USA > Ohio > Defiance County > History of Defiance County, Ohio. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, etc.; military record; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; farm views, personal reminiscences, etc > Part 7
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From the date of their contact with Europeans, the Shawnees were regarded as the most restless of all the Indian tribes. Like the Mohawks, they were cruel to their enemies, fierce in war, and rarely for- got or forgave an insult or injury.
The Algonquin family, at one time, appears to have possessed all the territory from Cape Canso and the Bay of Gaspe, to the branches of Mississippi, from the Cumberland River to Cape Fear, and prob- ably from the Savannah to the land of the Esqui- maux in the far North.
As early as 1682, the integrity of the Shawnees was so far admitted by the Iroquois and other tribes in attendance upon the treaty of William Penn that a copy, in parchment, of the treaty, was deposited with them for safe keeping, and more than forty years afterward was produced at another conference by the chiefs of the Shawnees.
After the conference of 1682, large bands of the Shawnees removed to Winchester, Va., and from thence to the Cumberland River, in Kentucky, and thence to the head-waters of the Congaree, in South Carolina, thence to the head-waters of the Mobile, ad- joining the Creeks, and thence to the Wabash River, in Indiana, where La Salle found them in 1684, and was joined by thirty of their warriors in his expedi- tion to discover the mouth of the Mississippi, after which we hear no more of these restless warriors.
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
As early as 1698, over seven hundred warriors or fighting men of the Shawnees had returned and lo- cated upon the head waters of the Susquehanna, by permission of the Five Nations, then occupying Northern New York and Pennsylvania.
For a period of nearly forty years, say from 1698 to 1745, we nearly lose sight of this wandering and restless people. Between that time and 1755, large bands of the Shawnees settled on the Allegheny River, near the present site of Pittsburgh, the former home of the fallen Andastes and afterward removed to Cape Girardeau, between the Whitewater and the Mississippi. In 1755, the Shawnees aided the French in repelling the expedition of Gen. Braddock.
In 1701, forty-four years before the English in- vasion of Fort Du Quesne, Wapatha, a great chief of the Shawnees, held a conference with William Penn at Philadelphia, in which it was agreed that a good understanding between the said Penn and the several Indian nations there assembled, should be forever maintained, and thenceforward they should be as one head and one heart, and live in peace, friendship and unity as one people.
In 1715, Opes-sah, a great chief of the Shawnees, attended another council, held at Philadelphia, at which the pipe of peace was smoked. We are not informed of the location of the Shawnees repre- sented by him, but are told he came a great distance, possibly from the Cumberland River, or the wilds of the Scioto or the Little Miami, in Ohio.
We are unable to fix the exact date of the arrival and settlement of the Shawnees in Southern Ohio; but from certain statements of the Wyandots, who gave them permission to occupy that territory, their settlement must have occurred abont 1750.
The first treaty between the United States and the Shawnees, as a separate people, was held at the mouth of the great Miami, January 31, 1786. In that treaty the limits of their lands and future hunting grounds are defined, while they relinquish all title or pre- tence of title in their lands, to the United States. The Wyandots protested against this treaty, contend- ing that the lands ceded by the Shawnees to the United States belonged to them, and that the restless disposition of the Shawnees caused so much trouble, both to them and the United States, that they felt it to be their duty to dispossess them entirely.
It will be remembered that, from 1755, the Shaw- nees were jealous of the encroachments of the colon. ists of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and met the pioneer settlements with gleaming tomahawks and scalping knives. This hatred of the English was im- bibed from the French, who had been expelled from the head-waters of the Ohio, and who, under the Eng
lish, kept traders and spies among the Ohio tribes as late as the close of the Revolutionary war.
The depredations of the Shawnees upon the settle- ments in Virginia caused Gov. Dunmore, in 1774, to send an army for the invasion of the Indian tribes on the Scioto and Little Miami, in Ohio. In Septem- ber, 1774, a great battle was fought at the junction of the Great Kanawha with the Ohio, in which the Shawnees and their allies were defeated, and com- pelled to beat a hasty retreat across the Ohio River. The Shawnees were led by Cornstalk, a great chief, assisted by the celebrated chief and warrior, Black- hoof, equally distinguished for his bravery, oratory, shrewdness and generosity.
In the fall of 1774, Gov. Dunmore held a treaty, being the last English Governor of Virginia, with the Shawnees and their allies, not far from the present site of Circleville, Ohio, in which Cornstalk, Black- hoof, Logan, the Grenadier Squaw and other noted Indians participated. Peace was proclaimed, but was of short duration.
