History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 6

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

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The treaty was concluded, but Logan did not attend ; and the Mingoes, thoughi assenting to its terms, were not parties to it. After the peace, Logan, heart-broken, melancholy-at times laboring under a mania, wandered from tribe to tribe, mourning over his misfortune in the loss of his wife, children and relations, and finally, in an Indian camp near Detroit, Michigan, while sitting with a blanket over his head, before & camp-fire, his elbows resting on his knees, and his head upon his hands, buried in profound reflection, an Indian who had taken some offence, stole behind him, and buried his tomahawk in his brains ! Thus fell Logan, greatest of Indian orators, and bravest of their heroic chiefs, the last of his race, with no one to shed a tear over his grave.

NOTE .-- The reader will perceive by reference to histories of the war of 1812, that there are two Logans of note. The first being John Logan, the Mingo or Cayuga, and Logan, the Shawence. Upon the services of the Shawnee Logan, Mr. Flint observes :

"In 1812 the Indian tribes that remained faithful to the United States, and whose wish to join our standard had been hitherto refused, by an arrangement with the executive, were permitted to take a part ia the war. Logan, a warrior of distinguished reputation, joined General Harrison, with seven hundred warriors. There was some severe skir- mishing of the enemy with the advance of General Winchester s torce, in which Logan, the friendly chief, after conducting with great per- sonal bravery, was mortally wounded."

In a letter addressed to the author of these notes, General Leslie Combs, of Kentucky, who was present when Logan No. 2 was brought into camp, wounded, says: A Sheronce chief being at Wappake- netta, now a railroad station in Ohio, not far from Piqua, who joined General Harrison, with a few followers, at St. Marys, carly in Septem- ber, 1812, where I first saw him. A very fine-looking man, about forty years of age, and full six feet high, weighing abour one hundred and eighty pounds. I next saw hin the night he was mortally wounded, on the twenty-second of November. 13t2, when I was a cadet in the army of the Northwest, at camp No. 3, six m'les below old Fort Deti- apre, on the Maumee. He died in a few days at that place, and was sent home to his family, by a special delegation. General Combs yet survives (1879), and resides at Lexington, Kentucky. He is now eighty-five years oal.

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

CHAPTER IX. MAJOR ROGERS ON THE SOIL OF ASHLAND COUNTY.

The Return of a Part of the Expedition of Major Robert Rogers from MArunt, through the Forests of Chie, in 1761 .- \ Correct Outline of la Route along the Ohl Huron Trail to Pittsburgh, or Fortl'it !.- A Hinting Scene on the Mohican.

AFTER coasting up the south shores of Lake Erie, un- der the lead of the brave and sagacious Pontiac, in 1760, we find Major Robert Rogers and his two hun- dred rangers in possession of the fort at Detroit, the French commandant, Monsieur Beleter, having yielded that post without resistance, on the twenty-ninth of No- vember, While his rangers were resting, and recruiting from their toilsome expedition up the lake, against wind and current, the Major visited Lakes Huron and St. Clair, making observations upon their location, the con- dition of the Indian tribes upon their shores, and the influence of the French in that quarter.

After providing for the garrison, which took possession of the fort at Detroit, on the twenty-third of December he commenced his return by land for Pittsburgh, march- ing'along the west coast of the lake, until January 2, 1761, when he arrived safely at "Lake Sandusky," or Sandusky bay.

It is not known how many rangers accompanied Rogers on his return; but, being well convinced that the apparent welcome of Pontiac was a carefully- conceived piece of dissemblance to throw him off his guard, many Ottawas and Wyandots having yielded a reluctant con- sent to British authority in that .quarter, he did not, probably, leave Detroit with less than one hundred and twenty or twenty-five men, to encounter the new dangers that might beset him on his way, in case of the treach- ery of Pontiac and his friends, who still remembered the French as their friends and protectors.

That the reader may have an opportunity of verifying the route by the map of Ohio, and, at the same tinie, learn the condition of the northern part of the State, one hundred and fifteen years ago, we will quote froni the journal of the Major a full description of the trip from Castalia, in Erie county, to the "Long Meadow, or Prairie," in Wayne county.

