USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 50
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" If you doubt the account I give of the force of the Ameri- cans, you can send some of your people in whom you have confi- dence, to examine their army and navy. They shall be permitted to return in safety. The truth is, your British father lies to you and deceives you. He boasts of the few victories he gains, but never tells you of his defeats, of his armies being slaughtered, and his vessels being taken on the big water. He keeps all these things to himself.
"And now, father, let me address a few words to you. Your request shall be granted. I will bear your message to my American father. It is true none of your children appear willing to forsake your standard, and it will be the worse for them. You compare the Americans to ground-hogs, and complain of their mode of fighting. I must confess that a ground-hog is a very difficult animal to contend with. He has such sharp teeth, such an inflexible temper, and such an unconquerable spirit, that
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he is truly a dangerous enemy, especially when he is in his own hole. But, father, let me tell you, you can have your wish. Be- fore many days you will see the ground-hog floating on yonder lake, paddling his canoe towards your hole, and then, father, you will have an opportunity of attacking your formidable enemy in any way you may think best."
This speech terminated the council. The Canadian Indians generally returned across the river and adhered to the British. But they held a council by themselves. The great chief, the Crane, sent them the following speech :
"Let all the Wyandots abandon the British. They are liars, and have always deceived the Indians. They built Fort Miami, as they said, to be a refuge for the Indians. When wounded and bleeding, after our defeat by General Wayne, we fled to the fort for protection, they shut the gates against us." He mentioned many other acts of what he deemed perfidy.
It is well here to notice that the great question which was now agitating the Indians and dividing them, was the all-important one whether a few chiefs had a right to sell important tracts of Indian territory to the whites without the consent of the tribes. Colonel John Johnson, in the year 1818, attended a large council at Upper Sandusky. There was an immense gathering there to pay respect to the memory of the illustrious chief, the Crane, whose Indian name was Tarke. Colonel Johnson gives the following very interesting account of the scene he witnessed. We take the liberty slightly to abbreviate :
" On the death of the great chief of the Wyandots, the Crane, I was invited to attend a general council of all the tribes of Ohio, the Delawares of Indiana, and the Senecas of New York, at the Upper Sandusky. I found, on arriving at the place, a very large attendance. Among the chiefs was the noted leader and orator, Red Jacket, from Buffalo. The first business done was the speaker of the nation delivering an oration on the character of the deceased chief. Then followed what might be called a monody, or ceremony of mourning and lamentation.
" The seats were arranged from end to end of a large council- house, about six feet apart. The head men and the aged took their seats facing each other, stooping down their heads and almost touching. In that position they remained for several hours. Deep, heavy, and long-continued groans would com-
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mence at one end of the row of mourners, and so pass round until all had responded. These were repeated at intervals of a. few minutes. The Indians were all washed, and had no paint or decoration of any kind upon their persons. Their countenances and general deportment denoted the deepest mourning.
" I had never witnessed anything of the kind before; and was told that this ceremony was not performed but on the decease of some great man. After the period of mourning and lamentation was over, the Indians proceeded to business. There were pres- ent the Wyandots, Shawanese, Delawares, Senecas, Ottawas and Mohawks. The business was entirely confined to their own affairs; and the main topic related to their lands and the claims of the respective tribes.
"Red Jacket was the principal speaker, and was intemperate and personal in his remarks. Accusations, pro and con, were made by the different parties, accusing each other of being foremost in selling lands to the United States. The Shawanese were particularly marked out as being more guilty than any others. It was said that though they were the last who come into the Ohio country, and that they had no right there but by the permission of other tribes, they were always the foremost in selling the lands.
This brought the Shawanese out, who retorted, through their head chief on the Senecas and Wyandots with pointed severity. The discussion was long continued, calling out some of the ablest speakers, and was distinguished for ability, cutting sarcasm and research-going far back into the history of the natives, their woes, alliances, negotiations and migrations. I had attended many councils, treaties and gatherings of the Indians, but never did I witness such outpourings of native oratory and eloquence, of severe rebuke, and of taunting national and personal reproaches.
