USA > Ohio > History of the state of Ohio > Part 11
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The submission of these savages was so unconditional and abject as completely to tame their eloquence. Not until the 20th was an answer vouchsafed to them. They were then required within twelve days to deliver at Wautamike, (an Indian village a short distance below the mouth of White- woman or Mohican river in Coshocton county,) all their prisoners, without exception, Englishmen, Frenchmen, women and children, whether adopted or not, as well as all negroes, furnishing at the same time clothing, provisions and horses for their journey to Fort Pitt.
The Delawares, at the close of their speeches on the 17th, had delivered eighteen white prisoners, and eighty-three small sticks expressing the number of captives yet to be delivered. The Shawanese deputy, in the absence of the chiefs of his tribe, sullenly assented to the terms prescribed. Kiyashuta addressed the Indians with an exhortation to com-
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ply faithfully with their engagements, and Col. Bouquet determined to march still further into the Indian country, believing that the presence of his army was the best security for a compliance with his requisitions. He was attended by the Indian deputations-Kiyashuta, as zealous now for peace as he had been resolute in the late war, volunteering as the guide.
Three days' march, or a distance of about twenty-one miles, brought the troops within a mile of the Coshocton forks of the Muskingum, which was fixed upon instead of Wakata- make as the most central and convenient place to receive the prisoners, " for," as Hutchins continues, " the principal In- dian towns now lay around them, distant from seven to twenty miles, excepting only the lower Shawanese town situated on Scioto River, which was about eighty miles ; so that from this place the army had it in their power to awe all the ene- my's settlements and destroy their towns, if they should not punctually fulfill the engagements they had entered into. Four redoubts were built here opposite to the four angles of the camp; the ground on the front was cleared ; a storehouse for the provisions erected, and likewise a house to receive and treat of peace with the Indians, when they should return. Three houses, with separate apartments, were also raised for the reception of the captives of the respective provinces, and proper officers to take charge of them, with a matron to attend the women and children; so that, with the officers, mess- houses, ovens, &c., this camp had the appearance of a little town in which the greatest order and regularity were observed."
Nothing of interest transpired before the 9th of November, except the arrival of Peter, a Caughnawaga chief, and twenty Indians of his nation, who brought letters from Col. Brad-
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street, at Sandusky, announcing his speedy return to Niagara. At length all the prisoners were delivered, except one hun- dred in possession of the Shawanese, for whose surrender in the spring hostages were demanded and given. The number of prisoners thus surrendered was two hundred and six, of whom thirty-two males and forty-eight females and children were Virginians, and forty-nine males and sixty-seven females and children were Pennsylvanians.
On the 9th commenced the closing scenes in Indian coun- cil. The Senecas and the Wolf or Muncie tribe of Delawares were first treated with-Kiyashuta and ten warriors repre- senting the former, and Custaloga and twenty warriors the latter. Most of their prisoners were already delivered, and they now brought forward only three, " the last of your flesh and blood," said they to the Americans, " that remained among the Senecas and Custaloga's tribe of Delawares." Then followed their figurative professions of peace. "We gather together," continued Kiyashuta, " and bury with this belt all the bones of the people that have been killed during this unhappy war, which the evil spirit occasioned among us. We cover the bones that have been buried, that they may never more be remembered. We again cover their place with leaves, that it may no more be seen. As we have been long astray, and the path between you and us stopped, we extend this belt that it may be again cleared, and we may travel in peace to see our brethren, as our ancestors formerly did. While you hold it fast by one end, and we by the other, we shall always be able to discover anything that may disturb our friendship."
In reply, Colonel Bouquet took the chiefs by the hand for the first time, and informed them that while he should wage no war against them, still a formal peace would be concluded
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by Sir William Johnson, to whom they were to send deputies fully authorized to treat. For this purpose hostages would be retained, but Capt. Pipe and Capt. John, who were seized at Fort Pitt, were set at liberty, greatly to the joy of their Delaware brethren.
A similar conference was held next day, with the Turkey and Turtle tribes of Delawares, King Beaver, their chief, and thirty warriors representing the former, and Kelappana, brother to their chief, with twenty-five warriors, the latter. Displeased at the absence of Nettowhatways, the chief of the Turtle Delawares, Col. Bouquet proclaimed that he was deposed from his chiefship, whereupon the tribe submissively named and installed his successor.
