USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Steuben County, Indiana, together withbiographies of representative citizens > Part 12
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In 1838 a treaty was concluded with the Miami Indians through the good offices of Col. A. C. Pepper, the Indian agent, by which a considerable of the most desirable portion of their reserve was ceded to the United States.
LAND SALES.
As an example of the manner in which land speculators were treated by the early Indianians, we cite the following instances from Cox's " Recollections of the Wabash Valley."
At Crawfordsville, Dec. 24, 1824, many parties were present from the eastern and southern portions of the State, as well as from Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and even Pennsylvania, to attend a land sale. There was but little bidding against each other. The settlers, or " squatters," as they were called by the speculators, had arranged matters among themselves to their general satisfaction. If, upon comparing numbers, it appeared that two were after the same tract of land, one would ask the other what he would take not to bid against him; if neither would consent to be bought off they would retire and cast lots, and the lucky one would enter the tract at Congress price, $1.25 an acre, and the other would enter the second choice on his list. If a speculator made a bid, or showed a disposition to take a settler's claim from him, he soon saw the white of a score of eyes glaring at him, and he would "crawfish" out of the crowd at the first opportunity.
The settlers made it definitely known to foreign capitalists that they would enter the tracts of land they had settled upon before allowing the latter to come in with their speculations. The land was sold in tiers of townships, beginning at the southern part of the district and continuing north until all had been offered at public sale. This plan was persisted in, although it kept many on the ground for several days waiting, who desired to purchase land in the northern part of the district.
In 1827 a regular Indian scare was gotten up to keep specu- lators away for a short time. A man who owned a claim on Tippe- canoe river, near Pretty prairie, fearing that some one of the numerous land hunters constantly scouring the country might enter the land he had settled upon before he could raise the money to buy it, and seeing one day a cavalcade of land hunters riding toward where his land lay, mounted his horse and darted off at full speed to meet them, swinging his hat and shouting at the top of his voice, "Indians! Indians! the woods are full of Indians, (133)
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murdering and scalping all before them!" They paused a moment, but as the terrified horseman still urged his jaded animal and cried, "Help! Longlois, Cicots, help!" they turned and fled like a troop of retreating cavalry, hastening to the thickest settlements and giving the alarm, which spread like fire among stubble until the whole frontier region was shocked with the startling cry. The squatter who fabricated the story and started this false alarm took a cir- cuitous route home that evening, and while others were busy building temporary block-houses and rubbing up their guns to meet the Indians, he was quietly gathering up money and slipped down to Crawfordsville and entered his land, chuckling to himself, " There's a Yankee trick for you, done up by a Hoosier."
HARMONY COMMUNITY.
In 1814 a society of Germans under Frederick Rappe, who had originally come from Wirtemberg, Germany, and more recently from Pennsylvania, founded a settlement on the Wabash about 50 miles above its mouth. They were industrious, frugal and honest Lutherans. They purchased a large quantity of land and laid off a town, to which they gave the name of "Harmony," afterward called "New Harmony." They erected a church and a public school-house, opened farms, planted orchards and vineyards, built flouring mills, established a house of public entertainment, a public store, and carried on all the arts of peace with skill and regularity. Their property was "in common," according to the custom of an- cient Christians at Jerusalem, but the governing power, both tem- poral and spiritual, was vested in Frederick Rappe, the elder, who was regarded as the founder of the society. By the year 1821 the society numbered about 900. Every individual of proper age con- tributed his proper share of labor. There were neither spendthrifts, idlers nor drunkards, and during the whole 17 years of their sojourn in America there was not a single lawsuit among them. Every controversy arising among them was settled by arbitration, expla- nation and compromise before sunset of the day, literally according to the injunction of the apostle of the New Testament.
About 1825 the town of Harmony and a considerable quantity of land adjoining was sold to Robert Owen, father of' David Dale Owen, the State Geologist, and of Robert Dale Owen, of later notoriety. He was a radical philosopher from Scotland, who had become distinguished for his philanthropy and opposition to
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Christianity. He charged the latter with teaching false notions regarding human responsibility-notions which have since been clothed in the language of physiology, mental philosophy, etc. Said he:
" That which has hitherto been called wickedness in our fellow men has proceeded from one of two distinct causes, or from some combination of those causes. They are what are termed bad or wicked,
"1. Because they are born with faculties or propensities which render them more liable, under the same circumstances, than other men, to commit such actions as are usually denominated wicked; or,
" 2. Because they have been placed by birth or other events in particular countries,-have been influenced from infancy by par- ents, playmates and others, and have been surrounded by those circumstances which gradually and necessarily trained them in the habits and sentiments called wicked; or,
"3. They have become wicked in consequence of some particu- lar combination of these causes.
