USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Two > Part 16
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"As soon as this grand court was organized, and ady to proceed to business, a Canadian French- an, one Pierre Druillard who usually went by the ime of Peter Druyer, was a captain in the British rvice, and dressed in the gaudy appendages of the ritish uniform, made his appearance in the council. his Druyer was born and raised in Detroit-he was nnected with the British Indian agent department -was their principal interpreter in settling Indian fairs; this made him a man of great consequence nong the Indians. It was to this influential man, at the good chief Logan, the friend of all the human mily, sent his young men to intercede for the life
Kenton. His judgment and address were only qualed by his humanity. His foresight in selecting le agent who it was most probable could save the 'e of the prisoner, proves his judgment and his know- dge of the human heart. As soon as the grand uncil was organized, Captain Druyer requested per- ission to address the council. This permisison was stantly granted. He began his speech by stating, hat it was well known that it was the wish and interest the English that not an American should be left
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alive. That the Americans were the cause of the present bloody and distressing war- that neither peace nor safety could be expected, so long as these intruders were permitted to live upon the earth.' This part of his speech received repeated grunts of approbation He then explained to the Indians, 'that the war to be carried on successfully, required cunning as well as bravery-that the intelligence which might be ex torted from a prisoner, would be of more advantage in conducting the future operations of the war, thar would be the lives of twenty prisoners. That he had no doubt but the commanding officer at Detroit could procure information from the prisoner now before them that would be of incalculable advantage to them in the progress of the present war. Under these circum stances, he hoped they would defer the death of th prisoner till he was taken to Detroit, and examine by the commanding general. After which he coul be brought back, and if thought advisable, upo further consideration, he might be put to death i any manner they thought proper.' He next noticec 'that they had already a great deal of trouble an fatigue with the prisoner without being revenged upo him; but that they had got back all the horses th prisoner had stolen from them, and killed one of hi comrades; and to insure them something for the: fatigue and trouble, he himself would give one hundre dollars in rum and tobacco, or any other article the would choose, if they would let him take the prisone to Detroit, to be examined by the British General The Indians, without hesitation, agreed to Captai Druyer's proposition, and he paid down the ranson
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As soon as these arrangements were concluded, Druyer und a principal chief set off with the prisoner for Lower Sandusky. From this place they proceeded by water o Detroit, where they arrived in a few days. Here he prisoner was handed over to the commanding officer, and lodged in the fort as a prisoner of war. He was now out of danger from the Indians, and was treated with the usual attention of prisoners of war n civilized countries. The British commander gave the Indians some additional remuneration for the life of the prisoner, and they returned satisfied to join their countrymen at Wapatomika."
Kenton was taken prisoner about the first of Sep- ember (1778), and arrived at Detroit about the first of November, his tortures and trials thus extending over sixty days. That he had survived his experience was evidence of the tremendous and inexhaustible powers of endurance vouchsafed him. Until June (1779) he vas kept a closely guarded prisoner in Detroit but his incessant plans for an escape were finally realized und with two other captives he "stole away" and striking west from the Wabash followed it to the Ohio ind thence to his Harrodsburg home, at which he arrived in July, a month after his escape from the British post. "Thus terminated," adds McClung, 'one of the most remarkable adventures in the whole ange of Western History."
CHAPTER XII. SIEGE OF FORT LAURENS
D URING the detention of Kenton at Detroit, Simon Girty, as described by De Schweinitz "an inveterate drunkard, a blustering ruf- fian, seduced by British gold to forsake the Americans, whose interpreter he had been, was now espousing the royal cause with all the baseness of his character," and became active as one of the most trusted subordinates of Governor Hamilton and served not only as the bearer of his despatches but the guide and often the director of the marauding parties sent out from the British headquarters at Detroit.
The building of Fort Laurens awakened Hamilton to the courage and audacity of the Americans and Girty was especially directed to watch the movements of the military forces at Fort Pitt and at Fort Laurens. On the sixth of January (1779) Girty set out from the upper Scioto, to reconnoitre the situation at Fort Laurens, and "take some scalps, particularly Colonel Gibson's." He was accompanied by some twenty-five Indians, mostly Mingoes. But the secret of Girty's movements became known to Killbuck, the Del- aware chief, and he at once dispatched the news to Colonel Gibson, who thereby was placed upon his guard.
