USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 5
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and two and. six-tenths at the middle, and is about half an inch in thickness. The sculptured face varies very slightly from a perfect plane. The figures are cut in low relief (the lines being not more than one-twentieth of an inch in depth), and occupy a rectangular space of four inches and two-tenths long by two and one- tenth wide. The sides of the stone, it will be observed, are slightly concave. Light lines are drawn across the face near the ends, at right angles, and exterior to these are notches, twenty- five at one end and twenty-four at the other., The back of the stone has three deep longi- tudinal grooves and several depressions evi- dently caused by rubbing-probably produced by sharpening the instrument used in the sculpture.
"Without discussing the singular resemblance which the relic bears to the Egyptian cartouch, it will be sufficient to direct attention to the re- duplication of the figures, those upon one side corresponding with those upon the other, and the two central ones being also alike. It will be observed that there are but three scrolls or fig- ures-four of one description and two of the others. Probably no serious discussion of the question whether or not these figures are hiero- glyphical, is needed. They more resemble the stalk and flowers of a plant than anything else in nature. What significance, if any, may attach to the peculiar markings or graduations at the end it is not undertaken to say. The sum of the products of the longer and shorter lines (twen- ty-four by seven and twenty-five by eight) is three hundred and sixty-eight, three more than the number of days in the year; from which circumstance the suggestion has been advanced that the tablet had an astronomical origin and constituted some sort of a calendar.
"We may perhaps find the key to its purposes in a very humble, but not therefore less inter- esting class of southern remains. Both in Mex- ico and in the mounds of Mississippi have been found stamps of burnt clay, the faces of which are covered with figures, fanciful or imitative, all in low relief, like the face of a stereotype plate. These were used in impressing orna- ments upon the clothes or prepared skins of the people possessing them. They exhibit the con- cavity of the sides to be observed in the relic in question -- intended, doubtless, for greater con- venience in holding and using it -- as also a simi- lar reduplication of the ornamental figures, all betraying a common purpose. This explanation is offered hypothetically as being entirely con-
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sistent with the general character of the mound remains, which, taken together, do not warrant us in looking for anything that might not well pertain to a very simple, not to say rude. people."
In addition to the remains of the mound build- crs already described as found on the site of Cincinnati, there were traces of a period of vegetation prior to the time of the settlement. As to these the best account is given by Judge Burnet in his letter of October, 1837, to Mr. Delafield :
"You have made a particular request for in- formation, relative to the stumps which were found in my well. I have seen in print several exaggerated statements, professing to describe their appearance, and the situation in which they were found. One writer has said, that they had evidently been cut, by a metallic instrument- that the marks of an axe were visible, and that chips, in a state of perfect preservation, were found on, and near them. Another has stated, that the rust of iron was seen on the stumps; and a third has affirmed, that an axe was found near them. Neither of these statements is true. The facts are simply these, that in sinking a well, in 1802, within the circular work above described, at the depth of ninety-three feet, I found two stumps, one about a foot, and the other eighteen inches in diameter, standing in . the position in which they grew. Their roots were perfectly sound, and extended from them, horizontally, on every side. Their tops were so decayed and mouldered, that no opinion could be formed as to the process by which the trunks had been severed. The surface of the earth, at the place where they were found, is one hundred and twelve feet above the present low water mark of the Ohio, according to the level of Joseph Gest, city surveyor. They could not have been brought there by a current of water, because their upright position, and the regular, horizontal extension of their roots, proves that they must have grown on the spot, where they were found. There is another fact connected with this matter, worthy of notice. Prior to the time of digging the well, I had never seen a mul- berry tree, growing on, or near, the premises, though they were found in the neighboring for- ests, yet, the next season, they sprang up wher- ever the excavated earth had been spread, in such numbers, as made it necessary to destroy them and they continued thus to shoot up for several years, though not one made its appear- ance on any other part of the lot. This fact
induced me to conclude that the stumps, or at least one of them, was of the mulberry kind. * * *
"It may throw some light on this subject, to state, that when the town was laid out, the ap- pearance of the forest indicated that the surface of the earth had undergone no material change, probably, in five hundred years; as it exhibited the remains of trees, which had matured, de- cayed, and fallen, by the side of others still flourishing and giving evidence that they had been growing some centuries. The stump which was supposed to be a mulberry must have been in the situation in which it was found (ninety- three feet below the surface), for an equal period of time, and yet, when the earth about its roots was spread on the surface, where no mulberry tree existed, young mulberries immediately sprung up in great numbers. * *
"In connection with these facts, it may be proper to state another, of the same character. Mr. Daniel Symmes, when sinking a well, in the eastern part of the town, found a log, quite sound, at the depth of twenty-four feet below the surface. This was also on the upper level, or bench of the town. At the place where this fossil was found, the surface of the ground is much lower than it is at the well first men- tioned, being only eighty-one feet above low- water mark in the Ohio. Similar discoveries have been made, in various parts of the city, at greater distances from the river, furnishing proof that the entire plain, from the Ohio to the hills, is a deposit, covering what was formerly the surface of the earth."
