USA > Ohio > History of the state of Ohio > Part 8
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
"This night the wind fell, and the next morning the lake was tolerably calm, and we embarked without difficulty, and paddled along near the shore, until we came to the mouth of the Cayahaga, which empties into Lake Erie on the south side betwixt Canesadooharie and Presque Isle.
" We turned up Cayahaga and encamped, where we staid and hunted for several days; and so we kept moving and hunting until we came to the forks of Cayahaga.
"This is a very gentle river, and but few ripples, or swift running places, from the mouth to the forks. Deer here were tolerably plenty, large and fat; but bear and other game scarce. The upland is hilly, and principally second and third rate land; the timber chiefly black oak, white oak, hickory, dog-wood, &c. The bottoms are rich and large, and the timber is walnut, locust, mulberry, sugar-tree, red haw, black haw, wild apple-trees, &c. The west branch of this river interlocks with the cast branch of Muskingum, and the east branch with the Big Beaver creek that empties into the Ohio about thirty miles below Pittsburgh.
106
HISTORY OF OHIO.
"From the forks of Cayahaga to the east branch of Mus- kingum, there is a carrying place, where the Indians carry their canoes, &c., from the waters of Lake Erie into the waters of the Ohio.
" From the forks, I went over with some hunters to the east branch of Muskingum, where they killed several deer, a number of beavers, and returned heavy laden with skins and meat, which we carried on our backs, as we had no horses.
" The land here is chiefly second and third rate, and the timber chiefly oak and hickory. A little above the forks, on the east branch of Cayahaga, are considerable rapids, very rocky for some distance, but no perpendicular falls."
From the east branch of the Muskingum, the party went forty miles northeast to Beaver creek, "near a little lake or pond which is about two miles long and one broad, and a re- markable place for beaver." After various adventures in pursuit of beaver and other game, they went in February, 1757, to the Big Beaver, and in March returned to the forks of Cuyahoga. Here occurred a lesson upon profane swear- ing, which is not unworthy of repetition :
"I remember that Tecaughretanego, when something dis- pleased him, said 'God damn it.' I asked him if he knew what he then said ? He said he did, and mentioned one of their degrading expressions, which he supposed to be the meaning, or something like the meaning of what he had said. I told him that it did not bear the least resemblance to it ; that what he had said was calling upon the Great Spirit to punish the object he was displeased with. He stood for some time amazed, and then said, if this be the meaning of these words, what sort of people are the whites? When the tra- ders were among us, these words seemed to be intermixed
107
OHIO ONE HUNDRED YEARS SINCE.
with all their discourse. He told me to reconsider what I had said, for he thought I must be mistaken in my definition ; if I was not mistaken, he said the traders applied these words not only wickedly, but oftentimes very foolishly, and contrary to sense or reason. He said he remembered once of a trader's accidentally breaking his gun lock, and on that occasion calling out aloud, 'God damn it'-surely, said he, the gun lock was not an object worthy of punishment for Owananeeyo, or the Great Spirit ; he also observed the tra- ders often used this expression when they were in a good humor and not displeased with any thing. I acknowledged that the traders used this expression very often, in a most irrational, inconsistent and impious manner ; yet I still as- serted that I had given the true meaning of these words. He replied, if so, the traders are as bad as Oonasharoona, or the underground inhabitants, which is the name they give to devils, as they entertain a notion that their place of residence is under the earth."
Making a "large chestnut canoe," the party " embarked," had an agreeable passage down the Cuyahoga and along the south side of Lake Erie, until they passed the mouth of San- dusky ; then the wind arose, and they put in at the mouth of the Miami of the Lake, at Cedar Point, and sailed thence in a few days for Detroit. After remaining in the Wyandot and Ottawa villages opposite Fort Detroit until November, a number of families prepared for their winter hunt, and agreed to cross the lake together. Here occurs a description of the Island Region of Lake Erie :
" We encamped at the mouth of the river the first night, and a council was held whether we should cross through by the three islands, [meaning, of course, East Sister, Middle Sister and West Sister,] or coast round the lake. These
108
HISTORY OF OHIO.
islands lie in a line across the lake, and are just in sight of each other. Some of the Wyandots or Ottawas frequently make their winter hunt on these islands ; though excepting wild fowl and fish, there is scarcely any game here but rac- coons, which are amazingly plenty and exceedingly large and fat, as they feed upon the wild rice, which grows in abun- dance in wet places round these islands. It is said that each hunter, in one winter, will catch one thousand raccoons.
