HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 37

CHAPTER IV.

LOWER SANDUSKY BEFORE FORT STEPHENSON.

Sources of Information—Lower Sandusky Becomes a Trading Post—Geographical Features of Ohio, Give the Place Its Importance in Indian History—Captain Brady's Adventure—The Moravian Missionaries Prisoners at Lower Sandusky—Description of Running the Gauntlet—Location of the Gauntlet Course—General Treatment of Prisoners—Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, Captives—A Sentence to Torture Revoked—James Whittaker and Elizabeth Fulk, Captives; A Romantic Incident—Negro Captives—First Appearance of Bees in the Indian Country--Captivity of Major Goodale and Daniel Convers—Sarah Vincent Made a Captive—Her Marriage to Isaac Williams—The Williams Family—Tecumseh Visits Muncietown—His Plans of War Are Overheard—Expedition of Five Hundred Warriors from Muncietown—Tecumseh Visits Isaac Williams—The Ottawas and Death of Captain Pumpkin--Agriculture Along the Sandusky.

IN 1764 the village of Junquiindundeh (Lower Sandusky), located at the falls of the river, was on an Indian trail leading from Fort Pitt in a northwesterly direction.* This part of the State was then little known to the whites, till a score of years later, and then the information was derived from ransomed Indian captives. Upon these same narratives we are compelled to rely for the greater part of our information relating to Lower Sandusky, and, by repeating a variety of incidents, we hope to be able to present an intelligible picture of life in the fertile Sandusky Valley, before the advent of white soldiers, in 1813.

We have no satisfactory knowledge of the Indian village which occupied the hill rising toward the east from the head-waters of navigation, until about 178o, when the well-known borderer, Samuel Brady, at the .instance of Washington,

* Hutchins's History of Boquet's Expedition

came here as a spy. About this time began the general border war, which continued until 1795, and in which the Wyandots took a conspicuous part. This period was productive of the scenes which it is the object of this chapter to delineate.

In 1795 the Wyandot Nation passed the summit of its power and glory. For more than a century the warriors of the tribes had gratified the vanity and avarice of the nation, but one defeat turned the tide of fortune, and twenty-two years more grouped the survivors of a haughty dominion within the confines of a tract twelves miles square. The disaster of Fallen Timbers extinguished the council fire at Lower Sandusky. Crane, the great war chief, became the head of the nation, and only peace councils called the wise men together until the close of the period to which we have allotted this chapter. shall frequently have occasion to mention,

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The time of the advent of traders is not known. Arundel and Robbins, whom we were here in 1782. The Wyandot village, although it had lost its importance, maintained its existence until troops formally took possession of the two miles square reserved for trading purposes by the treaty of Fort McIntosh, and unconditionally reserved by the treaty of Greenville. The language of the former treaty, which is given in a preceding chapter, indicates that the commercial advantage of the place was fully appreciated as early as 1785; the next ten years gave the author of the treaty of Greenville a knowledge of its military importance.

The treaty of Greenville also had the effect of concentrating into the Northwestern Indian Reservation, of which this county was a part, representatives of all the tribes of Ohio. The Delawares, whose relations with the Wyandots had always been of the most cordial character, came into the Sandusky country in considerable numbers. They established a village about three miles below Lower Sandusky, on the east side of the river. The white traders named this village Muncietown, most of its inhabitants being of the Muncie tribe of Delawares.

Detroit, from the time the French established themselves at that point, was the leading trading post of all the tribes of the Northwest Territory. After the outbreak of the Revolution and during the whole period of border war, the British Government at that point encouraged hostility by paying a liberal bounty for scalps and ransom for prisoners. The northwestern part of the State being almost an impenetrable swamp, the Sandusky River became the common thoroughfare of all the Ohio tribes. The favorite canoe of the Indians was made of birch bark. These were only used in water free from obstructions. Streams abounding in ripples and with dangerous bottoms were, however, avenues of travel but only with wooden canoes which were made by hollowing out the half of a log. A short distance below the falls at the side of the river, was a place for burying the bark canoes.* This was done, probably, for the purpose of keeping them from cracking.

War parties usually came to this point on foot or on horses captured in the white settlements, and when captives were taken further, as most of them were, canoes were used for transportation. Horses were considered great prizes, and horse-racing indulged in without mercy to the poor animals. An interesting race is described by Captain Samuel Brady, a man well known in the border history of Northern Ohio. He is celebrated chiefly for his wonderful leap across Cuyahoga River. In 178o, Captain Brady was dispatched, by direction of General Washington, to Sandusky, to learn if possible the strength of the Indians in this quarter and the geography of the country. Brady, with a few choice soldiers and four Chickasaw Indians, set out from Fort Pitt and made a forced march through the wilderness. Soon after entering the Wyandot country, the Chickasaw guides deserted, and it was feared by the brave scout had gone over to the enemy. Knowing the penalty of detection, Brady proceeded with the greatest caution. He approached the village adjacent to the rapids under cover of night, and fording the river, secreted himself on the island just below the falls. When morning dawned a fog rested over the valley, which completely cut off from view the shore on either side. About 11 o'clock a bright sun quickly dispelled the mist, and the celebrated borderer became the witness of an unusually interesting event. A war party had just returned from Kentucky with a nun)-

* Colonel James Smith's Narrative, 1757.

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ber of fine horses, a trial of whose speed was the feature of the day's amusement. The horses were all drawn up in line on the west side of the river a short distance above the head of the island. One heat after another always brought a white Kentucky mare out ahead. At first the Indians cheered heartily when the favorite pony reached the goal in advance of all competitors; but no amusement can last long without variety. The victorious mare was weighted down with two riders but even under this burden distanced her competitors. Another rider was added to the load, which accomplished the purpose of defeating her, and seemed to give the congregated warriors, children and squaws, great pleasure. All this time Brady was concealed on the island, disturbed only by the fear of being seen and made the subject of an evening's barbarous sport, around a stake of torture. That night he escaped and hastened rapidly toward the fort, which he reached after a perilous tramp of several days.

