The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 32

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

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"On the other hand, the local situation of the Moravian villages excited the jealousy of the white people. If they took no direct agency in the war, yet they were, as they were then called, 'half-way houses,' between us and the warriors, at which the latter could stop, rest, refresh themselves and traffic off their plunder. Whether these aids, thus given to our enemies, were con- trary to the laws of neutrality between belligerents, is a question which I willingly leave to the decision of civilians. On the part of the Moravians, they were unavoidable. If they did not give or sell provisions to the warriors, they would take them by force. The fault was in their situation, not in them- selves.

" The longer the war continued, the more our people complained of the situation of these Moravian villages. It was said that it was owing to their being so near us that the warriors commenced their depredations so early in the spring, and continued them until late in the fall.

"In the latter end of the year 1781, the militia of the frontier came to a determination to break up the Moravian villages on the Muskingum. For this purpose, a detachment of our men went out under the command of Col. David Williamson, for the purpose of inducing the Indians with their teachers to move further off, or bring them prisoners to Fort Pitt. When they arrived at the villages, they found but few Indians, the greater number of them hav- ing removed to Sandusky. These few were well treated, taken to Fort Pitt and delivered to the commandant at that station, who, after a short deten- tion, sent them home again.

"This procedure gave great offense to the people of the country, who thought that the Moravians ought to have been killed. Col. Williamson, who, before this little campaign had been a very popular man, on account of his activity and bravery in war, now becaine the subject of severe animadversions on account of his lenity to the Moravian Indians. In justice to the memory of Col. Williamson, I have to say that although at that time very young, I was personally acquainted with him, and from my recollection of his conver- sation I say with confidence that he was a brave man, but not cruel. He would meet an enemy in battle, and fight like a soldier, but not murder a prisoner. Had he possessed the authority of a superior officer in a regular army, I do not believe that a single Moravian Indian would have lost his life; bat he possessed no such authority. He was only a militia officer, who could advise, but not command. His only fault was that of too easy a compliance with popular prejudice. On this account, his memory has been loaded with unmerited reproach.

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"Several reports unfavorable to the Moravians had been in circulation for some time before the campaign against them. One was, that the night after they were liberated at Fort Pitt, they crossed the river, and killed or made prisoners a family of the name of Montour. A family on Buffalo Creek had been mostly killed in the summer or fall of 1781, and it was said by one of them, who, after being made prisoner, made his escape, that the leader of the party of Indians who did the mischief was a Moravian. These, with other reports of similar import, served as a pretext for their destruction, although no doubt they were utterly false.

"Should it be asked, what sort of people composed the band of murderers of the unfortunate people, I answer, they were not miscreants or vagabonds; many of them were men of the first standing in the country. Many of them were men who had recently lost relatives by the hand of the savages; several of the latter class found articles which had been plundered from their own houses, or those of their relatives, in the houses of the Moravians. One man, it is said, found the clothes of his wife and children who had been murdered by the Indians but a few days before. They were still bloody; yet there was no unequivocal evidence that these people had any direct agency in the war. Whatever of our property was found with them had been left by the warriors in exchange for the provisions which they took from them. When attacked by our people, although they might have defended themselves, they did not. They never fired a single shot. They were prisoners, and had been promised protection. Every dictate of justice and humility required that their lives should be spared. The complaint of their villages being half-way houses for the warriors, was at an end, as they had been removed to Sandusky the fall before. It was, therefore, an atrocious and unqualified murder. But by whom committed ? By a majority of the campaign ? For the honor of my country, I hope I may safely answer this question in the negative. It was one of those convulsions of the moral state of society in which the voice of the justice and humanity of a majority is silenced by the clamor and violence of a lawless minority. Very few of our men imbrued their hands in the blood of the Mo- ravians. Even those who had not voted for saving their lives retired from the scene of slaughter with horror and disgust. Why then did they not give in their favor? The fear of public indignation restrained them from doing so. They thought well, but they had not heroism enough to express their opinions Those who did so deserve honorable mention for their intrepidity."

