USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 5
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
nut, and it holds exactly the same place today. The 'second-class land' was the white oak forests of our high-lying drift- covered districts. The 'third-class' land were the elm and red maple swamps that occupied the divides between different river systems. By proper drainage, many of these last named tracts have recently been turned into the garden soils of Ohio, but, for such a result, it was necessary to wait until a century of civilized occupation of the country had passed. These facts show in clear light that the character of the soil depends upon the geological and geographical conditions under which it exists and from which it has been de- rived."
To particularize, in this county it may be said that the oak predominates, the white oak being the principal variety, al- though there was a considerable amount of red, black, pigeon, swamp and other classes of this variety.
In the fine red soil along the valleys there are very fine specimens of black walnut, there being also found a scatter- ing of butternut or white walnut. The oak forests were generally interspersed with hickory of the shell bark and other varieties. In the lands west of Mad River were found some sugar groves, but they were not plentiful enough to make the maple syrup industry a profitable one. Scattered sugar trees are found in almost all parts of the county. The beech and poplar variety are almost exclusively con- fined to the uplands of Pike and German Townships. Along Mad River there are some magnificent specimens of sycamore from five to six feet in diameter. The buckeye is also occasionally found.
In the low bottom land, gray and swamp
ash and the elm of white variety pre- vailed. The gray or harder ash is also found scattered in the uplands, it being the same particularly with the growth of oak. Elm is also found in the uplands.
The sassafras and dogwood likewise are usually found in what is known as oak land. The cottonwood, willow and quak- ing asp are generally confined to the low lands. The wild cherry is found scat- tered in many parts of the county.
Occasionally trees of gum, ironwood, mulberry, hackberry and persimmon will be found in the various parts of the coun- ty, while pawpaw bushes were mostly found in the forests of the beech and poplar, and the hazelbush in the oak grove.
Some fine specimen of linn are also found, principally where the poplar and sugar grow. The wild crab-apple, black and red haw are, or rather were, found scattered here and there over the county. The blackberry bushes grow to profusion in many places.
At one time no doubt at least four- fifths of the 200,000 acres of this county was covered with timber, Now, possibly less than one-tenth can be found to be in that condition and very little in the con- dition that nature left it.
Timber of the variety not indigenous to this county has been transplanted in va- rious places with success notably the South Carolina poplar and the catalpa.
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CROPS.
Acres.
Bushels.
Weight.
1880
1905
1880
1905
1880
1905
Wheat 33,889
26,056
741,813
464,266
Rye
215
1,813
3,672
24,368
Oats
4.295
15,229
144,035
498,913
Buck-
wheat
29
20
375
209
Corn
43.921
46,217
1,458,505
1,930,147
tons
tons
Mea-
dow
10.605
12,046
tons
tons
Clover
9,724
14,797
6,377
6,858
19,804
12,382
20,243
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
1bs.
none
Flax
1,720
reported
14,437
132,600
Cultivated land 108.406 Pasture
121,784
Pota-
toes
1,107
824
81,025
76,352
lbs.
1bs.
land 34,861
13,094
Tobacco
42
194
76,458
121.622
Waste
land 3,237 2.163
Butter
469,461
529,853
Total 192,780
174.336
lbs.
1bs.
Cheese
680
1,800
Wool
lbs. 203,700
116,091
land 46,279 Wood-
37,303
lbs
1bs.
CHAPTER III.
INDIAN OCCUPATION.
In a Condition of Nature-Erie Indians - Iroquois -- Twightwees - Shawnees Indian Villages-Battle of Piqua -- Tecumseh -- Indian Character -- Indian Fighting-Indian Incidents, etc.
IN A CONDITION OF NATURE.
