USA > Indiana > Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers > Part 16
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The dress of these people was suitable for the life they had to lead. The hunting shirt was worn by all the men and was made of various sorts of material. It was a loose frock coat coming down below the middle of the thighs. The sleeves were very large. The front part of the garment was made very full, so much so that it would lap over more than a foot on each side, when it was belted. The cape was very large and full, much like the comfortable long capes worn by our cavalry soldiers during the war of the Rebellion. They were ornamented with a heavy fringe around the bot- tom and down the shoulder seams and a row on the cape about half way from the bottom to the collar. The bosom of these hunting shirts when the belt was fastened was always used by the hunter to carry the things needed for his convenience and comfort. On one side the tomahawk and on the other the hunting knife were each fastened to a loop made in the belt. These two weapons were indispensable and every hunter carried them. The hunting shirt was mostly made out of linsey cloth, some were made out of linen, the cloth made thick by filling made from tow which was gathered from the last hackling of the flax. There were many made out of dressed deer skins for summer and fall wear but they were very cold in the winter time. The skin coats were fantastic-
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ally ornamented in the fashion of the Indians. The hunting shirts was of any color to suit the fancy of the owner. Some of them were very gay but those intended for the chase or scout were usually a dull color so as not to be easily distin- guished. The undershirts, or vests as we now call them, were made of any material they could get. The breeches were made close fitting and over them a pair of buckskin leg- gins were worn fringed down the outside seams like the In- dians. A pair of moccasions for their foot covering and pro- tection were much better for the purpose of hunting and scouting than shoes, which they could not get, as no noise was made in walking. They were made of buckskin in one piece, with a gathered seam along the top of the foot and from the bottom of the heel to the ankle joint. Flaps were left on each side so as to reach some distance up the leg to be covered over with the lower part of the leggins, and all held in place by strong thongs of buckskin tied around just above the ankle joint, to keep the snow and dirt out of the moccasins.
It required only a little time to make a pair of moccasins. For this purpose and for mending the holes worn in them an awl made out of any kind of iron was an indispensable tool, and with a ball of thongs or strings cut from a dressed deer skin, was in the shot pouch or hunting shirt pocket of every hunter. In the winter the moccasins were very cold and dry deer hair was stuffed into them to keep the feet warm. If the wearer owned any red pepper pods a liberal supply of it was put in with the hair. I have heard my father say that in cold wet weather the moccasin was only a little better than going barefooted.
The head dress of the men was as varied as there were kinds of animals. Bear, beaver, fox, raccoon and even the sullen opposum furnished material for headwear. In the summer time they had hats made from the wild oat straw and from the flag that grew in ponds. Even the inside bark of the mulberry roots was cleaned and worked into very light durable hats for summer wear. Gloves were made out of the skins of small animals with the fur on the inside.
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The women did not have as elaborate costumes as the' men, but they dressed at all times to suit their work and the weather if they had the material to make their clothing from. The linsey skirt or petticoat as it was termed then, worn over some sort of dress of linen or cotton, made much like ladies wear now for night gowns, was the usual costume. If worn in cold weather a waist or jacket was added to the skirt. Their clothing was warm and comfortable. In warm weather they invariably went barefooted, but during the cold weather they had moccasins or shoe pacs, a sort of half moc- casin. They made shawls of flannel the same as they made blankets of any color that suited their fancy with bright col- ored stripes at each end and a heavy fringe sewed on all around it. Later when they got to raising cotton in sufficient quantities, they made a very pretty and serviceable cotton dress with stripes of many colors. For head dress they al- ways wore caps night and day with a frill on the front edge often out of the same goods, very old ladies often wore dark colored caps made of some fine goods brought from their early childhood home. They wore the regulation sun bonnet of that period which differed but little from that worn by many . at this time. The head piece or crown was made with cas- ings for splits of wood to keep it in shape with a gathered curtain sewed around the lower edge. These hooded bonnets were good shades from the sun and when taken in connection with the other dress of that day were very becoming to the wearer. For handkerchiefs they had small home-made squares of white cotton cloth of their own spinning and weav- ing. For gloves leather made out of squirrel hides dressed, was used and they were as soft as the best kid and lasted for all time.
