History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 34

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798

USA > Ohio > Logan County > History of Logan County and Ohio > Part 34

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

fluential men, and presenting these facts vividly before them, they became alarmed and promised to reform. We then authorized them to tomahawk every barrel, keg, jug or bottle of whiskey that they could find, under the promise to pay for all and protect them from harm in so doing. They all agreed to do this, and went to work that night to ac- complish the task. Having laid down at a late hour to sleep, I was awakened by one who said he found and brought me a jug of whiskey. I handed him a quarter of a dollar, set the whiskey down, and fell asleep again. The same fellow then came, stole the jug and all, and sold the contents that night to the Indians at a shilling a dram-a pretty good speculation on a half gallon of . whisk,' as the Indians call it. I suspected him of the trick, but he would not confess it until I was about to part with them at the end of the journey, when he came to me and related the circumstances, saying that it was too good a story to keep.

"After we had rendezvoused, preparatory to moving, we were detained several weeks wait- ing until they had got over their tedious round of religious ceremonies, some of which were public and others kept private from us. One of their first aets was to take away the feneing from the graves of their fathers, level them to the surrounding surface, and cover them so neatly with green sod that not a trace of the grass could be seen. Subsequently, a few of the chiefs and others visited their friends at a distance; gave and received presents from chiefs of other nations at their headquarters. Among the ceremonies alluded to was a danee, in which none participated but the warriors. They threw off all their clothing but their britchelouts, painted their faees and naked bodies in a fantastical manner, cover- ing them with the pictures of snakes and dis- agreeable insects and animals, and then, armed with war elubs, commenced dancing,

212

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

yelling and frightfully distorting their coun- tenances. The scene was truly terrific. This was followed by the dance they usually have on returning from a victorious battle, in which both sexes participated. It was a pleasing contrast to the other, and was performed in the night, in a ring, around a large fire. In this they sang and marched, males and females, promiseuously, in single file, around the blaze. The leader of the band commenced singing, while all the rest were silent until he had sung a certain number of words; then the next in the row commenced with the same, and the leader began with a new set, and so on to the end of their chanting. All were singing at once, but no two the same words. I was told that part of the words they used was hallelujah! It was pleasing to witness the native modesty and graceful movements of those young females in this dance.

" When their ceremonies were over, they informed us they were now ready to leave. They then mounted their horses, and such as went in wagons seated themselves, and set out with their 'high priest' in front, bearing on his shoulders 'the ark of the covenant,' which consisted of a large gourd and the bones of a deer's leg tied to its neck. Just previous to starting, the priest gave a blast of his trumpet, then moved slowly and sol- emnly while the others followed in like man- ner, until they were ordered to halt in the evening for encampment, when the priest gave another blast as a signal to stop, erect their tents, and cook supper. The same course was observed through the whole jour- ney; when they arrived near St. Louis, they lost some of their number by cholera. The Shawanoes who emigrated numbered about 200 souls, and the Senecas about 350, among whom was a detachment of Ottawas who were conducted by Capt. Hollister from the Maumee country."

The principal speaker among the Shaw-

anoes at the period of their removal was Wiwelipea .* He was an eloquent orator, and at times his manner was so facinating, his countenance so full of varied expression, and his voice so musical, that surveyors and other strangers passing through the country listen- ed to him with delight, although the words fell upon their cars in an unknown language. He removed with his tribe to the west.

Cornstalk was a famous chief of this nation, and lead its warriors when the Shawanoes were in the prime of their tribal existence. At that time their principal village was at Old Chillicothe, which stood upon the site of the village of Westfall, Pickaway County. At the battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774, he com- manded the forces of the allied Indians, con- sisting of some 1,000 warriors, with consum- mate skill, and if at any time his warriors were believed to waver, his voice could be heard above the din of battle, exclaiming, in his na- tive tongue, " Be strong ! be strong !" When he returned to the l'ickaway towns, after the battle, he called a council of the nation to consult what should be done, and upbraided them in not suffering him to make peace, as he desired, on the evening before the battle. " What," said he, " will you do now? The Big Knife is coming on us, and we shall all be killed. Now you must fight or we are un- done." But no one answering, he said, " then lets kill all our women and children, and go and fight until we die." But still no answer was made, when, rising, he struck his toma- hawk in a post of the Council House, and ex- claimed, " I'll go and make peace," to which all the warriors grunted, "Ough ! ough !" and runners were instantly dispatched to Dun- more to solicit peace.

