History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, school, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of the Northwest territory; history of Ohio; statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 22

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1088

USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, school, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of the Northwest territory; history of Ohio; statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 22

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After the hunting season of 1818 was past, those Indians settled on this Reservation cleared their garden patches and erected their cabins. The agency provided for in the treaty was established in 1819, when a Methodist preacher was appointed agent, with power to feed and teach this red flock. This agent was James Montgomery, who settled with his family in one of the block-houses at old Fort Seneca, November 19, 1819. Five years and two months later, Seneca County was organized, and within nine years the Indian title was relinquished. The cession was made at Washington, D. C., February 28, 1831. when the Cayugas accepted a reservation in the Neosho and Cowskin River country, southwest of Missouri.

Cession and Recession. - In this treaty with the Senecas, a provision was made for the Van Meter family as follows: "To John Van Meter, who was taken prisoner by the Wyandots, and who has ever since lived amongst them, and has married a Seneca woman, and to his wife and three brothers, Senecas, who now reside on Honey Creek, one thousand acres of land, to begin north 45 de- grees west, 140 poles, thence and from the beginning, east for quantity." This was in Eden Township. The lands were sold to Lloyd Norris in 1828, and the Mohawks left in 1829.

The Armstrong Reservation is founded on the treaty which provided that 640 acres of land should be set apart for Robert Armstrong, a captive of the Wyandots, in recognition of his services as interpreter and guide to United States officers. The President located this reservation on the west side of the river, near the Fort Ball Military Reservation, so with the second Fort Ball or the McCulloch Reservation. A grant of 640 acres was made by the treaty of Miami of the Lake for the use of the children of. William McCulloch, and located north of and joining the Armstrong Reservation, near Fort Ball. This William McCulloch was employed by Gen. Harrison as interpreter, and while engaged on duty at Fort Meigs was struck by a cannon ball and killed. The land was parcelled out to his seven children (vide History of Tiffin and Pioneer History). The Armstrong tract of 640 acres was patented October 12, 1823; Armstrong sold 404 acres to Jesse Spencer October 29, same year.

The John Walker Reservation is a tract of 640 acres in Seneca Township, just

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west of the Van Meter grant, was bestowed upon the Wyandot woman, Cath- erine Walker, and her sons John and William. They sold a large part of this grant to A. Lugenbeel and moved to Upper Sandusky. The Treaty of Wash- ington, D. C., by the Senecas, February 28, 1831, provided that 160 acres should be granted to Henry C. Brish in recognition of his services as sub- agent, and for special kindness extended to the Senecas.

The treaty with the Delawares, made at Little Sandusky, Angust 3, 1829, provided for their evacuation of the Delaware Reservation of nine square miles adjoining the Wyandot Reservation, of the Big Spring, and their removal be- yond the Mississippi. Of this tribe Wingemund, Capt. Pipe and other notori- ons enemies of Crawford were members. The widow Armstrong (known as Tishatahooms), Avenncere, Hoomanron (known as John Mings), Yondorast, John Hill. Isaac Hill. Capt. Wolf, Billy Montour, Black Raccoon, Silas Arm- strong. John Armstrong or Mahantoo, James Armstrong and Capt. Pipe Jr., were living about the time of their removal.

The parties to the treaty of Washington, in 1831, were James B. Gardiner. United States Commissiner, Henry C. Brish, sub-agent of the Senecas, and W. H. Lewis, Henry Tolan, P. G. Randolph, witnesses; George Herrin, inter- preter; Hard-Hickory, Seneca-Steel, Good-Hunter, Small-Cloud, Spicer and Coonstick. Col. McIlvain, the chief Seneca agent, was not present. Henry C. Brish succeeded James Montgomery in the agency and remained with the Senecas until they left the State.

Their removal was effected in the fall of 1831, when they started in two divis ions for their Neosha and Cowskin Reservations. The division in charge of Gen. Brish and Martin Lane, traveled by river to the Missouri River, and there waited for the second division, under Herrin and Hart, who made the trip over- land. They met near the month of the Missouri, April 26, 1832, when twenty- eight were reported to have died en route, and resuming their journey arrived in the Neosha Valley on April 26, 1832. The Senecas then numbered 510 strong; but, like their recent neighbors, the Nez Perces, they faded away, as it were. until they may be counted by tens instead of hundreds.

