Allen County, Indiana - The whole text, 1889 (part 2 of 17)

Indeed, it was stated in the beginning that his return was not expected until the expiration of two years, at least; and later that he returned accordingly - all these facts tending to show that his movements were full3- known b}' the authorities aforesaid, and were in compliance with instructions. Such being the conditions, let us examine, from the context, whether he retraced his steps, as some have affirmed, or took a different route to reach the point contemplated. This objective purpose was to find the outlet of the great river supposed to run to the southwest or south and fall into the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of CaHfornia), on the western border of the continent. Animated with a desire to accomplish his mind's ideal of a more direct route to China and Japan, such as seemed to control his actions about the time of his separation from his companions in the vicinity of Lake Erie, is not presumable even, that he was so easily discouraged as to turn back after having reached the Falls of the Ohio, almost in direct line with his contemplated route. The less objectionable probabihty is that he either continued thence down the Ohio river to the Mississippi, the great " Father of Waters," or started overland toward the line of northern lakes, which might discharge an outlet to the westward. Or, again, he may have so far retraced his steps as to enable him to ascend one of those larger tributaries of the Ohio, the Scioto or Miami, toward the western extremit}^ of Lake Erie, whence, proceeding northward, he may have traversed the strait to Lake Huron, and along the eastern boundary of the peninsula of Michigan to the strait of Michillimackinac; thence, passing to the westward around Green Bay and down the west side of Lake Michigan to its southern border. Leaving this point, his route seemed to lie in the direction of the Illinois, crossing which, he is said to have traced its course to the Mississippi, and, perchance, descended its muddy channel. This route is in part conjectural, but not wholly so, since the nearest approach to an account of his travels yet produced, incidentally refers to that portion of his travels after leaving Lake Erie, at a period subsequent to his passage down the Ohio.

Taking into consideration all the facts pertinent to the issue, thus far developed, the more probable route, after leaving the Falls of the Ohio, at Louisville, was down that river to the mouth of the Wabash, since, on a manuscript map, drawn in 1673, ^"d still extant, exhibiting the area of discovery at that date, the Mississippi river is not shown, but the Ohio is traced a short distance below the Falls, and a part of eastern and northern Illinois dehneated thereon. From this, the inference is naturally and reasonabl}' drawn that, with the information manifest^ in the possession of the compiler of that map, who must have been, at the same time, cognizant of the movements of M. de La Salle, if not a companion, it is highh' probable that if the Mississippi had been then discovered, or La Salle had descended the Ohio below the mouth of the Wabash, these additional areas of discover}' would have been represented also. "And this," says Mr. Parkman (who is the possessor of this map), in his account of M. de La Salle's proceedings at that time,

Accepting this probability as true - and there seems to be little reason to doubt it - that he ascended the Wabash, where did he leave that stream? The obvious answer is, that if he subsequentl}' embarked on the western extremity of Lake Erie, and ascended the strait to Lake St. Clair and beyond, as we have seen, he must have traversed it to "the carrying-place" on " La Riviere du Portage," or Little river, and thence, by the portage, to the river " de la Roche" (Maumee), at Kekionga, and down that river until it debouches into Lake Erie. This is the more probable, too, in view of the further fact that, being a trader as well as a discoverer, the greater inducement was in favor of the central or chief village of the Miamis, not only the principal arena of trade, but the great con\'erging point of all the sources of information, as stated by Little Turtle in his address to Gen. Wajme at the treaty of Greenville; and his statement was not mere speculation, but founded on the traditions of his fathers from time immemorial. Hence, the route was practical, since it offered the means of acquiring more complete and accurate information than was obtainable from any other source, concerning what he most desired to know.

That this theory is correct, is strongh' supported by his own claim, as we shall see hereafter, that he discovered the route by way of the Maumee to the Wabash, and by the account he gave of his later movements in 1676, when he built a fort at Crevecceur, "for the protection of the trade in those countries," as he had already done for several years, in the rivers Oyo, Ouabache and others in the surrounding neighborhood, which flow into the Mississippi, * * * adding, " the countries and rivers of the Oj'o and Ouabache were inhabited by our Indians, the Chouanons, Miamis, and Illinois." If he had traversed the Wabash, and traded along it several 3'ears prior to 1676, at what time is it probable these voyages were made and the trading done ? At what other time than in the fall of 1669, and during the years 1670 and 1671 ? If not within that period, when P for we have no account of his having done so between the years 1672 and 1676, the date at which the above account commences. Furthermore, if he was trading at that time on the Wabash, then his articles of trafl'lc passed up La Riviere du Portage, were transported over "the carr3ang-place " to the St. Mary's, reshipped and taken down the Maumee to Lake Erie. What more probable route? What more natural point for the location of a fort, palisaded according to the necessities for protection and defense, than that at the head of the portage, on the St. Mary's ? Without direct proof to the contrary, the propositions will be accepted as true, that he traded along the upper Wabash in 1669-71, visited Kekionga and perhaps established there one of his fortified trading posts, and used it as a base for his operations in that region.

La Pointe, the latter then estabhshed himself at Green Bay, whence that earnest Father began to enlarge his held of labor, visitincr the countries to'\;he southward and westward of Lake Michigan. Although we have no direct account of the exact period when the mission was established among the Miamis, yet in view of the direction pursued by Allouez about this time, it is fair to presume that Kekionga was visited by one or more of these priests as early as 1669 or 1670, for, in May, 167 1, a grand council of all the adjacent tribes, including the Miamis, previously visited or communicated with, was held at Sault Ste. Marie, in whose presence and with whose consent the governor general of New France took " possession, in the name of His Majesty, of all the lands l3"ing between the east and west, and from Montreal to the south, so far as it could be done."

