The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. I, Part 8

Author: Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs. The story of the townships of Allen County
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : R.O. Law Co.
Number of Pages: 760


USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. I > Part 8


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W ITH the passing of Pontiac, the savages gradually assumed a show of friendship for the British which became a vital attachment as soon as the Indians realized their depend- ence for subsistence upon their former antagonists-or rather upon those against whom they had fought with the hope of driving them from the Indian lands.


A new element, too, was gradually creeping into the controversy -the revolt of the American colonists against the British oppres- sion. The Indians, who classed all of the enemies of the French as British-as, indeed, they were, broadly speaking-failed to under- stand the grounds for possible rupture between the colonists and the home government. The problem of holding them as firm allies in case of a break became a matter of deep concern to the British, who saw a possible chance of their turning to the colonists and assisting them in their fight for independence in case the war should come. That the British feared the outcome is expressed by Sir William Johnson, in charge of Indian affairs in America, as shown by his letter written ten years before the Declaration of Independence.


"I have given them an answer with the utmost caution," he said, "well knowing their disposition, and that they might incline to interest themselves in the acair or fall upon the inhabitants in re- venge for old frauds which they cannot easily forget."


Nor did the alarm of Sir William subside with the approach of the period which preceded the outbreak of hostilities, for we find him, as late as 1771, observing that "if a very small part of these people have been capable of reducing us to such straits as we were in a few years since [during the Pontiac uprising] what


67


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


may we not expect from such a formidable alliance as we are now threatened with?"-a feared coalition of several of the western tribes.


The reclaiming of the site of Fort Wayne at that time also was a matter of concern to Sir William, who sought the co-operation of the home government to strengthen and re-occupy the post at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's.


"St. Joseph [a post on the St. Joseph river which flows into Lake Michigan] and the Miamis [site of Fort Wayne] have neither of them been re-established," he wrote. "The former is of less consequence for trade than the latter, which is a place of some importance. At the Miamis there may be always a sufficiency of provisions from its vicinity by the river of that name1 in the proper season, to protect which the fort there can, at small expense, be rendered tenable against any coupe de mains."


The outbreak of the Revolution found Sir Guy Carleton estab- lished at Detroit as the civil governor of the British possessions in America, and Captain (afterward Colonel) Henry Hamilton, of the Fifteenth Regiment of British troops, holding the dual office of lieutenant-governor and superintendent of Indian affairs. Under the Quebec act, which was so odious in the eyes of the colonists as to merit their condemnation in the Declaration of Independence, the entire region northwest of the Ohio river was made subject to the absolute power of the governor and lieutenant-governor and a council of twenty-three per- sons.


Hamilton, whose personal- ity overshadowed every other factor in the governmental af- fairs of Canada, entered promptly upon a policy of ex- termination of American set- tlerss in the west, "whose arro- gance, disloyalty and im- prudence," he said, "have justly drawn upon them this deplorable sort of war."4


Parties of savages, under


1


SWORD FOUND IN LAKESIDE.


The illustration is a re-drawing of a picture in Vol. I. of the "History of the Maumee River Basin," from the copyright of Dr. Charles E. Slocum, by his permission. The sword was found in Lakeside (Fort Wayne) and came into the possession of L. W. Hills; it is now a part of the Slocum collection. The specimen is twenty-two inches in length. "Probably," says Dr. Slocum, "this weapon was made by a French armorer for a savage warrior who pre- sented a bone of one of his human vlc- tims for a handle."


the leadership of British soldiers and adventurers, were soon scouring every quarter of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Ken- tucky, where defenseless American pioneers might be captured and brought to Detroit, or whose scalps formed a kind of gory tribute


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MIAMI TOWN AND THE REVOLUTION


1766 1779


to please the enemies of the proposed republic.5 Hamilton's official reports of these bloody raids form a sickening page of the story of the time."


McKEE, ELLIOTT AND THE GIRTYS, TRAITORS.


To add to the distressing conditions, Captain Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliott and Simon Girty™-men whose names are written in the history of the frontier as synonyms of outlawry-deserted the American stronghold, Fort Pitt, and made their way to Detroit where they offered their services to Hamilton, a man whose policies they were well qualified to promote.


This action of the traitors brought to the fore one of the most daring and picturesque characters of the time-Major George Rogers Clark, of Virginia. The plans of Clark were twofold:


LAKE !!! MICHIGAN


DETROIT


ERIE


( HAMILTON )


LAKE


SITE OF FORT WAYNE


MAUMEE R.


