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Before many days were over, his canoe was lost by the carelessness or dishonesty of the Indian boys, who often borrowed it to spear fish, or to pursue the deer on the river by torchlight. The young hermit's distress for food returned ; he was often entirely destitute ; the nettles had become too large and hard to use; the vegetables in his garden were stolen, and in consequence of exposure in wading through the Muskingum to visit Calhoon, the trader, he was attacked by aguc and fever.
A short time before, the wife of the chief Shingask, (Bog meadow) had died of a fever, or, as the Indians sup- posed, by the enchantment of a malicious sorcerer. As soon as she had breathed her last, her death was announced by the shrieks and howlings of women appointed for the pur- pose, and the funeral ceremony is thus described by Hecke- welder. "Mr. Calhoon and myself, two Indian men and two Indian women, carried her to the grave. The body was dressed in the most superb Indian style; and being covered with ornaments and painted with vermillion, was placed in the coffin ; at the upper end of which an opening had been made, that the soul might go in and out, until it had found a new home. A number of female mourners formed part of the funeral procession; which was conducted amid a dead silence. On arriving at the grave, the deceased was passionately entreated to stay with the living; after which the coffin was lowered, the grave filled up, and a red pole driven in at its head. So far the whole was sufficiently solemn; but what followed, showed that the living were
9
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
more thought of than the dead. A great feast was made, and presents to the value of two hundred dollars were dis- tributed amongst the attendants: Mr. Calhoon and myself received each of us, a black silk handkerchief and a pair of leggins ; but none were better rewarded than the women who had acted as chief mourners. For three weeks after the funeral, a kettle with provisions was carried out every evening and placed upon the grave in order to refresh the departed spirit on its way to the new country. During that time the lamentations of the women-mourners were heard every evening, though not so loud or so violent as before."
At length, his paroxysms of fever growing more violent, and his weakness rendering him unable to ford the river, Heckewelder remained in the cabin-destitute and disconso- late. He declined an invitation to remove to Mr. Calhoon's house, although, as he says, he would gladly have accepted the kind offer, but he "had promised Post to remain at the cabin, as otherwise the Indians would have stolen every thing." His journal continues: "Whilst I was in this mis- erable condition, I was once visited by an Indian of my acquaintance; and I begged him to make me a little bark canoe ; in return for which I promised to give him a knife. He did so, and I soon made my first trial with it, passing down the river to visit Mr. Calhoon. He hardly recognized . me, so much had hunger and fatigue changed my appear- ance. I was received in the most friendly manner, and food was immediately set before me. I told him of my new acquisition, and that I intended to use my canoe to visit him and the Indians in the village, in order to procure some food, until I should be sufficiently recovered to hunt. 'Very well,' said he, 'never pass me by in your expeditions. I shall cheerfully share with you.' I then preferred my first
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TUSCARORA MISSION RELINQUISHED.
request for a knife to give the Indian as I had promised. The good-natured trader immediately told me to send the man to his store, so that he might have his choice, as he was the best Indian that he had ever known; and that I need not pay him any thing for it. I had in fact not one cent in my possession, but had permission from Post, in case of necessity, to draw upon the trader for what was abso- lutely necessary. At this time I was frequently reduced to such distress, that the least morsel of food, if offered, would have been acceptable. But although I could make out to live, I was unable to do any thing, towards effecting the object for which I had come. Indeed it soon became evi- dent that our enterprise was to be a complete failure.
"Post had hardly been gone three weeks, when the rumor was spread, that he never intended to return; nay, more, that even were he to attempt it, he would not be allowed by the tribe to do so: that his sole purpose was to deliver the Indian country into the hands of the white people, and that this was the secret of his pretended missionary efforts. It was also reported that a war would soon break out between the English and Indians, in which the latter would be assisted by their old allies, the French. All this I had written to Post ; having found means to send him the information by a Mr. Denison from Detroit, who was traveling to Philadel- phia. He returned answer, that he had already heard the unwelcome news, and that, in the pass things had come to, I could do no better than to return as speedily as possible. Gladly would I have followed his advice, but my horse was lost, or had been stolen, for upwards of three months. I was too weak to travel on foot; and Mr. Calhoon's pack- horse drivers, who had intended to set out for Pittsburgh with furs, were all laid up with the fever. I was therefore
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under the necessity of waiting for their recovery; and in the meantime I put my trust in the Lord.
