222 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. CHAPTER II THE WESTERN BORDER. INDIAN OCCUPANTS-BORDER WARFARE-TREATIES-FACTS AND INCIDENTS. Shrill through the forest aisles the savage war-cry rung; Swift to the work of strife the border huntsmen sprung; Red ran the blood of foemen on countless fields of woe, From Allegheny's shimmering stream to Maumee broad and slow. On swift Miami's green-clad shores and by Sandusky's side, And where Scioto's hill-crowned flood greets grand Ohio's tide; From proud Muskingum's winding way to Cuyahoga's strand; From Tuscarawas' border to bright Olentangy s land- The armies of the past arise and tile in grand review, Wearing the mien patriots, bold, steadfast, brave and true; And, echoing down the fleeting years since savage strife was done, The ringing story of their deeds goes ever speeding on. All honor to their memory! Brave hearts and true were they Who fought for home an country in savage border fray. The battle smoke is lifted from off the forest trees, And Freedom's starry ensign floats ever on the breeze. THE above lines are an inspiration from the eventful days of long ago. From his boyhood the writer has been fascinated by the tales of olden times, and his pulses have ever quickened when reading of the struggles of the hardy men of the border, both as soldiers and pioneers. What desperate adventures were theirs! What blood curdling, scenes the solemn forests and beauteous plains of the Buckeye State witnessed in the years when the crowned monarchs of Europe fought for supremacy in the Western land; and again, what tales of distress and woe are told of the days when the Republic was young -yet how Herculean in its infancy! The dim and somber wilderness echoed to the shrill yell of the Indian warrior, scarcely less savage than the wild beast that with him tenanted the magnificent Western domain. The rifle shot, the Stroke of knife or hatchet, the groans of the Stricken victims, the sorrow of bereaved families whose stays were cut down in all the pride and strength of manhood, the wail of despairing captives, the glare of burning homes-all HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 223 the horrid realties of a merciless savage warfare were known to the daring inhabitants of the Western border. History has recorded much that occurred in those dark and dubious days, but thousands of events that then transpired were known only to the actors and may never be spread before those of this and succeeding generations who shall peruse the pages of the past. Peace and plenty crowned the efforts of the early heroes, and their descendants enjoy the bounty provided for them after long and. often doubtful strife, scarcely dreaming of the secrets hidden behind the misty veil of years. Sufficient for the scope of this work, it will be unnecessary to go farther back in the history of this region than the period of the war between France and England, from 1755 to 1760, when the immediate territory in which Union County is included wag peopled principally by the Indian tribes known as the Wyandots, Miamis, Delawares and Shawanese, the third named being the most powerful. About 1764, a French trader who had resided many years among the Indians, and who remained at Detroit after it passed into the hands of the British, drew up a statement showing the various North American tribes (1) and their fighting strength, which was as follows: Tribes. No. of Warriors. Conawaghrunas, near the falls of St. Louis ...................................... 200 Abenaquis, - St. Lawrence Indians...................................................... 350 Michmacs, - St. Lawrence Indians ...................................................... 700 Amalistes, - St. Lawrence Indians........................................................ 550 Chalas, - St. Lawrence Indians.............................................................. 130 Nipissins, living toward the heads of the Ottawa River ........................ 400 Algonquins, living toward the heads of the Ottawa River...................... 300 Le Tetes do Boule, or Round Heads, near the above .............................. 2,500 Six Nations, on the frontiers of New York, etc ........................................ 1,550 Wyandots, near Lake Erie ......................................................................... 300 Chipwas, near Lakes Superior and Michigan .......................................... 5,000 Ottawas, near Lakes Superior and Michigan............................................. 900 Messesagues, or River Indians, being wandering tribes on Lakes Huron and Superior ............................................................................................ 2,000 Powtewatamis, near St. Joseph's and Detroit ............................................... 350 Les Puans. near Puans Bay .......................................................................... 700 Folle avoine, or Wild Oat Indians, near Puans Bay ....................................... 350 Mechecouakis, south of Puans Bay................................................................... 250 Sakis, south of Puans Bay, south of Puans Bay ............................................... 400 Mascoutens, south of Puans Bay...................................................................... 500 Ouisconsins, on a river of that name falling into the Mississippi on the east side ...................................................................................................... 550 Christinaux, far north, near the lakes of the same names, ............................. 3,000 Assinaboes, or Assinnipouals, far north, near the lakes of the same names... 1,500 Blanes Barbus, (2) or White Indians with Beards .......................................... 1,500 Sioux, of the meadows, toward the heads of the Mississippi .......................... 2,500 Sioux, of the woods, toward the heads of the Mississippi............................... 1,800 Missouri, on the river of that name ...................................................................3,000 Grandes Eaux .................................................................................................. 1,000 Osages, south of Missouri.................................................................................. 600 Canses, south of Missouri..................................................................................1,600 Panis blancs, south of Missouri ....................................................................... 2,000 Panis piques, south of Missouri........................................................................ 1,700 Padoucas,, south of Missouri............................................................................. 500 Ajoues, north of the same ..................................................................................1,100 Arkanses, on the river that bears their name, falling into the Mississippi on the west side .......................................................................................... 2,000. Alibamous, a tribe of the Creeks ...................................................................... 600 Ouanakina, unk. Unless the author means they are tribes of the Creeks............ 300 Chiakanessou, unk. Unless the author means they are tribes of the Creeks....... 350 Machecous, unk. Unless the author means they are tribes of the Creeks............ 800 Caouitas, unk. Unless the author means they are tribes of the Creeks................ 700 Souikilas, unk. Unless the Author means the are tribes of the Creeks................. 200 Miamis, upon the river of that name, falling into Lake Erie ............................... 350 Delawares (les Loups), on the Ohio .................................................................... 600 (1) The orthography of tribal names in this account does not often agree with that of a later date, as will be soon. (2) First taken by the French for Spaniards. They lived in the Northwest. 224 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. Tribes. ............................................................................................................No. of Warriors. Shawanese, on Scioto ........................................................................................ 500 Kickapoos, on the Walbash................................................................................. 300 Ouachanons, on the Walbash............................................................................... 400 Peanquichas, on the Walbach.............................................................................. 250 Kaskasquias, or Illinois in general, on the Illinois River .................................... 600 Pianria .................................................................................................................. 800 Catawbas, on the frontiers of North Carolina ...................................................... 150 Cherokees, behind South Carolina ...................................................................... 2,500 Chickasaws, Mobile and Mississippi................................................................... 750 Natchez, Mobile and Mississippi ........................................................................ 150 Choctaws, Mobile and Mississippi...................................................................... 4,500 Total .................................................................................................................. 56,500 Maj. Robert Rogers, a distinguished provincial officer in the French and English war, ending in 1760, published in London, in 1765, "A Concise Account of North America," and in the chapter describing the course of the St. Lawrence River, includes the following sketch of Sandusky Bay and vicinity, written from notes made in 1760, when he led a detachment of troops to receive a surrender of Detroit, pursuant to a treaty then recently concluded; the extract is from page 169 of his work: "At the southwest corner of Lake Erie, the Lake Sandusky communicates with it by a straite of half a mile wide. The Lake Sandusky is thirty miles in length, and eight or ten miles wide. Into the southwest corner of this lake the River Sandusky, or Huron, flows. Upon the banks of this river, and round the Lake Sandusky, the Huron Indians are settled in several different towns in a very pleasant, fertile country. This nation of the Indians can raise from about 6 to 700 fighting men. They differ something in their manners from the Suties, any yet mentioned. They build regular framed houses, and cover them with bark. They are esteemed the richest Indians upon the whole continent, having not only horses in great abundance, but some black cattle and swine. They raise great quantities of corn, not only for their own use, supply several other tribes, who purchase this article from them. The country of the Hurons extends 150 miles westwardly of the lake, and is 100 miles wide. The soil is not exceeded by any in this part of the world; the timber tall and fair; the rivers and lakes abound with a variety of fish, and here is the great. est plenty of water-fowl of anywhere in the, country. The woods abound with wild game. In a word, if peopled, and improved to advantage, would equal any of the British colonies on the sea-coast," The name, Huron, as here applied by Maj. Rogers, is that given by the French to the tribe known otherwise as Wyandots. From the estimate of Maj. Rogers, made in 1760, and that of the French trader, made in 1764, as herein previously given, regarding the strength of this nation, it seems that the war they had just passed through at the latter date had reduced their numbers very materially. The Wyandots had a tradition that their country was formerly in what is now the Dominion of Canada, on the north side of the River St. Lawrence, and that the Senecas, their blood relations, occupied the territory opposite them, on the south side of the same river. A war begun between them over a trivial matter and was continued for many years, or until long after the settlement of Detroit. The remnant of the Wyandots moved west and located in the vicinity of Green Bay, afterward settling along the Detroit River and the northwestern shore of Lake Erie, and conquering a lasting peace with their long-time enemies and cousins, the Senecas, in a bloody battle on the take, wherein every warrior in the party of Senecas was slain and the Wyandots terribly reduced. Details of the bloody French and English war will not here be entered into. It resulted in the English obtaining possession of a Page 225 - Blank Page 226 - Picture of John B. Coats HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 227 large portion of the territory lying northwest from the Ohio River, previously held by the French by right of discovery. The Indian occupants had not been consulted regarding, the future ownership of the region; it was entirely a war between foreign powers, in which the English were aided by the American colonists and the French by Indian allies. The might of the British nation having been demonstrated, the Indians, probably more through fear than desire, became the allies of the latter. and thus continued through many years, the war between the United States and England in 1812-15 finally establishing a foothold for a permanent government on the soil which had long been disputed over by rival European powers, and which the heroes of the Revolution finally won as a trophy of war. With the close of the French and English war came indifference and neglect on the part of the British Government toward the Indians, and the "outrages of fur traders, brutality of English soldiery, intrusion of provincial settlers upon lands of border tribes, fabrications and wiles of French trading companies all conspired to arouse their war spirit"(1) Pontiac, the great war chief of the Ottawas, and a masterly organizer and schemer, roused the various tribes to action, and inaugurated a terrible and bloody war. So well were his plans laid that every English post west of the Alleghanies except Ligonier and Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), in Pennsylvania. and Detroit, in Michigan, fell a prey to his prowess, and over the entire Western frontier swarmed a horde of yelling,, painted, bloodthirsty merciless foes. The red men had. however. reckoned too much on their own strength, and were, notwithstanding their terrific onslaught, soon conquered by the English and their colonies. who dictated terms of peace in 1764 which were not long afterward completed. Mr. Butterfield, before quoted, writes of this period in the following strain: "At the close of Pontiac's war, there was not to be found any settlement in the upper Ohio country. Up and down the Monongahela and its branches every white settler had been expelled. From the head springs of the Allegheny to its union with its sister stream. there were no habitations other than the savages. At the junction of these rivers, where the city of Pittsburgh now sits enveloped in the smoke of its thousand industries. there was very little to indicate the presence of civilization save Fort Pitt. Outside that post there was not an inhabited hut of even a trader. Down the Ohio on the left was an uninhabited region; so, also, on the right-tip the Beaver, the Muskingum, the Scioto, and down the parent stream to its mouth. Settlements upon the waters of the Monongahela by adventurous Virginians, begun before the commencement of the contest between England and France for the Ohio country, had but an ephemeral existence. Houser, and corn-fields of English traders, which then dotted the margin of the Ohio and its tributaries in a few places, were destroyed by the French in this war for supremacy; and though others afterward appeared, nearly all vanished before the devastating hand of the foe in 1763. Pittsburgh, dating its origin from English occupation of the head of the Ohio in 1758, attained, by the spring of 1761, to the dignity of a population numbering 332, occupying 104 houses. Doubtless, both had considerably increased by May 1763, when most of its log cabins were leveled to the ground and the occupants of all driven into the fort for protection against the wild warriors of Pontiac's confederation." On the 5th and 6th of August, 1763, a merited punishment was administered to the hostile tribes of Indians who, under the lead of Pontiac, sought to destroy all the English posts on the border, by Col. Henry Bouquet, at the battle of Bushy Run, in what is now Westmoreland. County, Penn. He was at the time marching to the relief of Fort Pitt, which was threatened by the (1) C. W. Butterfield, in Washington-lrvine correspondence, page 2. 