USA > Ohio > Auglaize County > History of western Ohio and Auglaize County, with illustrations and biographical sketches of pioneers and prominent public men > Part 3
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During the spring and summer of 1790, the menacing attitude of the Indians became very alarming.
As early as July, 1789, Judge Symmes wrote to the Hon. Jonathan Dayton, of Elizabethtown, "that he had sent Isaac Free- man into the Indian country. He returned safe, but brings such
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terrifying accounts of the warlike preparations making in the In- dian towns, that it has raised fresh commotions in this village, and many families are preparing to go down to the falls. They say, 'We will not stay longer at a place like this, the very forlorn hope of the United States, and at the same time so intolerably neglected as we are.' One ensign and twelve soldiers in a little block house badly constructed, and not an axe, hoe, spade, or even tomahawk - the property of the United States - is furnished them. . They feel themselves abandoned to destruction, and whether the danger they apprehend is real or imaginary, 'tis the same to them.'
"While Mr. Freeman was at the Indian towns he was lodged at the house of Blue Jacket (then at Wapakoneta), and while there he saw the pack horses come to Blue Jacket's house loaded with five hundred weight of powder, and lead equivalent, with one hundred muskets ; this share he saw deposited at the house of Blue Jacket. He says, the like quantity was sent them from Detroit to every chief through all their towns. Freeman saw the same dividend deposited at a second chief's house in the same town with Blue Jacket. On the arrival of these stores from Detroit, British colors were displayed on the house top of every chief, and a pris- oner among the Indians who had the address to gain full credit with them, and attended their council house every day, found means to procure by artifice an opportunity of conversing with Freeman. He assured Freeman that the Indians were fully de- termined to rout these settlements altogether, that they would have attempted it before this time, but had not military stores, but these being then arrived, it would not be long before they would march ; that they only waited the return of a Mr. Magee with two pieces of artillery from Sandusky or Detroit, and they would proceed without further delay down to the Ohio on their proposed expe- dition."
"The hostility of the Indians at this period, and the great un- easiness that they had manifested during the preceding years, are generally and justly attributed to the intrigues of the British agents in the northwest; and it therefore may be proper here to refer more particularly to the motives and ends of their policy, and the means by which they sought to effect it :
"Most of the tribes adhered to England during the Revolu- tionary struggle. When the war ceased, however, England made no provision for them, and transferred the Northwest to the
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United States, without stipulation as to the rights of the natives. The United States, regarding the lands of the hostile tribes, as conquered, and forfeited, proceeded to give peace to the savages, and to grant them portions of their own land. This produced discontent, and led to the general uprising of the Indians that fol- lowed."
The British government in justification of their continued occupation of the forts on the frontier, claimed that certain stipu- lations in the treaty of 1783, had not been complied with. They conceded that they had agreed, as speedily as possible, to evacuate all the northwestern posts, which lay within the boundaries of the United States; while, on the other hand, Congress had stipulated that no legal impediments should be thrown in the way to prevent the collection of debts due to British merchants before the decla- ration of war. Large importations had been made by American merchants, upon credit, in 1773 and 1774 ; and as all civil inter- course between the two countries had ceased until the return of peace, the British creditors were unable to collect their debts. · Upon the final ratification of the treaty, they naturally became de- sirous of recovering their property, while their debtors as natur- ally were desirous of avoiding payment.
Congress had stipulated that no legal barrier should be thrown in the way; but, as is well known, Congress, under the old confederation, was much more prolific in "resolutions," or rather "recommendations," than acts. The states might or might not comply with them, as suited their convenience. Accordingly, when Congress recommended the payment of all debts to the state legislatures, the legislatures determined that it was inexpedient to comply. The British creditor complained to his government ; the government remonstrated with Congress, upon so flagrant a breach of one of the articles of pacification ; Congress appealed to the legislatures ; the legislatures were deaf and obstinate, and there the matter rested. When the question was agitated, as to the evacuation of the posts, the British, in turn, became refractory, and determined to hold them until the acts of the state legisla- tures, preventing the legal collection of debts, were repealed. Many remonstrances were 'exchanged, but all to no purpose.
