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Gc 977.101 Sci6b 1462224
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02487 2613
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
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ANCIENT WORKS
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PORTSMOUTH;
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REFERENCES.
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CALEB ATWATER'S MAP MADE IN 1820
This map shows the location of the old mouth of the Scioto River. It was directly opposite the old Indian fort in Kentucky. Unless the change in the outlet of this river is borne in mind, the reader will be confused as to the exact location of early events.
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Scioto River
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SCIOTO SKETCHES
2 . An Account of Discovery and Settlement of Scioto County, Ohio
Henry T. Bannon
PRINTED BY A. C. McCLURG & COMPANY CHICAGO 1920
COPYRIGHT 1920 BY HENRY T. BANNON
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PREFACE
Time is a mystic lens which gradually diminishes mere incidents until they van- ish; but it magnifies events, destined to survive, until they stand forth in notable prominence, and form the subjects of history. Each generation makes its own history; the succeeding generations write it. The purpose of this little book is to perpetuate, in convenient form, such salient events in the past of Scioto County, as have lived for more than a century, and are deemed worthy of chron- icle.
HENRY TOWNE BANNON.
Portsmouth, Ohio, January 1, 1920.
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"Love thou thy land, with love far-brought From out the storied Past, and used Within the Present, but transfused Thro' future time by power of thought."
I THE DISCOVERY OF THE OHIO VALLEY
There is the charm of adventure in the story of an explorer. The nearer the pathway of the explorer may be to one's home, the more intense is the charm. Explor- ers from France were the first white men to enter the Ohio Valley and descend the Ohio River. One of the points of unusual interest to them was the country about the mouth of the Scioto River.
Traffic in peltries was the lure that enticed the first American adventurers to follow in the paths of the ex- plorers. Since many valuable furs could be obtained from the Indians of the Ohio Valley, the first pioneers in that region were traders and trappers. They were strong and brave men, but illiterate. They did not keep journals and left no written record of their observa- tions.
The trader and the trapper were followed by pros- pectors who, in turn, were succeeded by the borderer and the tiller of the soil. The explorers and prospectors have left us only a brief written record.
La Salle is known to history as an early explorer of the Great Lakes region, the Mississippi Valley, and the Ohio River. There is documentary proof that La Salle descended the Ohio River to "the falls" (now Louisville) in 1670. This proof is not without elements of weakness, however, and some historians refuse to ac- cord him that honor. Parkman bases his conclusion that La Salle discovered the Ohio upon a memorial written by the explorer in 1677, in which he states that he made
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such discovery and, also, upon the fact that his rival, Joliet, recorded upon his map, dated 1674, that La Salle followed the route of the Ohio. It is conceded that he knew of the existence of the river and was searching for it. The intensity of his courage and determination add much weight to the claims made in his favor. But it is certain that La Salle made a voyage on the Mississippi. By virtue of this voyage, France claimed all the region drained by the Mississippi River. This, of course, in- cluded the Ohio Valley.
The first authentic exploration of the Ohio River, by an expedition organized for that purpose, was made in 1749 by Celoron and Bonnechamps. They started from La Chine, Quebec (near Montreal), on June fif- teenth, and made the voyage by canoes. These men took constructive possession of the surrounding country in the name of the King of France. Their flotilla was gayly decked with banners, and the members of the ex- pedition, of whom there were two hundred and eighteen besides about thirty Indians, were arrayed in gorgeous uniforms. At locations, deemed to possess strategic value, the forces would land and, with much ceremony, bury leaden plates "as a monument of the renewal of the possession we have taken of the said river Ohio, and of all those which empty into it, and of all the lands on both sides as far as the sources of the said rivers, as enjoyed or ought to have been enjoyed, by the kings of France preceding."
Celoron and Bonnechamps kept separate journals of their voyage, and the latter made quite an accurate map of the river. The journals are preserved in the archives of the French government at Paris. The map is entitled "Carte d'un voyage fait dans La Belle Riviere en la nouvelle France MDCC XLIX."* The Scioto River is shown at its proper location and designated Sin-
*Map of a voyage made on the Beautiful River in new France 1749.
