History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 12

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

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nations lately settled in this place and on the margin of the Miami and the Glaize Rivers-your late grounds and possessions, and to preserve you and your dis- tressed and hapless women and children from danger and famine during the present fall and ensuing winter.

The army of the United States is strong and powerful, but they love mercy and kindness more than war and desolation. And to remove any doubts or apprehension of danger to the persons of the dep- uties whom you may appoint to meet this army, I hereby pledge my sacred honor for their safety and return, and send Christopher Miller, an adopted Shawnee warrior, whom I took prisoner two days ago, as a flag, who will advance in their front to meet me.

Mr. Miller was taken prisoner by a party of my warriors six moons since, and can testify to you the kindness which I have shown to your people, my prisoners; that is, five warriors and two women, who are now all safe at Greenville.

But should this invitation be disregarded, and my flag, Mr. Miller, be detained or injured, I will immediately order all those prisoners to be put to death without distinction, and some of them are known to belong to the first families of your nations.

Brothers, be no longer deceived or led astray by the false promises and language of the bad white men at the foot of the rapids ; they have neither the power nor inclination to protect you. No longer shut your eyes to your true interest and happiness, nor your ears to this overture of peace ; but, in pity to your innocent women and children, come and prevent the further effusion of your blood ; let them experience the kindness and friendship of the United States of America, and the invaluable blessings of peace and tranquility. ANTHONY WAYNE.

Grand Glaize, August 13, 1794.

WAYNE'S QUALIFICATIONS TO FIGHT THE INDIANS. ·

Wayne had seen enough of the Indian character in the Revolutionary War in the Northern colonies and in Georgia, whither he had been sent to fight Indians almost exclusively, to be a judge of them. Per- haps no man had a better understanding of the war capacity and traits of the North American Indian than he. If the Indians were silent he read unerringly their intent; in their speech he detected with great accuracy what was true and what was intended to deceive. He had no superior as a character reader of the red men he was contending with. Neither

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

their shams, feints or false pretenses ever mislead him. Braddock at Fort Du- quesne, Crawford at Upper Sandusky, Harmar at the Maumee, and St. Clair at the Wabash, all failed for want of those high qualities which gave such great su- periority and success to Wayne.

NARRATIVE OF WAYNE'S CAMPAIGN RE- SUMED.

Let it be remembered that General Wayne dispatched Miller with his peace proposition on the 13th of August, 1794, from Fort Defiance. No doubt in- tending that if either party must be sur- prised it should be the Indians and not himself, Wayne moved his troops forward on the 15th, and before he had received any report from Miller. On the 16th he met Miller returning with the message that if the Americans would wait ten days at Grand Glaize they, the Indians, would decide for peace or war. Wayne was not to be deceived into giving the Indians their choice of the time and place when and where to strike. He understood this proffered delay to mean that he should wait until the Indians were more com- pletely prepared for the decisive conflict, and he replied to their wily answer to his message by marching straight on towards them.

On the 18th the legion had advanced forty-one miles from Grand Glaize, and being now at Roche de Bœuf and near the long looked for foe, began to throw up some light works called Fort Deposit, wherein to place the heavy baggage during the expected battle. During the 19th the army still labored on their works.

WAYNE'S REPORT OF THE BATTLE.

On the 20th, at 8 o'clock, all baggage having been left behind, the white forces moved down the north bank of the Mau- mee; the legion on the right, its flank covered by the river ; one brigade of

mounted volunteers on the left, under Brigadier-General Todd, and the other in the rear under Brigadier-General Barbee. A select battalion of mounted volunteers moved in front of the legion, commanded by Major Price, who was directed to keep sufficiently advanced so as to give timely notice for the troops to form in case of action, it being yet undetermined whether the Indians would decide for peace or war. After advancing about five miles Major Price's corps received so severe a fire from the enemy, who were secreted in the woods and grass, as to compel him to retreat. The legion was immediately formed into two lines, principally in a close, thick wood which extended for miles on our left and for a very considerable distance in front ; the ground being covered with fallen timber, probably occasioned by a tornado, and which rendered it imprac- ticable for the cavalry to act with effect and afforded the enemy the most favorable covert for their mode of warfare. The savages were formed in three lines within supporting distance of each other, and ex- tending near two miles at right angles with the river.

