History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 21

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

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On the fourth day they reached and crossed the Muskingum River, and then, marching up the western side of the stream, came to the ruins of the upper Moravian village, where they made their camp for the night, and found plenty of corn remaining in the ravaged fields of the Christian Indians. This en- campment was only sixty miles from their starting- point on the Ohio, yet they had been four days in reaching it. During the latter part of their journey to this place they had taken a route more southerly han the one originally contemplated, for their horses had become jaded and worn out by climbing the hills and floundering through the swamps, and so the

commander found himself compelled to deflect his line of march so as to pass through a more open and level country; but he did this very unwillingly, for it led his army through a region in which they would be much more likely to be discovered by Indian scouts or hunting-parties.

Up to this time, however, no Indians had been seen ; but while the force was encamped at the ruined village, on the evening of the 28th of May, Maj. Brinton and Capt. Bean went out to reconnoitre the vicinity, and while so engaged, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the camp, they discovered two skulking savages and promptly fired on them. The shots did not take effect and the Indians fled, but the circumstance gave Col. Crawford great un- easiness, for, althoughi he had previously supposed that his march had been undiscovered by the enemy, he now believed that these scouts had been hovering on their flanks, perhaps along the entire route from Mingo Bottom, and it was certain that the two savages who had been fired on would speedily carry intelli- gence of the hostile advance to the Indian towns on the Sandusky.

It was now necessary to press on with all practica- ble speed in order to give the enemy as little time as possible to prepare for defense. Early in the morning of the 29th the column resumed its march, moving rapidly, and with even greater caution than before. From the Muskingum the route was taken in a northwesterly course to the Killbuck, and thence up that stream to a point about ten miles south of the present town of Wooster, Ohio, where, in the even- ing of the 30th, the force encamped, and where one of the men died and was buried at a spot which was marked by the cutting of his name in the bark of the nearest tree.

From the lone grave in the forest they moved on in a westerly course, crossing an affluent of the Mo- lican, passing near the site of the present city of Mansfield, and arriving in the evening of the 1st of June at the place which is now known as Spring Mills Station, on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. There by the side of a fine spring they bivouacked for the night. In the march of the 2d they struck the Sandusky River at about two o'clock P.M., and halted that night in the woods very near the eastern edge of the Plains, not more than twenty miles from the Indian town, their point of destina- tion. They had seen no Indian since their departure from the night camp at the Moravian Indian village on the Muskingum, though they had in this day's march unknowingly passed very near the camp of the Delaware chief Wingenund.

On the morning of the 3d of June the horsemen entered the open country known as the Sandusky Plains, and moved rapidly on through waving grasses and bright flowers, between green belts of timber and island groves such as few of them had ever seen before. Such were the scenes which surrounded

1 Dr. Doddridge, in his "Notes," says, "The army marched along Williamson's trail, as it was then called, until they arrived at the upper Moravian town." In this, as in many other parts of his narrative, Ouddridge was entirely mistaken.

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

them during all of that day's march, and at night they made their fireless bivouac on or near the site of the present village of Wyandot, not more than ten miles from their objective point, where (as they be- lieved ) the deadly and decisive blow was to be struck.

Two hours after sunrise on the 4th the men were again in the saddle, and the four squadrons began their march, moving with greater caution than ever. A march of six miles brought them to the mouth of the Little Sandusky ; thence, having crossed the stream, they proceeded in a direction a little west of north, past an Indian sugar-camp of the previous spring ( which was all the sign that they had seen of Indian occupation), and passed rapidly on towards the Wyandot town,1 the objective point of the expe- dition, which, as the guide Slover assured the com- mander, lay immediately before them within striking ' did not play a prominent part in the tragedy which distance. Suddenly, at a little after noon, the site of the town came in full view through an opening in the timber, but to their utter amazement they found only a cluster of deserted huts without a single in- habitant! The village appeared to have been de- serted for a considerable time, and the place was a perfect solitude. This was a dilemma which Col. Crawford had not foreseen nor anticipated, and he at once ordered a halt to rest the horses and give time for him to consider the strange situation of affairs, and to decide on a new plan of operations.

