USA > Indiana > Indiana, a redemption from slavery > Part 9
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
113
THE OLDEST INHABITANT.
side of the river, and consists of 60 settlers and their families. They raise Indian Corn, - Wheat; and To- bacco of an extraordinary good quality ; - superior, it is said, to that produced in Virginia. They have a fine breed of horses (brought originally by the Indians from the Spanish settlements on the western side of the River Mississippi) and large stocks of Swine and Black Cat- tle. The settlers deal with the natives for Furrs and Deer skins, to the amount of about 5000 1. annually. Hemp of a good texture grows spontaneously in the low lands of the Wabash, as do grapes in the greatest abun- dance, having a black, thin skin, and of which the in- habitants in the Autumn, make a sufficient quantity (for their own consumption) of well-tasted Red-wine. Hops, large and good, are found in many places, and the lands are particularly adapted to the culture of Rice. All European fruits : - Apples, Peaches, Pears, Cherrys, Currants, Gooseberrys, Melons, &c. thrive well, both here, and in the country bordering on the River Ohio.
"Quiatanon is a small stockaded fort on the western side of the Wabash, in which about a dozen families reside. The neighboring Indians are the Kickapoos, Musquitons, Pyankeshaws, and a principle part of the Quiatanons. The whole of these tribes consists, it is supposed, of about one thousand warriors. The fertility of the soil, and diversity of the timber in this country, are the same as in the vicinity of Post Vincient. The annual amount of Skins and Furrs obtained at Quiatanon is about 8000 1. By the River Wabash the inhabitants of Detroit move to the southern parts of Ohio and the Illinois country. Their rout is by the Miami River to a carrying-place, which, as before stated, is nine miles to the Wabash, when this river is raised with Freshes ;
114
INDIANA.
but at other seasons, the distance is from 18 to 30 miles including the portage. The whole of the latter is through a level country. Carts are usually employed in trans- porting boats and merchandise, from the Miami to the Wabash river."1 In connection with this portage a curious fact is recorded in an itinerary made about 1773, and preserved in the Canadian archives, in these words : " Between the Miami and the Ouabache there are Beaver Dams which when water is low Passengers break down to raise it, and by that means pass easier than they otherwise would. When they are gone the Beaver come and mend the Breach; for this reason they have been hitherto sacred, as neither Indians or White people hunt them." Here, then, was the first Wa- bash canal, in full operation, with beavers for keepers of the locks, serving the traveling public without money and without price. When Hamilton was camped at the eastern terminus of the portage, on his way to attack Vincennes, in 1778, he wrote: "By damming up the water of this petite riviere 4 miles below the landing, the water is backed and raised an inch here. At the Dam it rose an inch the first hour. The Beavers had worked hard for us, but we were obliged to break down their dam to let the Boats pass, that were sent forward to clear the river & a place called the chemin couvert." 2
The journal of Captain Croghan, who was carried up the Wabash by the Indians, in 1765, tells us how the same places appeared to a Yankee and a prisoner. He says : "On my arrival there [Vincennes] I found a vil- lage of about eighty or ninety French families settled on
1 Hutchins's Top. Desc., pp. 28-30.
2 Hamilton to Haldimand, November 1, 1778, Haldimand Coll., Can. Archives.
115
THE OLDEST INHABITANT.
the east side of this river, being one of the finest situa- tions that can be found. The country is level and clear, and the soil very rich, producing wheat and tobacco. I think the latter preferable to that of Maryland or Vir- ginia. The French inhabitants hereabouts, are an idle, lazy people, a parcel of renegadoes from Canada, and are much worse than the Indians. They took a secret pleasure at our misfortunes, and the moment we arrived, they came to the Indians, exchanging trifles for their valuable plunder. As the savages took from me a con- siderable quantity of gold and silver in specie, the French traders extorted ten half johannes [about $40] from them for one pound of vermilion. Here is likewise an Indian village of the Pyankishaws, who were much dis- pleased with the party that took me. . . . Port Vincent is a place of great consequence for trade, being a fine hunting country all along the Ouabache, and too far for the Indians, which reside hereabouts, to go either to the Illinois, or elsewhere, to fetch their necessaries.