The treaty of Mccutcheonville, January 19, 1832, between the United States and the Wyandots of Big Spring Reservation, provided for the cession to the United States of 16,000 acres of land, granted to them by the treaty of St. Mary's, made September 17, 1818, located at Big Springs on the head of Blanchard's Fork between Upper Sandusky and Fort Findlay. The treaty stipu- lated that the 16,000 acres, in the Big Spring Reservation, should be surveyed, offered for sale, and $1.25 per acre paid to the chiefs for the Big Spring band of Wyandots, and a reservation of 320 acres kept for Roe-nu-nas, one of the oldest chiefs. Joseph Mccutcheon was named as appraiser and recommended as sub-agent. The treaty was signed by J. B. Gardiner, the special commis- sioner; Mat. Greyeyes. Isaac Driver, John D. Brown, Alexander Clark, John McLean, Roe-nu-nas, Bear Skin, She-a-wah (John Solomon), and wit- nessed by Dr. G. W. Sampson of Seneca County, Dick Reynolds, J. C. De Witt, James Mccutcheon and C. Clark. The reservation embraced twelve square miles in Big Spring Township, and twelve miles square adjoining.

The proclamation authorizing the sale of the various reservations ceded in 1831, was made under date November 13, 1832, by Andrew Jackson.

In this proclamation the location of the Seneca Reservation as well as of that of the Wyandots is given.

This treaty ended the residence of the Wyandots in this county, and led to the treaty of Upper Sandusky in 1842, by which they relinquished title to the last large Indian reservation in Ohio. In 1832 the lands formerly belonging

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to the Senecas and Wyandots were surveyed by J. W. Christmas, offered for sale under the President's proclamation, and the homes of the Indians were soon occupied by the white men.

INDIAN BIOGRAPHY.

Many references have been made in the first part of this chapter to the Indian chiefs who were once masters of this county and neighborhood. Again in the first part of this book, devoted to a history of Ohio, such names as Pontiac, Tecumseh, Logan, Blackhoof-find a very full mention. For these reasons the following personal notices of Indians who were at once famous or notorious, are given in a most concise form, each sketch containing only some important point or points not credited in the first part of the history.

So much has been written regarding Tecumseh (pp. 61 to 64), it is only necessary here to make one reference to the man. Few there are who have not read of the barbarity of the English troops during the whole war of the Revo- lution, as well as the war of 1812; fewer still are ignorant of the premium offered by the English commanders to their soldiers and Indian allies. Who does not remember the massacres of Fort Meigs and of the River Raisin? Who has not heard of Gen. Proctor's infamous doings there, of his order to kill all prisoners, of his enthusiasm in witnessing. for two hours, how ably his own troops and his Indians carried out his diabolical command? Tecumseh came on the scene too late to save all, yet in time to cast a ray of light on his own char- acter, and save his Indian brethren from the obloquy which, to this day, attaches itself to the white man. According to the chronicler, it is said: "He sprang from his horse, caught one Indian by the throat and the other by the breast, and threw them to the ground; then, drawing his knife and hatchet, and running between the Indians and prisoners, brandished his weapons wildly and dared the attack on another prisoner. Maddened by the barbarity which he loathed, he sought Gen. Proctor, and demanded why this massacre was allowed.

'Sir,' replied the General, 'your Indians cannot be commanded.'

'Begone!' answered the chief with a sarcastic sneer, 'you are unfit to command; go, you are not a man.' " Let the rebuke be the reproach of a sav- age; it is worthy of recognition to-day, for in the humanity of manhood is the philosophy of life.

Elsquata, the twin brother of Tecumseh, is known in history as the Prophet. This false friend accompanied the renegade Shawnees, under the lead of Tecum- seh, to the British service in Canada; returned after the war to Wapakonetta; went west of the Mississippi with a large number of his tribe in 1828, and died of cholera in 1833 in Kansas. In a reference to him Jonathan Elder says: "I was very well acquainted with the Prophet. He was not a warrior, but a low, cunning fellow. He prophesied many things that did not come to pass. He was a vain man, with a great amount of show, but with little sense. His pow- ers of prophecy were not well sustained by the Indians in general; in fact, they had but little faith in him." After the treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, it is related by Dr. Hill that the Prophet ordered the execution of Leather-lips, a noted Wyandot chief, for pretended witchcraft, but really to get rid of his influence. Six Wyandot warriors were sent to put him to death. The warri- ors and their leader, Roundhead, went directly from Tippecanoe to execute him. They found him encamped on a stream about twelve miles above the present city of Columbus. When the warriors arrived, and their purpose was ascertained, several white men made an ineffectual effort to save his life. A council took place, and the warriors resolved to kill the chief, as ordered. An

