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 7
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The army remained three days and nights on the banks of the Maumee, in front of the field of battle, during which time all the houses and cornfields were consumed and destroyed for a considera- ble distance both above and below Fort Miami, as well as within pistol shot of the British garrison, who were compelled to remain idle spectators to this general devastation and conflagration, among which were the houses, stores and property of Col. McKee, the British Indian agent and " principal stimulator of the war then existing between the United States and savages." On the return march to Fort Defiance the villages and cornfields for about 50
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miles on each side of the Maumee were destroyed, as well as those for a considerable distance around that post.
Sept. 14, 1794, the army under Gen. Wayne commeneed its march toward the deserted Miami villages at the confluence of St. Joseph's and St. Mary's rivers, arriving Oct. 17, and on the follow- ing day the site of Fort Wayne was selected. The fort was com- pleted Nov. 22, and garrisoned by a strong detaelumnent of infantry and artillery, under the command of Col. John F. Hamtramck, who gave to the new fort the name of Fort Wayne. In 1814a new fort was built on the site of this structure. The Kentucky volunteers returned to Fort Washington and were inustered out of service. Gen. Wayne, with the Federal troops, marehed to Greenville and took up his headquarters during the winter. Here, in August, 1795, after several months of aetive negotiation, this gallant officer succeeded in concluding a general treaty of peace with all the hos- tile tribes of the Northwestern Territory. This treaty opened the way for the flood of immigration for many years, and ultimately made the States and territories now constituting the mighty North- west.
Up to the organization of the Indiana Territory there is but little history to record aside from those events connected with military affairs. In July, 1796, as before stated, after a treaty was con- eluded between the United States and Spain, the British garrisons, with their arms, artillery and stores, were withdrawn from the posts within the boundaries of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, and a detachment of American troops, consisting of 65 men, under the command of Capt. Moses Porter, took possession of the evacuated post of Detroit in the same month.
In the latter part of 1796 Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit and organized the county of Wayne, forming a part of the Indiana Territory until its division in 1805, when the Territory of Michigan was organized.
TERRITORIAL HISTORY.
ORGANIZATION OF INDIANA TERRITORY.
On the final success of American arms and diplomacy in 1796, the principal town within the Territory, now the State, of Indiana was Vincennes, which at this time comprised about 50 houses, all presenting a thrifty and tidy appearance. Each house was sur- rounded by a garden feneed with poles, and peach and apple-trees grew in most of the enclosures. Garden vegetables of all kinds were cultivated with success, and corn, tobacco, wheat, barley and cotton grew in the fields around the village in abundance. During the last few years of the 18th century the condition of society at Vincennes improved wonderfully.
Besides Vincennes there was a small settlement near where the town of Lawrenceburg now stands, in Dearborn county, and in the course of that ycar a small settlement was formed at " Armstrong's Station," on the Ohio, within the present limits of Clark county. There were of course several other smaller settlements and trading posts in the present limits of Indiana, and the number of eivilized inhabitants comprised within the territory was estimated at 4,875.
The Territory of Indiana was organized by Act of Congress May 7, 1800, the material parts of the ordinance of 1787 remaining in force; and the inhabitants were invested with all the rights, privi- leges and advantages granted and secured to the people by that ordinance. The seat of government was fixed at Vincennes. May 13, 1800, Win. Henry Harrison, a native of Virginia, was appoint- ed Governor of this new territory, and on the next day John Gib- son, a native of Pennsylvania and a distinguished Western pioneer, (to whom the Indian chief Logan delivered his celebrated speech in 1774), was appointed Secretary of the Territory. Soon afterward Win. Clark, Henry Vanderburgh and John Griffin were appointed territorial Judges.
Secretary Gibson arrived at Vincennes in July, and commenced, in the absence of Gov. Harrison, the administration of government. Gov. Harrison did not arrive until Jan. 10, 1801, when he imme- diately called together the Judges of the Territory, who proceeded
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to pass such laws as they deemcd necessary for the present govern- ment of the Territory. This session began Mareh 3, 1801.
