Ashland County, Ohio - Chapter 10: The Moravians, 1880

Chapter 10: The Moravians

The Removal of the Moravians by Captain Pipe of the Delawares, and Half-King of the Wyandots. - Affecting Scenes at the Moravian Towns, and Hardships on their Route. - Their probable Route to Sandusky. - The Return of a part of the Converts, ar.d their inhuman Slaughter b\ Williamson and his Men.

The Moravian missionaries commenced their labors among the1 Mohegans on the Connecticut, as early as 1740. A devout member of the. denomination named Rauch, was the first to introduce the Moravian faith to the Mohegans, who at that time were hopelessly sunk in misery, drunkenness, and every vice and crime that could defile and degrade human nature. The Mohegans at first rejected his teachings; but finally, a "leading chief embraced the new faith, and then he assisted in opposing the traders who had demoralized the poor savages by their traffic in intoxicating liquors. Thus a good work was accomplished. From this, a new mission was formed at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, among the Delawares along the Susquehanna. In 1742 Count Zinzindorf, chief bishop of the Moravians in Europe, visited the missions cf America; and with some of the leading teachers went through the Indian territories in Pennsylvania and northern New York, and preached to a great number of tribes. He made a good impression upon the Iroquois and Delawares, and returned to Europe in 1743. The missionaries ordained by him continued their work with varied success, making it a rule to earn their livelihood by bodily toil, to promote the object of their mission - at the same time practicing moderation in all things - and when they failed they received help from Bethlehem. They lived and dressed in Indian style, and Frederick Tost, one of their most influential teachers, married a baptized Indian woman.

At Bethlehem, as in Connecticut, the missionaries had to contend against the white traders, who insisted on selling intoxicating liquors to the savages. The visit of Count Zinzindorf to the Six Mat ions, resulted in the conversion of Cayugas or Min goes, who finally settled with their Delaware brethren on the Susquehanna, and were the ancestors and kinsmen of the great Indian orator, John Logan. The Moravian teachers translated the Bible into the various dialects of the Indian tongue, ami taught their converts and children to read the scriptures. The teachers mingled freely among the Indians, and participated in all their rural labors, and thus a strong affection grew up between teachers and savage. Opposed to war, the Moravians sought tv) tame and subdue the wild fury and resentments of the savage, and turn his thoughts to the nobler pursuits of civilized life.

ir fnry was also directed towards the Moravian u ! ors who were declared enemies of the British gove n- ,JU Attacks were soon made upon the Moravians at Bethlehem, and many of the non-resisting brethren were slain- In 1755 a clan of white savages denominating themselves the "Paxton rangers," in revenge tor injuries indicted on the western border, fell upon the Conestoga Indians who had long been the faithful friends of the whites, and were rapidly becoming Moravians, and a "eneral massacre followed, the victims being mostly women and children ! These drunken rangers made it a rule to shoot down the Moravian Indians wherever they met them. Soon after, one hundred and forty Christian Indians were removed to Philadelphia to secure their protection. The rioters then hastened to Lancaster jail, and murdered a number of Indian converts who had j been placed there for protection. 1 he principal 1 Moravian settlements were Gnadenhutten, Shomokin, ! Bethlehem, and Friedenshuttbn. The entire community ] in 1772 removed to Beaver river and then to Shoenbrun i on the Muskingum, known now as the Tuscarawas. They were accompanied by John Heckewelder, David Zeisberger and other teachers. The Delawares were in. formed of the arrival of their kinsmen from the Susquehanna and gave them a hearty welcome. In 1768 Zeisberger had visited the site of Shoenbrum and was the means of converting a noted chief called Isaac Glikhikan, a Delaware , who afterwards became a warm friend of the Moravians, and in 1770 had invited them to settle at the mouth of Big Beaver, which many did, calling the new station Friedenstadt. Shoenbrum was about two miles below the present site of New Philadelphia, and was inhabited principally by Delawares. Under the lead of the veteran Zeisberger, Gnadenhutten was established about seven miles south of Shoenbrun on the Tuscarawas, and was inhabited mostly by Mohegans. The total number of emigrants in the two villages was estimated at about one-hundred and sixty-nine. These villages were regularly laid out, and each had a log chapel and a school-house where the Indiansand Moravians were taught - by their preachers and teachers. They cleared fit Ids for the cultivation of corn and vegetables, raised cattle and hogs, and thus soon had enough to live comfortably.

