USA > Ohio > History of the state of Ohio > Part 25
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In May, 1780, Loskiel mentions the arrival of "the single sister, Sarah Ohneberg, who afterwards married John Heck- ewelder." Their eldest daughter, Mary Heckewelder, was born at Salem on the 16th of April, 1781, and is generally supposed to have been the first born of white American chil- dren, north of the Ohio. In July, 1781, an arrangement of religious teachers was effected, by which David Zeisberger superintended the whole mission, but particularly served the congregation at Schoenbrun, assisted by John George Young-
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man ; while Gottlob Senseman and William Edwards were stationed at Gnadenhutten, and John Heckewelder and Michael Young at Salem. The missionary Shebosch, who was married to an Indian convert, also returned from Beth- lehem in November, 1780.
It was the peculiar hardship of these inoffensive religion- ists, that every act of benevolence or humanity on their part, was sure to excite distrust and hostility in some quar- ter. If a war-party from the lakes halted near their towns, and in obedience to universal Indian usage, were furnished with a meal of victuals: or if, on their return, the missiona- ries interposed to ransom a prisoner, the rumor ran through the settlements that the Moravian Indians were leagued with the hostile savages. On the other hand, the English emis- saries, McKee, Elliott and Girty, made frequent and bitter complaints that Zeisberger and his companions were in the habit of sending runners to the American commandant at Pittsburgh, when informed that the Indians were meditating an expedition upon some particular point of the Virginia border. There is no doubt that such was frequently the case. So far, the Moravians deviated from a strict neutral- ity, yet their motive was the simple suggestion of humanity -in no sense political-and it is a melancholy reflection that such acts of disinterested kindness were so ill-requited, as we shall see in the sequel. Still, it is due to the impetu- ous settlers of the upper Ohio, to add, that whatever ap- peared like a complication of the Christian Indians with the savage enemy, was so notorious as to provoke exaggeration, while the evidence of an opposite or friendly disposition was diligently guarded by Morgan, McIntosh or Brodhead-the American officers at Pittsburgh-as confidential communi- cations
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In the summer of 1781, there was an illustration of the different sentiments with which the Moravians were regar- ded by the American officers and the militia under their command. Colonel Daniel Brodhead, then stationed at Pittsburgh, led an expedition against Goschocking, the Del- aware town on the east bank of Muskingum, and on his march thither, halted about five miles below Salem. Here he addressed a note to Heckewelder, requesting a supply of provisions, and that the missionary would visit his camp. Heckewelder hastened to comply, and personally received from the American officer assurances that his troops should not molest the Moravian Indians, who had conducted them- selves, he proceeded to say, in a manner that did them honor, and that neither the English or Americans could with justice reproach them with improper conduct in their situa- tion. While Col. Brodhead was speaking, however, an officer hastily entered to inform him that a body of militia were about "breaking off for the purpose of destroying the Moravian settlements up the river," and it was with great difficulty that the commanding officer, aided by Col. David Shepherd of Wheeling, could restrain the men from adding such an outrage to the other acts of inhumanity which attended this Coshocton campaign, and which will hereafter occupy our attention.
Immediately after this Coshocton campaign, a deeply interesting interview occurred between a distinguished Dela- ware chief, and the inhabitants of the Moravian villages. Heckewelder calls him "the head war chief of the Delaware nation," and we are satisfied that he is the same individual of whom we first hear in the French and English war as " Shingess ;" next, in 1762, as Bog Meadow or King Shin- gas; now in 1781, as Pachgantschihilas; again in 1785, at
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an Indian Council near the mouth of the Great Miami, as Pacanchichilas, and long afterwards as the Bockingchelas, whom many of the early settlers of Ohio recollect to have been living in 1804, at a great age. This chief, on the present occasion, was accompanied by eighty warriors, who silently surrounded Gnadenhutten before day break. As they approached, the town was hailed, and their leader demanded the delivery of Gellelemend or Killbuck and the other peace-chiefs of the Delawares. He was informed that they had gone to Pittsburgh some time before, and after a strict search, the Indians were satisfied that they were not in the town. The nation now being at war, these peace- chiefs had become subordinate to the war-chiefs, and Pach- gantschihilas was determined to remove them where they could exercise no function, until their services were required to conclude a peace.
