History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

west to northeast, in the direction of the Canadian highlands.

Mr. Atwater, the antiquarian, in his work on the antiquities of America, holds the opinion that the people who put up stone altars, earthworks, and fortifications, com- menced that work at the head of the north- ern lakes, thence moved along their borders into what is now western New York, thence in a southwestern direction, following the rivers to the Ohio River anddown the Ohio and Mississippi, thence to the city of Mex- ico, as now known, where they had their central power, and from which locality they radiated colonies into what is known as South America, and other countries. But whence came the Cave-dwellers is a question still unsolved. Some speculations are found about it, such as that at one time the islands in the Atlantic, North or South were once so approximate as to al- low convenient transit from continent to continent, and that afterwards upheavals in the ocean and the sinking of these islands left a greater expanse of water. That crossing was once effected by way of Greenland, and thereby a race was planted on this continent-others claiming that man was as indiginous to this continent as to the Eastern hemisphere. These specu- lations are of little value in settling the query, and leave the question still unan- swered and surrounded with that mist and darkness which bounds the region of ascer- tained facts. There are as yet no discov- ered traces of this race in Sandusky county; still, the nearness of them to us makes the mention of them pertinent, while the facts discovered are interesting to all.

MOUND BUILDERS AND THEIR WORKS.

The subsidence of the waters of the glacial period of the earth, which geologists say formed the great chain of lakes whose waters flow over the Falls of Niagara in such awful grandeur, sending the lowest

bass of perpetual thunder against the re- verberating hills around, left the region of country called Northwestern Ohio, of which Sandusky county is a part, a great plain slightly inclined from the south to- wards the north, its northern termination but little elevated generally above the level of the lake which bounds it at the present time. The region was generally almost level, and, though swampy, was chiefly covered with a dense growth of large forest trees of considerable variety.

The singular absence of high hills, low valleys, high rocks, and intervening ra- vines, which made this country ineligi- ble to the Cave-dwellers, rendered it also a rather uninviting location to the Mound and Fort Builders. The works of the suc- cessors to the Cave dwellers are therefore not as numerous nor as striking to the be- holder as they are in many other localities. But, notwithstanding this unfavorable fea- ture in the surface of the county, there are yet found within its limits sufficient of these works to prove that this ancient race, or these ancient races of men, were once here.

There were, a few years ago, the re- mains of a line of earthen forts, supposed to be for defence, extending from Muskash Point, now in Erie county, along south and eastward on the solid lands along the marshes of Sandusky Bay to the Sandusky River, striking the river in section twelve, township five, range fifteen; thence up the river to Negro Point, on the Williams Re- serve, in section fourteen, and along up the river on the high bank or hill along the river on the east side, up to near the north line of Seneca county.

Mr. Michael Stull, an aged farmer now residing in section twelve, Riley township, says that in 1820 he came to Muskash and owned a piece of land there on which were the remains of a considerable ancient fort. The walls were of earth,

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

with openings or gates. The fort was in a circular form and inclosing several acres of ground. In this fort he found flint arrow-heads, stone axes, and numerous specimens in various forms of rude pottery which appeared to have been made of burnt clay, largely mixed with pounded shells of clams or oysters.

Another similar fort, with similar re- mains in and about it, was found in sec- tion one, Riley township. Then another on the farm now owned by Mr. Stull in section twelve in the same township. This fort or ancient structure is now entirely obliterated, and was, when the writer visited the place in August, 1879, part of a beautiful clover field, not revealing even a trace of its walls or form. Mr. Stull levelled it himself. It was, according to his description of it, circular in form, with two gates or openings opposite each other. The circle was about twenty rods in diameter. A distinguishing feature of this fort was that a part of the wall on the west side was made by piling soft lime- stones, which were found in plenty on the surface of the land a short distance from its structure. The walls of this fort, when first seen by Mr. Stull, were about four feet high. The ridge of soft limestone had been covered on the sides and on top by earth to a considerable height; the other portions of the wall were composed of a ridge of earth only.

