USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana: containing a history of the townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies, etc., etc. > Part 3
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This report was made at the close of the session and the subject was brought up again at the next ses- sion. The report, together with the letter of Gov. Harrison and the memorial of the inhabitants of Indi- ana, was referred to a new committee, of which Cæsar Rodney, of Delaware, was Chairman. This committee on February 17, 1804, made a report in favor of the prayer of the memorial and offered the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the sixth article of the Ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery within the said Territory, be suspended in a qualified manner for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of slaves born in the United States, from any of the individual States; provided that such individual State does not permit the importation of slaves from foreign countries. And provided, further, that the descendants of all such slaves shall, if males, be free at the age of twenty-five years, and if females, at the age of twenty-one years."
This resolution failed to pass and the subject came up again in February, 1806, when another report was made in Congress in favor of the tempo-
rary suspension of the prohibition of slavery on the ground that the people of Indiana universally desired such suspension. At the session of the Legislature of Indiana Territory in the winter of 1806-07, resolu- tions on the subject were adopted and presented to Con- gress. Another committee of Congress reported in favor of the suspension of the slavery clause of the or- dinance for ten years, but the measure was again lost. A committee of the United States Senate re- ported on November 13, 1807, that it was not expe- dient to grant the request of the Indiana Legislature.
To avoid the restriction in the ordinance against slavery, the Territorial Legislature passed an act Sep- tember 17, 1807, entitled "An Act concerning the introduction of negroes and mulattoes into this Terri- tory." It legalized the introduction into the Territory of persons of color who were slaves in the States or Territories by requiring the owner or possessor to enter into indentures with his slave, the latter stipu- lating to serve as an indentured servant for a certain period, at the end of which he was to become free. A record of the indenture was required to be made in the Court of Commou Pleas within thirty days after the introduction of the slave or slaves. Children under fifteen years of age were required to serve their former owner or possessor, if malos, until the age of thirty-five years; if females, until the age of thirty- two years. Many slave-holders in Virginia, Ken- tucky, and other slave States, desiring to manumit their slaves, migrated to Indiana and availed them- selves of the privileges of this law. In Indiana slaves before the expiration of their term of servitude were termed under the law "indentured servants." This form of servitude was doue away with in Indiana by judicial decisions and in Illinois by a clause in the State constitution. Had it not been for the firmness of Congress in resisting what seemed to be a popular demand, Indiana might have been a slave State. The demand that slave-holders who owned land in Indiana should be permitted to employ their slaves in clearing the forests from their own lands seemed just and reasonable to many persons who were not in favor of the extension of slavery.
THE WAR OF 1812.
At the commencement of the war of 1812 Indi- ana Territory had a white population of about 30,000 souls, chiefly in the southern portions of the Territory. All the settlements in Indiana as well as those in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Illinois were much exposed to Indiau depredations. The Government had hesitated to employ force against the Indians in Indiana lest all the tribes of the Northwest should be combined against the United States in case of a war with England, which was imminent. Although Gov.
Nathaniel Hamilton
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
Harrison wrote a few months after the battle of Tip- pecanoe, "The frontiers never enjoyed more perfect security," yet as soon as hostilities between the United States and England commenced there were gloomy fears of the Indians all along the western frontiers, which rose to universal consternation when the intelligence was spread abroad that the whole of our army under Hull, with Detroit and Michigan, had been surrendered to the combined British forces, commanded by Brock and Tecumseh, leaving our entire outposts in the Northwest almost defenseless. Three points needed protection, Fort Wayne and the Maumee, the Wabash, and the Illinois. The troops intended for Fort Wayne were to be put under Gen. Winchester, a Revolutionary officer residing in Ten- nessee, but little known to the frontier men; those for the Wabash were to be under Harrison, whom the bat- tle of Tippecanoe had given a military reputation in the West; those for the Illinois were to be under Edwards, Governor of Illinois Territory. Such were the intentions of the Government, but the action of the authorities of Kentucky frustrated them and for- tunately led to the elevation of the Governor of Indi- ana to the post of Commander-in-chief of all the forces of the West and Northwest.
