USA > Ohio > Allen County > History of Allen County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part One > Part 3
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
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in their place, the "Old Blue Flag" of Virginia was hoisted. Without fighting, the garrison of Cahokia, a few miles up the Mississippi, also surrendered. Then quickly followed the sur- render of Vincennes, on the Wabash, 240 miles distant. Vincennes at this time was de- serted by most of the British, as the Governor General, Hamilton, had returned to Detroit. But on learning of its capture by Colonel Clark and his backwoodsmen, and also that Kas- kaskia and Cahokia were in his possession, Hamilton hastened to Vincennes with a large body of British regulars and Indian allies. He finds the fort in possession of just two men --- Captain Helm and a soldier. The Captain places a cannon at the open gate and demands the honors of war, if the fort is to be sur- rendered. The request is granted-and two men march out between rows of British soldiers and Indians. Hamilton again takes command of the fort, but as it is now the dead of winter, decides to await the coming of spring before attacking Kaskaskia. But Clark is informed by his faithful Spanish friend, Col- onei Vigo, who loaned Clark nearly $20,000 to aid in this campaign, that Hamilton had sent most of his men home for the winter, with the intention of recalling them early in the spring for an attack on Kaskaskia. Clark at once marches against Hamilton, a long and danger- ous journey. The streams were filled with floating ice, the meadows and valleys were full of water and the ground was swampy and ir- regular. Often the men had to wade, for four or five miles at a stretch, through water to their waists. Food became scarce, and the men were falling from sickness. But fortunately for them they captured a canoe from some squaws, and in it they found a goodly quantity of buffalo meat, corn, tallow and kettles. This revived the weak, and gave them all added courage to press on to the attack. At last they camped on a small area of dry ground within sight of Vincennes. Hamilton was not aware of the approach of any enemy, and consequently felt secure in his stronghold. When night fell upon the camp, Colonel Clark led his men in a bold rush upon the town. The people of Vincennes were most heartily tired of British rule, and
they welcomed the Americans. After some sharp fighting, Hamilton agreed to meet Clark in a church and arrange terms. The valiant Clark would listen to no proposition from this "murderer of defenceless women and chil- dren" but unconditional surrender. The next day Hamilton's men, 79 in number, marched out and laid down their arms. The American colors were again hoisted over "Old Vincen- nes," and the fort was rebaptized with a new name, "Fort Patrick Henry." To the good name of George Rogers Clark also belongs the great work of the invasion of the rich coun- try of the Shawnees, and the defeat of the Miamis. This successful campaign gave to Clark undisputed control of all the Illinois country, and the rich valley of the Wabash. In fact he was the unquestioned master of the country from Pennsylvania to the "Father of Waters," and from the Ohio to the Great Lakes.
By the Treaty of Paris, 1783, at the close of the Revolutionary War, this great area, now consisting of five States, was transferred from Great Britain to the United States. To the hero of this expedition America owes an en- during monument. But we have not always rewarded our great men in due measure. It is sad to relate that George Rogers Clark was al- lowed to pass his last years in poverty and neg- lect. His death came in 1818.
OWNERSHIP OF THE NEW TERRITORY.
For a long time it was doubtful to what State this newly acquired region belonged. Virginia claimed nearly all of it-and certainly her claim was a strong one. Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut each laid claim. also, to parts of this territory. But Delaware. New Jersey and Maryland absolutely refused to enter the Union, unless all the other States gave up their claims to Congress. Their con- tention was this: Should Virginia, or any other State, be given the whole or even a great part of this vast area. she would then have too much power. Therefore all claims, they said. should be surrendered by these States to Con- gress for the general good. This firm stand on
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HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY
the part of these three small States finally pre- vailed, and all claims, save certain reservations, were given up to the general government. It was many years, however, before the Indian tribes gave up their rich hunting grounds to the white men. We cannot find heart to censure them for this, for it was no small matter for the savage son of the forest to yield the land of his birth and the bones of his fathers, to the encroachments of alien foes. The treat- ment given these original owners of the soil of God's broad footstool will ever bring the blush of shame to every honest American, for these lands were taken from them by misrepresenta- tion, dishonesty and overwhelming force.
