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 17
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The Indians prepared to draw Harrison into an ambush and give battle at a swamp five miles southeast of the fort, but finding him too wary and his force too strong, they kindled extensive fires to create an im- pression with the garrison that a battle had occurred, and then retreated past the fort in apparently great confusion, hoping to draw out the gar- rison. But this final ruse failed, and the Indians withdrew, ending a weary watch of about twenty days' duration. When Harrison perceived the stand of the enemy at the swamp, a halt was made, and the army disposed for battle. Col. Hawkins, of the Ohio mounted volunteers, left the lines and went some distance from the road. Being partly con- cealed by a clump of bushes, one of his men took him for an Indian and shot him through. The ball entered between the shoulders and came out at the breast, but fortunately did not prove mortal.
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THE SIEGE OF FORT WAYNE.
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At the first grey of the morning of the 12th of September, the dis- tant halloos of the disappointed savages revealed to the anxious inmates of the fort the approach of the army. Great clouds of dust could be seen from the fort, rolling up in the distance, as the soldiery under Gen. Harrison moved forward to the rescue; and in the evening, the army stood before the fort, while the woods resounded with the glad shouts of welcome to Harrison and the brave boys of Ohio and Kentucky.
The ambuscade at the five-mile swamp was directed by Metea, the most noted chief of the Pottawatomies, who at this time was in the zenith of his power. His villages were on the St. Joseph river, one at the table-land where Cedarville now stands, the other seven miles from Fort Wayne, on the section afterward known as the Bourie reserve. While preparing his ambuscade at the marsh, he was attacked by Major Mann and a few skirmishers, and shot by the Major. The chief's arm was broken, but he made his escape, although hotly pursued by the offi- cer. Metea lived in the vicinity of Fort Wayne until May, 1827, when he died from poison, administered it is supposed by some Indians who were incensed at him for his adherence to the treaty of 1826. He was buried on the sand-hill near the site of Fort Wayne college.
The garrison during the siege had been well supplied with provis- ions, and there was a good well of water within the inclosure. Among the means of defense were four small field pieces. If it could be pro- tected from fire, the post was able to withstand a considerable Indian siege. Capt. McAfee, a source of much of the information concern- ing this period, gave this military estimate of the fort: " It is delight- fully situated, on an eminence on the south bank of the Miami of the lakes, immediately below the formation of that river by the junction of the St. Mary's from the southwest with the St. Joseph's from the north. It is well constructed of block houses and picketing, but could not resist a British force, as there are several eminences on the south side, from which it could be commanded by a six or nine pounder." The garrison had lost but three men. From subsequent information, it was believed that the Indian loss was about twenty-five. Eight were seen to fall. One Indian was killed at a distance of 300 yards, while stand- ing in the St. Mary's river. A soldier named King, with a long, heavy rifle, fired, and the ball took effect in the back of the savage between his shoulders, and he fell into the water. This feat was witnessed by the whole garrison.
Previous to the beginning of the siege, there were several dwellings near the fort, forming a little village, but these were now in ruins, hav- ing been burned, as well as the government factory, by the hostiles. The handsome farm in the fork of the rivers, belonging to Captain Wells, and still known as the Wells reserve, was overrun and his buildings destroyed. The corn which had been cultivated by the villagers was nearly all gone, and the remnants served as forage for Harrison's cavalry.
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Capt. Rhea had been so utterly incompetent that immediately after the arrival of Gen. Harrison, Lieuts. Ostrander and Curtis preferred charges against him, and called upon Major Stickney, the agent, as a witness. The general assembled his principal officers as a board of in- quiry, and it was shown that Rhea was drunk six days during the siege. Gen. Harrison, out of consideration for the advanced age of the captain granted him leave to resign by the Ist of January. .
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On the second day after the arrival of the army, Gen. Harrison formed two detachments, with orders to destroy the Indian villages in northeastern Indiana, the first division being composed of the regiments under Cols. Lewis and Allen, and Captain Garrard's troop of horse, under Gen. Payne, accompanied by Gen. Harrison; the second divi- sion, under Col. Wells, accompanied by a battalion of his own regiment, under Major Davenport (Scott's regiment), the mounted battalion under Johnson, and the mounted Ohio men under Adams.
