USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 30
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369
HOSTILITY OF THE INDIANS.
rifle of the savages, only by their desire of taking a pris- oner, to learn the intentions of General Wayne.
Hostility of the Indians.
The first actual demonstration of hostility, after the in- habitants had taken possession of their new garrison, was on the 12th of March, by some of the same party who had attacked the settlement at Waterford, and killed Captain Rogers at Marietta. The settlers who had evacuated their farms, of necessity left a part of their cattle and fodder on the premises ; while those near the castle were visited daily to feed and milk their cows. On this morning Waldo Put- nam, a son of Colonel Israel Putnam, and grandson of the old veteran General, in company with Nathaniel Little, visited the possession of the former, half a mile below, to milk and feed the cows. While Waldo was in the posture of milking, Little who kept guard discovered an Indian in the act of leveling his gun at him. He instantly cried out " Indians, Indians !" Just as the gun cracked, Waldo sprang to one side, and the ball struck the ground under the cow where he was sitting. They instantly ran for the garrison, when three Indians sprang out from the edge of the woods and joined in the pursuit, firing their rifles at the fugitives as they ran, but happily without effect. They were soon within a short distance of the garrison, when a party of men rushed out to their rescue, and the Indians retreated, after killing several of the cattle, and among them a yoke of oxen belonging to Captain Benjamin Miles, which were noted for their size, being fifteen hands high and large in proportion.
In the subsequent year, while Messrs. Putnam and Little were at the same place, very early in the morning, a small dog that was a few rods in advance gave notice of danger by barking violently at some hidden object which his manner led them to suspect must be an Indian. Thus warned they began slowly to retreat and look carefully for
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370
A NARROW ESCAPE.
their enemy. The Indians, three or four in number, watch- ing them from their covert behind a brush fence, now jumped from their hiding place and gave chase. The two white men quickened their speed, and crossed a deep gully which lay in their path on a log, barely in time to prevent the Indians from cutting off their retreat. They had exam- ined the ground, and expected to take them prisoners or kill them at this place. Seeing them past the defile they now commenced firing at them, but missed their object. In the ardour of pursuit, they rushed up to within a short distance of the castle, when Harlow Bull, a fierce little warrior, who had just risen from bed, and was only partly dressed, heard the firing, and rushed out at the gate with his rifle and dis- charged it at the Indians, at the same time returning their war whoop with a yell nearly as terrific as their own. Several of the soldiers soon after appeared in the field, when the Indians retreated to the forest, greatly disap- pointed in their expected victims. No pursuit was made by the garrison, as their object was not so much to kill the Indians, as to defend themselves.
After the fugitives were safe within the walls, considera- ble alarm was for a time felt for Major Bradford, who had gone out with them, but fell a good way behind his com- pany, on account of a lame foot, from a recent wound. He had nearly reached the gully, or defile, when the Indians begun the pursuit, and knowing he could not keep pace with the others, he jumped down the bank of the river near which he was hobbling along, before he was seen by the In- dians ; and keeping under cover of its shelter, he reached the garrison unnoticed, and came in at one of the water gates. For a few minutes his family were fully persuaded that he was killed, as his companions could give no account of him.
Death of Benoni Hurlburt by the Indians.
On the 28th of September, 1791, Joshua Fleehart and
371
DEATH OF BENONI HURLBURT.
Benoni Hurlburt, who had both been brought up on the frontiers, and accustomed from boyhood to a hunter's life, left the garrison in a canoe to hunt, and visit their traps near the mouth of the little Hockhocking, distant about three miles below. Fleehart was a celebrated hunter and trapper. Like many other backwoodsmen he preferred fol- lowing the chase for a living, to that of cultivating the earth. Numbers of them depended on the woods for their clothing as well as their food, being in this respect very much like the savages. Hurlburt's family, from the oldest down to the youngest, were clothed in dressed deer skins. They had hunted lately a good deal together, and supplied the garrison with fresh meat. On their way down, as they passed the narrows above the mouth of the creek, the two hunters were strongly induced to land and shoot some tur- keys which they heard gobbling on the side of the hill, a few rods from the river. It was a common practice with the Indians, when in the vicinity of the whites, to imitate the notes of this bird, to call out some of the unwary settlers within reach of their rifles. After listening a few moments, the nice, discriminating ear of Fleehart in such sounds, satisfied him that they were made by Indians. Hurlburt did not believe it; but was finally induced not to land, lest it might be so.
