USA > Ohio > Scioto County > Scioto sketches; an account of discovery and settlement of Scioto County, Ohio > Part 3
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The Americans charged the Indian positions. The Indians arose from their hiding-places and fired at the
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Showing the Greenville Treaty Line, the earliest Settlements on the Ohio River, the route of Waynes Army, and the Portages between the Rivers entering the Ohio River, and those entering Lake Erie.
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Wayne was sent to Ohio. He reached Fort Washing- ton in April, 1793. At once, he began the work of organizing an army. In October, Wayne started north with this army. A fort was erected about eighty miles north of Fort Washington. This was called Fort Greenville. The army wintered there. Some of the forces were sent on a few miles farther north, where they built Fort Recovery. It was at this place that the Indians had defeated General St. Clair in 1791. This fort was attacked by a large force of Indians under Little Turtle, and here, the Indians, for the first time, met with a serious reverse.
In the summer of 1794, General Wayne went on to the Maumee River where he built Fort Defiance. Hav- ing established a line of positions, from which he could wage war upon his enemies, he prepared to attack. Be- fore giving battle, he made an effort to obtain a satis- factory treaty of peace. The Miami chief, Little Turtle, as the result of his experience with Wayne's soldiers at Fort Recovery, favored peace. In his speech for peace, he said:
"The Americans are now led by a chief who never sleeps. The night and the day are alike to him. We have never been able to surprise him. Think well of it. There is something whispers to me it would be prudent to listen to the offers of peace."
But the Shawnee chief, Blue Jacket, was confident that he could crush the army of General Wayne, and his decision was for war. The battle was fought on the banks of the Maumee, in a forest that had been swept by a tornado. Many trees had been leveled; and, from this circumstance, the battle is known as the battle of Fallen Timbers. The tops, trunks, and roots of the fallen trees gave the Indians favorable places for con- cealment. It was a good battle ground for the Indian to wage his method of warfare.
The Americans charged the Indian positions. The Indians arose from their hiding-places and fired at the
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MAP OF THE STATE OF OHIO
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Showing the Greenville Treaty Line, the earliest Settlements on the Ohio River, the route of Waynes Army, and the Portages between the Rivers entering the Ohio River, and those entering Lake Erie.
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troops. But the Americans held their fire and pressed on, so that the Indians would not have time to reload. When in the midst of the savages, the Americans began firing. The Indians suffered so severely that they fled in much confusion. This defeat, and the subsequent de- struction of their villages, forced the various tribes to surrender. Under the treaty of peace, known as the Greenville Treaty, the Indians ceded to the United States all their claims to the lands, lying eastwardly and southwardly of a boundary line beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River; thence up that river to the por- tage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the crossing above Fort Laurens; thence westerly to a fork of a branch of the Great Miami at Loromie's store; thence westerly to Fort Recovery; thence southwesterly to the Ohio River opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River .*
The calumet smoked, as a token of peace, at the signing of this treaty, was given to Jeremiah Kendall, by General Wayne. The former gave it to his son, General William Kendall, a pioneer of Portsmouth. The descendants of General Kendall have deposited this pipe of peace in the museum of the Ohio Archæ- ological Society.
The battle of Fallen Timbers had a most salutary effect upon the settlement of Scioto County; the Ohio River became a safe highway for the settler; it put an end to the murderous attacks at the mouth of the Scioto; it made Kentucky safe against invasion; it enabled the people in existing settlements to go about their work without fear of torch or tomahawk; it made possible the settlement of the Ohio Valley from Galli- polis to Manchester; it wrested the Scioto Valley from the savage Shawnee. Within less than two years there- after, settlers' cabins were erected in Scioto County.
*Kendall's Land Laws for Ohio, p. 479 (1825).
VI
THE FINAL ENCOUNTERS WITH INDIANS NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE SCIOTO
The activities of the two Massie brothers, Nathaniel and Henry, will ever be connected with the settlements in Scioto County and with the establishment of the city of Portsmouth. Nathaniel Massie was the more active in pioneer work. He established the towns of Manches- ter, Chillicothe, and Bainbridge. Manchester was origi- nally called Massie's Station. Henry Massie, as we shall learn later, established the city of Portsmouth. Nathaniel Massie was a forceful, intrepid pioneer who did not hesitate to make surveys of the region between the Ohio River and Chillicothe, at a time when it was infested by hostile Indians. He made a survey of the Scioto River in October, 1793, from its mouth to Chillicothe. Duncan McArthur was one of his asso- ciates.
