USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County, Indiana ; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 5
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sight. The latter years of his life were passed under the protection of the Christian Indians, and it is said he never wandered far from home for fear his enemies would meet and kill him. He died in January, 1811. A creek in Madison county still bears his name.
Kikthawenund (Captain Anderson) was one of the best known and most influential chiefs of the Delawares in Indiana. His village stood where the city of Anderson is now located, and which bears the old chieftain's 'English name. His home was at the foot of the hill, not far from where Norton's brewery now stands. One account says his resi- dence was a two-story, double cabin, one side of which was occupied by him and his family and the other by his son. Chief Anderson was always friendly to the whites. When Tecumseh visited him for the purpose of securing him and his tribe as allies of the British in the War of 1812, the old Delaware firmly refused to take any part against his white friends and continued the stanch friend of the Americans. Doubtless one reason for his attitude in this regard was the marriage of his daughter, Oneahye, or Dancing Feather, to Charles Stanley, one of the pioneer settlers. When the Delawares departed in the fall of 1821, for their new home beyond the Mississippi, Oneahye remained behind with her white husband. There are various accounts concerning the death of Kikthawenund. One tradition says he died before the exodus of 1821 and was buried in the burial ground of his tribe. An- other says he met his death when the pony he was riding plunged over a high bluff on the White river, a short distance above Anderson. Still another is to the effect that he, with a few followers, removed to Ohio and died there. There is also a legend that twenty years after his departure for the far West he returned to visit his daughter, was stricken with fever and died on the third day after his arrival in the town of Anderson. The same story states that fifty years later, when excavating for the Anderson hotel, on North Meridian street, the bones of the old chief were unearthed, but were reburied under the founda- tions of the building. He was active in the negotiations that led to the treaty of St. Mary's in 1818 and was one of its signers.
James Nanticoke was also one of the signers of the treaty of St. Mary's. His village was situated not far from Anderson and bore the name of "Our town," which was conferred upon it by Nanticoke's squaw, who is said to have been "a very beautiful woman and at one time maintained the relation of 'chiefess' to her tribe."
Peekeetelemund (Thomas Adams) was a chief of some prominence among the Delawares and had a village at some point on the White river, but its exact location is now uncertain.
Another Delaware chief and warrior was Captain John Green, who was part French. He is described as a man of superior intelligence, tall and weighing about 240 pounds. He was fond of wearing his war emblems and displaying them on every occasion. His wigwam stood near what is now the west end of Tenth street, in the city of Anderson, and Green's branch, which winds through the western part of the city, bears his name. When the first white men came to Madison county they could discern near Green's wigwam traces of the pathway where prisoners, brought before him for trial, were made to run the gauntlet.
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There is a fairly well authenticated account to the effect that Captain Green was an idolater. He had a large slab of wood fashioned to repre- sent a human face, which was elevated to a height of some twelve or fifteen feet above the ground upon a tree, and to this image he paid his devotions. Judge John Davis managed to secure possession of this idol and for a time kept it in one of the rooms of the old courthouse. Some one, probably proceeding upon the theory that the "last thief is the best owner," extracted it from its hiding place and its ultimate fate is not known. Some suppose that this image was destroyed by fire among other relics kept in the old courthouse, which was burned Dec. 10, 1880.
Miss Nellie Lovett, daughter of John W. Lovett, of Anderson, now Mrs. Earle Reeves, of Chicago, some years ago wrote a beautiful story, or legend, of Chief Anderson, in which she told of the finding of his skeleton under the Anderson Hotel. The legend closes with the follow- ing, which is certainly pretty, if it is not true:
"It is said that on the night of the 21st day of September, 1891, the seventieth anniversary of the exodus of the Delaware, just as the clock in the tower of the courthouse struek the hour of midnight, the ghostly form of an Indian, clad. in the full habiliments of a Delaware chieftain, might have been seen standing erect on the highest crest of the unfinished building (the Anderson Hotel), with folded arms, looking towards the east, just as the chieftain had stood on the morning of his departure, seventy years before. It remained thus for a moment and faded out in a cloud of mist."
