USA > Ohio > History of the state of Ohio > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
9) Zinzendorf was accompanied in his tour of the Indian villages by his daughter Benigna-a word worth preserving, perhaps, by those who think that there is virtue in a name.
221
SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
drudgery and privation which they incurred, they were fre- quently exposed to insult and danger from the savages who rejected the boon of the gospel with contempt, and heard its testimony against the corruption of human nature with indig- nation. Gideon Mack, one of the missionaries, having been waylaid by an Indian who presented his gun and desired him to prepare to die, for insulting the Indians by talking perpetually of their need of Christ, replied calmly, "If Christ does not permit you, you cannot shoot me." The savage, struck with the language and demeanor of his intended vic- tim, dropped his gun, retired in silence, and soon after embraced the faith which, he perceived, was calculated to form the highest style of character.
A curious objection, which reminds us of incidents and reproaches that attended the first promulgation of the gospel upon earth, was raised by some Indians, who, observing their friends greatly moved by the discourses of the missionaries, exclaimed that these men must be sorcerers, and in league with evil spirits, for that nothing but magic could produce such effects. The most formidable opposition was created by a number of white traders, who were concerned at the influence which the missionaries exerted in persuading the savages to abstain from purchasing the spirituous liquors, to avoid contracting debts, and to exchange hunting for agricul- turc. They were aided by some weak and ignorant or bigoted colonists of New York and New England, who looked on the Moravian society as a branch of the Church of Rome, and were convinced that the spread of their tenets and influence would promote the interests of France among the Indian race. Several of the missionaries were seized as Roman Catholic teachers by the inhabitants of Connecticut, and de- tained in custody some days, till they were liberated by
222
HISTORY OF OHIO.
command of the provincial governor. But in New York, which abounded with traders, hostile to the conversion of the Indians, and contained a number of clergymen and laymen devoted exclusively to the Church of England, the opposition grew daily stronger, and was inflamed by the fluctuating politics of the Six Nations. Some of the colonists assured their savage neighbors that the Moravian brethren were not legally entitled to undertake the pastoral office which they exercised-a statement which the Indians were totally unable to comprehend ; others, and especially certain persons en- gaged in the Indian trade, attempted to debauch the new converts and seduce them to resume the vices they had for- saken ; and the provincial magistrates committed several of the missionaries to prison, as enemies of the British govern- ment and corrupters of its Indian allies. The most respec- table inhabitants of the province, who had at first imbibed prejudices against the missionaries, were speedily disabused, and not only encouraged them to persevere in their useful labors, but openly declared of them, that they were, of all men, the best instruments of the security of the colonists and the happiness of the Indians. At length, however, in consequence of a report that a number of the Indian converts had wholly detached themselves from their previous friendly connection with Britain, the public rage was kindled to such a pitch that an act of the New York Assembly was passed, prohibiting any member of the Moravian society from preach- ing or residing among the tribes connected with the province. This policy was little calculated to soothe or conciliate the Indians, who had generally conceived a high regard for the missionaries-of whom some now quitted the province, and others, lingering in it with the hope of being yet permitted to resume their pious labors, were afterwards thrown into
223
SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
prison and treated with great severity. The Indians who seemed most attached to them, became the objects of a strong aversion and jealousy to many of the colonists, who loudly and fiercely importuned the government to send troops to destroy them. Not long after the departure of the mission- aries, a number of converted Indians of the confederacy of the Six Nations, forsaking their country and kindred, fol- lowed their teachers to Pennsylvania, and established them- selves at Bethlehem.