The Indians sometimes maintained a camp of war- riors at the mouth of the Scioto River, after their vil- lage at that location had been abandoned. From this camp, the warriors went forth to attack boats navigat- ing the Ohio River. To frustrate the designs of the Indians, a feeble effort was made to patrol the Ohio. Two scouts would ascend the river as two were descend- ing. Duncan McArthur was in this scout service for some time.
One day in 1793, while McArthur was on a scouting expedition, he and Samuel Davis went to a deerlick, a short distance below the mouth of the Scioto on the Ohio
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side, to secure some venison. These scouts lived by their rifle. It was a still morning with a fog close to the earth. As they neared the lick, McArthur stopped while Davis crept ahead to see if there was a deer at the lick. As deer have very sensitive hearing, the slight- est sound, such as the snapping of a twig, will cause them to take flight. To lessen the chance of making any noise, Davis crept up alone. As he drew close to the lick, he began to crawl through the underbrush. When he reached a point from which he could see the lick, he rose and parted the brush to look for a deer. Imme- diately, he heard the report of a rifle and a bullet cut the brush close to his head. The powder used by the old-timer was black and gave off dense smoke from the muzzle of the rifle. Only within recent years has smoke- less powder been made. The smoke prevented Davis and the rifleman from seeing each other. But in an in- stant, an Indian stepped to one side of the smoke to see whether he had killed the hunter. This gave Davis an opportunity to shoot; and he killed the Indian. Mc- Arthur, hearing the shots, hastened to the aid of his comrade. Just as he reached him, a party of Indians, bent upon revenge, rushed upon them, but Davis and McArthur retreated, under cover of the brush, to their canoe in the Ohio, and crossed the river for safety.
Late in the autumn of 1793, Joshua Fleehart, a celebrated backwoodsman and trapper, left the Mari- etta settlement in his canoe to spend the winter, trap- ping on the Scioto River and on Brush Creek. Bear and beaver were the principal objects of his hunt; and the hills along Brush Creek were good hunting grounds for bear, and the streams, that enter the Scioto in that vicinity, were frequented by many beaver.
Fleehart lived in a small bark hut, and spent the winter in hunting and trapping along these streams. About the middle of February, he packed his winter's
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catch of furs into a canoe, concealed it in the willows, and made ready to leave the Scioto country. He well knew that, with the approach of spring, the Indians might be expected along the Scioto. Upon hearing a distant shot one evening, he determined to leave the next morning. After breakfast, Fleehart saw an In- dian, following the moccasin tracks which he had made along the river bank the previous day. The fight that followed can best be told in the language of Hildreth:
"He instantly cocked his gun, stepped behind a tree, and waited until the Indian came within the sure range of his shot. He then fired and the Indian fell. Rushing from his cover on his prostrate foe, he was about to apply the scalping knife, but seeing the shining silver brooches, and broad bands on his arms, he fell to cutting them loose, and tucking them into the bosom of his hunting shirt. While busily occupied in securing the spoils, the sharp crack of a rifle and the passage of the ball through the bullet pouch at his side, caused him to look up, when he saw three Indians within a hun- dred yards of him.
They being too numerous for him to encounter, he seized his rifle and took to flight. The other two, as he ran, fired at him without effect. The chase was continued for several miles by two of the Indians, who were the swiftest runners. He often stopped and 'treed,' hoping to get a shot and kill or disable one of them, and then overcome the other at his leisure. His pursuers also 'treed,' and by flanking to the right and left, forced him to uncover or stand the chance of a shot.
