HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 175 Ancient Hurons. They were the most powerful Indian nation resident in Northwestern Ohio at the incoming of the white race. The French name for the Wyandots is perpetuated in Lake Huron, and in various other ways. When the French first settled in Canada, it was by their permission. Their traditions alleged that their war with the Illinois lasted seventy summers; that it was a severe conflict, and was characterized by dreadful scenes of blood and carnage. So far as history and their traditions inform us, they were the proprietors of all the country from Mackinac to Quebec ; from Georgian Bay down to the Great Miami River ; and to the northwest it extended to Lake Michigan. They were then a numerous, bold, and warlike people, and were considered the strongest and oldest tribe of all the northern Indians. For that reason they were called the " Grand Fathers." All the surrounding tribes looked to them for counsel. Their decisions were respected, and, in most cases, were final. They bore an active part on the side of the French in the war which ended in the subjugation of Canada, and were the most formidable of the enemies of the British in the conspiracy under Pontiac. According to their traditions, when the whites came, it had been about 200 years since the nation was divided. Before that time, one of their most venerable chiefs used to say, that when the warriors of their nation were called upon to put each one grain of corn into a wooden tray that would hold more than half a bushel, the tray was full and running ver before all had done so. But now, like any other mighty nations of the days gone by, they have vanished into the shades of forgetfulness, and another race, with its teeming millions, is filling up the whole extent f their vast possessions. Their history, like emselves, too, is almost extinct. Little is ft to tell of the deeds of valor, or the mighty achievements of these heroes of the forest. A few only of their children now remain, pent up on a small reservation, and these are, in many instances, dwindling away under the vices of a Christian and civilized people. The great body of the Wyandot nation continued for a long time to occupy a portion of their old hunting grounds, with their principal headquarters in the neighborhood of Detroit. About the time of the American conquests, however, this was removed to the region of the Sandusky River. Here they remained until their final removal west of the Missouri River, where a small fragment yet remains. While the Wyandots adhered together, they were a terror to all the surrounding tribes. They assisted in driving the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux tribes west of the "Father of Waters." They also engaged in long and bloody battles with the Cherokees in Kentucky. It is well known that the rich lands of Kentucky and the valley of the Ohio were never the permanent home of Indian tribes, but were the common hunting ground of the southern and northern tribes, which were constantly warring on each other. Each party hunted there at the greatest hazard. When William Wells was asked by General Wayne to go to Sandusky and capture an Indian, he replied : " I can capture one from any other tribe, but a Wyandot will never be taken alive." At the time of the settlement of Northwest Ohio, the Wyandots were admitted to be the leading nation among the Indian tribes of the Northwest. This was not because of numbers, but for the reason that they were more intelligent and more civilized in their manner of life. To them was entrusted the Grand Calumet, which united the Indians in that territory into a confederacy for mutual protection. They were authorized to assemble the tribes in council, and to kindle the council fires. The signature of Tarhe, the Crane, is the first signature under that of General Wayne in the Treaty of Greenville. The name 176 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Wyandot is the anglicized form for Owendots, or Yendats. They were divided into tribes or totemic clans, and their head chief was taken from the Deer Tribe until the battle of Fallen Timbers. This tribe was so decimated at that battle that the chief thereafter was selected from the Porcupine Tribe. The descent always followed in the female line. Thus the far famed Tarhe and his successor, De-un-quot, were of this tribe, or clan. The head chief had the power to appoint a council chief for himself, who was thereupon known as the "little chief." Each village, as well as hunting or war party, also had its chief, and some of them had great influence. If good and wise men, their advice was usually taken. The Wyandots were always a humane and hospitable nation. This is clearly manifested in permitting their former enemies to settle on their lands, when driven back before the advancing white population. They kindly received the homeless or exiled Senecas, Cayugas, Mohegans, Mohawks, Delawares, and Shawnees, and spread a deerskin for them to sit down upon. They allotted a certain portion of their country, the boundary of which was designated by certain rivers, or points on certain lakes, to these outcasts, which was freely given for their use, without money and without price. This fact was clearly developed when the different tribes came to sell their lands to the Government. The Wyandots pointed out these bounds, and Between-the-Logs, a distinguished chief, said that the Senecas on the Sandusky River had no right to sell their land without the consent of the Wyandot chiefs, for they at first borrowed it from them. Although never behind other tribes in their wars against the whites, they were far more merciful toward their prisoners. They not only saved the lives of most prisoners taken by them, but they likewise purchased many captives from other tribes. Thus they became allied with some of the best families in this and other states. The Browns, an old Virginia family, the 'Lanes, another well-known family, the Walkers of Tennessee, the Armstrongs and Magees, of Pittsburgh, were all represented in the tribe. Robert Armstrong, who was one of the best interpreters in Finley's time, had been captured near Pittsburgh when only four years old. He was adopted into the Turtle Tribe and named 0-no-ran-do-roh, and married a half-breed squaw. Like most Indians, the Wyandot warriors spent their time in hunting and trapping. Their winter hunting camps were fairly comfortable places. They were constructed of poles closely laid together, and the cracks were stopped with moss from old logs. The roof was covered with bark, a hole being left in the center for the smoke to escape. The fire was built in the center, while around three sides were arranged the beds. These were elevated from the floor a few inches by short chunks of wood laid on the ground. The wood was covered with bark upon which skins were spread, and these were overlaid with blankets or furs. The beds also served for seats. The camps were always pitched in bottoms, where the pasture was fine for horses and water convenient. Chickens were taken with them to these camps for the sake of the eggs. Bear hunting was the favorite sport of the hunting parties. During the winter the bears were generally hibernating, but one would occasionally be discovered in a hollow tree. When they found such a tree, they would examine the bark to see if one had ascended. Their keen eyes would soon detect the scratches of his claws upon the bark. It might be 30 or 40 feet up to the entrance to his winter dormitory. A sapling was quickly felled against the tree and an agile hunter would ascend. He would then cut a branch and scrape the tree on the opposite side of the hole, crying like a young bear. If a bear HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 177 was inside, he would either make a noise or came out. If inside and he failed to appear, a piece of rotten wood would be lighted and dropped within. This would fire the tree. It would not be long until Mr. or. Mrs. Bear appeared in great wrath, sneezing and wheezing, and blinded by the smoke. A bullet or arrow would quickly soothe their troubles. They were also experts at trapping, and especially at ensnaring the raccoon. When other game was difficult to obtain, they subsisted largely on these little furry animals. “One man will have; perhaps, 300 raccoon traps, scattered over a country ten miles in extent. These traps are 'dead falls,' made of saplings, and set over a log which lies across some branch or creek, or that is by the edge of some pond or marshy place. In the months of February and March the raccoons travel much, and frequent the ponds for the purpose of catching frogs. When the raccoon taken a frog, he does not eat it immediately, but will carry it to some clean water and wash it; then lay it down on the leaves, and roll it hither and thither with his fore feet, till it is entirely dead, and then he feasts on his prey. The hunter generally gets round all his traps twice a week, and hunts from one to the other. I have known a hunter to take from his traps thirty raccoons in two days, and sometimes they take more. From 300 to 600 is counted a good hunt for one spring, besides the deer, turkeys, and bears." The Wyandot territory along the Sandusky was a region filled with an abundance of the sugar maple. The Wyandots understood the art of making sugar from the sap of the maples, and devoted themselves to this industry for several weeks after the sap began to run. They fashioned bark troughs, which held a couple of gallons, for the trees that they tapped, and larger troughs to hold the collections. These were shaped like canoes. They cut a long perpendicular groove, or notch, in the tree, and at the bottom struck Vol I-12 in a tomahawk. This made a hole into which they drove a long chip, down which the sap flowed into the bark vessel. It was always the duty of the women to make the sugar, as well as to stretch the skins. As an instance of life in a Wyandot camp, Reverend Finley says : " The morning was cold, and our course lay through a deep forest. We rode hard, hoping to make the camps before night, but such were the obstructions we met with, from ice and swamps, that it was late when we arrived. Weary with a travel of twenty-five miles or more through the woods, without a path or a blazed tree to guide us—and, withal, the day was cloudy—we were glad to find a camp to rest in. We were joyfully received by our friends, and the women and children came running to welcome us to their society and fires. It was not long after we were seated by the fire, till I heard the well-known voice of Between-the-Logs. I went out of the camp, and helped down with two fine deer. Soon we had placed before us a kettle filled with fat raccoons, boiled whole, after the Indian style, and a pan of good sugar molasses. These we asked our heavenly Father to bless, and then each carved for himself, with a large butcherknife. I took the hind-quarter of a raccoon, and holding it by the foot, dipped the other end in the molasses, and eat it off with my teeth. Thus I continued dipping and eating till I had pretty well finished the fourth part of a large coon. By this