Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 6

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086

USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 6

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

flat nose, gray, sunken eyes, and thin, com- pressed lips, with a wicked expression of countenance that made him seem the picture of a villain. C. W. Butterfield writes that, 'all the vices of civilization seemed to center in him, and by him were ingrafted upon those of the savage state, without the usual redeeming qualities of either.' He moved about through the In- dian country during the war of the Revo- lution and the Indian war which followed, a dark whirlwind of fury, desperation and barbarity.

"In the refinements of torture inflicted upon helpless prisoners, as compared with the Indians', theirs seemed to be merci- ful. In treachery, he stood unrivaled. The prisoner who became his captive must abandon all hope of pity, and yield him- self to the club, the scalping-knife and the indescribable agonies of the stake. No Indian, drunk, was a match for him. He swore horrid oaths. He appeared like a host of evil spirits. He was called a beast, and a villainous, untrustworthy cur dog. This savage, compounded of all the meaner qualities that could or might dis- figure the life of a human being, it has been affirmed, had in some rare moments better emotions. He met with his former acquaintance, Simon Kenton, while the latter was a prisoner of the Indians, under sentence of death, and called him his dear friend, and interfered and saved his life. He looked the scoundrel with a gloomy stare, while 'o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair.'

"The celebrated chief of the Shawnees, Catahecassa, or the Black Hoof, was born in Florida and had bathed and fished in salt water before he settled on Mad River. He was present at the defeat of Braddock,

near Pittsburg, in 1755, and was engaged in all the wars in Ohio from that time until the treaty of Greenville, in 1795. He was a man of sagacity and experience, and of fierce and desperate bravery, and well informed in the traditions of his people. He occupied the highest position in his nation, and was opposed to polygamy and the practice of burning prisoners. He was a man of good health and was five feet eight inches in height. He died in Wapakoneta at the age of one hundred and ten years, A. D. 1831. Without be- ing able to find it so stated, after some · investigation, in so many words, I believe that this Indian was the chief leader in the defense of Piqua when the place was invested by Gen. Clark. To prevent, if such a thing could be possible, almost con- tinual depredations of the Indians upon the border population, an expedition was organized to march against their towns on Mad River. This army rendezvoused at the place where Covington, in the State of Kentucky, now stands. It ascended the Ohio River from Louisville in transport boats, which also brought provisions and stores.

"On the opposite side of the river they built a block-house, in which to store pro- visions and form a base of supplies. This house was the first one built on the site where the city of Cincinnati, now stands.

"On the 2nd of August, A. D. 1780, Gen. George Rogers Clark moved with an army of 1,000 men from the point named to the Indian towns on Mad River, located in and near to the terirtory which is now included in Clark County, Ohio. The distance to be marched was about eighty miles, through an untracked for- est, over which, with great labor, the

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

soldiers cut and bridged, when found nec- essary, a road for the passage of horses and pack-mules, and one six-pound can- non.

"The soldiers marched without tents, beds or personal baggage. Their rations for a thirty-days campaign were six quarts of corn, one gill of salt, with what green corn and wild game they might pick up on the march. Any meat they ob- tained was cooked on sticks set up be- fore the fire. Sometimes green plums and nettles were cooked and eaten by the men.

"The impression obtained, not only in the settlement, but with the soldiers, that if the army was defeated none of the men would escape, and that in such events the Indians would fall on the defenseless women and children of Kentucky and massacre them, burn their towns and their villages, and lay waste their country. It seemed to be a choice either that the white settlers or the Indians must be de- stroyed, and both parties regarded it in the same light, and acted with the calm- ness and bravery usual to forlorn hopes, formed of soldiers commanded to en- counter some desperate exigency. Daniel Boone, the pioneer Indian fighter, acted as a spy for the expedition .* The skill and vigilance which entered into the cam- paign will be demonstrated by a presenta- tion of the manner, form, and conduct of the army while on the march.

