USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne county, Ohio, from the days of the pioneers and the first settlers to the present time > Part 13
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We give another and additional evidence of ancient agriculture. In many localities the surface is covered with small mammillary elevations commonly known as Indian corn-hills. "They are with- out order of arrangement, being scattered over the ground with the greatest irregularity. That these hillocks were formed in the manner indicated by their name, is inferred from the present cus- tom of the Indians. The corn is planted in the same spot each suc- cessive year, and the soil is gradually brought up to the size of a little hill by the annual additions." But Mr. Lapham has also found traces of an earlier and more systematic cultivation. These con- sist " of low parallel ridges, as if corn had been planted in drills. They average 4 feet in width, 25 of them having been counted in the space of a hundred feet, and the depth of the walk between is about 6 inches." These manifestations which are here denomin- ated "ancient garden-beds," indicate an earlier and more perfect
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
system of cultivation than that which now prevails, as the present Indians are destitute of those conceptions of order and taste nec- essary to such harmonious work.
In the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley it is stated that no earthwork has ever been found on the first or lowest ter- race of any of the great rivers, and that this observation is con- firmed by all who have given attention to the subject. If true, this would indeed have indicated a great antiquity, but in a subse- quent work Mr. Squier informs us that "they occur indiscrimi- nately upon the first and upon the superior terraces, as also upon the islands of the lakes and rivers." Messrs. Squier and Davis are of opinion that the decayed state of the skeletons found in the mounds may enable us to form "some approximate estimate of their remote antiquity," particularly when we consider that the earth around them is exceedingly solid and dry and that the con- ditions for their preservation are exceedingly auspicious. "In the barrows of the ancient Britons," they add, " entire, well-preserved skeletons are found, although possessing an undoubted antiquity of at least 1, 800 years."
Dr. Wilson also attributes much importance to this argument, which, in his opinion, "furnishes a stronger evidence of their great antiquity than any of the proofs that have been derived from the age of a subsequent forest growth, or the changes wrought on the river terraces where they most abound." This argument, if it be worth anything, certainly requires a much longer time than 1,800 years, and carries us back, therefore, far beyond any anti- quity indicated by the forests. Near the Ontonagon river, and at a depth of twenty-five feet, have been observed stone mauls and other implements, in contact with a vein of copper. Above these was the fallen trunk of a large cedar, and "over all grew a hem- lock tree, the roots of which spread entirely above the fallen tree," * * * indicating a probable growth of not less than three centuries, to which must be added, the age of the cedar, which indicates a still "longer succession of centuries subsequent
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to that protracted period, during which the deserted trench was slowly filled up with accumulations of many winters."
In an address to the Historical Society of Ohio, the late Presi- dent Harrison said, touching upon this subject: "The process by which nature restores the forest to its original state, after being once cleared, is extremely slow. The rich lands of the west are, indeed, soon covered again, but the character of the growth is entirely different, and continues so for a long period. In several places upon the Ohio, and upon the farm which I occupy, clear- ings were made in the first settlement of the country, and subse- quently abandoned and suffered to grow up. Some of these new forests are now sure of fifty years growth, but they have made so little progress towards attaining the appearance of the immediately contiguous forest as to induce any man of reflection to determine that at least ten times fifty years must elapse before their complete assimilation can be effected. We find in the ancient works all that variety of trees which give such unrivaled beauty to our forests in natural proportions. The first growth on the same kind of land, once cleared and then abandoned to nature, on the contrary, is nearly homogeneous, often stinted to one or two, at most to three kinds of timber. If the ground has been cultivated, the yellow locust will thickly spring up; if not cultivated, the black and white walnut will be the prevailing growth. Of what age, then, must be the works so often referred to, covered, as they are, by at least the second growth, after the primitive forest state was re- gained ?"
But we have still another " sign " of antiquity in the aforemen- tioned garden-beds. This system of cultivation has long been replaced by the simple and irregular "corn-hills," yet the authori- ties are, that the garden-beds are much more recent than the mounds, across which they extend in the same manner as over the adjoining grounds. If, therefore, these mounds belong to the same era as those which are covered with wood, we get the indica- tions of three periods : the first, that of the mounds themselves;
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the second, that of the garden-beds; and the third, that of the forest.