time my appetite began to fail me, and thought it was' a good meal, without bread, hominy, or salt." The Wyandot was the last Indian tribe to be removed from Ohio. It therefore remained longest on the borders of the incoming white population. Many of this once noble tribe therefore sank into degrading vice, becoming among the worst as well as most ignoble and worthless of their race. This is not very much to the credit of the Caucasian, who should 178 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO have protected the weak aborigine and endeavored to show him a better life, instead of trying to exploit him and enrich himself at the expense of his weaknesses. The tribe numbered about 2,200 at the time of the Greenville treaty, including the men, women, and children. From that time until their removal, almost a half century later, they lost but few men in battle. It is a fact, nevertheless, that during these fifty years through drunkenness, with its accompanying bloody brawls, and other vices, the tribe was reduced to fewer than half the original numbers. The most noted and successful effort to elevate the poor Wyandots to a better life was through the missionary efforts of the Methodist Episcopal . Church, which maintained a mission at Upper Sandusky for a number of years. This mission was begun by John Stewart, an ignorant mulatto, with a mixture of Indian blood. Having become converted, following a long debauch, he resolved to go out into the wilderness and preach the gospel. In his wanderings he reached Upper Sandusky in 1816, and began to preach to the Wyandots. In this he was aided by William Walker, the Indian sub-agent. A colored man, named Jonathan Pointer, living with the Indians, became his interpreter, and at first an unwilling .one. Stewart was an excellent singer, and he thus attracted the attention of the red men, who dearly loved music. At the first formal meeting, called at Pointer's house, his audience was one old woman. On the following day the same woman and an old chief, named Big Tree, came. The following day, which was the Sabbath, the meeting was called at the council house, and eight or. ten Indians gathered. From this time the congregation continued to increase, and many songs were intermixed with the prayer and exhortations. With this feature the Indians were delighted. Mrs. William Walker, who was half Wyandot, and a bright woman, greatly assisted the struggling missionary in his efforts at an uplift of a race rapidly becoming decadent. Stewart succeeded in awakening an interest among many of the poor benighted red men. But some of the chiefs and many of the braves held back, and took every pains to counteract this new religion, which was only natural. At an earlier period the Wyandots had been under the spiritual instruction of Roman Catholic priests. Some of the tribe went to Detroit and reported the work of the new missionary. A priest told them that "none had the true word of God, or Bible, but the Catholics." Stewart was then accused of not having the true Bible. It was finally agreed to leave the question with William Walker, Sr. A time was set when he was to examine the two books in public. Deep interest was manifest among the Indians. After some time spent in the examination, he reported that Stewart 's Bible was a true one, and differed from the Catholic Bible only in this particu- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 179 lar: One was printed in English and the other in Latin. By this decision a serious obstacle to Stewart's work was removed. When he began work, Stewart was not a licensed minister, but he was afterwards duly ordained. The mission was taken over by the Methodist Episcopal Church in August, 1819, the first Indian mission of that denomination. Stewart remained with the Wyandots until his death from tubercular trouble on December 17, 1823. Other religious workers were sent to assist him, and new converts were continually gained. Rev. James Montgomery assisted in the work for a time, until he was appointed a sub-agent to the Senecas. The most noted missionary at this station was the Rev. James B. Finley, who labored there a number of years, and has left us his experiences and observations in several interesting books. He was also sub-agent for the Government in its management of the secular affairs of the nation. 1 A number of chiefs became converted and devcloped into exemplary men. Between-theLogs and Mononcue were comparatively early converts, and became licensed preachers. They greatly endeared themselves to the whites with whom they came in contact. One of the chiefs, Scuteash, gave his testimony in the following quaint way : "I have been a great sinner and drunkard, which made me commit many great crimes, and the Great Spirit was very angry with me, so that in here (pointing to his breast) I always sick. No sleep—no eat—not walk—drink whisky heap ; but I pray the Great Spirit to help me quit getting drunk, and forgive all my sins, and he did do something for me. I do not know whence it comes, or whither it goes. (Here he cried out, 'Waugh ! Waugh!' as if shocked by electricity.) Now ! Mr. Finley in his "Life Among the Indians" relates many interesting experiences among the Wyandots, and reveals many pleasing traits of their character. me no more sick—no more drink whisky—no more get drunk—me sleep—me eat—no more bad man—me cry—me meet you all in our great Father's house above." Another chief, De-un-quot, after whom a village in Wyandot County is named, did not have so much faith in the new religion. " The head chief, De-un-quot, and his party, at one time came on Sabbath to the council-house, where we held our meetings, dressed up and painted in real savage Indian style, with their head bands filled with silver bobs, their head-dress consisting of feathers and painted horse hair. The chief had a half moon of silver on his neck before and several hangings on his back. He had nose-jewels and earrings, and many bands of silver on his arms and legs. Around his ankles hung many buck-hoofs, to rattle when he walked. His party were dressed in a similar style. The likenesses of animals were painted on their breasts and backs, and snakes on their arms. When he came in, he addressed the congregation in Indian style. with a polite compliment ; and then taking his seat, struck fire, took out his pipe, lighted it, and commenced smoking. Others of his party followed his example. I knew this was done by way of opposition, and designed as an insult." Most of the traders encouraged in every way opposition to the missionaries. A Christian Indian meant an abstainer, and that means loss of trade. The Wyandots were very emotional, and were excellent singers. Some of their members were prone to prolixity in speaking, and "some times," said Mr. Finley, "they had to choke them off. On one occasion I saw one of the sisters get very much excited during one of their meetings, when 'Between-the-Logs,' an ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a native Wyandot, struck up a tune and put her down. Then several speakers spoke and without interruption. `Between-the-Logs' followed them, and had 180 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO uttered but a few words, when the squelched sister, who had a loud, ringing voice, began, at the top of her register, singing— "How happy are they Who their Saviour obey." " 'Between-the-Logs ' was fairly drowned out, and took his seat, as much overcome by the merriment as the music." And yet with all their prejudices, the testimony of the missionaries as to the disposition of the Wyandots is most favorable. Says Mr. Finley : "I do not now recollect that I was ever insulted by an Indian, drunk or sober, during all the time I was with them, nor did any of them ever manifest any unkindness toward me. The heathen party did not like my religion, nor my course in establishing a Church; but still I was respected, for I treated all with kindness and hospitality. Indeed, I do not believe that there are a people on the earth, that are more capable of appreciating a friend, or a kind act done toward them or theirs, than Indians. Better neighbors, and a more honest people, I never lived among. They are peculiarly so to the stranger or to the sick or distressed. They will divide the last mouthful, and give almost the last comfort they have, to relieve the suffering. This I have often witnessed." It was in August, 1821, that several of the chiefs signed a petition requesting that a missionary school be established among them. For that purpose they donated a section of land at a place called "Camp Meigs," because Governor Meigs had encamped there during the late war, with the Ohio Militia. Thereupon Reverend Finley was appointed by the conference a resident missionary and teacher. Arduous work was ahead of the missionary and his helpers before they were ready for their new duties. A small cabin was built by their own labors, and one of the old blockhouses was repaired. . In addition, religious services were regularly held. In the summer of 1823 the mission school was formally opened, and was conducted according to the manual labor system. Here the girls were taught sewing and spinning and in some instances. weaving, where looms were available. The boys were instructed in agriculture, in addition to the class work. The children were all lodged and boarded at the mission house. They were exceedingly apt at learning. The boys were at first averse to work, but strate- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 181 gem was brought into use. They were divided into different groups, and each group was urged to excel the others. By this method the interest of the scholars was enlisted. During the year 1823, Col. John Johnston, United States Indian agent, visited the Wyandots on their reservations. He passed several days among them, and at the close of his visit reported as follows : "The buildings and improvements of the establishment are substantial and extensive, and do this gentleman (Mr. Finley) great credit. The farm is under excellent fence, and in fine order ; comprising about one hundred and forty acres, in pasture, corn and vegetables. There are about fifty acres in corn, which from present appearances, will yield 3,000 bushels. It's by much the finest crop I have seen this year, has been well worked, and is clear of grass and weeds. There are twelve acres in potatoes, cabbage, turnips and garden. Sixty children belong to the school of which number fifty-one are Indians. These children are boarded and lodged at the mission house. They are orderly and attentive, comprising every class from the alphabet to readers in the Bible. I am told by the teacher that they are apt in learning, and that he is entirely satisfied with the progress they have made. They attend with the family regularly to the duties of religion. The meeting house, on the Sabbath, is numerously and devoutly attended. A better congregation in behavior I have not beheld ; and I believe there can be no doubt, that there are very many persons, of both sexes, in the Wyandot nation, who have experienced the saving effect of the Gospel upon their minds. Many of the Indians are