Gov. Harrison while at Cincinnati received from Gov. Scott a request to repair without delay to Frank- fort. Arriving at the capital of Kentucky, he found a large number of influential citizens of Kentucky assembled, some to witness the inauguration of Gov. Shelby and others by invitation of Gov. Scott, the retiring Governor. A grand council had been held upon the course to be adopted for the defense of the Northwestern frontier, and it had been determined to request Gov. Harrison to take command of the troops on the march and to appoint him a Major-Gen- eral in the Kentucky Militia. He accepted the com- mission, took the oath required by the laws of Ken- tucky and in a few hours was on horseback to over- take the troops and assume command. Gen. Harri- son afterward said that he looked upon this as the most honorable appointment he had ever received. A great State, already distinguished for the talents of her sons, some of whom were Revolutionary officers, placed the Governor of another Territory in command of her troops for a difficult and dangerous expedition. On September 17, 1812, Harrison was appointed by the Government Commander of the Army of the West.
After the surrender of Detroit and Fort Dearborn on the site of Chicago, Forts Wayne and Harrison, in Indiana, were the only military stations on the north- western frontier in the hands of the Americans. These were re-enforced. The defeat of Hull and the victories of the British and Indians in the Northwest awakened throughout Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky a determina-
tion to wipe out the disgrace which had stained our arms, and to avert the desolation that threatened the frontier. In August several regiments which had been raised in Kentucky were directed to the aid of Indiana and Illinois. Vincennes was made the prin- cipal rendezvous, and Gen. Hopkins was appointed Commander of the troops on the Wabash. It was arranged that Gen. Hopkins, with between four and five thousand mounted riflemen, should move up the Wabash to Fort Harrison, cross over to the Illinois country, destroy all the Indian villages on the Wabash, march across the prairies to the head-waters of the Sangamon and Vermillion Rivers, and then form a junction with the Illinois rangers under Gov. Edwards, and sweep over the villages on the Illinois River. On September 29, Hopkins wrote to the Governor of Kentucky: "My present intention is to attack every Indian settlement on the Wabash, and to destroy their property, then fall back upon the Illinois; and I trust, in all the next month, to perform much service. Seri- ous opposition I hardly apprehend, although I intend to be prepared for it." In accordance with this deter- mination, Hopkins set out from Fort Harrison with this raw militia-men on October 15, and marched some eighty or ninety miles in the Indian country without obtaining sight of the enemy, when he was compelled to return on account of the insubordination among his men and some of the officers.
Deeply chagrined at the failure of his expedition, Gen. Hopkins did not return to Kentucky, but remained at Fort Harrison to await the raising of another and better disciplined army. On the 11th of November he set out from Fort Harrison with about 1,200 men on an expedition against the Indians of the upper Wabash. Lieut .- Col. Butler, with seven boats loaded with supplies and provisions, at the same time ascended the river. On the 19th the army arrived at the Prophet's town, and 300 men were sent to surprise the Indian towns ou Ponce Passu Creek, but the villages were found evacuated. On the 20th a Kickapoo town containing 120 cabins was burned, and all the winter provisions of corn in the vicinity destroyed. The cold weather of winter was rapidly coming on, many of the men were, as the General said, " shoeless and shirtless," and as the ice in the river began to obstruct the passage, it was deemed prudent to return. The conduct of this detachment contrasts favorably with Hopkins' first army.
The military system under which the war of 1812 was carried on would by no means have answered the purposes of the Government in the greater war of the Rebellion. The terms of service for which the men were called out were generally short, not exceeding six months. In many cases the raw militia-men had scarcely learned to drill as soldiers when their term
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
of service expired, and they were succeeded by fresh, untrained recruits. The West, and especially the region of the Maumee and Lake Erie, was the prin- cipal theater of the war. In many parts of the United States there was much opposition to the war, but the pioneers of Indiana Territory were enthusiastically in favor of the declaration of war and its vigorous pros- ecution. Although the population was not large, in every vicissitude of the contest the conduct of the people of Indiana was patriotic and honorable. They volunteered with alacrity, and endured the hardships of the campaigns on the swamps of the Maumee and the St. Marys with patience and cheerfulness.
