USA > Ohio > Auglaize County > History of western Ohio and Auglaize County, with illustrations and biographical sketches of pioneers and prominent public men > Part 29
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Toward evening, the suspicions of their captors had become so far dispelled, that a part of them began to ramble about the place selected for their encampment, in search of haws. As soon as they were out of sight Logan gave the signal of attack upon those who remained behind; they fired, and two of the enemy fell dead - the third being only wounded, required a second shot to dispatch him. When they had all fired three rounds apiece, the advantage was in favor of the three; having driven their adversaries a considerable distance, and cut them off from their horses. By the first fire, both Winnemac and Elliott fell; by the second a young Ottawa chief lost his life; and another of the enemy was mortally wounded about the con- clusion of the combat, at which time Logan himself as he was stooping down, received a ball just below the breast bone, which ranged downward and lodged under the skin on his back. In the mean time, Bright-Horn was also wounded, by a ball which passed through his thigh. As soon as Logan was shot, he ordered a retreat; himself and Bright-Horn, wounded as they were, jumped on the horses of the enemy and rode to Win- chester's camp, a distance of twenty miles in five hours. Captain Johnny, after taking the scalp of the Ottawa chief, also retreated in safety and arrived at the camp on the morning following. It was afterward ascertained that the two Indians of the British party, who were last wounded, died of their wounds, making in all five out of the seven who were slain by Logan and his companions.
It is said that no one more deeply regretted the fatal catas- trophe than the author of the charge upon Logan's integrity.
Logan was universally esteemed for his unquestioned brav- ery, his nobility of character, and his fidelity to the American cause. He lived two days after reaching camp, in extreme bodily pain. He was buried, with the honors of war, within the inclos-
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ure of Fort Winchester to prevent his enemies from disinterring the body to obtain his scalp.
Before his death he stated to his friend Mr. Oliver, that he prized his honor more than his life; and having now vindicated his reputation from the imputation cast upon it, he died satisfied. Logan's wife was taken prisoner by Colonel Hardin in 1789, and remained in his family until the treaty of Greenville. Her marriage to Logan occurred soon after the treaty. After his marriage, Logan formed a very strong attachment to Colonel Hardin, which continued unbroken until the time of his death. Logan upon his arrival at Fort Winchester sent for Colonel Hardin, whom he requested to see that what was due him for · his services should be paid over to his family, which was done.
Howe, in his History of Ohio, says that Colonel Johnston, in a communication to him, said that "Logan left a dying request that his two sons be sent to Kentucky, and there educated and brought up under the care of Colonel Hardin. As soon as peace and tranquillity were restored among the Indians, applica- tion was made to the chiefs to fulfill the wish of their dead friend to deliver up the boys, for conveyance to Frankfort, the residence of Major Hardin. The chiefs were embarrassed, and manifested an unwillingness to comply, and in this they were warmly supported by the mother of the children. On no account would they consent to send them so far away as Kentucky, but agreed that Colonel Johnston should take them and have them schooled at Piqua; it being the best that could be done, in com- pliance with the dying words of Logan, they were taken to this point, put to school, and boarded in a religious, respectable family. The mother of the boys, who was a bad woman, thwarted all the plans for their improvement, frequently taking them off for weeks, giving them bad advice, and even, on one or two occasions, brought whiskey to the school-house and made them drunk. In this way she continued to annoy the school, and finally took them altogether to raise with herself among the Shawnees, at Wapakoneta. I made several other attempts, dur- ing my connection with the Indians, to educate and train up to civilized life many of their youth, without any encouraging results - all of them proved failures. The children of. Logan, with their mother,. emigrated to the West twenty years ago, and have there become some of the wildest of their race."
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BUCKONGAHELAS.
The name of this distinguished Delaware chief has been variously spelled by different writers. Taylor, in his History of Ohio, gives the following spelling, taken from different authorities : Bockengehelas, Bukongehelas, Shingess, Bucken- gilla, and Pachgantschihillas. We have adopted the spelling used by Judge Burnett in his "Notes on the North-West."
