History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 7

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 7

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The narrative of the captivity of Daniel Convers* in 1793, throws considerable light on affairs here at that time. Convers was a boy sixteen years old, who lived at the Waterford garrison on the Muskingum River, twenty miles above Marietta. He afterwards became a wealthy merchant of Zanesville, Ohio. He was captured by a party of Indians lurking about the garri son, most of them being Wyandots. They travelled singly through the woods so as to leave no trail behind, until they struck the old Indian path leading from Lower Sandusky through Upper Sandusky to Fort Harmar. This was a plain, beaten track, used by the Indians for many years when going to Marietta to sell their pel- try. The evening was rainy and the night very dark, but they did not stop until late, fearing that the whites might be in pursuit. For the same reason, no fire was kindled. Before going to sleep they tied leather thongs around their prisoner's wrist, stretching out the ends upon the ground and passing them under the Indians who lay on each side of him, so as to

The Indians did not sleep much, but talked until almost morning. At day- break the journey was resumed. An old Ottawa was in the party, who complained of being sick and gave his pack to the prisoner to carry, which greatly wearied him. After he had borne the burden about three miles they came to a creek where all stopped to drink. The brave lad threw the pack on the ground saying, "Me sick too." The Ottawa picked it up without saying a word, and his master, or at least the Indian who claimed him by right of capture, patted his young prison- er on the back exclaiming "Ho yee," a token of approval of the fearless act. The second evening, being more than fifty miles from any white settlement, they halted before night, killed a deer for sup- per and kindled a fire. They seasoned their venison with wild onions. That night they trimmed their bright young captive's hair in the Indian fashion, leav- ing a long lock on top which they braided into a queue. They also painted one of his eyelids.

On the third day a place of considera- ble interest was reached, where two trails leading toward the north came together. A hieroglyphic tree stood at the junction, on which was painted, in a rude manner, a war party, indicating their number and the direction of their course. The war- riors painted on the same tree their own number, indicating the capture of one boy prisoner by placing behind the warriors who bore arms a smaller figure without arms.

From here they hurried on rapidly to Upper Sandusky, where the prisoner saw, for the first time, in a cabin, a number of scalps hung up to dry. This was the cabin of a crabbed old Indian, who wel- comed the lad with a cuff on the head. From Upper Sandusky the party pro- awaken them if he attempted to escape.

* Pioneer History of Ohio.

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ceeded down the river, and in the course of the afternoon met a white trader and a negro. The white man paid little atten- tion to them, but the negro took the pris- oner kindly by the hand, and with evident interest inquired if any of his friends had been killed, and where he came from. This negro was probably one of the slaves from Negro Point, and hoped to find out something about his old friends in Vir- ginia. That night they had nothing for supper except a woodchuck, which was divided among eight persons. Here the Indians gave their prisoner a blanket and moccasins, he having been barefoot and thinly clad at the time of the capture. The next night they passed in a vacant hut by the river. Here Convers saw a cow which belonged to his mother, and had been stolen three months before. The narrative declares: "She directly knew her old friend Daniel; came up to him, and looked as if she felt sorry for his un- happy condition."

The prisoner on this occasion was a lad whose appearance commanded admiration and excited sympathy, as is shown by the conduct of two boys at a village on the prairie. They caught him, one by each hand, and hurried through the town, thus shielding him from the ordeal of running the gauntlet. "On the tenth day of his captivity," says the narrative, "the party arrived at Lower Sandusky, where there was a large Indian village. Here they crossed the Sandusky River in a canoe. As soon as they had landed, an Indian came up, took Daniel by the hand and bid him go with him. He hesitated for a mo- ment, when one of the warriors motioned him to go. He ran with him up the river bank about twenty rods and stopped, ap- pearing very friendly, and no doubt took this course to keep the prisoner out of the sight of the other Indians living in the town. While waiting there for his party

to join him, a large Indian who was drunk, came to him and struck him over the eye, knocking him down. The eye in- stantly swelled so that he could not see with it. As he repeated the blow, another Indian, who was much smaller, ran to the rescue, and, seizing the drunken one by the hair, jerked him to the ground and beat him severely. He then, in a very kind manner, took young Convers by the hand, calling him, in broken English, his friend. At the same time two squaws came up and expressed their pity for the young prisoner. "They went away, but directly returned, bringing him some hom- iny and meat to eat, thus showing that the female heart in the savage, as well as in the civilized races, is readily moved at the sight of distress, and ever open to com- passion and kindness. The party to which he belonged encamped near this spot, and during the night some of the party who had been present at the attack on the garrison at Waterford, hearing from their countrymen an account of this foray at the same place, and the ill-treat- ment of their prisoner by the drunken In- dian, came into the camp and passed the night to protect him from any further abuse."

