USA > Ohio > The history of Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 2
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1751.] SINGULAR INDIAN CEREMONY.
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north of the Ohio, and to survey their grant to the south of that river. He was the first white man, of Anglo-Saxon descent to visit, in an official capacity, the country now comprised within the limits of the state of Ohio. Journeying across the middle waters of the Muskingum and Sciota Rivers, Gist reached in safety a Shawanese town, just below the mouth of the latter stream, on the Ohio. While here, he witnessed a singular cere- mony. One evening, public proclamation was made that all marriages were dissolved, and that a three days' fast would be held, during which the women were to choose their husbands anew. The next day was spent in dancing. Men and women danced by turns, some sixty or seventy at a time, around fires, in a figure resembling an eight. At night a grand feast was held, after which the dance was resumed, and was kept up until the evening of the third day. Then about a hundred of the men commenced dancing in and out of the council house, while the women looked on. So soon as any of the latter had made her choice of a husband from among those passing before her, she took hold of the man's blanket, and joining the dancers, continued dancing until all the women had likewise selected their partners, when the festival ended, and the new marriages were solemnized.
Bidding farewell to the Shawanese, Gist next visited the Miamies on the larger of the two
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26
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1752.
streams that bear their name, and where the block-house for trading purposes had been erect- ed by the English. Then retracing his steps to the Sciota, he descended to the falls of the Ohio, and returned home by the way of North Caro- lina.
Early in 1752, a detachment of French sol- diers was sent to the Miamies to require the sur- render of the English traders. The Miamies adhered to their English friends with courageous fidelity, and would not accede to the demand. Irritated at meeting with an unexpected refusal, the French, assisted by Ottawa and Chippeway Indians, immediately attacked the block-house, which, after a hard fight, they took and destroy- ed, carrying the garrison prisoners to Canada. Thus closed the first British attempt at settlement in Ohio.
These significant demonstrations determined Virginia to establish, upon a firmer basis, her claims to jurisdiction west of the Alleghanies. As early as 1744, a cession of certain lands in that region had been obtained by purchase from the Iroquois, during a council held at Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. But this treaty being regarded with distrust by the western Indians, it was thought advisable to purchase their assent to its provisions. Three commissioners were accord- ingly sent to Logstown, a small trading village, situated on the north bank of the Ohio, some
27
1753.] MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH.
seventeen miles below Pittsburg. On the 13th of June, 1752, these gentlemen succeeded in obtaining from the chiefs assembled at that place, a full confirmation of the Lancaster treaty, and an invitation to construct a fort at the forks of the Ohio.
On the other hand, in anticipation of the settlements projected by the Ohio company, the French made extensive preparations both to as- sert and maintain their supremacy. A large force of troops, with adequate supplies of stores and munitions of war, were collected at Presque Isle, on the borders of Lake Erie ; and, notwithstanding the remonstrance of the Indians, by the spring of 1753, a well organized expedition was ready to advance, at any moment, into the valley of the Ohio.
The governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia becoming alarmed at these hostile indications, took such measures to meet them as their re- stricted means allowed. Messengers were des- patched to confer with the Ohio tribes, with whose delegates councils were held during the months of September and October, 1753. A commission was also sent to warn the French of the consequences which would follow their en- croachments ; but the envoy, fearful of his per- sonal safety, returned without fulfilling his in- structions. To the Indian remonstrances the French coolly replied, that it was their intention
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28
HISTORY OF OHIO.
- [1753.
to build forts at Venango, an old Indian town at the mouth of French Creek; at the forks of the Ohio; at Logstown, and at Beaver Creek. The ill success of his first agent induced Governor Dinwiddie to select a more capable and fearless one, in the person of Major George Washington, then a young man of twenty-two, whose previous duties as a surveyor, and whose well-known so- lidity of character eminently fitted him for the service he was called upon to perform. Accom- panied by Gist, and five attendants, Washington left Wills Creek on the 15th of November, and on the 22d stood upon the banks of the Monon- gahela, a few miles above its junction with the Ohio. Proceeding thence to Logstown, he held several unsatisfactory conferences with the prin- cipal chiefs in that vicinity. He was, however, enabled to obtain important intelligence concern- ing the military posts already established by the French, and their ulterior designs. Resuming his journey on the 30th, he reached Venango on the 4th of December, and, after the lapse of another week, entered Fort le Bœuf, at the head of French Creek. He was courteously received by St. Pierre, the French commandant at that post; and having delivered the letter of Governor Dinwiddie, and received an unequivocal re- sponse, he set out on his return to Virginia. After encountering several perilous incidents, by which his life was twice endangered, he reached
7
29
COLONIAL PREPARATIONS.