Another ancient fort was found on the premises now or lately owned by Mr. J. Longan, in section twelve, township five, range fifteen.

Another on land owned by Charles Werth, in the same section, and a little further up the river than that last men- tioned.

Another a little further up the river on the land now owned by Jacob Thorn, in the same section.

Another on the Williams Reserve, still

further up the river, in section fourteen, same township. This fort included five or six acres of land, and is situated partly on the land now owned by L. D. Williams, and partly on another tract. The five last mentioned of these ancient forts are in the form of semi-circles, the river forin- ing the arc. The bank of the river where these remains are found, is composed of earth which readily dissolves and washes away by the action of the water, and these works are on the side of the river on which the current and the motion given to the water by the winds spend their force, and where these forces have for a long time been encroaching upon the land, which, in times past, was some distance away from the river. It is quite plain, therefore, that these, like the one at Muskash Point and the one on the Stull farm, were originally circular in form, and some distance from the perpendicular, low bank of the river, for all the remains of the other forts in this chain, unaffected by the wash of a stream, are in that form complete.

There are evidences of another fort of the same kind above the Williams Reserve a short distance, on the high bank of the river, in section thirteen, township five, range fifteen. This work is different in form from those heretofore mentioned, be- ing nearly square, and is supposed to in- clude about three acres of land. It is situated at a place where there was once an Indian village called Muncietown, about three miles below the city of Fre- mont.

Another and larger ancient fort was found a little down the river from the res- idence of Mr. L. D. Williams, which, he says, was a circle and inclosed about ten acres of land.

A MOUND.

Near the fort next above the residence of Mr. Williams, and not far from it, was found a mound about fifty feet in diam-

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

eter, which must originally have been raised to a considerable altitude, and must have been of very ancient construction. Mr. Williams says that about the year 1820 he assisted in cutting down a white- oak tree which stood on the very summit of the mound, for the purpose of captur- ing a swarm of bees which had long been in the tree, and that this tree was then near three feet in diameter. At the time this tree was cut the elevation of the mound was about eight feet above the general level of the surrounding land. The mound was afterwards opened by Mr. John Shannon, of this county, and his brother, about the year 1840. The mound had then attracted considerable observation and much specu- lation among the observers as to what it was raised for, and what might be in it. One night Mr. Shannon's brother dreamed that there was a large wedge of gold buried under this mound, and communi- cated his dream as a profound secret, and the two were so strongly impressed with the belief that the gold wedge was there that they, being then young men, re- solved to dig open the mound at all events, and see what was in or under it. The stump of the oak had then so far decayed that it was removed without much diffi- culty. On removing the earth from a con- siderable space and a little below the gen- eral level of the surface around the mound, they found, not the gold wedge dreamed of, but the teeth of a human being in good preservation. Upon further carefully removing the earth they found, marked in a different colored earth from that sur- rounding it, the figure of a man of giant size, plainly to be seen. Where the breast of the buried man had lain were found two oval-shaped plates of white mica. One of these plates had been, or appeared to have been, perforated, as there was a round hole in it near the centre, such as might have been made by a rifle ball. On

the other plate were dark streaks and spots, which the discoverers supposed might be characters or letters, understood at the time, recording the name and rank of the man who had been buried, and the cir- cumstances of his death; but these infer- ences can only be entitled to the rank of conjectures.

Following the river up about two miles from the location of the mound above mentioned, the remains of another ancient fortification were found on the hill over- looking the valley of the river of the opposite side below and both sides above. It included the block of lots once called the Whyler prop- erty, on which he many years ago erected a brick cottage, which is still standing. Here the hill or bluff trends quite sharply to the east for some distance, and then curves southward, meeting the river again near where it is crossed by the Lake Shore railroad in the southern portion of the city. No more advantageous point for a fort and lookout can be found along the whole course of the Sandusky River than this one. Our informant* saw this fort before improvements had obliterated it. According to his description of the loca- tion of these remains this fort was in the original plat of the town of Croghans- ville, on lots 649, 650, 667, 668, 669, 670, as now numbered on the present map of the city, and perhaps other and parts of other lots.

