Coshocton County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 22 of those read), 1881

First White Occupation

Mary Harris - Christopher Gist - George Croghan - William Trent - James Smith - Bouquet's Army - Chaplain Jones- David Duncan - Murder at White Eyes - William Eoblnson - John Leeth - Brodhead's Army- John Stilley - The Moravians - The Glrtys and Others - Heckewelder's Eide.

r I iHE early white occupation of Coshocton -L county comprises an interesting period in her history, and could it be fully treated would make a large volume by itself. The foot of the white race pressed its soil at least sixty years before any permanent white settlement was made, and white people in great numbers passed into and across it long before they came to stay. The cause of this was no doubt the multiplicity of Indian towns along the Muskingum and its tributaries. In peace these towns were frequented by white hunters and traders ; in war large numbers of white captives were brought here from "Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, and either kept here or taken on further west to the Wyan- ,dot and Shawnee towns; and when the Moravians began their operations amongthe Indians, white people were almost continual residents among the Christian Indians in this county.

It is the aim of this chapter to give an account of the white occupation of this county prior to the first permanent settlement ; and in doing this, it is not expected that all white persons who set foot on the soil of the county will be mentioned, for it is believed that many - perhaps hundredswhite hunters and captives either passed through or resided temporarily at the Muskingum villages, of which history makes no mention.

The valleys of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum were famous; stirring and blood-curdling scenes were enacted "therein during the half century prior to the first white settlement. The first

Near the junction of the Killbuck and Walhonding rivers, about seven miles northwest of the present town'of Coshocton ('Forks of the Muskingum '), lived, as early as 1750, Mary Harris, a white woman. She had "been captured in one of the colonies, by the Indians, between 1730 and 1740, being at the time of the capture a girl verging into womanhood. Her beauty captivated a chief, who made her his wife, in the Indian fashion of that day.

The Indian tribes were being crowded back from the eastern colonies, and the tribe of Custalogo had retired from place to place before the white frontiersmen, until about 1740 it found a a new hunting ground in this valley, where the white woman became one of the inhabitants with her warrior, and where they raised a wigwam which formed the nucleus of an ladian town near the confluence of the streams above named. Mary Harris had been a sufficient time with the Indians to have become fascinated with their nomadic life and to have entered into all its romantic avenues. She generally accompanied Eagle Feather, her husband, to all the buffalo, elk and bear hunts in the valley, and whenever he went off with a war party to take a few scalps, she mixed his paint and laid it on, and plumed him for the wars, always putting up with her own hands a sufficiency of dried venison and parched corn to serve his purpose. She was especially careful to polish with soap-stone his "little hatchet," always, however, admonishing him not to return without some good, long-haired scalps for wigwam parlor ornaments and chignons, such as were worn by the first class of Indian ladies along the Killbuck and the Walhonding. So prominent had she become that the town was named " The White Woman's Town," and the river from thence to the " forks of the Muskingum" was called in honor of her, "The White Woman's River."

In 1750-51, when Christopher Gist was on his travels down the Ohio valley, on the look-out for choice farming lands, for the celebrated "Virginia Land Company," in which the Washington's were interested, he tarried at "White

Woman's Town " from December 14, 1750, until January 15, 1751, enjoying in part its Indian festivities with Mary Harris, who told him her story; how she liked savage warriors; how she preferred Indian to white life, and that she thought that the whites were a wicked race, and more cruel than the red man.

In her wigwam the white woman was the master spirit, and Eagle Feather was ignored, escept when going to war, or when she desired to accompany him on his hunting expeditions, or was about to assist at the burning of some poor captive, on which occasions she was a true squaw to him, and loved him much. All went along as merrily as possible until one day Eagle Feather came home from beyond the Ohio with another white woman, whom he had captured, and who he intended should enjoy the felicities of Indian life on the Killbuok with Mary in her wigwam, who, however, did not see happiness from that standpoint. Forthwith from the advent of the new comer, as Mary called her, into that home, it was made somewhat unpleasant for Eagle Feather. Mary Harris' puritan idea of the marital relation overriding the Indian idea of domestic virtue. Hence, Eagle Feather, when he tendered any civilities to the " new comer,'' encountered frjDm Mary all the frowns and hair-raising epithets usually applied by white women to white men under similar surroundings, and he became miserable and unhappy. Failing to appreciate all this storming around the wigwam, he reminded Mary that he could easily kill her; that he had saved her life when captured; had always provided for her bear and deer meat to eat, and skins of the finest beasts to lie upon, and in return she had borne him no papooses, and to provide for her shortcomings in this respect he had brought the " new comer " home to his wigwam to make all things even again, as a chief who died without young braves to succeed him would soon be forgotten. So saying he took the new captive by the hand, and they departed to the forest to await the operation of his remarks on Mary's mind. Returning at night and finding her asleep on her buffalo skins, he lay down beside her as if all were well, at the same time motioning the "new comer" to take a skin and lie down in the corner.

He was soon asleep, having in his perturbed state of mind partaken of some whisky saved from the last raid into Virginia. On the following morning he was found with his head split open, and the tomahawk remaining in the skull-crack, while the " new comer " had fled. Mary, simulating, or being actually in ignorance of the murder, at once aroused " The White Woman's Town '' with her screams. The warriors were soon at her wigwam, and comprehending the situation, at once started in pursuit of the fleeing murderess, whom they tracked to the Tuscarawas, thence to an Indian town near by, where they found her. She was claimed as a deserter from " The White Woman's Town,'' and, under the Indian code, liable to be put to death, whether guilty of the murder or not. She was taken back while Gist was at the town, and he relates in his journal that, on December 26, 1750, a white woman captive who had deserted, was put to death in this manner : She was set free and ran off some distance, followed by three Indian warriors, who, overtaking her, struck her on the side of the head with their tomahawks, and otherwise beat and mutilated the body after life was extinct, then left it lying on the ground until night, when one Barney Ourran, who lived at " The White Woman's Town," obtained and buried the body, in which he was assisted by some Indians.

Mary Harris insisted that the " new comer " killed her husband with his own hatchet, in revenge for being brought into captivity, while she, as tradition gives it, alleged that Mary did the wicked work out of jealousy, and intended dispatching her also, but was defeated in her project by the flight of the "new comer." Be that as it may. Eagle Feather was sent to the spiritland for introducing polygamy among white ladies in the valley, and as to the "new comer," the town to which she fled was thenceforward called " Newcomer's Town " by the In.- dians as early as 1755, and probably as early as 1751, when the " new comer " sought protection there. When Netawatwees, chief of the Delawares, took up his abode there, about 1760, he retained the name, it corresponding with his own in Enghsh. When Colonel Bouquet, in 1764, marched down the valley and deposed Netawatwees, he retained the name on his map. When Governor

Penn, of Pennsylvania, sent messages to the Indians, in 1774, he retained the name in his official paper. When Brodhead, in 17S1, marched to the " Forks of the Muskingum," and up the Tuscarawas vallej', he called it by the same name. In 1S27, the good old Nicholas Neighbor, when he had laid it off in lots, saw that it would pay him to retain the old name, and did so, and it is yet known by the name of Newcomerstown.

Mary Harris married again, had children, and removed west about the time Captain Pipe and the Wolf tribe of Delawares removed to Sandusky, in 1778-79. Nothing is known of Mary Harris' history after her removal to Sandusky, but the river from Coshocton to the mouth of Killbuck is often called " Whitewoman,'' or " The White Woman's River."

Captain Christopher Gist was sent out in 1750 to explore the country northwest of the Ohio river, in the interest of the Ohio Land Company, of which the Washingtons and other Virginia gentlemen were members. In his journal it is recorded that " he reached an Indian town, near the junction of the Tuscarawa = and White Woman, December 14, 1760, which contained about one hundred families, a portion in the French and a portion in the English interest." (This Indian town was probably situated at the mouth of White Eyes creek or possibly nearer to, or at the "Forks of the Muskingum.") Here Gist met George Croghan, an English trader who had his headquarters at this town; here, also, he met Andrew Montour, a halt-breed of the Seneca nation, who, as well as Croghan, subsequently figured somewhat conspicuously in the colonial history of our country.

iDaptain Gist remained at this Indian village from December 14, 1750, until January 15, 1751. Some white men lived here, two of whose names he gives, namely, Thonlas Burney, a blacksmith, and Barney Curran. Gist here, on Christmas day, 1750, conducted appropriate religious services, according to the Protestant Episcopal prayer book, in the presence of some white men, and a few Indians who attended at the urgent solicitations of Thomas Burney and Andrew Montour. And this was probably the first public "Veligious service (Protestant or Catholic), within the present limits of Coshocton county.

It is proper to say here, that Captain Gist's journal makes this village the scene of the killing of " a woman that had long been a prisoner and had deserted, being retaken and brought into town on Christmas eve ; " also how " Barney Curran (an Indian trader, and who in 1763 was one of George Washington's escort on his mission up the AUegheney river) and his men, assisted by some Indians, buried her just at dark."

