History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 36

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 36

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"Girty took part in Dunmore's war in 1471, on the side of Virginia, during which time he was the bosom friend and companion of Simon Konton. He was intimately acquainted with Col. Crawford. On the 22nd of February, 1:15, he was commissioned an officer of the militia at Pittsburg, taking the test and other necessary oaths upon that occasion. He as- pired to a captaincy in the regular army, but in this was disappointed, which, it seems, was the reason of his deserting to the enemy, carly in the year 1:28. It is probable, however, that his early education among the Senecas had much to do with his desire and resolution again to return to the wilderness.

" The greatest consternation was produced at Pittsburg when the event became known, as with him went a squad of twelve soldiers and the notorious Elliot and MeKee. The now

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assured host lity of this ignoble trio of desper- | the missionaries (Moravians) and their con- a loes to the Government of the United States -Girty. Elliot, and MeKee-made at this | time a dark outlook from the border across the Ohio. Their evil designs might be calcu- lated on with certainty. After attempting to seduce the friendly Delawares from their al- legiance to the Americans, Girty started for Detroit. On his way thither he was captured by the Wyandots. Recognized, however, by some Senecas, the latter demanded him as their prisoner. He soon succeeded in convinc- ing his captors of his loyalty to the king and his cause, and was thereupon set at liberty.

"AArriving at Detroit, Girty was welcomed by Hamilton, the commandant of the post, very cordially, and immediately employed in the Indian department, at sixteen York shil- lings a day, and sent back to the Sandusky to assist the savages in their warfare upon the border. He took up his residence with the Wyandots. ILIs influence soon began to be felt in the Indian confederacy-sometimes with the Shawanoes, and again with the Wy- andots, on their murderous forays into the border settlements, with whom he was always a leader. His name became a household terror all along the border from Pittsburg to the Falls of the Ohio. With it was associated everything cruel and fiendish. To the women and children in particular, nothing was more terrifying than the name of Simon Girty. Although he called himself " Capt. Girty,"yet whether he ever re- ceived a commission from the British Govern- ment, as did his associate, Elliot, is a mooted question.

"Girty now began his wild career against the border settlements. His headquarters were at Sandusky, where he exercised great influ- ence over the Half King, head chief of the Wyandots. Ile was frequently at Detroit; and DePeyster, the commandant, who had succeeded Hamilton, found him ready for any undertaking, either against the Americans or

verts upon the Muskingum, as his hostility to the latter seemed as unbounded as to the former. Ilis career throughout the revolution is chiefly known by his cruel visitations of the frontier, and his bitter persecution of the Moravian missionaries and their Ind.an charges. For some years after the close of this war he remained in the Indian country trading, and was prompt with his baleful in- fluence in inciting the Indiis to renewed hostility in 1690. In the resistance to Ilar- mer of that year, to St. Clair, in 1:91, and to Wayne, in 1694, Girty was prominent among the Indians with his power unimpaired. After St. Clair's defeat, a grand council was held at the confluence of the Maumee and the An- glaize, by nearly all the Northwestern tribes, to take into consideration the situation of af- fairs. Simon Girty was the only white man permitted to be present. Ilis voice wa . for a continuance of the war. Another conference was held in 1993, and it was determined, mainly through the exertions of Girty, to con- tinue hostilities.

"After the treaty at Greenville in 1795, Girty removed to Canada, where he settled on a farm just below Malden, on the Detroit river. He married in the neighborhood and raised a family. In vain he tried to become a decent citizen, and command some degree of respect. The depravity of his untamed and undisci- plined nature was to > apparent. He was ab- horred by all his neighbors. In the war of 1812, Girty, being then nearly blind, was incapable of active service. After the cap- ture of the British fleet on Lake Erie, in 1813, and upon the invasion of Canada imme- diately after, he followed the British army on their retreat, leaving his family at home. He fixed his residence at a Mohawk village on Grand River, Canada, until the proclamation of peace, when he returned to his farm below Malden, where he died in 1818, aged over

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seventy years. The last time I saw Girty, writes William Walker, was in the summer of 1813. From my recollection of his person, he was in height five feet six or seven inches; broad across the chest; strong, round, com- pact limbs, and of fair complexion. Spencer, a prisoner among the Indians, who saw Girty before he left the Indian country, was not favorably impressed with his visage. His dark, shaggy hair; his low forehead; his brows contracted, and meeting above his short, flat nose; his gray, sunken eyes, averting the in- genuous gaze; his lips thin and compressed, and the dark and sinister expression of his countenance, to me seemed the very picture of a villain.

