USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 5
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From the Old Northwest were formed the States of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, In- diana, Ohio, and part of Minnesota, and it forms one of the richest and most enterpris- ing regions of America.
Long before the English appeared upon this scene, the French had explored and threaded the great wilderness. They pushed their way into the great regions beyond the source of the Mississippi to the "Land of the Dakotas," and in the opposite direction to the mouth of the Mississippi and to the foot of the Alleghenies. They spread themselves out over half a continent, visiting lakes, forests and rivers, bent on discovery, trade or the re- claiming of souls. The tale of the heroic ex- peditions of the French voyageurs, priests and
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soldiers amid the sublimity and grandeur of the virgin scenes which unfolded to their vision, forms a brilliant and enchanting chap- ter in American history.
Of the galaxy of States formed from this western region, the territory occupied by Ohio was the last to be discovered and claimed by the French. It lay in the path of the near- est route from Canada to the Mississippi Val- ley, but the explorers were long barred out by the hostile Iroquois, and not until the year 1680 do we find any important settlements. In that year one of the parties sent out by Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, built a small stockade just below the site of Maumee City, which was an important trading post for many years. In 1694 it was abandoned for a more favorable location at the head of the Maumee, where Fort Wayne now stands. The next year witnessed the establishment of a trading post at the western end of Lake Erie, which was destroyed by the Miamis two years later. The Wabash Valley was occupied about the year 1700, the first settlers entering it from the Kankakee. Later the Canadians found a nearer route to the Wabash Valley by way of the Maumee river and the short portage between the head waters of the two rivers. About this time, also, the English first established themselves in Ohio for per- manent operations. As early as 1686-87 at- tempts were made by the Dutch and English traders from New York to penetrate this western region. The country between Lake Erie and Upper Michigan was one of the great beaver trapping grounds and was therefore a temptation to the traders. "The Hurons, the Chippewas, the Ottawas and even the Iro- quois, from beyond Ontario, by turns sought this region in large parties for the capture of this game, from the earliest historic times. It' right to the West.
is a region peculiarly adapted to the wants of this animal. To a great extent level, it is in- tersected by numerous water courses, which have but moderate flow. At the headquarters and small inlets of these streams the beaver established his colonies. Here he dammed the streams, setting back the water over the flat lands, and creating ponds, in which were his habitations. Not one or two, but a series of such dams were constructed along each stream, so that very extensive surfaces be- came thus covered permanently with the flood. The trees were killed and the land was converted into a chain of ponds and marshes, with intervening dry ridges. In time, by Nature's recuperative process, the annual growth and decay of grasses and aquatic plants, these filled with muck or peat, with oc- casional deposits of bog lime, and the ponds and swales became dry again.
"Illustrations of this beaver-made country are numerous enough in our immediate vicin- ity. In a semi-circle of 12 miles around De- troit, having the river for base, and embracing about 100,000 acres, fully one-fifth consists of marshy tracts or prairies, which had their ori- gin in the work of the beaver. A little far- ther west nearly one whole township in Wayne county is of this country." (Hub- bard, "Memorials of a Half Century.")
Ohio was also invaded by settlers from Vir- ginia, but it is not known who the English- men were who first crossed the Alleghenies to the valleys beyond. We have no authentic records of explorations in the region until the year 1714, when Governor Alexander Spotts- wood of Virginia led an exploring party be- yond the Alleghenies. In 1744 the Indians deeded all this western region to Virginia, and this gave the English their first real treaty
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TIIE OILIO COMPANY
In 1784 the "Ohio Company," which was composed of thirteen prominent Virginians and Marylanders and a London merchant, was formed for the purpose of speculating in lands and trading with the Indians in Ohio. Christopher Gist was sent out by the company to explore southern Ohio, and from this time there is a growing interest in these western lands.
The "Ohio Company" was an incorporated body. They secured large tracts of land by purchase but more directly from Congress as a gift, under a patent from George Washing- ton. This estate included parts of Athens, Hocking and Vinton counties. Rufus Put- nam and Benjamin Tupper, organizers of this justly famous "Ohio Company," were the leaders in securing settlers to come to this new country, and thus they have the honor of founding the first permanent settlement within the present borders of Ohio, at Mari- etta, April 7, 1788.
