USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume One > Part 2
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ARCHÆOLOGICAL MAP OF OHIO.
Showing the location of the more important mounds and enclosures of the Prehistoric People in Ohio. This map was made by Cyrus Thomas from the reports of the Smithsonian Institution and published in 1891.
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TUE RISE AND PROGRESS
.OIHO HO TAM JADIDOJOTHOSE ogilently abrisom JustToqui stom odt to nortsool ont ghiwoda hsplayed
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fertile Makingum the Cuyahoga, Mimms were the scenes of his (osL mineros, mint extensive and most "continuous porlamacon(." Er has been aserred that the localities in Dhin which testify to the Mound Builders" presence Tar nomumber the total localities of Kis Evidencial brbinados in Any other state, indeed almon equal thùng la ut the rest of the country, Ohio was the TREAT "Staxe" in prehistoric times, for over twelve diesand allapes in the present state-Umita bave been Found and pored, where the Mound Builder Jeft his Imtilvonlal. Those Laving the form of enclosures, ve also on the hill tops and in the plain or river bottoms, the walled du dieky, each embracing, respectively, from un in three mindred acres in area, exceed fifteen died in number, wbile thousands of single mounds wwring -irenefemeie and height were senttered Ter ile mermal ind southwestern part of the state. Cor the be charly demonstrated by this tremendous huge yle thar these people either continued - - lan carse numbers through a long space il Dan - They arevalluf in vast numbers during a lu brief, conormparancous period, for it has Giant That the Hearthly productions" of their yoLuding in Clos ai placed side by side in a liwe. would exceed over three hundred miles,
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
or farther than from Lake Erie to the Ohio, and that they contain at least thirty million cubic yards of earth or stone, and that it would require one thousand laborers, each one working three hundred days in the year, a century to complete these earthen edifices; or it would take three hundred thousand laborers one year to accomplish the same result. Supposing, in the latter case, the laborers were exclusively men and allowing the conventional average family to each man, there would have been-in Ohio-a population far exceeding a million people. But whether these dif- ferent structures were built synchronously or near the same period, we have no means of knowing. The structures were almost without exception completed before being abandoned, for these industrious and energetic people left no unfinished work, from which it might be inferred that they did not depart under compulsion or in haste. Their works after their aban- donment were not disturbed, except that the single mounds were occasionally utilized by the Indians for intrusive burials. The conqueror of the Mound Build- er, if he had one, had respect for the permanent spoils of war and left the monuments of the defeated foe in- violate and intact; pity it is the same cannot be said for his pale faced successors.
It is not the purpose of this study to attempt any exhaustive or minute account or detailed enumeration of the vestiges left by this people. Rather it is the intention to mention, with brief portrayal, the master- pieces of the different classes of their exploits. We will classify these works and note their features in the following order: (1) Walled enclosures, (2) Single
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
mounds, (3) Village sites and burial grounds, and (4) Theories respecting the identity of the Mound Builders.
The so-called "enclosures" which cap the hill-tops are usually regarded as "forts" or military defenses. These are built of stone or earth and in rare instances of both. The hill-top defenses are not relatively numerous but exhibit in their construction great en- gineering sagacity and skill and almost inconceivable labor. The enclosures on the plains or river bottoms are almost exclusively of earthen material and are either walled towns or structures for refuge or safety; possibly some were religious temples. They are of all dimensions and forms, many of them presenting com- binations of circles, and squares and geometrical figures of great variety.
The most pronounced, because of its size and location, hill-top stone fort, indeed the largest stone edifice of the Mound Builders in this country, was erected on Spruce Hill, in the southern part of Ross county. This work occupies the level summit of a hill some four hundred feet in height; the elevation is a long triangular shaped spur, terminating a range of hills with which it is connected by a narrow neck or isthmus, which affords the only accessible approach to the "fort," for the hillsides at all other points are remarkably steep and in places practically perpendicular. Spruce Hill was admirably chosen for the purpose of defense and obser- vation for its summit commands a panoramic view of the encircling valley through which runs Paint Creek. Within a radius of two or three miles on the plain beneath, were located many groups of aboriginal works, including isolated mounds and extensive enclosures.
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SPRUCE HILL FORT.
The largest stone fort of the Mound Builders in Ohio or in the United States, located on Spruce Hill, east of Paint Creek in Ross County. The walls were two and one-quarter miles in length and enclosed an area of one hundred and forty acres.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
It was a mound building neighborhood; the site of Chillicothe, a great mound building center, was only eleven miles distant to the northeast.
