The History of Miami County, Ohio, Part 22

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1880
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051

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Shortly prior to this, the Indians, in one of their incursions in Kentucky, possibly at Boonsboro, had captured several prisoners, among whom was a white woman named McFall, who had been dragged from her home, compelled to follow her captors, and perform all the drudgeries incident to Indian female life. It was approaching the time when a grand pow-wow was to be held at the Piqua towns, in which all the Indians of the tribe were expected to participate. They were therefore flocking in from all parts of the country, and, among others, were a party of warriors on horseback, coming from their villages in the western part of the country. In company with them were a number of squaws, and one white woman (the Mrs. McFall previously mentioned). Just as they emerged from the forest, and came in full view of the river, they perceived the army of Gen. Clarke, whose vanguard had already landed. Struck with terror, they beat so hasty a retreat, that they forgot their squaws, not deigning even to throw a parting toma- hawk at their white prisoner, or secure a lock of her hair. The squaws, as well as the white woman, were taken with the army to the Piqua towns, but, it seems that such was the terror produced by the name of Clarke, that the Indians fled at his approach. When he reached the Piqua villages, he found them deserted, the Indians not even taking time to pack up their household furniture. Passing Lower Piqua, he continued up the river to Upper Piqua, which he found also deserted. Halting his army here, he made preparations to rest overnight ; and at length, as the sun set in a flood of glory, and his beams trembled into twilight, the noise of the camp grew less, the lights were extinguished, the trees shot out their dark shadows into the river, and silence settled down over the camp, and deep sleep fell upon the weary soldiers. In the dead of the night, the Indians crept through the hazel thickets, and fired upon the guards ; this aroused the whole army, and

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skirmishing was kept up till morning; but, owing to the darkness, very little injury was done ; five Indians were found dead in the bushes next morning after their comrades had retreated.

The previous evening, Gen. Clarke had sent a detachment of men to destroy a French store (Loramie's) situated about - miles from Piqua, from which the Indians were supplied with arms and ammunition. Having caught a Frenchman, they tied him on a horse, covered him with their guns, and directed him to guide them to the store. Some time during the night they arrived; but found neither Indians nor Frenchman. They however burned the store, helped themselves to its contents, and destroyed what they could not carry off; rejoining the army early in the morning, they assisted Gen. Clarke in burning and laying waste the villages and corn-fields of the Indians in and around Piqua. The only fatal results from this expedition was the death of Capt. McCracken, and a man whose name is unknown. During the skirmishing in the night, their horses strayed off into the woods, and, while hunting them, they were fired upon and mortally wounded. One died shortly after, and was buried at Coe's Ford, where the army crossed the Miami on its return march. Capt. McCracken lived till the army reached the present site of Cincinnati, where he was buried. Through the aid of Gen. Clarke, the white woman, Mrs. McFall, was restored to her friends in Kentucky. Thus ended the second expedition of the veteran Clarke, which resulted in destroying this pernicious nest of Indians, which had continually harassed, murdered and kept in mortal fear, the weak settlements of the Miami Valley. Killing a few of their warriors only increased their ferocity, and stung them to revenge, but when their corn-fields were destroyed, and their villages burned, it sapped their vitals, crippled their power, and compelled them to hunt for a living. Among the worthies who aided in this enterprise, Miami County claims two esteemed citizens, Abraham Thomas and Capt. Barbee, the latter of whom the county afterward honored with the judicial ermine. In consideration of the great services rendered by Gen. G. R. Clarke in protecting the early inhabitants of the Ohio and Miami Valleys, and his many severe encounters with the Indians within the limits of this county, and of various other services rendered, of vital importance to the settlement of this county, we deem it not inappropriate to reproduce here an anecdotal reminiscence. At the treaty held on January 31, 1786, at the mouth of the Great Miami, between Gen. G. R. Clarke, Richard Butler and Samuel H. Parsons as Commissioners, and the Delawares, Wyandots and Shawanoes, the Indians, it appears, came with treacherous designs, and, had it not been for the perfect knowledge of Indian character possessed by Gen. Clarke, and the terror his name inspired among the savages, the council would have ended in murder. From a work of Judge Hall, we append the following description of the scene : The Indians had entered in a blustering and defiant man- ner. The Commissioners, without noticing the disorderly conduct of the other party, or appearing to have discovered their meditated treachery, opened the council in due form. They lighted the peace pipe, and, after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs, who received it. Gen. Clarke then rose to explain the pur- pose for which the treaty was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accustomed to command, an easy assurance of perfect security and self-possession, he stated that the Commissioners had been sent to offer peace to the Shawanoes ; that the President had no wish to continue the war ; he had no resentment to gratify ; and if the red men desired peace, they could have it on reasonable terms. "If such be the will of the Shawanoes," he concluded, " let some of their wise men speak."