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Indian, with much warmth, accused him of magic or witchcraft; but Leather- lips denied the charge. When the sentence of death was passed upon him, he returned to his camp, ate a dinner of jerked venison, washed and dressed in his best Indian clothing, and painted his face. He was tall and dignified, and his hair quite gray. When the time of his execution arrived, he shook hands with those present, and turned from his wigwam and commenced to chant his death song. He then moved toward the point where the warriors had dug a grave. When he got to the grave, he knelt down and prayed to the Great Spirit. When he finished, Roundhead also knelt and prayed. Leather-lips again knelt and prayed, and when he ceased, one of the warriors drew from his skirts a keen, new tomahawk, stepped up behind the chief and struck him on the head with his whole strength. The chief fell forward in the agonies of death. The executioner struck him again, once or twice, and finished his suf- ferings. The body was buried with all his Indian ornaments, and the warriors and whites disappeared. An attempt has been made to fix the responsibility of this great crime upon the Wyandot chief, Crane. Crane was the friend of the whites, and opposed to the schemes of the treacherous Prophet, and it is clear never could have authorized the execution of a fellow Wyandot chief.

The Wyandot chief, Roundhead, had a village on the Scioto in the south- west corner of Hardin County, where the town of Round Head was subse- quently laid out. At what precise date the Indians started this village is not known, but about the year 1800 Maj. James Galloway, of Greene County, vis- ited them at this point, and says that there was then quite a number of apple trees in the village, and that the Indians raised many swine. Some of those trees, said to have been planted by this old chief, are yet standing. Round- head, whose Indian name was Stiahta, was a fine-looking man. He had a brother named John Battise, a man of great size and personal strength. He was well remembered by the pioneers of the Miami and Scioto Valleys on account of possessing an enormous nose, which resembled in size and hue an immense blue potato full of indentations, and when he laughed it shook like jelly. He lived at a place called Battisetown some miles west of his brother's village, joined the English in 1812, and was killed at the siege of Fort Meigs. In 1807 Roundhead was present with Tecumseh and other chiefs at a council held at Springfield, Ohio, between the whites and Indians to settle a difficulty which arose over the killing of a white man named Myers, a few miles west of Urbana. The execution of Leather-lips, a well known Wyandot chief, which took place twelve miles north of Columbus, Ohio, in 1810, on the charge of witchcraft, was intrusted by Tecumseh to Roundhead, who, at the head of six braves, came from Tippecanoe and did the deed.

The celebrated Mingoe chief, Logan, with a band of followers, had a village in the southeastern part of Hardin County as early as 1778. It is probable that he moved from the lower Shawnee towns on the Scioto, where his cabin stood in 1774, to this point, soon after Lord Dunmore's campaign. The exact location of this village is not known, some old settlers claiming that it stood in the vicinity of "Grassy Point." Col. John McDonald, in his biography of Simon Kenton, when telling of his capture in 1778, says: "As the Indians passed from Wapakoneta to Upper Sandusky, they went through a small vil- lage on the river Scioto, where then resided the celebrated chief, Logan, of Jefferson memory. Logan, unlike the rest of his tribe, was humane as he was brave. At his wigwam, the party who had the care of the prisoner, stayed over night." From this account, it seems they also remained the succeeding day and night, not leaving for Upper Sandusky until the second morning after their arrival at Logan's village. The old Shawnee trail crossed the Scioto

Roswell Crocker

Sarah Hrm Crocker

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near the residence of the late Judge Portius Wheeler, several miles northeast of Grassy Point, and as the Indian village was on the Scioto, it is safe to infer that the wigwams of Logan and his band were in the vicinity of the Shawnee ford and not at Grassy Point. The main reason why the latter place has been thought to have been the site of the Mingoe Camp, is that the Indians had cleared and cultivated some land in that locality, which, upon subsequent abandonment, had grown up in blue grass, hence the name, Grassy Point. It is more probable that the land referred to was cultivated by the Shawnees and Wyandots, who owned this territory in common, while the Mingoes occupied it only by consent of these tribes, who loved it as one of their favorite camp- ing grounds, and a sacred depository of their dead. Logan, the noble Mingoe chief, and the principal victim of Col. Cresap's mad zeal, belonged to this county as much as to any other locality in the State (vide History of Ohio). His celebrated speech, delivered near Circleville, Ohio, conveys an idea of the deep wrongs which were, in some instances, heaped upon the Indians through the malice of individuals. This man, more noble than the white man, passed the winter of his life in the very neighborhood of Tiffin, and moved away to die. He was killed by a brother Indian while sitting at his camp fire.

