History Marion County
CHAPTER I
INDIAN OCCUPATION
Streams of Marion County--Indian Names--Scioto River--O/entangy River--Sandusky River--Little Sandusky--Tymochtee--Mound Builders--Historic Indians--Eries Conquered by Iroquois--Water-Way of Indians----The Wyandots--The Plains--The "Ring-Hunt"---Bravery of Wyandots--Showanees and Delawares---Captain Pipe-- Border Warfare--Colonel Bouquet's Expedition -- Crawford's Expedition--Simon Girty--Battle of Sandusky--Battle of Olentangy--Capture and Burning of Colonel Crawford--Knights's Narrative--Knght's Escape--Wars and Treaties with the Indians --Battle of the Fallen Timber and Treaty of Greenville--The North American Indian
STREAMS OF MARION COUNTY.
The early history of Marion County is in a measure the story of its streams and rivers. they had received their names years before any white settlements were mare in the county. The name Scioto is of Indian origin. Sci-on-to was the name given the river by tje Wyandot Indians, but its significance is unknown. The source of this river is in Auglaize County, from which it flows southeast for a few miles, then northeast in Hardin County, then south by east to the village of Green Group in Marion County, at its junction with the Little Scioto. from whence its general direction is south to the Ohio River, into which it empties near Portsmouth. Its principal affluent in Marion County is the Little Scioto, which takes its rise in Bucyrus township, Crawford County, about three miles south of Bucyrus, and flowing in a southerly direction empties into the Scioto River at Green Camp.
The Olentangy River received its name by an act of the Ohio Legislature, passed in 1833. Col. James Kilbourne, who was then a member of the Legislature prepared the measure and introduced it. The act gave Indian names to a number of streams in Central Ohio, and substituted the name of Olentangy for the name of Whetstone. The creek was formerly called Whetstone, the Delaware Indian name being Keen-hong-she-con-sepung, or Whetstone
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Creek in English. It is likely that the Olentangy Creek of the Indians was the stream now known as Darby Creek, which flows through Madison, Franklin and Pickaway counties and empties into the Scioto near Circleville. The Olentangy River, as it is now legally designated, has its source in Whetstone township in Crawford County, and flows in a southerly direction through Marion and Delaware counties, joining the waters of the Scioto at Columbus.
The Sandusky River, though not touching Marion County, is of especial interest for the reason that it formed a part of the great waterway of the Indians, an account of which is given later on. The old French traders called the river "Sandusquet." The name is derived from the Sah-un-dus-kee, meaning "clear water" or San-doos-tee" at the cold water" of the Wyandots. Still another derivation of the word is said to be Sa-undustee "water within water pools," also a Wyandot word. "The latter signification is peculiarly applicable to Sandusky Bay and the extensive marshes on its borders, which are intersected, in many directions, by pools and channels of open water."
Sahunduskee was the facetious appellation given by the Wyandot brave to his ardent beverage--"fire-water." When the excessive use of the liquid from his leathern bottle inflamed his imagination, instead of excusing himself by the common expression that he had been "out with the boys" he would gruffly say, "Drink much Sahunduskee."
The Sandusky River rises in Richland County. It flows west in Crawford County until it passes into Wyandot County at a distance of about one and one-half miles from the north line of Marion County; thence its general direction is northward to Sandusky Bay. Two small streams flow into it from Marion County., The Little Sandusky takes its rise in the eastern part of Salt Rock township, this county, and flowing northwest empties into the Sandusky River about three and one-half miles north of the Marion County line. The Tymochtee takes its rise in Big Island township, this county, and flowing northwest enters Wyandot County about one mile east of the northwest corner of Marion County; thence it flows northward in Wyandot County and empties its waters into the Sandusky a short distance south of the north line of Wyandot County. Tymochtee is a Wyandot name, signifying "around the plains," a very appropriate name from the manner in which it circles "around the plains" on the west.
MOUND BUILDERS.
In many places in the valley of the lower Scioto are mounds and embankments, which are said to have been constructed by a people, called by the historian, Mound Builders. So much has been written of these early inhabitants and their works, that it is proper here to give but a brief summary of what we know of them. It is useless to speculate and unprofitable to indulge in fancy.
So far as yet discovered, the Mound Builders were not skilled in the art of building. They built no walls, dressed no stones, knew nothing of treating metals, and had no beasts of burden. We know nothing of their forms of government, and nothing of their religious systems. It is said "that the construction of all aboriginal earthworks of every description within the limits of the State of Ohio, did not require an amount of labor equal to that used in the excavation of the Erie and Miami canals." What use was made of the mounts is also largely a matter of conjecture, the most plausible being that they were for the purpose of burial.
The great center of the Mound Builders was in the southern half of Ohio along the Muskingum, Scioto and Miami rivers. The most extensive remains are found on the Scioto near Portsmouth, Chillicothe and Piketon. Lesser works are found the entire length of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. In the counties through which these rivers flow, the Ohio Archaelogical and Historical Society has located more than 1,000 prehistoric earth and stone remains, consisting of mounts, village sites, groups of stone graves and fortifications. Undoubtedly many more exist.
In all probability the Mound Builders were
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the ancestors of the Erie Indians. The Erie Indians, when dispossessed of the Ohio country by the Iroquois, were said to be the most civilized and enlightened of all the North American Indians. The Indians occupying this country at the time of the first white men knew nothing of the peoples who had constructed the mounds. But the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Miamis and kindred tribes did not take possession of Central Ohio, where t he first white settlers found them, before the beginning of the 18th century, and consequently they knew nothing of the early traditions of the Eries.
HISTORIC INDIANS.
Whether the Mound Builders were exterminated, or removed to the south, or degenerated into the savages of historic times is an unsolved question. The first authentic account of the occupants of the Ohio wilderness is from the French Jesuits. The Eries (or Chats, as the French styled them) held the country to the south of Lake Erie as far west as the Sandusky River. Lake Erie obtained its name from this tribe of Indians. They were a powerful and numerous people, living in strongly fortified villages. Tradition credits them with being the most enlightened of all the Indian tribes of North America, excepting only the Aztecs of Mexico. The Iroquois (Five Nations) were their mortal foes and long and bloody wars were waged between them with varying issues. About 1660 the Iroquois surprised the Erie warriors They stormed their fortifications, exterminated the warriors and, after the custom of the victors, carried away and adopted the women and children of their vanquished foes.
The rule of the Iroquois now extended to all of the country between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River, as far west as the Mississippi. But the Iroquois, though a powerful confederacy, were never a numerous people. At the time of their greatest influence, and before they began to suffer from the white man's vices they are said to have numbered not more than 25,000. Just before the Revolution it is likely that they numbered less than 15,000, less than half the present population of Marion County. For them to hold this vast conquered territory was indeed a task. After years of sharp conflict with the Western tribes, the Iroquois slowly drew back eastward, claiming title to the vast wilderness but really relinquishing possession.
