The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 28

Author: Warner, Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

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In a short time, the wife of the chief Shingash died, which was announced by the most dismal howlings of the women of the town. Heckewelder, Cal- houn and four Indians carried her to the grave. The body was covered with ornaments, painted with vermilion, and placed in a coffin, at the head of which a hole had been made, that the soul might go in and out. On arriving at the grave, the deceased was entreated to come out of the coffin and stay with the living. The coffin was then lowered, the grave filled up, and a red pole driven in at its head. A great feast was then made, and presents distributed around, Calhoun and Heckewelder each receiving a black silk handkerchief and a pair of leggins. For three weeks, a kettle of provisions was carried out every evening to the grave to feed the departed spirit on its way to the new country. Mr. Calhoun invited Heckewelder to come and stay with him, which he finally did on account of sickness.

When Heckewelder wished to visit Mr. Calhoun, he had to wade through

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the river, in consequence of which he was soon attacked by fever and ague. His strength was exhausted and his sufferings great. Alone, sick and almost famished, in returning from Calhoun's, he was often obliged to lie down in the path till the paroxysm of fever was over. The trader, a man of open heart and hand, invited him to remain at the store, but Heckewelder had promised Post to remain at the cabin, as otherwise the Indians would have stolen everything. At last his strength failed so that he dared not venture upon fording the river, and he was obliged to remain at home. While in this miserable condition, an Indian acquaintance visited him and agreed to make him a little bark canve for a knife. In his reduced condition Heckewelder used it, when finished, to visit Mr. Calhoun and the Indians of the village in order to procure some food.

It soon became evident that this missionary effort would be a complete fail- ure. The Indians were induced to believe that the sole object of the visit of Post and Heckewelder was to deliver the Indian country into the hands of the white people. Post was forbidden to return; war with the English colonies was imminent, and Heckewelder was twice warned by friendly Indians to leave their country. He wrote this state of affairs too Post and received an- swer to return as speedily as possible. It was some time before the young missionary could do this. He was too weak to walk, his horse had been stolen or was lost, and Mr. Calhoun's pack-horse drivers, who had intended to set out for Pittsburgh with furs, were all laid up with the fever. Every time Hecke- welder visited Tuscarawas, he saw strangers, who scrutinized him closely. One afternoon one of Calhoun's men called to him from the opposite bank of the river, requesting him to lock his cabin door and cross the river immedi. ately as Mr. Calhoun wished to speak to him on business of great importance. " Having wrapped up a few articles of dress in my blanket," says Heckewelder in his journal, "I paddled across." " As soon as I arrived at Mr. C.'s, he told me privately that an Indian woman, who frequently came to his store, and who made spirits, which he kept for sale, had asked him that day whether the white men who lived above. on the other side of the river, was his friend, and that on answering in the affirmative, she had said: 'Take him away; don't let him remain one night longer in his cabin; he is in danger there.' The next morning I wished to return to see whether anything had taken place at the cabin, and, if possible, to fetch a few necessary articles which had been left behind in the hurry of my departure. Mr. Calhoun, however, would not let me go, but sent two of his strongest men to see how things stood. One of them, James Smith, was a man of such uncommon strength, that the Indians considered him a Manitou, and would hardly be anxious to engage him per- sonally. They reported that the house had been broken open during the night, and that, judging from appearances there, two persons had been in. There were signs of a late fire on the hearth. and they had evidently been waiting for me. Of course my return was out of the question; any attempt would have been actual foolhardiness. I never saw my lonely cabin again, remaining under the hospitable roof of the trader. Meanwhile, as I after- ward heard, emissaries of the Senacas and Northern Indians were busily en-

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gaged in exciting the Delawares to take up the hatchet against the English, and soon after my departure war broke out. At Mr. Calhoun's I experienced nothing but the most true-hearted friendship; and under his kind treatment I recovered from the fever."

