History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c., Part 33

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968

USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c. > Part 33

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The most noted Indian town in old Richland County was in the part assigned to the Del- awares. This was Greentown, situated on Sec- tion 18, in Green Township. " Greentown was started about 1783," says Dr. Hill. "on the Black Fork of Mohican by an American Tory from the blood-stained valley of Wyoming. After that sanguinary slaughter. Thomas Green, who had aided the fierce Mohawks to murder his countrymen, fled to the wilds of Ohio with Jelloway. Armstrong, Billy Montour, Tom Lyons and others. The village received thename of the white fiend. and was called Greentown."

When the Indian war of 1790 broke out, the Greentown Indians were led by Thomas Arm-

strong, while that portion of the tribe living about Upper Sandusky were led by Capt. Pipe. For a while they were able to repel the whites, but, in 1794. Gen. Wayne met them at the " Fallen Timbers." and so signally routed them that their power was forever broken. Ever after the name of Wayne was a terror to them. After the treaty of 1795. part of the tribe returned to Greentown and part to Jeromeville,* established at that time. The Indians remained at Greentown at peace with the whites until the war of 1812. During this interval their village grew to a population of more than a hundred souls, and became one of the best known in Northern Ohio. It was one of the chief towns among the aborigines, and in it were held many of their feasts, an account of two being given in succeeding pages. They cultivated fields of corn adjacent to the village. built good cabins, and entertained, as best they could, any white person applying for their hospitality.t

Capt. Pipe, who was one of their ruling spir- its, and long time a chief, was, after the peace of 1795, a fervent friend of the whites. He had been an inveterate foe, and was the principal actor in the cruel execution of Col. Crawford, in retaliation for the wanton murder of their Moravian brothers. This was in strict accord with the ideas of Indian justice, and, had Col. Williamson, the commander of the militia who

* Jeromeville, another important Indian town in this part of the State, though not in "old Richland," well deserves a description. It was founded by John Baptiste Jerome, a Canadian Frenchman, who came about 1784 to the Huron River, where he married an Indian girl, a sister of the noted Indian, George Hamilton. After marriage, Jerome removed to upper Sandusky, where he remained until the outbreak of hostilities in 1790, when, with Capt. Pipe, of the Delawares, he engaged in battle against the Americans, only to be defeated by Gen. Wayne. After the treaty of Greenville, Jerome, Capt. Pipe, and a number of Delaware Indians, came to the site of Mohican Johnstown, on the south side of the stream, about three- quarters of a mile from the present Jeromeville, where they estab- lished a town. This was abont 1802 or 1803. Jerome crossed the stream and built a cabin a little northeast of a mill site long after- ward used for such. He was here when Joseph Larwill surveyed the country, in 1806 and 1807. He wasstill here when the first set- tlers came, and had considerable land cleared in the creek bottoms. He resided in this cabin with his Indian wife and daughter until the Indians were removed by orders of Capt. Murray, an account of which is given in this volume. The removal caused their death. He was never the same man again. He married a German woman, sold his farm, and, after one or two moves, died at his old home, on the Huron River.

+ Another old Indian town in this vicinity was Helltown. Its location was not far from the present village of Newville. It is fully described in the history of Worthington Township.

* Dr. George W. Hill says Armstrong's Indian name was "Pa- moxet."

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so cruelly slew the inoffensive Moravians, been captured. Col. Crawford would have been spared. Capt. Pipe seemed to accept the results of war, and, knowing that the power of the Indians was gone, lived peaceably until his death. He was one of the Indian chiefs who signed the treaty of peace at Greenville, July 22, 1814, between the United States and his and other tribes. By this act he fully identified himself with the American cause .* When he came to Mohican John's town, or Mohican Johnstown, as it is variously written, he built his cabin about one mile north- west of the old Mingo town, south of the stream, and on what is now the Haysville road. There he lived several years. Dr. William Bushnell says he has often been in his cabin, and par- taken of his hospitality. He describes Capt. Pipe as humane, fine looking, dignified, courte- ons, a magnificent specimen of physical man- hood, fully six feet high, and exceptionally well proportioned. He thinks the cabin was about twelve feet square, and was well made for an Indian's work.

