Crawford County, Ohio - Chapter 3: Indian Occupancy, 1912 (part 1 of 2)

Their Home on the Sandusky - Attacks on the Settlers - Crawford's Expedition - Character of the Indians - Their Mode of Life - Their Aversion to Work - Failure of Attempts to Enslave Them - Lack of Written Language - Their History Preserved by the Missionaries - Indian Traditions Concerning Their Origin - The Various Tribes - Legends Concerning a Previous Race - Division of the Country Among the Tribes - Origin of the "Five Nations" - Conflict with the French and the Hurons - Sell Land to William Penn - Work of the Franciscan Friars - Of the Jesuits - The Iroquois Make Treaties with the English and Dutch - Their War with the Eries - Attack the Hurons in Canada - The Country Controlled by Them - The Wyandottes and Ottawas - The French and Indian Posts at Mackinac and Detroit - The Foxes Attack Detroit - Are Routed and Almost Exterminated - The Tuscaroras Unite with the Five Nations Forming the "Six Nations" - The Wyandottes in This Section - The Delawares in the Muskingum Valley - The Shawanese - Indian Raids into Pennsylvania and Virginia - Attacks on the White Settlers Whom They Torture and Kill - The French Forts in Northwest Territory - The French and Indian War - Washington Attacks the French - Braddock's Defeat - The Triumph of the English and Its Results - Pontiac's Attempt - Mistake of Ensign Faulty - His Capture and Escape - The Murder of Pontiac - Gen. Bradstreet's Expedition - Battle of Point Pleasant - Cornstalk - Simon Girty - The Revolution and Its Results - The Part Taken by the Indians in the Revolutionary War - The English Trading-Post at Sandusky Where Indians were Paid for Scalps of White Settlers - Indian Attack on Ft. Henry - Bravery of Elisabeth Zane - The Peaceful Moravian Indians Butchered by Col. Williamson - Col. Crawford's Defeat and Tragic Death - End of the Revolution - Treaty of Ft. Mcintosh - Murder of Sha-tay-ya-ron-yah - Other Treaties - Battle of Fallen Timbers - Boundaries - War of 1812 - Surrender of Gen. Hull - Harrison's Expedition - British and Indian Attack on Ft. Meigs - Defense of Ft. Stevenson - Victory of Commodore Perry - Battle of the Thames and Death of Tecumseh - British Defeated at New Orleans - End of the War.

The Indians of the United States were a race who had no written history. They were principally forest wanderers, living on game and fish, and what little grain the Indian women cultivated, for no Indian warrior would demean himself by labor. In the early history of the country a brisk trade existed by adventurers bringing colored men from Africa and selling them to the early settlers as slaves. The thrifty pioneers endeavored to secure slave labor cheaper by capturing Indians, but in all the colonies where it was attempted it proved a failure. The Indians would not work, and although cruel and brutal punishment was inflicted it was useless. The Indians died under the lash rather than degrade themselves by manual labor. They had.

as stated, no written language, the Iroquois being regarded as the most intelligent, as they could count up to -one hundred, many of the tribes being unable to definitely express numbers above ten.

Long before the hunter and the- trapper wandered through the great northwest, the Jesuit and Moravian missionaries, following on the heels of the early discoveries, became very friendly with the Indians. It is from records left by these men, the principal information of the Indians is obtained, but the early history given by them is much of it legendary. These missionaries learned from the older men of the Lenni Lenape (Delawares) that centuries previous their ancestors dwelt in the far west, and slowly drifted toward the east, arriving at a great stream, called the Namoesi Sipee (Mississippi) or "river of fish." Here they met the Mangwes (Iroquois) who had drifted westward to the Mississippi, far to the north, the Delawares having come east about the centre of the United States. The country east of the Mississippi was reported as being inhabited by a very large race of men, who dwelt in large towns along the shores of the streams. These people were called the Allegewi, and it was their name that was given to the Allegheny river and mountains. Their towns were strongly fortified by earth embankments. The Delawares requested permission of the Allegewi to establish themselves in their territory, but the request was refused, although permission was given them to cross the river, and go through their country to the east. When the Delawares com- _tnenced crossing the river the Allegewi became alarmed at their numbers, and fell upon them in force and killed those who had crossed, threatening the others with a like fate should they attempt to pass the stream.

The legend indicates the Allegewi were not of the Indian race but the Iroquois were. The Delawares were indignant at the murder of their braves and the treachery of the Allegewi, so they took counsel with their Iroquois brethren, and they formed a compact to unite and drive the Allegewi beyond the Mississippi, and divide the country. The war lasted for years and great was the slaughter on both sides, until finally the Indians conquered, and the Allegewi fled down the Mississippi, never more to return. The Iroquois then took the country along the great lakes, and the Delawares the country to the south. The two nations remained peaceful for many years, and the Delawares explored still further and further to the east, until finally they established their principal headquarters along the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. The Iroquois covered the territory north of the Delawares and along both shores of the St. Lawrence. The Delawares, occupying land from the Atlantic to beyond the Mississippi river,- became divided into various tribes, but they had grown in strength as the years passed and far outnumbered the Iroquois. Trouble arose between the two nations, and they went to war. To overcome the superiority in numbers of the Delawares the Iroquois resorted to stratagem. An Indian tribe is one family, and an injury done to one member is avenged by the entire tribe. All tribes had their war instruments marked with some peculiar design, or totem. The Iroquois murdered an Indian of one of the Delaware tribes and left at the scene of the murder the war club bearing the mark of another branch of the Delawares. This caused war between the two branches of the Delaware tribes. The shrewd Iroquois soon had the Delawares hopelessly divided, fighting and killing each other.

The treachery of the Iroquois was discovered and the Delawares called a grand council, summoning their warriors from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, with the intention of utterly exterminating the Iroquois. Then was formed by the Iroquois the Five Nations, organized by Thannawaga, an aged Mohawk chief. It was an absolute alliance of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, a form of Republic in which the leaders of the five nations consulted and acted as one. Under this powerful organization the Delawares were forced back to their own lands.

The Five Nations having driven back the Delawares turned their attention to the French, who were forcing them south from their hunting grounds on the St. Lawrence. North of this river were the Hurons (Wyandottes) and although of the Iroquois branch of the Indians, yet they were now a separate nation and at enmity. Although Cartier had treacherously taken their chief to France on his first visit, Champlain, nearly a century later, had made friends with the Hurons and when the Iroquois began resisting the French inroads on their territory, Champlain organized the Hurons and made a raid on the Iroquois in 1609, administering a crushing defeat, the Hurons returning to Quebec with fifty scalps. In 1610 another attack was made on the Iroquois by Champlain and his Huron allies, but they were driven back by the Iroquois. The French now abandoned further extensions to the south, and the Iroquois made an onslaught on their ancient enemies, the Delawares, and drove them from the Atlantic westward to the AUeghenies.

It was land the Five Nations had taken from the Delawares that they sold to William Penn in 1682. The Iroquois as early as 1609 became the inveterate enemy of the French, an enmity which continued with undiminished hatred for a century and a half. So when the French created this hatred by their attacks on the Iroquois, this, and an admiration the western and northern Indians had for the French, made them allies. The Hurons were not as warlike as the Iroquois, but like all Indians they took up the cause of any insult to any member of their tribe. As a result the battles between the Iroquois and the Hurons were frequent, and they were ever inveterate enemies. To balance the Five Nation league of the Iroquois, the Hurons also united all that branch of the Algonquins in the north and west who were opposed to the Iroquois, the principal nation of the confederation being the Wyandottes.

After the French and Hurons had defeated the Five Nations on Lake Champlain, they remained quiet for some time. The Franciscan friars had done much missionary work among the Hurons and many had adopted the Catholic faith, and with religion came a less warlike spirit, and more cultivation of the soil. With the Iroquois the missionaries could do nothing, many losing their lives in the attempt.

The Jesuits followed the Franciscans, and found a fruitful field of labor among the Hurons. This was from 1625 on, and the energetic Jesuits soon supplanted all over the west the quieter and less religiously -aggressive Franciscans. The Jesuits established missions and schools all along the northern border of the lakes, at Detroit, through Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, and along the Mississippi from its source to New Orleans. It is to be noted, however, that even these zealous Jesuits in going from Quebec, on the St. Lawrence, to Detroit, kept north of the lakes, as the more convenient route by way of the Niagara river and Lake Erie was controlled by the ferocious Iroquois, whose implacable- hatred of everything French had been started by Champlain. It is but just to the Jesuits to say some did visit the Iroquois, only to be horribly treated, sometimes tortured and burned at the stake; or, if allowed to return, maimed for life. One faithful missionary was sent home as a warning to others. The fiendish Iroquois had made holes through the calves of his legs; through these holes they had placed reeds filled with gun-powder. These were then set on fire, blowing the calves of his legs to pieces. It is stated that later on he again limped among them, and the Iroquois who, with all their cruelty admired bravery, let him alone. But he was the only Frenchman who was allowed to preach to the Iroquois. As the legend fails to state whether he made any converts among the Iroquois, it is probable he did not, much as they needed religious teaching.

