USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 38
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was kept up from Thursday night until Saturday, when the inedi- eine man made " medicine " for rain, and in an hour it came, a perfect down-pour, testifying that the Great Spirit was pleased with festival.
After the dance eame the dog feast. It is supposed by the inno- cent roamers of the plains that the eating of a dog's liver, without regard to the quality of the dog, makes them strong-hearted. The temple used in the " thirst" dance was taken down, with the exception of the eenter-pole, around which the warriors seated themselves in a circle and enjoyed a social smoke. Suddenly a ery was given, and the warriors sprang to their feet and commenced circling around to the dismal beating of a drum. The quiver- ing carcass of a dog was thrown within the eirele by a woman, and the men whooped in ecstasy. The careass was ent open, the liver torn ont and hung by a thong from the pole. The warriors, one by one, stepped up and took a bite of the yet warm liver, and marched off happy. As soon as one liver was consumed a fresh dog was thrown into the circle and the stock of liver replenished. This eontinned to the end, until, perhaps, 100 dogs were thus disposed of. No wonder it is then that a few pioneers canght up the ery of alarm, and prepared to defend themselves against the attacks of the barbarians.
The following story has been told by De Witt Mulinix, and is based upon the experiences of one of Colonel Jackson's neighbors, so that its value in this connection cannot be overestimated, or its veracity questioned: "It was a warm July afternoon," said the writer; "from the door-yard of a country house, situated upon a little eminence, where prairie and timber land interseet, could be seen the finely cultivated farms of perhaps twenty lords of the soil, while scattered over the broad plain before me could be seen the adjoining proprietors, with laborers and teams, actively storing away the fruit of a summer's labor, while just to the left, nestling amid shrubs and trees, was a quiet, and from my point of observation, pretty, little village. An occasional flash of lightning and the muttering of distant thunder gave evidence of an approaching storm; just before me, looking out upon the beautiful seene, with memories of the past evidently flitting across his mind, sat an old gentleman, full of years, and in the enjoyment of those high qualities of mind and soul that come from a well-spent life. Intend- ing to obtain a recital of early ineidents, I observed: 'You were here very early in the history of this locality were yon not?' Ile
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replied: 'Yes, before the county was organized or a single white settler was in all this region, I visited this prairie for the first time. I was an early settler of Elkhart Prairie and lived near the river of that name, upon the farm now owned by Matthew Rippey and occupied by Mr. Graham, formerly a Methodist minister near here. One morning very early,-for we did not sleep late in those days; muscle, pluck and patience were all we had then ont of which to make a living for those dependent on ns,-Col. J. Jackson, my nearest neighbor, greatly excited and in haste, came to my house. As he approached he cried out: "Get your gun, and ammunition, and provisions, and meet us at Goshen at 11 o'clock; the Indians are near Niles, murdering the whites, and they want onr aid." I wanted him to stop and give me more particulars, but he would not even panse for a moment; replying that he must hurry and notify the neighbors, he passed out of view. It seemed to me the Colonel was unnecessarily alarmed, but concluding to meet them at Goshen, we set about getting ready.
" While I half-soled my shoes for the trip, my wife prepared some provisions and molded bullets to enable me to do service. While so engaged John Elsea, my nearest neighbor, came over and proposed to stay and look after both families while I went. My shoes now being repaired, we got out my old knapsack, which had seen service in the border Indian wars, and with ammunition, provisions and my rifle, I started on foot for Goshen. We had no roads then. It was across the country or upon Indian trails, just as you chose to go. Arriving at Goshen the first man I met was Col. Jackson. "If you want any Indians killed, just bring them along now, Colonel," was my salutation. With a hearty langh and strong old-fashioned shake-hands, which made one feel better for it, the Colonel greeted me. By this time many had arrived, armed with shot-guns, muskets, rifles, a few old-fashioned horse-pistols, butcher-knives, etc., etc., ready to march out to the aid of the pioneers, who, like ourselves, had left the comforts of civilization to hew out homes for their wives and little ones, from the wilds of a new country. We met together and then details of various reports were given. Col. Jackson produced a letter which had been written to him from Niles and sent in haste by an express rider, asking him to call ont the militia and come to their rescue, as the Indians were near them, coming from the West, murdering the people. We concluded to send two messengers at once to Niles to get more spe- cific information. They were to return the next day. We did so, and
David Dausman
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the town was full. Men, women and children had heard the reports and came flocking into town in every conceivable way,-some ery- ing, others swearing. To add to the confusion, it was said at the meeting that the Indians on and around this prairie were prepar- ing for war; that they were having war dances every night, and had bushels of bullets already molded. It was determined for safety to build a fort at Goshen, into which the women and children could be gathered, and a day was fixed for its commencement.