They proceeded on, and entered the mouth of the creek, where his companion landed and traveled along in the edge of the woods in search of game, while Fleehart paddled the canoe further up the stream. As they had seen no more signs of Indians, they concluded that the gobbling this time was done by the turkeys themselves. In a short time after Hurlburt left the canoe, the report of a rifle was heard, which Fleehart at once knew was not that of his companion, and concluded was the shot of an Indian. He landed the canoe on the opposite shore, and running up the bank se- creted himself in a favorable spot to fire on the Indians , should they approach to examine the creek for the canoe.
372
DEATH OF BENONI HURLBURT.
He directly heard a little dog that belonged to his compa- nion in fierce contest with the Indians, trying to defend the body of his master; but they soon silenced him with a stroke of the tomahawk. After watching more than an hour, so near that he could hear the Indians converse, and the groans of the dying man, but out of his sight and the reach of his rifle, the Indians being too cautious to ap- proach where they expected danger, he entered his canoe and returned to the garrison, which he reached a little after dark, and reported the fate of his companion. The subse- quent events render it probable, that the Indians had seen them on their way down, and failing to induce them to land by imitating the call of the turkey, through the caution of Fleehart, had watched their future course, and running across the point of land between the Ohio and the Hock- hocking, were ready to fire upon Hurlburt as he walked leisurely along looking for game. He had often been warned of the danger attending his trapping excursions, by the cautious old soldiers of the garrison; but having been acquainted with Indian warfare, he did not look upon them with the dread of a New England man, but always said "he was not afraid of any Indian."
The next morning a party of men, conducted by Fleehart, went down by water, and found him dead and scalped on the ground where he fell, with the body of the faithful dog by his side. They brought him up to the castle, where he was buried.
Mr. Hurlburt was over sixty years old, and had moved into the country from Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1788, and lived for a time in Marietta. He served as hunter to a party of Ohio company surveyors in 1789, and was esteemed as an honest, worthy man. He was the first man killed in Belpre after the war broke out.
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373
TRANSACTIONS AT BELPRE.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Transactions at Belpre. - Trials of the settlers .- Female dread of the savages. - Mutual insurance society. - Floating mill. - Indian murders at the lower settlement. - Scarlet fever; fatal effects .- Intermittent fevers .- Schools .- Names of teachers- Religious services. - Names of families in Farmers' Castle. - Spies or rangers .- Small pox .- Domestic manufactures; cotton; rice; silk .- Sheep.
Transactions at Belpre.
THE death of Mr. Hurlburt was a source of additional terror and dread to the elderly females in the garrison, whose fears of the Indians kept them in constant alarm, lest their own husbands or sons should fall a prey to the rifle or tomahawk of the savages. They had but tittle quiet except in the winter, during which period the Indians rarely made inroads, or lay watching about the garrisons. But as soon as the spring began to open, and the wild geese were seen in flocks steering their course to the north, and the frogs heard piping in the swamp, they might invariably be expected lurking in the vicinity. So constantly was this the case, that the elder females and mothers, with the more timid part of the community, never greeted this season of the year with the hilarity and welcome so common in all parts of the world, and so desirable as releasing us from the gloom and storms of winter. They preferred that season to any other, as they then felt that their children and them- selves were in a manner safe from the attack of their dreaded foe. They, therefore, regretted its departure, and viewed the budding of the trees and the opening of the wild flowers with saddened feelings, as the harbingers of evil;
374
MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY.
listening to the song of the blue bird and the martin with cheerless hearts, as preludes to the war cry of the savage.