Pumpkin, the Taway Indian, was about six feet high, and as savage and ill- looking as he was tall. George Heck, in his relations, speaks of this red-skin as one of whom even Indians were afraid. He killed Mrs. Snow, on Cold Creek, during her husband's absence, cut open her womb, took a full grown babe, roasted the little human being, and made his meal off it. The Senecas captured this terrible savage, brought him to Snow for sentence; but the white man feared to avenge the murder of his wife and child, so that Pumpkin was allowed to go free. Some short time after this cannibal quarreled with a Wyandot, and of course killed him. He was then arrested by the Wyandots, who placed him on a log, and there six tomahawks were buried in his brain.

In the year 1822, Good Spring's mother and three other squaws were executed on a charge of witchcraft. It appears that during the summer of that year a peculiar disease attacked the Senecas, and they attributed their troubles to those four unfortunate women. They were condemned to die, and while waiting, proceeded to Lower Sandusky for whisky, with which they re- turned to hold their last orgie. During their drunken fit, they called on the executioner to end them, when Jim Sky-the drone of the reservation-ad- vanced with a pipe tomahawk upraised, and striking each of the old women in the head, declared that the witches were gone.

Death of Seneca John .- This fratricidal affair took place in the fall of 1828. It appears that in 1825, three Senecas, viz. : Coonstick and Steel, brothers, with sub-chief Cracked Hoof, traveled west to seek new hunting-grounds, leaving their eldest brother, Comstock, chief of the tribe, and their youngest brother, Seneca John, sub-chief. On returning they found Seneca John chief, and learned that Comstock was dead. Tribal gossip was not idle, but with jealous tongue poured stories of John's treachery into the ears of his brothers, who accused him of poisoning the head chief, and said that he should die. The stoic received the sentence calmly, yet protested his innocence. In the morning he was executed near the hut of Hard Hickory, the Indian Shane and his two brothers being the executioners, Steel taking the leading part. Hard Hickory stated in after years, that prior to John's death, he turned to Coonstick saying: "'Now brother, you take your revenge." Coonstick at once relented and was going to the relief of his dying brother, when Steel rushed forward and com- pleted the murder.

In 1829 Seneca Steel was brought before the court at Upper Sandusky, and

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acquitted of the charge of murder, it being made clear that the murdered chief had his brother poisoned.

In 1832 the Wyandots, under Chief Thomas Koon, resided in Jackson Township and passed the whole season there hunting, killing 107 deer, eleven bears, and thousands of small game. John P. Gordon, who then had a saloon at Risdon, sold them whisky at wholesale, and this, on one occasion, almost led to civil war among them. Nestlerode, acting under instructions of Koon, took their knives and whisky bottles from them, and sent them to camp. He, however, surrendered the whisky, and when their drunken fit was over returned them their knives.

Tarhe, or the Crane, named by the French Monsieur Grue, or Mr. Crane, was born near Detroit, in 1742, and died near Upper Sandusky, in 1818, his burial being attended by various tribes. He was always a remarkable In- dian. His wife was a white girl named Sally Frost.

Comstock, chief of the Seneca Indians for some years previous to 1825, and eldest brother of Seneca John, Seneca Steel, and Coonstick, was poisoned in 1825, and Seneca John, the youngest brother elected chief (vide Gen. Brish's Narrative).

Seneca John was a splendid specimen of Indian manhood. He was born here in 1787, and murdered by his brothers in 1825, near Green Spring (vide Gen. Brish's Narrative). His wigwam was where Dr. Williams' house now stands. While visiting the Doctor's father's house, east of Reedtown, his little child was scalded. Dr. Williams did everything to relieve the little suf- ferer, but death ensued.

Seneca Steel, the murderer of his brother Seneca John, in 1825, moved to the Neosha country in 1831-32.

Coonstick, the third brother of Seneca John, and participator in his murder, moved to the Cowskin River country in 1832.