American agriculture, let it be remembered, was not imported from abroad. It resulted from American semi-civilization, and reciprocally made possible its gradual and majestic development. The grains of the Old World were absent in the New, and American agriculture was founded on the maize, an American plant.
We seem, therefore, to have indications of the following four long periods :
I. That in which, from an original barbarism, the American tribes developed a knowledge of agriculture and a power of combi- nation.
2. That in which the mounds were erected, and other great works undertaken.
3. The age of the "garden beds," which occupy some, at least, of the mounds. Hence, it is evident that this cultivation was not until after the mounds had lost their sacred character in the eyes of the occupants of the soil ; for it can hardly be supposed that works executed with so much care would be thus desecrated by their builders.
4. The period in which man relapsed into barbarism, and the spots which had been first forest, then (perhaps) sacred monu- ments, and, thirdly, cultivated ground, relapsed into forest once more.
Ascribing to these changes all the importance which has ever been claimed for them, they will not require an antiquity of more than 3,000 years. It is not denied, of course, that the period may have been very much greater or very much less.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
CHAPTER IX. INDIAN HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY.
" A plundering race, still eager to invade, On spoils they live, and make of murder trade."
THE Indian annals of Wayne county wear but dim crimson upon their borders and are not blighted by any very bloody antiq- uity. We have vainly explored for treaties, intrigues, armistices, surrenders, sieges or battle fields. With a rare but fragrant ex- ception of one handsomely conceived and exquisitely executed massacre, and that upon a small scale, we find nothing of any im- portance. Happily for us, it was reserved to other localities for the red fields of Pontiac, Tecumseh and the Prophet, to steam with blood and be scented with slaughter. Fortunate beyond measure was it to the early settlers that the brawn warriors were beyond their borders, and that their swoops and forays fell upon other communities.
In this respect the western and south-western part of Ohio is historic, furnishing inspiration for the heroic muse, startling inci- dents for the historian, and an enchanting, fairy field for the delec- tations of romance. Instead of being the theater of blood-curdling military excitements, such as cause the heart to shudder at the re- cital of, its early settlement was one of peace and comparative se- curity to the pioneer.
The Delawares, Wyandots, Shawanese, etc., etc., were the chief tribes, or rather fragments of these tribes, it was that occu- pied this section upon the advent of the pioneers.
I.I
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
THE DELAWARES.
According to the Moravian, Heckwelder, the Delawares, from a tradition of their tribe, possessed the western portion of the continent-the Lenni Lenape supposed to be residing there-but in the distant, receding ages, traveled eastward to the Mississippi, where they encountered the warlike Iroquois, with whom they formed a league against certain other tribes. Successful in their conflicts, they arrogated to themselves all the territories east of the Mississippi, whereupon a division of the same was made, the Del- awares extending themselves to the Potomac, Susquehanna, Hud- son and Delaware rivers. They subsequently became divided into different tribes, a result quite possible, of the distribution of their lands.
In 1650 the Five Nations subjugated them, when they were again reduced to vassalage by their old confederates, the Iroquois. A westward movement was afterward initiated by the larger por- tion of them, when they crossed the Alleghenies, and finally, about 1768, made their principal settlements in Ohio. In the war of the Revolution they stood cheek by jowl with the British. They grew riotous, rampant and furious over the defeat of St. Clair. They danced, shouted, yelled, and got drunker than King Bacchus, or his savage lordship, Brute Uncas himself.
In 1795 the United States got possession of their lands on the Muskingum, when they removed to the Wabash country, Indiana, where they remained until 1819, when they followed the going down of the sun west of the Mississippi. Some of the branch- tribes did not follow the main body, but for a while remained east, hovering around Pittsburg, but ultimately journeyed west. The Wolf tribe was one of the branches, of which Captain Pipe was a notable chief, and who experienced much savage, delirious joy in the roasting of poor Crawford. Of this kith and quality were the Delawares, who roamed Wayne county in the early times.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
THE WYANDOTS,
Who were likewise here, were a fragmentary batch of the Tobacco nation of Hurons.