There is given in the " Legend of the White Woman, and New Comerstown," an account of a case of punishment similar to the foregoing, the latter being' the killing of a white woman (a captive), charged with the murder of a chief named " Eagle Feather," and of desertion. Most likely these accounts relate to different transactions, the victims being different persons, who suffered death in different places for different offenses, that sort of punishment for such crimes being usual among the various Indian tribes.

Captain Gist, according to his journal, left this Indian town, (where he had tarried a month), January 16, 1751, accompanied by George Croghan and Andrew Montour, who in " Colonel Smith's Captivity among the Indians," (see page 168), are represented as " Messengers, with presents from Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, to the Twightwees, (Miamis).

" We left Muskingham,'' continues Gist's journal, " Tuesday, January 15, 1761, and went west to the White Woman creek, on which is a small town," where they found Mary Harris, who had given name to the stream from the mouth of the Killback to its junction with the Tuscarawas. The journal of Gist intimates tliat conversations were had with her, and gives, briefly, a few leading facts in her history. Gist's party remained in " The White Woman's Town " over night only, and on Wednesday, January 16, 1751, (to quote Gist's journal), they " set out southwest twentyfive miles to Licking creek," thus evidently following a trail which led across the southern portion of the present county of Coshocton. The journal kept by Gist describes the land between the White Woman and the Licking creek, and mentions several salt liclis on the north side of the latter. They arrived at the mouth of the Scioto, January 28, 1751. From this point Captain Gist and his company passed down the Ohio and up the Miami valley to Piqua, the chief town of the Pickawillanies, and there held consultations with certain Indian tribes. From this point Gist passed down the Great Miami river into the Ohio, and down said river to within fifteen miles of the Falls of the Ohio, (now Louisville), then returned, says the author of the Western Annals, "by way of the Kentucky river, and over the highlands of Kentucky to Virginia, arriving there after an absence of seven months, in May, 1751, having visited the Mingoes, Delawares, Wyandots, Shawanees and Miamis. He seems also to have performed the other , duties with which he was charged to the entire satisfaction of the land company, such as exploring the country, examining the lands as to topography and quality, keeping a journal of his adventures, drawing as accurate a plan of the country as his observations would permit, and made full report to the controlling board of officers of the aforenamed Ohio Land Company.

In November, 1751, Captain Gist started to explore the country on the southeast side of the Ohio river down as far as to the mouth of Great Kanawha, and continued in that service all winter.

In 1752, Captain Gist attended, as an agent of the Ohio Land Company, at a treaty held at Logstown, between some Indian tribes and commissioners representing the colony of Virginia, which resulted in the formation of a treaty, signed June 13, 1752, by which the Indians stipulated that they would not molest any settlements that might be made on the southeast side of the Ohio river. This provision of the treaty was deemed highly favorable to the interests of the land company which Gist served so faithfully and efficiently,

In 1753, Christopher Gist accomp.anied George Washington as pilot and escort on his mission to the Ohio river, and up the Allegheny river to Venango at the mouth of French creek, under authority of Governor Dinwiddle, of the colony of

On the 17th of February, 1754, Captain Christopher Gist and Captain William Trent, and other adventurous frontiersmen, met by appointment at the forks of the Ohio (now Pittsburg), for the purpose of then and there erecting a fort for the protection of the settlers, and in the interest of English as against the French. Captain Gist was also the principal man in projecting the establishment of a town, probably in the interest of the Ohio Land Company, at the mouth of Chartiers, a few miles below the forks of the Ohio. He is believed to have lived in Virginia, probably not far from the mouth of Wells creek, now Cumberland, Maryland, at the time he entered into the service of the Ohio Land Company, in 1750. He subsequently removed to the Youghiogheny valley, six miles east of Stuart's crossing (now Connellsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania). From there, he moved down the Youghiogheny, and located near its mouth. He afterwards lived near to or at the mouth of Chartier'screek, a few miles below the forks of the Ohio (now Pittsburgh).

Captain Gist was a land surveyor, and lived on the frontiers most of. his life. He was a man of marked characteristics, distinguished for energy,, enterprise, force of character, and possessed the qualities of adaptation to life on the frontiers to a remarkable degree. He largely enjoyed the confidence and friendship of General Washington.

Colonel George Croghan, who accompanied Captain Gist from "Muskingum,'' an Indian town situated on the northern bank of the Tuscarawas river, near the Forks of the Muskingum (now Coshocton), to the Miami Indians, in 1751, was a native of Ireland and educated in Dublin. While yet a young man he emigrated to America, locating at Pennsboro', on the west bank of the Susquehanna, near Harrisburg In 1745-6, he was engaged as an Indian trader along the shores of Lake Erie, west of the Cuyahoga river. While thus engaged he learned several Indian languages, and acquired much influence with the savages. Having obtained the confidence of several Indian tribes to a great extent, the government of the colony of Pennsylvania employed him as an agent, or messenger, to the Indians in the Ohio valley, to secure and maintain peaceful relations with them, and to operate generally among them in the interest of Pennsylvania.

" Colonel Croghan served as a Captain in General Braddock's expedition, in 1755, and during the next year was engaged in the defense of the Western frontier. Late in the year 1766, Sir William Johnson appointed him deputy Indian agent for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Indians. In 1760 he was at the council held by General Moncton, at Port Pitt, and the same }'ear accom- Major Eogers to Detroit.

"In 1763, Col. Croghan was sent to England to consult with the ministry as to the boundary line with the Indians, and to arrange for future trade among them." In 1765, he negotiated a treaty of peace with certain western tribes, and and in the succeeding year he located four miles above Port Pitt. In 176S he took an active part at the treaty of Fort Stanwix. Until the begining of the Eevolutionary war. Col. Croghan continued to render valuable services in pacifying the Indians, and conciliating them to the British interests. In the boundary controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia, in 1774-5, he favored the claims of Virginia.

When the troubles with Great Britain began in 1775, Col. Croghan took strong grounds in favor of the colonies, but his zeal in behalf of his adopted country gradually abated, and in 1778, he was charged publicly, not only of having abandoned the American cause and given " aid and comfort" to the British, but was posted in a proclamation, issued by the highest authority of the colony, as "an enemy to the liberties of America."

Col. George Croghan was " a man of affairs," and displayed conspiciously many of the highest traits of a first-class frontiersman. He died at Passayunk, Pennsylvania, in August, 1782.

Andrew Montour who,as co-commissioner with Colonel Croghan, in behalf of the colony of Pennsylvania, accompanied Christopher Gist from Muskingum to the Piqua towns on the Great Miami, in 1751, was a noted character in his day, and «xerted a great influence over the Senecas, Delawares and Shawanees. He acted as an interpreter for man}' j'ears, being sometimes in the service of Pennsylvania, and* sometimes serving Virginia in that capacity. It is also said in Captain Trent's journal (page 103), that he also officiated as a spy among the Indians on various occasions.

Andrew Montour was a son of the celebrated Canadian half-breed, known as Catharine Montour. Colonel Stone, in his life of Brant (vol. 1, page 340,) gives her history as follows :

" She was a native of Canada, a halt breed, her father having been one of the early French Governors - probably Count Frontenac, as he must have been in the government of that country about the time of her birth. During the wars between the Six Nations and the French and Hurons, Catharine, when about ten years of age, was made a captive, taken into the Seneca country, adopted and reared as one of their own children. When arrived at a suitable age, she was married to one of the distinguished chiefs of her tribe, who signalized himself in the wars of the Six Nations against the Catawbas, then a great nation living southwestward of Virginia. She had several children by this chieftain, who fell in battle about 1750, after which she did not marry again. She is said to have been a handsome woman when young, genteel and of polite address, notwithstanding her Indian associations. It was frequently her lot to accompany the Six Nations to Philadelphia and other places, in Pennsylvania, where treaties were holden; and from her character and manners, she was greatly caressed by the American ladies, particularly in Philadelphia, where she was invited by the ladies of the best circles, and entertained at their houses."

She resided at one time at the junction of the Tiogaand Susquehanna rivers, where was a building she occupied known as "Queen Esther's Castle." Her principal residence, however, was at Catharine's Town, at the head of Seneca Lake.

Andrew Montour had a brother named Henry, who was an intelligent Indian, and frequently in employ of the colonial governors. Andrew Montour enjoyed, to a large extent, the confidence of those he served in the various positions of agent, messenger, guide and commissioner. His mother, it is said, exerted a controling influence among the mdians for many years, as did also her son Andrew. In the Life and Times of Rev. David Zeisberger, mention is made of a sister of Andrew Montour, who was a convert to Moravianism, at New Salem mission.

