USA > Ohio > Contributions to the early history of the North-west, including the Moravian missions in Ohio > Part 4
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Our travelers sometimes tarried a day or two in a place to supply themselves with food. They shot upward of one hundred and fifty deer in the course of the journey, and found great abundance of fish in the rivers and brooks. They likewise met with a peculiar kind of turtle, about the size of a goose, with a long neck, pointed head, and eyes like a dove. It had scales on its back and lower part of the belly ; all the rest of its covering was soft, resembling leather of a liver color .*
* The soft-shelled turtle, or trionyx ferox.
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July 29th they left the mountains, and ar- rived on the banks of the Ohio, [Alleghany' River, (?)] where they immediately built canoes to send the aged and infirm, with the heavy baggage, down the river. Two days afterward they were met by brother Heckewelder and some Indian brethren with horses from Fried- enstadt, by whose assistance they arrived there on the 5th of August, and were received with every mark of affection by the whole congre- gation.
"LIVING ASHES."
The following beautiful specimen of native · ' poetic imagery is copied from the same narra- tive: "The most troublesome plague, both to man and beast, especially in passing through the woods, was a kind of insect called by the Indians 'pouk,' or 'living ashes,' from their being so small that they are hardly visible, and their bite as painful as the burning of red-hot ashes. These tormenting creatures were met
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يعط ى
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REMOVAL TO GNADENHUTTEN.
in the greatest numbers in a tract of country · which the Indians call 'a place avoided by all men.' "
The following circumstance gave rise to this name. A great many years ago an Indian, affecting the manners of a hermit, lived upon a high rock in this neighborhood, and used to appear to travelers or hunters in different garbs-frightening some and murdering others. At length a valiant Indian chief was so for- tunate as to surprise and kill him; and having burnt the hermit's bones to ashes, scattered them in the air through the forest, which soon took on a living form and became "pouks." These insects were probably the same that after- ward became so well known as "seed-ticks."
REMOVAL TO GNADENHUTTEN.
The mischievous consequences of the rum trade still continued to follow the mission after
* This narrative is condensed from the history of Loskiel, with occasional remarks by the writer.
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it had been on the Beaver but a short time; so that at last it was quite insupportable, and led them to look out for a station further removed from the frontiers. Accordingly, on the 13th . of April, 1773, the whole congregation, con- sisting at this time of not less than four hundred souls, broke up their settlement, leaving their dwellings and cultivated fields to go to ruin- esteeming all things as nothing in comparison with the enjoyment of their religious rites in peace.
A number of the most hardy went directly across the wilderness by land with brother Rothe; but the larger portion traveled by water, in twenty-two large canoes, under the direction of brother Heckewelder-proceeding down the Beaver to the Ohio River, thence to the mouth of the Muskingum, and then up that stream to Gnadenhutten, or the "Tents of Grace;" which voyage was accomplished in three weeks, with great labor and fatigue. When the different portions of the Indian con-
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PROCEEDINGS OF 1774.
gregation again met there was great joy and gladness.
The town of Schoenbrunn was inhabited by the Delaware Indians, and Gnadenhutten by the Mohegans. Dwelling-houses, fields, gar- dens, and cattle were apportioned among the inhabitants according to their necessities; and all the comforts of civilized life were in the course of a year or two within their reach. The labors of the missionaries were much blessed, and many converts added from the adjacent savages, who constantly visited the new settlements.
PROCEEDINGS OF 1774.
In the year 1774 a general war broke out between the Shawnees, Senecas, Mingoes, etc., and the whites; partly occasioned by the mur- der of the family of the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan, and partly from other difficulties. The hostile tribes, especially the Shawnees, used all their influence with the Delawares to draw them
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into the war; but their regard for the mission- aries, and their connection with the Christian
Indians kept them quiet for the present. The Delawares had also promised the brethren be- fore they moved on to the Tuscarawas that they would not only be their friends, but pro- tect them from the hostilities of the other tribes. This act of kindness drew upon the Delawares the contempt of the other savages, who called them, by way of derision, "shwannoks," or whites, which so enraged the young warriors that they could hardly be restrained from fall- ing on the new settlements. Even some of the older chiefs were so much vexed that they sent a formal embassy to the Shawnees, positively declaring that they would not be called "shwan- noks;" and if they were thus shamefully reviled on account of the white teachers who lived in their vicinity, they took this opportunity of saying they had no hand in it, and never in- tended to believe in their religion, or to live conformably to it; that they had never called
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the believing Indians into their country, but . only connived at its being done by some old fools among them.
