History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Part 2

Author: Johnson, Crisfield
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Number of Pages: 716

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Life was even more abundant in the water than on shore. The lake swarmed with pike, pickerel, stur- geon, whitetish, ete., etc., some of which found their way into the river, where they were met by the gleani- ing trout from the npland streams.

Such was Cuyahoga county and its inhabitants at the time when the first accounts regarding this locali- ty came to the knowledge of the whites. Even then, those accounts were very vague, but, as they have been eked out by subsequently acquired knowledge, one is able to bring up before the mind's eye a toler- ably accurate picture of this primeval period. Before, however, we move forward from this standpoint, it is proper to make brief mention of that long, vagne period which antedates all reliable information, and is commonly called the pre-historie era.

PRE-HISTORIC SPECULATIONS.

CHAPTER II. PRE-HISTORIC SPECULATIONS.

Relies in Northern Ohio-The Mound-Builders-Old Fortifications of this Region -Works in Cleveland In Newburg - In Independence-At the Forks of Rocky River-Outside the County-In Western New York - Absence of Large Mounds -Coffins at Chagrin Falls-Evi- dence , of Moderate Sized Ancients-The Jaw-Bone Theory-Indian Palisades-Their Superiority to Breastworks-Absence of Metal In- struments-Conclusion in Favor of Ancient Indian Occupancy.

So FAR as is actually known, the Eries might have been here ten years, or a hundred years, or a thon- sand years, before they were heard of by the French. Yet the restless and belligerent character of the American Indians makes it improbable that any tribe would remain many centuries in the same locality, and doubtless the Eries gained their title to this region by the good old process of driving away or exterminating the preceding lords of the land, whose rights were similarly grounded upon slaughter and conquest.

But, aside from the probable oeenpancy of the coun- try by snecessive tribes of red men, there are works and relics still extant in Cuyahoga county, as well as in other parts of northern Ohio, in Pennsylvania and in New York, which have led many to believe that a race of a much higher grade of civilization than the Indians onee inhabited these regions. Those old in- habitants are supposed to have been akin to the cele- brated though somewhat mythical "Mound-Builders" of the Ohio valley. But the works attributed to the latter people are of a far different character from those of their northern neighbors, including not only exten- sive fortifications capable of sheltering ten, fifteen or even twenty thousand men, but enormous mounds. sometimes seven or eight hundred feet in circum- ference at the base and seventy feet high, and sup- posed to have been devoted to religions sacritices.

Withont entering into any discussion on the char- acter or origin of the " Mound-Builders," which would be entirely foreign to the purpose of this vol- ume, it is safe to say that the works extant in Cuya- hoga county and the rest of the lake region bear no indications of having been erected by a race superior to the American Indians. Nay, they show strong affirma- tive evidence that their architects were not superior to the red men discovered here by the Europeans. The works in question are mostly fortifications of moderate extent, the enclosed space rarely exceeding live acres. In a majority of cases advantage has been taken of a strong natural position, where only a small amount of labor was necessary to fortify it.

Such is the case at one of the best preserved of these embankments in Cuyahoga county. It is within the limits of Cleveland city, but in what was formerly the town of Newburg; being between Broad- way and the Cuyahoga river, and only a short dis- tanee from that stream. The natural position con- sisted of a peninsula surrounded on three sides by ravines nearly sixty feet deep, with steep, clayey sides. and joined to the main land on the south by a nar- row isthmus. On this isthmus, at the narrowest

point, the ocenpants of the sitnation built two em- bankments, the outer one extending completely aeross the neck, the inner one reaching nearly but not quite across the isthmus, leaving a narrow entrance-way on the west side. The hight of both embankments is about two feet, and each has a ditch on its onter side, now very shallow, but apparently at one time some three feet deep.

The space thus enclosed contains about five acres, and, although the land outside the ravines is of the same hight as that within the "fort," yet foemen would have found it difficult to send their arrows to the center of the enclosed space through the natural growth of trees, even supposing that the defenders knew nothing of the art of building palisades, on which point there is no evidence.

Most of the other fortifications are of a similar character, the object in each case being to fortify an isthmus, and thus hold a kind of peninsula or prom- ontory, nearly surrounded by ravines.

