USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 7
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
" The true meaning of the term Lenapi has heen the subject of various interpretations. It appears to carry the same meaning as Inaba, a male, in the other Algonquia dialcets ; and the word was probably used, nationally, and with emphasis, in the sense of men. For we learn, from their traditions, that they regarded themselves, in past ages, as holding an eminent position for antiquity. valor and wisdom. And this claim appears to he recognized by the other trihes of their lineage, who apply to them the teriu of Grand Father. To the Iroquois they apply the word uncle, and this relation is reciprocated hy the latter with the term nephew. The other tribes of Algonquin lineage, the Delawares eall brother, or younger brother. These names establish the ancient rauk and influcuce of the trihes."
22
HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
The high position among the Indians tribes of the lake region and the neighbors of these, in the early days of their known early history, was, especially after the loss of power and of caste, a source of proud remembranee. It was looked upon hy them as a golden period in their tribal history. During this period, the bravery of their warriors, the wisdom of their counselors and the brilliancy of their warlike exploits, were themes, in after years, of oft recounted traditions. Then they were allied with the Iroquois and retained their ancient character for prow- ess and enterprise. When, however, the Five Nations confederated at Onondaga, and were no longer engaged in petty quarrels among themselves, the former pleas- ant relations ceased, and the over-confident. Delawares were made to feel the effect of concentrated power and consequent arrogance nf their ancient allies. The concentrated energies of the Five Nations, thirsting for prominence among the North American tribes, soon set themselves about acquiring and maintaining the supremacy. To do this, aggressions were the order and ultimate conquests the end of movements thus direeted. Thus the Delawares lost their native inde- pendence in the rise of Iroquois power, and became a subordinate nation, and were denied the enjoyment of their aneient rights and territory.
At the Treaty of' Laneaster, Penn., in 1744, the Iroquois denied them the right to participate in the privileges incident to the treaty, and refused them recognition as an independent nation, entitled to sell and transfer their lands. Canassatego, one of the Iroquois chiefs, on that occasion, upbraided them in puh- lic council for having attempted to exereise any rights other than such as belonged to a conquered people. " In a strain of mixed irony and arrogance, he told them not to reply to his words, hut to leave the council in silence. He ordered them in a peremptory manner to quit the seetion of country where they then resided, and move to the banks of the Susquehanna." Theu it was that they left forever their native hunting grounds, on the hanks of the Delaware, and turned their faces westward, humiliated aud subdued, except in proud recollection of their past achievements. Subsequently, in 175I, they inhabited the region about Shamokin and Wyalusing, on the Susquehanna, threatened on the one hand by the intrusive tread of white settlers, and the tomahawk of the Iroquois on the other.
Again, after a few years of mixed joys and reverses, they took shelter on the White Water River, of Indiana. This was about the beginning of the nine. teenth century, and here a missionary effort was set on foot among them, which in the end was broken up by the interference of the Shawanoe prophet during the period of his popularity as a reformer.
On the 3d of October, 1818, at- St. Mary's, Ohio, a treaty between the Delawares and the United States was concluded, by the provisions of which they ceded all their elaims to lands in the States of Ohio and Indiana, under a perpet- ual annuity from the latter of 84.000, to provide them with a comfortable home beyond the Mississippi. In this treaty, the Delawares reserved the right to nceupy their lands in Iudiana for a period of three years subsequent thereto.
THE POTTAWATOMIES.
or Poux, as they appear to have been aneiently known, are a hranch of the Chippewas, [Ojihwas. ] and trace their ancestral line back to the primitive family of the Algonquins. The name, hy common repute, about the middle of the sev- enteenth century. was understood to he a nation of fire-makers, the present form of the word heing derived, etymologieally, from Pa-ta-wa, to expand or inflate the cheeks, as in the act of blowing a fire to kindle it, and me, a nation, henee the name-from the apparent facility with which they kindled the council fire.
