History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 6

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 6
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 6

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Considerable variety of opinion is expressed by leading authors concerning the classification of the various Indian nations, their respective origin, and some important features of their history. Bancroft, Parkman, Schoolcraft, Clinton, Colden, Gallatin, Heekwelder, Loskiel, McIntosh, and others, so fro- quently differ on the various branches of the subject, that the modern compiler finds considerable diffienlty in arranging and harmonizing a complete and systematic account of the abori- gines, and consequently many items of interest concerning them are clouded in mystery.

3-B. & J. COS.

When the whites first beeame acquainted with these abor- igines, they possessed many eurious and interesting legends and traditions. In reference to their origin, there was a tradi- tion among the Lenape, that many centuries previous, their aneestors dwelt in the wilds of the extreme western part of the continent. That after a long dwelling there, they began moving in the direction of the rising sun, and, in the course of time, arrived on the banks of a great river, to which they gave the name of Namoesi Sipu, or River of Fish (Mississippi). Here they first met the Mengwe, who had also migrated from a country far to the north and west, and had reached the Mis- sissippi at a point farther north. After stopping awhile the spies of the Lenape discovered that the country on the east of the great river was inhabited by a powerful people called " Tallagawe" or " Allegewi," from whom, some writers allege, may have sprung the names of the Allegheny river and moun- tains. The pre-historie race commonly known as the "Mound Builders," which at one time oeeupied the greater portion of the Mississippi Valley, are generally supposed to be the people referred to in this tradition. In the transmitted story that mysterious people were represented as living in large eities, situated along the principal streams and surrounded by fortifi- cations. Desiring to proceed farther eastward, the Lenape asked permission of the Allegewi to eross the river and settle in their vieinity. This request was not granted, but the Lenape were eventually told they could eross the river and proceed eastward to a country beyond the Allegewi, when they accepted the proposition and eommeneed erossing. As soon as the Allegewi saw the great numbers of the Lenape, they became alarmed, and fell upon those who had erossed over, destroying them, and warning the others not to attempt a further passage. The Lenape then sought the assistance of the Mengue, and an allianee was entered into, the two nations agreeing to conquer and divide the country. A long and bloody war followed, last- ing through many years, and in which there was great slaughter on both sides. The Allegewi fought valiantly and obstinately for their country, but at length the united nations prevailed- the Allegewi were conquered-and the last remnant of them were driven far to the southward. The conquerors took possession of the lands and divided it between them-the Mengue taking the country around the great lakes, and the Lenape choosing the region lying to the south and along the Ohio river and its trib- utaries. They lived here many ages, as peaceful neighbors, but gradually moved along in an castward direction. The hunters of the Lenape finally erossed the mountains and discovered the waters of the Susquehanna and the Delaware, and the great bays into which they flowed. They explored the country beyond the Delaware (now New Jersey)-ealled it the Scheyichbi country, and upon reaching the banks of the beautiful Hudson, they named it Mohicannittuck. After extensively exploring all this vast region, and several month's absence, they returned to their eountry and communieated everything they had seen; deseribing the new discovery as a land abounding in game, fish, fowl, and fruits, and destitute of inhabitants. Soon they pro- eceded to oeeupy this country, and subsequently established themselves upon the four great rivers of the Atlantic slope- the Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, and Potomac. They made the Delaware the eentre of their possessions, and named it Whittuck (river of the Lenape). They were finally divided into three great bodies, the larger porfion settling along the Atlantic and the eastern slope of the Allegheny mountains, another along the eastern bank of the Mississippi, and a third continued to dwell on the west side of that river. The Atlantic branch beeame subdivided into three tribes: the Turtle or Unamis; the Turkey or Unalachtgo, and the Wolf or Minsi. The two former inhabited the east from the Hudson to the Potomac, and the latter, called by the English Muncey or Muncie, and by the French Loups, being the most warlike tribe, dwelt in the inte- rior, adjacent to the Mengue, and forming a barrier between them and their people. They extended from Minisink. on the Delaware, where they had their council-seat, to the Hudson, on the east, oceupied the valleys of the Delaware and Susquehanna, and were scattered as far west as the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio.

