Defiance County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 3 of those read), 1883 (part 2 of 2)

DurinsT this excitement and ferment among the Indians, British agents were constantly engaged in fomenting ill-will between the Indians and the border settlements. In fact, many English statesmen still entertained the opinion that the American colonies were not wholly lost to the mother country, and hoped, when the proper time arrived, by the aid of the Indian tribes and the supposed disaffected colonies, to regain sovereignty over the States. To this end, as has been observed, the tribes on our borders were secretly supplied with munitions of war, and instigated to commit depredations on the frontiers of Kentucky and Southwest Ohio. ilcKee, Elliott and Girty fanned the flame of hate and revenge, and, as the probabilities of war between the two countries became stronger, the Indians, following the lead of Tecumseh, became more audacious. In April, 1812, an embargo was laid, by Congress, on all the shipping in the ports and harbors of the United States; and soon after, an act authorizing the President to detach 100,000 militia, for six months, was passed and carried into execution, and a general declaration of war was expected. At this time, the war in Europe between France and the allied powers, continued to rage with unabated violence. England and France used «very artifice to involve all the nations of Europe in the contest. At the same time, the British naval officers were carrying out the detestable doctrine of " impressing American seamen," in a manner so extensive and vexatious as in cause great distress among our seafaring people, and much inconvenience and risk to our merchants. The American Government repeatedly protested against these outrages, but could neither obtain indemnity for the past nor security for the future. The alternative of arms alone was left, to vindicate our rights and protect our maritime interests on the ocean,' and hence, a formal declaration of war against Great Britain was made June 18, 1812.

The forces of the United States and of Ohio were marshaled for the contest with all speed. Gov. Meigs obtained permission of the friendly Wyandots, Shawnees, Mingoes and Delawaies to march through their country without opposition; these Indians agreeing to abide faithfully by the treaty of Greenville, and remain neutral during the progress of the war. The forces of Gen. McArthur and Col. Casa in due time appeared on the Rivers Raisin and Huron, and thence to Brownstown, and finally to Detroit, where Gen. Hull, without an effort, ingloriously surrendered his forces to Gen. Isaac Brock, of the British Army This disaster sent a shudder through the poineer settlements of Ohio. Gen. W. H. Harrison was appointed to the command, and a new army Avas levied and organized. We are unable, for want of space, to trace the history of his campaigns until the close of the war. It will be sufficient to state that he was ably seconded by Col. Richard M. Johnson, Col. John Logan and Col. W. S. Hunter as aids, while the troops of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio, under his command, sustained the reputation of their States by acts of valor and uncomplaining sacrifices until the declaration of peace.

The Government of the United States made an attempt, as soon as war was declared, to soften the jealousies of the Indians on oui- border. The various tribes were invited to a general council, to be held at Piqua on the 15th of August, 1812. They were invited to bring their families, and kindle a great council fire. Gov. Meigs, Thomas Worthington and Jeremiah Morrow were appointed Commissioners to meet them. The conference failed; for only a few Shawnees, Wyandots, Mingoes, Delawares, Ottawas and Miamis attended. Those present professed great friendship for the Government; but little confidence could be placed in any but the Shawnees and Wyandots. Blackhoof , Logan and the Crane appeared to be honest in their desires for peace, and wielded a good influence. The Government desired to provide for all peaceable Indians, and sent officers to conduct such to Urbana, Zanesville and Piqua, where they could be under the eye of the Government agents. The Mohegans and Delawares of the villages of Greenstown and Jerometown, in what is now Ashland County, were conducted to Urbana by Capt. Douglass, of Clinton, Knox Covinty, where they remained, at Government expense, until peace was declared. The friendly Shawnees and Wyandots were variously employed, some as scouts and others as guides. While acting in the capacity of spy, a noted Shawnee half-blood, named Logan, was fatally wounded in a rencontre with the Pottawatomie chief Winemac and his braves. Logan will be remembered as having been taken a prisoner, when a boy, by Gen. Logan, of Kentucky, in 1786, and adopted and educated, and received the name of his captor - Logan. His mother was a sister of Tecumseh and the Prophet. The family of Logan resided near Wapakonetta, whither he was taken after his death and buried by United States troops with the honors of war.

In the spring of 181 3, the policy of the Government as to the employment of Indians as soldiers was, with some hesitancy, changed. Gen. Harrison held a council at Franklinton with the friendly Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees and Senecas, in which it was agreed those tribes should be enrolled and take up arms in defense of the United States, as against the British and their Indian allies. Tarhe, the venerable Wyandot chief, for himself and people, and the chiefs of the other tribes, agreed to prevent their warriors from scalping prisoners and committing the barbaric acts which had characterized the Canadian Indians. With these stipulations, a corps of Indians was armed, and fully demonstrated that they could be controlled by the rules of civilized warfare, and successfully restrained from committing acts characteristic of savages, notwithstanding the assertions of British officers. The Indian soldiers are said to have been " uniformly distinguished by orderly and humane conduct."

