Sandusky County, Ohio - Chapter 5: Lower Sandusky in the Olden Time; Some Interesting Affairs, 1909

Chapter 5: Lower Sandusky in the Olden Time; Some Interesting Affairs

Tunque-in-dundeh, or "Place of the Hanging Haze' - War Seat of Wyandots - Waterway From Lake Erie to Oho River - French and English Military Expeditions - Major Israel Putnam - Dalyell Destroys Wyandot Villages - English Traders, Arundel and Robbins - Moravian Refugees - Running the Gantlet - British Post Here During Revolution - Remains of an Indian Fort - Exploits of Captain Brady - Rescue of Peggy Fleming - Captives James Whitaker and Elizabeth Foulks and Their Marriage and Settlement - Virginia Slaves Taken to Negro Point - Indian Council Here Attended by Brant the Noted Chief of the Six Nations - Places of Refuge - Chief Joseph Brant - Letter From

Among the many interesting events connected with this romantic and historic region in the days of the "long ago," the following are related, taken principally from the Editor's Historical Address at the Ninety-Third Anniversary of the Battle of Fort Stephenson, and in part published by the Ohio Archzological and Historical Society (Vol. XVI).

At Lower Sandusky was one of the most 1mportant Wyandot villages named Junque-indundeh, which in the Wyandot language, noted for its descriptive character, as to the names of persons and places, signifies "At the place of the hanging haze or mist (smoke)," a name applicable and rather poetic when its site, with the surrounding forests, prairies and marshes, and the burning leaves and grass, are considered. Through this village passed one of the main Indian trails from Detroit and points west, through the wilderness to the upper Ohio River country; this place being 240 miles, by its zigzag course, from the Ohio River. There was also good navigation from here to Detroit and the Upper Lakes and a good waterway for canoes, with but a short portage between the Sandusky River and the Scioto, to the Ohio River. The streams then presented an almost even stage of water throughout the year. .The timber was not cut, swamps were not drained, there were no dams, no canals, no utilization of water power. Innumerable small pools'and swamps in the woods also held water. These discharged into sluggish creeks and rivers, and they in turn into the great waterways. It was possible to go in large canoes to the lake or come from thence to,the Ohio at any season of the year. Entering the river from the bay the Indian, and later the white man, paddled his canoe up this stream to the falls at Lower Sandusky, where a haul around the lower rapids was made and the journey continued to a point about six miles from Bucyrus, Ohio, where there was a portage of four miles to the Scioto River; thence they pursued their course southward down the Scioto to the Ohio.

The first written description we have of this route is by Col. Jas. Smith, who in 1755 was taken captive by the Indians, and passed from the mouth of the Sandusky River to the carrying place described, and from there with his captors to the southwest, and returning by this route in 1757 and thence by way of Sandusky River through Lower Sandusky to Lake Erie and thence to Detroit.

Places Of Refuge

Here centuries ago, according to tradition, there were two fortified neutral towns. One on the east and one on the west bank of the river, remains of which, in the shape of earthworks were visible within the remembrance of inhabitants now living.

Major B. F. Stickney, for many years Indian agent in this locality and familiar with its history and traditions, in a lecture in Toledo in 1845, speaking of these towns, said: "The Wyandots have given me this account of them. At a period of two and a half centuries ago all the Indians west of this point were at war with those east. Two walled towns were built near each other, inhabited by those of Wyandot origin. They assumed a neutral character. All of the west might enter the western city and all of the east the eastern. The inhabitants of one city might inform those of the other that war parties were there; but who they were or whence they came or anything more must not be mentioned."

Gen, Lewis Cass, in an address in 1829 before the Historical Society of Michigan, alluding to these neutral towns, said: "During the long and disastrous contest which preceded and followed the arrival of the Europeans, in which the Iroquois contended for victory, and their enemies for existence, this little band (Wyandots) preserved the integritv of their tribe and the sacred character of peacemakers. All who met upon their threshold met as friends. This neutral nation was still in existence when the French missionaries reached the upper lakes two centuries ago. The details of their history and of their character and privileges are meager and unsatisfactory, and this is the more to be regretted as such a sanctuary among the barbarous tribes is not only a singular institution but altogether at variance with that reckless spirit of cruelty with which their wars are usually prosecuted." Internal feuds finally arose, as the tradition goes, and the villages were destroyed.