CHAPTER III THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION
EARLY EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA-CONFLICTING CLAIMS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE AND SPAIN-FRENCH POSTS IN THE INTERIOR-FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR-PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY-ENGLISH IN POSSESSION OF INDIANA-THE REVOLUTION-GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST-THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY-CAMPAIGNS OF ST. CLAIR AND WAYNE-TREATY OF GREENVILLE-INDIANA TERRITORY OR- GANIZED-INDIAN TREATIES-TENSKWATAWA AND TECUMSEH-BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE-WAR OF 1812-BURNING OF THE DELAWARE VILLAGES ON THE WHITE RIVER-INDIANA ADMITTED INTO THE UNION-TREATY OF ST. MARY'S-SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.
Although Madison county, as a separate political division, was not called into existence until 1823, the events leading up to its establish- ment had their beginning more than a century and a half prior to that time. It is therefore pertinent to notice the work of the early explorers, particularly those who visited Indiana. Soon after the discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492, three European nations were busy in their attempts to establish claims to territory in the New World. Spain first laid claim to the peninsula of Florida, whence expeditions were sent into the interior; the English based their claims to the discoveries made by the Cabots, farther northward along the Atlantic coast; and the French claimed Canada through the expeditions of Jacques Cartier in 1534-35.
Spain planted a colony in Florida in 1565; the French settled Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1605; the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, was established in 1607, and Quebec was founded by the French in 1608. The French then extended their settlements up the St. Lawrence river and along the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and Jesuit mission- aries and fur traders pushed on farther west, into the heart of the Indian country. A mission was established near Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1660, by Father Mesnard. In that year Father Claude Allouez made his first pilgrimage into the interior. Two years later he returned to Quebec, where he urged that permanent missions be established among the Indians and that colonies of French immigrants accompany the missions. Upon his second journey into the western wilds he was accompanied by the missionaries, Claude Dablon and James Marquette.
In 1671 Father Marquette founded the Huron mission at Point St. Ignace, and the next year the country south of the missior was visited by Allouez and Dablon. In their explorations they visiteu the Indian
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
tribes living near the head of Lake Michigan and are supposed to have touched that portion of Indiana lying north of the Kankakee river. They were probably the first white men to set foot upon Indiana soil, though some writers maintain that Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, crossed the northern part of the state on the occasion of his first expedition to the Mississippi river in 1669.
In 1673 Marquette and Joliet crossed over from Mackinaw to the Mississippi river, which they descended until they came to an Indian village called Akamsea, near the mouth of the Arkansas river, when they returned to Canada. In 1679 Fort Miami was built at the mouth of the St. Joseph river of Lake Michigan (then called the river Miamis) by La Salle, who about three years later succeeded in descending the Mississippi to its mouth, where on April 9, 1682, he claimed all the territory drained by the great river and its tributaries for France, giv- ing to it the name of Louisiana, in honor of the French king. This claim included the present state of Indiana.
Spain claimed the interior of the continent on account of the dis- coveries of Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto, the English laid claim to the same region on account of the royal grants of land "extend- ing westward to the South Sea," but the French ignored the claims of both nations and began the work of building a line of posts through the Mississippi valley to connect their Canadian settlements with those near the mouth of the great river. There is a vague account of a French trading post having been established in 1672 where the city of Fort Wayne now stands. This may be true, but is probably an error, as the old maps of 1684 show no posts within the present limits of Indiana. In July, 1701, Cadillac founded the post of Detroit and the next year Sieur Juchereau and the missionary Mermet made an attempt to estab- lish a post near the mouth of the Ohio river. Some writers say this post was located upon the site now occupied by the city of Vincennes. Dillon, in his "History of Indiana," says: ,"It is probable that before the year 1719, temporary trading posts were erected at the sites of Fort Wayne, Ouiatenon and Vincennes. These posts had, it is believed, been often visited by traders before the year 1700."
Ouiatenon was located on the Wabash river, eighteen miles below the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, not far from the present city of Lafayette. Says Smith: "The best record is that this was the first post established in what is now Indiana by the French." He fixes the date of its establishment as 1720 and says that no effort was made to plant a colony there.