Meanwhile, x\llouez had been pursuing his labors among the Miamis, and extending the beneficent influence of his holy faith; but it appears to have been reserved to Marquette to estabhsh a mission among them, and erect there the standard of the cross, in the 3'ear 1673. On the i8th of May, 1675, Marquette died near the river that has since taken his name, near the margin of the lake, in western Michigan. Allouez died also, soon after, in the midst of his labors among the Miamis.

As early as 1672, so considerable a trade had grown up about the head-waters of the Maumee that the attention of the provincial government was drawn to the necessity of establishing and maintaining a military post for its protection. That such a post was established seems proven b}' the fact that in the account of transactions during 1696-7, it appears that Frontenac ordered the Sieur de Vincennes to the command of this post, and in a like report for 1704, it appears that he was again sent to command the same post by reason of his formerly having been stationed there, as appears from the statement as follows :

" Dispatched Father Valliant and Sieur de Joncaire to Seneca, and I sent Sieur de Vinsiene to the Miamis with m}' annexed order and message to be communicated to them.

"Sieur de Vinsiene, my lord, has been formerlj' commandant at the Miamis (,1697), by whom he was much beloved; this led me to select him in preference to any other to prove to that nation how wrong they were to attack the Iroquois - our allies and theirs - without any cause; and we - M. de Beaucharnois and I - after consultation, permitted said Sieur de Vinsiene to carry some goods and to take with him six men and two canoes."

Again, in a communication from Vandrueil to Pontchartrain, dated October 19, 1705, the following further statement occurs: "I did myself the honor to inform you last year that I regarded the continuance of the peace with the Iroquois as the principal affair of this country, and as I have always labored on that principle, it is that also which obliged me to send Sieur de Joncaire to the Senecas and Sieur de Vinsiene to the Miamis."

Wabash is clearl3' alluded to b}' Pere Allouez, who says: "There is at the end of Lake Erie, ten leagues below the strait, a river by which we can traverse much of the road to the Illinois, being navigable to canoes about two leagues nearer than that by which they usually go there," i. e., by way of the St. Joseph of the Lake, and the Kankakee.

That the great, lion-hearted, but unfortunate La Salle, the grandest character among the early American explorers, knew of, and had himself discovered this route, can hardly be doubted in the light of some fragments of his writings, though the records which he alwa3rs carefully kept of his explorations of this particular region were probably lost when his transports were wrecked, and their contents engulfed in the St. Lawrence, as he was returning to Quebec. In 1681, as he was about to start on his second expedition to the Mississippi, he drew up a will, in which he made the following devise: "I do give, cede and transfer, to the said Sieur Fleet, in case of mj' death, * * * all my rights over the countrj' of the Miamis, Illinois, and others to the southward, with the settlements among the Miamis." In a report made by him to Frontenac in 1682, he mentions the route by the Maumee and Wabash to the Mississippi as the most direct. Notwithstanding this fact, the early explorers and traders long continued to go around by the route through the lakes to the site of Chicago, and thence to the Father of Waters, sometimes b}- the way of Green Ba}', and the Illinois and Fox rivers, or by the head of Lake Michigan up the St. Joseph of the Lake, to the site of the present city of South Bend, thence b}' portage to the Kankakee, and down that river. Why they should so long travel by these tedious and difficult routes, when a shorter and easier one was well known, was long a mystery to the historian, until a hitherto unpublished letter of La Salle threw a flood of light upon the subject, and cleared away the mysterj-.

It is well known that about the time of the advent of the white man, the great Iroquois confederacy' was waging a war of extermination against the Algonquin tribes, of which the Miamis and the Illinois were a part, and that their savage forays left a bloody trail through all this section of the country to the banks of the Mississippi. It was b}^ reason of these murderous sallies, and the fact that the lower and shorter route was infested by roving bands of these savage warriors, enemies of the French, as well as of the Algonquins, that the longer route was followed. La Salle himself says, in a letter dated October, 1682, " Because I can no longer go to the Illinois but by the Lakes Huron and Illinois (Michigan), the other wavs -which I have discovered by the head of Lake Eric, and by the western coast of the same, becoming too dangerous by frequent encounters with the Iroquois." This letter is important, because it not onl}' proves that he had tra\-ersed thi« route prior to that date, but also that he actuall}' discovered it, and that his feet have trod the ground upon which a populous city now stands, when there was nothing to meet his view but a small cluster of Indian wigwams, and the unbroken forest surrounding it. We may consider this disputed question as proven, for La Salle was noted for stating none but exact facts, and when he says " I have discovered the route," it may be accepted as the truth.

Hennepin says: "From this lake [Erie] to the Mississippi they have three different routes. The shortest by water is up the river Miamis or Ouamis, on the southwest of Lake Erie, on which river they sail about one hundred and fift}^ leagues without interruption, when they find themselves stopped by another landing of about three leagues, which they call a carrying-place, because they are generally obliged to carry their canoes overland in those places to the next river, and that where they next embark is a very shallow one, called La Riviere du Portage ; hence the}- row about forty leagues to the river Ouabach, and from thence about one hundred and twenty leagues to the riVer Ohio, into which the Ouabach falls, as the river Ohio does about eighty leagues lower into the Mississippi, which continues its course for about three hundred and fifty leagues directly to the Bay of Mexico."