Just outside the city limits, in the present town- ship of Newburg and close to the Cuyahoga, is an- other of these labor-saving fortifications, the enclosed space being about the size of the one above described. and the protecting ravines being even deeper, though not so steep.

Two miles farther np the river, in the township of Independence, is still another of these enclosures, the area in this case being nearly ten acres. There are two embankments across the isthmus, with a ditch between them and another outside of the outer- most breastwork.

In the same township, a short distance north of Tinker's creek, is another fortification by which a promontory among the bluffs is defended from the approach of an enemy.

At the forks of Rocky river, close to the line be- tween the townships of Middleburg and Olmstead, was one of the most remarkable of these primitive fortresses. It is a lofty cliff, almost surrounded by the waters of the west branch of the river, with no method of reaching the top save by an oblique and difficult path ent in the almost perpendicular side. In front of this path were three lines of breast works, from two to three feet high each, with ditches in front. of them, as in the case of the others before men- tioned. This was one of the most formidable of these peenliar fortifications to be found m this county.

Outside of the county there are, in northern Ohio, many other works more elaborate and important than those above mentioned, but all evidently constructed for the same purpose-that of fortifying with a little labor a strong natural position. Among these strong- holds there is one in Northfield, Summit county, where a promontory of about four acres, two hundred feet above the Cuyahoga, is fortified by intrenchments across a very narrow ridge connecting it with the back country; one at Weymouth, Medina county, where a peninsula of less than an acre, formed by a bend of Rocky river, is defended by three lines of intrench-

GENERAL HISTORY OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.

ment, from four to six feet high, counting from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the bank; one near Painesville, Lake county, where a narrow peninsula is fortitied by two embankments, the tops of which are not less than nine feet from the bottom of the ditches outside. There is also one near Conneant, Ashtabula county, but this is on a somewhat different plan; a space of tive acres on the top of a detached mound, seventy feet high, being entirely surrounded by a circular intrenchment.

There were, at the time of the first settlement, a large number of similar rude fortifications in western New York, but there was less attention paid there to the defense of peninsulas and promontories; a majority of the works being complete redonbts, cach enclosed by a single wall, a few feet high, with a ditch outside. Some were on detached hills or mounds, but many were in the valleys or on the open plains, and have consequently been obliterated by cultivation. One of the largest fortresses of that section, known as Fort Ilill, and situated in the town of Le Roy, Genesee county, contained, when first discovered, great piles of round stones, evidently intended to be used against assailing foes.

Nowhere in the lake region are there found any of those immense mounds, so prominent in the Ohio valley, from which the name of " Mound-Builders " has been derived, and applied to an unknown race of men. Some small mounds, a few feet high, have, however, been discovered, generally in the vicinity of the fortifications before described, and probably in- tended as burial-places. One of these mounds, situ- ated near Chagrin Falls, was opened in 1840, and found to contain four rude, stone coffins, without lids; three of them being of the proper size for an ordi- nary man, and one suitable for a half-grown boy.

These cotlins are the strongest evidences with which we are acquainted of the existence of an early race, more advanced than the Indians. So far as known the Indians never made stone coffins. On the other hand those articles negative most decidedly the opin- ion frequently advanced, that the ancient inhabitants of this region, be they of what race they might. were superior in hight to the people of modern times. It is very certain that in numerous instances the thigh- bone of a big Indian has, by an imaginative process of reconstruction, been developed into a whole race of pre-historie giants. A commonly quoted evidence on this point is the statement that some venerable jaw- bone, taken from an ancient mound, will " tit right on over" the jaw of an ordinary, adult white man; the easy reasoner forgetting that any concave body will " tit right on over " a convex one as large as itself, and that a score of bowls or kettles of the same size will " fit." each other to perfection.

.. .