The French, however, were not inactive. Marquis de la Gallisoniere, who was gover- nor of Canada, sent Celoron de Bienville, with 300 men into the Ohio valley with the purpose of taking possession of the country, of propitiating the Indians, and of warning the English traders out of the country. Bienville crossed the portage between Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua, which was the easternmost crossing from the Great Lakes to the southern rivers used by the French, and made his way down the Allegheny and Ohio
rivers to the Miami, returning to Montreal by way of the Maumee and Lake Erie. At im- portant points le buried leaden plates upon which were engraved the arms of France, and bearing the inscription that they had taken the land and buried the plates. Bienville found the valley swarming with English trad- ers and the Indians generally well disposed toward then.
The Marquis Duchesne, in 1853, with a strong force seized and held the northeastern branches of the Chio. This threw down the gauntlet to the English, and in 1756 war was formally declared between the two countries, which culminated on the Heights of Abraham in 1759. In the treaty of 1763 France sur- rendered her possessions to the English, and for several years Ohio was controlled by mil- itary commandants on the frontiers.
The great valley of the Hocking was, it is seen, a part of this ancient battle-ground be- tween the Indian tribes, the French and the English. It is now the home of thousands of people whose contest is for advancement. Schools, churches and factories take the place of the camp, the fort and the wigwam. Where once the beaver, unmolested, built his dam in marsh and swamp, the farmer grows his crops, and herds his flocks in peace and con- tentment. The same skies hang above and the same sun warms the land, but how differ- ent the product! Her great men and noble women have made history-have carried the burden and scattered the mists-and today no more fitting home for man can be found on old Earth than the valley of the Hocking.
CHAPTER III
INDIAN OCCUPATION
The Life Story of Simon Kenton-Simon Girty, the Renegade-Gen. Anthony Wayne, the "Chief Who Never Sleeps"-Celebrated Treaty of Greenville-General Arthur St. Clair- St. Clair's Defeat-Tecumseh, the Most Gifted American Indian-Tecumseh's Death- Tecumseh's High Ideals of Justice-Capt. Joseph Brant, Chief of the Mohawks and Head of the Iroquois Confederation-Cornstalk, Sachem of the Shawnees and King of the Northern Confederation-Geronimo, the Worst Indian that ever Lived, Apache Chief -Tarhe, Chief of the Wyandots-The Indian of Today-Haskell Institute-Carlisle In- dian School-Logan's Speech-Villainy of the Government's Indian Agents-Sprague's View of the Indian and His Destiny.
It is not a difficult task to imagine Fairfield county and all of Ohio, the home and happy hunting grounds of the red man of the forest. The time is not so far back on the page of history. This county abounded in game of all kinds and the means of easily acquired sub- sistence. Over what are now the clean farms, the villages and the city, "the Indian hunter pursued the panting deer" and "the council fire glared on the wise and the daring."
The men who fought their way to civiliza- tion in the wilderness of Ohio have a lasting place in our hearts. All honor to the scout, the Indian fighter and the pioneer! They blazed the way through the forest, brake and fen; they crossed the stream, and fixed the mountain path, and their sons and daughters live to bless the soil today.
The Indian is gone from our county, pushed aside by that relentless tide of ever-ad- vancing civilization. "It is an edict issued from the Court of Progress, that ferocious Titan who strides from East to West, that
the Indian shall disappear, shall be remanded to the Past, shall evanish."
But not so the names of those who stood the shock of battle.
SIMON KENTON
Among those who sacrificed a lifetime to the cause of civilization, none stands out so plainly upon the horizon of liberty and law as Simon Kenton, the intrepid scout and friend of the white man. In the early days of Indian occupation it was very necessary that some brave spirit protect and guide the lonely set- tler. Simon Kenton was born to this duty, and no man in any avenue of life ever per- formed his part with greater fidelity.
Leaving his early boyhood home in Vir- "ginia, April 6, 1771, after an unfortunate quarrel with a rival for the hand of a worthy young woman, Simon Kenton traveled to Kentucky. Here he became interested in all that aided the settlers in their struggles with wild nature and the still wilder red man of
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the forest. Through the long fight of the pioneers for possession of the soil, Kenton was ever the leader, and his services as scout and spy, at the head of every force sent against the cruel savages, were never fully recognized or rewarded. True, a tardy ac- knowledgment of his services to the country came in 1824, when the Government granted him a pension of $20 per month. He was then 69 years old and was living quietly on his lit- tle farm in Logan county, Ohio, near Zanes- field.
