USA > Ohio > Contributions to the early history of the North-west, including the Moravian missions in Ohio > Part 7
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injuries were forgotten. Could a disciple of Spurzheim get possession of this savage hero's skull, the organ of benevolence, as well as that of combativeness, would be found largely de- veloped. In Ligonier Valley, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, on the Kishaquoquillas Creek, a tributary of the Juniata, about the year 1767, lived Mr. Samuel Maclay, a noted hunter and surveyor of wild lands. He was a man of uncommon activity and courage, and stood high in the estimation of the early settlers of that remote part of the State. After the war of the Revolution, he was for several years Speaker of the Senate of Pennsylvania. Soon after the capture of Fort Pitt, and before peace was finally concluded with the Indian tribes en- gaged on the side of the French, Mr. Maclay was out on a surveying excursion in Ligonier Valley. One evening after a fatiguing day's march, examining the country, and fixing the boundaries of lots, he encamped in a fine open wood, near a large spring which rushed pure
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"LOGAN'S SPRING."
and limpid from the earth, in a hollow way - between two low hills. After eating his sup- per of broiled venison, and drinking heartily from the spring, he stretched himself on a fresh bed of leaves, with his feet to the fire, and slept very quietly. Early in the morning he was suddenly awakened from his refreshing slumbers, by the low growl of his faithful dog, who lay crouched by his side. As he opened his eyes in the direction of the first rays of the morning-light, the figure of a large Indian was seen in bold relief against the clear sky, - only a few rods from him, on the top of the low hill opposite. He was in the act of cock- ing his gun, with the barrel resting on his left arm, and at the same time looking intently on Mr. Maclay. Surprised, but not dismayed, he seized the rifle which lay by his side and sprang. upon his feet. The Indian still stood in the same posture, without any attempt to tree, or further motion of firing. They both remained in the same attitude, a few moments, closely
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eyeing each other. At length the Indian slowly opened the pan of his rifle and threw out the powder -Maclay did the same-and laying down his gun, approached the Indian with out- stretched hand in token of peace. The warrior also made the same movement, and all enmity disappeared immediately. This Indian was the celebrated Logan, afterward so cruelly treated by white men. The spring near which this in- cident occurred is still called "Logan's Spring." They remained for many years after, and till the encroachments of civilization drove the In- dians far west, warm and devoted friends. The descendants of Mr. Maclay, from one of whom I received the anecdote, still venerate the name of Logan.
FIRST SETTLEMENT AT MARIETTA.
In the Spring of the year 1836 I was in Marietta on the 7th of April, a day hallowed as the one on which a little band of adventur- ers, the advance guard of the present great
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FIRST SETTLEMENT AT MARIETTA.
State of Ohio, and consisting of only forty- seven persons, landed at the mouth of the Muskingum. This little band was led by Gen- eral Rufus Putnam, one of the directors of "the Ohio Company," and subsequently Sur- veyor-General to the United States. He was the intimate and highly-esteemed friend of the great Washington. Under his direction a strong stockaded garrison was built on the brow of the elevated plain, about half a mile above the mouth of the Muskingum, and called "Campus Martius." Within the walls of this citadel, two or three hundred of men, women, and chil- dren lived during the Indian war which broke out in 1790. This day was for many years after scrupulously celebrated by all the inhabit- ants; with games at foot-racing, wrestling, and cricket ball by day, and a hearty round of dancing in the evening, at which the vigorous and active limbs of the young females found a fascinating and healthy amusement. The Gov- ernor of the North-West Territory, of which
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this was for a short time the capital, and the commander of the troops stationed in Fort Har- mar, honored and encouraged them by their presence. In imitation of the ancient Greeks, these athletic amusements were greatly encour- aged at that day, for the purpose of inuring the limbs of the youth to violent exercises, that they might be the better enabled to contend with the supple and active frames of the say- ages, if ever called into personal contact, as they were daily liable to be.