The Armstrong family of Indians, members of the Delaware nation, became better known among the whites than any other family. Dr. Hill mentions Thomas Armstrong as the chief of the Delawares at Greentown, and their leader against the Americans in the Indian wars between 1790 and 1795. He was associ- ated with Capt. Pipe, leader of the Delawares, upon the Sandusky and the Huron Rivers. Both were defeated by Gen. Wayne, whose power they ever after feared. After the treaty of peace at Greenville, Capt. Pipe, with Jerome and others, came to this part of Ohio, and es- tablished Jeromeville. Dr. Hill does not men- tion the fact of Thomas Armstrong returning, but in after years, other authorities record the fact of there being other Indians by that name. These may have been his sons. The treaty of peace made by Lewis Cass and Dunean Me- Arthur in September, 1817. which gave a res-

ervation to the Delawares adjoining that of the Wyandots, specifies the following persons among whom it should be divided : "Capt. Pipe, son of old Capt. Pipe; Zeshanau, or James Armstrong; Mahanto, or John Armstrong; San- oudoyeasquaw, or Silas Armstrong ; Teorow, or Black Raccoon ; Hawdorouwatistie, or Billy Montour ; Buckwheat, William Dondee, Thomas Lyons, Johnnycake, Capt. Wolfe, Isaac and John Hill, Tishatahoones, or Widow Armstrong, Ayenucere, Hoomawon, or John Ming, and Yondorast."* Many of these had lived at Greentown, others at Jeromeville. The Arm- strong family seems to have been well rep- resented at this time. No mention is made of the old chief Thomas Armstrong. He may have lost his life in the Indian war, and these mentioned may have been his sons and his widow.

Dr. Bushnell and other old citizens knew John M. Armstrong quite intimately. He was well educated, receiving his education at Nor- walk. He returned to Mansfield when his course was completed, and studied law with Hon. Thomas Bartley, afterward Governor of Ohio. He also studied with Judge Stewart, when his law office was on the southeast corner of the square where the court house now stands. While studying in Mansfield he recited a few branches of learning to Rev. Russell Bigelow, and thereby became acquainted with the minis- ter's daughter, Lucy, a most excellent girl, whom he afterward married, to the great aston- ishment of her friends. "He is such a fine man, so dignified and so manly," said she in response to the inquiry of a friend. "I cannot help but respect and love him, and I think I will marry him." He proved an exemplary and model husband, and, when his studies were completed, he went to Upper Sandusky, where he became the chief of his tribe. He regulated their affairs, did much to elevate them, and while there was associated with "Chub," "Monque," "Blue

* Howe's Collections.

* Statement of Dr. Hill.

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Eyes," "Between-the-logs," and other noted Christian Indians. They were Methodists, and supported a church established by Rev. James B. Finley, about 1820. The first person to preach to them was John Stewart, a mulatto, a member of the Methodist Church, who came to the Wyandots of his own accord in 1816, and gained much influence over them. His efforts on their behalf paved the way for the estab- lishment of a permanent mission by the church, the first of this denomination among the In- (lians in the Mississippi Valley.

The mission church building was built of blue limestone, in 1824, from goverment funds, Rev. Mr. Finley having permission from the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, to apply $1.333 for this purpose. The church still re- mains, and around it the graves of many of the Indian converts, who became most excellent citizens, many of whom were very loath to go farther West when their final remove was made in 1842.

Speaking of the Shawanees or Shawanoes, Col. Johnston, a most excellent authority on such subjects, says: "We can trace their his- tory to the time of their residence on the tide- waters of Florida, and, as well as the Delawares, they aver that they originally came from west of the Mississippi. Blackhoof, who died at Wapaghkonetta, at the advanced age of 105 years, and who, in his day, was a very influen- tial chief among the Indians, told me that he remembered, when a boy. bathing in the salt waters of Florida; also that his people firmly believed white or civilized people had been in the country before them. having found in many instances the marks of iron tools, axes upon trees and stumps, over which the sand had blown. Shawanoese means "the South," or " people from the South."* After the peace of 1763, the Miamis removed from the Big Miami River and a body of Shawanees established themselves at Lower and Upper Piqua, which

became their principal headquarters in Ohio. They remained here until driven off by the Ken- tuckians, when they crossed over to the St. Mary's and to Wapaghkonnetta. The Upper Piqua is said to have contained at one period over four thousand Shawances. They were very warlike and brave, and often were quite formidable enemies.