"It is a received opinion among the Indians, that the snakes and raccoons are transmigratory, and that a great many of the snakes turn raccoons every fall, and the rac- coons snakes every spring. This notion is founded on obser- vations made on the snakes and raccoons in this island.
" As the raccoons here lodge in rocks, the trappers make their wooden traps at the mouth of the holes ; and as they go daily to look at their traps, in the winter season they commonly find them filled with raccoons ; but in the spring, or when the frost is out of the ground, they say they find their traps filled with large rattle-snakes ; and therefore con- clude that the raccoons are transformed. They also say that the reason why they are so plenty in the winter, is, every fall the snakes turn raccoons again.
" I told them that though I had never landed on any of these islands, yet from the numerous accounts I had received, I believed that both snakes and raccoons were plenty there ; but no doubt they all remained there both summer and win- ter, only the snakes were not to be seen in the latter ; yet I did not believe that they were transmigratory. These is- lands are but seldom visited, because early in the spring and late in the fall it is dangerous sailing in their bark canoes ; and in the summer they are so infested with various kinds of serpents (but chiefly rattle-snakes) that it is dangerous landing.
109
OHIO ONE IIUNDRED YEARS SINCE.
" I shall now quit this digression and return to the result of the council at the mouth of the river. We concluded to coast it round the lake, and in two days we came to the mouth of the Miami of the Lake, and landed on Cedar Point, where we remained several days. Here we held a council, and concluded we would take a driving hunt in concert and in partnership.
" The river in this place is about a mile broad, and as it and the lake form a kind of neck, which terminates in a point, all the hunters, (which were fifty-three,) went up the river, and we scattered ourselves from the river to the lake. When first we began to move, we were not in sight of each other, but as we all raised the yell, we could move regularly together by the noise. At length we came in sight of each other, and appeared to be marching in good order. Before we came to the point, both the squaws and boys in the canoes were scattered up the river and along the lake, to prevent the deer from making their escape by water. As we advanced near the point the guns began to crack slowly, and after some time the firing was like a little engagement. The squaws and boys were busy tomahawking the deer in the water, and we shooting them down on the land. We killed in all about thirty deer, though a great many made their escape by water.
"We had now great feasting and rejoicing, as we had plenty of hominy, venison, and wild fowl. The geese at this time appeared to be preparing to move southward. It might be asked what is meant by the geese preparing to move. The Indians represent them as holding a great council at this time concerning the weather, in order to con- clude upon a day, that they may all at or near one time leave the northern lakes, and wing their way to the southern
110
HISTORY OF OHIO.
bays. When matters are brought to a conclusion, and the time appointed that they are to take wing, then they say a great number of expresses are sent off, in order to let the different tribes know the result of this council, that they may all be in readiness to move at the time appointed. As there was a great commotion among the geese at this time, it would appear from their actions, that such a council had been held. Certain it is, that they are led by instinct to act in concert, and to move off regularly after their leaders.
"Here our company separated. The chief part of them went up the Miami river, that empties into Lake Erie at Cedar Point, whilst we proceeded on our journey in company with Tecaughretanego, Tontileaugo, and two families of the Wyandots.
"As cold weather was now approaching, we began to feel the doleful effects of extravagantly and foolishly spending the large quantity of beaver we had taken in our last winter's hunt. We were all nearly in the same circumstances ; scarcely one had a shirt to his back; but each of us had an old blanket which we belted round us in the day, and slept in at night, with a deer or bear skin under us for our bed.
" When we came to the falls of Sandusky, we buried our birch bark canoes as usual, at a large burying place for that purpose, a little below the falls. At this place the river falls about eight feet over a rock, but not perpendicularly. With much difficulty we pushed up our wooden canoes; some of us went up the river, and the rest by land with the horses, until we came to the great meadows or prairies that lie between Sandusky and Scioto.
