HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 239

CHAPTER III.

THE ABORIGINES.

THE MOUND-BUILDERS-THEIR FORTS, MOUNDS, IMPLEMENTS-INDIANS-CONQUEST OF OHIO BY THE FIVE NATIONS-THE DELAWARES-TRADITIONAL HISTORY-SUBJUGATION-OCCUPATION OF THE TUSCARAWAS CHIEFS AND VILLAGES-HABITS AND CUSTOMS.

"And did the dust

Of these fair solitudes once stir with life

And burn with passion? Let the mighty mounds

That overlooked the rivers, or that rise

In the dim forests, crowded with old oaks,

Answer. A race that long has passed away

Built them: a disciplined and populous race Heaped with long toil the earth, while yet the Greek Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms

Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock The glittering Parthenon."-Bryant.

THAT a race of people, superior in many respects to the red man, inhabited the valley of the Muskingum and Tuscarawas, as well as other portions of the State, centuries before the Indians were known to have dwelt here, is evidenced by the numerous remains found in various parts of the valley. At Marietta, extensive earthworks were discovered when the first New England emigrants landed there, and of these and other remains the Indians could give no account. They had evidently been constructed before the occupation of this territory by the Indians. When the "old fort" at Newark was discovered early in this century; a tree stood upon its banks, twenty feet above the level of the ground, which when cut down soon after, showed concentric circles numbering five hundred and fifty, thus proving the date of the construction of that wonderful archaeological remain, to have been several centuries before Columbus first reached this continent. Who this strange race was, whether the progenitors or the predecessors of the Indian nations, must ever remain an unsettled question. They have left no written language, nothing but the embankments and a few implements to tell the story of their inhabitancy. The monuments of these Mound-Builders, as they are usually known, consisted of effigies, inclosures and mounds. Effigies or animal mounds are " raised figures or basso relieves of men, beasts, birds or reptiles, and in some instances of inanimate objects." They are usually from one to six feet above the natural surface of the ground, and it is believed by archaeologists that they were erected as objects of worship, or for some purpose connected with religious worship. No effigies are known in Tuscarawas County. Two, the " Alligator Mound " and the "Eagle Mound," were found in Licking County, and others elsewhere in the State. Inclosures are of various kinds. Some are ramparts, constructed for mili-

240 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

tare or defensive works: others were used as sacred inclosures, and still others. perhaps, as arenas for national games and amusements. Most of them are earthworks, though a few are of stone. Defensive inclosures are of irregular form, always on high ground, in strong, natural positions, frequently on hill summits and steep bluffs. The gateways are few, narrow and well guarded by other embankments. These works are somewhat numerous. and indicate that though the mound builders may have been disposed to peace and agriculture, they were not unharassed by enemies. Sacred inclosures are mainly distinguished from those of a military character by regularity of form. Where, moats or ditches occur, they are invariably found on the inside. whereas in defensive works the ditches are on the outside of the embankments.

Quite a number of inclosures have been discovered in the county, though the remains have now mostly disappeared through the demolishing effects of agriculture. When Zeisberger stopped at the "beautiful spring" or Schonbrunn, in 1771, he found on the plain above it the clearest evidences of an amphitheater, or circular earthwork, rimmed at the edge with the thrown up earth, and close by on the bank he found three mounds or tumuli, of the ordinary height of Scriptural mounds, satisfying him that the race who constructed them was more warlike and better acquainted with making defensive positions than the Indians of his day. Zeisberger writes of these remains : "Long ago. perhaps more than a century, Indians must have lived here who fortified themselves against the attacks of their enemies. The ramparts are still plainly to be seen. We found three forts in a distance of a couple of miles. The whole town must have been fortified, but the site is now covered with a thick wood. No one knows to what nation these Indians belonged. It is plain, however, that they were a warlike race." The antiquity of the race must have been much greater than Zeisberger supposed.

