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 2
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
The prehistoric remains of the region will be briefly mentioned, followed by a notice of the Indian tribes known to have possessed this part of the country. The next section will illustrate the period of discovery, and this will be followed by the history of the settlement, and devotion to the purposes of civilization. In preparing this historical sketch, many original sources have been searched, and credit should be given to such pioneers in Western history as have marked the way before us.
That part which embodies the military movements on the Maumee is largely taken from such works as Brice's History of Fort Wayne, Western Annals, and Dillon's History of Indiana. The works consulted are: Life of the Cavalier de La Salle, French; Margry's Exploration and Discoveries, French; Hennepin's Nouvelles Decouvertes, French; Du Pratz' Louisiane, French; Parkman's Discovery of the Great West, Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, Parkman's Jesuits in North America, Parkman's Frontenac and New France, Dillon's History of Indiana, Dillon's Historical Notes, American Antiquarian, Magazine of American History, Western Annals, Colden's History of the Five Nations, McClung's Western Adventures, Washington's Journal, Penn- sylvania Historical Society Publications, American State Papers, United States Statutes - Indian Treaties, Imlay's North America, Colonial History of New York, Documentary History of New York, Hopkins' Mission to Fort Wayne, 1804; Brice's History of Fort Wayne, Helm's Allen County History, McCoy's History of Baptist Indian Missions, Bancroft's United States, Lossing's Revolution, Lossing's War of 1812, McAfee's War of 1812, Dawson's Sketches in Fort Wayne Times, Williams' History First Presbyterian Church, Drake's Life of Tecumseh, Burnet's Notes on the North West Territory.
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE RIVER.
PREHISTORIC REMAINS.
ONG before the era of Columbus, the valley of the Missis- sippi had been occupied by a comparatively dense population, and research tends to prove that it was inhabited, long before the advent of the red man known to the explorer, by a people whose history is lost forever, but which appears to have been fixed and permanent in habits, at least in a degree surpassing the races which followed it. This race, to which the in- definite name of the Moundbuilders has been given, had made some advances toward civilization, judged by the aboriginal standard, but did not rise much above the condition of barbarism, and perhaps was less civilized than the Aztecs. The origin and the fate of this race are shrouded in mystery. We know it was always the custom of the red savage to incorporate in his tribe the women and children and sometimes the men of conquered enemies, and it is probable that the remnants of the Moundbuilders were thus amalgamated with the con- quering race, which would also acquire some of the habits of the con- quered, and in some degree the language. In this way the difference in language and habits of the various tribes inhabiting the country may be partly explained. The remains of the early race appear to be closely related to the monuments of the races of the extreme south, and there is reason to believe that those tribes which inhabited the lake regions were driven south, and there the industry and peaceful habits which characterized them made a stronger impress upon the peoples which inhabited those regions at the era of discovery. Northern Indiana has many proofs of the presence of this race, and they have left some of their monuments in the valley of the Upper Maumee, but not so exten- sive as are found in other regions.
While some of the race were making settlements along the Ohio, others had passed up the Mississippi, discovered the Great Lakes, and mined copper to some extent on the shores of Lake Superior. Colonies had occupied Michigan, and as far south as the Kankakee in Indiana, and it is from them, perhaps, that Allen county received the marks of occupation. All along the valley of Cedar creek, in Dekalb county, their mounds and earthworks appear in considerable number, but are less numerous southward. Few, if any, are found along the Maumee, and the only traces of their settlement are along Cedar creek, or in the neighborhood of its junction with the St. Joseph.
,
22
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
On Cedar creek, near Stoner's station, was erected a group of four mounds. Two of them were on a line north and south, and about forty feet apart, and about fifteen rods east were two others, about the same distance apart, and on a line east and west. Excavations of two re vealed a large number of human bones, arrow heads and some copper ornaments. Another mound was excavated by the author, but there were found only lumps of charcoal and a layer of hard-baked earth at the base. Four miles south of these, on the Coldwater road, is a large oblong mound which was only partially explored, but in which were found a perforated piece of ribboned slate, much charcoal and a stratum of baked earth. At Cedarville were three mounds about a hundred feet apart, lying on a line nearly parallel with the river. These were found to contain charcoal in considerable quantities, as far as explored. Descending the St. Joseph, to the homestead of Peter Notestine, an old settler, there was found by early relic hunters a circular mound, called a " fort," which was finally conquered by the plow. Numerous fragments of pottery, flint and stone implements, and a large and rude pipe of pottery were found at this place. On the west side of the river, opposite the site of the Antrap's mill, is a semi-circular mound with its ends on the river bank. It is about 600 feet in arc. Very large trees had grown upon this work and gone to decay since its erection, and the falling of' trees unearthed many fragments of pottery and flints. At the mouth of Cedar creek was the most southern mound in the county, possessing the usual characteristics.
