USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County : Containing a detailed narrative of the principal events that have occured since its first settlement down to the present time > Part 2
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As soon as the colonel arrived, they surrounded him, strip- ped him naked, and compelled him to sit on the ground near the fire. They then fell upon him and beat him severely with sticks and their fists. In a few minutes, a large stake was fixed in the ground, and piles of hickory poles, rather thicker than a man's thumb, and about twelve feet in length, were spread around it. Colonel Crawford's hands were then tied behind his back; a strong rope was produced, one end of which was fastened to the ligature between his wrists and the other tied to the bottom of the stake. The rope was long enough to per- mit him to walk around the stake several times and then return. Fire was then applied to the hickory poles, which lay in piles at the distance of six or seven yards from the stake.
The colonel, observing these terrible preparations, called to Girty, who sat on horseback at the distance of a few yards from the fire, and asked if the Indians were going to burn him. Girty very coolly replied in the affirmative. The colonel heard the intelligence with firmness, merely observing that he would bear it with fortitude. When the hickory poles had been burnt asunder in the middle, Captain Pipe arose and addressed the crowd, in a tone of great energy, and with ani- mated gestures, pointing frequently at the colonel, who regarded
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him with an appearance of unruffled composure. As soon as he had ended, a loud whoop burst from the assembled throng, and they all rushed at once upon the unfortunate Crawford. For several seconds the crowd was so great that Knight could not see what they were doing; but in a short time, they had dispersed sufficiently to give him a view of the colonel.
His ears had been cut off, and the blood was streaming down each side of his face. A terrible scene of torture now com- menced. The warriors shot charges of powder into his naked body, commencing with the calves of his legs and continuing to his neck. The boys snatched the burning hickory poles and applied them to his flesh. As fast as he ran round the stake, to avoid one party of tormentors, he was promptly met at every turn by others, with burning poles, red hot irons, and rifles loaded with powder only; so that in a few minutes nearly one hundred charges of powder had been shot into his body, which had become black and blistered in a terrible manner. The squaws would take a quantity of coals and hot ashes and throw them upon his body, so that in a few minutes he had nothing but fire to walk upon. In the extremity of his agony, the unhappy colonel called aloud upon Girty, in tones which rang through Knight's brain with maddening effect-" Girty ! Girty ! ! Shoot me through the heart ! Quick !- Quick ! ! Do not refuse me ! ! " " Don't you see I have no gun, colonel ?" replied the monster, bursting into a loud laugh, and then turn- ing to an Indian beside him, he uttered some brutal jests upon the naked and miserable appearance of the prisoner.
The terrible scene had now lasted nearly two hours, and Crawford had become much exhausted. He walked slowly around the stake, spoke in a low tone, and earnestly besought God to look with compassion upon him and pardon his sins. His nerves had lost much of their sensibility and he no longer shrunk from the fire-brands with which they incessantly touched
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him. At length he sunk in a fainting fit upon his face and lay motionless. Instantly an Indian sprung upon his back, knelt lightly upon one knee, made a circular incision with his knife upon the crown of his head, and clapping the knife between his teeth, tore the scalp off with both hands! Scarcely had this been done, when a withered hag approached with a board full of burning embers, and poured them upon the crown of his head, now laid bare to the bone! The colonel groaned deeply, arose, and again walked slowly around the stake !! Nature at length could do no more, and at a late hour of the night, death released him from the hand of his cruel tor- mentors.
The awful torture which Crawford had undergone, made a deep impression upon the mind of Knight. He resolved, if possible, to make his escape, and this he did in a most wonder- ful manner, before reaching Shawanee town. The particulars of his last adventure, are omitted for want of room. Thus ended the lamented expedition of Colonel William Crawford; rashly undertaken, injudiciously prosecuted, and terminating with almost unprecedented calamity.
