HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

ARCHAEOLOGY-MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS-ANTIQUITIES-THE DIFFERENT

I' LASSES OF !MOUNDS, EFFIGIES AND INCLOSURES-SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS

SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS-TEMPLE MOUNDS-MOUNDS OF OBSERVATION

MEMORIAL OR MONUMENTAL MOUNDS-EFFIGIES OR ANIMAL

MOUNDS-INCLOSURES-COVERED RAYS-SACRED INCLOS-

URES-LESSONS TAUGHT BY THESE WORKS -THE

IMPLEMENTS USED BY THE MOUND BUILDERS

AND INDIANS-MOUNDS OF HARDIN

COUNTY-THEIR LOCATION,

CLASS AND SIZE.

WHEN the wave of white emigration reached the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, the discovery was made of strange looking mounds of earth here and there, and, after a time, learning that these and other similar works were of pre-historic origin-the work of an unknown race of people-they were called in a general way "Ancient Mounds," and in time the lost race that erected them came to be appropriately named the "Mound Builders." There is no authentic history regarding this people. The known records of the world are silent-as silent as these monuments that perpetuate their memory. There are many theories regarding them, but this is all that can be said, as nothing of their origin or end is certainly known. They probably antedate the various Indian tribes who anciently occupied and claimed title to the soil of Ohio. It may have been that many centuries elapsed between the first occupancy here by the Mound Builders and the advent of the earliest Indian tribes or nations, though this is only conjecture.

The archaeologist has found the territory embraced within the limits of Ohio a most excellent one. It is probably the most interesting field for the scientist and antiquarian in the United States. It was once, and, peradventure, continued to be through many passing centuries, the most favored locality of this mysterious people. The extent, variety, elaborate, and labyrinthian intricacies of their works, still found in many sections of the State, clearly indicate the plausibility of this view. Here they dwelt for ages, erected their works, and made a long chapter of history, although yet unwritten-a history whose leading features and general characteristics can be gathered only from those of their works that yet exist. It must be collected scrap by scrap and item by item, after a thorough examination and patient investigation of their works, and by careful, laborious, faithful study

216 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

of their wonderful remains. The principal events and leading incidents in the strange career of this mysterious and apparently now extinct people, can be traced out and recorded only so far as they are clearly indicated by those of their works which yet remain, but which, it is to be regretted, are, to a large extent, in a state of mutilation and partial ruin, and rapidly tending to utter extinction under iconoclastic wantonness and the operations of the agriculturist; also from the devastating effects of the elements, and the destructive tendencies of the great destroyer- Time.

There is little reason to believe that the Mound Builders ever had a written language, and, if they had not, it must be manifest that very few authentic facts pertaining to their domestic and local history can be verified by reliable testimony, other than that deduced from their works, which are the sole memorials left by them to enable us to work out the problems of their origin, their history, habits, manners, customs, general characteristics, mode of life, the extent of their knowledge of the arts, of husbandry, their state of civilization, their religion and its rites, their ultimate fate, and the manner and circumstances of their final disappearance, whether by process of absorption from intermingling and intermarrying with other and more vigorous races, by dispersion or captivity, or by extinction through war, pestilence, or famine.

Although generation after generation of Mound Builders here lived and flourished, and, peradventure, reached the acme of their glory, then passed through age after age of decadence and decrepitude into "the receptacle of things lost upon earth," without leaving anything that may properly be called history; and though no records of their exploits have come down to this generation through the intervening centuries, yet their enduring works furnish the laborious student some indications, even though they be slight, of the characteristics of their builders, and afford some data as to the probable history they made during the unknown, perchance barren, uneventful cycles of their indefinitely long career as a nation or race.

As the history of the Mound Builders is yet unwritten, it is certainly a matter of gratulation that so many way-marks and traces of this race yet remain within the boundaries of Ohio. Their works in the State, still existing in a tolerably perfect condition, are approximately estimated at ten thousand, but they, doubtless, far exceeded that number at the time of the first permanent white settlement here, in 1788.

Only such monuments or remains of ancient works can be properly ascribed to the Mound Builders, as were really regarded by the Indian tribes, at the period of the first settlement at Marietta, as antiquities, or as the ruins and relics of an extinct race, and "concerning the origin of which they were wholly ignorant, or only possessed a traditionary knowledge." These consisted of mounds, effigies and inclosures, which are known and designated as the three general classes of ancient works that can be appropriately regarded as belonging to the Mound Builders. Mounds are subdivided into sepulchral, sacrificial, temple, or truncated; also of observation, and memorial or monumental. Effigies are sometimes called animal mounds, sometimes emblematic, and frequently symbolical. Inclosures are of several kinds, one class being known as military or defensive works ; another as parallel embankments or covered ways; and the third as sacred inclosures.

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 217

Under the general title of inclosures are also walls or ramparts constructed for military or defensive works, while others were doubtless walls surrounding the residence of the reigning monarch; perchance others were erected for the performance within them of their national games and amusements, while, perhaps, many also served a purpose in the observance of their religious rites and ceremonies, and facilitated indulgence in some superstitious practices. Most of the above-named works were constructed of earth, a few of stone, and, perhaps, fewer still of earth and stone combined. The title each bears indicates, in a measure, the uses they are supposed to have served.

