USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 10
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To this message Hamilton replied that he was "not to be awed into doing anything unworthy of a British soldier," and the firing upon the fort was renewed. Most of Clark's men were skilled in the use of the rifle and their bullets found their way through the smallest cracks in the fort with deadly effect. Some of the soldiers begged for 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. He had not long to wait, for in a little while a flag of truce was dis- played and Hamilton asked for an armistice of three days. The request was promptly denied and the British commander then asked Clark to · come into the fort for a parley. But the American general was "too old a bird to be caught with chaff" and refused to place himself thus within his enemy's power. He sent back word that he would meet Hamilton at the church, which was some eighty yards from the fort. As there was nothing else to do, the British officer, accompanied by Captain Helm, who was a prisoner, came out to the church and again asked for a truce of three days. Fearing the return of some of Hamilton's Indians, Clark again denied the request and informed Hamilton that the only terms he could offer was "Surrender at discretion." This was a bitter pill for the haughty Briton, but it had to be swallowed. The fort, with all its stores, arms and munitions of war, was then turned over to the Americans, and on the morning of the 25th the inhabitants saw the Stars and Stripes floating from the flagstaff of the post.
On the 27th the Willing arrived and two days later a detachment sent out by Clark captured about $50,000 worth of goods coming down the Wabash to the fort. There was great rejoicing in Virginia and the eastern colonies when it was learned that the western outposts were in the hands of the Americans., Says Levering: "The results of this campaign
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were far-reaching in the settlement with Great Britain four years later, when the final treaty of peace was ratified. As a consequence, all the territory between the Ohio river and the Great Lakes became a United States possession."
Through the conquest of the Northwest by General Clark, what is now the state of Indiana became subject to the colony of Virginia and a tide of emigration followed. On January 2, 1781, the legislature of Vir- ginia 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 matter. On January 20, 1783, an armistice was agreed upon, which was proclaimed by congress on the 11th of April following. The treaty of Paris was concluded on September 3, 1783, and ten days later congress agreed to accept the cession tendered by Virginia more than two years before. On December 20, 1783, the Virginia assem- bly passed a resolution authorizing their delegates in congress to convey to the United States "the title and claims of Virginia to the lands northwest of the river Ohio." The cession was formally 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 15th of the same year a proclamation was issued forbidding settlements northwest of the Ohio until the lands were surveyed. This ordinance and proclama- tion led the Indians to believe that their lands were about to be taken from them for white settlers and they grew restless. By treaties in 1768, between the British colonial officials on the one side and the chiefs of the Five Nations and Cherokee on the other, it was agreed that the Ohio and Kanawha rivers should form the boundary between the Indians and the whites, the former relinquishing all claims to their lands along the Atlan- tic coast and in the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys, in return for which they were confirmed in their possession of the country lying west of the Allegheny mountains. The Indians claimed that the acts of con- gress relating to the territory northwest of the Ohio river were in viola- tion 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 General Clark marched against the Indians on the Wabash and General Logan against the Shawnees on the Big Miami river. In October of that year a garrison was established at Vincennes.
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On July 13, 1787, congress passed an act or ordinance "for the gov- ernment of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio," and on the 5th of the following October General Arthur St. Clair was elected by congress to the position of governor of the Northwest Ter- ritory. Again the Indians showed signs of becoming hostile and on January 9, 1789, General St. Clair concluded a treaty of peace with some of the leading tribes at Fort Harmar, on the Muskingum river. This treaty was not kept by the Indians, and in September, 1790, General Harmar led an expedition into the Indian country. His force of some fifteen hundred men arrived at the Maumee river on the 17th of October and the work of punishing the Indians was commenced. The bad behavior of the militia prevented the expedition from being an entire success and the army returned to Fort Washington early in November, having lost 183 killed and 31 wounded. About the time Harmar reached the Maumee, Major Hamtramck marched up the Wabash river from Vincennes, de- stroying several deserted villages but finding no hostile Indians to oppose him.