Captain William Trent was one of the earlytime white men that followed an Indian trail through the present county of Coshocton, in 1752, spending one night at least in the Indian village he called " Muskingum," where, his journal says, they met some white men from"Hockhocken," which he characterizes as " a small place containing a few Delaware families, where the French at one time had a trading post, called ' Margaret's Fort,' probably on some very old maps called ' French Margaret's Town.' "

Captain Trent was a sort of messenger appointed by Governor Dinwiddle, of the colony of Virginia, to bear presents to the Indians at Logstown (near the forks of the Ohio), and to the Twigh twees or Miamis. He left Logstown on his mission, June 21, 1752, and on the 29th of the same month, his journal says, " we got to Muskingum, 150 miles from the Logstown." In a foot note in Captain Trent's journal, page 85, " Muskingum " is represented to be a " Mingo town, on the north bank of the Tuscarawas, five miles east of the mouth of White Woman's creek, in what is now Coshocton county. In 1751, it contained about 100 families." (This is probably adopting Captain Gist's estimate, who was there in said year). "The distance from Logstown to Muskingum by the Indian trail was 122 miles."

Captain William Trent was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, born about the year 1715. His father was distinguished in the civil history of that colony, holding many positions of trust and profit William Trent entered the service of Pennsylvania at an early day. In June 1746, Governor Thomas appointed him captain of one of four companies, raised in Pennsylvania, for an intended expedition against Canada. During that year he was stationed, under orders of Governor Clinton, of New York, at Saratoga, where his command did garrison and scouting duty for over a year. He rendered efficient services and received the thanks of the legislature for the courage and patriotism he displayed.

On the 10th of March, 1749, Captain Trent was appointed a justice of the peace of the court of common pleas and general sessions of Cumberland county, and served in that capacity for several years. During this year he was also employed as messenger to the Ohio Indians, to carry messages and presents to the principal nations.

In 1750, Captain Trent formed a partnership with the celebrated George Croghan, his brotherin-law, to engage in the Indian trade. This firm continued in existence more than six years, and its members acquired great influence with the savages. In the extent of its operations it was unequalled in the West.

In 1752, Captain Trent was employed by the Governor of Virginia, as an agent of that colony, to attend the Commissioners at Logstown, in their council with the Ohio tribes. While the conference was in progress he was dispatched with messages and presents to the Miamis, and it was in the execution of that trust that he passed through the territory that now constitutes Coshocton county, tarrying over night in the Indian village he called " Muskingum," five miles up the Tuscarawas from its mouth. He also rendered some services for Governor Dinwiddle in 1753, in the matter of selecting a site for a fort at the forks of the Ohio.

Captain Trent was present at the convocation for treaty-making purposes, held at Winchester,, Virginia, September, 1753. In pursuance of theprovisions of a treaty there formed, a large quantity of amunition and other goods were ordered for the Delaware and Miami tribes. Three commissioners were appointed to convey these presents to the Ohio, for distribution there, according to the terms of the treaty, and these commissioners turned out to be William Trent, Andrew Montour, and Christopher Gist.

Early in the year, 1754, Governor Dinwiddle commissioned Captain Trent to raise one hundred men for immediate service on the frontier. Before the expiration of a month the men were enlisted, and placed in camp at the mouth of Redstone creek. While here he was directed by the Governor to proceed at once to the forks of the Ohio, and build a fort there. This h% pro-

Captam Trent entered the service of Pennsylvania in 1755, he having been appointed by the Governor a member of the proprietary and Governor's comicil.

Early in the year 1757, Capt. Trentagain entered into the service of Virginia. In June he was at Winchester raising men for the army. A month later, at the request of Col. George Croghan, he acted as his secretary at the council with the Indians at Easton, Pennsylvania.

In 1758 Capt. Trent accompanied Gen. Forbes' expedition against Fort Du Quesne, and by his thorough knowledge of the country through which the army passed, was enabled to render important services.

During the year 1759, Capt. Trent entered the .service of Sir William Johnson, England's Indian agent in America In July, 1759, he also acted as assistant to George Croghan, deputy agent, at a treaty made at Port Pitt, with Ohio Indians. He was also present, in the same capacity, at Gen. Stanwix's conference with the western nations in October. In 1768, Captain Trent attended a council of the English and the Six Nations, Shawanees and Delawares, held at Fort Stanwix, New York.

Captain Trent was loyal to the colonies and warmry advocated the American cause ; and Congress gave him a Major's commission to raise a force in Western Pennsylvania. He was present, bearing the title of major, at the treaty of Fort Pitt, July 6, 1776.

Major Trent was not a learned man, but was esteemed a careful, prudent, and watchful guardian of the interests of his employers. Most of his life was usefully spent in the public service.

The principal facts in the life and history of William Trent, herewith presented, are, for the most part, contained in a biographical sketch of him, prepared and published by the late Alfred T. Goodman, secretary of the Northern Ohio Historical Society. - See pages 57 and 67.

was captured near Bedford in that State ivhen about eighteen years of age, by three Indians on a marauding expedition, in the spring of 1755, a short .time before the defeat of General Braddock. He was taken to the Indian village on the Allegheny, opposite Fort Du Quesne, and compelled to run the gauntlet, where he nearly lost his life by a blow from a club in the hands of a stalwart savage After his recovery and the defeat of General Braddock, he was taken by his captors on a long journey through the forest to the village of Tullihas, on the west branch of the Muskingum (Walhonding), the location of which village was at or near the confluence of the Mohican and Owl creek. In this journey they followed the well marked and much traveled Indian trail from Fort Pitt to the Tuscarawas, . and down that river to the present site of Coshocton, thence up the Walhonding. Tullihas was then occupied by Mohicans, Caryhnewagas and Delawares, the latter predominating. Here he was adopted by the Indians into one of their tribes. The ceremony consisted in first plucking all the hair from his head except the scalp-lock, which thej' fixed according to their fashion; in boring his ears and nose, and placing ornaments therein; in putting on a breech-clout, and painting his body and face in fantastic colors, and in washing him several times in the river, to wash out all the white blood in his veins. This last ceremony was performed by three young squaws and, as Smith was unacquainted with their usages, he thought they intended to drown him, and resisted at first with all his might, to the great amusement of the multitude on the river bank. One young squaw finally made out to say, " Me no hurt you," and he then gave them the privilege to souse and rub him as they desired. When brought from the river he was allowed other clothes, and in solemn council, in an impressive speech, he was admitted to full membership in the nation. He says in his journal he always fared the same as the Indians, \io exceptions being made.

James Smith remained in Tullihas until the next October, when he accompanied his adopted brother, Tontileaugo, who had a Wyandot wife on the shores of Lake Erie, on a visit to that nation. He remained among the Indians about four years, traversing all parts of northern Ohio, at the end o£ which time he escaped and made his way to Pennsylvania, where he published a memoir, from which the above facts were taken. About the time of James Smith's captivity hundreds of other captives were in the hands of the savages, and without doubt scores of them were either retained among the Indians on the Muskingum, or passed through this territory on their way into captivity among the tribes farther west. This must have been the case, for in 1764 Gen. Bouquet, in accordance with a treaty of peace made with the tribes at the Forks of the Muskingum, received from the Indians 206 of these captives, and even then failed to get all that were in the hands of the savages. Many of these captives had been among the Indians many years ; children had been captured who had grown to manhood and womanhood among them.

The next white men in this territory were probably those of Gen. Bouquet's army in 1764. The details of this expedition appear elscAvhere in this work. It was, no doubt, the first organized body of troops within the present limits of the county.

In 1773, Eev. David Jones, an eccentric character better known as " Chaplain Jones," and an Indian trader named Da-^ad Duncan passed through this territory. They were traveling eastward from the Shawanee towns on the Scioto, along the Indian trail of the Licking and Muskingum valleys, which had been followed by Christopher Gist.

Duncan was from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and was on his way to Fort Pitt, probably, for goods. Eev. David Jones was on his return journey to Freehold, Monmouth county. New Jersey, from the Indians on the Scioto, among whom he had been as missionary, by authority of the Philadelphia Baptist association, of which he was a member. He kept a diary of this journey, from which these facts are taken.

This diary shows that he followed the trail that led from the Indian towns on the Scioto to " Standing Stone " (Lancaster), where, in the language of the diary, " was an Indian town consisting chiefly of Ddawares, and which was situated on a creek called Hock-Hockin. It appears muddy, is not wide, but soon admits of large canoes." He did not arrive at Standing Stone until nine o'clock at night, and says that his " road was very small and the night dark in this wide wilderness, which made traveling more disagreeable than can be easily expressed."

Wednesday, February 10, ,1778, " we set out early in the morning - our course more northerly than northeast - the land chiefly low and level, and, where our horses broke through the frost, it might be called bad road and good land. No inhabitants by the way. Before night came to a small town consisting of Delawares and Shawanees. About a mile before we came to this town we crossed a clear, large stream called Salt Lick creek (doubtless Licking river, four miles east of Newark), which empties into the Muskingum.''