This latter assertion was a falsehood, and the message sent through fear; but the young war- riors were so much emboldened by it that they came in great troops to Schoenbrunn and Gna- denhutten, committing outrages, the conse- quences of which would have been fatal to the missions had not God in his mercy pro- tected them by his almighty hand. The mis- sionaries being hourly in danger of their lives, it was thought proper to send brother Rothe and his wife with their two infants to Bethle- hem, whither the Lord conducted them safely through many dangers. Canoes were kept in readiness for any sudden emergency-they be- ing often alarmed at night with threatened at- tacks. The sisters were several times driven at noonday from their plantations when at work, and all the inhabitants confined for - days and weeks to their houses for fear of
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hostile parties watching in the neighborhood for stragglers.
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RELIEF OBTAINED.
They were finally relieved from these troubles by the march of Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, with a large army into the country of the Shawnees and Senecas, whose villages were destroyed, and their most influential chiefs taken as hostages. He also compelled them to give up all their white prisoners. This peace was the cause of great joy to the mission, and was celebrated by a public thanksgiving on the 6th of November, with great solemnity. Their affairs also greatly prospered, and many new converts were added to the congregation.
TRANSACTIONS OF 1775.
The rest enjoyed by the Indian congregation was very gratifying. Many strangers visited the settlement at Schoenbrunn; so that the chapel, which would hold about five hundred
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A NEW TOWN BUILT BY THE DELAWARES. 95
persons, was too small. A Mr. Richard Conner, a white man, who had lived several years among the Shawnees, and his wife, joined them, and conformed to their rules and regulations. They had been living at Fort Pitt. Several influen- tial chiefs of the Delawares and Shawnees also united themselves to the congregation. In this year the war of the Revolution between Great Britain and the Colonies broke out, and was the commencement of much and lasting trouble to the missions.
A NEW TOWN BUILT BY THE DELAWARES.
In the Spring of the year 1775 the Delaware tribe of Indians, who had lived for many years in the heads of the Tuscarawas River, removed their chief village to the outlet of that stream, opposite the mouth of the Walhonding, on the spot where the present town of Coshocton now stands. It was done under the direction of their old chief, Ne-ta-wat-wees. The new town was called Gosch-ach-gu-enk. Their old war-
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rior continued a firm friend to the missionaries and their cause as long as he lived.
TRANSACTIONS OF 1776.
In this year a reading and spelling book in the Delaware language was compiled by brother Zeisberger, and introduced into all the Indian schools, and gave great pleasure to the scholars.
NEW STATION ESTABLISHED.
In the Spring of 1776 a new station was established, at the request of the Delawares, on the east side of the Muskingum River, three miles below the mouth of the Walhonding, and called Lichtenau. On the 10th of April broth- ers Zeisberger and Heckewelder, with eight In- dian families, in all thirty-five persons, went from Schoenbrunn to the spot proposed, and on the evening of their arrival met in the open air to praise the name of that Lord whom they in- - tended to worship and serve in this place.
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NEW STATION ESTABLISHED.
They first dwelt in huts, as usual in such emergencies ; marked out the plantations and gardens for the town on the banks of the river, and built one street north and south, with the chapel in the center. They were assisted in their labor by many brethren from Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhutten, and by the old chief Ne-ta- wat-wees, who often came with a large party of his people from Gosch-asch-guenk to help them. Thus in a short time all our Indians who moved hither with their teachers left the huts and took possession of their houses.