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hioto. In creating this name, Bonnechamps simply coined a French word to sound like the Indian name. The location of an Indian village on the west side of the mouth of the Scioto is also marked on the map.
The journal of Celoron refers to the village at the mouth of the Scioto as St. Yotoc. The French pronun- ciation of St. Yotoc is quite like the pronunciation of Sinhioto. St. Yotoc was a fanciful creation to sound like Scioto with the prefix Saint. The journal of Bonnechamps speaks of the Shawnees as Chaouanons, an attempt to render into French the sound of the Indian word Shawnee. Celoron and Bonnechamps were evidently of the opinion that the coining of French names, in substitution for the Indian place names, would be a circumstance, tending to establish the title of France to the Ohio Valley region.
The Celoron expedition arrived at the Scioto River on August 22, 1749. The journal of Bonnechamps gives us the first reference in history to an Indian settle- ment at the mouth of the Scioto. It is as follows:
"The situation of the village of the Chaouanons is quite pleas- ant,-at least, it is not masked by the mountains, like the other villages through which we had passed. The Sinhioto River, which bounds it on the east, has given it its name. It is composed of about sixty cabins. The Englishmen there numbered five. They were ordered to withdraw, and promised to do so. The latitude of our camp was 39º 1'."*
The order to the Englishmen to withdraw consti- tuted an assertion of French dominion. That there might be no question as to his purpose, Celoron on August sixth, had sent a letter to the governor of Penn- sylvania, by traders, who were returning to the colonies, notifying the governor to prohibit British traders from entering into the Ohio country as the French com- mandant-general had orders not to permit foreign trad- ers within his government.
*The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents LXIX 183.
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A translation of the Celoron journal may be found in volume 2 "Catholic Historical Researches." His journal indicates that the expedition drew near the mouth of the Scioto River with much misgiving. Even at that early period, the Indians, who dwelt at the junc- tion of the Ohio and Scioto, were exceedingly hostile to- ward encroachments upon their domain. Information brought to Celoron before landing, and the incidents that happened after landing, justified his fears. On the twentieth of August, Celoron learned that the Shawnee village was composed of eighty to one hundred cabins. This was evidence of its strength. The next day, the Indians of his detachment represented to him that they were afraid to go to St. Yotoc without giving notice, by sending envoys in advance. They feared that the expedition would be attacked if it appeared at the village without previous notice and explanation.
Accordingly, Joncaire, Minerville, and five Indians were sent ahead. The expedition followed slowly in order to await their return. As the envoys approached the village, the Shawnees fired over their heads to alarm them. The bullets pierced the banner borne by the en- voys. Upon landing, they were conducted to the coun- cil cabin. While the envoys were explaining the object of the expedition, an Indian arose and charged that the French had come to destroy them. This greatly excited the Indians and they rushed to arms, declaring that the envoys should be killed. The Indians planned to con- ceal their families in the forest, await the coming of the French, "and lay ambushes for their canoes." An Iro- quois chief, however, succeeded in pacifying the In- dians. The Indians, with much diligence, constructed a fort to defend themselves better from attack by the main body of the expedition. Minerville, and the five Indians who came with the envoys, were retained as hostages. Joncaire, accompanied by an Iroquois, re- turned to the expedition to make his report. His rela-
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tion of the events that had transpired was not assuring to Celoron.
As the expedition drew near the Scioto, the Indians assembled on the west bank and fired a salute. Celoron states that "those Indians discharged well nigh a thou- sand gun-shots. I knew the powder had been gratui- tously furnished them by the English." Such a waste of ammunition was proof of its abundance and increased the alarm of the French for their safety. The French expedition landed on the east bank of the Scioto,* oppo- site the village, and returned the salute. Some historians are in doubt as to whether Celoron landed on the east bank of the Scioto or the south bank of the Ohio. The journal is not clear on that point. A consideration of the happenings after the landing, in the light of the physical surroundings, leads to the conclusion that the expedition pitched its camp on the east bank of the Scioto.
Here the French remained until August 26th. Dur- ing their stay, there were frequent councils with the Indians. These councils were held at the camp of the French. Though urged to do so by the Indians, the French refused to go to the council house in the village, evidently fearing an ambuscade. The excuse given to the Shawnees for their not coming to the council cabin was that the children should come to the place where their father had lighted his council fires.