About this time, the chiefs, who had accompanied Post to Lancaster, returned, their friendship for the English, from some reason, considerably cooled. King Beaver, however, remained favorably disposed, and advised Heckewelder to hasten his departure. Calhoun's men were now restored to health ; this trader lent the youthful missionary a young horse, and with the drivers he set out for Pittsburgh. On the third day, they met Post return- ing in company with an Indian agent, Capt. Alexander McKee, who was going to the Delaware villages to receive Indian captives which the chiefs at the late treaty had promised should be restored. The, were in ignorance of the real state of affairs, but insisted on proceeding, not regarding the danger as immi- nent. In this they were soon undeceived. The agent, however, was protected by the friendship of the chiefs, but returned without the promised prisoners. Post, whom the Indians suspected of secret designs against them, as they were at a loss to explain his missionary movements, had to fly for his life, and was conducted to a place of safety through a secret forest path by one of his for. mer fellow.travelers to Lancaster. His diplomatic services in seeking to pro- cure a treaty with the Indians doubtless increased their suspicions and caused them to view with greater mistrust his asserted religious object in their behalf.

Thus closed the first attempt to introduce the Bible among the red men on the Tuscarawas. Had the time been more opportune, and not on the verge of a fierce, relentless border war, the result might have been different. Hecke- welder, on his homeward journey, was again attacked by fever, and was joy- fully received by his brethren at Bethlehem after an absence of nine months, but so worn down by fatigue and disease as to be scarcely recognized. Thomas Calhoun, the trader on the Tuscarawas, would have left the Delaware country with Heckewelder, but property of great amount had been intrusted to himn, and he felt bound to guard it as long as possible. The Indians soon after ordered him to leave the country, as they were unable to protect him any longer. With his brother and their servants, Calhoun finally set out for Pitts- burgh, but they were attacked on the way at the Beaver River by a band of savages, and all killed, save two. Mr. Calhoun escaped by outstripping his pursuers in the race, and James Smith by strangling his antagonist.

Of the after life of Rev. Post, little is known. After his return from Ohio, he proceeded to the Bay of Honduras to establish a missionary settlement among the Mosquito Indians, represented to be of a peaceable and friendly disposition. His connection with the Moravians seems to have been dropped about this time, for there is no record of his subsequent life. He is said to have died and been buried at Germantown, Penn. De Schweinitz says that while Post was a good and zealous man, he was unstable and erratic; wan- dered from the wilds of Ohio to the lagoons of Central America, accomplish- ing nothing ; and finally withdrew altogether from missionary work.

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MISSIONS FOUNDED ON THE TUSCARAWAS.

The success of the missions among the Delawares in Western Pennsyl- vania was soon heralded among the neighboring tribes, and though viewed with disfavor, as any departure from the ancient customs would, the exem- plary conduct of the converts gained for them, for the time, the respect of of their savage brothers, while the superstitious were inclined to attach a supernatural or magic power to their religion. In the spring of 1770, at a new Moravian village called Friedensstadt, on the Beaver River in Pennsyl. vania, a wampum belt was brought from the great council at Gekelemukpe- chunk (now Newcomerstown, Tuscarawas County), with notice that, inasmuch as an epidemic had recently carried off many of the Delawares, and believed to have been brought on by the power of witchcraft, some of the counselors were of opinion that by embracing Christianity the contagion would ceace; it was therefore resolved that the remedy should be resorted to, and that whoever should oppose the preaching of the Gospel among them ought to be regarded as an enemy of the nation. An urgent request was sent to sev- eral of the Pennsylvania missions to remove to the valley of the Tuscarawas, where they might have their choice of lands and dwell in peace and safety.

David Zeisberger, one of the missionaries, was impressed with the idea of removing the missions to this fruitful valley in Ohio. In March, 1771, es- corted by several Christian Indians, all mounted, he visited the Delaware capital, Gekelemukpechunk. The town lay amidst a clearing, nearly a mile square, just east of the present Newcomerstown, and consisted of about one hundred houses, mostly built of logs. Zeisberger was the guest of Netawot- wes, the chief of the nation, who dwelt in a spacious cabin, with shingle roof, board floors, staircase and stone chimney. In this building, at noon of the 14th of March, 1771, a throng of Indians, together with nearly a dozen white men, gathered to listen to the first Moravian sermon delivered in the territory now comprising the State of Ohio. His subject was the corruptness of human nature and the efficacy of Christ's atonement; and he exposed the absurdity of the doctrine then urged by Indian preachers, that sin must be purged out of this body by vomiting. After remaining a few days, the mis- sionary returned to Friedensstadt. Scarcely had he left when an Indian preacher denounced him as a notorious deceiver, and threatened the most ter- rible judgment of the great spirit if the people gave the Moravians furtber countenance. The preacher enlisted a strong party in his views, and Glick- hican. a converted Delaware chief, who arrived at the capital a few weeks later, had great difficulty in counteracting its influence.

