History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 36

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

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The indians were always fond of amusements of all kinds. These consisted of races, games of ball, throwing the tomahawk, shooting at a mark with the bow and arrow, or with the rifle after its distri- bution among them, horse races, and other sports incidental to savage life. Their powers of endur- ance were remarkable, and astonishing accounts are often now told of feats of prowess exhibited by these aborigines. Of the animals hunted by the Indians, none seems to have elicited their skill more than the bear. To slay one of these beasts was proof of a warrior's prowess, and dangerous encounters often resulted in the hunter's search for such distinction. The vitality of bruin was une- qualed among the animals of the forest, and on this account, and because of the danger attached to his capture, made him an object of special hunts and feats of courage.

"The Black or Canesadooharie river," says Dr. Hill, "had always been famous among the aborigi- nes of Ohio for the number and largeness of its bears. Some of the pioneers yet surviving often visited this country in search of bruin, when they

first settled in the country, and can relate astound- ing stories of their exploits at the time. The habit of these animals was to search out a hollow tree, or secure a warm clump of bushes late in the autumn, where they could remain three or four months, during the extreme cold of the winter, subsisting entirely on the fat of their bodies. They would emerge in the spring very lean, and when so were exceedingly ferocious. When searching out their places of winter solitude, they' often left the impress of their feet on the bark of the tree they ascended, or on the grass in the lair they had found. The signs were easily discovered by Indians and expert bear hunters. They were then very fat, and were eagerly sought by the Indians for their flesh and fat. Sometimes they would ascend trees thirty or forty feet high, and find a good wintering place and take possession. Again they would ascend the tree, if hollow, from the inside, and, finding a good place, occupy it. Then the hunters would divide forces-one ascend the tree, and with a long pole, sharpened at one end, or wrapped with a rag or dry skin saturated with greese and set on fire, thrust the same down on the bear, and compel him to descend only to meet death at the foot of the tree from the arrow or bullet of the hunter below."

The skin of a fat bear was a great prize to an Indian. It made him an excellent couch on which to sleep, or a cloak to wear. His flesh was sup- posed to impart bravery to those who ate it, hence when dipped in sweetened bear's fat, it was con- sidered an excellent dish and one often offered to friends. Venison, prepared the same way, was also considered a dish fit for the most royal visit- ors; a hospitality always extended to all who came to the camp, and if not accepted the donor was sure to be offended.

The domestic life of the Indians was very much the same in all parts of America. Among the Northern Ohio tribes, marriage consisted simply of two persons agreeing to live together, which simple agreement among many tribes was never broken. Sometimes the young woman courted the young brave, much after the fashion of the white people during leap years. This custom was considered quite proper, and favorably looked upon by the braves. In some localities the chief gave away

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the young woman to some brave he considered competent to support her by the chase, a part of the domestic economy always devolving on the man. When the game was killed, the squaw was expected to cut up and prepare the meat for use, and stretch and tan the hide.

The marriage relation among the most of the tribes was held strictly by all, a variation from it on the part of the female meriting certain death. 'The Wyandots and Delawares prided themselves on their virtue and hospitality, and no authenticat- ed case of the misuse of a female captive, except to treat them as prisoners of war, can now be quoted. They always evinced the utmost modesty toward their female captives. Respect for the aged, for parents and those in authority prevailed. When one among them spoke, all listened-never, under any circumstances, interrupting him. When he was done, then was the time to reply.

In theology, the natives were all believers in one Great Spirit. They firmly believed in his care of the world and of his children, though different theories prevailed among the tribes regarding their creation. Their ideas of a divinity, as expressed by James Smith, a captive many years among them, are well given in the following story, pre- served in Smith's memoirs.