In his various expeditions against the In- dians, Kenton passed much time in Fairfield county, Ohio, then an unorganized part of the State. He was often sent on secret missions by officers of the army to learn the location and strength of Indian tribes and Indian vil- lages. On one occasion, being sent by Col. Bowman to learn the strength of a town on the Little Miami, he was captured, thrown prone upon the ground and made to stretch his arms to their full length. The Indians then placed a strong pole across his breast, extending to either hand, and another at right angles from head to foot. His wrists and ankles were fastened with thongs to these poles, and then he was fastened to a sapling near by. So tight were these fastenings made that he could not move hand or foot. The In- dian boys and women slapped, cuffed and kicked him all the while. After many hours of suffering he was tied to the back of a fine young colt, and, Mazeppa-like, turned loose in the forest. The colt ran through bushes and underbrush, then quieted down and trav- eled along with the other horses.
men, women and children, armed with knives, clubs and tomahawks, extended a quarter of a mile. But he reached the goal without a fatal blow.
A council of war was then held to decide whether they would burn him at the stake or carry him to the other villages. After the speeches were made the vote was taken. It was done by means of a war club, which was passed from one to the other in solemn coun- cil, and those who voted to burn him hit the ground a violent blow with the club, and those who voted to carry him to the next village simply passed the club to the next warrior. A teller was appointed to count the votes. He was no to be burned at the stake then, but carried on to another village on the Mad river.
On another occasion his life was saved by that renegade, Simon Girty, who in 1775, left the people of his own race and took up his abode with the Indians. That was the noblest act of Girty, whom all nations despised as a traitor and distrusted as a man. Girty and Kenton had been companion scouts in the Dunmore expedition, and thus they had be- come warm friends. (See "Dunmore's War," Chap. II.)
On leaving Virginia after the unfortunate event referred to, Kenton had changed his name to Butler. When Girty was told by his captive that his name was Simon Butler, at once recognized his old friend, and at great peril to himself, saved Kenton from a terrible death by fire.
Kenton was now allowed to go free, though not to leave the tribe. Subsequently he was again placed in thongs and by a vote of the war council he was, in spite of all Girty could do, condemned to die at the stake. He was at once seized and hurried off to the north- ward. On this march he was struck with an
After three days of this kind of travel, the band arrived at Chillicothe. now Old Town, on the Little Miami in Green county, where he was made to run the gauntlet. This was a most trying ordeal. as the line of warriors, ax by an Indian and his arm broken. At a
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village on the Scioto, where they halted, Ken- ton saw the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan, the murder of whose relatives had caused Dunmore's war. Logan was an eloquent speaker and his speech on the death of liis friends has become common property of all who love justice and liberty.
Logan treated Kenton kindly and told him that it was the plan to carry him to Sandusky and burn him there. But Logan really se- cured his safe conduct to Detroit where, it was argued, the British commander wanted to talk to him about Kentucky, information of which the latter greatly desired. After a short time he secured his release from De- troit, and in company with two other men, made his way back to Louisville in safety. This journey through the unbroken forest re- 'quired 30 days, and it was fraught with con- stant danger. Only the consummate skill of a backwoodsman like Kenton could have ac- complished it.
From this time on he took part in many campaigns and was a most valuable aid to Wayne's army, always leading the scouting party in front of the army. He was made a major by General Wayne and commanded a troop of 150 cavalrymen. He fought in all of Wayne's great battles, except in the battle of the Fallen Timber. In 1805 Kenton was made general of militia. He was in the thick- est of the fight of the Battle of the Thames, in Canada, where Proctor was overcome, and in which Tecumseh fell, shot by Johnson.
Kenton in 42 years, since he came to Ohio and Kentucky from Virginia, had run the gauntlet, according to the historian Marshall, 13 times, and three times had been tied to the stake to be burned.