Crawford's disastrous campaign against the Sandusky Indians followed al- most immediately after the massacre of the Moravian Indians. It has been charged by the Moravian writers that the object of this expedition was to de- stroy the remnant of the Moravian Indians on the Sandusky; but C. W. Butterfield, in his "Crawford's Campaign against Sandusky," shows by strong testimony that the destruction of the hostile Wyandot settlements was the pur- pose in view. It was a volunteer expedition, and was set on foot and directed by Gen. Irwine, commander of the Western Department of the American Army. The place of rendezvous was Mingo Bottoms, where about 480 men

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assembled. An election for chief commander was held there May 24, 1782, and resulted as follows : Col. William Crawford, of Westmoreland County, Penn., 235 votes; Col. David Williamson, of Washington County, Penn., 230 votes; the latter was chosen second officer in rank: The men were mounted, and it was designed to make a rapid march to Sandusky, 150 miles distant, and surprise the Indians if possible. The army left Mingo Bottoms May 25, and on the evening of the fourth day encamped on the ruins of Schonbrunn, feed- ing the horses on the unharvested corn of the plantations. Hopes of surpris- ing the savages were here lost by the discovery of two Indian scouts watching their movements. It is not within the province of this work to detail the in- vidents of the disaster which followed. The Moravian village on the Sandusky had been removed about a month previous by command of Half King, and thus escaped a second contact with American soldiers that spring. Col. William- son led the scattered forces in the retreat along the trail of the advance, as far as the Tuscarawas, which was crossed between Schonbrunn and Gnadenhutten June 10. From this point to the Ohio, " Williamson's trail " was followed. Williamson was afterward elected Sheriff of his county, and retained consid- erable popularity with the people. He, however, was unsuccessful in business and died in poverty.

THE WANDERING MORAVIANS.

For sixteen years after the crushing blow received in March, 1782, solitude reigned in the Tuscarawas Valley. The dreadful scene of the slaughter of the innocents remained unvisited, save by beasts of prey or occasional bands of red men. The teeming farm lands which surrounded the settlements relapsed into their former state of quiet wildness, and were soon covered with a thick grove of copse, which promised to develop into lofty forest groves. In 1798, however, Zeisberger returned to the Tuscarawas Valley and founded Goshen. A brief mention of the Moravian Indians during the intervening sixteen years would not be improper.

A deep feeling of hostility toward the remnant of the Moravian Indians on the Sandusky was entertained by the warlike tribes in that vicinity, and a re- moval elsewhere became necessary. At first the enmity was directed to the missionaries, and they were, by order of the Governor of Detroit, separated from their congregations and sent to Detroit. The converts, notwithstanding the absence of their teachers, clung to their religious life, and Half King and his warriors persecuted them in consequence. The Christians soon dispersed, some taking shelter with the Shawnees on the Scioto, and others with their heathen Delaware brethren on the Maumee. Soon after, Col. De Peyster pro- vided for a settlement on the Clinton River, thirty miles above Detroit. New Gnadenhutten was founded here in July, 1782. Invitations were extended to the Indians to re-assemble there; some accepted, but many relapsed into savage life. For nearly four years they remained here; they had cleared the land and obtained comfortable homes, but the Chippewas dwelling in that region became dissatisfied with their presence, and insisted on their removal. They embarked, April 28, 1786, in two trading sloops, and after a lengthy detention

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at the Bass Islands near Sandusky peninsula, they were landed at Rocky Point, eight miles from Sandusky Bay. They proceeded to the Cuyahoga River, and there formed a temporary settlement, intending to return to the Tuscarawas Valley as soon as the country became sufficiently settled to permit it. A year later New Salem was established on the Huron River, in what is now Erie County. This mission prospered, and in 1790 contained over 200 members. Indian hostilities again necessitated a removal, and in April, 1791, the entire congregation removed to a place in Canada, which they called the Watch Tower, and soon after Fairfield was founded in Canada.