For nearly forty years the warlike Iroquois remained quiet, except occasional marauding expeditions against neighboring tribes and treacherous attacks on the white settlers. They had made a treaty of peace with the New England settlers, and in 1648 made a treaty with the Dutch of New Amsterdam. Under this treaty the Dutch sold them arms and ammunition, which, prior to this time, the -Dutch had scrupulously refused to do. After two-score years of rest a new generation had sprung up, equally warlike and equally fearless, and they concluded to try their new weapons on the Eries, another of the tribes of the Huron combination. The Eries then occupied the southern shore of Lake Erie, including the territory now embraced by Crawford and adjoining counties. The Eries were entirely unprepared and the victory was so complete that the Eries never again became prominent. This led to a war between the Hurons and the Iroquois, and it raged with undiminished fury for several years, until in 1659, the Iroquois crossed into Canada in great force, above the French settlements, and marched through the Huron territory, massacring their enemies, burning their towns, destroying the missions and murdering the priests. The Hurons fled through lower Canada, across the river at Detroit, and into upper Michigan, and only found final refuge from their insatiable foes on the southern shores of Lake Superior, where the Chippewas came to their defense and drove the Iroquois back. The Iroquois were now in undisputed control from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and from the Lakes to the Ohio river.

In the Lake Superior region the bulk of the Wyandottes and Ottawas (another of the Huron branch) made their home for many years, until two French priests arrived among them, Jacques Marquette and Claude Deblon, and began organizing them in the interest of the French, and establishing a headquarters for all the Indian allies of the French at Mackinac. This was in 1671, and here they remained for thirty years. In 1701 Cadillac, who had been in command of the French fort at Mackinac, established a new post at Detroit, which was called Fort Ponchartrain, later changed to Detroit, a name it ever after retained. When Cadillac moved to Detroit, at his request most of the Indian allies accompanied him; they were joined by other Indians, and new tribal relations established, and the Hurons took the name of their leading tribe, the Wyandots,* the name meaning "Traders of the West."

The Wyandots were frequently attacked by their old enemies, the Iroquois, but' the Indians around Detroit were all united; they received arms and ammunition from the French, and when necessary the French soldiers fought with them, and at the end of six years the Iroquois were compelled to give up the struggle and leave the French and Wyandots in control of lower Michigan and Canada north of Lakes Erie and Ontario.

time when the Wyandots were away on a hunting expedition, early in May, 1712. Du Buisson was then in command of Fort Ponchartrain, with only twenty-one men. He sent runners out to notify the Indians to return. On the 13th an assault was made on the Fort, but the Foxes and their allies were held at bay. While the fight was going on the Wyandots returned, and drove the Foxes into the fort they had erected when they came to capture the French settlement. The French and Wyandots in turn attacked the enemy's fort, but were unsuccessful. For nineteen days the fighting continued, when the Foxes were compelled to flee, and hurriedly built a fortification a few miles north of Detroit. Here they were attacked by the French and their allies, the French bringing two small cannon to bear on the enemy. The fighting lasted three days more, when the Foxes were utterly routed, the Wyandots, and their allies, the Ottawas and Pottawatomies massacring eight hundred men, women and children, nearly wiping out the Fox nation, a few of those remaining joining their friends,' the Iroquois, and the remainder removing to Wisconsin and the south shore of Lake Superior, where they became as bitter enemies of the French as were the Iroquois in the east. It was this same year the Tuscaroras, driven from North Carolina, came north and united with the Iroquois and the confederation became the Six Nations. While the battles at Detroit intensified the anger of the Six Nations and the Foxes against the French, it gave the latter the strong friendship of the Wyandots and all those Indians who surrounded the French settlement, a friendship which, to the credit of the Wyandots, they faithfully maintained through all the varying fortunes of war for the next half century, and when, in 1763, the flag of France fell before the meteor flag of England, and the French retired from American soil, for some years after the treaty of peace between England and France was signed, the Wyandots with their western allies were at war against the British.

The Wyandots now gradually extended their hunting grounds along the southern shore of L-ake Erie, the nearly half a century of war of the Iroquois with the French hav- ing left that nation in so crippled a condition that they never again appeared west of the Alleghenies on a warlike expedition. The Wyandots are known to have been in this section as early as 1725, and, extending their territory, were soon in control from Lake Erie to the Ohio river. In 1740 the remnant of the once famous Dela wares was driven from Pennsylvania by the Six Nations and by the advance" of the Pennsylvania colonists, and the Wyandots gave them permission to occupy the Muskingum Valley. A number of the Shawanese also made their home along the Scioto, and the Ottawas had land between the Sandusky and the Maumee rivers, and from here, as allies of the French, they frequently made warlike excursions into Pennsylvania and Virginia, surprising the settlers at dead of night, and massacring entire families, men, women and children, and when the expedition was in retaliation for some real or fancied wrong, returning with the prisoners and holding a - war dance while the unfortunate captives were horribly tortured until death alone relieved them of their suffering.

For a quarter of a century, from their forest fastnesses on the Sandusky, they made raids hundreds of miles distant, on the unsuspecting stockade or lonely cabin, pillaged, massacred and burned and were ofif again, lost in the trackless woods, where it was impossible to follow them. There are remains today of Indian trails all over the southern portion of Crawford county, on which the Indians stealthily marched in single file, to and fro on their murderous expeditions. From the lake at Sandusky to the Ohio river their water route was up the Sandusky, across to the Scioto and down that stream to the Ohio, one of their portages being through the southwest portion of Dallas township.

In 1755 all of the coast states were. British colonies; the French were in control of all west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio, they had fortifications all along Lake Erie; one at Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg) another at Erie, Pennsylvania; at Detroit; two at the mouth of the Sandusky, others in Indiana and Illinois, and the Indians in all this great northwest were their friends and allies. The French claimed the territory, and justly, by right of discovery; the English claimed through charters of British rulers, granted to companies for so many miles along the Atlantic "and extending west to the Pacific ocean." The section of the state where Crawford county is located came under a charter granted Virginia, this charter's northern line being the present northern boundary of Crawford county. The country from the northern boundary of Crawford to Lake Erie was claimed under the charter granted to Connecticut. England further claimed Ohio from the fact that in a treaty with the Iroquois (Six Nations) she had bought of them all their territory north of the Ohio river and west of the Alleghenies to the Mississippi. While there is a dispute as to whether the Six Nations ever did extend their conquests beyond the Cuyahoga river, and whether the Six Nations ever did own by conquest that part of Ohio where Crawford county is situated, England always recognized the claims of the Iroquois and the Americans acquiesced.

In 1744, when the war occurred between France and England, practically all the Indians of the northwest gave their services to the French. They attacked the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia; some went down the St. Lawrence, reported at Montreal, where they were given arms and ammunition, and attacked the settlers of New York, and even extended their depredations across the Hudson to massacre settlers in far-off New England. They were as loyal to their French friends as they were bitter and implacable in their hatred of the English and the Iroquois, who, after a hundred years, were still the loyal friends of the English. In 1745 a French commandant's record in Canada shows the number of Indians reporting for duty in the war against England, among them the Wyandots. Other records show that in one year at least twenty of these blood-thirsty murdering bands were sent out by the French, frequent mention being made of the part taken by the Wyandots in the wholesale butcheries which followed in these bloody raids.

In 1748 a treaty was patched up between England and France and comparative quiet was maintained until 1754, but as the French still remained in possession of the great northwest, and England was determined to have the territory, war again broke out. In the spring of 1754 a company of French soldiers from Fort Duquesne, while extending their explorations southward, were attacked by some Virginia rangers under Lieut. Col. George Washington. A fight for the ownership of the great northwest between the French and English was so inevitable that during the winter of 1754-5 England and the colonies on the one side and the French on the other organized for the coming struggle, which commenced in 1755, and lasted for seven long years, England and the extreme eastern colonies marching to Canada, and the Virginia and Pennsylvania militia joining with the English soldiers in the battles in the northwest.

In this section the war commenced with the attempt of Gen. Braddock in command of the English, and Col. George Washington in command of the militia, to capture Fort Duquesne, situated at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela unite to form the Ohio. The French sent an army from Detroit, and they were joined in their march by the Wyandots, and through the forests and over the plains of Crawford they hurried to the battle ground. The Wyandots then were the leading nation of the northwest, the most numerous, and in bravery were the equals of the Iroquois. They were a fighting nation, every man a warrior, with their pride of bravery raised to so high a pitch that not one ever surrendered, and for more than half a century to come it is doubtful if a single Wyandot was ever captured. They were among the Indian troops who were secreted in the woods and poured the deadly fire on the ambuscaded Americans and English. The French loss was four killed, and the American and English 300. Among the slain was Gen. Braddock, who had refused advice as to Indian warfare, and who paid the penalty with his life, leaving Washington in command to save what he could from the slaughter.