As to the character or identity of the people who built these structures, we have little or no information that is of any valuc. Every ob- server has made his conjecture and supported that conjecture by what he was pleased to re- gard as evidence taken from his own observa- tions, but without any disrespect to the great amount of work that has been spent upon the subject, it can be said that little information of any exact character has been obtained. Not the Icast interesting theory connects itself with the claim of the Irish to have preceded the Norse in Iceland and afterwards discovered America in the 10th century. It is claimed that the mound builders of the Ohio Valley were connected with the race which sprang from these early Irish explorers. Another theory places this European immigration as carly as twelve hundred years before Christ. Again the Welsh are alleged to have discovered America in the twelfth century
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and one of the evidences of this discovery is the supposed resemblance of the Ohio Valley mounds to some of those in Wales. This possi- bility is spoken about by Filson in his "Ken- tucky," and David Jones in his wandering among the tribes west of the Ohio, in 1772, was im- pressed with the correspondence of Indian words with his native Welsh. A man Griffith claimed to have been taken in 1764 to a tribe that spoke Welsh.
Naturally the old theory that the Indians were descendants of the Jews had as a precedent con- dition the idea that the mounds were built by these wandering tribes before their degeneracy. The early explorers were unable to get any in- formation about the mound builders from the people whom they encountered. De Soto, in 1540, was assured by the Indians that they had built the mounds, but no credence is given to this statement. Kalm, the Swede, notes the mounds that he observed in 1749, and Carver saw them at Lake Pippin in 1768. David Jones mentions those in Ohio, in 1772, and Adair speaks of them in his book on the American In- dians, in 1775. Jefferson in his "Notes on Vir- ginia," published in 1782, speaks of them as bar- rows. "all over the country," obviously intended as burying places. On a map of the Northwest Territory, published by John Fitch, in 1785, it is stated that "this country lias once been settled by a people more expert in the art of war than the present inhabitants. Regular fortifications and some of these incredibly large are frequently to be found. Also many graves and towers like pyramids of earth." The reference is to the site of Wisconsin.
Franklin conjectures that the works of Mari- etta might have been built by De Soto, to which view Noah Webster assented. Professor Bar- ton liad first credited the Toltecs with building them; . these he thought to be descendants of the Danes. Maj. Jonathan Heart, Loskiel, Bartrain and Volney, all mention the ancient mounds in their records and journals. In 1794, Winthrop Sargent, the Secretary of the North- west Territory, reported the exploration of the mounds at Cincinnati in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, with accompanying drawings and "some account of certain Articles, which were taken out of an ancient Tumulns, or Grave, in the Western Country," as follows :
"CINCINNATI, N. W. TERRITORY, ,. "Sep. 8th, 1794.
"I have the pleasure, my dear Sir, to transmit you a drawing of some matters more extraordi-
nary than have heretofore come under my ob- servation, in all the researches into the antiqui- ties of this country. The multiplicity of my avo- cations leaves not leisure for more than rough delineations ; and you must be contented to re- ceive them in this style. I possess all the orig- inals, and intend by some safe conveyance pre- senting them to the Philosophical Society, should they believe them of importance enough for a deposit of my disposition to promote the pur- pose of their institution. The drawing, perhaps, is too imperfect to stand the test of criticism, and it might not be prudent to hazard it to their view. Your judgment, however, should govern.
