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 47
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We insert below some anecdotes of the battle, the first three of which are derived from a published source, and the last, second-hand from Gen. Harrison.
At the time Capt. Campbell was endeavoring to turn the left flank of the enemy, three Indians, being hemmed in by the cavalry and infantry, plunged into the river, and endeav- ored to swim to the opposite side. Two negroes of the army, on the opposite bank, con- cealed themselves behind a log to intercept them. When within shooting distance, one of them shot the foremost through the head. The other two took hold of him to drag him to shore, when the second negro fired and killed another. The remaining Indian being now in shoal water, endeavored to tow the dead bodies to the bank. In the mean time the first negro had re-loaded, and firing upon the survivor, mortally wounded him. On ap- proaching them, the negroes judged from their striking resemblance and devotion, that they were brothers. After scalping them, they let their bodies float down stream.
Another circumstance goes to show with what obstinacy the conflict was maintained, by individuals in both armies. A soldier who had got detached a short distance from the army, met a single Indian in the woods, when they attacked each other-the soldier with his bayo- net, the Indian with his tomahawk. Two days after, they were found dead ; the soldier with his bayonet in the body of the Indian-the Indian with his tomahawk in the head of the soldier.
Several months after the battle of Fallen Timbers, a number of Potawatamie Indians ar- rived at Fort Wayne, where they expressed a desire to see " The Wind," as they called Gen. Wayne. On being asked for an explanation of the name, they replied, that at the bat-
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tle of the 20th of August, he was exactly like a hurricane, which drives and tears every thing before it.
Gen. Wayne was a man of most ardent impulses, and in the heat of action apt to forget that he was the general-not the soldier. When the attack on the Indians who were con- cealed behind the fallen timbers, was commencing by ordering the regulars up, the late Gen. Harrison, then aid to Wayne, being lieutenant with the title of major, addressed his superior-" Gen. Wayne, I am afraid you will get into the fight yourself, and forget to give me the necessary field orders." " Perhaps I may," replied Wayne, " and if I do, recollect the standing order for the day is, charge the d-d rascals with the bayonets."
That this Indian war was in a great measure sustained by British influence, admits of ample proof. That they lent their aid in this campaign and battle, is fully confirmed in the extract given from a letter from Gen. Harrison to Hon. Thomas Chilton, dated North Bend, Feb. 17th, 1834.
That the northwestern and Indian war was a continuation of the revolutionary contest, is susceptible of proof. The Indians in that quarter had been engaged in the first seven years of the war, as the allies of Great Britain, and they had no inclination to continue it after the peace of 1783. It is to British influence that their subsequent hostilities are to be attributed. The agents of that government never ceased to stimulate their enmity against the government of the United States, and to represent the peace which had been made as a temporary truce, at the expiration of which, " their great fathers would unite with them in the war, and drive the long knives from the land which they had so unjustly usurped from his red children." This was the cause of the detention of the posts of Detroit, Mackinaw, and Niagara, so long after the treaty of 1783. The reasons assigned for so doing, deceived nobody, after the failure of the negotiation attempted by Gen. Lincoln, Gov. Randolph and Col. Pickering, under British mediation voluntarily tendered.
