Ohio annals : Historic events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys, and in other portions of the state of Ohio, Part 16

Author: Mitchener, Charles Hallowell, ed
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Dayton, Ohio : Thomas W. Odell
Number of Pages: 380


USA > Ohio > Ohio annals : Historic events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys, and in other portions of the state of Ohio > Part 16


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hold of Poe's gun instead of his own, and, it being empty, he proceeded to load as rapidly as possible. At this instant Adam Poe came upon the scene, also with an empty gun, and, seeing his brother in the water unarmed, knew that his life depended upon his loading first. The Indian dropped his ramrod, which gave Poe the advantage, and he fired just as Big Foot was cocking his piece. He then assisted his wounded brother to the shore, and while doing this the chief, who was not killed butright, rolled himself into the current and was seen no more. This was to prevent his scalp being taken by the whites.


While this conflict was progressing the other whites had caught the remaining Indians, and, after a desperate fight, killed all but one warrior, with the loss of three whites and the severe wounding of Andrew Poe.


It is related that the warrior who escaped from this ter- rific combat, made his way to the Wyandot town near Upper Sandusky, crossing the Tuscarawas on the trail above Fort Laurens, and, before entering the Wyandot town, announced his coming by a series of dismal howls, which indicated that the expedition had been defeated and the chief killed. This solitary survivor remained in the woods a whole day giving veut to his grief by moaning and howling alternately. The whole Wyandot tribe long mourned the loss of Big Foot, who was one of their most revered chiefs.


Subsequent to the closing of active hostilities between the Sandusky Indians and the border settlers, the Wyandots determined on the assassination of Andrew Poe, in revenge for the death of their chief, Big Foot, and detailed one of their most fearless warriors to accomplish the deed. Poe lived near the mouth of Yellow Creek at that time, and on the arrival of the Indian received him with friendship, and showered hin with the kindest attentions. Poe's cabin contained but one room, as they were all built in those days, , and contained but two beds, one for himself and wife, and a smaller one for his children. In the evening, the Indian intimated a desire to remain all night if l'oe and his wife


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did not object, when they assured him that he was perfectly welcome, and made up a pallet on the floor before the huge log-fire place. Ronyeness, which was the Indian's name, lay awake until he was satisfied that the family were asleep, and the while thought much over the kindness manifested by Poe and his wife toward him. At one time he shuddered to think of the deed he was about to execute, and gave it up, but again the death of his adored chief would come fresh into his mind, when he would again resolve for revenge. Finally, after halting between the two opinions for an hour, he raised and approached Poe's bedside with his tomahawk elevated above his head ready for the fatal blow. At this instant catching a glimpse of the unsuspecting faces of Poe and his wife, his heart failed him, and he could think of nothing but their kindness and confidence. He returned to his resting place and slept until morning, when his host loaded him down with provisions and ammunition, and bade him a warm and brotherly farewell, mentioning that, although they were enemies once, they had burried the tomahawk and should remain as brothers from this tinie onward.


This Indian was a relation of the chief, Big Foot, and tradition says was the same man who was with him and escaped to tell the tale of the death. He had often attended the Christian Indians' meetings at their town on the San- dusky, and there probably received the germ of their re- ligion, for, after his return from Poe's dwelling, he followed Zeisberger into Canada, and, after wandering with the mis- sionaries several years, he came with them to Goshen in 1798, a convert, and died there. Among the Indian graves at Goshen Cemetery repose the bones of Ronyeness, the war- rior who once traveled over one hundred miles to avenge Big Foot by killing Poe, but spared his life through kindness, and finally died a Christian.


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LEWIS WETZELL'S ADVENTURE, AND DEATH OF THOMAS MILLS, WHO VALUED HIS HORSE MORE THAN HIS OWN LIFE.


