Ashland County, Ohio - Chapter 5: The W Van Dots, 1880

A hoot the year 1615, while engaged in establishing missions among the Indian tribes of northern- New yurk. Father Sigard visited the Quatoghee or Wyandot nation, then occupying the southern shores of Luke Huron. At that time they called themselves Yen Jots , but were called Hurons by the French, because of their location on the shores of that lake. The nation at that time consisted of five confederated tribes or clans, as follows: Ataronch-ronons, four villages; the Attiq among - '/iit/nii, three villages; the Atlignaouentan, twelve villages; t lie Ahrendah-i onotis, three villages; and the Tio non fate , nine villages. According to Father Gabriel Laliemund, these thirty-one villages occupied a territory of about sixty miles in extent, adjoining the Five Nations , and lying about one hundred miles south of die mouth of the Ottawa, or French river. About that time, Champlain, an eminent Frenchman who afterward became governor of Canada, spent some time with the Ahrcndah-ronons , the most northeastern tribe. The Jesuit, Father Sigard, resided with the nation some years, and succeeded in making a favorable impression upon the tribes.

In 1639, the whole nation was scourged by small-pox, and about twelve hundred fell victims to that abhorrent disease. The Jesuit missionaries took advantage of the scourge, to visit every village, to administer to the wants of the afflicted, and baptize their dying children. In theis labor of charity and love, they went to almost every cabin, and succeeded in influencing great numbers of IVyandots to unite with the Catholic church. They estimated the number of cabins, at that time, at sever, hundred, and the number of families at two thousand, and the whole population at about twelve thousand. The year before the appearance of the small-pox, the Jesuit, Jean de Ereboeuf, while a missionary among the IVyandots, near Lake Huron, became acquainted with a remarkable warrior, named Ahasistari, who related to the missionary a singular dream, concerning th t white man's deity, and afterwards became a zealous member of the church. Many other IVyandots followed the example of Ahasistari, and joined the missionaries in the erection of chapels, and in the ceremonies of the church. The IVyandots willingly embraced the doctrines of the Jesuits, and made rapid advancement in civilization; particularly in agriculture, to which they paid a good deal of attention. They were more amiable than the tribes of the Five Nations, and were more readily induced to embrace the tenets of the Catholic church, as expounded by Father Brebcouf and his successors. By the advice and instruction of the missionaries, a number of churches and schools were established, in their most populous villages, and stockade.-? creeled to protect them from surprise by the Five Nations. The villages of St. Louis and St. Ignatius were esteemed the most important.

It was the custom of the IVyandots to make annual visits to Quebec, then a small French village, to consult the Jesuit teachers, exchange furs for goods, and renew their devotion to the king of France. They returned by the way of the Ottawa and the rivers that interlock with it.* Their journey was more than sixteen hundred miles, through dense forests, and along shoalv rivers; and all day long the missionaries and the IVyandots were compelled to wade or handle the oar. At night they had no food but a scanty measure of Indian corn mixed with water, and their couch was upon the earth or the rocks i In this long journey they passed thirty-five water-falls, and carried their canoes upon their shoulders many leagues through the forests, and dragged them by hand through shallows and rapids over sharp stones ; and while thus proceeding on their journey homeward, accompanied by Father Isaac Joques, in August, 1649, a band of AloJ'avx'ks, whose war parties, -fearlessly strolling through the forest, were ever ready to fall suddenly upon their foes, lay in wait for the pilgrims as they ascended the St. Lawrence.! Ahasistari, the pilot of the pilgrims, landed, and upon examination, declared there were only three canoes, and added there was nothing to fear. The party proceeded, and the dfolunoks from their ambush attacked the canoes as they neared the land. IVyandots arid Frenchmen alike hastened to the shore to seek security in the forest. The pious Joques might have easily escaped, but among the wounded were converts who -bad not yet been baptized, and caring not for his own safety, he proceeded to discharge his duty to the dying IVyandots. Ahasistari succeeded in gaining a hiding place, but observing Joques to be a captive he hastened to him, saying: "My brother, I made oath to thee that I would share thy fortune, whether death 01 life; here am I to keep my vow." Joques, Rene Goupil, Ahasistari and other captives were carried through the Mohaiok villages, where Goupil was tomahawked and Ahasistari suffered the most horrible tortures, and finally, death by being burned at the stake, while Joques was unexpectedly spared.