By the preaching of the Gospel many Indians became concerned for their salvation; and all . who appeared to be in earnest were allowed to settle here, so that the place rapidly increased. Among the strangers was one who came from the River Illinois, a · distance of a thousand miles, and appeared very thoughtful. At last he asked brother Zeisberger, "Do you think what you preach is true, and good for us?" Ile answered, "I preach the Word of God, 7
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which is truth, and will remain so to all eternity." He replied, "I can not believe it."
This honest declaration pleased the mission- ary, and he explained to him that as soon as he should hear the Gospel and perceive its power, he would without hesitation acknowl- edge its truth.
INDIAN BAPTISM.
In July the nephew of the chief Ne-ta-wat- wees was baptized, and named John. He soon became an active and zealous Christian. The chief himself became very thoughtful about his own salvation, and said that he had made thir- teen notches in a stick, denoting the number of Sabbaths he had heard the Word of God in Lichtenau; and that when he looked at these notches, and thought how often he had heard of his Redeemer, he could not help weeping. The believing Indians at this time amounted to four hundred and fourteen persons. The war, still continuing, was the cause of a great deal
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of trouble to the missions. The old chief, Ne-ta-wat-wees, did all he could to preserve peace among the hostile Indians by embassies and exhortations. But the Hurons and Min- goes, instigated by the British at Detroit, were not to be deterred, but kept up continual hos- tilities with the white settlements in Virginia and Pennsylvania; and generally passing with their war parties and prisoners through some of the mission stations, gave them great trouble- they being always forced to furnish them with food 'on these occasions, whether willing or not. The American parties, with the Indians in their interest, generally traveled the same route; so that they were beset by both sides, and con- sidered as the friends of neither. The lives of the missionaries were often in danger from the hostile Indians, who several times came into their houses for the express purpose of killing them, but were always preserved by some providential interference.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS-CONTINUED.
TRANSACTIONS OF 1777.
THE Huron Indians having joined the British, and taken up the hatchet against the Ameri- cans, used all their influence with the Delawares to induce them to do the same. The Governor of Detroit could not understand why these In- dians were so firm in maintaining peace. At , last it was ascribed to the influence of the mis- sionaries. To remove this difficulty it was pro- - posed to seize three men and take them by force to Detroit; but it was not finally executed till the year 1781, as will hereafter appear. This year the troubles of the mission continued, 1 and the accounts of the capture of Burgoyne's army by the Americans increased the difficulty. The Shawnees determined to go to war, and
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reports were received from all quarters that the savages intended to massacre the mission- aries, and then all those Indians who would not join them in the war.
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TRIALS OF THE MISSIONARIES.
Their severest trials, however, arose from the ill conduct of some of their own followers, who turned aside and joined the heathen In- dians. Among them was a chief named Ne- wal-le-ke, who declared that the Christian doc- trine was all a fable. Captain White Eyes, who did not belong to the Christian Indians, hearing this, answered : "You went to the brethren because you could find nothing in the world to set your heart at ease, and firmly believed you had found with them all you desired. These are the words I heard you speak, and now, being hardly begun, you give up already, and return to your former life. This is not acting the part of a man."
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SCHOENBRUNN ABANDONED.
The difficulties at Schoenbrunn increased so rapidly that the mission at that place was aban- doned in the night of April 3, 1777, and the people removed to Gnadenhutten and Lichtenau.
THE DELAWARES CONCLUDE TO FIGHT.
In the Fall of 1777 there was a report that an American general had arrived at Pittsburg, who would give no quarter to any Indian, whether friend or foe, being resolved to destroy them all. This was probably General M'Intosh. The report, although a fabrication of the hostile Indians, was the cause of the Delawares taking up arms; who alleged, in defense, that they must die whether they fought or not; and, as the Americans were daily expected, their war- riors joined the Hurons, who were still near Lichtenau, and had threatened to destroy it, but were turned aside by the presents of food and kind usage of the Christian Indians.
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ALARMS OF THE CHRISTIAN INDIANS.
