Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical, Part 4

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1882-1900
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: 428, 502 p. : ill., ports. ;
Number of Pages: 962

USA > Indiana > Whitley County > Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Noble County > Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Several mounds have been discovered in Whitley County, and a few of them have been opened by novices, and as a consequence the more important features have been lost or overlooked. It may be stated in general that, in this locality, the earthworks are of three kinds-sepulchral, where the dead lie buried ; sacrificial, where offerings were burned to gain the favor of the deity ; and memorial mounds, which were erected to commemorate some great event, similar to the Bunker Hill Monument, or to that beautiful column of marble on the bloody field of Gettysburg. A number of years ago, a sepulchral mound was opened about three miles east of Columbia City, and a quantity of crumbling bones and a few stone implements were taken therefrom. This was a sepulchral mound, and, if a cross-section had been examined, the alter- nate layers of clay, sand and small cemented pebbles would have been seen. This kind of mound was wisely made. There was first the stratum of fine gravel, almost as good as cement, placed directly over the skeletons ; next was a hardpan of clay that was almost as impervious to water as the cement ; then came a stratum of sand that would carry all percolating water down the sides of the mounds and away from the skeletons. It is maintained on good authority that corpses, placed under these conditions, with additional strata of earth above the sand, will be pre- served for centuries. The burden of authority places the erection of the mounds throughout the country at a period preceding the Christian era and co-existent with the old Assyrian, Egyptian and Babylonian nations. People who do not understand the structure of the mounds, quite naturally believe the impossibility of such an extended preservation of the skeletons. Those who nave never examined the soil above these moldering bones, are the ones who assert that the

HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

skeletons could not be preserved longer than about one hundred years. The sacrificial mounds-those where a considerable quantity of charcoal and ashes are found-were unnecessarily built in the same manner. Charcoal and ashes buried in the ground under any conditions will keep for ages. This proves that the Mound-Builders were not aware of the preservative qualities of those substances.

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Several mounds have been opened in the county, in which charcoal has been found. If carefully examined, these mounds will present the following char- acteristics always present in sacrificial mounds. A small earthen altar, sometimes two or more yards square, in the center and at the bottom of the mound, upon which is often found a bushel or more of charcoal and ashes, often mingled with the half consumed bones of the animals that were burned to pro- pitiate the deity. Over this altar are found the strata of earth already men- tioned. A careful person can trace the shape and size of the altar, by first making an excavation in the center, going down until the charcoal is reached, and then following the latter out on all sides. The altar is generally about a foot above the surface soil, and is often burned into a sort of brick by the repeated fires upon it. Nothing of note is ever found in the memorial mounds proper. No attention to the strata of earth seems to have been paid. Some of the sepulchral mounds contain not a vestige of human remains ; this is due to the careless structure and location of the mounds, where the conditions of rapid decay were not avoided. These mounds can be told from memorial mounds by the structure. The writer learns from various sources that there are mounds in the following townships : Etna, Jefferson, on its eastern line, Troy, Thorn Creek, Smith, Union, and possibly in Columbia and Cleveland. Openings have been made in the most of them, and bones, charcoal, ornaments and im- plements have been discovered. Real Indian graves are found here and there in the county ; but they must not be confounded with those of the Mound- Builder. The earthworks in northeastern Union Township are probably the remains of an old Indian village. Indian skeletons have been found there. Occasionally a horse-shoe is found there to indicate the presence of white men, probably French. Care should always be used in examining mounds.

The Indian history of Whitley County, though somewhat meager of prominent events, contains many items that will prove of interest to those who are passing their lives where, less than a century ago, the native North Ameri- can roamed unmolested. Previous to the appearance in Eastern Ohio of that hardy and courageous race of earliest pioneers, all the country, whose proxi- mate corners were Detroit, the mouth of the Scioto River, the mouth of the Wabash River, and the southern point of Lake Michigan, was the property of the Twigtwees, or Miamis .* Within this vast scope of country they had lived

*At the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, Little Turtle, a distinguished Miami chief, said to Gen. Wayne: " I hope you will pay attention to what I now say. * It is well known by all my brothers present that my forefather kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence he extended his lines to the head-waters of the Scioto; from thence to its mouth ; from thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, and from thence to Chicago, on Lake- Michigan."-American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 570.

HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

through many generations, engaged in all the barbarous and peculiar customs of savage tribes. Here they were found as early as 1672 by French traders and missionaries, and here they had undoubtedly lived for centuries before. As the dauntless white settlers of the East began to cross the Alleghany Mount- ains, and invade the Indian territory northwest of the Ohio River, the lands of the latter were slowly yielded to the resolute and unscrupulous former, though not without countless effusions of blood; and the red race which had so long occupied the country, and which manifested that unfaltering devotion to the memory of ancestors and home that is always exhibited by semi-barbar- ous man, was compelled to retire westward and join other tribes. It thus oc- curred that numerous Ohio tribes were obliged to appeal to the Miamis, and were allotted portions of territory within the broad domain of the latter. Slowly but surely the tide of emigration swept westward, forcing the savages back into the unexplored wilderness, until, finally, the Miamis were induced to cede portions of their territory to the avaricious whites. Numerous treaties for the purpose of securing peace or cessions of land were effected, and the imposture then often practiced was sooner or later perceived by the Indians, who, thereupon, resented the indignity with frequent and bloody onslaughts on the border settlements. The native North American was not the most tracta- ble and reasonable creature in the world ; yet, after he had spent the pittance paid him for his land, his intellect was sufficiently acute to see that he had been fleeced. He knew of but one way to redress his wrongs; that was to imitate the bloody example of Logan and " fully glut his vengeance." Consequently, the border settlements were laid waste. Scores of expeditions were sent out to subdue the Indians, destroy their crops and villages, and disperse the inhabitants-no one cared where. Several expeditions of this character were sent to Indiana, some of which suffered severe defeats at the hands of the infuriated savages. During the latter part of the last century and the first of the present one, Ko-ki-on-ga (Fort Wayne) was one of the most important of the Miami villages. This tribe was really a confederacy-the Twigtwees, or Miamis proper, the Weas or Ouiatenous, the Shockeys, and the Piankeshaws.

The first treaty made with the Miamis was held before Benjamin Shoe- maker, Joseph Turner and William Logan, at Lancaster, Province of Penn- sylvania, in 1748, the tribe being represented by Aque-nack-qua, As-se-pau-sa and Nat-oe-que-ha. At this treaty, the Miamis pledged themselves firm friends of the English. They remained so until the time of colonial independence, and even after that, for they generally sided against the colonies and fought for England. The treaties afterward held between the United States Commissioners and the Miamis were as follows : Greenville, August 3, 1795 ; Fort Wayne, June 7, 1803; Vincennes, August 7, 1803 ; Vincennes, August 27, 1804; Grouse- land, August 21, 1805; Vincennes, December 30, 1805; Fort Wayne, Sep- tember 30, 1809; Vincennes, October 26, 1809; St. Mary's, Ohio, October 2, 1818; same, October 6, 1818; Vincennes, August 11, 1820 ; near mouth of

HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

Mississinewa River, October 3, 1826; with the Eel River Miamis, near Wabash, February 3, 1828; Forks of Wabash, October 23, 1834; ratified November 10, 1837; Forks of Wabash, November 6, 1838; Forks of Wabash, November 28, 1840.

As Whitley County has but little to do with any tribe of Indians, except the Eel River Miamis, reference to any others will be omitted, save where it is necessary to connect the narrative. At the treaty of Greenville, the Miamis ceded to the whites (among other lands) "one piece two miles square, on the Wabash River, at the end of the portage from the Miami (Maumee) of the lake, and about eight miles westward from Fort Wayne." As the end of the portage in high water was at the mouth of the Aboite River, and about eight miles west of Fort Wayne, this ceded land might have been partly in Whitley County, as the Wabash is twice eight miles from Fort Wayne. All along Eel River, and on some of its branches, where the streams were of considerable size, the Eel River Miamis had resided for many years. About the year 1820, much of the land in Whitley County was claimed by the Miamis; and the greater portion of that north of the Wabash was claimed by the Pottawatomies. This will be seen more fully farther along. At the Greenville treaty, it was agreed that thereafter the sum of $500 should be paid annually to the Eel River tribe, with the following proviso :

If the tribe shall hereafter, at any annual delivery of their share of the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their annuity be furnished in domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils convenient for them, and in compensation to useful artificers who may reside with or near them, and be employed for their benefit, the same shall, at the subsequent annual deliveries, be furnished accordingly.