Lower Sandusky was the principal war seat of the Wyandots, as the principal chief, Tarhe, the Crane, as we have seen, lived here. Upper Sandusky was their chief seat of government, their great Half King living there.

Colonel Bouquet in the report of his expedition, mace in 1764, mentioned the name of the village Junque-in-dundeh, which, however, he did not reach, but which was the southernmost point reached by Colonel Bradstreet and Israel Putnam, in their expeditions to and military service there.

This spot was on the route pursued by military expeditions of France, England and our forefathers, and by the savage red man from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. Many Indian war parties brought their captives to Lower Sandusky, and from thence most of them were taken by water to Detroit and Canada. In the year 1778 Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, then held captive by the Indians, passed through Lower Sandusky en route to Detroit.

While the two-mile square tract, ceded to the Government of the United States by the Indians, as before mentioned, which has been within its jurisdiction military and civil now for 125 years, was the center of movements military and civil of this region, yet the term "Lower Sandusky" had a wider signification and included more territory than merely the two-mile square tract, which afterwards became the town or village of that name, the boundaries of which, as a village and city, have never been enlarged. The term or name was applied to all that region within the Sandusky River Valley north of the 41st parallel north latitude.

In support of this conclusion reference is made to the action of the Delaware County Commissioners in annexing the region to Radnor Township, and the organization by the Huron County Commissioners of Lower Sandusky Township, as mentioned in a former chapter of this work; also the case of the state of Ohio vs. Ne-go-sheek, Ne-gon-e-ba and Ne-gossum, three Ottawa Indians, indicted in Huron County for the murder of John Wood and George Bishop, white men, at a hunter's and trapper's camp on the Portage River at a point about twelve miles from its mouth near what is now Oak Harbor, in Ottawa County, April 21, 1819. The indictment was drawn and the prosecution conducted by Ebenezer Lane, assisted by Peter Hitchcock, both very able lawyers and not likely to be mistaken in the averments as to the venue or place where the crime was committed, which, though known to have been several miles distant from the two-mile square tract, was nevertheless charged in the indictment as having been committed "At the county of Huron in Lower Sandusky."" This was while this region was within the civil jurisdiction of Huron County prior to the erection of Sandusky County. EXPEDITION AGAINST NICOLAS.

The first military expedition of white men to this place of which we have a record at the present time, was that of the French sent out by DeLongueuil, commandant at Detroit in 1748, during the conspiracy of Nicolas, the Wyandot chief who resided at Sandosket, on the south side of the bay of that name, and who had permitted English traders from Pennsylvania to erect a large blockhouse at his principal town in 1745. After the failure of his conspiracy, Nicolas resolved to abandon his towns on Sandusky Bay, and on April 7, 1748, destroyed his villages and forts, and with his warriors and their families moved to the Illinois country, as we have seen before.

Expeditions Of Bradstreet And Bouquet

Soon after Major Rogers took possession of the western forts for the British, Ensign Paully was placed in command of Fort Sandusky and so remained until his capture and the massacre of his garrison and the destruction of the fort, May 16, 1763. As soon as the news of the capture of nine British forts reached the British authorities - Detroit and Fort Pitt alone escaping capture - expeditions were sent to relieve the latter and to reestablish British supremacy in the northwest. Captain Dalyell arrived at the ruins of Old Fort Sandusky in the fall of 1763 and then proceeded up the Sandusky River to the villages of the Hurons (Wyandots), at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River, and utterly destroyed the Indian villages located there. EXPEDITIONS OF BRADSTREET AND BOUQUET.