The first information we have of this chief is from Wash- ington's diary. In his well known trip in 1753 across the Alle- ghanies to the forks of the Ohio, he records that "About two miles from this, on the south-east side of the river, at the place where the Ohio Company intended to erect a fort, lives Shingess, king of the Delawares." Washington called upon him to invite him to council at the Logtown. Shingess at first attended, but afterward made his wife's sickness an excuse for absence. He was probably in the French interest.
He was so active in the border war of 1755, that the Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania offered a reward of seven hundred dol- lars for his head, and that of Captain Jacobs.
Heckewelder says of Shingess, that he was "the greatest Delaware warrior of his time," and that were his war exploits on record, they would form an interesting document, though a shocking one. He gives him a good character and adds: "Pass- ing a day with him in the summer of 1762, at Tuscarora, on the Muskingum, near by where his two prisoner boys (about twelve years of age) were amusing themselves with his own boys, and he observing me looking that way, inquired what I was looking at. On my replying that I was looking at his prisoners, he said, 'When I first took them they were such, but they are now my children; eat their victuals out of the same bowl,' which was saying as much as that they, in all respects, were on an equal footing with his own children."
Shortly before Bouquet's expedition to the Muskingum, Shingess, or Buckongahelas moved to the west, and settled on the Maumee river. Later he moved up the Auglaize river and located at the Ottawa towns near Fort Amanda.
He and his tribe of warriors participated in the battles of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne.
Buckongahelas was not only a great, but a noble warrior. He took no delight in shedding blood. He had been so much
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under the influence of the Moravian missionaries that he might be almost deemed a civilized man. His magnanimity of char- acter was exhibited in 1792, when Colonel Hardin, Major Tru- man and several others, were sent, in May of that year, by Presi- dent Washington, with a flag of truce, to the Indian nations of the west. The commissioners proceeded on their way to a point about five miles west of Sidney in Shelby county, where they were taken prisoners by a party of Indians who treated them well at first and made many professions of friendship, but in the end took advantage of them, while off their guard, and murdered all of them, except William Smalley, who was con- ducted to Buckongahelas. "The chief told those that committed the murder he was very sorry they had killed the men. That instead of so doing, they should have brought them to the Indian towns; and then, if what they had to say had not been liked, it would have been time enough to have killed them then." Nothing, he said, "could justify them for putting them to death, as there was no chance for them to escape." The truth was, they killed them to plunder their effects. Buckongahelas took Smalley into his cabin, and showed him great kindness. While here with the chief, which was near a month, Mr. Smalley said the chief would not permit him to go abroad alone, for fear, he said, that the young Indians would kill him.
It is said that the conduct of the British, at the battle of the Fallen Timbers, forever changed the mind of this chief, as it did that of others, in regard to them. Buckongahelas said he would trust them no more.
Howe, in his "Historical Collections of Ohio," (old edition, page 29,) states that Judge Burnett attended court regularly at Wapakoneta and Detroit, and that on one of these occasions, while halting at Wapakoneta, he witnessed a game of ball among the people. Following the statement, he gives Judge Burnett's description of the game.
All the statements given in Judge Burnett's Notes show that Howe is mistaken as to where the game of ball was played.
Judge Burnett says "they arrive at the Ottawa town," which by a surveyor's line is about ten miles down the river from Wapakoneta. He says further, "the party were received by Buckongahelas." All the authorities agree that Buckongahelas lived at that point and was buried there.
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In the second paragraph, following his description of the ball game Judge Burnett says, "On their outward trip they took the route by Dayton, Piqua, Loramie's, St. Mary's, and the Ottawa town, on the Auglaize, and from thence down that river to Defiance; thence to the foot of the Rapids, and thence by River Raisin to Detroit."
It is not probable that he ever held court at Wapakoneta.
Buckongahelas was one of the chiefs who signed the Green -. ville treaty in 1795. He also signed all subsequent treaties up to August 18th, 1804.
Upon his return from Vincennes, he became sick, and died late in the fall of 1804. He is supposed to have been over a hun- dred years old.
JOHN WOLF, OR LAWATUCHEH.
