History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 35

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

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non river,* thence up that stream to where Freder- icktown now stands, thence up the west branch and across the counties of Marion to the Olen- tangy, and thence to Upper Sandusky, the prin- cipal seat of the Wyandots.

Mr. Kennedy and his little family were kindly treated all the way, and they were permitted to ride most of the time. At night they slept on the leaves. They had plenty of wild meat, which, by the aid of Mrs. Kennedy, was roasted to suit their taste. They were greatly pleased with the scenery along the Walhonding and the beautiful Kokosing. They encamped one night on the present site of Mount Vernon. At that period, and for many sub- sequent years, the Kokosing was a favorite resort for the Wyandot and Delaware hunters. They cleared a few small fields, which they cultivated in corn, and the hills, made by hoeing, were to be seen as late as 1806.

They travelled up the banks of the Kokosing, which Mr. Stilley states was the finest region he ever saw. It abounded in wonderful growth of timber and exhibited a soil unsurpassed for rich- ness. The undergrowth was very rank; wild game existed in great abundance. As the lonely cap- tives attempted to slumber on a cot of dry leaves they were often serenaded by wolves and owls. Their mingled voices made night hideous.

When the Indians arrived at Upper Sandusky they divided their prisoners. They were parcelled out according to the fancy of the Indians and sep- arated. Mr. Kennedy, wife and child were taken in the direction of Detroit. Sarah was adopted by another family and removed to the same neighbor- hood. John Stilley was adopted by an old Indian and his squaw, who treated him with much lenity, and taught him the Wyandot language, which he ac- quired very rapidly. He was very apt and spry, and made an impression upon his new parents that grew into a very warm attachment. The old Indian was very grave, and evinced a disposition to make his adopted son contented and happy. He reciprocat- ed these attentions by being obedient and prompt.

* The late Hon. R. C. Hurd, some years since, wrote to Mr. Schoolcraft concerning the definition of Ko-ko-sing, which Mr. Stilley said the Wyandots pronounced Ko-ko-san. Mr. School- craft says-"The habitation of the little owl." From this Vernon river has always been called, in English, "Owl creek."

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

The first care of this mild old Indian father was to teach him the first principles of hunting. The Indian boys erected a sort of bower of fresh cut brush and leaves in an open space in the forest, and procuring a wild pigeon, tied it to the top of the bower, and concealing themselves within, with bow and arrow, occasionally alarming it; and those flying over, perceiving the fluttering, alighted so that the boys could easily shoot them with their arrows. In this way they secured a great many. The sport furnished them much amusement. The pigeons, at the proper season, were fat, and in such abun- dance as to be easily taken. The flesh was very palatable.

One morning the grave old father left the wig- wam, and after walking a few hundred yards returned. Before leaving the wigwam to hunt, he told young Stilley there was a rabbit within the cir- cle and he might catch it while he was absent. After the old hunter had departed young Stilley proceeded to search for the rabbit. He finally found the track, and soon traced it to a hollow log. Returning to the wigwam he procured a tomahawk with which he soon cut a hole large enough to extri- cate the cony. Being certain that the animal would not bite, he thrust his hand in and seized it by the head and neck and dragged it from the hole. As soon as its hind legs were released in commenced a series of struggles to extricate its head from his grasp, during which his hands were severely torn by its hind feet. Being too plucky to give up the contest, he held on until finally he succeeded in killing it. When the old hunter came in young Stilley informed him with much pride that he had found and captured the rabbit. The old father asked the young hunter to show him his hands. Upon doing so the old fellow laughed heartily, say- ing: "Bad hunt; take him by hind leg next time, and he no scratch." This was his first lesson in hunting rabbits, and he remembered it as long as he lived.

His next lesson was on trapping raccoon. These animals in the wet season are said to be remarkably fond of live frogs, and haunt the ponds where they are to be found. They walk on the fallen timber, and capture the croaking frogs that leap upon the logs to sing their peculiar songs. The trap was made by cutting a small sapling, eight or

ten feet long, which was placed on the log, and stakes driven on each side to keep it from rolling off. One end was then elevated fifteen or eighteen inches, and held up by a short treadle, to which a piece of frog or deer meat was fastened. When the raccoon approached the bait and attempted to remove it, the sappling fell and killed it. In this way large numbers of raccoons were caught. They were generally quite fat, and when roasted, made desirable food.