Murat Halstead has given a beautiful description of the natural condition of Ohio, which is particularly applicable to the part in which Clark County is lo- cated, when he says "The French were truthful, as well as tasteful, when they named the Ohio, 'The Beautiful River.' " In the grand old days of the wilderness, the "game" crossed the famous stream, finding fords in the absence of floods. The buffaloes that roamed through the shady paradise, between the great river and the lake, knew well the wide water that divided and united the valley; and their mighty feet made roads for the herds to seek, wading or swimming to the salty waters they loved, and the blue grass that was agreeable in its nutritious assimila- tion. The dainty families of the Virgin- ian deer were pleased to sport in the bright streams. The southern squirrels gathered in armies and invaded the north, and, in frisky array, their noses and tails telling that they held steadily on their ap-
pointed course. Their tails were very helpful sails -- for squirrel squadrons. There were "bear wallows" on the clay hills, where the vigorous animal made bath tubs for his personal use. The bear was the predecessor of the hog. In the deep woods there were showered an ample sup- ply of acorns and beech nuts, hickory nuts and walnuts, and haws, red and blue; vines loaded with the grapes named for their fond lovers the fox and the crow. There were wild crab apples that only the frost could mellow, and pawpaws, the temperate zone banana of the color of golden butter; and the surveyors of the new lands of promise, reported (and the story grew as it spread) that the legs of their riding horses were crimsoned with the blood of raspberries that stood on the slopes among the sugar trees. Some of the berries were red and some were yellow, and all had a delightful flavor. The May apples blossomed white over the brown fallen leaves, that each year added to the fruitfulness of the land. There were two tall and delicate trees,
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
held in high favor and having an almost oriental reputation, as it seemed they should have been the pride and luxury of the tropics. The mulberry and persim- mon are witnesses testifying in Ohio that there is no monopoly of sweetness in the forests of the torrid zone. One ought not to forget that the Ohio woods, before they were despoiled, held groves of the slippery elm tree, which, however, was more than matched by the fragrance of the sassafras and the blazing tints of the red buds, seeming luminous growth of the American beauty roses, that lit up the hill sides with a springtime glory surpass- ing the exquisite fires the frost kindles in October. Beside the red bud, whose name is most inadequate (for it is worthy the gardens of Persia the poets paint). stood the dogwood, a gnarled and sturdy undergrowth, blossoming in the sunshine of spring as if the trees were of wands bursting into enchanting bloom, when the fires of summer poured white light to illumine saplings bending under fairy snow drifts, gathered on the boughs burdened with beauty."
ERIE INDIANS.
In all probability the Erie Indians were the immediate successors of the mound builders. Much of history in reference to this fact rests in tradition but this seems to be now accepted as the nearest solu- tion to the truth that can be obtained. Some historical data exists that about 1640, the Eries ranged over Ohio. Whether the mound builders were ex- terminated or removed to the south, or degenerated in the savages of prehistoric times, is a question that still remains un- solved.
The first authentic account of the Ohio wilderness is from the French explorers. The Eries held the country to the south of Lake Erie, how far is not known. They were a powerful and numerous people living in fortified villages, and tradition credits them with being the most enlight- ened of all the Indian tribes of North America, excepting only the Aztecs of Mexico.
IROQUOIS.
The Iroquois, frequently designated as the Five Nations, as including the Mo- hawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas, were the foes of the Eries .* About 1660 the Iroquois surprised the, Erie warriors, stormed their fortifica- tions and after the custom of the victors, carried away and adopted the women and children of their vanquished foes. This tribe of Indians claimed all the land north of the Ohio River, and as such tribe at one time ceded their interest in these lands to that part of the. United States which was then included in the state of New York, a controversy arose as to whether Ohio really belonged to Virginia by rea- son of the conquest and explorations made by Clark and others, or whether it be- longed to New York by virtue of the treaty made with the Iroquois. There is consid- erable controversy over the fact as to whether they really ever occupied much, if any, of the State of Ohio, but if so probably very little of the territory now within Clark County.
History shows that whatever the Iroquois may have done, or claimed, as
* About 1712 the Tuscaroras, who had been driven from North Carolina by the British, joined the confed- eracy, which thereafter was commonly known as the Six Nations.
46
HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
to the conquest of this section, the tribes that were afterwards found in central Ohio-the Wyandottes, Delawares, Shaw- nees, Miamis and others did not concur therein.
While the Iroquois were a powerful con- federation, it is said that they were at no time a numerous people. At the time of their greatest affluence they are said not to have numbered more than 25,000 and at the time of our revolution prob- ably less than 15,000, and after their con- flict with the western tribes they slowly drew back, claiming the title but really relinquishing it.
