USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 11
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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
tions of the confederacy must have been quite numerous. In 1855 the total re- maining population of all the tribes be- longing to the confederacy was only six thousand souls, scattered in New York, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Missouri .*
The historian says, after describing this . powerful confederacy :
In this way their strength became such that in the early part of the seventeenth century they had con- quered all the neighboring tribes, and doubtless, in a hundred years, had the whites not colonized America, would have absorbed all the nations from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
It is interesting to notice that in the formation of the confederacy we find in this organization of the red men of North America, the model of the confederation of the subsequent colonies of white men to resist the oppressions of Great Britain. This great and powerful confederacy of the North American Indians is broken, and the people are few and scattered. The confederation of the white men served well so long as a common danger threatened the colonies, but our fathers saw its weakness, and met and formed "a more perfect union," by which we were made a Nation, one and indissoluble, under a written constitution, securing the right of the Nation, of the people and the States; and neither the wild waves of civil discord, nor the power of external force have been able to break it.
THE NAME.
The different names by which men be- longing to this Indian confederacy have been designated in history, has given rise to much confusion and misunderstanding. It is therefore proper to state that the French called them Iroquois; the Dutch, Maquas; by other Indians, Mengive, and thence by the English, Mingoes or Mo- hawks, so that when we read the story about Logan, the Mingo chief, and his
famous speech, the word Mingo does not „signify his tribe or nation, but that he was of the confederacy. In fact, he was of the blood of the Mohawks, a nation who joined the confederacy.
EXTENT OF THE CONQUESTS OF THE SIX NATIONS.
Before 1680 the Six Nations had over- run the Western lands, and were dreaded from Lakes Erie and Michigan to the Ohio and west to the Mississippi. In 1673 Allouez and Dablon found the Mi- amis upon Lake Michigan fearing a visit from the Iroquois. It appears that in 1684, by treaty, and again in 1701 the Six Nations conveyed this vast domain to Great Britain, "in trust to be defended by his Majesty the King, to and for the use of the grantors and their heirs." The title to this vast domain, or so much of it as lay west of the Alleghanies, was dis- puted by the French, who claimed it by discovery made by their early voyagers and missionaries, who had traversed the great chain of lakes and descended the Mississippi many years before. This con- test gave rise to the war between the two powers, in which hostilities were actually commenced early in 1752. After much bloodshed the British took by conquest this territory, and it was ceded by France to Great Britain in the treaty of Paris, in 1763.
It should be remembered that in treat- ies and conveyances of the Great West by the Indians to Great Britain they did not part with their title to the land. They themselves, and their lands, were placed under the care and protection of Britain ; the land was to be held "in trust for the Indians and their heirs." Hence the In- dians were justified in contending for the possession of their inheritance. Let us now briefly consider how we obtained
OUR TITLE TO THE LANDS IN OHIO. At the close of the war of the Revolu-
* American Cyclopedia.
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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
tion this whole region was in the posses- sion of the Indians. It was no longer claimed or occupied exclusively by the Six Nations; they had sided with Great Britain in that war and their power was broken. Other tribes had, during the war, settled on the territory and occupied it in common with them.
These red men claimed title to the land. True it is, they had no parchment or paper title signed and sealed by man or any human authority, but they believed and felt that the Great Spirit, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and Lord para- mount of all things, had in his goodness given these happy hunting grounds to his red children. No wonder then, that when he saw the "pale face " settling and build- ing on his domain and killing the game which was given him to live upon, he was roused to resistance. He had no court to try his title but that court of last resort, the court of force, a trial by wager of bat- tle. Their arguments were not made by attorneys. In this court of force the red men argued with the rifle, tomahawk, and scalping-knife, and with fire. His cruelty to his enemy knew no bounds; helpless infancy and non-resisting woman appealed in vain. The recital of his cruelties curdle the blood with horror. The burning of Colonel Crawford, near Upper Sandusky, and the massacre of his men, in 1782 ; the destruction of St. Clair's army, on a branch of the Wabash, in 1791; the butchery of Harmar's men in 1790, were attended with scenes and incidents of indescribable cruelty in almost every form in which cruelty could be inflicted. But there came at last an end to those terrible conflicts about title to the land. The final contest over the right to occupy the Northwest took place on the bank of the Maumee River, in 1794, in the battle of Fallen Timbers, and as it had a powerful influence to settle the title to the land in
Sandusky county, a notice of it seems proper in this work.
