HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY. - 207


CHAPTER II*


EARLY INHABITANTS—A CLASSIFICATION OF 'TILE MOUND-BUILDERS' WORKS—PRE-HISTORIC

OCCUPATION AND REMAINS OF SUMMIT COUNTY—SKETCHES OF THE INDIAN TRIBES

—CUYAHOGA VALLEY INDIANS DURING THE BORDER WARS.


Fought eye to eye, and hand to hand. Alas! 'twas' but to die'

In vain the rifle's deadly flash

Scorched eagle plume and wampum sash —The hatchet hissed on high :

And down they fell in crimson heaps,

Like the rlpe corn the sickle reaps."


IN the remote past ages of life upon the earth. at a period that lies wholly within the province of conjecture. and upon which the light of sleepless inquiry fails to fall a strange and semi-civilized people. whose origin. customs and final fate are enshrouded in comparative obscurity. inhabited almost the entire territory of the Western Continent. All attempts to unravel the mystery enveloping their peculiar lives meet with an uncompromising rebuff. save ; where the Last-decaying remnants of their works cast a feeble ray of light on the otherwise impenetrable darkness. The first thought that enters the mind of the antiquarian in this department of research. is. Whence originated this peculiar people ? So far, no satisfactory answer has been reached. Though many eminent men have devoted the best years of their lives in endeavoring to discover the origin of man. or. more specifically. the origin of the Mound-Builders. yet no word of encouragement comes from the past to cheer on the patient, tireless worker. Accepting the Mosaic account of the creation, we are led to believe that the MoundBuilders were the lineal descendants of Adam. When they came to


* Contributed by, W. A. Goodspeed .


America, or how, does not alter the significance and unquestionable correctness of the statement. There were but two persons—Adam and Eve—created. and from them, if we accept the record of Moses. have sprung all the countless hosts that have ever peopled the earth. If the Mosaic account of man's origin be rejected, we are still in darkness, on the sea of conjecture. tossed by the wild waves of doubt and unbelief; without helm or compass and with no land in sight. This perplexing situation is to be met, and what can be said ? Is the race of man descended from the lower animals, and through them as inter-mediate states ? or did it spring as a separate growth from the common mother of life—the Earth ? Had all life, both animal and vegetable, a common origin, or was each species, of whatever kind, created apart from its fellows ? In either case, whence originated the primitive germ or seed from which life first sprung ? Was it created by a new condition or relation of its composing elements—by a new relation of the natural laws under which the elements united and quickened into life? In the process of the development of natural laws, acting under new conditions, upon the simple organic and inorganic elements, did that remarkable phenomenon occur, by which the primitive germ of life was created. If so, why is not a repetition of the creative process possible ? Has the tide of evolution swept beyond the point at which the conditions of elements and relations could originate life ? Is it not true


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that spontaneous generation, at one stage of evolution, might have been possible, and that it also, at a later period, might have become extinct from natural causes ? All these questions are pertinent in discussing the origin of the MoundBuilders; but no definite answer is received, and even the manner and time of their appearance upon this continent, by whatever means, are problems for coming generations to solve. The most interesting point to be determined regarding these people is, Whether they were created originally in America, or are the descendants of prehistoric Asiatics. who crossed over by way of Behring's Straits. Neither side of the question can be answered. The majority of authorities agree in saying that the Indians had no knowledge. traditional or otherwise. of the Mound-Builders. except what was derived from their works. They denied having any knowledge of the erection of the approximate 10.000 mounds scattered throughout the State. or of the limitless number scattered throughout the continent. It is urged that. inasmuch as the Indians kept no record of events, their meager and short-lived traditions could not cover the lapse of time since the Mound-Builders' occupancy of the soil. and that possibly the former were the descendants of the latter. On the other hand, it seems probable that if this be true, the Indians would have some traditional or other knowledge of the mounds, fortifications, sepulchers, templar structures and various species of implements. undoubtedly belonging to the earlier race. However. with few exceptions, they profess utter ignorance. In opposition to this view. it is claimed that the Indians have deteriorated in mental power—have lost the use of many arts. etc., known to their alleged remote ancestors. And again, to meet this, it is asserted that many centuries elapsed from the Mound-Builders' period to the Indians, thus precluding the idea that the latter were their descendants. From their works is derived all that we know of their history, habits, modes of life, degree of civilization, knowledge of the arts of peace and war. mental and moral progress ; but their fate is wrapped in darkness. Many of their mounds and other earthworks have been found from time to time in Summit County ; and so much interest has been aroused regarding this almost unknown race of people, and so much light thrown by patient labor upon their mysterious lives, that a brief statement will here be given of the progress that has been made in this branch of archaeological research, before entering upon the description of the mounds in this county.


Of all States or countries of the same limit, Ohio furnishes a greater number of earthworks, supposed to have been erected by Mound-Builders, than any other. The extent, variety, magnitude and labyrinthian intricacy of the Ohio mounds have rendered them of great value to antiquarians, who have come in pursuit of knowledge from distant parts of the globe. Here may he seen the perishing remains of gigantic artificial structures, that reared their summits high in the air. long years before the State was covered with its present quality of timber, and unknown years hefore the Indians' occupancy of the soil. These structures. or mounds. have been properly divided into mounds proper. effigies and inclosures. Mounds proper have been subdivided into sepulchral. templar. sacrificial. memorial and observatory. Effigies are animal. emblematic and symbolical. Enclosures are military. covered or sacred' The greater portion of the above works were constructed of earth. a few of stone, and fewer still of earth and stone combined. Sepulchral mounds are usually conical. and some of them. notwithstanding the lapse of time. are seventy feet in height. They are more numerous than any other class. and beyond doubt were erected as memorials to the dead. They always contain one or more skeletons, together with implements and ornaments supposed to have been placed there when the individual was buried, for use in the Spirit Laud. The mounds are of all sizes, and it has been conjectured that their magnitude bears some relation to the prominence of the persons in whose honor they were erected. Ashes and charcoal are often found in proximity to the skeletons. under conditions which render it probable that fires were used in the burial ceremony. With the skeletons are also found specimens of mica, pottery, bone and copper beads, and animal bones. Though in this class of mounds. ordinarily but one skeleton is found, yet sometimes several are unearthed. A few years ago, a mound, situated in Licking County, was opened, and found to contain, in whole or in part, seventeen skeletons. But the most noteworthy of all the mounds was one in Hardin County. which con-


*Isaac Smucker, in Ohio Statistics.


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tained 300 crumbling skeletons. Col. Whittlesey and others, however, entertained the opinion that they belonged to the Indians, who had used the mounds for burial purposes. Templar mounds are few in number, and are ordinarily circular. They are invariably truncated, and are often surrounded with embankments, inclined planes or spiral pathways or steps, leading to the summit. They are found round, square. oblong, oval and octangular, and rest generally upon a large base, but have a limited altitude. It is supposed that these elevations were surmounted with wooden temples, all traces of which have been removed by the ! ravages of time. These mounds and the buildings at their summits are thought to have been erected for religious purposes. Sacrificial mounds are ordinarily stratified, with convex layers of clay and loam above a stratum of sand. They generally contain ashes, charcoal. igneous stones, calcined animal bones, beads, stone implements, pottery and specimens of rude sculpture. They are often found within inclosures, which are supposed to have been connected with the religious ceremonies of the Mound-Builders. Altars of igneous clay or stone are often found. Evidences of fire upon the altars yet remain. showing that various animals and probably human beings were immolated to secure the favor of the Great Spirit. These mounds infrequently contain skeletons, together with implements of war ; mica from the Alleghanies ; shells from the Gulf of Mexico ; differently colored varieties of obsidian ; red. purple and green specimens of porphyry ; and silver, copper and other metallic ornaments and utensils. Mounds of observation were apparently designed for alarm-towers or signal stations. Some writers have fancied that they " occur in chains, or regular systems. and that many of them still bear traces of the beacon fires that were once burning upon them." They are often found built like towers from the summits of embankments surrounding inclosures. One of the latter, in Licking County, has a height of twenty-five feet. Along the Miami River,.' says Judge Force, " are dotted small mounds or projecting highlands, which seem to have been built to carry intelligence by signals along the valley." Memorial mounds are of that class of tumuli intended to commemorate some important event, or to perpetuate the memory of some distinguished character. Most of the stone mounds belong to this class, and usually contain no bones, for the supposed reason that they were used only for sepulchers. They are thought to correspond in design with the Bunker Hill Monument, and with the beautiful marble column on the field of Gettysburg.