* "In the dispersion of the Hurons, after halting for a time at Michilimackinac, being there attacked by the Iroquois, they re- moved to the islands at the mouth of Green Bay, where they forti- fied themselves on the main land. Here they were pursued by the Iroquois, and for safety went southward to the domains of the Illinois, from thence westward to the Mississippi and country of the Sioux, where their stay was short, as the Sioux soon drove them beyond their lines. Their next place of residence was at the southern extremity of Lake Superior, which they abandoned in 1671, and emigrated to Michilimackinac. They did not locate upon the island, but settled in the northern part of Michigan. Subsequently the great mass of them made a settlement near De- troit, Michigan, and on the Sandusky river, in Ohio, where, under the name of the Wyandots, they wielded great influence over the neighboring tribes.
"Their tradition traces them no further than the first landing of the French at Quebec and Montreal in 1535. At that time their ancestors occupied the northern side of the St. Lawrence as far down as Coon Lake, and westward to the Huron. The Sen- ecas then were settled on the southern side of the St. Lawrence. These were kindred nations, yet long and bloody wars had been waged between them, in which the Hurons were the greatest suffer- ers. Seeing their numbers daily decreasing, and that their exter- mination was sought by the Senecas, they left their ancient lands and took up their residence at Green Bay. Thither they were pursued by the Senecas, who fell upon one of their villages and killed quite a number of the inhabitants. After the French had supplied the Senecas with guns, powder and lead, they made another attack upon the Hurons at Green Bay, and at first were entirely successful, but by the strategem of the Hurons all the
* Jeffiies.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Senecas were cut off, not one of the war party remaining alive to tell the sad tale of blood.
"The Wyandots, thereafter, also being furnished with arms and munitions of war, resolved to return to their own country in the vicinity of Detroit. On the way thither they encountered the Sen- ecas on the lake, in the vicinity of Long Point, where a desperate battle was fought upon the water, in which the Wyandots were the victors. Not a single Seneca escaped, and the Wyandot loss was very heavy. This was the last battle between the Wyandots and Senecas. The former took an active part on behalf of the French in the war which resulted in the reduction of Canada by the English, and were a potent power against the English in Pontiac's war.
"By the treaty of September 29, 1817, between the Wyandots and the Federal Government, there was granted to the former a body of land twelve miles square, the center of which was the fort, now the site of Upper Sandusky, the county seat of Wyandot county, Ohio. Also, at the same time, was granted them a tract of a mile square on Broken Sword creek. They occupied these lands until July, 1843, when they emigrated to their present place of residence west of the Mississippi, having disposed of their lands by treaty in 1842. At the time of their emigration they num- bered about seven hundred."
THE SHAWANESE.
The Shawanese were denominated "the Bedouins " of the American wilderness, and were a savage, blood-thirsty, and war- like tribe. Their veins leaped with the hot blood of the South, whence they came. From Georgia they were driven to Ken- tucky by other and more powerful tribes, and from Kentucky they came North, some of them settling near Chillicothe, on the Scioto river, and others centering near Pittsburg, Pa. Their terri- tory extended to Sandusky and westwardly toward the great Miami. They were incessantly at war. The great warrior chief, Tecumseh, belonged to this tribe, as did his brother, the Prophet,
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INDIAN HISTORY.
who fought the battle of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811, against General Harrison.
"For forty years," says Taylor, in his History of Ohio, "the Shawanese were in an almost perpetual state of war with America, either as British colonies or as independent States. They were among the most active allies of the French during the seven years' war; and, after the conquest of Canada, continued, in concert with the Delawares, hostilities which were only terminated after the successful campaign of General Boquet.
"The first permanent settlements of the Americans, beyond the Allegheny mountains, in the vicinity of the Ohio, were com- menced in the year 1769, and were soon followed by a war with the Shawanese, which ended in 1774, after they had been repulsed in a severe engagement at the mouth of the Kanhawa, and the Virginians had penetrated into their country. They took a most active part against America, both during the war of Independence and the Indian war which followed and which was terminated in 1795, at Greenville. They lost by that treaty nearly the whole territory which they held from the Wyandots ; and a part of them, under the guidance of Tecumseh, again joined the British standard during the war of 1812."