1753.]
Wills Creek on the 6th of January, from whence, after a brief sojourn, he proceeded to the capitol to report the result of his mission.
The determination of the French to occupy the valley of the Ohio being now clearly evinced, despatches were immediately forwarded to Eng- land, notifying the Board of Trade of the dangers to which the frontiers were exposed; while Pennsylvania and New York were urgently called upon by Virginia to assist the people of that province in maintaining the integrity of the English possessions. Thoroughly aroused to the necessity of adopting effective measures, the Virginia assembly authorized the enlistment of two additional companies, one of which was to be raised by Washington in the more set- tled portions of the province, and the other by Trent upon the frontiers. The latter was di- rected to commence at once the erection of a fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela with the Ohio, and to defend the post by force of arms against any who might at- tempt to dispossess him. These instructions being sustained soon after by a circular from the English secretary of state, ordering the various provincial governors to repel force by force, New York responded to the call of Virginia by voting the sum of twenty-two thousand dollars, to aid in obtaining the necessary means of re- sisting the common enemy. Pennsylvania, more
30
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1754.
directly interested, evaded the requisition by professing to doubt whether the French had ac- tually encroached upon English territory. It was not long before all uncertainty upon this subject was at an end. In April, 1754, tidings were received of the gathering of French troops at Forts le Bœuf and Venango, preparatory to descending the Ohio. They were reported to be in such force, that the assembly of Virginia re- solved to increase the two additional companies to six. Of the regiment thus ordered to be raised, Joshua Fry was appointed colonel, and Washington second in command.
While these companies were being organized, the workmen at the forks of the Ohio, utterly unconscious of the danger by which they were menaced, while busily engaged in the construc- tion of the fort at that point, suddenly discover- ed, descending the Alleghany, sixty battcaux, and three hundred canoes, crowded with men, and deeply laden with stores, cannon, and mu- nitions of war. Contiecceur, the commander of this imposing flotilla, immediately demanded the. surrender of the unfinished works; and as Ensign Ward, with a party of forty men indifferently armed, was in no condition to maintain an un- finished stockade against a thousand troops, and a battery of eighteen guns, he submitted to the very courteous coercion of his polite antagonist, by evacuating the post, and bearing with him the
31
1754.] CAPTURE OF THE WORKS.
working tools of his detachment, ascended the Monongahela with his men, to report at the nearest settlement, the presence of the enemy. The capture of this feeble military station pre- luded that long and sanguinary war by which, after supporting the contest with varying for- tunes for nine successive years, the power of the French was effectually broken, their admirable chain of western posts either destroyed or cap- tured, and the whole territory heretofore claimed by them, left in undisputed possession of their conquerors.
32
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1763.
CHAPTER II.
Treaty of Fontainebleau-Territorial cession by France to Great Britain-English traders -- Their activity-The Ohio company-Preparations for emigration-Indian troubles -- Speech to Post-Conspiracy of Pontiac-Its success-His appeal to the Indians-Fatal unconsciousness of the Eng- lish-Massacre of the traders-Michilimackinac captured by a stratagem-Ball play of the Indians-Carelessness of the garrison-Surprise and massacre -- Detroit assaulted-Be- sieged by Pontiac-Fort Miami captured-Artful stratagem of an Indian woman-Its commander slain-Surrender of the garrison-Pusillanimity of an English officer in com- mand at Presque Isle-Fort le Bœuf assaulted-Escape of the garrison --- Massacre at Venango-Investment of Fort Pitt -- Devastation of the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia --- Terror of the inhabitants-March of Bouquet -; Attacked by Indians-Relief of Fort Pitt-Trouble in the confederacy-Revival of old feuds-Pontiac retires to Illi- nois-His death.
