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take them alive to Detroit, and although scalps were market- able there, yet it is reasonable to suppose that the British. officers discriminated in favor of prisoners. On this occa- sion, Boone informs us that he was treated with much humanity by Governor Hamilton, who desired to ransom him, but the Indians prized their prisoner too highly to consent.
We recall our attention from these remote but highly important transactions of the Illinois expedition, to an Indian siege of Fort Laurens. This post had been erected as a part of McIntosh's design upon Detroit, but also, very prob- ably, to check the incursions of the Sandusky Indians upon the settlements south of the Ohio River, and to protect the Delawares who were still disposed for peace. The usual approach from Fort McIntosh, the nearest military station, was by the old Indian trail from the valley of Yellow Creek, across to Sandy and down that stream. In January, 1779, Col. John Gibson and his garrison of one hundred and fifty men were closely besieged by the Indians. Of the incidents which preceded and accompanied this siege, we recognize a manuscript narrative by Henry Jolly, Esq., late judge of Washington county, Ohio, who was one of the garrison, as the most satisfactory. He says :
" When the main army left the fort to return to Fort Pitt, Captain Clark remained behind with a small detachment of United States troops, for the purpose of marching in the invalids and artificers who had tarried to finish the fort, or were too unwell to march with the main army. He endeav- ored to take the advantage of very cold weather, and had marched three or four miles, when he was fired upon by a small party of Indians very close at hand, I think, twenty or thirty paces. This discharge wounded two of his men slightly. Knowing as he did, that his men were unfit to
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fight Indians in their own fashion, he ordered them to reserve their fire and to charge bayonet, which being promptly executed, put the Indians to flight, and after pursuing a short distance, he called off his men, and retreated to the fort, bringing in his wounded." In other accounts of this affair, it is stated that ten of Captain Clark's men were killed. "During the cold weather, while the Indians were lying about the fort, although none had been seen for a few days, a party of seventeen men went out for the purpose of carrying in firewood, which the army had cut before they left the place, about forty or fifty rods from the fort. Near the bank of the river, was an ancient mound, behind which lay a quantity of wood. A party had been out for several preceding mornings, and brought in wood, supposing the Indians would not be watching the fort in such cold weather. But on that fatal morning, the Indians had concealed them- selves behind the mound, and as the soldiers passed round on one side of the mound, a part of the Indians came round on the other, and enclosed the wood party, so that not one escaped."
The statements hitherto published of this affair are, that the Indians enticed the men from the fort to search for horses, by taking off their bells and tinkling them, but Mr. Hildreth is certain that no horses were left at the fort, as they must either have starved or been stolen by the Indians.
Stone, in his Life of Brant, states that toward evening of the day on which this detachment of seventeen men was cut off, the whole force of the Indians, painted, and in the full costume of war, presented themselves in sight of the garrison, by marching in single files, though at a respectful distance, across the prairie, and their number, according to a count from one of the bastions, was eight hundred and forty-
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seven ; but Col. Morgan was told by the Delaware chiefs that the party consisted of one hundred and eighty Indians, com- posed of Wyandots, Mingoes, Munsies and four Delawares, and that the sons of Catherine Montour were among them.
After the display of strength above mentioned, the Indians took a position upon an elevated piece of ground at no great distance from the fort, though on the opposite side of the river. In this situation they remained several weeks, in a state rather of armed neutrality than of active hostility. Some of them would frequently approach the fort, and hold conversation with those upon the walls. They uniformly professed a desire for peace, but protested against the encroachments of the white people upon their lands-more especially was the erection of a fort so far within the territory claimed by them as exclusively their own, a subject of complaint. There was with the Americans in the fort, an aged friendly Indian named John Thompson, who seemed to be in equal favor with both parties, visiting the Indian encampment at pleasure, and coming and going as he chose. They informed Thompson that they deplored the continuance of hostilities, and finally sent word by him, to Col. Gibson, that they were desirous of peace, and if he would present them with a barrel of flour and some meat, they would send in their proposals the next day. In fact, the garrison was short of provisions, which the Indians suspected, and perhaps their request was a ruse to ascertain the resources of the besieged, but Colonel Gibson sent the flour and meat promptly, and said that he could spare the provisions very well, as he had plenty more. The Indians soon after disappeared. They had, indeed, continued the siege as long as they could obtain subsistence, and raised it only because of the lack of supplies.
