USA > Ohio > Logan County > The historical review of Logan County, Ohio > Part 2
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The Senecas were also a part and parcel of the Indian contingent in Logan county. but so far as I can learn they remained with and in the towns and reservation of the Sha- wonoes. The Miamis were the original proprietors of the valley of that name, and it is claimed they had lived here from time immemorial.
In 1786. the Indians having been rest- less and predatory. General Benjamin Lo- gan, at the head of four or five hundred mounted Kentuckians, marched against the Macachack towns on the Mad river and de- stroyed seven or eight of them, including the towns of Wapatomica. Macachack and Pigeontown. At the Macacheck the Sha- wonoe chief Maluntha had his headquarters. and. being captured by the forces of General Logan, while a prisoner was most basely and cowardly murdered by Colonel Mc- Gary; it was a wanton and brutal murder
The principal war chiefs of the Shawo- noes were Black Hoof and Blue Jacket, and they took part in all the conflicts between the whites and Indians for nearly forty years.
BLACK HOOF.
This distinguished warrior was at Brad- dock's defert, near Fort Pitt, in 1755. and was in almost every Indian conflict from that time until the treaty of Greenville in 1795: he was one of the ablest and most skillful of the Indian leaders, and had great power and influence over his followers. Ile was most perfect in form and magnificent in carriage, and Colonel Johnson, who saw him at Greenville, at the time of the treaty. yes he was the finest specimen of Indian manhood and the most graceful Indian he had ever seen. Ile had his headquarters in the Macachack towns for many years, but after the treaty of 1795 he established his headquarters at Wapakoneta and with Blue Jacket and many others of his tribe re- mained there. Black Hoof was entirely le yal and friendly after the treaty of Green- ville, and ever afterwards remained so, and neither the persuasions nor the eloquence of Tecumseh could move him from his friend- ship for the whites. He died in 1832 at Wapakoneta, before the removal of his trile to the west, at the great age of 110 years.
BLUE JACKET.
Was another of the war chiefs of the Shawonoes. Ilis town was on the site of
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
the present city of Bellefontaine, and for ler. Pawawsy, Captain Lewis and Pamalo- many years he was a resident of what is tha. all Shawonde chicis.
now Logan county. He was second to Black Hoof, and one of the greatest of the Shawonge warriors, and was always at the head of the Indian forces in the field: at the battle of the Maumee. in 1794. he was in supreme command of the Indians against General Wayne: Little Turtle, who was subordinate to him at this battle. advised against an engagement with the whites, but Blue Jacket was for war, and he was so ve- hement in the Indian council, and so force- ful in his oratory, that he overwhelmed all opposition, and the Indians determined to give battle: they were disastrously de- feated by General Wayne, and in the iol- lowing year, 1795. they met at Greenville and made the treaty which they ever after- ward faithfully kept. Blue Jacket's wife was a white woman, Margaret Moore, who had been captured and carried off from Pennsylvania when only nine years old. She was adopted into the tribe and became the wife of the chief, and was devoted to her distinguished husband: at the con- clusion of peace, she went to visit her fam- ily in Pennsylvania, who would not permit her to return to the west. She had two children, Mary Stewart, her daughter, who was afterward granted a section of land in Logan county, by the Shawonoe council at Wapakoneta, and it is still known as the Stewart entry. On the 22nd of May. 1813. the Indian council of the Shawonoes at Wa- pakoneta voted to give to their sister, Nan- cy Stewart, of the half blood, one mile square, six hundred and forty acres, and located it in the northeast corner of the In- dian reservation. This deed or grant is signed by Black Hoof, Wolfe, Snake, But- 1801.
CORNSTALK.
Another of the Indian chiefs, distin- guished for his leadership and for his judg- ment in council, was Cornstalk. He was for peace, and in the Indian council advised for peace before the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, but was overruled. He fought bravely, and encouraged his warriors by his presence and by his wonderful courage. In the Indian council after the battle, and after defeat, he again advised against war, and with a marvelous eloquence, as a final ap- peal to his people, declared that if they were for war they should kill off all their women and children and then go and fight to the death. Not receiving an assent to this de- termined resolution, with a lofty and over- powering sweep he said, "Then I go and make peace." and stamping out of the council chamber he went and made peace with the whites. He was treacherously murdered in 1777, at Point Pleasant. His name was given to him because of the great strength and support he gave to his tribe.