From this time to 1810 the principal subjects which attracted the attention of the people of Indiana were land speculations, the adjustment of land titles, the question of negro slavery, the purchase of Indian lands by treatics, the organization of Territorial legis- latures, the extension of the right of suffrage, the division of Indiana Territory, the movements of Aaron Burr, and the hostile views and proceedings of the Shawanee chief, Tecumseh, and his brother, the Prophet.
Up to this time the sixth article of the celebrated ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery in the Northwestern Territory, had been somewhat neglected in the execution of the law, and many French settlers still held slaves in a manner. In some instances, according to rules preseribed by Territorial legislation, slaves agreed by indentures to remain in servitude under their masters for a certain number of years; but many slaves, with whom no such contracts were made, were removed from the Indiana Territory either to the west of the Mississippi or to some of the slaveholding States. Gov. Harrison convoked a session of delegates of the 'territory, elected by a popular vote, who petitioned Congress to deelare the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery, suspend- ed; but Congress never consented to grant that petition, and many other petitions of a similar import. Soon afterward some of the citizens began to take colored persons ont of the Territory for the purpose of selling them, and Gov. Harrison, by a proclamation April 6, 1804, forbade it, and called upon the authorities of the Territory to assist him in preventing such removal of persons of color.
During the year 1804 all the country west of the Mississippi and north of 33ยบ was attached to Indiana Territory by Congress, but in a few months was again detached and organized into a separate ter- ritory.
When it appeared from the result of a popular vote in the Terri- tory that a majority of 138 freeholders were in favor of organizing a General Assembly, Gov. Harrison, Sept. 11, 1804, issued a procla- mation declaring that the Territory had passed into thesecond grade of government, as contemplated by the ordinance of 787, and fixed Thursday, Jan. 3, 1805, as the time for holding an election in the several counties of the Territory,to choose members of a Honse of Representatives, who should mect at Vincennes Feb. 1 and
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adopt measures for the organization of a Territorial Council. These delegates were elected, and met according to the proclamation, and selected ten men from whom the President of the United States, Mr. Jefferson, should appoint five to be and constitute the Legisla- tive Conneil of the Territory, but he declining, requested Mr. Har- rison to make the selection, which was accordingly done. Before the first session of this Council, however, was held, Michigan Ter- ritory was set off, its south line being one drawn from the sonthern end of Lake Michigan directly east to Lake Eric.
FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
The first General Assembly, or Legislature, of Indiana Territory met at Vincennes July 29, 1805, in pursuance of a gubernatorial proclamation. The members of the House of Representatives were Jesse B. Thomas, of Dearborn county ; Davis Floyd. of Clark county; Benjamin Parke and John Johnson, of Knox county; Shadrach Bond and William Biggs, of St. Clair.county, and George Fisher, of Randolph county. July 30 the Governor delivered his first ines- sage to "the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory." Benjamin Parke was the first delegate elected to Congress. He had emigrated from New Jersey to In- diana in 1801.
THE "WESTERN SUN"
was the first newspaper published in the Indiana Territory, now comprising the four great States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and the second in all that country once known as the "Northwestern Territory." It was commenced at Vincennes in 1803, by Elihn Stout, of Kentucky, and first called the Indiana Gazette, and July, 4, 1804, was changed to the Western Sun. Mr. Stout continued the paper until 1845, amid many discouragements, when he was appointed postmaster at the place, and he sold out the office.
INDIANA IN 1810.
The events which we have just been describing really constitute the initiatory steps to the great military campaign of Gen. Harrison which ended in the "battle of Tippecanoe;" but before proceeding to an account of that brilliant affair, let us take a glance at the re- sources and strength of Indiana Territory at this time, 1810:
Total population, 24,520; 33 grist mills; 14 saw mills; 3 horse mills; 18 tanneries; 28 distilleries; 3 powder mills; 1,256 looms;
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1,350 spinning wheels; value of manufactures-woolen, cotton hempen and flaxen cloths, $159,052; of cotton and wool spun in mills, $150,000; of nails, 30,000 pounds, $4,000; of leather tanned, $9,300; of distillery products, 35,950 gallons, $16,230; of gun- powder, 3,600 pounds, $1,800; of wine from grapes, 96 barrels, $6,000, and 5 0,000 pounds of maple sugar.