In the mean time, and for several years after, Spangenberg, Nitchsman, Cammerhoff, and a great many other pastors sup- plied by the Moravian brotherhood, were actively and suc- cessfully engaged in proselyting and civilizing the savage tribes adjacent to the colonial settlements of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. They collected various Indian societies, in which the duties of morality were practised, the habits of civilized life studied and pursued, and the profession of Christianity embraced with a sincerity which was tried and attested by severe suffering and patient virtue. The Indian converts and their children were taught to read; and some portions of the Christian Scriptures were translated into various dialects of the Indian tongue. So far from pretend- ing to any superiority over their converts, the missionaries appeared at once their teachers and their servants ; and at all the settlements, not only participated in their rural labors, but appropriated to themselves the heaviest part of every drudgery, in consideration of the incompetence of Indian constitutions for steady and continuous toil. The progress of these beneficent exertions was interrupted by the outbreak of the last war with France, and by the ravages which the Indian allies of the French inflicted on the borders of Penn- sylvania. Many of the Pennsylvania colonists were progres-
224
HISTORY OF OHIO.
sively incensed to such a degree, by the devastation of their country, the massacre of their friends, and the danger of their families, that they conceived an incurable hatred and jeal- ousy against the whole Indian race.
A sect of fanatics sprung up in Pennsylvania about the year 1755, who clamorously demanded the total extirpation of the aboriginal tribes, lest the vengeance of Heaven should fall upon the Christians for not destroying the heathen, as the Israelites by divine command had been directed to destroy the Canaanites of old. The general delusion was increased by the publication of a letter, which was said to have been intercepted by the British forces, purporting to have been written by a French officer at Quebec to one of his friends, and extolling the Moravian brethren as the secret partizans and useful agents of France. This letter, whether the offspring of French or of English artifice, produced all the effect that its fabricators designed. A universal cry was raised through the British colonies that the Moravian settlers were snakes in the grass, and the most dangerous because the most perfidious enemies of Britain. The persons and settle- ments of these calumniated men, in Pennsylvania, were now exposed to the greatest danger ; and the provincial govern- ment, though sincerely inclined to protect them, was evidently incapable of withstanding the headlong rage with which the great body of the people imprecated vengeance on the Mora- vian brethren and their Indian flocks. The mildness and patience with which this injustice was endured by the objects of it was insufficient to quell the popular fury, which was on the point of venting itself in some notable outrage, when, to the general surprise, a sudden attack was made by the Indian allies of France on a Moravian settlement, situated near Ma- honing creek, (a small tributary of the Lehigh river, and not
225
SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
far from Bethlehem,) in which a number of the brethren and of their Indian associates were slain. This circumstance, concurring with the willingness of some of the Moravian set- tlers to prepare for defensive war against the enemy, and the liberal contributions of others to relieve the wants of their fel- low-colonists, who had suffered from hostile rage, produced a great and sudden abatement of the public jealousy and dis- pleasure. The blessings of tranquillity and security were now enjoyed in the Moravian settlements till the year 1763, when all the hatred and fear that the Indian race had ever excited in Pennsylvania, were revived with augmented violence by the great Indian war which broke out at that period, and the dreadful desolation of the frontiers of this province which attended the first explosion of its fury. A general attack was now projected by a great number of the inhabitants on the Indian inhabitants of the province, of whom many were forced to fly ; some were conveyed to Philadelphia by order of the government, which tendered its protection, and some were cruelly slain.
Near the Susquehanna, and at no great distance from the town of Lancaster, was a spot known as the Manor of Cones- toga, where a small band of Indians, chiefly of Iroquois blood, had been seated from the first settlement of the province, and always remained on good terms with the Eng- lish. On the east bank of the river, some distance above Conestoga, stood the town of Paxton, which had been devas- tated by the Indians in 1755. The relatives of those slain at that time rebuilt the village, but were inimical to the race of their persecutors, and suspicious of the band at Conestoga. They organized into a body of rangers, and were active in defending the borders. At length, deeming their suspicions confirmed, they fell upon the Conestoga Indians, and a horrid
226
HISTORY OF OHIO.
massacre ensued, the victims being principally women and children. Those who by absence escaped the fury of the Paxton men, fled to Lancaster, and were placed in jail for security, which was broken open soon after by a party of the assassins, and the butchery completed. The provincial authorities were impotent to prevent or redress these out- rages, and the Moravians next became objects of distrust and persecution.