In the preceding chapter, the history of the Moravian missions is reverted to : the labor of the converts, their persecution, and the final murder of more than ninety persons. Simultaneously with this event, in consequence of the misrepresentations of the dishonest British agent Elliott and the white desperado Simon Girty, Captain Pipe and Half King applied persecution with such severity that in March, 1782, Governor De Peyster, fearing for the safety of the teachers, directed Girty and Half King to remove them and their families as prisoners to Detroit; but as these two had just planned an expedition to the Ohio, a Canadian Frenchman, Francis Levallie, was directed to accompany them. The company consisted of four families, two single men, "with a number of brethren and sisters," children, and a number of

Moravian Indians. Levallie was kind-hearted and well-disposed toward his prisoners, giving Zeisberger his own horse to ride, insisting that the age and station of the missionary alike prompted the act.

Heckewelder, in his narrative, says that after several days' travel through the wilderness and swampy grounds they arrived at Lower Sandusky, where they were hospitably received by two English traders—Arundel and Robbins. Arundel having a spacious house took in those who had families, and Robbins took in the single men and the guide. Boats were sent for at Detroit, and before they arrived two events took place, which are described by Heckewelder in such a way as to throw much light on the character of Indian life here at that time.

The houses of Arundel and Robbins were about a mile apart, and were located upon high elevations; between them was the Indian village. During his stay, Heckewelder went to the house of Robbins to visit the brethren, and while there the yelling of two parties of Indians returning from expeditions against the whites, was heard. One of the parties had been in the neighborhood of Fort McIntosh, at the mouth of Beaver, and was bringing with them three white prisoners; the other party came from the opposite direction and had scalps. From the elevation of Robbins' house both parties could be seen, but from the village, which lay between one of the parties and the house, but one party could be seen. The people of the village ran to meet the one band of returning warriors. Heckewelder, at the advice of Robbins, took advantage of the occasion and returned to Arundel's house through the village, while it was thus deserted. He reached Arundel's house before the people and the war party, with their prisoners, reached the place for running the gauntlet. Hecke-

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welder and his party saw this favorite treatment of prisoners and has given a faithful account of it.

A certain class of writers who depend upon a vivid imagination to supply deficiencies of information, have made the Indian gauntlet an institution of the most shocking cruelty. It is true, severe tortures were often inflicted upon prisoners, the degree depending much upon their fortitude and presence of mind, for no people admired bravery as the Indians did. But the gauntlet was rather a place of amusement than punishment, unless the offence has been one worthy of particular revenge. On entering the village, the prisoner is shown a painted post at a distance of from twenty to forty yards, and told to run to it and catch hold of it as quickly as possible. On each side of the course stand men, women, and children, with axes, sticks, and other offensive weapons, ready to strike him as he passes. If he should be so unlucky as to fall or so frightened as to stop on the way, he is in danger of being dispatched by some one anxious to avenge the death of a relative or friend slain in battle; but if he reaches the goal safely, he is protected from further insult until his fate has been determined by the war council.*

Heckewelder goes on to state that if a prisoner in such a situation shows determined courage, and when bid to run for the painted post, starts with all his might, and exerts all his strength and agility until he reaches it, he will most commonly escape without much harm, and sometimes without any injury whatever; and on reaching the designated point will have the satisfaction of hearing his courage and bravery applauded. The coward who hesitates or shows symptoms of fear does well if he escapes with his life. A brave youth who has succeeded in reaching the

*Heckewelder's Indian Nations.

goal is almost certain to be adopted into one of the families of the tribe and treated with the greatest kindness. In many instances youths left their adopted parents with regret, when peace procured them ransom, and we have in our own county two notable instances of permanent adoption into the tribe, as we shall see further along.

But we have been digressing from the course of our narrative. The missionaries saw from Arundel's house the party of fourteen warriors, with their prisoners, approach from the east, having come from Fort McIntosh. As soon as they had crossed the Sandusky River, to which the village lay adjacent, they were told by the captain of the party to run as hard as they could to a painted post, which was shown them. The youngest of the three immediately started without a moment's hesitation, and reached the post without a single blow; the second hesitated for a moment, but recollecting himself, he also ran as fast as he could and reached the post unhurt; but the third, frightened at seeing so many men, women, and children, with weapons in their hands ready to strike him, kept begging the captain to spare his life, saying that he was a mason and would build him a large stone house or do any other work he should choose. "Run for your life," cried the chief to him, "and don't talk now of building houses." But the poor fellow still insisted, begging and praying to the captain, who, at last, fearing the consequences, and finding his exhortations vain, turned his back upon him and would not hear him any longer. Our mason now began to run, but received many a hard blow, one of which nearly brought him to the ground, and which, if he had fallen, would have decided his fate. He, however, reached the goal, not without being sadly bruised, and besides he was bitterly scoffed at and reproached as

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 41

a vile coward, while the others were hailed as brave men, and received tokens of universal approbation.

Hon. Isaac Knapp, a pioneer of the county, and for many years an honored citizen, has related an incident in this connection which locates the gauntlet track, and contrary to the impression given by Heckewelder, indicates that having passed the savage lines and reached the goal did not insure to the prisoner absolute safety from injury until the disposition of his case by the council.