228 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. savages. Such a signal victory did he win, and so thoroughly were the Indians impressed with his power as a great warrior, that they "gave up their in designs against Fort Pitt," and "retreating beyond the Ohio, they deserted their former towns and abandoned all the country between Presque Isle and Sandusky, not thinking themselves safe until they arrived at Muskingum.(1) They formed now settlements and remained quiet during the winter, but in the meantime supplied themselves with powder from the French traders, and in the spring of 1764 began again their murderous work on the frontier. Gen. Gage, the British It Commander, resolved to attack them on two sides at once, and drive them back by carrying the war into their own country. He accordingly directed Col. Bradstreet to proceed with a body of troops against the Wyandots, Ottawas and Chippewas living upon or near the lakes, while Col. Bouquet was ordered to attack the Delawares, Shawanese. Mingoes, Mohickons, and other nations between the lakes and the Ohio River. The two armies were to act in concert. As Bradstreet's force could be sooner prepared for the expedition, he started first, and sent Col. Bouquet a dispatch dated August 14, 1764, from Presque Isle, saying be had concluded a peace with the Delawares and Shawanese. Bouquet, however, perceived the insincerity of the savages, and went on with the preparations for his own expedition. The Indians endeavored to convince Bouquet of the sincerity of their intentions to carry out the terms of the treaty with Bradstreet, but he was not to be won from his purpose of settling the matter beyond dispute, and, on the 2d of October, 1764, he departed from Fort Pitt with a force of 1,500 men, the destination of which body was the heart of the Indian region of Ohio. On the 17th of the same month. near the mouth of the Tuscarawas, and near the site of the Indian town of that name, a congress was held at which were present representatives of the Senecas, Delawares and Shawanese, and preliminary terms of peace were agreed upon between them and Bouquet. The latter gave the savages twelve days in which to deliver into his hands at Wakatomake, below the forks of the Muskingum, all the prisoners in their bands, without exception. A small stockade fort had been built on the previous day, in which to deposit provisions for the use of the troops on their return. At the close of the speeches of the Delaware chiefs on the 17th, they delivered eighteen white prisoners and eighty-three small sticks, signifying that they had that number of prisoners yet in their hands, whom they promised to bring in as soon as possible. The promise on the part of the Shawanese was very sullen, and Bouquet determined to march further into the country. The army was consequently moved to a camp near the forks of the Muskingum, where four redoubts were built opposite the four angles of the camp, which was in the midst of the region occupied by the Shawanese towns. Other buildings were erected, and preparations completed for receiving the prisoners. Bradstreet, in the meanwhile, had proceeded up Lake Erie to Sandusky Bay, and up the Sandusky River as far as navigable with Indian canoes, but was enabled to effect nothing, and returned. (2) On the 9th of November, 206 prisoners were delivered to Col. Bouquet, but about 100 were still in the hands of the Shawanese, and their delivery was promised in the spring (1765). Finally, preliminary articles of peace were agreed upon with all the tribes, and hostages were required, to be hold until the terms had been finally concluded with Sir William (1) "Historical Ace- tit of Bouquet's Expedition against the Ohio Indians in 1764," by Dr. William Smith, 1766. (2) Bradstreet went with his army to Detroit, where be arrived on the 28th of August, to the great joy of the little garrison . On the 7th of September, a council was held in presence of the army, at which were present representatives of the Ottawas, Qjibwas. Pottawatomies, Miamis, Sacs and Wyandots. The principal speaker was Wasson, the Ojibwa chief, who professed great regret for the war waged against the whites, and made a very humble and conciliatory speech. The war in the West-or Northwest-was virtually ended by this council, and it doubtless had much influence over the tribes with whom Bouquet had to deal, and whom be succeeded in bringing to terms; so that, although Brad street had been easily duped by the Indians, yet some good resulted from his expedition. His doings were not, however, fully sanctioned by the British military authorities, who administered a reprimand for his apparent lack of foresight, and for trying to check the operations of Col. Bouquet. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 229 Johnson. Late in April, 1765, the latter held a conference with the various nations of the West, at the German Flats, and settled a definite peace. On the 9th of May following, his deputy, George Croghan, received at Fort Pitt the remaining prisoners from the hands of the Shawanese. Croghan soon after (May 15, 1765), started down the Ohio on a trip into the West, reaching the mouth of the Wabash on the 6th of June, and proceeded thence by way of Vincennes, Fort Wayne, down the Maumee and up Lake Erie to Detroit. Leaving the latter post on the 26th of September in a birch canoe, he passed along the north shore of Lake Erie and reached Niagara on the 8th of October. About this time the following were the several Indian towns on the routes given, extending in various directions from Fort Pitt: First route, about N. N. W.-Kuslikushkies Town, on Big Beaver Creek. 45 miles from the fort; Shaningo, 15 miles further up the east branch of Beaver Creek; Pematuning, 12 miles further up same stream; Mahoning, on West Branch of Beaver Creek, 104 miles from Fort Pitt; Salt Lick, 10 miles farther; Ottawas Town, on the Cayahoga, 42 miles farther. Second route, W. S. W.-To mouth of Big Beaver Creek, 25 miles; to Tuscarawas, 116 miles; to Mohickon John's Town, 166 miles; to Junundat, or Wyandot Town, 212 miles; to Sandusky, 216 miles; to Junqueindundeh, 240 miles. The latter town was on the Sandusky River, a few miles above Sandusky Bay. Third route about W. S. W. --To forks of Muskingum, 128 miles; to Bullet's Town, 134 miles; to King Beaver's Town, on the heads of the Hockhocking, 171 miles; to the lower Shawanese Town on Scioto River, 211 miles; to the Salt Lick Town on the heads of the Scioto, 236 miles; to the Miamis fort, 429 miles. Fourth route, down the Ohio, general course about S. W.-To mouth of Big Beaver Creek, 27 miles; to month of Little Beaver Creek, 39 miles; to mouth of Yellow Creek, 49 miles; to the Two Creeks, 67 miles; to Wheeling, 73 miles; to Pipe Hill, 85 miles; to the long reach, 115 miles; to the foot of the reach, 133 miles; to the mouth of the Muskingum River, 163 miles; to the Little Kanawha River, 175 miles; to the mouth of Hockhocking River, 188 miles; to the mouth of Letort's Creek, 228 miles; to Kiskeminetas, 261 miles; to the month of Big Kanawha, or New River, 269 miles; to the mouth of Big Sandy CreeK, 309 miles; to the mouth of the Salt Lick River, 379 miles; to the Island, 399 miles; to the mouth of the "Little Mineamie, or Miammee" River, 454 miles; to Bi- Miammee, or Rocky River, 484 miles; to the Big Bones (so called from "elephants' bones" said to be found there), 504 miles; to Kentucky River, 559 miles; to the falls of the .Ohio, 609 miles; to the Wabash, or " Ouabache" River. 740 miles; to Cherokee River, 800 miles; to the Mississippi River, 840 miles. A town known as Wapatomica, later the principal village of the Shawanese, stood just below the present site of Zanesfield. Logan County, Ohio, and it was there the renowned Simon Kenton was doomed to be bnrned to the stake in September, 1778, but was rescued by his former friend, Simon Girty. From the peace of 1764 there was quiet for ten years, and settlements; along the then western border -rew and fairly prospered. Fur traders in the Indian country exerted more or less influence over the tribes with whom they dealt. Fincastle County, Va., was created in 1774, including, south and southwest of Augusta County, the lower portion of the Great Kanawha Valley, and extending westward so as to include all of the present State of Kentucky, but at no point crossing the Ohio. In 1773 and the spring of 1774, land claimants and surveyors had become so numerous along the Ohio, coming from Pennsylvania and Virginia, that the Shawanese and Mingoes, never cordial 230 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. observers of the peace of 1764, especially toward the Virginians. precipitated hostilities upon the adventurers, and Lord Dunmore's war resulted. "Wakatomica, all Indian town located upon the Muskingum, was destroyed by the Virginians, with outlying Villages. The, battle of Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River, on the 10th of October, 17714, when victory over the savages was purchased at a price well nigh commensurate with defeat, compelled the Indians to sue for peace, negotiations for which, near their villages on the banks of the Scioto, were rendered famous by the eloquent speech of Logan, the Mingo chief."(1) Cornstalk, the wise and brave chief of the Shawanese, whose voice had been heard above the. terrible din of the conflict, urging his followers to "be strong! be strong!" became satisfied that it was useless to struggle longer, and in November, 1774, arranged with Gov. Dunmore the preliminaries of a treaty of peace. This was in what is now Pickaway County, Ohio. The commencement of the revolt of the colonies in the spring of 1775 prevented the consummation of a definite peace. With the Revolution, an era of dreadful experience broke upon the scattered Western settlements, where aggressive warfare was carried on by the savage allies of the British, aided and abetted by the latter, and the most fiendish atrocities were perpetrated. Detroit was the depot of supplies, and the principle point of power and influence for the British in the Northwest. It is a generally authenticated fact in history that Lieut. Gov. Sir Henry Hamilton, in command of the post at Detroit, offered a standing reward for the scalps of Americans, but gave none for prisoners. This led the Indians to cause their prisoners to carry their baggage into the neighborhood of the fort, and there the put them to death and presented the ghastly scalps to the Governor for their recompense. Frightful outrages were committed, and defenseless, women and children shared alike the fate of death. From Leith's narrative, a very rare work, issued in pamphlet form, and only gathered entire by Mr. Butterfield after diligent search in three States, in each of which be found a part, that gentleman makes the following extract: When we arrived there (on the hank of the Detroit River), we found Gov. Hamilton and several other British officers, who were standing and sitting around. Immediately* * " the Indians produced a large quantity of scalps; the cannon fired; the Indians raised a shout, and the soldiers waved their hats, with huzzas and tremendous shrieks. which lasted sometime. This ceremony being ended, the Indians brought forward it parcel of American prisoners, as a trophy of their victories, among whom were eighteen women and children-poor creatures, dreadfully mangled and emaciated With their Clothes tattered and torn to pieces in such a manner as not to hide their nakedness; their legs bare and streaming with blood the effects of being torn with thorns, briers and brush If I had had an opportunity I certainly should have killed the Governor, who seemed to take ,real delight in the exhibition." And this was warfare in which a civilized nation found enjoyment! Gov. Hamilton was succeeded in 1779 by Maj. A. S. DePeyster, whose government was administered in a manner much more humane. (2) He rescued more than 300 prisoners from the hands of the Indians. The tribes taking most active part in the war were the Wyandots, from the immediate vicinity of Detroit and from the River Sandusky in Ohio; the Shawanese, from the Miami and Scioto Rivers, and others Whose thirst for blood was hardly to be restrained (1), Butterfield. (2). Lieut. Gov. Hamilton led an expedition from Detroit, in 1778, against Vincennes, on the Wabash, in Indiana, and took possession there, as the place had no garrison. In February, 1779, when Col. George Rogers Clark, of the American Army, captured the post, Hamilton, and his troops, seventy-nine in number were made prisoners. The men were paroled and allowed to return to Detroit, but their commander was sort to Richmond, Va., as a prisoner of war. When he he left Detroit, he placed a certain Maj. Lernoult in command, and the latter was succeeded by DePeyster, who really became the successor of Hamilton. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 231 even by DePeyster, and who were allowed to indulge in all the barbarities of a hideous, savage warfare under Hamilton. The latter officer had as early as September, 1776, endeavored to organize small parties of savages to proceed against the settlers on the Ohio and its branches, yet it was not until the next year that a Western border war was fully inaugurated. Mohawk Pluggy had a considerable town on the Olentangy (or Whetstone.) River, the principal eastern tributary of the Scioto, and on the site of the present city of Delaware, Delaware County, Ohio, and from that point the Indians -Mingoes-descended upon the Virginia frontier and caused great trouble. The Wyandots were also very troublesome, and had a town at Upper Sandusky; on the upper waters of the Sandusky River, in what is now Wyandot County, Ohio. These tribes caused so much distress that in the spring of 1777 it was determined to send au expedition against Pluggy's Town, but after considerable preparation, the project was abandoned lest it should cause the Delawares and Shawanese to take up the hatchet also. By the last of July 1777, fifteen parties of Indians, numbering 280 braves, besides thirty white officers and rangers, had been sent out from Detroit to devastate the Western settlements, the frontier line then extending from the Alleghey Mountains to Kittanning, on the Allegheny River, forty-five miles above Pittsburgh, thence down that stream and the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Kanawha. "The only posts of importance below Fort Pitt, at this date, were Fort Henry (formerly Fort Fincastle), at Wheeling, and Fort Randolph, at Point Pleasant. The former was built at the commencement of Lord Dunmore's war, in 1774; the latter was erected by Virginia, in 1775. Rude stockades and block-houses were multiplied in the intervening distances, and in the most exposed settlements. They were defended by small detachments from a Virginia regiment, also by at least one independent company, and by squads of militia on short tours of duty. Scouts likewise patroled the country where danger seemed most imminent; but the wily savage frequently eluded their vigilance and fell with remorseless cruelty upon the homes of the bordermen. The suffering from this irregular warfare legitimate from the standpoint of the Indian but wanton and murderous in its instigators- was terrible." (1) Brig. Gen. Edward Hand, of the Continental Army, who had taken the command of Fort Pitt on the 1st day of June, 1777, saw the necessity of taking some step to punish these murderous savages. or the frontier would become depopulated. He therefore demanded that a force of 2.000 men be raised in the western counties of Pennsylvania and Virginia, to proceed against them, but only about 800 were raised, including the regulars at Forts Pitt and Randolph. Gen. Hand had written to a friend in October, 1777: "1 have many difficulties to encounter yet I hope to drink your health in pure element at Sandusky before Chris tmas " meaning by Sandusky the Wyandot town at Upper Sandusky, Late in the fall of that year, his intended expedition was abandoned, as the strength of the people did not warrant the undertaking. He then wrote to the Governor of Virginia, under date of November 9: "I fully expected to give the Wyandots a specimen of what their perfidy so justly deserves but to my great mortification, I am obliged to relinquish the design." September 1, 1777, about 200 Wyandots, Shawanese and Delawares made an unsuccessful attempt to reduce Fort Henry, at Wheeling. They ambushed a portion of the garrison killing fifteen of the Americans and wounding five, and withdrew across the Ohio. Forty-six men left the fort on the 26th of the same month, for reconnoitering expedition down the Ohio, but were attacked the next day about eight miles below Wheeling. on the Virginia side of the river, by about forty Wyandots, and lost more than half their number. A. gen- (1). Butterfield 232 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. eral alarm now spread among the