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History of Allen County CHAPTER I UNDER FRENCH AND BRITISH RULE No section of the United States has experienced more changes of sovereignty than Northwestern Ohio, and none has been the theater of more interesting historical events than this same division. Spain, France and England in turn laid claim to sovereignty over this wilderness, for such it was in those early days. There was no political organization, and it formed but an indistinct part of the trans-Allegheny wilds. After it was definitely conceded to the United States it became a part of that vast empire designated as the Northwestern Territory. The northern border, comprising a part of Lucas, Fulton and Williams counties, brought on a near war between Ohio and Michigan. In its local jurisdiction this section has been included within the boundaries of a number of different county organizations. Fulton was the last county to be organized. It was not created until 1850. Allen County had been created thirty years earher, although a considerable portion was detached in the formation of Defiance and Fulton counties. Spain asserted her claim to all of Ohio by right of discovery of the continent. Not having occupied or made settlements therein, however, her claim was not considered valid by the other contending and ambitious nations. Her soldiers and sailors conquered Mexico and South America, while Ponce de Leon and De Soto roamed over the Florida peninsula. So far as records go, the foot of the Spanish conquistador never trod the region of the Great Lakes, and the forests never echoed to his footfall. She also based her right on a "concession in perpetuity" made by Pope Alexander VI. By authority of Almighty God, granted him in St. Peter, and by exalted office that he bore on earth as the actual representative of Jesus the Christ, Pope Alexander had granted to the kings of Castle and Leon, their heirs and successors, all of North America and the greater part of South America. These sovereigns were to be "Lords of the lands, with free, full and absolute power, authority and jurisdiction." This famous decree is one of the most remarkable documents in history. It was a deed in blank for all the lands that might be discovered west and south of a line drawn from the Pole Arctic to the Pole Antarctic, 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. The rest of the undiscovered, world, east of that line, was similarly bestowed upon Portugal. These decrees were based upon the theory that lands occupied by heathen, pagan, infidel and unbaptized people had absolutely no rights which the Christian ruler was bound to respect. Such human beings as the Indians were mere chattels that ran with the land in the same way as the wild game of the forests. To Spain and Portugal was designated the exclusive right of hunting and finding these unknown lands and people. The Spanish king thus became the most powerful potentate in the whole world. Francis I, king of France, disputed the claims of Spain and Portugal to "own the earth." He inquired of the Spanish king whether Father - 1 - Vol. I-1 2 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY Adam had made them his sole heirs, and asked whether he could produce a copy of his will. Until such a document was shown, he himself felt at liberty to roam around and assume sovereignty over all the soil he might find actually unappropriated. The exact date when the white man first appeared in Ohio has not been definitely established. It is fairly well settled, however, that it was in the Maumee Valley where the first attempts at settlement were made. It was on or about the year 1680 that some hardy French established themselves along that historic stream and built a stockade not far from its mouth. It is certain that the French preceded the British in this territory by at least half a century. Jamestown was founded just one year before Champlain sowed the seeds of the fleur-de-lis on the barren cliffs of Quebec. These two little colonies, a thousand miles apart, were the advance stations of the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon races, which were destined to a life and death struggle in the New World. In the history of mankind this struggle was no less important than that between Greece and Persia, or Rome and Carthage, in the long ago. The position of Canada, with the St. Lawrence opening up the territory adjacent to the Great Lakes, invited intercourse with this region, for it provided a vast extent of inland navigation. The claims of both French and British to this region we now occupy were extremely shadowy. Charters nominally conveying principalities were lavished upon courtiers and favored subjects. The sovereigns and their courtiers possessed only the vaguest ideas of the lands they were pretending to parcel out. England's claims to dominion over North America were based upon the reports of the discoveries of the Cabots while searching for a passage to Cathay. The reports are very indefinite and not convincing. The original claim of France was based on the discovery of the St. Lawrence by the brave buccaneer Cartier, in 1534. He had sailed up a broad river, which he named St. Lawrence, as far as Montreal and called the country Canada, a name applied to the surrounding region by the Iroquois. The appellation was afterward changed to New France. The first grant of American soil was a patent from Henry IV, in 1604, conveying to De Monts the lands between the fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude, which would include our territory. Hence this is the earliest real estate conveyance affecting extreme Northwestern Ohio. It was under this grant that Quebec was founded and fortified. With equal assurance and no greater regard for the rights of others we find King James, of England, conveying to a syndicate of merchants American territory between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, which also affected the title to every foot of soil in this region. It was upon this grant that the claims of Virginia were founded. The later explorations by Champlain, La Salle, Joliet, and others simply confirmed and expanded the original claim of France. She maintained the view that to discover a river established a right to all the territory drained by that river and its tributaries. The waters of the Maumee being tributary to the St. Lawrence, the valleys became a part of the vast domain known as New France, with Quebec as its capital. This claim France was ready to maintain with all the resources and power at her command. It is interesting to trace the gradual growth of geographical knowledge of French cartographers by a study of the maps made by them in the last half of the seventeenth century. Even after all the Great Lakes are known to them in a general way, the outlines and the relations of one to the other are at first indefinite and very far from being correct. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 3 This is probably due to the fact that the explorers took much of their general knowledge from the indefinite statement of the aborigines. In Champlain's map, published in 1632, the lake is shown as very small. Lake Huron, called Mer Douce, is several times as expansive, and spreads out from east to west rather than from north to south. The first map in which Lucas Erius appears in anything like a correct contour is one designed by Pere du Creux, in the year 1660. In this map we see the first outline of the Maumee, although no name is there given to it. In Joliet's map of 1672, the Ohio River is placed only a short portage from the Maumee, and not far from Lake Erie. The increasing correctness of these maps, however, reveals the fact that priests, traders and explorers were constantly threading these regions and bringing back knowledge of the lakes, rivers and smaller streams, which aided the cartographers in their important work. Samuel de Champlain, in the early part of the seventeenth century explored much of the Great Lakes region. He founded Quebec in 1608. He visited the Wyandots, or the Hurons, at their villages on Lake Huron and passed several months with them in 1615. This tribe had not yet settled in Ohio. It is quite likely that he traveled in winter along the southern shores of Lake Erie, for the map made by him of this region shows considerable knowledge of the contour of the southern shores of this lake. Louis Joliet is credited with being the first European to plow the waters of our fair lake, but this historic fact has never been satisfactorily settled. It is generally believed by some historians that Chevalier de La Salle journeyed up the Maumee River and then down the Wabash to the Ohio and the Mississippi m the year 1669, although this fact has not been positively established, for some of La Salle's journals were lost. For a period of two years his exact wanderings are unknown. There are a number of routes with only short portages by which he could have journeyed from the lake region to the great O-hi-o. But he is generally credited as the first white man to discover the Ohio, even though the route by which he reached it is unsettled. Through the dense forests, in the midst of blinding storms, across frozen creeks and swollen streams, fearless alike of the howling wolves and painted savages, the little band of discoverers picked its way across the unchartered Ohio Valley. We do know that he traversed Lake Erie from one end to the other in the "Griffin," a boat which greatly astonished the natives who saw it. She bore at her prow a figure of that mythical creature with the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. This vessel was a man-of-war as well as a passenger boat, for five tiny cannon peeped out from her portholes. He also built the first Fort Miami, near the site of Fort Wayne, on his return overland from this trip. It was a rude log fort, and a few of his followers were left there to maintain it. It was in the year 1668 that the official representative of France, on an occasion when representatives of many Indian tribes were present by invitation, formally took possession of our territory at Sault Ste. Marie. A cross was blessed and placed in the ground. Near the cross was reared a post bearing a metal plate inscribed with the French royal arms. A prayer was offered for the king. Then Saint-Lusson advanced, and holding his sword aloft in one hand and raising a sod of earth with the other, he formally, in the name of God and France, proclaimed possession of "Lakes Huron and Superior and all countries, rivers, lakes and streams continuous and adjacent there unto, both those that have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all their 4 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY length and breadth, bounded on one side by the seas of the north and west and on the other by the South Sea" ; etc. The Jesuit fathers penetrated almost the entire Northwestern Territory and their reports, called the "Relations," reveal tales of suffering and hardship, self-sacrifice and martyrdoms, that are seldom paralleled in history. But their zeal has cast a glamour over the early history of the country. One of the most renowned of the Jesuits was Father Marquette, who, with Joliet, navigated the upper Mississippi and exhausted himself by privation and perils. As a result of exposure he perished in a rude bark hut on the shore of Lake Michigan, attended by his faithful companions. He gazed upon the crucifix and murmured a prayer until death closed his lips and veiled his eyes. No name shines brighter for religious devotion, dauntless perseverance, and sacrifice for the advancement of his country and his religion. Ohio, however, was not the scene of the Jesuit explorations and missionary efforts. The only exception was a mission conducted at Sandusky for a time by Jesuit priests from Detroit. It is quite likely that the coureurs de bois, who traversed the lakes and the forests in every direction laden with brandy and small stocks of trinkets to barter with the aborigines for their more valuable furs, were among the earliest visitors to the Maumee basin. These men became very popular with the savages, by reason of their free and easy manners, and because they introduced to them the brandy which became one of their greatest vices. As they left no annals and no trace, unless it be the axe-marks upon the trees, or the rusty relics of guns and skillets, which occasionally puzzle the antiquarians upon the shores of Lake Erie, it is impossible to trace their footsteps. The probabilities are that wherever there were Indian settlements, these nondescripts made periodical visits. The records which have been left are exceedingly scanty and unflattering. We do know that posts of French traders gradually arose in Northern and Western Ohio, wherever Indians were congregated. Les coureurs des bois made themselves popular by terrorism. They were the forerunners of the cowboys of the western plains. Their occupation was lawless, for they refused to purchase trading licenses. They themselves were half traders, half explorers and almost wholly bentl on divertissement. Neither misery nor danger discouraged or thwarted them. They lived in utter disregard of all religious teaching, but the priesthood, residing among the savages, were often fain to wink at their immoralities because of their strong arms and efficient use of weapons of defense. Charlevoix says that "while the Indian did not become French, the Frenchman became savage." The first of these forest rovers was Etienne Brule, who set the example of adopting the Indian mode of life in order to ingratiate himself into the confidence of the savages. He became a celebrated interpreter and ambassador among the various tribes. Hundreds, following the precedent established by him, betook themselves to the forest, never to return. These outflowings of the French civilization were quickly merged into the prevalent barbarism, as a river is lost in the sands of one of our western deserts. The wandering Frenchman selected a mate from among the Indian tribes, and in this way an infusion of Celtic blood was introduced among the aborigines. Many of them imbibed all the habits and prejudices of their adopted people. As result, they vied with the red savages in making their faces hideous with colors and in decorating their long hair with characteristic eagle feathers. Even in the taking of a scalp they rivaled the genuine Indian in eagerness and dexterity. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 5 The coureur de bois was a child of the woods, and he was in a measure the advance agent of civilization. He knew little of astronomy beyond the course of the sun and the polar star. That fact was no impediment, for constellations can rarely be seen there. It was the secrets of terrestrial nature that guided him on his way. His trained eye could detect the deflection of tender twigs toward the south. He had learned that the gray moss of the tree trunks is always on the side toward the north ; that the bark is more supple and smoother on the east than on the west ; that southward the mildew never is seen. Out on the prairie, he was aware that the tips of the grass incline toward the south, and are less green on the north side. This knowledge to an unlettered savant was his compass in the midst of the wilderness. Release a child of civilization amidst such environments and he is as helpless as an infant ; utterly amazed and bewildered, he wanders around in a circle helplessly and aimlessly. To despair and famine he quickly becomes an unresisting victim. There are no birds to feed him like the ravens ministered to the temporal wants of the prophet Elijah. Not so with the coureur de bois. 6 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY To him the forest was a kindly home. He could penetrate its trackless depths with an undeviating course. To him it readily yielded clothing, food, and shelter. Most of its secrets he learned from the red man of the forest, but in some respects he outstripped his instructor. He learned to peruse the signs of the forest as readily as the scholar reads the printed page. The French made Detroit the great gathering place for the Indians of the West. The expected happy result did not follow, while dissensions constantly arose which frequently caused murders. A general shifting of the Indian population gradually developed. The Wyandots entered Ohio from Michigan. There was an exodus of the Delawares and Shawnees from Western Pennsylvania, many of them coming into Northwestern Ohio. Some of the Senecas also found their way hither. Most of them were at first bitterly hostile to the British, partly because they had been persecuted by the Iroquois, the only Indian tribe with which the British had established friendly relations. At last the English became convinced of the value of the trans-Allegheny territory. But the British were less politic in dealing with the untutored children of the wilderness than the French. The haughty bearing of the British officials disgusted the Indian chiefs. In short, all the British Indian affairs at this time were grossly mismanaged. It was only with the fierce fighters of the Five Nations that the English made much headway. These warriors, who carried shields of wood covered with hide, had acquired an implacable hatred of the French. Their hatred had much to do with the final course of events. It compelled French expansion toward the west and southwest. In their practical system of government, their diplomatic sagacity, their craftiness and cruelness in warfare, the Iroquois were probably unequaled among the aborigines. If they did nothing else they compelled the French to make their advance to the west rather than to the south. The French laid claim to all of the vast empire of the Northwestern Territory, confirmed by the treaty of Utrecht. They had established a series of strategic stockades extending from Fort Frontenac, at the exit of Lake Ontario, to the Mississippi River. Nevertheless the English continued their pretensions to all the continent as far west as the Mississippi River, and as far north as a line drawn directly west from their most northerly settlement on the Atlantic coast. Thus we find that Fulton and Allen, as well as the adjacent counties, were a part of the disputed territory. We read in the report of a governor of New York, in the year 1700, as follows : "The French have mightily impos'd on the world on the mapps they have made of this continent, and our Geographers have been led into gross mistakes by the French mapps, to our very great prejudice. It were as good a work as your Lordships could do, to send over a very skillful surveyor to make correct mapps of all these plantations and that out of hand, that we may not be cozen's on to the end of the chapter by the French." As a result of this recommendation official maps began to appear in a few years. In Evans' map (1755) the Maumee River and some of its tributaries are pretty well outlined. Over Northwestern Ohio is printed the following: "These Parts were by the Confederates (Iroquois) allotted for the Wyandots when they were lately admitted into their league." In Mitchell's map, drawn in the same year and published a score of years later, very little improvement is shown, although the outlines vary considerably from that of Evans. The extreme northwestern section of the state is marked as occupied by the "Miammees" and the HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 7 Maumee is called the "Miamis." The best map of the period that we have preserved is the one drawn by Thomas Hutchins in 1776. In this map the Maumee is designated the "Miami," and for long afterwards it was called the Miami-of-the-Lake, to distinguish it from the Miami in Southern Ohio. No settlement is indicated except "Maumi Fort," where Fort Wayne now stands. The originals of all these maps are preserved in the Congressional Library at Washington. In the latter part of the seventeenth century a man by