400 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO and brought about the direct election of United States senators. C. B. Galbreath in his History of Ohio well says, "The student will find a wealth of illuminating material in the newspapers" of that time. Bushnell's influence went to the Foraker-McKisson faction but it was overwhelmed although the Legislature had been organized by the Democrats, Silver Republicans and McKisson factions, but the Hanna men swung the three necessary votes over at the last minute. With Bushnell it was a case of the local Croesus bowing to the national one. Clement Laird Vallandigham was born July 29, 1820, at New Lisbon, Ohio; educated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, admitted to bar, 1842; was elected to the Legislature from Columbiana County when he was 25; removed in 1847 to Dayton, was for two years editor of the "Empire," a Democratic sheet. He was defeated for office but finally elected to Congress, 1856 and 1858. twice defeated for office but finally elected to Congress, 1856 and 1858. In the debates of 1860 he opposed the Civil War as unnecessary, and the attempt to coerce the South as unconstitutional. His opposition to Lincoln's measures raised him to the leadership of the so-called "Copperheads" or Peace Democrats as contrasted with the War Democrats led by Douglas, Logan, etc. Vallandigham's speeches led to his arrest May, 1863, which was provocative of a riot. He was tried in Cincinnati by a military commission on charges of disloyal utterances and sentenced to confinement during the war, but was ordered deported to the Southern lines by Lincoln. Vallandigham was sent through Rosecran's lines at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He refused to join with the South against the North, and escaped from Wilmington, North Carolina, on a blockade runner and went to Canada. While there he was nominated by the Ohio Democrats for governor. He was the worst defeated HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 401 candidate for governor Ohio had to that time. He returned to Dayton in 1864 and was unmolested, and was prominent in politics, state and national, until his death, caused by the discharge of a pistol which he was demonstrating in a trial at Lebanon, Ohio, June 17, 1871. Rear Admiral Clarence S. Williams, born in Springfield, October 7, 1860; appointed Annapolis, 1880; graduated, 1886; chief of staff of the United States Battleship Fleet, Atlantic Ocean, November 3, 1916; later commander of Division 8, Atlantic Fleet, in December; rear admiral, December, 1918; commander of the battleship fleet, Asiatic Station, September 29, 1920; commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet, October 14, 1925. Received Distinguished Service Medal for World War service. Simon Kenton was born April 3, 1755, near Hopewell Gap, then Prince William County, but now in Farquier County. Mark Kenton, his father, was born in Ireland, March 1, 1700, and came to Culpeper County, Virginia, in early life. Mary Miller, the mother of Simon, was of Scot blood. The Kenton boys were : William, Benjamin, Mark, Simon, John. The Kenton family was in limited circumstances and Simon received no education. At fifteen years of age he was worsted in a love suit by one Leitchman or Veach (authorities differ). Going to the wedding, Kenton attempted to seat himself between the newly wedded pair. He was threshed for the attempt; waited a while and then fought the husband in the wood and left him for dead. Frenzied at the supposed murder and from fear of punishment, Kenton fled over the mountains to Isle Ford on Cheat River, and assumed the name of Simon Butler. He made his way down the Monongahela to Fort Pitt in the spring of 1771. Here he is supposed to have met and formed a friendship with Simon Girty, the then Indian interpreter. Kenton had his first experience with Indian warfare in 1774 at the outbreak of Dunmore's War, where he served as scout 402 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO with Simon Girty, George Rogers Clark and Michael Cresap. After the Dunmore war, Kenton went to Kentucky in 1775 with one Williams and planted and raised the first corn grown by white men north of the Kentucky River. Here he acted as guide for George Rogers Clark when the latter ran the powder down from Fort Pitt and wanted to get help from the interior stations to bring the powder away from Three Islands where it was cached. This was in December, 1776. Kenton served as spy along the Ohio and spent time between Harrodsburg and Boonesboro, where at the latter place he saved Boone's life during the siege in 1777. In 1778 he accompanied Clark on the Kaskaskia and Vincennes expedition and is credited by some historians with carrying out the capture of the French commandant at Kaskaskia and spying on Vincennes for Clark. He returned to Kentucky in the summer of 1778 and in August, 1778, went with Boone on an expedition to Paint Creek in Ohio. Striking the trail of a great war party under Blackfish heading for Boonesboro, Boone made a forced march to rescue the fort while Kenton remained to run off horses and was unable to get into Boonesboro and made for St. Asaph or Logan's Fort. In September, 1778, Col. John Bowman sent Kenton, George Clark and Alec Montgomery to spy on Chillicothe in Greene County. Kenton was captured, tied to a wild horse, forced to run the gauntlet at Chillicothe, Piqua, Mac-a-chack, some say eight times in all, tied several times to the stake, reprieved in the Wapatomica council through the friendship of Simon Girty, then became a renegade, kept at Girty's house, and finally forced back into captivity by the Indian vengeance. On the way to Sandusky towns, Kenton was attacked by Indian malcontents, having his shoulder chopped and his arm broken. He enlisted the aid of Logan, the Mingo chief, and was finally taken to Detroit by Peter Druyer, a French trader. At Detroit, Kenton worked on the British fortifications and for French farmers, and was finally outfitted by a Mrs. Harvey, and escaped with Jesse Coffer and HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 403 Nathan Bullitt by way of the eastern Indiana. This was in the spring of 1779. In 1780 Kenton guided Clark on his Piqua campaign against the Little Miami and Mad River towns and in 1782 on the second Piqua campaign on the Great Miami, and in 1786 he guided Ben Logan against the Mac-a-chack towns on Mad River, serving as a captain. He located around Washington, Kentucky, where he acted as keeper of the gate to Kentucky, guarding the immigrants, leading punitive expeditions, having brushed with Tecumseh, gradually accumulating much wealth in land and military prestige, succeeding to the position of Boone as the leading scout and Indian fighter. After a sojourn in a stockade at the forks of Mad River, Kenton moved north of Springfield to what is now the Hunt farm. Here the family had a baby stolen by Indians but recovered it. Kenton later established a mill in Lagonda, conducted a store there, speculated extensively in lands and considered himself for a long time as a rich man. Faulty land entries, breach of trust by agents, incapacity of his son John and his son-in-law, together with suits with William Ward, his main agent, brought him to poverty. He was jailed for debt, and made his own jailer at Urbana, where he located in 1810. He followed Shelby to the Thames in 1813 and was in at the death of the Indian hope. He had acquired the title of brigadier general of militia and during the years 1799 to 1808 was the leader of the whites in Western Ohio during times of Indian outrages and dangers. The family finally settled near Jerusalem Cross Roads in Logan County in 1819. Kenton was pensioned by the United States government with $20 per month, retroactive to 1824. Kenton died on the Logan County farm, April 29, 1836. His remains were taken to Urbana, November 30, 1865, and interred in Oakdale Cemetery where the grave is marked by a monument, the work of John Quincy Ward. 404 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO The Piatts: In many respects the most colorful and interesting family in West Central Ohio. Of Huguenot descent; identified with banking, milling, law, the press, farming, literature and the military. French, Dutch and Irish, the Piatts have been in the thick of all wars and militantly on the side of the oppressed. Gen. Jacob Piatt served under Washington and Montgomery; his son, Benjamin M. Piatt, located in Logan County after a career as Ohio River merchant and lawyer. The Piatt mills at Mac-a-chack, Logan County, furnished many of the supplies for the American Army on the Canadian border in the War of 1812. B. M. Piatt was born in New Jersey, December 26, 1779, and died at Mac-a-chack, April 28, 1863. Gen. A. Sanders Piatt, son of Benjamin, was born in Cincinnati, May 2, 1821. He organized the first Zouave regiment in Ohio at the outbreak of the Civil War. He served under McClellan and Burnsides. He was nominated by the Greenbackers for governor. His contributions to the North American Review were marked by incisive style and clear thinking. Piatt Chateau, on the Mac-a-chack is so shielded by trees as to avoid the public gaze and few of those who visit Mac-ochee Castle know of the other chateau farther west. From the lower side of the Piatt Chateau, looking up, one sees five stories of stone with the remains of a moat formed by the one time mill race. Could one see Piatt Chateau from a front view at a distance it would be a more strike building than Mac-ochee Castle. The descendants of Gen. A. Sanders Piatt reside in the Chateau, the Misses Bertie and Marguerite Piatt, great-great-granddaughters of Gen. Jacob Piatt. Col. Donn Piatt, elder brother of A. Sanders, was born in Cincinnati, June 29, 1819, and educated in Urbana and St. Xavier, and was a pupil of Tom Corwin. He served in the Civil War and initiated the policy of enlisting negro slaves as soldiers, greatly to the embarrassment of Lincoln. This cost him further promotion. Piatt was indicted in 1876 for his statements in