History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 2

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

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 2

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According to Boquet's report, the prin- cipal Indian tribes in Ohio about the middle of the last century were the Wyan- dots, the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Mingos, the Chippewas and the Tawas (or Ottawas). The Delawares occupied the valleys of the Muskingum and Tus- carawas; the Shawnees, the Scioto Valley; the Miamis, the valleys of the two rivers which bear their name; the Wyandots occupied the country about the Sandusky River; the Ottawas were located on the valleys of the Sandusky and Maumee, or Miami of the Lake; the Chippewas in- habiied the south shore of Lake Erie; and the Mingos, an off-shoot of the six Nations, were in greatest strength on the Ohio, below the present city of Steuben- ville. All the tribes, however, frequented the country outside their ascribed limits of ter- ritory, and at different periods, from the time when the first definite knowledge con- cerning them was obtained, down to the era of white settlement, occupied different lo- actions. Thus the Delawares, whom Boquet found in 1764 in greatest numbers !

in the Tuscarawas Valley, thirty years later mainly occupied the county which bears their name; and the Shawnees, who were found strongest on the Scioto, had, by the time of St. Clair and Wayne's wars, con- centrated upon the Little Miami. As the natives saw white settlements encroaching upon their hunting grounds, a bond of sympathy and common danger united the nations. Tribal differences and jealousies were forgotten when they foresaw the des- truction of their loved domain by the white man's axe.

The Delawares had their densest popu- lation on the Upper Muskingum and Tus- carawas. They were in possession of the greater part of the eastern half of the present territory of Ohio, their domain extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie. This tribe, which claimed to be the elder branch of the Lenni-Lenape, has, in tra- dition, in history, and in fiction, been ac- corded a high rank among the Indians of North America. The best accredited Indian historians have testified to the su- periority of the Delawares, and James Fennimore Cooper, in his charming ro- mances, has popularized the fame of the tribe. Long before the advent of Euro- peans upon the continent, according to tradition, the Delawares lived in the West, but separating from the rest of the Lenni- Lenape, they migrated slowly eastward. In alliance with the Iroquois they con- quered a race of giants, the Allegewi, and finally settled on the Delaware River, where European navigators found ihem. After the Atlantic coast became settled by whites the Delawares again came West. A portion of the tribe having obtained permission from the Wyandots, then set- tled on the Muskingum. They called the Wyandots their uncles, thus acknowledg- ing the superiority of that Nation. They settled on the Muskingum about 1745, and the fact that permission was obtained

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

from the Wyandots is an evidence that that Nation succeeded the Iroquois to the do- main of the conquered Eries. The most successful labors of the Moravian mis- sionaries were among the Delawares.

The Shawnees are interesting to us, chiefly because of the nativity of the great war chief, Tecumseh, through whose influence the tribes of Ohio were drawn into an alliance with the British armies in 1812. The Shawnees were the only In- dians who had a tradition of foreign origin, and for some time after the whites became acquainted with them they celebrated the arrival of their remote ancestors. Little is known of the early history of this tribe. It is generally conceded, however, that at an early period they were overcome and scattered, some being carried by their conquerors into Pennsylvania, and others driven South into the Creek country. En- couraged by the Wyandots and French they returned, about 1740, and settled in the fertile valley of the Scioto. It is said that Tecumseh's mother was a Creek wo- man whom his father took for a wife dur- ing the southern residence of the tribe. The chief himself, who commanded the Indian forces during the attack on Fort Stephenson, was born in the Mad River Valley after the return of his tribe.

Shawnee war parties frequently visited Lower Sandusky while this place was oc- cupied by the Wyandots. Their captives were brought here on the way to Detroit, and their friendly alliance with the Wyan- dots made the Indian power most formid- able during the early settlement of the Northwest. The four tribes of the Shaw- nees were the Piqua, Kiskapocke, Me- quachuke, and Chillicothe. They were a highly imaginative people as is shown by the abundance of fanciful traditions. Their account of the origin of the Piqua is a good example. According to the le- gend, the tribe began in a perfect man,