The Mengue, like their neighbors, also gradually moved east- ward, occupying the shores of the great lakes, and establishing themselves over all that country from Lake Erie to the Hudson, and from the headwaters of the Allegheny, Susquehanna, and Delaware rivers, northward to Lake Ontario and even across the St. Lawrence; thus really embracing nearly all of the state of New York, a portion of Canada, and northwestern Pennsyl- vania. This they figuratively styled their "long council house," within which, the place of kindling the grand council fire, was

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

the Onondaga valley, where delegates from all the tribes met in solemn deliberation. They existed as a confederation of tribes, and were usually known in English annals as the Five Nations. This alliance was composed of the Mohawks,* Senecas, i Cayugas,# Onondagas,§ and Oneidas.| They called themselves the Ho-de-no-saw-ne, or People of the Long House; implying that they were one family, sheltered by the same roof. In the course of time a bitter enmity had arisen between the Mengue and the Lenape, and this eonfederation was formed for mutual protection and defence against their hostile neighbors. They dated the formation of this league only a few years previous to the time when the white man first landed upon their shores. In 1712, the Tuscaroras, having been driven by the white settlers from their hunting grounds in the Carolinas, were received into the Iroquois confederacy, which from that time became what was known as the Six Nations, and are reckoned the most powerful and celebrated of allthe Indian nations of North America. Each na- tion was sub-divided into eight tribes, which bore the names of Wolf, Bear, Bcaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron, and Hawk; and at the formation of the league these names were retained and all their laws and customs made with reference to this division into tribes. They appear to have lived up to the requirements of the confederation, in good faith and mutual accord. The Mowawks occupied the country nearest the Hudson river, and were considered as holding the post of honor, the guarding of the castern entrance to the "long house." The highest chief of that nation was also the leading war chief of the confederacy. The Senecas, who were the most numerous, and possessed of the highest degree of warlike spirit and military energy, defended the western portion of the "house," while the Cayugas were guardians over the frontier of the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys. The grand council fire was under the watch of the Onondagas, to whom also belonged the office of chief Sachem (or highest chief magistrate of the league). The land of the Oneidas lay farther towards the north on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. At the grand council-house at Onondaga, all business relating to the confederation was transacted, and their deliberations were marked with good judgment and ability. The Iroquois council has been compared to the Wittenagamott of the Saxons, and Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York, spoke of them as the " Romans of America."

We have observed that in the process of time the Lenape and the Mengwe became bitter enemies.

THE IROQUOIS SUPREMACY OVER THE DELAWARES AND OTHER NATIONS.

Different causes are assigned for the final conflict and sangui- nary war which ensued between the Iroquois and Delawares. Jealousy and animosity had long existed, frequent contests had occurred, and a constant strife was kept alive between the two great nations. When the disturbing elements finally culmi- nated in that long and bloody struggle, the superior advantages the Iroquois, or Five Nations, possessed over their opposing neigh- bors is greatly to be attributed to the deliberations of the grand council at the "Long House." The result was the final subjuga- tion of the Delawares.

Hence when the Europeans began the settlement of Virginia and Pennsylvania, this nation was found occupying a subordi- nate position to that of their abler and more powerful rivals. Their complete subjugation was celebrated at Albany, New York, in 1617, in presence of the Dutch, whom the Delawares charged with aiding and abetting the treachery of their an- cient enemies.

After this period it was the eustom of the Iroquois to send a chief into the interior of Pennsylvania to rule over the Dela- wares and other tribes in that region. Among these was the great Cayuaga chief Shikellimus, the father of Logan, who dwelt at Shamokin, a large Indian village near the junction of the North and West Branch of the Susquehanna. This memor- able chief is said to have governed those tribes with ability and integrity for a great many years, and enjoyed great respect from the whites.