now settling on farms, and have comfortable houses and large fields. A spirit of order, industry and improvement appears to prevail with that part of the nation which has embraced Christianity, and this constitutes a full half of the population." The effect of the mission work was really wonderful upon the Wyandot youths, for they grew up much better in their habits and manners than their elders. The parents began to build better log houses, with real brick chimneys, and also devoted much more time to their agriculture. Some families really raised enough from their little farms to support them. But lawless whites made a great deal of trouble. The Indians lost many horses through white thieves. Although the laws of the 'United States forbade any person to purchase an Indian horse without the consent of the agent, it was always difficult to prove that the animal was an Indian horse. Finally a tribal brand was adopted, consisting of a large 0 with a W in the middle of it, and this brand was placed on the left hip of every horse belonging to the tribe. It was not until 1824 that the mission church was erected. At times the council house was used, and on other occasions the meetings were held in the schoolhouse, which was much too small. "On my tour to the East," says Mr. Finley, "I visited the city of Washington, in company with the Rev. David Young. Here I had an interview with President Monroe, and gave him such information as he wished, as to the state of the mission and Indians in general. I had also an introduction to John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War. This gentleman took a deep interest in Indian affairs, and gave me much satisfactory information respecting the different missions, in progress among the Indians ; the amount of money expended on each establishment, and the probable success. I made an estimate of the cost of our buildings, and he gave me the Government's proportion of the expense, which amounted to $1,333. I then asked him if it would be improper to take that money, and build a good church for the benefit of the nation. His reply was that I might use it for building a church ; and he wished it made of strong and durable mate- 182 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO rials, so that it might remain a house of worship when both of us were no more. This work was performed, and the house was built out of good limestone 30x40 feet, and plainly finished. So these people have had a comfortable house to worship God in ever since. It will stand if not torn down for a century to come." This church had greatly fallen into decay and was roofless, until the Central Ohio Conference undertook the work of reintegration. The restored mission building was rededicated in September, 1889, before a large audience. Reminiscences were given by Rev. E. C. Gavett, the only surviving missionary of that station. A hymn in Wyandot was sung by "Mother Solomon," who had attended the mission school as a girl. The work of vandals and souvenir hunters had almost obliterated the slabs which marked the resting place of Mononcue, Summundewat, Between-the-Logs, De-un-quot, and the other braves who slept their last sleep in the "God's Acre" surrounding the stone church. The Delawares, as well as the Wyandots, when journeying from their reservations in search of game, almost invariably stopped at the houses of the white settlers along their route. When they came to a white man's cabin, they expected to receive the hospitality of its inmates as freely as of their own tribe. If such was not the case, the red man was much offended. They would say "very bad man, very bad man," in a contemptuous way. They would never accept a bed to sleep upon. All that was necessary was to have a good back-log on the fireplace, and a few extra pieces of wood near by, if in cold weather, for them to put on the fire when needed. They usually carried their blankets, and would HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 183 spread them upon the floor before the fire, giving no further trouble. Not infrequently they would leave those who had sheltered them a saddle of venison, or some other commodity which they had to spare. Says an early pioneer : "We have seen as many as twenty or thirty in a caravan pass by here, with their hunting material and equipments packed on their ponies, all in single file, on their old Sandusky and Pipetown trail. If we would meet half a dozen or more of them together, it was seldom that we could induce more than one of them to say one word in English. One of them would do all the talking or interpret for the others. Why they did so, I could not say. Tommy Vanhorn once related an amusing incident. He had been imbibing a little, and on his way home met one of those Indians who could not utter one word of English, but used the pantomimic language instead—that of gestures or motions. But it so happened that while they were thus conveying their thoughts to each other, Tommy stepped around to windward of the red man or the red man got to leeward of Tommy, and his olfactories not being at fault, inhaled the odor of Tommy's breath. He straightened up, looked Tommy square in the face, and lo ! Mr. Indian's colloquial powers were now complete, saying in as good English as. Lord Mansfield ever could have uttered : 'Where you get whisky ?' " In the fall of 1830, a young brave of one of the Wyandot tribes killed another of the same nation. The murderer was arrested, tried, found guilty, and afterwards shot. This affair is best told by the chief, Mononcue, in a letter addressed to Mr. Finley, as follows : "Upper Sandusky, October 29, 1830. “Dear Sir :- "One of our young men was killed by another about two or three weeks ago. The murdered was John Barnet's half-brother, the murderer Soo-de-nooks, or Black Chief's son. The sentence of the chiefs was the perpetual banishment of the murderer and the confiscation of all his property. When -the sentence was made known to the nation, there was a general dissatisfaction ; and the sentence of the chiefs was set aside by the nation. On Thursday morning, about daylight, he was arrested and brought before the nation assembled, and his case was tried by all the men over the age of twenty-one whether he should live or die. The votes were counted, and there were 112 in favor of his death, and twelve in favor of his living. Sentence of death was accordingly passed against him, and on the second Friday he was shot by six men chosen for that purpose—three from the Christian party and three from the heathen party. The executioners were Francis Cotter, Lumpon-the-head, Silas Armstrong, Joe Enos, Soocuh-guess, and Saw-yau-wa-hoy. The execution was conducted in Indian military style ; and we hope it will be a great warning to others, and be the means of preventing such crimes hereafter. I remain, yours affectionately "MONONCUE.” It was about 1824 that the project of the removal of the Wyandots to the West was first proposed. The news immediately aroused considerable disquietude, until positive assurance came from the Great Father, at Washington, that force would not be employed, but the question would be left to the discretion of the tribe. Col. John Johnston conducted the final negotiations, which were concluded at Upper Sandusky, on the 17th of March, 1842. By this time the white settlers had completely encircled the reservations with towns and cultivated fields. The tribe had been reduced to fewer than 800 persons of all ages and both sexes. Grey Eyes, an ordained minister, a devoted and exemplary Christian, was at first resolutely opposed to the removal. At the last vote, however, more than two-thirds of 184 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the male population voted for the transposition. By the terms of the treaty, the tribe was given 148,000 acres of land opposite Kansas City. In addition they were granted a permanent annuity of $17,500, together with a perpetual fund of $500 per annum for educational purposes, and an immediate appropriation of $23,860 to satisfy the debts of the tribe: By a later treaty the size of the reservation was reduced, and the annuities were abolished on the payment of the sum of $380,000, when they were removed to the Quapaw reservation in the Indian Territory. On the 1st day of January, 1879, the number still maintaining tribal relations was only 260. The preparations for the departure of the Wyandots began in the spring of 1843, but their actual removal took place in July. The arrangements were made by Chief Jacques. The final scenes at Upper Sandusky were filled with pathos. The love of the Wyandots for their ancestral homes was indeed great. Frequent councils were held, and religious worship in the old Mission Church was conducted for weeks prior to the removal. Their dead were brought from other places and solemnly reinterred in the mission cemetery. All unmarked graves were dignified by either a stone or a marker. Squire Grey Eyes, who was an intelligent and Christian chief, importuned them as follows : "He exhorted them to be good Christians, and to meet him in Heaven. In a most sublime and pathetic manner he discoursed upon all the familiar objects of a home—no longer theirs. He bade adieu to the Sandusky, on whose waters they had paddled their light bark canoes and in whose pools they had fished, laved and sported. He saluted in his farewell the forest and the plains of Sandusky, where he and his ancestors had hunted, roved and dwelt for many generations. He bade farewell to their habitations, where they had dwelt for many years and where they still wished to dwell. With mournful strains and plaintive voice he bade farewell to the graves of his ancestors, which now they were about to leave forever, probably to be encroached upon ere the lapse of many years by the avaricious tillage of some irreverent white man. Here, as a savage, untutored Indian, it is probably Grey Eyes would have stopped, but as a Christian he closed his valedictory by alluding to an object yet dearer to him ; it was the church where they had worshipped, the temple of God, constructed by the good white men for their use, and within whose walls they had so often bowed down in reverence under the ministrations of Finley and his co-laborers." One of the chieftains expressed himself in verse, of which the following is a translation in part :— " Adieu ye loved scenes, which bind me chains ; Where on my grey pony I pranced o'er the plains, The deer and the turkey I tracked in the snow, But now must I leave all. Alas! I must go. Sandusky, Tymocthee, and Brokenswood streams— No more shall I see you, except in dreams. Farewell to the marshes where cranberries grow, O'er the great Mississippi, alas ! I must go. Dear scenes of my childhood, in memory blest, I must bid you farewell for the far distant west, My heart swells with sorrow, my eyes overflow, O'er the great Mississippi, alas ! I must go." The farewells having been said, the long cavalcade, with the chiefs on horseback and several hundred on foot, and many wagons loaded with their effects, began its journey. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 185 Among the chiefs were Jacques, Bull Head, Split-the-Log, Stand-in-the-Water, Mud Eater, Lump-on-the-head, Squire Grey Eyes, and Porcupine. On the first day they had traveled to Grassy Point, in Hardin County, and on the seventh day they reached Cincinnati. Here they were taken on boats down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and up the Missouri to their new homes. A few of the chicfs, including the head chief, Jacques, visited Columbus, where they called upon Governor Shannon to thank him for courtesies, and farewell speeches were delivered. It was undoubtedly due to the sagacious and politic way in which the matter was conducted that the removal was made of this tribe with such an amicable spirit on both sides. As this last of all the once numerous Ohio tribes ascended the steamships that were to convey them from the place of their nativity, "they seemed to linger, and to turn to the North as if to bid a last farewell to the tombs in which they had deposited the remains of their deceased children, and in which the bones of their fathers had been accumulating and moulding for untold ages." The number who migrated at this time was 664, and about. 50 journeyed West in the following year. Charles Dickens, the English novelist, stopped overnight at Upper Sandusky when on his way from Cincinnati to Buffalo in. 1842. In his American notes, he writes thus: "It is a settlement of the Wyandot Aborigines who inhabit this place. Among the company at breakfast was a mild old gentleman (Colonel John Johnston) who had been for many years employed by the United States Government in conducting negotiations with the Aborigines, and who had just concluded a treaty with these people by which they bound themselves, in consideration of a certain annual sum, to remove next year to some land provided for them west of the Mississippi. He gave me a moving account of their strong attachment to the familiar scenes of their infancy, and in particular to the burial-places of their kindred ; and of their great reluctance to leave them. He had witnessed many such removals and always with pain, though he knew that they departed for their own good. The question whether this tribe should go or stay, had been discussed among them a day or two before in a but erected for the purpose, the logs of which still lay upon the ground before the inn. When the speaking was done the ayes and noes were ranged on opposite sides, and every male adult votes in his turn. The moment the result was known, the minority (a large one) cheerfully yielded to the rest, and withdrew all kind of opposition. We met some of these poor Aborigines afterwards, riding on shaggy ponies. They were so like the meaner sort of gypsies, that if I could have seen any of them in England I should have concluded as a matter of course, that they belonged to that wandering and restless people." One of the greatest chiefs of the Wyandots was the one known as Tarhe, or the Crane. His wisdom in council, as well as his bravery in war, gave him great influence among all the neighboring tribes. He seems to have reached the position of head chief of this nation after the death of Half king, who disappears from history not long after the disastrous Crawford expedition. His humanity was ever marked. In 1790 he recovered Peggy Fleming from a band of Cherokee Indians, at Lower Sandusky, thus early showing his humane character. A little earlier than that he is credited with saving a white boy from burning at the same place. He is known to have taken part in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, where he was wounded. Shortly afterwards General Wayne addresses a letter to "Tarhe, and all other Sachems and Chiefs of Sandusky," in which he promises to erect a fortification "at the foot of the rapids at Sandusky" for their protection 186 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO against the Indian allies of the British. This shows that he was at that time the head chief of the Wyandots, and as such was the keeper of the Grand Calumet. It is said that all the Wyandot chiefs, with the exception of Tarhe, were killed at Fallen Timbers, and it was doubtless due to this circumstance that he succeeded to his exalted position. "I knew Tarhe well. My acquaintance with him commenced at the treaty at Greenville, in 1795. His tribe was under my superintendence in 1810. All the business I transacted with it was through him. I have often said I never knew a better man. * * * Tarhe was not only the Grand Sachem of his tribe, but the acknowledged head of all the tribes who were engaged in the war with the United States, which was terminated by the treaty of Greenville ; and in that character the duplicate of the original treaty, engrossed on parchment, was committed to his custody, as had been the Grand Calumet, which was the symbol of peace. This is the testimony of General Harrison, and Harrison was a good judge of Indian character. Tarhe had accompanied him throughout his entire Canadian campaign, for he was a bitter opponent of Tecumseh's war policy. He was far in advance of most of his fellows. He was cool, deliberate, and firm. He was tall and well proportioned, and made a fine appearance. He was affable and courteous, as well as kind and affectionate. It is said that all who knew him, whether white or red, deeply venerated the character of the old chief. His attainments seem to have been as a great counselor and wise sachem rather than as a warrior. This surrounded him with a peculiar dignity. Chief Crane died at the Indian village of Crane Town, near Upper Sandusky, in November, 1818, being at that time seventy-six years of age. Of his funeral, Colonel Johnston speaks as follows : "I was invited to attend a general council of all the tribes of Ohio, the Delawares of Indiana, and the Senecas of New York, at Upper Sandusky. I found on arriving at that place a very large attendance. Among the chiefs was the noted leader and orator Red Jacket, from Buffalo. The first business done was the speaker of the nation delivering an oration on the character of the deceased chief. Then followed what might be called a monody or ceremony of mourning and lamentation. Thus seats were arranged from end to end of the large council house, about six feet apart. The head men and the aged took their seats facing each other, stooping down their heads almost touching. In this position they remained several hours. Deep, heavy and long continued groans were commenced at one end of the row of mourners and were passed around until all had responded and these repeated at intervals of a few minutes. The Indians were all washed and had no paint or decorations of any kind upon their person, their countenance and general deportment denoting the deepest mourning. I had never witnessed anything of the kind and was told this ceremony was not performed but upon the decease of some great man." CHAPTER XVII THE PASSING OF THE RED MAN Prior to the War of 1812, there were comparatively few Americans resident in Northwest Ohio, and not a great number of French or British. On the right bank of the Maumee, on a site now within the City of Toledo, there was a French settlement consisting of a number of families, among which were Peter Navarre and his brothers. There were probably threee score of white families living at or near the foot of the rapids at Maumee. Of these Amos Spafford was the most prominent, since he was collector of customs at that port. Some of these were also French, and Peter Manor, of Manard, performed valiant service for the American cause. There were a number of white traders residing at Defiance, and other points along the Maumee and Auglaize. The only considerable settlement along the Sandusky River was at Fremont, but there were a few other Caucasian adventurers in that valley. The entire number, however, was very inconsiderable. The red man as yet felt no crowding in the vast domain over which he hunted. The American traders and settlers, who had established themselves within Northwest Ohio, generally continued in their homes in fancied security until the surrender of General Hull. The first intimation that the settlers received of this catastrophe at Detroit manifested itself by the appearance of a party of British and Indians at the foot of the rapids, a few days after it had occurred. The Indians plundered the settlers on both sides of the river, and then departed for Detroit in canoes. A picture of the consternation that prevailed among the whites is left us by a pioneer woman : "All was fright and confusion. We and most of the others, excepting the soldiers, gathered what we could handily and left. We stopped at Blalock's a short time, and there an Aborigine messenger arrived and told us to come back as they would not kill us, but only wanted some of our property. Looking around until he found Blalock's gun he took it, went out and got a horse my mother had ridden to this point, and departed. We went back and remained three days in which time the Aborigines were pretty busy in driving off our live stock (we lost sixteen head) and in plundering the houses of such as had not come back. Mr. Guilliam was one who fled leaving everything behind ; and had not the presence of danger filled us with alarm, we would have been amused to see the Aborigines plundering his house. The feather beds were brought out, ripped open and the feathers scattered to the winds, the ticks alone being deemed valuable. But our stay was short, only three days, when the commandant of the fort informed us that he would burn the fort and stores and leave, inviting us to take such of the provisions as we might need. Consternation again seized upon us, and we hastily reloaded our wagons and left. We stayed the first night at a house eight or ten miles south of the (foot of the) Rapids. In the Black Swamp the load became too heavy, and they rolled out a barrel of flour and a barrel of meat which they had obtained at the fort. Mr. Hopkins, John Carter, Mr. Scribner, and William Race went back - 187 - 188 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the next fall to gather their crops, and they were all killed by the savages. John Carter was attacked while in a boat on the river, and they had quite a hard fight before they got his scalp." Three Indian warriors made an incursion into the interior of the state with hostile intent. One of these was a Delaware chief, by the name of Sac-a-manc. The day after his departure the Frenchman, Peter Manor, called upon Major Spafford and warned him of the hostile intentions of the Indians, as he had received them from Sac-a-manc. The major was unruffled, and quietly expressed a determination to remain until the American army from the interior should reach the rapids. It was only a few days after this conversation that a white man by the name of Gordon was seen approaching the residence of Major Spafford in great haste. Gordon had been reared among the Indians, but had, previous to this time, received some favors of a trifling character from him. Major Spafford met Gordon in his corn field, and was informed that a party of about fifty Pottawatomies, on their way to Malden, had taken this route, and in less than two hours would be at the foot