It is not only of interest, but importance, to trace briefly the movements of the great La Salle, for they were of weightier bearing upon the future of this region than those of any other explorer. During the period of the explorations of La Salle, he seemed to have been surrounded not only by the ordinary dangers which beset him on his journeys among savage tribes, but by greater dangers arising from the machinations of envious persons or rivals for fame among his own nationality. The tongue of malice and the hand of treachery always followed him wherever he went, and finally brought him to an untimely death, at the hands of a traitorous assassin. Much of this he attributed to the machinations of a rival order of the church, and there is doubtless much to prove that his worst enemies were the priests who belonged to an order different from that of which he was a devout and conscientious member, and these envious rivals had much to do in making his great work of disco\'ery more dangerous,- and in hindering his . efforts to Christianize and civilize the Indian tribes of this region. In December, 1679, he- left '^^ ^°^'^ °f ^^^^ Miamis of St. Joseph and went up that river to the Miami town where South Bend now stands. Five miles from there was one of the heads of the Kankakee by which he was to proceed to the Illinois. When he arrived at their village near Peoria, and was endeavoring to win their favor, he was met b}' intrigue. A Mascoutin chief named Monso, attended by several Miamis, reached the village and denounced him as a spy of the Iroquois. This La Salic attributed to Father Allouez, and in a letter to Frontenac, written in 1680, he states his conviction that Allouez, who was then stationed with the Miamis, had induced them to send Monso and his companions on their sinister errand. There had long been a jealousy between the Miamis and the Illinois, although they were kindred and neighbors, and the Iroquois, with deep cunning, strove to foment the Miamis to make war upon the Illinois, at a time when it is believed that they intended to make the Miamis their next victims, and Membre states that the enemies of La Salle intrigued successfully among the Miamis for the same end.

In 1 68 1, La Salle, in order to defeat the purposes of conquest of the Iroquois, tried to gather about him at Fort Miamis, the Shawnees, the Illinois and the Miamis, and to reconcile the latter, and teach the Miamis the folly of their league with the Iroquois. In this effort he had little success, until a band of Iroquois, returning from the massacre of the Tamaroes, a sept of the Illinois, on the Mississippi, met and slaughtered a band of Miamis near the Ohio, and not only refused satisfaction, but remained and established themselves in three forts in the heart of the Miami country. La Salle went among the Illinois and succeeded in gaining their good will and returned to Fort Miami, and thence to the village at the portage between the Kankakee and the Saint Joseph. Here he found some emissaries from the Iroquois, whom he boldl}- rebuked and threatened in such manner that they secretly left. This convinced the Miamis of the deceit that had been practiced upon them bj' the Iroquois, and gave La Salle great standing and influence among them. He met here several bands of Indians lately come from the east, from Rhode Island, New York and Virginia, whence they had migrated on account of the encroachments of the whites. These he called to a council, and promised them protection and new homes in the west. They, in return, promised their aid in reconcihng the Miamis with the Illinois. The next da}- the Miamis met in grand council, and were won over by the grace and eloquence of La Salle, and a bond of amity and defense was entered into.

In 1682, the Iroquois were preparing to renew their warfare upon the Western tribes, particularly upon their late allies, the Miamis. La Salle determined to assist the latter, and gathered them and their allies into one great camp at Fort St. Louis on the Illinois river. There were the Illinois, numbering 1,200, the Miamis, from the St. Joseph and Kankakee, numbering 1,300, the Shawnees, Weas, Piankeshaws, and others, to the number in all, of 3,800 warriors. The Iroquois hesitated, and that summer passed in peace, but in March, 1683, they besieged the place for six days, when, finding their enemies well prepared, and under the command and direction of so able a leader as La Salle, thev at length withdrew. In 171 2, the Miamis were found again on the Maumee and the Wabash, and the Illinois were located on the river of that name. Both were much reduced by their long warfare with the Iroquois, and had dwindled so much that Father Marest, who then visited them, found but three villages, though Father Rasles, who visited them in 1723, found eleven. This difference in the number of villages found, may have arisen bv reasons of the visits being made at different seasons, as the}- scattered in summer for hunting and fishing, and gathered in villages in winter for feasting and merrymaking.

confederacy, and this period, little mention is found in histor}- of the use of the route from the mouth of the Maumee to the Wabash, doubtless because of its being shunned on account of the murderous forays of the Iroquois, but the author of Western Annals states that in 1716 a route was established to the Mississippi, up the Maumee to the site of Fort Wayne, thence by a portage to the Wabash, and thence by way of the Wabash and Ohio, to the Mississippi.

Colden's History of the Fiye Nations, published in 1745, contains a map showing the portage from the St. Mary's to the "Ouabache," one from the St. Joseph of the Maumee to Huakiki" (Kankakee), and one from the Kankakee to the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan. Parkman sa5^s: "at the middle of the iSth century * * two posts on the Wabash, and one on the Maumee made France the mistress of the great trading highwaj- from Lake Erie to the Ohio." History and tradition inform us that a French fort was destroyed here in 1747. If this be true, it must soon haye been re-established, for in 1749, Captain Bienyille de Celeron, a chevalier of the order of St. Louis, was sent bj' the Marquis de Gallissoniere, then goyernor of Canada, with orders to descend the Ohio and take possession of the countrj^ in the name of the French king. He descended the Ohio to the mouth of the great Miami, burjdng inscribed leaden plates at various points on his route, thence up the Miami to about Fort Loramie, thence across the portage and down the St. Mary's to the head of the Maumee. His party completed the portage on the 25th of September, and arrived at Kiskakon, then the Indian name for the site of Fort Waj-ne. It was then a French post, under the command of M. de Ra3-mond. It was called Kiskakon from a branch of the Ottawas that removed here from Michillimackinac, where they had resided as late as 1682. Here de Celeron provided pirogues and provisions for the descent of the Maumee to Lake Erie. The Miami chief, " Pied Froid," or Cold Foot, resided in the village. He appears not to have been very constant in his allegiance either to the French or the English. Leaving Kiskakon on the 27th of September, part of the expedition proceeded overland to Detroit, and the remainder descended the riyer by canoe.

A map of the route traversed by de Celeron, prepared by Father Bonnecamp, who accompanied the expedition, shows with considerable exactness the course of the St. Mar3-'s and Maumee, and the fort is located in the bend of the St. Mary's, south and east of the river. According to this map this fort stood not far from the late residence of Hon. Hugh McCulloch, which agrees with existing traditions. Vandreuil mentions the Fort Miamis on the Maumee in i75i- This must h-^ve been our Fort Miami, for, although there were four forts of that name in the west, the other Fort Miami of the Maumee was not erected until early in 1794, and then by the British.