I soon discovered (says General Wayne, in his re- port of the battle), from the weight of the fire and extent of their lines, that the enemy were in full force in front, and in possession of their favorite ground, and endeavoring to turn our left flank. I therefore gave orders for the second line to advance and sup- port the first, and directed Major-General Scott to gain and turn the right flank of the savages with the whole of the mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route. At the same time I ordered the front line to advance and charge with trailed arms and rouse the Indians from their cover at the point of the bayonet, and when up to deliver a close and well-directed fire on their backs, followed by a brisk charge so as not to give them time to load again. I also ordered Captain Campbell, who commanded the Legionary cavalry, to turn the left flank of the enemy next the river, and which afforded a favorable field for that corps to act in. All these orders were obeyed with spirit and promptitude; but such was the impetuosity of the charge by the first line of infantry, that the Indi- ans and Canada militia and volunteers were driven from all their coverts in so short a time, that although

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

every possible exertion was used by the officers of the second line of the legion, and by Generals Scott, Todd, and Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their proper positions, but part of each could get up in season to participate in the action; the enemy being driven in the course of an hour more than two miles through the thick wood already mentioned, by less than one-half their number. From every account the enemy amounted to two thousand combatants. The troops actually engaged against them were short of nine hundred. This horde of savages, with their allies, abandoned themselves to flight and dispersed with terror and dismay, leaving our victorious army in full and quiet possession of the field of battle, which terminated under the influence of the guns of the British garrison. The bravery of every officer belonging to the army, from the generals down to the ensigns, merit my highest approbation. There were, however, some whose rank and situation placed their conduct in a very conspicuous point of view, and which I observed with pleasure and the most lively gratitude. Among these I must beg leave to mention Brigadier-General Wilkinson and Colonel Hamtramck, the commandants of the right and left wings of the legion, whose brave example inspired the troops. To these I must add Lieuten- ant Harrison, who, with Adjutant-General Major Mills, rendered the most essential service by com- municating my orders in every direction, and by their conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory.

The loss of the Americans in this action was thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded; that of the enemy was reported much greater, but the number is not given. It is said, however, the woods were strewn for a considerable distance with the dead bodies of the Indians and their white aux- iliaries, the latter armed with British mus- kets and bayonets.

INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE.

Contrary to the articles of peace between Great Britain and the United States in 1783, the British erected and garrisoned Fort Miami, on the Maumee River, on the present site of South Toledo. This was done within the acknowledged boundaries and jurisdiction of the United States, and no solution of the motive for the act but a determination on the part of the British to aid the Indians in their wars to drive the whites south of the Ohio River.

Wayne's troops had followed the retreating Indians under the guns of this fort, and expected to see them take refuge in it, but the gates were shut against them and the fort fired no gun. The day following the battle a spicy correspondence took place between Major Campbell, commander of the fort, and General Wayne, in which Major Campbell expressed his surprise that Wayne would deliberately insult his King and country by approaching so near the fort in a hostile attitude. Wayne re- plied, in substance, that he was no less surprised to find Campbell fortifying him- self on American soil, and intimated that had the Indians taken refuge in the fort, or had a gun been fired from it, he could not have restrained his troops from an as- sault which would have carried it. In this sharp dispute both Wayne and Camp- bell seem to have been restrained from striking a blow which would have re- kindled the war between Great Britain and the United States, and the question was referred to diplomacy between the two governments.

At the time Captain Campbell, under Wayne, was endeavoring to turn the left flank of the enemy, three Indians, hemmed in by the cavalry and infantry, plunged into the river and endeavored to swim to the opposite side. Two negroes of the army on the opposite bank concealed themselves behind a log to intercept them. When within shooting distance one of them shot the foremost Indian through the head. The other two took hold of him to drag him to the shore, when the second negro fired and killed another. The remaining Indian, being now in shoal water, endeavored to tow the two dead bodies to the bank. In the meantime the first negro had reloaded, and firing upon the survivor, mortally wounded him. On approaching them, the negroes judged from their striking resemblance and de-

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

votion that they were brothers. After scalping them they let their bodies float down stream.

