAYNE
DAILY SENTINEL
Fort Wayne, Saturday, April 6, 1872 Page 3, Col. 5-6
Early Masonic History -- Wayne Lodge, No. 25. F. A. M.
By Hon. John W. Dawson
Turning today from biographies and recollections of the pioneers of Fort Wayne, which have occupied my attention for a fortnight under the cap- tion of "Charcoal Sketches," I propose in this issue of the SENTINEL to give a brief of the rise and progress of Wayne Lodge, No. 25, of this an- cient and useful order, up to 1847.
On March 2, 1823, and before the organization of Allen County, Grand Master John Sheets, resident at Madison, issued a dispensation, at- tested by Secretary William C. Keen, Grand Secretary, also residing at Madison, to Alexander Ewing, Worshipful Master, John P. Hedges, S. W., and Benjamin Cushman, J. W., together with all such brethren as there- after might become members, to organize a lodge to be known as Wayne Lodge, No. 25, in the town of Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana. The dispensation was presented by Worshipful Alexander Ewing, to a meeting of Masons held in this place in May of that year (1823), at which meeting there appeared, in addition to those entrusted with and named in the dis- pensation, Captain James Hackley, Benjamin B. Kercheval, Master Masons, and visitors Master Masons General John Tipton, of Pisgah Lodge, No. 5, of Corydon, Indiana; Anthony L. Davis, of Franklin Lodge, No. 28, of Kentucky; Richard L. Britton, of St. John's Lodge No. 13, Ohio; John Mc- Corkle, of No. 14, Ohio; and Robert A. Forsyth. On reading the dispen- sation, the lodge was opened in the first degree in ancient form -- consisting of Alexander Ewing, W. M., John P. Hedges, S. W. and secretary pro tem, B. Cushman, J. W., James Hackley, treasurer and S. D. pro tem, and Benjamin Kercheval, S. and T. pro tem. On June 6, the next meeting was held, at which the W. M. appointed Charles W. Ewing, secretary; James Hackley, S. D .; Robert Hars, J. D .; B. B. Kercheval, T .; and Wil- liam Hedges, S. and T.
Thus constituted, this Lodge proceeded to work under the same authority until November 17 of the same year, under a dispensation of Grand Master, Thomas Douglass, of Madison, dated October 10, General John Tipton, afterwards U. S. Senator from Indiana, instituted the said Lodge in due form. Alexander Ewing, secretary; A. L. Davis, treasurer; J. Hackley and H. G. McKean, deacons; and James Wyman, S. and T. The first regular election took place on the Christmas of that year, and General Tipton was chosen the first elected Worshipful Master after its organiza- tion. The first application for degrees was unanimously rejected. General Tipton was re-elected in June, 1824 and again on December 6, and re-
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April 6, 1872
elected each successive term till June 3, 1828. The first initiated member of this Lodge was Lambert Cushois, August 6, 1824. The first celebration of St. John's Day was held June 24, 1825 -- General John Tipton, orator. First public installation of officers, December 27, 1825, at the house of Hugh Hanna. The first Masonic burial May 26, 1826 -- the body of Captain James Hackley, who committed suicide by hanging -- as I noticed in the DAILY SENTINEL. This burial of a felo de se, though out of order, was given to gratify the widow, who as I have already said, was a half Indian daughter of Captain Wells, a Christian, and intelligent lady, and generally respected. This was an act becoming the order -- they could not serve the dead -- but would relieve the distressed. On June 24, the order had their first public dinner, prepared by Alexander Ewing. At the meeting held June 27 the brotherhood appropriated fifty dollars for the relief of Captain James Riley, a brother Mason then in great affliction from disease, and then in the town en route for the East for medical aid. This is the Captain Riley who laid out Willshire, Ohio, and surveyed all the lands in this region as well as a large body in Ohio, and to whom I referred in the first part of my "Sketches." He came here from Willshire in March of that year, by boat on the St. Mary's River, in order to have the benefit of constant medi- cal attendance. Here he stayed until early in July, and then was removed on a feather bed, lying in a boat, and proceeded down the Maumee. In the SEQUEL to his NARRATIVE, page 26, he adds: "With my son James and proper attendants on board, we cast off, and was accompanied for several miles down the river by the Masonic Fraternity, who extended their broth- erly kindness as far as possible, and are entitled to my warm and grateful consideration." He reached Fort Meigs on July 5, sailed for Detroit and reached New York on the 24th.
Here I will correct an error, made in my first notice of Captain Riley, wherein I state that he died at Magadore. It was on March 13, 1840, that he died on a voyage from New York to St. Thomas, and within two day's sail of that port. He was on the 18th committed to the deep, blue sea, "on whose bosom he had spent so many years of active enjoyment, as well as of toil and peril."