Thus a new war sprang up between the IVyandots and the Five Nations, who had long been jealous of the influence of the IVyandots with the neutral nation, and xvho had stood in their path to the Illinois and the Mississippi. By frequent surprises b/ the Mohawks, communication by the Ottawa river with Quebec was cut off, and after repeated repulses elsewhere, the l Vy an dots became dispirited in consequence of the loss cf so many of their warriors, and abandoned the small villages and concentrated in the large ones. This seemed to exasperate the Five Nations, and the IVyandots were a doomed race. In 1654 the combined forces of the Five Nations resolved on the destruction of the Ilya //dots, invaded their country and attacked and took the most of their stockaded villages, and massacred large numbers of the inhabitants. rl lie attack was renewed the next year, and the I / j andot nation was completely scattered, some seeking a refuge by the Ottawa, under '.he walls of Quebec, whither they were pursued by the relentless Mohawks. Several bands were captured and incorporated in the Five Nations; a remnant of the nation fled to the country of the Chippewas of j Lake Superior. Other bands fled to the upper part of Michigan and other remote quarters. As we have already seen, the Five Nations then opened a war of extermination against the Andastes and the Fries. About the year 1671, that part of the Wyandot nation which had taken refuge among the Chippewa s, was induced by Father Marquette to return to the Peninsula of Michigan, where they united their fortunes with a dispersed remnant of their brethren near Detroit, with perhaps a remnant of the Andastes , and the Fries, who had sought refuge in that quarter.

About the dose of the thirty years' war between the French and the Five Nations, when the strength of the latter had been broken, and their incursions into Ohio successfully checked, the Wyandots took quiet possession of the ancient territory of the ill-fated Fries, claiming sovereignty over all the country between Lake Erie and the Ohio river. We find the Wyandots, in 1740. sufficiently strong to offer an asylum on the Muskingum to a part of the Delaware nation which had fled from the intrusions of the white man in Pennsylvania.* The Wyandot s probably obtained the territory of the Fries through French influence. The Wyandots occupied a j commanding influence over the western tribes as late as the treaty of Greenville. Mr. Taylor says the Wyandots dwelt upon the waters of Sandusky and Maumee in 1750. The principal seat of the nation was opposite Detroit, Michigan, and the Ohio settlements were in the nature of colonies from the peninsulas bordering on Lake PIu- 1 rou. The Wyandots unquestionably stood at the head of tiie Ohio Indians for bravery, intelligence and capability of adopting the laws of civilized life. President Harrison, who was a military officer in the northwest, became well acquainted with the Wyandots, declared that neither surprise nor sudden disaster in battle cowed their courage. At the battle of the rapids of the Miami, where he won a noted battle over the confederated tribes, he says the Wyandots lost thirteen chiefs, not withstand- 1 ing which, they fought with the most constant and un- I flinching courage. It was one of the characteristics of the Wyandots that they would never be taken in battle.

In the appropriate place, it will be seen that they took a leading part, under British influence, in the warlike incursions in the eastern and western parts of this county, and aided in the destruction of the property of the early settlers, as well as in menacing their safety.

Note. - The reader will remember that after the war of 1812-14 the Wyandots resided 011 their reservation at Upper Sandusky, occcupied in the pursuit of agriculture, and making considerable advancement in education and tire arts of civilized life, until 1842-43, when they were assigned a new reservation by the general government, in the territory of Kansas, to which they removed, and where they now reside.