This chief was known to all the early traders and pioneers as one of the most upright and reliable of the Indians. He was often employed by the white people to transport goods from Piqua to Fort Wayne and other remote points. He frequently accompanied Colonel Johnston, at the times of his disburse- ments of annuities to the different tribes. His son Henry Clay was named after Henry Clay of Kentucky, and was edu- cated at Upper Piqua, under the supervision of Colonel John- ston, at the expense of the Quakers. He afterwards became a leading chief, and was a man of considerable talent. He went to Kansas with his tribe, and lived many years after their removal.
Henry Harvey states that the committee of Friends who made the disbursements to the Indians in payment for their lands, found that they still had twenty dollars remaining, which they proposed to give to the chiefs, as they had spent several days with the committee when they were viewing the improve- ments. "The twenty dollars was paid over to the chiefs, but in a short time they returned, and informed us that they had concluded, as John Wolf had been sick for a long time, and wished to purchase a wagon to move west in, and lacked twenty dollars to enable him to buy the wagon, they wanted us to give him the money we had just paid to them, if we were willing. We agreed to it at once, of course, and were much struck with the simple, straightforward honesty of this much-abused people, and could exclaim, how many of our own officers, after receiv- ing only about fifty cents per day. and boarding themselves,
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would thus take their hard-earned wages and give it to a neigh- bor, in order to help him on account of being afflicted! I might remark that this John Wolf was a very industrious, hard work- ing man, had good possessions in Ohio, and was very much grieved at leaving them. He never recovered from his affliction, but lived and died in Kansas, a poor, disheartened man. He
WAYWELEAPY.
realized what he told me on leaving Ohio, that he could never do any more good in this world."
WAYWELEAPY.
A state of barbarism is said to be especially favorable to the production of sublimity of thought. The traditions, history, and early philosophy of Scotland, rehearsed from century to cen- tury, by the clan seers, have furnished an inexhaustible fund for the poet and writer of romance. The poet and romancer cannot fail to find imaginative themes, in the rehearsals of the
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sachems, and the orations of such chiefs as Pontiac, Logan, Cornstalk, Brant, Tecumseh, and Wayweleapy.
For depth of reasoning, and sublime diction, no chief ·ranked. higher in the councils of the Shawnees, than did Wayweleapy. There was a peculiarity in his eloquence that was difficult to describe. His graceful gestures, brilliant metaphors, musical voice, and with all, a countenance of varied expression, were such, that surveyors and other strangers passing through the. country listened to him with delight, although the words fell upon their ears in an unknown language. During the negotia- tions for the sale of their reserve at Wapakoneta, he addressed his people and Mr. Gardner several times. His refutation of Gardner's assumed superiority over the Indian race was com- plete, and full of irony.
Henry Harvey, in his history of the Shawnees, states that. "when the time for the removal of the Indians to the West arrived, Gardner desired to take them by way of Bellefontaine, Urbana, Xenia, Lebanon, and Lawrenceburgh - one hundred and fifty miles further than necessary. The chiefs notified him that they knew the road as well as he did, and would not go that way; that they would go by way of Greenville, Richmond, and Indianapolis. After their refusal to comply with Gardner's request, they were addressed by a disbursing agent, a young man from West Point, who urged them, in a speech of consider- able length, to take Gardner's advice; that if it was further it would cost them nothing, as the government would pay all expense, and that by going this route they would see several fine towns, farms and many white people.
"At the conclusion of the speech Wayweleapy arose with great dignity and complimented the young man by saying that he was pleased with his speech, and now he hoped all would be done about right, and that they would have no more trouble. He then turned to Gardner and gravely remarked to him: 'My friend, we, the chiefs, are old men; have been in council with such men as Governor Cass and John Johnston: tell the Presi- dent we don't do business with boys. Now, my friend, I have no more to say."
"When the speaker concluded his remarks, one general burst of laughter arose from the Indians, as well as the whites present."
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At the age of eighty years this grand old chief accompanied. his nation to Kansas, where he died four years later.