the Wash- HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 405 ington Capital. Author of "Memories of Men Who Saved the Union" and "Life of George Thomas." William Needham Whitely, inventor and manufacturer, was born on Charleston Road, three miles from Springfield, Clark County, 1835. He invented a combined self rake, reaper and mower in 1856; started manufacture of same that year under firm name of Whitely, Fassler and Kelly. He constructed Ohio Southern Railroad as supply route to his factory, late in the 70s. His factory in Springfield became one of the show places of the nation, and his products were known all over the world. At the height of his career his East Street shops were said to be second in size in the world to the Krupp Cannon Works in Germany. The Whitely shops covered eight acres, a good portion being a brick structure, five stories high. Whitely moved to Muncie, Indiana, in 1892, and started a factory in the gas field, but returned to Springfield in 1897 to found the Farmers Cooperative Reaper Company. He died in Springfield and his ashes after cremation were strewn on his daughter's grave in Ferncliff Cemetery. Whitley was a hero in the Saga of the Wheat. His deeds, physical, political and social are an undying topic in his section. Numerous noted men, born in West Central Ohio, achieved their distinction elsewhere. United States Senator P. B. Plumb of Kansas was born in Delaware County; Congressman Moses A. McCord, of Iowa, was born in Logan County; Congressman Robert Hitt, born in Urbana, was an Illinois congressman; Thomas B. Ward, Indiana congressman, was born in Marysville. Denver, Colorado, was named for General James W. Denver, who was reared in Wilmington, Clinton County. Denver was admitted to the bar while in Ohio. He later resided in Missouri and California. CHAPTER XLII INDIAN CHIEFS Little Turtle Me-she-kun-nogh-quah, Miami chief, son of Ke-qun-ac-quah, Miami chieftain. Little Turtle was born near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was about six feet tall, slender but muscular. Commander of allied Indians at Harmar's defeat and St. Clair's defeat. Defeated Major John Adair, Eaton, Ohio, November 6, 1792. Captured an eleven-year-old white boy, William Wells, in Kentucky, whom he adopted and who married his daughter, Wan-mau-ga-pith (Sweet Breeze), who had four children. Three of Little Turtle's great-grandchildren named Gilbert were living in Maumee, Ohio, in 1870. Little Turtle and Blue Jacket commanded the Indians at Fallen Timbers. There is a dispute as to whom the leadership was entrusted. It is claimed that Little Turtle opposed the battle until taunted with cowardice by Blue Jacket. Schoolcraft said of Little Turtle : "He was alike courageous and humane, possessing great wisdom. Few among the aborigines did so much to abolish the rites of human sacrifice." Colonel John Johnson, Indian agent at Piqua, Ohio, said : "Little Turtle was a man of great wit, humor and vivacity, fond of the company of gentlemen, and delighted in good eating. He would entertain us with war stories and adventures and would laugh heartily with us at the recital of them." Died in 1812, loyal to Americans, buried with military honors by United States troops. Captain Pipe, chief of the Delawares; Indian name, Kogieschquano-heel; chief of the Wolf tribe; first mentioned in 1764, - 407 - 408 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO Boquet's expedition; held as hostage; lived in Coshocton and later in Wyandot County; ranged over Delaware, Marion, and Morrow counties; bitterest enemy of Americans; fought in Harmar's and St. Clair's defeats. Died a few days before the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Captain Pipe was the implacable foe who sentenced Crawford to be burned and executed the sentence. The Prophet—Laulewasikau (The Loud Voice) Tenskawautawan (The Open Door), also called Elkswatawa, also 011iwachia, Ellsquatawa ; younger brother of Tecumseh (for family see Tecumseh), one of twins. Said by some to have been a triplet with Tecumseh. Probably took his religious ideas from Moravian and Shaker missionaries. Code was aimed at saving Indians from vices of their race and contamination from whites. Medicine man, interpreter of Great Spirit. Claimed to have been up in the clouds, to the gates of heaven, and was to reveal the Way, the Open Door, was to heal sickness, stay arm of death. Preached against witchcraft, drunkenness, mixed marriages, selling lands to whites or adopting their garments or customs. Urged return to simple life. His code and religion was an improvement upon Indian ways and deserving of credit, save that he used witchcraft as an excuse for putting his enemies out of his way as heretics. Located at Greenville, Darke County, drew delegations from far distant tribes. In 1808 located at Tippecanoe, Indiana. Had 1,000 warriors when Harrison marched against him, his braves led by White Loon, a Miami, and Stone Eater, a Pottawattamie. The Prophet claimed the bullets would rebound from the Indians while light would be around them and darkness upon their enemies. November 7, 1811, the Indians assaulted Harrison with fanatical bravery. Logan, Mingo chief, eldest son of Shikellimus or Shikellamy, born about 1710 in Oneida County, New York. Known as Tah- HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 409 gahjute, i. e., "Looking out under his lashes," i. e., a sharp fellow. First wife an Iroquois, a Cayuga, by whom he had children, the second a Shawnee, by whom he had no offspring. Logan was made sachem of the Shamokin Indians by the Iroquois and later became one of the ten sachems of the Cayugas, but called generally a Mingo since in his Ohio home he led the Mingo branch of the Cayugas. Logan's people, but not all of them, were massacred at Baker's Bottom, April 30, 1774, by Daniel Greathouse and a party of whites. Logan started what is known as Logan's War by raiding Virginia. Logan's speech at the close of Dunmore's War is an American classic. William Crawford and Simon Kenton raided and burned his town, where Columbus now is, in 1774. Logan moved to Pluggytown (Delaware) , then over to the headwaters of the Scioto in Hardin County, near Kenton, where he aided Kenton in 1778. He followed Bird into Kentucky and was at Ruddle's Station in 1780. About a year later he attended a council at Detroit, got drunk, struck his wife, thought he had killed her, and fled. Her relatives pursued him toward Sandusky and cornered Logan. He showed fight, and Tod Kandos, a relative, shot him dead. Wingenund (Win-gay-nooned) , war chief of Delawares, one of those burning Crawford to death, ranged Morrow and Delaware counties among other sections of Ohio. Tarhe the Crane, Wyandotte chief. Friend of the Americans, father-in-law of Isaac Zane. Born near Detroit, in 1742, of Porcupine tribe of the Wyandottes. Chief sachem of the tribe who were keepers of the grand calumet which bound the tribes in confederation. Signature leads all at Greenville Treaty in 1795. 410 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO William Henry Harrison : "The Crane is a venerable, intelligent upright man" ; again, "The Crane is the noblest of them all." Tall, lithe, wiry, capable of great endurance, at seventy-two years of age marched at head of warriors all through Harrison's campaign, which ended at the Thames. Opponent of Tecumseh from 1808 to 1812, holding many Indians to the American side. Mild of aspect, gentle save when aroused, then capable of stern command. Did not use tobacco or liquor. Merciful to captives. Fought under Cornstalk at Point Pleasant, wounded in arm at Fallen Timbers, only one of thirteen Wyandotte chiefs to escape. Resided at Lancaster, Fairfield County, and Upper Sandusky, also around Zanesfield, Logan County. Headed fifty chiefs and warriors June 21, 1813, who assured Harrison at council of Franklinton (Columbus) they would remain true to Americans. Died in November, 1818, at Crane Town, near Upper Sandusky. Grave unknown. Frank J. McColloch, who died in Bellefontaine in April, 1833, one time mayor of the city, was the great-great-grandson of Tarhee. Mr. McCulloch's great-grandmother was Myheera, daughter of the Crane, who married Isaac Zane, a white captive who returned to wed her after his release. Isaac Zane and Myheera are buried in a garden at Zanesfield, Logan County. Harry McColloch, Jackson, Michigan, and Frank McCulloch, New York, are sons of Frank McCulloch and descendants of Tarhe. The Montours.—Andrew Montour, interpreter, companion of Croghan and Gist, mentioned frequently in Western happenings. Andrew and Louis were sons of Catherine Montour and grandsons of Count de Fontenac through a Huron squaw. Catherine is supposed to have lived among the Miamis in her youth. She was squaw to Carondawana, or Big Tree, Oneida chief. Known as Madam Montour, she is said to have been socially prominent at Philadelphia and at many councils with the Indians, over whom   HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 411 she had great influence due to her birth, linguistic abilities and attractive personality. French Margaret is supposed to have been her daughter and a sister of Andrew's. French Margaret, who had towns named after her in Lancaster County, Ohio, and at the mouth of Lycoming Creek, Pennsylvania, was in turn the mother of "Queen Ester," the fiend of Wyoming. Andrew Montour had the love of finery characteristic of the breed and wore brass ornaments something like a basket handle suspended from his ears. Andrew was interpreter for Conrad Weiser at the Logtown Treaty of 1748, and for Gist at Lower Shawnee Town and Pickawillany. Some conception of Montour's diplomacy can be gathered from the fact that the Ohio Company gave him a bonus of 1,000 acres of land for his work at the council and the Indians made him one of their councillors and gave him a seat at their league councils in the Long House. Tecumseh, Tecumshe, Tecumtha, chief of the tribe variously written Chaouanons (French), Satanas (Iroquois), Shawanees, Shawanos and Shawnees (English). Tecumseh has a solid claim