About three months before the massacre at Conestoga, a party of drunken rangers, fired by the general resentment against the Moravian Indians, murdered several of them, both men and women, whom they found sleeping in a barn. Not long after, the same party of rangers were, in their turn, surprised and killed, some peaceful settlers of the neighbor- hood sharing their fate. This act was at once ascribed, justly or unjustly, to the vengeance of the converted Indians, relatives of the murdered; and the frontier people, who, like the Paxton men, were chiefly Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, resolved that the objects of their suspicion should live no - longer. At this time the Moravian converts consisted of two communities, those of Nain and Wecquetank, near the Lehigh, and to these may be added a third, at Wyalusing, near Wyo- ming. The latter, from its distant situation, was, for the present, safe ; but the two former were in imminent peril, and the inhabitants in mortal terror for their lives, stood day and night on the watch.
At length, about the tenth of October, 1764, a gang of armed men approached Wecquetank, and encamped in the woods at no great distance. They intended to make their attack under favor of the darkness ; but before evening, a storm, which to the missionaries seemed providential, de- scended with such violence, that the fires of the hostile camp
227
SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
were extinguished in a moment, the ammunition of the men wet, and the plan defeated.
After so narrow an escape, it was apparent that flight was the only resource. The terrified congregation at Wecque- tank broke up on the following day, and under the charge of their missionary, Bernard Grube, removed to the Mora- vian town of Nazareth, where it was hoped they might remain in safety.
By order of the provincial assembly, the Christian Indians were removed to Philadelphia, as the last means to secure their protection. Their total number, including the mission- aries, was about one hundred and forty. Insulted by the populace and soldiery, the unfortunate exiles only found sym- pathy and kindness from the Quakers. Attended by these kindred sectarians, the Moravians and converts proceeded to Province Island below the city, where they were lodged in some deserted barracks, and their wants provided for, by the authorities and the society of Friends.
Immediately after the Conestoga murders at Lancaster jail, which did not take place until some weeks after the removal of the Moravian converts to Philadelphia, the rioters prepared to march upon the city and finish their work by killing the Indians whom it had taken under its protection. Such was the consternation that it was determined to send the refugees to New York, and place them under the protec- tion of the Indian Superintendent, Sir William Johnson. Passing through Trenton, they reached Amboy, when a message was received from Governor Colden, of New York, forbidding the Indians to come to that province. Similar letters were received from Gen. Gage and the city authori- ties, the latter threatening heavy penalties to the owners of vessels if they should transport the Indians from New Jersey.
228
HISTORY OF OHIO.
Thus disappointed in their hopes of escape, the hapless Indians remained several days lodged in the barracks at Amboy, where they passed much of their time in religious services. A message, however, soon came from the Governor of New Jersey, requiring them to leave that province ; and they were compelled reluctantly to retrace their steps to Philadelphia. A detachment of one hundred and seventy soldiers had arrived, sent by Gen. Gage, on the requisition of Governor Penn ; and under the protection of these troops the exiles began their backward journey. On the 24th of January they reached Philadelphia, where they were lodged at the barracks within the city, the soldiers, forgetful of for- mer prejudices, no longer refusing them entrance.
Again came tidings of danger from the country, and vigo- rous preparations for defence were made, even Quaker non- resistance yielding to the imminence of the occasion. The insurgents having advanced to Germantown, within seven miles of Philadelphia, Governor Penn fled for safety and counsel to the house of Dr. Franklin ; and Pennsylvania seemed to be on the brink of civil war. Franklin, however, and some other popular individuals, undertook to meet and expostulate with the insurgents ; and in the conference that ensued, exerted their sense, address and influence so effectu- ally as to prevail with them to relinquish their ferocious purpose and return to their homes. To improve this happy success, Franklin immediately after composed and published a pamphlet in defence of the Indians, which produced a con- siderable effect in soothing the passions of his countrymen and restoring tranquillity.
From the year 1763, till the revolt of America from the dominion of Britain, no general or considerable opposition resisted the exertions of the Moravian brethren to dissemi-
229
SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
nate among the objects of their care the principles, habits, and benefits of piety, morality and civilization. The chief settlements were Bethlehem and Nazareth, in the county of Northampton, where their modes of life and worship still attract the attention of the traveler. Here and at Litiz, a beautiful Moravian village, eight miles north of Lancaster, are institutions for the instruction of girls, which have been long and justly celebrated. We are not aware that any other Moravian communities, preserving the peculiarities described so attractively by Madame de Stael, have survived on this continent except at these three villages. Bethlehem was first settled in 1740, Nazareth soon after, and Litiz in 1756.