The situation of the garrison was now becoming deplorable. 13*
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For two weeks the men had been reduced to half a pound of sour flour, and a like quantity of offensive meat, per diem ; and for a week longer they were compelled to subsist upon raw hides, and such roots as could be found in the adjacent woods. A runner was sent to Fort McIntosh with a state- ment of their distress, and requesting an immediate supply of provisions. The inhabitants south of the Ohio volunteered their aid, and General McIntosh headed the escort. But still they came near being immediately reduced to short allow- ance again, by an untoward accident causing the loss of a great portion of the supplies. These were transported through the wilderness upon pack-horses. The garrison, overjoyed at the arrival of succors, on their approach to within about a hundred yards of the fort, manned the parapets, and fired a salute of musketry. The horses, which were probably young in the service, became frightened, began to rear and plunge, and broke from their guides. The example was contagious, and in a moment more, the whole cavalcade of pack-horses were bounding into the woods at full gallop, dashing their burdens to the ground and scattering them in all directions- the greater portion of which could never be recovered. Of the provisions saved, the officers very incautiously dealt out two days' rations per man, the whole of which was devoured by the famishing soldiers, to the imminent hazard of the lives of all, and the severe sickness of many. Leaving the fort again, General McIntosh assigned the command to Major Vernon, who remained upon the station several months. He, in turn, was left to endure the horrors of famine, and in the summer of 1779, Fort Laurens was threatened with another siege by forty Shawanese, twenty Mingoes and twenty Dela- wares, but by the interference of the friendly Delaware chiefs, they were persuaded to abandon the siege without firing a gun,
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DELAWARE HOSTILITY.
and the fort was soon after relinquished. It is worthy of notice, that while there were only four Delawares (as distin- guished from Munsies) at the attack in January, twenty were present on the last occasion, thus indicating that the influence of Capt. Pipe and the war party of the tribe was on the increase.
In October, 1778, the distinguished peace-chief of the Delawares, Captain White Eyes, or Koquethagaeehlon, who had accompanied the army of General McIntosh to Tusca- roras, died suddenly of small-pox. Thenceforth the efforts of Killbuck, Big Cat, and another chief, whose Indian name was Tetepachsi, to resist the current against the Americans became less effective than before the death of their able coadjutor. In the summer of 1779, their friend, Col. Mor- gan, or Tamenend, resigned his post of Indian agent at Pitts- burgh, and the desertion of Fort Laurens exerted an unfa- vorable influence. The American agents, about the same time, began to urge the Delawares to change their former attitude of neutrality, and to wage war against the Indian allies of the English. This was bad policy under the cir- cumstances of the Ohio frontier, for, as the tribe was situated, any change of attitude must have been unfavorable to the Americans. Very soon, therefore, the few Delawares, who remained friendly to the colonies, were compelled to take refuge at or near Fort Pitt, and at length the Delaware nation may be said to have openly joined the combination of the Ohio Indians with the British.
Fortunately, this hostile demonstration had been postponed to a period when the defection was less disastrous than it would have been at any former period of the war. The pacification of the remote tribes on the Wabash and Illinois, and the favorable dispositions of the French residents there
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and elsewhere-the destruction of the Seneca towns in the lake and Genesee region of New York, by the army under Sullivan, in the autumn of 1779, and a similar excursion from Pittsburgh, by Colonel Daniel Brodhead, (who had suc- ceeded General McIntosh in February, 1779,) at the head of six hundred men, during which he destroyed many villages of the Seneca Indians on the head waters of the Alleghany, ravaged five hundred acres of standing corn, and captured a booty of skins valued at three thousand dollars-these were events which tended essentially to relieve the valley of the Ohio, at least for a season.
Upon Brodhead's return to Pittsburgh, September 14, he found deputies from the Delawares, Wyandots, and the Maquichee branch of the Shawanese, with whom a conference was held three days afterwards. The only Indian names mentioned in the report of this council are Doonyontat, a Wyandot chief, Kelleleman, a Delaware, and better known as Killbuck, and Keeshmatree, the Maquichee or Shawanese chief, and his counsellor, Nimwha .. On this occasion, the professions of amity were as ample and rhetorical as usual.