In order that the Indians' means of subsistence might also be cut off, it was determined while destroying the villages to cut up and destroy the corn and other products. After a march of a few miles, the troops un- der Payne came to the Miami villages, at the forks of the Wabash, where, finding the villages abandoned, the troops were ordered to cut up the corn and destroy the vegetables in the field adjacent. At this point was observed the tomb of a chief, built of logs, and bedaubed with clay. This chief was laid on his blanket, with his gun and his pipe by his side, a small tin pan on his breast, containing a wooden spoon, and a number of earrings and brooches -all deemed necessary, no doubt, on his journey to the other world.
On the 16th of September the body under Col. Wells had advanced to the Pottawatomie village, known as Five Medals, on the Elkhart river, near the site of Goshen. Having crossed the river, about three miles above the village, and formed in order of battle, in a plain thinly timbered, the division advanced to the right and left of the village, and then sur- rounded it; but, to the regret of all, the place was found deserted, the In- dians having abandoned it two days before, leaving behind considerable quantities of corn, gathered and laid on scaffolds to dry, with abundance of beans, potatoes and other vegetables, which furnished an ample store of provisions for the men and forage for the horses. This village was called Five Medals, from a chief of that name, who made it his residence. On a pole, before the door of that chief, a red flag was hung, with a broom tied above it; and on another pole at the tomb of an old woman, a white flag was flying. The body of the old woman was entire, sitting upright, with her face toward the east; and a basket beside her, con- taining trinkets, such as owl and hawk bills and claws, a variety of bones, and bunches of roots tied together; all of which indicated that she had been revered as a sorceress. In one of the huts was found a morning
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report of one of Hull's captains, also a Liberty Hall newspaper, printed at Cincinnati, containing an account of Gen. Harrison's army. Several coarse bags, which appeared to have contained shot, and pieces of boxes with London and Malden printed on them, were also picked up in the cabin; which proved that these Indians were intimately connected with the British, and had been furnished with information by some one, per- haps, in our own country. This village, with some seventy acres of corn, was destroyed, and after a most fatiguing march, from the effects of which one man died soon after the return of the division, the force ar- rived again at the fort on the 18th, a few hours after the body under Payne had returned.
On the day before the return of these divisions, Col. Simrall, with a regiment of dragoons, armed with muskets, and numbering some 320 men, also a company of mounted riflemen, under Col. Farrow, from Montgomery county, Ky., had arrived at the fort; and on the evening of the return of Payne and Wells, Gen. Harrison sent them to destroy the village called Turtle, some twenty miles northwest of the fort, with orders not to molest the buildings formerly erected by the United States for the benefit of Little Turtle, whose friendship for the Americans had ever been firm after the treaty of Greenville.
In addition to these movements, Gen. Harrison took the precaution to remove all the undergrowth in the locality surrounding the fort, ex- tending toward the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's, to where now stands Rudisill's mill, and westward to the point now occu- pied by the Fort Wayne college, thence southeast to about the site of the residence of the late Allen Hamilton, and to the east down the Maumee a short distance. So well cleared was the ground, including a large part of the present area of the city of Fort Wayne, that it was said that a sentinel " on the bastions of the fort, looking westward, could see a rabbit running across the grounds as far as so small an object was discernible by the naked eye." By this " extensive clearing" the Indians were left without any shelter for ambush. Some thirty or forty acres, of what is yet known as the Cole farm, extending to the junction of the rivers, and just opposite the Maumee, was then known as the Public Meadow, and had long been a considerable open space.
Gen. Harrison made an official report of his transactions to the war department, and about the 19th of September Brig .- Gen. James Win- chester arrived at the fort to take command of the first division of Ken- tucky troops. Gen. Winchester had seen service in the revolutionary struggle, and at this period was somewhat advanced in years. He was a man of some wealth, and resided in Tennessee, where he is said to have lived many years in a degree of elegant luxury and ease, which was not calculated to season him for a northern campaign in the forest.
