USA > Ohio > Clark County > The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 1 > Part 22
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The Indian children of the town could play before the cabin doors in the lowland, free from the apprehension of danger, while the warrior on the hill-top might sweep the whole country on the lookout for an approaching enemy, and, by an agreed signal, warn the whole tribe in a moment.
In August, A. D. 1780, Piqua was quite populous. In addition to the Shawnees, 300 Mingoes were there as allies to aid in the defense of the place. Piqua is said to have contained, at one period, nearly four thousand Shawnees.
The town was built after the manner of French villages. The houses extended along the river more than three iniles, and were in many places more than twenty poles apart.
The celebrated, hardened villain. Simon Girty, was the leader of the Mingo braves, as allies of the Shawnees. He had been educated in, and had adopted with savage delight all, the cruelties practiced by the Indians, and stood near, two years later, in the presence of his old friend Col. Crawford, and derived fiendish enjoyment from witnessing his agonies while burning at the stake. Perhaps he remembered, even in the presence of this awful event, that the hand of one of the daughters of Crawford had been denied to him before he deserted to the Indians. This would be dreadful revenge, but Girty was a dreadful savage. A prisoner among the Indians who met with the scoun- drel described him as a man with dark, shaggy hair, low forehead, contracted brows, meeting above his short, flat nose, gray, sunken eyes, and thin, compressed lips, with a wicked expression of countenance that made him seem the picture of a villain. C. W. Butterfield writes that "all the vices of civilization seemed to center in him, and by him were ingrafted upon those of the savage state, without the usual redeeming qualities of either." He moved about through the Indian country during the war of the Revolution and the Indian war which fol- lowed, a dark whirlwind of fury, desperation and barbarity.
In the refinements of torture inflicted upon helpless prisoners, as compared with the Indians', theirs seemed to be merciful. In treachery, he stood unrivaled. The prisoner who became his captive must abandon all hope of pity, and yield himself to the club, the scalping-knife and the indescribable agonies of the stake. No Indian, drunk, was a match for him. He swore horrid oaths. He appeared like a host of evil spirits. He was called a beast, and a villainous, untrustworthy cur dog. This savage, compounded of all the meaner qualities that could or might disfigure the life of a human being, it has been affirmed, had some rare moments of better emotions. He met with his former acquaint- ance, Simon Kenton, while a prisoner of the Indians, under sentence of death,
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and called him his dear friend, and interfered and saved his life. He looked the scoundrel, with a gloomy stare, while "o'er his eyebrows hung his matted bair."
The celebrated chief of the Shawnees, Catahecassa, or the Black Hoof, was born in Florida, and had bathed and fished in salt water before he settled on Mad River. He was present at the defeat of Braddock, near Pittsburgh, in 1755, and was engaged in all the wars in Ohio from that time until the treaty of Greenville, in 1795. He was a man of sagacity and ex. perience, and of fierce and desperate bravery, and well informed in the tra- ditions of his people. He occupied the highest position in his nation, and was opposed to polygamy and the practice of burning prisoners. He was a man of good health, and was five feet eight inches in height. He died in Wapa- koneta at the age of one hundred and ten years, A. D. 1831. Without being able to find it so stated, after some investigation, in so many words, I believe that this Indian was the chief leader in the defense of Piqua when the place was invested by Gen. Clark. To prevent, if such a thing could be possible, almost continual depredations of the Indians upon the border population, an expedition was organized to march against their towns on the Mad River. This army rendez- voused at the place where Covington, in the State of Kentucky, now stands. It ascended the Ohio River from Louisville in transport boats, which also brought provisions and stores.
On the opposite of the river they built a block-house, in which to store pro- visions and form a base of supplies. This house was the first one built on the site where the city of Cincinnati now stands.
On the 2d of August, A. D. 1780, Gen. George Rogers Clark moved, with an army of 1,000 men, from the point named to the Indian towns on Mad River, located in and near to the territory which is now included in Clark County, Ohio. The distance to be marched was about 80 miles, through an untracked forest, over which, with great Jabor, the soldiers cut and bridged, when found necessary, a road for the passage of horses and pack-mules, and one six- pounder cannon.
