USA > Ohio > Lorain County > History of Lorain County, Ohio > Part 8
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When all were convened the chief arose, and, in the most solemn manner, rehearsed a vision, in which he said that a beautiful bird appeared to him and tokl him that a great party of the Eries was preparing to mike a secret and sudden descent upon them to de- stroy them, and that nothing could save them but an immediate rally of all the warriors of the Fire Na- tions, to meet the enemy before they should be able to strike the blow. These solemn announcements were heard in breathless silence. When the chief had finished and sat down, there arose one immense yell of menacing madness. The earth shook when the mighty mass brandished high in the air their war- eInbs, and stamped the ground like furious beasts.
No time was fost. A body of five thousand warriors was organized, and a corps of reserve, consisting of one thousand young men who had never been in bat- tle. The bravest chiefs of all the tribes were put in command, and spies immediately sent out in search of the enemy, the whole body taking up their line of march in the direction whence they expected the attack.
The advance of the party was continued several days, passing through, successively, the settlement of their friends, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas; but they had scarcely passed the last wig- wam, now the fort of Ca-an-du-gue (Canandaigua) lake, when the scouts brought in intelligence of the advance of the Eries, who had already crossed the Ce-nis-se-u (Genesee) river in great force. The Eries had not the slightest intimation of the approach of their enemies. They relied on the secrecy and celerity
of their movements to surprise and subdue the Sene- cas almost without resistance.
The two parties met at a point about half-way be- tween the foot of Canandaigua lake, on the Genesce river, and near the outlet of two small lakes, near the foot of one of which (Honcoye) the battle was fought, When the two parties came in sight of each other the outlet of the lake only intervened between them.
The entire force of the five confederate tribes was not in view of the Eries. The reserve corps of one thousand young men had not been allowed to advance in sight of the enemy. Nothing could resist the im- petuosity of the Eries at the first sight of an opposing force on the other side of the stream. They rushed through it and fell upon them with tremendous fury. The undaunted courage and determined bravery of the Iroquois could not avail against such a terrible on- słanght, and they were compelled to yield the ground on the bend of the stream. The whole force of the combined tribes, except the corps of the reserve, now became engaged. They fought hand to hand and foot to foot. The battle raged horribly. No quarter was asked or given on either side.
As the fight thickened and became more desperate, the Eries, for the first time, became sensible of their true situation. What they had long anticipated had become a fearful reality. Their enemies had combined for their destruction, and they now found themselves engaged, suddenly and unexpectedly, in a struggle not only involving the glory, but perhaps the very existence of their nation. They were proud, and had hitherto been victorious over all their enemies. Their superiority was fell and acknowledged by att the tribes. They knew how to conquer, but not to yield. All these considerations flashed upon the minds of the bold Eries, and nerved every arm with almost super- human power. On the other hand, the united forces of the weaker tribes, now made strong by union, fired with a spirit of emulation, excited to the highest pitch among the warriors of the different tribes, brought for the first time to act in concert, inspired with zeal and confidence by the counsets of the wisest chiefs, and led by the most experienced warriors of all the tribes, the Iroquois were invincible.
Though staggered by the first desperate rush of their opponents they rallied at once, and stood their ground. And now the din of battle rises higher; the war-club, the tomahawk, the scalping-kuife, wiehled by herenlean hands, do terrible deeds of death. Dur- ing the hottest of the battle, which was fierce and long, the corps of reserve, consisting of a thousand young men, were, by a skillful movement under their experienced chiet, placed in the rear of the Eries, on the opposite side of the stream in ambush.
The Eries had been driven seven times across the stream, and had as often regained their ground; but the eighth time, at a given signal from their chief, the corps of young warriors in ambush rushed upon the almost exhausted Eries with a tremendous yetl, and at once decided the fortunes of the day. Hun-
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
dreds, disdaining to tly, were struck down by the war- chibs of the vigorous young warriors, whose thirst for the blood of the enemy knew no bounds. A few of the vanquished Eries escaped to carry the news of the terrible overthrow to their wives and children and old men that remained at home. But the victors did not allow them a moment's repose, but pursued them in their flight, killing all who fell into their hands.
The pursuit was continued for many weeks, and it was five months before the victorious party of the Five Nations returned to their friends to join in cele- brating the victory over their last and most powerful enemy-the Eries.
