USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnston County, Indiana. From the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc., together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana territory, and the state of Indiana > Part 11
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May 28, 1832, Governor Noble ordered General Walker to call out his whole command, if necessary, and supply arms, horses and
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provisions, even though it be necessary to seize them. The next day four baggage wagons, loaded with eamp equipments, stores, provisions and other articles, were sent to the little army, who were thus provided for a campaign of five or six weeks. The following Thursday a squad of cavalry, under Colonel Sigler, passed through Lafayette on the way to the hostile region; and on the 13th of June Colonel Russell, commandant of the 40th Regiment, Indiana Militia, passed through Lafayette with 340 mounted volunteers from the counties of Marion, Hendricks and Johnson. Also, several com- panies of volunteers from Montgomery, Fountain and Warren counties, hastened to the relief of the frontier settlers. The troops from Lafayette marched to Sugar creek, and after a short time, there being no probability of finding any of the enemy, were ordered to return, They all did so except about 45 horsemen, who volunteered to cross Hickory ereek, where the Indians had com- mitted their depredations. They organized a company by electing Samuel MeGeorge, a soldier of the war of 1812, Captain, and Amos Allen and Andrew W. Ingraham, Lieutenants.
Crossing Hickory creek, they marehed as far as O'Plein river without meeting with opposition. Finding no enemy here they coneluded to return. On the first night of their march home they encamped on the open prairie, posting sentinels, as usual. About ten o'clock it began to rain, and it was with difficulty that the sen- tinels kept their guns dry. Capt. I. H. Cox and a man named Fox had been posted as sentinels within 15 or 20 paces of each other. Cox drew the skirt of his overcoat over his gun-loek to keep it dry; Fox, perceiving this motion, and in the darkness taking him for an Indian, fired upon him and fractured his thigh-bone. Several sol- diers immediately ran toward the place where the flash of the gun had been seen; but when they cocked and leveled their guns on the figure which had fired at Cox, the wounded mnan eansed them to desist by erying, " Don't shoot him, it was a sentinel who shot me." The next day the wounded man was left behind the company in care of four men, who, as soon as possible, removed him on a litter to Col. Moore's company of Illinois militia, then encamped on the O'Plein, where Joliet now stands.
Although the main body returned to Lafayette in eight or nine days, yet the alarm among the people was so great that they could not be induced to return to their tarms for some time. The pres- ence of the hostiles was hourly expected by the frontier settlements of Indiana, from Vincennes to La Porte. In Clinton county the
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inhabitants gathered within the forts and prepared for a regular siege, while our neighbors at Crawfordsville were suddenly astounded by the arrival of a courier at full speed with the announce- ment that the Indians, more than a thousand in number, were then crossing the Nine-Mile prairie about twelve miles north of town, killing and scalping all. The strongest houses were immediately put in a condition of defense, and sentinels were placed at the prin- cipal points in the direction of the enemy. Scouts were sent out to reconnoitre, and messengers were dispatched in different directions to announce the danger to the farmers, and to urge them to liasten with their families into town, and to assist in fighting the moment- arily expected savages. At night-fall the scouts brought in the news that the Indians had not crossed the Wabash, but were hourly expected at Lafayette. The citizens of Warren, Fountain and Ver- million counties were alike terrified by exaggerated stories of Indian massacres, and immediately prepared for defense. It turned out that the Indians were not within 100 miles of these temporary forts; but this by no means proved a want of courage in the citizens.
After some time had elapsed, a portion of the troops were marched back into Tippecanoe county and honorably discharged; but the settlers were still loth for a long time to return to their farms. Assured by published reports that the Miamis and Potta- watomics did not intend to join the hostiles, the people by degrees recovered from the panic and began to attend to their neglected crops.
During this time there was actual war in Illinois. Black Hawk and his warriors, well nigh surrounded by a well-disciplined foc, attempted to cross to the west bank of the Mississippi, but after being chased up into Wisconsin and to the Mississippi again, he was in a final battle taken captive. A few years after his liberation, about 1837 or 1838, he died, on the banks of the Des Moines river, in Iowa, in what is now the county of Davis, where his remains were deposited above ground, in the usual Indian style. His re- mains were afterward stolen and carried away, but they were re- covered by the Governor of Iowa and placed in the museum of the Historical Society at Burlington, where they were finally destroyed by fire.
