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 9

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 9
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 9

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).

Indian legend represents the manner in which the warrior met his death at the stake. No refinement or duration of tor- ture could extort from him a groan. The faith of the Christian martyr supports him in the hour of trial ; but the Indian ex- cels him in defying his tormentors, with only his dauntless spirit to sustain him ; he will die, too, rather than surrender, though he knows he will fall into the hands of those who, look- ing upon him as a fallen foe, will be merciful.

In the quality of fortitude alone, the Indian seems to have been the superior of the white man. In enduring pain with stoical indifference, he stood pre-eminent. To die, without be- traying weakness or fear, was one of the highest virtues in his eye, and was early inculcated in the minds of the children. Many a savage, whom no sentiment of courage, or pride, or shame, could have induced to face the terror of the bayonet on an open field, has chanted his death song with unquivering voice, while enduring tortures which would have wrung shrieks of agony from the sternest grenadier who preferred death to surrender, upon the field of Waterloo. .

In their councils they observed the utmost gravity and de- eorum. While the Indian orator addressed his audience, there was no interruption on their part, excepting from time to time, a guttural sound, something like "hoogh," expressing satisfac- tion at points in the speech, and, although antagonistic views might be held on subjects under discussion, yet the most re- spectful attention was given to the words of the speaker during his oration, and neither his partisans nor opponents showed the least disposition toward that levity which, it is to be regretted, forms a very marked feature of the deliberative assemblies of the white race, even in our own houses of Congress at Wash- ington.

At the deliberations of the "Long House" of the Iroquois league, the oratory and eloquence were of a high order for an untutored and savage people, who had no written language, and no written literature.

Their speakers' gestures were animated, and their speeches delivered in a loud voice. The effect upon an observer of an erect figure, naked arm, and rude, though not ungraceful attire of the orator, is described as very impressive.

By the authority of William Penn himself, we are told that "they speak little, but fervently and with eloquence. I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them without the

help (I was going to say the spoil) of tradition." *

The matter of their discourse is found, in all the speeches which have been transmitted to us, to have been well adapted to the subject, their style varied, appropriate to the effect 4-B. & J. COS.

* *

intended, and we often find passages which embody the soul of eloquence.

In the impassioned utterance of Logan, we find an impressive and effective style that exeites the liveliest admiration, and in the annals of eloquence, more fervid oratory is rarely found. Perhaps in the councils of the "Long House" of the Iroquois, oratory received greater opportunities for development, but all the tribes and nations contributed to the list of Indian orators. Among the Iroquois, the names of Logan, Red Jacket, Corn- planter, Great-Tree, Half-Town, and Farmer's Brother, were all distinguished for their eloquence.

Among the Shawanese, Cornstalk and Tecumseh furnish ex- amples of great native talent for oratory among that nation.

It is related of Cornstalk, who occupied, in 1774, the dis- tinetion of King of the Northern Confederacy of Indian tribes, that at the treaty with Lord Dunmore, he was the chief speaker on the part of the several nations. It is said that he spoke in the most vehement and denunciatory style, and with a loud voice, distinctly heard throughout the camp, he openly charged the whites with being the sole eause of the preceding war, enumerating the many provocations which the Indians had received, and dwelling with great force and emphasis upon the diabolical murder of Logan's family. His manner is thus described by Col. Wilson, who was present at the interview between the chief and Lord Dunmore: "When he arose he was in no wise confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct and audible voice, without stammering or repetition, and with peculiar emphasis. His looks while addressing Dunmore were truly grand and majestic, yet graceful and attractive. I have heard the first orators in Virginia, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, but never have I heard one whose powers of de- livery surpassed those of Cornstalk."

The celebrated speech of Logan, first printed in Mr. Jeffer- son's notes on Virginia, and rendered immortal by being declaimed in every school house in the land, will be found in the chapter relating the life of the great " Mingo Chief."