Meanwhile, Girty approached Fort Laurens, but on arriving in its vicinity took good care not to discover himself and his savages to the garrison but instead lay in ambush at a safe distance. And now while the British expedition under the personal direction of Governor Hamilton was re-occupying Fort Sackville at Vincennes, on the banks of the lower Wabash, the siege, led by Girty, of Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas,
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was in progress. The American Revolution in th western country thus presented strange and contrastin; events.
More than half of January (1779) was spent withou results by the pent up soldiers of the little fort, wher quartermaster Samuel Semple, sent by Colonel Gibson to Coshocton for provisions, had one man killed and another seriously wounded by treacherous Delawares A few days later another party, under Captain Joh Clark, who had successfully transported provision from Fort Pitt to Fort Laurens, on his return wit fifteen men, was attacked by Girty's band, some thre miles from the latter post; two of his men were kille four wounded, and one taken prisoner. The remainde of the party fought their way back to Fort Laurens In this encounter Girty secured from Captain Clar important letters written by Gibson to McIntosh With his prisoners and these documents Girty hastene to Detroit to report to Captain Lernoult-then i command there-for Hamilton had been captured an was on his way under escort as a prisoner to Williams burg. Girty also bore with him strings of wampur from the Mingoes, Shawnees and Sandusky Wyandot and from a few Delawares as evidence of their allegianc to the British.
The news of the capture of Governor Hamilton an the repossession of Fort Sackville by George Roger Clark had a depressing effect upon the Ohio Indiar and even upon Girty for Heckewelder wrote at th time to Colonel Brodhead, at Fort Pitt, that Girt had "gone to Detroit-but seemed to be very lo spirited."
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But Girty, implacable and tireless, was the chief conspiring agent of the British. At Detroit he de- clared that seven or eight hundred warriors, Mingoes, Shawnees, Wyandots and even Delawares, could be assembled at Upper Sandusky and marched to the beleaguerment of Fort Laurens. For this purpose Girty asked of Captain Lernoult, not only arms and ammunition, but earnestly solicited that an English officer might be sent to command them, and "see how they would behave." Captain Henry Bird, of the 8th or King's Regiment, and ten soldiers were at once dispatched with Girty to Upper Sandusky, to aid in the proposed undertaking. By the latter part of February one hundred and twenty savages, mostly Wyandots and Mingoes, the latter under the immediate lead of Girty, all under command of Bird, and all plentifully armed and supplied with ammunition from Detroit, set out from Upper Sandusky and placed themselves in ambush about Fort Laurens.
The little band of Gibson's soldiers, though suffering for provisions and from the unusually cold weather, bravely faced all dangers. The commander pluckily, py messenger, sent word to McIntosh: "You may depend on my defending the fort to the last extremity."
The story of this siege is one of bloody deeds and prave suffering. Girty's siege was inaugurated with cunning but shocking butchery, as related by Stone, in his "Life of Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief." "The horses of the garrison were allowed to orage for themselves upon the herbage, among the fried prairie grass immediately in the vicinity of the ort-wearing bells, that they might be the more easily
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found if straying too far. It happened one morning in January, that the horses had all disappeared, but the bells were heard, seemingly at no great distance. The horses had, in truth, been stolen by the Indians, and conveyed away. The bells, however, were taken off, and used for another purpose. Availing themselves of the tall prairie grass, the Indians formed an am- buscade, at the farthest extremity of which they caused the bells to jingle as a decoy. The artifice was successful.