The soldiers marched without tents, beds or personal baggage. Their rations for a thirty-days campaign were six quarts of corn, one gill of salt, with what green corn and wild game they might pick up on the march. Any meat they obtained was cooked on sticks set up before the fire. Sometimes green plums and nettles were cooked and eaten by the men.
The impression obtained, not only in the settlement, but with the soldiers, that if the army was defeated none of the men would escape, and that in such events the Indians would fall on the defenseless women and children of Ken- tucky and massacre them, burn their towns and villages, and lay waste the country. It seemed to be a choice either that the white settlers or the Indians must be destroyed, and both parties regarded it in the same light, and acted with the calmness and bravery usual to forlorn hopes, formed of soldiers com- manded to encounter some desperate exigency. Daniel Boone, the pioneer Indian fighter, acted as a spy for the expedition. The skill and vigilance which entered into the campaign will be demonstrated by a presentation of the manner, form and conduct of the army while on the march.
It was separated into two divisions. Gen. Clark commanded the first and Col. Logan the second. Between these two columns marched the pack mules and the artillery.
The men in each division were ordered to march in four lines, about forty yards apart, with a line of flankers on each side. about the same distance from the right and left lines. In the event of an attack from the enemy in the front. it was to halt, and the two right lines would wheel to the right, and the two left lines wheel to the left. and the artillery would advance to the front, the whole
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forming a complete line of battle. The second division would form in the same manner, and advance or act as a reserve. By calling in the right and left flank- ing parties, the whole force would present a line of battle in the form of a square, with the pack mules and the baggage in the center. An attack on either flank, or the rear, the same maneuver would put the army in the most favorable position for defense or assault.
On the 6th day of August, A. D. 1780, the army arrived at the Indian town of old Chillicothe, only to find it burned and the inhabitants gone. On the 7th, some days sooner than the Indians had expected, it drew up in front of Old Piqua. A soldier had deserted to the Indians before the army arrived at the mouth of the Licking, and gave notice of the approaching expedition. The attack commenced about 2 o'clock P. M. on the 8th day of August, and lasted until 5 in the evening. The assaulting forces were divided into three separate commands. One, under the command of Col. Lynn, was ordered to cross the river and encompass the town on the west side. To prevent this move from be- ing successful, the Indians made a powerful effort to turn the left wing of the assaulting party, which Col. Lynn successfully defeated by extending his force a mile to the west of the town. Col. Logan, with 400 men under his com- mand, was ordered to march up the south side of the river, concealing, if possible, the move from the observation of the Indians, and cross over the stream at the upper end of the prairie, and prevent their escape in that direction. Gen. Clark remained in command of the center, including one six-pounder cannon. He was to assault the town in front.
This disposition of the forces, with a simultaneous assault made by the sop arate commands, promised, if well executed, the capture of the town and a com- plete rout of the Indians, with the death of a great number. According to the custom of the times, no prisoners were made. All that were captured were put to death.
The Indians, according to their plan of defense, could not safely retreat, if defeated, over the round-topped hill, for the elevation would bring them within sight and range of the American rifle, and the cannon, with the command of Gen. Clark, which, in appearance and sound, created more fear than it did harm.
Neither could they escape out of the upper end of the prairie, for Col. Logan and his 400 men had been sent to intercept them there; nor to the north, for this route was too much obstructed by the rocks; nor to the west or lower part of the town, the location of the stockade fort, for at this point the battle raged with the greatest fierceness, under the command of Col. Lynn. The con- stant crack of the rifle in its deadly work, the shouts of the white soldiers, the yells of the Indians, the screams of the wounded and dying, the distant roar of the cannon, disclosed this to be the point where defeat was to be accepted or victory won.
Simon Girty, who never was a constant friend to any party, "gnashing his teeth in impotent rage," ordered his 300 Mingo Indians to withdraw from what may have appeared to him an unequal fight.
This moment of time, near the same hour of the day one hundred years ago, was a dark and doubtful crisis in the history of that part of our country which is now regarded as the most beautiful, fertile and thickly populated part of Ohio.