The first notice we have of them was in 1641, when it is stated that they abandoned their own country ( Green Bay), and took refuge among the Chippewas. so as to seeure themselves from their enemies, the Sioux, who, it would seem, having heen at war with had well-nigh overcome them. In 1660, Father Allouez, a French Missionary, speaks of the Pottawatomies as occupying territory extending from Green Bay to the head of Lake Superior, and southward to the countries of the Sacs, Foxes and Miamis, and that, traders had preceded him. Ten years later, they returned to Green Bay and occupied the borders of Lake Michigan on the north. Subsequently, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, they had traced the eastern coast of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the river St. Joseph, where, and to the southward of Lake Michigan, a large body of them held possession toward the middle of the nineteenth century. Their occu- pancy of this territory by the Pottawatomies was at first permissive, only, on the part of the Miamis, but, in the course of time, their right was acknowledged hy giving them a voice in the making of treaties, involving also the right of cession. Being somewhat migratory they have acquired, as a consequence, the character of heing aggressive, while they quietly take possession of territory, the right to which is subsequently acknowledged. And, while it may he true that they sometimes occupied territory without permission, as a rule, it is true, also, that such change nf locality is the result of forcible retirement from their own country, as was the fact upon their first removal from Green Bay.
During the progress of the Nicholas conspiracy. in 1747, the Pottawatomies were generally on the side of the French against the English, as were the Otta- was. In a communication from M. de Longueuil, Commandant at Detroit, to the Canadian Governor, giving in review the situation of civil and military affairs . in Canada in 1747, the statement is made that " the Pouteouatamies are, as M. de Longueuil believes, the best disposed ; in fact, that he has no fault to find ; that they are, consequently, the only persons he can confide in." This relation was generally, though not always, maintained between them ; the Pottawatomics, like most other of the Indian tribes, were susceptible, and liable to be affected by gifts or the promise of them ; hence, they were sometimes temporarily under the influence of English belts.
While the conspiracy of Pontiac was in process of development, the Potta- Watomies, with other trihes heretofore occupying relations of amity with the
French, were visited by the agents of Poutiac, or by the chief in person, to secure their influence in the furtherance of his plans. It required hut little to arouse the feelings of these people in favor of their common ally, the French, and elieit the deep interest incident to the former relations existing between them. A fresh impetus was given to the current of sentiment prevailing amongst them, in the act of the surrender of the French garrison at Detroit to the English, which occurred on the 10th of November, 1760. At that time, the Pottawatomies and Wyandots were encamped helow Detroit, on the opposite side of the river, and, seemingly, witnessed the transfer with indifference, preferring to await the issue of events speedily to follow. The mutterings of the impending storm were dis- tinctly heard in the early summer of 1761.
Early in the spring of 1763, after the garrison at Fort Miami, on the Mau- mee, had heen surrendered to the English, the commandant was warned of the conteurplated uprising of the Indians. A conference of the adjacent chiefs, held at his suggestion. developed the true situation, an account of which was eom- municated to the English commandant at Detroit, This latter officer, resting in confidence upon the quiet demeanor of the Pottawatomies surrounding the post, diseredited the report. He was soon, however, made only too conscious of his eriminal disbelief. In the gatherings of the trihes which followed, the Pottawat- omies were in the front rank, anxious to participate in the coming conflict.
On the 25th of May, of that year, the old post at St. Joseph fell into the hands of the conspirators, the Pottawatomics hearing Pontiae's order for the sac- rifice of the garrison. No further impulse was required to insure the prompt execution of the order. Two days later, the same determined band, in the further execution of orders, captured the fort at Kekionga, hy the methods used in Indian warfare-treachery, with the accompaniments of human sacrifice.
Passing to the results of the expedition of Gen. Wayne, in 1794, the Pot- tawatomies following the course of events, participated in the conference and treaty at Greenville, in August, 1795, and allied themselves with the promoters of peace along the frontiers of the Northwest. They maintained that relation, with few exceptions, until the period of Tecumseh's effort at confederating the tribes, and his subsequent alliance with Great Britain, in 1812, during whielt time their peace propensities were conveniently laid aside.
After the close of that war, amicable relations were again resumed, and, on the 18th of July, 1815, the Pottawatomies concluded a treaty of peace with the United States, which was agreed to he perpetual.
