History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 31

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Ohio > Delaware County > History of Delaware County and Ohio > Part 31

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).

Another mound, on the Olentangy River, about three miles north of Delaware, was opened in Sep- tember, 1877. This was located on a farm at that time leased by A. H. Jones, and known as " the broom-corn farm." It had been so often plowed over and so nearly leveled that its existence would not have been noticed if Mr. Jones had not plowed into a large collection of flint implements, which directed his attention to the fact that he was then ou a mound. It measured about forty feet in diameter, and was three and a half or four feet high. Investigation was made by dig- ging a narrow trench into what was supposed to be the center of the mound, but no discovery of importance was made. Only two skeletons were found, and they were, probably, a comparatively recent interment, as they were only about thirteen

inches below the surface. They had been there so long, however, that the bones mostly crumbled at the touch. They had probably been buried in a sitting posture, for the bones of the head and trunk were badly mixed, while the legs occupied a horizontal position. The mound was located on the second terrace, in a bend of the stream, at a distance of three hundred and fifty or four hundred feet from its old bed.

A mound near Galena was recently opened by Prof. John T. Short, of the Ohio University, under the direction, and for the benefit of. the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology ; and we are under obligations to Prof. F. W. Put- nam, Curator of the Museum, for the privilege of using Prof. Short's report in this connection, and to Prof. Short himself for kindly furnishing a copy of his report for this purpose.

He says : "In the month of August, 1879, the writer, in company with Mr. Eugene Lane and Mr. David Dyer, opened three mounds in Dela- ware County, Ohio. Two of these formed part of a system of mound-works situated on the estate of Jacob Rhodes, Esq., in Genoa Township. * The peninsula or tongue of land situated between Big Walnut Creek and Spruce Run is an elevated area having nearly perpendicular sides, washed by the streams, over a hundred feet below. The cen- tral figure, the mound A [referring to a plate] stands within a perfectly circular inclosure (B) measuring 570 feet around. Now it is but about three feet higher than the natural level, but form- erly was ten feet higher. Its present owner re- duced it by plowing it down. The trench is in- side of the inclosure, and no doubt furnished the earth for both the embankment and the mound. Its present width is twenty-seven feet, and it was formerly about seven feet deep. The circle has an opening about twenty feet in width on the east, from which a graded way of about the same width and probably 400 feet in length, no doubt of arti- ficial construction, affords a descent at an angle of about 30° to the stream below. On the north side of the entrance and continuous with the em- bankment, is a small mound measuring ten feet in diameter and four feet in height. It may have served as a point of outlook into the deep ravine below, as from it alone the entire length of the graded way is at once visible. A shaft six feet in diameter was sunk in this mound to a depth of four and a half feet, but we discovered nothing that could be removed. Charcoal, a few calcined animal bones, and burnt clay were all that was

183

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

found. The large mound situated in the center of impossible to recover any fragments larger than the size of the hand, though a couple of pieces were taken out which indicated that the vessel to which they belonged was much larger than any which to my knowledge has been taken from Ohio mounds ; it was probably twelve or fourteen inches in height. This vessel was ornamented with a double row or border of lozenge or diamond shaped figures, and when intact probably resembled figure 3, PI. II. both in form and decoration. * * * Although the decoration on these vessels (produced by a pointed tool before the clay was baked) indicated an attempt at art of a respectable order, the material employed was nothing more than coarse elay and pounded sandstone-instead of pounded shells, as is more frequently the case. However, numerous fragments of finer workman- ship the inclosure measures seventy-five feet through its major axis, and sixty-eight feet through its minor axis. Its present height is about twelve feet above the natural level, though the distance to the bottom of the trench is three or four feet or more. It is probable that the mound was perfectly round, as its symmetry has no doubt been de- stroyed in part by the removal from its surface of about twenty-five wagon loads of flat sandstones (each a foot square, more or less, and about three inches thick ) for the purpose of walling neighbor- ing cellars. These stones were brought from the ravine below and made a complete covering for the mound. Extending out from the mound on the west, the remains of a low crescent-shaped platform, twenty-five feet across at its greatest width, are still visible. A small excavation was made four years * * were taken out. Evidently an attempt had been made to glaze the vessel. * * * I could not help being impressed with the thought that the mound marked the site where cremation or possibly sacrifice had been performed. * * About 300 yards southwest of * ago in the top of the mound, by the son of the present owner, but the digging was abandoned be- fore any depth was reached, or anything was dis- covered. I excavated the mound by causing a trench four feet wide to be dug from the northern side of the mound to its center. A * * * the mound just described are the remains of a cir- cular inclosure 300 feet in diameter. The em- bankment has been reduced by plowing until it is now scarcely two feet in height. The precipitous sides of both the Big Walnut and Spruce Run render an ascent at this point impossible. The circle is visible from the mound and is possibly an intermediate link between the mound and another system lying west at a point two miles distant.