"It may be proper to add that the body with which this collection was interred was found lying in nearly a horizontal position, about five feet from the surface of the earth, with the head towards the setting sun, and at the S. W. side thereof, or about fifteen feet from, an ex- tensive artificial mound of earth, raised proba- bly for the purpose of a burial ground, upon the margin of the second bank of the Ohio River ! (suddenly rising fifty feet above the first) and now elevated, in the extreme, eight feet from the general level of the same, with a gradual slope in the various directions, and a base of about 120 feet by sixty. One of the main streets of the town passes through the western part of this grave, and in the frequent repairs of the acclivity, human bones have often been found. You have, I think, been heretofore told by me, and perhaps received a sketch, of very extensive ancient fortifications at Cincinnati, not regular as those at Muskingum, but very worthy of notice. I should not omit to mention to you, that upon this mound are the stumps of oak- trees, seven feet diameter ; and within seven feet, one of small size - - years of age. Many, in its vicinity, that might have been of more dura- tion, are removed by the opening of this road, or street. In addition to the matters of which you have the drawing, were several utensils, or ornaments, lost or mislaid. If hereafter they come to my view, you shall receive information."
The letter is accompanied by some admirably executed drawings of the articles found, most of which have already been described by Dr. Drake. This letter, with drawings, is printed in the fourth volume of the proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, before which it was read May 20, 1796.
The Delaware Indians convinced Heckewelder of their connection with the fortifications, but the missionary is thought to have been imposed
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upon. De Witt Clinton evolved some theories connecting the Scandinavians with the mounds. Caleb Atwater of Ohio, after considerable in- vestigation expressed the belief that the mound builders were of Asiatic origin and that they subsequently migrated to Mexico and Peru.
The investigations of Squier and Davis, which resulted in the opening of two hundred mounds and the exploration of one hundred earth work enclosures, about the middle of the last century, gave the largest amount of knowl- edge yet obtained concerning this subject. Their results were published by the Smithsonian In- stitution. Haven, in 1856, reviewed the whole matter arguing against the theory of the mound builders being a more advanced race and ad- vocating their identity with the Indians, and again in 1877, he held that it might yet be proved that the Indians and mound builders were one in race. This it will be remembered was the theory of Dr. Drake in the early part of the century. . The discovery of a considerable number of mound builders' skulls, which in carlier years had been held by some craniologists to favor the theory of a vanished race, has led to more critical study and now the Bureau of Ethnology seems to incline to the theory of the Indian origin of these mounds and their build- ers. In the fourth report of the bureau, it is said that over two thousand mounds had been opened and thirty-eight thousand relics gath- cred, but nothing has been found to afford any clue to the language used by the mound builders. . The conclusions reached were first that the mounds were as diversified as the Indian tribes, but yield 110 signs of a superior race. Their builders and the Indians are claimed to be the same, and the accounts by carlier visitors to the Indians found here are confirmed by the disclos- ures of the mounds; in fact certain kinds of mounds in certain localities are the work of tribes now known.
Cyrus Thomas, the principal advocate of this view, maintained that the enclosures of North- ern Ohio were built by the Iroquois Huron tribes, but that the animal mounds, so called, are more ancient than the simpler ones. Strongly in favor of the Red Indian theory was Judge Manning F. Force, for so many years prominent in the life of Cincinnati. In 1874, he read be- fore the Literary Club a paper which with other papers maintained that the race of builders were in the main similar to the modern Indians and flourished about one thousand years ago. Some of them he thought still survived in the Gulf
States in the sixteenth century and their de- velopments he places on the plane of the Pue- blos, above that of the Algonquins and below that of the Aztecs.
Lucien Carr maintained that the carly records show that nothing was found in the mounds that was not described as pertaining to the In- dians known to the first travelers. On the other hand Squier and Davis seem to favor the dis- appeared race theory, although Squier finally concluded that the. New York mounds were the work of the Iroquois.