The bare suggestion of a wish by the British authorities, would have been sufficient to induce the Indians to accept the terms proposed by the American commissioners. But at any rate, the withholding the supplies with which the Indians had been previously furnished, would have left no other alternative but to make peace. From that period, however, the war was no longer carried on " in disguise." Acts of open hostility were committed. In June, 1794, the Indians assembled at the Miami of the Lake, and were completely equipped out of the King's store, from the fort (a large and regularly fortified work) which had been built there in the preceding spring, for the purpose of supporting the operations of the Indians against the army of Gen. Wayne. Nor was the assistance limited to the supply of provi- sions and munitions of war. On the advance of the Indians, they were attended by a cap- tain of the British army, a serjeant, and six matrosses, provided with fixed ammunition, suited to the caliber of two field pieces, which had been taken from Gen. St. Clair, and de- posited in a creek near the scene of his defeat in 1791. Thus attended, they appeared be- fore Fort Recovery, (the advanced post of our army,) on the 4th of July, 1794, and having defeated a large detachment of our troops, encamped under its walls, would probably have succeeded in taking the fort, if the guns which they expected to find had not been pre- viously discovered and removed. In this action, Capt. Hartshorn, of the 1st sub-legion, was wounded by the Indians, and afterwards killed in a struggle with Capt. M'Kee of the British army .*
Upon the advance of the American army in the following month, the British fort at the Rapids was again the point of rendezvous for the Indians. There the deficiencies in arms, ammunition and equipments, were again supplied ; and there they were fed with regular rations from the King's stores, consisting of flour and Irish beef, until the arrival of Gen. Wayne with his army, on the 20th of August. In the general action of that day, there were two militia companies from Amherstburg and Detroit. The captain of the cutter (who was also the clerk of the court at that place) was found among the killed, and one of his privates taken prisoner. These unequivocal acts of hostility on the part of Great Britain, did not pass unnoticed by our government, and although anxious to avoid a general war, the Presi- dent determined that the aggression on our territory, by the erection of a fortress so far within our acknowledged limits, required some decisive measure.
* It is proper to state, that Capt. M'Kee asserted that he interfered to save Hartshorn, but that he refused quarter and attempted to kill him, (M'Kee,) and would have succeeded, if he had not been anticipated by his (M'Kee's) servant.
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Authority was therefore given to Gen. Wayne, to dispossess the intruders, if, in his opin- ion, it was necessary to the success of his operations against the Indians.
Although the qualification of this order, in its literal sense, might be opposed to its exe- cution after the entire defeat of the Indians --- the daring violation of neutrality which was professed, by the supply of food, arms and ammunition to the enemy on the very morning of the action, afforded, in the opinion of Gen. Wayne, a sufficient justification for its being carried into effect. An accurate examination, however, of the defenses of the fort, made by the general at great personal hazard, showed but too clearly that our small howitzers, which had been transported on the backs of horses, our only artillery, could make no impression upon its massive earthen parapet, while the deep fosse and frasing by which it was sur- rounded, afforded no prospect of the success of an escalade, but at an expense of valuable lives, which the occasion did not seem to call for.
From my situation as aid-de-camp to the general in chief, I mention these things from personal knowledge. If, then, the relation I have given is correct, it must be admitted that the war of the revolution continued in the western country until the peace of Greenville, in 1795.
There were some individuals on both sides, who took an active part, either in the battle or its connecting events, who demand more than a passing notice. Among these, were the faithful spies of Wayne, whose exploits M'Donald in his sketches thus describes.
Gen. Wayne, having a bold, vigilant and dexterous enemy to contend with, found it in- dispensably necessary to use the utmost caution in his movements to guard against surprise. To secure his army against the possibility of being ambuscaded, he employed a number of the best woodsmen the frontier afforded to act as spies. Capt. Ephraim Kibby, one of the first settlers at Columbia, who had distinguished himself as a bold and intrepid soldier, commanded the principal part of this corps.
A very effective division of the spies was commanded by Capt. William Wells .* At-
* WM. WELLS, while a child, was captured by the Indians, and became the adopted son of Little Turtle, the most eminent forest-warrior and statesman of his time. In the defeats of Harmar and St. Clair, he took a distinguished part, commanding in the latter action 300 young Indian warriors, who were posted immediately in front of the artillery, and caused such carnage among those who served it. He arranged his party behind logs and trees, immediately under the knoll on which the guns were, and thence, almost uninjured, picked off the artillerists, until, it is said, their bodies were heaped up almost to the height of their pieces. After this sanguinary affair, his forecast enabled him to anticipate the final ascen- dancy of the whites, who would be aroused by their reverses to such exertions as must be successful with their preponderance of power, and he resolved to abandon the savages. His mode of announcing this determination, was in accordance with the simple and sen- tentious habits of a forest life. He was traversing the woods in the morning, with his adopted father, the Little Turtle, when pointing to the heavens, he said, " when the sun reaches the meridian, I leave you for the whites ; and whenever you meet me in battle, you must kill me as I shall endeavor to do by you." The bonds of affection and respect which had bound these two singular and highly gifted men together, were not severed or weak- ened by this abrupt dereliction. Capt. Wells soon after joined Wayne's army, and by his intimacy with the wilderness, and his perfect knowledge of the Indian haunts, habits and modes of Indian warfare, became an invaluable auxiliary to the Americans. He served faithfully and fought bravely through the campaign, and at the close, when peace had re- stored amity between the Indians and the whites, rejoined his foster-father, the Little Turtle ; and their friendship and connexion was broken only by the death of the lat- ter. When his body was found among the slain at Chicago, in August, 1812, the In- dians are said to have drank his blood, from a superstitious belief that they should thus im- bibe his warlike endowments, which had been considered by them as pre-eminent.
