History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 5

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams
Number of Pages: 896

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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

These, last of a race made famous in the early annais . ! New England, seemed to have been fused with Cane- Then and Iroquois, and had emigrated a short time be- lote, from near Montreal. One of their villages was : this, and was situated about twenty miles above the principal forks of the Muskingum, near the junction of the Vernon and Mohican rivers, on the borders of Knox and Coshocton counties. As nearly all the rivers and strenins in Ohio received a name from the Indian tribe or nation located on their margin, may not the name of the "Mohican" and its branches, have been derived from the tribe long resident at Tullihas and afterwards at Jeromeville? This meagre account of their early settle- ment in Ohio, is mostly derived from Heckewelder and Drake's "Life in a Wigwam."*

That the customs and manners of the Mohegans and other tribes inhabiting the territories of Ohio at an early period, may be properly understood by the reader, we deem it proper to introduce the narrative of James Smith, who was captured when about eighteen years of age, by three Indians, near Bedford, in western Pennsyl- vania, in the spring of 1755, a short time before the « rushing defeat of General Braddock. He was com- pellet to run the gauntlet on the banks of the Allegheny, opposite Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburgh, where he nearly lost his life by being felled by a blow from a stick or tomahawk handle, and on attempting to rise was almost blinded by having sand thrown into his eyes. He was then taken in an unconscious condition into the fort, and tenderly cared for by a French physician, until he had recovered from his wounds.

After remaining in the fort nearly a month, where he heard of the defeat of Braddock and Washington, and witnessed the exultation of the French, and the savage brutalities of the Indians towards their captives, and ex- pecting the same fate himself, he was taken by his cap- tors on a long journey through the forests to the village of Tullihas, on the west branch of the Muskingum, about twenty miles above the forks. The village was oc- cupied by Mohegans, Caugknewagos and Delawares. t Here he was adopted by the Indians. In his journal ne says :

"The day after my arrival at the aforesaid town, a number of In- 'i.ins collected about me,, and one of them began to pull the hair out of my head. He had some ashes on a piece of bark, in which he fre- queatly dipped his fingers in order to take the firmer hold, and so he went on, as if he had been plucking a turkey, until he had all the hair clean out of my head, except a small spot about three of four inches spiare on my crown. This they cut off with a pair of scissors, except- ing three locks, which they dressed up in their own mode. Two of these they wrapped around with a narrow beaded garter, made by

themselves for that purpose, and these they plaited at full length, and then stuck it full of silver brooches. After this they bored my nose and cars, and fixed me off with ear-rings and nose-jewels. Then they ordered tae to strip off my clothes and put on a breech-clont, which I did. They then painted ray head, face and body, in various colors. They put a large belt of wampum on my neck, and silver bands on my hands and right arm; and so an old chief led me out on the street, and gave the alarni, "Hallo!" Coo-wigh-several times, repeated quick; and on this, all that were in the town came running and stood around the old chief, who held me by the hand in their midist. As I at that time knew nothing of their mode of adoption, and had seen them put to death all they had taken, and as I never could find that they saved : man alive at Braddock's defeat, I made no doubt but they were about putting me to death in some cruch manner. The old chief, holding me by the hand, made a long speech, very loud, and, when he had done, he handled me to three young squaws, who led me by the hand down the bank, into the river, umtil the water was up to our middle. The sqnaws then inade signs to me to plunge myself into the water, but I did not understand them. i thought the result of the council was that I should be drowned, and these young ladies were to be the execution- ers. They all three laid violent hold of me, and I for the time.opposed them with all my might, which: occasioned loud laughter by the multi- tude that were on the bank of the river. At length one of the squaw's made out to speak a little English (for I believe they began to be afraid of me), and said, 'No hurt you.' On this, I gave myself up to their ladyships, who were as good as their word; for though they plunged me under water, and washed and rubbed me severely, yet I could not say they hurt me much. These young women then led me to the council house, where some of the tribe were ready with clothes for me. They gave me a new ruffled shirt, which i put on, also a pair of leggins done . off with ribbons and beads, likewise a pair of moccasins, and gaiters dressed with beads, porcupine quills, and red hair -- also a tinsel-laced cap.po. They again painted iny head and face with various colors, and tied a bunch of feathers to one of those locks they left on the crown of my head, which stood up five or six inches. They sented me on a bear-skin. ind gave me a pipe, tomahawk, and polecat skin pouch, which had been skinned pocket-fashion, and contained tobacco, killi- genico, or dry sumach leaves, which they mix with their tobacco, also spunk, flint, and steel. When I was thus seated, the Indians came in, dressed and painted in their grandest manner. As they came in, they took their seats, and for a considerable time there was a profound si- lence-every one was smoking; but not a word was spoken among them. At length one of the chiefs made a speech, which was delivered to me by an interpreter, and was as follows: 'My son, you are now flesh of our flesh and bone of our bene. By the ceremony which was performed this day, every drop of white blood was washed out of your veins; you are taken into the Coughnetengo nation, and initiated into a warlike tribe; you are adopted into a great family, and now received with great seriousness and solemnity in the room and place of a great man. After what has passed this day, you are now one of us by an old strong law and enstom. My son, you have now nothing to fear -- we are now under the same obligations to love, support, and defend you, that we are to love and defend one another; therefore. you are to consider yourself as one of our people.' .At this time I did not be- lieve this fine sprech, especially that of the white Hood being washed out of me; but since that time I have found that there was much sin-