The victory at Fort Duquesne excited the Indians' thirst for blood, and nearly every Wyandot warrior took to the war path. Along the borders of Pennsylvania they left a trail of death and desolation; they were with Montcalm in Canada, where the French were defeated; then on to Ottawa, which fell into the hands of the British; returning to Fort

Niagara they received another repulse; everywhere the English and Americans were slowly but surely driving back the French. Bravery, endurance and fortitude were characteristic of the Wyandots, but adversity they could not stand. Their belief in French superiority was becoming shattered, and by degrees they drifted back to the banks of the Sandusky, disappointed and discouraged, and took no further hand in the struggle. It ended in 1763 when France relinquished Canada, and all her possessions in the United States east of the Mississippi to the English.

It is probably better for civilization that the result was as it was, but when one reflects that cold and calculating England had confined her settlements to the easily reached shores of the Atlantic, while the French for two hundred years had explored the boundless forests, navigated streams unknown, erected trading posts, gone where the foot of the white man had never trod, the opinion is almost inevitable that although it was probably for the best, it was not the right that triumphed. The French had made all the explorations, experienced all the hardships of travels in an unknown country; their explorers had suffered torture and death in harmonizing the savage tribes, and just as the land is ready for settlement, and the harvest of her years of toil is reached, England, by the force of arms, seizes the prize. But why mourn for the French or criticise the English. "For time at last sets all things even," and justice, though slow, is sure, and before England could reap the fruits of her shrewdness, the American nation rose in its might, as one man, and the Great Northwest, stolen from the French, became free and independent, and later the garden spot of the United States with today more than twenty millions of people.

While the French were receiving their reverses, Pontiac an Ottawa chief (Huron branch of the Indians) organized practically all of the Indians of the northwest to seize every English outpost, probably twelve in number. In the Great Northwest they failed only at Detroit, where the siege lasted for many months, by which time the English had regained their forts and relieved Detroit, and peace was declared. In this peace Pontiac refused to join, but retired with his Ottawas to

Illinois. The capture of the different forts was arranged for May 7, 1763. The Wyandots captured the Fort near the mouth of the Sandusky. Here Ensign Paully was in command, and on May 16 he was approached by seven Indians with a request for a conference. He admitted them without hesitation, when he was seized, bound and the fort captured, the garrison being taken unawares. Nearly all the garrison, eleven in number, were massacred and the fort was burned. Ensign Paully being reserved for torture. He was tied to the stake, and just as the fagots were about to be fired an Indiaw squaw, whose husband had been killed, claimed the prisoner to take the place of her dead husband. Paully consented, and was liberated, but at the first opportunity made his escape, leaving the widow doubly bereaved.

Pontiac in Illinois remained the inveterate foe of the English, and in 1769 he was murdered by an Illinois Indian. The Wyandots, who had for some years been living quietly, on learning the news, accompanied by the Ottawas and other tribes marched to Illinois and avenged the chief's death by the almost wiping out of the Illinois tribe.

In 1764 Gen. Bradstreet, who was in command at Detroit, with a force of men "ascended the Sandusky river as far as it was navigable by boats." The point reached was "probably the old Indian town of Upper Sandusky on the river about three miles southeast of the present town of Upper Sandusky. Here a treaty of peace was made with the chiefs and leading men of the Wyandots. Among those who accompanied Gen. Bradstreet was Israel Putnam, then a major in command of a battalion of Americans.

This peace was fairly observed until in 1774, the Wyandots, Shawanese, Delawares and Mingoes made an attack on Point Pleasant, where the Kanawha joins the Ohio. They had a force of over a thousand warriors, under command of Cornstalk. General Lewis was in command of Point Pleasant with 1,100 men. The fight continued all day the English loss being two colonels, five captains, three lieutenants and a hundred soldiers, besides a hundred and forty wounded. The Indian loss must have been severe, as during the night they retreated across the Ohio river and returned to their homes. Just before the battle they were joined by Simon Girty, who had been a scout for the English. He was an efficient scout, but in some altercation with Gen. Lewis, the latter struck him with a cane over the head, inflicting a deep gash. Girty threatened vengeance, and escaped from the fort, joining the Indians, and in the attack on the fort was as savage and bitter and cruel as any Indian warrior could desire. He remained with his new friends and ever after made his home with the Shawanese, Delawares and Wyandots. He declared he had foresworn his white blood and assumed the garb of the Indians with their painted flesh and feathered headdress.

After the Americans and English had succeeded in driving out the French in 1 763, England for years pursued an -unjust policy toward the colonies, which eventually culminated in the Revolutionary war. In the east all manufactures which interfered with England were prohibited or crippled by severe laws. All goods must be bought in England ; all products raised in America must be sold to England alone, and forwarded on English vessels. The English commercial policy also affected the great Northwest, of which Crawford county is a part. The French, by their -explorations, and by their trading posts all over this great territory had built up a large business in furs, of which they had a monopoly. The English merchants secured this trade, and it was so vast and profitable they wanted it continued. As a result they petitioned the King and Parliament : "It does appear to us that the extension of the fur trade depends entirely on the Indians being undisturbed in the possession of their hunting grounds, and that all colonizing does, in its nature, and must, in its consequences, operate to the prejudice of that branch of commerce." So George Third issued a proclamation declaring the new territory, the Great Northwest from the Ohio to the Lakes and from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi, royal domain, and prohibited further settlement in this vast territory, or the purchase of any part of it from the Indians. This was in 1774, and the English statesmen, forseeing a coming contest, attached this ter-

Eight years later the Province of Quebec was the danger point in the treaty of peace between England and the United States. The American commissioners were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay and Henry Laurens. Their imperative instructions were that the independence of the United States must be recognized. Other matters were minor. France had been the ally of the United States and the treaty must be satisfactory to that nation. France had received from Spain practically all west of the Mississippi river, and desired to have her rights recognized by England. Spain was with France, and the two secretly arranged with England that the north boundary of the United States should be the Ohio river, basing the claim on the ground that the Great Northwest was a part of the Province of Quebec, and there was no question that Canada was to remain English territory. In the early part of the treaty, while this agreement was not definitely reached, matters were tending that way. Franklin, as minister to France, conducted the earlier negotiations, and later, when John Adams and John Jay arrived, the boundary came up. The English were insistent; Vergennes, the French minister, favored the English, until finally Adams and Jay positively declared they would submit to no boundary except the lakes. Laurens and Franklin stood by them solidly, and it was over a year before England finally yielded the point, and Ohio and the Great Northwest became a part of the United States. England probably thought the territory of far less importance than it was, having relegated all that vast region to a great hunting ground, with no higher conception of its future use than the protecting and raising of fur bearing animals. How different the views of John Jay, who speaking of this territory in Congress in 1777, prophetically said: "Extensive wildernesses, now scarcely known or explored, remain yet to be cultivated; and vast lakes and rivers, whose waters have for ages rolled in silence to the ocean, are yet to hear the din of industry, become subservient to commerce, and boast delightful villas, gilded spires, and spacious cities rising on their banks."

On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, the Wyandots and their neighbors at first saw no reason to take any hand in the contest. In the east the British had secured the assistance of the Six Nations, the Mohawks being then the chief tribe, but by 1777 the English had succeeded in enlisting the Wyandots and other Ohio tribes on their side, and under British pay they made onslaughts on the western borders of the colony, attacking the' settlers in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Many joined the British army, and a number of Wyandots joined the army of Gen. Burgoyne, in New York state, but did little beyond burning a few houses of settlers, stealing their stock and murdering a number of the pioneers. In an excursion with BurgO)me into New Hampshire, a number of Wyandots were killed, and they blamed the British General for the loss, claiming the warriors were needlessly sacrificed. This, and the fact that Burgoyne endeavored to restrain their ferocity and cruelty, disgusted the Wyandots, and most of them returned to their home on the Sandusky; but still under the pay of the English, continued to harass the frontier, destroying, burning and murdering. The English had a trading-post at the Indian village of Sandusky, where settlement was made, and at this point nearly all the Indian tribes were paid for the scalps taken.

Their first expedition was in 1777. The renegade Girty Avas thoroughly conversant with affairs along the Ohio river, and at his suggestion five hundred warriors, Delawares, ^^'yandots and Shawanese, started on an expedition against Fort Henry, near where Wheeling now is, on the Ohio river. The British had supplied them with arms and ammunition, and the Indians made their way through the dense forests, along their trails, crossed the Ohio and surrounded the fort with its garrison of forty men, and a number of women and children. Col. David Sheppard was in command, and rumors had reached the fort that five hundred warriors had started from the Sandusky region on some murdering expedition, destination unknown On the evening of September 26, 1771, settlers reported Indians in war paint had been seen lurking in the neighborhood. Cabins were abandoned, and all sought safety in the fort. Col. Sheppard sent out two men to reconnoitre; one was killed and the other returned to the fort wounded ; the Colonel then sent out fourteen men, and as they were proceeding cautiously down the river they fell into an ambush, and eleven were instantly killed, the others escaping in the dense forest. Hearing the firing, the Colonel sent twelve more men to relieve the imperiled party; eight of these were promptly killed. The fighting force in the fort was now reduced to a dozen men. The Indians made constant attacks, but were as constantly driven back. It was during this engagement that, when the powder gave out, Elizabeth Zane bravely went to the storehouse, sixty yards away, and brought back the powder in safety. She volunteered for this service, saying that no man could be spared for this perilous trip under the direct fire of the enemy. Night coming on, the Indians retired until morning. During the night a dozen men arrived from a neighboring settlement, and succeeded in gaining entrance to the fort. In the morning forty more rangers arrived, and the Indians, now regarded it as useless to continue their assault on the fort. They therefore destroyed everything they could, set fire to the houses, and killed or carried off three hundred head of cattle. They had killed twenty-one men, with several others wounded. Their own loss, however, was over a hundred. They returned to Sandusky with twenty-one scalps for which cash was paid by the British agent.