The conflicting claims of the English and French culminated in what is known in history as the French and Indian war. In 1759 Quebec was taken by the British forces and the following year the French governor of Canada surrendered all the posts in the interior. Soon afterward Major Rogers, an English officer, took possession of Detroit and sent detachments to the post at the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers (Fort Wayne), and to Ouiatenon. By the treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, all that part of Louisiana east of the Missis- sippi river was ceded to Great Britain and Indiana became subject to English domination.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
In April, 1763, a great council of Indians was held near Detroit, at which the wily Ottawa chief, Pontiac, "as high priest and keeper of the faith," revealed to his fellow chiefs the will of the Great Master of Life, as expounded by the Delaware prophet, and called upon them to unite with him in a grand movement for the recovery of their hunting grounds and the preservation of their national life. Along the Atlantic coast the white man was in undisputed control, but the Ohio valley and the region about the Great Lakes were still in the hands of the Indians. Between these two sections the Allegheny mountains formed a natural boundary and behind this barrier Pontiac determined to assert the red man's supremacy. The recent defeat of the French taught him that he could expect nothing from them in the way of assistance, but, relying upon and encouraged by the loyalty of his own race, when informed that the British were coming to take possession of the posts surrendered by the French, he sent back the defiant message: "I stand in the way."
Pontiac's war ended as all such contests usually do, when an inferior race opposes the onward march of a superior one, and the subjection of the Indians was rendered complete by Colonel Bouquet's march into the interior of Ohio, forcing the natives to enter into treaties to keep the peace. Pontiac's warriors captured the posts at Fort Wayne and Ouiatenon, but the post at Vincennes, which had not yet been turned over to the English, but was still occupied by a French garrison under command of St. Ange, was not molested. This post was turned over by St. Ange on October 10, 1765, to Captain Sterling, who immediately issued a proclamation, prepared by General Gage, formally taking pos- session of the territory ceded by the Paris treaty.
From that time until the opening of the Revolution, the English established few posts in their new possessions, though those at Fort Miami (Wayne), Ouiatenon and Vincennes were strengthened and at the beginning of the Revolutionary war were occupied by small garri- sons, the British depending largely upon their Indian allies to prevent the colonists from encroaching upon their lands in the Ohio valley.
In December, 1777, General George Rogers Clark appeared before the Virginia legislature with a plan to capture the English posts in the northwest-Detroit, Kaskaskia and Vincennes, especially. Governor Patrick Henry approved Clark's plan and the legislature appropriated £1,200 to defray the expenses of the campaign. Early in the spring of 1778 four companies of infantry, commanded by Captains Joseph Bow- man, Leonard Helm, John Montgomery and William Harrod, rendez- voused at Corn island, in the Ohio river opposite Louisville. On June 24, 1778, the forward movement was begun, the little army drifting down the river to Fort Massac, where the boats were concealed and the march overland toward Kaskaskia was commenced. Kaskaskia was captured without resistance on July 4th and Clark sent Captain Bowman to reduce the post at Cahokia, near the present city of East St. Louis, which was successfully accomplished.
While at Kaskaskia, Clark learned that Father Gibault, a French priest, was favorable to the American cause and sent for him to enlist his aid in the capture of Vincennes. Father Gibault admitted his loyalty
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
to the American side, but on account of his calling suggested that Dr. Lafonte, whom he knew to be both eapable and reliable, could conduct the negotiations for the surrender of the post better than himself, though he promised to direct the affair, provided it could be done without expos- ing himself. Accordingly, Dr. Lafonte explained to the people of Vineennes that they could break the yoke of British domination by taking the oath of allegiance to the colonies, which they cheerfully did, and Captain IIelm was sent to take command of the post.
In October, 1778, the Virginia assembly passed an act providing that all the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia "who are already settled, or shall hereafter settle, on the northwestern side of the River Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illi- nois county," etc. But before the provisions of this act could be applied to the newly conquered territory, Henry Hamilton, the British lieu- tenant-governor of Detroit, with thirty regulars, fifty volunteers and four hundred Indians started down the Wabash to reinforce the posts. On December 15, 1778, he took possession of the fort at Vincennes, the American garrison at that time consisting of Captain Helm and one man, who refused to surrender until promised the honors of war. The French citizens were disarmed and a large force of hostile Indians began to gather near the fort.
