USA > Ohio > Ohio annals : Historic events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys, and in other portions of the state of Ohio > Part 10
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and warriors!' Look (continued White Eyes) at my legs! if, as you say, you had cut them off, they have grown again to their proper size! the petticoat I have thrown away, and put on my proper dress! the corn-hoe and pounder I have exchanged for these fire-arms, and I declare that I am a man!" Then waving his hand in the direction of the Alleghany River, he exclaimed, "and all the country on the other side of that river is mine!"
Perhaps so bold or daring an address was never made to any council of Indians, by an individual chief. But it ought to be noticed, that White Eyes had here spoken on the strength of what the commissioners had said and promised at the treaty. In what they had said he placed full confidence. He took it for granted that the Senecas would join the English against the American people, and therefore lose the land they had so artfully wrested from the Delawares ; and, in the firm belief that his nation would keep the peace, he had a right to lay a claim to it. More- over, his expectation went to this: that should the Six Nations, in consequence of the language he had made use of to them, take up arms against his nation-they being friends of the American people, and at peace with them, they would assist them in fighting for their just rights. .
The report of Captain White Eyes' declaration to the Senecas having become known to his nation, some feared the consequence of such daring language, to so proud and powerful a body as the Six Nations, combined, were in comparison to them; while others were satisfied at his pro- ceedings, having long wished to resume their ancient station and character among the Indian nations, so clandestinely wrested from them by the ancestors of these very people. This circumstance was, however, the cause of a division among them, in which the Munsies took the lead. They pretended apprehensions that the Six Nations would re- sent the liberty White Eyes had taken; and made this a pretense of withdrawing themselves from the councils of the Turtle tribe, and joining themselves to the Wolf tribe.
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Nor did the Munsey chief, Newalike, rest until he had succeeded in detaching a number of their tribe from the Christian Indians at Schoenbrunn, who had taken it for granted that their chief was secretly acquainted with some evil which would befall the Delaware nation, and therefore wished to remove them from danger. They (the Munsies), retiring nearer to Lake Erie, took care to have the Six Nations informed that they did not approve of what Cap- tain White Eyes had said. And Captain Pipe, at the head of his tribe, was glad to see a breach made, of which White Eyes was to bear the blame. Pipe was an artful, cunning man. Ambitious and fond of power, he endeavored to create a mistrust in the minds of individuals of the nation -persuading them to believe that their chief (White Eyes) had entered into secret engagements with the American people, for the purpose of having their young people en- slaved, while they (the chiefs) were to reap the benefit thereof, and be lords over them. Pipe's place of residence was on Waldhonding, about fifteen miles from Goshocking (forks of the Muskingum). Ilitherto he had regularly at- tended the councils at the latter place, but now began to withdraw, probably from a conviction that his intrigues were known, and might one day be held up to him by the chiefs, and he be obliged to render an account of his conduct. The peace chiefs, however, pursued their usual course-their sole object being the welfare of the nation.
SETTLEMENT AT COSHOCTON-1776.
In April, 1776, a third mission settlement was began with eight families, in all thirty-five persons, under their faithful leader, David Zeisberger, and the Rev. John Heckewelder. They laid off a town, within two miles of Goshocking (the present Coshocton), and called it Lichtenau. The word means "The Pasture of Light." The town was laid off in the form of a cross, and stretched along the bank of the
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river, on one street. The chapel was built equi-distant from the ends of the street. The head chief, Netawatwes, of the Delaware capitol, had abandoned Gekelemukpechunk, when the breach took place among the Delawares, and with those of his tribe who remained true to him, he proceeded to the forks of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding, and built a new capital called, according to Heckewelder, " Goshochking," and according to De Schweinetz, "Goschachgunk." It occupied the lower streets of the present county town of Coshocton. When preaching commenced at Lichtenau, Netawatwes and his family were among the first converts. IIe had selected the spot for Lichtenau to be erected upon, and recommended it to Zeisberger, as he had a few years before'selected " Big Spring"-Schoenbrunn-for a mission. Schoenbrunn, like Lichtenau, was built in the form of a cross, and the latter, like Schoenbrunn, was erected on the site of the remains of earthworks, put there by the ancient mound-builders. Thus the Indian, unconscious of the fact, became the central figure of ages gone, and ages yet to come.
NETAWATWES-CORNSTALK - GEORGE MORGAN- 1777.
