USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Extracts from the history of Cincinnati and the territory of Ohio, showing the trials and hardships of the pioneers in the early settlement of Cincinnati and the West > Part 6
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seen that she dates the landing of her father and his party at the mouth of the Little Miami, on the 19th of January, 1788, ten months earlier than that of Major Benjamin Stites, November 18, 1788. We give it, however, as she left it, and as we received it from her daughter, Mrs. Hickoff, and her grand-daughter, Mrs. Hopkins, now residing at the Sixteen-Mile Stand, on the Montgomery Turnpike, Hamilton County, Ohio. This has never been published before.
REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS.
I will call the attention of the reader to the early days of seventeen hundred and eighty-eight (1788). The Ist day of January of that year, I left Pennsylvania for Ohio, then called the Indian country, in company with Captain Covalt (who was my father) and seven other families; they were Robert Mckinney, J. Pittman, J. Webb, J. Hutchens, David Smith, Z. Hinkle, T. Covalt and their families. It was with regret, not unmixed with pleasure, that we left our pleasant homes to contend with the red men who then inhabited this Western country. We moored our boats at Columbia on the 19th of January. We did not have the gay steamer that now plies the wide waste of waters, but the simple flat boat of our own construction. Captain Covalt had two boats, one fifty-five, the other forty feet long; the family occupied one, the other for his stock and farming implements, for he came prepared for the wild woods. He had some twenty head of cattle, swine and sheep and seven horses, the best that had ever come to the West. We met with very few incidents of interest on our voyage, with the exception of one of our boats becoming stranded on the ice, and that filled our hearts with fear and terror. But with the united exertions of the men in the differ- ent boats we soon pursued our perilous voyage. As I have said, we landed on the nineteenth (19) of January. We then erected a tent on the banks of the Little Miami, in which place we remained for one week, while the men were erecting a temporary dwelling; when it was completed they came for their families. We then moved to our new house, which was some seven miles from our tent, and one mile below where the town of Milford now stands. The first night that we stayed in our new homes there were forty- five in number. A fort was soon erected, which consisted of seventeen dwelling houses and four block houses. It was called Covalt's Fort He was the proprietor of it and owned the land; his first purchase consisted of six hundred acres of land. My father soon built a mill; he brought the mill stones and a millwright, whose name was Hinkle. This was the first mill in the Miami purchase. During this time we had not been molested but once by the Indians; five days after we landed we had five of our horses stolen, valued at one hundred dollars apiece.
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The sound of the axe was heard in the thick wood, to fell the sturdy oak and remove the wide spreading branches from off the ground and prepare it for the summer crop. We were unmolested during the summer. In the fall they came into the neighborhood but they did but little damage. They killed one hog and roasted it and stole a horse from Mr. Baty. The Indians were pursued and one of them overtaken; he had creased the horse so badly that he could not travel very fast. The Indians had a rope over his shoulder and was pulling it along. When the white men got near enough three of them felled him to the ground. They scalped him and took his gun, toma- hawk, cap and knife, and brought them to the fort. Abrabam Covalt and Abel Cook were chosen as their hunters to supply the inhabitants of the fort with game. This was a perilous mission. During the winter and spring the soldiers were often called out to repulse the red foe, who would come so near to the fort that we could hear the noise and confusion at the camp for two or three days at a time. Well do I remember one night whilst we were milking and the sentinels were guarding us some of the cattle ran against the fence and pushed off the boards. There were two Indians concealed behind the fence. They made their escape and when they arrived at their towns they told the prisoners what had happened and how they had acted.