LAST' EXODUS OF THE INDIANS.
In July, 1837, Col. Abel C. Pepper convened the Pottawatomie nation of Indians at Lake Ke-waw-nay for the purpose of remov- ing them west of the Mississippi. That fall a small party of some SO or 90 Pottawatomies was conducted west of the Mississippi river by George Proffit, Esq. Among the number were Ke-waw- nay, Nebash, Nas-waw-kay, Pash-po-ho and many other leading men of the nation. The regular emigration of these poor Indians, about 1,000 in number, took place under Col. Pepper and Gen. Tip- ton in the summer of 1838.
It was a sad and mournful spectacle to witness these children of the forest slowly retiring from the home of their childhood, that contained not only the graves of their revered ancestors, but also many endearing seenes to which their memories would ever reeur as sunny spots along their pathway through the wilderness. They felt that they were bidding farewell to the hills, valleys and streams of their infancy; the more exciting hunting grounds of their ad- vaneed youth, as well as the stern and bloody battle-fields where they had contended in riper manhood, on which they had received wounds, and where many of their friends and loved relatives had fallen covered with gore and with glory. All these they were leav- ing behind them, to be deseerated by the plowshare of the white man. As they cast mournful glances back toward these loved scenes that were rapidly fading in the distance, tears fell from the cheek of the downcast warrior, old men trembled, matrons wept, the swarthy maiden's cheek turned pale, and sighs and half-sup- pressed sobs escaped from the motley groups as they passed along, some on foot, some on horseback, and others in wagons,-sad as a funeral procession. Several of the aged warriors were seen to cast glances toward the sky, as if they were imploring aid from the spirits of their departed heroes, who were looking down upon them from the clouds, or from the Great Spirit, who would ultimately redress the wrongs of the red man, whose broken bow had fallen from his hand, and whose sad heart was bleeding within him. Ever and anon one of the party would start out into the brush and break back to their old encampments on Eel river and on the Tippe-
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canoe, deelaring that they would rather die than be banished from their country. Thus, scores of discontented emigrants returned from different points on their journey; and it was several years before they could be induced to join their countrymen west of the Mississippi.
Several years after the removal of the Pottawatomies the Miami nation was removed to their Western home, by coercive means, nn- der an escort of United States troops. They were a proud and once powerful nation, but at the time of their removal were far inferior, in point of munbers, to the Pottawatomie guests whom they had permitted to settle and hunt upon their lands, and fish in their lakes and rivers after they had been driven southward by powerful and warlike tribes who inhabited the shores of the North- ern lakes.
INDIAN TITLES.
In 1831 a joint resolution of the Legislature of Indiana, request- ing an appropriation by Congress for the extinguishiment of the Indian title to lands within the State, was forwarded to that body, which granted the request. The Secretary of War, by authority, appointed a committee of three citizens to carry into effect the pro- visions of the recent law. The Miamis were surrounded on all sides by American settlers, and were sitnated almost in the heart of the State on the line of the canal then being made. The chiefs were called to a council for the purpose of making a treaty; they promptly came, but peremptorily refused to go westward or sell the remainder of their land. The Pottawatomies sold about 6,000,000 acres in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, including all their claim in this State.
In 1838 a treaty was eoneluded with the Miami Indians through the good offices of Col. A. C. Pepper, the Indian agent, by which a considerable of the most desirable portion of their reserve was ceded to the United States.
LAND SALES.
As an example of the manner in which land speculators were treated by the early Indianians, we cite the following instances from Cox's " Recollections of the Wabash Valley."