For 60 years, from 1660 to 1720, the Ohio wilderness was the happy hunting-ground of the Five Nations or Iroquois. The Northern tribes had been at enmity and war with the Cherokees, Chickasaws and Catawbas, all Indian tribes of the Southern States, for so long a time that the combatants had no account in their traditions of any time when there had been peace between them. Owing to this fierce and unremitting conflict, no tribes inhabited the southern parts of Ohio. The banks of the Ohio River were not safe for permanent habitation. Beyond the Ohio, as far back as tradition tells, Kentucky was the "dark and bloody hunting-ground", On both sides of the Ohio River were great numbers of buffalo and deer, and hither from the North and South came the bands of dusky warriors to hunt and obtain salt, and wage war one with another. Gen. William Henry Harrison, in his address before the Historical Society of Ohio, clearly pictures the condition at the time of the advent of the white man. He says:
"Of all this immense territory, the most beautiful portion was unoccupied. Numerous villages were to be found on the Scioto and the head-waters of the two Miamis of the Ohio; on the Miami of the Lake (the Maumee) and its southern tributaries and throughout the whole course of the Wabash, at least as low as the present town of Vincennes; but the beautiful Ohio rolled its amber tide, until it paid its tribute to the father of waters, through an unbroken solitude. At and before that time and for a century after, its banks were without a town or single village or even a single cottage, the curling smoke of whose chimneys would give promise of comfort and refreshment to a weary traveler."
'I'o these parties of hunters and warriors, and later to the trappers and traders, the Scioto
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River was of great importance. Long before the coming of the white man, the Sandusky and Scioto Rivers were the main water-route of travel from Canada to the Mississippi.
For centuries the Scioto was one of the important military highways along which the tribes of the North traveled in going to war with the tribes south of the Ohio River. Col. E. L. Taylor, in his address at the Franklinton Centennial, September 15, 1897, which may be found in full in the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, says of this route: "The importance of this river, as a highway for the Indians in former times, can only be understood and appreciated by remembering its direction and its physical relations to other streams and waters. If we draw a line directly from the mouth of the Scioto north to the mouth of the Sandusky River, it will practically parallel the Scioto as far north as the center of Marion County; thence it will lead over the divide or ridge of the State and follow the general line of the Sandusky River to its mouth where it empties into the Sandusky Bay. Continuing the line further north across Lake Erie, it will lead directly to the mouth of the Detroit River, by which all the waters of the Great Northern Lakes are reached. From the mouth of the Detroit River there is a chain of islands in sight of one another which stretch entirely across Lake Erie to the Sandusky River, and this was the route of the Indians across Lake Erie in fair weather. These islands offered lodging places in the case of sudden storms and bad weather and so made it comparatively safe for the Indians to cross Lake Erie in their canoes in the summer season, which was the season when they went to war and on their marauding expeditions. So it will he seen that Nature had provided a direct way from the Northern Lakes to the Ohio River by way of the Sandusky and the Scioto over which the operations of war and the avocations of the chase were carried on for centuries by the Indians, and probably at a still more remote period by other races of men who preceded them in the occupation of this portion of the country."
The earliest account of Ohio contains a reference to the importance of these rivers. This account is an anonymous report made in 1718 concerning the Indians of Canada as far as the Mississippi River. Here is an extract:
"A hundred leagues from Niagara, on the south side (Lake Erie), is a river called Sandusquet (Sandusky), which the Indians of Detroit and Lake Huron take when going to war with the Flatheads and other nations toward Carolina, such as the Cheraquis (Cherokees), the Indians residing on the river Casquinampo (the Tennessee), and the Chaouanons ( Shawanees. They ascend this river Sandosquet (Sandusky) two or three days, after which they make a small portage of about a quarter of a league. Some make canoes of elm bark, and float down a small river ( Scioto) that empties into the Ohio, which means Beautiful River; and it is indeed beautiful. Whoever would wish to reach the Mississippi easily, would need only to take this beautiful river or the Sandosquet ( Sandusky); he could travel without any danger of fasting, for all who have been there have repeatedly assured me that there is so vast a quantity of buffalo and of all other animals in the woods along that beautiful river, they were often obliged to discharge their guns to clear a passage for themselves. They say that two thousand men could very easily live there. To reach Detroit from this river Sandosquet, we cross Lake Erie from island to island, and get to a place called Point Pelee, where every sort of fish are in great abundance, especially sturgeon, very large, and three, four and; five feet in length. There is on one of these islands so great a number of cats (raccoons) that the Indians killed as many as nine hundred in a very short time. The object of the Indians in making this traverse is to shorten their road considerably, and were they not to do so they must go as far as the river which flows from the Miamis, and which is at the head of the lake."
The route pursued undoubtedly was to ascend the Sandusky to the mouth of the Little Sandusky, a point about three anal a half miles north of the north line of Marion County, thence up that tributary four or five miles to a portage, thence across the portage "a fine road
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of about a quarter of a league" at a point probably a short distance south of Morral in Salt Rock township, this county, to the Little Scioto, thence down that stream to the Scioto River and onward to the Ohio.
Evidence is near at hand that the Little Scioto was the scene of many Indian expeditions. Near its banks are the remains of extensive wigwams. Up to the year 1880 the ground was undisturbed and the tracings of a large amphitheater were plainly to be seen. "Near-by, on the table-land, was an oblong circle 550 paces in length. The break. or passage way, in the ditch is on the southwest and northeast in a direct line with the fallen buildings. Too wells are distinctly visible on the southeast. Oak trees are standing in the ditch, to mark the passing of a hundred years. In the immediate vicinity, as the trees were cut down a few years since, ax marks were found in several trees, plain and perfect as though made by a recent hand, though over a hundred years had covered up the scars." In the vicinity of Morral is a circular mound, several feet high, and in the days of the early settlers quite prominent, with a hickory tree upon its apex. The tree has long since been removed but the tracings of the mound are still distinct. One mile northwest from this mound, on the edge of the prairie and near a large pond, boys. while plowing, found a large number of Lead bullets, weighing nearly an ounce. They were deposited about six inches from the surface.
In his admirable work on Crawford's expedition. C. W. Butterfield says of this water route: "Long before a white man lived upon the soil of Ohio the Sandusky was a water route of travel, from Canada to the Mississippi of the early French travelers. They ascended the stream to the mouth of the Little Sandusky; thence up that creek four or five miles to a portage; thence across, the portage--a fine road about a quarter of a league--to the Little Scioto; thence down that stream to the Scioto proper, a tributary of the Ohio. 'Ascending the Sandusky,' writes William Walker, 'to the mouth of the west branch known as the Little Sandusky, with a bark or light wooden canoe, you could in a good stage of water, ascend that tributary four or five miles farther. Thence east, across to the Little Scioto, is a distance of about four miles. This was the portage. 'This place,' writes Col. James Smith, who was here in 1757, is in the plains between a creek that empties into Sandusky and one that runs into Scioto; and at the time of high water, or in the spring season, there is but about one-half mile of portage, and that very level, and clear of rocks. timber or stones.' Even before the French had any settlements in the valley of the St. Lawrence or the Mississippi; or before that most indomitable adventurer and explorer LaSalle--the first European to set foot upon any portion of the territory now constituting the State of Ohio, and the first of civilized men to discover the river, which washes its southern boundary--spread the first sail upon Lake Erie, the Northern Indians made the Sandusky and Scioto their route of travel in their predatory wars Upon Southern tribes."