The narrative begins;

"On January 3d, southeast by east three miles, east by south one mile and a half, southeast a mile through a mevlow, crossed a small creek about six yards wide, running cast, traveled southeast by east one mile, passed through Indian houses southeast three quarters of a mile, and came to a small Indian town of about ten houses. There is a remarkably fine spring at this place, rising out of the side of a small hill with such force that it boils above the ground in a column three feet high. I imagine it discharges ten hogsheads of water in a minute. + From this town our course was south southeast three miles, south two iniles, crossed a brook about five yards wide, running east southeast, traveled south southeast two miles, crossed a brook about eight yards wide. This day we killed plenty of deer and turkeys on our march, and encamped.

"On the fourth, we traveled south southeast one mile, and came to a river about twenty-five yards wile, crossed the river, where are two Indian houses, from theuce south by east one mile, south southeast one mile, southeast one mile, south, southeast one amily and a half, southeast two miles, south southeast one mile, and came to an Indian house, where there was a family of Wardets hunting. from thence sonth by cast a quarter of a mile, south five miles, came to the river we

crossed this morning; * the course of the river here is west northwest. This day killed several deer and other game, and encamped.

"On the fifth, traveled south southeast half a mille, south one mile, south southeast three quarters of a mile, south half a mile, crossed two sinal! brooks running east, went a south southeast course balf a mile, south half a mile, southeast half a mile, south two miles, southeast one inile, crossed a brook running east by north, traveled south by cast half a mile, south southeast two miles, southeast three quarters of a mile, south southeast one mile, and came to Maskongam creek, t about eight yards wille, crossed the creek and encamped thirty yards from it. This day killed deer and turkeys in our march.

"On the sixth, we traveled about fourteen or fifteen miles, our gen- eral course being about cast southeast, killed plenty of game, and encamped by a very fine spring.#

"The seventh, our general course about southeast, traveled about six miles, and crosseri Maskongam creek, running south, about twenty yards wide. § There is an Indian town about twenty yards from the creek, on the east side, which is called the Mingo cabins. There were but two or three Indians in this place, the rest were hunting. These Indians have plenty of cows, horses, hogs, etc.li

"The eighth, halteal at this town to mend our moccasins and ki !! . deer, the provisions I brought from Detroit being entirely expended. I went a bunting with ten of the rangers, and by ten o'clock get more venison than we bad occasion for.

"On the ninth, traveled about twelve miles, our general course be- ing about southeast and encamped by the side of a long meadow, where there were a number of Indians hunting." *

From this point he continued to travel in a south- easterly direction until the thirteenth, when he arrived at a Delaware town called Beaver town, afterwards Tasca- rora, on the west side of the " Maskongam river," where he found the residences of many leading chiefs and one hundred and eighty warriors. He found about three thousand acres of cleared ground around this town.

Perkins, in his Western annals, page 3, speaks of the route of Major Rogers as being the common one from Sandusky to the fork of the Ohio. He says : " It went from Fort Sandusky, where Sandusky city now is, crossed the Huron river, then called Bald Eagle Creek, to " Mohickan Johnstown," upon what we Inow as Mohican creek, the northern branch of White- woman's river, and thence crossed to Beaverstown, a Delaware town on the west side of the " Maskongam creek," opposite "a fine river," which we presume was Sandy creek,"

Mr. Knapp, in his history of Ashland county, page 14, says : "The "Mingo Cabbins" were probably upon the Indian village of Green Town ;" and also suggests, fioin information derived from " Dr. Bushnell, of Mans- Geld, who has been familiar with the country for a period of upwards of forty years, that the "fine spring" mentioned does not probably lie somewhere between Verinillion and Montgomery townships," as Mr. Taylor supposes, but was probably one of the "Quaker springs," two or three miles southeast of Hayesville.

The theory of Mr. Knapp is involved in many dith- culties. By a careful examination of the route of Major Rogers, we are of opinion he crossed the Black fork in the southwest part of Weller township, in Richland

" The Haron river. t The Black fork.

: Padubly M. Cammon's spring, in Montgomery township.

* The Jerome fork, near let que ville.

! This village must have been located near the west end of Main street, in the village of Jeromeville, perhaps war the site of Winbigler's grist mill. It is uncertain when the Ming we settied there.

. In Plain township, Wayne county.

* Castalia of Cold Spring, Erie county.

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

county, and, that after continuing his course a few hours, he struck what has since been denominated " Bealls' trail," following the same to the farin lately owned by Mr. John McCammon, where he found the "very fine spring," and halted for the night. From this spring he continued in a southeast direction about seven miles and crossed the Jerome fork of the Mohican.