The town above mentioned was doubtless the Indian village situated on the Bowling Green, five miles east of the present site of Newark, Licking county, known as "John Elliott's Wife's Town." The diary continues : " The country here appears calculated for health, fertile and beautiful. The next day after paying a high price for the corn our horses consumed, we started for the Moravian towns on the Tuscarawas."

This " Chaplain Jones " was born of Welsh parents, on White Clay Creek Hundred, Newcastle county, Delaware, May 12, 1736. He was licensed to preach by the Welsh Tract Church in 1761, and ordained at Freehold, Monmouth county. New Jersey, December 12, 1766, and remained pastor at that place until he started on his missionary tour to the Indians of the northwest.

In 1775, he became pastor of the Great Valley church in Chester county, Pennsylvania, but resigned the following year on being appointed chaplain of Colonel (afterward General) Arthur St. Clair's regiment, raised <f or service in the Eevolution. He was on duty with his regiment at Ticonderoga, and served in two campaigns under Major General Gates. In 1777, he served as brigade chaplain under General Wayne. At the close of the war he retired to a farm in Chester county.

preached in the Miami country at Columbia, six miles above Cincinnati. He was chaplain in Wayne's army during his campaign against the Indians, and, in 1812, though seventy-six years old, he again entered the army as chaplain, and served under Generals Brown and Wilkinson until the close of the war. This ended his public career. He was afterward a large contributor to the Philadelphia press on public affairs.

He officiated in public for the last time September 20, 1817, when he delivered an address at the dedication of the monument erected at Paoli, Chester county, Pennsylvania, commemorative of the Americans who were massacred there in 1777. He died February 20, 1820, in his eightyfourth year, and was buried near the Great Valley Baptist Church.

He is yet remembered by a few of" the early pioneers as a kind, companionable gentleman, of rare eccentricities, who always wore a queue, the breeches, the shoe and knee buckles, the cockade and military toggery of high rank chaplain in the service; and as a gentleman of the "Old School."

In 1774, a white trader was murdered by the Indians at the Indian village of White Eyes, in what is now White Eyes township, this county. DeHass gives the following brief account of it:

"In the meantime the Indians were murdering whites whenever opportunity presented. Many of the traders who had penetrated the Indian country, could not retrace their steps in time, and thus fell before the merciless hand of the destroyer. One of these, near the town of White Eyes, the peace chief of the Delawares, was murdered, cut to pieces, and the fragments of his body hung upon the bushes. The kindly chief gathered them together and buried them. The hatred of the murderers, however, led them to disinter and disperse the remains of their victim anew; but the kind hearted Delaware chief was as persevering as the hatred of his brethren, and again he collected the scattered limbs and in a secret'place hid them."

The name of this trader does not appear, but he was no doubt one of those wild, reckless hunters and backwoodsmen, so many of whom in those days took their lives in their hands and established themselves in the business of exchanging goods with the Indians for the products of

In the same year in which the white trader was murdered at White Eyes, Major William Eobinson was taken prisoner by the celebrated chief, Logan, a full account of which appears in the history of Franklin township, in another part of this work.

John Leeth, before mentioned as a trader at Coshocton, and probably one of its first merchants, has an interesting history, which appears in the history of Knox county, as follows :

He was born in South Carolina in 1755; ran away from home when a boy and went to Pennsylvania. At Fort Pitt he hired out to an Indian trader, who had a stock of goods at New Lancaster, Ohio, then an Indian town, and where he sent young Leeth to take charge of the stock. Here he was taken prisoner by the Delaware Indians April 10, 1772, and the stock of goods divided among them.

When Dunmore invaded Ohio with his army^ the Indians considered the matter of killing young Leeth to get him out of the way, but his adopted father, who had taken a liking to him, saved his life, and he was taken along with the Indians when they adandoned their towns and retreated before Dunmore's advance. During tlie journej' he made several attempts to escape, but failed.

After the war Leeth's Indian father voluntarily gave him his freedom, providing him with a gun, ammunition and blanket, and the young man spent two years or more hunting and trading with the Indiaias, during which time he accumulated furs and peltry to the amount of several hundred dollars. During these years his favorite hunting ground was in Knox and Coshocton counties, along the beautiful Kokosing and Walhonding rivers, where he spent much of his time among the Delawares in their villages hunting deer and bear.

Mr. Leeth married for his second wife a widow lady named Sarah McKee, his first wife being a white girl, a captive among the Indians. Mrs. McKee was living on Middle Island, near Marietta. This last marriage took place in 1802. Mrs> McKee was the maternal grandmother of Lyman W. Gates, of Miller township, Knox county. During the summer of 1825, Mr. Leeth visited the family of Mr. Gates' father, and spent some time there. Wishing to visit Mount Vernon, old Mr. Gates accompanied him. When they had reached the Gotshall place, Mr. Leeth got off his horse and pointed out places where he had lain in wait for the wild animals to come and drink, and where he shot them. He also pointed out other localities along the road where he had hunted successfully. As late as thirty years ago, Gotshall's lake was a considerable body of water, and was a famous place for wild ducks. By successful drainage the water has since been drawn off and the land cultivated.

About two years after obtaining his freedom, about twenty Indians came from another tribe, and, while young Leeth was dealing with a trader and his assistant, took them all prisoners, with all their property. They took him some distance through the wilderness, and, after several days, sold him to another tribe. His purchaser told him he was not bought for the purpose of being enslaved ; it was only because he loved him and wished him to stay with him, and gave Leeth his liberty on a promise not to run awaj"-. Again he became a hunter and trapper, and, during the following fall and spring, accumulated furs and skins to the value of seventy-five or eighty dollars.

During the Revolutionary war, he is found at Detroit, where he engaged with an Indian trader to take some goods to Sandusky. While at the latter place he witnessed the murder of a prisoner brought in by the Wyandots, the murder occurring in front of the door of his employer. As the poor fellow was passing the house, they knocked him down with tomahawks, cut off his head, placed it on a pole and began dancing around it.

He remained at Coshocton some time. The spring following he married a young woman, seventeen or eighteen years of age, who had been taken prisoner when only twenty months old. At the time of his marriage Leeth was twentyfour years of age. This was in 1779. He resided in the Moravian towns on the Muskingum some two years, and upon the removal of the Moravians to Sandusky, in 1782, was taken with them. In this journey they passed along the Walhonding and Kokosing rivers. At Sandusky Leeth was engaged by five of the British officers, who had formed a stock company, to attend to their business. While in their employ (1782). Colonels Williamson and Crawford marched with an army against Sandusky, during which the Indians closely watched Leeth to prevent him from communicating with the invading army. Being told the Americans were within fifteen miles of Sandusky, Leeth gathered together his employers' effects, about $1,500 in silver, furs, powder, lead, horses and cattle, and. started for Lower Sandusky. After traveling about three miles, he met Capt. Elliot, a British officer, and about fourteen miles further he met Col. Butler's rangers. They took from him his cattle and let him pass. That night he encamped about fourteen miles above Lower Sandusky. A French interpreter for the Indians came to the camp and was granted permission to stay all night. Next morning, aft«r the horses were loaded and ready to start, they heard the sound of cannon at Upper Sandusky. The Frenchman clapped his hand to his breast, and said, " I shall be there before the battle," and started. He went to where some Indians were painting and preparing for battle, put on a ruflJe shirt, and painted a red spot on his breast, remarking, " Here's a mark for the Virginia riflemen," and, shortly after, marched with the Indians to battle, where he soon received a ball in the very spot, dying instantaneously. Leeth reached Lower Sandusky safely. The unfortunate expedition of Col. Crav.'ford is a matter of history. After this battle his employers moved their goods again to Upper Sandusky, where Leeth remained about three years, when the partnership was dissolved, the goods divided, and each one entered into business for himself. One of the partners informed Leeth that he was going to establish a store at New Coshocton, on the head waters of the Muskingum river, and would engage him at the same wages to go with him. This proposition was accepted.