settlements, and murders somewhere on the frontier were of every day occurrence. The Shawanese, whose villages were upon the Scioto and Miami, and of whom Cornstalk was the principal chief and friendly to the Americans, did not join with the Wyandots and Mingoes until after the cruel murder of Cornstalk, his son and two others of the tribe, at I Fort Randolph, whether they had gone to promote peace. One of the garrison was slain by savages in the wood., on the 10th of November, 1777, and in revenge the militia of the post killed the four harmless men whom they had previously deprived of their liberty. This unprovoked murder made of the, Shawanese the most bitter and unrelenting enemies. In January, 1778, Lieut. Col. George Rogers Clark began recruiting in the western department for his subsequent famous expedition against the British posts in the Illinois country, which resulted in the reduction of Kaskaskia, St. Phillips, Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Vincennes. and won for the commander the title of "The Heroic." In February, 1778, Gen. Hand gathered about 500 men at Fort Pitt and started on an expedition to capture a large quantity of stores said to have been deposited by the British at an Indian town on the Cuyahoga River. Heavy rains and melting snows obliged him to give up the attempt, the expedition having proceeded only to a point some distance above the mouth of the Beaver, on the Mahoning River. Fiercely the war now raged, and in the spring of 1778 an expedition was planned from Fort Pitt against Detroit; but time passed, and, owing to the lack of facilities, it was found that such a campaign would be impracticable, and Congress resolved that it should be deferred. Gen. Lachlan McIntosh, a brave and hardy soldier, then in command of Fort Pitt and the western department, was anxious to proceed against Detroit, and never lost sight of that project, even in spite of all hindrances. September 17, 1778, a treaty was made by which the Delaware Indians became active allies of the United States. In the month of November following, the long talked of march toward Detroit was begun with a force of 1,200 men Fourteen days of marching brought the army to the Tuscarawas, only seventy miles from Pittsburgh, and here, for the. want of supplies, the force was obliged to turn its face again to the eastward and return after first, building, a stockade fort a short distance South of what is now the village of Bolivar, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, on the right bank of the river. below the month of Sandy Creek. and close to the spot on which Col.. Bouquet had built a similar work when on his famous expedition against the Western Indians in 1764. The new post was called Fort Laurens. Other expeditions were planned by Mclntosh, but from the force of circumstances were abandoned, and that General retired from the western department in April, 1779, being succeeded by Col. Daniel Brodhead. The want of supplies for a time prevented offensive operations on the part of the Western troops, and the savages were unrestrained in their fearful work. Fort Laurens. which was seventy miles from Fort McIntosh. and defended by Col. John Gibson with a force of 150 men, was. in August, 1779, abandoned from sheer necessity. In the last of July. Gen. Sullivan. under the direction of Washington, led an army from Wyoming, Penn , into the Iroquois region in New York, defeated the Indians disastrously, burned forty of their towns and destroyed more than 160,000 bushels of corn. For this the Seneca gave to Washington, commander-in-chief of the armies, the name "Town Destroyer," Col. Brodhead marched up the Allegheny from Fort Pitt in the summer of 1779, soon after being appointed to the command of the western department, burned the towns of the Indians and destroyed their crops. "The immediate results of this and other equally prompt and severe measures was to bring the Delaware,. Shawanese and even Wyandots, to Fort Pitt on a treaty of peace There Brod- HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 233 head met them, on his return in September, and a long conference was held to the satisfaction of both parties. Farther west, during the summer and autumn, the Indians were more successful. In July, the stations being still troubled, Col. Bowman undertook an expedition into the country of the Shawanese, acting upon the principle that to defend yourself against Indians you must assail them He marched undiscovered into the immediate vicinity of the towns upon the Little Miami, and so divided and arranged his forces as to insure apparent success, one portion of his troops being commanded by himself, another by Col. Benjamin Logan; but from some unexpected cause, his division of the whites did not cooperate fully with that led by Logan, and the whole body was forced to retreat, after having taken some booty, including 160 horses, and leaving the town of the savages in cinders, but also leaving the fierce warriors themselves in no degree daunted or crippled."(1) Soon after this, the Indians, thirsty for blood, made their appearance again on the south side of the Ohio, and won a victory over a party of Americans, which is thus described in the authority just quoted: "An expedition which had been in the neighborhood of Lexington, where the first permanent improvements were made in April of this year, upon its return came to the Ohio near the Licking, and at the very time that Col. Rogers and Capt. Benham reached the same point on their way up the river in boats. A few of the Indians were seen by the commander of the little American squadron, near the mouth of the Licking; and supposing himself to be far superior in numbers, caused seventy of his men to land, intending to surround the savages. In a few minutes, however, he found he was himself surrounded, and, after a hard-fought battle, only twenty or twenty-five, or perhaps ever fewer of the party, were left alive. It was in connection with this skirmish that an incident occurred which seems to belong rather to a fanciful story than to sober history, and which yet appears to be well authenticated. In the party of whites was Capt. Robert Benham. He was one of those that fell, being shot through both hips, so as to be powerless in his lower limbs; he dragged himself, however, to a tree-top, and there lay concealed from the savages after the contest was over. On the evening of the second day, seeing a raccoon, he shot it; but no sooner was the crack of his rifle heard than he distinguished a human voice not far distant; supposing it to be some Indian, he reloaded his gun and prepared for defense; but a few moments undeceived him, and he discovered that the person whose voice he had heard was a fellow with this difference, however, that both his arms were broken! Here, then, were the only two survivors of the combat (except those who had entirely escaped), with one pair of logs and one pair of arms between them. It will be easily believed that they formed a copartnership for mutual aid and defense. Benham shot the game which his friend drove toward him, and the man with sound legs then kicked it where he with sound arms sat ready to cook it. To procure water, the one with legs took a hat by the brim in his teeth, and walked into the Licking up to his neck, while the man with arms was to make signals if any boat appeared in sight. In this way they spent about six weeks, when on the 27th of November, they were rescued. Benham afterward bought and lived upon the land where the battle took place his companion, Mr. Butler tells us, was, a few years since, still living in Brownsville, Penn." This account was written many years ago, and as a matter of course both those men have long Since "joined 'the innumerable throng" on the shores of the silent land, Theirs is but one example of the endurance of which the bold and hardy frontiersmen Were possessed, and such instances could be multiplied almost without number. Who (1). Annals of the West, P. 22 . 234 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. is not familiar with the adventures of Boone, Kenton, Logston. Brady, McCullough, Wetzel, and the hosts of others whose names have descended in history that the people of the West might know how the country in which they live was won for them? Bravely and stubbornly they fought. and the broad and beautiful land now densely populated is the rich heritage from the hands of those noble men whose memory is revered by all who read this story. No longer now is heard the voice, of way; the smoke of the conflict rests no more on the rivers and forests of the West, the savage race is far removed from the scones of its early triumphs and defeats, and before the genius of civilization and universal liberty the country has pushed rapidly and steadily forward until it stands at the head of the nations. In the summer of 1780. a force of 600 Canadians and Indians, commanded by Col. Byrd, a British officer, and having two field pieces, marched up the valley of the Licking, in Kentucky, and surprised and captured Ruddle's and Martin's Stations. on the South Fork of that river. The Indians perpetrated their usual excesses and cruelties, and the force, perhaps from that, fact. was suddenly "turned right-about face and hurried out of the country with all Speed. " (1) Gen Clark. who had just completed a fort (2) on the Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio, and had returned to his station at the falls, now Louisville, Ky. had received a letter from the Governor of Virginia, recommending, an attack upon the Indian villages north of the Ohio. and learning of the raid up the Licking, prepared immediately to administer chastisement upon the savages, and to destroy the store, which furnished goods to the natives. This store, known, known is Loramie's, was near the present site of a village of the same name, in Shelby County, Ohio, where a post had been destroyed by the French in 1752. Clark was not long in mustering a force of a thousand Kentuckians, and was soon at the mouth of the Licking. The advance was against the Indian towns on the Little Miami and Mad Rivers, and it was entirely successful, resulting in their utter destruction. About five miles west of the present site of the city of Springfield, Ohio, was situated the old Indian town of Piqua, on the Mad River; and about twelve miles south, on the Little Miami, in the northern portion of what is now Greene County, was the old Indian town of Chillicothe. Piqua is said to have contained, at one time, nearly 4,000 Shawanese, and in the summer of 1780 it was quite populous. About 300 Mingoes, led by Simon Girty, were there as allies of the Shawanese, the latter being probably commanded by their celebrated chief, Catahecassa, or Blackhoof. On the 2d of August, 1780, Clark moved northward with his army from the north shore of the Ohio, where Cincinnati now stands, and on the 6th arrived at old Chillicothe, only to find it destroyed and its Indian inhabitants gone. The next day he drew up in front of old Piqua. (3) Here he found the Indians aware of his approach, information having been given by a soldier who had deserted to the enemy. Girty withdrew his 300 Mingoes from the fight, and the Shawanese. were effectually whipped by Clark's army and retreated in dismay before the men who fought in such a reckless manner that the red men termed them "mad." The engagement occurred on the 8th of August and on the 9th the victorious troops destroyed the stockade fort, the cabins and the corn-fields, starting on their return to Kentucky on the 10th. The Shawanese were now obliged to provide themselves shelter and food, and found no time for war for a considerable period. (1). Western Annuals, p 235. (2). Fort Jefferson. (3). This town was about where the town of New Boston, Clark County, Ohio now stands. After the Indians were driven from here, they established themselves in what is now Miami County, and gave the old name to the new village. This was on the site of the present city of Piqua. They also had another town of the same name in the southern part of the State. but this has been changed to Pickaway, and is the name of a county at present, of which Circleville is the seat of justice. Page 235 - Picture of Nathan Howard Page 236 - Blank HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 237 In the spring of 1781, a small force was sent out from Fort Pitt against some of the Delaware Indians who had broken their treaty and taken up the hatchet in common with other tribes against the Americans. Their towns near Coshocton were laid waste. numbers of their warriors killed and captured, and large quantities of peltry and supplies destroyed. The hostile Delawares now withdrew forever from the valleys of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum, and took up their abode on the Scioto the Mad River and the Sandusky, while the British commander at Detroit gave them every encouragement and addressed, them as his "children." The friendly Delawares at Newcomerstown, above Coshocton, placed themselves under the protection of the Americans and returned with the troops to Fort Pitt. Thus was a tribe "divided against itself," and it was but natural that it should ultimately be only too willing to make permanent peace with those who were its conquerors; and such, as will presently be seen. was the final result, at the treaty of Greenville. Finally, in the summer of 1781, it seemed that the much wished for capture of the British post at Detroit was in a fair way to be accomplished. Virginia took the matter in hand, and raised a force of about 400 men, placing them under the command of George Rogers Clark. whose signal success in the previous year had inspired greater confidence than ever in him. Near the close of July the command moved down the Ohio from Pittsburgh for the falls (now Louisville), and at Wheeling was joined by a considerable body in addition, while at the same place nearly an hundred of the militia deserted. A force from Westmoreland County, Penn., commanded by Archibald Lochry, Lieutenant of that county, proceeded down the river to join Clark, but was ambushed by Indians about eleven miles below the mouth of the Great Miami River, in what is now the State of Indiana, and all the men, numbering over 100, were either killed or captured, Col. Lochry being among the former.(1) Capt. Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), and George Girty, brother of the renegades Simon and James, were in command of the Indians on this occasion. Owing to this disaster and an act by Virginia, authorizing its Governor to stop the expedition, Clark was compelled to abandon the attempt to capture Detroit, and from letters written by him on the subject it appears that be was far from being pleased with the outcome. The enemy had intercepted a letter from Clark, and were thus made aware of the approach of Lochry, whom they proceeded against with the result seen. Other forces were to have taken different routes and co-operated with Clark, but the entire plan was given up. The Moravian Indians on the Tuscarawas, then known as well as the parent stream by the name Muskingum, had given certain information to the Americans concerning hostile movements on the part of the enemy, and in consequence their missions were broken up by the exasperated warriors of other tribes, and they were compelled to move to the Sandusky region, where, it is said some of them returned to barbarism and became hostile to the whites. Accounts conflict regarding their subsequent history. One statement is that about 150 of their men, women and children were allowed by permission of the Wyandots to return to their old home on the Tuscarawas and harvest the corn which was still standing, from the previous year's growth, they at that time being short of provisions. In the early part of 1782, numerous depredations were committed upon the settlements in Western Pennsylvania, and finally an expedition was organized, under Col. David Williamson, to proceed against the hostiles and administer punishment. The Indians who had returned to the old Moravian town of Gnadenhutten, on the Tucarawas, in what is now Tuscarawas County, Ohio, were met with, and as many supposed they were the perpetrators of the outrages, they were dealt with accordingly. Ninety of them, (1). This occurred on 24th of August, 1781. 