USA > Ohio > Henry County > History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
USA > Ohio > Fulton County > History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
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These, then, were they, who, by force of arms, conquered, subjugated and ruled the whole Indian country. In this region their depredations were less prominent, nevertheless, they were its rulers and owners from an Indian point of view. The tribes, who, at a later day occupied this country, are understood to have been descendants of the earlier owners, yet no authentic record of their relationship can be traced. In the more stirring times of war and civili- zation, and the advance of settlement, something greater seems to have absorbed the mind of the Indian and the settler, and the connecting links of tribal relationship and descent for a time has been found broken. Yet, the Indians were here in force and made an Indian history for this region, as will fully appear in the succeeding chapters.
CHAPTER III.1
From the Close of the Revolution Down to the Time of the Removal of the Last of the In- dian Tribes from the Valley - Names and Characteristics of the Tribes of the Valley - The Part Taken by Them in the Wars - Their Final Removal - Incidents.
A T the close of the Revolutionary War of the American colonies with Great Britain, in 1784, and for centuries before that time, so tradition has it, the Indian tribes inhabited the valley of the Maumee (Me-aw-mee) and its tribu- taries, the St. Mary's on the south, the St. Joseph on the north, the Au Glaize on the south, the Tiffin River, or " Bean Creek," on the north, and the Turkey Foot (both north and south), and the smaller streams, such as Beaver Creek, joining the Maumee near Grand Rapids ; the Tone-tog-a-nee, near the old In- dian mission, and the Portage near its mouth.
At the time of the first American settlement in 1796, and until the last
1 By Hon. D. W. H. Howard.
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GENERAL HISTORY.
remnant was removed in 1838, there were a few scattering families gathered up and removed in 1842 or '43. The Indian occupants were the Ot-ta-was, of the valley proper, and the hunting grounds on the Au Glaize ; the Pot-ta-waw- to-mies of the St. Joseph and the upper portions of the Tiffin River, and the hunting grounds on the Raisin, River Ruch, and along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan (now in the State of Michigan). These latter people were, however, more or less intermarried with their neighbors, the Ot-ta-was on the south, and the O-gib-e-was on the north, whose lands and hunting grounds they adjoined. The Mi-am-ies on the upper Wabash and the Eel Rivers, with the smaller " bands " of We-aws and Pi-an-ki- shaws, and the lower St. Mary's River ; the Wy-an-dotts on the Sanduskies, the Tousaint and their branches ; the Shaw-won-no (or Shawnees) on the Hog Creek and upper " Blanchard's Fork " of the Au Glaize.
These various tribes, then quite numerous and powerful, were united into the confederation of the Five Nations, or tribes (each speaking a different dia- lect, but must not be understood as being in any manner connected with the original Five Nations, or Iroquois, mentioned in Chapter I), for the purpose of mutual protection and defense against the advance of the American settlements north of the Ohio River; they having never signed the treaty or given their consent to the treaty made between the British and the American govern- ments after the close of the Revolutionary War, but considering themselves the sole owners of this vast extent of territory, and beautiful and profitable hunt- ing country, were determined to defend it until the last, and they were en- couraged in this by the emissaries of the defeated British, who furnished them with arms, ammunition and clothing, and gave them sustenance and support in every way possible. The Indians availed themselves of the military experience and teaching of the British officers, and mainly through this were they enabled to defeat General Harmer with a large force near Fort Wayne on the St. Mary's in 1791, and subsequently General St. Clair with 1,600 men, near Greenville, in the summer of 1792. Added to the native strategy of the Indians, the ex- perience and military education of the British officers who were their daily associates, and constantly hovering on the frontier, and renewing from time to time their pledges to sustain them in any event, it is not strange that the poor deluded savages closed their ears to the overtures made by Washington and the American government, and gave a willing assent to the British propositions. This was their home; their fathers slept in graves upon the banks of these beautiful streams ; their council fires had burned for many years upon the banks of her rivers and had never gone out; the deer and elk had been chased through every tangled break, and open forest and prairie ; the great black bear (so numerous then) had been tracked to his winter den, in the hol- low of the giant oak, sycamore or poplar ; the cunning beaver and the rich fur- covered otter and martin had been out-witted by the wily hunter and trapped
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
in the fastness of his secluded home ; the red fox and the beautiful silver-gray fox had furnished the Indian maiden with the rich ornaments she so highly prized, and the valuable wampum to the Indian hunter in barter and exchange with the French and British fur traders. Food was abundant in these beautiful forests ; the wild turkey hid its nest from the bear and wolf and the wily fox (their natural enemy), and came forth with her brood to fill the woods with her twitter and call, and flocks of hundreds could be seen any day in a half hour's walk. The Indian women manufactured an abundance of the delicious maple sugar from the hard maple with which the country abounded. Fish in endless numbers and variety abounded in all the streams, and could be taken with net or spear at all seasons of the year, and nets were made from the bark of the nettle, the linn, or the leatherwood, and the spear from the wood of the supple hickory or white ash, hardened by heating the spear points in the fire. The rich " bottom lands" along the streams furnished a soil unequaled in fertility and productiveness upon which were grown thousands of bushels annually of that most valuable product, the Indian corn, maize, beans, squashes, and pump- kins were also grown extensively, and dried in the sun or over a slow fire, and preserved for future winter use. Much of the corn was also preserved in its natural green state in this way.
