USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 5
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Before the plan of attack was matured, a sentinel reported mounted troops coming from the north; they proved to be Butler's rangers, sent by DePeyster from Detroit, and a few minutes later another sentinel reported the arrival of 200 Shawanese from the south; during the late afternoon addi- tional small detachments of Indians were continually arriving. The council of war now unanimously decided on a retreat that night. About nine o'clock the retreat started and by a circuitous march to the west passed around the Delawares and Shawanese south of them, reaching the old town of Upper Sandusky just before daylight. Here a halt was called and stragglers kept
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constantly arriving, but Colonel Crawford, Doctor Knight and John Slover the guide, and many others were missing.
The command now devolved on Williamson, and his force numbered 300. After a short rest the army went south along the east bank of the Sandusky, crossed the river at the mouth of the Little Sandusky, and then east, skirting the southern bank of the river. They were again on the Sandusky Plains, and when they reached where the town of Wyandot now is, they saw in the distance a large force of mounted Indians and Butler's rangers following in pursuit. They were a dozen miles from the woods on the eastern boundary of the plains, where alone lay safety. Their horses had had two days' rest at Sandusky during the battle, but the eleven days previous marching, and the long night ride had left both man and horses in a jaded condition. They were also hampered by their wounded. Yet Colonel Williamson urged his troops forward with all possible speed and was ably assisted by Lieutenant Rose, the military genius of the expedition.
The retreating column left the Sandusky at Wyandot, and started north- east across the plains. Their route lay through Crawford county and they passed the site of the present city of Bucyrus about three miles to the south. The enemy followed them closely, harrassing them with occasional shots, and it required all the courage and skill of Colonel Williamson and Lieutenant Rose to prevent the demoralization of the troops. The woods and safety were still six miles away, and they were in an open prairie, being almost sur- rounded by double their number of infuriated savages, from whom they could expect no mercy. When within a mile of the woods it was found necessary to make a stand, and the little army was reversed and, facing to the west. hurriedly formed ranks to resist the attacking foe. Fortunately the British allies of the Indians had left their artillery behind. The first attack was repulsed with unbroken lines and the second was also a failure. The Indians then sought the protection of the high grass and continued their attack until a heavy storm came on which drenched both armies to the skin and rendered the fire-arms useless, finally causing a cessation of hostilities. The Ameri- cans had lost three killed and eight wounded, the loss of the enemy being much greater.
Hurriedly burying their dead and making their wounded as comfortable as possible for transportation, the army resumed its retreat, pursued by the foe, who fired on the Americans from a respectful distance, different com- panies taking turns in protecting the rear. In this way the tired troops finally reached the shelter of the woods. They passed the night in camp at Leesville and next morning resumed the retreat, the last shots of the enemy being heard as they passed the borders of Crawford county, just north of the site of the present town of Crestline.
When the retreat was started Colonel Crawford missed his son John Crawford, his son-in-law, William Harrison, and his nephew, William Craw- ford. While looking for these relatives, Doctor Knight joined him. A little before midnight they reached the Sandusky which they crossed less than a mile south of the village of the Wyandot chief Pomoacan. At daylight Craw-
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ford, Knight and a boy entered Crawford county, their progress being slow on account of the darkness and the jaded condition of the horses. Near Osceola, Crawford and the young man were compelled to abandon their horses, and on foot they continued their journey and about two o'clock fell in with Captain Biggs, who had carried Lieutenant Ashley from the battle, the latter being badly wounded. After reaching the point on the Sandusky, where the troops had left the river on their outward march, discussion arose as to the future course and it was decided to follow the course of the army. They followed the south bank of the Sandusky, through the site of the present town of Leesville and just east of that place several Indians started up less than fifty feet from Crawford and Knight. The doctor jumped behind a tree and was about to fire, when Crawford, observing how many Indians there were, advised him not. An Indian who knew them came forward and shook hands; Captain Biggs in the meantime had fired on the savages, but missed, and he and his companion, Lieutenant Ashley took to the dense woods as did the two young men. The party that captured Crawford and Knight, were Delaware Indians, who under their chief, Wingenund, had followed the retreating armny as far as their camp, which was only half a mile distant from the place where they captured Crawford, about a mile and a half northwest of Crestline.