The next day the party, with their prisoners, proceeded on down the river on their way to Detroit. They stopped at Whittaker's cabin and there received from that kind-hearted man a loaf of sugar which the Indians divided, giving their prisoner a share. The Indians were very fond of sugar, and the present was highly appreciated by them, as well as by the captive. Whittaker dared say little to the prisoner, however, lest he should excite the jealousy of the Indians. At Detroit the prisoner was ransomed and sent with a party of horsemen to his friends in Connecticut. Colonel Convers in after years testified to the uniform humanity

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

of his treatment. " His treatment was not only humane, but kind andgentlemanly."

We have presented this incident to con- siderable length, because it is the most faithfully detailed account of Indian cap- tivity within our knowledge. Let those who have believed the Indian a beast in human form, whose only human element of character was treachery, follow Con- vers from the scene of his captivity to the place of ransom, and compare his treat- ment with that of the war prisoners of any Christian nation.

The treatment of prisoners was very much similar in all cases, except when special weakness of character was betrayed, or the magnitude of a crime demanded severe punishment. We have chosen a variety of such incidents as are best cal- culated to give an idea of aboriginal life at Lower Sandusky, which was, during the period covered, the military centre of the most warlike of the Indian nations. An- other event more far reaching in its histor- ical consequences next demands our at- tention.

The frontier posts of Kentucky suf- fered more from Indian incursions than the settlements of any other locality. There were two reasons for this: being the most western settlements they were re- garded as the most dangerous intruders on the red man's domain; and second, nowhere did the "Long-knives," as the Indians called the whites, treat the savages with so much cruelty. During one of these incursions, led by Simon Girty against Boonesborough, Sarah Vincent, a little girl seven years old, was made captive and settled on the Sandusky River, where she became a Wyandot.

Several years afterwards Isaac Williams, a trader at Upper Sandusky, made her acquaintance, and they were married. They settled at Upper Sandusky, and reared one son, Isaac Williams, who mar-

ried Sarah Loveler near Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania. They settled on the tract which his mother had occupied while a captive, located on the river, at the Chestnut grove, on the present estate of Sidney For- guson. It was to the widow of this Isaac Williams that a reservation of one hun- dred and sixty acres, on Negro Point, was granted. She died about 1830, leaving a family of five children-Alexander, George, Joseph, Rachel, and James. -

George married a Tawa (Ottawa) squaw, and never claimed any share in the estate. This woman, in 1809, overheard an in- terview between the Shawnee, Tecum- seh, and a Muncie, or Delaware chief, which, had it been properly communicated to the Federal authorities, would have fur- nished important information concerning the strange, mysterious movements of the wily chief who organized the Indian rebel- lion of 1811, and consummated the British alliance of 1812.

Tecumseh was neither a peace chief, nor a war chief in his tribe, but he was a man of pre-eminent intellect, and attained to an influence, throughout the whole Indian country, which was well nigh imperial. He commenced the great work which he had long contemplated, in 1805. His first ob- ject was to unite the several nations, many of which were hostile to each other, and had often been at war. He sought to re- form their prejudices, and to reestablish original manners and customs. Tothisend all intercourse with the whites was to be suspended, and the use of ardent spirits abandoned. Professing to the American Government no other object than moral reform, he was unceasing in his toil. Hav- ing a wide reputation as a sagacious coun- sellor and warrior, he everywhere received considerate attention. His general plan of union being matured, he brought su- perstition to his aid.