Effigies are elevations of earth in the form of men, beasts, birds, reptiles and, occasionally, of inanimate objects, varying in height from one foot to six feet above the surrounding soil, and often covering many acres of land. Mr. Schoolcraft expresses the belief that this class of mounds was designed for " totems " or tribular symbols ; while Prof. Daniel Wilson and other writers of distinction entertain the opinion that they were erected in accordance with the religious belief of the various tribes of Mound-Builders, who worshiped, or in some way venerated, the animals or objects represented by the elevations. A large mound near Newark represents a bird of enormous size, with its wings outspread in the act of flight. Its total length is about 200 feet. An excavation in this effigy disclosed a clay and stone altar, upon which were evidences of fire, together with ashes and charcoal. The surroundings indicated that the altar had been used for sacrificial offerings. It is called " Eagle Mound" from its fancied resemblance to that bird. Another mound near Newark represents a huge alligator, having a total length of 200 feet. Prof. Wilson believes that it "symbolizes some object of special awe and veneration, thus reared on one of the chief high places' of the nation, with its accompanying altar, upon which these ancient people of the valley could witness the celebration of the rites of their worship, its site having been obviously selected as the most prominent feature in a populous district abounding with military, civic and religious structures." The greatest breadth of the body is twenty feet, and its body from hind legs to fore legs is fifty feet. Each limb is twenty-five feet long. The principal portions of the animal are elevated about six feet, while other portions are much lower. The most remarkable mound in Ohio is in Adams County. Its form is that of an enormous serpent, more than a thousand feet in length. with body in graceful, anfractuos folds, and tail ending in triple coils. The greatest width of the body is thirty feet, and the effigy is elevated about five feet above the surround-


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ing soil. " The neck of the figure," says the American Cyclopedia, " is stretched out and slightly curved, and the mouth is opened wide, as if in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval figure, which rests partly within the distended jaws. The combined figure has been regarded by some as a representation of the oriental cosmological idea of the serpent and the egg."


Defensive inclosures are irregular in form, and are always on high ground, in positions difficult to approach by a savage foe. The walls," says the American Cyclopedia, " generally wind around the borders of the elevations they occupy, and when the nature of the ground renders some points more accessible than others, the height of the wall and the depth of the ditch at these weak points are proportionally increased. The gateways are narrow and few in number, and well guarded by embankments of earth placed a few yards inside of the openings or gateways, and parallel with them, and projecting somewhat beyond them at each end. thus fully covering the entrances. which, in some cases. are still further protected by projecting walls on either side. These works are somewhat numerous. and indicate a clear appreciation of, at least. the elements of fortification. and unmistakably point out the purpose for which they were constructed. A large number of these defensive works consist of a line of ditches and embankments. or several lines. carried across the neck of peninsulas or bluff headlands. formed within the bends of streams —an easy and obvious mode of fortification common to all rude peoples." The embankments of one of this class in Warren County are nearly four miles in length, varying in height from ten to twenty feet to accord with the locality to be protected, and inclose several hundred acres. Covered ways or parallel walls are often found, either connecting different inclosures or portions of the same. They were undoubtedly designed to protect those passing back and forth within. There are large numbers of sacred inclosures in the form of circles, squares, hexagons, octagons, ellipses, parallelograms and others, many of which were designed ' with surprising geometrical accuracy. They are sometimes found within military inclosures, and very likely were connected with the religious rites and ceremonies of the people, as small elevations are found within them, which wereevidently used for altars, upon which sacrifices of various kinds were offered. Some archaeologists maintain that many of the socalled sacred inclosures were intended and used for national games and celebrations, and it is probable that those without the altar were used as such.


The mounds and their contents afford abundant opportunity to speculate as to the character and customs of the ancient people, of whom nothing is left save their crumbling habitations. They were a numerous people, as is clearly proved by the magnitude and elaboration of their works. Their presence here, beyond question. antedates the coining of Columbus. and very probably extends back a thousand years or more. Perhaps a majority of intelligent menwho have made the subject a study. place the Mound Builders' period back to that of the Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians—to a period two or three or more thousand years as fore the Christian era. Many interesting and important considerations. too lengthy to be narrated here, have been discovered in coinparing the customs of the MoundBuilders with those of ancient nations in the East. An unaccountable similarity is found in religion. in the arts of war and peace, in character and quality of habitations, in methods of agriculture. in domestic affairs, and in many other essential particulars. The Mound Builders were unquestionably subservient to rulers. or superiors, who had power to enforce the erection of gigantic structures. which. considering the semibarbarous condition of the people. their lack of suitable implements of labor, and their imperfect and insufficient knowledge of mechanical principles, are surprisingly vast in extent and ingenious in design. Their works indicate that the people were warlike ; that they were familiar with many mathematical and mechanical rules ; that they were religious and probably idolatrous ; that they were skilled in the manufacture of bone and metallic ornaments and pottery ; that they had attained no little degree of perfection in the working of metals ; and that they were essentially homogeneous in customs, pursuits, religion and government. They of necessity were an agricultural people, being too numerous to live by the chase alone. They offered burnt and other sacrifices and oblations, to both good and bad spirits. Dr. Foster says they worshiped the elements, such as fire, air and water—also the sun, moon and stars, and


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offered human sacrifices to the gods they worshiped. Yet many of these views are speculative, and have but little substantial evidence upon which to rest. Authorities are widely at variance in their views. But little can ever be known of the history of these people, yet throughout all the future, the civilized world will look with awe upon the decaying remnants of their works, and weave the bright fabric of romance about their mysterious lives.


This much has been given on the authority, among others, of Schoolcraft, Wilson. Pidgeon. Smucker, the American Cyclopedia and others, to prepare the way for the classification and detailed description of the ancient earth and stone works in this county. While almost every township can boast of the presence of these works within its limits, yet they are found in greatest number and magnitude along the valley of the Cuyahoga River. or on the adjacent highlands. It not infrequently happened that Indian villages were built on the sites of these ancient works, and care must be used to prevent confounding Indian earthworks with those of the MoundBuilders. A few of the principal mounds and inclosures in the county have been personally inspected by the writer. and these and all others of sufficient importance will be described. The inclosures usually occupy naturally strong. defensive positions. and. where necessary, are formed by earth embankments, varying in altitude and basal diameter. and protected on the outer side by a deep pit or moat. On the farm of Milton Arthur. Esq.. Northfield Township, is an ancient earth fortification. of which the following description is given by Charles Whittlesey : The engineers who selected the site of this fortification understood very well the art of turning natural advantages to good account. Why they did not embrace in their plan the whole of the level space on the crest of the bluff is not easily explained. unless we presume that their numbers were few, and not sufficient to defend the whole. On all sides, the gullies are from eighty to one hundred and ten feet deep, and are worn by running water into the blue and yellow hardpan that here forms the bluffs along the Cuyahoga River. The earth is as steep as it will stand, and, in fact, is subject to slides, which leave the soil in terraces, resembling platforms made by art. Before the ground was cultivated, the ditches are said by the owner to have beenso deep that a man standing in them could not look over the wall. In the gully on the north, the water is permanent at all seasons. But the ancient inhabitants appear to have dug wells within the fort at two or more points, and these, as stated by old settlers, were stoned up like our wells. On the western face of the bluff, near where the road descends, is a small spring, not reliable at all seasons. There are double earth embankments on each exposed side of the fortification, though they do not extend entirely across the necks of land, there being in two or three cases a small space left at the ends, apparently for a passageway. There is one small mound within the inclosure, and another just without. The approach is along a sharp ridge. called a hog's back, nearly broad enough for a single road track, for the distance of thirty rods, and the sides are as steep as any part of the bluffs adjacent. It is not very evident why a few rods of ground were cut off by lines at the southwest angle. nor why part of the ditch was made on the inside on the north and west." It must be observed that inclosures of this character in the county are formed by an earth embankment and a moat or ditch running along its side. sometimes within and sometimes without the fort. There are two or more others in Northfield, similar in construction to the one described. One of these is protected on one side by a steep declivity, while on the exposed sides is a semicircular embankment in the form of the curved portion of the letter D. Near the residence of John Hovey, in Northampton. is a fort which, in early years, must have been one of the finest in the county. The embankment inclosed several acres, and was five or six feet in height, and near the walls were several low mounds, and small circular excavations. apparently designed for arrow pits. The walls can still be traced, although they have been plowed over many years. Several small forts are to be seen in Boston Township. There are mounds at the farms of Ambrose Bliss, Mr. Wetmore. James Fairweather, Mr. McKay, and the old farm of Watrous Mather. These are usually some five or six feet in height, and twenty or twentyfive feet in diameter at the base. Several have been opened, but nothing noteworthy was discovered. In the western part of Northampton Township, where Hale Run and Furnace Run come quite close together, is perhaps the most important fortifica


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tion of the kind in the county. The streams approach each other, and form a steep, narrow ridge, barely wide enough for the passage of a wagon. This ridge descends some ten feet below the mainland, to which it is connected, and extends about fifteen rods, when it gradually assumes a width of some ten rods, and, finally. after a distance of perhaps eighty rods from the mainland is reached, the bluff terminates perpendicularly to the railroad track. When the ridge begins to widen, it ascends until on a level with the mainland. Beyond the neck or ridge, the summit of the bluff consists of about eight acres, and at the eastern extremity, where, on all sides except the western, the bluff terminates as abruptly as the soil will rest, is a welldefined earth fortification. Back toward the mainland, at a distance to leave at the extremity of the bluff about five acres, an unusually large earth embankment, with its ditch. extends across the ridge at right angles to its course. The embankment is much larger than any other seen by the writer in the county, and at each end is an open space, evidently designed as a passage. On both sides of these two open spaces, are perhaps fifteen small circular excavations, arranged so as to guard the passages, and seemingly intended for arrow pits. The embankment is four or five rods in length, and on the side toward the extremity of the bluff, several of the supposed arrow pits are found at a considerable distance from the open spaces. In fact, proceeding from the embankment toward the termination of the bluff; it becomes at once apparent that arrow pits were dug along the edge of the bluff, to defend the position from an assaulting foe, that might make the effort to ascend the steep sides. At the eastern end of the bluff, within a small area, are some fifteen or twenty more arrow pits, one of them being about eight feet across and three feet deep. This is one of the strongest positions of the kind in the county.