The details of Crawford's subsequent death at the stake are too harrow- ing to make pleasant reading and will be omitted. The renegade Simon Girty was present at the awful scene and either could not or would not interfere. Doctor Knight escaped from his captors, thereby avoiding a similar fate, and after a toilsome journey and much suffering, reached home in safety. The Wyandots had nothing to do with Crawford's death. He was a Dela- ware prisoner. The Wyandots for some years had ceased the burning of prisoners at the stake. The Delawares and Shawanese still adhered to the custom.
The British general, Cornwallis, had surrendered at Yorktown on Octo- ber 19, 1781, which practically ended the war of the Revolution, although the treaty of peace was not signed until a year later, November 30, 1782. The British still retained possession of Detroit, and kept the Indians of the northwest hostile to the Americans, and the depredations still continued. The Americans, however, were now more free to protect their border, and expe- ditions were sent against them in the Miami valley and up toward the Manmee and Detroit, the Wyandots sending all their warriors to oppose the Americans on these expeditions.
On January 27, 1785, a treaty was signed at Fort McIntosh, a fort on the Ohio, 30 miles below Pittsburg, at the month of the Beaver river, where the town of Beaver, Pennsylvania, now is. This treaty was made between the Americans and the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas. The boundary line between the United States and the Wyandots and Delawares was declared to begin "at the mouth of the river Cuyahoga, and to extend. up said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, thence down that branch to the crossing place above Fort
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Laurens (on the border line of Stark and Tuscarawas counties, near where the town of Bolivar now is) thence westerly to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio (its western point being Fort Recovery in Mercer county ) at the mouth of which branch was Fort Slovel which was taken by the French in 1752: then along said portage to the Great Miami or Omee river ( Maumee) and down the south side of the same to its mouth, then along the south shores of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, where it began." All of the territory inside this boundary (all of northwestern Ohio), was assigned to the Indians, with a few trading-posts reserved, six miles square at the mouth of the Sandusky, and a tract two miles square at Fremont.
Sha-tay-ya-ron-yah, or Leather Lips, who signed this treaty and kept it, was afterward murdered under Indian law on account of his friendship for the Americans. In 1810 Tecumseh commenced his organization of the Indians against the whites, but found the Wyandots, led by Tar-hé and Leather Lips, were bitterly opposed to the plan. General Harrison was of the opinion the chief's death was the result of the direct command of Tecumseh.
January 9, 1789, another treaty was made by Gov. St. Clair at Fort Harmar (Marietta), with the Wyandots and others, confirming the treaty of 1785. It was not kept and the Indians, supplied with arms and ammuni- tion by the British at Detroit, continued their depredations, and several expeditions sent against them were disastrous to the Americans. Finally, in 1794. Gen. Anthony Wayne, "Mad Anthony," led the expedition against them, and at the battle of Fallen Timbers he gained a complete and decisive victory, and on August 3. 1795, the Greenville treaty was signed, making the Indian reservation about as before.
On July 4. 1805. another treaty was signed at Fort Industry between the United States and the Wyandots and other tribes, by which the eastern bound- ary of their reservation was a meridian line, starting at a point on Lake Erie, 120 miles west of the western boundary of Pennsylvania, thence south to the Greenville treaty line. This line was the present west boundary of Erie and Huron counties; it passed through Crawford county, giving the present eastern seven miles to the United States, the western thirteen miles being reserved to the Indians. It touched the Greenville treaty line about two miles east of what is now Cardington, in Marrow county. All east of this north and south line, north of the Greenville treaty line, extending to the Cuyahoga river was now open to settlement. For this territory the Indians were given goods to the amount of $20,000, and were to receive in addition $7.500 in goods annually. From this new territory Richland county was created in 1807. For some years the Indians remained peaceful, their severe losses in their constant wars having so greatly reduced their numbers that they realized without help, all further opposition to the Americans was hopeless.