For four years the inhabitants of Marietta and Belpre lived within the walls of their garrisons, in a condition very similar to those of a besieged city; and, although not closely invested by an Indian army, no one could leave the walls of the fort without hazard from the rifle or tomahawk of an Indian. They were continually lurking around and watching for · the unwary white man, several of whom fell victims to their temerity in venturing too far from the defenses. The garrisons were so
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FIRST SETTLEMENT AT MARIETTA.
strongly built, and so carefully defended by brave and experienced men, many of whom had served through the war of the Revolution, that the Indians never made a formal attack. By constant familiarity with danger, we lose much of our fear for its consequences. The
men became more careless in exposing them- selves at work in their fields, and were sometimes shot at; although one was generally placed as a sentry on the top of a high stump in the center of the field. Even the young women caught the same spirit of fearlessness, and, tired with the monotony of a garrison life, were pleased with almost any change; so much so that from their own lips I have had narrated to me the high spirits and delight which they felt in hearing the drums beat, and the alarm gun fired, as the signal that the Indians were . in the vicinity, and there was put in motion all the hurry and bustle of an actual attack. Seeing no immediate danger, nor any signs of fear in those around them, they happily felt
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none themselves; and enjoyed the stirring scene with far more zest than the females of modern days enjoy a military parade.
This day, so long honored and kept in remem- brance by our predecessors, had for a number of years been neglected; but thanks to the impulse given at Cincinnati in 1835, by a few patriotic and high-minded men, it has again revived. The assembly on this occasion at Marietta was numerous, and the large Congre-
gational church filled to overflowing to witness
_ the ceremonies. Two hundred of this number
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were made up from the youth of the college and the young ladies' academy, which have sprung up in this place, and the inmates of which were all born many years since the yell of the savage was last heard on the shores of the Muskingum. Among the actors of the day, I noticed several of the pioneers and hardy borderers of 1788, whose venerable, but yet robust frames still remained as living speci- mens of "the days which tried men's souls,"
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FIRST SETTLEMENT AT MARIETTA.
as well as their courage. Some of these men had been living on the Ohio River for several years before that time, especially Peter Ander- son and John Burroughs, who acted as rangers, or "spies" for the Ohio Company during the war from 1790 to 1795.
One of the most dangerous and fatiguing em- ployments ever consigned to man, was that of traversing the wilderness, singly or in pairs, in search of North American Indians. The life of the ranger was in continual jeopardy from the ambush of the savage; and every tree presented a point from behind which his enemy could unseen hurl upon him wounds and death. And yet there were many men who loved the occupation merely because it was dangerous. A service devoid of hazard was in their estima- tion without interest, and only fit for women and cowards. Of these men a very few only are left. The robust and still erect frame of Peter Anderson, now seventy-eight years old, clad in a calico Indian hunting shirt, the com-
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mon dress of the rangers, was there; a noble specimen of what man has been, and perhaps may be again when the same causes shall call them into existence.
To the courage and activity of "the spies," a frontier name for rangers, the early colonists at Marietta, Belpre, and Belleville, were greatly indebted for their safety. Their daily excur- sions to the distance of twenty and thirty miles through the wilderness, gave the inhabitants notice of the approach of the Indians in time to prepare for an attack. During this service several Indians were killed, and a few of the rangers lost their lives. Of those who first landed here on the 7th of April, although two or three hundred came on in the course of the year, four individuals only were present. Their gray locks and attenuated frames bore solemn proofs of the work of time. When we look at the vast improvements, and the multitudes that now people the places which were then covered by dense forests, we wonder that any of those
FIRST SETTLEMENT AT MARIETTA. 177
who flourished in that day should still be living at this.
Arius Nye, Esq., whose father is yet living, and was among the early adventurers, delivered a very animated and eloquent address, detailing the early history of the Ohio Company and their progress at this place, disclosing many facts not generally known, and which will form an interesting chapter in the history of Mari- etta, that he is preparing for publication. The ceremonies of the day being finished, the com- pany* partook of a substantial dinner in the large hall of I. Lewis; the walls of which were decorated with two fine oil paintings, of old Fort Harmar, and Campus Martius. Among the numerous sentiments given was one sent in by Francis Devol, who was prevented by sickness from being present. His father, Cap- tain Jonathan Devol, was one of the forty-seven who first landed here on the 7th of April, and his mother, with several other heroic women, came on with their families in the Autumn
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST.
following, and were here during all the Indian war. His parents have been dead several years, as are nearly all the matrons of that early day. The sentiment given was a brief one, but em-
It braced thoughts and materials for volumes. . was simply, "our mothers;" and I am happy to say was received with that deep feeling which the subject merited. Dr. Hildreth, when called upon, gave "the memory of Isaac Williams," accompanied with the following brief sketch of the biography of this noble old pioneer, and some historical incidents illustrating the times in which he lived.
