USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 6
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were gaining in another. Thus the tides of battle ebbed and flowed, from eight o'clock in the morning until eleven o'clock at noon. The military intelligence of the Indians was evidenced in the fact that while they engrossed the attention of the English, by a fierce attack upon their front, a number of their warriors were sent secretly and by a circuitous route to attack their baggage . train. They came very near accomplishing this feat. The com- missary and military stores were only saved by a party being hastily sent from the main body to the aid of the rear guard.
At length British intelligence, discipline and valor prevailed over the Cherokees, and they were put to flight. Sixty of the English were struck by the bullets of the savages before they fled. The loss of the savages is not known. It was, however, probably small, as they were very careful to keep their persons concealed behind rocks and trees. "War," says Napoleon, "is the science of barbarians." The victorious English now entered upon a career of punishing the defeated savages. They swept the Cherokee country for thirty days, in all directions, trampling the crops, burning the villages and shooting the warriors wherever they could be found. Fourteen large towns were laid in ashes. A large number of well-stored granaries were committed to the flames. The women and children fled in terror from their dread- ful foe to the fastnesses of the mountains, where, it is said, many of them perished of starvation.
Colonel Francis Marion, who subsequently attained national renown in the Revolutionary war, was a subordinate officer in this campaign. In a letter to a friend he gives the following touching account of the scenes he witnessed :
"We arrived at the Indian towns in the month of July. As the lands were rich and the season had been favorable, the corn was bending under the double weight of lusty, roasting ears, and pods and clustering beans. The furrows seemed to rejoice under their precious loads; the fields stood thick with bread. We encamped, the first night, in the woods near the fields, where the whole army feasted on the young corn, which, with fat venison, made a most delicious treat.
" The next morning we proceeded, by order of Colonel Grant, to burn down the Indian cabins. Some of our men seemed to enjoy this cruel work, laughing very heartily at the curling flames as they mounted, loud, crackling over the tops of the huts; but
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to me it appeared a shocking sight. 'Poor creatures,' thought I, ' we surely need not grudge you such miserable habitations.' But when we came, according to orders, to cut down the fields of corn, I could scarcely refrain from tears. For who could see the stalks, that stood so stately, with broad, green leaves and gaily-tasseled shocks, filled with sweet, milky fluid and flour, the staff of life,- who, I say, could see without grief these sacred plants sinking under our swords, with all their precious load, to wither and rot untasted in the fields.
" I saw everywhere around the footsteps of little Indian children, where they had lately played under the shelter of the rustling corn. No doubt they had often looked up with joy to the swelling shocks, and were gladdened when they thought of their abundant cakes for the coming winter. When we are gone, thought I, they will return, and, peeping through the weeds with tearful eyes, will mark the ghastly ruin poured over their homes and the happy fields where they had so often played."
The Cherokees were crushed. Like the rush of the tornado the English swept over their fertile fields. Smouldering ruins, desolation, death were everywhere. A deputation of chiefs, com- pletely humiliated, visited the camp, imploring peace. Among them was the noble Attakulla. In the following appropriate and truly pathetic speech he addressed General Grant :
"You live at the water side, and are in light. We are in dark- ness; but we hope that all will yet be clear. I have been con- stantly going about doing good. Though I am tired, yet I am come to see what can be done for my people, who are in great distress. As to what has happened, I believe that it has been ordered by our Father above. We are of a different color from the white people. They are superior to us; but one God is Father of us all, and we hope that what is past will be forgotten. God Almighty made all people. There is not a day but that some are coming into the world, and others are going out of it. The Great King told me that the path should never be crooked, but open for every one to pass and repass. As we all live in one land, I hope we shall all live as one people."
Peace was formally ratified, with the declaration that it should last as long as the sun should shine or the waters run. Thus the dreadful Cherokee war was brought to an end in the Summer of 1761.
CHAPTER IV.