In the following year (1764) the different expeditions of Bradstreet and Bouquet were sent out, Colonel Bradstreet's from Albany and Colonel Bouquet's from Fort Pitt. Bradstreet's army consisted of 1,180 men, over half of whom, namely 766, were provincial troops from New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, under command of Major Israel Putnam. Bradstreet's army came in large, specially constructed water crafts and skirted along the south border of Lake Erie, on to Detroit; from whence Bradstreet returned to treat with the Indians, who had agreed to meet him at the site of Old Fort Sandusky. His troops entered Sandusky Lake or Bay on September 18, 1764, and then encamped on a good clay bank one-half mile west of the spot where sixteen months before Pontiac had destroyed the fort. The Indians failing to appear, Colonel Bradstreet proceeded up the Sandusky River to the site of the villages of the Hurons (Wyandots) and encamped on the west side of the river a mile below the lower rapids. It will, of course, be remembered that Israel Putnam, here at the time with Bradstreet, afterwards was one of the heroes at Bunker Hill and became a conspicuous soldier and general in the War of the Revolution. AN OLD INDIAN FORT.

With Bradstreet's expedition was Capt. John Montresor, engineer, who kept a journal of the same, which we find published in the New York Historical Collection of 1881. At page 296, under date of September 22, 1764, he writes :

"T went to the Huron village (Junque-indundeh) and took a sketch of the bearings of that advantageous and beautiful situation and the meanderings of the river. Remarked, that the left of our encampment is contiguous to the remains of an old fort, where the Delawares and some western Indians took post to shelter themselves against the Iroquois nearly one hundred years ago - this constructed in the form of a circle 300 yards in circumference, one-half defended by the river and a remarkable hollow or gully which covers the left and parts of the front of our encampments."

The next military expedition of which we have knowledge which stopped at or passed through this place was the British contingent from Detroit known as Butler's Rangers, which served with the Indians in repelling Crawford's expedition, which culminated in the terrible scene of the execution of Craw- ford by burning at the stake. This followed about two months after the passage of the Moravians through this place on their removal to Detroit. These Moravians were the noted missionaries to the Indians, Rev. David Zeisberger and Rev. John Heckewelder, who, with their wives and children and teachers, were driven from their peaceful mission villages in the Tuscarawas Valley in 1782, by order of the British commandant at Detroit, on the accusation of violating their neutrality as missionaries, by sending runners to the American commandant at Fort Pitt with information of hostile movements toward the Virginia border. The notorious Simon Girty with the Half King at Upper Sandusky were directed to remove them to Detroit, but having arranged ati expedition to the Ohio, they appointed a French trader from Lower Sandusky, named Francis Lavelle, to accompany the refuges, with orders from Girty to him to drive them on foot around the head of the lake without even halting for the mothers to give nurse to their children. Lavelle, however, proved himself too humane to obey this brutal order, and instead of urging the party through the dreary wilderness, tarried at Lower Sandusky, sending a messenger to Detroit for further instruc-.

Running The Gantlet

tions; and in due time vessels were sent to transport the refuges to Detroit via the Bay and Lake. They embarked on April 14, 1782, for their destination. While at Lower Sandusky the Moravians were hospitably received into the homes of two [nglish traders there by the name of Arundel and Robbins (Taylor, Ohio). The missionary band at Lower Sandusky consisted of the senior missionary, David Zeisberger, and his wife; John Heckewelder, wife and child; Senseman, wife, and babe but a few weeks old; Youngman and wife, and Edwards and Michael Young, unmarried. The two latter were, while in Lower Sandusky, lodged in the house of Mr. Robbins. The other four missionaries with their families were guests of Mr. Arundel. RUNNING THE GANTLET.

myself a prisoner at Lower Sandusky, waiting for an opportunity to proceed with a trader to Detroit, three American prisoners were brought in by fourteen warriors from the garrison of Iort McIntosh. As soon as they had crossed the Sandusky River to which the village Jay adjacent, they were told by the captain of the party to run as hard as they could to a painted post which was shown to them. The youngest of the three without a moment's hesitation immediately started for it, and reached it fortunately without receiving a single blow: the second hesitated for a moment, but recollecting himself, he also ran as fast as he could and likewise reached the post unhurt. The third, frightened at seeing so many men, women and children with weapons in their hands ready to strike him, kept begging the captain to spare him, saying that he was a mason and would build him a fine large stone house or do any work for him that would please him.