For a year or two, the settlements of the upper Ohio felt the beneficial effect of these events, but, as we shall see, the main body of the Shawanese, with their British and Indian allies, continued to scourge the Kentucky station, but not without a full retribution. We shall devote a separate chapter to the narrative of these Shawanese campaigns.
CHAPTER XX.
THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE SHAWANESE.
THE assassination of Cornstalk and his companions at Point Pleasant, in 1777, effectually concurred with other causes of irritation to inflame the Shawanese against the Americans, and for the residue of the revolutionary period the tribe was implacably hostile. There is some evidence that the Ma- quichee tribe were occasionally inclined to peace, but this exception, so far as it existed, was probably attributable to the influence of the Moravian missionaries, who interchanged visits with those chiefs living near the Muskingum. The tribe at large, irritated by the encroachments on their Ken- tucky hunting grounds, were determined to extirpate the infant settlements ; and for this purpose the channels of the prominent tributaries to the Ohio offered great facilities. The canoes of their war-parties floated down the Scioto and the Miamis, and silently ascended the Licking and Kentucky rivers until within striking distance of the scattered stations.
At this time the Shawanese were divided into four tribes or bands-the Maquichce, or Mequachake, the Chillicothe, the Kiskapocoke, and the Piqua. In the first tribe, to which the priesthood was confided, the office of chief was heredi- tary-in the others it was conferred according to merit. It is reasonable to suppose that the Shawanese living near Wappatomica, on the Muskingum, (if any remained there after it was destroyed by McDonald's party in the summer of 1774) and in the Scioto towns, which were only saved
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from destruction by submission to Lord Dunmore on the approach of his army, were less prompt to renew hostilities than the inhabitants of the more remote towns on the Little Miami and the Mad River. Cornstalk himself resided east of the Scioto River, on the right bank of Sippo creek, just above the junction of Congo creek, (now Pickaway township and county) while on the opposite bank stood Grenadier Squaw Town, so called from the residence of his sister, a woman six feet high and well proportioned; and notwith- standing the injuries inflicted upon the family of Cornstalk by the whites, it is probable that the Shawanese on the Scioto sympathized, in some degree, with the peaceful dis- positions of the neighboring Delawares. This opinion is corroborated by the fact that all the retaliatory expeditions from Kentucky, during and after the revolutionary period, passed by the mouth of Scioto, and were designed to chas- tise the Shawanese bands who were seated in the Miami and Mad River valleys, and within the present counties of Greene, Miami, Champaigne and Logan. The principal villages in the Miami region were Chillicothe, standing near the mouth of Massie's creek, three miles north of Xenia : Piqua, memo- rable as the birth-place of Tecumseh, and situated on the north bank of Mad River, seven miles west of Springfield, in Clark county : and Upper and Lower Piqua, in Miami county, where the tribe at length concentrated in great numbers.1
In the spring of 1778, while Clark was mustering his expe- dition to the Illinois, Daniel Boone, equally noted as the pioneer hunter of Kentucky, was a captive in the Shawnee town of Chillicothe. He and twenty-seven others had been seized in February, while making salt at Blue Licks, and his
1) See Appendix No. VII, for further particulars of the Shawanese villages.
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BOONESBOROUGH ATTACKED.