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ISAAC WILLIAMS.
- CHAPTER IX.
PIONEER BIOGRAPHY.
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ISAAC WILLIAMS.
AT this interesting festival, hallowed as the day on which our forefathers first landed on these shores, and endeared to their descend- ants by many touching recollections, we can not do better in honoring it than by calling up the names and recounting some of the scenes of that far-distant period.
On the canvas which decorates that wall I see shadowed forth by the hand of the artist the humble dwelling and the early "clearing" of one who, although not forming a portion of the enterprising company that landed at the mouth of the Muskingum, and whose trials and whose firmness have been so ably delineated by the eloquent address of the orator of the day,
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was yet here in the wilderness before them, ready to endure privations and to brave dan- ger. That little spot, Mr. President, was the "clearing"* of Isaac Williams, made nearly two years before the landing of the company, , and only a few months after the building of Fort Harmar, in the Autumn of 1786. This painting, copied from a drawing made by the Hon. Joseph Gillman in the year 1790, gives an accurate view of old Fort Harmar and the surrounding scenery as it appeared at that early day.
Mr. Williams took possession of his forest domain the 26th of March, 1787. It is the memory of this man which I rise to pledge, and some few of whose good deeds and daring adventures I desire to commemorate.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, Isaac Williams was born in the principality of Wales, not far from the year 1736. He immigrated to
* The " clearing" was opposite the mouth of Muskingum River, in Virginia, and formed a part of the painting.
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ISAAC WILLIAMS.
America when quite young, as he was known to some of the family of Mr. Joseph Tomlin- son, many years before they settled in Western Virginia, by the name of "the Welsh boy." He lost his father soon after, when his mother married a Mr. Buckley, and moved west of the mountains.
Mr. Williams was among the earliest adven- turers from the Shenandoah River to the waters of the Monongahela; and becoming acquainted with Rebecca, the daughter of Mr. Joseph Tom- · linson, was married to her about the year 1767. In this noble-minded woman he found a spirit congenial to his own-a stranger to fear, and yet full of kind and benevolent feelings. For several years she had been the housekeeper of her two brothers, surrounded by dangers on the frontier settlements amid the Indians, and often, when they were absent on war and hunt- ing parties, for many days entirely alone. By this marriage they had only one child, a daugh- ter who was born January 29, 1788, two months
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST.
before the arrival of the Ohio Company. This was probably the first white child born on the banks of the Ohio, between Grave Creek and the mouth of Big Sandy River, and may em- phatically be called the child of his old age, as he was then fifty-two years old, and had been married about twenty years. Drusilla, the only hope of her aged parents, married Mr. John Henderson, and died young, leaving no issue to · bear up the family name.
. In person Mr. Williams was of the medium size, with an upright frame, and robust, mus- cular limbs ; his features firm and strongly marked, with a taciturn and quiet manner. In his habits he was remarkably abstemious and temperate. Instead of the more common and fashionable beverage of tea and coffee, he used altogether milk or water at his meals. To such - simple palates stimulating drinks have no en- ticements; so that temperance with them is a native, inborn virtue. These primitive habits account for his almost uniform good health and
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STORY OF JOHN WETZEL.
great age. From early youth he was much attached to hunting, and to distant and solitary rambles in the deep forests of the West-pur- suing the chase of the buffalo and the bear, and trapping the sagacious beaver. In these excursions, and in making locations of "rights," as the early land entries of Virginia were then called, and which extended to both banks of the Ohio, many of the most active years of his life were passed.
In the Fall of the year 1780 or '81-my informant, Mrs. Elizabeth Tomlinson, now a very aged woman, but who then lived in that vicinity, is not certain which-Mr. Williams was engaged in the following adventure at the mouth of Grave Creek.