His brother, the Prophet, now began to

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

dream dreams and see visions. The fame of his divine commission spread from the frozen North to the gulf on the South. While believing pilgrims were coming to the shrine of the Prophet, Tecumseh's activity was simply wonder- ful. He was pleading loyalty to the Amer- cans at Governor Harrison's office at Vincennes, and the same week arranging war plans on the Wabash and on the plains of Sandusky. His canoe crossed the Mississippi, and before any were aware, he was addressing Cherokee coun- cils in Georgia and Alabama. The whole West was thus aroused to war, which begun openly at Tippecanoe in 1811. Until shortly before that time the Government was ignorant of the real designs of Te- cumseh and the power of the league which he had formed. In view of the consequences of the chieftain's move- ments, the tradition of his visit to Lower Sandusky will be of general interest. This brings us back again to the Williams family .*

One afternoon in the autumn of 1809, the wife of George Williams, who lived on Negro Point, made a visit to the Wyandot village, which was on the hill northeast of the present Fremont bridge. Her way home was through Muncietown, which she reached about dark in the evening. By a light in a wigwam she saw Tecumseh in consultation with an Ottawa chief. Her path passed close the wigwam, in which she heard a conversation in the Ottawa language. Being herself an Otta- wa, she understood what was said; and the theme being war, curiosity induced her to listen. Mrs. Williams, on returning home, told her husband that Tecumseh said, the next year when corn was knee high, a war would commence by the killing of all white people living on Indian terri-

tory and along the river (the Ohio river), and that the British would join them in the war. This was the first information obtained by any white settler that the roving Shawnees contemplated war. Alex- ander Williams,* a brother ot George Williams, who lived in Virginia, was at that time visiting his parents on Negro Point. He started home the following morning, going by way of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, where he announced what had been heard in the Indian country con- cerning Tecumseh's intentions. At Sweet Springs, Virginia, his fellow-townsmen pre- pared for the conflict.

The following summer five hundred warriors gathered in Muncietown, whence they started on an expedition to plunder the frontiers of Virginia. After they had been gone two days, Mrs. Williams, who had heard the prediction of Tecumseh and knew the meaning of these hostile preparations, called two white prisoners, who had been at Muncietown for a long time, to her house, painted them as war- riors, and sent them on the trail of the war party with instructions to travel night and day and to pass around the warriors, if possible, before they reached the settle- ments, in order that the white people might prepare for an attack. The two young men, rejoiced to escape captivity, arrayed in the costume of the savages, with rifle, ammunition, tomahawk and scalping knife, hurried in the path as fast as possi- ble. At a place called Walker's Meadow, three miles from the village of Union, the two brave messengers entered the Indian camp. Carelessly they passed through, unnoticed by the redskins, who supposed them a couple of their own number, en- gaged in the enterprise. About three miles from the encampment they came to the house of a settler, where they re- mained quiet until morning. The first

* This tradition is written from the recollections of Lorenzo Dow Williams, grandson of Isaac Williams.

*Father of our informant.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

person seen was a man who came out of the house, mounted a horse and rode away without seeing the messengers. A negro next came out and went to the barn. The two young men now entered the house where they found a woman and several children. The woman screamed terribly, supposing Indians with the war . paint on their faces were in possession of her house, and that quick murder was sure to follow. The boys spoke to her in good English, explaining who they were and what they had come for. The woman's husband was Judge Donelly, who was hold- ing court two miles distant. They in- formed him of the danger to which the settlement was exposed. Judge Donelly was also colonel of militia, and on receiv- ing the information he adjourned court and collected the people of the settlement into the block-house, upon which an un- successful attack was made, and the war- riors left with one prisoner. This was one of the first acts of Indian hostility. Very few Wyandots participated in it, their na- tion being averse to war. Tecumseh's visits were mostly to the villages of other tribes. The Wyandots generally enter- tained the opinions expressed by Crane's confidential advisor, Walk-in-the-Water, in a council held at Brownstown in 1812. He said: "No, we will not take up the hatchet against our father the Long-knife. Our two fathers are about to fight, but we have no concern in their quarrel; it is best for us to sit stilland remain neutral."

