Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 52

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 52

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The Moravian villages on the Tuscarawas were sitnated abont midway between the white settlements near the Ohio, and some warlike tribes of Wyandots and Delawares on

the Sandusky. . These latter were chiefly in the service of England, or at least opposed to the colonists, with whom she was then at war. There was a British station at Detroit, and an American one at Fort Pitt (Pittsburg)," which were regarded as the nucleus of west- ern operations by each of the contending parties. The Moravian villages of friendly Indians on the Tuscarawas were situated, as the saying is, between two fires. As Christian converts and friends of peace, both policy and inclination led them to adopt neutral grounds.

Forced Removal .- With much difficulty they sustained this position, partially un- molested, until the autumn of 1781. In the month of August, in that year, an English officer named Elliott, from Detroit, attended

of eastern Pennsylvania been adopted by the . by two Delaware chiefs, Pimoacan and Pipe,

with three hundred warriors, visited Gnaden- hutten. They urged the necessity of the speedy removal of the Christian Indians farther west, as a measure of safety. Seeing the latter were not inelined to take their advice, they resorted to threats and in some instances to violence. They at last succeeded in their object. The Christian Indians were forced to leave their crops of corn, potatoes and garden vegetables, and remove, with their unwelcome visitors, to the country bordering on the Sandusky. The- missionaries were taken prisoners to Detroit. After suffering severely from hunger and cold during the winter, a portion of the Indians were per- mitted to return to their settlements on the Tuscarawas, for the purpose of gathering in the corn left on the stalk the preceding fall.

Return to Harvest Crops .- About one hun- dred and fifty Moravian Indians, including women and children, arrived on the Tusca- rawas in the latter part of February, and divided into three parties, so as to work at the three towns in the corn-fields. Satisfied that they had escaped from the thraldom of their less civilized brethren west, they little ex- pected that a storm was gathering among the white settlers cast, which was to burst over their peaceful habitations with such direful . consequences.

it's

WILLIAMSON'S EXPEDITION.

Several depredations had been committed by hostile Indians about this time on the frontier inhabitants of western Pennsylvania

HERE: TRIUMPHED IN DEATH *: NINETY CHRISTIAN . INDIANS MARCH 8. 1782,,

GNADENHUTTEN ..

MOSSENG.

Shepler & Son, Photo., Coshocton.

MONUMENT AT GNADENHUTTEN, On the site of the Moravian Massacre.

TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

369

and Virginia, who determined to retaliate. A company of one hundred men was raised and placed under the command of Col. Wil- liamson, as a corps of volunteer militia. They set ont for the Moravian towns on the Tusea- rawas, and arrived within a mile of Gnaden- hutten on the night of the 5th of March. On the morning of the 6th, finding the Indians were employed in their corn-field, on the west side of the river, sixteen of William- son's men erossed, two at a time, over in a large sap-trough, or vessel used for retaining sugar- water, taking their rifles with them. The re- mainder went into the village, where they found a man and a woman, both of whom . they killed. The sixteen on the west side, on approaching the Indians in the field, found them more numerous than they expected. They had their arms with them, which was usual on such occasions both for purposes of protection and for killing game. The whites ae- eosted them kindly, told them they had come to take them to a place where they would be in future protected, and advised them to quit work and return with them to the neigh- borhood of Fort Pitt. Some of the Indians had been taken to that place in the preceding year, had been well treated by the American governor of the fort, and been dismissed with tokens of warm friendship. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the unsuspecting Moravian Indians readily sur- rendered their arms, and at once consented to be controlled by the advice of Col. William- son and his men. An Indian messenger was despatched to Salem, to apprise the brethren there of the new arrangement. and both eom- panies then returned to Gnadenhutten. On reaching the village a number of mounted militia started for the Salem settlement, but ere they reached it found that the Moravian Indians at that placo had already left their corn-fields, by the advice of the messenger, and were on the road to join their brethren at Gnadenhutten. Measures had been adopted by the militia to seenre the Indians whom they had at first decoyed into their power. They were bound, confined in two houses, and well guarded. On the arrival of the Indians from Salem (their armns having been previously secured without suspicion of any hostile intention), they were also fettered and divided between the two prison-houses, the males in one, the females in the other. The number thus confined in both, ineluding men, women and children, have been esti- mated from ninety to ninety-six.