"A party of sixteen men was sent in pursuit of the Straggling steeds, who fell into the snare. Fourteen were killed upon the spot, and the remaining two taken prisoners, one of whom returned at the close of the war, and of the other nothing was ever heard." This incident as recited by Stone, has however, it should be noted, been questioned by Hildreth who says that at this time "no horses were left at the fort, as they must either have been starved or been stolen by the Indians. "
James W. Taylor, in his little "History of Ohio,' (1854) thinks the tinkling bell account was confused with another incident, which he relates as follows "During the cold weather, while the Indians were lying about the fort, although none had been seen for : few days, a party of seventeen men went out for the purpose of carrying in firewood, which the army ha( cut before they left the place, about forty or fifty rods from the fort. Near the bank of the river, wa an ancient mound, behind which lay a quantity o wood. A party had been out for several precedin; mornings, and brought in wood, supposing the Indian
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would not be watching the fort in such cold weather. But on that fatal morning, the Indians had concealed hemselves behind the mound, and as the soldiers assed round on one side of the mound, a part of the ndians came round on the other, and enclosed the rood party, so that not one escaped."
Girty's party, however, not long after their arrival, howed themselves and openly invested the post. In rder to deceive the fort inmates as to their number, ne besieging Indians, painted and in full costume of ar, so disposed themselves amid the surrounding rest, maneuvering in single files, wheeling and coun- ermarching, that they appeared, to the soldiers of ibson, to be many times their actual strength. In- eed their number was estimated as high as eight undred. This however, seems to have been a common ise in backwoods Indian warfare. Clark successfully nployed it in his capture of Fort Vincennes.
The siege was a remarkable one and continued until te garrison was reduced to the verge of starvation; quarter of a pound of sour flour and an equal weight spoiled meat constituting a daily ration for each; e cold was intense and exit from the stockade could t be made for fuel or food; the plucky soldiers suffered
the verge of life; it was a veritable Valley Forge the banks of the Tuscarawas. But the assailants 1 emselves were being worn out from exposure and ivations.
It was the end of March (1779) that General McIn- 1sh with a force of five hundred men including Penn- Ivania militia and Continental troops set out from brt Pitt for the relief of Gibson. Arriving at the
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fort, he found the siege abandoned and the savages gone. The assailing tribesmen had been outstarved and outwitted by the soldiers of the invincible garrison But the latter were in a most deplorable condition For nearly a week their only subsistence had beer raw hides and such roots as they could find in the vicinity after the Indians had departed.
Leaving about a hundred men of the 8th Pennsyl vania Regiment, under command of Major Fredericl Ward Vernon and a supply of food for two months General McIntosh returned to his quarters and a fev weeks later (April, 1779), dispirited and ill, retire from the command of the western department. Mean time (March 5) Washington, anticipating McIntosh' resignation, had chosen Colonel Daniel Brodhead commander of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment, a successor to McIntosh. The selection was well made
It was doubtless on the return of the besiegin Indians, under Bird, to Upper Sandusky, that Girt made the dastardly attempt to waylay and murde Zeisberger. Heckewelder in his "Narrative," state that Girty, McKee and Elliott, "whose hostility t the United States, appeared unbounded, were cor tinually plotting the destruction of the Christia Indian Settlements as the only means of drawing th Delaware nation, and with these the Christian Indian into the War." "The missionaries in particular we as a thorn in their eyes, being not only considered ¿ the cause that the Delawares would not join in th War; but they also mistrusted these of informing th American government, the part they (renegades) we: acting in the Indian country."
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Heckewelder then relates, as does also De Schweinitz, 1 the "Life of Zeisberger," that Girty, on returning rom the first siege of Fort Laurens planned with onfederates to seize Zeisberger as he was journeying om Litchneau to Schoenbrunn. Zeisberger had pro- eeded part way to a fork in the trail, when Girty and is band of miscreant Mingoes, eight in number, iddenly stepped forth. "That's the man," cried irty to his Indians, pointing at Zeisberger, "Do now hat you have been told to do." But at that instant here burst through the bushes two or three Delawares, among them the great Glikkikan," who fearing for Le safety of Zeisberger had followed him. The con- irators slunk away; Girty following, "gnashing his eth in impotent rage."
On the other hand Captain Bird when arriving at pper Sandusky, on his way to Detroit, learned that number of Delawares, stimulated by a reward of ght hundred dollars, offered by the Americans for irty's scalp, actually went in pursuit of the renegade, it failed to secure their victim. In reporting this Captain Lernoult, Captain Bird wrote, "I assure you, r, Girty is one of the most useful, disinterested friends his deportment that the government has."