Often it was very difficult to secure the raw material to make this clothing. The flax crop at times failed as the land was too loose for it to do well in. The flax roots are very short and the new soil of that date was a very loose loam and in dry weather the flax would die out and the crop fail. At such time, when the flax failed, some one would go to the rich creek bottoms where nettles grew in abundance and secure loads
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of the stalks. After it was dried and rotted they broke and workedfit the same as they did the flax. A strong thread could be spun from the fiber covering the stems and this thread was woven into cloth and made into clothing. When they had wool and linen thread they wove linsey cloth, the best that could be had for comfort and durability. Every woman was her own weaver. The girls who were fourteen years old could spin and weave and make their own clothing. Their clothing was such as they could make by hand. These early pioneers tanned their own leather. A large trough for a tanning vat back of the smoke house or in it as was often the case, was; an indispensable piece of property. The bark of the black oak, carefully secured in the spring when the sap was up, was dried to be used later for tanning their leather. The skins of deer, wolves and later on of bears and cows that had died or had been killed by the panthers were saved and dried until such times as they were wanted to be put into the vat. They were first put in a trough with strong ashes and kept there until the hair became loose and could be scraped off. Then they were put into the vat and the oak bark was pounded up as finely as needed and put in layer after layer as the skins were placed in the trough. When the oak liquor or ooze had been used until it commenced to lose its strength it was drawn off and a new supply of bark put into the vat. After being in the vat for several months the hides were taken out. A board or slab was driven into the ground and the top end was shaved to an edge. Then the hides were scraped back and forth over the edge of the slab until they became pliable; then bear's oil was put on and worked in until every part of the skin was soft. Our people learned from the Indians that the brains of the deer was the best of all material to make the tanned leather soft and pliable and to keep it so. It took nearly three large dressed buckskins to make a leather suit, including a hunting shirt, leggings and two pairs of moccasins.
After they had raised the corn the meal made out of it for their bread was prepared by pounding the corn in hominy blocks and by grinding the corn in hand mills. Hominy
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blocks were made in the end of a large log standing on end and about three feet high. The hopper for holding the corn was made by burning a hole in the end of the log. Then a hickory pestle was used to pound the corn. This labor was often made lighter and more effective by placing a pole on a fork driven into the ground the proper distance from the meal block. One end of the pole was held down by a heavy log and to the other end was attached a heavy pestle by a strong leather cord. A hole was bored through the pestle the pro- per distance from the lower end and a hickery pin put into it extending two feet on each side. Then two people could work at the pounding process. The spring of the pole lifted the pestle as high as wanted and the stroke was made by pulling down on the pin. In this way meal could be made much faster than by the single hand process. After beating the corn awhile it was put in a skin sieve made by stretching a raw deer skin over a hickory hoop and when it had dried, burning small holes through it with the tines of an iron fork, thus making a very good sieve. The meal was shaken through this and the coarse parts put back in the hopper to be pound- ed until it was fine enough to go through the sieve. When the corn was just beginning to harden in the fall a much more simple device was made for making meal, called a "grater." A piece of tin or sheet iron with many holes punched through it was put on a board and nailed by its edges to the board, forming a half circle. The corn was rub- bed over the rough side of this grater, the meal going through the perforations and falling into a pan. There are many old people yet living who have had the backache from bending over one of these crude meal-making machines and the writer is one of them. A little later a small mill was made, which was called a hand mill, that was much superior to the two meal-making processes above described. The hand mill was made of two small round stones. The under one was station- ary and the upper one was turned around. These stones placed in a hoop made for the purpose. At one edge a little spout was made for the meal to run out and a hole was made in the outside edge of the top stone and a staff fitted into it.