It is interesting to note that Gen. George Washington, who was sent to Fort Duquesne on a mission to the French commandant by Goy. Dinwiddie, accompanied his report of his expedition with a map of the western ^country which indicates that if he could not himself tell an untruth, he could prepare maps which did. On his map a mountain range is located as trending from the northeast to the southwest within the peninsula of Michigan. On the east side of the mountain range, the " Miamis river," a very short stream, has its source, and flows directly east to Lake Erie, while the " Obaysh," or " River St. Jerome," rises on the" same side of the range apparentl}' near where the city of Jackson now stands, and flows onl}- a little west of south to the Ohio.

In 1758 this route was described b}^ Du Pratz in his " Histoire de Louisiane." He says: " From the Missouri to the Oubache [the Ohio], is a hundred leagues. It is by this river one goes to Canada, from New Orleans to Quebec. The voyage is made b}' going up the river to the Oubache [OhioJ, then they go up this river to the river of the Miamis [the Wabash], continue this route to the portage and when the}' reach this place, seek natives of this nation, who make the portage in the space of two leagues. This road completed, they find a small river which flows into Lake Erie."

The French were then in possession of all west of the Alleghanies, but their domination was destined soon to come to an end. Historians have laid little stress upon one fact which perhaps more than any other gave direction to and changed the destiny of the new world. But for the savage war so long and relentlessly waged by the Iroquois against the w^estern Indians, which rendered this route dangerous to traverse, and still more so for permanent occupation, there can be little doubt that the French would, long before this period, have established a strong, well manned and well equipped cordon of forts extending from the Saint Lawrence through the lakes, up the Maumee and down the Wabash to the Mississippi, and thence to the gulf, assuring the perpetuity of their power and firml}' establishing a Gallic empire in America. As it was, the weak garrisons of the scattered palisaded forts of the west fell quickly before the arms of Great Britain, and most of them were surrendered and formally transferred to that power in the fall of 1760.

We have thus traced the history of the early explorations which opened this region, and established conclusively that the white man visited it long before the era of its settlement, and if anything were wanting to place far back in time the period of this partial occupation, it is a significant fact that the Indian names of the two rivers whose confluence form the Maumee, have been lost, or at least, are disputed, they having "from time immemorial" been known only by the names of St. Joseph and St. Mary's, names doubtless conferred upon them b}- that devoted pioneer priest, who so early assumed the spiritual charge of the Miamis, and who was probably the first to erect, at the junction of the rivers he so christened, the symbol of Christianity', the cross of the Christ whose devoted servant he was. He, and his companion soldiers of the cross, deserve long to be remembered as the forerunners of a civiHzation they dreamed not of.

The British Occupation

It was on the 29th of November, 1760, that Detroit fell into the hands of the British, and soon after, an officer was sent southward to take possession of Fort Miami at the head of the Maumee, and of Fort Ouiatenon on the Wabash, both of which were intended to, and did, guard the communication between Lake Erie and the Ohio.' This officer was Ensign Holmes, in command of a detachment of the Sixtieth Rifles, or " Royal Americans." A force not greater than 800 men from this historic regiment, garrisoned all the posts of the west, and stood for )-ears between the savage hordes and the advancing settlements, which were the vanguard of our present civilization.

A history of this gallant regiment would form a large portion of the history of the French and Indian wars, from the Hudson and Lake Champlain to the Mississippi, and the subsequent wars down to the revolutionarv period, but unfortunately that history is lacking, except as it can be gleaned from scattered documents and scant}' traditions. " The Roj-al Americans " was organized in 1S55 under the direction of the Duice of Cumberland, expressly for service in America. It was intended to consist of four battalions of 1,000 men each, to be raised from the German and Swiss emigrants, and £81,178 was voted by parliament to raise and equip it. German and Swiss officers were to be provided, and an act of pariiament authorized them to be commissioned. Henry Bouquet was a Swiss of the canton of Berne, and was a soldier from boyhood, serving under the king of Sardinia, and subsequently under the king of Holland. He accepted a lieutenant-coloners commission in the regiment in 1755, and was colonel of the first battahon at this period. He was made a brigadier general in 1765, and has left a heroic record, written on many bloody fields of Indian warfare.

Some of the battalions were filled from the Scotch emigrants who had left the highlands of Scotland on account of their participation in the rebellion of 1745, and these brave, hardy and experienced troops won distinction in the north and west, at Lake George, Bushy Run, and on other fields of danger and valor; stretching the thin lines of their Httle battalions almost half across the continent, and making possible the extension of the new Anglo-Saxon empire in the wilds of the interior of the continent. They were the guide posts, and the living wall \vhich hned the great highway from the east to the west, upon which marched, with slow but steady tread, the advance guard of the mighty hosts of civilization which were beginning to press forward with eager footsteps and a grand impulse toward the setting sun. The regiment was honored with the post of danger in all the Indian wars along its very extended front. One of its battalions was pitted against Montcalm, and defended Fort George on the lake of that name. The story of its massacre and narrow escape from annihilation has been made immortal in the pages of history and romance. Another battalion guarded the

Pennsj-lvania frontier, and the rest were scattered among all the' forts of the western countiy, exposed to all the horrors and dangers of savage warfare. They were the first soldiery of an English speaking race whose martial tread was heard upon the banks of the upper Maumee, and whose guns held the Indians in subjection here until overpowered b}^ the last great uprising of an embittered, despairing race, in its futile and expiring attempt to stay the tide which was about to overwhelm it.

