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 42
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Grand Marshal and Aides.
Seventh Regiment Band.
Veteran Memorial Association, 100 men, commanded by Maj. W. J. White- Squirrel Hunters, Capt. Frederick A. Lewis commanding.
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Carriages with officials and invited guests.
Company A, Seventh Regiment, O. N. G., Capt. Charles Anthony, fifty men.
Duquesne Blues, O. N. G., Capt. Harper, fifty men.
In the first carriage rode Gov. Charles Foster, Adjt. Gen. Gibson, Judge William White and Gen. J. W. Keifer.
Second carriage, Col. Anderson, U. S. A., Commandant Columbus Barracks and grand-nephew of Gen. George Rogers Clark, Hon. J. F. Oglevee, Auditor of State, Rev. T. J. Harris, Chaplain of the day, and Mayor E. S. Wallace.
Third carriage-Dr. Keifer, of Troy. and Governor's staff.
Fourth carriage-Capt. Runyan, of Logan County, in uniform of the old- time militia; Col. Johnson, Piqua; and Commissioners of Clark County.
The route of the procession was east on High street to Sycamore, north to Main street, west to Market, south to Market space, where footmen boarded the train for the grounds, carriages and horsemen proceeding by pike.
On arrival, the exercises at the speakers' stand began with music by the band and prayer by Rev. T. J. Harris, Pastor High Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and Chaplain of the day.
Gen. Keifer then delivered the following welcoming address:
FELLOW-CITIZENS: The duty assigned me is a pleasing one. I am warned to be brief and not to trench on the work alloted here to others. The welcome extended to our distinguished guests must be found more in the hearty spirit in which all give out signs of pleasure over their presence, than in words which I may utter.
Speaking for those through whose persevering efforts we are permitted to meet on this occasion; also for all who have interested themselves in this centennial day, I extend a hearty welcome to all persons assembled here.
A perfect realization of the importance and interesting character of this meeting can be had only by bringing into vivid recollection the incidents and events which have occurred on these grounds a hundred years ago.
Here, then, savage and civilized man joined in mortal combat. The battle fought and won on that day had most important results. The border pioneer set- tlers, especially from Kentucky, fought to free their homes from depredations by the merciless red men. But the greatest results are to be read in the fact that here, on that day, the most warlike Indian tribe on the continent was defeated and forced back, and the pioneer white man was allowed to advance to new pos- sessions. On this field as upon every other where an untutored and barbaric . race of men have measured prowess with an educated and civilized race, the lat- ter has proved the most valiant. No race of men ever were great and successful warriors whose training did not comprise something more than is obtained in the chase or alone in the use of arms. The Hebrew people, just out of centu- ries of Oriental bondage in which they were strangers to war, and who in all their history had been trained to peaceful pursuits, proved more than a match for the numerous large warlike bands with whom they came in contact in their forty years' journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.
On these grounds, 100 years ago, were the then principal villages of the Shawnee Indian tribe. This tribe had occupied different portions of the now territory of the United States during nearly three hundred years of preceding history, and it was the most warlike of all the Indian tribes. It had rarely bren at peace with the other tribes until it went to war with the whites. Their chiefs possessed more sagacity and more of the true spirit of warriors than the chiefs of other tribes. Their traditions were of war, extending back to a time when they, in search of conquest. "crossed a sea" to this continent. In this tribe alone did the latter tradition prevail. Here the head chiefs made their
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home. On account of the abundance of game, the richness of soil, the pure water from the numberless perennial springs, the large quantities of fish which then abounded in the limpid waters of Mad River and its tributary streams, the facilities for engaging in favorite sports upon the river and the then open prai- ries, these aboriginal people had become more than ordinarily attached to this place as a home. The acquisition of these lands may have been at the cost of many of their chiefs and braves. Here were the graves of their ancestors and those dear to them. They followed the natural instincts of mankind in defend- ing this country against the aggressions of the white race. I am not charged with the duty of picturing the scenes of the battle fought here. That duty will be performed to-day by others; and by simulation we are soon to witness all the scenes of that eventful day. Already we witness the contending forces gathering for the fray.