TARHE. OR TAREE, THE CRANE.
The chief of the Wyandot village at Solomonstown was another distinguished Indian warrior. and his name is mentioned in nearly all the battles prior to the treaty of Greenville. He afterwards removed from Logan county and settled at Zanes- ville, where he had a village called Tarhees- town, with some five hundred to a thou- sand souls, and was there when Ebenezer Zane and others settled at Zanesville, in
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGIN COUNTY.
BUCKONGENIELAS.
Was a Delaware chieftain, and was
At the treaty of Greenville the most im- portant and prominent of the Indian chief- tains present were Black Hoof, Little Tur- tle, Blue Jacket, Tarhe and Buckongchelas. With the exception of Little Turtle, of the Miamis, they were all from Logan county, and were the war chiefs of the tribes that for nearly half a century had been making bitter and relentless war against the whites. trying to stem the flood tide of immigra- tion, which was pouring itself into the lands which had been theirs and their fa- thers' for untold centuries. At last they recognized the hopelessness of their cause, and bowing before the inevitable, they con- cluded the treaty which ended the contest that had reddened the hillsides and made fertile the prairies with their blood.
LITTLE TURTLE.
Of all this gathering of chiefs and war- riors there was one who, though small in stature and quiet in council, was recognized by whites and Indians alike as the greatest warrior and councilor of all the Indian tribes. Little Turtle, the war chief of the Miamis, has been likened to General Grant, as the silent chieftain and the great war- rior whose leadership in battle and wisdom in council was marked by long continued success. It has been said of Little Turtle that, like General Grant, he never lost a bat- tle and never suffered a defeat. Viter the conclusion of peace he went with his tribe to the Wabash, and from there went to the Great Unknown.
TARIEF AND BLACK HOOF.
At the second treaty of Greenville, in strong in battle and wise in council, and he 1814. between General Harrison and Gen- appears to have been not only present, but most active, in all Indian matters. eral Cass, upon the part of the United States and the Delawares, Wyandots. Shawonoes, Senecas and Miamis, upon the part of the Indians, both Tarhee and Black Hoof were present and greatly influenced the Indians favorably to the Americans, and a treaty was made with these tribes, both offensive and defensive, against the British and their Indian allies, This second treaty was made on the same spot upon which General Wayne had concluded his treaty nearly twenty years before.
In speaking of the Indian chieftains. it is well to understand that there were war chiefs and village chiefs, and that the vil- lage chiets rarely, if ever, took the field in the contests; their duties were to look after the triles and to care for, and to set- tle all matters of dispute and controversy between them.
The war chieftains were of a higher and of a more commanding order: they were the supreme authority, and their judg- ment and counsel generally prevailed, and when war was declared they led their war- riors to battle.
WIWELESPE.A.
The principal orator among the Shawo noes was Wiwelespea, who resides in one of the Macachack towns. He was so force- ful and commanding, and his tones were so rich and mellow, that the white men, who could not understand a word of his lan- guage, sat entranced under his wonderful power : the interpreters listened to him and forgot to translate, and sat spell-bound un- der the influence of his marvelous elo- quence; he swayed the Indians at will.
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
and brought them to war or peace at his pleasure: it was a most fortunate thing for the whites that his leanings were for peace, and his eloquent tongue was general- ly on the side of mercy and humanity. Ile dropped out of history with his tribe and his kinsmen, and no stone marks the last resting place of this Indian Demosthenes.
LOGAN.