The Delaware chief then demanded that deputies from the three Moravian towns should be assembled, and he proceeded to address them, according to Heckewelder, as follows :
"Friends and kinsmen ! Listen to what I have to say to you. You see a great and powerful nation divided. You see the father fighting against the son, and the son against the father. The father has called on his Indian children to assist him in punishing his children, the Americans, who have become refractory. I took time to consider what I should do-whether or not I would receive the hatchet of my father to assist him. At first I looked upon it as a family quarrel, in which I was not interested. However, at length it appeared to me that the father was in the right, and his chil- dren deserved to be punished a little. That this must be the case, I concluded from the many cruel acts his offspring had committed from time to time on his Indian children; in en-
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croaching on their lands, stealing their property, shooting at, and murdering without cause, men, women and children ! Yes ! even murdering those who at all times had been friendly to them, and were placed for protection under the roof of their father's house-the father himself standing sentry at the door at the time !7
"Friends and relatives !- Often has the father been obliged to settle and make amends for the wrongs and mischiefs done to us by his refractory children, yet these do not grow better. No ! they remain the same, and will continue to be so as long as we have any land left us. Look back at the murders committed by the Long Knives (Virginians) on many of our relations, who lived peaceable neighbors to them on the Ohio ! Did they not kill them without the least provocation ? Are they, do you think, better now than they were then ? No, indeed not, and many days are not elapsed since you had a number of these very men near your doors, who panted to kill you, but fortunately were prevented from so doing by the Great Sun,8 who, at that time, had, by the Great Spirit, been ordained to protect you.
"Friends and relatives !- You love that which is good, and wish to live in peace with all mankind, and at a place where you may not be disturbed whilst praying. You are very right in this, and I do not reproach you in having made the choice. But, my friends and relatives, does the place you are at present settled at answer this purpose ? Do you not live in the very road the contending parties pass over when they go to fight each other ? Have you not discovered the footsteps of the Long Knives almost within sight of your
7) The allusion here is to the slaughter of the Conestoga Indians, of Pennsylvania, by a mob of whites, although they had taken refuge in Lan- caster jail.
8) A name given by the Indians to Col. Brodhead.
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towns, and seen the smoke arising from their camps ? Should not this be sufficient warning to you, and lead you to consult your own safety ? We have long since turned our faces towards your habitations, in the expectation of seeing you come from where you now are to us, where you would be out of danger ; but you were so engaged in praying that you did not discover our anxiety for your sakes.
" Friends and relatives !- Now listen to me and hear what I have to say to you. I am myself come to bid you rise and go with me to a secure place. Do not, my friends, covet the land you now hold under cultivation. I will conduct you to a country9 equally good, where your fields shall yield you abundant crops, and where your cattle shall find abun- dant pasture ; where there is plenty of game ; where your women and children, together with yourselves, will live in peace and safety ; where no Long Knife shall ever molest you. Nay, I will live between you and them, and not even suffer them to frighten you. There you can worship your God without fear. Here, where you are, you cannot do this. Think on what I have now said to you, and believe that if you stay where you now are, one day or the other, the Long Knives will, in their usual way, speak fine words to you, and at the same time murder you."
In the course of an hour, the Christian Indians replied to the foregoing address with thanks for the kind expressions of their friends and relatives, but stating that they were unwilling to believe that their American brethren, against whom they had never committed a hostile act, should inflict such injuries upon them. They hinted that their only danger
9) Here Heckewelder adds in a note, "the Miami country." There is reason to believe that after this chief led his band from Tuscaroras, (the upper forks of Muskingum) he emigrated, perhaps not immediately, to the Miami, or Maumce River, near the junction of the Auglaize.
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grew out of the fact that war-parties, like the present, by going or returning through their villages, might draw an enemy upon them-otherwise they had no fears. As to the invitation to leave their settlements, they objected that they were much too heavy (in possession of too much property, provisions, etc.,) to think of rising and going with their friends and relatives.