Some time the following fall Leeth accompanied the Indians to Fort Pitt, leaving his wife and children at New Coshocton. After matters were settled arid articles of peace signed, he entered into partnership with two others, in a trading association ; and in a short time he started west with thirty-four horses loaded with several hundred dollars' worth of goods.- Leeth went to the Indian town (present site of Coshocton) and remained about nine months, in which time lie sold out nearly all their goods. About three months after his arrival at 'Tuscarawas (now Coshocton), Captain Hamilton, an American officer, came there with another store, and opened close by him, and about the same time Leeth's wife and children came from New Coshocton. While Captain Hamilton was absent at Fort Pitt after goods several Wyandot Indians came to his store ; two of them killed his clerk and carried away all the goods. This event alarmed Leeth very much, as he expected the same fate, but a Delaware Indian, one of his old acquaintances, came to him at this time and said, " I will die by you." Preparations for a hasty departure were made, and Leeth and his family started with the Delaware Indian for Fort Pitt. They were captured, how- ever, before they had proceeded far, and taken to the Indian towns on Mad river. The goods and other property left at Tuscarawas were taken away and secreted by the Indians. After some time he was again released from captivity, and proceeding to Fort Pitt, he purchased horses and went in search of his hidden goods. He found them all and took them to Fort Pitt, where he left them, and returned to his family on Mad river. After remaining with them some time he returned to Fort Pitt with the intention of dissolving partnership. He told his partners that the times were very dangerous, and trade uncertain, and if they were willing he would retire from the concern, and quit business, at least for the present. His partners had just purchased a large assortment of goods, and were not willing to dissolve. They told him " if he would venture his body, they would venture the goods." He yielded, and on the fifteenth of January started out with a stock of goods and opened another store in the woods, where Coshocton now stands. In a short time he collected about fourteen horse loads of skins and furs, and the hand he had with him started with them for Fort Pitt. After getabout two-thirds of the way, the Mingo and Wyandot Indians overtook the caravan, killed the man, and took the horses and all the goods off with them. Leeth continued at Coshocton with his family and seven horses until about the first of April, under great apprehensions for his life.

He then moved to Tapacon, twenty-five miles from Coshocton, where he left his family and went on horseback to Fort Pitt, to consult with his partners about quitting business, as they had already lost all 'their profits. But they thought best to continue the business until all their goods were sold. He then returned to his family at Tapacon; but just before his arrival there two Indians had visited his wife and told her they had better move to Fort Pitt; they said the Mingoes had killed the two traders they had left at Coshocton and carried off all their property. Leeth left his goods with the two Indians, and went with his family to Fort Pitt. Soon after he returned to Tapacon with five men, and found the skins where the Indians had hidden them ; but they had taken the horses and goods with them. He returned to Fort Pitt with theskins, and soon after set out for the Shawanee towns, where he found his horses and goods. On his route back to Fort Pitt he passed through Knox,' Licking and Muskingum counties, trading his goods for furs and peltry, disposing of all of them by the way. He was accompanied by an Indian hunting party of seventeen warriors. Shortly after his arrival at Fort Pitt he settled up with his partners and gave up the horses. He then left Pittsburgh with his family and settled on the

The Moravians, ho^ ever, were continually between two fires, and were all the time in danger of being murdered by one party or the other, and were therefore frequently on the move. Leeth was compelled to take his family and flee for safety to Fort Pitt, where he arrived after a hazardous " journey through the wilderness. From Fort Pitt, he proceeded with his faraily to Bird's ferry, where his wife's relatives resided, and who received the wanderers with great kindness. Mr. Leeth settled among them as a farmer.

Mr. Leeth died about 1850, in the ninety-fifth year of his age. His father was born in the city of Leeth, Scotland, and his mother in Virginia.

In the white occupation of this county, Brodhead's expedition in 1780, follows in chronological order. The details of this expedition will be in another chapter. In the following year, 1781, among the many captives taken by the Indians across this territory was John Stilley, an account of whose captivity appears in the Knox county history, as follows :

In the year 1781 there was a small settlement on Raccoon creek,.some sixty miles above Wheeling, in what are now Beaver and Washington counties, in Pennsylvania. Some thirty miles southeast was another settlement on Peter's creek, in what is now Allegheny county, same State. The latter settlement was much larger than the former, and possessed a good stockaJde and block-house, to which the pioneers could resort in times of danger or invasion by the savages of the territory of Ohio.

In the year 1777, the settlers on Raccoon creek were compelled by Indian invasion to abandon that region and seek refuge in the block-house on Peter's creek, where most of them remained several months. About this time, John Stilley, sr., who had located in the settlement in 1773, accompanied an expedition against the Indians on Beaver creek, where he was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of a comrade. Mrs. Stilley and several children were left helpless by the unfortunate circumstance.

Among those who fled from Raccoon creek was a young man by the name of Kennedy. '' When the others returned to the settlement he remained at the block-house on Peter's creek. In the meantime he had married Rachel Stilley, the oldest daughter of Mrs. John Stilley. In the spring of 1781, Mr. Kennedy concluded to return to the Raccoon settlement. He took along a good team of horses, and his family, consisting of his wife, a small child, Sarah, and John

'Stilley, sr., youngest brother and sister of Mrs. Kennedy. Some days after his arrival his horses disappeared. He searched- the bottoras in the vicinity of his cabin for them, but without effect. As was the custom among the pioneers, he had placed a small bell on one of the horses. before turning them out, that they might be traced by its sound.

Early one morning some six weeks after the disappearance of his horses, just before rising, he heard a horse-bell approaching his cabin, and remarked to his wife: "There they are." He -dressed, and on opening his door, was confronted by ten savage warriors of the Wyandot nation, who had used the horse-bell as a decoy to draw -him out. These Indians had been skulking about the neighborhood for some time, and had now stealthily approached the home of Kennedy to -secure new prizes in the way of prisoners and scalps. The horses were Kennedy's, and they had now returned with new owners.

Resistance was useless. The whole family sur- Tendered at once. The Indians then plundered the house of such articles as they desired, and set it on fire. They then started for the Ohio river with their prisoners and their plunder. Fearing they prepared to cross without delay. At the river they were joined by two other Indians who had separated from the rest to pluiJtier a -neighbor of Mr. Kennedy, by the name of Wilson. They had crept upon Mr. Wilson just as he had "hitched his horses to the plow. They fired at and wounded him, and he fled to his cabin, one the Indians following him with rapidity, as the other one was engaged in cutting the harness from the horses.

On reaching the door of the cabin Wilson fell exhaustion, and would have been killed by the pursuing savage but for the providential ap-

Eearance of Captain John Slack, a noted "Indian ghter and scout, who rode up and fired at the Indian and hit him on the back of the head just ^as he leaped the fence, making an ugly gash The Indians instantly mounted the horses and rode Tapidly in the direction of the Ohio river where they were joined by the ten who had captured Kennedy and his family.

Captain Slack, Wilson, and a number of others gave pursuit and arrived at the Ohio just as the Indians and their prisoners, who were mounted on horseback, reached the opposite shore. They saw the Indians enter the forest and disappear with their helpless captives. Further pursuit Tvas abandoned. It was fortunate for the terrified prisoners that Captain Slack and his party failed to overtake the Indians before they reached the river; otherwise the prisoners would have been instantly tomahawked and scalped. As it was they passed on without being maltreated in any way. John Stilley was then about eight years of I age, and Sarah, his little sister, between five and six. After the Indians had conducted their prisoners some distance into the forest they checked the rapidity of their flight and halted some two hours. They killed a few wild turkeys and roasted them after the Indian manner, sharing them equally among their captives. Although much depressed in feeling, Mr-, and Mrs. Kennedy put on an air of cheerfulness, and assumed a willingness to accompany the savages. This seemed to please them, and led to a relaxation of their vigilance. The captives were treated kindly and suffered but little. It was then about the first of June and the weather was delightful. The forests abounded in a luxuriant growth of pea vines, wild flowers, and flowering shrubs. The party crossed the river not a great ways from the mouth of Yellow creek, and passed through what are now Jefferson, Carroll, and Tuscarawas counties, north of the Moravian villages, thence near the present village of Coshocton, and from thence up the Walhonding to the mouth of the Kokosing, or what is known as the Vernon river, thence up that stream to where Fredericktown now stands, thence up the west branch and across the counties of Marion to the Olentangy, and thence to Upper Sandusky, the principal seat of the Wyandots.

Mr. Kennedy and his little family were kindly treated all the way, and they were permitted to ride most of the time. At night they slept on the leaves. They had plenty of wild meat, which, by the aid of Mrs. Kennedy, was roasted to suit their taste. They were greatly pleased with the scenery along the Walhonding and the beautiful Kokosing. They encamped one night on the present site of Mount Vernon. At that period, and for many subsequent years, the Kokosing was a favorite resort for the Wyandot and Delaware hunters. They cleared a few small fields, which they cultivated in corn, and the hills, made by hoeing, were to be seen as late as 1806.

They traveled up the banks of the Walhonding, which Mr. Stilley states was the finest region he ever saw. It abounded in wonderful growth of timber and exhibited a soil unsurpassed for richness. The undrgrowth was very rank; wild game existed in great abundance. As the lonely captives attempted to slumber on a cot of dry leaves they were often serenaded by wolves and owls. Their mingled voices made night hideous.