The fort wall, composed entirely of fragments of sandstone from the hill ledge and cobblestones, found in abundance on the summit, was carried around the hill a little below the brow. The stones, loosely piled one upon another with no other means than their own weight to hold them in place, formed a barricade with an average base width of eight or ten feet and a height varying from six to eight. The width and height of the wall originally varied, as the ruins indicate, ac- cording to the requirements of the summit contour and the naturally weak or strong defense features of the line followed. At the places where the approach was most easy the wall was broadest, being at certain points thirty feet across the base, while at one point where the perpendicular rock cliff rendered protection un- necessary, the wall is wanting entirely. Where the defense crosses the isthmus, some seven hundred feet wide, the wall was heaviest and here was the main, if not the only, entrance, a gateway opening upon the terrace extending beyond. This gateway consisted of three openings in the wall, the intercepting segments of which, in each case curving inward, formed a horse- shoe, whose inward curves were forty or fifty feet in length, leaving narrow passages, no wider than eight feet, between. Through these defiles the enemy would have to pass in attempting an entrance. At the northern apex of the fort another gateway existed, protected as the others by inward walls. From this latter opening the hillside sloped down into the valley,
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
affording steep but possible ascent. There was no moat or ditch at any point either exterior or interior to the wall, which measures two and a quarter miles in length and encloses an area of over one hundred and forty acres. The magnitude of this hill-top stone enclosure exceeds any similar construction attributed to the Mound Build- er. It evinces tremendous labor and unusual ingenuity of arrangement, and the wonder at this stupendous work grows when it is remembered that it was erected with- out the aid of beasts of burden or any mechanical as- sistance. It was literally built by manual labor and by "piece work." Such a fortress so situated, must have been impervious to the assaults of savage warfare.
It was in a fair state of preservation less than a gen- eration ago. But to-day the walls are in sad state of demolition, caused by the thrifty farmers who make spoil of the displaced stones for the reparation of their fences. The scene of that once imposing fortification is now fit subject for some Volney on the ruins of em- pires or a Byronic apostrophe on the "broken thrones and temples " of a bygone nation.
Less extensive though more impressive than the Spruce Hill fort is the fortification in Brush Creek township, Highland County, It is the best preserved of the stone defensive works of the Ohio Mound Build- ers. It was first described by Prof. John Locke, of Cincinnati, in the Ohio Geological Report for 1838. Squier and Davis made a thorough examination of it in 1846, publishing the result of their work in the "Ancient Monuments." Many surveys have been made since that time, notably one by Henry A. Shepherd, who gives an excellent description in his "Ohio Antiquities."
FORT HILL - HIGHLAND COUNTY.
The most perfectly preserved Stone Fort of the Mound Builders, on Fort Hill, Highland County. The walls remain almost intact and enclose. from forty to fifty acres of area.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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moat ar d or to the willason Yttft of trot mort solone bas dostai teoris nisden in length End enciones el one hundred aff& forty acres.
The magnitude of da LL itune enclosure exceeds any similar cortarfine alinha lol to the Mound Build- ET. Theyinus indes Thor and unusual ingenuity darmupor, and ih edera thhe stupendous work grama elen Med that it was erected with- Hat the will of fari af hardes me any mechanical as- Thidi be bunual liber and by
Je was & losslala prestation less than a gen- esibon ag. Bot medin the walls are in bad state of demidithen, cammed by the thrifty farmers who make spoil of the displamd xoues for the reparation of their fences. The scene of that once imposing fortification is now fit wobjegy for some Volney on the ruins of em- pire: or a Byronic apostrophe on the "broken thrones and temples" of a bygone nation.
Lois extensive though peut impressive than the Spruce Hill fort is the fomlocation in Brush Creek township, Highland County, It is the best preserved of the stone defensive woils of the Ohio Mound Build- era. It was brat described by Prof. John Locke, of Cincinnati, in the Otuo Geological Report for 1838. Squier and Davis made a thorough examination of it in 1846, publishing the result of their work in the "Ancient Monuments. " Many surveys have been made since that time, notably one by Henry A. Shepherd, who gives an excellent description in his "Ohio Antiquities."