Young Stilley often accompanied the Indian boys on their fishing excursions along the Sandusky and other streams. He soon learned this art; and when the fish came up from the bay, made himself quite useful to his Indian father and mother, by aiding them in supplying food. They always flat- tered and caressed him in his successful excursions ; and soothed and sympathized with him when he failed. For these acts of kindness he always felt grateful, and redoubled his exertions to win their esteem and confidence. In his lonely hours-for he often thought of his little sister, and of Mrs. Kennedy, the cheering words and counsel of his Indian parents revived his drooping spirits.

He entered freely into the sports of the Indian boys. Their principal amusements were wrestling, foot-racing and playing ball. He was strong and active for one of his age, and was equal in strength and courage to Indian boys much older than him- self. In a general way, he got on smoothly, but occasionally was compelled to use his strength and fists in self-defence. These little quarrels were soon reconciled, and all went on merrily again. The most exciting amusement was their ganie of ball. It resembled very much the game known among boys of modern times, as "Shinny." They used a crooked stick to strike the ball, which was generally made of wood two or three inches in diameter. The stick had a head or curve at the lower end, with which the ball was hit. The alley was generally two or three hundred yards long, and was perfectly smooth and clear of obstructions. The parties divided, and the ball being cast up was struck by one of the players near the center of the alley, and the trick consisted in driving it in the direction of the opposite ends of the alley. In do- ing so, the boys often became badly huddled, and their shins, and sometimes their heads, suffered

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

from the misdirected blows of the players. When- ever the ball was carried by either party, to a given point, the game was won. The young men had a game of ball resembling that of the smaller boys. with the exception that there was a sort of hoop and net on the bat, and the party getting it in his net, attempted to carry it to his end of the aller. while the rest used their efforts to prevent him from accomplishing the difficul feat.

The wigwam in which young Stilley's Indian par- ents resided the first and second winters of his captivity, was a plain afair, and was constructed of poles. after the Wyandot plan. The poles for the sides were cut ten or twelve feet long. The stakes were driven into the ground about four inches apart at each end of the proposed wall They were about six feet high, and tied at the top with elm bark or thongs of eik or buffalo hide. The poles being straight and neat, were laid one upon another until a wall of sufficient height was raised. Abou: nine or ten feet from this wall another similar one was constructed. They then dug a som of trench at each end, and set poles. upright so as to make the end walls, leaving a space large enough for a door. A ridge pole was placed over the center of the building, and elm bark over it to form the roof The cracks were plugged with dry moss. A small space was left in the roof for the smoke to escape. A fire was built near the center of the wigwams, and a bear skin generally served for a door. Their beds were made of deer and bear skins spread around the fire. Upon these they slept. All in all. these rude huts were quite comfortable in the winter season.

Their winter food consisted of such wild game as they could capture in the forest. Deer, bear, and turkeys, were moderately plenty at some dis- tance from the Indian villages. In the fall season, for two or three years, the band to which young Stiller belonged, hunted along the Ko-ko-sing and Walhonding, and generally brought in a good deal of game. When their wild meat was scarce. they used hominy, and a sort of soup made of beans. corn, and a little bear or deer desh. Young Stilley accompanied his old Indian father on his hunding excursions down thair favorite Ko-ko-sing two or three times. Their encampments on these occz- sions were not a great distance from the present

size of Momn: Vermont At that period there was not a white man, except the Canadian traders ind a few captives, within the present limits of the State. The valley of the Kokosing entered in -al its original grandeur. Its luxuriant forests powered almost to the heavens, while wild game ranged in native freedom among the underg uth

Young Stilley occasionally met Mr and Mrs Kennedy, and his little sister, as they travelled with the bands to which they belonged. These prices hunted mostly within the present limits of the Stice of Michigan, and traded at Detroit The furs and peltry secured by the Wyandots of Upper Sandusky were mostly purchased by French and Canadian traders in exchange for amamunition, blankets so- bacco, trinkets, and that bane of the Indian and white man, "fre-water" or bad whisker. The route from Samdesky to Detroit was difficult, and the Wyandocs preferred to trade at home. When war was threatened, their chiefs and leading men made frequent visits to Detren to talk with their "English Father" Though often in the neighbor- hood of the river Raisin, young Stilley was not per- mimed to see Detroit until his release from Indian captivity.

