Allen County, Indiana - Chapter 5: Anthony Wayne, 1880

Chapter 5: Anthony Wayne

In 1681, Anthony Wayne, his grandfather, left that kingdom and removed to Ireland, where he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. Nine years later, he entered the army of William, Prince of Orange, against King James of England, and participated in the battles of the Boyne aud in the siege of Limerick. Becoming dissatisfied with the rule of his adopted country, he crossed the Atlantic and found a home suited to his tastes and inclinations in the colony of Pennsylvania, in what is now Chester County. In his emigration to this country, he was accompanied by his family. His settlement in this country occurred in the year 1722. Ilis son Isaac, the father of our hero, settled in this country also, who. like his father, was a tiller of the soil and well adapted to that pursuit, of all others the best calculated to develop the spirit of liberty.

Here, on the 1st day of Jannary, 1745, Anthony Wayne, the " Mad Anthony" of a later period, was born. Inheriting the military spirit of his ancestors, his mind strengthened with his growth, developing also the latent germ of military genius which soon became the governing motive of his youthful career. His boyhood days were most satisfactorily spent in pursuing his mind's ideal. It is related of him that, when c^uite young, his progress at school was so much interrupted by his penchant for military exercises that he was for a time obliged to cease his attendance. Afterward, however, upon being convinced of the pi'opriety of more studious habits by the earnest admonitions of his father, he com¬ menced anew his educational career and made most rapid advancement in those departments of study which appertain to active military life. Mathematics seem¬ ing to possess a charm for him. he distanced all classmates in this his favorite department.

About the year 1766, when, after the treaty of peace between Great Britain and France had been signed, and the questions growing out of the adjustment of boundaries in territorial acquisitions had been settled, the propriety of colonizing some of the unappropriated territory became a momentous consideration. At this time, Nova Scotia had just passed into the hands of the British Government, and the question of advantageous settlements in that quarter was the subject of j discussion among the people of Pennsylvania. Associations and land companies were formed with a view to establishing colonies there. In order to make these land associations available as a source of revenue, special agents were necessary to visit the territory, examine the soil and report its adaptedness to purposes of agriculture. Prominent among these was a company composed of merchants and others, resident in Pennsylvania. Young Wayne was selected as the agent of this company, appointed on the suggestion of Dr. Franklin, one of its members. Having accomplished all that was contemplated by his mission there, he returned the following year, at a time when the difficulties between Great Britain and her colonial dependencies began to assume appearances of hostile settlement. The exigencies of the situation seeming to demand his presence at home, his mission terminated more abruptly than might have been the case under other circum¬ stances. He returned home accordingly, and became an active participant in the discussions of the day.

Soon after his return, he was married to the daughter of Benjamin Parsoos, a distinguished Philadelphia merchant. After his marriage, he returned again to Chester County, where he was extensively engaged in surveying, agricultural pur¬ suits occupying a portion of his time. When the menacing attitude of Great Britain toward the Colonies approached a crisis, and it became necessary to meet force with force, Wayne was among the first to offer his services for the mainte¬ nance of right and the punishment of wrong.

The energy and capacity manifested by him, at an early period in the strug¬ gle, brought him so prominently before the public that, in January, 1776, he was granted a Colonel's commission by the Continental Congress. Under that com¬ mission, he took command of " one of the four regiments required from Pennsyl¬ vania in the re-enforcement of the Northern army." In the latter part of June, of that year, his regiment was called into active service, forming a part of Thomp¬ son's brigade, at the mouth of Sorel River, in Canada. During the engagement consequent upon the movement in the direction of Three Rivers, he distin¬ guished himself by a brilliant, though partially unsuccessful defense, against a greatly superior forco of British troops. Here, he maintained his position so well that he gained a position on the western side of Des Loup's River, and was enabled to reach the American camp at the mouth of the Sorel River in safety. Before entering the theater of war, however, " he was a Deputy in the Provincial Congress of his native State, which assembled in 1774. In the same year, he was a member of the Provincial Legislature. In the following year, he was a mem¬ ber of the Committee of Public Safety."

