USA > Indiana > Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers > Part 8
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General Harmer left Ft. Washington on September 30th, with an army of fourteen hundred men arrived at Maumee Octobor 17th then commenced the work of chastising the Indians but met with misfortunes that were more injurious to the American than were harmful to the Indians. The savages received a severe chastisement but the militia be-
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haved so badly that it was of but little service. The detach- ment of three hundred and forty militia and sixty regulars, under the command of Colonel Hardin, were badly defeated on the Maumee October 22d. On the next day the army took up its line of march for Ft. Woshington which place they reached November 4th, having lost in the expedition one hundred and eighty-three killed and thirty-one wounded. During the progress of this expedition, Major Hamtramck marched up the Wabash as far as the Vermilion river, des- troying several deserted villages without finding any enemy to oppose him. He then returned to Vincennes.
The savages were badly punished by these expeditions yet they refused to sue for peace and continued hostile.
On March 9th, 1791, General Henry Knox, Secretary of War, sent a letter of instructions to General Scott in Ken- tucky, recommending an expedition of mounted men, not to exceed seven hundred and fifty against the Wea towns along the Wabash. With this force, General Scott crossed the Ohio river May 23d, 1791, reached the Wabash in about ten days. Many of the Indians. having discovered his approach deserted their villages but he succeeded in destroying all the villages around Ouiatenon together with several Kickapoo towns, killed thirty-five warriors and took sixty-one prisoners. Releasing a few of his aged prisoners. he gave them a talk and asked them to carry it to the towns farther up the Wabash and to the country of the Maumee. Owing to the disabled condition of his horses he was unable to go farther.
In March, 1791, Congress provided for raising and equip- ping a regiment for the protection of the frontiers and gov- ernor St. Clair was placed in command of something more than three thousand troops. some of them yet to be raised and all of them to be employed in quelling the Indians in the Northwest Territory. He was instructed by the Secretary of War to march to the Miami village. Kekionga and to estab- lish a permanent military post there and such posts elsewhere throughout his territory as would be in communication with Ft. Washington. The post at the Miami village was to be of such strength as to hold the savage in that neighborhood
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in check; also to afford shelter for five or six hundred men in case of an emergency. The Secretary of War urged St. Clair to establish that post as the most important part of his cam- paign. As in previous treaties, the Indians were to be con- ciliated, every inducement being offered to them to cease their hostilities. Said the Secretary of War-"Having com- menced your march upon the expedition, and the Indians continuing hostile, you will use every possible exertion to make them feel the effects of your superiority and after hav- ing arrived at the Miami village and put your works in a de- fensible state, you will seek the enemy with your remaining force and endeavor to strike them with great severity. In order to avoid future wars, it might be proper to make the Wabash and thence over the Maumee and down the same to its mouth on Lake Erie, the boundary between the people of the United States and the Indians (except so far as the same would relate to the Wyandotts and the Delawares) on suppo- sition that they will remain faithful to their treaties, but if they should join in war against the United States and your army should be victorious, the said tribes should be removed without the boundary mentioned."
Before starting on the march with the main force to the Miami town, Governor St. Clair, June 25th, 1791, authorized General Wilkinson to conduct an expedition with not more than five hundred mounted men, to the Indian villages on the Wabash. Accordingly, General Wilkinson, on July 20th, with his mounted men well armed and with provision for thirty days, marched and reached the Kenapacomaqua village. on the north bank of Eel river, (now Cass county, Indiana, ) six miles above its mouth where, on August 7th, he killed six warriors and took thirty-four prisoners. This town, which was scattered along the river for three miles, was to- tally destroyed and Wilkinson and his command encamped on its ruins. The next day he commenced his march upon the Kickapoo town on the prairie which he was unable to reach, owing to the impossible condition of the route he had taken and the condition his horses were in.
In making his report he estimated the results of the ex-
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pedition as follows: He had destroyed the chief town of the Ouiatenon nation and made prisoners of the son and sisters of the King. He had burned a respectable Kickapoo village and cut down four hundred acres of corn, mostly in the milk.
There is no doubt that these expeditions of Hamtramck, Harmor, Scott and Wilkinson seriously damaged the Indians but they were not subdued. They regarded the policy of the United States as calculated to exterminate them and the Eng- lish at Detroit urged them on. They were excited by the loss in former expedition and the tales of woe told them by the British traders, to such a degree that they were desperate. As has been before stated at that time the British govern- ment still had garrisons at Niagara, Detroit and Michilimack- inac, although it was declared in the second article of the def- inite treaty of peace in 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 from the gar- risons and his fleet 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 impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bonafide debts previously contracted. The British government contended that the United States had broken faith in this particular understanding of the treaty and in consequence refused to withdraw its forces from the territory. The British garrison in the lake region was a source of much annoyance as they offered succor to the hos- tile Indians and encouraged them in making raids among the Americans. This state of affairs in the territory northwest of the Ohio continued from the commencement of the Revo- lutionary War to 1796 when, under a second treaty, all British soldiers were withdrawn from the country.