The renegade young Shawnees, and those of other tribes, joined Tecumseh and fought desperately for the British at the battle of the Thames, where Col. R. M. Johnson was wounded in the thigh, hip and left hand, and is reputed to have killed Tecumseh, then a Colonel in the British service. It was the belief of soldiers who were present, and saw the rencontre, that Johnson killed the chief with a horse pistol, in the attack, after his own horse had. fallen, because Tecumseh fell at the point where the Colonel was down.

As Tecumseli was a chief of undoubted talent and of great courage, we deem it proper, in giving a sketch of the Shawnees, to call the attention of the reader to his history. The following is compiled from Drake's life of the chief: " Puokeshinwa, the father of Tecumseh, was a member of the Kiscopoke, and Methoataske, the mother, of the Turtle tribe of the Shawnee nation. They removed from Florida to Ohio about the middle of the last century (1750). The father rose to the rank of chief, and fell at the battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774. After his death, his wife returned South, where she died at an advanced age. Tecumseh was born at Piqua about the year 1768, and, like Napoleon, showed a passion for war in his youth. It is stated that the first battle in which he was engaged occurred on the present site of Dayton, between the Kentuckians under Col. Logan and some Shawnees. When about seventeen years of age, he manifested great courage in an attack on some boats on the Ohio Kiver, near what is now Maysville, Ky. The prisoners were all killed but one, who was burned alive. Tecumseh, having witnessed the burning of the prisoner, expressed his strong abhorrence of the act, and by his eloquence persuaded his party never to burn any more prisoners. He rose rapidly as a warrior, and gained great popularity among his tribe. He was in the attack on Port Recovery, and the battle of Fallen Timbers, in "Wayne's campaign, and, in the summer of 1795, became a chief. He resided, in 1796, at Deer Creek, in the vicinity of the present site of Urbana, and afterward at Piqua, on the Great Miami. In 1798, by invitation of the Delawares. he removed, with his followers, to White Eiver, Ind. In 1805, through the influence of Blsquatawa, his twin brother, a large number of Shawnees established themselves at Greenville, and EIsquatawa assumed the ofiSce of a prophet, and commenced a career of cunning and pretended sorcery that gave him great sway over the Indian mind. They remained at Greenville in the year 1806, and were visited by many Indians from the different tribes. The Prophet pretended to have dreamed many wonderful dreams, and claimed to have had many supernatural revelations, and by such stories convinced many that he was really the earthly ao-ent of the Great Spirit. In 1807, Gov. W. H. Harrison sent a messenger to the head chiefs of the Shawnees, desiring them to disband their people at Greenville, as their conduct foreshadowed evil to the whites. The Prophet evaded the message and refused to go. In 1808, Tecumseh and the Prophet removed to Tippecanoe, and coniinued their efforts to induce the Indians to forsake their vicious habits, while Tecumseh visited the neighboring tribes to increase the Prophet's inflaence. In 1809-10, their conduct was such as to leave but little doubt that their intentions were hostile. The Prophet seemed to be most prominent, but Tecumseh, backed by British agents, was in reality the leader. In August, 1810, Tecumseh visited Vincennes, accompanied by forty warriors, to have a talk with Gov. Harrison. His manner on that occasion was haughty and menacing. He declared he was not for war, but desired to unite all the Indians to prevent the sale of their lands. His vehemence of speech fully indicated the purpose of the brothers, and after his departure Gov, Harrison proceeded to prepare for the coming contest. He sent a message to the Shawnees, bidding them to beware of hostilities; to which Tecumseh gave a brief reply, and visited the Governor with 300 warriors, in July, 1811, in which he exhibited the same haughty spirit that he evinced in the former meeting. Gov. Harrison prepared to disperse the bostiles at White River, and the battle at Tippecanoe followed. The result of that battle deprived the Prophet of much of his influence. In the spring of 1812, Tecumseh and his warriors visited Maiden, and tendered their services to the British, and he was subsequently made a Brigadier General in the British Army, and was present at the ensuing battles against the Americans on land, until the battle of the Thames, in which he fell."