In the summer of 1777 he was atrociously murdered at Point Pleasant. As his mur- derers were approaching, his son Elinipsico trembled violently. His father encouraged *Howc.

213

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

hiim not to be afraid, for that the Great Man above had sent him there to be killed and die with him. As the men advanced to the door, the Cornstalk rose up and met them; they fired, and seven or eight bullets went through him. So fell the Cornstalk, the great chief- tain, a man of true nobility of soul, and a brave warrior, whose name was bestowed upon him by the consent of the nation, as their great strength and support. Hlad he lived, it is believed that he would have been friendly with the Americans, as he had come over to visit the garrison at Point Pleasant to communieate the designs of the Indians of uniting with the British .*

Cataheeassa, or Black Iloof as he is more popularly known, rose into distinction in his nation even before the death of Cornstalk. " He was born in Florida, and at the period of the removal of a portion of the nation to Ohio and Pennsylvania, was old enough to recolleet having bathed in salt water. He was present, with others of his tribe, at the defeat of Braddock, near Pittsburg, in 1755, and was engaged in all the wars in Ohio from that time until the Treaty of Greenville in 1195. Such was the sagacity of Black Hoof in planning his military expeditions, and such the energy with which he executed them, that he won the confidence of his whole nation, and was never at a loss for braves to fight under his banner. Ile was known far and wide as the great Shawanoe warrior, whose cunning, sagacity, and experience were only equaled by the fierce and desperate bravery with which he carried into operation his mili- tary plans. Like the other Shawanoe chiefs, he was the inveterate foc of the white man, and held that no peace should be made, nor any negotiation attempted, except on the con- dition that the whites should repass the moun- tains, and leave the great plains of the West to the sole occupancy of the natives.

*Reminiscences of Abraham Thomas.

"He was the orator of his tribe during the greater part of his long life, and was an excel- lent speaker. The venerable Col. Johnston, of Piqua, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, describes him as the most graceful Indian he had ever seen, and as possessing the most happy and natural faculty of expressing his ideas. Ile was well versed in the traditions of his people; no one under- stood better their peculiar relations to the whites, whose settlements were gradually en- eroaching on them; or could detail with more minuteness the wrongs with which his nation was afflicted. But, although a stern and un- compromising opposition to the whites had marked his poliey through a series of forty years, and nerved his arm in a hundred bat- tles, he became, a length, convinced of the madness of an ineffectual struggle against a vastly superior and hourly increasing foe. No sooner had he satisfied himself of this truth, than he aeted upon it with the decision which formed a prominent trait in his character. The temporary success of the Indians in several engagements previous to the cam- paign of Gen. Wayne, had kept alive their expiring hopes; but their signal defeat by that gallant officer convinced the more re- flecting of their leaders of the desperate character of. the conflict. Black Hoof was among those who decided upon making terms with the victorious American commander; and having signed the Treaty of 1:95, at Greenville, he continued faithful to his stipu- lations during the remainder of his life. He was friendly, not from sympathy or conviction, but in obedience to a necessity which left no middle course, and under a belief that submission alone could save his tribe from destruction; and having adopted this policy, his sagacity and sense of honor, alike for- bade a recurrenee either to open or seeret hostility. Hle was the principal chief of the Shawanoese nation, and possessed all

21.1

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

the influence and authority which are usually attached to that office at the period when Te- enmsch and his brother, the Prophet, com- menced their hostile operations against the United States. It became the interest as well as policy of these chiefs to enlist Black Hoof in their enterprise; and every effort which the genius of one, and cunning of the other, could devise, was brought to bear upon him. But Black Iloof continued faithful, and by prudence and influence kept the greater part of his tribe from joining the standard of Te- cumseh. In January, 1813, he visited Gen. Tupper, at Fort McArthur, in Logan County, and while there, about 10 o'clock one night, when sitting by the fire in company with the General and several other officers, some one fired a pistol through a hole in the wall of the hut; and shot Black Hoof in the face, the ball entering the cheek, glanced against the bone and finally lodged in his neck; he fell, and for some time was supposed to be dead, but re- vived, and afterward recovered from this severe wound. The would-be assassin was not discovered, Imt no doubt was entertained that it was a white man. Black Hoof was op- posed to polygamy, and to the burning of prisoners. He is reported to have lived forty years with one wife, and to have reared a numerous family of children, who both loved and esteemed him. In stature he wss small being not more than five feet eight inches in height."* He died at Wapagh-ko-netta in 1832, just before the removal of his tribe. His skull is now in the possession of a physi- cian at New Paris, O., and was exhibited at the recent Centennial celebration of his fight with t larke's forces, on August 8, 1780, near Springfield.

