USA > Ohio > Noble County > History of Noble County, Ohio: With Portraits and Biographical Sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 12
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and the colored boy was killed and scalped. Meigs was chased for some distance by an Indian whom he rec- ognized as the one who had been his guide through the wilderness to De- troit in 1790, but reached the garri- son uninjured.
In the fall of 1792 General Rufus Putnam, of Marietta, who had been appointed commissioner for that pur- pose, negotiated a treaty with the Wabash tribes, the Pottawatomies, Eel River Indians, Kalkaskias, Ona- tonions, Pinkashaws, Kickapoos, Pe- orias and others. Rev. John Hecke- welder accompanied General Putnam as interpreter. The treaty was made September 27th, and the tribes men- tioned declared themselves at peace with the United States. Several of the chiefs visited Philadelphia to talk with the President, stopping on their way at Marietta, where they were tendered a reception and a banquet.
In March, 1753, Major Nathan Goodale, while at work on his farm, a mile and a half below the mouth of the Little Kanawha, on the north side of the Ohio, was either killed or captured by a party of Indians who did their work so silently that they did not even attract the atten- tion of the hired man, who was working near by and who was un- molested. Search was made for Goodale in vain: his fate was never accurately known. The Ohio Com- pany's settlements suffered no other losses from the Indians during the remainder of the year.
The winter of 1793-4 passed qui- etly, but in the spring following a
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horrible murder was committed in the vicinity of Belpre.
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 Mixner he operated a small floating mill, which was moored on the Virginia side of the river nearly opposite the head of the island, since famous as Blennerhassett's. Find- ing it inconvenient to cross the river so often, Armstrong and Mixner de- cided to build themselves cabins near the mill and move their families over. The nearness of the garrison, it was thought, would make the ex- periment 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 children took up her abode in her husband's cabin. Mixner, a few days before the Indians made their attack, had moved his family into a new cabin in the 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 be- fore was attacking his pigpen, he seized his gun, and without dressing rushed out. Instead 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 Indi- ans had battered down the door and were inside. IIe succeeded in mak- ing a hole through the loose shingles of the roof, crawled out, jumped to the ground outside 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, Jere- miah, John and Elizabeth, aged re- spectively eight, ten and fourteen years, were taken captives.
Meantime Mixner roused by the report of Armstrong's gun, came out of his cabin, and listening at- tentively 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 occupied the va- cant cabin. Hastily getting his fam. ily 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 crying and moaning over the fate of her mother and the chil- dren. 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
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1
gave the alarm about the same time that Armstrong did. The next day a party was organized, which follow- ed 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 overtaken, the whites abandoned the pursuit. The cap- tives all regained their liberty af- ter the close of the war.
There had been no hostilities for so long a time at the Waterford set- tlement that in the spring of 1794 the colony, which had received several accessions, decided to begin a new set- tlement farther up the Muskingum. Accordingly, at the confluence of Olive Green Creek with the Musk- ingum a blockhouse was built, and around it several ordinary cabins, the whole being enclosed by a stock- ade. 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 De- long and family, and George Ewing and family. In the last-named fam- ily was a lad five years of age, after- ward eminent in the affairs of the nation -Thomas Ewing. The colo- ny had scarcely become settled when one of its leading members became the victim of the scalping knife.
One of the methods of wayiaving the inmates was to drive off the cows, which, during the spring and summer, found abundant food in the luxuri- ous growth of peavine and clover.