Soon after this, a treaty was concluded with the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas, when the United States acquired the title of those tribes to all the land east, west and south of a line drawn from the mouth of Cuyahoga up that river to the Tuscarawas portage, and to the forks of the Tusca- rawas above Fort Lawrence; thence to Loramies, thence to the Maumee, and thence with that river to Lake Erie. The territory thus ceded, included about three-fourths of the present state of Ohio. In May, 1785, Congress proceeded to provide by ordinance for the future survey and sale of the public do- main in the west. The land was directed to be divided into townships of six miles square, by lines running north and south and intersected by other lines at right angles. . These townships
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INTRODUCTION.
were subdivided into sections, each containing a square mile, or six hundred and forty acres; and each range was to be num- bered from south to north, commencing on the Ohio river. The ranges were to be distinguished by progressive numbers westward, the first resting upon the western boundary of Penn- sylvania as a base-line.
In 1786, a company, called the " Ohio Company," was organized in New England, and entered into a contract with Congress for the purchase of a million and a half acres, lying on the Ohio and including the mouth of the Muskingum and the Hockhocking, at the price of one million of dollars. The members of the company were most of them officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army, who proposed to seek ir the western wilderness, the means of retrieving their shattered fortunes-or at least, a home and a subsistence. The purchase money they intended to pay in continental certificates, with which many of them had been paid for their military services, and which were then much depreciated in value. The contract was executed in November, 1787. The next year, 1788, the first permanent settlement in Ohio was made at Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum. Congress then proceeded to form the first territorial government, and General Arthur St. Clair, a citizen of Pennsylvania, who had been a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary army, and enjoyed the full confidence of Washington, was appointed governor and commander-in-chief. Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchel Varnum and John Armstrong, were appointed judges; and Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the territory. The first acts of territorial legisla- tion were passed at Marietta, the only American settlement north-west of the Ohio.
In October, 1788, John Cleves Symmes, in behalf of himself and his associates, contracted with Congress for the purchase of a million of acres of land adjoining the Ohio and between the Great
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INTRODUCTION.
and Little Miami; but, in consequence of his failure to make due payments, the greater part of this tract afterwards reverted to Congress. Only 248,540 acres became the property of the contractors. Not long after the completion of his contract, Symmes sold the site of Cincinnati to Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, who entered into a contract with Colonel Patter- son and Mr. Filson, of Kentucky, for laying out a town. Fil- son, however, was killed by the Indians before he entitled himself to any proprietary right under the agreement, and his interest in the contract was transferred to Israel Ludlow.
On the 26th of December, 1788, Patterson and Ludlow with a small party, arrived at the site of the projected settlement. In course of the winter, a town was surveyed and laid out by Colonel Ludlow; and the courses of the streets of the future city were marked on the trees of the primeval forest. The name first given to the place was Losantiville-a barbarous compound, intended to signify " a town opposite the mouth of the Licking;" but this name was soon after changed to Cincin- nati. The site selected, was extremely beautiful. Seen in the summer, it presented a vast amphitheatre enclosed on all sides by hills, wooded to their summits. The Ohio-la belle riviere of the French-came into the valley from the north-east, and, sweeping gracefully around near its southern border, departed to the south-west. From the south, the Licking brought its moderate tribute just opposite to the selected site; and a little to the west, Mill creek flowed silently from the inland country to its confluence with the Ohio. The unaccustomed luxuriance of the vegetation, and the majestic size of the forest trees, covered with the thickest foliage, with which the wild grape- vine was frequently intermingled, astonished and delighted the eye of the eastern emigrant. Even in winter, when the settlement was made, the scene though divested of its summer glories, was far from being unattractive or uninteresting. The
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climate, it is true, was inclement; but that very inclemency was a protection against savage incursions. Game of every description abounded in the woods, and the waters teemed with fish. The emigrants, therefore, had little experience of the hardships usually encountered in the first settlement of a wil- derness.
On the first of June, 1789, Major Doughty arrived at Cin- cinnati, with one hundred and forty soldiers. A lot containing fifteen acres, sloping from the upper bank to the river, was selected, on which Fort Washington was built.
