History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Kingman Brothers
Number of Pages: 366

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" The same month," says Mr. Knapp, "La Joncaire, Governor of Canada, ordered M. de Longueuil to give Nicholas notice that no English traders would he allowed among his people, or in the western country, and, if they were found, they should receive notice to quit forthwith. Agreeable to these instructions, a French officer was sent to Sandusky, who notified Nicholas of the wishes of the Governor of Canada. Finding several English at the towns, the officer com- manded them to leave the country, which they promised to do.

" Finding himself deserted hy nearly all of his allics, his power for mischief gone, and the activity and determination of the French to suffer encroae'iments from the English no longer, Nicholas finally resolved to ahandon his towns on Sandusky Bay, and seek a home farther west. On the 7th of April, 1748, he destroyed the villages and fort, and on the following day, at the head of 119

HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.

warriors and their families, left for White River, in Indiana."* It has been stated that he subsequently moved to the Illinois country, locating on the Ohio, near the Indiana line, and that he died there. This statement is probably incorrect, as it is pretty well settled that he remained on White River, and died near the forks of that stream, not far from the Wahash, in the fall of 1748, at about the age of fifty-eight years.

Thus closed one of the most gigantic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, considered in the light of the influence brought to bear through the ingenuity of this chief, seeond, perhaps, only to that of Pontiac, which occurred a few years later. The result, too, is probably as much owing to the unyielding conduct of M. de Longueuil toward most of the tribes who had been engaged, as to the ill luck that continued to pursue the chief manipulator of the scheme. That the Miamis at this point were deeply concerned in the plot, and performed the part assigned them by the destruction of the fort and the appropriation of the prop- erty, cannot now he doubted, but whether those acts were committed from motives of innate treachery, or were the consequences of too great credulity in yielding to the influence of flattering gifts from the hands of designing agents, is a ques- tion of more difficult solution.

When the conspiracy of Nicholas had spent its force, and was crushed out by the vigilance of the French authorities, and the fort at Ke-ki-ong-a had been partially burned through the ageney of the Hurons and disaffected Miamis, dur- the progress of the Indian movement, in order to maintain the advantages acquired, the French Commandant at Detroit sent Ensign Duhuisson to the Miamis, as a means of depriving the English emissaries of the liberty of seizing the post, which was of considerable importance, at that point. He was directed not to rebuild the fort, for that was not necessary. having been only partially burned, hut to so repair it as to make it tenable during the winter; henee, his occupaney of it was only for a few months, and this occupaney was with a foree in the character of an escort sufficient to take and hold possession for the time heing.

During the following year, 1749, Capt. De Celeron, under authority of the King of France, condueted an expedition into the Ohio country for the purpose of taking formal possession of the territory in the King's name, hurying leaden plates along the horders of the Ohio River, and at other points. While thus engaged, he visited much of the interior country, and held frequent conferences with the Indian tribes of the vicinity. The expedition passed up the Miami River as far Demoiselle's Village. the site since oceupied hy Fort Laramie, it is said, from which point the route was overland until they struck the head-waters of the Maumee (perhaps the St. Mary's ), and arrived at Kiskakon, the ancient site of Ke-ki-ong-a. This name, Kiskakon is reputed to have been taken from a hranch of the Ottawas that come there from Michilimackanae, where they had resided since 1682. Here, De Celeron found a French military post, in command of M. De Raymond, who, it is supposed, rebuilt the fort at this point. That he did so, is not probahle, since Sieur Dubuisson, who had heen there in the winter of 1748, and so repaired it as to make it tenable during the period of his remaining there. This is, very likely, the rebuilding so often referred to in this conncetion. After leaving in tbe spring, he was returned in August of the same year, when re-enforcements and supplies were sent there for his benefit. Having heen returned at that time, the presumption follows that he remained there through the suceceding winter, after which M. De Raymond took command.

When De Celeron reached this point, he halted a short period, sufficiently long to examine the locality with considerable care, and to provide pirogues for the descent of the expedition on the Maumee to Lake Erie, and the necessary supplies of provisions. On the 27th, part of the expedition started overland to Detroit, while the residue went by the way of the Maumee and Lake Erie. At the time of his visit here, Pied Froid ( Cold-foot) was the resident chief of the Miamis.