"If it should be asked, Whence then has wickedness pro- ceeded ? I reply, Solely from the ignorance of our forefathers.
"Every society which exists at present, as well as every society which history records, has been formed and governed on a belief in the following notions, assumed as first principles:
"1. That it is in the power of every individual to form his own character. Hence the various systems called by the name of religion, codes of law, and punishments; hence, also, the angry passions entertained by individuals and nations toward each other.
"2. That the affections are at the command of the individual. Hence insincerity and degradation of character; hence the miseries of domestic life, and more than one-half of all the crimes of man- kind.
"3. That it is necessary a large portion of mankind should ex- ist in ignorance and poverty in order to secure to the remaining part such a degree of happiness as they now enjoy. Hence a system of counteraction in the pursuits of men, a general opposition among individuals to the interests of each other, and the necessary effects of such a system,-ignorance, poverty and vice.
THE MEXICAN WAR.
During the administration of Gov. Whitcomb the war with Mexico occurred, which resulted in annexing to the United States vast tracts of land in the south and west. Indiana contributed her full ratio to the troops in that war, and with a remarkable spirit of promptness and patriotism adopted all measures to sustain the gen- eral Government. These new acquisitions of territory re-opened the discussion of the slavery question, and Governor Whitcomb expressed his opposition to a further extension of the " national sin."
The causes which led to a declaration of war against Mexico in 1846, must be sought for as far back as the year 1830, when the present State of Texas formed a province of New and Independent Mexico. During the years immediately preceding 1830, Moses Austin, of Connecticut, obtained a liberal grant of lands from the established Government, and on his death his son was treated in an equally liberal manner. The glowing accounts rendered by Aus- tin, and the vivid picture of Elysian fields drawn by visiting jour- nalists, soon resulted in the influx of a large tide of immigrants, nor did the movement to the Southwest cease until 1830. The Mexican province held a prosperous population, comprising 10,00C American citizens. The rapacious Government of the Mexicans looked with greed and jealousy upon their eastern province, and, under the presidency of Gen. Santa Anna, enacted such measures, both unjust and oppressive, as would meet their design of goading the people of Texas on to revolution, and thus afford an opportu- nity for the infliction of punishment upon subjects whose only crime was industry and its accompaniment, prosperity. Precisely in keeping with the course pursued by the British toward the col- onists of the Eastern States in the last century, Santa Anna's Government met the remonstrances of the colonists of Texas with threats; and they, secure in their consciousness of right quietly issued their declaration of independence, and proved its literal meaning on the field of Gonzales in 1835, having with a force of (136)
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500 men forced the Mexican army of 1,000 to fly for refuge to their strongholds. Battle after battle followed, bringing victory always to the Colonists, and ultimately resulting in the total rout of the Mexican army and the evacuation of Texas. The routed army after a short term of rest reorganized, and reappeared in the Terri- tory, 8,000 strong. On April 21, a division of this large force under Santa Anna encountered the Texans under General Samuel Houston on the banks of the San Jacinto, and though Houston could only oppose 800 men to the Mexican legions, the latter were driven from the field,nor could they reform their scattered ranks until their General was captured next day and forced to sign the declaration of 1835. The signature of Santa Anna, though ignored by the Congress of the Mexican Republic, and consequently left unratified on the part of Mexico, was effected in so much, that after the sec- ond defeat of the army of that Republic all the hostilities of an important nature ceased, the Republic of Texas was recognized by the powers, and subsequently became an integral part of the United States, July 4, 1846. At this period General Herrera was pres- ident of Mexico. He was a man of peace, of common sense, and very patriotic; and he thus entertained, or pretended to enter- tain, the great neighboring Republic in high esteem. For this reason he grew unpopular with his people, and General Paredes was called to the presidential chair, which he continued to occupy until the breaking out of actual hostilities with the United States, when Gen. Santa Anna was elected thereto.