This peace would have continued but for the actions of the British in forcing the war of 1812. England for several years had been stopping American ships on the high seas, seizing seamen on those vessels and impress- ing them into the British navy on the claim they were British seamen. Many American born sailors were thus seized, and to all protests the British gov-
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ernment turned a deaf ear. The British also instigated the Indians in the northwest to recommence their depredations against the Americans, and Tecumseh organized the savage tribes, and when war was declared by the United States Tecumseh and nearly all the northwestern Indians joined their forces with the British, with headquarters at Detroit. Tarhe "The Crane," was chief of the Wyandots at that time, and assisted by Between-the-Logs, another Wyandot chief. urged their tribe to remain neutral, which the major- ity of them did, very few Wyandots following the lead of Tecumseh. At the breaking out of the war. the first year in the northwest, the Americans met with a constant succession of reverses.
In July, 1812, Gen. William Hull, in command at Detroit, surrendered that post to the British and Indians, without firing a gun. The allied army consisted of 1,000 British and 600 Indians. The force surrendered was 2,500 men, with thirty-three cannon, arms and ammunition. Just prior to the surrender a detachment of 500 had been sent south to guard some sup- plies coming from Ohio. These were a part of Hull's army and were sur- rendered also, and as they were returning they were met by a company of British soldiers who astonished thein with the statement that they, too, were included in the capitulation. The American troops were released on parole. A number started home on foot, others were transported in boats across Lake Erie to the mouths of the Sandusky, Huron and Cuyahoga rivers, and left at those points to go overland the nearest route to their homes, inany passing through Crawford as the nearest way home.
Gen. William Henry Harrison was placed in command of the army in the northwest in September of 1812, the objective point of this campaign being to regain Detroit from the British. General Harrison immediately established a line of defense across the state from Wooster through Craw- ford county, to Upper Sandusky and St. Mary's to Fort Wayne. The army was divided into three divisions, the left composed of the Kentucky troops and the Seventeenth and Eighteenth United States regulars under Brigadier- General Winchester ; their route was up the Miami, with the base of supplies at St. Mary's, Auglaize county. The central division was composed of 1,200 of the Ohio militia and 800 mounted infantry under Brigadier-General Tup- per, with their base of supplies at Fort McArthur ( Kenton. Hardin county ). The right was composed of three brigades of militia from Pennsylvania, Vir- ginia and Ohio, and were to assemble at Fort Ferree, a fort erected at Upper Sandusky, where General Harrison had his headquarters. On October 22d. General Harrison wrote to the war department: "I am not able to fix any period for the advance of the troops to Detroit. It is pretty evident that it cannot be done, on proper principles, until the frost shall have become so severe as to enable us to use the rivers and the margin of the lake for the transportation of our baggage on the ice." During November and December General Harrison did what he could toward improving the roads.
While at his headquarters on the Sandusky, Tarhé, the Wyandot chief, called on General Harrison, and suggested that a meeting of the Indians be held, as it was his opinion many of the Indians had been deceived into join-
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ing the British forces. In response to this, a council of Indians, both friendly and unfriendly, was held on the American side of the Detroit river at Browns- town. The Wyandots were then the leading and most powerful Indian nation, and Tarhé, their chief, sent a strong message urging them to remain neutral. Tarhe's message was received in sullen silence, and Round Head, a Canadian chief, and a Wyandot, made a bitter speech against the Americans, which was endorsed by practically all present. The British were represented at the council by two agents, Elliott and McKee, and Elliott, seeing the spirit of the Indians, made a very insulting speech, boasting of the victories already achieved, and alluding to the president of the United States as a squaw, and saying: "If she receives this as an insult and feels disposed to fight, tell her to bring more men than she ever brought before. If she wishes to fight me and my children she must not burrow in the earth like a ground hog* where she is inaccessible. She must come out and fight fairly." The leading chief of the Wyandots present was Between-the-Logs, the chief orator of that nation, and to the insulting speech of Elliott he made a dignified reply.