"Run for your life," cried the chief to him,, "and don't talk now of building houses!" But the poor fellow still insisted, begging and praying to the captain, who at last finding his exhortations vain and fearing the consequences turned his back upon him and would not hear him any longer. Our mason now began to run, but received many a hard blow, one of which nearly brought him to the ground, which, if he had fallen would have decided his fate. He, however, reached the goal, and not without being sadly bruised, and he was besides bitterly reproached and scoffed at all round as a vile coward, while the others were hailed as brave men and received tokens of universal approbation."

"Tn the year 1782," says Heckewelder, "the war chief of the Wyandot tribe of Indians of Lower Sandusky sent a young white man whom he had taken as prisoner as a present to another chief who was called the Half King of Upper Sandusky, for the purpose of being adopted into his family in the place of one of his sons who had been killed the preceding year. The prisoner arrived and was presented to the Half therefore taken away for the purpose of being tortured and burnt on the pile. While the dreadful preparations were making and the unhappy victim was already tied to the stake, two English traders, moved by feelings of pity and humanity, resolved to unite their exertions to endeavor to save the prisoner's life by offering a ransom to the war chief; which however he refused, saying it was an established rule among them to sacrifice a prisoner when refused adoption; and besides the numerous war captains were on the spot to see the sentence carried into execution. The two generous Englishmen, were, however, not discouraged, and determined to try another effort. They appealed to the well-known high-minded pride of an Indian. 'But,' said they, 'among all these chiefs whom you have mentioned there is none who equals you in greatness; you are considered not only as the greatest and bravest, but as the best man in the nation.' 'Do you really believe what you say?' said the Indian looking them full in the face. 'Indeed we do.' Then without speaking another word he blackened himself, and taking his knife and his tomahawk in his hand, made his way through the crowd to the unhappy victim, crying out with a loud voice, 'what have you to do with my prisoner?' and at once cutting the cords with which he was tied, took him to his house, which was near that of Mr. Arundel, whence he was secured and carried off by safe hands to Detroit, where the commandant sent him by water to Niagara, where he was soon after liberated. The Indians who witnessed this act said it was truly heroic; they were so confounded by the unexpected conduct of this chief and by his manly and resolute appearance that they had not time to reflect upon what thev should do, and before their astonishment was well over the prisoner was out of their reach."

Another description of the same ardeal is related by Jeremiah Armstrong, who with an older brother and sister, was captured by the Indians in 1794 opposite Blennerhassett's Island and brought to this place. He says: "On arriving at Lower Sandusky, before entering the town, they halted and formed a procession for Cox (a fellow prisoner), my sister and myself to run the gauntlet. They pointed to the home of their chief, Old Crane (Tarhe), about a hundred yards distant, signifying that we should run into it. We did so and were received very kindly by the old chief; he was a very mild man, beloved by all."

Captain Brady

During the war of the Revolution Capt. Samuel Brady was sent here by direction of General Washington to learn if possible the strength of the Indians in this quarter. He approached the village under cover of night and, fording the river, secreted himself on the island just below the falls. When morning dawned a fog rested over the valley, which completely cut off from view the shore from either side. About 11 o'clock a bright sun quickly dispelled the mist and the celebrated borderer became the witness from 'his concealment of a series of interesting horse races by the Indians during the time he remained on the island, from which he concluded that they were not then preparing for any hostile movements, and started to return and, after a perilous tramp of several days, reached the fort from which he had been 'sent out.

