USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > History of Fort Wayne, from the earliest known accounts of this point, to the present period. Embracing an extended view of the aboriginal tribes of the Northwest, including, more especially, the Miamies with a sketch of the life of General Anthony Wyane; including also a lengthy biography of pioneer settlers of Fort Wayne. Also an account of the manufacturing, mercantile, and railroad interests of Fort Wayne and vicinity > Part 11
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On the 16th of May, Sandusky fell ; on the 1st of June, Ouiatenon was captured ; Michillimackinac on 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 narration of Parkman, the neighboring little posts of Le Bœuf and Venango shared its fate, while, farther southward, at the forks of the Ohio, a host of Delaware and Shawnoe warriors were gathering around Fort Pitt, and blood and havoc reigned along the whole frontier.
Father Jonois, a Jesuit missionary, had reached Detroit and conveyed to the garrison a letter from Captain . Etherington, at Michillimackinac, giving an account of the capture of that post. Soon after, a letter from Lieut. Jenkins, at Oniatenon, telling of the capture of that post, was also received by Major Gladwyn. " Close upon these tidings," says the account, as given by Parkman, " came the news that Fort Miami (at this point, Fort Wayne) was taken. This Post, " continues the narration, * * * ' was commanded by Ensign Holmes; and here I cannot but remark," says the same writer, "on the forlorn situation of these officers, isolated in the wilderness, hundreds of miles, in some instances,
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
from any congenial associates, separated from every human being except the rude soldiers under their command, and the white or red savages who ranged the surrounding woods."
The Miamies at this point, had been deeply embroiled in the great conspiracy, and the region of " Ke-ki-ong-a" resounded with many a savage yell of hatred towards the. English.
Stratagem ever formed a part of Indian warfare and savage character. By its skillful employment, the red man as readily looked for success in war, as, with his rifle or bow and arrow, by deliberate and steady aim, he sought to bring down the wild game of the forest.
Holmes had long suspected the designs of the Indians, and, for that reason, had, for some months, been somewhat vigilant in his observations of their conduct, more especially after the discovery in the neighborhood of the bloody belt, already referred to. But savage ingenuity and deception were striving hard, and Holmes, seemed destined to fall a victim to the perfidy of the conspirators, white and red, prowling about the village and neighborhood.
The 27th of May had come. All nature was radiant again with the beauties of spring. The great, expanding foliage of the forest waved gracefully over and mainly shut out from the broad blaze of a vivifying sunlight, the beautiful blosoms and sweet-scented wild flowers that grew profusely beneath the tall majestic oaks, maple, and sycamores, and countless other and smaller trees, that lined the margins of our beautiful rivers, and mainly covered the vast regions of soil, where now, under a new reign of civilization and human progress, the same great sun daily reveals to the civil- ized cye, innumerable fields and meadows; beautiful towns and cities ; fine orchards ; and, each season, vast numbers of blooming and fruitful gardens.
An Indian girl,* with whom Holmes had for some time been intimate, and in whom he placed much confidence, by compulsion on the part of the conspirators, came into the fort and told Holmes that there was a sick squaw lying in a wigwam not far from the fort, and expressed a desire that he should go and see her. The fatal hour had come. Unsuspectingly, and with a view to serve and perhaps relieve the supposed sick squaw, (knowing perhaps something of medicine ; for it would seem, had there been a sur-
*Mrs. Suttenfield, one of the early mothers of Fort Wayne, living here since 1814, informed the writer that she became acquainted with this woman in 1815; that she and her family lived neighbors to her for several years. At the period of Mrs. S.'s acquaintance with the woman, she had a son, a man of some years. On one occasion, being at the hut of the woman, the man, her son, came in intoxicated, and somewhat noisy, and the woman, by way of an apology to Mrs. S., remarked that he was a lit- tle SQUABBY, or drunk ; and concluded with the remark that he was a SAGINASH, (Eng- lish) ; and from the age of the man, the inference is drawn that he was a son of Holmes. After leaving here, the women took up her residence at Raccoon Village. She lived to a very old age, and was known to many of the early settlers of Ft. Wayne. Mrs. Suttenfield's recollections of the account she received are, that the Indians at the time of the conspiracy, (probably induced by Godefroi and his associates) forced her to act as she did towards Holmes, which is quite probable.