Weyapiersenwah or Blue Jacket, as he was known to the whites, was a valiant chieftain of the Shawanor trib and had his residence in Logan County for a long time. lle was Drakey Touo ch.

second only to Black Hoof in influence, being at the head of the Shawanoe contingent in the fight with Harmer in 1290, and in full control of the allied forees in 1994 against Wayne. llis voice was continually for war, and precipitated the battle of the Fallen Tim- ber by his headlong eloquence and earnest- ness against the more prudent counsels of the other chiefs. After this defeat Blue Hacket concurred in the expediency of suing for peace, but at the solicitation of the Brit- ish emissaries delayed proceedings some time. Like other great leaders of his people he saw the land of his fathers passing out of their hands, and every sentiment of patriotism and affection urged him on to relentless war so long as there seemed a possibility of with- standing the eneroachment of the whites. Hle was soon convinced that the representations of the British were only made for their own benefit, and dismissing them gave in his ad- hesion to the Americans and remained stead- fast to the Treaty of Greenville, where he rep- resented his nation jointly with Black Hoof. llis wife at one time was a white woman by the name of Margaret Moore. She was carried away from Virginia when a child nine years old, and lived with the indians until maturity, when she became the consort of Blue Jacket. By him she had a son whom she called Joseph. In the general surrender of prisoners that fol- lowed the close of the English and French war, she paid a visit to her Virginia friends, but when she desired to return to her husband, whom she sincerely loved, her white friends refused to let her return. A daughter (after- ward Mrs. Mary Stewart) was born to her while in Virginia, who grew up, married and after- ward settled in Logan County. The son made a visit to his mother after she had ae- companied her son-in-law to Ohio. He was a thorough-bred Indian so far as habits were concerned, and was never heard of afterward. | Mrs. Stewart had four children, but they

213

IHISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

never married and Blue Jacket's race has be- come extinct in Logan County.

Tecumseh, whose history is better known than any of his illustrious predecessors, began his career as chief in the summer of 1193. The Treaty of Greenville, forced upon the leaders of his nation as the only alternative to the extermination of their race, had put an end to forty years of unavailing war. Ilis haughty spirit could not accept the lesson taught by the experience of his people, and in spite of the pacific influences brought to bear upon him, he engaged in the struggle which received a crushing blow at Tippecanoe, and ended with his death at the battle of the Thames. He was a fine orator, and the chief speaker for the hostile Indians. "Ilis manner when speaking, was animated, fluent and rapid," impressing his auditors with the high order of his moral and intellectual character. In his orations, it is said, he indulged in such lofty flights of rhetorie, that the celebrated interpreter, Dechauset, found it difficult to translate them, though he was as well acquainted with the Shawanoe tongue as with his own.

Spemica Lawba, " Iligh Horn," or Captain Logan, as the whites named him, was a son of the celebrated Shawanoe chief, Moluntha, and was captured by the whites when a lad of sixteen years, at the burning of the Mack- achack towns. He was taken to Kentucky where General Logan, being so well pleased with him, took him into his own family, in which he resided for some years. He was finally allowed to return, and later arose to the dignity of civil chief, through his many estimable, intellectual and moral qualities. He was known to the whites after his sojourn in Kentucky by the name of Logan, to which the title of Captain was afterwards attached. Logan was an unwavering friend of the whites, and lost his life in their service in the fall of 1812. Under orders from General