About this time the Indians became very troublesome. They attacked Dunlap's Station (now Colerain), and told the soldiers that they had taken Covalt's Fort, and had sent a company to take the fort at Cincinnati, and that they might as well surrender for they were bound to take the fort; but they had a brave commander, one who was not frightened by their savage threats of cruelty. They fought with great bravery to defend their rights. Their commander was Lieutenant Hartshorn. During the siege he put his cap on a staff, and elevated it above his place of concealment. The savages fired at it, and it fell to the ground. The savages raised their well-known whoop, and filled the air with their hideous cries. By this time Captain Covalt had sent to Cincinnati for a reinforcement, which was sent to their relief, for had the Indians attacked it again before relief had come the besieged must have fallen a prey to the tomahawk and scalping knife. In June, 1788, a company of five men went out on a hunting expedition ; they were A. Covalt, R. Fletcher, L. Buckingham, J. Beagle, and Clemens. After they had gone a short distance from the fort, Covalt said, " Boys, the Indians are not far off, we had better return to the fort, and apprise them of the approach of the Indians, so they can repulse them before they come any nearer." Still they did not see the Indians, but they started for the fort. The hunters had separated from each other; Beagle and Clemens were together ; when they came to Shawnee Run they saw two Indians sitting on the bank of the creek taking off their moccasins to wade over to the other side. Beagle wanted to shoot at them, but Clemens
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said, " No, I am old and clumsy, and can't run, and I must become a prey to their savage cruelty." Beagle did not shoot. The Indians did not go more than twenty yards up the ravine when they came in contact with the other three men. The Indians fired before the white men saw them. Covalt was wounded. Fletcher and he ran together about a hundred yards, when Covalt said, " For God's sake, Fletcher, make your escape, for I am a dead man." He was shot through the breast, but he did not expire immediately after he fell. He had fought the Indians as long as he had strength ; he had received several wounds in the face, and the toma- hawk soon did its work of death. They took his rifle and powder horn, but he threw away his tomahawk, which was found some twenty years after by his companion, Levi Buckingham. Thus ended the life of one of as brave sons of Pennsylvania as ever inhaled the morning air. He was as undaunted as a lion, and as active as the deer that bounds through the forests. In his deportment he was gentle and affable; he was beloved by all who knew him. He was twenty-one years of age when he fell a victim to the savage foe. He left many friends to bemoan his loss. The other four hunters got to the fort safe, and they soon called their little band together to go in search of Covalt. They brought him to the fort to pay their last tribute of respect to so brave a man. They did not pursue the foe, their number being too small to be divided. In about a month from the time spoken of the Indians were again seen prowling about the bank of the Miami. Abel Cook had been on a visit to his friends at Columbia, and on his return home to Covalt's Station, the Indians attacked and killed him. He was alone. His companions at the fort soon found him, and interred his body by the side of his hunting companion, with whom in life he roamed the dreary forests. We were not molested again until March of 1789, when they again invaded the Little Miami Valley. Captain Covalt wishing to live a more retired life, had got the timber ready for his house, but the farming was not completed. He, with two of his sons and Joseph Hinkle, were making the shingles when they were attacked by the Indians. Hinkle was not shot, but his head was half cut off with the tomahawk and then scalped. Captain Covalt was wounded in two places; one ball passed through his breast, the other through his arm. He told his sons to make their way to the fort, that he was wounded. He ran with axe in hand, about a hundred yards and fell across a log with his arm under his head; the scalping knife soon robbed it of the auburn locks that clustered around his noble brow, . but his spirit had ascended to the God who gave it.
I will now invite you back to the year 1743, to Captain Covalt's native place. He was born in New Jersey, near Great Egg Harbor, and was a resident of that place until he was eighteen years of age. He then em- barked on board a ship to fight for his country's cause. He was at the
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storming of Martinico. In a short time afterwards he returned to his native place. There he became acquainted with a lady by the name of Lois Pen- dleton, on whom he bestowed his fondest affections, which were duly recip- rocated by her, and they were joined in wedlock bands by the Rev- erend Mr. Fuller, in Bonbrook, New Jersey. After he was married he left the place of his nativity for Bedford County, Pennsylvania. There he was duly elected a Captain, which office he filled during the Revolutionary War. After the war was closed he came to this Western country to seek out a good location and then return for his family. He made the purchase previously spoken of, then returned to Pennsylvania to make preparations to move. He was blessed with six sons and four daughters. All of his children came with him to endure the trials of the Western wilds. But alas! he was cut down in the midst of life. He was a man who feared God with all his house, and his prayers and alms were held in remembrance. Well might the widow's heart bleed at the loss of so good a husband, and the children mourn at the loss of so kind a parent, when they beheld him weltering in his gore. They brought him to the fort, there to pay the last tribute of respect to one so noble and brave. They buried his remains on his own farm, where his grave can be seen to this day. This is but a small sketch of his life and character. The inmates of the fort were like sheep without a shepherd. They knew not what to do. Their leader was gone. His widow survived him until the year 1838, when she died at the advanced age of one hundred years. She was a true child of God. She was blessed with her mental powers to the last.
