USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume I > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
Little Turtle took a leading part in this treaty as he had in war, and he was the one selected to make a final protest against part of the boundary line proposed by Wayne. Speaking for the Pottawatomies, Weas and Shawnees, he asked that the boundary be put east of the present limits of Indiana at the south; and in regard to the lands to be taken in the Indian region, he said: "We wish you to take the six miles square on the side of the river where your fort [Wayne] now stands, as your younger brothers wish to inhabit that beloved spot again. The next place you pointed out was the Little river, and said you wanted two miles square at that place. This is a request that our fathers the French and British, never made us; it was always ours. The carrying place has heretofore proved, in a great degree, the subsistence of your younger brothers. That place has brought us, in the course of one day, the amount of one hundred dollars. Let us both own this place and enjoy in common the advantages it affords." Wayne replied: " I have traced the lines of two forts at Fort Wayne; one stood near the junction of the St. Joseph's with the St. Mary's and the other not far removed on the St. Mary's, and it is ever an established rule among Europeans to reserve as much ground around their forts as their cannon can command." As to the portage at Little river, as a source of wealth, " It may be true, but the traders laid the expense on their goods, and the Indians on the Wabash paid it." By this venerable argument, the Indians were persuaded to surrender the control of their commerce.
At this treaty the Indians ceded the land east of this line: from the mouth of the Cuyahoga river down to the portage to . the Muskingum, west to the portage between the Miami and St. Mary's; thence to Fort Recovery; thence to about the mouth of the Kentucky river.
109
TECUMSEH'S CONFEDERACY.
Within the present limits of Indiana, the following isolated tracts were ceded, besides the southeastern strip east of the boundary: One tract of land, six miles square, at the confluence of the St. Mary and St. Joseph rivers; one tract of land, two miles square, on the Wabash river, at the end of the portage from the head of the river Maumee, and about eight miles westward from Fort Wayne; one tract of land, six miles square, at Ouiatenon, the old Wea town on the river Wa- bash; one tract of 150,000 acres, near the falls of the Ohio, which tract was called the " Illinois Grant," or " Clark's Grant;" the town of Vin- cennes, on the river Wabash, and the adjacent lands to which the Indian title had been extinguished; and all similar lands, at other places, in possession of the French people, or other white settlers among them.
The happy conclusion of this treaty alone was needed to complete the victory of the Maumee. A feeling of rejoicing pervaded the coun- try. The hopes of Washington were at last realized, in the tide of em- igration that set in from the eastern states. Many immigrants selected sites along the Ohio, the Scioto, and Muskingum rivers; while others began settlements in the fertile regions lying between the Miami and Maumee. Log cabins arose here and there in the vast domain, the chil- dren raised in which were to colonize Indiana.
TECUMSEH'S CONFEDERACY.
Indiana Territory .- For nearly fifteen years after the events which terminated with the treaty of Greenville, peace reigned, and the settle- ments gradually increased toward the west. In the summer of 1796 Gen. Wayne returned to the northwest to supervise the evacuation of the British posts, and by his orders, about the 17th of May of this year, Col. Hamtramck left Fort Wayne, passing down the Maumee to Fort Deposit, and on the IIth of July the British fort, Miami, at the foot of the rapids, was evacuated, Capt. Moses Porter taking possession with federal troops. On the 13th of July, Col. Hamtramck took possession of the post at Detroit. Col. Thomas Hunt, with the first regiment, remained at Fort Wayne. In December, upon the death of Gen. Wayne, Gen. James Wilkinson was put in command of the western army of the United States.
On the 23d of April, 1798, a legislative session was convened at Cincinnati, which closed on the 7th of May, participated in by Winthrop Sargent, acting governor, and John Cleves Symmes, Joseph Gilman and Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., territorial judges. On the 29th of Oc- tober Gov. St. Clair issued a proclamation, directing the qualified voters of the northwestern territory to hold elections in their respective counties on the third Monday of December, to elect representatives to a general assembly, to convene at Cincinnati on January 22, 1799. The representatives having met at the appointed place, in compliance with the ordinance of 1787 for the establishment of a legislative council, nomin- ated ten persons whose names were forwarded to the president of the United States, who, on the 2nd of March, 1799, selected Jacob Burnett,
IIO
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
James Findlay, Henry Vanderburgh, Robert Oliver and David Vance, as suitable persons to form the legislative council of the territory, which selection was, on the following day, confirmed by the senate. The leg- islature met again at Cincinnati on September 16, 1799, and was fully organized on the the 24th, Henry Vanderburgh being elected president, and William C. Schenk secretary of the council. In the house of rep- resentatives were nineteen members, representing the counties of Ham- ilton, Ross, Wayne, Adams, Knox, Jefferson and Washington. On the 3d of October, of this year, the names of two candidates, William H. Harrison and Arthur St. Clair, Jr., to represent the north- west territory in congress, being presented to that body, Harrison was chosen - he receiving eleven votes and the other ten.
