History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 8

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships > Part 8

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cle. This tradition had gained considerable credence at the time, and all believed it to be true."

Who this Col. Winchester was, when the act was done, or why in particular they subjected this prisoner to that fate we have no information. This method of putting to death was but com- mon among the Indians, and many wretched captives both of In- dians and whites perished in that way.

INDIANS.

Indians always traveled in single file. Hundreds of them in a company would move in this way, and the line would extend perhaps for miles. They would approach a house by stealth. The first one would know, a dozen Indians, all armed and painted, would be standing at the door, with guns, tomahawks and scalp- ing knives, looking frightful enough.

Mr. W. C. Smith says : "Killbuck, a noted Indian, came to father's cabin when the family were all abed and demanded admittance. Father gave no answer. He struck the door several sharp blows with his tomahawk, declaring he would aplit the door down if it were not opened. Father said to him, ' I'll put a rifle ball through you if you don't clear out.' Killbuck said he was cold and hungry, and wished to warm himself and get something to eat.

" Father being afraid he was drunk, would not let him in, but told him 'go up to " Sal's " wigwam (a squaw who had lived not far off), and come back in the morning." He went and came back in the morning, saying, 'white man heap brave, he no cow- ard.'"

Another incident. Some Indians came to a cabin to pur- chase provisions. The man was absent. The woman went to the amoke-house to get them some bacon. One squaw seized a large piece and went to carry it off. The white woman wrenched it from her, striking the squaw to make her let go of the flitch of bacon.

The other Indians were greatly pleased at her boldness, pat- ting her on the shoulder, saying, " white squaw heap much brave, heap much fight."

The white traders used to practice all sorts of tricks upon the natives. One trader told the Indiana that the needle-maker was dead, and that after his supply on hand was gone, there would be no more. He sold his needles for a coon-akin apiece, worth fifty to seventy-five cents.

DEATH OF INDIAN " CHRISTMAS."

He was shot by young Lewallyn as related in Burgett Pierce's reminiscences. The Indians were greatly excited by his mur- der, and were with difficulty pacified by promises of a fair trial, and assurances that the guilty one should be punished. Mr. Lewallyn the elder, is related to have walked all the way to Muncie to tell the Indians that his son should be given up for the proper course of justice. But he was tried and acquitted, and the Indians were more dissatisfied than before. It is said that " Christmas's " horse ran all night saddled and bridled, reaching the home of his owner at Muncietown early next morning. The body of the Indian was buried on the bluff just west of the cross- ing below Deerfield, between the road and the river, perhaps 100 yards west of the crossing. Skeletons were so much in demand in early times that a certain physician is stated to have dug up his benes for an " anatomy."

Armfield Thornburg, of Windsor, says that the three Indians who killed Morgan and the two lads were "trailed," and were killed on the banks of Stony Creek, three miles south of Wind- sor, just in Delaware County.

"Jay County History " mentions the killing of Christmas thus : " One day one of the men shot an Indian whom he caught stealing cabbage from his garden. This aroused the anger of the Indians, and the settlement were very much alarmed lest they should all be murdered. They made a fort of Lewallyn's house, and the four families lived in it for two weeks in constant fear of

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

an attack. But their enemies did not come, and they again vent- ured forth to their usual avocations."

Burgett Pierce says of this same Indian that they came in a large company to bury their murdered comrade, and that they performed over his remains a most affecting ceremony, one aged chief making a feeling oration, the tears streaming down his cheeks as he did so.

Our understanding is that Burgett Pierce himself witnessed the burial rites, and beheld the tears coursing down the cheeks of the dusky orator, while he stood recounting in mournful elo- quence the virtues of their deceased comrade.

SPECIAL ACCOUNTS OF INDIANS, ETC.

"Johnny Green," spoken of by Jere Smith ; " Charles Mor- gan," by Jesse Parker ; "Fleming," by Hawkins, Ward, Thomas, etc .; " Cornstalk " (elder), J. Hawkins ; " Cornstalk " (later), Squire Bowen ; "Killbuck," by Burgett Pierce.

Indian traders were David Conner, on Mississinewa ; Joseph Gess, south of Winchester; and Goldsmith Gilbert, in Delaware County, etc.

Indian "trails" were from Muncie to Greenville, passing south of Winchester and of Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church on White River, and also not far from Spartansburg. From Muncie to Fort Wayne; from Godfroy's to Fort Wayne ; from Muncie to Godfroy's; along the Mississinewa River ; along the White River, etc.