Peace was made with Great Britain by the treaty at Ghent, December 24, 1814. The Indians, deprived of their British ally and having lost their great leader, Tecumseh, renounced all hope of arresting the advance of the white man. Tribe after tribe during the year 1815 entered into treaties of peace with the United States and acknowledged themselves under the protection of the Government. Confidence was restored to the frontier settlements and immigra- tion again began to push into the forests and prairies. The campaigns of the rangers and mounted infantry who had traversed the rich and delightful lands along the Wabash, the Sangamon and the Illinois, served as explorations of new and fertile countries and opened the way to thousands of pioneers and the formation of new settlements. Although large numbers passed westward to the prairies of Illinois, yet Indiana re- tained a large share of the rapid immigration. From 1810 to 1820 Indiana increased in population from 24,520 to 147,178, an increase of 500 per cent, a rate of growth at that time unoxampled in the growth of American States.
INDIANA ADMITTED INTO THE UNION.
In December, 1815, one year after the close of the war, the Territorial Legislature petitioned Congress
for the privilege of forming a State constitution and admission into the Union. A bill for these purposes was passed in April, 1816; soon after a convention met at Corydon and on June 29 adopted the first con- stitution of Indiana. This constitution was formed at a time when there was a lull of party violence and when the era of political good feeling prevailed. On December 11, 1816, the State was admitted as a sov- ereign member of the Union. Jonathan Jennings, who had long represented the Territory, as Delegate in Congress and had presided over the convention which formed the constitution, was the first Governor. In Jannary, 1821, the Legislature located the seat of government at Indianapolis, and at the same time appointed Commissioners to lay off a town at the site selected and gave it its present name, formed by add- ing the Greek word polis, meaning a city, to the name of the State.
PROGRESS OF THE NEW STATE.
In the decade from 1820 to 1830 the sales of gov- ernment lands in the State were rapid, amounting to more than three and one-half million acres; and the population increased 133 per cent. From 1830 to 1840 the population was doubled. In 1833 the Wa- bash & Erie canal was commenced; in 1834 the State Bank with ten branches was incorporated. The result of these undertakings and others into which the State entered was a debt of over $14,000,000 and a general bankruptcy which retarded the progress and development of the State. In 1846 measures were taken to pay the accumulated interest"on the State debt; in 1850 a new constitution was adopted, and soon the whole economy of the State was changed and prosperity returned. The State is the smallest of the Western States, having an area of 33,809 square miles, but in population it ranks sixth in the members of the Union.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
CHAPTER II.
THE INDIANS OF INDIANA AND EARLY EXPEDITIONS AGAINST THEM.
NAMES OF THE TRIBES IN INDIANA-TIIE MIAMI CONFEDERACY-LITTLE TURTLE QUOTED-INDIAN VIL- LAGES-INDIAN AGRICULTURE-MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES-ANTOINE GAMELIN'S MISSION- THE INDIANS DEMAND THE OHIO FOR TIIEIR BOUNDARY-COL. LOCIIRY'S DISASTROUS DEFEAT-TREATY OF FORT FINNEY-GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S EXPEDITION AGAINST TIIE WABASII INDIANS-GEN. CHARLES SCOTT'S EXPEDITION-COL. JAMES WILKINSON'S EXPEDITION-GEN. JOSIAII HARMAR'S EXPEDITION-ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT-WAYNE'S VICTORY.
"THE Indian tribes resident within the bonnds of Indiana when the first settlements by the whites were commenced were the Miamis, the Shaw- nees, the Delawares, the Wyandots, and Pottawatto- mies. The Weas, Eel Rivers, and Piankashaws, also found in the State, were really branches of the Miamis. In the treaty at Greenville Gen. Wayne recognized the Weas and Eel Rivers as distinct tribes from the Miamis in order that they might receive a large share of the money which was stipulated to be paid by the United States. Gen. Wayne thought it just that the Miamis and their allied tribes should receive more of the annuities promised by the Government than they would be entitled to as a single tribe, because he recognized it as a fact that the country ceded by the treaty was really their property. The Indians were so frequently at war with each other and so often moved from one region to another that it is difficult to locate them and impossible to fix definite bounds to their possessions. According to the map of Indiana giving the Indian names of rivers, towns, etc., prepared by the late Daniel Hough, of Wayne County, and published in the Indiana Geo- logical Report of 1882, the northern portion of the State is assigned to the Pottawattomies; the Wabash and Maumee valleys to the Miamis; the head-waters of both branches of White River to the Delawares; the south-eastern part of the State along the Ohio to the Shawnees, and west of them the Wyandots.