The address delivered to General Washington, in Philadelphia, 1790, in the names of Cornplanter, Great-Tree, and Half-Town, while not so declamatory as the ordinary Indian style, is closely logical, and ranks as a rare specimen of effective oratory. To illustrate, we will give in this connection an extract from the speech referred to :

"FATHER-When you kindled your thirteen fires separately the wise men assembled at them told us that you were all brothers; the children of one Great Father, who regarded the red people as his children. They called us brothers, and in- vited us to his protection. They told us he resided beyond the great waters where the sun first rises; and he was a king whose power no people could resist, and that his goodness was as bright as the sun. What they said went to our hearts. We accepted the invitation, and promised to obey him. What the Seneca nation promises they faithfully perform. When you refused obedience to that king, he commanded us to assist his beloved men in making you sober. In obeying him we did no more than yourselves had bid us to promise. We were de- ceived ; but your people, teaching us to confide in that king, had helped to deceive us, and we now appeal to your breast. Is all the blame ours?

" You told us you could crush us to nothing ; and you de- manded from us a great country, as the price of that peace, which you had offered us, as if our want of strength had destroyed our rights."

Red Jacket, upon one occasion, thus pathetieally broke forth in an enumeration of the woes which his tribe had sustained at the hands of the pale faces : " We stand on a small island, in the bosom of the great waters. We are encircled, we are en- compassed. The Evil Spirit rides upon the blast, and the waters are disturbed. They rise, they press upon us, and the waters once settled over us, we disappear forever. Who, then, lives to mourn us? None! What marks our extinction ? Nothing ! We are mingled with the common elements."

Tecumseh made the following speech at a conference with General Harrison, at Vincennes, in 1810:

"It is true I am a Shawance. My forefathers were warriors. Their son is a warrior. From them I only take my existence; from my tribe, I take nothing. I am the maker of my own fortune; and oh! that I could make that of my red people, and of my country, as great as the conceptions of my mind, when I think of the Spirit that rules the universe. I would not then come to Gov. Harrison, to ask him to tear the treaty, and to obliterate the landmark ; but I would say to him, sir, you have liberty to return to your own country. The being within, communicating with past ages, tells me, that once, nor until

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

lately, there was no white man on this continent. That it then all belonged to red men, children of the same parents, placed on it by the Great Spirit that made them, to keep it, to traverse it, to enjoy its productions, and to fill it with the same race ; since made miserable by the white people, who are never contented, but always encroaching. The way, and the only way, to check and to stop this evil, is, for all the red men to unite in claim- ing a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be yet ; for it was never divided, but belongs to all, for the use of each. That no part has a right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers; those who want all, and will not do with less. The white people have no right to take the land from the Indians, because they had it first; it is theirs. They may sell, but all must join. Any sale not made by all, is not valid. The late sale is bad. It was made by a part only. Part do not know how to sell. It requires all to make a bargain for all. All red men have equal rights to the unoecupied land. The right of oceupancy is as good in one place as in another. There cannot be two oceupations in the same place. The first excludes all others. It is not so in hunting or traveling; for there the same ground will serve many, as they may follow each other all day; but the camp is stationary, and that is oc- cupancy. It belongs to the first who sits down on his blanket or skins, which he has thrown upon the ground, and till he leaves it, no other has a right."

After Tecumseh had delivered this speech, he was about to seat himself in a chair, when he observed that none had been placed for him. One was immediately ordered by the Governor for him, but was indignantly rejected by the chief. The inter- preter said to him, "Your father requests you to take a chair." " My father?" says Tecumseh, "the sun is my father, and the earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will repose," and imme- diately seated himself, in the Indian manner, upon the ground.

Another specimen of Indian eloquence, of a high order, is recorded by the veteran missionary, Heckwelder, as having come under his own personal observation. It was the speech of Pipe, a Delaware chief, addressed to the British commandant at Detroit. The chief and his men, at the time, were allies of the British, but it is represented that they were tired of the alliance and only continued in it under compulsion. This may or may not have been a mistake on the part of the good mis- sionary whose recorded statements concerning the Indians, and particularly the Delawares, although always conscientiously made, and intended to be strictly truthful, are always strongly, and oftentimes ridiculously, biased in favor of the red men. But this is the account which he gives of the speech, and he vouches for the correctness of his rendition. Alluding to the chief, he says: "He was now reluctantly compelled to go out against the Americans with the men under his command. On his return from one of these expeditions, he went to make his report to the British commandant, at Detroit, by whom he was received in state, at the council house, in presence of a great number of Indians, British officers and others.