In September, 1791, St. Clair moved from Ft. Washing- ton with about two thousand men. On the 3rd of November the main army consisting of about fourteen hundred effective troops moved forward to the head waters of the Wabash where Fort Recovery was afterward erected. Here the army
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encamped. At this time the Little Turtle, Blue Jacket and Buckongehelas and other Indian chiefs were secreted a few miles distant with a large force of Indians waiting for a fav- orable opportunity to bring on an attack. This they com- menced on the morning of the 4th of November a little while before sunrise. The attack was first made upon the militia which gave way. St. Clair was defeated and returned to Ft. Washington with a broken and dispirited army, having lost thirty-nine officers and five hundred and forty men, killed and missing and having twenty-two officers and two hundred and thirty-five men wounded. St. Clair lost several pieces of artil- lery and all his ammunition, provision and baggage were left on the ground. One of the sad features of this terrible disaster was the loss of more than two hundred women who had followed their husbands, brothers and fathers on this campaign, expecting to settle with them in some of the fine country that would be reclaimed from the Indians. Over the most terrible fate that awaited and was meted out to these unfortunate women it is best to draw the veil. The Indians, in this battle, manifested the most fiendish and cruel brutal- ity to the dead and dying Americans. Believing that the whites had made war for many years for the sole purpose of acquiring land, they thrust great chunks of dirt into the mouths and the great gashes cut in the cheeks of the dying and dead soldiers.
The defeat of St. Clair's army was a severe blow to the Northwest Territory and retarded the settlement of the mid- dle and western part of that territory for many years. The Indians, owing to the very easy victory which they had gained over the Americans, whose army was almost twice as large as theirs, determinedly organized many raids which they sent into the thinly settled region of the Northwest Territory, Kentucky and on the borders of Virginia. There was so much destruction wrought by the Indians that many families who had come to the settled stations around the Ohio Falls and at Ft. Washington, moved farther back to Kentucky and Virginia. Some military critics were very severe and out- spoken in censuring General St. Clair, though this was prob-
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ably very unjust. The main reason of his defeat was that a large portion of his army had been hastily gathered together and many of them were from the thickly settled sections of Virginia and Pennsylvania where they had had no experi- ence in Indian warfare and owing to the hurried disposition of the troops before the commencement of the main eampaign, they had had but little opportunity to receive military train- ing or discipline; also a portion of the new levies were com- manded by officers who had no military experience. General St. Clair was an old man and had been very successful and efficient during the seven long years of the Revolution. When he was chosen to the important position of Governor of the Northwest Territory, he was a member of Congress and was president of that body.
After the return of the defeated army to Ft. Washington, St. Clair resigned his position of Major General in the United States army but retained the governorship of the Northwest Territory to which he gave all of his time. To the vacancy made in the army roll by the resignation of St. Clair, General Anthony Wayne (more familiarly known as "Mad Anthony") was promoted. General Wayne was an old officer and had won a very enviable reputation during the long struggle for lib- erty. On taking command he at once moved to Ft. Pitt (Pittsburg, Penn.)
In 1792 the government of United States determined to reorganize and place a large army in the field for the purpose of subduing the hostile Indians in the Northwest Territory and General Wayne set about preparing, drilling and equipp- ing the army that he had gathered about him for the purpose of thoroughly chastising, defeating and destroying the In- dians who had defeated St. Clair's army and destroyed so many American soldiers and American women.
During the rest of 1792 and up to October, 1793, Wayne remained at Ft. Pitt but on the latter date moved with his army to Ft. Washington where he remained the rest of that year and until July, 1794, preparing his army to be in the best con- dition for effective service, drilling them in a manner that they would be able to resist any of the known modes of In-
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dian warfare. On July 26th Major General Scott with sixteen hundred mounted riflemen from Kentucky, joined the regular troops under Wayne at Ft. Washington and on the 28th of July the, combined army began its march for the Indian towns on the Maumee.
Arriving at the mouth of the Auglaize, they erected Ft. Defiance and on August 15th they advanced toward the Brit- ish fort at the rapids near the Maumee. On the 20th, al- most within reach of the British guns the Americans gained a complete victory over the combined forces of the hostile Indians and a company of Detroit militia, amounting to sev- enty-eight men. The number of the enemy was estimated at two thousand against about nine hundred American troops ac- tuallyengaged. As soon as the action commenced, the Ameri- cans charged the Indians who abandoned themselves to flight and dispersed with terror and dismay. The Americans lost on this occasion thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded. The loss of the enemy was probably three times as great. Wayne remained on the field and in the vicinity for several days after the battle, burning the Indian towns and destroy- ing their corn-field for many miles on both sides of the Mau- mee. The Indians retired from that section disheartened to the country far to the north. Wayne continued sending mes- sages to the Indians trying to persuade them to meet him and form a treaty.