Senator John Sherman-Ohio's great Sen- ator --- always claimed that the government never kept a single treaty made with the In- dian. Is it any wonder then that we find the Sacs, the Foxes, the Ottawas, the Winnebagoes and the Kickapoos making a last desperate struggle to retain their happy hunting grounds ?
BLACK HAWK.
The story of this last long effort by these tribes centers around the one chief who towers above all others in this country as Mont Blanc towers among the foothills of the plain, viz : Black Hawk, a chief of the Sacs and Foxes. He was born in 1767, in the Indian village of Saukenuk, on the north bank of the Rock River, about a mile above its mouth. At the age of 19, upon the death of his father, who was killed in battle, he "fell heir to the medi- cine bag of his forefathers," and for 50 years was the only leader of his people-the last sav- age patriot to defend his land against the irre- sistible force of civilization. Black Hawk was a born warrior and leader of warriors. His great-grandfather was a mighty chief before him-the celebrated old Thunder, who more than a hundred years before had led his fierce people -the Sacs-from the northern shores of the St. Lawrence to the rich valleys of Rock River and the Wisconsin. Black Hawk taught his people a rude form of agriculture, and they made a garden of Rock Island. Until the un-
fair and one-sided treaty was made by the au- thorities at St. Louis in 1804 for a narrow strip of land along the great river, in order to work the mines of lead there, he was a friend of the Americans. But he never would acknowledge the rights of this treaty by which the valuable lands of his people were filched from them. This had been accomplished by loading the four chiefs, who had been sent to St. Louis to se- cure the honorable release of a Sac warrior imprisoned for killing a vicious backwoods- man in a quarrel, with gaudy presents, and filling them with whiskey. In addition, they were made flattering promises, and under these various influences they finally consented to give the American commander-the repre- sentative of the American government -- cer- tain parts of their country on two rivers-the Illinois and the Mississippi. It was also prom- ised, on the part of the President of the United States, to pay the Sacs $1.000 per year for this valuable grant. These chiefs had no right to make any treaty, though they thought
PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON AND BLACK HAWK.
"I am a man and you are another." Courtesy of the American Book Co.
by thus complying with the wishes of the white chief. they would gain his good will, and save the life of the Sac warrior whom they had been sent to aid. Instead. however, they saw him led out and shot to death-murdered without a trial-in the very land over which the Or-
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dinance of 1787 had expressly stipulated : "The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and their prop- erty shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress, but laws founded in justice and hu- manity shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them." How well we have kept these fair promises! What wonder that the noble blood of Black Hawk should fairly boil with vindictive rage at such treatment of his race! From this one abuse originated the Black Hawk War. But it was augmented by many other causes of even greater flagrance and dishonor. False re- ports about this great chief were spread far and wide, and the government sent an army against him. Our own great Lincoln formed, when a mere youth, a militia company, and marched to the supposed scene of "the great Indian uprising." Black Hawk, who never really meant to fight the Americans, but had long borne in silence his deep wrongs, was captured, through the treachery of the Win- nebagoes, and imprisoned. His tribes-men, helpless women and children-were ruthlessly shot down or drowned in the Mississippi, the very river upon whose banks they had so long hunted, lived and loved. After a long im- prisonment in Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, he was taken to Washington, where President Andrew Jackson held an interview with him. When asked by the President why he had at- tempted to make war against the Americans, he answered : "I am a man and you are an- other. I took up the hatchet to avenge injuries which could no longer be borne." The great President sent him back to live in peace with the few remaining people of his race, upon the plains of Iowa, where he died in 1838. Thus was closed forever, in the Old Northwest, the efforts of the red man to retain the lands and hunting grounds of his fathers. The Black Hawk War forms their last chapter. "As a race they have withered from the land. Their arrows are broken, their springs are dried up,
their cabins are in the dust. Their council fire has long since gone out on the shore, and their war-cry is fast dying away to the untrod- den West. Slowly and sadly they climb the distant mountains and read their doom in the setting sun."
TIIE WILDERNESS SUBDUED.