A prominent Indian trader and fur dealer was Edward Edger, of Deerfield, Randolph County, who is living in a cheerful old age at Winchester, Ind.

FORTS.

Forts were built by setting upright split timbers, eighteen or twenty feet high, fast in the ground and close together, with large gates, strong, thick and heavy, made of hewn timber from three to six inches thick. In each fort was at least one block-house, two stories high, with the upper story projecting two or three feet over beyond the lower, and having port-holes to shoot down from. The Indians could make no headway against a block- house, except, indeed, by setting it on fire. At the beginning of the war of 1812, a fort was built at the cabin of George Smith, near Richmond.

One day when the men were out at work, the dogs barked and the women thought the Indians had come. They formed a troop, made one of their number captain and marched out, leaving one to care for the children, and to open the gate for their return. Each woman took her husband's gun as bold as a warrior. The alarm proved false, the dogs were barking at some stray ponies ; but the women had proved their bravery, and came back almost sorry that they had found no Indians.

People sometimes got lost, and the trumpet (or the tin horn) would be blown to call the settlers together to hunt for the lost one.

INDIAN WARS, TREATIES, ETC.

In 1747-48, a deep conspiracy was laid, under Nicholas, a famous Huron (Wyandot) chief, for the destruction of Detroit and other posts, and to crush the French. The attempt failed, and Chief Nicholas abandoned his home near Sandusky. having burned his villages and his fort, and sought a resting-place far- ther west. On the 8th of April, 1748, he departed for White River, Indiana. He is thought to have died in the White River Val- ley, near the Wabash, in 1748, aged fifty-eight years.

Fort George, near the head-waters of the Savannah, and Fort Loudoun, near the sources of the Tennessee, were built by the English, for defense against the Indians in that quarter.

Pontiac, a famous Ottawa chief, in 1768, formed a powerful confederacy, consisting of the Ottawas, the Chippewas, the Pot- tawatomies, the Sacs and Foxes, the Menomonees, the Miamis, the Wyandots. the Shawnees, and still other tribes, which were crushed in 1763-64.

Bryant says : "Pontiac was chief of the Ottawas, whom he is said to have led at Braddock's defeat. * * * * His mother was an Ojibway. * *

* He was now fifty years of age, unusu- ally dark in complexion, of medium height, of powerful frame and haughty bearing ; subtle, patient, cruel, and of more than ordinary capacity. He possessed all of the few good qualities of his race, and most of their bad ones. He incited a rising of the Indian tribes from the Lakes to the Lower Mississippi."

Pontiac submitted at length, attended the grand Indian Coun- cil held at Oswego, 1766, made his great " peace speech," and returned laden with presents to his Western home, living on the Miami like an ordinary hunter.

At the battle of the Kanawha, in 1774, the Indians were led by Cornstalk, a Shawnee chief; Red Hawk, & Delaware chief ; and Logan, the celebrated Cayuga or Mingo chief and orator.

The battle resulting in "Wayne's Victory " was fought in November, 1794. The number of Indians engaged in that fight has been thus stated : Delawares, 450; Wyandots, 275 ; Shawnees, 275; Miamis, 175; Ottawas, 225; and of the Senecas, Potta- watomies and Chippewas from 200 to 300. There were also perhaps 100 Canadians.

The battle was fought against the advice of Little Turtle, who told his people that they would better make peace, for, said he, "The Americans are led by a General who never sleeps." Blue Jacket overruled Little Turtle in the Council, and the battle was fought and lost. Little Turtle and Blue Jacket both were ready for peace after this defeat, and they continued faithful to the treaty, resisting the whole force of Tecumseh's power and elo- quence, and holding many of their people from joining in his scheme of extermination against the whites.

The .famous Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, who jointly incited the tribes, from the Lakes to the Gulf, to relent- less hostility, were Shawnees. Tecumseh was born on Mad River, Ohio, 1768. The Prophet fixed his headquarters at the mouth of Tippecanoe, on the Wabash, and for several years (1811-13) a terrible Indian war was waged, which was ended by the battle of the Thames, in 1813. Tecumseh was killed in that battle, and the hope of the savage confederacy was crushed.

In May, 1812, a great Indian Council was held on Mississine- wa River, at which the Wyandots, Chippewas, Ottawas, Potta- watomies, Delawares, Eel Rivers, Weas, Miamis, Piankeshaws, Winnebagocs, Shawnees and Kickapoos were present. The council seemed for peace, but Tecumseh was furious for war, and many joined him.