This route by way of the Little Scioto was, by 30 miles, the shortest water-way from I,ake Erie to the Ohio River. It is likely, however, that frequently the canoes of the Indian expeditions were pushed up the Tymochtee, and, crossing the portage near the northwest part of Marion County, were launched on the Scioto. It is also probable that expeditions ascended the Sandusky as far as the present site of Bucyrus, thence crossed the narrow divide in Whetstone township, Crawford County, to the Whetstone and floated down that stream and the Scioto. All accounts, at any rate, clearly indicate that Marion County was along the route of these Indian expeditions and that the Scioto was the most traveled river in Ohio.
Those who live to-day cannot appreciate the conditions existing in Ohio before the advent of the white man. The streams presented an almost even stage of water throughout the entire year. The timber was not cut, the swamps and low lands were not drained. The streams were obstructed with logs and drift. The creeks and rivers were as a consequence tortuous and sluggish, and the watersheds narrow. In times of freshet it was possible to pass in a canoe from a tributary of the Sandusky to
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a stream whose waters found their way to the Scioto.
THE WYANDOTS.
Early in the 18th century the Wyandots from the upper lake regions took possession of Northwestern and Central Ohio. The Wyandots were descendants of the Hurons, who occupied the peninsula bounded on the east and south by Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and on the west by Lake Huron, when that territory was first discovered by the French. Early in the 17th century war broke out between the Hurons and Iroquois. The Hurons were supplied with firearms by the French, and the Iroquois by the Dutch. In this new method of warfare the Iroquois were victorious and drove their foes across the peninsula to the eastern shore of Lake Huron. The Hurons were suffered to remain here for a few years and then were driven by their aggressive and relentless foe farther north along the shores of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. As years went by the scattered tribes of Hurons collected and concentrated along the Straits of Mackinac. Passing along the west shore of Lake Huron, they took possession of the country along the Detroit River. From here they passed around the head of Lake Erie to the Sandusky River, of which they took possession, to the ridge in Crawford, Marion and Wyandot counties, where they arrived about the year 1725. In this vicinity, a country of forest and prairie, filled with fur-bearing animals and adapted to a race of hunters and trappers, the Wyandots had their principal villages when the white man first visited them. They cleared considerable tracts of land about their villages and there the squaws and children planted and harvested Indian corn, while the men hunted and trapped on the Sandusky, Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. Thus they extended their possession of the country southward along the streams as far as the Shawanee settlements.
The largest and principal town of the Wyandots was about three miles in a southeasterly direction from the present site of Upper Sandusky, and on the east bank of the Sandusky River. It was in a beautiful spot on the edge of the Sandusky Plains.
These plains lie in Wyandot, Marion and Crawford counties, south and west of the Sandusky River. Their western boundary is the Tyrnochtee, and their eastern boundary the Olentangy. In this connection it is interesting to note that Tymochtee is a Wyandot word signifying "around the plains." In general terms, the plains may be bounded on the north by the Sandusky, on the east by the Olentangy, on the south by the Scioto and on the west by the Tymochtee. They include a large portion of the north half of Marion County, curving to the south in Big Island, Marion and Claridon townships. Their length east and west, from Whetstone township in Crawford County to, Tymochtee township in Wyandot County, is over 40 miles, and their greatest breadth in Crawford and Marion counties is nearly 40 miles. Their average elevation above Lake Erie is about 300 feet. Cultivation is fast obliterating all traces of these natural meadows. Formerly the Sandusky Plains were belted with timber. They were covered with high, coarse grass, interspersed with islands of timber, and generally had a gradually undulating surface. They were the hiding place of a great variety of birds. Prairie hens, owls, wild geese, sandhill cranes, bittern, wild ducks, fox-squirrels and rattlesnakes abounded, and here deer would graze during the night and lie concealed in the high grass during the day. They were a favorite hunting-ground for the Indians, and this undoubtedly had much to do with many Indian settlements in this vicinity.
The "ring-hunt," as it was called, always brought good results. It was rare sport for these tawny hunters. Col. James Smith, who participated in one on these plains as early as 1757 writes . "We waited until we expected rain was near falling to extinguish the fire, and then we kindled a large circle in the prairie. At this time, or before the bucks began to run, a great number of deer lay concealed in the grass in the day, and moved about in the night: but as the fire burned in toward the center of the circle, the deer fled before the fire; the Indians
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PAGE 26 - PICTURES OF THE OLD MANSION HOUSE, OLDEST DWELLING; OLD HUBER BUILDING AND OLDEST BUSINESS BLOCK IN MARION
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were scattered also at some distance before the fire, and shot them at every opportunity, which was very frequent, especially as the circle became small. When we came to divide the deer, there were about ten to each hunter which were all killed in few hours. The rain did not come on that night to put out the outside circle of the fire, and as the wind arose it extended through the whole prairie." Perhaps this custom of the Indians in frequently burning over the plains had something to do with the absence of trees. At least it was one cause that contributed to the almost unbroken prairie.
The Wyandots, soon after taking possession of this territory, became the leading tribe of the Indians, northwest Territory were unted in a loose confederation for their mutual protection. Chief of these tribes were the Wyandots. To them the confederacy committed the calumet, which vested in them the right to call the tribes in council for peace and war. The military strength of this confederacy in 1795, at the time of the Greenville Treaty, was about 3,000 warriors, although it must have been greater previous to this time.
Gen. William Henry Harrison, in 1839, speaking of the Wyandots, said: "Their bravery has never been questioned, although there was certainly a considerable difference between the several tribes in this respect. With all but Wyandots, flight in battle when meeting with unexpected resistance or obstacles brought with it no disgrace. It was considered a principle of tactics. With the Wyandots it was otherwise. Their youths were taught to consider anything that had the appearance of an acknowledgment of the superiority of an enemy as disgraceful. In the battle of the Miami Rapids, of 13 chiefs of that tribe who were present only one survived and he was badly wounded."
SHAWANEES AND DELAWARES.
While the Wyandots laid claim to the territory in Central and Northern Ohio, they were not its sole occupants. Along the Scioto lay the Shawanee villages and along the Whetstone were settlements of Delawares and Mingoes. The Wyanclots, Delawares and Shawanees were closely united and their villages in Clarion and adjoining counties were often mixed in together. On the present site of Delaware, Ohio, was located a large village of the Delawares, where they cultivated a corn field of about 400 acres. About a mile further up the Whitestone on "Horseshoe Bottom" the Mingoes had a small village where they raised corn. In 1782, at the time of Crawford's expedition, the Delawares occupied a village on both sides of the Tymochtee, known as "Pipe's Town," located near the village of Crawford in Wyandot County.
At this v illage on the Tymochtee lived The Pipe, famous in history as Captain Pipe. He was the most famous war chief of the Delawares. He was the implacable enemy of the Americans during the Revolutionary War. His first appearance was during the march of Col. Henry Bouquet against the Ohio Indians in 1764. He was "cunning, artful and ambitious." After the Revolution, he became a steadfast friend of the Americans and at every opportunity advocated peace, He died in 1794.
The date of the advent of the Delawares into Central Ohio is obscure. Probably they entered the present limits of Ohio from Pennsylvania about the same time that the Wyandots entered Ohio from the north. The original home of the tribe was in the Vicinity of Philadelphia. Their first settlements in Ohio were along the Muskingum River, but later they were permitted by the Wyandots to locate their villages along the Scioto and Whetstone and even the Tymochtee, thus becoming their very near neighbors.
