150 - CHAMPAIGN AND Black Fork, to the head of navigation, in the region now known as Ashland and Richland counties, on the line of the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne Railroad, in Ohio. A long and toilsome voyage it was, as a glance at the map will show, and must have occupied a great deal of time, as the lonely traveler stopped at every inviting spot to plant the seeds and make his infant nurseries. These are the first well-authenticated facts in the history of Jonathan Chapman whose birth, there is good reason for believing, occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1775. According to this, which was his own statement in one of his less reticent moods, he was, at the time of his appearance on Licking Creek, twenty-six years of age, and whether impelled in his eccentricities by some absolute misery of the heart which could only find relief in incessant motion, or governed by a benevolent monomania, his whole after-life was devoted to the work of planting apple seeds in remote places. The seeds he gathered from the cider-presses of Western Pennsylvania ; but his canoe voyage in 1806 appears to have been the only occasion upon which he adopted that method of transporting them, as all his subsequent journeys were made on foot. Having planted his stock of seeds, he would return to Pennsylvania for a fresh supply, and, as sacks made of any less substantial fabric would not en dure the hard usage of the long trip through forests dense with underbrush and briers, he provided himself with leathern bags. Securely packed, the seeds were conveyed, sometimes on the back of a horse, and not unfrequently on his own shoulders, either over a part of the old Indian trail that led from Fort Duquesne to Detroit, by way of Fort Sandusky, or over what is styled in the appendix to "Hutchins's History of Boguet's Expedition in 1764" the "second route through the wilderness of Ohio," which would require him to traverse a distance of one hundred and sixty-six miles in a west-northwest direction from Fort Duquesne in order to reach the Black Fork of the Mohican. This region, although it is now densely populated, still possesses a romantic beauty that railroads and bustling towns can not obliterate—a country of forest-clad hills and green valleys, through which numerous bright streams flow on their way to the Ohio ; but when Johnny Appleseed reached some lonely log cabin he would find himself in a veritable wilderness. The old settlers say that the margins of the streams, near which the first settlements LOGAN COUNTIES - 151 were generally made, were thickly covered with a low, matted growth of small timber, while nearer to the water was a rank mass of long grass, interlaced with morning-glory and wild pea vines, among which funeral willows and clustering alders stood like sentinels on the outpost of civilization. The hills, that rise almost to the dignity of mountains, were crowned with forest trees, and in the coverts were innumerable bears, wolves, deer and droves of wild hogs, that were as ferocious as any beast of prey. In the grass the massasauga and other venomous reptiles lurked in such numbers that a settler named Chandler has left the fact on record that during the first season of his residence, while mowing a little prairie which formed part of his land, he killed over two hundred black rattlesnakes in an area that would involve an average destruction of one of these reptiles for each rod of land. The frontiers-man, who felt himself sufficiently protected by his rifle against wild beasts and hostile Indians, found it necessary to guard against the attacks of the insidious enemies in the grass by wrapping bandages of dried grass around his buckskin leggings and moccasins; but Johnny would shoulder his bag of apple seeds, and with bare feet penetrate to some remote spot that combined picturesqueness and fertility of soil, and there he would plant his seeds, place a slight enclosure around the place, and leave them to grow until the trees were large enough to be transplanted by the settlers, who, in the meantime, would have made their clearings in the vicinity. The sites chosen by him are, many of them, well known, and are such as an artist or poet would select—open places on the loamy lands that border the creeks—rich, secluded spots, hemmed in by giant trees, picturesque now, but fifty years ago, with the wild surroundings and the primal silence, they must have been tenfold more so. In personal appearance Chapman was a small, wiry man, full of restless activity ; he had long, dark hair, a scanty beard that was never shaved, and keen black eyes that sparkled with a peculiar brightness. His dress was of the oddest description. Generally, even in the coldest weather, he went barefooted, but sometimes, for his long journeys, he would make himself a rude pair of sandals ; at other times he would wear any cast-off foot-covering he chanced to find — a boot on one foot and an old brogan or a moccasin on the other. It appears to have been a matter of conscience with him never to purchase shoes, although he was rarely 152 - CHAMPAIGN AND without money enough to do so. On one occasion, in an unusually cold November, while he was traveling barefooted through mud and snow, a settler who happened to possess a pair of shoes that were too small for his own use forced their acceptance upon Johnny declaring that it was sinful for a human being to travel with naked feet in such weather.. A few days afterward the donor was in the village that has since become the thriving city of Mansfield, and met his beneficiary contentedly plodding along, with his feet bare and half frozen. With some degree of anger he inquired for the cause of such foolish conduct, and received for reply , that Johnny had overtaken a poor, barefooted family moving westward, and as they appeared to be in much greater need of clothing than he was, he had given them the shoes. His dress was generally composed of cast off clothing that he had taken in payment for apple-trees ; and as the pioneers were far less extravagant than their descendants in such matters, the homespun and buckskin garments that they discarded would not be very elegant or serviceable. In this later years, however, he seems to have thought that even this kind of second-hand raiment was too luxurious, as his principal garment was made of a coffee-sack, in which he cut holes for head and arms to pass through, and pronounced it "a very serviceable cloak, and as good clothing as any man need wear." In the matter of head-gear his taste was equally unique; his first experience was with a tin vessel that served to cook his mush, but this was open to the objection that it did not protect his eyes from the beams of the sun ; so he constructed a hat of pasteboard, with an immense peak in front, and having thus secured an article that combined usefulness with economy, it became his permanent fashion. Thus strangely clad, he was perpetually wandering through forests and morasses, and suddenly appearing in white settlements and Indian villages; but there must have been some rare force of gentle goodness dwelling in his looks and breathing in his words, for it is the testimony of all who knew him that, notwithstanding his ridiculous attire, he was always treated with the greatest respect by the rudest frontiers-man, and, what is a better test, the boys of the settlements forbore to jeer at him. With grownup people and boys he was usually reticent, but manifested great affection for little girls, always having pieces of ribbon and gay calico to give to his little favorites. Many a grandmother in Ohio LOGAN COUNTIES - 153 and Indiana can remember the presents she received when a child ,from poor homeless Johnny Appleseed. When he consented to eat with any family he would never sit down to the table until he was assured that there was an ample supply for the children ; and his sympathy for their youthful troubles and his kindness toward them made him friends among all the juveniles of the borders. The Indians also treated Johnny with the greatest kindness. By these wild and sanguinary savages he was regarded as a "great medicine man," on account of his strange appearance, eccentric actions, and, especially, the fortitude with which he could endure pain, in proof of which he would often thrust pins and needles into his flesh. His nervous sensibilities really seem to have been le acute than those of ordinary people, for his method of treating cuts and sores that were the consequences of his barefooted wanderings through briers and thorns was .to sear the wound with a red-hot iron, and then cure the burn. During the war of 1812, when the frontier settlers were tortured and slaughtered by the savage allies of Great Britain, Johnny Appleseed continued his wanderings, and was never harmed by the roving bands of hostile Indians. On many occasions the impunity with which he ranged the country enabled him to give the settlers warning of approaching danger in time to allow them to take refuge in their blockhouses before the savages could attack them. Our informant refers to one of these- instances, when the news of Hull's surrender . came like a thunder-bolt upon the frontier. Large bands of Indians and British were destroying everything before them and murdering defenseless women and children, and even the blockhouses were not always a sufficient protection. At this time Johnny traveled day and night, warning the people of the approaching danger. He visited every cabin and delivered this message: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he bath anointed me to blow the trumpet in the wilderness, and sound an alarm in the forest ; for, behold, the tribes of the heathen are round about your doors, and a devouring flame followeth after them." The aged man who narrated this incident said that he could feel even now the thrill that was caused by this prophetic announcement of the wild-looking herald of danger, who. aroused the family on a bright moonlight midnight with his piercing voice. Refusing all offers of fool and denying himself a moment's rest, he traversed 12 154 - CHAMPAIGN AND the border day and night until he had warned every settler of the approaching peril. His diet was as meagre as his clothing. He believed it to be a sin to kill any creature for food, and thought that all that was necessary for human sustenance was produced by the soil. He was also a strenuous opponent of the waste of food, and on one occasion, on approaching a log-cabin, he observed some fragments of bread floating upon the surface of a bucket of slops that was intended for the pigs. He immediately fished them out, and when the housewife expressed her astonishment he told her that it was an abuse of the gifts of God to allow the smallest quantity of any thing that was designed to supply the wants of mankind to be diverted from its purpose. In this instance, as in his whole life, the peculiar religious ideas of Johnny Appleseed were exemplified. He was a most earnest disciple of the faith taught by Emanuel Swedenborg, and himself claimed to have frequent conversations with angels and spirits ; two of the latter, of the feminine gender, he asserted, had revealed to him that they were to be his wives in a future state if he abstained from a matrimonial alliance on earth. He entertained a profound reverence for the revelations of the Swedish seer, and always carried a few Old volumes with him. These he was very -anxious should be read by every one, and he was probably not only the first colporteur in the wilderness of Ohio, but as he had no tract society to furnish him supplies, he certainly devised an original method of multiplying one book into a number. He divided his books into several pieces, leaving a portion at a log-cabin, and on a subsequent visit furnishing another fragment, and continuing this process as diligently as though the work had been published in serial numbers. By this plan he was enabled to furnish reading for several people at the same time, and out of one book ; but it must have been a difficult undertaking for some nearly illiterate backwoodsman to endeavor to comprehend Swedenborg by a backward course of reading, when his first installment happened to be the last fraction of the volume. Johnny's faith in Swenenborg's works was so reverential as almost to be superstitious. He was once asked if, in traveling barefooted through forests abounding with venomous reptiles, he was not afraid of being bitten. With his peculiar smile, he drew his book from his bosom, and said, "This book is an infallible protection against all danger here and hereafter." LOGAN COUNTIES - 155 It was his custom, when he had been welcomed to seine hospitable log-house after a weary day of journeying, to lie down on the puncheon floor, and, after inquiring if his auditors would hear "seine news right fresh from heaven," produce his few tattered books, among which would be a New Testament, and read and expound until his uncultivated hearers would catch the spirit and glow of his enthusiasm, while they scarcely comprehended his language. A lady who knew him in his later years writes in the following terms of one of these domicilary readings of poor, self-sacrificing Johny Appleseed : "We can hear him read now, just as he did that summer day, when we were busy quilting up stairs, and he lay near the door, his voice rising denunciatory and thrilling—strong and loud as the roar of wind and waves, then soft and soothing as the balmy airs, that quivered the morning-glory leaves about his gray beard. His was a strange -eloquence at times, and he was undoubtedly a man of genius." What a scene is presented