PHT, OR FALLEN TIMBERS.
so named from his being the sole surviving chief of his tribe at the battle of Presque Isle. "He was as peculiar in many respects. as his name - which, by the way, is pronounced Pe-aitch-ta. Under him the old Council House at Shawnee Town was built in 1831, but was not completed. His cabin stood but a few rods. north-west of the council-house. Here the chief, after a long sickness, died and was buried a short time before the removal of the Hog Creek Indians to Kansas. He was buried near his cabin in his garden. John F. Cole, of Lima, states that he was present at the burial of the old chief. . His grave was dug by his wife and daughter. Puncheons of proper size and thick- ness were split, and these substituted for a coffin. They were placed on their edges at the bottom of the grave, which was not over two feet deep, and a third one placed over the corpse, thus forming a rude coffin. There were many Shawnees present, and many little trinkets were deposited with the body. All seemed to be deeply affected. After the burial of the old chief, according to an old custom, the Shawnees slaughtered a beef, cooked and prepared the meat, and held a sort of feast. The old council-house was not fully completed until about 1832.
"Pht had a brother named Little Fox, who was an irrecon- cilable. Up to the departure of this Indian for Kansas he could not believe that he was doomed to leave Ohio."
TU-TAW.
This noted scout and mail carrier, during the campaigns of Wayne and Harrison was a half-breed Frenchman, a descend- ant of one of the early French traders. He did not accompany the Shawnees when they went West, preferring to live with more civilized people.
He had many hair-breadth escapes during the time that he was a carrier of dispatches between Cincinnati and Wayne's out- posts. In one instance he was attacked by a single Indian in which scalping-knives were the instruments of offense and defense. In the encounter the Indian attempted to stab Tu-Taw. He parried the thrust of the Indian, with his left hand, grasp-
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ing the murderous arm at the wrist, and dispatched the would- be assassin with his right hand. In the scuffle, however, the Indian succeeded in drawing the knife through his left hand, severing the tendons of three fingers. When the wound healed the fingers remained, ever afterward, as stiff as sticks.
When intoxicated, he was quarrelsome - always ready for a fight. The pugilists of his time feared the stiff fingers of his left hand more than they did his clenched fist.
After the wars were over, he made his home with Peter Hammel for a number of years. John Craft remembers that Tu-Taw assisted in binding wheat in one of the harvests of the time when he resided with Hammel, and that the hands were startled by a shriek from Tu-Taw, followed by an exclamation that he had been bitten by a rattle-snake. Upon examination it was found that he was bitten between the knee and ankle. He moved hurriedly to the river, a short distance away, and cut a section from a crawfish chimney, and placed it over the wound, the wound being within the ring. He also chewed the stalk of a weed, growing in abundance around him, and filled the ring with the masticated vegetable. The narrator states that he expe- rienced very little inconvenience from the bite.
The latter portion of Tu-Taw's life was spent in trapping, hunting, and fishing. When not engaged in those pursuits, his time was occupied in gardening for his neighbors, a species of labor in which he was an expert. The old patriot died in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and was buried in the old Du- chouquet cemetery.
FRANCIS DUCHOUQUET.
This noted Indian interpreter was the son of a half-blood French trader, who was engaged in trade with the Indians of northern Ohio and Michigan during the occupancy of that region by the French. Francis Duchouquet was born near Presque Isle, in 1751. After reaching manhood, he engaged in the fur trade, in which business he visited nearly all the tribes of Ohio and Indiana territories. In his trips to central Ohio he wooed and married a beautiful Shawnee maiden. After his marriage he lived on Mad River until the Indians were driven from that locality by General Clark. When the Shawnees moved to Wapakoneta, he accompanied them, and erected a dwelling- house and other buildings, on the north bank of the Auglaize
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river, near what is known at the present day as the Joseph Neff residence. Here he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1831.
His time was so engrossed with business that he did not participate in the wars of Western Ohio, further than to act as interpreter on important occasions.
