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 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
On the rough mantlepiece it was not unusual to see a bottle of " tansy bitters" on one end, of which the whole family took a tablespoonful every morning to give them an appetite; on the other end was a bottle of "Rue bitters," of which the children were given a spoonful at night to keep worms away.
Many kinds of bitters were made to be taken in sickness and always with "Old Monongahela." The men took their dram in the morning as an antifogmatic to keep off chills, at noon as an appetizer, at night as a night- cap to make them sleep; and yet, while it was so universally used, a drunken man was rarely seen, and only at such places as the "little muster" of the mititia on the first Monday in May, or the "big muster" on the third Monday in May, or at elections, were men seen drunk. Some few, however, would get tight whenever they could get sufficient quantities.
Old Jonas D. was a dear lover of "Old Monongahela," and generally kept a good supply on hand, buying it by the barrel. On one occasion Jonas went into a store, where he usually dealt, and told the merchant that he wanted a barrel of whisky; it was at that time selling at sixteen dollars a
94
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
barrel. "What?" said the merchant. "Jonas, you certainly do not want another barrel of whisky for your own use; it is not three months since you bought the last one?"
"That's all right, Robert, it ain't three months, but what in the deuce is a barrel of whisky in a family where there is no cow?" But he was an ex- ception. The whisky was rye and pure, and must be seven years old at least before it was considered fit to use. Seven-year old whisky was not made as it is at the present day-in twenty-four hours ; no adulterating drugs were used. Sometimes they used burnt dried peaches to give it a flavor and good color, and they always charred the inside of the barrel.
At vendues the auctioneer would cry out the bids made on the article up for sale, and when near the time for knocking down-to induce another bid-would cry the bid and say a "dram to the next bidder," which not unfrequently got another bid.
When corn was to be husked it was gathered with the husks on and piled in a long rick and a rail placed across the pile as near the middle as possible. Two captains were chosen, and they chose alternately from the neighbors present (everybody in the vicinity went to the frolic), and the forces were martialed on both sides and the work begun, and the side that finished his end first was the victor and got the bottle, and he who husked the first red ear of corn was privileged to kiss the prettiest girl in the party. The young ladies attended these gatherings for the dance after the corn was husked and supper over.
Another occasion where it was an important article was when a couple was married ; they did not take a trip East, but stayed at home, and the day after the wedding at the bride's house what was called an infair took place at the home of the groom, instead of a reception as now after an Eastern trip. They went generally on horseback, and when approaching the home of the groom several young men "run for the bottle," riding over hills, hollows and fences at breakneck speed, and the first to arrive at the home of the groom was handed the bottle and rode back in triumph, holding aloft his prize to treat the bride and groom.
95
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
CHAPTER XVII.
ST. CLAIR APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND-HIS UNFORTUNATE CAMPAIGN.
T HE terrors and the annoyance of Indian hostilities still hung over the western settlement. The call was loud and general from the frontier for ample and efficient protection. Congress placed the means in the hands of the Executive. Major-General Arthur St. Clair was appointed com- mander-in-chief of the forces to be employed in the meditated expedition. The objects of it were to destroy the Indian settlements between the Miamis; to expel them from the country, and establish a chain of posts which should prevent their return during the war. This army was late in assembling in the vicinity of Fort Washington. They marched directly towards the chief establishments of the enemy, building and garrisoning in their way the two intermediate forts, Hamilton and Jefferson. After the detachments had been made for these garrisons the effective force that remained amounted to something less than two thousand men. To open a road for their march was a slow and tedious business. Small parties of Indians were often seen hovering about their march; and some unimportant skirmishes took place. As the army approached the enemy's country, sixty of the militia deserted in a body. To prevent the influence of such an example Major Hamtranck