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 3
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Johnston had been ransomed from the Indians by a Mr. Duchouquet, a French trader, at Sandusky, and while yet with him, the Cherokees, to whom Miss Fleming had fallen as a prisoner, and had also been taken to the Miami villages, returned after wasting their booty with their usual improvidence, bringing her with them. Her dress was tattered, her cheeks sunken, her eyes discolored with weeping, and she appeared wholly wretched. Johnston applied to the traders to aid in delivering her and they promptly complied. A white man, who had been taken from Pittsburgh when a boy and had been adopted among the Indians, and had known her there, where her father kept a small tavern, went with them; as soon as she saw him, she burst into tears,. and implored him to save her from her cruel fate. He zealously engaged in the work, and solicited the intercession of an old chief known as "Old King
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Crane," telling him the pardonable lie that the woman was his sister. The old man went to the Cherokee camp to try his eloquence upon them, but was refused with insults. This exasperated him, and he returned to his village in a passion, announcing that he would collect his young men and rescue the white squaw by force. This Whittaker ap- plauded, and urged haste, lest the Cherokees, in dread of losing their prisoner, might put her to death. Before daylight King Crane assem- bled his young men, and advanced on the Cherokee camp. He found all but the miserable prisoner in a sound sleep. She had been stripped naked, her body painted black, and in this condition had been bound to a stake, around which hickory poles had been collected, and every arrangement completed for burning her alive at daylight. She was moaning in a low tone, and was so exhausted as not to be aware of the approach of her deliverers until King Crane cut her cords with his knife. He then ordered his young men to assist her in putting on her clothes, which they did with the utmost indifference. He then awakened the Cherokees and informed them that the squaw was his, and if they submitted quietly, well; but if not, he and his young men were ready for them. They were indignant, but in the presence of superior armed numbers, finally expressed a willingness to give her up, but hoped he would not be such a " beast" as to refuse to pay her ransom. He replied, that as he had her in his own hands, he would serve them right not to give them a single brooch, but that as he disdained receiving any- thing from them without an equivalent he would pay thefn 600 brooches. He then returned with her to Lower Sandusky, and placing her in charge of two trusty Indians, sent her to Pittsburgh. The Cherokees loudly protested and paraded the town that evening in war paint, declar- ing that they would not leave the town until they had shed the blood of a white man in revenge for the loss of their prisoner.
Such was the fate of many a noble character among those who sought new homes in this region, and such were the scenes which fre- quently were witnessed where now stands the populous and peaceful city of Fort Wayne .. The principal burning place at this point, was on the north bank of the Maumee, at the point where the St. Joseph and St. Mary's unite to form that river, though it is known that some cap- tives were burned at the stake, up the St. Mary's, near the site of the Godfroy place, on what is known as the Richardville reserve.
The Miamis had some considerable knowledge of agriculture, and had permanent lodges at their village sites, as well as the portable ones they used when scattered for the hunting season.
Their burial customs were probably not unlike those of other tribes. Cremation was not customary for the dead -only for living captives. They were not, at least in modern times, mound builders. Near their vil- lage sites are always found cemeteries, in which the deceased was laid in a recumbent position, in a shallow grave. With the dead was generally placed his weapons, his ornaments, and a dish or jar containing food, and thus we often discover in these graves stone hatchets, flint spear and
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arrow heads, beads and trinkets, and remains of pottery. Another form of burial was known to be practiced among them, but this was probably resorted to when death came to them while away on hunting or war parties. No grave was prepared, but the body was placed in a hollow log, the ends of which were closed, or a log would be split and its halves hollowed to receive the corpse, when it would either be tied with green withes, or confined to the earth by crossed stakes driven into the ground, surmounted by a rider. Again, the body would be placed upon the earth and a pen.of logs erected over it, each course being drawn in, until they met at the top in a single log, heavy enough to keep the pen thus formed from being overturned by the beasts of the forest.
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Principal Chiefs of the Miamis .- Aque-noch-qua was chief, and signed the first treaty between the British and Miamis, July 23, 1748. He lived in Turtle village, a few miles northwest of Fort Wayne, and here in 1751,* his son, the famous Little Turtle, was born.