At the close of the French struggle, so great had been the havoc among the various tribes of the northwest, that, from the estimates of Sir William Johnson, it is presumed there were not more than 10,000 fighting men to be found in the whole territory lying " between the Mississippi on the west, and the ocean on the east; between the Ohio on the south, and Lake Superior on the north"; which, according to a further estimate by Sir William, in 1763, placed the Iroquois at 1,950; the Dela wares at about 600; the Shawnees at about 300; the Wyandots at about 450; the Miamis, with their neighbors, the Kickapoos, at about Soo; while the Ottawas, Ojibwas, and a few wandering tribes, northward, were left without any enumeration at all. At that period, so thin and scattered was the population, thai, even in those parts which were thought well populated, one might sometimes journey for days together through the twilight forest, and meet no human form. Broad tracts were left in solitude. All Kentucky was a vacant waste, a mere skirmishing ground for hostile war parties of the north and south. A great part of upper Canada, of Michigan, and of Illinois, besides other portions of the west, were tenanted bj' wild beasts alone. At this period, sa3?s Parkman, "the Shawanoes had fixed their abode upon the Scioto and its branches. Farther toward the west, on the waters of the Wabash and the Maumee, dwelt the Miamis, who, less exposed, from their position, to the poison of the whiskey keg, and the example of debauched traders, retained their ancient character and custom in greater purit}^ than their eastern neighbors." " From Vincennes," saj's the same writer, " one might paddle his canoe northward up the Wabash, until he reached the little wooden fort of Ouiatenon. Thence a path through the woods led to the banks of the Maumee. Two or three Canadians, or halfbreeds, of whom there were numbers about the fort, would carry the canoe on their shoulders, or, for a bottle of whisky, a few Miami Indians might be bribed to undertake the task. On the Maumee, at the end of the path, stood Fort Miami, near the spot where Fort Waj-ne was afterward built. From this point one might descend the Maumee to Lake Erie, and visit the neighboring Fort of Sandusky; or, if he chose, steer through the strait of Detroit, and explore the water}^ wastes of the northern lakes, finding occasional harborage at the little military posts which commanded their important points. Most of these western posts were transferred to the English during the autumn of 1760; but the settlements of the Illinois (Kaska.skia, Cahokia, etc.) remained several 3rears longer under French control."

for a time, their trinkets, and much besides in the form of powder, balls, etc., that they had long annualty been accustomed to receive from that quarter. They could hardly realize, notwithstanding the many whisperings to that effect, "that their French father was forever divested of his power in America, and that his rule this side of the great waters had ceased. They believed the oft repeated stories t^at their French father " had of late years fallen asleep," and that his numerous vessels and soldiers would soon be moving up the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, to drive the English from their dominions, leaving them again in quiet possession of their former hunting grounds. Every means was now resorted to by the French, scattered about the wilderness, to arouse the savages, and their efforts were not in vain. The rancor of the Indians was greath' increased from time to time, until at length, after a lapse of two years, a great scheme was developed for the overthrow and destruction of the English and the various posts so recently occupied by them. As had been frequent at other periods among the aborigines in the wilds of the new world, a great prophet suddenly- began to exert a powerful influence among the tribes of the northwest. He held his mission vinder the Great Spirit, and earnestl}' enjoined upon the tribes to return again to their primitive habits - to throw away the weapons, apparel, etc., obtained from the pale-faces. Here, said he, is the starting point of success. The force of the new prophet's teachings was truly great, and the tribes came from long distances to hear him. For the most part his suggestions were much regarded by the tribes; but the weapons of the white man could not be dispensed with. These they retained. The prophet was a Delaware, and the great leader of the movement was an Ottawa chieftain, whose Indian name was Pontiac.

For over two years. Forts Miami and Ouiatenon remained in comparative security. The loth of Februar}', 1763, at length arriving, a treaty of peace was concluded at Paris, between France and England - the former surrendering to the latter all claims to the vast region lying east of the Mississippi, making the Father of Waters the boundary line of the British possessions in America. A few months later, on the 7th of October, the English government, " proportioning out her new acquisitions into separate governments," set apart " the valley of ^ the Ohio and adjacent regions as an Indian domain," and, by proclamation, strictly forbade " the intrusion of settlers " thereon. But the seeds of future trouble had long since been sown, and the little forts in the wilderness, here (Fort Miami) and at Ouiatenon, were destined ere long to hear the murmurs of war. . The great plot of Pontiac, and the efforts of the Delaware prophet for the destruction of the English and the capture of the posts so recently lost by the French, were rapidl}' though silently maturing. Intimations and surmises were all that could be gained, so still and cautious were the movements of the savages; and the first really positive assurance of the efforts and designs of the Ottawa chieftain and his followers, was disclosed at Fort Miami, opposite the present site of Fort Wayne.

With the utmost vigilance, and the greatest possible activity, Pontiac was pushing forward his scheme of destruction. War belts were dispatched to various tribes at a distance, inviting them to join in the overthrow of the invaders and capture of the forts; and soon the entire Algonquin race with the Senecas, the Wyandots, and many tribes from the valley of the lower Mississippi, were induced to join in the great scheme. The ensign of the Sixtieth Rifles was still in command, with a small body of men, at Fort Miami; and it was through Holmes that the first positive information of the plot of the Indians was received.

One day, early in the month of March, 1763, Holmes was startled by a friendl}^ admonition. A neighboring Indian, through some acts of kindness, perhaps, on the part of Holmes, had formed a strong friendship for the ensign. The Indian told him that the warriors of one of the villages near by had recently received a bloody belt, with a " speech," pressing them to kill him (Holmes) and demolish the fort here, and which, whispered the friendlj' Indian, the warriors were then making preparation to do. The peril was imminent, and Holmes began at once to look about him. Summoning the neighboring Indians to a council, he boldly charged them with the design, which they finally acknowledged, with seeming contriteness and regret, charging the whole affair upon a tribe at another locality in the region. Holmes obtained the belt, and, from a speech of one of the chiefs of the Miamis, was at least partially induced to entertain the behef that all would now be tranquil.