In 1800, a division of the territory was made, and on the 13th of May William Henry Harrison was appointed governor of Indiana terri- tory. The seat of government was established at Vincennes, the only other military post in Indiana, more convenient than Fort Wayne, on ac- count of its accessibility from the Ohio by the Wabash. There the gov- ernor met with the judges on Monday the 12th of January, 1801, to promulgate "such laws as the exigencies of the times " might call for, and for the " performance of other acts conformable to the ordinances and laws of congress for the government of the territory."
From the time of the formation of the new territory until 1810, the principal subjects of attention were land speculations, the adjustment of land titles, the question of negro slavery, the purchase of Indian lands by treaties, the organization of territorial legislatures, the extension of the right of suffrage, the division of the Indiana territory, the niove- ments of Aaron Burr, and the hostile views and proceedings of the Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, and his brother, the prophet.
With hope for good-will between the United States and the Indians of the northwest, Governor Harrison, at an early period of his adminis- tration, made efforts to induce the different tribes to engage in agricul- tural and other pursuits of a civilized nature, to the end that they might be more agreeably situated and live more in harmony with the settlers. Being also invested with power to negotiate treaties between the gov- ernment and the different tribes in the Indian Territory, and to extin- guish by such treaties, the Indian title to lands, the governor was most actively employed from 1802 to 1805.
On the 17th day of September, 1802, at a conference held at Vin- cennes, chiefs and head men of the Pottawatomie, Eel river, Pianke- shaw, Wea, Kaskaskia, and Kickapoo tribes appointed the Miami chiefs, Little Turtle and Richardville, and the Pottawatomie chiefs, Winnemac and Topinepik to adjust by treaty the extinguishment of cer- tain Indian claims to lands on the Wabash, near Vincennes. On the 7th of June, 1803, Governor Harrison held a treaty at Fort Wayne, with the Delaware, Shawnee, Pottawatomie, Eel river, Kickapoo, Pianke- shaw, and Kaskaskia tribes, whereby was ceded to the United States about 1,600,000 acres of land.
-
III
TECUMSEH'S CONFEDERACY.
During this period, abandoning schemes for war, the Indians seemed mainly to have betaken themselves to the forest and prairies in pursuit of game; and the result was that a considerable traffic was steadily carried on with them by fur-traders of Fort Wayne and Vin- cennes, and at small trading posts which were established on the Wabash river and its tributaries. The furs which were obtained from the In- dians were generally transported to Detroit. The skins were dried, compressed, and secured in packs. Each pack weighed about 100 pounds. A pirogue, or boat, that was sufficiently large to carry forty packs, required the labor of four men to manage it on its voyage. In favorable stages of the Wabash river, such a vessel, under the manage- ment of skillful boatmen, was propelled by poles fifteen or twenty miles a day, against the current. After ascending the river Wabash and the Little River to the portage near Fort Wayne, the traders carried their packs over the portage, to the St. Mary's where they were again placed in pirogues, or in keelboats, to be transported to Detroit. At that place the furs and skins were exchanged for blankets, guns, knives, powder, bullets, intoxicating liquors, etc., with which the traders returned to their posts.
But already the mutterings of another Indian war began to be heard. The restless savages, chafing under the restraints of their sur- roundings, and always discontented and revengeful, began to grow un- easy, and to listen to the voice of the ever-present instigator of revolt.
Tecumseh and the Prophet .- The period approached during which the Shawnee nation was to present its highest types, Tecumseh, whom an author has called the Philip of the west, but who was in ability far above the need of such an historical association, and Capt. Logan, one of the bravest of Indians.