He finally concluded to leave the level grounds, on which the contest had thus far been held, and take to the high hills which lie back of the bottoms. His strong, muscular limbs here gave him the advantage, as he could ascend the steep hill sides more rapidly than his pursuers. The Indians, seeing they could not overtake him, as a last effort stopped and fired. One of their balls cut away the handle of his hunting knife, jerking it so violently against his side, that for a moment he thought he was wounded. He imme- diately returned the fire, and with a yell of vexation, they gave up the chase."*
After dark, Fleehart went to the place where he had concealed his canoe, paddled out into the Scioto
*Pioneer History of Ohio, by Hildreth (1848).
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and drifted with the current toward the Ohio, where he arrived the next morning. This Indian fight probably took place a few miles north of the mouth of Brush Creek; for a beaver trapper always located his perma- nent camp at a place from which many streams may be reached. Brush Creek, Bear Creek, and Camp Creek were, in all probability, within the radius of Fleehart's trap lines.
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In the summer of 1794, the attack, referred to in a previous chapter, was made on the mail boat ascending the Ohio, as it drew near the mouth of the Scioto. On account of the loss of life and damage to the boat, it returned to Maysville. Here a new crew was obtained and the boat again started on her voyage, accompanied by a guard composed of Duncan McArthur and three other scouts. On their way upstream, they found a large Indian canoe, sunk in a creek just below the mouth of the Scioto. This was the method used by Indian war parties in concealing their canoes. The mail boat finally reached the Big Sandy River in safety. There the scouts left it, and returned down the Ohio. Upon their return, the scouts landed on the Kentucky side, oppo- site the mouth of the Scioto. Evidently the Indians, who had concealed the canoe, were the ones who at- tacked the boat. They were probably still lurking about, and the purpose of the scouts was to drive them away. McArthur went alone to watch a nearby deer- lick. Though in the enemy's country, it was necessary for the scouts to take risks in killing game; for it was the only method, whereby they might supply themselves with food.
The McDonald Sketches,* which are the authority for McArthur's encounters with Indians, state that McArthur was well acquainted with the situation of
*Biographical Sketches of Nathaniel Massie and others, by McDonald (1838).
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this lick. It is located in Kentucky between the so- called old Indian fort and the Ohio River. In "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," there is a de- scription of this prehistoric earthwork. In describing the premises between this earthwork and the river, the authors definitely establish the location of this lick:
"This was a favorite spot with the Indians, for various reasons, one of which is its proximity to a noted saline spring or deer- lick, known as McArthur's Lick."
McArthur crept up to the lick, but there was no game about. So he concealed himself behind the brush to wait for a deer to come. After waiting for some- time, he saw two Indians, armed with rifles, tomahawks, and scalping knives, creeping up to the lick. They were so close that McArthur could not escape without being seen or heard. There was only one thing for him to do; that was, to fight it out. He waited until the Indians were but fourteen steps from him, and, when they rose up to see if there was any game at the lick, McArthur killed one of them. He thought the other Indian would at once run into the brush, but the Indian was too cunning. He knew that only one scout was there to oppose him; for only one shot had been fired. He also knew that the advantage was now with him, because his rifle was loaded and that of his enemy was empty. McArthur's only safety was in flight. He ran, but was halted by the top of a fallen tree. The Indian fired, but missed him. McArthur and the Indian were now upon equal terms. McArthur turned to end the struggle in a hand to hand contest; but as he did so, a large band of Indians rushed at him. He fled with the Indians in close pursuit. Several shots were fired at him, but he ran in a zigzag course and prevented an accurate aim. A bullet struck his powder horn, and the splinters from the horn were driven into his side, causing him to bleed quite freely. At last, the Indians were out-
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distanced and McArthur turned towards the river. His comrades, upon hearing the shots, launched their canoe and paddled slowly up the river, so that McArthur might be able to see them. As soon as he saw them, he called and they took him in and crossed the river. This incident is the last record of any boats' having been fired upon by the Indians at the Scioto. Indeed, at this time, practically all the tribes were engaged in opposing General Wayne. The Indian killed by Mc- Arthur was the last Indian killed near the mouth of the Scioto River.
Duncan McArthur became a very wealthy man. He was a general in the American army during the War of 1812, and was actively engaged in the military campaigns in northern Ohio, at Detroit, and in Canada. In 1822, he was elected a representative to Congress, and in 1830, governor of Ohio. He lived at Chillicothe.