Sepulchral mounds are generally conical in form, and are more numerous than any other kind. They are of all sizes, ranging from a very small altitude to about eighty feet in height, and always contain one or more skeletons, or parts thereof, or present other plausible indications of having been built or used for purposes of sepulture, and were unmistakably, memorials raised over the dead. By some archaeologists it is maintained that the size of these mounds bears a certain relation to the importance, when living, of the person over whose remains they were erected.

In this class of mounds are often found implements and ornaments, supposed to have been buried with the person or persons there interred under the superstitious and delusive notion still entertained by some tribes of American Indians who indulge in similar practices, that they might be useful to them in the happy hunting grounds of the future state. The practice being one common to both the Indians and Mound Builders, apparently connects the former with the latter, and raises the presumption that the Indians may have descended from the Mound Builders. That fire was used in the burial ceremonies of the Mound Builders is manifest from the fact that charcoal is often, if not always, found in close proximity to the skeleton. The presence of ashes, igneous stones, and other traces of the action of fire in these tombs, renders it quite probable that this element was employed in their burial ceremonies. Mica is often found in proximity to the skeletons, as well as specimens of pottery, bone and copper beads and animal bones. The name given to this description of tumuli clearly indicates that they were erected chiefly for burial purposes. They generally contain but a limited number of skeletons, indeed, often but a single one; but Prof. Marsh, of the Sheffield Scientific School, connected with Yale College, a few years ago opened a mound in Licking County, Ohio, which contained seventeen skeletons in whole or in part.

The most remarkable of all mounds in the State was one in Hardin County, in which were found about three hundred skeletons. A doubt has, however, been expressed that these were all Mound Builders' skeletons, some antiquarians entertaining the belief that they were Indian remains, as it is well known that the Indians frequently buried their dead on or near these mounds. About one mile southeast of Miamisburg, Montgomery County, on the east side of the Miami River, is located the largest mound in Ohio. The elevation of the land at this point is more than 150 feet above the Miami. The mound measures 800 feet around the base, and about 65 feet in height, though archeologists claim that this mound was originally more than 80 feet in height as about twenty feet has been cut from the cone by explorations, and the wear and tear of the elements to which it has been

218 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

exposed for centuries. In the first settlement of the Miami Valley this great mound was covered with forest trees, a large maple growing from its summit. It is supposed to be the sepulcher of a chief or ruler of the Mound Builders. In July, 1869, a shaft five or six feet in diameter was sunk from the top to two feet below the base. At eight feet from the top, a human skeleton in a sitting posture, facing due east, was discovered. A deposit of vegetable matter, bones of small animals, also wood and stone, were surrounding the skeleton, while a cover of clay several feet in thickness, with a layer of ashes and charcoal, seems to have been the burial. At the depth of twenty-four feet was discovered a triangular stone planted perpendicularly in the earth, with the point upward. Around this stone at an angle of fortyfive degrees, and overlapping each other like the shingles upon a roof, were placed rough stones averaging about one foot in diameter, of nearly uniform size, and similar to those quarried in the neighboring hills.

Sacrificial mounds are usually stratified, the strata being convex layers of clay and loam, alternating with a layer of fine sand. They generally contain ashes, charcoal, igneous stones, calcined animal bones, beads, stone implements, pottery and specimens of rude sculpture. These mounds are frequently found within enclosures, which are supposed to have been in some way connected with the performance of the religious rites and ceremonies of the Mound Builders. An altar of stone or burnt clav is usuallv found in this class of mounds. These altars. which sometimes rest upon the surface of the original earth at the center of the mound, are symmetrically shaped, and are among the chief distinguishing characteristics of sacrificial mounds. Upon these altars sacrifices of animals, and probably of human beings were offered, the fire being used to some extent in the performance of that religious rite. Some of this class of mounds seem also to have been used for purposes of sepulture as well as sacrifice ; the presence of skeletons, in some of them at least, suggest their sepulchral, as well as sacrificial character. In common with sepulchral mounds, these likewise contain implements of war, also mica from the Alleglianies, shells from the Gulf of Mexico, obsidian, and, in some instances, porphyry from Mexico, as well as silver and copper articles, both for use and ornament.

Temple mounds are less numerous, and generally larger than the preceding classes, and in form are oftenest circular or oval ; but, whether round, square, oblong, oval, octangular, or whatever form, are invariably truncated, having the appearance of being in an unfinished condition. They are frequently surrounded by embankments, and many of them have spiral pathways, steps, or inclined planes leading to their summits. They are generally of large base, and of comparatively limited altitude. The supposition is, that the summits of these mounds were crowned with structures of wood that served the purposes of temples, all traces of which, however, have disappeared. They were also used to a limited extent for burial purposes, as well as for uses connected with their religion.

Mounds of observation are generally situated upon eminences, and were doubtless "observatories," "alarm posts," "watch-towers," "signal stations," or " look-outs," serving the purposes indicated by their title. They are said, by some writers, to occur in chains or regular systems, and that many of them still bear traces of the beacon fires that were once burning upon

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 219

them. They are sometimes found in connection with embankments and enclosures, forming a portion, though greatly enlarged, of the banks of earth or stones that compose said embankments and inclosures. This class of mounds is 'numerous in some portions of the State.