September 17th an express arrived at Gna- denhutten, with an account of the approach of the white troops. The congregation immediately fled with their teachers in canoes, to a spot on. the Walhonding River, before agreed on; but in such haste as to leave the greater part of their goods behind. While hourly expecting to hear of a bloody battle, an express came in saying that what they had supposed to be the enemy was only a great number of horses in the woods. They remained there the 18th, and then re- turned. On the 23d a message arrived from the American general at Fort Pitt, and Colonel Morgan, assuring the Indians they had nothing to fear from the Americans. But before the truth was known, a report was again spread that the American troops were in the neighbor- hood, and every one was preparing to escape. Brother Zeisberger assembled them at midnight, and made known the true account from Fort
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Pitt, when they all went cheerfully to rest. The Delawares also returned to their former policy of peace. .
ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE HURONS AND WHITES.
· In October an action took place between a party of Hurons and a troop of American free- booters, who went, contrary to the orders of the general at Fort Pitt, to destroy the Delaware town, and the mission stations among the rest. They were defeated by the Half King, who killed the greater part of them.
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PROGRESS OF THE MISSION.
During this season of calamity, when the spirit of murder and the powers of darkness greatly prevailed, the work of God proceeded unmolested among the Indians, and many con- versions took place-cheering evidences of the favor of Heaven and the faithfulness of the missionaries. The war still continuing between the United States and Great Britain, finally
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CRUELTY OF THE INDIANS.
involved nearly all the Western tribes in the con- test, and gave immense trouble to the Moravian Indians, by the passing of war parties through their towns, often carrying captives and scalps. The Christian Indians, however, uniformly treated them with kindness.
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CRUELTY OF THE INDIANS.
Among these prisoners was an old man of venerable appearance and two youths. The Christian Indians greatly pitied the old man, and offered a large sum to his captors for his release, but they refused. When they reached their village the two young men were tortured and burned alive. The old man was condemned to suffer the same treatment; but being informed by a child of his fate he contrived to escape, and seizing a horse fled into the woods. The savages pursued, but he arrived safely in the vicinity of Lichtenau, quite famished with hun- ger, having eaten nothing for ten days but a little bark and herbs. An Indian brother found
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him in the woods, looking more like a dead than a living man, and brought him with much trouble into town, where he was carefully nursed. He exclaimed, "Merciful God, be praised that thou hast brought me, wretched creature, to a Christian people. If it be thy will that I die in this place I am happy and contented." He > finally recovered and was brought to Fort Pitt.
REMOVAL FROM GNADENHUTTEN.
Most of these troubles were centered at Lich- tenau. Freebooters belonging to the whites in- fested every quarter, and endangered the lives of our Indians. They were, therefore, invited to come and settle at Lichtenau for the present, and removed there in April,, 1778. Thus three Indian congregations lived on one spot. The chapel was enlarged and new houses built. 1
EFFORTS OF THE BRITISHI.
The Governor at . Detroit still continued to use all his influence with the Delaware Indians
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to engage them in the war, inasmuch as several other tribes, who considered themselves as de- scendants of the Delawares, and called that tribe their grandfather, were waiting to see what they would do, being greatly influenced by the opinions of the Delawares. They, how- ever, continued firm in preserving peace at present, listening to the counsel of the mission- aries, and to that of the Christian Indians, who all strongly deprecated war.
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PRESERVATION OF THE MISSION.
In the Summer of 1778, they received cer- tain intelligence that the Governor of Detroit was about to send a party of Indians and En- glish soldiers to carry them off. This plan was frustrated by the death of the commander, and it was some time before his place could be filled with another. The hostile Indians were charged to bring the missionaries, dead or alive, which they promised to do; but happily they neglected to fulfill their promise.
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TRANSACTIONS OF 1779.
In the Summer of the year 1779 danger began to thicken around the peaceable habita- tions of the mission. An army, composed of English and Indians, marched from Detroit to attack Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas, and also to take the missionaries prisoners; but on their way the news of an attack by the Ameri- cans on some of the Indian towns reached them, which caused all the Indians to leave the British officer; and thus the attack was abandoned. That word of Scripture, "The Lord bringeth the councils of the heathen to naught, he maketh the devices of the people of none effect," was often fulfilled.
PLOTS AGAINST THE MISSIONARIES.