Some time before Wayne's campaign, three sisters and two brothers named Davidson were captured by a war party in Kentucky and brought to Lower Sandusky as prisoners. All were ordered to run the gauntlet. The brothers were stout, active men, and both succeeded in getting through without a scratch. John, the elder brother, seemed to be a mark of particular hatred. When he had reached the post exhausted and breathless, he sat down upon a log, having passed, as he supposed, the ordeal of his captivity. But an old squaw, dissatisfied with his easy escape, walked up behind, struck a tomahawk into his shoulder, and left him. The sisters were then ordered to run, but they refused, begging to be tomahawked where they sat. This conduct on their part probably made the sentence upon the whole family more severe: At a consultation of the chiefs and warriors it was decided to hold the prisoners as slaves. They were taken to Canada, where a British trader paid their ransom. Mr. Knapp afterwards became acquainted with these persons and knew them well. They settled in northern Kentucky. He obtained from them a minute description of the bends of the river, the lay of the ground, and the surrounding hills, from which he was enabled to locate the gauntlet track. According to the description, the lines of the savages extended from the site of theblock now occupied by Wagner's store, to the Kessler House corner. The council was probably held on the site of the Buckland block.

In general the treatment of prisoners by the Indians was not so severe as is popularly supposed. There were, of course, exceptions, among which the melancholy fate of Colonel Crawford is prominent. But few were burned, and nearly all who acted bravely were treated with kindness. We should not forget that the events which are grouped together in this chapter occurred during a state of active war, in which the Indians were fighting for the maintenance of the forest, and were encouraged by British agents with British gold. Affairs at Lower Sandusky, during the long period of border war, extending from the opening of the Revolution to the celebrated victory of Wayne, possess a peculiar interest. This was an important military centre, and every narrative relating to the place is a glimpse into the enemy's camp. For many years before the first settlement of Ohio, a war both offensive and defensive was waged between the Ohio tribes and the frontiersmen of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the Kentucky borders. When humanity is made an element of comparative consideration in the conduct of that war, the burden of shame hangs over the graves of our own countrymen. The contest itself could but be one of most barbarous cruelty on both sides, for the Indians were fully persuaded that it was the design of the whites to destroy their hunting grounds and ultimately exterminate them, while the borderers looked upon the Indian as little better than a wild beast, .and a pest to be exterminated by any means whatever. They attributed to him no rights which civilization was bound to respect.

Some of the earlier outrages perpetrated against the Indian race by the white, were

42 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

of the most perfidious character. While we are reading that cruel page of Ohio history describing the tortures inflicted upon Colonel Crawford at Upper Sandusky, let us not forget the treacherous blows by which, previously, the kindred of Logan's tribe fell at Yellow Creek, or the expedition of Captain Williamson, which culminated in the cold-blooded murder of the Moravian Christians and the burning of their bodies. The whites took few prisoners, but the rifle industriously, often treacherously used, dispatched many brave warriors on both sides of the Ohio. Revenge is a part of the Indian nature, and the tribes were not slow to retaliate every wrong, and full-measured retaliation it was. It is estimated that on the frontiers, south and west of the Ohio River, during the seven years preceding the outbreak of the war on the Ohio colony at the mouth of the Muskingum, the Indians killed and took prisoners fifteen hundred people, stole two thousand horses and other property to the value of fifty thousand dollars*. After the general war began in 1791, the annual destruction of life and property was much greater, until its close in 1.795. Probably more captives were brought to Lower Sandusky than to any other place in Ohio. This was a retreat where prisoners were brought and disposed of, many being sent to Detroit and Canada. So far as is known, not a solitary prisoner was tortured here at the stake, and in a majority of cases captives who had passed the gauntlet safely and bravely were treated kindly. It should be remembered that this was in the heart of the Indian country, and a point which had never been visited by a military expedition of whites. Under these circumstances the events which we have narrated and are about to narrate can have no other effect than to create charitable ideas

*Colonel Barker's Reminiscences,

of Indian character, cruel as some of these occurrences might seem, did we not know the subjects were prisoners of bloody and relentless war.

Among the notable characters who were brought to Lower Sandusky as captives were Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone. The former having been captured in [778.. was taken first to Piqua, where he ran the gauntlet; from there he was taken to Old Chillicothe, where he spent several days with Logan. He was sentenced to the stake at Wapitomika, but Logan, assisted by Girty and a Canadian Frenchman, succeeded in having the decision of the council reversed. Kenton was then sent to Lower Sandusky and from here taken by water to Detroit.*

The fact that Daniel Boone was brought through Lower Sandusky while in captivity, is a fact worthy of mention because of the celebrity of that unequalled hero of border annals. The name of Boone is familiar and dear to every boy, and his heroic adventures interest, even in the years of more prosy manhood. In the proud old Commonwealth of Kentucky the name of Boone and the story of his life is more familiar than any other character in American history. In the winter of 1778 Captain Boone, while with a party of salt-makers on the Licking River, was captured by Shawnee warriors who took him to Chillicothe and from there to Lower Sandusky on the way to Detroit, where Governor Hamilton, the British commander, was encouraging Indian depredations by paying liberal premiums for scalps and prisoners. The Governor took a great fancy to Boone, and offered liberally for his ransom; he was an object of particular interest among the officers at the garrison. But the Shawnees had also taken a special liking to the old hunter and said he must become one of them,

* McDonald's Western Sketches.

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and be a great chief. He returned with the Indians to Chillicothe, and remained with the tribe several months.

It will be seen from these incidents that the Shawnees and other tribes made the Sandusky River a highway to Detroit, but probably none but the Wyandots brought their prisoners to Lower Sandusky for sentence and the infliction of penalties.

Those of the captives whom the Indians took a liking to, on account of bravery or other qualities which they particularly admired, were the only ones adopted into the tribe; other prisoners were either made slaves, as in the instance of the Davidson family above noted, or taken to Detroit. It should be noted to the credit of the Wyandots that they rarely burned prisoners at the stake. Colonel Crawford was captured by the Delawares and sentenced by a Delaware council, so that the Indians in whom we are especially interested are free from the odium of that savage sentence.

But Wyandot captives were not secure against the liability of torture, as is shown by the following incident, which also proves the kind-heartedness of Arundel and Robbins, the two English traders, and the susceptibility of Crane, the great war chief, to flattery.

