History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 32

Author: Sutton, R., & Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Wapakoneta, Ohio : R. Sutton
Number of Pages: 878

USA > Ohio > Mercer County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 32
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 32

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

When they returned to camp the game was placed in the hands of

the women and children, who took care of the furs, and sliced the ven- ison for drying purposes, except the hams, which were fire-dried for market. After a feast the hunters resumed the chase, and so continued until about the first of February, when the furs became worthless and the chase was abandoned. They then returned home, but, as the close of the deer season marked the opening of the trapping season. the Imban again soon took to the forest. Here again their honesty would not per- mit one to rob the traps of another, but, on the contrary, if one found an animal in the trap of another, he removed the game, suspended it near by, and reset the trap. Such were the habits of these people in their struggle to survive. Without homes worth the name, they were dependent upon the shelter and bounty of a watery or iey wilderness. Exposed to the rigors of the climate, they were ever in hearing of the bowl of the wolf and the scream of the panther. In the midst of those incongruous surroundings and inhospitable elements, from the frozen earth, if the discord of clashing elements ceased for a moment, could be heard the weak and pitiful ery of the infant starving and freezing in its mother's arms, while the very elements and wild beasts, more in " pity than wrath," conspired to drown its saddening ery.

Such were the condition and habits of the Shawnees at the advent of the Friends. Let us look to the events of later years. Turn, then, to the year 1819, when a member of the Society of Friends, Isaac Harvey, re- moved, with part of his family, to superintend the mills erected for the benefit of the Shawnees.

These mills were located on the river just in the rear of the grocery store of H. W. Tacusch, where part of the building still remains. Mr. Harvey had visited the place on previous occasions, and so was acquainted with a number of the chiefs as well as with John Johnston, the Indian Agent of the Northwest.

Shortly afterward we get a glimpse of the Prophet, more fully treated elsewhere in this volume. One of the Indians became very much en- feebled, and the Friend visited him often, carrying him medicine and nourishment. On one of these visits he found the door fastened, but, after a time, it was opened, and he found the sick man lying upon his face, his back bare, and his whole body so lacerated that he was in a state of exhaustion from the loss of blood.

In the house was the Prophet, the brother of Tecumseh. He was asked the reason for this curious and brutal treatment of the patient, and answered that the sick man was bewitched, and these incisions were made to enable him to extract the combustible matter the witch had deposited. The good Quaker drove the Prophet out of the house, and dressed the sick man's wounds. On the following night the friendly superintendent was awakened by some one at his door seeking admittance. He heard a woman's voice crying in broken English, " They kill-ee me ! they kill.ee me!" It was an Indian woman with her little girl. Mr. Harvey took her to the house of Francis Duchouquet, the interpreter, where she explained that a little messenger had brought her word that the chiefs were in coun- cil, and that she had certainly been condemned to die on a charge of having bewitched the poor consumptive on whom the Prophet had ope- rated with knives. She bogged the "Qua-ke-lee" to protect ber, and said that she would do all that he commanded. The shrewd Quaker, not relying on the friendliness of the interpreter, answered the woman coldly, but, having secured another interpreter in the person of Thomas Elliott, the blacksmith's son, he talked with her again, and finally hid her and her daughter between two beds on a bedstead in the upper room of his house. He also killed with his own hands a small dog that had followed her. The life of Harvey's family depended, perhaps, quite as much as that of the Indian woman's, on the success of his keeping her hid. Every part of the Quaker's house was searched, even this upper room, where there stood nothing but an innocent-looking bed with all the covers spread. In the middle of that anxious day there came to the house of Isaac Harvey, his friend, the chief Weasecah, often called Captain Wolf. He told the superintendent what had happened among them, as though he did not at all suspect that his friend had taken any part in the matter. The Quaker earnestly remonstrated against the Indian belief in witches and witchcraft, and expostulated with him on the cruelty of putting people to death on an unproved charge of this kind. This dis- turbed the mind of Weasecah ; he was surprised to find that the Qua-ke- Ice did not agree with him on so important a matter. He then departed,

