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 6
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A map of the route traversed by de Celeron, prepared by Father Bonnecamp, who accompanied the expedition, shows with considerable exactness the course of the St. Mary's and Maumee, and the fort is lo- cated in the bend of the St. Mary's, south and east of the river. Ac- cording to this map this fort stood not far from the late residence of Hon. Hugh McCulloch, which agrees with existing traditions. Vandreuil mentions the Fort Miamis on the Maumee in 1751. This must have been our Fort Miami, for, although there were four forts of that name in the west, the other Fort Miami of the Maumee was not erected until early in 1794, and then by the British.
It is interesting to note that Gen. George Washington, who was sent to Fort Duquesne on a mission to the French commandant by Gov. Dinwiddie, accompanied his report of his expedition with a map
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
of the western country which indicates that if he could not himself tell an untruth, he could prepare maps which did. On his map a mountain range is located as trending from the northeast to the southwest within the peninsula of Michigan. On the east side of the mountain range, the "Miamis river," a very short stream, has its source, and flows directly east to Lake Erie, while the " Obaysh," or "River St. Jerome," rises on the same side of the range apparently near where the city of Jackson now stands, and flows only a little west of south to the Ohio.
In 1758 this route was described by Du Pratz in his " Histoire de Louisiane." He says: "From the Missouri to the Oubache [ the Ohio], is a hundred leagues. It is by this river one goes to Canada, from New Orleans to Quebec. The voyage is made by going up the river to the Oubache [Ohio ], then they go up this river to the river of the Miamis [the Wabashi ], continue this route to the portage and when they reach this place, seek natives of this nation, who make the portage in the space of two leagues. This road completed, they find a small river which flows into Lake Erie."
The French were then in possession of all west of the Alleghanies, but their domination was destined soon to come to an end. Historians have laid little stress upon one fact which perhaps more than any other gave direction to and changed the destiny of the new world. But for the savage war so long and relentlessly waged by the Iroquois against the western Indians, which rendered this route dangerous to traverse, and still more so for permanent occupation, there can be little doubt that the French would, long before this period, have established a strong, well manned and well equipped cordon of forts extending from the Saint Lawrence through the lakes, up the Maumee and down the Wabash to the Mississippi, and thence to the gulf, assuring the perpetuity of their power and firmly establishing a Gallic empire in America. As it was, the weak garrisons of the scattered palisaded forts of the west fell quickly before the arms of Great Britain, and most of them were sur- rendered and formally transferred to that power in the fall of 1760.
We have thus traced the history of the early explorations which opened this region, and established conclusively that the white man vis- ited it long before the era of its settlement, and if anything were wanting to place far back in time the period of this partial occupation, it is a sig- nificant fact that the Indian names of the two rivers whose confluence form the Maumee, have been lost, or at least, are disputed, they having " from time immemorial" been known only by the names of St. Joseph and St. Mary's, names doubtless conferred upon them by that devoted pioneer priest, who so early assumed the spiritual charge of the Miamis, and who was probably the first to erect, at the junction of the rivers he so christened, the symbol of Christianity, the cross of the Christ whose devoted servant he was. He, and his companion soldiers of the cross, deserve long to be remembered as the forerunners of a civilization they dreamed not of.
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VALLEY OF THE UPPER MAUMEE.
THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.
It was on the 29th of November, 1760, that Detroit fell into the hands of the British, and soon after, an officer was sent southward to take possession of Fort Miami at the head of the Maumee, and of Fort Ouiatenon on the Wabash, both of which were intended to, and did, guard the communication between Lake Erie and the Ohio. This officer was Ensign Holmes, in command of a detachment of the Sixtieth Rifles, or " Royal Americans." A force not greater than 800 men from this historic regiment, garrisoned all the posts of the west, and stood for years between the savage hordes and the advancing settle- ments, which were the vanguard of our present civilization.