President Polk, aware of the state of feeling in Mexico, ordered Gen. Zachary Taylor, in command of the troops in the Southwest, to proceed to Texas, and post himself as near to the Mexican border as he deemed prudent. At the same time an American squadron was dispatched to the vicinity, in the Gulf of Mexico. In November, General Taylor had taken his position at Corpus Christi, a Texan settlement on a bay of the same name, with about 4,000 men. On the 13th of January, 1846, the President ordered him to advance with his forces to the Rio Grande; accordingly he proceeded, and in March stationed himself on the north bank of that river, with- in cannon-shot of the Mexican town of Matamoras. Here he hastily erected a fortress, called Fort Brown. The territory ly- ing between the river Nueces and the Rio Grande river, about 120 miles in width, was claimed both by Texas and Mexico; ac- cording to the latter, therefore, General Taylor had actually invaded her Territory, and had thus committed ,an open
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act of war. On the 26th of April, the Mexican General, Ampudia, gave notice to this effect to General Taylor, and on the same day a party of American dragoons, sixty-three in number, being on the north side of the Rio Grande, were attacked, and, after the loss of sixteen men killed and wounded, were forced to surrender. Their commander, Captain Thornton, only escaped. The Mexican forces had now crossed the river above Matamoras and were supposed to meditate an attack on Point Isabel, where Taylor had established a depot of supplies for his army. On the 1st of May, this officer left a small number of troops at Fort Brown, and marched with his chief forces, twenty-three hundred men, to the defense of Point Isabel. Having garrisoned this place, he set out on his return. On the Sth of May, about noon, he met the Mexican army, six thousand strong, drawn up in battle array, on the prairie near Palo Alto. The Americans at once advanced to the attack, and, after an action of five hours, in which their artillery was very effective, drove the enemy before them, and encamped upon the field. The Mexican loss was about one hundred killed; that of the Americans, four killed and forty wounded. Major Ringgold, of the artillery, an officer of great merit, was mortally wounded. The next day, as the Americans advanced, they again met the enemy in a strong position near Resaca de la Palma, three miles from Fort Brown. An action commenced, and was fiercely contested, the artillery on both sides being served with great vigor. At last the Mexicans gave way, and fled in confusion, General de la Vega having fallen into the hands of the Americans. They also abandoned their guns and a large quantity of ammunition to the victors. The remain- ing Mexican soldiers speedily crossed the Rio Grande, and the next day the Americans took up their position at Fort Brown. This little fort, in the absence of General Taylor, had gallantly sustained an almost uninterrupted attack of several days from the Mexican batteries of Matamoras.
When the news of the capture of Captain Thornton's party was spread over the United States, it produced great excitement. The President addressed a message to Congress, then in session, declar- ing " that war with Mexico existed by her own act;" and that body, May, 1846, placed ten millions of dollars at the President's dispo- sal, and authorized him to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers. A great part of the summer of 1846 was spent in prep- aration for the war, it being resolved to invade Mexico at several points. In pursuance of this plan, General Taylor, who had taken
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possession of Matamoras, abandoned by the enemy in May, marched northward in the enemy's country in August, and on the 19th of September he appeared before Monterey, capital of the Mexican State of New Leon. His army, after having garrisoned several places along his route, amounted to six thousand men. The attack began on the 21st, and after a succession of assaults, during the period of four days, the Mexicans capitulated, leaving the town in possession of the Americans. In October, General Taylor terminated an armistice into which he had entered with the Mexican General, and again commenced offensive operations. Various towns and fortresses of the enemy now rapidly fell into our possession. In November, Saltillo, the capital of the State of Coahuila was occupied by the division of General Worth; in December, General Patterson took possession of Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, and nearly at the same period, Commodore Perry captured the fort of Tampico. Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, with the whole territory of the State had been subjugated by General Harney, after a march of one thousand miles through the wilderness. Events of a startling char- acter had taken place at still earlier dates along the Pacific coast. On the 4th of July, Captain Fremont, having repeatedly defeated su- perior Mexican forces with the small band under his command, de- clared California independent of Mexico. Other important places in this region had yielded to the American naval force, and in Au- gust, 1846, the whole of California was in the undisputed occupa- tion of the Americans.