" The council broke up in great confusion and in the worst pos- sible feeling. A circumstance occurred towards the close which, more than anything else, exhibited the bad feeling prevailing. In handing round the wampum belt, the emblem of amity, peace and good-will, when presented to one of the chiefs, he would not touch it with his fingers, but passed it on a stick to the person next him. A greater indignity, agreeable to Indian etiquette, could not be offered. The next day appeared to be one of unusual anxiety and despondency among the Indians. They could be seen in groups. everywhere near the council-house in deep consultation. They
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had acted foolishly; were very sorry; but the difficulty was who would first present the olive branch.
"The council convened late and was very full. Silence pre- vailed for a long time. At last the aged chief of the Shawanese, Black Hoof, arose. He was a man of great influence and a cele- $ brated orator. He said, in substance :
"'Yesterday we acted like children and not like men. I and my people are sorry for the words which were then spoken, and which have done so much harm. I now come into the council, by the unanimous desire of the people present, to recall those foolish words. I here take them all back.'
" He then presented the belt of wampum, the pledge of friend- ship, which was passed around, all receiving it with the greatest satisfaction. Several of the principal chiefs delivered speeches to the same effect, handing the wampum around in turn. In this manner the whole difficulty of the preceding day was settled and, to all appearance, forgotten. The Indians are very courteous and civil to each other. It is a rare thing to see their assemblies dis- turbed by unwise or ill-timed remarks. I never witnessed it except on the occasion here alluded to. It is more than probable that the presence of myself and other white men contributed towards the unpleasant occurrence. I could not but admire the genuine philosophy and good sense displayed by men whom we call savages in the transaction of their public business ; and how much we might profit in the halls of our legislatures by occasion- ally taking for our example the proceedings of the great Indian council at Sandusky."
Black Hoof, of whom such honorable mention is here made, is worthy of some special notice. His Indian name was Catahecas- sa. He was, perhaps, the most renowned of the Shawanese chiefs, both as an orator and a warrior. White men who had heard him speak all testify to the gracefulness of his gestures and to his wonderful command of expressive language. Mr. Drake, in his sketch of the chieftain's life, says that he was well versed in the traditions of his people. No one better understood their peculiar relations to the whites, whose settlements were gradually encroaching on them, or could detail with more minuteness the wrongs with which his nation was afflicted. Although a stern and uncompromising opposition to the whites had marked his policy, through a series of forty years, and nerved his arm in a hundred
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battles, he became at length convinced of the madness of an in- effectual struggle against a vastly superior and hourly increasing foe
No sooner had he satisfied himself of this truth than he acted upon it with the decision which formed a prominent trait in his character. The temporary success of the Indians previous to the campaign of General Wayne, had kept alive their expiring hopes. But their signal defeat by that gallant officer convinced the more reflecting of their leaders of the desperate character of the con- flict. Black Hoof was among those who decided upon making terms with the victorious American commander. And having signed the treaty of 1795, at Greenville, he continued faithful to his stipulations during the remainder of his life.
From that day he ceased to be the enemy of the white man. As he was not one who could act a negative part, he became the firm ally and friend of those against whom his tomahawk had so long been raised in vindictive hostility. He was opposed to polygamy, and lived in faithful union with one wife for forty years. It is said that he was greatly beloved and revered by his numer- ous family. In his early years he witnessed the burning of a captive. The awful spectacle appalled him. He ever afterwards opposed the barbarous custom, and it is said that he saved many from the stake. He was cheerful in his disposition, and fond of conversation. Through a thousand perils his life was prolonged to one hundred and ten years. His influence prevented the greater part of his tribe from joining the English. In that contest he remained firmly the friend of the United States. Though he was not called upon to take any active part in the war, his moral influence over the Indians contributed much to the success of our arms.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
WAR WITH ENGLAND.
THE MARCH OF GOVERNER HULL - GLOOM OF THE WILDERNESS - DETROIT SURRENDERED- GREATNESS OF THE DISASTER - WINTER EXPEDITIONS - TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS - BURNING OF INDIAN TOWNS -- THE PRICE PAID - RECKLESS EXPEDITION OF WINCHESTER - HIS DEFEAT - MASSACRE OF THE WOUNDED - GENERAL PROCTOR -RETREAT TO THE SANDUSKY -SCENES OF WOE-FORT MEIGS ERECTED - BRAVE BUT UNWISE EXPE- DITIONS - THE ADVANCE OF PROCTOR UPON FORT MEIGS- THE BOMBARDMENT - HEROIC DEFENSE - INCIDENTS OF THE SIEGE.