VII THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN SCIOTO COUNTY
Scioto County was a part of Virginia until 1783. In that year, Virginia ceded to the United States all the territory north of the Ohio River. This territory was known as the Northwest Territory. Ohio was not admitted to the Union by Congress until February 19, 1803. The first settlements made within Scioto County were made in a region known as the Northwest Territory. The conquest of the Indians was now com- plete, and the Ohio River was safe for commerce and travel. As a result, settlers came in rapidly, and brought with them the ways of civilization.
At the close of the Revolutionary War, Isaac Bonser lived in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Hav- ing been employed as a hunter for surveying parties, he had much experience as a woodsman, and knew well the art of "going light." In 1795, at the request of some of his neighbors, he set out for the Ohio country to choose a new home for himself and his friends. This home, he located at the mouth of the Little Scioto. After cutting out a boundary in the forest, by blazing trees, he returned to Pennsylvania to make his report. This was the first evidence of intention to make a per- manent settlement in Scioto County.
Bonser's report was favorable, and the next year five families started with him for their new home in the wilderness. They traveled from the Monongehela River to the Little Scioto in a large flatboat, arriving
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there August 10, 1796. When Bonser returned to the Little Scioto, he found that two families had settled in its vicinity during his absence. The families that pre- ceded the Bonser party were those of Samuel Marshall and John Lindsey. The former built the first cabin in Scioto County; he was the first permanent settler; and he was the first permanent settler to raise a corn crop in the county. His cabin was built in February, 1796, opposite the mouth of Tygart Creek. Marshall's cabin was a very crude structure, consisting of pickets driven into the ground in the form of a square. The roof was of pickets, also. Earth was banked around the cabin to make it warm, and earth was the floor. It was occupied by Marshall, his wife, and four children. At this time, they were the only human beings in Scioto County.
In March, 1796, John Lindsey built a log house at the mouth of the Little Scioto River. His was the first log house erected in Scioto County. Lindsey hollow was named for John Lindsey. In 1798, Isaac Bonser built a grist mill on the small stream since known as Bonser's run.
The question of the priority of a permanent settle- ment is not without controversy. It has been claimed that Major John Belli was first to settle within Scioto County. Major Belli was a deputy quartermaster with General Wayne's army, and a man of unusual ability. After Wayne's victory, Belli went to Washington to audit his accounts with the government. Then, he re- turned and purchased one thousand acres of land at the mouth of Turkey Creek. That he was a man of dis- tinction is shown by the fact that "The Navigator" (a book which will be referred to later) makes note that Major Belisle resides half a mile above Turkey Creek. Very few individuals are mentioned in "The Navi- gator." Another reference to Major Belli is found in the book of Fortescue Cuming, describing his voyage
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down the Ohio River in 1807 .* Shortly after leaving Portsmouth, Cuming noticed an attractive dwelling near Turkey Creek. "We inquired," he says, " "of a gentlemanly looking elderly man on the bank 'who re- sided there?' but he uncourteously not deigning a reply; we were informed at the next settlement that it was a Major Bellisle."
Major James Munn came to Scioto County with his family in 1796. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and a member of the army of patriots that crossed the Delaware River, under the command of Washington, on Christmas night, 1776, to attack the Hessians at Trenton.
In 1782, Major Munn was with the army of Colonel Crawford in the battle with the Indians at Upper San- dusky. The Indians were led by British officers and the notorious renegade, Simon Girty. Colonel Craw- ford's forces were defeated, owing to superior numbers, and he was captured and burned at the stake. Major Munn was wounded in this battle, and would have been tomahawked and scalped had not a comrade dragged him to a hiding place. A riderless horse came by; Munn was assisted onto the horse and made his escape. That Munn was wounded in this battle is mentioned in "History of the Girtys" by Butterfield.
Major Munn set up a small mill at Alexandria, the first mill in Scioto County. He cleared the forest from a field in the Scioto bottoms near the Ohio River and raised corn there for several years. The Indians occa- sionally made raids upon Alexandria for the purpose of stealing horses. Major Munn was one of those who was always ready to go in pursuit of the raiders. Later, the major moved to the mouth of Munn's run. Thus, this stream was named for one who was a Revolutionary
*Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country, by F. Cuming (1810).