While the Wyandots were allies of the English, as well as the other tribes of Ohio, on an eastern branch of the Muskingum in Tuscarawas county were several hundred Moravian Indians, of the Delaware tribe, who constantly refused to take part in the war; they had become Christian Indians, had three settlements in Tuscarawas county, and had cleared considerable land, devoted their time , mostly to farming and kept up constant business relations with the Americans at Pittsburg, about sixty miles distant, which was the headquarters of the American forces in the west. They refused all the overtures and bribes of the British. Finally, in the fall of 1781, Col.

Elliott, of the British forces, who was stationed at Upper Sandusky, took with him two chiefs and three hundred warriors, and marched to the Moravian settlements, their route being through Crawford, crossing the Sandusky at a point one mile south of the Tod township line, and passing through Bucyrus township in the direction of New Winchester and in a southeasterly direction toward the Kilbuck in Holmes county and on to the Tuscarawas settlements. The three Moravian towns, all on the Tuscarawas river, were Schonbrunn, two miles south of the present town of New Philadelphia, seven miles further south was Gnadenhiitten and five miles further Salem.

On reaching the Moravians the Indians urged their brethren to stand by them in their war against the Americans; the English Colonel offered them presents, but the Moravians stood firm. Failing in peaceful persuasions the Indians insisted they should accompany them to the banks of the Sandusky, claiming they were too near Pittsburg, and the Wyandots were afraid they might ally themselves with the detested Americans. Expostulations were useless and the peaceful Moravians were forced to leave their crops ungathered, and accompany their captors in the long and weary march to the banks of the Sandusky. The Moravians were taken to Sandusky and from there their missionaries were sent to Detroit as prisoners. Some writers place the Moravian winter quarters on the river southwest of Bucyrus, but Butterfield fixes it near the old Indian town, three miles southeast of the present town of Upper Sandusky. Here they passed the winter, suffering great hardships, as the Indians make no provision for the future, and the addition of several hundred to the Indian villages along the Sandusky was beyond their means of support. After a severe winter a number were allowed to return to their villages to gather the crops of the fall previous. About one hundred and fifty of them, men with their wives and children, made the journey to their former homes, and resumed their work on the clearings, dividing their force so as to look after all three of the villages.

maurading expeditions on the settlers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, with their usual burning and killing. The settlers of the upper Ohio and the Monongahela determined to administer a lesson that would be a warning to the Indians, and a corps of a hundred mounted men was organized, and under command of Col. Williamson started for the Moravian towns. They knew the Moravians had spent the winter on the Sandusky, the point where all the brutal, murdering expeditions were organized; they knew they had again returned to their villages on the Tuscarawas. In what follows, the most lenient might concede they did not know the peaceful Indians had been taken there against their will, but this is not borne out by history. The rangers under Williamson reached Gnadenhiitten after a forced march of two days, and at this village found the Indians gathering corn on the west bank of the Tuscarawas. A boat was secured and sixteen of the men crossed the river, but found more Indians there than they had expected. Then the rangers certainly learned their visit to Sandusky had been an enforced one, for they sympathized with them for the cruel treatment they had received and assured them of their friendship and that they had come to see in what way they could protect the Moravians. They further assured them that another expedition would come from the Sandusky region, and they would again receive the same cruel treatment, and that their friends at Pittsburg had advised them to go to that place where they would receive protection. Knowing the settlers of Pittsburg had always treated them with the greatest friendship, and being Christian Indians, they did not doubt what the men told them, and placed themselves under their protection. The trusting Indians also sent a messenger down the river to the village of Salem to notify the Indians there of the kindness of their new-found friends, urging them to join them at Gnadenhiitten. They crossed the river with the rangers and gave their guns into their hands, after which they were ordered into houses and a guard placed around them.. Col. Williamson sent a party of men down the river to the village of Salem, but on the way they met the Salem Moravians coming up the river to join their brethren at Gnadenhiitten. The Salem Indians arrived and they, too, were deceived into giving up their arms after which they were imprisoned. Col. Williamson then called a council of war, and put the question for the men to decide, as to whether the Indians should be taken as prisoners to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) or whether they should be put to death. There were eighteen who favored the minor outrage of carrying them away as prisoners and eightytwo voted for immediate death.

James Patrick, Esq., of New Philadelphia, wrote an interesting history of the Moravian Missions in Tuscarawas county. From this work the following account of the horrible scene is taken: "In the majority, which was large, no sympathy was manifested. They resolved to murder - for no other word can express the act - the whole of the Christian Indians in their custody. Among these were several who had contributed to aid the missionaries in the work of conversion and civilization. Two of them had emigrated from New Jersey after the death of their spiritual pastor, the Rev. David Brainerd. One woman, who could speak good English, knelt before the commander and begged his protection.

"The supplication was unavailing. They were ordered to prepare for death. But the warning had been anticipated. Their firm belief in their new creed was shown forth in this sad hour of their tribulation, by religious exercises of preparation. The orisons of these devout people were already ascending to the throne of the Most High. The sound of the Christian's hymn and the Christian's prayer found an echo in the surrounding woods, but no responsive feeling in the bosoms of their executioners. With gun, and spear, and tomahawk and scalping knife, the work of death progressed in these slaughterhouses, till not a sigh or moan was heard to proclaim the existence of human life within. All perished save two. Two Indian boys escaped as by a miracle, to be witnesses in after times of the savage cruelty of the white man toward their unfortunate race.

"After committing their cruel and cowardly act, the buildings containing the mutilated bodies of the murdered Indians were set on fire, and the flames of the heavy logs soon reduced to crumbling ashes all that remained of the Christian Indians."

Dr. Doddridge pays a beautiful tribute to the Christianity of the Moravians when he writes: "They anticipated their doom, and had commenced their devotions with hymns, prayers and exhortations to each other to place a firm reliance upon the mercy of the Saviour of men. When their fate was announced to them these devoted people embraced and kissed each other, and bedewing each others faces and bosoms with their tears asked pardon of their brothers and sisters for any offense they might have committed through life. Thus, at peace with God, and each other, they replied to those who, impatient for the slaughter, demanded whether they were ready to die, that 'having commended their souls to God, they were ready to die.' "

Having reduced to ashes all traces of their inhuman act, the men started up the river for Schonbrunn to murder the Moravians there, but the Christian savages had learned of the sad fate of their companions and fled to the forest, and were beyond pursuit. The number murdered was ninety-six; of these sixtytwo were grown persons, about forty-two men and twenty women; the remaining thirty-four were children. A few of the men who looked as if they might be warriors were taken from the slaughter house and brained with tomahawks. Most of these quietly knelt down, and while offering up prayers to God, received the fatal blow. But one attempted to escape, and he soon fell dead with five bullets through his body. These outside dead were placed in the slaughter-houses and burned with the rest.

One hundred and fifty years previous when Menendez murdered the Huguenot Christians on the Atlantic coast he tarried on the site of his crime long enough to lay the foundation of a church to commemorate his act. It was probably through inadvertence Col. Williamson overlooked this beautiful finishing touch of piety !

It was only a part of the Moravians who had been murdered; the larger number were still on the banks of the Sandusky, and to this same retreat fled the fifty Christian Moravians who had escaped from Schonbrunn. Immediately on Williamson's return, arrangements were made for a new expedition to go to the fountain-head of all the trouble - the headquarters on the Sandusky - and administer a blow that would leave the settlers in peace. The massacre of the Moravians took place May 3, 1702, and on May 7 the decision was reached to attack Upper Sandusky, the seat of the Wyandots, not that the Wyandots alone were guilty of all the murdering and massacreing, butchering and scalping of the unfortunate settlers and their families, but because Upper Sandusky was the headquarters of the Wyandots, Ottawas, Delawares, and Shawanese, and here was their rendezvous, where they gathered to start on their raids. Volunteers to the number of 480 were secured, all mounted and well armed, all from two or three counties south of Fort Pitt. Monday, May 20, was the time set for their assembling and the place chosen was Mingo Bottom, on the west bank of the Ohio, about seventy-five miles below Pittsburg, and about two miles below the present city of Steubenville. They began assembling on the 21st, and on the 24th the last man had reported. A vote was taken as to who should command the expedition, and Col. William Crawford received 235 votes, and Col. David Williamson, who had commanded the expedition against the Moravians, 230. Col. Crawford was therefore selected as commander with Col. Williamson as senior major, and second in command. Among the troops was Robert Sherrard, grandfather of Rev. J. H. Sherrard, who was for many years pastor of the Presbyterian church at Bucyrus. Of the troops 320 were from Washington county, Pennsylvania, 130 from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 20 from Ohio county, Virginia, and 10 from various localities. Besides the two commanding officers there were three other Majors, Gladdis, Mc- Clelland and Bunton, with Daniel Leet as brigade major, and Dr. John Knight as surgeon. John Slover and Jonathan Zane accompanied the expedition as guides. There were eighteen companies, the captains, as far as known, being McGeehan, Hoagland, Beeson, Munn, Ross, Ogle, Briggs, Craig, Ritchie, Miller, Bean, and Hood.