It will thus be readily perceived that these three nations of In- dians, to wit, the Delawares, Wyandots and Shawanese-the first occupying the valley of the Muskingum and thence to Lake Erie and the Ohio river, asserting possession over nearly one-half of the State ; the second and third, the territory already described-were distinguished for bloodthirstiness, stubborn antagonism to the Americans and the cause of national independence, and were, moreover, particeps criminis to many of the atrocities that blacken the pages of our border history. Their fiendish' cavorts, warring and plundering raids included vast areas, and to this hour fading, but unfaded, drops of human blood mark the line of their accursed marauds.
INDIANS OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The Indians that inhabited Wayne county when the first settle-
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
ments were made, seemed to exist by an implied precarious ten- ure. A dread of the whites, akin to fear, apparently possessed them. Something like a haunting memory of the crimes of their race was ever upon them. No mutual, not even tribal relations appear to have existed among them, and their pacific dispositions to the early settlers presented but another distinctive characteristic of the Indian-the cunning caution and self-interest begotten of fear. They roamed in pairs, or squads of half a dozen, though in some of their villages and settlements they would collect together to the number of two, three and four hundred. In Clinton, East Union, Franklin and Chippewa townships they congregated in largest numbers. Their sudden disappearance from the county was most remarkable, occurring, as it were, in a single night, and that, too, soon after the war of 1812 had been announced. They scented the bad breath of the coming carnival, we suppose, and hastened westward to deepen the blood-stain of their hands.
INDIAN TRAILS.
The pioneers throughout the county locate these with more assurance than certainty. Nearly every old, trodden woods-path is characterized as a trail, and the farm or section through which it passes or passed is presumed to have some sort of peculiar historic significance. These brigands and vagrants, no doubt, like other birds of passage, had their chosen and well understood courses of travel, but to assume to trace or define them would be playing spendthrift with time, and a culpable distortion of the legitimate bent of investigation. Nor is it important to indulge, what must be bald fancy and gratuitous speculation, on a matter so sterile of historical uses and so profitless to the public.
In an appendix to Hutchins' History, of Boquet's expedition against the western tribes, made in 1764, in which this English officer marched an army of 1,500 men into and through what is Tuscarawas county to the forks of Muskingum, now Coshocton, he refers to five different routes from Fort Pitt through the Ohio
.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
wilderness. The one that most interests us, and comes nearest to our purpose, is the following :
"Second route, west north-west, was 25 miles to the mouth of Big Beaver, 91 miles to Tuscaroras (the junction of Sandy and Tuscaroras creeks, at the south line of Stark county), 50 to Mohi- can John's Town (Mohican township, near Jeromeville, or Mohi- canville, on the east line of Ashland county), 46 to Junandat, or Wyandot Town (Castalia, or the source of Cold creek, in Erie county), 4 to Fort Sandusky (at mouth of Cold creek, near Venice, on Sandusky bay), 24 to Junqueindundeh (now Fremont, on San- dusky river, and in Sandusky county). The distance from Fort Pitt to Fort Sandusky was 216 miles; to Sandusky river 240 miles."
This trail penetrated the county in section 12, Paint township; thence in a north-westerly direction, crossing over sections 32, 31 and 30 in Sugarcreek township; thence entering East Union town- ship on section 25, bearing northerly to section 24; thence more directly west, passing about a mile north of Edinburgh; thence to Wooster township, entering it from the east, in section 13, and thence to the Indian settlement* south of Wooster and on the site of the old Baptist burial-ground; thence in a north-west direction, cutting zigzag through the south and western part of what is now the city of Wooster, crossing the Henry Myers farm, passing the old "Salt lick;" thence traversing the old Dullehan farm, now owned by Joseph Eicher, and crossing Killbuck a few rods north of the bridge on the Ashland road; thence west across the Hugh Culbertson farm-the old David Lilley farm, now owned by Mr. Culbertson ; thence for some considerable distance along the line of the Ashland road, through the lands of John and Daniel Silver, Mrs. George Hinish, Peter Spangler, William Miller; thence bear- ing in a nearly western direction to Reedsburgh, in Plain town- ship; thence to Mohican John's Town, and thence on to Fort Sandusky.
