USA > Ohio > Morgan County > History of Morgan County, Ohio, with portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 12
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The winter of 1793-4 passed quietly, but in the spring following Belpre was again the seene of a horrible murder.
John Armstrong, a native of Penn- sylvania, had moved with his family from the headwaters of the Ohio to the Upper Belpre settlement in the fall of 1793. In company with Peter Mix- ner he operated a small floating mill, which was moored on the Virginia side of the river nearly opposite the head of the island, sinee famous as Blennerhassett's. Finding it ineon- venient to eross the river so often, Armstrong and Mixner decided to build themselves eabins near the mill and move their families over. The near- ness of the garrison, it was thought, would make the experiment reasonably safe. But Mrs. Armstrong strongly objected to the plan; she had good reasons for dreading and fearing the Indians, as both her father and mother had been killed by them in Pennsylva- nia. But she finally consented to the arrangement, and with her eight ehil- dren took up her abode in her husband's eabin. Mixner, a few days before the Indians made their attaek, had moved his family into a new eabin in the
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woods, leaving vacant the one he had first occupied. On the night of the 24th of April Armstrong was awakened by the barking of his dog. Thinking that a bear which had been prowling around a night or two before was at- tacking his pigpen, he seized his gun, and without dressing rushed out. In- stead of a bear he saw four Indians. He fired at them and shouted " Indians! Indians!" for the purpose of giving the alarm to his neighbor, then retreated into the house and barred the door. He rushed to the loft of his cabin, and by the time he reached it the Indians had battered down the door and were inside. He succeeded in making a hole through the loose shingles of the roof, crawled out, jumped to the ground out- side, unperceived by the Indians, and went to the mill, where two of his older boys slept, to alarm them.
Mrs. Armstrong, with her three youngest children, slept in the lower part of the cabin. All were killed and scalped. Three children, Jeremiah, John and Elizabeth, aged respectively eight, ten and fourteen years, were taken captives.
Meantime Mixner, roused by the re- port of Armstrong's gun, came out of his cabin, and listening attentively heard the voices of the Indians. He called his wife, who had once been a prisoner among the Wyandots and knew something of their language, and she heard them inquiring about the family which they supposed still occu- pied the vacant cabin. Hastily getting his family into a canoe, he paddled out into the middle of the stream, then floated silently past the Armstrong cabin. As they passed he heard the girl Elizabeth erying and moaning over the fate of her mother and the children.
Mixner shouted and asked what was the matter. One of the Indians who spoke English forced her to reply, "Nothing," telling her if she did not he would kill her.
Landing his family on the island (where there was a blockhouse), he gave the alarm about the same time that Armstrong did. The next day a party was organized, which followed the Indians as far as the Hocking River, where they discovered their trail, and from the prints of their feet learned that the captured children were still alive. Fearing that the Indians would kill the children if they were over- taken, the whites abandoned the pur- suit. The captives all regained their liberty after the close of the war.
There had been no hostilities for so long a time at the Waterford settle- inent that in the spring of 1794 the colony, which had received several ac- cessions, decided to begin a new settle- ment farther up the Muskingum. Ac- cordingly, at the confluence of Olive Green Creek* with the Muskingum a blockhouse was built, and around it several ordinary cabins, the whole be- ing inclosed by a stockade. The little colony numbered about thirty, and was made up of Abel Sherman and wife, their son Ezra and his wife, and Ezra's two brothers, young, unmarried men ; Ezekiel Hoit and family, Aaron Delong and family, and George Ewing and family. In the last-named family was a lad five years of age, afterward emi- ment in the affairs of the nation- Thomas Ewing.+ The colony had
* There is a tradition that Olive Green Creek re- ceived its somewhat peculiar name from Colonel Robert Oliver und Griffin Greene, Esq,, two of the directors of the Ohio Company, who being out with it surveying party got lost, and camped at night upon the stream, und at the same time gave it its name.
+ Mathews' History of Washington County, p. A.
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
scarcely become settled when one of its leading members became the victim of the scalping-knife.