The Williamson expedition against the Moravians was a private affair of the settlers.' The expedition against the Wyandots was a government affair, under direction of Gen. Irvine, who commanded the western department of the United States and Lieut. Rose, a member of his staff, accompanied the expedition as' his representative. The Indians were assisting the English by their constant attacks in the west, necessitating the keeping on the border for protection a large force which otherwise could have been utilized in the war against England. The attack on the Wyandot village was in reality an expedition of the Revolutionary war, to destroy a post which for years had been the Indian headquarters of the British government; a place which had been and was the gathering point of all Indian expeditions against the colonies; the village where the Indians of northwestern Ohio repaired to receive their arms and ammunition from the British, and to receive pay for services rendered, the pay being based on the number of scalps turned over to the British agent at Upper Sandusky. From these Indian villages came the stories of cruel deaths inflicted on their unfortunate captives. For, while it seems sickening and saddening that men, women and children were murdered on these expeditions, in many of them a few of the stronger captives were taken back alive, divided among the different villages, and died with all the prolonged agony to the sufferer that devilish ingenuity could devise. But in these tortures the Wyandots took no part; they murdered and scalped their prisoners, but burning at the stake had been abandoned years previous. The Delawares and Shawanese were the torturers.

At Gnadenhiitten the vote to murder peaceful Christian Indians was eighty-two ; the vote for mercy being eighteen, and a deed was consummated so despicable and so dastardly that the civilized world for over a century has blushed with shame that honest, conscientious, law-abiding Christian men should place so foul a stain on civilization. In this every reader of this work will coincide. But who cast those eighty-two votes? Men whose grey-haired fathers had been cruelly murdered; men who had returned to their peaceful homes only to find their wives butchered, almost beyond recognition, and lying welterin'g in blood, bleeding and scalpless, on their hearthstones ; to find even the innocent babes at the mothers' breasts scalped and butchered. While in their minds was the knowledge of the death by the Indians of a father or a son, a brother or a friend, who had first run the gauntlet, that Indian "free for all" in which every villager took a part; the long line down which the naked captive must pass, starting with the children and squaws with their whips and clubs, administering blows to the flying victim; then past the younger men, and finally brave warriors with knives and tomahawks so skilfully used as to administer blows that would cut and wound but not kill; and on and on, cut, carved and covered with blood, to sink exhausted at the Council-house door. To be cared for? No! This Meeding remnant of a man was sometimes scourged and beaten still, and thrown into some guarded hut to await the morrow, when the poor sufferer was dragged forth to furnish what further amusement the strength of his constitution would stand. Commencing at the less vital parts, skilful savages took strips of skin from his legs and arms, and sometimes nearly half the body was laid bare before suffering nature could stand no more and death relieved him of his sufferings. At the stake the fire was fiendishly built so far away that the torture was prolonged for hours, the ears, fingers and toes cut off, the fiends previously pulling the nails out by the roots, yelling with delight at the suffering of the tortured victims. Every horror the inventive mind of the savage could think of was practiced.*

*John Leith was a prisoner and storekeeper among the Indians from 1763 until he made his escape in 1791. During the Revolution he kept a store at Upper Sandusky, employed by the British. In his biography, written by his grandson, Judge George W. Leith, is his description of the first "Running of the Gauntlet" he witnessed: "One fine day in early summer a band of warriors came in from the south with a captive, a powerful young Virginian. He had been overpowered and captured in a hand-to-hand struggle. I saw him stripped for the race, and thought him as fine a specimen of a man as I ever saw. His action was unimpaired, the only wound perceivable being a long gash on the fleshy part of his thigh, which, though considerably swelled, did not impede his motion. He was stripped naked and painted black for the race at my store. Two lines of Indians were formed, extending back from the store about two hundred yards. He was marched back through the lines in a southerly direction, the savages panting and yelling for the onset. Poor fellow! he stepped with the elasticity of a racehorse, confidently believing that if he succeeded in the race his life would be spared. But his doom was sealed, and this was but the opening scene in the horrible tragedy. The warriors were armed with guns loaded with powder to be shot into his naked body, the boys were armed with bows and arrows, and the squaws and children with clubs and switches. No one was allowed to strike or shoot until the victim was

All these horrible acts of the Indians were known to have been visited upon the relatives of the men who had accompanied Williamson, and anger and revenge were a stronger motive than right and justice. Williamson should have prevented it, but while today every reader of this history can justly shudder and denounce the brutal murder of the Moravians, the fact remains that if every reader had been on the banks of the Tuscarawas at the time, knowing what these men knew, having suffered as these men had suffered, when the vote for life or death came, the proportion would have been the same. No one can endorse the needless, inhuman murder of the innocent Moravians, but the perpetrators of the dastardly deed had minds at the time inflamed by the cruelties inflicted on themselves and their relatives by other Indians. In this modern day those at a distance from the crime can well shudder and denounce the burning at the stake of the brute who has ruined and murdered an innocent girl in the southland, but were the matter to come home to them direct, how many fathers, with the brutal act fresh in the memory, would lift a finger to stay the hand that fires the funeral pyre? Would there be even eighteen out of eighty-two ?

It was Saturday morning. May 25, 1782, the expedition started for the Sandusky Plains, about 150 miles distant, but to avoid the Indian trails, so the savages would have no knowledge of the attack, their course was through the unbroken forest, to the Tuscarawas, on the banks of which were the destroyed Moravian towns, and it took them four days to cover the sixty miles, although Williamson's men, over the traveled route, had made it m two days when on their mission of opposite to where he stood, so that the speed of the runner^might not be impeded or checked by a front fire. The word was given, 'All ready, go !' and simultaneously a yell went up all along the line from the savages, who were eager to inflict the severest punishment upon the helpless captive. The young fellow came through the lines with astonishing swiftness, and ran into the store where I was. He was covered with ragged and gaping wounds made by the discharge of powder and the tomahawks, and the arrows stuck out from his blackened body like the shafts of a clothesrack. He gave me a most imploring look, as if he expected me to help him, and suddenly sprang high in the air as if in terrible agony. He turned and went out at the door, when he was brained with a tomahawk and fell to the around with his last despairing groan."

murder. They encamped at the ruined town of Schonbrunn, and two officers, reconnoitering, saw in the distance two Indian warriors, who had been spying on their movements. It was now believed the Indians would have full knowledge of their expedition, and Crawford determined to press on as rapidly as possible. They started on a forced march through the wilderness of Holmes county, and the night of May 30 encamped about ten miles south of the present site of Wooster, just south of the Wayne county line. From here they went almost due west, passing north of Odell's lake, and on to the Mohican, following up the river until near where Mansfield now is they turned west and encamped on June ist at Spring Mills, eight miles east of Crestline. The next day, June 2, about one o'clock, they entered Crawford county just north of where Crestline now is and continued west to the Sandusky river at the mouth of a small creek called Allen's Run, near the present town of Leesville. The Sandusky river was the point for which the guides were aiming and the officers, pleased at reaching this destination, called a halt for an hour. They had reached the river south of the Wyandot trail, which the Indians used on their excursions from the Sandusky towns east to Pittsburg. In the last five days they had made eighty-five miles, and the guide, Slover, told Crawford they were now about twenty-five miles due east of the Indian town, and that a little to the southwest there were extensive plains reaching to their destination. After nine days of slow and difficult marching through an unbroken forest, they decided to make for the open plains,i' so they followed the south bank of the Sandusky, two or three miles, to about the center of section 12, of Jefferson township. Here the Sandusky bends to the north and they left the river and, going southwest, encamped for the night in the southwestern part of Jefferson township, on the eastern edge of the plains.

Early on the morning of June 3rd they entered the plains, and the open sunlight, after the long and dreary march through the dense woods, was a pleasing relief to all. Their course was now west through Whetstone and Bucyrus townships, passing about four miles south of Bucyrus, to an Indian trail skirting the west side of the Sandusky; they followed this trail through southwestern Bucyrus township and through Dallas, into what is now Antrim township, Wyandot county, and made their final encampment near the present town of Wyandot, within ten miles of their destination.

On the morning of June 4th they started along the south bank of the Sandusky, following its course in a northwest direction for six miles where the mouth of the Little Sandusky was reached. Here they crossed the Sandusky, following the trail along the east bank which leads to the Indian towns, and they soon reached the old Indian town of Sandusky, on the east bank of the river, about three miles southeast of the present town of Upper Sandusky. The town was deserted. The guide Slover said that when he was a captive of the Miamis, he frequently visited the Wyandots and this was their principal town. The officers and guides were astonished and a halt was called. The volunteers feared a mistake had been made and that there was no village short of Lower Sandusky (Fremont) forty miles down the river, through a section known to be covered by roving bands of Indians, for they were now in the heart of the Indian country.