"In the meantime the men sent out to Niles returned with the information that it was a false alarm, that there were no hostile Indians east of Chicago; but at that place they were perpetrating ontrages, and it was expected hostilities would open over the whole frontier. There were no contradictions, however, of the rumors of hostile demonstrations among the Indians in what is now Kosciusko county; so it was determined to go on with the fort. I had made up my mind that the whole story was a fabrication, and determined to visit the Indians on this prairie, in person, and ascertain the truth. I was wholly nnacquainted with the country. There were no roads, no settlers that I knew of, no white men with them of my knowledge, the reports were alarming in the extreme, yet I did not believe them. If they were true it was important to know the worst at once, and prepare to meet the enemy. If untrue it was important to allay the excitement and aların, so that people eould again go quietly to their work. John Elsea promised to accompany me, but he was too ignorant of the country, of the tribes we were about to visit, of their language, and what to us was more impor- tant than all, of their intentions. Whether we were to come upon these barbarians in their hannts, painted for the war dance, with murder in their hearts, was to us a very serious question.
" We determined, however, to go, and bidding farewell to those nearest and dearest to us, we crossed the riverand started out alone into the wilderness. There was no road, no improvement, no human habitation between Elkhart river and the east side of Big Turkey Creek Prairie. With nothing to guide us but an Indian trail, which we finally came upon, we moved forward. As we approached the prairie the trail became more and more beaten, until at last we arrived in sight of an Indian village. It was located on what was for a long time known as the Rosseau farm, subsequently owned by Charles Rippey; farther south was another village called Waubee Papoose. Waubee was the chief of this tribe and lived at the village first mentioned. We were a little way off when the sav-
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.
ages first saw ns; they became greatly exeited at our approach; immediate confusion was the result. Hurriedly they commenced to assemble. Being satisfied I could pacify them, if I was able to reach them before hostile demonstrations commenced, we both put spurs to our horses, and at full gallop dashed into their eamp, thus placing ourselves in their power. The whole population, squaws, dogs and all, were in a tumult of excitement, and gathering around us demanded to know our business. We told them we were after seed corn to plant. The old chiet Waubee informed us they had none; but we could get it at another village some six miles away to the southeast, and directed us on our trail. Spending an hour .or two with the barbarians looking for war paint, clubs and bul- lets, we took our departure.
" Traveling up another trail, we now eame to a second village, where the town of Oswego now stands. Squabach was the head of this village. The noble savages here formed a semi eirele, squatted down on their haunehes and remained perplexingly silent for over an hour. Their toilet was not very elaborate. The young ladies nowadays who go into ecstacy over the latest novel and think it so romantie, and who faint at the sight of a rat, would not have fol- lowed theirs as the most becoming fashion. We could neither please nor anger them. Perfectly motionless and expressionless, they sat for over an hour. Disgusted, we were about to depart, when the chief spoke to a little Indian, who suddenly darted off into the woods. We coneluded to await the result of this movement. Presently an Indian eame forward and in fair English gruffly said: " What you
want here?' Instantly we spoke the magic word ' seed-corn,' and then the dusky savages all arose, talked and gave us a cordial wel- come. Their squaws had been planting, and after an hour or two of loitering round their wigwams we departed. Everything gave evidence of quiet. We camped near what is now Leesburg. Mr. Elsea got four logs together in the shape of a foundation for a house, near where the old Metealf Beck store-house stands, and formally made his elaim to the land, intending next fall to move his family to that spot of mother earth. Before he returned others jumped his elaim and beeame owners of the land. We went back to our homes, reported the Indians all peaceful, and this allayed the exeite- ment. They settled at Goshen, however, to build a fort, got the foun- dation laid and disagreed as to its name, and so the work was aban- doned. Now all those who were then young men in the prime of manhood, full of energy and activity, are either gathered to their
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fathers or are in the decline of life. The mothers of the daughters who now live in case, and many of whom pride themselves on white hands and pretty feet, rather than clear heads and brave hearts, are now gone or broken in health. We shall all pass away soon to some other land, but it is a happy thought that we have set a good exain- ple for our children. We have laid the foundation of future prosper- ity strong and deep, and those now in the prime of life need only build upon it."