At the general pacification of -1783, between the United States and Great Britain, there were several stipulations upon both sides, which were not complied with. Great Britain had agreed, as speedily as possible, to evacuate all the north-western posts which lay within the boundaries of the United States; while on the other hand, Congress had stipulated that no legal impediments should be thrown in the way, in order to prevent the collection of debts due to British merchants before the de- claration of war. Large importations had been made by American merchants, upon credit, in 1773 and 1774; and as civil intercourse between the two countries had ceased until the return of peace, the British creditors were unable to col- lect their dues. Upon the final ratification of the treaty, they naturally became desirous of recovering their property, while their debtors, as naturally, were desirous of avoiding payment. But when Congress recommended the payment of all debts to the legislatures, the legislatures determined that it was inexpe- dient to comply. The British creditor complained to his government; the government remonstrated with Congress upon so flagrant a breach of one of the articles of pacification; Con- gress appealed to the legislatures; the legislatures were deaf and obstinate, and there the matter rested. When the question was agitated as to the evacuation of the posts, the British in
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turn became refractory, and determined to hold them until the acts of the legislatures, preventing the legal collection of debts, were repealed. In the meantime, the Indians were supplied, as usual, by the British agents, and if not openly encouraged, were undoubtedly secretly countenanced, in their repeated depreda- tions upon the frontier inhabitants.
These at length became so serious as to demand the notice of government. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1790, General Harmar was detached, at the head of three hundred regular troops, and more than one thousand militia, with orders to march upon their towns bordering upon the lakes, and inflict upon them such signal chastisement as should deter them from future depredations.
On the 20th of September, the various troops designed for the expedition, rendezvoused at Fort Washington, now Cincin- nati, and on the following day commenced their march to the Miami villages. The country was rough, swampy, and in many places almost impassable, so that seventeen days were consumed before the main body could come within striking distance of the enemy. In the meantime the great scarcity of provisions rendered it necessary for the general to sweep the forest with numerous small detachments, and as the woods swarmed with roving bands of Indians, most of these parties were cut off.
At length, the main body, considerably reduced by this petty warfare, came within a few miles of their towns. Here the general ordered Captain Armstrong, at the head of thirty regu- lars, and Colonel Hardin, of Kentucky, with one hundred and fifty militia, to advance and reconnoiter. In the execution of this order, they suddenly found themselves in the presence of a superior number of Indians, who suddenly arose from the bushes and opened a heavy fire upon them. The militia instantly gave way, while the regulars, accustomed to more orderly movements, attempted a regular retreat. The enemy
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rushed upon them, tomahawk in hand, and completely sur- rounded them. The regulars attempted to open a passage with the bayonet, but in vain. They were all destroyed, with the exception of their captain and one lieutenant.
Captain Armstrong was remarkably stout and active, and succeeded in breaking through the enemy's line, although not without receiving several severe wounds. Finding himself hard pressed, he plunged into a deep and miry swamp, where he lay concealed during the whole night within two hundred yards of the Indian camp, and witnessed the dances and joyous festivity with which they celebrated their victory. The lieu- tenant (Hartshorn) escaped by accidentally stumbling over a log and falling into a pit, where he lay concealed by the rank grass which grew around him. The loss of the militia was very trifling. Notwithstanding this severe check, Harmar advanced with the main body upon their villages, which he found deserted and in flames, the Indians having fired them with their own hands.
Here he found several hundred acres of corn, which was completely destroyed. He then advanced upon the adjoining villages, which he found deserted and burned, as the first had been. Having destroyed all the corn which he found, the army commenced its retreat from the Indian country, supposing the enemy sufficiently intimidated.
After marching about ten miles on the homeward route, General Harmar received information which induced him to suppose that a body of Indians had returned and taken posses- sion of the village which he had just left. He detached, therefore, eighty regular troops, under the orders of Major Wyllys, and nearly the whole of his militia, under Colonel Hardin, with orders to return to the village and destroy such of the enemy as presented themselves. The detachment accordingly countermarched, and proceeded with all possible dispatch to the appointed spot, fearful only that the enemy
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might hear of their movements and escape before they could come up. The militia, in loose order, took the advance; the regulars, moving in a hollow square, brought up the rear. Upon the plain in front of the town a number of Indians were seen, between whom and the militia, a sharp action commenced. After a few rounds, with considerable effect upon both sides, the savages fled in disorder, and were eagerly and impetuously pursued by the militia, who, in the ardor of the chase, were drawn into the woods to a considerable distance from the regulars.