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BETRAYAL AND DEATH OF ENSIGN HOLMES.
geon in the fort, he would have been more likely to have at least been called on by the Ensign than for Holmes to have gone him- self,) preceded by the Indian girl, he was soon without the enclo- sure of the garrison, and advancing with cautious steps in the di- rection of the hut wherein lay the object of his philanthropie mis- sion. Nearing a cluster of huts, which are described* to have been situated at the edge of an open space, " hidden from view by an intervening spur of the woodland," the squaw directed him to the hut wherein lay the supposed invalid. Another instant,-a few more paces, --- and the sudden crack of two rifles from behind the wigwam in view, felled Holmes to the earth, and echoed over the little garrison, startling the guards and inmates into momentary surprise and wonder. Amid the confusion, the sergeant unthought- edly passed without the fort to ascertain the cause of the rifle shots. But a few paces were gained, when, with loud, triumphant shouts, he was sprung upon by 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 move- ment without, when a Canadian, of the name of Godfroi, (or Godfri) accompanied by " two other white men," stepped defiantly forth, and demanded a surrender of the fort, with the assurance to the soldiers that, if at once complied with, their lives would be spared ; but, refusing, they should " all be killed without mercy."t
The aspect before them was now sadly embarrassing. Without a commander-without hope, and full of fear, to hesitate, seemed only to make death the more certain, and the garrison gate soon swung back upon its hinges; the surrender was complete, and English rule, at this point, and for a time, at least, had ceased to exercise its power.
More than a hundred and four years have now rolled away since this eventful hour; and the placid and beautiful St. Joseph, (near which the fort stood), with its high embankments and overhanging boughs, sweeps as noiselessly and unpretendingly by the scene, as when the fort, with its bastions and palisades, overlooked its waters, and the Indian huts, with their dusky inmates, dotted the adjacent localities ; while, in the distance, appears a beautiful city, with nu- merous tall spires and handsome edifices, covering more than two thousand acres of ground, and containing nearly thirty thousand inhabitants, whose busy tread, mechanical industry, active pur- suits, and habits of thought, tell of a glorious, free, and happy Future. In silent awe, indifferent alike of the Past, the Present, and the Coming Time, the long line of buildings, gazing compla- cently, as it were, upon the scene of the ancient garrison, and the site of the Indian village, seem to say : "Whither and why have
*In the MSS. of the " Loss of the Posts." See His. of Consp. Pontiac, pages 244 and 945.
+One statement is, that they were all killed ; but I have been unable to find its verification in any of the printed accounts ! have examined.
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
you vanished ? Where are the years that have gone by? And why are WE here ?" And the great clock, near the center, (the Court-house) looking from all sides, momentarily responds :
" PROGRESS ! - CIVILIZATION !- ONWARD ! "
CHAPTER VII.
" These forest-isles are full of story :-- Here many a one of old renown First sought the meteor-light of glory, And 'mid its transient flash went down. * * And all the bright and teeming Present Thrills with the great and coenescent Past."
W. D. GALLAGHER.
A return to the beleagured garrison at Detroit-Aid hourly expected-Anxiety of the inmates-Pontiac solicits aid from the Canadians-Relief approaches the fort- "Broadside" from a schooner-Pottawattamies and Wyandotts sue for peace-A calm comes over the troubled waters-Fight at "bloody bridge"-New recruits to the army of Pontiac-Indians board the schooner "Gladwyn"-A panic-Es- cape of the vessel-The siege abandoned by the main body of the tribes-Pontiac and his tribe left alone to carry on the siege-Pontiac abandons the siege-Starts for the Maumec-A hard winter-Much suffering-Great council at Niagara-A new campaign against the western tribes-Bradstreet relieves the besieged fort- Makes a treaty-Speech of Wasson-Captain Morris-He arrives at the camp of Pontiac-Rough treatment-Escapes-Reaches this point-Miamies want to kill him-Is lodged in old fort Miami-Taken across the St. Joseph-His final release and return to Detroit-Bradstreet's movements-Bouquet penetrates the Indian country-The captives-Indians subdued-Croghan's visit to the west -- His cap- ture-Meets Pontiac-Couneil at Ouiatenon-Croghan's return-Visit to this point -His journal-His arrival at Detroit-Holds a council there-The great council at Oswego-Pontiac attends-English rule again in the west-Pontiac visits St. Louis-His death.