The Shawanees first appear in history about 1660 along the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers After wandering over a wide extent of country, including Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, from which they were driven by the Creeks and Seminoles, they immigrated across Kentucky into Ohio some time before the year 1750, and sought the protection of the Delawares and Wyandots. In this year Christopher Gist found one village of Shawanees at
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the mouth of the Scioto. Ten years later they were scattered in 16 small villages along the Scioto and its tributaries. They at once became the most aggressive and warlike of the Ohio tribes and continually harassed the frontier settlements of Virginia and Kentucky, stealing horses and killing and scalping men, women and children. Many expeditions were the settlements led by Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Gen. George Rogers Clark, Col. William Crawford and other intrepid leaders of the settlements. Between 1778 and 1791, 12 such expeditions were made against the Ohio Indians of the Scioto Valley. These flashes, as they were called, accomplished little. In the raids on the frontier settlements of Virginia and Kentucky, the Shawanees, who were leaders in these outrages, were joined by Mingoes, Delawares and Wyandots. For 40 years after 1755 they were in perpetual war with the Americans. They were the constant and implacable foe of the white race. They joined the French in the French and Indian War. They were the active allies of the British in the Revolutionary War and kept up a continual warfare after its close until the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. By this treaty they lost most of their territory. Again, in the War of 1812, under their greatest warrior chief, Tecumseh, they became the allies of the British. sent against them lay
BORDER WARFARE
No sooner had England made peace with France than the Wyandots, Shawanees, Delawares and other Ohio tribes took the lead in a war on the settlements of Western Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The frontiers of these Colonies were immediately overrun with scalping parties, marking their way, wherever they went, with blood and devastation. Colonel Bouquet was sent to the relief of Fort Pitt and the adjoining territory. From Fort Pitt he marched, on October 2, 1863 (?), to chastise the Indians between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. By forced marches he arrived in 16 days at the forks of the Muskingum River Here a council was held with the chiefs of the various tribes and it was agreed that all the white prisoners in the possession of the Indians were to be delivered up. True to the agreement, within a few days 206 white captives were presented, and 100 more in the possession of the Shawnees were, by agreement, to he delivered the following spring at Fort Pitt. Dumas, in a biographical sketch of General Bouquet, published in 1764, gives this interesting account of the arrival of the prisoners in the camp: "Where were to be seen fathers and mothers recognizing and clasping their once lost babes; husbands hanging around the necks of their newly recovered wives; sisters and brothers unexpectedly meeting together after long separation, scarce able to speak the same language, or, for some time, to be sure that they were the children of the same parents. In all these interviews, joy and rapture inexpressible were seen, while feelings of a very different nature were painted in the looks of others,--flying from place to place in eager enquiries after relations not found trembling to receive an answer to their questions; distracted in doubts, hopes and fears on obtaining no account of those they sought for; or stiffened into living monuments of woe and horror, on learning their unhappy fate. The Indians, too, as if wholly forgetting their usual savageness, bore a capital part in heightening this most affecting scene. They delivered up their beloved captives with the utmost reluctance; shed torrents of tears over there, recommending them to the care and protection of the commanding officer. Their regard to them continued all the time they remained in camp. They visited them from day to day, and brought them what corn, skins and other matters, they had bestowed on them while in their families; accompanied with other presents, and all the marks of the most fierce and tender affection."
Most of these captives were held by the Shawanees, Wyandots and Delawares, the savage marauders of Central Ohio, whose undisturbed haunts were the valleys and plains of Marion and surrounding counties. Some idea may be obtained of the amount of their plunder and the number of their captives when it is
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noted that the 206 captives surrendered to Colonel Bouquet were not more than one fourth of the white captives then in Ohio.
CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION. (WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA. HISTORY)
Colonel Bouquet's swift and bold march into the interior for a time put a partial stop to the border warfare. During the Revolution, the warriors of Ohio renewed their hostilities on the white settlements. Towards the close of the Revolution, the settlements of Western Pennsylvania a nd Virginia organized an expedition, with t he sanction and approval of General Irvine, in command of Fort Pitt, against the Wyandot, Delaware and Shawanee Indians, of the Scioto and Sandusky rivers. The place of rendezvous was Mingo Bottom, in what is now Jefferson County, Ohio. Here the assembled frontiersmen organized by selecting Col. William Crawford as their commander. Col. David Williamson was second in command and Dr. John Knight, belonging to the regular army at Fort Pitt, was made surgeon. Major Rose, a Russian nobleman who accompanied the expedition, was also in regular service, stationed at Fort Pitt.
William Crawford was at the time 50 years of age, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. In his youth he became acquainted with George Washington, surveyor at the time. who was born the same year as Crawford. He was with Washington at the time of Braddock's defeat. From this time on he became one of the most aggressive and daring leaders of the frontiersmen and led several expeditions in retaliation against the Indians beyond the Ohio. During the Revolution he served with distinction. Upon his return home, he became the leader of the ill-fated expedition, which is not surpassed in American history in the cruel and inhuman treatment dealt the captives by their bloodthirsty foes.
On the morning of May 25, 1782, the army under Crawford, numbering about 500 men. all mounted on horses, started from Mingo Bottom. The cavalcade moved in the straightest direction through the woods for Upper Sandusky, distant about 150 miles. On the 2nd of June they reached the Sandusky River at a point about three half miles of Galion, The following day the army the reached the banks Whetstone and emerged on the Sandusky Plains not far from the north boundary line of Marion County. The next morning, June 4th, the army set out, traveling six miles in a northwesterly direction to the mouth of the Little Sandusky. From this point three Indian trails let off; one to the southeast through the plains to Owl Creek (now the Vernon River), leading thence down the Walhonding.
This trail lay directly through Marion County, through Grand Prairie and Claridon townships. It was along this trail, from the Vernon River to the mouth of the Little Sandusky, that the Christian Indians and the Moravian missionaries were marched by their captors in September of 1781.
Picture of Col. William Crawford
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From the mouth of the Little Sandusky, Crawford's army proceeded cautiously in a northwesterly direction for some three miles, and then came suddenly upon the Wyandot town in an opening in the woods, only to find it deserted.
SIMON GIRTY.
While the army of Crawford were slaking their thirst and taking a short rest at the springs of the deserted Wyandot town, doubtless a wild assemblage of whooping, dancing Delawares and Wyandots were, after their custom, preparing for battle a few miles to the north. In this assemblage were but few white men, one of whone deserves special notice. He was Simon Girty, the white renegade. Dressed as an Indian, but without ornaments, he seemed a fiend incarnate. Above the din and tumult his voice could be heard as he volleyed forth fearful oaths in his native tongue.