The 12th of November witnessed an interview between the fierce Shawanese and the English commanders. On the part of the Indians, Keissinautchtha and Nimwha, their chiefs, with the Red Hawk, Lavissimo, Bensivasica, Ewee- cunwee, Keigleighque and forty warriors, appeared. The Caughnawaga, Seneca and Delaware chiefs, with sixty war- riors, were also present.
The Red Hawk was their speaker. "Brother," he said proudly, "when we saw you coming this road, you advanced toward us with a tomahawk in your hand; but we your younger brothers take it out of your hands and throw it up to God to dispose of as he pleases ; by which means we hope never to see it more. And now, brother, we beg leave that you who are a warrior, will take hold of this chain (giving a string) of friendship, and receive it from us, who are also warriors, and let us think no more of war, in pity to our old men, women and children-intimating that it was com- passion for them, not weakness of the nation, that closed the War."
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In reply, Colonel Bouquet severely rebuked the Shawa- nese for their omission to restore their captives at the pres- ent conference, but sternly enjoined their delivery in the spring, and their humane treatment meanwhile. The engage- ments of the Indians in both respects were fully and honora- bly redeemed.
Hutchins reserves to the close of his narrative, the delin- eation of the scenes which were witnessed on the meetings of the prisoners with their relatives who had accompanied the march of the army. We copy what has also furnished a theme for the historic pencil of West.
"Language indeed can but weakly describe the scene, one to which the poet or painter might have repaired to enrich the highest colorings of the variety of human passions ; the philosopher to find ample subject for the most serious reflection, and the man to exercise all the tender and sympa- thetic feelings of the soul. There were to be seen fathers and mothers recognizing and clasping their once lost babes, husbands hanging round the necks of their newly recovered wives, sisters and brothers unexpectedly meeting together, after a long separation, scarcely able to speak the same lan- guage, or for some time to be sure that they were the chil- dren of the same parents. In all these interviews, joy and rapture inexpressible were seen, while feelings of a very dif- ferent nature were painted in the looks of others, flying from place to place, in eager inquiries after relatives not found ; trembling to receive an answer to questions; distracted with doubts, hopes and fears on obtaining no account of those they sought for; or stiffened into living monuments of horror and woe, on learning their unhappy fate.
" The Indians too, as if wholly forgetting their usual sav- ageness, bore a capital part in heightening this most affect-
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ing scenc. They delivered up their beloved captives with the utmost reluctance-shed torrrents of tears over them- recommending them to the care and protection of the com- manding officer. Their regard to them continued all the while they remained in camp. They visited them from day to day, brought them wheat, corn, skins, horses, and other matters that were bestowed upon them while in their families, accompanied with other presents, and all the marks of the most sincere and tender affection. Nay, they did'nt stop here, but when the army marched, some of the Indians solicited and obtained permission to accompany their former captives to Fort Pitt, and employed themselves in hunting and bringing provisions for them on the way. A young Mingo carried this still further, and gave an instance of love, which would make a figure even in romance. A young woman of Virginia was among the captives, to whom he had formed so strong an attachment as to call her his wife. Against all the remonstrances of the imminent danger to which he exposed himself by approaching the frontier, he persisted in following her, at the risk of being killed by the surviving relatives of many unfortunate persons who had been captured or scalped by those of his nation.
" Among the captives, a woman was brought into camp at Muskingum, with a babe about three months old, at the breast. One of the Virginia volunteers soon knew her to be his wife. She had been taken by the Indians about six months before. He flew with her to his tent and clothed her and his child with proper apparel. But their joy, after the first transports, was soon dampened by the reflection that another dear child, about two years old, taken with the mother, had been separated from her, and was still missing, although many children had been brought in.
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" A few days afterwards, a number of other persons were brought in, among them were several children. The woman was sent for, and one supposed to be hers was produced to her. At first sight she was not certain, but viewing the child with great earnestness, she soon recollected its features, and was so overcome with joy, that forgetting her sucking child, she dropped it from her arms, and catching up the new-found child, in ecstacy pressed it to her breast, and bursting into tears, carried it off unable to speak for joy. The father, rising up with the babe she had let fall, followed her in no less transport and affection.