Premeditated Murder .- A council was then held to determine how the Moravian Indians should be disposed of. This self-constituted military court embraced both officers and privates. The late Dr. Doddridge, in his published notes on Indian wars, etc., says : " Col. Williamson put the question, whether the Moravian Indians should be taken pris- oners to Fort Pitt, or put to death ?" re- questing those who were in favor of saving their lives to step ont and form a second rank. Only eighteen out of the whole number stepped forth as advocates of mercy. In these

the feelings of humanity were not extinct. In the majority, which was large, no sympathy was manifested. They resolved to murder (for no other word can express the act) the whole of the Christian Indians in their custody. Among these were several who had contributed to aid the missionaries in the work of conversion and civilization-two of whom emigrated from New Jersey after the death of their spiritual pastor, the Rev. David Brainard. One woman, who could speak good English, knelt before the com- mander and begged his protection. Her supplication was unavailing. They were or- dered to prepare for death. But the warning had been anticipated. Their firm belief in their new creed was shown forth in the sad hour of their tribulation, by religious exercises of preparation. The orisons of these devoted people were already ascending the throne of the Most High !- the sound of the Christian's hymn and the Christian's prayer found an echo in the surrounding wood, but no re- sponsive feeling in the bosoms of their execu- tioners.

Preparing for Death .- George Henry Loskiel, who, from 1802, was for nine years a presiding Bishop of the American Moravian Church, and wrote the "History of the Moravian Mission among the North Ameri- ean Indians," says : " It may easily be con- ceived how great their terror was at hearing a sentence so unexpected. However, they soon reeolleeted themselves, and patiently suffered the murderers to lead them into two houses, in one of which the brethren, and in the other the sisters and children, were con- fined like sheep ready for slaughter. They de- clared to the murderers that though they could call God to witness that they were perfectly in- nocent, yet they were prepared and willing to suffer death; but as they had, at their con. version and baptism, made a solemn promise to the Lord Jesus Christ that they would live unto Him, and endeavor to please Him alone in this world, they knew that they had been deficient in many respects, and therefore wished to have some time granted to pour out their hearts before Him in prayer and to erave his merey and pardon.

"Christian Resignation. - This request being complied with they spent their last night here below in prayer and in exhorting each other to remain faithful unto the end. One brother, named Abraham, who for some time past had been in a lukewarm state of heart, seeing his end approaching, made the following public confession before his brethren : 'Dear breth- ren, it seems as if we should all soon depart unto our Saviour, for our sentence is fixed. Yon know that I have been an untoward child, and have grieved the Lord and our brethren by my disobedience, not walking as I ought to have done ; but still I will cleave to my Saviour, with my last breath, and hold Him fast, though I am so great a sinner. I know assuredly that He will forgive me all my sins, and not cast me ont.'

""The brethren assured him of their love and forgiveness, and both they and the sisters

一

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TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

spent the latter part of the night in singing praises to God their Saviour, in the joyful hope that they would soon be able to praise Him without sin."

Hellish Self - Praise. - The Tusearawas county history gives the following account of Abraham's death : " Abraham, whose long, flowing hair had the day before attracted notice and elicited the remark that it would 'make a fine scalp,' was the first victim. One of the party, seizing a cooper's mallet, exclaimed, 'How exactly this will answer for the business !' Beginning with Abraham, he felled fourteen to the ground, then handed the instrument to another, saying, 'My arm fails mne ; go on in the same way. I think I have done pretty well.' "

The Slaughter .- With gun, and spear, and tomahawk, and scalping-knife, the work of death progressed in these slaughter-houses, till not a sigh or a moan was heard to proclaim the existence of human life within-all, save two -two Indian boys escaped. as if by a miracle, to be witnesses in after times of the savage cruelty of the white inan towards their un. fortunate race.

Thus were upwards of ninety human beings hurried to an untimely grave by those who should have been their legitimate protectors. After committing the barbarous aet, William- son and his men set fire to the houses con- taining the dead, and then marched off for Shoenbrun, the upper Indian town. But here the news of their atrocious deeds had preceded them. The inhabitants had all fled, and with them fled for a time the hopes of the missionaries to establish a settlement of Christian Indians on the Tuscarawas. The fruits of ten years' labor in the cause of civilization were apparently lost.

