History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 12

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408

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stating that Mrs. Harriet O. Hall, daughter of Major William Oliver, one of Harrison's trusted subordinates, had deputed him to invite her father's comrades to accept her hospitality at the Oliver House, Toledo, which they did, Mrs. Hall receiving them in the hotel parlors, and invited them to a dinner prepared for them. Mr. Menifee was at Winchester's defeat on the River Raisin ; was made prisoner and as such lay in the water at night, and through a change of weather, his clothes were fastened by ice thus formed. He had been crippled ever since by a wound then received at River Raisin. Peter Navarre, of Toledo, one of Harrison's best scouts, was at the Oliver House, as was also Captain David Wilkison, who, though not a soldier or a sailor, in 1815 assisted in removing the cannon and other stores from Fort Meigs to Detroit.

June 15, 1871, 19 survivors of the River Raisin Massacre of 1812, met at Monroe, Mich., where a banquet was provided for them, at which Mayor Redfield presided, and General Custer and others made addresses. The names and ages of the Veterans present were as fol- lows: Joseph B. Nadean, 77 years; Peter Navarre, 82; Robert F. Navarre, 80; Joseph Guyer, 88; George Younglover, 77; Bronson French, 82; Francis Lazane, 82; David Van Pelt, 89; William Walters, 88; Joseph Foulke, 80; Fred. Bouroff, 100 years, 7 months ; Jean DeChovin, 77; John Clappen, 76; Charles Hixon, 76; Henry Mason, 79; Hall DeLand, 75; Thomas Whelpley, 73; Louis Jacobs, 96; John Beseau, 80. Peter and Robert F. Navarre continued to reside in this section until their deaths. Frank Bouroff, the centenarian, was born in Pennsylvania, 1770. The united ages of the group were 1,158 years, the average being nearly 90.

July 4th, 1872, was celebrated at Monroe, Mich., the chief incident of the occasion being the presence of 117 Veterans of Harrison's Army, serving at Fort Meigs and elsewhere in this seetion, during the war of 1812. A large gathering of people were present. General George Spaulding was Marshal of the day. Among the prominent officials and civilians present, were Governor Baldwin; Judges Christiancy, Campbell, Cooley, and Patchin, of Michigan ; General Leslie Combs of Ken- tucky, General G. A. Custer, and General S. L. Williams, then nearly 91 years old, himself

HISTORY OF TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY.

a Veteran. Mayor Redfield presided, and Hon. Warner Wing delivered an address. General Custer called the roll of Veterans present (each of whom answered to his name), as follows : John B. MeLean, aged 77; George Younglover, 79: Brown French, 83; Joseph Foulke, 83; John Clapper, 77 ; Charles Avon, 77; Thomas Whelp- ley, 97; Louis Jacobs, 96; Henry Gaither, 82; Alvah Curtis, 76; John Mulholland, 75 ; Francis Santour, 76; Simon Van Aiken, 82; James Vanderwalker, 82; William Hamilton, 80; Edward Warring, 79; Peter Bants, 81; Alex. Crawford, 81; James Penwiek, 78; Joseph (. Barrett, 78; Aaron Eddelman, 81; Roger Quinsberry, 79; Michael Goodright, 78; Thos. Bolivar, 76 ; J. W. Kolfuss, 77; James Y. Love, 74; Robert S. Goatney, 72; J. C. Reid, 75; John Jameson, 79; James Carrey, 75; Robert Carrick, 77; Thomas Lindsley, 83; James Clusin, 85; Edward Pendleton, 84; James R. Armstrong, 85; Solomon McVay, 76; J. C. Parker. 77; A. B. Crawford, 82; Leonard Beall, 75; J. K. Goodwin, 80; Joseph Vance, 84; Isaac C. Rossenet, 79 ; James Kirke, 84; Oliver Talbot, 79; Moore Johnson, 77; William Shaf- fer, 89; Thomas Mount, 68; Larken Webster, 80; Jolin Gebhart, 78; Jesse Holly, 82; V. B. Davis, 80; E. B. Hudnut, 78; Lewis Ball, 70; Elisha Williams, 86; W. R. Locke, 79; B. J. Puller, 81; J. R. Rogers, 80 ; J. C. Craddock, 84; Samuel L. Williams, 91; Judge S. Blan- chard, 77 ; E. W. Benson, 75; Daniel Helwig, 82 ; S. J. Armstrong, 84; Thomas B. Davis, 83; W. D. Hixson, 91; W. Dayor, 82; Andrew Burns, 72; Francis MeLock, 78; John Martin, 763; John B. Lafrige, 77; Joseph Gunn, 85; Frederick Bouroff, 1013; Samuel Dowese, 80; Lonis Souans, 88; Nap. Navarre, 81; Peter Navarre, 86; Alex. Navarre, 82; Daniel Van Pelt, 91; Joseph Besnett, 79; John Clappen, 76; Henry Mason, 80; James Harvey, 80; John Raot, 78; A. C. Couseign, 82; Joseph Verkies, 82; L. Y. Grant, 77; A. A. Pasko, 78; Joseph Ewalt, 87; John B. Ressan, 81; N. Moyer, 77; W. Walters, 78; Shubal Lewis, 70; Hall DeLand, 76; Robert McNeill, 77; Lewis Beach, 79; Benon L. Bortine, 79; C. H. Mc- Nain, 84; Joseph Hall, 85; Isaac G. Futzna, 74; Mathew Gibson, 83; Lewis Jacobs, 97; John Root, 78; W. Waters, 79; Dr. Curtis, 78; Henry Davis, 82; C. Hall, 71; Simeon Gan- arke, 82; Jona Sheam, 76; Charles MeNain, 85; Andrew Burns, 78; Perry Nedmore, 82;