Mr. Mitchener, in his "Ohio Annals,'" thus describes some of the remains found in this county: "Across the river, on the west bank, and nearly opposite the eastern part of the present New Philadelphia, and not a mile from its court house, are the remains-now obliterated from view, but twenty years ago plainly discernible-of an earthwork or moat, extending in a semi-circular form around the river front of an old corn-field, as the Indians called it, and which had been used prior to the advent of the Christian Indians (in 1772). They were unable to give any account of it, other than that of an old Indian, who came to the mission, and who claimed to be descended from a nation who inhabited this territory many hundreds of years, and were driven away to the southwest by a more ferocious race of men from the North. He had it tradition that his ancestors knew some of the arts as known to the missionaries that they were a peaceful people, and devoted much of their time to the worship of deities-that wherever a sufficient number sojourned for a time they constructed works of defense, and for worship and sacrifice. A short distance from this ditch or moat was a mound on higher ground, on the summit of which large trees were growing when the first white settlers reached the valley. Partial excavations made many years ago exhumed arrow heads, dust as of

HISTORY 0F TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 241

earthernware that bad been burnt, and the calcined dust of bones supposed to be human, from which the mound was judged to be the sepulcher of a noted person of the by-gone times, and has never been opened since. Near the town of Newcomerstown, and on the bank of the Ohio Canal, below Port Washington, were found, when the canal was being constructed, the remains of earthworks and earth forts, similar to those discovered higher up the river. What is the more remarkable in this connection, is the fact that although stone was abundant near all the earthworks of those early colonists who constructed them, yet none appears to have been used, whether from religious prohibition, or inability to utilize the rocks of the river hills."

In Lawrence Township, in the valley of Sugar Creek, were also found similar remains of this people. About three-fourths of a mile below Strasburg, and fifty rods west of the creek, was an earthwork, inclosing perhaps a half acre of ground. Is was circular in form, and on the east side was an open gateway. Another embankment existed a short distance above Sugar Creek Falls.

Mounds are the most numerous relics of this by-gone people, and are, found usually in the valleys of the larger streams. None of unusual size exist in this county, though of small ones there were formerly quite a number. The plow has in many instances effaced all marks of these, so that nothing remains to indicate their former existence. The usual subdivision of mounds is into sepulchral, sacrificial, temple, observation, and memorial or monumental.

Sepulchral mounds are generally conical in form, and are more numerous than other kinds. They range in altitude from three or four to seventy feet, and always contain one or more skeletons. Implements and ornaments are often found mingled with the dust of the departed braves, as well as mica, specimens of pottery, bone and copper beads, and animal bones. Charcoal and ashes indicate that the element of fire was probably employed in some manner in the burial ceremonies.

Sacrificial mounds are usually stratified, the strata being convex layers of clay and loam, alternating with a layer of fine sand. They contain ashes, charcoal, igneous stones, calcined animal bones, beads, stone implements, pottery and specimens of rude sculpture. These mounds are usually found within inclosures, with an altar of stone or burnt clay in the center of the mound. Some of these mounds seem also to have been used for purposes of sepulture, for skeletons have been found in them.

Temple mounds are less numerous than the preceding classes. They are generally of large base, but of comparatively limited altitude, and in form often circular or oval .Embankments often surround them, and many have spiral pathways or inclined planes leading to their summits. It is a supposition that the summits of these mounds were crowned with structures of wood that served the purposes of temples, all traces of which have disappeared in the lapse of centuries since their erection. They were also used sometimes for burial purposes.

Mounds of observation are generally situated upon eminences, and are

242 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

supposed to have been used as signal stations and points of observation. They are said to occur in chains or regular systems, and many still bear traces of the beacon fires that were once burning there.

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

None of the mounds found in this county were peculiarly striking in form or size, nor are these relics so numerous as in some other counties in Southeastern Ohio. The mounds of Tuscarawas were found chiefly in the river valley, though a few existed near the streams of lesser size.