In the retreat of Crawford's men from the Sandusky was one Thomas Mills, who thought more of his horse than his own life. After riding across what is now Crawford, Rich- land, Wayne, Tuscarawas, Harrison, and Belmont counties, upward of one hundred and fifty miles through wilderness, swamps, and rivers, his noble steed gave out within a few miles of the Ohio, in Belmont County. Mills made his way from that point on foot to Fort Wheeling, and succeeded in getting the famous scout (Lewis Wetzell) to go back with him and look for the horse. Wetzell told him of the dan- ger, and did all that was possible to discourage him, but to no purpose. Mills must have his horse or perish in the attempt to rescue him. They started, and, after nine miles travel, found the horse tied to a tree near a spring. Wet- zell, comprehending an ambuscade, motioned to Mills to run, and then made off to save his own life. Mills, instead of running from, ran to his horse, and, in the act of unty- ing him, was shot dead. The Indians, four in number, then pursued Wetzell, and after running half a mile, he turned, shot the nearest Indian, and ran on but a short distance, when the second Indian caught hold of his gun and brought Wetzell to his knees in the scuffle ; but he raised, got the muzzle against the savage's neck, and shot him dead. By jumping, Wetzell eluded the remaining two Indians, and loading as he ran, he turned to fire several times at his nearest pursuer, who each time treed. Going on, Wetzell reached a clearing, and, turning in an instant, shot the In- dian just as he jumped behined a tree too small to screen him from Wetzell's bullet. The fourth Indian then fled, and Wetzell reached Fort . Henry, at Wheeling, unhurt, where he recounted his adventure, and the death of Thomas Mills.


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JOHN WETZELL'S PARTY SURPRISED ON WILL'S CREEK BY MONSEYS AND DELAWARES FROM SCHOENBRUNN.


In the spring of 1792, the Indians on the Sandusky, having become very bold since their victory over St. Clair in November preceding, made many raids on the border settlers along the Ohio, stealing horses and whatever else they could get off with, and sometimes killing a white family if in their way. After one of these forays, a party of settlers determined to follow the Indians and recapture several fine horses which had been taken. This party con- sisted of John Wetzell, one of the celebrated Indian fighting brothers of that name, and six other border men of con- siderable experience in border warfare. They started from a point nearly opposite Steubenville, and, crossing the Ohio, proceeded northward until they struck the old trail leading from Fort Pitt to the Indian towns on the San- dusky, by way of Fort Laurens, on the Tuscarawas. On reaching the first Indian town on the trail, which was located on Mohican Creek, they found their horses, which they took, and started on their return in the night. Fear- ing that they might be pursued and overtaken if they returned by the old trail, a southeasterly course was taken, which brought them to the Tuscarawas, in the vicinity of what is now New Comerstown. From there the lower and less traveled trail was followed, which brought the party to Will's Creek, within half a mile of the present town of Cambridge, in Guernsey County, where they arrived in the evening of the second day after recapturing the horses. HIere one of the party was attacked with a very severe cramp colie, in consequence of which a halt for the night was made, and a guard placed on the back trail to watch for any pursuers that might be after them. Late in the night, and when all were asleep in the camp, the guard


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having occasion to go to a little brook which emptied into the creek a short distance below the camp, noticed that the water was muddy, and believing the cause to be Indians coming down in the water to prevent detection, aroused Wetzell and informed him of the discovery. Wetzell went and examined the water, and decided that the muddy streaks in it were the result of raccoons or muskrats mov- * ing about in the brook, and then resumed his blankets, after joking the guard as to his unfounded alarm. From this the guard deemed it unnecessary to keep so strict a watch, and remained close to the camp. About half an hour after this transpired a volley was fired into the camp from be- hind the bank of the brook, and the sick man was riddled with bullets, as he lay on the ontside. In an instant a party of savages bounded into the camp, yelling and brandishing their tomahawks in a terrific manner, and at the same instant the white men fled, leaving most of their arms, blankets, &c., in the camp. In the fight that ensued three whites were killed on the ground, and Wetzell and the other succeeded in making their way to Wheeling after great suffering from hunger and fatigue. The bodies of the killed were shortly afterward buried by a party that went ont from Wheeling for that purpose. One of the survivors of this party was William McCullough, who settled at Zanes- ville in 1799, and afterward became a prominent officer in the war of 1812, under General Hull.


The Indians who made this assault were a party of the Monseys, accompanied by some of the old converts of the Moravians who had relapsed into heathenism after the breaking up of the missions in 1782, and who had returned to the Tuscarawas valley because they knew the country so well, and for the purpose of killing all the white people they could find in revenge for the massacre at Gnadenhutten. They had come upon the Wetzell party while returning to the valley from an unsuccessful expedition to the border settlements east of the Ohio, and were not a party of pur- suers, as has been stated in some accounts. After the fight


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they gathered up their plunder, and, with the twice stolen horses, continued their march to their camp near the ruins of Schoenbrunn, on the Tuscarawas. They remained in the valley until called away to join the western tribes in their attempt to repel the invasion of the Maumee country by General Wayne in 1794.