Fort Wayne was besieged by Tecumseh in the summer of 1812, but he failed. The massacre at Fort Dearborn took place August 15, 1812. Mackinaw was surrendered to the British July 17, 1812. Detroit was given up to the British in 1812.

The treaty of Fort Harmar (Marietta) was made January 9, 1789, and agreed to by the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies and Iroquois (under Governor St. Clair).

Wayne's 'Treaty, made at Greenville in 1795, was signed by the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, Eel River Indians, Weas, Kickapoos and Kaskaskias.

Gen. Harrison's treaty at Fort Wayne, in 1809, was entered in- to by the Delaware. Eel River, Pottawatomie and Miami tribes, and was sanctioned by the Weas at Vincennes, October 26, 1809, and by the Kickapoos, about the same time, ceding the 12-mile strip, etc. Gen. Harrison concluded a treaty at Fort Wayne in 1803, with the Delawares, Shawnees, Pottawatomies and Kicka- poos, and the Eel Rivers, Weas, Piankeshaws and Kaskaskias.

In 1818, Messrs. Jennings, Cass and Parke, as United States Commissioners, made a treaty at St. Mary's, Ohio, with the Miamis, who ceded all their land in Indiana, with reservations.

Other treaties besides the ones mentioned above have been en- tered into by different tribes, till, at present, but a single band remains (near Peru, Miami County).

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

INDIAN RESERVES.

As a specimen of reservations and exceptions, those made by the United States in the Indian country, in the treaty of Green- ville, 1795, are here stated, to wit ::

A tract of land at Loramie's store, six miles square ; Girty's Town, two miles squire ; head of Auglaize, six miles square ; Fort Defiance, six miles square ; Fort Wayne, six miles square ; eight miles west of Fort Wayne, two miles square ; Ouatenon, six miles square ; Maumee, foot of Rapids-old British fort-twelve miles square ; mouth of Maumee, six miles square ; Sandusky Lake (old fort), six miles square; Lower Rapids, Sandusky, two miles square ; Detroit, irregular tract ; Mackinaw, mainland and island and Isle Bois du Blanc ; Fort Dearborn, six miles square; mouth of Illinois, twelve miles square; Peoria, fort and village, six miles equare ; Clark grant, 150,000 acres ; Post Vincennes and French lands; Fort Massac and lands adjacent near mouth of the Ohio River.

As an example of reservation to the Indians, we give the fol- lowing at the treaty made at Fort Wayne, 1818 :

Ten miles square, opposite the mouth of the River A. Bouette [Aboite]; three sections to Jean B. Richardville; two sections to the same ; to Joseph Richardville and son Joseph, two sections ; two sections to Francis La Fontaine and his son ; one section to the son of George Hunt ; one section to Little Turtle; one section to Josette Beaubien.

In the different treaties made in later times, certain tracts were reserved for Indian occupation by various tribes, as the Pot- tawatomies, the Wyandots, the Miamis, the Shawnees, etc.

On these " reserves " the Indians dwelt for a longer or shorter time. The tribes sold out, however, by and by, one by one, until none are now left in this region, except a single band (Me-shin- go-me-sia). The rest of the Miamis ceded their lands about 1840, and left about 1846. François Godfroy, a Miami chief, had a " reserve " partly in Jay County. He died between 1837 and 1840, at the mouth of Mississinewa.

MESHINGOMESIA BAND.

When the Miamis made their final cession [1840], the band above named refused to leave, and they were allowed to remain and hold their lands.

The territory was held in common till 1873, in which year a distribution was made (by United States law) among the mem- bers of the band. Each person received an equal amount in value (of unimproved land). The division was made by Com- missioners appointed by the United States, of whom one was Jonas Votaw, Esq., of Jay County, who furnished the informa- tion here given.

The transaction excited much interest. The commission met on the Indian land, and sat from day to day till the work was completed. The basis of the award was the tribe as it existed in (about) 1840, (including those who had intermarried into the tribe since that time), and the descendants of such. It was for the interest of the tribe to have the number of shares as small as pos- sible, of course, since the fewer the shares, the more each one would get.

The greatest dispute arose as to an Indian named Waukoon. He was a Pottawatomie lad who would not go with his tribe, but hid himself till his people were gone, and then lived with the Miamis, and with this band, and in the family of the chief, Meshingomesia. Upon these facts he claimed membership in the band. He had a wife and seven children, besides which he had cleared out a large farm.

The commission decided in his favor, and his family got their shares with the rest.