In the same neighborhood are several other forts, two of them being small with quite high. irregular walls, which seem to be strengthened by bastions, though William Hale and others reject this idea as improbable. These enclosures comprise from two to five square rods of land, and the interior has the appearance. as if a party of men, with spades, had thrown up the irregular embankment, leaving the surface extremely uneven. There are. also, in thesame neighborhood, in a cultivated field, eight mounds, one of them, over which the plow has run for many years, being four feet high and eighty feet in diameter at the base. This is said to have been over eight feet high in early years. An Indian skeleton, in a fair state of preservation, was unearthed a number of years ago on the summit about two feet below the surface. An excavation was made to the center of this mound, and a small quantity of crumbled and crumbling bones was found. William Hale, who. was present at the time. states that the bones were found in a position to lead to the inference that the party or parties were buried in a sitting posture, as the bones of the body, save those of the arms and legs. were together. while the latter extended out into the sandy soil like lines of chalk. The remains, when found, were sufficiently well preserved to prove beyond doubt that they were hones, though whether they were human hones or not is another question. not quite so well cleared up. The evidence satisfied all present. however, that the remains were those of human beings. The other seven mounds are not quite so large. and those which have been opened contained nothing of importance. It is thought that the large mound contained the crumbling bones of more than one person. The quantity found. and its state of preservation. would lead to this view. One of the small, irregular forts referred to above and found in this neighborhood on quite low land, has a double wall on the side adjoining the river. Another inclosure near this. but on high land, is an irregular octagon in shape, and comprises over half an acre of land. William Hale's residence is situated in a small valley. which. in his opinion. was once a cultivated field. At the earliest settlement. the land was covered with a heavy forest ; but, when this was removed and the soil turned up by the plow, various implements were found. among which were arrow and spear heads ; fleshing instruments of flint ; pestles.: and mortars ; a small. smooth. hard, fiat stone. shaped like a diamond, with the central portion elongated and performed with a hole near each end, supposed to have been used in weaving a coarse cloth; and a rough, irregular stone. six or eight inches in diameter. flat on two sides. on one of which were from one to six artificial holes. about an inch deep and an inch and a half across. the use of which is extremely diffi


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cult to determine. Many of these various kinds are found a few rods north of Botzurn Station, on the extremity of a bluff, through which the railroad cut has been made, in an Indian burying ground. It comprises about an acre of land, and some forty skeletons, the most of which were in a fair state of preservation, have been unearthed, and many more are yet in the ground. They were first discovered in 1843. when an addition made to the canal disclosed several at the point of the bluff: When the railroad was cut through the center of this buryingground, thirty or forty skeletons were plowed out in almost as many minutes. They were lying in somewhat irregular rows, which extended north and south, while the individuals lay with their heads some to the east and some to the west. There were skeletons of males and females, and perhaps onethird of these belonged to children. Many crumbled to pieces immediately ; but quite a number of skulls and some of the larger bones were preserved for several years—are perhaps in existence yet. The soil where each skeleton lay. was discolored—was black—and in one of the graves was found a stone kettle, four inches deep and eight inches across. Various implements have been found in the soil and on the surface. The skeletons were lying about two feet beneath the surface. The teeth were as sound and white. apparently, as when their owners used them. Very likely many of the owners of these skeletons had been killed during the latter part of the last century. by daring borderers from Virginia and Pennsylvania. Perhaps the grandfathers of those who assisted in unearthing these skeletons, were among these borderers. Probably the most important earth inclosure in the county. is in Copley Township. near the residence of Delos Bosworth. In the center of a swamp of muck and marl and partially formed peat. is a circular island about twentyfive rods across. which is elevated from five to fifteen feet above the surface of the swamp. There is no natural approach to this island. It is surrounded on all sides by twenty or thirty rods of what. in early years. must have been an impassable swamp. On this island and almost covering it. is an artificial inclosure of earth. The embankment is about two feet high, and the ditch is on the outside. There are twelve or fifteen openings in the wall, and a causeway of earth leads fromdistance of three or four rods lies from the swamp to the edge of the wall ; but usually the distance is much smaller, and in some case is reduced to a minimum. Supposing the surrounding. swamp to have been extremely wet and nasty (a Saxon word), as it must have been at an early day. the position was practi cally impregnable. The island is covered with large trees. mostly hard maple, and no critical and extended examination has yet been made of the soil and what it contains. Within the inclosure may be seen numerous small mounds, but these may have been thrown up by trees that were blown down. Several of these have been opened without any important discovery. The mainland approaches closest on the east side. and here is a large gateway in the embankment. A goodly number of arrowheads have been picked up on the point of mainland closest to the fort. This island is called Fort Island." and a short distance south of it is another called Beech Island." On the southern extremity of the last, are a great number of small mounds which Gen. Bierce conceives to be Indians' or Mound Builders' graves. The writer does not concur in this view, but refers their formation to natural causes, or to beavers. Several have been opened, but nothing was found. Just south of Botzurn Station is a very large mound. some thirty feet in height. and about a hundred feet in diameter at the base. This was opened a few years ago hr students from Akron. but nothing was discovered, save evidence from the soil to prove that the mound was a natural formation. The soil was found to be similar to that of the adjacent bluffs. and dissimilar to that in the valley where the mound stands. Three hundred yards west is a very large mound. having a truncated summit. This is connected by a low ridge with the main formation of bluffs, and, in the opinion of the writer. the other mound was once similarly connected to this one. the whole forming a bluff projection into the valley. The following is kindly furnished by J. V. M McCreery, of Akron: " On the land of Thomas Barnes, hi Norton Township, the conglomerate sandstone rises into a very high knob, and from the top a view may be had of the country beyond Cuyahoga Falls in one direction. and of that nine miles across the Tuscarawas Valley


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in the other, while the view north and south is almost as extended. At the time Mr. Barnes' father settled on this farm, some sixtyfive or seventy years ago, there was a mound built of " hardheads" on the highest point of this knob. It was about ten feet long and eight feet wide, and, although some of the top stones had fallen or been thrown down, it was still about three feet high. A chestnut tree, twelve or fourteen inches in diameter, was growing at one corner, and in its growth had thrown the corner down. There seems to be but little doubt, that this elevated point was used as a signal station, as a fire on its summit could be seen farther than from any other point for miles around, though whether this is Mound Builders' work. or that of the Indians, is difficult to determine. Owing to the scarcity of ' hardheads,' or cobblestones, in the vicinity. the building of this mound was quite a laborious task." Mr. McCreery also says : " Near TurkeyFoot Lake, are two very singular works, which are different from any I have ever seen elsewhere. They are funnelshaped depressions, some ten or twelve feet across the top and eight or nine feet deep, running to a point at the bottom. They are walled around with small bowlders, and unless they were used for fire pits, I am unable to imagine any use to which they could have been put, as the stone work is too loose to suppose they were intended for cisterns."


The principal earthworks in the county have now been described, though there are many others which as yet are comparatively unknown, and which some future searcher may more fully disclose. Quite a number of small circular inclosures and insignificant mounds other than those above described are found throughout the county, more especially along the valley of the Cuyahoga and on the adjacent bluffs. A special description of these is unnecessary, as they are very similar in construction to some of those referred to above. So far as can be determined, all the inclosures in the county belong to the military cla . None seem to have been used as sacred or covered. Some of the mounds are certainly sepulchral, and beyond question some were memorial. Those containing bones were sepulchers, wherein were deposited the bodies of distinguished characters, while those without bones and without any evidences that they once contained bones are probably memorial mounds. The ancient inhabitants had no need to erect mounds of observation in this county, as high bluffs in prominent positions furnished abundant natural facilities for watchfulness over a wide scope of country. There are several places in the county—as at Turkey Foot Lake, at the gigantic truncated mound near Botzurn Station, at the elevated inclosure in northwestern Northampton and at various other places along the Cuyahoga and throughout the county—where, beyond doubt, fires were kindled in ancient times. The stones found at these places reveal this fact, and in some cases ashes and charcoal have been discovered. Of course, it is highly probable that the Indians, and not the mound builders. might have kindled these fires, and possibly erected some of the earthworks. Indian villages were often found on the site of these ancient works. and it is to be presumed that some alterations were made. It is often difficult, and sometimes impossible, to distinguish the individual works of these two people, yet in general no difficulty is experienced by persons well informed on the subject.