who burst into being from fire and ashes. The Shawnees said to the first whites who mingled with them, that once, when the wise men and chiefs were sitting around the smouldering embers of a council fire, they were all startled with a great puffing of fire and smoke, and suddenly from the ashes and dying coals there arose before them a man of splendid form and mien. He was named Piqua to signify the manner of his coming into the world,-that he was born of fire and ashes. This legend of the origin of the tribe, beautiful in its simplicity, has been made the subject of much comment by several writers, as showing, in a marked degree, the roman- tic susceptibility of the Indian character. The Shawnees have been designated "the Bedouins of the American wilderness " by some writers, and "the Spartan of the race" by others. They are justly entitled to the former title by their extensive and constant wanderings; the latter title more properly belongs to the Wyandots. The Shawnees were vigorous warriors. They made frequent incursions into the white. settlements; were the active allies of the French, and afterwards of the British dur- ing the Revolution; made constant war upon the frontier settlements of Ohio and Kentucky, and participated actively in the war against St. Clair and Wayne; in the War of 1812 a part of the Nation followed the celebrated Tecumseh. It was during this long period of war that they frequent- ly visited Lower Sandusky with captives or for council.

The Ottawas existed in the territory constituting the State of Ohio, in small numbers. They seem to have been infe- rior in almost every respect to the other great Indian nations of Ohio. The name of Pontiac alone renders them conspicu- ous in history.

The Miamis, so far as is known, were the original inhabitants of the valleys

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

bearing their name, and claimed to have been created in it. The Mingos had a few small villages along the Ohio River and the Lake basin. Drake mentions a Mingo village near Lower Sandusky. Logan has made the name Mingo famil- iar to every reader of western adventure.

In our sketch of the first period of * aboriginal history, we left the main stem of the Wyandot Nation, a weak band of refugees, under the protection of the Sioux, in the country west of Lake Supe- rior, where they enjoyed safety and tran- quility. But defeat and overthrow did not kill the proud spirit native to the tribe. A domain lost, left dominion to be gained. In a few years the power of the Iroquois Confederacy was crippled by their wars with the French. The Wyandots de- scended Lake Superior and occupied the lands about old Michilimackinac. When the French fort at Detroit was established they were invited to settle in its vicinity and their services were important in resist- ing the hostile operations which the Foxes continued against the infant colony. Their final migration was to the plains of Sandusky. Just when they came to San- dusky is not known. Colonel James Smith in the narrative of his captivity, claims to have visited, in 1757, a town on the "Little Lake" (which was the name given Sandusky Bay) named Sunyendeand, which was prob- ably located near the mouth of Cold creek,* in Erie county. This is spoken of as a village of considerable size, but, although he ascended the river, no mention is made of a village at the falls. "When we came to the fall of Sandusky," says the narrative, "we buried our birch bark ca- noes as usual, at a large burying place for that purpose, a little below the falls. At this place the river falls about eight feet over a rock, but not perpendicularly; with much difficulty we pushed up our wooden

canoes ; some of us went up the river and others by land on horses, until we came to the great meadows or prairies that lie between the Sandusky and Scioto."

Colonel Smith describes the country from the mouth of the Sandusky to the falls as chiefly first-rate land, lying flat or level, intermixed with large bodies of clear mead- ows, where the grass is exceeding rank and in many places three or four feet high. " The timber is oak, hickory, walnut, cher- ry, black ash, elm, sugar-tree, buckeye, lo- cust, and beech. In some places there is wet timber land -the timber in these places is chiefly water-ash, sycamore, and button-wood. From the falls to the prai- rie the land lies well to the sun; it is nei- ther too flat or too hilly, but is chiefly first- rate; the timber nearly the same as below the falls, excepting the water-ash."

Colonel Smith's narrative gives negative evidence that the seat of government of the Wyandots was yet at Dertoit, and that there were no villages on Sandusky River above the bay and below the prairies. The Nation, however, was acknowledged to be at the head of the great Indian family .*

How this pre-eminence was acquired none now can tell. They were the guardians of the great council fire, and they alone had the privilege of sending their messengers with the well-known cre- dentials, wampum and tobacco, to sum- mon other tribes to meet their uncle, the Wyandot, when any important subject re- quired deliberation: In the calamities occasioned by the victories of the Iro- quois, the site of the council fire had often changed, but always with prescribed ceremonial and with due notice to all.+ This fire was extinguished in blood at Brownstown, at the 'mouth of the Detroit river in 1812. The Wyandots were the

*Firelands Pioneer.