to being the greatest Indian in history. His claim to greatness, like Washington's, rests upon a well rounded perfection of savage abilities and character and not upon some particularly scintillating trait of mind or soul. Washington was surpassed by many of his contemporaries and successors as respects some one quality, but towered above them in the general average. Chief Joseph's retreat is a military classic, perhaps unmatched in the annals of war. If the conduct of a retreat is the severest test of a general, then Tecumseh's has nothing to match Joseph. The conspiracy of Pontiac shook the frontier and threatened it far more than the abortive one of Tecumseh. Pontiac as a statesman conceived as largely as Tecumseh and his conspiracy was 412 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO more original and hence a pattern for Tecumseh. The concerted attack on the forts, largely successful, showed a better control in Pontiac's case than in Tecumseh's. Cornstalk, with his Napoleonic stroke against Lewis at Point Pleasant, surpassed in swift conception and execution any single military act of Tecumseh. Logan was a greater orator and many an Indian chief may have matched the Shawnee in that respect. Where then does the greatness of Tecumseh emerge? His career displays a consistent elevation of ability, tenacity, humanity, individual prowess, statecraft and military leadership over a longer period and against greater odds than other Indian chieftain. It is in duration and elevation that Tecumseh surpasses his rival Indians. Pontiac sank into obscurity after the failure of his conspiracy. He had not the commanding present or spirit of Tecumseh. If the latter's conspiracy was abortive, it was through his brother, the Prophet, that the premature failure came. Tecumseh ignited the Creek War, which surpassed in some respects anything in Pontiac's conspiracy. Tecumseh's league was more far reaching than Pontiac's, it had more difficult and diverse elements to deal with. The white leaders who opposed Tecumseh's plans, William Henry Harrison and Andrew Jackson, were more able and had more abundant means and powerful forces than those who faced Pontiac. Joseph was a military chieftain and not a statesman. Cornstalk showed but one flash of genius, while Tecumseh was the animating genius of the British war in the West in 1812-13. Tecumseh cowed his followers; he scorned British officers who could not control the Indians. He was the only great Indian chief to whom it was granted or who chose to die dauntless in battle. He scorned and escaped the miserable or tame end of Pontiac, Logan, Cornstalk, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Little Turtle, King Philip, and Osceola. Tecumseh, the Shooting Star, went out in flame. HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 413 Finally he was magnanimous, humane and considerate as a warrior, knowing mercy, despising the torture of the stake. On the other hand, he ruled his women, than which there is no greater genius. He did not, as Ceasar and Anthony, succumb to a Cleopatra; he mastered the Indian's love of drink; handsome, dignified, athletic, eloquent, brave, sagacious, persistent, undaunted, but biding his time, he moved ever more loftily across the pages of history into heroic proportions and the deathlessness of enduring fame. Piqua, four miles southwest of Mad River, is the historically accepted spot. Drake, authority on Tecumseh, gives this place based on Anthony Shane and Duncan McArthur's statements. McArthur wrote to Drake (see 0. A. & H. Collections, Vol. XV, p. 495) on November 19, 1821: "When on the way from Greenville to Chillicothe, Tecumseh pointed out to us (Governor McArthur and Governor Thomas Worthington) the place where he was born; it was an old Shawnee town on the northwest side of Mad River about six miles below Springfield." John Johnston, Indian agent, gave the same location, and Johnston knew more Indian lore than any white man who ever lived in Ohio. E. 0. Randall, leading Ohio historian, quotes Stephen Ruddle, captured by Henry Bird at Ruddell's Station in 1780 and adopted into Tecumseh's family, who married a Shawnee squaw, lived with the Indians, became a Baptist minister. C. B. Galbreath accepts the Drake, Randall, Johnston, Ruddell, Shane McArthur-Tecumseh version. Galbreath and Randall devoted their lives to a study of Ohio history. Per contra there is Ben Kelly's statement Tecumseh was born at Saxon's Lot, near Xenia, close by a spring thereon. Kelly was one of the saltmakers captured by Blackfish. Dr. William Galloway of Xenia was the main advocate of this latter location. It was given to the writer to know Dr. Galloway and to have talked on numerous occasions with him. Dr. Galloway in the writer's opinion was eager, zealous, dogmatic, indefatigable 414 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO and almost fanatical in his quest of material to support—Dr. Galloway's opinions. He appeared to fit the facts to his theories rather than to fit his theories to the facts. The writer has known him to be equally dogmatic and positive concerning other historical matters such as the route of Bowman in 1779, the removal of the Absentee Shawnees to the West, and made the preposterous statement that the Battle of Piqua in 1780 could not have been of any dimensions, since the Shawnees in the main no longer resided there. Doctor Galloway at this conference stated Blackfish had not been killed in Bowman's attack on Chillicothe in 1779, but died many years later in a raid on Kentucky, a statement which has been treated elsewhere. Of six flat statements controverting the writer, a careful and exhaustive recheck showed the Doctor right on one, the route of Logan in 1786 ; absolutely wrong on Bowman, 1779 ; absolutely wrong about Battle of Piqua (see Clark) ; right about removal of a portion of the Shawnees, but wrong about the number and importance of the migration, and with the weight of authority overwhelmingly against him on the death of Blackfish and the birthplace of Tecumseh. Doctor Galloway claimed to have obtained a statement from Thomas (Wildcat) Alford to the effect that a tribal tradition among the Shawnees placed Tecumseh's birthplace where the Doctor wanted it to be, i. e., near the Xenia water station. Doctor Galloway had entertained Alford three weeks prior to the announcement. Members of the Clark County Historical Society, who had similar dealings with Alford, expressed to the writer the opinion that Alford would obligingly locate the birthplace anywhere sufficient entertainment and largess were forthcoming. George W. Winger, treasurer of the society, stated to the writer that when the George Rogers Clark monument at Piqua battlefield was dedicated in 1924, the society agreed to pay Thomas Alford's expenses to the ceremonies as a descendant of Tecumseh's. Alford showed, Winger stated, the letter to an Okla- HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 415 homa bank, borrowed fifty dollars on the strength of the letter, and also collected the expense at the Springfield end, the Oklahoma bank writing in for their assigned expense money divulging the double collection. A. L. Slager, secretary, Mr. Winger, treasurer, and W. W. Keifer, president of the society, stated that Alford had attended the ceremonies, heard the place described as the birthplace of Tecumseh, occupied a position of honor in the celebration, acquiesced in the inscription on the monument, and never intimated any Shawnee legend to the contrary. There is then the statement of Tecumseh to a later governor of Ohio as against an alleged statement of a great-grandson to Doctor Galloway and with Alford's reliability questioned by reputable men conversant with his actions. When Tecumseh was born, and until thirty-five years later, no importance was attached to him by the Shawnees. They were a nomadic people under almost constant shifts. They attached no importance to birthplaces; in the years following the birth of Tecumseh they had momentous disasters to engage their minds. Very few white men in a land of literacy, written records and emphasis on family life can tell where their great-grandfathers were born. The writer once attended a Rotary Club banquet in Springfield and heard a modern Sioux relate the traditions of his tribe. He seemed so labored and ill at ease that the writer suspected the spontaneity of the lecture. He looked into School-craft's work on the Indians and found the material worded for the Indian long before the Sioux was born, and the wordage of the Sioux was the wordage of Schoolcraft, not after the fashion of tribal traditions. One of the things a newspaper training gives a man is a nose for discrepancies. The writer was once tipped while on the Urbana beat of the Springfield Sun concerning a man who had come home from the West with large tales of Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, Texas Joe, etc. The interview proceeded 416 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO smoothly until the query was given, "Did you ever hunt buffalo?" Answer, "Oh, yes, killed em many a time." Innocently, "What type of gun did you use?" A look of perplexity that stirred suspicion, then offhand, "I used a Krag-Jorgensen rifle." Interest in that interview died right there, the Krag not having come into use until the Spanish-American war period, fifteen years after buffalo hunting had ceased on the plains. Descendants of alleged pioneers often come into newspaper offices with large tales of their forefathers which are full of anachronisms. Such are publicity hounds with garbled readings of old prints. Tecumseh, according to Drake and Slane, was born of the Kiscapocoke clan of the Shawnees of which his father, Puckeshinwa or Puckishenoah, was chief by merit. The mother was Methoataska, "a turtle laying eggs in the sand." It is claimed she was Creek, which has been denied, but Tecumseh always had audience and influence among the Creeks. The oldest son was Cheeseekau, who fought at Point Pleasant, where the father was killed, leaving Tecumseh to his