USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Volume One > Part 13
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A GREAT STRATEGIST-ISSUES BILLS OF CREDIT-PREPARES FOR WAR-PRESQUE ISLE A STRATEGIC POINT-CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF FORTS PRESQUE ISLE, LE BOEUF AND VENANGO-COLONEL BOQUET SUBDUES THE INDIANS- COLONEL ISRAEL PUTNAM AT ERIE.
Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawas, soon set about a deep-laid scheme of his own to drive the hated English from the hunting grounds of the Indians, and thus to repossess the lands of his revered ancestors. Taking every precaution to seem to be at peace, and to be on the friendliest of terms with the English, yet, with consummate skill, he set about carry- ing out one of the most wide-spread and systematic murder schemes which has ever been recorded against the red men. Drake in his history of the Indians says :
"There was more system employed by this distinguished man than perhaps by any other of his countrymen upon any similar undertaking, not excepting even Metacomet or Tecumseh. In his war of 1763, which is justly denominated Pontiac's War, he appointed a commissary and began to make and issue bills of credit, all of which he afterward care- fully redeemed. . . . He had also, with great sagacity, urged upon his people the necessity of dispensing altogether with European com- modities, to have no intercourse with any whites, and to depend entirely upon their ancient modes of procuring sustenance."
The territory which he designed to cover in this campaign, extended from Michilimackinac (Mackinack) on the northwest to the Genesee River on the east, and from the lakes south to Fort Pitt. Within this district there were hundreds of pioneer families, much traveling by prospecting
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settlers, and by traders going from tribe to tribe in pursuit of their business of barter of goods for pelts and other forest merchandise. There were also some twelve fortified posts, including our two Erie County forts, occupied by the English with ridiculously small garrisons. As the French had been expelled, and the Indians were apparently friendly, the English apprehended no danger from any source, unless from occasional predatory bands of Indians. The Indian organization was most com- plete. Pontiac went amongst the tribes and proclaimed that the Great Manitou had appeared to him in a vision, saying, "I am the Lord of life; it is I who made all men; I wake for their safety. Therefore I give you warning, that if you suffer the Englishmen to dwell in your midst, their diseases and their poisons shall destroy you utterly, and you shall die." All this while he and his red men used every art to have the white men believe that they had buried the hatchet, and had returned to the ways of peace and friendship. Their efforts in this line were largely success- ful, and hardly a suspicion arose that the Indians were not fully as friend- ly as they seemed. The settlers, as well as the military, were therefore lulled into a fancied security, and no preparations were made for any- thing but the most perfunctory defensive measures. But the wily Pontiac was actively engaged in secret, perfecting his plans, and the amalgama- tion of his forces. He was personally acquainted with the territory in which he was to launch his attack. He well knew the situation, and the weaknesses of the forts and fortified posts to be attacked. He had inti- mate knowledge of the strength of the various garrisons, and prepared himself to take advantage of every weakness, and every opportunity which presented. It is also strange to us that the English commanders did not feel the need of more closely inspecting the real sentiments of the Indians, for they must have realized that the red men for about a century had been active and more or less enthusiastic partisans of the French. It was entirely natural therefore that when the French had been defeated and dispossessed, that their allies and close friends should have felt keen disappointment and probable resentment. Therefore, the very fact that the Indians so promptly developed symptoms of excessive good-will and devotion should have been, in itself, sufficient cause for distrust. But the authorities, as well as the settlers, appear to have taken the Indians' atti- tude at its full, apparent, valuation, and without any, or very little dis- trust. For this they were very soon to experience cruelty, sacrifice of life, and suffering.
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Our county, with its fortifications, stood in the very midst of the ter- ritory which was destined for the stroke of the Indians.
For Presque Isle had long been an important military and trading post in the Indian country. Here was for years, a point for the distribu- tion of munitions and supplies for the French posts in the Ohio valley. Here, too, the Indians resorted in large numbers, with their great cargoes of peltries and other wood-craft merchandise, for the purpose of selling and for exchanging it in barter. Many a busy scene must the shore of our bay have presented in those pioneer days of French occupancy, when
Vacant Land Hickory south 64' west (8:00) Perches @Ash by a
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South Nº East 644 Pcs.