Notwithstanding the excitement of the times, the Fourth of July was celebrated throughont this northern part of the State. Jos. H. Defrees was the orator. Each corner of the county heralded the anni- versary of that day, which the Declaration of Independence bright- ened up with a ray as brilliant as the summer sun, and made blessed in the calendar. Even prior to this, on the 22d of February, they assembled at South Bend in honor of Washington's natal day, and having listened to the oration of Anthony Defrees, who recapitu - lated the glories of the Union soldier, gave up a few hours to fes- tivity and returned to their homes, in the conciousness that, even in this matter, they had perpetuated the memory of a great man, and done their duty to the Republic.
The same month the Postmaster General established an office at Goshen, and appointed Wm. Bissell postmaster.
The first attempt at political party organization was carried out in April of the same year, by the election of Elias Carpenter, Asa Crook, Mark B. Thompson, Wm. Skinner and David Rodibaugh to places on the Democratic executive committee of the connty.
The terrible enmity which sprang up between the Miamis and the Pottawatomies created some attention toward the elose of the year. In December, 1832, the chiefs of the latter tribe held a meeting to consider the murder of one of their people by a Miami. The chiefs concluded that a tribute of $100,000 -- the sum of the Governmental annuity to the Miami nation for two years-should be paid over to the Pottawatomies, and in case of their non-com- pliance decreed to wager a war of extermination against their old allies until the murder would be well avenged by the destruction of that tribe to which the assassin belonged. Fortunately for the Indians concerned, as well as for the white inhabitants, reason took up the place of the rifle and tomahawk and adjusted the matter before the savages donned their war accontrements and paint.
Previously, the " ten mile strip " contention between Ohio and Michigan almost led to a serions rupture of State relations. The
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strip of land in question was within two and one-half miles of the present northern line of this county, and would undoubtedly have led to internecine struggle had not the designs of the impetuous Gov. Lucas, of Ohio, been frustrated by the presence of the troops of the United States.
SAC WAR CONCLUDED.
We have learned much regarding the Sac war excitement in Elkhart county. Now we will regard the situation at Niles and throughout St. Joseph county in the neighboring State of Michigan.
At the commencement of the first settlement of St. Joseph county the Nottawa tribe of Pottawatomies acknowledged the sway of Pierrie Morreau as chief.
Morreau was a white man, and was once an educated and accom- plished French gentleman; whether a native of France or the descendant of one of the old French families of Canada is not known. In early life he commenced business in Detroit as a mercantile trader. After some misfortune in business, with the remains of a stock of goods he sought this secluded retreat on the banks of the St. Joseph river. Here he established a trade with the Indians, which he continued until his stock of goods was exhausted. He then married an Indian woman, adopted the Indian costume and habits of life. In his character as a savage he seemed to have merged every reminiscence of civilization and to have lost every vestige of its conduct and manners. When the settlements began to gather around Nottawa prairie he was ninety years old, superan- nuated, decrepid, infirm, and disfigured.
Morreau by his Indian wife had seven children who attained adult age: Sau-au-quett, the oldest of four sons; Mo-niss, Isadore and Wau-be-gah, and three daughters: Betsy, Min-no-wis and Min-nah.
Sau-au-quett figured couspicously in this tribe of Pottawatomies. After his father became so dissipated and imbecile as to be unable to exert his influence over the tribe as their chief or head, Sau-au- quett disputed the right to govern with Cush-ee-wes, the legiti- mate chief of the tribe, whose father, now deceased, had been supplanted by Morreau many years before.