After the death of Captain Covalt the Indians did not invade our bor- ders again until 1790. In November, 1791, General St. Clair called out the soldiers to battle, all that could be spared from every station. I do not remember the number that went from Covalt's Station. They were com- manded by Lieutenant Spears. Our number was then decreased so much that we were obliged to leave the fort. After St. Clair's defeat we all retired to Jarret's (Garard's) Station and did not return until February, 1792. Then we got a reinforcement again and returned to our own fort.
Through the summer the Indians were very troublesome. The Indians took three of the most efficient men prisoners. Their names were Beagle, Coleman and Murphy. They were taken to Detroit and Beagle and Murphy were sold to the British, but they would not part with Coleman; when he parted from his companions he wept like a child, for he knew his doom-it was to be burned at the stake. Beagle returned in three months. Murphy never returned, and Coleman was never heard of after he parted from his companions. Beagle said that when they were taken prisoners that they were not more than a quarter of a mile from the fort. The Indians did not shoot at them but caught and bound them. Murphy was the sentinel.
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Beagle would not have been taken, but as he was running he caught his foot under a grapevine and fell. The savages were like the panther when in pursuit of prey; the moment he fell they sprang upon him and bound him. Not being content with their prisoners they killed a soldier by the name of Gocky, but his loss was not regretted; it was supposed that he was a traitor. The soldiers being always in readiness at the report of guns started in the direction of the sound in pursuit of the Indians. The savages saw them coming; they ran around the hill and attacked the fort, knowing that the soldiers would have to return to the fort to protect it. They shot several bullets in the gate of the fort. I was the one that shut the gate, the men all being absent. But there were none injured. The Indians still con- tinued to prowl around the banks of the Miami and in the immediate vicinity of the fort. Not long after the invasion of the fort, Major Riggs and T. Covalt crossed the Little Miami; Covalt in search of his horses and Riggs to hunt pawpaws. On their return home Covalt stopped to look for the horse tracks; Riggs stepped in the path before him; in a moment the report of rifles was heard and Riggs fell. Covalt wheeled and ran to the river, where he was met by the soldiers.
In the winter of the same year, the men had been grinding at the mill; one night they returned to the fort, and that night the Indians came to the mill and emptied the grain out of the sacks on to the floor. Then they took down some tobacco, that had been hung up to dry, and crushed some of it among them, when they took the rest and sat down to stem it, and wait the approach of the miller. But the miller was detained until late, and thus saved his life. S. Gerston was the miller. They did no other damage at this time, with the exception of killing one cow. About this time General Harmar called the soldiers of the different stations together to go to the river, St. Marie's, to assist in burying those who were left dead on the field of battle after St. Clair's defeat. I heard those say, who were in the battle, that the day before the battle there were 1,600 men, and of those but 900 returned to their homes. One of those who was there, said that on the morning of the battle, before daybreak, the Indians raised the war cry, which filled the soldiers' hearts with animation and courage. Their courage was soon tested. They fought like brave men, and fell in a glorious cause. When the word retreat was passed around, it caused their hearts to quake with fear; they ran in every direction amidst the shower of rifle balls. As one of the soldiers and his companion were ascending a hill, his companion was shot dead, and fell at his feet. He said that if he ran fast before, he ran faster afterwards. That was the last he saw of the Indians. Of all that left Covalt's Station but one returned. They left in great hopes of conquering the foe, but they never returned. The one that returned was Cheniah Covalt.