Sympathy of Congress .- The hospitable and friendly character of the Moravian In- dians had extended beyond their white breth- ren on the Ohio. The American people looked upon the act of Williamson and his men as an outrage on humanity. The Amer- ican Congress felt the influence of public sympathy for their fate, and on the 3d of September, 1788, passed an ordinance for the. encouragement of the Moravian missionaries in the work of civilizing the Indians. A remnant of the scattered flock was brought back, and two friendly chiefs and their fol- lowers became the recipients of public favor. The names of these chiefs were Killbuek and White Eyes. Two sons of the former, after having assumed the name of Henry, out of respect to the celebrated Patrick Henry, of Virginia, were taken to Princeton College to be educated. White Eyes was shot by a lad, some years afterwards, on the waters of Yel- low creek, Columbiana county.

Three tracts of land, containing four thou- sand acres cach, were appropriated by Con- gress to the Moravian Society, or rather to the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, which is nearly synonymous. These tracts embrace the three Indian towns already described, and by the provisions of the patent, which was issued 1798, the

society was constituted trustees for the Christian Indians thereon settled. Extraor- dinary efforts were now made by the society in the good work of civilization. Consider- able sums of money were expended in mak- ing roads, erecting temporary mills, and con- strueting houses. The Indians were collected near the site of the upper town, Shoenbrun, which had been burned at the time of the Williamson expedition, and a new village, called Goshen, erected for their habitations. It was here, while engaged in the laudable work of educating the Indian in the arts of civilized life, and inculcating the principles of Christian morality, that two of the mission- aries, Edwards and Zeisberger, terminated their earthly pilgrimage. Their graves are yet to be seen, with plain tombstones, in the Goshen burying ground, three miles south of New Philadelphia.

Association with Whites .- The habits and character of the Indians changed for the worse, in proportion as the whites settled in their neighborhood. If the extension of the white settlements west tended to improve the country, it had a disastrous effect upon the poor Indian. In addition to the contempt in which they were held by the whites, the war of 1812 revived former prejudices. An oc- casional intercourse with the Sandusky In- dians had been kept up by some of those at Goshen. A portion of the former were sup- posed to be hostile to the Americans, and the murder of some whites on the Mohican, near Richland, by unknown Indians, tended to confirm the suspicion.

The Indian settlement remained under the care of Rev. Abram Luckenback, until the year 1823. It was found impossible to pre- serve their morals free from contamination. Their intercourse with the white population in the neighborhood was gradually sinking them into deeper degradation. Though the legislature of Ohio passed an act prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors to Indians, un- der a heavy penalty, yet the law was either evaded or disregarded. Drunken Indians were occasionally seen at the county-seat, or at their village at Goshen. Though a large portion of the lands appropriated for their benefit had been leased out, the society de- rived very little profit from the tenants. The entire expenses of the Moravian mission, and not unfrequently the support of siek, infirm ... or destitute Indians devolved on their spirit- ual guardians. Upon representation of these facts, Congress was induced to adopt such measures as would tend to the removal of the" . Indians, and enable the society to divest itself of the trusteeship in the land.

The Last of Moravian Indians in Ohio .- On the 4th of August, 1823, an agreement or treaty was entered into at Gnadenhutten, between Lewis Cass, then governor of Michi- gan, on the part of the United States, and Lewis de Schweinitz, on the part of the so- ciety, as a preliminary step towards the re- trocession of the land to the government. By this agreement, the members of the society relinquished their right as trustees, condi-

, TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

371

tioned that the United States would pay $6,654, being but a moiety of the money they had expended. The agreement could not be legal without the written consent of the In- dians, for whose benefit the land had been donated. These embraced the remainder of the Christian Indians formerly settled on the land, "including Killbuck and his descend- ants, and the nephews and descendants of the late Captain White Eyes, Delaware chiefs." The Goshen Indians, as they were now called, repaired to Detroit, for the pur- pose of completing the contract. On the 8th of November they signed a treaty with Gov. Cass, in which they relinquished their right to the twelve thousand acres of land in Tus- carawas county, for twenty-four thousand acres in one of the Territories, to be desig- nated by the United States, together with an annuity of $400. The latter stipulation was clogged with a proviso which rendered its fulfilment uncertain. The Indians never re- turned. The principal part of them took up their residence at a Moravian missionary sta- tion on the river Thames, in Canada. By an act of Congress, passed May 26, 1824, their former inheritance, comprising the Shoen- brun, Gnadenhutten and Salem tracts, were surveyed into farm lots and sold. The writer of this article (James Patrick) was appointed agent of the United States for that purpose. Changes Wrought by Civilization. - In the following year the Ohio canal was located,