In the spring of 1782, a young man was brought captive from Fort McIntosh to Lower Sandusky, where he heroically passed the gauntlet ordeal. Crane admired his bravery and sent him to Half King at Upper Sandusky, to he adopted into his family in place of a son who had been killed the preceding year while at war on the Ohio. The prisoner having arrived at Upper Sandusky, was presented to Half King's wife, who refused to receive him, which, according to the unwritten law of the Wyandots, was a sentence of death. The prisoner was returned for the purpose of being tortured and burned. Preparations for the dreadful event were made near the village; warriors, squaws, and children gathered from all directions to witness the terrible execution. It fortunately happened that the two traders, Arundel and Robbins, were present, and, shocked with the horror of the act about to be perpetrated, resolved to make an effort to prevent it. They offered the war chief a liberal ransom for the prisoner's life, which he refused, saying that it was an established custom among them that when a prisoner had. been offered as a present and was refused, he was irrevocably doomed to the stake, and no one could save him. Besides, the chief further declared the numerous war captains who were on the spot had it in charge to carry out the execution. Failing to move the great war chief by offers of money, they appealed to his vanity, which proved the vulnerable point of his character. "But," answered the generous but wily traders, "among all these chiefs you have mentioned, there is none equals you in greatness; you are considered not only the greatest and bravest, but at the same time the best man in the nation." The chief looked up with an expression of pride and gratification. "Do you really believe what you say ?" he queried. " Indeed we do," answered the traders. The object was accomplished. Without another word the great war chief blackened himself, and, taking knife and tomahawk in hand, forced his way through the crowd. to the unhappy victim at the post. Crying with a loud voice, " What have you to do with my prisoner?" he cut the cords with which the prisoner was tied. The chief took him to his house, which was near Mr. Arundel's, and from there sent him with a safeguard to the commander at Detroit, who gave him his liberty.* This incident

* Heckewelder's Indian Nations.

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clearly shows the supremacy of Crane among the Wyandot chiefs.

We have spoken more than once in the preceding pages of the custom among the Indians of adopting into their families young men to whom they took particular liking. An instance of this kind is recorded by Finley as having occurred in 1786. Robert Armstrong, a young lad of four years, was captured near Pittsburgh, and brought here through the wilderness. He was adopted into an Indian family and grew up a perfect Wyandot.* But the most notable instances of this kind were the capture and adoption of the heads of two families, some of whose descendants are yet living in the county, and to whom were granted reservations in the treaty of Maumee Rapids, spoken of in a succeeding chapter.

The narrative of the Whittakers t is a story possessing the elements of ideal romance. We give the outline, to which our imaginative reader can supply fictitious coloring to suit his own taste, and thus complete the picture. In about the year 178o, two brothers, Quill Whittaker and James Whittaker, in company with another young man, left Fort Pitt one morning on a hunting expedition. They wandered a considerable distance from the fort, intent upon securing game with which to gratify their friends, but at an unexpected moment a volley of rifle balls rattled among the trees. One took mortal effect in the body of the young man; another passed through the hat of Quill Whittaker, who saved himself by flight; a third ball shattered the arm of James, the younger brother, and in a few minutes he was the prisoner of a band of painted Wyandot warriors. After several days' hard travelling, the Indians, with their

* History of Moravian Missions.

t From an interview of Hon. Homer Everett with Mrs. Scranton, daughter of James Whittaker.

captive, reached a village within the present boundaries of Richland county, Ohio. Here the lines were formed and Whittaker's bravery and activity tested on the gauntlet course. The boy, wounded as he was, deported himself with true heroism. The first half of the course was passed without a single scratch, but as he was speeding on toward the painted goal, an old squaw, who cherished a feeling of deep revenge, mortified by the captive's successful progress, sprang forward and caught his arm near the shoulder, hoping to detain him long enough for the weapon of the next savage to take effect. The prisoner instantly halted, and with a violent kick sent the vicious squaw and the next Indian tumbling from the lines. His bold gallantry received wild shouts of applause along the lines. Attention being thus diverted, he sprang forward with quickened speed and reached the post without material injury. Not satisfied that this favorite amusement should be so quickly ended, it was decided that the prisoner should run again. The lines for the second trial were already formed when an elderly and dignified squaw walked forward and took from her own shoulders a blanket which she cast over the panting young prisoner, saying, "This is my son; he is one of us; you must not kill him." Thus adopted, he was treated with all that kindness and affection which the savage heart is capable of cherishing.

It is a saying as old as the institution of voluntary marriage itself, that "those who are born to go together will marry under any circumstances," which is but a particularization of the general doctrine "that to live is but to follow the path made by fate." Those philosophers who entertain this belief might find in the second part of this narrative an applicable illustration in support of their theory.

About two years after the capture of

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Whittaker, another party of warriors made an incursion into Pennsylvania and captured at Cross Roads, Elizabeth Fulks, a girl eleven years old, whom they carried into captivity and adopted into a family of the tribe. Both captives lived contentedly and happily, having adopted the manners and customs of their wards. A few years after, somewhere in the vast expanse of the Northwestern wilderness, probably here on the Sandusky River, at a general council of their tribes, these two adopted children of the forest made each other's acquaintance. The brave boy who ran the gauntlet had become a well proportioned man, and the sweet, timid captive girl was now a blooming maiden whose native beauty had never been destroyed by the torturing artifices of society dress. Perhaps this meeting occurred in the full light of an encouraging moon, while savage warriors were deliberating cruel expeditions around a bright council fire in the distance. Who can think of the meeting being formal and reserved, or of a fashionable courtship? A marriage according to the customs of civilized life was at once arranged, and the couple, ardent in their love and happy in their expectations, set off for Detroit, where the Christian ritual was pronounced which made them man and wife.