If Clark's army had been defeated, we cannot doubt but that every white soldier would have been put to death, and the State of Kentucky invaded by the Indians; and what would have followed on the border can only be conjectured by what we have been told in the history of Indian wars.
The Shawnees, disheartened by the withdrawal of their allies, and pressed
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by the fierce, rather desperate fighting of the whites, which they denominated " madness," or fate, so reckless were the soldiers in exposing their lives. Against "madness," the Indians never contend. They gave up the fight and slowly fell back up the prairie, partly concealed by the tall grass, the wigwams, and the trees in the willow swamp. They fought as they retreated, not for vic- tory, but for their lives, until they reached the rocks, beneath which they had concealed their women and children.
Their situation was now worse than it had been at the commencement of the conflict, for they had passed all the low ground, making a retreat to the north practical, with the exception of the opening cut down from the top of the cliff already described, and up through this, tradition claims, they marched out into the hills. If Col. Logan had executed his part of the plan with greater rapidity, the Indians would have been cut off from this place of retreat, and a great number of them put to death. Some persons assert that Col. Logan marched to a point where Mad River meets with the waters of Buck Creek before he crossed the river, and then marched down the east side thereof to execute his part of the general plan. He marched about three miles, according to all the authorities, and that is the distance from the site of the Old Piqua to 'he mouth of Buck Creek.
It follows that, if he did go so high up the river as the point named, that he would have traveled six miles before he could bring his men into action.
This view of the maneuvering, after looking over the location of the battle- field, seems so unmilitary that I cannot accept it. I presume that he made a detour from the river, that his force might not be observed, as secrecy was one of the conditions of success. To accomplish his part of the general plan, he may have marched three miles, but certainly not six. Let this point be settled as it may, there is no dispute about the fact that when he got his men into position, the battle had been fought and won, and the Indians gone. The loss was about equal-twenty men on each side.
On the 9th of August, the stockade fort, the shot-battered cabins, and the corn-fields, were destroyed. On the 10th, Gen. Clark, with his army, left for Kentucky. This campaign left the Indians without shelter or food. They had to hunt for their support and that of their families, leaving them no time for war. and the border settlements lived in peace and without fear.
This once powerful nation of the Shawnees had resided near Winchester, Va., then in Kentucky and in South Carolina, after that on the Susquehanna. in the State of Pennsylvania. From this last-named point they emigrated to the banks of the Mad River, and remained until driven from Piqua by Gen. Clark.
The Shawnees are now no more. The nation which gave birth to the great chiefs so intimately connected with the early history of Ohio, such as Blue Jacket, Black Hoof, Cornstalk, Captain Logan, Tecumseh, and the latter's vag- abond brother, the Prophet, has gone out of history.
Thomas L. McKenney, late of the Indian Department, Washington, says: "Finally, a remnant of about eighty souls, to which this once fierce and power- ful nation had dwindled, removed, in 1833, to the western shore of the Missis- sippi."
NOTES ON THE BATTLE OF PIQUA.
There are many accounts of this affair, both written and traditional. Nearly every writer who has treated of the early history of the West has something to say about George Rogers Clark and his achievements, among which this one is mentioned, yet there is an unsatisfactory want of such details and particulars as would be found in the official reports of a modern engagement.
There are two accounts in Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio." one of which is reproduced from another work, while the other was from an article (fresh
,
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and new when Howe wrote) written, or dictated, by the late Abraham Thomas, of Miami County, who was a soldier in Clark's army. Thomas calls it a " blood- less victory," yet he says they " took possession of all the squaw's and papooses, and killed a great many warriors," which would hardly have been accomplished without some white man getting hurt. The most common statement is that the Indians lost seventeen warriors, and Clark a like number. There are some proofs that the whites suffered the loss of quite a number, and these scraps of evidence are now within reach of the present generation; for instance: The ven- erable Ezra Baker, of Mad River Township, who is now eighty-four years of age, remembers having seen the trench where Clark's men were buried, opened, and the remains of two or three men exposed. The spot where the Indians were buried was also determined by the same party of men. This was done on a sort of wager, or as proof that a certain stranger (who had made his appearance in that settlement a few days before, claiming to have been one of Clark's men) was not an impostor, but knew whereof he spoke in a blustering manner. Mr. Baker was about ten years of age at the time, and. boy-fashion, he followed the party and witnessed the result.