STORY OF JOHN WETZEL.
John Wetzel, a younger brother of Lewis, the celebrated ranger and Indian hunter, then about sixteen years old, with a neighboring "boy of about the same age, were in search of
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horses that had strayed away in the woods on Wheeling Creek, where the parents of John . then lived. One of the stray animals was a mare with a young foal, belonging to John's sister, which she promised to give to John as a reward for finding the mare. While on this service they were captured by a party of three Indians, who, having accidentally found the horses, caught them and placed them in a thicket, expecting that their bells would attract the notice of their owners, and they should then easily capture them, as well as the horses, or take their scalps. The horse was always a favorite object with the savage, as not only facilitating his own escape from pursuit, but also assisting him in carrying off the plunder.
The boys, hearing the well-known tinkle of the bells, approached the spot where the In- dians lay concealed, congratulating themselves on their good luck in so readily finding the strays, and were immediately seized by the Indians. John, in attempting to escape, was
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STORY OF JOHN WETZEL.
shot through the arm. On their march to the Ohio his companion made so much lamentation and moaning on account of his captivity, that the Indians dispatched him with their toma- hawks; while John, who had once before been taken prisoner and escaped, made light of it, and went along cheerfully with his wounded] arm. The party struck the Ohio River early the following morning at a point near the mouth of Grave Creek, and just below the clearing of Mr. Tomlinson.
Here they found some fat hogs, and killing two put them into a canoe they had stolen- two Indians taking possession of the canoe with their prisoner, while the other Indian was occupied in swimming the horses across the river. While amusing themselves at the squealing of some young pigs, and talking and laughing very loud, they were overheard by Isaac Williams and Hamilton Kerr, who had passed the night at Mr. Tomlinson's, and were then on the look-out for signs of Indians.
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Kerr first hearing the noise ran ahead, and coming nearly opposite the canoe at once dis- covered the cause, and without a moment's delay discharged his rifle at the Indian who was steering it with such fatal effect that he fell dead into the river. Mr. Williams came up immediately after and shot the other In- dian, who fell into the bottom of the canoe.
By this time Kerr had again loaded his rifle, and was drawing up to shoot John, who he supposed was also an Indian, when he cried out, "Don't shoot; I am a prisoner." He was then told to paddle the canoe to shore, to which he answered, "My right arm is shot through the elbow, and is useless." The canoe, however, soon drifted into shoal water, when John jumped out and waded to the shore. The boat floated on undisturbed, and was finally taken up near the Falls of the Ohio, with the two dead hogs still in it. The Indian who fell into the water was taken out just below and scalped. 1
BIOGRAPHY CONTINUED. 187
BIOGRAPHY CONTINUED.
This is a single sample of the many similar adventures in which Mr. Williams was for sev- eral years engaged. He seldom spoke of his own exploits, and when related they generally came from the lips of his companions. There ` was only one situation in which he could be induced to relax his natural reserve, and freely narrate the romantic and hazardous adventures which had befallen him in his hunting and war excursions in all parts of the Western wilder- ness, and that was when encamped by the evening fire in some remote spot, after the toils of the day were closed, and the supper of venison and bear's meat finished. Here, · while reclining on a bed of fresh-fallen leaves beneath the lofty branches of the forest, his body and mind felt a freedom that the "hut" and the "clearing" could not give; but sur- rounded by the works of God, with no listener save the stars and his companion, the spirit of
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST.
narration came upon him, and for hours he would rehearse the most thrilling and heart- moving details of his youthful and early adven- tures by forest, flood, and field. In this manner the late Mr. Alexander Henderson, whose worth and whose kind and gentlemanly manners were well known to most of us, informed me he had passed with Mr. Williams some of the most interesting hours of his life, while hunting on the heads of the Little Kanawha. His romantic and chivalrous spirit could well appreciate the value of such daring deeds.
With the foresight of a reflecting mind, Mr. Williams had taken possession of a large tract of land on the left bank of the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Muskingum; had erected cabins; made a clearing; and was living on it with his family, as I have already said, at the time the Ohio Company took possession at Marietta.