In the latter part of July, 1776, he was placed in command of the post of Ticonderoga, with a force of 2,500 men. So well had he thus far maintained his reputation for military skill', that. Congress, in consideration of his position as commandant at so important a post, conferred upon him the title of Brigadier General. He remained in charge of that post until the following spring. At that time, being called to the ranks of the main army, under Washington, he reached headquarters on the 15th of May, 1777, and was at once placed at the head of a brigade " which could not fail, under his direction," says Washington, " to be soon and greatly distinguished."

At the battle of Brandywine, he was distinguished for his bravery ; having been assigned the post of honor, leading the American attack, " he performed the service with a gallantry * * habitual to himself, and the division he commanded." Again, in the battle of Germantown, which shortly succeeded, " he led his division into the thickest of the fight, received two wounds and had his horse killed under him. For his gallantry in the subsequent battle of Mon¬ mouth, Gen. Washington mentioned him, in his official letter, with great appro¬ bation."

In the engagement at Stony Point, on the 16th of July, 1777, his desperate and successful attack was the occasion of the name " Mad Anthony." by which he was subsequently known ; but, it also procured for him a gold medal from Congress, a mark of distinction not frequently awarded. His laconic report of that action has often been quoted as a model of its kind. "Shortly after capturing and entering the fortification of the enemy, he was struck by a musket-ball on the head, which caused his fall ; but he immediately rallied, crying out, 1 March on ; carry me into the fort, for, should the wound be mortal, I will die at the head of the column.' "

This engagement is reported to have been " the most brilliant of the war." Washington, in his report to Congress, referring to it and to the commanding offi¬ cer, says: " To the encomiums he (Wayne) has deservedly bestowed on the offi¬ cers and men under his command, it gives me pleasure to add that his own conduct throughout the whole of this arduous enterprise merits the warmest approbations of Congress. He improved on the plan recommended by me, and executed it in a manner that does honor to his judgment and bravery." Congress also tendered him a vote of thanks.

His strength as a successful military officer was not more in the management of his men on the field of battle than iu his ability to adjust matters of complaint amon" them and the suppression of mutinies which occasionally broke out. An instance in point is given. In the early part of January, 1781, after the army had been distributed in winter quarters, being poorly provisioned and supplied with clothing necessary for comfort, and in want, too, of the means of providing these, a spirit of insubordination and mutiny was found to be fully developed in Wayne's division, among others, which threatened a passage at arms. Things had so nearly approached a crisis that disobedience to orders and attempts to take the redress of wrongs into their own hands were resorted to. The crisis was reached when the insurgents had set out on march toward Princeton. At that time, Wayne was stationed in the neighborhood of Morristown. Aware of the situation, he deter- 1 mined to follow and bring them again to order. Overtaking the main body at i Yealtown, he at once, in a dignified and conciliatory manner, " began to open negotiations with some of the non-commissioned officers in whom he placed most confidence ; and it was not long before he succeeded in convincing them that, in order to succeed in their demands, a change in their course and demeanor would be of the first necessity ; that without such a course of order on the part of the aggrieved, nothing whatever could be effected ; urging the necessity of organizing a board or appointing a committee among them to set forth their grievances, and by ' a full and clear statement of their demands,' pledging himself to become a zealous advocate in their behalf, in 1 so far as the claims made should be founded in justice or equity.'" The result of this policy was all that could have been desired; the committee was duly appointed, and the march to Princeton resumed with a greater show of satisfaction on the part of the malcontents.

In the early part of April, 1781, the British having sent a formidable force to operate against the industrial interests of the South, it became necessary to counteract the effect of this movement by sending to Virginia a detachment of troops to meet the emergency. Gen. La Fayette was sent to Virgiuia, and, soon after, Gen. Wayne, with the remains of the Pennsylvania liue, followed, co-oper¬ ating with him. The British were met at Green Springs, and. after driving the enemy's pickets. Gen. Wayne, in person, advanced to within " fifty yards of the whole British army, drawn up in order of battle, and already pushing forward flank corps to envelop him. Determining to make up in boldness what lie seemed to have lost or was about to lose in a too near approach to the enemy s lines, he made a bold and sudden move upon the enemy, and then retreated, which gave the British Commandant to infer that it was an effort to draw his force iuto ambush, which made so decided an impression that all pursuit of the American corps was forbidden."