The writer was one of a party of citizens, composed of Ezra and Leander Baker, Thomas Kizer (the veteran surveyor of Southwestern Ohio), William Whiteley, Esq., and others of the representatives of the early settlers, which party spent several days in examining the battle-ground of Old Piqua, with the view of more definitely ascertaining the site of the ancient stockade, council house, and other points of interest connected with the locality.
This was in July and August, 1880, just before the Clark-Shawnee Centen- nial, and, while no material evidence was found to indicate the burial-place of the whites, there is little doubt that the flag-staff at present standing in Mr. Baker's orchard, is within fifty feet of the spot.
The reader must remember that the whole ground is now in a high state of improvement, and digging pits and trenches can only be done to a limited extent. There were some remains of the stockade found in several places. the relative positions of which indicated its boundary lines; these were measured and exam- ined by Col. Kizer, and duly noted in his field-book; other measurements and observations were also made.
Various notions have from time to time been entertained, by different peo- ple, in regard to the movements of Logan's command (Clark's right wing) dur- ing the fight. Without going into tedious details, it may not be amiss to call attention to some items which present themselves to any one at all familiar with the topography of the field of Piqua: First, the rocky canon of Mad River, known as "Tecumseh's Rifle Range," would hardly be entered by any com- mander, under the uncertain circumstances which surrounded Col. Logan, with- out first knowing that " the defile" was clear: second, to have marched eastward across the highland, which rises within the bend of the river. would have been going away from the scene of action, and away from the Indian rear. Both of the above suppositions are averse to his having " gone up the river three miles," or "to the confluence of Buck Creek" with Mad River.
The little valley of the stream known as Abberfelda Creek (which runs near the Sintz property), in its natural, unobstructed condition, would afford a toler- ably safe route, and one leading in the direction of the rear ground of the ene- my; besides, this, circuit would extend about three miles in distance, which would be in accordance with the distance named in the early accounts of the battle.
The narrow defile through the cliffs is to be seen to-day, just as it was when the Indians filed through it on their way out of Clark's environment, except that the "floor," or rocky surface at the bottom, was leveled off, and in some places
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the passage was widened by the early settlers, who used it as a roadway from the valley to the uplands.
This defile is worthy of a visit by any one at all interested in natural scenery with historic associations. The entrance is so hidden by the configuration of the cliffs, and by foliage, as to be unobservable by the passer-by, unless by an especial effort.
There is a wide, bowl-shaped valley or park just behind the old Indian town, which is so situated as to be entirely out of sight from any point or direc- tion from which an enemy would be likely to approach; this valley is watered by half a dozen large springs, and penetrated by two or three narrow ravines, which open by small pathways to the uplands in the rear. This was the assem- bly-ground, where the Clark-Shawnee Centennial was held. For that occasion it was named Mingo Park. From its location and natural fitness, it is not un- likely that this park was used as a cover for the non-combatant portion of the Indian inhabitants.
During the early settlement of " New Boston " and vicinity, many relies and marks of the Indian occupations and Clark's engagement were found, and even now a rusty bayonet, or some other warlike article, is occasionally plowed up. Aside from these, nothing remains but the historic topography and the traditions of the day.
" The scene around is peaceful now, And broken is the battle spear, But nations have been made to bow Beneath the yoke of conquest here."
TECUMSEH AND PIQUA.
As this book contains an illustrated sketch of this celebrated Indian chief. any further remarks would be superfluous were it not true that the name of Tecumseh is to some extent connected with the early history of this particular county. That he was born here is as well established as any other unrecorded event in this connection.
