The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 25

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214

USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county > Part 25

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A war party was the most carefully-organized band that left the villages; the numbers of which it was composed depended, of course, upon the character of the duty to be performed. One or two braves might start on a bushwhack- ing, scalping expedition of their own; a band of five or six might go to destroy one or two isolated cabins and massacre the inmates; and larger parties formed to attack the settlements, or divide at a supply camp, for attacks on emigrant boats descending the Ohio. In starting from a village, the warriors were deco- rated with paint and plumes, wearing full military trappings; marching down the street thus thoroughly armed, they set off in single file on some trail leading through the woods to the Ohio River, and the Kentucky settlements beyond. When fairly in the forest, out of sight of the village, it was customary to fire a farewell salute; then, fully impressed with the dangers around them, perfect silence prevailed through day and night, on the march or at the bivouac, or whatever might be their surroundings.

When parties of this kind were sent out by the Shawnees, the Wyandots or the Miamis, or any of the tribes to the north of the Maumee, it was their cus- tom, within a few days after their departure, to send as a re-enforcement, or rather support in case of reverses and pursuit, a band of hunters, with squaws and camp equipage, to locate an advanced supply camp somewhere in the Miami

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or Scioto Valley; the party would come down the river in canoes to the mouth of the Mad River, Hole's Creek, Twin Creek, or lower down at the head of Mill Creek, or at the mouth of either of the Miamis, where the lodges would be built, the hunters go out for supplies to be ready for the return of the warriors. The return of a war party to the villages was always the time for the greatest ex- citement and rejoicing; fleet-footed runners were sent ahead to notify the vil- lagers that the warriors were approaching. All would turn out to join in the noisy reception; when in sight of the village, if they brought prisoners with them, the warriors would fire their rifles, while the woods resounded with peal after peal of the shrill, piercing scalp halloo; the Indians in the village would immediately respond with a similar shriek, as they rushed out to meet the party returning in triumph, with shouts of victory, some waving the bloody scalps, torn from dying victims, while others led the prisoners, who were stripped naked. their hands tied behind them, faces and bodies blackened as a mark that they were to be burned at the stake. But they were first to run the gantlet. In- dians of all ages, bucks and squaws, standing at intervals of six or eight feet apart, armed with sticks, clubs and switches, formed two parallel lines about six feet apart, between which lines the victims were to run singly, receiving a blow from each of the Indians as he passed; blows that were struck fierce and fast, in the face, on the head, or wherever it could be inflicted; sometimes, to impede progress, handfuls of sand were dashed in their eyes. Thus blinded, in the most acute pain, the suffering creature would often be struck down and clubbed near to death, only to revive for the more terrible torture of burning at the stake.

Indian military tactics, in all of their movements in the West up to the time of the advance of St. Clair's army, consisted simply in cunning, stealthy dashes at the unprotected settlements, massacre of all who fell into their hands, and rapid retreat to their own country. They would ambush an advancing foe, and withdraw as soon as the enemy would show fight. In a fight, their whole force would be formed in irregular line, every one behind a log, or stump, or tree; there never was fair, stand-up fight in them; but they were the best of flankers, and fought and ran away, to live to fight another day; yet there was not a drop of cowardice in their composition. One of the rules among all of the tribes was that, when on the war-path, if a brave did not promptly obey the command of his chief, he was killed on the spot. The cruel massacre of non- combatants, the horrible torture of prisoners, and savage butchery, stamped their savage warfare as fiendish. The hardy pioneers, used as they were to scenes of bloodshed and the misery left in the wake of a band of savages, were often brought to experiences and events more devilish than any that had preceded. An Indian would not hesitate to crush out the brains of a family of little chil- dren with his tomahawk, in the presence of the pioneer father and mother, then, with equal cruelty, kill them, and carry off the scalps of the whole family. Thousands of such devilish deeds were perpetrated, and it is no wonder that, in the progress of border warfare, no quarter was given nor mercy asked.