"But it must not be deemed that there were not some, even grown persons, who showed an unwillingness to return. The Shawnees were obliged to bind some of their prisoners and force them along to the camp, and some women that had been delivered up, afterwards found means to escape, and went back to the Indian tribes. Some who could not make their escape, clung to their savage acquaintances at parting, and continued many days in bitter lamentations, even refusing sustenance."
On the 18th of November, the army broke up its canton- ment at the Whitewoman and returned to Fort Pitt, which they reached on the 28th of the same month. This expedi tion was conducted with such skill and prudence as to avoid all disaster, except the loss of one man, who was killed and scalped by an Indian, when separated from camp. The Pennsylvania troops were under Lieut. Col. Francis and Lieut. Col. Clayton. Col. Reid was next in command to Col. Bouquet.
The provincial troops were discharged, and the regulars sent to garrison Fort Loudon, Fort Bedford and Carlisle. Col. Bouquet arrived at Philadelphia in January and re-
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ceived a complimentary address from the Legislature, and also from the House of Burgesses of Virginia. Before these resolutions reached England, the King promoted him to be a Brigadier General. He was ordered to the command of the post at Mobile, and died within three years after his return from Muskingum, of a fever contracted at Pensacola.
CHAPTER XI.
OLD MAPS AND INDIAN TRAILS.
THE value of ancient maps to the student of history is almost incalculable. They furnish, at a glance, a complete summary of contemporary history as well as of geography. A collection of the old maps, published during the colonization and subsequent settlement of North America, might almost dispense with the printed page, and would certainly constitute its best elucidation. We have described the charts of Hen- nepin and La Hontan, whose ludicrous conceptions of western geography are yet full of interest, and the map now in ques- tion, nearly a hundred years later in date, is equally remark- able for its political features. The mere geography of the continent-the courses of streams and mountains and the outlines of lake and sea coast-are delineated with consider- able correctness, but all other objects indicate an extraordinary contrast with the present situation of things. However diffi- cult the task of description, still, so far as a few general details will avail, it may be well to attempt a verbal synopsis.
MAP OF THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN 1763
This map is published with the Annual Register for 1763, immediately after the cession by France to Great Britain, and delineates the " British Dominions in North America, with the limits of the Governments annexed thereto by the late treaty of peace and settled by proclamation-October 7th, 1763-En- graved by T. Kitchin. Geog'r."
(156)
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ANCIENT MAPS.
What is now the State of Maine is put down as " York County," and included within New England. New York embraces Upper Canada, including the entire peninsula between Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, and with a fair presumption from the lines of boundary, that the colony was nominally extended across the peninsula of Michigan. This State is greatly shorn of its southern proportions, however, for the northern line of Pennsylvania is carried as far as the parallel of Buffalo, and thence eastwardly to Otsego Lake, near Cooperstown, whence it strikes south to the Delaware River. Virginia is extended west to the Mississippi as nearly as possible within the southern line of Kentucky and Virginia, and for a northern boundary, by the route of the National Road, or from Wheeling west to Quincy, Illinois. North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are also extended in strips of about the same width from the Atlantic to the Mis- sissippi. West Florida is a narrow parallelogram between the Apalachicola and Mississippi Rivers, now divided in nearly equal instalments between Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, while East Florida is about the same as laid down on modern maps, except that it is now extended two and a half degrees west of the Apalachicola on the Gulf of Mexico. All the country west of the Mississippi is Louisiana.
The region afterwards organized as the Northwest Terri- tory, except the portion lying south of the latitude of Wheel- ing and Columbus, which was included within the claim of Virginia, has no political classification, and seems to be recognized as Indian territory, subject generally to the crown of England.
The map is extremely meagre and inaccurate so far as the region which is now Ohio, is concerned. For instance, the mouth of the Great Miami River, at the North Bend of the
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Ohio, is presented to be as much west of the longitude of Fort Wayne (then Fort Miami,) as it is actually east of that locality-an error of full one degree to the westward. The English trading post, fifty miles above Dayton, which was destroyed by the French in 1752, and is known in our his- tory as Loramie station, is put down as " Pickawillany ;" it is correctly represented as on the upper waters of the Great Miami or "G. Miamee " River. The "Sciota " River is correct, with a "Delaware town" near the present county of the same name; "Elk River " is also laid down in the proper place and direction, with a village of " Muskingum," situated on the western trail from Fort Pitt; and in the vicinity of the Cuyahoga River, (of which there is no trace,) there is a town called " Gwahago," doubtless intended for Cayahaga.