Zeisberger presented to the Indian converts in Pennsylvania the offer of the Delawares in the Tuscarawas Valley, and urged its acceptance. At a con- ference of the church authorities, his plans were adopted, and it was resolved to transfer the three missions-two on the Susquehanna and one on the Beaver river-to the wilds of Ohio. The Susquehanna mission unanimously resolved to emigrate, and, in the spring of 1772, Zeisberger, accompanied by several converts, proceeded to Geckelemukpechunk, and notified Netawotwes of the

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coming of the Indians. While on the way, about two miles below the present New Philadelphia, on the morning of March 16, he discovered a large spring, in the midst of the richest bottom lands, above which lay a plateau, offering an excellent site for a town. Netawotwes granted, for the use of the Christians, the Tuscarawas Valley, extending from the mouth of Stillwater Creek to Tus- carawas (Bolivar).

Returning, he set out from Pennsylvania, April 14, with five Indian fami- lies, numbering twenty-eight persons, and reached the above-mentioned spring at noon May 3. The next morning he commenced work, clearing land, plant- ing it and erecting temporary cabins. The spot was a beautiful location for a town. On both sides of the river, says De Schweinitz, were bottom lands, interspersed with small lakes, reaching, on the west bank, to the foot of a pre- cipitous bluff ; on the eastern, to a declivity not quite so high. Near the base of the latter, the spring gushed in a copious stream from beneath the roots of a cluster of lindens and elms, and fed a lake nearly a mile long, united by an outlet with the Tuscarawas. Both lake and outlet were navigable so that ca- noes could be paddled from the river to the very foot of the declivity. While Zeisberger and his assistants were at work here, the place was visited by many Delawares. The mission house was completed June 9. The town was situ ated about two miles southeast of New Philadelphia, and the road from that town to Gnadenhutten passes over its site. The "beautiful spring " is now dried up, and the lake a marsh, choked with water lilies.

The main body of the Susquehanna converts from the two missions, 204 in number (Heckewelder gives the number 241, including the missionaries and their families), arrived at their new Ohio home August 23, 1773. Revs. John Heckewelder and John Ettwein accompanied them, but the latter returned at once to Pennsylvania.

A conference of the missionaries and native assistants appointed an embassy to proceed to Gekelemukpechunk ; it was gladly received by Netawotwes, who ceded to the mission a further grant, extending from the mouth of Stillwater Creek southward to within two miles of Gekelemukpechunk. At this first con- ference, the station was called Schonbrunn, or " Beautiful Spring."

At another conference, held soon after, the rules of the congregation, as prepared by the missionaries, Revs. Zeisberger, Heckewelder and Ettwein, and approved by the assistants, were read to the whole congregation and by them accepted. These rules compose the first act of Ohio legislation, a civil and re- ligious obligation voluntarily assumed by the converted children of the forest. They read as follows:

1. We will know no other god, nor worship any other but Him who has created us, and redeemed us with His most precious blood.

2. We will rest from all labors on Sundays, and attend the usual meetings on that day for divine service.

3. We will honor father and mother, and support them in age and dis- tress.

4. No one shall be permitted to dwell with us without the consent of our teachers.

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5. No thieves, murderers, drunkards, adulterers and whoremongers shall be suffered among us.

6. No one that attendeth dances, sacrifices or heathenish festivals can live among us.

7. No one using Tschappish (or witchcraft) in hunting shall be suffered among us.

8. We will renounce all juggles, lies and deceits of Satan.

9. We will be obedient to our teachers and to the helpers (national assist- ants) who are appointed to see that good order be kept, both in and out of the town.