"The distance from Port Vincent to Ouicatanon is two hundred and ten miles. This place is situated on the Ouabache. About fourteen French families are liv- ing in the fort, which stands on the north side of the river. The Kickapoos and Musquattimes, whose war- riors had taken us, live nigh the fort, on the same side of the river, where they have two villages ; and the Oui- catanons have a village on the south side of the river. The country hereabouts is exceedingly pleasant, being open and clear for many miles ; the soil is very rich and well watered ; all plants have a quick vegetation, and the climate is very temperate through the winter. This post has always been a very considerable trading place. The great plenty of furs taken in this country induced
116
INDIANA.
the French to establish this post, which was the first on the Ouabache, and by a very advantageous trade they have been richly recompensed for their labor. On the south side of the Ouabache runs a big bank, in which are several fine coal mines, and behind this bank, is a very large meadow, clear for several miles." 1
The only additional French settlement within Indiana at this time was at Kekionga [Fort Wayne], which Croghan describes thus : " The Twightwee [Miami] vil- lage is situated on both sides of a river called St. Joseph. This river, where it falls into the Miame river, about a quarter of a mile from this place, is one hundred yards wide, the east side of which stands a stockade fort, somewhat ruinous. The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine or ten French houses, a runaway colony from Detroit, during the late Indian war; they were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment, came to this post, where ever since they have spirited up the Indians against the English. All the French residing here are a lazy, indolent people,
1 Butler's Kentucky, App., pp. 371-373. The nearest coal mines now known are fifty miles or more below the site of Fort Ouiatanon, though it is said by old settlers that there were for- merly coal beds even above the Tippecanoe. Fort Ouiatanon had no garrison, as far as known, after the surprise of the fort during Pontiac's war. The place continued to be occupied by traders, some of whom were in quasi-official relations, for many years. It is even mentioned as in existence in the current century. Brown's Western Gazetteer, p. 72. The greater part of the Indians and traders removed to the mouth of the Tippecanoe, about the beginning of the American occupation, and established the town of Kethtippecanunk, which, with its "120 houses, eighty of which were shingle-roofed," has often been confused with Ouiatanon. Kethtippecanunk was the town destroyed by General James Wilkinson in 1791. Imlay's Top. Desc., p. 404.
117
THE OLDEST INHABITANT.
fond of breeding mischief, and spiriting up the Indians against the English, and should by no means be suffered to remain here.") There was no material change in the relative size and importance of these three settlements until the abandonment of Fort Ouiatanon.
The mention of European fruits, by Hutchins, brings to view a characteristic of the French colonists which is worthy of notice - their practice of planting orchards. Wherever was made a settlement that was expected to be permanent, fruit trees were planted, and long before the English occupation the inhabitants reveled in the annual burden of lusciousness that came to them almost without labor or care. Tradition puts the establish- ment of orchards about Detroit in the year 1720, and from these stocks, whose origin is now unknown, have sprung many of the most esteemed varieties of Ameri- can fruit, especially those which have made Michigan famous. ) Hutchins's statement shows that nearly all species of large and small fruit had been planted on the Wabash and had proven thrifty before his time; and while this appears to be the earliest explicit mention of Indiana horticulture, there is a strong probability that the fruit trees came soon after the first influx of fami- lies, in 1735. The Jesuit fathers had introduced vege- tables and fruits to the Illinois country at an early day. Penicaut, who was at Kaskaskia in 1711, says : " Grain grows here as well as in France, and every kind of vege- tables, roots, and herbs ; there are also all sorts of fruits of an excellent taste."1 They were therefore easily accessible from the Wabash. Le Page du Pratz, writ- ing of the District of Illinois in 1758, says : " All the plants transported thither from France succeed well, as do also the fruits." 2 A large proportion of the apple 2 Hist. of Louisiana, p. 182.