The punishment meted out to the Indians by General Harmar kept them comparatively quiet for about a year, but in the fall of 1791 General St. Clair found it necessary to organize an expedition against the tribes in northwestern Ohio and about the headwaters of the Wabash. On November 4, 1791, St. Clair's army was signally defeated and almost annihilated by the Indians under command of Me-she-ke-no-quah, or Lit- tle Turtle. Soon after his defeat St. Clair resigned his commission as major-general and Anthony Wayne was appointed to succeed him. From the spring of 1792 to August, 1793, Wayne was busy in recruiting, organ- izing and equipping his army. While this was going on the government appointed Benjamin Lincoln, Beverly Randolph and Timothy Pickering as commissioners to negotiate treaties with the Indans. Councils 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 natives and on the 20th of August won a decisive victory at the battle of Fallen Timbers, near Toledo, Ohio. He then returned to the deserted Miami village, at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers, where he arrived on September 17, 1794, and the next day selected a site for "Fort Wayne," which was completed on the 22nd of October. From this fort he sent messengers to the Indian chiefs, inviting them to come to Fort Greenville for the purpose of making a new treaty, but the season was so far advanced that nothing was done until the following summer. During the months of June and July, 1795, councils were held with several of the tribes, and on August 3, 1795, the treaty of Greenville, one of the
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most important Indian treaties in the history of Ohio and Indiana, was concluded. That treaty was signed by eighty-nine chiefs, distributed among the several tribes as follows: 24 Pottawatomi, 16 Delaware, 10 Wyandot, 9 Shawnee, 11 Chippewa, 3 Miami, 7 Ottawa, 3 Eel River, 3 Weą and 3 Kaskaskia. One of the Miami chiefs was Little Turtle who had administered such disastrous defeat to General St. Clair nearly four years before. Some of the chiefs represented also the Kickapoo and Piankeshaw tribes, so that the treaty bound practically all the Indians in Ohio and Indiana to terms of peace.
By the treaty of Greenville the United States were granted several small tracts of land for military stations, two of which-Fort Wayne and Vincennes-were in Indiana. The United States government was also given the right to build or open roads through the Indian country, one of which ran from Fort Wayne to the Wabash river and down that stream to the Ohio. This road passed through what is now Miami county. For these concessions the United States agreed to give the Indians goods valued at $20,000 and annuity of.$9,500, in goods forever. This annuity was to be distributed among the tribes as follows: To the Delaware, Pot- tawatomi, Shawnee, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa and Chippewa, $1,000 each ; to the Kickapoo, Wea, Piankeshaw, Eel River and Kaskaskia, $500 each. The United States further agreed to relinquish claim to all other Indian lands north of the Ohio, east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes, ceded by Great Britain in the treaty of 1783.
By an act of congress, approved May 7, 1800, the Northwest Territory was divided into three territories-Ohio, Indiana and Illinois-and on the 13th of the same month General William Henry Harrison was appointed governor of the Territory of Indiana. At the same time John Gibson, of Pennsylvania, was appointed territorial secretary.
Although, by the treaty .of Greenville, the United States had agreed to permit the Indians to remain in peaceable possession of their lands north of the Ohio, it was not long until the white man began to look with longing eyes at the fertile valleys and prairies of Indiana, and before a decade had passed pressure was brought to bear upon the government to negotiate a treaty with the Indians whereby these lands could be acquired and opened to settlement. Accordingly, a general council of Indians was called to meet at Fort Wayne on June 7, 1803. The most important acts of that council were the recognition of the rights of the Delaware Indians to certain lands lying between the Ohio and Wabash rivers, fixing definitely the post boundaries at Vincennes, and the cession of the post tract to the United States by the Delawares. Governor Harrison was present at the council and made the necessary preliminary arrangements for a treaty afterward concluded at Vincennes on August 18, 1804, by which the Dela-
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wares, "for the considerations hereinafter mentioned, relinquish to the United States forever, all their right and title to the tract of country which lies between the Ohio and Wabash rivers and below the tract ceded by the treaty of Fort Wayne, and the road leading from Vincennes to the Falls of the Ohio."