While the first council was in session, eighty armed Indian warriors crossed the Scioto in canoes and came to the camp. This so alarmed Celoron that he ordered his men under arms, and requested the chief to direct the withdrawal of his warriors, and this was done. They disclaimed any hostile intentions and fired a salute as they withdrew.
*This location was at the old mouth of the Scioto, about a mile west of its present mouth.
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Celoron derived no satisfaction from these councils, as the answers of the Indians were evasive. Bonne- champs states that their replies at the final council were more satisfactory than at those preceding. But it is clear that, upon the whole, the councils failed to promote the cause of France. As nothing was gained, their purpose failed.
The possession of the Ohio Valley by France was merely constructive. The Indians were in actual pos- session, and the British traders had the control of the Indians. This alliance enabled the British to resist the encroachments of the French. Celoron was under in- structions to break up this control, but was unable to do so. His journal speaks so frankly that an extract from it is reproduced to show the exact situation.
"I summoned the English traders to appear and commanded them to withdraw, making them feel that they had no right to trade or aught else on the Beautiful River. I wrote to the Gov- ernor of Carolina, whom I fully apprised of the danger his traders would expose themselves to, if they returned there. I was ordered to do this in my instructions, and even to plunder the English, but I was not strong enough for that, the traders having estab- lished themselves in the village and being well sustained by Indians. I would be only undertaking a task which would not have suc- ceeded, and which would only have redounded to the disgrace of the French."
This was a confession of the weakness of the French in the Ohio Valley. They were unable to cope with the British in dealing with the Indian allies of Great Britain. The statement of Celoron, that the traders were well sustained by the Indians, is not in harmony with the statement by Bonnechamps, that the Englishmen prom- ised to withdraw. The traders were the tie that bound the Indians to the British. The fact seems to be that Great Britain, through the aid of her traders and agents, was able to maintain alliances with the Indians of sufficient strength to prevent the French from ob- taining a permanent foothold in this region. The oc-
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currences at the mouth of the Scioto must have been convincing to France that her constructive possession of the Ohio Valley was not destined to become an actual one.
Both Celoron and Bonnechamps indicate that the Indians were greatly frightened and excited over the arrival of the envoys and the expedition. They over- looked the craft and cunning of the Shawnees. A con- sideration of both journals, in connection with the bitter warfare subsequently waged by the Shawnees against the whites at this place, can lead but to the conclusion that the French expedition was intentionally intimidated by the Indians when it arrived at the mouth of the Scioto. There the French were given to understand that actual possession of the Ohio Valley could not be obtained without a bitter and a long struggle. In its larger aspect, it was a demonstration against the domin- ion of any white race. The strategy of the English traders, who were in control of the Indians, convinced Celoron that a resort to arms meant his defeat. He was powerless and conceded it.
Following the Celoron expedition, French traders and trappers became active in the Ohio Valley. But that region was not long to remain a possession of France; for it was taken from her by Great Britain in 1763.
The name of the Ohio River has been traced to a Seneca or Iroquois word, O-hee-yuh, meaning Beauti- ful River .* When the French gave to the Ohio the name La Belle Riviere, they simply translated into their language the meaning of the Indian term. Some writers assert that the languages of the Indian tribes had no word the equivalent of "beautiful"; and that the Indian name of the river, does not possess the mean-
"The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. U. S. Geo- logical Survey.
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ing generally accepted. The traditional origin, how- ever, is so firmly established that it cannot be disputed.
Thomas Jefferson was evidently impressed by the meaning of the name of the Ohio River, and by the reports of its beauty. In "Notes on the State of Vir- ginia," written in 1781, he thus described it:
"The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted."
Captain Harry Gordon, chief engineer in the Western Department in North America, was at the mouth of the Scioto from June 29 to July 8, 1766. Like all of the early travelers in this region, he describes the Ohio River as being most beautiful "with several long reaches, one of which is sixteen miles and a half, inclosed with the finest trees of various verdures, which afford a noble and enchanting prospect."