After this, for a time, there was a suspension of hos- tilities and raids by the Indians, for from nearly every town in the Northwest Territory numbers of young hunters were engaged in that battle. Probably the Indians never on the American continent had gathered together a more efficient army of two thousand men, commanded by some of their greatest leaders, Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, Buckongehelas and many other distinguished chiefs. Tecumseh, then in the first flush of his greatness commanded a troop of one hundred Indians on that field. They had chosen their battle field in a large territory of fallen timbers with an advance line of what we would now call skirmishers under two of their most successful war chiefs. The Indians were so well
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located that they had no doubt that they would gain a com- plete victory over Wayne's force. They had invited a num- ber of British officers and soldiers to occupy positions in sight of the field to see them annhilate the American army, but they had reckoned without their host. General Wayne had an army of four thousand men equipped and drilled that for efficiency and moral in that mode of warfare perhaps was never excelled on the American continent. It was com- manded by some of the most resolute and efficient officers who have honored the roll of fame among American heroes.
As soon as the battle commenced a detachment was or- dered to charge both flanks of the Indian army and the centre and in a very short time it put them to precipitate flight. Not more than nine hundred of Wayne's men had an oppor- tunity to distinguish themselves in that battle. After the battle during the time that Wayne was in camp near the Maumee he and his staff with a large escort of cavalry, made several trips of observation over the battle-field. During some of these trips the cavalcade was halted in front of the fort. This brought on such a spirited controversy between the commander of the British fort-Wm. Campbell-and Gen- eral Wayne that it seemed, at one time, as if a collision would be brought on between the British and American armies.
About the middle of September, 1794, Wayne's army commenced its march toward the deserted Miami village and on the following day arrived there and selected a site for a new fort named Ft. Wayne. The fort was completed near the last of November and garrisoned by five hundred and fifty-eight men and officers, infantry and artillery, under the command of Colonel John F. Hamtramck. After this Wayne resumed his march. Arriving at Greenville he took up his headquarters there for the winter and remained there most of the summer of 1795. During all the time between the battle ane up to August of the next year Wayne had his scouts in- terpreters and trusted men among the Indians, trying to get them to meet him at Greenville for the purpose of making a general treaty of peace with all the hostile Indians of the
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Northwest Territory and about the middle of August he suc- ceeded in the attempt.
At that treaty a concession of a large amount of land on the Ohio, Sioto and Miami rivers was made the United States by the Indians. By this concession, commencing at a point on the eastern Ohio line near where Ft. Recovery was erect- ed, a line was run to the south coming to the Ohio river at a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river. This small strip of land was the first real concession made by general treaty with the Indians that is located in the state of India na.
After the conclusion of these treaties there was a period of rest for the pioneers as the Indians, for some years after- ward, were a little shy of making war on the frontiers. Dur- ing that period there was a great influx of settlers into Onio around Marietta, Ft. Washington and at points in the terri- tory of the Ohio Land Company; also there was a great im- petus given to emigration into the state of Ketucky, around the Ohio Falls, Louisville on the north side of the river at Clarksville and in the territory set off for the officers and soldiers of General Clark's army. Outside of these settle- ments in Indiana Territory, there was no emigration to any part of it except an occasional fool-hardy, restless pioneer who would locate at some point in the wilderness.
The territory that is now Indiana, for some time after 1800 all belonged to the Indians. except the small strip granted by the Greenville treaty, the territory of Clark's grant and a section of land around Vincennes granted by the Piankashaw Indians. The government of the United States had repeatedly warned its officers at the different stations in the territory not to permitt any settlements to be made until the land was acquired from the Indians.
In 1795 a treaty with Spain was made by the United States which secured the free navigatin of the Mississippi river. After the treaty was signed and the people on the borders of the Alleghany mountains knew of it, a large num- ber of emigrants came to the Northwest Territory. Most of them settled at various points in what soon afterward became the state of Ohio.
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In 1796 the British evacuated Detroit and the United States forces occupied the territory. The post at Detrott was garrisoned by troops commanded by Captain Potter, sec- retary of the Northwest Territory. Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit and organized the county of Wayne, which in- cluded all that is now the state of Michigan, northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio. During that year settlements were made in many parts of Ohio.