A history of this gallant regiment would form a large portion of the history of the French and Indian wars, from the Hudson and Lake Champlain to the Mississippi, and the subsequent wars down to the revolutionary period, but unfortunately that history is lacking, except as it can be gleaned from scattered documents and scanty traditions. "The Royal Americans " was organized in 1855 under the direction of the Duke of Cumberland, expressly for service in America. It was intended to consist of four battalions of 1,000 men each, to be raised from the German and Swiss emigrants, and £81,178 was voted by parliament to raise and equip it. German and Swiss officers were to be provided, and an act of parliament authorized them to be commissioned. Henry Bouquet was a Swiss of the canton of Berne, and was a soldier from boyhood, serving under the king of Sardinia, and subsequently under the king of Holland. He accepted a lieutenant-colonel's commission in the regiment in 1755, and was colonel of the first battalion at this period. He was made a brigadier general in 1765, and has left a heroic record, written on many bloody fields of Indian warfare.
Some of the battalions were filled from the Scotch emigrants who had left the highlands of Scotland on account of their participation in the rebellion of 1745, and these brave, hardy and experienced troops won distinction in the north and west, at Lake George, Bushy Run, and . on other fields of danger and valor; stretching the thin lines of their little battalions almost half across the continent, and making possible the ex- tension of the new Anglo-Saxon empire in the wilds of the interior of the continent. They were the guide posts, and the living wall which lined the great highway from the east to the west, upon which marched, with slow but steady tread, the advance guard of the mighty hosts of civilization which were beginning to press forward with eager footsteps and a grand impulse toward the setting sun. The regiment was hon- ored with the post of danger in all the Indian wars along its very ex- tended front. One of its battalions was pitted against Montcalm, and defended Fort George on the lake of that name. The story of its massacre and narrow escape from annihilation has been made immortal in the pages of history and romance. Another battalion guarded the
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THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.
Pennsylvania frontier, and the rest were scattered among all the forts of the western country, exposed to all the horrors and dangers of savage warfare. They were the first soldiery of an English speaking race whose martial tread was heard upon the banks of the upper Maumee, and whose guns held the Indians in subjection here until overpowered by the last great uprising of an embittered, despairing race, in its futile and expiring attempt to stay the tide which was about to overwhelm it.
At the close of the French struggle, so great had been the havoc among the various tribes of the northwest, that, from the estimates of Sir William Johnson, it is presumed there were not more than 10,000 fighting men to be found in the whole territory lying " between the Mis- sissippi on the west, and the ocean on the east; between the Ohio on the south, and Lake Superior on the north"; which, according to a fur- ther estimate by Sir William, in 1763, placed the Iroquois at 1,950; the Delawares at about 600; the Shawnees at about 300; the Wyandots at about 450; the Miamis, with their neighbors, the Kickapoos, at about 800; while the Ottawas, Ojibwas, and a few wandering tribes, north- ward, were left without any enumeration at all. At that period, so thin and scattered was the population, that, even in those parts which were thought well populated, one might sometimes journey for days together through the twilight forest, and meet no human form. Broad tracts were left in solitude. All Kentucky was a vacant waste, a mere skir- mishing ground for hostile war parties of the north and south. A great part of upper Canada, of Michigan, and of Illinois, besides other por- tions of the west, were tenanted by wild beasts alone. At this period, says Parkman, " the Shawanoes had fixed their abode upon the Scioto and its branches. Farther toward the west, on the waters of the Wabash and the Maumee, dwelt the Miamis, who, less exposed, from their posi- tion, to the poison of the whiskey keg, and the example of debauched traders, retained their ancient character and custom in greater purity than their eastern neighbors." "From Vincennes," says the same writer, " one might paddle his canoe northward up the Wabash, until he reached the little wooden fort of Ouiatenon. Thence a path through the woods led to the banks of the Maumee. Two or three Canadians, or half- breeds, of whom there were numbers about the fort, would carry the canoe on their shoulders, or, for a bottle of whisky, a few Miami Indians might be bribed to undertake the task. On the Maumee, at the end of the path, stood Fort Miami, near the spot where Fort Wayne was after- ward built. From this point one might descend the Maumee to Lake Erie, and visit the neighboring Fort of Sandusky; or, if he chose, steer through the strait of Detroit, and explore the watery wastes of the northern lakes, finding occasional harborage at the little military posts which commanded their important points. Most of these western posts were transferred to the English during the autumn of 1760; but the set- tlements of the Illinois (Kaskaskia, Cahokia, etc.) remained several years longer under French control."