"It was separated into two divisions. General Clark commanded the first and Colonel Logan the second. Between these two columns marched the pack mules and the artillery. The men in each division were ordered to march in four lines, about

forty yards apart, with a line of flankers on each side, about the same distance from the right and left lines. In the event of an attack from the enemy in the front, it was to halt, and the two right lines would wheel to the right, and two left lines wheel to the left, and the artillery would advance to the front, the whole forming a complete line of battle. The second division would form in the same manner, and advance or act as a reserve. By calling in the right and left flanking parties, the whole force would present a line of battle in the form of a square, with the pack mules and the baggage in the center. In case of an attack on either flank, or the rear, the same maneuver would put the army in the most favorable position for defense or assault.

"On the 6th day of August, A. D. 1780, the army arrived at the Indian town of old Chillicothe, only to find it burned and the inhabitants gone. On the 7th, some days sooner than the Indians had ex- pected, it drew up in front of Old Piqua. A soldier had deserted to the In- dians before the army arrived at the mouth of the Licking, and gave notice of the approaching expedition. The attack commenced about 2 o'clock p. m. on the 8th day of August, and lasted until 5 in the evening. The assaulting forces were divided into three separate commands. One, under the command of Colonel Lynn, was ordered to cross the river and encom- pass the town on the west side. To pre- vent this move from being successful, the Indians made a powerful effort to turn the left wing of the assaulting party, which Colonel Lynn successfully defeated by extending his force a mile to the west of the town. Colonel Logan, with 400 men

*This statement is doubted as Boone was then sup- posed to have been in the east. Ed.

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under his command, was ordered to march up the south side of the river, concealing, if possible, the move from the observation of the Indians, and cross over the stream at the upper end of the prairie, and pre- vent their escape in that direction. Gen- eral Clark remained in command of the center, including one six-pounder cannon. He was to assault the town in front.

"This disposition of the forces, with a simultaneous assault made by the separ- ate commands, promised, if well executed, the capture of the town and a complete rout of the Indians, with the death of a great number. According to the custom of the times, no prisoners were made. All that were captured were put to death.

"The Indians, according to their plan of defense, could not safely retreat, if de- feated, over the round-topped hill, for the elevation would bring them within sight and range of the American rifle, and the cannon with the command of Gen. Clark, which, in appearance and sound, created more fear than it did harm.

"Neither could they escape out of the upper end of the prairie, for Colonel Logan and his 400 men had been sent to intercept them there; nor to the north, for this route was too much obstructed by the rocks; nor to the west or lower part of the town, the location of the stockade fort, for at this point the battle raged with the greatest fierceness, under the command of Colonel Lynn. The constant crack of the rifle in its deadly work, the shouts of the white soldiers, the yells of the Indians, the screams of the wounded and dying, the distant roar of the cannon, disclosed this to be the point where defeat was to be accepted or victory won.

"Simon Girty, who never was a con- 3

stant friend to any party, 'gnashing his teeth in impotent rage,' ordered his 300 Mingo Indians to withdraw from what may have appeared to him an unequal fight .*

"This moment of time, near the same hour of the day one hundred years ago, was a dark and doubtful crisis in the history of that part of our country which is now regarded as the most beautiful, fertile and thickly populated part of Ohio.

"If Clark's army had been defeated, we cannot doubt that every white soldier would have been put to death, and the State of Kentucky invaded by the Indians, and what would have followed on the border can only be conjectured by what we have been told in the history of In- dian wars.

"The Shawnees, disheartened by the withdrawal of their allies, and pressed by the fierce, rather desperate fighting of the whites, which they denominated 'mad- ness,' or fate, so reckless were the sol- diers in exposing their lives (and against such 'madness' the Indians never con- tend), gave up the fight and slowly fell back up the prairies, partly concealed by the tall grass, the wigwams, and the trees in the willow swamp. They fought as they retreated, not for victory, but for their lives, until they reached the rocks, be- neath which they had concealed their women and children.

"Their situation was now worse than it had been at the commencement of the conflict, for they had passed all the low ground, making a retreat to the north practical, with the exception of the open-

*Butterfield. in his history of the Girtys, says that there were no Mingoes in Piqua at the time it was at- tacked by Clark and Simon Girty was not there. pp. 122. 406. Ed.