AT THE commencement of the war with England in 1812, Gov- ernor William Hull, of Michigan, was ordered into Ohio to raise troops to take possession of the military post at Detroit. The movement contemplated crossing the river into Canada, and a march upon Quebec. Return J. Meigs was then Governor of Ohio. He immediately raised, in Ohio, three regiments of volunteers for three months. During the months of April and May these troops were rendezvoused at Dayton. Early in June they marched up the Valley of the Great Miami to Staunton, and then were reassem- bled at Urbana, where they were joined by a regiment of regulars. The whole force now numbered about two thousand five hundred men.
In the middle of June Governor Hull took the command and commenced his march through the unbroken forest towards Detroit. After a toilsome tramp of about twenty-four miles, they came to a spot where they erected a block house which they called McArthur's, in honor of Colonel Duncan McArthur, who com- manded the first regiment. Making this a depot for gathering stores, they pushed on some fifteen miles farther, until they found themselves struggling through a marshy expanse resembling an immense morass. Upon a spot of solid ground here they erected
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another fort of logs, which they called Necessity. They then pressed forward directly north, cutting their way for the wagons through the dense forest a distance of about twenty miles, until they reached the banks of Blanchard's Fork, one of the tributa- ries of the Maumee. Here, just west of a point where a bridge now crosses the stream, they constructed a stockade about fifty yards square with block-houses at each of the corners, and a ditch in front, which they called Fort Findlay. It was named after Colonel James Findlay, who commanded the second regiment. Thence a march of about thirty-six miles through pathless wilds, covered with the gloom of gigantic forests, brought them to the Maumee, at the spot where Perrysburg now stands.
The army reached this point on the thirtieth of June, fifteen days after leaving Dayton. The stores were conveyed in one hundred and six heavy wagons. The distance they had marched was about one hundred and twenty miles. For nearly the whole of the route they had to cut their path through the wood. About forty miles of the journey these toil-worn, suffering men waded a swamp knee deep at every step. Thirteen of the wagons were left behind hopelessly mired. The block-houses which they erected on the way served a double purpose. They were stations where fresh supplies of provisions and ammunition could be stored, and they served as taverns where travelers and detachments could rest.
The following incident will illustrate their value : One dark and windy night during the war, Captain William Oliver, in company with a Kentuckian, left Fort Meigs for Fort Findlay, on an errand of much importance. The distance was about thirty-three miles. It was a very hazardous enterprise, for Indian bands, in alliance with the British, were everywhere roaming the forest. They pushed on as rapidly as possible through the darkness, being well mount- ed, until a little after midnight, when they suddenly came upon an encampment of Indians gathered around their smouldering camp- fires.
The Indians, ever sleeping as it were with one eye open, heard the tramp of their approaching horses, and rushed in a band upon them. The darkness was such that the eye could pierce it to but a very short distance. Captain Oliver and his companions put spurs to their horses, and dashed recklessly through the forest. The Indians hotly pursued, guided by the noise of the breaking branches.
ICH ENG CO'
THE ENCAMPMENT,
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As the morning was dawning the fugitives reached Fort Findlay. Their clothes were almost entirely torn from their bodies by the brambles and bushes through which they had rushed. Their bodies were sadly bruised and bleeding by contusions against the trees. As they rejoicingly entered the fort they looked back and saw the howling savages close upon their heels.
Governor Hull, with his army, crossed the Maumee in boats; just below the rapids. They then continued their march to De- troit, which they reached on the fifth of July. On the twelfth he crossed the river into Canada to reconnoiter the strength of the enemy there, and to collect provisions. He soon saw, as he thought, indications that the British, having gained the alliance of nearly all of the warriors of the northwestern tribes, were vastly superior to him in force. He therefore early in August re-crossed the river to take shelter beneath the walls of his fortress at Detroit.