cerity in said speech; for, from that day, I never knew them to make any distinction between me and themselves, in any respect whatever, until I left them .. If they had plenty of clothing, I had plenty; if we were scarce, we all shared one fatte. after this ceremony was our I was introduced to my new kin, and told that I was to attend a feast that evening, which i did. And as the custom was, they gave mo also a bowl and wooden spoon, which ! carried with me to the place, where there was a number of large brass kettles full of boiled verison and green corn; every one advanced with his bowl and spoon, and had this share given him. After this, one of the chiefs made a speech, and then we began to eat."

The names of the chiefs of Tullihas, were Tecanya- terighto and Asallecon. The next evening Smith was invited to a sort of Indian dance which he describes thus:

"The young rien stand in one rank, and the young women in . ". other, about one rod apart, facing each other, The one that raisal the time, or started the song, held a small gonal of dry shell of a squash in lus hand, which contained beads or small stones, which rt- Hled When he began to sing, he timed the time with his battle ; both

"As early as the year 1762, a number of them (Mohegans) had cmi- grated to the Ohio, where I became acquainted with their chiel, who was called by the whites "Mohican John." -Heckewelder's Indian Na- tions, page 77. He probably visited Mohican John at his village, three- fourths of a mile southwest of jeromeville, in Mohican township, as a missionary.

t It has been supposed that the village alluded to was on the present site of Roscoe, Coshocton county; Let it, as Sith states, it Was twenty miles from the junction of the lineares, up the White- Wimian, or west branch of the Muskingum, it was somewhere near the junction of the Lake fork of the Mohican with Vernon rivers of Oat crock

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

men and women daneed and sung together, advancing towards each other, stooping until their heads would be touching together, and then ceased from dancing, with lond shouts, and retreated and formed again, and so repeated the same thing over and over, for three or four hours, without intermission. This exercise appeared to me at first irra- tional and insipid ; but I found that in singing their tunes ya-ne-no- hoo-wa-ne, like our fa-sa-li, and though they have no such thing as jingling verse, yet they ean intermix sentences with their notes, and say what they please to each other, and carry on their tune in concert. I found that this was a kind of wooing or courting dance, and as they advanced stooping with their heads together, they could say what they pleased to each other's ear, without diseoneerting their rough music, and the others, or those near, not hear what they said."

Smith remained at Tullihas until the following Octo- ber, when he accompanied his adopted brother, whose name was Tontileaugo, and who had a Wyandot wife, on the shores of Lake Erie. Their route was along an old trail up the lake fork, to near the present village of Tyler- town, thence up the Jerome fork through the townships of Mohican, Montgomery and Orange, to the south borders of Sullivan, and across the same, to the head branches of the Black river, called by the Indians Cane- sadooharie, traveling Medina and Lorain counties, to where it falls into the lake, some distance north of Elyria, where they found a large camp of Wyandots, and the wife of Tontileaugo. Smith remained with the Wran- dots, Ottawas and Mohegans, traveling over various parts of northern and western Ohio, to Detroit, Montreal and Presque Isle, for about four years, and then escaped, and returned to his home in Pennsylvania. It will be seen, then, that Smith was probably the first white man that ever penetrated the forests of Ashiland county. At any rate, we have no authentic account of such an adventure by a white man, prior to his forced visit along the fertile valleys of the goodly Mohican.