This island where Brady secreted himself was known among the early settlers as Brady Island, though not in later times generally so designated. It contained about fifteen acres of land. It is suggested that it will now be in order to revive permanently the name. The Lake Erie and Western Railroad passes along the southern part of this island. Capt. Brady subsequently started on a scout towards the Sandusky villages as before and had arrived in the neighborhood, when he was made a prisoner and taken to one of the villages, most likely the one here. There was great rejoicing at the capture of Brady, and great preparation and parade were made for torturing him. The Indians collected in a large body, old and young, on the day set for his execution. Among them was Simon Girty, whom he knew, they having been boys together. Girty refused to recognize or aid him in any way. The time for execution arrived, the fires were lighted, the circle around him was drawing closer and he began sensibly to feel the effects of the fire. The withes which confined his arms and legs were getting loose and he soon found he could free himself. A fine looking squaw of one of the chiefs ventured a little too near for her own safety and entirely within his reach. By one powerful exertion he cleared himself from everything by which he was confined, caught the squaw by the head and shoulders, and threw her on the top of the burning pile, and in the confusion that followed made his escape. The Indians pursued, but he made good his escape, the crowning feat being his celebrated leap across the Cuyahoga River at the present site of Kent known as "Brady's Leap." (Tract 21, Western Reserve Historical Society. )

Negro Point

About the year 1780 a party of negroes were captured in Virginia and brought to the Sandusky River by the Indians, where they were held as slaves. They were placed in charge of a peninsular tract of land down the river from Lower Sandusky about four miles, which they cultivated for the Indians, no doubt to the great satisfaction of the squaws upon whom depended the menial labor. This place is known as "Nigger Bend," or sometimes more politely called "Negro Point."

Rescue Of Peggy Fleming

Charles Johnston, a Virginian of some prominence, was made a prisoner by the Indians on the Ohio River in 1790 and with a female prisoner named Peggy Fleming, was brought here. Ina narrative by him published by J. & J. Harper, New York, in 1827, he says:

"When we reached Lower Sandusky, a great degree of consternation prevailed there, produced by the incidents of the preceding day and the morning then recently passed. The three Cherokees who had possession of Peggy Fleming had conducted her to a place where they encamped, within a quarter of a mile from the town. It was immediately rumored that they were there -with a white female captive. The traders residing in the town instantly determined to visit the camp of the Cherokees to see her. Among them was a man whose name was Whitaker, and who had been carried into captivity from the white settlements on Fish Creek in Pennsylvania by the Wyandots in his early life and though naturalized by his captors retained some predilection for the whites. The influence which he had acquired with his tribe was such that they had promoted him to the rank of a chief and his standing with them was high. His business had led him frequently to Pittsburg, where the father of Peggy Fleming then kept a tavern in which Whitaker had been accustomed to lodge and board. As soon as he appeared he was recognized by the daughter of his old landlord and she addressed him by name and earnestly supplicated him to save her from the grasp of her savage proprietors. Without hesitation he acceded. Whitaker had won the sympathy and friendly cooperation of Tarhe, the principal chief, by the ruse that Peggy was his sister. Tarhe went immediately to the camp of the Cherokees and informed them that their prisoner was the sister of a friend of his and desired as a favor that they would make a present to him of Peggy Fleming, whom he wished to restore to her brother, but they rejected his request. He then proposed to purchase her; this they also refused with bitterness, telling him that he was no better than the white people and that he was as mean as dirt. He was greatly exasperated and went back to the town and told Whitaker what had been his reception and declared his intention to take her from the Cherokees by force, but fearing such an act might be productive of war between his nation and theirs, he urged Whitaker to raise the necessary sum for her redemption. Whitaker, with the assistance of other traders at the town, immediately made up the requisite amount in silver brooches. Early next morning, attended by eight or ten warriors, Tarhe marched out to the camp of the Cherokees, where they were found asleep, while their forlorn captive was securely fastened, in a state of utter nakedness, to a stake and her body painted black, an indication always decisive that death is the doom of the captive. Tarhe, with his knife, cut the cords by which she was bound, delivered to her her clothing, and after she was dressed awakened them and throwing down the silver brooches, the value of her ransom, they bore off the terrified girl to his town and delivered her to Whitaker, who after a few days sent her disguised to her home at Pittsburg under the care of two trusty Wyandots." The narrative proceeds to state that the Cherokees were so incensed at her rescue that they entered the town, threatened vengeance, walking about painted as for war. All the whites except Whitaker, who was considered as one of the Wyandots, assembled at night in the same house, provided with weapons of defense, continuing together until the next morning, when the Cherokees disappeared.