Gradually the wilderness gave way to the pioneer. His sturdy arm and untiring frame never knew rest until the forest was made to blossom with fruit and grain. He turned the mountain side into a garden of flowers. Along the stream he built his mill, and in the protected valley he laid out the vil- lage-now the great city with its millions of people. He met the howling wolf with defi- ance, turned the woolly coat of the buffalo into a protecting robe, and dined upon choice rounds of bison and deer. As the virgin forest yielded before his axe, cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses flourished in his meadows. The mead- ow, in turn, gave place to the corn, and later to the wheat-and in place of the "johnny cake" came the snow-white loaf. The loving mother, sons and daughters were clad, for many years, only in garments made by their own hands-the linsey-woolsey of "Hoosier" days. Everybody worked from daylight until late into the night. The pioneer was his own manufacturer. He could shoe a horse, or "iron" a wagon. He could build a chair or a house. He could make his children's shoes, or a spinning wheel, and by the light of the fire from the great open fire-place-that ancient emblem of the tribal family and of modern civ- ilization-he tied his brooms and taught his children the "three R's."
As markets came nearer, his rude cabin "where humble happiness endeared each scene," gave place to a more pretentious dwelling, and in it many of the real luxuries of life were found.
Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire ; Blest that abode where want and pain repair, And every stranger finds a ready chair ; Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crowned,
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HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY
Where all the ruddy family around Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail, Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale ; Or press the bashful stranger to his food, And learn the luxury of doing good.
The virgin soil now yields its golden har- vest and "health and plenty cheer the labor- ing swain."
But out of all this change and progress comes the rugged pioneer himself, unchanged. His brow is deeply furrowed by the hardships
of years of sunshine and shadow, and his man- ners are still those of the dawn.
Dr. James Baldwin pays the pioneer the following noble tribute: "No hero of history, no warrior patriot, ever served his country better or earned laurels more nobly. The world may forget what he suffered and what he accom- plished, but his monument shall remain as long as our country endures. What is his monu- ment? It is the Old Northwest itself, now the center of the republic, and the crowning factor of our country's greatness."
SCALE OF MILES
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Wabash
Ohio
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issippi
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THE WESTERN COUNTRY IN THE REVOLUTION. Courtesy of the American Book Co.
CHAPTER II
THE FAMOUS MAUMEE VALLEY
.Great Valleys of the World-Valley of the Maumee-Its Great Fertility-First Attempt at Settlement in Ohio-General Harmar Sent Against the Miamis-St. Clair's Defeat -Fort Defiance-Battle of the Fallen Timber, General Wayne's Great Victory-Siege of Fort Meigs -- Col. George Croghan and the Defense of Fort Stephenson-End of the War of 1812-Early Struggle for Possession-Wild Game an Alluring Prise-The Economic Work of the Beaver-The Ohio Company-France Attempts to Take Possession of the Ohio Valley-The French and Indian War -- The Fertility, Wealth, and Substantial Citizenship of the Great Maumee Valley.
In all ages and countries man has sought the river valley. In the valley man first ad- vanced from barbarism to civilization. The first nations to gain power and to become en- lightened were those whose homes were on fertile soil and beside cool water.
The great and fertile basin between the Alps and the Apennines-that garden of the ancient world-through which flows the Po. was the abiding place of millions of inhabitants, and the source of Italy's wealth.
Of this valley Dr. Thomas Arnold says : "Who can wonder that this large and richly watered plain should be filled with flourishing cities or that it should have been contended for so often by successful invaders?"
The Greek historian Herodotus proclaims : ""Egypt is the gift of the Nile." The annual overflow of that giant stream has kept the val- ley of Egypt a garden of richest alluvium for untold centuries. Here have uncounted mill- ions of the human race "lived, loved and died."
The great river valleys of Russia have long supported her teeming population. and to-day her sluggish rivers carry Russia's wealth to the sea. In America the Hudson flows through
a valley so rich, and so beautiful, that it has long been the theme of the historian, and the inspiration of the bard. But to the inhabitants of the Old Northwest, and especially of Ohio, no valley has a greater charm than that of the Maumee. The name is Indian, and it falls softly on the ear when it is pronounced, for it has more vowels than consonants. The beauty of the name introduces you to the beauty of the valley.