of the rapids. The major was urged to make his escape immediately. Most of the families at the foot of the rapids had already left the valley, after receiving the intelligence of Hull's surrender. The major collected together those that remained in the vicinity. He placed in tolerable sailing condition an old barge in which some officers had floated down the river from Fort Wayne the previous year. Scarcely had they placed such of their effects as were portable on board, and rowed down to the bend below the town, when their ears caught the shouts of the Indians a short distance above. Finding no Americans here, the Indians passed on to the Canadian Town of Malden. The major and his companions sailed in their rickety vessel across the lake to the Quaker settlement at Milan, on the Huron River, where they remained in security until the close of the war. Sac-a-mane, on his return from the interior of the state, a few days after this visit of the war party, exhibited to Manor the scalps of three persons that he alone had killed during his absence. After peace was declared, most of the settlers who had lived along the Lower Maumee previous to the war returned to their old possessions. They were accompanied by friends and former soldiers who sought desirable sites for settlement with their families. They were partly indemnified by the Government for their losses a few years afterwards. Many of them lived in the blockhouses at Fort Meigs for a while. Contentions arose, however, regarding the pickets and other timbers of the fort, and one of the parties to the controversy finally set the remaining ones on fire. The last settler to be killed by the Indians was Levi Hull, in 1815. He left the house to bring the cattle from the woods. Several gun reports were heard, and a searching party found his body, dead and scalped, on a spot within the present limits of Perrysburg. The settlement of the Maumee Valley was at first slow, but the "foot of the rapids" and vicinity was settled long before any of the other sections. In 1816 the Government sent an agent to lay out a town at the point on the Miami of the Lake best calculated for commercial purposes. After thoroughly sounding the river from its mouth, he decided upon the site of Perrysburg. The town was laid out that year on the United States Reservation, and named after Commodore Perry by Josiah Meigs, then comptroller of the treasury. The lots were offered for sale in the following spring at the land office in Wooster. From about this time the encroachment upon the Indian domain may be said to date, and the beginning of the end may be recognized in the famous treaty of that year, held within gun shot of the newly-established town. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 189 After the War of 1812, the aborigines, who had been such valued allies of the British, were left in a serious condition. This was especially true following their decisive defeat at the Battle of the Thames. As at the close of the Revolutionary War, they turned at once, with little or no apparent regret for their past, to the Americans for their support. In this they were like naughty and spoiled children. Begging to have their physical cravings supplied, they gathered at Detroit in such great numbers that they could not be sustained from the limited supplies on hand. Hence we are told that they went about the city devouring rinds of pork, crumbs, bones, and anything else with nutriment in it that was thrown out by either the soldiers or the civil population. Although these children of the forests were as proud and unbending in their ordinary intercourse with the white people as it was possible to be, they were as obsequious as the most abject beggar when seeking food. Believing that there was a chance to establish the relations of the Indians and the Americans on a better basis, because of the very necessities of the savages, General Harrison arranged for a treaty council to be held at Greenville in the year following the close of the war. The Indians left hostages as a guarantee of their good intentions, and agreed to deliver all the prisoners in their hands at Fort Wayne. His pacific efforts were so satisfactory that he made a very good impression upon the red men, so that when he and General Cass reached Greenville, on July 22, 1814, several thousand representatives of a number of different tribes, together with their families, were assembled there to greet them. On this occasion, a treaty was entered into between the Americans, on the one side, and the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees and Senecas, on the other, by which these tribes engaged to give their aid to the United States as against Great Britain and such of the tribes as still continued hostile. They further obligated themselves to make no peace with either without the consent of the United States. A large number of the Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, and Chippewas, still clung to the tail of the British lion. In the year 1816, the number of the aborigines of all ages and both sexes in Northwest Ohio, together with their location, was reported to the Government as follows : Wyandots, residing by the Sandusky River and its tributaries, numbered 695 ; of the Shawnees dwelling by the Auglaize and Miami rivers, with their principal village at Wapakoneta, there were 840 ; the Delawares living by the headwaters of the Sandusky and Muskingum rivers numbered 161; of the Senecas and others of the Six Nations having their habitations between Upper and Lower Sandusky, at and near Seneca Town, only 450 were enumerated ; the Ottawas about Maumee Bay and Lake Erie, and by the Auglaize River, were estimated at about 450. This would make a total resident Indian population in Northwest Ohio at that time of about 2,600. The condition of the Indians dwelling along the Maumee River at this time was extremely miserable. We have this upon the authority of Benjamin F. Stickney, who was for a number of years agent to the Indians of this territory, with headquarters at Fort Wayne. They dwelt in what are generally termed villages, but, as a rule, they had no uniform place of residence. During the fall, winter, and part of the spring, they were scattered in the woods hunting. Some of them had rude cabins made of small logs, covered with bark, but more commonly some poles were stuck in the ground tied together with plants or strips of bark, and covered with large sheets of bark or some kind of a woven mat. The great enemy of the Indians, according to Mr. Stickney and almost every keen observer, was an unsatiable thirst for intoxicating liquors. This craving in itself would not amount to much, had there not been depraved 190 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO citizens of the United States capable and will-. ing of eluding the vigilance of the Government and supplying this thirst by continuing the sale of liquor among them. When the supply of grog at home failed, they would travel any distance to obtain it. There was no fatigue, no risk, and no expense too great to obtain it. With many of them the "firewater" seemed to be valued higher than life itself. It was the unalterable policy of the Government of the United States to keep spirituous liquors from the Indians, but in so many instances its efforts seemed rendered absolutely futile by the unscrupulous trader. Many of the murders by Indians of their own brethren, as well as of the whites, could be attributed to the effect of liquor, just as can the tragedies among the whites today. But there were white monsters, who were willing to murder or take advantage of the poor red man who was trying to live honestly. One of these tragedies occurred about 1841, or 1842, in Henry County. Sum-mun-de-wat, a Wyandot chief and a Christian convert, with a party of friends left the Wyandot reservation for their annual hunt in Williams County to secure raccoon skins, which then brought a good price. Sum-mun-de-wat with his nephew and niece passed through Wood County and had with them two excellent coon dogs. Two white men, who met the Indians, found that they had money and tried to buy the dogs. But an Indian will never part with his dogs. A day or two afterwards some more of the Wyandot party coming along discovered the murdered bodies of their chief and his two relatives. This murdered chief was one of the most enlightened and noble chiefs of the Wyandots, and was a licensed preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The whites were aroused at the foul deed and arrested the suspected parties. One of them, Lyons, was lodged in jail at Napoleon, as the murder had occurred just within the Henry County line. The other, Anderson, confessed to as cold and brutal a murder as was ever conceived. But both men escaped punishment through the influence of white friends. As soon as the authority of the United States was well established in this section of our state, it became the recognized policy to narrow the limits of the range of the Indians in order to render them less nomadic. When this was accomplished, it was hoped to be able to incline them to agricultural pursuits. The excluded lands were then opened to prospective settlers, and it was believed that the example of industrious farmers would incline the Indians toward the ordinary pursuits of a civilized community. The larger the number of settlers, the more secure the frontier would become. With this purpose in view, a council was called to meet at the "Foot of the Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie," the place designated undoubtedly being on the left bank of the river near the site of the present Village of Maumee. The date assigned was the 29th of September, 1817. At this time Gens. Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur met the sachems and other chiefs, together with their accompanying warriors, of the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Pottawatomie, Ottawa, and Chippewa tribes. They were fully commissioned to negotiate and sign a treaty upon all matters that were of interest between the United States and the red men. They succeeded in negotiating a treaty which, in importance, ranks second only to the great Treaty of Greenville, concluded in 1795. By this treaty, the Wyandots agreed to forever cede to the United States an immense area of land, including a large part of the Maumee and Sandusky basins, which had heretofore been claimed by them as hunting ground. This grant is described as follows in the treaty : "The Wyandot tribe of Aborigines, in consideration of the stipulations herein made on the part of the United States, do hereby forever cede to the United States the lands com- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 191 prehended within the following lines and boundaries : Beginning at a point on the southern shore of Lake Erie where the present Aborigine boundary line intersects the same, between the mouth of Sandusky Bay and the mouth of Portage River ; thence, running south with said line to the line established in the year 1795 by the Treaty of Greenville which runs from the crossing place above Fort Laurens to Loramie's store ; thence westerly with the last mentioned line to the eastern line of the Reserve at Loramie's Store ; thence with the lines of said Reserve, north and west to the northwestern corner thereof ; thence to the northwestern corner of the Reserve on the River St. Mary, at the head of the navigable waters thereof (site of the present City of St. Marys) ; thence, east to the western bank of the St. Mary River aforesaid ; thence, down on the western bank of the said river to the Reserve at Fort Wayne ; thence, with the lines of the last mentioned Reserve, easterly and northerly, to the north bank of the said river to the western line of the land ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Detroit in the year 1807; thence, with the said line south to the middle of said Miami (Maumee) River, opposite the mouth of the Great Au Glaise River; thence, down the middle of said Miami River and easterly with the lines of the tract ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Detroit aforesaid ; so far that a south line will strike the place of beginning." The other tribes gathered at this council also released their claim to all the lands within this territory, with the exception of certain specified reservations. For these concessions, the United States agreed to pay to the Wyandot Tribe annually, forever, the sum of $4,000 in specie at Upper Sandusky ; to the Seneca Tribe annually, forever, the sum of $500 in specie at Lower Sandusky ; to the Shawnee Tribe, the sum of $2,000 at Wapakoneta ; to e Pottawatoinies, the sum of $1,300; to the Ottawas $1,000, and to the Chippewas $1,000 annually for a period of fifteen years, payments to be made in specie at Detroit. To the Delawares, the sum of $500 in specie was to be made at Wapakoneta during the year 1818, but there was no annuity. All of these payments were in addition to any annuities granted under the Treaty of Greenville. The reservations of land granted to these various tribes are described in this treaty as follows : "The United States agrees to grant by patent in fee simple to Do-an-quod, How-o-ner, Ronton-dee, Tau-yau, Rod-ta-yau, Daw-a-tont, Mano-cue, Tau-yau-dau-tau-son, and Hau-dau-uwaugh, chiefs of the Wyandot tribe, and their successors in office chiefs of the said tribe for the use of the persons and for the purposes mentioned in the annexed schedule, a tract of land twelve miles square at Upper Sandusky the center of which shall be the place where Fort Ferree stands ; and also a tract of one mile square to be located where the chiefs direct on a cranberry swamp on Broken Sword Creek and to be held for the use of the tribe. "The United States agrees to grant by patent in fee simple to Taw-aw-ma-do-yaw, Captain Harris, Isa-how-mu-say, Joseph Tawgyon, Captain Smith, Coffee-house, Running-about, and Wiping-stick, chiefs of the Seneca tribe and their successors in office chiefs of the said tribe, for the use of the persons mentioned in the annexed schedule, a tract of land to contain thirty thousand acres, beginning on the Sandusky River at the lower corner of the section granted to William Spicer; thence down the said river to the east side, with the meanders thereof at high water mark, to a point east of the mouth of Wolf Creek ; thence and from the beginning, east so far that a north line will include the quantity of thirty thousand acres aforesaid. "The United States also agrees to grant by patent in fee simple, to Ca-te-we-ke-sa or Black Hoof, By-a-se-ka or Wolf, Pom-the or Walker, She-men-etoo or Big Snake, Otha-wa-keseka or 192 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Yellow Feather, Cha-ka-lo-wah or the Tail's End, Pemthala or John Perry, Wabepee or White Color, chiefs of the Shawnee Tribe residing at Wapakoneta, and their successors in office of the said tribe residing there, for the use of the persons mentioned in the annexed schedule, a tract of land ten miles square the center of which shall be the council-house at Wapakoneta. " The United States also agrees to grant by patent in fee simple, to Pe-eth-tha or Falling Tree, and to Onowas-kemo or the Resolute Man, chiefs of the Shawnee tribe residing on Hog Creek (the present Ottawa River in Allen county, Ohio) and their successors in office chiefs of the said tribe residing there, for the use of the persons mentioned in the annexed schedule, a tract of land containing twenty-five square miles to join the tract granted at Wapakoneta (spelled Wapaughkonnetta), and to include the Shawnee settlement on Hog Creek and to be laid off as nearly as possible in square form." The United States also agreed to grant by patent in fee simple, to Qua-to-we-pee, or Captain Lewis, She-kagh-ke-la, or Turtle , Ski-lo-wa, or Robin, chiefs of the Shawnee Tribe residing at Lewistown ; and to Mesomea, or Civil John, Wa-kaw-us-she-no, or the White Man, Oquasheno, or Joe, and Willaquasheno, or When You are Tired Sit Down, certain lands not within this section of the state. There was also reserved for the use of the Ottawa aborigines, but not granted to them, a tract of land on Blanchard's Fork of the Great Au Glaize River, to contain five miles square, "the center of which tract is to be where the old trace crosses the said Fork (about the present City of Ottawa) ; and one other tract to contain three miles square on the Little Au Glaise River, to include Oquanoxa's village." The meaning of the chief 's name was " the ugly fellow," and he indeed was a troublesome Indian. The United States likewise agreed to grant, by patent in fee simple, to Zee-shaw-au, or James Armstrong, and to Sa-non-do-you-rayguaw, or Silas Armstrong, chiefs of the Delaware aborigines living on the Sandusky waters, and to their successors in office, chiefs of the said tribe, for the use of the persons mentioned in the annexed schedule, in the same manner and subject to the same conditions, provisions and limitations as hereinbefore provided for the lands granted to the Wyandot, Seneca, and Shawnee aborigines, a tract of land to contain nine square miles, to join the tract granted to the Wyandots of twelve miles square, to be laid off as nearly in a square form as practicable and to include Captain Pipe's village. The reservation was partly in Wyandot and partly in Marion counties. Another very interesting section of this treaty is the grants made to a number of persons who were connected with the savages either by blood or adoption. Most of these were former prisoners captured by them, but who had remained with the tribe and finally been adopted by them. The United States agreed to convey the lands designated by patent in fee simple. All of these are interesting, and I will quote them briefly : Elizabeth Whitaker, who had been taken prisoner by the Wyandots, was granted 1,280 acres of land "on the west side of the Sandusky River near Croghansville," now Fremont ; Robert Armstrong, who had been taken prisoner by the aborigines and had married a Wyandot woman, was given one section of land on the west side of the Sandusky River near Fort Ball, now in Seneca County. The children of William McCulloch were allowed one section of land on the west side of the Sandusky River, adjoining that of Robert Armstrong. Upon John Vanmeter, who had been takcn prisoner by the Wyandots, and had married a Seneca woman, and to his wife's three brothers, were bestowed 1,000 acres of land near Honey Creek, Seneca County, and Cath- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 193 erine Walker, a Wyandot woman, and her son who had been wounded in the service of the United States, were allotted a section of land adjoining that of Vanmeter. Sarah Williams,. Joseph Williams, and Rachel Nugent, the first named having been taken a prisoner by the Indians, and the others having a portion of Indian blood in their veins, were granted a quarter of a section of land below Croghansville, and at Negro Point. William Spicer, also a prisoner among the Indians, and who had married a Seneca woman, was given a section of land along the Sandusky River, " at the lower corner of Spicer's Cornfield." The late Shawnee chief, Captain Logan, who had fallen in the service of the United States, was remembered by the grant of a section of land on the east side of the "Great Au Glaise River adjoining the lower line of the grant of ten miles at Wapakoneta on the said river." Saw-En-De-Bans, or the Yellow Hair, or Peter Minor (Manor), who was an adopted son of Tondaganie (who Is remembered in the name of the Village of Tontogany, Wood County), or the Dog, was granted a section of land to be located in a square form on the north side of the Miami (Maumee) at the Wolf Rapids, above Roche de Boeuf. This is near the Village of Provience, in Lucas County. The United States obligated itself to appoint an agent for the Wyandots to reside at Upper Sandusky, and an agent for the Shawnees at Wapakoneta. This agent was to protect the Indians in their persons and property, and to manage their intercourse with the American Government and its citizens. It also agreed to erect a saw-mill and a grist-mill and maintain a blacksmith on the Wyandot Reservation, and a blacksmith at Wapakoneta, for the Indians there and at Hog Creek and the Blanchard River. It also specially exempted all these reservations from taxes of any kind, so long as they continued to be the property of the aborigines. It likewise reserved to the Vol. I-18 United States the right to construct roads through any part of the land granted and reserved by this treaty, and the agent was authorized to establish taverns and ferries wherever such became necessary. When it came time to sign the treaty, so we are told, all looked toward the mother of Otusso, the son of Kan-tuck-e-gan, and a direct descendant of Pontiac. He was the last war chief of the Ottawas remaining along the Maumee. His mother was a sort of Indian queen and grand-niece to Pontiac. She was held in great reverence by the Indians—so much so, that at the time of this treaty in 1817 (she then being very old and wrinkled and bent over with age, her hair perfectly white), no chief would sign the treaty until she had first consented and made her mark by touching her fingers to the pen. When the treaty was agreed upon, the head chiefs and warriors sat around the inner circle, and the aged woman had a place among them. The remaining Indians, with the women and children, comprised a crowd outside. The chiefs sat on seats built under the roof of the council house, which was open on all sides. The whole assembly maintained absolute silence. The chiefs bowed their heads and cast their eyes to the ground ; they waited patiently for the old woman until she rose, went forward, and touched the pen to the treaty, after it had been read to them in her presence. Then followed the signatures of all the chiefs. Some amusing things are told about the occurrences at this treaty. One Indian was present who had evidently been bribed by the British to oppose any treaty that might be proposed. He made a speech in which he said that the palefaces had cheated the red men from their very first landing on this continent. In a very flowery speech, according to the Indian standard, he declared that the first white men who came said they wanted