Netawatwes lived to see both Lichtenau and Schoenbrunn abandoned, and surrendered to heathenism, by reason of the war between christian nations.
Heckewelder says:
" The Chief Netawatwes, together with the chiefs, White Eyes, Gelelemend (alias Killbuck), Machingwi Puschiis (alias the Big Cat), and others, did everything in their power to preserve peace among the nations, by sending em- bassies, and exhorting them not to take up the hatchet, or to join either side; to which, however, the Sandusky Wyan- dots insolently replied: 'that they advised their cousins (the Delawares) to keep shoes in readiness to join the war- riors.' This message being returned to them by the Dela-
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ware council, with the admonition, 'to sit down and reflect on the misery they had brought upon themselves, by taking an active part in the war between the English and French ;' but they thought proper to send a message to the same pur- port, also to the chiefs of that nation (the Wyandots) liv- ing in the vicinity of Detroit, advising that one of these messengers, to be sent with the message, should be selected from among their body. Having accordingly arrived at the Huron village, below Detroit, they were told that no mes- sage from the Delaware council could be laid before them, except in the presence of the governor. Conscious as to the powers conferred on them, at the time they were, by the Five Nations, made and declared mediators and peacemakers between the nations, they could not even have a doubt as to the legality of the message; yet, scarcely had these depu- ties produced their peace belts, when the governor laying hold of them cut them into pieces, and throwing these pieces at the feet of the deputies, commanded them to leave the place within half an hour, or abide the consequences; and Captain White Eyes, who had been the principal bearer of the message, was, after being insulted, told 'that if he sat any value on his head he must be gone instantly.'
"In consequence of this insult to the nation (for the chiefs and council considered it in no other light), they went to Pittsburgh to lay the case before their agent, for the information of Congress, who advised them, together with all peaceably disposed Indians, to come under their protection; but, as sad experience had taught them, by the murder of the Canestoga Indians in the very town of Lan- caster, and the narrow escape of the Christian Indians in the city of Philadelphia from being murdered by the Paxton boys, no chief would venture to make this proposal known to his people. As to the safety of the missionaries, gov- ernment had advised them, through their agent, to take refuge at Pittsburgh; but they chose rather to suffer what- ever might befall them, than desert a people committed to their care, and especially when they were most in want of advice and consolation."
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Congress having appointed Colonel George Morgan In- dian Agent, he that winter visited Schoenbrunn and Gnaden- hutten, and had runners sent out to the western Indians with presents to induce them to remain at peace with the colonies, but in that he was unsuccessful, the British hav- ing already from Canada been among them, and impressed the western tribes with the belief that the colonists intended to take all the Indians" land, and pointed to the settlements at Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhutten as the rendezvous of the " land stealers," as they called the Americans.
The Delawares, however, still remained friendly, and Heckewelder relates of them that the Delaware chiefs, hav- ing at this time in their possession documents and vouchers, both in writing and strings and belts of wampum, of all transactions that had passed between their ancestors and the government of Pennsylvania, from the time William Penn first arrived in the country down to the present time, had hitherto been in the habit of meeting, at least once every year, for the purpose of refreshing their memories on the subject, by hearing the contents; as also, that of in- structing one or more promising young men to learn by heart such valuable documents, that they might not be lost to future generations. In assembling for this purpose, they chose to be by themselves in the woods, at a conven- ient spot, where no person could interrupt them; and when any written documents were produced, they requested one or the other of the missionaries to attend, to read and in- terpret them.
Heckewelder in his journal says:
" The northern warriors being continually on the watch for such white people who might venture out to the Dela- ware towns, it was dangerous for any one to attempt such a thing. Yet it so happened that Mr. James O'Hara, who had come out to Schoenbrunn on business, was found out by some of these warriors, eleven of whom were coming on to seize him; but halting on their way at an Indian cabin, nine miles distant, where the man and his sons
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were equally friends to the Americans, the old man dis- covering their intentions, privately sent off in the night one of his sons to the writer of this narrative, with the follow- ing verbal message: 'My friend! see that our white friend, now at your village, be taken from thence this night, and conducted to a place of safety in the settlement of the white people; and do not neglect to act up to my message. Hear my son farther on the subject!' The son giving the best assurance that at the break of day the party would be here for the purpose of taking, and perhaps murdering Mr. O'Hara, he was informed of it, and forthwith conducted by Anthony, a smart and trusty Indian, through the woods to the Ohio River, and there taken across by white people living on the opposite shore. The young man who had, agreeable to his father's instructions, immediately returned home, after delivering the message, seeing them sometime after mid-night preparing to set off for the purpose of ex- ecuting their design, questioned them as to their intentions, and finding that the supposition had been correct, he replied, 'your errand will fail, for the white man you are after is no more there, but returned to Pittsburgh.' On being assured of this, they bent their course another way."