George Shapine, 84; H. M. Davis, 79; W. B. Davis, 81. The oldest in the list was Frederick Boroff, whose age was 101 years and six months, having been born six years before the declara- tion of independence, 1776. Edward Willets read the declaration of independence. Judge H. V. Campbell delivered an oration ; a dinner was served to the Veterans and pioneers pres- ent; following which came toasts and responses. Complete amnesty was then informally de- clared for all " Toledo Rebels of 1835 against the sovereignty of the Territory of Michigan." Several eitizens of Toledo were present.

As successors in possession of the soil, it is desirable that the white race bave a correct understanding of the nature and true character of the Red Man whom they have dispossessed. The prevailing sentiment now is that of depre- ciation and contempt for those who not many years ago held this entire region in undisputed control and use. Wherever the facts of the case are known, however, this estimate of the aborigines does not prevail. The main ground for it, is found in the greatly changed habits and character of these people, which followed and are attributable to their association with the Whites. It is the testimony of nearly all intelligent persons familiar with their condi- tion on the advent of the obtruding race, that they bore very little of the spirit and traits which followed such advent. It is a most sug- gestive fact in this connection, that among the first steps taken in their work by the Moravian Missionaries at Gnadenhutten, Shoenbrun and Salem, in Eastern Ohio, was to petition the Territorial Legislature to prohibit the intro- duction of intoxicating liquors among the peo- ple whom they had come to civilize and chris- tianize. For a time, this plan was successful ; but as the Whites increased in numbers, and the Indians in resources, the law became inop- erative, and the result, as in all other cases of nnrestrained traffic of that sort, was intemper- ance, idleness and debauchery ; the outcome- directly traceable to that one canse-being the loss of influence by the Missionaries over the natives and the abandonment of the settlements and of efforts for their improvement. The work of demoralization thus begun by the heart- less cupidity of the alleged " superior race," continued, with increasing results, as long as Indians were permitted to remain on the soil

INDIAN CHARACTER, AND INDIAN WRONGS.

of their fathers. When the degraded remnants of a truly "noble race"-the handiwork of professed Christian civilization-finally left the scenes of their ancestors, the contrast of their condition with that of their fathers on the advent of the Whites, could hardly have been more marked. Nothing could be more unjust, than to judge of the Indians, as a race, by the degraded samples produced by contact with Europeans. Much better might the latter, as a class, be judged by the specimons seen hover- ing about and produced by the dens of pollu- tion and crime which infest most of the larger Cities of the United States. These wretched creatures, like the debanched Red Men, are the work of alcoholie ruin, but with the greater crime of better knowledge of the practice which degraded them. Those only who knew the Indians in their " best estate"-untaught and unpolished, as they were-and who also knew the sad remnants of the race, in the state to which association with the Whites had brought them, can appreciate the contrast of the two conditions. It is the testimony of all having knowledge in the case, that the Indians at first met the Whites as friends, and continued to treat them as such until encroachments and the evident design of hostility aroused their suspicion and resentment, which feeling, as to those in the Northwest, was materially pro- moted by British traders and the policy of British authorities .*

In his " Notes on the Northwestern Terri- tory," published in 1847, Judge Jacob Burnet, one of the most prominent and intelligent of the early settlers of this region, who was active and influential in its affairs for many years, having been a leading member of the Terri- torial Legislature and subsequently a Senator