This closed the council, the Canadian Indians remaining with the British, while the Ohio Wyandots followed the advice of Between-the-Logs. Tarhé made another attempt and sent another message to his Canadian Wyandot kinsman: "Let all the Wyandots abandon the British. They are liars and have always deceived the Indians. They built Fort Miami, as they said, to be a refuge to the Indians. When wounded and bleeding, after our defeat by General Wayne, we fled to their fort for protection, they shut the gates against us." Later in the campaign Tecumseh threw this same treacherous act up to General Procter. It referred to a campaign when "Mad Anthony" Wayne defeated the British and Indians, and the British sought refuge in Fort Miami, and closed its gates against their fleeing Indian allies. He called attention to several other acts of perfidy of the British but it had no effect on his Canadian people, although nearly all the Wyandots in Ohio remained on the side of the Americans; only a very few joining the British.
During the War of 1812 General Harrison had his headquarters much of the time along the Sandusky river. He established Fort Ferree, the present site of Upper Sandusky; Fort Ball at Tiffin and Fort Seneca half way between Tiffin and Fremont. This latter place had been a trading-post over a century, established by the French, and here was Fort Stevenson.
On December 17, 1812, Governor Meigs sent a message to the state legis- lature appealing for aid for the Ohio militia at Sandusky, in which he said : "The situation of the men as to clothing is really distressing. You will see many of them wading through the snow and mud almost barefooted and half naked. Not half the men have a change of pantaloons, and those linen."
In January, 1813, General Harrison marched from Upper Sandusky to the Maumee and about January 20th erected Fort Meigs, on the south side of the river just above where Perrysburg now is, and for the balance of the winter supplies and troops were sent forward and the fort strengthened.
* Alluding to the Americans having pits in the embankments to shelter them from cannon balls thrown into their forts.
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Toward the last of April the fort was besieged by General Procter and Tecumseh with 2,000 British and Indians, but the small force there made so determined a resistance until re-inforcements arrived under General Clay, that on May 5th, the allies gave up the siege and retired. General Harrison sent word to Governor Meigs that more troops were needed, and they were soon on their way to the different posts. On May 8th the commander at Fort Ferree wrote that 500 men had arrived that day and 1,000 more would be there the next day.
On July 2Ist General Procter and Tecumseh again laid siege to Fort Meigs with 4,000 British and Indians, General Clay being in command of the fort. The British general, Procter, left Tecumseh to watch the fort, while he, with 500 British troops and 800 Indians, marched to Lower Sandusky (Fremont) to capture Fort Stevenson, which was garrisoned by 150 men under Major Crogan, a young man of twenty-one. They arrived before the fort on August 1, 1813, and Procter demanded its surrender under the threat that its defense against his superior force was hopeless, and if they were compelled to capture the place, it would be impossible for him to restrain the savagery of the Indians, and the entire garrison would be massacred. The demand was refused and on August 2d the attack commenced, and after several hours of fighting the enemy endeavored to take it by assault but were repulsed with great slaughter. General Harrison was at the time at Fort Seneca, nine miles up the river, with a large force of troops, and Procter fear- ing an attack in return gave up the attempt and returned to Detroit. The American loss was one killed and seven wounded.
The Ohio militia continued pouring into Fort Ferree until in August there were from 5,000 to 6,000 men there under command of Governor Meigs. It was impossible to care for so many, besides the enemy had abandoned their attempt to capture Fort Meigs and retired to Detroit, and the pressing need for the militia had passed, so all but 2,000 were disbanded and sent home, an order which was received with the greatest disapproval by the disbanded troops, and led to indignation meetings in which severe resolutions were passed against General Harrison.