Pachgantschihilas, after another consultation with his cap- tains, repeated his former warning, but disclaimed any pur- pose of compelling the Moravians to leave their settlements. He requested, in conclusion, that any who chose to avoid the dangers which he anticipated, might be free to accept his protection, to which the missionaries assured him there would be no objection. The next day, the chief and his warriors proceeded to Salem, where a feast had been pre- . pared for them under the direction of Glikhikan, who came forth to greet and welcome his guests. The warriors ap- proached gravely and decorously, without a yell or shout. When they arrived in the centre of the village, opposite the chapel and the residence of Heckewelder, Pachgantschihilas ordered a halt, and publicly pronounced a warm eulogy upon the believing Indians. He then dismissed them to the enter- tainment which had been provided in a grove of sugar-maple, while the chief himself, accompanied by two Shawanese and two Delaware war-captains, repaired to the house of Hecke- welder, in whom he recognized the youthful pall-bearer at the funeral of his favorite wife, nineteen years before, at Tuscaroras. Here, where also were assembled the national assistants of the mission, he repeated his friendly assurances, and soon after departed with his warriors, having first pro- claimed from the centre of the street, in a tone audible to all the inhabitants, that " if at any time they should hear it
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said that Pachgantschihilas was an enemy to the believing Indians, they should consider such words as lies."
It was from the English quarter that the first serious inter- ruption to the peaceful pursuits of the Moravian community proceeded. The tory leaders of the Ohio savages, McKee, Elliott and Simon Girty, were extremely hostile, and are charged with having instigated several attempts to assassi- nate or seize the missionaries. Baffled in these, by the vigilance and devotion of the Christian Indians, they repre- sented to the British commandant at Detroit, Col. Depeyster, that the missionaries were partizans and spies of Congress, and that their influence was extremely prejudicial to the British interest. That officer was induced to insist upon their removal from the vicinity of Pittsburgh, and early in 1781, his wishes were communicated to the great council of the Six Nations, assembled at Niagara, by whom a message was sent to the Ottawas and Chippewas to the following effect: " We herewith make you a present of the Christian Indians on the Muskingum to make broth of ;" an expression well understood to mean : "We desire you to put those people to death." But those two nations, being a branch of the Del- aware stock, and ranking as their grandchildren, replied : "We have no cause for doing this." The Wyandots, at first, were even more disinclined to assume the ungrateful task, because the Detroit division of the tribe held the rela- tion of guardian or protector to the Christian Indians among themselves, who were the converts of Catholic missionaries, and they knew no sectarian distinction between the Catholic Wyandot and the Protestant Delaware or Mohican, while Pomoacan, or the Half King, at Upper Sandusky, had hith- erto avowed and conducted himself as a friend and champion of the Muskingum mission. But Captain Pipe and his fol-
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lowers were now the neighbors of Half King, at Upper San- dusky, and the latter was persuaded to lead a body of two hundred warriors against the Moravian towns. Heckewelder, after the arrival of some reinforcements, states the whole force at three hundred men, and classifies them as Wyandots from Upper Sandusky, commanded by Half King; another band of Wyandots from Detroit and Lower Sandusky, com- manded by Kuhn, a head war-chief of the latter place ; a party of Delawares from Upper Sandusky, led by the war- chiefs Pipe and Wingemund ; about forty Muncies, also from Upper Sandusky (probably under the apostate Newalike) ; two Shawanese captains, named by the traders John and Thomas Snake, with a few warriors from the Scioto ; several straggling Indians of the Mohegan and Ottawa tribes, and Elliott, whose rank in the British service was Captain, with his attendant Michael Herbert and Alexander McCormick, the bearer of a British flag, and a small train of unarmed Wyandots, men and women, with horses, who had come to assist in removing the booty.
When this formidable band approached Salem, the Half King sent a message to the Christian Indians, desiring them to fear nothing, adding that he came himself to see that no injury should be done to them ; but having good words to speak, he wished to know which of their settlements would be most convenient for a meeting. Now, as Gnadenhutten was in every respect the most proper place, it was accor- dingly fixed upon. The warriors, therefore, pitched their camp, on the 11th of August, on the west side of Gnaden- hutten, and were treated in the most liberal manner.