Memorial or monumental mounds belong to the class that were erected to perpetuate the memory of some important event, or in honor of some distingushed character. They are mostly built of earth, but some of the stone mounds found in some portions of the State probably belong to this not numerous class.

Effigies or animal mounds are simply raised figures, or gigantic basso relievos of men, beasts, birds, or reptiles, and in some instances, of inanimate objects. They are on the surface of the earth, raised to a limited height, generally from one foot to six feet above the natural surface of the ground. Mr. Schoolcraft, a recognized authority on the mounds, and Mound Builders of Ohio, calls this class of ancient works emblematic mounds, and expresses the belief that they were "totems," or "heraldic symbols." Prof. Daniel Wilson, the learned author of "Pre-Historic Man," and other writers of distinction, call them symbolical mounds, and hold the opinion that they were erected as objects of worship, or for altars upon which sacrifices were offered, or that they served some other purposes connected with the religious worship of their idolatrous constructors.

Inclosures, defensive and sacred, have been briefly mentioned. Most of them are earthworks, though a few are of stone. Defensive enclosures are of irregular form, are always on high ground, and in naturally strong positions, frequently on the summits of hills and steep bluffs, and are often strengthened by exterior ditches. The walls generally wind around the borders of the elevations they occupy, and where the nature of the ground renders some points more accessible than others, the height of the wall and the depth of the ditch at those points are proportionally increased. The gateways are narrow, few in number, and well guarded by embankments placed a few yards inside of the openings or gate-ways, parallel with them, and projecting somewhat beyond them at each end, thus fully covering the entrances, which, in some cases, are still further protected by projecting walls on either side of them. These works are somewhat numerous, and indicate a clear appreciation of the elements, at least, of fortification, and unmistakably point out the purpose for which they were constructed. A large number of these defensive works consists of a line of ditch and embankments or several lines carried across the neck of peninsulas or bluff head-lands, formed within the bends of streams, an easy and obvious mode of fortification, common to all rude people.

Covered ways are parallel walls of earth of limited height, and are frequently found contiguous to inclosures, sometimes, indeed, connecting them by extending from one to another. One of their purposes, at least, seems to have been the protection of those passing to and fro within them.

Sacred inclosures are mainly distinguished from those of a military character by the regularity of their form, their different construction, and their more frequent occurrence. They are of all shapes and forms, and where moats or ditches exist, they are invariably found in the inside of the embankments. They are generally in the form of geometrical figures, of surprising accuracy, such as circles, squares, hexagons, octagons, ellipses,

220 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

parallelograms, and of various others. They are sometimes found within military inclosures, and evidently had some connection with the religious ideas and ceremonies of their builders. Frequently, there is situated in the center of this class of works a mound, or elevation, supposed to have served the purposes of an altar upon which sacrifices were offered, or which was, at least, in some way, used in conducting their religious services. Within these sacred inclosures were doubtless celebrated religious festivals, and upon those central mounds or altars, were undoubtedly performed the rites and ceremonies demanded by their religion. Some archaeologists, however, maintain that many works called sacred inclosures were erected for and used as places of amusement, where these ancient people practiced their national games, and celebrated their great national events, where they held their national festivals, and indulged in their national jubilees, as well as performed the ceremonies of their religion. It may be that those inclosures, within which no central elevation or altar occurs, were erected for the purposes last mentioned, and not exclusively (if at all) for the observance of their religious rites, and are, therefore, erroneously called sacred inclosures.

It is natural to indulge in speculations regarding these ancient works. Probably none of them have been constructed since Christopher Columbus reached America in 1492, as trees have been found growing on those works which were definitely estimated to be nearly six hundred years old. Authorities differ regarding many matters connected with the Mound Builders, but a few facts seem to be fully established by their works. There can be no doubt that they were a numerous people. Works so elaborate, so gigantic, could not have been erected by a people insignificant in numbers. This is the more apparent when it is considered that they were without iron, or any suitable metal instruments or tools with which to perform their herculean labors.

It could scarcely have been otherwise than that they were also the subjects of a single strong government, because, under any other, the performance of such an immense amount of, probably, enforced labor could not have been secured. Very likely some sort of vassalage or servitude prevailed. There is abundant evidence that they were a warlike people, and probably, like some savage nations now existing, they made slaves of their prisoners. The number and magnitude of their works, with their extensive range and uniformity, prove that they were essentially homogeneous in customs, habits, religion and government. The general features common to all their remains identify them as appertaining to a single grand system, owing its origin to men moving in the same direction, acting under common impulses, and influenced by similar causes. That they possessed military skill, and were not without some knowledge of mathematics, is quite evident. Building their defensive works in naturally strong positions, and constructing many of their other works in the form of various geometrical figures, show such to have been the case.

The construction of military works would indicate that they were, occasionally, at least, at war either among themselves, or with some other nation or tribe. Perhaps it was with the North American Indians, to whom the country may have belonged before the Mound Builders entered it. There are various scraps of history relating to the antiquity of the Indian. For instance, Sir Charles Lyell says: "A human cranium, of the aboriginal

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 221

type of the red Indian race, had been found in the delta of the Mississippi, beneath four buried forests, superimposed, one upon another, implying, as estimated by Dr. Dowler, an antiquity of 50,000 years." Lyell, himself, estimated the age of the delta at 100,000 years.