to our imagination ! The interior of a primitive cabin, the wide, open fireplace, where a few sticks are burning beneath the iron pot in which the evening meal is cooking ; around the fire-place the attentive group, composed of the sturdy pioneer and his wife and children listening with a reverential awe to the "news right fresh from heaven ;" and reclining on the floor, clad in rags, but with his gray hairs glorified by the beams of the setting sun that flood through the open door and the unchinked lugs of the humble building, this poor wanderer, with the gift of genius and eloquence, who believes with the faith of the apostles' and martyrs that God has appointed him a mission in the wilderness to preach the Gospel of love, and plant apple seeds that shall produce orchards for the bens& of men and women and little children whom he has never seen. If there is a sublimer faith or a more genuine eloquence in richly 'decorated cathedrals and under brocade vestments, it would be worth a long journey to find it. Next to his advocacy of his peculiar religious ideas, his enthusiasm for the cultivation of apple-trees in what he termed "the only proper way"—that is, from the seed—was the absorbing object -of his life. Upon this, as upon religion, he was eloquent in his appeals. He would describe the growing and ripening fruit as such a rare and beautiful gift of the Almighty with words that became pictures, until his hearers could almost see its manifold forms of 156 - CHAMPAIGN AND beauty present before them. To his eloquence on this subject, as. well as to his actual labors in planting nurseries, the country over which he travelled for so many years is largely indebted for its numerous orchards. But he denounced as absolute wickedness -all devices of pruning and grafting, and would speak of the act of cutting a tree as if it were a cruelty inflicted upon a sentient being. Not only is he entitled to the fame of being the earliest colporteur on the frontiers, but in the work of protecting animals from abuse he preceded, while, in his small sphere, he equaled the zeal of good Mr. Bergh. Whenever Johnny saw an animal abused, or heard of it, he would purchase it and give it to some more humane settler; on condition that it should be kindly treated and properly cared. fora It frequently happened that the long journey into the wilderness would cause the new settlers to be encumbered with lame and broken down horses, that were turned loose to die. In the autumn Johnny would make a diligent search for all such animals, and, gathering them up, he would bargain for their food and shelter until the next spring, when he would-lead them away to some good pasture for the summer. If they recovered so as to be capable of working, he would never sell them, but would lend or give them away, stipulating for their good usage. His conception of the absolute sin of inflicting pain or death upon any creature was not limited to the higher forms of animal life, but every thing that had being was to him, in the fact of its life, endowed with so much of the Divine Essence that to wound or destroy it was to inflict an injury .upon some atom of Divinity. No Brahmin could be more concerned for the preservation of insect life, and the only occasion on which he destroyed a Venomous reptile was a source of regret, to .which he could never refer without manifesting sadness. He ,had selected a suitable place for planting apple seeds on a small prairie, and in order to g prepare the ground he Was mowing the long grass, when he was bitten. by a rattlesnake. In describing the event he sighed heavily and said; "Poor fellow, he only just touched me, when I, in. the heat of my ungodly passion, put the heel of my scythe in him, and went away. Home time afterward I went back, and there lay the poor fellow dead." Numerous anecdotes bearing upon his respect for every form of life are preserved, and form the staple of pioneer recollections. On one occasion, a cool autumnal night, when LOGAN COUNTIES - 157 Johnny, who always camped out in preference to sleeping in a house, had built a fire near which he intended to pass the night, he noticed that the blaze attracted large numbers of mosquitoes, many of whom flew too near to his fire and were burned. He immediately brought water and quenched the fire, accounting for his con-. duct afterward by saying, "God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort which should be the means of destroying any of his creatures!" At another time he removed the fire he had built near a hollow log, and -slept on the snow,. because he found that the log contained a bear and her cubs, Whom, he said, he did not wish to disturb. And this unwillingness to inflict pain or death was equally strong when he was a sufferer by it, as the following will show : Johnny had been assisting some settlers to make a road through the woods, and in the course of their work they accidently destroyed a hornets' nest. One of the angry insects soon found a lodgment Under Johnny's coffee-sack cloak, but although It stung him repeatedly he removed it with the greatest gentleness. The men who were present laughingly asked him why he did not kill it: To which he gravely replied that " It would not -foe right to kill the poor thing, for it did not intend to hurt me." Theoretically he was as methodical in matters of business as any merchant. In addition to their picturesqueness, the local his nurseries were all fixed with a view M a probable demand for the trees' by the-time they had attained sufficient growth for transplanting. He would give them away to those who could not pay for them. Generally, however, he sold them for old clothing or a supply of corn meal ; but he preferred to receive a note payable at some indefinite period. When this was accomplished he seemed to think that the transaction was completed in a business-like way; but if the giver of the note did not attend to its payment, the holder of it never troubled himself about its .gcollection. His expenses for food and clothing were so very limited that, notwithstanding his freedom from the auri sacra fames, he was frequently in posession of more money than he cared to keep, anti it was quickly d is--posed of for wintering infirm horses, or given to some poor family whom the ague had prostrated or the accidents of border life impoverished. In a single instance only he is known to have invested his surplus means in the purchase of land, having received a deed from Alexander Finley, of Mohican Township, Ashland County Ohio, for a part of the southwest quarter of section twenty-six 158 - CHAMPAIGN AND but With his customary indifference to maters of value, Johnny failed to record the deed, and lost it. Only a few years ago the property was in litigation. We must not leave the reader under the impression that this man's life, so full of hardship and perils, was a gloomy or unhappy one. There is an element of human pride in all martyrdom, which, if it does not soften the pains, stimulates the power of endurance. Johnny's life was made serenly happy by the conviction that he was living like the primitive Christians. Nor was he devoid of a keen humor, to which he occasionally gave vent, as the following will show. Toward the latter part of Joh nny 's career in Ohio an itinerant missionary found his way to the village of Mansfield, and preached to an open-air congregation. The discourse was tediously lengthy and unnecessarily severe upon the sin of extravagance, which was beginning to manifest itself among the pioneers by an occasional indulgence in the carnal vanities of calico and "store tea." There was a good deal of the Pharisaic leaven in, the preacher, who very frequently emphasized his discourse by the inquiry, "Where is therea man who, like the primitive Christians, is traveling to heaven barefooted and • clad in -oarse raiment?" When this interrogation had been repeated beyond all reasonable endurance, Johny rose from the log on which he was reclining, and advancing to the speaker,. he placed one of his bare feet upon the stump which served for a pul- pit, and pointing to his coffee-sack garment, he quietly said, "Here's your primitive Christian!" The well-clothed missionary hesitated and statnmered and dismissed the congregation. His pet antithesis was destroyed by Johnny's personal appearance, which was far more primitive then the preacher eared to copy. , Some of the pioneers were disposed to think that Johnny's humor mas the cause of an extensive practical joke.; but it is generally conceded now that st. wide-spread annoyance was really the result of hi belief that the offensively-odored weed, known in the west as the dog-fennel, but more generally styled the May-weed, possessed valuable antimalarial virtues. He procured some seeds of the plant in Pennsylvania, and sowed them in the vicinity of every house in the region of his travels. The consequence was that successive flourishing crops of the weed spread over the whole country, and caused almost as much trouble as the disease it was LOGAN COUNTIES - 159 intended to ward off; and to this day the dog-fennel, introduced by Johnny Appleseed, is one of the worst grievances of the Ohio farmers. In 1838—thirty-seven years' after his appearance on Licking Creek, ____ Johnny noticed that civilization, wealth, and population were pressing into the wilderness of Ohio. Hitherto he had easily kept just in advance of the wave of settlement ; but now towns and churches were making their appearance, and even, at long intervals, the stage-driver's horn broke the silence of the grand old forests, and he felt that his work was done in the region in which he had labored so long. He visited every house, and took a solemn farewell of all the families. The little girls who had been delighted with his gifts of fragments of calico and ribbons had become sober matrons, and the boys who had wondered at his ability to bear the pain caused by running needles into his flesh were heads of families. With parting words of admonition he left them, and turned his steps steadily toward the setting sun. During the succeeding nine years he pursued his eccentric avocation on the western border of Ohio and in Indiana. In the summer of 1847,'when his labors had literally borne fruit over a hundred thousand square miles of territory, at the close of a warm day, after traveling twenty miles, he entered the house of a settler in Allen county, Indiana, and was, as usual, warmly welcomed. He declined to eat with the family, but accepted some bread and milk, which he partook of sitting on the door-Step and gazing on the setting sun. Later in the evening he delivered his "news right fresh from heaven" by reading the Beatitudes. Declining other accommodation, he slept, as usual, on the floor, and in the early morning he was found with his features all aglow with. a supernal light, and his body’s, near death that his tongue refused its office. The physician, who was hastily summoned pronounced him dying, but added that he had never seen a man in so placid a state at the approach of death. At seventy-two years of age, forty-six of which had been devoted to his self-imposed mission, he ripened into death as naturally and beautifully as the seeds of his own planting had grown into fibre and bud and blossom and the matured fruit. Thus died one of the memorable men of pioneer times, who never inflicted pain or knew an enemy—a man of strange habits, 160 - CHAMPAIGN AND in whom there dwelt a comprehensive love that reached with one hand downward to the lowest forms of life, with the other upward to the very throne of God. A laboring, self-denying benefactor of his race, homeless, solitary, and ragged, he trod the thorny earth with bare and bleeding feet, intent. only upon making the wilderness fruitful. Now "no man knoweth of his sepulchre;" but his deeds will live in the fragrance of the apple blossoms he loved so well, and the story of his life, however crudely narrated, will be a perpetual proof that true heroism, pure benevolence, noble virtues, and deeds that deserve_ immortality may be found under meanest apparel, and far from gilding halls and towering spires. LOGAN MUNTIES. - 161 LORENZO DOW. HIS VISIT IN 1826. In May, 1826, Lorenzo Dow visited Logan and Champaign counties, and I think this was the only visit he ever made to those counties. The first that I now remember of hearing of his movements on this journey was at Sandusky City, then called Portland. The people of Portland at that time were almost wholly irreligious and extremely wicked. Religious meetings were almost unknown amongst them. Not long before Lorenzo's visit, a Methodist minister had appointed a meeting at Portland, and while engaged in prayer, a sailor jumped on his back and kicked him, and cursed him, and said " Why don't you pray some for Jackson ?" and the meeting was broken up in much disorder. Lorenzo had an appointment at Portland early in May, 1826, and of course his name and fame attracted a large crowd at the hour of meeting : the-meeting was held under a large tree near the bank of Lake Erie. At the appointed time Lorenzo came walking very fast, dressed in a plain manlier, with straw hat and white blanket coat. He rushed into the midst of the company, pulled off his hat and clashed it on the ground, pulled off his coat and dashed it down the way, as though he was mad, looked very sternly, and immediately began to-preach ; his text was pretty rough ; he began with the words: "Hell and damnation ; " he then uttered a String of oaths enough to frighten the wickedest man in Portland. He then made a solemn pause, and said : " This is your common language to God and to one another—such language as the gates of hell cannot exceed." He then preached a solemn, warning sermon, and was listened to by all present with much attention, without interruption. 