"There were several missionaries present, among which I was. The chief was seated in front of his Indians, facing the commandant. He held in his left hand a human scalp, tied to a short stick. After a pause of some minutes he rose, and, ad- dressing the governor, delivered the following speech :

"'FATHER!' (Here the orator stopped and turning round to the audience with a face full of meaning, and a sarcastie look, which I should in vain attempt to describe, he went on in a lower tone of voice, as addressing himself to them.) 'I have said father, although, indeed, I do not know why I am to call him so, having never known any other father than the French, and consider the English as only brothers. But as this name is also imposed upon us, I shall make use of it and say,-(here he fixed his eyes on the commandant-' FATHER! some time ago, you put a war-hatchet in my hands, saying: 'Take this weapon and try it upon the heads of my enemies, the long-knives, and let me afterwards know if it was sharp and good.

"'FATHER! at the time when you gave me this weapon, I had neither cause nor inclination to go to war against a people who had done me no injury; yet, in obedience to you, who say you are my father, and call me your child, I received the hatchet, well knowing that if I did not obey, you would with- hold from me the necessaries of life, without which I could not subsist, and which are not elsewhere to be procured but at the house of my father.

"'FATHER ! many lives have already been lost on your account. Nations have suffered and been weakened. Children have lost parents, brothers, and relatives. Wives have lost husbands. It is not known how many more may perish before your war will be at an end.

"'FATHER ! you say you love your children, the Indians. This you have often told them; and, indeed, it is for your in- terest to say so to them that you may have them at your service.

""'But, FATHER ! who of us can believe that you can love a people of a different color from your own, better than those who have a white skin like yourselves ?

"'FATHER! pay attention to what I am going to say. While you, Father, are setting me on your enemy, much in the same manner as a hunter sets his dog on the game, while I am in the act of rushing on that enemy of yours with the bloody destruc- tive weapon you gave me, I may perchance happen to look back to the place from whence you started me, and what shall I see ? Perhaps I shall see my father shaking hands with the long knives; yes, with those very people whom he now calls his enemies."

"'I may then see him laugh at my folly for having obeyed his orders, and yet I am now risking my life at his command. Father! keep what I have said in remembrance.

"'Now, FATHER ! this is what has been done with the hatchet you gave me (handing the stick with the scalp); I have done with the hatchet what you ordered me to do, and have found it sharp. Nevertheless, I did not do all that I might have done. No, I did not; my heart failed within me, I felt com- passion for your enemy. Innocence had no part in your quarrels, therefore I distinguished-I spared-I took some live flesh,* which, while I was bringing to you, I spied one of your large canoes, on which I put it for you. In a few days you will receive this, and will find that the skin is of the same color as your own. FATHER! I hope you will not destroy what I have saved. You, Father, have the means of preserving, what with me would perish for want. The warrior is poor and his cabin is always empty, but your house, Father, is always full.' "

The venerable missionary adds: "Here we see boldness, frankness, dignity, and humanity, happily blended together, and most eloquently displayed. * I wish I could * convey to the reader's mind only a small part of the impression which this speech made on me, and on all present, when it was delivered."

Taciturn and dignified as was the Indian, however, he not unfrequently showed a considerable disposition to be facetious and witty.

It is related of Tadeuskund, the principal chief, (and some- times spoken of as "king") of the Delawares, that being seen one day sitting on the pavement in Market street, Philadel- phia, in a state of intoxication (for he dearly loved the fiery rum), he was accosted by a Quaker who knew him. “Ah, chief, how is this; I thought thee was turned a good Moravian ?" The fuddled "king" replied, "Ugh, chief no Moravian now, chief turned Quaker yesterday." And upon another occasion, being met by a Scotchman, a worthless fellow, who hailed him with, "well, eousin, how do you do?" the proud red man responded, "cousin, cousin, how do you make that out ?" "Oh," said the Scot, "we are all cousins from Adam." "Ah, then," said the chief, "I am very glad it is no nearer."+