So far as the fortifications are concerned there is absolutely nothing to show that their builders were superior to the inhabitants discovered by the white men. True, the Indians, when first discovered, did not build earthen breastworks, but they did build

palisades, requiring more labor and ingenuity than the much vaunted earthworks. The palisaded castles of the Five Nations were almost impregnable to any foe not provided with fire-arms, and doubtless the kindred, though hostile, Eries had provided them- selves with similar defenses. The first Frenchman who came to Montreal found there an Indian town of fifty cabins, encompassed by three lines of palisades, made of closely fitted timbers, near thirty feet high. On the inside there was a lofty wooden rampart, reached by ladders, and always kept well supplied with stones with which to assail an enemy.

Such a fortress shows a much greater progress in architectural skill than do the rude earthworks previ- ously described. Moreover, considering that wooden arrows and stone tomahawks were the most effective weapons of the Indians, it is plain that the palisades were a great improvement on the breastworks as a protection against an enemy. Since artillery has come into use among the whites, wooden and even stone defenses have been abandoned in favor of earthen ones, into which the balls of an enemy sink without destructive results. But there was no danger of either wooden or earthen walls being destroyed by arrows or stone tomahawks; the problem was to prevent the toe from shooting or climbing over the barrier. For this purpose it is evident that the palisade thirty feet high was immensely superior to the low breastwork, which could only with immense labor be raised five or six feet above the surrounding country.

Moreover, while the intrenchment could hardly be employed to advantage except on some strong natural position, where its slight hight was eked out by the ascent from lower ground, the palisade conld be built on the very bank of a stream, or in the midst of a maize field, and afford almost perfect protection to the cabins placed inside. While, therefore, among a people who use artillery, earthen fortifications are an advance on wooden or stone ones, yet the palisades of the Iroquois and Eries show them to have advanced in defensive skill beyond the men who erected the earth works of northern Ohio and western New York, though very probably the former were descended from the latter.

The coffins at Chagrin Falls are far stronger evi- dences of ancient superiority to the Indians than are the breastworks, but while it is true that Indians gen- erally did not make stone coffins, yet they did make weapons and utensils of stone, such as tomahawks, etc., and the existence of the larger articles in this vicinity may be due to the fact that northern Ohio is much more prolific than other sections in stone which is easily shaped into any required form.

Another circumstance, showing that the pre-historic inhabitants of this region were of the same race as the Indians, or an inferior one, is the fact that no metal instruments, not even of copper, have come down to us from the pre-historie era. Flint arrow- heads, flint knives, stone hatchets, there are in abun- dance-all of the same kind as those used by the

THE ERIES AND THEIR DESTRUCTION.

Indians-and if metal instruments had existed some of them would certainly have remained to the present day.

Between the borders of Lake Erie and the valleys of southern Ohio, there is a tract which has been well designated by Colonel Whittlesey as a neutral ground between the inhabitants of those localities. Withont attempting to eross this open space and risk ourselves among the shades of the mythical " Mound-Builders," but looking only at the region of the great lakes, we may consider ourselves on tolerably firm ground. The Indians were here when the white men first came; the relics of ancient times generally show not superi- ority over, but inferiority to, the works of the red men, and the very strong probability is that some of the numerous tribes of Indians, in a more or less ad- vanced state, were the masters of this region from the time it first had human ocenpants until they gave way to the insatiate invaders from Europe.

CHIAPTER III. THE ERIES AND THEIR DESTRUCTION.

The Eries little known to the French- Power of the Iroquois-Destruc- tion of the Kahquahs-Iroquois Tradition Regarding the Overthrow of The Eries-The Latter hear of the League of the Five Nations-An Athletic Contest with the Senecas-Bloody Work-An Attempted Sur- prise-A Greal Battle-Defeat of the Eries-Probability of the Story Considered-Another Account-Butchery of the Erie Ambassadors -- Burning of an Onondaga Chieftain- Wrath of the Confederates-The Next Spring they Set Ont-Approaching the Stronghold-Description of the Warriors-The Assault-The Victory-Vengeance-Return of the Iroquois.