the name of John Nelson, who had spent many years among the French in America, made a report to the Lords of Trade concerning the difference in the English and French method of dealing with the natives, of which the following is a part : "The Great and only advantage which the enemy (French) hath in those parts doth consist chiefly in the nature of their settlement, which contrary to our Plantations who depend upon the improvement of lands, &c, theirs of Canada has its dependence from the Trade of Furrs and Peltry with the Aborigines, so that consequently their whole study, and contrivances have been to maintain their interest and reputation with them ; * * * The French are so sensible, that they leave nothing unimproved * * * as first by seasonable presents ; secondly by choosing some of the more notable amongst them, to whom is given a constant pay as a Lieutenant or Ensigne, &c, thirdly by rewards upon all executions, either upon us or our Aborigines, giving a certaine sume pr head, for as many Scalps as shall be brought them ; forthly by encouraging the youth of the Contrey in accompanying the Aborigines in all their expeditions, whereby they not only became acquainted with the Woods, Rivers, Passages, but of themselves may equall the Natives in supporting all the incident fatigues of such enterprises, which they performe." After the English once became aroused to the opportunity it was not long until their explorers, cartographers, and traders began to infiltrate into the Ohio country from across the Blue Ridge Mountains. Clashes soon afterwards occurred between the French and the British, or between the dusky allies of the one and the allies of the other. As early as 1740 traders from Virginia and Pennsylvania went among the Indians of the Ohio and tributary streams to deal for peltries. The English "bushlopers," or wood-rangers, as they were called by the Eastern colonists, had climbed the mountain heights and had threaded their way through the forests or along streams as far as Michilimackinack. They sought favor with the dusky inhabitants by selling their goods at a lower price than the French traders asked, and frequently offered a better price for the peltries. It was a contest for supremacy between the British Lion and the Lilies of France. These two emblems were to contend for the greater part of a century over the incomparable prize of the North American continent. England based her claims on the discoveries of the Cabots in 1498, which antedated those of Cartier. She did not follow up her discoveries in this northwest territory by actual settlement, however, for a century and a half. She also made further claims to this region by reason of treaties with the Iroquois Indians, who claimed dominion over this territory because of their conquest of the Eries, who had inhabited it. Sir William Johnson reported as follows: "They (the Six Nations) claim by right of conquest all the country, including the Ohio, along the Blue Mountains at the back of Virginia, and thence to the Kentucky River and down the same to the Ohio above the rifts ; thence northerly to the south end of Lake Michigan; thence along the east shore of Michilimack- 8 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY inack ; thence easterly along the north end of Lake Huron to Ottawa River and Island of Montreal." Peace had scarcely been concluded with the hostile tribes than the English traders hastened over the mountains. Each one was anxious to be first in the new and promising market thus afforded. The merchandise was sometimes transported as far as Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) in wagons. From thence it was carried on the backs of horses through the forests of Ohio. The traders laboriously climbed over the rugged hills of Eastern Ohio, threaded their way through almost impenetrable thickets and waded over swollen streams. They were generally a rough, bold, and fierce class, some of them as intractable and truculent as the savages themselves when placed in the midst of primeval surroundings. A coat of smoked deerskin formed the ordinary dress of the trader, and he wore a fur cap ornamented with the tail of an animal. He carried a knife and a tomahawk in his belt, and a rifle was thrown over his shoulder. The principal trader would establish his headquarters at some large Indian town, while his subordinates were sent to the surrounding villages with a suitable supply of red cloth blankets, guns, and hatchets, tobacco and beads, and lastly, but not least, the "firewater." It is not at all surprising that in a region where law was practically unknown, the jealousies of rival traders should become a prolific source of robberies and broils, as well as of actual murders. These rugged men possessed striking contrasts of good and evil in their natures. Many of them were coarse and unscrupulous ; but in all there were those warlike virtues of undespairing courage and fertility of resource. A bed of earth was frequently the trader's bed. A morsel of dried meat and a cup of water were not unfrequently his food and drink. Danger and death were his constant companions. While the newly transplanted English colonies were germinating along the narrow fringe of coast between the Alleghenies and the sea, France had been silently stretching authority over the vast interior of the North American continent. The principal occupation of the Englishman was agriculture, which kept him closely at home. Every man owned his own cabin and his own plat of ground. The red man probably chose wisely when he placed his allegiance with the Frenchman, for his hunting grounds were more secure. The Frenchman did not covet the soil for itself. He only desired the profit from trade. With his articles of traffic the Frenchman traversed the rivers and forests of a large part of the continent. A few nobles owned the entire soil. It was,, in a sense, the contest between feudalism and democracy. The English clergymen preached the Gospel only to the savages within easy reach of their settlements, but the unquenchable zeal of the Catholic Jesuit carried him to the remotest forest. In fact, had it not been for the hope of spreading the Christian faith like a mantle over the New World, the work of colonization would doubtless have been abandoned. "The saving of a soul," said Champlain, "is worth more than the conquest of an empire." The establishment of a mission was invariably the precursor of military occupancy. While the English were still generally acquainted only with the aborigines of their immediate neighborhood, the French had already insinuated themselves into the wigwams of every tribe from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. In actual military occupation of the territory the French far greatly antedated their more lethargic competitors. They had dotted the wilderness with stockades before the English turned their attention toward the alluring empire beyond the mountains. Had France fully appreciated the possibilities of the New World, the map of North America would be different than it is. She sent more men HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 9 to conquer paltry townships in Germany than she did to take possession of empires in America larger than France itself. The Frenchman of that day was shortsighted—he did not peer into the future. The glory of conquest today seemed greater than a great New France of a century or two hence. Most nations are blind to the possibilities of the future. If they do vision the opportunity they are unwilling to make the sacrifice of the present for the good of their grandchildren and their children's children. England visioned the possibilities here better than the other nations ; and yet much of her success was doubtless due to fortunate blundering rather than deliberate planning. Northwestern Ohio at this time was a region where "one vast, continuous forest shadowed the fertile soil, covering the land as the grass covers a garden lawn, sweeping over hill and hollow in endless undulation. Green intervals dotted with browsing deer, and broad plains blackened with buffalo, broke the sameness of the woodland scenery. A vast lake washed its boundaries, where the Indian voyager, in his birch canoe, could descry no land beyond the world of waters. Yet this prolific wilderness, teeming with waste fertility, was but a hunting ground and a battlefield to a few fierce hordes of savages. Here and there, in some rich meadow opened to the sun the Indian squaws turned the black mould with their rude implements of bone or iron and sowed their scanty stores of maize and beans. Human labour drew no other trubute from the inexhaustible soil." It is no wonder than the savage perished rather than yield such a delectable country, and that the white man was so eager to enjoy a land so richly endowed. Today the richest farms in Ohio are found in this same region and an air of prosperity marks the entire scene. In those days, however, so thin and scattered were the native population that a traveler might journey for days through the twilight forest without encountering a human form. At the opening of the eighteenth century the Maumee River had already assumed considerable importance. Its broad basin became the first objective in the sanguinary struggle of the French and British to secure a firm foothold in Ohio, because of its easy route to the South and Southwest. The favor of the Indians dwelling along its hospitable banks was diligently sought by both the French and English. The French Post Miami, near the head of the Maumee, had been built about 1680-86. It was rebuilt and strengthened in the year 1697 by Captain de Vincennes. It is also claimed that the French constructed a fort a few years earlier, in 1680, on the site of Fort Miami, a few miles above the mouth of the Maumee. In 1701 the first fort at Detroit, Fort Pontchartrain, was erected. Many indeed were the expeditions of Frenchmen, either military or trading, that passed up and clown this river. They portaged across from Post Miami to the Wabash and from there descended to Vincennes, which was an important French post. At the beginning of King George II's war, M. de Longueville, French commandant at Detroit, passed up this river with soldiers and savages on their way to capture British traders in what is now Indiana. As early as 1727 Governor Spotswood of Virginia requested the British authorities to negotiate a treaty with the Miamis, on the Miami of the Lakes, permitting the erection of a small fort, but this plan was not carried out. The feeble forts erected by both French and English as outposts of empire were indeed dreary places. The men thus exiled from civilization lived almost after the manner of hermits. Time ever hung heavy on their hands whether in winter or summer, because of the absence of diversion. With its long barrack rooms, its monotonous walls of logs, 10 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY and its rough floor of puncheon, the frontier fort did not provide luxury for the occupants. There was no ceiling but a smoky thatch, and there were no windows except openings closed with heavy shutters. The cracks between the logs were stuffed with mud and straw to expel the chilly blasts. An immense fireplace at one end from which the heat was absorbed long before it reached the frosty region at the opposite end, supplied the only warmth. The principal fare was salt pork, soup, and black bread, except when game was obtainable. This was eaten at greasy log tables upon which was placed a gloomy array of battered iron plates and cups. When a hunter happened to bring in some venison or bear meat, there was great rejoicing. Regardless of these drawbacks, it is said that these men, exiles from every refinement, were fairly well contented and generally fairly thankful for the few amenities that came their way. "Their resources of employment and recreation were few and meagre. They found partners in their loneliness among the young beauties at the Indian camps. They hunted and fished, shot at targets and played at games of chance ; and when, by good fortune a traveller found his way among them, he was greeted with a hearty and open-handed welcome, and plied with eager questions touching the great world from which they were banished men. Yet, tedious as it was, their secluded life was seasoned with stirring danger. The surrounding forests were peopled with a .race dark and subtle as their own sunless mazes. At any hour. those jealous tribes might raise the war-cry. No human foresight could predict the sallies of their fierce caprice, and in ceaseless watching lay the only safety." As a rule the Indian savages usually encamped around the forts when peace prevailed. They willingly partook of the bounty of both English and French. They settled themselves down to the enjoyment of the white man's brandy and tobacco, besought his ammunition and the guns which made the chase so much easier, and in some instances they even accepted his religion. CHAPTER II THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC According to the best information coming down to us, there were no native Ohio Indian tribes. All of the Indians residing here at the oncoming of the white man were migrants from other portions of the country. We know not how many changes of tribal ownership or occupancy there may have been in prehistoric times. The numbers living here are also difficult to ascertain. If the total fighting strength of the Ohio warriors was from 2,500 to 3,000, as has been estimated, then the Indian population doubtless ranged from 12,000 to 15,000. Of this number the Miamis mustered nearly one-third of the total. The Ohio country, rich in game and threaded by water courses navigable for the light canoes, was a fighting ground between the Iroquois tribes and the western stock, which were generally allied to the Algonquins. The Miamis play a large part in the early history of Ohio. They are usually designated by the early writers as the Twightwees, meaning "the cry of the crane." They were subdivided into several bands, of which the Weas and the Piankashaws figure most largely in our history. It is because of the Miami occupancy that the Maumee and the other Miamis received their names. They were rather above the other tribes in intelligence and character. The Wyandots were late comers into this territory. They were survivors of the Hurons, who had nearly been exterminated by the Iroquois. Some of them settled along the Maumee, but greater numbers sought the Sandusky region. A few Delawares had come over the Alleghenies and settled near the Wyandots, with whom they established friendly relations. The Ottawas were caught between war parties of Sioux and Iroquois in the Michigan peninsula, and driven south. A few small bands found lodgment along the Maumee and its affluents. A detached group of the Senecas also reached this region. The Shawnees, who will command considerable attention, were great rovers. It was doubtless Shawnees who met Capt. John Smith. They were a party to the famous Penn Treaty. They regarded themselves as superior to all others of the human race. The Ohio Shawnees, who finally made their homes along the Auglaize, had drifted in from the Carolinas and Georgia, having been expelled by the other tribes because of their querulous and imperious dispositions. The Maumee basin was a delightful home and a secure retreat for the red man. Upon the banks of the Maumee and its connecting streams were many Indian villages. The light canoes of these children of the forests glided over the smooth waters which were at once a convenient highway and an exhaustless reservoir of food. The lake gave them ready access to more remote regions. The forests, waters and prairies produced spontaneously and in abundance, game, fish, fruits, and nuts—all the things necessary to supply their simple wants. The rich soil responded promptly to their feeble efforts at agriculture. In this secure retreat the wise men of the savages gravely convened about the council fires, and deliberated upon the best means of rolling back the tide of white immigration that was threatening. They dimly foresaw that this tide would ultimately sweep their race from the lands of their fathers. From here their young warriors crept forth and, stealthily approaching the homes of the "palefaces," spread ruin and desolation far and wide. Returning to the villages their booty and savage - 11 - 12 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY trophies were exhibited with all the exultations and boasts of primitive warriors. Protected by almost impenetrable swamp and unchartered forests, their women, children and property were comparatively safe during the absence of the war parties. Thus it was that the dusky children of the wilderness here enjoyed perfect freedom and lived in accordance with their rude instincts, with the habits and customs of the tribes. "Amid the scenes of his childhood, in the presence of his ancestors' graves, the red warrior, with his squaw and papoose, surrounded by all the essentials to the enjoyment of his simple wants, here lived out the character which nature had given him. In war, it was his base line of attack, his source of supplies, and his secure refuge; in peace, his home." It was in Northwestern Ohio that two of the most noted conspiracies against the encroachments of the invading races were formulated and inaugurated. One of these, directed against the French, was led by Chief Nicholas ; the other was the more noted conspiracy of Pontiac, which had for its object the annihilation of British power. In the third great Indian conspiracy, that of Tecumseh and the Prophet, the same region was the theater of much of the conspiracy and many of the leading events. This one was directed against the Americans who had succeeded both French and British. Orontony was a noted Wyandot chief, who had been baptized under the name of Nicholas. He devised a plan for the general extermination of the French power in the West. Nicholas was "a wily fellow, full of savage cunning," who had his stronghold and villages on some islands lying just above the mouth of the Sandusky River. It was he who granted permission to erect Fort "Sandoski" at his principal town, in order to secure the aid of the British. The crafty Nicholas conceived the idea of a great conspiracy which should have for its object the capture of Detroit and all other French outposts, and the massacre of all the write inhabitants. He succeeded in rallying to his aid the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattomis and Shawnees, as well as some more distant HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 13 tribes. The Miamis and Wyandots were to exterminate the French from the Maumee country ; to the Pottawattomis were assigned the Bois Blanc Island, while the Foxes were to attack the settlement at Green Bay. Nicholas reserved to himself and his followers the fort and settlement at Detroit. Premature acts of violence aroused the suspicions of the French, and reinforcements were hurriedly brought in. Like the later one of Pontiac, it failed because of a woman. While they were in council, one of their squaws, going into the garret of the house in search of Indian corn, overheard the details of the conspiracy. She at once hastened to a Jesuit priest, and revealed the plans of the savages. Eight Frenchmen were seized at Fort Miami (Fort Wayne) which was destroyed, and a French trader was killed along the Maumee. In 1748, Nicholas and his followers, numbering in all 119 warriors, departed for the West after destroying all their villages along the Sandusky, and located in the Illinois country. The activities of the British in the western country thoroughly aroused the French authorities. Under the direction of the Governor of Canada an expedition under the command of Capt. Bienville de Celeron proceeded to the Ohio in the spring of 1749, and descended it, pre-empting the territory for France by suitable formalities, in order to forestall