It would be almost impossible to overdraw the horrible pictures of torture and death that were the experience of thousands of the emigrants to the West. Not many prisoners were taken by the Indians, and none by the whites. " The result of a battle was shown on the spot, by the numbers of killed and wounded. Chapter after chapter could be filled with the record of shocking cruelties, but the terrible stories of these wrongs committed are familiar to all, and, for the purposes of this book, it is not necessary to reproduce them. From the time of the beginning of emigration to the West, the whole attention of the tribes was devoted to jealously guarding their lands north of the Ohio from encroachment by the whites. All interests were united, and gradually developed into open

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resistance, then to aggressive war against a hated enemy. The tribes were no longer wasted by war among themselves. All energy, all strength of the united nations was required in a common cause against a common enemy.

It sometimes happened that, when the prisoners were not immediately mur- dered, circumstances influenced the Indians to spare their lives and adopt them in their families. Carefully guarded against escape, they were marched to the villages, and duly initiated into the simplicity of Indian life and habits. The men were made hunters, but were carefully watched against temptation to es- pape. Some of them married squaws, and being satisfied with the situation, remained the rest of their lives. The most of them, however, escaped, while others were taken to Detroit and exchanged or ransomed. Captured women were assigned to the wigwams of the elder Indians to assist in work, and gener- ally accepted the first opportunity for exchange. Boys and girls who were among the prisoners were cared for tenderly, and became greatly attached to their new friends. Their associates were the young Indians, with whom they ran wild in the woods, hunted with and fished, paddled in the canoes, and trapped along the streams. With them they grew up, and enjoyed the fascina- ion of roaming through the woods as hunters for months at a time. Such as these, who had learned to love the free life in the forests, it was hard to reclaim. After peace was declared, when many of them were given up under treaty stip- ulations that required the surrender of all white captives, many having forgot- en relationships of their infant years, and who had formed strong attachments among the Indians, refused to return to civilized life. A Shawnee chief, in surrendering several of these child captives, addressed the officer as follows: 'Father, we have brought your flesh and blood to you. They have all been united to us by adoption, and though we now deliver them, we shall always look upon them as our relations whenever the Great Spirit is pleased that we may meet them. We have taken as much care of them as if they were our own flesh and blood. They have now become unacquainted with your customs and manners, and therefore we request you to use them tenderly and kindly, that they may live contentedly with you."

Interpreters for the tribes were generally white men who had been boy cap- tives and had grown up with the Indians. Some of them were married to squaws, reared families and acquired great influence over the tribes. There were white men who voluntarily went to live with the Indians, some of them becoming the most inhuman of wretches in their persecution and butchery of the frontiersmen. With the names of the Girtys was associated everything cruel and fiendish; neither age nor sex was respected by them; they became skilled in the ways of savage life and reveled in carnage and bloodshed.

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CHAPTER III.

KENTUCKY PIONEERS-COL. BYRD'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THEM-CLARK DESTROYS INDIAN VILLAGES ON LITTLE MIAMI AND MAD RIVER-COL. BRODHEAD'S EXPEDITION-COL. LOCHRY AMBUSHED-WILLIAMSON-CRAWFORD'S DEFEAT AND DEATH-BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS-SKIRMISH AT MOUTH OF MAD RIVER --- INDIAN TOWNS, CROPS AND SUPPLIES, DESTROYED AT PIQUA AND LORAMIE- MOUTH OF MAD RIVER SELECTED IN 1782 FOR SETTLEMENT-FORT HARMAR AND FORT FINNEY BUILT -- CLARK AND THE SHAWNEES AT FORT FINNEY -- LOGAN DESTROYS MACKACHEEK TOWNS-VIRGINIA CEDES NORTHWEST TERRI- TORY TO UNITED STATES - INDIAN TREATIES - UNITED STATES TITLE PERFECTED-LOCATION OF LORAMIE'S STORE AND FORT LORAMIE-STANDING STONE FORKS OF MIAMI.

KENTUCKY PIONEERS.

HE early Kentucky settlers had come to stay; locating in the rich blue grass lands they secured plenty of room, with comfort and abundance for their families. Building their cabins near to each other, they inclosed all in one stockade, or erected block-houses as a refuge for all. Bold, hardy, self-reliant men, joined in common interest for defense, and were ever ready to pursue the savage foe; hunters, farmers, inured to dangers and hardships; brave spirits, with military experience and skill, obliged to think for themselves, they neces- sarily acquired independence and quick thought and action.