It may be conjectured from many historical facts, that the Mound Builders were a foreign people who invaded the soil of America, as there is but little evidence that they spread themselves over the continent, but much, that they passed through it from northeast to southwest, covering a broad belt of country, on which they constructed their mysterious mounds. The time occupied by them in crossing the continent can only be conjectured. It is a well-known historical fact that the northmen reached the coast of North America from Greenland in 999, and from this it has been theorized, that, perhaps the mysterious Mound Builders were no other than these. They came in great numbers, attempted to conquer the country, found the Indians too strong for them, but conquered a certain portion of the territory, clung together, moved gradually southwest, protecting themselves on the way by forts and other carthworks, finally disappearing in Mexico, either conquering that country or intermingling with and becoming absorbed by that people.

The Mound Builders cherished a belief in some religious system. The amount of labor bestowed upon those of their works that were erected in the interest of their religion shows a strong tendency toward a sacrificial faith. Some writers have not hesitated to assert that this race were worshipers of the elements; that they also worshiped the sun, moon and stars; and that they offered up human victims as an acceptable sacrifice to the gods they worshiped. They deduced these facts from the charred or calcined bones that cover their altars. There are other high authorities who unhesitatingly assert that there is convincing proof that the Mound Builders were fire worshipers.

It may be well in this connection to notice, briefly, the implements made and used by this people, especially as far as investigation has revealed their character. Very few copper implements have been found in this part of Ohio, owing partly to the fact of the unexplored condition of many of the mounds in this portion of the State, and to the fact that little, if any, copper exists in this part of the United States. What does exist is in loose fragments that have been washed down from the upper lake region. When mounds are explored, great care is necessary lest these small utensils be lost, as they are commonly scattered through the mass, and not always in close proximity to the skeletons. The copper deposits about Lake Superior furnished the pre-historic man with this metal, and, judging from the amount of relics made of this metal now found, it must have been quite abundant. The population of the country then must have been quite numerous, as occasional copper implements, tempered to an exceeding hardness, are still found about the country. These implements are small, generally less than half a pound in weight, and seldom exceeding three pounds. There were millions of these in use during the period of the ancient dwellers, which must have been hundreds of years in duration. The copper implements left on the surface soon disappeared by decomposition, to which copper is nearly as liable as iron. Only a part of the dead Mound Builders were placed in burial mounds, and of these only

222 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

a few were buried with their copper ornaments and implements on and about them. Of those that were only a small part have been discovered, and, in many instance, the slight depth of earth over them has not prevented the decay and disappearance of the copper relics.

Articles of bronze and brass are not found with the builders of the mounds. It is evident they knew nothing of these metals in the Ohio Valley, nor did they possess any of the copper that had been melted or cast in molds.

Stone relics are very numerous and well preserved. Stone axes, mauls, hammers, chisels, etc., are very plentiful yet, and were the common implements of the pre-historic man in this part of the West. None were made with holes or eyes for the insertion of a helve or handle, but were grooved to receive a withe twisted into the form of a handle. Under the head of axes, archaeologists include all wrought stones with a groove, a bit and a poll. They are found unpolished, partly polished and polished. The bit was made sharp by rubbing, and the material is hard and tough, generally of trachyte, greenstone, granite, quartz or basalt. Most of them are straight on one edge. In Ohio, it is very rare that stone axes are found in the mounds, indicating that they are modern, or were not so much prized by the Mound Builders as to be objects of burial. Occasionally, axes of softer material are found, such as slate, hematite and sandstone, but these are small in size and not common. They appear to have been manufactured from small, oblong bowlders, first brought into shape by a pick or chipping instrument, the marks of which are visible on nearly all of them. They were made more perfect by rubbing and polishing, probably done from time to time after they were brought into use. A handle or helve made of a witbe or split stick was fastened in the groove by thongs of hide. The bit is narrower than the body of the ax, which is generally not well enough balanced to be of much value as a cutting instrument. It is very seldom that the material is hard enough to cut green and sound timber. The poll is usually round, but sometimes flat, and rarely pointed. It is much better adapted to breaking than cutting, while the smaller ones are better fitted for war clubs than tools. As a maul to break dry limbs, they were very efficient, which was probably the use made of them. In weight, they range from half a pound to sixteen pounds, but are generally less than three pounds. The very heavy ones must have been kept at the regular camps and villages, as they could not have been carried far, even in canoes. Such axes are occasionally found in the Indian towns on the frontier, as they were found in Ohio among the aborigines. The Mound Builders apparently did not give them as much prominence among their implements as their savage successors. Double-headed hammers have the groove in the middle. They were made of the same material as the axes, so balanced as to give a blow with equal force at either end. Their mechanical symmetry is often perfect, and as a weapon in war they were indeed formidable, for which purpose they are yet used among the Indians on the Pacific Coast.

Implements, known as "fleshers " and "skinners," chisel-formed, commonly called "celts," were probably used as aids in peeling the skins :f animals from the meat and bones. For the purpose of cutting tools for wood, they were not sufficiently hard, and do not show such use, excepting a few flint chisels. They may have been applied as.coal scrapers where

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 223

wood had been burned; but this could not have been a general thing without destroying the perfect edge most of them now exhibit. The grooved axes were much better adapted to this purpose.