Before following further the movements of Girty, 10 was the fascinating villain in the scenes being picted, we conclude the siege of Fort Laurens.
The condition of this post early engaged the atten- ton of Brodhead. Scarcely had Major Vernon taken sommand, in place of Colonel Gibson, when small Irties of Indians made their appearance and con- tued the blockade of the impregnable little post
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that stood like a Gibraltar in the very midst of the enemy's country. The hardships and privations o the garrison were unabated, and well-nigh unparalleled They could not make foraging expeditions and th portage of supplies into the stockade was attende with difficulties and dangers that made it nearly im possible. But Washington, who amid all his othe cares and responsibilities never let the Tuscarawa outpost escape his attention, wrote General Brodhead "the Tuscarawas post is to be preserved, if under full consideration of circumstances, it is judged a po: of importance and can be maintained without runnir too great a risk, and if the troops in general und your command are disposed in the manner best ca culated to cover and protect the country on a defensiv plan." He feared its abandonment would give hoj and courage to the British at Detroit and their India allies.
But Major Vernon could not remain without relic, and he wrote Brodhead, the last of April, "shou you not send us provisions in a very short time, nece sity will oblige us to begin on some cowhides t Indians left." Such soldiers as could with safety exported to Fort Pitt were there sent until in Ma, Vernon's force was reduced to twenty-five. The lat of this month their handful of men had reached t? limit of endurance; they were living on herbs, salt al cowhides, when a relief expedition rescued them fra approaching death.
This relief came through a company of regula, commanded by Captain Robert Beall. To avoid n ambuscade by the besieging savages, Beall conductd
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is party by boat from Fort McIntosh down the Ohio o the deserted Mingo town, at the mouth of Cross Creek; thence across country to Fort Laurens. The elief party found the post inmates in the last stages f starvation, many of them being unable, through xhaustion and weakness, to stand on their feet. As pon as possible the revived men were removed to ort Pitt, and in June the post was relieved by seventy- ve fresh troops well supplied with provisions, under ommand of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell. The siege radually subsided until, after being once more serious- threatened by the Indian assailants, Fort Laurens, arly in August (1779) was evacuated; orders to that fect having been sent by Colonel Brodhead.
As it was thought that it might again be occupied, olonel Campbell was instructed not to destroy the rt. It was, however, never again garrisoned. The ll, sharp-pointed, picket walls and the crude over- inging corner bastions stood undisturbed for more an three score years and were described to the present riter, as he stood upon the spot but two years past, 7 a venerable farmer, born and raised within a one's throw of the site of the fort, remains of the poden bastions of which were still in evidence during e early boyhood of the writer's informant. More's e pity, if not the shame that the state or nation has t erected on the site, now the prey of the relentless owshare, a fitting monument to the Heroes of the nerican Revolution, who here died or endured un- Id sufferings and sacrifices, than which there are i ne greater nor more patriotic in the annals of the juggle of our forefathers for national independence.
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Meanwhile Brodhead was keeping a sharp eye on the movements of the enemy both civilized and savage in the western country. It was in May, 1780, that Brodhead, having learned that an army of British and Indians was assembling on the Sandusky River in preparation for an attack on Fort Pitt, directed Captain Samuel Brady to go to the Sandusky and learr the situation in the Indian center.
Samuel Brady was one of the "dare-devil" heroe of the Indian-Revolutionary times. He was a Penn sylvanian by birth and, it is said, was a playmate il boyhood days of Simon Girty. Brady was a famou war scout and Indian killer. He had an intense hatred of the redmen for they had killed both his father John Brady, and his brother, James Brady. Samue was a soldier in the Pennsylvania lines and was sta tioned (1778) at Fort Pitt, whence he had gone forth i several raids against the tribesmen on the Uppe Allegheny. On this particular errand (1780) to th Sandusky, Brady was accompanied by two or thre companions, all dressed and painted like savages.