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Presque Isle Bay
First OFFICIAL SURVEY OF ERIE Made July 27-28-29. 1789 BY JOHN ADLUM, D.S. As filed in the Dept. of Inter- nal Affairs, Harrisburg. Az.
the Indian canoes, in great fleets, rounded the point of Presque Isle, and effected a landing at the mouth of Mill Creek. One can easily visualize the stir and bustle incident to their landing and then the constructing of the encampment; for it was the unwritten law of their being that a stay of some length would be made at such times and places, accompanied with all sorts of aboriginal revelry and abandonment. Then too it was a wonderful experience for them to have the opportunity of handling and selecting the merchandise of the white man, for which they would almost be willing to sell their immortal souls, if necessary to acquire some of it. It is likely that the qualifications for store-keeper in those frontier posts, included some points which are not now stressed so much as they were
Road to Le Boeuf
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then. Much diplomacy on the part of the store-keeper was essential to keep up the enthusiasm of his customers, as well as to avoid being robbed by people whose ingrained traditions of untold generations upheld the theory of all property of a movable nature being absolutely held in com- mon, and to be taken and used by him who wished to appropriate it for his present need.
It is therefore profitable for us, as well as historically interesting, to try to keep in mind the probable scenes which must have been enacted in those memorable years of the past, about the mouth of Mill Creek, and around the foot of Parade Street. With the thick woods of ancient growth, surrounding the stage, and which stretched far and wide in almost limitless extent, threaded with ancient trails or foot-paths, known and used by the natives for untold generations, and leading to such des- tinations as they alone, in many cases, possessed the knowledge of, an element of mystery, of charm, of romance, of insistent call to exploration, the little post and settlement on the shore of our bay must have been .a spot filled, and palpitating, with the spirit of adventure. The quiet, matter-of-fact looking place does not now suggest those elements of adventure and rare experience which constituted so much of its power and attraction for the men who established the form of Caucasian Civili- zation upon our harbor shores.
This post, by its situation, controlled the communication between Lake Erie, the Niagara Frontier, and Fort Pitt with its tributary terri- tory. It was considered by white and red men alike, an important post in the scheme of any campaign. It is, therefore, easy to understand that Pontiac at once included Fort Presque Isle in his plan of conquest and devastation. Fort Le Boeuf, likewise, entered in to his scheme, as being located within the territory to be cleared of white dominion.
Being of such strategic importance in any campaign, it is curious to contemplate the important military post of Presque Isle being committed to the command of an Ensign and "twenty-seven men."
The plans of the Indians provided for each of the twelve English forts in the district to be attacked simultaneously, and without any pre- vious warning of their intentions. It therefore happened that on June 17th, 1763, the little garrison of thirteen men under Ensign Price at Fort Le Boeuf, early in the forenoon, discovered that they were surrounded with warlike savages, intent upon the destruction of the fort, and the slaughter of the garrison. Without the least idea that the red men
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regarded the white folks in any but a friendly light, no special preparation had been made for the defense of the post, and it was well known that there would be no plans available for reinforcements to reach them for weeks. It was also realized that surrender would merely be hastening the moment for torture and death for each member of the little garrison. After a brief discussion, the Garrison was resolved to stand by its guns as the most sensible method of action in sight. It was either death at the hands of the savages in case of surrender, and death too, in some horrid, revolting manner, or death quickly met from a bullet or arrow, in case of defense. There was but one course open to them, as brave men, and they resolved to make the Indians pay as dearly as possible for their victory. All day the battle continued, and one by one the brave defenders fell at their posts, or were severely wounded. At night the little handful of survivors, the ensign and seven men, contrived to escape from the fort through a secret, underground passage way which led to the marshy lands surrounding the lake. Later in the night the Indians renewed their attack on the fort, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing the build- ings in flames, and retired in the full belief that the garrison had been consumed along with the fort. The little band of white men succeeded in making their way down the river to Fort Pitt, and the Indians then took the trail over the divide, using the "Old French Road" portage route to Fort Presque Isle where they were discovered by its little garrison on June 22, 1763.
Mr. Parkman, commenting upon the fort and the Indian attack, says "the blockhouse to which Christie alludes, was supposed to make it impregnable against the Indians. This blockhouse, a very large and strong one, stood at an angle of the fort, and was built of massive logs, with the projecting upper story usual in such structures, by means of which a vertical fire could be made upon the heads of assailants, through openings in the projecting part of the floor, like the machicoulis of a mediaeval castle. It had also a kind of bastion, from which one or more of its walls could be covered by a flank fire. The roof was of shingles, and might easily be set on fire; but at the top of a sentry box or lookout, from which water could be thrown. On one side was the lake, and on the other a small stream which entered it. Unfortunately the bank of this stream rose in a high steep ridge within forty yards of the blockhouse, thus affording a cover for assailants, while the bank of the lake offered them similar advantages on another side."