Mr. Alder, in his narrative, states that he was personally acquainted with Tecumseh, and that he heard an Indian once boasting how many white scalps he had taken. Tecumseh, the gi eat chief, turned on him and said "he was a low, mean Indian; that more than half the number of scalps were those of women and children. Tecumseh said he had killed fortv men with his own hands in single combat, but he had never taken the life of a woman or child." Tecumseh seems to have possessed, for a savage, many fine traits. To save his country was honorable and highly patriotic. He was a man of fine intellect, brave, fearless, and of pure integrity. He would ask nothing but his right, and would submit to nothing that was wrong. This great chief was born three -fourths of a century too late. With his talents for organization, seventy-five years earlier he would have rivaled Pontiac, and have done much to keep the pale faces east of the Ohio. It is not definitely certain whether the projected Indian confederacy originated with him. Whether it did or not, it must be conceded that he evinced great talents in carrying it forward: and the skill of Gen. Harrison was more than once baffled by the persistence of this great chief. When Proctor was about to retreat to the Thames, Tecumseh, having penetrated his designs, looked upon the British Commander with scorn. The manner of the death of the chief will, probably, ever remain unsettled. The Prophet, who accompanied the renegade Shaw- nees under the lead of Tecumseh to the British service in Canada, after the war returned to Wapakonetta, and went AVest of the Mississippi, with a large number of his tribe, in 1828, and died, in 1833, in Kansas, with cholera.

By a treaty, held at the Maumee Rapids, in 1817, by Gen. Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, the Shawnees were given a reservation around "Wapakonetta, in the name of Blackhoof , and along Hog Creek of ten miles square, and in 1818, at the treaty of St. Mary's, twenty-fi\'e square miles, to be so laid out that Wapakonetta should be the center. At the same treaties, the Shawnees and Seuecas in what is now Logan. County, in and around Lewistown, received a reservation of forty square miles. The founder of the latter village is believed to have been the chief John Lewis, who married Mary, the Indian sister of the captive Jonathan Alder. The Shawnees continued to reside on these reservations until their final removal west of the Mississippi. None of the band of Tecumseh was included in the schedule of names appended in the treaty of 1817 at the Maumee Rapids, nor at St. Mary's. They had forfeited all right to protection by the Government of the United States, having joined the British in 1812.

As the Wapakonetta band was, at the time of removal, within the limits of Allen County, the names uf the Shawnees of that reservation are as follows: " Quatu-wa-pee, or Capt. Lewis, of Lewistown, forty square miles. Tracts at Wapakonetta divided among the following: Blackhoof, Pam-thee or Walker, Pea-se-ca or Wolf, Shem-an-itaor Snake, Athel-wake-se ca or Yellow Clouds, Pem-thew-tew or John Perry, Ca ca-lawa or End of the Tail, Que-Ia-we War Chief, Sa-ca-chew a, We-rew-e-la, Wa-sa-we-tah or Bright Horn, Otha-ra-sa or Yellow, Tep-e-te-seca, New-a-he tuc-ca, Ca-awar-icho, Wa-cat-chew-a, Silocha-he-ca, Tapea or Sanders, Me-she-raw-ah, To-leapea, Poc-be-caw, Alowemeta-huck or Lalloway or Perry, Wa-wel-ame, Ne-me-cashe, Ne-ru-pene-shequah or Cornstalk, Shi-she, She-a-law-he, Nam-skaka, Wa-cas-ka or David McNair, Sha-pu.-ka-ha, Quaco-wuw-nee, Neco-she cu, Thu-cu-scu or Jim Blue Jacket, Cho-welas-eca, Qua ha-ho, Kay-ketch he- ka or William Perry, Sewa-pen, Peetah or Davy Baker, Ska-poawah or George McDougal, Che-po cu-ra. She-ma or Sam, Che-a-has-ka or Captain Tommy, General Wayne. Tha-way, Ohawee, We-a-recah, Captain Reed, Law-ay-tu-cheh or John Wolf, Te-cutie or (Jeorge, Ske-ka-cump-ske-kaw, Wish-e maw, Muy-way-manotreka, Quas-kee, Thos-wa, Bap-tis-te, Maywe-ali-upe, Perea-Cumme, Chock-ke-lake or Dam, Kewa-pea, Ega-ta-cum-she-qua, Wal-upe, Aquaahe-qua, Pemata, Nepaho, Tap-e-she-ka, La-tho-wayno-ma, Saw-a-co-tu or Yellow Clouds, Mem-his-he-ka,

The Sale Of Their Beseeves

In the year 1831, Hon. John McElvain, Indian Agent for the Shawnees and Senecas of Ohio, was instructed by the Department at Washington to, approach those tribes on the question of disposing of their reservations and removal west of the Missouri, and it was done through James B. Gardner as Special Commissioner. The Shawnees had put little confidence in the integrity of Mr. Gardner, and entered into the proposed consultation with reluctance. Col. John Johnston, of Piqua, the old agent, who had served the Shawnees and other tribes included in his agency for over thirty years, had been removed by the President in consequence of his political opinions. This greatly grieved the Shawnees, for they had formed a very warm attachment for the old agent. He had been an honest, faithful and conscientious officer, and managed his department with strict economy and uprightness. During his official career he had handled vast sums of Government monev, and never applied a dollar to private uses above his regular compensation. He did not speculate, as is the modern custom, in spoiled beef, nor submit, to be subsidized by venal speculators in provisions, goods or furs, notwithstanding which, such was the heat of party rancor that the President removed him and appointed a partisan in his place.