At the beginning of the next year, Wayne was sent to adjust some d'theulties in Georgia, and " to re-instate, as far as might be possible, the authority of the Union within the limits of that State, with one hundred regular dragoons, three hundred undisciplined Georgia militia, aud about the same number of State cavalry." He gives his own account of the expedition in these words : " The duty we have done in Georgia was more difficult than that imposed upon the children of Israel ; they had only to make bricks without straw, but we have had provision, forage, aud almost every other apparatus of war, to procure without money ; boats, bridges, etc., to build without material, except those taken from the stump ; and, what was more difficult than all, to make Whigs out of Tories. But this we have effected, and wrested the country out of the hands of the enemy, with the exception only of the town of Savannah. How to keep it without some additional force, is a matter worthy of consideration. On the 12th of July following, Savannah was evacuated by the British troops and Gen. Wayne was recalled, the war of the Revolution being at an end.

The General, however, was doomed not long to remain idle his sword was again in demand, wielded by a master's hand. Indian hostilities in the North¬ west brought into requisition his eminent experience in the department of war. In April 1792, he was appointed, by President Washington, to the command of the Army of the Northwest, and immediately began his preparations for the expedition which redounded so much to Ins own glory and the discomhture of the Indians, on the banks of the Maumee, August 20, 1794. One of the results of this very decisive engagement was the. treaty of Greenville, on the 3d ot August, 1795. About this time, also, he was appointed sole Commissioner to trea°t with the Northwestern Indians, and also " received of the military poste -Mven up by the British Government," which called him again to the N\ est, and, after a prompt and faithful discharge of the duties attached to these new iunctions, while descending Lake Erie from Detroit, he was attacked by the gout, from which he soon after died, in December, 1796. He was buried at the foot of the flagstaff at Fort Erie, where his remains continued to repose until 1809, when they were removed by his son and deposited in the family burial place, in tho cemetery of St. David's Church, in his native county. Subsequently, a fine monument was erected there by the " Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincin¬ nati." But no better or more fitting monument could have marked his last burial place than that which reposes in the memory of a grateful people, proud of the recollection of his noble deeds.

Introductory

The physical geography of Allen County presents some remarkable features worthy of more extended mention than is within the power of the writer to give, and, in some of its features, worthy of scientific investigation. Its geological features have had little study, from the fact that there is not, within the limits of the county, any outcrop of rocks, for the reason that all the rocks have been planed off by glacial action, and the smooth surface thus formed covered to an average depth of eighty feet by the drift of the glacial epoch. The boring of the arte¬ sian well in the Court House Square to the depth of 3,000 feet without obtaining flowing water, gave us the first information we had of what lay beneath us. For eighty-eight feet the bore was through glacial drift, when it struck the first rock, which is a light-colored limestone of the Niagara epoch, and continued to a depth of 2,500 feet, through limestones of varying colors and hardness, after which soft, calcareous rock, still belonging to the Lower Silurian, was found to the depth reached by the bore.

The surface of the county is generally flat, but marked elevations occur at different points, without any of the bluff formations peculiar to many sections through which considerable streams p;iss. Fort Wayne, situated nearly in the geographical center of the county, is called the " Summit City," but is only a summit on the lines running easterly and westerly, for on a north and south line, it is one of the lowest points in this section. The altitude of Fort Wayne at the P., F. W. & C. Railroad depot is 785 feet above sea level; at Bruce's Station, on the Grand Rapids road, near the north line of the county, the altitude is 877 feet; and at the Wells County line, south on the Muncie road, 829 feet ; to the east, where the W. & E. Canal crosses the State line the altitude is 750 feet; and near the west line of the county it is 744 feet.