Much of our comfort and happiness depends on associa- tion; and though surrounded with all that the heart may crave, or our tastes desire, yet the constant dread of some expected evil will destroy all peace of mind, and turn what otherwise might be joy into sorrow. The barking of the watch dogs at night was another source of terror, as it was associated with the thought that some savage foe was lurk- ing in the vicinity. The more timid females, when thus awakened in the night, would rise upon the elbow and listen with anxious care for the sound of the war whoop, or the report of the rifle of the watchful sentry; and when they again fell into a disturbed slumber, the nervous excitement led them to dream of some murderous deed, or appalling danger. Several amusing incidents are related of the alarms in the garrison from the screams of persons when asleep, and dreaming that they were attacked by Indians. Amid the peace and quiet of our happy times, we can hardly realize the mental suffering of that distressing period.
Mutual insurance society.
Soon after the commencement of the war, the inhabitants who owned cattle and hogs, formed themselves into a soci- ety for the mutual insurance of each other's stock, against the depredation of the Indians; and also for carrying on their agricultural labors. Each one was accountable for any loss, in proportion to the amount he owned. For this purpose the animals were appraised at their cash value, and recorded in a book by the secretary. Quite a number of cattle and hogs were killed or driven away by the sava- ages during the war, the value of which was directly made up to the owners by the company. Horses they did not attempt to keep, during the war, as they were sure to be stolen, and were a means of inviting the Indians into the settlement. It was a wise and salutary arrangement, and
375
FLOATING MILL.
found to be very useful in equalizing the burthens and losses of a community who had located themselves in the wilderness, and had to encounter not only the toil and pri- vations of reclaiming their new lands from the forest, but also to contend with one of the most subtle, revengeful, and wily enemies the world ever produced.
The leading men in Belpre had been acquainted during their service in the army, at a time which tried men's souls, and they felt a degree of kindness and interest in each other's welfare not to be found, in any other commu- nity. Their mutual dangers and sufferings bound them still closer together in the bonds of friendship. There was also an amount of intelligence and good sense, rarely found in so small a number, as will be more distinctly shown in the biographical sketches attached to this work.
Floating mill.
Early in the summer of 1791, the settlers being disap- pointed in completing the mill commenced on the little Hockhocking, by the Indian war, concluded to build what might be called a "floating mill." This could be anchored out in the river, and be safe from destruction by Indians. The labor of grinding corn on a hand mill, for a community of more than one hundred and fifty persons, was a task only known to those who have tried it. Griffin Greene, Esq., one of the Ohio company directors, and also an associate in Farmers' Castle, had traveled in France and Holland three or four years before, and in the latter country had seen a mill erected on boats and the machinery moved by the current. He mentioned the fact to Captain Jonathan Devoll, an ingenious mechanic, of ardent temperament, and resolute to accomplish anything that would benefit his fellow men ; and although Mr. Green had not inspected the foreign mill so as to give any definite description, yet the bare sugges- tion of such a fact was sufficient for Captain Devoll, whose mechanical turn of mind immediately devised the machinery
376
FLOATING MILL.
required to put it in operation. A company was formed and the stock divided into twelve shares, of which Captain Devoll took one third, and Mr. Green about a fourth; the rest was divided among five other persons. When finished it cost fifty-one pounds eight shillings, Massachusetts currency, ac- cording to the old bill of expenditures now in the family. The mill was erected on two boats; one of them five, the other ten feet wide and forty-five feet long. The smaller one was made of the trunk of a large hollow sycamore tree, and the larger, of timber and plank, like a flat boat. They were placed eight feet apart, and fastened firmly together by beams, running across the boats. The smaller boat on the outside supported one end of the shaft of the water wheel, and the larger boat the other, in which was placed the mill stones and running gear, covered with a tight frame building or mill house, for the protection of the grain and meal, and the comfort of the miller. The space between the boats was covered with planks, forming a deck, fore and aft of the water wheel. It was turned by the natural cur- rent of the water, and was put into motion, or cheeked, by pulling up or pushing down a set of boards, similar to a gate, in front of the wheel. It could grind from twenty-five to fifty bushels of grain in twenty-four hours, according to the strength of the current. The larger boat was fastened by a chain cable to an anchor made of timbers and filled with stones, and the smaller one by a grape vine to the same anchor. The mill was placed in a rapid portion of the Ohio, about the middle of Backus's island, a few rods from the shore, and in sight of the castle. The current here was strong, and the position safe from Indians. With the aid of a bolting cloth in the garrison, turned by hand, very good flour was made, when they had any wheat. The day of its completion was a kind of jubilee to the inmates of the the castle, as it relieved them from the slavish labor of the hand mill, which literally fulfilled the prediction to Adam, " in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread." The
377
INDIAN MURDERS AT NEWBURY.