Gen. Harrison was ever a favorite with his soldiers, and commanded in a remarkable degree the love and confidence of both the rank and file. When Gen. Winchester arrived to take command of the forces there was great dissatisfaction among the troops. Indeed, so great was
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the aversion to the change, that many of the militia were disposed not to be under his command, and it was with much difficulty that Gen. Har- rison and the field officers succeeded in reconciling them to the change of officers. During no other war of the United States was the value of a true leader so thoroughly demonstrated as in the campaign against the Miamis. The men were persuaded to march under Gen. Winchester, with the confident belief that Gen. Harrison would sooner or later again assume command of them. He did become commander-in-chief on the 24th; and while the unfortunate Winchester's career ended at the river Raisin, he won lasting fame at the river Thames.
On the 19th the command of the troops at the fort was transferred to Gen. Winchester, and any part of the infantry which he might deem necessary to the extension of his plans was placed at his disposal.
The same evening Gen. Harrison started toward Piqua, to take command of the forces collecting in the rear; and to arrange for a mounted expedition against Detroit - intending to surprise that point by marching on a route but little known, from Fort Wayne up the St. Joseph, and thence to the headwaters of the river Raisin. His troops consisted of three regiments from Kentucky, under Barbee, Payne and Jennings; three companies of mounted riflemen from the same state, under Capts. Roper, Bacon and Clarke; also a corps of mounted Ohio- ans who had rendezvoused at Dayton on the 15th, in obedience to a call by Govs. Meigs and Harrison, commanded by Col. Findley, who had re-entered the service since the surrender of Gen. Hull.
On the 20th Gen. Harrison met the mounted men and the regiment of Jennings at St. Mary's (Girty Town), the remainder of the infantry being still further in the rear. The general having left orders at Fort Wayne for Johnson's battalion and Col. Simrall's dragoons, which were not included in Gen. Winchester's command, to return to St. Mary's as early as possible, Major Johnson, on the morning of the 20th, began his line of march, but after an advance of some twenty miles, was met by orders from Gen. Harrison, to return to Fort Wayne again, and there await further orders. The force returned, excepting Ensign Wm. Hol- ton, with about twenty-five men of Capt. Ward's company, who refus- ing to obey orders, started for Kentucky.
General Winchester had now removed his camp to the forks of the Maumee; and early on the 22d of September, he moved down the north side of that stream, over very nearly the same route as that by which Gen. Wayne's army had reached the Miami villages in 1794, intending to go as far as Fort Defiance, at the mouth of the Auglaize, with a view of forming a junction there with the infantry in the rear, who were to come from the St. Mary's, by way of the Auglaize.
Before leaving the forks of the Maumee, Winchester issued the following order:
"The front guard in three lines, two deep in the road, and in Indian files on the flanks at distances of fifty and one hundred yards, as the ground will admit. A fatigue party to consist of one captain, one
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ensign, two sergeants, and two corporals, with fifty men, will follow the front guard for the purpose of opening the road. The remainder of the infantry to march on the flanks in the following order: Colonels Wells and Allen's regiments on the right, and Lewis' and Scott's on the left. The general and brigade baggage, commissaries and quartermaster's stores, immediately in the rear of the fatigue party. The cavalry in the following order: Capt. Garrard and twenty of his men to precede the guard in front, and equally divided at the head of each line; a lieutenant and eighteen men in the rear of the whole army and baggage; the bal- ance of the cavalry equally divided on the flanks or the flank lines. The regimental baggage wagons will fall in according to the respective ranks of their commanding officers. The officers commanding corps previous to their marching will examine carefully the arms and ammunition of their respective corps, and see that they are in good order. They will also be particularly careful that the men do not waste their cartridges. No loaded muskets are to be put in the wagons. One-half of the fatigue party is to work at a time, and the others will carry their arms. The wagon master will attend to loading the wagons, and see that the various articles are put in, in good order, and that each wagon and team carry a reasonable load. The hour of march will be 9 o'clock this morning. The officer of the day is charged with this order. The line of battle will be the same as that of General Harrison in his last march to Fort Wayne."