In regard to the supremacy of the Iroquois over the Delawares and other nations, it is said that on the part of the former, that

the feeling towards their vassals was one of haughty superiority. There is no recorded instanee where unmeasured insult and stinging contempt, were more wantonly and publicly heaped on a cowed and humiliated people, than on the occasion of a treaty held in Philadelphia, in 1742, where Connossatego, an old Iroquois chief, having been requested, by the Governor, to attend (really for the purpose of forcing the Delawares to yield up the rich lands of the Minisink), arose in council, where whites and Delawares and Iroquois were convened, and in the name of all the deputies of his confederacy, said to the Gover- nor, that the Delawares had been an unruly people, and were altogether in the wrong, and that they should be removed from their lands; and then, turning most superciliously- towards the abashed Delawares, he said: "You deserve to be taken by the hair of your heads, and shaken till you recover your senses and become sober. We have seen a deed, signed by nine of your chiefs over fifty years ago, for this very land. But how came you to take it upon yourselves to sell lands at all? We con- quered you, we made women of you. You know you are women, and can no more sell lands than women. Nor is it fit that you should have power to sell lands, since you would abuse it. You have had elothes, meat, and drink, by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again, like children as you are. What makes you sell lands in the dark? Did you ever tell us you had sold this land? Did we ever receive any part, even to the value of a pipe-shank, from you for it? This is acting in the dark-very different from the conduet which our Six Na- tions observe in the sales of land. But we find you are none of our blood; you act a dishonest part in this, as in other matters. Your ears are ever open to slanderous reports about your brethren. For all these reasons we charge you to remove in- stantly! We don't give you liberty to think about it. You are women! Take the advice of a wise man and remove instantly !. You may return to the other side of the river where you came from, but we do not know whether, considering how you have demeaned yourselves, you will be permitted to live there, or whether you have not already swallowed that land down your throats, as well as the land on this side. You may go either to Wyoming or Shamokin, and then we shall have you under our eye, and can see how you behave. Don't deliberate, but go, and take this belt of wampum."

He then forbade them ever again to interfere in any matters between white man and Indian, or ever, under any pretext, to pretend to sell lands, and, as they (the Iroquois,) he said, had some business of importance to transact with the Englishmen, he commanded them to immediately leave the council, like women and children as they were.

Upon the occasion above referred to-the Indian treaty at Philadelphia, in 1742-when the Iroquios chief, Connossatego, commanded the Delawares instantly to leave the council-house, where their presence would no longer be tolerated, the out- raged and insulted red men were completely crest-fallen and erushed, but they had no choice exeept to obey. They at once left the presence of the Iroquois, and returned to their homes on the beautiful Lenape Wihittuck-now their homes no longer-and prepared to bid them adieu forever.

We may imagine the agony of hatred-more bitter than gall, and yet wholly impotent-with which they thought of the haughty tyranny of the Iroquois, and the cupidity and double- dealing of the white man, as they took up their sad march towards the land of their banishment, in the valley of the Susquehanna. Those lands were already occupied by the Shaw- nees, but they, being also under tribute to the Mengwe, dared not protest against the new occupancy, so they "moved along," and made room for the Delawares, some of whom pitched their lodges at Wyoming, while some passed on to the West Branch, and others even erossed the Alleghenies.

We do not find that in the then middle colonies, the Five Nations had ventured so far in their hostile conduct towards the Delawares as they had done to the Mohicans, though the alliance between the Dutch and the Five Nations, and afterwards between the English and the latter, was much against both, and, indeed, more against the Delawares than the Mohicans. Yet by turning to treaties and couneils held with these nations between the years 1740 and 1760, we find much insolent lan- guage which the Iroquois were, we will say, permitted, but which the people concerned say were "bid or hired to make, against the Delawares, for the purpose of stopping their mouths, pre- venting them from stating their complaints and grievances, and asking redress from the colonial government."

The result of such high-toned language as that which was made use of to the Delawares, by the Six Nations, in 1742, and at other times afterwards, might easily have been foretold.

*Mohawks-" the fire-striking people"-they being the first to procure fire-arms from the Dutch, the term arising from their flint-locks striking sparks of fire.