Up to this time (1789) there was no systematic or general movement of the Indians for the extirpation of the whites, as was alleged to be the object of their great confederacy of 1782. The
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irregular mode of living among the savages, forbade the accom- plishment of such a design, if it had even been their settled pur- pose ; the subsistence of themselves and families being principally derived from the chase, a species of provision which did not per- mit the laying up of extensive and permanent stores, if even their improvident mode of living had permitted the effort.
But when they found the settlers entrenching themselves in fort after fort, circumscribing their range, and cutting them en- tirely off from their hunting grounds south of the Ohio, there can be no doubt that a determined hostility sprung up in the minds of the savages, which all the exertions of the American Govern- ment failed to allay, and soon rendered it apparent that the two- races could not live together in amity, where it was the policy of the one to reclaim the country from the hunter, and of the other- to keep it a wilderness.
CHAPTER V.
HARMAR'S CAMPAIGN.
After numerous treaties had been made and broken by the Indians, and after the pioneers had suffered from the tomahawk and scalping knife for four years, the government in 1789, after many urgent entreaties, sent a detachment of three hundred and twenty troops to Cincinnati under the command of General Josiah Harmar. The detachment reached Cincinnati December 29th, 1789, and went into winter quarters on the Kentucky side of the river, near the mouth of the Licking. Preparations were made during the winter and the ensuing summer for a campaign against the Miami villages that was expected to accomplish much. On the 29th of September, 1780, General Harmar crossed the river, having been joined by the Kentuckians, composed of three battal- ions, under the Majors Hall, McMullen, and Bay, with Lieuten- ant Colonel Commandant Trotter at their head. The Pennsylva- nians were formed into one battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Trubley and Major Paul, the whole to be commanded by Colonel John Hardin, subject to the orders of General Harmar.
On the 30th the General having received all the supplies ex- pected, the troops were formed into two small battalions under the command of Major Wyllys, and Major Doughty, together with Captain Ferguson's company of artillery and three pieces of ordnance.
"On the third of October, General Harmar joined the advance troops early in the morning; the remaining part of the day was spent in forming the line of march, the order of encampment and battle, and explaining the same to the militia field officers. Gen- eral Harmar's orders will show the several formations."
The accounts of the march are so conflicting as to dates and its devious wanderings, that it becomes a task of no ordinary mo- ment to harmonize them. It appears that on the fourth day out from Cincinnati the army crossed the Little Miami and moved up it to the mouth of Sugar creek near where the village of Waynesville is situated. On the next day, October 5th, a marchi
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of ten miles in a northeasterly course to a point near where Xenia now stands. On the sixth it reached Chillicothe, now called Old- town, a few miles north of Xenia. Some writers have become confused by the name, mistaking it for Old Chillicothe, in Ross county. This was the site of an old Indian village that had been abandoned some time previous for a locality of greater security. The morning following, the army again crossed the Little Miami and continued their march in a northeasterly direction, making nine miles that day. On the next day they moved in a direction west of north and crossed Mad river, which at that time was called the Pickaway Fork of the Great Miami, and made nine miles. It was on this river that most of the Pickaway towns were located, so often referred to by early writers. On the 8th they continued on a northwesterly course, crossing Honey creek, and made seven miles more. On the 9th they followed the same course, making ten miles, and encamped within two miles of the Great Miami. October Ioth they crossed the Great Miami, taking a northerly course, and making ten miles more. On the 11th, taking the course of the previous day, they passed the ruins of a French trading station, and encamped after making eleven miles. The ruins referred to, were no doubt, a part of the ruins of old Fort Pickawillany, destroyed by Monsieur St. Orr, in 1752. Continu- ing the march on the 12th, on a course west of northwest, across. Loramie's creek, and the head waters of the Auglaize. "Here they found the remains of a considerable village, some of the houses still standing ; fourteen miles made this day." The state- ment that they crossed the head waters of the Auglaize is incor- rect. The head waters lay fully forty miles northeast of that locality. It is probable that they crossed the head waters of the Wabash. The town that they found was probably an old Shawnee town, in after years, known as Old Town. On the 13th the army marched ten miles on the course of the preceding day, and en- camped, being joined by a reinforcement from Cincinnati, with ammunition. Up to this time, desertions from the militia were of daily occurrence. It was at this point in the campaign that the trouble anticipated by the Secretary of War began to be mani- fested. On the 14th Colonel Hardin was detached with one com- pany of regulars, and six hundred militia, in advance of the main body, and being charged with the destruction of the towns in the . forks of the Maumee. "The militia were in a great measure unfit
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for service, as may be inferred from the evidence of Major Fer- guson given before a court of inquiry.