Tecumseh was born on the Mad river, six miles below Springfield, Ohio, about 1768. His father, Puckeshinwa, a chief, died in battle, leaving six sons and a daughter. The fourth child was Tecumseh, or Shooting-Star; the sixth and seventh, Lawlewasikaw and Kumskawkaw, who were twins. According to Anthony Shane, Tecumseh was also brought forth at the same birth. Tecumseh, in his boyhood, frolicked in sham battles, and became expert with the bow and arrow. His first engagement was against the Col. Logan who brought up the Indian Logan, and in his second skirmish with the whites, he was so revolted at the burning of a prisoner that he resolved never to witness or permit another outrage of the kind, a resolve he religiously observed. He sought adventures and speedily became famous, not only as a daring fighter, but the best hunter among the Shawnees. His skirmishes with the Kentuckians spread a terror of the young leader among the Amer- icans. While Harmar was leading his expedition against Kekionga, Tecumseh was making an excursion through Ohio, in all essentials the same as those of the errant knights of an earlier age. He returned to assist in the attack on Fort Recovery, and watch Wayne's advance, and at the battle of the Maumee was first opposed to William Henry Har-
II2
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
rison. Subsequently he attended various conferences with the settlers, and addressed without embarrassment large assemblages, which were awed by his magnificent presence and wonderful eloquence.
He was humane in the treatment of prisoners; his political schemes were sound in conception, and he was patient and masterly in their ex- ecution. We may take as a just estimate of his character these words by Gen. Harrison, written soon before the battle of Tippecanoe: " The implicit obedience and respect which the followers of Tecumseh pay to him, is really astonishing, and more than any other circumstance be- speaks him one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasion- ally to produce revolutions and overturn the established order of things. If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would, perhaps, be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico and Peru. No difficulties deter him. For four years he has been in constant mo- tion. You see him to-day on the Wabash, and in a short time hear of him on the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan, or on the banks of the Mississippi; and wherever he goes he makes an impression favorable to his purposes."
In 1798, the Delawares residing on the White river invited Tecumseh and his followers to encamp with them, and he remained there several years. In 1805, some of the Shawnees on the headwaters of the Auglaize sent word to Tecumseh to come to the Tah-wah towns and endeavor to unite the nation, and the Shawnees on the Mississinewa be- ing invited at the same time it happened that the two parties met at Greenville, where Lawlewasikaw persuaded them to stop. This brother of Tecumseh was an audacious, assertive man, given to boasting, and lacking in firmness and talent for command. About this time an old Shawnee prophet died, and Lawlewasikaw was prompted by his ambi- tion for influence to grasp the dead man's place, a comfortable and important office. He changed his name to Tenskwatawah, The-Open- Door, in significance of his teachings of a new way of life. In Novem- ber, 1805, he assembled the Shawnees, Wyandots, Ottawas and Senecas
in considerable numbers at Wapakoneta, and made his first appearance in the character which he had assumed, and in which he was to exert a great influence as far as the upper lakes and beyond the Mississippi. It appears that nothing was then said about the confederacy, but he en- deavored to win the reverence of the tribes by a claim of having been admitted to the glories of the " happy hunting grounds" of the future existence. He had, he asserted, fallen into a trance, during which his companions thought him dead, and had begun preparations for his burial when he returned to earth from the clouds. He was inspired, he said, to warn the Indians to give up drunkenness, to which he himself had been addicted, and he told them that he had seen all the drunkards who had died, in the dwelling of the devil, with flames continually burning from their mouths; which vivid picture led many to renounce the use of "fire- water." He denounced the practice of intermarriage with the whites, and called on the red men to abandon all weapons and garments they
let. c.2: bellen
II3
TECUMSEH'S CONFEDERACY.
had learned to use since the white occupation. The old and infirm they should tenderly care for, and all property should be held in common. Especially did he inveigh against witchcraft, which many believed in. In some way he learned the date of an approaching eclipse of the sun, and foretelling it, caused the Indians to believe he had supernatural power. Contrary to the sentiments of his brother, he began denounc- ing various Indians for witchcraft, and ordering them to be burned at the stake. Several Delawares were the first victims, and an old woman was toasted over the fire for four days. The old chief Teteboxti was burned on a pile he had himself helped to build, seeing that his death was inevitable. Finally, on the preparation for the destruction of an- other woman, her brother suddenly awakening to good sense took her from the prophet, and boldly rebuked him, considerably checking his influence.
