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 15
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" He conducted his march with such caution and celerity, that *This establishment, says Mr. Lasselle, in a note, was situate on lot No. 106, near the corner of Market and Third streets, in what had been called the "Old Yellow Tavern."
¡The following is the beginning of the song referred to, as " sung by the inhabitants of Vineennes, July, 1778," in the language of Mr. Lasselle, " when the priest, M. Gibault, won them to the American side : "
" Notre bon cure, plus brave que Devaux,
A pris Notre village sans tambour drapeau."
105
FATE OF LA BALME AND HIS FOLLOWERS.
he appeared at the village (here) before even the watchful inhabi- tants had apprehended his approach. The sudden appearance of a foe, unknown as to character, numbers, and designs, threw them into the greatest alarm, and they fied on all sides. La Balme took possession of the place without resistence. It was, probably, his intention, in imitation of Clark's capture of Kaskaskia, to take the village and its inhabitants by surprise, and then by acts and pro- fessions of kindness and friendship, to win them over to the Amer- ican cause ; but the inhabitants, including some six or eight French traders, totally eluded his grasp. His occupation of the village was not of long duration. After remaining a short time, and ma- king plunder of the goods of some of the French traders and In- dians, he retired to near the Aboite Creek* and encamped. The Indians having soon ascertained the number and character of La Balme's forces, and learning that they were Frenchmen, were not disposed at first to avenge the attack. But of the traders living there, (here), there were two, named Beaubient and La Fontaine,į who, nettled and injured by the invasion and plunder of the place, were not disposed to let the invaders off without a blow. These men having incited the Indians to follow and attack La Balme, they soon rallied their warriors of the village and vicinity under the lead of their war chief, the Little Turtle, and falling upon them in the night time, massacred the entire party. Not one is said to have survived to relate the sad story of the expedition.
"Such," says Mr. Lasselle, " is a brief and imperfect account of La Balme's expedition, of which so little is known. It may," con- tinues he, " not have been impelled by the most patriotic motives, nor guided by wise counsels, nor attended with results especially beneficial to the country ; yet, as an interesting event, connected with the early history of the country, it should be rescued from the oblivion which rests upon it."||
* About the point where the Wabash and Erie Canal erosses this stream.
+Says a note to this account : "Beaubien married the chiefess, widow of Joseph Drouet de Richardville, and mother of the late chief of the nation, John B. Richard- ville,"
#Father of the late Miami chief, La Fontaine.
|| A short account of La Balme's expedition may also be found in "Annals of the West," pages 318, 319.
CHAPTER X.
" Like the dim traditions, hoary, Of our loved and native clime ; Like some half-forgotten story, Read or heard in olden time." --- LEWIS J. CIST.
Emigration westward-Organization of a territorial government-Settlements at Cin - cinnati (Lozantiville) and North Bend-Emigrant boats-Movements from Fort Washington to this point-Spanish and Indians-Dissolution-Suggestions of General Washington-His letter to Richard Henry Lee-The importance of the Miami village-Treaties and cessions-Congress and Indian lands-Indian basis of complaint-Council of 1793-Indian speech-Further troubles-What the In- dians thought would be the result-Miamies, under Little Turtle, lead a confed- eraey-Depredations-Report of Gen. Knox-The Wabash Indians-Letter of Gov. St. Clair-The President of the U. S. empowered to call forth the militia of the States-Washington's instructions to Gov. St. Clair-Gov. St. Clair proceeds to the Illinois-Losantiville changed to Cineinnati-Speeches to the Wabash In- dians-Antoine Gamelin delivers the messages-Reaches this point -- Gamelin's journal-The man-eating society at this point-Gen. Cass' address, &c .-- St. Clair's return-Movement against the Indians-British commandant at Detroit notified-British aid to the Indians-Militia arrive at Cincinnati-Organization of the army under Gen Harmar, and movement upon the Miami village here -- The army reach the village and find it deserted-Disorder of the troops -- A de- tachment -- Return of the scouts-An order-Another scout-Fires of the Indians discovered-Indians discovered-Detachment inoves forward-Indians concealed -An attack-Detachment put to flight-Village destroyed-Harmar moves down the Maumee-Issues more orders-Starts for Fort Washington-Encampment -- Col. Hardin desires to return to the village-His desire granted-Indians discov- ered-Some disorder-An attack-An account of one of the wounded-Indians again victorious-Retreat-Army starts again for Fort Washington, where it ar- rives in safety-Names of the killed-Expedition of Major Hamtramck-Another dreary winter.