floating mill was a great relief to the settlers, and was visited by all the settlers on both sides of the Ohio, for the distance of twenty miles, in their canoes, the only mode of transportation at a period when there were neither roads or bridges in the country.
Indian murders at Newbury.
This settlement was begun at the same time with that at Belpre, considered a part of it, and called " the lower settle- ment." The location was six miles below "Farmers' Castle," and was commenced by about fourteen associates. On the breaking out of hostilities, the 2d of January, 1791, they left their new clearings and joined the garrison at Belpre. Finding it out of their power to cultivate their lands at so great a distance, early in the spring of 1792, the men returned and built two block houses, with a few cabins, and inclosed the whole with a stockade, on the bank of the river, opposite to a spot called " Newbury bar," and moved back their effects. It now contained four or five families, and eight single men; in all, about twenty souls.
A man by the name of Brown, from head waters, with his wife and four children, had recently joined the settle- ment, and commenced clearing a piece of land, about eighty rods from the garrison. On Sunday, the 15th of March, it being a mild and pleasant day, his wife went out to see him set some young fruit trees they had brought with them. Not apprehending any danger from the Indians so near the garrison, she took along with her the children, carrying a sucking infant in her arms, and leading another child of two years old by the hand; while Persis Dunham, a girl of four- teen years, the daughter of widow Dunham, and a great favorite with the settlers, for her pleasant disposition, kind, conciliating manners, and beautiful person, led another child, and the fourth loitered some distance behind them. When they arrived within a short space of Mr. Brown, two Indians sprang out from their concealment; one of whom
378
SCARLET FEVER.
seized Mrs. Brown by the arm, and sunk his tomahawk in her head. As she fell, he aimed a blow at the infant, which cut a large gash in the side of the forehead, and nearly severed one ear. He next dashed his hatchet into the head of the child she was leading, and with his knife tore off their scalps. The other Indian fell upon Persis and the remain- ing child, sinking his tomahawk into their heads, and tearing off their scalps with the remorseless fury of a demon.
The men in the garrison, hearing their screams, rushed out to their rescue; but only saved the little fellow who loitered behind, and commenced firing at the Indians. Brown, whom they had not discovered before, now came in sight, but, being without arms, could render no assistance. The Indians immediately gave chase to him, but he escaped and reached the garrison. As the men were not familiar with Indian warfare, no effective pursuit was made; where- as, had there been several backwoodsmen among them, they would doubtless have been followed and killed.
When the bodies of the slain were removed to the garri- son, the poor little infant was found in a state of insensibi- lity, lying by the side of its dead mother. It finally revived, and was nursed with great tenderness by the females of "Farmers' Castle," where the child was soon after brought, whose deepest sympathies were awakened by its mother- less condition, pallid features, and ghastly wound, which had nearly deprived it of all its blood. By great care it was again restored to health, and the father, with his two remaining children, returned to his relations. The 1st of April the settlement at Newbury was again evacuated, and not repossessed until the close of the war.
Scarlet fever.
In the summer of 1792, in addition to their other calami- ties, the inhabitants of Farmer's Castle were assailed with scarlet fever and putrid sore throat. It commenced without any known cause or exposure to contagion. The disease
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SCHOOLS.
379
was sudden and violent in its attack and very fatal; some of the children dying in twenty four hours. It was of a very putrid type, and the seat of the disease confined chiefly to the fauces and throat, many having no scarlet effloresence on the skin. It continued for several weeks, and over- whelmed this little isolated community with consternation and grief, Medicine seemed to have little or no effect in arresting the progress, or checking the fatal termination of the disease. It gradually subsided, after carrying off ten or fifteen children. Like many other epidemics it was most fatal in the first few days of its appearance. It was con- fined to Belpre, while Marietta and the other settlements escaped its ravages. In the summer and autumn the in- habitants were more or less affected with intermittent fevers of a mild type, to the production of which, no doubt, the swamp back of the garrison afforded a large share of the malaria. Bilious fever also, occasionally attacked the new settlers, but the disease was seldom fatal, and gave way to simple remedies.