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

ing cut down from the top of the cliff already described, and up through this, tradition claims, they marched out into the hills. If Colonel Logan had executed his part of the plan with greater rapidity, the Indians would have been cut off from this place of retreat, and a great number of them put to death. Some persons as- sert that Colonel Logan marched to a point where Mad River meets with the waters of Buck Creek before he crossed the river, and then marched down the east side thereof to execute his part of the general plan. He marched about three miles, according to all the authorities, and this is the distance from the site of the Old Piqua to the mouth of Buck Creek.

"It follows that, if he did go so high up the river as the point named, that he would have travelled six miles before he could bring his men into action.

"This view of the maneuvering, after looking over the location of the battlefield, seems so unmilitary that I cannot accept it. I presume that he made a detour from the river, that his force might not be ob- served, as secrecy was one of the condi- tions of success. To accomplish his part of the general plan, he may have marched three miles, but certainly not six. Let this point be settled as it may, there is no dispute about the fact that when he got his men into position, the battle had been fought and won, and the Indians gone. The loss was about equal-twenty men on each side.

"On the 9th of August, the stockade fort, the shot-battered cabins, and the corn fields, were destroyed. On the 10th, General Clark, with his army, left for Kentucky. This campaign left the Indians without shelter or food. They had to hunt

for their support and that of their fam- ilies, leaving them no time for war, and the border settlements lived in peace and without fear.

"This once powerful nation of the Shawnees had resided near Winchester, Va., then in Kentucky and in South Carolina, after that on the Susquehanna, in the State of Pennsylvania. From this last-named point they emigrated to the banks of the Mad River, and remained until driven from Piqua by General Clark.

"The Shawnees are now no more. The nation which gave birth to the great chiefs so intimately connected with the early history of Ohio, such as Blue Jacket, Black Hoof, Cornstalk, Captain Logan, Tecumseh, and the latter's vagabond brother, the Prophet, has gone out of his- tory."

TECUMSEH.

Tecumseh was no doubt the most noted man that ever sprung from the Shawnee tribe of Indians, of whom E. O. Randall, who is most excellent authority, said, "With the exception of Grant and Sherman, he was, in my opinion, the greatest warrior born within the borders of Ohio. He was more than a mere fighter ; he was a diplomatist, orator and a natural leader of men; he watched what he knew was a hopeless con- test, but fought bravely to the last; he was idolized by his followers and re- spected by his foes."

There is no question but that he was born at this old Shawnee town of Piqua, he himself having pointed out that site as his birthplace, during his lifetime. On the centennial day of this memorable bat-

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tle, and I know of no one who could speak more authoritatively, for he himself was born in that immediate locality, General Keifer said:

"Who were there on that memorable day? There were here (at their birth- place) the three ten-year-old brothers- triplets-with their Creek mother, two of whom became famed in the bloody history of the West. The names of those boys were Tecumseh (a cougar crouching for his prey), Ellskwatawa (an open door), afterward named and recognized as the Prophet, and Rumskaka."

Elsewhere in history I found it said:

"His father, Puckeshinwa, was a mem- ber of the Kisopok tribe of the Swanoese nation, and his mother, Methontaske, was a member of the Turtle tribe of the same people. They moved from Florida about the middle of the last century to the birth- place of Tecumseh. In 1774, his father, who had risen to be chief, was slain at the battle of Point Pleasant, and not long after, Tecumseh, by his bravery, became the leader of his tribe. In 1795 he was declared chief and then lived at Deer Creek, near the site of the present City of Urbana. He remained here about one year, when he returned to Piqua, and in 1798, he went to White River, Indiana."

James, a British historian, in his ac- count of the battle of the Thames, de- scribes him as follows:

"A Shawnee, five feet ten inches high, and with more than the usual stoutness. He possessed all the agility and persever- ance of the Indian character. His carriage was dignified; his eye penetrating; his countenance, even in death, betrayed in- dications of a lofty spirit, rather of the sterner cast." This writer was describ-

ing an officer of the English army. His national pride would incline him to a favorable estimate of an Indian chief who served in the English army, and in that light we must regard his portraiture of Tecumseh. "I have met," says Thomas F. McGrew, "and conversed with an early settler in Clark County who remembered his personal appearance, and described him as nothing above that of an ordinary Indian.''

Tecumseh was born about 1768 and was . killed at the battle of the Thames, Octo- ber 5, 1813, being then forty-five years of age. His first prominent appearance was in the attack on Fort Recovery (near Greenville, Ohio) in 1794.