Concerning this trait, Heckwelder says: "They are inge- nious in making satirical observations which, though they create laughter, do not, or but seldom give offence. For in- stance, seeing a bad hunter going out into the woods with his gun, they will ask him if he is going out for meat ? or say to one another, 'now we shall have meat, for such a one has gone a hunting' (not believing any such thing.) Or, if they see a coward joining a war party, they will ask him ironically at what time he intends to come back again (knowing that he will return before he has met the enemy), or, they will say to one another, 'will he return this way with his scalps ?'"

LEGEND OF CORNSTALK AT GNADENHUTTEN.

Early in 1777 the celebrated Shawance chief, Cornstalk, with one hundred warriors, appeared in the neighborhood of Gna- denhutten and camped. Rev. Smiek was in charge of the mis- sion, but was absent at the time. Mrs. Smick, not knowing the intention of the chief, consulted the leading Christian In- dians as to what should be done in the emergency. The advice was to invite the chief to the mission house, and send provis- ions to his warriors, as a sure way of averting their hostile in- tentions, if any were entertained. Accordingly the great chief was soon invited and escorted to the house of the missionary, but his caution against being surprised and captured by an enemy induced him to take with him a guard of warriors, who were pro-

*Women and children prisoners.

+Stone's History of Wyoming.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

vided for near the house, while Cornstalk became the guest of the lady. His commanding and noble appearance at once made an impression on her, while her womanly person faseinated the chief. He was versed sufficiently in English to talk with her, and, after a repast, he whiled the time away in reeounting to her some of his adventures in life, until time to go to his warriors, when he departed shaking hands and making a kingly bow. She pressed him diplomatically to eall again. On the day following Mr. Cornstalk was up early, and repeated his visit about daybreak. The lady was not up, but that made no differenee to him. He had ealled to tell her that a party of Wyandots and Monceys were on the war-path, and were aeeom- panied by a wnite man, and that they were after Glikhiean, the Delaware, who they elaimed was in the town seereted, and must have him or his sealp. Mrs. Smiek, somewhat used to the rough edge of border life, arose, took Cornstalk into another room and showed him Glikhiean, whom she had been hiding from his enemies for some days, and her husband intended to send him to Fort Pitt as a place of safety, but all the paths were filled with hostile Indian bands going to and returning from war, and henee he had to be hid. Cornstalk, who was an old acquaintance of the Delaware, after some talk, told her he would see the chief safely on his way. So, taking a woman's gown and bonnet of that day, he gave them to Glikhican, told him to put them on and follow. He shook the lady by the hand and left. That evening he abruptly appeared again, and told her he had sent Glikhiean out of danger by a guard of his own warriors, and now, having saved his life, and perhaps hers, he affectionately asked her to leave the mission and go with him to his town on the Scioto and become his wife, as he had but little doubt but that her husband was captured or killed. The woman arose within her, and yet artfully concealing her in- dignation, she begged a short time to make up her mind, and with a little flirtation on her part to please the chief, left him alone ; in a few moments he was asleep from the fatigues of the day. But not her. She dispatched a runner to Salem, where Smick had gone for a three days' visit, telling him to hasten and bring back her husband, or Cornstalk would take her off- being then in their house. Smick set out and reached his home before Cornstalk awoke that night. As soon as the great ehief became aware of his return he became mueh dejected, but frankly told the missionary of his new born love for the white woman, and then in a manly way disavowed any intention of offense in proposing to her to become the wife of a chief. Smiek, in a true Christian spirit, took him by the hand and leading him to her presence, Cornstalk made the same disavowal to her, and taking from his plume an eagle feather placed it on her head, deelaring that he now adopted Mr. Smiek into his nation as a brother, and Mrs. Smick as a sister. He then hastily bid them adieu, and was soon off with his warriors on their journey. He was killed the same summer, as elsewhere related, but before going to the fatal Point Pleasant, he had again visited sister Smiek and her husband at Gnadenhutten.