There were a few years ago the remains of another fortification about two miles from the last mentioned, on the bluff com- monly known as the Blue Banks, in sec- tion ten, township four, range fifteen, in Ballville township.

The remains of another ancient fort were discovered by our informant some distance from the river, on Sugar Creek,

*Mr. Julius Patterson.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

in the south part of Ballville township, on the east side of the river .*

There was also found a considerable mound on what is now out-lot thirty-three, a little to the left or east side of the road leading from the south end of Front street in the city of Fremont, to Ballville village. This mound was levelled and . plowed over many years ago. In it were found some human bones, pottery, arrow- heads, and stone axes, so common in these tumuli, but the fact that human skulls and other bones were found indi- cated that the human remains had been placed there at a later date than that of the age of the Mound Builders.

WHY DID THESE ANCIENT RACES COME AND FORTIFY HERE?

If any one is curious enough to inquire what inducements existed to bring these ancient races to the region of country through which this line of ancient fortifica- tions is found; why they should settle and fortify themselves along the marshes bor- dering the Sandusky Bay, and the dry land along the banks of the Sandusky River, the answer could rationally be, that they were attracted hither by the health, beauty, or the grand scenery; or by advantageous localities for strong fortifications for de- fence or aggressive war. The most ra- tional and acceptable answer to these questions may be found in the fact that those races obtained their supplies of food by capturing the game in the woods and prairies, and in the waters in their vicinity. Credible accounts given by the early settlers of countries where the remains of these fortifications were found, all tend to prove that in all the re- gions of the Northwest, there could be no point found where the locality afforded such a superabundance of superior game and fish in close proximity, as this. The

great abundance of deer, bear, turkeys and wild fowl of the woods; and of water- fowl, such as swan, geese, brant, and crane, and ducks of great variety ; and such ani- mals as beaver, otter, mink, etc., which the Indians and early white settlers de- scribe as once being here, and the im- mense quantity of excellent fish, show that no better point could be found for a race of men to locate who depended on the chase for food.

THE STONE WORKERS.

The evidence of the existence of a race of men who worked stone into weapons and clay into utensils, is abundant in the county. There are also proofs showing the great antiquity of this race. Mr. Albert Cavalier, residing on Mud Creek, in Rice township, this county, on section twenty-five, township six, range fifteen, a few years ago cleared a part of his land, which was level-no sign of mound or fort was perceptible. The trees were of white oak, very large and fine; some two and some as large as three feet in diame- ter. On plowing the land, his plow threw up a great number of flint arrow-heads, stone axes, stone pipes, and pieces of pot- tery composed of burnt clay mixed with pounded shells. These could not be seen on the surface, but were covered nearly to the depth of a furrow, and some were found under the stumps of the trees he had cut, when the stumps were removed. Mr. Cavalier deposited a variety of these ar- ticles with the Historical Society, and they are now in Birchard Library. Mr. Lewis Leppelman, of this city, has been for some years gathering specimens of the same kind. He is entitled to great credit for the time, energy, and money he has spent to collect the largest variety and finest specimens of this kind of relics known in Nortwestern Ohio, and placing them also in Birchard Library, where they can be seen by all visitors. A description of all

*Mr. L. Leppelman.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

the varieties of this interesting collection, and where found, would alone make a volume. Mr. Leppelman would lay the public under still greater obligation by placing with them a descriptive catalogue, showing where each of the important pieces was found. This collection con- tains not only stone arrow-heads, axes, and pipes in great variety, but a large number of specimens of other forms of stone, showing equal or more skill in their make, of which it is difficult to conjecture the use. Many of the specimens of Mr. Leppelman have the same form, and are of like material as those found in the lakes of Switzerland, and described and lith- ographed in the Smithsonian Report of

1876, on page 356 and the four succeed- ing pages. This valuable work proves very clearly that in Europe there were distinct periods marked by man's use of different material: first, the age of stone; second, the age of bronze; third, the age of iron. The age of stone seems to have for a long time been co-extensive with the races of men. The writer was lately informed by Mr. Samuel Ickes, now residing at Dead- wood, that some of the Western Indians still use the flint arrow-point for some purposes, such as killing small game with the arrow, and skinning deer and prepar- ing the skin for various uses with the stone axe.