On reaching the southern shore of Lake Erie, the poverty of the map becomes still more conspicuous. The only village or settlement from Detroit to Niagara is " Sandoski," which is represented to be on the same line of longitude as the mouth of Elk or Muskingum River-that is, as far east as Cleveland. It stands on a bay, but no signs of a river. No stream in Northern Ohio is indicated, except the Maumee, which is faintly traced at the right point, and on which, at a reasonable distance from the mouth, stands "Miamis " or Fort Wayne.
Only ninety years since and such was the knowledge of the country now organized as the third State of the American Union. It is recorded in a work of the highest authority. Such a circumstance almost surpasses belief. As for " San- doski," the fort was burned in May, 1763, and since it was never rebuilt, the map may refer to what had been and yet was a point of historical interest, or it might be a mode of
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designating the Indian villages which were known to adjoin the Lake Junandat or Sandusky. This, of course, must now rest altogether in conjecture.
HUTCHINS' MAP OF 1763 AND POWNALL'S MAP OF 1776.
We shall refer to these publications only so far as they deline- ate our Ohio region. Their geographical outlines are hardly as disproportionate and imperfect as those of the London map already described, and they especially include many new details of the Indian villages and the natural features of the country.
A prominent object is the " Salt Springs." They are indicated on the Mahoning River, which were doubtless within the present township of Weathersfield, near Warren, in Trumbull county ; on the Salt creek, east of the Scioto River, and within the present county of Jackson; on the Little Miami, apparently within Warren county, and on the Great Miami, near the site of Dayton. The first two locali- ties are readily identified at the present time. Coal is noted near the Tuscarawas forks of the Muskingum and about mid- way of the right bank of the Hockhocking. Opposite Wheel- ing are " Ancient . Sculptures ;" in Jefferson county, at or about Mount Pleasant, is "petroleum :" on the Mad River, near the northwest angle of Greene county, is "limestone," and on the Hocking and Ohio Rivers, above their junction respectively, is " freestone." Hutchins also mentions a " lead mine" on Walnut creek, a stream which falls into the Scioto above Circleville.
We should infer from these maps that there were five Del- aware villages within a few miles from each other on the Muskingum ; one on Wills creek, where Cambridge, in Guernsey county, stands ; one near the source of the Scioto,
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and in the present county of Delaware ; one on the Killbuck, a tributary of the Mohican or White Woman, and apparently near the present Millersburg, in Holmes county, besides the settlement at the Tuscarawas forks of the Muskingum.
Near the source of the Hockhocking, "Beaverstown" is put down by Hutchins, and in his narrative he mentions King Beaver, a chief of the Turkey tribe of Delawares, as present at the Muskingum council. Our inference was that the vil- lage on the Hockhocking, which is apparently where Lancas- ter now stands, was inhabited by Delawares, but George Sanderson, Esq., in an address delivered before the Lancas- ter Institute, in March, 1844, states that the lands watered by the sources of the Hockhocking river, and now compre- hended within the limits of Fairfield county, when first dis- covered by the early settlers at Marietta, were owned and occupied by Wyandots. He identifies the town, which in 1790, contained one hundred wigwams, and a population of 500 souls, with the present localities of Lancaster, and gives its name Tarhe, or in English, Crane-town, from the princi- pal chief of the town. Another portion of the tribe, Mr. S. says, lived at Tobytown, nine miles west of Tarhetown, (now Royalton.) He adds that in 1795, the Wyandots ceded all their land on the Hockhocking River to the United States, and the Crane chief removed to Upper Sandusky.