Professor Putnam, who in connection with C. L. Metz made most of the explorations in this neighborhood, seems to believe that many Indian tribes built mounds and carth works but does not accept the proposition that all were built by these tribes as proved. The subject is no nearer conclusion than in the carliest days of discussion. The old idea of relying upon the age of trees as indicating antiquity is not at present considered of much force. The subject has furnished unlimited opportunity for discus- sion to the literati of this neighborhood as well as to travelers, as it was in Ohio that the first interest was aroused and the principal explora- tions made. Cutler described the mounds at Marietta in 1789, and Barton describes one at Cincinnati in 1799. Sargent's letter of 1794 has been quoted.
General Harrison regarded this as a subject particularly worthy of his pen, and in his ad- dress to the Historical and Philosophical Society of Cincinnati, in 1837, he made the following re- marks about the works :
"When I first saw the upper plain on which that city stands, it was literally covered with low lines of embankments. I had the honor to at- tend General Wayne two years afterwards, in an excursion to examine them. We were em- ployed the greater part of a day, in August, 1793, in doing so. The number and variety of figures in which these lines were drawn, was almost endless, and, as I have said, almost cov- ered the plain-many so faint, indeed, as scarcely to be followed, and often for a consid- crable distance entirely obliterated; but, by care- ful examination, and following the direction, they could again be found. Now, if these lines were ever the height of the others made by the same people (and they must have been to have answered any valuable purpose), or unless their erection was many years anterior to the others, there must have been some other cause than the attrition of rain (for it is a dead level) to bring
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them down to their then state. That cause I take to have been continued cultivation; and, as the people who erected them would not them- selves destroy works which had cost them so much labor, the solution of the question can only be found in the long occupancy and the cultiva- tion of another people, and the probability is that that people were the conquerors of the original possessors. In the question of the fate of the former, and the cause of no recent vestige of settlements being found on the Ohio, I can offer only a conjecture, but one that appears to me to be far from improbable."
He seemed to think that the mound builders might have been driven off by the great flood, "not because of the actual suffering, but from the suggestions of superstition; an occurrence so unusual being construed into a warning from Heaven to seek a residence upon the smaller streams."
One of the best known writers on pre-historic man and on Indian life generally is L. H. Mor- gan. He felt certain that thie mound builders could not be classed with any known Indian stock and that the nearest region from which they could have been derived is New Mexico. This was a natural sequence of his favorite theory of communal life which pervades all his writings. This was to the effect that the com- munal mode of living accorded with the usages of aboriginal hospitality as well as with their tenure of land. The large structures called pal- aces by some which were found in Mexico and Central America were regarded by him as joint tenement houses. The earth work structures accredited to the mound builders naturally ap- peared to him in the same light and led him to connect their builders with the ancient civiliza- tion of Mexico. This is all the more casy for him as he scouted the idea of the very high grade of Mexican civilization as reported by the Spanish writers and described by. H. H. Ban- croft. This theory is discussed by Robert Clarke in the pamphlet already referred to. The central work, the ellipse so often referred to, was held to correspond with the "pueblo" or village. The fact that it was on the upper plain, three hundred and fifty feet from its edge and that it could be screened from view of the river by a grove of trees gave it a measure of security.
"The entbankment, three feet high (possibly originally higher.), with a base of thirty feet, afforded sufficient foundation for their build- ings, occupying the circumference of the ellipse, facing inward, presenting a solid timber wall
on the outside, with no entrance but by the gate- way on the east, which may have been protected by a palisade of round timbers, with proper openings for ingress and egress, and by some structures of the nature of blockhouses on the higher embankments attached externally at cach side of the entrance. From the lower of these blockhouses, it will be remembered, ran the low embankment, one foot high, with nine feet base, southward nearly to the edge of the declivity, and then east to the mound on the corner of Third and Main streets. This may have been occupied by a high timber palisade, or a covered way leading to the mound, which was so situated as to command a full view of the Licking River, which enters the Ohio on the opposite shore, and was doubtless an important approach, which it was necessary should be watched. If I am right in supposing that the embankment, of the same dimensions as the last, noticed cast of Sycamore, running from Sixth street to near Third street, turned there and joined the other embankment at the mound, and was built upon in the same manner, we would thus have the whole front so defended that it would have to be forced or flanked by an enemy coming from the direction of the Licking River.