238 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. men, women and children, were put to death in a most cruel manner by the vengeful frontiersmen. Statements from different sources say they were members of the Moravian band which had formerly occupied the ground, and others were equally as positive that they belonged to hostile tribes. The affair occurred in March, 1782, and whatever the fact, may be regarding the hostility or friendliness of the Indians, it cannot be denied that their massacre was contrary to the usages of civilized warfare. The country people around Forts Pitt and McIntosh became clamorous to be led against the Wyandot towns on the Sandusky River, and Brig. Gen. William Irvine, who assumed command of Fort Pitt and the western department in November, 1781, finally gave his consent to a movement in the direction proposed, and a force of 468 men set out on the 21st of May, 1782, under command of Col. William Crawford. The troops were mostly raw militia, and the march was so slow that the enemy learned of the approach of the army and prepared himself accordingly. The opposing forces met on the 4th and 5th of June, and the Americans were defeated and driven back with a loss of some fifty of their number. Col. Crawford and a number of others were captured, and while a portion were tomahawked, the Colonel and his son-in-law, William Harrison, were burned at the stake near the site of the present town of Wyandot, in the county of the same name, in Ohio, where the engagement had occurred. The tortures of poor Crawford were terrible and were witnessed by his surgeon, Dr. Knight, who miraculously escaped the same fate and found his way back to the settlements, where he gave an account of the affair. Col. Crawford was burned on the fifth day after his capture; he was first tied to a post, with room to walk around it, then the savages "cut off his ears; after that blew squibs of powder on different parts of his body; then the squaws procured hickory brands and darted against such parts as they thought might most affect him; they then scalped him and slapped the scalp in the Doctor's face-told him that was his big Captain; the Colonel was still alive. This he thinks was an hour after the Colonel was tied up, when he (the Doctor) was taken away. Just as he was leaving him, the Colonel leaned on his knee and elbow to rest, when a squaw took a shovel of hot embers and throw upon his back to put him again in motion. The next day, under the guard of one man, the Doctor passed the same place and saw some of the Colonel's bones in the ashes. The Colonel, he says, made little noise; he begged one Simon Girty, whom he formerly knew at Fort Pitt, to shoot him, but Girty said, with a laugh, he had no gun; that examples must take place. The above quotation is from the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, for July 23, 1782. The following, from the "Short Biography of John Leith,"(1) is believed to be "the only account extant of incidents transpiring at Upper Sandusky immediately before the arrival of Crawford's army." It is here copied from a footnote in Butterfield's work, previously mentioned: "Tho spring following, I was married to a young woman seventeen or eighteen years of ago, also a prisoner to the Indians, who had been taken by them when about twenty months old. I was then in my twenty-fourth year. Our place of residence was in Moravian Town [Gnadenhutten] for about two years, about which time Col. Williams [Col. Daniel Brodhead], an American officer, took possession of Coshocton [in the spring of 1781]; and shortly after the British and their Indian allies took Moravian Town, with me, my wife and children, and all the Moravians prisoners, and carried us to [Upper] Sandusky. (1). John Leith had been captured by the Indians when on a trip among them from Fort Pitt, in company with a trader, hostilities having begun between the Indians and Americans subsequent to their departure from the fort and while they were in the Indian country. Leith married Sally Lowry, also a prisoner In 1790, he returned with his wife to Fort Pitt. One of his sons, Samuel, the first white child born in the Sandusky Valley. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 239 After ter arriving at [Upper] Sandusky, the British would not suffer me to trade on my own footing and for myself; but five of them having placed their funds into one general stock, employed me to attend to their business for them, and two of them being my old employers, they gave me the same wages as before. Whilst in this employ, Cols. Williams [Williamson] and Crawford marched with an army against Sandusky, at which time I was closely watched by the Indians, and had to make my movements with particular regularity, though I had spies going to and fro by whom I could hear every evening where the army was encamped, for several days. One evening I was informed the army was only fifteen miles distant [near the present village of Wyandot, Wyandot County, Ohio], when I immediately sent the hands to gather the horses, etc., to take our goods to Lower Sandusky. I packed up the goods (about L1,500 worth in silver, furs, powder, lead, etc.) with such agility that by the next morning at daylight we started for Lower Sandusky. I also took all the cattle belonging to the company along. After traveling about three miles, I met Capt. [Matthew] Elliott, a British officer; and about twelve miles further on, I met the whole British Army, composed of Col. Butler's Rangers [a company from Detroit, under the command of Capt. William Caldwell]. They took from me my cattle and let me pass. That night I encamped about fourteen miles above Lower Sandusky, when just after I had encamped and put out my horses to graze, there came to my camp a man who was a French interpreter to the Indians [Francis Le Vellier]. 'Well,' said- he, 'I believe I will stay with you to-night and take care of you.' I told him he could remain there for the night, but I intended starting early in the morning. Next morning after we had got our horses loaded ready to start and the Frenchman had mounted his horse, we heard a cannon fire at Upper Sandusky. The Frenchman clapped his band to his breast and said, 'I shall be there before the battle is begun;' but alas, poor fellow! he got there too soon. Without fear or any thought but victory, he went on to where a parcel of Indians were painting and preparing for battle, put on a ruffled shirt and painted a red spot on the breast saying, Here is a mark for the Virginia riflemen;' and shortly after marched with the Indians to battle where in a short time he received a ball in the very spot and died instantaneously. I arrived at Lower Sandusky the second day, and remained there three days to hear the event. At length the Americans under Col. Williams [Williamson] stole a retreat on the Indians who were gathering around them in great numbers; but Col. Crawford, with most of his men, was taken by them. They tomahawked all his men and burnt him alive." The defeat and death of Crawford was a sad blow, but the energies of the borderers were not entirely prostrated. In the fall of 1782. the Delawares and Wyandots were, located principally upon the Sandusky River, directly upon the line between Fort Pitt and Detroit. and south of them, principally on the upper waters of the Great Miami, were the towns of the Shawanese. Gens. Irvine and Clark planned a simultaneous attach upon them the former to push from the east against the Delawares and Wyandots, and the latter to proceed from Kentucky and attack the Shawanese. Irvine was disappointed in numerous ways and , was unable to carry out his part of the programme, but Clark's fortune was better. Irvine. although prevented from moving with a force against the Sandusky River tribes, yet used every means to draw their attention so they should not learn of the movements of Clark. In this he was only partially successful, for there is plenty of evidence to show that the Indians anticipated an attack from the south, and even petitioned for aid from the British commandant at Detroit. Two deserters from Clark's army gave the enemy valuable information, and deterred them from sending a force for the reduction of Fort Pitt, which Capt. Alexander McKee was arranging 240 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. The deserters stated that the "Falls [Louisville] were weak and could easily be reduced. On this report, they changed their ground and determined to go, against the Falls and continued in this mind till after Col. Crawford's expedition. They then changed their ground once more and determined to reduce Wheeling. Mr. McKee actually marched for that purpose from the towns (1) with 100 rangers (British) as they are called, and about 300 Indiana. A day or two after his departure, runners came in who gave the information that Gen. Clark was approaching with a train of artillery and a large body of troops." (2) The Indians became greatly alarmed, McKee was recalled, and every available man of the Shawanese, Delawares, Wyandots, Mingoes, Monseys, Ottawas, and' Chippewas, some 700 in all, assembled to give battle to the Kentuckians, being determined to have the fight at the old Shawanese town on the Mad River, from whence the latter had been driven two years before. This was early in August, and the Indians did not meet Clark until after their raid into Kentucky and the battle of the Blue Licks. The General, upon learning of this severe blow which "had been struck by the northern savages, determined, as soon as possible, again to lead an expedition into the Miami Valleys. It was the last of September, however, before a thousand men could be gathered at the mouth of the Licking, whence they marched northward. But their coming, though expeditions and secret, was discovered by the natives, and the towns on the Miamis and Mad River abandoned to their fate. The crops were again destroyed, the towns burned, the British store (Loramie's) with its goods annihilated, and a few prisoners taken, but no engagement of any consequence took place. Such, however, appears to have been the impression made by Clark upon the Shawanese that no large body of Indians, thenceforward, invaded the territory south of the Ohio."(3) The following was Gen. Clark's letter to Gen. Irvine on the subject of the expedition: Miami, November 13, 1782. SIR: I fell in with your late express on the 2d inst., at the month of the Licking Creek. I was happy to find that our design was likely to be well timed. We marched on the 3d. The 10th, surprised the principal Shawanese town, Chillicothe, but, not so completely as wished for, as most of the inhabitants had time to escape. We got a few scalps and prisoners. I immediately dispatched strong parties to the neighboring towns. In a short time laid all of them in ashes with their riches. The British trading-post at the carrying place shared the same fate. I cannot find, from the prisoners that they had any idea of your second design; and I hope you will completely surprise the Sanduskians. a I beg leave to refer you to Mr. Tate and his companions for further particulars, for reasons well known to you. Gen. Clark's official report of his invasion of the Shawanese country at this time was as follows: Lincoln, b. November.27, 1782. SIR: I embrace the earliest opportunity by Capt, Morrison, of acquainting you with our return from the Indian country. We left the Ohio on the 4th inst. with one thousand and fifty men, and surprised the principal Shawnee town on the evening of the 10th inst. Immediately detaching strong parties to different quarters, in a few hours two-thirds of the town and everything they were possessed of wits destroyed except such articles its might be useful to the troops; the enemy had no time to secret any part of their property which was in the town. The British trading post at the head of the Miami. and carrying place to the waters of the Lake, c shared the same fate, at the hands of party of One hundred and fifty horse, commanded by Col. Ben Logan. The property destroyed was of great amount, and the quantity of (1) Meaning the. Shawanese towns, in what is now Logan Comity, Ohio. The, British Rangers mentioned composed Capt Caldwell's Company, sent by DePeyster from Detroit. (2) From letter of Gen. William Irvine to Col. Edward Cook, about September 1, 1782. Irvine derived his information from a negro who had come in from the Shawanese towns. It was subsequently found to be correct. After he left, the enemy successfully invaded Kentucky, and won the bloody battle of Blue Lick, August 19,1782. (3) Annals of the West p. 273. (4). This express left Pittsburgh October 3, and Clark met it on the present site of Cincinnati (5). Now Piqua, Miami County, Ohio. From Gen. Clark's letter it would seem that the town had been given the same name as the old one the Little Miami, previously referred to. Other accounts give it always as Piqua. (a) It has been seen that Gen. Irvine was unable to make his contemplated descent upon the Delawares and Wyandot in their towns on the Sandusky River. (b) Lincoln County, Ky. (c) Lake Erie HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 241 provisions burned surpassed all idea we had of the Indian stores. The loss of the enemy was ten scalps, seven prisoners, and two whites re-taken; ours was one killed and one wounded. After lying part of four days in their towns, and finding all attempts to the enemy to a general action fruitless, we retired, as the season was far advanced and the weather threatening. I could not learn from the prisoners that they had the least idea of Gen. Irwin's (1) penetrating into their country; should he have given them another stroke at Sandusky, it will have more than doubled the advantage already gained. We might probably have got many more scalps and prisoners could we have known in time whether we were discovered or not. We took for granted we were not, until getting within three miles, some circumstances happened which caused me to think otherwise. Col. John Floyd was then ordered to advance with three hundred men, to bring on an action or attack the town, while Maj. Walls, with a party of horse, had previously been detached by it different route, as a party of observation. Although Col. Floyd's motions were so quick as to get to the town but a few minutes later than those who discovered his approach, the inhabitants had sufficient notice to effect their escape to the woods, by the alarm cry which was given on the first discovery. This was heard at a very great distance, find repeated by all that heard it. Consequently, our parties only fell in with the rear of the enemy. I must beg leave to recommend to your Excellency the militia of Kentucky, whose behavior on the occasion does them honor, and particularly their desire to save prisoners. Subscribed, G. R. CLARK. To Gov. Benjamin HARRISON, of Virginia. With what joy the frontier settlers hailed the dawn of peace it can be imagined. For seven years they had lived in fear of incursions from their savage foes, and their relief must have been exceedingly great at the cessation of hostilities with even a portion of their enemies. The defeat and capture of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, Va.," prepared the way for preliminaries of peace with Great Britain, and put a check upon their Indian allies. Upon the 30th of November, 1782, provisional articles of peace had been arranged at Paris, between the Commissioners of England and her unconquerable colonies. Upon the 20th of January following, hostilities ceased; on the 19th of April - the anniversary of the battle of Lexington - peace was proclaimed to the army of the United States, and on the 3d of the next September, the definite treaty which ended in our revolutionary struggle was concluded." (2) But the close of the war with Great Britain did not bring peace to the border settlements. "The victories in the East brought no cessation of hostilities in the West. The savages still glutted their vengeance upon the unwary borderers; the tomahawk and scalping knife still brought death in all the brutality with which the Indian was capable, to young and old-to either sex."" Matters between the United States and Great Britain remained for several years unsettled, and there was some difficulty with a few of the States regarding the adjustment of land claims in the territory on the upper side of the Ohio. The Indians almost constantly harassed the border settlements, and at times, were an aspect of evil. A treaty at Fort Stanwix (now Rome, N. Y.), October 22, 1784, with the Iroquois tribes-Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas-resulted in their ceding to the United States all claims to the country west of the western border of Pennsylvania as far as the Ohio River. January 21, 1785, a treaty was held at Fort McIntosh with the Wyandots. Delawares. Chippewas and Ottawas, the celebrated Delaware chief, Buckongahelas, it is said being present. The following were the important provisions of this treaty: "ARTICLE III.-The boundary lines between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware nations shall begin at the month of the River Cayahoga, and run thence up the said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; then down the said branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence [Laurens]; then westwardly, to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood which was taken by the French in one thousand seven (1). Meaning Irvine's (2) Annals of the West. (3) Butterfield. 