The march down the Maumee was made with great precaution, at the rate of five or six miles each day, and the camp strongly fortified every night. Not many miles had been gained before a party of Indians were discovered, and the signs were strong that there were many more in the region. A volunteer company of scouts having been organized under Capt. Ballard, Lieut. Harrison Munday, of the rifle regiment, and En- sign Liggett, of the 17th U. S. infantry, they were kept in advance to reconnoiter the country. On the 25th, Ensign Liggett having obtained permission to proceed as far as Fort Defiance, he was accompanied by four men of McCracken's company from Woodford, Ky. Late that evening, while preparing some food, they were discovered by a French- man and eight Indians, who surprised them with a demand to surrender. On being assured that they would not be hurt, and would be permitted to wear their arms till they entered the British camp, they surrendered; but the Indians and Frenchman as they walked on, concocted and exe- cuted the following plan for their destruction: five of the Indians, each having marked his victim, walked behind and one side of the men, and, at a given signal fired upon them. Four of them fell dead; Liggett escaped the first fire and sprung to a tree, but was shot while raising his gun. Next day Capt. Ballard, with a part of his company, being in advance, discovered the dead bodies and a party of Indians watching near them. He formed his men for action with the Maumee on his right, but not liking his position, and perceiving that the Indians were too strong for him, he fell back 200 yards and formed in a stronger posi- tion. The enemy supposing he had fled, filed off from their right flank
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intending to surround him on his left, and cut off his retreat. He heard them pass by on his left without discovering him, and then filed off by the left in their rear, and by a circuitous route arrived safely at the camp.
Lieut. Munday, with another body of the scouts, presently happened at the same place, and discovering some Indians, who still remained there, formed his men and charged upon them, at the same time saluting them with their own yell. They fled precipitately, and Munday, on dis- covering their superior numbers, took advantage of their panic to with- draw. Next morning, the 27th, Capt. Ballard, with his spies and Capt. Garrard's troop of horse, accompanied by Major Woolford, aid to the general, and some other volunteers, went forward to bury the dead. The Indians were still in ambush; but Capt. Ballard expecting it, ap- proached them in a different direction, so as to disconcert their plans. He attacked them with a brisk fire, and Capt. Garrard immediately ordered a charge, on which they fled in every direction, leaving trails of blood from their killed and wounded.
These Indians were the advance of an army organized to attack Fort Wayne, consisting of 200 regulars under Major Muir, of the British army, with four pieces of artillery, and about 1,000 Indians, commanded by Elliott. They had brought their baggage and artillery by water to old Fort Defiance, at the mouth of the Auglaize, where they had left their boats and were advancing up the south side of the Maumee toward Fort Wayne. Upon the approach of Winchester, they threw their can- non into the river, together with their fixed amunition, and retreated in great haste. Gen. Winchester did not pursue them.
Fort Harrison (near Terre Haute), had been besieged also, but here Zachary Taylor, then a young captain, first drew to himself the admi- ration of the nation by a gallant and successful defense.
Thus the plan of the British to take the posts of Forts Wayne and Harrison, then to give them up to massacre, and to turn about 1,500 Indians loose upon the frontier to kill and lay waste, had come to defeat.
The only other important military event for several weeks was a successful though perilous movement upon a party of British and In- dians at the Rapids, by a small body of troops under Gen. Tupper, wherein the former were put to flight, but after the retreat a few of Tupper's men were killed by the Indians. The British and Indians now fell back upon the river Raisin, and Gen. Harrison prepared to establish at the Rapids a grand base of supplies for a campaign against Detroit and Canada.
Soon after this movement, Capt. James Logan, the faithful Shawnee chief, had proceeded with a small number of his tribe to make observa- tions in the direction of the Rapids. Having met and been closely pursued by a superior force, he and his men were obliged to disperse and retreat, and Logan, with but two of his comrades, Captain John and Bright-Horn, succeeded in reaching the camp of Gen. Winchester.