+ Senecas -" Mountaineers "-because they inhabited the hilly or mountainous parts of the Iroquois domain.

#Cayugas-from the lake Queugue, on the shores of which they lived.

aOnondagas from Ononlago, signifying "the hill-top," their principal town being set on a bill.

" Oneilas-" the pipe makers" a name given them because they were most ingenious in making stone tobacco pipes.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

For although now these defenceless people had to submit to such gross insults, instead of seeing their grievances redressed, yet they were not ignorant of the manner in which they might one day take revenge, the door to the French, who were enemies to the English, being always open to them, they had but to go "on one side" (as they expressed themselves) to be out of the way of the Iroquois, and they could obtain from the possessors of Canada and Louisiana all that they wanted, fire-arms, hatchets, scalping-knives, ammunition, etc.

They did so, and removed to the Ohio country, whither they were followed by others, from time to time, and by the time the French war broke out they were in perfect readiness, and join- ing the enemies of Great Britain, they murdered great numbers of the defenceless inhabitants of the border, laid the whole frontier waste, and spread terror and misery far and wide, by the outrages they committed.

RAPID DECLINE OF THE TRIBES IN VIRGINIA.

When the first Europeans came to the western continent, they found the Aborigines complete monarchs of the forest, and maintaining a more comfortable existence than any other of the savage nations of the globe; but they did not long survive the encroachments of civilization. The corruptions and viees of the whites soon crossed the threshold of their primitive simplicity, the happiness of their normal state changed to misery, and they began to fade away from the approach of their multiplying neighbors. As settlements were made and forests cleared away, game became scarce; the means of sustenance became a problem which the untutored savage could not solve, and the onee powerful tribes and nations of Virginia grew weaker, and either disappeared step by step into the interior, or totally vanished from existence.

In a summary account, given in Beverly's History of Virginia, of the Indians as they existed in the territory of the province about the year 1700, the following statement is made:

"The Indians of Virginia, cast of the Blue Ridge, are almost wasted, but sueh towns or people as retain their names and live in bodies, are hereunder set down; all which together cannot raise five hundred fighting men. They live poorly, and much in fear of the neighboring Indians. Each town, by the articles of peace, 1677, pays three Indian arrows for their land, and twenty beaver-skins for protection, every year."

NATIONS IDENTIFIED WITH THE OHIO VALLEY.

Some indefinite knowledge of the Indian nations who travers- ed the valley of the Ohio, and were the occupants of the great Northwest territory, can be traced as far back as the year 1650. An attempt at inquiry into the mysteries anterior to that period would necessarily involve problems of the science of ethnology that are aside from the purpose of these pages. Even for a century subsequent to that period much that has been written is based upon mere tradition.

About the year 1650, the Iroquois nations, having become powerful and arrogant by their system of confederation, invaded the territory of the Hurons, or Wyandots, whose ancient seats were on the eastern shore of the lake which bears their name. The Hurons were driven with great slaughter to the Manitou- line islands of the lake, and their enraged enemies expelled them from point to point until they were forced to take shelter in the territory of the head-waters of the Mississippi.

The once powerful Eries, living south of the lake which per- petuates their name, next met a still worse fate from the hands of the vietorious Iroquois; and of all the sanguinary conflicts among the savages, of which we have any account, probably none were so desperate and so bloody as that between these nations. It resulted in the complete extermination of the former in the year 1655. The confederated nations stormed the Erie strongholds, overpowered the desperate defenders, and with the ferocity of tigers, butchered them without mercy. The greater part of the nation was involved in the massacre, and the remnant was incorporated with the conquerors, or with other tribes, to which they fled for refuge.

A tribe known as the Andastes, who dwelt in portions of the valley of the Allegheny, shared the same fate, but their final dispersion was not accomplished until the year 1672.

Many other western tribes-those of Hudson's Bay, of the distant Missouri, and the far south, were not removed from the attacks of the Iroquois confederacy. We are told by Colden, in his history of the Five Nations, that "their conquests extended from New York to Carolina, and from New England to the Mississippi." Another author has said that "at the commence-

ment of the eighteenth century, the territory now Ohio was derelict, except as the indomitable confederates of the north made it a trail for further hostilities, or roamed its hunting grounds."