It was one o'clock when Crawford ordered the halt; he called his officers into consultation. This lasted an hour. Slover said eight miles further down the river was another Indian town, and in his opinion the Indians had made that their headquarters. Crawford feared they might find this also deserted and there was danger in their getting too far into the Indian country with but five days' of provisions left. It was decided to move forward in search of the Indians. The army crossed the river to the west side, continued along the trail up the west bank to the site of the present town of Upper Sandusky; they continued a mile further, with no sign of Indians and the troops became anxious, and for the first time expressed a desire to return home. Crawford promptly called a halt and a council of war. Col. Crawford and Guide Zane both favored an immediate return, as further progress was dangerous, and the final decision was made to continue that day and if no Indians were discovered they would return. The march was continued, and the troops had gone but a short distance, when one of the light-horse scouts, who in the open prairie were generally a mile in advance, returned at full speed announcing the Indians were in front of them. The volunteers were now enthusiastic and the whole army moved forward rapidly.

The Indians had kept trace of the army ever since it had left Mingo Bottom, and had sent warriors to the Shawanese, in the Miami valley, and to the Wyandots and Delawares, on the Sandusky, to prepare for an attack. The various tribes gathered and when Crawford left the Tuscarawas, in a northwesterly direction, it was known the Sandusky Indians were the objective point. Pomoacan, Wyandot chief, sent special messengers to Detroit, notifying DePeyster, the English commandant at that point, of the intended attack. DePeyster acted promptly, and started Butler's rangers, a mounted troop, to Lower Sandusky (Fremont) by boats to assist their allies; special messengers were also sent by the Wyandots to the Shawanese on the Miami, and two hundred warriors started on their march of forty miles from Logan county to help their brethren. In the meantime the Delawares, under Pipe, had .assembled three hundred warriors at his town on both sides of the Tymochtee, about one and a half miles northeast of the present town of Crawfordsville, Wyandot county, near the place now marked by the monument erected on the site where Col. Crawford was burned at the stake.. Zhaussho-toh was the Wyandot war chief, and the village of Pomoacan, the "Half King," was five miles northeast of Upper Sandusky, in Crane township, on the Sandusky river. Here he had four hundred warriors.

The Americans had advanced about two miles north of Upper Sandusky, and were one mile west of the river, when they met the enemy, the Delawares being in the front line of battle, under Pipe, his assistants being the renegade Simon Girty and Chief Wingenund, the latter having joined the Delawares from his village about two and a half miles northwest of the present site of Crestline. The Delawares had taken posession of a small grove called an "island," and from this they were promptly driven by the Americans. The Wyandots under Zhaus-sho-toh, with whom was the British Captain Elliott, came to the support of the Delawares. Elliott took command of both tribes, and the Delawares occupied the west and south sides of the grove, and the Wyandots the north and east. The grove was surrounded by a prairie of tall grass, high enough to be some protection to the Indians, while the Americans had the better of it by the protection of the grove. The firing began at four o'clock, and the battle lasted until dark. As the Indians exposed themselves when skulking through the grass they were picked off by the American sharpshooters. Some of the borderers from the tree-tops had a better opportunity of detecting the savages. One of these Daniel Canon, an expert rifleman, remarked afterward: "I don't know how many I killed, but I never saw the same head again above the grass after I shot at it." Toward sunset the Indians became more cautious. The day closed decidedly favorable to the Americans; their loss was five killed and nineteen -wounded. Indian losses were never known, but their killed and wounded far exceeded the Americans. Although the Americans were in full possession of the field, the Indians were not dispirited. Desultory firing was resumed at six o'clock in the morning and continued until noon, the Americans believing the Indians had not recovered from their defeat of the day previous, and plans were discussed by the Americans to attack the enemy in force ; the Delawares were drawn up south of them and the Wyandots north.

Before the plan of attack was matured, a sentinel reported mounted troops coming from the north ; they proved to be Butler's rangers, sent by DePeyster from Detroit, and a few minutes later another sentinel reported the arrival of two hundred Shawanese from the south; during the late afternoon additional small detachments of Indians were continually arriving. The council of war now unanimously decided on a retreat that night. About nine o'clock the retreat started and by a circuitous march to the west passed around the Delawares and Shawanese south of them, reaching the old town of Upper Sandusky, three miles southeast of the present county seat of Wyandot county, just before daylight. Here a halt was called and stragglers kept constantly arriving, but Col. Crawford, Dr. Knight and John Slover the guide, and many others were missing.

The command now devolved on Williamson, and his force numbered about three hundred. After a short rest the army went south along the east bank of the Sandusky, crossed the river at the mouth of the Little Sandusky, and then east, skirting the southern bank of the river. They were again on the Sandusky Plains, and when they reached where the town of Wyandot now is, they saw in the distance a large force of mounted Indians and Butler's rangers following in pursuit. They were a dozen miles from the woods on the eastern boundary of the plains, where alone lay safety. Their horses had had two days' rest at Sandusky during the battle, but the eleven days previous marching, and the long night ride had left both man and horses in a jaded condition. They were also hampered by their wounded. Yet Col. Williamson urged his troops forward with all possible speed ; he was ably assisted by Lieut. Rose, the military genius of the expedition. The latter was an aide-de-camp of Gen. Irvine, the commander of the Revolutionary forces at Pittsburg, and had been attached to Col. Crawford's staff for this expedition. He was as fearless and brave as he was able and efficient, and to him, more than any other man, was due the successful retreat.*

The retreating column left the Sandusky at Wyandot, and started northeast across the plains. Passing through Dallas into Bucyrus township they crossed what is now the Marion road about a mile north of the Dallas township line, and a little before noon crossed what is now the Sandusky pike two miles north of

*John Rose was known among the Americans as Major Rose. After the Revolutionary War was over he returned to his own country, Russia, and Gen. Irvine received many letters from him, in which he gave his true history. His name was not John Rose, but Gustavus H. de Rosenthal, of Livonia, Russia, and he was a baron of the empire. In an encounter with another nobleman within the precincts of the palace at St. Petersburg, he had killed his antagonist in a duel. He fled to England, where he sailed immediately to America to offer his sword in defense of the colonies in their struggle for freedom. During his absence his relatives secured his pardon from the Emperor Alexander, and permission for him to return, which he did, and became Grand Marshal of Livonia. Baron Rosenthal died in 1830.

the Dallas township line, and about three miles south of Bucyrus.* Before they had reached the Sandusky Pike, the faster mounted men of the enemy had overtaken the fleeing column, and were harrassing them with occasional shots. As more and more of the enemy came up and scattered along the flanks of the marching column the firing became more severe, and it required all the skill and encouragement of Col. Williamson and Lieut. Rose to prevent the demoralization of the troops, and to preserve the column in solid marching order. The woods and safety were still six miles away; they were in an open prairie rapidly being surrounded by double their number of infuriated savages from whom they could expect no mercy, and the weary column struggled on. About two o'colck they were within a mile of the woods; on both sides and at the rear were hundreds of the enemy, pouring in a galling fire, and the rear guard was in confusion; the Indians had pressed forward and were seeking to bar their entrance to the woods, and the troops in advance, showed signs of wavering. Williamson urged them to stand firm, stating: "Not a man of you will reach home if each one decides to shift for himself. Youi" only salvation is keeping in line. Our ranks once broken, all is lost." The danger of the demoralization of the troops became so great that a stand had to be made. A point was selected where there is a slight rise in the ground in the northeast quarter of Section 22 in Whetstone township.!

The troops had crossed what is now the Gallon road a little west of where the monument now stands marking the site of the battle, which really occurred a little north of where this monument was placed. A body of light horse troops was thrown forward to protect the entrance to the woods, the little army was reversed, and facing to the west hurriedly formed into solid rank to resist the attacking foe. Fortunately for the Americans, in their haste to pursue the retreating troops, the British had left their artillery behind. During the tButterfield. - Crawford's campaign against Sandusky. The west half of this quarter section is owned (1912) by J. B. Campbell; its east half by Sarah R. Lust.

morning march through the dry prairie a scorching sun had added to the discomforts of the tired troopers, but toward noon a breeze had sprung up, and the sky became overcast with clouds, and when the halt was made a storm was threatening. Having hurriedly formed in battle line, the Americans awaited the assault, and six hundred painted, yelling savages, with their British allies, charged tfe^m in front and on both flanks. Rose rode down the line, unmindful of the hail of bullets pouring in, urging the men to stand firm, to aim true, and to see that every shot brought down a man. The first attack was repulsed, the line was unbroken and the Americans regained confidence, and the second attempt to break their lines was another failure. Then Indian caution prevailed, and under protection of the high grass they continued their attack, until the threatening storm broke forth, and both armies were drenched to the skin, rendering most of the fire-arms useless. The battle had continued for an hour when the severe rain caused a cessation of hostilities. The Americans had suflFered a loss of three killed and eight wounded, among the latter was Capt. Joseph Beam, whoi was shot through the body. Although the wound was thought to be fatal, he was taken home and e^-entually recovered. The loss of the enemy was far greater than that of the Americans.