One of the methods of waylaying the inmates was to drive off the cows, which, during the spring and summer, found abundant food in the luxurious growth of peavine and clover. In June a party of three Indians were in the vicinity and drove the cows to the hills, confident the owners would go in search of them. Among the cows was one belonging to Abel Sherman, a stout courageous man, sixty years old. Con- trary to the advice of the others, who suspected the scheme, he determined to go in search of the animals, and with his gun on his shoulder he wandered down the margin of the river about four miles to the garrison at Waterford, supposing they might have fallen in with the cattle of that settlement. When he reached that point he could hear nothing of them. It was then near evening, and he was urged to stay all night, as the settlers also suspected the Indians were the cause of the ab- sence of the cattle. and were watching for those who might be in search of them ; but being bold and fearless, he declined.
When he was within a quarter of a mile of the station, near the mouth of a run since called Sherman's Run, he found a patch of nice May-apples, fully ripe, and was tempted to gather some as a treat to the children at home. He had nearly filled the bosom of his hunt- ing-shirt when, rising from his stooping posture, he saw an Indian within a few paces of him. Instantly springing for his gun, he fired at his enemy, while at the same instant the Indian fired at him. Sherman fell dead. and his ball broke the Indian's arm at the shoulder.
The report of the two discharges was heard in the garrison, and one of them recognized by his son as that of his father's gun, an old-style musket, and, fearless of consequences, with his own gun the young man was soon on the ground, to find his father dead and his scalp taken. But the Indians had fled. Sherman was buried the next day where he fell.
After the close of the long, bloody Indian war the intercourse between the white man and the Indian became friendly and confidential to the extent that the Shawnees, Mingoes and Wy- andots, who from earlier years had occupied in common the hunting- grounds of the Muskingum Valley with the white hunter, roamed the for- est unmolested. After this cessation of hostilities a Shawnee called Silver- heels seems to have isolated himself from his tribe, and being a famous hunt- er lighted his campfire in the vicinity of the mouth of the Bald Eagle, above where is now Windsor, and near the ripple in the river known and called by the early boatmen Silverheels' Ripple, where game and fish were then plenty.
One day, while the Olive Green salt- makers were occupied, old Silverheels, who was well known to them, made his appearance at their. encampment, con- fident of being a welcome recipient of their hospitality. The saltmakers had, of course, a fair supply of the standard beverage, and with a knowledge of the Indian's appreciation of the article fur- nished it to him in liberal and frequent potations. After several repetitions he became garrulous and communicative, and according to the Indian habit boast- ful of his prowess in war, stating that in his battles and marauding excursions he had taken the scalps of sixteen white
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men, and specifically that he had during the last Indian war taken the scalp of an old man near the blockhouse, a short distance below the mouth of Olive Green Creek, on the Muskingum River, describing the scalp as having two crowns; that he had carefully cut and divided it so as to make two scalps, which he had sold to the British at De- troit for fifty dollars each. Also, that at the time he shot him the old man was gathering May-apples, and had the bosom of his hunting-shirt full of them. Ile minutely described the old man's musket, with its iron bands, etc., adding that as the certainty of pursuit from the blockhouse required haste, and as the gun was of no use to him, he had hid- den it in the hollow of a tree.
These particulars were no doubt drawn out by the saltmakers from in- terested motives, as several of them were well acquainted with Abel Sher- man, having lived in the blockhouse at the time, and were familiar with the fact that he had been killed by the Indians at the time and in the manner described. Among the saltmakers was Josiah Sherman, son of Abel, and to make sure of the truth of Silverheels' statement he returned directly home and made search, and found in the hol- low of a decayed tree an old musket, the stock mouldered and the barrel rusty, but in a condition to be identi- fied as his father's, establishing the fact that Silverheels was personally con- cerued in his death. It was not long after this that the dead body of Silver- heels was found by a hunter in the ashes of his campfire. There he had lived and there he died, and there was a father's death avenged; and now the deepened water of the river hides the memorial of his name. 7
Having made a brief digression, let us now return to the narration of inci- dents connected with the war. The last hostile act committed at Marietta took place May 10, 1794, when Robert Worth was killed while at work within a few rods of Fort Harmar. But other outrages were committed in Washing- ton County before the establishment of peace.