ME-TE-A
was a war chief of the Pottawatomies, who, in the course of his career achieved a somewhat enviable notoriety. His trihe, during the greater part of the last I century, inhabited the region to the northward of the present site of Fort Wayne. About the period of the war of 1812, Metea was at the zenith of his power and influence, among the kindred tribes. " His villages were on the Little St. Joseph River, one on the table-land where Cedarville now is, near the mouth, but on the north side of Cedar Creek ; and the other about seven miles from Fort Wayne. on the north side of St. Joseph, on a section of land granted by the Miami Indians at the treaty held in 1826, at the mouth of the Mississinewa, at Paradise Springs ( Wabash) to John B. Bourie, which scetion was described so as to inelude Chop-a-tie village, perhaps better known as the ' Bourie Section.' On the 10th of September, 1812, when Gen. Harrison's army was forcing its mareh to raise the seige which the Indiaus were then holding over Fort Wayne, Me-te-a, and a few of his braves, planned an amhuseade at the Five Mile Swamp, where Wayne's traee erossed it, and perhaps where the present county road erosses it, five miles southeast of this eity. Having made an ambush on hoth sides of the road, in a narrow defile where the troops would have to erowd together, they laid in wait for the army; hut Maj. Mann, a spy of Gen. Harrison, with a few avant couriers, discovered it in time to save the effusion of blood in the army. Metea, having located himself behind a tree, left his elbow exposed as it laid over the breech of his rifle, resting on his left shoulder. " This Maj. Mann discovered, and instantly took aim, and firing, hroke the arm of the brave chief; and, discovering that he had not killed him, he sprang off in hot pursuit after Metea, who gathered np his swinging and erippled arm, fled with a loud ' Ugh ! ugh !' and, by the hardest effort, escaped to Fort Wayne in time to advise the besieging Indians of the approach of Gen. Harrison's army, at which they prepared to leave, and left that afternoon.
" The arm of the chief healed up, but the bone never knit, which left it entirely useless. He often told over the incident of his wound, and chase by Maj. Mann, and gave him great praise for being a brave and athletic man. . It was supposed that if Mann's men, who were with him as spies, had been as quick and courageous as lie was himself, that Metea would have paid the penalty of that amhuscade with his scalp.
" He was a brave, generous, and intelligent Indian, who is described by those who knew him well, to have been not only an orator, hut a powerful reasoner and practical man, especially at the treaties in which he took part. In addition to these qualities, he was most vivacous and witty.
" He lived in this vicinity, as is known, from 1800 to 1827. in May of which latter year, he came to his death hy poison, said to have been surrepti- tiously administered hy some malevolent Indians who were unjustly incensed at him for his adherence to the terms of the treaty of 1826, made at the mouth of the Mississinewa. The poison was supposed to have been the root of the Mayapple. He, the night before his death, was discovered to have been poisoned, and, in the the morning, found dead, his tongue having swollen'to such an extent as to have protruded far through his mouth, filling it so as to prevent breathing. He was then buried on the sand-hill overlooking the St. Mary's and between where Fort Wayne College now stands, at the west end of Wayne street and the west end of Berry street. % * * * *
23
HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
" In that unmarked spot sleeps, in an undisturbed state, all that was mortal of the Pottawatomie chief Metea, who, for half a century or more, it is thought, prior to May, 1827, had been an occupant of this soil, which had been reclaimed with such an indifferent spirit on the part of the whites, as that they nearly for- get that it was once Indian territory, and sinee which death, on the spot where stood his and the Indians' beloved Ke-ki-ong-a (hlaekberry patch ), has sprung up a beautiful city. But here comes a musing spirit ; their day is past ; their fires are out ; the deer no longer hounds before them ; the plow is in their hunting-grounds ; the ax rings through the woods, once only familiar with the rifle's report and the war-whoop; the hark canoe is no longer on the river; the springs are dry ; civil- ization has blotted out that race,
'' And with his frail breath, his power has passed away, His deeds, his thoughts, are buried with his clay.' "
-Dawson's Notes.
WAU-BUN-SEE
was another noted chief of the Pottawatomies-noted especially for his exhihi- tions of cruelty and revenge. He often indulged in liquor, and when thus excited, his appearance and manner were those of a demon, giving loose rein to his vicious temper. He was, however, reputed to he a brave and efficient warrior.
" The year 1812," says Schooleraft, " was noted as the acme of the outburst of every malignant fecling which appears to have been in the heart of Western Iudians. The black reverse of the American arms at Detroit, Hull's surrender -the horrid massacre of the retiring American garrison of Chicago, who were butchered like so many cattle on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan-the wild howl of the tribes along the whole frontiers, came like the fierce rushing of a tornado, which threatens to destroy entire villages. Among the elements of this tornado was the wild sasaguon, or war- whoop of Wau-hun-see. He was a war chief of some note at Chicago, distinguished for his ferocious and hrutal character."