LOGAN'S FAMILY MURDERED-HIS SPEECH AND DEATH.


In the spring of 1774, a party of borderers called the Greathouse men, near the mouth of Yellow Creek, killed the father, brother, and sister of Logan, the Mingo Chief. Logan was absent, but vowed revenge, and never ceased until he had thirty scalps and prisoners. He captured a Major William Robinson, who was taken to the Muskingum Shawanese town, Waketomica, compelled to run the guant- let and ordered to be burned alive. Logan plead eloquently to save his life, and succeeded, after which he took Robin- son to New Comerstown, and dictated while Robinson wrote the following letter to Captain Cresap:


" CAPTAIN CRESAP: What did you kill my people on Yel- low Creek for? The white people killed my kin at Cones- toga a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too, and I have been three times to war since, but the Indians are not angry, only myself.


"July 21, 1774.


CAPTAIN JOHN LOGAN."


This letter was tied to a war club and left at a murdered settler's cabin by Logan.


Thomas Jefferson wove from it the celebrated speech which has been read and recited wherever the English lan- guage was spoken as a sublime burst of Indian eloquence.


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John Gibson met Logan the same fall at Dunmore's treaty. Cresap was also there, without Logan being aware of his presence, and having told Gibson he was not one of the Greathouse party, nor at the massacre of Logan's rela- tives, Gibson took Logan aside and informed him of the fact. Gibson then wrote down Logan's ideas, omitting Cresap's name ; his version was published at Williamsburg, Virginia. The two versions brought on a conflict between Jefferson and his enemies, as to the authenticity of the speech. It led to great feeling among the literati, without settling the matter definitively. In the meantime Logan became famous, and even Campbell, in his "Gertrude of Wyoming," poetized this speech for one of his heroes in after years.


Logan, in the midst of his fame, drowned his grief by drink- ing liquor, and was finally tomahawked while sitting before his fire with a blanket over his head. Tradition says he hired an Indian friend to kill him. Thus ended Logan.


LOGAN'S SPEECH-JEFFERSON'S VERSION.


"I appeal to any white man to say that he ever entered Logan's cabin but I gave him meat; that he ever came naked but I clothed him.


"In the course of the last war Logan remained in his cabin, an advocate for peace. I had such an affection for the white people that I was pointed at by the rest of my nation. I should have ever lived with them had it not been for Colonel Cresap, who last year cut off, in cold blood, all the relations of Logan; not sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called upon me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many, and fully glutted my vengeance. I am glad there is a prospect of peace, on account of the nation ; but I beg that you will not entertain a thought that anything I have said proceeds


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from fear. Logan disdains the thought. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one."


The poet versifies it thus-leaving the reader to fill in Cresap's name :


" Nor man nor child, nor thing of living birth ; No! not the dog, that watched my household hearth,


Escaped that night of blood, upon our plains. All perished ! I alone am left on earth !


To whom nor relative nor blood remains,


No! not a kindred drop that runs in human veins."


ADVENTURES OF THE ZANE FAMILY-ELIZABETH THE HEROINE,


Three relatives, Jonathan, Ebenezer, and Silas Zane, removed from Berkley County, Virginia, to the Ohio River, in 1769, and settled at or near Wheeling of the present day. They were fond of roving and adventurous exploits. They soon became acquainted with the territory on both sides of the river, and hunted Indians as their favorite game. Jon- athan located the present Wheeling and Zanesville. In 1774 he was one of Dunmore's guides in the campaign against the Indian town of Wakatomaka (near Dresden), acted as a spy for Washington, piloted Colonel Brodhead's expedition up the Alleghany, in 1779, and was wounded in that expedition. In 1782 he was one of Colonel Crawford's guides in the fatal Sandusky expedition, and it is said by one of the prominent men of that time, that Crawford held him in such high esteem that before the army commenced its retreat he consulted Zane, who advised an immediate retreat, and that had Crawford acted at once on the advice of Zane, he and his army would have escaped defeat. After the retreat began, Zane succeeded, by his knowledge of Indian warfare, in avoiding capture, and returned safe to