On this frontier for many years lived the Mingo chieftain. Logan. "the friend of the white man." He was one of the most accomplished and distinguished leaders of the Indian race. His village was on the waters of the Scioto, near the present city of Kenton, but his hunting grounds and his pastures were in the valleys of the Sci- oto, the Mad river and the Miami. He was alike distinguished for his courage and humanity; he never lost an opportunity to restrain his more savage followers, and. many lives which would have been sacri- ficed to the blood-thirsty passions of the In- dians, instigated, as they were. by the whites, to deeds of cruelty and slaughter. were saved through the intercession of this great-hearted and noble red man.
marvelous appods for proto between his people and for cilessness of the white. Bir cher the Indian storages, why sporty panel out blond for blood It ve out pott Cole opel Cressup, without procation. w:00 fearful slaughter and nelgod of ereelt :. murdered his women and sinken, and let him friendless and alone, tire Ins friendship turned to hatred and de-pon wpi he swore vengeance against the winterHow well he glutted it he has told us in that marvel- ous speech which has come down through the centuries, and will be singing in the ears of the ages: it is a month of pathetic el- quence, and tells of the crychy of the whites
"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry and 1 gave him not meat ; if ever he came in cold and naked and I gave him not clothing. During the last long and bloody war Logan remained in his cabin, an advocate of peace. Nay. such was my love for the whites that my own people pointed at me as I passed and said. 'Logan is a friend of the white man." I had even thought to live with you but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cressup. last spring. in cold blood and un- provoked, cut off all the relatives of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my bleed in the veins of any human creature. This called on me for revenge. Ihave sought it, I have killed many: I have fully glutted my ven- geance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. Yet do not harbor the thought that mine is the story of fear. Lo- gan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one."
It was .Logan who interceded on behalf of Kenton when he was being conveyed to Upper Sandusky to be burned at the stake. It was Logan who always befriended the whites and cared for their distressed cap- tives when they chanced to come within the influence of his camp fires. It was Logan whose voice was always lifted for peace. and in the council chamber his eloquent tongue ever pleaded in behalf of a cessation of war and bloodshed. He was noted for his wondrous and commanding eloquence, and like Wiwelespea, the great orator of Sha- It was in such a school that the lessons wonoes, he swayed his followers with his of cruelty were taught to whites and In-
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGIN COUNTY.
dians alike, and it is not to be greatly won- dered at that these untutored savages were quick to learn the lessons of human torture. Logan has long since entered the happy hunting grounds, but the rivers he crossed, the valleys he trod, the skies that wept tears of rain over his dead, are still listening to the refrain of his marvelous eloquence, and he will ever be remembered as one who loved his people, sought the peace of friendship. and was the friend of the white man.
KOLOSITAH.
One of the noted men among the In- dians was the great wrestler Kalositah. He was of giant form, standing six feet in height and weighing over two hundred potinds, without a partiele of unnecessary flesh upon his splendid figure; he was one of the finest pecimens of manhood among the whole of the Indian race; his especial forte was as an athlete and wrest- ler. lle could out-run. out-jump and throw down any one who dared to tackle lim, and his victories were many. He was generally the central figure on big days. and Indian gatherings, and if there was any one hardy enough to try their strength with him, there was always a contest. Fortunately he was of a mild and pleasant disposition, and not at all inclined to be quarrelsome or ugly. even when drinking: otherwise he might have been an ugly character. His prowess as a wrestler and his fame were known to the whole country, and the event of a gathering would be a match with Kalo- sitah if any one could be found to wrestle with him. In such a contest he patiently awaited his opportunity, and when his ad- versary was well blown, his "me now" . quickly settled the contest in favor of of 1795. In 1808, he removed to Tippe-
Kalositah. It is said he had broken sev - eral legs in his wrestling bouts.
He went with his tribe, as an old man. and sank with the sinking sun into the far west.
TECUMSEIL.
Tecumseh was not at any time a resi- dent of that part of the county which afterward became Logan county. He was born at the Indian village of Piqua, with- in the present limits of Clarke county, and about five miles west of Springfield. in the year 1768. His father, a chief of the Shawonoes, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774. In 1780 Gen- eral George Rogers Clarke, with a large body of Kentuckians, destroyed this Piqua village, and the Indians removed to the Miami river, and there established the present town of Piqua named after their old village. In the year 1795. Te- cumseh became a chief and lived in Cham- paign courty, on Deer creek, near the present site of the city of Urbana, and in 1799 he was present at a council held six miles north of Urbana, and was the chief orator and spokesman for the Indians upon that occasion. flis flights of elo- quence were said to have been truly won- derful, and he swayed his Indian followers at his will. He had already become a chief of marked ability and popularity. : and had been in several battles with the whites before Wayne's Treaty. In 1708 he removed to the White river, in Indi- ana, but in 1805 a large number of Sha- wonces, with Tecumseh as their chief, set- tled in Greenville, and with his brother The Prophet, became disturbers of the peace, which had existed since the treaty
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
canoe, a tributary of the Wabash, where he continued to gather his discontented Indians about him. In the summer of 1807. while he was in the zenith of his power, a chieftain of the Shawonoes at Greenville, he gathered a party of nearly Seven hundred warriors, and appeared with- in Logan county, about one mile south of the present village of DeGraff. The whites not understanding his purpose, sent a depu- tation with General Simon Kenton at their head to learn of their intentions.