single layer of flat stones like those on the outside of the mound was found to start at the base and to cover what at one time must have been regarded as its finished surface. At the center this inner layer of stones was situated about three feet below the present surface of the mound. This was the only trace of stratification observable in the struct- ure, and is suggestive of the section given by Squier and Davis to illustrate stratification in altar mounds. Aside from this, the indications were distinct that the earth had been dumped down in small basket or bag fulls. This is confirmatory of the observations of Prof. E. B. Andrews in the mounds of Southern Ohio. * On the * undisturbed surface of the ground at the center of the mound I uncovered a circular bed of ashes eight feet in diameter and about six inches in thickness. These ashes were of a reddish clay color except that through the center of the bed ran a seam or layer of white ashes-no doubt calcined . bones, as at the outer margin of the bed in one or two instances the form of bones was traceable, but so calcined that they possessed no consistency when touched or uncovered. Ranged in a semicircle around the eastern margin of the ash-heap were several pieces of pottery, all broken, probably in the construction of the mound or by its subsequent settling. The pottery was exceedingly brittle and crumbled rapidly after exposure. It was almost

"On the estate of E. Phillips, Esq., one mile south of Galena, in the same county, I opened a mound of 165 feet in circumference, and about four feet in height. No bones nor pot- tery were found. Mr. Dyer is an old resident, a graduate of West Point, and a gentle- man whose statement concerning the history of the relies is perfectly reliable. Mr. Dyer states that a couple of years ago, a large mound, measuring seventy-five feet in diameter and fifteen feet in height, constructed entirely of stone, and situated on the farm of Isaac Brimberger, Esq., three miles south of Galena, was partly removed by its owner for the purpose of selling the stone. Imme- diately under the center of the mound, and below the natural level, a vault was discovered. The sides and roof of the vault consisted of oak and walnut timbers, averaging six inches in diameter, and still covered with bark. *

* * The tim- bers were driven perpendicularly into the ground around the quadrangular vault, while others were

184

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

laid across the top for a roof. Over all, the skin of some animal had been stretched. Inside of the vault were the remains, apparently, of three per- sons, one a child, and fragments of a coarse cloth made of vegetable fiber and animal bair. * * The preservation of the wood is due, probably, to the presence of water, with which the vault seems to have been filled."

On the east side of the Olentangy, about four miles south of Delaware, may be seen the remains of a fortification. This is one of a series of works extending along the course of this stream into Franklin County, and, probably, down the Scioto to the Ohio itself. This work is located about a quarter of a mile from the river on a high point of land where two ravines unite. The fortification consists of an embankment, with a ditch outside of it, which, in a slightly curved line, cuts off about twenty acres of the point. The height of the embankment is now only about five feet from the bottom of the ditch. It is about five hundred feet long, with an opening or gateway near the south- ern extremity. Near the north end of the work is a spring of clear water. These artificial works, in connection with the deep ravines on either side, formed a place of defense which must have been very secure from such attacks as were made pos- sible by the methods of warfare in those days. This work is different from most of the other for- tifications of the Mound-Builders in this State, but is very similar to the one described by Prof. E. B. Andrews, in the tenth annual report of the Peabody Museum, as existing about two miles east of Lancaster, though this one is much larger in the inclosure.