Upon his death, Little Turtle (Me-che-can-noch-qua) became chief of the tribe. His mother was a Mohican, and was a woman of superior qualities, some of which she transmitted to her child. His courage, sa- gacity, and extraordinary talents, were developed at an early age, and when but a boy, his influence with his own tribe as well as with others of the confederation, was almost unbounded; his skill in the management of an army was not surpassed by those trained and schooled in the pro- fession of arms. He was victorious in many a hotly contested battle, and it was not until he met " the man who never sleeps," as he called Gen. Wayne while addressing a council of war, did he meet his equal. Of a very inquiring turn of mind, he never lost an opportunity to gain some valuable information upon almost every subject or object that at- tracted his attention; and sought by every means in his power, during the latter days of his life, to relieve his people from every debasing habit-encouraging them only in the more peaceful, sober, and indus- trious ways of life. In 1797, accompanied by Capt. Wells, he visited Philadelphia, where he enjoyed the society of the distinguished Count Volney, and the Polish patriot, Kosciusko, and others. While in Phila- delphia, he had his portrait painted, by order of the president. Stopping at the same house with Turtle, in Philadelphia, was an Irish gentleman, somewhat remarkable as a wit, who made it a point to "poke fun " at
the chief whenever an occasion offered. He and Turtle happening to meet one morning in the studio of Stewart, the artist engaged in paint- ing each of their portraits, the Irishman observed Turtle in. a rather thoughtful mood, began to rally him upon his sober demeanor, and sug- gested, through Capt. Wells, that it was because of his inability to cope with him in the jocular contest. At this Turtle brightened up. " He mistakes," said he, to Capt. Wells, in reply; "I was just thinking of proposing to the man to paint us both on one board, and here I would stand, face to face with him, and confound him to all eternity."
* Some histories say Turtle was born in 1747, but in 1804 he stated to the Quakers who then visited Ft. Wayne, that he had seen fifty-three winters.
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In the-latter part of ISO1, he again with other chiefs visited the east, and at a council held at Baltimore on the 26th of December, with a com- mittee of the yearly meeting of Friends, he made a speech in which he spoke of the tools and two plows given him by the Philadelphia Friends, and said he had used them until they were worn out and useless to him. He added : "It is the real wish of your brothers, the Indians, to engage in the cultivation of our lands, and although the game is not yet so scarce but that we can get enough to eat, we know it is becoming scarce, and that we must begin to take hold of such tools as we see in the hands of the white people." He attributed most of the evils exist- ing among the Indians to the liquor they had learned to drink from the whites, and said that it caused the young men to say: "We had better be at war with the white people," adding, " this liquor that they intro- duce into our country is more to be feared than the gun or the toma- hawk. There are more of us dead since the treaty of Greenville, than we lost by the years of war before, and it is all owing to the introduction of this liquor among us," and after a touching description of the woes thus caused he declared that he wished what he had said might be made public.
In 1803, Little Turtle for the Miamis, and Five Medals for the Pottawatomies, joined in a letter to the " Friends" at Baltimore, in which they express their pleasure that the president had prevented the traders from selling liquor to their people, and their fears that he might be persuaded to permit the traffic, adding " if he does, your red brethren are lost forever," but at the same time expressing the hope that "the Great Spirit will change the minds of our people, and tell them it will be better for them to cultivate the earth than to drink whiskey." The following year, 1804, a delegation from the Baltimore yearly meeting was sent to Fort Wayne on a mission of amelioration to the Indians, and there met both these chiefs. Little Turtle was then " but half well," as he said. His complaint was the gout, and on the interpreter telling him his complaint was one that belonged to great folks and gentlemen, he said: " I always thought I was a gentleman."