enough land to put a foot on. They gave the aborigines an ox for beef, and were to have 194 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO as much land as the hide would cover. They then cut the hide into strings, and by that means secured enough land for a fort. The next time they wanted more land, they brought an enormous pile of goods which they offered for it. They were to receive as much land as a horse could travel around in a day. In order to cheat the red men, they had a relay of horses so that each one could travel at its utmost speed. His speech did not affect the course of events in the least, for General Cass ridiculed him in his reply. It is said that there were 7,000 aborigines present at this treaty at the foot of the Rapids of the Maumee, including the women and children. It must indeed have been a strange and curious assemblage. But it was only one of the many unusual and interesting incidents that have occurred here. "Men may come and men may go, But I go on forever." These words of Tennyson's "Brook" might well be the sentiment of the Maumee. At the foot of the rapids was a favorite trysting place for Indians, and it later acquired great significance with the white men. Treaties were held there, armies camped round about, battles were fought in the vicinity, and men died violent deaths within sound of the soothing lull of these waters. Birds have billed and cooed there from times beyond the memory of man. The Indian snatched his dusky bride frOm the tepee of her father, and the white lover has breathed his fervent words into willing ears on the grassy banks where the stillness is broken only by the tumbling flood. To the river this has signified nothing. White man or red, French or British, civilized or savage, lover or warrior, all have been the same to the spirit of the river. The Maumee simply flows on from day to day, with no reckoning of time, but silently reaching out toward that eternity that is to be. By this treaty of 1817, the title to most of the land in the Maumee Basin, and in the Sandusky Valley as well, was granted to the United States. Of all the great treaties ever entered into with the Indians, this one held at the Maumee Rapids was of the greatest interest to Northwest Ohio. A line drawn from Sandusky Bay to the Greenville Treaty Line, near Mount Gilead, thence westerly along that line to the Indiana boundary and north to Michigan, would about embrace the Ohio land purchased at this council. It has since been divided into about eighteen counties. Campaigns had been made and battles fought, treaty had followed treaty, but each and all had consigned this land to the sway of .the savage. Almost three decades had elapsed since the Marietta colony was planted on the Ohio. Now for the first time could it be truthfully said that Northwest Ohio stood on an equality with the rest of the state, and was practically free from the fetters and dominance of a race whose interest and habits, customs and mode of life, were entirely opposed to those of the rest of the country. Heretofore it had been partially a blank place on the map, labeled Indian country and Black Swamp. Its very name brought a shrug of terror to many. Following this treaty the civil jurisdiction of Logan County, with court at Bellefontaine, became operative until the organization of counties in 1820. A number of additional treaties were made with the Indians at councils held in various places, but they are not of great importance for the purposes of this history, excepting the one convened at St.. Marys, in Auglaize county, in September, 1818. This was held at Fort Barbee, the present site of St. Marys, between the same parties, and some changes were made by which the Indians were given much more extensive allotments, because of a gathering dissatisfaction. Although the council did not commence until the 20th, the chiefs and warriors of seven nations began HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 195 to assemble in the latter part of August. This council lasted until the 6th of October. The treaty grounds were marked off west from the old Fort St. Marys. Tents were erected for the accommodation of the Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, the commissioners representing the United States. They were accompanied by the governors of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and were escorted by a troop of Kentucky cavalry. The Indians were encamped around and arranged by tribes, of which there were Wyandots, Senecas, Shawnees, and Ottawas. It was intended to be supplementary to the one made the previous year at the Foot of the Rapids of the Maumee. At St. Marys the Wyandots received a large increase in land, consisting of two tracts of 56,680 and 16,000 acres respectively. The latter was for the benefit of those Indians residing at Solomon's Town, the center of which was at Big Spring. The Shawnees received 12,800 additional acres, to be laid off adjoining the east line of their reservation at "Wapaghkonetta," while for the joint use of the Senecas and Shawnees 8,900 acres were laid off immediately west of the Lewiston grant. The north half was for the Senecas, and the south half for the Shawnees. The Senecas also received 10,000 more acres along the Sandusky. Additional annuities was granted as follows : To the Wyandots, $500 ; to the Shawnees and Senecas, of Lewiston, $1,000; to the Senecas, $500; to the Ottawas, $1,500; all of these were to run "forever." During the same period Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Parker concluded treaties with the Miamis, Weas, and Pottawatomies, the great part of which related to lands in Indiana. All of the tribes made certain concessions in return for what they received. The traders did a thriving business, and many thousands of dollars worth of furs were exchanged for rifles, powder, lead, knives, hatchets, gaudy blankets, tobacco, etc. Pony races and ball games were daily diversions among the Indians, who were well sustained by the Government. For this purpose droves of cattle and hogs had been driven in and great stocks of corn meal, salt, and sugar laid in ; upon these and the game brought in by the Indian hunters they fared sumptuously every day. Smugglers also secretly supplied them with whiskey, which caused much trouble. This was the last great assemblage of Indian nations in Ohio. The most noted Indian agent in dealing with the aborigines of Northwest Ohio was Col. John Johnson. For several years he was stationed at Fort Wayne, and was then transferred to old Piqua, a few miles north of the present Piqua. Here he retained his headquarters, until the last Indian tribe had disappeared from the state. He was succeeded at Fort Wayne by Major Benjamin F. Stickney, who served there many years, and was afterwards transferred to Fort Miami. The salary of an Indian agent at that time was $750 per year, and four military rations per day. Major Stickney afterwards settled at Toledo, and was prominent in the early history of that city. Among other agents, or sub-agents, were Rev. James Montgomery, for the Senecas along the Sandusky, and John Shaw, for the Wyandots at Upper Sandusky. Official interpreters were stationed at Upper Sandusky and Wapakoneta. It was not many years after the treaties described above until the removals of the Indians to reservations farther west were initiated. In 1818 the Miamis ceded a large part of their lands in the Maumee Valley to the United States. In fact, at the same treaty at St. Marys, some of the Delawares agreed to their removal to a reservation by the James tributary of the White River, in Missouri. The Delawares living at Little Sandusky quitclaimed to the United States their reservation of three miles square on the 3d of August, 1829, and consented to remove west of the Mississippi to join those Delawares already 196 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO transferred. In 1829, by a treaty concluded at Saginaw, the Chippewas ceded to the United States land claimed by them running from Michigan to the "mouth of the Great Auglaize River." Two years later the Senecas along the Sandusky River relinquished their reservations in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi. Upon payment of all expenses by the United States, as well as the building and keeping up of certain improvements, the Indians were removed in accordance with this treaty. There were just 510 of them, as mixed up a mess of humanity as could be found, so we are told by contemporaneous chroniclers. A portion of them traveled overland, and the others journeyed to Cincinnati, where they proceeded by water down the Ohio. In 1831 James Gardner, then residing at Columbus, sent word to the Shawnees that he would soon visit them to make proposals for the purchase of their lands. This was the first intimation that the Shawnees had of such a contemplated move, and it threw the entire tribe into a wild state of excitement. A council was held, and word was dispatched to him not to come. But outside influences were now brought to bear by Gardner. The traders, who had extended credit to the Indians, were induced to urge payment, and some of the weaker chiefs were bribed after first being made drunk. Gardner made a speech that lasted two days, in which he absolutely misrepresented his instructions, and dwelt upon the conditions that might arise in the event of their non-compliance. After he had thus alarmed them in regard to their present and future condition, in case they concluded to adhere to their former resolution of remaining in Ohio, he said he would not tell them that, in case they would now sell their land and go west, that their Great Father, General Jackson, would make them rich. He told them that there was a great and rich country laid off for all the Indians to move to, west of the State of Missouri, which never would be within any state or territory of the United States, and where there was plenty of buffalo, elk and deer ; where they could live well without working at all. The tribe was greatly divided in its opinions. But those who had been bribed and influenced by the traders outnumbered the others. The dissipated Indians realized that this would give them a lot of ready money. The tribe insisted on the payment of all the debts of its members. The treaty was signed without being read by Gardner, and he misrepresented its terms. Finding that they had been deceived, the Shawnees applied to the Quakers for help. A committee of the Friends was appointed for that purpose. They proceeded to Washington in order to present the matter to Congress, asking for relief. For the first time a true copy of the treaty was exhibited to them by the secretary of war. They found that the amount the Shawnees were to receive was $115,000 less than had been promised for their lands at Hog Creek and "Wapaghkonnetta." Because of the opposition of Congress, only $30,000 addition was granted then by that body until 1853, when they received an addi. tional $66,000. Thus it required twenty years for the whites to render justice to their wards, whom they had dispossessed of their inheritance. Because Gardner informed the Shawnees that they would be