The Indians of the northwest had lost their French father, and with him,
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for a time, their trinkets, and much besides in the form of powder, balls, etc., that they had long annually been accustomed to receive from that quarter. They could hardly realize, notwithstanding the many whisperings to that effect, that their French father was forever divested of his power in America, and that his rule this side of the great waters had ceased. They believed the oft repeated stories that their French father " had of late years fallen asleep," and that his numerous vessels and soldiers would soon be moving up the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, to drive the English from their dominions, leaving them again in quiet possession of their former hunting grounds. Every means was now resorted to by the French, scattered about the wilderness, to arouse the savages, and their efforts were not in vain. The rancor of the Indians was greatly in- creased from time to time, until at length, after a lapse of two years, a great scheme was developed for the overthrow and destruction of the English and the various posts so recently occupied by them. As had been frequent at other periods among the aborigines in the wilds of the new world, a great prophet suddenly began to exert a powerful influence among the tribes of the northwest. He held his mission under the Great Spirit, and earnestly enjoined upon the tribes to return again to their primitive habits -to throw away the weapons, apparel, etc., ob- tained from the pale-faces. Here, said he, is the starting point of suc- cess. The force of the new prophet's teachings was truly great, and the tribes came from long distances to hear him. For the most part his suggestions were much regarded by the tribes; but the weapons of the white man could not be dispensed with. These they retained. The prophet was a Delaware, and the great leader of the movement was an Ottawa chieftain, whose Indian name was Pontiac.
For over two years, Forts Miami and Ouiatenon remained in compara- tive security. The 10th of February, 1763, at length arriving, a treaty of peace was concluded at Paris, between France and England - the former surrendering to the latter all claims to the vast region lying east of the Mississippi, making the Father of Waters the boundary line of the British possessions in America. A few months later, on the 7th of October, the English government, " proportioning out her new acquisi- tions into separate governments," set apart " the valley of the Ohio and adjacent regions as an Indian domain," and, by proclamation, strictly for- bade " the intrusion of settlers " thereon. But the seeds of future trouble had long since been sown, and the little forts in the wilderness, here (Fort Miami) and at Ouiatenon, were destined ere long to hear the murmurs of war. . The great plot of Pontiac, and the efforts of the Delaware prophet for the destruction of the English and the capture of the posts so recently lost by the French, were rapidly though silently maturing. Intimations and surmises were all that could be gained, so still and cautious were the movements of the savages; and the first really positive assurance of the efforts and designs of the Ottawa chief- tain and his followers, was disclosed at Fort Miami, opposite the present site of Fort Wayne.
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THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.
With the utmost vigilance, and the greatest possible activity, Pontiac was pushing forward his scheme of destruction. War belts were dis- patched to various tribes at a distance, inviting them to join in the over- throw of the invaders and capture of the forts; and soon the entire Al- gonquin race with the Senecas, the Wyandots, and many tribes from the valley of the lower Mississippi, were induced to join in the great scheme. The ensign of the Sixtieth Rifles was still in command, with a small body of men, at Fort Miami; and it was through Holmes that the first positive information of the plot of the Indians was received.
One day, early in the month of March, 1763, Holmes was startled by a friendly admonition. A neighboring Indian, through some acts of kindness, perhaps, on the part of Holmes, had formed a strong friend- ship for the ensign. The Indian told him that the warriors of one of the villages near by had recently received a bloody belt, with a " speech," pressing them to kill him (Holmes) and demolish the fort here, and which, whispered the friendly Indian, the warriors were then making preparation to do. The peril was imminent, and Holmes began at once to look about him. Summoning the neighboring Indians to a council, he boldly charged them with the design, which they finally acknowledged, with seeming contriteness and regret, charging the whole affair upon a tribe at another locality in the region. Holmes obtained the belt, and, from a speech of one of the chiefs of the Miamis, was at least partially induced to entertain the belief that all would now be tranquil.