Tradition adds that many years after a powerful war-party of the descendants of the Eries came from beyond the Mississippi, ascended the Ohio, crossed the country, and attached the Seneces, who had settled in the seat of their fathers at Tu-shu-way. A great battle was fought near the site of the Indian mission-house in which the Eries were again defeated, and slain toa man. Their bones lie bleaching in the sun to the present day, -a monument at once of the indomitable courage of the terrible Eries and of their brave conquerors, the Seneces.
THE IROQUOIS.
After their conquest, the Fire Nations became the undisputed owners, if not the actual occupants, of the svil bordering the southern shore of Lake Erie. They carried their incursions into the far west, and became sovereigns of an almost boundless territory. For many years succceding the subjugation of the Eries this region was known as the hunting-ground of the powerful Iroquois. The Senecas which were the westernmost tribe of the Fice Nations were oftener the occupants of the territory than any other tribe. The rivalry between the French and English for title to American soil involved the Indians in innumer- able wars, resulting in great decimation of their num- bers. This struggle for rivalry eeased in 1763 with the treaty of Paris, when England came into the possession of France's title to the great west. From this time to the close of the Revolutionary struggle the Iroquois retained possession of the forests of Northern Ohio. In 1480 the number of the Iroquois
warriors inhabiting what now is the Reserve could not have exceeded two hundred.
THE HURONS, OR WYANDOTS.
The peninsula enclosed between lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, had been the dwelling-place of the orig- inal Hurons. After their defeat by the Five Nations they became widely scattered, some descending the St. Lawrence, where, in the region of Quebec, their descendants are yet to be seen; a part were adopted into the tribes of their conquerors; others tled beyond Lake Superior and hid themselves in the wilderness that divided the Chippewas from their western foes, while scattered bands took refuge in the forests of Northern Ohio. They were probably more familiarly known to the pioneers of this region than any other tribe of Indians.
REMNANTS OF ALGONKIN TRIBES.
The Algonkins, two hundred years ago, were by far the most numerous family of American Indians, and their domain reaching from the Atlantic to the Missis- sippi river was the greatest in extent. The historian, Bancroft, fixes their number two centuries ago at ninety thousand, while the Iroquois family are thought not to have exceeded seventeen thousand. A hundred years ago a number of their tribes were quite numer- ously represented on the soil of what is now Northern Ohio. The greatest number of these red men belonged to the Delaware, the Chippewa, and the Ottawa tribes, although remnants of the Shawnees, the Pottawato- mies, the Miamis, and the Kickapoos were likewise present. In the wars between the Indians and the pioneer settlers of Ohio, preceding the treaties of Fort Melntosh (1785), of Fort Harmar (1789), of Fort Greenville (1795), and of Fort Industry, (1805), the red men were completely subdued, and thereafter this region, instead of being the permanent dwelling-place of one or more tribes of Indians, came to be tempo- rarily the common hunting-ground of many tribes. Seeking permanent homes in the remoter west, they returned here during the Imnting seasons to renew the sports of the chase and roam through the pleasant forests where lay buried the dead of their forefathers. Such was the condition, for the most part, of the red men of this locality when first came hither the white settler.
ABSTRACT OF TREATIES CONVEYING LANDS.
DATE OF TREATY.
WHERE MADE, AND BY WHOM.
SUMMARY OF THE GRANTS.
1713.
Utrecht. England, France and other Enropean powers.
1726.
Albany, New York. Iroquois aad the English.
1711.
Lancaster, Pa. Same parties as above.
1752
At Logstown, on the Ohio. Same parties as above and western Indians.
1763
Paris. England and Portugal on the one side, and France and Spain on the other.
France cedes to England Bay of Indson and its borders, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
All the claims of the Six Nations to lands west of Lake Erie, including a strip sixty miles wide along the shores of Lakes Oatario and Erie from Oswego river to the Cnyahoga.
All the lands of the Iroquois that are or hereafter may be within the colony of Virginia.
Confirm the treaty of Lancaster, and consent to settlements south of the Ohio river.
France cedes to England islands in the West Indies; the Floridas; the eastera half of the valley of the Mississippi; all Canada; Acadia; and Cape Breton and its independent islands.