UT A FEW YEARS had elapsed, after the struggle for Inde- pendence, when a tide of emigration began to set in to the westward again, and a territorial government, with a small settlement, was established at Campus Martius, now Mari- etta. Ohio, in July, 1788. The officers of the government were General Arthur St. Clair, Governor; Winthrop Sargent, Secretary ; and three judges for the executive council. Campus Martius was of square form, one hundred and eighty feet each way. Small stecples extended from the top of cach block house, which were bullet-proof, and served as sentry-boxes ; while the square was en- compassed by a strong palisade, some ten feet in height, and the
107
EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN THE NORTHWEST.
buildings, all within the enclosure, were constructed of whip-sawed timber, about four inches thick, dove-tailed at the corners, and cov- ered with shingle roofs, each room of which had fire-places and brick chimneys. The towers and bastions were bright with white- wash.
For the most part, the settlers of the Northwestern Territory were men who had spent a large part of their lives, as well as fortunes, in the Revolutionary War. Such was the character of a party of emigrants, under the leadership of General Rufus Putnam, who left New England in 1787, and, descending the Ohio, to a point below Marietta, began the settlement of Belpre, bringing thither with them, and establishing there, many of the primi- tive habits and customs of their ancestors. First erecting substan- tial buildings for their families, they set about the erection and organization of a church and school, toward which all are said to have contributed " with a right good will;" and these were the first institutions of the kind established in the Northwestern Ter- ritory.
Two years later, in 1789, the first settlement was formed at or near the present site of Cincinnati, Ohio, by some twenty persons, under the lead of Israel Ludlow and Robert Patterson, and then called Losantiville. The original appearance of the present Cin- cinnati, as at the time of its first settlement, is described as " a beautiful woodland bottom, on the bank of the river, sixty feet above low-water mark, and extending back three hundred yards to the base of a second bank, which rose forty feet higher, and then sloped gently more than a half mile to the foot of the bluff; the bottom being covered with a heavy growth of sycamore, maple, and black-walnut ; the second with becch, oak, and hickory tim- ber." In January of this year, another party moved down the Ohio, and began a settlement at North Bend. The craft or boats in which these early settlers descended the river, to the present generation, would indeed seem novel. They usually consisted of a frame-work of logs, covered with green oak planks, and caulked with rags. Snugly ensconsed in these, men, women, and children floated down the rivers to their destination, unexposed to the at- tacks of the Indians, who often fired upon them from the river banks.
For some years, a spirit of rivalry existed between the settle- ments of Cincinnati (Losantiville) and North Bend as to the best point for the establishment of a military post, and for a time North Bend, from its natural security against the attacks of the Indians, seemed destined to become the most advantageous and permanent point, and many emigrants came flocking thitherward. But at length, the commanding officer becoming enamored with a beautiful wo- man at the Bend, the wife of one of the settlers, the husband be- came alarmed or jealous, and removed to Losantiville,* so runs *A school-teacher, by the name of Filson, being called on to name the settlement
108
HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
the record ; and North Bend at once began to decline in the appre- ciation of the commanding officer, as the most available military point for the protection of the northwest territory, and the troops were soon removed to Losantiville, which post was called Fort Washington. It was from this point that the first movement, un- der Gen. Harmar, who was then commandant at Fort Washington, was made against the Indians at the present site of Fort Wayne, under the administration of Gen. Washington, in October, 1790. It was also from these points, which, at an early peried here, were known as "the settlements," that came most of the earlier so- journers and settlers of Fort Wayne ; then still known as the Miami village or Omi ;* not only Harmar's, but the subsequent expedi- tions of Gens. St. Clair and Wayne, started from Fort Washington for this point.
