HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 233

CHAPTER II.

THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS-THEIR LIFE, LANGUAGE, PLACES OF ABODE AND

CHARACTER-THE MEDICINE MAN-THE INDIAN SQUAW-MARRIAGE AND

SOCIAL RELATIONS-RELIGIOUS BELIEF-ORIGINAL OHIO TRIBES-MIAMI

CONFEDERACY-SIX NATIONS-LOCATION OF TRIBES AND THEIR

STRENGTH-INDIAN WARS AND EXPEDITIONS-SITES OF VILLAGES

-VICTORIES AND DEFEATS-FINAL DEFEAT OF THE INDIANS

-LEADING CHIEFS-SIMON GIRTY-PEACE OF 1795

TECUMSEH AND THE WAR OF 1812-SUBSEQUENT

TREATIES-INDIAN RESERVATIONS-EXTINCTION

OF INDIAN TITLE IN OHIO-RESUME FROM 1754

TO 1794-HARDIN COUNTY AS A HUNTING

GROUND-INDIAN CA51PING PLACES

SHAWNEE TRACE-VILLAGES

AND CHIEFS.

THE history of the North American Indians has been gathered, principally, from the traditions handed down by the leading men of that race, though much of it has been established as authentic and reliable.. Their origin is involved in complete obscurity, but, that they are one of the oldest races of mankind, cannot be doubted. "They belong to the Ganowanian, or Bow-and-Arrow family of men. Some races cultivate the soil, others have herds and flocks, others build cities and ships." To the American Indian the chase was his sole delight ; to smite with his arrow the denizen of the forest and make war upon his enemies, his chief aim in life. He could live happily, only, among vast hunting-grounds of forest, hill and river, filled with the game which unaided nature supplied. To glide up and down the streams and mighty rivers in his frail canoe was a favorite past time. Nature was his teacher and the forest his home. His religious belief centered upon the theory, that at death he would be transferred to just such a paradise of the chase as in life he considered necessary to true happiness. This heaven of his imagination be called " the happy hunting ground," and truly it was a beautiful and poetic theory of immortality, one well suited to the child of Nature.

The character of the Indians was largely the result of their lives. They judged and lived by what the senses dictated. They had names and words for what they could bear, see, feel, taste and smell, but had no conception of abstract ideas until they learned such from the whites ; hence their language was very symbolical. They could see the sun in his brightness, and feel his heat; hence they compared the actions of a good man to the glory of the sun, and his fervent energy to the heat of that body. The moon in her brightness, the wind in its fury, the clouds in their majesty, or in their slow graceful motion through a lazy atmosphere ; the grace and flight of the deer ; the strength and fury of the bear ; the rush or ripple of water as it coursed along the bed of a river, all gave them words whose musical expressiveness are a wonder and a marvel to this day. The Wyandots

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looked upon the beautiful river that borders the southern shores of this State and exclaimed "0-he-zuh!" great, grand and fair to look upon, while the Shawnees called it "Kis-ke-pi-la Sepe," Eagle River. They gazed upon the placid waters of the stream bordering the western line of Indiana and ejaculated, "Wa-ba," a summer cloud moving swiftly; on a river flowing into Lake Erie and said, "Cuy-o-ga," crooked; and so on through their entire vocabulary, each name expressive of a meaning, full and admirably adapted to the object.

The Indians did not occupy the ancient earthworks, nor did they construct such. They were found as they are now-a hunter race, wholly averse to labor. Their abodes were in rock shelters, in caves, or in temporary sheds of bark and boughs or skins, easily moved from place to place, which they called their wigwams. Like most savage races, their habits are unchangeable, and although they partially adopted from the whites some customs in dress, and the erection of cabins, yet the efforts of the white race, during three centuries, have failed to make little, if any, impresssion upon them. In peace the Indian was unsocial, solitary an-l gloomy, yet at times gave way to pleasure and merriment; in war, he was fierce, vindictive revengeful and unforgiving. He recognized no law save his own will. and to curb that will, or to thwart his passions or purposes by civil authority was intolerable. The most striking characteristic of the race was a certain sense of personal independence and freedom from restraint. On the warpath they followed a chieftain whom they chose to lead them, or else one who won his position and right to command by being the most cunning in savage strategy, foremost in danger and bravest in battle. The prophet and physician of the tribe was the Medicine Man, whose office was self-constituted. He claimed his authority from the Great Spirit, and as no man gave it none could take it away, his influence depending upon himself and the voluntary respect of the nation.

The Indian squaw was a degraded creature, a drudge, a beast of burden, who did all the hard, slavish labor, while her lord and master followed the chase, or made war upon his enemies. The social principle was, therefore, correspondingly low, and marriage consisted simply of two persons agreeing to live together. Among some tribes this simple agreement was never broken, while among others the man could put away his wife at will and take another. The Wyandots, Shawnees and Delawares prided themselves on their virtue and hospitality, and the marriage relations among them, as well as some other tribes, was seldom violated, any variation from it on the part of the female meriting certain death.

The Indians were all believers in one Great Spirit. They firmly believed in his care of the world and of his children, though different theories prevailed among the tribes regarding their creation. This trust often led them into habits of prodigality. They seldom provided for the future, almost literally fulfilling the adage: "Let each day provide for its own wants." They hunted, fished and idled away their days. Possessed of a boundless inheritance, they allowed the white race to come in and possess their lands and eventually drive them entirely away.

When the white man first came to the territory now embraced within the State of Ohio, he found dwelling here a number of Indian nations, each composed of several tribes, and each was often at war with the others.

PAGE 235 - PICTURE OF JOHN ESPEY

PAGE 236 - PICTURE OF JANE ESPY

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 237

Many theories have been advanced and much has been written as to what nation originally belonged the soil of Ohio, but the more recent writers lean toward the belief that to the Shawnees may be accorded that honor. Is is claimed that the powerful and warlike people who once inhabited the southern shores of Lake Erie, and known in history as the Eries, are identical with the nation later known as the Shawnees.

This tribe is recognized in history as the Bedouins of the North American Indians. As fomenters of discord and war between themselves and their neighbor:, their genius was marked ; as wanderers, they were without rivals among their race. Capt. John Smith made mention of a tribe that lived on the southern shores of Lake Erie, whom he called "Massawomekes," while in the Jesuit Relations they are called "Eries, Cats, or Chats." Cadwallader Colden calls them "Satanas," and Nicholas Perot "Chaouanous." This diversity of names does not alter the fact that all of these authorities give the same location and date of occupancy of the tribe about which each wrote; also, that this tribe was conquered and dispersed by tile Five Nations of New York, known by the French as Iroquois, and the English as Mingoes, about 1655. is generally admitted by all historians. Nicholas Perot lived among the Indians for more than thirty years subsequent to 1665, and enjoyed their confidence to a marked degree. He says that the "Chaouanous " were driven from Lake Erie by the Five Nation;, who chased them and their allies toward Carolina,, where they have. since remained, establishing themselves at different points. The survivors of this once powerful nation being driven from their homes and their property destroyed, deprived of the lake as a principal source of food supply, were forced to resort to the chase as a means of subsistence.