Schools.
No people ever paid more attention to the education of their children, than the descendants of the puritans. . One of the first things done by the settlers at Belpre, after they had erected their own log dwellings, was to make provision for teaching their children the rudiments of learning, read- ing, writing and arithmetic. Bathsheba Rouse, the daughter of John Rouse, one of the emigrants from near New Bedford, Massachusetts, was employed in the summer of 1789, to teach the small children, and for several subse- quent summers, she taught a school in Farmers' Castle. She is believed to be the first female who ever kept a school within the present bounds of Ohio. During the winter months, a male teacher was employed for the larger boys and young women. Daniel Mayo was the first teacher in Farmers' Castle. He came from Boston, a young man, in
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380
RELIGIOUS EXERCISES.
the family of Colonel Battelle, in the fall of the year 1788, and was a graduate of Cambridge university. The school was kept in a large room of Colonel Battelle's block house. He was a teacher for several winters, and during the sum- mer worked at clearing and cultivating his lot of land. He married a daughter of Colonel Israel Putnam, and after the war, settled at Newport, Kentucky, where his descendants now live. Jonathan Baldwin, another educated man, also kept school a part of the time during their confinement in garrison. These schools had no public funds as at this day to aid them, but were supported from the hard earnings of the honest pioneers.
Religious exercises.
The larger portion of the time during the war, religious service was kept up on the sabbath, in "Farmers' Castle," by Colonel E. Battelle. The people assembled at the large lower room in his block house, which was provided with seats. Notice was given of the time when the exercises began, by his son Ebenezer, than a lad of fifteen or sixteen years old, and a drummer to the garrison, marching the length of the castle, up and down, beating the drum. The inmates understood the call as readily from the " tattoo," as from the sound of a bell; and they generally attended very regularly. The meeting was opened with prayer, sometimes read from the church service, and sometimes delivered extempore, followed by singing, at which all the New Englanders were more or less proficient. A sermon was then read from the writings of some standard divine, and the meeting closed with singing and prayer. There was usually but one service a day. Occasionally, during the war, the Rev. Daniel Story visited them and preached on the Sabbath ; but these calls were rare, owing to the danger of intercourse between the settlements from the In- dians. After the war his attendance was more regular, about once a month; on the other three Sabbaths, religious
381
NAMES OF FAMILIES AT THE "CASTLE."
services were still kept up by Colonel Battelle, at a house erected on "the bluff," which accommodated both the upper and middle settlements, until the time of their being able to build other and more convenient places of worship. This holy day was generally observed and honored by the inhabitants; but not with that strictness common in New England. Very few of the leading men at that day were members of any church; yet all supported religion, mo- rality, and good order.
A list of the families which lived in " Farmers' Castle," at Bel- pre, in the year 1792.
By looking at the sketch of the garrison, the reader will see a number attached to each block house, and thus recog- nize the domicil of every family.
No. 1. Colonel Ebenezer Battelle, wife, and four children, viz : Cornelius, Ebenezer, Thomas and Louisa. Cornelius and Thomas, soon after the close of the war, went to the West Indies, where a rich uncle put them into lucrative employments. Thomas married a daughter of Governor Livingston, of New York, and Cornelius the daughter of a rich planter. Louisa remained single and resided in Boston, the birth place of her mother. Ebenezer settled on a farm in Newport, in this county, and has a numerous family of children, noted for their intelligence and respectability.
No. 2. Captain William James, wife, and ten children, from New England, viz: Susan, Anna, Esther, Hannah, Abi- gail and Polly ; William, John, Thomas and Simeon. Wil- liam was killed by the Indians at the sacking of Big bot- tom. The others all married and settled in the vicinity, either in Ohio or Virginia.
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