During 1780, 1781, to 1785-6, difficulties had arisen between the colonial government and the Spanish on the Lower Mississippi, as to the navigation of that river, and the possession of a large part of the western territory, together with much trouble with the In- dians of the west, more especially along the Ohio, which continued to give the settlements great trouble for some time subsequent, and also greatly to disturb the internal relations of the country gener- ally. In addition to, and effects arising mainly from, these causes, Kentucky, at an early day during the foregoing period, began and continued for some years to manifest, with other parts of the south- west, considerable dissatisfaction, The government had permitted the Spaniards of the south to control the navigation of the Missis- sippi ; many privations had come upon the people of the west in consequence, and a spirit of distrust had gradually given rise to a spirit of dissolution, especially in Kentucky, which, at that period , and for some years later, yet formed a part of Virginia. Washing- here begun, called it. "Losantiville," the interpretation of which ran as follows : Ville, the town ; anti, opposite to; os, the mouth; L, of Licking river ; which, at the time, was considered, we believe, a pretty fine effort on the part of Mr. Filson.
*" A corrupt orthography and abridgement of the French term An, or Aux Miamis ; as Au Cas is a corruption of Au Kaskaskias, to Kaskaskia." --- History of Kentucky.
+A person, thought to have been a man by the name of Green, of Louisville, Ken- tucky, writing to some person in New England, under date of December 4, 1786, said : " Our situation is as bad as it possibly can be, therefore every exertion to re- trieve our circumstances must be manly, eligible and just. We can raise twenty thou- sand troops this side of the Allegheny and Apalachian Mountains, and the annual in- crease of them by emigration from other parts, is from two to four thousand.
" We have taken all the goods belonging to the Spanish merchants of Post Vin- cennes and the Illinois, and are determined they shall not trade up the river, provided they will not let us trade down it. Preparations are now being made here (if necessary) to drive the Spaniards from their settlements, at the mouth of the Mississippi. In case we are not countenaneed and succored by the United States, (if we need it) our alle- giance will be thrown off, and some other power applied to.
"Great Britain stands ready with open arms to receive and support ns. They have already offered to open their resources for our supplies. When once re-united to them, ' farewell, a long farewell to all your boasted greatness.' The province of Canada and the inhabitants of these waters, of themselves, in time, will be able to conquer you. You are as ignorant of this country as Great Britain was of America. These are hints, which, if rightly improved, may be of service ; if not, blame yourselves for the neglect."
109
SUGGESTIONS OF GEN. WASHINGTON.
ton had felt the pressure; and soon presented important sugges- tions, as he had done before the revolution, relative to the organization of commercial and navigation companies, as the best means of protecting and cementing the interests of the East and West.
In a letter to Governor Harrison in this year, (1784) he strenil- ously urged the importance of binding together all parts of the Union, and especially the West and East, with the indissoluble bonds of interest, with a view to prevent the formation of commercial, and, in consequence, political connections with either the Spaniards on the South, or the English on the North; and recommended the speedy survey of the Potomac and James rivers; of the portage to the waters of the Ohio ; of the Muskingum ; and the portage from that river to the Cuyahoga; for the purpose of opening a water communication for the commerce of the Ohio and the lakes, to the seaboard, and denominated it as an object of great political and commercial importance:
To Richard Henry Lee, in the same year, Washington wrote: " Would it not be worthy of the wisdom and attention of Congress to have'the western waters well explored, the navigation of them fully ascertained and accurately laid down, and a complete and perfect map made of the country, at least as far westerly as the Miamis, running into the Ohio, and Lake Erie, and to see how the waters of these communicate with the river St. Joseph, which emp- ties into Lake Michigan; and witli the Wabash ? for I cannot for- bear observing that the Midmi village* points to a very important post for the Union."
The Indian, though usually called a savage, and doubtless, as a general rule in earlier days; properly so, yet possessed, with all, a singular intelligence. From the first dealings of the colonists of Virginia with the famous Powhattans ; the Pilgrims, at Plymonth ; with Massasoit and his son Metacomet, (King Phillip) of the Wam- panoags, about Mount Hope, to the later settlements of the West and the various tribes of the southwest, they ever exhibited a peculiar knowledge of etiquette, and seldom forgot this sense of regard even for their enemies or the most presumptive intruders; where the chiefs and sachems could exercise a voice.
It was not a custom with the French, at any time at any of the points of their settlements in the West, to make large purchases of lands from the Indians; small tracts about their settlements invari- ably served to supply their wants; and at the treaty of Paris, in 1763, these small grants, about the forts of Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, &c., were all that they ceded to the English.
