History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 6

Author: Miller, Charles Christian, 1856- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co
Number of Pages: 874

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"The early settlers," continues the same au- thor, "knowing that he was a white man by birth, but ignorant of his captivity and its ef- fects, very naturally hated and despised him as a renegade. 'The term, however, does not apply to him in its infamous sense as it applies to Elliott and McKee, who had nothing what- ever in common with the Indians, while Girty was one of them in almost everything but complexion. He was more of a savage than a renegade ; more of a Brandt than an Elliott : and took part in the forays and outrages against the whites. not with the cowardice and mean malice of an outcast, but as a leader of his adopted people, and with the bravery and open hatred of an Indian. He was substan- tially an Indian ; was neither better nor worse than an Indian and should in the main be judged as such."

GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE

This famous general was of good old Penn- sylvania stock, in which state he was born in

1745. Much of his history has already been narrated in other chapters. Like Washing- ton he early accepted work as a surveyor, then a public office. He was made a member of the State Legislature and of the Committee of Public Safety. He commanded a regiment in the Canadian invasion of 1775-76. At a most critical time he had full charge of the Ticon- deroga forts, and he manned them with great skill. For this and other meritorious work he was appointed brigadier general, and was in charge of a division of the army at Brandy- wine. Here it was that his skill and bravery saved the lives of so many by the successful retreat which he conducted. It is sometimes a mark of greater skill to handle men in a re- treat, when excited and repulsed, than to make a successful attack.

Because of his supreme caution and watch- fulness, the Indians called him "The Chief who Never Sleeps." But he was surprised at Paoli, and the lesson there learned he never forgot. It will be remembered that he com- manded the right wing at Germantown. where General Agnew fell. He was also a valiant fighter at the Battle of Monmouth Court House, noted as the only battle of the Revolu- tion in which every one of the thirteen colo- nies had representatives fighting on the Amer- ican side. The name of Mollie Pitcher will never be forgotten in connection with this bat- tle. But the most famous exploit of his ear- lier career was the consummate plan and its execution in the storming and capture of Stony Point, July 15, 1779. Only a general of high order could have accomplished such a hazardous task. But he planned and then exe- cuted. Wayne was ever a man of action; the doing was with him the highest essential. He further showed his remarkable ability in han- dling men in putting down the mutiny of troops at Morristown ; and he had a most hon-

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY

orable part in the war in Virginia in 1781, the same year in which he quieted the mutiny. He served with distinction in Georgia in 1782, and was made a member of the ratifying con- vention of Pennsylvania in 1787.

After the fearful slaughter of the troops at Fort Recovery, and the utter overthrow of St.

The Indians thus far had been keeping in hiding and had not risked a battle. But Wayne soon learned that they had selected a place lower down the Maumee, at the Fallen Tim- ber, and here it was that he inflicted upon them a most crushing blow, August 20, 1794. (See Chapter II.)

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Courtesy Macmillan Co.

FLAT BOAT ON THE OHIO [Coman's Industrial History of United States]

Clair, Washington at once selected General Wayne to lead the forces of the young repub- lic against the crafty fighters of the Western forests. He was made major general in 1792, and in the autumn of 1793 he entered the In- dian country with a strong force. He marched from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) to the present site of Greenville, where he built a strong stockade. The next summer he ad- vaneed to Defiance on the Maumee, where, as related in Chapter II, he built Fort Defiance. He built a second fort on the St. Mary's river.

General Wayne sent a message to the Brit- ish at the nearest station that their turn came next ; all he wanted was an opening. But the British declined the honor and kept quiet.

TREATY OF GREENVILLE

He then took up his winter quarters at Greenville and, in the following summer, 1795, the Indians, now subdued and humble, came to Greenville and entered into the celebrated treaty with General Wayne and commissioners of the United States. Twelve tribes with

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

1,200 warriors and sachems were present, and they ceded to the government 25,000 square mlies of territory in Michigan and Indiana, besides a large number of special tracts. For this land they received $20,000 in presents, and were promised an annual allowance of $10,000. This treaty ended the serious In- dian troubles until 1812. General Wayne's name has been given to the fort he erected at the head waters of the Maumee, and to the growing and prosperous city of Fort Wayne, and to numerous places in the country. He died in 1796.

GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR

This distinguished general was born in Scotland in 1734. His education was by no means neglected, and after a long course of instruction he graduated from the University of Edinburgh. After his graduation he joined the British army as an ensign and came to America in 1758 with Admiral Boscawen. His service in the United States was very marked, especially at Louisburg and at Que- bec. In 1762 he resigned his position, and two years later took up his residence in Penn- sylvania. He was prominent in the civil af- fairs of his home, and was greatly beloved by his neighbors.

When the Revolutionary War broke out his inclination toward the common people caused him to join the Colonial army and he was given the rank of colonel. The student of his- tory well remembers his gallant services at Three rivers, Trenton and Princeton, for which services he was raised to the rank of major general in 1777, and was at once placed in command at Saratoga. Burgoyne finally drove him from that stronghold, and although he was court-martialed for losing that posi- tion, he was acquitted of any blame. Never- theless he lost his command. He was too pa- 5

triotic to give up the work of a soldier, so he remained in the army as a volunteer, and gradually rose to other important positions. He distinguished himself in the plans which ended with the surrender of Cornwallis. His broad scholarship and statesmanlike qualities made him a member of the Continental Con- gress, 1785-87.

A still greater honor awaited him, viz: he was made president of that noted Congress in 1787. He was president also of the Pennsyl- vania State Society of the Cincinnati and was the man who gave the name of that society to the great city on the Ohio river, viz: Cincin- nati.

In 1789 he was made the first governor of the Northwest Territory, and in 1791, as the Commander-in-Chief of the United States army, he led his forces against the Miami In- dians, and met with the most disastrous defeat in all the story of the early Indian warfare, at Fort Recovery, Mercer county, Ohio, Novem- ber 4, 1791.

Washington had commanded General St. Clair not to risk an open engagement with the Indians until he was perfectly sure of his ground. It would seem that St. Clair dis- obeyed these orders and rushed into the fight without proper precautions. The defeat re- sulted in a most humiliating loss of power and the complete overthrow of his own military renown.

General Washington was said to have be- come greatly enraged at the news of St. Clair's defeat, and flying into a passion, he used very strong language against the unfortunate gen- eral who had disobeyed his orders ; but when St. Clair, disheartened, defeated and suffering from rheumatism, appeared before Washing- ton, it is said that the great general relented and forgave him.

The committee of Congress, engaged to in-

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY

vestigate the defeat, exhonerated him, but St. Clair's heart was broken, and with great dis- appointment to himself and his friends, he re- signed his command in May, 1792, and in 1802 President Jefferson removed him from the governorship of the Northwest Territory.

The last years of many a great man have been spent in poverty and neglect, and the life of St. Clair is no exception to this statement. There was no sustaining hand to lighten the burden of his rapidly increasing age; there was no fortune at his command. Friends did not come at his beck and call, and after long years of suffering and unwarranted neglect on the part of the government, he died in 1818.

The schoolboy, as well as the adult reader, will ever remember "St. Clair's defeat," rather than St. Clair's many victories, and splendid services.

TECUMSEH

Or "The Shooting Star," Famous War Chief of the Shawnees, Organizer of the Sec- ond Great Indian Confederation and General in the British Army in the War of 1812

In all the annals of Indian warfare and life there is no name more prominent than that of the manly, honest, noble chief, Tecumseh.

He was born, says tradition, near the pres- ent site of Springfield, Ohio, in 1768. The tribe from which he sprang was a branch of the very powerful and widely distributed Lenni Lenape, or Delaware race. Long ago this branch had settled in the South, whence their name, Shawnees, or "Southerners."

These Shawnees became involved in bitter war with the Creeks and Yamosees of Geor- gia and Florida. In consequence they drifted north to the rich valleys of the Ohio,-the Mi- amis, the Hocking, and the Wabash and the

Maumee. They had many large villages in these valleys, and in one of these villages Te- cumseh was born. His mother was a Chero- kee woman, and it is said gave birth to trip- lets-Tecumseh, his celebrated brother, the Prophet, and a third brother of whom nothing definite is known. The father was killed at the battle of Kanawha, October 10, 1774, when Lord Dunmore defeated Chiefs Corn- stalk and Logan.