The most northern point of the tract thus ceded is not far from French Lick. For the cession the tribe was to receive an annuity of $300 for ten years, which annuity was "to be appropriated exclusively to the purpose of ameliorating their condition and promoting their civilization." To ac- complish these ends it was further stipulated that "suitable persons shall be employed at the expense of the United States to teach them to make fences, cultivate the earth, and such of the domestic arts as are adapted to their situation; and a further sum of $300 shall be appropriated an- nually for five years to this object."
The Piankeshaws soon showed their dissatisfaction over this cession, claiming the land and refusing to recognize the right of the Delawares to transfer the title to the government. General Harrison met the Pianke- shaw chiefs at Vincennes on August 27, 1804, and concluded a treaty by which the tribe relinquished title to the tract for an annuity of $200 for five years.
Another treaty was concluded at Grouseland, near Vincennes, on August 21, 1805, between General Harrison and the chiefs of several tribes. In this treaty "The Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel Rivers and Weas explicitly acknowledge the right of the Delawares to sell the tract of land conveyed to the United States by the treaty of the 18th of August, 1804, which tract was given by the Piankeshaws to the Delawares, about thirty- seven years ago."
At the same time the Wea and Eel river tribes agreed to "cede and relinquish to the United States forever, all that tract of country which lies south of a line to be drawn from the northeast corner of the tract ceded by the treaty of Fort Wayne, so as to strike the general boundary line, running from a point opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, at a distance of fifty miles from its commencement on the Ohio river." The lands thus ceded include all the present counties of Washington, Orange, Jackson, Jennings, Ripley and Jefferson, and small portions of some of the adjoining counties.
About this time some of the Indian chiefs began to see, in the policy of making treaties of cession, the loss of the lands guaranteed to the Indians by the treaty of Greenville. Most of these chiefs had been accus- tomed to look upon Little Turtle, the great chief of the Miami, as one of their wisest men, a leader whose opinions were always entitled to respect. But when he bowed to the inevitable and joined with other chiefs in
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disposing of the lands of his people, he was branded as "an Indian with a white man's heart and a traitor to his race." Consequently many of the chiefs were ready to follow a new leader, when, in November, 1805, a prophet arose among the Shawnees in the person of La-la-weth-ika, then about thirty years of age. He went into a trance, saw the spirit world, and came back with a message from the Great Manitou to "let firewater alone, abandon the white man's custom and follow the ways of our ancestors. "
After his vision he changed his name to Tensk-wa-ta-wa (sometimes written Elsk-wa-ta-wa), which in the Shawnee tongue means "The Open Door." This name was selected because he claimed to be the means of opening the way by which the Indians were to regain their lost power and the lands of which they had been dispossessed. He took up his head- quarters at Greenville, Ohio, but the Miamis, who still believed in their own leader, Little Turtle, were jealous of his influence. In order to weaken his power among the young braves of that tribe, some of the Miami chiefs declared him to be an impostor. Says Mooney :
"By some means he had learned that an eclipse of the sun was to take place in the summer of 1806. As the time drew near, he called about him the scoffers and boldly announced that on a certain day he would prove to them his supernatural authority by causing the sun to become dark. When the day and hour arrived and the earth at midday was enveloped in the gloom of twilight, Tenskawtawa, standing in the midst of the terrified Indians, pointed to the sky and cried: 'Did I not speak the truth ? See, the sun is dark !' "'
Tenskawatawa then went a step farther in his claim to supernatural power and boldly asserted that he was a reincarnation of Manabozho, the great "first doer" of the Algonquians. He opposed the intermarriage of Indian squaws with white men and accused the Christian Indians of witchcraft. Upon his accusation the Delaware chief, Tat-e-bock-o-she, through whose influence the treaty of 1804 had been brought about, was tomahawked as a wizard, and the Indian missionary called "Joshua" was burned at the stake. His followers increased in numbers, but it soon became apparent that something more than prophecy and a display of supernatural ability would be necessary to restore to the Indians their birthright.