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OIIIO.
ABSTRACT OF TREATIES CONVEYING LANDS .- CONTINUED.
DATE OF TREATY.
WHERE MADE, AND BY WHOM,
SUMMARY OF THE GRANTS.
1783
Paris. England and the United States.
England cedes to the United States the territory in North America lying south of the chain of lakes and east of the Mississippi.
Fort Stanwix, New York. The Iroquois and the The Iroquois cede to the United States all their claims west of Pennsylvania. United States.
1785
Fort MeIntosh, at the mouth of Big Beaver. The , The Indians cede all their claims east and south of the Cuyahoga, and the portage United States and the Chippewas, Delawares, Otturras, and Wyandots. between it and the Tuscarawas to Fort Laurens (Bolivar); thener to Laramie's Fort (northwest part of Shelby county): thence along the Portage path to the St. Mary's river, aud down it to the Omee or Manmee river and the lake shore to the Cuyahoga.
1786.
Fort Finney, near the mouth of the Great Miami. The United States and the Shawnces.
1789. At Fort Harmar. The Iroquois and western tribes and the United States.
1795
At Fort Greenville, United States with twelve tribes,-Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnces, Otto- was, Chippewas, Pottawattomies, Miamis, Kick- apoos, Piankushairs, and Kaskaskias.
1796.
At Buffalo. The Senecas and the Connecticut Land Company.
1805.
At Fort Industry, on the Maumee. The United States and Western Tribes.
The Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Shawnees, Munsees, and Pottu- wattomies relinquish all lands west of the Cayahoga as far west as the west line of the Western Reserve, and south of the line from Fort Laurens to Laramie's fort.
1807.
At Detroit. The United States and Western Tribes.
1808
Brownstown, Michigan.
The same parties and the Showners grant a tract two miles wide, from the west line of the Reserve to the rapids of the Maumee, for the purpose of a road through the Black swamp.
Tha Chippewas, Oftawas, Pottawattomies, Wyandots, Delawares, Senecas, Shaw- noes, and Miamis, who had engaged on the British side in the War of 1812, confirm the treaties of Fort Melntosh and Greenville.
1517
At the rapids of the Mauniee.
The Wyandots cede their lands west of the line of 1805. as far as Laramie's and the St. Mary's river and north of the Maumee. The Pottaruttomies, Chippewas, and Ottarras cede territory west of the Detroit line of 1802 and north of the Maumere.
The Miamis surrender the remaining Indian territory in the north of the Greenville line, and west of the St. Mary's river.
CHAPTER VIII. THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS.
The earliest actual settlement made within the present limits of Lorain county, though short-lived, was effected by that zealous but persecuted seet known as Moravians, at the mouth of Black river in 1282. We deem it but just that a short chapter be devoted to this interesting people, and believe no one will deem the space we accord them as unwisely granted.
The sect had its origin in Bohemia. Always in- significant as to numbers, and none of them remark- able for wealth, position or learning, no Christian people have shown more zeal or enthusiasm in ex- tending their Master's kingdom. Considering their meager numbers, it may be confidently asserted that no other denomination of Christians has done so much for the missionary cause. Without extraordi- nary skill or ability in elucidating abstruse or difficult problems of belief, they have sought not to make proselytes among those already well-grounded in the cardinal doctrines of Christian faith, but to teach the elementary gospel religion to those peoples and tribes who had not yet been converted to christianity. To the prosecution of this work they have freely devoted their lives and fortunes, and no country has been too
remote, no shore too forbidding or inhospitable to prevent their planting there the banner of the cross and seeking to bring under its folds the most savage and degraded of mankind.
In 1232, while their nunthers were less than four hundred, they began their missionary work, the first station established being at St. Thomas in the West Indies.
In 1740 they established a mission among the In- dians at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; but as the Indians were being gradually driven westward, a permanent location was impossible.
The efforts of the missionaries to civilize the In- dians were not wholly successful. Their contact with the whites was always corrupting in its influence upon the red men. For the missionaries to have success it was necessary for them to keep in advance of the wave of emigration.