In June a party of three Indians were in the vicinity and drove the cows to the hills, confident that the owners would go in search of them. Among the cows was one belonging to Abel Sherman, a stout courageous man, sixty years old. Contrary to the advice of the others, who sus- pected the scheme, he determined to go in search of the animals, and with his gun on his shoulder he wan- dered down the margin of the river about four miles to the garri- son at Waterford supposing they might have fallen in with the cattle of that settlement. When he reach- ed 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 In- dians were the cause of the abscence 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 gath- er some as a treat to the children at home. He had nearly filled the bosom of his hunting-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
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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 ex- tent that the Shawnees, Mingoes and Wyandots, who from earlier years had occupied in cominon the hunt- ing grounds of the Muskingum Valley with the white hunter, roamed the forests unmolested. After the cessa- , minutely described the old man's tion of hostilities a Shawnee called musket, with its iron bands, etc., add- ing that as the certainty of pursuit from the blockhouse required haste. and as the gun was of no use to him, he had hidden it in the hollow of a Silverheels seems to have isolated himself from his tribe, and being a famous hunter lighted his campfire in the vicinity of the mouth of the | Bald Eagle, above where is now i tree. Windsor, and near the ripple in the river known and called by the early boatmen Silverheels' Ripple, where game and fish were then plenty. 1
One day while the Olive Green saltmakers were occupied, old Sil- verheels, who was well known to them, made his appearance at their encampment, confident of being a : welcome recipient of their hospital- ity. The saltmakers had, of course, a fair supply of the standard bever- age, and with a knowledge of the . Indian's appreciation of the arti- cle furnished it to him in liberal and frequent potations. After sev- eral repetitions he became garrulous and communicative, and according to the Indian habit, boastful of his prowess in war, stating that in his : It was not long after this that the
battles and marauding excursions he had taken the scalps of sixteen white men, and specifically that he had dur- ing the last Indian war taken the scalp of an old man near the block- house, a short distance below the mouth of Olive Green ('reek, 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 Detroit for fifty dollars each. Also, that at the time he shot him the old man was gather- ing May-apples, and had the bosom of his hunting-shirt full of them. Ile
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 salt- makers 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 hollow of a decayed tree an old musket, the stock moldered and the barrel rusty, but in a condi- tion to be identified as his father's, establishing the fact that Silverheels was personally concerned in his death.
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dead body of Silverheels was found by a hunter in the ashes of his camp- fire. There he had lived and there he died, and there was a father's death avenged ; and now the deep- ened water of the river hides the | memorial of his name.
Having made a brief digression, let us now return to the narration of incidents 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 Washington County before the establishment of peace.
In February, 1795, unfortunate Belpre suffered still another loss. Jonas Davis, a young Massachusetts man from the upper settlement, had been to Marietta, and as he was re- turning 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 In- dians 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 re- inforced by four other volunteers, 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 ; but all finally returned in safety from their hazardous ex- pedition, greatly to the relief of their anxious friends.
The last act of Indian hostility within the Ohio Company's purchase took place in the valley of the Musk- ingum, not far from the line of the present county of Morgan. In the spring of 1795 five young men- Wil- liam Ford. William Hart, Jacob Proctor, John Waterman and Sher- man Waterman,-who had drawn donation lots on the south branch of Wolf Creek, about three miles from the Waterford garrison, resolved to clear their lands in company. For their protection while at work a small blockhouse was erected on John Wa- terman's land. On the 15th of June, which was a rainy day, the young , men remained about the house. Sher- man 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 ex- hausted. Ilis companions, alarmed by the report of the rifle, grasped their weapons and sprang to the port- holes, and saw that the Indians were still shooting at the prostrate form of Waterman. Two of them rushed out and brought him in, themselves unharmed, though the Indians' bul- lets 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. IIe
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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 op- posite shore of the Ohio during the period of hostility was 38; the num- ber captured, 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 transpir- ing on the Ohio and the Muskingum, General Anthony Wayne had carried terror into the heart of the Indian country, achieved a grand victory and negotiated a treaty of peace. In the autumn of 1793, with a force of about three thousand men, he advanced in- to the territory claimed by the In- dian confederacy. Near the field on which St. Clair's army had been de- feated and slaughtered he erected Fort Recovery, garrisoned it, and reinforced by General Scott and a regiment of mounted Kentuckians pressed on farther into the Indian country. At the junction of the Au- glaize and the Maumee, in what is now the northwestern part of the State of Ohio, in July, 1794, Fort Defiance was built and garrisoned. Then descending the Maumee to the rapids, General Wayne, before strik- ing the final blow, sent proposals for peace to the Indians. All the chiefs save Little Turtle declared them- selves for war. On the 20th of Au- gust, 1794, was fought the battle of
the Fallen Timbers, which resulted in so decisive a victory that the sav- ages were willing to accept peace on the intrepid general's terms .*
After advancing still farther into the Indian country, and erecting Fort Wayne, the victorious com- mander, after months of negotiation, succeeded in concluding a general treaty of peace with all the hostile tribes of the Territory. The treaty was made at Greenville (Darke County, Ohio), August 10, 1795. It was based upon the Fort Harmar Treaty of 1789, and was the last ser- vice which General Wayne per- 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 subse- quent treaty secured permanent peace with the Indians on Ohio soil, extinguished the last vestige of In- dian title to the lands now forming the eastern and southern parts of the State, prepared the way for immi- gration, which soon began pouring its ceaseless stream into the Ohio Valley, finally resulting in the open- ing of the great Northwest to the influences of civilization, the up- building of great cities and States and the development of the greatest agricultural region in the world.
* 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 Americans.