We find that as early as 1669, La Salle speaks of the "Shawnees " as being familiar with the country contiguous to the Ohio River. Father Marquette, in 1670, makes similar statements as to their location, and in 1672, upon reaching the mouth of the Ohio, on his voyage down the Mississippi, says: "'This river comes from the country on the east inhabited by the people called Chaouanous, in such numbers that they reckon as many as twenty-three villages in one district, and fifteen in another, lying quite near each other; they are by no means warlike, and are the people the Iroquois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked war upon them." This would seem to indicate that their warlike spirit had been somewhat crushed by their humiliating defeat some years prior to this time. In 1680, Father Membre, in his account of the adventures of La Salle, speaks of this tribe, and the same vcar, a chief of the " Chaouanous " who had 1.50 wrrriors, and lived on a large river emptying into the Ohio, sent to La Salle, to form an alliance with him.

On a map accompanying Marquette's journal, published in 1681, the "Chaouanous " are located on the Ohio, near the Mississippi, while on his original manuscript map they are placed a long distance east of that river, in the region of what is now the Ohio. In 1700, Father Gravier speaks of this tribe as living on a river which is evidently the Tennessee. On De I'lsle's map, published during the same year, they are located near the mouth of the Tennessee, and a tribe which he calls "Outonigauha " are placed on the bead-waters of the great rivers of South Carolina. From a report of an investigating committee of the Pennsylvania Assembly, made

238 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

in 1755, we find that at least a portion of this band living in South Carolina had come to Conestoga, Penn., by leave of the Susquehanna Indians, about 1698, and four years previously a portion of the same tribe had settled among the "Minsis," on the Delaware River.

Frown time to time other straggling parties continued to join their brethren in Pennsylvania, until they finally became very numerous and powerful. In 1700, William Penn visited their chiefs at Conestoga, and the same year the Council of Maryland resolved "that the friendship of the Susquehannock and Shawnee Indians be secured by making a treaty with them. they seeming to be of considerable moment and not to be slighted."

In 1710, John Senex published a map, which indicates villages of the "Chaouanous " on the head-waters of South Carolina, but places the main body along the upper waters of the Tannessee, which probably locates them too high up that river. About 1715, the Cherokees and Chickasaws expelled them from their numerous villages on the Lower Cumberland, for we find on a map published by H. Moll, in 1720, that the lands formerly occupied by the "Chaouanous ' was then in possession of the "Charakeys," indicating the abandonment several years before of the last Shawnee village in the Cumberland and Tennessee Valleys, and their gradual withdrawal to the north side of the Oliio River. According to Ramsey, a straggling band of this tribe moved from Green River, Kentucky, where they were temporarily residing, to the Wabash country, as late as 1764. Some time prior to 1740, a portion of this tribe lived for a period a short distance from the fort at Mobile, Ala., as M. De Bienville, the commandant of the fort in that year, speaks of their abandonment of their village at that point. Another offshoot found a home in Alleghany County, Md., at a place now known as Oldtown, on the Potomac River, while still another lived in the neighborhood of Winchester, Va.

That a portion of this tribe also lived in Florida is evident, as the celebrated chief of the Shawnees, Catahecassa, or Black Hoof, was born in that country, and often spoke of bathing and fishing in the salt water ere the migration of his band to the Ohio Valley. llc was a man of sagacity and experience, of fierce and desperate bravery, and well informed in the traditions of his people. He occupied the highest position in his nation. was present at the defeat of Braddock, in 1755, and was engaged in all of the Ohio wars from that time until the Greenville treaty in 1795. He stood about five feet eight inches in height, and lived to the great age of one hundred and ten years, dying at Wapakoneta, Auglaize Co., Ohio, in 1831.

After the expulsion of the Shawnees from the valleys of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, their appearance in history is rare until about the middle of the eighteenth century, as they were doubtless scattered through the interior of what is now Ohio and Indiana, living by right of suffrance in the territory which their forefathers owned ere their defeat and dispersion by the Five Nations. On a map published in London, England, in 1752, by Emanuel Bowen, a "village d' Chaouanou" is located about midway between the mouths of the Kanawha and Scioto Rivers, on the north side of the Ohio. In the meantime the Shawnees of Pennsylvania had become the most numerous, and important portion of that nation, but owing to the agressiveness and encroachments of the whites, they were gradually crowded from their lands and homes. About 1750, they began to turn their faces

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 239

toward the setting sun, and in a few years were re-united with their brethren in the valleys of the Muskingum and Scioto Rivers. This tribe from Pennsylvania is known in history as the Delawares, which title they derived from the river and bay of that name, upon which they lived. In the war of 1755, these tribes became the warm allies of the French, were a terror to the border settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and glutted their revenge at Braddock's defeat, almost annihilating the English in that fatal battle.

Within the period of the struggle for possession of Ohio, the following tribes were the recognized owners of the lands now contained within this State: Shawnees, Wyandots, Delawares, Mingos (of Ohio), Miamis, Sacs, Senecas (of Sandusky), and Munsees, who were an offshoot of the Delawares. The Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Piankeshaws, were around Detroit and along the Maumee River, while the Eel River Indians, Kickapoos and Weas, were in the Wabash country, and the Chippewas on the Upper Lakes. Two confederacies of Indians were opposed to each other in the war for supremacy of the Ohio country, viz., the Miami Confederacy, and the Iroquois, or Six Nations. The former were composed of the following tribes : Shawnees, Wyandots, Miamis, Ottawas, Sacs and Pottawatomies, who were also joined at times by the Delawares, Chippewas, Weas, Eel River Indians, Kickapoos, Munsees, and other tribes of the Wabash. The Iroquois, who were known by the English as `lingoes, comprised the following tribes: Oneidas, 0nondagas, Mohawks, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras, which confederacy was called the Six Nations. In the early history of these latter tribes they were but five in number, but subsequently being joined by the Tuscarora;, of Carolina, their appellation of the Five Nations was dropped, and ever afterward they were known in history as the Six Nations. This last confederacy laid claim to Ohio along Lake Erie by right of conquest, while the claims of the Miami confederacy were based upon original ownership, which was always recognized by the Americans after they came into possession of the country, the English, alone, recognizing the claims of the Six Nations, as opposed to the French and Americans. Previous to 1792, the Senecas, with some Indians from other tribes of the Six Nations, located on the Sandusky River. and they were recognized by she United States in the treaties made with the Ohio tribes subsequent to that date.

From 1755 to 1780, the following were the locations in a general way of the Ohio tribes. The Shawnees inhabited the country along the Scioto River and its tributaries, as far west as Greene and Clark Counties, running north to the Mackacheek towns of Logan County, and east, so as to include Raccoon Creek. This included a portion of the territory now comprised in Hardin County, as well as that of Logan, Champaign, Clark, Greene, and all south and east of these counties to the Ohio River.

The Delawares and Munsees occupied the valley of the Muskingum, and east of that river, and as they bore tribal relations to the Shawnees, these tribes lived in friendship and harmony side by side.

The Mingoes (of Ohio) were settled along the eastern and notheastern portions of the State, including the valleys of the Cuyahoga, the Tuscarawas and Wheeling Creek, but like the other tribes were gradually pushed west into the territory occupied by their sister nations.