COL. HAMILTON'S ARMY PASSED, OCT, 10 TO 24. 1778. LEFT SUPPLIES VALUED AT $50.000.


SBURG


RIVER!


WABASH


LABALME'S FOLLOWERS MASSACRED BY LITTLE TURTLE, 1780


(HAMILTON)


ABALME)


OHI


SINDE KASKASKIA


CLARK)-


( LABALME)


SISSIPP


( CLARK)


OHIO


THE REVOLUTION IN THE WEST, BEFORE THE COMING OF HARMAR ST. CLAIR AND WAYNE


The map shows the route of General George Rogers Clark from Pittsburgh to the capture of Vincennes and Kaskaskia (1778); the route of Colonel Hamil- ton from Detroit to his defeat at Vincennes (1778); and the route of La Balme from Kaskaskia and Vincennes to the scene of his massacre near the site of Fort Wayne after he had destroyed the Miami village, Kekionga (1780).


Were he to command the posts of Kaskaskia and Cahokia on the Mississippi, and Vincennes on the Wabash, he would not only gain possession of the most important of the centers of British power in the west-aside from Detroit-but their capture would, he hoped, destroy the plan of Hamilton to lead an expedition against Fort Pitt, which had been weakened by the desertion of McKee, Elliott and Girty as well as others whom they had influenced. How well Clark succeeded needs no detailed reference here. With four hun-


IVE


( CLARK)


ST. LOUIS. CAHOKIA


VINCENNES


RIVER


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


dred men, assigned to him by Governor Patrick Henry8 of Virginia, Clark floated down the Ohio to Fort Massac and marched overland to the bloodless capture of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, an accomplish- ment which was followed quickly by the taking of Vincennes.


M. de Celeron (son of Captain Bienville de Celeron), the British agent at Post Quiatanon, thinking to prevent the northward move- ment of Clark's army, incited the savages to an attack on the Ameri- cans, but a detachment under Captain Leonard Helm put Celeron and his followers to flight.9


At this moment, Governor Hamilton was under indictment at Detroit for murder, deter- mined by a grand jury called on demand of the outraged peo- ple of the little settlement. A storehouse in the town had been robbed and burned. A negress and a white man had been charged with the crime and adjudged guilty by a jus- tice of the peace, Philippe De- HYACINTH LASSELLE This portrait of the first white per- son born on the site of the city of Fort Wayne, is from a lithograph in Brice's "History of Fort Wayne," published in 1868. The father of Hyacinth Lasselle (Jacques Lasselle) Indian agent for the British, came from Montreal to Keki- onga (site of Lakeside) in 1776. Hya- cinth was born February 25, 1777. The family fled to Montreal when La Balme invaded the Miami Village in 1780; a sister of Hyacinth (Marie Anne) fell from their canoe and was drowned. Hyacinth returned to Kekionga in 1795, Wayne's fort having been erected in the meantime. He removed to Vin- cennes, and upon the outbreak of the Indians preceding the battle of Tip- pecanoe, served in Harrison's army and attained the title of major general of militia. A famous but friendly trial concerning the holding of slaves by Lasselle occupied attention during his residence at Logansport, Ind., where he conducted a tavern. Lasselle died in Logansport, January 23, 1843. jean, who sentenced them to death. As no one would con- sent to officiate as hangman, Colonel Hamilton offered lib- erty to the woman if she would act as executioner to the man. "Hamilton," says a late author- ity,10 "was so frightened at the knowledge that a warrant for his arrest was issued, that he gathered all the troops he could at Detroit, stripped the country of all the provisions he could carry and started for Vincennes, [by way of the site of Fort Wayne]."


It is evident that Hamilton sought, by the overthrow of George Rogers Clark, to remove the stain from his name.


HAMILTON'S ARMY AT SITE OF FORT WAYNE.


On October 7, 1778, Hamilton's army, with fifteen large bateaux and numerous pirogues, laden with army supplies and


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MIAMI TOWN AND THE REVOLUTION


1766 1779


gifts for the Indians, departed from Detroit for the lower Wabash. The army consisted of 177 whites-36 British regulars with two lieutenants; 79 militia, with a major and two captains; 45 volun- teers and 17 members of the department of Indian affairs, and a large body of Indians, whose numbers increased as recruits were induced to join the campaign while en route along the Maumee and the Wabash.