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The upper end of the staff went into a hole made through a board that was fastened to some timbers over head. The hoop, the stones were in, was about the size of a dish pan. A little hopper was made around the center staff or post that the top stone ran around with holes made in it to let the corn through as fast as wanted. Two persons could hold the up- right staff one on either side of the hoop, and keep the top stone turning around at a lively rate. There could be four bushels of corn ground on this small mill in a day. This was considered at that time to be quite an advance in the mill- ing industry.
CHAPTER IX.
LAND CLAIMS AND TERRITORIAL AFFAIRS-INDIAN DEPREDA- TIONS-LETTERS OF INSTRUCTION AND ORDERS TO CAP- TAIN WILLIAM HARGROVE-BURNING OF AN INDIAN TOWN NEAR OWENSVILLE -. DIVISION OF INDIANA TERRITORY- ELECTIONS-LAND OFFICES. .
The uncertainty of the title of the lands held by the in- habitants of the territory, caused so much trouble that Con- gress in 1804 created a board of Commissioners who were empowered to inquire into the validity of the titles and decide on the title of each claim to which title there was any ques- tion. This decision was to be reported to Congress and in this way most of the uncertain titles were confirmed.
Many of the laws that had been adopted for the govern- ment of the Northwest Territory by Governor St. Clair and the judges, and a part of the statutes adopted and published by Governor Harrison were revised and re-enacted by the General Assembly of the Territory of Indiana and were pub- lished by Stout and Smoot at Vincennes, by authority of the Legislature. They were bound in a thin volume that con- tained the laws of the Northwest Territory and those of Ind- iana Territory which had not been repealed, as they were revised by the Honorable John Rice Jones and John Johnson. The latter laws passed by the Legislature referred to many things among which were the incorporation of the Vincennes Univeristy, Vincennes Library, the Borough of Vincennes and the town of Jeffersonville.
By an act of Congress approved the 11th of January, 1805, before the organization of the legislative council, Indiana
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Territory was divided and the Territory of Michigan was established to take effect the last day of June, 1806. Mich- igan Territory was formed of that part of Indiana Territory which lies north of a line drawn east from a point on Lake Michigan ten miles north of its southern extremity until said line intersects Lake Erie, thence north through Lake Erie to the northern boundary of the United States. This division included the land office at Detroit.
The Legislature of 1807 passed some very drastic measures, among them being penalties for the crime of treason, murder, arson, and horse-stealing. All of them were punishable by death. The crime of man-slaughter was not such an import- ant affair and was punishable under the code of common laws. The crime of burglary and robbery were punishable by whip- ping. Rioting was punishable by fine and imprisonment. Hog stealing was punishable by whipping.
After Wayne's victory up to 1802 and 1803 there was quiet in all the section of country in Indiana Territory. The object lesson the Indians received there was so forcibly im- pressed on them that they were glad to be quiet for a while. This quiet gave an impetus to emigration to the new country, but in a short time the temptation was so great that small bands of Indians would roam over the country hunting for a chance to retaliate and murder the defenseless people. There were a number of boat fights on the Ohio and in some of them the unfortunate occupants were captured and murdered.
A family named McClure was floating down the Ohio, about ten miles west of the mouth of Lochry Creek in what is now Ohio county, Indiana. They were prevailed upon to land their boats by the cries and gestures of a white woman who besought them to take her on board, saying that she had escaped from the Indians. As soon as the boat touched shore it was captured by a band of Indians who were in conceal- ment in a large crevice in the bank. All of the family except one grown daughter were killed. She was carried into cap- tivity and sold to the British at Malden and was recaptured at the battle of the Thames. It was never known whether the white woman who decoyed the boat was a prisoner or was,
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like Simon Girty, a traitor to the white race, who became more fiendish and brutal toward the Americans than the most savage Indians.