If the reader will carefully examine the general course of the trail of Major Rogers, it will be seen that it was nearly southwest from Castalia, in Erie county, where he found the remarkable spring, alluded to by him, in the beginning of his journey. To suppose the latter spring to be one of the "Quaker springs," would take him too far south for the "Mingo cabbins," on the Jerome fork, opposite where Mohican Johnstown was afterwards located, about which there is no dispute. To suppose the "Mingo cabbins" alluded to, were those of "Green- town," increases the difficulty, for Major Rogers would have been compelled to face about, and travel directly southwest nine or ten miles, to reach that locality, where he would have found the "Mingo cabbins" on the north, instead of the east, side of the Black fork.

Again, if he had kept directly down the Black fork, as some suppose, it would have carried him away from the route noted in his journal, and placed him on the north side of that stream, and prevented his passage of the north branch of "Maskongam creek," otherwise, the Jerome fork of the Mohican.

The course of Rogers was east southeast from the Jerome fork, or north branch of "Maskongam creek," to the "Long meadow," in Plain township, Wayne coun ty, about which there is no difficulty. If he had crossed the Black fork at "Greentown," his route would not have been continuously southeast, but directly northeast for at least twenty miles, to reach the "Long meadow"; so that, upon any rational theory, the route of Major Rogers cannot be placed at "Greentown," nor his "fine spring." in the southeast part of Vermillion township.

Upon a full investigation of the whole subject, we are inclined to the opinion that the theory of Mr. Perkins, that Major Rogers followed the well-known Indian trail, afterwards Bealls' trail, from Sandusky to the forks of the Muskingum, by way of the Jerome fork, and crossed the same at the point where Mohican John subsequently established his village and council house, is correct. Presuming upon the accuracy of the foregoing deduc- tions, we have to award to Milton, Montgomery, Ver- million, and Mohican townships, the honor of being traversed by the first "armed troops" that ever pene- trated the wilds of northern Ohio: and the east part of Vermillion, and the township of Mohican, as furnishing the first "deer hunt" for the "red coats" to replenish their exhausted stores.

The change in this region since 1761-one hundred and nineteen years-has been wonderful. The red men of the forest have disappeared, and the "Mingo cab- bins" and "Mohican Johnstown" are only remem- bered as relics of the past. Where Pipe, Killbuck, Lyons, Logan, Johnnycake, and other leading spirits of the Indian tribes, roamed in pursuit of the wild game of

the forest, are now found fertile farms and the happy homes of the descendants of the pioneers.

CHAPTER X.

THE MORAVIANS.

The Removal of the Moravians by Captain Pipe of the Delawares, and Half-King of the Wyandots .-- Affecting Scenes at the Moravian Towns, and Hardships ou their Route .- Their probable Route to Sandusky .- The Return of a part of the Converts, and their Inhu- man Slaughter by Williamson and his Men.

THE Moravian missionaries commenced their labors among the' Mohegans on the Connecticut, as early as 1740. A devout member of the denomination named Rauch, was the first to introduce the Moravian faith io the Mohegans, who at that time were hopelessly sunk in misery, drunkenness, and every vice and crime that could defile and degrade human nature. The Mohegans at first rejected his teachings; but finally, a leading chief embraced the new faith, and then he assisted in opposing the traders who had demoralized the poor savages by their traffic in intoxicating liquors. Thus a good work was accomplished. From this, a new mission was formed at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, among the Delawares along the Susquehanna. In 1742 Count Zinzindorf, chief bishop of the Moravians in Europe, visited the missions of America ; and with some of the leading teachers went through the Indian territories in Pennsyl- vania and northern New York, and preached to a great number of tribes. He made a good impression upon the Iroquois and Delawares, and returned to Europe in 1743. The missionaries ordained by him continued their work with varied success, making it a rule to carn their livelihood by bodily toil, to promote the object ef their mission-at the same time practicing moderation in all things-and when they failed they received help from Bethlehem. They lived and dressed in Indian style, and Frederick Post, one of their most influential teachers, married a baptized Indian woman.