Stone pestles are not plentiful in this portion of the State, while stone mortars are rare, indicating ; that they were made of wood, which is lighter and more easily transported. Most of the pestles are short, with a wide base, tapering toward the top. They were probably used with one hand, and moved about in the mortar in a circle. The long, round instrument usually called a pestle does not appear to be fitted for crushing seeds and grain by pounding or turning in the mortar. It was probably used as a rolling-pin, perhaps on a board or leveled log, but not upon stone. It is seldom found smooth or polished, and varies from seven to thirteen inches in length. In outline they taper toward each end, which is generally smooth, and circular in form, as though it had been twirled in an upright position.

There is almost an endless variety of perforated plates, thread-sizers, shuttles, etc. They are usually made of striped slate, most of which have tapering holes through them flatwise, the use of which has been much discussed. They are generally symmetrical, the material fine-grained, and their proportions graceful, as though their principal use was that of ornamentation, as many of them may well have been worn suspended as beads or ornaments. Some partake of the character of badges or ensigns of authority, while others, if strung together on thongs or belts, would serve as a coat of mail, protecting the breast or back against the arrows of an enemy. A number of them would serve to size and twist twine or coarse thread made of bark, rawhide or sinew. The most common theory regarding their use is, however, lacking one important feature. None of them show signs of wear by use. The edges of the holes through them are sharp and perfect, and this objection applies equally well to their use as suspended ornaments. Some of them are shuttle-form, through which coarse thread might have been passed for weaving rude cloth of bark or of fibrous plants. There are also double-ended and pointed ones, with a cross section, about the middle of which is a circle and through which is a perforation.

A great variety of wands or badges of distinction are found. They are nearly all fabricated from striped and variegated slate, highly finished, very symmetrical and elegant in proportion, evidently designed to be ornamental. The material is compact and fine-grained, but the eyes or holes for handles or staves are quite small, seldom half an inch in diameter. Their edges are not sharp but rounded, and the body is thin, usually less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. The form of badges known as " double-crescents " are the most elegant and expensive of any yet brought to notice. They were probably used to indicate the highest rank or office, and the single crescent, perhaps, signified a rank next below the double. In the collection of John S. B. Matson, of Richland County, there is a rough-hewn double-crescent in process of construction, the horns of which turn inward, while in nearly or quite all the finished ones the points turn outward. The finish around the bore of all winged badges and the crescents is the same, and the size of the bore in either is from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch. On one side of all is a narrow ridge; on the other a flat band lengthwise, like a ridge that has been ground down to a width of

224 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

one to two tenths of an inch. Badges and crescents are invariably made of banded slate, generally of a greenish shade of color. The other forms of wands or badges, such as those with symmetrical wings or blades, are also made of green striped slate, highly polished, with a bore of about one-half inch in diameter, apparently to insert a light wooden rod or staff. They were probably emblems of distinction but not ornaments, and as nothing like them is known among the modern tribes in form or use, they have been attributed to the Mound Builders.

In addition to stone ornaments, the pre-historic man seems to have had a penchant, like his savage successors, to bedaub his body with various colors, derived from different colored minerals. These compounds were mixed in hollowed stones or diminutive mortars-"paint cups" -in which the mineral mass of colored clay was reduced to powder and prepared for application to the body. Such paint cups are not common in this State; in fact, they are quite rare, but one being known to exist-that in the collection of Dr. Craig, of Mansfield, Richland County.

The comparative rarity of aboriginal smoking pipes is easily explained by the fact that they were not discarded as were weapons when those by whom they were fashioned entered upon the iron age. The advances of the whites in no way lessened the demand for pipes, nor did the whites substitute a better implement. The pipes were retained and used until worn out or broken, save the few that were buried with their dead owners, and what was the ultimate fate of these can only be conjectured. In very few instances does an Indian grave contain a pipe, and if the practice of burying the pipe with its owner was a common one, it is probable that the graves were opened and robbed of this coveted article by members of the same or some other tribe.

It only remains to notice the "flints," in addition to which a few other archaeological relics of minor importance are found about the country, but none of suffcient import to merit mention, or to throw additional light on the lost tribes of America. Arrow and spear heads and other similar pieces of flaked flints are the most abundant of any aboriginal relics in the United States. They are chiefly made of hard and brittle silicious materials; are easily damaged in hitting any object at which they are aimed, hence many of them bear marks of violent use. Perfect specimens are, however, by no means rare. The art of arrow-making survives to the present day among certain Indian tribes, from whom is learned the manner of producing them.

A classification of arrow-heads is rarely attempted by archaeologists, as the styles are almost as numerous as their makers. In general, they are all the same in outline, mostly leaf-shaped, varying according to the taste of their manufacturers, and their number, we might say, is infinite. They may have been made by chipping-probably most of them were-and some may have been ground.

Spear-heads exhibit as large a variety as arrow-heads, and, like the latter, were inserted in wooden handles of various lengths, though in many tribes they were fastened by thongs of untanned leather or sinews.