Of these tribes the Miamis were at one time by far the most numerous and powerful. Their territory embraced all of Ohio west of the Scioto, all of Indi- ana and part of Illinois. They had numerous villages on the Scioto, the head-waters of the two Miamis, the Maumee and throughout the whole course of the Wabash as far down as the town of Brushwood, now Vincennes. Before the arrival of the whites west of the mountains, it is believed that the Miamis could assemble a larger number of warriors than any other aboriginal nation of North America. The ravages
of the small-pox had largely reduced their numbers before the commencement of the Revolutionary war.
Little Turtle, the famous Miami chief, during the negotiations which preceded the treaty of Green- ville, spoke with pride and yet with sadness of the former greatness and dominion of his tribe. His words are preserved in the American State Papers: "I hope you will pay attention to what I now say to you. You have pointed out to us the boundary line between the Indians and the United States; but I now take the liberty to inform you, that that line cuts off from the Indians a large portion of country which has been enjoyed by my forefathers time immemorial, without molestation or dispute. The prints of my ancestor's houses are everywhere to be seen in this portion. It is well known to all my brothers present that my forefather kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence he extended his lines to the head-waters of Scioto; from thence to its mouth ; from thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash; from thence to Chicago on Lake Michigan. At this place I first saw my elder brothers, the Shawnees. I have now informed you of the bound- aries of the Miami nation, where the Great Spirit placed my forefather a long time ago and charged him not to sell or part with his lands, but to preserve them for his posterity. This charge has been handed down to me. I was surprised to find my other brothers differed so much from me on this subject; for their conduct would lead one to suppose that the Great Spirit and their forefathers had not given them the charge that was given to me; but on the contrary had directed them to sell their lands to any white man who wore a hat, as soon as he should ask it of them."
Little Turtle took pride in the antiquity of his race, as well as in the extent of territory controlled by his ancestors. In 1797 this Miami chief met Volney in Philadelphia. The French philosopher explained to the savage orator the theory that the
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
Indian race had descended from the dark-skinned Tartars, and, by a map, showed the supposed com- munication between Asia and America. Little Tur- tle replied: "Why should not these Tartars, who resemble us, have descended from the Indians?"
INDIAN VILLAGES.
Long before the first settlements of the English- speaking whites in Indiana the habits of the Indians had been modified by their contact with the Euro- peans. The traders had supplied them with fire- arms, scalping-knives and iron tomahawks. They had iron pots and brass kettles for cooking and sugar making. They had learned to like strong drink, and wore given to great excesses in oating and drinking. Many of the inhabitants of some of their more important villages were French.
The Wea Prairie or plains a few miles below the mouth of Wea Creek, and not far from the site of Lafayette, contained some of the most extensive improvements ever made by the Indians within the limits of the State. On the opposite side of the Wabash was the Indian town Ouiatenon, or Wah-wee- ah-tenon in the Indian tongue. When it was de- stroyed by Col. Wilkinson in 1791 he found there a number of French books, letters and documents, showing that the place was in close connection with Detroit. For richness of soil and beauty of natural scenery few places in the West can compare with the Wea plains.
The town of Tippecanoe, or Kathtippacamunck, on the north side of the Wabash, at the mouth of the Tippecanoe, was also a celebrated Indian place. In 1791 the village consisted of about 120 houses, eighty of which were shingle-roofed. The best houses belonged to the French traders, whose gardens and improvements round the town are described as delightful, and indeed not a little wonderful. There was a tavern with cellars, bar and public and private rooms; the whole was marked by considerable order, and evinced a small degree of civilization. The town of the Eel River tribe was scattered along the Eel River for about three iniles, on an uneven scrubby- oak barren, intersected alternately with bogs almost impenetrable, and impervious thickets of plum, hazel and black-jack. Col. Wilkinson found the head chief at this place guarding a number of prisoners and families at work digging a root which they substi- tuted in place of the potato.
INDIAN AGRICULTURE.