10. We will not be idle and lazy ; nor tell lies of one another ; nor strike each other. We will live peaceably together.

11. Whosoever does any harm to another's cattle, goods or effects, shall pay the damage.

12. A man shall have only one wife ; love her and provide for her and the children. Likewise a woman shall have but one husband, and be obedient unto him ; she shall also take care of the children, and be cleanly in all things.

13. We will not permit any rum, or spirituous liquors, to be brought into our towns. If strangers or traders happen to bring any, the helpers (national assistants) are to take it into their possession, and take care not to deliver it to them until they set off again. ·

14. None of the inhabitants shall run in debt with traders, nor receive goods on commission for traders, without the consent of the national assistants.

15. No one is to go on a journey or long hunt without informing the min- ister or stewards of it.

16. Young people are not to marry without the consent of their parents, and taking their advice.

17. If the stewards or helpers apply to the inhabitants for assistance, in doing work for the benefit of the place, such as building meeting, and school houses, clearing and fencing lands, etc., they are to be obeyed.

18. All necessary contributions for the public ought cheerfully to be at- tended to.

The above rules were made and adopted at a time when there was a pro- found peace ; when, however, six years afterward, during the Revolutionary war, individuals of the Delaware nation took up the hatchet to join in the conflict, the national assistants proposed and insisted on having the following additional rules added, namely :

19. No man inclining to go to war-which is the shedding of blood-can remain among us.

20. Whosoever purchases goods or articles of warriors, knowing at the time that such have been stolen or plundered, must leave us. We look upon this as giving encouragement to murder and theft.

No person was allowed to live in the society without first having promised to conform to the foregoing rules. When any person violated the rules, he or

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she was first admonished, and in case that proved ineffectual, the offender was expelled. Other rules were adopted for daily meetings, for government of schools, for attention to visitors, and for rendering assistance to the sick, needy and distressed, so that the poorest person in the society was dressed and as well provided for as the most wealthy.

Schonbrunn was situated on the east side of the river, and had two streets laid out in the form of a T. At the middle of the transverse street, and oppo- site the main street, which ran east and west, stood the church. Adjoining it on the right hand was Zeisberger's house: on the left hand the missionary Youngman's. On either side of these were the houses of the native assistants. The chapel was of squared timber, 36x40 feet, shingle roofed, with cupola and bell. It was dedicated September 19, 1772. A schoolhouse stood at the northwest corner of the main street. The streets were broad and cleanly kept, and the village was enclosed with fences to exclude cattle. Before a year closed, it contained more than sixty houses, built of squared timber, besides a number of huts and lodges.

A native assistant, Joshua, arrived at Schonbrunn with a party of Mohicans from the mission on Beaver River, Penn., September 18, 1772, and on the 24th laid out a village called Upper Town, on the west side of the river about four miles above Schonbrunn, near the site of Canal Dover. Netawotwes, however, insisted that the new village should be located nearer the Delaware capital, and accordingly Upper Town was abandoned, and October 9 Joshua began to build Gnadenhutten (Tents of Grace), at the inclosed lot of ground in the southeastern part of present Gnadenhutten, Clay Township. It received its name from a former mission on the Lehigh, in Pennsylvania. The first service was beld here October 17 by Zeisberger, who was Superintendent of all the missions. In April, 1773, the last remaining mission in Pennsylvania (Friedensstadt), on the Beaver, and its members were transferred to Schon- brunn and Gnadenhutten, in two parties, one by land, the other, in charge of Heckewelder, in twenty-two canoes, loaded with baggage, Indian corn, etc., down Big Beaver, then down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum, thence up that river nearly two hundred miles to Schonbrunn. In August, 1773, another missionary, John Jacob Schmick, and his wife, arrived. There were now at Schonbrunn, Zeisberger, Heckewelder, and Youngman and his wife ; and at Gnadenhutten, Schmick and John Roth, and their wives. Rev. John Roth had reached Gnadenhutten from the Beaver Mission, with his wife and child, April 24, 1.773.