Girty was born in Northwestern Pennsylvania, of an intemperate father and an unworthy mother. "The old man was beastly intemperate. A jug of whiskey was the extent of his ambitions. 'Grog was his song, and grog would he have." Simon had three brothers--Thomas, George and James. Simon, George and James were taken prisoners by the Indians during the French; and Indian War, when Simon was about eight years old. Simon was adopted by the Senecas and given the name "Patepacomen." He was one of the white captives surrendered to Colonel Bouquet in 1764, but soon after escaped and returned to savage life. In 1774. he took part in Lord Dunmore's War, on the side of the Virginians. Here he met Simon Kenton and the two young men soon became fast friends. He also became intimately acquainted with Colonel Crawford and was frequently a guest at his hospitable cabin. He aspired to a captaincy inl the regular army in 1778, but, failing in this, deserted Fort Pitt in company with 14 others. He immediately became a leader of a reign of terror among the settlers of the wild frontier. He represented to the friendly Delawares that the white people intended killing every Indian they met; that Washington was killed and the Revolutionary Army cut to pieces; that there was no Congress, the British having hung some members and taken the rest to England The Delawares disbelieved his story and he moved on westward to the Shawanees on the Scioto, to whom the Dela\vare chiefs sent word not to believe what he told them.
Girty now started for Detroit. On his way he was captured by the Wyandots. The Senecas, who recognized him, demanded the he be given up to them because, having been their adopted son, he had now taken up arm against them. But Leatherlips, the Wyandot chief, ignored their claim to him. The Wyandots finally set him at liberty and he proceeder to Detroit, where General Hamilton gave hin a cordial welcome. He was now given a word that suited his nature exactly. He was employed at 16 York shillings a day and sent back to Upper Sandusky to incite and assist the Indians in their border warfare. He soon became a leader among the Wyandots and Shawanees along the head-waters of the Scioto and Sandusky rivers, in their murderous forays into the border settlements. From Pittsburg to Louisville his name became the household term for terror all along the Ohio. Doubtless he led many a helpless victim of the frontier captive along the trails through Marion County or danced with his dusky companions around the helpless victim at the burning stake.
After the Revolution, Girty continued to incite the savages to war against the settlers of the border. He was present at St. Clair's defeat in 1791 and at the battle of the Fallen Timber in 1794. After the Treaty of Greenville, he engaged in the Indian trade at Lower Sandusky and later at "Girty's Town" on the site of St. Marys in Mercer (now Auglaize County. He then removed to Malden, Canada; where he settled on a farm on the Detroit River, where he died in 1818, aged 70 year For several years before his death, he was nearly blind and a complete wreck.
"The last time I saw Girty," wrote William Walker, "was in the summer of 1813.
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From my recollection of his person, he was in height five feet six or seven inches; broad across the chest; strong, round, compact limbs; and of fair complexion. To anyone scrutinizing him, the conclusion would forcibly impress the observer that Girty was endowed by Nature with great powers of endurance." Spencer, a prisoner among the Indians, gives this vivid description of him: "His dark, shaggy hair; his low forehead; his brows contracted and meeting above his short, flat nose; his gray sunken eyes, averting the ingenuous gaze; his lips thin and compressed; and the dark and sinister expression of his countenance; to me seemed the very picture of a villian."
Such was Simon Girty--a brutal, depraved, wicked wretch. "All the vices of civilization seemed to center in him, and by him were ingrafted upon those of the savage state, without the usual redeeming qualities of either. He moved about through the Indian country during the War of the Revolution and the Indian war which followed, a dark whirlwind of fury, desperation and barbarity. In the refinements of torture inflicted on helpless victims, as compared with the Indians, he 'out-Heroded Herod.' In treachery he stood unrivaled.''
BATTLES OF SANDUSKY AND OLENTANGY.
One of the guides of Crawford s expedition, Slover, had been a prisoner among the Indians, and was familiar with the localities in the region of the Upper Sandusky, and the deserted Indian village at which the army arrived on the 4th of June, 1782. He was of the opinion that the Indians, on hearing of Crawford's approach, had gone to one of their towns, situated about eight miles down the Sandusky River. It was thereupon determined to move forward at once in search of them. After proceeding down the river for about four miles to a place about one mile north of the present site of Upper Sandusky, a halt was called, a council of war was held, and it was determined to continue the march for the remainder of the day, but no longer.
Colonel Crawford had previously sent forward a company of light horse for the purpose of reconnoitering. This party had advanced about two miles when they discovered the enemy in full force rapidly moving toward them, the Delawares, under The Pipe and Girty, leading the advance. One of the scouts was thereupon sent back to inform Colonel Crawford of the presence of the enemy. The council had just adjourned, and the troops were immediately formed for action. The Americans had advanced about a mile when the enemy was discovered taking possession of a grove in the prairie. Crawford at once ordered his men to dismount and by rapid forward movement soon drove the Indians out of the woods into the open prairie. Just then the Delawares were reinforced by the Wyandots, and Capt. Matthew Elliott, in the service of the British government, took command of the enemy. Very soon the action, which began about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, became general. Girty was conspicuous and active. The enemy were sheltered by the high grass of the surrounding plains, but the Americans were better protected by the grove, of which they had, by gallant fighting, taken possession. The fight at "Battle Island" lasted until dark, when the skulking Indians retired farther out into the prairie and the firing ceased. In this engagement the Americans lost four killed and 19 wounded. The Indians doubtless suffered more severely than the Americans.
Both parties lay on their arms during the night. At daybreak the firing was renewed and continued throughout the day at long range and in a desultory manner, with but slight damage to either side. During the day the enemy were reinforced by a body of white troops known as "Butler's Rangers" and bv about 200 Shawanee warriors. The savages kept increasing from other 'quarters throughout the day, so that at evening the Americans were surrounded and greatly outnumbered. A council of war resolved upon a retreat that night.
The retreat began about 9 o'clock. The movement was immediately discovered by the enemy, who opened fire from various points throwing the retreating columns into confusion and inflicting considerable loss. All through the night the retreat was continued,
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arriving at the deserted village of the Wyandots at daybreak, when a halt was called. Here about 300 of the original force were collected. It was found that Colonel Crawford, Dr. Knight and John Slover were among the missing,
The retreating army, which was now under the command of Colonel Williamson, took up its march to the southeast across the plains. When well along the plains, a large body of mounted Indians and British came in sight and pressed closely upon the flanks and rear. The Americans halted, formed in line and began the battle. This was at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of. Thursday, June 6th, near the eastern edge of the plains in Whetstone township, Crawford County, not far from a small branch of the Olentangy. Major Rose bore a conspicuous part in this engagement. As the enemy pressed the attack on front, left flank and rear, Rose rode along the lines cheerful; shooting "Stand to your ranks, boys. Stand to your ranks and take steady aim, fire low and don't throw away a single shot. Remember everything depends upon your steadiness." The "Battle of Olentangy" as it is called was fought furiously on both sides for about an hour, When the enemy were glad to retire. The Americans lost three killed and eight wounded, and the loss of the enemy was probably much greater.
The retreat was then continued in a chilly drenching rain, the enemy still following at a distance. At night the opposing forces encamped within a mile of each other. At daybreak cf the 7th the enemy, opened fire from the rear. Here two of the Americans were captured and it is supposed tomahawked but the Americans were not pursued further, the last hostile shot having been fired near Crestline, in Crawford County.
On June 13th, Dingo Bottom was reached, where several of the missing were found. Among those who never returned were William Harrison, the son-in-law, and William Crawford, the nephew of Colonel Crawford. Harrison was burned at the stake. John Slover, the guide, after being captured by a band of Shawanees in Wayne County and condemned to die at the stake, escaped and finally, after many days of thrilling adventure, reached the settlements, July 11, 1782.