1 Margry, vol. v. p. 489.
-
118
INDIANA.
crop was made into cider, in mills of rude construction, but effective operation. "The crusher was a large stone or wood cylinder six to eight feet in diameter, and from six to ten inches in thickness. It turned on a wooden axis, fastened to a centre-post, and was carried around by horse-power. It ran in a trough, dug out of a large tree and put together by sections. The press consisted of a long wooden lever acting upon a platform and held down by tackling." 1
In their personal characteristics, on account of their isolation from the world, the French of the Wabash country remained much as in the early years of the settlement. When Volney visited them, in 1796, his philosophic mind was impressed with this fact. He wrote : "In studying the manners of the settlers at Gallipolis and Fort Vincents I have found remarkable differences in many respects; and I have clearly per- ceived that the French subjects of Lewis XIV. and XV., with their feudal and chivalrous sentiments, were far inferiour in industry and ideas of police to that genera- tion, which since the year 1771 has received the impres- sion of so many liberal ideas respecting the organization of society." 2 Even their language retained very much of its original purity. Volney says : "The language of these people is not a vulgar provincial dialect [patois ], as I had been told, but tolerable French, intermixed with many military terms and phrases." & The sneer which one of our recent historical writers gives at "that mix- ture of bad Spanish and bad English which did duty as a language at Vincennes " 4 is only a specimen of bad
1 Mich. Pion. Coll., vol. i. p. 355.
2 View of the Climate and Soil of the U. S., p. 391.
8 Ibid. p. 373.
4 McMasters' Hist. People of U. S., vol. i. p. 380.
119
THE OLDEST INIIABITANT.
guess-work. Their written language was much worse
than their speech. All that they knew was handed down from father to son. They had no other education. There was never a school in the state until during the American occupation. In the petitions that were sent to Congress from Indiana Territory, the number of French citizens who made their marks was only equaled by the number of those who might better have made their marks than the remarkable autographs they did make.
It is not surprising that these people were somewhat superstitious, though as to that they do not appear to have been worse than their American neighbors. In the record book of Colonel John Todd, who was sent out as civil governor by Virginia after the conquest by George Rogers Clark, there appear orders for the execu- tion of two persons for witchcraft. One of these victims, a negro named Manuel, was chained to a post at the brink of the river, at Kaskaskia, and burned alive, after which his ashes were scattered. The other, a negro named Moreau, was hanged near Cahokia; he acknowledged his guilt of destroying his master by magic spells, but said " his mistress had proved too powerful for his necromancy." Both of these executions occurred in 1779.1 As the American governor approved these executions, it would be unjust to hold them caused by a superstition that was peculiarly French. The fact is that Voudouism was very generally believed in and feared at that time, and even at this day the number of those who hold to its verity is astonishing. There have
1 Colonel Todd's Record Book, in Fergus Hist. Ser., No. 12, pp. 58, 59; Reynolds's Pioneer Hist., pp. 142, 143; Davidson & Stuvé's Ill., p. 230.
120
INDIANA.
· always been, and probably will always be, blacks who claim the power of casting spells over others, causing them to be inhabited by snakes and toads, and relieving them of these disagreeable tenants when possessed of them by the influence of others. The color and usually the appearance of these quacks adds to the power of their pretensions, so that when they resolutely undergo the severest punishments for their asserted powers the timid spectator can scarcely avoid some belief in them. There are many traditions of these people, who have flourished at various periods in the Mississippi valley. One of the best authenticated, of the olden time, is of an old negress named Janette, living in the Illinois coun- try, who was considered so formidable in the exercise of her " evil eye " that even adults used to flee at her approach. It may be mentioned in this connection that, although the laws of England no longer permitted the punishment of witchcraft by death, those who pretended to its use were subject to a year's imprisonment and to stand four times in the pillory.1 Sir William Black- stone, whose Commentaries appeared only fourteen years before these executions, was apparently in some doubt on the subject. He says : "To deny the possibility, nay, actual existence, of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of God, in various passages both of the Old and New Testament ; and the thing itself is a truth to which every nation in the world hath in turn borne testimony, either by examples seem- ingly well attested or by prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the possibility of commerce with evil spirits." After some reflections on the numerous impos- tures and delusions that had occurred in connection with
1 9 Geo. II. c. 5.