An exhibition of this is given in connection with a dispute between two of his squaws. Que of them, to gain her point, went to the chief aud accused the other of abusing his children. The accused one was peremptorily brought before him. Her he ordered to lie down upon the ground on her back, and directed the accuser to dispatch her with a tomahawk. A single hlow smote the skull. " There," said the savage, "let the crows eat her," and left her unhuried until persuaded to do otherwise. Then he directed the murderess to hury her. This she did, hut so shallow that the wolves dug up and partly devoured the body.
THE SHAWANOES.
This trihe, one of the early types of the Algonquin family, was called Santanas hy the Iroquois, and Shawanon, by the Delawares, meaning Southern. By the Freneh they were called Chouanons, occasionally Massawomoes. They were erratic, and, in consequence, their location was little known prior to 1608. Mr. Jefferson, in his " Notes on Virginia," says that in 1608, when Capt. John Smith had been in America ahout one year, a fierce war was raging against the allied Mohicans residing on Long Island, and the Shawanocs on the Susquehanna, and to the westward of that river, by the Iroquois. Capt. Smith landed in April, 1607. In the following year, 1608, he penetrated down the Susquehanna to the mouth of it, where he met six or seven of their eanoes filled with warriors ahout to attack their enemies in the rear.
In 1632, De.Lact mentions them as being then on either side of the Dela- ware River. Charlevoix speaks of them, in 1672, under the name of Chaonanons, as neighbors of the Andastes, an Iroquois tribe, south of the Senecas, and were, perhaps, represented at the treaty of Kensington, Penn., in 1682. They were parties to the treaty at Philadelphia, in 1701, which was signed by their chiefs, Wa-pa-tha, Lemoytungh and Pemoyajagh. [See Proud's Hist. Penn.]
Meantime, in 1684, the Iroquois, when complained of for having attacked the Miamis, justified their conduct on the ground that the Miamis had invited the Santanas (Shawanons) into the country for the purpose of making war upon them (Iroquois). [Colden's Hist. Five Nations.]
The Sacs and Foxes, originally on the St. Lawrence, elaim the Shawanoes as of their stock, retaining traditional accounts of their emigration South. " Their manners, customs and language indicate a Northern origin, and upward of two centuries ago, they held the country south of Lake Erie. They were the first tribe which felt the foree and yielded to the superiority of the Iroquois. Con- quered by these, they migrated to the South, and, from fear or favor, were allowed to take possession of a region upon the Savannah River; but what part of that stream, whether in Georgia or Florida, is not known ; it is presumed the former." [Hist. Ind N. A.]
Mr. Gallatin fixes the date of their defeat by the Five Nations, as having taken place in 1672. He also places them as helonging to the Lenapi tribe of the North-originally to the Algonquin Lenapi nation. Prior to 1672, they were in Eastern Pcunsylvania, on the St. Lawrence and on the southern shore of Lake Brie-generally, it was with some neighboring tribe. Subsequently, they were found South, on the Ohio River below the mouth of the Wahash, in Kentucky, Georgia and the Carolinas.
In 1708, they were removing from the Mississippi to one of the rivers of South Carolina. Says Mr. Gallatin, there was a settlement of them on the head- waters of the Catawha or Santee, probably the Yadkin. John Johnston, in the transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, says that a large body of them who originally lived north of the Ohio River, for some cause emigrated to the Suwanee River. From there they returned, under Black Hoof, about 1750, to Ohio. This probably gave the name to the Suwanee (Shawnee) River.