CAPTURE AND BURNING OF COLONEL CRAWFORD
Dr. ]ohn Knight, in his narrative, written soon after his return to the settlements, tells of the capture and death of Colonel Crawford. It is of especial interest in a history of Marion County because Dr. Knight and his Indian guide traveled, during the day previous to his escape out of Wyandot County, across the northwest corner of Marion County, into Hardin Countv, following an Indian trace up the Tymochtee, their distinction being the Shawanee towns on Mad River. He made his escape a short distance below Kenton, in Hardin County, and in his flight crossed Marion County in its northern tier of townships. Omitting the first part of the narrative, and beginning with his account of the retreat, he says:
"We had not got a quarter of a mile from the field of action, when I heard Colonel Crawford calling for his son, John Crawford, his son-in-law, Major Harrison, Major Rose and William Crawford, his nephew upon which I came up and told him I believed they were on before us. He asked. was that the doctor? I told him it was. He then replied they were not in front, and begged of me not to leave him. I promised him I would not.
'We then waited and Continued calling for these men till the troops had passed us. The Colonel told me his horse had almost given out, that he could not keep up with the troops, and wished some of his best friends to remain with him. He then exclaimed against the militia for riding off in such an irregular manner, leaving some of the wounded behind, contrary to his orders. Presently there came two men riding after us, one of them an old man, the other a lad. We enquired if they had seen any of the above persons? They answered, they had not.
"By this time there was a very hot firing before us and, as we judged, near where our main, body must have been. Our course was then nearly southwest, but changing it,
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we went north about two miles, the two men remaining in company with us. Judging ourselves to be now out of the enemy's lines, we took a due east course, taking care to keep the distance of fifteen or twenty yards apart, and directing ourselves by the North star.
"The old man often lagged behind, and when this was the case never failed to call for us to halt for him. When we were near the Sandusky Creek, he fell one hundred yards behind, and bawled out, as usual, for us to halt. While we were preparing to reprimand him for making a noise, I heard an Indian halloo, as I thought, one hundred and fifty yards from the man, and partly behind him. After this we did not hear the man call again, neither did he ever come up to us any more. It was now past midnight, and about daybreak Colonel Crawford's and the young man's horses gave out and they left them. We pursued our journey eastward, and about 2 o'clock fell in with Captain Biggs, who had carried Lieutenant Ashley from the field of action, who had been dangerously wounded. We then went on about the space of an hour, when a heavy rain coming on, we concluded it was best to encamp, as we were encumbered with the wounded officer. We then barked four or five trees, made an encampment and a fire, and remained there all that night. Next morning we again prosecuted our journey, and having gone about three miles found a deer which had been recently killed. The meat was sliced from the bones and bundled up in the skin, with a tomahawk lying by it. We carried all with us, and in advancing about a mile further espied the smoke of a fire. We then gave the wounded officer into the charge of the young man, directing him to stay behind, whilst the Colonel, the Captain and myself walked up as cautiously as we could toward the fire. When we came to it, we concluded, from several circumstances, some of our people had encamped there the preceding night. We then went about roasting the venison, and when just about to march, observed one of our men coming upon our tracks. He seemed at first very shy, but having called to him he came up and told us he was the person who had killed the deer, but upon hearing us come up was afraid of Indians, hid in a thicket and made off. Upon this we gave him some bread and roasted venison, proceeded together on our journey, and about 2 o'clock came upon the paths by which we had gone out. Captain Biggs and myself did not think it safe to keep the road, but the Colonel said the Indians would not follow the troops farther than the plains, which we were then considerably past. As the wounded officer rode Captain Biggs' horse, I lent the Captain mine. The Colonel and myself went about one hundred yards in front, the Captain and wounded officer in the center, and the two young men behind. After we had traveled about a mile and a half, several Indians started up within fifteen or twenty steps of the Colonel and me. As we at first discovered only three, I immediately got behind a large black oak, made ready my piece and raised it up to take sight, when the Colonel called to me twice not to fire; upon that one of the Indians ran up to the Colonel and took him by the hand.
"They were Delaware Indians of the Wingenim tribe. Captain Biggs fired amongst them but did no execution. They then told us to call these people and make them come there, else they would go and kill them, which the Colonel did, but they forgot us and escaped for that time. The Colonel and I were then taken to the Indian camp, which was about half a mile from the place where we were captured. On Sunday evening, five Delawares who had posted themselves at some distance further on the road brought back to the camp where we lay Captain Biggs' and Lieutenant Ashley's scalps, with an Indian scalp which Captain Biggs had taken in the field of action: they also brought in Biggs' horse and mine. They told us the other two men got away from them.
"Monday morning the 10th of June, we were paraded to march to Sandusky, about thirty-three miles distant; they had eleven prisoners of us and four scalps, the Indians being seventeen in number.
"Colonel Crawford was very desirous to see a certain Simon Girty, who lived with the Indians, and was on this account permitted
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to go to town the same night, with two warriors to guard him, having orders at the same time to pass by the place where the Colonel had turned out his horse, that they might if possible, find him. The rest of us were taken as far as the old town, which was within eight miles of the new.
"Tuesday morning, the eleventh, Colonel Crawford was brought out to us on purpose to be marched in with the other prisoners. I asked the Colonel if he had seen Mr. Girty? He told me he had, and that Girty had promised to do everything in his power for him, but that the Indians were very much enraged against the prisoners; particularly Captain Pipe, one of the chiefs; he likewise informed him that his son-in-law Colonel Harrison, and his nephew, William Crawford, were made prisoners by the Shawanese, but had been pardoned. This Captain Pipe had come from the town about an hour before Colonel Crawford, and had painted all the prisoners' faces black.. As he was painting me, he told me I should go, to the Shawnanese towns and see my friends. When the Colonel arrived, he painted him black also, told him he was glad to see him and that he would have him shaved when he came to see his friends at the Wyandot town. When we marched, the Colonel and I were kept back between Pipe and Wyugenim, the two Delaware chiefs; the other nine prisoners were sent forward with another party of Indians. As we went along we saw four of the prisoners lying by the path tomahawked and scalped; some of them were at a distance of half a mile from each other. When we arrived within half a mile of the place where the Colonel was executed, we overtook the five prisoners that remained alive; the Indians had caused them to sit down on the ground, as they did also the Colonel and me at some distance from them. I was there given in charge to an Indian fellow to be taken to the Shawanese towns.
"In the place where we were now made to sit down, there were a number of squaws and boys, who fell on the five prisoners and tomahawked them. There was a certain John McKinley among the prisoners, formerly an officer in the 13th Virginian Regiment, whose head an old squaw cut off, and the Indians kicked it about on the ground. The Young Indian fellows came often where the Colonel and I were, and dashed the scalps in our faces. We were then conducted along toward the place where the Colonel was afterwards executed; when we came within about a half a mile from it, Simon Girty met us, with several Indians on horseback; he spoke to the Colonel but as I was about one hundred and fifty yards behind could not hear what passed between them.
"Almost every Indian we met struck us either with sticks or their fists. Girty waited until I was brought up and asked, was that the doctor? I told him, yes, and went toward him reaching out my hand, but he bid me be gone and called me a damned rascal, upon which the fellows who had me in charge pulled me along. Girty rode up after me and told me I was to go to the Shawanese towns.