The Wyandots lived along the valleys of the Sandusky River, and

240 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

around Sandusky Bay, on the southern shores of Lake Erie ; also the valleys of the other streams flowing into the lake west of the Cuyahoga, but no further up the Maumee than Henry County. They also inhabited, in common with the Shawnees and Delawares, the country between the Scioto and Muskingum Rivers. They claimed to have come from the north bank of the St. Lawrence River to the Peninsula of Michigan, and thence to the southern shores of Lake Erie. They had many legends as to their origin and ancestry, and were one of the leading nations of the Northwest.

The Miamis occupied the level country drained by the streams that formed the head-waters of the Maumee, Wabash and Great Miami Rivers, from the Loramie portage across to Fort Wayne, and down the Maumee Valley. They were noted for their fierce opposition to the Americans, and as the devoted allies of the English throughout the Revolutionary period.

The Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Piankeshaws were along the Maumee and around Detroit, while the Weas, Kickapoos and Eel River Indians were living in the valley of the Wabash.

Attempts to determine the number of persons comprising the Indian tribes in Ohio, and their exact location, have resulted in nothing better than estimates. It is supposed that, at the commencement of the Revolution, there were about six thousand In,lians in the present confines of the State, but many of their villages were little more than movable camps. It will not be out of place, perhaps, to give from one of these estimates, the number of warriors that each tribe could send to the front on short notice, during, and subsequent to, the Revolutionary war: Shawnees, 500 ; Wyandots, 300 ; Delawares and Munsees, 600 ; Miamis, 300 ; Ottawas, 600 ; Pottawattamies, 400 ; Mingoes (of Ohio), 600; Weas, Kickapoos and Piankeshaws, 800; total, 4,100.

The Six Nations of New York had an estimated war footing as follows: Mohawks, 100 ; Oneidas and Tuscaroras, 400 ; Cayugas, 320 ; Onondagas, 230; Senecas, 650 ; total, 1,600, while the Chippewas, of the Upper Lakes, were equal in strength to the Ohio tribes and Six Nations combined, making a grand total of 11,400 warriors, ready for battle whenever the tocsin of war was sounded.

Throughout the period of white settlement in Kentucky, and subseqently along the north bank of the Ohio, the clash of the contending forces was almost continuous ; in fact, we might say with truth, that the hatchet was seldom buried. The Indians were fighting for their homes, made sacred as the resting-place of their forefathers; the whites were determined to possess these lands, peaceably if they could, forcibly if they must. Thus the issue stood between the two races, one of whom must go to the wall. There was an Indian village three miles above the mouth of the Kanawha River, and om 1756, Maj. Lewis led an expedition against it, which proved a failure. In 1764, Col. Boquet's expedition to the Muskingurn Valley resulted in a temporary peace; and the Indian town on the Wakatomika, a few miles above Zanesville, was destroyed by Col. McDonald ten years later. In 1778, Gen. Hand marched from Fort Pitt to attack the Indian town of Cuyahoga, but it ended so ingloriously that it is known in history as the "Squaw Campaign."

Two years previous to this last expedition, an event occurred which changed the current of thought, influenced the history of the world, and

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made necessary a new map of the North American Continent. This was the Declaration of Independence, whose clarion notes, that all men were created free and equal, and that governments derived their just powers from the consent of the governed, rangy throughout the nations of the earth, causing the spark of freedom to burn with hope in the hearts of oppressed humanity. The conduct of England, during the subsequent struggle, was hypocritical and treacherous. Her influence among the Indians was used in a cruel and bloodthirsty manner, offering premiums for American scalps until she was known among the Indians as " the hair-buying nation." At that time there was not in the vast territory, bounded on the north by the Great Lakes, on the east and south by the Ohio, and on the west by the Mississippi, a single American settlement. Beyond the Ohio, looking north and west, was everywhere an Indian country, and nearly all the tribes throughout the whole region were openly at war with the United States. So the settlements that had taken root west of the Alleghenies-reaching from Pittsburgh down the east side of the Ohio to some distance below Wheelingand the few that were dotting the wilds of Kentucky, were all suffering the horrors of the Western border war of the Revolution-a war characterized by rapacity and bloodthirstiness.

The Shawnees were divided into four tribes, the Piqua, Kiskapocke, Mequachuke and Chillicothe. According to a poetical Indian legend, the Piqua tribe had its origin in a man who sprang from the fire and ashes. As their old men used to tell the whites who first came in contact with them, the chief warriors and wise men were once sitting around the smoldering embers of what had been a council fire, when they were startled by a great puffing of fire and smoke, and from the ashes and coals, there sprang into being a man of splendid form and mein, the original of the tribe of Piqua - named Piqua as signifying the man born of ashes. This legend of the origin of the tribe of Pique, truly beautiful in its simplicity, has been commented upon by leading writers upon the red race, as showing, in a marked degree, their capabilities for imaginative inventiveness, and as a proof of their romantic susceptibility.

Mequachuke signifies a fat man filled-a man made perfect, so that nothing is wanting. This tribe had the priesthood. Its leaders were endowed with the privilege of celebrating the religious rites of the nation. The Kiskapocke tribe was inclined to war, and its braves were among the most fierce and crafty of the Indian tribes of the Northwest. The celebrated prophet, and Tecumseh his brother, were members of this tribe. Chillicothe is not known to have been interpreted, save as meaning a dwelling place. A title commonly applied to the Shawnees was "the Spartans of the race," and their constancy in braving danger and enduring the consequences of defeat seems to have made them deserving of the appellation. They have also been styled the "Bedouins of the American wilderness," which, considering their extensive and almost constant wanderings, is not inappropriate. They were the only tribe among the Indians of the Northwest who had a tradition of foreign origin, and for some time after the whites became acquainted with them, held a yearly festival to celebrate the safe arrival in this country of their ancestors. After their return to Ohio, they located in the Scioto Valley, above and below the mouth of the Scioto River, also scattering along the Little Miami and Mad Rivers, building towns at different points. As

242 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

the voyages of the whites became more frequent up and down the Ohio River, the Indians removed their villages further away from that highway of navigation. They built a town on the west bank of the Scioto River, the present site of Westfall, Pickaway County. This was the headquarters of the confederate tribes, and was called Chillicothe, but subsequently came to be known as "Old Chillicothe." Another village of the same name stood on the site of Frankfort, Ross County, and another in Greene County, three miles north of Xenia. Across the Scioto River from Old Chillicothe, on Scippo Creek, was the village of the celebrated Shawnee chief; Cornstalk, and on the south bank of the same stream stool Grenadier Squaw town, named after a sister of Cornstalk's, called the Grenadier Squaw, who was six feet tall and a woman of great muscular strength and superior intellect.

