USA > Indiana > The Indiana gazetteer : or, topographical dictionary of the state of Indiana, 1850 > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
No regular missions ever existed among the Miamies. They were so much addicted to drunkenness that the
81
GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE.
efforts which were made at several times to convert them, produced but little effect. A few of them only were bap- tized, and even those were not regular; yet they also had much confidence in the Priests, and willingly entrusted to their management many of their temporal concerns. They also asked a Priest to accompany them on their re- moval west.
In 1840, most of the remaining Pottawatamies had emigrated. A few of them lingered, however, and finally went to a reserve at Sohegan, forty miles from South Bend, where they are attended by the Sisters of Notre Dame du Lac. They have books in the Ottowa language, teach each other, and cultivate small farms.
The PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH of the State of Indiana is under the charge of the Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, Bishop of the Diocese.
The Clergymen of that denomination in the State are,
Rev. F. C. BROWN, Rector Trinity Church, Michigan City.
Rev. R. B. CLAXTON, Officiating at Madison.
Rev. R. B. CROES, Officiating at Terre Haute.
Rev. J. H. DRUMMOND, Officiating at Leavenworth.
Rev. T. B. FAIRCHILD, Officiating at Logansport.
Rev. GEORGE FISKE, Officiating at Richmond.
Rev. E. A. FOSTER, Officiating at Evansville.
Rev. B. HALSTED, Officiating at Mishawaka.
Rev. B. B. KILLIKELLY, D. D., Officiating at Delphi.
Rev. F. H. L. LAIRD, Officiating at New Albany.
Rev. J. W. MCCULLOUGH, D. D., Officiating at Lafayette,
Rev. S. W. MANNY, Officiating at Laporte.
Rev. WM. VAUX, Officiating at Vanderburgh County.
Rev. A. WYLIE, D. D., Officiating at Bloomington.
Rev. C. H. PAGE, Officiating at Jeffersonville.
Rev. H. P. POWERS, Officiating at Fort Wayne.
The number of Communicants in 18 Churches which made reports to the Convention in 1848, were 509. No reports were made from the Churches at Crawfordsville, Lawrenceburgh, Leavenworth, New Albany, New Har- mony, and Peru.
There are several other small religious denominations in the State, as to which no correct information has been furnished to the compiler. The Cumberland Presbyte- rians are numerous and respectable in many of the
82
INDIANA GAZETTEER.
southern counties of the State. The United Brethren have also many religious societies, but they object to make any statements as to their numbers.
ANTIQUITIES.
Mounds, similar to those in Ohio and other West -. ern States, are found in considerable numbers in this State; but there are none that have attracted much attention, except three in the neighborhood of Vin- cennes. These, at a distance, resemble immense hay stacks, and on being approached, each appears to cover about an acre of ground, and to rise gradually to a point, probably from eighty to one hundred feet high. It is impossible to conceive, at the present day, for what object these immense piles were erected. Their situation is not such as to lead us to suppose that they were con- structed for any purpose connected with war or defence, and as they were built without the aid of iron tools, it would not be surprising if, among a sparse population, their erection required the labor of many years. Hu- man bones have been found in such as have been opened, and in some of them are strata of earth composing the mound which differ from each other and from the earth in the immediate vicinity. The different layers of earth were about a foot in thickness and between them char- coal and ashes were found, in which human bones lay in a horizontal position. From these facts it has been con- jectured, that when the monuments were erected, it was customary to burn the dead and then cover the bones with earth, and that probably from time to time this pro- cess was repeated, until the mound was finished. Reli- gious ceremonies and superstitious rites may also have been connected with these works. They are most frequent in the vicinity of alluvial bottoms, and where even in early times the abundance of game, and other advantages, would accommodate the most population. There are none of these works which cannot claim a great anti- quity, for the trees on them differ in no respect as regards age, from those in the venerable forests around. While
83
GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE.
these memorials of an age long past are so distinct, the large establishment of the Jesuits at Ouiatenon, and the various military works in the State, formerly so import- ant for defence against Indian hostilities, scarcely show any remains of what they once were.
