USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 8
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OTHER CHILLICOTHES.
It is well at the outset to correct some impressions of old Chillicothe. There were several Indian villages thus named in Ohio, and considerable confusion has arisen over this fact. The word chillicothe, or che-le-co-the, as it was pronounced by the famous chief, Logan, was a common noun ap- plied to Indian villages, meaning "the place where the people live." There were five old Chillicothes, one at the site of the present city of Piqua, one down the Scioto river about four miles from Circleville, near the present vil- lage of Westfall; another three mile's north of Chillicothe, in Ross county ; one on the site of Oldtown, this county, and there was still another village on the site of the present town of Frankfort, twelve miles north of the city of Chillicothe. ' Hence, while reading the recital of the adventurers of some of the pioneers, the reader is likely to think of them all taking place at one
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of the chillicothes. It is certain, however, that the chillicothe of Boone and Kenton is the one that existed in what is now Greene county, as will be later shown.
It is impossible to establish the date of the founding of the chillicothe on the Little Miami, here in Greene county, for its founders, the Shawnees, left no record of the time of their coming to these parts. It is known, how- ever, that early in the eighteenth century quite a large body of the Shawnees left their hunting grounds in the Carolinas, Georgia and northern Florida and migrated northward under the leadership of their chief, Black Hoof, and settled on the banks of the Great and Little Miami rivers and on the Scioto. It is probable that 1750 found the village of old Chillicothe thoroughly estab- lished here in what later became Greene county.
Though this chillicothe was an important "city" in those days, the largest village of the Shawnees was the old chillicothe on the banks of the Scioto. During the years of their great activity in Ohio, war parties were constantly passing from one village to the other, a distance of almost one hundred miles. But the old chillicothe in this county was considered one of the Shawnee capitals, and its importance became greater in the eighties of the eighteenth century, after the destruction of the Shawnee villages on the Scioto, for the survivors removed to the town on the banks of the Little Miami and here made their home until the old chillicothe was abandoned in the nineties of that century. It must not be thought that the Shawnees of this old chilli- cothe were degraded savages, for they had cabins almost as comfortable as those of the early white settlers. The Indians were well clothed, and had quite extensive gardens, orchards and corn fields. In its palmiest days the village was about a quarter of a mile in length, several acres of which were enclosed within a stockade. The huts were straggled along in irregular order, and for the most part occupied the little elevation which is now marked by the brick school house, a frame house, an orchard and barn at Oldtown, on the left side of the road which leads from Xenia. In the heart of the village was the council house which stood on the site of the present brick school house. It was a long, narrow building, roughly made and scarcely waterproof, where the warriors repaired to take counsel among themselves on matters of pressing interest to the tribe, questions of the hunt or the warpath. Soon after Simon Girty and the Scotchman Dixon joined the Shawnees at this chillicothe, the two renegades superintended the im- provement of the council house. As was said before, old Chillicothe was one of the most populous villages in Ohio during its prosperous days, for it contained a population of eleven hundred, of which three hundred were war- riors. When it is considered what manner of Indians the Shawnees were, the importance of the war strength of old Chillicothe during those trying
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days in the early history of the Northwest Territory can be readily under- stood.
A SCHOOL BOY'S VIEW OF OLDTOWN.
In 1899 the Ohio Educational Monthly offered a series of prizes to the pupils of the grade schools for the best papers along the lines of Ohio his- torical research. Among the many contributions thus inspired was one re- lating to the history of Oldtown in Greene county, written by Clark McVay, then a pupil of the seventh grade of the Xenia public schools, which was given honor place by the Monthly and which is such a concise and compre- hensive presentation of the subject which has been treated of in this chapter that it is here reproduced :
Oldtown, situated three and a half miles north of Xenia, is of historical note. It was once called old Chillicothe town. As the Indians called any town Chillicothe the people here called this town old Chillicothe town and called the one on the Scioto old Chillicothe.