Clark was now in a perilous position. His force was weaker than when he set out on his expedition and part of his forces must be used to garrison the posts already captured. It was the dead of winter, sup- plies were searee and there were no roads over which he could move against Vincennes. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, when he learned late in January, 1779, that Hamilton had weakened his garrison by sending Indians against the frontier settlements, he determined to attack the post. Hamilton's objeet was to colleet a large body of Indians and as soon as spring opened drive out the Americans, hence prompt- ness on the part of Clark was imperative. He therefore hurried for- ward, overcoming all obstacles, his men frequently wading through creeks and swamps where the water eame up to their waists, and on the morning of February 18, 1779, was close enough to hear the sunrise gun at the fort. Three days more were passed in the swamps, but at daybreak on the 21st his little army was ferried across the Wabash in two canoes. Soon after that a hunter from the fort was captured and from him Clark learned that Hamilton had but about eighty men in the fort. He then prepared and sent to the village the following procla- mation :
"To the Inhabitants of Post Vineennes :-
"Gentlemen: Being now within two miles of your village with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and not being willing to surprise you, I take this method to request such of you as are true citizens, and willing to enjoy the liberty I bring you, to remain still in your houses :- and those, if any there be, that are friends to the king, will instantly repair to the fort and join the hair-buyer general and fight like men. And if any such as do not go to the fort shall be dis- covered afterward, they may depend on severe punishment. On the contrary, those who are true friends to liberty may depend on being
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
well treated; and I once more request them to keep out of the streets. For every one I find in arms on my arrival, I shall treat him as an enemy."
The allusion to Hamilton as "the hair-buyer general" has reference to that officer's attempt to incite the Indians to greater cruelty by placing a price upon American scalps. Clark says that lie had various ideas on the supposed results of his letter, or proclamation. He watched the messenger enter the village and saw that his arrival there created some stir, but was unable to learn the effects of his communication. A short time before sunset he marched his men out into view. In his report of his movements on this occasion he says: "In leaving the covert that we were in, we marched and countermarched in such a manner that we appeared numerous." Clark had about a dozen stands of colors, which were now fastened to long poles and carried so that they could be seen above the ridge behind which his "handful of men" were performing their maneuvers, thus creating the impression that he had several regiments of troops. To add to this impression, the several horses, that had been captured from duck-hunters near the village, were ridden by the officers in all directions, apparently carrying orders from the commanding general to his subordinates. These evolutions were kept up until dark, when Clark moved out and took a position in the rear of the town. Lieutenant Bayley, with fourteen men, was ordered to open fire on the fort. One man in the garrison was killed in the first volley. Some of the citizens came out and joined the besiegers and the fort was surrounded. The siege was kept up until about nine o'clock on the morning of the 24th, when Clark demanded a surrender, with all stores, etc., and sent the following message to Hamilton: "If I am obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is justly due a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession-for, by heavens! if you do, there shall be no mercy shown you."
To this message Hamilton replied that he was "not to be awed into doing anything unworthy of a British soldier," and the firing on the fort was renewed. Most of Clark's men were unerring marksmen and their bullets found their way through the cracks with deadly effect. Some of the soldiers begged permission to storm the fort, but Clark felt that it was much safer to continue his present tactics of harassing the enemy until he was ready to surrender. After a short time a flag of truce was displayed and the British officer asked for an armistice of three days. He also invited Clark to come into the fort for a parley, but the American general was "too old a bird to be caught with chaff" and sent word back that he would meet Hamilton at the church, abont eighty yards from the fort. The British officer, accompanied by Cap- tain Helm, who was a captive, came out to the church and pressed his request for a truce of three days. Fearing the return of some of Ham- ilton's Indians, Clark denied the request and informed Hamilton that the only terms he could offer was "Surrender at discretion." The fort, with all its stores and munitions of war, was then turned over to the Americans and a few days later a detachment sent out by Clark cap- tured about $50,000 worth of goods coming down the Wabash to the fort.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Through the conquest of the northwest by General Clark, what is now Indiana became subject to the colony of Virginia and a tide of emigration followed. On January 2, 1781, the general assembly of Virginia passed a resolution to the effect that, on certain conditions, the colony would cede to Congress its claim to the territory northwest of the Ohio river. But the Revolutionary war was then in progress and Congress took no action on the subject. On January 20, 1783, an armistice was agreed upon and proclaimed by Congress on the 11th of the following April. The treaty of Paris was concluded on September 3, 1783, and ten days later Congress agreed to accept the cession tendered by the Virginia legislature more than two years before. On December 20, 1783, the assembly of Virginia passed a resolution authorizing their delegates in Congress to convey to the United States the "title and claim of Virginia to the lands northwest of the river Ohio." The ces- sion was made on March 1, 1784, and the present State of Indiana thereby became territory of the United States.