-
121
THE OLDEST INHABITANT.
the offense, he concludes with Addison, " that in general there has been such a thing as witchcraft; though one cannot give credit to any particular modern instance of it." 1
Powers similar to those of the negro Voudous were often claimed by the medicine-men of the Indian tribes, and the account is preserved of the execution of three Indians in Indiana on charges of witchcraft. This was in the year 1806, just after the Shawnee prophet Law- lewasikaw [The Loud Voice], brother of Tecumthe, had assumed the name Pemsquatawah [The Open Door], and begun his career as a spiritual leader. He claimed the power of detecting those who practiced witchcraft, and told the Indians that the Great Spirit commanded them to put such persons to death. He soon preferred charges of witchcraft against Tatebockoshe,2 an old Delaware chief, who had been instrumental in securing the assent of the Delawares to the treaty of 1804, by which lands north of the Ohio were ceded, contrary to the wishes of the other tribes. Tatebockoshe was tried, condemned, and tomahawked; his body was burned. Accusations were then made against his wife, a nephew called Billy Patterson, and an old Indian called Joshua, all of whom were condemned. The two men were burned at the stake, but the woman was saved by her brother, who boldly led her out of the council-house and checked the growing superstition by solemnly ex- claiming : " The evil spirit has come among us, and we are killing each other." This protest, and some strong re-
1 Blackstone's Commentaries, book iv. p. 60; Spectator, No. 117.
2 Teteboxke, Tatebuxica, Tatabaugsuy -- The Twisting Vine. Ind. Gazette, April 12, 1806; Penn. Archives, vol. i. p. 100.
122
INDIANA.
monstrances from Governor Harrison, put an end to this feature of the Prophet's work.1
It does not appear that the French civilization had any material effect on the manners and customs of the the Indians in general. Some of them were converted to Catholicism; a few undertook something like an agricultural life. As a general rule, these advances were merely grafted on the savagery which still re- mained, yet those who were best acquainted with them thought they saw proofs of improvement.) In 1796, William Wells 2 said to Count Volney : "The Indians of the Wabash, the Miamis, Putewoatimies, &c., are better than they were three or four score years ago. The peace they have enjoyed in consequence of the de- cline of the Six Nations has enabled them to cultivate with the hoe Indian corn, potatoes, and even our cab- bages and turnips : our prisoners have planted peach and apple trees, and taught them to breed poultry, pigs, and lately cows; in short, the Choctaws and Creeks of Florida are not farther advanced." 8 All of their ad- vancement is substantially summed up in this statement. On the other hand, in one respect at least they were infinitely worse off than they were before the white man came. They had acquired the appetite for rum, to satisfy which they were ready and willing to sacri-
1 Dillon, p. 425; Ind. Gazette, Apr'l 12, 1806. The Indian village at which these executions occurred was at the site of York- town, Delaware County.
2 Wells was a noted interpreter, guide, and Indian agent in early times. He was captured by the Indians in Kentucky when thirteen years old and adopted by them. Heckewelder, p. 256; Volney's Climate and Soil, p. 398; McBride's Pion. Biog., vol. ii. pp. 99-102.
3 Volney's Climate and Soil, p. 429.
123
THE OLDEST INHABITANT.
fice anything they possessed. No tribe escaped this curse, but those who were most friendly suffered most. The early French missionaries bewailed the damage done by rum; the English and Americans who took an interest in the natives, other than for profit, shuddered at its work; the Indians themselves, in their sober mo- ments, lamented their weakness ; but there was no cessa- tion of debauchery,
Behold this picture drawn by Governor Denonville in 1690 "I have witnessed the evils caused by liquor among the Indians. It is the horror of horrors. There is no crime nor infamy that they do not perpetrate in their excesses. A mother throws her child into the fire ; noses are bitten off ; this is a frequent occurrence. It is another Hell among them during these orgies, which must be seen to be credited. They get drunk very often to have the privilege of satisfying their old grudges. Punishment cannot be inflicted on them as on Frenchmen who may commit a fault. Remedies are impossible as long as every one is permitted to sell and traffic in ardent spirits. However little at a time each may give, the Indians will always get drunk. There is no artifice that they will not have recourse to, to obtain the means of intoxication. Besides every house is a groggery. Those who allege that the Indians will re- move to the English, if Brandy be not furnished to them, do not state the truth ; for it is a fact that they do not care about drinking as long as they do not see Brandy ; and the most reasonable would there had never been any such thing, for they set their entrails on fire and beggar themselves by giving their peltries and clothes for drink." 1
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. ix. p. 441.
124
INDIANA.