The arrival of Boone, the McAffees, the Harrods, the Hendersons, the Bullets, Hancocks, Floyds and others in Kentucky, from 1773 to 1776, again inflamed the jealousy of the Shawnees, and repeated raids were made against the new settlers to exterminate them. British agents fomented the discontent of the Ohio Indians, and in some instances planned and headed their expeditions against the white settlements. In 1777, the Shawnees became somewhat divided on the policy of continuing the war against the revolted colonies, then seeking independence from the mother country. Cornstalk, celebrated as a chief and leader, headed the anti-war party, and visited an American block-house, at the mouth of the great Kanawha, to warn the Virginians of the approaching storm and, if possible, avert the calamity of border invasion. He was accompanied by another chief, called Red Hawk. These messengers of peace were immediately seized and confined in the block-house, as hostages, to prevent the expected depredations of the Shaw- nees.
While thus confined, his son, Ellimpsico, who had also fought in the great battle at Point Pleasant in 1774, came to the fort to learn the fate of Cornstalk, his father. He had become uneasy at his long ab- sence, and, prompted by filial affection, had come to seek him out in his exile. While in the fort, a few soldiers, who had crossed the Kanawha to hunt, were attacked by strange Indians, and a soldier by the name of Gilmore was killed. The result was, that a party of soldiers, in revenge for the death of Gil- more, proceeded to the block-house and shot Corn- stalk, Red Hawk and Ellimpsico! This act-barbar-
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
ous and unjustifiable- terminated all uncertainty, aud precipitated the Shawnees upon the borders of Virginia and Kentucky, and was the occasion of re- peated invasions from 1777 to the peace of 1795. under Gen. Wayne at Greenville.
The residence of the Shawnees extended along the Scioto at various points, from its junction to its head- waters. There was a large band at the present site of Chillicothe, Circleville and Columbus. The band had villages near what is now London, Madison County, in Logan County, along Darby and Mad River, the Miami and other points, and finally at the Mack- ichac towns. The assaults upon emigrant boats along the Ohio soon rendered it dangerous for emigrants to Kentucky and elsewhere. Frequent expeditions into the Kentucky settlements, to take prisoners and steal horses, became so annoying, that Kenton and Logan and Clark, in self-defense, were compelled to head large forces to invade the Indian country, and finally the Indian war became so well contested that the United States supported quite a little army at North Bend, the future residence of Gen. W. H. Harrison, under Gen. Harmar. The presence of these forces was soon discovered by the Shawnees. As soon as the news reached the Indians, they began to move toward the scene of action, which it was supposed would be somewhere on the Miami or Maumee. Another vil- lage was established where Cincinnati now is, named Losantiville, which became the residence of Gov. St. Clair and his executive council. A fort, named after the father of his country, Washington, was erected in the new village, and the soldiers transferred from North Bend to it. By this demonstration the Shaw- nees, the Miamis, the Wyandots, the Delawares and other tribes were the more incensed, being already very jealous at the encroachments upon their hunting- grounds upon the north side of the Ohio.
The conduct of Gov. St. Clair upon this occasion was rather anomalous. Under his construction of the treaty of Muskingum, he decided, if upon any occasion it became necessary for Virginia or Ken- tucky to repel the attack of an enemy within the limits of the territory of Ohio, it would be necessary to first obtain the consent of its Territorial authori- ties, who proposed to act under the treaty of amity (that of the Muskingum) with the United States. This was tantamount to surrendering the Western country to the Indians, for no effective expedition could be carried over the Ohio River. The result was, the people of Kentucky were greatly harassed by the Ohio Indians, who were constantly sending over bands to steal horses, capture negroes and take white scalps and prisoners, without the means of re- dress! The continuance of these aggressions at length aroused the people of Kentucky, and, relying
upon their own energies, they resolved to pursue their wily and fugitive enemy across the river into the river into their own forests and towns.
In April, 1790, Gen. Scott, with 230 volunteers, crossed the Ohio at Limestone, now Maysville, and was joined by Gen. Josiah Harmar and 100 regulars of the United States. They invaded the Scioto vil- lages, but found them deserted. In the fall of 1790, Gov. St. Clair became convinced that more energetic measures were necessary. An attempt had been made to treat with the Indians, but had failed. The Gov. ernment then took more effective measures to make the Indians feel the force of arms. Gen. Harmar had been appointed, under the old Congress, as Brigadier, and was now placed at the head of the United States troops, who amounted to 320 men. These were joined by abont 1,200 Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Virginia militia, and in September rendezvoused at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati; with a view of attacking the Miami towns, often called Omee by the French.