Of all places in the West, this pre-eminently deserves the name of "classic ground." Here in bygone ages burned the council fires of the red man ; here the affairs of the Miami confederacy were discussed and the important questions of peace and war decided. From the Pickaway plains, surrounding these villages the allied tribe, 1,000 strong. marched forth to meet Col. Andrew Lewis, and his Virginians, at Point Pleasant. where the 10th of October, 1774, although led by their beloved chief, Cornstalk. and cheered by his words, "Be strong! be strong!" they were defeated after a fierce battle of twelve hours duration. It was at Old Chillicothe, on the Scioto, that the cabin of the celebrated Mingoe chief, Loan. stood here that he mourned the murder of his family and made his memorable speech to John Gibson, the emissary of Lord Dunmore. At this point the campaign against the Shawnee villages was brought to a close by the Indians suing for peace and entering into a treaty with Lord Dunmore, at Camp Charlotte, which was located on the north bank of Scippo Creek and east of the Indian towns.

The Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, was an extraordinary man, possessing a brilliant intellect, a noble character and undaunted courage. Previous to the battle of Point Pleasant, he counseled peace, but being overruled by the other chiefs of the nation, he took command of the Indians in that battle and conducted it with consummate skill. After their defeat and return to the Pickaway towns, a council was called to consider what was to be clone, at which Cornstalk was the chief orator and leading spirit ; said he: "What will you do now? Tote Big Knife is coming on us, and we shall all be killed. Now you must fight or we are undone." Receiving no answer, he said, "Then let us kill all our women and children, and go and fight until we die." Perfect silence still greeted him, when arising, with firm purpose and dignity in every lineament of his face, he struck his tomahawk into a post of the council house and exclaimed: "I'll go and make peace," which was immediately carried into effect. In the summer of 1777 , he went on a visit to Point Pleasant to warn the Americans that the Indians intended joining the English in the war just began. He was there cruelly murdered, seven or eight bullets being fired into his body, while his son, Elinipsico, and a noted young warrior, Red Hawk, were killed at the same time. Thus perished Cornstalk, whose name was conferred upon him as the support and strength of his people ; but this outrae precluded all hope of peace between the Indians of the Northwest and the new-born American nation, and cemented their alliance with the English.

PAGES BETWEEN 242 & 243 PICTURES OF J. S. ROBINSON & DAVID SNODGRASS

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In 1779, Col. John Bowman, commanding a force of 160 men, crossed the Ohio at the mouth of the Licking, and after a rapid march attacked the Indian town of Old Chillicothe, on the Little Miami. three miles north of Xenia. The attack was repulsed, and Col. Bowman capturing a sufficient number of ponies to mount his men, began a hurried retreat, being closely, pursued by the Indians until he recrossed the Ohio, having lost nine men in the expedition. In October of the same year, Col. David Rogers and Capt. Robert Benham, with 100 men, were passing down the Ohio, in two keel boats, and noticing Indians on the shores, Col. Rogers landed one-half his command for the purpose of attacking the savages. The whites were ambushed by about 500 Indians, a fierce battle ensued, but the odds were too great, and Rogers, with nearly all his men were tomahawked and scalped. Capt. Benham, with a few survivors, cut his way out and finally escaped, although the Captain was severely wounded and lay in the woods two days ere rescued by a passing boat.

In July, 1780, Col. George Rogers Clark organized a force of 1,000 Indian fighters at the mouth of Licking River, and in August of that year marched against Old Chillicothe (in Greene County), but found the village abandoned and burned. They destroyed several hundred acres of corn and then proceeded in a north direction for the purpose of attacking Old Piqua, the Shawnee town on Mad River (in Clark County). Reaching that point on the 8th of August, the fight began at 2 P. M., and after a three hours' engagement the Indians were driven from their village, each side losing about twenty men. Upon the following day, the town was burned and the growing crops completely destroyed. This severe thrashing taught the Indians a lesson not soon to be forgotten, and for the time cowed them into submission. There were nearly 4,000 persons in the tribe at this point, and the destruction of their crops caused them much suffering, having to depend entirely upon the chase for provision to keep them through the following winter. The Shawnees crossed over the Great Miami into what is now Miami County, and built another town which they also called Piqua.

In March, 1781, Col. Daniel Broadhead, at the head of 300 men, attacked and destroyed the Delaware villages on the Upper Muskingum (in Coshocton County ), killing about forty warriors and capturing many squaws and children whom he took to Wheeling, Va. In August of that year, the Indians, in retaliation, attacked a force of 106 men under the command of Col. Archibald Lochry, below the mouth of the Big Miami, killing or capturing the whole force, the fate of the prisoners being, of course, death in its cruelest form. In March, 1782, Col. David Williamson, at the head of 100 men, marched upon the Moravian Indian village of Guadenhutten, in what is now Tuscarawas County. He took ninety-six prisoners, composed of bucks, squaws and children, all of whom were considered friendly Indians and had embraced the faith of the Moravian Church. Four days afterward, all, with the exception of two boys who escaped from the building where they were imprisoned, were murdered in cold blood, which was one of the darkest crimes in the history of civilization, and one that brought upon Williamson and his command the severest condemnation.

This massacre was bitterly repaid in the defeat of Col. William Crawford's force of 480 mounted men in June, 1782. They started from the old Mingo town on the west side of the Ohio with the object of attacking

244 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

the Moravian Indians, as well as the Wyandots, in the same neighborhood. The Indian towns were found deserted, and the force pushed on after the retreating foe. Col. Williamson was second in command. The whites were fiercely attacked on the Sandusky plains (now Wyandot County), forced to retreat, and suffered a humiliating defeat. The Indians killed or captured the majority of the force, and among the latter were Col. Crawford and his son-in-law, Maj. Harrison; but, by some decree of Providence, Williamson was allowed to escape, and the innocent left to suffer the penalty of his cruel murder of the Moravian Indians. Col. Crawford and Maj. Harrison were put to death. The latter was squibbed to death with powder at Wapatomika (Logan County), while Crawford was burned at the stake in what is now Wyandot County. The burning of Col. Crawford, as related by Dr. Knight, was one of the most horrible scenes in the annals of Indian warfare. It took place in a low bottom west of Upper Sandusky, and eight miles from the mouth of Tymochtee Creek, on the east bank of that stream. His hands were fastened together behind his back, a rope tied to the ligature binding his wrists and then made fast to a stake close to the ground, giving him sufficient length of rope to walk around the stake twice and back again. His ears were cut off, seventy charges of powder fired into his body from the neck down, his blistering skin punched with burning poles, and as he walked around over a bed of fire, the inhuman devils would throw hot coals and ashes upon him. Thus for three hours this awful scene went on, ending by scalping him and throwing coals of fire upon his bleeding head as he lay dying upon the ground. His body was then thrown into the fire and burnt to ashes.

Col. Crawford was the great-grandfather of Theophilus McKinnon, who died at London, Ohio, in April, 1882. Mr. McKinnon's parents settled in Clark County in 1803, whence he removed to Madison. His mother was the daughter of Maj. Harrison, who was squibbed to death with powder at Wapatomika. Soon after settling in Clark County, four Indians called at her house one day for dinner, and, while eating, informed her, in answer to some questions, the manner and place in which her father suffered death ; also that two of the party had been present at the execution of her grandfather. Throughout the campaign, this was the fate of nearly all captured males, few escaping death in some form peculiar to the devilish ingenuity of the savages. Dr. Knight and the guide, Slover, who were also captured with Crawford and Harrison, were intended to be put to death in a similar manner. The former escaped from a young Indian into whose care he was given to be taken to a town forty miles distant from Sandusky. Slover was brought to Grenadier Squaw town, stripped for execution, tied to the stake, and the fire kindled, but a terrible storm arose and put out the fire, when the Indians, looking upon this as the manifestation of an angry God, postponed the horrid deed, and that night Slover escaped.

