USA > Ohio > Lucas County > Toledo > Polk's Toledo City Directory (1858) > Part 2
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Peter Navarre, a grandson of Robert de Navarre, a French officer, who came to America in 1745, and was appointed Notaire Royal and Sub-Deligue, on the early establishment of Detroit, was born in Detroit, and came with his father's family
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HISTORY.
to reside at the mouth of the Maumee in 1807. At that time the Indians of the Ottawa nation lived in a neat little village, nearly opposite Manhattan. Navarre says it was a grassy plat-the houses, of logs, about sixty in number, were built in two rows, white-washed, and presented a cheerful and pleasant appearance. The village had been in existence since the days of Pontiac, and marked the site of his encampment on the Maumee, at the time he left Detroit in 1764. The head Chief of the nation, Tish-qua-gwun, was a descendant from Pontiac. The character generally given to him, by those who knew him, was that of a kind-hearted, peaceable old man. Assouga was the name of another village Chief of considerable character. At this time, also, the widow of Pontiac, Kan-tuck-ee-gun, and his son, Otussa, dwelt at the mouth of the river. The old woman was held in great reverence, always the first one applied to by the nations for advice, and the first to sign all treaties. Otussa was a man of excellent sense, free from the vices of his tribe, and with none of the ferocity, inherited all the bravery of his father. He was a proud man, and held intercourse with those of the whites only, who, like himself, were distinguished for station or power. Mesh-ke-ma, a cousin of Otussa, was a Chief on the opposite side of the river. He was the finest orator in the nation, and the foremost speaker at all treaties. Ka-ne-wa-ba was another noted Chief. A-be-e-wa, also a Chief, was a good speaker and a man of fine sense. He was quite young at the time of his death, which was occasioned by poison, as early as 1810. Navarre's recollections of him seem to indicate that he was the most talented man in the nation. There were eight thousand of the Ottawas at this time living upon the lower Maumee. They lived principally by hunting and fishing. Once a year they had a sacrifice of the best of everything they owned. On such occasions, which generally lasted three days, they would eat what they could, and burn the remnant of their food, so that the dogs could not get it. About ten days before this annual sacrifice, they would blacken
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HISTORY,
their faces, and eat and drink only in the afternoon. Thou- sands of them would finally assemble, and erect a shanty, where they held their feast. They would make religious speeches with the upraised hand on these occasions, and by every outward demonstration testify their reverence for the Great Spirit.
Feasts were frequent among them, and upon various occasions. Sometimes sickness, often hunting-and oftener still, to enjoy the pleasures of a protracted season of ball-playing, they would have feasts of several days continuance. They drank but little liquor, at this period, were proud and vain, and many of them rich. Their robes were of fine cloths bedizened with silver and gold coin, which jingled and glittered as they walked. Often the chiefs would have several hundred dollars fastened to their dresses.
A variety of dances were incident to the feasts. One called Ki-a-wa, indicated the approach of war, and was only employed as an amusement one or two years before war was expected. This dance was very constantly introduced on festive occasions, for two years before the war of 1812.
Ne-gan-e-ga was a dance for pleasure, and was accompanied by much that was sportive and gleesome in gesture and motion.
The grand calumet dance, was in time of peace danced with a large white pipe, but when war raged or was expected, the pipe was red,'or substituted entirely by the tomahawk. A white pipe was never used in this dance, after 1810 until the war was closed.
Met-a-wee, a medicine dance, was introduced on occasions of sickness, for the purpose of propitiating the anger of the Great Spirit.
The English visited the Indians in great numbers during the years 1810 and 1811, for the purpose of interesting them in a contemplated war against America. Navarre saw them fre- quently-heard their counsels and witnessed their effects upon the nation. From that time they began to deteriorate-liquor
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HISTORY.
was introduced among them in large quantities, and other vices were soon developed.
The Indian titles to the lands in the valley, by the negotia- tions made at the numerous treaties which, from 1796 to 1810, followed each other in close succession, was finally frittered away, until a few acres were all that the tribes possessed. Treaties and whiskey had achieved greater victories for the nation than the guns of Wayne. The poor Indians became aliens in the land of their fathers. Of them-or rather of the miserable remnant of them, which dissipation and the sword had spared, for many years before they finally left the valley-it might have been written:
" Where'er their vagrant footsteps roam, They're strangers in a desert home."