It will be seen from these figures that Fort Wayne is ninety-two feet lower than the north line, and forty-four feet lower than the south line of the county, while it :s thirty-five feet higher than the east, and forty-one feet higher than the west line.

The river systems of the county deserve especial notice. Two considerable streams, the St. Joseph's and St. Mary's, rise in Ohio and flowthrough the eastern portion of the county to Fort Wayne. The former flows in a general southwest¬ erly direction, the latter in a northwesterly direction, until they unite, forming the Maumee, wheD, instead of flowing onward in the same general direction, the united stream turns backward, as it were, and flows northeastward between its con¬ fluents, through Northwestern Ohio to Lake Erie.

Running through the northwestern corner of the county, Eel River takes its course to the Wabash in a southwest direction, while Little River and the Aboite, lower down, take the same general course to the Wabash. The county thus forms a water-shed, part of whose waters discharge through the Maumee, the chain of Lakes and the St. Lawrence, into the Atlantic, and the rest through the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico.

To the westward of Fort Wayne, these two systems approach so nearly that the waters of the great prairie discharge on one side into the rivers flowing to the Gulf, and on the other side into those rivers flowing to the Lakes, and only about four feet of earth prevents the two systems, represented by the St. Mary's and Little Rivers, from mingling their waters. It is traditional that, since the advent of the whites, a canoe could, in high water, be paddled from one river to the other across the prairie, and it is extremely probable that the prairie itself is a filled-up lake, whose waters at some period discharged both ways.

But in a geological period, extending back to an unknown antiquity, the surface geology of this section presented a far different appearance, and, by a study of its then features as revealed by science, much that now appears anom¬ alous is easily explained.

To go back to the glacial period. No history has been written of the grand operations of Nature in that wonderful age, except what is written by the hand of Nature herself upon the surface of the earth, but some of these writings are still so plain as to be easily deciphered in the light of science.

Before the glacial period, Lake Erie probably had its southwestern rim at Huntington, where the outcropping limestone ridge formed a rocky margin, over which the great inland sea discharged its waters into the Wabash. Valley. This was in what is denominated the lacustrine epoch, when the great Lakes were dammed back from an eastern outlet, by a rocky chain which was afterward broken through, and which raised Lake Erie to an altitude of 200 feet higher than its present level. Then came a period of great cold, and when great ice fields pushed down from the north and covered all the country with a glacier extending south to the Ohio River, and even beyond it in some places, but there the advancing ice seems to have met a warm wave which stayed its progress, and ultimately caused it to retreat slowly before it. It seems to have had alternate periods of advance and retreat, as shown by the moraines and other deposits formed at its foot, but at last the- time came when the heat was so intense that these periods were more frequent, and the debris from the melting ice-foot was piled up in great ridges, which clearly mark the sites where the glacier edge rested, as if unwilling further to retreat.

The first of these we will notice is known as the Wabash Ridge, named from the Wabash River, which flows along the south side of it for several miles in Mercer County, Ohio, and in Jay County, Ind., thence northeasterly until its clear outline is lost in the general drift.

The next is the St. Mary's Ridge, so named from the St. Mary's River, whose course is determined by it for more than fifty miles, twenty of which are in Allen County, and in the same manner determining the course of the St. Joseph's for nearly the same distance. Its general form bore some resemblance to the southwest extremity of Lake Erie, and might have been the lake shore, but for the continued changes of the ice-foot. While that ridge retained its original form - nearly a V, pointing eastward to Fort Wayne, with its apex just east of the St. Mary's Bridge, where we are all familiar with the steep bank of hardpan, the waters of the St. Joseph's and the St. Mary's, then, doubtless, great rushing streams flowing from the sides of the glacier, converged into one stream, which flowed westerly through the basin of Little River and the prairie, forming a grand river flowing through the Wabash Valley to the Gulf. Then followed another moraine, but smaller, which crosses the Maumee about half-way between Fort Wayne and New Haven, and is known as the Van Wert Ridge, and other moraines are traceable between here and the present lake shore, the last of which formed an impervious barrier between the waters of Lake Erie and those of the country to the southwest. Thus was formed between the last moraine and the St. Mary's moraine a vast depression, comprehending the present Maumee Valley and the country around it as bounded by these moraines, which was undoubtedly a lake, discharging its waters southward into the Wabash at Fort Wayne, as Lake Erie is believed to have formerly done at Huntington.