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
Fort Hill, entirely detached by Brush Creek and deep ravines from any other elevation, rises abruptly about five hundred feet above the river bottom. The precipitous sides for the most part present a succession of minor cliffs, shale banks, wash-outs and jutting rocks. Only at two points can the summit be reached and then by no easy effort as the writer can testify from personal experience. Encircling the top of the hill, which presents a level area of some fifty acres, is an embank- ment of earth and stones, mostly the latter, which were first piled up, the earth then being used as a filler. The stone was found on the spot in the weathered fragments of the sandstone ledge which crowns the hill. The wall, which mainly follows the brow of the hill, has an aver- age base of about thirty-five feet; its height varies from six to ten feet, though at some points it reaches a height of fifteen feet. Interior to the wall is a trench or ditch, some fifty feet in width, made by the displacement of the earth material for the wall, which is between eight and nine thousand feet, or over one and a half mile, in length. It has been estimated that it contains seventy- five thousand cubic yards of stone and earth. The whole fort in its outline forms the figure of a "leg and foot, with slender ankle and sharp heel, the two corners of the shin and calf and heel and the toe form the four bastions." The openings originally made in the wall, thirty-three in number, are spaces ten to fifteen feet in width, arranged without apparent order or regularity. The purpose of these openings is inexplicable, as few of them could be used for ingress and egress, most of them being at points where the approach to the fort is an almost impossible ascent. The toe or northern
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
tip of the fort presents a bold, bluff ledge, some two hundred feet wide and rising twenty feet above the encircling wall, thus affording a natural sentinel tower, from which one may view the valley below. On the rocky flooring of this natural outlook were evidences of the action of fire, indicating that it must have been a beacon station, the flaming lights of which could be discerned for miles in all directions. The peculiar method of its construction and the inaccessibility of its location have enabled this fort to withstand the siege of time and human demolition better than the enclosure of Spruce Hill or any similar work. This crude but decay-defying parapet was the most cunning work of the primitive savage, the relentless warrior of a stone age; here in time of war he resorted for refuge and to light his signal fires to warn his people in the valley that the stealthy and merciless enemy was on the war- path. That those days were long, long ago, is proven by the scattered trunks and limbs of the fallen arboreal veterans and the still standing venerable giants of the forest. Every evidence of great antiquity is here pre- sented. Hundreds of years these mammoth-trunked, lofty-limbed, old fellows have grown and wrestled with the winds and storms that beat about this fort. Some of them in hoary age were to go down at last in the unequal struggle against the elements. Locke, Squier and Davis, Shepherd and subsequent experts designate chestnut and poplar and other trees still standing with the age, so they claim, of six hundred years and more. And the surviving witnesses stood over and grew from the decomposed remains, half hidden by the accumu- lating soil, of predecessors of similar size and perhaps
GLENFORD STONE FORT.
Outline diagram of the Fort plan made by Caleb Atwater in 1818 and printed with a description in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society for 1820.
The lower figure is a drawing made by Colonel Charles Whittlesey and published in the Smithsonian Contribu- tions to Knowledge (1850).
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
equal longevity. These trees, living and dead, surely turn back the hands on the dial of time and point to a most remote period before the stone heaps were even abandoned, and how long they had stood before the forest took possession is beyond human ken. What would one give for the story of this primitive fortress, its patient and painstaking builders, their life within its precincts, their feats of daring and suffering, the long starving sieges, their brave and death dealing sorties, the storm and stress of relentless conflict, when to the arrow and missels of the boldly approaching foe they returned thrusts of flint spears and hurlings of crushing bowlders. Could they have been recorded and preserved, may not the annals of these people have left us topics for epics as thrilling and dramatic as those of the Iliad and the Aeneid? But their heritage to us is oblivion. The only response to our earnest query for their past, as we stood one day on the "watch tower," monarch of all we surveyed, was the gentle flutter of the leaves as they met the morning breeze.
A "fortification, " known as the Glenford Stone Fort, is another most interesting and important hill-top en- closure, because of its admirable location and the fact that its remains are still sufficient for its form to be easily traced and its construction to be understood. The geography of this hill and the situation of the fort are both nearly reproductions on a smaller scale of Spruce Hill and its summit defense. The Glenford hill, crowned by the fort is located in the northern part of Perry County, and is the northwestern terminus of an upland range that juts into a beautiful valley extending perhaps two miles respectively east and west.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
The jutting land point is elevated about three hundred feet above the Jonathan Creek that skirts the western slope. The hill summit, practically level, is terminated in nearly every direction by a vertical ledge of sand- stone from six to ten feet in thickness, the outcrop of the caprock. Indeed the hill is precipitous in its rise at all points, save at the neck and for a few hundred feet on the eastern side where the bluff is absent and the hillside becomes a gentle slope. The selection of such a site again demonstrates the acute cunning of the Mound Builders. No locality could better answer his purpose. A hill commanding the valley; a level space for enclosure; a defense partly provided by nature and a quarry readily at hand for the masonry of his wall. Considering what must have been his mode of warfare, here could be erected a citadel that would defy attack. The wall of the fort, formed solely of the sandstone fragments found on the spot, follows closely around the summit edge except where the protruding ledge required no artificial defense.
The line of this wall, as evidenced by the remaining scattered stones, can be traced intact along its entire length, though so many of the stones have been hauled away it is difficult to determine the original dimensions and shape. The total length was near seven thousand feet, something over a mile and a quarter, with an aver- age base width of ten or twelve feet, and a general height of six or eight. The area enclosed was twenty- six acres. The chief gateway opened upon the isthmus connecting with the extending hill range. Here the wall was re-entrant along the sides and greatly strength- ened, as at Spruce Hill.