There is said to be in Porter Township a cir- cular fortification, inclosing about half an acre of ground, but the wall is fast disappearing under the action of the plow. Our knowledge of the other remains in this county is meager, but enough is known to enable us to classify it with the other counties bordering the Scioto River to the Ohio. It appears to have been near the northeast corner of the territory of the race which occupied Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, as the most of the permanent works discovered have been south and west of here, although many fine specimens of implements have been found in Marion County, north of Delaware.

The writer does not know of the discovery in this county of any copper implements, or any re- mains similar to the garden beds of Michigan figured in Vol. I, No. 1, of the " American Anti- quarian." And there are 'only two localities in

the State where anything is found like the emblem- atic or animal mounds of Wisconsin. Yet the evidences derived from the number of mounds, their size and contents, and from the other works connected with them, seem clearly to indicate that this region was thickly settled by the Mound- Builders ; although a recent writer has held the theory that this was a place of temporary residence only, and was rather a highway from the settle- ments further south to the copper mines of Lake Superior.

With the foregoing highly interesting sketch of the relics of the Mound-Builders in this county, we will leave the study of this strange and un- known race of people to those whose time and inclination afford them opportunities of investiga- tion. Definite information of their existence will probably never be obtained, until the seventh seal of that Great Book shall be opened. If they were not the ancestors of the Indians, who were they ? The oblivion which has closed over them is so complete, that only conjectures can be given in answer to the question. Thousands of interesting queries arise respecting. these nations which now repose under the ground, but the most searching investigation can only give us vague speculations for answers. No historian has preserved the names of their mighty chieftains, and even tradition is silent respecting them. If we knock at the tombs, no spirit comes back with a response, and only a sepulchral echo of forgetfulness and death reminds us how vain is the attempt to unlock the myste- rious past upon which oblivion has fixed its seal.

The third distinct race which inhabited this country is the Indians. "When visited by the early European pioneers," says an able authority upon the subject, " they were without cultivation, refinement or literature, and far behind their pre- cursors, the Mound-Builders, in a knowledge of the arts. The question of their origin has long inter- ested archaeologists, and is one of the most difficult they have been called on to answer. One hypoth- esis is that they are an original race indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. Those who entertain this view think their peculiarities of physical structure preclude the possibility of a common par- entage with the rest of mankind. Prominent among these distinctive traits, is the hair, which in the red man is round, in the white man oval, and in the black man flat. In the pile of the European, the coloring matter is distributed by means of a central canal, but in that of the Indian, it is incorporated in the fibrous structure."

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

185

A more common supposition, however, is that they are a derivative race, and sprang from one or more of the ancient peoples of Asia. In the ab- sence of all authentic history, and when even tradi- tion is wanting, any attempt to point out the par- ticular theater of their origin must prove unsatis- factory. "They are, perhaps, an offshoot of Shem- itic parentage, and some imagine, from their tribal organization and some faint coincidences of language and religion, that they were the descendants of the ancient Hebrews."* Others, with as much pro- priety, contend that their " progenitors were the ancient Hindoos, and that the Brahmin idea which uses the sun to symbolize the Creator of the Uni- verse, has its counterpart in the sun-worship of the Indians." Though the exact place of origin may never be known, yet the striking coincidences of physical organization between the Oriental types of mankind and the Indians, point unmistakably to some part of Asia as the place whence they emi- grated. Instead of 1800 years, the time of their roving in the wilds of America, as determined by Spanish interpretation of their pictographic records, the interval perhaps has been thrice that period. Their religions, superstitions and ceremonies, if of foreign origin, evidently belong to the crude the- ologies prevalent in the last centuries before the in- troduction of Mohammedanism or Christianity. Scarcely 3,000 years would suffice to blot out perhaps almost every trace of the language they brought with them from the Asiatic cradle of the race, and in- troduce the present diversity of aboriginal tongues. Like their Oriental progenitors, they have lived for centuries without progress, while the Caucasian variety of the race, under the transforming power of art, science and improved systems of civil polity, have made the most rapid advances.