Harrison, Logan took a party of his tribe in November of that year, and set out to reconnoitre the country towards the Maumee Rapids. He fell in with a party of the enemy, and barely escaped with two or three of his companions. A thoughtless officer expressed some doubt as to his loyalty, which so stung Logan's sense of honor that he organized an enterprise of his own to vindi- cate his fair fame. Ile took with him Captain Johnny and Bright Horn, and set out in quest of adventure. They were suddenly suprised by a party of seven hostile Indians, but pretending to be deserters, and ingra- tiating themselves into the confidence of their captors, until a favorite opportunity present- ing, they arose upon their unsuspecting companions, and slew five of the seven, one of them being the celebrated Pottawatomie Chief, Winnemac. This was not accomplished without some damage to the attacking party, and Bright Horn and Logan reached camp badly wounded, the latter dying soon after reaching camp. The biographer of Tecumseh speaking of the exploit says: "It would, perhaps, be difficult in the history of savage warfare, to point out an enterprise, the execu- tion of which reflects higher credit upon the address and and daring conduct of its authors, than this does upon Logan and his two com- panions. Indeed, a spirit even less indomita- ble, a sense of honor less acute, and a patriotic devotion to a good cause less active, than were manifested by this gallant chieftain of the woods, might, under other circumstan- ces, have well conferred immortality upon his name.

Logan left a dying request that his two sons should be sent to Kentucky and there educated and brought up under the care of Maj. Hardin. When peace was restored Col. Johnston made efforts to carry out this desire of the deceased chief, but was thwarted by the unwillingness of the chief of the

216

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

nation and the children's mother. They finally allowed them to be taken to Piqua, where they were put to school and boarded in a religious family, but the mother of the boys, who was a bad woman, interfered with this plan, taking the boys away frequently for weeks, and on one or two occasions get- ting them intoxicated at their schoolhouse. She finally took them to Wapagh-ko-netta, and raised them among her own people, from whence they emigrated to the west with the Shawanoe nation in 1832 .*

Captain John, whose Indian name has not been perpetuated, was a well known chief of the Shawanoese nation, and was a frequent visitor to the early settlements of Logan County. He was one of the party with Lo- gan in the exploit just noted, and was the only one not wounded in the action. He was over six feet in height, strong and active, and was noted among the white hardly less for his happy faculty of merry making than for his bravery. Judge William Patrick, in his reminiscences, speaks of him as the merry and facetious Capt. Johnny; but there was a side to his character that was less lamb-like. Capt. John MeDonald relates, that one day in the autumn of 1429, while out trapping by himself he met a trader and a half-breed near his trapping grounds, and whiskey being supplied, the two Indians got into a serious quarrel; they were separated by the trader, but they made arrangements to fight the next morning. " They stuck a post on the south side of a log, made a notch in the log, and agreed that when the shadow of the post came into the notch, the fight should com- mence. When the shadow of the post drew neat the spot, they deliberately, and in gloomy silence, took their stations on the log. At length the shadow of the post came into the notch, and these two desperadoes, thirst- ing for each others' blood, simultaneously lowe's historical collection.

sprang to their feet, with each a toma- hawk in the right hand, and a scalping knife in the left, and flew at each other with the fury of tigers." After a terrible strug- gle of a few minutes' duration the tomahawk of John fell upon the head of his antagonist, killing him instantly. About 1800, while out with a hunting party in the Scioto valley, he had some difficulty with his wife and they agreed to separate. After dividing the pro- perty, the wife insisted upon keeping their only child, a boy two or three years old. "The wife laid hold of the child, and John attempted to wrest it from her; at length John's passion was roused to a fury, he drew his fist, knocked down his wife, seized the child, and carrying it to a log, cut it into two parts, and throwing one half to his wife, bade her take it, but never again to show her face, or he would treat her in the same manner." This brutal behavior was never punished or apparently heeded by his campanions and he went scot-free from both offenees. After the general pacification he was a general favorite among the settlers, and seems never to have lapsed into such savage brutality afterward.

Such is the record-imperfectly given-of one of the most powerful and war-like tribes of Ohio. Among its leaders were numbered some of the ablest warriors and most brilliant intellects the Indian race has produced. Quick to fathom the policy of the whites and read in its success the doom of the red man, they be- came the most uncompromising foes of the whites, and at last, accepted peace as the only means of deferring the day of their extermina- tion. The tide of civilization has at last swept them away, leaving behind no monu- ment to mark the site of their former great- ness. But their traditions still possess the land and it is still the privilege of the superior race to do justice to the memory of a people whose crowning crime was an ardent devotion to kin and country.

217

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

The religious denominations of Bellefon- taine occupy an important place in its history, and hence we devote considerable space to their notice. It has been rather difficult to obtain a full and complete sketch of all the churches, but no pains have been spared to collect all the facts attainable.