At Crawfordsville, Dec. 24, 1824, many parties were present from the eastern and southern portions of the State, as well as from Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and even Pennsylvania, to attend a land sale. There was but little bidding against each other. The settlers, or " squatters," as they were called by the speculators, had arranged matters among themselves to their general satisfaction. If, upon comparing numbers, it appeared that two were after the same tract of land, one would ask the other what he would take not to bid against him; if neither would consent to be bought off they would retire and cast lots, and the lneky one would enter the tract at Congress price, $1.25 an aere, and the other would enter the second choice on his list. If a speculator made a bid, or showed a disposition to take a settler's elaim from him, he soon saw the white of a score of eyes glaring at him, and he would " crawfish" out of the crowd at the first opportunity.
The settlers made it definitely known to foreign capitalists that they would enter the tracts of land they had settled upon before allowing the latter to come in with their speculations. The land was sold in tiers of townships, beginning at the southern part of the district and continuing north until all had been offered at publie sale. This plan was persisted in, although it kept many on the ground for several days waiting, who desired to purchase land in the northern part of the district.
In 1827 a regular Indian scare was gotten up to keep specu- lators away for a short time. A man who owned a claim on Tippe- canoe river, near Pretty prairie, fearing that some one of the numerous land hunters constantly scouring the country might enter the land he had settled upon before he could raise the money to buy it, and seeing one day a cavalcade of land hunters riding toward where his land lay, mounted his horse and darted off at full speed to meet them, swinging his hat and shouting at the top of his voice, "Indians! Indians! the woods are full of Indians,
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murdering and scalping all before them!" They pansed a moment, but as the terrificd horseman still urged his jaded animal and cried, "Help! Longlois, Cicots, help!" they turned and fled like a troop of retreating cavalry, hastening to the thickest settlements and giving the alarm, which spread like fire among stubble until the whole frontier region was shocked with the startling cry. The squatter who fabricated the story and started this false alarm took a cir- cuitous route home that evening, and while others were busy building temporary block-houses and rubbing up their guns to meet the Indians, he was quietly gathering up money and slipped down to Crawfordsville and entered his land, chuckling to himself, " There's a Yankee trick for you, done up by a Hoosier."
HARMONY COMMUNITY.
In 1814 a society of Germans under Frederick Rappe, who had originally come from Wirtemberg, Germany, and more recently from Pennsylvania, founded a settlement on the Wabash about 50 miles above its mouth. They were industrious, frugal and honest Lutherans. They purchased a large quantity of land and laid off a town, to which they gave the name of "Harmony," afterward called " New Harmony." They erected a church and a public school-house, opened farms, planted orchards and vineyards, built flouring mills, established a house of public entertainment, a public store, and carried on all the arts of peace with skill and regularity. Their property was "in common," according to the custom of an- cient Christians at Jerusalem, but the governing power, both tem- poral and spiritual, was vested in Frederick Rappe, the elder, who was regarded as the founder of the society. By the year 1821 the society numbered about 900. Every individual of proper age con- tributed his proper share of labor. There were neither spendthrifts, idlers nor drunkards, and during the whole 17 years of their sojourn in America there was not a single lawsuit among them. Every controversy arising among them was settled by arbitration, expla- nation and compromise before sunset of the day, literally according to the injunction of the apostle of the New Testament.
About 1825 the town of Harmony and a considerable quantity of land adjoining was sold to Robert Owen, father of David Dale Owen, the State Geologist, and of Robert Dale Owen, of later notoriety. He was a radical philosopher from Scotland, who had become distinguished for his philanthropy and opposition to
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Christianity. He charged the latter with teaching false notions regarding human responsibility-notions which have since been clothed in the language of physiology, mental philosophy, etc. Said he:
" That which has hitherto been called wickedness in our fellow men has proceeded from one of two distinct causes, or from some combination of those causes. They are what are termed bad or wicked,
"1. Because they are born with faculties or propensities which render them more liable, under the same circumstances, than otlier men, to commit such actions as are usually denominated wicked; or,
" 2. Because they have been placed by birth or other events in particular countries,-have been influenced from infancy by par- ents, playmates and others, and have been surrounded by those circumstances which gradually and necessarily trained them in the habits and sentiments called wicked; or,
"3. They have become wicked in consequence of some particu- lar combination of these causes.