During the succeeding years from the conclusion of the Huron conspiracy, there were frequent depredations committed by the Indians on the frontier settle- ments; and, although war between France and England was not declared until 1756, the conflict began in 1754. In fact, Braddock's defeat occurred in the year 1755, in which some of the Miamis participated. In June, 1759, three hundred French soldiers and militia, with anxiliaries to the number of about six hundred Indians from the Illinois country. Their route was down the Missis- sippi to the mouth of the Ohio, passing thence up that stream to the Wabash ; the expedition ascended the latter stream to the portage at Ke-ki-ong-a, whence the stores were shipped on the Maumee and carried to Lake Eric, and along the southern shore to Presque Isle, and thence to Fort Machault. On the 24th of July, the relief force, under command of M. de Ligneris, belonging to the expedi- lion, was totally defeated by the English forces under Sir William John- son, and on the following day the garrison at Fort Niagara capitulated. This was followed by the surrender of Quebec, and, a short time after, of Fort Massae. The next year, however, Fort Massac was rebuilt and more strongly fortified, for occupation and use by the Englisb.

" Before the elose of the year 1761, Detroit, Michilimackanac, Sandusky, Presque Isle, Miami, Green Bay, St. Joseph and other French posts, passed under control of the English, who guaranteed security of person, property and religion to all French inhabitants of the conquered territory. It was at this time that French dominion virtually ceased over the Ohio country." In 1762, terms of peace were agreed upon between France and England, taking effeet in America in 1763.

CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC.

The effects of the conspiraey instigated by Nicholas, the Huron chief, in the interest of the English traders and their allies, and the consequences result- ing therefrom had scarcely passed when the English succeeded in overthrowing the French power, and new alliances were necessary to maintain the supremacy

of English authority among the Indians. It was then that the disaffection of the fonuer allics of the French hegan definitely to manifest itself. When Que- bec had fallen into the hands of the English in September, 1759, one after another of the French possessions yielded to superior foree and were lost forever. " The trading posts and forts-Presque Isle ( Erie, Penn.), Miami (on the Mau- mee), Detroit, Michilimackinac, Green Bay, etc .- were occupied during 1760 by British troops. English traders, English laws, English insolence and English dishonesty quickly succeeded to add fuel to the fires slumbering in the savage breast."

Soon this disaffection began to assume fonu, and a leader eame forth equal to the emergency and capable of commanding a mighty influence among his people. "Powerful in person, commanding in presenee, resolute to an extraor- dinary degree, possessed of a rare gift of cloquenee, sagacious and subtle as a beast of prey, he rightfully claimed the office of chief over many tribes, and became the minister of vengeance for his raee." This personage was Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, whose first appearance in the character of a warrior was his participation in the battle of the Heights of Abraham in the vicinity of Quebee. The extent of his participation, however, is unknown. Ile was in sympathy with the French, whose uniform policy toward the Indians was that of kindness, which wrought a most powerful influence in maintaining their relations of fidelity.

Had the English, even at this late period, adopted a course of policy toward the Indians similar to that of the French in all their dealings with them, much effusion of blood might have been spared. "But then, as since, Great Britain acted less from the dictates of a hroad humanity than from the impulse of com- mercial gain. In fixing the degree of responsibility for what followed, we should, in order to he just, weigh well the eauses which impelled the savages to the war- path. If Great Britain could have appeased those tigers of the American for- ests, panting for blood, she should have done it; that she not only offered no conciliation, hut seorned aud maltreated the untamed ereatures, is to make her at least partially accountable for the conspiracy and its sad results.

" The mutterings of the impending storm were heard early in the summer of 1761, when Maj. Campbell, commanding at Detroit, was fully informed of a con- spiracy among the tribes along the lakes and in the Ohio Valley to rise simul- taneously against all the forts, to massacre the garrisons, and then to combine and fall upon all settlemeuts advanced over the eastern ridge of the Alleghanies. Expresses were at once dispatched to all the points menaced. This betrayal of their plot suffieed to postpone the attack for that season. Sir Jeffrey Amherst commanded extreme caution to be used at all posts, while the Indians were treated with a severity and suspicion which only served to strengthen their bitterness of feeling toward their foe."* This postponement, while it delayed open proceed- ings, gave at the same time greater opportunity to the Indians to perfect their plans. At the instance of Pontiac, embassadors were sent to all the trihes West and South, from every quarter receiving assurances of aid in any attempt to expel the English.

" These proceedings were kept profoundly secret. Those conducting the plot dissimulated well. Crowds of men, women and children heset the forts and trad- ing-posts, eager for gunpowder, traffie and liquer, but, even iu their drunken bouts, nothing escaped their lips to betray their murderous designs. A friendly savage would, at times, whisper a word of warning to some white who had won his confidence, and enough transpired to keep the English officers on their guard. The Commandant at Fort Miami, on the Maumee River, was thus warned early in the year 1763. Messengers from the East had arrived in his neighborhood to infortu the tribes of the hour of uprising, and the Miamis had consented to murder the garrison."