In testifying as to their condition when they arrived at Fort Washington, said he: "They were illy equipped, being almost destitute of camp kettles and axes; nor could a supply of these essential articles be procured. Their arms were, generally, very bad, and unfit for service ; as I was the commanding officer of the artillery, they came under my inspection, in making what repairs the time would permit; and as a specimen of their badness, I would inform the court, that a rifle was brought to be repaired. without a lock, and another without a stock.
"Amongst the militia were a great many hardly able to bear arms, such as old, infirm men, and young boys; they were not such as might be expected from a frontier country, that is, the smart, active woodsman, well accustomed to arms, eager and alert to revenge the injuries done them and their connections. No; there were a great number of them substitutes, who probably had never fired a gun. Major Paul, of Pennsylvania, told me, that many of his men were so awkward, that they could not take their gun locks off to oil them, and put them on again, nor could they put in their flints so as to be useful."
On the 14th Colonel John Hardin marched forward and reached the Miami towns thirty-five miles distant about noon on the 15th, but found nothing but deserted villages. On the morn- ing of the 17th, the main army arrived, and the work of destruc- tion commenced; and by the 21st the chief town, five other vil- lages, and nearly twenty thousand bushels of corn in ears, had been destroyed. When General Harmar reached the Maumee towns and found no enemy, he thought of pushing forward to attack the Wea and other settlements upon the Wabash, but was prevented by the loss both of pack horses and cavalry horses, a great many of which the Indians had stolen, in consequence of the wilful carelessness of the owners. About one hundred horses were stolen on the night of the 17th. On the day that the corn was destroyed two Indians were discovered by a scouting party, as they were crossing a prairie. The scouts pursued them and shot one ; the other made his escape. A young man named Johnson. seeing the Indian was not dead, attempted to shoot him again ; but his pistol not making fire, the Indian raised his rifle and shot Johnson through the body, which proved fatal.
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On the evening of the same day Captain McClure and Mc- Clary fell upon a strategem peculiar to backswoodsmen. They conveyed a horse a short distance down the river undiscovered, fettered him, unstrapped the bell tongue, and concealed themselves with their rifles. An Indian, attracted by the sound of the bell, came cautiously up and began to untie him, when McClure shot him. The report of the gun alarmed the camp, and brought many of the troops to the place. A young man, presumably an Indian, taken at Loramie's was brought to see the Indian just killed, and « pronounced him to be "Captain Punk - great man - Delaware chief."
On the 18th, the main body of the troops was to move to Chil- licothe, a village of the Shawnees about two miles down the river on its north bank. Previously to the movement down the river General Harmar dispatched Colonel Trotter with three hundred men to scour the woods in search of an enemy, as the tracks of women and children had been seen near by. No better idea of the utter want of discipline in the army can be given, than by some extracts from the evidence of Lieutenant (afterward Cap- tain) Armstrong; this gentleman was with Trotter during the 18th of October, and also with Hardin, who, on the 19th took the command, General Harmar being much dissatisfied with Trot- ter's ineffective Indian chase of the previous day.
"After we had proceeded about a mile," says Armstrong, "the cavalry gave chase to an Indian, who was mounted ; him they overtook and killed. Before they returned to the column a sec- ond appeared, on which the four field officers left their commands and pursued, leaving the troops near half an hour without any directions whatever. The cavalry overtook the second Indian, and, after he had wounded one of their party, killed him also.