"Meanwhile I was twice warned by friendly Indians to leave their country ; and every time I visited Tuscarora, I saw strangers among the real inhabitants, and perceived that I was the object of their scrutiny. But I remained in happy ignorance of my dangerous situation, until, one after- noon, one of Mr. Calhoon's men called from the opposite bank of the Muskingum, requesting me to lock my door and cross the river immediately, as Mr. Calhoon wished to speak with me on business of great importance. Having wrapped up a few articles of dress in my blanket, I paddled across. As soon as I arrived at Mr. C.'s, he told me privately that an Indian woman, who frequently came to his store, and who made shirts which he kept for sale, had asked him that day whether the white man, who lived above on the other side of the river, were his friend ; and that on his answering in the affirmative, she had said : 'Take him away ; don't let him remain one night longer in his cabin ; he is in danger there.'
" The next morning I wished to return, to see whether any thing had taken place at the cabin, and, if possible, to fetch a few necessary articles which had been left behind in the hurry of my departure. Mr. Calhoon, however, would not let me go, but sent two of his strongest men to see how things stood. One of them, James Smith, was a man of such uncommon strength, that the Indians considered him a Man- itto, and would hardly be anxious to engage him personally. They reported that the house had been broken open during the night, and that, judging from appearances there, two persons had been in. There were signs of a late fire on the hearth, and they had evidently been waiting for me. Of course my return was out of the question ; the attempt would
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ESCAPE OF HECKEWELDER.
have been actual foolhardiness. I never saw my lonely cabin again, remaining under the hospitable roof of the trader. Meanwhile, as I afterwards heard, emissaries of the Senecas and Northern Indians, were busily engaged in exciting the Delawares to take up the hatchet against the English ; and soon after my departure, war broke out, and more than thirty white people of my acquaintance lost their lives.
" About this time, the Indian chiefs, whom Post had accompanied to Lancaster, returned home ; and we soon per- ceived that, from some cause or other, their friendship had considerably cooled. One of them, however, King Beaver, remained favorably disposed; but all he could do was to give me several friendly hints to hasten my departure. Fortu- nately, Mr. Calhoon's men were now restored to health, and determined to set out on their journey to Pittsburgh. My kind host lent me a young horse to ride on ; and in return I offered what assistance I could give his men in loading and unloading at the encampments.
" We now took an affectionate leave of each other. His conduct had been that of a Christian indeed ; and his kind- ness will be remembered by me as long as I live. He would have left the country with me ; but property of great amount had been entrusted to him, and this he considered him- self bound to guard as long as possible. After my return to Bethlehem, I learned through the public papers that he and ' his brother, together with their servants, had been ordered by the Delaware chiefs to leave their country ; as they were una- ble any longer to protect them. They set out for Pittsburgh, but were attacked on the road, at the Beaver River, by a party of warriors, and only two saved their lives, Mr. C. himself, who outstripped his pursuers in the race, and James Smith, who had strangled his antagonist.
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
" On the third day after our departure from Muskingum, we met Post and the Indian agent, Captain McKee ; who were returning to the Indian country, totally ignorant of the real state of affairs. In spite of our earnest remonstrances, they insisted on proceeding, not considering the danger so imminent. They were soon undeceived on their arrival ; and their lives were in danger. The agent was protected by the friendship of the chiefs ; but Post, whom the Indians sus- pected of secret designs against them, as they were at a loss to explain his missionary movements, had to fly for his life, and was conducted to a place of safety, through a secret forest-path, by one of his former fellow-travelers, to Lancaster.
"Having taken leave of Post, I hastened after my com- panions, who had proceeded in the meantime. At a distance of five miles I expected to find their tents ; and seeing the smoke of an encampment curling above the trees, I rode on, but was much surprised to find myself suddenly in the midst of a war-party. The sight of the Indian captives and of the scalping pole, with its savage decorations, was not calculated to encourage me. I was, however, suffered to pass on ; and on riding five miles further, I found my company, by whom I was informed that I had fallen in with a party of Senecas, who had just returned from an expedition against the Chero- kees."