WAYNE'S VICTORY ON THE MAUMEE.
Before the defeat of Crawford at Upper Sandusky, in 1782, the United States had acquired, by treaty with certain separate tribes, a portion of the land north of the Ohio River. After this the Indians were induced by the notorious half-breed Mo- hawk, Brandt, and the white renegade, Simon Girty, to confederate together and insist that the Ohio River should be the boundary line between the lands of the two races. They cunningly insisted that the territory was the common property of all the tribes, and that no single tribe could give title to any portion of it. President Washington, by commissioners appointed at different times, strenuously endeavored to convince them of the wrong they were insisting upon; that the lands ceded to the United States were acquired in good faith, and some of it sold to actual settlers; and that the Government had no right to de- prive these settlers of their land or remove the owners from it. He offered to make peace and to protect the Indians' occu- pancy of all their land not ceded to the Government. But the Indians had al- ready destroyed two armies sent to punish them for their murders of frontier settlers, and they felt strong enough to resist any force that would follow them into the wil_ derness. To this feeling may be added that love of war, cruelty, and plunder so characteristic of the North American Ind- ian.
While these efforts for peace were being made, President Washington, who so well understood the character of the natives, made preparation for the other alternative in case pacific overtures should fail. The concluding paragraph of the answer of the confederated Indians to the offers of peace and protection will show the reader how determined they were to have the Ohio
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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
River for the southern boundary of their lands. The extract is taken from "Annals of the West," by James H. Perkins, pub- lished at Cincinnati in the year 1847, and is as follows :
Brothers, we shall be persuaded that you mean to do us justice, if you agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary line between us. If you will not con- sent thereto, our meeting will be altogether unneces- sary. This is the great point which we hoped would have been explained before you left your homes, as our message last fall was principally directed to ob- tain that information.
Done in general council at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, the 13th day of August, 1793.
NATIONS :
WYANDOTS,
MASSASSAGOES,
SEVEN NATIONS OF CAN- CHIPPEWAS,
ADA,
MUNCIES,
POTTAWATOMIES,
MOHICANS,
SENECAS OF THE GLAIZE, CONNOYS,
SHAWNESE,
DELAWARES,
MIAMIS,
NANTA-KOKIES,
OTTAWAS,
CREEKS.
ENGLISH INFLUENCE TO PREVENT PEACE.
It was suspected at the time that the British emissaries, or some indirect influ- ence from that source, was employed to prevent the peace so much desired by the United States. The histories of the time inform us that Brandt said, in speaking about efforts for peace :
That for several years we were engaged in getting a confederacy formed, and the unanimity occasioned by these endeavors among our Western brethren en- abled them to defeat two American armies. The war continued without our brothers, the English, giving any assistance, except a little ammunition, and they seeming to desire that a peace might be con- cluded, we tried to bring it about at a time that the United States desired it very much, so that they sent commissioners from among their first people to en- deavor to make peace with the hostile Indians. We assembled for that purpose at the Miami River in the summer of 1793, intending to act as mediators in bringing about an honorable peace, and if that could not be obtained, we resolved to join our West- ern brethren in trying the fortunes of war. But to our surprise, when upon the point of entering upon a treaty with the commissioners, we found that it was opposed by those acting under the British Govern- ment, and hopes of further assistance were given to our Western brethren, to encourage them to insist on the Ohio as the boundary between them and the United States. *
The talented and wily Brandt no doubt knew whereof he spoke, and his testimony puts a grave responsibility upon the British Government for those terrible Indian wars.