That country was settled without thought of trespassing on the Indian lands north of the Ohio. But the events of the year 1779, and the great emi- gration to the West in the spring of 1780, were urged upon the tribes, by the British commander at Detroit, as good grounds for open hostilities against the settlers; the savages became restless, and small bands of warriors appeared before the settlements and along the Ohio River, rendering it unsafe for any but armed bodies of men to leave the block-houses.

To plant the corn and other crops, a party would go out, one-half standing guard while the other half worked; in this way, the land was cleared, the cattle were pastured, and all out-of-door work accomplished. From this condi- tion of uneasiness, lest their lands be taken from them, the excitement increased among the Indians; especially was this the case in the Shawnee tribes, who were the most mischievous and blood-thirsty, ever ready for war against the whites. They induced the Wyandots to join them. Gov. Hamilton, of Detroit, organized a force of Canadians and Indians from these two tribes, 600 in ali, with Col. Byrd, of the British Army in command; the Indians were led by the Shawnee chieftain, Blackfish. The expedition was to be sent against Rud- dell's and Martin's stations, on the Licking River, Kentucky. They came down the Big Miami in batteaux and canoes, bringing with them two (or, as some writers state, six) pieces of artillery. A road was cut for the artillery through the woods from the Ohio River, and, although it took twelve days to make the march, they were undiscovered; a shot from one of the field-pieces was the first intimation the occupants of Ruddell's station had of the presence of the enemy. This was on the 22d of June, 1780. In reply to the demand of Col. Byrd, for the immediate surrender of the stockade, with the garrison and families, Capt. Ruddell refused, unless the prisoners were to be placed under the protection of the British officers. This was agreed to, and the gates were immediately thrown

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open. The Indians at once rushed into the stockade, each one seizing the first person they came to, and claimed them as their own prisoners. Great confusion ensued. Col. Byrd had no control of the savages, husband and wife were sep- arated, and children were taken from their parents; the cabins were then plun- dered, and the prisoners, loaded with the spoils, marched, with the force, to the attack on Martin's station, where the same scenes were enacted. Small bands of savages had advanced to Byant's station and to Lexington, where they stole many horses and returned to Martin's.

In the sacking of the two stations, Col. Byrd had complied with the orders of Gov. Hamilton, and, although he had force sufficient to have destroyed all the settlements in Central Kentucky, for some reason he decided to retreat at once to the forks of Licking, where he had left stores and boats; finding that the river was falling, his artillery and stores were at once put aboard and the retreat continued. The Indians, with the ponies, prisoners and plunder, sep- arated from the English and marched to the Ohio River; crossing at the mouth of the Licking, they returned to their villages by the way of the Little Miami Valley. Col. Byrd, with his artillery and troops in the boats, descended the Licking River to the Ohio, and down that stream to the mouth of the Big Miami, hoping to pole up that river to the point where the troops were first embarked. The weather by this time was very hot, and the spring freshets having run out, the water was too low for the loaded boats to get up much farther than the mouth of Mad River, or, possibly, Honey Creek, from which point the troops marched rapidly to Detroit. The artillery was at first left in the woods, but it is probable that the guns were soon taken up the river, and on to Detroit by the Indians.

Up to the time of this invasion, hostilities by the Kentuckians had been carried on without unity of purpose or action. The policy of all was defense. and each family or settlement managed and fought upon their own hook. A single backwoodsman, armed with rifle and scalping-knife, provided with a poke of parched corn for rations, would start on an expedition of his own, into the Indian country; arriving in the neighborhood of a village, great caution was necessary as he lay in the thicket watching for an opportunity to shoot an Indian, or run off a horse. With the fullest experience in the perils of savage warfare, they were as cautious as they were brave; apt scholars in cunning and sagacity, they were the equals of the warriors in fierce and desperate bravery, and power of endurance, energy, perseverance and skill, gave to the pioneer an advantage over the Indian.