When the Indians arrived at Upper Sandusky they divided their prisoners. They were parceled out according to the fancy of the Indians and separated. Mr. Kennedy, wife and child were taken in the direction of Detroit. Sarah was adopted by another family and removed to the same neighborhood : John Stilley was adopted by an old Indian and his squaw, who treated him with much lenity, and taught him the Wyandot language, which he acquired very rapidly. He was yery apt and spry, and made an impression upon his new parents that grew into a very warm attachment. The old Indian was very grave, and evinced a disposition to make his adopted son contented and happy. He reciprocated these attentions by being obedient and prompt. ^ The first care of this mild old Indian father was to teach him the first principles of hunting. The Indian boys erected a sort of bower of fresh cut brush and leaves in an open space in the forest, and procuring a wild pigeon, tied it to the top of the bower, and concealing themselves within, with bow and arrow, occassionally alarming it ; and those flying over, perceiving the fluttering, alighted so that the boys could easily shoot them with their arrows. In this way they secured a great many. The sport furnished them much amusement. The pigeons, at the proper season, were fat, and in such abundance as to be easily taken. The flesh was very palatable.

One morning the grave old father left the wigwam, and after walking a few hundred yards returned. Before leaving the wigwam to hunt, he told young Stilley there was a rabbit within the circle and he might catch it while he was absent. After the old hunter had departed young Stilley proceeded to search for the rabbit. He finally found the track, and soon traced it to a hollow log. Returning to the wigwam he procured a tomahawk with which he soon cut a hole large enough to extricate the cony. Being certain that the animal would not bite, he thrust his hand in and seized it by the head and neck and dragged it from the hole. As soon as its hind legs were released it commenced a series of struggles to extricate its head from his grasp, during which his hands were severely torn by its hind feet. Being too plucky to give up the contest, he held on until finally he succeeded in killing it. When the old hunter came in young Stilley informed him with much pride that he had found and captured the rabbit. The old father asked the young hunter to show him his hands. Upon doing so the old fellow laughed heartily, saying: "Bad hunt; take him by hind leg next time, and he no scratch." This was his first lesson in hunting rabbits, and he remembered it as long as he lived.

His next lesson was on trapping raccoon. These animals in the wet season are said to be remarkably fond of live frogs, and haunt the ponds where they are to be found. They walk on the fallen timber, and capture the croaking frogs that leap upon the logs to sing their peculiar songs. The trap was made by cutting a small sapling, eight or ten leet long, which was placed on the log, and stakes driven on each side to keep it from rolling off. One end was then elevated fifteen or eighteen inches, and held up by a short treadle, to which a piece of frog or dear meat wasfastened. When the raccoon approached the bait and attempted -to remove it, the sappling fell and killed it. In this way large numbers of raccoons were caught. They were generally quite fat, and when roasted, made desirable food.

Young Stilley often accompanied the Indian boys on their fishing excursions along the Sandusky and other streams. He soon learned thisart ; and when the fish came up from the bay,, made himself quite useful to his Indian father and mother, by aiding them in supplying food.. They always flattered and caressed him in his successful excursions; and soothed and sympathized with him when he failed. For these acts of kindness he always felt grateful, and redoubled his exertions to win their esteem and confidence. In his lonely hours^or he often thought of hislittle sister, and of Mrs. Kennedy, the cheering words and counsel of his Indian parents revived his drooping spirits.

He entered freely into the sports of the Indian boys. Their principal amusements were wrestling, foot-racing and playing ball. He was strong and active for one of his age, and was equal in strength and courage to Indian boys much'older^ than himself. In a general* way, he got on smoothly, but occasionally was compelled to use his* trength and fists in self-defence. These littlequarrels were soon reconciled, and all went on merrily again. The most exciting amusement was their game of ball. It resembled very much the game known among boys of modern times, as " Shinny." They used a crooked stick to strike the ball, which was generally made of wood twoor three inches in diameter. The stick had a head or curve at the lower end, with which the ball was hit. The alley was generally two or three hundred yards long, and. was perfectly smoefth and clear of obstructions. The parties divided, and the ball being cast up was struck by one of the players near the center of the alley, and the trick consisted in driving it in the direction of the oppiosite ends of the alley. In doing so, the boys ofted became badly huddled, and their shins, and sometimes their heads, suffered from the misdirected blows of the players- Whenever the ball was carried by either party, to a given point, the game was won. The young men had a game of ball resembling that of the smaller boys, with the exception that there was a sort of hoop and net on the bat, and the party getting it in his net, attempted to carry it to his end of the alley, while the rest used their efforts to prevent him from accomplishing this difficult feat.

The wigwam in which young Stilley's Indian parents resided the first and second winters of his captivity, was a plain affair, and was constructed of poles, after the Wyandot plan. The poles for' the sides were cut ten or twelve feet long. The stakes were driven into the ground about four inches apart at each end of the proposed wall. They were about six feet high, and tied at the top with elm bark or thongs of elk or buffalo hide. The poles being straight and neat, were laid one -upon another nntil a wall of sufficient height was raised. About nine or ten feet from this wall another similar one was constructed. They then dug a sort of trench at each end, and set poles, upright, so as to make the end walls, leaving a space large enough for a door. A ridge pole was placed over the center of the building, and elm bark over it to form the roof. The cracks were plugged with dry moss A small space was left in the roof for the smoke to escape. A fire was built near the center of the wigwams, and a bear skin generally served for a door. Their beds were made of deer and bear skins spread around the fire. Upon these they slept. All in all, these Tude huts were quite comfortable in the winter :season.

Their winter food consisted of such wild game as they could capture in the forest. Deer, bear and turkeys, were moderately plenty at some distance from the Indian villages. In the fall ;season, for two or three years, the band to which young Stilley belonged, hunted along the Koko- 'sing and Walhonding, and generally brought in a good deal of game. When their wild meat was scarce, they used hominy, arid a sort of soup made of beans, corn, and a little bear or deer flesh. Young Stilley accompanied his old Indian father on his hunting excursions down their favorite Kokosirig two or three times. Their encampments on these occasions were not a great distance from the present site of Mount Vernon At that period there was not a white man, except the Canadian traders and a few captives, within the present limits of the State The valley.of the 'Kokosing existed in all its original grandeur. Its luxuriant forests toweled almost to the heavens, while wild game ranged in native freedom among the undergrowth.

Young Stilley occasionally met Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, and, his little sister, as they traveled "with the bands to which they belonged. These tribes hunted mostly within the present limits of the State of Michigan, and traded at Detroit. The furs and peltry secured by the Wyandots of Upper Sandusky were mostly purchased by French -and Canadian traders in exchange for ammunition, blankets, tobacco, trinkets, and that bane of the Indian and white man, " fire-water," or bad whiskey. The route from Sandusky to Detroit, was difficult, and the Wyandots preferred to trade home. When war was threatened, their chiefs and leading men made frequent visits to Detroit to talk with their "English Father." Though often in the neighborhood of the river Raisin,

In the summer of 1782, the noted Wyandot chief. Big Foot, with his four brothers, and four or five warriors, left Sandusky for a raid on the settlements opposite the mouth of Yellow creek, along Raccoon and Peter's creek. They killed an old man in his cabin, and perpetrated other crimes in the settlements, and with their plunder and scalps crossed the Ohio. They were followed by the famous Indian fighters and spies, Adam and Andrew Poe, and some six others, and overtaken on Yellow creek, where a fight ensued, and the Indians were all killed but one. When the surviving Indian reached the village of Upper Sandusky he raised a dismal howl. The solitary and grief-stricken savage remained in the forest one day and a night, howling like a wolf. He then approached the camps and related the contest between Big Foot and the " Long Knives." The Wyandots lamented the death of Big Foot and his brothers by much groaning and many tears.

Big Foot was a brave warrior and a cunning enemy, and was regarded by the Wyandots as invulnerable. Part of the Indians who accompanied Big Foot, had been present at the capture of Kennedy and young Stilley. Their raids were now closed forever.

Young Stilley knew the Poes very well, and says the strength and size of Big Foot was greatly exaggerated. He and his brothers were above the ordinary size of Indians - were very fine looking, courageous and active. Both the Poes were much larger than Big Foot. He thinks the reason why Big Foot held his own, arose from the fact that he was nearly nude, and Poe could not grip him, while Poe's clothing furnished Big Foot an advantage.

At the close of the Revolutionary war in 1783, an arrangement was made with the British and Indians to bring the white captives to Detroit, to be delivered to their fr'ends. Detroit was a small village, and had a fort and stockade. The Wyandots soon brought in Mr. Kennedy, his family, and little Sarah; but retained John Stilley, who was then regularly adopted in his tribe. He had become so much attached to his Indian parents, and the wild roving life of the Wyandots, that he had no desire to return home. He was then dressed in the Wyandot manner, his hair all plucked out save a small scalp-lock, which was ornamented with gay colored feathers. They had pierced his ears and the cartilage of his nose, and inserted rings and a brooch therein. When painted he resembled the true Indian. He was then something over twelve years of age, full of life and adventure.

home. In the spring of 1784, after the Indians had become pacified, and understood the terms of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, Mr. and Mrs Kennedy determined not to return home without John. Mr. Kennedy and a few friends, learning that he and his tribe were encamped near where Maiden now stands, determined to visit, and if possible, rescue him from his Indian allurements. On reaching the camp, they found him more an Indian than a white boy, painted, dressed in deer skin, hair worn in true Indian style, rings in his ears, with bow and arrow, and deeply fascinated with his present condition. He loved his grave old Indian father and mother, and had nearly forgotten his own language. It was difficult to persuade him to return. After many interviews, he finally accompanied Mr. Kennedy to Detroit.