*At this point. I have italicised this part of Washington's letter to call attention to the importance then attached to the present site of Fort Wayne. Had dissolution been attempted at any time during the above period, and the British called to the aid of the West, this would have been an admirable base for the operations of the colonial army, once having fortified themselves and prepared for a siege-a fact which Wash. ington seems most fally to have been aware of.
110
HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
Following close upon this treaty came the war and the defeat of Pontiac ; and in 1768, a grant by the Iroquois or Six Nations, at Fort Stanwix, or the land south of the Ohio, which grant was not respected by those hunting on the grounds thus conveyed. Dun- more's War, of 1774, was concluded without any transfer of lands to the whites ; and, at the close of the revolution, in 1783, when Great Britain transferred her western claims to the United States, she conveyed nothing but what she had previously received from France, excepting the guarantee of the Six Nations and the south- ern tribes to a part of the land south of the Ohio ; while none of the territory claimed by the Miamies, western Delawares, Shawanoes, Wyandotts or Hurons, and some other tribes still to the west and north, was ceded to the United States by this treaty.
But a different view was taken of the matter by Congress at this period ; and concluding that the treaty guaranteed to the United States the full right to all territory then transferred, and, at the same time, considering the right of the Indians to the territory as forfeit- ed by acts of warfare against the colonial government during the struggle for Independence, made no movement towards a purchase of the lands from the Indians, but began to form treaties of peace with them, and to suggest its own boundary lines.
It was in this way, in October, 1784, at the second treaty of Stanwix, that the United States obtained the right possessed by the Iroquois to the western territory, north and south of the Ohio ; and though publicly and honorably concluded, its legality was yet questioned by many of the Iroquois, the basis of their opposition resting upon the fact that that treaty was with only a part of the Indian tribes ; and that it was the desire of the tribes that the Uni- ted States Government should treat with them as a body, including all the Indians bordering upon the lakes of the north.
The provisions of October, 1783, had arranged for one great council of all the tribes ; but in the month of March following, 1784, this provision was changed to that of holding councils with each separate tribe or nation ; and the commissioners appointed by the Government to superintend these affairs, refusing to pay further attention to the subject of a general council with the northern tribes, in October, 1784, as against the wishes of Red Jacket, Brant, and other chiefs, of the Iroquois, terminated the treaty of Fort Stanwix.
After which, in January, of the following year, (1785), a treaty was concluded with the Wyandotts, Delawares, Chipewas, and Ot- tawas ; but the legality of the former treaty seems not then to have been questioned, by the Wyandotts and Delawares, at least ; and yet it was asserted at a general council of some sixteen tribes of northwestern Indians, in 1793, that the treaties of Forts Stanwix, McIntosh, and Finney, (the latter at the mouth of the Great Mi- ami,) were the result of intimidation, and held only with single tribes, at which, they asserted that the Indians had been invited to
111
INDIAN TREATIES-CAUSES OF COMPLAINT.
form treaties of peace, but, instead, forced to make cessions of land.
In January, 1786, a third treaty was held by the United States, at Fort Finney, with the Shawanoes; and the Wabash tribes being invited to be present, would not go. In 1789, confirmatory of pre- ceding treaties, the fourth and fifth treaties were held at Fort Har- mar, one with the Six Nations ; the other with the Wyandotts, Dela- wares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattamies, and Sacs; and it seems, from speeches made at a subsequent council of the confed- erated tribes, more particularly of the lake; (1793) that they would not accept those treaties as at all binding upon them. Said one of the chiefs at this latter council :
" Brothers : We are in possession of the speeches and letters which passed on that occasion, (council convened by Governor Arthur St. Clair, in 1788,) between those deputied by the confed- erate Indians, and Gov. St. Clair, the commissioner of the United States. These papers prove that your said commissioner, in the beginning of the year 1789, after having been informed by the general council of the preceding fall that no bargain or sale of any part of these lands would be considered as valid or binding, unless agreed to by a general council, nevertheless persisted in collecting together a few chiefs of two or three nations only, and with then held a treaty for the cession of an immense country, in which they were no more interested, than as a branch of the general confeder- acy, and who were in no manner authorized to make any grant or cession whatever.
" Brothers : How then was it possible for you to expect to enjoy peace, and quietly to hold these lands, when your commissioner was informed, long before he held the treaty of Fort Harmar, that the consent of a general council was absolutely necessary for the sale of any part of these lands to the United States.""