On the 20th of August, the Half King appointed a meet- ing of the believing Indians and their teachers, and delivered the following speech :
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" Cousins ! ye believing Indians in Gnadenhutten, Schoen- brun and Salem! I am much concerned on your account, perceiving that you live in a dangerous spot. Two powerful, angry and merciless gods stand ready, opening their jaws wide against each other ; you are setting down between both, and thus in danger of being devoured and ground to powder by the teeth of either one or the other, or of both. It is, therefore, not advisable for you to stay here any longer. Consider your young people, your wives and your children, and preserve their lives, for here they must all perish. I therefore take you by the hand, lift you up, and place you in or near my dwelling, where you will be safe and dwell in peace. Do not stand looking at your plantations and houses, but arise and follow me. Take also your teachers with you, and worship God in the place to which I shall lead you, as you have been accustomed to do. You shall likewise find provi- sions, and our father beyond the lake (meaning the governor of Detroit) will care for you. This is my message, and I am come purposely to deliver it."
He then delivered a string of wampum, and the mission- aries and Indian assistants of the three settlements met in conference to consider this unexpected address, and on the 21st, the latter delivered the following answer to the Half King :
" Uncle ! and ye captains of the Delawares and Muncies, our friends and countrymen ! Ye Shawanese, our nephews, and all ye other people here assembled! We have heard your words ; but have not seen the danger so great, that we might not stay here. We keep peace with all men and have nothing to do with the war, nor do we wish or desire anything but to be premitted to enjoy rest and peace. You see your- selves, that we cannot rise immediately and go with you, for 15*
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we are heavy, and time is required to prepare for it. But we will keep and consider your words, and let you, uncle ! know our answer next winter, after the harvest ; upon this you may rely."
The Half King certainly, and perhaps Captain Pipe, were not disposed to press the matter further, and in the Indian camp the current was so strongly in favor of the Christian Indians, that some were disposed to make a shooting target of the British flag, as a retaliation upon the agency of Captain Elliot. That officer, whose zeal for the English cause was stimulated by the prospect of pecuniary advantage in the sacrifice of the stock and other valuable property of the mission, labored zealously to remove the reluctance of Half King and Pipe. He represented to them that the English Governor at Detroit would be greatly dissatisfied, if they returned without the missionaries. It unfortunately happened that two Moravian Indians, whom the missionaries had dispatched to Pittsburgh with information of the existing state of things, were intercepted by the savages, and this circumstance was exaggerated by Elliot into a proof, not only that the missionaries were leagued with their enemies, but that they were instigating a hostile expedition against the party of Half King and Pipe. This turn of affairs greatly exas- perated those chiefs. At a second council, held on the 25th, Half King had seemed to waver-at least he listened to the remonstrances of Glikhikan and his associates in silence- but in his altered humor he no longer hesitated. A third council was convened on the second of September, before which Zeisberger, Senseman and Heckewelder, with some of their assistants, were summoned, and Half King insisted upon their giving an immediate answer, whether they would go with him or not, without retiring to consult upon it. The
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missionaries appealed to their former answer-the assembly broke up without debate and in some confusion, and soon afterwards Zeisberger, Senseman and Heckewelder, were vio- lently seized and imprisoned. They were voluntarily joined by their associates, William Edwards, who was determined to accept no exemption from their fate : and during that night and the subsequent day their residences were pillaged. The other missionaries, Young and Youngman, were also impris- oned, although the latter was released the next day. The wives and children of the five missionaries were brought to Gnadenhutten as captives, but were soon released, as were the missionaries themselves, after five days of close confine- ment and distressing anxiety.
The life of Isaac Glikhikan was endangered by the heroic act of a young Indian relative, who rode Captain Pipe's best horse to Pittsburgh with the news of the recent violence. As soon as her departure was discovered, she was instantly pursued, but as she could not be overtaken, the savages were enraged in the highest degree, and a party of warriors immediately started to Salem and brought Isaac Glikhikan bound to Gnadenhutten, singing a death song. Loskiel relates that while the savages were binding him, perceiving that they scemed much terrified, he encouraged them, saying, "For- merly, when I was ignorant of God, I should not have suffered any one of you to touch me. But now, having been converted unto him, through mercy, I am willing to suffer all things for his sake. He no sooner arrived in the camp but a general uproar ensued, the savages demanding that he should be cut in pieces. The Delawares, who hated him more particularly for his conversion, thirsted for his blood, but the Half King interfering, would not suffer him to be killed. However, they examined him very severely, and though his innocence
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was clearly proved, they attacked him with opprobious lan- guage. After some hours' confinement, he was set at liberty. Although the young woman reached Pittsburgh, the comman- dant there deemed it too late, or otherwise unadvisable, to attempt a forcible rescue. It was a prudent decision, and probably prevented a massacre of the missionaries and their families.