Prof. R. W. McFarland, the distinguished mathematician and scholar, in his excellent
sketch of Kenton, closes thus: "And in these 42 years the battles, sieges, skirmishes, raids, marauding excursions, alone, or in company with others, are numbered by the score not to say by the hundred, and most probably his carcer has never had a parallel on this conti- nent or on any other. 'His like we ne'er shall see again.'"
The great scout died April 29, 1836, on his farm at Wapatomica, in Logan county, Ohio, and was there buried. After 50 years his re- mains were taken to Urbana, Ohio, and there he sleeps today, amid the scenes of his earlier and eventful life.
The following account of his personality and of his tomb is quoted from Professor McFarland's "Simon Kenton."
"Personal characteristics .- In Collin's 'History of Kentucky,' edition of 1847, p. 393, we find this: 'The following is a de- scription of the appearance and character of this remarkable man, by one (McDonald), who often shared with him in the dangers of the forest and the fight. General Kenton was of fair complexion, six feet, one inch in height. He stood and walked very erect; and in the prime of life weighed about 190 pounds. He never was inclined to be corpulent, al- thought of sufficient fullness to form a grace- ful person. He had a soft tremulous voice, very pleasing to the hearer. He had laughing gray eyes, which appeared to fascinate the beholder, and dark auburn hair. He was a pleasant, good humored and obliging compan- ion. When excited, or provoked to anger (which was seldom the case), the fiery glance of his eye would almost curdle the blood of those with whom he came in contact. His rage, when roused, was a tornado.
" 'In his dealing he was perfectly honest : his confidence in man, and his credulity were
From MeMaster's U. S. History
INDIAN ATTACKING A FRONTIERSMAN
SIMON KENTON
Courtesy of American Book Co.
A TYPICAL INDIAN
. O.w . 188
MONUMENT TO SIMON KENTON, AT URBANA, OHIO
CHIEF TARHE
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such that the same man might cheat him twenty times and, if he still professed friend- ship, might cheat him again.'
"The correctness of this description could be affirmed by all who knew the man; and in addition to this description, he had a sense of justice and fair play, which nothing could turn aside. In the course of the war of 1812 some friendly Indians came to the vicinity of Ur- bana on legitimate business, and some men, inexperienced in the matter of Indian war- fare, proposed to kill these men, considering all Indians bad. Kenton attempted to dis- suade the men from so high handed a meas- ure, but his words apparently not having the desired effect on them, he grasped his rifle and took his position in front of the Indians, and in his impressive and emphatic manner de- clared that whoever attacked the Indians would do it over his dead body. It is suffi- cient to say that the Indians were not further molested.
"As before stated, his long contest with the Indians had taught him the value of quick de- cision and instantaneous action; and these things he had so long practiced that they be- came a part of his nature. I will give one in- stance outside of the domain of war. In the spring of 1807 my father and eight or ten other men, with their families, left the coun- ties of Bourbon and Harrison, Kentucky, for homes in the Mad River Valley. Simon Ken- ton was employed by the company to pilot them to their destination and to procure them a supply of fresh meat daily from the for- est. He gave his instructions for the day each morning, before he started out for the hunt. One morning, with gun on shoulder, he started, and by some inadvertence stumbled over a wagon tongue and fell sprawling to the ground. One of the party broke into a hearty laugh. This enraged Kenton, and quick as
lightning he pointed his gun and pulled the trigger, but the fall had knocked the powder out of the pan and the gun was not discharged. Kenton immediately begged pardon for his hasty action, and asked the man never to do so again, lest in a moment of anger he might do what everybody would regret. My father was a witness to this incident and told mne of it years before Simon's death.
"Monument-This is a substantial struct- ure, seven or eight feet high and over four feet square at the base ; and in every way is a most befitting memorial of the dead. In the forests of Ohio Kenton had confronted Indians, bears, wolves and panthers. On the south face of the monument is carved, life-size, the head of an Indian chief, decked out in regular savage style; on the west face is the head of a bear, as life-like as stone can be, and appear- ing as if the head has just been thrust through the face of stone ; on the north side is the head of a wolf similarly carved; and on the east side is the head of a panther. The de- sign is by J. Q. A. Ward, the celebrated sculptor, now of New York, but a native of Urbana. His grandfather originally owned the land on which Urbana is built, and for many years the elder Ward and Kenton were intimate friends.