The Moravian society at Bethlehem had memorialized Congress, October 28, 1783, to reserve to the remnant of the Tuscarawas mission their three towns and the surrounding lands. A favorable report was made on March 1, 1784, and an ordinance which passed in the Continental Congress, May 20, 1785, provided " that the towns of Gnadenhutten, Schonbrunn and Salem, on the Muskingum, and so much of the lands adjoining to the said towns, with the buildings and improvements thereon, shall be reserved for the sole use of the Christian Indians, who were formerly settled there, or the remains of that soci- ety, as may, in the judgment of the geographer, be sufficient for them to culti- vate." A resolution of August 24, 1786, granted to the Christian Indians 500 bushels of corn, 100 blankets, 20 axes and 20 hoes, to be supplied from Fort McIntosh as soon as they should settle on the Tuscarawas. The settled oppo- sition of the Indian tribes prevented immediate occupation of their old homes by the Indians. By a resolution passed July 27, 1787, a quantity of land ad- joining these three settlements on the Tuscarawas, not exceeding 10,000 acres in the aggregate, was reserved to be vested in the Moravian Brethren Society, in trust for the former Indian residents, including Killbuck and his descend- ants and the nephew and descendants of the late Capt. White Eyes, Delaware chiefs, who have distingnished themselves as friends to the cause of America An ordinance of September 3, 1788, directed the survey of this land by the geographer of the United States, " as speedily as possible."

The society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen was organized at Bethlehem and incorporated by act of the Legisla- ture of Pennsylvania, February 28, 1788, to hold in trust the land granted by Congress for the Christian Indians. Having appointed John Heckwelder its agent, he set out for the Northwest Territory September 10, 1788, accompanied by Matthias Blickensderfer, in order to have the tract surveyed. At Pittsburgh he met Thomas Hutchins, Geographer of the United States, with whom he proceeded down the Ohio to Fort Harmar. Here they waited until the begin- ning of winter, in daily expectation of a treaty to be held with the Indians, upon the issue of which depended the survey. , At last he was obliged to re- turn to Bethlehem without accomplishing his object.

The grant of three tracts of 4,000 acres each at the Moravian settlements on the Tuscarawas was renewed by act of Congress, dated June 1, 1796, and President Adams issued the patent for the land February 24, 1798. In the spring of 1797, the survey was made. John Heckewelder and William Henry,

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with their assistants, John Rothrock, Christian Clewell and a Mr. Kamp, under- took the survey. They left the Ohio, near the present Wellsburg, May 7, ac- companied by John Carr as guide, John Messemer, a Dunkard preacher on his way home to Detroit, and two Indians, Capt. Bull and Joseph White Eyes, the latter a son of the celebrated chief of that name. They reached the site of Gnadenhutten on the evening of May 11. Heckewelder proceeded at once to Marietta and returned with Mr. Schmick, Gen. Rufus Putnam and his son, the two latter of whom represented the Government in the survey. The site of Gnadenhutten was a dense wilderness of bushes and trees, and infested with rattlesnakes. Here and there the ruins of a chimney projected from the midst of a blackberry or sumac thicket. To this wilderness they set fire, and when consumed, the ground was seen covered with human bones that gave evidence of having been dragged about by wild beasts. They were the remains of the murdered converts. Schmick, Rothrock and Clewell made an attempt to explore the site of Salem June 5, but returned unsuccessful, the whole country being overgrown and the trail lost. The next day, accompanied by William Henry, the search was renewed, and a few remains found. The bot- tom was covered with a thicket of scrub oak, known as the red-jack. The survey was completed early in July. Three plats, each of 4,000 acres, were laid out, known as the Guadenhutten, Schonbrunn and Salem tracts.

GOSHEN FOUNDED.

Heckewelder, accompanied by Rev. Benjamin Mortimer, traveled in the spring of 1798 to the mission at Fairfield, Canada, and informed the Indians of the completion of the survey and its readiness for occupation. A number signified their willingness to emigrate thither in the fall of that year. After a week's stay, Heckewelder and Edwards set out with two young Indians to begin a settlement at Gnadenhatten and make the necessary preparations for the reception of the missionaries and Indians who expected to arrive in the fall with Zeisberger and Mortimer. Heckewelder took np his abode at Gnaden- hutten. Zeisberger arrived with thirty-three Indians and landed at the beau- tiful spring of old Schonbrunn October 4, 1798. His colony pitched their tents near the center of the Schonbrunn tract, and soon after made a permanent settlement on the river bank, opposite an island, seven miles northeast of Gnadenhutten. Here a little village called Goshen was laid out. The mis- sion house was completed November 13, and a church was erected in Decem- ber. Zeisberger visited the site of New Schonbrunn November 11. Single posts of the garden fences were the only remains of the village left standing. Many Indian implements and vessels, however, were scattered over the ground, and the whole region was thickly overgrown with bushes and rank weeds.