There has been some confusion over the Indian name "Piqua," which, like many other names, was used in a sort of general way, and was applied to more than one locality. As to the origin of the word, or its complete signification, tradition informas us that the word "Piqua " signifies " a man formed out of ashes." It runs that many years ago the braves of the Shawnees were seated around their camp-fire, when a great puffing was observed among the ashes, and suddenly a full-grown man stepped forth -- the first of the Piqua tribe ---- a sort of "Phoenix," as a more refined mythology called it. Of course all this was in accordance with the Indian notion of things. No "big" Indian was ever born, like other people, but came some way all at once, with the entire make-up of paint and bluster, and bloody knives sticking fast to him, and ready for busi- ness.
The first Piqua was in this county, and was afterward the site of the now. vacant town of New Boston, which see. This Piqua has entirely disappeared as a name, except as a special designation of an historical point.
After the Shawnees were driven from here, they established themselves in what is now Miami County, and named that place Piqua also.
There was another town of the same name in Southern Ohio.
The second point yet retains the name, and is the city of Piqua. Miami County, Ohio. The third has been changed to Pickaway, and is the name of one of the counties of the State.
This much to explain how the confusion in regard to the birthplace of Tecumseh could occur: Drake's "Life of Tecumseh, " published in 1841, fur- nishes the following:
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" Some diversity of opinion has prevailed as to the birthplace of Tecumseh. It is stated by several historians to have been in the Scioto Valley, near the place where Chillicothe now stands. Such, however, is not the fact. He was born in the Valley of the Miamis, on the bank of Mad River, a few miles below Springfield, and within the limits of Clark County. Of this there is the most satisfactory evidence. In the year 1805, when the Indians were assembling at Greenville, as it was feared with some hostile intentions against the frontiers, the Governor of Ohio sent Duncan McArthur and Thomas Worthington to that place to ascertain the disposition of the Indians. Tecumseh and three other chiefs agreed to return with these messengers to Chillicothe, then the seat of government, for the purpose of holding a 'talk' with the Governor." Gen. McArthur, in a letter to Drake (the author), under date of November 19, 1821, says:
" When on the way from Greenville to Chillicothe, Tecumseh pointed out the place where he was born. It was in an old Shawanoe town, on the north- west side of Mad River, about six miles below Springfield." There are many other bits of evidence tending to establish this fact beyond a doubt. Comment upon the life and deeds of this Indian would be out of place here, as he is referred to by various other contributors to this book. That he figured in some of the early scenes of this county is beyond dispute.
In this connection, the recollections of the late John Ross, of German Town- ship, are given as alluding to Tecumseh and the state of affairs when he was in his glory.
" In those days, Indians were very numerous and quite hostile, so that the settlers lived in constant dread of them, many times being compelled to collect. together for mutual protection. In 1806, during one of their outbreaks, all the whites for miles around collected at a place a few miles southwest of Spring- field, since known as Boston, where they built a block-house. Col. Ward, Simon Kenton, and a few other of the prominent men of the party, went out and made a treaty with the Indians, which was kept about two years, or until 1SOS, when this treaty was renewed at the then village of Springfield. The militia and many other of the settlers met about sixty Indians, among whom were five or six chiefs, principal among whom was old Tecumseh. Mr. Ross remembered him as a tall, lithe figure, of good form, and fine, commanding appearance. He made a speech at the treaty, which, for an Indian, was remembered as being full of oratory, and remarkable for ease and grace of delivery. A white man had been murdered, for which the murderer was demanded, or the whole tribe would be held accountable. "Can you," asked Tecumseh, " hold your whole people accountable for a murder committed by one of your bad men? No; then you cannot hold us accountable."
In 1810, a false alarm was given, and again they gathered in different points for protection. The alarm had been given by some one out on the " Beech" who had heard the report of a gun, and, not waiting to learn the cause, ran all the way in to the settlement and spread the news that the Indians were coming."
INDIAN OCCUPANCY.
. To follow the intricate maze of aboriginal intermixtures of tribes and nations, or to locate many of the tribal subdivisions of those old nomads, would require more time and space than the plan of this work will admit. The follow- ing extract from a paper entitled "Indian Migration in Ohio," lately published by the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society, and prepared by C. C. Baldwin, Esq., of Cleveland, seems to express about all there is to say on the subject, so far as this history is concerned.
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