The missions prospered. Many Indians visited the villages and were astonished to see so many of their brothers living happily together, engaged in tilling the soil. To all who came, the Gospel was preached, and many joined the congregation, among the number a celebrated chief (Echpalawa- hund), whose defection from Gekelemukpechunk, and determination to live thenceforth among the Christians, created much confusion among the Dela- wares, and a party arose among them demanding that the missionaries be banished from the country, as disturbers of the peace and hostile to their

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customs and sacrifices ; but more tolerant opinions prevailed. Zeisberger labored among surrounding tribes with fair success, and added constantly to the numerical strength of the missions.

Dunmore's war, in 1774, produced annoyance and trouble at Schonbrunn and Gnadenhutten. When the news arrived that Dunmore's command was marching to the Muskingum against the Shawnees and Mingoes, and that these warlike tribes were congregating to the west of the missions ; appre- hensions of danger were felt, and Roth with his family returned to Bethlehem by the advice of Zeisberger. The other missionaries resolved to remain. In the meantime, false rumors arrived that the Americans intended to destroy the Delawares as well. Through the influence of White Eyes, the greatest Dela. ware war-chief, the nation had declared for peace. The young braves, not- withstanding, were anxious for war. They gave credence to rumors of approach- ing disaster, and became inimical to the missions. The Shawnees taunted them of being Christians. The hot-headed braves returned a reply that they were not and would never become Christians, and that the missionaries bad come to their country masked. Young, reckless warriors flocked to Schon- brunn ; treated the municipal regulations of that orderly village with contempt, and behaved in a most insolent and insulting manner. White Eyes had gone with Lord Dunmore on his expedition, acting as arbitrator with the Shawanees, and was unremitting in his endeavors to secure peace. On his return, he expressed great indignation at the treatment to which the missionaries had been subjected, and through his influence the Delaware council agreed that the Moravians should have full liberty to preach the Gospel at any place within the limits of their territory, and that the believing Indians and their teachers should thenceforth enjoy the same rights and privileges possessed by the other Indians. The Christian Indians were then given full possession of all that country lying between Tuscarawas (Bolivar) and the great bend below Newcomerstown, a distance of more than thirty miles on the river, and corre- sponding closely with that part of the river now included in Tuscarawas County. Gekelemukpechunk, or Newcomerstown, was abandoned, to give effect to this grant, and the new Delaware capital established at Goschachgunk (Coshocton).

Under these auspicious circumstances, the year 1775 commenced and proved a season of external repose and internal prosperity to the mission. This rest favored the visits of strangers, who came in such numbers that the chapel at Schonbrunn, with a capacity of about five hundred, was too small to accommo- date all. At the close of this year, the number of Christian Indians amounted to 414. All were in the enjoyment of the comforts, almost the luxuries, of civilization, and the lives of the converts were exemplary. The children were zealously taught in the schools, into which Zeisberger had introduced a spell- ing book published in the Delaware language.

During the first five weeks of the year 1776, there were eighteen baptisms at Schonbrunn, and others at Gnadenhutten. A general revival began among the children, and a project was formed to build a third town. Netawotwes

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had asked that it be located near his new capital, Goschachgunk. His request was granted, and April 12, 1776, Lichtenau was founded, on the Muskingum, about two miles below the present Coshocton, in Coshocton County, by the removal there of eight families, in all thirty-five persons. Zeisberger and Heckewelder accompanied them. It progressed rapidly. A grandson of Chief Netawotwes and his family of six children were the first converts.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

The troublesome times of the Revolutionary war were now fast approach- ing, and the tranquillity of the missions was replaced by difficulties and dan- gers which nothing could avert, and which, before the struggle for inde- pendence had ended, involved the peaceful villages, in ruin and destruction. Situated so near the center of the Delaware nation, and composed almost en- tirely of converts from it, whatever affected the one in matters of war or peace necessarily influenced the other. It was doubtless largely the influence of the Moravians and their friends that for three years deterred the Delawares from taking the war-path. This was a period of constant tumult and excitement, and when at last the Delawares impatiently broke from all restraint, and took up arms against the colonies, the missions were left alone, their quiet, orderly demeanor the object of suspicion and hatred from all sides, culminating finally in annihilation.

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The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 28

Author: Warner, Beers & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Warner, Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017