Kenton was a bold and fearless man. and he at once announced to the Indians that he simply came to learn their inten- tions; if they were for war. then the whites had plenty of men to meet them.
This unexpected declaration put Te- cumsch upon his guard, and he declared from the heighth of his towering ambi- that they were friendly and had no inten- tion, and went out forever from the scenes tion of attacking the whites.
During this council, an Indian who had been punished for beating his squaw. by Kentons' order, made demonstrations of hostility. Kenton taking notice of his inclination to be hostile, and being un armed, quietly stepped back, secured a dirk knife, and came forward striking the dirk into the trees, this open challenge by Kenton quickly drove out all hostility and the council was concluded without further trouble. Tecumseh was killed at the bat- tle of the Thames, being shot by Colonel Johnson. That he was a warrior and leader of unquestioned ability and cour- age is certain: that he was the foremost of his nation has been claimed by many. and has been recognized by nearly all who had opportunity to see and hear him: his flights of eloquence were lofty and his command of language was marvelous ; his bearing was manly and courageous.
He had many of the better qualities of the Indian character, and would not permit his prisoners to be mistreated; nor woukl he suffer any of them to be burned at the stake, as many had been so brutally murdered by other tribes. That he was ambitious and restless under the ever surging tide of immigration, and deter- mind if possible to withstand its advance. has been abundantly testified. But his sun went down while the white man was gathering into his keeping the land which had for so many generations been the home of his kindred. His name, Tecumseh, signified a shooting star, and how like a meteor he flashed through the sky and wrought wreck and ruin in his pathway. and how like a "shooting star" he fell
of his former triumph, and the promised glory of expected victories. He and his kindred were driven from their homes and dwelling places, and the every surging tide of white emmigration came pouring into the valleys and the fruitful fields, and with the white man's power and progress came another era which was to develop the great Northwest and dedicate it forever to human freedom, and make it the home of a wondrous civilization. The last of the Indian tribes, the Wyandots, did not leave Ohio, until 1844. Until that time they had remained at Upper Sandusky. but finally, by treaty, certain lands in Kansas were set apart to them and they surrendered their rights and titles in Ohio. They passed through Bellefontaine on their way to the westward and encamped of the farm of George McColloch, Jr .. at MeKees Creek, south of Bellefontaine. They were the most peaceful and friendly
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
of all the tribes. The Indian has gone with his fathers, leaving behind only the graves of his dead and the ashes of his council fires.
"Crumbled away. The grass and the blue shadow on the stream. And the pale blossom."
CHAPTER II.
THE ORDINANCE OF 1787-MILITARY LANDS-OHIO- LOGAN COUNTY - EARLY SETTLEMENTS - EARLY SETTLERS -- FIRST >ETTLLES-ISAAC ZANE-DETTY ZANE-ISAAC ZANE'S ROMANCE-WML. M'COLLOCH COL. JAMES M'PIERSON-SIMON KENION-SIMON GIRTY.
By the Ordinance of July 3d. 1787. Congress forever dedicated The North- west Territory "to freedom, intellige .ce and morality."
This great and rich possession, given by solemn compact forever to human lib- erty, was to become the strength and mainstay of the new republic. Out of this great Northwest Territory was to be afterwards carved the States of Ohio. Indiana. Michigan. Illinois and Wiscon- sin, and on these fertile prairies were to be reared the most powerful and liberty- loving peoples on the globe.
With the conclusion of the treaty of peace the whites came pouring over the mountains seeking homes in the west.
Virginia in ceding her rights in the Northwest Territory to the general gov- ernment had retained the lands between the Miami and Scioto rivers to be given to her wildiers for their services in the Revolution.