"When we went to the fire, the Colonel was stripped naked, ordered to sit down by the fire and then they beat him with sticks and their fists. Presently after I was treated in the same manner. Then they tied a rope to the foot of a post about fifteen feet high, bound the Colonel's hands behind his back and fastened the rope to the ligature between his wrists" The rope was long enough for him to sit down or walk round the post once or twice and return the same way. The Colonel then called to Girty and asked if they intended to burn him? Girty answered, yes. The Colonel said he would take it all patiently. Upon this Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief, made a speech to the Indians, viz.: about thirty or forty men, sixty or seventy squaws and boys.
"When the speech was finished, they all yelled a hideous and hearty assent to what had been said. The Indian men then took up their guns and shot powder into the Colonel's body, from his feet up as far as his neck. I think not less than seventy loads were discharged upon his naked body. They then crowded about him, and to the best of my observations
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cut off his ears; when the throng had dispersed a little I saw the blood running from both sides of his head in consequence thereof.
"The fire was about six or seven yards from the post to which the Colonel was tied; it was made of small hickory poles, burnt quite through in the middle each end of the poles remaining about six feet in length. Three or four Indians by turns would take up, individually, one of these burning pieces of wood and apply it to his naked body, already burnt black with the powder. These tormentors presented themselves on every side of him with the burning faggots and poles. Some of the squaws took broads, upon which they would carry a quantity of burning coals and hot embers and throw on him, so that in a short time he had nothing but coals of fire and hot ashes to Walk upon.
In the midst of these extreme tortures, he called to Simon Girty and begged him to shoot him; but Girty making no answer he called to him again. Girty then, by way of derision, told the Colonel he had no gull, at the same time turning about to an Indian who was bellied him, laughed heartily and by all his gestures seemed delighted at the horrid scene.
"Girty then came up to me and bade me prepare for death. He said, however, I was not to die at that place, but to be burnt at the Shawanese towns. He swore by G--d I need not expect to escape death, but should suffer it in all its extremities.
"He then observed, that some prisoners had given him to understand, that it our people had him they would not hurt him; for his part, he said, he did not believe it, but desired to I know my opinion of the matter, but being at that time in great anguish and distress for the torments the Colonel was suffering before my eyes, as well as the expectation of undergoing the same fate in two days, I made little or answer. He expressed a great deal of ill will for Colonel Gibson, and said he was one of the greatest enemies, and more to the same purpose, to all which I paid very little attention.
"Colonel Crawford at this period of his sufferings besought the Almighty to have mercy on his soul, spoke very Low, and bore his torments with the most fortitude. He continued in all the extremities of pain for an hour and three quarters or two hours longer, as near as I can judge, when at last. being almost exhausted, he lay down on his belly; they then scalped him and repeatedly threw the scalp in m y face, telling me, "That was my Great Captain ." An old squaw (whose appearance every way answered the ideas people entertain of the Devil) got a board, took a parcel of coals and ashes and laid them on his back and head, after he had been scalped; he then raised himself upon his feet and began to walk around the post; they next put a burning stick to him as usual, but he seemed more insensible of pain than before.
"The Indian fellow, who had me in charge, now took me away to Captain Pipe's house. about three-quarters of a mile from the place of the Colonel's execution. I was bound all night and thus prevented from seeing the last of the horrid spectacle. Next morning, being June 12th, the Indian untied me, painted me black, and we set off for the Shawanese town, which he told me was somewhat less than forty miles from that place. We soon came to the spot where the Colonel had been burnt, as it was partly in our way; I saw his bones lying amongst the remains of the fire, almost burnt to ashes; I suppose after he was dead they had laid his body on the fire.
"The Indian told me that that was my Big Captain, and gave the scalp halloo. He was on horseback and drove me before him.
"I pretended to this Indian I was ignorant of the death I was to die at the Shawanese town, assumed as cheerful a countenance as possible, and asked him if we were not to live as brothers in one house when we should get to that town? He seemed well pleased, and said yes. He then asked me if I could make a wigwam? I told him I could--he then seemed more friendly. We went that day as near as I could judge about 25 miles, the course partly southwest. The Indian told me we should next day come to the town, the sun being in such a direction, pointing nearly south. At night, when we went to rest, I attempted often to untie myself, but the Indian was ex-
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tremely vigilant and scarcely ever shut his eyes that night. About daybreak he got up and untied me; he next began to mend up the fire and as the gnats were troublesome I asked him if I should make a smoke behind him--he said yes. I then took the end of a dogwood fork which had been burnt down to about 18 inches long; it was the longest stick I could find, yet too small for the purpose I had in view; then 1 picked up another smaller stick and taking a coal of fire between them went behind him; then turning suddenly about, I struck him on the head with all the force I was master of; which so stunned him that he fell forward with both hands into the fire, but seeing him recover and get up, I seized his gun while he ran off howling in a most fearful manner. I followed him with a determination to shoot him down, but pulling back the cock of the gun with too great violence, I believe I broke the main spring. I pursued him, however, about thirty yards, still endeavoring to fire the gun, but could not; then going back to the fire 1 took his blanket, a pair of new moccasins, hopples, powder-horn, bullet-bag (together with the gun) and marched off, directing my course toward the 5 o'clock mark; about half an hour before sunset I came to the plains which I think are about sixteen miles wide. I laid me down in a thicket till dark, and then by the assistance of the North star made my way through them and got into the woods before morning. I proceeded on the next day, and about noon crossed the paths by which our troops had gone out; these paths are nearly east and west, but I went due north all that afternoon with a view to avoid the enemy.
"In the evening I began to be very faint, and no wonder; I had been six days a prisoner; the last two days of which I had eaten nothing, and but very little the first three or four; there were wild gooseberries in abundance in the woods, but being unripe required mastication, which at that time I was not able to perform, on account of a blow received from an Indian on the jaw with the back of a tomahawk. There was a weed that grew plentifully in that place, the juice of which I knew to be grateful and nourishing; I gathered a bundle of the same, took up my lodging under a large spreading beech tree and having sucked plentifully of the juice, went to sleep. Next day, I made a due east course which I generally kept the rest of my journey. I often imagined my gun was only wood bound, and tried every method I could devise to unscrew the lock but never could effect it, having no knife nor anything, fitting for the purpose. I had now the satisfaction to find my jaw began to mend, and in four or five days could chew any vegetable proper for nourishment, but finding my gun only a useless burden left it in the wilderness. I had no apparatus for making fire to sleep by, so that 1 could get but little rest for the gnats and mosquitoes; there are likewise a great many swamps in the beech ridge, which occasioned me very often to lie wet; this ridge, through which I traveled, is about 20 miles broad, the ground in general very level and rich, free from shrubs and brush; there are, however, very few springs, yet wells might easily be dug in all parts of the ridge; the timber on it is very lofty, but it is no easy matter to make a straight course through the same, the moss growing as high upon the south side of the trees as on the north. There are a great many white oaks, ash and hickory trees that grow among the beech timber; there are likewise some places on the ridge perhaps for three or four continued miles, where there is little or no beech, and in such. spots, black and white oak, ash and hickory abound. Sugar trees grow there also to a very great bulk--the soil is remarkably good, the ground is a little ascending and descending with some small rivulets and a few springs. When I got out of the beech ridge and nearer the river Muskingum, the lands were more broken but equally rich with those before mentioned, and abounding with brooks and springs of water; there were also several small creeks that empty into that river, the bed of which is more than a mile wide in many places; the woods consist of white and black oak, walnut, hickory and sugar tree in the greatest abundance. In all parts of the country through which I came, the game was
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very plenty, that is to say, deer, turkeys and pheasants; I likewise saw a great many vestiges of bears and some elks.