Among his many kind and neighborly acts to the first settlers and pioneers of Ohio, those
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FAMINE AMONG THE COLONISTS.
of the year 1790 display his benevolence and single-heartedness in the most pleasing light. From the destructive effects of an untimely frost in September of the year 1789, the crops of corn were greatly injured, and where late ١ planted entirely ruined.
FAMINE AMONG THE COLONISTS.
In the Spring and Summer of 1790 the in- habitants, whose time had been chiefly occu- pied in erecting dwellings and stockaded garri- sons, and of course had cleared but little land, began to suffer from the want of food, especially wholesome breadstuff. The Indians were be- coming troublesome, and rendered it hazardous boating provisions from the older settlements on the Monongahela. Many families had no other meal than that made from moldy corn, and were sometimes destitute even of this, for several days in succession. This moldy corn was sold at a dollar per bushel, and when ground on their hand mills and made into
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bread few stomachs were .able to digest, or even to retain it for a few minutes. My esteemed friend, C. Devol, Esq., who is now seated at this festive board, and who was then a small boy, has often narrated with much feeling his gastronomic trials with this moldy meal, made into a dish called "sap-porridge;" but which, when made with sweet corn-meal and the fresh saccharine juice of the maple, afforded both a nourishing and a savory dish. The family, then living at Belpre, had been without bread for two days, when his father returned from Marietta with a scanty supply of moldy corn. The hand mill of "Farmers' Castle," the name of the garrison, was imme- diately put in operation, and the meal cooked into "sap-porridge," as it was then the sea- · son of sugar-making. The famished children eagerly swallowed the unsavory mess, which was almost as immediately rejected-reminding us of the deadly pottage of the children of the prophet, but lacking the healing power of an 1
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FAMINE AMONG THE COLONISTS.
Elisha to render it salutary and nutritious. Dis- appointed of expected relief, the poor children went supperless to bed, to dream of savory food and plenteous meals, unrealized by their waking hours.
It was during this period of want that Mr. Williams displayed his benevolent feelings for ne suffering colonists. From the circumstance of his being in the country earlier he had more 'ground cleared, and had raised a large crop of corn. This he now distributed among the in- habitants for three shillings a bushel, when at . the same time he was offered a dollar by a speculator for his whole crop. Man has ever fattened on the distresses of his fellows. "Dod- rot him!" said the old hunter; "I would not let him have a bushel."* He not only parted with his corn at this cheap rate, but he also.
# This was a mode of expression used by Mr. Williams when his feelings were much excited. He had the greatest abhor- rence of profanity ; and I recollect distinctly of once hearing him reprove with great severity a boatman who was guilty of this unmanly vice.
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST.
prudently proportioned the number of bushels according to the number of individuals in a family. An ,empty purse was no bar to the needy applicant, but his wants were equally supplied with those who had money, and a credit given till more favorable times should enable him to discharge the debt.
During this season of privation, I have heard some of our present inhabitants, who were then children, relate with what anxiety, from day to day, they watched the tardy growth of the corn, beans, and squashes, and with what rapture they partook of the first dish prepared from vegetables of their own raising! Disinterested benevolence, such as we have been admiring in Mr. Williams, is confined to no country, nor to any age, but flourishes with the greatest vigor in the hut of the forester, and amidst the in- habitants of an exposed frontier. Common danger creates community of feeling and of interest; and I have no doubt that our fore- fathers, could they again speak, would say that
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SIMPLE HABITS.
the years passed by them in garrison, sur- rounded by danger and privation, were some of the most interesting, if not the most happy, of their lives.
SIMPLE HABITS.
But to return to the object of these remarks. Mr. Williams retained a relish for hunting to his latest days; and whenever a little unwell, forsaking his comfortable home, would take his rifle and dog, retire to the woods, and encamp- ing by some clear stream, remain there drink- ing the pure water, and eating such food as his rifle procured, till his health was restored. Medicine he never took, except such simples as the forest afforded. The untrod wilderness was for him full of charms, and before the close of the Revolutionary war he had hunted over all parts of the Valley of the Ohio as low down as the Mississippi. Respected by all for his benevolence and simplicity of manners, the days of Mr. Williams passed silently along
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