In the summer of 1;Se. the soted Wyandne chief. Big Foot, with his four brothers, and four or Eve warriors, left Sandusky for a maid on the settle- ments opposite the mouth of Yellow cree's, along Raccoon and Peter's creek They killed an old mas in his cabin, and perpetrated ocher crimes in the settlements, and with their p'ander and scalps crossed the Ohio. They were followed by the famous Indian fighters and spies. Adam and An- drew Poe, and some six cchers, and overtaken on Yellow creek, where a light ensued, and the In- cians were all killed be: one. When the surviving Indian reached the vilage of Upper Sandusky he raised a dismal howl The solitary and griez- stricken savage remained in the forest one day and a nigh: howling like a wolf. He then approached che camps and related the contes: between Big Foot and the "Long Knives." The Wyandots lamented the death of Big Foot and his brothers by much groaning and many tears.

Big Foot was a brave warrior and a cuales en- emv. and was regarded by the Wyandoes as invy - nerable. Part of the Indians who accompanied

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

Big Foot, had been present at the capture of Ken- nedy and young Stilley. Their raids were now closed forever.

Young Stilley knew the Poes very well, and says the strength and size of Big Foot was greatly exag- gerated. He and his brothers were above the ordinary size of Indians-were very fine looking, courageous and active. Both the Poes were much larger than Big Foot. He thinks the reason why Big Foot held his own, arose from the fact that he was nearly nude, and Poe could not grip him, while Poe's clothing furnished Big Foot an advantage.

At the close of the Revolutionary war in 1783, an arrangement was made with the British and Indians to bring the white captives to Detroit, to be delivered to their friends. Detroit was a small village, and had a fort and stockade. The Wyan- dots soon brought in Mr. Kennedy, his family, and little Sarah; but retained John Stilley, who was then regularly adopted in his tribe. He had be- come so much attached to his Indian parents, and the wild roving life of the Wyandots, that he had no desire to return home. He was then dressed in the Wyandot manner, his hair all plucked out save a small scalp-lock, which was ornamented with gay colored feathers. They had pierced his ears and the cartilage of his nose, and inserted rings and a brooch therein. When painted he resembled the true Indian. He was then some- thing over twelve years of age, full of life and adventure.

When the prisoners were all brought in there were over ninety. They remained several months at Detroit awaiting an opportunity to return home. In the spring of 1784, after the Indians had be- come pacified, and understood the terms of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy determined not to return home without John. Mr. Kennedy and a few friends, learning that he and his tribe were en- camped near where Malden now stands, determined to visit, and if possible, rescue him from his Indian allurements. On reaching the camp, they found him more an Indian than a white boy, painted, dressed in deer skin, hair worn in true Indian style, rings in his ears, with bow and arrow, and deeply fascinated with his present condition. He loved his grave old Indian father and mother, and had

nearly forgotten his own language! It was difficult to persuade him to return. After many interviews, he finally accompanied Mr. Kennedy to Detroit.

The prisoners were shipped to Sandusky Bay, and upon landing employed two Indian guides to conduct them to the settlement east of the Ohio. They all-ninety-two or three-passed up the San- dusky river, across the Olentangy, through what are now Marion and Morrow counties, to the west branch of the Kokosing, and thence down said stream through the present site of Mount Vernon; down the Walhonding near where Coshocton stands, thence by Indian paths across Tuscarawas and Jefferson counties, to the Ohio river. Before reaching the Ohio river, by comparing destinations, they learned that nearly all their fellow captives be- longed to Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Very few crossed the river with Kennedy and young Stilley. Most of the captives never met again. At this time they found no improvements between Upper Sandusky and the Ohio.