The Society of Friends, at a very considerable expense, introduced farming among the Shawnees, built a grist and saw mill at AA'apakonetta, when Col. Johnson was made the almoner of a female Friend in Ireland to the amount of £100 sterling, to be expendedin stock and implemants of agriculture among the Indians of his agency, which trust was faithfully executed. Acts such as the preceding, with the accounts transmitted through the Delawares of the just and humane government of the Quakers in Pennsylvania toward the primitive Indians, had made them repose great confidence in persons of their society. By such acts the Shawnees were induced upon the paths of civilization, and had made fair progress in clearing, improving and cultivating their reservations.

At that time (1831) a large proportion of them were living in good log cabins, surrounded by cultivated fields and orchards, and were in possession of horses, cattle and swine in large numbers. They were peaceful in their intercourse with the whites, and had commenced to educate their children in the Quaker schools. In the midst of their prosperity and peace. Commissioner Gardner sent a message to the Shawnees at Wapakonetta, informing them that he would be there in a few days to make proposals for the purchase of their lands. This was the first intimation of the kind that had reached their ears since they had entered upon their reservations, which the Government and declared they should occupy for an indefinite term of years. The message greatly surprised and alarmed them, for they had always dreaded such a contingency, guided by the history of the past, though they did not expect it so soon, having been so repeatedly assured by the Government that they should forever remain upon and own their lauds, without being molested by any one. Having full faith in the guarantees of the Governmeut, they had been induced to improve their lands and change their mode and manner of life. The message of Gardner produced great confusion of mind and uncertainty of purpohe. The chiefs consulted their Quaker friends, as to the proper steps to be taken. It seemed almost incredible that the Government intended to thrust aside the plighted faith of the nation, and dispossess this handful of helpless Indians of so small a tract of land. Their Quaker friends advised them to refuse to sell or part with their lands. In the meantime, the traders and others having claims on the Indians demanded immediate payment, and commenced offering the chiefs large bribes to induce them to sell, expecting to get their dues ia that way, regardless of the fate of the poor Indians. In this way, the advice of the Quakers was overlooked, and the Indians induced to part with their improvements and wild lands. In a few days, Gardner notified the chiefs to meet him on a fixed day at Wapakonetta, and from that time until his arrival the utmost confusion, grief and alarm prevailed among the Shawnees. The head men met him in general council, when, through a new iuterpreter, Gardner delivered a long harangue, " describing the difficulties in the way of taxation, making roads, and the like, that were about to overtake them; adverting to the fact, also, that mean white men would soon ruin them with bad whisky; that white men would collect debts from them under their laws by seizing property, while an Indian's oath would amount to nothing; that white men would turn their horses in the Indian's grain field, and Indians be beaten by white men without remedy ; and in this way contimied to alarm their fears until he had produced a desire in his hearers to remove to the wilds of Kansas where they could feast on buffalo, elk and other wild game without working as the whites did. If they would consent to sell their lands and go West, the Great Father, President Jackson, would make them rich in a new and splendid country, which would never be within the limits of any State, where they could live byhunting! (How fallacious!) If they would sell their reservations in Ohio, the Government would give them 100,000 acres of beautiful land, adjoining the tract of fifty miles square ' which Gov. Clark, of Missoiiri, had ceded to their Shawnee brethren in 1825, and upon which they were now living, and for which the Government would make them a general warranty deed, in fee simple, forever; and further proposed that if they would part with their lands, they should have all that they could be sold for, over and above the cost of surveying and selling them, and the cost of removing and feeding them at their new homes, for one year after their arrival in that country, and as their friends, the Quakers, had erected a grist mill and saw mill for them at Wapakonetta, free of cost, tlie United States would build, at their own expense, good mills in their new country, in lieu of those they had in Ohio, and pay the Indians in cash the amount of what good men might adjudge their improvements to be worth, to enable them to improve their new homes, and that they should have new guns, and tools of every description, and all their lands would bring over 75 cents per acre the Indians should have, which would be placed in the United States Treasury, and five per cent interest paid them annually until they desired to draw the whole sum. "

This address greatly divided the Shawnees; those having improvements desired to remain, while the idle and dissipated, influenced by the bribes and whisky of the traders, desired to sell and remove, and were largely in the majority. After considering the matter a few days, word was conveyed, by a few of the chiefs to the Commissioner at Columbus, to coms on and close the contract. He attended, as requested, and renewed the same ofi"er as before, and urged them to sell, saying they should listen to the white people, because they were wiser than the red people, as they were wiser than the blacks. Way-wel-eapy, a noted chief and orator of the Shawnees, replied to Mr. Gardner on the difference of the races in mental capacity, and " denied that the Great Spirit had made any mental distinction between the white, the red and the black people. He thought the Great Spirit had created all men alike, of the same blood; but if he did, as his friend, Mr. Gardner, had said, create them so very different that one race was so much superior to the others, how had he found out that it was his own race that was so much wiser than others? He thought it there was any difference, it was very likely that it was the Indians who had the most sense given them." He then said the Shawnees had agreed to sell their lands if he (Gardner) would give the amount offered at the former council, and, in addition, would pay their debts - which was common in Indian treaties. The Commissioner said he would have an additional clause attached to the sale, " binding the Government to pay all their debts,'''' and leave the chiefs to determine the just amount of their in debtedness, and " the Government would pay it out of its own money.'' The chiefs then formally signed the treaty, without having it read prior to doing so.