In Hildreth's Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley the fol- lowing language is used: "Year after year the savage and war- like inhabitants of the north invaded the country of the more peaceable and quiet tribes of the south. Fleets of canoes, built on the head waters of the Ohio, and manned with the fierce warriors of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, annually floated down this quiet stream, carrying death and destruction to the inhabi- tants who lived along its borders. All the fatigue and trouble of marching long distances by land was thus avoided; while the river afforded them a constant magazine of food in the multi- tude of fishes which filled its waters. The canoe supplied to the Indian the place of the horse and wagon to the white man, in transporting the munitions of war. These they could moor to the shore, and leave under a guard, while the main body made incursions against tribes and villages, living at one or more day's march in the interior. If defeated, their canoes afforded a safe and ready mode of securing a retreat, far more certain than it could be by land. When invading a country, they could travel by night as well as by day, and thus fall upon the inhabitants very unexpectedly; while in approaching by land, they could hardly fail of being discovered by some of the young hunters in time to give at least some notice of their approach. The battles thus fought along the shores of the Ohio, could they have been recorded, would fill many volumes."

But the onee proud and arrogant Iroquois were not able to maintain a complete and lasting supremacy over so vast a region, and between the years 1700 and 1750, the great North West Territory again became occupied by different tribes of sav- ages, which, the active warfare of their former conquerers hav- ing measurably ceased, took possession of a whole region as weeds become occupants of a neglected field. Some of them may have sprung from the surviving members of the tribes that had been overcome and dispersed by the Iroquois.

From this, however, must be excepted the region immedi- ately adjacent to the Ohio river. This beautiful region, com- prising a belt of country from forty to sixty miles in width, on both sides of the river, from near the confluence of the Alle- gheny and Monongahela to the mouth of the Big Miami, seems to have been appropriated by the various tribes almost exclu- sively as hunting grounds. Perhaps the previous invasions of Iroquois, may have deterred the tribes who dwelt in the interior from occupying the borders of the river, and this may account for the fact that the first white visitors to this part of the Ohio valley, found no villages upon its banks, or fields of corn in its rich, alluvial bottoms. The river teemed with fish, the valleys, and hillsides abounded in animals of the chase, thus bountifully affording that which was needed for the well being of savage life; but the fires that were kindled along its shores were those of the warrior or the hunter.

Prior to the year 1740, the English knew but little of the Ohio valley, and prior to that time the French explorers seem to be the only ones who had any knowledge of the vast region now known as the Central West. The first visitors to this locality mention but one Indian village on the borders of the river in the region of the Pan Handle, of West Virginia, or the counties of Belmont and Jefferson, Ohio.

When the French descended the river in 1749, under the command of De Celoron, they found many villages along the Allegheny, but the only ones they speak of on the banks of the Ohio, before reaching the mouth of the Miami, was what was known subsequently as "Logstown," about seventeen miles below Pittsburgh, and the village near the mouth of the Seioto. In the former they found Iroquois, Delawares, Shawnese, Ottawas, and others; in the latter were dwelling Iroquois, Shawanese. Dela- wares, and Miamis, Indians from the Sault St. Louis, Lake of the Two Mountains, and representatives from nearly all the nations of the "upper country." This would indicate that these vari- ous nations were at that period living in comparative peace, and that the borders of the Ohio were appropriated as a com- mon hunting ground, from which circumstance the region so profusely abounded in game.

Washington, in 1753, found Tanacharison, the Half-King of the Iroquois, at Logstown, and a portion of this nation settled in the rich bottom on the Ohio, below Steubenville, now known as Mingo Junction, which place was designated for many years after this period as the Mingo Town and Mingo Bottom. The name Mingo was the popular one applied to the Iroquois nations in this vicinity, and is still preserved as a favorite one to designate the locality of the ancient village.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 6

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728