Tecumseh believed that the whites were wrongfully encroaching upon the Indians' lands, and like Pontiac, he sought to organize all the western Indians into a confederacy against the white settlers. To protect these settlers, General Harrison, governor of the Northwest Territory, who had ordered the In- dians to go west, marched an army against them, and at the village of the Prophet, at the mouth of the Tippecanoe, he defeated the In- dians with great loss. Tecumseh was not in the battle. He had gone south and when he returned and had learned what his brother, the Prophet, had done, he became very angry. He had expressly urged the Indians not to risk a battle then, but the Prophet, who had great influence, had planned the night attack upon Harrison, after asking Harrison to meet him in a "talk" the next day. This conduct of his brother so enraged Tecumseh that he "seized him by his long hair and shook him till his teeth rattled, declaring that he had destroyed all his schemes and that he ought to be killed." This battle was fought November 7, 1811.

The War of 1812 now broke out and Te- cumseh and his faithful band of Shawnees al- lied themselves with the British. He rendered most valuable service in the battles of Raisin river and Maguaga ; also at Fort Malden and Fort Meigs. For valiant service the British raised him to the rank of brigadier general. On the 5th of October, 1813, this warrior

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chief was killed in the battle of the Thames, Canada.

Tecumseh was the most gifted American Indian. He would have been a great man in any age and in any country. He had the rare gift of natural eloquence and such a high ideal of manly noble conduct that he would never torture a prisoner or permit it to be done. He put to shame the conduct of his superior offi- cer, General Proctor, when he dashed into a party of his warriors at the siege of Fort Meigs, who were torturing some white prison- ers, and, hurling them right and left, he turned to General Proctor and demanded why he allowed such murderous conduct. Proctor replied, "I cannot restrain your warriors." Tecumseh then thundered back, "You are not fit to command; go home and put on petti- coats."

He had great powers as an artist and could draw a map in relief on bark, which the best English engineers pronounced equal to their own best work. He was born to command and had far more ability as a general thian Proctor. His lofty ideas of honesty and honor have endeared him to the American people, and they have placed his name all over the country, and it was one of the given names of the great general who led the march "from Atlanta to the Sea." Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, whose life and deeds have brought such signal honor to Fairfield county.

While it is not really known who killed the great warrior, the following, taken from Knapp's "History of the Maumee Valley," will be of marked interest :

State of Michigan, County of Monroe, ss. James Knaggs deposeth and saith, as follows : I was attached to a company of mounted men called Rangers, at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada, in the year 1813. During the battle we charged into the swamp, where several of our horses mired

down, and an order was given to retire to the hard ground in our rear, which we did. The Indians in front, believing that we were retreating, immediately advanced upon us with Tecumseh at their head. I distinctly heard his voice, with which I was perfectly familiar. He yelled like a tiger and urged on his braves to the attack. We were then but a few yards apart. We halted on the hard ground and continued our fire. After a few minutes of very severe fighting, I discovered Colonel Johnson lying near, on the ground, with one leg confined by the body of his white mare, which had been killed and fallen on him. My friend Medard Labadie was with nie. We went up to the Colonel, with whom we were previously acquainted, and found him badly wounded, lying on his side, with one of his pistols lying in his hand. I saw Tecumseh at the same time, lying on his face, dead, and about fifteen or twenty feet from the Colonel. He was stretched at full length, and was shot through the body, I think near the heart. The ball went out through his back. He held his tomahawk in his right hand (it had a brass pipe on the head of it), his arm was extended as if in strik- ing, and the edge of the tomahawk was stuck in the ground. Tecumseh was dressed in red speckled leggings, and a fringed hunting shirt ; he lay stretched directly toward Colonel Johnson. When we went up to the Colonel we offered to help him. He replied with great animation, "Knaggs, let me lay here and push on and take Proctor." However, we liberated him from his dead horse, took his blanket from his saddle, placed him in it, and bore him off the field. I had known Tecum- seh from my boyhood; we were boys to- gether. There was no other Indian killed im- mediately around where Colonel Johnson or Tecumseh lay, though there were many near the creek, a few rods back of where Tecumseh fell. I had no doubt then, and have none now, that Tecumseh fell by the hand of Col- onel Johnson.

JAMES KNAGGS.

Sworn to before me, this 22d day of Septem- ber, 1853. B. F. H. Witherell, Notary Public.