President Washington knew the Ind- ian character and his mode of warfare. Early in life he, as a surveyor, had seen the red men in their homes, and knew their domestic habits and propensities from actual observation. He had seen the defeat of Braddock and the destruc- tion of his army at Pittsburgh, then called Fort Duquesne; as commander-in-chief of the American forces in the Revolutionary War he had witnessed their cunning du- plicity and cruelty as exhibited under the employment of the British Government in that war, and with his usual discernment and wisdom calculated all chances. Therefore, while he hoped for peace he was busy preparing for war. Accordingly, after St. Clair's defeat on the Wabash, the President allowed that general to with- draw from the service without a court- martial, and appointed Anthony Wayne, who had served so well in the war of the Revolution, to the command of the army to conquer the allied tribes of Indians in the Northwest. He instructed Wayne to organize an army at Pittsburgh, with spe- cial reference to the subjugation of the Indians. In June, 1792, Wayne moved westward to Pittsburgh, and proceeded to organize the army which was to be the ultimate argument of the Americans with the Indian Confederation. Through the summer of 1792 the preparation of the soldiers was steadily attended to. "Train and discipline them for the service they are meant for," said Washington, "and do not spare powder and lead, so the men be made marksmen."
In December, 1792, the forces now re- cruited and trained, were gathered at a point twenty-two miles below Pittsburgh,
៛ Stone's Life of Brandt.
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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
on the Ohio, called Legionville. The army itself having been christened The Legion of the United States, was divided into four sub-legions and provided with legionary and sub-legionary officers. While these wise preparations were going on, the peace propositions above men- tioned were offered and urged upon the savages, and resulted in their final reply above given - that nothing short of an agreement that the Ohio River should be the boundary of the land to be occupied on the south by the whites and on the north by the Indian tribes. Freeman, who left Fort Washington April 7th, Tru- man, who left on May 22d for Maumee, and Colonel Hardin, who on the same day started for Sandusky with proposals for peace, were all murdered. The par- ticulars of their deaths will be found in the Western Annals.
The final reply to all these overtures for peace is contained in the last clause of the answer of the tribes, which is quoted above, and closed the attempts of the United States to make peace. Some few further attempts were made to secure the Iroquois to the cause of America, but they ended in nothing; and from the month of August the preparations for a decision by arms of the pending ques- tions between the white and the red men, went forward constantly.
Wayne's Legion moved from Legion- ville about the last of April, 1793. It was taken down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, where it encamped near Fort Washington, and there it continued until· October, en- gaged merely in drilling and preparation. Legionville was situated on the Ohio River, about twenty-two miles below Pitts- burgh; Fort Washington was at Cincin- nati; Fort Jefferson was located about six miles south of the town of Greenville, in Darke county.
GENERAL WAYNE EXPLAINS THE SITUA- TION.
On the 5th of October, 1793, General Wayne wrote from Cincinnati that he could not hope to have, deducting the sick and those left in garrison, more than two thousand six hundred regular troops, three hundred and sixty mounted volunteers, and thirty-six guides and spies to go with him beyond Fort Jefferson. He further said, in the same communication to the Secretary of War:
This is not a pleasant picture, but something must be done immediately to save the frontier from im- pending savage fury. I will therefore advance to- morrow with the force I have, in order to gain a strong position in front of Fort Jefferson, so as to keep the enemy in check (by exciting a jealousy and apprehension for the safety of their own women and children) until some favorable opportunity may pre- sent to strike with effect. The present apparent tranquility on the frontiers and at the head of the line is a convincing proof to me that the enemy ate collected or collecting in force to oppose the legion, either on its march or in some unfavorable position for the cavalry to act in. Disappoint them in this favorite plan or manœuvre and they may probably be tempted to attack our lines. In this case I trust they will not have much reason to triumph from the encounter. They cannot continue long embodied for want of provisions, and at their breaking up they will most certainly make some desperate effort upon some quarter or other. Should the mounted volun- teers advance in force we might yet compel those haughty savages to sue for peace before the next opening of the leaves. Be that as it may, I pray you not to permit present appearances to cause too much anxiety, either in the mind of the President or your- self, on account of the army.
Knowing the critical situation of our infant Nation, and feeling for the honor and reputation of Govern- ment (which I will support with my latest breath) you may rest assured that I will not commit the le- gion unnecessarily; and unless more powerfully sup- ported than I at present have reason to expect, will content myself by taking a strong position advanced of Jefferson, and by exerting every power, endeavor to protect the frontiers, and to secure the posts and army during the winter, or until I am honored with your further orders.