Young Stilley remained on Peter's creek, with his mother, some five years. Learning something of the wilds of the territory of Kentucky, from re- turning adventurers, he determined to abandon his home and visit the hardy pioneers and hunters of the "dark and bloody ground." He and a friend built a large pirogue which they launched, and placing therein such provisions, clothing, and ammu- nition as they might need, and taking their rifles, they descended the Ohio, and landed, in :78c, without accident, at Limestone, near where Mays- ville now stands. They found a small settlement at Wheeling, Marietta, and Gallipolis. The forests on the banks of the Ohio were dense and in full leaf, and seemed to press upon the shore like a mighty wall. Although the Shawnees had often crossed the beautiful Ohio to harrass the settlements of Kentucky, they met no hostile bands on their trip down the river.

Mr. Stilley remained at Limestone a short time, and upon learning that there was a settlement on the Elkhorn, he determined to visit it. In com- pany with several hunters, he passed through the forest to that region. He had been there but a short time, when he became acquainted with the brave hunter and Indian spy, Simon Kenton. Kenton, at that time, had command of a small

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company of spies and scouts, who patrolled the Elkhorn for a distance of fifty miles to guard the settlements against surprise by hostle bands of Shawnees and Miamis, who refused to be pacified or submit to a recent treaty. He joined Kenton's company, and became an active minute man. During his stay on the Elkhorn, some three years, owing to the vigilance of Kenton and others, the settlements remained nearly undisturbed by the savages. Elk and buffalo were yet quite plenty, and Stilley often joined parties on hunting excur- sions. He passed down Licking river on one of his hunting trips, to where Covington now stands, and thinks he shot a panther within its present corporate limits. The animal had treed, and had a peculiar white spot on its breast, at which he aimed and struck, killing the ferocious beast almost without a struggle. While in the Elkhorn settle- ment, he also became acquainted with a noted hunter named Neal Washburn, and a Mr. Robinet who kept a pack of fine hunting dogs.

After the repulse of General Harmar in 1790, and the disastrous defeat of General St. Clair in 1791, and General Wayne was ordered to the west, John Stilley determined to become a soldier. He volunteered in a company commanded by Captain Rollins, raised near Paris, Kentucky, for a term of four months ; and passed with the Kentucky troops, by Fort Washington, (Cincinnati) and up the trail of St. Clair to Fort Recovery. At the expiration of his service, he returned with his comrades to the Elkhorn settlement, where he remained but a short time, and re-enlisted for a tour of five months. The Kentucky troops were hurried forward, and participated in the noted battle of "Fallen Tim- bers," where the Indian army was overthrown and compelled to submit to a humiliating treaty, which deprived them of a vast amount of territory, and crushed their military prestige. Mr. Stilley re- garded General Wayne as a courageous and far- seeing commander; and just the man to strike ter- ror into the heart of the blood-thirsty savages led by Little Turtle, Captain Pipe, and other wily chiefs.

At the expiration of his second term of service, he again returned to the Elkhorn settlement. He remained there hunting and farming until about 1797, He describes the hunters and pioneers of

that time as being the most courteous, hospitable, whole-souled and brave people he evcr knew. Their cabins, to use the old phrase, "had their latch-strings always out." They traversed the for- est for miles to aid each other in putting up cabins, rolling logs, planting corn and clearing fields. They divided their surplus grain for seed, and thus contributed to the enlargement of the settlements, and the general prosperity and happiness of all.

In 1800 he married Rebecca Thompson, of Alle- gheny county, Pennsylvania, and remembering the beautiful country along the Kokosing, determined to find a home there. In 1805-6 the lands along that stream, within the present limits of Knox county, were being surveyed into tracts of eighty and one hundred and sixty acres. In 1805, Moses Craig, a relative, settled about one mile west of the site of Mount Vernon. Mr. Stilley, in the spring of 1806, visited. Mr. Craig, and located a military tract adjoining him, and clearing a field, planted it in corn, and remained through the summer months cultivating it. In the meantime he cut logs, and by the aid of the neighborhood settlers, erected a cabin. In the fall he returned to Peter's creek.

In the spring of 1807, a company consisting of Robert Thompson and wife, John Stilley, three children and his mother, John Stilley (a nephew late of Morrow county), and a colored boy by the name of Benjamin Truesser (who died in Janesville a few years since, well advanced in years), with teams and covered wagons, loaded with such household articles as were needed, started for the wilds of Ohio. Their route was from Peter's creek to Cannonsburgh, Pennsylvania, thence to Wells- burg, Virginia, thence to Steubenville and Cadiz, thence to Cambridge, thence along Zane's old track to Zanesville and Newark, and thence to the pres- ent site of Mount Vernon. They were detained several days at Wills creek in consequence of high water, and had to camp out between Zanesville and Newark. The trip took thirteen days, and they were much wearied.