the English. It was conducted with all the French regard for theatrical ceremonials. He took possession of the country in the name of his sovereign and buried leaden plates at intervals asserting the sovereignty of France. It was a picturesque flotilla of twenty birch-bark canoes that left Montreal in that year. The passengers were equally as picturesque, including as they did soldiers in armor and dusky savages with their primitive weapons. They successfully accomphshed their journey and buried their last plate at the mouth of the Great Miami River. Each plate proclaimed the "renewal of the possession we have taken of the said River Ohio, and of all those which empty into it, and of all lands on both sides as far as the sources of the said rivers." As a "clincher" a tin sheet was also tacked to a tree certifying that a plate had been so buried. Changing his course, Celeron turned the prows of his canoes northward, and in a few days the party reached Pickawillany (Pkwileni), near Piqua. During the week's stay they endeavored to win the Miamis to their cause, but were not very successful, even with a plentiful use of brandy. There was much feasting and revelry, but the cause of France was not advanced. From here they portaged to the French post called Fort Miami (Fort Wayne). Celeron himself proceeded overland to Detroit, while the majority of his followers descended the Maumee. The expedition traveled "over 1,200 leagues," but added little to French prestige or dominion. As soon as the British heard of Celeron's journey George Crogan was dispatched to undo any prestige that the French had gained. From now on they busied themselves with this great trans-Allegheny country. In order to gain a better knowledge of the country, Christopher Gist was dispatched to the Ohio country in 1750. Being a practical surveyor, he was ordered to draw plans of the country he traversed and to keep a complete journal of his travels. His journal is unusually explicit and most entertaining. He was well received everywhere by the Indians, whose sympathy seemed to be with the English. He conducted religious services at times among them and possibly conducted the first Protestant service within the state. The nearest approach that Gist made to this section was Pickawillany of which he writes : "This town consists of about 400 families and daily increasing, it is accounted one of the strongest Indian towns upon this part of the continent." He was kindly 14 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY received and from here he began his return journey. He added much to the geographical knowledge of the Ohio country. In the following year Christopher Gist accomplished his memorable journey through Ohio, and at Pickawillany entered into treaty relations with the Miamis or Twightwees, as the English called them. At the same time French emissaries were dismissed and their presents refused. The chief of the Piankashaws was known as "Old Britian" by the English, as "La Demoiselle" by the French because of his gaudy dress. During the long wars between the French and the British and their Indian allies, which extended over a period of half a century or more, and only ended in 1760, there were no battles of any consequence between these two contending forces in Northwest Ohio. There were, however, many isolated tragedies that occurred. The expedition of French and Indians under Charles Langlade, a half-breed, which captured and destroyed Pickawillany, came from Detroit and ascended the Maumee and the Auglaize on their journey. It was composed of a considerable force of greased and painted Indians, together with a small party of French and Canadians. It was on a June morning, in 1752, that the peaceful village was aroused by the frightful war whoop, as the painted horde bore down upon the inhabitants. Most of the warriors were absent, and the squaws were at work in the fields. Only eight English traders were in town. It was the work of only a few hours until Pickawillany was destroyed and set on fire. This was one of the many tragic incidents in the French and Indian war. "Old Britain" himself was killed, his body being boiled and eaten by the victors. The Turtle, of whom we are to hear much, succeeded him as chief. The English began to arrive in increasing numbers, following the French along the water courses to greater and greater distances. They paid increased rates for furs, and they sold their goods at lower prices. They sold rum much cheaper than the French sold brandy, and the Indian learned by experience that it took less rum to provide the delectable state of intoxication that he delighted in. They paid as much for a mink's skin as the French did for that of a beaver, and the mink were much more plentiful. In this the English traders began to undermine the French prestige. But the poor Indian was in a quandary. At an old sachem meeting Christopher Gist is reported to have said : "The French claim all the land on our side of the Ohio, the English claim all the land on the other side—now where does the Indian's land lie?" Between the French, their good-fathers, and the English, their benevolent brothers, the aborigine seemed likely to be left without land enough for even a wigwam, leaving out of consideration the necessary hunting grounds. The English were at first loath to offer any premium for the scalps of their white enemies, but their repugnance to this was eventually overcome. The authorities had evidently profited by the reports of their emissaries, concerning the success of the French in placing a bonus upon scalps, for we discover them engaged in the same nefarious business at a little later date. If the British inflicted less injury than they experienced by this horrible mode of warfare, it was less from their desire than from limited success in enlisting the savages as their allies. Governor George Clinton, in a letter dated at New York, April 25, 1747, wrote to Col. William Johnson as follows : "In the bill I am going to pass, the council did not think proper to put rewards for scalping, or taking poor women or children prisoners, in it ; but the assembly has assured me the money shall be paid when it so happens, if the natives insist upon it." On May 30th, Colonel Johnson wrote to the Governor : "I am quite pestered every day with parties returning with prisoners and scalps, and HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 15 without a penny to pay them with. It comes very hard upon me, and is displeasing to them I can assure you, for they expect their pay and demand it of me as soon as they return." Governor Clinton reported to the Duke of Newcastle, under date of July 23, 1747, the following: "Colonel Johnson who I have employ'd as Chief Manager of the Aborigines War and Colonel over all the natives, by their own approbation, has sent several parties of natives into Canada & brought back at several times prisoners & scalps, but they being laid aside last year, the natives were discouraged and began to entertain jealousies by which a new expense became necessary to remove these jealousies & to bring them back to their former tempers ; but unless some enterprise, which may keep up their spirits, we may again lose them. I intend to propose something to our Assembly for this purpose that they may give what is necessary for the expense of it, but I almost despair of any success with them when money is demanded." It would be a tedious task, and is entirely unnecessary, to follow all the events in the desperate efforts of the Indians to adapt themselves to the new situation. The French were far more aggressive, and many complaints came to the British authorities because of their delay in heeding the appeals of the savages. These delays afforded the time to the French authorities to erect new forts and rebuild others. With Brad- dock's defeat in 1755 it seemed to the Indian mind that the English cause was weakening, and many of the tribes, heretofore British in sympathy, began to waver in their allegiance. William Johnson wrote : "The unhappy defeat of General Braddock has brought an Indian war upon this and the neighboring provinces and from a quarter where it was least expectant, I mean the Delawares and Shawnees." The English indeed began to think that "the Indians are a most inconsistent and unfixed set of mortals." It was just such events that made possible a federation of the Ohio tribes, together with others farther west and north, to drive the English from the western country. In making a study of the history of Northwest Ohio, we learn that this most remarkable section of our state has produced many great and notable white men ; men who have enlivened the pages of our national history and helped to establish her destiny. But we must not forget that this same territory has produced at least two of the greatest chiefs of Indian annals, Pontiac and Tecumseh. The greatest of these was born near the banks of the Maumee, on or near the site of the City of Defiance, the county seat of Williams County, before it was diminished by the creation of Defiance and Fulton counties. This makes his career of unusual interest to our readers. The Maumee Valley was his home and stronghold. It was here that he planned his treacherous campaign, and it was here that he sought asylum when overwhelmed by defeat. Pontiac was the son of an Ottawa chief while his mother was an Ojibway (Chippewa), or Miami, squaw. The date of his birth is variously stated from 1712 to 1720. He was unusually dark in complexion, of medium height, with a powerful frame, and carried himself with a haughty mien. Judged by the primitive standard of the savages, Pontiac was one of the greatest chiefs of which we have any record. His intellect was broad, powerful and penetrating. He possessed far more than the ordinary intelligence, ambition, eloquence, decision of character, power of combination and energy. In subtlety and craft he was unsurpassed. He was not only one of the greatest of his race but one of the regnant figures in Indian history. In him were combined the qualities of an astute leader, a remarkable warrior, and a broad-minded statesman. His ambitions seemed to have no limit, such as was usually the case with the say- 16 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY age. His understanding reached to higher generalizations and broader comprehensions than the Indian mind usually attained. Judged from the Indian standpoint he was a true patriot—having only the good of his people at heart. He sought to shield them from the inevitable destruction which threatened if the white men were not checked before it became too late. Although Pontiac had become a commanding personage among the savages some years earlier, and is believed to have taken a part in Braddock's defeat, the first place that we read of him is in an account of Rogers' Rangers, in the fall of 1760. Rogers himself writes of his encounter with this Indian chief : "We met a party of Ottawa Indians at the mouth of the Chogaga (Cuyahoga) River, and that they were under Pontaeck,' who is their present King or Emperor. * * * He puts on an air of majesty and princely grandeur, and is greatly honored and revered by his subjects." Pontiac forbade his proceeding for a day or two, but finally smoked the pipe of peace with Rogers and permitted the expedition to proceed through his country to Detroit, for the purpose of superseding the French garrison there. This was the first assertion of British authority over this immediate region. His object was accomplished without any sanguinary conflict. He has left a journal of his expedition which affords most interesting descriptions of the lake region. He recounts the wonderful profusion and variety of game. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 17 It was the fierce contest between the French and the English forces that afforded Pontiac the opportunity which always seems necessary to develop the great mind. It was with sorrow and anger that the red man saw the Fleur-des-lis disappear and the Cross of St. George take its place. Toward the new intruders the Indians generally maintained a stubborn resentment and even hostility. The French, who had been the idols of the Indian heart, had begun to lose their grip on this territory. The English, who were succeeding them in many places, followed an entirely different policy in treating with the aborigines. The abundant supphes of rifles, blankets, and gunpowder, and even brandy, which had been for so many years dispensed from the French forts with lavish hand, were abruptly stopped, or were doled out with a niggardly and reluctant hand. The sudden withholding of supplies to which they had become accustomed was a grievous calamity. When the Indians visited the forts, they were frequently received rather gruffly, instead of being treated with polite attention, and sometimes they were subjected to genuine indignities. Whereas they received gaudy presents, accompanies with honeyed words from the French, they were not infrequently helped out of the fort with a butt of a sentry's musket or a vigorous kick from an officer by their successors. These marks of contempt were utterly humiliating to the proud and haughy red men. The fact that French competition in trade had practically ended doubtless influenced English officials and unscrupulous tradesmen in their treatment of the Indians. Added to these official acts was the steady encroachment of white settlers following the end of the French and Indian war, which was at all times a fruitful source of Indian hostility. By this time the more venturesome pioneers were escaping from the confines of the Alleghenies and beginning to spread through the western forests. It was with fear and trembling that the Indian "beheld the westward marches of the unknown crowded nations." Lashed almost into a frenzy by these agencies, still another disturbing influence appeared in a great Indian prophet, who arose among the Delawares. He advocated the wresting of the Indian's hunting grounds from the white man, claiming to have received a revelation from the Great Spirit. Vast throngs were spellbound and his malicious statement aroused the fierce passions of the red men to fury. The common Indian brave simply struck in revenge for fancied or actual wrongs. But the vision of the great Pontiac assumed a wider scope, for he saw farther. If he did not originally instigate the uprising that immediately arose, he at least directed and personally commanded the movement which became almost universal among the tribes of the Middle West. Recognizing the increasing power of the British, he realized that unless France retained her foothold on the continent the destruction of his race was inevitable. It therefore became his ambition to replace British control with that of France. The result was that far-reaching movement in history known as Pontiac's Conspiracy. It was in the same year that the Seven Years' war was officially ended by the peace concluded at Fontainebleau, which probably surpasses all other treaties in the transfer of territory, including our own section. By it the Lily of France was officially displaced by the Lion of Great Britain in the Maumee basin. The war belt of wampum was sent to the farthest shores of Lake Superior, and the most distant delta of the Mississippi. The bugle call of this mighty leader Pontiac aroused the remotest tribes to aggressive action. "Why do you suffer these dogs in red clothing to enter your country and take the land the Great Spirit has given you? Drive them from it ! Drive them ! When you are in distress I will help you." These words Vol. I-2 18 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY were the substance of the message from Pontiac. That voice was heard, but not by the whites. "The unsuspecting traders journeyed from village to village ; the soldiers in the forts shrunk from the sun of the early summer and dozed away the day ; the frontier settler, resting in fancied security, sowed his crops, or, watching the sunset through the girdled trees, mused upon one more peaceful harvest, and told his children of the horrors of the ten years' war. now, thank God, over. From the Alleghenies to the Mississippi the trees had leaved and all was calm life and joy. But through the great country, even then, bands of sullen red men were journeying from the central valleys to the lakes and the eastern hills. Ottawas filled the woods near Detroit. The Maumee Post, Presque Isle, Niagara, Fort Pitt, Ligonier, and every English fort, was hemmed in by Indian tribes, who felt that the great battle drew nigh which was to determine their fate and the possession of their noble lands." The chiefs and sachems everywhere joined the conspiracy, sending lofty messages to Pontiac of the deeds they would perform. The ordinary pursuits of life were practically abandoned. Although the fair haired Anglo-Saxons and darker Latins had concluded peace, the warriors, who had not been represented at the great European conclave danced their war dance for weeks at a time. Squaws were set to work sharpening knives, moulding bullets and mixing war paint. Even the children imbibed the fever and incessantly practiced with bows and arrows. While ambassadors in Europe were coldly and unfeelmgly disposing of the lands of the red men, the savages themselves were planning for the destruction of the Europeans residing among them. For once in the history of the American aborigines thousands of wild and restless Indians, of a score of different tribes, were animated by a single inspiration and purpose. The attack was to be made in the month of May, 1763. "Hang the peace pipe on the wall— Rouse the nations one and all ! Tell them quickly to prepare For the bloody rites of War. Now begin the fatal dance, Raise the club and shake the lance, Now prepare the bow and dart- 'Tis our fathers' ancient art ; Let each heart be strong and bold As our fathers were of old. Warriors, up !