This manly and patriotic letter, while it indicates the danger of the situation, ex- presses no fear, for Anthony Wayne never knew what fear was.
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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
On the 7th of October the legion left Cincinnati, and on the 13th of the same month, without any accidents, encamped on the strong position referred to in his letter, afterwards called Fort Greenville. The town of Greenville now covers the site of the fort. Here, on the 24th of October, 1793, he was joined by one thou- sand mounted Kentucky volunteers under General Scott, to whom he had written pressing requests to hasten forward with all the men he could muster. This re- quest Scott had hastened to comply with, and upon the 28th of September, 1793, the Governor, in addition to these vol- unteer forces, had ordered a draft of militia. The Kentucky troops, however, were soon dismissed until spring, but their march had not been in vain, for they had seen enough of Wayne's army to give them confidence in it and in him, so that the full number of volunteers was easily procured in the spring.
One attack had been made upon the troops previous to the 23d of October, and only one. A body consisting of two commissioned officers and ninety non- commissioned officers and soldiers, con- voying twenty wagons of supplies, was as- saulted on the 17th of that month, seven miles beyond Fort St. Clair, which was built in 1791-92, about one mile west of Eaton, now the county seat of Preble county. In this attack by the savages Lieutenant Lowry and Ensign Boyd, with thirteen others, were killed. Although so little opposition had thus far been encoun- tered, General Wayne determined to stay where he was during the winter, and hav- ing seventy thousand rations on hand in October, with the prospect of one hun- dred and twenty thousand more, while the Indians were sure to be short of provis- ions, he proceeded to fortify his position, which he named Fort Greenville, and which was situated on ground now occu-
pied by the town of that name. This be- ing done, on the 23d of December a de- tachment was sent forward to take posses- sion of the field of St. Clair's defeat, in the now county of Darke. On Christmas day this detachment reached the ground on which St. Clair's army was slaughtered November 4, 1791, or a little more than two years before. "Six hundred skulls," says one present, "were gathered up and buried. When we went to lay down we had to scrape the bones together and carry them out to make our beds." Here Fort Recovery was built, properly garrisoned, and placed in charge of Captain Alexan- ander Gibson. Thus situated, during the early months of 1794 General Wayne was steadily engaged in preparing everything for a sure blow when the time to strike should come. By means of Captain Gib- son and his various spies, he kept himself informed of the plans and movements of the savages. All this information showed that the Indians were relying on British assistance, and this reliance animated the doomed race of red men to resist offers of peace, and stealthily prepare to fight.
On the 5th of June, 1794, Captain Gib- son captured two Indians of the Potta- watomie tribe, and had them examined, and their examination showed reports to them that the British were then at Roche de Boeuf, on the Maumee River, on their way to war against the Americans; that the number of British troops there was about four hundred, with two pieces of artillery, exclusive of the Detroit militia, and that they had made fortifications around McKee's house and store at that place, in which they had deposited all their stores of ammunition, arms, clothing, and provisions, with which they promised to supply the hostile Indians in abund- ance. They further reported that there were then collected there not less than two thousand warriors, and were the Pot-
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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
tawatomies to join, the whole would amount to upwards of three thousand hostile Indians; that the British troops and militia that will join the Indians to go to war would amount to fifteen hun- dred according to the promise of Gov- ernor Simcoe, of Canada. To the ques- tion, "At what time and at what place do the British and Indians mean to advance against this army?" these prisoners an- swered, "About the last of this moon or the beginning of next they intend to attack the legion at this place" (Fort Trumbull). Two Shawnee warriors cap- tured on the 22d of June, substantially cor- roborated the statements of the Pottawato- mies. The conduct of the savages proved these reports of the Indian prisoners not to be fables.
On the 30th of June Fort Recovery, the advanced American post, was assault- ed by Little Turtle at the head of more than one thousand warriors, and, although repelled, the assailants rallied and returned to the charge and kept up the attack through the whole day and part of the day following. Nor was this assailing force composed entirely of natives. White men, and some in scarlet coats were there advising and directing the savages.