Who were here on that memorable day? There were here (at their birth- place) the three ten-year-old brothers-triplets-with their Creek mother, two of whom became famed in the bloody history of the West. The names of those boys were Tecumseh (a cougar crouching for his prey), Ellskwatawa (an open door), afterward named and recognized as the Prophet, and Rumskaka. The principal chiefs and braves of the Shawnees, supported by about three hundred Mingo warriors under the notorious renegade white man, Simon Girty, fought apon this field. George Rogers Clark, then but twenty-eight years of age, and who stood deservedly high in public esteem as an Indian fighter, commanded the "long knives"-the white soldiers.
Among those with the expedition, perhaps more in the character of a scout and a spy than a soldier, was the famous Western adventurer, Daniel Boone .* Though the army of Col. afterward Gen. Clark was small-only about one thousand in munbers-it contained many who are known in the annals of history.
The day we celebrate was an anxious one. Success that day was to the pioneer settlements a guarantee of freedom from the scalping knife of the sav- age; and success to the Indians was the preservation of their rude homes, their small crops and natural hunting grounds. From the women and children, wit- nesses of the battle gathered on these heights. there doubtless went up prayers for the success to the Great Spirit above; for they wor hiped a "Great Un- known." These "children of the forest." as said by another, had seen the Great Father
"In clouds and beard Him in the winds."
Here then was witnessed the exultations of victory, and the crushed hopes and sorrows and sufferings and defeat. The cycle of an hundred years has beheld the vain struggle of a once proud and valiant race of God's people for their homes and for an existence. The Shawnee tribe is now almost extinct; a mere remnant of it, without tribal identification, can only now be found in the far-off Indian Territory, merged with a similarly fated tribe-Pottawatomies. Though these " children of nature" flourished and were long known to history (under varied names), before their defeat on these historic plains their star of destiny was set. They are doomed to extinction. . Their fate has been or will be the fate of all other savages on this continent. While we deplore the poor Indian's fate, and hesitate to pronounce his treatment by our kindred and race just and human when tested by divine precepts. we can still hope that He who rules all things for the best will not, as a retributive justice, visit a like or kin- dred fate on our own race.
* According to other accounts Boone must have been in the " ('orolinas" searching for his wife and family a: the time of this expedition.
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Reaching back a century, where certain records of history "fade away in the twilight and charm of tradition," we gather up the marvelous growth of civilization in the New World.
The past century is rich in the romance of American history. Progress has reigned with imperial power. The savage war-whoop has been superseded by the neighing of the "iron horse." The event we celebrate sharply marks the point where barbarism ended and civilization set in. Here barbarism was driven back still farther in its native forests, where through all the ages it has. had its securest home, and the inseparable twins, Christianity and civilization, bearing the ax of Time, have cloven along their retiring footsteps room for a better, purer and holier life, in all of which we may be able to read the decree of Almighty God.
To bring us closer, if possible, to the condition of things as they once existed here, and to aid in paying just tribute to our fathers who fought here, or who but little later were the avant couriers of our present peaceful and happy State, let us speak in the words of one of Ohio's poet sons:
" The mighty oak, proud monarch of the wood, Upon these hills in stately grandeur stood. Along these vales did ferocious panthers prowl, And oft was heard the fieree wolf's frightful howl;
But all these savage beasts have passed away. And the wild Indians too -- where are they ?
They have disappeared-most of these tribes are gone,
Like the night's dark shades before the rising dawn. Can we forget that brave and hardy band
Who made their homes first in this Western land ?
Their names should be enrolled on history's page,
To be preserved by each succeeding age : They were the fathers of the mighty West;
Their arduous labors Heaven above has blessed,
Before them fell the forest of the plain, And peace and plenty followed in the train."
Gen. J. Warren Keifer was then responded to by Gov. Charles Foster, who spoke as follows:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF CLARK COUNTY:
I am very grateful indeed, for myself and for my associates here from the State Government. for the welcome that has been given us in words, and not only in words, but for the welcome expressed by this magnificent presence before us. It has been my good fortune (I suppose I may call it good fortune) to visit almost every county in this State within the past year. Ohio is a great State, with populous cities and influential towns and counties-at least we of Ohio think it is a great State-and I noticed in all the counties I visited that every one thought their town the best town in their county and the best county in the State. I conclude that the remark is equally current here. Unfortu- nately for me, I failed to visit Clark County last year, but I am happy to be present with you to-day. Among the first things I heard when I arrived this morning was that "same old story." that the county of Clark is the finest in Chio, and that the city of Springfield is the finest city in the State-or in any other State, for that matter. Even my old friend, your honored citizen, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, dignified and thoughtful as he is, said that this county and this city of Springfield were the best county and the best city in the State (Laughter.)