* Lewis Cass, in North American Review, 1827. +General Lewis Cass,

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

keepers of the grand calumet and per- formed that office in the unequal contest with General Wayne in which the allied tribes were hopelessly defeated.

Lower Sandusky probably became the principal war seat of the Wyandots, al- though Upper Sandusky was the chief seat of government. Half King, the great chief, lived at Upper Sandusky, but Tarhe, the Crane, the principal war chief, lived at Lower Sandusky, at least until Wayne's victory and the treaty of Greenville, after which the office of Half King was abol- ished, and Crane, the great war chief and chief of the Porcupine tribe, became the head chief of the Nation. Crane led his war- riors from Lower Sandusky against Wayne, and he, himself, carried the grand calu- met. He was made custodian of the treaty of Greenville .*

The first mention of an Indian village at Lower Sandusky is made by Boquet, in his report, made in 1764, where he speaks of the Wyandot village Junqueindundeh, near the falls of Sandusky. When mis- sionaries first visited this county the plains along the river were planted in corn and the Wyandots of Upper Sandusky fre- quently sent down for supplies.

An event of unusual consequence is hinted at by Captain Brant, the famous half-breed chief of the Mohawks and war chief of the Six Nations. In a council held at Buffalo Creek, in 1794, Brant, ad- dressing General Chapin, the United States Commissioner, said: "This idea (exerting ourselves to hold our territory,) we all entertained at our council at Lower Sandusky, for the purpose of forming our confederacy and to adopt measures for the general good of our Indian nations and people of our color." On another occasion Brant said: "For several years we were engaged in getting a confederacy formed, and the unanimity occasioned

by these endeavors among our Western brethren enabled them to defeat two American armies." In 1785, after the formation of the confederacy, Brant went to England .* These fragments indicate that the present site of the city of Fre- mont is the ground on which the grand confederacy was formed, of which Brant was chief, and which enabled the Western tribes to defeat two American armies.

The government of the Wyandots was reposed in a council of seven chiefs, and the Nation was divided into seven tribes, over each of which a chief presided. These were the three Turtle tribes,-the Little Turtle, the Water Turtle, and the Large Land Turtle; the Porcupine tribe, the Deer tribe, the Bear tribe, and the Snake tribe. The office of chief was he- reditary in the female line. A chief was .succeeded by his sister's son or by the nearest male relative in that line. After the office of Half King was abolished, the chief of the Porcupine tribe was the ac- knowledged head of the Nation. This honor belonged to Tarhe, or the Crane, as he was generally known.

We cannot dismiss this subject without speaking of the character of this Nation, which but little more than half a century ago possessed and inhabited our soil, but is now well nigh extinct. General Harrison gives to the Wyandots unquestioned pref- erence among the Western Indians on the score of bravery. With other tribes, flight in battle, when occasioned by unex- pected resistance and obstacles, brought with it no disgrace, and was rather a part of their strategy, but otherwise with the Wyandots. In the battle of the Maumee Rapids, in which the confederated tribes were broken by General Wayne, of the thirteen Wyandot chiefs engaged, but one escaped, and he badly wounded.

When General Wayne assumed his

* History of Fort Wayne.

Perkins . Annals of the West.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

position at Greenville, in 1795, he sent for Captain Wells, who commanded a company of scouts, and told him that he wished him to go to Sandusky, and take a prisoner for the purpose of obtaining in- formation. Wells (who, having been taken from Kentucky when a boy and brought up by the Indians, was perfectly acquainted with Indian character,) an- swered that "'he could take a prisoner, but not from Sandusky." "And why not from Sandusky?" said the General. "Because," answered Captain Wells, "there are only Wyandots living at Sandusky." "Well, why will not Wyandots do?" "For the best of reasons," answered Wells; "because Wyandots will not be taken alive."

Upper Sandusky had been the main station of the Wyandots, and probably after the treaty of Greenville was their only seat of government in Ohio. By the treaty of the Maumee Rapids, in 1817, they relinquished all claim to the Sandusky Valley, except a reservation twelve miles square in the county, which bears their name. The center of this reservation was Fort Ferree, now the town of Upper Sandusky. An additional reservation, one mile square, was granted them for hunting purposes, on Broken Sword Creek.

