USA > Ohio > Highland County > The County of Highland : a history of Highland County, Ohio, from the earliest days, with special chapters on the bench and bar, medical profession educational development, industry and agriculture and biographical sketches > Part 5
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creek. When it was discovered that Ellison was gone, a party was organized and started in pursuit. They followed as rapidly as pos- sible but the Indians had such a start that it would be useless to attempt to overtake them, and on reaching Paint the party returned to Manchester. Ellison was carried by his captors to Upper San- dusky, where they compelled him to run the gauntlet and in other ways tortured and tormented him, finally carrying him to Detroit, where he was purchased by a Briitsh officer for one hundred dollars, and was sent by this officer to Montreal, but was able to return home before the close of the summer.
Another exciting and tragic story is told of the Edgingtons, who started upon a hunting trip toward Brush creek. They made their camp between where the towns of West Union and Fairfax now are and began their efforts to secure game and were very successful, hav- ing shot a number of deer and bears. Having dressed their game by skinning the deer down to the hams, and taking as much of the bear as would adhere to the hide, they cut off all the meat of the bear that would adhere to the hide without skinning and placing the meat thus prepared upon scaffolds out of the reach of wild animals they returned to Manchester for pack horses. It was late in December, and they felt no fear in regard to the return, as the winter time was generally a time of inaction and repose among the Indians. Return- ing with their horses and dismounting to make a fire, they were fired upon by a party of Indians not more than twenty yards away. Asahel Edgington fell dead, but his brother John was unhurt. When the Indians leaped from their hiding places, firing their guns and yelling at the top of their voices, the horses, frightened, turned and fled in the direction of home. As the Indians approached they threw down their guns and with wild yells and uplifted tomahawk, rushed upon the dumbfounded man. John Edgington was very fleet as a runner, and when he realized that his foes were upon him, turned and with the swiftness of the deer started on the trail of his flying horses. For more than a mile the race was so close that before the bending grass beneath the feet of Edgington had straightened, the moccasin foot of his savage foe pressed it down again. He could hear the labored breathing of his pursuers, and imagined the keen edge of the Indian hatchet was in his hair. But he succeeded in outrunning his
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enemies, made his escape and reached his home, heartbroken and wretched over the loss of his brother, scalped and unburied where he fell.
In the spring of 1795, before General Wayne had made the treaty of Greenville with the Indians and made the peace of Ohio secure, Nathaniel Massie, with a surveying party, again attempted the work of running lines in Highland and adjoining counties. March of that year started in mild and pleasant, and promised fair to bring warm and delightful weather to gladden the heart and quicken the step of the hardy band who with compass and chain ranged the woods, depending upon the gun and skill of their hunter scouts for the food that was to sustain them in their trail. This party surveyed along the head waters of Brush creek, passing from that point to the Rocky fork of Paint, and thence on to the Rattlesnake fork of the same creek, crossing Paint creek proper, going up Buckskin and across to the "old town" situated on the North fork of Paint. After reaching this vicinity the weather suddenly changed and snow began to fall. The snow fall lasted for two days and nights covering the ground with some two or three feet of snow. Turning warmer, a fine rain began to fall, freezing as it reached the surface of the snow, which soon formed a crust, not sufficiently strong to bear a man, but upon which the smaller game and animals could travel with ease. After the rain it grew intensely cold, hardened the snow crust and made it almost impossible for men to travel or hunt. The cold continued, provisions were gone and this band of snow-bound toilers lay around their fires day and night-cold, hungry, starving-with naught to greet their vision but measureless acres of snow and the doleful sound of sighing winds through the barren branches of the forest trees. Ineffectual efforts were made to secure game by those whose duty it was to supply the camp. Duncan McArthur, then a chainman and hunter, and afterward governor of Ohio, on the third day of the storm killed two wild turkeys which were divided into twenty-eight equal parts and distributed to the men-not enough to satisfy their hunger, but simply to sharpen their appetites for additional food. The morning of the fourth day the party started homeward. The strongest men were placed in the front to break the way. They marched all the day in this manner and at night had reached the mouth of the Rattlesnake about ten miles from their starting point. The next day turned out bright and warm, melting the snow some and making the journey less fatiguing. The second night of the march the party rested by their fires without sentinels. The night grew warmer, the snow melted fast and their prospects brightened greatly. The next morning all hands turned out to hunt. They killed a number of turkeys, a few deer and one bear. There was a feast that night around the red hot embers where turkey, deer and bear sent out the appetizing odor so refreshing to the nostrils of
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hungry men. The weather growing warmer and the snow disappear- ing, the forty continued their labor cheerfully until they had accom- plished the work they had been commissioned to do. We could scarcely hope to impress the people of today with the sense of hard- ship and suffering of men, houseless, shelterless, and foodless, who simply endured because they were men with a work to accomplish, a duty to perform, with the will and courage to do so.