On hearing of these cruelties, which, however, are not without par- allel, Governor Harrison sent them a speech opening with these words: " MY CHILDREN :- My heart is filled with grief, and my eyes are dissolved in tears at the news which has reached me. You have been celebrated for your wisdom above all the tribes of red people who in- habit this great island. Your fame as warriors has extended to the remotest nations, and the wisdom of your chiefs has gained for you the appellation of grandfathers, from all the neighboring tribes. From what cause, then, does it proceed, that you have departed from the wise counsel of your fathers, and covered yourselves with guilt?" He ad- jured them to drive the " imposter from them, and cease such abominable wickedness," and closed: "I charge you to stop your bloody career; and, if you value the friendship of your great father, the President -- if you wish to preserve the good opinion of the Seventeen Fires, let me hear by the return of the bearer, that you have determined to follow my advice."
The Prophet's influence was greatest with the Kickapoos, next with the Delawares; most of the chiefs of his own nation were opposed to him, and complained of him at Fort Wayne. In the spring of 1807, he and Tecumseh assembled several hundred Indians at Greenville, and though little could be found out concerning the object of the meeting, great apprehension was felt at the settlements south of there. Capt. William Wells, who had been appointed Indian agent at Fort Wayne, received a letter from the president addressed to the leaders, requesting them to remove without the limits of the government's purchase, and Anthony Shane, a half-blood Shawnee, was sent to invite Tecumseh and his brother to come to Fort Wayne and hear the letter. Tecumseh re- plied that his fire was kindled on the spot appointed by the Great Spirit, and if Capt. Wells had any communication to make he must come there, and in six days. Shane was sent again at the day fixed, and read a copy of the letter to the Indians. Tecumseh was offended that Wells should presume to employ an ambassador in treating with him, and made a speech to the Indians of remarkable power. "These lands are 8
II4
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
ours," he cried, " as to boundaries the Great Spirit knows none, nor will his red people acknowledge any." Then turning to Shane, he remarked with stately indifference, "If my great father, the president of the Seventeen Fires, has anything more to say to me, he must send a man of note as his messenger. I will hold no further intercourse with Capt. Wells."
Instead of dispersing, the Indians continued to flock to Greenville. Fully 1,500 had passed and repassed Fort Wayne, in their visits to the prophet, before the summer of 1807 had fairly set in. Messengers and runners passed from tribe to tribe, and were greatly aided by British agents in their mysterious operations.
At the close of summer, reliable persons bore testimony that nearly a thousand Indians, in possession of new rifles, were at Fort Wayne and Greenville, all under the control of the prophet.
The alarm had now become so general, that the governor of Ohio, in September, sent a deputation to Greenville to ascertain the meaning of the gathering. The commissioners were well received by the In- dians - a council was called, and the governor's message read; at the close of which, one nf the commissioners addressed them in explanation of their relationship to the United States government, urging them to desist from all aggressions and remain neutral, should a war with Eng- land ensue. Having heard the commissioner attentively, according to Indian usage they asked to be permitted to meditate upon the matter until the next day. Blue Jacket, who commanded in the battle with Gen. Wayne, was appointed to deliver the sentiments of the council; and at its re-assembling, that chief, through the interpreter, said:
" BRETHREN :- We are seated who heard you yesterday. You will get a true relation, so far as our connections can give it, who are as fol- lows: Shawnees, Wyandots, Pottawatomies, Tawas, Chippewas, Win- nepas, Menominees, Malockese, Lecawgoes, and one more from the north of the Chippewas. Brethren, you see all these men sitting be- fore you, who now speak to you.
" About eleven days ago we had a council, at which the tribe of Wyandots, the elder brother of the red people, spoke and said God had kindled a fire, and all sat around it. In this council we talked over the treaties with the French and the Americans. The Wyandot said the French formerly marked a line along the Alleghany mountains, southerly, to Charleston [S. C.]. No man was to pass it from either side. When the Americans came to settle over the line, the English told the Indians to unite and drive off the French, until the war came on between the British and the Americans, when it was told them that King George, by his officers, directed them to unite and drive the Americans back.