"When the infantry came up to this place they immediately fell into confusion, upon which I gained permission to leave them some distance on the road, where I formed an ambuscade. After I had been some time at my station, a fellow on horseback came to me, who had lost the party in pursuit of the first Indian ; he was much frightened, and said he had been pursued by fifty mounted Indians. On my telling this story to Colonel Trotter, notwithstanding my observation to him, he changed his route, and marched in various directions until night, when he returned to camp.
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"On our arrival in camp, General Harmar sent for me, and after asking me many questions, ordered one subaltern and twenty militia to join my command. With these I reached the river St. Joseph about ten at night, and with a guide proceeded to an In- dian town, about two miles distant, where I continued with my party until the morning of the 19th. About nine o'clock I joined the remainder of the detachment under Colonel Hardin. We marched on the route Colonel Trotter had pursued the day before, and after passing a morass about five miles distant, we came to where the enemy had encamped the day before. Here we made a short halt, and the commanding officer disposed of the parties at a distance from each other ; after a halt of half an hour, we were ordered to move on, and Captain Falkner's company was left on the ground; the Colonel having neglected to give him orders to move on.
"After we had proceeded about three miles, we fell in with two Indians on foot, who threw off their packs, and the brush being thick, made their escape. I then asked Colonel Hardin where Captain Franklin was. He said he was lost, and then sent Major Fontaine with part of the cavalry in search of him, and moved on with the remainder of the troops. Some time after, I informed Colonel Hardin a gun had been fired in our front, which might be considered as an alarm gun, and that I saw where a horse had come down the road, and returned again; but the Colonel still moved on, giving no orders, nor making any arrange- ments for an attack.
"Some time after, I discovered the enemy's fires at a dis- tance, and informed the Colonel, who replied that they would not fight, and rode in front of the advance, until fired on from behind the fires, when he, the Colonel, retreated, and with him all the militia except nine, who continued with me, and were in- stantly killed, with twenty-four of the federal troops. Seeing my last man fall, and being surrounded by the savages, I threw myself into a thicket, and remained there three hours in daylight. During that time I had an opportunity of seeing the enemy pass and repass, and conceived their number did not amount to one hundred men; some were mounted, others armed with rifles, and the advance with tomahawks only.
"I am of opinion that had Colonel Trotter proceeded, on the
3 HAC
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18th, agreeably to his orders, having killed the enemy's sentinels. he would have surprised their camp, and with ease defeated them ; or had Colonel Hardin arranged his troops, or made any military disposition, on the 19th, that he would have gained a victory. Our defeat, therefore, may be ascribed to two causes: the un- officerlike conduct of Colonel Hardin (who, I believe, was a brave man) and the cowardly behavior of the militia; many of them threw down their arms, loaded, and I believe that none, except the party under my command, fired a gun." The Indians killed in this affair nearly one hundred men. The real strength of the Indians was in a well chosen position, and in the cowardice of the militia, who formed numerically, the principal force opposed to them. This destructive contest was fought near the spot where the Goshen State road now crosses Eel river, near Heller's Cor- ners, about twelve miles west of Fort Wayne."
There are several accounts given of the escape of Captain Armstrong. The one already given is from "Western Annals." Knapp, in his "History of the Maumee Valley," says "Captain Armstrong broke through the pursuing Indians and plunged into the deepest of one of the morasses referred to, where he remained to his chin all night in water, with his head concealed by a tus- sock of high grass. Here he was compelled to listen to the noc- turnal orgies of the Indians, dancing and yelling around the dead bodies of his brave soldiers. As day approached they retired for rest, and Armstrong, chilled to the last degree, extricated himself from the swamp, but found himself obliged to kindle a fire in a ravine into which he crawled, having his tinder-box, watch, and compass still on his person. By the aid of the fire, he recovered his feeling, and the use of his limbs, and at length reached the camp in safety." McClung, in his "Sketches of Western Adven- ture," says: "Captain Armstrong was remarkably stout and active, and succeeded in breaking through the enemies' line, although not without receiving several severe wounds. Finding himself hard pressed, he plunged into a deep and miry swamp, where he lay concealed during the whole night within two hun- dred yards of the Indian camp, and witnessed the dances and joyous festivity with which they celebrated their victory."