was detached with a regiment in pursuit of the deserters. The army, now consisting of one thousand four hundred men, continued its march. On the third day of November, 1792, it encamped fifteen miles south of the Miami village. Having been rejoined by Major Hamtranck, General St. Clair proposed to march immediately against them. Half an hour before sunrise the militia was attacked by the savages and fled in the utmost confusion. They burst through the formed lines of the regu- lars into the camp. Great efforts were made by the officers to restore order, but not with the desired success. The Indians pressed upon the heels of the flying militia and engaged General Butler with great intrepidity. The action became warm and general, and the fire of the assailants passing round both flanks of the first line, in a few minutes was poured with equal
96
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
fury in the rear. The artillerists in the center were mowed down; and the fire was more galling, as it was directed by an invisible enemy, crouching on the ground, or concealed behind trees. In this manner they advanced toward the very mouths of the cannon, and fought with the infuriated fierceness with which success always animates savages. Some of the sol- diers exhibited military fearlessness, and fought with great bravery ; others were timid, and disposed to fly. With a self-devotion, which the occasion required, the officers, generally, exposed themselves to the hottest of the contest, and fell in great numbers in desperate efforts to restore the battle. The commanding general, though he had been for some time enfeebled with severe disease, acted with personal bravery, and delivered his orders with judgment and self-possession. A charge was made upon the savages with the bayonet, and they were driven from their covert, with some loss, a distance of 400 yards; but as soon as the charge was suspended they returned to the attack. General Butler was mortally wounded, the left of the right wing broken, and the artillerists killed almost to a man. The guns were seized, and the camp penetrated by the enemy. A desperate charge was headed by Colonel Butler, although he was severely wounded, and the Indians were again driven from the camp, and the artillery recov- ered. Several charges were repeated, with partial success. The enemy only retreated, to return to the charge flushed with new ardor. The ranks of the troops were broken, and the men pressed together in crowds, and were shot down without resistance. A retreat was all that remained to save the remnant of the army. Colonel Darke was ordered to charge a body of savages that intercepted their retreat; Major Clark with his battalion was directed to cover the rear. These orders were carried into effect, and a most disorderly flight commenced. A pursuit was kept up four miles, when, fortunately for the surviving Americans, the natural greediness of the savage appetite for plunder called back the victorious Indians to the camp, to divide the spoils. The routed troops continued their flight to Fort Jef- ferson, throwing away their arms on the road. The wounded were left here, and the army retired upon Fort Washington.
In this fatal battle thirty-eight commissioned officers, and 593 non-com- missioned officers and privates, twenty-one commissioned officers, many of whom afterwards died of their wounds, and 242 non-commissioned officers and privates were wounded.
97
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
The savage forces in this fatal engagement were led by a celebrated chief, Little Turtle, who had been trained to war under the British, during the Revolution. So superior was his knowledge of tactics that the Indian chiefs, though extremely jealous of him, yielded the entire command to him, and he arranged and fought the battle with great combination of military skill. Their forces amounted to four thousand, and they stated the Ameri-
-
THAYANDANECA (Brant).
cans killed at six hundred and twenty, and their own at sixty-five, but it was undoubtedly much greater. They took seven pieces of cannon, two hundred oxen, and many horses. The chief at the close of the battle bade the Indians forbear the pursuit of the Americans, as he said they had killed enough.
98
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
General Scott, with one thousand mounted volunteers from Kentucky, soon after marched against a party of the victors, at St. Clair's fatal field. He found the Indians rioting in their plunder, riding the oxen in the glee of triumph, and acting as if the whole body was intoxicated. General Scott immediately attacked them. The contest was short but decisive. The Indians had two hundred killed on the spot. The cannon and military stores remaining were retaken, and the savages completely routed. The loss of the Kentuckians was inconsiderable.