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and, in about an hour afterwards, he returned and expressed his belief that Ilarvey knew more about the matter than he professed to know. As the Quaker tried to evade, Weasecah urged him to tell what he knew, promising that instead of betraying him, he would defend him to the utmost of his power. It was a desperate resort, but Harvey felt that the case was a desperate one. Without confessing all that he knew about the matter, he admitted that he believed the condemned woman to be out of reach of the Indians who were seeking her destruction, and that they would never see her face again unless they abandoned the idea of execut- ing her. This was a shrewd way of putting the case, but the Quaker added, what startled the chief still more, that he had made up his mind to close up the mission and take his family and go home. After some thought, the chief proposed to Harvey that he should go with him direct to the council house, where the chiefs were then in session. He thought, if the " Qua-ke-lee" would promise the chiefs that he would be answer- able to them for the condemned woman, that he could prevail on them to pardon her. Harvey resolved to go, though it was like going into a den of wild beasts, thus to brave the angry chiefs in council. He asked John Elliott the blacksmith, whose son had been his second interpreter the night before, and who had himself offered assistance, to let his boy go with him now. Elliott consented, and said he would also go. Accord- ingly these four entered into the council house. "Be still and hear," said Weasecah. He then told them of his interview with his friend the Quaker, and of the occasion of their coming. The Indians, some of whom were painted and armed in a way that made them quite appalling to the Quaker, now moved around talking one to another. Isaac Harvey then addressed them by means of his interpreter, telling them, with great composure, that he had come with Weasecah and Simucta (the black- smith) to intercede for the woman ; but secing that they had resolved to follow their own course, he had prepared to offer himself in her stead ; that he had no weapons, and was at their mercy-they might do with him as they thought best. At this the noble chief Weasecah took bold of Harvey's arm and said, " Me Qua-ke-lee friend." He begged the chiefs not to suffer their friend the Quaker to be harmed, but they were still determined not to submit to the proposition; he offered his life instead of his friend's.

This heroie attitude of the Quaker, with the loyal and brave act of the noble chief, checked the tide of hostile feeling, and for a minute all were in suspense. Then chief after chief, to the number of six or eight, step- ped up to Harvey, ench offering his hand, and saving, "Me Qua-ke-lee friend." Weasecah then argued with them eloquently, and at last the whole council offered their hands in friendship. Tenskwatawa, the pro- phet, only excepted, who sullenly left the council house in defeat. It was hard for Harvey and Weasecah to prevail on the poor woman to leave her place of concealment. She remained in the Quaker's house for several days, and then returned to her people and lived in peace.

In 1825 Mr. Harvey removed to the Friends' school establishment, five miles south of Wapakoneta, on the present farm of A. Scott. This school had been suspended, because of the unsettled condition of the In- dians, and was now to be resumed. Shortly after the reopening of the school, the Indian agent visited his old friend, the Quaker, and spent the day in discussing the Indian situation and outlook. During the con- . versation, the Friend observer that he had found discontent and a desire to sell their lands among the Indians ; that it appeared almost impossible to accomplish anything, and should they remove to the west at that june- ture, and come in contact with the wild savages of that region, he feared all the labor of the Friends would be lost. To this the exnltant agent replied that, if the Friends had done nothing but save the life of Polly Butler, they had thereby broken up the heathenish practice of putting people to death for witcheraft, which was a sufficient reward for all their labor and expense. As we have already related the case of Polly Butler, and alluded to the same-as viewed by the agent, Mr. Johnston-we deem a letter by the same agent, written years after the incidents occur- red of which it speaks, of sufficient importance to justify its insertion in full. It serves at the same time to identify this unfortunate woman, and is as follows :-

" Polly Butler. charged with being a witch in the Shawnee nation, and who was saved from a violent death by the timely, firm, and persevering

efforts of Isane Harvey, who then had charge over the Friends' Shaw. nee Mission at Wapakoneta, Ohio, was the daughter of Gen. Richard Butler, by a Shawnee woman. A son, also, was an offspring of the same union, who became a distinguished chief in peace and war among the Shawnees, being in authority during the whole of my ageney over this nation, a period of almost thirty years. Gen. Butler was an Indian trader before the Revolutionary war, and spoke the language of the natives, and as was customary with persons of those pursuits, he married an Indian woman. His son and daughter bear a striking resemblance to the But- ler family, many of whom I knew in early life. The General was second in command in the army under St. Clair, and was killed on the 4th of Nov. 1791, in battle with the combined Indians of the northwest, on the ground on which Fort Recovery was afterward built, distant from Green- ville fourteen miles. Witchcraft was universally believed in by all the Indian tribes, and the incident related of Polly Butler is substantially truc."