162 - CHAMPAIGN AND The next account I cangive of Lorenzo on this journey, was at Tymochtee, I believe now within the bounds of Hardin county. He stopped at the house of Eleazer Hunt, and Phineas Hunt. father of Eleazer was there with his wagon, and was about starting to his home in Champaign county, and Lorenzo rode in his wagon. It seemed that Lorenzo had sent an appointment to preaCh at Bellefontaine, at 11 o'clock, of the day that he expected to arrive there. About the appointed time he arrived at Bellefontaine, riding in Phineas Hunt's wagon. I am informed that the people were looking earnestly for him. Judge N. Z. McColloch and others met the wagon in which Lorenzo was. in, and inquired, "Is Mr. Dow here?" he said, "Yes, my name is Dow." Judge McColloch then kindly invited him to go to his house and eat dinner, as there was sufficient time before the hour of meeting. Without saying a word, Lorenzo directed the driver to go south a little farther,. where he alighted from. the .wagon and laid under the shade of a small tree, and took some bread and meat from his pocket and ate his dinner in that way. Soon meeting time came, and there was of course a large attendance.- In the course of his sermon, Lorenzo pointed to an old lady who sat near him and said, "Old lady, if you don't quit tattling and slandering your neighbors, the devil will get you !" Pointing directly at her 'he said, "I am talking to you !'"There was a young mats: in the meeting, that Lorenzo probably thought needed reproof ; he said, "Young man, you estimate yourself a great deal higher than other people estimate you, and if you don't quit your high notions and do better, the devil will get you too!" Passing out of the meeting he met a young man and said to him, "Young owl., the Lord has a work for you to do. He calls you to labor in his vineyard." It is said that young man became a minister o the Gospel.• I think the meeting at Bellefontaine, was held on seventh day, or Satuaday. After meeting, he came with Phineas Hunt, to his home,—a brick-house now on the farm of William Scott, in Salem township, Champaign County. Lorenzo held a meeting at Phineas Hunt's house, that evening, at 5 o'clock, P. M., which was not large as no previous notice was given. My father attended that meeting. Lorenzo's text was : "But the hour cometh, and now .is when the-true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth ; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." LOGAN COUNTIES - 163 Next day being the Sabbath, Lorenzo had an appointed meeting at Mt. Tabor, at 10 o'clock, A. M., which was generally known-in the neighborhood. About 9 o'clock, on Sabbath morning, Lorenzo saw some people passing by, enquired where they were . going ; was told they were going to his meeting ; without saying another word he picked up his hat, and started in the direction of the meeting; overtaking some persons on the Way, he walked with them apiece, and took a by way leading from the main road, when one of the company said, "this is the road to Mt. Tabor," he said "yes that is your road ; go on." He passed on to N. W. until he came to the. Bellefontaine road, about of A mile north of Tabor, and walked south to the meeting house. The people had assembled in the grove, west of the meeting house, where seats had been prepared. Lorenzo passed right by the assembly, and went down the hill into the bushes and timber S. E. of the meeting house, where he immediately began to preach, the people following him, carrying benches and chairS, &c., but mostly stood on foot during the meeting. He was preaching when I arrived at the meeting, and perhaps hundreds came-after he had began to preach. His manner in preaching was earnest and impressive, he never hesitated, but-seemed to have words at command that suited the case. His doctrine appeared to be the same as held by the Methodists ; he spoke of a call to the ministry ; he said it must be a di, vine call, that it would not do to preach as ̊a trade or profession. He spoke with much severity and keen sarcasm against proud and deceitful professors of religion. His appearance was remarkable: he was a spare man, of rather small size; his beard was long, reaching to his breast, his hair was a little gray, parted in the middle on his head, and reached down to his shoulders; his dress was very plain, and appeared to be cleanly and neat. He wore a straw or palm-leaf hat, a black over-coat, which appeared to be all the coat he had mil he rested on a cane while preaching ; his eye was calm and serene, yet piercing. Notwithstanding his eccentricitie, hiS whole appearance and manners indicated that he was an extraordinary man — .great and good man. He did not sing, at this meeting ; after preaching about one hour and a quarter, in which he seemed to mention almost everything connected with religious subjects, giving a history of his life, and of the 'solemn parting with his father and. mother, brothers and sisters, when he started out—I think at about. seventeen years of. age- 164 - CHAMPAIGN AND to preach the gospel, he knelt and offered a short and beautiful prayer, and then dismissed the audience. As he was ascending the hill westward from the place of meeting, a Venerable Methodist preacher, on horse-back, met him, and being very anxious to talk to Lorenzo, rather rode before him, and held out his hand. Lorenzo took his hand, and said : "Don't ride over me, it's not good manners." Wm. H. Fyffe had sent a handsome carriage to convey Lorenzo to Urbana, where he had an appointment to preach that afternoon, at 3 o'clock. I have been told he was kindly invited to dinner, perhaps by several persons, but did not accept the invitation, and laid down to rest on Judge Reynolds's cellar door, taking some bread from out of his pocket, and made his meal. This afternoon meeting of course was large, and 1 think was held in the Methodist Church. Lorenzo preached in a very earnest manner, became warmed and animated; swinging his hinds, the hymn hook slipped from his hand and struck a lady on her head ; he paused and said : "Excuse my energy, for my soul is elated.". I believe can give no further particulars of the only visit to this county of this remarkable man. THOMAS COWGILL, KENNARD, O., 3d Month 18, 1872. REV. DAVID MERRILL. 'The writer of this became acquainted with Mr. Merrill at Urbana *bout forty years ago, and had. the honor of hearing- him deliver his celebrated " Ox" discourse. "That Mr. Merritt was a man of no ordinary intellectual powers, is sufficiently evident from what he said and did, and the fact was felt by all who had any considerable acquaintance with him. His more prominent mental traits were, undoubtedly, such as comprehensiveness, originality, energy, &c. Whatever subjects he investigated, he took hold of them with a strong grasp ; he looked at them in their various relations, and in a manner that was peculiarly his own. He had a power of originating and combining ideas, an LOGAN COUNTIES - 165 ability to elaborate, as it were, thoughts within himself, that reminded one of the prolific and vigorous intellects of an earlier and more favored generation. He had, too, a kind of intuitive perception of the propriety and fitness of things—of the bearing one action has upon another—of what is adapted to affect men in different circumstances. The history of the "Ox Sermon," is briefly this. It was written for a temperance meeting in Urbana, and delivered to an audience of less than a hundred persons. Its first publication was in the Urbana weekly paper. A copy of this paper, sent to Samuel Merrill, Esq., of Indianapolis, Ind., fell into the hands of John I. Farnham, Esq., who caused a pamphlet edition of 500 copies to be printed at Salem, Indiana. Rev. M. H. Wilder, a Tract. Agent, sent a copy of this edition to the American Tract Society, by which it was handed over to the Temperance Society. It was then published as the "Temperance Recorder, extra;" for circulation in every family in the United'States. The edition numbered 2,200,000 copies. Numerous ?editions have been published since,—one in Canada East, of, I think, 10,000 copies. The American Tract Society adopted it. about 1845, as No. 475 of their series of tracts, and have published 104,000 copies. The Tract Society has also published 100,000 copies of an abridgement of it, under. the title, "Is it right?" It has been published in many newspapers of extensive circulation. It is undoubtedly safe to say that its circulation has been between two and a half and three millions of copies. What other Sermon has ever had a circulation equal to this? A person tolerably well informed in regard to the arguments used by temperance men at the present day, who reads the Ox Sermon for the first time, will think its positions and illustrations quite common-place, and wonder why anybody ever attributed to it any originality or shrewdness. But twenty-five years have wrought great changes in the popular sentiment upon the subject of temperance, and positions, which are now admitted almost as readily as the axioms in mathematics, when broached in that sermon were regarded as "violently new-school," "dangerously radical," "impracticably ultra." 'Whoever originate an idea which becomes influential over the belief and actions of men, commences a work which will go on increasing in efficiency long after his own generation shall have passed away. The author of the "Ox Sermon," 166 - CHAMPAIGN AND even during his own life, had the satisfaction of knowing that many by reading that discourse were so convicted in their consciences that even at great pecuniary sacrifice they gave up the traffic in ardent spirits, and that many more from being enemies or lukewarm friends, became earnest advocates of the temperance reformation. REV. GEORGE WALKER. The above named gentleman lived in Champaign County when he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church under the labors of Rev. George Gatch. The circumstances of his joining the .Church are briefly these : When Mr. Gatch was on his last round on Mad-river Circuit, at King's Creek, four miles north' of Urbana, after the sermon, Mr. Gatch gave an invitation to join the Church ; Mr. Walker started toward the preacher, and when about midway of the congregation his strength failed him for the first time, and he sank down on the floor. Mr. Gatch approached him as he arose to his feet, and he gave his hand to the minister, and his name to the Church. Mr. Walker married Miss Catharine Elbert, daughter of Dr. John Elbert, of Logan County. I believe she died but recently. The annexed sketch of Mr. Walker's life will be read with interest by his old comrades.—Ed. In person he was well formed, but a fraction less than six feet in bight ; had a powerful frame, yet closely knit together. His habit was full, his carriage erect and dignified ; his features were regular but well-defined, and strongly expressive of a generous and noble nature ; his brow was arched and heavy, his forehead high, broad, and open, his hair dark, and somewhat inclined to stiffness. In his dress he was neat, cleanly, and careful, regarding comfort, but not disregarding elegance ; never, however, violating professional propriety, or losing his dignity in ornament or show ; nor did he ever affect singularity or quaintness. He was accustomed to finish whatever he undertook, arguing, and often observing, that " that Which was worth doing, was worth doing well." I have often thought that this idea was carried with him into the pulpit; and when preaching on subjects LOGAN COUNTIES - 167 peculiarly interesting to him, made him consume more time than would otherwise have been preferable to him. His custom was to reason from cause to effect, yet he would often institute analogies. His mind was mathematical, and he had a love of exact science. I never new him bewildered in theories ; and so great Was the original strength of his mind, that he detected the false or the faulty almost at a glance. He read character well, but never judged hastily or harshly. He had a boundless charity for the faults of others, and never deemed one, however low he or she might have sunken, beyond the hope of redemption. He could well adapt himself to the society he was in, so far as this could be done without compromising his character or principles. This he was never known to do, nor do I believe he could have been tempted to do so. He had due respect for the opinions of others, and in many things would take counsel, but he was self-reliant, and seemed through life to think it was his duty to bear the burden of others, rather than to place his own upon their shoulders REV. JOSEPH THOMAS. Elder Joseph Thomas, or "White Pilgrim," the subject of this sketch, has frequently preached in Champaign and Logan counties. The writer heard him once or twice at a camp-meeting, at Muddy Run, near West Liberty, about the year '33 or '34. How many people, young and old, in the United States, and in Europe, that have read those beautiful and pathetic lines, written by Elder J. Ellis, and wondered who was the subject of them, and where is "the spot where he lay !" I will say, for the satisfaction of all such, he is buried in a cemetery at Johnsonsburgh, Warren county, New Jersey, where a beautiful Italian marble monument marks the spot where "the White Pilgrim lays." The peculiarity of his white dress, says a writer, undoubtedly added much to the notoriety which everywhere greeted him. Though independent of this, his excellent evangelical gifts rendered