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Wheeling. He was admitted to be the best shot on the border, and on one occasion, meeting a raiding party on the Virginia side, killed five Indians, one after another, with his rifle ; four of whom he shot in the river as they were swimming the Ohio, and the fifth after the Indian had gained the Ohio side. He hid behind a fallen tree in the stream, and was in the act of peeping over the trunk, when Zane's quick eye saw the top of his head. In another moment his body floated down stream. Elsewhere in this work it is related that Jonathan Zane and John McIntyre laid out Zanesville, and having made successful investments in the Muskingum country, Zane became very wealthy. He also had large possessions at Wheeling, where he died. Ebenezer and Silas Zane participated in the border life of Jonathan, and were equally daring and good marksmen.


In the attack on Fort Henry at Wheeling, 1782, Eben- ezer, then Colonel Zane, commanded, and with but a handful of men he kept two hundred and sixty Indians and British soldiers at bay for three days, when they finally gave up the attack and moved off. The following is his letter to General Irvine, commandant at Fort Pitt, announcing the result. It is given verbatim from the work of C. W. Butterfield, entitled "Crawford's Expedition Against Sandusky," he having found the letter among General Irvine's corre- spondence :


" Weling, 14th September, 1782.


" Sir: on the Evening of the 11th Instant a Body of the Enemy appeared in Sight of our garrison the immediately formed thire Lines Round the garrison paraded British Cul- lars and demand the fort to Be Surrenderred which was Re- fused about twelve o clock att Night they Rushed hard on the piekets In order to Storm But was repulsed they made two other uttemts to Storm Before Day to No purpos.


"about eight o clock Next morning thare come a Negro from them to us and informed us that thire forse Consisted of a British Captain and forty Regular Soldiers and two hundred and Sixty Indians they Enemy kept a continual


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fire they whold Day a Bout ten o clock att Night they made a forth attempt to Storm to no better purpos then the former the enemy Continued Round the garrison till the morning of the thirteenth Instant when they Disappeared Our loss is none Daniel Sullivan who arrived here in the first of the action is wounded in the foot.


" I believe they have Drove they greatest part of our Stock away and might I think be soon overtaken I am with Dne Respect your obedient servt. EBENEZER ZANE."


Colonel Ebenezer Zane had a sister Elizabeth, who figured as a heroine in the Wheeling fight. She afterward married twice, and died near Martinsville, Ohio, leaving a large family of descendants, bearing the names of her respective husbands, MeLaughlin and Clark. Her adventure is thus stated :


When the alarm was given by a ranger that the Indians were coming, the fort having for some time been unoccu- pied by a garrison, and Colonel Zane's house having been used for a magazine, those who retired into the fort had to take with them a supply of ammunition for its defense. The powder became exhausted by reason of the long siege. In this emergency it became necessary to renew the stock from an abundant store in Zane's house. Accordingly, it was proposed that one of the fleetest men should endeavor to reach the house, obtain the powder, and return to the fort. Elizabeth, sister of Colonel Zane, at once volunteered to bring the powder. She was young, active, and athletic, with courage to dare anything. On being told that one of the men would run less risk by reason of his fleetness, she replied, "Should he fall the loss will be more severely felt ; you have no men to spare, and a woman will not be missed in defending the fort." She was then told to go, and divesting herself of some heavy clothing, struck out through the gate like a deer. The sight so amazed the savages that they cried, " A squaw, a squaw," and not a shot was fired at her. Arriving at the house, Colonel Zane fastened a table-


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cloth about her waist, and into it poured a keg of powder, when she again ventured out. The Indians now discovered the object of the "squaw," and bullet after bullet whizzed past her head, several lodging in her clothes. She reached the fort in safety, and the powder she had enabled the brave little band to hold out against the besiegers, who were at last compelled to retire without a scalp. or a pound of pow- der.


SKETCH OF SIMON GIRTY, THE WHITE SAVAGE.