All the early settlers of the Ohio valley were brave, fearless men, able to cope with the mighty forces of this new world. Men who had learned life's mission in the school of hardship, and while largely unlearned and unlettered, they had the quick eye, the strong hand and the warm heart that made the wilderness blossom like the rose, and their log cabin home the place of virtue and contentment. Classed among the fearless and noble men who people the Ohio valley, were a number who outranked them in culture and social refinement which is the result of education and training. While the surveyors were not the first explorers of the country, they were the first to bring order out of confusion, the first to make practical and perma- nent the civilization that was to follow the advancing years. The surveyors were all men of education and some of them of remarkable talent, and none were lacking in the elements of courage and endur- ance, so essential for those who are the advance guards in the stern battle of life.
After the peace concluded with the Indians in 1795, a strong spirit of emigration to Ohio from Kentucky began to assert itself. The constitution of Kentucky, with which the state was received into the Union in 1792, tolerated slavery, which was offensive to many of her people, and preparation was made to cross the river into the land where there would be no possible chance of meeting this objectionable feature in the coming future.
The first of those to come from Kentucky was John Wilcoxon, the first settler within Highland county. The history of this lonely wanderer, as told by John A. Trimble, is that in the spring of 1795 he emigrated from Kentucky, crossing the Ohio river at Limestone, and pushed boldly his way out into the vast and pathless Northwest Territory, determined to establish himself and family in the midst of its best hunting grounds, regardless of the prior claims of the Indians. With his worldly wealth, wife and child, stowed upon a strong horse, and himself and dog on foot and in advance, he struck out in the direction of the already famous rich lands of the Scioto and Paint creek country. He traversed the hills for several days, camp- ing out at night, and frequently remaining four or five days at a place to hunt and rest his wife and horse. The weather continued delight- ful, it being the latter part of April, and Nature in the first dawn of vernal beauty presented a peculiar charm to the eyes of the lonely emigrants. The long days of bright, warm sun, succeeding the cold
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rains of the first part of the month, had already covered the sunny banks and hillsides with early plants and flowers. The sugartree, elin, and buckeye were showing their green leaves, and the early wild grass not only supplied abundant pasture, but covered and adorned the surface of the ground. The nights, too, were more charming, if possible, than the days in these grand old woods. The very stillness was sublime. The mild rays of the moon, penetrating the forest and tracing long lines of light and shade upon the irregular surface, pre- sented a picture that none would fail to enjoy. As an accompani- ment, and to enforce the consciousness of utter loneliness, the melancholy and spirit-like song of the whippoorwill arose at intervals, mingling with the distant howl of the wolf, the hoot of the owl and the scream of the panther. But when the early dawn effaced the night scenes, and hushed the sounds which had added to their peculiar beauty, the aroused tenants of the tent were more than delighted with the music around them. The whole forest seemed alive with birds, while each one resolved to excel every other in melody and variety of song. The few and simple preparations for breakfast were soon over, and Wilcoxon, his wife, child and dog, sat down to their roast of fresh venison, with appetite, contentment and surroundings, that the palace of no monarch on earth could rival. They did not then fear the Indians, as it was known that they had agreed to go into treaty with Wayne; and hostilities for the present were not apprehended. Several weeks had now been passed in this leisurely half emigrating, when the cold rains of May commenced. The little party were entirely unprovided for this change, though a little exertion erected a bark camp under cover of which they were enabled to keep dry. The rains continued several days, and the time passed gloomily enough. Hunting was unpleasant and the provisions became scarce in the camp. The horse growing weary of his position in the cold beating rains, broke his halter and wandered off. As soon as the storm abated, Wilcoxon with dog and gun started out, and after sev- eral days of diligent search the horse was found. While searching, Wilcoxon discovered a beautiful valley, and an unusually large and most remarkable spring which furnished a great abundance of most excellent water. Wilcoxon determined to strike his tent and locate at this point. Arriving at the spring, which is now known as Sinking Spring, in Highland county, he went to work in earnest to make improvements and build a house. First he cleared off some land, then planted some seed corn he had brought with him from Ken- tucky. Next he cut small logs, such as he and wife could carry, or with the aid of the horse drag, to the spot near the spring, which he had selected for his house. In the course of a few days it was so far completed that it served for a summer residence. The luxury of a bed was obtained by gathering leaves and drying them in the sun, then putting them into a bedtick brought with them. For a bedstead,