In the year 1773 Capt. Thomas Bullitt of Virginia, one of the first settlers of Kentucky, was proceeding down the Ohio to make surveys and a settlement there. He left his party and went through the woods to old Chillicothe town to obtain the consent of the Indians for his intended settlement. The Indians, astonished by his boldness, finally con- sented to his settlement. He is supposed to have been the first white man who ever saw the place. Shortly afterward some of his party laid out the city of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1778, the celebrated Daniel Boone was taken prisoner in Kentucky and brought to old Chillicothe town. Shortly afterward, through the influence of the British governor, Ham- ilton, Boone, with ten others were taken to Detroit.
It is known, but it has never been published (in fact, only one man knows it here) that in 1814 a court was held in a brick house near old Chillicothe town (now occupied by O. W. Linkhart), present at which were David Laughead, James Galloway (father of Major Galloway) and General Whitman. The first question asked Laughead by the law- yers was, "When was the first time you ever saw Oldtown or old Chillicothe town, where we now are?" He replied that 1780 was the year. He said that the reason he remembered it so well was because he was one of the few men who marched against the place and another town, Piqua. The Indians of this place and Piqua made frequent raids on the frontier of Kentucky, and these men came north to punish the Indians. The Indians had deserted the town, but the men destroyed the crops and went back to Kentucky.
In the year 1806 a fight occurred at old Chillicothe town. It was between Ben Kizer, champion of Greene county, and Aaron Beal, a citizen of Greene county. The indictment against the men has been found. Beal came out victorious.
It is about half a mile south of town where Simon Kenton ran the gauntlet. He did not quite succeed in getting through. Near Oldtown, on a certain hill, are some earthworks about eighteen inches high. This is the place where General Harmar was defeated. John Morgan, a man who was with General Harmar, said that when they were retreating many men died and were covered with a thin layer of dirt. This accounts for all of the skeletons that have been ploughed up recently.
BLACKFISH.
Among the many chiefs who undoubtedly made old Chillicothe their home, was Blackfish, the one of greatest note. It is not known when he was born or who were hi's parents, but the raids which he led against the whites of the Kentucky settlements made his name for many years a means by which pioneer mothers stilled their children.
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TECUMSEH.
The greatest Indian in the known history of the race was Tecumseh who, according to Rev. Benjamin King, an adopted member of the Shawnee tribe, was born near old Chillicothe, in Greene county, in 1770. The authori- ties differ as to the place of his birth, the best maintaining that he was born not far from old Chillicothe, in his mother's cabin on Mad river. But be that as it may, the village was a small one and the main Shawnee town was at old Chillicothe. He was a full-blooded Shawnee and was one of two boys born at the same time. As twins are rare among Indians, this incident of his birth had with it religious significance and Tecumseh was famous even in his early youth. This noble Shawnee and his brother, who later became known as the Prophet, very probably hunted and fished within the confines of what later became Greene county, which has the right to claim him, if not as a son, at least as a resident.
This "noble" red man devoted himself to the expulsion of the paleface from the hunting grounds of his people, and it seems that in the years when he was most active, his contentions were just, right and reasonable. More- over, he had every reason to hate the white man. His father, a Shawnee chieftain, had fallen under the bullets of the Long Knives at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774; his eldest and dearest brother had lost his life in an attack on a southern post, and another had been killed while fighting by the side of his illustrious brother at the battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. His mother's home had been destroyed by the whites and the lands of his people had been taken from them by the treaty of Greenville. But even with all of this, his spirit was not that of personal revenge. He hated the whites as the destroyers of his race, but all prisoners and defenseless people could depend upon his honor and humanity for their safety. He discouraged the cruelties which his people practiced against prisoners. In his boyhood he wit- nessed the burning of a prisoner, and the spectacle was so terrible to him, an unschooled aborigine, that by an eloquent plea he induced the party to give up the practice forever. The nobility in his nature, his cavalier qualities make the children of the men he hated blush for some of the outrages which our forefathers carried out against the redman. Had this Bayard of the Shawnee been ably and unselfishly supported, it is likely that much suffering of his brethren and much white blood which was spilled might otherwise have been saved.
TECUMSEH AND THE GALLOWAYS.