TWIGTWEES. (MIAMIS.)
This tribe or nation of Indians were oc- cupants of the Miami Valley as early as 1749, as the following quotation from Gist's Journal will show :
"The Great Miami river was first known as Rock River, called by the French Riviere de la Roche, from its rocky bed. When the Miami nation emigrated to it from the Wabash, it took their name. Its head approached near that of the Maumee, which empties into Lake Erie, and was the original Miami, but changed by the whites to avoid confusion. The two rivers with a portage between their waters, formed one of the principal canoe routes between the Ohio and the Lake. It was that by which Celeron (see next chapter) went from Ohio to Detroit. The Twigt- wees were Miamis, of which nation the Pickwayliness and Pyankeshees, later mentioned, were also tribes. They were once a very powerful nation, and claimed to have held the land between the Scioto and the Wabash, from the Ohio to the
lakes, beyond the memory of man. They were the only Northern Indians who had not at some time been subdued by the Six Nations, and had so harassed them when they had extended their conquest of other nations to the Mississippi that they had to relinquish their hold there and restrict themselves to their former limits. They had been faithful allies of the French from their first appearance on the lakes, and equally persistent enemies of the English, until a few years prior to this time, when they had changed their al- legiance, moved from the Wabash to the Miami, and became friendly to the Eng- lish. For this and in retaliation for their treaty with Groghand and Fist, the French waged a destructive war against them, taking their fort and burning their villages in 1752."
It is probable that the Miami Indians to a certain extent occupied at one time parts of Clark County.
SHAWNEES.
But whatever we may say about Indian occupation of Clark County, we know that the Shawnees were the immediate predecessors of the white man, that it was with this tribe that the historic battle of Piqua was fought in 1780 by General Clark, and some historians say that this tribe or nation of Indians were the im- mediate followers of the mound builders, but this rests only on tradition.
The centennial of this battle of Piqua, which was held in 1880, brought forth a great many historical matters in reference to the Shawnee Indians, and a letter of particular importance which is found in Beer's history, from Prof. Royce of the
47
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
Smithsonian Institute, gives more facts about this tribe than can be found else- where. He says, "the Shawnees were the Bedouins, and I may almost say the Ishmaelites of the North American Tribes. As wanderers they were without rival among their race, and as fomenters of dis- cord and war between themselves, and their neighbors their genius was marked. Their original home is not, with any great measure of certainty, known. It is alto- gether improbable that it ever will be."
Of them Gen. Keifer in his welcome address at the centennial said :
"On these grounds, 100 years ago, were the then principal villages of the Shawnee Indian tribe. This tribe had occupied dif- ferent portions of the now territory of the United States during nearly three hundred years of preceding history, and it was the most warlike of all the Indian tribes. It had rarely been at peace with the other tribes until it went to war with the whites. Their chiefs possessed more sagacity and more of the true spirit of warriors than the chiefs of other tribes. Their traditions were of war, extending back to a time when they, in search of con- quest, 'crossed a sea' to this continent. In this tribe alone did the latter tradition prevail. Here the head chiefs made their home. On account of the abundance of game, the richness of soil, the pure water from the numberless perennial springs, the large quantities of fish which then abounded in the limpid waters of Mad River and its tributary streams, the facil- ity for engaging in favorite sports upon the river and the then open prairies, these aboriginal people had become more than ordinarily attached to this place as a home. The acquisition of these lands may
have been at the cost of many of their chiefs and braves. Here were the graves of their ancestors and those dear to them. They followed the natural instincts of mankind in defending this country against the aggressions of the white race."