The above paragraph respecting Wells, is copied from the discourse of Henry Whiting, Esq., before the Historical Society of Michigan ; that below, relating to his death, is from the Mss. of Col. John Johnston.
William Wells, interpreter for the Miamies, and whose wife was of that nation, himself uncle to Mrs. Heald, the lady of the commandant at Fort Dearborn, Chicago, went from Fort Wayne with a party of 12 or 15 Miamies to that place, with a view of favoring the escape of the garrison to Fort Wayne. Nothing could have been more unfortunate than this, for Wells was peculiarly obnoxious to the Putawatimies, and especially to the chief,
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tached to Wells's command were the following men. Robert M'Clellan, one of the most active men on foot that ever lived. Next to him was Henry Miller, who deserves here a passing notice. He and a younger brother, named Christopher, had been made captives by the Indians while quite young, and adopted into an Indian family. He lived with them until about 24 years of age, when, although he had adopted all their customs, he began to think of returning to his relatives among the whites. His resolution continually gaining strength by reflection, he determined to make the attempt, and endeavored to induce his brother to accompany him in his flight, but to no purpose. Christopher was young when captured, he was now a good hunter, an expert woodsman and a free and independent In- dian. Henry Miller, however, escaped through the woods, and arrived safe among his friends in Kentucky. Capt. Wells was familiar with Miller during his captivity, and knew that he possessed that firm intrepidity which would render him a valuable companion in time of need. To these were added, Hickman, May and Thorp, all men of tried worth in Indian warfare.
Capt. Wells and his four companions were confidential and privileged gentleman in camp, who were only called upon to do duty upon very particular and interesting occasions. They were permitted a carte blanche among the horses of the dragoons, and when on duty always went well mounted; while the spies, commanded by Capt. Kibby, went on foot, and were kept constantly on the alert, scouring the country in every direction.
In June, 1794, while the head quarters of the army was at Greenville, Wayne dis patched Wells, with his corps, with orders to bring an Indian into the camp as prisoner. Accordingly he proceeded cautiously with his party through the Indian country. They crossed the St. Mary's and thence to the Auglaize, without meeting with any straggling party of Indians. In passing up the latter, they discovered a smoke, dismounted, tied their horses and cautiously reconnoitered. They found three Indians encamped on a high, open piece of ground, clear of brush or any undergrowth, rendering it difficult to approach them without being discovered. While reconnoitering, they saw not very distant from the camp, a fallen tree. They returned and went round, so as to get it between them and the Indians. The tree top being full of leaves would serve to screen them from observation. They crept forward on their hands and knees with the caution of the cat, until they reached it, when they were within 70 or 80 yards of the camp. The Indians were sitting or stand- ing about the fire, roasting their venison, laughing and making merry antics, little dream- ing that death was about stealing a march upon them. Arrived at the fallen tree, their plans were settled. M'Clellan, who was almost as swift of foot as a deer, was to catch the center Indian, while Wells and Miller were to kill the other two, one shooting to the right and the other to the left. Resting the muzzles of their rifles on a log of the fallen tree, they aimed for the Indians hearts. Whiz went the balls, and both Indians fell. Before the smoke had risen two feet, M'Clellan was running with uplifted tomahawk for the re- maining Indian, who bounded down the river, but finding himself likely to be headed if he continued in that direction, he turned and made for the river, which at that place had a bluff bank about 20 feet high. On reaching it, he sprang off into the stream and sunk to
" the Black Bird," who was the leading warrior on the occasion. The Putawatimies were alone in arms against us, at the time, in that part of the country. The presence of Wells was fatal to the safety of the troops ; the chief Blackbird had often spoken to myself in very bitter terms against him. On the 14th of August, 1812, a council was held between the officers and the chiefs, at which it was agreed, that the whole garrison with their arms, ammunition sufficient for the journey and clothing, should retire unmolested to Fort Wayne, and that the garrison, with all that it contained, should be delivered up to the Indians. In the night preceding the evacuation, all the powder and whiskey in the fort was thrown into a canal, communicating from the garrison to the Chicago river. The powder floated out and discovered the deception to