" When we came to this place, we met with some Ottawa hunters, and agreed with them to take what they call a ring hunt, in partnership. We waited until we expected rain
111
OHIO ONE HUNDRED YEARS SINCE.
was near falling to extinguish the fire, and then we kindled a large circle in the prairie. At this time, or before the bucks began to run, a great number of deer lay concealed in the grass, in the day, and moved about in the night; but as the fire burned in towards the centre of the circle, the deer fled before the fire; the Indians were scattered also at some distance before the fire, and shot them down every opportu- nity, which was very frequent, especially as the circle became small. When we came to divide the deer, there were about ten to cach hunter, which were all killed in a few hours. The rain did not come on that night to put out the outside circle of the fire, and as the wind arose, it extended through the whole prairie, which was about fifty miles in length, and in some places nearly twenty in breadth. This put an end to our ringhunting this season, and was in other respects an injury to us in the hunting business; so that upon the whole, we received more harm than benefit by our rapid hunting frolic. We then moved from the north end of the glades, and encamped at the carrying place.
" This place is in the plains, betwixt a creek that empties into Sandusky, and one that runs into Scioto; and at the time of high water, or the spring season, there is but about one half mile of portage, and that very level and clear of rocks, timber or stones, so that with a little digging, there may be water carriage the whole way from Scioto to Lake Eric.
"From the mouth of Sandusky to the falls, is chiefly first rate land, lying flat or level, intermixed with large bodies of clear meadows, where the grass is exceeding rank, and in many places three or four feet high. The timber is oak, hickory, walnut, cherry, black ash, elm, sugar tree, buckeye, locust and beech. In some places there is wet timber land
112
HISTORY OF OHIO.
-the timber in these places is chiefly water-ash, sycamore or button-wood."
"From the falls to the prairies, the land lies well to the sun; it is neither too flat nor too hilly, and is chiefly first rate; the timber nearly the same as below the falls, except- ing the water-ash. There are also here some plats of beech land, that appear to be second rate, as they frequently pro- duce spicewood. The prairie appears to be a tolerably fer- tile soil, though in many places too wet for cultivation; yet I apprehend it would produce timber, were it only kept from fire.
"The Indians are of the opinion that the squirrels plant all the timber, as they bury a number of nuts for food, and only one at a place. When a squirrel is killed, the various kinds of nuts thus buried, will grow.
"I have observed that when these prairies have only escaped fire for one year, near where a single tree stood, there was a young growth of timber supposed to be planted by squir- rels. But when the prairies were again burned, all this young growth was immediately consumed; as the fire rages in the grass to such a pitch that numbers of raccoons are thereby burned to death.
" On the west side of the prairie, or betwixt that and the Scioto, there is a large body of first rate land-the timber, walnut, locust, sugar-tree, buckeye, cherry, ash, elm, mul- berry, plum-trees, spice-wood, black haw, red haw, oak and hickory."
After passing the winter on the Olentangy, a tributary of the Scioto, the old Indian and his young companion returned and proceeded down Sandusky, killing in the pas- sage "four bears and a number of turkeys." We quote again :
113
OHIO ONE HUNDRED YEARS SINCE.
" When we came to the little lake at the mouth of Sandusky, we called at a Wyandot town that was then there, called Sunyendeand, [he speaks as if it was a first visit, whereas we have devoted a large space to his former sojourn there.] Here we diverted ourselves several days by catching rock fish in a small creek, the name of which is also Sunyendeand, which signifies rock fish. They fished in the night with lights, and struck the fish with gigs or spears. The rock fish there, when they begin first to run up the creek to spawn, are exceedingly fat, sufficiently so to fry themselves. The first night we scarcely caught fish enough for present use for all that was in the town.
"The next morning I met with a prisoner at this place by the name of Thompson, who had been taken from Virginia. He told me if the Indians would only omit disturbing the fish for one night, he could catch more fish than the whole town could make use of. I told Mr. Thompson that if he knew he could do this, that I would use my influence with the Indians to let the fish alone for one night. I applied to the chiefs, who agreed to my proposal, and said they were anxious to see what the Great Knife (as they called the Vir- ginian) could do. Mr. Thompson, with the assistance of some other prisoners, set to work, and made a hoop net of elm bark; they then cut down a tree across the creek, and stuck in stakes at the lower side of it to prevent the fish from passing up, leaving only a gap at one side of the creek ; here he sat with his net, and when he felt the fish touch the net he drew it up, and frequently would haul out two or three rock fish that would weigh about five or six pounds each. He continued at this until he had hauled out about a wagon load, and then left the gap open, in order to let them pass up, for they could not go far on account of the shallow water. 5*
114
HISTORY OF OHIO.
Before day Mr. Thompson shut it up, to prevent them from passing down, in order to let the Indians have some diversion in killing them in daylight.