He and his elder Indian brother, Tecaughre- tanego, had been on a hunt for some time, and, meeting with poor success, found themselves straitened for food. After they had smoked at their camp-fire awhile, Tecaughretanego delivered quite a speech, in which he recounted how Owaneeyo (God) had fed them in times gone by; how He fed the white people, and why they raised their own meat; how the Great Spirit provided the Indian with food for his use; and how, though the prospect was sometimes gloomy, the Great Spirit was only trying them; and if they would only trust Him and use the means diligently, they would be certain to be provided for. The next morning Smith rose early, according to the Indian's instructions, and ere long killed a buffalo cow, whose meat kept them in food many days. This was the occasion of another speech from his Indian brother. This trust often led them to habits of prodigality. They seldom provided for the future, almost literally fulfilling the adage:

"Let each day provide for its own wants." They hunted, fished and idled away their days. Pos- sessed of a boundless inheritance, they allowed the white race to come in and possess their lands and eventually drive them entirely away. Their man- ner of feasts may also be noticed.

The following description is from the pen of Dr. Hill, of Ashland, Ohio. The Mr. Copus mentioned is the same who was afterwards mur- dered by the Indians.

"The ceremonies took place in the council-house, a building made of clapboards and poles, about thirty feet wide and fifty feet long. When the Indians entered the council-house, the squaws seated themselves on one side of the room, while the braves occupied the opposite side. There was a small mound of earth in the center of the room, eight or ten feet in diame- ter, which seemed to be a sort of sacrificial mound. The cere- monies began with a sort of rude music, made by beating on a small brass kettle, and on dried skins stretched over the mouths of pots, making a kind of a rude drum. The pounding was accompanied by a sort of song, which, as near as can be un- derstood, ran: 'Tinny, tinny, tinny, ho, ha, ho, ha, ho,' ac- centing the last syllables. Then a chief arose and addressed them; during the delivery of his speech a profound silence pre- vailed. The whole audience seemed to be deeply moved by the oration. The speaker seemed to be about seventy years of age, and was very tall and graceful. His eyes had the fire of youth, and shone with emotion while he was speaking. The andience seemed deeply moved, and frequently sobbed while he spoke. Mr. Copus could not understand the language of the speaker, but presumed he was giving a summary history of the Delaware nation, two tribes of which, the Wolf and the Turtle were represented at the feast. Mr. Copus learned that the speaker was the famous Captain Pipe, of Mohican Johnstown, the executioner of Colonel Crawford. At the close of the ad- dress, dancing commenced. The Indians were clothed in deer- skin leggings and English blankets. Deer hoofs and bears' claws were strung along the seams of their leggins, and when the dance commenced, the jingling of the hoofs and claws made a sort of harmony to the rude music of the pots and kettles. The men danced in files or lines by themselves around the cen- tral mound, the squaws following in a company by themselves. In the dance there seemed to be a proper modesty between the sexes. In fact the Greentown Indians were always noted for being extremely scrupulous and modest in the presence of one another. After the dance the refreshments, made by boiling venison and bear's meat, slightly tainted, together, were handed around. The food was not very palatable to the white persons present, and they were compelled to conceal it about their per- sons until they had left the wigwam, when they threw the un- savory morsels away. No greater insult could have been of- fered the Indians than to have refused the proffered refreshments. hence a little deception was necessary to evade the censure of these untutored sons of the forest, whose stomachs could en- tertain almost anything."

A feast was held by these same Indians in 1811, a short time before the opening of the war of 1812. It is belived to be the last one held in this

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part of Ohio, as the war took away all the princi- pal Indian characters. It was conducted very much as the one described-held in the fall of 1809. John Coulter, an old pioneer, recollects it very well, and, through Dr. Hill, gives a full de- scription of it. Mr. Coulter says, that, while the food was cooking, an occasional morsel was thrown in the fire as an offering to the Great Spirit. Also, while the supper was being prepared, the chiefs, a large number of whom, from all parts of Ohio, were present, commenced to move around the mound in the center of the cabin, sometimes sing- ing and sometimes delivering short speeches in their native tongue. While this was going on, the balance of the audience was arranged in lines two or three deep around the inside of the coun- cil-house, which Henry Howe estimated, from nar- ratives of pioneers given him in 1849, was sixty feet long, twenty-five feet wide, one story high, and inclosed by clapboards, or broad pieces of split lumber. This difference in size may be accounted for by the fact that two persons looking at a build- ing will very seldom make the same estimate of its size. The singing of the Indians at this second feast was a low kind of melancholy wail, accom- panied by a sort of grunt, contortions of the face and singular gesticulations of the arms. The In- dians were dressed as those described in the feast of 1809, and, though Mr. Coulter could not un- derstand their language, he thought it was either a recital of their history or portended war. The ceremonies lasted two or three hours, when the provisions were handed around, and general

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· hand-shaking and congratulations followed, closing the feast. The Indians did not all disappear from this part of Ohio for many years after the advent of the whites.