When the Wyandots and other warlike tribes of northwestern Ohio made incursions against the border settlements of western Virginia and Pennsylvania, on their return they stopped at these villages, often bringing clothing and other stolen articles which they exchanged j for corn and provisions. This exasperated the border j settlers and led them to believe that the Moravians | secretly aided the Wyandots who were the friends of the \ British in their raids on the border settlers. On the ! other hand, the quiet demeanor of the Moravian In- ' diar.s excited the suspicions of the / 1 'van dots and i heir allies among the Six Nations who demanded their re- | inoval. In 1775 Heckewelder estimated the number of ' the Christian Indians in Ohio at four hundred and fourteen ; and there can be but little doubt that these converted Indians were the means of saving the colonies from subjugation by the British, for the Wyandots , Shawanese and warlike Delawares were constantly neutralized by the pacific principles ot the Chr stian Delawares and Mohegans , who always stood in their path. Heckewelder and Zeisberger were unceasing in their efforts to indoctrinate the tribes along the Tuscarawas and at the forks of the Muskingum ; but almost from their first settlement their location made them a sort of half-way point between the borders of the States and the Wyandots , and hence, the poor Moravians were constantly under the ban of suspicion from both sides ; and while Heckewelder was establishing schools and churches the Moravian Indians were quietly cultivating their fields and abstaining from war or hostility towards either party.

In 1777 the Wyandots had expressed a determination to sustain Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, against the cause of the rebellious colonies. He endeavored to form an alliance with all the Ohio tribes, but was foiled in his efforts by Colonel George Morgan (whose Indian name was Tamenend), who succeeded in neutralizing many of the tribes. Captain Pipe and White Eves, famous Delaware chiefs, separated on the question of aiding the British, and Pipe removed with his supporters to the Tymochtee, near Upper Sandusky, and joined the fortunes of Half King and the Wyandots. Just before this Heckewelder founded a new village near the forks of the Muskingum, which he called I.ichtenau. The chiefs of the Delawares in the vicinity of the village desired that their children might be taught the gospel of peace. While laboring here Half King and his warriors came to destroy the settlement ; but the calm manner of Heckewelder and the Christian Indians excited the compassion of Half King, and the little settlement rested four years from further disturbance.

In 1781 Shingess, a famous Delaware chief, sometimes called Bockingehelas, demanded the surrender of all the Christian chiefs, that they might be removed until after the war which seemed about to break out, to a place of safety, declaring that the border settlements intended to exterminate the Moravian Indians on the Muskingum. His demand was rejected, because Heckewelder and his converts thought his opinions erroneous. The Wyandots became clamorous for their removal to Sandusky. The Six Nations held a great council at Niagara, and handed over to the Ottawas and Chippewas the Christian Indians on the Muskingum to make broth of. These tribes being relations of the Delawares, refused to make war on the Moravians. Captain Pipe and Half King, with three hundred warriors, led by a noted chief called Wingenund, soon appeared (with a British flag carried by the notorious Captain Elliot) at Salem, a settlement of the jforavians, and proposed a council to be held at Gnadenhutten. At first the Moravians declined ; but Kllioi pressed the matter, and Half King was ready to use force if they did not consent to be removed. After suffering some violence from the Uyatidots, the Moravians consented to