The Half King of the Hurons cautioned the missionaries to be upon their guard, for a plot was formed against their lives, especially brother Zeisberger-some malicious persons tak-
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KINDNESS OF COLONEL GIBSON.
. ing great pains to spread a report that this missionary was going over to the Americans with all the baptized Indians. But to all these rumors this heroic missionary paid little atten- tion, trusting in God, and attending strictly to the welfare of the mission. A white renegade, who headed a party of eight Mingoes, robbers and murderers, met Zeisberger, with two Indian brethren, one day in the woods, while passing from one station to another. As soon as he saw him he called to his companions, "See, here is the man we have long been wishing to see and secure; do now as you think proper!" The captain of the Mingoes shook his head, but said nothing in reply. After a few questions they marched off. All the reports about this time agreed in this, that the destruction of the mis- sion stations was resolved upon.
KINDNESS OF COLONEL GIBSON.
In the Summer of 1779 Colonel Gibson, the commander of Fort Laurens, gave the mission-
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aries an invitation to remove with their congre- gations to the fort, or to settle in its vicinity. - This kind offer they declined, for the reason that the war was always most violent near the forts.
1 SALEM BUILT.
In the year 1780 the robberies, outrages, and drunkenness of the savages about Lich- tenau became so great, that it was thought best to abandon it and build a new town five miles below Gnadenhutten, which they called Salem, or the City of Peace. Accordingly, on the thir- tieth of March the last meeting was held here, and all the congregation united in praising God for the many blessings received at that place. The chapel was pulled down, according to their usual custom when abandoning any settlement, probably to prevent its profanation by the heathen savages, or to prevent its being ap- plied to any other u The congregation embarked with their effects in canoes, and pro-
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CHEERING APPEARANCE OF THE CHURCH. 111
ceeded by water to Salem; which, although only twenty miles above Lichtenau, occupied a whole week in rowing against the stream, the river at this season of the year being generally at its highest stage, and of a very rapid current. By the assistance of the brethren from Schoen- brunn and Gnadenhutten, the settlement pro- gressed rapidly, and by the 22d of May the new chapel was ready to be consecrated. On the 23d they partook of the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and on the 28th baptism was administered for the first time at Salem. In December, 1780, the dwelling-houses were all finished. -
CHEERING APPEARANCE OF THE CHURCH.
Brothers Heckewelder and Jung had the charge of the congregation. The spiritual state of the Church was very favorable, and the labor of the Holy Ghost in their hearts so manifest, that the missionaries forgot all their sufferings for joy. During the public sermons there was
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frequently such a general emotion and weeping, that the preacher was obliged to stop till they became more calm. This good spirit was par- ticularly manifest in the sick and dying, many of whose deaths were wonderfully triumphant. Among others was an old man more than one hundred years of age, for he remembered the time when the first house was built in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1682, in which he had been a boy.
About this time Captain White Eyes, who had so often advised other Indians with great - earnestness to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but who had always postponed joining the' believers himself, on account of his being entangled in political concerns, died suddenly at Fort Pitt, of the small-pox. His wife had been a believer for some years.
ADDITIONAL MISSIONARIES.
In May, 1780, brother Grube, then minister of Litiz, in Pennsylvania, came out to hold a
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visitation to the Indian congregations on the Tuscarawas. Brother Senseman and his wife came in his company, as likewise the single sister, Sarah Ohneburgh, who afterward married brother John Heckewelder. They traveled over the ranges of the Alleghany and Laurel Mount- ains, which was excessively fatiguing at that early day, and especially to brother Grube, who had been hurt by the kick of a horse. At Fort Pitt he preached the Gospel to a congregation of Germans, and baptized several children, no ordained clergyman being then a resident there. From there the Indian brethren conducted him and his company safely to Gnadenhutten. The Governor of Fort Pitt, Colonel Broadhead, and Colonel Gibson, treated them with great kind- ness. The latter gave them a traveling tent, and assisted them in many things necessary for their safe conveyance, as the route was at that time infested with hostile Indians. And what was still worse, three white men who were seek- ing to get Indian scalps, a large premium being
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