The Indians inhabiting this section of the State when the whites first came to its territory, were the Delawares, Shawanees, Mingoes, and branches perhaps of other tribes. A brief sketch of the principal and more powerful of these tribes, the Delawares, is deemed appropriate in this work, and we therefore devote some space to the subject in this chapter.

The Delawares called themselves Lenno Lenape, which signifies "original " or "unmixed " men. They were divided into three clans : the Turtle, the Wolf, and the Turkey. " When first met with by Europeans, they occupied a district of country bounded easterly by the Hudson River and the

Atlantic ; on the west their territories extended to the ridge separating the flow of the Delaware from the other streams emptying into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay."* Taylor's " History of Ohio " says : " According to their own traditions, the Delawares, many hundred years ago, resided in the western part of the continent; thence, by slow emigration, they at length reached the Alleghany River, so called from a nation of giants, the Alle- gewi, against whom they (the Delawares) and the Iroquois (the latter also emigrants from the West) carried on successful war; and, still proceeding eastward, settled on the Delaware, Hudson, Sus- quehanna, and Potomac Rivers, making the Dela- ware the center of their possessions. By the other Algonquin tribes the Delawares were re- garded with the utmost respect and veneration. They were called ' fathers,' ' grandfathers,' etc."

From the same authority quoted above, viz .: Gallatin's "Synopsis of the Indian Tribes," we learn that " When William Penn landed in Pennsylvania the Delawares had been subjugated and made women by the Iroquois. They were prohibited from making war, placed under the sovereignty of the Iroquois, and even lost the right of dominion to the lands which they had occupied for so many generations. Gov. Penn, in his treaty with the Delawares, purchased from them the right of pos- session merely, and afterward obtained the relin- quishment of the sovereignty from the Iroquois." The Delawares accounted for their humiliating relations to the Iroquois by claiming that their assumption of the role of women, or mediators, was entirely voluntary on their part. They said they became " peacemakers," not through compul- sion, but in compliance with the intercession of different belligerent tribes, and that this position enabled their tribe to command the respect of all the Indians east of the Mississippi River. While it is true that the Delawares were very generally recognized as mediators, they never in any war or treaty exerted an influence through the possession of this title. It was an empty honor, and no additional power or benefit ever accrued from it. That the degrading position of the Delawares was not voluntary, is proven in a variety of ways. Gen. Harrison, in a discourse upon the subject, says : " We possess none of the details of the war waged against the Lenapes, but we know that it resulted in the entire submission of the latter, and that the Iroquois, to prevent any further interruption from

* Gallatin's Synopsis of the Indian Tribes.

* Davidson.

186

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

the Delawares, adopted a plan to humble and degrade them, as novel as it was effectual. Singu- lar as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that the Lenapes, upon the dictation of the Iroquois, agreed to lay aside the character of warriors and assume that of women." While they were not present at the treaty of Greenville, the Iroquois took care to let Gen. Wayne know that the Delawares were their subjects - "that they had conquered them and had put petticoats on them."

Colden's "History of the Five Nations" gives the proceedings of a conference held July 12, 1742, at the house of the Lieutenant Governor of Penn- sylvania, when the subject of the previous grants of land was under discussion. During the debate 'an Iroquois orator turned to the Delawares who were present at the council, and holding a belt of wampum, addressed them thus: "Cousins, let this belt of wampum serve to chastise you. You ought to be taken by the hair of your head and shaked severely, till you recover your senses and become sober. How came you to take upon your- self to sell land at all ? " [Referring to lands on the Delaware River, which the Delawares had sold some fifty years before.] "We conquered you ; we made women of you. You know you are women, and can no more sell land than women ; nor is it fit you should have the selling of lands, since you would abuse it." The Iroquois orator continued his chastisement of the Delawares, in- dulging in the most opprobrious language, and . closed his speech by telling the Delawares to remove immediately. "We don't give you the liberty," said he, " to think about it. You may return to the other side of the Delaware, where you came from; but we don't know, considering how you had demeaned yourselves, whether you will be permit- ted to live there."