On the bottom of Big Flat Rock, in the north-west corner of Decatur county, is a mound about eighty feet in diameter, and eight feet high, originally covered with trees, like the other forests around. An excavation was made into it a few years since. First there was a mix- ture of earth, sand, and gravel for one foot; then dark earth, charcoal, lime and burnt pebbles were cemented together so as to be penetrated with difficulty; then a bed of loose sand and gravel, mixed with charcoal; then were found the bones of a human being, in a reclining position, with a flat stone over the breast and another under the scull. Most of the bones were nearly decom- posed, but some of them, and a part of the teeth, were quite sound. From the size of such of the bones of the skeleton as remain, it must have once been of gigantic size. A short distance from this mound is a much smaller one, which contains a great number of skeletons.
HISTORY.
Very few facts that can be relied on are known of the tribes of Indians that inhabited this State before it was settled by the whites. The mounds, and other monu- ments that remain, were constructed so long since, that even tradition does not pretend to give any certain in- formation respecting the people who made them. For many centuries the Indians north of Mexico had been divided into small tribes, which frequently changed their places of residence, and supported themselves mostly by hunting and fishing. They had no domestic animals but the dog, though they afterwards added the horse, which was a hardy animal of a peculiar description, well known at the present day by the name of Indian Pony, and they cultivated no grain but corn, and this only to a small extent. Their houses were chiefly constructed of
84
INDIANA GAZETTEER.
limbs of trees, covered with bark, and so frail that even where they had large villages, a few years after there was very little appearance that any considerable number of the human race had ever dwelt there.
The primitive languages appear to have been few in number, yet the dialects were very numerous and varied, so much as to show that the tribes in general had but little intercourse with each other. Whatever may have been their origin, the Indians of America had been so long separated from the rest of mankind, that by their physical characters they constituted a distinct race. Their copper color, black straight hair, beard in tufts, square heads, broad faces, well proportioned figures and gene- ral contour, are such as to be distinguished at once from other races of people on the earth, and the mental, moral and physical habits of most of the small tribes have much resemblance.
The Mexicans and some of the larger tribes, such as the Mohawks, the Chickasaws, &c., have had their pecu- liar characteristics, and the Delawares, Miamies and Pottawatamies, long the principal tribes in this State, have, in later years, differed a good deal from each other. Their connection with the whites, in many respects very unfortunate for them, may have occasioned a part of this difference.
Of all the European emigrants who have come to America, the French appear to have been the best adapted to gain the favor of the natives. They adopted at once many of their customs and soon conciliated their good will; but though they avoided many of the difficulties in which the unyielding character of the Spaniards and English involved them, their colonies, in the end, have been far less prosperous. The active, able and educated Frenchman rejoiced in a few years of wild ad- venture, and hoped then to close his life amid the amuse- ments of Paris. If he could not do this, he would gain and guide the inclinations of the savages, and though he improved them, he ceased to advance with other civi-
T
85
GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE.
lized nations, and not unfrequently conformed in many things to the habits and customs of savage life.
The consequence was, that the French settlements on the waters of the Mississippi improved but slowly, and even in Canada, which became more populous and wealthy, the standard of civilization was of a low order. The colonies of Spain and England aimed not to fall behind the parent country, and they have not, wherever opportunities for social or moral improvement have been presented to them.
. It was the magnificent scheme of France to secure the mouths of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, and then, by chains of fortresses in the interior, control the savages and limit the English colonies to the east of the Alle- ghany. The points selected, Quebec, Montreal, Fron- tinac, Niagara, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Vin- cennes, Natchez, New Orleans, &c., show the genius and ability with which the plan was conceived and prosecuted, and it would no doubt have succeeded but for the war which terminated in 1763, when Canada, having been conquered, was ceded to England. Before this time, most probably about the beginning of the Century, se- veral points on the Wabash had been occupied, and a considerable French settlement had been established at Vincennes and another at Ouiatenon. These places had no doubt been often visited by the Jesuits who traversed the western country, in exploring and missionary tours, in every direction from about the year 1650 to the end of the century. They passed from the lower end of Lake Erie to the waters of the Ohio, and then down that river; they went up the Maumee to the present site of Fort Wayne, and then by a short portage crossed over to the waters of the Wabash; they passed round to Lake Michigan, up the St. Joseph, that empties into that Lake, and then a portage of only two miles took them from the place where South Bend now stands to the navigable waters of the Kankakee, and from thence to the Illinois and Mississippi, and still other routes by the way of Chicago and Wisconsin were also travelled.
