USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio, containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its general and local history : with descriptions of its counties, principal towns, and villages > Part 44
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A detachment was then ordered off to two other towns, distant six or eight miles. The men and prisoners were ordered to march down to the lower town and encamp. As we marched out of the upper town, we fired it, collecting a large pile of corn for our horses, and beans, pumpkins, &c., for our own use. I told Capt. Stucker, who messed with me, that I had seen several hogs running about the town, which appeared to be in good order, and I thought that a piece of fresh pork would relish well with our stock of vegetables. He readily assenting to it, we went in pursuit of them ; but as orders had been given not to shoot un- less at an enemy, after finding the hogs we had to run them down on foot, until we got near enough to tomahawk them. Being engaged at this for some time before we killed
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one, while Capt. S. was in the act of striking the hog, I cast my eye along the edge of the woods that skirted the prairie, and saw an Indian coming along with a deer on his back. The fellow happened to raise his head at that moment, and looking across the prairie to the upper town, saw it all in flames. At the same moment, I spake to Stucker in a low voice, that here was an Indian coming. In the act of turning my head round to speak to Stucker, I discovered Hugh Ross, brother-in-law to Col. Kennedy, at the distance of about 60 or 70 yards, approaching us. I made a motion with my hand to Ross to squat down ; then taking a tree between me and the Indian, I slipped somewhat nearer, to get a fairer shot, when at the instant I raised my gun past the tree, the Indian being about 100 yards dis- tant, Ross's ball whistled by me, so close that I felt the wind of it, and struck the Indian on the calf of one of his legs. The Indian that moment dropped his deer, and sprang into the high grass of the prairie. All this occurred so quickly, that I had not time to draw a sight on him, before he was hid by the grass. I was provoked at Ross for shooting when I was near enough to have killed him, and now the consequence would be, that probably some of our men would lose their lives, as a wounded Indian only would give up with his life. Capt. Irwin rode up that moment, with his troop of horse, and asked me where the Indian was. I pointed as nearly as I could to the spot where I last saw him in the grass, cautioning the captain, if he missed him the first charge, to pass on out of his reach before he wheeled to re-charge, or the Indian would kill some of his men in the act of wheeling. Whether the captain heard me, I cannot say ; at any rate, the warning was not attended to, for after passing the Indian a few steps, Captain Irwin ordered his men to wheel and re-charge across the woods, and in the act of executing the movement, the Indian raised up and shot the captain dead on the spot-still keeping below the level of the grass, to deprive us of any op- portunity of putting a bullet through him. The troop charged again ; but the Indian was so active, that he had darted into the grass, some rods from where he had fired at Irwin, and they again missed him. By this time several footmen had got up. Capt. Stucker and myself had each of us taken a tree that stood out in the edge of the prairie, among the grass, when a Mr. Stafford came up, and put his head first past one side and then the other of the tree I was behind. I told him not to expose himself that way, or he would get shot in a moment. I had hardly expressed the last word, when the Indian again raised up out of the grass. His gun, Stucker's, and my own, with four or five behind us, all cracked at the same instant. Stafford fell at my side, while we rushed on the wounded Indian with our tomahawks. Before we had got him dispatched, he had made ready the powder in his gun, and a ball in his mouth, preparing for a third fire, with bullet holes in his breast that might all have been covered with a man's open hand. We found with him Capt. Beasley's rifle-the captain having been killed at the Lower Blue Licks, a few days before the army passed through that place on their way to the towns.
Next morning, Gen. Logan ordered another detachment to attack a town that lay seven or eight miles to the north or northwest of where we then were. This town was also burnt, together with a large blockhouse that the English had built there, of a huge size and thick- ness; and the detachment returned that evening to the main body. Mr. Isaac Zane was at that time living at this last village, he being married to a squaw, and having at the place his wife and several children at the time.
The name of the Indian chief killed by M'Gary, was Moluntha, the great sachem of the Shawnees. The grenadier squaw was the sister to Cornstalk, who fell [basely murdered] at Point Pleasant.
Jonathan Alder (see Madison county) was at this time living with the Indians.