This treaty was signed on behalf of the Eel River band by Sha-me-kun- ne-sau, or Soldier, their chief. The principal village of this band was on Eel River, about six miles from its mouth, and was known among the Indians as Ke-na-pa-com-a-qua, and by the whites as Thorntown, or in French, l'Anguille. On the evening of the 7th of August, 1791, Gen. Wilkinson, at the head of about five hundred and twenty-five men, destroyed this town, killing six war- riors and (accidentally) two squaws and a child, and taking thirty-four prisoners, with the loss of two men killed and one wounded. Nearly all the warriors, about one hundred and fifty, were absent at the time. Prior to this, in autumn, 1780, a Frenchman named La Balme recruited about thirty men at Kaskaskia, and, going thence to Vincennes, was joined by about as many more. The design was to attack Detroit. He moved up the Wabash River to capture, first, the British trading-post, at Fort Wayne. He succeeded in surprising the traders (nearly all the Indians were away at the time), though they artfully eluded him ; whereupon. he plundered the post, his men filling themselves with whisky, and retired to a point about where the Erie Canal crosses the Aboite River ; or, perhaps, to the old Indian village near there, on the line between Allen and Whitley Counties, where, in fancied security, he encamped for the night. While himself and band were locked in slumber, the

HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

Indians, headed by the distinguished Miami chief, Little Turtle, or Mish-e- ken-o-qua, fell upon them, and slaughtered almost the entire party. A few succeeded in effecting their escape. This massacre was undoubtedly partly within the limits of Whitley County.

The Indian tribes living in Northern Indiana were not entirely distinct from each other, but were more or less leagued together for the purpose of pro- tection and concentration against the whites. It was also true that, as many of them had come from Ohio, having being obliged to flee before the whites, they were compelled, by reason of not owning any land themselves, to undergo the ceremony of adoption into other tribes. The Miamis thus became sprinkled with refugees from many nations. The Pottawatomies had obtained the greater portion of the land north and west of the Wabash, and had, by confederacy and conquest, extended their domain far westward on the prairie of Illinois. Seek's village had been established on the line between Columbia and Union Town- ships for many years before the appearance of the first white settlers. The most important place, by far, on Eel River, except, perhaps Thorntown, was the favorite camping place of Little Turtle, in the northeast corner of Union Township. During all the latter half of the last century, this point was second to none in Northwestern Indiana, except the large place at Fort Wayne, as it contained a numerous population ; for, upon the site of this old village, several lines of earthen embankments had been thrown up in the formation of a large and flourishing village, extensive fields had been cultivated, and the inhabitants that had died were found reposing near by in the cemetery of the band. These things, together with many trinkets and implements, have been discovered since the settlement of the country by the whites. Aque-nac-gue was the father of Mish-e-ken-o-qua, or Little Turtle, and for many years was the chief of the Miamis. The mother af Little Turtle was a handsome, intelligent squaw of the Mohegans, who transmitted her noble appearance to her distinguished son. The biographer of Little Turtle locates his birthplace " at the Turtle village of the Miamis, sixteen miles northwest of Fort Wayne, on Eel River." This could have been at no other place than at the old village in the northeast cor- ner of Union Township, or, perhaps, at what afterward became Seek's village. The indications are that the former was the birthplace. As the mother of Little Turtle was not the descendant of a chief, and as the right of Indian children to claim a title to chieftainship depended upon the ancestry of the mother, Little Turtle did not become a chief by inheritance. He was granted that distinction, at an early age, by reason of his remarkable intelligence, per- sonal valor and ability to command. He was the prime leader of all the movements of the Miamis up to the time of his death, in about 1814. He was undoubtedly born in Whitley County about the year 1747. A number of years ago, at Fort Wayne, Coesse, the nephew of Little Turtle, and a dis- tinguished chief of the Miamis, delivered a touching and eloquent eulogy in memory of the latter. Soon after the death of Little Turtle, Jean (or John)

Richard Collins

COLUMBIA CITY.

HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

B. Richardville, the son of a Frenchman by an Indian squaw, became the principal chief of the Miamis, with village on the Mississinewa River. Little - Charley was the principal chief of the Eel River Miamis, his village being Thorn- town ; while subject to him was Seek, or Mack-on-sau, with a band of about one hundred, twenty-five of whom were warriors. This was the order when the first white settlers began to arrive nearly sixty years ago.