The result of Col. Byrd's expedition was to arouse the settlers to a necessity for better organization; the Government was wholly unable to protect them from invasion, and, realizing the situation, they prepared to take care of them- selves, and from that time on the progress of Western settlement was never checked; the courage of the pioneers was equal to all emergencies, and conquered every situation. Acting upon the principle that the best defense against the Indians was to attack them in their villages, and destroy their crops and sup- plies, the war after this was made aggressive; the Indians were to be punished; they had forced this change of policy that resulted in the loss of their lands in the valleys of the rivers flowing into the Ohio from its source to the mouth of the Big Miami. The Kentuckians would organize under some leader of repute, who would plan an expedition, give notice of his intention, and appoint a ren- dezvous where volunteers would assemble; such calls always met with prompt response, the men furnished their own horses, arms, ammunition and rations, and risked their lives in a common cause. The pioneer women managed the farms, crops and cattle, and sometimes defended their cabins from attacks of the savages during the absence of the men.

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CLARK'S EXPEDITION, AUGUST, 1780.

The destruction of Ruddell's and Martin's stations was not passed without retaliation and full punishment. In July, Col. George Rogers Clark came up from the fort, at Louisville, to organize an expedition against the Shawnee towns on the Little Miami and Mad Rivers. The mouth of the Licking River was designated as the point of rendezvous, and within a few days, 1,000 of the bravest Indian fighters had assembled.

Col. Benjamin Logan, Capt. Robert Patterson, Simon Kenton, James Har- rod and John Floyd, had commands under Clark. The artillery for the expe- dition had been brought up from the Ohio Falls. On the 1st day of August, Col. Clark, with his force, crossed the river and built two block-houses on the present site of Cincinnati. Corn and some ammunition were stored there, and several sick men were left as guards. In this way, the expedition was supplied on their return march. The next day, with every precaution against surprise, they began the march up the Little Miami; on the 6th of August, they arrived at Old Chillicothe (Old-Town, Greene County), and found that the Indians had abandoned and burned the town. The Kentuckians camped for the night, and the next day destroyed several hundred acres of corn and whatever else they found.

On the 8th, the expedition reached Old Piqua, on Mad River, seventeen miles above where Dayton is located. At 2 P. M., the Indians attacked the advance, and a general engagement at once ensued; for three hours the contest was sharp, but the savages were put to flight, the loss on each side being about twenty killed.

The next day was spent in burning the cabins, and destroying the crops of corn and vegetables; it was estimated that 500 acres of corn had been destroyed at the two villages.

Two days after the fight, the Kentuckians started on their return march to the Ohio River, where they were disbanded. The Shawnees did not rebuild their towns, but crossed over to the Big Miami and built a town, which they called Piqua. There were nearly 4,000 in the tribe thus deprived of their homes and provisions, and for nearly two years afterward, their hunters and warriors were kept hunting and fishing to supply their people, and for that length of time Kentucky was relieved of fears of attack from any considerable body of Indians. The Indians ever afterward had greater respect for the ability of the whites to retaliate for injury received.

COL. DANIEL BRODHEAD'S EXPEDITION.

In March, 1781, Col. Daniel Brodhead, with 300 troops, started from Wheeling to attack the Delaware towns on the Upper Muskingum; by rapid marches he reached the forks of that river (now Coshocton) before the Indians were aware of his presence in the country. The village at that point was taken and many prisoners of other villages were captured; thirty or forty warriors were tomahawked and scalped, the squaws and younsters were taken to Wheel- ing and held for exchange. In retaliation for the killing of these Iudians, a number of soldiers descending the Ohio were captured and killed near the mouth of the Big Miami. Col. Archibald Lochry, with 106 men, started from Fort Henry (Wheeling) on the 25th of July, in boats, expecting to join Col. George Rogers Clark at the Ohio Falls. August 25, they landed on the Indian shore, below the mouth of the Big Miami, where suddenly, and without warn- ing, they were attacked from the bluffs above, by a large number of Indians; the Colonel and forty-one of his men were killed, and the rest captured, many of whom were afterward killed and scalped. Cruelties of this kind were commit-

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WASHINGTON. TP.

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ted by the whites and savages at every opportunity; the war was persecuted on both sides as a war of extermination; there was but little difference in the acts of brutal, malignant revenge, committed by either side.

MORAVIAN MASSACRE.

Greatly exasperated at the continued attacks on the settlements, Col. David Williamson assembled a force of a hundred men in the Mingo bottom, just below the site of Steubenville, for an expedition against the Moravian Indians, in the Tuscarawas Valley. The night of March 3, 1782, Col. Williamson and his force bivouacked within a mile of Gnadenhutten, and marched into the vil- lage the next day, taking a number of the peaceable Indians prisoners; on the 7th, the number of captives was increased to ninety-six, and placed under guard in two of the houses; one-half the number were squaws and their youngsters. On the 8th, all of them but two Indian boys, who escaped, were killed and scalped. Col. Williamson and his men were, even at that time, severely cen- sured for this cold-blooded murder of friendly, Christian Indians ..

