CHAPTER III. TWENTY YEARS' OCCUPATION BY THE ENGLISH-1763 TO 1783-PONTIAC'S WAR-PONTIAC'S RETIREMENT TO THE MAUMEE ANGRY INTERVIEWS WITH CAPTAIN MORRIS - "THE ENGLISH ARE LIARS "INTERESTING DESCRIPTION OF THE MAUMEE COUNTRY AT THAT EARLY DATE BY THE ENGLISH SUB-COMMISSIONER, GEORGE CROGHAN-ENGLAND DISPLACED IN AUTHORITY BY THE UNITED STATES, 1783. THE downfall of the French was a sad disappointment to their Indian allies in the West. They did not exactly understand why, because the French had been beaten, the English had any right to come and take possession of the Indian's territory, and become his master in authority and occupy all the forts and posts. The unfavorable turn events had taken might well have caused the tribes to reflect a little, and see that they had made a great mistake in joining in a fight and decimating their ranks in a contest between two nations, both of 'which fought for the same object, namely, to possess the country, not to help the Indian to retain it. The French colonists, too, in the settlements about the posts, were illy suited with the new order of things. They were loyal to the obnoxious flag of Britain only in appearance, and no doubt prejudiced the Indians against their masters, the English. About Detroit the Indians had become numerous. Toward the English they kept up an exterior appearance of friendship, but underneath was a discontented, sullen, revengeful feeling. In this temper, and at this time (1763), almost before peace had been concluded between the English and French, in Paris, a most dangerous, remarkable and widespread conspiracy was formed and partly carried into execution by the savages. It was as diabolical in its scope as it was original and bold in conception. It was planned and headed by the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, whose tribe was about Detroit or on the Maumee. This unlettered savage combined in his makeup the cunning, far-reaching diplomacy of a Talleyrand, with the courage and skill in leadership of a Hannibal. His design was nothing less than the capture by stratagem and treachery of all the English posts from Niagara to Mackinac. The garrisons and the English settlers on the border were to be massacred, and the whole frontier made as desolate as the torch and scalping knife could make it. Pontiac had, by his eloquence and astute knowledge of Indian character, so worked upon the superstitions, prejudices and fears of the Indians as to bring most of the tribes heartily into his deep-laid plot. He had picked his warriors and planned all the details. When the blow came, which was arranged to be made simultaneously along the border, nine posts, including Mackinac, fell. Detroit escaped only by a hair's breadth. An Indian woman betrayed the danger to the commandant, and he had the wisdom to profit by the warning in time. The crack of doom or the flash of a meteor could not have come more sudden or unexpected;' nor could the dread thunders of an earthquake have caused greater consternation among the frontier people. Again the whole border was thrown into wild panic. The horrors of the French and Indian war, just closed, were held in vivid remembrance by the startled colonists. Men flew to arms, and women and children deserted their homes and hastened to the interior towns and settlements. Thousands of homes on the Virginia and Pennsylvania border were abandoned, and hundreds of settlers were massacred and made captives. Pontiac's rage knew no bounds when his own part of the programme failed, that of capturing Detroit. He at once laid siege to the fort, doubtless with the expectation of starving out the garrison. What is most remarkable in Indian warfare, he held his warriors to the work, and kept up the siege with more or less vigor for about ten months, when reinforcements arrived for the fort and drove him off. Disappointed and chagrined, he retired to the Ottawa village on the Maumee with his warriors, from which he soon heard of the total collapse of his audacious plans, under the telling blows of the border men and the" English soldiers. While he was here, and a treaty, at Presque Isle (Erie), which he declined to take part in, was in progress (1764), or had been arranged, an incident occurred, illustrative of Pontiac's hostile feeling toward the English. Bradstreet's army 14 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO lay encamped on the field near Detroit at the time. Capt. Morris, with a few Iroquois and Canadian attendants had been detailed to go on any embassy to the country of the Illinois in 1764. Ascending the Maumee in a canoe, he soon approached the camp of Pontiac, who had now virtually given up his great contest, and sullenly withdrawn to the banks of this river with his chosen warriors. While yet at some distance, Morris and his party were met by about two hundred Indians, who treated him with great violence and rudeness, while they offered a friendly welcome to the Iroquois and Canadians. Attended by this clamorous escort, they all moved together toward the camp. At its outskirts stood Pontiac himself. He met the embassador with a scowling brow, and refused to offer his hand. The English are liars," was his first salutation. He then displayed a letter addressed to himself, and purporting to have been written by the king of France, containing as Morris declares, the grossest calumnies which the most ingenious malice could devise, to incense the Indians