From his narrative, it appears that the news of the approach of the Kentuckians was communicated to the Indians by a Frenchman, a deserter from the former. Nevertheless, as the whites arrived sooner than they expected, the surprise was complete. Most of the Indians were at the time absent hunting, and the towns became an easy conquest to the whites. Early one morning, an Indian runner came into the village in which Alder lived, and gave the information that Mack-a-chack had been destroyed, and that the whites were ap- proaching. Alder, with the people, of the village, who were princi- pally squaws and children, retreated for two days, until they arrived somewhere near the head waters of the Scioto, where they suffered
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much for want of food. There was not a man among them capable of hunting, and they were compelled to subsist on paw-paws, muscles and craw-fish. . In about eight days, they returned to Zane's town, tarried a short time, and from thence removed to Hog creek, where they wintered : their principal living, at that place, was "raccoons, and that with little or no salt, without a single bite of bread, hommony, or sweet corn." In the spring they moved back to the site of their vil- lage, where nothing remained but the ashes of the dwellings and their corn burnt to charcoal. They remained during the sugar season, and then removed to Blanchard's fork, where, being obliged to clear the land, they were enabled to raise but a scanty crop of corn. While this was growing, they fared hard, and managed to eke out a bare subsistence by eating a " kind of wild potato" and poor rac- coons, that had been suckled down so poor that dogs would hardly eat them : "for fear of losing a little, they threw them on the fire, singed the hair off, and ate skin and all."
The Indian lad to whom General Lytle alludes, was taken, with others of the prisoners, into Kentucky. The commander of the ex- pedition was so much pleased with him, that he made him a member of his own family, in which he resided some years, and was at length permitted to return. He was ever afterwards known by the name of Logan, to which the prefix of captain was eventually attached. His Indian name was Spemica Lawba, i. e. " the High Horn." He subsequently rose to the rank of a civil chief, on account of his many estimable intellectual and moral qualities. His personal appearance was commanding, being six feet in height, and weighing near two hundred pounds. He from that time continued the unwavering friend of the Americans, and fought on their side with great con- stancy. He lost his life in the fall of 1812, under melancholy cir- cumstances, which evinced that he was a man of the keenest sense of honor. The facts follow, from Drake's Tecumseh.
In November of 1812, General Harrison directed Logan to take a small party of his tribe, and reconnoitre the country in the direction of the rapids of the Maumee. When near this point, they were met by a body of the enemy, superior to their own in number, and compelled to retreat. Logan, captain Johnny [see p. 165] and Bright-horn, who com- posed the party, effected their escape to the left wing of the army, then under the command of Gen. Winchester, who was duly informed of the circumstances of their adventure. An officer of the Kentucky troops, General P., the second in command, without the slightest ground for such a charge, accused Logan of infidelity to our cause, and of giving intelligence to the enemy. Indignant at this foul accusation, the noble chief at once resolved to meet it in a manner that would leave no doubt as to his faithfulness to the United States. Her called on his friend Oliver, [now Major Wm. Oliver, of Cincinnati,] and having told him of the imputation that had been cast upon his reputation, said that he would start from the camp next morning, and either leave his body bleaching in the woods, or return with such trophies from the enemy, as would relieve his character from the suspicion that had been wantonly cast upon it by an American officer.
Accordingly, on the morning of the 22d, he started down the Maumee, attended by his two faithful companions, captain Johnny and Bright-horn. About noon, having stopped for the purpose of taking rest, they were suddenly surprised by a party of seven of the enemy, among whom were young Elliott, a half-breed, holding a commission in the British ser- vice, and the celebrated Potawatamie chief, Winnemac. Logan made no resistance, but, with great presence of mind, extending his hand to Winnemac, who was an old acquaintance, proceeded to inform him, that he and his two companions, tired of the American service, were just leaving Gen. Winchester's army, for the purpose of joining the British. Winnemac,
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being familiar with Indian strategy, was not satisfied with this declaration, but proceeded to disarm Logan and his comrades, and placing his party around them, so as prevent their escape, started for the British camp at the foot of the rapids. In the course of the after- noon, Logan's address was such as to inspire confidence in his sincerity, and induce Win- nemac to restore to him and his companions their arms. Logan now formed the plan of attacking his captors on the first favorable opportunity ; and while marching along, suc- ceeded in communicating the substance of it to captain Johnny and Bright-horn. Their guns being already loaded, they had little further preparation to make than to put bullets into their mouths, to facilitate the re-loading of their arms. In carrying on this process, captain Johnny, as he afterwards related, fearing that the man marching by his side had observed the operation, adroitly did away the impression by remarking, " me chaw heap tobac."