ETURNING again to Detroit, we find the Indians still active in their efforts to capture the garrison, and all within the pal- isades of the fort anxiously expecting the arrival of vessels with men and provisions. Pontiac had called a council with the Canadians, and made a strong speech, and again impor- tuned them to join him in the overthrow of the English. The Canadians had refused, on the ground that the French King and
HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
the English had signed a paper stipulating certain bounds, that then belonged to the English ; and being under English rule, the French King having told them to remain still for a time, until he could come to their relief, to join the Indians would be to bring the wrath of the King upon both the Canadians and the Indians. "But, my brothers," said the Canadian speaker, at the council with Pontice, " you must first untie the knot with which our father, the King, has bound us ;" and, though a few reckless characters among the Canadians are said to have joined the Indians at the time, in compliance with Pontiac's desire, yet the effort was nevertheless a failure. Pontiac was defeated in his designs, and was destined soon to meet with utter failure in his effort to capture the garrison. On the 19th of June, Gladwyn had received news to the effect that a " vessel had been seen near Turkey Island, not far distant from Detroit; and the anxiety for her arrival became very great. On the 23d the vessel began to near the point of landing, opposite the fort, and the Indians could be seen in the distance preparing to make an attack upon her; which induced Gladwyn to fire two cannon shots, as well to put the Indians to flight as to let the vessel know all was yet safe within the fort. Having encountered some resistence on the part of the Indians, and desiring to move with care, several days now elapsed before the vessel succeeded in reaching the place of landing, beside another schooner that had for some time previously been lying at anchor there. Bringing a supply of provision and a number of fresh recruits, the new schoon- ers had readily become objects of no little aversion to the wild assailants. On one occasion, shortly after the arrival of the last vessel, thinking to assail the Indians with a few broadsides from some point in the stream, " Gladwyn himself, with several of his officers, had embarked on board the smaller vessel, while a fresh breeze was blowing from the northwest. The Indians on the bank stood watching her as she tacked from shore to shore, and pressed their hands against their mouths, in amazement, thinking that magic power alone could enable her thus to make her way against wind and current. Making a long reach from the opposite shore, she came on directly towards the camp of Pontiac, her sails swelling, her masts leaning over till the black muzzles of her guns almost touched the river. The Indians watched her in astonish- ment. On she came, till their fierce hearts exulted in the idea that she would run ashore within their clutches, when, suddenly a shout of command was heard on board ; her progress was arrested; she rose upright, and her sails flapped and fluttered as if tearing loose from their fastenings. Steadily she came round, broadside to the shore ; then, leaning once more to the wind, bore away gal- lantly on the other tack. She did not go far. The wondering spectators, quite at a loss to understand her movements, soon heard the coarse rattling of her cables as the anchor dragged it out, and saw her furling her vast white wings. As they looked unsuspect-
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INDIANS BOARD A SCHOONER-THEIR FLIGHT.
ingly on, a puff of smoke was emitted from her side ; a long report followed ; then another, and another ; and the balls, rushing over their heads, flew through the midst of their camp, and tore wildly among the thick forest trees beyond. All was terror and conster- nation. The startled warriors bounded away on all sides; the squaws snatched up their children, and fled screaming; and, with a general chorus of yells, the whole encampment scattered in such haste, that little damage was done, except knocking to pieces their frail cabins of bark."*
This procedure being followed by similar efforts, the Indians now sought to destroy their new opposers by means of floating rafts of fire ; but all to no great purpose, as the vessels always managed to escape their contact. And thus the besiegers, with occa- sional new recruits, continued, in various ways, until the middle of July, when some Pottawattamies and Wyandotts sued for peace, which, under certain considerations, being granted, but little of in- terest is said to have occurred until the end of July, when the gar- rison was again reinforced by the arrival, after a sharp encounter with the Indians, (those who had recently made peace), of twenty- two barges, with about two hundred and eighty men, including " several small cannon, and a fresh supply of provisions and ammu- nition."