In 1768 a new location was sought near Oil City. Pennsylvania, and in 1220 they removed to the Beaver river, where they remained a year or more, and then turned their steps westward to the valley of the Tus- carawas, near New Philadelphia, Ohio. Here, in this pleasant and fertile valley, they thought themselves so far in the wilderness that they hoped they might for- ever remain nndisturbed. They built cabins, cleared
Bondary of Fort Melntosh and Fort Harmar confirmed, and extended to Fort Recovery and the mouth of the Kentucky river.
The Senecas, represented by Brant, cede the Connecticut Land Company their rights east of the Cuyahoga.
The Otturras, Chippewas, Wyandots and Pottawattomies cede all that part of Ohio north of the Maumee river, with part of Michigan,
1815.
Springwells, near Detroit.
At St Mary's.
These Indians did not own the land occupied by them on the Scioto, and are allotted a traet on the heads of the two Miamis and the Wabash, west of the Chippewas, Delawares, and Wyandots.
Treaty of Fort Stanwix confirmed by the Iroquois. Treaty of Fort MeIntosh confirmed by the western tribes, -the Sauks and Pottawattomies assenting.
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
away the forests, worshiped God in peace and happi- ness. Their numbers increased by conversions from the Indians until the settlement contained three vil- lages named Schoenbrunn, Salem and Gnadenhutten.
Though they exercised only the arts of peace and kept aloof from war and strife, patiently submitting to wrong without seeking to bestow punishment, they could not escape persecution and martyrdom. They were distrusted by both the British and the Ameri- cans, The former took steps to break up their mis- sion and bring the inhabitants to Detroit as prisoners.
It was a sad blow to the peaceful Christians to be forced to leave their homes and nugathered erops, and in a long journey through a pathless wilderness, suffering indignity, cruelty and untold hardships.
The following spring, 1782, a few of them by per- mission returned to harvest their corn; but no sooner were they arrived than a detachment of Americans came among them, and, seizing a favorable oppor- tunity, rushed upon the defenceless Christians and slaughtered them in cold blood. It was one of the most ernel, unprovoked and bloody deeds known to the annals of border warfare.
Those that had remained at Detroit sought a home in Canada: but, after dwelling a few years among the Chippewas, their hearts yearned for their old home in the Tuscarawas, and in 1286 they started thither.
Reaching a point on the Cuyahoga in Independence township, known as Pilgrims' Rest, they received in- telligence that made them shrink from going further. They halted and remained here about one year and then journeyed west ward until they reached the month of Black river (in 1787), and here they made a settle- ment. Their hope was to found here a permanent colony and to labor among the Indians, endeavoring to civilize and Christianize them. This cherished wish, however, conkl not be realized. But a few days had elapsed when the chief of the Delawares sent them a message commanding them to depart. This may be termed the first actuat settlement effected within the limits of Lorain county. Though these Moravians tarried but a few days, they had actually chosen a spot where they fully intended to perma- uently remain, and their withdrawal was obligatory, not voluntary.
Driven from Black river, these valiant Christian soldiers next sought for themselves an asylum on the banks of the Huron, about two miles north of the pres- ent village of Milan, in Erie county. Here they dwelt for five or six years; but, after suffering many perse- entions, they were again driven away, and returned to Canada, settling on the river Thomas.
In 197, Congress, mindful of their past wrongs, made grants to them of their old lands on the Tus- carawas, whither a portion of them returned and prosecuted their missionary labors. However, their snecess was retarded by the influence of the white settlers, which was ever demoralizing upon the In- dian, and some of them returned again to Canada, while others, among them Charles Frederich Dencke,
came to the Huron river and established there a mis- sion. This was in 1804. Here they continued to dwell for five years, untit the Fire Lands, having been surveyed, the white settler began to claim the lands upon which their cabin homes were erected. Then the missionaries and their Indian adherents sought their brethren in Canada.
The mission village on the Huron was called Pe- quotting, or Paynothing, and consisted of a chapel, mission house and a score or more of cabins, some of which were afterwards used by the white settlers.
Their labors consisted in teaching the Indians not only religion, but the rudiments of education, and were successful in inducing them to a certain extent to procure their food by cultivating the soil, to live in cabins, and to leave off their paint and feathers and to clothe themselves in more civilized garbs.