It is impossible and unnecessary to give a description of all the ancient implements. ornaments and utensils that have been found in the county. They are numbered by the thousand, and include all the varieties of stone axes, mauls, hammers, cells, mortars. pestles, flint arrow and spear heads, fleshing and skinning instruments, ceremonial stones, shuttles, colored slate ornaments, breastplates of stone or shell, ornamental charms and totems. shell ornaments, rude and imperfect specimens of pottery, bone and metallic ornaments, igneous stones, and a multitude more of all sizes and shapes, whose uses are unknown. In April. 1877, there was found buried in muck, about three miles west of Akron, a heal) of one hundred and ninetyseven flint instruments. Of these, one hundred and eightyfive were evidently designed for arrow and spear heads, though the usual notches at one end are lacking. They are probably unfinished arrow and spear heads. They may be seen in the museum of the city library at Akron. The various implements, ornaments, etc., just referred to, evidently belonged partly to the Indian and partly to the Mound Builder. It may be that both races used the same implements, as it is


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quite likely that the Indian would learn something from the scattered remnants of the Mound Builders' works. Will the history of this strange people ever be known ? Can research ever clear up the mystery of their origin and fate ? Who can say what the human mind will accomplish ? May not the evolution of thought into new and numerous fields so widen the human understanding that existing evidences may be sufficient to disperse the gloom enveloping the origin of man ? If the theory of evolution be true, and man is spared upon the earth, who can measure the final result ? the children of men will come and go upon the earth ; imitated ideals will become loftier ; excellence in all the arts of mind and spirit will be attained ; limitless intelligence will assume startling forms of power and penetration ; boundless wisdom will lead to prophecy ; prophecy perfected will become a science, by which past and future will be blotted out, and time be measured by the present ; new and wonderful faculties of mind will be created by the developing laws of evolution ; new perceptions and cognitions and emotions will open broad fields of beauty to the mind that before were beyond the reach of human capabilities ; man's capacity will be multiplied a thousandfold. and evidences will augment in a similar degree : mental conclusions will peer into the sanctuary of creation, and the origin of life will be reached. When this state is reached. the history of the Mound Builders will be read as in a book. but. if it he not reached, their origin and fate will never be known until all mankind shall stand thee to face before the bar of God.


The Indian history of Summit County, though somewhat meager as regards prominent events. contains many interesting incidents, the principal' of which will be recorded. In the year 1650. the date at which the aboriginal history of Northeastern Ohio begins, a tribe of Indians, called the Eries, inhabited that section of country.* How far their lands extended southward from the lake is somewhat indefinite, although it is probable that they included the greater portion of Summit County. and. possibly, all the soil within its present limits. It is generally admitted that the Eries were a member of


* Its Witt Clinton in his Historical Discourse upon the Indians of North America; Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan friar, whose travels in "New France" were published in 160A; Brunt, the Mohawk chief, in a letter to Timothy Pickering, November 20, 1794, and Charlevoix, the historian of New France," all assign the Eries or Erigae to the south shore of Lake Erie.


the Iroquois family, as distinguished from the Algonquin tribes. At the date above given, the Iroquois, consisting of the confederated Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, occupied New York and Northern Pennsylvania. These confederated tribes, called the Five Nations, had formed their alliance as early as 1605 ; and, so powerful had they become, that their lands, acquired by conquest, covered a large tract of country. When the Tuscaroras were added to the alliance, the latter were styled the Six Nations. All other Northern tribes of Indians than those mentioned above were Algonquins. The leading tribe of the latter was the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, whose traditions declare it to be the parent stem whence other Algonquin tribes have sprung. Other tribes of this family were Wyandots, Ottawas, Shawanese, etc. The Iroquois, grown strong and arrogant by years of confederated conquest, steadily enlarged their lands from the spoils of conquered tribes. About the middle of the seventeenth century, they drove the Hurons or Wyandots from their home in Canada, and took possession of their lands. They likewise conquered the Neutral Nation, the Andastes, the Satanas. or Shawanese, and others. In 1655, they turned against their Erie brethren, and using their canoes as sealing ladders, invaded the Erie strongholds, leaping down like tigers among the defenders and butchering them without mercy."* Those that were not massacred or driven away. were adopted by the conquerors. So powerful had the Iroquois become. that they conquered, with a few exceptions, all the Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. They thus came to own large tracts of country, much of which was afterward ceded by treaty to the colonies. In 1726, they ceded their lands to England under certain specified conditions, and from that time ceased to occupy the arrogant position of conquering tribes. After 1663, when the war broke out between the Iroquois and the Canadian colonists, the former could no longer continue their conquests in Ohio, and several Indian tribes hastened to occupy this beautiful country. In 1750. there were living in Ohio, among others, the following Indian tribes : The Wyandots (called Hurons by the French) ; the Delawares and Shawanese (both members of the Algon-


* History of the State of Ohio: First Period, 1650-1787, by James W. Taylor.


216 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.


quin group) ; the Miamis (also called Twigtwees) ; the Mingoes (a branch of the Iroquois or Six Nations), and the Ottawas and Chippewas. The Wyandots occupied the country in the vicinity of Sandusky River. The Delawares were established on the Muskingum and Tuscarawas Rivers, and at a few other points. The Shawanese were chiefly found on the Scioto and Mad Rivers. The Miamis were on the Great and Little Miami Rivers. The Mingoes were in great force at Mingo Bottom, near Steubenville and at several other points in Ohio. The Ottawas occupied the valleys of the Maumee and Sandusky Rivers, and the Chippewas, few in number, were confined to the southern shore of Lake Erie. From 1750 to the war of 1812, these Indian tribes were found in different portions of Ohio, and a great portion of the time were engaged in border wars with the daring pioneers. The history of these wars would fill volumes. Parties of savages. dressed in the spangled paraphernalia of war, would hover about the settlements, and, when the venturesome pioneers were off their guard, would swoop down upon them, with horrid yells. to massacre and pillage and carry into hopeless captivity, or for purposes of heartrending torture. To punish the savages, bands of daring borderers would make incursions into their country, laying waste their homes and slaughtering the inhabitants. Some of these Ohio tribes were almost constantly at war with the whites during the period mentioned. While members of all the tribes mentioned above were found in Ohio, only four tribes were, in numbers, sufficient to merit a special sketch. These are the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese and Ottawas.


The Wyandots, as indicated by the idioms and other characteristics of their language, were related to the Iroquois, but about the middle of the seventeenth century they embraced the religious faith of the Roman Catholics, and, for some reason unknown, severed their connection with their relatives, the Iroquois, and cast their lot with the powerful Algonquin.* Their original residence was in Canada, some authorities fixing their location on Georgian Bay, and others, as Mr. Schoolcraft, on Montreal Island. Their number is estimated to have been about 40,000 souls. Some time after this, they be-


* From the American Cyclopedia the sketches of these four Indian tribes have been taken.


came involved in a war with the Iroquois, by whom they were nearly exterminated, after which they removed first to Charity Island and ! finally to Quebec. They were found south of the great lakes, in 1660, by some French traders, and, ten years later, having become involved in a war with the powerful Sioux, they removed to Michilimackinac, and were amoral panied by Father Marquette. Afterward, they established themselves at Detroit. their hunt. inggrounds extending into Northern Ohio. In 1778, remnants of the tribe were yet in Can' ada, while that at Detroit was estimated to contain about one hundred and eighty warriors. In 1829, a small band of the tribe was located in Michigan. They numbered about forty. and were provided with annuities by the Government. Immediately after the war of 1812. the principal portion of the Wyandots, numbering about six hundred, was established on the Sandusky River on a tract of land eighteen miles long east and west. and twelve miles wide. In 1835. the Wyandots decided to sell a strip of land five miles wide on the eastern border of their reservation, and the land was accordingly thrown into market, very likely through the influence of the whites, who coveted the possessions of the Indian. In 1843. the Wyandots were transferred to Kansas. where they have since resided, and the land of their reservation was annexed to the adjoining counties.