-prepare-attack- 'Tis the voice of Pontiack !" The conspiracy was months in maturing. Pontiac kept two secretaries, the "one to write for him, the other to read the letters he received and he manages them so as to keep each of them ignorant of what is transacted by the other." It was also carried on with great secrecy, in order to avoid its being communicated to the British. Pontiac reserved to himself the beginning of the war. With the opening of spring he dispatched his fleet-footed messengers through the forests bearing their belts of wampum and gifts of tobacco. They visited not only the populous villages, but also many a lonely tepee in the Northern woods. The appointed spot was on the banks of the little river Ecorces, not far from Detroit. To this great council went Pontiac, together with his squaws and children. When all the delegates had arrived, the meadow was thickly dotted with the slender wigwams. In accordance with the summons, "they came issuing from their cabins-the tall, naked figures of the wild Ojibwas, with quivers slung HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 19 at their backs, and light war-clubs resting in the hollow of their arms ; Ottawas, wrapped close in their gaudy blankets ; Wyandots, fluttering in painted shirts, their heads adorned with feathers, and their leggings garnished with bells. All were seated m a wide circle upon the grass, row within row, a grave and silent assembly. Each savage countenance seemed carved in wood, and none could have detected the deep and fiery passions hidden beneath that immovable exterior. Pipes with ornamented stems were lighted and passed from hand to hand." Pontiac inveighed against the arrogance, injustice, and contemptuous conduct of the English. He expanded upon the trouble that would follow their supremacy. He exhibited a belt of wampum that he had received from their great father, the King of France, as a token that he had heard the voices of his red children, and said that the French and the Indians would once more fight side by side as they had done many moons ago. The plan that had been agreed upon was to attack all the British outposts on the same day, and thus drive the "dogs in red" from the country. The first intimation that the British had was in March, 1763, when Ensign Holmes, commandant of Fort Miami at the head of the Maumee, was informed by a friendly Miami' that the Indians in the near villages had lately received a war belt with urgent request that they destroy him and his garrison, and that they were even then preparing to do so. This information was communicated to his superior at Detroit, in the following letter to Major Gladwyn : "Fort Miami, "March 30th, 1763. "Since my Last Letter to You, where I Acquainted You of the Bloody Belt being in this Village, I have made all the search I could about it, and have found it out to be true. Whereon I Assembled all the Chiefs of this Nation, & after a long and troublesome Spell with them, I obtained the Belt. with a Speech, as You will Receive Enclosed. This Affair is very timely Stopt, and I hope the News of a Peace will put a stop to any further Troubles with these Indians, who are the Principal Ones of Setting Mischief on Foot. I send you the belt with this Packet, which I hope You will Forward to the General." One morning an Indian girl, a favorite of Ensign Holmes, the commanding officer of the Fort Miami mentioned above, appeared at the fort. She told him that an old squaw was lying sick in a wigwam, a short distance away, and beseeched Holmes to come and see if he could do anything for her. Although Holmes was suspicious of the Indians, he never doubted the loyalty of the girl, and readily yielded to her request. A number of Indian lodges stood at the edge of a meadow not far removed from the fort, but hidden from it by a strip of woodland. The treacherous girl pointed out the but where the sick woman lay. As Holmes entered the lodge, a dozen rifles were discharged and he fell dead. A sergeant, hearing the shots, ran out of the fort to see what was the matter, and encountered a similar fate. The panic-stricken garrison, no longer possessing a leader, threw open the gates and surrendered without resistance. On the 16th day of May, Ensign Pauli, who was in command at Fort Sandusky, near the present city of that name, which had been rebuilt and reoccupied, was informed that seven Indians were waiting at the gate to speak with him. Several of these were known to him, as they were Wyandots of his neighborhood, so that they were readily admitted. When the visitors reached his headquarters, an Indian seated himself on either side of the ensign. Pipes were lighted, and all seemed peaceful. Suddenly an Indian standing in the doorway made a signal by raising his 20 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY head. The savages, immediately seized Pauli and disarmed him. At the same time a confusion of yells and shrieks and the noise of firearms sounded from without, It soon ceased, however, and when Pauli was let out of the enclosure the ground was strewn with the corpses of his murdered comrades and the traders. At nightfall he was conducted to the lake, where several birch canoes lay, and as they left the shore the fort burst into flames. He was bound hand and foot and taken to Detroit, where the assembled Indian squaws and children pelted him with stones, sticks, and gravel, forcing him to dance and sing. Happily an old squaw, who had lately been widowed, adopted him in place of the deceased spouse. Having been first plunged into the river that the white blood might be washed away, he was conducted to the lodge of the widow, but he escaped from such enforced matrimonial servitude at the earliest opportunity. It would not be within the province of this history to describe in detail the prolonged siege which was undergone by the British garrison at Detroit against a host of besieging savages. At every other point the conspiracy was a success, and for the British there was only an unbroken series of disasters. The savages spread terror among the settlers throughout all the Ohio country. Cabins were burned, defenseless women and children were murdered, and the aborigines were aroused to the highest pitch of fury by the blood of their numerous victims. It was not until a letter reached Pontiac from the French commander, informing him that the French and English were now at peace, that the Ottawa chief abandoned hope. He saw himself and his people thrown back upon their own slender resources. For hours no man nor woman dared approach him, so terrible was his rage. His fierce spirit was wrought into unspeakable fury. At last he arose and, with an imperious gesture, ordered the frightened squaws to take down the wigwams. In rage and mortification, Pontiac, with a few tribal chiefs as followers, removed his camp from Detroit and returned to the banks of the Maumee River to nurse his disappointed expectations. Following the withdrawal of the Indians, comparative quiet prevailed for several months. Pontiac was still unconquered, however, and his hostility to the English continued unabated. He afterwards journeyed to the Illinois country, where the French still held sway, in order to arouse the western tribes to further resistance. His final submission was grven to Sir William Johnson, at Oswego. That official, "wrapped in his scarlet blanket bordered with gold lace, and surrounded by the glittering uniforms of the British officers, was seen, with hand extended in welcome to the great Ottawa, who, standing erect in conscious power, his rich plumes waving over the circle of his warriors, accepted the proffered hand, with an air in which defiance and respect were singularly blended." Like the dissolving view upon a screen, this picturesque pageant passed into history and Pontiac returned to the Maumee region, which continued to be his home. Here he pitched his lodge in the forest, with his wives and children, and hunted like an ordinary warrior, although he yielded more and more to the seduction of "firewater." There is probably no section of the extreme northwestern part of our state where his moccasined feet did not at some time tread. For a few years the records are silent concerning Pontiac. In 1789, however, he appeared at the post of St. Louis. He remained there for two or three days, after which he visited an assemblage of Indians at Cahokia, on the opposite side of the river, arrayed in the full uniform of a French officer, one which had been presented to him by the Marquis of Montcalm. Here a Kaskaskia Indian, bribed by a British trader, buried HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 21 a tomahawk in his brain. Thus perished the Indian chief who made himself a powerful champion of his ruined race. His descendants continued to reside along the Maumee until the final removal of the remnant of his once powerful tribe beyond the Mississippi. His death was avenged in a truly sanguinary manner. The Kaskaskias were pursued by the Sacs and Foxes, and were practically exterminated for this vile deed. Their villages were burned, and their people either slain or driven to refuge in distant places. Pontiac's vision of the ruin of his people was prophetic. The Indian has disappeared, together with the buffalo, the deer, and the bear. His wigwam has vanished from the banks of the streams. Today, mementoes of his lost race, such as the rude tomahawk, the stone arrowhead, and the wampum beads, when turned up by the plow of the paleface farmer, become the prized relics of the antiquary or the wonder of youth. But his prophetic eye went no further. Little did he dream that within the short space of a few human lives the blue lake over which he of ttimes sailed would be studded with the ships of commerce ; that gigantic boats propelled by steam would replace the fragile canoe ; that populous cities and thriving villages would arise by the score upon the ruins of the pristine forests ; that the hunting grounds of his youth, and old age as well, in the Maumee region, would become a hive of industry and activity, and the abode of wealth surpassed by no section of this or adjoining states. In the early spring of the year following the collapse of Pontiac's conspiracy, the British commander-in-chief decided to send two expeditions to the western country. One of these was to invade the lake region and the other to visit the Delaware and Shawnee settlements in South Ohio. Bouquet did not reach our region, but the successful results of his efforts had a large influence in the greater peace that followed during the next few years. A great conference was held with the Ohio savages along the Muskingum at which treaties were entered into and many captives released by the Indians. The number is estimated to exceed two hundred. Many heartrending scenes occurred. In a number of instances the dislike of the Indians to leave their white companions was almost equalled by their reluctance to return to civilization. Several white women were almost forced to quit their painted spouses. The second expedition was commanded by Colonel John Bradstreet, a man whose reputation exceeded his exploits. Embarking in small boats at the foot of Lake Erie in the summer of 1764, the expedition set sail, numbering more than two thousand soldiers and helpers. It required a large flotilla to convey so large a party. Bradstreet had orders to attack the Indians dwelling along the Sandusky. He camped there for a time on his outward journey, but was misled by the Indian subtlety, and sailed away without either following his orders to chastise these Indians or completing the fort which he began. The Indians promised "that if he would ref rain from attacking them, they would follow him to Detroit and there conclude a treaty." At Detroit the troops were royally welcomed. An Indian council was at once summoned, and Montresor reports it as follows : "Sat this day the Indian council, Present, the Jibbeways, Shawanese, Hurons of Sandusky and the five nations of the Scioto, with all the several nations of friendly Indians accompanying the army. The Pottawattomies had not yet arrived. Pondiac declined appearing here until his pardon should be granted. * * * This day Pondiac was forgiven in council, who is at present two days march above the Castle on the Miami River called la Roche de But, near Waterville, with a party of sixty or more savages." The Indians agreed to call the English king "father," the term formerly applied to the French sovereign. After 22 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY several weeks spent at Detroit, Bradstreet once more embarked for the Sandusky, where they arrived in a few days. A number of prominent and lesser chiefs visited him here, but nothing was accomplished. Their subtlety was too deep for the English commander. He camped where Fremont is now located and began the work of erecting a fort. This was finally abandoned and the expedition returned to Fort Niagara. An interesting incident in connection with the Bradstreet expedition was a journey undertaken by Captain Morris, of which he kept a complete and interesting journal. Under instructions from his superior, he "set out in good spirits from Cedar Point (mouth of the Maumee), Lake Erie, on the 26th of August, 1764, about four o'clock in the afternoon at the same time the army proceeded for Detroit." He was accompanied by two Canadians and a dozen Indians, who were to accompany him "to the Rapids of the Miami (Maumee) River, and then return to the army." There were also Warsong, a noted "Chippeway chief, and Attawang, an Uttawa (Ottawa) chief." The party proceeded up the Maumee to the headquarters of Pontiac, "whose army consisting of six hundred savages, with tomahawks in their hands," surrounded him. Pontiac squatted himself before his visitor, and behaved in a rather unfriendly fashion. The greater part of the Indians got drunk, and several of them threatened to kill him. After the savages had become more sober, Pontiac permitted the party to resume its journey up the river. At the site of Fort Wayne, another rabble of Indians met the embassy in a threatening manner, but Morris remained in a canoe reading "The Tragedy of Anthony and Cleopatra," in a volume of Shakespeare which had been presented to him by the Indian chief. This was undoubtedly one of the strangest circumstances under which the works of Shakespeare were ever perused. The journal of Morris reveals a keen insight into the Indian nature. While Bradstreet was being deceiived by their duplicity, Morris recognized their real character and said: "I wish the chiefs were assembled on board a vessel, and that she had a hole in her bottom. Treachery should be paid with treachery ; and it is worth more than ordinary pleasure to deceive those who would deceive us." When he reached Detroit again, Bradstreet had already departed on his journey to Sandusky. The British continued their efforts to establish friendly relations with the Indians of the western country. In the spring of 1765 another small expedition was dispatched under Major George Croghan, who had visited the Indians on several previous occasions and thoroughly understood them. He floated down the Ohio and in May he was at the mouth of the Wabash, which he spells Ouabache. He says : "August 1st, we arrived at the carrying place between the Miames and the Ouabache, which is about nine miles long in dry seasons, but not above half that length in freshets. * * * Within a mile of the Twightwee village, I was met by the chiefs of that nation, who received us very kindly. The most part of these Indians knew me, and conducted me to their village, where they immediately hoisted an English flag that I had formerly given them at Fort Pitt. * * * The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine or ten French houses-a runaway colony from Detroit. * * * All the French residing here are a lazy, indolent people, fond of breeding mischief, and spiriting up the Indians against the English, and should by no means be suffered to remain here. "On the sixth day of August, we set out for Detroit. down the Miames River in a canoe. This river heads about ten miles from hence. The river is not navigable until you come to the place where the St. Joseph joins it, and makes a considerably large stream. Nevertheless, we found HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 23 a great deal of difficulty in getting our canoe over the shoals, as the waters at this season were very low. * * * About ninety miles from the Miames or Twightwee, we came to a large river that heads in a large lick, falls into the Miame River (probably the Auglaize). The Ottawas claim this country, and hunt here, where game is very plenty. From hence we proceeded to the Ottawa village. * * * Here we were compelled to get out of our canoes, and drag them eighteen miles, on account of the rifts, which interrupt the navigation. At the end of the rifts we came to a village of the Wyandots, who received us very kindly, and from thence we proceeded to the mouth of this river, where it falls into Lake Erie. From the Miames to the lake it is computed 180 miles, and from the entrance of the river into the lake at Detroit is sixty miles—that is, forty-two miles upon the lake, and eighteen miles up the Detroit River to the garrison of that name." Croghan's expedition had been very successful in accomplishing its purposes. CHAPTER III THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD The Indians had at last become convinced that no more reliance could be placed upon the French, and that their interests would best be served by remaining on friendly terms with the British. The acquiescence of Pontiac and his late associates gave the English an opportunity to secure possession of the Ohio country as far as the Mississippi, and the opportunity was not neglected. This expansive stretch of country was still almost an unbroken wilderness, in which the red men were the only human dwellers. It became increasingly difficult for the British authorities to hold back the threatening tide of Caucasian invasion into the trans-Allegheny country. The marvelous reports of the abounding fertility of the soil enthused some. The abundance of game and fur-bearing animals and the natural call of the wild excited a still greater number. The Indians had hoped to retain all the region northwest of the Ohio, and in fact vague promises had been made by government representatives. A treaty was entered into with the Five Nations, but some of the Ohio tribes did not consider this treaty binding. They denied the authority of those tribes to dispose of the lands claimed and occupied by themselves. The Quebec Act, promulgated in 1763 by the King of England, had expressly forbid settlements in the Ohio country. The express purpose was to make this northwestern territory where we now live a great Indian reservation. This act was not wholly unselfish, for it seemed advisable in order to ensure the colonies from danger of Indian uprisings. The famous Ohio Company had been formed as early as 1748, in the interests of Virginia. The Washington brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, Thomas Lee, and others, had been given a grant of half a million acres, with certain conditions. Two hundred thousand acres were to be located at once, provided the company succeeded in placing a colony of one hundred persons and building a fort sufficient to protect the settlement. This act had its part in causing the French and Indian war. During the progress of that sanguinary struggle the project lay dormant. At its close it was revived. Other companies were formed. One of these was the Mississippi Company, the articles of which are in the handwriting of the "Father of his Country." He foresaw the future of this promising country. The craving for the western land reached London, for the Earl of Selbourne, Secretary of State, wrote as follows : "The thirst after the lands of the Aboriginies is become almost universal, the people who generally want them are either ignorant of or remote from the consequences disobliging the Aboriginies, many make a traffic of lands and few or none will be at any pains or expense to get them settled, consequently they cannot be losers by an Aborigini War, and should a Tribe be driven to despair, and abandon their country, they have their desire tho' at the expense of the lives of such ignorant settlers as may be upon it. * * * The majority of those who get lands, being persons of consequence (British) in the Capitals who can let them lye dead as a sure Estate hereafter, and are totally ignorant of the Aboriginies, make use of some of the lowest and most selfish of the Country Inhabitants to seduce the Aboriginies to their houses, where they are kept rioting in drunkenness till they have effected their bad purposes." - 24 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 25 The character of the immigrants at this time is revealed by an excerpt from a report by Sir William Johnson : "For more than ten years past, the most dissolute fellows united with debtors, and persons of wandering disposition have been removing from Pensilvania & Virginia & into the Aborigine Country, towards & on the Ohio & a considerable number of settlements were made as early as 1765 when my Deputy (George Croghan) was sent to the Illinois from whence he gave me a particular account of the uneasiness occasioned among the Aborigines. Many of these emigrants are idle fellows that are too lazy to cultivate lands, & invited by the plenty of game they found, have employed themselves in hunting, in which they interfere much more with the Aborigines than if they pursued agriculture alone, and the Aborigine hunters (who are composed of all the Warriors in each nation) already begin to feel the scarcity this has occasioned, which greatly increases their resentment." As a proof that this Northwestern country was becoming of greater importance than formerly, we find that in 1767 a post, or mart, was suggested for the Maumee. River, as well as one for the Wabash, whereas formerly it was thought that Detroit was