In the French war, which ended in 1763, a bloody battle was fought near the site of Col. Johnston's residence, at Upper Piqua. At that time the Miamis had their towns there, which on ancient maps are marked as "Tewightewee towns." The Miamis, Ottawas. Wyandots, and other northern tribes, adhering to the French, made a stand here, assisted by the French. The Delawares, Shawanees, Munseys, parts of the Senecas, residing in Pennsylvania; Cherokees, Catawbas, and other tribes. adhering to the English, with English traders, attacked the French and Indians. The latter had built a fort in which to protect and defend themselves, and were able to withstand the siege. which lasted more than a week. Not long after this con- test, the Miamis left the country, retiring to the Miami of the lake, at and near Fort Wayne, and never returned. The Shawanees took their place, and gave names to many towns in this part of Ohio.

The part assigned to this nation by Col. Whittlesey, extended to the line before men- tioned. i. e., to the center of the county east and west, and north as far as the southern line of the Hurons, a short distance north of the site of Mansfield. The only village of the tribe known to have existed here was in the edge of Crawford County, at a place known as Knise- ly's Spring, now Annapolis. The water of the spring is highly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, tarnishes silver, and deposits a sul- phurous precipitate a short distance from the spring. Dr. William Bushnell says the spring was a favorite resort of the Indians after lie came to the county. He says also that the

* Howe's Collections.

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locality was a very sickly one, and that, in his ca- pacity of a physician, he often visited the Indians who lived there. He has often placed silver in the» water to note the tarnish which is quickly im- parted to it. The water is a gentle cathartic, and, since the advent of the whites, the place has been improved, and accommodations made for visitors and those desirous of benefits from the spring water. The Indians, doubtless, an- nually came here during their occupancy of the country. They were well acquainted with all such localities, and often placed great confi- dence in the waters, whose effects they could perceive, but which they could not explain.

A small village, hardly worth the name, also existed in Troy Township, a history of which is given in connection with that of the township. There were several such " camps " in all parts of Richland County. They were really hunt- ing-places, and were not considered as vil- lages. The county was rather a good hunting- place, and as such, especially along its streams, was much traversed by wandering tribes of In- dians from all the nations dwelling in this part of Ohio. In the histories of the townships these various camps are more fully noticed.

The northern portion of Richland County be- longed in ancient times to the Eries, who were exterminated by the Five Nations in some of their wars. The Wyandots, who, at the time the French missionaries came to America, were dwelling in the peninsula of Michigan, were al- lowed by the Five Nations to occupy the land of the Eries. and thus came to dwell in this county. The Ottawas, another conquered tribe. and one allowed existence only by paying a kind of tribute to their conquerors, the Iro- quois, were also part occupants of this same part of Ohio. This nation produced the re- nowned chief Pontiac, who was the cause of such widespread desolation in the West, an ac- count of which is given in the history of the Northwest in preceding pages. The Ottawas were often known as "Canada Indians " among

the early settlers. Their principal settlements were on the Mamnee, along the lake shore, on the Huron and Black Rivers, and on the streams flowing into them. The nation were distin- guished for cunning and artifice, and were de- void of the attributes of true warriors. They were often employed as emissaries, their known diplomacy and artifice being well adapted to such business. The Wyandots, on the other hand, were a bold, warlike people. Gen. Har- rison says of them: "They were true war- riors, and neither fatigue, famine, loss, nor any of the ills of war could dannt their courage. They were our most formidable and stubborn enemies among the aborigines in the war of 1812." They, like all tribes in the West, were often influenced by British rum and British gold, and found in the end. as their chief's so aptly expressed it, that they were "only tools in the hands of a superior power, who cared nothing for them, only to further their own sel- fish ends."

Many of the Indians of all these tribes were friendly to all whites until the breaking-out of the war with Great Britain, when they left the country to join the forces of the king, and destroy the whites who occupied their country. They considered them then their enemies. and acted accordingly on all occasions, save where personal friendship, so strong in the Indian, developed itself, and, in many instances, saved the lives of those in danger. Instances of this kind are frequently given, which appear in the narrative as they occurred.