When the impartial historian reviews the beauties and attractions of this country, the ease with which the Indian could subsist, the sport of hunting and fishing, of paddling his frail bark canoe across lakes and on the streams, run- ning the rapids of the swift rivers upon whose banks their villages were usu- ally situated, where their children, in the limpid waters, sported like dolphins in the long summer days, and the hunter slaked his thirst at the bubbling spring of pure, cold water that could be found bursting from the banks, and the thou- sand attractions natural to the civilized or savage man, who would not con- tend for such a country ? Would not civilized and cultured man ? Surely the North American Indian might be pardoned, if not exonorated for fight- ing for his home, his council fires and the graves of his fathers, that had not been already desecrated by the foot of the stranger.
Such was the situation of the country and this the rich inheritance of these savage tribes, when the American government determined to make one more grand effort to subdue the Indians and compel the English government to fulfill its treaty obligations and evacuate the country, which it still held by gar- rison at the outposts of Mackinac, Detroit, St. Joseph and Fort Miami, with other points of less importance, as protection for its trading posts throughout the entire frontier. In 1792, after the terrible slaughter and defeat of General St. Clair's army, Washington prevailed upon Gen. Anthony Wayne, who had retired upon his farm in Pennsylvania at the close of the Revolutionary war, to once more take the field and strike a blow that would at once subdue the hostile savages and teach the emissaries of Great Britain that they too must re-
25
GENERAL HISTORY.
spect the American arms. Wayne, after spending nearly two years mustering an army, making such preparations as to secure him against a possible defeat, took the field (or forest rather), and leaving the post at Greenville (now in Darke county, O.). in July, and although harassed somewhat on the marchi by the Indians, struck the Maumee River at the mouth of the Au Glaize, August 8, 1794, where he hastily constructed Ft. Defiance, and leaving the fort with a small garrison on the 16th of August, he proceeded down the left bank of the Maumee, pursuing the fleeing savages who had made, with the ad- vice of the British general, great preparation at Presque Isle, or Fallen Tim- ber, to resist Wayne's further advance. Wayne, previous to leaving Ft Defi- ance in pursuit of the Indians, had sent a flag of truce requesting an interview (agreeably to Washington's desire), offering peace propositions of great advan- tage to the Indians; but they were disregarded and the bearer of the flag taken prisoner. There was, however, a division of opinion among the leading chiefs and warriors as to the proposition of Wayne for a council of peace. Many of the more sagacious chiefs saw that their defeat was only a question of time, as they could not always successfully contend against so powerful a government as that of the United States, and strongly urged a peaceful settlement of the long struggle at a council held by the confederated chiefs, under the "Council Elm" at the Grand Rapids of the Maumee, only two nights previous to the great battle of the Fallen Timbers. The principal advocates of peace in this council were the great chief, Little Turtle (Mis-she-kence) of the Miamis, and Kine-jo-i-no, a young chief of the Ottawas, but the eloquence of the wily Pot- tawatamie chief, Turkey Foot (Mis-sis-sa-in-zit), and the clamor of the braves for war prevailed, and the council closed its deliberations at the dawn of day and declared for war. On the 20th of August, 1794, was fought the great battle of the Fallen Timbers, which proved so disastrous to the con- federated savages and gave a prophetic warning to the English emissaries of their future, if they persisted longer in holding their posts within American territory. The rout of the Indians at this battle was complete and the slaughter great, which taught them that Washington had at last found a gen - eral (Che-no-tin, meaning hurricane) that could cope with their most artful and sagacious warriors. This also broke the Indian superstition that the Mani- too (Great Spirit) would assure their success in any event and the councils of the more sensible and far-seeing chiefs were thereafter to prevail ; consequently, a treaty of peace was held by Wayne at Greenville with these savages, in 1795, where the greater portion of the northwest was ceded to the United States, thus ending a long and bloody conflict.