About 1805 his brother, Ellskwatawa set himself up as a prophet, denouncing the use of liquor, and all food and man- ners introduced by the whites. He and Tecumseh then attempted to unite all the western tribes into one nation to resist the whites, extending from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and soon had 10,000 Indians gathered at Greenville.

General Harrison required them to move, as it was beyond the Indian limit fixed by treaty.

In 1811 he was in the south getting the Creeks and Seminoles to rise and, by promise of English aid, to overthrow the United States authority.

The battle of the Thames was fought October 6, 1813. In this battle Tecumseh held the title of Brigadier General from the British, and he is buried not far from that battlefield. He seems to have had a presentiment that he would not survive this battle, for it is said that laying aside his sword and uniform in the conviction that he might fall he put on his hunting

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

suit and was soon killed. Col. R. M. Johnson is said to have shot him, but it was not known for some days by the Americans. All historians do not agree as to Tecumseh's ability or his general character. That he was an Indian pos- sessed of the peculiarities of that race is no doubt true; that he was at times cruel and vacillating is beyond dispute, but gen- erally I think it may be accorded to him, that if not classed in the high rank that Randall puts him, yet he was beyond ques- tion the most distinguished Indian that ever had his birth within the borders of this county.

INDIAN CHARACTER.

General Anderson in his address at the Ohio Centennial thus speaks of the gen- eral character of the red man.

"Let us now try to form some estimate of the party of the second part, of the noble red man. He is a survival of the stone age, and probably belongs to the old- est race of man. He is brave, patient, en- during, loyal to his tribe, and fairly honest, until demoralized by evil associa- tion. On the other hand, he was cruel, revengeful, lazy, and unreliable. The curse of Reuben is upon him. 'Unstable as water, he cannot excel.' Naturally the Indian has a warlike and not peace- ful characteristic. We used to hear stories of a handful of white men stand- ing off hordes of howling savages. The fact is, that under the conditions of frontier warfare, the Indians are, man for man, equal to the white men. Suc- cess in war does not depend on the half- hour's fighting, but on weeks or months of hard campaigning. Trained in war-

fare from his boyhood, a master in wood- craft, and a past master in stratagems, the Indian is a better campaigner than any, except the best trained soldier."

INDIAN FIGHTING.

And of his fighting, the authority last quoted from says: "The character of the Indian fighting in the heavily wooded country of Oregon and Washington was very similar in character to the Indian warfare in Ohio in its pioneer days. Colonel Shaw, an experienced Indian fighter in that part of the country, gave the writer this statement of his ex- perience. 'The Indians,' he said, 'fight like wolves or other wild animals which hunt and fight in droves. As the wolves attack with great fierceness wounded animals, so the Indian, by some instinct of fight at- tacks the weakest part of your line, and if they have made any impression crowd on that point.' 'This,' he said, 'they do without orders.' While this is true, their chiefs have been known in battle to give orders by flashes from old mirrors."

INDIAN INCIDENTS.

It will be interesting to know of a few of the incidents that occurred between the earlier settlers and the Indian inhabit- ants.

In Mr. Mckinnon's letter read at the Shawnee Centennial, I find the following : "One day, soon after we settled on Buck Creek, and father and the older boys were away from home, four Indians-two young men and two older ones-came to our house and called for their dinners. Mother provided a dinner for them, and

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while they were eating she asked one of the young men if they were at the burn- ing of Colonel Crawford. He said that the two of the old ones were. She then told him that Colonel Crawford was her grandfather. When he notified the other ones of this fact they all immediately stopped eating and appeared somewhat alarmed; but she told them to go on with their eating and not be uneasy. She then asked them if they could tell her about the death of Major Harrison. They told her that he had been squibbed to death with powder at Wapatomica, near Xanes- field, Logan County. She then told them that Harrison was her father." This re- port fully corroborated one given by a man named Trover, I think, who was a prisoner at the same time with Major Har- rison. He said he had seen Harrison's body black and powder-burned.