The implements of the Mound-Builders that have been found are principally of stone. A few copper instruments have been found in Southeastern Ohio, and it is probable that they were used in great abundance by the ancient dwellers. nearly all of them haying since disappeared by oxidation, to which copper is nearly as susceptible as iron. The copper was probably obtained from Lake Superior, where there are clear evidences of ancient mining. The stone relics consist of axes, mauls, hammers, chisels, fleshers, pestles, etc.. usually made of hard and tough granitic, or other stone, and a great variety of perforated plates, thread sizers, shuttles, badges, etc., which are generally composed of striped slate. The badges are of many forms, the kind known as double-crescents being the finest. Many of these relics were found in the valleys in pioneer times, but most of them have been lost, or carried away by curiosity seekers.

Arrow and spear heads are the most abundant aboriginal relics to be found. They are chiefly made of hard and brittle silicious material, and are consequently easily damaged by the use for which they were evidently intended. A classification of arrow heads would be impossible. They are innumerable in shape and size. The art of arrow-making survives to the present day among certain Indian tribes, whose arrow-makers manufacture and sell, or exchange the little weapons to. their companions.

INDIANS.

After the departure or extinction of the Mound-Builders, many centuries ago, it is not known that the valley of the Muskingum was occupied until about 200 years ago, or if so, by what tribes. The Indian tribes that in habited the American Continent were very few, wholly inadequate to occupy the entire territory. Constant wars prevented any considerable numerical increase, so that as time rolled on additional hunting grounds were unnecessary. In 1650, the earliest date of any authentic Indian history, the Erie nation dwelled in what is now the northern part of Ohio, and was the only tribe that had a permanent residence within the bounds of what now constitutes the State, The Eries were a member of the Iroquois family. Soon after, their domains were invaded by the Five Nations, and most of them. were

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HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 245

killed and the residue incorporated with the conquerors or other tribes to which they fled for refuge. The Shawanees are believed to have crossed the Ohio during the first half of the seventeenth century, and settled in the Scioto Valley, They Were probably driven from what is now Kentucky by the Cherokees and Chickasaws. The Shawanees, too, were dispossessed of their Ohio homes and dispersed by the Five Nations in the seventeenth century; and in 1700 all this territory was derelict or occupied by the remnant of defeated tribes, permitted to remain by yielding tribute to their conquerors.

In 1750, the Wyandots, Delaware, Shawanees, Ottawas, and perhaps other tribes, dwelt in the State. The scope of their possessions corresponded some what with the various river systems. To the Delawares belonged the Muskingum Valley. The Shawanees were their neighbors on the west, in the Scioto Valley, and the Wyandots on the north, and these two tribes frequently camped and roamed over the Delaware grounds.

Heckewelder, in his history of Indian Nations, preserves a Delaware tradition that the Lenni Lenape, from which nation the Delawares sprang, resided many hundred years ago west of the Mississippi, and by a slow emigration advanced eastward; that at the Allegheny River they encountered the Allegewi, a nation of giants; and with the aid of the Iroquois, also emigrating from the west, defeated them; that proceeding eastward, they settled on the Delaware, Hudson, Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers. The Lenape, or Delaware, thus seated on the Atlantic, divided themselves into three tribes, known as the Turkey, the Turtle and the Wolf, or Muncey tribes.

The Delawares, when first known to the whites, were in subjection to the Iroquois or Five Nations, doubtless by conquest, though a Delaware tradition ascribes their reduction to stratagem and treachery. They inhabited a portion of New Jersey territory, and the eastern part of Pennsylvania. To so degrading a state of vassalage were they reduced by the Five Nations, that the right to the soil they occupied was denied, and they were called women, and were deemed incapable of carrying on war or contracting sales of land. Nevertheless, they exercised this latter prerogative with the whites, and thereby greatly incensed the Iroquois against them. Many of the Delawares retired to the Susquehanna and Allegheny Valleys, and between 1740 and 1750 began to settle on the Tuscarawas and Muskingum, having obtained from the Wyandots or Hurons, their ancient allies and uncles, who claimed the possession of Eastern Ohio, the grant of an unoccupied tract of land on the Muskingum. Here they flourished and became a very powerful tribe, released for a time from troublesome relations with the Iroquois. From 1765 to 1795 they were in the height of their influence.