The Indians seemed well pleased by this conduct of their pale-face children. They gave them a choice tract of farming land in the river bottom, and here Rev. Joseph Badger visited the family in 1806, where he found them living in perfect harmony with their Indian neighbors, but practicing the forms of civilized life.* Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker reared a large family, for whose education they

* Whittaker's thorough adoption into the Wyandot tribe is shown by the fact that he joined their war parties. He was present at St. Clair's defeat and at the battle of Fallen Timbers.—McClung's Western Adventures.

expended considerable sums of money. In 1808 a teacher was secured who came to the residence, which was a short distance below the falls on the west side of the river, and instructed the older children. The oldest daughter was subsequently sent to school in Pittsburgh, at an expense of eight hundred dollars a year, and there qualified to teach the younger children.

Mr. Whittaker entered into mercantile business, for which he was well fitted. He established a store at his residence, one at Tymochtee, and one at Upper Sandusky. He accumulated wealth rapidly, having at the time of his death his goods all paid for and two thousand pounds on deposit with the Canada house where he made his purchases. At Upper Sandusky he had a partner, Hugh Patterson, with whom, in the year 1816, he drank a glass of wine and died in a short time afterwards, his death being attributed to poison in the wine. Patterson was largely indebted to him, and, it was discovered afterwards, had forged an order on McDonald, proprietor of the Canada house, for the two thousand pounds on deposit. Mrs. Whittaker, to whom a reservation was granted in the treaty of 1817, survived her husband many years, but as to the time and place of her death we are not informed.*

A few prominent acts of kind-hearted benevolence on the part of Mr. Whittaker can not be omitted. A short time before the war of 1812, he went to the Maumee on business, and found among the Indians a young white woman who bore a strong resemblance to his own daughters. She was engaged at carrying wood and piling it up. Mr. Whittaker, after talking with her a short time, became convinced that she was preparing her own funeral pile, though herself ignorant of the fact.

* Later events relating to this family are narrated in the sketch of Sandusky township.

46 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

He engaged to procure her freedom on condition she would never expose him in a lie. Having been informed of the probable fate which awaited her she readily assented. At the dictation of her rescuer she sat upon a log while he went to the assembled Indians and asked them what they were doing with that young woman, to which they replied that preparations were being made for a dance that night, and that she was to be burned. He then told them that she was his daughter, and the strong resemblance between her and his family, with whom the Indians were slightly acquainted, convinced them that the statement was true, and out of respect they gave her up. Whittaker brought her home and gave a guide sixty dollars to conduct her to her friends, who lived down the Ohio river.

Near the time of the capture of Whittaker, and probably later, a party of negroes were captured in Virginia and brought to the Sandusky River, where they were held as slaves. They were placed in charge of a peninsular tract several miles below the falls, which they cultivated for the Indians, no doubt to the great satisfaction of the squaws, upon whom devolved all menial labor. The peninsula became known as Negro Point, a name which it has retained ever since—a period of about a century.

There is a singular tradition relating to the first appearance of the honey-bee in the Northwest, which places that event within the field of our history. The late Mrs. Rachel Scranton, a daughter of James and Elizabeth Whittaker, is authority for the following statement, which was first published in 186o:

Previous to the time of Mrs. Whittaker's captivity, the honey-bee and the plantain were unknown to the Indians. While she and her brother George, who was also a captive, were yet children, and menial servants to the Wyandot tribe, they were hoeing corn in an Indian field, when they discovered a swarm of bees in a tree near by. They remembered something of bees at home and conjectured what they were. The idea of white people was instantly suggested, and they talked with one another as to whether this might not be a sign that white people would come soon. Their discovery was communicated to the Indians, who flocked to the tree in great numbers to see the wonderful insects. The suggestion was made by George and Elizabeth, that bees belonged to white people and stayed with them, and that probably this was a sign that the pale-faces were coming, and would bye-and-bye have the country. None of the tribes had ever seen the insect before, and their superstitious minds were affected to such a degree that, with the Wyandots especially, it became a settled conviction that the Indians would be driven out and the whites would take their country.

The account continues:

Henceforth this tribe, yielding to what they considered inevitable fate, felt and said it was useless to contend against the pale-faces, and became a peaceful people. It is true they joined the other tribes to fight Wayne, but they refused to join the expedition until a confederation of all the other tribes of the Northwest plainly told them that if they did not send out warriors to fight Wayne. they unitedly would exterminate the Wyandots. There was no other way to save themselves, and they did send the best of their men to be slaughtered by "Mad" Anthony at the battle of Fallen Timbers.

This latter statement is probably incorrect in fact, although there may have been such a local sentiment. In the open war, which was commenced on the Ohio Company's settlement in 1791, and terminated with Wayne's victory, the Wyandots took an active and conspicuous part, a part which justifies assigning to them leadership from the beginning to the end of that cruel contest. The first attack on the Ohio settlers at Big Bottom, in 1791, was made by the allied warriors of the Delawares and Wyandots.

The Whittaker cabin and trading-house, which stood just above the head of the bay, was a usual stopping point for war parties when on their way from Lower Sandusky to Detroit with prisoners. The family always treated captives with the greatest kindness consistent with their situation. Major Nathan Goodale, a prominent and valuable citizen of Belpre, the

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second settlement in the Ohio Company's purchase, was captured by a band of Wyandot warriors in 1793, while at work on his farm a short distance from the fort. They sprang out from the forest and seized him before he was aware of their presence, or could make any defence, threatening him with death if he made a noise or resisted. After securing him with thongs they made a hasty retreat, intending to take him to Detroit and get-a large ransom. They got along as far as Whittaker's house, when he could go no further, in consequence of sickness. Mrs. Whittaker, in relating the account afterwards, testified that he had received no ill treatment while in captivity, and that he died at her house in a few days after he had been left there, of a disease like pleurisy.*

The narrative of the captivity of Daniel Convers* in 1793, throws considerable light on affairs here at that time. Convers was a boy sixteen years old, who lived at the Waterford garrison on the Muskingum River, twenty miles above Marietta. He afterwards became a wealthy merchant of Zanesville, Ohio. He was captured by a party of Indians lurking about the garrison, most of them being Wyandots. They travelled singly through the woods so as to leave no trail behind, until they struck the old Indian path leading from Lower Sandusky through Upper Sandusky to Fort Harmar. This was a plain, beaten track, used by the Indians for many years when going to Marietta to sell their peltry. The evening was rainy and the night very dark, but they did not stop until late, fearing that the whites might be in pursuit. For the same reason, no fire was kindled. Before going to sleep they tied leather thongs around their prisoner's wrist, stretching out the ends upon the ground and passing them under the Indians who lay on each side of him, so as to

* Pioneer History of Ohio.