SIMON GIRTY
The world hates a renegade. It despises the man who turns against his own flesh and blood, and stands ready to slay the mother who gave him birth. Such a man, or friend, was Simon Girty, once the friend of the white man. From his own people he turned and took up his lot with the Indian. His bloody work was done in Ohio, and especially in southwestern Ohio. Doubtless in many parts of this county of Fairfield Girty tracked to death his white victims, or danced with his
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dusky companions around the helpless victim at the burning stake.
Simon Girty was born in 1741, in north- western Pennsylvania, of an intemperate father and an unworthy mother. He had three brothers, one older than himself. The three younger boys had been taken captive by the Indians and thus became possessed of the sav- agery of the Indian himself. Simon was the most wicked of the three thus reared in the midst of the wild life of the forest. He pre- ferred to live with the savages rather than with his own people. He took an active part in Dunmore's war in 1774, and here he met Si- mon Kenton and the two young men soon be- came fast friends. On February 22, 1775, at Fort Pitt ( Pittsburg) Girty was commissioned a captain in the militia. But his real sympa- thies were all the while with the Indians. Fi- nally in company with about 14 others, Girty deserted Fort Pitt, where the militia was sta- tioned, and started out for a reign of terror among the settlers of the wild frontier. They spread false news of the defeat of the Amer- icans and the death of Washington. After much injury and suffering which he inflicted upon the helpless pioneers, Girty started for Detroit. On the way he was captured by the Wyandottes. The Senecas demanded that he be given up to them because he was an adopted son of their race and had now taken up arms against them. But the Wyandottes held him and finally allowed him to go on to Detroit, where General Hamilton, the commandant, gave him a royal welcome. Girty was now given a kind of work which suited his nature exactly,-he was paid a regular salary to in- cite the Indians to bloody deeds among the un- protected settlers. His name became a house- hold word for terror all along the Ohio, from Pittsburg to Louisville. He often came up into Ohio and here, in Fairfield county, he did
his deeds of darkness. At the Indian village of Wapatonica, in Logan county, Girty found his old friend and companion scout in Dun- more's war, Simon Kenton, tied to the stake and condemned to death. Girty recognized Kenton, and, after much parley and a per- sonal appeal to his Indian friends, saved Ken- ton's life. This appears to be the one bright spot on Girty's dark career. Kenton after- ward bought a small farm near this scene of his deliverance, and lived here until his death. But Girty's numberless acts of torture and even of murder cling to his name and his one good act is almost forgotten. He persecuted the settlers of the valley and the missionaries, who had worked so zealously among the Chris- tian Indians of the Moravian settlements.
His conduct toward Col. Crawford could only have been inspired by a monstrosity in human form, and when the Indians of the great West combined in one last effort, 1790- 94, to repel the ever-increasing tide of immi- gration, Simon Girty was found among the Indians fighting against the whites. He as- sisted them at the battle of St. Clair's defeat, and having captured a white woman, refused to give her up to the Wyandotte squaw who de- manded her, according to the Indian custom. But the warriors gathered around, and actually forced the white savage to give her over to the more humane Indian squaw.
He was present at the famous battle of the Fallen Timber, 1794, and did bloody work against Wayne's heroes. After this he is found in a trading-house for a short time at St. Mary's, Mercer county, Ohio. He then removed to Malden, Canada. Here he lived until his death, which occurred February 18, 1818 (Butterfield). He was totally blind for many years before his death and a perfect sot. He had many defeats in his old age and suf- fered very greatly; in fact he was a complete
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human wreck, despised by everyone. "He died without a friend and without a hope."
In a general summing up of Girty's charac- ter, by the author of "Girty, the White In- dian," it is said that no estimate can be citiser correct or just which does not take into ac- count the influence which captivity and savage training had upon it. This is true, but it is cer- tain also that too much stress is here put on the effect of that influence. "How powerful it was," says that writer, "is shown by the sig- nificant facts that it not only effaced the nat- ural antipathy for the destroyers of his par- ents, but so perverted his normal instinct of race that he was never again in full sympathy with his own people, while, as far as known, he was always true to the Indians, and re- tained their confidence and friendship to the end of his days."
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