Within the limits of what is now Tuscarawas County were several important Indian towns. On the southwest side of the Tuscarawas, near What is now Bolivar, was the Indian village of Tuscarawas, the first capital of the Delawares in the valley. At the mouth of Stillwater was Three Legs Town, and on the site of Newcomerstown was Gekelemukpechunk, the next capital. In 1775, the capital was removed farther down the river to Goshackgunk

246 - HISTORY 0F TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

(Coshocton). Shingash, or Bockongahelas, was one of the noted war chiefs of the Delawares. He resided at Tuscarawas town, near the site of Bolivar. He had formerly dwelt in Pennsylvania, and there acquired such a notoriety from his depredations that a large reward was offered for his head; in consequence, he wisely retired to the Tuscarawas. He was wounded in the last battle with Gen. Wayne's army, and died at his town, Wapakonneta, in 1804.

Netawatmes was chief of the Turtle tribe at Gekelemukpechunk, and it was he who removed the capital to Goshackgunk. He was a firm advocate of peace measures, a warm friend of the colonies in the Revolutionary struggle, and strongly attached to the cause of the Moravian missions. He had been a signer of a treaty held at Conestago, Penn., in 1718. When he first came to Ohio, he settled on the Cuyahoga, but afterward removed to the Tuscarawas. He died at an advanced age, in 1776, at Fort Pitt, while attending a peace conference held there.

White Eyes or Coquethegechton succeeded Netawatmes. He was a mighty chief among the Delawares, and an unwavering advocate of peace. On the breaking-out of the Revolution, the Delawares on the Muskingum were divided into peace and war parties. White Eyes and Killbuck favored peat, with the colonies, while Captain Pipe, chief of the Wolf tribe, advocated the cause of war under the banners of the British. The position of the peace party was peculiarly trying. The other tribes of Ohio took up arms in behalf of England and taunted the friendly Delawares with cowardice and weakness. White Eyes, at a congress of Indians at Pittsburg, in 1775, openly espoused the cause of the Americans, which, says Heckewelder, so chagrined a number of Senecas who were present that they thought proper to offer a check to his proceedings by giving him, in a haughty tone, a hint, intended to remind him that the Delaware nation was subordinate to the Six Nations. Capt. White Eyes, long since tired of this language, with his usual spirit and in an air of disdain, rose and replied that he well knew that the Six Nations considered his nation as a conquered people, and their inferiors. "You say," said he, " that you had conquered me; that you had cut off my legs; had put a petticoat on me, giving me a hoe and corn-pounder in my hands, saying. 'Now, woman, your business henceforward shall be to plant and hoe corn, and pound the same for bread for us men and warriors.' Look, continued White Eyes, at my legs! if, as you say, you had cut them off, they have grown again to their proper size! the petticoat I have thrown away and put on my proper dress! the corn-hoe and pounder I have exchanged for these fire-arms, and I declare that I am a man!" Then waving his hand in the direction of the Allegheny River, he exclaimed, "And all the country on the other side of the river is mine!" This bold address drew the lines between the two parties of the Delawares. Many of those who favored England, and wished to maintain friendship with the Five Nations, withdrew from the Turtle tribe, joined the Muncey's and re tired nearer Lake Erie. The record made by White Eyes shows him to have been " a man of high character and clear mind, of courage such as became the leader of a race whose most common virtues were those of the wild men, and

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 247

of a forbearance and kindness as unusual as fearlessness was frequent among his people, It was the all-absorbing purpose of his life to reclaim the Indian from barbarism and elevate him to an equality with the white man. Hence he earnestly seconded the efforts and labors of the Moravian missionaries made in behalf of the red men. "Gen. McIntosh in 1778 made a requisition upon the Delaware council for two Captains and sixty warriors, and White Eyes joined his command. He died of small-pox November 10, 1778, while guiding Gen. McIntosh and his army to Fort Laurens. The death of White Eyes caused deep sorrow throughout the Indian country, and many embassies were sent from the West to condole with the Delawares,

Gelelemend, or Killbuck, was then installed chief of the Turtle tribe. He became a devoted adherent of the Americans, receiving the rank of Colonel. He bore an irreproachable character, lived an exemplary, useful life, and was a wise, sagacious chief. He was born in 1737, in what is now Northampton County, Penn., and died at Goshen, Tuscarawas Co., Ohio, in 1811.