In the year 1798 nominations for representatives for the Territory took place and on the 4th of February, 1799, they convened at Losantville, now Cincinnati, which was then the capital of the territory, for the purpose of nominating per- sons from whom the members of the legislature were to be chosen, in accordance with a previous ordinance. This nom- ination being made the assembly adjourned until the 16th of September, 1799. From those names the President selected as members of the council Henry Vanderburg of Vincennes, Robert Oliver of Marietta, James Finley and Jacob Burnett of Cincinnati and David Vance of Vanceville.
On the 16th of September the Territorial Legislature met and on the 24th the two houses were duly organized, Henry Vanderburg being elected president of the Council. . The message of Goveruor St. Clair was addressed to the as- sembly and on the 13th of October that body elected William Henry Harrison as delegate to Congress. He received eleven votes which was a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, Jr. The number of acts passed at this this session and approved by the Governor was thirty-seven. The most important of those passed related to the militia and to taxa- tion. On the 19th of December the session of the first legis- lature in the west was closed and on the 30th of December the President nominated Captain William Byrd to the office of Secretary of the Territory, Vice William Henry Harrison, elected to Congress.
In 1800 the Northwest Territory was divided. Ohio at that time was preparing to form a state constitution. The division was made by commencing at the mouth of the Great Miami river, running thence north until that line intersects
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the boundary line between the United States and Canada. The report of the committee for the division of the Terri- tory was accepted by Congress and in accordance with its suggestion was approved May 7th. Among its provisions were these-
"From and after July the 4th, 1800, all that part of the Northwest Territory which lies westward of the line from the mouth of the Miami river to the north, before mentioned, shall for the purpose of temporary government be known as Indiana Territory with headquartors of the same at Post Vincennes on the Wabash river." .
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CHAPTER V.
PRISONERS RECAPTURED FROM THE INDIANS - TERRIBLE FIGHTING AROUND THE PLACE
WHERE OWENSVILLE, INDIANA, NOW STANDS.
In 1792 James Greenway, Thomas Doyle and Stephen Murtree were soldiers in the United States service and were on duty at Vincennes under command of Major Hamtramck. During the summer of that year their term of enlistment was out and they were given their discharges. They did not in- tend to go back into the service for a while so they determined to fit out a hunting and trapping outfit as in that early day there were but two kinds of employment in the Northwest Territory: one was soldiering and hunting Indians and the other was hunting game and trapping for furs.
Securing two large Indian canoes with such things as. were necessary for their use, they started down the Wabash intending to hunt and trap on that river and its tributaries. In the fall, as they were floating down the Wabash they came to a small island seven or eight miles south of the mouth of White river. Examining the island they found that it would be a good place to make a camp, so selecting a site giving them a good view up and down the river and both banks, they built a barracade suitable for defense and inside of that built a small cabin. There was a Frenchman with the party by the name of Pierre De Van who looked after the camp and hunted in the neighborhood. He was a character in many ways and proved to be a hero of the first water. He had been much with the Indians and understood the language of several tribes. He had a great hatred for all Indians as they-
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had murdered his uncle who was the only relative he had in this country.
The fall was spent in hunting bear and deer for their skins, the winter in trapping, During the early winter the hunters had gone down the river and while the Frenchman was roaming over the little island he saw an Indian canoe tied to the shore opposite the mouth of a creek on the west bank of the river. He slipped back and hid himself in a convenient place to see what went on. He didn't have long to wait for an Indian was seen to rise up from back of a log looking in every direction for some time. Having concluded that no one was there, the red man went into the camp and commenced loading himself with the camping outfit to take to his canoe and while in the midst of his act the Frenchman shot him.
When the hunters returned and found the dead Indian they asked De Vau what made him kill the Indian and he answered: "Piankeshaw Indian a great liar and if I no kill him he maybe kill me. If I let him go two months we all be killed." They very materially strengthened their fortifica- tions and told the Frenchman to stay inside when they were gone and to keep a good look-out. They intended to stay on the island as long as the water would let them as fur was much better late in the winter than in the early part. They caught many beaver and it was the last of February before the water commenced to rise so as to cause them any alarm about their camp.
They got everything in shape and loaded all their things into their canoes and started for Vincennes where they sold their skins and purchased a good supply of ammunition, salt and corn meal to take back with them when the water went down which was about the middle of April. When they reached the island again they found that the high water had wrecked their fortifications and little cabin and they had to do their work all over again. After this was completed they found that all the game had been driven out of the bottoms by the high waters and they resolved to go to the hills on the east side of the river for a hunt.
There was yet water in the little creek for their canoes
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and they followed it upstream for several miles when it seemed to become a brushy pond. They left their canoes here and went in a southeasterly direction. They had to wade through shallow water for a long distance before they got to higher land. Here they made a fire, dried their cloth- ing and prepared a temporary camp, aiming to stay until they had all the meat they wanted and had acquainted themselves with the surrounding country, and it turned out they had no trouble in killing all the deer they could take care of.
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