There were probably several branches of the Shawnee tribe or nation. At the time that the white occupation of Ohio began they were no doubt in possession of Central Ohio, as a number of villages bear names evidencing that fact. From the time of 1780 we find them engaged more or less in wars between the Indians and the whites and as parties to treaties with the white people. In 1790 they suffered from the expedition of Gen. Harmar, but after- wards had a share with the Miamis in his final defeat. In 1791 they rejoiced over the defeat of St. Clair, and in 1794 they were made to feel the effect of General Wayne's victory. They were parties to a treaty of peace that was made in 1786 at the mouth of the Great Miami and in 1795, by the treaty of Greenville, they sur- rendered much of their territory, com- prising about two-thirds of Ohio and a portion of Indiana, In 1805 they were again parties to a treaty wherein they ceded to the United States a large tract of country lying north and west of the Greenville treaty line, and east of the north and south of a line twenty miles west of the Pennsylvania, and in 1805 they with their tribes granted a right of way for two roads, one running from Meigs on the Maumee on the western reserve and one from Fremont south to the Green- ville treaty line. With their chief, Tecum- seh, they were defeated in the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
In 1817 they were parties to a treaty
48
HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
and lost the entire Indian Territory with- in the present limits of Ohio. In return for what they gave they were granted cer- tain reservations, one of which was a tract ten miles square near Wapakoneta, a tract adjoining of twenty-five miles on Hog Creek, as well as a tract of forty-eight square miles surrounding Lewistown. (There was an earlier Wapakoneta, which was located on Mad River near where a small stream enters, about two and one- half miles south of West Liberty.)
In the war with the Mingos and Shaw- nees, in 1818 there was added a tract, twenty miles square, to the reserve at Wapakoneta, and fourteen miles to the one at Lewistown. By the treaty of 1831, the Lewistown reserve was ceded to the United States, as well as those at Wapa- koneta and Hog Creek, and this was the last of the lands over which the Shawnees claimed any title in Ohio, they agreeing to move west. For this purpose a tract of 60,000 acres of land was granted to the Lewistown band of Shawnees in the north- east corner of Indian Territory, which has been their most recent place of resi- dence.
Such has been the fate of the Shaw- nees, who once occupied this valley. When first known to the whites, they were a
numerous and warlike people of Georgia and South Carolina. They aban- doned or were driven from that locality, and located in Pennsylvania and took part in the tragic scenes of the Wyoming Val- ley.
They fought on Braddock's field, at Point Pleasant, and along the whole line of the Western Frontier, and lastly, we find them on the Wabash at Tippecanoe. Their traditions, if carefully preserved,
would have embraced a hundred battle- fields in as many separate districts, which now embrace eight or nine sovereign states, with a population of from eight to ten millions of people. The last Indians removed from Ohio in 1841.
INDIAN VILLAGES.
The Indians in selecting a site for vil- lages, usually gave preference to fertile lands bordering upon streams of water. The location of only two Indian villages is known to have been in Clark County. In Beer's history it is said that on a farm of the Smiths perhaps one-half of a mile west of the village of New Carlisle there stood the village of Chinchima. This village was located on Honey Creek. It might have been a Miami village, as the Miamis seem to have been in occu- pancy of the lands along the Miami River. The other village in Clark County was that of Piqua which was the scene of the historic battle of General Clark, which will be subsequently narrated herein. The location of this village is well described in the history given of that battle. The result of the battle was that the Indians practically abandoned the territory now comprised in this county. Afterwards they established another village which they likewise called Piqua, and this was at the place where the city of Piqua in Miami County is now located. They also had another town of the same name with- in the boundary of what is now Pickaway County. The fact that the Indians gave these same names to villages in different localities has caused considerable confu- sion in reading Indian history, it some- times being hard to distinguish which one
49
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
of the different places is meant. There were quite a number of villages leading north on Mad River; about two and a half miles south of West Liberty was Wapakoneta, next was the town of Mac- a-cheek, then three miles northwest from Mac-a-cheek, on the west side of the river, was Pigeon Town; Wapatomica near Zanesfield was next. Blue Jacket was where Bellefontaine now is. Three miles above was Buckingahelas, and nine miles Solomon's Town.
They also had a town or village three miles north of Xenia, which was called Chillicothe, and another town of the same name where the city of Chillicothe is now located in Ross County. Historians have distinguished these two by calling the one near Xenia "Old Chillicothe." This lat- ter place was destroyed by an expedition from Kentucky, a year previous to the battle of Piqua. As the battle of Piqua is the first and only battle that has ever occurred so far as we know upon Clark County ground a description of the same cannot be otherwise than interesting.
During the Shawnee Centennial of 1880 the Hon. Thomas F. McGrew prepared a paper on the subject, and from the fact that he was not only long a resident of this place, but was also learned and cau- tious in a matter of this kind, I think it may be considered the most reliable that can be found anywhere and I insert it herewith.