sufficient for this entire territory. In his report to the Secretary of State in that year, the superintendent said among other things : "Sandusky which has not been re-established is not a place of much consequence of Trade, it is chiefly a post at which several Pennsylvania Traders embarked for Detroit. St. Joseph's (near Lake Michigan) and the Miamis at Fort Wayne have neither of them been yet re-estabhshed, the former is of less consequence for Trade than the latter which is a place of some importance. * * * At the Miamis there may be always a sufficiency of provisions from its vicinity to Lake Erie, and its easiness of access by the River of that name at the proper season, to protect which the Fort there can at a small expense be rendered tenable against any Coup du mains * * * this would greatly contribute to overcome the present excuse which draws the traders to rove at will and thereby exposes us to the utmost danger." To meet the advance of the whites the Ohio Indians formed a great confederacy on the Pickaway Plains, in July, 1772, in which the Shawnees, Wyandots, Miamis, Ottawas, Delawares, and even western tribes had united for mutual protection. They denied the right of the Six Nations to convey a title to the English for all the hunting grounds south of the Ohio. They demanded compensation for themselves in the event settlements were insisted upon. For this attitude the Ohio Indians cannot be blamed. The purpose of this alliance was not only to hurl back from their frontiers the white invaders, but also to surpass the Iroquois both in strength and prowess. The Shawnees were the most active in this confederation, and their great chief Cornstalk was recognized as the head of this confederation. In the year 1774 many inhuman and revolting incidents occurred. In the battle with the forces of Lord Dunmore, in what is known as Lord Dunmore's war, the power of this confederation was broken. The peace pipe was again smoked, but the armistice was not of long duration. When the war finally broke out between the colonies and the mother country, the Ohio Indians, as soon as they learned of the significance of the struggle, aligned themselves on the side of the British, being partly lured to that decision by promises of the military authorities. This decision of the savages to remain loyal to the British was destined to cost the American colonists many hundreds of additional lives, and an untold amount of suffering during the several .years of bitter struggle for independence from the mother country. Previous to this time the colonies' had already lost some thirty thousand lives, and had incurred 26 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY an expense of many millions of dollars in their efforts for protection against the French and their Indian allies. Of this sum only about one- third had been reimbursed to them by the British Parliament. Hence it was that a large indebtedness had accumulated, and the rates of taxation had become exceedingly burdensome. The war against the savages was almost without cessation. The campaigns were more nearly continuous than consecutive, and they seldom rose to the dignity of civilized warfare. In most instances it is difficult to tell when one Indian war ended and another began. Incursive bodies of whites and retaliatory bodies of Indians, or vice versa, kept this section of the state in an almost interminable turmoil. An attack was immediately followed by reprisal, and an invasion was succeeded by pursuit and punishment. Most of the encounters rose little above massacres by one or both belligerents. The killing of some of the family of the Mingo chief, Logan, is an instance of white brutality. Bald Eagle, a Delaware chief, and Silver Heels, a friendly Shawneen chief, were also brutally murdered. It is no wonder that the Indians began to ask : "Had the Indian no rights which the white men were bound to respect ?" In Northwest Ohio the strength and aggressiveness of the savages was greater than in any of the other part of the state, because of the nearness to the British outposts and the consequent incitations of the British agents. Under the French regime, and under the British also, until the Revolutionary war, the commandant of the military post at Detroit, to which Northwestern Ohio was tributary, exercised the functions of both civil and a military officer with absolute power. The criminal law of England was supposed to be the ruling authority, but as a matter of fact the supreme law was generally the will of the commandant or the official of his appointing. Many times the official proved cruel and remorseless, and as a result the greatest of dissatisfaction arose. When the office of Lieutenant Governor and Superintendent of Aborigine affairs was created for Detroit and the surrounding country, including this section, Henry Hamilton was appointed and arrived at his post in December, 1775. He proved to be not only tactful but also cruel and remorseless. The equipment of war parties of savages was absolutely in the hands of the British officials, and everywhere war, parties of these savages were thoroughly equipped and frequently commanded by British officers themselves, and sent out over this territory, as well as other sections. In one report we read that fifteen war parties had been sent out from Detroit under British officers and rangers, many of the savages coming from the Maumee region. They brought in twenty-three American prisoners and one hundred and twenty-nine scalps. The white men who accompanied the savages were frequently as cruel and debased as the red men themselves. All the scalps brought in by the savages were paid for. A scalp brought varying prices from fifty dollars upwards. The Indians were known to take an unusually large scalp, cut it in two parts, and attempt to secure two awards. Frequently the commandant himself encouraged the savages by singing the war song and by passing the weapons through his own hands, in order to show his full sympathy with them in their murderous work. On their return to Detroit they were sometimes welcomed by firing the fort's cannon. The following is one instance of a presentation of scalps from the Indians to the commandant at Detroit : "Presenting sixteen scalps, one of the Delaware chiefs said, Listen to your children, the Delawares who are come in to see you at a time they have nothing to apprehend from the enemy, and to present you some dried meat, as we could not have the face to appear before our father empty." HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 27 During the first couple of years of the Revolutionary war, the Ohio Indians were inactive. As yet they scarcely knew with which side to affiliate, and they could not understand the quarrel. But their sympathies were undoubtedly with the British. Governor Hamilton at Detroit lost no opportunity to attract them to his cause. He danced and sang the war-song and mingled with them freely. Soon after his arrival he reported that "the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots and Pottawattomies, with the Senecas would fall on the scattered settlers on the Ohio and its branches." Detroit became the great center for the Indian gatherings. All of the materials of war were supplied to them there. "They were coaxed with rum, feasted with oxen roasted whole, alarmed by threats of the destruction of their hunting ground and supplied with everything that an Indian could desire." One report shows that 17,520 gallons of the "firewater" were distributed in a single year. The Americans practically ignored them at this time. Then came the brutal murder of Cornstalk and his son Ellinipsico, in 1777, when on an errand of friendship for the colonists. The death of this brave and magnanimous chief was the signal for the Ohio tribes to go on the warpath. As there were no white settlements in Ohio as yet, their depredations were committed in Kentucky and on the Virginia border. Hence it was that this year is known as the "bloody year of the three sevens." Standing in the midst of a long series darkened by ceaseless conflict with the savages, it was darker than the darkest. It was bloodier than the bloodiest. The Shawnees, Ottawas, Wyandots, together with a few Delawares and Senecas, all took a part in the disturbances. The policy of hiring Indians by paying bounties on scalps was on a par with British employment of mercenary Hessians. Hamilton at Detroit became known among the Americans as "the hair buyer." Many scalps and prisoners were taken down the Maumee to Detroit by parties of savages. They were assisted .by a group of renegade Americans, Simon Girty, Alexander McKee, and Matthew Elliott. A number of noted white prisoners who had been captured were taken to Detroit. One of these unfortunates was Simon Kenton whose career so excites the minds of youths. When the noted prisoner Simon Kenton reached the Upper Sandusky town, the Indians, young and old, came out to view him. His death was expected to take place here. As soon as the grand court was organized, and ready to proceed to business, a Canadian Frenchman, one Pierre Druillard, who usually went by the name of Peter Druyer * * made his appearance in the council. * * * He began his speech by stating: "the Americans were the cause of the present bloody and distressing war—that neither peace nor safety could be expected, so long as these intruders were permitted to live upon the earth." He then explained to the Indians : "that the war to be carried on successfully required cunning as well as bravery—that the intelligence which might be extorted from a prisoner could be of more advantage in conducting the future operations of the war than would be the lives of twenty prisoners. Under these circumstances, he hoped they would defer the death of the prisoner till he was taken to Detroit and examined by the commanding general." He next noticed "that they had already a great deal of trouble and fatigue with the prisoner without being revenged upon him ; but that they had got back all the horses the prisoners had stolen from them, and killed one of his comrades ; and to insure something for their fatigue and trouble, he himself would give one hundred dollars in rum and tobacco or any other article they would choose, if they would let him take the prisoner to Detroit, to be examined by the British General." The Indians, without 28 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY hesitation, agreed to Captain Druyer's proposition, and he paid down the ransom. As soon as these arrangements were concluded, Druyer and a principal chief set off with the prisoner for Lower Sandusky. From this place they proceeded by water to Detroit, where they arrived in a few days. With Kenton's escape was terminated one of the most remarkable adventures in Ohio history. Another noted American who became acquainted with this region as a captive was Daniel Boone. While making salt at the Blue Licks he was taken captive by some Miamis and taken to Detroitt. Governor Hamilton offered the savages one hundred pounds for Boone, but the offer was refused. They brought him back to Ohio and he was adopted into the tribe. Not long afterwards, however, he escaped from them and successfully made his way back to Kentucky and continued to maintain his reputation as an Indian fighter. It was in the year 1778 that Major George Rogers Clark gathered together four small companies of brave men and headed an expedition into the Illinois country. His force boated down the Ohio to the falls and then proceeded overland. On the fourth of July they captured Kaskaskia and a few days later Cahokia was yielded without a struggle. The British were dumbfounded to find colonial forces in this western country. The French usually welcomed the prospect of a change. They expelled the British at Vincennes and hoisted the American flag. Although he did not reach this region in person, the good effect of his successful campaign was felt all over the western country. Later in the same year the British organized a large expedition, consisting of fifteen large bateaux and several smaller boats, which were laden with food, clothing, tents, ammunition, and the inevitable rum, together with other presents for the savages. At the outset the forces consisted of one hundred seventy-seven white soldiers, together with a considerable number of Indians. This expedition started from Detroit with a destination of Vincennes. Oxen carts and even a six-pounder cannon were sent along on shore, together with beef cattle. The expedition encountered severe storms in crossing Lake Erie, and, because of the low stage of the water, it required sixteen days to make the journey from the mouth of the Maumee to its head. This force was attacked by American troops under Colonel Clark and they were defeated. The governor, Henry Hamilton, and all of his officers were made prisoners and conducted to Virginia, where they were closely confined and put in irons. The supplies of the expedition were also captured by the Americans, and they proved very useful in the work which was laid out before them. It was in 1778 that the legislature of Virginia organized the Northwestern Territory into the county of Illinois. Following Clark's successes, a court of civil and criminal procedure was established at Vincennes. Col. John Todd, Jr., was named as military commandant and county lieutenant. The various claims of the Eastern states to the territory west of the Alleghenies was the cause of friction between these colonies for years. These claims were based on the colonial charters and upon treaties with the Aborigines, and were generally very indefinite regarding boundaries, because the greater part of the region had never been surveyed. It was finally advocated that each state should cede her claims to the newly organized Union. Congress passed an act in 1780 providing that the territory so ceded should be disposed of for the benefit of the United States in general. This act met a ready response from New York, which assigned her claim in 1781, but the other states did not act for several years. Virginia ceded to the United States all her right, title and claim to the country northwest of the Ohio River in 1784. The HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 29 following year the Legislature of Massachusetts relinquished all her assertions to this territory, excepting Detroit and vicinity. In 1786, Connecticut waived all her assertions of sovereignty, excepting the section designated as the Western Reserve, and opened an office for the disposal of the portion of the Reserve lying east of the Cuyahoga River. This cession cleared Northwest Ohio of all the claims of individual states. The claim of Virginia was based upon her charter of 1609 in which her boundaries were described as follows: "Situate lying and being in that part of America called Virginia from the point of land called Cape or Point Comfort all along the sea coast to the northward two hundred miles, and all that space or circuit of land lying from sea to sea, west and northwest." Virginia statesmen and jurists interpreted this charter as granting all that vast territory bounded on these lines and extending to the Pacific Ocean as included within that colony. Jurisdiction was exercised over it from the very beginning. Early in the eighteenth century her pioneers had crossed the Allegheny Mountains. It was at first a part of Spottsylvania County, which was afterwards sub-divided into Orange County, which included all of the present site of Ohio, as well as much more. This immense domain was afterwards sub-divided, and our region became a part of Augusta County. Later, as heretofore mentioned, this section of the country was included in Illinois County, which embraced all the territory within the border limits of Virginia, northwest of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi. Thus it remained, so far as governmental relations were concerned, until Virginia ceded to the general government all her rights to the dominion northwest of the Ohio River. Notwithstanding the intense fighting between the colonists and the British, and the need of every able bodied man in the revolutionary armies, many families continued to enter the trans-Allegheny country. In the spring of 1780, 300 large family boats loaded with emigrants arrived at the Falls of the Ohio, near Louisville. Although many of these were attracted by the lauded fertility of the soil, some undoubtedly fled with the hope of escaping conscription into the armies. In this same year a larger expedition than usual was gathered together to attack the isolated settlements of Americans now being established throughout Ohio. It was under the command of Capt. Henry Bird, with the three Girtys as guides and scouts. These Indians were well equipped and it is said had pieces of artillery, which was very unusual, if not without precedent, among those people. These Indians passed up the Maumee River to the mouth of the Auglaize, and then traversed that river as far as it was navigable. They numbered about one thousand men when they reached Ruddell's Station, in Kentucky. Ruddell's Station yielded, and was followed by Martin's Station a few miles distant. Several hundred captives were taken. Captain Bird tried to save the captives, but many were massacred, and the expedition returned to Detroit by the way of the Maumee. It was the most successful foray undertaken by the British against the Kentucky settlements. Under date of July 6, 1780, Governor De Peyster wrote : "I am harried with war parties coming in from all quarters that I do not know which way to turn myself." * * * On the 4th of August he again reported to Colonel Bolton, his superior officer on the lakes, that "I have the pleasure to acquaint you that Captain Bird arrived here this morning with about 150 prisoners, mostly Germans who speak English, the remainder coming in, for, in spite of all his endeavors to prevent it, the Aborigines broke into the forts and seized many. The whole will amount to about 350. * * * Thirteen have entered into the Rangers, 30 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY and many more will enter, as the prisoners are greatly fatigued with traveling so far, some sick and some wounded. P. S. Please excuse the hurry of this letter—the Aborigines engross my time. We have more here than enough. Were it not absolutely necessary to keep in with them, they would tire my patience." A few months after the surrender at Yorktown, and before peace was officially declared between England and the Colonies, there occurred a tragedy in this western country which startled the entire new nation. It was really a part of the revolutionary struggle, for the passions had been kept alive by British agents and the savages were still entirely pro- British. This tragic event took place within sixty miles of Wauseon and Bryan. No incident in the Indian warfare exceeds the burning of Col. William Crawford and the slaughter of his followers in bloodthirstiness and absolute cruelty. It proves to us that the bloodcurdling war cry of the savage had not yet ceased to break the stillness of the forests and prairies of the Maumee country. Children were still snatched into captivity by dark hands thrust out from secret places. The failure of the formidable expedition against the Indian stronghold in Northwestern Ohio fell like a thunderbolt from a clear sky upon the eastern settlements, where a feeling of serenity had succeeded the news of the success of the Revolution. For those dwelling west and north of the Ohio River, it seemed to portend ruin and disaster. The Indians of this western country were aroused to fury by the massacre of the peaceful Moravians at Gnadenhutten. Even those red men to whom the Christian religion made no appeal were horrified at the thought that their people, after listening to the seductive words of white preachers, were now cold in death, and they only waited an opportunity for vengeance. Hence when word reached them of the approaching expedition