Another Indian trouble was in the time of Governor Tiffin. He was advised of the coming trouble and he sent word to Tecumseh at Wapakoneta to meet him in council at Springfield, with eighty war- riors, the picked men of the Shawnee tribe. I remember one of them in par- ticular, a man by name of Goodhunter, who had formerly camped near our house, when on a hunting expedition. He was as fine a specimen of perfect physical man- hood as I ever saw. The council was held and the pipe of peace was smoked. The following incident occurred in connection with the smoking. A Dr. Hunt had a clay pipe and Governor Tiffin used it for the occasion. When he had filled the pipe and started it, he passed it to Tecumseh who looked at it a moment and then throwing it away he brought forth his tomahawk-pipe, and after starting it

handed it to Governor Tiffin. I heard Tecumseh's speech as he made it through an interpreter, and I never heard a finer orator than he appeared to be.

Another incident is given by Mr. Baker in his history of Mad River Township.

"About 1805, a friendly Indian, en- camped on the headwaters of Mill Creek, near the present site of Emery Church, was visited by three men from this town- ship. The visit was made in the guise of friendship; they were kindly received and entertained; they engaged the Indian in shooting at target, and taking advant- age of him when his gun was empty, shot him down without any other provocation than the fact that he belonged to the hated Indian tribe."

The following is given by the late John Ross, of German Township, as alluding to Tecumseh and the state of affairs when he was in his glory.

"In those days, Indians were very num- erous and quite hostile, so that the set- tlers lived in constant dread of them, many times being compelled to collect to- gether for mutual protection. In 1806, during one of their outbreaks, all the whites for miles around collected at a place a few miles southwest of Spring- field, since known as Boston, where they built a blockhouse. Colonel Ward, Simon Kenton, and a few other of the prominent men of the party, went out and made a treaty with the Indians, which was kept about two years, or until 1808, when this treaty was renewed at the then village of Springfield. The militia and many other of the settlers met about sixty Indians, among whom were five or six chiefs, prin- cipal among whom was old Tecumseh. Mr. Ross remembered him as tall, lithe

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

figure, of good form, and fine, command- ing appearance. He made a speech at the treaty, which, for an Indian, was remem- bered as being full of oratory, and re- markable for ease and grace of delivery. A white man had been murdered, for which the murderer was demanded, or the whole tribe would be held accountable. 'Can you,' asked Tecumseh, 'hold your whole people accountable for a murder committed by one of your bad men? No, then you cannot hold us accountable.' "

Mr. McGrew gives an incident not so much to the credit of Tecumseh's bravery. "As an illustration of his morals and honor, in his early life, I give the follow- ing incident: It was communicated to me by a friend, who obtained the same in- formation from an early settler in Clark County, that Tecumseh traded with a white man a much-worn saddle for one that appeared better. The white man re- paired the saddle which he obtained in the trade, and by the use of his own skill and materials, made it look the better one of the two. When Tecumseh next met this white man with the repaired saddle, he treacherously claimed it as his own. The white man invited him to settle the right of ownership by a personal conflict, which the Indian very cowardly declined."

In Mr. Martin's history of Springfield, a description is given of the trial of three Indians who killed a white man about the year 1807, a few miles west of Urbana. This trial was held opposite the old Foos Tavern. Tecumseh was present. After a full and patient inquiry into the facts of the case, it appeared that the murder of Myers was the act of a single Indian, and not chargeable to either band of the Indians. Several speeches were made by

the chiefs, the most prominent of which was that by Tecumseh. He gave a satis- factory explanation of the action of him- self and the Prophet in calling around them a band of Indians; disavowed all hostile intentions toward the United States, and denied that either he or those under his control had committed any de- predations upon the whites. His manner of speaking was animated, fluent and rapid, and, when understood, very forci- ble.

The council then terminated. During its session, the two tribes of Indians be- came reconciled to each other, and peace and quiet was gradually restored to them- selves in various feats of activity and strength, such as jumping, running and wrestling, in which Tecumseh generally excelled. At this time, Tecumseh was in the thirty-eighth year of his age, five feet ten inches high, with erect body, well de- veloped and of remarkable muscular strength. His weight was about one hun- dred and seventy pounds. There was something noble and commanding in all his actions. Tecumseh was a Shawnese; the native pronunciation of the name was Tecumtha, signifying "The Shooting Star." He was brave, generous and humane in all his actions.

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Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 6

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co. Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086