In no part of the United States has the paternal policy pur- sued by our Government towards the Indians been productive of greater evil and hardship to them than in this valley. They have here, through the agency of the usual incidents to treaties and payments been literally robbed of everything. The last hundred of the once powerful tribe of Ottawas, who left their old homes in 1837, to go West of the Mississippi, were nothing but vagrants and drunkards-made so by contact with the whites, who did not scruple to flatter, wheedle and deceive, so long as there was aught to gain by it, nor to expel with inde- cent haste, when they had despoiled them of all their possessions.
The peace of this valley, after the treaty of Greenville, was not disturbed until 1808. During that year, Ellsk-wa-ta-wa, the famous Shawanese Prophet, and brother of Tecumseh, took possession of a tract near the junction of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers, where, by claiming to have received a com- mission from the Great Spirit, he induced a large number of Wyandots, Shawanese, Ottawas and Pottawatamies to assemble for the avowed purpose of retaking the land they had ceded to the United States. This band of hostile Indians, through the 2
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almost superhuman exertions of Tecumseh to unite the western and Southern tribes, gradually increased in numbers until they thought themselves sufficiently formidable to cope with any army the whites could send against them. Their first demonstrations were made against the Miamis, who would not unite with them. Some two hundred of the Ottawas of the lower Maumee, including several noted Chiefs, left their villages and took up their residence with the Prophet. Gen. Harrison, then Governor, at Vincennes, and Gen. Hull, Governor at Detroit, strove by pacific measures to prevent the shedding of blood, but the entire Indian country was at this time filled with Canadian Traders, who, being in the British interest, spared no opportunity to revive the ancient prejudices of the Savages against the Americans, and infuse new ones into their minds. White settlements, which before this time had commenced in this valley, were deserted, and for a while, an immediate out- break was anticipated.
The following speech of Gen. Harrison to the Miamis and the replies by Richardville and other Chiefs of that nation, which were delivered sometime after the prophet commenced operations, show how little confidence existed between the Whites and the Indians, and what was at this time the intention of Gov. Harrison respecting them :
My Children. You had left this place but two days, when I received letters from your Great Father, the President of the seventeen fires, and it was my wish that you should know what they contained, because their contents were of conse- quence to you. I sent after you one of your own people, inviting you to return. You not only refused to do so, but you insulted my messenger. You insulted me, and the Great Chief of the Seventeen Fires, whom I represent. You told him the letters which I had pretended to have received were forgeries.
My Children. This conduct of yours has grieved me much, and my anger against you was for a while very great, but I
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have now cast it off, and I feel nothing but pity for you, and anger against those who have deceived you. I now speak to you in the name of your Father of the Seventeen Fires. Lis- ten to me.
My Children. My eyes are now open and I am now looking towards the Wabash. I see a dark cloud hanging over it. Those who raised it intended it for my destruction, but I will turn it on their own heads.
My Children. I hoped that you would not be injured by this cloud. You have seen it gathering. You had timely no- tice to keep clear of it. The thunder begins to roll, take care that it does not burst upon your heads.
My Children. I now speak plain to you. What is that great collection of people at the mouth of the Tippecanoe intended for? I am not blind, my children. I can easily see what their object is. These people have boasted that they will find me asleep, but they will be deceived.
My Children. Do not suppose that I am foolish enough to suffer them to go on with their preparations until they are ready to strike my people. No. I have watched their motions. I know what they wish to do, and you know it also. Listen, then, to what I say. I will not suffer any more strange Indi- ans to settle on the Wabash. Those that are there, and do not belong there shall disperse and go to their own tribes.
My Children. When you made the treaty with Gen. Wayne, you promised that if you knew of any parties of Indians pass- ing through your country with hostile intentions towards us, that you would give us notice of it and endeavor to stop them. I now inform you that I consider all those who join the Prophet and his party as hostile, and I call upon you to fulfill your engagements. I have also sent to the tribes which have any of their warriors with the Prophet to withdraw them immedi- ately. Those who do not comply, I shall consider to have let go the chain of friendship which united us.