During the year 1810 a Board of Commissioners was established to straighten ont the confused condition into which the land-title controversy had been carried by the various and conflicting admin- istrations that had previously exercised jurisdiction in this regard. This work was attended with much labor on the part of the Commis- sioners and great dissatisfaction on the part of a few designing specu- lators, who thought no extreme of perjury too hazardous in their mad attempts to obtain lands fraudulently. In closing their report the Commissioners used the following expressive language: "We close this melancholy picture of human depravity by rendering our devont acknowledgment that, in the awful alternative in which we have been placed, of either admitting perjured testimony in sup- port of the claims before us, or having it turned against our char- acters and lives, it has as yet pleased that divine providence which rules over the affairs of men, to preserve us, both from legal mur- der and private assassination."
The question of dividing the Territory of Indiana was agitated from 1806 to 1809, when Congress erected the Territory of Illinois, to comprise all that part of Indiana Territory lying west of the Wabash river and a direct line drawn from that river and Post Vincennes due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada. This occasioned some confusion in the govern- ment of Indiana, but in due time the new elections were confirmed, and the new territory started off on a journey of prosperity which this section of the United States has ever since enjoyed.
From the first settlement of Vincennes for nearly half a century there ocenrred nothing of importance to relate, at least so far as the records inform us. The place was too isolated to grow very fast, and we suppose there was a succession of priests and con- mandants, who governed the little world around them with almost infinite power and authority, from whose decisions there was no appeal, if indeed any was ever desired. The character of society in such a place would of course grow gradually different from the parent society, assimilating more or less with that of neighboring tribes. The whites lived in peace, with the Indians, each under-
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standing the other's peculiarities, which remained fixed long enough for both parties to study out and understand them. The government was a mixture of the military and the civil. There was little to incite to enterprise. Speculations in money and prop- erty, and their counterpart, beggary, were both unknown; the nec- essaries of life were easily procured, and beyond these there were but few wants to be supplied; hospitality was exercised by all, as there were no taverns; there scemed to be no use for law, judges or prisons; each district had its commandant, and the proceedings of a trial were singular. The complaining party obtained a notifi- cation from the commandant to his adversary, accompanied by a command to render justice. If this had no effect he was notified to appear before the commandant on a particular day and answer; and if the last notice was neglected, a sergeant and file of men were sent to bring him,-no sheriff and no costs. The convicted party would be fined and kept in prison until he rendered justice according to the decree; when extremely refractory the cat-o'-nine- tails brought him to a sense of justice. In such a state of society there was no demand for learning and science. Few could read, and still fewer write. Their disposition was nearly always to deal honestly, at least simply. Peltries were their standard of value. A brotherly love generally prevailed. But they were devoid of public spirit, enterprise or ingenuity.
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GOV. HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
Immediately after the organization of Indiana Territory Governor Harrison's attention was directed, by necessity as well as by in- structions from Congress, to settling affairs with those Indians who still held claims to lands. He entered into several treaties, by which at the close of 1805 the United States Government had ob- tained about 46,000 square miles of territory, including all the lands lying on the borders of the Ohio river between the mouth of the Wabash river and the State of Ohio.
The levying of a tax, especially a poll tax, by the General Assem- bly, created considerable dissatisfaction among many of the inhabit- ants. At a meeting held Sunday, Angust 16, 1807, a number of Frenchmen resolved to " withdraw their confidence and support forever from those men who advocated or in any manner promoted the second grade of government."
In 1807 the territorial statutes were revised and under the new code, treason, murder, arson and horse-stealing were each punish- able by death. The crime of manslaughter was punishable by the common law. Burglary and robbery were punishable by whip- ping, fine and in some cases by imprisonment not exceeding forty years. Hog stealing was punishable by fine and whipping. Bigamy was punishable by fine, whipping and disfranchisement, etc.
In 1804 Congress established three land offices for the sale of lands in Indiana territory ; one was located at Detroit, one at Vin- cennes and one at Kaskaskia. In 1807 a fourth one was opened at Jeffersonville, Clark county ; this town was first laid out in 1802, agrecably to plans suggested by Mr. Jefferson then President of the United States.