LIFE AMONG THE OHIO INDIANS
CAPTURE OF JAMES SMITH -SCENES AT FORT DUQUESNE - RUNNING THE GAUNTLET - THE TORTURE-CEREMONY OF ADOPTION - AN INDIAN DANCE - THE STRATAGEM OF BUF- FALO HOOFS- LOST IN THE WOOD-THE PUNISHMENT OF DEGRADATION - MEN AND WOMEN'S WORK - THE GAME OF FOOT-BALL - INDIAN HOSPITALITY - POWERS OF ENDURANCE - ATTEMPT TO RUN DOWN A HORSE.
IN THE account we have given of Braddock's defeat, there is allusion to Colonel James Smith, who was a prisoner in Fort Du- quesne at that time. His history is so remarkable, and sheds such light upon the customs of the Indians, as to be worthy of special record. It is said that he was the first Anglo-American who wrote an account of his adventures in the vast wilderness beyond the Alleghanies. For the account here given we are in- debted to the very interesting "Sketches of Western Adventure," by Rev. John A. M'Clung, D.D.
In the spring of the year 1755, James Smith, then a lad but eighteen years of age, accompanied a party of three hundred men from the western frontiers of Pennsylvania, across the Alleghany mountains, for the purpose of opening a road, by which artillery could be transported for the attack of Fort Duquesne. When the party had reached Bedford Springs he was sent back to urge forward some wagons which were in the rear. Having fulfilled his mission, he was returning to the main body with another young man, both mounted, when they were fired upon, from ambush, by a party of three Indians. Smith's companion fell dead. Smith was unhurt, but his terrified horse so plunged and reared that he was thrown violently to the ground. The Indians sprang upon him. One of them could speak English. He asked if more white men were coming up. Upon being answered in the negative, two
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of them seized him by the arm and hurried him along, hour after hour, with the utmost possible speed, over the mountains. Scarcely a word was spoken.
At night they encamped, built their fire, and cooked their sup- per. They shared their provisions liberally with their prisoner, and though they guarded him vigilantly, he was treated with much kindness. The next day they pressed on so rapidly that Smith thought that they must have traversed fifty miles. Late in the evening they reached the western side of Laurel Mountain, when they saw, in the distance, the gleam of the fires of an Indian encampment.
The captors fired their guns, and unitedly raised the shrill, piercing shriek, called the scalp halloo. The Indians in the camp below responded with a similar cry, and rushed out to meet the party, whose yell had announced that they were returning in tri- umph. Though the Indians in the camp belonged to another tribe, the visitors were treated with great hospitality.
The next morning the march was continued, and on the eve- ning of the next day they reached Fort Duquesne. As they approached they raised again the scalp halloo. This threw the whole garrison into commotion. It was recognized as the shout of victory on the part of the Indian allies of the French. Cannon were fired, drums beaten, and bugle peals sounded through the forest as Indians and Frenchmen rushed out to greet the return- ing party.
The Indians, who were very numerous, immediately formed in two lines, about six or eight feet apart. There were men, women and boys, and all were armed with hatchets, ramrods or switches, and seemed animated with the expectation of some great sport.
Smith looked upon the movement with wonder, having no knowledge of the fate which awaited him. It was soon explained to him that he was to run the gauntlet, as it was called; that is, he was to run between the two lines, and receive a blow from each of the Indians as he passed. One of his captors kindly told him to run as fast as he possibly could, and the affair would sooner be over. There was no escape. Smith was stripped almost naked, and entered upon the terrible ordeal. Straining every nerve, he set out upon the race, and blows of cruel severity were showered down upon him.
Mangled, faint and bleeding, he had arrived near the end, when
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a powerful chief, with the blow of a club upon his head, felled him to the ground. Soon recovering from his bewilderment, he sprang to his feet and started forward, when a handful of sand was thrown violently into his eyes. Thus blinded, and in acutest pain, he still endeavored to grope his way along, and he was again knocked down and beaten so mercilessly as to become quite insensible.
He recollected nothing more till he found himself in the hos- pital of the fortress, with his flesh bruised almost to a jelly, from head to feet. Here his captors, who had ever treated him kindly, visited him. Young Smith inquired what he had done to merit such cruel treatment. They replied that he had done nothing, but that this was the custom-that it was the greeting which they always gave their captives. It was, they said, like the English custom of shaking hands, and saying, " How do you do." But they as- sured him that now, having passed through this ceremony, he would be treated with all kindness.