against the English. The old falsehood was not forgotten. "Your French father," said the writer, "is neither dead nor asleep; he is already on his way, with sixty great ships, to revenge himself on the English, and drive them out of America." The letter was written by a French officer, or, more probably, a French fur trader, who, for his own profit, wished to inflame the passions of the Indians, and thus bar the way against English competitors. Pontiac's warriors plundered the whole party of everything except their arms, their clothing and their canoes, and then suffered them to depart. This war is known in history as "Pontiac's Conspiracy," and may properly be said to be the termination of the French and Indian war. In startling, tragic details, it surpassed the most ingeniously contrived, harrowing tales of fiction. Pontiac's name stands among the first in the history of the Indian race in genius and leadership. His proud spirit would not become fully reconciled to English rule. With a few followers he finally left the Maumee and went to the Illinois Country where, in the year 1769, he was assassinated by a drunken Indian of the Kaskaskia tribe. A French officer at Fort St. Louis, who had known the great chief, sent across the Mississippi for the body, which was buried where the great city of St. Louis now stands. " Neither mound nor tablet," says Parkman, " marks the burial place of Pontiac. For a mausoleum, a city has risen above the forest hero, and the race whom he hated with such burning rancor trample with unceasing footsteps over his forgotten grave." We have felt it due to the story of the Maumee Country to say this much of the part Pontiac and his followers took in this savage drama of the border, as this was his home at that time. Misguided savage that he was, Pontiac, though not an actor here, may safely be ranked, in history, the equal of any of the great chiefs, white or red, whose genius in war made the Maumee historic. The peace treaty following this uprising-the closing chapter of the French and Indian war was held at Presque Isle (Erie), in August of 1764, and was followed by the repair and garrisoning of all the posts. Gradually confidence became restored in the stability of the peace, and at once, with redoubled energy, the settlers began the work of rebuilding their blasted homes on the frontier. New life and enterprise, long restrained, was noticeable everywhere. Shrewd agents and surveyors were busy hunting out the best lands. Adventurous explorers, like Boone, McBride, Findlay and others, had penetrated to the wilds of Kentucky. In Western Virginia and Pennsylvania the settlers, no longer menaced by the French, had advanced beyond the mountains, and the smoke of their cabins was seen far out on the waters of the Ohio. In the meantime, while this great advance was being made southeast of the Ohio, the country northwest of it, and about the Great Lakes, the late domain occupied by the French and Indians, showed but little gain. A few English traders and their employes were gathered about the posts to profit by the fur trade; that told it all. The exact situation in the Maumee Country and at Detroit at that time, 1765, is given in the journal notes of the English Sub-Commissioner, George Croghan, who made an official trip to the West that year, down the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the mouth of the Wabash, thence up that river and by the usual route to Detroit, stopping at Post Miami, now Fort Wayne, to visit a band of the Miami tribe there, which he speaks of as the Twightwees, a name they sometimes went by. On August 1, he says: " Within a mile of the Twightwee Village, I was met by the Chiefs of that nation (Miamis), who received us very kindly. The most part of these Indians knew me, and conducted me to their village, where they immediately hoisted an English flag that I had formerly given them at Fort Pitt. The next day they held a council, after which they gave me up the English prisoners they had, then made several speeches, in all of which they expressed the great WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 15 pleasure it gave them, to see the unhappy differences which embroiled the several nations in a war with their brethren (the English) were now so near a happy conclusion, and that peace was established in their country. The Twightwee Village is situated on both sides of a river, called St. Joseph. This river, where it falls into the Miami (Maumee) river, about a quarter of a mile from this place, is one hundred yards wide, on the east side of which stands a stockade fort, somewhat ruinous. The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine or ten French houses a runaway colony from Detroit. During the late Indian war, they were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment, came to this post, where ever since they have spirited up the Indians against the English. All the French residing here are a lazy, indolent people, fond of breeding. mischief, and spiriting up the Indians against the English, and should by no means be suffered to remain here. The country is pleasant, the soil rich and well watered. After several conferences with the Indians, and their delivering me up all the English prisoners they had, on the 6th of August, we set out for Detroit, down the Miami (Maumee) river in a canoe. This river heads about ten miles from hence. The river is not navigable