At this time (March, 1763), a neighboring Indian eamue to the fort and informed Ensign Holmes, then in command here, that " a bloody belt had just heen received at one of the villages near by, which contemplated the massacre of himself and of the entire garrison, and that preparations were tben making to that end. Tbe situation required prompt action, and at once received it at the hands of Holmes, who immediately summoned a council of the neighboring Indians, and holdly charged them with the design of which information had been given him. They acknowledged the truth of the statement, hut east the blame for its instiga- tion upon another and more distant tribe. With the information at command, he procured the helt that appears to have wrought the mischievous intention, and with it the specch accompanying it, from one of the chiefs of the Miamis. Hav- ing obtained these, it was apprehended that no immediate steps would be taken toward the execution of the murderous design. Accordingly, on the 30th day of March, a few days later, he sent the following communication relative to the affair, to Maj. Gladwyn, commanding at Detroit :

FORT MIAMIS, March 30, 1763.

Since my Last Letter to You, wherein I Acquainted You of the Bloody Belt being in this village, I have made all the search I could about it, and have found it out to be True : Whereon I assembled all the Chiefs of this Nation, & and after a long and trouble- some Spell with them, I obtained the Bell, with a Speech ; as you will Receive Enclosed ; This Affair is very timely stopt, and I hope the News of a Pence will put a Stop to any further Troubles with these Indians, who are the Principle Ones of Setting Mischief on Foot. I send You the Belt with this Packet, which I hope You will Forward to the General.

Among the Indians, at that period, their diplomatie communications were made by the transmission of belts having an accepted emblematie signification well understood by all the tribes hetween whom communications were to be made. These were usually accompanied by a speech or "talk," ealeulated to emphasize the significance of the belt. Were peace to be requested, a white belt was sent, while black or red belts were suggestive of war, and were transmitted by special messengers. The delay consequent upon the surrender of this helt was not of long duration, for signs of eowing trouble were apparent, and practiced observers

* American Consp., p. 35.

"Hint. Maumee Valley, 18, 19.

HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY. INDIANA

of these signs were on the alert, preparing to counteract their effect or to meet strategy with strategy, foree with force.

" It was the office of the chiefs," says Parkman, " to declare war and make peace ; but when war was declared, they had no power to carry the declaration into effeet. The warriors fought if they chose to do so, but if, ou the contrary, they preferred to remain quiet, no mau could foree them to lift the hatehet. The war- chief, whose duty it was to lead them to battle, was a mere partisan, whom his bravery and exploits had led to distinction. If he thought proper, he sang his war-song and daneed his war-dance, and as many of the young men ns were dis- posed to follow him, gathered around and enlisted themselves under him. Over these volunteers he had no legal authority, and they could desert him at any moquent with no other penalty thau disgrace."

By the 25th of April, following, the well-elaborated plans of Pontiae were nearly matured, and the villages and eamps of the allied tribes were active with preparations for war on a most extensive seale. The oraeles were consulted, and the charmed eirele responded with omens of success. A eonneil was called and " several old meu, heralds of the camp, passed to and fro among the lodges, eall- ing the warriors, in a loud voice, to attend the meeting. In accordance with the summons, they came issuing from their enbins, the tall, naked figures of the wild Ojihwas, with quivers slung at their baeks and light war-elubs resting in the hol- low of their arms; Ottawas, wrapped close in their gaudy blankets; Wyandots, fluttering in painted shirts, their heads adorned with feathers and their leggins garnished with bells. All were soon seated in a wide circle upon the grass, row within row, a grave and silent assembly. Each sivage countenance seemed earved in wood, and none could have detected the deep and fiery passions hidden beneath that unmoved exterior. Pipes, with ornimented stems, were lighted and passed from hand to hand."% Before this grand couneil convened at the river Eucorces, Pontiac delivered his war-speech, ingenious iu its method and thrilling in its effects upon his silent, statue-like auditors. " Every sentence was rounded with a ficree ejaculation ; and, as the impetuous orator proeceded, his auditory grew restless to spring at onee into the bloody areua of battle and hury the scalping-knife and tomahawk in the body of the enemy." All was now ready for action, and Detroit was the objective point.