The various tribes were ruled over and governed by a chief and "head men," who inherited (not invariably however) their high positions from gene- ration to generation, and were, many of them, possessed of much native talent and statesmanship. They were far-seeing, and well aware of the power and 4
26
HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
numerical strength of the white man; and while welcoming him as a stranger, and a " trader," they nevertheless feared him as a neighbor and intruder, and knew full well that at no distant day, they would be compelled to contend, by the force of arms, for their hereditary birthright, their native home, and all that was held dear to the savage breast; the beautiful lakes, rivers and forests, sup- plied with an abundance of food, furnished by the kindness and generosity of the Great Man-i-too (the great spirit) as a home for his red children forever.
At the time of the commencement of the white settlements proper in the Maumee Valley, in 1808 or 1810, the principal Indian villages were located as follows, and were presided over by the following named chiefs: Near the mouth of the Maumee was located the Ottawa village of Mis-sis-sa-nog (Tur- key Town), whose principal chief was Scho-no. It had a population, in 1810, of about six hundred inhabitants. Their people had fine cornfields and gar- dens and fine grazing country on the margin of the bay; and also beautiful forests of timber surrounding them on all sides, which was bountifully supplied with wild game in great variety. They still held a large tract of land in their own right. The next village of importance was twenty miles up the river, called Me-nish-sha-nong (or Island Town), located mainly on a large island, (called Indian Island) upon which a French trader had many years previously planted an orchard that furnished a never-failing crop of apples. It had also large quantities of corn and beans, and also squashes and pumpkin were annu- ally produced. They also owned a large tract of rich land on the left bank of the river, extending some twelve miles above ; quite a village was also located on the main land and the population (of both villages) at this time was not far from one thousand souls. This village was governed by two chiefs, O-to-saw and Na-wash, and in later years, previous to their removal west, by Ot-to-kee and Wau-se-on.
A Presbyterian mission was established in 1820 or 1821, by Rev. Isaac Von Tassel, and conducted as a school for the young Indians, until their final removal to their new homes, west of the Missouri River, in 1838. A portion of the old Mission House (a frame building) is still standing, but in a some- what dilapidated condition, a landmark of a former age, and upon whose tab - lets is written the melancholy history of the vain efforts made by good and benevolent people, in behalf of the poor and benighted savage. Surrounded, as he was at this time, from 1820 to 1838, and associated more or less with unprincipled and whisky-selling white men, the education and Christian teach- ings received at the mission had a tendency (if anything) to demoralize, rather than to elevate him; and coming in contact with this worthless appendage of civilization, who delighted in demoralizing, and then robbing the unsuspecting Indian, he soon became a drunken vagabond.
The more important, however, of the villages of the valley proper, was the Ottawa village of Ap-a-to-wau-jo-win, or Half-way, which was located at the
27
GENERAL HISTORY.
head of the " Grand Rapids," and near the noted Council Elm. Here, too, was located the band of Tien-jo-i-no, the noted peace-chief, and colleague of Little Turtle in the great council held previous to the battle of Fallen Timbers. It had a population of from 600 to 800 in 1820, but had diminished by dis- ease and debauchery, incident to intoxication, to about half that number in 1838, the time of their final removal west.
They had fine corn-fields and gardens, as had all the other villages on the rich river flats.
The villages of Shaw-wun no and Nac-i-che-wa, at the mouth of the Au Glaize, where now stands the flourishing village of Defiance, and where Wayne constructed Fort Defiance in 1794, named from its strong position, at the junction of the Au Glaize with the Maumee, was the most wealthy of any of the Indian settlements. The people owned large farms and droves of many horses.
At the time of General Wayne's march down the river, in their hasty flight before his victorious army, the Indians abandoned nearly everything but their ponies, which aided them materially in their retreat. Wayne destroyed all the corn and gardens, and burned their villages, situate on both sides of the river.
On the Blanchard's Fork of the Au Glaize, where the village of Ottawa is now located, was the Indian settlement of Oc-que-nox-ie, a blood-thirsty and savage warrior, who was never (after the treaties of peace) the friend of the white man, and who would, on most all occasions, repeat the bloody tales of the warpath. He was always feared and hated by all whites and peaceably inclined Indians.
Shar-low's Town, on the Au Glaize, some distance above its mouth, was of less importance than many others, although governed by a very wise chief, and a great friend of the white settlers.