The manners, customs, feasts, war parties and daily life of these sons of the forest, form in- teresting chapters in aboriginal history. It will be well to notice such in these pages, as far as space permits. The character of the Indians was largely the result of their lives. They judged and lived by what the senses dictated. They had names and words for what they could hear, see, feel, taste and smell. They had no conceptions of abstract ideas until they learned

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such from the whites. Hence their language was very symbolical. They could see the sun in his brightness. they could feel his heat, hence they compared the actions of a good man to the glory of the sun, and his fervent energy to the heat of that body. The moon in her brightness, the wind in its fury, the clouds in their majesty, or in their slow, graceful motion through a lazy atmosphere; the grace and flight of the deer; the strength and fury of the bear; the rush or ripple of water as it coursed along the bed of a river, all gave them words whose expressiveness are a wonder and marvel to this day. They looked on the beauti- ful river that borders the southern shores of our State and exclaimed "O-he-zo!" beanti- ful; on the placid waters of the stream border- ing the western line of Indiana and ejaculated, " Wa-ba"-a summer cloud moving swiftly ; on the river flowing into Lake Erie and said, "Cuy-o-ga" (Cuyahoga), crooked; and so on through their entire vocabulary, each name ex- pressive of a meaning, full and admirably adapted to the object. At one time in the history of the Indians in the South. one tribe was driven from the homes of its ancestors, and in their flight they came to the green banks of a beautiful river. The spot was charmingly beautiful, and the chief, thrusting his spear into the earth, cried in a loud voice, "Al-a-ba-ma" -here we rest. A river and State now perpet- uate the name and story.

skeleton tent. The squaws plaited mats of thongs, bark or grass, in such a manner as to render them impervious to water. These were spread on the poles, beginning at the bottom and extending upward. A small hole was left for the egress of smoke from the fire kindled in the center of the wigwam. Around this fire, mats or skins were spread, on which the Indians slept at night, and on which they sat during the day. For a door, they lifted one end of the mat, and crept in, letting it fall down behind them. These tents were warm and dry, and generally quite free from smoke. Their fuel was nearly always split by the squaws in the fall of the year, and kept dry by placing it under an in- verted birch-bark canoe. These wigwams were easily moved about from place to place, the labor of their destruction and construction being always performed by the squaws-these beasts of burden among all savage nations. The wigwam was very light and easily carried about. It resembled the tents of to-day in shape, and was often superior in points of com- fort and protection.

The cabins were more substantial affairs, and were built of poles about the thickness of a small-sized telegraph pole and were of various sizes, commonly, however, about twelve by fif- teen feet in size. These poles were laid one on the other similar to the logs in a cabin, save that, until the Indians learned to notch the point of contact near the end, from the whites, they were held by two stakes being driven in the angles formed in the corners, and fastened at the top by a hickory or bark withe or by a thong of buckskin. The pen was raised to the height of from four to six feet, when an arched roof was made over it by driving at each end a strong post, with a fork at the upper end. which stood a convenient height above the top- most log or pole. A stout pole was laid on the forks, and on this was laid a small pole reach- ing down to the wall. On these rafters small

The Indians in Northern Ohio, the tribes already mentioned, had learned a few things from their intercourse with the whites on the borders of Western Pennsylvania, when they were first seen by the pioneers of Richland County. Their cabins or wigwams were of two kinds, circular and parallelogram. The former, the true wigwam, was in use among the Otta- was when the whites came to their country. It was made of a number of straight poles driven firmly into the ground, their upper ends being drawn closely together; this formed a kind of lath were tied, and over the whole pieces of

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

linn bark were laid down. These were cut from the tree, often of great length and from six to twelve inches in width. They were then cut into proper lengths to cover the cabin. At the ends of the cabin split timbers were set up, so that the entire cabin was inclosed except a small aperture at one end, which was left for a door. This was covered by a deer's or bear's skin. At the top of the cabin an opening was left for the smoke to escape. for all Indians built their fires on the ground in the center of the cabin or wigwam. around which they spread skins and mats on which to recline and sleep. The cracks between the logs were filled with moss gathered from old logs. When made. the cabin was quite comfortable, and was often constructed in the same manner by the pioneers, while making improvements, and used until a permanent structure could be erected.