Meshingomesia died a very old man in 1878; Waukoon is liv- ing yet (1880). There is still quite a settlement of that band living chiefly as farmers, having churches, schools, etc. The preaching and teaching are done mostly by members of the band.

Originally, a large " reserve " was held by the Miamis, some

thirty miles square, between Eel and Salamonie Rivers. That Reserve lay in Howard, Tipton and Grant Counties. The In- dians left in (about) 1846, and it was opened to settlers in 1847. Filling rapidly with cager emigrants, it has become a flourishing and populous region. Sixty-six persons were recognized by the Commission as members of that "Indian band," and the division was made among those sixty-six persons, averaging about eighty acres to each. Waukoon and his family got over 600 acres (with his improvements thrown in).

These shares were to be exempt from taxes for five years, as also to be entirely free from any previous claim on the owners of the land, and moreover incapable of alienation for the same period.

INDIAN TOWNS, ETC.

The various tribes had their hunting-grounds, their fields, their dwellings, their towns.

Kekionga, at the head of the Maumee, as already stated, was a celebrated Miami town at the time of the first French explora- tion. Later, there were several more in that vicinity, belonging to different tribes. An article in the Philadelphia Register in 1791 states as follows :

"There were at that time [it does not say when, though probably not long before that date] seven towns near the conflu- ence of the three rivers-St. Joseph's, St. Mary's and Maumee : The principal village of the Miamis, called Omie Town, contain- ing also several French traders. It stood on the east bank of the St. Joseph, or on the north side of the Maumee, directly opposite the mouth of the St. Mary's. Another village (Miami) of thirty houses, stood on the opposite bank, across the river from . the Omie Town.

The Delawares had three villages, two on the St. Mary's, three miles from its month, of forty-five houses. There was one also on the east bank of the St. Joseph's, two or three miles from its mouth, with thirty-six houses.

The Shawanoes [Shawnees] had two villages, two miles down the Maumee : one was Chillicothe, on the north bank (fifty-eight houses); another was on the south bank, opposite Chillicothe, having sixteen houses."

The army demolished all these towns and burned 20,000 bush- els of corn, so that it would seem that the troops, though defeated, had destroyed the villages and the property of the Indians.

Quatenon was a large and important Wea town, eight miles below Lafayette. [Note-A town on White River above Muncie was called Ouat-i-nink.]

Prophet's Town was built at the mouth of Tippecanoe River, as the headquarters of the famous brother of Tecumseh.

Mont-zee-town (Muncie) was originally an Indian town on White River. There were many others scattered through the region.

As late as 1820, and also since that time, Indian towns were to be found scattered along White River in Delaware County and below. Old Town, Montzee Town, Yorktown, Bucktown, Straw- town, Andersontown, etc., were Indian villages on the banks of White River. No towns are known to have existed in Randolph County. They hunted here, their trails passed through this region, they had wigwams and huts and cabins scattered here and there through the woods, but their villages, so far as are now known, were located elsewhere.

Many, perhaps most, of the towns belonging to the Indians have at one time or another been destroyed by the whites. When- ever, since the first white settlement, hostilities would arise, the villages of the savages would be the first and chief objects of attack.

Gen. Harmar, in 1790, undertook to demolish a Shawnee town near Chillicothe, and also a Pickaway town in the same region, and Kickapoo and Miami towns in Indiana were burned the same year.

In 1791, Gen. Scott utterly demolished the Wea town, Oua- tenon, said to have contained 5,000 people, and Gen. Wilkinson

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

carried the same fate to Kickapoo towns on Eel and Wabash Rivers. In the same year, Gen. Harmar, though badly defeated, burned all the towns (seven in number) near the junction of the St. Joseph's and the St. Mary's.

In 1811, the " Prophet's Town," at the mouth of Tippecanoe River, was destroyed by Gen. Harrison.