In February, 1795, unfortunate Bel- pre suffered still another loss. Jonas Davis, a young Massachusetts man from the upper settlement, had been to Mari- etta, and as he was returning discovered an old skiff at the mouth of Crooked Creek. The next day he returned to the spot to get the nails out of the skiff, nails being then very scarce and very high. As he was at work tearing the old boat to pieces he was shot by marauding Indians and scalped. The next day his remains were found by a party which had gone out to search for him. The same day four young men led by John James set out to avenge Davis' murder. At Gallipolis they were reinforced by four other volun- teers, and they followed the Indians as far as the headwaters of Symmes Creek, distant a hundred miles from Belpre. There they came upon a large camp of Indians. The pursuers were now in their turn pursued, and during their hasty retreat one of the party had an adventure which nearly cost him his scalp; bnt all finally returned in safety from their hazardous expedition, greatly to the relief of their anxious friends.
The last aet of Indian hostility within the Ohio Company's purchase took place in the valley of the Muskingum, not far from the line of the present county of Morgan. In the spring of 1795 five young men -- William Ford, William
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
Hart, Jacob Proctor, John Waterman and Sherman Waterman,-who had drawn donation lots on the south branch of Wolf Creek, about three miles from the Waterford garrison, re- solved to clear their lands in company. For their protection while at work a small blockhouse was erected on John Waterman's land. On the 15th of June, which was a rainy day, the young men remained about the house. Sherman Waterman, while gathering bark near the creek a few rods from the house, was fired upon by an Indian and shot through the body. In spite of his injury he succeeded in almost reaching the blockhouse, then fell exhausted. His companions, alarmed by the report of the rifle, grasped their weapons and sprang to the portholes, and saw that the Indians were still shooting at the prostrate form of Waterman. Two of then rushed out and brought him in, themselves unharmed, though the In- (lians' bullets flew all around them. Making good use of their own rifles, they soon caused the Indians to retreat. One of the young men then started to Waterford to notify the people there of what had happened. He returned with assistance, and the wounded man was removed to the settlement, where he died that night.
The total number of whites killed in Washington County and on the oppo- site shore of the Ohio during the period of hostility was 38; the number cap- tured, 10. Only four Indians were known to have been killed, though it was supposed that many died from the wounds inflicted by the white men's rifles.
While the later events which we have been chronicling were transpiring on the Ohio and the Muskingum, General
Anthony Wayne had carried terror into the heart of the Indian country, achieved a grand victory and nego- tiated a treaty of peace. In the au- tumn of 1793, with a force of about three thousand men, he advanced into the territory claimed by the Indian confederacy. Near the field on which St. Clair's army had been defeated and slaughtered he erected Fort Recovery, garrisoned it, and reinforced by General Scott and a regiment of mounted Ken- tuckians pressed on farther into the Indian country. At the junction of the Auglaize and the Maumee, in what is now the northwestern part of the State of Ohio, in July, 1794, Fort De- fiance was built aud garrisoned. Then descending the Maumee to the rapids, General Wayne, before striking the final blow, sent proposals for peace to the Indians. All the chiefs save Little Turtle declared themselves for war. On the 20th of August, 1794, was fought the battle of the Fallen Tim- bers, which resulted in so decisive a victory that the savages were willing to accept peace on the intrepid gener- al's terms .*
After advancing still farther into the Indian country, and erecting Fort Wayne, the victorious commander, after months of negotiation, succeeded in concluding a general treaty of peace with all the hostile tribes of the Ter- ritory. The treaty was made at Green- ville (Darke County, Ohio), August 10, 1795. It was based upon the Fort Harmar Treaty of 1789, and was the last service which General Wayne per-
* The scene of the battle was near the present town of Waynesfield, Lucas County, Ohio. Not far from the battlefield stood the British post of Fort Miami, then occupied by British soldiers, the assist- ants, encouragers, and, as far as they dared to be, the allies, of the savages in their warfare against the Amer- icans.
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formed for his country. He died in December, 1796, on board a vessel in Lake Erie, while returning from the Indian country to Philadelphia.
Wayne's victory and the subsequent treaty secured permanent peace with the Indians on Ohio soil, extinguished the last vestige of Indian title to the lands now forming the eastern and
southern parts of the State, prepared the way for immigration, which soon began pouring its ceaseless stream into the Ohio Valley, finally resulting in the opening of the great Northwest to the influences of civilization, the up- building of great cities and states and the development of the greatest agri- cultural region in the world.