At Diamond Island, Posey county, Indiana, in the sum- mer of 1803 a boat containing six people from Virginia was cap- tured, but before the capture was accomplished three Indians were dead and another had one of his ears and more than half his nose cut off. The boat had landed to take on a deer killed by young James Barnard who was a son of the owner of the boat. As the two men, father and son, were carrying the deer they saw eight or ten Indians rushing to the boat. The mother, with an ax, killed one of the Indians. The three small children in the party were unable to make any defense. The father had his gun with him but the son had only a corn knife, made of a brier-scythe, which he had car- ried out to cut a pole on which to hang the deer. The father, actuated by the first impulse, rushed to the boat, shot two Indians down at one shot and was himself immediately killed. The son, having no gun, attempted to get away by running. Two Indians followed him and as he dodged from tree to tree they both fired, but missed. One of the Indians was fleet of foot and followed on after the young man who was very fast in a foot race but he soon found that the In- dians would overtake him. Coming to a very large tree he dodged behind it and as the Indian came up, dealt him such a blow with the corn knife that it cut off a large part of his nose. At the second blow he cut off his left ear which fell at his feet. The Indian uttered a loud yell and ran back the way he had come. Young Barnard picked up the ear and went into the forest where he hid and waited for night to come, when he wandered back to the river, hoping to find some trace of the family. He found the dead bodies of his mother and father, both scalped, but could see no trace of his brother and sisters. The young man, with his corn knife, in the stillness of the night, and in the wilderness of Posey county, dug out a shallow grave in which he placed the bodies of his parents. and then he wandered through the woods. Coming to the Wabash, he swam it and found his way to
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Vincennes where he enlisted in the army. The next year after this, an expedition was made by soldiers into the Illi- nois country after some horse-thief Indians who had stolen a number of horses which were grazing on the common pasture near Post Vincennes, and young Barnard was one of the com- pany. Late in the evening of the second day out, more than thirty miles to the southwest of Vincennes, they came to a lone wigwam near a large spring of water. On coming up to it they found an Indian who was dressed in skins and had covering over his face except places made in the covering that he could see out of. This strangely dressed creature did not offer any opposition to the soldiers. One of the sol- diers understood the Kickapoo language and told the Indian that they did not intend to do him any harm but that he must take that covering off of his head. At this he became frantic and said he would die first. They caught him and held him and removed the buckskin from over his head when they be- held an awfully mutilated face that looked as though it had been in that condition some time. His nose was nearly all gone, one of his eyes was out and one ear cut off. Barnard looked at the Indian and told the interpreter what he had done at Diamond Island and that he had the ear in his tent at camp. This was told the Indian, whereupon he became a raging fury and tried to break loose to get at Barnard. When he found that he could not throw off the two stalwart soldiers who held him, he commenced to insult and abuse Barnard by saying that he had killed his father and that after he got back to the boat he killed his mother. When this was trans- lated to him Barnard mashed his head with a club.
The Indians are very superstitious and when any of them is mutilated or disfigured as the one referred to above, he goes into seclusion and no one is ever allowed to see his face again.
After the treaties of 1804 were made which ceded all the country on the Wabash and Ohio rivers, south of the old Vincennes and Clarksville trace up to the Ohio Falls, to the United States from the Indians, many emigrants moved into that section. Many of them before that had been in Kentucky
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near the Ohio river, waiting for the government to acquire that territory. Notwithstanding the number of men who came into the territory, there was much trouble with the In- dians, growing out of the influence of the Prophet. Along in 1805 and up to the last of 1806 the Indians in all their stat- ions in Indiana Territory were loud in their declaration that the Ohio river should be the boundary line between them and the whites. Bands of young hunters were continually roving through the country all along the territory between the Ohio and White rivers. The only posts the whites had for pro- tection at that time were Vincennes, the station at White Oak Springs on the old trace and a good fort in Lawrence- burg in Dearborn county; also a good fort at Clarksville. There is no doubt that many people were captured and des- troyed while attempting to move into that section whom no one ever heard of.