The Quakers, who settled Pennsylvania, treated the Delawares in accordance with the rules of justice and equity. The result was, that during a period of sixty years, peace and the utmost har- mony prevailed. This is the only instance in the settling of America by the English, where unin- terrupted friendship and good will existed between the colonists and the aboriginal inhabitants. Grad- ually, and by peaceable means, the Quakers ob- tained possession of the greater part of their terri- tory, and the Delawares were in the same situation as other tribes-without lands, without means of subsistence, and were threatened with starvation. Induced by these motives, some of them, between the years 1740 and 1750, obtained from the Wy-

andots, and with the assent of the Iroquois, a grant of land on the Muskingum River, in Ohio, An old history of the American Indians has the following in reference to the Delawares : "The greater part of the tribe remained in Pennsylvania, and, becoming more and more dissatisfied with their lot, shook off the yoke of the Iroquois, joined the French, and ravaged the frontiers of Pennsyl- vania. Peace was concluded at Easton in 1758, and, ten years after, the last remaining bands of the Delawares crossed the Alleghanies. Here, being removed from the influence of their dreaded masters, the Iroquois, the Delawares now assumed their ancient independence. During the four or five succeeding decades, they were the most for- midable of the Western tribes. While the Revo- lutionary war was in progress, as allies of the British ; after its close, at the head of the North- western confederacy of Indians-they fully regained their lost reputation. By their geographical posi- tion placed in the front of the battle, they were, during those two wars, the most active and danger- ous enemies of America.

The territory claimed by the Delawares subse- quent to their being driven westward from their former possessions, is established in a paper ad- dressed to Congress, May 10, 1779, from delegates assembled at Princeton, N. J. The boundaries of their country, as declared in the address, is as fol- lows : "From the mouth of the Alleghany River, at Fort Pitt, to the Venango, and from thence up French Creek, and by Le Bœuf (the present site of Waterford, Penn.) along the old road to Presque Isle, on the east ; the Ohio River, including all the islands in it from Fort Pitt to the Ouabache, on the south ; thence up the River Ouabache to that branch, Ope-co-mee-cah (the Indian name of White River, Ind.), and up the same to the head thereof; from thence to the head-waters and springs of the Great Miami, or Rocky River; thence across to the head-waters of the most northeastern 'branches of the Scioto River ; thence to the west- ernmost springs of the Sandusky River ; thence down said river, including the islands in it and in the little lake (Sandusky Bay), to Lake Erie, on the west and northwest, and Lake Erie on the north. These boundaries contain the cessions of lands made to the Delaware Nation by the Wyan- dots, the Hurons and Iroquois.

After Gen. Wayne's signal victory over the Indians, the Delawares came to realize that further contests with the American colonies would be worse than useless. They, therefore, submitted to

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

187

the inevitable, acknowledged the supremacy of the. whites, and desired to make peace with the victors. At the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, there were present three hundred and eighty-one Delawares --- a larger representation than that of any other tribe. By this treaty, they ceded to the United States Government the greater part of the lands allotted to them by the Wyandots and Iroquois. For this cession, they received an annuity of $1,000 .*

At the close of the treaty made with the Indi- ans by Gen. Wayne, Bu-kon-ge-he-las, a Delaware chief, spoke as follows: "Father, your children all well understand the sense of the treaty which is now concluded. We experience daily proofs of your increasing kindness. I hope we may all have sense enough to enjoy our dawning happiness. Many of your people are yet among us. I trust they will be immediately restored. Last winter, our king came forward to you with two ; and when he returned with your speech to us, we immedi- ately prepared to come forward with the remainder, which we delivered at Fort Defiance. All who know me, know me to be a man and a warrior and I now declare that I will, for the future, be as steady and true friend to the United States, as I have, heretofore, been an active enemy."

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 Delaware County and Ohio, Part 31

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818