History of Rush 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

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 896

USA > Indiana > Rush County > History of Rush 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

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

this force Gen. Scott accordingly crossed the Ohio, May 23, 1791, and reached the Wabash in about ten days. Many of the Indians, having discovered his approach, fled, but he succeeded in destroy- ing all the villages around Ouiatenon, together with several Kick- apoo towns, killing 32 warriors and taking 58 prisoners. He released a few of the most infirm prisoners, giving them a "talk," which they carried to the towns farther up the Wabash, and which the wretched condition of his horses prevented him from reaching.

March 3, 1791, Congress provided for raising and equipping a regiment for the protection of the frontiers, and Gov. St. Clair was invested with the chief command of about 3,000 troops, to be raised and employed against the hostile Indians in the territory over which his jurisdiction extended. He was instructed by the Secre- tary of War to march to the Miami village and establish a strong and permanent military post there; also such posts elsewhere along the Ohio as would be in communication with Fort Washington. The post at Miami village was intended to keep the savages in that vicinity in check, and was ordered to be strong enough in its gar- rison to afford a detachment of 500 or 600 men in case of emer- gency, either to chastise any of the Wabash or other hostile Indians or capture convoys of the enemy's provisions: The Secretary of War also urged Gov. St. Clair to establish that post a's the first and most important part of the campaign. In case of a previous treaty the Indians were to be conciliated upon this point if possible; and he presumed good arguments might be offered to induce their acquiescence. Said he: "Having commenced your march npon the main expedition, and the Indians continuing hostile, you will use every possible exertion to make them feel the effects of your superi- ority; and, after having arrived at the Miami village and put your works in a defensible state, you will seek the enemy with the whole of your remaining force, and endcavor by all possible means to strike them with great severity. * * *

In order to avoid future wars, it might be proper to make the Wa- bash and thence over to the Maumee, and down the same to its mouth, at Lake Erie, the boundary between the people of the United States and the Indians (excepting so far as the same should relate to the Wyandots and Delawares), on the supposition of their continuing faithful to the treaties; but if they should join in the war against the United States, and your army be victorions, the said tribes ought to be removed without the boundary mentioned."

Previous to marching a strong force to the Miami town, Gov. St.

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

Clair, June 25, 1791, authorized Gen Wilkinson to conduct a second expedition, not exceeding 500 mounted men, against the Indian villages on the Wabash. Accordingly Gen. Wilkinson mustered his forces and was ready July 20, to march with 525 mounted vol- unteers, well armed, and provided with 30 days' provisions, and with this force he reached the Ke-na-pa-com-a-qua village on the north bank of Eel river about six miles above its mouth, Aug. 7, where he killed six warriors and took 34 prisoners. This town, which was scattered along the river for three miles, was totally de- stroyed. Wilkinson encamped on the ruins of the town that night, and the next day he commenced his march for the Kickapoo town on the prairie, which he was unable to reach owing to the impassa- ble condition of the route which he adopted and the failing condi- tion of his horses. He reported the estimated results of the expe- dition as follows: " I have destroyed the chief town of the Ouiate- non nation, and have made prisoners of the sons and sisters of the king. I have burned a respectable Kickapoo village, and cut down at least 400 acres of corn, chiefly in the milk."

EXPEDITIONS OF ST.' CLAIR AND WAYNE.

The Indians were greatly damaged by the expeditions of Harmar, Scott and Wilkinson, but were far from being subdued. They regarded the policy of the United States as calculated to extermi- nate them from the land; and, goaded on by the English of Detroit, enemies of the Americans, they were excited to desperation. At this time the British Government still supported garrisons at Niagara, Detroit and Michilimackinac, although it was declared by the second article of the definitive treaty of peace of 1783, that the king of Great Britain would, " with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any negroes or property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his forces, garrisons and fleets from the United States, and from every post, place and harbor within the same." That treaty also provided that the creditors on either side should meet with no lawful impedi- ments to the recovery of the full value, in sterling money, of all bona fide debts previously contracted. The British Government claimed that the United States had broken faith in this particular understanding of the treaty, and in consequence refused to with- draw its forces from the territory. The British garrisons in the Lake Region were a source of much annoyance to the Americans, as they afforded outcor to hostile Indians, encouraging them to

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

make raids among the Americans. This state of affairs in the Territory Northwest of the Ohio continued from the commence- ment of the Revolutionary war to 1796, when under a second treaty all British soldiers were withdrawn from the country.