Among the most noted of these missionaries may be named Charles Frederich Dencke, who was born in Iceland, his father being a missionary to that coun. try. Tradition states that he had a library which filled a space of not less than ten feet in length by six in height, and occupied nearly the whole of one side of his log cabin at Peqnotting. Surely the man who took the pains to transport these books from place to place under so many difficulties, could not have been uncultivated and unlearned.
These men were not the heroes of battles nor win- ners of renown in the noisy triumph of civie strife. They cared not for the applause of man, but in a humble way, through years of hunger, toil, weariness and loneliness, sustained by an unwavering trust and faith, they sought out the rude savage of the forest and strove to elevate him to a higher, truer manhood. Is it not fitting that History spares, then, a page whereon to transfix their names and deeds?
CHAPTER IX. PIONEER LIFE .*
It would seem that the good old state of Connecticut never attempted, perhaps never intended, to exercise empire over her possessions in the west. She con- tented herself with mere ownership: was not very loth to part with her property, which she made haste to dispose of without any expenditure to develop or enhance its market value. The Connecticut Land Company purchased only to sell again. For the pur- pose of division, it was obliged to survey its domain. This accomplished, the Company was immediately dissolved, and each with his allotment at once sought purchasers, and they, without concert, pushed off singly to their acquisitions. Colonizing in America has been pursued on a somewhat different basis, under a different inspiration from that practiced in Europe. The state undertakes nothing. It is rare that there is organization or combination with us to effect this
*By A. G. Riddle.
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
purpose. It comes to be known that some new un- peopled region is open or may be opened, and by a common impulse, hardy, enterprising men, with their wives and families, or withont them, push off, un- deterred by difficulties, and unappalled by obstacles or dangers even, and the next that the world hears, a new and thriving community, perhaps a lusty young state, demands recognition.
Perhaps no section of the country, of such an extent, had then been so rapidly peopled as the Con- nectient Reserve. With not a score of ocenpants in 1800, twenty years saw it well settled, and those years cover all there was of pioneer life proper, although for twenty years more, the region was sought by men in search of new homes.
Planted mainly from Connecticut and Massachu- setts, with a little sprinkle from the rest of New England, New York and Western Pennsylvania, most of immigrants had to traverse over six hundred miles, two-thirds or three-fourths of which was through a wilderness and over the roughest of roads. The whole was generally by land carriage, and usually by ox teams. Not until the construction of the Erie canal, did Lake Erie and water carriage make any considerable figure in the transit. Some of the earlier pioneers ventured up the lake in small open boats. landing each night, while many found its wave-beaten beach a smooth and level highway.
The crushing defeat of the western tribes of Indians by Wayne, in 1794, freed the Reserve from the fear of savage hostilities, and although many small bands found homes and hunting grounds by her beautiful streams and splendid forests, they were not even a source of annoyance till the dark days of 1812. Save a few from western New York and Pennsylvania, most of the settlers were from older New England, where the hatreds and enmities against the Indians had died out, and where the memories of the Pequots of the Narragansetts, and of King Phillip, had become tradi- tions. Her children carried no border animosities into the Ohio woods, and very few of them had any skill as hunters, or much knowledge of woodcraft. No American of that time but had the memory at least of a hunter's and soldier's life; and men in a single day revert to the ways of barbarism if not savagery. Each man and woman from the old organized states of civilization, as their journeys led them deeper and deeper into the western forests, by so much plunged in- to the heart of primitive life, bearing all their civilized needs and wants with them, which could alone be sup- plied by the skill of the hunter, and of men who could draw all the elements of subsistence, at first hand, from unchanged nature. The great wave of pioneer life, which slowly rolled from the east to the west, followed by the fixed foot-prints of ever equally advancing refinement and civilization, gave birth, as it went, to a mode of life, manners and customs of a pioneer type, consisting of a few well marked pecu- liarities, of plainness, almost coarseness, in a stimulat- ing atmosphere, in that fullness of unconventional
freedom, which left individuals to develope, in a striking way, the diverse peculiarities and character- isties of their natures. On the Reserve, this phase of pioneer life, with its manners and customis, was of but a few years duration, and affected not more than two generations. There is scarcely a vestige of it now remaining. A cherished, a regretful memory: it is fast fading into a tradition, which genins, art, enthusiasm and the warmest imagination can never reproduce.
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