"East of this high hill, Mount Adams, over- looking the Ohio, and giving a clear view up the river for miles, would be a natural outpost on which it would not be necessary to erect a mound structure. I have never heard of any remains having been found on this hill.
"To the west, the hill next the river was so distant, and from its position did not command an extensive enough view of the river to serve as an outlook; so a position was selected near the edge of the plain, about five hundred yards west of the closed end of the village, and a large mound thirty-five feet high was erected, from which could be had an extensive view of the Kentucky shore and of the Ohio River to the bend below the mouth of Mill creek. The Brighton Hill mound would give an extensive view of the whole of Mill creek valley, the whole, as before mentioned, being part of an ex- tensive series of signal stations.
"The minor mounds and other works on the upper plain may have been connected with the supervision and care of their agricultural opera- tions on the rich land between the village and the northern hills.
"Thins we have a village judiciously located on a fine, fertile plain, and well guarded by the
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nature of the location and the artificial works erected on a carefully arranged plan."
Probably the final conclusion in this matter is best expressed by our own well known citi- zen, Judge Force, as follows: "The mystery which enveloped the builders of these and simi- lar works is now largely dispelled and it is gen- erally accepted that they were tribes of Indians differing little from the sedentary and fortified tribes which inhabited the country of the St. Lawrence and the lakes in the time of Cartier and Champlain, or from the tribes- which now inhabit the pueblos of New Mexico and Ari- zona."
The matter of the age of the earth works has been as complete a mystery as the race or char- acteristics of the builders. Mr. Winsor epito- mizes three matters of evidence which are usually considered. The first is that very few of the earth works are found on the last of the terraces to be reclaimed from the streams. The second is the condition of the skeletons found which must be considered with relation to the kind of earth with which they were buried. The
third is the age of the trees found upon them. Upon this last consideration but little depend- ence can be placed. The trees may have been planted a long time subsequent to the building of the mounds or after they had been abandoned or they might have been planted immediately upon their completion. As already stated the old idea of measuring the age of trees by rings is an exploded one although Mr. Winsor says that in the temperate zone the best authorities place dependence upon it.
With these statements of the remains found on the site of Cincinnati and with the various views entertained about their origin, the subject can be left to the consideration of the reader with the comforting assurance that the field of inquiry on this subject is still open, that after all nothing has been settled with regard to it and that the opinion of one is about equal in value to the opinion of another. The subject, too, has additional charm in the way of afford- ing unlimited opportunity for conjecture for the reason that any settlement of the matter is proba- bly beyond human wisdom.
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CHAPTER III.
THE INDIANS. 1963884
INDIAN TRIBES-INDIAN CHIEFTAINS-TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS.
INDIAN TRIBES.
When the first explorers entered the West, towards the end of the seventeenth and the be- ginning of the eigliteenth century, they found that the greater part of the Ohio region was the hunting ground of the Iroquois Indians, known at that time as the Five Nations. This family of Indians stood foremost among the American savages in the exploits of war and in cultivation, if such a word can be employed in such a connection. At one time or another they were the conquerors of half the continent and included within their sovereignty the choicest hunting grounds, covering the most fertile val- leys and the densest forests in the region be- tween the mountains and the Mississippi. In the nature of things the hunting grounds of the Indians were not usually located near their home land. . Although much attention was devoted by some of the tribes to agriculture, their principal means of subsistence were the game of the forest and plain and the fish of the rivers. The neigh- borhood of their villages was naturally the first place to be hunted out and this made it neces- sary for hunting parties to look for game at greater distances from home. As a result it be- came usual for the stronger nations to hold large tracts of forests as their special demesne. The division of these tracts among the tribes was well recognized and although it might be possible to pass from one end to the other of any one of them without coming across an inhabited spot or meeting either friend or foe, the riglit of property in these particular sections was well understood by the Indians. As one race became predominant over its neighbors, its hunting
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