The numerous failures in executing their designs put the savages at a disad- vantage, and the Commandants of the several military posts on guard, lest, at any tique, advantage might be taken of a temporary relaxation from strict duty. Well knowing the situation, the wily savage resorted to strategy, as an aid in over- coming otherwise impregnahle defenses. The plan agreed upon by the Indians, was the following : " Pontiac would demand council with the Commandant con- eerning matters of great importance ; and, on this pretext, he flattered himself that he and his principal chiefs would gain ready adiuittanee within the fort. They were all to carry weapons concealed beneath their blankets. While in the aet of' addressing the Commandant in the council-room, Pontiae was to make a eertain signal, upon which the chiefs were to raise the war-whoop, rush upon the officers present, and strike them down. The other Indians waiting meanwhile at the gate, or loitering among the houses, on hearing the yells and firing within the building, were to assail the astouished and half-armed soldiers; and thus Detroit would fall an easy prey." [Parkman, I, p. 210.] Although this plan was well matured, it failed in execution, as the sequel will show.

" A beautiful Ojibwa girl, whose love for the Commander, Gladwyn, seems to have been only equaled hy her precaution and eare, was in the seeret. Had probably attended the council, and heard the plan of Pontiac's movement to sur- prise and capture the fort ; and true to her sense of regard for her kind friend, Maj. Gladwyn, on the afternoon of the 6th of May, she found occasion to visit the fort, whither she quietly strolled, with anxious heart, in hopes to reveal to her lover his perilous situation, and unfold to him the movement about to he made upon the fort hy Pontiac and his warriors-his plan of surprise, ete. As she entered, Gladwyn observed that she wore a different air than on other occasions, Her countenauce assumed the expression of one in distress. Fear and depression hoth seemed to sway hier, and she could say hut little. Remaining but a short time, she stepped forth again in the open air, to look about, perhaps to sce who might chaneed to have seen her enter the fort. Sorrow still weighed heavily upon her. She could not depart from the scene of her friend without acquainting hiut with the work that was fast maturing for his death, aud the destruction of all within the garrison. With this feeling, she lingered about the fort until quite late, which not only attraeted the attention of the sentinel, but Gladwyn himself, who, noticing her strange eonduet, ealled her to him, and asked her what was giving her trouble. Her heart beat heavily. She could not speak. Still her friend pressed her for a response, assuring her that he would not under any eon- sideration betray her ; that, with him, whatever she told would be safe; that uo hariu should befall her. Her fear was suddenly overcome, and her admiration for her friend united with an irrepressible determination to save him, even in the midst of danger, as the beautiful Pocahontas had saved the life of' Capt. Smith, she eon- fidently told himu all." [Hist. Fort Wayne, 65.]

" To-morrow," she said, " Pontiac will come to the fort with sixty of his chiefs. Each will be armed with a gun, cut short, and hidden under his blanket. Pontiac will demand to hold a council, and, after he has delivered his speech, he will offer a peaec-belt of wampum, holding it in a reversed position. This will be the signal of attack. The chiefs will spring up and fire upon the offieers, aud the Indians in the street will fall upon the garrison. Every Englishman will be killed, but not the scalp of a single Frenchmau will be touched."

This revelation naturally induced the exercise of the greatest caution on the part of the commanding officer, who, quietly and without demonstration, pre- pared for the emergency. " Half the garrison were ordered under arms, and all the officers prepared to spend the night upon the ramparts. From sunset till dawn. an anxious watch was kept from the slender palisades of Detroit. * But,

at intervals, as the uight wind swept across the bastion, it bore sounds of fearful portent to the car-the sullen booming of the Indian drumu and the wild chorus of quavering yells, as the warriors, around their distant eamp fires, daneed the war-dance, in preparation for the morrow's work."