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soldier, an Indian fighter, and a pioneer of Scioto County.
In 1800, Captain William Lucas moved with his family from Virginia to Ohio, and took up his home in what is now Lucasville. The village was named for the Lucas family. At the time of his coming, he was fifty- eight years of age, and a veteran of the Revolutionary War.
Captain Lucas was the father of General Robert Lucas. The latter's life was one of unusual activity. He took great interest in military affairs and was the commander of the local militia. He committed an of- fense that required his confinement in the jail; but the officers of the law resigned rather than to imprison him. Their refusal stirred the community to such a pitch that volunteers came forward and were duly sworn in as officers. The determination to arrest him was so ap- parent to Robert Lucas that he went to jail without any resistance. Thus, at an early day, the supremacy of the law passed a successful test in Scioto County.
Robert Lucas served his country during the War of 1812 with energy and gallantry. It was by virtue of such service that he obtained his title of general. He was elected a state senator for several successive terms.
In 1824, he removed from Scioto to Pike County. There he built an imposing dwelling house about two miles east of Piketon. This house is still standing. Its interior finish is beautiful in its simplicity. A quaint stairway ascends from a central hallway, upon either side of which are two large rooms. In each room, there is a deep, wide fireplace for wood fires. Over the fire- places, are mantels that have the charm of old-fashioned design. A bookcase is built in the recess on one side of each fireplace, and on the other side, there is a cupboard, having several small doors. To visit these rooms is
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like turning back the pages of Time. In the stone cap over the front doorway, is carved
Virtue, Liberty and Independence R. Lucas, * A. D. 1824
In 1832, Robert Lucas was elected governor of Ohio. After the expiration of his term, the President appointed him governor of Iowa Territory. He re- moved from Ohio to Iowa, and that state became his last home.
The early settlers first occupied the Ohio Valley and the uplands of Scioto County. The fertile Scioto Val- ley was densely wooded, damp, and swampy. This con- dition made its vicinity unhealthful; and those who finally cleared the Scioto Valley, suffered much from malaria.
Thomas Ashe made the journey from Portsmouth to Chillicothe in the summer of 1807. In 1809, an ac- count of his observations in America was published in London. The little volume is entitled "Travels in America." He pictured the Scioto Valley as a "wilder- ness so thick, deep, dark and impenetrable, that the light, much less the air of heaven, was nearly denied access." The mosquitoes were so numerous that he "walked amidst them as in a cloud." The mosquitoes were accounted for by the fact that "the great body of the country, to a considerable distance, west of the Scioto is a wood-swamp, a quality of land eminently favorable for the insect tribe, noxious reptiles and in- veterate disease."
VIII PIONEER LIFE
The life of the pioneer was a struggle for existence; necessity obliged every member of the family to do a share. No mind of this generation is sufficiently imaginative to comprehend the hardships our fore- fathers endured, or the obstacles they put out of our way. What farmer, looking over his fertile, well kept fields, can imagine the primeval forest, standing where now grows his wheat and corn? What stock raiser can imagine a mental picture of the buffalo and elk roam- ing where his cattle now fatten? What manufacturer can conceive of Portsmouth without a mill, a furnace, or a factory? What citizen can conceive of the com- munity without a schoolhouse?
During the times of the pioneer, Portsmouth was half forest and half swamp; Scioto County was without a road or a bridge; there was neither money nor store; there was no physician to heal the sick, no surgeon to reduce a fracture or sew a wound. Let us turn back the pages of Time and learn how the pioneers lived. It may help us to appreciate them and to realize the worth of the state of civilization in which we dwell.
The pioneers were tillers of the soil. Their very existence depended upon what they could get from the earth. Their first labor was to build a shelter and the next to prepare the soil to raise a crop of grain. The settler, when possible, chose a location for his home near a spring of pure water. Here, he put up a log cabin with a crude roof that shed most of the rain. The floor was either earth or made of puncheons. The spaces
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