Ij3T0Rv Of Ashland County, Ohio

On the tenth of September, 1781, they were ordered to get ready. The command was obeyed. Py this removal they lost, says Loskiel, "three beautiful settlements - Gnadenhutten, Salem and Schoenbrun, and the greatest part of their possessions in them. They had about two hundred head of cattle, four hundred hogs, and three hundred acres of corn, besides potatoes, cabbages and garden fruits, worth about twelve thousand dollars. They were most pained at the loss of their books and writings, which were all burned by the Indians." j On the thirteenth they arrived at Goshocking and tarried j a few hours. Here Elliott left them. They then com- j menced the ascent of the Walholding, partly by water | and partly by land along its banks. On the nineteenth, j six days after they left Goshocking (Coshocton) two of ' their best canoes, heavily laden with provisions, sank in a j violent storm of wind and rain, and the women and chil- j dren suffered severely. Half King halted to dry their clothes, after which they again proceeded on their way | and at Gook-ho-sing, a branch rising in Knox county and emptying into the Walholding, called the habitation of owls, from the rugged nature of the uplands on its margin, they left the river, traveling by land! and on the eleventh of October they arrived at the Sandusky river, three miles southeast of the present Upper Sandusky, where they "pitched upon the best spot they could find in the dreary waste, and built small huts of logs and bark, to screen themselves from the cold, having neither beds nor blankets, and being reduced to the greatest poverty and want, the savages having by degrees stolen every- j thing, both from missionaries and the Indians, on their 1 journey."

As it has long been a mooted question whether the I Moravians passed up "Owl creek," in Knox county, or ascended the Walhondfng and the Black fork of Mohican, we deem it appropriate to quote Heckewelder. In his narration, page 277, he says: "Our course was now up the Walhonding river, otherwise called the Whitewoman's creek; but the river being at this season low, and in some narrow places obstructed by driftwood, the workmen had to cut a passage before they :ou!d pass on, which caused us to move slowly. Those who traveled 1 by land, having their provisions in the canoes, were fre- ( quently obliged to wait an hour, or longer, until the 1 canoes came up, which obliged us to make but short ' journeys each day. Continuing our journey for a mini- i ber of days after the manner we had done, we arrived at Gook-ho-sing (habitation of owls), where we left the river, traveling by land across the country, for Upper Sandusky; and suffered much on our way, through the ill will of the IVyandots , who, by this time, had become impatient to get home." Page 283, it will be observed that neither I.oskiel nor Heckewelder states that the route was up the Owl creek or Kokosing, in Knox county. On the contrary, on reaching the mouth ot that stream, they left it, and traveled across the country. When Heckewelder wrote his narrative in 1820, Knox county had been organized over twelve years. If the

Moravians had passed up the Owl creek, it is not unlikely he would have so stated. On the contrary, we find, so late as 1808, that Heckewelder preferred to travel the old Huron trail, on the Black fork.

The Black fork has always been regarded as the main branch or head of the Walhonding, and has been so called by many early writers; and after a careful analysis of the route, it seems probable that they passed up that stream to near the modern site of Greentown. This opinion seems to be confirmed by Mary Heckewelder, daughter of the missionary, John Heckewelder, who was living at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as late as 1S43, and who, according to Perkins, page 253, says: "Our journey was exceedingly tedious and dangerous; some of the canoes sunk, and those that were in them lost all their provisions, and everything they had saved. Those that went by land drove the cattle, a pretty large herd. The savages now drove' us along, the missionaries with' their families usually in their midst, surrounded by their Indian converts. The roads were exceedingly bad, leading through a continuation of swamps. We went lay land through Goseuchguenk (Coshocton), to the Walholding, and then, partly by water and partly along the banks of the river, to Sandusky creek." The nature of Lire ground from the Black fork, by the route described, conforms to the idea of Mary Heckewelder.

The company were seven days in traveling the first twenty-five or thirty miles. They reached the branches of the Sandusky on the eleventh of October, twenty days after the storm. A fair estimate of the distance traveled the first seven days, would bring them to the old Huron or Wyandot trail at the mouth of Clear fork, in Hanover township, and the eighth day would place them near the modern site of Greentown, on Armstrong's creek, or the Black fork of the Mohican. T he route from thence would conform to the recollection of Marv Heckewelder, being full of ponds, marshes and bogs, and difficult of passage. This was the common route of the Wyandot s, and was the favorite route of the JJefaiv are s as late as the appearance of the white settlers.