Within a fortnight after the above had taken place, re- ports in succession were brought to Schoenbrunn that large parties were on their way to murder the missionaries; and the fear of many of the Christian Indians at this place was so great they could not content themselves, unless they had placed them out of all danger. The missionaries, although unwilling to go, and not believing the danger so great as represented, yet had to submit, and were at night taken to Gnadenhutten, from whence, however, IIecke- welder returned again in the morning, and there found the Munsey chief, Newalike, from Sandusky, pressing those of his tribe to leave the place and save themselves, since 'all living here would soon be murdered, if they remained in the parts;' he thought it his duty to inform the senior mis- sionary, at Lichtenau, thirty miles distant, of the mischief
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that was intended by the Munsey chief, and others from Sandusky. The missionary without delay having come on, and finding matters worse than he had expected, made known in a public meeting that the place would be evac- uated; inviting, at the same time, all such as had a desire to cleave to the Lord, and rely on his help, to get ready to follow their teachers; a last discourse was delivered, and concluded by a fervent prayer. Next the chapel was pulled down, that it might not be made use of for heathenish pur- poses, and the congregation left the place the same day.
Shoenbrunn had been the largest and handsomest town the Christian Indians had hitherto built, containing upward of sixty dwelling houses, most of which were squared tim- bers. The street, from east to west, was long and of proper width; from the centre, where the chapel stood, another street run off to the north. The inhabitants had for the greater part become husbandmen. They had large fields under good rail fences, well paled gardens, and fine fruit trees, besides herds of cattle, horses and hogs.
The two congregations, Lichtenau and Gnadenhutten, about twenty-seven miles asunder, had now each one mis- sionary left, and the prospect before them was that of a succession of troubles. These two brethren had, however, made a covenant to remain with their people, and pre- ferred suffering death rather than deserting their posts.
Added to their other troubles came the news of the murder of "Cornstalk,"a celebrated Shawanese chief, in the summer of 1777. He had been to the Ohio, and with two companions went over to the garrison at Point Pleasant to talk of peace. The Virginians shut him up in the fort as a hostage for the good behavior of his tribe. Hearing this, his son crossed over and was also shut up with his father. The next day the Indians on the Ohio side killed a white man named Gilmore, and as soon as the garrison heard of it, they rushed to the guard house and shot Cornstalk and his son. Cornstalk was a celebrated warrior, but inclined at times to peace. He had visited Schoenbrunn and Gnaden-
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hutten often, and been impressed with the ideas of Zeisber- ger, but his tribe were war men. His death greatly ex- asperated the hostile Indians, and many were the threats to take vengeance on the Moravian settlements. Of Cornstalk, Wilson says that at the battle of Point Pleasant his voice was heard above the din of battle, encouraging the Indians in these words, "Be strong, be strong!" and seeing one of his men skulking, Cornstalk sunk his tomahawk into him. Dr. Doddridge, in his notes, says of Cornstalk, that after the Indians had returned from the battle, Cornstalk called a council at the Chillicothe town, to consult what was to be done next. In this council he reminded the war chiefs of their folly in preventing him from making peace, before the fatal battle of Point Pleasant, and asked, " What shall we do now, the long-knives are coming upon us from two routes; shall we turn out and fight them ?" All were silent. He then asked: "Shall we kill all our squaws and children, and then fight until we shall all be killed ourselves ?" To this no reply was made. He then rose up and struck his tomahawk in the war post, in the middle of the council house, saying, "Since you are not inclined to fight, I will go and make peace." And accordingly did so.
On the morning of the day of his death, a council was held in the fort at the Point, in which he was present. During the sitting of the council, it is said that he seemed to have a presentiment of his approaching fate. In one of his speeches he remarked to the council, "When I was young, every time I went to war I thought it likely that I might return no more; but I still live, I am now in your hands, and you may kill me if you choose, I can die at once, and it is alike to me, whether I die now or at any other time." When the men presented themselves before the door, for the purpose of killing the Indians, Cornstalk's son manifested signs of fear, on observing which his father said, "Don't be afraid my son, the great Spirit sent you here to die with me, and we must submit to his will. It is all for the best."