the Indians; this greatly exasperated them and no doubt brought matters to a crisis. On the morning of the 15th of August, the troops marched out to commence their journey, and had proceeded but a short distance, when they were attacked by the Indians. Wells seeing that all was lost, and not wishing to fall into their hands, as he well knew that in that case, a cruel and lingering death awaited him, wetted powder and blacked his face, as a token of defiance, mounted his horse and commenced addressing the Indians with all the approbrious and insulting language he could think of. His purpose evidently was to induce them to dispatch him forthwith. His object was accomplished. They became so enraged at last with his taunts and jeers, that one of them shot him off his horse, and immediately pouncing upon him, cut his body open, took out his heart and eat it. The troops were massacred, the commanding officer and wife were saved. Chicago means in Putawatimie, " the place of the pole cat."
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his middle in the soft mud at its bottom. M'Clellan came after and instantly sprang upon him, as he was wallowing and endeavoring to extricate himself from the mire. The In- dian drew his knife : the other raised his tomahawk and bade him throw down his knife or he would kill him instantly. He did so, and surrendered without farther opposition.
By this time, Wells and his companion came to the bank, and discovered the two quietly sticking in the mud. Their prisoner being secure, they selected a place where the bank was less precipitous, went down, dragged the captive out and tied him. He was sulky and refused to speak either Indian or English. Some of the party went back for their horses, while the others washed the mud and paint from the prisoner. When cleaned, he turned out to be a white man, but still refused to speak, or give any account of himself. The party scalped the two Indians whom they had shot, and then set off for head quar- ters. Henry Miller having some suspicions that their prisoner might possibly be his brother Christopher, whom he had left with the Indians, years previous, rode up along side of him, and called him by his Indian name. At the sound, he started, stared around, and eagerly inquired how he came to know his name ? The mystery was soon explained. Their pris- oner was indeed Christopher Miller ! A mysterious providence appeared to have placed him in a situation in the camp, by which his life was preserved. Had he been standing either to the right or to the left, he would inevitably have been killed, and an even chance too, if not by his own brother. But that fate which appears to have doomed the Indian race to extinction, permitted the white man to live.
When they arrived at Greenville, their prisoner was placed in the guard house. Wayne often interrogated him as to what he knew of the future intentions of the Indians. Capt. Wells and his brother Henry, were almost constantly with him, urging him to abandon the idea of ever again joining the Indians, and to unite with the whites. For some time he was reserved and sulky, but at length became more cheerful, and agreed that if they would release him from his confinement, he would remain among them. Capt. Wells and Henry Miller urged Wayne to release him, who did so, with the observation, that should he deceive them and return to the enemy, they would be one the stronger. He appeared pleased with his change of situation, and was mounted on a fine horse, and otherwise equipped for war. He joined the company of Wells, and continued through the war a brave and intrepid soldier.
As soon as Wells and his company had rested themselves, they were anxious for another bout with the red men. Time without action was irksome to such stirring spirits. Ac- cordingly in July, they left Greenville, their number strengthened by the addition of Chris- topher Miller, with orders to bring in prisoners. When on these excursions, they were al- ways mounted on elegant horses and dressed and painted in Indian style. They arrived in the country near the Auglaize, when they met a single Indian, and called upon him to surrender. › Notwithstanding there were six against him, he refused, levelled his rifle, and as they approached him on horseback, fired, missed his mark and then ran. The thick un- derbrush enabling him to gain upon them, Christopher Miller and M'Clellan dismounted and pursued, and the latter soon overtook him. Upon this he turned and made a blow at M'Clellan with his rifle, which was parried. As it was M'Clellan's intention not to kill, he kept him at bay until Christopher came up, when they closed in, and made him prisoner without receiving injury. They then turned about and arrived with him at Greenville. He was reported to be a Pottawatamie chief of scarcely equalled courage and prowess. As Christopher Miller had performed his part on this occasion, to the entire satisfaction of the brave spirits with whom he acted, he had, as he merited, their entire confidence.