A LEGEND OF SLAUGHTER AT THE SENECA CAPITAL, IN TUSCA- RAWAS COUNTY, OHIO.

A legend exists of a fearful fight that took place between the Senecas and Wyandots, on their return from Braddock's defeat, in 1755. They had fought side by side against the English army, but no sooner had they dispersed towards their homes, than the old unsettled feud between them was renewed. The Senecas took the trail by Beaver, Mingo Bottom, and west to Tus- earawas. The Wyandots took the upper trail, striking the ridge between the heads of the Elk Eye creek (Muskingum), and the Hiogo (Cuyahoga), where they eamped. It was but a day's journey aeross the present Stark county, to reach their enemies at the Seneca capital. The warriors there suspected their de- sign, and sent out Ogista, an old sachem, who met the W'y- andots on the war-path, stealthily approaching the eapital. He sent back a runner to give warning of their eoming, and, trust- ing to his age for protection, boldly penetrated into the midst of the enemy as a peacemaker. The Senecas, upon being apprised of their proximity, sallied out to fight, but stopped by Ogista, who was returning with an agreement, made by the opposing chief, to the effeet that each tribe should pick twenty warriors, willing to suffer death by single combat. When all were slain, they were to be covered, hatchet in hand, in one grave, and heneefortli neither Seneca nor Wyandot were ever again to raise a bloody hand against the other.

Forty braves were soon selected, and each twenty being sur- rounded, the tribal war-danees were danced, and the death lamentations sung, when the way being cleared, the carnage

commenced, which ended as night intervened, there being one martyr left, with none to strike him down. He was the son of Ogista, who had proposed the saerifiee. The aged man received his weapon, and with it eleaved off the head of his offspring, when the bands gathered the dead into a heap, laying their forty hatehets by their sides, and having raised a mound of earth over them, all repaired to the Seneca eapital, elosing the fearful seene with a feast, in memorium of the eompaet thus sealed with blood, that the hatehet was then forever buried be- tween the Wyandots and Senecas. Twenty-four years afterward, Fort Laurens was ereeted in sight of the mound. A friendly Dealware, at the fort, was asked by the commander to explain its origin. He related the above legend. In January, 1779, the fort was invested by one hundred and eighty Wyandots, Mingoes (Senecas), and Monceys, led by John Montour. Under the im- pression that the Indians had moved off, a squad of seventeen soldiers went out behind the mound to eateh the horses and gather wood. They never returned to the fort-having been ambushed and killed by a party of Wyandot and Seneca warriors, who were worshipping the Great Spirit at the grave of their aneestors and relatives.

CHAPTER V.

INDIAN RESPECT FOR THE AGED-ADOPTION OF CHILDREN- REVERENCE FOR THE DEAD.

HEY are remarkable for the partieular respeet which they pay to old age .* In all their meetings, whether publie or private, they pay the greatest attention to the observations and adviee of the aged. No one will attempt to eontradiet them, nor to interfere in any manner, or even speak, unless he is especially ealled upon. 'The aged,' they say, 'have lived through the whole period of our lives, and long before we were born. They have not only all the knowl- edge which we possess, but a great deal more. We, therefore, must submit our limited views to their experience.'

"In traveling, one of the eldest will always take the lead, unless another is especially appointed for that purpose. If such a one stops to hunt, or in order to stay and eneamp at the place for some time, all halt together, all are pleased with the spot, and deelare it to be judieiously ehosen.

"On every oeeasion, and in every situation through life, age takes the lead among the Indians. Even little boys, when going on parties of pleasure, were it only to eatch butterflies, strietly adhere to this rule, and submit to the direction of the oldest in their company, who is their chief, leader and spokes- man. If they are aceosted on the way by any person, and asked whither they are going, or any other question, no one will presume to answer but their speaker. The same rule is ob- served when they are grown up, and in no ease whatever will one of a party, elub, or meeting, attempt to assume authority over the leader, or even to set him right if he should mistake the road, or take a wrong course, much less will any one eon- tradict what he says, unless his opinion should be particularly asked. In such a case, and in no other, he will give his advice, but with great modesty and diffidenee.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 9

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