In general, the Delaware Indians entertained very friendly feelings toward the whites. Far more Indian blood than white was shed on the Tuscarawas. Most of the Moravian convents were of this nation. When the Revolutionary war broke out, the colonists wishing to secure the neutrality of the Indians effected two successive treaties in 1775 and 1776, binding the Delawares and some of the adjacent tribes to remain neutral. In 1777, the hatchet sent from the British head-quarters at Detroit was accepted by the Shawnees, Wyandots and Mingoes. A portion of the Delawares pledged themselves to take up arm, and at this crisis a general council of the Delawares met at Goshockgunk, March 9, 1778. Some of the young warriors appeared with plumes and war paint. After earnest discussion and eloquent addresses, especially from White Eyes, it was resolved to decline the hatchet Three times during the summer it was tendered and as often declined. Friendship for the Americans was maintained despite the taunts of their own race; bribes were rejected and threats spurned. Subsequently, however, through the machinations of Simon Girty and others, a part of the nation was induced to join the British Indians, In 1778, the rightful authorities made a complete treaty of alliance with the United States therein providing for carrying out a cherished project of White Eyes, that the Delaware Nation should be represented in the Colonial Congress and become as a Christian Indian State one of the United States. Killbuck and other Christian Indians for a time held the nation in check, but, in 1780, CapL Pipe acquired the ascendancy at the Delaware capital, and carried the people to the British side, and many of them settled farther west. In 1781, Gen. Brodhead made an expedition to the forks of the Muskingum at Coshocton, destroyed the Delaware villages in that vicinity, and killed a number of the Indians. The Delawares were represented at the grand Indian Council on the Maumee in 1793, in which it was declared that a treaty would not be consummated with the United States unless the Ohio formed the boundary. They participated in the battle in which Gen. Wayne completely repulsed them, and wrested from them and other tribes a final treaty ceding to the United

248 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

States two-thirds of the State of Ohio, including Tuscarawas County. By the treaty of 1817, the Delawares were deeded a reservation on the south of the Wyandot reservation, in Marion and Wyandot Counties. They remained here till about 1829, when they ceded it to the United States for $3,000, and were moved west of the Mississippi. Fragments of the nation are yet recognized in Canada and in the Indian Territory, but " its power was broken and the scepter had departed when it was turned away from its loved haunts in the Tuscarawas and Walhounding Valleys." Besides the Moravian Indians, a number of Indians remained in Tuscarawas County, engaged in fishing and hunting until some time subsequout to the war of 1812, but the steady encroachments of emigrants on the hunting grounds finally drove the last one away never to return.

Notwithstanding their former associations with the whites, which usually degrade the red man rather than civilize him, the Delawares of the Tuscarawas lived in the rude simplicity and virtue of their pristine times. Their dwellings were substantial structures, usually built of poles. Each chief, at the head of a village, had also his hunting and fishing grounds, to which he and his followers repaired to enjoy the sport so strongly relished by the Indian character. They also had annual hunts, in which all clans joined and ranged in common, dividing the products of the chase according to rank and station.

In regard to food, the Indians were more careful to provide for their future needs than their successors of the West are today. They cultivated corn, melons, potatoes and other vegetables. Corn was the principal crop. When the season for planting drew near, the women cleared a spot of rich, alluvial soil, and prepared the ground in a rude manner with their hoes. In planting the corn, they followed lines to a certain extent, thus forming rows each way across the field. When the corn began to grow, they cultivated it with wonderful industry until it had matured sufficiently for use. Their cornfields were nearly always in the vicinity of the villages, and sometimes were many acres in extent, and in favorable seasons yielded plentifully. The squaws had entire charge of the work. It was considered beneath the dignity of a brave to do any kind of manual labor, and, when any one of them, or of any of the white men whom they had adopted, did any work, they were severely reprimanded for acting like a squaw. The Indian women raised the corn, dried it, pounded it into meal in a rude stone mortar, or made it into hominy. Corn in one form and another furnished the chief staple of the Indian's food.