They often came to Newark to trade. They would gather under the forest trees in the public square, and there talk, smoke, trade, or idle away their time as suited their fancy. Physically they were sometimes the finest specimens of mankind. Tall, straight as an arrow, unexceptional physique, clad only in leggins and breech-clout, they exhib- ited a physical body, one could not tire contem- plating. Sometimes they would get drunk, when they were a little dangerous. They traded peltry for hatchets, powder and ball, and trinkets of various kinds. By practice they became as sharp in bar- gains as the white traders and peddlers. Experi- ence taught them to rely on their own judgment in all such matters.

By the treaty of September 29, 1817, the Dela- wares were deeded a reservation on the south of the Wyandot reservation, both in Marion and Wyandot counties. When this was done, Captain Pipe, son of "Old Captain Pipe," was the princi- pal Delaware chief. The Delaware Indians re- mained on their reservation until about 1829, when they ceded it to the United States for three thousand dollars, and moved west of the Missis- sippi. The Wyandots ceded theirs in March, 1842, and left for the far west in July of the next year. At that date they numbered about seven hundred souls, and were the last Indian tribe to relinquish its claims to the soil of Ohio.

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CHAPTER XXIII.

FIRST WHITE MEN.

CHRISTOPHER GIST-"CHAPLAIN" JONES AND DAVID DUNCAN-SKETCH OF JONES' LIFE-"BILLY" DRAGOO AND HIS ADVENTURES-CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY AND HIS SCOUTS-JUDGE ELLIOTT-SKETCH OF ELLIOTT'S LIFE-AN INDIAN STORY, AND FIRST DEATH OF A WHITE MAN IN THE COUNTY.

"How dolefully the night-hawk screams in the heavens, How dismally gibbers the gray coyote." -Joaquin Miller.

FOLLOWING the Mound Builders and the In- F" dians came the superior race to occupy the soil of Licking county. The first permanent settlement of the county was made in 1798; prior to that, however, a few white men either passed across, or occupied, for a short time, this territory. These may be noticed so far as history gives any account of them.

Christopher Gist was the first, so far as known. This hardy pioneer first set foot on the virgin soil of Licking in 1751. He was exploring in the in- terest of a Virginia land company. Anterior to his advent, and during long ages of pre-historic times, the Indian was probably the sole and unmo- lested human occupant.

Two brothers of General Washington and other prominent Virginia gentlemen of that day were members of the land company represented by Captain Gist, and in whose interest his exploration was made.

This company had heard of the rich lands west of the Ohio, but they knew little of this great dark wilderness, except that it was occupied by savage tribes.

Gist started upon the Indian trail at the forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh), and followed it to the forks of the Muskingum (Coshocton) and from there, by way of Wakatomika (Dresden), and King Beavers- town, which stood on the dividing ridge between the waters of the Hock-Hocking and Scioto, at a point about equi-distant between the present cities of Lancaster and Columbus, to the old Indian

towns near the Pickaway plains, on the Scioto, and from thence to the Indian towns on the Big Mi- ami. This trail led to the reservoir, a portion of which is within the county of Licking. Captain Gist reached it and camped upon its border, as his written - journal shows, January 17, 1751, and on "the next day," continues the journal, he "set out from the great swamp." This trail, in all proba- bility crossed the Licking at or near the mouth of Bowling Green run, about four miles east of New- ark. Mr. John Larabee, who settled on the south side of the Licking in 1801, near the mouth of Bowling Green run, and a few years thereafter purchased a farm three miles east of Newark, found said trail still traceable on his land.

Andrew Montour, son of a Seneca chief and of the famous Catharine Montour, a Canadian woman; also Mr. George Croghan, a commissioner to treat with the Indian tribes on behalf of Pennsylvania, joined Captain Christopher Gist at the Indian vil- lage of Muskingum, situated between the Tusca- rawas and Walhonding rivers, not far from their junction (Coshocton), and accompanied him to the old Indian towns on the Big Miami river.