Simon, George, and James Girty were from northwestern Pennsylvania, and in the French war, in 1754, were cap- tured by the Indians. Simon joined the Senecas, James the Shawanese, and George the Wyandots, by whom they were regularly adopted. Simon roamed over what is now eastern Ohio with his tribe, and first became prominent as one of the hostages taken by Boquet in 1764, in the Tuscarawas valley, for the good behavior of the Indians. At the ter- mination of the conference of Boquet and the Indians at Coshocton, Simon was delivered up as a captive, and re- turned to Fort Pitt. In 1774 he signed the peace message at New Comerstown, and figured in Dunmore's war on the side of the whites. At the beginning of the Ameri- can revolution he joined the militia at Fort Pitt. Early in 1778, he asked for a captain's commission in the continental service, which being refused him, he deserted to the British, and passing down the Tuscarawas to the present site of Coshocton, with Elliot and McKee, inflamed the Delawares under Pipe to take up the hatchet against the Americans. Passing on to the Shawanese towns at Waketomica and on the Sciota, he aroused portions of the Shawanese to hos- tilities. Thence making his way toward Detroit he was captured by the Wyandots, but was set at liberty by them when told that he had taken up arms against the Americans. The British governor at Detroit employed him in the In-


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dian service. In September, 1778, the afterward celebrated Simon Kenton, being captured and brought as a prisoner to Wappetomica, in Logan County, was sentenced to be burned at the stake. Girty came to see him, and they having been old acquaintances, and having fought side by side in Dun- more's war, he made the most strenuous efforts to save Ken- ton's life, and succeeded for the time being, but the Indians a second time condemning Kenton to be burned, Girty's influence a second time saved him, and he was taken to De- troit, from where he effected his escape.


The first we hear of Simon Girty in the Tusearawas valley after his defection was in 1779, when he headed a party of Mingoes, who attacked a relief squad going from Fort Lan- rens to Fort Pitt, under one Captain Clark, numbering four- teen men. They were ambushed about three miles east of Fort Laurens, near the present town of Sandyville. Two were killed, four wounded, and one taken prisoner. In the same year he attempted to ambuscade Zeisberger on the Coshocton plains, but was prevented from carrying out his design by some Delaware Indians. In 1780 and 1781, he headed Indian war parties who penetrated the Ohio border, and was one of the principal plotters in breaking up the settlements at Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten, Salem, and Coshocton, always evineing great hostility to the mission- aries. In the early part of 1782, he was one of the leading spirits in having Heckewelder and Zeisberger tried at De- , troit as spies. His machinations also caused the Christian Indians on the Sandusky to be disbanded and scattered. On the approach of Crawford's army to the Sandusky, he assisted in marshaling the Indians and defeating that expe- dition. It is related that after nightfall of the first day of the fight, when both armies had ceased firing, Girty came forward with a white flag and asked to see Colonel Craw- ford, who went out to meet him, when Girty told him that the Indians were three times as strong as the whites, and during the night would surround him, except at one spot, where there was a very wet piece of ground, which he


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pointed out. He advised Crawford that if he wished to save his men, to march through that gap and escape in the night, or they would all be cut off in the morning. Craw- ford, in the night commenced his retreat in that direction, and the next day his army got into confusion, lost their course, and Crawford taken prisoner, while Williamson, with about three hundred men, made their escape. It is further related that when Crawford was tied to the stake, Girty offered Captain Pipe three hundred and fifty dollars for the victim, for the purpose of making a speculation in saving his life, but that Pipe told him if he uttered another word on the subject he would be tied to the stake and burned with Crawford.


It is further stated that Girty at one time courted one of Crawford's daughters in Pennsylvania. It is elsewhere related that on the night before Crawford's torture he sent for Girty, had an interview, and offered one thousand dollars to save his life, and that Girty promised to do what he could in the matter. But in the midst of Crawford's sufferings he asked Girty to shoot him, and Girty excused himself by laughingly saying he had no gun.


After Crawford's death, the same year, we find Girty at the great Indian council at the old Chilicothe town, organ- izing an Indian force of six hundred warriors, to march into Kentucky, where, at Bryant's station, they were re- A pulsed, when he retreated to the Blue Licks, and there was overtaken by the Kentuckians, whom he defeated with great slaughter. A treaty of peace being soon after con- cluded, hostilities between the whites and Indians ceased for a time, and Simon Girty's name was little heard of.


Girty comes to the front again in 1790, assisted the In- dians in the campaign against General Harmar, took an active part in the defeat of St. Clair in 1791, and in 1792 and 1793, at all the Indian councils, he earnestly advocated a continuance of the war against the whites. At General Wayne's battle of the Fallen Timbers, in 1794, Girty was present, encouraging the Indians. After peace was made




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