How long this period lasted, none can tell, but at last the Niagara broke through its barrier and drained Lake Erie to a lower level, leaving the inland lake formed by the ice moraine higher than Lake Erie, and separated from it only by the upper ridge. Then this was broken through, and the pent-up waters flowed into Lake Erie and ceased to discharge into the Wabash, but leaving the St. Joseph and St. Mary's as Wabash tributaries. Their flow and the debris carried by them undoubtedly in course of time filled up the bed of the smaller lake, which is now the great prairie, and cut into the apex of the St. Mary's moraine until at last the wall gave way, and, washing so as to form the slight barrier to the west, turned their united currents into the Maumee Valley, and gave to this section those peculiar features which, we believe, nowhere else exist, the turning-back of waters in the opposite direction to the line of their sources, as is done by the Maumee flowing backward between its confluent rivers.

These physical features have much to do with the economic status of our country in relation to its capacity for agriculture. Along the larger rivers arc rich alluvial bottoms, capable of producing nearly every variety of cereals in abundance. Above these bottoms are the ridges, composed beneath of hard-pan and bowlder clay, but on the sides covered with alluvium mixed with sand and clay. Between the ridges are flat lands with a hard-pan bottom in many places, but covered with a clay which, though hard to work, is filled with properties which make it rich for grasses of all kinds, while here and there throughout the county a fine, sandy loam prevails, suitable for the raising of nearly every prod¬ uct, and occasionally the wet prairies, now drained and brought under cultivation, present a rich, black loam of unknown depth, and of a richness unsurpassed. All these varied soils were deposited by the rushing waters of the period when the whole surrounding country was submerged by Lake Erie, or the later period, when the barriers were cut through, and the rush of the imprisoned waters seek¬ ing liberty, carried and scattered here and there the clay, sand and alluvium they had gathered, to make the fertile farms which are the pride of our county.

Most of the county was covered originally with a dense forest of oak, walnut, maple, ash, elm and hickory. No pines or hemlocks existed, and their species do not flourish now, even when planted and carefully nourished. A small cluster of tamaracks is found in the prairie of Eel River Township, the only ones believed to exist. The chestnut, so common throughout the United States in this lati¬ tude, is unknown here. The cottonwood flourishes along the river banks, and sometimes grows to immense size.

The timber-land was generally wet, and, for a time, it was supposed that the land would be cold and wet when cleared, but it was found that, as fast as clear¬ ings were made, the land dried, and many of the richest farms in the county have been redeemed from wet forest lands. It has taken time and labor, and two gen¬ erations at least have fallen alongside of the felled timber of this section, but the labor and energy of these pioneers have served to bring under cultivation a large agricultural area, from which their descendants and successors are now reaping rich harvests of grain and vegetables, and grazing stock for the markets of the world. The county is still richly timbered, and offers extraordinary inducements for manufactures of wood and commerce in lumber, the supply of which cannot be exhausted fpr many years to come.

Ihe animal fauna of Allen County was as varied as such a densely wooded country generally exhibits, and, in the earlier geological periods, it seems to have been the favorite habitat of such animals as the mammoth and mastodon. The first in the order of time was the American elephant; a tooth of one of this species was found in Spy Run, a few years ago, by II. J. Ruddisill, Esq., and is the only remains of the elephant known to have been discovered in the county. Next, in order of time, came the mastodon, whose remains have been quite fre¬ quently found in the county. In 1867, parts of the skeletons of three mastodons were found while digging a ditch near the line between Perry Township and Noble County, two adults and the other a calf. They had probably mired in the soft marsh where found. They were sent to the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and were lost in the great fire of 1871.