The evening being now at hand, the British Indians determined to encamp on the bank of Turkeyfoot creek, about twenty miles from Fort Winchester. Confiding in the idea that Logan had really deserted the American service, a part of his captors rambled around the place of their encampment in search of blackhaws. They were no sooner out of sight than Logan gave the signal of attack upon those who remained behind ; they fired, and two of the enemy fell dead-the third, being only wounded, required a second shot to dispatch him ; and in the mean time, the remainder of the party, who were near by, returned the fire, and all of theni " treed." There being four of the enemy, and only three of Logan's party, the latter could not watch all the movements of their antagonists. Thus circumstanced, and during an active fight, the fourth man of the enemy passed round until Logan was un- covered by his tree, and shot him through the body. By this time, Logan's party had wounded two of the surviving four, which caused them to fall back. Taking advantage of this state of things, captain Johnny mounted Logan, now suffering the pain of a mortal wound, and Bright-horn, also wounded, on two of the enemy's horses, and started them for Winchester's camp, which they reached about midnight. Captain Johnny, having already secured the scalp of Winnemac, followed immediately on foot, and gained the same point early on the following morning. It was subsequently ascertained that the two Indians of the British party, who were last wounded, died of their wounds, making in all five out of the seven who were slain by Logan and his companions.
When the news of this gallant affair had spread through the camp, and, especially, after it was known that Logan was mortally wounded, it created a deep and mournful sensation. No one, it is believed, more deeply regretted the fatal catastrophe than the author of the charge upon Logan's integrity, which had led to this unhappy result.
Logan's popularity was very great ; indeed, he was almost universally esteemed in the army for his fidelity to our cause, his unquestioned bravery, and the nobleness of his nature. He lived two or three days after reaching the camp, but in extreme bodily agony ; he was buried by the officers of the army at Fort Winchester, with the honors of war. Previous to his death, he related the particulars of this fatal enterprize to his friend Oliver, declaring to him that he prized his honor more than life ; and having now vindicated his reputation from the imputation cast upon it, he died satisfied. In the course of this interview, and while writhing with pain, he was observed to smile ; upon being questioned as to the cause, he replied, that when he recalled to his mind the manner in which captain Johnny took off the scalp of Winnemac, while at the same time dexterously watching the movements of the enemy, he could not refrain from laughing-an incident in savage life, which shows the " ruling passion strong in death." It would, perhaps, be difficult, in the history of savage warfare, to point out an enterprize, the execution of which reflects higher credit upon the address and daring conduct of its authors, than this does upon Logan and his two com- panions. Indeed, a spirit even less indomitable, a sense of honor less acute, and a patriotic devotion to a good cause less active, than were manifested by this gallant chieftain of the woods, might, under other circumstances, have well conferred immortality upon his name.
Col. John Johnston, in speaking of Logan, in a communication to us, says :
Logan left a dying request to myself, that his two sons should be sent to Kentucky, and there educated and brought up under the care of Major Hardin. As soon as peace and tran- quility was restored among the Indians, I made application to the chiefs to fulfill the wish of their dead friend to deliver up the boys, that I might have them conveyed to Frankford, the residence of Major Hardin. The chiefs were embarrassed, and manifested an unwil- lingness to comply, and in this they were warmly supported by the mother of the children. On no account would they consent to send them so far away as Kentucky, but agreed that I should take and have them schooled at Piqua ; it being the best that I could do, in com- pliance with the dying words of Logan, they were brought in. I had them put to school,
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and boarded in a religious, respectable family. The mother of the boys, who was a bad woman, thwarted all my plans for their improvement, frequently taking them off for weeks, giving them bad advice, and even, on one or two occasions, brought whiskey to the school- house and made them drunk. In this way she continued to annoy me, and finally took them altogether to raise with herself among the Shawanoese, at Wapaghkonetta. I made several other attempts, during my connection with the Indians, to educate and train up to civilized life many of their youth, without any encouraging results-all of them proved . failures. The children of Logan, with their mother, emigrated to the west twenty years ago, and have there became some of the wildest of their race.
Logan county continued to be a favorite place of residence with the Indians for years after the destruction of these towns. Major Galloway, who was here about the year 1800, gives the following, from memory, respecting the localities and names of their towns at that time. Zane's town, now Zanesfield, was a Wyandot village ; Wapatomica, three miles below, on Mad river, was then deserted ; M'Kee's town, on M'Kee's creek, about 4 miles south of Bellefontaine, so named from the infamous M'Kee, and was at that time a trading station ; Read's town, in the vicinity of Bellefontaine, which then had a few cabins ; Lewis town, on the Great Miami, and Soloman's town, at which then lived the Wyandot chief, Tarhe, " the Crane." From an old settler we learn, also, that on the site of Bellefontaine, was Blue Jacket's town, and 3 miles north, the town of Buckongehelas. Blue Jacket, or Weyapiersensaw, and Buckongehelas were noted chiefs, and were at the treaty of Greenville : the first was a Shaw- nee, and the last a Delaware. At Wayne's victory, Blue Jacket had the chief control, and, in opposition to Little Turtle, advocated giv- ing the whites battle with so much force as to overpower the better councils of the other.