The reputation of the Government was now committed to the fortunes
MISHEKENOGHQUA (Little Turtle).
of war. Three additional regiments were directed to be raised. On the motion in Congress for raising these regiments, there was an animated and even a bitter debate. It was urged on one hand that the expense of such a force would involve the necessity of severe taxation; that too much power was thrown into the hands of the President; that the war had been badly managed and ought to have been entrusted to the militia of the West, under their own officers; and with more force they urged that no success could be of any avail so long as the British held those posts within our acknowledged limits, from which the savages were supplied with protection, shelter, arms,
99
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
advice and instigation to the war. On the other hand the justice of the cause as a war of defense and not of conquest was unquestionable. It was proved that between 1783 and 1790 no less than fifteen hundred people of Kentucky had been massacred by the savages or dragged into a horrid cap- tivity, and that the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia had suffered a loss not much less. It was proved that every effort had been made to pacify the savages without effect. They showed that in 1790, when a treaty was proposed to the savages at the Miami, they refused to treat, and then asked thirty days for deliberation. It was granted. In the interim, they stated that not less than one hundred and twenty persons had been killed and captured, and several prisoners roasted alive; at the end of which, however, they refused any answer at all to the proposition to treat. Various other remarks were made in defense of the bill. It tried the strength of parties in Congress, and was finally carried.
General St. Clair resigned, and Major Anthony Wayne was appointed to succeed him. This officer commanded the confidence of the Western people, who confided in that reckless bravery which long before procured him the appellation of "Mad Anthony." There was a powerful party who still affected to consider this war unnecessary, and every impediment was placed in the way of its success which that party could devise. To prove to them that the Government was still disposed to peace, two excellent officers and valuable men, Colonel Hardin and Major Truman, were severally dispatched with propositions of peace. They were both murdered by the savages. These unsuccessful attempts at negotiation, and the diffi- culties and delays naturally incident to the preparation of such a force, together with the attempts that had been made in Congress to render the war unpopular, had worn away so much time that the season for operations for the vear had almost elapsed.
100
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI,
CHAPTER XVIII.
EFFECT OF ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT-ST. CLAIR REFUSED A COURT OF INQUIRY, AND COMPELLED TO RESIGN-WAYNE APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND.
T
THE defeat of St. Clair was the most terrible reverse the American arms ever suffered from the Indians. Even the defeat of Braddock was less disastrous. Braddock's army consisted of 1,200 men and eighty-six officers, of whom 714 men and sixty-three officers were killed or wounded. But the comparative losses of the two engagements represent very inadequately the crushing effect of the defeat of St. Clair An unprotected frontier of a thou- sand miles, from the Allegheny to the Mississippi, was at once thrown open to the attack of the infuriated and victorious savages. The peace enjoyed for the several preceding years had wrought a great change in the western settlements. The Indian hunters of the Revolutionary War had laid aside their arms and habits, and devoted themselves to the cultivation of the soil ; the block houses : nad forts, around which the first settlers had gathered, were abandoned, and cabins, clearings, and hamlets were scattered in exposed situation. all along the border. Everywhere the settlers, unpro- tected and unprepared, were expecting in terror the approach of the savages, and everywhere abandoning their homes, or awaiting in helpless despair the burnings, massacres, and cruelties of Indian war. The extent of the consternation that pervaded the border may be inferred from the tone of the memorials of the people of the western counties of Pennsyl- vania and Virginia to the governors of those States.
"In consequence," says a committee of the citizens of Pittsburgh, " of the late intelligences of the fate of the campaign to the westward, the inhabitants of the town of Pittsburgh have convened, and appointed us a committee for the purpose of addressing your Excellency. The late disas- ter of the army must greatly affect the safety of this place. There can be no doubt but that the enemy will now come forward, and with more spirit, and greater numbers, than they ever did before, for success will give confidence, and secure allies."
FC. del.
ST. CLAIR MANSION, CORNER MAIN AND EIGHTH STREETS.
IOI
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
" The alarming intelligence lately received," says the people of Western Virginia, "of the defeat of the army in the western country, fills our minds with dreadful fears and apprehensions concerning the safety of our fellow- citizens in the country we represent, and we confidently hope will be an excuse to your Excellency, whose zeal has been so frequently evinced in be- half of the distressed frontier counties, for the request we are now compelled to make. In the course of last year upwards of fifty of our people were killed, and a great part of our country plundered, notwithstanding the aid afforded by the Pennsylvanians, who joined the Virginians for our defense.
GENERAL WAYNE.