In the third week of October, Mr. Heckewelder arrived at Pittsburgh, and when he finally reached Bethlehem, fatigue and disease had so altered his appearance that he was not at first recognized by his brethren.2
Years afterwards, the young enthusiast, who accompanied Post to the solitary cabin on the banks of the Muskingum, and returned to his brethren at such imminent hazard of his
2) Life of Heckewelder, by Rev. Edward Roundthaler, 45-58.
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THE MUSKINGUM MISSION.
life, was instrumental in establishing a mission in Ohio, and in later years became widely known as a useful envoy of the United States to the Indian tribes, and as the author of sev- eral works of much historical value.
No less prominent in the history of the Moravian mission in Ohio-indeed, its effectual founder-was the Rev. David Zeisberger. This devoted missionary, encountering many discouragements at the missionary stations founded on the Alleghany, or Upper Ohio, in 1768, and on the Beaver in 1770, was agreeably surprised, in the spring of 1771, to receive an invitation from a council of Delaware Indians on the Muskingum, to remove a colony of missionaries and Christian Indians to that river. Next year, the invitation was with much carnestness renewed, the Wyandots joining in it. Zeisberger was encouraged to make a journey of explo- ration, accompanied by a few Indian brethren, and on the 16th of March, 1772, (according to Loskiel,) discovered a large tract of land, situated not far from the banks of the ยท Muskingum, with a good spring, a small lake, good planting grounds, much game, and every other convenience for the support of an Indian colony. This place was about seventy miles from Lake Erie, and thirty miles from Gekelemukpec- hink, where resided the Delaware chiefs, upon whose invita- tion the Moravians had come. Thither Zeisberger repaired, and informed the council that the converted Indians had thankfully accepted of their invitation, desiring that the tract of land he had just now discovered might be given to them. In answer to this request, he heard with great pleasure that this was the very spot of ground destined by the chiefs in council for them. They also determined, in a solemn manner, that all the lands from the entrance of the Gekelemukpechink creek into the river Muskingum to Tuscarora, should belong to the converted
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
Indians, and that no other Indians should be permitted to settle upon them : further that all Indians dwelling on the borders of this country, should be directed to behave peaceably towards them and their teachers, and neither disturb their worship, nor prevent people from going to them to hear the word of God.
" Zeisberger," adds Loskiel, "praised the Lord for his gracious help in the execution of this important commission, and having again visited the above mentioned country, took possession of it in the name of the Christian Indians, who were uncommonly rejoiced by the account of his success given on his return to Friedenstadt.
" Five families, consisting in all of twenty-eight persons, were now appointed to begin the new settlement, and were willing to undertake it. Brother Zeisberger set out with them on the 14th of April, and after a safe but tedious journey, arrived May 3d at the new land on the Muskingum. The day following they marked out their plantations, erected field huts, and were all diligently employed in clearing land and planting.
" Brother Zeisberger began immediately to preach the Gospel in this new settlement, to which he gave the name of Schoen-brunn, (the Beautiful Spring.)"3
Our present purpose simply is to record the general fact of the settlement on the Muskingum in 1772-3, by the Moravians and their Indian disciples-hoping, however, that the brief narrative has already enlisted the sympathy of the reader with these unselfish colonists. Having thus introduced them, we propose to enlarge upon the previous history of this remarkable sect, whose labors of love have been attested in the darkest recesses of the pagan world. The Moravian
3) Loskiel's History of the Moravian Missions in North America ; Lon- don translation, 1794; part iii., p. 74.
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MORAVIAN MISSIONS IN OHIO.
missionaries were more successful than any other class in subduing the intractable soul of the American savage to the Gospel. Indeed, their aptitude for these beneficent toils has been illustrated with equal distinctness wherever their mis- sions have extended.
Our notice of their movements in Ohio would perhaps be more cursory, if they had been confined to the southeastern section of the State, but as, ten years afterwards, the Cuya- hoga and Huron Rivers were the scene of temporary settle- ments, it seems to be requisite that the character of this extraordinary brotherhood, and their exertions among the North American Indians should constitute the theme of another chapter.