The remains of another were found a few years later, near the Whitley County line, not far from Areola, which must have been of immense size, one of the tusks being nine inches in diameter and nearly eleven feet in length. Remains of another were found on the farm of Peter Notestirie, on the St. Joseph's. All are found in marshy places, and, if the great marsh southwest of Fort Wayne is ever drained, we may expect to find more of them. Whether they roamed here after mankind appeared is not certainly known, but it is presumed they did.

The Indians and early settlers were surrounded with bears, wolves, deer, foxes, beavers, minks, otters, the lynx, muskrats, and many of the smaller ani¬ mals. The bison roamed over the country, before its settlement, as it now does over the Western plains. Now, all have passed away, except the deer, which comes down from the North in the winter, an occasional mink, the muskrat and the smaller animals, which are not so readily exterminated as the larger beasts of prey, or were not so eagerly sought for for their valuable skins. The site of Fort Wayne was a great point for the trade in skins, and remained so for many years after its first settlement.

Pre-Historic Remains

Long before the Columbian period, the valley of the Mississippi, which com¬ prehends all the great basin between the Alleghany and the Rocky Mountains, had been peopled by a comparatively dense population ; and all research tends to prove it was inhabited loner before the advent of the red Indian, by a people whose history is lost forever, but who were more fixed and permanent in their habits than were the Indian tribes which succeeded them. This race, whatever it was, had some claims to be ranked among those which had made some advance in civilization and the arts, although, judging by the standard of modern civiliza¬ tion, they had not yet advanced beyond the conditions of semi-barbarians, and perhaps were less civilized than the Aztecs.

To this race, the name of - Mound-Builders" has been given, on account of the many mounds of earth which they have left as the most enduring record of their having once existed - the silent witnesses of the former existence of a race now totally disappeared.

The principal home of this race was the great valley of the Mississippi, for, though their remains are occasionally found east of the Alleghanies, the principal part of their works are found within the limits of the great valley, and here was the center of their empire. This valley comprises an area of 2,455,000 square miles, and measures thirty degrees of longitude by twenty-three degrees of lati¬ tude. Of this area, 214,000 square miles are drained by the Ohio and its tribu¬ taries, the valley of the Ohio being greater in extent than that of all the other tributaries of the Mississippi, the Missouri excepted, and the basin of drainage of all these tributaries forms a rich territory, nearly equal to all the empires of the ancient world.

As we descend the Ohio, through a beautiful and ever-changing panorama of varying landscapes, and pass down the Mississippi, with its alluvium banks, we find, everywhere we go, these mounds and earthworks in great profusion, testify¬ ing to the former occupation of the country by this wonderfully busy and industrious race, and in the fertile valleys and plains throughout this vast area we are constantly finding some of the treasures of the past - their domestic gods, utensils, arms for war and the chase, ornaments of stone and native copper, totems of tribes, and articles for sports and games - all testifying to the vast population which once occupied this fertile and beautiful region of our land. Many theories have been advanced as to their origin, but it will probably remain forever a ques¬ tion unsolved. It would seem that the strongest evidences point to their being an offshoot from that wonderful race whose deserted palaces and temples in the wilds of Central America have excited the wonder and admiration of the world What would be more likely, than that colonies should set out from that quarter, pass along the shores of the Gulf, enter the mouth of the " Father of Waters " and spread through all the country watered by its tributaries, bringing with them many of the customs of the parent stock ? What are the mounds of the Missis¬ sippi Valley but the teocallis of Central America on a smaller scale, generally, but not always, for some of the mounds are of as great an extent as are the teocallis ? lo be sure, we find no stone temples or altars surmounting our mounds, but it must be remembered that the Mississippi Valley is comparatively destitute of building-stone, and the structures surmounting them were probably of wood winch would disappear and leave no trace in the long period which has elapsed since their builders vanished.