A few days later, and the following letter, from Ensign Holmes, at this point, was on its way to Major Glad wyn, commanding at Detroit: " FORT MIAMIS, MARCH 30TH, 1763.
" Since my Last Letter to You, wherein I Acquainted You of the Bloody Belt being in this village, I have made all the search I could about it, and have found it out to be True; Whereon I Assembled all the Chiefs of this Nation (the Miamis), and after a long and troub- lesome Spell with them, I Obtained the Belt, with a Speech, as you will Receive Enclosed; This Affair is very timely Stopt, and I hope the News of a Peace will put a Stop to any further Troubles with these Indians, who are the Principle Ones of Setting Mischief on Foot. I send You the Belt with this Packet, which I hope You will Forward to the General."
Signs of coming trouble with the Indians at length became more apparent. They had now begun to hang about the forts, with impene- trable faces, asking for tobacco, gunpowder and whisky. Now and then some slight intimation of danger would startle the garrison, and an English trader, coming in from the Indian villages, would report that, from their manners and behavior, he suspected them of mischievous designs. Occasionally, some half-breed would be heard boasting in his cups, that before the next summer he would have English hair to fringe his hunt- ing-frock.
By the 27th of April, 1763, Pontiac having nearly matured his plans, great numbers of the villages and camps of the western tribes, including
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all grades and ages, women and children, assembled to celebrate the savage rites of war; magicians consulted their oracles, and prepared charms to insure success; many warriors, as was the Indian custom be- fore great events in war, withdrew to the deep recesses of the forest, or hid in caves to fast and pray, that the Great Spirit might give them victory. A grand council was convened at the river Ecorces, where Pontiac delivered to the vast throng a speech both eloquent and artful.
On the morning of the great council, several old men, heralds of the camp, had passed to and fro among the lodges, calling the warriors to attend the meeting. They came from their cabins -the tall, naked figures of the wild Ojibwas, with quivers slung at their backs, and light war-clubs resting in the hollow of their arms; Ottawas, wrapped close in their gaudy blankets; Wyandots, fluttering in painted shirts, their heads adorned with feathers, and their leggins garnished with bells. All were soon seated in a wide circle upon the grass, row within row- a grave and silent assembly. Each savage countenance seemed carved in wood, and none could have detected the passions hidden beneath that unmovable exterior. Pipes, with ornamented stems, were lighted and passed from hand to hand.
Placing himself in the center of the silent multitude, with long, black hair flowing about his shoulders, stern, resolute, with an imperious, per- emptory bearing, like that of a man accustomed to sweep away all op- position by force of his impetuous will, Pontiac began at once to arouse his auditors by a recital of the injustice of the English, and by drawing a contrast between the conduct of the French and the British toward the tribes assembled; presenting to them the terrible consequences of Eng- lish supremacy - persisting that it was the aim of the British to destroy and drive them from the land of their fathers. They have driven away the French, he recounted, and now they seek an opportunity to remove us also. He told them that their French father had long been asleep, but that now he was awake again, and would soon return in his many canoes to regain his old possessions in Canada.
Every sentence was rounded with a fierce ejaculation; and as the impetuous orator proceeded, his audience grew restless to spring at once. into the bloody arena of battle and bury the scalping knife and toma- hawk in the bodies of the enemy. Turning to the opposite side of savage nature, appealing to their sense of the mysterious, in a somewhat mel- lowed tone, though still as earnest in demeanor, he said:
" A Delaware Indian conceived an eager desire to learn wisdom from the Master of Life; but being ignorant where to find him, he had re- course to fasting, dreaming, and magical incantations. By these means it was revealed to him, that, by moving forward in a straight, undeviat- ing course, he would reach the abode of the Great Spirit. He told his purpose to no one, and having provided the equipments of a hunter - gun, powder-horn, ammunition, and a kettle for preparing his food - he setforth on his errand. For some time he journeyed on in high hope and confidence. On the evening of the eighth day, he stopped by the
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THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.