_"Lower Sandusky was to me distinguished by another circumstance. It was the residence of an Indian widow whose former husband I had been destined to succeed if the Mingo (in whose custody he had for a time been) had been permitted to retain and dispose of me according to his intentions. I felt an irresistible curiosity to have a view of this female, and it was my determination to find her dwelling and see her there, if no other opportunity should occur. She was at last pointed out to me as she walked about the village, and I could not help chuckling at my escape from the fate which had been intended for me. She was old. ugly and disgusting."

It is further stated in the narrative that "Whitaker fought against the Americans when Gen. Wayne defeated the Indians at the Rapids of the Miami of the Lakes."

And Representative Citizens 75 First White Settlers Here

James Whitaker, the rescuer of Peggy Fleming as before mentioned, was a trader at this post, and settled here on the river about two and a half miles below the rapids, where he lived and where he was buried. His tombstone, erected in the family burying ground, is still in existence and from the inscription thereon it is shown that he died December 17, 1804, in the 48th year of his age, which of course, would make the date of his birth in the year 1756. His wife was Elizabeth Foulks, who, like himself, was a captive and had been adopted by the Wyandots. They went from here to Detroit to be married but the fact and exact date do not appear of record. The fact, however, of their marriage and settlement on the river just below Lower Sandusky, and the births of the children in the order thereafter named, together with their names is shown by highly credible family traditions. Some of their descendants are at this time living in this vicinity, who are not further removed in kinship then grandchildren, to whom the facts mentioned have been related in their families. Mr. John P. Moore, now living on a part of the "Whitaker Reserve," says he was well acquainted with several persons who personally knew Whitaker and his family, from whom he learned the history of the marriage and names and order of births of the children.

Hildreth, in his "Pioneer History," gives an account of the capture of Daniel Convers in April, 1791, who on May oth following was taken to "Lower Sandusky," where there was a large Indian village, and his captors moved down the river and stopped a short time at Mr. Whitaker's, an Indian trader. He had a white wife who, like himself, was taken prisoner in childhood from western Virginia and adopted into the tribe (Wyandots.) The trader made them a present of a loaf of maple sugar, Whitaker said but little to the prisoner lest he should excite the jealousy of the warriors.

The marriage of Whitaker and his wife, however, must have been prior to 1790, the date when the rescue of Peggy Fleming occurred, for, their fourth child, Mary, wno became the wife of George Shannon, was born in 1791, as is shown from the inscription on her

Mary being the fourth child in order of birth, and born as we have seen in the next year after the rescue of Peggy Fleming, proves that James Whitaker was married before 1790 long enough to have bom to him by Elizabeth, his wife, the three older children, which in al! human probability would bring the date of his marriage at least five years prior to 1790. This is assuming that six years elapsed between his marriage and the birth of Mary, which, as we have seen, was in the year 1791, she being his fourth child. The names of the three children older than Mary were Isaac, Elizabeth and James. Those born after Mary were Charlotte, Rachel, Nancy and George Whitaker. There is no record to be found of the dates of the births of the children named except the inscription on Mary's tombstone. James Whitaker and his wife were permanent settlers here as early as 1785.

Elizabeth Whitaker survived her husband many years, living on the same lands on which she and her husband first settled after their marriage. Her will, dated February 15, 1833, was admitted to probate in this county September 13, 1833, in which are mentioned the names of several of her children, including Isaac and James, the latter being her executor. In her will among other things mentioned as her property is "A chest containing valuable articles." And from the inventory of her estate as recorded, the following articles of silver were found in a chest: Silver castor, cruets, table spoons, sugar tongs, Indian arm-band and shoe-buckles.

In the treaty with the Indians, September 29, 1817, at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee is the following among other reservations by the Indians: "To Elizabeth Whitaker, who was taken prisoner by Wyandots and has ever since lived among them, twelve hundred and eighty acres of land on the west side of the Sandusky River below Croghansville, to be laid off in a square form as nearly as the meanders of the said river will admit and to run an equal distance above and below the house in which the said Elizabeth Whit- aker now lives." A deed was made to her by the Government in 1822 for these lands containing the restriction that she should not convey the same to others without permission from the President of the United States. This permission she obtained from President Monroe and in 1823 for the consideration named in the deed of $1,200 conveyed the whole tract to her son, George Whitaker. A BRITISH POST HERE IN 1782.