CHAPTER VII.
PIONEERS AND PIONEER LIFE.
THE WESTERN PIONEERS-THEIR CHARACTER-DESCRIPTION OF THEIR WORK-DISADVANTAGES- PIONEER GATHERINGS-DESCRIPTION OF THE LOG CABIN AND THE MANNER OF ITS ERECTION- THE KITCHEN UTENSILS OF THE PIONEER HOUSEHOLD-THE BILL OF FARE AND HOW IT WAS PRE- PARED-FISH AND GAME-GREAT FLIGHT OF WILD PIGEONS-PIONEER AGRICULTURE-RUDE IMPLEMENTS-HARD WORK-WOMAN'S WORK-THE SPINNING-WHEELS AND THE LOOMS-ALL CLOTHING OF HOME MANUFACTURE-THE KINDS OF GARMENTS IN FASHION LONG AGO-LITER- ARY, RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL AADVANTAGES-THE PIONEER PREACHERS-THE EARLY SCHOOLS-MANNER OF TRAVEL-SLOW GROWTH OF THE SETTLEMENTS-PROGRESS OF IMPROVE- MENT-EARLIEST SETTLERS OF THE COUNTY.
T early settlers iabored under many disadvantages, but it is un- likely that any of them ventured thus far into what was then " The Wild West" with the hope of finding their pathway strewn with roses. They were blessed with strength and health, and, better than all, with good courage, and, sustained by the hope of "a good time coming," could cheerfully and manfully work early aud late. Ilum- ble as their work may appear when at- tention is given to its details, there was, nevertheless, an element of hero- ism in it. Men of stout hearts, strong
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arms and determined spirits have al- ways been in the vanguard of the army of progress. The axes of the back- woodsmeu have cleared the road: civ- ilization follows them. The work of the early settlers was noble, and the memory of it deserves to be perpetu- ated.
The pioneers of this county found the lauds which they had selected for ocenpation covered with a deuse growth of heavy timber. Usually the settler constructed a temporary shel- ter of poles and bark, then took his axe and proceeded to clear a small spot
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
of ground, or at least to clear it enonghi so that a small crop of corn could be raised. Wheat, being less hardy, he did not usually attempt to raise until the ground had been planted to corn a few times. As a result, during the first years in their rude house the food of the settler's household consisted of corn-bread and wild game, with but little variation in the bill of fare. Cornmeal was not easily procured, even if corn was plenty. The early mills were not numerous, neither was their capacity extensive. Frequently a dry season would leave every "tub- mill " and "corneracker" in a settle- ment as dry as the sands of the desert. Then long journeys on horseback must be undertaken to the nearest settle- ment which had a mill in running order. The roads of those days were mere paths, marked by blazed trees, and very difficult for one not accustomed to them to follow.
Of amusements there was no lack, especially where the settlers were gath- ered quite closely in neighborhoods. Raisings, log-rollings, corn-shekings and similar gatherings were constantly occurring, and were usually well at- tended. On these occasions whisky was used liberally ; sometimes it made great "fun" for the assemblage; at other times it was productive of fights, which were also regarded in the light of pleasurable diversions. Visiting was far more frequent between neighbors then than now, and anyone who lived within a half dozen miles was consid- ered a neighbor. There was a genuine fraternal and helpful spirit prevalent be- tween families; feuds and jealousies were rare. All were about in the same con- dition financially : that is, all were poor, and all stood on equal social footing,
Many an early settler, looking back upon that period when his struggles and hardships were greatest, has been heard to declare that those were the happiest days of his life.
To the hunter this locality afforded about every kind of game found in the State. Many derived considerable rev- enue from the results of the chase. while others followed it from inclina- tion-sometimes from necessity.
As the settlements grew, it was only a few years before each neighborhood began to take on the ways of civiliza- tion ; they had schools, occasional preaching, and in other things became like the rest of the world, from which they were no longer estranged.