In interpreting the new sale, they were terribly deceived. Gardner had refused to employ the old French interpreter, Francis DuOhequate, who understood the Shawnee tongue perfectly, and had long been an employe of Col. John Johnston. What motives actuated the new Commissioner it i.s difficult to determine. When the Indians finally obtained a copy from the department at Washington, they found that they had been grossly deceived and wronged.

While these consultations were being held at Wapakonetta, the Lewistown Shawnees became greatly troubled and confused. They were filled with apprehensions for the future, and sent for their old friend and adopted son, Jonathan Alder. They sent him special word, and desired him to come up immediately. "He rode to the village, and they said they were about to sell their reserve, and, if he wished, they would give him a portion of the land. The Indians thought, perhaps, they could give him about one mile square. They had offered him land a number of times before that, provided he would come and live on it; but, as he had lived a long time with them and thought he would rather live among his white neighbors, and did not wish to raise his family in their midst, he had declined their offers; but now, as they were going to sell, they thought they would give him some land, to which they thought he was justly entitled. They had always contended that he was entitled to a portion of the reserve, as the Government had failed to give him any land. They said that in two weeks they would have a meeting to transact business, and there would be a motion to strike off a part of the reserve for him, and that, to this end, all the male Shawnees would be permitted to vote, and they desired him to be present. He re- - mained a few days, visiting with his old friends, and then returned home. In the course of a month he again visited the village, and was informed that a motion to* strike off a porUon of land to him had been put, and failed. The Indians had debated and parleyed over it for two weeks, and the young men who had grown up since he had left the Shawnees, and knew nothing about him, had nearly all voted against the measure, and defeated it. Old Shawnees s'-ated, however, that a resolution to give him land beyond- the Missouri had been adopted unanimously, on the condition that he would go with them out, but they did not ask him to settle it until it suited himself and children. He reflected over the matter, and concluded that their reserve was so distant it would never do himself or children any sood, and declined to go as proposed."

In this manner, the call and winter of 1831-32 were spent in fruitless parleys. Gardner, in the spring of 1832, pressed the sale of their lands to a hasty issue. The chiefs hesitated to sign the transfer (desiring to pay all their just debts) until Gardner attached a special provision for that purpose to the treaty. In the meantime, the traders secured a recognition of all their pretended and just debts, and a bond for $20,000 was drawn up and signed, acknowledging the justness of their claims against the nation (?), which bond was indorsed by the Commissioner, and the books containing their claims were publicly burned. Almost as soon as the treaty was closed, it was rumored that they had been badly cheated, and that the bond just given would be paid out of the result of the sales of their reserve, instead of, as they supposed, by the Government. Upon learning the truth concerning the matter, John Perry, an aged and influential chief, wept like a child, and declared that his people " were ruined. "

A delegation immediately visited Washington ("iity, to see Gen. Lewis Cass, then at the head oE the department, concerning the sale. Upon procuring a copy of the treaty, their fears were fully realized. The debts due the traders, the charge of erecting new mills and other expenses were all to be deducted (?) from the proceeds of the sales of their lands, and the President declined to rescind the treaty and rectify the wrong that had been perpetrated! An estimate of the value of their property was made, and it was shown that Gardner had actually wronged them out of $120,000. Gen. Vance, then a Member of Congress, upon the refusal of the department to grant redress, made application to Congress, stating their losses at §100,000; but finally McDuffy, of South Carolina, reported a bill for $30,000 in fifteen annual payments, for their Ohio lands. The amount of lands ceded about Wapakonetta, 66,000 acres, and 40.300 acres at Lewistown, which, at $2 per acre, would amount to the sum of |212,600; but including their improvements, mills, etc., were probably worth double that amount. Yet, we are gravely told that the United States has fully paid ' for ever y foot of land purchased of the Indians in Ohio! Is there to be no day of retribution ? no day of settlement ?

At that time, the Shawnees had large numbers of cattle, horses, hogs and other property, which they could not take with them. They sold most of their cattle, hogs and other property, and purchased clothing, wagons, guns and provisions, and settled their private debts with their neighbors, and got ready to leave; but their annuity of 13,000 was not paid until November, 1831, and the consequence was that they suffered greatly for food during the winter of 1831- 3'2.