On one of Captain Wells's peregrinations through the Indian country, as he came to the bank of the St. Mary's, he discovered a family of Indians coming up the river in a canoe. He dismounted from his horse and concealed his men, while he went to the bank of the river, in open view, and called to the Indians to come over. As he was dressed in Indian costume and spoke in that language, they crossed to him, unsuspicious of danger. The moment the canoe struck the shore, Wells heard the nicking of the cocks of his comrades' rifles, as they prepared to shoot the Indians ; but who should be in the canoe but his Indian father and mother, with their children ! The others were now coming forward with their rifles cocked and ready to pour in a deadly fire upon this family. Wells shouted to them to desist, informing them who the Indians were, solemnly declaring that the first man who attempted to injure one of them should receive a ball in his head. " That family," said he to his men, "had fed him when hungry, clothed him when naked, and nursed him when sick, and had treated him as affectionately as their own children." This short speech moved the sympathetic hearts of his leather-hunting-shirt comrades, who entered at once into his feelings and approved of his lenity. Dropping their tomahawks and rifles, they went to the canoe and shook hands with the trembling Indians in the most friendly manner.
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Wells assured them they had nothing to fear ; and after talking with them some time, to dispel their anxiety, he told them " that Gen. Wayne was approaching with an overwhelm- ing force ; that the best thing the Indians could do was to make peace, and that the whites did not wish to continue the war. He urged his Indian father to keep for the future out of danger :" he then bade them farewell. They appeared grateful for his clemency, pushed off their canoe, and paddled with their utmost rapidity down stream. Capt. Wells and his comrades, though perfect desperadoes in fight, upon this occasion proved that they largely possessed that gratitude and benevolence which does honor to human kind.
While Wayne's army lay at the Indian village at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee, building Fort Defiance, the general, wishing to be informed of the intentions of the enemy, dispatched Capt. Wells's party to bring in another prisoner. They consisted of Wells, M'Clellan, the Millers, May and Mahaffy. They proceeded cautiously down the Maumee until opposite the site of Fort Meigs, where was an Indian village. This was on the 11th of August, nine days before the battle. Wells and his party boldly rode into this town, as if they had come from the British fort, and occasionally stopped and talked with the Indians in their language. The savages believed them to be Indians from a distance, who had come to take a part in the expected battle. After passing through the village, they met, some distance from it, an Indian man and woman on horseback, who were re- turning to town from hunting. They made them captives without resistance, and set off for Defiance.
A little after dark, they came near a large encampment of Indians, merrily amusing them- selves around their camp fires. Ordering their prisoners to be silent, under pain of instant death, they went around the camp until they got about half a mile above it. They then held a consultation, tied and gagged their prisoners, and rode into the Indian camp with their rifles lying across the pummels of their saddles. They inquired when they had heard last of Gen. Wayne and the movements of his army, and how soon and where the expected battle would be fought? The Indians standing about Wells and his party were-very com- municative, and answered the questions without any suspicions of deceit in their visitors. At length an Indian, who was sitting at some distance, said in an under-tone, in another tongue, to some who were near him, that he suspected these strangers had some mischief in their heads. Wells overheard it, gave the preconcerted signal, and each fired his rifle into the body of an Indian, at not more than six feet distance. The moment the Indian had made the remark, he and his companions rose up with their rifles in hand, but not before each of the others had shot their man. The moment after Wells and party had fired, they put spurs to their horses, lying with their breasts on their animals' necks, so as to lessen the mark to fire at, and before they had got out of the light of the camp fires, the In- dians had fired upon them. As M'Clellan lay in this position, a ball entered beneath his shoulder blade and came out at the top of his shoulder ; Wells's arm was broken by a ball, and his rifle dropped to the ground ; May was chased to the smooth rock in the Maumee, where, his horse falling, he was taken prisoner.
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