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY

"The secretary of the State Historical So- ciety of Wisconsin, Mr. Draper, adds the fol- lowing to the deposition of Mr. Knaggs:

"'Colonel Johnson was invariably modest about claiming the honor of having slain Te- cumseh. When I paid him a visit, at his resi- (lence at the Great Crossings, in Kentucky, in 1844, while collecting facts and materials il- lustrative of the career of Clark, Boone, Ken- ton, and other Western pioneers, he exhibited to me the horse pistols he used in the battle of the Thames, and modestly remarked, "that with them he shot the chief who had con- fronted and wounded him in the engage- ment.' "

"Alluding to Captain Knaggs' statement, the Louisville Journal remarked : 'A new wit- ness has appeared in the newspapers testifying to facts which tend to show that Col. R. M. Johnson killed Tecumseh. The colonel was certainly brave enough to meet and kill a dozen Indians, and if he didn't kill Tecumseh, he no doubt would have done it if he had had a chance. He himself was often interrogated on the subject and his reply upon at least one occasion was capital: 'They say I killed him ; how could I tell? I was in too much of a hurry, when he was advancing upon me, to ask him for his name, or inquire after the health of his family. I fired as quick as con- venient, and he fell. If it had been Tecumseh or the Prophet, it would have been all the same."

"Shortly after the foregoing publication, Mr. Witherell communicated the following to a Detroit journal :

"'Captain Knaggs, who is spoken of in that communication, is a highly respectable citizen of Monroe, and was one of the most active and useful partisans in service during the War of 1812. Almost innumerable and miraculous

were his hairbreadth 'scapes from the sav- ages.”

CHARACTER OF TECUMSEH

"He related to me when I last saw him, sev- eral anecdotes of Tecumseh, which will illus- trate his character. Among others, he states that while the enemy was in full possession of the country, Tecumseh, with a large band of his warriors, visited the Raisin. The inhabit- ants along that river had been stripped of nearly every means of subsistence. Old Mr. Rivard, who was lame and unable to labor to procure a living for himself and family, had contrived to keep out of sight of the wander- ing bands of savages a pair of oxen, with which his son was able to procure a scanty support for the family. It so happened that, while at labor with the oxen, Tecumseh, who had come over from Malden, met him in the road, and walking up to him said. "My friend, I must have those oxen."

" Young Rivard remonstrated. He told the chief that if he took the oxen his father would starve to death.

"'Well,' said Tecumseh, 'we are the con- querors, and everything we want is ours. I must have the oxen; my people must not starve ; but I will not be so mean as to rob you of them. I will pay you one hundred dollars for them and that is far more than they are worth ; but we must have them."

"'Tecumseh got a white man to write an order on the British Indian agent, Colonel El- liott, who was on the river some distance be- low, for the money. The oxen were killed, large fires built, and the forest warriors were soon feasting on their flesh. Young Rivard took the order to Colonel Elliott, who promptly refused to pay it. The young man. with a sorrowful heart, returned with the an- swer to Tecumseh, who said, "He won't pay it.

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will he? Stay all night and tomorrow we will go and see." On the next morning he took young Rivard and went down to see the Col- onel. On meeting him he said, "Do you re- fuse to pay for the oxen I bought?" "Yes." said the Colonel, and he reiterated the reason

came to fight the battles of the great King. they had enough to eat, for which they had only to thank the Master of Life and their good rifles. Their hunting grounds supplied them with food enough, to them they can re- turn." This threat produced a change in the

Courtesy Macmillan Co .- Coman

TRAVELING BY PACKET BOAT ON ERIE CANAL

for the refusal. "I bought them," said the chief, "for my young men were very hungry. I promised to pay for them, and they shall be paid for. I have always heard that white na- tions went to war with each other, and not with peaceful individuals: that they did not rob and plunder poor people. I will not." "Well." said the Colonel. "I will not pay for them." "You can do as you please." said the chief, "but before Tecumseh and his warriors

Colonel's mind. The defection of the great chief, he well knew, would immediately with- draw all the nations of the red men from the British service, and without them they were nearly powerless on the frontier. "Well." said the Colonel, "if I must pay, I will." "Give me hard money," said Tecumseh, "not rag money" (army bills ). The Colonel then counted out a hundred dollars in coin and gave them to him. The chief handed the money to

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY

young Rivard, and then said to the Colonel, "Give me one dollar more." It was given; and handing that also to Rivard, he said, "Take that; it will pay for the time you have lost in getting your money."

" 'How many white warriors have such no- tions of justice ?

" 'Before the commencement of the war, when his hunting parties approached the white settlements, horses and cattle were occasion- ally stolen; but notice to the chief failed not to procure instant redress.