It was not long after the return of the missions to the Tuscarawas Valley that white settlers began to arrive, and their influence upon the Indian con- verts was very unfavorable to the prosperity of the missiona. As a precan- tionary measure, the missionaries sent a memorial to Gov. St. Clair, October 28, 1798, asking that they be empowered to prevent the sale or barter of in-

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toxicating liquors within the settlement. In response, he sent a message to the Territorial Legislature, which in the session of 1799-1800 passed an act to protect the. Moravian Indians from the traffic of intoxicating liquors. The missionaries were authorized to seize the same whenever brought within the Schonbrunn tract and to "do with it as they should think proper." Hecke- welder mentions that on one occasion "Zeisberger, although then in his eightieth year, in his zeal for the cause in which he was engaged, took up an ax and stove the kegs, so that the liquor ran into the river." "In consequence of the influx of settlers," says De Schweinitz, "the prohibitory law could not be carried out on the reservation. Not only passing traders, but its near neighbors tempted the Indians in every possible way. They looked them up in the forest especially, when hunting or sugar boiling, supplied them with liquor and then entrapped them in bargains which were as advantageous to themselves as they were ruinous to the natives. A regular gang of thieves and desperadoes infested the vicinity of Goshen, who worked incalculable in- jury to the missions. During the Holy Passion week (1805), most of the converts were intoxicated. Zeisberger did what he could to stop the evil, and the Indians gave earnest promises of reform. But a demon had been let loose among them and they fell into his power so often that drunkenness became the mortal sin and the destroying vice of the little flock. Some of them, in- deed, like Gelelemend, remained faithful to the last ; and the majority of them erred, not without premeditation, but through that want of stability which is everywhere characteristic of the aborigines, as soon as they meet the white man holding out the inebriating cup. This state of affairs continued to grow worse. Indians from beyond the reservation instituted carousals at Goshen, defying all control ; and in the course of time the prohibitory law was repealed at the instance of traders, as being an infringement on the rights and liberties of a free people."

The entire reservation was too large to be occupied and used by the Chris- tian Indians alone. Foreseeing this, the Society for Propagating the Gospel, as early as September, 1796, issued a circular inviting members and friends of the church to settle there. The surplus land was to be leased in lots of from 100 to 150 acres each, the rent to be used for the benefit of the Indians. In response to this circular Jacob Bush and two other settlers arrived May 6, 1799, and on the 29th of the same month Paul Greer, Peter Edmonds, Ezra Warner and Peter Warner came from Gnadenhutten, Penn. David and Dor- cas Peter came from Bethlehem in October, 1799. Peter had been appointed to take charge of a store opened by the society. Other families emigrated soon after. Some of these settlers took up land at Gnadenhutten, others on the site of Salem. Of the colony at Gnadenhutten, Lewis Huebner became the regular pastor in July, 1800, and a church edifice was erected and dedi- cated July 10, 1803, by Rev. Zeisberger. Soon after another Moravian Church was built on the west side of the Tuscarawas, near what is now Lock 17. It was dedicated December 15, 1805, and received the name of Beersheba. Huebner having been recalled, it was placed in charge of Rev. George God-

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frey Mueller, who preached in English at Beersheba, and in German at Gnad- enhutten.