companions had been admitted to ransom or detained as British prisoners at Detroit-but not so fortunate was Boone. Although Governor Hamilton had taken a great fancy to him, and sought to obtain his release upon the usual terms, the Indians refused to part with the hero of the woods. They took him back to Chillicothe, where he was formally adopted as a son of the tribe, and consigned to the lodge of an Indian woman, in place of a deceased warrior. Until June, he adapted himself, with extraordinary address, to his new position, and so far won the favor and confidence of the Indians that he was suffered to accompany a party to the Salt Lick, in the Scioto valley, within the present county of Jackson. There they remained ten days and returned to Chillicothe, where Boone found four hundred and fifty war- riors, armed and painted for an expedition against his own Boonesborough. Instantly, but silently, he resolved to escape, which was effected on the 16th of June, under the pretence of chasing a deer that bounded past the village. The weary journey of one hundred and fifty miles was successfully accomplished, but his flight seemed to have postponed the march of the war-party, for neither in June or July did they appear. On the 1st of August, Boone started with nineteen men, among them Simon Kenton, to look after the enemy. He approached their town on Paint Creek, but found it deserted, and meeting a small band of warriors, in full paint, marching southwardly, the suspicion flashed upon his mind that Boonesborough would be speedily attacked. They im- mediately retraced their course, and only reached the borough a day before it was surrounded by five hundred savages, with British and French flags flying and led by one Captain Du Quesne, a Canadian. A day passed in parley before the fort, and active preparation for defence within. On the 9th
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
of August, Boone and eight of the garrison consented to advance sixty yards into the plain for a further consultation with the British commandant, but this interview was rudely interrupted by an attempt to seize the Kentuckians-a treach- ery which was instantly checked by a fire from the alert rifles of the garrison, and the sudden and safe retreat of Boone's party within the walls. Of course the attack com- menced immediately, and lasted for ten days, but to no purpose. On the 20th, the Indians were forced unwillingly to retire, having lost thirty-seven of their number, and wasted a vast amount of powder and lead. The garrison picked up from the ground, after their departure, one hundred and twenty-five pounds of their bullets.
The adventures of Simon Kenton, in the autumn of 1778, afford us another glimpse of the scene of Boone's captivity, and of other Shawanese villages. Colonel John Bowman was then meditating an expedition against the Shawanese villages, particularly Chillicothe ; (Oldtown, Greene county,) and Kenton, accompanied by Alexander Montgomery and George Clark, undertook to explore the route to Chillicothe, and the vicinity and position of the town. This was effectu- ally done, and all risk would have been avoided if the three spies had not yielded to the temptation of running off a drove of horses which they found enclosed in a pound. It was late at night, but the noise of the operation alarmed the Indians in the adjacent village. Kenton and his companions were pursued, and although they reached the northern bank of the Ohio River with the stolen animals, yet, before its passage could be effected, they were overtaken, Montgomery killed and Kenton made prisoner, Clark escaping.
The Indians were greatly exasperated at their captive, abusing him as a "tief !- a hoss steal-a rascal !" and he
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KENTON'S ADVENTURES.
received no indulgence at their hands, except that he was not struck dead with a tomahawk. With his hands tied behind him, and his feet lashed under the horse's belly, he was compelled to ride a restive colt through the thickets of the forest, while at night the prisoner was extended upon his back and closely bound to the earth in a painful posture. Arrived at Chillicothe, he ran the gauntlet, but as Kenton saw an Indian in the line with a drawn knife, ready to plunge it into his breast, he broke through the lines and ran towards the council-house with a crowd of several hundred at his heels. Just before reaching that refuge, he was thrown down by an Indian who was in his path and terribly bruised by the blows of his pursuers. Immediately a council was held, and soon Kenton saw, from the manner of speakers and auditors, that he was doomed to die. When the vote was taken, those who were for his torture struck the war club, which was passed from hand to hand, violently on the ground-their number far exceeding those who simply passed the club to a neighbor in token of mercy. Then arose a debate upon the time and place of the tragedy, and it was resolved that he should be immediately taken to Wapatomika (now Zanesfield, Logan county.) On his way thither, he passed through the Indian towns of Piqua (now Boston, seven miles west of Springfield, Clark county,) and Mache- cheek, (now West Liberty, Logan county,) running the gauntlet at each town, and baffled at Machecheek in an attempt to escape. Soon after his arrival at Wapatomika, Simon Girty came to see him, and soon discovered that Kenton had been his companion and friend at Fort Pitt and in Dunmore's expedition. McDonald thus describes the scene which ensued : "Girty threw himself into Kenton's arms, embraced and wept aloud over him-calling him his
14
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
dear and esteemed friend. This hardened wretch, who had been the cause of the death of hundreds, had some of the sparks of humanity remaining in him, and wept like a child at the tragical fate which hung over his friend. . 'Well,' said he to Kenton, 'you are condemned to die, but I will use every means in my power to save your life.'