To-morrow emine and with a readiness for the issue that was to thwart the eunuingly devised plans of the chief to capture the fort and massacre the English citizens of Detroit. Arriving at the council-house, the Indians were at once given an audience. They entered and found the officers there ready to receive them. A file of soldiers, fully armed and equipped for duty, was present also. The reception had the appearance of a readiness for combat instead ; each officer with a brace of pistols in his helt and a sword at his side, was indicative to the mind of the savage that some well-defined purpose was underlying this unu- sual display. His suspicions were excited, and not without reason. Pontiae was taken at a disadvantage, but, with a display of little concern, he asked the commanding officer, " Why do I behold so many troops in the street ?" Maj. Gladwyu replied that his men were under arius for discipline and exercise. At length the couneil was opened, and the chiefs having seated theruselves upon the mats arranged for them upon the floor, Pontine arose, holding in his hand a peace belt, and expressed to the Commandant his strong admiration and love for the English, saving, " I have come to smoke the pipe of peace and brighten the chain of friendship with my English brothers "-then "he raised the belt and was about to give the fatal signal, and instantly Gladwyn waved his hand-and, as if by magic, the garrison drum beat a most stunning roll, filling the air with its reverberations, and startling the warriors, both within and without the fort, into sudden dismay; while the guards in the passage to the eouneil-house sud- denly made their arms to clash and rattle as they brought them into a position for action, and the officers, with Gladwyn, looking sternly upon the figures of the ' tall, strong men ' before them, had simultaneously elasped their swords, in antie- ipation of, and with a view to meet, if need be, the premeditated ouslaught of Pontiac and his warriors. The moment was one of heroic determination on the part of the little garrison of Detroit, and of the utmost diseolufiture and chagrin with the savages. The plans of the Ottawa chief were foiled, and he stood before the Connuandant and his officers like one suddenly overeome by a terrible shock."*

Other attempts were made to carry out the nefarious purpose, but failed in their execution. Finding that he could not thus succeed, the indiscriminate slaughter of all unprotected English in the vicinity was the order of the day, and was literally carried out. Maj. Campbell was one of the victims, being massacred while on a mission of peace to the Indian emup. Subsequently, an attack was made on the fort with renewed vigor, but again failed for the time only. " On the 16th of May, Sandusky fell; on the Ist of June, Quiatenon was captured ; Michilimackinac ou the 12th, and Presque Isle on the 15th of June, also fell into the hands of the wild conspirators. After Presque Isle was taken." runs the narrative of Parkman, " the neighboring little posts of Le Boeuf and Venango shared its fate, while, farther southward, at the forks of the Ohio, a host of Delaware and Shawanoe warriors were gathering around Fort Pitt, aud blood and havoe reigned along the whole frontier."

Next, the fates deereed that Fort Miami, at the junction of the Manmee and St. Joseph, should fall, and again strategy was brought into requisition, and was applied with better effect than in the instanee cited at Detroit. This post was then under command of Ensign Holmes, who, suspecting from the movements of the Indians in the neighborhood that some plot was waiting for a favorable opportu- nity to be executed, had exercised the most vigilant eare in his observations of their conduct, more especially after the discovery of the bloody belt hefore referred to. Savage ingenuity and deception, however, were striving hard, and Holmes seenucd destined to fall a vietim to the perfidy of the conspirators, white and red. prowling about the village and neighborhood. The 27th of May had been des- ignated for the exception of the scheme, as villainous as it was perfidious. In the mean time, the details of the plan were perfected, and only required the approach of that day to consummate the aet. The innocent agent in the perpe- tration of this deed of blood and plunder was an Indian girl with whom Holmes, it seerus, had been for a long time on intimate terms. This eireumstanee being known to the conspirators, was utilized hy compelling her, under the confidential relations existing between her and the Commandant, Holmes, to betray that con- fidence hy acting as a decoy. Accordingly, on the appointed day, the girl entered the fort and told Holmes that there was a sick squaw lying iu a wigwam near by, expressing a desire that he should go and see her. " Unsuspectingly, and with a view to serve and perhaps relicve the supposed sick squaw (knowing. perhaps, something of medicine; for it would seem had there been a surgeon in the fort he would have been more likely called on by the Ensign than for Holmes to have gone himself ), preceded by the Indian girl, he was soon without the inelosure of the garrison and advaneing with cautious steps in the direction of the hut wherein lay the object of his philanthropie missiou. Nearing a clus- ter of huts which are deseribed to have been situated at the edge of an open space · hidden from view by an intervening spur of woodland, ' the squaw directed him to the hut wherein lay the supposed invalid. Another instant-a few more paces-and the sudden eraek of two rifles from behind the wigwam in view, felled Hohues to the earth and echoed over the little garrison, starting the guards and inmates iuto momentary surprise and wonder. Amid the confusion, the Sergeant thoughtlessly passed without the fort to ascertain the cause of the rifle shots. But a few paees were gained wheu, with loud, triumphant shouts, he was sprung upon hy the savages and made a captive, which, in turn, brought the soldiers within, about nine in all, to the palisades of the garrison, who clambered up to see the movement without, when a Canadian of the niue of Godl'roi (or Godfri,, accompanied by ' two other white men,' stepped defiantly forth aud demanded a surrender of the fort, with the assurance to the soldiers that if at

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History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Kingman Brothers Number of Pages: 366

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Kingman Brothers
Number of Pages: 366