I am glad to be here to-day on this centennial occasion-this centennial of an occasion that marked the downfall of barbarism and the beginning of the rise of the splendid Christian civilization we now see in Clark County, and not only in Clark County, but throughout the great Northwest.
I congratulate you, the people of Clark, on your splendid civilization, on
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your agricultural industries, on your great manufacturing interests, and your institutions. Again, in behalf of myself and my associates, I thank you for the kind invitation and for this most generous welcome. (Applause).
LETTERS AND COMMUNICATIONS.
Capt. D. C. Balentine, editor of the Springfield Transcript, selected to read Jetters and communications from invited guests unavoidably detained and oth- ers, remarked that he felt himself unable, even did time permit, to read the entire mass of manuscript placed in his hands, and, as they say in Congress, would "ask leave to print" for the benefit not only of this but for future gen- erations. He then read, either in whole, or in part, the following papers:
FROM JUDGE FORCE, CINCINNATI. FROM LEAVENWORTH, KAN., July 21, 1880.
MAJ. W. J. WHITE:
Dear Sir: I have just received your letter, inviting me to serve as orator at the centennial of Gen. Rogers Clark's victory at Old Piqua.
The letter followed me to this post, where I am resting a few days before setting out with Gen. Pope for the southwest corner of Colorado.
I thank you heartily for thinking of me on so interesting an occasion, and would gladly serve if it were practicable. But while you will be celebrating your centennial, I shall be camping in the wilderness.
The proceedings will of course be printed; and will contain much of his- torical interest. I desire to bespeak a copy. Very truly yours, M. F. FORCE.
FROM PRESIDENT EDWARD ORTON, COLUMBUS, OHIO.
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, PRESIDENT'S ROOM, COLUMBUS, Ohio, { July 28, 1880.
PROF. W. J. WHITE:
My Dear Sir: I crave your pardon for my delay in answering your letter, I have been absent from home about a week, but your letter came into my hands a day or two since-in time, certainly, for an answer before this date. I am collecting the coal and ore statistics of the State and have a number of men in the field. When I returned, I was snowed under with urgent requests of vari- ous sorts that demanded instant attention, and, yielding to the immediate pres- sure, your letter escaped notice until an hour or two before your telegram was received.
I cannot render the service you ask. I wish I could. Nothing would please me better than to make a study of this early chapter of our history, but I am so burdened with my present duties that I cannot think of assuming any service outside of them.
Very truly yours, EDWARD ORTON.
FROM HON. STEPHEN JOHNSTON, PIQUA.
PIQUA, Ohio, August 2, 1880. P. O. CUMMINGS, Secretary Clark-Shawnee Centennial, Springfield, Ohio:
Dear Sir: Your invitation extended to me to be present at the anniversary of the battle between Gen. Clark and the Shawnee Indians a century ago is before me. In reply, will say I shall be happy to accept the invitation and be with you at the time fixed. My mother was personally acquainted with Tecum- sel and Daniel Boone, being born in Fort Bryan, Kentucky, or called usually "Bryan's Station," and being also acquainted with Abraham Thomas, who was
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in the battle and has given an account of it published in Howe's History of Ohio. Mr. Thomas came from Kentucky to Ohio at the same time with my mother's family and settled in this county (Miami), only a few miles apart. It will afford me great pleasure indeed to look over the ground on the anniversary of the battle.
Very truly, your obedient servant,
STEPHEN JOHNSTON.
FROM M. M. MUNSON, GREENVILLE.
GREENVILLE, July 28, 1880.
F. M. HOWE, EsQ. :
My Dear Sir: Yours of the 27th is at hand, and I have given the subject matter some consideration. At the present writing I am not able to give you any further historical account of the battle fought at "Old Piqua" between the Kentuckians under Gen. George Rogers Clark and the Shawnee Indians, which occurred August 8 and 9, 1780.