The Wyandots on the American side of the lakes were not drawn into the war in any considerable numbers, although the British Government exhausted intrigue to effect an alliance. Tarhe, the Crane, ex- erted his powerful influence in favor of neutrality, and those of the tribe who had taken hold of the British hatchet deserted Proctor at the first opportunit.y *

Tecumseh, at one time, while endeavor- ing to effect a union of the tribes, visited the house of Isaac Williams, on Negro Point. The visit, from Mr. Williams' standpoint, has an amusing feature, though, on part of the great Indian statesman and general, it was probably no more than an accident. We give the incident, as it has become traditional in the Williams family.

The Wyandots had cornfields all along the river bottoms, which were cultivated by the squaws and boys, each family hav- ing a small patch, and no fences between them. Isaac Williams owned a large number of hogs, and tried to enclose his premises with a brush fence, but they fre- quently found a way out and destroyed the corn, which greatly provoked the squaws. They urged their dogs upon the hogs, and killed several of them. One day Williams, hearing the dogs barking and the hogs squealing, grasped his gun, and, despite the importunities of his wife, rushed to the corn field, where two dogs were tearing to pieces one of the favorites of the herd, while an old squaw and her boy were looking on with amusement. Williams, still more enraged by this, aimed so as to bring both within the range of the shot, but the gun snapped and the squaw dis- covered her danger. She implored for- giveness, and promised that the injury should never be repeated. The family were, however, greatly annoyed by the fear that the event had excited the wrath of the Indians, who would seek revenge. This explains the uneasiness of Williams when, the next day, Tecumseh appeared at his door. This was during that chief's earlier visits to the towns along the river. The magnitude of the indignity of the day before increased in Williams' mind a hun- dred-fold, and his first thought was that the great Tecumseh had come to revenge the insult. Suppressing all appearances of fear, the old trader asked his unwelcome

*North American Review, 1827.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

guest to come in and be seated, himself, with seeming carelessness, taking a chair in that corner of the cabin in which the gun was standing. Both sat for some time without a word passing between them. The chief at length took his tomahawk from his belt and filled the end of it with tobacco. Stepping to the fire, he took a coal from the ashes, lighted his pipe and began smoking, continuing silent. Wil- liams also sat quiet, every moment ex- pecting to be reproved, or, perhaps, pun- ished, for attempting to shoot the squaw. The latter finally broke the spell by saying : "Tecumseh, what are you doing? I see the wampum is being carried from place to place and secret councils are being held. What is this for? Are you organ- izing war against the white people?" Te- cumseh could speak and understand English well. He answered: "May be war with the white man. He is too saucy." Williams then informed the chief, who was afterwards termed monarch of the North American Indians, that he had bet- ter not go to war; that he had travelled through the white man's country, and they were too numerous for the Indians; that they would exterminate all the Indians in the country if a war should occur, and more such advice, to which the chief paid no attention. He sat moody for a long time, then knocked the ashes from his pipe and retired. Williams was agreeably surprised at there having been no allusion made to the attempt to shoot the squaw.

The Ottawas are characterized by Indian writers as the hunters and trappers of the forest. They followed the Portage and Sandusky Rivers and came to Lower San- dusky to trade as late as 1833, Judge Jesse Olmstead being the favorite mer- chant. The story of the execution of an Ottawa warrior was given in a lecture by Hon. Homer Everett, delivered in 1860.

Wild unlearned, and in many things repulsive as

the Indians were, still, amongst them were found many noble specimens of men and women, who cherished and displayed the cardinal virtues of hu- manity: modesty, chastity, truth, sincerity, honesty and courage. In that stoic courage which coolly meets death without even the appearance of fear, the North American Indian never had a superior in any race of men on the earth. In illustration of this wonderful characteristic, two instances, well known to my informants, may be given.

Among the Ottawas who f, equently visited our town to trade, was a warrior named Captain Pun- kin. He was by nature, as well as practice, a vi- cious, treacherous, cruel Indian; he was one of the company who captured the Snow family, on Cold Creek, somewhere near Castalia; and the identical individual who took away Mrs. Snow's infant be- cause it hindered her march. In spite of all her entreaties, cries and resistance, he seized it by the feet and dashed its brains out against a tree before the mother's eyes.