For some years after this ill-fated encounter, bayonets, gun- barrels, and other war material, were found on this battlefield in quantities, and bullets have been cut from the neighboring trees
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in such numbers as to attest the desperate character of the en- gagement ..
On the 20th, General Harmar published the following order :
CAMP AT CHILLICOTHE,
(One of the Shawnee Towns on the Omee River)
October 20th, 1790.
"The party under Captain Strong, is ordered to burn and destroy every house and wigwam in this village, together with all the corn, etc., which he can collect. A party of one hundred men, (militia) properly officered, and under command of Colonel Hardin, is to burn and destroy, effectually, this afternoon Picka- way town with all the corn, etc., which he can find in it and its vicinity.
"The cause of the detachment's being worsted yesterday, was entirely owing to the shameful, cowardly conduct of the militia who ran away, and threw down their arms without firing scarcely a single gun. In returning to Fort Washington, if any officer or men shall presume to quit the ranks, or not to march, in the form that they are ordered, the General will most assuredly order the artillery to fire on them. He hopes the check they received yes- terday will make them in future obedient to orders.
"JOSIAH HARMER, Brigadier General."
On the 21st the army commenced its retreat, supposing that the enemy had been sufficiently chastised. After marching eight miles, General Harmar received word from his scouts that the Indians had re-occupied the villages that he had left. The Gen- eral being anxious to efface the disgrace of the 19th, detached eighty regular troops under Major Wyllys, and nearly the whole of his militia under Colonel Hardin, with orders to return to Chil- licothe and destroy such of the enemy as presented themselves.
"The detachment countermarched and proceeded with all possible dispatch to the appointed spot, fearful only that the enemy might hear of their movement and escape before they could come up. The militia in loose order took the advance, the regu- lars moving in a hollow square brought up the rear. Upon the plain in front of the town, a number of Indians were seen, between whom and the militia a sharp action commenced. After a few rounds, with considerable effect on both sides, the savages fled in disorder, and were eagerly and impetuously pursued by the mil-
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itia, who in the ardor of the chase were drawn into the woods to a considerable distance from the regulars.
"Suddenly from the opposite quarter several hundred Indians appeared, rushing with loud yells upon the unsupported regulars. Major Wyllys, who was a brave and experienced officer, formed his men in a square, and endeavored to gain a more favorable spot of ground, but was prevented by the desperate impetuosity with which the enemy assailed him. Unchecked by the murderous fire which was poured upon them from the different sides of the square, they rushed in masses up to the points of the bayonets, hurled their homahawks with fatal accuracy, and putting aside the bayonets with their hands, or clogging them with their bodies, they were quickly mingled with the troops, and handled their long knives with destructive effect. In two minutes the bloody strug- gle was over. Major Wyllys fell, together with seventy-three privates and one lieutenant. One captain, one ensign, and seven privates, three of whom were wounded, were the sole survivors of this short but desperate encounter.
Many of the Indians in this encounter and other skirmishes of the expedition fought on horseback, having their horses equip- ped with bunches of bells hanging down the left side of their heads, and introduced here two narrow strips of red and white cloth as a sort of pendants. The Indians themselves were painted red and black, in a manner to represent evil spirits. "Their most hideous and terrific appearance, added to the noise of the bells and the flapping of the pendant strips of cloth, rendered them so formidable to the horses of the militia, that they shrunk back in dismay, and it was with the greatest difficulty they could be brought to the charge.
"The Indian loss was nearly equal, as they sustained several heavy fires which the closeness of their masses rendered very de- structive, and as they rushed upon the bayonets of the troops with the most astonishing disregard to their own safety. Their object was to overwhelm the regulars before the militia could return to their support, and it was as boldly executed as it had been finely conceived. In a short time the militia returned from the pursuit of the flying party which had decoyed them to a dis- tance ; but it was now too late to retrieve the fortune of the day. After some sharp skirmishing, they effected their retreat to the
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