The new body of troops, under command of Captain Dalzell, a brave officer, who was killed soon after his arrival, were not long idle. On the 31st of July they moved out with a view of silently attacking the Indians at a certain point, afterwards known as the " bloody bridge." The Indians heard of the movement, and lay in ambush. The fight was a short but bloody one for the English, loosing, as they did, about fifty-nine men, killed and wounded, their captain among the number ; and the Indians some fifteen or twenty, which greatly elated the latter, who sent the news to the tribes in every direction ; and " fresh warriors," wrote Gladwyn, soon begau to "arrive almost every day ;" until "upwards of a thousand" were thought by him to be engaged in the attack under Pontiac. With a few skirmishes, now and then, nothing of special interest occurred until the night of September the 4th, when the schooner "Gladwyn", returning to Niagara, was attacked by the Indians, not far from the fort, as she lay anchored in the stream, having been detained for the want of sufficient wind. The Indians, some three hundred in number, the night being densely dark, dropped silently down with the current, and were unobserved until near the vessel, when a broadside, with musketry, was opened upon them, of whoni many were killed; but they soon began to board the vessel. "The master of the vessel was killed ; several of the crew were disabled; and the assailants were leaping over the bulwarks, when Jacobs, the mate, called out to blow up the schooner," which "saved her and her crew" -- some of the Wyandotts, having comprehended "the *Parkman,
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
meaning of his words," giving " the alarm to their companions, in- stantly causing every Indian to leap overboard in a panic, and the whole were seen diving and swimming off in all directions to escape the threatened explosion."* The schooner being thus freed, and the Indians fearing to make further effort, "on the following morn- ing she sailed for the fort," and reached Niagara in safety.
At length, towards the close of September, hearing that a large force was coming to relieve the garrison, and being weary of their labors, the Indians, with the exception of Pontiac and his tribe, the Ottawas, began to sue for peace, and a truce be- ing granted them, they soon departed from the scene of the besieg- ed fort, and took to the forest to provide food for their families and obtain the furs and hides of the animals so long left unmolested.
The Ottawas, with Pontiac, being now left alone to carry on the siege, kept up the attack till the last of October, when, learning from the French that a lasting peace had been made between the French and the English, and that aid from their French father, the King, was now no longer to be hoped for, " in rage and mortifica- tion," he loft Detroit, and, with a number of his chiefs, "re- paired to the River Maumee, with the design of stirring up the Indians in that quarter, and renewing hostilities in the spring."t
The winter proved a hard one; and the Indians suffered much from cold and hunger. The siege had exhausted their ammuni- tion ; the fur-trade having been interfered with, left them without many articles they had previously been in the habit of enjoying. But before the cold had spent itself, Sir William Johnson had dis- patched messengers to many tribes, inviting them to a great peace- council, at Niagara, which was readily responded to; and some two thousand warriors, were soon gathered about Niagara to meet and talk with Sir William.
There were yet, however, many who were still much embittered in their feelings towards the English, and would not attend the council.
The "Menomenies, Ottawas, Ojibwas, Mississaugas, from the north, Caughnawas, from Canada, even Wyandotts, from Detroit, with a host of Iroquois ;" while "the Sacs, Foxes, and the Winne- bagoes had sent their deputies; and also the Osages, a tribe be- yond the Mississippi, had their representatives in the general meeting."
The attitude of many of the tribes of the northwest, had early superinduced a vigorous movement on the part of the English gov- ernment for their chastisement.
The plan of this campaign embraced two armies,-one to be led by Colonel Bouquet, and the other by Colonel. Bradstreet, the former to move towards Fort Pitt, and to the country of the hos- tile Shawanoes and Delawares, along the Scioto and Muskingum rivers ; while Bradstreet was to push forward to Detroit.
+Parkman. +Ibid.
THE SIEGE ABANDONED BY PONTIAC.
Bradstreet had preceeded Bouquet, and being of a most ambi- tious turn of mind, or at least quite anxious to do as much of the work as possible, met some of the hostile tribes, on his march who, to delay the action of the army, sought for peace, and he concluded treaties with them, on certain stipulated grounds, a matter that be- longed entirely to Sir William Johnson. Supposing that he had done about all the work, (though the Indians were then menacing the frontier settlements,) sent word to Bouquet to that effect; and " while Bradstreet's troops were advancing upon the lakes, or lying idle in their camps at Sandusky, another expedition (Bouquet's) was in progress southward, with abler conduct and a more anspi- cious result."*
On the 26th of August, Bradstreet reached the long-besieged fort of Detroit, which was a most liappy moment to Gladwyn and his little corps of soldiers within the garrison, who had been more or less beset by the beseigers up to that time,-the Indians, having resumed hostilities, in the spring, as proposed by Pontiac-a period of upwards of fifteen months.
