Ashland County, Ohio - Chapter 6: The Ottawas, 1880

When the Five stations had conquered and dispersed the Wyandots in 1655, they immediately assailed the Ottawas, another branch of the neutral nation occupying the shores and islands on the Ottawa river, in Canada. The invasion was conducted by the relentless Mohawks, with their usual vigor and cruelty, until the unfortunate Ottawas , unaccustomed to war, were compelled to abandon their homes and seek refuge on the Bay of Saginaw, opposite the territory of Michigan.* Here they found the scattered Wyandots , for whom they had borne the strongest attachments; and, uniting with them, removed to "the deserts north oi Lake Superior in 1665, near the Chippewas , where they were v isited by the Jesuit missionary, Allouez.

"When first visited by the missionaries, about the year 1615, they occupied an island on the Ottawa river, as well as the territory adjacent to the river, and although disposed to be on peaceful terms with their neighbors, they exacted a sort of tribute or toll from all the Indians navigating that riser, which seems to have been willingly assented to by the Wyandots and other fur-trading tribes. Me may infer, therefore, that they were the original pro prietors of the islands and the shores of that river. At that time their chief occupation was fishing, hunting raising corn, and trading with the nations, using the river as a sort of commercial highway. In fact, the early missionaries supposed the term "Ottawa" originally meant in their language, a trader.

About the year ;68o. La Salle a distinguished French explorer, visited the Ottawas at the Bay of Saginaw and found them and the Huron's, or Wyandots, confederated against the Five Nations, and engaged in cultivating corn, which was their ordinary food, and fishing upon the borders of the iake. He purchased an abundance of "whitings" and some "trouts'" of extraordinary size of them. Father Hennepin, a Franciscan, also visited them at their new home about the same time, and joined them in fishing in the bay, by breaking holes in the ice, and by means of several large stones, sunk nets to catch fish, which he did in great abundance, and adds, "these made our Indian wheat go down the better, which was our ordinary diet." He also relates that at that time the Ottawas were greatly in dread of the Iroquois or Five Nations, who had a short time before taken an entire family of twelve souls into slavery, and otherwise greatly distressed their people, while others had fled to the French at Quebec for protection and food. It seemed didicult for the Ottawas to escape the raids and malice of the Five Nations who sought the fugitives wherever they attempted to conceal themselves. In the year 1701. after the peace between the French ind the F .1 itiw. <, a settlement by the French was commenced at Detroit by I >c la Matte Cadillar, with a Jesuit missionary

. ,1 the center of trade with the Indians. The Otta- -!k! I! 'van dots, after a residence of over fifty years ,:1 ) j.,j cr Canada, joined the new settlement by return- ,, , tu j.s vi "inity. The French were ambitious to hold die ascendency over the British in the territories of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, and to do so, encouraged the Wyandot* and Ottawas to pass down the western shores of Lake Erie.

In the year 1750. nearly one hundred and fifty years after the expulsion of the Ottomans from the home of their fathers on the Ottawa river, we find the French enuaged in constructing a fort at Sandusky. It is not known with certainty how many French occupied the new fort, but their influence was speedily seen on .the Indians of Ohio, who were encouraged by presents and jealousy to make savage raids, on the border settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The principal settlements of thc Ottawas were on the Maumee, along the lake shore, at Plymouth, Huron county, the mouth of Huron river, on the Black river, and a large village at or near Ouva hoc. a Falls. After the decay of French influence in Canada, when the Of taigas and all the other northwestern tribes in Ohio gave in their adhesion to the British, and during the Revolution and the war of 1S12- 1^, the Ottawas were known by the first settlers of this and the surrounding counties, as " Canada Indians." and were generally adherents of the British cause ; and encouraged in their predatory incursions on the border settlements, bv presents in compensation for the scalps they were able to exhibit on their return from their expeditions.

While . the Ottawa nation seems to have been almost entirely destitute of great war chiefs and leaders, it must be admitted that in what may properly be termed "Indian diplomacy," it ranked as a r ation or tribe with most of the Ohio Indians. In the history of Ohio, it is noticeable that the British and French often employed Ottawa emissaries to influence the other tribes to join their cause, and frequently with considerable success. As a people, the Ottawas were without true courage, and relied upon their cunning and dissemblance for success. The Wyandot* were a frank, brave and fearless people, while the Ottawas were timid, treacherous and uncertain, as enemies or friends.

The only really great man ever produced among the Ottawas was the gallant war-chief, Pontiac, who was supposed to be the son of an Ojibwa woman, while his father was an Ottawa* It is not known with certainty, whether Pontiac was born during the residence of his tribe near the upper lakes, or after his people had settled on the Maumee, in Ohio. Pontiac was a strong friend of the French; and when their colonists were contending for the occupation of Michigan, the valleys of Ohio, thc Wabash, and the Miami, he rallied the red men of the forest against the British, and fought with distinguished courage, side by side with tiie French. Wateh- ful, fearless, indomitable, he was ever on the alert to foil the advance of the "Long-knives," the Pennsylvanians and the "Red coats" aiding their advance into these 1 territories.