brother's care. This brother was killed on a trip to the South with Tecumseh about 1787-8. Sauwaseekau, the second brother, was killed at the side of Tecumseh at Fallen Timbers, in 1794. Of Nehaseemo, the third brother, little is known. Tecumapease, the sister, was a woman of unusual beauty and attractiveness and Tecumseh was fond of her, she in turn adoring her brother. Kumshaukauand and Taulewasikau (The Prophet) were the youngest and twins. By Mamate, Tecumseh had a son, Pugeshashenwa, from whom come down descendants in Oklahoma to this day. Descendants of James Galloway, Greene County, claim Tecumseh was smitten with the charms of Rebecca Galloway. At this period Tecumseh was said to have indulged in sprees but to have been generally good natured, although not always pacific at such times. Mamate was half white and was divorced in a short time when she was unable to make him a paint pouch. His second wife was divorced for serving to his guests a turkey with pin feathers. His last HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 417 wife was Wabeleganequa, or White Wing, whom he married in 1802 and divorced in 1807. The Indian divorce consisted in handing the wife a present and saying the equivalent of "Scram," "Pull your freight," "Beat it," "Make yourself scarce." Tecumseh's wives are said to have adored him. William Hatch, an officer under Hull at Hull's surrender, saw Tecumseh at that time as he watched with lofty and supercilious disdain the American surrender. Hatch says : "The personal appearance of this remarkable man was uncommonly fine. His height was about five feet nine inches; his face oval rather than angular, his nose handsome and straight, his mouth beautifully formed like that of Napoleon, his eyes clear, transparent hazel, with a mild, pleasant expression when in repose or in conversation; but, when excited in his orations or by the enthusiasms of conflict, or when angry, they appeared like balls of fire, his teeth beautifully white, and his complexion more of a light brown or tan than red; his limbs straight; he always stood very erect and walked with a brisk, elastic step . . . presented in his appearance and noble bearing one of the finest looking men I have ever seen." When Tecumseh went to Chillicothe in 1803 with McArthur and Worthington, Governor Tiffin presided at the conference. He says of Tecumseh's speech : "When Tecumseh rose to speak, as he cast his eye over the multitude which the interesting occasion had drawn together, he appeared one of the most dignified men I have ever beheld." (And Tiffin had seen Washington.) "While this orator of nature was speaking the vast crowd preserved the most profound silence." Randall says Tecumseh almost certainly must have been at Blue Licks Crossing in 1782. He almost certainly was not. He was but fourteen at the time and the Wyandottes and not the Shawnees followed Caldwell to that battle. He may have seen the two Piqua fights and the one at Mac-a-chack. His first warpath was to the Ohio, where he witnessed the burning of a prisoner with abhorrence and loathing. He made 418 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO a fiery speech, vowing he would never take part in or permit it when he could prevent such cruelties. His instructions afterwards when in command were : "Kill the enemy, leave none to be captured, but if prisoners fall into your hands, treat them humanely." He went South with Cheeseekau in 1787, met the Southern tribes, distinguished himself and returned to Mad River in 1790 and went on to the Auglaize. He arrived after the defeat of Harmar. He scouted ,the advance of St. Clair but is said not to have been in the battle. After St. Clair's defeat, Tecumseh led border forays, fighting Simon Kenton twice, once on Paint Creek and once on the east forks of the Little Miami. Near the Big Rock in Miami County, between Piqua and Loramie Creek, he was attacked by sixty whites and barely escaped with his life. At Fallen Timbers, Tecumseh was in the van but getting excited put his bullet down before his powder, he obtained a fowling piece and headed the rear guard. In the peace interval after the Greenville Treaty, Tecumseh rose to power, being principal speaker at councils north of Urbana, 1799; Chillicothe, 1803; Springfield, 1807. He had lived in what is Champaign County, 1795-96, on what is said to have been Deer Creek. There is no Deer Creek in this county but a Buck Creek. Here he distinguished himself as a hunter; he was also busy opposing the Greenville Treaty at this time. He went to Piqua, in Miami County, in 1796, and to the head of White Water, 1797, removing in 1798 to White River, Indiana, among the Delawares. The Prophet began to fulminate about this time. The two divided the leadership, one being the priest and the other the statesman. The Shawnees united at Greenville, Darke County, where a council was held in 1807. Something like the ghost dancing of 1890 was going on at Greenville and the conspiracy to unite against the whites originated there. The two brothers removed to Tippecanoe, in Indiana, in 1808. In August, 1810, Tecumseh defied William Henry Harrison at Vincennes and went East and HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 419 South to arouse the tribes. He went South in August, 1811, and stayed six months and traversed Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas. When part of the Creeks proved indifferent, he warned them he would stamp on the ground when he got to Detroit and they would hear him. The great earthquake of New Madrid seemed to the Creeks to fulfill the threat. November 7, 1811, William Henry Harrison crushed the Prophet at Tippecanoe and with him fell Tecumseh's dream. It is claimed he threatened to kill the Prophet for his premature battle. When the War of 1812 threatened, Tecumseh joined the British in Canada and led the Indians at Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson and on to the River Thames, where he was killed at the head of the Indians. With him fell the Indian resistance to Americans. The long fight begun at Braddock's Field ended at the Thames, October 5, 1813. From July 9, 1755, to October 5, 1813, is fifty-eight years. The heart and soul of the Indian resistance were the Shawnees, and the heart and soul of the Shawnees had mounted into Tecumseh. The white advance had curled around Western Ohio and Indiana and reached the Mississippi and had flowed on into Missouri, it had found the Oregon country. Lewis and Clark had crossed the continent while this stubborn Shawnee rock had barred the road north of the Ohio. When Tecumseh fell one of the greatest fights of a handful of people against resistless might was over. An era had ended. What Vercengetorix was to the Gauls, Tecumseh was to the Indians. With less than a thousand warriors the Shawnee had put iron in the Indian heart for fifty-eight years, with a mere handful of men this people had barred the door and held the road in the face of the westward march of the American people. With scarce more warriors than were behind Leonidas at Thermopylae, the Shawnees had held the wide northern pass not for a day but for half a century. Not theirs to fall in a fruitless fight but believing that he 420 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO "Who fights and runs away may live to fight another day," they had applied their peculiar tactics in company with their fellow Indians and evolved a style of fighting which changed the history of the world. The North American Indian changed the European style of fighting to one of trench warfare. Alexander proved that class not mass counted. His phalanx stood as the ultimate until there came Roman legion with its short sword, pilum and night walled camp. With modifications this formation reigned until the armored knight rode into the scene, and he in turn gave way before the sleet of the long bow. Gunpowder brought new formations and Napoleon ushered in the day of massed cannonfire. Lee, at Richmond, confronted by overwhelming numbers, began to apply the long lesson learned by two hundred years of Indian warfare; that it is foolish to stand out in the open and be shot but that it is wisdom to take cover. The mobility and personal initiativeness learned from the Indian style of warfare coupled by the instinct to take instant cover had permeated the white race. It had at last learned to adapt tactics to terrain. Lee dug in and held Grant until he lost his line of supplies at Petersburg. Europe ignored the lesson but it finally dawned upon the Balkans, who were a bit like the Indians. Germany ignored the new tactics until defeated at the Marne, then dug in. The open, filtering advance that developed during the World War was the Indian style. The Indian was the best tactician ever developed. Otherwise with a handful of men he could not have held up the march of the world westward. West Central Ohio in no small measure gave the world much of its military art. In Tecumseh it produced the greatest Indian, the greatest Ohioan and one of the greatest patriots of all time. Who killed him? Read Collins, Vol. 2, pp. 403-410, and be bewildered. Colonel R. M. Johnson? Anthony Shane thought so. Shabona, Pottawattomie chief, saw the death of Tecumseh and HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 421 said it was not Johnson. Chamblee, a chief, described the man who shot Tecumseh as mounted on a spotted horse. Johnson's horse was white. Four Legs and Carymaunee, chiefs, testified Tecumseh was never out of the covert and fell at the first fire with thirty bullets. Black Hawk said Tecumseh fell at the charge of the Kentucky cavalry as he rose to fire. That his body was not flayed but that of a Pottawattomie chief nearby was. David King, a private soldier, claimed the honor of killing the chief and said he had fired two bullets into Tecumseh. The body said to be Tecumseh's had the two bullets according to officers of the army. Colonel William Robinson claimed Tecumseh shot William Whitley, the famous scout, and David King shot Tecumseh immediately. Many soldiers of the Second Kentucky claimed