Sau au-quett was a shrewd and wily man. He possessed won- derful powers as an orator. His competitor, Cush-ee-wes, was a modest and unassuming man. Each had his partisans and adherents. While the warmest friends of San-au-quett admitted the rightful claim of Cush-ee-wes, the fascinating eloquence, the winning man-
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ners and impressive presence of San-au-quett carried a majority of the tribe, contrary to their better judgment and equitable convic- tions, to support his pretensions.
Sau-au-quett was an extraordinary man. He measured six feet and three inches in his moccasins. He was straight and well pro- portioned; he possessed a commanding presence and most imposing and winning address; his features were classical, of the pure Roman mold; when the writer of this article, in 1833, made a crayon sketch of his head, he then thought, and still thinks, he never gazed upon a more perfect model of inanly beauty, commanding dignity and perfection of human form. It was this noble form and command- ing eloquence that was the secret of his great power over his fellows.
This tribe of Pottawatomies was continually involved in internal dissensions while the pioneers supplied them with intoxieating drink, until the frontier war, known as the Black Hawk war, com- menced, at which period the members of the tribe had sunken into the most abject poverty and dissipation. They had ceased to hunt the forests for game and fnrs; they traded their ponies, their guns, and even their blankets for whisky, and left their children to starve. in their wigwams. The once proud warriors had sunken into piti- able mendaeity, and like a pack of hungry wolves, clung around the new settlement howling for more " fire-water."
At this crisis the notes of Indian war were sounded along the frontier settlement. The southern line of the Pottawatomie Re- serve traversed Nottawa Prairie east and west near its center. That portion of the prairie south of the reservation line was among the first lands to be located by the emigrants to the northern portion of the county. Here, then, when the alarm of the Black Hawk war was given, the huts of the settlers were scattered along the southern margin in the shadows of the beautiful groves and islands of this portion of the prairie, in close proximity with this band of debased Pottawatomies.
It is not to be wondered at that the settler felt sensations of aların, and that the mother drew her child closer to her bosom, as they were aroused from their slumbers in their cabin by the wild shrieks of the besotted Pottawatomie as he galloped across the prairie to his wigwam steeped in drunkenness.
A panic seized the new settlement. Some families fled in haste while others prepared for defense.
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Many are the anecdotes and traditions still current of the inglo- rious flight of many, while others remained to meet the emergencies and grapple with the vicissitudes and dangers of frontier life.
Goods and valuables were concealed; cattle were sold at half their value, or abandoned and turned to the commons; crops left unenlti- vated and ungathered.
A family from New England that had settled at Sturgis Prairie, in order to preserve their valuables, consisting of plate, china- ware, mirrors and other relics of fashionable Eastern life, which could not be made sufficiently portable for a hasty flight, carefully packed these goods in a large box, and in the dead of night, when there was no hnman eye to note where these relics of former domestic luxury were to be deposited, the whole family gathered around the well hard by their log cabin, having the box in their midst. Then, with many low whispers, the well rope was attached to the box, the windlass received a fresh supply of soft soap to preclude the remotest possibility of its tell-tale creak, the crank was seized by the men, and steadily, yet quietly turned, the box of valuables softly yielded to their motive power. When the all-important box swung clear above the well that yawned to receive it, the rope suddenly parted, the box was precipitated to the bottom of the well with a crash like the discharge of a cannon, causing the earth to tremble and the contents of the box to shatter to atoms. Loud shrieks from the several females who were gathered around the well arose upon the midnight air, and was echoed from the adjacent cabins whose tenants had been aroused by the crash of the unlucky box of goods. The alarm was sounded along the prairie settlement; shout answered shont, shriek replied to shriek, and the prairie was awake. The scream of females on the night air struck alarm into the hearts of the bravest, and deeming that the Sac warrior was at their doors a general flight, with a few exceptions, followed.
With all this alarm there were throse who appeared to fear noth- ing, and could not be persuaded that the settlements were in danger. Such were the venerable Judge Sturgis, on the southern boundary of the county, whose cognomen the prairie bears; Martin G. Schell- hous and his brothers, near Nottawa Prairie; and the Defrees Brothers, of Goshen.