By the same treaty the Delawares re- ceived a reservation, three miles square, in Wyandot county. The Delawares ceded their reservation to the United States in 1829, the Wyandots in 1842, they being at that time the only Indians remaining in the State. They departed for the West in July, 1843, their number at that time being seven hundred souls. Colonel John Johnson, the Indian Com- missioner at that time, says many of the old chiefs cried, and all regretted to leave their native land.

During the later years of their residence in Ohio, William Walker was a leader among the Wyandots. He had been clerk

on an Ohio river steamboat, but came among the Indians for purposes of specu- lation. He married a half-blood squaw at Upper Sandusky, who was one of the most intelligent women on the reservation. Walker became quite wealthy. He had several boys and girls whom he educated. One of the sons was William H. Walker, for some time Government interpreter. He had considerable poetical genius, as is shown by the following lines composed while at college :

Oh, give me back my bended bow, My cap and feather, give them back, To chase o'er hill the mountain roe, Or follow in the otter's track.

You took me from my native wild, Where all was bright, and free and blest; You said the Indian hunter's child In classic halls and bowers should rest.

Long have I dwelt within these walls And pored o'er ancient pages long. I hate these antiquated halls; I hate the Grecian poet's song.

Just before departing for the West, young Walker wrote the following song in the Wyandot tongue, but translated it into English :

THE WYANDOT'S FAREWELL.

Farewell, ye tall oaks, in whose pleasant green shade I've sported in childhood, in innocence played, My dog and my hatchet, my arrow and bow, Are still in remembrance, alas! I must go.

Adieu, ye dear scenes which bound me like chains, As on my gay pony I pranced o'er the plains; The deer and the turkey I tracked in the snow, O'er the great Mississippi, alas ! I must go.

Sandusky, Tyamochtee, and Broken Sword streams, No more shall I see you except in my dreams. Farewell to the marshes where cranberries grow, O'er the great Mississippi, alas ! I must go.

Dear scenes of my childhood, in memory blest, I must bid you farewell for the far distant West. My heart swells with sorrow, my eyes overflow, O'er the great Mississippi, alas ! I must go.

Let me go to the wildwood, my own native home. Wher the wild deer and elk and buffalo roam, Where it > tall cedars are and the bright waters flow. Har av au which the pale-face, oh, there let me go

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

There were along the Sandusky River scattered bands of other tribes-Mingos, Mohawks, Onondagas, Tuscarawas and Oneidas. Good Hunter, a leading Mingo chief, said his band was a remnant of Logan's tribe. By the treaty of Maumee Rapids in 1817, these scattered fragments of tribes, with a few Wyandots, were grouped together upon a reservation con- sisting of thirty thousand acres of land, which was increased to forty thousand the following year. This reservation extended two miles and an eighth northward of the south county line, and from the Sandusky River to Green Spring. The name Senecas of Sandusky was applied, because of the old Indian village of that name. Most of the inhabitants of this reservation were descendants of the six tribes composing the Iroquois confederacy of Six Nations. It should be remembered that the territory included within the limits of this reserva- tion was, before the treaty of 1817, em- braced in the country of the Wyandots. By a treaty concluded at Washington in 1831, these Indians relinquished their land, and removed to the Neosho River.

Like the Wyandots of Upper Sandusky, they came to Lower Sandusky to trade, Judge Olmstead being their favorite mer- chant.

The principal chiefs of the Senecas were Coonstick, Small Cloud Spicer, Seneca Steel, Hard Hickory, Tall Chief, and Good Hunter. Many interesting episodes in their history are narrated in the chapters relating to Ballville and Green Creek townships.

The Ottawas were a nation of hunters and trappers, and were always subjects of shame among their warlike neighbors. This last residence in Ohio was on the Maumee River. They never laid claim to any part of Sandusky county, but often followed both the Portage and Sandusky Rivers on hunting expeditions.

The Delawares, after being forced from their seats on the Muskingum, occu- pied the western and central part of the State. The Muncies, the most warlike of the tribes of this Nation, established a village on the Sandusky River, about three miles below the Wyandot village at the rap- ids. Here Tecumseh visited them in 1809.