Another circumstance shows with what obstinacy the conflict was waged by in- dividuals of both armies. A soldier who had become detached a short distance from the army, met a single Indian in the woods, when they attacked each other, the soldier with his bayonet, and the Indian with his tomahawk. Two days after they were found dead, the soldier with his bayonet in the body of the Indian-the Indian with his tomahawk in the head of the soldier.

Several months after the battle of the Fallen Timbers a number of Pottawat- omie Indians arrived at Fort Wayne, where they expressed a desire to see "The Wind" as they called Wayne. On being asked for an explanation of the name, they replied that at the battle of the 20th of August he was exactly like a hurricane, which drives and tears everything before it.

General Wayne was a man of most ardent impulses, and in the heat of action apt to forget that he was a general and not a private soldier. When the attack on the Indians who were concealed behind the fallen timbers was commenced by ordering the regulars up, the late General Harrison, then being Lieutenant with the title of Major, addressing his superior, said :

General Wayne, I am afraid you will go into the fight yourself and forget to give me the necessary field orders. Perhaps I may, replied Wayne, and if I do, recollect that the standing order for the day is, Charge the d d rascals with the bayonet.

As a further illustration of Wayne's im- petuosity in battle, which Harrison seemed to understand, the writer will give an inci- dent related to him by his father, who heard the circumstance from one who was in the battle. The narrative was briefly, that when General Wayne saw his regulars

obey his order to charge with the bayonet and shoot afterwards, the General, seeing the promptness and effect with which his order was obeyed, became so excited that he was about to dash personally into the conflict and do duty as a common soldier; his attendants, seeing a strange fire in his countenance, and that he reined up his horse for a dash, two men seized his reins near the bridle bits, and held the bounding, foaming horse, while Wayne, grinding his teeth and driving his spurs into the horse's flanks, frothing at the mouth with rage, hissed from between his grinding teeth, "Let me go, d-n them; let me go! Give it to them, boys," etc., etc. This in- cident gave him the appellation of "Mad" Anthony, a name which ever after struck terror to the Indians, collectively and in- dividually.

After the battle, an Indian being asked if he did not think General Wayne a good general and great man, replied, "He no man, he Devil." No doubt the Indians, after the battle of the Fallen Timbers, entertained a superstitious dread of "Mad" Anthony, which exercised a powerful influ- ence over them in making treaties of peace and grants of land afterwards.

We quote turther from General Wayne's report of the battle. He says:

We remained three days and nights on the banks of the Maumee, in front of the field of battle, dur- ing which time all the houses and cornfields were consumed and destroyed for a considerable distance, both below and above Fort Miami, as well as within pistol shot of the garrison, who were compelled to remain tacit spectators to this general devastation and conflagration, among which were the houses, stores, and property of Colonel McKee, the British Indian agent, and principal stimulator of the war now (then) existing between the United States and the savages. The army returned to this place (Fort Defiance) on the 27th of August, by easy marches, laying waste the villages and cornfields for about fifty miles on each side of the Maumee. . . There remains (he says) yet a great number of vil- lages and a great quantity of corn to be consumed 'or destroyed, upon Auglaize and Maumee, above this place, which will be effected in a few days.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

General Wayne, after strengthening his works at Fort Defiance, on the 14th of September established Fort Wayne, now in Indiana, of which, on the 22d of Octo- ber, 1794, he placed in charge Colonel Hamtramck, who so distinguished himself in the battle of the Fallen Timbers. Meantime, the troops suffered greatly from sickness and want of provisions, such as flour, salt, and whiskey. Whiskey sold at eight dollars a gallon, and salt was held at six dollars a pint.

THE LEGION RETURNS TO GREENVILLE.

The legion began to march back to Greenville on the 28th of October, 1794, the volunteers, who had become dissatis- fied and troublesome, having been started for that place on the 12th of that month for dismissal.