My Children. Be wise, and listen to my voice. I fear that
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HISTORY.
you have got on a road that will lead you to destruction. It is not yet too late to turn back. Have pity upon your women and children. It is time that my friends should be known. I must draw a line. Those that keep me by the hand must be on one side of it, and those that adhere to the Prophet, the other.
My Children. Take your choice. My warriors are in mo- tion, but they shall do you no hurt unless you force me to it ; but I must have satisfaction for the murder of my people, and the war pole that has been raised on the Wabash must be taken down.
My Children. Let me know your determination by Mr. Du- bois. He will explain to you everything. Do not suffer bad advice to mislead you. Throw yourselves into the arms of your father and he will receive you and nourish you. Do not be afraid to speak your minds. Tell those people that have settled on the Wabash without your leave, that the land is yours and you do not wish them there. Do not be afraid to say this. You shall be supported. My warriors are getting ready, and, if it is necessary, you shall see an army of them at your backs, more numerous than the leaves of the trees."
Lapussia, or Richardville, one of the head chiefs of the Mi- ami Nation, made the following reply, which is not more adroit than most of the business transactions of this noted man:
"Governor Harrison : You that reside at Vincennes, listen to what I say. You wish to hear what I have to say. At Vincennes we heard you speak, when we stood as we now stand. You now tell us we are on a wrong road-a road that will lead us to des- truction. You are deceived. We are not on a wrong road. While I was walking along, I heard you speak concerning the Prophet. You say that we are of his party. I hold you both by the hand. I don't hold the Shawnee tight. You have both told one story. You say if we would listen to you, we would be hap- py. The hearts of the Miamis are good. The Great Spirit has put us on a good and fertile land. We are now anxiously waiting to hear who tells us the truth for the first time.
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HISTORY.
Father. Your eyes are open. When you cast your eyes on your children you see that they are poor. They have not the necessaries of life. We want ammunition to support our women and children. That has compelled us to take this journey.
Father. We have not let you go. We yet hold you. We yet hold you by the hand-neither do we hold the hand of the Prophet with a view of injuring you. I therefore tell you, that you are not correct when you tell us we have joined hands with the Prophet to injure you.
Father. I listened to you a few days ago, when you told me of the depredations committed on the Mississippi. I told you that neither I or my people had any wish to assist that party -that we loved your people, that it gave us pleasure to see them standing around-a pleasure of which we should be de- prived by making war upon them, as war would be destructive to both parties.
Father. You have always told me that you were, by our Great Father, placed here among the red people for good purposes, that his heart was good towards his red children. How then does it happen that his heart is changed?
Father. You have called upon us to fulfill the treaty of Greenville. In that treaty it was said that we should tell of any hostile intention towards one another. I now tell you that we have no information from any quarter that there was any design to hurt the people of the United States, except from yourself. You have told us that the thunder begins to roll.
Father. Your speech has overtaken us on our homeward march from Vincennes. We have heard it. We are not scared. We are going on towards that country that has been frequented by Tecumseh. We shall be able to know whether you or Te- cumseh is correct, or whether other Indians are of the same mind with him. When we return we shall be able to tell whether Tecumseh has told the truth or not.
Now, Father, you hear what I have to say. You shall hear it well, what comes from me. You told us before; we' went to
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see you-twice you told us, that you were angry with us, be- cause, while we had been sitting face to face and toes to toes, we had struck you and had said nothing about it. You now tell us that you sent a messenger after us and that we have in- sulted him, you and your Great Father This is twice you have told us, that you have been angry with us. We have looked for the cause, but could see none.
Father. We, the Miamis, are not a passionate people. We are not made angry so easily as it appears you are. Our hearts are as heavy as earth. Our minds are not easily irritated. We do not tell people we are angry for light causes. We are afraid that if we did, we would become contemptible in their eyes. We hope you will no more say you are angry with us, least you make yourself contemptible to your own people. We have told you we would not get angry for light causes. We have our eyes on our lands on the Wabash, with a strong de- termination to defend our rights against all aggressors, come from what quarter they may. When our best interests are in- vaded we will protect them to the last man of us, and be mad but once.
Father. Once more consider your children, the Miamis, and what they have said to you. You have now offered the war club to us. You have laid it at our feet, that, if we choose to pick it up, we might. We have refused to receive it from you. We hope this circumstance will prove to you that we have good hearts.
Father. I hope you will not be angry with us any more and we will not be angry with you."