At the general council of the Indians called to meet this delegation, which assembled at Fort Wayne, April ro, 1804, the subject of teach- ing agriculture to the Indians was the principal theme of discussion. Little Turtle expressed regret that his people had not accepted the idea of cultivating their lands, much as he had tried to convince them of its necessity, and his hope that the words of the Friends might turn their minds. A Friend named Philip Dennis had agreed to remain, intend- ing to live among them to teach them practical farming. Little Turtle explained that the other chiefs and himself had agreed that he should be at neither of their villages, "lest our younger brothers should be jealous of our taking him to ourselves. We have determined to place him on the Wabash, where some of our families will follow him, where our young men, I hope, will follow him, and where he will be able to instruct them as he wishes." The point thus selected for the first "agricultural
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college " established in the west, was a little below Huntington, at a place then called " the boatyard," from the fact that Gen. Wilkinson had built some flat-boats there, to transport baggage and material down the river. The experiment was not a success, and Dennis found by experience that Little Turtle's misgivings in regard to the industry of the young men were fully verified. After he had enclosed his farm, only one, or at most two, of the red men evinced any disposition to labor. They would take a seat on a fence, or in the trees near his work, and watch with apparent interest his plowing and hoeing, but without offering to lend a helping hand. He left in the fall, discouraged, and so ended the first attempt to teach the savage the arts of peace.
In 1807, Little Turtle again visited Baltimore and Washington, ac- companied by Richardville and other chiefs. He desired to have a flour mill erected at Fort Wayne, and appeared earnestly desirous of pro- moting the interests of his people. He is described as having a coun- tenance placid beyond description and possessed of a very cordial disposition. On this visit he was entertained with other chiefs at the house of a former friend. He was the first to enter the parlor, bowed gracefully as he was introduced to the family, and in a short address, gracefully acknowledged his pleasure at meeting the wife and children of his friend. He exceeded all the other chiefs in dignity of appear- ance - a dignity which resulted from the character of his mind. He was of medium stature, with a complexion of the palest copper shade, and did not wear paint. His hair was worn full and had no admixture of gray. He was then dressed in a coat of blue cloth with gilt buttons, pantaloons of the same color, and buff waistcoat. He, together with the others, wore leggins and moccasins, and had gold rings in his ears. This dress was completed by a long, red, military sash around his waist, and a cocked hat surmounted by a red feather. On entering a house, he immediately removed the hat, and carried it under his arm. Alto- gether he was graceful and agreeable to an uncommon degree, and was admired by all who made his acquaintance.
On the 14th day of July, 1812, Little Turtle died in his lodge at the . old orchard, a short distance north of the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph, in the yard fronting the house of his brother-in-law, Capt. William Wells. Turtle had suffered for many months previous with the gout, and came here from Little Turtle village, to be treated by the surgeon at the fort. It was a solemn and interesting occasion. After the treaty of Greenville, Turtle had remained the true and faith- ful friend of the Americans and the United States government. Tecum- seh strove hard to gain his confidence and aid, but without effect, for nothing could move him from his purpose of peace and good-will towards the Americans. In the language of one who was present at his burial: " His body was borne to the grave with the highest honors, by his great enemy, the white man. The muffled drum, the solemn march, the funeral salute, announced that a great soldier had fallen, and even enemies paid tribute to his memory." His remains were interred about
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the center of the old orchard, with all his adornments, implements of war, a sword presented to him by Gen. Washington, together with a medal, with the likeness of Washington thereon - all laid by the side of the body, and hidden beneath the sod in one common grave. The exact spot of his grave is now unknown. Such was Me-che-can-noch-qua -the bravest among the brave, and wisest among the wise of the In- dians of the northwest -leading an army of braves to sure victory one hour-cutting and slashing, as with the ferocity of a tiger, at one mo- ment - and as passive and gentle as a child the next. Ever may his gentler and better deeds be perpetuated by the American people.
He was succeeded by Pe-chon, who was present at, and was one of the signers of, the treaty of July, 1814, at Greenville, and who died soon after at the residence of Richardville, who succeeded him as chief of the Miamis.