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forks were driven in the ground and sticks laid across them, reaching the wall of the cabin. Over these elm bark was placed and the tick on the bark, forming a most excellent bed. Mrs. Wilcoxon had been busily engaged in this while planting some garden seeds which her thoughtful prudence had brought along. This accomplished, and a chimney built, something over six feet high, made of poles and mud, with back walls and jambs of flat rock, and a rough clapboard door for the cabin, completed the dwelling place of this lonely pair by the Big Spring, a home of joy and pride to the honest, simple-minded husband and wife. Time passed on. The small patch of corn and pumpkins grew finely and promised an abundant vield, while in the little garden opposite the chimney grew the gourd and bean, the let- tuce and potato. Around the door clustered the morning-glory, and in a carefully protected nook near the wall grew the pink, violet and other favorite garden flowers, cherished memories of other days, bringing back with their bright colors and sweet odor the scenes of her girlhood days, in the old home amid loving friends, now dis- tant, and, perhaps, never to be seen again.
Early one morning in July Wilcoxon started out with his axe and a large wooden pail in his hand, the result of his own skill as a cooper, to cut a bee-tree which he had discovered and marked a few days before. The tree stood some two miles from his cabin home. It was a very large tree and consumed some time in the cutting. He had felled it and gone with the pail to the part occupied by the bees, leaving his axe at the stump of the tree. The honey appeared in great abundance, and was not damaged greatly by the falling of the tree. Large sheets of beautiful white comb were taken out until the pail was filled and piled up to the height of itself above the top; and still the supply was not half exhausted. While vexed at the small- ness of his vessel, he concluded to eat as much of the tempting comb as he could, and accordingly fell to work with hands and mouth. He had been thus pleasantly engaged but a short time, with the clear, bright honey running down over his arms to his elbows, utterly oblivious to all around him, when three Indians, who had been watch- ing his movements for some time from an adjoining thicket, noise- lessly slipped out, and approaching him from behind, seized him by the arms, which they immediately bound, and thus put an end to his honey eating for that time. They had been attracted by the sound of his axe, and reached the spot soon after the tree fell. After help- ing themselves to as much honey as they wanted, they carried the pail with its contents to their encampment, three or four miles east. They manifested no disposition to hurt Wilcoxon, but took him along as a prisoner. When they reached the camp he discovered them to be a war party of about twenty Shawanees, who, having refused to go into the treaty with the other Northwestern tribes, had been on an expedition to the northeastern part of Kentucky, and were returning
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with some stolen horses and other plunder. Shortly after the arrival of this party, camp was broken up and the party began the march, taking Wilcoxon with them. They went by the route leading through the Indian towns on the North fork of Paint, and appre- hending no danger from pursuit, they traveled very leisurely, stop- ping frequently to hunt and amuse themselves. The third day after their capture of Wilcoxon they reached main Paint near the present site of Bainbridge, and passing down the right bank of the creek to the point where the turnpike now crosses, encamped for the night. They sent some hunters out in the morning, and after they returned, and had prepared and eaten breakfast, preparations were made to. resume their journey, when, greatly to the surprise of the Indians, who had taken no precautions, believing themselves entirely free from danger, they were suddenly fired upon. Not knowing who the assail- ing party was, nor its strength, the Indians made a precipitate retreat across the creek, leaving everything behind them except their guns. In the midst of the terror and confusion Wilcoxon made his escape.