By the treaty of Sept. 29th, 1817, at the foot of the Maumee rapids, the Seneca and Shawnees had a reservation around Lewistown, in this county ; by a treaty, ratified April 6th, 1832, the Indians vacated their lands and removed to the far west. On this last occasion, Jas. B. Gardiner was commissioner, John M'Elvain, agent, and David Robb, sub-agent.
The village of Lewistown derived its name from Captain John Lewis, a noted Shawnee chief. When the county was first settled, there was living with him, to do his drudgery, an aged white woman, named Polly Keyser. She was taken prisoner in early life, near Lexington, Ky., and adopted by the Indians. She had an Indian husband and two half-breed daughters. There were several other whites living in the county, who had been adopted by the Indians. We give below sketches of two of them : the first is from N. Z. M'Culloch, Esq., a grandson of Isaac Zane-the last from Col. John Johnston.
ISAAC ZANE was born about the year 1753, on the south branch of the Potomac, in Vir- ginia, and at the age of about nine years, was taken prisoner by the Wyandots and carried to Detroit. He remained with his captors until the age of manhood, when, like most prisoners taken in youth, he refused to return to his home and friends. He married a Wyandot woman, from Canada, of half French blood, and took no part in the war of the revolution. After the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, he bought a tract of 1800 acres, on the site of Zanesfield, where he lived until his death, in 1816.
. JAMES M'PHERSON, or Squa-la-ka-ke, " the red-faced man," was a native of Carlisle
LOGAN COUNTY.
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Cumberland county, Pa. He was taken prisoner by the Indians on the Ohio, at or near the mouth of the Big Miami, in Loughry's defeat ; was for many years engaged in the British Indian department, under Elliott and M'Kee, married a fellow-prisoner, came into our service after Wayne's treaty of 1795, and continued in charge of the Shawanoese and Senecas of Lewistown until his removal from office, in 1830, since which he has died.
Logan county was first settled about the year 1806: the names of the early settlers recollected, are Robt. and Wm. Moore, Benj. and John Schuyler, Philip and Andrew Mathews, John Makimsom, John and Levi Garwood, Abisha Warner, Joshua Sharp and brother, Samuel, David and Robert Marmon, Samuel and Thomas Newell, and Benjamin Joseph Cox. In the late war, the settlements in this
Public Square, Bellefontaine.
county were on the verge of civilization, and the troops destined for the northwest passed through here. There were several block-house stations in the county : namely, Manary's, M'Pherson's, Vance's, and Zane's. Manary's, built by Capt. Jas. Manary, of Ross county, was three miles north of Bellefontaine, on the farm of John Laney ; M'Pherson's stood three-fourths of a mile Nw., and was built by Capt. Maltby, of Green county ; Vance's, built by ex-Gov. Vance, then captain of a rifle company, stood on a high bluff on the margin of a prairie about a mile east of Logansville ; Zane's block-house was at Zanesfield. At the breaking out of the war, many hundred of friend- ly Indians were collected and stationed at Zane's and M'Pherson's block-houses, under the protection of the government, who for a short time kept a guard of soldiers over them. It was at first feared that they would take up arms against the Americans, but sub- sequent events dissipating these apprehensions, they were allowed to disperse.
Bellefontaine, the county seat, is on the line of the Cincinnati and Sandusky City railroad, 50 miles Nw. of Columbus. It was laid out March 18th, 1820, on the land of John Tulles and Wm. Powell, and named from the fine springs abounding in the vicinity. The first of the above lived at the time in a cabin on the town plot, yet standing in the south part of Bellefontaine. After the town was laid out, Joseph Gordon built a cabin, now standing, on the corner opposite Slicer's hotel. Anthony Ballard erected the first frame dwelling ;
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Wm. Scott kept the first tavern, where J. C. Scarff's drug store now is. Slicer's tavern was built for a temporary court-house. Joseph Gordon, Nathaniel Dodge, Anthony Ballard, Wm. Gutridge, Thos. Haynes and John Rhodes were among the first settlers of the town, the last of whom was the first merchant. The Methodists built the first church, a brick structure, destroyed by fire, which stood on the site of their present church. Bellefontaine contains 2 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal Methodist and 1 Lutheran church ; I newspaper print- ing office, 11 dry goods stores, and had, in 'October, 1846, 610 inhabitants.
Grave of Simon Kenton.