The number of the Christian Indians gradually diminished through deaths, removals to the West and return to savage life. The missionaries, becoming enfeebled by old age, lost in a measure their power and could not give the Indians the attention demanded in view of surrounding temptations. The venerable mis. sionary, William Edwards, died at Goshen, October 8, 1801, aged seventy eight years. For several years he had been unable to attend to his duties, but declined retiring to the States, wishing to die among the Indians. Zeisberger, too, ended his long and- eventful life in mission work at Goshen. He died November 7, 1808, aged eighty-seven years. His last address was delivered during the summer of that year. About midsummer, forty Muncey Indians had arrived at Goshen, intending to remain a few weeks. By the arrival of another party of savages, the village was filled with visitors. They were welcomed, but be- sought to abstain from strong drink. A boat laden with rum soon after ar- rived, and the visitors forgetting their promises " began a carousal so wild and fearful that the Goshen converts fled to the woods, and the neighboring settlers, seizing their rifles, hastened to guard the mission property and pro- tect the missionaries." Part of the savages soon left, but others, continuing their debaucheries, Zeisberger aroused himself, summoned both converts and heathens to assemble in the chapel and delivered to them his last address. Mentioning the lawless savages by name, he denounced their brutish conduct, and ordered them to leave the village at once. He entreated them to turn from their evil ways; then warned them of the terrible consequences of con- tinuing in them. Fear fell upon all of them and all soon departed. The evils that beset the missions clouded the last years of Zeisberger's life and doubtless hastened his death.

The three reservations on the Tuscarawas, instead of being a source of rev- enue, proved to be an expense and at last an intolerable burden to the "Society for Propogating the Gospel to the Heathen." Accordingly, negotiations were commenced with the United States to divest the society of the trusteeship. An agreement was entered into August 4, 1823, at Gnadenhutten, between Lewis Cass, Commissioner of the United States, and Lewis D. De Schweinitz, agent for the society, by the terms of which the society relinquished its right as Trustee, conditioned upon the payment to it of $6,654, only a fraction of the sum expended by the society for the improvement of the lands. The writ- ten consent of the Indians, for whose benefit the land was granted in trust to the society, being necessary to complete the contract, they or their representa- tives repaired to Detroit, and there they, November 8, 1823, entered into a treaty ceding to the United States their right and interest in these tracts on condi . tion the Government pay them an annuity of $400, or in lieu thereof a reser- vation of 24,000 acres of land. This treaty was approved by President Monroe and the deed of retrocession in pursnance of the foregoing articles was exe- cuted April 1, 1824.

The society, however, did not divest itself of all the associations of the

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Tuscarawas missions. The fourth article of their agreement secures in per- petuity to the society free from any condition or limitation whatever "ten acres of ground, including the church called Beersheba, and the graveyard, on the Gnadenhutten tract; and also the church lot, parsonage houses, and grave- yard in the town of Gnadenhutten; the house and lot occupied by John G. Demuth; the house and lot occupied by David Peter, both which lots are about five rods in front by sixteen rods in depth; and the house and lot occupied by Frederick Dell, which lot does not exceed two acres; and also the missionary house and graveyard at Goshen.

Goshen was now abandoned and the little remnant of converts joined the mission in Canada. In 1837, many removed thence to Westfield, Kan. This mission was abandoned in 1853, and a new station was founded on the Little Osage called New Westfield. It still remains, and with two other smaller missions, New Fairfield in Canada and New Spring Place in Georgia, are all that remains in North America of the once thriving and extensive Moravian Indian Missions.

REV. DAVID ZEISBERGER.

This pioneer missionary was born in the small village, Zachtenthal, Mora- via, on Good Friday, April 11, 1721. His ancestors were members of the ancient Moravian Church, and his parents in 1726 sacrificed their possessions and went to Herrnhut for the sake of religious freedom. In 1736, they emi- grated with the second little band of Moravians to Georgia, leaving David in Europe to finish his education. He was an apt scholar under the guidance of Count Zinzendorf, and acquired languages readily. Two years later, he re- joined his parents in Georgia, and in 1741 removed with them to Bethlehem, Penn., and assisted in commencing the settlement there, which has since con- tinued the chief seat of the Moravian Church in America. He continued his studies, and traveled among the Indians, perfecting himself in 1744-45 in the Mohawk tongue. From 1746 to the date of his death, sixty-two years later, he was engaged, with few and short intervals, in the missionary work. He la- bored in various localities, until the Tuscarawas missions were established in 1772, when he became their chief minister. He led the Delaware converts during all their reverses and frequent changes of habitation, until his earthly career was closed at Goshen, Tuscarawas County, November 17, 1808. At the age of sixty years had married Miss Susan Lecron, June 4, 1781, but left no issue. Mrs. Zeisberger remained at Goshen until August, 1809, when she re- turned to Bethlehem. She died there in 1824, aged eighty years.

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The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 32

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

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