I am aware that there are conflicting accounts of that battle and the cir- cumstances that attend it. You refer to those given in Howe's His. Col. Ohio. One is from "Bradford's Notes on Kentucky." This work is generally admitted as good authority in pioneer history. This book is out of print and quite rare. The other is Reminiscences of Abraham Thomas, published in the Troy Times, in 1839.
The reminiscences were written by a Mr. Bosson and were received as reli- able, as Mr. Thomas was a man of truth. I furnished them to Mr. Howe for his book in 1846-47. Several things combine to make your celebration on this spot of interest and importance. First -- Tecumseh was born here in 1865 or 1866! May we not trust that a more complete life and juster conception of the character of Tecumseh will be brought out by your people on that occasion ? One of the Drakes has given us an extended life of the chief, but from its read- ing a wrong impression of his character is made upon the reader. A good deal of poetry and romance has been from time to time interwoven with his life. Sayings and doings and many incidents are largely colored by McDonald and subsequent writers. I knew an old gentleman who spent much of his time in Troy. He was Gen. Harrison's Secretary, and was at the treaty of Vincennes in 1870. His impression of Tecumseh was not favorable. His description of his personal appearance, his action, voice or speech, and a general analysis of his character, I recollect, were quite elaborate and thorough. Some allowance should be made for my old friend, for he lived in those "perilous times," "a part of which he was," and was an old man. Second-The battle which your coming celebration is to commemorate. This is an important historic event, and a complete and reliable historical account should be secured before it is to> late. I trust every effort will be made by your people to this eud. Third --- This spot once aspired to be the county seat of Clark County; once was the rival of your now beautiful and thriving city.
Mr. Smucker, the pioneer historian, lives in Newark, and is the Secretary of our Pioneer Society. I will try and see him in a day or two and have a per- sonal interview with him upon the subject to which you refer in yours of the 27th. Books and documents treating upon early history or pioneer matters are rare, and most that were attainable in your county have been deposited in our society rooms in Newark. If I cannot go to Newark in time, I will inclose yours with a note to Mr. Smucker, who will write you or your committee. Mr. S. is the best posted historian in certain lines of pioneer history in Ohio, and then he has access to all published matter in this field at Newark, where we have them deposited. From what I have said of Tecumseh, I don't wish you to think he is by any means an unimportant personage-far from it. On the
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other hand, I look upon him as being the greatest Indian characters that has been known upon the American continent. I only want a just portraiture of him. What do you say to a parallel in part between he and Jeff. Davis? I am your obedient servant, M. M. MUNSON.
TECUMSEH.
The noted Indian Chief and Shawnee warrior, Tecumseh, was born on this spot and was twelve years old at the time of Gen. Clark's attack. The follow- ing biography of this remarkable man is given in the American Encyclopedia: Tecumseh, or Tecumtha. a chief of the Shawnee Indians, was born near the present city of Springfield, Ohio, about 1768, and was killed at the battle of the Thames (Canada), October 5, 1813, being then forty-five years of age. His first prominent appearance was in the attack on Fort Recovery in 1794. About 1805, his brother, Elskwatawa, set up as a prophet, denouncing the use of liquors, and of all food and manners introduced by the whites. Tecumseh
and the Prophet then attempted to unite all the Western tribes into one nation to resist the whites. They visited the Indians from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and soon had a village of 400 Indians gathered at Greenville. Gen. Harrison required them to remove, as it was beyond the Indian limit fixed by treaty. Tecumseh went to Vincennes with 400 warriors to over-awe Harrison, and the conference was broken up by his violence. Finding that he had gone too far, he attempted to explain. In 1811, while he was in the South exciting the Creeks and Seminoles to rise by promise of English aid, Harrison marched on the Prophet's town to demand that the Indians should return to their various tribes, murderers of whites to be surrendered, and plunder given up. The Prophet attacked him and was defeated at Tippecanoe, on the Wabash, Novem- ber 7. This disconcerted Tecumseh's plans and broke the spell of the Prophet's power. When war was declared with England, Tecumseh appeared in Canada with a number of warriors and refused to meet the American commanders in council. He was in the action against Van Horne on the Raisin, and after being wounded at Maguaga was made a Brigadier General in the British forces. He was in command with Proctor at the siege of Fort Meigs, and saved American prisoners from massacre. After the battle of Lake Erie, he urged Proctor to engage Harrison when he landed, but accompanied him in his retreat. In the first engagement, he was wounded while holding the passage of the stream. With Proctor he selected the battle-ground at the Thames, in the southwest cor- ner of Canada, and commanded the right wing. Laying his sword and uni- form in the conviction that he must fall, he put on his hunting dress and fought desperately until he was killed. Col. R. M. Johnson was said to have shot him; but in reality his death was not for some days known to the Americans.