The year 1847 opened with still more brilliant victories on the part of our armies. By the drawing off of a large part of General Taylor's troops for a meditated attack on Vera Cruz, he was left with a comparatively small force to meet the great body of Mexican troops, now marching upon him, under command of the celebrated Santa Anna, who had again become President of Mexico.
Ascertaining the advance of this powerful army, twenty thou- sand strong, and consisting of the best of the Mexican soldiers, General Taylor took up his position at Buena Vista, a valley a few miles from Saltillo. His whole troops numbered only four thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, and here, on the 23d of February, he was vigorously attacked by the Mexicans. The battle was very severe, and continued nearly the whole day, when the Mexicans fled from the field in disorder, with a loss of nearly two thousand men. Santa Anna speedily withdrew, and thus abandoned the region of
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the Rio Grande to the complete occupation of our troops. This left our forces at liberty to prosecute the grand enterprise of the cam- paign, the capture of the strong town of Vera Cruz, with its re- nowned castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. On the 9th of March, 1847, General Scott landed near the city with an army of twelve thousand men, and on the 18th commenced an attack. For four days and nights an almost incessant shower of shot and shells was poured upon the devoted town, while the batteries of the castle and the city replied with terrible energy. At last, as the Americans were pre- paring for an assault, the Governor of the city offered to surrender, and on the 26th the American flag floated triumphantly from the walls of the castle and the city. General Scott now prepared to march upon the city of Mexico, the capital of the country, situated two hundred miles in the interior, and approached only through a series of rugged passes and mountain fastnesses, rendered still more formidable by several strong fortresses. On the 8th of April the army commenced their march. At Cerro Gordo, Santa Anna had posted himself with fifteen thousand men. On the 18th the Amer- icans began the daring attack, and by midday every intrenchment of the enemy had been carried. The loss of the Mexicans in this remarkable battle, besides one thousand killed and wounded, was three thousand prisoners, forty-three pieces of cannon, five thousand stand of arms, and all their amunitions and mate- rials of war. The loss of the Americans was four hundred and thirty-one in killed and wounded. The next day our forces advanced, and, capturing fortress after fortress, came on the 18th of August within ten miles of Mexico, a city of two hun- dred thousand inhabitants, and situated in one of the most beautiful valleys in the world. On the 20th they attacked and carried the strong batteries of Contreras, garrisoned by 7,000 men, in an impetuous assault, which lasted but seventeen minutes. On the same day an attack was made by the Americans on the fortified post of Churubusco, four miles northeast of Contreras. Here nearly the entire Mexican army-more than 20,000 in number- were posted; but they were defeated at every point, and obliged to seek a retreat in the city, or the still remaining fortress of Chapul- tepec. While preparations were being made on the 21st by Gen- eral Scott, to level his batteries against the city, prior to summon- ing it to surrender, he received propositions from the enemy, which terminated in an armistice. This ceased on the 7th of September. On the Sth the outer defense of Chapultepec was successfully
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stormed by General Worth, though he lost one-fourth of his men in the desperate struggle. The castle of Chapultepec, situated on an abrupt and rocky eminence, 150 feet above the surrounding country, presented a most formidable object of attack. On the 12th, however, the batteries were opened against it, and on the next day the citadel was carried by storm. The Mexicans still strug- gled along the great causeway leading to the city, as the Americans advanced, but before nightfal a part of our army was within the gates of the city. Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled, and the next morning, at seven o'clock, the flag of the Ameri- cans floated from the national palace of Mexico. This conquest of the capital was the great and final achievement of the war. The Mexican republic was in fact prostrate, her sea-coast and chief cities being in the occupation of our troops. On the 2d of Feb- ruary, 1848, terms of peace were agreed upon by the American commissioner and the Mexican Government, this treaty being rati- fied by the Mexican Congress on the 30th of May following, and by the United States soon after. President Polk proclaimed peace on the 4th of July, 1848. In the preceding sketch we have given only a mere outline of the war with Mexico. We have necessarily passed over many interesting events, and have not even named many of our soldiers who performed gallant and important ser- vices. General Taylor's successful operations in the region of the Rio Grande were duly honored by the people of the United States, by bestowing upon him the Presidency. General Scott's campaign, from the attack on Vera Cruz, to the surrender of the city of Mexico, was far more remarkable, and, in a military point of view, must be considered as one of the most brilliant of modern times. It is true the Mexicans are not to be ranked with the great nations of the earth; with a population of seven or eight millions, they have little more than a million of the white race, the rest being half-civ- ilized Indians and mestizos, that is, those of mixed blood. Their government is inefficient, and the people divided among them- selves. Their soldiers often fought bravely, but they were badly officered. While, therefore, we may consider the conquest of so extensive and populous a country, in so short a time, and attended with such constant superiority.even to the greater numbers of the enemy, as highly gratifying evidence of the courage and capacity of our army, still we must not, in judging of our achievements, fail to consider the real weakness of the nation whom we vanquished.