CHAPTER XV.
THE SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
THE Christian society, generally called Moravians, which has since extended its branches to so many nations and sup- plied at once the most industrious citizens to civilized commu- nities, and the most diligent and successful missionaries to heathen and savage hordes, has been described by different writers under the various denominations of Moravians, from the district of Moravia,1 in Germany, which they once inhab- ited ; of Herrnhutters, from Herrnhutt, in Saxony, where in 1722, they found a refuge from persecution within the do- mains of the celebrated Court Zinzendorf, who became their bishop ; and of The United Brethren of the Protestant Epis- copal Church, which is the title recognized by themselves.
According to the society's own account, however, they de- rive their origin from the Greek Church, in the ninth century, when by the instrumentality of Methodius and Cyrillus, two Greek monks, the kings of Bulgaria and Moravia, being con- verted to the faith, were, together with their subjects, united in communion with the Greek Church.2 Methodius was their
1) The ancient province of Moravia adjoined Hungary on the northwest, and was surrounded by that country, Bohemia and Austria. It lies north- west from Vienna; and Olmutz, the prison of Lafayette, is its principal town.
2) Another version is, that in the ninth century a sister of the King of Bulgaria being carried a prisoner to Constantinople, became a Christian ; and through her means, on her return to her native land, a Christian church was established in her country, of which the King of Moravia and the Duke of Bohemia became members.
(202)
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SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
first bishop, and for their use Cyrillus translated the Scrip- tures into the Sclavonian language.
The antipathy of the Greek and Roman Churches is well known, and by much the greater part of the brethren were in process of time compelled, after many struggles, to submit to the see of Rome. A few, however, adhering to the rites of their mother Church, united themselves, in 1470, to the Waldenses and sent missionaries into many countries. In 1547 they were called Fratres Legis Christi, or Brethren of the Law of Christ : because, about that period, they had thrown off all reverence for human compilations of the faith, professing simply to follow the doctrines and precepts con- tained in the Word of God.
There being at this time no bishops in the Bohemian Church, who had not conformed to the Church of Rome, three preachers of the United Brethren were, about the year 1467, ordained by Stephen, a bishop of the Waldenses in Austria; and these, on their return to their own country, ordained ten bishops or seniors, from among the rest. In 1523, the United Brethren commenced a friendly correspondence, first with Luther, and afterwards with Calvin, and other leaders among the reform- ers. A persecution which was brought upon them on this account, and some religious disputes which took place among themselves, threatened for awhile the society with ruin; but the disputes were, 1570, put an end to, by a synod, which decreed that differences about non-essentials should not de- stroy their union ; and the persecution ceased in 1557, when the United Brethren obtained an edict for the public exercise of their religion. This toleration was renewed in 1609, and liberty granted them to erect new churches. But a civil war, which, in 1612, broke out in Bohemia, and a violent persecution which followed it in 1621, occasioned the disper-
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
sion of their ministers, and brought great distress upon the brethren in general. Some of them fled to England, others to Saxony and Brandenburg; whilst many, overcome by the severity of the persecutions, conformed to the Church of Rome. One colony of these, who retained their original principles and practice, was, in 1722, conducted by a brother named Christian David, from Fulneck, in Moravia, to Upper Lasatia, where they put themselves under the protection of Nicholas Lewis, Count of Zinzendorf, and built a village on his estate, at the foot of a hill, called Hutberg, or Watch Hill. They called their settlement Herrnhut, "the watch of the Lord." The Count, who soon after their arrival, re- moved from Dresden to his estate in the country, showed every mark of kindness to the poor emigrants ; but being a zealous member of the church established by law, he endeav- ored for some time to prevail upon them to unite themselves with it by adopting the Lutheran faith and discipline. This they declined; and the Count, on a more minute inquiry into their ancient history and distinguishing tenets, not only de- sisted from his first purpose, but became himself a convert to the faith and discipline of the United Brethren.
The Synod, which, in 1570, put an end to the disputes which then tore the church of the Brethren into factions, had considered as non-essentials the distinguishing tenets of their own society, of the Lutherans and of the Calvinists. In consequence of this, many of the reformers of both these sects had followed the Brethren to Herrnhut, and been re- ceived by them into communion; but not being endued with the peaceable spirit of the church which they had joined, they started disputes among themselves, which threatened the destruction of the whole establishment. By the indefat- igable exertions of Count Zinzendorf, these disputes were
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SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
allayed ; and statutes being, in 1727, drawn up and agreed to for the regulation both of the internal and of the external concerns of the congregation, brotherly love and union were again established ; and no schism whatever, in point of doc- trine, has since that period disturbed the church of the Uni- ted Brethren.
In 1735, their eminent benefactor, Zinzendorf, was ordained a Bishop, and congratulated on the event by Dr. Potter, then Archbishop of Canterbury in England, and continued to dis- charge the duties of that station until his death in 1760.
The United Brethren allow to their Bishops no eminence of rank or authority. The form of government is essentially representative, the source of power being the Synod of the whole Unity. This Assembly meets at intervals of from ten to twenty years ; the time of holding the Synod being deter- mined by lot. To this synod every congregation may send a deputy, as also every provincial conference. The place of meeting is either at Herrnhut, or at Bertherlsdorf in Sax- ony. All questions of importance are determined by lot ; and the resolutions of the Synod, copies of which are sent to the different congregations, are binding on every member of the Unity. At the close of the sessions, all of the assembled deputies vote for members of the General Conference of Elders of the Unity ; who are to carry out the measures of the Synod, and manage the affairs of the church until a new Synod is assembled, at the commencement of which they resign their offices. The members of this Conference are also determined by lot, from among those who have received the highest num- ber of votes. By this Conference inferior ones are appointed in the different provinces of the church ; of which there are two in America, the members of which meet at Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, and at Salem in North Carolina. The
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
provincial conferences appoint ministers to the different con- gregations, with the consent of the respective committees of these latter.
As to the tenets of the Moravians, they adhered to the Augsburgh Confession of Faith, composed by the German Reformers in the year 1530, and they professed a strictly literal obedience to the primitive ordinances of Christianity. Finding no warrant in Scripture for the common practice of transferring Sabbatical honor to the first day of the week, they dedicated Saturday to contemplative quiet, and entire cessation from bodily labor; and yet assembled on Sunday to commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ. Like the Quakers, they renounced all war and violence; like the Tunkers,3 they established a community of goods; they taught industry as a branch of religion-regarding its offices and its fruits alike, as occasions or instruments of fulfilling the will of God; and they retained the primitive practices of washing feet, saluting with the kiss of holy love, and solv- ing doubts by appealing to Heaven through the intervention of lots. This last practice was employed in particular, as a test of the propriety of contracting intended marriages.4
3) For twenty years after the settlement of Bethlehem, in 1742, this so eialism prevailed, when the members were allowed to purchase their tene ments on payment of a slight ground rent.
4) Madame de Stael thus particularizes on this subject, (2 Germany, 276) : " When a young man chooses to take a companion, he addresses himself to the female superintendents of girls or widows, and demands of them the person he wishes to espouse. They draw lots in the church, to know whether he ought to marry the woman whom he prefers; and if the lot is against him, he gives up his demand. The Moravians have such a habit of resig- nation, that they do not resist this decision; and as they only see the wo- men at church, it eosts them less to renounce their choice."
There is no doubt that such was the ease in their original constitution ; but the custom is now changed, and the consent of the elders can always be obtained, where the marriage is suitable, and the eonduet of the parties has been free from impropriety.
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SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
The men and women, before marriage, lived separately from each other, in assemblies where the most perfect equal- ity prevailed; and in each of these assemblies, one of the members, in rotation, was appointed to pass the night in watching and prayer. Silent assiduity in business, gentle- ness of manner, plainness of apparel, and the utmost personal and domestic neatness were universally cultivated by the members of this society. It was a fundamental principle of their faith, that the true dignity and highest worth of a human being, consist not in requiring and receiving service from his fellows, but in rendering it to them. The Mora- vians have been termed by Madame de Stael, the monks of Protestanism, for though they rejected vows, their society was entirely ecclesiastical, every thing being accomplished by religious influence, and all affairs subjected to the super- intendence and direction of the elders of the church.
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