Governor Harrison, according to liis message to the Legislature in 1806, seemed to think that the peace then existing between the whites and the Indians was permanent; but in the same doenment he referred to a matter that might be a source of trouble, which in- deed it proved to be, namely, the execution of white laws among the Indians-laws to which the latter had not been a party in their enactment. The trouble was aggravated by the partiality with which the laws seem always to have been executed; the Indian
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was nearly always the sufferer. All along from 1805 to 1810 the Indians complained bitterly against the eneroachments of the white people upon the lands that belonged to them. The invasion of their hunting grounds and the unjustifiable killing of many of their pco- ple were the sources of their discontent. An old chief, in laying the trouble of his people before Governor Harrison, said: " You call us children; why do you not make us as happy as our fathers, the French, did? They never took from us our lands; indeed, they were common between ns. They planted where they pleased, and they cnt wood where they pleased; and so did we; but now if a poor Indian attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree as his own."
The Indian truly had grounds for his complaint, and the state of feeling existing among the tribes at this time was well calculated to develop a patriotic leader who should carry them all forward to victory at arms, if certain concessions were not made to them by the whites. But this golden opportunity was seized by an unworthy warrior. A brother of Tecumseh, a "prophet" named Law-le-was-i- kaw, but who assumed the name of Pems-quat-a-wah (Open Door), was the crafty Shawanee warrior who was enabled to work upon both the superstitions and the rational judgment of his fellow In- dians. He was a good orator, somewhat peenliar in his appearance and well calculated to win the attention and respect of the savages. He began by denouncing witchcraft, the use of intoxieating liquors, the custom of Indian women marrying white men, the dress of the whites and the practice of selling Indian lands to the United States. He also told the Indians that the commands of the Great Spirit re- quired them to punish with death those who practiced the arts of witchcraft and magic; that the Great Spirit had given him power to find out and expose such persons; that he had power to cure all diseases, to confound his enemies and to stay the arm of death in sickness and on the battle-field. His harangnes aroused among some bands of Indians a high degree of superstitions excitement. An old Delaware chief named Ta-te-boek-o-she, through whose in- fluence a treaty had been made with the Delawares in 1804, was accused of witchcraft, tried, condemned and tomahawked, and his body consumed by fire. The old chief's wife, nephew (" Billy Patterson ") and an aged Indian named Joshua were next accused of witchcraft and condemned to death. The two men were burned at the stake, but the wife of Ta-te-bock-o-she was saved from
THE SHAWNEE PROPHET.
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death by her brother, who suddenly approached her, took her by the hand, and, without meeting any opposition from the Indians present, led her out of the council- house. He then immediately returned and checked the growing influence of the Prophet by exelaiming in a strong, earnest voice, " The Evil Spirit has come among us and we are killing each other."-[ Dillon's History of Indiana.
When Gov. Harrison was made acquainted with these events he sent a special messenger to the Indians, strongly entreating them to renounce the Prophet and his works. This really destroyed to some extent the Prophet's influence; but in the spring of 1808, having aroused nearly all the tribes of the Lake Region, the Prophet with a large number of followers settled near the mouth of the Tippe- canoe river, at a place which afterward had the name of "Prophet's- Town." Taking advantage of his brother's influence, Tecumseh actively engaged himself in forming the various tribes into a con- federacy. He announced publicly to all the Indians that the treaties by which the United States had acquired lands northwest of the Ohio were not made in fairness, and should be considered void. He also said that no single tribe was invested with power to sell lands without the consent of all the other tribes, and that he and his brother, the Prophet, would oppose and resist all future attempts which the white people might make to extend their set- tlements in the lands that belonged to the Indians.
Early in 1808, Gov. Harrison sent a speech to the Shawanees, in which was this sentence: " My children, this business must be stopped; I will no longer suffer it. You have called a number of men from the most distant tribes to listen to a fool, who speaks not the words of the Great Spirit but those of the devil and the British agents. My children, your conduet has much alarmed the white settlers near you. They desire that you will send away those people; and if they wish to have the impostor with them they ean carry him along with them. Let him go to the lakes; he can hear the British more distinctly." This message wounded the pride of the Prophet, and he prevailed on the messenger to inform Gov. Harrison that he was not in league with the British, but was speak- ing truly the words of the Great Spirit.