Heckewelder has written much of their manners and customs. He save "they take but two meals a day. The hunters or fishermen never go out in the middle of the day except it be cloudy. Their custom is to go out on an empty stomach, as a stimulant to exertion in shooting game or catching fish. They make a pottage of corn, dry pumpkins, beans and chestnuts and fresh or dried meats, pounded, all sweetened with maple sugar or molasses, and well boiled. They also make a good dish of pounded corn and chestnuts, shell-barks and hickory nut kernels. boiled, covering the pots with large pumpkin, cabbage or other leaves.

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 249

They make excellent preserves from cranberries and crab apples, with maple sugar.

Their bread is of two kinds-one made of green, and the other of dry corn. If dry, it is sifted after pounding, kneaded, ehaped into cakes six inches in diameter, one inch thick, and baked on clean, dry ashes, of dry, oak barks. If green, it is mashed, put in broad, green corn blades, filled in with a ladle, well wrapped up, and baked in ashes.

They make warrior's bread by parching corn, sifting it, pounding into flour, and mixing sugar. A table-spoonful, with cold or boiling water, is a meal, as it swells in the stomach, and if more than two spoonfuls is taken, it is dangerous. Its lightness enables the warrior to go on long journeys and carry his bread with him. Their meat is eaten, boiled in pots, or roasted on wooden spits or coals."

In the spring, they made maple sugar by boiling the sap in large brass or iron kettles, obtained from French or Indian traders. To secure the sap, they used vessels made of elm bark in a very ingenious manner. A sloping notch was cut in the sugar tree, a tomahawk stuck into the wood a t the end of the notch, and in the dent thus made a long chip or spile was drives, which conveyed the sap to the bark vessels. The larger trees were usually selected for tapping, as the sap was considered stronger. When the sugar was made, it was generally mixed with bear's oil or fat, forming a sweet mixture, into which they dipped roasted venison. As cleanliness was not proverbial among the Indians, the cultivated taste of a civilized person would not always fancy the mixture, unless driven to it by hunger. The compound was usually preserved in large bags made of coon skins, or in vessels made of bark.

The Indians, continues Heckewelder," make beaver and raccoon-skin blankets; also frocks, shirts, petticoats, leggings and shoes of deer, bear and other skins. If cold, the fur is placed next to the body; if warm, outside. With the large rib bones of the elk and buffalo, they shave the hair off such skins as they dressed, which was done as clean as with a knife. They also made blankets of feathers of the turkey and goose, which the women arranged interwoven together with thread or twine made from the rind of the wild hemp and nettles. The dress of the men consists of blankets, plain or ruffled shirts, leggings and moccasins (moxens). The women make petticoats of cloth, red, blue, or black, when it can be had of traders; they adorn with ribbons, beads, silver brooches, arm spangles, round buckles, little thimble-like bells around the ankles to make a noise and attract attention. They paint with vermilion, but not so, as to offend their husbands. The men paint their thighs, legs, breasts and faces, and, to appear well, sometimes spend a whole day in dec orating themselves for a night frolic. They pluck out their beards and hair on their head, except a tuft on the crown, with tweezers made of muscle shells or brass wire. The Indians would all be bearded like white men, were it not for their pulling-out custom.

The Indians were always fond of amusements of all kinds. These consisted of races, games of ball, throwing the tomahawk, shooting at a mark

250 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

with the bow and arrow, or with the rifle after its distribution among them, horse-races, and other sports incidental to savage life. Their powers of endurance were remarkable, and astonishing accounts are often now told of feats of prowess exhibited by these aborigines. Of the animals hunted by the Indians, none seems to have elicited their skill more than the bear. To slay one of these beasts was proof of a warrior's prowess, and dangerous encounters often resulted in the hunter's search for such distinction. The vitality of bruin was unequaled among the animals of the forest, and, because of the danger attached to his capture, be was made an object of special bunts and feats of courage."