While on a trading expedition among the Delaware Indians- in 1782, he visited a village near the present site of Crawfords- ville, and witnessed the torture and death of Colonel Crawford. It has been claimed that Duchouquet joined in the intercession made to save the life of Crawford. Duchouquet's description of the horrible scene agreed in every respect with the one given by Dr. Knight. He was never known, on any occasion, to partici- pate in any of the savage cruelties practised by the Indians on their captives. Although so closely related by blood to the Indians, his sympathies were always with the captive, and where- it was possible he rendered him assistance. As an example of his many noble acts, we cite the case of Charles Johnston, who- was captured on the Ohio river in 1790, and taken to Upper San- dusky. At Sandusky Johnston became acquainted with Duchou- quet, who was engaged in the purchase of furs. To him he recounted his adventures, and earnestly solicited his good offices in delivering him from the Indians. Duchouquet promptly assured him that every exertion should be used for that purpose, and lost no time in redeeming his pledge. That evening he spoke to Chickatommo, and offered a liberal ransom for the prisoner, but his efforts were fruitless. The Shawnee chief did not object to the price, but declared that no sum would induce him to give up the prisoner until they had first taken him to their towns. Soon afterward the Shawnee party engaged in a drinking bout. When their hearts were somewhat mellowed by rum, Duchou- quet repeated his offer, and was again peremptorily refused. Duchouquet then inquired the name of the town to which he was to be taken, and the fate which was in reserve for him, upon his arrival there.
To the first question Chickatommo promptly replied that the prisoner was to be carried to the Miami villages, but to the second he gave no satisfactory answer. The mention of the Miami villages extinguished every spark of hope which still existed in Johnston's breast, as those towns had heretofore been;
.
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the grave of every white prisoner who had visited them. At this juncture, fortune favored him. A Wyandot trader appeared, with several horses laden with kegs of rum, and in the course of two days completely stripped them of every skin, blanket and article of merchandise possessed by them.
On the morning of the third day, Chickatommo and his party awoke as from a dream and found themselves destitute, ragged, and poor. Ashamed of their condition, they appeared, of their own accord before Duchouquet, and declared that the scalp of the prisoner could be transported more easily than his person, but, if he still wished to purchase him, they would forego the expected entertainment of burning and scalping the prisoner, and would let him have the prisoner upon good terms. Duchou- quet eagerly accepted the offer, and instantly counted down six hundred silver brooches, the ordinary price of a prisoner. The Indians lost no time in delivering him into the trader's hands, and having taken an affectionate leave of him, they instantly set out for the Ohio river.
After exposure to numerous dangers Johnston and Duchou- quet succeeded in reaching Lower Sandusky, from which point, by the aid of traders, Johnston succeeded in making his escape.
The foregoing is one of many of Duchouquet's responses to the calls of distress.
When the Indian tribes of Ohio and Indiana began to assemble at Greenville in the fall of 1795, Duchouquet was sum- moned to act as one of the interpreters during the negotiations. Again, he was called in 1817, to serve as interpreter, in the treaty made by Duncan McArthur and Lewis Cass at the foot of the Rapids. The year following (1818) he, for the third time served as interpreter, at the treaties held at St. Marys. From the number of times he was employed, and the dependence placed upon his services, it is inferred that he possesed superior ability as a translator of Indian languages.
His residence on the north bank of Auglaize river became a house of entertainment, at an early date, where traveling traders and explorers of the western wilds were always sure of accommodations. His store and warehouse were located at the wharf in front of his residence. At the close of the fur season, his peltries were deposited on pirouges, and floated down to the mouth of the Auglaize, where they were either sold to
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traders at that point, or re-shipped to Detroit, where they were sold for cash or exchanged for goods. The goods, if bought at Detroit, were carried on vessels to the mouth of the Auglaize, from which point they were transported on pack-horses to Wapa- koneta.
Duchouquet, in the early part of his life, acquired an appe- tite for intoxicating drink, which grew upon him to such an extent, that in his latter days he drank to excess. When under the influence of the liquid, he was talkative, and good humored. At such times he frequently amused himself by shooting at a mark. The few citizens in the village generally gave him a wide berth on such occasions.
As stated in the history of the treaty of Wapakoneta, he became intoxicated at the opening of the negotiations, and did not serve as interpreter on that important occasion.
When the committee proceeded to Washington to petition the President to order a new treaty, Duchouquet accompanied them as far as Cumberland, where he became sick, and was left in charge of attendants at a hotel, but died and was buried before the return of the committee.
BRIGHT HORN, OR WA-THE-THE-WE-LA.
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