" Girty immediately had a council convened, and made a long speech to the Indians to save the life of the prisoner. As Girty was proceeding through his speech, he became very animated ; and under his powerful eloquence, Kenton could plainly discover the grim visages of his savage judges relent. When Girty concluded his powerful and animated speech, the Indians rose with one simultaneous grunt of approbation, saved the prisoner's life, and placed him under the power and protection of his old companion, Girty."2
The British had a trading post at Wapatomika, from which Girty provided Kenton with clothing, and also furnished him with horse and gun. The two friends were constantly together, roaming the woods and passing from village to village. While they were at Solomon's Town, a short distance from Wapa- tomika, a party of warriors returned to the latter place from an expedition against Wheeling, in which they had been de- feated by the whites with considerable loss, and demanded the life of Kenton. Another council was summoned, and Kenton was again sentenced to death, notwithstanding all the efforts and eloquence of Girty. The latter could only obtain a reprieve until the prisoner could be taken to Upper Sandusky, where the Indians were soon to assemble and
2) For the above and following particulars of Simon Kenton, see Sketches, by John McDonald, p. 196-an interesting series of pioneer biography. Its author is recently deceased, but his contribution to the history of the State should preserve his memory. See McClung's Western Adventure, p. 80.
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KENTON'S ADVENTURES.
receive their annuities and presents from the British agents. As the Indians passed from Wapatomika to Upper San- dusky, they reached a village upon the headwaters of Scioto, where Kenton for the first time beheld the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan, who walked gravely up to the place where Kenton stood, and the following short conversation ensued : " Well, young man, these young men seem very mad at you ?" "Yes sir, they certainly are." "Well, don't be dishear- tened, I am a great chief; you are to go to Sandusky; they speak of burning you there ; but I will send two runners to- morrow to speak good for you." McClung adds that Logan's form was striking and manly, his countenance calm and noble, and he spoke the English language with fluency and correctness. Kenton's spirits instantly rose at the address of the benevolent chief, and he once more looked upon him- self as providentially rescued from the stake.
On the following morning, two runners were despatched to Sandusky, as the chief had promised, and until their return, Kenton was kindly treated, being permitted to spend much of his time with Logan, who conversed with him freely, and in the most friendly manner. In the evening, the two run- ners returned and were closeted with Logan. Kenton felt the most burning anxiety to know what was the result of their mission, but Logan did not visit him again until next morning. He then walked up to him, accompanied by Kenton's guards, and giving him a piece of bread, told him that he was in- stantly to be carried to Sandusky; and without uttering another word, turned upon his heel and left him.
At Upper Sandusky, Kenton was finally rescued from a death of torture by the interposition of Peter Druyer, a Canadian Frenchman, who was a Captain in the British ser- vice, and acted as Indian agent and interpreter. It was to
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
this influential personage, probably, that Logan's message had been conveyed. He offered the Indians one hundred dollars in rum and tobacco, if they would allow him to take Kenton to Detroit for examination by the British governor, promising to return him when they should require. A slight additional remuneration, afterwards paid to the Indians, com- pleted the ransom of Kenton, who accompanied Captain Druyer to Detroit, and about a year afterwards, escaped and returned to Kentucky.
In the summer of 1779, Col. John Bowman with one hun- dred and sixty Kentuckians, marched against Chillicothe. There are conflicting accounts of this expedition, some of which exhibit a partisanship in favor of Captain Benjamin Logan, at the expense of his commanding officer. The follow- ing narrative of the expedition is authenticated by the recol- lection of the late Col. Robert Patterson of Dayton, who was present, and we prefer to adopt it.
The mouth of Licking was the point of rendezvous. To- wards the close of the second night, after the commencement of the march from the opposite shore, the party approached the town of Chillicothe undiscovered. An attack was or- dered to be made at daylight, but before the officers and men had arrived at the places assigned them, the enemy became alarmed, and a fire commenced on both sides. The whole population of the village took refuge in several strong cabins, in the heart of the town, and prepared for a vigorous defence. The Kentuckians, having no arms but tomahawks and rifles, dared not attack these entrenchments, and they contented themselves with firing the deserted cabins, some thirty or forty in number, after stripping them of kettles, blankets and other articles. They also collected one hundred and thirty-three horses in the adjacent woods, and then com-
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