History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 9

Author: R. E. Lowry
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 985

USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions > Part 9

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PENULTIMATE CONCLUSIONS.

To sum up the whole matter, it can be asserted that there was a race of men that preceded the Indians as the white men first knew the Indians, that

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built extensive works and mounds much more so than the Indians of our knowledge, and that both races, if they were two races, inhabited all of our county and our state, but whether the so-called mound builders were the progenitors of the Indian race, we do not know for a certainty; each for himself must examine the evidence, and then can only say, "I believe they were, or they were not, the same race."

That some of the Mound Builders' works are very old I submit the following: On a shale and slate bluff nearly one hundred feet high, on the east bank of the Oleantangy river about fourteen miles north of Columbus, Ohio, is an old fort, semi-circular, visited by the writer, a boy then nearly fourteen years old, in 1860. Its banks were some five feet or more high, with a ditch outside so deep that in one place the head of an ordinary man just came to the surface, and on the embankment grew a number of large trees, one an oak, so large that myself and my companion about my age stood up to it and tried together to span it with our arms, but could not by a foot or more. On a number of beech trees were cut the names of many visitors. Among them I remember Tom Corwin, S. P. Chase, W. Shan- non, H. Stansberry, Tom Ewing and a number of others. There I first learned their names. That white oak tree might have been growing when Columbus began his voyage.

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CHAPTER IV.

FIRST WHITE MEN AND INDIAN WARS.

The first white men to visit Preble county were probably Daniel Boone and his hunter companions, who made several hunting trips into the great Miami valley; and Boone is reported to have made the statement that it came nearer being the hunters' paradise than any other portion of the country he had ever seen, and he appears to have been a most competent judge. And when it is remembered that those hunting trips sometimes oc- cupied months, and that they were ever on the move to avoid being located and surprised by the Indians, making camp but a short time at any one place, it would seem probable that few, if any, counties in the valley but were visited by them. Simon Kenton became so in love with the country that, after the Indian wars were over, he moved to Champaign county and settled there the balance of his life, and is buried at Urbana, and a number of the family relatives still reside in that county.

In the Indian wars that followed the Revolution, several detachments of United States soldiers passed through this county, and this linked the history of the county with those wars.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER.

During the Revolutionary period, the Indians nearly all fought on the side of Great Britain, and at the treaty of peace of 1783, it was stipulated that the boundary between British possessions and the United States should be the Great Lakes, and the connecting rivers to the west end of Lake Superior, but no stipulation was made as to the rights of the Indian allies of Britain, hence the United States regarded the land as conquered land.

The British had a large trading post at Detroit, and a number of smaller posts along Lake Erie, and in Ohio and Michigan which they continued to hold; and as the United States authorities desired to define the rights of the Indians, and grant them lands in accordance with the sizes of the tribes, while the Indians claimed the right to all the lands north of the Ohio river, the chief British agents, McKee and Elliott, encouraged the Indians to refuse to cede any rights to the Americans north of that river, and they were

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ably assisted by Brant and Girty, who led the Indians to believe that the Americans desired to drive them from the country, and that they would not and could not have honorable peace unless they drove the white men across the Ohio, and the British posts furnished the Indians with guns, ammunition, blankets and food, claiming to be their only friends. This led to small foray parties of Indians descending on the scattered settlers, whom they killed and scalped, burning their houses, and then disappearing in the trackless woods before any effective pursuit could be organized. And this continued until President Washington and Congress resolved to send such force as would permanently stop such depredations. The Six Nations, the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, and other tribes had years before granted to the United States the right to settle the south half of Ohio, but the northern Indians and the British induced them to disregard their treaties, and refuse to be bound by them.

The Northwest Territory was organized under the Ordinance of 1787, and in 1788 Arthur St. Clair was appointed as the first governor. He was a Scotchman who came to this country in 1755, and took a prominent part in the war of the Revolution, and as an officer, was a strict disciplinarian, . which made him unpopular with many, but he was an able, conscientious and scrupulously honest official. About the beginning of 1790, he de- scended the Ohio river to Fort Washington at Losantiville, and changed its name to Cincinnati, as the seat of Hamilton county, comprising all of southern Ohio, from the Hocking river to the Great Miami.