On the fourteenth of August, General Brock, the British com- mander, erected a formidable battery on the Canadian shore, directly opposite the American fort, and the next day summoned Hull to surrender. This being refused, he opened fire and con- tinued vigorously through the night throwing bombs into the fort. At the same time, while thus diverting the attention of the garri- son, he sent secretly a strong force of British soldiers and Indians across the river to storm the fort. It is said that this force con- sisted of seven hundred regulars and six hundred Indians. Mr. Caleb Atwater, in his history of Ohio, gives the following account of what ensued :
"In the morning it was discovered that the enemy had landed at Springwells. Having thus landed in safety, and without oppo- sition, at ten o'clock A.M. he marched in columns twelve deep to attack the American garrison. The fort, or as our soldiers used to call it, The Sheep Pen, was so situated that the soldiers could approach within two hundred yards of it before the guns of the garrison could injure them. A detachment of the American force, however, was sent out, and judiciously posted to prevent the advance of the enemy.
"But at the very moment when every American in the army except its commander was ready and anxious to begin the mortal combat with an enemy of inferior numbers, consisting mostly of either raw militia or Indians, what were the emotions of our army when they were ordered into the fort, and to lay down their
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arms. They reluctantly obeyed, and a white flag was raised on the fort.
"Without shedding a drop of blood, without firing a single gun, the fort, with all its cannon, taken with Burgoyne at Saratoga from the British, with a vast amount of powder, lead, cannon balls and all the munitions of war,- all, all were surrendered, unconditionally surrendered to the enemy. The enemy himself must have doubted his own senses on that occasion. Let us see : twenty-five hundred men with all their arms; twenty-five pieces of iron cannon, and eight brass ones; forty barrels of powder, -all were surrendered without firing a gun to about one thou- sand militia and a few Indians."
Such has been the general view of Governor Hull's deplorable surrender. On the other hand, Mr. John J. Anderson, in his his- tory of the United States, writes :
"Hull's conduct, two years after, underwent examination by court-martial, and though he was acquitted of treason, the court pronounced him guilty of cowardice, and he was sentenced to be shot. But in consideration of his age and revolutionary services, the sentence was remitted by President Madison. Hull's conduct was severely criticised at the time, as well as in after years. But i a series of letters which he published in 1824, and a volume which appeared at a still later period, together formed a complete vindi- cation of his surrender as regards either the charge of treason or cowardice."
It is our duty here simply to give the historic facts, but we are not called upon to enter into the discussion of this question. Just before the surrender, Colonels McArthur and Cass had been dispatched with four hundred of the best troops back into Ohio to convoy a train of baggage wagons on its way to Detroit. No train was to be found. On their return, they had arrived within about nine miles of Detroit when they were met by a detachment of the British with a flag of truce, who informed them that they had been surrendered by Governor Hull prisoners of war. They were marched into Detroit, where they laid down their arms upon the pavement, and were then imprisoned in the fort, which was already so crowded that they had scarcely room to lie down.
Eventually the militia were allowed to return home on their parole not to serve again during the war. They were landed from boats at the mouth of Huron River, at Cleveland, and at various
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other points along the southern shore of Lake Erie; and then crossed the state to their distant places of residence as best they could. General Hull and the officers and soldiers of the regular army were carried in triumph to Montreal and Quebec, to be exhibited as the trophies of British prowess.
The surrender of Hull was as disastrous as it was humiliating. Not only the important military post of Detroit, but the whole of Michigan, thus passed into the hands of our enemies. Disaster followed disaster in this region, and it is undeniable that the most amazing want, not of courage or of energy, but of military ability, was often manifested by our officers. Men were sent out on dis- tant expeditions in mid-winter. Their sufferings were incred- ible. Their horses, starving for want of forage, dropped beneath them. The men, thinly clad, had their hands and feet terribly frozen. One's heart is appalled in reading the account of their sufferings.
There were two or three Indian towns on the Missisiniway River in Indiana. It was deemed expedient to destroy these towns. It required a horseback march of ten days to accomplish this. The freezing blasts and storms of December were howling through the forest. In that inclement season one could scarcely keep com- fortable in the snuggest log hut with roaring fires. The troops reached the villages, commenced the assault in a midnight attack, burned the towns, killed a few Indians, and captured forty-two women and children.