At Bethlehem, as in Connecticut, the missionaries had to contend against the white traders, who insisted on sell- ing intoxicating liquors to the savages. The visit of Count Zinzindorf to the Six Nations, resulted in the con- version of Cayugas or MMingoes, who finally settled with their Delaware brethren on the Susquehanna, and were the ancestors and kinsmen of the great Indian orator, John Logan. The Moravian teachers translated the Bible into the various dialects of the Indian tongue, and taught their converts and children to read the scriptures. The teachers mingled freely among the Indians, and par- ticipated in all their rural labors, and thus a strong affec- tion grew up between teachers and savage. Opposed to war, the Moravians sought to time and subdue the wild fury and resentments of the savage, and turn his thoughts to the nobler pursuits of civilized life.

About the year 1755 a sect of fanatics sprang up in

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

Pennsylvania who conceived it to be their duty to exter- som ate the Indian tribes, and contended that the vengeance of Heaven would rest upon them if they failed to extirpate the Indians, as the Jews had the native races of Palestine. fuir fury was also directed towards the Moravian "achers who were declared enemies of the British govern- went. Attacks were soon made upon the Moravians at Bethlehem, and many of the non-resisting brethren were slain. In 1755 a clan of white savages denominating themselves the "Paxton rangers," in revenge for injuries inflicted on the western border, fell upon the Conestega Indians who had long been the faithful friends of the whites, and were rapidly becoming Moravians, and a general massacre followed, the victims being mostly women and children ! These drunken rangers made it a male to shoot down the Moravian Indians wherever they mct them. Soon after, one hundred and forty christian Indians were removed to Philadelphia to secure their protection. The rioters then hastened to Lancaster jail, and murdered a number of Indian converts who had been placed there for protection .. The principal Moravian settlements were Gnadenhutten, Shomokin, Bethlehem, and Friedenshutton. The entire community in 1772 removed to Beaver river and then to Shoenbrun on the Muskingum, known now as the Tuscarawas. They were accompanied by John Heckewelder, David Zeis- berger and other teachers. The Delawares were in_ formed of the arrival of their kinsmen from the Sus- quehanna and gave them a hearty welcome. In 1768 Zeisberger had visited the site of Shoenbrum and was the means of converting a noted chief called Isaac Glikhikan, a Delaware, who afterwards became a warm friend of the Moravians, and in 1770 had invited them to settle at the mouth of Big Beaver, which many did, calling the new station Friedenstadt. Shoenbrum was about two miles below the present site of New Phila- delphia, and was inhabited principally by Delawares. Under the lead of the veteran Zeisberger, Gnadenhutten was established about seven miles south of Shoenbrun on the Tuscarawas, and was inhabited mostly by Mohegans. The total number of emigrants in the two villages was esti- mated at about one-hundred and sixty-nine. These villages were regularly laid out, and each had a log chapel and a school-house where the Indiansand Moravians were taught by their preachers and teachers. They cleared fields for the cultivation of corn and vegetables, raised cattle and hogs, and thus soon had enough to live comfortably.

When the Wyandots and other warlike tribes of north- western Ohio made incursions against the border settle- ments of western Virginia and Pennsylvania, on their return they stopped at these villages, often bringing clothing and other stolen articles which they exchanged . for corn and provisions. This exasperated the border settlers and led them to believe that the Moravians secretly aided the W'yandots who were the friends of the British in their raids on the border settlers. On the other hand, the quiet demeanor of the Moravian In- dlians excited the suspicions of the Ivandots and their allies among the Six Nations who demanded their re- moval. In 1775 Heckewelder estimated the number of

the Christian Indians in Ohio at four hundred and four- teen ; and there can be but little doubt that these con- verted Indians were the means of saving the colonies from subjugation by the British, for the Wyandots, Shawanese and warlike Delawares were constantly neu- tralized by the pacific principles of the Christian Dula- wevares and Mohegans, who always stood in their path. Heckewelder and Zeisberger were unceasing in their efforts to indoctrinate the tribes along the Tuscarawas and at the forks of the Muskingum ; but almost from their first settlement their location made them a sort of half-way point between the borders of the States and the Wyandots, and hence, the poor Moravians were con- stantly under the ban of suspicion from both sides ; and while Heckewelder was establishing schools and churches the Moravian Indians were quietly cultivating their fields and abstaining from war or hostility towards either party.