Going back to an early period-back to the autumn of 1790-the reader will find that an expedition, composed of 1,453 men, two battalions of whom were regular troops, the entire force commanded by Gen. Harmar, left Fort Washington, on the Ohio River, to reduce the Indian towns on the head- waters of the Wabash, the Miami village at Fort Wayne being the objective point. On the 30th of September the command started northward, and, on the 15th of October, a detachment under Col. Hardin, sent in advance, reached the Miami village (Fort Wayne), which was found just abandoned. The militia, without regard to orders, began to plunder the place .* Thus the time was passed until the arrival of the main body, on the afternoon of the 17th. The commanders could not compel obedience from the militia, as the latter, in violation of orders, attempted all sorts of wild goose chases around the village, and indulged in all manner of boasting as to what would be done when the red-skins were encountered. On the 18th, a detachment under Col. Trotter was sent out to inspect the surrounding country ; but the militia, in defiance of the commander, returned to the village in the evening. On the following day, Col. Hardin was given command of the same detachment (thirty regulars and about one hundred militia), and moved northwest, leaving by mistake a portion of his men at a point five miles out, but being joined by them about six miles further on. About this time, Capt. Armstrong reported to Col. Hardin that he had heard a gun fired in advance-an alarm gun-and that he had " seen the tracks of a horse that had come down the trail and had re- turned." The Colonel, however, moved on carelessly, giving no special orders to his men to be prepared for business, and even saying that he did not believe the Indians would fight. At length the camp-fires were seen ; but the troops moved on, unconscious of the calamity that was to result from their careless- ness and lack of military discipline. No sooner were the fires reached, than a terrific storm of leaden balls was poured upon the frightened column, from be- hind trees and embankments; and scores of painted and infuriated savages leaped forth to continue the awful work of butchery. All the militia, except nine, immediately fled like frightened deer in the direction of Fort Wayne, throwing down guns, clothing and anything that would impede their rapid progress through the woods before the yelling and pursuing savages. The whole force of the charge of the Indians was thrown like an avalanche upon the heroic little band of regulars and the nine resolute militiamen ; and the yelling and advancing Indians were met by a hot and destructive fire, and

*From the private record, kept daily by Capt. Armstrong, commander of the regulars.

HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

forced back to the shelter of the trees and embankments. The remainder of the band of whites immediately began to retreat, keeping up, in the meantime, a rapid fire as the Indians appeared, and moving swiftly without rout. They were pursued the greater portion of the distance back to the Miami vil- lage, twenty-two out of the thirty regulars suffering death. A total of about one hundred men was killed (that being about the size of the attacking force of Indians) ; and this sad result was occasioned by the cowardly conduct of the militia. Little Turtle commanded the Indians on this occasion, and Jean B. Richardville, afterward, during his life, always claimed to have been present with the assailants. The Indians gained a complete victory, though not with- out severe loss, as many were shot or bayoneted by the regulars and the nine militiamen. This battle took place in Eel River Township, Allen County, so near the Whitley County line that it is highly probable that some of the scenes of death were enacted within the limits of the latter. Without a doubt several of the militia were captured, and made to pay the penalty of their rashness and cowardice in agonizing deaths by torture with fire. Perhaps the hills and dales around the old Indian villages in Whitley County, though now so silent and peaceful, once echoed with the frenzied death-cries of white men, while around them circled the leaping and exulting savages, tearing up with hot iron the bleeding flesh of the despairing sufferers, and filling the air with their dreadful yells of revenge.

Gen. Harmar was greatly mortified at the terrible defeat of his men, and, on account of the glaring insubordination of the militia, concluded it wise to retreat to Fort Washington. On the way back, one day out, Col. Hardin asked permission to return with a strong detachment of men and regain the laurels he had lost, and vindicate the hooted courage of his militia .* Permission was granted, and accordingly he returned with 340 militia and sixty regulars. The town was reached; but on account of the incompetency of the com- mander and the cowardice of the militia, the force became scattered, and was terribly beaten in detail by the Indians under the sagacious Mish-e-ken- o-qua.