BATTLE OF PIQUA.
"The old Indian town of Piqua was situated about five miles west of the pres- ent site of the city of Springfield, Ohio, on the north bank of Mad River. In go-
ing there from the city named, you pass down Mad River until you reach a point where the stream runs in a westerly direc- tion out into a large basin or prairie, which gives some evidence of having one time been the bottom of a small lake.
"At the time the Indians occupied the place, the prairie was about three miles long and one mile wide. It is now fenced off into farms under the highest state of cultivation. At the upper end of this beautiful open landscape, the river grace- fully bends round and silently flows to the south; then again toward the west, con- tinuing in the latter direction until it reaches the lower end of the prairie, where it sweeps around to the northwest, and is soon lost to sight in the forest be- low.
"At the time referred to, on the south side of the river was another prairie, bordered by the low hills in the distance. Over this prairie ran the road from the old Indian town of Chillicothe, about twelve miles south of Piqua, and reached the river on the south bank, nearly op- posite the latter town.
"About two-thirds of the distance down the prairie, on the north side of the river, further progress was obstructed by what might be called a willow swamp, stretch- ing across the prairie from the southwest to the northeast, and stopping about one or two hundred yards short of a limestone cliff, rising out of the north border of the basin or prairie.
"Behind the willow swamp was located the town of Piqua, and behind the town was a round-topped hill, rising up 100 feet from the level of the plain. From the crown of this hill the country might be overlooked for as much as five miles up
50
HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
and down the river. The general ap- pearance of the locality, in its almost primitive wildness, must have been of unsurpassed loveliness.
"The rocks on the north side of the prairie rose up out of the same like a stone wall, twenty-five or thirty feet high, running down in the direction of the round-topped hill back of Piqua, before reaching which it was suddently cut off, leaving an open space between the hills ยท in a moment.
and rocks. This was covered with a growth of forest trees of a low and bushy growth. It was impossible to pass up over this wall of rocks in large companies, ex- cept in one or two places, where they in- clined to drop to the level of the prairie.
"At one point, there was an opening cut down from the point of the cliffs, and quite through them to the lowlands, by some natural force, and was so narrowed that not more than one person, certainly not more than two, could pass up or down through the cut at the same moment of time. This place was concealed from ob- servation by a heavy undergrowth of timber, and could be easily obstructed, and could check the advance of a victorious army.
"The approach to the lower part of the town was defended by a stockade fort, not common with Indians as a means of defense. It included a space of about two acres. The hill, the wall of rocks, the open plain, carpeted with wild flowers of all color; the silver line of the river, the hills far off in the distance, crowned with forest trees, and the long line of Indian wigwams, marking their locations by curling wreaths of smoke, as it rose up from the fires, with here and there a cornfield, indicated that the Indians had
selected this place not only for its natural strength, but as well for its fertility and beauty.
"The Indian children of the town could play before the cabin doors in the low- lands, free from the apprehension of danger, while the warrior on the hill-top might sweep the whole country on the lookout for an approaching enemy, and, by an agreed signal, warn the whole tribe
"In August, A. D. 1780, Piqua was quite populous. In addition to the Shawnees, 300 Mingoes were there as allies to aid in the defense of the place. Piqua is said to have contained, at one period, nearly four thousand Shawnees.
"The town was built after the manner of French villages. The houses extended along the river more than three miles, and were in many places more than twenty poles apart.
"The celebrated, hardened villain, Simon Girty, was the leader of the Mingo braves, as allies of the Shawnees. He had been educated in, and had adopted with savage delight, all the cruelties prac- ticed by the Indians, and stood near, two years later, in the presence of his old friend Colonel Crawford, and derived fiendish enjoyment from witnessing his agonies while burning at the stake. Per- haps he remembered, even in the presence of this awful event, that the hand of one of the daughters of Crawford had been denied to him before he deserted to the Indians. This would be dreadful revenge, but Girty was a dreadful savage. A pris- oner among the Indians, who met with the scoundrel, described him as a man with dark, shaggy hair, low forehead, ' con- tracted brows, meeting above his short,
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