Their modes of manufacture were generally the same. Sometimes tribes contained arrow-makers, whose business was to make these implements, selling them to or exchanging them with their neighbors for wam

PAGE 225 - BLANK

PAGE 226 - PICTURE OF A. W. MUNSON, MD

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 227

purr or peltries. When the Indian desired an arrow or spear head, he could buy one of the arrow-maker or make one himself. The common method was to take a. chipping implement, generally made of the pointed rods of a deer's horn, from eight to sixteen inches in length, or of slender, short pieces of the same material, bound with sinews to wooden sticks resembling arrow-shafts. The arrow-maker held in his left hand the flake of flint or obsidian on which he intended to operate, and pressing the point of the tool against its edge, detached scale after scale, with much ingenuity, until the flake assumed the desired form.

Dr. J. C. Banning, of Round Head, possesses the finest archaeological collection in Hardin County. He says: "I have fifty-four stone axes, some of them very large and highly polished; fifty-three stone wedges or fleshers; ; twenty-four stone hammers ; sixty slate ornaments, pipes, badges and wands, with and without holes drilled through them ; six stone rubbers, pestles or pounders, and between three and four hundred arrow and spear points. One mortar found just east of the Scioto marsh is quite an important specimen. I judge the stone would weigh nearly 800 pounds. The cavity will hold about half a gallon of corn, and the smaller end of the stone is fashioned into a kind of saddle or place to sit while pounding or grinding. Seated in this saddle, with one foot on each side of the mortar, it just fits an ordinary sized man. An important point developed in connection with this mortar, is that the people using it must have had permanent places of abode, as the stone is too large to move without great difficulty My collection was gathered principally in this county."

The territory embraced in Hardin County is not so distinctly or thickly dotted with the silent monuments of the pre-historic race, as those counties farther south in the Scioto and Miami Valleys; yet enough remained upon the coming of the whites to satisfy the antiquarian that it was once their place of abode. Thorough investigation has convinced us that all of the remains in this portion of Ohio may be classed under the head of Burial :Mounds, and, with one exception, were of such small altitude that the average pioneer regarded them as gravel banks or natural elevations. It is to be regretted that most of these way-marks of a forgotten people have been so completely obliterated by the agriculturist as to leave little or no trace of their location or size, therefore their history is forever buried in oblivion.

In the northwest corner of Lynn Township, south of the Scioto River, is located a burial mound, oblong in shape, 40x50 feet in diameter, and rising to a height of about five feet ere the destructive hand of iconoclasm began the leveling process. Different parties have dug into this mound from time to time. In 1880, Mrs. Collins, who lives close by, took therefrom a piece of silverplated copper about the size of a man's hand, also several smaller specimens of the same metal, together with some flints, which were taken to Washington, D. C., by Gen. J. S. Robinson, and presented to the Smithsonian Institution, to be preserved in its archaeological collection. During the summer of 1882, Prof. Palmer, of the same institution, in company with L. T. Hunt, of Kenton, Ohio, spent a couple of days investigating the prehistoric remains of Hardin Countv. He did some excavating in this mound and found evidences of fire, also a few specimens of stone implements, pottery, etc., which he thought worthy of preservation, and carried to Washington for the Smithsonian collection. Scattered throughout the county are numer-

228 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

ous gravel banks, which were much used by the Indians as burial places, and these are apt to be erroneously called mounds, which they are not. In removing the gravel for the construction of roads, hundreds of human skeletons have been exumed, with many Indian relics, comprising copper beads, stone beads, stone axes, fleshers, flint spear-heads and arrowpoints, pickshaped instruments, including perforated tubes, and flat, smoothly polished plates of a greenish-gray colored slate. These findings are common in every portion of the State, but, doubtless, belonged to the American Indians the second race that dwelt in this land.

The only other mound of which we have been able to learn anything definite, was located in Hale Township, between Mount Victory and Ridgeway, on the line of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati R, Indianapolis Railroad, and opened in 1856, by John S. B. Matson, during the construction of that road. This mound was regarded as one of the most remarkable in Ohio, and as Mr. Matson published the result of his investigations, we cannot do better than to give his description verbatim. He says: "I commenced removing a gravel bank for the purpose of ballasting a part of the railroad. I learned shortly after my arrival that the bank was an ancient burial ground. This information caused me to examine the ground and note discoveries. Before I came, there had been a track graded and laid. This track separated a short distance east of the mound, one track on the south the other on the north. The men who graded the track had taken the loam off where the track ran, and cast it out from the mound. We removed the gravel from both sides, moving the track up to the bank when it became difficult to load. The loading was done on gravel cars, by men with shovels, and hauled out with an engine. The average amount removed was about 220 cubic yards per day. About six weeks in the winter we had to suspend operations on account of the ground freezing.

"The mound covered an area of one and a half acres, being covered with an orchard of apple trees then in bearing. Several large stumps and a few trees of the original growth still remained thereon. I was informed by citizens of the vicinity that there had been a remarkably heavy growth of timber on the mound. The stumps remaining were large. The mound is what I would call double, the larger and higher part to the east. About two-thirds of the mound was embraced in this part. The eastern portion presented the appearance of a smaller hill having been pressed against the other, leaving a depression between them of three or four feet below the highest point of the smaller and five or six feet below a corresponding point of the larger. Both parts had the appearance of having had surface work done to give them a beautiful oval shape. The loam I found deepest on the highest points, where it is generally of less depth. The interior was composed of a clean limestone gravel and sand, evidently formed by decomposition of the strata, and very plainly marked. In the eastern or smaller part of the mound, was an excavation that had been made by citizens of the vicinity for sand for building purposes, it which excavation I learned a number of skeletons had been exhumed having beads and trinkets on, which were reported as being similar to those I afterward found, but I was unable to obtain any of them. A little south of the highest point of the western mound was an excavation made by the railroad company for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of gravel, but no remains were found in it.