A chief arose, drew up his tall person to its full height, and, assuming a haughty attitude, threw his eye contemptuously over the Commissioners and their small retinue, as if to measure their insignificance, in comparison with his own numerous train, and then, stalking to the table, threw upon it two belts of wampum of different colors-the war and the peace belt. " We come here," he exclaimed, "to offer you two pieces of wampum ; they are of different colors ; you know what they mean ; you can take which you like!" and, turning upon his heel, he resumed his seat.

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The chiefs drew themselves up in the consciousness of having hurled defiance in the teeth of the white men. They offered an insult to the renowned leader of the ".Long Knives," to which they knew it would be hard for him to submit, while they did not suppose he dare resent it. The council pipe was laid aside. Those fierce, wild men gazed intently at Clarke. The Americans saw that the crisis had arrived. They could no longer doubt that the Indians understood the advantage they possessed, and were disposed to use it, and a common sense of danger caused each eye to be turned on the leading Commissioner. He sat undis- turbed, and apparently careless, until the chief who had thrown the belts upon the table had taken his seat; then with a small cane which he held in his hand, he reached, as if playfully, toward the war belt, entangled the end of the stick in it, drew it toward him, and then with a switch of the cane, threw the belt into the midst of the chiefs. The effect was electric. Every man in the council of each party, sprang to his feet, the savages with a loud exclamation of astonishment, " Ugh !" the Americans in expectation of a hopeless conflict against overwhelming numbers. Every hand grasped a weapon. Clarke alone was unawed. The ex- pression of his countenance changed to a ferocious sternness, and his eye flashed, but otherwise he was unmoved. A bitter smile was perceptible upon his com- pressed lips, as he gazed upon that savage band, whose hungry eyes were bent fiercely, and in horrid exultation upon him, as they stood like a pack of wolves at bay, thirsting for blood, and ready to rush upon him whenever one bolder than the rest should commence the attack. It was one of those moments of indecision; when the slightest weight thrown into either scale will make it preponderate ; a moment, in which a bold man, conversant with the secret springs of human action, may seize upon the minds of all around him, and sway them at his will. Such a man was the intrepid Clarke. He spoke, and there was no man bold enough to gainsay him, none that could return the fierce glance of his eye. Raising his arm, and waving his hand toward the door, he exclaimed ; "Dogs! l'ou may go!" The Indians hesitated for a moment, and then rushed tumultuously out of the council-room. They lingered around in the bushes all night, debating the question of peace or war, and, finally, in the morning, they sued for peace. To this intrepid Indian fighter, perhaps, more than to any other individual, the Northwest Territory owed its immunity from Indian massacres during the infancy of its colonization.

EARLIEST SETTLEMENT.

The beautiful scenery, fertility of soil, and many other advantages with which nature has unsparingly endowed this charming valley, early attracted the eye of the speculator; and, in addition to these, the country had been previously trav- ersed by the soldiers in the early Indian campaigns, who, observing the abundant crops of maize, related fabulous accounts of the productiveness of the soil, and picturesque features of the Indian possessions.