The success of the Indians in their late engagement with General St. Clair, will, no doubt, render them more daring and bold in their future incursions and attacks upon our defenseless inhabitants-those adjoining the county of Harrison, extending a hundred miles, covering the county of Monongalia- . and we conceive that not less than sixty or seventy men will be sufficient to defend them. Through you, sir, we beg leave to request their assistance."
The popular clamor against St. Clair was loud and deep. In military affairs the blame is most always attached to misfortune; for the greater number of those who judge have no rule to guide them but the event. Misconduct is ever inferred from the want of success, and the greatest share
102
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
of blame always falls upon the principal officer. Thus it was in the case of St. Clair. He had suffered a great reverse, and was, therefore, accused by the public voice of great incompetency. Aware of the public odium under which he laid, he asked from the President the appointment of a Court of Inquiry, to investigate his conduct. But the request was denied, because there were not officers enough in the service, of the proper rank, to constitute such a court. He then offered to resign his commission on con- dition that his conduct should be investigated ; but the exigencies of service would not admit of delay, and his request was again refused, and the Presi-
dent informed him that neither request could be granted, nor could he be permitted to remain as commander of the western army.
The true causes of the disaster have been made the subject of much con- troversy. The Secretary of War, in his report on the state of the frontiers, affirms that the principal causes of the failure of the expedition were the deficiency of good troops according to the expectation in the earlier part of the year, the want of sufficient discipline according to the nature of the service and the lateness of the season.
The want of discipline and experience in the troops doubtless contributed to, but did not occasion the disaster ; of their bravery there can be no doubt.
103
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
The battle 'began at six o'clock and lasted till about half-past nine, and the troops, though exposed to a destructive fire from a foe so placed that they could not efficiently return it, nevertheless behaved with all the resolution and coolness it was possible for them to exhibit under the circumstances of the case. They were not overwhelmed, as St. Clair supposed, by superior numbers. The army consisted of more than fourteen hundred men; the Indians, according to the best accounts, did not exceed a thousand. They, however, fought with desperate valor, and at a great disadvantage from the nature of the ground and from the facilities the forest afforded for their favorite mode of attack. They were led, too, by the greatest chieftain of that age. It has been the received opinion that the leader of the con- federated tribes on that fatal day was Little Turtle, the chief of the Miamies; but from the family of that celebrated warrior and statesman, it is ascertained that Joseph Brant, with one hundred and fifty Mohawk braves, was present and commanded the warriors of the wilderness.
The true reasons then of the disaster of the day were, doubtless, the surprise of the army and the consequent confusion and flight of the militia who were first attacked. Had the attack been expected, the troops prepared, all chance of confusion avoided, and had the officers who commanded been obeyed, with all the disadvantages of raw troops, the event might have been, probably would have been, wholly different. The militia, as St. Clair says, were a quarter of a mile in advance of the main army, and beyond the creek; still further in advance was Captain Slough, who, with a volunteer party of regulars, went out to reconnoitre; and orders had been given Colonel Oldham, who commanded the militia, to have the woods thoroughly examined by the scouts and patrols, as Indians were known to be hanging about the outskirts of the army. In all this St. Clair seems to have done his entire duty, as far as sickness would permit him; could he have attended in person to the details of the command it would have been better. As St. Clair had resigned his position it became a very difficult question for the President to select a person suitable in all respects to take charge. General Morgan, General Wayne, General Scott of Kentucky, Colonel Darke and General Henry Lee were all thought of. Of them General Wayne was chosen, although his appointment caused, as General Lee, then Governor of Virginia, wrote Washington, "extreme disgust" among all orders in the Old Dominion. But the President had selected Wayne not hastily nor through
104
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
" partiality or influence," and no idle words affected him. In turn General Wayne moved westward to Pittsburg, and proceeded to organize the army destined to be the ultimate argument of the Americans with the Indian con- federations. Through the summer of 1792, the preparation of the soldiers was steadily attended to. "Train and discipline them for the service they are meant for," said Washington, "and do not spare powder and lead so the men be made marksmen."