86
INDIANA GAZETTEER.
From the observations recorded by the Jesuits as they traversed these regions, it is evident that they were aware of their future importance; but they were few in num- ber, they seem to have been limited in means, they were seldom allowed to locate themselves permanently, and the few Frenchmen who accompanied or followed them were engaged only in trade, hunting or trapping, so that the tendency of the intercourse with the natives was to gain their favor, but otherwise to make but a slight im- pression.
Neither the English nor the Spaniards, during this pe- riod, were doing much to increase the prosperity or ad- vance the growth of their colonies. The former discour- aged all mechanical and manufacturing labor; the latter attempted to monopolize all the profits of the mines, and both studiously endeavored to prevent all foreign com- merce. While this policy prevailed, enough, it would seem, was done by France, if the battle at Quebec had not been unfortunate, to have secured a far different des- tiny to the Mississippi Valley.
It does not appear from the records of the Catholic Church at Vincennes, at what time the French settle- ments were made, or the Church established there. As early as the year 1749, their records show, however, that the Church had been established, and it was then under the care of Father Meurin. The earlier records are probably at Kaskaskia, where the Priest most generally resided.
It appears that in 1765, on the authority of Croghan's Journal, quoted in Dillon's History, the only white popu- lation then in the bounds of this State, were eighty or ninety families at Vincennes, fourteen at Ouiatenon, and nine or ten at the Twightwee Village, near Fort Wayne, in all six or eight hundred souls. In 1778, thirteen years afterwards, Vincennes had become of considerable im- portance; for the Militia in the vicinity, as stated in Gen. Clark's memoir, were then about 400. There could not have been much regularity in the plan of the town, for even within the present century, most of the houses were
87
GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE.
built with but little reference to streets, and numbers of them were constructed by setting hewn logs upright in the ground, into which the timbers for floors and roofs were framed.
. Many of the descendants of the early French settlers yet remain in the vicinity. They are industrious and economical, but not enterprising, though there are excep- tions for some of them. Dubois, Vigo, Lasselle, and others, have been among the most useful and respectable citizens of the State.
There are few names among the soldiers of the revo- lution, so fertile in heroes, that, for meritorious and ar- duous services, can claim to be preferred to that of George Rogers Clark. Others were placed in more con- spicuous situations, and they did not fail to perform bril- liant achievements. Their friends, the public and history gave them full credit, and a grateful country remembered and repaid their services with offices and honors. But the theatre of Gen. Clark's exploits was then a distant and unknown region. Other exciting occurrences at the time occupied the public mind, and as he was never dis- posed to be the herald of his own fame, so though he gained an empire for his country, without any other re- sources than his own great mind, his merits are even now but imperfectly understood and appreciated. He had sacrified his private fortune for the public good, and as his services were too great to be repaid, they could not well be acknowledged, and therefore the remnant of his life was spent in poverty. In a new country, rapidly im- proving, and amid the hurry and bustle of care and busi- ness, when merit and service did not claim their reward, they were sure to be neglected. These circumstances are mentioned, not as an apology, but in explanation why the memory of Gen. Clark has not been honored as it deserves. He has long since gone where neither the praise nor censure of this world is of any value; but the pre- sent generation owe it to themselves and to those who attempt to serve them, that well-deserved honor, how- ever long delayed, should at last be awarded.
88
INDIANA GAZETTEER.