it was David Gooding fired the fatal shot. Peter Navarre said he helped bury Tecumseh at command of Harrison and he was not flayed. Dr. Samuel Theobald said he took Anthony Shane, the Shawnee half-breed, to the body of a flayed chief and it was not Tecumseh's. Captain Ben Warfield found a British soldier, Clark, who lay wounded close to where Tecumseh fell. Clark claimed the Indians came at night and carried the body away. Abraham Scribner, Greenville, Ohio, declared he walked over the battlefield the next morning and met a spectator of William Whitley's death, and that first Whitley shot an Indian identified as Tecumseh, and was shot in turn. Collins sifted the evidence which was in much detail and inclined to the belief that Colonel Johnson could not have and Whitley probably did kill Tecumseh. The razor strap story is based upon the flaying of some chief supposed to be Tecumseh but probably a big Pottawattomie, killed by Johnson. Considering the Indian character, the story Tecumseh was removed at night and buried in a hidden grave is worthy of consideration. He is one of the few men of whom it could have been said without pathos : 422 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO "No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Nor in sheet nor shroud we wound him, But he lay like a warrior taking his rest With his martial cloak around him." Hackneyed "Banal." Then in the elegant Western parlance let it be said "The gent died with his boots on." The Shooting Star passed in a burst of flame that obscured his passing. Buckinghelas-Bockongahelas-Bockingilla, noted war chief of the Delawares, mentioned by Judge Burnet in Notes on the Northwest Territory. According to Mitchener's Ohio Annals, Buckinghelas was identical with Shingash, famed Indian chief of Pennsylvania. Mitchener claims Post, the missionary, met Shingash in 1758 at Kuskuskee, below Fort Pitt. At this time there was a bounty of $700 on Shingash's head due to his depredations on the Pennsylvanian frontier. Fearing capture, Shingash is said to have fled westward to the Tuscarawas towns, where Heckewelder found him in 1762, foremost in opposing Post and Heckewelder. He entered into Pontiac's conspiracy and led his warriors of the Turtle clan of the Delawares against Fort Pitt. After the fall of Pontiac he retired to the Miami and Sandusky country, but returned to Gnadenhutten in 1781 to demand the surrender of the Christian Indians. He applied for shelter to the British after the battle of Fallen Timbers but was refused and then foreswore allegiance to England, denounced the British as liars and advocated peace with the Americans at the Greenville Treaty. Mitchener tells a romantic story of Shingash's wife, a white captive of great beauty and education, who nursed Heckewelder at the Tuscarawas town. Being warned by Thomas Calhoun, a trader, Heckewelder abandoned his cabin and slept at Calhoun's. Heckewelder's house was broken into. Tradition has it the warning was given by Shingash's white wife, who died soon after and HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 423 was buried with great ceremonial. Heckewelder speedily left the country and did not marry for eighteen years. It was claimed Shingash had poisoned his wife with the May apple. Mitchener's book contains too much legend and garbled accounts to be taken as absolute authority. He placed the death of Buckongahelas at Wapakonneta in 1804, at the age of 104. Tom Lewis, Shawnee chief, demoted for drunkenness, fought against Americans in all northwestern battles until the treaty of Greenville. One of Indian deputation to Washington, 1797. Was among party capturing Johnston, Skyles, Flinn and Miss Fleming, in 1790. Lewis removed with some Shawnees to the West, probably Missouri. Messhawa, Shawnee chief, leader in war party in 1790 which captured Johnston, Skyles, Flinn and Miss Fleming near mouth of Scioto, also several other flatboat parties. Savior of Johnston and two white children on march to Sandusky and Miami towns. Fought at Fallen Timbers, River Raisin, Tippecanoe, and likely at St. Clair's Defeat (see Henry Howe, Vol. 2, Mercer County, for latter incident), follower of Tecumseh, supposed to have been killed at River Thames. Noble and compassionate character. Moluntha, Shawnee chief, called King by several early writers, as distinct from Blackfish, Blackhoof and other war chiefs. Accompanied Shawnee war party that besieged Boonesborough, August 8, 1778 (see Collins, Vol. 2, p. 664). Headed Shawnees at Fort Finney Treaty, in January, 1786 (see James' Life of Clark, p. 335). Married Grenadier Squaw, sister of Cornstalk (see Howe, Vol. 2, Ohio Collections; McClung's Western Adventures, p. 118; also Vol. XXII, Ohio A. and H. Collections, p. 520). Attempted to keep the peace according to Fort Finney Treaty but outvoted in council (see Butterfield's Girty's, p. 236). Killed by Major Hugh McGary at Moluntha's Town, near West Liberty, 424 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO Logan County, November 17, 1786. Probably buried at West Liberty or nearby. Butterfield relates an anecdote of Moluntha (Life of Girty's, p. 236) which shows his humanity. He sheltered and commiserated with Mary Moore, a captive, and treated her with kindness. Blackfish, Shawnee war chief. Resident at Chillicothe, Greene County, Ohio. Led Shawnee invasion of Kentucky, spring of 1777. March, 1777, led party of forty-seven warriors in attack on wood choppers (see Collins, Vol. 2, p. 611) . Besieged Harrodsburg, March 7, 1777 ; besieged Boonesborough, August 7, 1778. Captured Boone and saltmakers at Lower Blue Licks, February, 1778; adopted Boone, March, 1778; killed during Bowman's retreat from Chillicothe, June, 1779. Blackfish was head chief at Chillicothe when Kenton was taken there a captive in the fall of 1778. He gave Kenton a good lashing for stealing Indian horses. In general seemed a brave, generous and rather merciful Indian, witness his treatment of Boone and the saltmakers and his adoption of Boone; may have been just a war chief as distinct from Moluntha, head sachem. Blackfish is probably buried at Oldtown, Greene County, Ohio. Blue Jacket, Shawnee chief, must have succeeded Moluntha when latter was killed, in November, 1786. Blue Jacket's town was at Bellefontaine, Logan County. This town was destroyed by Logan in November, 1786. His Indian name was Weyapiersensaw. Rev. 0. M. Spencer, who saw him at the later Blue Jacket's Town on the Maumee below the mouth of the Auglaize, described him as follows: "Six feet high, finely proportioned, stout, muscular; his eyes, large, bright and piercing; his forehead, broad and high; his nose, acquiline; his mouth, rather wide; and his countenance, open and intelligent, expressive of firmness and decision. Considered one of the most brave and accomplished of the Indian chiefs. Second only to Little Turtle and Buckongahelas." HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 425 Blue Jacket had signalized himself in defeating Colonel John Hardin in Harmar's expedition and at St. Clair's Defeat. Some historians claimed he overruled Little Turtle at Fallen Timbers and took the leadership and forced the battle. At Spencer's visit Blue Jacket wore a scarlet frock, richly laced with gold, confined at the waist with a parti-colored sash, red leggins and ornamented moccasins. Gold epauletts adorned his shoulders and silver bracelets his arms. A massive silver gorget with a medallion of George III hung on his chest. His two sons, then eighteen and twenty, were educated by the British and were very intelligent; his daughters, fairer than Indian maidens, were handsome, and his wife remarkably fine looking. After Fallen Timbers, Blue Jacket wanted to sue for peace, but Alexander McKee denounced him as having deranged all plans for protecting the Indians. Blue Jacket had been receiving half the pay of a British brigadier-general. Blue Jacket nevertheless signed the Greenville Treaty. It is frequently asserted and generally conceded that Blue Jacket was a white man, named Marmaduke Sweringen, that he and his brother were captured as small children and his brother released later. If so, it is an interesting commentary on Indian and white inheritances that Little Turtle, the Indian, wanted to pursue the Fabian tactics at Fallen Timber, true to long schooling in Indian warfare, while Blue Jacket, the white man, hotly flung the charge of cowardice and demanded the locking of horns, the grip of battle after the fashion of Viking, Berserker blood. Big Cat, or Machengive Pushis, Delaware chief, resident on the Auglaize River, 1791-95 (see Bricknell's Narrative of American Pioneers, Vol. 1, p. 46). Sent as ambassador to Western tribes by other Ohio Indians at time of Fort Finney Treaty, 1785. Signed Fort Finney Treaty. Delivered pathetic address to Bricknell when the latter, his adopted son, decided to leave him when the choice was given by Big Cat. "I have raised you; I have 426 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO learned you to hunt; you are a good hunter; you have been better to me than any of my sons; I am now getting old and I can not hunt; I thought you would be my support in my old age; I leaned on you as on a staff; now, it is broken; you are going to leave me and I have no right to say a word, but I am ruined." Saying which, Big Cat sank back in his seat in tears. Tetepachksi, "the Glaze King," Delaware chief, resident on the Auglaize, who signed Fort Finney Treaty. Accused by the Prophet as being a witch doctor and tomahawked and body burned by the tribe in consequence. The Prophet disposed of rivals in such fashion. Aweecony, war chief of the Shawnees at Fort Finney Treaty, resided at Wapatomica. Leader of warriors as contrasted to Moluntha, the oldest chief. His name led Moluntha on the treaty. Kekewepellethy, Shawnee chief, resident at Wapatomica. Principal speaker for Shawnees at Fort Finney Treaty. Name on treaty led Moluntha's. Latter's title of "King" probably courtesy one given to his venerable age. History of West Central Ohio By ORTON G. RUST IN THREE VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED VOLULME TWO HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 1934 History of West Central Ohio CHAPTER XLIII TRANSPORTATION EARLY CONDITIONS-RIVER TRANSPORTATION-COMING OF CANALS-RAILROADS -AVIATION - NATIONAL ROAD-FLATBOATS-NAVIGATION ON THE OHIO-HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. Internal improvements in West Central Ohio began with roads. Cost of construction was from the state's share of five per cent of the proceeds of the sale of public lands. Three per cent was divided among the counties and two per cent was used on the National Pike. West Central Ohio did not directly share in the first public improvement in the state; the public salt works on the Scioto in Jackson County, established by the first Legislature, but many settlers from West Central Ohio would ride down to the salt works and buy salt at $3 a bushel, which in turn they peddled to their neighbors at about $7 the bushel. Since there were no railroads, canals or turnpikes in the early days, the only outlet for West Central Ohio was either to the Ohio River or Lake Erie by flatboat. Judge Burnet thought the building of barges for the Ohio-Mississippi by cutting freight rates from New Orleans down to $5 or $6 a hundred marked a new epoch in commercial history for this section. On the other hand - 435 - 436 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO the rush of flat boat traffic at the freshet period glutted the New Orleans market so that the freight ate up the total price received when pork was $4 to $5 a barrel and wheat $3 a bushel. The steamboat changed this but it was the river counties which benefitted. The reason why West Central Ohio developed so slowly was its lack of water routes. There was but little trade, each family was largely self-sustaining and life remained primitive. By 1822 the road building had progressed to the extent that 600 wagons were traveling the National Pike west of Wheeling, but roads in West Central Ohio were largely traces rather than highways, morasses in fall, winter and spring. Hence the crying need for transportation brought about the canals. George Washington who was rich in western lands brought up the canal suggestion in 1773; Manasseh Cutler used the idea in 1787 for some fancy land selling propaganda of the Ohio Company. United States Senator Thomas Worthington, February 28, 1807, brought in a resolution for opening roads and canals out of which came the National Pike. Ohio in a resolution of the General Assembly, January 15, 1812, backed the Erie Canal and declared the United States should bear the cost. Gov. Ethan Allen Brown, December 14, 1818, urged the location of a canal between the Ohio and Lake Erie. This was dubbed "Brown's Folly," yet later generations have called Governor Brown "Father of the Ohio Canals." The Legislature provided for the appointment of three canal commissioners and asked the national government for a donation of public lands near the canal; the government did not act; neither did the state commissioners. February 2, 1822, a bill authorizing examination and estimates on four of several routes was passed by the Legislature. Two of these, one from the Maumee and the other from Sandusky Bay were through West Central Ohio. James Geddes, engineer on the Erie Canal, made the survey. Jeremiah Morrow of Warren County, was one of the seven canal commissioners. HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 437 By act of January 27, 1823, the canal commissioners were authorized among other things to apply for donations of right of way. Two canals were recommended, one the Maumee-Miami route and the other the Muskingum route. The Legislature appropriated $6,000 for the survey of the Sandusky-Scioto route in addition. (Act of February 24, 1823). More than half the route of the Maumee-Miami canal was through a dense forest, there being not one house between Saint Mary's and where Defiance now stands. This route was estimated to cost $2,502,494. The partisans of the canals, schools and more equitable taxation triumphed at the polls in October, 1824, and on February 4, 1825, was passed the act for canal construction which in turn marked the beginning of the state debt. The Cincinnati-Dayton portion of the Miami-Maumee route was authorized first in Western Ohio, Judge David S. Bates being made principal engineer. The money was raised by a Wall Street syndicate after a two day and one night session in which John Jacob Astor sat. They demanded concessions from the state and received them. Gov. DeWitt Clinton of New York, officiated at the opening ceremonies of the Maumee-Miami route, turning the first spade at Middletown, July 21, 1825. En route Clinton visited Springfield where he was entertained by Charles Anthony and was also entertained at Dayton. Some forty-two miles were opened that year on the Miami canal. Wages were $8 a month and board but this rose to the unprecedented level of $12 and $15. However, much of this pay was in depreciated banknotes. The laborers lodged in shanties ; the malarial ground produced the "Shakes" and the men received three "Jiggerfuls" of whiskey per day and could get more at 20 cents the gallon. By July the bilious and malarial fevers broke down the laborers so that work was held up until frost. Farmers and their sons were reinforced by Irish and German immigrants, the beginning of the foreign born in West Central Ohio. The first section of the Miami canal, from Cincinnati to Middletown, was opened November 28, 1827, and the canal was corn- 438 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO pleted as far as Dayton by 1830. Dayton thus became something approximating a sea port and received her first great impetus. One could go to Dayton and journey away toward the world's end at the speed of three miles per hour, more than four miles being prohibited. Congress aided the work north of Dayton by the act of May 24, 1828, which granted to Ohio land equal to one-half of the ten sections wide along the canal from Dayton to the mouth of the Auglaize (Defiance) and 500,000 additional acres for the whole state system. By hooking on the Wabash-Erie canal of Indiana, Ohio received a grant of 292,224 acres, making a grand total of 1,230,525. In January, 1829, the commissioners reported that water from the Miami River could not be used north of Piqua and the reservoir plan was recommended. The weather was most unfavorable at this period, streams had to be damned, there was much sickness among the laborers. The surveyors and engineers were hampered by lack of proper instruments for leveling. Samuel Forrer, one of the engineers, invented a simple leveling instrument which helped greatly. Of twenty-eight engineers and assistants employed six years on Ohio canals, eight died from hardship and exposure. Morasses rated as impossible were traversed, conditions demanding that quinine be taken as food. Laborers had it scarcely less hard. It was a pick and shovel job without dredges, horse scrapers or scoops. It was 1840 before the canal reached Piqua, and in 1846 it arrived at Defiance where it struck the Wabash-Erie. The four largest reservoirs had cost $122,000, and covered 280,000 acres. Receipts were slow in rising but shot upward when the canal was completed reaching $115,000 in 1846. The total cost of the Miami canal was $4,187,965 for 189 miles. Passengers paid five cents the mile; the peak of receipts was in 1851 with $350,000. Operations were hampered by flood, freezes, the latter numbering one freeze of seven weeks. Repairs, silt, etc., necessitated drawing off water at frequent intervals. HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 439 The canal carried out ice, flour, corn, whiskey, pork, wood, lumber and farm produce. Groceries, hardware, dry goods, machinery and heavy materials came into the country in return. Receipts began dropping so that by 1861 the canal was leased to private bidders for $20,075 annually for ten years. The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad doomed the Miami canal and early in the Twentieth Century it was abandoned. One of the marked results of the canals was a rise in the assessed property of the canal counties as compared with the non-canal counties and the latter it must be remembered also tapped the canals by wagon road. Scarcely had the canals begun to appear until their Nemesis the railroad arrived to undo them with its speed and ramifying connections. The railroad was not limited to a few streams but could and did wind up river bottoms to the divide and swoop and loop in all directions until it covered the land like a spider web. As early as 1832 the state had chartered thirteen railroads. The importance of transportation can not be overestimated. The land literally lay prone until the railroads and canals reached in as would a helping hand to raise the prostrate commerce of the land onto its feet. Banks, railroads, canals and schools, kept West Central Ohio busy from 1830 to 1850. They absorbed the time, strength and energy of the public but in return became the mainstays of the commonwealth. The Mercer County reservoir was built in 1841. It contained 18,000 acres and was claimed to be the largest artificial lake in the world. It supplied the Miami canal from Saint Mary's to Defiance. Loramie Reservoir was constructed in 1844. It provided for the Summit level north to Saint Marys and south to the Sidney Feeder. The Lewiston Reservoir was the last one built and occupied the site of the Indian Lake which was enlarged to cover 1,000 acres. In 1856-60 this area was increased to 6,000 acres. The Warren County Canal was started by private enterprise in 1834 from Middletown to Lebanon. The state took it over in 440 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO 1836 and completed it in 1838. It was unprofitable and was abandoned in 1847. On the main line of the Maumee-Miami canal it took two days to make a round trip from Fay on to Cincinnati and the Dayton Journal of 1832 estimated that 1,000 passengers used the canal every week. The first