On Pownall's map, (published but twelve years before the Marietta emigration,) this village is noted as " Hockhocking or French Margarets," and the situation is described as south of a "Big Swamp" and " Plains of Wild Rye "-indications of the scenery which suggested to Gov. St. Clair the name of Fairfield. This favors Wyandot occupation, for that na- tion were always intimately associated with the French. There is also evidence that Franklin and Hocking counties
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ANCIENT MAPS.
were formerly occupied by Wyandots, and Fairfield is in a line drawn from the Sandusky plains through the former counties.
The Shawanese, on both maps, are clustered along the Scioto, from the mouth northward to the Pickaway plains. Their villages also extended northeastwardly through the present counties of Clark, Champaign and Logan. Five are noted by Pownall, principally on the Scioto.
The Sandusky Bay and River were the principal seats of the Wyandots, who probably crossed the Scioto and occupied the valley of the Hockhocking.
The west branch of the Muskingum, known on our maps as the Whitewoman or Mohican, was assigned to the rom- nants of the old Connecticut tribe, whose name, otherwise evanescent, has been embalmed by the genius of Cooper. As we have seen from the diary of Smith, there was a Caughnawaga village (the Mohican was the origin of this tribe, but fused with Canadians and Iroquois, and lately res- ident near Montreal) about twenty miles above the Coshocton Forks, and still further north on the lake branch of the Mohican River, was the Mohican John's Town, near the (now) village of Jeromeville, in Ashland county. Thence these " Last of the Mohicans" were accustomed to range north- ward to the lake, and castward over the comparatively vacant plains, now constituting the counties of the Western Reserve.
On the Cuyahoga River, near the falls, and adjoining the trail, which thence led to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, was a village of " Tawas," or Ottawas, the only reference to this tribe, except that on the site of Plymouth, Richland county, Hutchins notices the " ruins of a fort built by the Ottawas." There can be no doubt that they roamed the Sandusky peninsula and islands.
7*
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
On Pownall, also, at the Falls of the Cuyahoga, is a Mingo town, mentioned on Hutchins as "Cayahaga." Here was doubtless a band of Cayuga Indians-the name of the New York tribe being, as we suppose, the origin of our "Cuya- hoga " and "Geauga."
In the valley of the Mahoning, two towns are designated, which were probably colonies of the Seneca Indians. Their location seems to have been the present border of Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
Huron River is put down as "Bald Eagle Creek," and Black River, which we have supposed to be the Canesadoo- harie of Smith's diary, as " Gnahadahuyi."
Besides Fort Sandusky, and perhaps the affix of " French Margarets" to the Hockhocking town, we also find another indication of the French occupation of the Ohio, on the map of 1776. Near the Ottawa town on the Cayahaga, a French trading house is indicated. It has also been suggested (with little probability, however,) that the name of an Indian town on the Scioto near what is now Pike County-" Hurricane Tom's"-which is noted by Evans' map as early as 1755, was derived from some French trader. It was more likely the style of an Indian warrior.
The western border of the State is indefinitely assigned to the "Piques, or Tawichwis, or Mineamis, or Myamis " Indi- ans, their principal town being near the present Piqua, although a small village of this tribe was at the mouth of the Little Miami River.
The rivers generally bear their present names. To the Ohio is added "or Palawa Thepiki or Fair River." The Islands of Lake Erie are, of course, imperfectly sketched, being called " Rattlesnake Islands." It is stated that the Indians were accustomed to cross the lake from island to island in canoes.
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INDIAN TRAILS.
INDIAN TRAILS.
An interesting Appendix to Hutchins' History of Bou- quet's expedition gives five different routes from Fort Pitt through the Ohio wilderness.
THE FIRST ROUTE, which was N. N. W., after striking the Big Beaver, at a place called Kuskeeskees Town, forty- seven miles from Fort Pitt, ascended the east branch fifteen miles to Shaningo, and twelve miles to Pematuning, thence westward thirty-two miles to Mahoning on the west branch of Beaver, (probably Youngstown ;) thence ten miles up said branch (Mahoning River) to Salt Lick (near the junc- tion of Meander and Mosquito creeks in Weathersfield town- ship, Trumbull county ;) thence thirty-two miles to the Cuya- hoga River (we suppose, just south of Ravenna-the name of Portage county thus derived,) and ten miles down Cuya- hoga to Ottawatown, (Cuyahoga Falls.) The distance from Fort Pitt by the above route, was one hundred and fifty-six miles.
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