BY the treaty of peace, signed at Fontaine- bleau on the 10th of February, 1763, France divested herself of all her North American pos- sessions, by ceding to Great Britain the whole of the territory east of the Mississippi River, with the exception of the Island of Orleans, which, with the remainder of Louisiana, she transferred on the same day to Spain. Having been thus effectually freed from the presence of an active and enterprising enemy, English traders, hoping to succeed to the influence previously exercised
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33
INDIAN TROUBLES.
1763.]
by the French over the north-western tribes of Indians, speedily spread themselves among them for the purpose of bartering their merchandise for the peltries of the red men. With an equal feeling of security, the Ohio company made en- ergetic preparations for the settlement of their lands ; while, throughout the border provinces, numerous bands of sturdy husbandmen eagerly sought to dispose of their farms and superfluous stock, for the purpose of providing the means to establish themselves in a new home on the fertile borders of that river, of whose beauty they had heard so much.
But before these extensive arrangements were finally completed, an Indian conspiracy broke out, which, for a time, seriously threatened to deprive England of a large portion of that ter- ritory she had so lately acquired from the French by right of conquest. As early as 1758, the Ohio Indians had vehemently protested against the encroachments of the whites upon their hunt- ing grounds. When Post, the courageous mes- senger from Pennsylvania, four months previous tto the fall of Fort Duquesne, sought to detach 'them from the French interest, they replied, 1" Why do you not fight your battles at home, or son the sea, instead of coming into our country (to fight them ?" A little while after, one of the cspeakers added; " The white people think we fhave no brains in our heads : that they are many
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HISTORY OF OHIO. [1763.
and we a little handful; but remember, when you hunt for a rattlesnake you cannot find it ; and perhaps it will bite you before you see it." The covert menace implied in these words was regarded at the time as a mere ebullition of transient anger; but the jealousy of the red man was even then becoming aroused, not merely along the borders of the Ohio, but across the whole breadth of the continent, from Canada to the Carolinas. And the more deeply they brood- ed over their future prospects, the more settled became their aversion to the European intruders.
Seizing advantage of this not unnatural feel- ing, Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawas, a warrior of extraordinary courage and sagacity, formed the daring scheme of uniting the numer- ous tribes of the north-west into one common confederacy, having for its end a simultaneous massacre of the English. The organization of this formidable conspiracy, notwithstanding the difficulties he had to encounter in reconciling ex- isting feuds, was at length successfully accom- plished.
Boldly professing to speak by divine au- thority, he appealed to the superstition of his moody auditors. "Thus saith the Great Spirit," he exclaimed : "Why do you suffer these dogs in red clothing to enter your country, and take the land I have given you? Drive them from it !
35
CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC.
1763.]
Drive them ! and when you are in distress, I will help you." 1539221
Exhortations like these did not remain long unheeded. One by one the Chippewas, Dela- wares, Mingoes, Wyandots, and Miamis, united with the Ottawas, and arranged in secret the de- tails of the conspiracy.
All this time the English traders were re- ceived with friendly confidence. The hardy pio- neers, whose axes were already heard ringing through the forest aisles of the wilderness, re- posed after their daily toil in fancied security. The slender garrisons which occupied the mili- tary posts abandoned by the French, kept care- less watch and ward, while not a single whisper from human lips warned them of the terrible danger by which they were environed. Around the forts at Michilimackinac, Detroit, Le Bœuf, Venango, Presque Isle, on the Maumee and the Wabash, at Sandusky, Fort Pitt, Niagara, and other stations of inferior note, hordes of fierce warriors were silently gathering. Suddenly, in the spring of 1763, they fell upon the numerous traders throughout all the region of the north- wrest, and barbarously murdered two hundred of them, including their servants. Nearly at the same time nine English forts were surprised and captured, many of the garrisons being put to death with all the horrors attendant upon savage fwarfare.
ISSPECI
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HISTORY OF ONIIO. [1763.
The stockade fort at Machilimackinac was captured by a singular stratagem. For some days the Chippewas and Sauks had been encamp- ed in its vicinity, ostensibly for the purpose of trade. At length they gave out that the re- spective tribes were going to play ball in front of the fort, and invited the commandant, his officers, and the traders with whom they had been trading, to become witnesses of the sport.