Before quiting Sandusky, Bradstreet had commissioned and sent one Captain Morris, an Englishman, accompanied by a number of Canadians and friendly Indians, as attendants, towards the country of the Illinois to treat with and bring the Indians of that portion of the west to friendly terms.
Pontiac and his followers, sullen and intractable, had left De- troit, and again taken up his abode, for the time, on the Maumee; a few miles below the present site of Fort Wayne, whence he is said to have " sent a haughty defiance to the English commander" at Detroit ; and many of the Indians about Detroit had gone with Pontiac, leaving there but a few remnant tribes, who, for the most part, exhibiting a desire for peace, Bradstreet soon gave them an opportunity to express their sense of feeling in this relation, and a council was held with this view, at that point, on the 7th of Sep- tember.
Upon the condition,-which they are said to have happily not understood at all, and which, not understanding, they readily ac- cepted,-" that they become subjects of the King of England," -- a treaty of peace was concluded with them.
At this council were present portions of the Miamies, Pottawat- tamies, Ottawas, Ojibwas, Sacs, and Wyandotts. Said Wasson, an Ojibwa chief, to the English commander, on this occasion :
" My Brother, last year God forsook ns. God has now opened our eyes, and we desire to be heard. It was God's will you had such fine weather to come to us. It is God's will also that there should be peace and tranquility over the face of the earth and of the waters"-openly acknowledging that "the tribes he repre-
*Parkman.
HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
sented were justly chargeable with the war, and deeply regreted their absence."
But let us look after Morris and his companions, who are now rowing, as rapidly as their strength and the current will admit, up the beautiful Maumee.
Ascending this stream in a canoe, runs the narration,* he soon approached the camp of Pontiac, who, as we have seen, had with- drawn to the banks of this river, with his chosen warriors. While yet at some distance, Morris and his party were met by about two hundred Indians, who treated him with great violence, while they offered a friendly welcome to the Iroquois and Canadian attend- ants. Accompanied by this elamorous escort, all moved together towards the camp. At its outskirts stood Pontiac himself. He met the ambassador with a scowling brow, and refused to offer his hand. "The English are liars;" was his first fierce salutation. He then displayed a letter addressed to himself, and purporting to have been written by the King of France, containing, as Morris declared, " the grossest calumnies which the most ingenious malice could · devise, to incense the Indians against the English." The old story had not been forgotten. "Your French Father," said the writer, " is neither dead nor asleep ; he is already on his way, with sixty great ships, to revenge himself on the English, and drive them out of America." It is evident, concluded the account, "that the let- ter had emenated from a French officer, or more probably a French fur-trader, who, for his own aggrandizment, sought to arouse the antipathy of the natives to the detriment and further encroachment of the English ; and Bradstreet, for not having brought the Indians to a state of subjection before his departure from Sandusky, is in no little degrec censured for the result of Morris' subsequent efforts and harsh treatment in meeting with Pontiac; for the fact of so many of the Indians being held as prisoners by the English, at De- troit, even acted as a powerful check to the Ottawas in their action towards Morris.
"The Indians led me," says Morris,f " up to a person, who stood advanced before two slaves, (prisoners of the Panis nation, taken in war and kept in slavery,) who had arms, himself holding a fusee, with the butt on the ground. By his dress and the air he assumed, he appeared to be a French officer: I afterwards found he was a native of old France, had been long in the regular troops as a drummer, and that his war-name was St. Vincent. This fine- dressed, half-French, half-Indian figure desired me to dismount ; a bear-skin was spread on the ground, and St. Vincent and I sat upon
*As compiled from Morris' own statement and the testimony of the Canadian and Indian guides. See History of the Consp. of Pontiac, pages 469 to 474, and in Appen- dix F.
+Says Parkman : " Morris appears to have been a person of strong literary tastes. His portrait, prefixed to the little volume, (containing this narration) exhibits a round English face and features more indicative of placid good humor than of the resolution which must have characterized him." The volume referred to, was published in London, in 1791, in connection with other matter of a miscellaneous character.
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