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In the spring of '92 a company of men were hired by the government to treat with the Indians. They were William Smalley, and Truman, and his servant, I. Jerred, and one Flinn. William Smalley had been a prisoner with the Indians for eleven years. Before Smalley and his company got to the Indian towns, they were overtaken by two Indians, who said they would pilot them to their towns. When night came on the Indians said there were three white men, and but two Indians, that they must tie one of them; (the other two had got separated from the three; unthoughtedly they consented, and they tied the hands of the servant. Truman being over- come with fatigue, wrapped himself in a blanket, and went to sleep. The Indians now had the advantage of the white men. They killed Truman and his servant. Smalley ran to make his escape. The Indians called to him to come back; he said they would kill him; they said "No!" to come back. He came back and asked them what they killed the other men for. They said they wanted the money, and if they went to the towns they would get but little, and now they had it all. Smalley went with them to the towns. He expected to fall a victim to their savage cruelty, but to his great joy there he met with his old brother Indian, who sent him back to the station. Jarred and Flinn were never heard of after they left their comrades. In October the Indians invaded our neighborhood again, and took one young man whose name was Pelser prisoner. The men were plowing in the field about two hundred yards from him when he was taken, but they were not attacked.
We lived quite peaceably through the winter and until the spring of '94. The inhabitants had begun to build their houses and improve their farms, and live like free men again; but this peace was of but short duration.
The first notice that we had of their approach, two of the men had been at Columbia and were on their return to the fort, when the Indians attacked them. One of them, Jennings, was wounded, but he arrived at the fort. The other one, whose name was Crist, went to the Round Bottom fort to apprise them of the approach of the Indians; being apprised so soon of the approach of the Indians, they did but little damage. This was their last invasion. Old General Wayne soon compelled them to bury the hatchet and retire in peace. Now the inhabitants began to disperse, and the woodman's axe was heard in every direction. The wilderness of Ohio became the home of some of Pennsylvania's bravest sons. Much has been said concerning the settling of Ohio: some have stated that half a century ago Cincinnati was a wilderness, but they have been wrongly informed. In 1791 there were twenty-five small cabins and the garrison; and then Covalt's Fort had been erected three years.
If this should at any time fall into the hands of friends of old pioneers, I
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hope they will think of the many hairbreadth escapes and trials of their forefathers, and consider it an honor, to be known as their descendants.
The writer of this was Mary Covalt, the daughter of Captain Covalt. She was but fifteen years old when she left Pennsylvania. She was married in 1792, four years after she came to Ohio, to Joseph Jones, of Penn- sylvania. She was married by the Reverend John Smith, he being the first Baptist preacher that was in the Territory. The next Baptist preacher was the Reverend Daniel Clark. Her parents had letters of dismission from the Muddy Creek Baptist Church of Pennsylvania. Captain and his lady did not attend the organization of the church at Columbia, there being no way of conveyance, and they had their horses stolen. Mrs. Jones was also a member of the Baptist Church. She was baptized at Harmer's Run, by the Reverend James Lyons. She has resided some twelve miles northwest of the old fort ever since her marriage until the time of her decease, which was some six years ago.
Such is the story of one of the mothers of the West. A lady whose excellence of character, piety, and intelligence is proverbial among the pioneers of Hamilton County. As has been stated, she differs in date from some others, especially as to the first settlement on the Little Miami-ante- dating Major Stites' arrival near ten months; but that there were settlements in Hamilton County prior to his landing at Columbia on November 18, 1788, we have the testimony of Reverend Thomas Hinde, a very intelligent and reliable pioneer, in a letter published in Cist's Cincinnati of 1854.
Reverend John Hindman says that a party consisting of William West, John Simons, John Seft, and Mr. Carlin, with their families, left Washington County, Pennsylvania, in March, 1785. They landed at Limestone (Mays, ville) where they laid by two weeks. "The next landing we made was at the mouth of the Big Miami; we were the first company to land at that place. Soon after we landed the Ohio River raised and covered all the bottoms at its mouth; therefore, we went over to the Kentucky side and cleared thirty acres of land. Sometime in May or June, 1785, we went up the Big Miami to make what we called improvements, so as to secure a portion of the land, which we selected out of the best and broadest bottoms between Hamilton and the mouth of the river. We proceeded up where Hamilton now is, and made improvements wherever we found bottoms finer than the rest, all the way down to the mouth of the Miami. I then went up the Ohio again to
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Buffalo, but returned the same fall and found Generals Clark, Butler, and Parsons at the mouth of the Big Miami, as commissioners to treat with the Indians. Major Finney was there also. I was in company with Symmes when he was engaged in taking the meanders of the Miami River, at the time John Filson was killed by the Indians."