From the latter point Gist passed into Kentucky. He was a noted character, a man of mark, a nat- ural leader, and a heroic adventurer. The year following his passage through this county (1752), he with eleven other families established a settle- ment between the Monongahela and Youghio- gheney rivers in western Pennsylvania. He was an intimate friend and companion of the then youthful Washington, and served as his guide while on the perilous mission under the authority of Governor Dinwiddie, to the French command- ant on the Ohio and Allegheny rivers.

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Washington once recommended him as a proper person to appoint to the office of Indian agent, and said that he knew "of no person so well quali- fied for it as Captain Gist." And further "that he had extensive dealings with the Indians, is in great esteem among them, well acquainted with their manners and customs, indefatigable and pa- tient-most excellent qualities where Indians are concerned. As to his capacity, honesty and zeal, I dare venture to engage."

Such, in brief, is the story of the first white oc- cupation of the county.

Two-thirds of the average years of human life passed away after Gist's tramp across the county, before it was honored by the presence of a second white man. This was an eccentric character known as "Chaplain Jones," and he was accom- panied by a man named David Duncan, an Indian trader. These two gentlemen, in 1773, traveled eastward from the Shawnee towns on the Scioto, along the Indian trail of the Licking valley which had been followed by Captain Gist.

Duncan was from Shippensburgh, Pennsylvania, and was on his way to Fort Pitt, probably for goods. Rev. David Jones was on his return jour- ney to Freehold, Monmouth county, New Jersey, from the Indians on the Scioto, among whom he had been as missionary, by authority of the Philadel- phia Baptist association, of which he was a member. He kept a diary of this journey, from which these facts are taken.

This diary shows that he followed a trail that led from the Indian towns on the Scioto, to "Stand- ing Stone" (Lancaster), where, in the language of the diary, "was an Indian town consisting chiefly of Delawares, and which was situated on a creek called Hock-Hockin. It appears muddy, is not wide, but soon admits of large canoes." He did not arrive at Standing Stone until nearly nine o'clock at night, and says "that his road was very small, and the night dark in this wide wilderness, which made traveling more disagreeable than can be easily expressed."

Wednesday, February 10, 1773, they "set out early in the morning-our course more northerly than northeast-the land chiefly low and level, and where our horses broke through the frost, it might be called bad road and good land. No inhabi-

tants by the way. Before night, came to a small town consisting of Delawares and Shawnees. About a mile before we came to this town we crossed a clear large stream, called Salt Lick creek [doubtless Licking river, four miles east of New- ark] which empties into the Muskingum."

The town above mentioned was doubtless the Indian village situated on the Bowling Green, five miles east of Newark, which yet existed twenty years later, when Judge Elliott, father of the late Benjamin Elliott, of Newton township, was located there as Indian trader. The diary says, "the country here appeared calculated for health, fertile and beautiful." Next day, "after paying a high price for the corn our horses consumed, we started for the Moravian towns on the Tuscarawas."

This "Chaplain Jones" was born of Welsh parents, on White Clay Creek Hundred, New- castle county, Delaware, May 12, 1736. He was licensed to preach by the Welsh Tract church in 1761, and ordained at Freehold, Monmouth county, New Jersey, December 12, 1766, and re- mained pastor at that place until he started on his missionary tour to the Indians of the northwest.

In 1775 he became pastor of the Great Valley church, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, but re- signed the following year on being appointed chaplain of Colonel (afterwards General) Arthur St. Clair's regiment, raised for service in the Revo- lution. He was on duty with his regiment at Ti- conderoga, and served in two campaigns under Major General Gates. In 1777 he served as brig- ade chaplain under General Wayne. At the close of the war he retired to a farm in Chester county.

In 1789 he again visited the northwest, and January 13, 1790, preached the first sermon ever preached in the Miami country, at Columbia, six miles above Cincinnati. He was chaplain in Wayne's army during his campaign against the In- dians, and in 1812, though seventy-six years old, he again entered the army as chaplain, and served under Generals Brown and Wilkinson until the close of the war. This ended his public career. He was afterward a large contributor to the Phil- adelphia press on public affairs.