A few daj^s later, and the following letter, from Ensign Holmes, at this point, was on its way to Major GladvV3'n, commanding at Detroit: "Fort Miamis, March 30TH, 1763.

" Since my Last Letter to You, wherein I Acquainted You of the Bloody Belt being in this village, I have made all the search I could about it, and have found it out to be True ; Whereon I Assembled all the Chiefs of this Nation (the Miamis), and after a long and troublesome Spell with them, I Obtained the Belt, with a Speech, as you will Receive Enclosed; This Affair is very timely Stopt, and I hope the News of a Peace will put a Stop to any further Troubles with these Indians, who are the Principle Ones of Setting Mischief on Foot. I send You the Belt with this Packet, which I hope You will Forward to the General."

Signs of coming trouble with the Indians at length became more apparent. They had now begun to hang about the forts, with impenetrable faces, asking for tobacco, gunpowder and whisky. Now and then some slight intimation of danger would startle the garrison, and an English trader, coming in from the Indian villages, would report that, from their manners and behavior, he suspected them of mischievous designs. Occasionally, some half-breed would be heard boasting in his cups, that before the next summer he would have English hair to fringe his hunting-frock.

By the 27th of April, 1763, Pontiac having nearly matured his plans, great numbers of the villages and camps of the western tribes, including all grades and ages, women and children, assembled to celebrate the savage rites of war; magicians consulted their oracles, and prepared charms to insure success; man}' warriors, as was the Indian custom before great events in war, withdrew to the deep recesses of the forest, or hid in caves to fast and pray, that the Great Spirit might give them victory. A grand council was convened at the river Ecorces, where Pontiac delivered to the vast throng a speech both eloquent and artful.

On the morning of the great council, several old men, heralds of the camp, had passed to and fro among the lodges, calling the warriors to attend the meeting. Thej' came from their cabins - the tall, naked figures of the wild Ojibwas, with quivers slung at their backs, and light war-clubs resting in the hollow of their arms: Ottawas, wrapped close in their gaud}' blankets; Wj-andots, fluttering in painted shirts, their heads adorned with feathers, and their leggins garnished with bells. All were soon seated in a wide circle upon the grass, row within row - a grave and silent assembly. Each savage countenance seemed carved in wood, and none could have detected the passions hidden beneath that unmovable exterior. Pipes, with ornamented stems, were Hghted and passed from hand to hand.

Placing himself in the center of the silent multitude, with long, black hair flowing about his shoulders, stern, resolute, with an imperious, peremptor}^ bearing, like that of a man accustomed to sweep away all opposition by force of his impetuous will, Pontiac began at once to arouse his auditors by a recital of the injustice of the English, and by drawing a contrast between the conduct of the French and the British toward the tribes assembled; presenting to them the terrible consequences of English supremacy - persisting that it was the aim of the British to destroy and drive them from the land of their fathers. The}- have driven away the French, he recounted, and now they seek an opportunity to remove us also. He told them that their French father had long been asleep, but that now he was awake again, and would soon return in his many canoes to regain his old possessions in Canada.

Every sentence was rounded with a fierce ejaculation; and as the impetuous orator proceeded, his audience grew restless to spring at once' into the bloody arena of battle and bury the scalping knife and tomahawk in the bodies of the enemy. Turning to the opposite side of savage nature, appealing to their sense of the mysterious, in a somewhat mellowed tone, though still as earnest in demeanor, he said:

" A Delaware Indian conceived an eager desire to learn wisdom from the Master of Life; but being ignorant where to find him, he had recourse to fasting, dreaming, and magical incantations. By these means it was revealed to him, that, by moving forward in a straight, undeviating course, he would reach the abode of the Great Spirit. He told his purpose to no one, and having provided the equipments of a hunter - gun, powder-horn, ammunition, and a kettle for preparing his food - he setforth on his errand. For some time he journeyed on in high hope and confidence. On the evening of the eighth day, he stopped by the side of a brook, at the edge of a small prairie, where he began to make ready his evening meal, when looking up, he saw three large openings in the woods, on the opposite side of the meadow, and three well-beaten paths which enter them. He was much surprised, but his wonder increased, when, after it had grown dark, the three paths were more clearly visible than ever. Remembering the important object of his journey, he could neither rest nor sleep; and leaving his fire, he crossed the meadow, and entered the largest of the three openings. He had advanced but a short distance into the forest, when a bright flame sprang out of the ground before him, and arrested his steps. In great amazement, he tui-ned back, and entered the second path, where the same wonderful phenomenon again encountered him; and now, in terror and bewilderment, j-et still resolved to persevere, he pursued the last of the three paths. On this he journeyed a whole day without interruption, when, at length, emerging from the forest, he saw before him a vast mountain of dazzling whiteness. So precipitous was the ascent, that the Indian thought it hopeless to go farther, and looked around him in despair; at that moment, he saw, seated at some distance above, the figure of a beautiful woman arrayed in white, who arose as he looked upon her, and thus accosted him: ' How can you hope, encumbered as you are, to succeed in 3'our design? Go down to to the foot of the mountain, throw away your gun, your ammunition, your provisions and your clothing; wash yourself in the stream which flows there, and then you will be prepared to stand before the Master of Life!' The Indian obe^-ed, and then began to ascend among the rocks, while the woman, seeing him still discouraged, laughed at his faintness of heart, and told him that, if he wished for success, he must climb bjthe aid of one hand and one foot only. After great toil and suffering, he at length found himself at the summit. The woman had disappeared and he was left alone. A rich and beautiful plain lay before him, and at a little distance he saw three great villages, far superior to the squalid dwellings of the Delawares. As he approached the largest, and stood hesitating whether he should enter, a man gorgeously attired stepped forth, and taking him by the hand, welcomed him to the celestial abode. He then conducted him into the presence of the Great Spirit, where the Indian stood confounded at the unspeakable splendor which surrounded him. The Great Spirit bade him be seated, and thus addressed him : 'I am the maker of heaven and earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, and all things else. I am the maker of mankind; and because I love you, you must do my will. The land on which you live I made for you and not for others. Why do you suffer the white man to dwell among you? My children, you have forgotten the customs and traditions of your fathers. Wh}' do you not clothe yourselves in skins as the}^ did, and use the bows and arrows and stone-pointed lances, which they used? You have bought guns, knives, kettles and blankets of the white man, until you can no longer do without them; and what is worse, you have drunk the poison fire-water, which turns you into fools. Fling all these away; live as your wise fore-fathers lived before you. And, as for these English - these dogs dressed in red, who have come to rob you of N'our hunting-grounds, and drive away the game - j^ou must lift the hatchet against them, wipe them from the face of the earth, and then you will win my favor back again, and once more be happ}' and prosperous. The children of your great father, the King of France, are not like the English. Never forget that they are 3^our brethren. They are very dear to me, for they love the red men, and understand the true mode of worshiping me!' With some further admonition from the Great Spirit, of a moral and religious nature, the Indian took leave of the Master of Life, and returned again to terra firma, where, among his people, he told all he had seen and heard in the wonderful land of the Great Spirit.'"