" If it should be asked, Whence then has wickedness pro- ceeded ? I reply, Solely from the ignorance of our forefathers.
"Every society which exists at present, as well as every society which history records, has been formed and governed on a belief in the following notions, assumed as first principles :
"1. That it is in the power of every individual to form his own character. Hence the various systems called by the name of religion, codes of law, and punishments; hence, also, the angry passions entertained by individuals and nations toward each other.
" 2. That the affections are at the command of the individual. Hence insincerity and degradation of character; hence tlie miseries of domestic life, and more than one-half of all the crimes of man- kind.
"3. That it is necessary a large portion of mankind should ex- ist in ignorance and poverty in order to secure to the remaining part such a degree of happiness as they now enjoy. Hence a system of counteraction in the pursuits of men, a general opposition among individuals to the interests of each other, and the necessary effects of such a system,-ignorance, poverty and vice.
THE MEXICAN WAR.
During the administration of Gov. Whitcomb the war with Mexico occurred, which resulted in annexing to the United States vast tracts of land in the south and west. Indiana contributed her full ratio to the troops in that war, and with a remarkable spirit of promptness and patriotism adopted all measures to sustain the gen- eral Government. These new acquisitions of territory re-opened the discussion of the slavery question. and Governor Whitcomb expressed his opposition to a further extension of the " national sin."
The causes which led to a declaration of war against Mexico in 1846, must be sought for as far back as the year 1830, when the present State of Texas formed a province of New and Independent Mexico. During the years immediately preceding 1830, Moses Austin, of Connecticut, obtained a liberal grant of lands from the established Government, and on his death his son was treated in an equally liberal manner. The glowing accounts rendered by Aus- tin, and the vivid picture of Elysian fields drawn by visiting jour- nalists, soon resulted in the influx of a large tide of immigrants, nor did the movement to the Southwest cease until 1830. The Mexican province held a prosperous population, comprising 10,000 American citizens. The rapacious Government of the Mexicans looked with greed and jealousy upon their eastern province, and, under the presidency of Gen. Santa Anna, enacted such measures, both unjust and oppressive, as would meet their design of goading the people of Texas on to revolution, and thus afford an opportu- nity for the infliction of punishment upon subjects whose only crime was industry and its accompaniment, prosperity. Precisely in keeping with the course pursued by the British toward the col- onists of the Eastern States in the last century, Santa Anna's Government met the remonstrances of the colonists of Texas with threats; and they, secure in their consciousness of right quietly issued their declaration of independence, and proved its literal meaning on the field of Gonzales in 1835, having with a force of
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500 men forced the Mexican army of 1,000 to fly for refuge to their strongholds. Battle after battle followed, bringing victory always to the Colonists, and ultimately resulting in the total rout of the Mexican army and the evaluation of Texas. The routed army after a short term of rest reorganized, and reappeared in the Terri- tory, 8,000 strong. On April 21, a division of this large force under Santa Anna encountered the Texans under General Samuel Houston on the banks of the San Jacinto, and though Houston could only oppose 800 men to the Mexican legions, the latter were driven from the field, nor could they reform their scattered ranks until their General was captured next day and forced to sign the declaration of 1835. The signature of Santa Anna, though ignored by the Congress of the Mexican Republie, and consequently left unratified on the part of Mexico, was effected in so mneh, that after the sec- ond defeat of the army of that Republic all the hostilities of an important nature ceased, the Republic of Texas was recognized by the powers, and subsequently became an integral part of the United States, July 4, 1846. At this period General Herrera was pres- ident of Mexico. He was a man of peace, of common sense, and very patriotic; and he thus entertained, or pretended to enter- tain, the great neighboring Republic in high estecm. For this reason he grew unpopular with his people, and General Paredes was called to the presidential chair, which he continued to occupy until the breaking out of actual hostilities with the United States, when Gen. Santa Anna was elected thereto.