Since old Chillicothe was a very important village of the Shawnees, Tecumseh spent much of his time within the borders of what became Greene county. He kept in his heart a great affection for his birthplace and here he
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became well acquainted with some of the very early settlers of Greene county. A tradition of the Galloway family concerning this Indian leader, which is related in the little book, "Greene County, 1803-1908," reveals a trait of Tecumseh's nature.
The Galloways were near neighbors to some of the best known of the Indians who occupied that part of the county. This fact is worthy of special note as their family tra- ditions are rich in interesting accounts of the friendships with the redmen that were formed in those early days. The distinguished Tecumseh was a frequent and welcome visitor at this home and soon became much infatuated with the daughter, Rebecca. With the true dignity which was ever a trait of the character of Tecumseh, he approached the father, who feeling that his daughter could perhaps, more tactfully find a way out of the embarrassing position and still retain the good will of the Indian, which they greatly desired to keep, referred him to her. The chief fearlessly appealed to the girl herself, for was he not the great Tecumseh, the leader of his people? He offered her beautiful gifts of silver orna- ments dear to his people. She told him she could not work like the Indian women did, nor lead the wild life they did. He assured her that she need not work. Then she changed her tactics and told him she would consider his proposition, if he would promise to lead the life of a white man and assume their dress and habits. This matter he took under consideration, but finally told her, most sorrowfully, that he could not possibly do that ; that the taking up of the manners, and customs of the white man would place him in everlasting disgrace with his people and much as he desired the union he could not bear their reproaches. And thus we see the womanly daughter of the pioneer fully able to turn aside the undesirable suitor, but still retain a very necessary friend, for the friendship between Tecumseh and the family never waned.
PEN PICTURE OF NOTED WARRIOR.
Col. W. S. Hatch in his "History of the War of 1812" gives the follow- ing description of Tecumseh when he saw him on the streets of Detroit on August 17, 1813:
The personal appearance of this remarkable man was uncommonly fine. His height was about five feet, nine inches. His face, oval rather than angular, his nose handsome and straight, his mouth beautifully formed like that of Napoleon I, as represented in his portraits; his eyes clear, transparent, hazel, with a mild, pleasant expression when in repose or in conversation, but when excited in his orations or by the enthusiasm of the conflict, or in anger, they appeared like balls of fire; his teeth beautifully white, and his complexion more of a light brown or tan than red; his whole tribe as well as their kindred, the Ottoways, had light complexions; his hands and arms were finely formed; his limbs straight; he always stood very erect and walked with a brisk, elastic, vigorous step; invariably dressed in Indian tanned buckskin; a perfectly fitting hunting frock descending to the knee was over his under clothes of the same material; the usual paint and finish of leather fringe about the neck, cape, edges of the front opening and the bottom of the frock; a belt of the same material in which were his side arms, an elegant silver mounted tomahawk and knife in a strong leather case; short pantaloons, connected with neatly fitting leggings; a blanket of the same material thrown over his left shoulder, used as a blanket in camp and as a protection in storms.
DANIEL BOONE AT OLDTOWN.
For almost a hundred and forty years after the landing of the Pilgrims, the country west of the Alleghanies remained a "howling wilderness," known
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only by a few hardy French traders, explorers and Jesuit missionaries. The opening of this fertile territory to the settlement of the whites was due to such hardy pathfinders as John Sevier, Isaac Shelby, James Robertson and Daniel Boone, the latter of whom came to be regarded as the ideal of Ameri- can frontiersmen. When it is realized that Kentucky was the stepping-stone used by the pioneers in settling the Northwest Territory, an estimate can be made of the great service rendered by Boone and his companions in blaz- ing the trail for their white brothers into this vast country.