All kinds of fish abounded in its streams, along whose banks many fur-bearing animals made their homes; while the valley teemed with deer, and the gobble of the wild turkey, blending inharmoniously with the drum of the pheasant, and shrill whistle of the partridge, might be heard in the forest from morning till night. Here the hunter and trapper found a paradise ; here he built his cabin along the green banks of the Miami, set his traps, fished in her waters, and hunted in her forests; here he roasted his venison, broiled his fish, and baked his johnnycake. For all his fur and pelts he found a ready market at the English trading-house on the Great Miami, and, after its destruction, in 1752, at Loramie's store, on the creek of the same name, which was the emporium of trade throughout the surrounding country, until its destruction also, in 1782, by Gen. Clarke. From the records of his- tory, it appears, that, in the settlement of almost all countries, the order seems to be: First, the soldier, second, the hunter and trapper, next the permanent settler. Inas- much as this valley was the arena of many sanguinary encounters between the English and French, extending from 1749 to 1795, in all of which they were

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joined by the various Indian tribes, the country was occupied by soldiers, and numerous forts were built ; among others we may mention Fort Piqua, which must have been built some time previous to 1794, from the fact that Capt. Vischer, who cannonaded it at that time, is mentioned as the last commandant. It had also been used as a depot for the army of Gen. Wayne, whose stores were taken up the Miami, in boats, to Fort Piqua, unloaded, and their contents hauled in wagons, by way of Fort Loramie to St. Mary's ; and frequently the empty boats themselves were placed on wheels and conveyed along the same route, a distance of twenty-six miles, reloaded and launched for Fort Wayne, on Lake Erie. The collateral evidence afforded also by the passage of a boat up the Miami to within the vicinity of Fort Piqua, where it was fired upon by the Indians, proves that white men were passing to and fro through this country as early as 1794. In the sad affair above recorded, though the attack was made in full view of the fort, owing to the weakness of his garrison, and the overwhelming numbers of the Indians, Capt. Vischer, though a brave soldier, was compelled to remain within the pro- tecting walls of his fortifications, knowing full well, that, if he ventured on a sortie, he could render his countrymen no aid, and would only expose his men to the merci- less fire of the savages, as their principal object in making the attack seems to have been to draw him out. Though history is culpably obscure on this point, from evi- dence afforded by fragments of muskets, bayonets, and other remains exposed during low water, it would seem that most if not all the party were destroyed. Knowing as we do, that from 1749 till 1794, the country was full of soldiers, and from the history of soldiers in new countries, it is quite reasonable to suppose that many stragglers deserted the army, took up their abode with the Indians in our county long prior to earliest known settlers, married Indian women, became identified with their red brethren and finally lost to history. To such an extent indeed did miscegenation prevail, that when the Shawanoese tribes emigrated to Kansas, it is said scarcely a full-blooded Indian could be found among them.

It is very important that we should arrive at the facts as nearly as possible in regard to the earliest settlement in this county. In order to do this, we shall be obliged to adduce all the evidence to be found, and base our conclusion upon the preponderance. The issue seems to be made upon the location of the Tewightewee villages and the location of a trading house at those villages, called by the English, Pickawillany. In ".Western Annals " we read that a trading-house was built by the English upon the Great Miami, page 51. On the next page we read, that in February, 1851, Grist visited the Twightwees who lived upon the Great Miami. The author adding "we have no doubt the place he visited was at the mouth of Loramie's Creek ;" again on the following page we read, " A party of soldiers were sent to keep the Ohio clear ; and this party early in 1752, having heard of the trading-house upon the Miami, and very likely of the visit to it by Grist, came to the Tewightewees and demanded. the traders, as unauthorized intruders upon French lands." In Howe's " Historical Collection," page 7, we read, "In 1749, it appears that the English built a trading-house upon the Great Miami, at a spot since called Loramie's store." On page 463, same, we read : " The mouth of Lora- mie's Creek in this county, * sixteen miles northwest of Sidney is a place of historic interest. It was the first point of English settlement in Ohio. As early as 1752, there was a trading-house at that place, called by the English Pickawill- any." On page 363, same work, on the authority of Col. John Johnston, we also read, that in the year 1763, "a bloody battle was fought on the present farm of Col. Johnson, at Upper Piqua; at that time the Miamis had their towns here, which are marked on ancient maps, Tewightwee towns.t Dr. Asa Coleman, in his "Early Recollections," says : "Howe places the trading establishment here described, in

* This is a mistake of Howe's. The mouth of Loramie's Creek is a mile within Miami County.

t The celebrated Little Turtle, chief of the Miamis, in hisspeech at the treaty of Greenville, says: Elder Brother, Hinten with attention. You told us you discovered on the Great Miami traces of an old fort, Brother; it was a fort built by me, you perceived another at Loramie's. "Tis true a Frenchman lived there for a year or two .- History Fort Wayne, page 27.