The guides, Slover and Zane, and some others in Crawford's command were well acquainted with the : location of the Indian town. John Slover had pre- viously been a prisoner with the Miamis, and during his captivity with that tribe had frequently visited the Wyandot village on the Sandusky. In guiding the expedition there he had, of course, expected to find the village as he had before seen it, and was, like the rest, astonished to find it deserted. The fact, as afterwards learned, was that some time before Craw- ford's coming, but how long before has never been definitely ascertained, the Indians, believing that their upper village was peculiarly exposed to danger from the incursions of the whites, had abandoned it and retired down the river about eight miles, where they gathered around the village of the Half-King, Pomoacan ; and that was their location when the col- umns of Col. Crawford descended the Sandusky.

Contrary to the belief of the Pennsylvania and Virginia settlers that the mustering of their forces and the march of their expedition was unknown to the Indians, the latter had been apprised of it from the inception of the project. Prowling spies east of the Ohio had watched the volunteers as they left their homes in the Monongahela Valley and moved west- ward towards the rendezvous; they had seen the gathering of the borderers at Mingo Bottom, and had

shadowed the advancing column along all its line of march from the Ohio to the Sandusky. Swift runners had sped away to the northwest with every item of warlike news, and on its receipt, the chiefs and war- riors at the threatened villages lost not a moment in making the most energetic preparations to repel the invasion. Messengers were dispatched to all the Wy- andot, Delaware, and Shawanese bands, calling on them to send in all their braves to a general rendez- vous near the Half-King's headquarters, and word was sent to De Peyster, the British commandant at De- troit, notifying him of the danger threatening his In- dian allies, and begging that he would send them aid without delay. This request he at once acceded to, sending a considerable force of mounted men, with two or three small pieces of artillery. These, however, followed.

The Indian scouts who had watched the little army of Crawford from the time it left Mingo Bottom sent forward reports of its progress day by day, and from these reports the chiefs at the lower towns on the San- dusky learned in the night of the 3d of June that the invading column was then in bivouac on the Plains, not more than eighteen miles distant. The war-par- ties of the Miamis and Shawanese had not come in to the Indian rendezvous, nor had the expected aid arrived from the British post at Detroit, but the chiefs resolved to take the war-path without them, to harass and hold the advancing enemy in check as much as possible until the savage forces should be augmented sufficiently to enable them to give battle with hope ot success. Accordingly, in the morning of the 4th of June, at about the same time when Col. Crawford was leaving his camp-ground of the previous night to march on the deserted Indian town, the great Dela- ware chief, Capt. Pipe, set out from his town with about two hundred warriors, and marched to the ren- dezvous, where his force was joined by a larger party of Wyandots under their chief Ghans-sho-toh. With them was the notorious white renegade, Simon Girty mounted on a fine horse and decked out in full Indian costume. The combined Delaware and Wyandot forces numbered in all more than five hundred braves -a screeching mass of barbarians, hideous in their war-paint and wild with excitement. After an orgio of whooping, yelling, and dancing such as savage were wont to indulge in before taking the war-path the wild crowd relapsed into silence, filed out from the place of rendezvous, and glided away like a huge ser pent across the grassy plain towards the cover of the distant belt of forest.

In the brief halt at the deserted village Col. Craw ford consulted with his guides and some of the officer as to the most advisable course to be adopted unde the strange circumstances in which he found himsel placed. John Slover was firm in the opinion that th | inhabitants of the village had removed to a town situ

1 The location of the old Wyandot town was three miles southeast of the present town of Upper Sandusky, or five miles below by the course of the river, and on its oppos te bank.

THE REVOLUTION.

ated a few miles below. He also believed that other villages would be found not far away from the one which had been abandoned, and that they might be surprised by a rapid forward movement. Zane, the other guide, was less confident, and not disposed to advise, though he did not strongly oppose a farther advance into the Indian country. The commander, after an hour's consideration of the embarrassing question, ordered the column to move forward towards the lower towns. Crawford's army and the combined Indian forces under Pipe and Ghaus-slio-toh were now rapidly approaching each other.