In further reply to some remarks made by Mr. Dubois, the messenger of Gov. Harrison, Lapussia, said:
" If the Governor draws a line and leaves us out, he may strike us if he will, but if our rights are invaded from any quar- ter, we will die to a man, before we will relinquish them."
Other speeches were made by Silver Heels, Five Medals and Little Turtle in reply to Governor Harrison, none of which,
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however, were entirely satisfactory. At the risk of being deemed tedious, we will here insert the reply of Little Turtle, simply as a specimen of his earnest and simple style of speak- ing.
"Father. Your speech by Dubois, was communicated by him yesterday. Your children, the Miamis of Wabash, are all glad to hear what you have to say.
Father. You have asked whether we were prepared to take part with the Prophet, or to hold you fast by the hand. This question gives us to understand that some misunderstanding has taken place between you and some of our people. It ap- pears also that you have made your intentions known to the Pottawatamies and other Indians, with respect to the Prophet. You have told them and us to leave him. These are things that have surprised us. The transaction that took place at Greenville is still fresh in our memories. At that place we told each other that we would be friends, doing all the good we could to each other, raising our children in peace and quietness. These are yet the sentiments of the Miamis.
Father. You have told us that you would draw a line-that your children should stand on one side, and you on the other. We, the Miamis, wish to be considered in the same light as we were at the Treaty of Greenville, holding fast to that treaty that united us as one people. These are also the sentiments of the Pottawatamies.
Father. Listen to what I say. It is our wish that you pay particular attention. We pray you not to bloody our ground if you can avoid it. Let the Prophet, in the first instance, be mildly requested to comply with your wishes, and avoid spill- ing of blood. The land on the Wabash is ours. We have not placed the Prophet there. On the contrary, we have endeavored to stop his going there. He must be considered as settling there without our leave.
Father. I must again repeat your saying, you must draw a line between your children and the Shawnee. We are not
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HISTORY.
pleased at this, because we think you have no right to doubt our friendship towards you. I have not said much, but I think I have said enough at present. If my words are few, my mean- ing is great. I hope that you will pay particular attention to what I have said."
These speeches were delivered at Fort Wayne on the 4th of September, 1811, and are copied from manuscripts written at the time by John Shaw, Sub-Indian Agent, which were found among the papers of our late fellow-citizen, B. F. Stickney, Esq.
The battle of Tippecanoe was fought on the 7th of Novem- ber, about two months after these speeches were made. Some time previous to this event, and while residing at the mouth of the Maumee, Peter Navarre was invited by John Songcraint to accompany him on a fur trading expedition to the west. They visited several tribes of Indians, among others the Prairie Pot- tawatamies, near Chicago, but did not purchase many furs. Navarre complained of their want of success, but Songcraint assured him they would supply themselves on their return home. After a month or more, they came to the Prophet's town, arriving there the same day that Gen. Harrison arrived with his army. Navarre was informed that their object was to make a treaty. He saw the chiefs leave the camp to meet the Governor, and listened to their remarks on their return. At an early hour he retired. At midnight he was awakened by the noise made by the Indians while picking their gun flints. He was about to rise for the purpose of ascertaining the cause, but was told by Songcraint if he did, that the Indians would kill him. He kept still, and in two hours afterwards, heard the firing and clash of the battle, some three miles distant from him. Learning of the result, the next morning, and finding the Indian town nearly evacuated, he left, with Songcraint, by the most feasible route, to avoid Harrison's soldiers, who he felt would shoot him or hang him, as a refugee in the British interest, should they arrest him.
Ells-kwa-ta-wa's power for evil over the western tribes had
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HISTORY.
been felt for years. As early as 1806 he visited the Wyan- dotts at Lower Sandusky and designated four of their best women as witches, whom he appointed men to slay at midnight. This fearful deed would have been consummated, but for the timely interference of Rev. Joseph Badger, missionary to the Wyandotts. As late as April, 1810, Governor Hull addresses the Wyandotts a speech on the folly of their belief in the delu- sions of the Prophet. "Consider," he says, "the consequences of such conduct. Let it once be proclaimed that the Crane and Leatherlips are witches, and any one has a right to murder them." Crane and Leatherlips were the head chiefs of the nation. The Prophet was a kind of uncivilized Joe Smith-full of low cunning, always ready with an incantation to justify his ini- quity. What Tecumseh could not accomplish by persuasion and noble address, his brother would sometimes succeed in doing by trickery and conjuration. The tardy settlement of this val- ley from 1808 to 1811 is attributable in a great measure to the dread of encountering the confederated army of Tecumseh, which had been so long congregating at Tippecanoe. This was brought to a termination by the Battle of Tippecanoe, and peace, for a brief period, spread her white wings over the frontier.