242 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. hundred and fifty-two; then along the said portage to the Great Miami or Ome River, and down the southeast side of the same to its mouth; thence along the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cayahoga, where it began. "ART. IV.-The United States allot all the lands contained within the said lines to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, to live and to hunt on, and to such of the Ottawa nation as now live thereon; saving and reserving, for the establishment of trading posts, six miles square at the month of the Miami or Ome River, and the same at the portage on that branch of the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the Lake of Sandusky, where the fort formerly stood, and also two miles square on each side of the lower rapids of Sandusky River; which posts, and the lands annexed to them, shall be to the use and under the Government of the United States. "ART. V.-If any citizen of the United States, or other person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations in this treaty, except on the lands reserved to the United States in the preceding article, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States and the Indians may punish him as they please "ART. VI.-The Indians who sign this treaty, as well in behalf of all their tribes as of themselves, do acknowledge the lands east, south and west of the lines described in the third article, so far as the said Indians formerly claimed the same, to belong to the United States; and none of their tribe shall presume to settle upon the same or any part of it. "ART. VII-The post of Detroit, with a district beginning at the mouth of the River Rosine [Raisin], on the west side of Lake Erie, and running west six miles up the southern bank of the said river, thence northerly. and always six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the Lake St. Clair, shall also be reserved to the sole use of the United States. "ART. VIII.-In the same manner, the post of Michilimackinac, with its dependencies, and twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved for the use of the United States. "ART. IX.-If any Indian or Indians shall commit a robbery or mur der on any citizen of the United States, the tribe to which such offender may below, shall be bound to deliver them up at the nearest post, to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States." On the 15th of June, 1785, Congress issued the following proclamation which was circulated in the Western country: WHEREAS, It has been represented to the United States, in Congress assembled that several disorderly persons have crossed the Ohio and settled upon their unappropriated lands; and whereas, it is their intention, as soon as it shall be surveyed, to open offices for the sale of a considerable part thereof, in such proportions and under such other regulations as may suit the convenience of all the citizens of the said States and others who may wish to become purchasers of the same; and as such conduct tends to defeat the object they have in view, is in direct opposition to the ordinances and resolutions of Congress. and highly disrespectful to the federal authority; they have, therefore, thought fit, and do hereby issue this their proclamation, strictly forbidding all such unwarrantable, intrusions, and enjoining all these who have settled thereon to depart with their families and effects, without loss of time, as they shall answer the same at their peril. A treaty was made with the Shawanese, January 31, 1786, at the mouth of the Great Miami River, of which the following is "ARTICLE VI.-The United States do allot to the Shawanese nation, lands within their territory, to live and hunt upon, beginning at the south line of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, at the place where the main branch of the Great Miami, which falls into the Ohio, intersects said line; then down the River Miami to the fork of that river, next below the old fort which was taken by the French in one thousand seven hundred and fifty. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 243 two; thence due west to the River Do La Pause; then down that river to the River Wabash; beyond which lines none of the citizens of the United States shall settle, nor disturb the Shawanese in their settlement and possessions. And the Shawanese do relinquish to the United States all title, or pretense of title, they ever had to the lands east, west and south of the east, west and south lines before described." It had been endeavored to bring the Wabash tribes and others to treat at this time, but the effort did not succeed, and they continued their depredations. The Shawanese, also, disregarding their treaty, resumed hostilities. and, in the fall of 1786, an expedition was led against them by Col. Benjamin Logan, from Kentucky, who burned their towns on Mad River and destroyed their crops. One of his encampments on the route was at a place in what is now Clinton County, Ohio, known as the Deserted Camp, where it is said a Frenchman deserted from his force in order to give warning to the Indians, and thus partially frustrated the object of the expedition. Another expedition had been undertaken against the Wabash Indians, by Gen. George Rogers Clark, but its results Its were hardly satisfactory. Matters now remained in a state of uncertainty until July, 1787, when Congress passed Ordinance No. 32, since known as the ordinance of 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio. It was drawn up by Nathan Dane, a Revolutionary patriot, of Massachusetts, and its full text appears elsewhere in this volume Judge Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati. in his "Notes of the Early Settlement of the Northwestern Territory," published in 1847, speaks of the ordinance as follows: "That document was the Constitution of the Territory. It vested the executive power in a Governor; the judicial power in a General Court, composed of three Judges, and the legislative power in the Governor and Judges, acting as a Legislative Council. It also provided for the appointment of a Secretary of the Territory, who was subsequently authorized by an act of Congress to execute all the powers and duties of the Governor, in case of his death, removal, or necessary absence from the Territory. It also provided for the establishment of tribunals, inferior to the General Court, and for the appointment of subordinate officers. The legislative power was limited to the adoption of such laws of the original States as they might think suited to the condition and wants of the people which were to be submitted to and approved by Congress. It also entitled the Territory, as soon as it should be found to contain 5,000 free male inhabitants, of full age, to a General Assembly, to consist of a Legislative Council and House of Representatives, and also to a delegate in Congress. For the purpose of carrying, the Ordinance into effect and organizing a Territorial Government, Congress, on the 5th of October, 1787, elected Arthur St. Clair, Governor, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary; and on the 16th of the same month, they appointed Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong, of Newburg, N. Y., and James Mitchell Varnum, Judges of the said Territory. On the 16th of January, John Armstrong declined the appointment, and John C. Symmes was chosen to fill the vacancy." On the day St. Clair was appointed Governor, Congress passed a resolution instructing him to "hold a general treaty with the tribes of Indians within the United States inhabiting the country northwest of the River Ohio and about the lakes, at such time and place as he should appoint, for the purpose of knowing the cause of uneasiness among them hearing their complaints regulating trade, and amicably settling all affairs concerning lands and boundaries between them and the United States, agreeably to such instructions as should be given him, for that purpose." In pursuance of that order, he assembled the Indians at Marietta, in January, 1789, and negotiated 244 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. with them what afterward became known as the "Treaty" of Fort Harmar." (1) When Congress first assembled under, the new Constitution, at New York, in May, 1789, Washington, as one of his first official acts as President, submitted said treaty to the Senate for its action thereon, and that body immediately approved and ratified it. At the same session, St. Clair and Sargent were re-appointed to the positions of Governor and Secretary of tile Territory, and a new board of Judges was appointed. "But these treaties," says Albach. "if meant in good faith by those who made them were not respected. and the year of which we now write ( 1789) saw renewed the old frontier troubles in all their barbarism and variety. The Wabash Indians especially, who had not been bound by any treaty as yet kept, up constant incursions against the Kentucky settlers, and the emigrants down the Ohio, and the Kentuckians retaliated. striking foes and friends,. even the peaceable Piankeshaws, who prided themselves on their attachment to the United states., Nor could the Prsident take any effectual steps to put all end to this constant partisan warfare. In the first place, it was by no means clear that an attack by the forces of the Government upon the Wabash tribes could he justified." Troubles multiplied, and the campaigns of Harmar and St. Clair, in 1790 and 1791. respectively, followed by Wayne's terrible punishment of the Indians in August, 1794, are matters of history not necessary to notice at length in this place. The victory of Wayne enabled him to do what a commission had failed to do in an attempt in 1793, namely, to agree on terms of peace with the various Western tribes. The treaty of Greenville was concluded oil the 3d of August,1795, after a long and carefully conducted conference, in the proceedings of which the shrewdness and tact of Wayne are most conspicuous. There were present at the conference numbers from the tribes as follows: Wyandots, 180; Delawares, 381; Shawanese, 143; Ottawas, 45; Chippewas, 16; Pottawattomies, 240; Miamis and Eel Rivers, 73; Weas and Piankeshaws, 12; Kickapoos and Kaskaskias, 10; total 1,130. The provisions of the treaty were as follows: (2) ARTICLE I.-Hostilities were to cease. ART. II.-All prisoners were to be restored. ART. III-The general boundary lines between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes shall begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and run thence up the same to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the crossing place above Fort Lawrence [Laurens]; thence westwardly, to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami River, running into the Ohio, at or near which fork stood Loramie's store, and where commences the portage between the Miami and the Ohio and St. Mary's River, which is a branch of the Miami which runs into Lake Erie; thence a westwardly course, to Fort Recovery, which stands on a branch ranch of the Wabash; thence southwesterly, in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of the Kentucky or Cuttawa River. And in consideration of the peace now established; of the goods formerly received from the United States; of those now to be delivered; and of the yearly delivery of goods now stipulated to be made hereafter; and to indemnify the United States for the injuries and expenses they have sustained during the war; the said Indian tribes do hereby cede and relinquish forever, all their claims to the lands lying eastwardly and southwardly of the general boundary lines now described; and these lands, or any part of them, (1). This was on the 9th of January, 1789. The treaty confirmed the previous one with the Iroquois at Fort Stanwix, made in October, 1784, and another made at Fort McIntosh in January, 1785, with the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas Chippewas, Pottawattomies and Sacs, also extending the latter treaty. (2). See Annals of tile West, pp. 442-446. Page 245 - Blank Page 246 - PICTURE OF GEORGE STEVENS HISTORY OF UNION -COUNTY. - 247 shall never hereafter be made a cause, or pretense, on the part of said tribes, or any of them, of war or injury to the United States, or any other people thereof. And for the same consideration, and as an evidence of the said Indian tribes, of their confidence in the United States, and desire to provide for their accommodations, and for that convenient intercourse which will be beneficial to both parties, the said Indian tribes do also cede to the United States- the following piece-, of land. to wit: 1. One piece of land six miles square, at or near Loramie's store. before mentioned. 2. One piece, two mile., square, at the head of the navigable water or landing, on the St. Mary's River, near Girty's Town. 3. One piece, six miles square at the. head of the navigable waters of the Auglaize River. 4. One piece, six miles square, at the conference of the Auglaize and Miami Rivers. where Fort Defiance now stands. 5. One piece, six miles square. at or near the confluence of the Rivers St. Mary's and St. Joseph's, where Fort Wayne now stands, or near it. 6. One piece, two miles square on the Wabash River, at the end of the portage front the Miami of the Lake, and about eight wiles eastward from Fort Wayne. 7. One Piece six miles square. at the Ouiatanon, or old Wea town,-,. on the Wabash River. 8. One piece, twelve miles square at the British fort on the Miami of the Lake at the foot of the rapids. 9. One piece, six miles square, at the mouth of said river, where it empties i nto the lake. 10. One piece, six miles square, upon Sandusky Lake. where a fort formerly stood. 11. One piece. two miles square, at the lower rapids of Sandusky River. 12. The post of Detroit, and till the lands to the north, the west and the south of it, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English Governments; and so much more land to be annexed to the District of Detroit as shall be comprehended between the River Rosine on the south and Lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of Lake Erie and Detroit River. 13. The post of Michilimackinac, and all the land on the island on which that post stands, and the mainland adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English Governments; and a piece of land on the main to the north of the Island, to measure six miles, on Lake Huron or the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and to extend three miles back from the water on the lake or strait; and also, the Island do Bois Blanc, being, an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippewa nation. 14. One piece of land. six miles square, at the mouth of Chicago River, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood. 15. One piece, twelve miles square, at or near the month of the Illinois River, emptying into the Mississippi. 16. One piece, six miles square, at the old Peorias' fort and village, near the south end of the Illinois Lake, on said Illinois River. And whenever the United States shall think proper to survey and mark the boundaries of the lands hereby ceded to them, they shall give timely notice thereof to the said tribes of Indians, that they may appoint some of their wise chiefs to attend and see that the lines are run according to the terms of this treaty. And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people. of the United States a free passage, by land and by water, as one and the other shall be found convenient, through their country along the chain of posts: herein before mentioned, that is to say: from the commencement of the portage aforesaid, at or near Loramie's store, thence along said portage to the St. Mary's and down the same to Fort Wayne, and then down the Miami to Lake Erie; again from the commencement of the portage, at or near Loramie's store, along the portage and thence from the River Auglaize, and down the same to its junction with the Miami at Fort Defiance; again, from the commencement of the por- 248 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. tage aforesaid to Sandusky River, and down the same to Sandusky Bay, and Lake Erie, and from Sandusky to the post which shall be taken at or near the foot of the rapids of the Miami of the Lake; and from thence to Detroit. Again, from the month of the Chicago River to the commencement of the portage between that river and the Illinois, and down the Illinois River to the Mississippi; also, from Fort Wayne, along the portage aforesaid which leads to the Wabash, and then down the Wabash to the Ohio. And the said Indian tribes will also allow the people of the United States the free use of the harbors and mouths of rivers, along the lakes adjoining the Indian lands, for sheltering vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes when necessary for their safety. ART. IV.