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One thing we may certainly dwell upon with satisfaction-the ad- inirable example, not only as a soldier, but as a man, set by our com- mander, Gen. Scott, who seems, in the midst of war and the ordinary license of the camp, always to have preserved the virtue, kindness, and humanity belonging to a state of peace. These qualities secured to him the respect, confidence and good-will even of the enemy he had conquered. Among the Generals who effectually aided General Scott in this remarkable campaign, we must not omit to mention the names of Generals Wool, Twiggs, Shields, Worth, Smith, and Quitman, who generally added to the high qualities of soldiers the still more estimable characteristics of good men. The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo stipulated that the disputed territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande should belong to the United States, and it now forms a part of Texas, as has been already stated; that the United States should assume and pay the debts due from Mexico to American citizens, to the amount of $3,500,000; and that, in consideration of the sum of $15,000,000 to be paid by the United States to Mexico, the latter should relinquish to the former the whole of New Mexico and Upper California.
The soldiers of Indiana who served in this war were formed into five regiments of volunteers, numbered respectively, 1st, 2d, 3rd, 4th and 5th. The fact that companies of the three first-named reg- iments served at times with the men of Illinois, the New York volunteers, the Palmettos of South Carolina, and United States marines, under Gen. James Shields, makes for them a history; be- cause the campaigns of the Rio Grande and Chihuahua, the siege of Vera Cruz, the desperate encounter at Cerro Gordo, the tragic contests in the valley, at Contreras and Churubusco, the storming of Chapultepec, and the . planting of the stars and stripes upon every turret and spire within the conquered city of Mexico, were all carried out by the gallant troops under the favorite old General, and consequently each of them shared with him in the glories at- tached to such exploits. The other regiments under Cols. Gorman and Lane participated in the contests of the period under other com- manders. The 4th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, comprising ten companies, was formally organized at Jeffersonville, Indiana, by Capt. R. C. Gatlin, June 15, 1847, and on the 16th elected Major Willis A. Gorman, of the 3rd Regiment, to the Colonelcy; Ebenezer Dumont, Lieutenant-Colonel. and W. McCoy, Major. On the 27th of June the regiment left Jeffersonville for the front, and
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subsequently was assigned to Brigadier-General Lane's command, which then comprised a battery of five pieces from the 3rd Regi- ment U. S. Artillery; a battery of two pieces from the 2nd Regiment U. S. Rrtillery, the 4th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers and the 4th Regiment of Ohio, with a squadron of mounted Louisianians and detachments of recruits for the U. S. army. The troops of this brigade won signal honors at Passo de Ovegas, August 10, 1847; National Bridge, on the 12th; Cerro Gordo, on the 15th; Las Ani- mas, on the 19th, under Maj. F. T. Lally, of General Lane's staff, and afterward under Lane, directly, took a very prominent part in the siege of Puebla, which began on the 15th of September and terminated on the 12th of October. At Atlixco, October 19th; Tlascala, November 10th; Matamoras and Pass Galajara, Novem- ber 23rd and 24th; Guerrilla Ranche, December 5th; Napaloncan, December 10th, the Indiana volunteers of the 4th Regiment per- formed gallant service, and carried the campaign into the following year, representing their State at St. Martin's, February 27, 1848; Cholula, March 26th; Matacordera, February 19th; Sequalteplan, February 25th; and on the cessation of hostilities reported at Madison, Indiana, for discharge, July 11, 1848; while the 5th In- diana Regiment, under Col. J. H. Lane, underwent a similar round of duty during its service with other brigades, and gained some celebrity at Vera Cruz, Churubusco and with the troops of Illinois under Gen. Shields at Chapultepec.
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