The attacks upon the Kentucky settlements were frequent, the Indians and English combining their forces in some of them. Boonesboro was attacked in August, 1778, by 500 Indians under the command of Capt. Du Quesne, an English officer, and carrying the union jack, the national flag of England, as his standard. The noted scout, Daniel Boone, was in command of the station, and after a ten days' siege the Indians were repulsed. For the neat year, the forests were alive with Indians, and

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in June, 1780, a force of 600 English and Indians, under the command of Col. Byrd, of the English Army, and Blackfish, a Shawnee chieftain, descended from the north upon Martin's and Ruddell's Stations, which were located on the Licking River. They captured and sacked both of them, which made no resistance, and with the prisoners and booty returned to Ohio and Detroit whence they came. Estill's Station was surrounded by a party of Wyandots in May, 1783, who, finally retiring, were followed by Capt. James Estill, and defeated him at Little Mountain. In August of the same year, a force of 600 Shawnees, Wyandots, Miamis, Delawares and English, commanded by Col. McGee, of the English Army, and the noted renegade, Simon Girty, attacked Bryant's Station, five miles northeast of Lexington, but a re-enforcement arriving, they were compelled to retreat. The Kentuckians, against the advice of their more experienced leaders. started in pursuit with a force of about 170 men, and on the 19th of Awmst, were ambushed at Blue Licks. losing 60 killed and 7 captured.

The people of Kentucky, seeing the defenseless state of their settlements, resolved to strike a blow against the Indians of Ohio that would put an end to these frequent raids. With this object in view, Col. George Rogers Clark, in September, 1782, organized a force of 500 Indian fighters at the mouth of Licking River, where he was subsequently joined by an equal number of backwoodsmen from other localities. With this force of 1,000 men, Gen. Clark made a rapid march upon the Shawnee towns of Upper and Lower Piqua. A slight skirmish occurred at the mouth of Mad River, the present site of Dayton, but upon reaching the villages on the Miami found them deserted. He completely annihilated these towns, burning and destroying the buildings, stores and crops. A detachment was sent to the Indian village at Loramie's Station (in Shelby County) where a similar desolation was enacted, and every vestige of town and station swept away. Loramie, who kept a trading-post at this point, fled with the Indians, and finally settled in the same business on the present site of Kansas City, where he died. The savages made no resistance, except to fire from the bushes on stranglers, by which two men lost their lives.

This campaign so completely crushed the power of the Indians and imbued them with such a wholesome fear of the "Long Knives " that they never again ventured upon an invasion of Kentucky in force.

In 1786, the Mackacheek towns (in Logan County) were destroyed by Gen. Benjamin Logan, after whom that county was subsequently named. He burned eight towns, destroyed many fields of corn, took seventy-five prisoners and killed twenty warriors. Gen. William Lytle, who was then but sixteen years of age, took part in this, and was instrumental in capturing a number of prisoners, Moluntha, the great Sachem of the Shawnees, and the Grenadier squaw being among those captured. Col. McGary, who was blamed for the defeat at Blue Licks, basely murdered Moluntha, after he had been taken prisoner by young Lytle. Before any of the others could interfere to save his life, McGary grabbed an ax from the Grenadier squaw who was standing near, and sank it to the eye in the chiefs head, who died without a struggle. There was a large block-house of huge size; and thickness, at one of the upper towns, which had been built by the English, and this also was burned. Four years later Gen. Harmar, with a force of about 1,500, left Fort Washington for the Indian towns at the

248 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Rivers (Allen County, Ind.). They burned seven villages, destroyed many thousand bushels of corn and much other property. In October, 1790, the army started on its homeward march, having accomplished its object, but soon afterward a portion of the force that had been sent back to the villages for the purpose of bringing on a battle with the Indians, was furiously attacked and defeated with the loss of 160 men, and the army then continued the homeward movement in a demoralized condition.

Throughout the following winter the Ohio settlements were constantly harassed by bands of hostile Indians and many unfortunate stragglers tomahawked and scalped. Each settlement was forced to do its own fighting, and every man went armed to the teeth. Dunlap's Station was surrounded by 400 savages, but as it lay on the east bank of the Big Miami, not far from Fort Washington, the Indians soon gave up the siege. they still, however, kept at their work of running off stock and murdering the settlers whenever the opportunity offered, even getting so bold in the summer of 1791 as to venture under cover of night into the streets of Cincinnati.

In August, 1791, Col. James Wilkinson, at the head of 550 mounted men, made an expedition through the Western Ohio counties and the valley of the Wabash, burning villages, destroying crops and capturing young Indians and squaws. In November of the same year occurred the most terrible defeat to the American arms in the annals of Indian warfare. Gov. Arthur St. Clair left Fort Hamilton in October, and on the 12th of that month began constructing Fort Jefferson. After its completion, he continued his journey, and, on the 4th of November, was fiercely attacked on a branch of the Wabash River at a point since known as Fort Recovery, in the southwest corner of Mercer County, Ohio. The battle lasted three hours, when the Americans were routed and driven from their camp, losing 890 men and 16 officers killed and wounded, besides their artillery, baggage and supply trains. The savages glutted their vengeance and reveled in the blood and booty of that unfortunate army. Gen. James Wilkinson now took command of the troops, and the early winter of 1792 was passed in an expedition to the scene of St. Clair's defeat, where the bleaching bones covering the ground were gathered and interred. Skirmishes between the opposing forces were common, but no general engagement occurred. The line of forts built by St. Clair were garrisoned and new ones erected.

Thus matters stood in the spring of 1793, when a new actor came upon the scene in the person of Gen. Anthony Wayne, known historically as "Mad Anthony." Troops were rendezvoused and drilled, and, on October 7, he left Fort Washington at the head of 3,600 men. Passing Forts Hamilton and St. Clair, his rear guard was attacked and defeated ere reaching Fort Jefferson, which stood six miles south of the present town of Greenville, in Darke County. At the latter place, he erected Fort Greenville and camped for the winter, sending a force of men to the scene of St. Clair's disaster, who built Fort Recovery. This point was strongly garrisoned, and the men kept ever ready to meet the foe, who constantly harassed the forts. On the 30th of June, 1794, Fort Recovery was attacked by 1,500 Indians and English, who were repulsed and driven from the field after an engagement of two days' duration. In July, Gen. Wayne was re-enforced by 1,600 mounted Kentuckians, and immediately moved against the enemy. He

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 249

erected Fort Defiance at the junction of the Maumee and Auglaize Rivers (in Defiance County), and here the Indians sued for peace. Not heeding the wily and treacherous savages, Gen. Wayne kept on the march, reaching the Maumee Rapids, Lucas County, August 20, 1794, and on that date fought the memorable battle of the Fallen Timbers in sight of the English at Fort Miami, defeating the Indians with great loss. The army camped three days on the battle-field and then began its return to Fort Greenville, where it spent the following winter. This campaign was the finishing stroke that broke the power of the Indian tribes of the Northwest, brought about the treaty of Greenville and the peace of 1795.