till you come to the place where the St. Joseph joins it, and makes a considerably large stream. Nevertheless we found a great deal of difficulty in getting our canoes over shoals, as the water at this season was very low. The banks of the river are high, and the country overgrown with lofty timber of various kinds; and the land is level and the woods clear. About nine miles from the Miamis of Twightwee, we came to where the large river, that heads in a large lick, falls into the Miami river. This they call the forks. The Ottawas claim this country, and hunt here, where game is very plenty. From hence we proceeded to the Ottawa Village [Providence, Lucas County.] This nation formerly lived at Detroit, but is now settled here, on account of the richness of the country, where game is always found to be in plenty. Here we were obliged to get out of our canoes and drag them eighteen miles, on account of the rifts which interrupted the navigation. At the end of these rifts, we came to a village of the Wyandots, who received us very kindly, and thence we proceeded to the mouth of this river, where it falls into Lake Erie. From the Miamis to the lake it is computed one hundred and eighty miles, and from the entrance of the river into the lake, to Detroit, is sixty miles that is forty-two miles up the lake, and eighteen miles up the Detroit river to the garrison of that name. "On the 17th, in the morning, we arrived at the fort, which is a large stockade, inclosing about eighty houses. It stands on the west side of the river, on a high bank, commands a very pleasant prospect for nine miles above and nine miles below the fort. The country is thickly settled with French. Their plantations are generally laid out about three or four acres in breadth on the river, and eighty acres in depth. The soil is good, producing plenty of grain. All the people here are generally poor wretches, and consist of three or four hundred French families, a lazy, idle people, depending chiefly on the savages for subsistence. Though the land, with little labor, produces plenty of grain, they scarcely raise as much as will supply their wants, in imitation of the Indians, whose manners and customs they have entirely adopted, and cannot subsist without them." "Before the late war, there were three Indian nations at this place: The Pottawatamies, whose village was on the west side of the river, about one mile below the fort; the Ottawas, on the east side, about three miles above the fort; the Wyandots, whose village lays on the east side, about two miles below the fort. The former two nations have removed to a considerable distance, and the latter still remain where they were, and are remarkable for their good sense and hospitality." This extract taken from Butler's History of Kentucky, doubtless gives the earliest contemporaneous account of the Maumee Country in English print; at least it affords data from which to make more definite investigation. The writer, though slightly in error in the matter of distances, gives a good general description of the Maumee and of Detroit, as he saw it at that time. He tells who our predecessors in occupation were then, 1765, and aids somewhat in fixing the dates of their coming. He locates the chief seat of the Ottawas at the head of the Maumee Rapids, where it was yet, in part, when the settlement of Wood county began, fifty years later; also that there was a Wyandot village at the lower end of the Rapids, probably at old Fort Miami. The Wyandots, however, as noted in Chapter II, never became other than temporary residents here. The English of Detroit, as well as the other posts, found, like the French had, that it was greatly to their interest to maintain peace among the tribes. War was troublesome, dangerous and expensive; besides it interfered greatly with the profits of the fur traders, which were 16 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO very heavy. Peace seemed desirable to all interests on the frontier. Vain hope ! War came. It was scarcely ten years from the close of the Indian war when mutterings of discontent came from the far East. England's Colonies grew tired of the burdensome exactions of the parental government, and rebelled. Soon the rattle of musketry from Concord and Lexington told that the tide of battle was up, 1775. Those same brave Colonists, who learned the trade of soldiers, fighting French and Indians, now had to turn their guns against the Mother Country. And, shame to her great name, England followed the infamous practice she had but so recently condemned in the French, and employed the savages to aid her in attempting to subjugate her former subjects. They helped her, especially her old friends, the Iroquois, but she failed ingloriously. In 1783, England surrendered up all her possessions south of Canada to her late Colonists, who had established a new government, styled, "The United States of America." The destiny of the Maumee Country is henceforth linked with the fortunes of the New Government. When England succeeded France in 1763, the British flag was hung out at Detroit; the French traders were ousted, and the Maumee coon and beaver skins were sold in the English language for English goods, instead of French. That was all the change the English made in behalf of the Maumee Country. But a beginning had been made. France had marked out the way. She had demonstrated, too, that this country was not without some