his services very acceptable. In regard to his peculiar dress, he says it was typical of the robes of the saints in glory ; that he found but very little inconvenience in its use, an .1 was contented with his choice. Below will be found this beautiful poem. 168 - CHAMPAIGN AND LIVES COMPOSED WHILE STANDING AT THE WHITE. PILGRIM'S GRAVE   By Elder J. ELLIS. I came to the spot where the White Pilgrim lay, And pensively stood by his tomb, When in a low whisper I heard something say, " How sweetly I sleep here alone. The tempest may. howl, and loud thunder roll, And, gathering storms may arise, Yet calm are my feeling's, at rest is my soul, The tears are all wiped from my eyes. The cause of my Savior compelled me to roam, I bade my companions farewell, I left my sweet 'children, who for me do mourn, In a far distant region to dwell. I wandered ks n exile and stranger below, To publish salvation abroad, The trump of the Gospel endeavored to blow, Inviting poor sinners to God. But when aiming strangers, and far, from my home, No kindred or relative nigh, I met the contagion, and sank in the tomb, My spirits ascended on high. Go! tell my companion and children most dear, To weep not for Joseph, tho' gone; The same hand that led me thro' scenes dark and drear,. Has kindly conducted me home." THE FIRST CHURCHES. The King's Creek Baptist Church is probably the first Church in.. stituted in Champaign County, it being established the same year the county was organized (1805 ). ORGANIZATION Of the Ring's Creek Regular Baptist Church in the year 1805. The organization was effected on the 29th day of June, at the house of James turner, "On the waters of King's Creek." The list in .my possession contains the names of constituent members as follows : James Turner, Sr., John Guttridge, Sampson Talbot, Rebecca McGill, Hannah Sutton, Ann Turner, M. Guttridge and E. Parkerson — eight in all. It seems very clear to us that this is not a full list. The name of Rev. John Thomas is nowhere to be found in the list of members, yet the articles of faith on which the church was constituted are in his hand-writing, and very elaborately done, with all the references and quotations, as are also the rules of decorum. We find him always present at the meetings, acting on committees, and often serving as Clerk pro .tem. Perhaps he was a very modest man, and did not prefer to write his own name. It is noticeable that in all the records that he kept he never once names himself as preacher, but if any other one preached he records' .the name, yet there are members living who 'testify to the excellency of his preaching. By the foregoing it will be seen that Champaign as a County and King's Creek as a Baptist Church commenced their.careerin the same year and both are holding on their way. If Benedict's History of the Baptists is correct, King's Creek „must have been the third Baptist Church organized in the State of 13 170 - CHAMPAIGN AND Ohio. Benedict gives the first organization at Columbia, five or six miles from Cincinnati, in 1790, and second at Pleasant Run, near Lancaster, in Fairfield County, in 1801. If there was a Baptist Church constituted in Ohio, in the four years that intervened between Pleasant Run and King's Creek we do not know it, and until better informed we shall claim King's Creek as the third Baptist Church in Ohio. In the early history of the Church, the meetings were held in the houses of the members which were scattered over a large area of the County. But "The word of the Lord was precious in those days" and sacrifice could be made to meet with the saints of the Most High. Dangers even could be encountered, for the red men of the soil were then numerous and looked on their pale faced neighbors as intruders, their hostilities not ceasing till after the butchery and scalping of Arthur Thomas and son in 1813. Thus for eleven years our predecessors wound their way by paths and through difficulties and dangers to meet their Saviour and his disciples. No one then complained of long sermons, none went to sleep and nodded unconscious assent to unheard truths. Their conversation was of the Heavenly country whither they were going, the trials, the difficulties and encouragements of the way. In these primitive gatherings they were sure to meet the Lord Jesus; fat things full of marrow and wine on lees were vouchsafed them while the Lord added to their number "such as should be saved." This increase made the private house, or rather cabin, too strait for them, and they began to think of some SANCTUARY, some consecrated spot whither the elect of God might go up and tread on holy ground. Thought begat desire and desire prompted to the action of building a MEETING HOUSE. The same necessity was also here, and has been everywhere that Abraham found, "A place to bury my dead out of my sight." In all communities where people really serve God there are outsiders who seem to wish them well ; so it was here. Mr. John Taylor gave an acre of ground for a burial place and to erect a meeting house on. The deed is made to Jesse Guttridge and. James Templin, deacons of the church. It is in the hand writing of Rev. John Thomas, and bears date March 7th, 1816. This spot of ground, LOGAN COUNTIES - 171 now enlarged, is the silent house and home of most of the then living, moving generation. The Hon. Edward L. Morgan, now in his seventy-eighth year, assisted to open the first narrow house in this city of the dead. This narrow hawse is tenanted by the mortal remains of Sister Ann Turner, one of the constituent members of the Church. During the year 1816 a log-house 26 by 20 was erected for a meeting house. This house had neither chimney or fire-place, and as stoves could not be had, a wooden box was made of thick puncheon. This box was about 12 by 6 feet and partly filled with clay pounded in so as to form a concave for the reception of charcoal. This standing in the center of the house with its glowing bed of charcoal afforded the only warmth for winter days. That the carbonic acid (gas) generated by the burning charcoal, did not send them all over Jordan before they wanted to go is sufficient evidence that this house does not lack ventilation as many modern ones do. This house became the center for Sunday gatherings, for all the regions round. It also afforded accommodation for the day school and singing schools. It was in this house that uncle Ed, (Hon. Edward L. Morgan) reigned lord of the birch and ferule, and taught the young idea how to shoot. Here some of our living fathers and mothers in Israel not only received the first rudiments of an English education, but here they also first learned in the school of Christ ; and if they should ever sing "There is a spot to me most dear," memory would turn back to the old log meeting house of 1816. What if uncle Ed. does tell us that "every cabin contained the hand Cards, the spinning wheel and loom, that the entire wardrobe of both male and female were home manufacture, that all went barefoot in the summer, tt e girls even not indulging in the luxury of shoes and stockings, except when going to meeting or a wedding, and then the shoes and stockings were carried in the hawed till arriving near the place of destination—that the appearance of two new calico dresses produced a sensation," yet we premise that under the dress of linsey-woolsey as true maidenly hearts beat as have ever beat beneath the costly fabrics of fashion's reign. They were as lovely and lovable in the eyes of the young men of that day as any maidens can be. That they were as well fitted to make happy homes, and fulfill the duties of wives and mothers none can doubt, who knew the few survivors of that age and time. 172 - CHAMPAIGN AND The young man's vest of homespun or buckskin, covered u noble, brave and manly heart. Here attachments were formed, and consummated at Hymen's alter, which have needed no divorce laws or courts to loose the bonds. It is indeed doubtful whether jewel lit fingers, bracelet encircled wrists, cramped feet and disfigured form ; broadcloth, polished leather and superficial manhood has added anything to happiness or godliness. It is certain that under the old regime the people were honest, contented and happy, and served God in spirit and in truth. This house, with its varied associations, stood for fifteen years and might have stood much longer had not Providence removed it. One of those blessings, which often come in the form of a calamity, completely cleared the ground, by fire, for the erection of a brick edifice 28 by 40 feet, which was built in 1831 on the same ground. To this sanctuary the tribes of the Lord continued to go up until 1848, when 1 he place began to be too strait for them, when this house was removed. and the present substantial church edifice, 41 by 70, was built and nearly on the same ground. We do not exaggerate when we say no country church, within our knowledge, has a better house. The tall white spire, pointing heavenward„ can be seen from three Railroads, while the deep, silvery tones of the bell, calling the sons of God to worship, can be heard for miles, around. The internal arrangements are neat and tasteful. The walls, though not frescoed, are neatly papered in the Corinthian column style. The want of gas is supplied by a brilliant chandelier, and the seats are supplied with hymn books. A critical eye would detect a fault in the shadow of the columns falling toward the pulpit. For it is generally supposed (though sometimes erroneously) that light comes from the pulpit. The Methodist Episcopal Church Was established about the same year, 1805, in Urbana ; the old log Church referred to by Judge Patrick in his history of Urbana, we:; built in the year 1807. Mount Tabor Church (1811) Is among the earliest churches in the county. I don't know the precise date of its establishment, but I know it was there in 1815, LOGAN COUNTIES - 173 and perhaps long before. See Dr. Cowgill's interesting sketches in this work ; also Mr. Stalers and Mr. T. S. McFarland, who have kindly contributed their valuable sketches for this volume. Quaker Church at Darby, In Zane township, Logan county. The first meeting held by this people for worship was in the year 1804 or 1805, they being the first religious denomination in the county. The next was by the same religious body at Goshen, Jefferson township, about one mile east of Zanesfleld, in what is called Marmon's Bottom, in the year 1807. This was established by the Miami Monthly Meetings. Though Darby was not recognized by the above-named monthly meetings till 1808, yet meetings were held here some years before. Thomas Antrim was the first minister. Tharp's Run Baptist Church, Constituted 1819, by John Guttridge and John Thomas. William Henry is the only living constituent member of this church. It is located one mile west from Zanesfield. The Rev, George McColLoch, his wife, and James Edwards were all baptized here the same day, June 23,187,2. Mr. McColloch was ordained 1829. Methodist Church In Zane township, Logan county. Built on the bank of Inskeep's old mill dam, in year 1813. Universalist Church, Built about the year 1842, at Woodstock. The minister, that preached thei e first Were Rev. Mr. jolly, Truman Strong, George Messenger, and the Rev. Mr. Emmett. Spain's Run Methodist Church Was established in Champaign County, in 1808. The first meetinghouse was built in 1815, one mile west of North Lewisburg. 174 - CHAMPAIGN AND THE FIRST MERCHANT In Logan County was Robitaille, better known as Robindi. Judge McColloch says his store-room stood near where Bradsmith's residence now stands, in Zanesfield. He represents him to be a very polite and affable Canadian Frenchman. I think Billy Henry told me he was buried on the old Gunn farm, on the Ludlow road, one mile south of Bellefontaine. He took out license in 1805. Fabian Eagle kept a small store at Urbana at the same time. JAMES McPHERSON Took out license to sell goods at the same time with Robindi, ( 1805, ) as the records, now on the Clerk's book, in Urbana, show. I think he sold a short time in Champaign County, just below West Liberty, afterwards in Logan County, where he died in the year 1837. JOHN GUNN. I saw on the same book that John Gunn had taken out license the same year ( 1805 ) to keep tavern. He kept tavern at the old farm spoken of above, He was there in 1812, during the war. LOGAN COUNTIES - 175 WILLIAM HUBBARD. BY HON. WILLIAM LAWRENCE. Born at the quiet rural village of West Liberty on the southern border of Logan county, Ohio, on May 17, 1821, William Hubbard inherited nothing but an honest name, a healthy constitution, and a vigorous intellect. Deprived of a father's care at an early age, he grew up under the guidance of a widowed mother, whose exemplary virtues, strong good sense and patient industry, left their impress on the mind and character of her son. At that early day, the "log School-house" furnished almost the only means of education ; but with this, and that home training which every mother should be competent to afford, William became well versed in all the usual branches of an English education. Early in the year of 1832 he took his first lessons in the "art preservative of arts," the printing business—in the office of the Logan Gazette, a newspaper then edited and conducted in Bellefontaine, by Hiram B. Strother. Here he served with fidelity, and skill, and industry, for seven years, when, early in 1839, he became the publisher of the paper, and continued as such for a period of six months. During all this time, as, indeed, in the years which followed, he employed his leisure moments in developing his literary taste, and in the profound study of the best