In the latter part of the summer of 1808, the Prophet spent sev- eral weeks at Vincennes, for the purpose of holding interviews with Gov. Harrison. At one time he told the Governor that lie was a Christian and endeavored to persuade his people also to become Christians, abandon the use of liquor, be united in broth-
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erly love, etc., making Mr. Harrison believe at least, that he was honest; but before long it was demonstrated that the "Prophet" was designing, cunning and unreliable; that both he and Tecumseh were enemies of the United States, and friends of the English; and that in case of a war between the Americans and English, they would join the latter. The next year the Prophet again visited Vincennes, with assurances that he was not in sympathy with the English, but the Governor was not disposed to believe him; and in a letter to the Secretary of War, in July, 1809, he said that he regarded the bands of Indians at Prophet's Town as a combination which had been produced by British intrigue and influence, in antic- ipation of a war between them and the United States.
In direet opposition to Tecumseh and the prophet and in spite of all these difficulties, Gov. Harrison continued the work of extin- guishing Indian titles to lands, with very good success. By the close of 1809, the total amount of land ceded to the United States, under treaties which had been effected by Mr. Harrison, exceeded 30.000,000 a res.
From 1805 to 1807, the movements of Aaron Burr in the Ohio valley created considerable excitement in Indiana. It seemed that he intended to collect a force of men, invade Mexico and found a republie there, comprising all the country west of the Alleghany mountains. He gathered, however, but a few inen, started south, and was soon arrested by the Federal authorities. But before his arrest he had abandoned lus expedition and his followers had dispersed.
HIARRISON'S CAMPAIGN.
While the Indians were combining to prevent any further trans- fer of land to the whites, the British were using the advantage as a groundwork for a successful war upon the Americans. In the spring of 1810 the followers of the Prophet refused to receive their annuity of salt, and the officials who offered it were denounced as "American dogs," and otherwise treated in a disrespectful manner. Gov. Harrison, in July, attempted to gain the friendship of the Prophet by sending him a letter, offering to treat with him person- ally in the matter of his grievances, or to furnish means to send him, with three of his principal chiefs, to the President at Wash - ington; but the messenger was coldly received, and they returned word that they would visit Vincennes in a few days and interview the Governor. Accordingly, Aug. 12, 1810, the Shawanee chief with 70 of his principal warriors, marched up to the door of the
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Governor's house, and from that day until the 22d held daily inter- views with His Excellency. In all of his speeches Tecumseh was haughty, and sometimes arrogant. On the 20th he delivered that celebrated speech in which he gave the Governor the alternative of returning their lands or meeting them in battle.
While the Governor was replying to this speech Tecumseh inter- rupted him with an angry exclamation, declaring that the United States, through Gov. Harrison, had "cheated and imposed on the Indians." When Teeumseh first rose, a number of his party also sprung to their feet, armed with elubs, tomahawks and spears, and made some threatening demonstrations. The Governor's guards, who stood a little way off, were marehed up in haste, and the In- dians, awed by the presence of this small armed force, abandoned what seemed to be an intention to make an open attack on the Gov- ernor and his attendants. As soon as Teeumseh's remarks were interpreted, the Governor reproached him for his conduct, and com- manded him to depart instantly to his camp.
On the following day Tecumseh repented of his rash act and re- quested the Governor to grant him another interview, and pro- tested against any intention of offense. The Governor consented, and the couneil was re-opened on the 21st, when the Shawanee chief addressed him in a respectful and dignified manner, but re- mained immovable in his poliey. The Governor then requested Tecumseh to state plainly whether or not the surveyors who might be sent to survey the lands purchased at the treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, would be molested by Indians. Tecumseh replied : "Brother, when you speak of annuities to me, I look at the land and pity the women and children. I am authorized to say that they will not receive them. Brother, we want to save that piece of land. We do not wish you to take it. It is small enough for our purpose. If you do take it, you must blame yourself as the cause of the trouble between us and the tribes who sold it to you. I want the present boundary line to continue. Should you cross it, I assure you it will be productive of bad consequences."
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