This affair, which has been called the last Indian battle in southern Ohio, was due to the advent of the first party attempting a settlement in the neighborhood of Chillicothe. While the treaty with the Indians was yet in progress, a body of forty men had set out from Manchester. Among the number were Rev. Robert Finley, William Rogers, father of Col. Thomas Rogers, long a resident of Greenfield, Highland county, and Amos Evans, whose pioneer home for many years was upon Clear creek, a few miles north of the present town of Hillsboro. This company advanced cautiously until they reached Paint creek in the neighborhood of the falls, when they found fresh signs of the presence of Indians, and before long heard the bells upon their horses. Though a truce prevailed in Ohio, the white men attacked the Indian camp so suddenly that the Indians were com- pletely surprised. They made but little resistance, fleeing quickly across the creek and leaving all their property behind them except their guns. According to the story of the whites, five or six of the Indians were killed and as many more wounded. The whites lost one man, Joshua Robinson, who was shot through the body. The white men gathered all the horses and skins and whatever else was worth taking, and placing the wounded Robinson upon a litter, started on their return march. Robinson died a few hours afterward and was buried in the silence and solitude of the dim old forest. Night came down upon the whites some miles south of the present site of Bainbridge and fearing pursuit they made every preparation to defend themselves should the Indians come upon them. Sentinels were placed about the camp and every precaution taken to guard against a surprise. Just about an hour before day one of the senti- nels saw an Indian creeping upon him. He waited until the creeping figure came near enough for a certain shot when he fired. The
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Indian fell, but rose again and made off as fast as his crippled con- dition would allow. A night attack was then made by the Indian band, but the whites, aroused by the shot from their sentinel, were prepared and soon drove their red foes back.
William Rogers, mentioned as one of the leaders in this last con- flict, was a native of Pennsylvania, who removed with his father, Hamilton Rogers, to Loudoun county, Va., in about the year 1770. After a few years he married and settled upon what was called a life lease, near Goose creek. Finding himself surrounded by slave- holders, and witnessing the practical operation of the slave system, he determined to seek a home where it did not exist. In 1784 he started upon a journey over the mountains. On reaching Browns- ville, Pa., the wonderful land of Kentucky was the talk upon all lips, and pleased with the account of this land of milk and honey, he resolved to visit it in person and verify by observation the story he had heard. The following spring he and one of his brothers started down the river and landed at Limestone (Maysville), and went from there to Lexington. About five miles from that place they camped and raised a crop of corn. Having found the country much to his liking, he returned to Virginia for his family, and in November, 1785, reached his new home in safety. Some time afterward he moved to Bourbon county and remained in that county until the adoption of the state constitution, 1792, and as the constitution tol- erated slavery, he was again brought face to face with a system he abhorred, and determined to seek a home in the Northwest Territory just as soon as that district was open to settlement. In 1799 Rogers and his two sons, John and Thomas, came to the Scioto country and began a settlement on the North fork of Paint creek. Their cabin occupied a point near where the turnpike now crosses the stream, and theirs was the only cabin between that place and the present city of Chillicothe, except that of General McArthur which stood near the town. Robert Finley, another of the Indian fighters in that last battle, and afterward a resident of Highland county, scarcely needs a mention here. His name was a household word for years and his history is known to all. He was born in Pennsylvania, educated at Princeton college, New Jersey, and early in life became a clergyman in the Presbyterian church at a time when pressing calls were being made for Christian work in the south. He yielded to these cries for help and went as a missionary to North Carolina, where he remained for three years. There he became acquainted with Daniel Boone, whose glowing description of the beauty and richness of his favorite Kentucky excited the fancy of this gifted man and he resolved to visit the land of promise. He took up his abode for a few years in Virginia, where he preached with great success, but still yearning for Kentucky he removed with his family to Flemmingsburg and built a cabin. This was a frontier house, built for comfort and
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defense, having port holes like a fort, and was ready at any time for the cordial welcome of a Christian gentleman, or the quick eye and steady aim of the pioneer Indian fighter. In 1796 Rev. Finley lib- erated all his slaves and came to the Scioto country to aid in the upbuilding of the early settlement at Chillicothe.