The Final Removal

The time for their removal arrived, and David Robb and D. M. Workman were appointed Subagents for their removal. For some months before their final departure, the young men of the Shawnees, and the middle-aged who had not abandoned theii' old customs, were engaged in a rounil of dissipation brought on by the mean tricks of wicked traders to cheat the Indians out of every dollar's worth of property they could obtain. Whisky, that bane of the Indian, was largely distributed among the Indians by traders; in fact, all decency was violated by the wretches who dealt in fire-water. The better portion of the Shawnees were engaged, for weeks, in religious ceremonies, dances and amusements preparatory to their departure. They carefully leveled the graves of their dead, and removed all traces of the same.

Hon. John Mcllvain accompanied the Lewistown Indians, and James B. Gardner those of Wapakonetta. The route was by way of Greenville, Richmond and Indianapolis. The Indians commenced to assemble in September, 1832, and mounted their horses, and such as had wagons seated themselves, while the Government teams hauled their provisions and clothing. Many of them bade a sad adieu to the huntinggrounds and graves of their fathers. It was a country dear to the Shawnee. Their braves had met Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, and fought bravely to retain it. Now, the pale face was to be the owner, and cared not at their departure. They could only look to the Great Spirit for preservation and future protection. All things being ready, their " High Priest " in front, like the leaders in ancient Israel, "bearing the ark of the covenant, " consisting of a large gourd and the bones of a deer's leg tied to his neck, led the way. Just as they started, the priest gave a " blast o£ his trumpet, " again indicative of the origin of the Shawnees, and then moved slowly and solemnly along, while the whole nation followed in like manner until they were ordered to halt and encamp in the evening; when the priest gave another blast, as a signal to stop, erect tents and cook supper. The same course was observed throughout the entire journey. The Shawnees who emigrated numbered 700 souls, and the Senecas who emigrated at the same time, 350. When they arrived at Greenville, they encamped at Tecumseh's point, and remained a da or two to take a final farewell of that place, so dear to their memories as the home of their fathers and the scene of so many Indian assemblies and heroic exploits. They had before them a journey of over eight hundred miles, across the open prairies, in an uninhabited country.

About one-fifth of the tribe remained at Wapakonetta and among the Wyandots at Upper Sandusky, until the spring of 1833. The Indians arrived at their new home about Christmas, 1832. Gardner accompanied them to the Mississippi and turned back, when Joseph Parks, a half-blood Quaker, who had the job of removing them, conducted them safely to their new home. They at once proceeded to raise cabins, split rails and make fences, but were very short of provisions, and had to depend largely upon such game as they could fitid. The buffalo, so glowingly described by Gardner, were not there! What a sad joke to the poor Indian! How faithless have tricky white men always been toward the red man! Is it a matter of surprise that the Indian should resent it? Their first crops were raised in 1833-34, prior to which they suffered a good deal- with cholera and the diseases of the country. New mills were erected, but not, as promised, at the Government expense (!), but out of their money! In these troubles they were greatly relieved by the good Quakers, who again established schools among them, and endeavored to teach them the arts of civilized life; in which they made rapid progress, and soon became surrounded with the comforts resulting from an agricultural life. Just prior to and at the time of the removal of the Shawnees. a number of very noted chiefs resided at their principal towns - W^apakonetta, Shawneetown and Lewistown - and it will be interesting to give a short sketch of each.