The log cabin of early times has nearly passed from the earth forever. But it was a comfortable dwelling, and within its walls some of the greatest men of our land have been nurtured and reared ; by the light of the fire of hickory bark many an incipient states- man, orator or politician has conned the lessons which were the foundation of that knowledge which brought wealth and fame to its possessor. Some- times a settler or an intending settler came on without his family, and having selected his land chose a spot whereon to erect his humble dwelling. The location was made with a view to obtaining a convenient supply of good water, and for this reason a spot near a living spring was preferable; but when such an one could not be had a supply of water was readily obtained by digging a well, which, with curb and sweep and "the old oaken bucket," was an object which others besides the poet have reason to remember with grateful affection. When the settler had found a spot to his liking he began
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clearing the ground of the trees, reserv- ing the largest and best logs to be hewed and used in constructing his cabin. For this, trees of nearly uni- form size were selected and cut into suitable lengths, generally fifteen to eighteen feet. On an appointed day as many of the scattering neighbors as could be assembled gathered at the place to assist the newcomer in "rais- ing" his house. After the ground-logs were laid the others were raised to their places by the aid of handspikes and " skidpoles," and men standing at the corners notched them as fast as they were placed in position. The place of "cornerman" was one of distinction, and the men chosen for these positions were supposed to be particularly skillful in the use of the axe.
The cabin was usually raised to a height of seven or eight feet, and then the laying of the gables began. These were formed by shortening each log successively and giving the ends the right slant. The gables were held in position and the framework of the roof formed by small, straight poles laid about two and a half feet apart, and extending from one gable to the other. These poles supported the shingles or " clapboards," as they were called, forming the roof, and the clapboards were held in place by weight-poles, stretching across the roof in the same marmer as the poles beneath the clap- boards, and seenred by chunks of wood closely fitted between them at each end. The clapboards were usually about five feet in length, made from straight-grained oak, split in the requi- site thickness. For the splitting an instrument known as a frow was used, which was merely a straight blade, fixed
upright at right angles with its handle, and driven by a mallet.
After the cabin was completed and roofed the walls were "chinked and daubed" with clay or mud. and all holes through which cold or rain might enter stopped. The walls had to be rechinked frequently, as the rain loos- ened and washed out the filling. One or two small windows were made by cutting out a square hole in the walls. Across the window sticks were fas- tened, and to them greased paper was attached to admit the light and keep out the cold. A doorway was made by cutting out a sufficient space in the logs if a saw was to be had- otherwise it was made by laying short logs on each side until a sufficient height had been reached, when the logs were laid extending the whole length of the front of the cabin. The door was made of splits or clapboards. fastened to wooden cleats by wooden pins. The hinges were also of wood and fastened to the door in a similar manner. A wooden latch was then ar- ranged on the inside of the door to be lifted from the outside by a leather string drawn to the door. When the string was drawn inside the door was securely fastened. From this man- ner of fastening the door arose the old saying, "The latehstring is always out," synonymous with hospitality.
The chimney of the pioneer dwelling stood outside, at one end of the cabin. It was built either of stone or of sticks and mnd. The fireplace was generally a lige affair. A space for it was left in the logs, or else one was eut for it after the walls were erected. The back and sides of the fireplace were made of large, flat stones : the width was sufficient to admit a log six or eight
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feet long. In the fireplace hung a crane, with iron hooks (or wooden ones when iron could not be obtained), npon which the pots and kettles of the house- Hold were suspended.
The Hoor of the cabin -- if it had one, which was not always the case -- was made of puncheons, or boards split from the logs and hewed to the required thickness.
Quite often the settler brought his family with him from his distant East- ern or Southern home, and then he had to construct a temporary shelter, or, if the family was small, lodge them with some accommodating neighbor, until his cabin could be erected and made ready for its occupants.
Frequently the cabins were con- structed with lofts, which served a variety of purposes. The loft was reached by a ladder. It usually con- tained the spare bed of the household -- if there was one -- and was therefore the guest-chamber. It was also the place of storage of all household arti- eles not needed for frequent use; and on its rafters usually hung bunches of herbs which had been gathered and dried in the proper season, such as tansy. catnip, pennyroyal, boneset and wormwood, which in cases of sickness were steeped and administered to the patient in good, strong, old-fashioned allopathie doses.
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