ST. CLAIR'S CANNON.
When St. Clair was defeated in 1791 (December 4), his guns were left on that field of slaughter. Some time afterwards General Wilkinson dispatched Captain Bunting from Fort Washington to the field of St. Clair's defeat. The captain, in his report, says, among other things: "We found three whole carriages; the other five were so much damaged that they were rendered useless." This indicates clearly that St. Clair had left eight pieces of artil- lery on the ground. It was winter when Bunting examined the battlefield. He did not believe the Indians had taken off the cannon, and it was his opinion that
they had been thrown into the creek, which was then frozen over and so thickly covered with snow that it was vain to look for them. The next recorded notice is found in Gen- eral Wayne's dispatch after the assault on Fort Recovery. After asserting that there were British officers and privates engaged with the Indians in the assault, the dis- patch continues :
It would also appear that the British and savages expected to find the artillery that was lost on the 4th of November, 1791, and hid by the Indians, in beds of old fallen timber or logs which they turned over and hid the cannon in, and then turned the logs back into their former places. It was in this artful manner that we generally found them de- posited. The hostile Indians turned over a great number of logs during the assault, in search of these cannon and other plunder which they had probably hid in this manner after the action of the 4th of No- vember, 1791. I therefore have reason to believe that the British and Indians depended much on this artillery to assist in the reduction of the post; for- tunately they served in its defence.
WAYNE MOVES HIS LEGION FORWARD.
On the 26th of July, 1794, Scott, with about one thousand six hundred men from Kentucky, joined Wayne at Green- ville, and on the 28th the legion moved for- ward. On the 8th of August the army was near the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers, at Grand Glaize, and proceeded at once to build Fort Defiance, where the rivers meet. At the place had been the Indian headquarters, and Wayne expected to surprise them there, but a deserter from his army had informed them of his approach, and they were gone. It had been Wayne's plan to reach the head- quarters of the savages undiscovered, and in order to do this he had cut two roads, one towards the foot of the rapids (Roche de Boeuf), the other to the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph Rivers, while he in fact pressed forward between the two, and this stratagem General Wayne believed would have succeeded but for the deserter above referred to, who was in his quartermaster's department, when he
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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
left and went to the Indian headquarters. While engaged upon Fort Defiance, the American commander received full and accurate accounts of the Indians and the aid they would receive from the volunteers of Detroit and elsewhere; he learned the nature of the ground and the circum- stances favorable and unfavorable; and upon the whole, considering the spirit of his troops, officers and men, regulars and volunteers, he determined to march for- ward and settle matters at once. But still true to the spirit of compromise and peace so forcibly taught by Washington, on the 13th of August he sent Christopher Miller, who had been naturalized among the Shaw- nees, then taken prisoner by Wayne's spies, as a special messenger, offering terms of friendship. To aid the reader in forming a correct judgment upon Wayne's sub- sequent dealing with the savages and to vindicate the United States against any charge of deception or cruelty, it seems necessary to give in full the message sent by Miller on this occasion. It is found in Perkins' Annals of the West, on page 404, and is as follows:
TO THE DELAWARES, SHAWNEES, MIAMIS, AND WYANDOTS, AND TO EACH AND EVERY OF THEM, AND TO ALL OTHER NATIONS OF INDIANS NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO WHOM IT MAY CON- CERN :
I, Anthony Wayne, Major General and Com- mander-in-Chief of the Federal Army, now at Grand Glaize, and Commissioner Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, for settling the terms upon which a permanent and lasting peace shall be made with each and every of the hostile tribes or na- tions of Indians northwest of the Ohio, and of the United States, actuated by the purest principles of humanity, and urged by pity for the errors into which bad and designing men have led you, from the head of my army now in possession of your aban- doned villages and settlements, do hereby once more extend the friendly hand of peace towards you, and invite each and every of the hostile tribes of Indians to appoint deputies to meet me and my army, without delay, between this place and Roche de Bœuf, in or- der to settle the preliminaries of a lasting peace, which may eventually and soon restore to you-the Dela- wares, Miamis, Shawnees, and all other tribes and
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