writers of prose and poetry. In the summer of 1841 he began his career as a school teacher in a district near his native village, in one of the ever-memorable, universal "people's colleges" of the times, the "log School-house." In this useful, be: perplexing and ill-paid capacity, he continued most of his time until the fall of 1845. Meantime, in 1841, he had determined to study the profession of law, and for that purpose became the student of Benjamin F. Stanton and William Lawrence, atterneys in Bellefontaine. His studies were somewhat interrupted by his duties as teacher, and lay his literary pursuits, yet as he had made it a rule of his life 176 - CHAMPAIGN AND never to do anything imperfectly, he. was not admitted to the bar until he had become a thoroughly well-read lawyer, in the year 1846. In the fall of 1845 Mr. Hubbard became editor of the Logan Gazette, and occupied that position for a number of years, but is now the able and accomplished editor of the North West, published at Napoleon, Henry county, Ohio. As a political writer he has a wide and deservedly high reputation. Notwithstanding his duties as an editor, he was elected Prosecuting AttorneyofLogan county, in 1848, and again in 1850 and, in that capacity served with skill and ability for four years, when he declined a re-election. In 1858 Mr. Hubbard received the nomination of the political party to which he belongs, as its candidate for Congress. He could scarcely hope for success in a district largely opposed to him politically ; but, though defeated, his vote was highly complimentary. In debates and addresses in that canvass he added much to a local reputation as an orator. Early love of books, a warm imagination, cultivated by'study, and by the beautiful scenery of the fertile valley of the Mad river, with a heart full of pathos and of ardor, all contributed to "Wake t6 ecstasy the living lyre," and turn his thoughts into eloquence and poetry. His first published poetical productions were in January, 1858. We have never known a writer of so much genius with so little ostentation. He has never sought, but always shunned notoriety. His poetical writings, if collected, would make a good sized volume. Below will be found a beautiful poem, written by him at the grave of Simon Kenton, which I select as a specimen of his poems. See his other poems in Coggshell's Poets and Poetry of the West. At the Gave of Simon Kenton Tread lightly, this is hallowed ground ; tread reverently here ! Beneath this sod, in silence sleeps, the brave old Pioneer, Who never quailed in darkest hour, whose heart ne'er felt a fear ; Tread lightly, then, and here bestow the tribute of a tear. Ah ! Can this be the spot where sleeps the bravest of the brave ? Is this rude slab the only mark of Simon Kenton's grave ? These fallen palings, are they all his ingrate country gave To one who periled life so ott her homes and hearths to save ? LOGAN COUNTIES - 177 Long, long ago, in manhood's prime, when all was wild and drear, They bound the hero to a Stake' of savage torment here__ Unblanched and firm, his soul disdained a supplicating tear— A thousand demons could not daunt the Western Pioneer. They tied his hands, Mazeppa-like, and set him on a steed, Wild as the mustang of the plains, and mocking bade him speed ! They sped that courser like the wind, of curb and bit all freed, O'er flood and field, o'er hill and dale, wherever chance might lead. But firm in every trial hour, his heart was still the same, Still throbbed with self-reliance strong, which danger could not tame. Yet fought he not that he might win the splendor of a fame, Which would in ages long to come shed glory on his name. He fought because he loved the land where first he saw the light— He fought because his soul was true, and idolized the right ; And ever in the fiercest and thickest of the fight, The dusk and swarthy foeman felt the terror of his might. Are these his countrymen who dwell where long ago he came ? Are these the men who glory in the splendor of his fame'' And can they not afford to give a stone to bear his name ? Oh, never let them more presume the hero's dust to claim ! 178 - CHAMIPAIGN AND ABRAM S. PIATT. Abram Sanders Platt is more generally known to the military and political than the poetical world, The two pursuits, so wide apart as they are, seldom center in one individual. Did Mr. Platt seriously follow either, this would not probably be the fact in this instance. But the happy possessor of broad acres—and beautiful acres they are—in the Macacheek valley, Logan county, Ohio, he dallies with the muses, and worries the politicians more for amusement than aught else. His serious moments are given to the care of an interesting family, and the cultivation of his farm. No one of any refinement could long dwell in the Macaeheek valley and not feel more or less of the poetry that seems to live in its very atmosphere.. So rare a combination of plain, and hill, wood and meadow, adorned by the deep clear glittering stream that gives name to the valley, seldom greets the eyes. There, the hawthorn and hazel gather in clumps upon the sloping hillsides, or upon fields, while, like great hosts, the many tinted forests of burr-oak, maple and hickory close in on every side the view. Nor is the Macacheek without its legends and historical associations. Men yet live, rough old backwoodsmen, with heads whitened by the snows of eighty winters, who will point out the precise spot where a poor Indian woman, seen lurking about the smoking ruins of the Macaeheek towns, only then destroyed by the white invaders, was shot by a rifleman, who mistook her for a warrior. Near the Piatt homestead may be seen the spot where Simon Kenton was forced by his cruel enemies to run the gauntlet, when between lake and river lay a vast unbroken wilderness. It was near this that he and Girty, the renegade, recognized each other, and the hard heart of the murderer was touched at the sight of his old comrade and friend and he saved his life at a time when this bold act endangered his own. The family to which Mr. Piatt belongs is one of the pioneer families of the Mad River Valley, and has prominent associations with the literature and politics of the west. Don Pia*, his brother, is well known as a writer and political orator. LOGAN COUNTIES - 179 Carrie Platt, a niece has contributed popular articles in. both prose and -.terse to western Magazines. A. Sanders Pratt's poems have been published chiefly in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial and in the Macacheek Press. Below will be found a specimen of his poems. THE DAINTY BEE The dainty bee 'mid waxen cells Of golden beauty ever dwells, And dreams his life away ; His food a million flowers caught, From out the sunlight as they wrought, Through Spring and Summer day. Slothful bee, the Spring-time's morning Wakes him from his Winter's dream. Reveler 'mid the pleasures gathered, From the wild-bloom and the stream. But the Spring-time's ray of gladness Calls him to the fields again, Calls him with the voice of flowers Flowing 'mid the sunlit rain. Goes he to the fields of plenty, Searches 'mid the rare perfume, Gathers honey from their beauty, While he sings his wanton tune, Filling 'mid the sweets and fancies That o'erburthen all the air, Gathering Dainties from the palace, That the queenly group may share. Drunk with treasures, overburdened, Slow he wings his way along, Gladdens all the scenes with humming O'er his dainty little song. Wanton bee, ah ! busy body, Drinking from each perfumed cup, All day straying in the valley, Gathering sweets to treasure up. 180 - CHAMPAIGN AND Lives he in a world of plenty, Floating on its rare perfume, Sipping Maytime's early blossoms, Reveling; in the bed of June ? In the snows, amid the clover, Dainty avows, how sweet and shy, Treaded with the green of Summer, Perfumed frosts of mid-July ! Thy home is nature's world-wide palace, Nature's wild secluded ways, Lit with night's dews dream of morning, Wakened with a million rays. See the sunlight's silver fingers, Lifting fragrance to the sky, Fill the vale with many rare joys, As they slowly waft them by. Scents the air, thy wings to bathe in, Guides thee to the treasures pure ; Airs that play the rarest music, For such dainty epicure. Labor while the Summer lingers, Labor while the south wind blows, Ere the North king, marching southward, Fills thy garden with his snows. LOGAN COUNTY. Logan County derived its name from General Benjamin Logan. It was struck off from Champaign, March 1, 1817, but not organized until 1818. The Courts were ordered to be held in the town of Belleville, at the house of Edwin Matthews, until a permanent Seat of Justice should be established. The territory comprised within the limits of this county was a favorite abode of the Shawanoe Indians, who had several villages on Mad River, called the Macacheek towns, the names and position of three of which are given to us by an old settler. The first, called Macacheek, stood near West Liberty, on the farm of the late Judge Benjamin Piatt ; the second, Pigeon Town, was about three miles northwest, on the farm of George F. Dunn ; and the third, Wappatomica, was just below Zanesfield. The Macacheek towns were destroyed in 1786, by a body of Kentuckians, under Gen. Benj. Logan. The narrative of this expedition is from the pen of Gen. Wm. Lytle, who was an actor in the scenes he describes : It was in the autumn of this year that Gen. Clarke raised the forces of the Wabash expedition. They constituted a numerous corps. Col. Logan was detached from the army at the Falls of the Ohio, to raise a considerable force, with which to proceed against the Indian villages on the head waters of Mad l liver and the Great Miami. I was then aged sixteen, and too young to come within the legal requisition; but I offered myself as a volunteer. Col. Logan went on to his destination, and would have surprised the Indian towns against which he had marched, had not one of his /nen deserted to the enemy, not long before they reached the town, who gave notice of their approach. As it was, he burned eight 182 - CHAMPAIGN AND large towns, awl destroyed many fields of corn. He took seventy or eighty prisoners, and killed twenty warriors, and among them the head chief of the nation. The last act caused deep regret, humiliation and shame to the commander-in-chief and his troops. We came in view of the first two towns, one of which stood on tie west bank of Mad river, and the other on the northeast of it. They were separated by a prairie, half a mile in extent. The town on the northwest was situated on a high, commanding point of land, that projected a small distance into the prairie, at the foot of which eminence broke out several fine springs. This was the residence of the famous chief of the nation. His flag was flying at the time, from the top of a pole sixty feet high. We had advanced in three lines, the commander with some of the horsemen marching at the head of the centre line, and the footmen in the rear. Col. Robert Patterson commanded the left, and I think Col. Thomas Kennedy the right. When we came in sight of the town the spies of the front guard made a halt, and sent a man back to inform the commander of the situation of the two towns. He ordered Col. Patterson to attack the towns on the left bank of Mad River. Col. Kennedy was also charged to incline a little to the right of the town on the east side of the prairie. He determined himself to charge, with the centre division, immediately on the upper town. I heard the commander give his orders, and caution the colonels against allowing their men to kill any among the enemy, that they might suppose to be prisoners. He then ordered them to advance, and as soon as they should discover the enemy to charge upon them. I had my doubts touching the propriety of some of the arrangement. I was willing, however, to view the affair with the diffidence of youth and inexperience. At any rate I was determined to be at hand, to see all that was gain on, and to be as near the head of the line as my colonel would permit. I was extremely solicitous to try myself in battle. The commander of the centre line waved his sword over his head, as a signal for the troops to advance. -.Col. Daniel Boone and Major, since Gen. Kenton, commanded the advance, and Col. Trotter the rear. As we approached within half a mile of the town on the left, and about three-fourths from that on the rfght, we saw the savages retreating in all directions, making for the thickets, swamps, and high prairie grass, to secure them from their enemy. I was animated with the energy with which the commander conducted the head LOGAN COUNTIES - 183 of his line. He waved his sword, and in a voice of thunder exclaimed, " Charge from right to left!" The horses appeared as impatient for the onset as the riders. As we came up with the flying savages, I was disappointed, discovering that we should have little to do. I heard but one Savage, with the exception of the chief, cry for quarter). They fought with desperation as long as they could raise knife, gun or tomahawk after they found they could net screen themselves: We dispatched all the warriors that we overtook, and sent the Women and children prisoners to the. rear. We pushed ahead, still hoping to overtake a larger body, where we might have something like a general engagement. I was mounted on a very fleet gray horse. Fifty of my companions followed me. I had not advanced mete than a mile, before I discovered some of the enemy running along the edge of a thicket, of hazle and plum bushes. I made signs to the men in my rear to come on. At the same time, pointing to the