The prisoners were shipped to Sandusky bay, and upon landing employed two Indian guides to conduct them to the settlement east of the Ohio. They all - ninety-two or three - passed up the Sandusky river, across the Olentangy, through what are now Marion and Morrow counties, to the west branch of the Kokosing, and thence down said - stream through the present site of Mount Vernon; down the Walhonding near where Coshocton stands, thence by Indian paths across Tuscarawas and Jefferson counties, to the Ohio river. Before reaching the Ohio river, by comparing destinations, they learned that nearly all their fellow captives belonged to Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania, very few crossed the river with Kennedy and young Stilley. Most of the captives never met again. At this time they found no improvements between Upper Sandusky and the Ohio.

_ Young Stilley remained on Peter's creek, with his mother, some five years. Learning something of the wilds of the territory of Kentucky, from returning adventurers, he determined to abandon his home and visit the hardy pioneers and hunters of the " dark and bloody ground." He and a friend built a large pirogue which they launched, and placing therein such provisions, clothing and ammunition as they might need, and taking their rifles, they descended the Ohio, and landed, in 1789, without accident, at Limestone, near where Maysville now stands. They found a small settlement at Wheeling, Marietta and Gallipolis. The forests on the banks of the Ohio were dense and in full leaf, and seemed to press upon the shore like a mighty wall. Although the Shawnees had often crossed the beautiful Ohio to harrass the settlements of Kentcky, they met no hostile bands on their trip down the river.

Mr. Stilley remained at Limestone a short time, and upon learning that there was a settlement on the Elkhorn, he determined to visit it. In company with several hunters, he passed through the forest to that region. He had been there but a short time, when he became acquainted with the brave hunter and Indian spy, Simon Kenton. Kenton, at that time, had command of a small ' company of spies and scouts, who patroled the- Elkhorn for a distance of fifty miles to guard the^ settlements against surprise by hostile bands of Shawnees and Miamis, who refused to be pacified, or submit to a recent treaty. He joined Kenton'scompany, and became an active minute During his stay on the Elkhorn, some three years, owing to the vigilance of Kenton and others, thesettlements remained nearly undisturbed by the savages. Elk and buffalo were yet quite plenty, and Stilley often joined parties on hunting excursioris. He passed down Licking river on one of his hunting trips, to where Covington now stands, and thinks he shot a panther within its present corporate limits The animal had treed, and had a peculiar white spot on. its breast, at which he aimed and struck, killing the ferocious beast almost without a struggle. While in the Elkhorik settlement, he also became acquainted with a noted hunter named Neal Washburn, and a Mr.. Kobinet, who kept a pack of fine hunting dogs.

After the repulse of General Harmer in 1790,. and the disastrous defeat of General St Clair in 1791, and General Wayne was ordered to the west, John Stilley determined to become a sol- ' dier. He volunteered in a company commanded, by Captain Rollins; raised near Paris, Kentucky, for a term of four months ; and passed with the Kentucky troops, by Fort Washington, (Cincinnati) and up liie trail of St. Clair to Fort Recovery. At the expiration of his service, he returned with his comrades to the Elkhorn settlement, where he remained but a short time, and re-enlisted for a tour of five months. The Kentucky troops were hurried forward, and participated in the noted battle of "Fallen Timbers,'" where the Indian army was overthrown ani compelled to submit to a humiliating treaty, which deprived them of a vast amount of territory, and crushed their military prestige. Mr.. Stilley regarded General Wayne as a courages ^nd far-seeing commander ; and just the man tO' strike terror into the heart of the blood-thirsty savages led by Little Turtle, Captain Pipe, and. other wily chiefs.

At the expiration of his second term of service,, he again returned to the Elkhorn settlement. He remained there hunting and farming until about 1797. He describes the hunters and pioneers of that time as being the most courteous, hospitable, whole-souled and brave people he ever knew. Their cabins, to use the old phrase, " had, their latch-strings always out." They traversed the forest for miles to aid each other in putting up cabins, rolling logs, planting corn and clearing fields. They divided their surplus grain for seed.

In 1800 he married Rebecca Thompson, of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and remembering the beautiful country along the Kokosing, determined to find a home there. In 1805-6 the lands along that stream, within the present limits of Knox county, were being surveyed into tracts of eighty and one hundred and sixty acres. In 1805, Moses Craig, a relative, settled about one mile west of the site of Mount Vernon. Mr. Stilley, in the spring of 1806, visited Mr. Craig, and located a military tract adjoining him, and clearing a field, planted it in corn, and remained through the summer months cultivating it. In the meantime he cut logs, and by the aid of the neighborhood settlers, erected a cabin. In the fall he returned to Peter's creek.

In the spring of 1807, a company consisting of Robert Thompson and wife, John Stilley, three children and his mother, John Stilley, (a nephew late of Morrow county), and a colored boy by the name of Benjamin Trusser (who died in Janesville a few years since, well advanced in years), with teams and covered wagons, loaded with such household articles as were needed, started for the wilds of Ohio. Their route was from Peter's creek to Cannonsburgh, Pennsylvania, thence to Wellsburgh,Virgiilia, thence to Steuben ville and Cadiz, thence to Cambridge, thence along Zane's old trace to Zanesville and Newark, and thence to the present site of Mount Vernon. They were detained several days at Will's creek in consequence of high .water, and had to camp out between Zanesville and Newark. The trip took thirteen days, and they were much wearied.

As soon as John Stilley had fully rested from the trip, he took two horses and returned to Peter's creek for his wife and small child (now the wife of Benjamin P. Smith), who were unable to come with the former company. He proceeded down the Kokosing and Walhonding to where Coshocton now stands, thence to New Philadelphia, thence to Steubenville and thence to Peter's creek. He had most of the way but an Indian trail to lead him; but this being the route he had traveled to and from his captivity, it was somewhat familiar. On arriving at his old home, Mrs. Stilley rnounted one of the horses and undertook the journey. They traveled the same route and came through with but a single accident. When they were crossing the Walhonding, the horse of Mrs. Stilley being a poor swimmer, -became alarmed and turned down stream, and was about to reach a steep bank, when Mrs. Stilley would have been thrown and probably drowned. Fifteen or twenty Greentown Indians were encamped near the bank, and Billy Montour, seeing the danger, mounted a pony and rushed into the stream, pursuing, overtaking, and safely conducting the horse of Mrs. Stilley out. As long as Billy Montour, Tom Lyon and the Greentown Indians visited the Kokosing to hunt, they were kindly regarded for this generous act.

John Stilley served creditably in the war of 1812, as adjutant of Colonel Kratzer's regiment, and as a volunteer in defence of Fort Meigs. He was a brave, active, and able soldier.

After the close of the war, Mr. Stilley, like his thriving neighbors, entered actively upon the task of clearing up his farm, which was handsomely located, and is now one of the most desireable homesteads in Knox county; and, like a true pioneer, always had his latch-string out. As the population increased, his good judgment, business qualities, and integrity, gave him weight with his fellow-citizens. The records of Knox county show that John Stilley was more frequently, perhaps, than any other pioneer of the county, selected upon the juries drawn to deal out justice between man and man. In the spring of 1824, he was elected justice of the peace, and in the fall of the same year county commissioner. These trusts were faithfully executed.

In 1852, he was attacked with paralysis, with which he lingered a short time, and died March 10. He sleeps by the side of his faithful wife, (who survived him a short time), near his loved Kokosing, where he had so many adventures in his youth.

Probably the next white men to pass across this territory were the Moravians, who, as prisoners, were taken from Moravian towns on the Tuscarawas river to Upper Sandusky, by British emissaries. These peaceable Christian Indians were charged with being spies, and with holding treasonable correspondence with the Americans at Pittsburgh and perhaps other points, and of harboring other Indians friendly to the American cause. Upon these charges they were arrested by Captain Matthew Elliott, of the British army, who had under his command about three hundred hostile Indians. Making no resistance, they were made captives, September 11, 1781, and by this overpowering force compelled to leave their much-loved homes and ta-ke up their line of march for the Sandusky river. Upon this march they followed the Indian trail down the Tuscarawas to the mouth of the Walhonding, in Coshocton county ; thence up that stream to the mouth of the Kokosing ; thence up the Kokosing, and on to the Wyandot town, near the present site of Upper Sandusky. The missionaries thus forcibly removed were Kevs. Zeisberger, Senseman, and Jungman, of New Sohonbrunn; Revs. John Heckewelder, and Jung, of Salem, and Rev. William Edwards, of Gnadenhutten.