"On the 24th," says Hamilton in his official report, "we arrived at the Miamis town [Fort Wayne] after the usual fatigue attend- ing such a navigation, the water [ of the Maumee] being remarkably low. Here we met several tribes of the Indians previously sum- moned to meet there and held several conferences, made them presents, and dispatched messengers to the Shawnees, as well as the nations on our route, inviting them to join us or at least watch the motions of the rebels [Americans] on the frontiers, for which purpose I sent them ammunition."11


Goods valued at $50,000 were deposited at the site of Fort Wayne; these included a six-pounder cannon and a large part of the army supplies brought from Detroit intended for the comfort of the troops during the winter.


With ox-carts in the lead, the British army, after Hamilton had held further councils with the leaders of the Indians, departed for the Wabash. The waters of Little river, en route, were shallow, and the progress of the army was rendered difficult in the extreme. Had it not been for the work of beavers in constructing dams across Little river the advance of the troops would have been still more arduous.


"Having passed the portage of nine miles," wrote Colonel Hamilton, "we arrived at one of the sources of the Oubache [Wa- bash] called the Riviere Petite [Little river]. The waters were so uncommonly low that we should not have been able to have passed but that at the distance of four miles from the landing place the beavers had made a dam which kept up the water. These we cut through to give a passage to our boats, and having taken in our lading at the landing, passed all the boats. The beaver are never molested at this place by the traders or Indians, and soon repair their dam, which is a most serviceable work upon this dif- ficult communication. With great labor, we next passed a swamp called les volets [the water plants], beyond which the little Riviere a Boete [Aboite] joins the one we made our way through. The shallowness of the water obliged us to make a dam across both rivers to back the waters into the swamp, and when we judged the water to be sufficiently raised, cut our dyke and passed with all our craft. The same obstacle occurred at the riviere a l'Auglais, and the same work was to be raised."


The advance troops of Hamilton's army reached Vincennes


-


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


December 16 and demanded the surrender of the post. Clark was at Kaskaskia. The post at Vincennes was in command of Captain Helm, who, with four companions, surrendered the fort, when assured that its "entire garrison" should be granted all the honors of war. The American colors gave place to the banner of Great Britain.


On February 7, 1779, after bringing his little army of 170 men through the flood waters between Kaskaskia and Vincennes, Clark appeared before the fort occupied by Hamilton's garrison. His vigorous attack resulted in the surrender the following day. At last the "scalp buyer" was brought low. With twenty-seven other officers and regulars, including his friend Dejean, Hamilton was taken to Virginia, condemned for "gross and most cruel atrocities," and, after being confined in the dungeon of the jail at Williamsburg for a period, he was allowed to depart for England.12


A few days after the surrender of Hamilton, Clark took pos- session of all of the goods of Hamilton's army which had been stored at the site of Fort Wayne. Captain Helm and Major Legare met the convoy en route to Vincennes and captured forty officers and men.


The defeat of Hamilton's great plan brought to Detroit as his successor Colonel Arent Schuyler DePeyster, a New York tory. Captain Richard Beringer, who was appointed to succeed to the temporary vacancy, proved to be unsuited to the position, but DePeyster appears to have met the situation with satisfaction. One of his first acts was a complaint that the savages had consumed in a very short time 17,520 gallons of whiskey which had utterly unfitted them for their scalping raids.


It will be seen that in spite of Clark's brilliant success, the great stretch of the Maumee and Wabash valleys was still British territory-more strongly so than ever, for with the destruction of Hamilton's army, the British redoubled their efforts to clear the region of American "rebels." Indeed, this condition prevailed until the building of Fort Wayne sixteen years later. The interim provides the material for some of the most thrilling chapters of our story.


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MIAMI TOWN AND THE REVOLUTION


1766 1779


NOTES ON CHAPTER VIII.


(1) The word Maumee is a corrup- tion of Miami (Me-ah-me).


(2) New York Colonial Documents, vol. vii, page 974.


(3) The penalty of loyalty to the American cause is shown by the Brit- ish treatment of John Edgar, a promi- nent Detroit merchant, who was taken from his home, and brought to the southwest, over the site of Fort Wayne, and on to Kaskaskia to his banishment. His goods were con- fiscated. Later, the United States congress awarded him two thousand acres of land as a compensation for his loyalty.


(4) "Some Delawares are this day arrived who are desirous of showing their intention of joining their brethren [in warring against the Americans] and have presented me with two pieces of dried meat [scalps], one of which I have given the Chippeways, another to the Miamis, that they may show in their villages the disposition of the Dela- wares," wrote Hamilton to Haldimand June 18, 1778.