"No other country or age ever produced, perhaps, so brutal, depraved, and wicked a wretch as Simon Girty. He was sagacious and brave, but his sagacity and bravery only made him a greater monster of cruelty. All of the vices of civilization seemed to center in him, and by him were ingrafted upon those of the savage state, without the usual redeeming qualities of either. He moved about through the Indian country during the war of the Revolution and the Indian war which followed, a dark whirlwind of fury, desperation and barbarity. In the refinements of torture inflicted on helpless pris- oners, and in treachery, he stood unrivaled." But one recorded fact stands out in strange contrast with his consistent record of villainy. That occurred soon after his desertion to the Indian country, and was in connection with Simon Kenton. The latter lived many years, on what is called the Old Sandusky Road, about four miles north of Zanesfield. Here he owned a farm where he died, April 29, 1834, at the age of eighty-one years. His remains, after lying here some years, were removed by a deputation of citizens from Urbana, and buri of in the cemetery of that place.

Simon Kenton was a native of Culpepper

County, Virginia, and in 1201, having serious- ly injured a man in an altercation, fled to Kentucky, making his home at the frontier stations of Boone and Logan. He was then only sixteen years of age, of an active nature, fearing no danger, and of such mental powers as in maturer years to command the confidence and respect of the wisest and ablest of his time. For such a character the " troublous times" on the border afforded abundant opportunities for the full display of his genius, and he was prominent in all the border war- fare' from that time to the general pacification in 1:95. His first intimate acquaintance with what is now Logan County, however, was made under rather unpleasant circumstances, which, while only one instance in a long ex- perience of thrilling adventure, is especially appropriate to this chapter on Logan County.

It was about the 1st of September, 1:18. that in company with Alexander Montgomery and George Clark, Kenton set out from Boone's station for the purpose of obtaining horses from the hostile Ohio Indians. Their object. was to cautiously approach the Indian village of Chillicothe, situated in what is now Ross County, and, picking up a number of the ponies, hurry them off into Kentucky.

Their plans succeeded well so far as to reach the vicinity of the town undiscovered, and in finding a fine drove of horses grazing in the prairies. AAfter considerable difficulty they succeeded in securing seven animals, and set off on their return with great speed. On reaching the Ohio river at a point in Brown County, they found that river lashed into a fury by a wind that almost blew a hurricane. The dashing waves, though proving no terror to the intrepil scouts, so frightened the horses that all efforts to get them across failed, and they were obliged to hobble them and wait for the wind to subside. It was not until the following day that matters so mond- od as to warrant another attempt, but the

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horses retained such a vivid remembrance of the fright of the day before that they could not be induced to enter the water. Certain that they were pursued by the savages, they abandoned the attempt to cross, and each selecting one of the best ponies in the collec- tion, mounted and started for the Falls of the Ohio, where there were a few men stationed. No sooner had the rest of the horses been loosed and permitted to stray away at some distance than their greed for gain got the better of their judgment, and they separated to hunt them up again, to take them on their proposed route. Kenton went towards the river, and soon heard a whoop from where they had made the attempt to force the horses in the river. Dismounting and proceeding cautiously to reconnoitre the ground in the direction of the signal, he gained an eminence just in time to meet a party of warriors so near at hand that further concealment was impossible. Ile at once conceived a desperate plan, and, deliberately taking aim, fired at the foremost Indian. His gun flashed in the pan. Hle at once attempted to escape, retreating through a piece of fallen timber which gave him some advantage over his mounted enemies, but their numbers allowed them to surround the spot, and on Kenton's emerging into the open timber he was met by a savage who at once rushed upon him with uplifted tomakawk. Engaged with his assailant in front, Kenton did not hear the approach of the enemy in his rear, and just as he had clubbed his gun for a fearful blow at the savage before him, he was seized from behind and over- powered by numbers. He was soon a captive in fetters. Montgomery was soon slain, and his sealp shaken in the face of his captured companion. Clark escaped in safety to Logan's station.