under Colonel Crawford, they resorted to every wile to waylay the whites and were prepared to administer the most horrible punishment upon any captive. It was on the twenty-fifth day of May, 1782, that the Crawford expedition set out from Mingo Bottom for the Sandusky region miles distant. The instructions were to destroy if possible the Indian town and settlement of Sandusky. The shortest route was adopted and precautions taken by these experienced men against surprise and ambush. On the ninth day of March, the men emerged from the dense woods through which they had been traveling into rolling prairie. On the following morning the men were stirring and ready for the march before the ascending sun had illuminated the landscape. Throughout the entire camp there was a noticeable bustle of excitement. The men knew that they were near their destination, and they felt within themselves that a crisis was approaching. The guns were carefully examined and fresh charges placed in them. Packs were readjusted and saddle girths were carefully tightened. The army was now encamped within the county of Wyandot, and not many miles distance from the present town of Upper Sandusky. The army followed a well marked path which led down a diminutive stream, known as the Little Sandusky. Soon they reached an opening in the woods where, in a beautiful location, they could see the Wyandot town, which had been the goal of the expedition. To their intense surprise, however, not a sign of life was visible. The empty huts were silent and tenantless. The ashes of the camp fires seemed to have been beaten by many a rain since the hot coals had glowed in their midst. Upon the discovery of the abandoned Wyandot town, a council of war was immediately held. Opinion was divided upon the question of advance or retreat. The very failure to discover Indians led the wise ones to 32 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY surmise that some ambuscade or surprise was being prepared. Furthermore, there remained but five days' provisions for the forces. It was, however, finally decided to continue the progression during the afternoon, and, in case the enemy was not encountered, that retrogression should be commenced during the night. In the van of the army rode a party of scouts, who had not advanced very far ahead of the main army, when they encountered a considerable body of Indians running directly toward them. These were the Delawares under The Pipe. One of the scouts galloped back to inform Crawford of the enemy's whereabouts. The others withdrew slowly as the savages advanced to the attack. In a moment the army was ablaze with enthusiasm, and all started forward at full speed. The Indians took possession of an island grove in the midst of the prairie. The military eye of Crawford at once recognized the strategic value of this grove of timber, and a quick, forward movement forced the Indians out. Some of the Americans climbed trees, and from this vantage point took deadly aim at the feathered heads of the enemy moving about in the grass. The battle was renewed between the contending forces at sunrise on the following day and several more of the Americans were wounded. Finally reinforcements were seen approaching. Among these were recognized white soldiers, who proved to be from the British garrison at Detroit. Some painted Shawnees came galloping across the prairies to assist their brethren. Then a council of war was held at which it was decided that the only safe recourse was retreat. It was determined that the retrogression should begin at nightfall. The dead were buried and litters made for the wounded. But the enemy was not sleeping. A hot fire was opened by them and the orderly plan of retreat was thrown into confusion. The great wonder is that it did not degenerate into an utter retreat. The party became scattered and Colonel Crawford himself became detached from his forces. On the second morning he and Doctor Knight, who had joined him, found themselves only eight miles away from their starting point. Here it was*, at a place in Crawford County, that they were captured by three Delawares who came upon them unawares. Crawford and Knight were at once led captive to the camp of the Delawares. Their capture occurred on Friday afternoon. Great indeed was the joy of the Indians when they discovered that Crawford was the "big captain," and word was immediately sent to Captain Pipe. This important news demanded a grave council of the Delaware chiefs and it was decided that Crawford should be burned. Knight and his companions were met by Captain Pipe at the old Wyandot town. With his own hand this chief painted the faces of all the prisoners black. While thus engaged he told Knight in very good English that he would be taken to the Shawnee town to see his friends. When Colonel Crawford was brought before him, he received him with pretended kindness and joked about his making a good Indian. But it was all a subterfuge. Here was a man upon whom to wreak vengeance, for Crawford was the official leader of this expedition which had dared to invade their precincts. Crawford was taken on June 11th to a place near what is known as Tymochtee, a few miles north of Upper Sandusky. Here he found a large fire burning and many Indians were lying about on the ground. Nevertheless, the dissembling war chief, both of whom well knew Crawford, told him he would be adopted as an Indian after he had been shaved. When the party conveying Crawford appeared, the scene of idleness was transformed to one of animation. After The Pipe had painted him black, a dozen warriors ran forward and seized HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 33 him. They tore the clothes from him with eager hands, and he was made to sit on the ground. Surrounded by a howling mob, he at once became the object of showers of dirt, stones and sticks. While some were engaged in this—to them—sport, others quickly fixed in the ground a large stake, some fifteen feet long, which had been previously prepared. Still others ran quickly to and fro, piling up around the stake great piles of light and dry hickory wood, which had been gathered and prepared for the occasion. The account of the burning of Colonel Crawford is related in the words of Doctor Knight, his companion, who was an unwilling eye- witness of this tragic scene, near which he stood securely bound and guarded. "When we went to the fire the Colonel was stripped naked, ordered to sit down by the fire, and then they beat him with sticks and their fists. Presently after I was treated in the same manner. They then tied a rope to the foot of a post about fifteen feet high, bound the Colonel's hands behind his back and fastened the rope to the ligature between his wrists. The rope was long enough for him to sit down or walk around the post once or twice and return the same way. Captain Pipe made a speech to the Indians, viz., about thirty or forty men, sixty or seventy squaws and boys. "When the speech was finished, they all yelled a hideous and hearty assent to what had been said.. The Indian men then took up their guns and shot powder into the Colonel's body, from his .f eet as far up as his neck. I think that not less than seventy loads were discharged upon his naked body. They then crowded about him, and to the best of my observation cut off his ears ; when the throng had dispersed a little, I saw blood running from both sides of his head in consequence thereof. "The fire was about six or seven yards from the post to which the Colonel was tied ; it was made of small hickory poles, cut through in the middle, each end of the poles remaining about six feet in length. Three or four Indians by turns would take up, individually, one of these burning pieces of wood, and apply it to his naked body, already burnt black with powder. These tormentors presented themselves on every Vol. 1-3 34 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY side of him with the burning fagots and poles. Some of the squaws took broad boards, upon which they would carry a quantity of burning coals and hot embers and throw on him, so that in a short time he had nothing but coals of fire and hot ashes to walk upon. * * * Colonel Crawford at this period of his suffering besought the Almighty to have mercy on his soul, spoke very low, and bore his torments with the most Manly fortitude. In the midst of his tortures he begged of Girty to shoot him, but the white savage made no answer. He continued in all the extremities of pain for an hour and three-quarters or two hours longer, as near as I can judge, when, at last, being almost exhausted, he lay down on his belly ; they then scalped him, and repeatedly threw the scalp m my face, telling me that 'That was my great captain.' * * *" When the news of the torture and death of Colonel Crawford reached the Shawnee village the exultation was very great. Not so when the awful story was repeated in the settlements upon the border. A gloom was spread over every countenance. Crawford's unfortunate end was lamented by all who knew him. Heartrending was the anguish in a lonely cabin upon the banks of the Youghiogheny. There were few men on the frontiers at that time whose loss could have been more sensibly felt or more keenly deplored. CHAPTER IV SIMON GIRTY AND HIS BROTHERS The northwestern section of Ohio was not only the home and hunting ground of noted Indians, but it was the theater of the exploits of the most notorious of renegades known to American history. The three noted Girty brothers, Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliott formed a noted quintet of apostates who spent many years in the Maumee basin and adjoining territory and contributed largely to the hardships and sufferings of the early settlers of this delectable region. In the channel of the Maumee, near Napoleon, there is a large island which is still known as Girty's Island. It is erroneously claimed by some that this island was the retreat of Simon Girty, but it received its name because George Girty at one time lived in this vicinity. Of all historic characters the name of the traitor to his race or to his country is most hated. His name becomes a byword and a reproach among the nations of the earth. Whether designated as turncoat, tory, apostate, or renegade, mankind have for him only universal expressions of contempt. He lives in the midst of the fiercest passions that darken the human heart. He is both a hater and the hated. The white renegade, who had abandoned his race and civilization for the company of the savages of the forest, is abhorred by all. For him there is no charity. His virtues, if he had any, pass into oblivion. His name is inscribed with that of Brutus, of Benedict Arnold, and of Judas Iscariot. He may have been really better than he seems, his vices may have been exaggerated, but of these things it is difficult to form a correct and impartial opinion, for the whirlwinds of abuse throw dust into the eyes of the most painstaking historian. The history of our border warfare furnishes us a number of instances of white men who relapsed into a state as savage as their associates. Our region has more than its full share of these ingrates. Of all these known instances of white renegades, none equals the cruelty and absolute baseness Of Simon Girty, or Gerty, as it is sometimes spelled. Girty was an Irishman who was born in Pennsylvania not a great distance from Harrisburg. His father, who was also named Simon, was of a roving disposition and somewhat intemperate. "Grog was his song and grog would he have." Nothing so entirely commanded his deepest regard as a jug of fiery liquor. About the close of the year 1751 he was killed in a drunken frolic by an Indian known as "The Fish." One John Turner who had lived with the family avenged the killing of Girty by putting "The Fish" away from all earthly troubles and received the hand of the widow as his reward. The four Girty brothers owed very little to either parent. The mother had not proved herself of very high character. Thomas, the eldest, was born in 1739 ; Simon, the second, first saw the light of day in 1741 ; James arrived in this world of trouble in 1743 and George was only two years younger. The entire family was captured by a marauding party of French and Indians at Fort Granville in July, 1756. The stepfather was put to death with horrible torture, all of which the boys and the miserable mother were compelled to witness. The Indians "tied Turner to a black post ; danced around him ; made a great fire ; and having heated gun-barrels red hot, ran them through his body. Having tormented him for three hours, they scalped him alive, and at last held up a boy with a - 35 - 36 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY hatchet in his hand to give him the finishing stroke." It is difficult to imagine boys who were compelled to witness such scenes as ever adapting themselves to such customs. The separation of the boys and their mother followed soon afterwards. James was formally adopted by the Shawnees, George by the Delawares, and Simon was taken by the Senecas, whose language he speedily learned. After three years all of the brothers returned to their friends at Pittsburg, in accordance with a treaty, and these three returned at a later periodm as will appear. James Girty was not quite so much addict to intoxication as Simon and George. He thoroughly, adopted the savage life, however, married a Shawnee squaw, and became a trader with the aborigines in after years. His principal trading post for years was called Girty's Town, on the site of the present city of St. Marys. It was he who had the trading stand at a later period opposite Girty's Island, a short distance above Napoleon. George married a Delaware woman, who bore him several children. He died while intoxicated at the trading post of his brother James. The fourth brother, Thomas, who was the oldest, escaped soon after his capture, and was the only one of the family to remain loyal to the United States during all the troubles with the mother country. He made his home on Girty's Run, which was named after him, where he raised a respectable family and died in 1820 at a ripe old age. On one occasion, 1783, in company with his half-brother, John Turner, he visited Simon at Detroit. John Turner accumulated considerable property. For presenting a burial ground to the citizens of the locality in which he lived, Turner was known as "the benefactor of Squirrel Hill." The adventures of the three Girty renegades have furnished the material for many a volume of traditional and thrilling fiction. Whether plausible or not, readers have been inclined to accept at their face value the most absurd statements regarding their reputed activities. The Indian name of Simon Girty was Katepakomen. For a number of years after his return from captivity, Simon remained loyal to the American cause and attained considerable influence. He took part in Dunmore's war in 1774, with the Virginia forces, acting as guide and interpreter. It was during this campaign he became a warm friend and bosom companion of Simon Kenton, also one of the scouts. During these years he also made the acquaintance of Col. William Crawford, to whom he was indebted for favors. He repaid these afterward by refusing the mercy shot begged for by that officer when in his deepest suffering. Simon Girty was commissioned a second lieutenant of the militia at Pittsburg for his services on behalf of Virginia. "On the 22nd of February, 1775, came Simon Girty in open court and took and subscribed the oath * * * to be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third." He is included in a special list of loyal subjects by Lord Dunmore in a report to his government. In 1775 he accompanied James Wood, a commissioner to the Indians, on a long trip through the Ohio wilderness, as guide and interpreter, at a salary of 5 shillings a day. The trip took them to the Wyandots, the Shawnees, and other Ohio tribes, and he performed his duties faithfully. His sympathies at this time were strongly with the colonies. But his loyalty to the colonial cause ended shortly after his return from this journey. Wood's command was disbanded shortly after his return and Girty lost his' commission as lieutenant. He was employed in one other expedition dispatched to the Six Nations, but was dismissed "for ill behavior," after three months' service. Just what the unsatisfactory conduct was is not now known, for the records do not reveal it. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 37 It is said that jealousy over the fact that he was not named as a captain, which commission he expected as a reward for his services, was the real reason for his desertion of the American cause in 1778. He was made a second lieutenant in a company, but did not go to the front with the organization. He remained in Pittsburg on detached duty. On one occasion he was arrested for disloyalty, but was acquitted of the charge. He was again sent to the Senecas with a message. George Girty was likewise considered loyal and joined a company of patriots. being commissioned as a second lieutenant. He took part in at least one expedition against the British. At this time there was a British representative and Indian trader by the name of Alexander McKee whose actions had become so suspicious that he was under constant surveillance. It was believed by the colonial authorities that he was preparing to join the British in the western country. Their suspicions were correct. It was on the night of March 28, 1778, that Simon Girty, in company with Matthew Elhot, Alexander McKee, Robert Surphlit, a man named Higgin, and the two negro servants of McKee, departed from Pittsburg for the Indian country on their way to Detroit. It is needless to say that great consternation followed the departure of so many well-known characters. No other three men, such as McKee, Girty, and Elliot, could have been found so well fitted to work for and among the aborigines. The little band of traitors stopped for a brief time with the Moravian Indians by the Tuscarawas, and from there proceeded to the headquarters of the Delawares, near the present site of Coshocton. Their intrigue with this tribe nearly changed its peaceful policy into one of open hos- tility against the Americans. General Washington had been killed, they said, and the patriot army cut to pieces. They represented that a great disaster had befallen the American forces, so that the struggle was sure to end in a victory for Great Britain and that the few thousand troops yet remaining were intending to kill every Indian they should meet, whether friendly or hostile. Leaving the Delawares, Girty and two companions went westward to the villages of the Shawnees. That the Indians were not entirely fooled by Girty is shown by a message which the principal chief of the Delawares sent to the Shawnees. "Grandchildren !" so ran the message, "ye Shawnese ! Some days ago, a flock of birds, that had come on from the east, lit at Goshhochking (Coshocton), imposing a song of their upon us, which song had nigh proved our ruin ! Should these birds, which, on leaving us, took their flight toward Scioto endeavor to impose a song on you likewise, do not listen to them, for they lie !" It was here that they met James Girty, who was easily persuaded to desert his country. He went to Detroit a few weeks later, and was employed as interpreter to remain with the Shawnees. A proclamation was afterwards, and in the same year issued by Pennsylvania pubhcly proclaiming Alexander McKee, formerly Indian trader, Simon Girty, Indian interpreter, James Girty, laborer, and Matthew Elliot, Indian trader, as aiding and abetting the common enemy and summoning them back for trial. It was not until the following year that George Girty joined his brothers, thus completing the trio of renegade brothers. He was immediately engaged by the British Indian department as an interpreter and dispatched to the Shawnees, where he acted as disbursing agent in dealing out supplies