DURING the first quarter of a century after the ex- istenee of the Eries became known to the French, very little occurred which has become matter of his- tory or even of tradition. The Gallie explorers with undaunted footsteps made their way to the shores of Lakes Huron and Ontario, but Lake Erie was almost an unknown sea to them. Between its waters and the French settlements in Canada were the homes of the fierce, untamable Iroquois, against whom Chan- plain, the founder of Canada, had needlessly waged war, and who had become the most implacable enemies of the French colonists. These celebrated confederates, already the terror of surrounding tribes, were rapidly rising to still wider dominion, partly on account of the strength derived from their well- planned union, and partly on account of the facility with which they could obtain fire-arms and ammuni- tion from the Dutch on the Hudson river, who were very glad to have so good a guard located between them and the adventurous Frenchmen of Canada. Equipped with these terrible weapons, and strong in their five-fold alliance, the Iroquois wreaked terrible vengeance not only on the countrymen of Champlain, but on their numerons foes of their own race, little foreseeing that the destruction of their Indian rivals would only leave themselves the less able to resist the advance of the Europeans.

There was occasional warfare between the Iroquois and the Eries, but the Kahquahs, or Neuter Nation, whose seats were on both sides of the Niagara river and extended a short distance up the south side of Lake Erie, lay partly between the rivals, and were then at peace with both; so the enemies were con- strained to bridle their hatred when they met on Kuh- quah ground, or, as some accounts say, only when in the immediate vicinity of the Kahquah villages. The Kahquahs maintained a similar neutrality between the Iroquois and the Hurons of Canada, and hence the French designation of "La Nation Neutre." They were not Quakers, by any means, however, and often waged war against distant tribes.

But the time was rapidly approaching when their neutrality would no longer serve to shield them from the aggressive spirit of the Iroquois. In the autumn of 1650, the Fire Nations, having already destroyed the Hurons, burst like a thunderbolt upon the un- fortunate Kahquahs, defeated them in battle, burned a large number of their villages and slaughtered the inhabitants. The next spring they renewed the assault, and utterly destroyed the Kahquahs as a nation, slaying all except a few whom they adopted into their own tribes, and a few more who fled for safety to the Indians of the Far West, among whom they soon lost their separate identity.

Naught now interposed between the Eries and their arrogant foes, the Fire Nations. Experience showed that they might soon expect an assault made with all the strength of the confederacy, and no doubt they prepared for its coming. The story of the final struggle is only to be derived from the vague and boastful traditions of the Iroquois, for of the Eries none are left to tell the tale of their people's ruin. One account, which has been widely quoted, was pub- lished in the Buffalo Commercial _idrertiser in 1845. and is said to have been vouched for by "Governor Blacksnake," a celebrated Seneca chief then nearly a hundred years old, and by other aged warriors of the Fire Nations.

It represents that " when the Eries heard of the confederation between the Mohawks, Oneidus, Onon- dagas, Cayugas and Senecas," they imagined it must be for some mischievous purpose. To discover its meaning they invited the Iroquois to send a hundred of their most athletic young men, to play a game of ball with a like number selected by the Eries, for a heavy wager. The invitation was declined. Next year it was repeated, but again declined. A third time the challenge was sent, and this time it was ac- cepted.

A hundred men, the flower of the Iroquois youth. went forth, unarmed, to meet their antagonists. The two parties met near the site of Buffalo. A large amount of wampum-belts, buffalo robes, beaded moc- casins, ete., was deposited on each side as a wager, and then the game was played. The Iroquois were sie- cessful. The Eries then challenged the victors to a foot-race between ten of the fastest runners. The

GENERAL HISTORY OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.

challenge was accepted. and the Iroquois were again victorious. By this time the Eries were extremely angry, and their chief proposed a wrestling match between ten of the best men on each side; it being understood that the victor in each case should toma- hawk his adversary and tear off his scalp as a trophy. The Iroquois accepted the proposition, determined, however, as they say, not to enforce the bloody penalty provided they were the conquerors. In the first match a Senere threw his antagonist, but declined to slay him. The infuriated chief of the Eries immedi- ately drove his own tomahawk into the brains of his prostrate champion. A second and a third Erie met the same fate. The chief of the Iroquois, seeing the terrible excitement which prevailed among the Eries, put a stop to this remarkable " sport," and quickly led his men back to their own homes.