AN AGGRESSIVE EXPEDITION.

During the first six months of that year, messengers had been sent north and visited the various Indian tribes as far as Detroit, but were un- able to induce them to make peace. In the mean time, straggling parties of Indians had been committing depredations along the whole line of the Ohio river, and in the summer of 1790, St. Clair sent General Harmar with fourteen hundred and fifty-three men against the Indians on the Maumee river. They marched through the woods, and in October had two battles with the Indians, losing over a hundred men, and on account of dissensions between the militia and the regulars, the army returned to Fort Washing- ton, and the Indians credited themselves with having defeated Harmar. Except the destruction of some villages and twenty or thirty thousand bushels of corn, the expedition was a failure, and the Indians, greatly en- couraged by it, sent out numerous parties of warriors, whose presence in

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the woods spread terror among the settlements in Ohio, Kentucky and Vir- ginia, as well as western Pennsylvania, and in January, 1791, Congress established a local board of five men, and gave them power to provide for the defense of the settlements.

President Washington appointed St. Clair commander-in-chief, un- der whose recommendation the war board sent General Wilkinson with five hundred and twenty-five men in August against the Indians on the Wabash river. And keeping to the lands between the White river and the Great Miami, he probably passed through Preble county, because in his report he states that at seventy miles from Fort Washington the headwaters of the White river were at his left. He then march northwest and de- stroyed several Indian towns on Eel river and the Wabash river, and de- stroyed their corn crops with a loss of but a few men.

The expeditions angered the Indians, and Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnees and Buckongahelas of the Delawares set on foot a movement to form a confederacy of all the Indian tribes that would be strong enough to drive the white men beyond the Ohio. In the meantime St. Clair was organizing an expedition intending to establish a chain of forts from Fort Washington to the head of the Maumee, now Fort Wayne, and in that way to control the Indians by such a show of force. It took until September, 1791, for St. Clair to gather together twenty-three hun- dred men, and then he marched to the Great Miami river and built Fort Hamilton on the east bank of the river, a strong picket fort, built by the army in fourteen days, near the east end of Main street bridge. From Hamilton the army marched north, cutting out its road through the woods and keeping west of Seven Mile creek, and north across Preble county about a mile west of Eaton, and at forty-four miles from Hamilton, they built Fort Jefferson, about the middle of October. On October 24, 1791, the army took up its line of march for the north again, and on November 3 it reached a branch of the Wabash river at what is now know as Fort Recovery. At this time the army numbered one thousand four hundred and eighty-six men and officers.

A DISPATCH FROM THE FRONT.

It is but fair to state that for some time St. Clair had been suffer- ing with over-work that affected his stomach, lungs and limbs, so much so, that only his determination to push on and carry out the orders given him by Washington kept him at the head of the army. Upon the banks

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of the stream the army encamped in two lines, the ground being covered with a light snow. Of the battle, St. Clair reported to the secretary of war as follows:

"The right wing, composed of Butler's, Clark's and Patterson's bat- talions, commanded by Major General Butler, formed the first line; and the left wing, consisting of Bedinger's and Gaither's battalions, and the second regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Darke, formed the `second line, with an interval between them of about seventy yards, which was all that the ground would allow. The right flank was pretty well se- cured by the creek; a steep bank, and Faulkner's corps, some of the cavalry and their pickets, covered the left flank. The militia were thrown over the creek, and advanced about a quarter of a mile, and encamped in the same order. There were a few Indians, who appeared on the opposite of the creek, but fled with the utmost precipitation on the advance of the militia.

"At this place, which I judged to be about fifteen miles from the Miami village, I determined to throw up a slight work, the plan of which was concerted that evening with Major Ferguson, wherein to have deposited the men's knapsacks, and everything else that was not of absolute neces- sity, and to have moved on to attack the enemy as soon as the first regi- ment was come up.

"But they did not permit me to execute either; for on the 4th, about half an hour before sunrise, and when the men had just been dismissed from parade (for it was a constant practice to have them all under arms a considerable time before daylight), an attack was made upon the militia.