In his early life Daniel Boone had a more or less uneventful existence, although he was a member of the unfortunate Braddock campaign in 1755. His training while living in the frontier settlements of the English colonies fitted him for his remarkable and valuable service along the Ohio river. It was not until May 1, 1769, that he left his family on the banks of the Yadkin river in North Carolina to go in search of a new field for pioneering. For some time tales of the fabulously fertile country called Kentucky across the Alleghanies had come to the ears of Boone, and he longed to remove his family to that place. Since settlement in that country was fraught with danger from the redskins and wild animals, he pushed out by himself to prepare a place to which he could take his family. He found Kentucky all that he had dreamed it to be and in 1771 he returned to the Yadkin, sold his farm and started out with his family in company with five or six other families for the Kentucky country. The party was attacked by the Indians, who had watched with displeasure this invasion of their hunting grounds, and the settlers were forced to turn back. Nothing daunted, Boone asked the assistance of Governor Dunmore of Virginia in settling the region, and the latter became very much interested. When the governor invaded the Ohio country in 1774, Boone was one of his scouts. In 1775, Boones- borough had been platted and as soon as a fort was built Boone brought his family safely through to that settlement, which became the center of all the Shawnee invasions from Oldtown into Kentucky.
BOONE'S CAPTURE.
On January 1, 1778, Boone selected about thirty companions and started for the salt springs on the Licking river, about a hundred miles northi, to make salt for the different garrisons in the Kentucky country. They car- ried with them on horses, several large boiling pans, given to the settlements by the governor of Virginia, but when they arrived at the Licks, they found the water so weak that it took eight hundred and forty gallons of water to make a bushel of salt. While the saltmakers were at work, two or three others of the party served as scouts and hunters and Boone was one of the
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latter. On Saturday, February 7, 1778, Boone started out alone with a packhorse for a supply of game which was very plentiful about the salt licks. Having killed a buffalo, Boone had started back to the Licks in the afternoon with the best cuts of the meat tied on the back of his horse. It was bitterly cold. When he was about ten miles from camp, he was discovered by four Shawnees, members of a large party of Oldtown Indians under Blackfish and Munseka, who had taken the warpath to avenge the death of Cornstalk. Benumbed with the cold and unable to unpack his horse and flee, Boone was captured after a sharp fight with the redskins. He was then taken to the main camp of the Indians and he later induced his companions to surrender peaceably.
JOURNEY TO OLDTOWN.
The Indians, highly elated over their success, for they had captured twenty-eight of the saltmakers, immediately started back to Oldtown, where they arrived on February 18, after an uncomfortable journey in severe weather. The captives received excellent treatment from the Shawnees, however. During the journey the supply of food became very much depleted and they were obliged to kill and devour their dogs, and after this source of sustenance was exhausted, they were forced to live for ten days on a brew made from the inner lining of whiteoak bark. Finally the party killed a deer, but knowing that their stomachs were not prepared for substantial food, the savages boiled the animal's entrails to a jelly which they drank freely. They offered some of it to Boone but he refused it. However, he was forced to drink it, and his grimaces undoubtedly afforded much amusement for the Shawnees. Presently he was allowed to eat and the redskins told him that had he not taken the "medicine" the food would have killed him.
On March 10, Boone and about ten of his companions were taken to Detroit to Governor Hamilton, who offered his Indian allies one hundred pounds for Boone, to whom the British governor had taken quite a fancy. This, however, was refused by the Shawnees who were bent upon making Boone a member of their tribe. The Indians had taken a keen liking for the hunter, whose quiet disposition, whose prowess as a hunter and whose skill in border warfare was fully appreciated by them.
BOONE BECOMES A SHAWNEE.
On April 10, the Indians returned to Oldtown and Boone was formally adopted into the tribe. This process was a most painful and uncomfortable one. After he had been scrubbed thoroughly in order to wash all the white blood out of him, all of his hair, excepting a tuft at the crown, was plucked
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out by the roots. When his face was painted after the approved style of the Indian, he was taken to the council house where he was addressed with all gravity by the chief. Thus were the ceremonies of adoption consummated, and he became a son of Blackfish.
BOONE'S ESCAPE.