The Indians did not sleep much, but talked until almost morning. At daybreak the journey was resumed. An old Ottawa was in the party, who complained of being sick and gave his pack to the prisoner to carry, which greatly wearied him. After he had borne the burden about three miles they came to a creek where all stopped to drink. The brave lad threw the pack on the ground saying, "Me sick too." The Ottawa picked it up without saying a word, and his master, or at least the Indian who claimed him by right of capture, patted his young prisoner on the back exclaiming "Ho yee," a token of approval of the fearless act. The second evening, being more than fifty miles from any white settlement, they halted before night, killed a deer for supper and kindled a fire. They seasoned their venison with wild onions. That night they trimmed their bright young captive's hair in the Indian fashion, leaving a long lock on top which they braided into a queue. They also painted one of his eyelids.

On the third day a place of considerable interest was reached, where two trails leading toward the north came together. A hieroglyphic tree stood at the junction, on which was painted, in a rude manner, a war party, indicating their number and the direction of their course. The warriors painted on the same tree their own number, indicating the capture of one boy prisoner by placing behind the warriors who bore arms a smaller figure without' arms.

From here they hurried on rapidly to Upper Sandusky, where the prisoner saw, for the first time, in a cabin, a number of scalps hung up to dry. This was the cabin of a crabbed old Indian, who welcomed the lad with a cuff on the head. From Upper Sandusky the party proawaken them if he attempted to escape.

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ceeded down the river, and in the course of the afternoon met a white trader and a negro. The white man paid little attention to them, but the negro took the prisoner kindly by the hand, and with evident interest inquired if any of his friends had been killed, and where he came from. This negro was probably one of the slaves from Negro Point, and hoped to find out something about his old friends in Virginia. That night they had nothing for supper except a woodchuck, which was divided among eight persons. Here the Indians gave their prisoner a blanket and moccasins, he having been barefoot and thinly clad at the time of the capture. The next night they passed in a vacant hut by the river. Here Conyers saw a cow which belonged to his mother, and had been stolen three months before. The narrative declares: "She directly knew her old friend Daniel; came up to him, and looked as if she felt sorry for his unhappy condition."

The prisoner on this occasion was a lad whose appearance commanded admiration and excited sympathy, as is shown by the conduct of two boys at a village on the prairie. They caught him, one by each hand, and hurried through the town, thus shielding him from the ordeal of running the gauntlet. "On the tenth day of his captivity," says the narrative, "the party arrived at Lower Sandusky, where there was a large Indian village. Here they crossed the Sandusky River in a canoe. As soon as they had landed, an Indian came up, took Daniel by the hand and bid him go with him. He hesitated for a moment, when one of the warriors motioned him to go. He ran with him up the river bank about twenty rods and stopped, appearing very friendly, and no doubt took this course to keep the prisoner out of the sight of the other Indians living in the town. While waiting there for his partyto join him, a large Indian who was drunk, came to him and struck him over the eye, knocking him down. The eye instantly swelled so that he could not see with it. As he repeated the blow, another Indian, who was much smaller, ran to the rescue, and, seizing the drunken one by the hair, jerked him to the ground and beat him severely. He then, in a very kind manner, took young Conyers by the hand, calling him, in broken English, his friend. At the same time two squaws came up and expressed their pity for the young prisoner. "They went away, but directly returned, bringing him some hominy and meat to eat, thus showing that the female heart in the savage, as well as in the civilized races, is readily moved at the sight of distress, and ever open to compassion and kindness. The party to which he belonged encamped near this spot, and- during the night some of the party who had been present at the attack on the garrison at Waterford, hearing from their countrymen an account of this foray at the same place, and the ill-treatment of their prisoner by the drunken Indian, came into the camp and passed the night to protect him from any further abuse."

The next day the party, with their prisoners, proceeded on down the river on their way to Detroit. They stopped at Whittaker's cabin and there received from that kind-hearted man a loaf of sugar which the Indians divided, giving their prisoner. a share. The Indians were very fond of sugar, and the present was highly appreciated by them, as well as by the captive. Whittaker dared say little to the prisoner, however, lest he should excite the jealousy of the Indians. At Detroit the prisoner was ransomed and sent with a party of horsemen to his friends in Connecticut. Colonel Conyers in after years testified to the uniform humanity

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of his treatment. " His treatment was not only humane, but kind and gentlemanly."

We have presented this incident to considerable length, because it is the most faithfully detailed account of Indian captivity within our knowledge. Let those who have believed the Indian a beast in human form, whose only human element of character was treachery, follow Convers from the scene of his captivity to the, place of ransom, and compare his treatment with that of the war prisoners of any Christian nation.

The treatment of prisoners was very much similar in all cases, except when special weakness of character was betrayed, or the magnitude of a crime demanded severe punishment. We have chosen a variety of such incidents as are best calculated to give an idea of aboriginal life at Lower Sandusky, which was, during the period covered, the military centre of the most warlike of the Indian nations. Another event more far reaching in its historical consequences next demands our attention.