As soon as John Stilley had fully rested from the trip, he took two horses and returned to Peter's creek for his wife and a small child (now the wife of Benjamin F. Smith), who were unable to come with the former company. He proceeded down the Kokosing and Walhonding to where Coshoc-

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ton now stands, thence to New Philadelphia, thence to Steubenville and thence to Peter's creek. He had most of the way but an Indian trail to lead him; but this being the route he had travelled to and from his captivity, it was somewhat familiar. On arriving at his old home, Mrs. Stilley mounted one of the horses and undertook the journey. They travelled the same route and came through with but a single accident. When they were crossing the Walhonding, the horse of Mrs. Stilley being a poor swimmer, became alarmed and turned down stream, and was about to reach a steep bank, where Mrs. Stilley would have been thrown and probably drowned. Fifteen or twenty Greentown Indians were encamped near the bank, and Billy Montour, seeing the danger, mounted a pony and rushed into the stream, pursuing, overtaking, and safely conducting the horse of Mrs. Stilley out. As long as Billy Montour, Tom Lyon and the Green- town Indians visited the Kokosing to hunt, they were kindly regarded for this generous act.

John Stilley served creditably in the war of 1812, as adjutant of Colonel Kratzer's regiment, and as a volunteer in defence of Fort Meigs. He was a brave, active, and able soldier.

After the close of the war, Mr. Stilley, like his thriving neighbors, entered actively upon the task of clearing up his farm, which was handsomely lo- cated, and is now one of the most desirable home- steads in Knox county; and, like a true pioneer, always had his latch-string out. As the population increased, his good judgment, business qualities, and integrity, gave him weight with his fellow-citi- zens. The records of Knox county show that John Stilley was more frequently, perhaps, than any other pioneer of the county, selected upon the juries drawn to deal out justice between man and man. In the spring of 1824, he was elected justice of the peace, and in the fall of the same year, county commissioner. These trusts were faithfully executed.

In 1852, he was attacked with paralysis, with which he lingered a short time, and died March roth. He sleeps by the side of his faithful wife, (who survived him a short time), near his loved Kokosing, where he had so many adventures in his youth.

When he passed through this part of the North-

west Territory, in 1781, there was not a settler in it. When he died, in 1852, this territory had over two millions of people. Two sons, Gilman and Morgan, reside on the old homestead.

Probably the next white men to pass across this territory were the Moravians, who, as prisoners, were taken from the Moravian towns on the Tus- carawas river to Upper Sandusky, by British em- issaries. These peaceable Christian Indians were charged with being spies, and with holding treason- able correspondence with the Americans at Pitts- burgh and perhaps other points, and of harboring other Indians friendly to the American cause. Upon these charges they were arrested by Captain Matthew Elliottt, of the British army, who had under his command about three hundred hostile Indians. Making no resistance, they were made captives, September 11, 1781, and by this over- powering force compelled to leave their much- loved homes and take up their line of march for the Sandusky river. Upon this march they fol- lowed the Indian trail down the Tuscarawas to the mouth of the Walhonding, in Coshocton county; thence up that stream to the mouth of the Koko- sing; thence up the Kokosing, passing over the spot upon which Mount Vernon now stands, and on to the Wyandot town, near the present site of Upper Sandusky. The missionaries thus forcibly removed were Revs. Zeisberger, Senseman, and Jungman, of New Schonbrunn; Revs. John Heckewelder, and Jung, of Salem, and Rev. William Edwards, of Gnadenhutten.

The point at which they were left to take care of themselves, their wives, children and Indian cap- tives, was on the banks of the Sandusky river, not far from where the Broken Sword creek empties into it, about ten miles from Upper Sandusky. Here they selected a location, and, without delay, built a village of small huts to protect themselves from the inclemency of the weather. This village soon took the name of "Captive's Town," and was situated on the right bank of the Sandusky river, about a mile above the mouth of the Broken Sword, in the present township of Antrim, Wyandot county.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 35

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096