flying enemy, I obliqued across the plain, so as to get in advance ef them. When I arrived within fifty yards of them, I dismounted and raised my gun. I discovered, at this moment, some men of the right wing coming up on the left. The warrior I was about to shoot held up his hand in token of surrender, and I heard him order the other Indians to stop. By this time the men behind had arrived, and we in the act of firing upon the Indians. I called to them not to fire, for the enemy had surrendered. The warrior that had surrendered to me, came walking towards me, calling to his women and children to follow him. I advanced to meet him, with, my right hand extended : but before I could reach him, the men of the right wing of our force had surrounded him. I rushed in among their horses. While he was giving me his hand, several of the men wished to tomahawk him. I informed them that they would have to tomahawk me first. We led him back to the place where his flag had been. We had taken thirteen prisoners Among them was the chief, his three wives, one' f them a young and handsome woman, another of them the famous grenadier squaw, upwards of six feet high, and two or three fine young lads. The rest were children. One of these lads was a remarkably interesting youth, about my own age and size. He clung closely to Me, and appeared keenly to notice everything that was going on. When we arrived at the town, a crowd of men pressed around 184 - CHAMPAIGN AND to see the chief. I stepped aside to fasten my horse, and my prisoner lad clung close to my side. A young man by the name of Curner had been to one of the springs to drink. He discovered the young savage by my side, and came running towards me. The young Indian supposed he was advancing to kill him. As I turned around, in the twinkling of an eye, he let fly an arrow at Curner, for he was armed with a bow. I had just time to catch his arm, as he discharged the arrow. It passed through Corner's dress, and grazed his side. The jerk I gave his arm undoubtedly prevented his killing Curner on the spot. I took away the arrows, and sternly reprimanded him. I then led him back to the crowd which surrounded the prisoners. At the same moment Colonel McGary, the same man who had caused the disaster at the Blue Licks, some years before, coming up, Gen. Logan's eye caught that of M'Gary. "Col. M'Gary," said he, " you must not molest these prisoners." " I will see to that,". said M'Gary in reply. I forced my way through the crowd to the chief, with my young charge by the hand. M'Gary ordered the crowd to open and let him in. He came up to the chief, and the first salutation was in the question, " Were you at the defeat of the Blue Licks ?" The Indian not knowing the meaning of the words, or not understanding the purport of the question, answered, " Yes." M’Gary instantly seized an axe from the hands of the grenadier squaw, and raised it to make a blow at the chief. I threw up my arm to ward off the blow. The handle of the axe struck me across the left wrist, and came near breaking it. The axe sank in the head of the chief to the eyes, and he fell dead at my feet. Provoked beyond measure at this wanton barbarity, I drew my knife for the purpose of avenging his cruelty by dispatching him. My arm was arrested by one of our men, which prevented me from inflicting the thrust. M'Gary escaped from the crowd. A detachment was then ordered off to two other towns, distant six or eight miles. The men and prisoners were ordered to march down to the lower town and encamp. As we marched out of the upper town,. we fired it, collecting a large pile of corn for our horses, and beans, pumpkins, &c:, for our own use. I told :Capt. Stucker, who messed with me, that I had seen several hogs running about the town, which appeared to be in good order, and that I thought a piece of fresh pork would relish well with our stock of vegetables. He readily assenting to it, we went. in LOGAN COUNTIES - 185 pursuit of them ; but as orders had been given not to shoot unless at an enemy, after finding the hogs we had to run them down on foot, until we got near enough to tomahawk them. Being engaged at this sometime before we killed one, while Capt. S. was in the act of striking the hog, I cast my eye along the edge of the woods that skirted the prairie, and saw an Indian coming along with a deer on his back. The fellow happened to raise his head at that moment, and looking across the prairie to the upper town, saw it all in flames At the same moment I spoke to Stucker in a low voice, that here was an Indian coming. In the act of turning my head round to speak to Stucker, I discovered Hugh Ross, brotherhi-law to Col. Kennedy, at the distance of about 60 or 70 yards, approaching us. I made a motion with my hand to Ross to squat down ; then taking a tree between me and the Indian, I slipped somewhat nearer, to get a fairer shot, when at the instant I raised my gun past the tree, the Indian being about 100 yards distant, Ross's ball whistled by me, so close that I felt the wind of it, and struck the Indian on the calf of one of his legs. The Indian that moment dropped his deer, and sprang into the high grass of the prairie. All this occurred so quickly, that I had not time to draw a sight on him, before he was hid by the grass. I was provoked at Ross for shooting when I was near enough to have killed him, and now the consequence would be, that probably some of our men would lose their lives, as a wounded Indian only would dive up with his life. Capt. Irwin rode up thsft moment, with his troop of horse, and asked me where the Indian was. I pointed as nearly as I could to the spot where I last saw him in the grass, cautioning the captain, if he missed him the first charge, to pass on out of his reach before he wheeled to re-charge, or the Indian would kill some of his melt in the act of wheeling. Whether the captain heard me, I cannot say ; at any rate, the warning was not attended to, for after passing the Indian a few steps, Captain Irwin ordered his men to wheel and re-charge across the woods, and in the act of executing the movement, the Indian raised up and shot the captain dead on the spot —still keeping below the level of the grass, to deprive us of any opportunity of putting a bullet through him. The troop charged again; but the Indian was so active, that he had darted into the grass, some rods from where he had fired at Irwin, and they again missed him. By this time several footnien had got up. Capt. Stucker and myself 14 186 - CHAMPAIGN AND had each of us taken a tree that stood out in the edge of the prairie, among the grass, when a Mr. Stafford came up, and put his head first past one side and then the other of the tree I was behind. I told him not to expose himself that way or he would get shot in a moment. I had hardly expressed the last word when the Indian again raised up out of the grass. His gun, Stucker's, and my own, with four or five behind us, all cracked at the same instant. Stafford fell at my side, while we rushed on the wounded Indian with our tomahawks. Before we had got him dispatched, he had made ready the powder in his gun, and a ball in his mouth, preparing for a third fire, with bullet holes in his breast that might have all been covered with a man's open hand. We found with him Capt. Beasley's rifle—the captain having been killed at the Lower Blue Licks, a few days before the army passed through that place on their way to the towns. Next morning, Gen. Logan ordered another detachment to atsck a town that lay seven or eight miles to the north or northwest of where we then were. This town was also burnt, together with a large blocli..-house that the English had built there, of a huge size and thickness ; and the detachment returned that evening to the main body. Mr. Isaac Zane was at that time living at this last village, he being married to a squaw, and having at the place his wife and several children at the time. The name of the Indian chief killed by M'Gary was Moluntha, the great sachem of the Shawnees. The grenadier squaw was the sister to Cornstalk, who fell [ basely murdered ] at Point Pleasant. Jonathan Alder, was at this time living with the Indians. (See sketch of his life on another page.) From his narrative it appears tbat the news of the approach of the Kentuckians was communicated to the Indians by a Frenchman, a deserter from the former. Nevertheless the whites arrived sooner than they expected. The surprise was complete; most of the Indians were at the time absent hunting, and the towns became an easy conquest to the whites. Early one morning, an Indian runner came into the village in which Alder lived, and gave the information that Macacheek had been destroyed, and that the whites were approaching. Alder, with the people of the village, who were principally squaws and children, retreated for two days, until they arrived somewhere near the head waters of the Scioto, where LOGAN COUNTIES - 187 they suffered much for want of food. There was not a man among them capable of hunting, and they were compelled to subsist on paw-paws, muscles and craw-fish. In about eight days they returned to Zane's town, tarried a short time, and from thence removed to Hog Creek, where they wintered : their principal living at that place was " raccoons, and that with little or no salt, without a single bite of bread, hominy, or sweet corn." In the spring they moved back to the site of their village, where nothing remained but the ashes of their dwellings, and their corn burnt to charcoal. They remained during the sugar season, and then removed to Blanchard's Fork, where, being obliged to clear the land, they were enabled to raise but a scanty crop of corn. While this was growing, they fared hard, and managed to eke out a bare subsistence by eating a kind of wild potato and poor raccoons, that had been suckled down so poor that dogs would hardly eat them ; for fear of losing a little, they threw them on the fire, singed the hair off, and ate skin and all." The Indian lad to whom General Lytle alludes, was taken with others of the prisoners into Kentucky. The commander of the expedition was so much pleased with him, that he made him a member of his own family, in which he resided some years, and was at length permitted to return. He was ever afterwards known by the name of Logan, to which the, prefix of captain was eventually attached. His name was Spemica Lawba, i. e. "High Horn." He subsequently rose to the rank of a civil chief, on account of his many estimable intellectual and moral qualities. His personal appearance was commanding, being six feet in height, and weighing near two hundred pounds. He from that time continued the unwavering friend of the Americans, and fought on their side with great constancy. He lost his life in the fall of 1821 under melancholy circumstances, which evinced that he was a man of the keenest sense of honor. The facts follow from Drake's Tecumseh : In November of 1812; General. Harrison directed Logan to take a small party of his tribe, and reconnoiter the country in the direction of the Rapids of the Maumee. When near this point they were met by a body of the enemy superior to their own in number, and compelled to retreat. Logan, Captain Johnny, and Bright-horn, who composed the party, effected their escape to the left wing of the army, then under the command of General Winches- 188 - CHAMPAIGN AND ter, who was duly informed of the circumstances of their adventure. An officer of the Kentucky troops, General P., the second in command, without the slightest ground for such a charge, accused Logan of infidelity to our cause, and of giving intelligence to the enemy. Indignant at this foul accusation, the noble chief at once resolved to meet it in a manner that would leave no doubt as to his faithfulness to the United States. He called on his friend Mr. Oliver, ( now Major Oliver, of Cincinnati,) and having told him of the imputation that had been cast upon his reputation, said that he would start from the camp next morning, and either leave his body bleaching in the woods, or return with such trophies from the enemy, as would relieve his character from the suspicion that had been wantonly cast upon it by an American officer. Accordingly, on the morning of the 22d, he started down the Maumee, attended by his two faithful companions, Captain Johnny and Bright-horn. About noon, having stopped for the purpose of taking rest, they were suddenly surprised by a party of seven of the enemy, among whom were young Elliott, a half-breed, holding a commission in the British service, and the celebrated Pottawatamie chief, Winnemac. Logan made no resistance, but with great presence of mind, extending his hand to Winnemac, who was an old acquaintance, proceeded to inform him that he and his two companions, tired of the American service, were just leaving General Winchester's army for the purpose of joining the British. Winnemac, being familiar with Indian strategy, was not satisfied with the declaration, but proceeded to disarm Logan and his comrades, and placing his party around them so as to prevent their escape, started for the British camp at the foot of the rapids. In the course of the afternoon, Logan's address was such as to inspire confidence in his sincerity, and induce Winnemac to restore to him and his companions their arms. Logan now formed the plan of attacking their captors on the first favorable opportunity ; and while marching along succeeded in communicating the substance of it to Captain Johnny and Bright-horn. Their guns being already loaded, they had little further preparation to make than to put bullets into their mouths, to facilitate the re-loading