Long years after this event, Punkin was found guilty of violating the laws of his tribe, and sen- tenced to die, by a council. This decision was com- municated to him, and he was asked when and where he would die. He informed them of the time and place at which he would choose to die and be buried; he went unguarded and at liberty for some time alone in the forest. No human eye watched him; he was at liberty to flee if he chose. The time fixed came, and his executioners repaired to the spot he had selected, and where his burial place had already been prepared. They found him ready, sitting at the verge of his own grave. Raising his bowed head as they approached, he said: "You have come; I am ready. Strike sure!" Instantly the tomahawk described a glittering circle and descended deep into his brain. He expired without a groan, and was buried there.

The extent of the cornfields along the river remains to be spoken of. The prai- ries bordering the bay were cultivated when Colonel James Smith visited the country as a captive, in 1757, but he mentions nothing about agriculture along the river. But at a later period the river prairies supplied the whole Wyandot country. This was, no doubt, owing to the exhaust- less fertility of the soil and the ease with which it was cultivated. The plains now covered by the lower part of the city of Fremont were cleared land when first seen by white men, and except the tract used for councils, gaming, racing, and the vil-

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

lage, bore corn season after season. The squaws and boys attended to agriculture, and all other menial duties. To handle a hoe would have disgraced the strong In- dian, whose only business was war.

That Lower Sandusky was celebrated among the Indians for the fertility of soil, is proved by an incident which, in 1807, · occurred at Ogontz place, now Sandusky. The Indian title to the Firelands was ex-

tinguished in 1805, but the Indians about the neck of the bay were slow to leave in obedience to the terms of the treaty. Complaint was made to Ogontz, to whom the commissioner put the question : "Why do you not raise your corn at Lower San- dusky ?" "Ugh!" retorted Ogontz, "Big corn grow at Lower Sandusky, but no papoose grow there."

CHAPTER V. EARLY OHIO.

Five Characteristic Centres of Settlement-First Measures After the Revolution for Selling Western Lands- Ordinance of 1785-Revolutionary Bounties-Organization of the Ohio Company-Ordinance of 1787 -The Ohio Company Land at the Mouth of the Muskingum-Formal Inauguration of Government -- Growth of the Massachusetts Colony-Settlement Between the Miamis-John Cleves Symmes' Pur- chase-Founding of Cincinnati-French Settlement at Gallipolis-The Virginia Military District-Settle- ment of Manchester-Founding of Chillicothe-Character of Population-The Western Reserve- Sale to the Connecticut Land Company-Surveyed into Townships-Cleveland Founded-Slow Growth at First-Subsequent Rapid Growth-The Northwestern Indian Reservation-Frontier Line of Settlements in 1812-Population in 1812-Erection of Counties-Forination of State Government-Origin of the Northwest Boundary Difficulty-Open Conflict Between Ohio and the Territory of Michigan-Opening Wedge to Settlement in Northwestern Ohio-Causes of the War of 1812-Attitude of the Wyandots- Results of the War Forecasted-Hull's Surrender-Ohio Exposed to the Enemy-Militia Volunteers -Victories Follow Defeat and Disaster-Ohio's Part in the War.

THE fading picture of Wyandot Lower Sandusky calls to mind a more stir- ring scene, Lower Sandusky of Fort Steph- enson fame. This period, brief but crowded with tragic events, dates the be- ginning of white settlement in Sandusky county. What was Ohio then? is a ques- tion which naturally suggests itself, and one which this chapter is intended to answer.

Historically Ohio is carved into seven distinct divisions, bearing five characteris- tic civilizations transplanted from different Eastern colonies, and tracing their an- cestry to antagonistic races or social castes. Out of these five elements has grown the Ohio of to-day-justly proud and suffi- ciently honored.

The centres of early settlement, widely separated from each other by bridgeless streams and long reaches of untraversed forests, impressed the instincts and train- ing brought from Eastern homes upon their localities. That impress is still dis- cernible in the politics, religion, and cult- ure of the native population. The clash- ing of opinion which has been a necessary result of grouping five · discordant ele- ments into one State, has been potent in developing native intellect and producing occasions for its exercise. It is further a proposition, proved by the inevitable logic of history, that the mingling and fusion of people of different races, temperaments and training, is productive of physical and mental strength. To these facts may be

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 7

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