removed early in the spring, the Indians disposed of their cattle and hogs and many other things. As a mat. ter of fact it was almost a year, and the Indians meanwhile suffered great privation. Many came almost to the point of starvation. Henry Harvey exerted himself vigorously on their behalf. When the money finally came it was transported in ten wooden kegs horseback from Piqua. It was disbursed to HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 197 the Indians from Gardner's headquarters, in the Jones' woods, in the northeastern part of Wapakoneta. After receiving their annuity, the Indians entered upon a round of festivities and dissipation that lasted in most instances until their money was spent. After recuperating from their dissipations, they began making preparations for their removal to their western home. They destroyed or buried the property they could not sell. David Robb, one of the commissioners who assisted in their removal, has left an interesting account of the ceremonies incident to the occasion : "After we had rendezvoused, preparatory to moving, we were detained several weeks waiting until they had got over their tedious round of religious ceremonies, some of which were public and others kept private from us. One of their first acts was to take away the fencing from the graves of their fathers, level them to the surrounding surface, and cover them so neatly with green sod, that not a trace of the graves could be seen. Subsequently, a few of the chiefs and others visited their friends at a distance, gave and received presents from chiefs of other nations at their headquarters. "Among the ceremonies above alluded to was a dance, in which none participated but the warriors. They threw off all their clothing but their breechclouts, painted their faces and naked bodies in a fantastical manner, covering them with the pictures of snakes and disagreeable insects and animals, and then armed with war clubs, commenced dancing, yelling and frightfully distorting their countenances; the scene was truly terrific. This was followed by the dance they usually have on returning from a battle, in which both sexes participated. It was a pleasing contrast to the other, and was performed in the night, in a ring, around a large fire. In this they sang and marched, males and females promiscuously, in single file around the blaze. The leader of the band commenced singing, while all the rest were silent until he had sung a certain number of words, then the next in the row commenced with the same, and the leader began with a new set, and so on to the end of their chanting. All were singing at once, but no two the same words. I was told that part of the words they used were hallelujah ! It was pleasing to witness the native modesty and graceful movements of those young females in this dance. "When their ceremonies were over, they informed us they were ready to leave. They then mounted their horses, and such as went in wagons seated themselves, and set out with their 'high priest' in front, bearing on his shoulders 'the ark of the covenant,' which consisted of a large gourd and the bones of a deer's leg, tied to its neck. Just previous to starting, the priest gave a blast of his trumpet, then moved slowly and solemnly while the others followed in like manner, until they were ordered to halt in the evening and cook supper. The same course was observed through the whole of the journey. When they arrived near St. Louis, they lost some of their number by cholera. The Shawnees who emigrated numbered about 700 souls." It was on the 20th of November, 1832, that they commenced their journey of 800 miles, and proceeded as far as Piqua the first day, where they remained two days to visit the graves of their ancestors. On the evening of November 23d they encamped at Hamilton. After a sojourn of three days at this point, they departed on their western journey. They traveled until Christmas of that year, when they encamped at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. They suffered much on the journey from the severity of the winter. They immediately commenced the construction of cabins, and, by the latter part of February, these were so far completed as to protect them from the cold western winds. The Shawnees and Senecas who made the 198 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO winter journeys numbered about 1,100. They were joined the next spring by the Hog Creek tribe, under the direction of Joseph Parks. This second contingent fared much better than those who preceded them, as they had the advantage of season. In 1870, in compliance with the stipulations of a treaty made the previous year, the Shawnees removed from their Kansas reservation to Indian Territory, where they settled on unoccupied lands in the Cherokee country, and thereby became a part of that nation. Puresiblooded Indians form only a small per cent of the members. It is estimated that only about 15, or, at most, 20 per cent of the Shawnees and Cherokees are of pure Indian descent at the present time. Even among those claiming to be Indians are many quarter-blood and half-bloods. The Ottawas along the lower Maumee, at Wolf Rapids and Roche de Boeuf, and also those by the Auglaize River and Blanchard River, near the present Town of Ottawa, about 200 in number, gave up their lands and consented to remove to a reservation of 40,000 acres in consideration of an annuity and presents of blankets, horses, guns, agriculsitural implements, etc. It was especially stated that this relinquishment did not include the square mile of territory previously granted to Peter Manor, the Yellow Hair. A three years' lease was also granted to Chief Wausibe-gasikasike for a section of land adjoining Peter Manor, and a section and a half of land below Wolfe Rapids was given to Muck-quisiona, or the Bear Skin. A quarter section each was set off to Hiram Thebault, a half-breed Ottawa, to William Ottawa, and to William McNabb, another half-blood. The last remnant of the once powerful Ottawa tribe of Indians removed from this valley to lands beyond the Mississippi in 1838. They numbered some interesting men among them. There was Nawash, Ockquenoxy, Charloe, Ottoke, Petonquet, men of eloquence who were long remembered by many of o citizens. Their burying grounds and village-sites are scattered along both banks of Miami of the Lakes, from its mouth to Fort Defiance. They left on the steamboat " Commodore Perry" for Cleveland, on August 21, 1837, to journey from there by canal to Portsmouth, and thence by the Ohio and Mississippi to their new western home. There were about 150 in the party, and a few remained behind with their white neighbors. A couple of years later another 100, who had been eking out a precarious existence, consented to follow the others, and they were accordingly transported west by the same route. The Wyandots of the Big Spring Reservation, or those of Solomon's Town, ceded their lands, amounting to about 16,000 acres, to the United States at a council held at McCutchenville, Wyandot County, on the 19th of January, 1832. James B. Gardner was the specially appointed commissioner on the part of the Government. It was stipulated that when sold the chiefs should be paid in silver the sum of $1.25 per acre for the land, and also a fair valuation for all improvements that had been made. The Indians went to Huron, in Michigan; or any place that they might obtain the privilege of settling with other Indians. Some did in fact join the other Wyandots on their principal reservation. Chief Solomon went West with his tribe, but returned and passed his last days among the whites. In 1836 the Wyandots reduced their claims, and, in 1842, they ceded to the United States all of the remainder of their reservation and were removed by the Government to the Indian Territory. With their removal Ohio was entirely freed from its aborigine population. The commissioner on the part of the United States, who had the honor of making the last Indian treaty in Ohio was Col. John Johnston, a state, says Henry Howe, "every foot of whose soil has been fairly purchased by treaties from its original posses- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 199 sors." The Wyandots left for Kansas in July, 1843. Considering their numbers and resources, few races have ever made a better defense, or acquitted themselves with greater valor, than did the red men. They had neither the advantages of the destructive weapons nor the numerical strength of their enemies. And yet, how long and how bloody was the struggle before they succumbed to the increasing numbers of the whites. How reluctantly they yielded to their new masters ; but at last they were obliged to submit and be dictated to. The pleasant hunting grounds, where they formerly chased the deer and the bear in Northwest Ohio, have fallen into the possession of aliens of a different color. The red man is no more seen stretched before the sparkling fire along the banks of the Sandusky or the Maumee. The cheerful notes of his flute, and the hoarser sound of the turtle shell, or the tom-tom of his rude drum, no longer make vocal the groves along their banks. In his distant home he sits and smokes his pipe, and heaves a sigh of despair and helplessness. In strains of sorrowful elosiquence he relates to his listening children the glorious deeds of his ancestors, and the hapsipiness of the days in the long ago. Gloom fills his heart, as he peers into the future, and seems to see at no great distance the end of his people. Wrapped in his blanket; he pours out his pent-up soul in supplications to the Great Spirit. In that distant world of the future, he expects to find new and happy hunting-grounds, apart from the aggressive white men, whose numbers are as the sands of the sea. Some of the Indians, when the removal was begun, declared that they never would leave their beloved Maumee Valley. If they could find no place to stay, they would spend the rest of their days in walking up and down the Maumee, mourning over the wretched state f their people,—so they were reported saying. Using this sentiment as a subject, Josiah D. Canning communicated to the "American Pioneer" the following poem : THE BANKS OF THE MAUMEE I stood, in a dream, on the banks of Maumee ! 'Twas autumn, and nature seem'd wrapped in decay, The wind, moaning, crept thro' the shivering tree— The leaf from the bough drifted slowly away: The gray-eagle screamed on the marge of the stream, The solitudes answered the bird of the free ; How lonely and sad was the scene of my dream, And mournful the hour, on the banks of Maumee ! A form passed before me—a vision of one Who mourned for his nation, his country and kin ; He walked on the shores, now deserted and lone, Where the homes of his tribe, in their glory, had been ; And thought after thought o'er his sad spirit stole, As wave follows wave o'er the turbulent sea ; And this lamentation he breathed from his soul, O 'er the ruins of home, on the banks of Maumee. As the hunter, at morn, in the snows of the wild, Recalls to his mind the sweet visions of night ; When sleep, softly falling, his sorrows besiguiled, And opened his eyes in the land of delight-