Suddenly, from the opposite quarter, several hundred Indians appeared, rushing with loud yells, upon the unsupported regu- lars. Major Wyllys, who was a brave and experienced officer, formed his men in a square, and endeavored to gain a more favorable spot of ground, but was prevented by the desperate impetuosity with which the enemy assailed him. Unchecked by the murderous fire which was poured upon them from the different sides of the square, they rushed in masses up to the points of the bayonets, hurled their tomahawks with fatal accuracy, and putting aside the bayonets with their hands, or clogging them with their bodies, they were quickly mingled with the troops, and handled their long knives with destructive effect. In two minutes, the bloody struggle was over. Major Wyllys fell, together with seventy-three privates, and one lieutenant. One captain, one ensign, and seven privates, three of whom were wounded, were the sole survivors of this short, but desperate encounter.
The Indian loss was nearly equal, as they sustained several heavy fires, which the closeness of their masses rendered very destructive, and as they rushed upon the bayonets of the troops with the most astonishing disregard to their own safety. Their object was to overwhelm the regulars, before the militia could return to their support, and it was as boldly executed as it had
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been finely conceived. In a short time, the militia returned from the pursuit of the flying party, which had decoyed them to a distance-but it was now too late to retrieve the fortune of the day. After some short skirmishing, they effected their retreat to the main body, with the loss of one hundred and eight killed, and twenty-eight wounded. This dreadful slaughter, so reduced the strength and spirits of Harmar's army that he was happy in being permitted to retreat unmolested to Fort Washington, having totally failed in accomplishing the objects of the expedition.
The failure of Harmar made a deep impression upon the American nation, and was followed by a loud demand for a greater force, under the command of a more experienced general. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR was at that time governor of the North-western Territory, and had a claim to the command of such forces as should be employed within his own limits. This gentleman had uniformly ranked high as an officer of courage and patriotism, but had been more uniformly unsuc- cessful and unfortunate, than any other officer in the American Revolution. He had commanded at Ticonderoga in the spring of 1777, and had conducted one of the most disastrous retreats which occurred during the war. Notwithstanding his repeated misfortunes, he still commanded the respect of his brother offi- cers and the undiminished confidence of Washington. He was now selected as the person most capable of restoring the American affairs in the north-west, and was placed at the head of a regular force, amounting to near fifteen hundred men, well furnished with artillery, and was empowered to call out such reinforcements of militia as might be necessary. Cincin nati, as usual, was the place of rendezvous.
In October, 1781, an army was assembled at that place, greatly superior in numbers, officers, and equipments, to any which had yet appeared in the west. The regular force was
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composed of three complete regiments of infantry, two com- panies of artillery, and one of cavalry. - The militia who joined him at Fort Washington, amounted to upwards of six hundred men, most of whom had long been accustomed to Indian warfare. The general commenced his march from Cincinnati in October, and following the route of Harmar, arrived at Fort Jefferson without material loss. Shortly after leaving Fort Jefferson, one of the militia regiments, with their usual disregard to discipline, determined that it was inex- pedient to proceed farther, and detaching themselves from the main body, returned rapidly to the fort, on their way home. This ill-timed mutiny, not only discouraged. the remainder, but compelled the commander to detach the first regiment in pur- suit of them, if not to bring them back, at least to prevent theni from injuring the stores collected for the use of the army at the fort. With the remainder of the troops, amounting in all to about twelve hundred men, he continued his march to the Great Miami villages.