The second officer in command of the Kentucky troops, without the slightest ground, accused Logan of infidelity and giving intelligence to
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the enemy. Indignant, and burning under the insult, Logan called in his friend Oliver, and told him he would start out next morning and either leave his body bleaching in the woods or return with such trophies as would vindicate his loyalty. Accordingly, on the 22d of November, accompanied by Captain John and Bright-Horn, he started down the Maumee about noon. Having stopped to rest, they were surprised by a party of seven of the enemy, mounted, among them young Elliott, the half -breed British officer, and the celebrated Winnemac. With great presence of mind Logan extended his hand to the chief and pretended that he had left the Americans and wished to join the British. Winne- mac shrewdly proceeded to disarm the Shawnees, and his party sur- rounding them, they moved toward the British camp. But Logan persisted so strongly in his story that finally the arms were returned to him and his men. Overhearing Winnemac and Elliott talking of shoot- ing them down if they made a move to escape, Logan determined to take the offensive, and managed to give the word to his companions. Captain John put some extra bullets in his mouth, with the expression "Me chaw heap tobac." It was soon determined to encamp for night, and as the British party scattered somewhat, Logan and his men opened fire upon them. By the first fire both Winnemac and Elliott fell; by the second a young Ottawa chief lost his life, and two more of the en- emy were mortally wounded about the conclusion of the combat. But at this time Logan himself, as he was stooping down, received a ball just below the breast-bone which ranged downward and lodged under the skin of his back. Bright-Horn was also wounded by a ball which passed through his thigh. As soon as Logan was shot, he ordered a re- treat; he and Bright-Horn, wounded as they were, jumped on the horses of the enemy and rode to Winchester's camp, a distance of twenty miles, in five hours. Captain John, after taking the scalp of Winnemac, also retreated in safety and arrived at the camp next morning.
Logan had wiped out the imputation against him, but he died after two or three days of extreme agony. He endured the pain with great forti- tude and died satisfied. " More firmness and consummate bravery has seldom appeared on the military theatre," said Winchester, in his letter to the commanding general. "He was buried with all the honors due to his rank, and with sorrow as sincerely and generally displayed, as I ever witnessed," said Major Hardin, in a letter to Gov. Shelby.
Spemika-lawba, the High Horn, one of the Machachac tribe of Shaw- nees, obtained the name of Logan from Col. Logan, of Kentucky, who captured him when a boy, and made him for several years a member of his family. He finally returned to his tribe and became a civil chief. It has been stated, manifestly without reason, that he was related to Te- cumseh. He married an Indian maiden, who, when young, had been taken prisoner by Col. Hardin, in 1789. In the army he had formed an attachment for Major Hardin, son of the colonel, and son-in-law of Gen. Logan, and on his death bed, requested him to see that the money due for his services was faithfully paid to his family. He also requested, that
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his family might be removed immediately to Kentucky, and his children educated and brought up in the manner of the white people. Logan was widely known as a friend of the whites. He was one of the guides for Gen. Hull, and prior to the siege of Fort Wayne, he was intrusted by John Johnston, of Piqua, with the delicate and dangerous duty of bringing the women and children from the threatened post. He conducted twenty-five women and children 100 miles in safety, and did not sleep from the time he left Fort Wayne until he arrived at Piqua.
About the time of Tupper's expedition to the Rapids, Gen. Harrison determined to send an expedition of horsemen against the Miamis, assembled in the towns on the Mississinewa river, a branch of the Wa- bash. A deputation of chiefs from those Indians met Gen. Harrison at St. Mary's, early in October, and sued for peace, agreeing to abide by the decision of the president, and in the meantime to send in five chiefs to be held as hostages. The president replied to the communication of the general on this subject, that, as the disposition of the several tribes would be known best by himself, he must treat them as their conduct and the public interest might, in his judgment, require. The hostages were never sent in, and further information of their intended hostility was obtained. At the time of their peace mission, they were alarmed by the successful movements which had been made against other tribes from Fort Wayne, and by a formidable expedition which was penetrat- ing their country under Gen. Hopkins. But the failure of that expedi- tion was soon afterward known to them, and they determined to continue hostile. A white man by the name of William Connor, who had resided many years with the Delawares, and had a wife among them, but who was firmly attached to the American cause in this war, was sent to the towns to watch the movements of the Miamis. He visited the villages on the Mississinewa river, and was present at several of their councils. The question of war with the United States and union with the British was warmly debated, and there was much division among the chiefs, but the war party at last prevailed. The presence of Tecumseh, and afterward the retreat of Gen. Hopkins, rendered them nearly unanimous for war.
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