In December the forces now recruited and trained were gathered at a point about twenty miles below Pittsburg, on the Ohio River, called Legion- ville; the army itself having been denominated the legion of the United States, divided into four sub-legions, and provided with legionary and sub- legionary officers. Meantime, at Fort Washington (Cincinnati) Wilkinson had succeeded St. Clair as commandant, and in January had ordered an ex- pedition to examine the field of the late disastrous conflict. This body reached the point designated on February 1, 1792, and in a letter of Captain Buntin to St. Clair appears the following passage :
"In my opinion," says Captain Buntin, "those unfortunate men who fell in the enemy's hands with life were used with the greatest torture, hav- ing their limbs torn off; and the women have been treated with the most indecent cruelty, having stakes as thick as a person's arm driven through their bodies. The first I observed when burying the dead, and the latter was discovered by Colonel Sargent and Dr. Brown. We found three whole gun carriages The other five were so much damaged that they were rendered useless. By the General's orders pits were dug in different places and all the dead bodies that were exposed to view or could be conveniently found, the snow being very deep, were buried."
Five independent embassies asking peace were sent to the inimical tribes, and every possible effort made to show them that the United States wished to do full justice to the red man; but the victories they had gained over Harmar and St. Clair, and the intrigues of the British agents, closed their ears to all propositions of peace, and all were rejected in one form or another. Freeman, who left Fort Washington on the 7th of April; Truman, who left it May 22d for the Maumee, and Colonel Hardin, who, on the same day, started for Sandusky, although bearing flags of truce, were all murdered, and General Putnam who left Marietta on the 26th of June, and was at Fort Washington on the 2d of July, and from there proceeded to Fort Knox and
105
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
Vincennes, met such of the Wabash chiefs as could be got together. He left Fort Washington on the 17th of August, and on the 27th of Septem- ber he met thirty-one chiefs, representing the Weas, Piankeshaws, Kaskas- kias, Peorias, Illinois, Pattowattamies, Musquitoes, Kickapoos and Eel River Indians, and concluded a treaty of peace and friendship.
Putnam was the only one who reached his destination and returned alive.
106
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI.
CHAPTER XIX.
ATTACK ON DUNLAP'S STATION.
W E give the personal narrative of Wiseman, as a matter of preference, in his own words, from Cist's Cincinnati, 1859:
I was born February 10, 1770, in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and on the Chesapeake Bay, where I resided for some years of my minority. In 1786 I left in company with my elder brother, Robert, to reside in Hagers- town. In the fall of 1790, I enlisted in the United States service, in Captain Alexander Truman's company, who afterward lost his life while bear- ing a flag of truce to the Indians. I had been at the residence of Dr. Jacob Schnebly, and found Captain Truman enlisting soldiers to go to the West. I had long contemplated a visit to that land of promise, and thought I could never see it under more favorable circumstances than presented themselves at this time. I accosted the Captain, therefore, and inquired of him if he did not want another soldier? He replied that it was out of his power to take me, for he had neither arms, ammunition nor clothing for another re- cruit. I was about withdrawing when he called me back and told me that he had a great mind to take me anyhow in my citizens' clothes, and that I should be supplied with rations from his own table. He promised, also, that if I would behave myself as I ought, he would be a father to me. I agreed to this arrangement and started with the rest, reaching Cincinnati in December, 1790. We reported ourselves at Fort Washington on our arrival to General Harmar, who commanded that post. As one of the youngest men in the army, I was soon put on active duty. The settlers at Dunlap Station, on the Great Miami, had complained to General Harmar of Indian depredations, and even massacre, and asked a detachment for their pro- tection, being in momentary expectation of an attack from the savages. David Gibson, one of the settlers, had been taken prisoner, and Thomas Larrison and William Crum chased at the peril of their lives into the fort or station, and the inhabitants hardly dared venture out after their cows, as they strayed off into the woods. Accordingly, General Harmar dispatched Lieutenant Kingsbury with a party of thirteen soldiers, of which I was one, acting as orderly sergeant. A larger body was detached as an escort to see us safe to the station. We all marched on foot and reached our post without accident or adventure. Our escort returned without loss of time to Fort Washington.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.