CHAPTER II. OWNERSHIP OF THE NORTHWEST.

The Claims of France, Founded on Discovery and Occupation-England's Claim Based Upon Discovery and Settlement of the Atlantic Coast and Treaties of Purchase-Treaty of Paris in 1763-Ohio as a Part of France and Canada -- The "Quebec Bill"-Title Vested in the Confederated States by Treaty in 1783-Conflicting Claims of States-Virginia's Exercise of Civil Authority-The Northwest Territory Erected as Botetourt County-Illinois County-New York Withdraws Claim-Virginia's Deed of Cession -Massachusetts Cedes Her Claim Without Reservation-"The Tardy and Reluctant Sacrifice of State Pretensions to the Public Good," Made by Connecticut-A Serious Evil Averted-The States Urged to their Action by New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland-Extinguishment of the Indian Title --- Difficulty of Making Satisfactory Provisions-A Harsh and Unjust Policy-Washington's Influence Causes More Humane Treatment of the Indians-Treaty of Fort Stanwix-Treaty of Fort McIntosh- George Rogers Clarke, General Butler, and S. H. Parsons Confer with Several Tribes at the Mouth of the Miami-Measures of the Treaty Ineffectual to Preserve Peace-Great Improvement in the Atti- tude of the Government-Indian Tribes Recognized as Rightful Owners - Appropriations Made to Purchase Title from Them.

FRANCE, resting her claim upon the dis-

F covery and explorations of Robert Ca- valier de la Salle and Marquette, upon the occupation of the country, and later, upon the provisions of several European treaties (those of Utrecht, Ryswick, Aix-la-Chap- elle), was the first nation to formally lay claim to the soil of the territory now in- cluded within the boundaries of the State of Ohio as an integral portion of the valley of the Mississippi and of the Northwest. Ohio was thus a part of New France. After the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, it was a part of the French province of Louisiana, which extended from the gulf to the nor- thern lakes. The English claims were based on the priority of their occupation of the Atlantic coast, in latitude corres- ponding to the territory claimed; upon an opposite construction of the same treaties above named; and last but not least, upon the alleged cession of the rights of the In- dians. England's charters to all of the original colonies expressly extended their grants from sea to sea. The principal ground of claim by the English was by

the treaties of purchase from the Six Na tions, who, claiming to be conquerors of the whole country and therefore its posses- sors, asserted their right to dispose of it. A portion of the land was obtained through grants from the Six Nations and by actual purchase made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744. France successfully resisted the claims of England, and maintained control of the territory between the Ohio and the takes by force of arms until the Treaty of Paris was consummated, in 1763. By the provisions of this treaty Great Britain came into possession of the disputed lands, and retained it until ownership was vested in the United States by the treaty of peace made just twenty years later. We have seen that Ohio was once a part of France and of the French province of Louisiana, and as a curiosity it may be of interest to refer to an act of the British Parliament, which made it an integral part of Canada. This was what has been known in history as the "Quebec Bill," passed in 1774. By the provisions of this bill the Ohio River was made the southwestern, and the Missis-

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

sippi River the western boundary of Can- ada, thus placing the territory now consti- tuting the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin: under the local jurisdiction of the Province of Quebec.

Virginia had asserted claims to the whole territory northwest of the Ohio, and New York had claimed title to portions of the same. These claims had been for the most part held in abeyance during the period when the general ownership was vested in Great Britain, but were after- wards the cause of much embarrassment to the United States. Virginia, however, had not only claimed ownership of the soil, but attempted the exercise of civil authority in the disputed territory as early as 1769. In that year the Colonial House of Burgesses passed an act establishing the county of Botetourt, including a large part of what is now West Virginia and the whole territory northwest of the Ohio, and having, of course, as its western boundary, the Mississippi River. This was a county of vast proportions-a fact of which the august authorities who ordered its establishment seem to have been fully aware, for they inserted the following among other provisions of the act, viz:

WHEREAS, The people situated upon the Missis- sippi in the said county of Botetourt will be very re- mote from the court-house, and must necessarily become a separate county as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which will probably happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by the authority afore- said that the inhabitants of that part of the said county of Botetourt, which lies on the said waters, shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county for the purpose of building a court-house and prison for said county.

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 2

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