"These gave way in a very little time, and rushed into camp through Major Butler's battalion (which, together with a part of Clark's, they threw into considerable disorder, and which, notwithstanding the exertions of both those officers, was never altogether remedied), the Indians following close at their heels.

"The fire, however, of the front line checked them; but almost instantly a very heavy attack began upon that line; and a few minutes later it was extended to the second also. The great weight of it was directed against the center of each, where the artillery was placed, and from which the men were frequently driven with great slaughter.

"Finding no great effect from our fire, and confusion beginning to spread from the great number of men who were falling in all quarters, it became necessary to try what could be done with the bayonet. Lieu- tenant-Colonel Darke was accordingly ordered to make a charge with a part of the second line, and to turn the left flank of the enemy.

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"The Indians instantly gave way, and were driven back three or four hundred yards; but for want of a sufficient number of riflemen to pursue this advantage, they soon returned, and the troops were obliged to give back in their turn. At this moment they had entered our camp by the left flank, having pushed back the troops that were posted there.

"Another charge was here made by the second regiment, Butler's and Clark's battalions, with equal effect, and it was repeated several times, and always with success; but in all of them many men were lost, and par- ticularly the officers, which, with so raw troops, was a loss altogether irremediable.

"In that I just spoke of, made by the second regiment and Butler's battalion, Major Butler was dangerously wounded, and every officer of the second regiment fell, except three, one of which, Mr. Greaton, was shot through the body.

"Our artillery now being silenced, and all the officers killed, except Captain Ford, who was very badly wounded, and more than half of the army fallen, being cut off from the road, it became necessary to attempt the regaining it, and to make a retreat, if possible. To this purpose, the remains of the army was formed as well as circumstances would admit, toward the right of the encampment, from which, by the way of the second line, another charge was made upon the enemy, as if with the design to turn their right flank, but in fact to gain the road.

"This was effected, and as soon as it was open the militia took along it, followed by the troops, Major Clark, with his battalion, covering the rear. The retreat, in these circumstances, was as you may be sure, a very precipitate one. It was, in fact, a flight. The camp and the artillery were abandoned: but that was unavoidable, for not a horse was left alive to have drawn it off, had it otherwise been practicable."

A RETREAT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

The flight was kept up until Fort Jefferson, twenty-nine miles distant, was reached after sunset, with the Indians following, killing and scalping stragglers for several miles, a great many of the men throwing away their guns, and some even discarded their shoes, so as to be able to run faster. From Fort Jefferson, the retreat was continued along the cut out trail to Fort Washington, which place was reached in four days.

But for a personal pique and jealousy of General Butler, the results

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might have been different. Captain Slough, in command of a party of volunteers, had crossed the creek and pushed out about a mile and dis- covered many Indians, and about midnight reported to Colonel Oldham, his superior officer, that fact, and that he believed the Indians would at- tack next morning, and he was ordered to report to General Butler, in com- mand. Then Oldham sent out scouts of his own, who soon returned with the same report, and Colonel Oldham then reported the matter also to General Butler, and Slough asked that he might report the matter to St. Clair, but Butler ordered him to go and lie down, which he did. On the march from Fort Washington, General Butler had changed St. Clair's order of march, and insisted on being permitted to take a thousand men and push north on an expedition by himself, and because of St. Clair's reprimand, became offended, and refused to go near St. Clair, except when compelled to do so by his official duties. St. Clair never heard of the discovery of the large body of Indians until reported by Slough after the battle. Gen- eral Butler paid dearly for his obstinacy, for he was killed in the battle, and his bones lie probably at the monument erected by Ohio at Fort Re- covery.

The defeat must be ascribed to the surprise, which threw the militia into confusion, and the woods afforded the Indians that shelter they most desired in their mode of warfare. The defeat of St. Clair was the most disastrous that was ever given the Americans by the Indians, before or since. From an army of one thousand four hundred and eighty-six men and officers, there were nine hundred and six killed or wounded.