FROM DR. J. J. MUSSON, ST. PARIS.
ST. PARIS, August 6, 1880.
CAPT. STEELE, Springfield, Ohio:
Dear Sir: Your postal was received on time. If professional engagements do not prevent, I will be present at the celebration. A few facts relative to Black Hoof may not be inappropriate. About thirty years since I obtained his skull at Wapakoneta. That his age was very great at the time of his death is attested by the closure of the alveoli (the sockets in which the teeth are inserted). Whether, as reported, he was 110 years of age when he died I do not know: but that his age was very great there is no doubt. His skull indicates a remark- able brain for an Indian. If he was as well balanced in mind as from the
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form of his skull his brain must have been, he could not have been other- wise than a great leader. Just above the temple, on the left side of the skull, there is an indentation. It was caused by a blow from a musket in the hands of an infuriated soldier shortly after his capture in the war of 1812-15. He was knocked senseless, and, although at the time it was supposed it had made a Good Indian of him, he lived many years, dying at Wapakoneta in the fall of 1831. A report of this incident in his life will be found in Howe's History of Ohio. He was the adviser and confidential friend of the great Tecumseh, and, at the instance of the latter, attempted to unite several Indian tribes into a grand confederation, so as the more effectually to resist the continually increas- ing encroachments of the whites. After the war of.1812, he settled down to a peaceful life, the monotony of which was only varied by an occasional drunk. In getting his skull I was assisted by an old pioneer who attended his funeral. Respectfully, JOHN MUSSON.
Should I not get down, see that the skull is returned in due time .*
FROM ISAAC SMUCKER, NEWARK. NEWAPK, Ohio, July 21, 1880.
CAPT. M. M. MUNSON:
My Dear Sir: Yours, with the letter from Mr. Howe, was received yester- day. I have no fuller, better or more reliable account of Gen. Clark's expedi- tion to the Mad River Indian towns, in August, 1780, than appears in Howe's Collections. Thomas calls it a "bloodless victory to the expedition," but in a preceding paragraph admits that a party of the Clark army, acting as spies on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, were surprised and several killed and wounded.
The history of the Clark expedition was briefly this: In July, 1780, Gen. Clark organized about one thousand Kentuckians to march against the Indian towns on Mad River, a few miles west of Springfield, for the purpose of chas- tising them for their marauding excursions into Kentucky. The army left the mouth of Licking August 2, 1780, reached the Piqua Indian town on the 8th. and had a battle, with the loss of about twenty men on each side, the Indians being compelled to retreat. Gen. Clark's army then returned to Kentucky, arriving at the mouth of Licking, opposite Cincinnati, August 14.
Drake's Memoir of Tecumseh is probably the fullest and most reliable, and contains about all that is known of him. I see Howe draws largely upon Drake in making; up his biographical sketch of him. His character, when divested of the drapery of romance thrown around it, was simply that of a brave, influential, energetic, talented, vindictive savage-that and nothing more-certainly noth- ing better. Fraternally, ISAAC SMUCKER.
FROM C. W. BUTTERFIELD.
MADISON, Wis., August 4, 1880.
WILLIAM J. WHITE, Springfield, Ohio:
Dear Major: It would afford me great pleasure to be with you on the 9th inst., at the meeting of the Memorial Association, of Springfield, with the pio- neers of Clark County, to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the battle of Col. George Rogers Clark with the Shawnees and Mingoes, at the Indian town of Piqua, within the present limits of your county; but I am so far away and so pressed with business engagements that I must forego the happiness of being present upou that occasion.
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