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
On several of the hills flanking the Jonathan Creek valley were earthen mounds the fires of which could easily have been seen from the Glenford fort. Indeed the gentleman, a resident of Glenford Village, who acted as our guide, informed us that extending across the country for a distance of some twenty-five miles was a series of hill-top mounds, or small enclosures, so placed that smoke or fire signals from their summits could be exchanged between them.
The old fort is now a romantic ruin, for mingled with its scattered and crumbling masonry are the trees of all ages and varieties; maple, oak, beech, chestnut, poplar, ash, and others canopy with overhanging branches the moss-grown stones of the walls, while with their clutching roots the forest invaders push the sandstone blocks asunder.
The southwest portion of the state, especially the valleys of the Great and Little Miamis, was a region thickly dotted with the habitations and monuments of the Mound Builders.
Within the present limits of Hamilton County, be- tween four and five hundred mounds and some fifteen important enclosures were noted by the early travelers and settlers. One of the most notable of these is located on "Fort Hill" at the mouth of the Great Miami. It has been generally designated as the "Miami Fort." It was first brought into notice in the literature concerning the Mound Builders by Wil- liam Henry Harrison, who though a Virginian by birth became an Ohioan by adoption, marrying a daughter of John Cleves Symmes and settling at North Bend, where his remains are now buried. General Harrison was a
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
man of unusual literary and historical acquirements, and had he never been known as a general or president he would have won distinction as a scholar. He intent- ly studied the Ohio Mound Builders and the Ohio Indians, and we are indebted to him for much valuable investigation and information on those subjects. He carefully surveyed "Miami Fort," giving his results in a scholarly address, published (1839) in the Trans- actions of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio.
The site of this fort is strikingly analogous to the hill-forts heretofore described. The Great Miami, flowing southwest, debouches into the Ohio at a sharp angle. An upland elevation, some two hundred feet or more in height, thrusts its nose prominently out into this land angle, separating the two rivers. On the peak of this elevation is the fortification. It is very nearly a parallelogram in shape, conforming to the summit contour of the hill. The walls are unusually massive and strong, exceeding in that respect those of any other enclosure in the state. These ramparts, though in places sadly depleted, are in large measure well preserved and the experienced explorer may easily follow the lines of defense, which are from thirty to fifty feet broad at the base with a height of ten feet or more. They are built of earth and stone, the latter being used to give strength and stability to the earth filling. The gateways or artificial openings could not have been more than two or three in number. The declivities on the north and south sides of the fort are precipitous and in the olden days must have been al- most unascendable, indeed for some distance on either
MIAMI FORT.
Miami Fort on "Fort Hill" at the mouth of the Great Miami, showing plan of the Fort as drawn by General William Henry Harrison in 1839.
The lower figure shows the location of the Fort as to the Ohio and Miami rivers.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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The Che of this toer is strikingly ant et ner the Inil faro beietalure described. The Cni Miami, Thane undF4e, Seloudles Into the Blues as - tharp auth An vgiand elevadou, some two bandied feet In hrikr, thrust ik ace prominently out into fl land ande, separating the two rivers. On the
pil of die elevation Ht the fortification. It is very marly & parallelograms in shape, conforming to the
mit soscour of the kill. The walls are unusually Nove lec strony, -seeding in that respect those of
aller andblurr in the state, There ramparts, Dough In piling sadly depleted, are in large measure wil javel and the experienced explorer may emaily
huus The bus of defense, which are from thirty to
Tri thrust at the base with a height of ten feet or
him ars built of earth and sione, the latter ( jed to give strength and stability to the earth
more than two or three in number The The gateways or artificial openings could not
In mu the north and south sides of the fort are nme and in the olden daga must have been al- cenilable, indeed for some distance on either
MOUND
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FORT FINNEY 1705
RIVER
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
of the longer sides, so perpendicular are the hillsides that it is quite impossible to detect the line dividing the hill-top from the base of the wall. The area en- closed is only about twelve acres. It was a snug little fort. Below the southwest wall, facing the Ohio, is a gentle slope, leading to the summit of a "nub" or circular spur of the hill, upon which is a conspicuous mound, some fifty feet in diameter and originally ten to fifteen feet in height. From this "observatory" mound one obtains one of the most entrancing views in the state of Ohio. The valley of the Great Miami is at your feet on the west; just across the gently flowing stream are the hilly ranges of Indiana, through which courses the White Water River, mingling its singularly pure blue and green water with the muddy yellow of the Miami, a mile or two above the latter's entrance into the Ohio. On the south sweeps with majestic curve, the Ohio.
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