*On this point Monett's History of the Mississippi Valley has the following: "At length it was per- ceived that these continued aggressions were prompted and instigated by British traders and agents at Detroit and on the Maumee. The fur trade in the Northwestern Territory was almost wholly controlled by British traders, who were interested in checking the advance of American population across the Ohio, which would sound the knell of approaching dissolu- tion of their monopoly. A state of active hostilities renewed by the savages might yet defer for many years the advance of the white settlements north of the Ohio, and thus prolong the monopoly of the free trade. Such were the views and conclusions of the British traders and agents at Detroit and other points south of Lake Erie."

in Congress-makes the following reference to the Indians of the Maumee Valley : " In jour- neying more recently through the State, the writer has occasionally passed over the ground on which, many years before, he had seen In- dian Towns filled with that devoted race, con- tented and happy ; but he could not perceive the slightest trace of those Villages, or of the people who bad occupied them. All settle- ments through which he passed on the Manmee and the Auglaize, from Fort Wayne to Defi- ance, and from thence to the foot of the Rapids, had been broken up and deserted. The battle- ground of General Wayne, which he had often seen in the rude state in which it was when the action of 1794 was fought, was so ebanged in its appearance, that he could not recognize it, and not an indication remained of the populous Indian Villages he had formerly seen, extend- ing many miles on either side of the River. Flourishing Towns and fields, cultivated by white men, covered the ground, which 30 years before, was the property and the home of the natives of the forest. The contrast was strik- ing, and excited a train of unpleasant recol- lections. It was a natural inquiry: ' Where are the multitudes of red people, who were formerly seen here, amusing themselves at the Rapids, taking the swift muskelunge with their bows and arrows?' They were then inde- pendent and undisturbed owners of the country which had descended to them through a long line of beroic ancestors, and which they ex- pected their children would continue to possess when they should be gone. * * * * *

The final catastrophe of that noble race, was witnessed by the people of Cincinnati a few years since, when the remnant of the Wyan- dots-the last of the braves of the Ohio tribes-'reliquias Danaum atque immitis Ach- illei'-arrived at the landing, and ascended the steamships that were to convey them from the places of their nativity into hopeless ban- ishment. To the eye of the humane observer, they seemed to linger, and to turn to the North, as if to bid a last farewell to the tombs in which they had deposited the remains of their de- ceased children, and in which the bones of their fathers had been accumulating and mouldering for untold ages."

Two chief subterfuges are employed to justify the gross abuse to which that unfortunate race is subjected, (1) that they are by nature the

HISTORY OF TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY.

enemy of civilization ; and (2) that they are incapable of such degree of improvement, in morals or habits, as would warrant effort to that end. Both these assumptions are disproved by well established facts, which show that both races are susceptible to the same influences for good or for evil, and that under like con- ditions, each may be made better or made worse. This is shown in the fact, that in every known case in which Whites have been taken in childhood and subjected to the care and habits of the Indians, they have in after lite manifested all the peculiarities of the native Indian ; while Indian children, separated from their own race and trained among civilized people, have shown the moral sense, taste, and habits of their captors. It is safe to say, that the American Indians, when first brought in contact with the Whites, were more hopeful subjects for civilization and Christianity, than were the natives of Britain, when efforts for their improvement were first put forth by Saxon invaders. The truth is, that they have never been treated as if designed for anything better than plunder and extermination. It is a fact, most potent here, that throughout the years in which the Government made no claim either of ownership or occupancy of the soil in this region, there was little trouble with them -no Indian wars, whose bloody record mainly now give character to that race-but all was friendly and peaceful. It was only as, step by step, the advance of White aggression excited suspicion and aroused resistance, that enmity toward the aggressor was manifested. No peo- ple capable of substantial improvement or fitted for usefulness, would have done less for beating back their avowed enemy, than did they. Not to have resisted such aggression, would have shown them without the manhood essential to the respeet of the world. As already remarked, it is only those who have seen that race, both in their original state and after years of contact with the Whites, who can intelligently judge them. In the " Conspiracy of Pontiac," Park- man most justly says of the treatment to which the Indians were subjected by traders, whom he characterizes as "ruffians of the coarsest stamp": " They cheated, plundered, and eursed the Indians and outraged their families, offer- ing, when compared with the French, who were under better regulation, a most unfavorable example of their nation." The chief agency

employed in giving effect to such brutal policy, consisted of intoxicating liquors, often in their worse possible forms. The Indians of the Manmee Valley and Michigan were subjected to greater wrong in this respect, in consequence of the bitter competition for their trade exist- ing for many years between the French and British traders, each class receiving from its home Government whatever support prom- ised to aid in their shameless struggle for In- dian traffic. The inevitable result was the rapid and extreme demoralization of a once comparatively moral people. Some idea of the extent of this degradation, may be had from the statement of a white man, adopted into an In- dian tribe when young. Of a particular de- bauch, he said : " A trader came to the Town with French brandy. We purchased a keg of it and held a council about who was to get drunk and who was to keep sober. I was in- vited to get drunk, but I refused the proposal. Then they told me I must be one of those who were to take care of the drunken people. I did not like this, but of the two evils I chose that which I thought was the least, and fell in with those who were to conceal the arms and keep every dangerous weapon we could out of their way ; and endeavor, if possible, to keep the drinking club from killing each other, which was a very hard task. Several times we hazarded our own lives, and got ourselves hurt, in preventing them from slaying cach other."