-In consideration of the peace now established, and of the sessions and relinquishments of lands, made in the preceding article by the said tribes of Indians, and to manifest the liberality of the United States, as the great means of rendering this peace strong and perpetual, the United States relinquish their claim to all other Indian lands, northward of the River Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the Great Lakes and the waters uniting them, according to the boundary line agreed upon by the United States and the King of Great Britain, in the treaty of peace made between them in the year 1783. But from this relinquishment by the United States the following tracts of land are explicitly excepted: 1st. The tract of 150,000 acres, near the rapids of the River Ohio, which has been assigned to Gen. Clark for the use of himself and his warriors. 2d. The post at St. Vincennes, on the River Wabash, and the lands adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished. 3d. The lands at all other places, in possession of the French people and other white settlers among them, of which the Indian title has been extinguished, as mentioned in the third article; and 4th the post of Fort Massac, towards the mouth of the Ohio. To which several parcels of land, so excepted, the said tribes relinquish all the title and claim which they or any of them may have. And, for the same considerations, and with the same views as above mentioned, the United States now deliver to the said Indian tribes a quantity of goods to the value of twenty thousand dollars, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge; and henceforward, every year, forever, the United States will deliver, at some convenient place northward of the River Ohio, like useful goods, suited to the circumstances of the Indians, of the value of nine thousand five hundred dollars, reckoning that value at the first cost of the goods in the city or place in the United States where they shall be procured. The tribes to which these goods are to be annually delivered. and the proportions in which they are to be delivered are the following: 1st, To the Wyandots, the amount of one thousand dollars; 2d, to the Delawares, the amount of one thousand dollars; 3d, to the Shawanese, the amount of one thousand dollars; 4th, to the Miamis, the amount of one thousand dollars; 5th, to the Ottawas, the amount of one thousand dollars; 6th, to the Chippewas, the amount of one thousand dollars; 7th, to the Pottawatomies, the amount of one thousand dollars; 8th, and to the Kickapoo, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia tribes, the amount of five hundred dollars each. Provided, That if either of the tribes shall hereafter, at an annual delivery of their share of the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their annuity should be furnished in domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils convenient for them, and in compensation to useful artificers, who may reside with or near them, and be employed for their benefit, the same shall, at the subsequent annual deliveries, be furnished accordingly. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 249 ART. V.-To prevent any misunderstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the United States, in *the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared that the meaning of that relinquishment is this: The Indian tribes who have a right to these lands are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting and dwelling thereon, so long as they please, without any molestation from the United States; but when those tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands or any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States; and, until such sale, the United States will protect all the said Indian tribes, in the quiet enjoyment of their lands, against all citizens of the United States, and against all other white persons who intrude upon the same. And the said Indian tribes again acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the said United States, and no other power whatever. ART. VI.-The Indians or United States may remove and punish intruders on Indian lands. ART. VII.-Indians may hunt within ceded lands. ART. VIII-Trade shall be opened in substance as by provisions in treaty of Fort Harmar. ART. IX.-All injuries shall be referred to law, not privately avenged; and all hostile plans known to either shall be revealed to the other party. ART. X.-All previous treaties annulled. The various nations named in the fourth article signed this treaty on the date given (August 3, 1795); it was laid before the Senate on the 9th of December and ratified by that body on the 22d of the same month. And thus closed the long and bloody old Indian wars of the West. The peace then agreed upon lasted for sixteen years, when the renowned Shawanese chieftain, Tecumseh, who, with his brother the Prophet, had laid plans to unite all the tribes as one, and had stirred them to strife, precipitated the war of that year, in which Gov. William Henry Harrison showed himself to be a man of great nerve and wonderful resources. That hostilities were brought on largely through the aid of the sneaking emissaries of Great Britain there can be no doubt, and the final breaking-out of the war of 1812 upon the land settled the aim of the British Government conclusively. Happily, that war resulted advantageously to the United States, and cooled the desire of the great foreign power to usurp the rights of the young Republic, which had thus, a second time, taught the British lion a severe lesson. Treaties were made in 1814 and 1815, with several tribes of Indians, and their allegiance secured to the United States. In 1817, an effort was made to extinguish the Indian title to lands in Ohio. but the absence of the Miamis from the council, held at the rapids of the Maumee in September, prevented. Cass and McArthur, however, purchased of the Indians nearly the whole northwestern portion of the State, estimated at 3.694,540 acres, exclusive of reservations, paying therefor the sun of $140,893, or three cents and eight mills per acre. Mention will now be made of three individuals known to the early history of this region, two of whom had much to do with the affairs of the country in their time: The Pipe, or Capt. Pipe, as known to history, was one of the most savage enemies of the Americans. In 1764, he was captured, and detained at Fort Pitt until Bouquet dictated terms of peace to the Delawares and Shawanese on the Muskingum, when he was set at liberty. Pipe's Indian name was Kogrieschquanoheel, and he was the principal Captain of the Wolf tribe of the Delawares, becoming afterward its tribal chief. After Pontiac's war, until 1780, his tribe was at peace with the Americans. but with the breaking-out of the Revolution, Capt. Pipe became a prominent actor in the field against the country. His home was then upon the Walhonding, about fifteen miles above 250 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. what is now Coshocton. He was the bitter enemy of the Moravian mission. aries. At the close of the Revolution, be changed greatly, and advocated peace with the Americans in the councils of his nation, which had drawn back to the Maumee River. Although he fought against Harmar in the fall of 1790, he yet desired and advocated a cessation of hostilities, but his advice was unheeded. His arm was fairly wearied with slaughter at St. Clair's defeat in 1791. " A grand council of nearly all the Northwestern tribes assembled in the autumn of 1792, at the confluence of the Auglaize and the Maumee River , where the town of Defiance now stands, to take into consideration the condition of affairs in the United States. The result was that the Indians agreed to hold a treaty with Commissioners of the new Government the next summer. The warriors again gathered upon the Maumee, and The Pipe was among the foremost advocates for peace. But the nations declared for war, and the United States sent against them an army, under the command of the heroic Anthony Wayne, by whom they were reduced to entire submission. Capt. Pipe did not live to witness the total defeat of the confederate tribes, on the. 20th of August, 1794, upon the banks of the Maumee, by that victorious General. He died a few days previous, " (1) Simon Girty, the notorious renegade, who deserted to the British because he failed to secure a Captaincy in the American regulars, early in 1778, was the man who stirred up the worst feelings of the savages, and fought with them in many a fierce fray with his discarded countrymen. The only good deed related of him after his desertion is the rescue of Simon Kenton from death at the stake at Wapatomica, in September, 1778. At the conference in 1792, after St. Clair's defeat, just mentioned, he was the only white man allowed to be present, and there " his voice was still for war. " At a second conference, in 1793, it was mainly through his exertions that continued hostilities were decided upon. The power of the Indians was broken by Wayne in 1704, and it is said that when the fight occurred at the " Fallen Timbers," on the 20th of August in that year, Girty and his companions, Elliott and McKee, " kept at a respectable distance from the contest, near the river." He finally removed to a farm near Malden, below Detroit, on the Canadian shore of the river, and died there in 1818, aged over seventy years, despised by all his countrymen and most of those who were familiar with the story of his treachery. John Slover, one of the prisoners captured at the Crawford retreat in June, 1782, was finally taken to the Mac-a-chack town, near the present site of West Liberty, Logan Co.. Ohio. He was prepared for burning, being stripped and painted black, but in the night made his escape, jumped on the back of a horse, and made his way rapidly eastward, through the center of what is now Union County, and on toward his home in Pennsylvania, which he finally reached. He is the. only one of the members of that ill-fated expedition known positively to have crossed the territory now included in the County of Union. The following, written by Col. John Johnston, and here taken from Howe's Ohio, is an account of an Indian council hold at Upper Sandusky in 1818, on the occasion of the death of a celebrated Wyandot chief, named Tarhe-or, as Judge Burnet gives it, Tarkee, " The Crane. " It was written in 1846: "Twentv-eight years ago, on the death of the great chief of the Wyandots, I was invited to attend a general council of all the tribes of Ohio, the Delawares of Indiana and the Senecas of New York, at Upper Sandusky. I found, on arriving at the place, a very large attendance. Among the chiefs was the (1), Butterfield. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 251 noted leader and orator Red Jacket, from Buffalo. The first business done was the speaker of the nation delivering an oration on the character of the deceased chief. Then followed what might be called a monody, or ceremony, of mourning and lamentation. Thus seats were arranged from end to end of a large council-house, about six feet apart. The bead men and the aged took their seats facing each other, stooping down, their heads almost touching. In that position they remained for several hours. Deep, heavy and long-continued groans would commence at one end of the row of mourners, and so pass round until all had responded, and these repeated at intervals of a few minutes. The Indians were all washed, and had no paint or decorations of any kind upon their persons, their countenances and general deportment denoting the deepest mourning. I had never witnessed anything of the kind before and was told this ceremony was not performed but on the decease of some great man. After the period of mourning and lamentation was over. the Indians proceeded to business. There were present the Wyandots, Shawanese, Delawares, Senecas, Ottawas and Mohawks. The business was entirely confined to their own affairs, and the main topic related to their lands and the claims of the respective tribes. It was evident, in the course of the discussion, that the presence of myself and people (there were some white men with me) was not acceptable to some of the parties, and allusions were made so direct to myself that I was constrained to notice t hem, by saying that I came there as the guest of the Wyandots, by their special invitation; that, as the agent of the United States, I had a right to be there or anywhere else in the Indian country; and that if any insult was offered to myself or my people, it would be resented and punished. Red Jacket was the principal speaker, and was intemperate and personal in his remarks. Accusations, pro and con, were made by the different parties, accusing each other of being foremost in selling lands to the United States. The Shawanese were particularly marked out as more guilty than any other; that they were the last coming into the Ohio country, and, although they had no right but by permission of the other tribes, they were always the foremost in selling lands. This brought the Shawanese out, who retorted, through their head chief the Black Hoof, on the Senecas and Wyandots with pointed severity. The discussion was long continued, calling out some of the ablest speakers, and was distinguished for ability, cutting sarcasm and research going far back into the history of the natives, their wars, alliances, negotiations, migrations, etc. I had attended many councils, treaties and gatherings of the Indians, but never in my life did I witness such an outpouring of native oratory and eloquence, of severe rebuke, taunting national and personal reproaches. The council broke up late, in great confusion, and in the worst possible feelings. A circumstance occurred toward the close, which more than anything else exhibited the bad feeling prevailing. In handing around the wampum belt, the emblem of amity, peace and good will, when presented to one of the chiefs he would not touch it with his fingers, but passed it on a stick to the person next him. A greater indignity. agreeable to Indian etiquette, could, not be offered. The next day appeared to be one of unusual anxiety and despondency among the Indians. They could be seen in groups everywhere near the council house, in deep consultation. They had acted foolishly were sorry; but the difficulty was, who would first present the olive branch The council convened late and was very full: silence prevailed for a long time; at last the aged chief of the Shawanese, the Black Hoof, arose-a mail of great influence and a celebrated orator. He told the assembly they had acted like children. and not men. oil yesterday: that he and his people were sorry for the words that had been spoken, and which had done so much harm: that lie. came into the council by the unanimous desire of his people present to recall those 252 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. foolish words, and did there take them back-handing strings of wampum, which passed round and was received by all with the greatest satisfaction. Several of the principal chiefs delivered speeches to the same effect, handing round wampum in turn, and in this manner the whole difficulty of the preceding day was settled, and to all appearances forgotten. The Indians are very courteous and civil to each other, and it is a rare thing to see their assemblies disturbed by unwise or ill-timed remarks. I never witnessed it except on the occasion here alluded to; and it is more than probable that the presence of myself and other white men contributed toward the unpleasant occurrence. I could not but admire the genuine philosophy and good sense displayed by men whom we call Savages, in the transaction of their public business; and how much we might profit in the halls of our legislatures by occasionally taking for our examples the proceedings of the great Indian council at Sandusky." THE STORY OF JONATHAN ALDER. Many of the people living in this locality are more or less familiar with the history of this man, but it will not be out of place to give an account of him here, taken principally from Howe's Ohio: Jonathan Alder was born in Now Jersey, about eight miles from Philadelphia, September 17, 1773. When at about the age of seven years, his parents removed to Wythe County, Va., and his father soon after died. In the succeeding March (1782), while out with his brother David, hunting for a mare and her colt, he was taken prisoner by a small party of Indians. His brother, on the first alarm, ran, and was pursued by some of the party. " At length," says Alder, "I saw them returning, leading my brother, while one was holding the handle of a spear that he had thrown at him and run into his body. As they approached, one of them stepped up and grasped him around the body, while another pulled out the spear. I observed some flesh on the end of it, which looked white, which I supposed came from his entrails. I moved to him and inquired if he was hurt, and he replied that he was. These were the last words that passed between us. At that moment he turned pale and began to sink, and I was hurried on, and shortly after saw one of the barbarous wretches coming up with the scalp of my brother in his hand, slinking off the blood. " The Indians, having also taken prisoner a Mrs. Martin, a neighbor to the Alders, with a young child, aged about four or five years, retreated toward their towns. Their route lay through the woods to the Big Sandy, down that stream to the Ohio, which they crossed, and from thence went overland to the Scioto, near Chillicothe, and so on to a Mingo village on Mad River. Finding the child of Mrs. Martin burdensome, they soon killed and scalped it. The last member of her family was now destroyed, and she screamed in agony of grief. Upon this, one of the Indians caught her by her hair, and, drawing the edge of his knife across her forehead, cried, "Sculp! sculp!" with the hope of stilling her cries. But, indifferent to life, she continued her screams, when they procured some switches and whipped her until she was silent. The next day, young Alder having not risen, through fatigue, from eating, at the moment the word was given. saw, as his face was toward the north, the shadow of a man's arm with an uplifted tomahawk. He turned. and there stood an Indian, ready for the fatal blow. Upon this he let down his arm, and commenced. feeling of his head. He afterward told Alder it had been his intention to kill him; but as he turned. he looked so smiling and pleasant he could not strike, and on feeling of his head and noticing that his hair was very black, the thought struck him that, if he could only get him to his tribe, he would make a good Indian; but that all that saved his life was the color of his hair. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 253 After they crossed the Ohio, they killed a bear, and remained four days to dry the meat for packing and to fry out the oil, which last they put in the intestines, having first turned and cleaned them. The village to which Alder was taken belonged to the Mingo tribe, and was on the north side of Mad River, which, we should judge, was somewhere within or near the limits of what is now Logan County. As he entered, he was obliged to run the gauntlet, formed by young children armed with switches. He passed through this ordeal with little or no injury, and was adopted into an Indian family. His Indian mother thoroughly washed him with soap and warm water with herbs in it, previous to dressing him in the Indian costume, consisting of a calico shirt, breech-clout, leggins and moccasins. The family, having thus converted him into an Indian, were much pleased with their new member. But Jonathan was at first very homesick, thinking of his mother and brothers. Everything was strange about him; he was unable to speak a word of their language; their food disagreed with him, and, child-like, he used to go out daily for a month and sit under a large walnut tree near the village, and cry for hours at a time over his deplorable situation. His Indian father was a chief of the Mingo tribe, named Succohanos; his Indian mother was named Whinecheoh, and their daughters respectively answered to the good old English names of Mary, Hannah and Sally. Succohanos and Whinecheoh were old people, and had lost a son, in whose place they had adopted Jonathan. They took pity on the little fellow, and did their best to comfort him; telling him that he would one day be restored to his mother and brothers. He says of them, "they could not have used their own son better, for which they shall always be held in most grateful remembrance by me." His Indian sister Sally, however, treated him like a slave, and when out of humor, applied to him, in the Indian tongue, the unladylike epithet of "onorary [mean], lousy prisoner ! " Jonathan for a time lived with Mary, who had become the wife of the chief Col. Lewis.(1) "In the fall of the year," says he, " the Indians would generally collect at our camp, evenings, to talk over their hunting expeditions. I would sit up to listen to their stories, and frequently fell asleep just where I was sitting. After they left, Mary would fix my bed, and with Col. Lewis would carefully take me up and carry me to it. On these occasions they would often say-supposing me to be asleep--'Poor follow! We have sat up too long for him, and he has fallen asleep on the cold ground; and then how softly would they lay me down and cover me up. Oh, never have I, nor can I, express the affection I had for these two persons." Jonathan, with other boys, went into Mad River to bathe, and on one occasion came near drowning. He was taken out senseless, and some time elapsed ere he recovered. He says: "I remember, after I got over my strangle, I became very sleepy, and thought I could draw my breath as well as ever. Being overcome with drowsiness, I laid down to sleep, which was the last I remember. The act of drowning is nothing, but, the coming to life is distressing. The boys, after they had brought me to, gave me a silver buckle, as an inducement not to tell the old folks of the occurrence, for fear they would not let me come out with them again; and so the affair was kept secret." When Alder had learned to speak the Indian language, he became more contented. He says: "I would have lived very happy, if I could have had health; but for three or four years I was subject to very severe attacks of fever and ague. Their diet went very hard with me for a long time. Their chief living was meat and hominy; but we rarely had bread, and very little salt, which was extremely scarce and dear, as well as milk and butter. Honey and (1) Also called Capt. John Lewis; he was a noted Shawanese chief, who lived in what is now Logan County, and from whom the village of Lewistown derived its name. 254 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. sugar were plentiful, and used a geat deal in their cooking, as well as on their food." When he was old enough, he was given an old English musket. and told that he must go out and learn to hunt. So he used to follow along the watercourses, where mud turtles were plenty, and commenced his first essay upon them. He generally aimed under them as they lay basking on the rocks, and when he struck the stone they flew sometimes several feet in the air, which afforded great sport for the youthful marksman Occasionally he killed a wild turkey, or a raccoon, and, when be returned to the village with his game generally received high praise for his skill; the Indians telling him he would make a great hunter one of these days." He had a varied experience during the years he remained with the Indians, and witnessed the shedding of blood in more than one engagement between the whites and the savages. He. also went on one expedition, with others into Kentucky, to steal horses from the settlers. He remained with the Indians until after Wayne's treaty, in 1795. He was urged by them to be present on the occasion, to obtain a reservation of land which was to be given to each of the prisoners; but, ignorant of its importance, he neglected going, and lost the land. Peace having been restored, Alder says, "I could now lie down without fear, and rise up and shake hands with both the Indian and the white man." The summer after the treaty, while living on Big Darby Lucas Sullivant made his appearance in that region, surveying land, and soon became on terms of intimacy with Alder, who related to him a history of his life, and generally gave him the piece of land on which he dwelt; but, there being some little difficulty about the title, Alder did not contest, and so lost it. When the settlers first made their appearance on Darby, Alder could scarcely speak a word of English. He was then about twenty-four years of age, fifteen of which had been passed with the Indians. Two of the settlers kindly taught him to converse in English. He had taken up with a squaw for a wife some time previous, and now began to farm like the whites. He kept hogs, cows and horses, sold milk and butter to the Indians, horses and pork to the whites, and accumulated property. He soon was able to hire white laborers, and being dissatisfied with his squaw a cross, peevish woman wished to put her aside, get a wife from among the settlers, and live like them. Thoughts, too, of his mother and brothers began to obtrude, and the more he reflected, his desire strengthened to know if they were living, and to see them once more. He made inquiries for them, but was at a loss to know how to begin, being ignorant of the name of even the State in which they were. When talking one day with John Moore, a companion of his, the latter. questioned him where he was from. Alder replied that be was taken prisoner somewhere near a place called Greenbrier, and that his people lived by a lead mine, to which he used frequently to go to see the hands dig ore. Moore then asked him if he could recollect the names of any of his neighbors. After a little reflection, he replied, "Yes; a family of that Gulions lived close by us." Upon this Moore dropped his head, as if lost in thought, and muttered to himself, "Gulion! Gulion!" and then raising up, replied, " My father and myself were out in that country, and we stopped at their house over one night, and if your people are living I can find them." Mr. Moore, after this, went to Wythe County, and inquired for the family of Alder, but without success, as they had removed from their former residence. He put up advertisements in various places, stating the facts, and where Alder was to be found, and then returned. Alder now abandoned all hopes of finding his family, supposing them to be dead. Some time after, he and Moore were at, Franklinton, when he was informed there was a letter for him in the post office. It was from his brother Paul, stating that one of the Page 255 - Picture of G. B. Hamilton Page 256 - Blank HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 257 advertisements was put up within six miles of him, and that he got it the next day. It contained the joyful news that his mother and brothers were alive. Alder, in making preparations to start for Virginia, agreed to separate from his Indian wife, divide the property equally, and take and leave her with her own people at Sandusky. But some difficulty occurred in satisfying her. He gave her all the cows, fourteen in number, worth $20 each, seven horses, and much other property, reserving to himself only two horses and the swine. Besides these was a small box, about six inches long. four wide and four deep, filled with silver, amounting, probably, to about $200, which he intended to take, to make an equal division; but to this she objected, saying the box was hers before marriage, and she would not only have it but all it contained. Alder says: "I saw I could not get it without making a fuss, and probably having a fight, and told her that if she would promise never to trouble nor come back to me, she might have it; to which she agreed, Moore accompanied him to his brother's house, as he was unaccustomed to travel among the whites. They arrived there on horseback, at noon, the Sunday after New Year's. They walked up to the house, and requested to have their horses fed, and, pretending to be entire strangers, inquired who lived there. "I had concluded," says Alder, " not to make myself known for some time, and eyed my brother very close, but did not recollect his features. I had always thought I should have recognized my mother, by a mole on her face. In the corner sat an old lady, who I supposed was her, although I could not tell for when I was taken by the Indians her head was as black as a crow, and now it was almost perfectly white. Two young women were present, who eyed me very close, and I heard one of them whisper to the other, 'He looks very much like Mark" (my brother). I saw they were about to discover me, and accordingly turned my chair around to my brother and said, 'You say your name is Alder? 'Yea,' he replied, 'my name is Paul Alder.' ' Well,' I rejoined, "my name is Alder, too.' Now, it is hardly necessary to describe our feelings at that time; but they were very different from those I had when I was taken prisoner, and saw the Indian coming with my brother's scalp in his hand, shaking off the blood. When I told my brother that my name was Alder, he rose to shake hands with me, so overjoyed that he could scarcely utter a word, and my old mother ran, threw her arms around me, while tears rolled down her cheeks. The first words she spoke, after she grasped me in her arms, were, 'How you have grown!' and then she told me of a dream she had. Says she: 'I dreamed that you had come to see me, and that you was a little, onorary [mean] looking fellow, and I would not own you for my son; but now I find I was mistaken-that it is entirely the reverse-and I am proud to own you for my son.' I told her I could remind her of a few circumstances that she would recollect, that took place before I was made captive. I then related various things, among which was that the negroes, on passing our house on Saturday evenings, to spend Sundays with their wives, would beg pumpkins of her, and get her to roast them for them against their return on Monday morning. She recollected these circumstances, and said now she had no doubt of my being her son. We passed the balance of the day in agreeable conversation, and I related to them the history of my captivity, my fears and doubts, of my grief and misery the first year after I was taken. My brothers at this time were all married, and Mark and John had moved from there. They were sent for, and came to see me, but my half-brother, John, had moved so far that, I never got to see him at all." Jonathan Alder is well remembered by the older settlers now living in the county, and principally perhaps, by those whose homes have been along the Big Darby Creek, in Jerome and Darby Townships. Benjamin Springer set- 258 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. tled near him and taught him the English language, and Alder reciprocated by supplying him and other pioneers with meat. and he is said to have saved some of the settlers, on different occasions, from being killed by the Indians. Joshua Ewing, brought four sheep to his place in 1800, and these were strange animals to the Indians. An Indian, accompanied by his dog, was one day passing by, when the dog caught one of the sheep, and was immediately shot by Mr. Ewing. He would have been shot in retaliation by the Indian but for Alder, who was present and with much difficulty restrained him. Through the advice and influence of Alder, many of the Indians remained neutral during the war of 1812, and eventually became warm friends of the Americans. During that war, he was one of the party which went north from about the site of Plain City, and built a blockhouse on Mill Creek, a few miles above where Marysville now stands. Several of the best known pioneers of the county assisted in constructing said building, of which not a trace now remains. Alder's home was for many years in Madison County. (1) THE DOOMED WYANDOT. The following interesting article appeared in the Hesperian, published at Columbus, Ohio, by William D. Gallagher and Otway Curry, in the issue of that magazine for May, 1838: "The great northern family of Indian tribes which seem to have been originally embraced in the generic term Iroquois, consisted, according to some writers, of two grand divisions; the eastern and the western. In the eastern nation were included the Five Nations, or Maquas (Mingoes), as they were commonly called by the Algonkin tribes, and in the western the Yendots, or Wyandots (nick-named Hurons by the French), and three or four other nations, of whom a large proportion are now entirely extinct. The Yendots, after a long and deadly warfare, were nearly exterminated by the Five Nations, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Of the survivors, a part sought refuge in Canada, where their descendants still remain; a few are incorporated among the different tribes of the conquerors, and the remainder, consisting chiefly of the Tionontates, retired to Lake Superior. In consequence of the disastrous wars in which they afterward became involved with other powerful nations of the