railroad chartered in Ohio was in 1832 from Sandusky to Dayton. It was completed to Bellevue by 1839 but was not the first railroad in operation in Ohio since the Kalamazoo and Erie was finished from Toledo to Adrian first. The Sandusky railroad was finished and put in operation in 1844. The state loaned $200,000 and authorized counties and cities to bond themselves to subscribe, Springfield being authorized to subscribe $25,000. Construction of the railroads gutted the woods of good timber. The best trees were felled and hewn for sleepers on which was nailed or spiked down a flat strap iron, five-eighths inches thick and two and one-half inches wide. This was the rail. The first coaches looked like double decked stage coaches and travelled ten miles an hour with a passenger rate of four and one-half cents per mile. Freight was 25 cents a ton per mile. By 1848 a road from Cincinnati to Lake Erie was completed and by 1851 the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati was put in operation. Advertisements of the Columbus & Xenia Railroad printed in 1853 show there were no Sunday trains, that the trip from Columbus to Cincinnati took about five hours and night operation of the trains was avoided. The highways which fed these canals and railroads did not begin to reach the gravelled stage until 1838, when a turnpike was in construction from Cincinnati to Xenia. Caleb Atwater, historian of that time argued that if the stockholders got dividends the roads would go to ruin and if the roads were kept in repair the stockholders would receive no net earnings. However the toll pike continued to grow from that period onward since the railroad and canal gave it some place to reach. HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 441 Also the custom of working out a poll tax on the roads gradually lifted the by-roads out of the mire but it took a century and the automobile to really accomplish a substantial network of local roads which were available in fall, spring and winter. For the first 125 years West Central Ohio roads were like the Missouri River, not thin enough to swim in and not thick enough to walk on. There was another and more striking innovation growing up and overlapping the automobile, as has been the case in every system of travel or public transportation system where one or more develops side by side, each reaching a period of maximum use yet allowing its predecessors room or utilizing them as feeders. Aviation and its companion flying fields did not develop a system of aerial travel immediately following the invention of the airplane by the Wrights. It remained for the World War to lift flight from the circus stunt and experimental phase to one of practical possibilities. Since Dayton had produced the Wrights and the broad flat areas of Mad River Valley were suitable for landing, the United States Government during the war established a flying field at Fairfield, beginning the creation of what was eventually the largest flying field in the world. This occurred when the Wilbur Wright Field, started May, 1917, the old McCook Field, and additional acreage donated by 525 Dayton citizens was combined into the new Wilbur Wright Field with an area of 4,550 acres, the dedication taking place with elaborate ceremonies, October 11, 1927. Due to the public spirit and adventurousness of C. F. Greiner and E. E. Greiner, two young Springfield manufacturers who held to flying as a sport and hobby, Springfield had its Municipal Airport opened in July, 1928. The Little-Greiner Flying Service stocked the field and in October, 1928, the city commission erected the hangar and a second one in June, 1929. In the spring of 1929, this field was constituted an air mail stop. During the CWA program of 1933 this field was improved by the addition of runways 442 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO and grading until at the present writing its facilities are the equal of any municipal field in the state. In the interval between 1927 and 1933 several sectional and transcontinental air routes began operating regularly between Louisville and Cleveland and from coast to coast, crossing West Central Ohio territory by several routes. The drone of the air passenger ship had become an accustomed part of life and scarcely lifted the eyes of the pedestrian after 1930-3. Keeping pace with the evolution of the air packet, came the transformation in travel and freightage on the land due to the network of paved roads. Through bus lines and truck routes began to become a serious threat to the traction lines and railroads in the 1920-1930 period. One by one the traction lines which had been built in the period of the late '90s and on into the earlier years of the Twentieth Century folded up and were abandoned so that by 1933 there remained but one main traction system in West Central Ohio, the C. L. and E., which had grown out of the I. C. and E, and earlier the Ohio Electric, that in turn having its beginning with the D. S. and U. in 1899. The railroads likewise began abandoning some of their trackage and curtailing schedules due to the bus and truck competition. Whereas the stations of the railroads had been scenes of constant activity in the decades of the '80s, 90s, 00s, 10s and early 20s, these depots became comparatively deserted and the streets of cities which had heard the rumble of the constantly coming and going traction car, saw it usurped by the bus lines with their cars threading the automobile traffic while for a time the traction lines in desperation, resorted to hauling freight so that Springfield, Lima, Dayton, Urbana, Piqua, Troy, Sidney and other traction cities saw the equivalent of freight trains dragged through their main streets, a cause of much complaint and indignation. By 1933 the ubiquitious bus had begun to crowd the street cars off the city streets, Springfield going to an entire bus system HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 443 in December, 1933. Everywhere in 1933 the bus and truck were crowding their rail competitors much as the latter had the earlier canals. Hovering over all, only awaiting the coming of the cheaper airplane for general competition and already crowding the railroad on the long haul, soared the transcontinental planes, fed with shuttle systems such as the Little-Greiner Flying Service inaugurated regularly in 1933 between Dayton and Columbus. NATIONAL ROAD IN WEST CENTRAL OHIO The National Road in West Central Ohio shared the general color of that thoroughfare. Fast expresses called "Shakeguts" sped from tavern to tavern. There were four to six-horse coaches carrying the "Big Wigs," horsemen carrying the mail, groups afoot, droves of cattle and swine, and the rumble of the Conestoga wagon westward, all blended together in a people upon the march. The haughty Jehu cracking his whip above four to six horses drew the fabulous salary of $21 a month. For this amount he was responsible for the run even though he might have to quarter his passengers at a tavern in case of breakdown and gallop his fastest horse many miles for repairs, bringing back craftsmen to fix his coach on the spot. Keepers of the toll gates, by the law of 1832, drew $180 per year, but by 1836 this jumped to $200, and five per cent of all tolls over $1,000. You could go free to church, to funerals, to muster days, to elections. School children and public officials paid no toll nor did the freight of the National Government. The passenger de luxe did not long use the "Shake guts" with no springs, but soon were furnished with coaches that swung on strong leather straps. There were three seats lined with plush, each holding three people. No specimen of these toll-gate pull-mans exists today. 444 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO Near Dayton there were two National pikes. The first went straight west north of Dayton but private subscription built a branch in on Main Street, but the road reverted to the north run when it was repaired and rebuilt. The National Pike was originally marked every mile with stones that gave the distances. These were of vital importance in the slow moving Conestoga wagon days. Later most of these stones came to repose as doorsteps to adjoining farmhouses or were mutilated beyond recognition by axmen who found the stones excellent to whet axes and that a chunk could be easily chipped off by the ax. The following are some facts about this historic highway: The idea was conceived by Albert Gallatin, secretary of treasury under Jefferson in 1806; commission appointed to study proposal made by Jefferson. Start at Cumberland, Maryland, 1811; reaches Ohio River, 1818; follows or parallels Necomalin's Trace which in turn followed buffalo trail to Ohio River; later used by Washington and Braddock; one of three natural crossings of the mountains; other two were Cumberland Gap route and the New York Central route through New York; 1820, Congress approves the laying out of route from Wheeling to Mississippi River; 1822, bill to repair and preserve; 1825, fund of $150,000 appropriated to build from Wheeling to Zanesville and to extend survey to Missouri; 1827, Congress appropriates $170,000 to complete to Zanesville; 1829, Congress appropriates $170,000 to extend westward from Zanesville; work on Ohio portion starts 1825-6 and follows Zane's Trace, average cost $3,400 per mile; 1826, preliminary survey made to Indianapolis; 1830, bids advertised for in Columbus for portion westward; 1831, U. S. surrenders road to relieve nation of expense of upkeep; Ohio participates as state in upkeep and regulation; 1828, passes legislation to protect portion within state; 1831 act exempts United States mail coach from tolls tolls collected by Ohio in excess of one and one-quarter million dollars; greatest amount in 1839, when $62,496.10 collected; lowest amount, 1877, collections $277.91; time of travel, Wheel- HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 445 ing to Columbus, fast mail, fifteen and one-half hours; time Columbus to Indianapolis, 20 hours; ordinary mail coach, Wheeling to Columbus, 