(Signed) JOHN JOHNSTON.

DAYTON, O., Oct. 17, 1853.

To Mr. Harvey, then, we attribute the first successful effort to arrest the monstrous practice of destroying life on charges of witchcraft among these Indians.

Resuming, we find the Shawnees advancing in civilized pursuits, and educating their children at the Wapakoneta schools, until some misere- ants persuaded the young men that, if the Quakers were permitted to improve their lands, the whites would finally seize them for their own use. When this suspicion became known to the Friends, they entered a large tract of land at the expense of the Society, erected buildings, cleared a farm, and established the school at the mission south of Wapakoneta, which was conducted until the removal of the Shawnees to the distant west. In 1830, the mission schools came under the charge of Henry Har- vey, when he found the Indians of a pleasant and lively disposition. During his residence here, the aged chief Black Hoof died, the incidents of whose life and character are elsewhere noted in this volume.

In 1831 a message was received from the Indian agent, conveying the desire of the government to purchase the lands of the Shawnees. This was so unsuspected, that it produced great confusion. The chiefs at once visited the superintendent, to consult upon the subject. The Friend scarcely credited the report, and so told the chiefs, if they would refuse to sell, the government would abandon its desire.

They however pursued a different course, and forbade all approaches upon the subject, as no commissioners would be met. Shortly after this they encountered traders, who told them they wanted money, and must have it, and the lands must be sold that they could be paid, and then bribed certain chiefs to favor the sale. A few days later the commissioner notified the chief's he would be at Wapakoneta on a certain day, and asked a meeting. Gardner came on the appointed day, and occupied the first two days of the council in a speech of misrepresentations.

He was answered by Wayweleapy, who informed him that he was little known, as he had only addressed them two days, and in that time had said many good, but more bad things ; had talked a great deal about the Great Spirit, without knowing anything about the Spirit, as his ideas were all wrong. He had claimed that the Spirit made three classes of men: the white man, with a white skin, and a great deal of sense ; the Indian, with a red skin, and a little less sense; and the black man, with a black skin, and very little sense. His own idea was different, as he believed all men were created alike, and any other conception was curi- ous and false. In a day or two a treaty was closed, and it immediately became rumored that the Indians had been deceived and cheated. This alarmed the Indians, and John Perry visited the Friend, and when told they had been really robbed of their lands, he wept like a child, and ex- claimed they were a ruined people, unless the Quakers would interpose in their behalf. The Friend assured him he had kept a record of the proceedings of the council, and would act as a witness for the Indians, and do everything in his power for them. Accordingly, he called the attention of the Richmond Yearly Meeting to the matter, and a commit- tee was appointed to visit Wapakoneta and investigate the whole pro- ceedings touching that treaty. This committee, .on its arrival, called about twenty of the principal men of the nation, with competent inter-

HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.

101

preters, and took evidence during three or four days at the mission build- ings. At the opening of the council, this committee informed the In- dians that, at their yearly meeting, they had learned with sorrow from Mr. Harvey that the Indians had been wronged, and assured them they would do all they could in their behalf. They then awaited a statement of the chief, setting forth their wrongs, The Indians thereopon held an all-night council, aud carly the next morning informed the visitors of their readiness to be heard. When the council bad been seated a few moments, the chiefs rose, shook hands with each visitor, and resumed their seats, without saying a word.