It may be proper to suggest that, from this polite reception by the savages, may have originated the greeting which young men in our highest seats of learning often give to strangers who come to share their intellectual and social privileges. The practice which the savages called running the gauntlet, the college gentle- men call hazing. The amusement consists in pouring lamp oil down one's back and over one's coat; in confining their victim in a room, and stifling him, almost to strangulation, with tobacco smoke; three or four stout young men will seize one feeble one, and half drown him beneath the spout cf a pump, or compel him to the humiliation of dancing a hornpipe or sing a song at their bidding. Agreeable as these pastimes may be to the civilized and cultured young gentlemen who perform them, it is earnestly to be hoped that the custom will not spread to be in vogue with the gentlemen and ladies of the most refined circles of society, in their reception of distinguished guests from abroad.
Smith inquired of his captors if they had received any tidings of the advance of General Braddock's army. They replied ex- ultingly, that their scouts were watching him every day, and that they would soon shoot them all down like pigeons. Slowly Smith recovered from his merciless beating. On the morning of the ninth of July, he was hobbling along, by the aid of a stick, on the battlements of the fort, when he perceived an unusual com-
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motion in the garrison. Crowds of Indians were around the great gate. Open barrels of powder and bullets were placed there. They were eagerly filling their powder horns and pouches. Then, about four hundred in number, they followed a company of French regulars, and entering one of the trails of the forest, soon disap- peared from view.
The force under General Braddock was vastly superior to that of his assailants. And when Smith soon learned that Braddock was within a few miles of the fort, he had no doubt that the Brit- ish regulars would speedily disperse the mongrel band sent out to meet them. He was therefore quite elated with the prospect of a speedy release from captivity.
About the middle of the afternoon an ndian runner came to the fort, announcing the utter defeat of Braddock ; and as the sun was sinking beneath the horizon, the forest seemed filled with those shrill, triumphant yells, the scalp halloo. Soon an Indian band appeared driving before them twelve British regulars, strip- ped naked and painted black, an evidence that they were doomed to death by torture. The savages were frantic with joy, dancing, yelling, brandishing their tomahawks, and waving gory scalps in the air.
To the eternal disgrace of the French commander, he allowed these unhappy prisoners of war to be led to the banks of the Alle- ghany, and there to be put to death with all the lingering horrors of savage barbarity. From the battlements of the fort, Smith wit- nessed the awful scene, and listened to the shrieks of the suffer- ers. Two or three days after this shocking spectacle, young Smith was demanded of the French by his captors, and embarking with them in a canoe, ascended the Alleghany River to a small Indian town about forty miles above Fort Duquesne. They then, leav- ing their canoe, struck through the woods into what is now the State of Ohio, until they reached a small Indian village called Tullihas, on the western branch of the Muskingum River.
Until this time Smith had suffered much anxiety respecting his ultimate fate. He knew not but that he was reserved for the awful tortures which he had already seen inflicted upon his coun- trymen. But here, the morning after his arrival, the principal members of the tribe gathered around him and entered upon the rather formidable ceremony of adopting him as a son of the tribe.
4
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For a time he was somewhat astonished at the procedure, as he knew not its aim and end.
An aged chief commenced with great dexterity plucking out his hair by the roots. Occasionally he dipped his finger in ashes to render his hold upon the hair more firm. Patiently Smith sub- mitted to the operation. Soon his head was entirely bald, with one tuft only left upon the top, called the scalp lock. This was carefully braided and ornamented with several silver spangles. It was a part of Indian chivalry to leave this tuft of hair, so that the enemy, if victorious, could take the scalp.
His nose and ears were bored and earrings inserted. He was then stripped entirely naked, and his body was profusely and fan- tastically painted. A strip of cloth, in the Indian fashion, was wound around his loins, a gorgeous belt of wampum entwined around his neck, and silver bands fastened around his right arm. He now stood forth, in appearance, a veritable Indian. It would have required a very keen eye to have distinguished him from one of the natives.