The Indians were delighted at the summary vengeance that they had been able to inflict upon the marauders, and set about returning

with their captive with the wildest manifesta- tions of fiendish joy. Kenton was tied, Mazep- pa-like, to one of the wildest of their horses, his hands being covered with moccasins to prevent his shielding his face from the brush. The horse, being set free, behaved in the wild- est manner for a time, kicking, rearing and plunging, until wearied out with his futile efforts, he followed the cavalcade as peace- ably as his rider. At Chillicothe he was made to run the gauntlet. Having learned that if he could break through the lines and reach the Council House he would not be forced to repeat the trial, he made the effort, and was so far successful as to reach the vicinity of his goal, when he was captured by Indians in the village, and severely treated by the sav- age crowd that had been cheated of their share in the regularly planned amusement. After recovering from his wounds sufficiently to cat, food was brought to him, after which he was taken to the Council House, where his fate was quickly decided by a large majority voting for his death. "After a long debate, the vote was taken, when it was resolved that the place of his execution should be Wapa- tomica (now Zanesfield, Logan County). The next day he was hurried away to the place destined for his execution. From Chilli- cothe to Wapatomica they had to pass through two other Indian towns, Pickaway and Mackachack. At both towns he was compelled to run the gauntlet, and severely was he whipped through the course. Noth- ing worse than death could follow, and here he made a bold push for life and freedom. Being unconfined, he broke and ran, and soon cleared himself out of sight of pursuers. After thus distancing his pursuers, and leav- ing the town some two miles behind, he acci- dentally fell in with some mounted Indians, who gave chase and drove him back to town." *** This occurred at Mackachack, and shortly * Ilowe's Historical Collections of Ohio.

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

afterward he was removed to his final des- t nation. At Wapatomica the Indians, young and okl, crowded around the prisoner, view- ing him with a good deal of curious in- terest, as his fame was not unknown among the natives. Among others who came to see him was Simon Girty. Kenton, blacked ac- cording to the custom of Indians in case of one condemned to death, was not readily recognized, and it was not until, at the end of a series of questions, he gave Gitty his name as Simon Butler-a name he had forsaken when he fled from Virginia. Girty, who, it wil be remembered, was a companion and friend of Kenton during the Dunmore war, was greatly overcome by the situation in which he found his friend, and threw him- s . H into Kenton's arms, weeping aloud. At a council that was immediately convened at the request of Girty, the renegade made a power- ful sp och in behalf of his friend, and sur- con el in securing a remission of the death sentones, and receiving his friend into his own care and custody.

Girty's friendship was by no means half- hearted. Taking Kenton to the British trad- ing-post at the village, h . provided him with a complete suit of clothes and a horse and saddle. Kenton was now free, riding with bis benefactor frem one Indian town to an- other, and it is probable, had this treatment continued, he might have cast in his lot per- manently with the savages. It was not long, however, when a gloomy change came over his prospects. A puty of savages, returning from an unsuccessful foray, having suffered th . lo s of several of the r number, deman led the sac fire of Kenton, and a messenger was unded naby sent to City, requiring him to atten1 a doncil at Wapatomica, bringing his charges with him. The reception of Ken- ten by the a sembled Indians was ominous. Merle ing seated, the cli f of the defeated party akhessel te a mbly in a vehement

speech, stirring his hearers with sentiments of summary vengeance to be taken on the most available object. Girty replied, recounting the risks he had mun in their service; the fealty with which he had served their cause; the fact that he had never asked them to spare one of their foes before; the nearness of this friend to him, for whom he felt the tenderness | of a parent for a son, and finally pledged him- self never to ask for the protection of another American. His appeal, however, proved un- availing, and, after a prolonged debate, Ken- ton's death was resolved upon by an over- whelming vote of the savages present.