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 229

Shortly after commencing to load gravel, indications of graves were visible in three places-on both sides of the eastern portion and nearly north of the center of the larger or western part. At the last-named place, two skeletons, side by side, were found in a, horizontal position, the feet pointing east, which had, apparently, been deposited there without their heads, there being no evidence of skulls with them. I found a stone ax or celt of granite, two flint arrowpoints, and an implement made of blue stone resembling slate. but much harder, the length of which I found to be two and three-fourth inches; also a large, fresh- water clam filled with red paint in good preservation. The flint implements had the appearance of never having been used, being very sharp pointed. These graves were about four feet deep, and the bones crumbled on exposure to the atmosphere.

"The first skeletons taken out of the eastern part of the mound were in better preservation, especially those on the south side. Several skulls were sound, and the other bones of some were so well preserved that, by applying sole leather for ribs, they were wired together. With the first skeleton taken out of this part of the mound I found a thin piece of ivory with two mall holes, evidently an ear ornament. Next was the skeleton of a little girl, who may have been eight or ten years old. The skull was in good preservation, and remains in my cabinet. She had a string of beads so made as to be larder in the center of the neck in front, tapering almost to a point at the back of the neck ; she also had a plate of copper on her neck. The lower maxillary and upper joints of the vertebra are yet green from its oxidation. The plate had two rows of dents a part of the way around. The dents look like an impression made on a board with the heel of a boot with tacks. The two last skeletons had been buried in a sitting posture. On the north side, nearly opposite the last-named skeletons, was a grave about four feet deep, in which the remains had been deposited and apparently burned. There were ashes and charcoal, with pieces of charred bones, one or two heads being entire. In the progress of the removal, I found the eastern or small part of the mound to be literally filled with graves. The modes of burial had been various, the depth of remains varying from two to nine feet, while there was a difference of posture in nearly every skeleton. I found that not less than ten or twelve dogs had also been buried-the human and canine side by side.

"One group of nine graves I was so impressed with, I will endeavor to be particularly explicit. The first had two skeletons, that of a male and female, side by side, there not being more than four inches of sand between them. Both had evidently been buried in one grave. The female was buried on her knees, both hands spread over her face, which was downwards, and a string of conch shell beads around her neck. I found inside her ribs the remains of a foetus. Her partner was buried horizontal, with face down ; both hands had been placed with their palms on the face, their heads toward the east. After tracing the bones with particular reference to their position and t.- save those skeletons which were best preserved, I took down the disturbed strata with my hands ; and at the head of the grave I found above the remains, and pointing down, the bones of the index finger, while at the foot of the grave, and at a corresponding height, the bones of a great toe, pointing in a similar manner. The balance of the group were buried some with face down, both hands over the face, others with one hand ;

230 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

some with face up, and both hands over the face; while another had one hand over the breast the other over the face. All this group had their heads to the east. On one of this group I found a string of copper beads, of which the metal had never been smelted, but evidently had been flaked from the native metal, and rolled around a twisted string, evidence of which was still visible in the beads, which were rude.

"On the north side of the eastern portion, under an oak tree stump (one hundred and fifty years old by growth), were the remains of the largest human bones I had ever seen. The joints of the vertebra seemed as large as those of a horse!. I think they did not indicate a taller form than some others ; but the bones were heavier than any in the mound. I have its inferior maxillary broken, but glued together, in my cabinet. The other bones were so decomposed that they were useless. I could not say as to the posture, as the stump brought down the grave, rendering it out of the question to note the position. Near the last-named skeleton, perhaps ten feet from it, we came across a grave that had been dug oblong almost six feet deep, three feet wide, and over seven feet long, which they had filled with human bones promiscuously, without regard to order, to the depth of four feet ; on these, in regular order, were placed twenty-seven skulls, with the top of the skulls up. They were about two feet below the surface: the bones so much broken, and I regret to say I did not examine them so particularly as I should have done. One of the skulls had a small hole in it, and I learned afterward that a piece of the femur was found, when they were dumped on the road, having a flint dart fast in the bone.

"There was an implement or ornament found having one part like the head of a bird's neck, and shoulders like a horse, cut back of the shoulders, and turned up like the back part of a saddle seat ; the lower part being flat, with a hole drilled diagonally from the lower part of the neck of the base, with a corresponding hole in the back part. This implement was manufactured of a blue atone resembling slate, but extremely hard. It is probable they had a battle, and after the flesh had decomposed they collected the bones and brought them to the mound for burial. I am sure from the positions of the bones, they had not been interred with the flesh on. I found in this part of the mound the remains of at least fifty children. under the age of eight years, some with two, others with four incisors ; some with eight, and others with no teeth. On the neck of one infant having two incisors, there was a string of conch shell beads of the largest size, one hundred and forty in number; four of these beads were black, and were about three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The string would weigh one pound or more. Some of the graves had trinkets and beads made of clam shell; some had bones of the deer, sharp-pointed, others had pieces of deer horns ; some had long-shaped beads around the wrists, I think of ivory. One had a conch shell plate, round, about five inches in diameter, with a hole in the center, half an inch in diameter, with two holes near the edge, for suspension, with a string from the neck, like a breast-plate. Some had birds buried with them. One skeleton taken out of this part of the mound had the appearance of a very aged man ; the point of the inferior maxillary was almost in two parts, while the trachea was bone all around. Quite a number showed indications of extreme age, seven or eight that I observed had bone tracheas.