In the wars that took place between the French and English, commeneing in 1755 and ending with the declaration of peace on the 10th of February,
1763, the Shawanoes were the allies of, and assisted the French in the contest, rendering essential service. Notwithstanding peace had been declared between these two belligerent powers hy the `ratification of the treaty to that end, the Indians, being dissatisfied with some of the provisions of that instrument, refused to ahide hy the terms, and continued their depredations against the settlers on the border. The particularly objectionable feature appears to have heen that wherehy the Canadian provinces were ceded to Great Britain. This objection was greatly enlarged by the acts of the British Government in building so many forts on the Susquehanna and elsewhere, because they were thus gradually *" surrounded on two sides hy a cordon of forts, and were threatened with an extension of them into the very heart of their country. They had now to choose whether they would remove to the north and west, negotiate with the British Government for the possession of their own land, or take up artus for its defense. They chose the last alternative, and a war of extermination against the English in the Western country, and even those on the Susquehanna, was agreed upon and speedily commenced. * * * The contest was continued with resolute and daring spirit, and with much destruction of life and property, until Decem- ber, 1764, when the war was brought to a close hy a treaty at the German Flats, made between Sir William Johnston and the hostile Indians. Soon after the con- clusion of this peace, the Shawanoes hecame involved in a war with the Chero- kecs, which continued until 1768, when, pressed hard hy the united force of the former trihe and the Delawares, the Southern Indians solicited and obtained a peacc. For the ensuing six years, the Shawanoes remained quiet, living on ami- eahle terms with the whites on the frontiers. In April, 1774, however, hostili- ties between the parties were renewed."
From that time until the close of Wayne's campaign, in 1794, and the sub- sequent treaty of Greenville, in August, 1795, there was a series of conflicts, involving the sacrifice of many valuable lives, not of the white people only, hut of the Indians, and, not the least among the latter, Cornstalk, the celebrated Shawanoc chief, and his son, Elenipsico, two genuine specimens of Indian nobil- ity. Having united in the treaty of Greenville, with the exception of those who fought at Tippecanoe, the Shawanoes remained at peace with the government of the United States until the period of the war with Great Britain, in 1813, in which a considerable body of them hecame the allies of the English. Subse- quently we licar little of them in the attitude of warriors. Afterward, having disposed of their interest in the lands in this vicinity, hy satisfactory treaty, they removed westward and settled upon " a tract of country twenty- five miles north and south, and one hundred east and west, bounded on the east hy the State of Missouri and on the north hy the Kansas River, which, in point of soil, timher and water, is equaled by but few tracts of the same size in any country ; though there is, however, hardly a sufficient proportion of timher for the prairie. The Shawa- noes have become an agricultural people, their buildings and farms heing similar to those of the whites in a newly settled country, enclosed hy rail fences, and most of them in good form, each string of fence being straight, sufficiently high to sceure their crops, and many of them staked and ridered. They all live in comfortable cahins, perhaps half, or more, being built of good hewn logs, and neatly raised, with outhouses, stables and barns." [Drake's Indians, 703.]
Among the numerous Shawanoe chiefs and warriors whose history is particularly identified with the history of the Maumce Valley, cspecial attention is dirceted to the following :
WEY-A-PIER-SEN-WAH, OR BLUE JACKET.
" In the campaign of Gen. Harmar, in the year 1790, Blue Jacket, an influ- ential Shawanoe chief, was associated with the Miami chief, Little Turtle, in the command of the Indians. In the battle of August 20, 1794, when the combined army of the Indians was defeated hy Gen. Wayne, Blue Jacket had the chief control. The night previous to the hattle, while the Indians were posted at Presque Isle, a council was held, composed of chiefs from the Minuiis, Pottawat- omics, Delawares, Shawanoes, Chippewas, Ottawas and Senecas, the seven nations engaged in the action. They decided against the proposition to attack Gen. Wayne that night in his eueampment. * *
* The counsel of Blue Jacket, however, prevailed over the hetter judgment of Little Turtle. The battle was fought, and the Indians defeated."
At the treaty of Greenville, which followed as an effect of this formidable engagement, Blue Jacket conducted himself with great dignity and moderation. He was not among the first to aet upon Gen. Wayne's proposition. He thus stated his reasons : " Brother, when I came here last winter, I did not mean to deceive you. What I promised you I did intend to perform. My wish to con- clude a firm peace with you being sincere, my uneasiness has heen great that my people have not come forward so soon as you could wish, or might expect. But you must not he discouraged hy these unfavorable appearances. Some of our chief's and warriors are here ; more will arrive in a few days. You must not, however, expect to see a great number. Yet, notwithstanding, our nation will be well repre- sented. Our hearts are open, and void of deceit." At the conclusion of the treaty, he spoke again, as follows : " Elder Brothers, and you my brothers present, you see now present myself as a war chief to lay down that eowmission and place myself in the rear of my village chiefs, who for the future will command me. Remember, brothers, you have all huricd your war hatchets. Your brothers, the Shawanoes, now do the same good act. We must think of war no more." He kept his word.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.