It was a long and perilous journey, for travel coul only be made by night, from Fort Pitt to the India headquarters on the Sandusky. Under cover of darl ness, Brady and his comrades waded from the rive banks on to the island opposite the Indian town ? Lower Sandusky (Fremont), where they lay in thicket all the next day, watching the Indians enjoyin a horse-race near the river bank. The town, say Hassler, was "overcrowded with warriors, and the festivities indicated preparations for the warpath, though the horse-race could hardly have been regarde
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as a warlike demonstration. Brady and his compan- ions stealthily hurried away from their concealment on the island, thereafter known as Brady's Island, and experiencing many hazardous encounters, reached Fort Pitt, after an absence of thirty-two days.
Perhaps before parting with Captain Brady, whom we may not again meet, we should make note of the most famous achievement with which his name is connected. It is his feat, popularly known as "Brady's Leap." The exact date of this exploit seems to have escaped authentic record, but it must have been in the year 1780 or 1781, probably not long after the spying journey just related. The story of this "leap" has been told by many relaters and with a great variety of embellishments, perhaps the most "fetching" one is to details, real or imaginary, being that in "Tract 29," of the publications of the Western Reserve His- orical Society, published in the year 1875.
There is also another interesting account in the Draper Manuscripts. Both these recitals are "re- collections" of what was told the writers either by Brady himself or one who had it from Brady. In ›rief, the relation is, that Brady, when on a scouting rip into the Sandusky country, was surprised, over- powered and taken prisoner. He was conducted to he Sandusky Wyandot capital and the tribesmen, greatly rejoicing over the capture of an enemy so hated nd feared, gathered to enjoy his tortures and burning t the stake. Girty, the old-time friend of Brady, was ›resent but turned a deaf ear to the appeals of the telpless prisoner. All preparations were made for the xecution, the prisoner was tied to the stake and the
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fires lighted, when Brady, who was possessed of unusual physical powers, suddenly snapped the withes that bound his arms and leaping forth seized a squaw by the head and shoulders and hurled her on the burning fagots. In the midst of the turmoil thus created, he dashed away, getting a good start of his pursuers, as he was an athlete with marvelous agility and powers of endurance; he was moreover intimately versed in all the arts of frontier woodcraft and in the practices of the redmen.
The chase continued, so runs the story in "Tract 29," a distance of a hundred miles, until, after many exciting incidents, the Cuyahoga River was reached at the narrow gorge, in the now town of Kent (Portage County) and the Indians close on his track behind; he had not a moment to spare and as it was life or death with him, he made the famous Brady's leap across the Cuyahoga River. The gorge here say the Draper Manuscripts, was very narrow, som twenty-two feet from one precipitous bank to the other He landed on the eastern bank, catching himself il the bushes some five feet from the top. Pulling him self together and regaining the bank level, he "kep on rapidly to the beautiful pond or lake" which ha ever since borne his name, just two miles from th narrows where he made his memorable leap. Hi enemies still pursuing him "with the ferocity of bloo hounds," for they had crossed at a ford close by Brady plunged into the pond and "hid himself unde a large chestnut tree which had fallen into the water. The pond lilies and flags screened him, as he lay sul merged, all but his head, which was hidden by th
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ranches of the overhanging tree, while his pursuers oncluding he was drowned "gave up the fruitless hase and returned."
A visit, to-day, to the scene of Brady's leap is disap- ointing as there are now no indications of the natural onditions prevailing at the time of the famous achieve- hent. The Cuyahoga River flows through the center of he town of Kent. At the exact spot designated, the ver, in early days, found its narrowest passage, some wenty-two feet in width. The banks on both sides were en of a perpendicular height of twenty-five or more feet. ime and the encroachments of civilization have leveled own these banks until they now rise only a few feet pove the river's surface; moreover the rocky formation - formerly the base of the earthen banks-flanking ich side the river channel has been worn away by the ater's current and the blasting by engineers to facili- te the river transportation, until the stream is to-day vice the width it was when Brady cleared the chasm a bound.
Other exploits equally unusual and herculean are lated of Samuel Brady, who, in spite of the many nazing, and no doubt partly true, tales accredited to m, was a brave and patriotic figure in those days of Iventure and peril.
From such romantic incidents, we return to the ality of our history.
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CHAPTER XIII. OHIO INVASIONS BY BOWMAN AND CLARK
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