Girty, having enlisted in the service of his friend, did not easily yield to defeat, and as a last resort persuaded the Indians to convey their prisoner to Sandusky, where the tribes assembled in large numbers to receive their presents from the British Government, that the assembled tribes might witness the solemn scene of death. To this the Indians assented, and on their way to that point, soon after the party passed through the village where the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan, resided. Here the party were detained a day while Logan dispatched two runners to speak a good word for Kenton. On arriving at Upper Sandusky he was compelled again to run the gauntlet. and brought before a fourth council to be dis- posed of. As soon as this council was organ- ized. Peter Druyer, a captain in the English service, an interpreter and prominent in the Indian department, and, therefore, a man of great consideration among the savazes, asked permission to address the assembly. The adroitness of his address, together with a seductive offer of a liberal allowance of rum and tobacco, readily won their consent to Kenton's removal to Detroit, where he was confined as prisoner of war. Ilo afterward escaped, and in about the year 1802 settled in Urbana. He was elected a Big adier-Gon- « al of the militia, and in the waro: 1812 bore

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a conspicuous part under Gen. Harrison. About 1820, he moved into Logan Co., a few years after which, through the exertions of Judge Burnet and Gov. Vance, he received a pension of $20 per month. Col. John Mc- Donald. his biographer, thus describes the man: "Gen. Konton was of fair complexion, six feet one inch in height. He stood and walked very erect, and in the prime of life weighed about 190 pounds. He never was inclined to be corpulent, although of sufficient fullness to form a graceful person. He had a soft, trem- ulous voice, very pleasing to the hearer. Ile had laughing gray eyes, which appeared to fascinate the behohler. He was pleasant, good humored, and an obliging companion. When excited, or provoked to anger (which was seldom the case), the fiery glance of his eye would almost curdle the blood of those with whom he came in contact. llis rage, when aroused, was a tornado. In his dealing, he was perfectly honest; his confidence in man, and his credulity, were such that the same man might cheat him twenty times; and if he professed friendship, he might cheat him still."

More appropriately belonging to this class- " the connecting link between the supremacy of the Indians and the permanent settlements of the whites "-were Isaac Zane and James Mc Pherson. The former was born about the year 1753, on the south branch of the Poto- mac, in Virginia, and at the age of nine years was taken prisoner by the Wyandots, and carried to Detroit. He was reared and nur- tured in the customs and traditions of his cap- tors until manhood, when he refused to leave them. He married a Wyandot woman, of half French blood, from Canada, and took no part in the war of the revolution. After the treaty of Greenville, he bought a tract of 1,800 aeres on the site of Zanesfield, where he lived until his death in 1816. It was here that an important Wyandot village was located, tak-

ing its name from him, and later transmitting it to the township. He was related to the Zane family, so prominent in the pioneer his- tory of the eastern frontier of Ohio, and left a large family, whose descendants are now re- presented in some of the best families in Logan County. The descendants have maintained their kinship to the Wyandot nation until re- cently, when they sold their rights, under the treaties with that tribe, to the Government for a given sum.

James McPherson, or Squa-la-ka-ke, "the red-faced man," was a native of Carlisle, Cum- berland County, Pennsylvania. IIe was taken prisoner by the Indians on the Ohio, at or near the mouth of the Big Miami, in Longry's defeat. Ile was engaged for some years in the British Indian department, under Elliot and McKee. He married a fellow prisoner, and after the conquest of the Indians, in 1:95, came into the service of the United States, being placed in charge of the Senecas and Shawanoes on the Lewistown reservation un- til 1830. He owned large property, given him by the Indians, in what is now Harrison township. Ile was very influential during the troubles preceding and during the war of 1812. and had much to do in maintaining a friendly feeling among the reservation In- dians toward the American Government. Ile kept a trading-post, and was probably the first storekeeper in the county. A block- house was built near his place early in 181?, where the families of the friendly Indians were gathered for protection.