After this address all was ripe for action. Pontiac's words had spread a fire among the great throng of listeners that nothing short of a desperate defeat would smother. The first blow was destined to fall upon Detroit. -

The stor^' of the attempt, and of its frustration b}- the prompt action of Maj. Gladwyn, who had been warned of the plot by his Ojibwa mistress, has been too often told to need repetition here. Nine posts, held b\' the English, had been included in the great conspiracy and sought to be captured, viz.: Detroit, Presque-Isle, Michillimackinac, Miami, Ouiatenon, Le Boeuf, Venango, Fort Pitt, and Fort Sandusky. The plan of capture seems to have embodied the cunning and resolution of Pontiac at every point; and preparations similar to those at first manifested at Detroit, were apparent at every post essayed to be taken; which one after another, excepting Detroit alone, fell into the hands of the Indians. Many were the bloody scenes enacted.

On the i6th of May, Sandusk-s' fell; on the ist of June, Ouiatenon was captured, Michillimackinac on the i2th, and Presque-Isle, on the 15th of June. After Presque-Isle was taken, the little posts of Le Boeuf and Venango shared its fate; farther south, at the forks of the Ohio, a host of Delaware and Shawnee warriors were gathering around Fort Pitt, and havoc reigned along the whole frontier.

Father Jonois, a Jesuit missionar}-, had reached Detroit and convened to the garrison a letter from Capt. Etherington, at Michillimackinac, giving an account of the capture of that post. Soon after, a letter from Lieut. Jenkins, at Ouiatenon, telHng of the captui-e of that post, was received b}' Maj. Gladwyn. Close upon these tidings, came the news that Fort Miami was taken.

Holmes had been carefully watching the Miamis, although his fears had been somewhat quieted by the conference concerning the bloody belt. But unknown to him, savage ingenuit}- and deception were at work, and the ensign was destined to fall a victim to the perfidy of the conspirators.

The 27th of May had come. All nature was radiant with the beauties of spring. The expanding foliage of the forest waved gracefully over and partly shut out from the blaze of the sunlight the sweet-scented wild flcwers that grew profusely beneath the majestic oaks, maples and S3'Camores, that lined the margins of our beautiful rivers. An Indian girl,* with whom Holmes had for some time been intimate, and in whom he placed much confidence, was compelled b}' the conspirators to come to the fort and tell Holmes that there was a sick squaw l3"ing in a wigwam not far from the fort, and express a desire that he should go and see her. Unsuspect'ng, and kindly desiring to relieve the supposed sick squaw, he was soon without the enclosure, and advancing with cautious steps in the direction of the hut indicated. Nearing a cluster of huts, which are said to have been situated at the edge of an open space, hidden from view bv an intervening spur of the woodland, the girl directed him to the hut wherein lay the supposed invalid. Another instant he fell bleeding to the ground, and the sudden crack of two rifles echoed over the little garrison. Startled, the sergeant thoughtlessly' passed without the fort to ascertain the cause of the shots, when, with triumphant shouts, he was seized by the savages. This, in turn, brought the soldiers within, about nine in all, to the palisades of the garrison, when a Canadian, of the name of Godfroy, accompanied b}' two other white men, stepped forth and demanded a surrender of the fort, with the assurance to the soldiers that if they at once complied their lives would be spared; but, refusing, they should all be killed without mere}'. The garrison gate soon swung back upon its hinges, and English rule at this point for a time ceased to be.

Encouraged by the fall of this weak and almost ungarrisoned post, Pontiac renewed his efforts to unite the tribes and destroy the remaining western forts, particularly' aiming at the capture of Detroit. But the campaign he had already made had led to a vigorous movement on the part of the English government for the chastisement of the Indians. The plan of this campaign contemplated two armies - one to be led by Colonel Bouquet, and the other by Colonel Bradstreet, the former to move towards Fort Pitt, and to the country of the hostile Shawnees and Dela wares, along the Scioto and Muskingum rivers; while Bradstreet was to push forward to Detroit. The one led by Bradstreet reached Detroit on the 26th of August, and reheved that long suffering and almost disheartened garrison, and the Indians gave up the hope of its capture.