As Pontiac had taken advantage of the preaching of the Delaware prophet, more than forty years before, to organize a conspiracy, Tecum- seh (The Shooting Star), a brother of the prophet, now came forward as a temporal leader and began the work of cementing the tribes into a con- federacy to resist the further encroachments of the pale-face race. Te- cumseh and Tenskwatawa were sons of the great Shawnee warrior Pukee-
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sheno, who was killed at the battle of Kanawha, in 1774, when the prophet was an infant. In the spring of 1808 a great many Indians came from the country about the Great Lakes to visit the prophet and his brother at Greenville. The peaceable Miamis and Delawares protested against this incursion of their domain and to avoid an open rupture with these tribes, the two brothers removed their headquarters to the Potta- watomi village on the Wabash river, a short distance below the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, which village then became known as "Prophet's Town."
Tecumseh's next act was to notify General Harrison that he and his followers would never consent to the occupation of the Indian lands by white men until all the tribes should agree, instead of the few who claimed to own the lands. Having served this notice upon the governor of the Indiana territory, the wily chief began his active propaganda, visiting the chiefs and head men of the different tribes to arouse them to action, or at least secure their cooperation. While he was thus engaged another treaty was concluded at Fort Wayne on September 30, 1809, whereby two large tracts of land in Indiana were ceded to the United States. The first embraced practically all of the present counties of Fayette, Wayne and Randolph, and the second included approximately the counties of Monroe, Lawrence, Greene, Sullivan, Owen, Clay and Vigo. This treaty so incensed the Shawnees and their allies that they commenced a series of raids upon the frontier settlements. To protect the settlers, General Harrison, in the fall of 1811, went up the Wabash and near the site of the present city of Terre Haute built Fort Harrison, which was com- pleted late in October.
Harrison then started for Prophet's Town, but before reaching the village he was met by a delegation on November 6, 1811, and arrange- ments were made for a "talk" the next day. Harrison distrusted the members of the delegation, and when his army encamped on a piece of high ground near the village he placed a strong guard about the camp and gave orders for the men to "sleep on their arms." Events proved that his suspicions were well founded. A short time before daylight on the morning of the 7th, the Indians, led by the prophet in person, made their attack, intending to surprise the camp. The precautions taken by Harrison now demonstrated his wisdom as a military commander. His camp fires were suddenly extinguished and his men fought on the defen- sive until it was light enough to see clearly, when they charged with such bravery and enthusiasm that the Indians were completely routed. Above the din of battle the voice of the prophet could be heard har- anguing his warriors, telling them that through his supernatural power the bullets of the white men would be rendered harmless and that the
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pale-face cowards would be driven from the Indian hunting grounds. In this action, known in history as the battle of Tippecanoe, the whites lost sixty killed and one hundred wounded. The Indian loss was much heavier. It is said that Louis Godfroy, a war chief of the Miamis, afterward a prominent figure in Miami county history, gave the signal for the Indians to attack. After the battle, Harrison burned Prophet's Town and returned to Vincennes.
At the time of the battle Tecumseh was in Tennessee. Upon his return it is said that he called the prophet a fool for bringing on an engagement prematurely, took him by the long hair and shook him until his teeth rattled, and declared that he ought to be put to death for thwarting their plans. Not long after this Tecumseh went to Canada, joined the British army, in which he was made a brigadier-general, and fell at the battle of Thames, October 5, 1813.