The Shawanese are an erratic tribe of the Algonquin family. A tradition of recent origin makes them primarily one with the Kickapoo nation ; but they moved eastward, and a part are said to have remained, in 1648, along the Fox River, while the main body was met south of Lake Erie by the Iroquois, and was driven to the Cumberland River. Some passed thence to Florida and some to Carolina. One band was in Pennsylvania at the close of the seventeenth century. Those in Florida lived at peace with the Spaniards. and afterward became known as Savannahs, or Yemassees. These retired to the Creeks, and finally joined the Northern Shawanese. The Iroquois claimed sovereignty over the Shawanese, and drove them West. In 1731, they aided the French

but, in 1758, they sided with the English. They joined the conspiracy of Pontiac, and were active in war until subdued by Boquet. In 1774, enraged at the attacks of Col. Cresap, they roused most of the Western tribes, and, in


HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY - 217


October, defeated the Virginians at Pleasant Point, but sued for peace the following year. Col. Bowman, who marched against them in 1779, was twice defeated. They joined the peace of 1786 ; but took part in the Miami war, in the campaigns against Harmar and St. Clair, but were reduced by Gen. Wayne, and then entered the peace treaty of 1795. The main body was at this time on the Scioto ; but a few had gone to Missouri, and another band had moved South. During the war of 1812, urged by Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, they endeavored to unite the Western Indians against the Americans ; but those in Ohio remained faithful. The Missouri band ceded their land to the Government in 1825. and the Ohio band in 1831. In 1854. the band of Shawanese proper. living in that part of the Indian Territory now included in Kansas. and consisting of 1,600,000 acres. numbered 900 ; but at this time. or soon after the tribal relation was dissolved by treaty, and the lands were divided in severalty. Besides these. there were. in 1872. 90 in the Quapan Agency. and 663 in the Sac and Fox Agency.


The Ottawas. when first known to the French explorers. were located on the Manitoulin Islands, and on the northwest shore of the Michigan peninsula. They believed in Michahou. "the great hare." a mythical personage. who formed the earth and developed men from animals : in Mirabichi, god of the water;" in Missahizi. "the great tiger." Soon after 1649, they fled before the Iroquois to Green Bay, thence west beyond the Mississippi to the country of the Sioux. with whom they became involved in war, when they tell back to Chegoimegon. before 1660, and finally to Mackinnaw. The tribe became considerably divided here. one of the divisions settling near Detroit. and the one at Mackinaw passing over to Arbre Croche. The greater number of the Ottawas were in the last war with the French. and at its close Pontiac. an Ottawa chief, and one of the ablest Indians of any tribe that ever lived, organized a vast conspiracy for the destruction of the English. They were under English influence during the Revolution, and at this time numbered about 1,500. They participated in the treaties of 1785, 1789 and 1795. and afterward, by other treaties. they acquired a tract of land on the Miami, thirtyfour miles square. By the treaty of 1833, they cededtheir land around Lake Michigan for land south of the Missouri River, and soon ceased to be a distinct band. A band of Ottawas at Maumee, in 1836, ceded 49,000 acres to Ohio, and 200 emigrated to the Osage River, locating south of the Shawanese. Some 230 remained and became scattered in detached bands. In 1867, they became citizens, and in 1870 were removed to a reservation of 24,960 acres in Indian Territory. Several thousand are yet living in scattered bands in Michigan and Canada, and all are self supporting.


The Delawares are a tribe of the Algonquin family, and, when first known to the whites, were dwelling in detached bands, under separate sachems, on the Delaware River. They styled themselves Renappi, or, as now written, Lenape or Lenni Lenape. The Dutch began trading with them in 1616, and enjoyed friendly intercourse with them until 1632, when the settlement at Swanendael was utterly destroyed by a sudden attack, but trade was soon afterward resumed. The Swedes made attempts to Christianize them, and had Luther's Catechism printed in their language. The Delawares claim to have come from the West with the Minguas. who soon afterward reduced them to a state of vassalage. and when they were conquered by the Five Nations, they were termed women by the latter. The Delawares formed three families, or clans—the Turtle. the Turkey and the Wolf. At the time of the " walking treaty " made by Penn, the Delawares complained that they had been defrauded in the interpretation of the treaty. and showed a reluctance to walk." upon which the authorities called upon the Six Nations, who ordered the Delawares, as women, to retire. The Delawares were now thrown among warring people, and, though previously mild and peaceable, they now became energetic, and conducted their wars with great ferocity. In a war with the Cherokees, they reached the Ohio. where a portion remained until 1773. They took up arms and fought with the French at Braddock's Defeat and elsewhere, but suffered so much from English attacks that they finally treated for peace, part of them in 1757, and the others after the fall of Fort Du Quesne. They then centered on the Susquehanna, and a small number soon afterward settled on the Muskingum. They took up arms in the border war. but were badly defeated at Bushy Run, August, 1763, by Boquet. Their towns on the


218 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.


Susquehanna were pillaged and burned, many were killed and dispersed. and in 1768, they emigrated to Ohio. In 1774. they were again badly defeated at Pleasant Point, and a part were afterward engaged in the Revolution. In 1772, the Christian Delawares settled on the Muskingum. but were hastily removed to Sandusky, in 1781. by the English. Early the following year. ninetyfour who returned were murdered by a party of enraged borderers under Col. Williamson. By the treaty of 1785. the Delawares occupied the soil between the rivers Cuyahoga and Miami. At this time there were many scattered bands of Delawares, several of which were Christian. and at peace with the whites. The main tribe. at Grand Blaze. with 480 warriors. was hostile. and 400 under Buckongahelas were at the defeat of St. Clair. in 1791 ; but four years later. they joined the peace treaty at Greenville. In 1808. there were 800 at Wapeminskink. a few at Sandusky, a few on the Muskingum. and a large body at Fairfield, Canada. In 1818. the Delawares. 1,800 strong, ceded their lands to the United States and emigrated to Missouri. In 1829, many went to Kansas. and some south of the Red River. In 1853, they sold all their lands to the United States. except that in Kansas. During the last war, out of 201 ablebodied warriors. 170 enlisted and served in the army. They sold their lands, in 1868, to the Missouri Railroad, and settled on the Verdigris and Cone. In 1866, they became citizens, though their clans—Turtle. Turkey and Wolf—still exist.


During the border wars of the lust half of the last century, the Indian villages, in what is now Summit County, were actively engaged.*


* When these villages were first established is not definitely known : but from an old map which was published in 1755, by Lewis Evans it Is ascertained that at that time there was a Mingo village on the west bank of the river, probably in what is now eastern Rath, and an Ottawa village on the opposite side of the river in Northampton, or perhaps, as somesay, in Boston. There is also marked on the map a French tradinghouse, which was located either in northwestern Boston Township, or on the Cuyahoga, five miles from its month The latter view is rendered improbable, from the fact, among others. that the house on the map is located very near the Ottawa village. The house, beyond reasonable doubt. was located on the bank of the river, about forty rods north of Boston village. A few old apple trees were found growing near the pot by theearly settlers. These were probably planted by the French. When the whites appeared, this place was occupied by the Ottawas, under their Chief Stigwanish, while a halfmile northwest was a Seneca village under the Chief Polity. There were two other Indian villages, in early years, at Cuyahoga Falls. On the north side of the river was an encampment of Delawares, and on the south, one of the Iroquois. There was a Delaware village in Coventry Township, under Capt. Pipe, or in the Indian language, Tanhangecauponye, or Hopocan. There were also, at times, temporary encampments in almost every township in the county. The Chippewas were found among others, as were also a few Wyandots.


They sent numerous small bands to Western Pennsylvania to massacre the white pioneers on the border. and destroy their habitations. It is extremely probable that some of the borderers who were captured on these expeditions were tortured to death at the villages in Summit County. Perhaps these spots. now so quiet and peaceful. once echoed with the frenzied deathcries of white men. while around, on every hand. circled the leaping and exulting savages. tearing up with hot iron the bleeding flesh of the despairing sufferers. and filling the air with their dreadful yells of revenge. Here the dusky savages. decked in the gaudy ornaments of border war. invoked the favor of their god before descending like death upon the defenseless settlements. Here could be heard their wild chants


"Negau nissau—negan nissau

Kitchimanlisaunegan nissau"—

(I will kill—I will kill

The white man—I will kill


before they started on those expeditions. of which we read in histories. In 1759. there lived in Cumberland County. Penn.. a family named Campbell. consisting of the father and a bright little girl, about seven years old. named Mary. Residing in the same house was an other family named Stuart. consisting of the husband and wife. and four or five children. one of these being an infant. One day. when the men were absent. Mrs. Stuart left her children in charge of the little girl Mary, and went a mile or two distant to the house of a neighbor. In her absence. a small band of Delaware Indians took possession of the cabin, and made all the children prisoners, much to the consternation of little Mary, who was old enough to know that some awful calamity was pending. The Indians, knowing that the adult members of the families were not far away, made preparations to receive them. As Mrs. Stuart, on her return, approached the house. she heard the children screaming, and hurried forward. but was instantly made prisoner by the savages. who then thought it best not to await the return of the men, but. with their prisoners. started for their camp in Armstrong County. They soon became tired of carrying the infant, which was fretful, and one of them finally took it, and. in the presence of its shrieking mother, dashed its brains out against a tree. and cast its quivering body in the bushes. The


HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY - 219


Indians pushed on rapidly, urging their weary and agonized prisoners to their best pace, and carrying those that finally gave out. A little boy about seven years old, named Sammy, was carried upon the back of one of the Indians until the latter was tired. On the third day, this Indian fell behind the others, and when he again appeared. the little boy was missing, while at his belt Mrs. Stuart recognized the curly locks of her little Sammy. The poor mother and her children were hurried on until at last, weary and footsore, they reached the Indian village. Here they were soon separated, and one or more of them was adopted by the Indians. The following year. Netawatwees, the chief of this baud, removed with his followers and prisoners to their village at the " Big Falls" of the Cuyahoga. now in Summit County, Ohio. Mary had been adopted by the chief. and was treated with uniform kindness, occupying a position of equality with the Indian children. Here the prisoners remained until 1764. when they were delivered to Col. Boquet. at his fort in Tuscarawas County, and soon afterward were returned to their friends in Pennsylvania. It is very probable that other white prisoners from the Indian villages in Summit County were delivered up at this treaty. Col. Boquet had come out with an army of 1.500 men. The appearance of this force awed the Indians, and they sued for peace in the most abject manner. delivering up at the same time, some :300 white captives. Fathers. brothers and husbands had come out in hopes of finding their lost friends, and when the captives were given up the scene beggars description. " There were seen," says a writer in the Historical Record. " fathers and mothers recognizing and clasping their once captive little ones ; husbands hung around their newlyrecovered wives ; brothers and sisters met after long separation, scarcely able to speak the same language, or to realize that they were children of the same parents ! In the interviews, there was inexpressible joy and rapture ; while, in some cases. feelings of a very different character were manifested by looks or language. Many were flying from place to place, making eager inquiries after relatives not found, trembling to receive answers to their questions. distracted with doubts, hopes and fears ; distressed and grieved on obtaining no information about the friends they sought, and, in some cases, petrified into living monumentsof horror and woe on learning their unhappy fate." " In many cases," Albach says, " strong attachments had grown up between the savages and their captives, so that they were reluctantly surrendered, some even not without tears, accompanied with some token of remembrance." The girl, Mary Campbell, and Mrs. Stuart and her children, were the first white persons known to have lived in what is now Summit County.


During and after the Revolution, the Indians of the Cuyahoga Valley were very troublesome to the Pennsylvania pioneers. The details of their savage barbarity would sicken the heart. All along the Ohio River, on both sides, the Indians and borderers met in terrific conflicts. which resulted in the death or captivity of one of the parties. Almost the entire half of the last century was a succession of border wars. So dreadful and frequent became the attacks of the savages that many expeditions were sent to reduce their villages and slaughter the people or drive them far off into the forest. Young men on the border were trained to the one pursuit of killing Indians, and the names of Poe. Kenton, Wetzel, Brady and a host of others will ever bear a prominent place on the page of the American border wars. The daring and intrepidity of many of these Indian slayers were astonishing. They seemed to delight in the awful work and courted death and torture with a reckless courage that arouses the keenest interest of those who read of their exploits. Hundreds of Indians were killed without any pretext, save the sport afforded the intrepid borderers. or to avenge wrongs done by the savages. Horsestealing became a great pastime, in which the borderers and their savage foes freely indulged ; and many of the fierce personal conflicts, read of all over the country. were occasioned by lawless incursions of this character. Small armies were sent at various times to different portions of Ohio to defeat the Indians or treat with them for peace. Among these were the expeditions of Cols. Bradstreet and Boquet, in 1764, by which comparative peace was secured until 1774, when a border war again slowly broke out. About this time. several unfortunate attacks on the Indians were made, in one of which the inoffensive relatives of Logan, the Mingo chief. were ruthlessly murdered by a small command under Col. Michael Cresap. This barbarous act precipitated events, and the Indians, roused


220 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.


for vengeance, began scouring the border to murder and pillage. The utmost terror, gloom and consternation pervaded all the frontier settlements. Gen. McIntosh conducted an expedition against the Indians in 1778. and Cot. John Bowman the following year. Col. G. R. Clarke marched against them in 1780 ; Gen. Daniel Broadhead in 1781 ; Col. Lowry the same year ; Col. Williamson in 1782 : Col. Crawford the same year ; Gen. Clarke again in 1782 ; Col. Benj. Logan in 1786 ; and, besides these, there were many others. It became the practice on the border to organize small companies of rangers." who. when the savages swept down upon some family and either killed or captured the members. would hastily assemble and pursue the enemy. to chastise them and recover the captives. A noted leader of these rangers. in Western Pennsylvania. was Capt. Samuel Brady. He was a man of prodigious size, strength, endurance. activity and courage, and became known to all the Northern Indians. who made desperate attempts to either capture or kill him. A few years previous to this. his father and brother had been killed by the Indians. and he is said to have taken a solemn vow to devote his future life to revenge. The following is quoted from Howe's "Historical Collection :*" Brady's residence was on Chartier Creek. on the south side of the Ohio. and being a man of herculean strength. activity and courage, he was generally selected as the leader of the hardy borderers in all their incursions into the Indian Territory north of the river. In about the year 1780. a large party of warriors from the falls of the Cuyahoga and the adjacent country had made an inroad on the south side of the Ohio. in the lower part of what is now Washington County, on what was then known as the settlement of 'Catfish Camp,' after an old Indian of that name who had lived there when the whites first came into the Monongahela Valley. This party had murdered several families, and with the 'plunder' had recrossed the Ohio before effectual pursuit could be made. Brady immediately selected a few chosen rangers of known courage and activity, perhaps twelve or fifteen or more in number, and hastened on after the Indians. who, having one or two days the start. could not be overtaken in time to prevent their return to their villages. Near the spot where the town of Ravenna now stands, the Indians separated into two parties. one of which went to the north and the other west to the falls of the Cuyahoga.* Brady's men also divided. a part pursuing the northern trail. and a part going with their commander to the Indian village lying on the river in the present township of Northampton. in Summit County. Although Brady made his approaches with the utmost caution, the Indians. expecting a pursuit. were on the lookout. and ready to receive him with numbers four times as great. When Brady's men were attacked. it was instantly seen that their only safety was in hasty flight. which. from the ardor of the pursuit, soon became a perfect rout. Brady directed his men to separate. and each one to take care of himself: but the Indians knowing Brady. and having a most inveterate hatred and dread of him. from the numerous chastisements he had given them. left all the others. and. with united strength, pursued him alone. The Cuyahoga makes a wide bend just ;'el ire entering Summit County. thus forming a peninsula of several square miles of surface. within which the pursuit was hotly contested. The Indians. by extending their line to the right and left. forced him on to the bank of the stream. Having. in times of peace. often hunted over this ground with the Indians. and knowing every turn of the Cuyahoga as familiarly as the villager knows the streets of his own hamlet. Brady directed his course to the river at a spot where the width of the stream is compressed by the rocky cliffs. into a narrow channel of only twentytwo feet across the top of the chasm. although it is considerably wider beneath. near the water, and in height more than twice that number of feet above the current. As he approached the chasm. Brady. knowing that life or death was the issue. concentrated his utmost efforts and leaped the river at a single bound. It so happened that on the opposite side. the leap was favored by a low place. into which he dropped. and, grasping the bushes, he was thus enabled to ascend to the top of the cliff. The


* A celebrated Indian warpath. extending front Sandusky to Beaver (Fort McIntosh). passed through Summit County. This was the trail traversed by the Indians of Northern Ohio, in their expeditions against the border settlements in Pennsylvania. The trail crossed the Cuyahoga in Franklin Township. Portage County, at what is called "Standing Stone," and divided at Fish Creek, the northern branch extending across Stow and Northampton Townships, to the Indian village in the latter, thence across the river to the Mingo village in Bath, and thence westward, while the southern branch extending somewhat south of what led to the villages at Cuyahoga Falls, thence on through Portage and Coventry, to the Tuscarawas River and the Delaware village in Coventry.


HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY - 221


Indians, who were in close pursuit, were for a few moments lost in wonder and admiration, and before they had recovered their recollection he was half way up the side of the opposite hill, but still within reach of their rifles. They could easily have shot him at any moment before ; but, being bent on taking him alive for torture and to glut their longdelayed revenge, they forbore to use the rifle; but seeing him now likely to escape they all fired upon him, one bullet severely wounding him in the hip, but not so badly as to prevent his progress. The Indians had to make considerable of a circuit before they could cross the river, and by this time Brady had advanced a good distance ahead. His limb was growing stiff from the wound, and, as the Indians were gaining on him, he made. for the pond, which now bears his name, and, plunging in. swam under water a considerable distance, and came up under the trunk of a large oak which had fallen into the pond. This, although leaving only a small breathing place to support life, still completely sheltered him from their sight. The Indians, tracing him by blood to the water, made diligent search all around the pond ; but, finding no sign of his exit. finally came to the conclusion that he had sunk and was drowned. As they were at one time standing on the very tree beneath which be was concealed—he. understanding their language. was very glad to hear the result of their deliberations. and after they had gone he emerged from his hidingplace, and, weary. lame and hungry. made good his retreat to his own home. His companions also returned in safety. The chasm across which he leaped is in sight of the bridge. where it crosses the Cuyahoga. and is known in all that region as "Brady's Leap." The pond where he concealed himself is also known as Brady's Pond. Just where he was first attacked by the Indians is not definitely known, but it was somewhere in Northampton Township. It is not likely that the Indians, who were expecting an attack, delayed their movement upon the rangers until the latter reached their village. It is probable that they were in ambush not far from their village, and the caution of the rangers alone prevented their being caught in the trap. The savages came on in great numbers, and the rangers very likely kept together for several miles, or until they were somewhere in Stow Township, when they separated, and each man provided for his owl safety. Brady, on another occasion very simi lar to the one above narrated, leaped a stream in Pennsylvania, twentythree feet wide, any escaped from a large party of Indians, who were almost upon him.


The Mingo village in Bath was no doubt often visited by Logan, the famous Indian chief. He was the son of Shikellimus, a Cayuga chief, who dwelt at Shamokin, Penn., in 1742. The father was a personal friend of James Logan, the Secretary of the Province, in whose honor the son was named. They camE to Ohio about 1772, locating at Mingo Bottom, near Steubenville. Here it was that, about 1774, at the breakingout of Lord Dunmore's war, Logan's relatives were murdered. This roused him to vengeance, and he began an indiscriminate and extensive slaughter of all the whites he met. Within six or eight months, Logan alone murdered twenty or thirty persons. The following speech, though improved by Jefferson and others, was delivered by Logan to John Gibson, an interpreter, who had been sent out by Lord Dunmore to the Indian towns. According to Gibson, Logan asked him to walk out in the woods, and when the two had reached a lonely copse and had sat clown, Logan, with many tears. delivered his celebrated speech:


I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat: if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war. Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed. and said: "Logan is the friend of white men." I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Col. Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.


Mr. Jefferson says : "I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if Europe has furnished any more eminent, to produce a single passage superior to the speech of Logan, the


222 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.


Mingo chief." It is considered a masterpiece of Indian eloquence. Logan is said to have been one of the noblest specimens of humanity, of any race, that ever lived. He was, as he said, the friend of the whites ; but the deliberate murder of his relatives inflamed his savage nature, and he "fully glutted his vengeance." He had a high sense of honor, and when trusted would die sooner than betray the trust. He undoubtedly visited the Mingo village in Bath. At the mouth of Yellow Creek, in Northampton, is an extensive Indian cemetery, which probably belonged to the Mingoes. This creek was named for the one clown the river from Steubenville, at which was the Mingo village. where Logan's relations were murdered.*


The Delaware villages in Summit County, about the time of Lord Dunmore's war. were well populated ; though the larger villages of this tribe, in Eastern Ohio, were on the Muskingum. In the wars between Great Britain and France for an extension of territory in America. great efforts were made by both nations to secure the Indians as allies, for thereby a dreaded and powerful weapon could be wielded. Sometimes the French were successful, and then the English pioneers in Pennsylvania and Virginia experienced the horrors of barbarous border wars. At other times. the English succeeded and the French were made to stiffer in a like manner. Many times tribes of Indians remained neutral. while the French and English were struggling for the mastery ; or perhaps portions of some tribe would engage in the wars, while others would proclaim their neutrality and remain at peace. cultivating their fields and engaging in the chase. After the murder of the relatives of Logan, several weeks were spent by the hostile Indian tribes to effect a confederation of all the Ohio Indians, for the bloody purpose of an exterminating and universal border war against the American settlers. The Senecas and Shawanese were eager for hostilities to begin ; but the Delawares refused to join the confederation as a nation, though many of her young men were induced to take up the hatchet. They could not endure the derisive title—Showon-


* This is not positively known to the writer, though there are numerous evidences to indicate its truth. No one in the county who waq interviewed could tell why Yellow Creek was thus named, but from the fact that, after the murder of Logan's relatives, the Mingoes or at least a large band of them, located in Bath near this stream, it seems highly probable that the stream received its name as stated in the text.


noks, or white people—which their warlike neighbors threw in their faces. The Delaware bands in Summit County remained at peace, though beyond a doubt many of their young men joined the tide of hostilities. The neutrality of the Delawares, no doubt shortened the war and prevented a concentration of the hostile Indian forces. Just before the Revolution, when it was seen that war was inevitable, great efforts were made by both the British and the Americans to secure the assistance of the Indians. It was estimated that the Indians in New York, Ohio, and near the lakes, could bring 10.000 warriors into the field ; and, it was plainly apparent that this large force might turn the pending crisis either way. The English, through their artful emissaries. made great efforts to effect an alliance, and were generally successful. Four out of the six tribes of the Six Nations joined the British ; but, a majority of the Delawares and a numerous party of the Shawauese were for neutrality. At the Pittsburgh conference. Capt. White Eves. a distinguished Delaware chief. boldly advocated the American cause, much to the annoyance of the Senecas, who were for war in the interest of the British. The Wolf faction of the Delawares, under Newalike and Capt. Pipe. withdrew toward Lake Erie to join the British ; but Netawatwees, the Delaware chief, one of whose villages was at Cuyahoga Falls. sustained the view of Capt. White Eyes, as did also Big Cat, Capt. John, Killbuck and others. These chiefs sent embassies to all the hostile tribes, exhorting them not to take up the hatchet or to join either side. It will thus be seen that the powerful Delaware tribe was the only one in Ohio, which, as a nation. refused to take up the hatchet. In New York, the friendship of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras was secured. However, the Delawares were afterward swept into the vortex of war, but not until after the French alliance had been consummated, whereby much of the horror on the border was prevented. By 1777, the hostile Indians had begun their work in earnest, and the white settlers sought the protection of the forts. or fled to the colonies in the East. Numerous war parties of savages, under their chiefs, or the white renegades, Girty, McKee, Elliott, and others of their ilk, conducted their dreadful expeditions with such malignant ferocity as to cast gloom and terror over the frontier settlements. The Otta-


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was, Senecas and Mingoes, of Summit County, were active in the war in the cause of the British, and, beyond question, Simon Girty, who became a Seneca by adoption, and George Girty, who became a Delaware, were often at these villages. The Delaware chiefs mentioned above, who advocated neutrality, had been mostly converted by the Moravian missionaries. The venerable Netawatwees, chief of the Turtle branch of the Delawares, was among the number. As near as can be learned, it was a band of the Turtle Delawares that had a village at Cuyahoga Falls ; while, very likely, the band in Coventry was under Capt Pipe, or Kogieschquanoheel, the celebrated Delaware warchief. It was almost wholly clue to the missionaries and their converts that the Delaware bands upon the Muskingum refused to take part in the border wars. To these men—these noble missionaries—should be accorded the honor of preventing, in a material degree. many of the direful results of the Indian border wars. Beyond all probability. these missionaries visited the Indian towns, in Summit County, to conduct their good work of spiritual regeneration. Indian villages were strewn all along the valley of the Tuscarawas, and on the portage path in this county. So successful were the missionaries in their efforts to secure peace, that at last the renegades. Girty. McKee and Elliott. complained to the British commandant at Detroit. saying that the Moravians not only prevented the Delawares from joining the British, but held constant communication with the Americans on the state of the war. Immediately after the Coshocton campaign. when the peacechiefs of the Delawares were subordinated to the warchiefs. Buckongahelas became the controlling power at the head of this nation. and through his influence the Indians. including many of those who had been converted, took up the hatchet. The Christian Indians were removed to Sandusky ; but a number who afterward returned were cruelly murdered ; but their death was bitterly avenged by the defeat of Crawford, and the awful death of himseif and many of his command.


On the 21st of January, 1783, the treaty of Fort McIntosh (Beaver) was effected, by which the boundary line between the United States and the Delaware and Wyandot nations was fixed as follows : To begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, thence up said river to the portagebetween it and the Tuscarawas ; thence down said branch to the forks above Fort Laurens ; thence west to the portage of the Big Miami ; thence along said portage to the Ome River, and down the southeast side of the river to its month ; thence along the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga. It will thus be seen that the Delawares and Wyandots were confined to the west side of the Cuyahoga, the summit portage path, and the Tuscarawas ; while the tribes of the Six Nations were east of this dividing line. This boundary was confirmed by subsequent treaties ; but, in 1805, at Fort Industry, the Delawares, Ottawas, Wyandots, Chippewas, Shawanese, Meuses and Pottawatomies were removed to the western part of the State, and the celebrated Cuyahoga boundary line became a thing of the past. The Senecas relinquished their rights to the land east of the Cuyahoga in 1796. This brings the Indian annals down to the time of the first appearance of white settlers in the county.


In the year 1800, there were living in what is now Summit County, bands of Delawares, Senecas, Wyandots, Chippewas, Ottawas, Mingoes, and very likely members of other tribes. But six years before, the most of these had been at war with the whites, and it was no wise impossible that the savages might again fall upon the settlers at any moment. All the warlike customs of the tribes were retained and practiced. probably to keep the warriors in trim for another struggle, should it break out. By 1805, many settlers had appeared in the county, and the movements of the Indians began to be closely observed. They mingled freely with the whites, and although many personal encounters occurred, yet no general outbreak was made. It became the custom of the white hunters, many of whom had participated in the fierce border wars. to assemble at the Indian villages to talk with the natives, trade with them. race with them, shoot with them, and silently observe their peculiar customs. The Indians, regardless of the prospect for continued peace, still held their war and scalp dances, and engaged in all their wild and savage customs. The hunters, when present, were often invited to join the revelry, which they frequently did, but not with the peculiar and graceful skill of the natives. Large fires were lighted, and the savages, armed and painted as if for the warpath, surrounded them in circles, and then, with


224 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.


a wild, monotonous song accompaniment, they began their dance around the fire, springing up and down, first on one foot and then on the other, chanting in the meantime a guttural " he, he, he ; haw, haw, haw ! " blending their dance with innumerable antics, grimaces and contortions, and interspersing their song with wild whoops, made to quaver at first by the motion of the hand on the lips, but ending with a clearness and force that made the forest ring. Liquor they dearly loved, and, when thirsty, would part with anything they possessed to secure an ample potation of their favorite beverage. Under its influence, their savage and warlike spirit became dominant, and they were ready and anxious to assert their demands. and enforce them if they were denied. They often entered cabins and demanded whisky, and, if it was denied them, they often took it, especially if the men were away from home. In a case of this kind, the women were usually wise enough to get rid of their guests at the earliest possible moment, before the liquor began to assert itself, as otherwise fright, anxiety, danger and, possibly, injury, were sure to result. Sometimes, however, the Indians refused to go, but remained to flourish their scalpingknives and tomahawks around the heads of the children. and terrify the distracted mother by threats of death. Sometimes the husband and father would return while the Indians were at the height of their deviltry, in which case a fight. often accompanied with wounds, was sure to ensue. Numerous instances of this character will be found in the chapters of township history. Capt. Heman Oviatt established a store in Hudson Township, where liquor was kept for sale. The Indians were drawn thither, and numerous drunken brawls occurred in the neighborhood. In the absence of Mr. Oviatt, his wife occupied the position behind the counter (if there was such a piece of furniture), and dealt out goods and liquor to the whites and Indians. On one occasion of this kind, when there was a small temporary encampment of some twenty Indians, under the subchief, Wabmung, near the store, and the men were at work in the woods, at a considerable distance from the house, and out of sight, an Indian presented himself, saying that the chief, Wabmung, had sent him to the store to get a small keg of whisky. The credit of the chief was good, and Mrs. Oviatt gave the messenger the liquor. It occurred to her soon afterward that the chief had not sent for the whisky at all, but that the Indians, having no money nor credit, and desiring a spree, had adopted the ruse to secure the liquor. She instantly made up her mind to regain what was left, at any rate. The Indians were taking on at a great rate, and did not perceive her until she had seized the keg, and had gone some distance, on the run, toward the store. A few halfdrunken ones immediately set up a yell and pursued her, but she succeeded in reaching the store before the Indians. Elizabeth Walker, a hired girl, was holding the door, and she slammed it shut as soon as Mrs. Oviatt had entered. but not before the foremost Indian had caught up a fryingpan that was on a bench at the side of the house, and had struck savagely at the hired girl, preventing, at the same time, the complete closing of the door. He began pushing hard at the door, and as the two women saw that he was halfhelpless on account of the liquor he had drunk, they suddenly threw the door open, seized the Indian. who had fallen prostrate, dragged him into the room, and closed and barred the door just as several others threw themselves against it. The Indian in the room began kicking and thrashing around. whereupon the two women got some loose ropes and tied him securely. By this time. the Indians on the outside were pounding loudly on the door, demanding admittance ; but Mrs. Oviatt caught up a rifle, and pointing it through the window, warned them to leave or she would fire, at which they withdrew a short distance. She directed Betsy Walker to go to the loft and blow the horn for the men, which was promptly done, and soon they appeared, whereupon the Indians beat a retreat. The captive Indian was kept until dark, when his squaw appeared, and asked for the person of her recreant lord. but this was denied until he was completely sober, when he was allowed to depart with the ropes still about his arms. The last seen of the couple was the tumble they took together over a rail fence.* This event is narrated to illustrate a common occurrence, differing only in minor particulars. Sometimes the difficulties resulted in severe fights, but usually all the transactions between the two races were amicable. When the Indians ex


*This circumstance is narrated on the authority of Mrs. Elizabeth (Walker) Tappan. the hired girl who was present, and who is yet living in Boston Township, at the unusual age of ninetythree year..


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pected to have a " loud " time with whisky, it was their custom to give up their weapons to their squaws, so that no lives would be lost. In 1806, their difficulty with Daniel Diver occurred, by which Nicksaw, a soninlaw of the chief, John Bigson, was shot by the Indian slayer, Jonathan Williams, an account of which will be found in another chapter of this volume. The village of Stigwanish was on the Cuyahoga, in Boston Township. Here the tribe had erected a wooden god, probably Missabiza, the great tiger," and when they departed on their hunting expeditions, they were accustomed to hang their choicest tobacco around his neck. Some of the earliest settlers, knowing this, and being very fond of the weed " (not altogether an unusual circumstance), often slyly appropriated it. So far as known, no judgment was ever sent against them for the sacrilegious act. At the time of the Diver difficulty, the Indians dians held a council, in which some of the warriors insisted that the Indians should begin an indiscriminate slaughter of the whites before the latter had time to unite on a defense. The Indians were thoroughly incensed, but after a time better counsel prevailed. They saw that, while they might have a temporary advantage, and perhaps slay many of the whites. the tide of war was sure to turn against them with overwhelming force. The white hunters often got the Indians drunk for no other purpose than to get the better of them in trade. When their senses returned. the Indians, not recollecting anything of the affair, demanded their property, and, in case of a noncompliance with their demands, a fight was sure to ensue. As winter approached, it was the custom of the I Indians to lay in an abundance of wild meat and provisions, and seek the shelter of their larger and permanent villages, there to remain during the cold months in comparative comfort ; but when spring came, with her pleasant weather and green leaves and grass, the winter residences became almost deserted, and the tribe, divided into small bands, often comprising the members of but one family, traveled far and near, to spend the warm months in hunting and trapping. They pitched their wigwams on the banks of streams or by some pleasant lake where an abundance of fish could be obtained. It is asserted by the old settlers that the Indians never wantonly slaughtered the game, allowing the meat to lie in quantity on the ground. On the contrary, they killed only what they expected to use. They were often hired to hunt for the settlers. They would bring in a deer and exchange it for provisions, such as potatoes, turnips, pumpkins, melons, etc. At other times, they would agree to furnish so much game for a specified quantity of whisky, corn meal, flour or money. Stigwanish, the chief of the Ottawas, and John Bigson, his son, are said to have been fine specimens of the North American Indian. The latter was about six feet in height, straight as a reed, possessing an enormous chest ; was longarmed and powerfully built, with a pair of coalblack eyes that seemed to see everything at once. In truth, he was as fine a man as was ever pictured on the page of Cooper. Stigwanish is also said to have been a fine old fellow. He possessed some noble traits of character that made him prominent among his tribe, and a model for the imitation of the whites.


Thus the years passed by, until the war of 1812. A great deal of apprehension was felt among the settlers at this time, that the Indians might unite in the war on the side of the British, as they were almost sure to do, in which case a fearful time of blood and death might be expected. They were numerous. and a short time before the war an unusual number of war and scalp dances were held, and the Indians seemed livelier than they had been for ten years before. They would brandish their weapons in a menacing manner, and the settlers were aware that something unusual was about to transpire. Some efforts were made to ward off the coming calamity, and it is said that a blockhouse was erected in the western part of the county, where a few settlers assembled for protection. During the early summer of 1811, the Indians became very bold and insolent ; but finally they all suddenly vanished, and a few days later, news of the battle of Tippecanoe reached the whites. It was afterward ascertained that, if the British had been successful at Tippecanoe, the Indians would have swept in fury upon the borderers. As it was, they were silenced, and departed toward the setting sun. A few afterward returned to the scenes they knew so well, but some of these were killed, and the others dispersed, and the story of the red man is now told as a bright romance of the past.