The mound burial was a distinction of importance between these older peoples and the red men, for the Indians rarely erected mounds over the remains of their dead. The three most prominent Indian burying grounds were on the series of sand hills in the west end of Fort Wayne; on the St. Joseph, just north of the city, near the site of the Miami town; and at Cedarville, on the banks of the St. Joseph. The latter place appears to have been a site of considerable importance in a period of which not the slightest historical trace remains.
Stone implements have been found in the county in considerable quan- tity, but they belonged in large part to the red men, though some of these relics are of a beauty of finish that seems foreign to the character of the aborigines with whom the early settlers had to do. Flint arrow- heads and spear-heads, of every degree of finish and size, some neatly beveled, flint knives and scrapers, and stone ornaments and totems of various kinds, have been collected and adorn various cabinets.
THE MIAMIS AT KEKIONGA.
"The region about the the head of the Maumee presented many attractions to the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. The Maumee is formed by the intersection of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers, and itself flows in a northeasterly direction into Lake Erie. Almost inter- locking with the headwaters of the St. Joseph are the sources of Eel river flowing in a southwesterly direction to find the Wabash, while the
23
THE MIAMIS AT KEKIONGA.
headwaters of the St. Mary's in like manner almost interlace with the more southerly sources of the same river.
But a short distance from the head of the Maumee, the Aboit and Little rivers have their rise in and near the prairie, and their waters go to swell the volume of the Wabash as well. The two water systems thus lie in a valley having the same general trend southwestwardly from the head of Lake Erie to the embouchure of the Wabash into the Ohio, but forming a remarkable watershed near the head of the Maumee, the waters from one side of the prairie, and the almost imperceptible divide, flowing northeasterly to the lake, and through the St. Lawrence system into the Atlantic, while the waters from the other side of the same prairie, by a route as long, seek and find a discharge into the gulf of Mexico. Heavily wooded, with openings here and there, which formed the beautiful prairies, or upon the alluvial bottoms bordering the rivers, it was a paradise for the fishermen and hunters who made it their home. Nature easily supplied the simple wants of the forest dwellers who preceded the white men, and there are many evidences that a spot thus favored by nature was a favorite dwelling place for the aboriginal tribes who claimed it as their own. Besides these advantages it was the gateway for the migrations of the various tribes that were wont from an early period to communicate at great distances with each other. Commencing at any point between Buffalo and the gulf, the voyager could float from one point to the other except for a short portage from the Mauniee to the Little river, over which he would be obliged to carry his light canoe. 'Here, for a long period, dwelt the Miamis, and, with their kindred tribes, the Pottawatomies, the Shawnees, and the Delawares, all a part of the Algonquin sept, which, in its various di- visions occupied a very large portion of what is now the United States east of the Mississippi, had their principal town, the capital of an incom- plete and loosely bound confederacy. The Miamis were the head of this family, and next in rank were the Delawares, after whom came the Shawnees. Of kin to these were the Peorias, Kaskaskias, Weas, and Piankeshaws, collectively known as the Illinois Indians. Allied to them and belonging to the same Algonquin family were the Ottawas or Tawas, the Chippewas, the Nipissings, Ojibwas, the Kickapoos, and the Sacs and Foxes. Near them, on the east, were the Huron Iroquois, or the Wyandots, whose principal town was near Sandusky .*
It is no part of this history to trace the origin, migrations, wars, and downfall of the various Indian tribes, except in so far as they relate to the history of this region. Others have so well written the history of
* The spelling of tribal names adopted here is mainly that of Schoolcraft and Drake. The various forms of each, if pronounced as their originators intended, would be very similar in sound, though the orthography is diverse. Thus Maumee differs from Miami, originally pronounced Me-ah-me, only in the slurring of the first unaccented vowel. The two words are really identical, but while the explorer wrote of the Miami of the Ohio and the Miami of the Lake, the rivers are now distinguished by a partial change to English pronunciation, and known as the Maumee and the Miami. The " Me-ah mee. " were also sometimes called Omees. The name of the Shawnees has been written Shawanoe, Santanas, Shawanon, Chonanon, etc. The name survives in such varions geographical forms as Shawano, Santee, and Suwanee.