In December, 1811, a memorial was sent to congress by the people of Indiana, asking for admission into the Union as a state, but, before any action was taken on the memorial, war was declared against Great Britain and for the next three years the attention of the national adminis- tration was fully occupied in the conduct of the war. In this conflict some of the tribes in the interior acted in accord with the British and carried the war into Indiana. Under date of October 13, 1812, General Harrison wrote to the war department that the Miamis had "dug up the hatchet" and were engaged in committing depredations upon the fron- tier settlements; that they had attacked Fort Harrison, besieged Fort Wayne, and that on several occasions his messengers or supply trains had been attacked and captured, although the tribe still claimed to be neutral.
The American post at Detroit had already fallen into the hands of the British, and its commanding position, with the cooperation of the Indian tribes in the interior practically placed the entire Wabash valley under the control of the enemy. It was deemed the part of wisdom to overcome the Indians before attempting to recapture Detroit and to this end the government sent Lieut .- Col. John B. Campbell, of the Nineteenth United States Infantry, with Captain Elliott's company of that regiment, part of a regiment of Kentucky dragoons, commanded by Colonel Sim- rall, Major Ball's squadron of United States dragoons, Captain But- ler's Pittsburgh Blues, Alexander's Pennsylvania Riflemen and some other troops-six hundred men in all-against the Indian villages on the Mississinewa river. This command, well mounted, was ordered to march from Franklinton, Ohio, on November 25, 1812, and General Harrison, in his instructions to Colonel Campbell, advised him to march by the Greenville route, in order to avoid the Delaware villages, as the gov- Vol. I- 6
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ernment was pledged for the safey of those peaceable Indians. He also recommended that certain Miami chiefs, among whom were Richard- ville, White Loon, Silver Heels, and the son and brother of Little Turtle, be left unmolested, as they had endeavored to keep their warriors from joining the hostiles.
Campbell's little army reached the Mississinewa on the morning of Thursday, December 17, when he approached unobserved an Indian vil- lage inhabited by Miamis and a few Delawares. His troops rushed into the town, killed eight warriors and took forty-two prisoners, thirty-four of whom were women and children. With the exception of a few cabins, the town was then burned by Campbell's orders, the prisoners being confined in the houses that were left standing. Campbell then took Ball's and Simrall's dragoons and proceeded down the Mississinewa river practically to its mouth, passing through a part of what is now Butler township, Miami county. On his march he found three deserted villages, which were burned. He then captured several horses, killed a large number of cattle and returned to the town which he had first attacked and destroyed in the morning.
That night he formed his camp in a square, 500 feet on each side, in order to be ready to resist an attack from any quarter, should one be made. At the northwest corner of the square, across the old trail leading to Meshingomesia 's village, was a redoubt commanded by Captain Pierce. Captain Smith, of the Kentucky dragoons, was also stationed in a re- doubt, the location of which cannot be ascertained. During the night the Indians, enraged by the destruction of their villages and the killing of their cattle, gathered together a force of some 300 warriors and marched toward Campbell's camp, which was attacked with all the fury of the savage a little while before daybreak on Friday morning, the 18th. For- tunately, Colonel Campbell had caused the reveille to be sounded at four o'clock, and he and his officers were in council when the Indian war-whoop was heard. Although it was bitterly cold and the ground was covered with snow, every man ran immediately to his post and the surprise in- tended by the Indians did not materialize. Captain Pierce's redoubt was the first point of attack. That officer bravely held his position until it was too late to get within the square. He fell with two bullets through his body and was also tomahawked. The Indians then took possession of the redoubt, from which a murderous fire was poured into the northwest corner of the square, and a little later the entire west line, consisting of Major Ball's dragoons, was engaged. Captain Smith's redoubt was also attacked, but he maintained his position until ordered to fall back to the square and fill up a gap in the north line, between Captain Hopkins and Captain Young.
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As soon as it was light enough to see clearly, Captain Trotter's com- pany of Simrall's dragoons was ordered to charge. The movement was brilliantly executed and at the same time Captain Markle's company of Ball's dragoons also charged and the Indians were thrown into confusion. Campbell then followed up the advantage by ordering Captain Johnson to support the charging troops, but the enemy was completely routed before he could bring his men into action.
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