" When the news of the fish came to town, the Indians all collected and with surprise beheld the large heap of fish, and applauded the ingenuity of the Virginian. When they saw the number of them that were confined in the water above the tree, the young Indians ran back to the town, and in a short time returned with their spears, gigs, bows and arrows, &c., and were the chief part of that day engaged in killing rock fish, insomuch that we had more than we could use or preserve. As we had no salt or any way to keep them, they lay upon the banks, and after some time great numbers of turkey-buzzards and eagles collected together and devoured them."
But enough of our Ohio Crusoe. His remaining adven- tures, before his restoration to his friends in 1760, consisted of a trip to Detroit, another hunt up Sandusky and down Scioto, and a journey to Caughnewaga, "a very ancient In- dian town about nine miles above Montreal," besides an im- prisonment of four months in Montreal. This picture of northern Ohio, a century since, has the merit of novelty at least. That it is authentic, there can be no doubt, for in several historians of authority occur frequent and respectful reference to the narrative from whose pages we have drawn so copiously.
The geography of the last foregoing paragraphs, is less difficult of explanation than in the first portion of the chap ter. The falls of Sandusky are doubtless the same as the rapids mentioned in the treaty of Greenville, near the site of Fremont, and the Sandusky plains, which were burnt over by the ring hunt, are in Marion, Wyandot and Crawford counties.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SURRENDER OF THE WESTERN POSTS TO ENGLAND.
THE fall of Fort Du Quesne, in 1758, terminated French dominion upon the Ohio, but the narrative of Forbes' expe- dition against that important stockade is incomplete, if the adventures of Charles Frederic Post, the Moravian envoy of Pennsylvania to the Ohio tribes, were entirely omitted. The Moravian annals first mention Post as laboring at Shekomeko, in 1743, near the present site of Poughkeepsie, in Eastern New York.1 He married a baptized Indian woman, was imprisoned in 1745, on an unfounded charge of instigating the New York tribes to join the French, suggested by efforts to learn their dialects ; resumed his missionary labors among the Connecticut Indians, and finally sojourned in Pennsylvania, when his influence with the Delaware chiefs was at length recognized by the colonial authorities as their most efficient me- diation with the Western tribes. He was accordingly induced to make two expeditions into the heart of the enemy's coun- try in the summer and autumn of 1758, and by his confer- ences with the representatives of eight nations, withheld them from an attack upon Forbes' expedition, and finally concluded a peace. His route ascended the Susquehanna, crossed to the Alleghany, opposite French creek, and thence to a town on the Big Beaver creek, called " Kushkushkee," containing ninety houses and two hundred Delaware warriors. The decisive conference was held, however, opposite Fort Du
1) History of Moravian Missions, Part ii, p. 37.
(115)
ยท
116
HISTORY OF OHIO.
Quesne, whither the savages assured Post " they would carry him in their bosom, and he need fear nothing "-a pledge which was honorably redeemed. On the 24th of August, the Moravian, with his Indian protectors, reached the point opposite the fort, where followed a series of speeches, expla- nations and agreements. At this interview, though resulting in favor of an union with England, the Indians still complained bitterly of the disposition which the whites showed in claiming and seizing their lands. "Why did you not fight your bat- tles at home, or on the sea, instead of coming into our coun- try to fight them ?" they asked again and again, and were mournful when they thought of the future. " Your heart is good," they said to Post, "you speak sincerely ; but we know there is always a great number who wish to get rich ; they never have enough ; look ! we do not want to be rich, and take away what others have." "The white people think we have no brains in our head; that they are big, and we a little handful ; but remember, when you hunt for a rat- tlesnake you cannot find it, and perhaps it will bite you . before you see it."
The humble Moravian played no unimportant part in restoring to His British Majesty the key of western America -Fort Du Quesne,-and certainly warded an Indian attack upon Forbes' army.2
It is probable that French garrisons remained at Sandusky, and the forts on French creek, for a while after the occupa- tion of Fort Du Quesne by the English ; but as the contest in Canada approached its crisis, the troops were gradually with- drawn.