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CHAPTER VII.
PIONEER LIFE IN NOBLE COUNTY.
THE WESTERN PIONEERS-THEIR CHARACTER -DESCRIPTION OF THEIR WORK - DISAD- VANTAGES-PIONEER GATHERINGS- DESCRIPTION OF THE LOG CABIN AND THE MANNER OF ITS ERECTION -THE KITCHEN UTENSILS OF THE PIONEER HOUSEHOLD -THE BILI. OF FARE AND HOW IT WAS PREPARED-FISH AND GAME-GREAT FLIGHT OF WILD PIG- FONS - 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-LITERARY, RELIGIOUS AND EDUCA- TIONAL ADVANTAGES-THE PIONEER PREACHERS-THE EARLY SCHOOLS-MANNER OF TRAVEL-SLOW GROWTH OF THE SETTLEMENTS-PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT -EAR- LIEST SETTLERS OF THE COUNTY.
7 THE early settlers labored under many disadvantages, but it is unlikely that any of them ventured thus far into what was then "The Wild West" with the hope of find- ing their path way 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 and late. Humble as their work may appear when attention is given to its details, there was, never- theless, an element of heroism in it. Men of stout hearts, strong arms and determined spirits have always been in the vanguard of the army of prog- ress. The axes of the backwoods- men have cleared the road; civiliza- tion 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 lands which they had selected for occupation covered with a dense
growth of heavy timber. Usually the settler constructed a temporary shelter of poles and bark, then took his axe and proceeded to clear a small spot of ground, or at least to clear it enough 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 set- tler's household consisted of corn- bread and wild game, with but little variation in the bill of fare. Corn- meal 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 "corncracker" in a settle- ment as dry as the sands of the des- ert. Then long journeys on horse- back must be undertaken to the nearest settlement which had a mill in running order. The roads of those days were mere paths, marked by
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blazed trees, and very difficult for one not accustomed to them to fol- low.
Of amusements there was no lack, especially where the settlers were gathered quite closely in neighbor- hoods. Raisings, log-rollings, corn- shuckings and similar gatherings were constantly occurring, and were usually well attended. On these oc- casions 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 pleas- urable diversions. Visiting was far more frequent between neighbors then than now, and anyone who lived within a half dozen miles was considered a neighbor. There was a genuine fraternal and helpful spirit prevalent between families; feuds and jealousies were rare. All were about in the same condition finan- cially ; 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 i
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 considera- ble revenue from the results of the chase, while others followed it from inclination - sometimes from neces- sity.
As the settlements grew, it was only a few years before each neigh- borhood began to take on the ways of civilization; they had schools, oc- casional 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 statesman, orator, or poli- tician has conned the lessons which were the foundation of that knowl- edge which brought wealth and fame to its possessor. Sometimes a set- tler or an intending settler came on without his family, and having se- lected 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 prefer- able; 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 ob- ject which others beside the poet have reason to remember with grate- ful affection. When the settler had found a spot to his liking he began clearing the ground of the trees, re- serving the largest and best logs to be hewed and used in constructing his cabin. For this, trees of nearly uniform size were selected and cut into suitable lengths, generally fif- teen to eighteen feet. On an ap- pointed day as many of the scatter- ing neighbors as could be assembled gathered at the place to assist the newcomer in "raising" his house.
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
After the ground-logs were laid the others were raised to their places by the aid of handspikes and "skid- poles," and men standing at the cor- ners notched them as fast as they were placed in position. The place of "cornerman " was one of distinc. tion, and the men chosen for these positions were supposed to be par- ticularly 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 frame- work 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 "clap- boards," as they were called, forming the roof, and the clapboards were held in place by weight-poles, stretch- ing across the roof in the same man- ner as the poles beneath the clap- boards, and secured by chunks of wood closely fitted between them at each end. The clapboards were usu- ally about five feet in length, made from straight-grained oak, split in the requisite 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.
might enter stopped. The walls had to be rechinked frequently, as the rain loosened and washed out the filling. One or two small windows were made by cutting out a square hole in the walls. Across the win- dow sticks were fastened, 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 ex- tending 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 fast ened to the door in a similar manner. A wooden latch was then arranged 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 se- curely fastened. From this manner of fastening the door arose the old saying, "The latchstring is always out," synonymous with hospitality.
The chimney of the pioneer dwell- ing stood outside, at one end of the cabin. It was built either of stone or of sticks and mud. The fireplace was generally a huge affair. A space for it was left in the logs, or else one was cut 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 feet long. In the fireplace hung a crane, with
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