(5) George Rogers Clark called Hamilton "the scalp, buyer." Whether or not this title was merited may be judged from the contents of an in- tercepted message directed to Hamil- ton by one of his officers operating along the Ohio river: "I hereby send to your Excellency under care of James Hoyd, eight packages of scalps, cured, dried, hooped and painted with all the triumphal marks, and of which consignment this is an invoice and explanation: Package No. 1, 43 scalps of Congress soldiers, inside painted red with a small black dot to show they were killed by bullets; those painted brown and marked with a hoe denote that the soldiers were killed while at their farms; those marked with a black ring denote that the persons were surprised by night; those marked with a black hatchet denote that the persons were killed with a tomahawk. Package No. 2, 98 farmers' scalps; a white circle denotes that they were surprised in the day- time; those with a red foot denote that the men stood their ground and fought in defense of their wives and families. Package No. 3, 97 farmers' scalps; the green hoops denote that they were killed in the fields. Pack- age No. 4, 102 farmers' scalps; eigh- teen are marked with a yellow flame to show that they died by torture; the one with the black band attached belonged to a clergyman. No. 5, 88 scalps of women; those with the braided hair were mothers. No. 6,


193 boys' scalps. No. 7, 211 girls' scalps. No. 8, 122 scalps of all sorts; among them are twenty-nine infant scalps, and those marked with the small white hooks denote that the child was unborn at the time the mother was killed. The chief of the Senecas sends this message: 'Father, we send you here these many scalps that you may see that we are not idle friends. We , want you to send these scalps to the Great King that he may regard them and be re- freshed.'" (This letter was carried to France by Benjamin Franklin and presented as a part of his appeal to France to help America in her pro- test against the British attacks on non-combatants.)


(6) See Roosevelt's "Winning of the West," vol. ii, page 20.


(7) There were four Girty brothers: Thomas lived at Pittsburg and re- mained loyal to the United States, Simon served as second lieutenant in the Continental army and later de- serted from Port Pitt; after his vil- lainous conduct toward his country- men, he died in Canada in 1818, having been blind for several years. James married a Shawnee and became a trader with the Indians; he made the village at the head of the Maumee a center of his activities. George married a Delaware woman; he was located at the site of Fort Wayne during a considerable period, and died, while intoxicated, in the Shaw- nee village of Chillicothe on the Mau- mee two miles below Fort Wayne. During their period of service with the British, the Girtys received two dollars a day. Their savage conduct during this time has been excused by many on the ground of their early training while they were captives of the Indians. All were natives of Pennsylvania.


(8) For a fac simile reproduction of Patrick Henry's instructions to George Rogers Clark, and of the notes which passed between Clark and Hamilton, see "Conquest of the Northwest," vol. i, by William H. English; Fort Wayne Public Library.


(9) Hamilton, in his report, accused Celeron of treachery.


(10) C. M. Burton, Detroit, in a pamphlet, "Early Detroit, a Sketch of Some of the Interesting Affairs of the Olden Time."


(11) From the George Rogers Clark papers, page 116.


(12) See "Narrative of Henry Ham- ilton," American Magazine of His- tory, vol. i; Fort Wayne Public Li- brary.


CHAPTER IX-1780-1789.


The Massacre of LaBalme-Washington Foresees Fort Wayne.


French traders at Miami Town (Fort Wayne) advance the cause of England in their war against the American colonists-The Lasselles, Beaubien and LaFontaine-Hyacinth Lasselle, the first white child born on Fort Wayne soil-The village thrown into consternation upon the approach of LaBalme-His identity and mission-Inhabitants flee to places of safety-LaBalme confiscates the property of anti-American traders-The camp on the Aboite-Little Turtle leads in the night attack-Slaughter of LaBalme's men-George Rogers Clark would take Detroit-Washing- ton prevented from sending troops-British lead savages in attacks on the settlements-Washington would establish a fort on the site of Fort Wayne-His letters-As president, he opens his program of conquest of the west-Colonel Hardin's raid inaugurates the period of warfare on the frontier. 1


T HE NEXT SCENE of the tragic story is laid in Miami Town- the name by which the village on the site of Fort Wayne was called at this period.