24
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
this fast vanishing race, that it is unnecessary, and would be out of place here, to more than attempt to give an outline of those principal tribes which have dominated the valley we are describing. The great Algon- quin sept was the most extended, and had the greatest number" of dialects. They roamed at will from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, from the Arctic belt to the gulf. They met the early settlers at Plymouth and on the Potomac and Roanoke, and whenever the tide of civilization flowed towards the father of waters, it was met by parts of the same great family of the aboriginal tribes. The Indian knew no personal ownership of soil, and no other right of ownership than occupation by his tribe. He shunned the white man, and many a remnant of eastern tribes sought new hunting grounds towards the west, after trying to overcome inexorable fate by defying the incoming wave, and again met and fought their white enemies, whom they considered invaders of their new homes.
Among the western tribes which held the great basin east of the Mississippi none were greater in rank than the Miamis. Known from early times as " Linnewas," or "Minnewas," which means men, and later by the various names of " Omees," " Aumees," ." Omamees," "Twigh- twees " .or "Twa-twas," they were met everywhere, a century ago, in that vast territory from Detroit to the Ohio by way of the Great Miami, down the Ohio into the Mississippi, up that river to the region of the lakes. They proudly called themselves "men," and were considered the most stable, heroic and resolute of the western tribes. The several bands of this great tribe were located nearly as follows: The Miamis on the head waters of the Miami of the lake (the Maumee), on the St. Joseph of the lake near South Bend, and at Chicago. The Weas and the Piankeshaws were on the Wabash and southward. The Peorias were on the Illinois. The Mascoutins were between the Illinois and the Wabash. The Cahokias, the Kaskaskias, and the Tamawis were toward the Mississippi in what is now the state of Illinois, and the Michigammies were located at Des Moines. They all spoke one language, with but slightly varying dialects, and all were known as kin to, and part of, the Miamis proper. This confederacy was at an early period at war with the Sioux and Sacs and Foxes, and after many years of war, but few were left except the Miamis and the Weas, on the Maumee and Wabash, the remnants of the others being few and scattered.
The Miamis, with whom we have most to do, were feared by their enemies and were much sought as allies by those tribes needing assist- ance. By their position, they were destined to play an important part in molding the destinies of the New World, and they have left a deep im- press upon the early history of the country. Their customs and habits were such as were common to all the savage tribes. In summer they hunted and fished, or made war upon other tribes with whom they came in contact. Before they came in contact with the whites, their arms were a spear or javelin, a bow and quiver of arrows, all pointed with
-
25
THE MIAMIS AT KEKIONGA.
barbs of stone, and the "casse tete," or "head-breaker," which was either the well-formed stone axe or hatchet fastened to a handle by withes, or the stone enclosed in a rawhide, the handle being twisted and hardened strips of the same material. In winter they gathered in their villages, and passed the time in games and play. The women were the workers, the men were veritable lords and masters. They raised corn, and some small fruits and vegetables near the permanent villages, but were generally improvident, feasting to-day, and fasting to-morrow. Their clothing was made of the skins of deer and other animals, the women being well clad with attempts at ornament, while the men were more than half naked and tattoed the exposed portions of the skin. They had one custom peculiar to themselves. They were monogamists, and if the wife were unfaithful, the husband could cut off her nose and send her away. They were hospitable to their friends but very cruel to their enemies. When a captive was taken in war he was certain to be put to death with the most cruel tortures by slow fire, the ceremony of living cremation often taking the whole of a day before the hapless victim was permitted to end his sufferings in death. No sex or condition was spared these cruel torments, unless some who had lost a member of their family chose to adopt the prisoner to take the place of the deceased.