Hard Hickory, born about 1780 in this district, was considered an excel- lent Indian, spoke French fluently and English fairly, and was one of the head chiefs of the tribe. Next to Joseph Tequania he was the most polished war- rior, and far above him in shrewdness, until after his removal to the Neosha Country. Previous to leaving Seneca County, he with a few other Cayugas received annually $1,600 from New York State, and afterward this sum was mailed to them on the new reservation. In 1834 Hard Hickory and one of the Herrins-either Joseph or George-were deputed to go to Fort Gibson and receive cash for their draft. Having received the cash, Hickory proposed a visit to Washington City, believing that the President would refund him any moneys expended on such a trip. This journey was accomplished; the Indian Department refused to pay for Mr. Hickory's pleasures, so that when he returned to Neosha very little money was visible. This, in addition to a num- ber of lies which he told, drew upon him the condemnation of the tribe. He resisted the tribal law for a short time, but was ultimately executed by Shane in his own cabin and in presence of his own wife.

Wiping Stick, referred to in the history of Fort Seneca garrison, was a Cayuga chief, who possessed all the noble qualities of his race, without any of the bad ones.

She-a-wah, or John Solomon, who signed the treaty for the Wyandots in 1818, moved from Big Spring in 1832, and joined the leading band of Wyan- dots at Upper Sandusky, where he remained until after the removal of the tribe in 1842. He returned to Wyandot in 1849, and made the place his home until his death in 1878. The pioneers who assembled at Shoch's Woods, Eden Township, September 1, 1877, saw this tall old chief for the last time. There he made his last speech.

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Joseph Tequania, a half-brother of Tequania, who was killed by Peter Pork, was born about 1755; was a commissioned officer in the French Canadian service, and one of the most polished residents of Seneca County even up to 1831, when he went West with his tribe. This man belonged to the Catholic Church, and, with one of his sisters, would proceed long distances to attend service, dressed in a red vest, white ruffled shirt, leggings, hair braided, fancy shawl and some jewelry. With all his refinement, he looked down upon his less fortunate brother Indians, and sometimes hated them for the little they did know.

Strong Arm Tequania, son of the twin-sister of Tequania. the victim of Peter Pork and known as the One-Eyed Medicine Woman, was, like his mother, very benevolent, and much liked by the settlers.

Tequania, or Strong Arm, murdered in 1829 by Peter Pork, was the twin- brother of the medicine woman of the tribe. Each of them was born with only one eye; both were extra good Indians, and great friends of their white neighbors.

Good Springs was a young savage, corresponding with the modern dude of white communities. His mother was executed in 1822 for witchcraft, and after the deed was done by Jim Sky, this fellow feared to meet the murderer.

George Washington, who served as scout during the war of the Revolution, reached a ripe old age in 1822. During that year his squaw-Martha Wash- ington-was condemned to death for witchcraft. The executioners entered her cabin, saw the old scout looking on at his doomed wife pounding hominy, and then without ceremony, Shane stepped forward, struck her with the tomahawk, and called upon Jim Sky to cut her neck.

Peter Pork, whose only good trait was a desire to murder villains like him- self, was the worst character in the Seneca country. While attending one of Benazah Parker's orgies in the latter's saloon at Fort Seneca, October 4, 1829, he stabbed this white wretch, immediately after he had administered a mock sacrament of corn dodgers and whisky to his guests. Parker died of his wounds in January, 1831, having suffered terribly in the meantime. Previous to his attack upon Parker, he cut up Tequania or Strong Arm with an ax. This occurred while en route home from Lower Sandusky, and would have re- sulted in the immediate death of Tequania, had not Dr. Ely Dresbach exer- cised his skill in binding up the wounds. The Indian, however, died nine days after, and ten days before Parker received his death wounds from the same Pork. He also killed Joseph Silas, a Mohawk half-breed, and another Indian, a friend of Silas, together with the squaw Brandt, known as "Thomas Brandt's old wife," who lived a solitary life in one of Brandt's cabins. In 1836 Joseph Herrin, a Mohawk half-breed and interpreter, revisited Fort Seneca, learned of his cousin Silas' death, and on his return to the Neosha country cut Peter Pork's head off (vide History of Courts and Bar).

Mrs. Sally Ingham, in referring to the murder by Pork of Parker, related for Mr. Stewart in 1873, and for the writer in September, 1885, the following rem- iniscence: "On the 4th of October, 1829, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, named Peter Pork, called at the house of Parker, in a state of intoxication, and de- manded some whisky. Observing his condition Parker refused to comply with his demand, when the Indian became exasperated, and said, with an oath, that 'he would have some,' at the same time making a movement to procure the 'firewater.' Parker seized a fire-brand from the fireplace, and made an at- tack on the Indian, in the hope that he would desist. This only tended to infuriate the savage, who drew his knife and stabbed Parker in the side, in- flicting a painful and dangerous wound, from which he died about a year

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Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1088

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1088