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Shelby County, northwest of Sidney, evidently confounding it with Loramie's store, and Fort Loramie, a point located sixteen miles distant from the Miami River up Loramie's Creek, when the locality of the Tewightewee towns and the trad- ing establishment here described was a mile or more south of the Shelby County line, in Miami County, below the mouth of Loramie's Creek, in Johnston's Prairie." Grist says, in his "Cincinnati Miscellanies, " the name Pickawillany is probably some variation of Piqua or Pickaway. In Washington's Journal, 1754, it is printed, "Pikkawalinna."- West. Ans., page 54. Summing up, we think that there is not only a preponderance of testimony in favor of its being in Miami County, but that the trading-house of 1749, is placed here beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore the first settlement in Miami antedates the town of Marietta thirty-nine years. Notwithstanding this was not permanent, yet history teaches that through all the vicissitudes of more than a half-century of war and turmoil, it was never entirely obliterated. It is worthy of observation, by way of evidence of the last proposition, that Fort Piqua was located on or near the site of the Tewightewee towns at which the famous battle of 1763 was fought. We are therefore warranted in saying that this was a continual settlement and occupancy up to 1795 at least. Although the above may be taken cum grano salis, yet, by reference to the authorities cited, we feel assured that our position is tenable, But, history being a record of facts axiomatic in themselves, we leave the field, even so slightly tinged with conjecture. Down to the year 1795, there seems to have been a hiatus, during which we can record no permanent settlement.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The severe castigation given the Indians, by Gen. Wayne, and the treaty of Greenville, secured to the valley of the Miami, immunity from Indian ferocity, from 1795 till 1812.

Immediately after the above treaty, settlements were made on Judge Symmes' purchase, at the mouth of the Miami, and also a settlement was made by Gens. Dayton, St. Clair, Wilkinson and Col. Ludlow, between the Miamis, around the mouth of Mad River, and who, in November, laid out the town of Dayton.

Inducements were offered in the shape of "donations of lots, with other privileges to actual settlers." These lots ran as high as ten acres, some located in the town, and others, the Harmars and Gahagans, located three miles north of Dayton.

Gradually pushing farther up the river, the first to reach the present limits of our county were Samuel Morrison, David H. Morris, and several others, who had purchased lands of J. C. Symmes, not far from the mouth of Honey Creek, and early in the spring of 1797, built their cabins, and made a permanent settlement, the first in the county. As a prairie near by, since called Freeman's, had been previously tilled by the Indians, they raised a crop of corn on it that year ; in the mean time, selecting a spot opposite the mouth of Honey Creek, on the land of Mor- rison, they laid out a town which they called Livingston. In the autumn of the same year, Jonathan Rollins, Samuel Hilliard, John Gerard, Shadrick Hudson, Daniel Cox, Thomas Rich, and two others, were induced by Symmes, through promises of lands and lots, to go to the Piqua villages and lay out a town, of which he was to be the proprietor. Arriving at the locality described to them, they found it west of the river, and not belonging to Symmes, and, not being in the market, they abandoned it, and located elsewhere. Rollins and Hudson located near the mouth of Spring Creek, where, in the following spring, they became permanent settlers .* Early in the spring of 1798, according to Dr. Coleman, John Knoop, Benjamin Knoop, Henry Gerard, Benjamin Hamlet, John Tilden, and, according to Mr. Tullis, Daniel and Christopher Knoop, established a station, for the protection

. Benjamin Iddings, in the fall of 1796 came from Tennessee to the Weymer settlement in Montgomery County remained over winter, and in the spring of 1797 located, with his family of six children, on the east side of Stillwater In Newton Township.