In the early part of June, 1778, the Shawnees took Boone to a salt lick on the Scioto river, about sixty miles east, where they kept him busy over the kettles most of the time, since he had a thorough knowledge of the pro- cess of saltmaking and the Indians were averse to work. The saltmaking aroused Boone's suspicion that the Shawnees were contemplating a descent upon some white settlement, and when the party returned to old Chillicothe in two weeks, he found about four hundred and fifty warriors fully pre- pared to attack Boonesborough. Boone was in consternation, for he knew that the fort was in no condition to stand an assault. He was compelled to attend the councils with a smiling face, and although he understood every word of the deliberations, he led them to believe that he was ignorant of the Shawnee dialect. To divert any suspicion that he contemplated escape, he entered into their plans with apparent enthusiasm. Boonesborough was one hundred and sixty miles away, but the time finally came when the hunter had to make his escape at all hazards. Knowing that the moment his flight was suspected four hundred and fifty warriors would be on his track, all thoroughly prepared for pursuit, Boone arose on the morning of June 16, apparently to take his usual hunt, but in reality to make his escape to warn the unsuspecting settlement at Boonesborough of their impending danger.
As soon as Boone got out of the sight of the villagers at Oldtown, he struck out southward at his greatest speed in order to put as much distance as possible between himself and his captors before they were apprised of his intentions and could start in pursuit. Although he had made preparations all along to provide himself with ammunition, he now dared not fire his rifle to kill any game nor did he risk lighting a fire. He had, however, pro- vided himself with a few cuts of dried venison before he left old Chillicothe, and with these he appeased his hunger as he hurried along. Finally he reached the Ohio, but, experienced as Boone was in woodcraft, he was a poor swimmer. Fortunately, he found an old canoe which had drifted in among the bushes, and after bailing out the water and plugging up the hole, he crossed the river in safety. Feeling that he then was not in any imminent danger of pursuit, he shot a wild turkey, cooked and ate liis first meal since he had left the Shawnee village on the Little Miami. Finally, after a jour- ney of five days, he reached Boonesborough, where he found that his family had returned to North Carolina, having despaired of ever seeing him again.
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DARNELL'S LEAP FOR LIFE.
In the same party of Kentuckians, which included Daniel Boone and who were taken prisoner by the Shawnees in 1778 and brought northward to Oldtown, or old Chillicothe, was a valiant young Kentuckian of the name of Darnell. As shown before, Boone with ten of his companions was, through the influence of Hamilton, the British governor, taken to Detroit, while the remaining seventeen prisoners were left behind with their savage captors. At first it seemed a misfortune to Darnell to be included among the captives who were left behind, but subsequently he found that his remaining in Old- town gave him the opportunity to escape. Well versed in woodcraft, cun- ning as a fox and possessing the superior intelligence of the white man, he was successful in making his escape from his captors one night. When morning dawned he was in a wood northwest of the present site of Clifton, where he paused to recruit his strength and to partake of his simple but prac- tical repast of dried venison. Evidently not realizing the danger of his situation, since it- was daylight, he took a piece of the dried meat from his pouch and began to devour it with relish.
Darnell had scarcely finished his portion of meat when the slight noise of a breaking twig disturbed the morning stillness. His keen frontiers- man's ear and backwoods training told him at once that it was a human foot that had broken the twig, and in an instant he was on his feet with every sense alert. Turning to the direction whence the sound had come, his keen sense of vision enabled him to discover several Indians hidden behind trees. In a moment he knew they were Shawnees, his former captors, who had discovered his escape and had come in hot pursuit. Taking in the situation at a glance, he knew that any attempt to get beyond his enemies, who were in his path would result in his certain capture which would mean certain death by the tomahawk or slow torture at the stake. Flight, however, was the only alternative, flight in a direction directly opposite from the course which he had marked out. The savages, evidently enjoying the white man's discomfiture, remained behind the trees interestedly and intensely watching every movement of their intended prey. Of course, they could have brought him down with a bullet, but it was their intention to take him alive so that the whole village of old Chillicothe could enjoy witnessing the lingering death of the paleface at the stake.
DARNELL'S FLIGHT.
Tightening his buckskin belt he sprang forward and the Indians, who numbered six, darted from behind the trees in hot pursuit. Although he was no mean runner, the savages rapidly gained ground. His course lay
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