This inglorious contest increased the jealousy of the Eries. They determined to attack the Seneras, who resided on Seneca lake, in the present State of New York, hoping to destroy them ere the other confed- erates could interfere. A Seneca woman, married among the Eries, tled and informed her countrymen of the intended assault. All the warriors of the Five Nations rallied to meet it. The two armies met on the east side of the Genesee river. After a long and bloody combat, elaborately described by Blacksnake and his friends, after the Eries had seven times heen driven across a small stream which ran across the bat- tle field, and had every time regained their ground, they were forced back for the eighth time, and a corps of a thousand young Iroquois warriors, which had been held in reserve, was let loose upon the rear of their exhausted foes. This decided the day, and the Eries were almost entirely anmhilated by the vigorous young warriors. The Iroquois army fol- lowed their defeated enemies to their homes, destroyed their villages, and slew all but a few wretched men and women, who tled in terror to the tribes farther west.

Such is the substance of the story as preserved by Iroquois tradition, but it is altogether too good a story for the Fire Nations. It shows them meek under provocation, successful in every athletic contest, and acting entirely on the defensive in the war which re- sulted in the destruction of their foes. The state- ment in the beginning that the movements of the Eries were caused by their hearing of the formation of the Iroquois league, shows the dubious character

of the whole story, for that league had been in exist- ence at least half a century when the Eries were destroyed, and probably much longer. The confed- eracy had again and again demonstrated its power, and it would be absurd to suppose that their near neighbors and bitter enemies, the Eries, did not know all about it. Some portions of the tradition may be true, but it is so partial to the Iroquois that no dependence ean be placed upon it. Almost the only certain thing in the whole story is that there was a war between the Iroquois and the Eries, and that the latter were defeated and destroyed.

The most reliable account of the last great contest between the Iroquois and the Eries is that given by Parkman in his "Jesuits of North America." This is also derived principally from Indian tradition, but the statements of the red men have been carefully sifted by that experienced historian, and have been compared with contemporary accounts of French missionaries. Moreover, it is quite in consonance with the nature of the Iroquois and the known results of the case. It appears from this account that in 1653 a treaty of peace was made between the Eries and the Senecas, the nearest and most powerful of the Iroquois tribes, and the former nation sent thirty ambassadors to the Seneca country to confirm it. While they were there a quarrel arose in which a Sen- eca warrior was killed by one of the Eries. The countrymen of the deceased, regardless of the sacred office of the ambassadors (according to civilized ideas), immediately fell upon them and slew the whole thirty.

When the Eries heard of this butchery, of course the war was at once renewed. One of the parties sent to harass the Iroquois captured an Onondaga chief, and returned with him in trinmph to their own country. Indian custom required that he should be burned at the stake to appease the shades of their slaughtered brethren. Some of the older and wiser sachems objected. Such an act would make the whole confederacy perfectly implacable, although pre- vions to that time the quarrel had been principally with the Senecas. The Five Nations, partly armed with European weapons, had shown their immense power by scattering the great Huron nation to the four winds and by utterly destroying the Kahquahs, and it would be madness to invoke the unappeasable wrath of the terrible confederacy. On the other hand the young warriors were furious for revenge, and besides it was almost a positive law among them that the blood shed by their foes should be repaid with torture whenever an opportunity offered.

There was, however, one way of escape. It was an immemorial custom that a prisoner's life might be saved at the request of a near relative of a slain war- rior, who adopted him in place of the deceased. It was determined to give the Onondaga to the sister of one of the slaughtered ambassadorz. She was then absent, but it was not doubted that she would accept the prisoner in place of her brother, since by that means alone could the stern requirements of Indian law be reconciled with the safety of her people. She soon returned, and was earnestly solicited to acquiesce in the arrangement. But no; she would have no such brother as that.

"Let him be burned," she said; and the party of vengeance was thus reinforced by all who held in es- pecial reverence the ancient customs of the tribe. The unfortunate Onondaga was doomed to the stake, and submitted to his terrible fate with the usual sto- icism of an Indian warrior. But, as they were about to light the funeral pile, he declared that they were burning the whole Erie nation, and many a prudent

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History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Part 2

Author: Johnson, Crisfield Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Johnson, Crisfield
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Number of Pages: 716