During the Revolutionary War the British established a post here, as is evidenced by the following extract from an order issued by Brig. Gen. Irvine, dated at Fort Pitt, November, 11, 1782, to Major Isaac Craig: "Sir I have received intelligence from various channels that the British have established a post at Lower Sandusky," etc.

Chief Joseph Brant

At a great council held at Niagara in April, 1793, by the chiefs of most of the Western Nations, Brant was appointed to call a grand council to meet the Americans upon the "south side of Lake Erie," to consider the boundary question, upon which peace or war depended. This council, according to Drake, was held at Sandusky in July following. The "Sandusky" referred to by Drake doubtless was Lower Sandusky, this being as before mentioned, the Indian War seat.

Before attending this council, Brant had given it as his opinion, that no peace could take place until the Ohio and Muskingum should be made the boundary between the Americans and the redmen. It was, of course, not agreed to, and hostilities followed with the results already mentioned, the overthrow by General Wayne of the hostile nations involved.

General Wayne To Tarhe

"Brothers : - -You express some apprehension of injury from some of the hostile tribes on account of the part you have lately taken. Your father General Washington, the President of the fifteen Fires of America, will take you under his protection and has ordered me to defend his dutiful children from any injury that may be attempted against them on account of their peaceable disposition towards the United States, and for which purpose he will order a fort or fortification to be built at the foot of the rapids of Sandusky on the reserved lands as soon as the season and circumstances will permit. "AntTy. WAYNE. "Major General and Commander in Chief of the Legion of the U- S. Commissioner Plenipotentiary of the said United States for settling a permanent peace with all Indian Tribes and Nations northwest of © the Ohio. "Greenville, 1st January, 1795." (Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society.)

Interesting Old Letters

Further glimpses into Lower Sandusky life during the Revolutionary period, may be had from the following letters by English traders at this post to their agents at Detroit. These, with other letters, have been but recently obtained by Mr. C. M. Burton of Detroit, who kindly furnished them for use in this chapter. Abbreviations, capitals, spelling and punctuation are given as in the originals. The name of the famous Chief Brant, and the infamous Girty, McKee, Elliott and other white renegades will be observed. Also that of James Whitaker and his marriage at this place to a white prisoner girl, and his provisions for her comfort and pleasure.

Sir. We have sent you by Mr. Mercer one pack of Beaver in which we think there is 93 lb of Good and 16 lb not so Good also 9 Good others the prices are as follows the Good Beaver 9/ the other 6/ others 22/ if you please to Take the Pack at those Rates its yours otherwise Mr. Mercer has orders to stow it up Till we Come up to Detroit which we expect will be in Latter end of Sept the value of the Pack is fifty five Pounds eleven shillings which you will Cr our acct for if you Take it.

"In a letter dated "Lower Sandusky 19th July 1779" quite badly mutilated can be gathered that Wm. Arundel wrote to a Detroit party informing them that he had arrived at Lower Sandusky the 17th July; that

"Sir I was favored with yrs or the Sergt and with regard to the Horses, will Make it known to Mr Dawson pr the first oppty altho I have heard they are not to be Purchased from S. Gerty whose Comrade is the Proprietor

The Horse Cantuc I have never Rec'd from Whitaker as he lost him. But I have heard of him and-sent an Indian for him who is not yet returned You'l in Case he'd not yet take Notice as they May take him to Detroit

Sir You'l please Receive the Packs as Mentioned I Could not head the two Boats in at prest as we are under the necessity of Keeping one here in Case of Danger from the enemy to cut and Run upon the first Notice of their approach, the Peltry has not come from the Shawnee country nor will be all here until the Latter end Next Month Its thought there will be a quantity, the reason its not here is the roads was impractible this Winter and the woods all Burnt in the fall so thers no food for the horses