" After the treaty of peace between the English and the Americans, the summer before Wayne's army came out, the English held a council with the Indians and told them if they would turn out and unite as one man, they might surround the Americans like deer in a ring of fire, and destroy them all. The Wyandot spoke further in the council. We see,
-
115
TECUMSEH'S CONFEDERACY.
said he, there is like to be war between the English and our white brethren, the Americans. Let us unite and consider the sufferings we have undergone, from interfering in the wars of the English. They have often promised to help us, and at last, when we could not withstand the army that came against us and went to the English fort for refuge, the English told us, ' I cannot let you in; you are painted too much, my children.' It was then we saw the British deal treacherously with us. We now see them going to war again. We do not know what they are going to fight for. Let us, my brethren, not interfere, was the speech of the Wyandot.
" Further, the Wyandot said, I speak to you, my little brother, the Shawnees at Greenville, and to you our little brothers all around. You appear to be at Greenville to serve the Supreme Ruler of the universe. Now send forth your speeches to all our brethren far around us, and let us unite to seek for that which shall be for our eternal welfare, and unite ourselves in a band of perpetual brotherhood. These, brethren, are the sentiments of all the men who sit around you; they all adhere to what the elder brother, the Wyandot, has said, and these are their sen- timents. It is not that they are afraid of their white brothers, but that they desire peace and harmony, and not that their white brethren could put them to great necessity, for their former arms were bows and ar- rows, by which they get their living."
The Prophet, who improved every occasion to advance his own importance, informed the whites why his people had settled upon Greenville.
" About nine years since," said he, "I became convinced of the errors of my ways, and that I would be destroyed from the face of the earth if I did not amend them. Soon after I was told what I must do to be right. From that time I have continually preached to my red brethren, telling them the miserable situation they are in by nature, and striving to convince them that they must change their lives, live honestly and be just in all their dealings, kind to one other and also to their white brethren; affectionate in their families, put away lying and slandering, and serve the Great Spirit in the way I have pointed out; they must never think of war again; the tomahawk was not given them to go at war with one another. The Shawnees at Tawa town would not listen to me, but persecuted me. This made a division in the nation; those who adhered to me removed to this place, where I have constantly preached to them. They did not select this place because it looked fine or was valuable, for it was neither; but because it was revealed to me that this is the proper place where I must establish my doctrines. I mean to ad- here to them while I live, for they are not mine but those of the Great Ruler of the world, and my future life shall prove to the whites the sin- cerity of my professions. In conclusion, my brethren, our six chiefs shall go with you to Chillicothe."
Tecumseh, Roundhead, Blue Jacket and Panther, returned with the commissioners to Chillicothe, where a council was called, in which they
I16
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
gave the governor positive assurances that they entertained none but peaceful intentions toward the whites. A speech which Tecumseh de- livered at the time occupied between three and four hours in its delivery. It was eloquent and masterly, and showed that he possessed a thorough knowledge of all the treaties which had been made for years. While he expressed his pacific intentions if fairly treated, he told the governor to his face that every aggression or settlement upon their lands would be resisted, and that no pretended treaties would insure the squatters safety. Stephen Ruddell acted as interpreter upon the occasion. The governor, convinced that no instant danger was threatened Fort Wayne, disbanded the militia he had called into service. The chiefs returned to their people, and for a short time the settlers were free from apprehension.
Not long afterward the settlements were thrown into excitement by the murder of a man named Myers by the Indians, near where is now the town of Urbana, Ohio; and many of the settlers returned to their old homes in Kentucky. Being ordered to deliver up the murderers, Tecumseh and his brother disclaimed any knowledge of them-said they were not of their people. A council was finally held at Springfield with two parties of Indians, one from the north, the other from Fort Wayne, under Tecumseh. Being embittered against each other, each party was quite anxious that the other should receive the blame for the murder. Says Drake, the party from the north, at the request of the commissioners, left their arms a few miles behind them, but Tecumseh would not consent to attend unless his followers were allowed to keep theirs about them, adding that his tomahawk was his pipe, and he might wish to use it. At this a tall, lank-sided Pennsylvanian, who was stand- ing among the spectators, and had no love for the glittering tomahawk of the self-willed chief, cautiously stepped up, and handed him a greasy, long-stemmed clay pipe, respectfully intimating that if he would only deliver up his dreadful tomahawk, he might use that article. The chief took it between his thumb and finger, held it up, looked at it a few sec- onds, then at the owner, who all the time was gradually backing away from him, and instantly threw it, with a contemptuous sneer, over his head into the bushes. The commissioners being compelled to waive
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.