From these facts, in part, at least, it will be seen why the expe- ditions of 1790-'91, and 1793-'4, with the efforts of 1811-'12 and '13, met with such stubborn and relentless resistence from the Mi- amies and other tribes, as detailed in subsequent pages. The im- pression that they would, without remuneration or mercy be des- poiled of their lands and at length driven away, seems to have gained possession of the tribes generally of the northwest before and during the early campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne ; and the Miamies,-though, as it would seem from Gamelin's jour- . nal, a strong spirit of unity did not prevail among the different tribes, before and during 1780, -- led the way under the lead of Lit- - tle Turtle, with formidable effect.
With a feeling of bitterness and revenge towards the United States, small bands of Indians had begun, in the spring of 1789 to attack the settlements along the western borders of Virginia and Kentucky.
*" Western Annals," pages 522, 523, 524.
-
112
HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
The Secretary of War of the period, General Knox, in a report to the President, 15th of June, 1789, presented this subject as follows :
" By information from Brigd'r-General Harmar, the commanding officer of the troops on the frontier, it appears that several murders have been lately committed on the inhabitants, by small parties of Indians, probably from the Wabash country. Some of the said murders having been perpetrated on the south side of the Ohio, the inhabitants on the waters of that river are exceedingly alarm- ed, for the extent of six or seven hundred miles along the same. It is to be observed that the United States have not formed any treaties with the Wabash Indians; on the contrary, since the con- clusion of the war with Great Britain, hostilities have almost con- stantly existed between the people of Kentucky and the said In= dians. The injuries and murders have been so reciprocal that it would be a point of critical investigation to know on which side they have been the greatest. Some of the inhabitants of Kentucky during the past year, roused by recent injuries, made an incursion into the Wabash country, and possessing an equal aversion to all bearing the the name of Indians, they destroyed a number of peace- able Piankeshaws* who prided themselves in their attachment to the United States. Things being thus circumstanced, it is greatly to be apprehended that hostilities may be so far extended as to in- volve the Indian tribes with whom the United States have recently made treaties. It is well known how strong the passion for war exists in the mind of a young savage, and how easily it may be inflamed, so as to disregard every precept of the older and wiser part of the tribes who may have a more just opinion of the force of a treaty. Hence, it results that unless some decisive measures are immedi- ately adopted to terminate those mutual hostilities, they will proba- bly become general among all the Indians northwest of the Ohio.
" In examining the question how the disturbances on the fron- tiers are to be quieted, two modes present themselves by which the object might perhaps be effected-the first of which is by raising an army and extirpating the refractory tribes entirely ; or, secondly, by forming treaties of peace with them in which their rights and limits should be explicitly defined, and the treaties observed on the part of the United States with the most rigid justice, by pun- ishing the whites who should violate the same.
" In considering the first mode, an inquiry would arise, whether, under the existing circumstances of affairs, the United States hare a clear right, consistently with the principles of justice and the laws of nature, to proceed to the destruction or expulsion of the sarages on the Wabash, supposing the force for that object easily attainable. It is presumable that a nation solicitous of establish. ing its character on the broad basis of justice, would not only hési_
*The same, doubtless, under the lead of the " Crand Door," who gave so hearty a welcome to Capt. Helm, at Vincennes, after the capture of that post by Col. Clark.
113
REPORT OF SECRETARY KNOX.
tate at but reject every proposition to benefit itself by the injury of any neighboring community, however contemptible and weak it may be, either with respect to its manners or power. When it shall be considered that the Indians derive their subsistence chiefly by hunting, and that, according to fixed principles, their popula- tion is in proportion to the facility with which they procure their food, it would most probably be found that the expulsion or destruction of the Indian tribes have nearly the same effect; for if they are removed from their usual hunting-grounds, they must necessarily encroach on the hunting-grounds of another tribe, who will not suffer the encroachment with impunity-hence they de- stroy each other. The Indians, being the prior occupants, possess the right of the soil. It can not be taken from them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest in case of a just war. To dispossess them on any other principle, would be a gross violation of the fundamental laws of nature, and of that distribuitive justice which is the glory of a nation. But if it should be decided, on an abstract view of the question, to be just to remove by force the Wabash Indians from the territory they occupy, the finances of the . United States would not at present admit of the operation.
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