The Indians were led by Little Turtle, chief of the Miamis, and one of the greatest chieftains of the age, and he was also assisted by Joseph Brant with one-hundred and fifty Mohawks. The number of Indians engaged has been variously stated to have been one thousand to two thousand, but the best authority seems to concede that probably not more than one thou- sand Indians were in the battle. Their successes rendered the Indians bolder, and carried consternation to the settlers, and the year 1792 opened a gloomy outlook for the settlers of the Ohio Valley. Congress immediately passed laws to raise a strong force to send against the Indians, and Wash- ington sent several delegations among them to endeavor to make a peace, but without success. A Congressional committee was appointed, and after investigation, made a report to the House of Representatives exonerating St. Clair from all blame.

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"THE MAN WHO NEVER SLEEPS."

Washington appointed General Anthony Wayne as the commander .of the new army, whom the Indians called, "The Snake," because of the quickness of his movements and the silence with which he made his attacks, and also "The man who never sleeps," because they were never able to take him unprepared. In June of 1792, Wayne moved to Pittsburgh and began drilling and organizing the gathering army that was to make the - last argument with the Indians. General Wilkinson was appointed as com- mander at Cincinnati, and during the winter of 1791-92, Captain John S. Gano was sent north with a detachment to erect another fort, and in December, 1791, and January, 1792, he erected Fort St. Clair about a mile west of Eaton, clearing off some eighty acres, or more around it to afford a clear way for the artillery. The fort was what is known as a stockade fort, with logs set endways in a ditch, which was filled in and . well tamped; and a blockhouse inside with puncheon upper floor, on which the cannon were mounted.

From the site of the fort there is a short gulley or ravine coming down from the high land, north to the branch, and in this ravine there is a spring of fine water, that is still flowing; and it is claimed there was a covered way from the stockade down to the spring, from which the gar- rison got its supply of water. The hill on which the fort stood overlooks a stream or branch of considerable size, and for several years soldiers were kept at the fort, and from that fact the stream was named the Garrison branch, which name it still retains. The farm on which the fort stood is now owned by Clement R. Gilmore, of Dayton, Ohio.

In October, 1792, Major Adair with a force of one hundred mounted Kentucky Infantry was sent as a convoy to a number of wagons and pack horses, carrying army munitions and supplies to Fort Jefferson, which they safely delivered. In the meantime Little Turtle, with some two hundred and fifty Indians, started on a foray towards Cincinnati, and when near Fort Hamilton, he learned from a prisoner of the proximity of the convoy and its expected return, when he decided to surprise them, and returned towards the southern part of this county, and secreted the Indians along . the trail, so as to ambush the detachment on its return, but Adair did not leave Fort Jefferson until one day later than was expected, and on his return he reached Fort St. Clair on the evening of November 5, 1792, and camped with his men near the clearing and woods outside of the stockade.

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Little Turtle, being apprised of the change by his runners, quietly sur- rounded Fort St. Clair on the southeast and north, and just before day- light, on November 6th, attacked the detachment, and for some time, one of the two little battles fought in this county raged with considerable fury. The quaint report of the affair made by Adair to General Wilkinson, gives a better idea of the fight than any words of mine, and is copied :

AN ORIGINAL REPORT ON A FRONTAL ATTACK.

Dated November 6, 1792 .- "This morning, about the first appearance of day, the enemy attacked my camp, within sight of this post. The attack was sudden, and the enemy came on with a degree of courage that bespoke them warriors indeed. Some of my men were hand in hand with them before we retreated, which, however, we did to a kind of stockade, intended for stables; we made a stand. I then ordered Lieutenant Madison to take a party and gain their right flank, if possible. I called for Lieutenant Hail to send to the left, but found he had been slain. I then led forward the men that stood near me, which, together with Ensigns Buchanan and Florin, amounted to about twenty-five, and pressed to the left of their center, thinking it absolutely necessary to assist Madison. We made a manly push, and the enemy retreated, taking all our horses, except five or six. We drove them about six hundred yards, through our camp, when they again made a stand, and we fought them some time; two of my men were here shot dead.