Theih Great Chiefs

The most noted chief was the venerable Blackhoof, Cut-the-we-ka-saw, in the raids upon Kentucky sometimes called Blackf oot. He is believed to have been bom in Florida, and, at the period of the removal of a portion of the Shawnees to Ohio and Pennsylvania, was old enough to recollect having been bathed in the salt water. He was present, with others of his tribe, at the defeat of Gen. Braddock, near Pittsburgh in 1755, and was engaged in all the wars in Ohio from that time until the treaty of Greenville, in 1795. He was known, tar and wide, as the great Shawnee warrior, whose cunning, sagacity and experience were only equaled by the force and desperate brav'=»ry with which he can'ied into operation his military plans. He was the inveterate foe of the white man, and held that no peace should be made, nor negotiation attempted, except on the condition that the whites should repass the mountains, and leave the great plains of the West to the sole occupancy of the red men. He was the orator of the tribe during the greater part of his long life, and is said to have been an excellent speaker. Col. John Johnston says he was probably in more battles than any living man of his day, and was the most graceful Indian he had ever seen, and possessed the most natural and happy faculty of expressing his ideas. He was well-versed in the traditions of his people, and no one understood better their relations to the whites, whose settlements were gradually pressing them back, and could detail, with minuteness, the wrongs inflicted by the whites on his people. He remembered having talked with some of the aged chiefs who had been present at the treaty with William Penn in 1682. He fought the battles against Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, hoping to retain their country, but when finally defeated, in 1794, he decided that further resistance was useless, and signed the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, and continued faithful to its stipulations until his decease, which occurred in the summer of 1831, at Wapakonetta, at the advanced age of one hundred and twenty years. In an interview with the late Col. George C. Johnston, of Piqua, Ohio, in 1874, he informed the writer that he was in Wapakonetta at the time of his death and attended his burial, which he describes as follows: " The Shawnees never bury their dead until the sun is in the tree-tops, late in the afternoon. On such occasions, they generally select six pall-bearers, who carry the corpse to the grave and place it therein, the grave being two and a half or three feet deep. When the chief Blackhoof was buried, in 1831, it was in the Indian manner. The corpse was wrapped in a clean, new Indian blanket, and a large quantity of new fine goods, consisting of calico, belts and ribbons, were placed about the deceased, who was laid upon a new, clean slab, prepared for the purpose; his gun, tomahawk, knife and pipe were by his side. All the Indians present were in deep distress, having their cloaks hanging loosely about them, their hair down on their shoulders, and were painted after the ancient manner. The chiefs sat about smoking, looking in solemn silence upon the remains of the great chief, who had led the tribe for nearly one hundred years, had been their faithful counselor in peace and war; had been present at Braddock's defeat, seventysix years before, and for nearly a century had been in all the expeditions against the ' Long 'Knives.' In front of his wigwam was a large quantity of meat from wild animals, the result of a two days' chase by the young warriors selected for that purpose. It was in a pile, handsomely stacked and guarded. When the time came to proceed to the grave, six young warriors stepped forward and arranged the cloths neatly about the body, then placing large straps beneath it, took hold of the ends and started directly to the grave. The family of Blackhoof preceded the remains; then came the chiefs who were to succeed him, and then the warriors and others. The grave was about three feet deep, a puncheon being placed in the bottom and one on each side, twelve or fourteen inches wide, constituting a sort of rude coffin. The body was placed in it, and the clothing which had last been worn by him was laid upon the body, and his old moccasins, cut into strips, were thrown down also. No arms or implements were placed in the grave. Another puncheon, some three or four inches thick, was placed over him as a lid to the coffin. John Perry, a venerable and leading chief, took some small seeds or vegetable powder from a cloth, and, beginning at the left shoulder of the corpse and walking carefully around the grave, sprinkled the same as he went until he reached the place of beginning. When this was done, he started on the path leading to the wigwam, and was followed by all present, except those who were left to close the grave. They all moved off in single filoj one after another, none looking back. Upon their return, smoking and conversation commenced, after which the feast began. The meats were consumed, and all the warriors returned to the wigwam or cabins. Blackhoof is said to have been opposed to polygamy and the practice of burning prisoners. He lived forty years with one wife, raising a large family of children, who both loved and respected him. He was small in stature - not more than five feet eight inches in height. He was favored with good health and unimpaired eyesight to the period of his death. "

Quasky, his eldest son, was the successor to Blackhoof. He possessed many of the qualities of his distinguished father. He went West with his people in 1832, and was living in 1853. He, like his father, was a fine speaker.

commanded the Indian army at the battle of " Fallon Timber," in 179-4, and with much reluctance signed the treaty with Wayne, at Greenville, in 1795. He was very bitter in his feelings toward the " Long Knives," who were rapidly settling upon the lands that formerly belonged to the red man. His feelings were quite as intense as those of- Tecumseh, though he did not possess his abilities for organization. As a matter of prudence, he did not join Tecumseh in the war of 1812. He is supposed to have died at the Ottawa village, down the Auglaize, just prior to the treaty of Maumee Eapids in 1817. It appears that Gens. Cass and McArthur, in that treaty, made provision for his family at Wapakonetta, in which James, George and Charles Blue Jacket received each about one thousand acres in the reservation.

Bock-ong-a-he-las. This noted old Delaware chief mixed much with the Shawnees. He is supposed to have been born near Philadelphia, Penn., a few years after the treaties with Penn, and when he lived on the Auglaize was well advanced in age. In colonial days with Jacobs and other leading Delawares, he resided in Western Pennsylvania, and is believed to have been identified with the " Shingess," who entertained Washington, when a young man, in 1753 Shingess was an active warrior when FortDu Quesne was taken in 1759. Heckewelder speaks of meeting him at the Tuscarora town on the Muskingum as early as 1760. As early as 1764, King Beaver, who was a brother of Bock-ong-a-he-las, was met by Gen. Gibson, at the mouth of Big Beaver. Just what time he settled in Western Ohio is not known. At the capture of Col. Hardin, Maj. Truman and others, in 1792, as bearers of a flag of truce from Washington, after having treacherously murdered Hardin, the Indians arrived near the Indian town of. Auglaize and reported to the old chief, " who was very sorry they had killed the men, and said, instead of so doing they should have brought them along to the Indian towns, and then, if what they had to say had not been liked, it would, have been time enough to have killed them. Nothing could justify them for putting them to death, as there was no chance for them to escape. " This chief fought against Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne. He signed the treaty of 1795. He must have been over one hundred years old. He died at the Ottawa village on the Auglaize in 1804.