and now passes close to the site of the three ancient Indian villages. The population of the county rapidly increased, and their char- acter and its aspect have consequently changed. A few years more, and the scenes and actors here described will be forgotten, unless preserved by that art which is preserv- ative of the histories of nations and of men. Goshen, the last abiding-place of the Chris!". tian Indians, on the Tuscarawas, is now occu- pied and cultivated by a German farmer. A high hill which overlooked their village, and f which is yet covered with trees, under whose shade its semi-civilized inhabitants perhaps once "stretched their listless length," is now being worked in the centre as a coal mine. The twang of the bow-string. or the whoop of the young Indian, is succeeded by the dull, crashing sound of the coal-car, as it drops its burden into the canal boat. Yet there is one" spot here still sacred to the memory of its former occupants. As you descend the south side of the hill, on the Zanesville road, a small brook runs at its base, bordered on the opposite side by a high bank. On ascending the bank, a few rods to the right, is a small enclosed graveyard, overgrown with low trees or brushwood. Here lie the remains of sev- eral Indians, with two of their spiritual pas- tors (Edwards and Zeisberger). The grave of the latter is partly covered with a small marble slab, on which is the following in- scription :

DAVID ZEISBERGER,

Who was born 11th April, 1721, in Moravia,

and departed this life 7th November, 1808, aged 87 years, 7 months and 6 days.

This faithful servant of the Lord labored among the Moravian Indians, as a missionary, during the last sixty years of his life.

Some friendly hand, perhaps a relative, placed the stone on the grave, many years after the decease of him who rests beneath it. Site of the Massacre .- Gnadenhutten is still a small village, containing 120 souls, chiefly Moravians, who have a neat church and parsonage-house. About a hundred yards cast of the town is the site of the an- cient Indian village, with the stone founda- tions of their huts, and marks of the confla- gration that consumed the bodies of the slain in 1782. The notice which has been taken of this tragical affair in different publications has given a mournful celebrity to the spot where it transpired. The intelligent traveller often stops on his journey to pay a visit to the graves of the Indian martyrs, who fell victims to that love of peace which is the genuine

attribute of Christianity. From the appear- ance of the foundations, the village must have been formed of one street. Here and there may be excavated burnt corn and other relics of the fire. Apple-trees, planted by_ the missionaries, are yet standing, surrounded by rough underbrush. A row of Lombardy poplars were planted for ornament, one of which yet towers aloft undecayed by time, a natural monument to the memory of those who are interred beneath its shade. But an- other monument, more suitable to the place and the event to be commemorated, will, it is hoped, be erected at no distant day.

A Monument Proposed .- Some eight or . ten individuals of the town and neighbor- hood, mostly farmers and mechanics, met on the 7th of October, 1843, and organized a

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TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.,

society for the purpose of enclosing the area around the place where the bodies of the Christian Indians are buried, and erecting a suitable monument to their memory. The two prominent officers selected were Rev. Sylvester Walle, resident Moravian minister, president, and Lewis Peter, treasurer. The first and second articles of the constitution declare the intention of the "Gnadenhutten Monument Society" to be-" to make judic- ious and suitable improvements upon the plat of the old Indian village, and to erect on that spot an appropriate monument, comnemo- rating the death of ninety-six Christian In- dians, who were murdered there on the 8th . day of March, A.D. 1782." It is further provided, that any person paying annually the sum of one dollar shall be considered a member ; if he pay the sum of ten dollars, or add to his one dollar payment a sum to make it equal to that amount, he is consid- cred a member for life. Owing to the cir-

cumscribed means of the members, and the comparative obscurity of the village, the fund has yet only reached seventy dollars, whereas five hundred would be required to ereet any- thing like a suitable monument. Whether it will be ultimately completed must depend on the liberality of the public. Sixty-five years have elapsed since the Moravian Indians paid the forfeit of their lives for adhering to the peaceable injunctions of their religion. Shall the disciples of "Zeisberger, the philanthro- pist, the scholar and the Christian-he who labored more than half a century to reclaim the wild man of the forest from barbarism, and shed on his path the light of civilization -shall no monument perpetuate the benevo- lent deeds of the missionary-no inscription proclaim the pious fidelity of his converts? If the reader feels a sympathy for the cause. in which each became a sacrifice, he has now the power to contribute his mite in transmit- ting the memory of their virtues to posterity.