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Describing the battle and the preparations of the little garrison for its defense, Mr. Parkman says "Christie, whose garrison now consisted of twenty-seven men, prepared for a stubborn defense. The doors of the blockhouse, and the sentry box at the top were lined to make them bullet-proof; the angles of the roof were covered with green turf as a protection against fire-arrows, and gutters of bark were laid in such a manner that streams of water could be sent to every part. His expecta- tion of a 'visit from the hell hounds' proved to be perfecty well-founded. . When the sun rose they showed themselves, and began their customary yelling. Christie, with a very unnecessary reluctance to begin the fray, ordered his men not to fire till the Indians had set the example. The consequence was, that they were close to the blockhouse before they received the fire of the garrison; and many of them sprang into the ditch, whence, being well sheltered, they fired at the loop-holes, and amused themselves with throwing stones and handfuls of gravel, or, what was more to the purpose, fire-balls of pitch. Some got into the fort, and shel- tered themselves behind the bakery and other buildings, whence they · kept up a brisk fire; while the others pulled down a small out-house of plank, of which they made a movable breast-work, and approached under cover of it by pushing it before them. At the same time, great numbers of them lay close behind the ridges by the stream, keeping up a rattling fire, into every loop-hole, and shooting burning arrows against the roof and sides of the blockhouse. Some were extinguished with water, while many dropped out harmless after burning a small hole. The Indians now rolled logs on the top of the ridges, where they made three strong breast- works, from behind which they could discharge their shot and throw their fire-works with greater effect. Sometimes they would try to dart across the intervening space and shelter themselves with the companions in the ditch, but all who attempted it were killed or wounded. And now the hard-beset little garrison could see them throwing up earth and stones behind the nearest breast-work. Their implacable foes undermin- ing the blockhouse. There was little time to reflect on this new danger ; for another, more imminent, soon threatened them. The barrels of water, always kept in the building, were nearly emptied in extinguishing the frequent fires; and though there was a well close at hand, in the parade ground, it was death to approach it. The only resource was to dig a sub- terranean passage to it. The floor was torn up; and while some of the men fired heated muskets from the loop-holes, the rest labored stoutly at
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this cheerless task. Before it was half finished the roof was on fire again, and all the water that remained was poured down to extinguish it. In a few moments, the cry of fire was again raised, when a soldier, at immi- nent risk of his life, tore off the burning shingles and averted the danger.
"By this time it was evening. The garrison had not a moment's rest since the sun rose. Darkness brought little relief, for guns flashed all night from the Indian intrenchment. In the morning, however, there was a respite. The Indians were ominously quiet, being employed, it seems, in pushing their subterranean approaches, and preparing fresh means for firing the blockhouse. In the afternoon the attack began again. They set fire to the house of the commanding officer, which stood close at hand, and which they had reached by means of their trenches. The pine logs blazed fiercely, and the wind blew the flame against the bastion of the blockhouse, which scorched, blackened, and at last took fire; but the gar- rison had by this time dug a passage to the well, and, half-stifled as they were, they plied their water buckets with such good will that the fire was subdued, while the blazing house soon sank to a glowing pile of embers. The men, who had behaved throughout with great spirit, were now, in the words of their officer, 'exhausted to the greatest extremity'; yet they still kept up their forlorn defense, toiling and fighting without pause within the wooden walls of their dim prison, where the close and heated air was thick with the smoke of gunpowder. The firing on both sides lasted through the rest of the day, and did not cease till midnight, at which hour a voice was heard to call out, in French, from the enemy's intrenchments, warning the garrison that farther resistance would be useless, since preparations were made for setting the blockhouse on fire, above and below at once. Christie demanded to know if there were any among them who spoke English; upon which, a man in the Indian dress came out from behind the breastwork. He was a soldier who, having been made prisoner early in the French war, had since lived among the savages, and now espoused their cause, fighting with them against his own coun- trymen. He said if they yielded, their lives should be spared; but if they fought longer, they must be burned alive. Christie told them to wait till morning for his answer. They assented, and suspended their fire. Chris- tie now asked his men, if we may believe the testimony of two of them, 'whether they chose to give up the blockhouse, or remain in it and be burned alive?' They replied that they would stay as long as they could bear the heat, and then fight their way through. A third witness, Edward
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Smyth, apparently a corporal, testifies that all but two of them were for holding out. He says that when his opinion was asked, he replied that, having but one life to lose, he would be governed by the rest; but at the same time he reminded them of the treachery at Detroit, and of the butchery at Fort William Henry, adding that, in his belief, they themselves could expect no better usage.