For this achievement they paid the price of exposing six hundred men to great sufferings; twelve of them were killed and forty wounded. Of the wounded, many were life long cripples. A large number of the horses were shot by the Indians. It was the 12th of December, 1812, when these suffering men reached Fort Greenville on their return. " The roads," it is said, "were in as horrible condition as frost, snow, mud and ice could make them. Their horses were almost starved. The soldiers were one and all more or less frost bitten. They were badly provided with pro- visions, and even ammunition was wanting." The reason for this terrible expedition, was to prevent the Indians from having a place of retreat, whence they could issue and interrupt the intercourse between our settlements and Fort Wayne. But it is not improb- able that the Indians had all their frail huts reconstructed, before the half-starved and frozen troops got back to Fort Wayne.
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It is a painful task to record some of these needless disasters. On the 20th of January, 1813, Generals Lewis and Winchester, with a combined force of about one thousand men, after very severe and somewhat successful fighting, were encamped on each side of Stony Creek, near Frenchtown, about eighteen miles from the British headquaters, at Malden. That evening a Frenchman informed Colonel Winchester that three thousand men were about leaving Fort Malden to attack him. There was no discipline among the men. They wandered about at will. No guard was placed on the road leading to Malden. The enemy, that very night, approached unobserved, to within three hundred yards of our army, and posted their artillery unmolested.
Just as the morning was dawning, a tremendous shower of balls bombs and grape shot fell upon the sleeping encampment, and at the same moment the yells of savages, apparently in countless numbers, on the right and left flank of our troops, announced that they were almost surrounded. An awful scene of tumult, terror and blood ensued. Our troops, thus taken by surprise, and utterly overpowered, were soon put to the rout, while the ground was covered with their slain. They were shot down, tomahawked and scalped without mercy.
The snow was deep, the cold intense; Winchester and Lewis were both taken prisoners, and were carried to the tent of the British general, Proctor. Conscious that the prolongation of the struggle was only prolonging the slaughter of their own men, they agreed to surrender. They were surrounded by three times their own number, their ammunition was expended. The captured troops were marched off to Malden. They numbered five hundred and forty men. A large number were left behind, so severely wounded that they could not be moved.
The next morning two hundred Indians came down from Mal- den. They were painted black, and it is scarcely possible that the British officers should not have known the mission upon which they had entered. By the terms of the surrender, General Proc- tor agreed to protect his captives by a guard. No such guard was furnished the wounded.
The savages at once, with frantic yells, commenced the work of plunder and of slaughter. Everywhere was to be seen the gleam of the murderous tomahawk and the scalping knife. There were two large log houses, crowded with the wounded. The Indians
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set them both on fire, and the poor creatures were consumed in the flames. Some who tried to crawl out the windows were toma- hawked and thrown back into the glowing furnace. In these awful scenes of battle and of massacre two hundred and ninety Americans perished. These were generally young men, from the best families of Kentucky and Ohio. The wife of Henry Clay lost a brother here, who was killed and scalped by the savages.
" For a disaster so terrible who was to blame?" writes Mr. At- water, "Not General Harrison, because he never ordered such a rash movement of Winchester's force. He had no knowledge of the movement until Winchester's express informed him, when he was at Sandusky, at the distance of sixty or seventy miles from the rapids. Harrison then clearly foresaw that Winchester had thrown himself into the very jaws of the enemy, beyond the reach of succor."
When General Harrison heard the tidings of the disaster, he dispatched Dr. McKeehan to Malden with money and medicines for the relief of the sick and wounded. The doctor was furnished with an open letter, addressed to any British officer whom he might meet. He also bore a flag of truce. On the way he was attacked, his guide slain, and he was taken prisoner. Thus he was conveyed to Malden. There he found the sick and wounded in an open, muddy wood yard, without fire. Proctor took from him his watch, his money, his letter, his flag of truce, his horse and his cariole. He then put him into irons and sent him by way of Niagara to Quebec. The doctor was finally released from his captivity, but the hardships to which he had been exposed utterly undermined his constitution, and ere long death relieved him of his sufferings.
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