The pomt at which they were left to take care of themselves, their wives, children and Indian captives, was on the banks of the Sandusky river, not far from where the Broken Sword creek empties into it, about ten miles from Upper Sandusky. Here they selected a location, and, without delay, built a village of small huts to protect themselves from the inclemency of the weather. This village soon took the name of " Captive's Town," and was situated on the right bank of the Sandusky river, about a mile above the mouth of the Broken Sword, in the present township of Antrim, Wyandot county.

During the progress of the Indian war from 1788 to 1795, the noted scout and Indian fighter, Captain Samuel Brady, on several occasions passed through what is now Coshocton county. His operations are detailed elsewhere, as are also those of Lewis Wetzel, another noted scout, and a cotemporary of Brady's.

The notorious Girty boys and their white associates, Colonel McKee and Matthew Elliott of the British army, were frequent visitors to the Indian towns on the Muskingum. The two latter were notorious as British agents, and were continually inciting the Indians to engage in war upon Americans, furnishing them with arms and ammunition for that purpose. They were continually passing and repassing through the Indian country, were personally acquainted with nearly all the chiefs of the various tribes, and were always personally welcome in the wigwams of the ^vages, as they always came loaded with presents for the red men. Their operations extended through the Revolutionary war and the Indian war of 1788-1795. In this latter war they were central figures, and were often personally - on the battle field encouraging the Indians. They always found an efficient and able coadjutor in the Delaware chief, Captain Pipe, who with his band, for some years occupied the valley of the Walhonding.

State of Ohio, and their deeds of daring and cruelty will be found in all the annals of the northwest territory. Anything in the way of history written about the Indians of Ohio, regarding their operations between the years 1760 and 1800, would be incomplete without some mention of the Girtys.

This notorious family was first heard of in Western Pennsylvania, living on what was known as Girty's Run. Here Simon, the most noted of the brothers, was born about the year 1745. The father was an Irishman and a drunkard, and was killed by a man with whom the mother preferred to live. The family was morally rotten from the beginning, and having thus a fair start in the world, the boys maintained their parents' reputation to the end. The sons were Thomas, Simon, George and James. The three latter were made prisoners early in life by the Indians. George was the one adopted by the Delawares, and taken to their towns on the Muskingum. He remained with this tribe until his death, and is said to have been a fearless, cunning, desperate fellow - a perfect savage - and engaged in many battles against the whites. Later in life, like his father, he gave himself up to drink, which finally killed him. His death is said to have occurred on the Maumee river, about 1820.

James Girty was adopted by the Shawanees. As he grew to manhood he became dextrous in all the arts of savage life. He easily added to an uncontrollable disposition all the vices of the depraved frontiersmen and Indians with whom he associated. He was a frequent visitor to the soil of Kentucky during the raids of the Indians in that direction, and many of the inhabitants became victims of his cruelty. Neither age nor sex found mercy at his hand ; he delighted in carnage and bloodshed. If it were possible, he was probably more savage in his nature than either of the three brothers, and in this respect suited well the bloodthirsty Shawanees from whom he took his lessons. When unable to stand on his feet he murdered with his hatchet captive women and children who came within his reach. He was a monster of cruelty, many of his most barbarous acts being charged upon his brother Simon, on account of the latter's greater conspicuity and activity. His death does not appear on record.

Simon was adopted by the Seneeas, and became a very expert hunter. , He was possibly a little higher up in the scale of humanity than his brothers, though a perfect savage. He exercised some influence over the Indians, was entrusted by them with the conduct of m.any expeditions against the whites; associated much with McKee, Elliott and Proctor, and was much more celebrated than George or James. His name was associated with everything cruel and fiend-like ; to women and children especially nothing was more terrifying than the name of Simon Girty. He deserted the Indians at one time and returned to his relatives near Fort Pitt. When the Indian war began in 1788, he sought a commission to fight against them, but being refused this, on account of his known bad character, he became exasperated and rejoined the Indians, ever after remaining a bitter foe to the whites. A review of his life would require a volume. It is intimately connected with the Indian history of that exciting period. He many times visited the Indian villages on the Muskingum and passed through this region often on raiding expeditions into Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. He was a man of extraordinary physical strength and powers of endurance. He was about five feet ten inches in height ; hair coarse, black and generally uncombed; forehead low, eyebrows heavy and shaggy and meeting across his short, flat nose ; eyes gray, sunken and averting, lips thin and compressed, and wearing, as he did continually, a dark, forbidding, sinister expression of countenance, he was the perfect picture of a villain.

He usually wore the Indian costume, without ornament, and often, in later years, a dirty silk hankerchief, supplying the place of a hat, covered an ugly scar on his forehead given him by the chief of the Five nations, Brant, at one time, in a drunken brawl.

After the war he lived much of the time in a cabin located on the Maumee river, about five miles above Napoleon, Ohio, at what is yet known asGirty's Point."

the Thames; another that he died in Canada soon after the war of 1812; but the following extract from a letter written by Daniel M. Workman, a pioneer of Logan county, Ohio, seems to be conclusive on this point : " In 1813 I went to Maiden and put up at a hotel kept by a Frenchman. I noticed in the bar-room a gray-headed and blind old man. The landlady, his daughter, a woman about thirty, said to me : ' Do you know who that is ? ' pointing to the old man. I replied in the negative, .and she said : ' That is Simon Girty.' He had been blind about four years.

The following is taken from. De Schweinitz's " Life and Times of Zeisberger," and refers to the effort of Girty and others, by lying, to incite the Delaware nation to war against the Americans :

" There came to Gosphachgunk, in the spring of 1778, some disaffected persons from Pittsburgh, with Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliot, and Simon Girty - an ignoble trio of go-betweens and desperadoes.

" Soon after the arrival of this party, a second appeared, consisting of a sergeant and twenty privates, deserters from the fort, who joined the British Indians. These men all vied one with another in spreading falsehoods among the Delawares. The Americans, they said, had been totally defeated in the Atlantic States; driven westward, they were now about to wage an indiscriminate war against the Indians. Such reports produced a general excitement in the nation. Captain Pipe, who had been eagerly watching for an opportunity to supplant White Eyes, and overthrow the policy of the council, hastened to the capital, called upon his countrymen to seize the hatchet, and defend their homes. Who would venture to prate of treaties now ? White Eyes barely succeeded in having the declaration of war postponed for ten days, that time might be given to ascertain whether the reports were true or false. But this did not hinder preparations for the conflict. Goschachgunk rang with the warsong ; rifles were cleaned and tomahawks sharpened. In order to prevent the rising of this nation and its numerous grandchildren, peacemessager must at once b% sent to Goschachgunk. Such messages were prepared, but not a runner could be induced to take them. General Hand's offers of the most liberal rewards were all in vain ; the risk was too great.

" In this emergency, Heckewelder and Schebosh volunteerecf their services. Riding three days and two nights without stopping, except to feed their horses, in constant dlanger from the war-parties that lurked in the forests, they reached Gnaddenhutten an hour before midnight of the fifth of April. The next day was the ninth of the stipulated term. No contradiction of the reports spread by Girty and his confederates had been received. War was accepted as a necessity even by White Eyes. Of that crisis John Heckewelder was the illustrious hero. Although scarcely able any longer to sit upon his horse, and although it was at the risk of his life, he pressed on after but a brief rest, accompanied by John Martin, a native assistant, and got to Goschachgunk at ten o'clock in the morking. The whole population turned out to meet him, but their faces were dark and sinister. There was no welcome given. Not a single Delaware reciprocated his greetings. He extended his hand to White Eyes, but even White Eyes stepped back. " Holding aloft the written speeches of which he was the bearer, Heckewelder addressed the Indians from his horse. He told them that they had been deceived ; that the Americans, instead of being defeated in the Atlantic States, had gained a great victory, and forced Burgoyne and his whole army to surrender; and that, so far from making war upon the Delawares, they were their friends, and had sent him to establish a new alliance. Such news brought about a sudden change in the aspect of affairs A council was called ; the missives of General Hand were delivered and accepted in due form; the warlike preparations ceased ; and, while Captain Pipe and his adherents left the town in great chagrin, the instigators of this whole plot fled to more congenial tribes."

Doubtless many other white men passed into and through this territory during the Indian war of 1788-1795; many are known to have done so; among them the scouts Brady, Wetzel, McCulloch and others in the employ of the government.

The treaty of peace at Greenville, which concluded that great war, opened Ohio to settlement by the whites, and the great wave of emigration began, and did not cease mitil the territory now embraced in the State was overrun and settled by the white race.