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It is related by Zeisberger's biographer, that in 1777, when the border war broke out again, the Governor of Detroit sent a hatchet, wrapped in a belt of red and white beads, to the Shawanese, Wyandots, Mingoes, and it was to be offered to the Delawares, and their tribal relatives, and any tribe refusing to accept it, was to be treated as a common enemy. Cornstalk came to the council house at Goshocking, or Goshochgunk, stating that all the Shawanese except his own tribe, accepted the hatchet, and his tribe came and set- tled at the Delaware capital, he advising the Delawares to hold fast to the chain of peace; they refused the war-belt three times, but at last accepting it, to get rid of the Wyan- dot messengers, they sent it back to Sandusky as soon as the messengers left their capital.
THE MONSEY CONSPIRACY AT SCHOENBRUNN-1777.
One cause of the troubles of the missions was want of courage, jealousy, and envy among the missionaries. Of Zeisberger it is presumed that not one line can be found among the archives of the missions, in support of an aver- ment that he was either jealous or envious of his brothers, or lacked courage in emergencies. But there is no doubt of the fact that he was hated by one or more of the brethren in secret, because of his paramount influence over the In- dians, and his popularity at Bethlehem, and that timidity controlled a portion in times of danger and peril, and hence whenever a crisis arose at the missions over which he had charge, he at least found lukewarmness and indecision where he should have had zealous council and efficient aid. His biographer admits that "there was a want of harmony among the missionaries ; they were jealous, one of the other, and the Indians were left as sheep without a shepherd."
The Monsey Indians at Schoenbrunn were seduced to throw off their allegiance as Christian converts. They entered into a plot, concocted by British emissaries, to for-
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sake the mission, join the hostile Indians, and return to heathenism, first capturing and sending away the mission- aries. Zeisberger being at Lichtenau was apprised of the conspiracy and hastened to Schoenbrunn, only to find the town in the hands of the conspirators, and the missionaries who were left in charge fled. On the 19th of April, 1777, he called as many of the converts together as could be rallied, and took the road to Lichtenan via Gnadenhutten, and Schoenbrunn was given over to the deserters. To show that the Monseys could have been retained in the church by moral courage, it is only necessary to state that they were afterward brought back to the fold by the appeals of Zeisberger to them, when they came raiding around Lichte- nau in less than a year after. But in the meantime Schoen- brunn was demolished by the hostile warriors, and when Zeisberger led his converts back in 1779, it was necessary to build a new town on the west side of the river.
This conspiracy, trifling as it turned out to be in results, was but part of an extended effort to subdue the colonies in their effort to attain independence. The hostile Indian warriors, if all mustered at the time, were computed at ten thousand, and to array them all it was only necessary to break up these missions, which acted as breakwaters in dividing the Indian waves that would have swept other- wise over the border States, at a time when the colonies were least able to repel them. Zeisberger's moral courage alone saved the border States from being overrun by the savages in that crisis, and perhaps he thereby saved the Union.
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DUNMORE'S WAR-THE WAKATOMICA CAMPAIGN- DRESDEN-LEGEND OF ABRAHAM THOMAS.
In 1774 the Virginia government sent out one thousand men under Governor Lord Dunmore to Ohio, to chastise the Indians. The larger portion proceeded to the Picka- away country, and defeated the enemy in several skirmishes along the Ohio River, and made peace with them at Chilli- cothe, the principal town of the Shawanese.
Another portion of the Virginia forces under a Colonel Aymer McDonald, in June, 1774, proceeded from Wheeling west to an Indian town, called by the Shawanese Wa-la- tamo-sepe, near the present site of Dresden. The word was corrupted into Wakatomeka, and Wakatomica, and means " a town on the river-side." MeDonald's force numbered four hundred, and when near the town it met and dispersed a band of fifty Indians, killing several and losing two, with eight wounded. On reaching the town they found it de- serted, the Indians having retreated across the river ; and failing to draw McDonald into an ambuscade, they sued for peace, and sent over five chiefs as hostages. IIe released two to go and bring in all the chiefs to the peace conference, but they did not return, whereupon he burnt the town of Wakatomeka and adjacent cornfields, and other Indian towns on his way, and returned to Virginia with his three chiefs, who were released the same fall by the peace treaty of Lord Dunmore, made at the old Chillicothe town.