These men, as well as several others, pursued the even tenor of their ways, and while they became counselors and guides to the more restless aud excitable heroes in the hour of fancied dan- ger, they also became the subjects of indignant reprehension and
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outright curses, because they could not participate in the fear and panic of their neighbors. They were denounced as fools because they showed no sensations of alarm when the whole country, as it was fancied, was on the cve of being overrun by hordes of preda- tory savages.
The militia were ordered out on Nottawa Prairie and duly organ- ized under the territorial law. Patrols were appointed and senti- nels placed. The shrill fife and rattling drum echoed along the borders of the late peaceful prairie, and the martial feather flaunted proudly on the breeze. Couriers were dispatched to the adjacent settlements to sound the tocsin of war. Marvelous were the advent- ures of those redoubtable heroes in the discharge of their various momentous trusts. Some of these, returning, swollen with the importance of their positions, and finshed with the glory of their missions, gathered wondering crowds around them to drink in the story of the signs of war, the preparations for deadly conflict, and their own individual hair-breadth escapes.
It was certain, from the various reports of these daring couriers, that the Pottawatomie Indians on the Nottawa reservation were instruments in the hands of Black Hawk, and that they also were collecting the implements and munitions of war, and would soon prove formidable foes in the approaching dangers which were to "try men's souls." . These Pottawatomies, it was true, could only muster about fifty warriors, enervated, enfeebled and trembling with dissipation and its concomitant diseases and infirmities; and although they had no arms, nor the means to procure them, still, their war-whoop might prove fearful.
Thus the attention of the heroes of Nottawa was withdrawn from the seat of war in the West, and directed toward dangers and perils awaiting them in the immediate vicinity of their once quiet homes.
The hostile intentions of these Nottawa Indians, by indubitable evidence, had been reduced to a certainty. Many facts existed, and were commented upon, which were sufficient to carry conviction to the minds of a majority of the settlers of the murderous purposes of the Pottawatomies. The premises and deductions which led to this ultimate conviction, to say the least, were curious to those who could not participate in the apprehension of danger to the settlers, and ran in this manner: If the Nottawa Indians have no hostile intentions, why do they avoid all intercourse with their white neighbors? One young man related that he was almost fired upon by one of the blood-thirsty savages, and that his own presence of
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mind and indomitable bravery was all that saved his scalp. He was on the margin of the prairie in pursuit of his pony, when sud- denly turning an angle of a dense hazel copse he saw old Muk-a-moot, an Indian well known to the whole settlement as an inoffensive old man. The wary savage darted into the hazel brush, as the intrepid young man assumed, for the purpose of securing a cover from which to fire. He did not see his gun, but he knew he had one, or why should he dodge into the brush? In this emergency a light pair of heels and a stout heart to keep up their action soon delivered him from the vicinity of danger, while the enfeebled Indian, trembling with fear, crippled away in the opposite direc- tion. " Fortune always favors the brave."
Min-no-wis, the sister of Sau-an-quett, was detected in stealth- ily approaching the cabin of one of the settlers to ascertain, by espionage, the strength of the white enemy and the means of defense. It was in vain that she endeavored to conceal her treachery under the plausible story that her children were starving, and that she came to beg a morsel of bread to save their lives. All knew this to be a fabrication, for if her purposes were honest why should she skulk? Sure, the suffering wretches had received no means of sub- sistenee from the whites, as was their usual custom since the war alam had been sounded, forr both parties, from some cause, had maintained a respectful distance from each other; but, if it was only bread she wanted, why did she not come up boldly, and offer her bead-work for it, as she had formerly done, instead of stealing along under cover of a brush fence to the back door of the log cabin ? In vain she said she was afraid the white man, alarmed and incensed, might misapprehend her intentions and ill treat her, and that, therefore, she sought the interview with the white man's wite alone. If her purpose was honest, why endeavor to avoid the white man, and seek the white man's wife alone? In vain she told them that the white woman was a mother as well as she, and could feel for the starving papoosie, while the white man could not know how the Indian mother pitied her child. In vain, when bread was refused, the tears mounted to her eyes as she threw down the little beaded moccasins which she had nicely guessed to fit the tiny foot of the white man's child. When ordered to take them and leave, her piteous reply, " Keep them, they are no good to poor squaw if they will not buy bread," was absolutely interpreted into the most indubitable evidence of nefarious intentions.
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