"When morning came, Christie sent out two soldiers, as if to treat with the enemy, but, in reality, as he says, to learn the truth of what they had told him respecting their preparations to burn the blockhouse. On reaching the breastwork, the soldiers made a signal, by which their officers saw that his worst fears were well founded. In pursuance of their orders, they then demanded that two of the principal chiefs should meet with Christie midway between the breastwork and the blockhouse. The chiefs appeared accordingly ; and Christie, going out, yielded up the blockhouse; having at first stipulated that the lives of all the garrison should be spared, and that they might retire unmolested to the nearest post. The soldiers, pale and haggard, like men who had passed through a . fiery ordeal, now issued from their scorched and bullet-pierced strong- hold. A scene of plunder instantly began. Benjamin Gray, a Scotch sol- dier, who had just been employed, on Christie's order, in carrying presents to the Indians, seeing the confusion, and hearing a scream from a ser- geant's wife, the only woman in the garrison, sprang off into the woods, and succeeded in making his way to Fort Pitt with news of the disaster. It is needless to say that no faith was kept with the rest, and they had good cause to be thankful that they were not butchered on the spot. After being detained for some time in the neighborhood, they were car- ried prisoners to Detroit, where Christie soon after made his escape, and gained the fort in safety."
Christie endured the long and painful siege of the fort at Detroit with Major Gladwin; but Pontiac, who was in command there at the time, was forced to raise the siege eventually. Thus the Fort Presque Isle, after one of the most heroic defenses recorded in history, and which occurred right here in our own county, and at our very thresholds, was taken by the red men on June 24, 1763, and burned to the ground.
Another account of the battle has been given by Mr. H. L. Harvey, who was at one time editor of the Erie Observer, and was well known to Miss Laura G. Sanford as a gentleman of character and integrity. His relation of the event is as follows:
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"The troops retired to their quarters to procure their morning repast; some had already finished, and were sauntering about the fortress or upon the shore of the lake. All were joyous in holiday attire and dreaming of naught but the pleasure of the occasion. A knock was heard at the gate, and three Indians were announced in hunting garb, desiring an inter- view with the commander. Their tale was soon told. They said they belonged to a hunting party, who had started for Niagara with a lot of furs; that their canoes were bad, and they would prefer disposing of them here, if they could do so to advantage, and return rather than go farther; that their party was encamped by a small stream west of the fort about a mile, where they had landed the previous night, and where . they wished the commander to go and examine their peltries, as it was difficult to bring them, and they wished to embark where they were, if they did not trade. The commander, accompanied by a clerk, left the fort with the Indians, charging that none should leave the fort, and none be admitted until his return. Well would it probably have been had this order been obeyed. After a lapse of sufficient time for the captain to visit the encampment of the Indians and return, a party of the latter, vari- ously estimated-probably one hundred and fifty advanced toward the fort, bearing upon their backs what appeared to be large packs of furs, which they informed the lieutenant the captain had purchased and ordered deposited in the fort. The strategem succeeded; when the party were all within the fort, it was the work of an instant to throw off the packs and the short cloaks which covered their weapons, the whole being fast- ened by one loop and button at the neck. Resistance at this time was useless, and the work of death was as rapid as savage strength and weapons could make it. The shortened rifles, which had been sawed off for the purpose of concealing them under their cloaks and in the packs of furs, were at once discharged, and the tomahawk and knife completed their work. The history of savage warfare presents not a scene of more heartless and blood-thirsty vengeance than was exhibited on this occa- sion. The few who were taken prisoners in the fort, were doomed to the various tortures devised by savage ingenuity, and all but two who awoke to celebrate that day, had passed to the eternal world. One of these was a soldier who had run into the woods near the fort, and on his return observing a party of Indians dragging away some prisoners, escaped, and immediately proceeded to Niagara; the other was a soldier's wife who had taken shelter in a small stone house, at the mouth of the
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creek used as a wash house. Here she remained unobserved until near night of the fatal day, when she was made their prisoner, but was ulti- mately ransomed and restored to civilized life. She was afterward mar- ried and settled in Canada, where she was living at the commencement of the present (19th) century. Captain D. Dobbins, of the revenue service, has frequently talked with the woman, who was redeemed by a Mr. Doug- las, living opposite Black Rock, in Canada. From what she witnessed, and heard from the Indians during her captivity, as well as from informa- tion derived from other sources, this statement is made."