side of a brook, at the edge of a small prairie, where he began to make ready his evening meal, when looking up, he saw three large openings in the woods, on the opposite side of the meadow, and three well-beaten paths which enter them. He was much surprised, but his wonder increased, when, after it had grown dark, the three paths were more clearly visible than ever. Remembering the important object of his journey, he could neither rest nor sleep; and leaving his fire, he crossed the meadow, and entered the largest of the three open- ings. He had advanced but a short distance into the forest, when a bright flame sprang out of the ground before him, and arrested his steps. In great amazement, he turned back, and entered the second path, where the same wonderful phenomenon again encountered him; and now, in terror and bewilderment, yet still resolved to perse- vere, he pursued the last of the three paths. On this he journeyed a whole day without interruption, when, at length, emerging from the for- est, he saw before him a vast mountain of dazzling whiteness. So pre- cipitous was the ascent, that the Indian thought it hopeless to go farther, and looked around him in despair; at that moment, he saw, seated at some distance above, the figure of a beautiful woman arrayed in white, who arose as he looked upon her, and thus accosted him: 'How can you hope, encumbered as you are, to succeed in your design? Go down to to the foot of the mountain, throw away your gun, your ammunition, your provisions and your clothing; wash yourself in the stream which flows there, and then you will be prepared to stand before the Master of Life!' The Indian obeyed, and then began to ascend among the rocks, while the woman, seeing him still discouraged, laughed at his faintness of heart, and told him that, if he wished for success, he must climb by the aid of one hand and one foot only. After great toil and suffering, he at length found himself at the summit. The woman had disappeared and he was left alone. A rich and beautiful plain lay before him, and at a little distance he saw three great villages, far superior to the squalid dwellings of the Delawares. As he approached the largest, and stood hesitating whether he should enter, a man gorgeously attired stepped forth, and taking him by the hand, welcomed him to the celestial abode. He then conducted him into the presence of the Great Spirit, where the Indian stood confounded at the unspeakable splendor which surrounded him. The Great Spirit bade him be seated, and thus addressed him: 'I am the maker of heaven and earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, and all things else. I am the maker of mankind; and because I love you, you must do my will. The land on which you live I made for you and not for others. Why do you suffer the white man to dwell among you? My children, you have forgotten the customs and traditions of your fathers. Why do you not clothe yourselves in skins as they did, and use the bows and arrows and stone-pointed lances, which they used? You have bought guns, knives, kettles and blankets of the white man, until you can no longer do without them; and what is worse, you have drunk the poison fire-water, which turns you into fools. Fling all these away;
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live as your wise fore-fathers lived before you. And, as for these English -these dogs dressed in red, who have come to rob you of your hunting-grounds, and drive away the game -you must lift the hatchet against them, wipe them from the face of the earth, and then you will win my favor back again, and once more be happy and prosperous. The children of your great father, the King of France, are not like the English. Never forget that they are your brethren. They are very dear to me, for they love the red men, and understand the true mode of worshiping me!' With some further admonition from the Great Spirit, of a moral and religious nature, the Indian took leave of the Master of Life, and returned again to terra firma, where, among his people, he told all he had seen and heard in the wonderful land of the Great Spirit."
After this address all was ripe for action. Pontiac's words had spread a fire among the great throng of listeners that nothing short of a desperate defeat would smother. The first blow was destined to fall upon Detroit.
The story of the attempt, and of its frustration by the prompt ac- tion of Maj. Gladwyn, who had been warned of the plot by his Ojibwa mistress, has been too often told to need repetition here. Nine posts, held by the English, had been included in the great conspiracy and sought to be captured, viz .: Detroit, Presque-Isle, Michillimackinac, Miami, Ouiatenon, Le Bœuf, Venango, Fort Pitt, and Fort Sandusky. The plan of capture seems to have embodied the cunning and resolution of Pontiac at every point; and preparations similar to those at first mani- fested at Detroit, were apparent at every post essayed to be taken; which one after another, excepting Detroit alone, fell into the hands of the Indians. Many were the bloody scenes enacted.
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