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II BRITISH PROSPECTORS AT THE SCIOTO
In September, 1750, Christopher Gist was sent by The Ohio Company "to search out and discover lands upon the River Ohio, and other adjoining branches of the Mississippi down as low as the great falls thereof." He was especially instructed to "take an exact account : of the soil, quality and product of the land."
Gist kept a journal in which were recorded his ob- servations and the course of his travels. He arrived at the mouth of the Scioto River on Tuesday, January 29, 1751. George Croghan and Andrew Montour accompanied him. Gist's description of what he saw at this place is as follows:
"Set out to the mouth of Sciodoe Creek opposite to the Shan- noah Town. Here we fired our guns to alarm the traders, who soon answered, and came and ferried us over to the town. The land about the mouth of Sciodoe Creek is rich but broken fine bottoms upon the river and creek. The Shannoah Town is situate upon both sides the River Ohio, just below the mouth of Sciodoe Creek, and contains about 300 men. There are about 40 houses on the south side of the river and about 100 on the north side with a kind of State-House of about 90 feet long, with a light cover of bark in which they hold their Councils. The Shanaws are not a part of the six Nations."*
Here Gist remained until February twelfth. Dur- ing his stay, there were several councils with the Indians at which Croghan made speeches. The Indian chief replied, expressing the hope, "that the friendship now subsisting between us and our brothers will last as long as the sun shines, or the moon gives light."
*Christopher Gist's Journals, by Darlington, page 44.
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Gist describes, in an appendix to his journal, a curious festival, witnessed by him, at the Scioto at which all the Indians' marriages were dissolved and new alli- ances made. "While I was here," reads the journal, "the Indians had a very extraordinary festival, at which I was present, and which I have exactly described at the end of my journal." The festival was so unusual that it may be well to give Gist's description of it:
"In the evening a proper officer made a public proclamation, that all the Indians marriages were dissolved, and a public feast was to be held for the three succeeding days after, in which the women (as their custom was) were again to choose their husbands.
The next morning the Indians breakfasted, and after spent the day in dancing, till the evening, when a plentiful feast was pre- pared; after feasting, they spent the night in dancing.
The same way they passed the two next days till the evening, the men dancing by themselves, and then the women in turns round fires, and dancing in their manner in the form of the figure 8, about sixty or seventy of them at a time. The women, the whole time they danced, singing a song in their language, the chorus of which was:
I am not afraid of my husband; I will choose what man I please.
Singing those lines alternately.
The third day, in the evening, the men, being about one hun- dred in number, danced in a long string, following one another, sometimes at length, at other times in a figure of 8 quite round the fort, and in and out of the long house, where they held their councils, the women standing together as the men danced by them; and as any of the women liked a man passing by, she stepped in, and joined in the dance, taking hold of the man's stroud, whom she chose, and then continued in the dance, till the rest of the women stepped in, and made their choice in the same manner; after which the dance ended."*
While the Indians took kindly to the white traders, they were exceedingly hostile toward those white men who came into their country to form settlements.
It is important to note that Gist found traders at
*Topographical Description of the Middle British Colonies in North America, by Thomas Pownall, M. P. (London, 1776).
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this village, in spite of the fact that the Celoron expe- dition had ordered all traders to depart. Such warn- ings were received by traders with indifference.
George Croghan, who accompanied Gist on his jour- ney in 1751, was a prominent prospector in early Ohio history. He was a noted British Indian agent and an extensive traveler. On May 23, 1765, Croghan stopped at the mouth of the Scioto while on a voyage down the Ohio. That he was a close observer is apparent from what he recorded in his journal, relative to his observa- tions at the mouth of the Scioto:
"The soil on the banks of the Scioto, for a vast distance up the country, is prodigious rich, the bottoms very wide, and in the spring of the year, many of them are flooded, so that the river appears to be two or three miles wide. Bears, deer, turkeys, and most sorts of wild game, are very plenty on the banks of this river. On the Ohio, just below the mouth of Scioto, on a high bank, near forty feet, formerly stood the Shawneese town, called the Lower Town, which was all carried away, except three or four houses, by a great flood in the Scioto. I was in the town at the time, though the banks of the Ohio were so high, the water was nine feet on the top, which obliged the whole town to take to their canoes, and move with their effects to the hills. The Shawneese afterwards built their town on the opposite side of the river, which, during the French war, they abandoned, for fear of the Virginians, and removed to the plains on Scioto."*
Assuming that Croghan's rough estimate of the depth of the water on top of the bank, during the flood witnessed by him, is approximately correct, this flood reached a stage of between fifty-five and sixty feet. The old tradition of a great flood in the Ohio, during the days of the Indian occupation, is undoubtedly founded on this incident.