What became of them is another question, which will probably forever remain unanswered. That they disappeared at once is wholly improbable as is also the theory that they were totally destroyed. The most probable theory is that as they met the first irruption of the savage red men from the Northwest, and all Indian tradition points to this quarter for the place whence the Indians came they were gradually driven in from their outlying settlements, and finally overwhelmed by the constantly flowing tide of ruthless savages, more skilled than they in wiirfare, and envious of their rich hunting-ground?.

-i kn0W ^ wus a^W:I>'s custom of the red savage to incorporate into their tribes the women and children, and sometimes the men, of conquered enomits ; and it is probable that the. remnants of the Mound-Builders were thus incorporated into, and amalgamated with the conquering race, which would also acquire some of the habits and customs and implements of the conquered ; and that this will account for the difference in language and habits of the various tribes found inhabiting this area on the advent of the whites.

Ihe remnants of the Mound-Builders would be pressed back southward, whence they came ; and those of the savages who followed them to the south and overcame them would retain more of their customs than those tribes of the north who amalgamated with them in lesser degree, or not at all. On no other theory can we account for the fact that the soul hern tribes were found to be more advanced in civilization, less warlike, and much more given to the cultivation of the soil than were the restless, treacherous and bloody warriors of the north.

Northern Indiana has many proofs of the presence of this race recorded almost indelibly upon its soil, aud they have left some of their monuments in Allen County, but not as many, nor so extensive, as are found in Ohio or the southern part of Indiana. While some of them were pushing upward, and making great settlements along the tributaries of the Ohio, others had passed further up the Mississippi, discovered the Great Lakes, and entered into quite extensive copper-mining operations on the shores of Lake Superior. Colonies had occupied Michigan, and as far south in Indiana as the Kankakee, and it is from them, we think, that Allen County received the marks of their occupation. All along the valley of Cedar Creek, in De Kalb County, their mounds and earthworks appear in considerable number, but decrease in number as we proceed southward into Allen County, and are totally wanting in the southern portion of the county. Few, if any, are found along the Maumee, and the only traces of their settlements are along Cedar Creek, or in the vicinity of its junction with the St. Joseph's.

On Cedar Creek, near Stoners, on the Ft. W., J. & S. R. R., is a group of four mounds. Two of them are in a line north and south and are about forty feet apart. About fifteen rods east of these are two others about the same dis¬ tance apart, and on a line nearly east and west. When visited by the writer a few years since, three of them had been partially excavated years before and were said to have contained a large number of human bones, arrow-heads and some copper ornaments. The remaining mound was excavated at the time but disclosed only lumps of charcoal and a layer of hard-baked earth near its base.

Four miles south of these on the Coldwater road, on the farm of Henry Wolford (now owned by Mr. Bowser), is a large oblong mound which was only partially explored, but in which a perforated piece of ribboned slate was found, with much charcoal and a stratum of baked earth.

At Cedarville, on the St. Joseph, near the mouth of Cedar Creek, are three mounds about a hundred feet apart, situated on a line running northwest nearly parallel with the general direction of the river at this point. None of them have been fully explored, but one has nearly been removed to use its earth for mending the road, and charcoal was found in considerable quantities, as is usual in mounds of this class.

Descending the St. Joseph on the east, to the farm of Peter Nolestine, one of the oldest settlers, we find a circular "fort," or earthwork, situated in the bend of the river. It has been plowed over for nearly thirty years and has lost much of its outlines. Many relics have been found here, and, when newly plowed, numerous fragments of pottery, flints and stone implements are yet found in and around its site. A large rude pipe of pottery was found here some years k since. The bowl aud stem are moulded in one piece and the end of the stem has been flattened by the fingers while plastic, to form a mouth-piece.