To return to the Moravian traditions prior to the revolu- tion. The counties of Carbon, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Nor- thumberland lie west of Bethlehem, and within their limits, as now delineated on the map, were numerous Moravian missionary stations between 1745 and 1765. These were the principal sufferers during the tumults of 1764, which have just been described. The settlement of Nain was about a mile from Bethlehem, and Wecquetank, described above as near the Lehigh, is supposed to have been situated near the eastern corner of Schuylkill county, on the border of Carbon. Gnadenhutten, settled in 1746, was in Carbon county, about half a mile above the junction of Mahoning creek and the Lehigh River. Here the first murder of Moravians took place. Still further west, at Shamokin, now Sunbury, in Northumberland county, was a station in 1747. It is sup- posed that none of these are now in existence.
The Wyalusing station is even more closely related to our Ohio mission than those already enumerated. It was estab- lished by Zeisberger, in 1763, and was called Friedenshutten
230
HISTORY OF OHIO.
or Tents of Peace. The site was on the Susquehanna river, in Bradford county, and near the southern border of New York. The Iroquois gave permission to occupy even a larger tract of land than was desired, but soon after, in 1768, sold the whole country to Pennsylvania. At length, in 1772, the entire community moved to the station on the Beaver River, and thence, after a few days, proceeded to Shoenbrun, on the Muskingum. They were accompanied by Rev. John Ettwein and Rev. John Heckewelder-the veteran Zeisberger having gone to the Beaver to escort the party. The hospi- table Delawares were informed of the arrival of the Susque- hanna party, and the brethren were congratulated, in full council, with all the ceremony of Indian compliment.
The wandering settlement of western Pennsylvania is even more closely related to the colony at Shoenbrun. In 1768, Zeisberger penetrated to a spot in the now county of Ve- nango, on the left bank of the Alleghany, not far from the mouth of Tiouesta. Here the mission of Goshgoshunk was established, but soon after removed to fifteen miles further up, near Hickory town. There was a Delaware village, forty miles north of Pittsburgh, in what is Butler county, called Kaskaskunk, where resided Glikhikan, who became first the friend of the Moravians, and afterwards a convert to Chris- tianity. On his first interview with Zeisberger, he was struck by the fulfillment of a vision, which occurred to him years before. He had dreamed that he came to a place where a number of Indians were assembled in a large room. They wore their hair plain, and had no rings in their noses. In the midst of them, he discovered a short white man, and the Indians beckoning to him to come in. He entered, and was presented by the white man with a book, who desired him to read. On his replying, "I cannot read," the white
231
SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
man said : "After you have been with us some time you will learn to read it." From this time he frequently told his hearers that there were certainly white people somewhere, who knew the right way to God, for he had seen them in a dream. Therefore, when he came hither, and saw the Indi- ans and the short white man, Brother Zeisberger, exactly answering to the figure of him he saw in his dream, he was much astonished. He now frequently went to Lawunakhan- nek, the mission where Zeisberger and his converted Dela- wares were, and conversed earnestly with the brethren." Heckewelder says (Narrative, p. 109) that the name of the chief signified "the stud or foremost sight of a gun-barrel ; that he was admired and dreaded by all who knew him, on account of his superior courage as a warrior, for his talents in council, and his unequaled manner of delivering himself as a natural orator or speaker."
Glikhikan was influential, and the missionaries were invi- ted, in 1770, to come to the Big Beaver, whither they went in April of that year, settling about twenty miles from its mouth. About this time, Glikhikan left Kaskaskunk, (about forty miles north of Pittsburgh) and, avowing himself a Christian convert, henceforth lived with the brethren. The new station on the Beaver was called Friedenstadt, the town of Peace, whither the new disciple came. An old Delaware chief, Pakanke, to whom Glikhikan had been chief captain and speaker, was greatly concerned at this defection. Meet- ing the latter soon afterwards, he railed as follows : "And even you have gone over from this council to them. I sup- pose you mean to get a white skin. But I tell you, not even one of your feet will turn white, much less your body. Was you not a brave and honored man, sitting next to me in council, when we spread the blanket and considered the belts
232
HISTORY OF OHIO.
of wampum lying before us. Now you pretend to despise all this, and think to have found something better. Some time or other you will find yourself deceived." Glikhikan made but a short and meek reply, and his accuser afterwards was so much mollified, by a current superstition, that hostility to the missionaries was the cause of an epidemic sickness among his people, that he went to hear the brethren preach, declared his conviction and recommended his children to receive the gospel. Glikhikan was baptized by the name of Isaac, and was henceforth very prominent in the history of the Ohio mission.
In 1773, the Christian Indians on the Beaver River re- solved also to emigrate to Ohio, and on the 13th of April, the village of Freidenstadt was evacuated, one part of the con- gregation traveling across the country by land, and the other, led by John Heckewelder, descending the Big Beaver and Ohio, and ascending the Muskingum to Shoenbrun in twenty- two canoes.
The first settlement by Zeisberger consisted of twenty- eight persons ; the emigration from the Susquehanna was two hundred and forty-one in number; and if we suppose the population of the village on the Beaver now transplanted to the Muskingum to have been one hundred, the number on the Muskingum in 1773 was 369. The Mohicans built ten miles below Schoenbrun, calling the village Gnadenhutten.
When the pilgrimage of 1772, from the distant Wyalusing, was happily ended, and the Indians in council had welcomed the new arrival, David Zeisberger and John Heckewelder summoned the congregation together. John Ettwein, about to invoke the blessing of Heaven and depart to Bethlehem, stood near while the rules of the congregation (the phrase is Heckewelder's) as agreed to and approved by the national
233
SOCIETY OF UNITED BRETHREN.
assistants, were read and accepted by the whole congrega- tion. It was a scene not wholly unlike the first compact of the Puritan community in the cabin of the Mayflower. An August sky was above them-the waters of the Elk Eye glided gently by-the " beautiful spring " reflected the mo- tionless group ; and the voice of prayer and praise hallowed the adoption of the following homely frame of civil and reli- gious obligation-the first act of Ohio legislation-the con- stitution of 1772.10
1. We will know of no other God, nor worship any other but him who has created us, and redeemed us with his most precious blood.
2. We will rest from all labor on Sundays, and attend the usual meetings on that day for divine service.
3. We will honor father and mother, and support them in age and distress.
4. No thieves, murderers, drunkards, adulterers and whore- mongers shall be suffered among us.
5. No one shall be permitted to dwell with us without the consent of our teachers.
6. No one that attendeth dances, sacrifices, or heathenish festivals, can live among us.
7. No one using Trchappich (or witchcraft) in hunting, shall be suffered among us.
8. We will renounce all juggles, lies and deceits of Satan.
9. We will be obedient to our teachers, and to the helpers (national assistants) who are appointed to see that good order be kept, both in and out of town.
10. We will not be idle and lazy-nor tell lies of one another-nor strike each other-we will live peaccably to- gether.
10) It is taken from Heckewelder's narrative. 10*
234
HISTORY OF OHIO.
11. Whosoever does any harm to another's cattle, goods or effects, &c., shall pay the damage.
12. A man shall have only one wife-love her and provide for her and the children. Likewise a woman shall have but one husband, and be obedient to him ; she shall also take care of the children, and be cleanly in all things.
13. We will not permit any rum, or spirituous liquor, to be brought into our town. If strangers or traders happen to bring any, the helpers (national assistants) are to take it into their possession, and take care not to deliver it to them until they set off again.
14. None of the inhabitants shall run in debt with traders, nor receive goods on commission for traders, without consent of the national assistants.
15. No one is to go on a journey or long hunt without in- forming the minister or steward of it.
16. Young people are not to marry without the consent of their parents, and taking their advice.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.