This state of things would continue as long as the Indians had a merchantable skin to traf- fic for liquor, when it stopped, and the de- graded Sons of the Forest, for very lack of means for further debauch, were compelled slowly and wretchedly to recover from the sad condition to which merciless traders had brought them. For such treatment of an un- happy race, there was no relief. Enactment of laws and promulgation of orders, however restrictive in terms, were ineffective with the remorseless and lawless trader, whose crimes were generally committed beyond the reach of executive power, even when, in exceptional cases, there was a will to employ such power in defense of the plundered and debauched In- dians. It is entirely safe to say, that no Na- tion in history-considering all the conditions of the ease-has a record of more inexcusable wrong toward defenseless subjects of its power,

INDIAN CHARACTER AND INDIAN WRONGS.

than have those who have for 260 years per- mitted the rapacity of their own people to pur- sue, with every form of demoralization and wrong, the defenseless Indians of the Western Hemisphere. This is strong language, but it is believed to be just. It would be a privilege, could it be truthfully said that such long-con- tinned and inexcusable wrong is a thing of the past only. While in a great degree modified in extent, it continues to blemish the otherwise fair fame of the American people.

The Black Hawk War (between the United States and the Sac and Fox Indians of Rock River), was largely due to the sale of whiskey by licensed traders to those Indians, in viola- tion of law. Black Hawk, with other Chiefs, remonstrated against such traffic with their tribes, and appealed to the Government to en- force its prohibition. This they did, because of the debasing effects of that traffic upon the morals of those people, and the danger of pro- vocation of aggression upon the Whites by the Indians while in a state of intoxication. A memorial directed to Governor Reynolds, in 1831, by the white settlers on Rock River, upon which paper, that officer declared the State of Illinois to be hostilely invaded by the Sac and Fox Indians, and ordered out the Militia to re- pel them, was based largely on the fact that the Indians had destroyed a barrel of whiskey which the owner was retailing to them in de- fiance of the laws of Congress. Such disregard of regulations intended to protect the morals of the Indians and preserve peace, was habitu- ally winked at by the authorities, and thus was influential in provoking war .* In a letter of date of July 25th, 1832, addressed to Gen- eral Joseph M. Steel, Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien, Henry R. Schoolcraft protested against the practice of traders licensed by General Steel, who sold liquors to the Indians in viola- tion of law. Mr. Schoolcraft said: "I am fully persuaded that ardent spirits are not nec- essary to the successful prosecution of trade ; that they are deeply pernicious to the Indians; and that both their use and abuse is derogatory to the character of a wise and sober Govern- ment. Their exclusion, in every shape and every quantity, is an object of primary impor- tance." An agent of a Temperance Society, in a journal of a tour to the Upper Mississippi,

about 1847, pictured the sad results of the liquor traffie among the Winnebago Indians, neigli- bors of the Sacs and Foxes. Twenty years previous to such visit, at which time the settle- ment by the Whites had begun, those Indians raised more of corn, beans and other vegetables than were required for their consumption. In 1847, they had become wholly dependent on the Whites for even the scanty subsistence by which they were dragging out the remnant of a miserable existence. "And what was the cause of so great a change in a few years in the habits and circumstances of a whole people ? The answer is plain to every one at all ac- qnainted with Indian history. It is the avarice and perfidy of the Whites; and Whiskey, WHISKEY has been the all-potent agent by which it has been effected. By selling and giving them whiskey till they become drunk, they were soon filched of the little annuities received from the Government, and then, for the rest of the year, treated like so many dogs." *

A writer, familiar with the subject, says : " Humanity shudders at the recital of the ne- farious acts practiced by white traders upon the Indians. Yet, not half of them are known or dreamed of by the American people. Some- times the traders were found taking, by force, from an Indian, the produce of a year's bunt, without making any return, sometimes pilfer- ing a portion while buying the remainder; and still oftener wresting from the poor wretches, while in a state of intoxication, a valuable property for an inadequate remuneration." The ease is given, in which an Indian woman, in the course of a single day, sold 120 Beaver skins, with a large quanty of Buffalo robes, &c., for rum. " Of a large load of peltries-the produce of so many days of toil, so many long and difficult journeys-one blanket and three kegs of rum only remained, beside the poor and almost worn-out clothes on their bodies." Rev. Timothy Flint, in his " Indian Wars of the West," says: "We affirm an undoubting belief, from no unfrequent nor inconsiderable means of observation, that aggression has commenced in the account current of mutual crime, as a hundred to one on the part of the Indians."