GNADENHUTTEN MONUMENT.

In 1871 the Gnadenhutten Monument Fund having reached the sum of $1,300, the society contracted for the erection of a monument, to cost $2,000, of which $700 was to be raised by subscription. The dedication took place at Gnadenhut- ten, Wednesday, June 5, 1872.

The stone is Indiana marble; the main shaft rising twenty-five feet above the. base is one solid stone, weighing fourteen tons. The entire height of the monu- ment is thirty-seven feet.

On the south side is the inscription, " HERE TRIUMPHED IN DEATH NINETY CHRISTIAN INDIANS. MARCH 8, 1782." On the north side is the date of ded- ication. The monument is located in the centre of the street of the original town.

Dedicatory Ceremonies .- Several thousand people witnessed the dedicatory cer- emonies. The oration was delivered by Rev. Edmund de Schweinitz, D.D., of Bethlehem, Pa., Bishop of the Moravian Church. At its close a funeral dirge was chanted, and an Indian, at each of the four corners, with cord in hand, as the last notes of the requiem died away, detached the drapery, which fell to the ground, and the monument stood revealed to the gaze of the assembled multitudes. The four Indians were from the Moravian mission in Canada. One of them, John Jacobs, was the great-grandson of Jacob Schebosh, the first victim of the massacre ninety years before.

Centennial Memorial Exercises .- Memorial exercises were held at Gnadenhut- ten, May 24, 1882, the centennial year of the massacre. The day was pleasant ; excursion trains brought an audience of nearly 10,000 people. Henry B. Lug- wenbaugh, a grandson of Rev. John Heckewelder, was present with his wife. In the village cemetery temporary indices were erected, pointing to the location of historical buildings. West of the monument, some thirty feet away, was a small mound labelled, "Site of Mission House." Fifteen feet cast of the monument, "Site of Church." Seventy feet farther east, "Site of the Cooper Shop, one of the slaughter houses." Near the cemetery fence, some 200 feet south of the mon- ument, was a mound, eighteen feet in width and five feet high, bearing the sign, " In a cellar under this mound, Rev. J. Heckewelder and D. Peter, in 1779, de- posited the bones."

At eleven o'clock in the morning the assembly was called to order by Judge J. II. Barnhill. Bishop II. J. Van Vleck delivered an address of welcome. Hon. D. A. Hollingsworth, of Cadiz, was the orator of the day. In the afternoon Gov. Chas. Foster and other distinguished guests addressed the assembled people ..

للتدرجالة

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TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

FIRST WHITE CHILD BORN IN OHIO.

Miss Mary Heckewelder, who was living at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, as late as 1843, is generally said to have been the first white child born in Ohio. She was the daughter of the noted Moravian missionary of that name, and was born in Salem, one of the Moravian Indian towns on the Tusearawas, in this county, April 16, 1781.

Mr. Dinsmore, a planter of Boone county, Ky., orally informed us that in the year 1835, when residing in the parish of Terre Bonne, La., he became acquainted with a planter named Millehomme, who informed him that he was born in the forest, on the headwaters of the Miami, on or near the Loramie Portage, about the year 1774. His parents were Canadian French, then on their route to Louisiana.

The elaim for Maria Heckewelder of having been the first white child born in Ohio has been so generally and widely accepted that she will always be spoken of as the " First White Child Born in Ohio."

Our original edition of 1846 perhaps cast the first doubt upon Miss Hecke- welder's claim by the above paragraph. Bishop Edmund de Schweinitz's " Life of David Zeisberger," published in 1870, says : "A few weeks before the arrival of Schmick, there had been born in the midst of this mission family, on the 4th of July, 1773, at Gnadenhutten, the first white child in the present State of Ohio. Mrs. Maria Agnes Roth was his mother, and he received in baptism, administered by Zeisberger on the 5th of July, the name of John Lewis Roth.", The author further remarks : "This interesting fact is established by the official diary of Gnadenhutten (in the archives of the Moravian Churchi), preserved at Bethlehem, Pa., which says : 'July 4, 1773 .- To-day God gave Brother and Sister Roth a young son. He was baptized into the death of Jesus, and named John Lewis, on the 5th inst., by Brother David Zeisberger, who, together with Brother Jung- man and his wife, came liere this morning.'

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Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 52

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200