In the early spring of 1807 a band of Delaware Indians on the Vincennes and Clarksville trace, west of the Mudholes (near where Otwell, Pike county, Indiana, is located) cap- tured a family named Larkins who were moving to a section near Vincennes. Night having overtaken them they had made a camp a little way from the trace and during the night were captured by ten Indians. They killed Larkins and car- ried Mrs. Larkins and five children into captivity. A large boy who was coming with the family, in the confusion, made his escape and the next day met two of General Harrison's scouts near White river. He related the terrible occurence to them and together they went back to the place where he had been encamped the night before and where they found the body of Larkins which they buried the best they could. One of the scouts then hurried into Vincennes to notify the authorities of the depredation. A troop of cavalry was sent to the scene but failed to find any trace of the captured fam- ily, but during the time they were scouting they came upon a band of Indians who were loaded down with provision and ammunition and headed for the south. These Indians no doubt were preparing for a raid on some of the outlying set- tlements hoping to capture unprotected emigrants.
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In the running fight with the cavalry two of the Indians were killed and the rest of the band lost their heavy packs and some of them their guns in getting back across White river. This fortunate meeting of these marauders no doubt saved some boat crew or some settlement from being murdered.
Mrs. Larkins was the daughter of Colonel Greenup, of Kentucky; the boy who was with the band, named Joel Davis, was a relative of the colonel's and he hurried back to Ken- tucky with the sad news of the destruction of the family.
There was so much trouble in different parts of the ter- ritory, especially in the southern part, that Governor Har- rison determined to organize several detachments of scouts and rangers hoping in that way to check the numerous raids of the Indians. There were already fifteen or twenty regular scouts constantly on duty, who reported at headquarters at Vincennes. There were also a number of friendly Indians belonging to the Piankashaws, Weas and Delawares who were used as messengers.
It was decided to organize the rangers of the Territory of Indiana into three divisions. The first division patrolled the territory from the Wabash river to some place near the French Lick Springs; the second from that point to the Falls of the Ohio river, the main camp of these two divisions was to be on or near the Clarksville trace. The third division was to patrol the section of the country from the Ohio Falls to the neighborhood of Lawrenceburg with their main camp near Armstrong Station. These three divisions went on duty some time in the early spring of 1807. This information was obtained from a small memorandum book kept by Cap- tain William Hargrove who was the commander of the first division. Who the other commanders were is not known to the author. The only reference to their names was on a small scrap of paper found in Col. Hargrove's desk on which a receipt was written out in these words :-
"Received from Captain Hargrove, sixteen pounds of powder, twenty pounds of lead at stock- ade near Blue river, October 16, 1807.
JOHN TIPTON, Com. Sec. div. of Rangers."
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Governor William Henry Harrison's letters of instruction and orders by the Secretary of Indiana Territory, General John Gibson to Captain William Hargrove commanding a detachment of Rangers in 1807.
Colonel William Hargrove was born in South Carolina in 1775. When a young man he moved to Kentucky where he married and then moved to the neighborhood of Princeton, Indiana in 1803. While living in Kentucky he was three years in the Indian service and proved to be a brave, skillful soldier, making a dangerous foe for the red man. After com- ing to Indiana Territory he was twice in the Ranger service, first in 1807 and again in 1812. He was promoted through all the intermediate grades from captain to the rank of col- onel. In 1811 he was the first man in Indiana Territory to raise a company for service in the Tippecanoe Campaign. Colonel Hargrove and family were so closely identified with the settling of the southern part of the state and with its his- tory since that' in future chapters they may be referred to often. In connection with the colonel's service with the Rangers in 1807 and 1812 are published here orders and let- ters of instruction to him by William Henry Harrison and signed by General John Gibson Secretary of Indiana Territory. These papers have never been in print before as they were in the colonel's desk with many other papers all in neat bundles, tied with buckskin strings. After the colonel's death in 1843 they were taken care of by his son, Jacob W. Hargrove, who permitted the author to copy them in 1852 when he first de- termined to write this Pioneer History.
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