In regard to food, the Indians were more careful to provide for their future needs than their successors of the West are to-day. In the spring they made maple sugar by boiling the sap in large brass or iron kettles which they had obtained from the French and English traders. To secure the water they used vessels made of elm bark in a very ingenious manner. " They would strip the bark," says Dr. George W. Hill, of Ashland, " in the winter season. when it would strip or run. by cutting down the tree, and, with a crooked stick, sharp and broad at one end, peel the bark in wide strips, from which they would construct vessels holding two or three gallons each. They would often make over a hundred of these. They cut a sloping notch in the side of a sugar-tree, stuck a toma- hawk into the wood at the end of the noteli, and, in the dent thus made, drove a long chip or spile, which conveyed the water to the bark vessels. They generally selected the larger trees for tapping, as they considered the sap from such stronger and productive of more sugar. Their vessels for carrying the sap would hold from three to five gallons each, and sometimes.

where a large camp was located and a number of squaws at work, using a half-dozen kettles, great quantities of sugar would be made. When the sugar-water would collect faster than they could boil it, they would make three or four large troughs, holding more than a hundred gallons each, in which they kept the sap until ready to boil. When the sugar was made, it was generally mixed with bear's oil or fat, form- ing a sweet mixture into which they dipped their roasted venison. As cleanliness was not a reigning virtue among the Indians, the culti- vated taste of a civilized person would not always fancy the mixture, unless driven to it by hunger. The compound, when made, was generally kept in large bags made of coon-skins, or vessels made of bark. The former were made by strip- ping the skin over the body toward the head, tying the holes made by the legs with buckskin cords, and sewing securely the holes of the eyes. ears and mouth. The hair was all removed, and then the bag blown full of air, from a hole in the upper end, and allowed to dry. Bags made in this way, Dr. Bushnell says, would hold whisky, and were often used for such pur- poses. When they became saturated they were blown full of air again, the hole plugged, and they were left to dry. Some times the head was cut off without stripping the skin from it, and the skin of the neck gathered in folds like a purse, below which a string was tied and fastened with a pin. Skin vessels were very com- mon to the natives of America. All Oriental countries possess them, and there the traveler of to-day finds them the rule. They are as old almost as time.

The Indians inhabiting this part of Ohio were rather domestic in their tastes, and culti- vated corn. potatoes and melons. Corn was their principal crop, and was raised entirely by the squaws. When the season for planting drew near, the women cleared a spot of rich alluvial soil, and dug over the ground in a rude manner with their hoes. In planting the corn

MOSS-ENG. CON. Y.

Hough Mchale

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

they followed lines to a certain extent, thus forming rows each way across the field. When the corn began to grow, they cultivated it with wonderful industry until it had matured suffi- ciently for use. Their corn fields were nearly always in the vicinity of the villages, and sometimes were many acres in extent, and in favorable seasons yielded plentifully. The squaws had entire charge of the work. It was considered beneath the dignity of a brave to do any kind of manual labor, and, when any one of them, or of any of the white men whom they had adopted. did any work, they were severely reprimanded for acting like a squaw. The Indian women raised the corn, dried it, pounded it into meal in a rude stone mortar, or made it into hominy. Corn in one form and another furnished the chief staple of the In- dian's food. They had various legends concern- ing its origin, which, in common with other stories, they were accustomed to recite in their assemblies.

The Indians were always fond of amusements of all kinds. These consisted of races, games of ball, throwing the tomahawk, shooting at a mark with the bow and arrow, or with the rifle after its distribution among them, horse races, and other sports incidental to savage life. Their powers of endurance were remark- able, and astonishing accounts are often now told of feats of prowess exhibited by these ab- origines. Of the animals hunted by the Indians, none seems to have elicited their skill more than the bear. To slay one of these beasts was proof of a warrior's prowess, and dangerous en- counters often resulted in the hunter's search for such distinction. The vitality of bruin was unequaled among the animals of the forest, and, because of the danger attached to his capt- ure, he was made an object of special hunts and feats of courage.

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Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968