The frontier posts of Kentucky suffered more from Indian incursions than the settlements of any other locality. There were two reasons for this: being the most western settlements they were regarded as the most dangerous intruders on the red man's domain; and second, nowhere did the " Long-knives," as the Indians called the whites, treat the savages with so much cruelty. During one of these incursions, led by Simon Girty against Boonesborough, Sarah Vincent, a little girl seven years old, was made captive and settled on the Sandusky River, where she became a Wyandot.

Several years afterwards Isaac Williams, a trader at Upper Sandusky, made her acquaintance, and they were married. They settled at Upper Sandusky, and reared one son, Isaac Williams, who married Sarah Loveler near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They settled on the tract which his mother had occupied while a captive, located on the river, at the Chestnut grove, on the present estate of Sidney Forguson. It was to the widow of this Isaac Williams that a reservation of one hundred and sixty acres, on Negro Point, was granted. She died about 1830, leaving a family of five children—Alexander, George, Joseph, Rachel, and James.

George married a Tawa (Ottawa) squaw, and never claimed any share in the estate. This woman, in 1809, overheard an interview between the Shawnee, Tecumseh, and a Muncie, or Delaware chief, which, had it been properly communicated to the Federal authorities, would have furnished important information concerning the strange, mysterious movements of the wily chief who organized the Indian rebellion of 181 r, and consummated the British alliance of 1812.

Tecumseh was neither a peace chief, nor a war chief in his tribe, but he was a man of preeminent intellect, and attained to an influence, throughout the whole Indian country, which was well nigh imperial. He commenced the great work which he had long contemplated, in 1805. His first object was to unite the several nations, many of which were hostile to each other, and had often been at war. He sought to reform their prejudices, and to reestablish original manners and customs. To this end all intercourse with the whites was to be suspended, and the use of ardent spirits abandoned. Professing to the American Government no other object than moral reform, he was unceasing in his toil. Having a wide reputation as a sagacious counsellor and warrior, he eyerywhere received considerate attention. His general plan of union being matured, he brought superstition to his aid.

His brother, the Prophet, now began to

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dream dreams and see visions. The fame of his divine commission spread from the frozen North to the gulf on the South. While believing pilgrims were coming to the shrine of the Prophet, Tecumseh's activity was simply wonderful. He was pleading loyalty to the Amercans at Governor Harrison's office at Vincennes, and the same week arranging war plans on the Wabash and on the plains of Sandusky. His canoe crossed the Mississippi, and before any were aware, he was addressing Cherokee councils in Georgia and Alabama. The whole West was thus aroused to war, which begun openly at Tippecanoe in 1811. Until shortly before that time the Government was ignorant of the real designs of Tecumseh and the power of the league which he had formed. In view of the consequences of the chieftain's movements, the tradition of his visit to Lower Sandusky will be of general interest. This brings us back again to the Williams family.*

One afternoon in the autumn of 1809, the wife of George Williams, who lived on Negro Point, made a visit to the Wyandot village, which was on the hill northeast of the present Fremont bridge. Her way home was through Muncietown, which she reached about dark in the evening. By a light in a wigwam she saw Tecumseh in consultation with an Ottawa chief. Her path passed close the wigwam, in which she heard a conversation in the Ottawa language. Being herself an Ottawa, she understood what was said; and the theme being war, curiosity induced her to listen. Mrs. Williams, on returning home, told her husband that Tecumseh said, the next year when corn was knee high, a war would commence by the killing of all white people living on Indian terri

* This tradition is written from the recollections of Lorenzo Dow Williams,

grandson of Isaac Williams.tory and along the river (the Ohio river), and that the British would join them in the war. This was the first information obtained by any white settler that the roving Shawnees contemplated war. Alexander Williams,* a brother of George Williams, who lived in Virginia, was at that time visiting his parents on Negro Point. He started home the following morning, going by way of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, where he announced what had been heard in the Indian country concerning Tecumseh's intentions. At Sweet Springs, Virginia, his fellow-townsmen prepared for the conflict.

The following summer five hundred warriors gathered in Muncietown, whence they started on an expedition to plunder the frontiers of Virginia. After they had been gone two days, Mrs. Williams, who had heard the prediction of Tecumseh and knew the meaning of these hostile preparations, called two white prisoners, who had been at Muncietown for a long time, to her house, painted them as warriors, and sent them on the trail of the war party with instructions to travel night and day and to pass around the warriors, if possible, before they reached the settlements, in order that the white people might prepare for an attack. The two young men, rejoiced to escape captivity, arrayed in the costume of the savages, with rifle, ammunition, tomahawk and scalping knife, hurried in the path as fast as possible. At a place called Walker's Meadow, three miles from the village of Union, the two brave messengers entered the Indian camp. Carelessly they passed through, unnoticed by the redskins, who supposed them a couple of their own number, engaged in the enterprise. About three miles from the encampment they came to the house of a settler, where they remained quiet until morning. The first

*Father of our informant.

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person seen was a man who came out of the house, mounted a horse and rode away without seeing the messengers. A negro next came out and went to the barn. The two young men now entered the house where they found a woman and several children. The woman screamed terribly, supposing Indians with the war paint on their faces were in possession of her house, and that quick murder was sure to follow. The boys spoke to her in good English, explaining who they were and what they had come for. The woman's husband was Judge Donelly, who was holding court two miles distant. They informed him of the danger to which the settlement was exposed. Judge Donelly was also colonel of militia, and on receiving the information he adjourned court and collected the people of the settlement into the block-house, upon which an unsuccessful attack was made, and the warriors left with one prisoner. This was one of the first acts of Indian hostility. Very few Wyandots participated in it, their nation being averse to war. Tecumseh's visits were mostly to the villages of other tribes. The Wyandots generally entertained the opinions expressed by Crane's confidential advisor, Walk-in-the-Water, in a council held at Brownstown in 1812. He said : "No, we will not take up the hatchet against our father the Longknife. Our two fathers are about to fight, but we have no concern in their quarrel; it is best for us to sit still and remain neutral."