Thus far Smith was entirely ignorant of the object of these strange procedures. He had many fears that he was being deco- rated for some appalling sacrifice. These operations were all performed in one of the wigwams, but few being present. The old chief then took him by the hand, led him out into the open air, and gave three of those shrill, piercing whoops which only an Indian's throat can utter. Instantly every inhabitant of the vil- lage, all the men, women and children, were gathered around him.
The venerable chief, still holding him by the hand, addressed the tribe in a long and animated speech, unintelligible of course to Smith. When he had ceased speaking, three buxom, mirthful Indian maidens came forward, and seizing him dragged him to the river which flowed near by. They drew him into the water, up nearly to their arm-pits, and commenced scrubbing him with the greatest vehemence. Occasionally all three would place their hands upon his head and endeavor to force it under water.
He, thinking their object was to drown him, made manful resistance. One of the young girls perceiving his alarm, burst into a merry laugh, exclaiming, in broken English, “We no hurt you ! We no hurt you!" He then submitted, and they plunged him under the water again and again, giving his whole body as thorough a washing as any ablution could confer. 6
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It was bitter cold weather, and notwithstanding the violent discipline to which he had been subjected, he shivered as he was led ashore, dripping with water. Several Indians then came for- ward and dressed him in a shirt of deer skin, richly fringed, and with moccasins and leggins gorgeously colored and highly orna- mented. He was seated upon a couch covered with a bear skin; a lighted pipe, filled with fragrant tobacco, was placed in his hands, and also a tomahawk, with pouch, flint and steel
The chiefs took seats by his side, and, for a few moments, smoked in perfect silence. Then one of the orators arose, and in a very impressive manner addressed the young man of their adop- tion in the following words :
" My son, you are now one of us. Hereafter you have nothing to fear. In accordance with an ancient custom, you have been adopted in the room of a brave man who has fallen in battle. Every drop of white blood has been washed from your veins. We are now your brothers, and are bound by our laws to love you, to defend you, and to avenge your injuries, as much as if you were born in our tribe."
He was then formally introduced to all the warriors, and was received by every member of the tribe with touching testimonials of regard. In the evening a great feast was prepared in honor of the occasion. Young Smith was then presented with a large wooden bowl and spoon. The bowl he was invited to fill with a very palatable preparation of boiled corn and tender venison finely hashed. This was simmering over the fire in a huge kettle, and all the warriors at the feast helped themselves. Gentlemanly pro- priety presided at the entertainment. There was no rudeness, no boisterous merriment. The festivities were closed late in the evening by a brilliant bonfire and a war dance. All the warriors were decorated with paint and waving plumes, and with their most gorgeous military trappings.
Early the next morning nearly all their braves, thoroughly armed and well mounted, set off, in single file, for a predatory excursion across the Ohio River, among the scattered cabins and feeble settlements in Western Virginia. They left two or three renowned hunters to provide their wives and children with game during their absence.
In leaving the village the warriors, apparently impressed with the perils of their enterprise, preserved the most profound silence.
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The leader of the band, however, a distinguished chief, chanted a dirge-like air called " The Traveler's Parting Song." When they had fairly entered the forest and were beyond sight of the village, they fired a farewell salute. They discharged their rifles slowly, in regular succession, commencing in the front and ending with the rear.
Soon after the warriors left, all the young people, the lads and the lasses prepared for a dance. It will be remembered that young Smith was but eighteen years of age, still he was not suffi- ciently acquainted with Indian customs to take a part in the dance. He was an interested looker on.
The dancers formed themselves in two lines, about twenty feet apart, facing each other. The girls were in one line and the young men in the other. Some musical genius had a carefully- prepared gourd in his hand, with rind thin and sonorous, partially filled with beads. With this rude instrument he contrived to make a sort of jingling melody, beating time with considerable precision. All the voices were joined in concert with this leader, singing a monotonous, plaintive song, to whose cadences it was easy to keep time with their feet.