of their arms. In carrying on this process, Captain Johnny, as he afterwards related, fearing that the man marching by his side had observed the operation, adroitly did away the impression by remarking " me chew heap tobac." LOGAN COUNTIES - 189 The evening being now at hand, the British Indians determined to encamp on the bank of Turkeyfoot creek, about twenty miles from Fort Winchester. Confiding in the idea that Logan had really deserted the American service, a part of his captors rambled around the place of their encampment in search of black-haws. They were no sooner out of sight than Logan gave the signal of attack upon those who remained behind ; they fired, and two of the enemy fell dead—the third, being only wounded, required a second shot to dispatch him ; and in the meantime, the remainder of the party, who were near by, returned the fire, and all of them "treed." There being four of the enemy, and only three of Logan's party, the latter could not watch all the movements of their antagonists. Thus circumstanced, and during an active fight, the fourth man of the enemy passed round until Logan was uncovered by his tree, and shot him through the body. By this time, Logan's party had wounded two of the surviving four, which caused them to fall back. Taking advantage of this state of things, Captain Johnny mounted Logan, now suffering the pain of a mortal wound, and Bright-horn, also wounded, on two of the enemy's horses, and started them for Winchester's camp, which they reached about midnight. Captain Johnny, having already secured the scalp of Winnemac, followed immediately on foot, and gained the same point early on the following morning It was subsequently ascertained that the two Indians of the British party, who were last wounded, died of their wounds, making in all five out of the seven who were slain by Logan and his companions. When the news of this gallant affair had spread through the camp, and, especially, after it was known that Logan was mortally wounded, it created a deep and mournful sensation. No one, it is believed, more deeply regretted the fatal catastrophe than the author of the charge upon Logan's integrity, which had led to this unhappy result. Logan's popularity was very great ; indeed, he was almost universally esteemed in the army for his fidelity to our cause, his unquestioned bravery, and the nobleness of his nature. He lived two or three clays after reaching the camp, but in extreme bodily agony ; he was buried by the Niters of the army at Fort Winchester, with the honors of war. Previous to his death, lie related the particulars of this fatal enterprize to his friend Oliver, declaring to 190 - CHAMPAIGN AND him that he prized his honor more than life ; and having now vindicated his reputation from the imputation cast upon it, he died satisfied. In the course of this interview, and while writhing with pain, he was observed to srn ile; upon being questioned as to the cause, he replied, that when ho recalled to his mind the manner in which Captain Johnny took off the scalp of Win nemac, while at the same time dexterously watching the movements of the enemy, he could not refrain from laughing—an incident in savage life, which shows the "ruling passion strong in death." It would, perhaps, be difficult, in the history of savage warfare, to point out an enterprize, the execution of which reflects higher credit upon the address and daring conduct of its authors, than this does upon Logan and his two companions. Indeed, a spirit even less indomitable, a sense of honor less acute, and a patriotic devotion to a good cause less active, than were manifested by this gallant chieftain of the woods, might, under other circumstances, have well conferred immortality upon his name. Col. John Johnson, in speaking of Logan, says : Logan left a dying request to myself, that his two sons should be sent to Kentucky, and there educated and brought up under the care of Major Hardin. As soon as peace and tranquillity were restored among the Indians, I made application to the chiefs to fulfill the wish of their dead friend to deliver up the boys; that I might. have them conveyed to Frankford, the residence of Major Hardin. The chiefs were embarrassed, and manifested an unwillingness to comply, and in this they were warmly supported by the mother of the children. On no account would they consent to send them so far away as Kentucky, but agreed that I should take and have them schooled at Piqua ; it being the best that I could do, in compliance with the dying words of Logan, they were brought in. I had them put to school, and hoarded in a religious, respectable family. The mother of the boys, who was a bad woman, thwarted all my plans for their improvement, frequently taking them off for weeks, giving them bad advice, and even, on one or two occasions, brought whisky to the school-house and made them drunk. In this way she continued to annoy me, and finally took them altogether to raise with herself among the Shawanoese, at Wapakonetta. I made several other attempts, during my connection with the Indians, to educate and train up to civilized life many of their youth,, LOGAN COUNTIES - 191 without any encouraging results—all of them proved failures. The children of Logan, with their mother, emigrated to the west twenty years ago, and have there become some of the wildest of their race. Logan county continued to be a favorite place of residence with the Indians for years after the destruction of these towns. Major Galloway, who was here about the year 1800, gives the following, from memory, respecting the localities and names of their towns at that time. Zane's Own, now Zanesfield, was a Wyandot village ; Wapatomica, three miles below, on Mad River, was then deserted ; McKee's town, on McKee's creek, about four miles south of Bellefontaine, so named from the infamous McKee, and was at that time a trading station ; Read's town, in the vicinity of Bellefontaine, which then had a few cabins ; Lewistown, on the Great Miami, and Solomon's town, at which then lived the Wyandot chief, Tarhe, "the Crane." From an old settler we learn, also, that on the site of Bellefontaine, was Blue Jacket's town, and three miles north, the town of Buckongehelas. Blue Jacket, or Weyapiersensaw, and Buckongehelas were noted chiefs, and were at the treaty of Greenville ; the first was a Shawnee, and the last a Delaware. At Wayne's victory, Blue Jacket had the chief control, and, in opposition to Little Turtle, advocated giving the whites battle with so much force as to overpower the better counsel of the other. By the treaty of September 29, 1817, at the foot of the Maumee rapids, the Seneca and Shawnees had a reservation around Lewistown, in this county ; by a treaty, ratified April 6,1832, the Indians vacated their lands and removed to the far west. On this last occasion, James B. Gardiner was commissioner, John McElvain agent, and David Robb, sub-agent. The village of Lewistown derived its name from Captain John Lewis, a noted Shawnee chief. When the county was brat settled there was living with him, to do his drudgery, an aged white woman, named Polly Keyser. She was taken prisoner in early life, near Lexington, Ky., and adopted by the Indiang. She had an Indian husband, and two half-breed daughters. There were several other whites living in the county, who had been adopted by the Indians. We give below sketches of two of them; the first is 192 - CHAMPAIGN AND from N. Z. McColloch, Esq., a grandson of Isaac Zane—the last from Col. John Johnston. Isaac Zane was born about the year 1753, on the south branch of the Potomac, in Virginia, and at the age of about nine years. was taken prisoner by the Wyandots, and carried to Detroit. He remained with his captors until the age of manhood, whe n, like rnost Prisoners taken in youth, he refused to return to his home and friends. He married a Wyandot woman, from Canada, of half French blood, and took no part in the war of the revolution. After the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, he bought a tract of 1800 acres, on the site of Zanesfield, where he lived until his death, in 1816. James McPherson, or Squa-la-ka-ke, "the red-faced man," was a native of Carlisle, Cumberland county) , Pa. He was taken prisoner by the Indians on the Ohio, at or near the mouth of the Big Miami, in Loughry's defeat ; was for many years engaged in the British Indian department, under Elliott and McKee, married a fellow-prisoner, came into our service after Wayne's treaty of 1795, and continued in charge of the Shawanoese and Senecas of Lewistown, until his removal from office in 1730, since which he has died. Simon Kenton first came out to Kentucky in the year 1771, at which time he was a youth of sixteen. He was almost constantly engaged in conflicts with the Indians from that time until the treaty of Greenville. He was probably in more expeditions against the Indians, encountered greater peril, and had more narrow escapes from death, than any man of his time. The many incidents of his romantic and eventful life are well detailed by his friend and biographer, Colonel John M'Donald, from whose work we extract the thrilling narrative of his captivity and hair-breadth escapes from a cruel and lingering death. Kenton lay about Boon's and Logan's stations till ease became irksome to him. About the first of September of this same year, 1778, we find him preparing for another Indian expedition. Alexander Montgomery and George Clark joined him, and they set off from Boon's station,for the avowed purpose of obtaining horses from the Indians. They crossed the Ohio, and proceeded cautiously to Chillicothe, (now Oldtown, Ross county.) They arrived at the town without meeting any ad venture. In the night they fell in with a drove of horses that were feeding in the rich prairies. They LOGAN COUNTIES - 193 were prepared with salt and halters. They had much difficulty to catch the horses ; however, at length they succeeded, and as soon as the horses were haltered, they dashed off with seven—a pretty good haul. They traveled with all the speed they could to the Ohio. They came to the Ohio near the mouth of Eagle creek, now in Brown county. When they came to the river, the wind blew almost a hurricane. The waves ran so high that the horses were frightened, and could not be induced to take the water. It was late in the evening. They then rode back into the hills some distance from the river, hobbled and turned their horses loose to graze ; while they turned back some distance, and watched the trail they had come, to discover whether or no they were pursued, Here they remained till the following day, when the wind subsided. As soon as the wind fell they caught their horses, and went again to the river ; but their horses were so frightened with the waves the day before, that all their efforts could not induce them to take the water. This was a sore disappointment to our adventurers. They were satisfied that they were pursued by the enemy ; they therefore determined to lose no more time in useless efforts to cross the Ohio ; they concluded to select three of the best horses, and make their way to the falls of the Ohio, where Gen. Clark had left some men stationed. Each made choice of a horse, and the other horses were turned loose to shift for themselves. After the spare horses had been loosed, and permitted to ramble off, avarice whispered to them, and why not take all the horses. The loose horses had by this time scattered and straggled out of sight. Our party now separated to hunt up the horses they had turned loose. Kenton went towards the river, and had not gone far before he heard a whoop in the direction of where they had been trying to force the horses into the water. He got off his hbrse and tied him, and then crept with the stealthy tread of a cat, to make observations in the direction he heard the whoop. Just as he reached the high bank of the river, he met the Indians on horseback. Being unperceived by them; but so nigh that it was impossible for him to retreat without being discovered, he concluded the boldest course to be the safest, and very deliberately took aim at the foremost Indian. His gun flashed in the pan. He then retreated. The Indians pursued on horseback. In his retreat he passed through a piece of land where a storm had torn up a great part of the timber. The fallen trees afforded him some advantage of the Indians in the 194 - CHAMPAIGN AND race, as they were on horseback and he on foot. The Indian force divided ; some rode on one side of the fallen timber and some on the other. Just as he emerged from the fallen timber, at the foot of the hill, one of the Indians met him on horseback, and boldly rode up to him, jumped off his horse and rushed at him with his tomahawk. Kenton concluding a gun barrel as good a weapon of defense as a tomahawk, drew back his gun to strike the Indian before him. At that instant another Indian, who unperceived by Kenton had slipped up behind him, clasped him in his arms. Being now overpowered by numbers, further resistance was useless—he surrendered. While the Indians were binding Kenton with tugs, Montgomery came in view, and fired at the Indians, but missed his mark. Montgomery fled on foot. Some of the Indians pursued, shot at, and missed him; a second fire was made, and Montgomery fell. The Indians soon returned to Kenton, shaking at him Montgomery's bloody scalp. George Clark, Kenton's other companion, made his escape, crossed the Ohio, and arrived safe at Logan's station. The Indians encamped that night on the bank of the Ohio. The next morning they prepared their horses for a return to their towns with the unfortunate and