The pipe was then passed, and each chief smoked. They now pre- sented a very grave and dignified appearance, as they sat in silence, with eyes fixed upon Wayweleapy, the orator of the day. At length the speaker rose, with black, keen, but tearful eyes, looked about on each of his brethren, and then fixed his gaze upon the committee. He ad- . dressed the assembly, but paused to control his feeling. Again he pro- ceeded. but in a moment faltered ; tears washed his check, emotion overcame him, and he sank to his seat. A struggle ensued with his feelings; he mastered his agitation, regained self-control, and, rising, de- livered a pathetic statement of the pertidy of the negotiators, and appealed to the Quakers to befriend them now, when ruin stared them in the face.

He proceeded as follows: " My friends and brethren, we are now all present, and I am glad to see you. I thank the great God that you have come to see us at this time. We are all in trouble, and wanted to see you very much. You wish to know our grievances about our late treaty, and we will endeavor to tell you. This treaty, which we made with Gardner, we thought was made in good faith on both sides. He spoke a great deal to us, and called upon God to be witness to what he said to us. This made us believe he was in earnest, and we put confidence in what he said, and never thought of being deceived by him. He said he was sent to us by the President, General Jackson, and so we were will- ing to trust him. He made propositions to us for our lands, and we agreed to them. The treaty was not read and interpreted to us, but Gardner assured us that it contained just what he offered us in every particular. We thought he told us the truth, and accordingly we signed the treaty; but since then we found out that it was not so, and that he had deceived and cheated us. This is what so grieves our hearts. We are sorry to find it is to be the price of our farms that is to take us to our new homes. We expected no such thing. but understood plainly that the Government was to be at all that expense, and that what our improvements here were worth, after being valued by good men, was to be paid us in money, to assist us in making farms at our new homes. We have good homes here, and had abundance of labor and pains to make them. We wanted good men to value our improvements. for we are not ashamed of our homes ; but we are surprised to hear the treaty is not as we understood it. The Commissioner told us the President would provide well for our women and children on our long journey. My friends, we are in a difficult situation. We cannot let our property go in this way. for if we do we are a ruined people. Now, my friends, another thing that grieves us is, that when we see how the Delawares and Senecas have been treated, who are now on their way to Kansas, we know they have been very poorly provided for the journey. Some have poor oll blind horses; some poor women are going on foot, and a large number of them are only furnished four bushels of corn meal. We pity them, as they are our brethren ; we fear their situation will be ours when we go upon our journey. We hope this will be avoided. Another grievance is, that man Gardner promised to pay our debts: this we find he intends to take from our money. We cannot leave Ohio unth our debts are paid. My friends, when we got this land we were told by J'resident Jefferson that we never should be asked to sell it ; but that if we wished at any time to sell, the Government would send a good man to purchase it of us. Gardner, when he came among us, said he was sent by the President and instructed to pay us well for our land ; but he has deceived us, and has failed to do as he promised. This man, who told us he was sent here by General Jackson, told us that such rich farming lands as these we have, should be furnished us at our new home; but we have since learned they are to be paid for out of the proceeds of our poor little re-erve here -- out of our poor hard-earned farms, which we have improved at a cost of so much time and labor. This is too

hard : they never cost the Government anything, and we had no idea the money was to be taken from us for any such purpose. We had mills here that were built for us by our friends the Quakers-they never cost the Government anything-and Gardner told us we should have good mills furnished us at our new home; but the pay for them, we now learn, is to be taken from our money for that too. What does this mean? We declare we understood no such thing at the time we signed the treaty.

" We have now told you what our grievances are. If we could have all these things as we understood them at the time we made the treaty. we would be satisfied; but if not, trouble and sorrow will follow us to our far distant homes.

" Friends and brothers, we say again that we are glad to see you here at this time; we are glad you are going to take our side, for we are a poor forsaken people, and have none to whom to look but our friends, the Quakers. We hope you will succeed in your undertaking, and if you do, sorrow will be removed from us. We are so rejoiced that you have come to see us that we never, as long as we live, shall forget our feelings of gratitude at this time. The world is wide, but after looking about us on every hand, we could find no one to whom to appeal in this hour of need except our old friends, the Quakers. Many people will talk from the teeth ont, but the manner of the Quakers toward us at all times shows them to be our real and genuine friends. We know they are still our only friends, and so to them we state our grievances and appeal to them for help. My brothers, I am now done speaking."