About the year 1762, two years after the escape of James Smith from the Wyandots, "Mohican John," a noted chief, with a band of Connecticut Mohegans, emi- grated to Ohio and established a village on the west side of the Jerome fork, upon a site subsequently covercd by the farms of Rev. Elijah Yocum and Judge Edmund Ingmand. These Indians were evidently under the influence of the I'rench, at, or soon after they located on -the Jerome fork; for, upon the arrival of the earliest set- tlers in Mohican township, John Baptiste Jerome, a Frenchman had married an Indian woman and was re- siding in the vicinity of the village, and subsequently within the present limits of Jeromeville. The number of Indians accompanying Mohican John to their new hunt- ing grounds is not clearly set forth, but from the frequent mention of the village in after times, may have been from one hundred and fifty to two hundred.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MINGO VILLAGES OF THE MOHICAN.

The Name Mingo .-- How Applied .-- The Mingoes visited by Gen- eral Gage and George Croghan .-- William Johnson Negotiates a Treaty .--- George Washington Visits the Tribe. -- The Location of some of their Villages .- They are Friendly with other Tribes, - Logan, the great Mingo Chief .-- Ifis Career. -- His Immortal Speeen.

ACCORDING to Heckewelder, and other Indian authori- ties, the name, "Minge," does not apply to any distinct nation or tribe of Indians, but is applicable, principally, to the Cayugas, a colony springing from the Five Nations, intermixed with Delawares, Mohegans, Cachuewagas, and Iroquois.

It is not certain whether the Mingoes, or Cayugas, sep- arated from the parent nation during the attempt of the Five Notions to exterminate the Alleghans, the Andastes, the Eries, the Wyandots and the Ottawas, or during the period when the Delewares along the Susquehanna were "made women" by the great New York confederacy, or whether, at a subsequent period, they selected the teem- ing forests of Onio for their new hunting-grounds.

As early as 1750, straggling parties of the New York Indians were often met along the shores of Lake Erie, and a Mingo village was found at the mouth of Beaver, and one near the present site of Steubenville, Ohio.

In consequence of the Indian raids on the border settlements, General Thomas Gage, in 176;, ordered Colonel John Bradstreet to chastise the Ohio Indians. In obedience to orders, he advanced toward Presque Isle, and was met by ten. Mingoes, representatives of the New York tribes settled in Ohio, near that place. Pow- nall's map places a Mingo village at Cuyahoga Falis, after which, doubtless, Cuyahoga county was named, they being of the New York tribe of Cayugas.

In 1765, George Croghan, a sub-commissioner of Sir William Johnson, who had just heid a council with the Indians on German flats, in New York, was empowered to visit the Ohio Indians, for the purpose of fixing a boundary for the white settlements. He embarked at Pittsburgh, in May, intending to visit the Wabash, the Miami, and other regions in Ohio. On the north side of the Ohio, near where Steubenville now stands, at the month of Cross Creeks, he passed a Mingo village.

In 1768, Sir William Johnson negotiated a treaty at Fort Stanwix, in central New York, with the deputies of the Fire Nations, the Delawares, Sharonees, and Mingoes, of Ohio.

In 1770, George Washington, then a young man, with a surveying party, made a trip down the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Kanahwa for the purpose of fixing certain boundaries and locating military lands. He also passed the Mingo village at Indian Cross Creeks and in- terviewed its settlers. During his stay he observed they viewed the settlements on the Ohio with a jealous eye, and claimed that they should be compensated for their right to the so'l, if the settlers persisted in locating thereon.

As early as 1774 the migration of the white settlers on the west side of the Ohio had been so great that the Delunares, Mangees and other tribes were compelled to

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

notre further into the wilderness to obtain more ex- tented hunting grounds. This was the occasion of much jealousy, ill-temper and resentment on the part of the Indians. As a general thing, the conduct of the white people, only tended to arouse the hostility of the Indian tribes until they were compelled, in self-defence, to league themselves against the encroachments of the "Long Knives;" and then their pent up rage burst forth with savage fury at the inexcusable and unaccountable assassination of the family of Logan by Greathouse and his party. This act of cruelty and murder was the cause of Dunmore's sanguinary war.