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of their families, near the site of the present village of Staunton, which went by the name of the " Dutch Station." These stations were formed by erecting a line of log cabins, all joined together forming one side of a square, with the remaining three sides enclosed by palings eight feet high, firmly driven in the ground. All the openings of the cabins inside the square, were secured by a strong gateway. Here the settlers remained for two years, in the mean while raising their first crops of corn on Gerard's and Gahagan's Prairie, which had been previously tilled by the Indians. In the spring of 1799, the little station was joined by John Gerard, Uriah Blue, Joseph Coe, Abram Hathaway, Nathaniel Gerard, and Abner Gerard. Mr. Tullis says Blue, Coe and Hathaway came in 1800. Previous to and during this time, there had been serious apprehension of Indian troubles, and the settle- ments were formed in groups for mutual protection ; but, as the Indians manifested no evil disposition, these fears gradually subsided, the settlers removed to their farms, and after this the tide of emigration rolled in rapidly for some years ; as the beautiful and fertile valley had attracted the eyes of many, who, through fear of the Indians, were temporarily located on Mill Creek and the Little Miami, waiting for peaceable times, before venturing into the Upper Miami Valley, their destined homes.

B. Vancleve, in " American Pioneer," p. 295, Vol. II, says : "That in the spring of 1796, a settlement was made at the mouth of Honey Creek, and one at the Old Piqua, on the Miami. Mr. Tullis says that previous to the settlement at Staunton, several Frenchmen were there, viz .: Peter Felix, Simon Laudry and one Deprey ; but, according to Dr. Coleman, they came in 1800. From the collateral evidence of previous French settlements, not far from here, we decide in favor of the former. It is stated that Peter Felix was an Indian trader, and carried a large stock of goods, which he exchanged for furs, etc.

We pause here to introduce a feature peculiar to this valley. Though & digression, yet, as it was an important element in the early settlement of the county, we deem it worthy of notice. The entire county at that time was covered with an almost unbroken forest, with the exception of a few small tracts of prairie land, which, having been previously cultivated by the Indians, were of inestimable value to the first settlers, and, inasmuch as they were used in common, each one farming a little patch of corn, to keep himself and family, until he could clear up his entered land, with this cursory reference, we postpone a fuller description to a future date.

HINDERANCES TO EARLY SETTLEMENT.

Up to 1799, Congress lands could not be sold in quantities less than 4,000 acres; but, through the efforts of Gen. Harrison, a law was passed, authorizing the sale of half the public lands in sections, and the other half in sections or half- sections. In 1800, land offices were established for the sale of Congress lands, in sections and half-sections, on the following terms, viz .: Two dollars per acre, applicant to deposit $6 for surveying a section, or $3 for half-section, and $5 for a patent for a section, or $4 for a half-section ; also, he was obliged to deposit one-twentieth of the price, all of which to be forfeited, if within forty days, one- fourth of the purchase was not paid, another fourth within two years, another fourth within three years, and the residue within four years, with 6 per cent interest on the deferred payments from day of sale; the whole to be forfeited, if payment be not completed within five years. Subsequent acts, however, gave great relief to purchasers, by extending the time of payments ; and in 1804, the fees for survey- ing and issuing patents, were abolished, and an act was also passed providing for the sale of lands in quarter-sections. In 1820, lands could be sold in forty-acre lots, and the price was reduced to $1.25 per acre-cash.

At the beginning of the year 1800, the population of this county did not far exceed fifty persons. In 1801, the number of voters between the two Miamis, from the south line of the township, to the sources of Mad River, and the Great

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Miami, was three hundred and eighty-two; west of the Great Miami, twenty-eight ; east of the Little Miami, less than twenty.

Owing to the remoteness of this territory from the Ohio, the absence, and almost total deprivation of all the conveniences of life, the difficulty of procuring land, the dense forests to be cleared away before a crop could be raised, the scarcity of money, fear of Indian depredations and various other causes, the immigration, up to 1800, was very slow. For the purpose of instituting a comparison between eighty years ago and now, we append a vivid description by Dr. Coleman. He says : "The county situated remote from navigable waters, and heavily timbered, was settled almost exclusively by agriculturists, and required years of hard toil to bring a necessary portion under cultivation ; but fertility of soil, the local advan- tages of mill-streams, timber, stones, and clay for brick, were inducements for farmers to locate in it, without any anticipation of the improvements in store for their grandchildren, such as canals, railroads and turnpikes and their attendant advan- tages.

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The History of Miami County, Ohio, Part 22

Author: W. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1051

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1880
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051