The source of this stream is generally re- garded as St. Mary's River, which rises in Auglaize County, Ohio, near the county scat, and flows in a northwesterly direction through Mercer and Van Wert counties; then it enters Indiana, passing through Adams and Allen counties of that State. At Fort Wayne it re- ceives the St. Joseph from the north. Here the Maumee proper begins, and turning north- cast it continues its course through Paulding, Defiance and Henry counties, and along the line between Wood and Lucas, falling into Maumee Bay at Toledo.
The soil along its course is a black loam. capable of producing the most extensive crops year after year without the use of fertilizers.
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The richness of this valley attracted the Indian long years before the coming of the white man. Here he roamed unmolested, and here he "wooed his dusky mate." The fauna and flora were most abundant, and life for both the white and the red man was made easy and happy, for game was found on every hand, and the God of nature had clothed the forest like a vineyard.
Into this valley immigrants came in large numbers. They felled the forest, and bridged the stream, and they made the wilderness blos- som like the rose. Prosperous villages ap- peared at every turn of the road, or bend of the stream, and some of them soon became cities.
Along the banks of the stream, betimes, was heard the dreadful war-whoop of the Shawnees or the Hurons, the shrill whistle of the rifle ball and the roar of cannon. At Fort Wayne, Defiance and Toledo once stood mas- sive forts where was heard the din of battle and there was seen the death grapple between "Mad Anthony" Wayne and his foes, or the long-drawn combat .between General Harrison and the English general Proctor, aided by his devoted Indian ally, Tecumseh.
The story of these old struggles is ever new and this chapter would be sadly wanting in in- terest should the recital of them be omitted here.
FIRST SETTLEMENT IN OHIO, 1680.
The Governor of Canada, Count de Fron- tenac, anxious for France to gain possession of the rich country to the south of the chain of Great Lakes, sent out trading parties with au- thority from the King of France to erect stores and military posts, and to take possession of the country in the name of the government of France. One of these trading parties erected a post on the Maumee, near the present site of Maumee City in Lucas County. in 1680. This was an important trading post for a number of years. This post was removed to a more advantageous position at the head waters of the Maumee, where the city of Fort Wayne now stands. On the very site of the old post at
Maumee City, the British erected, in 1794, Fort Miami. The above-named post or stock- ade, at Maumee City, is believed to have been the first attempt at settlement, or occupation by white men, within the present limits of Ohio. These statements are made, says the- historian Knapp, on the authority of records at Montreal and Quebec, and papers at Albany and Harrisburg.
The chief village of the Miami Indians was. at the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph rivers, where Fort Wayne now stands. In 1791 General Harmar was sent against them, to punish them for their continued attacks upon the white settlers. But he was led into an ambuscade and routed.
General St. Clair, a Revolutionary officer of note and Governor of the territory north- west of the Ohio, was then sent to attack the- Miamis in the same year. But he was surprised and signally beaten. Every school boy knows the story of his defeat. It was the most dis- astrous of all the early conflicts with the In- dians. The battle was fought along a branch of the Wabash, a little south of the St. Mary's, at Fort Recovery, in Mercer County, Ohio, November 4, 1791.
After a careful examination of the records and ability of various officers, Washington assigned to Gen. Anthony Wayne the difficult task, and in June, 1792, he was sent into the Indian country in the Northwest. He was called by the Indians the "Chief Who Never Sleeps." He spent about two years in building forts, enlisting troops, and in gaining the con- fidence of some of the Indians. They left. Fort Washington (now Cincinnati), October 7, 1793, and established Fort Greenville, on the present site of the county seat of Darke County. On Christmas Day, 1793, Wayne re- occupied the ground where St. Clair had been so badly beaten three years before, and erected a stockade, which was s very appropriately named "Fort Recovery." As the fort was in process of erection, 600 human skulls were found and buried under one of the block- houses-relics of the awful carnage of St. Clair's defeat.