The Indians were terribly defeated and disorganized by the battle of Fallen Tim- bers. Their crops and provisions for the coming winter were destroyed, and starva- tion was before them-and they would have promptly made sincere overtures for a treaty of peace but for British influence, which was at once brought to bear against such a movement.

BRITISH EFFORTS TO PREVENT A TREATY.

Governor Simcoe, of Canada, Colonel McKee and Captain Brant, met at Fort Miami September 30 of that year, and at once began plotting to prevent a treaty of peace. They invited the hostile chiefs Blue Jacket, Backongelies, the Lit- tle Turtle, Captain Johnny, and other chiefs of the Delawares, Miamis, Shaw- nees, Tawas, and Pottawatomies, to meet at the mouth of Detroit River about the first of October, 1794, and together they set off for that place, about eighteen miles below Detroit.

It appears that about the Ioth of Octo- ber the Indians did meet the British at Big Rock, and were advised that their

griefs would be laid before the King of England, and, in connection with this, as General Wayne learned from the friendly Wyandots, Governor Simcoe insisted that the Indians should not listen to any terms of peace from the Americans, but to pro- pose a truce or suspension of hostilities until spring ; that a grand council would then be held of all the warriors and tribes of Indians for the purpose of compelling the Americans to cross the Ohio. He also advised every nation to sign a deed or conveyance of all their lands on the west side of the Ohio River to the King of Great Britain, in trust for the Indians, so as to give the British a pretext or color for assisting them in case the Americans refused to abandon all their posts and pos- sessions on the west side of that river, and which the Indians should immediately warn them to do after they, the Indians, had assembled in force in the spring, and then call upon the British to guarantee the lands thus ceded in trust, and to make a general attack upon the frontiers at the same time; that the British would be pre- pared to attack the Americans also in every quarter, and would compel them to cross the Ohio and give up the lands to the Indians.

The wily Captain Brant also told the Indians to keep a good heart and be strong to do as their father (Simcoe) had advised them, and he would return home with his warriors and come again early in the spring with an additional number so as to have the whole summer before them to fight, kill, and pursue the Americans, who could not stand against such num- bers as would be brought against them; that he had been always successful and would ensure them victory. But he would not attack the Americans at this time, as it would only put them upon their guard and bring them upon the Indians in this quarter during the winter; there_

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

fore he advised them to amuse the Ameri- cans with a prospect of peace until they could collect in force, and fall upon them early in the spring and when least ex- pected. That, agreeably to this plan, the hostile tribes would frequently send flags with propositions of peace during the winter to put the Americans off their guard.

The British then made large presents to the Indians, and continued from that time to furnish them with provisions from Colonel McKee's new stores at the mouth of the Miami of Lake Erie (Maumee River), where all the Indians whose towns and property had been destroyed by Wayne's army were located in tents and huts, and where those who promised to sign away their lands and in all respects comply with the British proposition, were kept.

WAYNE COUNTERACTS THE BRITISH INFLU- ENCE.

Several causes operated to counteract the British influence and finally to prevent the execution of their plans. First, the fort at Maumee had been built and gar- risoned by the British while at peace with the United States, for the express purpose of aiding and protecting the Indians in their war against the Americans. The In- dians, in good faith, believed that if they should be compelled to retreat before Wayne's army they would find shelter and protection in Fort Miami; but when they did retreat and were pursued under the guns of the fort, they found the gates shut and not a gun fired for their protection. A large part of the Indians who saw this treacherous act of Major Campbell, the British commander, lost faith in all British promises of protection and assistance, and would not sincerely listen to subsequent overtures. Thus the influence of the British over the Indians was broken by their own perfidy. If Major Campbell

had fired a gun at Wayne's forces the act would have been cause for another war between the United States and Great Brit- ain ; or if he had opened his fort to protect the enemies of the United States, the same result might have followed. The respon- sibility for such an act was too grave to be hastily incurred, and beside this, Wayne was at his gates with a victorious army, which if once assailed by the British was able to, and would have taken good care that that fort and those within would not again make aggressive war on the United States. These powerful reasons compelled him to an act of treachery to the Indians which finally brought an end to the war.