We have already given the 8th of September, 1760, as
2) Perkins' Writings, vol. ii, pp. 216-17 ; see also Post's Journals in Craig's Olden Time, vol. i, pp. 98, 145
117
MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS.
the date of the surrender of Canada to the English by the French Governor, Vaudrueil. Maj. Robert Rogers, a native of New Hampshire and an associate of Putnam and Stark, was ordered to take possession of the Western forts. He left Montreal on the 13th of September, with two hundred rangers, who were " half hunters, half woodsmen, trained in a disci- pline of their own, and armed, like Indians, with hatchet, gun and knife." Rogers is described as follows: "their com- mander was a man tall and vigorous in person and rough in feature. He was versed in all the arts of woodcraft, saga- cious, prompt and resolute, yet so cautious withal that he sometimes incurred the unjust charge of cowardice. His mind, naturally active, was by no means uncultivated, and his books and unpublished letters bear witness that his style as a writer was not contemptible. But his vain, restless, grasping spirit, and more doubtful honesty, proved the ruin of an enviable reputation. Six years after his Western expedition, he was tried by a court martial for a meditated act of treason, the surrender of Fort Michillimacinac into the hands of the Span- iards, who were at that time masters of Upper Louisiana. Not long after, if we may trust his own account, he passed over to the Barbary States, entered the service of the Dey of Algiers, and fought two battles under his banners. At the opening of the war of independence, he returned to his native country, where he made professions of patriotism, but was strongly suspected by many, including Washington him- self, of acting the part of a spy. In fact, he soon openly espoused the British cause, and received a colonel's commis- sion from the crown. His services, however, proved of little consequence. In 1778, he was proscribed and banished, under the act of New Hampshire, and the remainder of his
118
HISTORY OF OHIO.
life was passed in such obscurity that it is difficult to deter- mine when and where he died.3
On the 4th of November, Rogers left Presque Isle, and thence went slowly up Lake Erie in fifteen whale boats. From this point we prefer to give his own words. In 1765 he published in London a Journal of his Military Life, and also a " Concise Account of North America," from which we gather the particulars of his voyage along the southern coast of Lake Erie :
" We left Presque Isle," says Rogers, in his Journal, " the 4th of November, kept a western course, and by night had advanced twenty miles.
" The badness of the weather obliged us to lie by all the next day ; and as the wind continued very high, we did not advance more than ten or twelve miles the 6th, on a course west-south-west.
"We set out very early on the 7th, and came to the mouth of Chogage River ;4 here we met with a party of Attawawa Indians, just arrived from Detroit. They were an embassy from Ponteack,5 of some of his warriors, and some of the chiefs of the tribes that are under him ; the purport of which was, to let me know that Ponteack was at a small distance, coming peaceably, and that he desired me to halt my detach- ment till such time as he could see me with his own eyes. His ambassadors had also orders to inform me that he was Ponteack, the king and lord of the country I was in.
3) Parkman's Pontiac, 145.
4) This is probably Geauga, or Grand River.
5) In a previous paragraph, Pontiac is described as the head of an Indian Confederacy of the lakes. "He puts on an air of majesty and princely grandeur, and is greatly honored and revered by his subjects," having cer- tainly "the largest empire and greatest authority of any Indian chief that has appeared on the continent since our acquaintance with it."
119
ROGERS" WESTERN EXPEDITION.
" At first salutation, when we met, he demanded my busi- ness into his country, and how it happened that I dared to enter it without his leave. When I informed him that it was not with any design against the Indians that I came, but to remove the French out of his country, who had been an obstacle in our way to mutual peace and commerce, and acquainted him with my instructions for that purpose ; I at the same time delivered him several friendly messages, or belts of wampum, which he received, but gave me no other answer than that he stood in the path I traveled in till next morning, giving me a small string of wampum, as much as to say, I must not march further without his leave. When he departed for the night, he inquired whether I wanted anything that his country afforded, and he would send his warriors to fetch it. I assured him that any provisions they brought should be paid for ; and the next day we were supplied by them with several bags of parched corn, and some other necessaries. At our second meeting he gave me the pipe of peace, and both of us by turns smoked with it, and he assured me he had made peace with me and my detachment; that I might pass through his country unmolested and relieve the French garrison ; and that he would protect me and my party from any insults that might be offered or intended by the In- dians ; and as an earnest of his friendship, he sent one hun- dred warriors to protect and assist us in driving one hundred fat cattle, which we had brought for the use of the detach- ment from Pittsburgh, by the way of Presque Isle. He likewise sent to the several Indian towns on the south side and west end of Lake Erie, to inform them that I had his consent to come into the country. He attended me constantly after this interview till I arrived at Detroit, and while I remained in the country, and was the means of preserving the detach-
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.