to that tribe. Simon Girty and Alexander McKee reached Detroit by the middle of June. It is needless to say that both were welcomed by "Hair Buyer" Hamilton, the commandant of the post. McKee was made captain and interpreter of the Indian department. Girty was also employed at a salary of about $2.00 per day as interpreter, and sent back to Sandusky 38 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY to encourage the savages there in their warfare upon the Americans. He formally took up his residence with the Wyandots in 1781, and his influence soon began to be felt among all the Indian tribes all over this region. With his perfect knowledge of the Wyandot, Delaware, and other Indian tongues, he was indeed an invaluable aid to the British. He became almost as cruel and heartless a the most hardened savage. He joined the Wyandots, the Shawnees and the Senecas in their murderous forays against the border settlements, and was always recognized as a leader. He exercised great influence over the Half King, the head chief of the Wyandots. His name became a household word of terror all over what is now the State of Ohio, for with it was associated everything that was cruel and inhuman. The only redeeming trait seems to have been a scrupulous honesty. In the payment of his debts he is said to have been punctilious and to have fulfilled his obligations to the last cent. According to the records that come down to us Girty participated in many noted instances of border warfare, some of them extending down into the bloody battle-ground of Kentucky. In fact, his first maraud was into that country. Ruddle's Station was surrounded after Girty had been admitted and made seductive promises that the captives would be protected from the Indians. After the surrender they were either treacherously killed or made prisoners of the Indians. At Bryan's Station he sought to intimidate the garrison by telling them who he was and elaborating upon what would happen if they did not surrender. He had almost succeeded so we are told when one young man, named Aaron Reynolds, seeing the effect of this harangue, and believing this story, as it was, to be false, of his own accord answered him in the tone of rough banter so popular with backwoodsmen : "You need not be so particular to tell us your name ; we know your name and you too. I've had a villianous untrustworthy cur-dog this long while, named Simon Girty, in compliment to you ; he's so like you—just as ugly and just as wicked. As to the cannon, let them come on ; the country's roused, and the scalps of your red cut-throats, and your own, too, will be drying on your cabins in twenty-four hours." This spirited reply produced good results. Girty in turn was disheartened and soon withdrew. The building of Fort Laurens in Ohio awakened Hamilton to the courage and audacity of the Americans. It was in January, 1779, that Girty was dispatched at the head of a small party of Indians to reconnoiter and take some scalps. After securing some scalps and important papers, he returned to Detroit only to find Hamilton had himself been captured. He had also succeeded in securing the loyalty of some more bands of Indians. He became the directing genius in the famous siege of Fort Laurens, on the Tuscarawas River. Implacable in his hatred and tireless in his movements, he was recognized as one of the chief agents of the British. To judge from the varied information we have of him, he seems to have been anything but a loafer, but was constantly engaged in some form of activity. Although classed on British records only as an interpreter, he seems frequently to have acted as a sub-agent in his dealings with the aborigines. Of Girty's cruelty on this occasion, Col. John Johnson, the Indian agent frequently mentioned, said : "He (Simon Girty) was notorious for his cruelty to the whites, who fell into the hands of the Indians. His cruelty to the unfortunate Col. Crawford is well known to myself, and although I did not witness the tragedy, I can vouch for the facts of the case, having had them from eye-witnesses. When that brave and unfortunate commander was suffering at the stake by a slow fire in order to lengthen his misery to the longest HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 39 possible time, he besought Girty to have him shot to end his torments, when the monster mocked him by firing powder without ball at him." He had evidently received this information from the Wyandots. George Girty was just as cruel as his more noted brother. In company with forty warriors he took Slover, one of Crawford's party, and tied him after stripping him and painting him black. He then cursed him, telling Slover he would now get what he had deserved. He seemed to take a delight in knowing that death was to be his doom. A sudden storm came up, however after the Indians had tied the prisoner to the stake, and Slover escaped. When the Moravian Indians were captured by the Wyandots and brought to Sandusky, Simon Girty seemed to take delight in treating the Christian Indians and the white missionaries with cruelty. Just before he started on an expedition with a war party, Girty commissioned a Frenchman by the name of Francis Levallie, from Lower Sandusky, to conduct the missionaries to Detroit, and drive them all the way by land as though they were cattle. The Frenchman, however, was more humane and treated them kindly. He sent word to Detroit for boats to be sent to Sandusky to carry the missionaries to Detroit. Before the boats arrived, however, Girty returned and according to Heckwelder, "behaved like a madman, on hearing that we were here, and that our conductor had disobeyed his orders, and had sent a letter to the commandant of Detroit respecting us. He flew at the Frenchman, who was in the room adjoining ours, most furiously, striking at him, and threatening to split his head in two for disobeying the orders he had given him. He swore the most horrid oaths respecting us, and continued in that way until after midnight. His oaths were all to the purport that he never would leave the house until he split our heads in two with his tomahawk, and made our brains stick to the walls of the room in which we were ! Never before did any of us hear the like oaths, or know any one to rave like him, He appeared like an host of evil spirits. He would sometimes come up to the bolted door between us and him, threatening to chop it in pieces to get at us. How we should escape the clutches of this white beast m human form no one could foresee. Yet at the proper time relief was at hand; for, in the morning, at break of day, and while he was still sleeping, two large flat-bottomed boats arrived from Detroit, for the purpose of taking us to that place. This was joyful news !" It was in the book of fate that Simon Kenton and Simon Girty should meet once more under far different circumstances than when both were in the American service. This was due to the unfortunate capture of Kenton by his implacable enemies. Kenton had been captured by the Shawnees, and was sentenced to be burned at the stake. Girty had just returned from an expedition into Kentucky and came to see the prisoner, who was sitting upon the ground silent and dejected with his face painted black, which was the custom among the Indians when captives were doomed to the stake. Hence it was that he did not recognize Kenton until the latter spoke to him. "What is your name ?" Girty asked. "Simon Butler," answered Kenton for that was the name he then bore. Never did the enunciation of a name produce more electrical effect. As soon as he heard his friend's name Girty became greatly agitated. Springing up from his seat he threw himself into Kenton's arms, calling him his dear and esteemed friend. "You are condemned to die," said he, "but I will do all I can—use every means in my power to save your life." It was due to his efforts that a council was convened, at 40 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY which Girty made a long and eloquent speech to the Indians in their language. He entreated them to have consideration for is feelings in this one instance. He reminded them that three years of faithful service had proved his devotion to the cause of the Indians. "Did I not," said he, "bring seven scalps home from the last expedition ? Did I not also submit seven white prisoners that same evening to your discretion ? Did I express a wish that a single one should be saved ? This is my first and shall be my last request. From what expedition did I ever shrink ? What white man has even seen my back ? Whose tomahawk has been bloodier than mine ?" This council decided against him by an overwhelming majority but a later one at Upper Sandusky, through the skillful manipulation of Girty, consented to place Kenton under his care and protection. Girty took him to his own wigwam and clothed him anew. For several weeks his kindness was uniform and indefatigable. As a result he was taken to Sandusky and thence to Detroit, from whence he made his escape in „safety to Kentucky. Kenton ever afterwards spoke of Girty in grateful remembrance. Girty told Kenton that he had acted too hasty in deserting his country, and was sorry for the part he had taken. It is the only expression of regret that is recorded of the renegade. For a number of years now, very little is mentioned concerning the life of this noted desperado. He remained among the Indians, however. His last expedition against the Americans had been in 1783, when he led a band of red men to Nine Mile River, within five miles of Pittsburg. Here it was he first learned that hostilities had ended, but he did not place credence in the rumor. He remained as an interpreter in the British Indian Department on half pay, practically a pensioner. His headquarters were at first at Detroit. This leisure gave him time to think of something else besides fighting, and he resolved to marry. The object of his affections was Catherine Malott, then a prisoner among the Indians, and much younger than himself. They were married in August, 1784, in Canada, near the mouth of the Detroit River, and here they took up their abode in the neighborhood of the present town of Amhertsburg. His wife is said to have been a very comely maiden, and she probably married the renegade to escape from her position as prisoner among the Indians. At the time of her marriage she was not more than half the age of her husband. His daughter, Ann, was born in 1786, a son, Thomas, another daughter, Sarah, and a second son, Prideaux, the last one being born in 1797. After Great Britain had acknowledged the independence of the Colonies, Simon Girty was one of the leading agents in keeping the savages loyal to the British. For the succeeding decade he stands out as a very prominent figure throughout not only Northwestern Ohio, but practically the entire Northwestern territory. There is probably not a county in this section of our state where there is not some record of his activities. His harangues had potent influence with the savages. He no longer lived with the red men, but constantly visited them as British emissary. He played his part well. Of this we have the testimony of General Harmar himself. When Girty attended an Indian council at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, in 1788, he was received into the conference by the Indians as one of them. He was the mouthpiece of McKee who had established a store there. The last time that James Girty joined in an expedition against his countrymen, so far as is known, was in 1782. The point where the portage at the head of the St. Marys began was an ideal place for the establishment of a trading post. It was then a small Indian village, but HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 41 is now occupied by the city of St. Marys. Girty had married a Shawnee woman, known as Betsey by the whites. He established himself there in 1783 as a trader, and it soon became known as Girty's Town. For a number of years he enjoyed a practical monopoly of the Indian trade. He shipped his peltry down the St. Marys to the Maumee. At every report of the approach of the Americans, James became alarmed, and on several occasions had his goods packed for immediate flight. Upon the approach of General I-1 armar, he moved to the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize. Here he occupied a log cabin. An incident is related of Oliver M. Spencer, who took dinner at Girty's home after being released from Indian captivity. While regaling himself Girty came in and saw the boy for the first time. The latter said to him : "So, my young Yankee, you're about to start for home ?" The boy answered : "Yes, sir ; I hope so." Taking his knife, he said (while sharpening it on a whetstone) : "I see your ears are whole yet ; but I'm greatly mistaken if you leave here without the Indian earmark, that we may know you when we catch you again." Spencer did not wait to prove whether Girty was in jest or in downright earnest, but leaving his meal half finished, he instantly sprang from the table, leaped out of the door, and in a few seconds took refuge in the house of a trader named Ironside. When Wayne approached in 1794, James Girty packed up his goods and fled to Canada, but came back once more to again trade with the Indians along the Maumee. Trade was not so profitable as before, and he returned to Canada. His last trading place in Ohio was at Girty's Point, near Girty's Island. Like his brother Simon, he was also too old and infirm to participate in the War of 1812. He died on the 15th of April, 1817. He was thrifty and had accumulated considerable property. His wife died first, and two children survived him, James and Ann. He was temperate in his habits, but fully as cruel as his brothers. He would boast, so it is said, that no woman or child escaped his tomahawk, if he got within reach of the victim. George Girty, after the battle of Blue Licks, in 1782, returned to the upper waters of the Mad River. It is known that he continued to reside with the Delawares, but gave himself so completely up to savage life that he practically lost his identity. He is heard of occasionally in Indian forays. He married a Delaware squaw, and had several children. During his latter years he was an habitual drunkard and died during a spree at the cabin of James, near Fort Wayne, but his family remained with the tribe. When war broke out between the United States and the Indians in 1790, Simon Girty again fought with the Indians against the Americans. The last battle in which he was known to have been actually engaged was at the defeat of St. Clair, in Mercer County, where he fought most courageously. Here he captured a white woman. A Wyandot squaw demanded the prisoner, on the ground that custom gave all female prisoners to the squaws accompanying the braves. Over Girty's objection this was clone, and he was furious. He was present at the grand council held in October, 1792, at the Auglaize. (Defiance.) McKee, Elliot, and other whites were also there, but Simon Girty was the only white man admitted to the deliberations. Well had he earned the confidence reposed in him. It was no doubt a proud moment in his life, and one upon which he afterwards reflected with pleasure. At Fallen Timbers Girty, Elliot and McKee were all present, but they kept at a respectable distance near the river and did not take a part in the fighting. All three made good their escape. After this he and 42 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY McKee assisted in furnishing food to the Indians, whose crops had been destroyed by General Wayne. This event practically ended his wild career in the Ohio country. On only one other occasion, a few months later, did lie appear as a British emissary among the Ohio Indians. Nevertheless his influence remained strong for a long time. He continued to visit Detroit occasionally. He happened to be there when the American troops approached, but fled precipitately to the opposite bank. He could not wait for the boat, but plunged his horse into the river and swam to the opposite shore. He never again crossed to the fort, except during the War of 1812, when the British troops again occupied it. For sixteen years he did not step foot on American soil. In his later years Girty seems to have made an effort to command a degree of respect as a decent citizen. The British government granted him some land in the township of Malden, Essex County, Canada. He was abhorred by all his neighbors, however, for the depravity of his untamed and undisciplined nature was too apparent. After the birth of the last son, Simon and his wife separated because of his cruelty toward her when drunk. In the War of 1812 he was incapable of active service, because his sight had almost left him. He is said, however, to have rallied a band of Wyandots to the standard of Tecumseh. When the British army returned he followed it, leaving his family at home. When General Harrison invaded Canada, Girty fled beyond his reach, but his wife remained at the home and was unharmed. In 1816, after peace was concluded, he returned to his farm, where he died on the 18th of February, in the year 1818. He actually gave up liquor for a few months prior to his dissolution. He is said to have been very penitent, as the end drew nigh. He was buried on his farm. A squad of British soldiers attended the funeral, and fired a parting salute over his grave. His youngest son was on one occasion a candidate for parliament, but was defeated. He became a man of considerable influence, and finally moved to Ohio, where he died. All of his children lived and married. Thomas died before his father, but left three children. The widow of Simon survived him for many years, and did not die until 1852. All of her children enjoyed unsullied reputations. One of the most interesting narratives of Indian captivity that has been handed down to us is one by Oliver M. Spencer. He was taken captive not far from Cincinnati, but most of his captivity was spent in the Maumee region in Ohio. While at Defiance, the old Indian priestess, Coo-coo-Cheeh, with whom he lived, took him to a neighboring Shawnee village called Snaketown, on the site of Napoleon. There he saw the celebrated chief, Blue Jacket, and Simon Girty, of whom he speaks as follows : "One of the visitors of Blue Jacket (the Snake) was a plain, grave chief of sage appearance ; the other, Simon Girty, whether it was from prejudice, associating with his look the fact that he was a renegade, the murderer of his own countrymen, racking his diabolic invention to inflict new and more excruciating tortures, or not ; his dark, shaggy hair, his low forehead, his brows contracted, and meeting above his short flat nose ; his gray sunken eyes, averting the ingenuous gaze ; his lips thin and compressed, and the dark and sinister expression of his countenance, to me, seemed the very picture of a villain. He wore the Indian costume, but without any ornament ; and his silk handkerchief while it supplied the place of a hat, hid an unsightly wound in his forehead. On each side of his belt was stuck a silver-mounted pistol, and at his left hung a short broad dirk, serving occasionally the uses of a knife. He made of me many inquiries ; some about my family, and the particulars of my captivity ; but more of the strength of the different garrisons ; the number of American troops at Fort Washing- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 43 ton, and whether the President intended to send another army against the Indians. He spoke of the wrongs he had received at the hands of his countrymen, and with fiendish exultation of the revenge he had taken. He boasted of his exploits, of the number of his victories, and of his personal prowess ; then raising his handkerchief and exhibiting the deep wound in his forehead (which I was afterwards told was inflicted by the tomahawk of the celebrated Indian chief, Brandt, in a drunken frolic) said it was a sabre cut, which he received in battle at St. Clair's defeat ; adding with