Whitaker begs you'll be so good as to send him 8 Galls of Rum & Charge it to him as he expects to be in he'll pay you then You'! please send the two Hd flour and two pounds Boheatea

The News of the Place here is pr the Prisnrs Brot in the Spring & from Different parts is that great preparations are making to Come against the Indian Country * * * The Defeat of Lord Cornwallis to the Southwd by the F & A has given them a notion & its resolved on the French Fleet to Come round Quebec and the A by way of Lake Champlain. * * *

I have got this of the Prisoners they seem to be Stanch Americans and Cannot Bear to hear anything by any of the rest here but in their favor a Sund'y last they adopted two of them Brot in by Coone & party one was Re'cd & and the other was to be in the place of the % Kings Son killed last fall who was refused and ordd by the half King to be given over to the Munceys to be Burnt of killed to be in revenge for his son, but was prevented by a belt I gave him & is now with the People that Brot him in Coone acted very well in this affair * * * Wm. Arundel"

From Arundal & Dawson. "May 23 1782 Sir Inclosed you have a Draft on Mr. Macomb for 32,, 11,, 3 which when paid please place to our Credit and oblige Yr. Hble Srvt A & Dawson." "Jas Whitaker would be Much obliged to Mr. Williams to send him the Kegg full of Rum & One Hund- Flour for which he'll pay him the first time he goes to the Fort. Sandusky 23rd May 1782." "Sandusky 17th June 1782 - Sir Inclosed you have the Late Frans Le Vellie's Private acct amounting to * and 8 Livers & Likewise an account of Sundrys for the use of the Indians as Stated in the Acct amt 244 Livers and a small acct against Govt of 19" 10" 6 furnished as per Do the Wampum was for to save the life of the Boy sent in our Boat. : There is here a Cow & three Horses belonging to the Late Le Vallie which I cannot get from the Woman he kept, Capt Caldwell seems to decline having any- thing to do in regard of Getting them from her for reason as he does not Chuse to affront any of them the present times will not admit of it

Sandusky 23rd July 1782 "Sir I suppose you have the affair of Mr Kays to Transact send you in care of James Snowden twentysix packs of Peltry the Quality you will see by the Inclosed Invoice and I think they are of Tolerable good kind for Sandusky ; We should be glad to know Wheth'r you will have up a Large Quantity of Indian goods this Summer and if Agreeable to you we would take one out-fitt from you this Fall as you have Some Connections here and we are Connected at the Upper Town and the Shawnee Town so that all the Trade from this place would come into your hand, this makes 130 packs we have sent on this Summer. Mr. McCormick is in the Campaign of Captn Caldwell. I have no more to trouble you with from this quarter I remain Sir your most obedient humble Servant Obediah Robins-"

Sir: I Recd from Wm Dawson the other day a small Horse Load Peltry with an order for Goods & Silver Works Sugar &c he says there's a great deal of it made at the Chauney Town he has not seen the Captn McKee Caldwell or Elliott since his arrival there as they with 20 Riflemen Indian officers and 100 Indians were gone to Cantuc Town

2 Doz pr Scissors, the Rangers by Captn Caldwells Letter will be here in 6 or 7 days as this party of Indians are arrived from them at whose request I lend the Boat and send Jno. Dumford in her"

Whitaker would be obliged to you if you'd please send him the same Quantity and Charge to his acct- Directing the Kegg for him he has married a white prisoner Girl lately with the above intends to get her entirely clear from the Indians Mr Robins married them

"Sandusky 20 May 1783 Sir I shall be glad you will send 1 Kegg of Rum 4 Gallons and 1 of 2 Gallons 1 White Beaver Hatt for my Wife and 2 Black Beaver Hatts 1 lb Bohea Tea the Tea you sent Mr. Dawson to the Shaw-ney Town Rec

"Sandusky 7th June 1783 Sir I shall be glad you would send 50.00 of Bal on Bar Lead I have been under the necessity of Borrowing a trifle of Simon Girty as he is a Man that I should not want to disappoint in Paying Please send it if possible this Day and herewith Goods and interest for the Money. My Compls to Mrs Williams William Dawson."