After his deliverance Wilcoxon arrived sound and well, only minus his axe, pail and honey, at his cabin by the Big Spring, much to his own and his wife's joy. He was disturbed no more by Indians, and in fact, by no one else, for no human being seemed to be aware of the existence of his cabin and corn patch, in the dark and pathless forest. He gathered his corn and was delighted with the heap of golden ears that greeted his vision, and promised bread for the coming winter. Cold weather beginning, Wilcoxon prepared for its reception by daubing the outside of his cabin with clay, mixed with wild grass, to keep it from crumbling, and prepared the inside by hanging the skins of the wild animals he had slain, upon the wall, a valuable and unique drapery, fit for the palace of a king. The long winter passed off pleasantly. He hunted when the weather was suitable, and when it was not, he remained in his cabin, dressing skins, and, with the aid of his wife, making them into clothing for himself and family, all of whom were dressed in skins of wild animals.
In the spring of 1796, another party was organized at Manchester for the Scioto country. A part of this company went by boat up the Ohio and Scioto rivers, not by steamboat or tug-those were unknown in that day-but wide flat bottomed boats, of clumsy character and great weight, propelled by poles and paddles. The parties were to ineet at the mouth of Paint creek. The party that went by water carried with them the utensils necessary for the establishment of a permanent settlement. April 1, 1796, they landed their goods and began the business of preparing the soil for their future harvest, and such was the beginning of the present city of Chillicothe, which was laid off by Nathaniel Massie, Duncan McArthur and others.
Another party, bound for the mouth of Paint, went by land, and by mere chance took the route from Manchester that led them past the cabin of Wilcoxon. These were his first white visitors, and he enter- tained them in true pioneer style. Wilcoxon and wife were so pleased with their new found friends that they at last consented to forsake their little cabin home by the big spring and accompany their visitors to the Massie settlement on the Scioto river. In the fall of the same year Timothy Marshon emigrated from Virginia and find- ing the unoccupied cabin of Wilcoxon took full possession of house and ground and lived there for a number of years. At about this time Frederick Brougher came with his family from Virginia and settled about a mile north of Sinking Spring, on Zane's Trace, which is now known as the Zanesville and Maysville road.
In 1796 Robert Finley emancipated all his slaves in Kentucky
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and sent twelve of them under the leadership of J. B. Finley, his son, on a journey to Chillicothe which was to be their future home. The negroes were mounted upon pack horses, which were loaded with bedding, cooking utensils, provisions and other necessary arti- cles. Part of three other families journeyed with them with a drove of cows, sheep, and hogs. After crossing the Ohio river the weather turned very cold and the whole county being without a road, the travel was slow and difficult, scarcely the distance of ten miles per day, and often when overtaken by storms, they were compelled to camp and await better weather. After sixteen days of hardship and suffering they reached their destination on the Scioto river a few miles below Chillicothe where they built snug winter quarters. Bread was a scarce, crude article, made of pounded hominy and corn meal, and upon this they lived, together with what could be obtained in the woods. Game was plentiful, and the oppossums very fat, and the negro's heart was filled with joy, and his black face shone like polished ebony, as he sung and danced in the moon- light. In the spring following Robert Finley and the rest of the family moved out, and after erecting a cabin, all hands turned out to put in a crop of corn. They were compelled to fence in their fields to protect them from domestic animals, which roamed the for- est at large, seeking the prairie spots for plentiful pasturage. When the fall came Finley desired to sow some wheat, but no seed could be obtained in that locality, so James and John Finley were sent with pack horses to Kentucky for this needed article. These two boys journeyed through the pathless forest with the first grain of the kind ever sown upon the Scioto. Before this when the inhabi- tants exhausted their corn meal, they would resort to the hominy mortar for cracked corn, which when boiled soft or made into bread well shortened with bear's oil, was highly relished. Wheat flour was not obtainable for some time, and the small amount in the homes of the prudent and thoughtful, was kept for sickness, or such spe- cial occasions when company demanded some extra preparation for their entertainment. Whisky sold in the early settlement at $4.50 per gallon, but in the spring of 1794 when the keel boats began to run, the distillers along the Monongahela sent in such quantities to this market, that the price declined to fifty cents per gallon, and men, women and even children drank freely of this fiery beverage, until drunkenness was a common, and almost every-day, trouble, and contention grew up in the settlement. Quite a number of Wayne's soldiers and camp women settled in the town of drunkards. Added to this was the presence of a number of Indians, who frequented the town to trade pelts for whisky which made them wild and fierce, and sent them yelling through the streets, dressed in their native costume, frightful pictures of a ruined race. This condition of things called for the interposition of the sober and orderly portion
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