Another of the adopted children of the say- ages was Jonathan Alder. Ile was born in New Jersey, about eight miles from Philadel- phia, September 12, 1413. When about the age of eight his parents moved to Wythe County, Virginia. In the succeeding March, 1782, he was captured by a party of Mingoes, and taken to a Mingo village, situated on the north side of the Mad River, within the limits

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of what is now Logan County. After run- ning a gauntlet of Indian children, armed with switches-an ordeal he passed with little or no injury-he was adopted into an Indian family. " His Indian mother thoroughly washed him with soap and warm water, with herbs in it, previous to dressing him in the Indian costume, consisting of a calico shirt, breech clout, leggins and moccasins."* His new-found father was Succohanos, a chief of the Mingoes. After becoming fitted to his strange surroundings, and mastering the lan- guage, he became quite contented. In his narrative he says: " I would have lived very happy if I could have had my health; but for three or four years I was subject to very severe attacks of fever and ague. Their diet went very hard with me for a long time. Their chief living was meat and hominy; but we rarely had bread, and very little salt, which was extremely scarce and dear, as well as milk and butter. Honey and sugar were plentiful, and used a great deal in their cook- ing, as well as on their food." Alder was (Iwelling at the Mackachack towns when they were destroyed by Logan in 1286. Ile was in the attack on Fort Recovery in 1491, and went with several of the Indian expeditions into Kentucky in quest of horses. Although taking an active part in all the life and activ- ities of the savages, he seems never to have lost his regard for the whites. After the treaty of 1995, Alder gives expression to his feelings in his peculiar situation, when he says in his manuscript: "1 could now lie down without fear, and rise up and shake hands with both the Indian and the white man." After the peace of Greenville he went out to the " Darby Plains" to live. Here, with the Indian woman he had taken as wife, he commenced to farm like the whites. Ile kept hogs, cows and horses; sold milk and but- ter to the Indians, horses and pork to the Ar trfox's If' tory of Loenn and Champaign Counties.

whites, and accumulated considerable prop- erty. Two of the settlers had kindly taught him to speak English, and becoming dissatis- lied with his squaw, he desired to put her aside and get a wife from the settlers. Here he met a friendly surveyor, who becarie in- terested in his history, and made efforts which were successful in discovering his mother and others of his family. He at once prepared to go to see them. His first step was to get rid of his Indian wife. There was some difficulty in satisfying her in the division of the prop- erty, but he at length gave her all the cows, fourteen in number, worth $20 each; seven horses, and much other property, reserving to himself only two horses and the swine. Bo- sides these, there was a small box, about six inches long, four wide and four deep, filled with silver. amounting probably to $200, which he intended to take to make an equal division. But to this she objected, saying the box was hers before marriage, and she would not only have it, but all it contained. Alder says: "I saw I could not get it without mak- ing a fuss, and probably having a fight, and told her if she would promise never to trouble nor come back to me, she might have it; to which she agreed."

In marked contrast to the carly characters just reviewed, was one who knew no foe, and whose only protection where murder and rapine possessed the land, was the " gospel of peace." This was Johnny Appleseed. The territory now embraced within the limits of

Logan County was in the line of his travels, and the remains of several orchards in the coun- ty still exist to " point the moral " of his life. He was frequently in this county about 1809, and planted several nurseries here, Mr. Antrim, in his work, locates one on the farm owned by Alonzo and Allen West in 1812, "on Mill Branch, about six hundred yards west of their residence."* Waller Marshall * Antrim's History.

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and Joshua Ballenger are stated by the same writer to possess trees in their orchard from this nursery, that were bearing good fruit. Another orchard or nursery is said to be somewhere on Stony Creek.

But little is known of this strange charac- ter. His proper name was Jonathan C'hap- man, and he was, it is supposed, a native of New England. He was a Swedenborgian in re- ligious faith, and, it seems, became demented on this subject, his eccentricity consisting in a peculiar gentleness toward all living crea- tures, and the planting of apple-seeds on the frontier far in advance of the white settle- ments. It was his custom to go into Penn- sylvania at the time of making cider, and, carefully gathering a peck or more of apple- seeds from the pomace, place them in a bag and start on foot for the western wilds. Ile was familiar with all the trails, and seemed as welcome with the Indians as with the whites. Whenever, in his wanderings, he found a fit opening, he would plant his seed, sometimes in the villages of the natives, some- times in the villages of the whites, but more often in some loamy land along the bank of a stream where an open space gave promise of their growing. These plantings he fre- quently visited to insure their triumph over the choking influence of grass and under- brush. The traditions of his operations are found from Wayne County in Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Ind., a space of some two hundred miles long, and fifty or sixty miles wide, which formed the principal scene of his labors.

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History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 36

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