The next death after Captain Hackley, was Alexander Ewing, the father of William G. Ewing, Charles W. Ewing, Alexander Ewing, Jr., and George W. Ewing, all now dead. This event took place January 5, and his burial was on January 27, 1827. Joseph Holman was elected Master, in June, 1828, and was succeeded by Dr. Lewis G. Thompson, December 1, 1828; he by A. L. Davis, June 1, 1829; he by Colonel Hugh Hanna, January 23, 1830; he by Absalom Holcomb, June 7, 1830; he by Samuel Hanna, June 6, 1831; he by A. L. Davis, December 1, 1831; he by Captain Henry Rudi- sill, February 20, 1833; he by Major Samuel Edsall, June 10, 1833, at which meeting a committee, theretofore appointed, reported that they had sold the Lodge lot and premises for $1, 328. This lot was that on which Hill & Orbison's warehouse stands, at the west end of Columbia Street, north side, on the Canal Basin, and the house was a two-story brick, com- pleted about mid-summer, 1830.
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April 6, 1872
From June 10, 1833, after a labor of ten years, the lodge ceased to work. It was reorganized and worked a few years between that and the year 1840, of which, it is regretful to say, no record is left of the proceed- ings -- human memory alone can tell, and only a very few of those who know, live to bear the testimony of what was done.
On March 3, 1840, after public notice given to consider the propri- ety of again setting to work, a meeting was held, at which, Henry Rudisill presided as W. H .; Samuel Edsall, S. W .; H. B. Taylor, J. W .; C. E. Sturgis, secretary; F. Comparet, treasurer; T. Daniels, S. D .; William Rockhill, J. D .; and A. Holcomb, T. It continued to work prosperously until the autumn of 1847. Then failing to report its dues to the Grand Lodge, its charter was suspended and the lodge ceased to work. On July 4, 1849, its charter was restored and it proceeded. It was just on the eve of this suspension in 1847 that Joseph Johnson and myself were entered, passed, and raised, but of which there is no recorded evidence; the only memoranda in my possession, being a receipt of Secretary Samuel H. Shoaff for $15 initiation fee dated May 14, 1847. Mr. Johnson and I were offered together, but my case was put over for a while to enable Judge Samuel Stophlet and I to reconcile a "bout" which we had in the very "nick of time." It grew out of my opposition to the nomination of Judge Bluffton, and will form the sub- ject of another sketch, in connection with Judge Ewing's celebrated Coon- skin bill. He had theretofore endeavored to get through the Legislature, in order to check-mate the American Fur Company in its opposition to his firm in buying furs in Indiana.
In closing this sketch, I have called the roll of all who are named in it, and only Mr. Shoaff, Captain William Stewart and Peter Kiser sur- vive . . .
SUPPLEMENTAL
Since the foregoing was in type, a few thoughts have occurred to me on the same subject, and which are deemed of such consequence in this connection that they are added:
Wayne Lodge 25, was organized within the pickets of the "Old Fort" in a room at that time occupied by General Tipton, and in the same room the Order worked for some time thereafter -- then in a room in Washington Hall, southwest corner of Barr and Columbia streets, and in different places thereafter, until the society had built and occupied Masonic Hall. The rea- son that the Lodge ceased to work was the result of the anti-Masonic feel- ing which, though a mere lad, I remember. Public opinion in the United States grew wild, and the storm swept on like a furious hurricane, causing every opposition to fall before it. This feeling grew out of the abduction of Morgan, at Batavia, New York, by a few over-zealous Masons, because he published what was called an exposition of the secret work of the Order. This abduction caused no excitement in Canada, just across the line, be- tween New York and that Dominion, but in the United States political dema- gogues seized on it, and it became the rally cry of one party, while the
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April 6, 1872
friends of the Order had to succumb, and the work, therefore, was re- tarded many years, even until public mind returned to its polarity.
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Number XIII CHARCOAL SKETCHES OF OLD TIMES IN FORT WAYNE
DAILY SENTINEL
Fort Wayne, Wednesday, April 10, 1872
Page 3, Col. 5-6
The Siege of Fort Wayne -- Antoine Bondie, a French Trader -- Me-te-a, a Potawatomi Chief
By Hon. John W. Dawson
Immediately after the massacre of Chicago, in August 1812, the Potawatomi Indians who were engaged in that treacherous deed, spent some time on the Big St. Joseph. At the instigation of the British Emissaries, they determined, by a simultaneous movement, to lay siege to Fort Wayne, and Fort Harrison (Terre Haute). At this time there lived very near the fort, a trader by the name of Antoine Bondie. He was of French descent, about fifty years of age, and had lived among the Indians since he was a boy of twelve years. He had married a squaw, conformed to Indian customs and life, and was recognized by the Miami tribes as one of their number. * The hostile tribes respected him and desired to save him from the destruc- tion which the siege would cause, as they had no doubt of the massacre of the garrison. They sent Me-te-a, a Chief, to his cabin at night, to inform him of all that had transpired, and all that was contemplated, and enjoining great secrecy. They offered to furnish him with pack horses to remove him and his family and goods beyond the reach of the guns, to a place of safety. This was not declined; but the next morning, Bondie, accompanied by the post interpreter, went to Major Stickney, Indian Agent, very early, and, exacting strict confidence and secrecy, informed him of what had transpired. The agent doubted the story. He hesitated what to do in a case which involved such serious consequences if the story of Bondie should prove true. He sent a note to Captain Rhea, in command of the garrison, desiring a meeting in the esplanade, so that no one might overhear what was said. By him Bondie was suspected of mendacity. This more embar- rassed Major Stickney, who then sent for Bondie and repeated, and it now remained for the agent to pass the matter and incur the danger of siege by the Indians and British, or report the information without his official belief, which would bring no relief. He chose to hazard his reputation by assuming it to be true, and so informed Captain Rhea. He (the agent) had just re- ceived a dispatch from Governor Harrison from Vincennes, saying that he was going to Cincinnati, where he must be addressed if necessary, and that he should send one express to him at Cincinnati, and another to Captain Taylor (afterward General, and President of the United States), commanding at Fort Harrison. Returning to his office, Major Stickney began making preparations to dispatch his messengers, when Captain Rhea requested him to delay until he could write to the Governor of Ohio, advising him of the report. With this Major Stickney complied, and expresses were sent to
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1
ES
. Bondie and Me-te-a .