Sometime between the years 1755 and 1761 a small village of Mingoes was located on the east bank of the Jerome fork, nearly north of where Mohican John after- wards placed his village and council house on the west side of said stream.

From the few scraps of history that relate to the Mohegans, Delawares and Mingoes, we are inclined to think they intermarried and were on the most intimate terms. They hunted together, went to war together, raised cattle, and hogs, and corn, and adopted many of the customs of the whites. From this circumstance we are of opinion that the Mingoes of the Jerome fork, and of Greentown, were really a branch, if not a part of the tribe formerly resident on the Susquehanna, at Presque Isle and Beaver, Pennsylvania, at Cuyahoga Falls and Indian Cross Creeks, Ohio, some of whom fled hither after the assassination of the wife and children of poor Logan and the dispersion of his village in 1774. Their inclination to raise cattle, hogs and corn, seems conclu- sive that they had previously learned their. value from the pioneers on the Ohio and in western Virginia and Pennsylvania .*

As the history of the great Mingo chief, John Logan, may be somewhat connected with this county, it will, doubtless, be interesting to the reader to peruse a concise sketch of liis wonderful career, which, with that of Pon- tiac, Powhatan, Cornstalk, King Philip, and Shikillimus, has attracted the admiration of statesmen and scholars in Europe and America.

From Heckewelder the Indian historian and Moravian missionary who spent the major part of his life among the Delwares and Mingoes, and who was well acquaint- ed with the father of Logan, we learn that the ancestors of the great Mingo chief resided nearly a century before on the banks of the Susquehanna, and had suffered many wrongs through the treachery and duplicity of the whites; so much so, that his tribe was broken of its strength, and a portion only remained by sufferance. Their chief, when the Moravian missionaries visited them in 1742 at Shomokin, a populous Indian town on the Susquehanna, was Shikillimus, a Cayuga or Mingo, who afterwards became a convert to the Moravian faith, and was attended in his last moments by David Zeisberger in 1749. Logan is declared to have been the second son

of this chief, and was called after John Logan, secretary of the province, for whom Shiltillimus entertained a very high regard. Logan left Shomokin, with others of his tribe, when a young man, and spent a number of years within the presert limits of Mifflin, Pennsylvania. It is probable that Logan married while he resided in Mifflin, near what is known as the "Logan Spring." Many anec- dotes are related by the pioneers of that section concern- ing the great Mingo chief prior to his departure to the territories west of the Ohio. Judge Brown, long a res- ident of Mifflin and well acquainted with Logan, de- clared he was "the best specimen of humanity he ever met with, white or red." -- Heckewelder describes him as tall and imposing in appearance, and as possessing "superior talents and correct sentiments" He was first met, after leaving Mifflin, by Heckewelder in 1772, en- camped with a number of Mingoes at the mouth of Beaver. Heckewelder again visited him the next spring, and was treated "with every civility from such of the family as were at home."

A short time prior to the opening of Dunmore's war, Logan seems to have joined his Mingo friends at Cross Creeks. About this time, one Dr. John Connelly as- serted the claims of Virginia to Fort Pitt and its vicinity. He was arrested by Arthur St. Clair, who represented the proprietors of Pittsburgh, but was afterwards dis- charged and again re-asserted the claims of Virginia, and took possession of the fort, which he repaired and called Fort Dunmore. He immediately commeneed a series of annoyances and aggressions upon the Ohio Indians, which were resented. Under his influence, May 4, 1771, Greathouse and Michael Cresap, officers in command. assembled at the house of one Baker (who had settled on the Virginia side), with thirty-two persons who had gathered from the neighborhood, just opposite the Indian encampment on the Ohio side. By invitation, five In- dian nien, one woman and a little child, crossed over in a canoe to Baker's. Greathouse gave them whiskey, and three of the men became drunk. The woman and the other two Indians refused to drink. These the inhuman followers of Greathouse instantly shot and killed, and afterwards tomahawked those they had caused to become intoxicated --- saving none brt the infant. It is due to the volunteers to state that this barbarous aet was perpe- trated by but five or six of the party of Greathouse, while the others protested against it as an atrocious murder.