\A'hen the rain put a stop to the battle the Americans hurriedly buried their dead, cared for their wounded, making them as comfortable as possible for transportation, and again formed in line of march. The enemy, seeing the column again on the retreat, rallied their forces and renewed the pursuit, firing on the column from a respectful distance. Capt. Biggs' company was covering the retreat. They had led the advance in the outward march and were now reduced to only nine men. Some of these were wounded and all greatly exhausted, and there was again danger of the ranks being demoralized by the fire of the enemy, and each man attempting to shift for himself. Again the companies began to waver under the irritating attacks of the enemy, and it took the heroic exertions of the officers to prevent the retreat from degenerating into a hopeless rout. The company in front was ordered to file to the left, the bal- ance of the army marched forward, when that company wheeled into line and became the rear guard; then another from the front took its place, each in turn protecting the rear, and confidence took the place of fear, and the weary march finally ended when the tired troopers entered the friendly shelter of the dense woods.

The battle of Olentangy on June 6, 1782, may have been but a skirmish, but it is interesting historically as a battle of the American Revolution, fought on Crawford county soil. The battle of Sandusky on June 4, was also in what was Crawford county from 1820 to 1845, so the only two battles of the Revolution that occurred west of the Alleghenies, are of historic interest to this county.

Of the expertness of the American marksman, Butterfield, in his work "Crawford's Campaign Against Sandusky," gives an incident which relates to the battle of Olentangy. It was told him by George W. Leith, of Nevada, a grandson of John Leith. John Leith was a trader at the Indian town of Sandusky, and was there when the news arrived of the approach of Crawford's army. On June 4, the day before the battle, he started down the Sandusky river with his goods and furs seeking safer quarters. He camped that night on the banks of the river a little below Tiffin. Here a Frenchman, who was an Indian interpreter, on his way to join the Indians at Sandusky, spent the night with him. The next morning, hearing the firing, the Frenchman hurriedly left for the field of battle. Reaching the Indians, he dressed himself in their costume, and in a spirit of bravado painted a large red spot on his breast, remarking to one of the Indian warriors, "Here is a mark for the Virginia riflemen." He accompanied the Indians in their pursuit of the retreating army, and took part in the battle of Olentangy, and when the Americans went over the battlefield gathering up their dead and wounded they found the Frenchman, cold and stiff in death, with a bullet hole passing through the red mark.

By nightfall the Americans reached the place where they had made their first camp in Crawford county, near Leesville, and here they passed the night, the enemy camping about a mile to the rear. In less than twentyfour hours they had covered forty miles and both armies were completely exhausted. The next morning the Americans resumed their retreat, being occasionally fired on by the savages, the last shot as they were leaving what is now the borders of Crawford county, just north of Crestline. From there they marched to the Ohio with no sight of the enemy. They reached the Tuscarawas towns on June 10, and Mingo Bottom on the 13th, covering the distance in less than seven days, and even with this speed they were rejoiced to find some of their missing comrades, whom they had feared had either been lost or fallen into the hands of the enemy, had arrived before them - some of them as much as two days previous. The outward journey had consumed eleven days, the route taken having been about one hundred and eighty-five miles each way.

When the retreat was started Col. Crawford missed his son John Crawford, his sonin-law, William Harrison, and his nephew, William Crawford. While looking for these relatives. Dr. Knight joined him. Both waited, calling for the absentees, until all the troops had passed. By this time there was severe firing in the direction of the retreating army. An old man and boy joined Crawford and Knight. It being dangerous to attempt to reach the main column the four went north about two miles, and then turned due east, , over a mile north of the battle ground. A little before midnight they reached the Sandusky which they crossed less than a mile south of the village of the Wyandot chief Pomoacan. The old man lagged behind, and frequent stops were made for hiin to catch up. Finally an Indian scalp-halloo announced that the old man had been overtaken by some wandering savage and killed. At daylight Crawford, Knight and the boy entered Crawford county about two miles northwest of where Oceola is now situated, their progress being slow on account of the darkness and the jaded condition of the horses. Here Crawford and the young man were compelled to abandon their horses, and on foot they continued their journey east, bearing toward the south, and about two o'clock fell in with Capt. Biggs, who had carried Lieut. Ashley from the battle, the latter being badly wounded. The five continued an hour longer when a heavy rain came on and they were compelled to go into camp, which they did near the line between Holmes and Liberty townships, about two miles north of Bucyrus, having only made nine miles since daylight. The next morning the five continued their journey, passing through the southwest corner of Liberty and crossing the Sandusky two or three miles east of Bucyrus, and soon entered Whetstone township. While marching through the woods they discovered a deer recently killed, with some meat sliced from the bones. This they took with them and a mile farther espied smoke of a fire. They approached it carefully and were of the opinion some of their own party had encamped there the previous night. They used the fire to roast their venison, and while eating were joined by one of their own men, the man who had killed the deer, who hearing them in the distance had secreted himself in the woods believing them to be Indians. After eating their breakfast of venison the party continued their march until about two o'clock they reached the point on the Sandusky, in section 12, Jefferson township, where the troops had left the . river on their outward march. It was near this point the enemy had camped the preceding night. A discussion arose as to the future course ; Crawford held to follow the course of the army as they could make better time along a known trail, and that there was no danger, as the Indians would not follow the retreating army into the woods, and they were now several miles from the plains. Capt. Ashley and Lieut. Biggs thought the safer course was through the woods, avoiding all Indian trails. Crawford's plan was followed, the Col. and Dr. Knight leading, on foot; about a hundred yards behind was the wounded officer on horseback, Lieut. Ashley, with his friend Capt. Biggs, while at the rear were the two young men. They followed the south bank of the Sandusky, through the site of the present town of Leesville and just east of that place several Indians started up less than fifty feet from Crawford and Knight. The Doctor jumped behind a tree and was about to fire, when Crawford, observing how many Indians there were, advised him not. An Indian who knew them came forward and shook hands; Capt. Biggs in the meantime had fired on the savages, but missed, and he and his companion

Lieut. Ashley, took to the dense woods, as did the two young men. The party that captured Crawford and Knight, were Delaware Indians, who under their chief, Wingenund, had followed the retreating army as far as their camp, which was only half a mile distant from the place where they captured Crawford, about a mile and a half northwest of Crestline.

Crawford and Knight were taken to Wingenund's camp, where they found nine other prisoners. Wingenund sent a message to Capt. Pipe, announcing the capture of Col. Crawford, the leader of the expedition, and of the other prisoners, and received word to bring them to the headquarters of the Delawares on the Tymochtee. It was about three o'clock on Friday, June 7, that Crawford and Knight were captured, and on Sunday evening, June 9, some Delaware warriors returned bringing with them the scalps of Capt. Biggs and Lieut. Ashley, the two young men having escaped. On Monday morning, June 10, fhey started for the Indian towns on the Sandusky. Crawford had been told that Simon Girty was at Pomoacan's village, and as Girty knew him and had frequently been his guest at his home in Pennsylvania, he requested that he be taken there. As this would lead the Indians past the place where the two horses of Crawford had been abandoned, Wingenund consented. The Indians were seventeen in number. They followed the trail about three miles when the party separated. Crawford, guarded by two Indians, bearing to the northwest over the route by which he came, and the other sixteen with their ten prisoners going west over an Indian trail to the old town of Upper Sandusky, crossing the river southwest of the present site of Bucyrus. Crawford arrived at the Half King's house and had an interview with Girty, who promised to do what he could for him. After, his interview with Girty Crawford was taken up the river, about eight miles, to the Old Town, where the other prisoners were. Here Pipe and W^ingenund had preceded him, and painted the face of the prisoners black, which meant death. On Crawford's arrival he was greeted by both chiefs with words of friendship, but he, too, was painted black. The whole party now started for the village of the Wyandots where Craw- ford had spent the night, Crawford and Knight being guarded by Pipe and Wingenund. As they marched they came to the dead bodies of four of the prisoners, tomahawked and scalped.

At the present site of Upper Sandusky, instead of continuing their march to the Half King's Wyandot town, they bore to the northwest for the Delaware town of Tymochtee. On reaching the Little Tymochtee about three miles from the Indian village. Knight was made a present to the Shawanese, to be taken to their town on the Mad river for torture, the other five prisoners, with their hands tied behind them, were given over to the squaws and boys, and were tomahawked and scalped, the bloody scalps being dashed in the faces of both Crawford and Knight. The line of march was again taken up, and the party were met by Simon Girty and several Indians, who had come across from the Half King's town to witness the death of Crawford. From now on both Crawford and Knight were struck over the head, face and body with the fists, or with sticks and clubs of the Indians. They soon reached a bluff near the Tymochtee, about three-quarters of a mile up the stream from the Delaware village, where a fire had already been prepared. The account of the death of Crawford is taken from the narrative of Dr. Knight, written in August, 1782, at Pittsburg. There being no printing office in Pittsburg at that time it was sent to Philadelphia and published in November, 1782. Speaking of the tortures of Crawford Knight says :

"When we went to the fire the Colonel was stripped naked, ordered to sit down by the fire and then they beat him with sticks and their fists. Presently after I was treated in the same manner. They then tied a rope to the foot of a post about fifteen feet high, bound the Colonel's hands behind his back and fastened the rope to the ligature between his wrists. The rope was long enough for him to sit down or walk round the post once or twice and return the same way. The Colonel then called to Girty and asked him if they intended to burn him? - Girty answered, 'yes.' The Colonel said he would take it all patiently. Upon this Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief, made a speech to the Indians, viz : about thirty

"When the speech was finished they all yelled a hideous and hearty assent to what had been said. The Indian men then took up their guns and shot powder into the Colonel's body, from his feet as far up as his neck. I think not less than seventy loads were discharged upon his naked body. They then crowded about him, and to the best of my observation, cut off his ears; when the throng had dispersed a little I saw the blood running from both sides of his head in consequence thereof.