For the benefit of the reader, we will here state that by the treaty of peace previously made in 1785, at Fort McIntosh, with the Wyandot, Delaware. Ottawa and Chippewa nations. as well as the one held at Fort Finney, on the Big Miami, in 1786, with the Shawnees, and assented to at Fort Harmar, in 1789, by the Delawares, Wyandots, Pottawatomies, Sacs, Ottawas arid Chippewas. Hardin County was not included in the territory ceded to the United Suites. The Indian boundary line ran in a southwest course, passing through the north part of Logan, a few miles south of Hardin County, by the treaty of Greenville, ratified August 3, 1795, the former treaties were recognized and the following became the boundary between the whites of Ohio and the Indian tribes: Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River: thence up the same to the portage leading to the Tuscarawas River; down the Tuscarawas to the fork., (the town of Bolivar); thence in a south-westerly direction to Loramie's store on the Great Miami River (in Shelby County): thence taking a northwest. course to Fort Recovery, the scene of St. Clar's defeat ; thence in a southwesterly course to the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River. All the territory east and south of this line was ceded to the United States, by which the Government acquired two-thirds of the present area of Ohio, and a portion of Indiana. The following tribes participated in this event and gave their consent to the cession, viz. : the Shawnees, Delawares, Miamis, Wyandots, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Chippewas, Eel Rivers, Piankeshaws, `yeas, Kickapoos, and Kaskaskias.

The conspiracy in tile summer of 1763, planned and executed under the leadership of the great Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, had failed, and he was murdered at Cahokia, I11., whither he had fled; Cornstalk, the celebrated chief of the Shawnees, met a like fate at Point Pleasant, in 1777; while Logan, the mighty sachem of the Mingoes, wandered from tribe to tribe a solitary, lonely man, mourning the loss of his family and the decay of his nation, until he, too, fell a victim, near Detroit, Mich., to the assassin's keen edged tomahawk in the hands of an Indian to whom he had given offense. Besides these three great leaders, the following is a list of those chiefs who were prominent in the Indian wars of Ohio, up to the treaty of Greenville

Shawnees-White Cap, Black Hoof, Red Pole, Long Shanks, Captain Reed, Blue Jacket, Civil Man, Black Wolf; Snake, Turkey, Moluntha, Kakiapilathy (the Tame Hawk), Captain Johnny, Blackfish, and Captain John Lewis.

Delawares-Captain Pipe, who burnt Col. Crawford; Wicocalind (or White Eyes), Kelelamand (or Col. Henry), Hengue Pushees (or the Big

250 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

Cat), Grand Glaize King, Tommy Killbuck, Capt. Buffalo, Capt. Crow, Red Feather, Buckongehelas, Billy Siscomb and Black King.

Wyandots-Tarhe (the Crane), the Half King and his son, Cherokee Boy; Black Chief, Leather Lips, who was executed by order of Tecumseh, in Franklin County, twelve miles north of Columbus, on the charge of witchcraft, in June, 1810; Walk-in the Water, and Big Arm.

Munsees-Hawkinpumiska, Reyutueco Peyainawksey, and Puckonsittond.

Senecas-Coffee Houn, Wiping Stick, Civil John and Big Turtle.

Miamis - Meskekenoghqua (the Little Turtle), who was the most famous Indian leader of his time, and commanded the united tribes in every battle from 1790 to 1795, Nagohquangogh (or Le Gris), Long Legs, White Loon, Richeville, The Owl, White Skin, Silver Heels, Big Man. Double Tooth, Crooked Porcupine, Sunrise, King Bird, Biz Body, Stone Eater, Poor Raccoon, Open Hand, Young Wolf, Flat Belly, ButterfIy, and Tiger Face.

Pottowatomies-Nawac, White Pigeon. Windigo, Winnemac, Five Medals. Thupencbue, Run, Le Blanc, No Name, Mogawgo, and Black Bird.

Ottawa.-Little Otter, Dog, Bear's Legs, Wewiskia, Augooshaway, Big Bowl, Stump-tail Bear, Neagey, Machiwetah, Sawgamaw, Bear King and White Fisher.

Piankeshaws-Black Dog, Big Corn, Lighting and Three Thighs.

Weas - Little Fox, Little Beaver, Little Eyes, Painted Pole, Long Body, and Negro Legs.

Eel Rivers-Charley, Earth, Ploughman. Night Stander, Swallow and Gun.

Kickapoos-Cat, Otter, Duck, Keeawliah, Persuader, Brave, Standing. Josey Renard, Bear, Dirty Face, Black Tree, and White Blanket.

Chippewas-Mesass, Bad Bird, Young Ox, Little Bear, Young Boy, Spark of Fire, Ball, Big Cloud, Cat Fish, Bad Legs, and Little Thunder.

Sacs-Tepakee anal Kesheyiva.

The Mingoes (of Ohio), do not seem to have developed any noted chiefs after Logan, on account, perhaps, of their steady decay and absorption by the other tribes. The notorious white renegade, Simon Girty, was leader of the Mingoes, and wielded a powerful influence among the Indians of the Northwest. He was born on an island in the Susquehanna River, in 1741. His father's name was also Simon, and his mother's maiden name was Crosby. The father was killed in a drunken frolic, leaving four sons, viz. Thomas, James, George and Simon. The widow subsequently married John Turner, and bore him one son, John. Daring the French war the family were captured by the Indians, the elder Turner, burnt at the stake, and the balance were taken into captivity: Thomas escaped; James was adopted by the Shawnees: George by the Delawares: and Simon by the Senecas. To what tribe the mother, and child, John Turner, were assigned, is unknown. After peace was declared, they all returned to civilized life, and settled in the vacinity of Pittsburgh, Penn.

During the Revolutionary war, the Girty boys joined the Indian allies of the English, and all became noted for fiendish cruelties to prisoners. Simon was the most conspicuous, and took a leading part in the Indian war which followed the Revolution. He was present at the burning of Col.

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 251.

Crawford: and Dr. Knight says that he looked with devilish delight upon the horrible scene, and taunted the doctor with a similar fate. Soon after the close of the conflict, he married Catherine Malott, who bore him five children, viz.: John (who died in infancy), Ann, Thomas, Sarah and Predaux, whose descendants are numerous and respectable. Simon Girty died near Amherstburg, Canada, February 18, 1818. In appearance, he has been described as a man with dark, shaggy hair, low forehead, contracted brows, meeting above a short, flat nose. sunken eyes of a grayish color, and thin, compressed lips, "while all the vices of civilization seemed to center in him, and by him engrafted upon those of the savage state, without the usual redeeming qualities of either."