Now, if as supposed, the Moravians turned up the Lake foik, when they left the Walhonding, they probably followed the Black fork until they reached the mouth of the Rocky fork, where they struck an ancient trail that followed that stream by the present site of Mansfield, to the site selected for their village, on the branch of the Sandusky. Regarding both routes as not freed of ditficulty, and, therefore, unsettled, we resume the thread of our discourse.

A party was sent back to gather the corn yet standing in the fields, and returned with about four hundred bushels. About one hundred and fifty Moravians returned in February, 1782, and divided so as to woik at the three deserted towns in the cornfields. Elliott, Girty, and McKee accused the missionaries ot a want of fidelity to the i'.n ish, and bad them remove'll to Detroit, where they wvie tried, and acquitted by the testimony of Captain Pipe, who declared that he believed that they iiad acted faithfully as neutrals.

5 'vh-inia, by small bands of Wyandots, which cxastUij tjie people to madness and revenge. Colonel I (nl(| Williamson organized a volunteer expedition to ,i, the Muskingum, with a view of punishing the Moravians, who were charged with harboring and en- 'inuring the Wyandots. In a brief time, his irregular forces were ready to march to the villages. In March, i-tD, about ninety volunteers, under command of Wi>- liamson, assembled in the Mingo bottom, just below the site of Steubenville. They proceeded rapidly to ( madenkutten, and entered the town, where they found a laree body of Indians in a field, getting corn. They told the Indians they had come to take them to Fort Pitt for protection. The Indians were pleased at the prospect of removal, and delivered their arms, which they used in hunting, and commenced to prepare breakfast for the soldiers. An Indian messenger proceeded to Salem, to inform the brethren there, and returned with them. The treacherous soldiers then proceeded to secure the Indians, by binding and confining them in two houses, well guarded. The Salem Indians were also fettered, and divided between the two prison houses, the males in one, and the females in the other. The number thus confined was about ninety-six, including old men, women, and children. The infuriated soldiers of Williamson then held a council, to determine how the Moravian Indians should be disposed of. After some discussion, Colonel Williamson put the question, whether the Moravian Indians should be taken prisoners to Fort Pitt, or put to death, requesting those who were in favor of saving their lives to step out, and form a second rank. Only eighteen voted for mercy ! The balance resolved to murder the Christian Indians in their custody! The soldiers were deaf to all pleas ef mercy and protection! The poor Moravians were ordered to prepare for death. The sound of the Christian's hymn and the Christian's prayer, soon found an c< ho in the surrounding forest, but no response from the unfeeling bosoms of their determined executioners. With gun, and spear, and tomahawk, and scalping knife, the work of death progressed, in these slaughter-houses, until not a sign or moan was heard, to proclaim the existence of human iife within. All were murdered, save two boys, who escaped, as if by miracle, to be witnesses, in after times, of the savage cruelty of the soldiers of Williamson. Of the number ki. led, between fifty and sixty were women and children, some innocent babes. No resistance was made. The whites finished the tragedy, by setting fire to the town, including the slaughter-houses with the bodies in them, and ali were consumed. The people of Schoenbrun, hearing the news of the dreadful tragedy, lied, and saved their lives. This act of inexcusable cruelty and cowardice, shocked the border settlers, and called down upon Williamson and his men the execrations of every humane person in the country. Ihe only excuse ollered, in palliation of these wanton murders, was the fact that a few garments, formerly belonging to the settlers, some of them stained vuih blood, were found in the houses of the Moravians.

These articles, doubtless, had been purchased of the hostile Indians, in exchange for provisions, while on their return through the villages. This act of barbarity cannot be justified. It leaves an ineffaceable stain upon the character of the border volunteers of Pennsylvania; and the judgment of the Almighty soon overtook many of the actors in that sanguinary tragedy, on ihe plains of Sandusky, in the subsequent disaster that overtook Crawford and his army.