The game of baggatiway, or ball, requiring great power of endurance, coupled with extraor- dinary agility and address, has always been a favourite with the Indians. Each player carries a bat, about four feet long, curved, and terminat- ing in a sort of racket. Two posts, the re- spective stations of the rival players, are planted in the ground, a mile or more apart, and, at the commencement of the sport, the ball being placed midway between them, each party endeavours to throw it past the goal of its adversary. Several times before, the Indians had indulged in this pastime close to the walls of the fort; and, ut .- suspicious of danger, the excitement of the gamle had afforded a welcome relief to officers and men wearied with the monotony of garrison life in the wilderness. More than once, also, the play !. ers in their ardour had thrown the ball within the stockade, and were suffered to enter the gates and recover it. On the 2d of June, the squaws were admitted within the enclosure as usual,
37
SUCCESS OF THE INDIANS.
1763.]
while the players, actively, and with loud shouts and outcries, commenced contending for the vic- tory. Gradually, about noon, the ball was driven near the gate of the fort, outside of which the commandant and one of his lieutenants were standing. Tumultuously pressing forward, ap- parently in pursuit of the ball, the Indians sud- denly made prisoners of the unsuspecting officers. Entering the fort, at the same moment they re- ceived from the women within the arms the latter had secreted beneath their blankets, and com- menced a fierce attack upon the garrison. Nearly one-half were speedily killed. The remainder, stripped and plundered of all they possessed, were made prisoners of war.
Previous to this the troops at Detroit had barely escaped a similar fate. The surprise of the latter post was attempted by Pontiac in per- sont Failing in his object through the vigilance of Major Gladwyn, the commander, he turned thy assault into a siege; and, from the 9th of May until the beginning of December, held it osely invested, notwithstanding the efforts made y Amherst to relieve it.
The garrison at Fort Miami, on the Maumee, ough consisting only of an ensign and ten men, ng timely advised of the assault upon De- it, might yet have proved strong enough to ave withstood the enemy, had not an artful ap- cal to the humanity of the commanding officer,
38
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1764.
led him to depart from the stern observance of his duty. Being called upon by an Indian wo- man to bleed a squaw, who was reported to be lying ill in a small cabin within musket-shot of the fort, while hastening on his errand of mercy, he was barbarously shot down, and at the same moment the sergeant who had accompanied him, found himself a prisoner. The garrison, deprived of their officers, immediately surren- dered.
The loss of the post at Presque Isle also, through the pusillanimity of the officer in com- mand, led, on the 18th of June, to the fall of Fort le Bœuf, which was wholly cut off from assistance by the capture of the former. After successfully withstanding repeated assaults from the Indians, until about midnight, the little garrison silently abandoned the burning block- house, to which their defence had been restricted, leaving the enemy under the impression that they had perished within the flames. Venango fell about the same time, not one of the garri- son surviving the massacre. Fort Pitt was likewise surrounded by outlying savages, whose vigilance prevented the half-famished garrison from procuring the supplies they so much neededl. The frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia ran red with blood; the homes of the settlers were burned to the ground, their stock drive'n off, and their fields laid waste. The scene of
39
BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN.
1764.]
carnage spread inland to Bedford in the one province, and to Cumberland in the other. It was an awful period of terror, distress, and confusion ; and for many months those who had as yet happily escaped the ferocious onslaught, slept in their clothes, with arms by their side. At length an expedition was organized for the relief of Fort Pitt. It consisted of two shat- tered regiments of regulars, the command of which was given to Colonel Bouquet. He reach- ed Bedford on the 25th of July. Marching thence by the new road opened by the troops under General Forbes, he was attacked on the 5th of August, by a large force of Indians, near Bushy Run, a small tributary of the Mo- nongabela. For two days the savages continued. the contest with unusual vigour and resolution ; but though the troops were at first thrown into confusion, they were effectually rallied by the gallantry of their officers, and finally succeeded in routing the enemy with considerable loss.
. The relief of Fort Pitt, and their failure to mjake any impression upon the works at Detroit, and Niagara, threw a gloom over the prospects of' the confederated tribes, who now began to feel that their power was not equal to the ac- complishment of their design. Chagrined at I,yaving met with but partial success, and, per- laaps, conscious that retaliation would inevita- Iply follow, they grew suspicious of one another.