an oath, that he had sent the d____d Yankee officer' that gave it `to h F. He ended by telling me that I would never see home ; but if I should turn out to be a good hunter and a brave warrior, I might one day be a chief. His presence and conversation having rendered my situation painful, I was not a little relieved when, a few hours after ending our visit, we returned to our quiet lodge on the bank of the Maumee." Girty's one great fear was of capture by the Americans, and he always endeavored to ascertain from prisoners what might be in store for him should he be captured by them. It seemed as though the idea of falling into the hands of his countrymen was a terror to him. "The last time I saw Girty," writes William Walker, "was in the summer of 1813. From my recollection of his person, he was in height five feet six or seven inches ; broad across the chest ; strong, round compact limbs ; and of fair complexion. To any one scrutinizing him the conclusion would forcibly impress the observer, that Girty was endowed by nature with great powers of endurance." "No other country or age," says Butterfield, "ever produced, perhaps so brutal, depraved, and wicked a wretch as Simon Girty. He was sagacious and brave ; but his sagacity and bravery only made him a greater monster of cruelty. All of the vices of civilization seemed to center it him, and by him were engrafted upon those of either. He moved about through the Indian country during the war of the Revolution and the Indian war which followed, a dark whirlwind of fury, desperation and barbarity. In the refinements of torture inflicted on helpless prisoners as compared with the Indians, he 'out-heroded Herod.' In treachery he stood unrivaled. There ever rankled in his bosom a most deadly hatred of his country. He seemed to revel in the very excess of malignity toward his old associates. So horrid was his wild ferocity and savage. ness, that the least relenting seemed to be acts of positive goodness— luminous sparks in the very blackness of darkness." Of Girty's bravery there is ample testimony. He became involve( in a quarrel at one time with a Shawnee, caused by some misunderstand. ing in trade. While bandying hard words to each other the Indian by innuendo questioned his opponent's courage. Girty instantly produce( a half-keg of powder, and snatching a firebrand, called upon the savage to stand by him. The latter, not deeming this a legitimate mode of settling disputes, hastily evacuated the premises. The last picture that we have of Simon Girty is shortly before hi: death. "I went to Malden," said Mr. Daniel, "and put up at a Note kept by a Frenchman. I noticed in the bar-room a gray-headed and blind old man. The landlady, a woman of about thirty years of age inquired of me : 'Do you know who that is ?' On my replying `No, she replied, 'it is Simon Girty.' He had then been blind about foul years." This ended the career of the last of the three notorious Girty brothers, the ablest of the three and the one who caused more suffering among the hardy pioneers than the other two together. A large part of hi: history belongs to us, but it is not a record of which we can be proud CHAPTER V THE HARMAR AND ST. CLAIR CAMPAIGNS Although the war with the mother country was practically ended by the Yorktown surrender in October, 1781, the Paris treaty was not officially signed until the 3d of September, 1783. About four months later Washington resigned his commission and retired to private life. The boundaries of the new republic were Florida on the south, the Mississippi River on the west and the middle of the Great Lakes on the north. "The federal republic is born a pygmy, but a day will come when it will be a giant, even a colossus," said the Spanish representative at the Paris negotiations. His statement has proved to be really prophetic. East of the Alleghenies the war actually ended, but in the great trans-Allegheny country it continued in a desultory way for a dozen years. At times this conflict was most sanguinary. Great Britain had specifically promised to withdraw her troops from Detroit and the Maumee country, as well as her other posts, but she neglected and refused to comply. When demand was made of her commanders, refusal was made, claiming that possession was being retained to compel payment of the claims of loyalties against the colonies. The real purpose was undoubtedly to retain the loyalty of the savages in the hope that the new government might not prove lasting. It was true that some of the southerners had attempted to offset the value of slaves impressed into the British service against claims due from them. The Indians were undoubtedly apprehensive of their future. The Quebec Act of 1774, with its provisions prohibiting white settlements within this region, had always been objected to. The new American government, with its hands occupied by many serious questions, was very reluctant to enter into a struggle with the Indians of the Northwest Territory of which Ohio was then a part. But the frontier was gradually advanced westward by venturesome backwoodsmen and the government was drawn in by the necessity of supporting them. There was no well developed plan. Many of the leaders were adverse to spreading westward ; they were as strong anti-expansionists as is our American today. They were quite content to permit the red man to rove the forests in peace. They did not covet the lands of the Indians. They endeavored to prevent settlers from encroaching upon them. But backwoodsmen are naturally aggressive. They revert in a sense to primeval conditions. Rough, masterful, aggressive, and even lawless, they feared not the red man nor were they intimidated by the wrath of the government. Once established in a location, they freely appealed to the government for help. Then it was that the men east of the Alleghenies, whose fathers or grandfathers had also been frontiersmen, rather grudgingly came to their help. Small bands of Wyandots and Shawnees in particular continued to mvade Kentucky and Western Pennsylvania with the loaded rifle and uplifted tomahawk. British emissaries, and especially the renegades heretofore mentioned, were the chief instigators of these war parties of savages. With all these provocations the American government still hesitated to make open war against the Indians of Ohio. Although the Northwestern Territory, "a vast empire larger than any country in - 44- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 45 Europe save Russia," had become the public domain of the confederated states, the aboriginal inhabitant, and the one actually in possession, had still to be dealt with. This must be done either by purchase or conquest. The Iroquois claim to these lands, which was disputed by the Ohio Indians, was extinguished by the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1785. This treaty caused great dissatisfaction among the Ohio Indians, for they refused to acknowledge that the Six Nations could deed away the lands occupied by them. An American commissioner, by the name of Ephraim Douglas, was sent to the Indians residing in Ohio in 1783 to conclude treaties with them. Carrying a white flag of peace he passed some days with the Delawares on the Sandusky River, and then journeyed to the Wyandots, Ottawas and Miamis along the lower Maumee. This was in the month of June. From there he passed to Detroit, where he met representatives of many other tribes. Long talks were indulged in to convince them that the war was over. These Indians were perfectly willing to give their allegiance to whichever nation promised them the most presents, so it appeared. As the Americans at this time had not learned how to deal with these simple inhabitants of the forests, their allegiance was still retained by the British in most instances, and many lives were sacrificed as a consequence. It now remained for the American government to make settlement with the Ohio tribes and this was what it was attempted to do in the council held at Fort McIntosh in January, 1785. By a treaty entered into between United States Commissioners and the chiefs and sachems of the Chippewa, Delaware, Ottawa, and Wyandot Indians at Fort McIntosh on the Ohio River below Pittsburg, the limits of their territory as agreed upon were the Maumee and Cuyahoga rivers, on the west and east respectively. Within this territory the Delawares, Wyandots, and Ottawas were to live and hunt at their heart's pleasure. They were authorized to shoot any person other than an Indian, whether a citizen of the United States or otherwise, who attempted to settle upon these exempt lands. "The Indians may punish him as they please," was the exact language of the treaty. On their part the Indians recognized all the lands west, south, and east of these lines as belonging to the United States, and "none of their tribes shall presume to settle upon the same or any part of it." Reservations were exempted by the United States as a tract six miles square at the mouth of the Maumee, for a military post. Three chiefs were to remain with the Americans as hostages until all American prisoners were surrendered by the savages. In a treaty made the following year at Fort Finney, at the mouth of the Great Miami, the Shawnees appeared in their "war paint and feathers" and assumed a rather bellicose attitude. They finally recognized the sovereignty of the United States and accepted an allotment of lands between the Great Miami and the Wabash rivers. This treaty, as have others among the white races, proved to be merely a scrap of paper, for the Shawnees immediately disregarded it. It was some time after the independence of the Colonies was achieved before a definite government was adopted for the Northwestern Territory. Army officers and discharged soldiers were clamoring for the lands which had been promised them. Thomas Jefferson evolved a scheme for the creation of the vast territory into a checkerboard arrangement of states, to which fanciful names were assigned. Our region narrowly escaped being a part of Metropotamia. Some of its neighbors would have been Cherronesus, Assenisipia, Illinoia, Pelisipia, Polypotamia, and Michigana. The ordinance was passed but never really went into effect, for it was soon afterwards superseded by the famous Ordinance of 1787. 46 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY The main factor in the passage of this measure was the famous Manasseh Cutler, representing the Ohio Company. This ordinance in its wise provisions ranks close to the Constitution, being preferred by the convention at the same time. The most marked and original feature in its provisions was the prohibition of slavery after the year 1800. On July 27, 1887, Congress passed the ordinance by which the Ohio Company was granted a million and a half acres, and a little more than twice as much was set aside for private speculation, in which many of the most prominent personages of the day were involved. This was the Scioto Company. They paid two-thirds of a dollar an acre in specie or certificates of indebtedness of the government. The Ohio Company was the first real attempt to settle Ohio, and this company had its full share of troubles. The lands granted were on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. As Senator Hoar has said: "Never did the great Husbandman choose his seed more carefully than when he planted Ohio ; I do not believe the same number of persons fitted for the highest duties and responsibilities of war and peace could ever have been found in a community of the same size as were among the men who founded Marietta in the spring of 1788, or who joined them within twelve months thereafter." Many of the settlers were college graduates, bearing classical degrees from Harvard and Yale. Arthur St. Clair was appointed the first governor of this new territory, and Winthrop Sargent was named as secretary. The ordinance required that the governor, to be appointed by Congress, must reside in the district and must be the owner of 1,000 acres of land. Governor St. Clair came of a distinguished Scotch family and had a distinguished career in the Revolution. He did not actively enter upon his duties until the summer of 1788. The continued influx of white settlers and the creation of settlements was most unpleasing to the tribesmen of the Ohio country. With unerring intuition the chiefs realized that this encroaching tide of whites meant the eventual displacement of the red men. The settlers lived HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 47 in constant fear of their depredations because of the small number of soldiers stationed in the country. They numbered less than one-tenth of the warriors that could be assembled by the Ohio Tribes. They paid scant adherence to the treaty obligations assented to by them. They watched the Ohio River with especial care, since most of the immigrants entered by that avenue. A great council of the tribes was held at Detroit in the summer of 1788 at which the Six Nations gathered with the western Indians to devise means for mutual defense. The tribes of the Maumee region were here represented, together with other Ohio tribes. But nothing seems to have been definitely determined at this gathering. The American authorities were aroused by the threatening conditions and hastened to make new treaties with the Indians, the matter being left to the discretion of Governor St. Clair. Some two hundred delegates of the delegated tribes accepted invitations to assemble at Fort Harmar in the autumn of 1788, but it was not until January that the treaty was completed. Much complaint was made of the actions of the Thirteen Fires, as the Colonies were called, as to the ways in which the red men had been deceived and cheated. Among the chiefs signing the treaty were Dancing Feather, Wood Bug, Thrown-in-the-Water, Big Bale of a Kettle, Full Moon, Lone Tree, Falling Mountain and Tearing Asunder. It was signed by the Wyandots, Delawares, and Ottawas, among others, But they were not the head chiefs. The Shawnees and Miamis remained away. They were even at that time committing depredations. A considerable sum of money was paid to the Indians as a consideration for certain concessions. It required only a few weeks, however, to demonstrate the insincerity and treachery of the Indians, for their maraudings began anew with the opening of another spring. Gen. Joshia Harmar, with a small body of troops, made a detour of the Scioto River, destroying the food supplies and huts of the hostile savages wherever they were found. Only four of the Indians, so he reported, were shot, as "wolves might as well have been pursued." Recourse was finally had to Antonine Gamelin, a French trader, who was highly esteemed by these aborigines. His long intercourse, honest dealing and good heart had given him universal popularity among the tribes. Much as they liked him, and always avowing their faith in him, the Indians passed him on from tribe to tribe, with no answer to the speech of invitation until he arrived on the Maumee among the Miamis. Here the chiefs were outspoken. "The Americans," they said, "send us nothing but speeches, and no two are alike. They intend to deceive us. Detroit was the place where the fire was lighted ; there is where it ought first to be put out. The English commander is our father since he threw down our French Father ; we can do nothing without his approbation." When Gameline returned he reported the situation as hopeless. Other traders arriving brought the information that war parties were on the move. The ultimate results were three formidable campaigns against the Indians of the Maumee region. They thus become of intense interest to those residing in that section today. General Harmar reported to General St. Clair many raids and murders by the savages, and it was agreed between them, at a meeting held at Fort Washington, on July 11th, that Harmar should conduct an expedition against the Maumee towns, which were reported to be the headquarters of all the renegade Indians who were committing the depredations. Troops from Kentucky, New York, and from the back counties of Pennsylvania, were ordered to assemble at Fort Washington (now Cincinnati) on the 15th of September, 1790. The object of this HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 49 expedition was not only to chastise the savages, but also to build one or more forts on the Maumee and to establish a connecting line of refuge posts for supplies, from which sorties could quickly be made to intercept the savages. Actuated by what might be termed by the "peace at any price" partisans, a commendable spirit, but which we now know was the sheerest folly and really suicidal, St. Clair forwarded word of this expedition to the British commander, to assure him that no hostile intentions were held towards Detroit "or any other place at present in the possession of the troops of his Britannic Majesty, but is on foot with the sole design of humbling and chastising some of the savage, tribes, whose depredations have become intolerable and whose cruelties have of late become an outrage, not only on the people of America, but on humanity." The army under General Harmar, who was the highest ranking officer in the army, marched northward from near Fort Washington on the 4th of October, 1790. It was composed of almost fifteen hundred soldiers, of whom about one-fifth were regulars, and included an artillery company with three light brass cannon. The rest of his troops were volunteer infantry, many of whom were raw soldiers and unused to the gun or the woods, and some of them were indeed without guns that could be used. Between the "regulars" and the militia jealousy seemed to exist from the very start of the expedition. General Harmar was much disheartened, for at least half of them served no other purpose than to swell the number. They were poorly clad and almost destitute of camp equipment. Some of the men were too old and infirm for the contemplated duties. We have a detailed account of the march from day to day in Ebenezer Denny's Military Journal. It shows the hardships endured from the muddy roads, marsh lands, and lack of provender for the horses. The troops averaged nearly ten miles a day. On the twelfth day, says Denny, "passed New Chillicothe, at which Girty's home, on Glaze Creek (Auglaize) or Branch of the Omee (Maumee) one hundred and twenty-five miles." On the 17th a scouting detachment encountered a body of Indians, and quite a number of the Americans were killed. This was the first serious incident of the campaign. The rout was due "to the scandalous behavior of the militia, many of whom never fired a shot, but ran off at the first noise of the Indians and left a few regulars to be sacrificed—some of them never halted until they crossed the Ohio." The Harmar expedition eventually reached a place near the head waters of the Maumee, and not far from Fort Wayne, Indiana. A large village of the Indians was destroyed, and the army then proceeded on. "The chief village," says Denny, "contained about eighty houses and wigwams, and a vast quantity of corn and vegetables hid in various places, holed, etc." Other nearby towns comprised a hundred or more wigwams with gardens and adjacent fields of corn. On the representation by Colonel Hardin that he believed the town was again occupied by the aborigines, as soon as the army passed on, a detachment of "four hundred choice militia and regulars" was sent back on the night of the 21st. They encountered the Indians in strong force and, owing to the unreliability of the militia, were overwhelmingly defeated. General Hrmar then lost all confidence in his troops and started for Fort Washington, which fortress they reached about ten days later. Of his troops one hundred and eighty-three had been killed and thirty-one wounded. The loss of the savages must have been severe for they did not annoy the expedition on its retreat. One of the officers wrote that "a regular soldier on the retreat near the St. Joseph's River, being sur- Vol. 1-4