Fort Venango was likewise savagely attacked by the Indians, and its little garrison massacred. The Indians had gained access to the works by a subterfuge. Extracts from a letter of Mrs. M. A. Irvine, of Erie, Pa., at the time over 92 years of age, to Rev. S. J. M. Eaton, are of interest here :
"I must now tell you all I know about the old forts. The French fort (Machault) was nearly obliterated, and where the pickets stood was grown up with blackberry bushes and grape vines. Both forts were near the bank of the Allegheny River; the British fort, a little farther up. (About forty rods.) There was a little stream running between them, which supplied the British garrison with water. They had an underground pas- sage to it in order to be protected against the Indians, in the same way. The Indians in playing foot-ball, would roll their ball inside the enclosure, as if by accident, and were allowed to go in and get it. Having done so several times, at last, when the garrison was off its guard, they rushed in in a body and killed every soul except one woman, whom they carried to Canada. A sister of mine saw this woman afterwards at Fort Erie, and she then told her of the massacre."
From another source we learn:
"Not a man remained alive to tell the fate of Venango. An Indian, who was present at its destruction, long afterwards described the scene to Sir William Johnson. A large body of Senecas gained entrance through pretense of friendship, then closed the gates, fell upon the garrison, and butchered them all except the commanding officer, Lieutenant Gordon, whom they forced to write, from their dictation, a statement of the grievances which had driven them to arms, and then tortured over slow fire for several nights till he expired. This done, they burned the place to the ground, and departed." (From the Johnson papers MS., Mistorical Collections of Pennsylvania.)
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Thus the three fortified posts having to do with the English posses- sion and control of this county and its related territory, fell into the power of the Indians under Pontiac. This county, to all intents and pur- poses then and there reverted to its aboriginal occupation, and was over- run for a time by predatory bands of savages bent upon driving the hated white folks out of the country. No white person was safe in this whole region during the following period. But all of the efforts of the Indians were powerless in their attack upon Fort Pitt, which gallantly withstood their impetuous assaults. Two other frontier forts of the English also were proof against the concerted attacks of Pontiac's confederacy. They were Fort Ligonier, east of Fort Pitt, and Fort Detroit. Every other frontier fort of the English in the Ohio Territory, had fallen before the onslaughts of the red men, who attacked all of them almost simultane- ously, and altogether to the complete surprise of the English. Horrors unutterable resulted at the different posts, and especially at Forts Presque Isle and Venango. It is difficult, practically impossible, for us now to stand upon the sites of these pioneer forts, and realize the pandemonium and surge of the infuriated red men as they plunged, and fought, and struggled, upon this very ground which we now tread and stand upon in all of the serenity of modern repose and settled safety. It is difficult for the average person to visualize what must have been the anguish, the ter- ror, the hopeless despair, of the little garrisons and such civilians as may have found harbor under the walls of these forts, when the dense woods surrounding the little clearings began to resound with the savage screams and screeches of the Indians whose numbers seemed to be ten-fold greater than they actually were. The early summer contentment of the people was rudely and fiercely shattered; and visions of cruel and lingering death danced before the eyes of the beleagured posts. Modern people have no experiences with which to adequately gauge the stirring scenes of those short hours of attack and defense which seemed to the garrisons so pro- longed in time and misery. Right here at the foot of Parade Street, on the bank of this beautiful bay which today, as it must have been in the early morning hours of those fated, far-off days, is so vibrant with the spirit of peace and assured sanctuary, was enacted a butchery, a carnival of savage cruelty, and of barbarous hideousness, that is inconceivable. Here in our own beloved city is the spot where numbers of our race, de- voted to the task of extending the principles of peaceful sovereignty over an aboriginal wilderness which was created for the habitations of ambi-
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