On May 20, 1785, Congress passed "An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in western territory," and on June 15, 1785, a proclamation was issued forbidding settlements northwest of the Ohio until the lands were surveyed. This ordinance and proclamation conveyed to the Indians the idea that their lands were to be taken for white settlers and they grew restless. By treaties in 1768, between the British colonial officials on one side and the chiefs of the Five Na- tions and Cherokee on the other, the Ohio and Kanawha rivers were designated as the boundary between the Indians and the whites, the former relinquishing all claims to their lands along the Atlantic coast and in the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys, and were confirmed in their possession of the country lying west of the Allegheny mountains. The Indians claimed that the acts of Congress relating to the territory northwest of the Ohio were in violation of the treaties of 1768-which was true-but during the Revolution most of the tribes in that region had acted in accord with the British, and the new government of the United States repudiated the treaties made by the British provincial authorities. Late in the summer of 1786 some of the tribes grew so threatening in their demonstrations that Clark marched against the Indians on the Wabash and Logan against the Shawnees on the Big Miami river, and in October a garrison was established at Vincennes.
On July 13, 1787, Congress passed an act or ordinance "for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio," and on October 5th General Arthur St. Clair was elected by Congress as governor of the Northwest Territory. Again the Indians showed signs of becoming troublesome and on January 9, 1789, Gen- eral St. Clair made a treaty of peace with some of the leading tribes at Fort Harmar, on the Muskingum river. Among the Delaware chiefs that signed this treaty was Captain Pipe, either the one who afterward lived in Madison county or an immediate ancestor. This treaty was not kept by the Indians and in the fall of 1791 St. Clair organized an expedition against the tribes in northwestern Ohio and about the head- waters of the Wabash. On November 4, 1791, St. Clair's army was defeated and almost annihilated by the Indians under command of the
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Miami chief Meshekunnoghquoh, or Little Turtle. Soon after his de- feat, St. Clair resigned his commission as major-general and Anthony Wayne was appointed to sueceed him. Wayne spent the time from the spring of 1792 to August, 1793, in recruiting and equipping an army for a campaign into the Indian country. In the meantime the govern- ment appointed Benjamin Lincoln, Beverly Randolph and Timothy Pickering commissioners to negotiate treaties with the Indians. Coun- cils were held at various places with the chiefs of the dissatisfied tribes, ' but nothing was accomplished.
In the spring of 1794 Wayne took the field against the hostile tribes and on the 20th of August won a decisive victory at the battle of Fallen Timbers. Ou September 17, 1794, he halted his army at the site of the deserted Miami village, at the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers, and the next day selected a location for "Fort Wayne," which was completed on the 22d of October. From this point he sent messengers to the Indian chiefs, inviting them to visit Fort Greenville for the purpose of entering into a new treaty. The season was so far advanced, however, that nothing was done until the following summer. The greater part of the months of June and July, 1795, were spent in holding couneils with the various tribes and on August 3, 1795, was concluded the treaty of Greenville. one of the most important Indian treaties in the history of Indiana and Ohio. That treaty was signed by eighty-nine chiefs, distributed among the several tribes as follows: 24 Pottawatomies, 16 Delawares, 10 Wyan- dots, 9 Shawnees, 11 Chippewas. 3 Miamis, 7 Ottawas, 3 Eel Rivers, 3 Weas and 3 Kaskaskias. Among the Delawares who signed was Kikthawenund, or Anderson, after whom the city of Anderson was named, and one of the Miami chiefs was Little Turtle, who had so signally defeated General St. Clair nearly four years before. Some of the chiefs also represented the Kiekapoos and Piankeshaws, so that the treaty bound practically all the Indians in Ohio and Indiana to terms of peace.
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