After about seventeen days' march, the army reached the great Miami village, which they found set on fire by the Indians. The enemy, Parthian- like, kept out of the way of the unwieldy movements of the main army, until an opportunity for effective fighting presented, when they made a stand. The Indians were concealed in thickets on each side of a large plain near the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph Rivers, and ambushed their pursuers. About 700 Indians were engaged, which put the militia to a disgraceful flight without firing a single shot! The noted Miami leader and chief, Little Tur- tle, commanded the Indians. The regulars made a stand, but were mercilessly shot down until nearly all the officers and men were killed. After a few ineffec- tive attempts to rally and renew the fight, we are in- formed that, after a few attempted surprises by the officers who accompanied Harmar, he returned, by easy marches, with all his artillery and baggage to Fort Washington by the 4th of December, 1790.
Thus the Miamis and Shawnees, with their allies, were successful in repelling the invasion of Harmar. The soldiers left on the field wounded or dead, were scalped and barbarously mangled by the Indians. This triumph increased their courage and audacity. They boasted of their ability to repel the whites, and became more relentless in their cruelties to prisoners captured on the Ohio River. They were much affected by the destruction of their villages, and the loss of a large number of their braves in skirmishes with Harmar's troops, all of which increased their ferocity toward the whites. The retreat of Harmar was construed into a victory on the part of the In- dians, and did not in the least humble their leading
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
chiefs. The Shawnees were commanded by Blue Jacket and Blackhoof, noted for their courage and cunning. The Delawares were led by Bockongahelas and Captain Pipe, relentless in their hate toward the pale faces, the latter of whom had caused the execu- tion, by burning, of Col. William Crawford, on the Tymochtee, eight years prior to this battle.
The fierceness of the Shawnees remained unsub- dued, but, if anything, more revengeful. The result was, that Gen. Harmar had to submit to a court mar- tial, which gave him an honorable acquittal, when he resigned. Gov. St. Clair was appointed to succeed Gen. Harmar in command of the army. He had been a General in the Revolutionary army, and had a good deal of experience in the field. Large expectations were entertained concerning his ability to outwit and over-reach the furious red men of the forests of West- ern Ohio. Gens. Scott, Wilkinson, Innis, Shelby, Hardin and Logan crossed the Ohio River and in vaded the Indian country. Gov. St. Clair at once began to organize a new expedition, which rendez- voused at Fort Washington. Many Revolutionary officers of distinction accepted a command in the new army. The soldiers, however, were mostly raw mili- tia, and not noted for courage and discipline.
During the summer of 1791, the forces were col- lecting at the fort, to march early in the fall. The preparations to meet the wily savages of the North - west were inadequate, and the troops were not reli- able, many being from the haunts of towns, corrupt and lazy, and unwilling to submit to the hard disci- pline of regulars. No general officer from Kentucky would accept command, and the General Government drafted 1,000 men, and [Col. Oldham was given the command. By September, St. Clair's army amounted to about two thousand regulars, a corps of artillery and several squadrons of cavalry. The militia, in the aggregate, amounted to 3,000 men.
The expedition left Fort Washington about the first of October, by the way of Fort Hamilton, now in Butler County, Ohio. The objective point was the Indian villages upon the Miami or Maumee of the lake. While these preparations for invasion were being made by Gen. St. Clair, the Indian chiefs were equally active. The Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket aud Blackhoof of the Shawnees, Bockong-a- helas and Pipe of the Delawares, and Crane of the Wyandots were actively engaged in an effort to or- ganize a confederacy of tribes sufficiently powerful to drive the white settlers from the territory lying on the northwestern side of the Ohio River, receiving aid from Simon Girty, Alexander McGee and Matthew Elliott (the latter two sub-agents in the British In- dian departments), and from a number of British, French and American traders, who generally resided
among the Indians, and supplied them with arms, ammunition and clothing in exchange for furs and pel- tries. Under these influences, a confederation of Mi- amis, Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, Pottawatomies, Kickapoos and Ottawas was formed, and all the proper steps taken to confront the invaders of their territory. The British agents were particularly active in foment- ing hate and rovenge. The British Government had failed to evacuate the ports of Niagara, Detroit and Michilimackinac, according to the definitive treaty of 1783, under the pretence that a part of that treaty, relat- ing to the collection and payment of debts contracted by Americans and due to the King's subjects, had not been faithfully complied with by the Americans, to the detriment of the former, and, therefore, British agents justified themselves in stimulating Indian hos- tilities! These agents, also, enlisted the Mohawks of Northern New York, under their great chief, Joseph Brandt, who passed over British territory to aid the Little Turtle and Blue Jacket in repelling the forces of Gen. St. Clair.