1 day, 5 hours; 1837, proposals for bids on portion west of Springfield call for road bed 80 feet wide, trees cut 80 foot strip, stumps out for 40 feet wide, grubbed for 60 feet; United States' portion built by War Department; 1850, Ohio begins leasing state portions to private companies; traffic at the height of the road's popularity was tremendous. It was a road of empire; noses of the teams often touched wagon ahead; taverns lined the way; gayly caparisoned teams in four and six horse hookups; road alive with Conestoga wagons, mail, and passenger coaches, herds of cattle, droves of swine; great national connection of East and West; travelled by many famous men, Charles Dickens, Henry Clay, Tom Corwin, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson. National construction ended west of Springfield, Ohio. Remainder of road carried forward by state governments. FLATBOATING IN WEST CENTRAL OHIO Fresh from their river travel westward on the Ohio, it was perfectly natural that the settlers should turn to their shallow streams as outlets for their grain and livestock and for bringing in the merchandise from the East. Quite a business in river freighting developed on the Great Miami and the Dayton papers of March 22, 1819, record the traffic in flour from Troy and Piqua, eight flatboats and one keelboat had passed in the period between Thursday and Monday. Even the lesser current of the Little Miami intrigued the hopes of its nearby residents and the Cincinnati Gazette of April 29, 1816, records the proceedings of those attempting to make that stream navigable. From the forks of Mad River as early as 1799 flatboats had been loaded with pork for the New Orleans market. But these shallow rivers with their uncertain flow, ranging from flood to mere summer time trickles were a sad de- 446 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO pendence more prolific of profanity than of profit and the growth of West Central Ohio in a commercial and transportation way had to await the coming of the canal. It is interesting to observe that even today, Dayton is the largest city in this section. She alone among her sister cities lay at the head of navigable water for flatboats. Her initial advantage came from that fact, the canal continued her growth and the railroad found the juncture of river beds an equally advantageous circumstance. Nature ordains cities. Geography created Cincinnati the gateway of West Central Ohio. Springfield is a lesser city than Dayton and will always be so since in the beginning, its stream, Mad River, would not float out the produce of the farms, and it remained a village until the coming the National Pike made it a town. Railroads made it a city. In the meantime Dayton with the initial start became the half way city between Cincinnati and Columbus. Big cities are like big trees, they smother their competitors. The mind of man is a hide bound and conservative thing. It proceeds a step at a time, looking over its shoulder rather than looking ahead, ceaselessly trying to make the future conform to the past, patterning the present on what has been, clinging to what it has experienced like a child clutching its father's hand. Hence the people who came west by water could conceive of no sound system of cheap and perpetual freighting save by water. Since West Central Ohio streams were not fit for water roads, then water roads they would have if they had to build them, for roads they must have or smother. Man is an adaptable animal but there is a limit to his adaptations. Man cannot live by bread alone and when the fertile fields of West Central Ohio produced more corn than could be consumed, the strong backs and willing hands of the pioneers had digged mill races and ground their corn and rye into mash. Hogs loved mash and grew fat on it. Hogs could in a pinch be turned into traveling corn fields. HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 447 It was a profitable business and many a fortune in West Central Ohio rose out of the thrifty idea that you could induce a farmer to ride down to the mill with a jag of corn and ride home with a jag of whiskey, while the by-product of the whiskey mash, fed to the hogs would furnish its own transportation to market. So the streams became lined with distilleries and the roads lined with droves of hogs wending eastward. An almost ideal situation for drawing farmers to the mills and getting a plethora of corn out of the country. The rub came in getting the exchange merchandise back. Unfortunately calico, tea, salt, iron, and sundries could not emulate the hog and walk to market. So the distiller prospered but the merchant and the farmer languished, especially the merchant, since the farmer could eat his stock and the merchant could not. Merchandise was heavy and it floated on water. Hence one must have water to float it. Hence the canals. NAVIGATION ON THE OHIO Canoes, batteaux, flatboats, keelboats, sailing ships, steamers, the type of boat navigating the Ohio has varied from age to age but adventure, excitement, drama and romance have lingered and ridden in them all. Whether it be the questionable voyage of LaSalle or the more certain French successors such as Longuil in 1739, the canoe gliding as graceful and easily as the wild fowl, was the river vehicle for long ages and perhaps saw its first rival in the voyage of De Bienville, in 1749. Certainly by 1765 the batteaux had come for George Croghan was using this slow but dependable burden bearer in his trading and treaty making with the Indians. The great day of the flatboat did not arrive until 1780 when 300 are reported as running down from Fort Pitt to Louisville. The sailing ship may have come earlier than the launching of the Saint Clair at Marietta in 1800, for the keelboats carried sail, but the Saint Clair with 110 tons was a sailing craft of re- 448 - HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO spectable, ocean going size. In fact the Western Trader did sail in 1806 from Pittsburgh to Marseilles, France. The launching of the Orleans at Pittsburgh in 1811 ushered in the age of steam, and wrote finis to the wild, romantic saga of the keelboat and the river pirate. Father Bonnecamps had platted the river fairly well to the mouth of the Great Miami after his trip with De Bienville. Captain Thomas Hutchins had done the same for Boquet. In 1764 and later in 1768 after making a trip from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the river issued a journal describing the river at length. It remained for Zadok Cramer, in 1801, to issue the classic of the river, "The Navigator." This book was the Bible of the riverman, the "Half hoss, half alligator" envy and dread of the denizens of the shore. He did not appear in the beginning of the flatboat period which had its heyday from 1780 to 1800. The flatboat was the freight car of the pioneer. These did not differ markedly from the coal barges on the Ohio today. The flatboat ran from 18 to 20 feet in length up to 60 with a maximum width of 20 feet. It drew about one to two and one-half feet and had a freeboard of about four feet. Later the flatboat developed into the Kentucky boat which was roofed half way and this in turn developed into the Orleans boats which were completely roofed and ran out of the Ohio and down the Mississippi. The type known as a broadhorn was worked with a side sweep, while other types were poled along. The flatboat was seldom worked back up stream due to its unwieldly bulk. Barges were an overgrown flatboat and sometimes attained 75 to 100 feet by 15 to 20 feet. It was with the coming of the keelboat around 1792 on the upper Ohio that the epic of the river-man began. The keelboat was built with a regular keel and drew 20 to 30 inches, and were often 60 to 70 feet long. They carried a sail but were generally pulled along by men on shore by a line fastened to the top of a mast as much as 30 feet high. It took 20 to 40 men to "Cordelle" a boat. In stretches where the shore walk was not practical, the boat was poled. HISTORY OF WEST CENTRAL OHIO - 449 Newspapers carried the arrival of the keelboats as we would steamers today. In a day when the land travel had progressed only so fast as the bog filled road permitted, United States mail took to the river, the first mail service on the Ohio opening in 1794. By 1801 river traffic from Pittsburgh to Orleans was listed at one brig, two schooners, seven pirogues, 26 keelboats, 450 flatboats and barges. Of these the keelboats and barges took about one year to make the round trip. That perennial joy of the river towns, the showboat, did not appear until 1817 when the first one was launched in Nashville. HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT One of the outstanding developments of the past 20 years has been road building. It has changed the marketing habits of the rural sections, stimulated the cities, ruined in many instances the rural trading places, extended the suburban sections of the cities in long finger like projections into the country, changed roadside farm values, created roadside markets and done more than any other factor to knit the state into a social unit with less marked dividing lines between the urban and the rural. With good roads passed the "Hey, Rube" attitude toward the farmer. The farmer's family moved over good roads to the educational and cultural facilities of the cities as desire prompted him. The responsibility of the state in matters of road construction was first recognized in Ohio in 1904. The state legislature of that year enacted a bill establishing the Ohio Department of Highways and appropriating $10,000.00 for state aid in road construction. The new department functioned in an advisory capacity only and without administrative powers until 1911, when the General Assembly authorized the establishment of a system of statewide highways to be known as "Inter-County Highways" and "Main Market Roads" which were to be built and maintained under the supervision of the highway department. This system of roads was to be improved by the State in co-operation with the