Crossing the river just below the abandoned village, the Pennsylvania horsemen pressed rapidly on in a northerly direction to the place which afterwards became the site of Upper Sandusky. There was no indication of the presence of the fce, but the very silence and solitude seemed ominous, and the faces of officers and men grew grave, as if the shadow of ap- proaching disaster had begun to close around them. A mile farther on, a halt was ordered, for the gloom had deepened over the spirits of the volunteers, until, for the first time, it found expression in a demand from some of them that the advance should be abandoned and their faces turned back towards the Ohio River. At this juncture Col. Crawford called a council of war. It was composed of the commander, his aide- de-camp, Rose, the surgeon, Dr. Knight, the four majors, the captains of the companies, and the guides, Slover and Zane. The last named now gave his opin- ion promptly and decidedly against any farther ad- vance, and in favor of an immediate return ; for to his mind the entire absence of all signs of Indians was almost a sure indication that they were concen- trating in overwhelming numbers at some point not far off. His opinion had great weight, and the council decided that the march should be continued until

evening, and if no enemy should then have been dis- Wyandots and Delawares considerably outnumbered covered, the column should retire over the route by which it came.

During the halt Capt. Biggs' company, deployed as scouts, had been thrown out a considerable distance to the front for purposes of observation. Hardly had the council reached its decision when one of the scouts came in at headlong speed with the thrilling intelligence that a large body of Indians had been discovered on the plain, less than two miles away. Then, "in hot haste," the volunteers mounted, formed, and moved forward rapidly and in the best of spirits, the retiring scouts falling in with the main body of horsemen as they advanced. They had proceeded nearly a mile from the place where the council was held when the Indians were discovered directly in their front. It was the war-party of Delawares, under their chief, Capt. Pipe,-the Wyandots being farther to the rear and not yet in sight.

When the Americans appeared in full view of the Delawares, the latter made a swift movement to oc- cupy an adjacent wood, so as to fight from cover, but | the grass after I shot at it.'"-Butterfield.

Col. Crawford, observing the movement, instantly dismounted his men and ordered them to charge into the grove, firing as they advanced. Before this vigor- ous assault the Delawares gave way and retreated to the open plain, while Crawford's men held the woods. The Indians then attempted to gain eover in another grove farther to the east, but were repulsed by Maj. Leet's men, who formed Crawford's right wing. At this tinie the Wyandot force came up to reinforce the Delawares, and with them was Capt. Matthew Elliott, of the British army, dressed in the full uniform of an officer in the royal service. He had come from De- troit, and arrived at the Indian rendezvous a little in advance of the British force, but after Pipe and Ghaus- sho-toh had set out with their braves to meet Craw- ford. He now came up to the scene of conflict, and at once took command of both Indian parties. On his arrival he immediately ordered the Delaware chief to flank the Americans by passing to their left. The movement was successfully executed, and they held the position, much to the discomfort of the frontiers- men, who, however, could not be dislodged from their cover. But they had no great advantage of position, for the Indians were scarcely less sheltered by the tall grass of the plains, which almost hid them from view when dismounted, and afforded a considerable pro- tection against the deadly fire of the Pennsylvania marksmen.1

The fight commenced at about four o'clock, and was continued with unabated vigor, but with varying success, through the long hours of that sultry June afternoon. Through it all, the villanous Simon Girty was present with the Delawares, and was frequently seen by Crawford's men (for he was well known by many of them), riding on a white horse, giving orders and encouraging the savages, but never within range of the white men's rifles. The combined forces of the

the command of Col. Crawford, but the latter held their own, and could not be dislodged by all the arti- fices and fury of their savage assailants. When the shadows of twilight began to deepen over grove and glade, the savage hordes ceased hostilities and retired to more distant points on the plains.