After the treaty of 1795, peace gradually settled over the Northwest Territory, and settler., began to pour into the rich valleys of the Ohio and its tributaries. In 1805, another treaty was concluded, and a large tract of country north and west of the Greenville treaty line was obtained by the Government. About this time the great Shawnee chief, Tecumseh. had risen to the head of his nation, and his influence was hostile to the United States. Born at the Indian town of Old Piqua (in Clark County) in 1768, he had grown up during the bitter struggle between the whites and his people for the possession of Ohio. His father, Puckeshinwa, was a chief; and fell at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Tecumseh was never satisfied with the action of his race in signing away their heritage by treaty, and after reaching power was continually plotting mischief against the whites, in which he was ably seconded by his scheming brother Laulewasikaw, better known as. the Prophet. He finally concocted a grand scheme of uniting all the Indian tribes: in an alliance against the whites. With this in view he begin visiting the different nations for the purpose of perfecting his plans, and while upon one of these trip, to the Indians of the South, in 1811, Gen. William Henry Harrison marched at the head of a large force into the Wabash country. Here, on the now famed battle-ground of Tippecanoe, he was furiously attacked by the savages under the leadership of the prophet, whom he defeated with great loss after a stubborn, well-fought battle.

The war of 1812 was soon after brought on by the arrogance and audacity of the English Government, and Tecumseh cast his fortunes with the English. In October, 1813 was fought the memorable battle of the Thames, in Canada, Gen. Harrison commanding the Americans, with Gen. Proctor and Tecumseh at the head of the English and Indians. Here the great Shawnee chieftain fell, while bravely fighting in the van of the contending forces, and thus the Indian alliance was forever dissolved.

Through the treaty, enacted in 1807, at Detroit, Mich., with the Wyandots, Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Chippewas, all of Ohio north of the Maumee was ceded to the United States. In 1808, the same tribes, together with the Shawnees, granted a tract two miles wide for a road through the Black Swamp. In 1817, the Shawnees, Wyandots, Pottawatomies and other tribes ceded nearly all their remaining territory in Ohio, receiving in return a tract of land ten miles square surrounding Wapakoneta; a tract of twenty-five square miles on Hog Creek, adjoining the above; and a tract of forty-eight square miles surrounding Lewistown. In 1818, fourteen square miles were added to the latter tract, and twenty square miles to the reserva-

252 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

tion at Wapakoneta. The Shawnees and Senecas, with a few scattering Indians belonging to other tribes, occupied these reservations, which were located principally in Auglaize and Logan Counties, though touching the southwest corner of Hardin County, and the northeast corner of Shelby. The Wyandot Reservation embraced the territory surrounding Upper Sanduskv, in Wvandot County, while that of the Delawares lay immediately south of the Wyandots, extending into Marion County. In 1818, the Miamis surrendered their claims to the remaining Indian territory in Ohio, west of the St. Mary's River and north of the Greenville treaty line. The last title of the Delawares was purchased in August, 1829, and in July and August, 1831, all of the Indian reservations around Lewistown and Wapakoneta, on which were living 700 Shawnees and 350 Senecas, were ceded to the Government. There was an Indian reservation of 40,000 acres in Seneca and Sandusky Counties, which was Granted in 1817-18. They were known as the Senecas of Sandusky, and numbered about 400 persons. The aged chief, Good Hunter, who dwelt there, claimed they were the remnant of Logan's tribe. Henry C. Brish, their Sub-Agent, in a letter to Henry Howe, says : "I cannot to this day surmise why they were called Senecas. I never found a Seneca among them. They were Cayugas, who were Mingoes, among whom were a few Oneidas, Mokawks, Onondagoes, Tuscarawas and Wyandots." By a treaty concluded at Washington, D. C., February 28, 1831, these lands were ceded to the United States, and this band removed to Southwest Missouri. The Wyandot Reservation of twelve miles square, at Upper Sandusky, was purchased in March, 1842, and the following year the last Indian left Ohio for the West. At that time, the Wyandots numbered about 700 souls, and were the last Indian tribe to relinquish its claim to the soil of this State. Thus, after a struggle of more than three-quarters of a century, the red sons of the forest were forced to give way before the strength and powers of the white race. and were fruitless in their attempts to stem the onward march of civilization.

It is estimated that from the French war in 1754 to the battle of the Fallen Timbers in 1794, a period of forty years, there were at least 5,000 persons killed or captured west of the Alleghany Mountains. Eleven military expeditions were organized and sent against the Western Indians, prior to the war of 1812, seven regular engagements fought and about 1,200 men killed in battle. More whites were slain in battle than there were Indian braves killed in military expeditions and by private raids and murders; yet, in 1811, all the Ohio tribes combined could not muster 2,000 warriors.

The geographical position of the territory embraced in Hardin County placed it in the direct route between the Indian towns on the Miamis and Mad Rivers and the Wyandot villages, around the heal-waters of the Sandusky. It therefore became one of the favorite hunting grounds of the Shawnees, Wyandots, Miamis, Senecas, Delawares, Ottawas and Mingoes. In its forests, they followed the chase ; along its clear, running streams they pitched their tents, and drank the pure waters of its beautiful springs. For generations ere the permanent settlement of the whites, the Indian wigwams were annually erected upon the banks of the Scioto and its tributaries, as well as along the streams which flow into the Sandusky and Auglaize Rivers. In subsequent years, when their heritage had slipped from their grasp, they

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 253

still lingered around those hallowed spots, taking, as it were, a last farewell of the lands dotted with the graves of their ancestors.

It is not our intention to attempt to give the location of every spot where the Indians camped in Hardin County, as success in such an undertaking would be utterly impossible. They pitched their wigwams wherever fancy dictated, sometimes on running streams, again close to springs, but always where water could be obtained without much trouble. The vicinity of the great Scioto marsh was much frequented on account of the large amount of game that resorted to its fastnesses, while around Hog Creek Marsh, as well as upon every stream and rivulet of Hardin County, the Indian huntsman sought the wild denizens of the forest, reveling in the spoils which his well-laid traps and trusty rifle helped him to secure.

Doubtless many Indian trails passed over the soil of this county, but the best known was the old Shawnee trace from the Mackacheek towns, to the Indian villages of the Sandusky and Tymochtee. It entered Hardin County in the southeast corner of what is now Taylor Creek Township, passing in a northeast direction through Hale, Dudley and Goshen Townships, crossing the Scioto River in Survey 10,021, and leaving the county in Section 24, Goshen Township; thence on to Upper Sandusky. This trace was followed by Gen. Shelby, in September, 1813, on his march from Bellefontaine to Fort Ferree, which stood on the site of Upper Sandusky, and subsequently became the center of the Wyandot reservation. The old State road was afterward laid out on the line of this trail.

The celebrated Mingoe chief, Loaan, with a band of followers, had a village in the southeastern part of this county as early as 1778. It is probable that he removed from the lower Shawnee towns on the Scioto, where his cabin stood in 1774, to this point, soon after Lord Dunmore's campaign. The exact location of this village is not known, some old settlers claiming that it stood in the vicinity of "Grassy Point," in Hale Township. Col. John McDonald, in his biography of Simon Kenton, when telling of his capture in 1778, says : "As the Indians passed from Wapatomika to Upper Sandusky, they went through a small village on the River Scioto, where then resided the celebrated chief, Logan, of Jefferson memory. Logan, unlike the rest of his tribe, was humane as he was brave. At his wigwam, the party who had the care of the prisoner, staid over night."From this account, it seems they also remained the succeeding day and night, not leaving for Upper Sandusky until the second morning after their arrival at Logan's village. The old Shawnee trail crossed the Scioto near the residence of the late Judge Portius Wheeler, in Survey 10,021, Dudley Township, several miles Northeast of Grassy Point, and as the Indian Village was on the Scioto, it is safe to infer that the wigwams of Logan and his band were in the vicinitv of the Shawnee ford, and not at Grassy Point. The main reason why the latter place has been thought to have been the site of the Mingoe camp, is that the Indians had cleared and cultivated some land in that locality, which, upon subsequent abandonment, had grown up in blue grass, hence the name, Grassy Point. It is more probable, that the land referred to was cultivated by the Shawnees and Wyandots, who owned this territory in common, while the Mingoes occupied it only by consent of these tribes, who loved it as one of their favorite camping grounds, and a sacred depository of their dead in by-gone ages.