CHAPTER VII.

THE INDIANS.

Indian Wars-General Wayne's Campaign-Battle of Fallen Timbers-Treaties-Grants of Land.

T THERE is, of course, no written history of the races of men who were here previous to the red men, found here when the whites first came. There is a blank of untold ages in the history of this Con- tinent, and for many years after the country had been visited by white men, all the information concerning the race then occupying the country rests upon traditions. These traditions reach back to about the year 1790, or nearly one hundred years ago. They throw a dim light, but are sufficiently definite to be interesting, and to give some idea of the manners and customs of the people.

NEUTRAL GROUND-THE TWO FORTS.

That this locality was considered valu- able and important by the Indians seems

to be pretty well established. Hon. Lewis Cass, who was early familiar with all the Indian tribes of the Northwestern Terri- tory, and had great facilities for obtaining information from and about them, as In- dian agent of the United States, may be regarded as good authority. In a dis- course before the Historical Society of Michigan, delivered September 18, 1829, he gives some interesting statements re- specting a tribe called the Neutral Nation. The following is an extract from this in teresting and valuable paper:

This Neutral Nation, so called by Father Sequard, was still in existence two centuries ago, when the French missionaries first reached the Upper Lakes. The details of their history and of their character and privileges are meagre and unsatisfactory, and this is to be the more regretted, as such a sanctuary among the barbarous is not only a singular institu-

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

tion, but altogether at variance with that spirit of cruelty with which their wars were usually prose- cuted. The Wyandot tradition represents them as having separated from the parent stock during the bloody wars between their own tribe and the Iro- quois, and having fled to the Sandusky River for safety; that they here erected two forts within a short distance of each other, and assigned one to the Iroquois and the other to the Wyandots and their allies, where their war parties might find security and hospitality whenever they entered their country. Why so unusual a proposition was made and ac- ceded to, tradition does not tell. It is probable, however, that superstition lent its aid to the institu- tion, and that it may have been indebted for its origin to the feasts and dreams and juggling cere- monies, which constituted the religion of the aborig- ines. No other motive was sufficiently powerful to restrain the hand of violence and to counteract the threat of vengeance. An internal feud finally arose in this Neutral Nation, one party espousing the cause of the Iroquois and the other of their enemies; and like most civil wars, this was prosecuted with re- lentless fury. Our informant says that since his recollection the remains of a red cedar post were yet to be seen, where prisoners were tied previous to being burned.

The informant above alluded to by Gov- ernor Cass, we have reason to believe, was Major B. F. Stickney, of Toledo, long an Indian agent in this region. That there may have been such a tradition among the Indians we are unable to gainsay, but of its truth we have doubts.

Major Stickney, in a lecture (as yet un- published,) delivered February 28, 1845, before the Young Men's Association, of Toledo, says :

The remains of extensive works of defence are now to be seen near Lower Sandusky. The Wyan- dots have given me this account of them : At a pe- riod of two centuries and a half or more since, all the Indians west of this point were at war with all the In- dians east. Two walled towns were built near each other, and each was inhabited by those of Wyandot origin. They assumed a neutral character, and the Indians at war recognized that character. They might be called two neutral cities. All of the West might enter the western city, and all of the East the eastern. The inhabitants of one city might inform those of the other that war parties were there or had been there; but who they were or whence they came, or anything more must not be mentioned. The war parties might remain there in security, tak- ing their own time for departure. At the western

town they suffered the warriors to burn their prison- ers; but those at the eastern would not practice this cruelty. (An old Wyandot informed me that he rec- ollected, when a boy, the remains of a cedar post or stake at which they used to burn prisoners.) The French historians tell us that these neutral cities were inhabited and their neutral character respected when they first came here. At length a quarrel arose be- tween the two cities, and one destroyed the inhabit- ants of the other. This put an end to the neu- trality ?*

WHERE WERE THESE ANCIENT FORTS OR CITIES ?