The agriculture of the Indians in Indiana, as well as in most other parts of North America, was confined chiefly to the growing of corn and beans, to which potatoes were afterward added. The extent of
their corn-fields on the Wabash and the Maumee was greater than is generally supposed. A journal of Gen. Wayne's campaign, kept by George Will, under the date of August 8, 1794, says: " We have marched four or five miles in corn-fields down the Auglaize, and there are not less than 1,000 acres of corn around the town." The same journal describes the immense corn-fields, numerous vegetable patches aud old apple trees found along the banks of the Maumee from its mouth to Ft. Wayne, and discloses the fact that the army obtained its bread and vegetables for eight days, while building Ft. Defiance, from the surrounding corn and potato fields.
One of the chief objects of the military expedi- tions against the Indian villages was the destruction of their corn, which would compel their warriors to devote more of their time to hunting as a means of subsistence, and thus prevent marauding expeditions against the white settlements. Gen. Harmar, in his unsuccessful expedition in 1790, burned and destroyed nearly 20,000 bushels of corn in the vicinity of Ft. Wayne. Gen. Charles Scott, in his expedition against the Wabash Indians, destroyed a considerable amount of corn about the 1st of June, 1791. In August of the same year Col. Wilkinson, who marched against the saine villages, found that the Indians had re-planted their corn, and it was in high cultivation, several fields being well plowed. Wil- kinson reported that besides burning a respectable Kickapoo village, he had cut down at least 430 acres of corn, chietly in the milk, and that the Indians, left without houses, home or provisions, must cease to war, and would find active employment in subsisting their squaws and children during the coming winter.
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER.
Gen. William H. Harrison speaks of the moral and intellectual qualities of the Indians of the North- west in his discourse before the Ohio Historical and Philosophical Society on the "Aboriginees of the Ohio Valley," as follows:
" The Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees and Mia- mis were much superior to the other members of the confederacy. The Little Turtle of the Miami tribo was one of this description, as was the Blue Jacket, a Shawneo chief. I think it probable that Tecumseh possessed more integrity than any other of the chiefs who attained to much distinction; but he violated a solemn engagement, which he had freely contracted, and there are strong suspicions of his having formed a treacherous design, which an accident only pre- vented him from accomplishing. Similar instances are, however, to be found in the conduct of great men in the history of almost all civilized nations. But these instances are more than counterbalanced by the
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. HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
number of individuals of high moral character which were to be found among the principal and secondary chiefs of the four tribes above mentioned. This was particularly the case with Tarhe, or the Crane, the great sachem of the Wyandots, and Black Hoof, the chief of the Shawnees. Many instances might be adduced to show the possession on the part of these men of an uncommon degree of disinterestedness and magnanimity, and strict performance of their engage- ments under circumstances which would be consid- ered by many as justifying evasion.
"By many they are supposed to be stoics, who willingly encounter deprivations. The very reverse is the fact. If they belong to either of the classes of philosophers which prevailed in the declining ages of Greece and Rome, it is to that of the Epicureans. For no Indian will forego an enjoyment or suffer an inconvenience if he can avoid it, but under peculiar circumstances, when, for instance, he is stimulated by some strong passion. But even the gratification of this he is ready to postpone whenever its accom- plishment is attended with unlooked-for danger or unexpected hardships. Hence their military opera- tions were always feeble, their expeditions few and far between, and much the greater number abandoned without an efficient stroke, from whim, caprice, or an aversion to encounter difficulties." He adds : "When, however, evil comes which he cannot avoid, then he will call up all the spirit of the man and meet his fate, however hard, like the best Roman of them all."
ANTOINE GAMELIN'S MISSION.
While Gov. St. Clair was engaged in organizing the western counties of the Northwest Territory in 1790, he made a praiseworthy effort to conciliate the hostile tribes on the Wabash. Antoine Gamelin, an intelligent French merchant of Vincennes, was em- ployed to carry the messages of the Government to the Indians, and to acertain their disposition and sentiments. Antoine traveled across the State and visited all the tribes along the Wabash and as far east as the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's, at the site of Fort Wayne. His journal, which for- tunately has been preserved, gives much information concerning the Indians of Indiana in the earlier period of the history of the Northwest Territory.
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