The Virginia soldiers came to locate their warrants for lands granted them, and the heads of many distinguished families came to find homes in the great west ; and many younger men, catching the spirt of adventure and of the frontier. came to take part in the dreams of em- pire and the promise of wealth which these broad prairies and fertile valleys offered to all.
MILITARY LANDS.
The Military Lands, which were enter- ed by warrant from Virginia were to be situated between the headwaters of the Miami and the Scioto rivers.
By the direction of Congress the other lands were divided into townships and sec- tions, and sold at public out-cry to actual settlers. Congress reserved certain sec- tions for the use of the government, while section sixteen in each township was set aside for the establishment of the com- mon school funds : this was the foundation stone upon which the splendid structure of the public school system of the state was builded.
The soldiers of the state of Virginia. who had served during the Revolution, were given liberal grants of lands in war- rants, and came to locate them in the val- leys of the west. Thus there came a strong, adventurous and independent peo- ple whose descendants were destined to see that great west, rich in cities and vil- lages, and whose prosperity was to be but a part of the progress and power of the country they had helped to save. and whose foundations were laid in blood and tears.
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HISTORIC.A. RENIAM DE WAAL COPY
OHIO.
One of the conditions of the co-o of the lands of the Northwest Territory Jo Virginia to the general government ale that this territory should from time to time be divided into states which should bear their proportionate burdens of got- ernment. From out of the Northwest Ter- ritory on the 19th day of February, 1803. the state of Ohio was formed, and became a state of the Union. At the time of its admission it was divided into nine counties, Washington, Hamilton. Vlans, in towany Lem a ma wete after de Jefferson, Ross, Clermont. Fairfield, Trumbull and Belmont. The capital of the state was located at Chillicothe. in Ross county.
On the Ist day of March. 1805. the county of Champaign was organized. em bracing within its limits, the present coun- ties of Clarke and Logan, and extending from the southern boundaries of Clarke county to Lake Erie on the north.
LOGAN COUNTY.
On the 30th day of December. 1817. an act of the Legislature was passed cre- ating the County of Logan. It consisted of five townships, Zane, Jefferson. Lake. Miami and Waynesfield. Its boundaries extended from the northern boundary of Champaign county to the Indian bound- ary lines on the north, and also included within its jurisdiction the United States Reservation on the Miami of the Lake (The Manmec).
Thus it will be seen that Logan county originally extended from the northern boundary line of Champaign county. to the Mammee.
The township of Waynesfield, which
war of the tis simo that there were county, a a song of a choose ab ania! families, slove renes meeif a part and parcel of ie only thosey cafe to make it a home and an steine g'de but it was not until after the solosince the war with Great Britain ord ihre Bai nesties with the Indians, a pod that the great tide of immigration set 20 fresa Pense-ce. Kentucky, the Catalog Pennsylvania. New York. Virginia woof the New Ing- land States, and came poesily a steady stream of strong and igeret maths and womenhood, inter dos out-post of civilization.
The best blood of New England came to be mingled with the Quaker blood of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and with the Cavalier and the Roundhead of other states. The soldiers whose peril- and hardships had acustomed them to danger and adventure, from long exposure and bitter experience, came to gather some of the fruits of the contests in which they had borne so conspicuous and hottotalde a part. Splendid names were enrolled up- on the tally sheets and the jury lists of
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
this new and almost unbroken wilderness of the great Northwest. No better or sturdier stock could have been found upon which to trust the hopes and the destinies of the new people. Between the Miami and the Scioto, the sokliers of Washington, of Green, of Lee. of Putnam, and the other great leaders of the Ameri- can Revolution, found a splendid reserva- tion awaiting their coming, and the wealth of an empire entrusted to their keeping.
The log cabins of the early settlers were the meeting places of men and women who had passed through the fires of a long and bloody conflict only to come out purified, as the gold which comes from the crucible. after the trial of heat and flame. Into such hands the wild tribes of the woods and the prairies surrendered the care and keeping of a heritage which had been theirs for centuries. Within the lives of three generations, this wilderness was to become the home of a most prosper- ous and independent people, where upon every hand are to be found the abundant evidences of wealth and power.
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