254 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

The Wyandot chief, Roundhead, had a village on the Scioto in the southwest corner of Hardin County, where the' town of Round Head was subsequently laid out. At what precise (late the Indians started this village is nut known, but about the year 1800 Maj. James Galloway, of Greene County, visited them at this point and says that there were then quite a number of apple trees in the village, and that the Indians raised many swine. Some of those trees, said to have been planted by this old chief, are yet standing. Roundhead. whose Indian name was Stiahta, was a fine looking man. Ile had a brother named John Battise, a man of great size and personal strength. He was well remembered by the pioneers, of the Miami and Scioto Valleys on account of possessing an enormous nose, which resembled in size and hue an immense blue potato full of indentations, and when he laughed it shook like jelly. Ile lived at a place called Battise town, some miles west of his brother's village, joined the English in 1612, and was killed at the seine of Fort Meigs.

In 1807, Roundhead was present with Tecumseh and other chiefs at a council held at Springfield, Ohio, between the Whites and Indians, to settle a difficulty which arose over the killing of a white man named Myers a few miles west of Urbana. The execution of Leatherlips, a well known Wyandot chief. which took place twelve miles north of Columbus. Ohio, in 1810, on the charge of witchcraft, was intrusted by Tecumseh to Roundhead, who at the head of six braves, came from Tippecanoe and did the deed. Upon the breaking-out of the war of 1812, Roundhead took up arms against the Americans and was present at Hull's surrender of Detroit, August 15, 1812. Prior to that event, Gen. Brock had presented Tecumseh with a red sash, who, knowing that if he wore it, some of the other chiefs would be jealous of this supposed mark of superiority, generously gave the sash to Roundhead. At the battle of River Raisin, fought January 22, 1813, near the site of Monroe, Mich., Roundhead captured Gen. Winchester, who commanded the American forces. He compelled the General to divest himself of his uniform, which Roundhead immediately donned, including the cocked hat, and then conducted his shivering victim to a fire. while he strutted around among the Indians proudly, exhibiting his prize. Gen. Proctor, who was in command of the English and Indians, had some difficulty in persuading this stern Wyandot chief to relinquish his claim to the American General, and return his uniform, which Roundhead looked upon as his by right of conquest. At the close of the war, he returned to his village in this county, where he finally died. The Indians had a few acres of land in that vicinity which they cultivated ; and Jonathan Carter, who is yet living at Roundhead, says that for some years after he settled in the village, the Indian friends and relations of this chief came annually to visit his grave, and performed their religious rites around the spot where he was buried.

The Wyandots were among the bravest of the Indian tribes, and some of their chiefs were men of high moral character. From a discourse of Gen. Harrison's which was printed and preserved in the collections of the Historical Society of Ohio, we call the following tribute to the Wyandot nation. He says: "With all other tribes but the Wyandots, flight in battle, when meeting with unexpected resistance or obstacle, brought with it no disgrace. With them it was otherwise. Their youth were taught to consider anything that had the appearance of an acknowledgment of the superiority of the

HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY. - 257

enemy as disgraceful. In the battle of the Maumee Rapids, of thirteen chiefs of that tribe who were present, only one survived, and he badly wounded. Some time before this action, Gen. Wayne sent for Capt. `'ells, and requested him to go to Sandusky and take a prisoner, for the purpose of obtaining information. Wells-whoLhad been bred with the Indians, and was perfectly acquainted with their character answered that he could take a prisoner, but not from Sandusky, because Wyandots would not be taken alive."

Four miles northeast of Upper Sandusky was located the old Indian town of that name, where Tarhe (the Crane), the celebrated Wyandot chief, died in 1818. Prior to this, he had resided at Solomon's town, in Logan County, whence he removed to the village where he died. After Tarhe's death, the Wvandots transferred their council-house to the present site of Upper Sandusky, nave it that mime, and called the old village Crane Town. Black Hoof, the great Shawnee warrior and orator, lived at Wapakoneta, Auglaize County, where he died in 1831. The noted Shawnee chief, Blue .jacket, had a village on the site of Bellefontaine, Loan County, but subsequently removed to Wapakoneta, and had also a town on the Maumee. Buckongehelas, the principal chief of the Delaware tribe for many years, resided three miles north of Blue Jacket's town in Loran County, but he., too, removed to Wapakoneta in the early part of the present century. Capt. Reel, a Shawnee chief, dwelt in the vicinity of Bellefontaine, at a place known as Reed's Town, while Capt. John Lewis, another well-remembered leader of the Shawnee tribe, had a village, called Lewistown, in the northwest part of Logan County. In later days, Tecumseh, with other less celebrated chiefs, whose names are closely identified with the Indian history of this portion of Ohio, resided at Wapakoneta, Lewistown and Upper Sandusky. The Wyandot Indians, with their chiefs, are better remembered by the pioneers of Hardin County, than any of the other tribes, for the reason that they hunted in it: forests for many years after its first settlement, while the Shawnees, Delawares, Senecas. Miamis and Mingoes left for the West prior to its civil organization. It was on the north bank of the Scioto, close to the Shawnee ford, where the Wyandots camped in 1843, when moving to the West. Here, William Walker. the half-breed Wyandot chief, made a farewell address to a large concourse of whites who had come to say good-bye, and portrayed in glowing words the wrongs and sufferings of his race.

We do not wish to recall the history of the aborigines who occupied this locality, to extol their supposed greatness or to lament their disappearance, but to compare them with the white race of people who have followed them, and learn from the past useful lesson's for the present, and from the wonderful events that have transpired, and improvements male in the last one hundred years, present the power, talent, genius and unequaled greatness of the people who occupy this land. In the place of the Indian trace they have laid down railroads ; where stood the wigwam, they have built cities ; they have digged down mountains, bridged rivers, and extorted from the bowels of the earth, gold, silver, iron, copper, tin and coal. The hunting-grounds of the passed-away race are annually covered with crops of wheat, corn and other cereals, while upon the broad pastures skirting the streams roam herds of stock, living evidences of wealth and progress. The sites of the old Indian villages in the valleys of the Scioto and Miami Rivers, are about the

258 - HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

center of a food-producing district, with a surplus produce great enough to feed a continent. It was a part of the inevitable that the red man should depart and the white man take his place. No thoughtful person would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few savages to a great State covered with cities, towns and well-cultivated farms, embellished with all the improvements that art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than three millions of people, enjoying all the blessings of liberty, civilization and religion.