The main body of St. Clair's army, under Gen. Butler, took up its line of march from Fort Washing- ton, and, moving northward some twenty-five miles, on the eastern bank of the Great Miami, erected a post, which was called Fort Hamilton. On the 4th of October, the fort being completed, the army began its further advance for the Miami village, having marched forty-two miles, and the work was erected within six miles of the present site of Greenville, Ohio, which was named Fort Jefferson. Here the army remained until the 24th of October. It again set forward, and, after marching nine days, many of the militia deserted, and their provisions became short. Gen. St. Clair was a gouty old officer, and sick much of the way. On the 3d of November, the army reached the present site of the town of Re- covery, Ohio, and encamped on the head-waters of the Wabash. The weather was quite cold, and the snow covered the earth. The Indians, by spies, kept watch of the advance of St. Clair, and the confeder- ated tribes, inspired with great courage and determi- nation, were already resorting to their usual strategy, to draw the white army into an ambuscade. They sometimes advanced, under their great leaders, the Little Turtle, Back-oug-a-he-las, Blue Jacket, Black- hoof, Pipe and Simon Girty, to within a short dis- tance of St. Clair's advance, and then fell back. They had, under the Little Turtle, about 1,200 war- riors.
Gen. St. Clair was now within fifteen miles of the Miami town. As a means of safety for the knapsacks of the soldiers, he ordered that a light work should be thrown up, and then intended to move on and at- tack the enemy in the morning. A short time before
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
day, the Indian whoop and wild yell startled the army of St. Clair, already under arms, and at once the Indians began a furious attack upon the militia, which soon gave way, and, pell-mell, rushed into the midst of the camp, through Maj. Butler's battalion, creating the wildest disorder on every side, closely pursued by the Indians. The front ranks of St. Clair's army, by a well-directed fire, checked the In- dian advance. The artillery was brought to bear on the Indians, but produced little effect. A bayonet charge was ordered, led on by Col. Darke, which drove the Indians back some distance, but they soon returned, and compelled Darke to give way. In the meantime, St. Clair's camp was attacked in flank and the troops began to huddle in the center. Butler and Darke's battalions renewed the charge, but with great loss; many officers fell, Maj. Butler himself being dangerously wounded, and afterward killed in his tent. The artillery was now silenced by the In- dian sharpshooters, and the army commenced a stam- pede to regain the trail, and everything became pre- cipitate. The panic assumed a terrible flight! The camp and artillery were abandoned-not a horse was left to remove the cannon-the soldiers threw away their arms as they ran, strewing the road for miles with them. The retreat began about 9.30 o'clock, and continued a distance of twenty-nine miles, to Fort Jefferson, where they arrived about sunset, having lost 39 officers and 593 men, 22 officers and 242 men wounded, and a loss of public stores amounting to $32,810. After the flight of the army, the Indians began to avenge their wrongs by perpetrating the most horrible acts of cruelty and brutality upon the bodies of the living and the dead who fell into their hands. Many of the Delawares, from the villages of Mohican, Johnstown and Greentown, in what is now Ashland County, were in the fight, and it is stated that the chief Armstrong, Captain Pipe, and the noted Tom Lyon, often related their exploits on that bloody field. Pipe claimed to have tomahawked men until his arms were weary with the bloody work! Believing that the whites desired all the lands, the Indians crammed clay and sand into the eyes and down the throats of the dying and the dead!