John Baptiste Richardville,* whose Indian name was " Pe-che-wa," or " The Wild Cat," was the son of Joseph Drouet de Richardville, who was of noble lineage, and was probably engaged as an officer in the French service in Canada, before being lured into the western wilds, by the prospect of amassing wealth in the fur trade. He was for a long time a trader among the Indians here, and took for a wife, as was customary at that date, Tah-cum-wah, a daughter of Aque-noch-qua, and sister of Little Turtle. Their son was born about 1761, in a hut under the boughs of the historic apple tree, which stood near the con- fluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's, but has long since disappeared.
Among the many thrilling and interesting incidents and narrations, as frequently recited by the chief to the late Allen Hamilton, he gave, some years ago, an account of his ascent to the chieftainship of his tribe. The occasion was not only thrilling and heroic, but, on the part of his famous mother and himself, will ever stand in history as one of the noblest and most humane acts known to any people, and would serve as a theme, both grand and eloquent, for the most gifted poet or dramatist of any land. It was in a wild and barbarous age. Kekionga still occasionally echoed with the shrieks and groans of captive men; and the young warriors of the region still rejoiced in the barbaric cus- tom of burning prisoners at the stake. A white man had been captured and brought in by the warriors. A council had been convened, in which the question of his fate arose in debate and was soon settled. He was to be burned at the stake, and the braves and villagers generally were soon gathered about the scene of torture, making the air resound with their triumphant shouts of pleasure at the prospect of soon enjoy- ing another hour of fiendish merriment at the expense of a miserable victim of torture. Already the man was lashed to the stake, and the
*According to Tanquay's "Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles Canadiennes," there married at Champlain March 18, 1687, Claude Drouet, Sieur de Richardville, officer, born in 1657, son of Claude, Attorney, and Appolline Soisson, of Chartres. He, had eight children, and it is reason- able to believe that from one of his sons descended that Drouet who was father of Jean Baptiste Druet de Richardville, whose name is written in numerous treaties and carved on the monument which marks his grave as John B. Richardville.
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torch that was to ignite the cumbustible material placed about the same was in the hands of the brave appointed. But rescue was at hand. The man was destined to be saved from the terrible fate that sur- rounded him ! Young Richardville had for some time been singled out as the future chief of the tribe, and his heroic mother saw in this a propi- tious and glorious moment for the assertion of his chieftainship, by an act of great daring and bravery-the rescue of the prisoner at the stake. Young Richardville and his mother were at some distance, but sufficiently near to see the movements of the actors in the tragedy about to be enacted, and could plainly hear the coarse ejaculations and shouts of triumph of the crowd. At that moment, just as the torch was about to be applied to the bark, as if touched by some angelic impulse of love and pity for the poor captive, the mother of young Richardville placed a knife in her son's hand, and bade him assert his chieftainship by the rescue of the prisoner. The magnetic force of the mother seemed instantly to have inspired the young warrior, and he quickly bounded to the scene, broke through the wild crowd, cut the cords that bound the man, and bid him be free. All was astonishment and surprise; and though by no means pleased at the loss of their prize, yet the young man, their favorite, for his daring conduct, was at once esteemed as a god by the crowd, and then became a chief of the first distinction and honor in the tribe. The mother of Richardville now took the man in charge, and soon quietly placing him in a canoe and covering him with hides, in charge of some friendly Indians he was soon gliding down the placid current of the Maumee, beyond the reach of the turbulent warriors of Kekionga.
At a later period in the life of the chief, being on his way to Wash- ington, he came to a town in Ohio, where, stopping for a little while, a man came up to him, and suddenly recognizing in the stranger the coun- tenance of his benefactor and deliverer of years before, threw his arms about the chief's neck, and embraced him with all the warmth of filial affection. He was indeed the rescued prisoner; and the meeting be- tween the two was one of mingled pleasure and surprise. In stature, Richardville was about five feet ten inches, with broad shoulders, and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. His personal appear- ance was attractive; graceful in carriage and manner. Exempt from any expression of levity - he is said to have " preserved his dignity un- der all circumstances." His nose was Roman, his eyes were of a light- ish blue, and slightly protruding, " his upper lip firmly pressed upon his teeth, and the under one slightly projecting." That he was an Indian half-breed, there can be no doubt. His own statements, and unvarying traditions conclusively prove that he inherited his position through his mother, by the laws of Indian descent, and contradict the theory that he was a Frenchman who obtained the chieftainship by trickery or pur- chase. In appearance he was remarkable in this - he was neither red nor white, but combined both colors in his skin, which was mottled or spotted red and white. His mother was a most remarkable woman.