They were all dressed in their gayest costume, of moccasins and soft deer-skin leggins, richly fringed and decorated in brightest colors with beads, shells and spangles. Their forms seemed to be the perfection of human statuary, tall, lithe and graceful. Their plump arms and beautifully-formed chests were bare. The color of their skin attracted admiration by its beauty ; it perfectly resembled, in its healthful spotless purity, burnished copper, such as we see in coin fresh from the mint. There were few ball-rooms in Christendom which could present so fascinating a group as was that morning exhibited by Indian young men and maidens on the green sward which lined the banks of the Muskingum.
Young Smith seems to have possessed a very philosophic and observing frame of mind. He watched the movements of the dancers very closely, and was much amused in seeing that human hearts beat beneath their copper-colored bosoms with the same throbbings which are experienced beneath complexions more fair. The dance consisted of the two lines advancing towards each other with measured tread until they met. They would then exchange loving glances, tender words, and not unfrequently an affectionate pat upon the cheek, and again, in unbroken lines,
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draw back to their first positions. This was continued hour after hour. The young girls seemed to understand the arts of coquetry and the most attractive mode of playing off their charms fully as well as their sisters in more enlightened communities.
He was greatly surprised, and our readers will probably be, in learning that the maidens, instead of the young men, took decidedly the lead in all the acts of courtship. The young men were far more shy, coy and bashful than the girls. The love- making was principally on the part of the maidens; and they manifested no hesitancy in showing their preference for some handsome young hunter or warrior, and in urging upon him their love.
Smith was treated with the greatest kindness, even with polite attentions. He was embarrassed with the innumerable invitations he had to " dine out." The Indians had no particular hours for their meals. It was their custom to invite every visitor to eat, the moment he entered their wigwams. The Indians themselves seemed to have an unlimited capacity for storing away food. They deemed any refusal to partake of their hospitality as an affront. Smith wished to bring himself into harmony with the customs of his new and kind friends, and often suffered from the amount of food he felt constrained to accept.
After the war party had been gone about a week, one morning an aged chief, who, in consequence of his age, had remained at home, invited Smith to go a-hunting with him At the distance of a few miles from the village they discovered very distinct and fresh buffalo tracks. The old chief examined them with extra- ordinary attention, having his fears evidently aroused. Noise- lessly and with the utmost caution he followed the tracks, keenly glancing his eyes in every direction. Smith was much surprised at this singular conduct, and asked why he did not push on more rapidly, so as to get a shot at the buffaloes.
" Hush!" exclaimed the chief, putting his hand to his lips. " It may be buffalo ; it may be Catawba." He then added in a low tone of voice: "The Catawbas have long been at war with our tribe. They are the most cunning and wicked people in the world. A few years ago a party of Catawba warriors approached our camp by night. They sent out some spies, mounted on buf- falo hoofs, who left their tracks around our camp, and then returned to the main body. In the morning, our warriors seeing
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the buffalo tracks, set out in pursuit of the herd. They soon fell into an ambush, were fired upon and many were killed.
"We fought them fiercely. They soon gave way. We pursued them. In anticipation of this they had stuck a number of slen- der reeds in the grass, sharpened at the end, and dipped in rattle- snake poison. Our young men pursuing headlong were several of them pricked by these poisoned reeds. Many were thus killed and scalped. The Catawba," added the chief, "is a very bad Indian ; a perfect devil for mischief."
A careful examination of the tracks at length convinced the chief that they were the veritable footprints of the buffalo. The herd had, however, wandered too far to be overtaken. A few days after this Smith, who seemed to have secured the entire confidence of his new friends, set out alone upon a hunting excursion. The primeval forest, in all its gloom and grandeur, spread far and wide around him in an unbroken solitude. Anxious to return laden with game in evidence of his enterprise and skill, he struck out boldly, following, with hurried footsteps, the winding path of a fresh buffalo trail. With eager steps he pressed on several miles, not sufficiently observing the direction in which he moved. Evening came on, and conscious that he was far from home, he determined to cut across the hills, and thus reach the village by a shorter way. He soon found himself bewildered, and utterly lost in the inextricable mazes of the forest. He fired his gun several times, hoping to obtain some responsive signal from his friends. But the wail of the forest, as the night breeze swept its branches, alone greeted his ear. Through the whole night he wandered unable to find his way home.
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