"The fire was about six. or seven yards from the post to which the Colonel was tied; it was made of small hickory poles, burnt- quite through in the middle, each end of the poles remaining about six feet in length. Three or four Indians by turns, would take up, individually, one of these burning pieces of wood and apply it to his naked body, already burnt black with the powder. These tormentors presented themselves on every side of him with the burning fagots and poles. Some of the squaws took broad boards upon which they would carry a quantity of the burning coals and hot embers and throw on him, so that in a short time he had nothing but hot coals of fire and hot ashes to walk upon.

"In the midst of these extreme tortures, he called to Simon Girty and begged him to shoot him; but Girty making no answer he called to him again. Girty then, by way of derision, told the Colonel he had no gun, at the same time turning about to an Indian who was behind him, laughed heartily, and by all his gestures seemed delighted at the horrid scene.

"Girty then came up to me and bade me prepare for death. He said, however, I was not to die at that place, but to be burnt at the Shawanese towns. He swore by G - d I need not expect to escape death, but should suffer it in all its extremities.

"He then observed, that some prisoners had given him to understand, that if our people had had him they would. not hurt him; for his part, he said, he did not believe it, but desired to know my opinion of the matter, but being at that time in great anguish and distress for the torments the Colonel was suffering before my eyes, as well as the expectation of undergoing the same fate in two days, I made little or no answer. He expressed a great deal of ill will for Col. Gibson, and said he was one of his greatest enemies, and more to the same purpose, to all which I paid very little attention.

"Col. Crawford at this period of his sufferings besought the Almighty to have mercy on his soul, spoke very low, and bore his torments with the most manly fortitude. He continued in all the extremities of pain for an hour and three-quarters or two hours longer, as near as I can judge, when as last, being almost exhausted, he lay down on his belly; they then scalped him and repeatedly threw the scalp in my iace, telling me "that was my great captain." An old squaw (whose appearance every way answered the ideas people entertain of the Devil) got a board, took a parcel of coals and ashes and laid them on his back and head, after he had been scalped; he then raised himself upon his feet and began to walk around the post ; they next put a burning stick to him as usual, but he seemed more insensible of pain than before."

Dr. Knight was at this time taken away to Capt. Pipe's house, and did not see the final death of his commander. It was late in the afternoon when the torture of Col. Crawford commenced, and the Indians reported later that he breathed his last just as the sun was going down, and that the Indians covered the body with fagots, and around the blaze held a war dance until late into the night. The next morning as Knight started for the Shawanese town, the charred bones of Crawford were pointed out to him by his captors.

On his way to the Shawanese town Knight escaped, and after a very toilsome journey and much suffering, reached his friends in safety, passing through southern Crawford, or very near its border on his return journey. Slover was captured but he, too, made his escape.

The Wyandots had nothing to do with Crawford's death. He was a Delaware prisoner. The Wyandots for some years had ceased the burning of prisoners at the stake. The Delawares and Shawanese still adhered to the custom. The Delawares, however, were only by courtesy on the Wyandot's land, and Butterfield says that through a trick The Pipe and Wingenund obtained the Half King's consent to the death of Crawford. They sent to Pomoacan, a messenger, bearing a belt of wampum, with the following message: "Uncle ! we, your nephews, the Lenni Lanape, salute you in a spirit of kindness, love and respect. Uncle! we have a project in view which we ardently wish to accomplish, and can accomplish if our uncle will not overrule us! By returning the wampum we will have your' pledged word!" The message puzzled Pomoacan, and he questioned the messenger, who could give no information, and the Half King, believing it was some new expedition of the Delawares against the white settlements, sent back word : "Say to my nephews they have my pledge." This was the death warrant of Col. Crawford.

Many writers incline to the theory that Col. Crawford suffered torture in retaliation for the massacre of the Moravian Indians, who were Delewares. In a sense, this may be true, but The Pipe had a supreme contempt for the Moravian branch of his tribe; still, they were Delawares, and the Indian tribal spirit called for the tribe to avenge their death, even if they refused to revenge it themselves, although most of those who escaped the massacre joined their comrades in the fight against Crawford. It is probable, however, the fate of Crawford would have been the same if the Moravian incident had not occurred. From 1776 to 1 78 1 the Delawares and Shawanese had made expeditions to the border, murdering and massacreing, and, when possible, brought prisoners back to their villages to die by torture. It was the knowledge of these constant barbarities which led to the Moravian and the Crawford expeditions. Added to this was the fact of imperative orders of the British officer at Detroit to his Indian allies to send no more prisoners to that place; The Wyandots killed theirs, sometimes after having made them run the gauntlet; the Delawares and Shawanese killed theirs, frequently with all the forms of cruelity their fiendish ingenuity could invent.

of peace was not signed until a year later, Nov. 30, 1782. The British still retained possession of Detroit, and kept the Indians of the northwest hostile to the Americans, and the depredations still continued. The Americans, however, were now more free to protect their border, and expeditions were sent against them in the Miami valley and up toward the Maumee and Detroit, the Wyandots sending all their warriors to oppose the Americans on these expeditions. On Jan. 27, 1785, a treaty was signed at Fort Mcintosh, a fort on the Ohio, thirty miles below Pittsburg, at the mouth of the Beaver river, where the town of Beaver, Pa., now is. This treaty was made between the Americans and the Wyandots,* Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas. The boundary line between the United States and the Wyandots and Delawares was declared to begin "at the mouth of the river Cuyahoga, and to extend up said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, thence down that branch to the crossing place above Fort Laurens (on the border line of Stark and Tuscarawas counties, near where the town of Bolivar now is) thence westerly to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio (its western point being Fort Recovery in Mercer county) at the mouth of which branch was Fort Slovel which was taken by the French in 1752; then along said portage to the Great Miami or Omee river (Maumee) and down 'the south side of the same to its mouth, then along the south shores of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, where it began." All of the territory inside this boundary (all of northwestern Ohio), was assigned to the Indians, with a few trading posts reserved, six miles square at the mouth of the Sandusky, and a tract two miles square at Fremont.

Sha-tay-ya-ron-yah, or Leather Lips, who signed this treaty and kept it, was afterward murdered under Indian law on account of his friendship for the Americans. In 18 10 Tecumseh commenced his organization of the Indians against the whites, but found the

Wyandots, led by Tar-he and Leather Lips, were bitterly opposed to the plan. Gen. Harrison was of the opinion the chief's death was the result of the direct command of Tecumseh. In June, 1810, Leather Lips was an old man, and was on the Scioto river about twelve miles above Columbus, when parties arrived direct from Tecumseh's headquarters at Tippecanoe, accusing the aged chief of witchcraft. An Indian Council was called, which lasted for three hours. His accusers from Tippecanoe were very bitter in their denunciations. The venerable chief made a calm and dignified and dispassionate reply. Some whites present endeavored to save him, but the fierce vindictiveness of the opposition made all appeals for mercy useless. Sentence of death was pronounced and six Indians appointed as his executioners. After the sentence Leather Lips walked slowly to his camp, calmly ate his dinner, washed, and dressed himself in his best apparel, wearing his finest skins and brightest colored chieftain feathers. He painted his face as a warrior. When the hour arrived, arrayed as a chieftain, his erect stride and gray hairs made his appearance graceful and commanding. He walked slowly to his doom, chanting the Indian death song in a voice of surprising melody and sweetness. Wyandot warriors slowly followed, timing their march to the mournful dirge. At the grave he shook hands with all present, and the Wyandot captain of the executioners offered a prayer, after which Leather Lips knelt, and while offering a prayer to the Great Spirit, one of the executioners quietly approached from behind, and buried a tomahawk in his brain. He was buried in his chieftain's robes, and with all his decorations. He had given his life as a penalty for keeping his word to remain loyal to the Americans, and a dozen or more of the white men were there to witness the cowardly act, and never raised a hand to stay the brutal murder.

Jan. 9, 1789, another treaty was made by Gov. St. Clair at Fort Harmar (Marietta), with the Wyandots and others, confirming the treaty of 1785. It was not kept and the Indians, supplied with arms and ammunition by the British at Detroit, continued their depredations, and several expeditions sent against them were disastrous to the Americans. Fin- ally in 1794, Gen. Anthony Wayne, "Mad Anthony," led the expedition against them, and at the battle of Fallen Timbers he gained a complete and decisive victory, and on August 3, 1795, the Greenville treaty was signed, making the Indian reservation about as before.