40
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1764.
The feuds, which union in a common cause had temporarily allayed, now broke out afresh. Separating in anger, they departed for their respective villages, leaving Pontiac, with a few faithful followers, to bear the consequences of the bloody project he had been the first to originate.
A price being set upon his head, he returned to Illinois, where he resided for several years, and where he finally met his death at the hands of an Indian while endeavouring to unite the tribes of that region in a new war against the whites.
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BENEFICIAL REGULATIONS.
1764.]
CHAPTER III.
Indiscriminate settlement disallowed -- Expeditions of Brad- street and Bouquet-Treaty at Detroit-Bouquet marches against the Shawanese towns on the Muskingum-Is met by deputies entreating peace-Delivery of prisoners -- Affect- ing conduct of the Indians-Speeches of Lawaughqua -Croghan visits the Illinois-The Monongahela settlers -- Their disregard for the claims of the Indians --- Project of Sir William Johnson-Applies for a grant of lands south of the Ohio-Treaty at Fort Stanwix-Organization of the Mississippi company-Exploration of Kentucky -- John Finley -- Danie! Boone-Colonel Knox-Surveys by Bullitt, M'cAfee, and others-Quarrel between Pennsylvania and Virginia -Pittsburg besieged by Connolly-Instigates a jealousy of the Indians-Atrocious conduct of Captain Cre- sap -- Massacre by Greathouse-Indian war.
Two months after the relief of Fort Duquesne, a proclamation was issued by the British go- vernment, regulating trade with the Indians. and prohibiting an indiscriminate settlement upon their lands. This manifesto, in connection with an expedition under Bradstreet, which Je arched the following summer into the country ofrdering upon Lake Erie, and another under fouquet, to the Indian towns upon the Ohio, was Cioductive of the most beneficial results. Sir ·s William Johnson, the conqueror of Dieskau and a.uperintendent of Indian affairs, accompanied Fthe troops under Bradstreet. At Detroit he was
3
42
HISTORY OF OHIO.
- [1761.
visited by a large number of the surrounding tribes, who, conscious of their weakness, now sued for peace. Pontiac no longer possessed any authority to sway their councils, nor had they themselves the strength which is a consequence of united action. Under these disheartening circumstances, they were ready to agree to almost any terms the commissioner might think proper to propose. On the 21st of August a treaty was ratified in grand council.
During this convention of the north-western tribes, Bouquet was marching from Carlisle with fifteen hundred men.
By the middle of October he had penetrated to within striking distance of numerous Indian villages upon the Muskingum. During the pro- gress of his march he was met by several depu- tations from various tribes, who petitioned for peace with a degree of humility singularly in contrast with the ferocity and arrogance they had exhibited the preceding year.
Upon their agreeing to surrender all their prisoners at Fort Pitt the ensuing spring, and to come prepared to perfect a treaty of peace, Bouquet consented to spare their villages. Be- fore the troops retraced their steps, a large num- ber of captives were brought in, and hostages taken for the surrender of the remainder. The Indians did not restore their prisoners without emotion. Many of them had been domiciliated
43
AFFECTING SCENE.
1764.]
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for years among the respective tribes, and had taken the places of lost sons and daughters. The affection of their foster parents had become fondly entwined around their beloved captives, and they now committed them to the care of the officer appointed to receive them with sighs and tears, and with broken ejaculations of heartfelt sorrow. The conditions imposed by Bouquet upon the banks of the Muskingum, were faith- fully observed the following spring at Fort Pitt. The remainder of the prisoners scattered through the various villages were restored to their fami- lies with great reluctance and deep anguish on the part of the Indians, and often in direct opposition to the wishes of their adopted chil- dren.
"Father," says Lawaughqua, a Shawanese chief, "we have brought your flesh and blood to you. They have been all united to us by adop- tion ; and although we now deliver them, we will always look upon them as our relations whenever the Great Spirit is pleased that we may visit them. We have taken as much care of them as if they were our own flesh and blood. They are now become unacquainted with your customs and manners, and therefore we request you to use them tenderly and kindly, which will induce them to life contentedly with you."
In reference to his desire for peace, and on the same occasion, he said: "Father ! we will
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