Still further down the river, on the west side, opposite Antrap's Mill, is a semi-circular fort with its euds on the river bank. It is about 600 feet in arc. The earthwork is yet nearly two feet high, with a. well-defined ditch on the out¬ side. Very large trees which have grown on the embankment have fallen and gone to decay. We found in the earth which had been upturned by a fallen tree a fragment from the neck of a vessel of pottery with square indentations on the surface, and a flint, flat on one side and regularly chipped to a convex surface on the other, of the variety known as scrapers, or " turtle-back flints." Still further down the river on the east side, at the mouth of Breckenridge Creek, is a single mound, which has not been opened except by a slight excavation in its side 'which developed the customary lumps of charcoal. This point is about lour miles north of Fort Wayne, and is the most southerly point in the county at which mounds or earthworks arc known to exist.

Still on the ridges, and especially on the ridge terminating on Spy ltun at the late residence of H. J. Budjp, many implements and ornaments of the " stone a"e " and fragments of pottery ore found, and few portions of the county are devoid of them. Many of them have a beauty of design and polish unknown to the Indians found here on the advent of the whites, and may undoubtedly be referred to the age of the Mound-Builders. Stone axes and hatchets worked from granite or syenite are quite common. .

Flint arrow and spear heads of every variety have been plowed up in nearly every field. Some are very small and some are very large, and most ol them are very neatly chipped. Flint knives and scrapers of line workmanship are often found, and some of the flint spear and arrow heads are cut with a beveled winding edge to give them a rotary motion when *

Many of the stone ornaments and totemic emblems are of a material not i found in this vicinity except in a worked form. The ribboned silicious slate seems to have been held in special estimation by them in forming these ornamen- | tal and emblematic stones, and they were probably handed down as family heir¬ looms from generation to generation.

Of course, all of these are not the work of the Mound-Builders, for the same forms of weapons and ornaments were used by both people, as they are by all races in a state of barbarism throughout the world.

The only distinguishing feature now clearly marked between them was in their manuer of burying the dead. The former were generally buried under tumuli or mounds, while the Indian rarely went to the trouble of erecting laige mounds over tbeir dead. In this vicinity, several forms of Indian burial have been observed. Generally they were buried recumbent in the earth, but some have been found in a sitting position. Another mode was to place the body upon the °Tound and build a pen of logs over the remains in the shape of a roof ; and still Another was to place the body in a rude coffin, formed either by splitting a log and excavating the two halves, or by using a hollow trunk of a tree in the same manner, after which the halves were joined and fastened to the ground by driving in crossed stakes over them.

Three prominent Indian burying-grounds have been disclosed. One occu¬ pied the series of sand hills in the west end of Fort Wayne, another on the St. Joseph, just north of Fort Wayne, and near the site of the old Miami town, and a third at Cedarville, on the banks of the St. Joseph. Probably other localities will yet develop them, but these arc the most prominent, and a vast number must have found their resting-place in these three localities. At the latter place, a large hewn cross of oak was exhumed several years since, indicating that at least a temporary mission was established there at an early date, of which no history exists, and which was probably abandoned and its cross buried on account of the superstition of the Indians, who, in their relapse from the faith, attached some superstitious dread to the sacred emblem.

The builders of these earthworks and the makers of these relics of the stone age have long since passed away, and their remains are rapidly being obliterated by the hand of the agriculturist. In place of the irregular village of huts and wigwams and the throngs of savage men, a modern city has grown, busy with the hum of machinery, and of hurrying feet engaged in peaceful pursuits. The dense forest jfs, rapidly disappearing before the woodman's ax, and fertile fields waving with grain, and golden with the tassels and ears of the corn our Indian predecessors have bequeathed to us have taken its place, and they themselves will soon live only in the historical past.

Sentimental regret for the fate of the aboriginal tribes is useless and misap¬ plied. It is the natural fate of all savage and barbarous races. They have never in all history become civilized, but have disappeared before the advance of civil¬ ization, and the world is no woi'se, and probably better that they have disappeared. The vast fertile plains of our country were not designed by the Creator for occu¬ pation solely by the wild and savage beasts of the forest, and the no less wild sav¬ age of the forest, who lived by hunting them, and dressed in their skins ; and much as we may regret the extinction of a race, we should reflect that it is replaced by a better, which knows how to appreciate and use the bounteous gifts of the soil which lay waste for so many centuries under the dominion of the savage.