When, in 1760, Canada surrendered to the English, by the French governor, Vaudrueii, Major Robert Rog- | ers, a native of New Hampshire, and an associate of \ Putnam and Stark, was ordered to take possession of the western forts. * Fie left Montreal with two hundred rangers, well trained as hunters and woodsmen, armed like Indians, with hatchet, gun, and knife. He embarked at Presque Isle, tip Lake Erie, in fifteen whale boats; and when, from bad weather, he was compelled to put into the mouth of the Geauga, or Grand, river, i Ohio, he met an embassy of Ottawas , who told him the j chief or king was a short distance away, coming, and ! desired him to halt for a talk. The request was comj plied with, and Pontiac met him ; and, after the first I salutation, demanded to know his business in his coun- I try, and wished to know how it happened that he dared [ to enter it without his leave ? When Major Rogers told i him he had no desire to injure the Indians, but came to I remove the French out of the country, Pontiac told him he stood in his path, and would give him a final answer the next day. The next day, Pontiac agreed that Rogers might proceed, accompanied by himself and the Ottawas , as a guard, on his journey to remove the French. To carry out this agreement, he sent one hundred warriors, with bags of parched corn and other necessaries, to protect, and assist in driving, one hundred cattle, which Rogers had brought for the use of the detachment from i Fort DuQuesne; at the same time, dispatching messages | to the several Indian towns on the south side of Lake I Erie, to inform them that Rogeis had his consent to 1 come into the country. Pontiac constantly accompanied the Major, until the expedition arrived at Detroit, and was the means of preserving the detachment from the fury of the Indians, who had assembled at the north of the strait, to cut the expedition off. Rogers regarded Pontiac as an extraordinary man, possessing great strength of judgment and a wonderful thirst for knowledge. He was desirous of learning how the English ! manufactured ciot'n, iron, guns, and other things pecu- I liar to civilized life; and even expressed a strong desire to visit England.

The Indians in northwestern Ohio, Indiana and Michigan submitted sullenly to British dominion. The French were unable to cope with the English, and the Indians were forced to submit to their new masters, although strongly attached to and sympathizing with their i fallen friends, the French. The fierce hatred of Pontiac i had not been subdued, and regarding the British as in- ! traders into his country, he silently awaited a suitable ; opportunity to strike a fatal blow at the new invaders.

\ He nursed bis aversions towards the British, and cited his Indian allies in the west to the encroachments of the English emigrants from Pennsylvania and Yrp.nia, and the pretended grants of his termor;, to the newcomers.

The English failed to keep their engagements with the Indians, and this aided in fanning the flames of disaffection uniil it reached the height of an insurrection. Pontiac was at the head of the great conspiracy. He was a chief of great genius, possessing qualities only equaled by the most distinguished of his race, such as Tecumseh, King Philip, Powhatan, Cornstalk and Logan. He proceeded from tribe to tribe, organizing his grand conspiracy, and seemed to wield the power of an emperor among his people. He had fought in behalf of the French in the Acadian war of 1747, at Braddock's defeat 1755, and at the surrender of Fort DuQuesne, and he claimed to speak by the inspiration of the Great Spirit, who he declared had "told him not to suffer those dogs in red clothing to enter his country and take the land given him." "Drive them from it! Drive them! When you are in distress, I will help you, said the Great Spirit." According to the papers of T. H. Perkins, in May, 1763, the great drama commenced. By a simultaneous movement the Indians precipitated themselves upon and captured nearly every settlement from Michilimackinack to Fort Pitt, while the border streams of Virginia and Pennsylvania again ran red with human gore. The lort at Detroit held out, but was closely beleagurea by six hundred Indians led by the indomitable Pontiac. He continued the siege of Detroit until June, when the fort was reinforced, and Pontiac retired to the Maumee in Ohio.

in October a royal proclamation was issued which eventually pacified the Indian tribes of the leagues. This proclamation prohibited further settlements in the territory until the pleasure of the crown. Pontiac yielded a sullen submission on the Maumee in August, 1765, to General Croghan. and agreed no longer to stand in the path of the English; but denied that by taking possession of the French forts they gained any right to the country. He said the French occupied and lived upon their land by sufferance only. Croghan declared that Pontiac was a "shrewd, sensible Indian, of few words, and commanded more respect among his own nation than any Indian he ever saw." About the year 1769 the great Pontiac disappeared from the Maumee, proceeding to the country of the Illinois , and thence to the French garrison at St. Louis. He was warmly received by St. Ange, then commander of the fort, where he remained foi two or three days. He appeared in the full uniform of a French officer. Hearing that a number of Indians were assembled on the opposite side of the Mississippi, and drinking and engaged in other amusements, he said he would cross over and see what was going on. St. Ange endeavored to convince him that those Indians were the friends of the British, and might injure him. Pontiac proudly replied, "Captain, I am a man! I knowhow to fight. I always fought openly. They will not murder me. If any one attacks me as a brave man, I am his match." Fie crossed the river, found the Indians in a carousal, drank deeply, strode down the village to the adjacent woods, was followed by a Kaskasha Indian (who had been bribed by an English trader named Williamson with a barrel of rum), who stole near him in the forest and buried, his tomahawk in his brain.

According to the compulation of Mr. Taylor, Pontiac I was buried by his friends, the French officers, with war- : like honors, near the fort at St. Louis; and about his j grave a great city has risen, and the race whom he hated | now tramples over his forgotten grave. After the close of the war of 1812-15 the major part cf the Oltawas sought and obtained permission of the British to return ! to their ancient homes on the Ottawa river, where many | of them are yet to be seen. In the proper place it will | be shown that the Ottawa* were familiar with the terrij tory of this county, and that their great chief, Pontiac,