The town built by the Shawnees, after this flood, was located in Kentucky at a point opposite the old mouth of the Scioto. At that time, the mouth of the Scioto was more than a mile west of its present mouth. Near
*Early Western Travels, by Thwaites, page 133.
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the site of the new village, there is an extensive ancient earthwork, described by Squier and Davis in the first volume issued by the Smithsonian Institution. This volume is entitled "Ancient Monuments of the Missis- sippi Valley" (1848). After describing the earthwork the authors say :
"Between this work and the river are traces of a modern Indian encampment or town-shells, burned stones, fragments of rude pottery, etc., also some graves."
The discoveries made by Squier and Davis verify the existence of an Indian town in Kentucky, opposite the old mouth of the Scioto. Indeed, the traces of this Indian encampment are still (1919) plainly visible. During a recent examination of this site, a few arrow- heads were picked up; and shells, burned stones, and bits of pottery are still scattered over the surface.
France was determined to gain title to the Ohio Valley region and the venturesome French traders were a source of constant irritation to the British govern- ment. The British feared that such traders would form alliances with the Indian tribes, thereby enabling France successfully to defend her title. To thwart this, Great Britain was ever on the alert to drive out French traders. Agents of Great Britain were sent among the tribes to gain their friendship and their cooperation, also, to expel the French. The method employed by those agents clearly appears from the journals of George Croghan. An object of his visit to the mouth of the Scioto in 1765 was to arrest French traders on the Ohio "as they were not suffered to trade there" unless expressly authorized so to do by the British authorities. Croghan sent a courier in advance to request the In- dians to capture and bring to him at the mouth of the Scioto such French traders as they might be able to secure. Shortly after Croghan arrived at the mouth of the Scioto, the Shawnees brought in seven French trad-
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INDIAN EARTHWORKS IN KENTUCKY AND SITE OF SHAWNEE TOWN From Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley
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ers and delivered them to him, promising to secure oth- ers who were trading with neighboring tribes.
That the British well understood the strategic ad- vantages of the Scioto River, in the settlement of the region west of the Allegheny Mountains, is evident in the work by Hon. Thomas Pownall, M. P., entitled "Topographical Description of the Middle British Colo- nies in North America." Pownall resided in America for several years and was governor of the Massachus- etts colony. His book was written after his return to Great Britain. That he had access to reports made to his government, by its agents, is apparent from a com- parison of his work with the journals of Gist and Croghan. Pownall's description of the Scioto Valley, which follows, seems to be a summary of the facts re- ported by various British agents :
"Scioto is a large gentle River, bordered with rich Flats, which it overflows in the Spring; spreading then above Half a Mile in Breadth, though when confined to its Banks it is scarce a Furlong wide. If it floods early, it scarce retires within its Banks in a Month, or is fordable in a Month or Two more. The Land is so level, that in the Freshes of Ohio, the Back-water runs Eight Miles up. Opposite the Mouth of this River is a Lower Shawane Town, removed from the other Side which was One of the most noted Places of English Trade with the Indians. This River, besides vast extents of good Land, is furnished with salt on an Eastern Branch, and Red Bole on Necunsia Skeintat. The Stream is very gentle, and passable with large Batteaux a great Way up, and with Canoes near 200 Miles to a Portage near the Head, where you carry over good Ground Four Miles to Sanduski. Sanduski is a considerable River, abounding in level rich Land, its Stream gentle all the Way to the Mouth. This River is an important Pass, and the French have secured it as such; the Northern Indians cross the Lake here from Island to Island, land at Sanduski, and go by a direct Path to the Lower Shawnee Town, and thence to the Gap of Quasioto on their way to the Cuttawas Country. This will, no doubt, be the Way that the French will take from Detroit to Moville, unless the English will be advised to secure it, now that it is in their Power."
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