"At that moment I received information that the enemy were about to flank us on the right, and on turning that way, I saw about sixty of them running to that point. I had yet heard nothing of Madison. I then ordered my men to retreat, which they did with deliberation, heartily cursing the Indians, who pursued us close to our camp, where we again fought them until they gave way; and when they retreated our ammuni- tion was nearly expended, although we had been supplied from the gar- rison in the course of the action. I did not think it proper to follow them again, but ordered my men into the garrison to draw ammunition. I re- turned in a few minutes to a hill to which we had first driven them, where I found two of my men scalped, who were brought in.

"Since I began to write this, a few of the enemy appeared in sight, and I pursued them with a party about a quarter of a mile, but could not overtake them, and did not think proper to go further. Madison, whom I had sent to the right, was, on his first attack, wounded and obliged to

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retreat into the garrison, having a man or two dead. To this misfortune I think the enemy are indebted for the horses they got. Had he gained their right flank, and I once had possession of their left, I think we might have routed them at that stage of the action, as we had them on the retreat.

"I had six men killed and five wounded; four men are missing. I think they went off early in the action on horseback and are, I suppose, by this time at Fort Hamilton. My officers and a number of my men distinguished themselves greatly.

"Poor Hail died calling to his men to advance. Madison's bravery and conduct need no comment; they are well known. Florin and Buchanan acted with a coolness and courage that do them much honor; Buchanan, after firing his gun, knocked an Indian down with the barrel. They have killed and taken a great number of the pack horses.

"I intend following them this evening, some distance, to ascertain their strength and route, if possible. I can, with propriety, say that about fifty of my men fought with a bravery equal to any men in the world; and had the garrison not been so nigh, as a place of safety for the bashful, I think many more would have fought well. The enemy have, no doubt, as many men killed as myself; they left two dead on the ground, and I saw two carried off. The only advantage they have gained is our horses, which is a capital one, as it disables me from bringing the interview to a more certain and satis- factory conclusion."

After the battle, rough coffins were made and the killed were buried about fifty steps west of the fort, in a row; their names, beginning at the south, are: Lieut. John Hale, Sergt. Matthew English, Robert Bowling, Joseph Clinton, Isaac Jette and John Williams. There they slept in unmarked graves until 1900, when, through the efforts of the Grand Army Post of Eaton, headstones were placed at each grave with the name of the soldier thereon. A number of those engaged in the battle afterward settled in the Miami valley, and for many years they held reunions at the old fort. One man, Luke Voorhes, was shot through the body, but recovered, and after- ward settled in Gratis township and died there and is buried in one of our cemeteries; and John Goldsmith, who died west of Eaton, was one of the soldiers of the garrison at that time.

PREPARING FOR THE FINAL STRUGGLE.

In April, 1793, Wayne, with the army, arrived at Cincinnati, having come down the Ohio river mostly in flatboats from near Pittsburgh, and

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he spent the spring and summer drilling and organizing his army, sending for- ward army munitions to the various posts, and also in cutting out a road from Fort Hamilton north toward Fort Wayne, Indiana, to which place it was at last completed; the road to be as straight as possible to keep it on the highest and best ground for wagons and horses. All measures of the road were made from Fort Hamilton, or, rather, from the point opposite Fort Hamilton, which was on the east bank of the Great Miami river. At about two miles the engineers crossed a stream, which they called Two Mile creek, and at about four miles they crossed Four Mile creek; then, in order, came Nine Mile creek, Fourteen Mile creek, now a small stream flowing southeast across section 31, of Gratis township; then. Seventeen Mile creek, a stream flowing northwest across the Eby and Prugh lands in sections I and 12 of Somers township, thence north to Rocky run, and passing about a mile east of Eaton, thence nearly straight to where the present Eaton and Greenville road crosses Banta creek, and is said to have wound up the side of the hill north of Banta creek, which, on account of its height and steepness was nick- named the "Forty Foot Pitch," by which name it is yet known. Then the road ran west of north, passing near Ludlow's spring at its crossing of Lowry's run, which is some sixty or more rods northwesterly of Zion church, and on north past West Manchester to Greenville and Fort Recovery to Fort Wayne, at the head of the Maumee river, then also called the Miami of the Lakes.

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History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 9

Author: R. E. Lowry Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 985

Author: R. E. Lowry
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 985