The next noted chief was Way-wel-ea-py, who was the principal speaker among the Shawnees at the period of their removal. He was an eloquent orator, grave, gay or humorous as occasion required. At times his manner is said to have been quite fascinating, his countenance so full of varied expression, and his voice so musical, that sui'veyors and other strangers passing through the country listened to him with delight, although the words fell upon their ears in an unknown language. During the negotiation for the sale of their reserve, he addressed his people and Mr. Gardner several times. His refutation of Gardner's assumed superiority over the Indian race was complete, and full of irony. Col. George C. Johnston often met this chief at his trading post in Wapakonetta, and says he was fine-looking and cultivated the friendship of the pioneers. He was the principal speaker of the Shawnees, and delivered the opinions of the tribe at treaties and public assemblies. He removed West with his tribe, where he died in 1843.

Lollaway, John Perry, head chief of the Shawnees, often traded at the station of Col. Johnston. He signed the treaty of 1831, at Wapakonetta. He could converse fluently in English. He was a man of influence with his tribe, and of good habits. He was much grieved when he learned that the Shawnees had been deceived as to the value of their reservations. He went West in 1832, and died in 1843

Wa the-the-we-la, or Bright Horn, was another noted chief, who was present when Logan was mortally wounded in the contest with Winemae in 1812, and was severely wounded in the thigh in the same fight, but recovered, and lived at Wapakonetta. Hh was, with Blackhoof, the especial friend of G«n. Harrison in the war of 1812. He was a brave man, and of sound integrity. He fought like a hero for our cause in the war of 1812. He was a large and commanding Indian in appearance, and was quite shrewd and intelligent. He died in 1826, at Wapakonetta.

La-wa-tu-oheh, John Wolf, was a Shawnee of some note. Col. John Johnston hired of him a trading house at Wapakonetta and he often accompanied the Colonel on his trading trips in the forest, among the different tribes. He died at Wapakonetta.

Henry Clay, son of Capt. Wolf , was educated, under the supervision of Col. John Johnston, at Upper Piqua, at the expense of the Quaker Friends. He afterward became a leading chief, and married the daughter of Hon. Jeremiah McLain, formerly a member of Congress from the Columbus district, in 1835. He was named after the Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and was a man of considerable talent, and lived many years after his removal to Kansas.

Peter Cornstalk was a chief of some distinction. He is believed to have been a son of the celebrated chief Cornstalk of Chillicothe, who was assassinated at Point Pleasant, Va. His home was down the Auglaize. He was a large, fine-looking Indian, and a man of honor. He often visited the trading post, and became a warm friend of the whites. He was married, and went West with Elsquatawa, the Prophet, in 1828. He had a brother named Neru-pen-es-

It is proper to observe that the Hog Greek, or Ottawa band, did not remove in 1832. They removed in the summer of 1833, and escaped many of the hardships the Wapakonetta and Lewistowu bands endured the first winter, in erecting cabins and in prel^aring fields for crops in the spring of 1833. Joseph Parks, of Shawneetown, where the old council house yet stands, got the contract for removing this people. The band is given in Shawnee Township. They arrived in safety, under his lead, in 1833. The Shawnees raised but little in 1833, and suffered much the first winter. The good Quakers were active in their efforts to furnish all necessary aid.

In 1854, the Shawnees numbered about 900 souls; this included the white men who have intermarried with the nation, and are adopted as Indians. The Shawnees own about 1,600,000 acres of land, which gives about 1,700 acres each. They now have good dwelling-houses, provided with good furniture, which is kept in good order by their females. They live in the same manner as the whites, and quite as well. They have stables, corn-cribs, barns and other buildings; horses, cattle, hogs aad sheep; wagons and oxen, carriages and buggies; farm implements, plows, harrows and hoes. There is abundance of wheat, corn, oats and hay raised, and all are contented and happy.

Still, the white man craves their lands! In 1841, after much intrigue and cunning, they were asked by the Department to part with 1,000,000 acres of their reserve I "Forever," by the pale faces, means until the white man can again wrong the red man! Treaties last just that long, and no longer.

The home of the Shawnees is in Southern Kansas, along Mill Creek, Bull Creek, Wakarusa and their tributaries. The settlements are along the Blue and Osage Rivers, and are made up of splendid lands, and make very desirable homes. They sow a large amount of grain each year, and spare a large surplus, after supplying their own wants. They raise large numbers of cattle, and are quite successful as farmers. It will be seen, then, that these red men have fully adopted the white man's ideas of civilization. May they ever prosper.

With these reflections, we conclude the history of the Shawnees and their residence in Ohio. In a few years, there will be no more Shawnees, and, we fear, very few red men left on the continent.