Such was the Indian statement of the treaty proceedings as delivered by Wayweleapy, the chosen orator of the occasion.

The result of this investigation was a petition to Congress, embodying a statement of facts, and asking additional compensation for the Shawnee lands. A deputation of chiefs was appointed, consisting of John Perry, Wayweleapy, Black Hoof, and Spybuck, with Francis Duchouquet. and Joseph Parks, as interpreters. At the same time a memorial was pre- pared in behalf of the Friends, asking relief for the Shawnces, and a com- mittee, consisting of Henry Harvey and David Baily, authorized to present it to Congress. They were further instructed to give such information as they could touching the late treaty, and urge the claim of the Indians before Congress and the President.

Henry Harvey, being a witness to the treaty, was competent to show the fraud by which it was obtained. The expense of these proceedings was borne by the Society. The joint deputation left the mission Dee. 1, 1831, and went via Mt. Pleasant, where the Quakers joined in the memorial, and did much for the further comfort of the deputation. Again, at Baltimore, the Quakers jomed the appeal to Congress, so that by this time the memorial represented the societies of Ohio, Indiana, and Mary- land. At Cumberland, Francis Duchouquet was taken sick, and had to be left by the company. It was believed he could live but a short time. and his parting with the chief's was very affecting. The latter were touched to tears as the old interpreter told them he was an old man, must soon die, and they would never meet him again. He had been an honest and useful man who, in the capacity of government interpreter, had been of great service to the whites, and even saved many from the stake. He died a few days after his companions left Cumberland. (See reference elsewhere.) Ou reaching Washington, and making known their mission, they were furnished a copy of the fraudulent treaty, and requested by Sec. Cass to examine it carefully, and find what difference, if any, ex- isted in the amount therein stipulated and that represented and promised by Gardner. After due examination, this deficiency was shown to amount to $115,000, and the delegation thereupon asked that said treaty be annulled, and another be formed with the delegation, who were antho- rized to act for the Indians. The Secretary approved the plan, after satisfying himself that the calculation was correct, and added that in his opinion the Indians would not receive a single dollar by the Gardner treaty. He further appealed to the President, but as he would take a) action in the premises, an appeal was made to Congress, through the assistance of Joseph Vance, a representative from Ohio. After cousal erable delay, a bill was reported by Geo. MeDuffy, of S. C., granting $30,000, instead of the $100,000 asked in the petition. After the trans- action of the business of the delegation, Secretary Cass paid all expenses incurred in Washington, and those necessary on their return home, amounting in all to $640; and, further, presented each of the chiefs with

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$50. At the making of the treaty, the Indians were promised to be removed early in the spring, and were advised to sell everything they could spare during the winter. In accordance with this advice, they sold about 200 head of cattle, 1200 hogs, and many other things, and with the proceeds purchased clothing, wagons, and guns, in anticipation of their early removal.

Moreover, they were to receive 82000 at the time of their departure, so that they had no uneasiness about the future. These promises were all violated, and resulted in absolute want, and almost starvation, to a whole nation. Again Mr. Harvey appealed to Secretary Cass, and at the same time went to the Miami mission, distant about eighty miles, to buy a load of provisions for the starving tribe. In this he was successful, and a few days later supplies were received from l'iqua, on the order of the Secretary. On the arrival of these provisions, the Indians repaired to Wapakoneta, where a distribution was made which supplied their needs until their removal. Gardner arrived about the first of September, and, wretchedly equipped, they took up their march of 800 miles for their sun- set home. Well might they exclaim :--

- " We, the rightful lords of yore, Are the rightful lords no more ; Like the silver rusts we fail ; Like the red leaves in the gale ; Fail like shadows when the dawning Waves the bright flag of the morning."

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History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 32

Author: Sutton, R., & Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Wapakoneta, Ohio : R. Sutton Number of Pages: 878

Author: Sutton, R., & Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Wapakoneta, Ohio : R. Sutton
Number of Pages: 878