* It was named Beaver Hat, from an Indian chief of that name who resided there, with a few others. His Indian name was Paupelenan, and his camp or resi- dence was called by him Apple chauquecake, i. e., Apple Orchard.
1
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
A SURPRISE AND MASSACRE-CAPTAIN FULKES DISPOSES OF SIX- TEEN RED BUTCHERS.
As we have said, our early settlements were made pretty gen- erally in peace, and that, therefore, we are barren of any thrilling and startling incidents of border strife. One hostile demonstra- tion, however, occurred, which we propose to narrate, within the present corporate limits of the city of Wooster, with the circum- stances and details of which but very few of the surviving pioneers of Wayne county have any knowledge or recollection.
The incident itself so little resembles a fierce Indian struggle, the heroes of which sensational and resolute narrators too fre- quently seek to invest with apotheosis, that only, in its more liberal interpretation, can it be embraced in the catalogue of great border exploits. It is the only violent collision that we have to chronicle transpiring within the present limits of the county, between the Pale and the Copper Face.
A gang of Indians, intent upon a foraging expedition, started from the region of Sandusky, in an easterly direction, and in the course of their hunting and predatory peregrinations succeeded in reaching the white settlements on the banks of the Ohio and near Raccoon creek, some distance from Pittsburg, Pa. Their sole ob- ject being plunder and theft, without regard to the sacrifice of hu- man life, they crossed the river in bark canoes, and for a while mingled with the whites, in apparent friendship, who had established quite a colony there. When opportunity, " foul abettor," furnished a safe occasion for it, these remorseless devils and incarnate fiends, with their ineradicable antipathy and ancient hatred of the pale face, pounced upon them, murdering five of their number, and burning to the ground seven dwellings, together with the families they sheltered. This act of diabolism, and most malign and hellish slaughter very naturally aroused the community. Blood called for blood. The insulted silence of the air broke into echoes of re- venge. Nemesis needed no invocation.
A company of thirty men, fearless of flints and fate, was
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INDIAN HISTORY.
immediately organized for the purpose of pursuit and punishment. The command was taken by Capt. George Fulkes, the peer of Brady in courage and adroitness with the Indians. Better indeed than Brady did he know their character, for at the age of three years he had been stolen by the Indians from his father, then liv- ing upon Raccoon creek, they retaining charge of him until he was a man, when his father bought him from them, and restored him to his family. Hence the selection of Captain Fulkes to com- mand the company was a wise one, as after his release from cap- tivity he became a successful Indian fighter, and reduced the scalp- ing business to a basis whereby his trophies in this respect became painfully numerous to his foes. After crossing the river with their plunder, and apprehensive that they might be followed, they observed the crafty precaution of cutting the bottoms out of their canoes, and made great haste to retrace their steps in the direction whence they came. Could they reach Sandusky with their stolen goods they were safe enough.
Keenly alive to the necessity of immediate pursuit, and deter- mined to run down and exterminate the murderers, no time was lost in the outset. The river was dashed over. The track of the fleeing assassins was soon scented. Indications eventually pointed to the fact that they were in proximity to the fugitives, but whether the Indians knew this or not, we are not apprised. Late one evening Captain Fulkes and his men, from what is now known as Robison's Hill, a short distance south of Wooster, discovered the camp-fires of the enemy on what is now the point, or flat-iron, at the intersection of South Beaver street and Madison avenue, in the presents limits of the city of Wooster. Avoiding all rashness, and adopting the policy of caution, he concluded to make no attack that evening. So, to elude detection, they crossed over to Rice's hollow, remaining there for the night, or until the moon arose, when preparations were made for the assault. The arrange- ments completed, an advance was made, and the Indian camp sur- rounded. At a given signal they fired upon them, killing fifteen, or all of the party, with the exception of one who had gone to the
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
bottoms to look after the traps. Hearing the noise of the mus- ketry he rushed in the direction of the camp, and calling to Captain Fulkes, who understood some dialect, asked, "What's the matter?" "Come on," shouted Fulkes, "nothing's the mat- ter!" The Indian advanced towards Fulkes, but when within a few paces of him, an unruly lad in the company perforated his car- cass with a bullet.
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