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Chief Richardville was an only son, and much beloved by her. Her reign continued for a period of some thirty years, prior to the war of 1812, during which time, according to the traditions of the Indians, "she ruled the tribe with a sway, power, and success as woman never ruled before." After her reign, " she retired and passed the mace of power to her son." Richardville was taciturn and was dignified in manner, a habit often almost assuming the form of extreme indifference; yet such was far from his nature, for he ever exercised the warmest and most attentive regard for all of his people and mankind in general; and "the needy never called in vain; his kind and charitable hand was never withheld from the distressed of his own people or from the stranger." So wisely did he manage the affairs of his tribe, with such wisdom and moderation did he adjust and settle all matters relating to his people, that he was not only held in the highest estimation by the Indians gen- erally, throughout the northwest, but honored and trusted as their law- giver with the most unsuspecting confidence and implicit obedience, always adjusting affairs between his own people, as well as all inter- tribal relations, without resort to bloodshed. A patient and attentive listener, prudent and deliberate in his action, when once his conclusions were formed he rarely had occasion to change them. Averse to bloodshed, except against armed resistance, he was ever the strong and consistent friend of peace and good-will.
Many were the vivid recollections he recited years ago to early set- tlers. At the time of Harmar's movements and defeat, he was a boy of some ten or twelve years of age. But his narration of the way the Indians stole along the bank of the river, near the point, long since known as "Harmar's ford," was most thrilling. Not a man among the Indians, said he, was to fire a gun until the white warriors under Harmar had gained the stream, and were about to cross. Then the red men in the bushes, with the rifles leveled and ready for action, just as the de- tachment of Harmar began to near the center of the Maumee, opened a sudden and deadly fire upon them; and horses and riders fell in the stream, one upon the other, until the river was literally strewn from bank to bank with the slain, both horses and men; and the water ran dark with blood.
There seemed, in the settling of this section of the country, a rivalry between the settlers and the Indians, as to who should tender the chief the highest respect, for all admired who knew him.
At the treaty of St. Mary's, in 1818, a reserve of nine sections of land was made to him, including a tract some four or five miles from Fort Wayne, up the St. Mary's river, which, since his death, has been in the hands and keeping of his descendants, and is now owned by Archange (daughter of La Blonde, the first daughter of the chief), wife of James R. Godfroy, whose interesting family, with some three or four other persons, relatives of the same, living near, now constitute the only remnants of the once powerful Miami tribe in this part of their old stronghold. They have all long since assumed the garb of civiliza-
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tion, and successfully till one of the finest bodies of land in the north- west.
Richardville was at the treaties of Greenville in 1795, Fort Wayne in 1803, and Vincennes in IS05. He participated also, as civil chief of the tribe, in the treaty of St. Mary's, October 6, 1805, and went to Wash- ington with Little Turtle in 1807.
About 1827, he built a house on the reservation on the St. Mary's. He had three daughters, La Blonde, Susan and Catharine. The daugh- ter of La Blonde married James Godfroy, who has long lived at the old residence of the chief. Richardville was many years a trader at Fort Wayne, but in 1836 moved his goods to the forks of the Wabash, and continued business there a long time, although he retained his family residence near Fort Wayne, having for his housekeeper at the forks of the Wabash, Margaret La Folia, a French woman of prepossessing ap- pearance. He was held in high esteem, and was the lawgiver of his people, trusted by them with the utmost confidence, and obeyed implic- itly. He died at his family residence on the 13th of August, 1841; and to-day, in the Catholic cemetery, on the confines of his birth-place, is to be seen an enduring marble shaft, erected by his daughters, commem- orating the beloved and famous chief of the Miamis.
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