The Wyandots on the American side of the lakes were not drawn into the war in any considerable numbers, although the British Government exhausted intrigue to effect an alliance. Tarhe, the Crane, exerted his powerful influence in favor of neutrality, and those of the tribe who had taken hold of the British hatchet deserted Proctor at the first opportunity*

*North American Review, 1827.

Tecumseh, at one time, while endeavoring to effect a union of the tribes, visited the house of Isaac Williams, on Negro Point. The visit, from Mr. Williams' standpoint, has an amusing feature, though, on part of the great Indian statesman and general, it was probably no more than an accident. We give the incident, as it has become traditional in the Williams family.

The Wyandots had cornfields all along the river bottoms, which were cultivated by the squaws and boys, each family having a small patch, and no fences between them. Isaac Williams owned a large number of hogs, and tried to enclose his premises with a brush fence, but they frequently found a way out and destroyed the corn, which greatly provoked the squaws. They urged their dogs upon the hogs, and killed several of them. One day Williams, hearing the dogs barking and the hogs squealing, grasped his gun, and, despite the importunities of his wife, rushed to the corn field, where two dogs were tearing to pieces one of the favorites of the herd, while an old squaw and her boy were looking on with amusement. Williams, still more enraged by this, aimed so as to bring both within the range of the shot, but the gun snapped and the squaw discovered her danger. She implored forgiveness, and promised that the injury should never be repeated. The family were, however, greatly annoyed by the fear that the event had excited the wrath of the Indians, who would seek revenge. This explains the uneasiness of Williams when, the next day, Tecumseh appeared at his door. This was during that chief's earlier visits to the towns along the river. The magnitude of the indignity of the day before increased in Williams' mind a hundredfold, and his first thought was that the great Tecumseh had come to revenge the insult. Suppressing all appearances of fear, the old trader asked his unwelcome

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guest to come in and be seated, himself, with seeming carelessness, taking a chair in that corner of the cabin in which the gun was standing. Both sat for some time without a word passing between them. The chief at length took his tomahawk from his belt and filled the end of it with tobacco. Stepping to the fire, he took a coal from the ashes, lighted his pipe and began smoking, continuing silent. Williams also sat quiet, every moment expecting to be reproved, or, perhaps, punished, for attempting to shoot the squaw. The latter finally broke the spell by saying: "Tecumseh, what are you doing? I see the wampum is being carried from place to place and secret councils are being held. What is this for? Are you organizing war against the white people ?" Tecumseh could speak and understand English well. He answered: "May be war with the white man. He is too saucy." Williams then informed the chief, who was afterwards termed monarch of the North American Indians, that he had better not go to war; that he had travelled through the white man's country, and they were too numerous for the Indians; that they would exterminate all the Indians in the country if a war should occur, and more such advice, to which the chief paid no attention. He sat moody for a long time, then knocked the ashes from his pipe and retired. Williams was agreeably surprised at there having been no allusion made to the attempt to shoot the squaw.

The Ottawas are characterized by Indian writers as the hunters and trappers of the forest. They followed the Portage and Sandusky Rivers and came to Lower Sandusky to trade as late as 1833, Judge Jesse Olmstead being the favorite merchant. The story of the execution of an Ottawa warrior was given in a lecture by Hon. Homer Everett, delivered in 186o.

Wild, unlearned, and in many things repulsive asthe Indians were, still, amongst them were found many noble specimens of men and women, who cherished and displayed the cardinal virtues of humanity: modesty, chastity, truth, sincerity, honesty and courage. In that stoic courage which coolly meets death without even the appearance of fear, the North American Indian never had a superior in any race of men on the earth. In illustration of this wonderful characteristic, two instances, well known to my informants, may be given.

Among the Ottawas who frequently visited our town to trade, was a warrior named Captain Punkin. He was by nature, as well as practice, a vicious, treacherous, cruel Indian; he was one of the company who captured the Snow family, on Cold Creek, somewhere near Castalia; and the identical individual who took away Mrs. Snow's infant because it hindered her march. In spite of all her entreaties, cries and resistance, he seized it by the feet and dashed its brains out against a tree before the mother's eyes.

Long years after this event, Punkin was found guilty of violating the laws of his tribe, and sentenced to die, by a council. This decision was communicated to him, and he was asked when and where he would die. He informed them of the time and place at which he would choose to die and be buried; he went unguarded and at liberty for some time alone in the forest. No human eye watched him; he was at liberty to flee if he chose. The time fixed came, and his executioners repaired to the spot he had selected, and where his burial place had already been prepared. They found him ready, sitting at the verge of his own grave. Raising his bowed head as they approached, he said: "You have come; I am ready. Strike sure!" Instantly the tomahawk described a glittering circle and descended deep into his brain. He expired without a groan, and was buried there.

The extent of the cornfields along the river remains to be spoken of. The prairies bordering the bay were cultivated when Colonel James Smith visited the country as a captive, in 1757, but he mentions nothing about agriculture along the river. But at a later period the river prairies supplied the whole Wyandot country. This was, no doubt, owing to the exhaustless fertility of the soil and the ease with which it was cultivated. The plains now covered by the lower part of the city of Fremont were cleared land when first seen by white men, and except the tract used for councils, gaming, racing, and the vil-

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lage, bore corn season after season. The squaws and boys attended to agriculture, and all other menial duties. To handle a hoe would have disgraced the strong Indian, whose only business was war.

That Lower Sandusky was celebrated among the Indians for the fertility of soil, is proved by an incident which, in 1807, occurred at Ogontz place, now Sandusky. The Indian title to the Firelands was extinguished in 1805, but the Indians about the neck of the bay were slow to leave in obedience to the terms of the treaty. Complaint was made to Ogontz, to whom the commissioner put the question: "Why do you not raise your corn at Lower Sandusky ?" "Ugh!" retorted Ogontz, "Big corn grow at Lower Sandusky, but no papoose grow there."