At the head of Second street, Defiance, and

*" The Black Hawk War," by Benjamin Drake, 1848.

*St. Louis_ Bulletin, 1847.

HISTORY OF TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY.

on the bank of the Auglaize River, lie buried the remains of many soldiers of the American Army of 1812-15. Among these are those of the Indian Chief, Logan .* He was not the Mingo Chief, celebrated in earlier history and made memorable by Jefferson, but a namesake of Benjamin Logan, from whom Logan County derived its name. In the An- tumn of 1786, General Clarke raised a force that captured Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, and Vincennes, on the Wabash. General Lo- gan was then detached from General Clarke's force on the Falls of the Ohio, to march against the Indian towns at the head of the Mad River and the Great Miami. The first en- counter he had with the Indians, was in Clarke County, on the Mad River. General Lytle, then a boy of 16, was one of the party in the contest that captured Moluntha, the great Chief of the Shawanese, and Spemica Laub, the subject of this notice. The latter was of the age of Lytle. General Logan took the Indian boy to Kentucky and adopted him in his family and kept him for several years, when he returned to his tribe. Then he be- came known by the name of Logan, and rose to the rank of Civil Chief, on account of his intellectual and moral qualities. His personal appearance was commanding, he being six feet high and weighing 200 pounds. He con- tinued the unwavering friend of the Whites. In the War of 1812 he was with General Har- rison, who directed Logan with a small party to reconnoiter in the direction of the head of the Rapids of the Maumee. The party con- sisted of Logan, Bright-Horn and Captain Johnny. When near this point, they were met by a superior force of the enemy, and compelled to retreat. They made their escape to the left wing of the Army under General Winchester, then in a picket fort on the bank of the Auglaize, near the east end of First street, Defiance, to whom they related their adventure. Logan's party, while here, was accused of infidelity to our cause by an officer of the Kentucky troops. Indignant at such charge, Logan called on Major Oliver, saying he would leave the Fort in the morning, and either leave his body bleaching in the woods, or return with such trophies from the enemy as would relieve his character from the sus-

picion that had been cast upon it. On the 22d of November, 1812, in company with Bright- Horn and Captain Johnny, he set out on his perilous adventure. At noon, having stopped to rest, they were surprised by the approach of seven of the enemy, among whom was young Elliott, a half-breed, and the celebrated Pottawatomie Chief, Winnemac. Resistance against such odds was useless, and they re- sorted to strategy. Logan extended his band to Winnemac, with whom he was acquainted, and told him that he and his two companions were tired of American service, and were leav- ing Winchester's Army to join the British. This did not satisfy Winnemac. who was well versed in Indian strategy. Logan and his party were disarmed and marched down the river under guard. The British troops at this time were at the head of the Rapids, which was to be their destination. Logan and party were so much at ease in their new position, that Winnemac became so satisfied that his story was true, that their arms were restored before evening. Logan then resolved to at. tack the enemy on the first favorable opportu- nity, and so informed Bright-Horn and Captain Johnny. Their guns were loaded, and they put some bullets in their mouths to facilitate re-loading. Logan, fearing detection while doing this, remarked to an Indian by his side : " Me chaw heap tobacco." In the evening they arrived at the mouth of Turkeyfoot Creek (now in Henry County), with the in- tention of camping for the night. Winnemac's party strolled off to gather black haws, a wild berry. Logan now gave the signal for attack, when the three fired, killing two and wounding one, who required a second shot, leaving the parties four to three. They treed, and for a while Logan's party were safe. One of the enemy reached a position that uncovered Logan, when he was shot through the body. Meanwhile, two more of the enemy were mortally wounded, when the remaining two of Winnemac's party fell back. Taking ad- vantage of this state of things, Captain Johnny mounted Logan, now suffering from a mortal wound, and Bright-Horn, also wounded, on the enemy's horses, and started them for De- fiance. Captain Johnny, having scalped Win- nemae, followed on foot. The wounded men arrived at Defiance about midnight, and Cap- tain Johnny the next morning. This desperate

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History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 12

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1408

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408