Gen. Clark was a native of Albemarle county, Vir- ginia, and was born in 1742. From the likeness of him, still preserved, his massive features must have exhibited strongly the peculiar traits of his character. The fol- lowing circumstance that occurred about the year 1786, is only one of the many proofs of his firmness, correct judgment and fertility of resources in times of danger. At the treaty of Fort Finney, near the mouth of the Miami, where the troops were only 70 in number, all the Indians in council appeared to be peaceable, except 300 Shawanese, whose Chief made a boisterous speech, and then threw on the table, at which sat Gen. Clark and Gen. Richard Butler, the commissioners of the United States, a belt of black and white wampum, to intimate that he gave a challenge of war, while his whole tribe applauded him by a terrific whoop. General Clark coolly raised his cane and pushed the wampum from the table to the floor, then rising as the savages muttered their indignation, he trampled the belt under his feet, and with a voice of stern authority he bade them quit the hall instantly, which they obeyed. Sup- posing that Clark would not venture to treat them with such contempt unless he had assistance or resources near which they knew nothing of, they came the next day and made a treaty of peace. If he had faltered in the least," the whole party of whites would most probably have been butchered on the spot.
Soon after the commencement of the Revolutionary war, Vincennes was occupied by the British from De- troit, and a fortification, called Fort Sackville, was erect- ed there. From this, various expeditions of the Indians and renegade whites were fitted out against the early settlers of Kentucky. So much annoyance was expe- rienced from this source, that Mr. Clark, then a resident of Kentucky, went in person to Virginia for authority and aid to attack the British establishments on the Wa- bash and Kaskaskia; but neither funds, troops nor am- munition were granted to him, except 500 pounds of pow- der which was at last obtained with much difficulty, and
S9
GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE.
even this, after being sent by the way of Pittsburgh, did not reach Kentucky until some time afterwards, when it was brought by Clark in person. The first visit to Vir- ginia was made in 1776. A second visit was made the next year and, after much delay, Clark was appointed a Colonel, a grant was made to him of £1,200, or $4,000, of depreciated currency, for the use of the expedition, and he received authority to raise men, and an order for boats and ammunition at Pittsburgh. As there was then a dispute about the boundaries of Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia, he found it difficult to raise men in that quarter, and as it was necessary to conceal his real objects, lest the enemy should be advised of and provide against them, his difficulties were thereby much increased. Even when he and his friends had raised men on the Holston, and other places, and they had collected at the Falls of the Ohio, a part of them deserted him when they were in- formed of his designs. With his little force, consisting of only four companies, commanded by Captains Mont- gomery, Bowman, Helm and Harrod, he left his encamp- ment, on an Island at the Falls, in boats for Kaskaskia, on the 24th June, 177S. By the most prudent manage- ment, not less daring than cautious, he succeeded in sur- prising Kaskaskia and taking it without loss, and then the other French villages in the vicinity. The French population, from the most prejudiced and bitter enemies, were soon converted into zealous and active friends. By their means Vincennes surrendered also, and the French settlers there took the oath of allegiance to the United States. But after leaving garrisons at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and sending back a part of his troops whose time had expired, he could only spare Capt. Helm for Vincennes, who, almost without assistance, was to be Commandant of the Post and Agent for Indian Affairs in the Department of the Wabash.
Capt. Helm was well qualified for the arduous station, and he did much to conciliate the French and Indians of the vicinity; but on the 15th December, 1778, Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, came down the Wabash with a 7
90
INDIANA GAZETTEER.