" 'The character of Tecumseh was that of a gallant and intrepid warrior, an honest and honorable man, and his memory is respected by all our old citizens who personally knew him.'

"The following letter from the venerable General Combs, of Kentucky, who bore so gal- lant a part in the defenses of the Ohio and the Maumee valley, has both local and general in- terest :

Editor Historical Record:

You ask me for a description of the cele- brated Indian warrior, Tecumseh, from my personal observation. I answer that I never saw the great chief but once, and then under rather exciting circumstances, but I have a vivid recollection of him from his appear- ance, and from intercourse with his personal friends, I am possessed of accurate knowledge of his character.

I was, as you know, one of the pioneers taken at what is known as Dudley's defeat on the banks of the Maumee river, opposite Fort Meigs, early in May, 1813. Tecumseh had fallen upon our rear, and we were com- pelled to surrender. We were marched down to the old Fort Miami or Maumee, in squads, where a terrible scene awaited us.

The Indians, fully armed with guns, war clubs and tomahawks-to say nothing of scalping knives-had formed themselves into two lines in front of the gateway between which all of us were bound to pass. Many

were killed or wounded in running the gaunt- let. Shortly after the prisoners had entered the Indians rushed over the walls and again surrounded us, and raised the war whoop, at the same time making unmistakable demon- strations of violence. We all expected to be massacred and the small British guard around us were utterly unable to afford protection. They called loudly for General Proctor and Colonel Elliott to come to our relief. At this critical moment Tecumseh came rushing in, deeply excited, and denounced the murderers of prisoners as cowards. Thus our lives were spared and we went down to the fleet at the mouth of Swan creek (now Toledo), and from that place across the end of the lake to Huron and paroled.

I shall never forget the noble countenance, gallant bearing and sonorous voice of that re- markable man, while addressing his warriors in our behalf.

He was then between forty and forty-five years of age. His frame was vigorous and robust, but he was not fat, weighing about 170 pounds. Five feet, ten inches was his height. He had a high projecting forehead, and broad, open countenance, and there was something noble and commanding in all his actions. He was brave, humane and gener- ous, and never allowed a prisoner to be mas- sacred, if he could prevent it. At Fort Miami he saved the lives of all of us who had sur- vived running the gauntlet. He afterwards released seven Shawnees belonging to my command and sent them home on parole. Te- cumseh was a Shawnee. His name signified in their language, Shooting Star. At the time when I saw him he held the commission of a brigadier general in the British army. I am satisfied that he deserved all that was said of him by General Cass and Governor Har- rison, previous to his death.

LESLIE COMBS. Lexington, Ky., October, 1871.

CAPT. JOSEPH BRANT

This most interesting and remarkable man was born in 1742, on the banks of the Ohio,

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and in his early years was frequently in Ohio and the Hocking Valley, though his mature life was spent largely in Pennsylvania and New York. He was one of the Mohawk tribe, and one of the strongest of his race.

"Long ago when the river was broader, and the falls more lofty, a feud arose between two young chiefs of the respective clans of the Mohawk nation, the Wolf and the Tortoise." The cause of the trouble was an Indian maiden of the Bear totem, to whom each was attentive, and each thought himself beloved in return. Her father was a stern old warrior and loved his child tenderly. Wolf, by his more earnest wooing, obtained the hand and the heart of the forest maiden. Her decision became known to Tortoise and his heart burned with jealous rage. He resolved to pre- vent their union and, feigning friendship, held the confidence of the young girl and of her af- fianced. In this way the two rambled in the forest and along the streams until the day came when Wolf was to carry the prize to his wigwam. On that day Tortoise was with her alone upon the brink of a river and in a se- cluded nook. Tortoise proposed a ride in his light canoe, which was near at hand, to a beau- tiful little island in the stream, "where the fire- flies sparkled and the whippoorwill chanted its evening serenade." They started, but Tortoise turned his prow toward the cataract and the strong arm of the chief directed the little bark to the mouth of a cave on the opposite of the river, just above the falls. Here he impris- oned the maiden, for she could not reach the opening far above her which led to the sun- light. This retreat was known only to the Tortoise. For her comfort the young Indian chief made her bed of softest mosses and aro- matic twigs and covered them with rare skins of deer, beaver and otter. For her food he brought her the choicest venison, fowl and

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History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 6

Author: Miller, Charles Christian, 1856- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co Number of Pages: 874

Author: Miller, Charles Christian, 1856- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co
Number of Pages: 874