The remnant of St. Clair's army returned, as rapidly as possible, to Fort Washington, the Indians failing to give pursuit. They were, doubtless, too busily employed in plundering St. Clair's camp, and in avenging their imaginary wrongs on the poor, un- fortunate soldiers left on the field of battle. All efforts against the Miami village were, for the time, brought to a close. The news of the defeat fell heavil upon the country, especially Kentucky. Many of her bravest sons were left dead upon the battle-field, and her borders would be again open to
the ravages of the red man. The Miami village, now Fort Wayne, was looked upon as the gate of the West, just as Fort Du Quesne, in 1755, was to the English, in their contest with the French and In- dians. The defeat of St. Clair greatly depressed Gen. Washington, then President. He had hoped for speedy relief to the sparse and greatly exposed settlements of the West, and relied largely upon Gen. St. Clair to carry out his designs and those of the Government to a successful termination. He seems to have had considerable confidence in St. Clair's capacity to carry out his wishes, though in his com- mands during the Revolution he was not a successful officer. In his great depression, Washington said to his private secretary, " It's all over; St. Clair's de-
feated-routed! " And then those present were " awed into breathless silence by the appalling tones in which the torrent of invective was poured forth by Washington." But this depression and invective were of short duration. The President resolved to send an army and a leader into the field to chastise, more effectually, the redman of Ohio. The whole range of the frontier settlements on the Ohio was ex- posed to the fury of the Indians, and the settlers were in danger of annihilation or expulsion, and im- mediate action was necessary.
In the selection of a suitable commander, Gen. Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary officer of distinc- tion, and a great favorite with the people, was pro posed as a proper man to take command of the West- ern troops. He received the appointment, and at once commenced to organize an army to penetrate the Indian country. A factious Congress delayed the equipment of the army nearly two years. He did not advance until 1794, and, during the intermediate period, between the defeat of St. Clair and the ad- vance of Wayne, the Indians, apprehensive of a renewed effort for their conquest, to some extent refrained from incursions on the border setttements, devoting all their energies in the formation of a confederation of Indian tribes, to drive the whites over the Ohio River.
In the meantime the Government was making strenuous efforts to establishi peace and good will among the hostile tribes, by sending messengers with speeches and propositions to treat. The British were constantly inciting the Indians to acts of resentment. and most of the messengers were captured as spies and murdered near the rapids of the Maumee; and propositions of peace were spurned by the Indians. In these delays, Gen. Wayne tarried one winter at Legionville, on the eastern border of Ohio. All hope of concilliation being abandoned, he descended the Ohio, with his army, to " Hobson's Choice," near Fort Washington, and on the 6th of October, 1793,
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
commenced to advance in the direction of Fort Jeffer- son, leaving a garrison at Fort Hamilton, now Butler County, Ohio, under Maj. Jonathan Cass, father of the late Gen. Lewis Cass, of Michigan, and, in about a month subsequently, established his headquarters at Fort Greenville, which he built after his arrival. He ordered the erection of a fort on the site of St. Clair's defeat of 1791, which was called "Fort Re- covery." He then made an ineffectual attempt to treat with the Indians. The British interfered, and proposed to render the Indians sufficient aid to enable them to expel and destroy the Amercian settlers situated on the territory northwest of the Ohio.
The expedition of Gen. Wayne remained in com- parative quiet, at the different posts-Jefferson, Greenville and Recovery-until the morning of the 30th of June, 1794, when Maj. McMahon, command- ing an escort of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, was fiercely assailed by a body of some 1,500 Indians, under the walls of Fort Recovery, assisted, as was believed, by a number of British agents and a few French Canadian volunteers. The Indians, for a period of about twenty-four hours, continued the as- sault, and then retired. The garrison lost twenty-two in killed, and thirty wounded and three missing. Two hundred and twenty-one horses were killed, wounded or missing. The Indians carried away their dead and wounded.
Jonathan Alder, who was then adopted and living with the Shawnees, participated in a part of these engagements, and gives a very full history of the movements of the red men. He says: "I gathered up all my effects that I had not sold, and started for the Mack a-chack towns. I soon found that there would be a conflict between the whites and Indians. The Indians had been so successful against St. Clair, that they were very sanguine of success. They talked as though it would be an easy victory, but it turned out very different. Gen. Wayne was not to be caught in any of the traps set for him. Little Turtle and one other chief were for making a treaty of peace, but they were a long way in the minority, and conse- quently they were over-ruled. Preparations now began in earnest for the conflict. The Indians never insisted on my taking up arms against the whites, but left it for me to decide, and consequently I was never in a battle, except a short time in the first con- flict of the great campaign. They had flattered me that it was going to be a very easy victory, and that Wayne was rich in everything that an Indian desired -horses, blankets and clothing of all kinds, together with guns and ammunition in abundance. They told me that if I did not wish to fight I need not do so. I studied it over some time, and thought I might as well have some of the good things he had as any
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