force of 80 whites and 400 Indians, and Captain Helm, being alone in the fort, was compelled to surrender. The French who were friendly to the United States were dis- armed, the fort was strengthened and mounted with can- non, and preparations were made for a campaign in the spring, in which Clark and his forces, now become very weak, were to be driven from Kaskaskia, and then the settlements in Kentucky were to be attacked in detail. If Clark had not anticipated this plan, and the force of western and southern Indians could have been collected as was arranged, it is not unlikely that the Ohio river, if not the Alleghany mountains, would have been the west- ern boundary of the United States. But seeing the im- . portance of the emergency, he was at once equal to it. He collected his small force of only 170 men, and set out from Kaskaskia on the 5th February, 1779, to attack the British force, which was sheltered in the fort at Vin- cennes. In mid winter, the season uncommonly wet, he made his way to the Little Wabash in eight days, with no great difficulty, although a large part of the country was covered with water. But from that place to Vin- cennes, the extensive bottoms, or drowned lands, which reached almost from one stream to another, were covered with water from three to five feet deep, and day after day, for eight days more, these bold and determined men waded, except where some of the numerous tributaries of the Wabash were to be crossed in hastily constructed canoes, or where dry ground, large enough for the en- campments at night, could scarcely be found. For the three last days the only provision for the whole band was a single deer killed by the hunters. While the strongest of the party were wading, the weaker, and those who gave out from time to time, were taken into the canoes. Fortunately, the circumstances so unfavor- able to Clark and his party, threw Gov. Hamilton and the garrison entirely off their guard, and as the French were generally friendly to the designs of Clark, the Wa- bash then rolling a flood that covered its widest bottoms, was crossed, and the fort completely invested before the
91
GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE.
enemy were aware of his approach. For three days the siege continued, and as Clark and his Spartan band had placed themselves under cover, they did not suffer an embrasure to be opened without firing into it at once and driving from the guns every man within. Seven of the garrison were severely wounded, and so warmly was the firing kept up night and day, that not one of them could expose himself at any point without suffering instantly · from the marksmen without. So important was it to obtain possession of the fort before the Indians should assemble, or a reinforcement then on its way from De- troit, should arrive to aid the besieged, that it would have been taken by storm if it had not surrendered. This result put an end, for the time, to the Indian hostili- ties and to the extensive combination that had been ar- ranged for all the Western and South-western Indians to sweep from the country all the white settlements west of the Alleghany. The capture of the fort was followed up on the next day by an expedition up the Wabash, in three armed boats, under the command of Capt. Helm, Major Bussero, and Major Legras, to intercept a party on their way down the river, with provisions and goods from Detroit. This also was attended with complete success, and property to the value of $33,000 was taken. This merchandise, which would have been employed in stimulating the Indians to hostilities, was, in part, con- verted into the means of gaining their friendship, and partly to pay the private soldiers for their fatigues and exposure, arduous beyond all precedent. The officers received nothing but a few articles of clothing. It was Clark's intention to proceed at once and take possession of Detroit, which was then held only by a small force, and the French inhabitants there were friendly; but to secure his prisoners, guard the posts he had taken, and provide for conciliating the Indians, left nothing further within his power. Soon after this the country from Kaskaskia to Vincennes was organized as a part of Vir- ginia, under the name of the County of Illinois.
In 1781, there was a Spanish expedition of sixty-five
92
INDIANA GAZETTEER.
men from St. Louis, against the St. Joseph, then a British post in North Indiana ; but as this point was far in the inte- rior, and of no territorial importance, it was supposed to be merely an attempt at occupancy that Spain might, at a future day, claim some portion of the country east of the Mississippi.
In 1782, Capt. Laughery, with 107 men, from Penn- sylvania, in passing down the Ohio river, in boats, to join Gen. Clark's forces at Louisville, was enticed on shore, near the creek since called by his name, and the whole party were killed or captured by the Indians. It has been stated that a white man, pretending to be in distress, was the agent for decoying his countrymen into the ambush.
In 1783, the State of Virginia, being without funds to keep up her army in the west, withdrew Gen. Clark's commission, tendering him, however, "thanks for his great and singular services," the most of which are not here referred to, as they were not rendered within the bounds of the State. In the distribution of lands for revolutionary services, Col. Clark's regiment were allowed 150,000 acres north of the Ohio, which they located oppo- site the falls, and the town of Clarksville was then founded.
The same year the State of Virginia relinquished her claim to the territory north-west of the Ohio, requiring, however, that the grant to Clark's regiment, and the rights and privileges of the French settlers near Vin- cennes, should be confirmed. From this time, all settle- ments on Indian lands, and also private purchases of lands from the Indians, were forbidden by Congress. Various attempts were made, in the meantime, to nego- tiate treaties, and though some of them were successful, yet the jealousy of the Indians, and the restless spirit of many of the emigrants, did not allow of permanent tran- quillity.
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.