About 5 miles NE. of Bellefontaine, on the head waters of Mad river, is the grave of Gen. Simon Kenton. He resided for the last few years of his life in the small log-house shown on the right of the engraving, where he breathed his last. He was buried on a small grassy knoll, beside the grave of a Mr. Solomon Praetor, shown on the left. Around his grave is a rude and now dilapidated picketing, and over it, a small slab bearing the following inscription.
In memory of Gen. SIMON KENTON, who was born April 3d, 1755, in Culpepper county, Va., and died April 29th, 1836, aged 81 years and 26 days. His fellow- citizens of the West will long remember him as the skillful pioneer of early times, the brave soldier and the honest man.
Simon Kenton first came out to Kentucky in the year 1771, at which time he was a youth of sixteen. He was almost constantly engaged in conflicts with the Indians from that time until the treaty of Greenville. He was probably in more expeditions against the Indians, encountered greater peril, and had more narrow escapes from death, than any man of his time. The many incidents of his romantic and eventful life are well detailed by his friend and biog- rapher, Colonel John M'Donald, from whose work we extract the
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thrilling narrative of his captivity and hair-breadth escapes from a cruel and lingering death.
Kenton lay about Boon's and Logan's stations till ease became irksome to him. About the first of September of this same year, 1778, we find him preparing for another Ind'an expedition. Alexander Montgomery and George Clark joined him, and they set off from Boon's station, for the avowed purpose of obtaining horses from the Indians. 'They crossed the Ohio, and proceeded cautiously to Chillicothe, (now Oldtown, Ross county.) They ar- rived at the town without meeting any adventure. In the night they fell in with a drove of horses that were feeding in the rich prairies. They were prepared with salt and halters. They had much difficulty to catch the horses; however, at length they succeeded, and as soon as the horses were haltered, they dashed off with seven-a pretty good haul. They travelled with all the speed they could to the Ohio. They came to the Ohio near the mouth of Eagle creek, now in Brown county. When they came to the river, the wind blew al- most a hurricane. The waves ran so high that the horses were frightened, and could not be induced to take the water. It was late in the evening. They then rode back into the hills some distance from the river, hobbled and turned their horses loose to graze ; while they turned back some distance, and watched the trail they had come, to discover whether or no they were pursued. Here they remained till the following day, when the wind sub- sided. As soon as the wind fell they caught their horses, and went again to the river ; but their horses were so frightened with the waves the day before, that all their efforts could not induce them to take the water. This was a sore disappointment to our adventurers. They were satisfied that they were pursued by the enemy ; they therefore determined to lose no more time in useless efforts to cross the Ohio ; they concluded to select three of the best horses, and make their way to the falls of the Ohio, where Gen. Clark had left some men stationed. Each made choice of a horse, and the other horses were turned loose to shift for themselves. After the spare horses had been loosed, and permitted to ramble off, ava- rice whispered to them, and why not take all the horses. The loose horses had by this time scattered and straggled out of sight. Our party now separated to hunt up the horses they had turned loose. Kenton went towards the river, and had not gone far before he heard a whoop in the direction of where they had heen trying to force the horses into the water. He got off his horse and tied him, and then crept with the stealthy tread of a cat, to make observations in the direction he heard the whoop. Just as he reached the high bank of the river, he met the Indians on horseback. Being unperceived by them, but so nigh that it was impossible for him to retreat without being discovered, he concluded the boldest course to be the safest, and very deliberately took aim at the foremost Indian. His gun flashed in the pan. He then retreated. The Indians pursued on horseback. In his retreat, he passed through a piece of land where a storm had torn up a great part of the timber. The fallen trees afforded him some advantage of the Indians in the race, as they were on horseback and he on foot. The Indian force divided ; some rode on one side of the fallen timber, and some on the other. Just as he emerged from the fallen timber, at the foot of the hill, one of the Indians met him on horseback, and boldly rode up to him, jumped off his horse and rushed at him with his tomahawk. Kenton concluding a gun-bar- rel as good a weapon of defence as a tomahawk, drew back his gun to strike the Indian before him. At that instant another Indian, who unperceived by Kenton had slipped up behind him, clasped him in his arms. Being now overpowered by numbers, further resist- tance was useless-he surrendered. While the Indians were binding Kenton with tugs, Montgomery came in view, and fired at the Indians, but missed his mark. Montgomery fled on foot. Some of the Indians pursued, shot at, and missed him ; a second fire was made, and Montgomery fell. The Indians soon returned to Kenton, shaking at him Mont- gomery's bloody scalp. George Clark, Kenton's other companion, made his escape, crossed the Ohio, and arrived safe at Logan's station.
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