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CHAPTER XIII.
HOUSES, CUSTOMS AND HABITS OF THE PIONEERS-DIFFICULTY OF PROCUR- ING PROVISIONS-CURRENCY.
T HE dwellings of the pioneers of the West were cabins built of unhewed logs with the bark on. At each end of the logs a notch was cut on one side; the other side was hewn off so as to fit in the notch. Poles were pinned lengthwise on top for rafters, upon which the clapboards were laid, and held in place by weight poles extending from one end to the other ; the lower one was held in place by wooden pins driven into the cross log at the top of the cabin; the others were laid at regular distances to the top and kept in place by blocks extending from one to the other at each end. The floors (if they had any) were of puncheon boards, split from logs and hewn with the broad axe, and laid upon the joists, which were also logs. The doors were also of puncheon boards. If the floors were fastened to the joists it was with wooden pins, as were also the doors fastened to the batton. Nails were scarce and too high to be obtained by all. The chimney was built of logs and sticks plastered with clay, and usually occupied the greater part of one end of the cabin. Windows were small, and most frequently covered with paper greased with bear's grease, as few could afford to buy glass even when it could be had. Doors were hung on wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch, which was raised by a string.
Their furniture was frequently, indeed generally, of the rudest kind. For tables a puncheon board with split sticks of wood, one at each corner for legs. Chairs, the old fashioned split bottom, and as substitutes stools and benches or blocks of wood were often used. Bowls and spoons were made of wood, and gourds answered the purpose of tin cups and dippers, and when cut off at the neck served as bottles. Their cooking utensils were few and simple-a Dutch oven, skillet and teakettle, and one or two pots of pot metal to hang over the fire on the old fashioned crane. Their buckets were made of wood with wooden hoops.
The clothes which they had brought from the East were replaced by those made of home-spun linsey-woolsey or tow-linen and the skins of wild
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animals; 'coon and bear skins furnished the men with caps instead of hats, and moccasins took the place of shoes. Every house had its little spinning wheel and the big wheel on which was spun the flax, the tow and wool that were woven into cloths for garments on the old fashioned loom, by the mothers and daughters of that day. They spun their own yarn then, but it was different from the yarns we often hear spun in these more prosperous ยท
times. Their clothes were of a color exceedingly unpopular in Northern States more recently. Their dye stuff was the bark of butternut, and fortunate, indeed, were they who could procure dye stuffs of different colors wherewith to stripe their cloths.
The sick were kindly nursed by the neighbors, and when death entered the cabin of a pioneer every one possible went to the funeral, and the corpse was not borne to the grave on elliptic springs, in a gilded hearse at a 2:40 gait, but reverently carried to the grave on a bier by the pioneers themselves.
All their deprivations and inconveniences were borne cheerfully, and there was as much and more real happiness in the rude cabins of the first settlers than can be found in many of the more pretentious and palatial resi- dences of the present time. There was a mutual dependence upon one another, which all recognized, and a confidence between neighbors rarely found at the present time. They were ever ready to assist one another, and had their enjoyments as well as their hardships.
If a neighbor was sick or short-handed, and his crops needed harvesting, every one turned out with his sickle and rake to save it. If a cabin or barn was to be raised, an afternoon was appointed and all were invited to the frolic. So with corn huskings and quiltings and wood choppings; no one thought of asking pay for such assistance-it was gratuitously and cheerfully given. Plenty of "Old Monongahela" and a good supper was always on hand, and at night the young people gathered in for their share of the fun, the young ladies clad in their home-spun and coarse shoes, and the young men in hunting shirts and coonskin caps, buckskin breeches and moccasins, while a darkey perched on a barrel in the corner of the room tuned his violin and struck up an "Old Virginia Reel" that would set all to dancing on the loose puncheon floor. They
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