On September 10, 1813, Perry gained his signal victory on Lake Erie and General Harrison pushed forward into Michigan to retake the fort. Reaching Detroit he found the place deserted, the British and Indians having retired across the river into Canada. On October 2d, Generals Harrison and Shelby, with 3.500 Ohio and Kentucky troops, started after the retreating army and overtook the allied forces at the river Thames, 80 miles from Detroit. . \ battle followed on October 5th, in which Tecumseh was slain, which so demoralized his Indian followers that they immediately took flight. A large number of the British were killed or captured and the rest fled. This was the final battle of the northwest, and from that time the settlers of northwestern Ohio were no longer disturbed by the British or Indians. The war, however, continued in the east and south, until the last battle was fought at New Orleans, on January 8, 1815, by General Jackson, who, with 6,000 men, behind entrenchments, administered a crushing defeat to General Pack-
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enham's attacking force of 12,000. The troops of Packenham were the pick of the British army, the survivors returning to Europe in time to take part in the battle of Waterloo, while the troops of Jackson were the raw militia of Kentucky, Tennessee and the northwest, but every man a fine marksman. During the war of 1812, in the battles along the Maumee, the brutal murder- ings by the Indians of the soldiers after they had surrendered, were of fre- quent occurrence. In this war the English endeavored to curb the cruelties of their Indian allies, but it was generally useless, and it was only on a few occasions that Tecumseh himself was able to restrain the ferocity of the savages.
CHAPTER IV THE OLD NORTHWEST
The Northwest Territory as Defined in the Ordinance of 1787-State of Ohio Formed-Character of Its Citizenship-Indian Inhabitants-Pro- hibition of Slavery-Provision for Education-Settlement of Marietta- Appointment of Governor St. Clair-Law and Order Established-George Rogers Clark and His Work-Conflicting State Claims-Their Settle- ment-Treatment of the Indians-Story of Black Hawk-The Last of the Indians-The Greenville Treaty.
Shelby county, Ohio, formed a part of the old Northwest. By the cele- brated ordinance of 1787 the territory "northwest of the river Ohio" was to be divided into not less than three nor more than five sections or states. By the same law it was provided that "whenever any of the said states shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such state shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the congress of the United States, on equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever ; and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and state government." (Article V. Ordinance of 1787.)
Acting under this provision of our organic law, Ohio became a state, by act of congress, February 19, 1803, and Shelby county, as part of Ohio, entered upon her history-making career, although the county had been organ- ized in 1800, by proclamation of territorial governor, General Arthur St. Clair.
There were five states carved out of the old Northwest-Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin making a total area of 250,000 square miles. At the time of the passage of the ordinance of 1/87 it is probable that there were not more than 60,000 "free inhabitants" in the entire five states. Today there are more than 17,000,000. In this section-the old Northwest-we find now the largest lakes, joined by silvery rivers and canals, the richest mine deposits, and the most fertile soil in North America, if not in the world. Here are the longest rivers-and upon their banks sit in pride and majesty, the noble cities from whose factories and mills come the cloth- ing and food that help to feed and to protect the hungry millions of earth.
The citizenship of this section is among the most enlightened and progres- sive, Ohio alone having furnished seven presidents of the United States, one vice-president, three presidents of the senate, one speaker of the house, two chief justices, five associate judges and 22 cabinet officers. In addition there is a long list of distinguished senators, representatives, inventors, authors and scholars.
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For many years after the coming of the white men, the American Indians -the original owners of the soil-made life a burden for these white men, who were often forced to bare their breasts upon "upland glade or glen" to the tomahawk, the poisoned arrow and the faggot. The soil was redeemed for the white men by the veterans of three wars. It was reddened by the blood of the Indian, the French, the English and the American. It was consecrated by the death of many a noble son.
But the great ordinance did more than to provide for the admission of states-it had strong provisions in regard to slavery and education. "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly con- victed." No such expression had yet been seen in any document; and this is all the more wonderful and noble, when we recall the fact that, at that time, all the original states had slaves. From this can be traced the liberty- loving sentiment ever afterward found in the people of the northwest. But this is not all. The great document resounded throughout the wilderness, as with a Titan's voice, the cause of religion and education. "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happi- ness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encour- aged."
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