COL. CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION.

Soon after the return of Williamson, preparations were made for a second campaign against the Moravian Indians, and the Wyandot towns in the same neighborhood. Four hundred and eighty mounted men mustered at the old Mingo town, on the west side of the Ohio, on the 25th of May, and elected Col. William Crawford as their commander. The troopers and officers boldly announced their battle-cry, no quarter to Indians, buck, squaw or papoose. The Moravian villages were found to be deserted, but on the march the next day, June 7, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, on the Sandusky plains, a fierce bat- tle was brought on by the Indians, and continued until night. The fight not being renewed the next day, Col. Crawford ordered a retreat. About sundown, however, the Indians fiercely attacked the retreating column, on all sides, excepting on the road leading farther into the Indian country. The troops, by a circuitous route, got out and continued the retreat until the next evening, when they halted for the night.

The Indians scattered, in pursuit of straggling parties, killing all they captured. On the second day of the retreat, Col. Crawford, with a small party, who were in the rear, were attacked; the Colonel and a Dr. Knight were capt- ured. The doctor afterward escaped; but Col. Crawford was burned at the stake, in an oak grove in a low bottom west of the Upper Sandusky, on the east bank of the Tymochtee Creek, eight miles from its mouth. A post, fifteen feet long, was firmly planted; Crawford was stripped naked and beaten by the Indians; a rope was tied to the foot of the post, the Colonel's hands were tied behind him, and the rope was fastened to the ligature between his wrists; the rope was long enough to allow him to walk two or three times around the post, then back again.

Capt. Pipe, the war chief of the Delawares, with about a hundred warriors, squaws and Indian boys, took part in the torture, and the rascally renegade, Simon Girty, also participated in the cruelties. Three large fires were built at intervals around the post; Crawford's ears were cut off; sixty or seventy loads of powder were fired into his body from his neck down; he was punched with the ends of the burning poles, the squaws threw coals and hot ashes on his body, so that he walked on a bed of coals; after about three hours of suffering from this awful torture, he fell from exhaustion, an Indian then scalped him, and an old squaw threw coals on the bleeding wound. After this, he walked round a little more, but when they attempted further torture, he seemed insensible of pain, and soon died. His body was then thrown into the fire and burned to

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ashes. Such terrible scenes as this justly excited deeper hostility toward the Indians. Few of the prisoners taken by the savages in that campaign escaped similar torture and death.

The Kentucky settlements were not exempt from savage attacks; in May occurred the attack on Estill's station, and subsequent defeat of Capt. James Estill, at Little Mountain, by a war party of twenty-five Wyandots.

In July, the British officers at Detroit organized a Canadian force, as part of an expedition against the Kentucky settlements; war parties of the Shaw- nees, Wyandots, Miamis and Delawares, were assembled at old Chillicothe, and joining the expedition, swelled its numbers to 600. Col. McGee, of the British Army, was in command, with Simon Girty as aid. August 14, Bryant's station, on the Elkhorn, five miles northeast of Lexington, was besieged by this force. A re-enforcement arrived from Lexington on the 15th, and the Indian losses being heavy, the savages withdrew that night. The Kentuckians receiv- ing re-enforcements that increased their force to 160 or 180 men, started in pur- suit on the 18th, and were drawn into ambush at the Blue Licks on the 19th; in the fight that ensued the whites lost sixty killed and seven captured.

CLARK'S SECOND EXPEDITION.

As soon as Col. George Rogers Clark, then at Louisville, learned of the disaster, he determined to organize a force large enough to punish the tribes to the north so severely that they would not soon be in condition to leave their villages for aggressive warfare. Col. Clark came up the Ohio with 500 men and went into camp at the mouth of Licking River, where he was soon joined, by an equal number from the settlements around Lexington. The expedition was organized with Col. Benjamin Logan in command of one wing, and Col. John Floyd in command of the other.

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The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 25

Author: W.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1214

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214