Another cause was, that while the Ind- ians were suffering under the sore distress which before the fight Wayne plead with them to avoid, by meeting and preparing for peace, he again made and kept be- fore them the same kind offer of peace and protection.

Another, and perhaps the most potent of all considerations which operated to destroy British influence over the Indians at this time, was a superstitious fear of "Mad" Anthony. They had found his cunning superior to their own; they realized that he thoroughly understood their char- acter and mode of warfare, that he could not be baffled or deceived by any of their devices; they witnessed his personal brav- ery and his awful fierceness and passion in battle; they were starving and dying under the consequences of his wrath, and their superstitious minds clothed him in many instances with supernatural powers.

The circumstances above mentioned so operated on the minds of the Indians that on the 28th and 29th days of December, 1794, proffers of peace were made by the chiefs of several tribes. Messages were sent to Colonel Hamtramck at Fort Wayne, from the Chippewas, Ottawas, Sacs, Ecl Rivers, Kickapoos, Kaskaskias, Pottawato-

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

mies, and Miamis. The result of these overtures was a meeting of the chiefs and sachems of the above named tribes, and three other tribes, namely: the Delawares, Wyandots, and Shawnees, with General Wayne at Greenville, on the 24th of Jan- uary, 1795. At this meeting preliminary articles for a treaty of peace were entered into. The basis of the intended treaty was that hostilities should cease and pris- oners be exchanged.

TREATY OF GREENVILLE.

About the 16th of June, 1795, the tribes began to gather at Greenville to make a complete treaty of peace. They had become convinced that they could not successfully resist the American arms, and General Wayne dictated the terms of the treaty, although there was much de- bate, and at times the Indians manifested much angry excitement while talking of their wrongs. But while General Wayne knew he had the tribes in his power, and could compel them to almost any terms, he was eminently just and humane in his demands. The conference lasted until the 3d day of August, when the treaty was engrossed and signed.

By this treaty the Indians ceded to the United States small parcels of land, evi- dently wisely selected by Wayne for military posts, covering most of the advantageous points for such purpose in various parts of the Northwestern Territory, and stretch- ing with intervals from Lake Huron east- ward to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont). "Two miles square at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River," is the language of the treaty as to this parcel of land. Ex- cepting the Maumee and Western Reserve road land, this two miles square was the first land within the present limits of San- dusky county ceded by the Indians to the United States. The tract was afterwards surveyed by the United States and the

lines of that survey are now the boundary lines of the city of Fremont.

In this treaty the United States engaged to protect the Indians against the aggres- sions of other nations, and also in the en- joyment of their other lands. The closing articles are as follows :

ARTICLE 6. The Indians or United States may remove and punish intruders on Indian lands.

ARTICLE 7. Indians may hunt within ceded lands.

ARTICLE 8. Trade shall be opened in substance as by the provisions of the treaty of Fort Harmar.

ARTICLE 9. All injuries shall be referred to law, not privately avenged, and all hostile plans known to either shall be revealed to the other party.

ARTICLE IO. All previous treaties are annulled.

TITLE TO

OTHER LANDS; TREATY OF MAUMEE.

The title to the other lands in the North- west, including Sandusky county, had first been claimed by France on the ground of discovery by the pioneer Jesuits sent by the church of that Nation. But in the war between England and France about the possessions, preceeding the Revolutionary War, England had obtained all the title France had. The United States, by the treaty of Paris in 1783, after the Revo- lution, had obtained the British title to all the vast Northwestern Territories. But the red men were in possession, and each country claimed subject to the Indian title, and each in succession undertook to protect the Indians in the enjoyment of these great hunting grounds. The United States held them, therefore, subject to the same incumbrance. Wayne's treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795, recognized the rights of the Indians as the rightful owners of the soil. Therefore it was only by treaty or purchase that the United States could honorably obtain title to the vast domain. To effect this, many treaties and purchases have been made at differ- ent times and places. To mention all of these would be foreign to the object of this

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 12

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