The Indians at Yellow creek hearing the firing, sent two Indians in a canoe to see what had happened. These were shot down as soon as they landed. Others attempted to pass over and were likewise shot and wounded. Among the first party were probably the wife and other relatives of Logan. They were cruelly assas- sinated by the Baker party. Up to that time Logan had been the friend of the whites, and but a few days before had advised the indians to be on terms of peace with the "Long Knives" and the Pennsylvanians. This act of wanton cruelty changed his whole nature ; and from a warin friend he became the deadly enemy of the white settlers. His relations were now all dead! No one cared for poor Logan! He resolved to avenge the death

*The Mehogans and Delawares doek together in what is now Car. bon county, Pennsylvania, in 1746, from whence they may have accom- panied the Delawares to the branches of the Muskingum. - Kgle's History of Pennsylvania, page 491.

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

of his relations by killing an equal number of the settlers. He selected eight warriors, and penetrated to the set- tlements on the waters of the Monongahela, where he took many scalps and. several prisoners, and eluded pur- suit. These he carried to an Indian town near Dresden, on the Muskingum, where William Robinson, one of the prisoners, was condemned to be tortured to death. Lo- gan made an eloquent speech in his behalf, but in vain, for the Indians were determined to burn hin. While tied to the stake Logan rushed forward, cut his thongs, and threw a belt of wampum around him, and then led him in safety to his own wigwam, where he was adopted in place of a brother whom the Baker party had killed at Yellow creek.

" Logan then visited nearly all the Indian tribes in Ohio, and endeavored to induce them to join a great defensive league to prevent the encroachments and settlements of the whites. In making this effort it is not unlikely that he visited the Delawares, Mingoes and Mohegans of this county; and in his final retreat to Detroit may have re- sided some time at Mohican Johnstown. He succeded in inducing some of the Wyandots, Delawares, Mohegans, Mingoes, and a large number of the Shawnees to join his league.

In August of the same year, Lord Dunmore, then governor of Virginia, resolved on punishing the Indian tribes west of the Ohio, and compelling a peace with the leagued tribes. On the seventeenth of October, 1774, the memorable battle of Point Pleasant, at the junction of the Kanawha with the Ohio, was fought. The Indi- ans occupied a strong position in the midst of dense underbrush, behind fallen trees and logs, where they fought with desperate courage from early in the morning until nearly night, when they withdrew across the Ohio. The numbers on each side were nearly equal, being about twelve hundred. The Virginians lost half their officers, while the killed and wounded were fully one- fourth the army engaged. The Indian loss is reported at two hundred and thirty-three. Indian authorities as- sert that Logan, Cornstalk, Ellenipsco, Red Hawk, and many other celebrated chiefs participated in that great battle.

After crossing the river the allied Indiars retreated in the direction of Pickaway plains. Duminore with his army descended the Ohio to the mouth of Hockhocking, and having erected Fort Gower, and- leaving a garrison, ascended Hocking to Logan, the present county seat, and then marched westward to within seven miles of the present site of Circleville. Here he halted for a council, and built a fort called camp Charlotte. The Indians were encamped at a point called Old Chillicothe. Corn- stalk, who had been at the battle of Point Pleasant, was now anxious for a permanent peace. He met Dunmore in council and, undaunted by past reverses, spoke with peculiar emphasis concerning a cessation of hostilities. While this was going on, Logan approached John Gibson, an interpreter of Dunmore, and asked him to walk out with him. He did so, and while sitting down, Logar. talked over the murder of his relations at Yellow Creek, at the 'some time shedding many tears, declaring that ap

to that time he had always been the friend of the white man, and opposed the war. It was at this interview that he delivered to Gibson the speech that has made his fame world-wide. It was as follows :

"I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if ever he came cold and raked. and he clothed him not? During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, "Logan is the friend of the white man." I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injustice of one man, Col- onel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have killed many. I have fully glut- ted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life, Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one."

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History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 5

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros Publication date: 1880 Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams Number of Pages: 896

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams
Number of Pages: 896