On the evening of the 3d of November, he encamped upon a very commanding piece of ground, upon the bank of one of the tributaries of the Wabash, where he determined to throw up some slight works for the purpose of protecting their knap- sacks and baggage, having to move upon the Miami villages, supposed to be within twelve miles, as soon as the first regi- ment should rejoin them. The remainder of the evening was employed in concerting the plan of the proposed work with Major Ferguson, of the engineers; and when the sentries were posted at night, every thing was as quiet as could have been desired. The troops were encamped in two lines, with an interval of seventy yards between them, which was all that the nature of the ground would permit. The battalions of Majors Butler, Clarke, and Patterson, composed the front line, the whole under the orders of Major General Butler, an officer .
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of high and merited reputation. The front of the line was cov- ered by a creek, its right flank by the river, and its left by a strong corps of infantry.
The second line was composed of the battalions of Majors Gaither and Bedinger, and the second regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Darke. This line, like the other, was secured upon one flank by the river, and upon the other by the cavalry and pickets. The night passed away without alarm. The sentinels were vigilant, and the officers upon the alert.
A few hours before day, St. Clair caused the reveille to be beaten, and the troops to be paraded under arms, under the expectation that an attack would probably be made. In this situation they continued until day-light, when they were dis- missed to their tents. Some were endeavoring to snatch a few minutes' sleep, others were preparing for the expected march, when suddenly the report of a rifle was heard from the militia a few hundred yards in front, which was quickly followed by a sharp, irregular volley in the same direction.
The drums instantly beat to arms, the officers flew in every direction, and in two minutes the troops were formed in order of battle. Presently the militia rushed into camp in the utmost disorder, closely pursued by swarms of Indians, who in many places were mingled with them and were cutting them down with their tomahawks.
Major Butler's battalion received the first shock, and was thrown into disorder by the tumultuous flight of the militia, who, in their eagerness to escape, bore down every thing before them. Here Major General Butler had stationed himself, and here St. Clair directed his attention, in order to remedy the confusion which began to spread rapidly through the whole line. The Indians pressed forward with great audacity, and many of them were mingled with the troops before their pro-
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gress could be checked. Major General Butler was wounded at the first fire, and before his wound could be dressed, an Indian, who had penetrated the ranks of the regiment, ran up to the spot where he lay, and tomahawked him before his attendants could interpose. The desperate savage was instantly killed. By great exertions, Butler's battalion was restored to order, and the heavy and sustained fire of the first line, com- pelled the enemy to pause and shelter themselves.
This interval, however, endured but for a moment. An invisible, but tremendous fire quickly opened upon the whole front of the encampment, which rapidly extended to the rear, and encompassed the troops on both sides. St. Clair, who at that time was worn down by a fever, and unable to mount his horse, nevertheless, as is universally admitted, exerted himself with a courage and presence of mind worthy of a better fate. He instantly directed his litter to the right of the rear line, where the great weight of fire fell, and where the slaughter, particularly of the officers, was terrible. Here Darke com- manded, an officer who had been trained to hard service during the Revolutionary War, and who was now gallantly exerting himself to check the consternation which was evidently be- ginning to prevail. St. Clair ordered him to make a rapid charge with the bayonet, and rouse the enemy from their covert.
The order was instantly obeyed, and at first, apparently with great effect. Swarms of dusky bodies arose from the high grass, and fled before the regiment with every mark of conster- nation. But as the troops were unable to overtake them, they quickly recovered their courage, and kept up so fatal a retreating fire that the exhausted regulars were compelled, in their turn, to give way. This charge, however, relieved that particular point, for some time; but the weight of the fire was transferred to the centre of the first line, where it threatened to annihilate
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every thing within its range. There, in turn, the unfortunate general was borne by his attendants, and ordered a second ap- peal to the bayonet. This second charge was made with the same impetuosity as at first, and with the same momentary suc- cess. But the attack was instantly shifted to another point, where the same charge was made, and the same result followed. The Indians would retire before them, still keeping up the most fatal fire, and the continentals were uniformly compelled to retire in turn. St. Clair brought up the artillery in order to sweep the bushes with grape, but the horses and artillery- men were destroyed by the terrible fire of the enemy, before any effect could be produced. They were instantly manned afresh from the infantry, and again swept of defenders.
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