The losses in Col. Crawford's command during the afternoon were five killed and twenty-three wounded, as reported by the aide-de-camp, Rose, to Gen. Irvine. One of the killed was Capt. Ogle, and among the officers wounded were Maj. Brinton, Capt. Ross, Capt. Munn, Lieut. Ashley, and Ensign McMasters. Philip Smith, a volunteer from Georges Creek, Fayette County, received a severe wound in his elbow, which

1 " Some of the borderers climbed trees, and from their Imshy tops took deadly aim at the heads of the enemy as they arose above the grass. Daniel Canon [of Fayette County] was conspicuous in this novel mode of warfare. He was one of the dead shots of the army, and from his lofty hiding-place the reports of his unerring rifle gave unmistakal ie evidence of the killing of savages. 'I do not know how many Indians I killed,' said he, afterwards, ' but I never saw the same head again above

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

protruded slightly from behind the tree which he had taken as a cover while firing.1

The losses of the Indians were never ascertained. Though doubtless greater than those of the whites, they were probably not very heavy, because the savage combatants were to a great extent hidden from view by the tall grass which grew everywhere in the open- ings. A number of Indian scalps were taken by Crawford's men, but no prisoners were captured on either side.

At the close of the conflict of the 4th of June the advantage seemed to be with the white men, for the foe had retired from their front, and they still kept possession of the grove," from which the red demons had tried persistently but in vain for nearly four hours to dislodge them. The officers and men of Col. Crawford's command were in good spirits, and the commander himself felt confident of ultimate victory, for his volunteers had behaved admirably, exhibiting remarkable steadiness and bravery during the trying scenes of the afternoon. But the Indians were by no means dispirited, for they had suffered no actual defeat, and they knew that their numbers would soon be augmented by the Shawanese and other war-parties who were already on their way to join them, as was also the British detachment which had been sent from Detroit.' The night bivouac of the Wyandots was made on the plains to the north of the battle-field, and that of the Delawares at about the same distance south. Far to the front of the Indian camps, lines of fires were kept burning through the night to prevent a surprise, and the same precaution- ary measure was taken by Col. Crawford. Out- lying scouts from both forces watched each other with sleepless vigilance through the hours of darkness, and frontiersmen and savages slept on their arms.

1 Butterfield, in his account of the expedition, mentions the following incident of the battle, as narrated by Smith himself: " About a hundred fret off an Indian was hid in the tall grass, firing at me. I felt the Inrk of a tree where I stoodl fly in my face several times. Having discovered the position of the savage, I fired several shots, and at the seventh one, catching sight of his body, I brought him down. No more balls came from that quarter. After waiting a reasonable time I crawled along to find his body, but it had been dragged away. I could plainly see the trail of blood it made."

" " The battle of Sandusky was fought in and around the grove sinco well known as 'Battle Island,' in what is now Crane township, Wynn- dot Co., three miles north and half a mile east of the court-house in Upper Sandusky. The spot has always been readily identified by reason of the sears upon the trunks of the trees, made by the hatchets of tho Indians in getting out the bullets after the action. But the 'island' may now he said to have disappeared. Cultivated fields mark the site where the contest took place. Occasionally an interesting relic is turned up by the plow- share, to be preserved by the curious as a memento of tlie battle."-Butterfield.

" The British force from Detroit, consisting of Butler's Rangers, had arrived on the evening of the 4th at a point only six miles north of the battle-ground, and there encamped for the night. The Indians knew of this, and as they had also begun to receive reinforcements hy small parties of Shawanese, they knew that they had only to hold Crawford's force at Imy until all their surcors should arrive, when victory would ho certain. Cul. Crawford was entirely ignorant of the proximity of any white enemies, though he had no doubt that Indian reinforcements were on their way. Had he known all the facts his feeling of confidence must have been changed to the most gloomy forebodings of disaster.