Abraham Thomas, when a lad of eighteen, ran away from home in Virginia, and joined the Wakatomeka ex- pedition. In his reminiscences, he says the plan of the ex- pedition was for each man to eross the Ohio with seven days' rations on his back. On the second day out they were joined by Colonel McDonald, who ordered a three days' halt, which greatly incensed the men, as the delay cut up their provisions. A violent storm wet their arms in the night, and the colonel ordered the men to discharge their guns in a hollow log, to deaden the sound. "My rifle
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would not go off, and I made a noise in beating it with my tomakawk. McDonald came at me with his uplifted cane on account of fearing that the noise would be heard by the Indians. I arose to my feet, with the rifle barrel in my hand, in self-defense. We looked each other in the eye fo ' some time. At last he dropped his cane and walked off The men all laughed, and said the boy had scared the colonel. From this encampment we proceeded toward the Indian villages, intending to surprise them, but before reaching them we encountered the Indians in ambush on a second bottom. We marched in three parties, Indian-fild columns, and received their fire. The troops deployed to the right and left, and the fight lasted thirty minutes, when the Indians gave way in every direction. While I wa ascending a bank with Martin and Fox, all aiming to gail the cover of some large oak trees on the top, they both fell The first was killed, the last wounded in the breast. Those men were walking in a line with each other, and an Indian chief behind the tree shot them both with one ball. I tool no notice whence the ball came, and hastened to the tree Just as I had gained it the chief fell dead from the othe side, and rolled at my feet. It seems a neighbor had seer him fire at Martin and Fox, then dodge behind the tree te load. The Indian had got his ball half down, and peeper out to look at me, when Wilson shot him dead. The In dians retreated toward Wakatomica, flanked by two com panies in hot pursuit. We followed in the rear, and a the last Indian was stepping out of the water, Captain Tea bangh brought him to the ground. Night coming on, th division was ordered to encamp in an oak woods. Thi evening Jack Hayes was spying down the creek and sav an Indian looking at us through the forks of a low trec He leveled his rifle and shot him between the eyes, and brought him into camp. Captain Cresap* was up the whol.
*[ Note -The Captain Cresap referred to is the same to whom Logan ad dressed his war-club letter from New Comerstown, a month after Cresap an his men had destroyed Wakatomica town].
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ight, going the rounds and cautioning his men to keep heir arms in a condition for a morning attack. About two ours before day he silently led his men across the creek to the villages, but the Indians fled into an adjoining hicket and dispersed. As we were nearly out of provisions le troops returned to the settlements. The men became xceedingly famished on this march, and I, being young, as so weak that I could not carry any thing. I saw my rother have a good stock of tobacco, and after some be- eeching I got a piece, although I had never used it. It evived me, and I was soon able to travel with the rest of hem, and was actually the first to reach the Ohio."
CHAPTER VI.
LEGEND OF CORNSTALK AT GNADENHUTTEN.
Early in 1777 the celebrated Shawanee chief, Cornstalk, with one hundred warriors, appeared in the neighborhood of Gnadenhutten and camped. Rev. Smick was in charge : of the mission but was absent at the time. Mrs. Smick, not t knowing the intentions of the chief, consulted the leading ; Christian Indians as to what should be done in the emer- . gency. The advice was to invite the chief to the mission house, and send provisions to his warriors, as the sure way of averting their hostile intentions, if any were entertained. . Accordingly the great chief was soon invited and escorted ! to the house of the missionary, but his caution against be- ing surprised and captured by an enemy induced him to take with him a guard of warriors, who were provided for . near the house, while Cornstalk became the guest of the lady. His commanding and noble appearance at once made an impression on her, while her womanly person fascinated the chief. He was versed sufficiently in English to talk with her, and, after a repast, he whiled the time away in recounting to her some of his adventures in life, until time to go to his warriors, when he departed, shaking hands and making a kingly bow, she pressing him diplomatically to call again. On the day following Mr. Cornstalk was up early, and repeated his visit about daybreak. The lady was not up, but that made no difference to him. He had called to tell her that a party of Wyandots and Monseys were on the war-path, and were accompanied by a white man, and that they were after Glikhican, the Delaware, who they claimed was in the town secreted, and must have him or
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