They had one custom of peculiar atrocity. They seemed at an early period to have practiced cannibalism quite generally, but later, it was confined to eating prisoners of war, and finally the horrible practice seems to have become the prerogative of certain families-an honorary distinction, as it were. As a means of terror to their enemies, they early formed here what was commonly known as a " man-eating so- ciety," which, to make it the more fearful to their opponents, was firmly established on a hereditary basis, confined to one family alone; whose descendants continued to exercise, by right of descent, the savage rites and duties of the man-eating family. For these enormities, the Sacs and Foxes, when they took any of the Miamis prisoners, gave them up to their women to be buffeted to death. They speak also of the Mas- coutins with abhorrence, on account of their cruelties. In proof of the foregoing, relative to the society of man-eaters among the Indians at this point, General Lewis Cass, in a speech delivered at the canal celebration of July 4th, 1843, in " Swinney's Grove," near the site of the present Catholic cemetery, said: "For many years during the frontier history of this place and region, the line of your canal was a bloody war-path, which has seen many a deed of horror. And this peaceful town has had its Moloch, and the records of human depravity furnish no more terrible examples of cruelty than were offered at his shrine. The Miami Indians, our predecessors in the occupation of this district, had a terrible institution whose origin and object have been lost in the darkness of aboriginal history, but which was continued to a late period, and whose orgies were held upon the very spot where we now are. It was called the man-eating society, and it was the duty of its associates
26
VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
to eat such prisoners as were preserved and delivered to them for that purpose. The members of this society belonged to a particular family, and the dreadful inheritance descended to all the children, male and fe- male. The duties it imposed could not be avoided, and the sanctions of religion were added to the obligations of immemorial usage. The feast was a solemn ceremony, at which the whole tribe was collected as actors or spectators. The miserable victim was bound to a stake, and burned at a slow fire, with all the refinements of cruelty which savage ingenuity could invent. There was a traditionary ritual, which regulated with re- volting precision the whole course of procedure at these ceremonies. Latterly the authority' and obligations of the institution had declined, and I presume it has now wholly disappeared. But I have seen and conversed with the head of the family, the chief of the society, whose name was White Skin - with what feeling of disgust, I need not attempt to describe. I well knew an intelligent Canadian, who was present at one of the last sacrifices made at this horrible institution. The victim was a young American captured in Kentucky, toward the close of our revolutionary war. Here where we are now assembled, in peace and security, celebrating the triumph of art and industry, within the memory of the present generation, our countrymen have been thus tortured, and murdered, and devoured. But, thank God, that council-fire is extin- guished. The impious feast is over; the war-dance is ended; the war- song is sung; the war-drum is silent, and the Indian has departed to find, I hope, in the distant west, a comfortable residence, and I hope also to find, under the protection, and, if need be, under the power of the United States, a radical change in the institutions and general improve- ment in his morals and condition. A feeble remnant of the once power- ful tribe which formerly won their way to the dominion of this region by blood, and by blood maintained it, have to-day appeared among us like passing shadows, flitting round the places that know them no more. Their resurrection, if I may so speak, is not the least impressive spec- tacle which marks the progress of this imposing ceremony. They are the broken columns which connect us with the past. The edifice is in ruins, and the giant vegetation, which covered and protected it, lies as low as the once mighty structure which was sheltered in its recesses. They have come to witness the first great act of peace in our frontier history, as their presence here is the last in their own. The ceremonies upon which you heretofore gazed with interest, will never again be seen by the white nian, in this seat of their former power. But thanks to our ascendency, these representations are but a pageant; but a theatrical ex- hibition which, with barbarous motions and sounds and contortions, shows how their ancestors conquered their enemies, and how they glutted their revenge in blood. To-day, this last of the race is here-to-morrow they will commence their journey towards the setting sun, where their fathers, agreeable to their rude faith, have preceded them, and where the red man will find rest and safety."