Immigrants began to pour into this valley as soon as it was understood that the power of Tecumseh and the Prophet had been broken. The month before war was declared against Great Britain, there were sixty-seven white families settled up- on the twelve mile square reserve, at the foot of the rapids. The most conspicuous man among the early settlers was Major Amos Spafford. He came to Ohio, in the employ of the Con- necticut Land Company, towards the close of the last century, and settled at Cleveland. In 1810 he removed to this River to perform the duties of Collector of the Port of Miami, and Post Master. His first abstract of exports for the quarter ending June 30th, 1810, amounted to $5,640 85. The articles were twenty gallons of Bear's oil and a lot of skins and furs. 3
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HISTORY.
Major Spafford erected his dwelling on the plain in front, but a little above the elevated table of land, on which Fort Meigs was afterwards built. A little village grew up around him- and the settlers soon learned to regard him as their chief friend and adviser. Another settlement sprang up about the same time on the spot where the village of Monclova stands. A saw and grist mill were erected there. These little hamlets were the only evidences of civilization between Lower Sandus- ky and Frenchtown or Monroe.
The intelligence that war was declared in 1812, was first communicated to the settlers of the valley by Peter Manor, the father of our fellow-townsman John J. Manor, Esq. He re- ceived it from a Delaware Chief by the name of Sac-a-manc, who with two of his tribe passed through the settlement on a marauding expedition to the interior of the State. The story told by Sac-a-manc was that war had been declared, but the British had not determined upon their plans for the campaign. "I," said the chief, " shall go to Owl Creek. I shall kill some of the Longknives before I come back, and will show you some of their scalps. In ten days after I get back, all the hostile tribes will hold a council at Malden, and very soon after that we shall come to this place and kill all the Yankees. You, Manor, are a good Frenchman and must not tell them what I say." Sac-a-manc returned after an absence of six days, and showed Manor three scalps which he said were those of a fam- ily he had murdered on Owl Creek. He repeated to Manor in confidence that it was the intention of the Indians to come to the valley in force sufficient to massacre the American settlers. This intelligence Manor communicated to Major Spafford, ac- companied with advice to leave the valley immediately. The Major laughed, and dismissed the subject with some remark expressive of incredulity, and Manor left him with the promise that should he learn of any further cause for alarm he would let him know. Three days after this conversation a man by the name of Miller, who had lived many years with the Otta-
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HISTORY.
was, and who was well known to Major Spafford, entered his house in breathless haste, and told him that at no greater dis- tance than Monclova, there was a band of fifty Pottawatamies. They were on the march from their country on the St. Josephs, to join the hostile Indians at Malden, and take part in the coun- cil spoken of by Sac-a-manc. They had plundered and set fire to the dwellings and mills at Monclova, and would soon be on their march for the foot of the rapids. But little time was left to escape. The major with his family, and the few settlers that had remained in the valley, hastened immediately to the river, where they dislodged and launched a large barge, in which some officers had descended the river from Fort Wayne, the year before. Raising a square sail composed of a bed blanket, they were enabled by dint of hard rowing and a favorable breeze, to round the point and get under cover of old Fort Mi- ami, just as the Indians made their appearance on the bank, where Maumee City is built, and before they passed Eagle Point they saw the flames ascending from the homes they had just deserted. This little band of fugitives, favored with fair winds, made a safe passage to the Quaker Settlement at Milan, where they remained until after the war. Manor says they were panic-struck and left their horses, cattle, and most of their household goods, which were taken away by the Indians, who completed their work by burning every dwelling belonging to an American in that part of the valley. This accomplished, they pursued their march to Malden, attended the Council, and true to the appointment of Sac-a-manc some two hundred of the hostile Indians afterwards came to the rapids, and finished so much of the work of destruction as was left undone by the Pottawatamies.
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