The principal villages of the numerous and powerful tribes of the Miamis were at the head of the Maunce, where is now the city of Fort Wayne, and on the banks of the beautiful Wabash, at Peru, Logansport (mouth of the Eel River), and at Wabash Town, in the State of Indiana. The principal chiefs were Richardville (Rusheville) and La Fontaine, with a number of chiefs of much less influence with their people.
The beautiful bottom-lands of the Wabash furnished a fertile soil for their entire cornfields, and the sloping and rolling highlands, covered with hard maple, gave abundant sugar orchards for the supply of the delicious maple sugar.
The Wyandott settlements were on the Sandusky River and the Ti- moch- tee Creek, under the control of the chiefs of the "Wauker family." The Shawnees, or Shaw-wun-no, emigrants from the powerful nations of the Carolinas, owned a small reservation on the upper branches of the Au Glaize, and the principal villages were on and near the site of the present little city of
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
Wa-pa-kon-net-ta, in Allen county, O. The educated brothers, William and Joseph Parks, were the controlling spirits of this tribe of the Shawnees.
The principal Indian village within the present limits of Fulton county, was that of the Pottawatomie chief, Winameg, located on the banks of Keeg (now Bad) Creek, and the high ridge crossing the creek near the post-office of Win- ameg (in Pike township), named for the old chief by his early and lifelong friend, D. W. H. Howard, whose residence is immediately upon the site of the old village and near where his father, Edward Howard, built in the early years of the thirties a trading house, in which was opened a lucrative trade with the remnant of this (then) scattered and wandering people, the remnant of a once powerful nation, now principally inhabiting a small reservation west of the Missouri. Smaller settlements were located on Bean Creek and the upper branches of the St. Joseph, but were of a more temporary character. At the time of the writer's first visit to the village of Winameg, in the spring of 1827 or 1828, the aged chief, Winameg, whose head was whitened by the snows of a hundred winters, yet who was still active in mind and body, ruled the tribe and directed its affairs, aided by his son (Wi-na-meg) and other chiefs of less influ- ence. Much of the earlier history and tradition of these people was learned by the writer some years later from the great Pottawatomie chief, " Billy Colwell," an Englishman by birth and without a drop of Indian blood in his veins, who was taken prisoner when a child in one of the expeditions from the Mohawk by the Iroquois, from Canada, and who was afterwards sold to the Pottawatomies of the peninsula of Michigan and adopted by them and eventually made their Great Chief. By his superior intelligence and tact he became the " Head Chief " of all the Pottawatomies and Ogibewas. Within the boundaries of the village of Winameg, or more properly Neshe naw-ba, or Due-naw-ba (the Twin-Boys), and at a still earlier day, named De-mutre, " the Beaver," for the many ponds in the immediate vicinity, were numer- ously inhabited by this sagacious little animal, was located the "Mounds," which are still plainly seen, although the plow has done much to reduce their height in the yielding, sandy soil; tradition has it, as related to the writer by "Billy Colwell," many years previous to their removal west, that a great battle was fought between the Pottawatomies (the pioneers of the land) and a powerful tribe of invaders from beyond the Mississippi. Great slaughter was the result of the battle, and the slain of both armies were interred in these mounds by the Pottawatomies, who defeated the invaders and still held the place. Billy Colwell died in 1841, and lies buried on a high bluff overlooking the muddy waters of the Missouri, near the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Chief Colwell led the Pottawatomie warriors against General Harrison, at the battles of Tippecanoe and the Thames, and was also at the siege of Ft. Meigs in July, 1813.
There were also several small settlements of the Ottawas on the high pop-
29
GENERAL HISTORY.
lar sugar ridges along the banks of the Maumee within the limits of Henry county. A noted and favorite camping place, once of much historic interest, was " Girty's Point," situate above Napoleon on the left bank of the Maumee, where was held the headquarters of the noted renegade white man, Simon Girty. This was a beautiful high bottom land, covered with a forest of large oaks, white and blue ash, sugar maple, walnut, and several other varieties of timber, and almost entirely unencumbered with small timber or underbrush. The surroundings were open and clear as a park that had been through the hands of a skilled landscape architect. These trees formed a dense shade, and made a place of frequent resort for the Indians during the heated summer months. Deer and other wild game abounded and subsistence was easily obtained. The grass along the margin of the stream and on the low banks furnished an abund- ance of sweet food for the herds of ponies that the Indians possessed at this time. The history of the blood-thirsty Simon Girty, this renegade white man, who deserted his own people and joined the savages, and who urged them to acts of inhuman barbarity to avenge an imaginary wrong, will be found written elsewhere in this work. It is, moreover, written in the blood of innocent women and children. In his cruel treatment of Colonel Crawford while burn- ing at the stake, and other acts of like character of less note, need not be repeated in these pages; but for preserving historic truths, they should never have been put upon the historic page.