April 10, 1872
Governor Harrison and Governor Meigs.
Now active preparations were commenced for defense -- ladies and children were sent off to the frontier. Within a few hours the savages drew their guards around the fort. On the 5th of August, Major Stickney was quite sick, and so remained for twelve days, and was then taken from the agency house to the fort for safety. Here it was ascertained that Bondie's story was true, and he and his family, also, had moved into the fort for safety. The warriors began to assemble about the fort in large numbers. It was now evident that they expected to get possession by stratagem. They seemed to await an opportune moment to force the sentries, but this the sentinels did not allow. Stephen Johnson, a clerk in the U. S. Factory Store, feeling solicitous for the safety of his wife, and accompanied by Peter Oliver and a discharged militiaman, attempted to elude the vigilance of the Indians and visit her. They left at 10 o'clock at night, but when about half of a mile from the fort, he was fired upon by six Indians and instantly killed. The other two retreated to the fort. Johnson was tomahawked and scalped, and stabbed in twenty-three places, and otherwise abused. His body was brought into the fort by White Raccoon, a Miami chief, at the in- stance and under the pay of Bondie. Not till the treaty of Greenville of 1814 was it known who the murderers were. They proved to be three Potawato- mi, as indicated by White Raccoon. The Indians continued to commit dep- redations for some days, but evidently were anxious to delay until the Brit- ish arrived. They used many devices to effect a capitulation; among others was the firing off of a hollow log, which Parish, a half-breed Potawatomi, had contrived, in order to create the belief in the fort that British aid had arrived. This incident is related on the authority of General Leslie Coombs, of Kentucky, who was present, and who related it in the fall of the year 1847, at the dinner table of Henry Clay, to a party of gentlemen whom I met there while I was attending law school at Lexington -- consisting of Judge George Robertson, so long Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of that State, yet lingering in the dim twilight of life -- Morton McMichael, of the North American, Philadelphia, Mr. Coombs, yet living green old age and Judge Horace P. Biddle, of Logansport, Indiana. The Indians, among other things, kept a white flag which was sent them to be used as a signal of truce several days -- and until the agent told them they had dirtied it and he would not allow them to retain it any longer. The next day the whole body moved up the fort bearing the flag. The agent went to the gate and designated the chiefs to be admitted, and who on entering one at a time were disarmed and examined. The thirteen followed the agent to his sleep- ing quarters. The agent sent a note to Captain Rhea requesting that the guards should be paraded and kept under arms. During the conference tobacco was given the chiefs. When the smoke began to get out, Winnemac, a Potawatomi chief, arose and began to speak to the effect that they had no hand in the killing of Mr. Johnson; that it was the conduct of their young men, and that these had taken the soldiers' horses, etc. "But, " continued Winnemac, "if my father wishes for war, I am the man." Here he struck his hand upon his knife, which was concealed under his blanket. Seeing
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April 10, 1872
the danger, Bondie jumped to his feet quickly, and, striking his knife, said, "I am a man, too," and became very pale. Winnemac cast his eye toward Ann-ouk-sa, their principal chief, who was near a window, and in full view of the guards and saw a look of disapprobation. The stratagem had failed. It was afterwards ascertained that the plan was, when Winnemac repeated the words, "I am a man, " that he was to kill the agent. Other chiefs were each to rush into the officers' quarters and kill them, while others would force the gates and let in the whole Indian force. In a few days a Mr. Wil- liam Oliver, a sutler to the fort, who bore dispatches from General Harri- son, arrived from Cincinnati. He had pursued his way alone by the way of Wapakoneta, from whence he was accompanied by four brave Shawanese Indians, and in broad day light entered the fort in haste with a yell -- having sent his guards back. Oliver brought the glad news of General Harrison's march to the relief of the fort.
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