General Wayne now put forth every effort
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to gain the favorable consideration of terms of peace, but the Indians, flushed with success. refused to accept any terms, however favorable, and even murdered Trueman, Freeman and Colonel Hardin, the three ambassadors sent to treat with them. Back of this action was the influence of the British, who urged the In- dians on to further deeds of violence.
On July 28, 1794, General Wayne, after being joined on the 26th by Colonel Scott, with 1,600 mounted Kentuckians, started on his vic- torious march against his foes. They fled at his advance, and he soon found himself in the fertile country about the junction of the All- glaize with the Maumee. There were exten- sive gardens and highly cultivated fields ex- tending for many miles above and below the junction of the two rivers. All this indicated the work of many people-an evidence of the number of the enemy.
Here General Wayne at once erected a strong stockade fort where the two rivers meet and he named it "Fort Defiance."
MAUMEE R.
AUGLAIZE R.
PLAN OF FORT DEFIANCE.
Explanations :- At each angle of the fort was a block-house. The one next the Maumee is marked A, having port-holes B, on the three exterior sides, and door D, and chimney C, on the side facing to the in- terior. There was a line of pickets on cach side of the fort, connecting the block-houses by their nearest angles. Outside of the pickets and around the block- houses was a glacis, a wall of earth eight feet thick, sloping upwards and outwards from the feet of the pickets, supported by a log wall on the side of the ditch
and by fascines, a wall of fagots, on the side next the Auglaize. The ditch, fifteen feet wide and eight feet deep, surrounded the whole work except on the side toward the Auglaize; and diagonal pickets, eleven. feet long and one foot apart, were secured to the log wall and projected over the ditch. E and E were gate- ways. F was a bank of earth, four feet wide, left for a passage across the ditch. G was a falling gate or drawbridge, which was raised and lowered by pulleys, across the ditch, covering it or leaving it uncovered at pleasure. The officers' quarters were at H, and the storehouses at I. At K, two lines of pickets converged towards L, which was a ditch eight feet deep, by which water was procured from the river without exposing the carrier to the enemy. M was a small sand-bar at the point .- From Knapp's "History of the Maumee Valley."
Wayne was eight days in building Fort De- fiance; began on the 9th of August and finished on the 17th. After surveying its block-houses, pickets, ditches and fascines, Wayne exclaimed : "I defy the English, Indians and all the devils in hell to take it." Colonel Scott, who hap- pened at that instant to be standing at his side, remarked : "Then call it Fort Defiance." And so Wayne, in a letter to the Secretary of War, written at this time, said : "Thus, sir, we have gained possession of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the West without loss of blood. The very extensive and highly culti- vated fields and gardens show the work of many hands. The margin of those beautiful rivers, the Miamis of the Lake (or Maumee) and Auglaize, appear like one continued vil- lage for a number of miles both above and below this place ; nor have I ever before beheld such fields of corn in any part of America from Canada to Florida. We are now em- ployed in completing a strong stockade fort, with four good block-houses, by way of bas- tions, at the confluence of the Auglaize and the Maumee, which I have called Defiance."
BATTLE OF THE FALLEN TIMBER.
The Indians and their British allies did not, however, risk a battle here, but selected an ele- vated plain above the rapids of the Maumee, on the left bank of the river. This place they thought greatly favored their plan of battle,
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for it was covered by fallen timber which had been recently hurled to the ground by a tor- nado, thus preventing the action of cavalry. Undaunted by this plan, Wayne moved on to the place of conflict, and on August 20th, about 8 o'clock in the morning, he began the attack upon the combined forces of Indians and Brit- ish. The battle began at "Presque Isle" --- a hill about two miles south of Maumee City, and four south of the British fort, Miami.
"General Wayne had about three thousand men under his command, and the Indians are computed to have been equally numerous. This is not improbable, as the hostile league em- braced the whole Northwestern frontier. As he approached the position of the enemy he sent forward a battalion of mounted riflemen, which was ordered, in case of an attack, to make a retreat in feigned confusion, in order to draw the Indians on more disadvantageous
BATTLE OF THE FALLEN TIMBER. Courtesy of the American Book Co.
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