unhappy prisoner. Nothing b ut death in the most appalling form presented itself to his view. When they were ready to set off, they caught the wildest horse i n the company, and placed Kenton on his back. The horse being very restive, it took several of them to hold him, while the others lashed the prisoner on the horse. They first took a tug or rope, and fastened his legs and feet together under the horse. They took another and fastened his arms. They took another and tied around his neck, and fastened one end of it around the horse's neck ; the other end of the same rope was fastened to the horse's tail, to answer in place of a crupper. They had a great deal of amusement to theinselves, as they were preparing Kenton and his horse for fun and frolic. They would yelp and scream around him, and ask him if he wished to steal more horses. Another rope was fastened around his thighs, and lashed around the body of his horse ; a pair of moccasins were drawn over his hands, to prevent him from defending his face from the brush. Thus accoutred and fastened, the horse was turned loose to the woods. He reared and plunged, ran through the woods for some time, to the infinite amusement of the Indians. After the horse had run about, plung- LOGAN COUNTIES - 195 ing, rearing and kicking for some time, and found that he could not shake off nor kick off his rider, he very quietly submitted himself to his situation, and followed the cavalcade as quiet and peaceable as his rider. The Indians moved towards Chillicothe, and in three days reached the town. At night they confined their prisoner in the following manner : He was laid on his back, his legs extended, drawn apart, and fastened to two saplings or stakes driven in the ground. His arms were extended, a pole laid across his breast, and his arms lashed to the pole with cords. A rope was tied around his neck, and stretched back just tight enough not to choke him, and fastened to a tree or stake near his head. In this painful and uncomfortable situation, he spent three miserable nights, exposed to gnats, and mosquitoes and weather. 0, poor human nature, what miserable wretches we are, thus to punish and harass each other. ( The frontier whites of that day were but little behind the Indians in wiles, cruelty and revenge.) When the Indians came within about a mile of the Chillicothe town, they halted and camped for the night, and fastened the poor unfortunate prisoner in the usual uncomfortable manner. The Indians, young and old, came from the town to welcome the return of their successful warriors, and to visit their prisoner. The Indian party, young and old, consisting of about 150, commenced dancing, singing and yelling around Kenton, stopping occasionally and kicking and beating him for amusement. In this manner they tormented him for about three hours, when the cavalcade returned to town, and he was left for the rest of the night, exhausted and forlorn, to the tender mercies of the gnats and mosquitoes. As soon as it was light in the morning, the Indians began to collect from the town, and preparations were made for fun and frolic at the expense of Kenton, as he was now doomed to run the gauntlet. The Indians were formed in two lines, about six feet apart, with each a hickory in his hands, and Kenton placed between the two lines, so that each Indian could beat him as much as he thought proper, as he ran through the lines. He had not run far before he discovered an Indian with his knife drawn to plunge it into him; as soon as Kenton reached that part of the line where the Indian stood wt o had the knife drawn, he broke through the lines, and made with all speed for the town. Kenton had been previously informed by a negro named Caesar who lived with the Indians and knew their customs, that if he 196 - CHAMPAIGN AND could break through the Indians' lines, and arrive at the council-house in the town before he was overtaken, that they would not force him a second time to run the gauntlet. When he broke through their lines, he ran at the top of his speed for the council-house, pursued by two or three hundred Indians, screaming like infernal furies. Just as he had entered the town, he was met by an Indian leisurely walking toward the scene of amusement, wrapped in a blanket. The Indian threw off his blanket ; and as he was fresh, and Kenton nearly exhausted, the Indian soon caught him and threw him down. In a moment the whole party who were in pursuit came up, and fell to cuffing and kicking him at a most fearful rate. They tore off his clothes, and left him naked and exhausted. After he had laid till he had in some degree recovered from his exhausted state, they brought him some water and something to eat. As soon as his strength was sufficiently recovered, they took him to the council-house, to determine upon his fate. The manner of deciding his fate was as follows : Their warriors were placed in a circle in the council-house ; an old chief was placed in the centre of the circle, with a knife and a. piece of wood in his hands. A number of speeches were made. Kenton, although he did not understand their language, soon discovered by their animated gestures, and fierce looks at him, that a majority of their speakers were contending for his destruction. He could perceive that those who plead for mercy were received coolly ; but few grunts of approbation were uttered when the orators closed their speeches. After the orators ceased speaking, the old chief who sat in the midst of the circle raised up and handed a war-club to the man who sat next the door. They proceeded to take the decision of their court. All who were for the death of the prisoner, struck the war-club with violence against the ground ; those who voted to save the prisoner's life passed the club to their next neighbor without striking the ground. Kenton from their expressive gestures could easily distinguish the object of their vote. The old chief who stood to witness and record the number that voted for death or mercy, as one struck the ground with a war-club he made a mark on one side of his piece of wood; and when the club was passed without striking, he made a mark on the other. Kenton discovered that a large majority were for death. Sentence of death now being passed upon the prisoner, LOGAN COUNTIES - 197 they made the welkin ring with shouts of joy. The sentence of death being passed, there was another question of considerable difficulty now presented itself to the consideration of the council ; that was the time and place, when and where he should be burnt. The orators again made speeches on the subject, less animated, indeed, than on the trial; but some appeared to be quite vehement for instant execution, while others appeared to wish to make his death a solemn national sacrifice. After a long debate, the vote was taken, when it was resolved that the place of his execution should be Wapatomika, (now Zanesfield, Logan county.) The next morning he was hurried away to the place destined for his execution. From Chilicothe to Wapatomika, they had to pass through two other Indian towns, to-wit ; Pickaway and Macacheek. At both towns he was compelled to run the gauntlet ; and severely was he whipped through the course. Nothing worse than death could follow, and here he made a bold push for life and freedom. Being unconfined, he broke and ran, and soon cleared himself out of sight of pursuers. While he distanced his pursuers, and got about two miles from the town, he accidentally net some Indians on horseback. They instantly pursued and soon came up with him, and drove him back again to town. He now, for the first time, gave up his case as hopeless. Nothing but death stared him in the face. Fate, it appeared to him, had sealed his doom ; and in sullen despair he determined to await that doom, that it was impossible for him to shun. How inscrutable are the ways of Providence, and how little one man can control his destiny! When the Indians returned with Kenton to the town, there was a general rejoicing. He was pinioned, and given over to the young Indians, who nearly suffocated him with mud and water. In this way they amused themselves with him till he was nearly drowned. He now thought himself forsaken by God. Shortly after this his tormentors moved with him to Wapatomika. As soon as he arrived at this place, the Indians, young and old, male and female, crowded around the prisoner. Among others who carne to see him was the celebrated and notorious Simon Girty. It will be recollected that Kenton and Girty were bosom companions at Fort Pitt, and on the campaign with Lord Dunmore. As it was the custom of the Indians to black such prisoners as were intended to be put to death, Girty did not immediately recognize Kenton in his black disguise. Girty came forward and inquired of Kenton 198 - CHAMPAIGN AND where he had lived, and was answered Kentucky. He next inquired how many men there were in Kentucky. He answered he did not know ; but would give him the names and rank of the officers, and he, Girty, could judge of the probable number of men. Kenton then named a great many officers, and their rank, many of whom had honorary titles, without any command. At length Girty asked the prisoner his name, when he was answered, Simon Butler. (It will be recollected that he changed his name when he fled from his parents and home.) Girty eyed him for a moment, and immediately recognized the active and bold youth, who had been his companion in arms about Fort Pitt, and on the campaign with Lord Dunmore. Girty threw himself into Kenton's arms, embraced and wept aloud over him—calling him his dear and esteemed friend. This hardened wretch, who had been the cause of the death of hundreds, had some of the sparks of humanity remaining in him, and wept like a child at the tragical fate which hung over his friend. "Well," said he to Kenton, "you are condemned to die, but I will use every means in my power to save your life!' Girty immediately had a council convened, and made a long speech to the Indians, to save the life of the prisoner. As Girty was proceeding through his speech, he became very animated ; and under his powerful eloquence, Kenton could plainly discover the grim visages of his savage judges relent. When Girty concluded his powerful and animated speech, the Indians rose with one simultaneous grunt of approbation, saved the prisoner's life, and placed him under the care and protection of his old companion, Girty. The British had a trading establishment then at Wapatomika. Giriy took Kenton with him to the store, and dressed him from head to foot, as well as he could wish; he was also provided with a horse and saddle. Kenton was now free, and roamed about thro' the country, from Indian town to town, in company with his benefactor. How uncertain is the fate of nations as well as that of individuals ! How sudden the changes from adversity to prosperity, and from prosperity to adversity! Kenton being a strong, robust man, with an iron frame, with a resolution that never winced at danger, and fortitude to bear pain with the composure of a stoic, he soon recovered from his scourges and bruises, and the LOGAN COUNTIES - 199 other severe treatment he had received. It is thought probable, that if the Indians had continued to treat him with kindness and respect, he would eventually have become one of them. He had but few inducements to return again to the whites. He was then a fugitive from justice, had changed his name, and he thought it his interest to keep as far from his former acquaintances as possible. After Kenton and his benefactor had been roaming about for some time, a war party of Indians, who had been on an expedition to the neighborhood of Wheeling, returned ; they had been defeated by the whites, some of their men were killed, and others wounded. When this defeated party returned they were sullen, chagrined, and full of revenge, and determined to kill any of the whites who came within their grasp. Kenton was the only white man upon whom, they could satiate their revenge. Kenton and Girty were then at Solomon's town, a small distance from Wapatomika. A message was immediately sent to Girty to return, and bring Kenton with him. The two friends met the messenger on their way. The messenger shook hands with (arty, but refused the hand of Kenton. Ginty, after talking aside with the messenger sometime, said to Kenton, "They have sent for us to attend a grand council at Wapatomika. They hurried to the town ; and when they arrived there the council-house was crowded. When Girty went into the house, the Indians all rose up and shook hands with him ; but when Kenton offered his hand, it was refused with a scowl of contempt. This alarmed him; he began to admit the idea that this sudden convention of the council, and their refusing his hand, boded him some evil. After the members of the council were seated in their usual manner, the war chief of the defeated party rose up and made a most vehement speech, frequently turning his fiery and revengeful eyes on Kenton during his speech. Girty was the next to rise and address the council. He told them that he had lived with them several years ; that he had risked his life in that time more frequently than any of them ; that they all knew that he had never spared the life of one of the hated Americans; that they well knew that he had never asked a division of the spoils ; that he fought alone for the destruction of their enemies ; and he now requested them to spare the life of this young man on his account. The young man, he said, was his early friend, for whom he felt the tenderness of a parent for a son, and he hoped, after the many evidences that he had given of his attach-