He officiated in public for the last time Septem- ber 20, 1817, when he delivered an address at the dedication of the monument erected at Paoli,

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Chester county, Pennsylvania, commemorative of the Americans who were massacred there in 1777. He died February 20, 1820, in his eighty-fourth year, and was buried at the Great Valley Baptist church.

He often visited his countrymen on the "Welsh Hills," near Granville, in his missionary tours. Howe states that "the first Baptist sermon was preached in the log church (in Granville), by Elder Jones in 1806." This was probably Chap- lain Jones.

He is yet remembered by a few of the early pioneers as a kind, companionable gentleman, of rare eccentricities, who always wore the queue, the breeches, the shoe and knee buckles, the cockade and military toggery, of high rank chaplain in the service; and as a gentleman of the "Old School."

The third white man to press the soil of Licking, was "Billy" Dragoo, who afterward became a permanent resident of the county. His first visit to this county was in 1786, under peculiar cir- cumstances.

In October of that year, Mrs. Dragoo and her son, William, a lad of twelve years, were gathering vegetables in their garden in Monongahela county, now West Virginia, when a party of savages rushed upon them from an adjoining thicket, and made them prisoners. The mother was placed upon a horse that had been stolen in the neighbor- hood, and the party started in the direction of the Ohio river. On the third day of their captivity and before the river was reached, the horse rode by Mrs. Dragoo fell, and injured her severely, whereupon the Indians tomahawked and scalped her ; and often during the remainder of the jour- ney to the Indian towns on Mad river, exhibited the scalp as a trophy, before their heart-broken captive boy. At the Ohio they were overtaken by another party of marauders, who had a number of stolen horses, and thereafter the captive was fur- nished a horse on the march.

The Ohio was crossed three miles below Fishing creek, and the Muskingum, at the mouth of the Licking (Zanesville). They followed the Licking valley to the junction of the North and South forks of that stream (Newark), and then pursued the Indian trail up Raccoon creek, passing through Raccoon town, which, until 1807, was known as

an Indian village, situated a mile or more above Johnstown, in Monroe township. Their route, it may be observed, passed through the Indian village on the Bowling Green, before mentioned.

Sometime after his capture, Billy Dragoo was adopted by an Ottawa chief, with whom he re- mained a number of years, enduring all the hardships and vicissitudes incident to Indian life. He became an excellent hunter, and was engaged as such while the chief with whom he lived, and the other sava- ges of the tribe, were engaged in their victorious campaign against St. Clair. Subsequently Billy married an Indian woman, and became a thorough Indian in habits, customs and inclination. The bridge of his nose was bored, and his ears slit pre- paratory to wearing the usual ornaments. He lived with his Indian wife until 1808, when there had been born to them four children, and for this family he had procured, up to that time, a precari- ous subsistence by fishing and hunting. About this time his brother, hearing of his whereabouts, visited him and obtained from him a promise that within forty days he would revisit his father and kinsmen, yet residing in Monongahela county. This promise was kept, and he passed through this county by way of the valley of the North fork, re- maining over night in the small tavern kept by the first settler of the county, Captain Elias Hughes, on the farm afterward owned by William Weis, north of Vannattaburgh. The next day, accom- panied by an Indian, his wife's brother, he passed through Newark, spending the night at the house of another of his brothers, who lived near the present site of Irville, Muskingum county. He then had suspended from his nose a half-moon sil- ver ornament, wore large rings in his ears, and up- on other parts of his person were other Indian trappings. He was at least half Indian, and could readily have laid aside the little remnant of civili- zation that yet adhered to him. Twenty-four years had elapsed since he was captured and carried away from the friends he was now going to visit. At Irville two brothers and a brother-in-law joined him, and the four journeyed in company to meet his father. The latter, on hearing of his approach, could not await his arrival, but set out to meet him on the road. His friends and neighbors to the number of forty or more joined him, and the car-

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alcade of excited and interested people traveled fifteen miles before meeting the long lost son. No pen or pencil can adequately picture such a meet- ing. Remaining two months with his father and friends, Billy returned again to his wife and half- breed children, on his way again spending the night with Elias Hughes.

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 36

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826