In 1777 the Wyandots had expressed a determination to sustain Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, against the cause of the rebellious colonies. He endeavored to form an alliance with all the Ohio tribes, but was foiled in his efforts by Colonel George Morgan (whose Indian name was Tamenend), who succeeded in neutralizing many of the tribes. Captain Pipe and White Eyes, famous Delaware chiefs, separated on the question of aiding the British, and Pipe removed with his support- ers to the Tymochtee, near Upper Sandusky, and joined the fortunes of Half King and the Wyandots. Just before this Heckewelder founded a new village near the forks of the Muskingum, which he called Lichtenau. The chiefs of the Delawares in the vicinity of the vil- lage desired that their children might be taught the gos- pel of peace. While laboring here Half King and bis warriors came to destroy the settlement ; but the calm manner of Heckewelder and the Christian Indians ex- cited the compassion of Half King, and the little settle- ment rested four years from further disturbance.

In 1781 Shingess, a famous Delaware chief, sometimes called Bockingehelas, demanded the surrender of all the Christian chiefs, that they might be removed until after the war which seemed about to break out, to a place of safety, declaring that the border settlements intended to exterminate the Moravian Indians on the Muskingum. His demand was rejected, because Heckewelder and his converts thought his opinions erroneous. The Wyandots became clamorous for their removal to Sandusky. The Six Nations held a great council at Niagara, and handed over to the Ottuwas and Chippewas the Christian Indians on the Muskingum to make broth of. These tribes be- ing relations of the Delawares, refused to make war en the Moravians. Captain Pipe and Half King, with three hundred warriors, led by a noted chief called Wingenund, soon appeared (with a British flag carried by the notori- ous Captain Elliot) at Salem, a settlement of the Mora- vians, and proposed a council to be held at Gnadenhu :- ten. At first the Moracions declined ; but Elliot pressed the matter, and Half King was ready to use force if they did not consent to be removed. After suffering some violence from the Wyandots, the Merarians consented to

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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

abandon their settlement and return with Half King and Pipe.

On the tenth of September, 1781, they were ordered to get ready. The command was obeyed. By this re- moval they lost, says Loskiel, "three beautiful settle- ments -- Gnadenhutten, Salem and Schoenbrun, and the greatest part of their possessions in them. They had about two hundred head of cattle, four hundred hogs, and three hundred acres of corr., besides potatoes, cab- bages and garden fruits, worth about twelve thousand dollars. They were most pained at the loss of their books and writings, which were all burned by the Indians." On the thirteenth they arrived at Goshocking and tarried a few hours. Here Elliott left them. They then com- menced the ascent of the Walholding, partly by water and partly by land along its banks. On the nineteenth, six days after they left Goshocking (Coshocton) two of their best canoes, heavily laden with provisions, sank in a violent storm of wind and rain, and the women and chil- dren suffered severely. Half King halted to dry their clothes, after which they again proceeded on their way and at Gook-ho-sing, a branch rising in Knox county and emptying into the Walholding, called the habitation of owls, from the rugged nature of the uplands on its mar- gin, they left the river, traveling by land; and on the eleventh of October they arrived at the Sandusky river, three miles southeast of the present Upper Sandusky, where they "pitched upon the best spot they could find in the dreary waste, and built small huts of logs and bark, to screen themselves from the cold, having neither beds nor blankets, and being reduced to the greatest pov- erty and want, the savages having by degrees stolen every- thing, both from missionaries and the Indians, on their journey."

As it has long been a mooted question whether the Moravians passed up "Owl creek," in Knox county, or ascended the Walhonding and the Black fork of Mohi- can, we deem it appropriate to quote Heckewelder. In his narration, page 277, he says: "Our course was now up the Walhonding river, otherwise called the White- woman's creek; but the river being at this season low, and in some narrow places obstructed by driftwood, the workmen had to cut a passage before they could pass on, which caused us to move slowly. Those who traveled by land, having their provisions in the eanoes, were fre- quently obliged to wait an hour, or longer, until the canoes came up, which obliged us to make but short journeys each day. Continuing our journey for a num- ber of days after the manner we had done, we arrived at Gook-ho-sing (habitation of owls), where we left the river, traveling by land across the country, for Upper Sandusky; and suffered much on our way, through the ill will of the W'yandots, who, by this time, had become impatient to get home." Page 283, it will be observed that neither Loskiel nor Heckewelder states that the ronte was up the Owl creek or Kokosing, in Knox county. On the contrary, on reaching the mouth ot that stream, they left it, and traveled across the country. When Heckewelder wrote his narrative in 1820, Knox county had been organized over twelve years. if the

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History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 6

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