In 1812, the Miami villages on the Mississinewa (near its mouth) were taken and burned by Lieut Campbell. They marched from Dayton December 4, 1812, and came early on the morning of December 17 upon a town of Delawares and Miamis on the Mississinewa. In taking it by surprise, eight warriors were killed, and forty-two persons taken prisoners. The place was burned outright, as were also three other villages, and the soldiers returned, hungry and frost-bitten, to Greenville, Ohio. Their route in returning, and probably in going, passed through Jackson Township, in the northeast part of Randolph County. As they were going to Greenville, they camped on Army Branch, in the west part of that township, near land afterward settled by James Simmons. They were detained upon the expedition longer than they had expected, and were, moreover, incumbered with prisoners, and the troops were at the point of starvation. Run- ners were sent ahead to the settlements near Eaton, and provis- ons were sent forthwith for their instant relief. Joseph Haw- kins, now of Collett, Jay Co., Ind., whose father was one of the band of young men who went to the relief of the suffering army, gives the following account :

" When Lieut. Campbell was coming back with the expedition which had gone against the Indians on the Lower Mississinewa, they had been detained so long and had so many prisoners that they were nearly worn out, and well-nigh starving, their provis- ions being gone. Runners were sent ahead to inform the settle- ments, and to ask for instant succor. The people were aroused at once, and young, light-footed men (soldiers at Fort Nesbitt) took biscuits hastily baked by the women, and went forward at full speed to find and feed their starving countrymen. They found the soldiers camped on Army Branch, Jackson Township, Randolph Co. It was an affecting sight, and many cried for joy. The older men went on later with pack-horses laden with provis- ions. One man sold his load, and when he got back to Fort Nesbitt, the soldiers there ' rode him on a rail.'

"My father was one of the young men who went forward for the relief of the troops."

Mr. Hawkins further says : " There was a line of forts along the frontier. Forts Jefferson, Black, Nesbitt, Greenville, Recov- ery, Auglaize, Defiance, Loramie, Wayne, St. Clair, etc., were erected for the defense of the pioneer settlers."

INDIAN BURYING GROUNDS.

Mr. Neely (of Muncie) says : "When I came here, an Indian graveyard was in a good state of preservation, located on the north bank of the river, and about three hundred yards west of the Greenville road. A great many graves were visible, and some had been and were then being cxhumed by the curious relic- hunters and others. This was the principal burial-ground of the Delaware Indians at this point."

Mr. William Jackson (in the same history) says : "The old Indian village and graveyard stood on the north bank of White River, a little west of the bridge on the Muncie & Greenville Pike. When I came (1835), many distinct features were still visible. The graves, in many instances, were surrounded with pens of poles piled round them. Many skeletons were exhumed, and several skulls have been preserved which were taken from this burial-ground."

RETROSPECT.

From the beginning of European occupation the savages were so treated by the whites for the most part as to provoke bitter' and relentless hostility. Cruelty was returned for kind- ness, and treachery for generous confidence. The history of European intercourse with the Aborigines is crowded with ac-

counts of uncalled for severity and needless cruelty. It is small wonder, therefore, that the American natives should be hostile. For ages they beheld a strong and cruel race of men invading their country, taking possession of their lands, encroaching upon their hunting-grounds, destroying their dwellings, laying waste their corn-fields, and burning their villages; and with the genuine instinct of universal humanity, they strove to defend their homes, and to beat back and destroy the fierce invading hordes. It has been indeed a gallant, though a fruitless struggle, which the Indians have waged. It has been weakness against strength, poverty against wealth, bows and arrows and hand-missiles against firearms, tomahawks against cannon, footmen against horsemen, untutored cunning against cultivated skill, savagery against civilization. They fought with a bravery and resolution' worthy of a less hapless destiny, but the struggle has been ever in vain.

Nearly four hundred years have fled since Columbus landed at Guanahani, and what a conflict has the world beheld on theso Western shores during the ages that have passed since that momentous era ! The struggle has been long and fierce and bitter, cruel and remorseless alike on the one side and on the other, but ending ever in defeat, utter and hopeless to the poor, untutored red man.

DESTINY.

From the moment when the haughty Spaniard under the leadership of the Genoese navigator set foot on the shores of Gu- anahani up to this very hour, a conflict, stern, bitter, relentless, has been going on. Now active and wild, now lulled and hushed for a time, now bursting into an awful explosion of massacre and conflagration, followed by fierce retaliation, and blank extermi- nation of the particular tribes then engaged, and now given up as if in utter and hopeless despair ; quieted for brief spaces as in case of the Quakers and of the French Catholic missionaries, but breaking forth anew with each succeeding generation. Well nigh 400 years have witnessed this fearful spectacle, and even yet in some remote regions it is taking place.

But through the whole cycle of centuries, the aborigines of the American Continent, whether gentle Mexicans, civilized Pe- ruvians, or more savage North Americans, have been alike, a doomed race. And for most of the descendants of the ancient dwellers-the hapless offspring of the native races on these Western shores-that doom has come to be an accomplished fact !

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History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 8

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman Number of Pages: 664

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664