On the 10th, the Indians resumed their outrages to such a degree, that emigration seemed the desirable alterna- tive. It was accordingly proposed to the congregations, who sorrowfully assented. "But they never," says Loskiel, " for- sook any country with more reluctance. They were now obliged to forsake three beautiful settlements, Gnadenhutten, Salem and Schoenbrun, and the greatest part of their pos- sessions in them. They had already lost above two hundred head of horned cattle, and four hundred hogs. Besides this, they left a great quantity of Indian corn in store, above three hundred acres of corn land, where the harvest was just ripening, besides potatoes, cabbage, and other roots and gar- den fruits in the ground. According to a moderate calcula- tion, their loss was computed at twelve thousand dollars or two thousand pounds. But what gave them most pain, was the total loss of all books and writings, for the instruction of their youth. These were all burnt by the savages."
On the third day after their departure, they arrived at Goschocking, where a short halt was made to hunt a tamed buffalo cow, which was shot as it came to the river to drink. Here Elliott left for the Scioto to meet McKee, greatly to the relief of the Moravian teachers. They then ascended the Walhonding, partly by water and partly along the banks of that stream. On the 19th, two of their best canoes, heavily laden with provisions were sunk in a violent storm
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of wind and rain, and the women and children suffered severely from exposure. Half King halted to give the encampment an opportunity to dry their clothes and bag- gage, and hence dispatched a war-party to the Ohio. " While they were marching so proudly through our camp," adds Heckewelder, "they were not aware of what would befall them: they were defeated with the loss of some of the party, among whom were the Half King's two sons."
At Gockhosink, or the "habitation of owls," (probably Owl Creek, now Vernon River) they left the river, travel- ing altogether by land, and on the 11th of October, (a cal- endar month in making a journey of one hundred and twenty-five miles) they arrived at the Sandusky River. Here the Half King left them, and after roving to and fro for some time, they "pitched upon the best spot they could find in the dreary waste, and built small huts of logs and bark, to screen themselves from the cold, having neither beds nor blankets, and being reduced to the greatest poverty and want. The savages had by degrees stolen every thing both from the missionaries and the Indians on the journey, only leaving them the needful utensils for making maple sugar." Loskiel mentions as an extraordinary proof of the general distress, that "even the missionaries, who had hith- erto always lived upon their own produce, were now obliged to receive alms, they and their families being supported by contributions gathered in the congregation." A party was sent back to the Muskingum to gather a portion of the corn yet standing in the fields; and returned with about four hundred bushels. Six of their number including the mis- sionary Shebosch, were taken prisoners at Schoenbrun, and carried to Pittsburgh, but were released soon after their arrival there.
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The month of October had not passed, before a message was received from the British commmandant at Detroit, requiring the missionaries to appear before him. On the 25th, Zeisberger, Heckewelder, Senseman and Edwards, with four Indian assistants, started upon the journey, and after enduring the hardships and dangers of the land route to the mouth of the Maumee River, (called Tawa or Ottawa by Heckewelder,) and thence along the western shore of Lake Erie, they reached Detroit at the expiration of nine days. In their first interview with the Governor, Arend Schuyler Depeyster, he informed them that the reason of calling them from their settlements on the Muskingum, was because he had heard that they carried on a correspondence with the Americans to the prejudice of the English interest. The missionaries justified themselves from such an imputa tion, and a further investigation was postponed until the arrival of Captain Pipe. Fortunately, that chief was not accompanied by Elliott or Girty, and when he was con- fronted with the missionaries on the 9th of November, he bore a frank and honorable testimony to their impartiality and worth, and in answer to a direct appeal by the Gover- nor, advised that they should be allowed to return to their congregations. "I never witnessed," Heckewelder piously observes, "a more manifest instance of the powerful work- ings of conscience than during the whole of this transaction. Of course, all who were present, immediately acquitted us of all the charges brought against us; expressing their sin- cere regret that we had innocently suffered so much."
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