Northwestern region, they again repaired to the vicinity of their old hunting grounds. With this remnant of the original Huron or Wyandot nation, were united some scattered fragments of other broken-up tribes of the same stock; and, though comparatively few in number, they continued for a long period to assert successfully the right of sovereignty over the whole extent of country between the Ohio River and the lakes, as far west as the territory of the Piankeshaws, or Miamis, whose eastern boundary was probably an irregular line drawn through the valleys of the Great Miami (Shi-me-am-ee) and the Ottawah-sepee, or Maumee River of Lake Erie. The Shawanese and the Delawares, it is believed, were occupants of a part of the fore-mentioned country, merely by sufferance of the Wyandots, whose right of dominion seems never to have been called in question, excepting by the Mingoes, or Five Nations. The Shawanese were originally powerful, and always warlike. Kentucky received its name from them, in the course of their migrations between their former place of residence on the Suwanee River, adjacent to the southern sea coast and the territory of the Yendots in the north. The name (Kan-tuck-ee) is compounded from the Shawanese, and signifies a land or place at the head of a river. "The chosen place of residence of the Wyandots was, at an early period, as (1) Zachariah Noteman, now residing near Plain City, states positively that Alder also lived for a time In what is now Union County, and he (Noteman) knows the exact spot where his residence stood. He lived here before going to Madison County. HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 259 it is now [1838], on the waters of the Saun-dus-tee, or Sandusky. Though greatly reduced in number, they have, perhaps, attained a higher degree of civilization than any other tribe in the vicinity of the northwestern lakes. For the following specimen of the Wyandot language, and for the greater part of the statements given above, we are indebted to the Archoeologia Americana: One..............................................Scat. It rains .....................................Ina-un-du-se. Two ........................................Tindee. Thunder ................................................Heno. Three .....................................Shaight. Lightning ...........................Tim-men-di-quas. Four....................................An-daght . Barth ..........................................Umaightsagh. Five.......................................Wee-ish. Deer .........................................Ough-scan-oto. Six ....................................Wau-shau. Bear .......................................................Anu-e. Seven....................................Soo-tare Raccoon .........................................Ha-in-te-roh. Eight ....................................Au-taria. Fox ..........................................The-na-in-ton-to. Nine .......................................Ain-tru. Beaver .................................................Soo-taie. Ten/..................................Augh, sagh. Mink .......................................So-hoh-main-dia. Twenty ..............Ten-deit-a-waugh-sa. Turkey .........................................Daigh-ton-tah. Thirty.................Shaigh-ka-waugh-sa. Squirrel .............................................Ogh-ta-eh. Forty ............An-daugh-ka-waugh-sa. Otter ................................................Ta-wen-deh. Fifty ..................Wee-isb-a-waugh-sa. Dog ..................................................Yun-ye-noh. Sixty...................Wau-shau-waugh-sa. Cow .......................................Kin-ton-squa-ront. Seventy ................Soo-tare-waugh-sa. Horse ................................................Ugh-shut-te. Eighty ..................Au-tarai-waugh-sa. Goose .................................................Yah-hounk. Ninety ....................Ain-tru-waugh-sa. Duck.....................................................Yu-in-geh. One Hundred .......Scute-main-gar-we. Man ..................................................Am-ga- hon. God ...........................Ta-main-de-zue. Woman .....................................................lifelike. Good ............................Ye-waugh-ste. Girl .............................................Ya-weet-sen-tho. Bad....................................Waugh-she. Boy..........................................0ma-int-sent-e-hah. Devil .......................Degh-shu-re-nob. Child ...................................................Che-ah-hah. Heaven ...........................Yah-roh-nia. Old Man ................................................Ha-o-tong. Hell .................................Degh-shunt. Old Woman.......................................Ut-sin-dag-sa. Sun ..............................Ya-an-des-hra. My Wife .........................................Azut-tun-oh-oh. Moon .........Waugh-sunt-ya-an-des-ra. Corn ..........................................................Nay-hah. Mars ....................................Tegh-shu. Beans ....................................................Yah-re-sah. Sky ................................Cagh-ro-niate. Potatoes ............................................Da-ween-dah. Cloud ...............................Oght-se-rah. Melons .................................................Oh-nugh-sa. Wind .....................................Izu-quas. Grass ............................................................E-ru-ta. " The foregoing sketch of the history and language of the Wyandots, though certainly not strictly necessary, will, it is hoped, be deemed not altogether inappropriate as an introduction to the following brief narrative of the circumstances attending the death of a chief of that nation. The particulars have been recently communicated by persons who were eye-witnesses of the execution, and may be relied on as perfectly accurate: " In the evening of the 1st day of June, in the year 1810, there came six Wyandot warriors to the house of Mr. Benjamin Sells, on the Scioto River, about twelve miles above the spot where now stands the city of Columbus. They were equipped in the most warlike manner, and exhibited during their stay an unusual degree of agitation. Having ascertained that an old Wyandot chief, for whom they had been making diligent inquiry, was then encamped at a distance of about two miles farther up the west bank of the river, they expressed a determination to put him to death, and immediately went off in the direction of his lodge. These facts were communicated, early in the ensuing morning, to Mr. John Sells, who now resides in the village of Dublin, on the Scioto, about two miles from the place where the doomed Wyandot met his fate. Mr. Sells immediately proceeded up the river, on horseback, in quest of the Indians. He soon arrived at the lodge, which he found situated in a grove of sugar trees, close to the bank of the river. The six warriors were seated, in consultation, at the distance of a few rods from the lodge. The old chief was with them, evidently in the character of a prisoner. His arms were confined by a small cord, but he sat with them without any manifestation of uneasiness. A few of the neighboring white men were likewise there, and a gloomy look- 260 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. ing Indian who had been the companion of the chief, but now kept entirely aloof-sitting sullenly in the camp. Mr. Sells approached the Indians, and found them earnestly engaged in debate. A. charge of 'witchcraft' had been made, at a former time, against the chief, by some of his captors, whose friends had been destroyed, as they believed, by means of his evil powers. This crime, according to the immemorial usage of the tribe, involved a forfeiture of his life. The chances of a hunter's life had brought the old man to his present location, and his pursuers had sought him out, in order that they might execute upon him the sentence of their law. The council was of two or three hours' duration. The accusing party spoke alternately, with much ceremony, but with evident bitterness of feeling. The prisoner, in his replies, was eloquent though dispassionate. Occasionally a smile of scorn would appear, for an instant, on his countenance. At the close of the consultation, it was ascertained that they had re-affirmed the sentence of death which had been before passed upon the chief. Inquiry having been made, by some of the white men, with reference to their arrangements, the captain of the six warriors pointed to the sun, and signified to them that the execution would take place at one o'clock in the afternoon Mr. Sells went to the captain and asked him what the chief had done. 'Very bad Indian,' he replied; 'make good Indian sick-make horse sick-make die-very bad chief.' Mr. Sells then made a n effort to persuade his white friends to rescue the victim of superstition from his impending fate, but to no purpose. They were then in a frontier situation, entirely open to the incursions of the Northern tribes, and were, consequently, unwilling to subject themselves to the displeasure of their savage visitors by an interference with their operations. He then proposed to release the chief by purchase-offering, to the captain, for that purpose, a fine horse, of the value of $300. 'Let me him see,' said the Indian. The horse was accordingly brought forward, and closely examined; and so much were they staggered by this proposition, that they again repaired to their place of consultation, and remained in council a considerable length of time before it was finally rejected. The conference was again terminated and live of the Indians began to amuse themselves with running,, jumping and other athletic exercises. The. captain took no part with them. When again inquired of as to the time of execution, he pointed to the sun, as before, and indicated the hour of four. The prisoner then walked slowly to his camp, partook of a dinner of jerked venison, washed and arrayed himself in his best apparel, and afterward painted his face. His dress was very rich, his hair gray, and his whole appearance graceful and commanding. At his request the whole company drew around him at the lodge. He had observed the exertions made by Mr. Sells in his behalf, and now presented to him a written paper, with a request that it might be read to the company. It was a recommendation, signed by Gov. Hull, in compliance with the request of the prisoner it was fixed and left upon the side of a large tree, at a short distance from the wigwam. "The hour of execution being close at hand, the chief shook hands in silence with the surrounding spectators. On coming to Mr. Sells, he appeared much moved-grasped his hand warmly-spoke for a few minutes in the Wyandot language, and pointed to the heavens. He then turned from the wigwam, and with a voice of surpassing strength and melody commenced the chant of the death-song He was followed closely by the Wyandot warriors, all timing, with their slow and measured march, the music of his wild and melancholy dirge. The white men were all, likewise, silent followers in that strange procession. At the distance of seventy or eighty yards from the camp, they came to a shallow grave. which, unknown to the white men, had been previously prepared by the Indians. Here the old man knelt down, and in an HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. - 261 elevated but solemn tone of voice addressed his prayer to the Great Spirit. As soon as he had finished, the captain of the Indians knelt beside him, and prayed in a similar manner. Their prayers, of course, were spoken in the Wyandot tongue. When they arose, the captain was again accosted by Mr. Sells, who insisted that if they were inflexible in the determination to shed blood, they should at least remove their victim beyond the limits of the white settlements. 'No!' said he, very sternly, and with evident displeasure; 'no good Indian 'fraid-he no go with this bad man-mouth give fire in the dark night-good Indian 'fraid-he no go! My friend,' he continued, 'me tell you-white man bad man-white man kill him-Indian say nothing.' Finding all interference futile, Mr. Sells was at length compelled, reluctantly, to abandon the old man to his fate. After a few moments' delay, he again sank down upon his knees and prayed, as he had done before. When he had ceased praying, he still continued in a kneeling position. All the rifles belonging to the party had been left at the wigwam. There was not a weapon of any kind to be seen at the place of execution, and the spectators were consequently unable to form any conjecture as to the mode of procedure which the executioners had determined on for the fulfillment of their purpose. Suddenly, one of the warriors drew from beneath the skin of his capote a keen, bright tomahawk, walked rapidly up behind the chieftain, brandished the weapon on high for a single moment, and then struck with his whole strength. The blow descended directly upon the crown of the head, and the victim immediately fell prostrate. After he had laid awhile in the agonies of death, the Indian captain directed the attention of the white men to the drops of sweat which were-gathering upon his neck and face, remarking, with much apparent exultation, that it was conclusive proof of the sufferer's guilt. Again the, executioner advanced, and with the same weapon inflicted two or three additional and heavy blows. As soon as life was entirely extinct, the body was hastily buried, with all its apparel and decorations, and the assemblage dispersed. The Wyandots returned immediately to their hunting-grounds, and the white men to their homes, The murdered chief was known among the whites by the name of Leatherlips. Around the spot where his bones repose, the towering forest has now given place to the grain field and the soil above him has for years been furrowed and re-furrowed by the plowshare." In "Thatcher's Indian Biography, " as stated by Mr. Curry, the Indian name of the old chief is given as Shateyaronrah, and Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet (Elskwatawa) were his accusers. By the same authority it appears that the famous chief Tarhe. or the Crane, was the leader of the band of Wyandots who executed the unfortunate chieftain. This would hardly seem probable from most evidence, and in Drake's Life of Tecumseh it is stated, in connection with this incident. that " the six Wyandots who put him to death were headed it is supposed, by the chief, Roundhead." THE LAST INDIANS SEEN IN JEROME TOWNSHIP. Col. W. L. Carry furnishes the following account of the last Indians seen in the township of Jerome: "Sugar Run Falls, on the lands of Col. James Curry, was, in the early days, a beautiful and attractive place. The stream wound its way through a little valley, shaded by burr oaks and black walnut timber, and. surrounded as it was by good hunting and fishing grounds. it was a favorite place for the Indians in the early years of the present century. The old Indian trace, lead me, from the Wyandot nation South, ran past the Falls, and the Indians continued to travel this route after there was quite a settlement along Sugar Ran. 262 - HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. "The last Indians who visited this vicinity came about the year 1816-17. In the early spring, four Indians came from the north, and encamped at the Falls for a few days. They visited Col. Curry's house, and, as usual, were supplied from his table, as he was well known to all the Indians passing along this route, and he was one in whom they had great confidence. When they left the Falls they separated, two following the old trail and two traveling in a southwesterly direction. In a few weeks, two of them again reached the Falls, and had with them an Indian pony. They remained a day or two, and their two companions not arriving (it is supposed this was to be their place of meeting), they then stripped the bark from a burr oak tree, and, taking yellow keel, which was in great abundance along the stream, traced on the trunk of the tree in rude characters, an Indian leading a pony, while another Indian was in the rear with a gun on his shoulder and the ramrod in his hand, as if in the act of driving the pony, traveling northward. This done, they covered their camp fire and took the old Indian trail north. A few evenings after their departure, their two comrades arrived from the south, and, learning by the drawings on the tree that their companions had preceded them, they remained over night and the next morning took the trace and moved rapidly north. And thus the last Indians ever seen on the southern border of Union County took their departure from their once happy hunting grounds." (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)