commercial importance, both in its products and location. Indeed so valuable and desirable did it prove to England that she violated her treaty of 1783 and held possession of Detroit, and this part of the Northwest Territory, until 1796, thirteen years after the treaty. This she did on a pretext that some Virginia debtors of England, or her subjects, had refused to pay their obligations. [Virginia, and perhaps one or two other States, refused to abide by that part of the treaty relating to the payment of debts, because the British had, on their retirement, carried away a number of Negro slaves belonging to Americans. This, England made the pretext for holding Mackinaw, Detroit, etc.] This is not the worst she did in the meantime. She fostered and harbored agents and fur traders who, for their own selfish gain, conspired with the savages, lately in the employ of the British army, to keep up a predatory warfare on American settlers, to drive them back and forever prevent them from coming north of the Ohio. furtherance of this purpose, the English advanced their outposts in 1794 to the banks of the Maumee, where they constructed and garrisoned For Miami, on the old site of the French stockade. The evil effect of this incendiary action of the British, on the Indians, cannot be measured. It encouraged them to continued hostility against the Americans, or , thirteen fires, " as they called the Thirteen Colonies. Detroit, more than before, became headquarters for all the Northwestern tribes. Here they came to trade to buy whisky, guns and blankets, and to nurse all their grievances, real or imaginary, against the whites, ever since England displaced the French; or, we might add, of nearly two hundred years against the white race. Now all these long slumbering animosities burned anew, and, under the artful machinations of the English traders and agents, the Indians were made to believe that all their sorrows were caused by the people of the " thirteen fires," and revenge was called for. In this work of vengeance and repression they were taught to believe their ' , Great Father," the King of England, would help them. The pell-mell rush of settlers, across the mountains and down the Ohio, to the attractive soil of western Virginia and Kentucky, only added fuel to the burning jealousy of the savages, and confirmed and aided the mischievious stories of the traders. Here then began to assemble, in council, all the dissatisfied, hostile elements of the various tribes; even bands of the Six Nations from New York, under the lead of the Mohawk, Brant, came. They had sold out most of their lands there, and were now panting to take the warpath, or to again get a scarlet blanket each, for signing a new treaty, ceding something they probably never owned. This incongruous fusion embraced some of the most warlike tribes and greatest chiefs of that warlike period. They had laid aside for the while their petty tribal feuds, and made common cause against the" thirteen fires." There were the proud Miamis of the Wabash with their associates, the Piank- a shaws, and Weeas, all great fighters, led by Little Turtle; the fierce, implacable Shawnees, the Gypsies of the wilderness, headed by their savage chief, Blue Jacket; Roundhead and King Crane, with the irrepressible Wyandots, whose warriors often died in battle, but never surrendered. From the far off Mississippi came bands of Sauks and Winnebagoes; the stoical Delawares, with the migratory, treacherous Pottawatamies, and the Chippewas, the Menominees, and bands and fragments of other broken tribes, were there. The heartless rene- WOOD COUNTY, OHIO - 17 gade, Simon Girty, with Capt. Pipe, Buckongehelas, Top-in-e-Bay, De-unquot, Wen-no-way, Moluntha, Not-e-no, Lolloway, Cik-a-tom-co, Stoneater, Turkey-foot, Oquenoxy, Charloe, Whiteyes, Pukeshaw, Wawatum, Myera, or Walkin-the-Water, Standingstone, Bright Horn, Tecumseh (then a young warrior), Ottokee, Blackhoof, Winnemac, and other chiefs of less prowess in battle, were leaders. They all had wrongs of long standing against the white race. The vials of their long-slumbering hatred-all their grievances against the intruding Europeans for generations past-were now goading them into madness. The Maumee Country, from the source of the river to Lake Erie, became the rendezvous and hotbed of secret plotters in hostile intrigue against the Americans. The dense forests and aguebreeding swamps afforded secure refuge from pursuit. From these shadowy wastes issued forth stealthy war parties, with murderous design, to glut their fury on the defenseless border settlers, until the very name, Maumee, like the fabled Styx, was dreaded, even by the hardy frontiersmen. No such combination of savage elements for a desperate purpose, led by experienced, sagacious chiefs, had ever before confronted the white men in America. Men high in authority in the New Government believed that British officials were covertly conniving at and approving this action of the tribes, in the hope that opportunity would offer to reclaim to England a large slice of the lost territory. Many circumstances justified this belief. Whatever England's motive was, her action was very unjust, and fettered the progress of the Maumee Country by the continued hostility of the Indian tribes, and no language is strong enough to condemn the infamous course pursued by her agents and traders. RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE