Adams County, Ohio - Chapter 4: The Indians, 1900

That portion of the Northwest Tcrritor>' comprised within the limits of the state of Ohio, when first visited by white men, was occttpied by several powerful and warlike tribes of Indians. The first explorer of this region was LaSalle who discovered the Ohio River in the year 1669, but his account of the Indian tribes is meager and unreliable. In fact no authentic account of the Indians in this region dates beyond the year 1750. About this period, some reliable information as to location, numbers, manners and customs of these tribes was obtained from adventurers and traders among them. In the year 1755 James Smith, of Bedford, Pennsylvania, was taken prisoner by some Delaware Indians and carried to one of thdr towns on the upper Muskingum, and adopted by one of their families. Smith was then about eighteen years of age, and he remained with this tribe, adopting their customs and manners, until his twentythird year. He afterwards became a resident of the state of Kentucky' and was elected a member of the Legislature of that state for several years. Mis accf/unt of the Ohio Indians is accepted as reliable. In the year 1764, Col. Boquet led an expedition overland from Fort Pitt against the Mingos and I>elawares in the Muskingum country, and at the same time Col. Bradstreet invaded the lands of the Wyandots and Ottawas in the region of the Sandusky and Maumee, from the British post at Detroit. As a result of these expeditions much valuable information was obtained concerning the

At this period the Wyandotts occupied the valleys and plains bordering the Sandusky River. They were, according to their traditions the oldest of the northern tribes of Indians, and had at one time occupied all the coimtry from Mackinaw down the Lakes to Quebec, west to the Great Miami River, and northwest to Lake Michigan. They had spread the deer skin for the Delawares and Shawnees and permitted them to occupy a portion of their country. It is said of them that they were always a humane anrl hospitable people who instead of torturing and killing their white prisoners, adopted them into their families and treated them as of their own blofKl and kin. Rev. James B. Finley, a missionar}^ to the Wyandotts for many years, points to the fact that at that time this tribe was dominated by descendants of the Armstrongs, Browns, Gibsons, Walkers, Zanes and other white families prominent in Ohio pioneer histo^\^

The Delawares who at one time occupied the country north of the Potomac, and who sold to William Penn the state of Pennslyvania, afterwards crossed the AUeghanies and took possession of the country drained by the Muskingum and its tributaries. The Delawares were largely represented by warriors at the defeat of St. Clair.

The Mingos, a remnant of the Six Nations, were in greatest force about the Mingo Bottoms on the Ohio River below Steubenville, and occupied the country as far down the Ohio as the Scioto. In the early history of the country they had dwelt in the lake region of the state of New York and in the contest for supremacy between the British and French, had taken sides with the English. The celebrated Logan, whose speech at the treaty with Lord Dunmore, at Camp Charlotte, on the Scioto, whiph was pronounced by Jefferspn one of the masterpieces of the world's oratory, was a chief of the Mingo nation.

The Miamis, a fearless and warlike people of whom the chief Little Turle, was a repre^sentative type, resided in the region of the Great Miami and the upper Maumee.

The Shawnees, the most relentless enemy of the early white settlers, were of southern origin, and occupied all the country between the Scioto and the Little Miami northward to the territory of the Wyandotts and Ottawas in the region of the Sandusky and Maumee. The celebrated Chief Tecumseh was a Shawnee. The above mentioned were the principal Indian tribes in what is now the state of Ohio, when the first white adventurers began to explore this region.

The first explorers of the region bordenng the Ohio from the mouth of the Muskingum to that of the Great Miami note the existence of but one Indian town - Lower Old Town - a Shawnee village just below the mouth of the Scioto, on the Ohio side. The village contained a numerous population, but was destroyed by a great flood about the year 1765. Afterwards the whites laid out the old town of Alexandria near the same site, which in time was abandoned for reasons which caused the Indians to remove to another situation. The other Indian towns in this region were those on the waters of Paint Creek, and near where the town of Xenia now stands on waters of the Little Miami. There were camping sites occupied a portion of the year by Indian families on the larger tributaries of the Scioto and the Miamis. but no permanent villages. In Adams County, there were noted summer camps on Ohio Brush Creek near its mouth, on the West Fork above the village of Newport, and above the Marble Furnace on the East Fork. There was a well-known hunting camp on Scioto Brush Creek near Smalleys. As late as the year 1800, Indian families cultivated the bottom lands on West Fork above where the Tranquillity pike crosses that stream. These families came from the towns on Paint Creek to this region to gather their winter store*; the women and children to make sugar in the fine groves of black maple that bordered the waters of Brush Creek, and to cultivate patches of maize and beans, while the men fished in the well -stocked streams, or followed the chase in quest of the deer, elk and bear.

TIrr (>hk> trihcfi of Indians guarded its soil i^^th jealous care against iiie encrfaichtneni% of the whites. The>' had carried on wars of exterminaturn kmfmf( themselves previous to the coming of the white settlers, but uifffti the a^lvent of the latter, the prominent chiefs of the several tribes CffUtii^U'A peace amr^g their own people, and unrelenting warfare against iiinr cf/mm(m enemy, the whites. As a result, for a period of fort>- years fffmi i'raddrxrk'ft defeat to Wayne's victor}- at Fallen Timbers, the most rr\ntiuv%%, the nuj%i cruel border warfare in the histor\- of the world was wa^cd l>ciween the Ohio Indians and the white settlers of Western PennnyWiiUVd, and Virginia, and the northeastern border of Kentucky. The inilitary ^/rganizatir^s led into this region before the establishment of civil ^//virnincnit in the great Nc/rthwest, under Maj. Wilkins, in 1763; Col. iJradMnTt, in 1764; Col. Bowman, in 1779; Col. Clark, in 1780. Col. IJroadhcad, in 1781, and that of Col. Crawford, in 1782, only served to Mffnnlatr the Indians to greater efforts to exterminate the white invaders. I'/Vrn the HticccHsful campaigns of Col. Boquet, in 1764; of Lord Dunmore, 1774. and of Ovu. Ger)rge Rogers Clark, in 1778, failed to give any perfnttrwnt safety to the border settlers on the Ohio. After the treaty of peace lirtwrrn the United States and England in 1783, when the Northwest Territory came into the possession of our government, several minor r)(|»rclilionft from the settlements in Kentucky were undertaken against thr Sliawnet' towns on the Little Miami and the waters of the Scioto, but with no beneficial results to the whites.

One of these expeditions organized by Col. Robert Tod, of Paris, Kentucky, and Simon Kenton, of Kenton's Station, near Washington, Kentucky, took its route across Adams County, and blazed a line of travel through the forest, that afterwards became a prominent landmark in this region, known as Tod's Trace and Tod'^ War Road. The Indians had greatly harrassed the inhabitants around Kenton's Station, stealing their horses, and killing the settlers or carrying them away in captivity. This was in the summei* of 1787, arid Kenton sent word to Col. Tod to bring what men he could raise and join his men at Washington from which place their combined forces would march against the Shawnee town on the north fork of Paint Creek in what is now Ross County, Ohio. The forces rendezvoused at Washington, and Col. Tod was put in command. They crossed the Ohio at Limestone and marched up the river to Little Three Mile Creek and thence by the way of where Benton ville now stands to the waters of Lick Fork, and thence to Ohio Brush Creek which they crossed at the Old Indian Ford, afterwards called **Tod's Crossing," near the Fristoe bridge, and thence by way of the Sinking Spring to Paint Creek. McDonald says Kenton as usual commanded a company and piloted the way to the Chillicothe town. On their route out, about five miles south of the town, the advance guard, commanded by Kenton, met four Indians. Kenton and one Helm fired, and killed two of the Indians. The other two were taken prisoners. Kenton was surrounded by a set of young men of his own training, and fearful was the doom of enemies of equal numbers who came in their way. From the two prisoners they learned that there was a large Indian encampment between them and old Chillicothe, and about three miles from that place. On this intelligence the army was halted, and Kenton and his company went cautiously forward to reconnoiter the situation of the enemy. Kenton proceeded near the Indian camp, and with a few chosen men reconnoitered the enemy. He then sent an express to Col. Tod, informing him of their probable number and situation. Before day Maj. Hinkston came on and joined Kenton. Prompt measures were immediately taken. The Indian camp was surrounded, but the whites were too impatient for delay, and the attack was made before it was light enough. Two Indians only were killed and seven made prisoners. Many in the darkness made their escape. Col. Tod, with the main body of the troops, lingered behind, and did not reach the place where the Indians were defeated till the sun was at least two hours high in the" morning. The Indians who escaped alarmed the town. Their men. women and children took naked to the woods, and by the time Col. Tod reached the town, they had all fled. The town was burned and everything about destroyed. The army camped that night on Paint Creek and th^ next day made their way home, without the loss of a man killed or wounded.

In the spring of the year 1790, Col. Charles Scott led an expedition of 230 mounted men from Limestone across Adams County to the waters of Scioto Brush Creex in pursuit of a band of marauding Indians who had been committing depredations against the settlement on Lee's Creek, Ken- tucky. At the Indian camp near Smalley's Spring, four Indians were surprised and killed, the main body having abandoned the camp before the arrival of Col. Scott's force.

In I793» a large party of Indians crossed the Ohio above the mouth of Brush Credc and attacked the white settlements about Morgan's Station. Col. Kenton having been informed of the attack hastily collected a part}* of about thirty of the choice spirits about his station and set off in hot haste to intercept the Indians on their retreat to the Chillicothe towns on Paint Creek. Taking Tod's trace opposite Limestone, he followed it to what is known as Reeve's Crossing of Paint Creek near the present town of Bainbridge, where he discovered a fresh trail of Indians going down the creek. It was late in the evening and he cautiously followed the trail till dark. Kenton then left his party, and in company with Michael Cassady, went forward to make observations. They had not proceeded far when they found the Indians encamped on the bank of Paint Creek. They had three fires ; some of them were singing and making other merry noises, showing that they felt in perfect security. Kenton and Cassady returned to their party, and it was concluded to lay still till daylight and then surround and attack the Indians. Kenton's party were all on horseback. Having secured their horses, they lay still till daylight when they moved on for the Indian camp. When they got near the camp they haJted and divided into three divisions. Capt. Baker, with one division, was directed to proceed to the creek above the camp ; Cassady with another division was ordered to make the creek below the camp; and Kenton with the remaining division was to attack the camp in front. Strict orders were given that no attack should be made until it was light enough to draw a clear bead. The divisions took their several stations promptly. Daylight began to appear, the Indians had risen, and some were standing about the fires. Capt. Baker, seeing the Indians, soon became impatient to commence the action, and before it was light enough to see to draw a clear sight, he began the attack. All the divisions then rushed upcm the Indian camp and fired. The Indians dashed across the cree4v and scattered through the woods like a flock of young partridges. Three Indians only, and a white man named Ward, were killed. Ward had been taken prisoner by the Indians when young, and in every respect was an Indian. He had two brothers, James and Charles, who were near neighbors to Kenton and who were respectable men. James Ward was with Kenton in this engagement. Kenton's party lost one man, Joseph Jones, in this engagement. The party returned home without any further adventure.

To the reader in these days of advanced civilization these thrilling stories of Indian depredations against the white settlements on the Kentucky border, and the prompt retaliatorj' incursions of the whites against the Indian towns in the Northwest Territory, read like fiction. It seems incredible that any considerable body of mounted troops could be collected and carried over the Ohio River within the course of a few hours' time. There were neither bridges nor ferries across the Ohio in those days, and the rapid crossing of that broad stream by mounted troops would seem a formidable undertaking.

But the waters of the beautiful Ohio were no barrier to our hardy pioneer fathers. Their horses were trained to swin apd at the same time carry their riders and their accoutrements. With a few well-trained leaders, a troop of horsemen would dash into the waters of the Ohio, and within the time it takes to relate the fact would be on the opposite shore getting in order for the pursuit of a marauding band of Indians, or for a dash against some of their towns. It will be remembered that when Simon Kenton was captured by the Indians in 1778, at the mouth of Eagle Creek, now in Brown County, it was through delay in trying to get the horses he and his companions had taken from the Indians on Paint Creek, to enter the waters of the Ohio, a windstorm prevailing at the time which dashed the waves so high as to frighten the animals.

Early in the spring of 1792, a small band of Indians under the celebrated Tecumseh, made an incursion into the region about Limestone, Kentucky, and stole a number of horses from the settlers. A party of whites numbering thirty-six men, among whom was Simon Kenton, Cornelius Washburn, Benjamin Whiteman, Alexander Mclntyre, Timothy Downing, Charles Ward, and other experienced woodsmen, pursued the enemy. It was found that the Indians had crossed the Ohio at I^ogan's Gap near the mouth of Eagle Creek and had followed the course of Logan's Trace toward the Indian towns on the waters of the Little Miami. The pursuing party crossed the Ohio the first evening and encamped for the night. Early the next morning the trail of the Indians was taken up and followed in a northerly course, through a flat swampy region. When fairly started on the trail, a difference of opinion as to the best plan to pursue, arose among the men, and twelve of them were granted liberty to return home. Kenton, at the head of the twenty-four remaining, pushed on and encamped the second night on the waters of White Oak Creek, now in Brown County. On the afternoon of the following day, the tinkle of a bell was heard, and the pursuing party believed they were in the vicinity of the Indian Camp. After moving cautiously forward some distance, a solitary Indian was seen approaching them. When within gur<=hot he was fired upon and killed. Then Kenton hastened his spies forwa-d to reconnoiter the Indian camp, being satisfied it was near by. A considerable body of Indians was later found encamped on the waters of thr East Fork of the Little Miami near the present boundary between Brown and Clermont Counties. A hasty council was held and it was agree<l to lay by until nightfall, and then assault the camp. Spies were left to watch the camp, while the men withdrew and kindled fires to dry themselves from a day's travel through the cold March rain, and to put their guns in order. The party was then divided into three detachments, Kenton commanding the right, Mclntyre the center, and Downing the left. When Downing and his men had approached near the camp, an Indian arose and began to stir the fire which was but dimly burning. Fearing discovery, he was instantly shot dow^n. This was ioUowed by a general fire from the other detachments, upon the Indians who were sleeping under some marquees and bark tents close upon the margin of the stream. When fired upon the Indians in- 3a stead of retreating as had been anticipated, boldly stood to their arms and rushed upon their assailants. Kenton fearing that his men would be overpowered, soon ordered a retreat which was continued through the night and a part of the next day. Samuel Barr was killed in this action and Alexander Mclntyre was captured the next day and tomahawked. The Kentuckians were three days, during which they suffered from the wet and cold and for want of food, in reaching the station near Washington.

After the treaty of peace at Greenville in 1795, Stephen Ruddle, who had been captured by the Indians in his youth and adopted by a Shawnee family, stated that he was with Tecumseh in this engagement, and that the number of Indians was much less than the force under Kenton. He said that at the beginning of the attack, Tecumseh was lying by the fire outside of the tents. When the first shot was fired, he sprang to his feet and called to his warriors to charge their assailants. Tecumseh rushed forward and killed Samuel Barr with his warclub. In the confusion, it being quite dark, an Indian fell into the creek and made so much noise in getting out, that Kenton supposed reinforcements were crossing the stream to aid Tecumseh, and ordered liis men to retreat. There were but two Indians killed. Ruddle said Mclntyre was killed the next day, after having been pursued and taken prisoner. He had caught the horse of the Indian who had been shot bv Kenton's men the afternoon before the attack and had tied it some distance in the rear of the Indian Camp. When a retreat was ordered he mounted this horse and rode away. The Indians pusued his trail and overtook him the next day while he was encamped cooking some meat. He was taken back to the battle-ground and in the temporary absence of Tecumseh was tomahawked and scalped by some of his warriors. At this act of cruelty to a prisoner, Tecumseh was exceedingly indignant, and upbraided his men for such conduct, declaring it cowardly to kill a man when tied and a prisoner. Says a writer : "The conduct of Tecumseh in this engagement, and in the events following, is creditable alike to his courage and humanity. Resolutely brave in battle, his arm was never uplifted against a prisoner, nor did he suffer violence to be inflicted upon a captive without promptly rebuking ii." More than twenty years after the events related above, the brave and humane Tecumseh. saved the lives of many helpless prisoners among whom was the grandfather of the writer, taken at the defeat of Col. Dudley, while confined in the old blockhouse at Maiden. In the absence of Tecumseh. the British Gen. Proctor permitted some savages to enter this prison pen and seize, tomahawk and scalp their helpless victims. Hearing of this cowardly slaughter, Tecumseh hastened with the utmost speed of his pony to the block-house, and dismounting seized two savages who were in the act of butchering a stalwart Kentuckian, and threw them to the ground, where they lay trembling in fear of their chief. Then turning to Gen. Prfx:tor, he demanded why such butchery had been permitted by him. The General replied that he could not restrain the savages. With a look of ^vithering scorn and contempt Tecumseh told Proctor that he was not fit to command men and that he ought "to go home, and put on petticoats." Although a savage chieftain and the implacable foe of the whites, yet such was his magnanimity towards his white captives, that many of our pioneer forefathers honored his memory by naming a son Tecumseh. One of our most illustrious generals, lK>re his name - William Tecumseh Sherman.

Elsewhere in this volume it is stated that in a battle with some Shawnees near Reeve's Crossing of Paint Creek, in 1793, that a white man named Ward who was with the Indians, was killed. That was John Ward who was with Tecumseh at the above mentioned fight on East Fork. He had been captured by the Indians in 1758 when but three years old, and had grown up in an Indian family and married a Shawnee woman. His brother, Captain Charles Ward, of Washington, Kentucky, was one of Kenton's men in this fight on East Fork, and afterwards related that while he stood within rifle shot of the camp on the night of the engagement, an Indian girl about fifteen years of age attracted his attention, and not recognizing her sex he raised his gun to fire, when her open bosom disclosed her sex and her light complexion caused him to doubt whether she was an Indian bv birth. He afterwards learned it was his brother's child whose wife and family were in the camp.

By the treaty of Fort Mcintosh in 1785 and that of Fort Harmar in 1789, the Indian titles to the lands in southern Ohio were partially transferred to the United States government. But the powerful tribes of westem and northwestern Ohio refused to recognize the terms of these treaties, because as they justly claimed they had been negotiated with only a few of the weaker tribes, and had never been sanctioned by the real powers in the so-called Indian confederacy. These tribes insisted that the boundary line between the Indian possessions and the lands of the United States should be the Ohio River. And it was mainly this contention that brought about the horrible border warfare between the whites and the Indians of the northwest which only terminated with Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers. They had up to this time defeated the arms of the United States first under General Harmar in 1790, and again under General St. Clair in 1 79 1, and as has been truthfully said held the combined forces of the United States and the Kentucky and Virginia militia at bay, and retarded the settlement of the Northwest Territory for a period of seven years. But with the crushing defeat of the allied Indian tribes at Fallen Timbers, the spirit of their confederacy was broken, and all principal tribes consented to the terms of the treaty of Greenville in 1795, which vested the title of the southern three-fourths of the territory of Ohio, in the United States, and gave permanent peace and safety to the hardy pioneers who erected their homes therein.