In September, 1791, St. Clair moved from Fort Washington with about 2,000 men, and November 3, the main army, consisting of about 1,400 effective troops, moved forward to the head-waters of the Wabash, where Fort Recovery was afterward erected, and here the army encamped. About 1,200 Indians were secreted a few miles distant, awaiting a favorable opportunity to begin an attack, which they improved on the morning of Nov. 4, about half an hour before sunrise. The attack was first made upon the militia, which immediately gave way. St. Clair was defeated and he returned to Fort Washington with a broken and dispirited army, having lost 39 officers killed, and 539 men killed and missing; 22 officers and 232 men were wounded. Several pieces of artillery, and all the baggage, ammunition and provisions were left on the field of bat- tle and fell into the hands of the victorious Indians. The stores and other public property lost in the action were valued at $32,800. There were also 100 or more American women with the army of the whites, very few of whom escaped the cruel carnage of the sav- age Indians. The latter, characteristic of their brutal nature, proceeded in the flush of victory to perpetrate the most horrible acts of cruelty and brutality upon the bodies of the living and the dead Americans who fell into their hands. Believing that the whites had made war for many years merely to acquire land, the Indians crammed clay and sand into the eyes and down the throats of the dying and the dead!

GEN. WAYNE'S GREAT VICTORY.

Although no particular blame was attached to Gov. St. Clair for the loss in this expedition, yet he resigned the office of Major-Gen- eral, and was succeeded by Anthony Wayne, a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary war. Early in 1792 provisions were made by the general Government for re-organizing the army, so that it should consist of an efficient degree of strength. Wayne arrived at Pittsburg in June, where the army was to rendezvons. Here he continued actively engaged in organizing and training his forces until October, 1793, when with an army of about 3,600 men he moved westward to Fort Washington.

While Wayne was preparing for an offensive campaign, every

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

possible means was employed to induce the hostile tribes of the Northwest to enter into a general treaty of peace with the Ameri- can Government; speeches were sent among them, and agents to make treaties were also sent, but little was accomplished. Major Hamtramck, who still remained at Vincennes, succeeded, in con- cluding a general peace with the Wabash and Illinois Indians; but the tribes more immediately under the influence of the British refused to hear the sentiments of friendship that were sent among them, and tomahawked several of the messengers. Their courage had been aronsed by St. Clair's defeat, as well as by the unsuccess- ful expeditions which had preceded it, and they now felt quite pre- pared to meet a superior force under Gen. Wayne. The Indians insisted on the Ohio river as the boundary line between their lands and the lands of the United States, and felt certain that they could maintain that boundary.

Maj. Gen. Scott, with about 1,600 mounted volunteers from Kentucky, joined the regular troops under Gen. Wayne July 26, 1794, and on the 28th the united forces began their march for the Indian towns on the Maumee river. Arriving at the mouth of the Auglaize, they erected Fort Defiance, and Aug. 15 the army advanced toward the British fort at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, where, on the 20th, almost within reach of the British, the American army gained a decisive victory over the combined forces of the hostile Indians and a considerable number of the Detroit militia. The number of the enemy was estimated at 2,000, against about 900 American troops actually engaged. This horde of savages, as soon as the action began, abandoned themselves to flight and dispersed with terror and dismay, leaving Wayne's vic- torious army in full and quiet possession of the field. The Ameri- cans lost 33 killed and 100 wounded; loss of the enemy more than double this number.

The army remained three days and nights on the banks of the Manmee, 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

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

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 commenced 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 detachment of infantry and artillery, under the command of Col. John F. Hamtramck, who gave to the new fort the name of Fort Wayne. In 1814 a new fort was built on the site of this structure. The Kentucky volunteers returned to Fort Washington and were mustered out of service. Gen. Wayne, with the Federal troops, marched to Greenville and took up his headquarters during the winter. Here, in August, 1795, after several months of active 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- cluded 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 abont 50 houses, all presenting a thrifty and tidy appearance. Each house was sur- rounded by a garden fenced 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 year 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 civilized 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, Wm. 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 liis celebrated speechi in 1774), was appointed Secretary of the Territory. Soon afterward Wm. 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

(82)

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

to pass such laws as they deemed necessary for the present govern- ment of the Territory. This session began March 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 treaties, 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 prescribed 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 declare 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 out 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 33º 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 the second grade of government, as contemplated by the ordinance of 1787, 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 House of Representatives, who should meet at Vincennes Feb. 1 and

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

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 Council 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 southern end of Lake Michigan directly east to Lake Erie.

FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.

The first General Assembly, or Legislature, of Indiana Territory met at Vincennes Jnly 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 mes- 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 Elihu Stont, 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;

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

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 out 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 devout 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 dne 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 occurred 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-

HISTORY OF INDIANA.

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 seemed 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.

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 month 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, August 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, agreeably to plans suggested by Mr. Jefferson then President of the United States.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Rush 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

Author: Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : Brant & Fuller Number of Pages: 896

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 896