The small reservations retained by these tribes, at the treaty of Greenville, as their home, were finally ceded to the United States, and a portion of the Indians removed to their homes and hunting grounds west of the Mississippi, during the summer of 1832. The remainder, with a few small bands and fam- ilies (Chief Winameg and a few others excepted), were taken to their lands west in 1838, the writer aiding the government and accompanying them on the journey. B. F. Hollister, of Ft. Meigs, was the agent and conductor for the removal of those in 1832, both from the immediate valley of the river and, also, for the Shaw- wan-noes (or Shawnees), of Wa-pa-kon-ne-to. They were moved overland in wagons and on horseback, using their own ponies on the trip. Those removed in 1838 were by the Hon. Robt. A. Forsyth, of Maumee City, by contract with the government. The greater number, with their goods, were taken to Cleveland by the lake steamer, " Comodore O. H. Perry," commanded by the veteran Captain David Wilkinson, and from Cleveland by the Ohio Canal to Portsmouth ; thence down the Ohio and up the river Mississippi and Missouri to the mouth of the Kansas River, where now stands the prosperous and thriving Kansas City ; thence to the Indian Territory. Many of the young men rode their ponies across the country, crossing the Mississippi at Burlington. Thus the original possessors of this beautiful and fertile country passed on their long journey " toward the setting sun," and now where the dark and shaded forests, the tangled thicket and mirey swamp, silently proclaimed a wilderness ;
30
HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
where, either in the darkness of the night or in the broad light of the sun, could be heard the dismal howl of the wolf or the Indian's savage yell, now waves the golden harvest of the husbandman and the sharp whistle of the locomotive speeding along the lightning train over the iron track. The cry of the wolf and the " whoop " of the Indian is heard no more in the land, and the plow- boy whistles gaily, undisturbed as he wends his quiet way to the fields to turn the fertile soil.
Many of the chiefs hereinbefore mentioned, of these tribes, were men pos- sessed of native intelligence, not generally known or understood by the histo- rian or the general reader ; they were men of noble presence and dignified bearing ; wise and eloquent in counsel, and sagacious and strategetic managers on the battle-field. Few men equaled the Miami chiefs, Richardville and Wa- se-on, in the persuasive and eloquent language which dropped from their lips in debate. The writer well remembers, when but a boy, of being present at the treaty, held opposite Fort Meigs, in 1831, with the Ottowas, by the United States commissioner, Governor Porter, of Pennsylvania. The governor, in his address to the Indian council, portrayed in glowing and eloquent language, the beauties of the country beyond the Mississippi, which was to be their new home; the beautiful groves of timber, the rolling and undulating prairie land, covered with waving grass, and spangled over with flowers of the many-colored hues of the rainbow; herds of buffalo, elk and deer, were quietly resting in the cool shades of the leafy forest; wild turkeys and water- fowls by the million, fed upon the luxuriant vegetation. This picture was drawn by a master mind, and presented to the untutored savage, in the most seductive language of which the eminent statesman and diplomat was possessed. After closing his eloquent address, and taking his seat, amid a profound silence throughout the council, all eyes were turned upon the stoical and dignified countenance of Otto-wau kee (Che-ot tire-wan-kee), the great O-taw- waw chief, who sat with his gaze riveted upon the earth, seeming unconscious of the wild throbbing of the thousand anxious hearts of the assembled council. Many minutes passed in silent suspense, when he rose to his feet, and with that majestic dignity born to the North American savage, scarcely equaled by the cultured prince or statesman, folded his arms across his breast, his eyes now riveted upon the face of the commissioner, and flashing with the inward emotion of his bosom, he spoke as follows: "The ears of my young men are open : they have heard what the pale-face chief has said : his voice is like the bird, and the land is as beautiful as the flowers, among which it builds its nest and feeds its young ; my young men compare it to the beautiful land of the spirits of the dead; the land of the great Man-i-too, beyond the setting sun. Their heads are young, and they are not wise ; they may go, but the old and the wise, will stay where the graves of their fathers are ; where the council fires of their people have never gone out ; the land and the water given to them by the Great Spirit, so
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