The old Indian trail which afterward became the Fort Wayne and Goshen road, extended from the former place, first to a small Indian village on Section 4, Smith Township, thence onward to Flat Belly's reservation in western Noble County, thence onward to the Indian villages near Elkhart. As near as can be learned, the only Indian villages in Whitley County, in about 1825, were the one in Smith Township. the small one on Chapine's reservation in Union Township, the small one on Beaver's reservation, in Columbia Township, a portion of the old one on Raccoon's reservation, in southeastern Jefferson Township, and the large one (Seek's village) near the line between Union and Columbia Town- ships. The following extracts from treaties made at different times between Special Commissioners of the United States and the Miamis and the Pottawat-

*History of Indiana, by John B. Dillon.

HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

omies, will show when the lands of Whitley County were first the property of the Government, and also various important facts regarding the reservations : Articles of a treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, October 23, 1826, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton, Commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the Miami tribe of Indians :

ARTICLE 1. The Miami tribe of Indians cede to the United States all their claim to lands in the State of Indiana, north and west of the Wabash, and the Miami (Maumee) Rivers, and of the cession made by the said tribe to the United States by the treaty concluded at St. Mary's, Ohio, October 6, 1818.

ART. 2. From the cession aforesaid, the following reservations, for the use of the tribe, shall be made :

Fourteen sections of land at Seek's village. Five sections for the Beaver below and adjoin- ing the preceding reservation. Thirty-six sections at Flat Belly's village. Five sections for Little Charley above the old village (Thorntown) on the north side of Eel River. * * * * * * * *

One section for Laventure's daughter, opposite the Islands, about fifteen miles below Fort Wayne. One section for Chapine above and adjoining Seek's village. Ten sections at White Raccoon's village. Ten sections at the mouth of Mud Creek, on Eel River, at the old village. Ten sections at the Forks of the Wabash. * * * * * * *

And it is agreed that the State of Indiana may lay out a canal or a road through any of the reservations, and for the use of a canal six chains along the same are hereby appropriated.

ART. 3. There shall be granted to each of the persons named in the schedule hereunto annexed, and to their heirs the tracts of land herein designated ; but the land so granted shall never be conveyed without the consent of the President of the United States.

ART. 4. The Commissioners of the United States have caused to be delivered to the Miami tribe goods to the value of $31,040.53, in part consideration for the cession herein made, and it is agreed that, if this treaty shall be ratified by the President and Senate of the United States, the Government shall pay to the persons named in the schedule this day signed by the Commissioners and transmitted to the War Department, the sums affixed to their names respect- ively, for goods furnished by them, and amounting to the sum of $31,040.53. And it is further agreed that payment for these goods by the Miami tribe shall be out of their annuity, if this treaty be not ratified by the President and Senate.

And the United States further engage to deliver to the said tribe in the course of the next summer the additional sum of $26,259.47 in goods. And it is also agreed that an annuity of $35,000, $1,000 of which shall be in goods, shall be paid to the said tribe in the year 1827; and, also, $30,000, $5,000 of which shall be in goods, shall be paid said tribe in 1828, after which time a permanent annuity of $25,000 shall be paid them as long as they exist together as a tribe, which several sums are to include the annuities due by preceding treaties with the said tribe.

And the United States further engage to furnish a wagon and one yoke of oxen for each of the following persons : Joseph Richardville, Black Raccoon, Flat Belly, White Raccoon, Frangois Godfrey, Little Beaver, Seek, Met-to-sin-eau and Little Huron, and one wagon and a yoke of oxen for the band living at the Forks of the Wabash. And also to cause to be built a house, not exceeding the value of $600 for each of the following persons : Joseph Richardville, François Godfrey, Louison Godfrey, Francois Lafontaine, White Raccoon, La Gros, John B. Richardville, Flat Belly, and Wau-wau-es-se. And also to furnish the said tribe with 200 head of cattle, from four to six years old, and 200 head of hogs, and to cause to be annually delivered to them 2,000 pounds of iron, 1,000 pounds of steel, and 1,000 pounds of tobacco. And also to provide five laborers to work three months in the year for the small villages, and three laborers to work three months in the year for the Mississinewa band.

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Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical, Part 4

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1882-1900 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: 428, 502 p. : ill., ports. ; Number of Pages: 962

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1882-1900
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: 428, 502 p. : ill., ports. ;
Number of Pages: 962