"I crossed the river Muskingum about three or four miles below Fort Lawrence, and crossing all paths aimed for the Ohio River. All this time my food was gooseberries, young nettles, the juice of the herbs, a few service berries, and some May apples, which I devoured raw. When my food sat heavy on my stomach, I used to eat a little wild ginger which put all to rights.
"I came upon the Ohio River about five miles below Fort McIntosh, in the evening of the 21st day after I had made my escape, and on the 22nd about 7 o'clock in the morning, being the fourth day of July, arrived safe, though very much fatigued, at the Fort."
This most atrocious deed, the burning of Crawford, was perpetrated on the southeast bank of the Tymochtee, a short distance north of Crawford, in Wyandot County, and distant about seven miles northeast of Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
PLAN ILLUSTRATING THE BATTLES OF THE MAUMEE
WARS AND TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS.
The United States, having at the close of the Revolutionary War acquired the Northwest territory, on January 1, 1785, concluded a treaty with the Wyandots and Delawares at Fort McIntosh, and in 1789, at Fort Harmar, Gov. Arthur St. Clair renewed and confirmed this treaty. By its terms the territory now forming Marion and adjoining counties was allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, to live and hunt on.
The Indians, however, continued hostile and as a last resort Gen. Josiah Harmar was ordered to attack and destroy their towns. He marched from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) in Sept., 1790, With 1,300 men. When near the Indian towns in the vicinity of Fort Wayne, Indiana, an advance detachment of 210 militia fell into an ambush and was defeated with severe loss. The Americans succeeded in burning the Indian villages and standing corn and then commenced their march homeward. Learning that the Indians had returned to their ruined towns, General Harmar sent Colonel Hardin against them. In the engagement the Indians fought with desperation and more than 100 of the militia and all but 9 of the regulars were killed and the rest were driven back to the main body. Harmar, very much discouraged, immediately marched to Fort Washington. The object of this expedition, which was to intimidate the Indians, entirely failed.
This failure of the Americans only increased the confidence of the hostile Indians. Consequently in 1791 a new army, amounting to 2,300 regulars and 600 militia, assembled at
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Cincinnati. This army, under General St. Clair, moved against the Indian towns on the Maumee, but before arriving in the Indian country a considerable number of the militia deserted in a body. Thus weakened, the army approached the Indian villages. On November 4th, about a half hour before sunrise, on the site of the present village of Fort Recovery, in the southwest part of Mercer County, the American army was attacked with great fury by the entire forces of the Wyandots, Delawares, Miamis, Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pottawatomies. In this battle the Americans were totally defeated with a loss of more than 600 men.
BATTLE OF THE FALLEN TIMBER AND TREATY OF GREENVILLE.
After the defeat of St. Clair, President Washington urged a vigorous prosecution of the war. Gen. Anthony Wayne, a bold, energetic and experienced officer of the Revolution, was put in command of a force of about 2,000 regular troops and 1,500 mounted volunteers from Kentucky. The Indian tribes opposed him with more than 2,000 warriors, stationed near a British fort, erected since the treaty of 1783, and in violation of its terms, at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. They were well supplied with arms and ammunition by the British. On the 20th of August, 1794, the hostile forces met at the Maumee Rapids and in the "battle of the Fallen Timber" the confederated Indians were completely routed. following this defeat, the Indians, now subdued and humbled, in the following summer came to Greenville and entered into the celebrated Treaty of Greenville, with General Wayne, and the commissioners of the United States. By the terms of this treaty all the lands south of the Greenville Treaty line were ceded to the United States for the purpose of settlement. This line passes through Marion County, forming the boundary line between Richland and Waldo townships and passing through about the middle of Prospect township. For many years the country to the north of this line was known as Indian Territory. South of this line in this county, settlements were made fully 15 years before any attempt at settlement was made north of it. In many places in the southern part of the county, this line is clearly defined to this day, marking the boundaries of farms and a public highway being located on it through a part of Prospect township. This treaty ended the serious Indian troubles until the War of 1812.
The concluding history of the Indians of this region will be found in the chapter on the settlement and organization of the county. This chapter cannot be more fittingly closed than by quoting in full Charles Sprague's masterpiece so often read by our fathers and grandfathers:
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN.
"Not many generations ago, Were you now sit, encircled with all that exalts and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his hole unscared. Here lived and loved another race of beings. Beneath the same sun that rolls over your head, the Indian hunter pursued the panting deer; gazing on the same moon that smiles for you, the Indian lover wooed his dusky mate. Here the wigwam-blaze beamed on the tender and helpless; the council-fire glared on the wise and the daring.
"Now they dipped their noble limbs in your sedgy lakes, and now they paddled their light canoe along your rock shores. Here they warred; the echoing whoop, the bloody grapple, the defying death song, all were here; and, when the tiger-strife was over, here curled the smoke of peace. Here, too, they worshiped; and from many a dark bosom went up a pure prayer to the Great Spirit. He had not written his laws for them on tables of stone, but he had traced them on the table of their hearts.
"The poor child of Nature knew not the God of revelation, but the God of the universe he acknowledged in everything around. He beheld him in the star that sank in beauty behind his lonely dwelling; in the sacred orb that flamed on him from his mid-day throne; in the flower that snapped in the morning breeze; in the lofty pine that had defied a thou-
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sand whirlwinds; in the timid warbler that never left his native grove; in the fearless eagle whose untired pinion was wet in clouds; in the worm that crawled at his feet; and on his own matchless form glowing with a spark of that light to whose mysterious source he bent in humble though blind adoration.
"And all this has passed away. Across the ocean came a pilgrim bark, bearing the seeds of life and death. The former were sown for you; the latter sprang up in the path of the simple native. Two hundred years have changed the character of a great continent and blotted forever from its face a whole. peculiar people. Art has usurped the bowers of Nature and the anointed children of education have been too powerful for the tribes of the ignorant. Here and there a stricken few remain; but how unlike their bold, untamed, untamable progenitors. The Indian of falcon-glance, and lion-bearing, the theme of the touching ballad, the hero of the pathetic tale, is gone; and his degraded offspring crawl upon the soil where he walker in majesty, to remind us how miserable is man when the foot of the conqueror is on his neck.
"As a race they have withered from the land. Their arrows are broker. Their springs are dried up, their cabins are in the dust. Their council-fire has long since gone out on the shore, and their war-cry is fast dying away to the untrodden West. Slowliy and sadly they climb the distant mountains and read their doom in the setting sun. They are shrinking before the mighty tide that is pressing them away; they must soon hear the roar of the last wave which will settle over them forever. Ages hence, the inquisitive white man, as he stands by some growing city, will ponder on the on the structure of their disturbed remains, and wonder to what manner of persons they belonged. They will live only in songs and chronicles of their exterminators. Let these be faithful to their rude virtues as men, and pay due tribute to their unhappy fate as a people."