Did the English do as badly as the French ? Yes, quite as badly. Even in Pennsylvania, rum accomplished its perfect work. Can you imagine the sadness with which the Shawnee chiefs came to Governor Gordon, in 1732, with this speech : "The Delaware Indians some time agoe bid us Departt for they was Dry, and wanted to Drink ye land away, whereupon wee told them Since Some of you are Gone to Ohioh, wee will go there also ; wee hope you will not Drink that away too." 1 But they did drink much of Ohio away too, and much of other lands. The habit seems to be a mania with them which they cannot control, and no tribes were more addicted to it than those of the Wabash. There have been many shocking recitals of Indian debauches, from which I select one worthy of the pen of Emile Zola, a description of the gathering of the Wabash tribes at Vincennes, in 1796, by Volney: "From early in the morning both men and women roam about the streets, for no other purpose but to procure themselves rum ; and for this they first dispose of the produce of their chase, then of their toys, next of their clothes, and at last they go begging for it, never ceasing to drink till they are absolutely senseless. Sometimes this gives occasion to ridiculous scenes ; they will hold the cup to drink with both hands like apes, then raise up their heads with bursts of laughter, and gargle themselves with their beloved but fatal liquor, to enjoy the pleasure of tasting it the longer ; hand the cup from one to an- other with noisy invitations ; call to one only three steps off as loud as they can bawl ; take hold of one of their wives by the head and pour the rum down her throat with coarse caresses, and all the ridiculous gestures of
1 Penn. Archives, vol. i. p. 330.
125
THE OLDEST INHABITANT.
our vulgar ale-house sots. Sometimes distressing scenes ensue, as the loss of all sense and reason, becoming mad or stupid, or falling down dead drunk in the dust or mud, there to sleep till the next day. I could not go out in a morning without finding them by dozens in the streets or paths about the village, literally wallowing in the dirt with the pigs. It was a very fortunate cir- cumstance if a day passed without a quarrel, or a battle with knives or tomahawks, by which ten men on an average lose their lives yearly. On the 9th of August, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a savage stabbed his wife in four places with a knife within twenty steps of me. A fortnight before a similar circumstance took place, and five such the year preceding. For this vengeance is immediately taken, or dissembled till a proper opportunity offers, by the relatives, which pro- duces fresh causes for waylaying and assassination." 1 In fairness it must be said that the condition of affairs in Vincennes at this time was not wholly due to the French, for in 1796 they did not much outnumber the
Americans there. It is also a striking fact that the occurrences which Count Volney witnessed happened just one year after the repeal of the first statutory liquor law of Indiana, - an absolute prohibitory law as to In- dians, - which had been in force for five years ; and this law was repealed by the American governor and judges.
There remains one other feature of the old French civilization to be noticed, - the institution of slavery. So far back as the records of the settlements take us, slavery existed on the Wabash, as in all the other French colonies. Of the legal aspects of this we shall
1 View of Climate and Soil of U. S., pp. 395, 396.
126
INDIANA.
treat hereafter ; for the present it suffices to say that the slavery which existed at Vincennes, and in the coun- try below the present site of Terre Haute, was regulated by the laws of the Province of Louisiana, of which this country was a part; while that which existed at Fort Ouiatanon, Fort Miamis, and other points above Terre Haute, was regulated by the customs of Canada. In Canada the greater portion of the slaves were Indians, commonly called panis, who had been taken in war and sold. In Louisiana the greater portion of the slaves were negroes, brought from Africa or from the French islands. Indian slaves also were held in Louisiana, but not in so great numbers. > At the destruction of the Natchez nation, all the prisoners were reduced to slavery and scattered among the French colonies. Both negro and Indian slaves were commonly carried between Canada and Louisiana and sold in either. In early times nearly all the slaves at Vincennes were Indians, it being remote from the centre of agricultural pursuits, and its inhabitants being largely engaged in the Indian trade. The old church records 1 contain frequent men- tions of the births, baptisms, and deaths of panis down to the time of the British occupation, but from that time they decline in frequency, as Indian slavery gradually gave way to negro slavery. The causes of this were the importation of negroes, the amalgamation of Indian and negro slaves, and the stoppage of the source of sup- ply of panis by the Indian tribes becoming gradually united among themselves and turning on their white foes.
1 The Parish Records of Vincennes are at present being pre- pared for publication by John Gilmary Shea, D. D., who is per- haps better fitted for this work than any other person.
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.