Many instances of the treatment of the prisoners whose misfortune
-
27
THE MIAMIS AT KEKIONGA.
it was to fall into the hands of these merciless demons of the forest, and whose sufferings by torture and at the stake are a part of the history of this now beautiful region where men now enjoy undisturbed the bless- ings of peace, and whose bodies served as torches to light the patlıway of the new civilization which was destined to overspread and develop the virgin west, could be given, but the description of one would serve for all. In 1789, John May, of Virginia, was appointed government surveyor of lands for Kentucky, and started down the Ohio, with Charles Johnston, a youth of twenty, as clerk, on the boat of Jacob Skyles, a merchant who was taking a stock of goods into the wilderness. Another young man named Flinn, and two sisters named Fleming, were passengers. It was in the spring of 1790 that they started, and on reaching the mouth of the Scioto, they were decoyed to land by the piteous appeals of two white men, whom the Indians had captured, and now compelled to act as decoys to lure their compatriots into the hands of the savages. Landing to save these men they were themselves attacked. Flinn was captured as he leaped to the shore. One of the girls was killed and Skyles wounded. The hapless prisoners were dis- tributed to the different bands and taken north to the Miami villages. Flinn was tortured and burned at the stake. The first news of his fate was received from a Delaware, who returned from the Miami villages with the intelligence that Flinn had been burned at the stake a few days before. He declared that he was present and assisted in torturing him, and had afterward eaten a portion of his flesh, which he declared "was sweeter than bear's meat."
A Canadian trader who was also present, described the scene. Flinn had at first entertained strong hopes of being adopted, but a wild coun- cil was held in which the most terrible sentiments regarding the whites were uttered, and the resolution proclaimed that henceforth no quarter should be given to any age, sex or condition. Flinn was seized and fastened to the stake. He appealed to the trader to save him, and he ran to the village and brought out several kegs of rum which he offered as a ran- som. The Indians in a rage, broke in the heads of the kegs and spilled the rum upon the ground. The trader then brought out 600 silver brooches, but the Indians scornfully rejected them, and threatened the trader with the same fate if he again interfered. He communicated his ill success to Flinn, who heard him with composure, and only said, " Then all I have to say is, God have mercy upon my soul." The scene of torture then commenced with whoops and yells, which struck terror to the heart of the trader, but which Flinn bore with heroic fortitude. Not a groan escaped him. He walked calmly around the stake for several hours, until his flesh was roasted, and the fire had burned down. An old squaw approached to rekindle it, but Flinn, watching his oppor- tunity, gave her so furious a kick in the breast, that she fell back in- sensible, and for some time was unable to take further part in the torture. The warriors then bored his ankles, and passing thongs through the sinews, confined them closely to the stake, so that he was unable to
28
VALLEY OF THE UPPER . MAUMEE.
offer further resistance. His sufferings continued for many hours, until at last terminated by the tomahawk.
Skyles was also conducted to one of the towns on the Maumee, near the scene of Flinn's terrible execution, and was, according to custom, compelled to run the gauntlet. The Indian boys were his principal tor- menters, one of the urchins displaying particular dexterity in the infernal art. He procured a stout thorn switch upon which the largest thorn was left, and this, as Skyles passed him, he drove up to the head into his naked back. It was left there, and carried by Skyles sticking in his flesh, to the end of his painful career. He was then turned over to his master, and made himself so useful and agreeable to his squaw, that one night she confided to him that his death had been resolved upon, to take place the following day. He could not at first believe it, but listening while they thought him sleeping, talking with her daughter, a girl of fifteen, all hope was dispelled. The old squaw thought he was a good man and ought to be saved, but the young girl exulted over the pros- pect of witnessing his torture. When they at last fell asleep, Skyles took the Indian's rifle, shot bag and corn pouch and started for the river. He plunged in and swam across, but ruined the gun in so doing, and threw it away. He started southward through the woods, but be- came bewildered, and after a hard tramp of six hours, found himself at the river where he had crossed. He wandered about for several days almost starved, and almost in despair entered a village from which the warriors were fortunately absent, and went into a trader's booth where he found a white man trading with some squaws. As he had blackened himself, he was not recognized, but made himself known to the trader, who assured him he would aid him, but that he was being sought for and was in great danger, and must leave at once. He told him of a boat, under charge of an English captain, which had gone down the Maumee laden with furs, and which he might overtake, and took him to the river where was a skiff, which he immediately took and started down the river. He was fortunate enough to overtake the Englishman, was aided by him and taken to Detroit, whence he finally reached the United States.
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.