The oldest church organization in the city, perhaps, is that of the Methodist Episcopal, which is the pioneer church in many portions of the Western country. The itinerant minis- ters of this denomination were usually the first on the frontiers and often found in the wigwam of the savage before he was pressed back by his white neighbors. Methodist churches were built in the vicinity of Belle- fontaine very early. The first regularly or- ganized church was about the year 1819, but meetings had long been held in the pioneers' cabins, and in other convenient places. The first meeting looking to the establishing of a church here was held at Belleville, the first capital of the county, and the organization ex- ercises conducted by Rev. John Strange, in the house of Samuel Carter. The first church edifice was built in 1823, in the town of Belle- fontaine, and Rev. John' Strange, alluded to above, was appointed and regularly installed its first pastor. It prospered for a number of years, when certain differences caused a divis- ion, which, however, were finally and amicably adjusted in 1858. "During the separation,"' says a published record, "the church was known as the First Charge Methodist Episco- pal Church, and the Second Charge Methodist Episcopal Church. On the 17th of April, 1858, a committee from each division was appointed to meet at the Mayor's office, at Bellefontaine, to agree to a proposition from the First to the Second Charge Church, whereby a Christian and brotherly union should be re-established. The committee from the First Charge consis- ted of N. Z. McColloch, Isaac S. Gardiner, and William Lawrence; that of the Second

Charge, of Anson Brown, H. B. Lust and J. M. Kelley, all gentlemen prominently conneet- ed with the church, and of high social standing in the community. The result of this meet- ing was of the most flattering nature. It was agreed that the United Church shall con- tinue as one, without reference to the past, and as though no former division had ex- isted. The document was signed by the six gentlemen above mentioned, and also by F. Marriott and O. Kennedy, the Pastors of the respective churches. The church, as thus reunited, has continued its labors in perfect harmony, and the greatest success has crowned the efforts of those whose duty it has been to conduct the religious services of it." The church at present has an elegant brick build- ing on North Main street, large and commo- dious, and imposing in appearance. The membership is large, and both church and Sabbath school are in a flourishing state. Rev Mr. Kennedy is at present the Pastor of the Church.

The following history of the First Presby- terian Church of Bellefontaine was prepared by the Pastor, Rev. G. L. Kalb, and read by him at the celebration of the fiftieth anniver- sary of its organization, on the 19th of Octo- ber, 1878:

" We know of this church's birth from the testimony of its first Pastor, Rev. Joseph Stevenson, that it was in 1828, and that there were thirty original members. As the early records of the church are lost, and as the minutes of the Presbytery contain nothing definite on the subject, we do not know the month and day of our separate organization. Mr. Stevenson came to Bellefontaine in May, 1825, for this work. September 24, 1824, in the house of Thomas Scott, a committee of the Presbytery of Columbus, consisting of Rev. James Robinson and Robert B. Dob- bins, organized the church of Cherokee Run, now Huntsville. The June preceeding, Mr.

218

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

Robinson had been appointed by the Presby- tery to eight days' mission work in Union. Champaign and Logan Counties. At its meeting in October, 1824, the Presbytery rec- ognized this newly formed church, and called it the . Church of Logan.' In January, 1825. Presbytery granted leave to this church to prosecute a call before the Presbytery of Washington for a portion of the ministerial labors of Rev. Joseph Stevenson, a member of that Presbytery. Accordingly, Mr. Ste- venson removed to this place, and took charge of the work in this vicinity. There were four congregations with but one session, viz: Cher- okre. Bellefontaine, Stony Creek (now Spring Tlill) and West Liberty. Mr. Stevenson was received into the Presbytery of Columbus January 3, 1826, and it was 'resolved that Mr. Stevenson be installed Pastor of the con- gregation at Bellefontaine on the first Tues- day of April next' The Presbytery met at Bellefontaine, April 5, 1826, and, after ratify- ing an arrangement between the four congre- gations already named, divided Mr. Steven- son's labors equitably among them, and pro- vided for the government of them by two sessions. It then installed Mr. Stevenson over the united charge as Pastor. A year from this time, the congregation at Bellefon- laine had grown so, in importance at least, that Presbytery directed Mr. Stevenson to devote to it one-half of his time. Hence, while practically this church began its existence in the spring of 1825, it was not separately or- ganized until 1828; and we infer that this took place in the fall, from the fact that the first notice of its separate organization is in a minute of the session of Stony Creek, dated June 21, 1529.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 34

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin Number of Pages: 798

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798