The French residents of the place were nearly all traders, though some had been located here for many years and were engaged in various pursuits.1 All of them were warm friends of their former foes, the British-and for a mercenary reason. The utter discouragement of the Americans in their attempt to occupy the Maumee-Wabash valleys meant the preservation of the business of fur trading to the French. It was from the savages that they procured the furs which they sold at Detroit for the Montreal and European markets. Anything, therefore, which disturbed the activ- ity of the Indians and turned them from trapping to the war-path tended to destroy their business. Hence, their devotion to the British cause.


None but those holding a license issued by the British author- ities was permitted to engage in the trading business in this region. Frenchmen were chosen in many cases as the representatives of the British government. Stationed here at the time in the capacity of British Indian agent was Jacques Lasselle,2 who had been ap- pointed in 1776. To Jacques Lasselle and wife was born, in 1777, a son, Hyacinth Lasselle, to whom has been awarded the honor of being the first white child born on the site of Fort Wayne.


The year that brought Lasselle to the head of the Maumee (1776) gave also to the region Peter LaFontaine and Charles Beau- 74


L


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LA BALME MASSACRE-WASHINGTON'S VISION


1780 1789


bien, from Detroit. Both built log cabins in the village in Spy Run. Of the two, the name of LaFontaine is best known locally, because it is preserved in that of his grandson, Francis LaFontaine, the last of the line of Miami chiefs. In their marriage with Miami women and the identification of their interests with those of the Indians, LaFontaine and Beaubien declared their loyalty to the red men, which was amply proven five years later when they incited the savages to the massacre of LaBalme and his unfortunate followers.


To the picture of the clus- ter of these French homes, add the villages of the Miamis and the Shawnees, and we have a fair scene of the semi-civilized conditions at the confluence of the St. Mary's and the St. Jo- seph rivers during the Revolu- tion.


The condition of society in the village is reflected in a let- ter written by George Ironside,3 a prominent trader, to David Gray at Vincennes. "We have a sort of dance here .once a week during the winter," said he, "which has made us pass our time very agreeably." He adds: "Groosbeck is married to Miss Beaufait, and Rede is going to be married as soon as Rivard returns from the Ouias [Wea settlement on the Wa- bash] to Mad'le."


A RELIC OF THE INDIAN WARS.


This sabre, thirty-four inches ir length and well preserved, was found several years ago on the field of the de- feat of Harmar on the site of Fort Wayne, by the late Carl Wolf, of New Haven, Indiana. The eagle head, at the end of the bone handle stamps it as an American weapon. It is now in the private museum of L. W. Hills, Fort Wayne.


The spirit of the times is suggested in further corre- spondence between Ironside and Gray. "The fate of Cha- peau makes me uneasy of your getting clear of that cursed country [along the lower Wabash];" wrote Ironside. "For God's sake, if there is any risque, be wary how you undertake the voyage to the Miamis [site of Fort Wayne]."


Ironside in a later letter to Gray tells of the Indians gathered about the "store" at the site of Fort Wayne, waiting for the return


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


of George Sharp, agent of the "Society of the Miami," who had received a large shipment of intoxicants. "He'll have a forte de affaire to keep the store from being plundered if he won't sell it," wrote Ironside. "As soon as he arrives, they [the Indians] think he will set up an Indian tavern in which he will be the waiter."


To this place came Little Turtle, LeGris, Pecanne, and other savages who were one day to figure strongly in the story of the middle west.


Little Turtle,4 called "the greatest Indian of all times," was as yet unknown to fame. But his time was about to come.5 A tragic event brought him from his place of obscurity and wrote, even though faintly, his name on the page of history. This affair is known as the LaBalme massacre.


On the 3d of November, 1780, numbers of frightened savages created alarm in the quiet Miami Town by rushing in with the tale that an army of the "rebels" (Americans) was approaching rapidly from the southwest. There was no time to call in the scattered braves and traders for a defense of their homes-nothing to do but hasten to places of safety. Hurriedly abandoning the village, the men, women and children fled to the northward or across the St. Joseph, while others launched their canoes and pirogues upon the open river and paddled to places of safety. Among the families which chose the latter method was that of Jacques Lasselle; in some manner, one of the children, a girl, fell from the boat and was drowned.


Soon the invaders poured into the villages and plundered the dwellings of the traders and a large storehouse belonging to Beau- bien," remaining long enough to make thorough work of the de- struction of the property of those whom they considered the most offensive enemies of the American cause.7 Then they retired to their camp for the night. They chose a spot a few miles to the west of the scene of their raid, an open space, on the bank of a small stream, known as Aboite8 (or Aboit) river or creek.




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