It was the wish of Col. Crawford to make a vigor- ous attack on the Indians at daylight on the morning of the 5th, but he was prevented from doing so by the fact that the care of his sick+ and wounded was very embarrassing, requiring the services of a number of men, and so reducing the strength of his fighting force. It was determined, however, to make the best preparations possible under the circumstances, and to attack with every available man in the following night. The Indians had commenced firing early in the morning, and their fire was answered by the whites; but it was merely a skirmish at long range, and in no sense a battle. It was kept up during the greater part of the day, but little harm was done, only four of Crawford's men being wounded, and none killed. Col. Crawford, as we have seen, was not pre- pared for a close conflict, but he, as well as his officers and men, felt confident of their ability to defeat the enemy when the proper time should come, attributing the apparent unwillingness of the Indians to come to close quarters to their having been badly crippled in the fight of the 4th. But the fact was that the sav- ages were content with making a show of fight sufii- cient to hold their white enemies at bay while wait- ing for the arrival of their reinforcements, which they knew were approaching and near at hand.

The day wore on. The red warriors kept up their desultory firing, and the white skirmishers replied, while their comrades were busily and confidently making preparations for the intended night assault; but it was a delusive and fatal confidence. Suddenly, at a little past noon, an excited scout brought word to Col. Crawford that a body of white horsemen were approaching from the north. This was most alarming intelligence, but it was true. The British detachment from Detroit-Butler's Rangers-had arrived, and were then forming a junction with the Wyandot forces. But this was not all. Almost simultaneously with the arrival of the British horsemen, a large body of Shaw- anese warriors appeared in the south, in full view from Col. Crawford's position, and joined the line of the Delawares.

In this state of affairs the idea of an attack on the Indian camps could no longer be entertained. The commandant at once called a council of war of his officers to determine on the course to be pursued in this dire emergency. Their deliberations were very short, and the decision unanimously rendered was to retreat towards the Ohio. In pursuance of this de- cision, preparations for the movement were at once commenced. The dead had already been buried, and fires were now built over them to prevent their dis-

4 A considerable number of his men had been made sick by the great fatigue and excessive hent of the previous day, and by the very bad water which they had been compelled to drink, the only water which could be found in the vicinity of the battle-ground being a stagnant pool which had formed under the roots of a tror which Inul been down over. Maj. Rose, in his report to Gen. Irvine, said, " We were so much encum- bered with our wounded and sick that the whole day was spent in their care and in prep ning for a general attack the next night."

THE REVOLUTION.

covery and desecration by the savages. Most of the wounded were able to ride, but for the few who were not, stretchers were prepared. These and other nec- essary preparations were completed before dark, and the volunteers were ready to move at the word of command. Meanwhile, war-parties had been hourly arriving to reinforce the Indian forces, which had now become so overwhelming in numbers that any offen- sive attempt against them would have been madness.

As soon as the late twilight of June had deepened into darkness, all scouts and outposts were called in, the column was formed in four divisions, each under command of one of the field-majors, as on the out- ward march,1 and the retreat was commenced, the command of Maj. John McClelland leading, and Col. Crawford riding at the head of all. Usually in a re- treat the post of honor, as of danger, is that of the rear-guard, but in this case the head of the column was as much or more exposed than the rear, as the line of march lay between the positions held by the Delawares and Shawanese. That the advance was here considered to be the post of danger is shown by the fact that orders were given to carry the badly wounded in the rear.

The Indians had discovered the movement almost as soon as the preparations for it commenced, and hardly had the head of the column begun to move when it was fiercely attacked by the Delawares and Shawanese. The volunteers pushed on, fighting as they went, but they suffered severely, and soon after, Maj. McClelland was wounded, and, falling from his horse, was left behind to the tender mercies of the savages.2 The division, however, fought its way clear of the Indians, who did not then follow up the pursuit, probably for the reason that they felt doubtful as to the actual intent of the movement, thinking it might prove to be but a feint, covering the real design of a general assault ; so, fearful of some unknown strata- gem or trap, they remained within supporting dis- tance of the Wyandots and Rangers, and by failing to pursue probably lost the opportunity of routing, per- haps annihilating, the head division.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 21

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314