President Polk, aware of the state of feeling in Mexico, ordered Gen. Zachary Taylor, in command of the troops in the Southwest, to proceed to Texas, and post himself as near to the Mexican border as lie deemed prudent. At the same time an American squadron was dispatelied to the vicinity, in the Gulf of Mexico. In November, General Taylor had taken his position at Corpus Christi, a Texan settlement on a bay of the same name, with abont 4,000 men. On the 13th of Jannary, 1846, the President ordered him to advance with his forces to the Rio Grande; accordingly he proceeded, and in March stationed himself on the north bank of that river, with- in cannon-shot of the Mexican town of Matamoras. Here he hastily erected a fortress, called Fort Brown. The territory ly- ing between the river Nueces and the Rio Grande river, about 120 miles in width, was claimed both by Texas and Mexico; ac- cording to the latter, therefore, General Taylor had actually invaded her Territory, and had thus committed an open
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act of war. On the 26th of April, the Mexican General, Ampudia, gare notice to this effeet to General Taylor, and on the same day a party of American dragoons, sixty-three in number, being on the north side of the Rio Grande, were attacked, and, after the loss of sixteen men killed and wounded, were forced to surrender. Their commander, Captain Thornton, only escaped. The Mexican forecs had now erossed the river above Matamoras and were supposed to meditate an attack on Point Isabel, where Taylor had established a depot of supplies for his army. On the 1st of May, this officer left a small number of troops at Fort Brown, and marched with his chief forees, twenty-three hundred men, to the defense of Point Isabel. Having garrisoned this place, he set out on his return. On the Sth of May, abont noon, he met the Mexican army, six thousand strong, drawn up in battle array, on the prairie near Palo Alto. The Americans at once advanced to the attaek, and, after an action of five hours, in which their artillery was very effective, drove the enemy before tlicm, and encamped upon the field. The Mexican loss was about one hundred killed; that of the Americans, four killed and forty wounded. Major Ringgold, of the artillery, an officer of great merit, was mortally wounded. The next day, as the Americans advanced, they again met the enemy in a strong position near Resaca de la Palma, three miles from Fort Brown. An action commenecd, and was fiereely contested, the artillery on both sides being served with great vigor. At last the Mexicans gave way, and fled in confusion, General de la Vega having fallen into the hands of the Americans. They also abandoned their guns and a large quantity of ammunition to the victors. The remain- ing Mexican soldiers speedily crossed the Rio Grande, and the next day the Americans took up their position at Fort Brown. This little fort, in the absence of General Taylor, had gallantly sustained an almost uninterrupted attack of several days from the Mexican batteries of Matamoras.
When the news of the capture of Captain Thornton's party was spread over the United States, it produced great excitement. The President addressed a message to Congress, then in session, declar- ing " that war with Mexico existed by her own act;" and that body, May, 1846, plaeed ten millions of dollars at the President's dispo- sal, and authorized him to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers. A great part of the summer of 1846 was spent in prep- aration for the war, it being resolved to invade Mexico at several points. In pursuance of this plan, General Taylor, who had taken
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possession of Matamoras, abandoned by the enemy in May, marched northward in the enemy's country in August, and on the 19th of September he appeared before Monterey, capital of the Mexican State of New Leon. His army, after having garrisoned several places along his route, amounted to six thousand inen. The attack began on the 21st, and after a succession of assaults, during the period of four days, the Mexicans capitulated, leaving the town in possession of the Americans. In October, General Taylor terminated an armistice into which he had entered with the Mexican General, and again commenced offensive operations. Various towns and fortresses of the enemy now rapidly fell into our possession. In November, Saltillo, the capital of the State of Coalinila was occupied by the division of General Worth; in December, General Patterson took possession of Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, and nearly at the same period, Commodore Perry captured the fort of Tampico. Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, with the whole territory of the State had been subjngated by General Harney, after a march of one thousand miles through the wilderness. Events of a startling char- acter had taken place at still earlier dates along the Pacific coast. On the 4th of July, Captain Fremort, having repeatedly defeated su- perior Mexican forces with the small band under his command, de- clared California independent of Mexico. Other important places in this region had yielded to the American naval force, and in Au- gust, 1846, the whole of California was in the undisputed occupa- tion of the Americans.
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