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 231

I now return to the western or larger portion of the mound. This part was removed as fast as the former. I soon discovered there were two, rows of graves leading direct from the two first mentioned, containing the flint implements, paint, etc., toward the center, each pair having been dug deeper as they approached the center of the mound. Those with the stone axe, paint and flint implements were four feet deep, the depth of each pair increasing about a foot in regular gradation till the last pair, which was as near the center and highest point of the mound as I could calculate, being eighteen feet. The pair next to those with the ax, paint and flint implements were in a sitting posture, as were all in these two files, except the first two. On the head of one of the second pair was a conch shell plate, resembling in shape thesole of a moccasin, nine inches in length and three and a half inches greatest breadth. This plate had three holes in it toward the wider end, and it was placed on the top of the head, with the larger end back. Two other skeletons of these two files had similar plates, differing only in size, the smaller being about half the size of the larger. Severn implements of stone were found, all differing in shape. They were of stone resembling slate, but much harder. One of them is three inches long b% one and a half broad, in form of a shield, with two holes through it flatwise.

"Farmers picked up some implements in a field adjoining the mound. One given me by Judge Baldwin is a flat stone of slate, with a transverse hole, that I supposed belonged to the same race. As we approached the, center of the mound, the graves getting deeper, the bones were much better preserves,. Several bodies in decomposition had formed a cement that would have preserved them an almost incalculable length of time. In fact, wheel first taken out of the cement they had the appearance of bones just dissected, being nearly one-third heavier than those without. cement. The four last deepest skeletons all had beads on, some of them quite small, the smallest not as large as a pea. Some were made of clam shells, but mostly of conch or sea shells. Those of clam were so decomposed that they fell to pieces. Three of these skeletons had beads only around the neck, the fourth, being the last one taken out, and the file leader of the two deepest, had, I should think, nearly thirty yards of beads, having four wraps around l the neck crossed over the breast and back, passing down between his legs strings down his legs to the feet ; also strings along his arms and around his wrists. This remains presented the appearance of being decorated all over. He had no other ornaments or implements that I could find. Near the south side of the western part of the mound, near one of the forest trees, I found the remains of a human being that seemed to be detached from all the rest. I thought, perhaps, he was an Indian of one of the late tribes, who had been buried, probably, on some hunting expedition. There was a piece of deer horn with him that had the appearance of having been the handle of a butcher knife. I could not detect any evidence of rust, however. On the highest part of the mound, and about twelve or fifteen feet from the two deepest graves was evidence of fire. The loam had been burned till it had a brick color. I have seen it look very much so where a large log heap had been burned, and would have thought such was the cause had it not been that it was below the surface about three feet. The whole number of skeletons exhumed by me was three hundred and eight. I could not ascertain how many had been taken out by diggers of sand.

232 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

"The citizens of the vicinity informed me that there was a very heavy forest on the mound at the time of clearing it. They also stated that the Indians who were here with the first settlers knew nothing of the race who interred their dead there. I have very little doubt they belonged to the age of stone. There was no evidence that they ever had any communication with the age of iron or bronze. They must have had some commercial arrangements for getting conch shells and copper. The copper has the appearance of the Lake Superior copper, and the conch shells must have come from the Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico. There was no evidence of pottery that I could discover. I have visited as many as twenty mounds in the Mississippi Valley, on nearly every one of which were broken pottery, literally covering the mounds. About three-fourths of a mile from where I now reside, on a farm owned by a Mr. Stump, is a very beautiful little mound about thirty feet across and six feet high. Some years ago, Dr. Craig, of Ontario, Richland County, made an examination, in which he discovered charcoal, ashes, and a flint knife five inches long. It is my impression that no signs of human bones were discovered by him. There has been a large number of stone axes, or celts of all sizes, between two and seven inches in length, found on the surface, some of them finely made, mostly of granite. Various other implements have from time to time been picked up, and I have made a practice of preserving the flint implements on my farm and vicinity, until I have two hundred specimens of various shapes and sizes."

Speculating upon a people of a less remote age, we might exclaim with Halleck:

"What tales if there be tongues in trees.

These giant oaks could tell

Of beings born and buried here:"

But the hoary antiquity of the stateliest monarchs of the wood cannot carry us back to the time when the builders of the enduring earth monuments dwelt in our land. We can only know that a vast population filled our valleys, and passed away ; that a nation existed and is gone, leaving no page of history to carry through the ages the story of its origin and destiny. All that the student desires to know, that for which he has anxiously but vainly sought, has been engulfed in the illimitable oblivion that holds so much more of the history of human life-how much we cannot tell. Vast as may be the ages that have elapsed since our land was the theater of this unknown race, it is but a brief period in the cycles of time that have swept by since the first dawn of the worth ; and ancient as we are accustomed to regard the Mound-Builders of America, they may have been only the last in a series of vanished races of men-the blood of the earth that has gone forth at every pule-beat of creation, every throb of the Infinite.