There is good reason to believe that one of them was at Muncietown, and that if the ancient fort, the remains of which were found there, was the work of a pre- ceding race, the Wyandots, or rather a portion of the Wyandots called the Neu- tral Nation, adopted and used it as a de- fensive position and city of refuge as above suggested by Governor Cass and Major Stickney. Where the western fort or city of refuge was located is a matter not now so easily determined. Close in- quiry of the oldest inhabitants about Fre- mont at this time (1881) fails to obtain any tradition or account of any remains of any ancient fortification on the west bank of the river, nor can any such re- mains be discovered at the present time.

THE IROQUOIS OR SIX NATIONS.

This name is used to designate a body of Indians, consisting at first of five, then of six and afterwards of eight nations, who planted themselves in Western New York and on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie. These nations formed a con- federacy prior to 1722, but the precise date of its formation is not recorded. The confederacy consisted, when first known, of the following Nations of red men - Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, to whom the Tus- caroras were added as a sixth Nation in 1722, and after that the organization was

* Howe's History of Ohio.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

called the Six Nations. In 1723 the Huron tribes were received; and as an eighth Nation the Algonquin Massassa- guas, from Canada. This Confederation was remarkable in many respects. It was the most permanent and powerful of the savage governments found in North America.

Seeing the other tribes destroying them- selves by internal discords, the Iroquois formed themselves into a confederacy, in which the principles of military glory and tribal union were carried to the highest Indian perfection. They pursued war and hunting but returned to their fixed villages. Each canton or tribe was independent, and each bound to the others of the con- federacy by ties of general interest and honor. Matters of a general interest were decided in a general meeting of the sa- chems of all the nations, commonly held at Onondaga, New York. They followed the maxim used by the ancient Romans, of encouraging other nations to incorpo- rate, and adopted captive people into their confederacy. In this way they became so strong that in the early part of the seventeenth century they had conquered all the neighboring tribes. Their sachems were chosen by the general voice, admit- ting their courage and wisdomn; these chiefs, in a true Roman simplicity, accept- ing no salary, disregarding profit, and giv- ing away their share of the plunder of war or the perquisites of peace, and thought themselves fully rewarded by the love and respect of the people. The Iroquois Na- tion possessed conservative power in the State, being represented in the public councils and exercising a veto influence in the declaration of war. This was certainly very remarkable in a government found- ed on military principles. Slavery was unknown among them. As in other re- publican confederations, where no single person has power to compel, the arts of

persuasion were highly cultivated. The Iroquois were celebrated for their elo- quence; in proof of this we need only mention the Cayuga, Logan; the Seneca, Red Jacket; the Oneida, Skenandoah ; and the Onandaga, Garangula. The famous Brandt was a half-breed Mohawk. The tradition of Hiawatha (a person of very great wisdom), who advised the union of the Five Nations, is given in Schoolcraft's History of the Indian Tribes, Volume III.

The Iroquois took part with Great Britain during the war of the Revolution, and greatly annoyed the frontier settle- ments of New York and New Jersey. A powerful expedition was sent against them in 1779, under command of General Sul- livan, and their country was ravaged, and eighteen of their villages burned. This movement effectually broke their power, though their incursions did not im- mediately cease. After the war treaties were made with them, by which extensive cessions of land were made to the United States. Other treaties followed until their title has been extinguished to all, or nearly all the land in the Northern, Eastern, Middle and Southern States. In the War of 1812 their few remaining warriors assisted the Americans against the British, and were organized for military service under the command of General Porter. Repeated cessions of land have reduced their territory from the dimensions of an empire to that of a plantation. At the time the French missionaries found the Wyandots on the Georgian Bay, and, as Schoolcraft says, when the Canadas were first settled, they were found on the Island of Montreal, and probably about the time the great confederacy was formed, num- bered forty thousand. The number of the Senecas is not given, but they were called "a powerful tribe occupying west- ern New York and a part of northwestern Pennsylvania." Of course, the other na-

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040