Pontiac and his followers, sullen and intractable, left Detroit, and he again took up his abode, for the time, on the Maumee, a few miles below the site of Fort Wayne, whence he is said to have sent a haughty defiance to the English commander at Detroit. Many of the Indians about Detroit went with Pontiac, leaving there but a few remnant tribes, who, for the most part, exhibiting a desire for peace, were soon given

* Mrs. Suttenfield, lately deceased, stated that she became acquainted with this woman in 1815, when she had a son, a man of some years, who, the squaw said, was Saginash (English); and from the age of the man, the inference is drawn that he was a son of Holmes. After leaving here, the woman took up her residence at Raccoon Village. She lived to a great age, and was known to many of the early settlers of Fort Wayne.

a council at that point, on the 7th of September. Upon the condition - which they are said to have not understood at all, and which, not understanding, they accepted - that they become subjects of the king of England, a treaty of peace was concluded with them. At this council were present portions of the Miamis, Pottawatomies, Ottawas, Ojibwas. Sacs, and Wyandots. Said Wasson, an Ojibwa chief, to the English commander, on this occasion : " My Brother, last year God forsook us. God has now opened our eyes, and we desire to be heard. It was God's will you had such fine weather to come to us. It is God's will also that there should be peace and tranquility over the face of the earth and of the waters" - openly acknowledging that the tribes he represented were justly chargeable with the war, and deeply regretted their participation.

Before quitting Sandusky, Bradstreet had sent Captain Morris, accompanied by a number of Canadians and friendly Indians, toward the countr}' of the lUinois, to treat with the Indians of that portion of the west. Ascending the Maumee in a canoe, he approached the camp of Pontiac, and was met by about 200 Indians, who treated him with great violence, while they offered a friendly welcome to the Iroquois and Canadian attendants. Accompanied by this clamorous escort they moved toward the camp. At its outskirts stood Pontiac himself. He met the ambassador with a scowling brow, and refused to offer his hand. " The English are liars," was his first fierce salutation. He then displayed a letter, addressed to himself, purporting to have been written by the king of France, containing as Morris declared, " the grossest calumnies which the most ingenious malice could devise, to incense the Indians against the English." The old story had not been forgotten. " Your French father," said the writer, " is neither dead nor asleep; he is already on his wa}-, with sixty great ships, to revenge himself on the English, and drive them out of America." It is evident that the letter had emanated from either a French officer, or more probabty a French fur trader, who, for his own aggrandizement, sought to arouse the antipathy of the natives to the further encroachment of the English.

" The Indians led me," says Morris, " up to a person who stood advanced before two slaves (prisoners of the Panis nation, taken in war and kept in slavery), who had arms, himself holding a fusee with the butt on the ground. By his dress and the air he assumed, he appeared to be a French officer: I afterwards found he was a native of old France, had been long in the regular troops as a drummer, and that his war name was St. Vincent. This fine-dressed, half-French, half-Innian figure desired me to dismount; a bear-skin was spread on the ground, and St. Vincent and I sat upon it, the whole Indian army, circle within circle, standing around us. Godefroi sat at a Httle distance from us; and presently came Pontiac, and squatted himself, after his fashion, opposite to me. This Indian has a more e.xtensive power than ever was known among that people; for every chief used to command his own tribe, but eighteen nations, by French intrigue, had been brought to unite, and choose this man for their commander, after the English had conquered Canada; having been taught to beheve, that, aided by France, they might make a vigorous push and drive us out of North America. * * * * Pondiac said to my chief: 'If you have made peace with the Enghsh, we have no business to make war on them.. The war-belt came from you.' He afterward said to Godefroi: ' I will lead the nations to war no more; let 'em be at peace if they chuse it; but I myself will never be a friend to the English. I shall now become a wanderer in the woods; and if they come to seek me there, while I have an arrow left I will shoot at them.' He made a speech to the chiefs," continues Morris, " who wanted to put me to death, which does him honor; and shows that he was acquainted with the law of nations; ' We must not,' said he, ' kill ambassadors; do we not send them to the Flat- Heads, our greatest enemies, and they to us? Yet these are always treated with hospitality.' "

After relieving the part}' of all but their canoe, clothing and arms, they were permitted to resume their course without further molestation. Quitting the inhospitable camp of Pqntiac, with poles and paddles, against a strong current, they continued their course up the beautiful Maumee, and in seven days from leaving Sandusky, in the morning they arrived within sight of Fort Miami, which, from the time of its capture, the previous year, had been without a garrison, its onl\' occupants being a few Canadians who had erected some huts within the enclosure, and a small number of Indians. The open ground in the vicinity of the fort, at that time, was occupied by the wigwams of the Kickapoos, a large body of whom had lately arrived. On the opposite side, hidden by an intervening strip of forest, stood the Miami villages.

Having brought the canoe to a place of landing, a short distance below the fort, the attendants strode off through the strip of woods toward the village; and it is stated as most fortunate that Morris remained behind, for, scarcely had his attendants traversed the woods, than they were met by a band of savages, armed with spears, hatchets, and bows and arrows, seeking to destroy the Englishman. Morris' chiefs endeavpred to dissuade them from their purpose, and succeeded in so far as sparing his life. But coming up, in a few moments, to where Morris stood, they began to threaten him and treat him very roughl_y, and took him to the fort, where he was commanded to remain, and the Canadians forbidden to admit him to their huts. A deputation of Shawnee and Delaware chiefs had recently come to the Miami village, with fourteen war-belts, with a view of arousing the Miamis again to arms agamst the English; and it was to these that was mainly ascribed Morris' treatment. From this point they had proceeded westward, arousing to war all the tribes from the Mississippi to the Ohio", avowing that they would never make friends with the English - that they would fight them as long as the sun shone.

forced him without the garrison, and led him to the river. Walking forward into the water with him, Morris' first thought was that the Indians sought to drown him, and then take his scalp; but instead they led him across the stream, then quite low, and moved toward the center of the Miami village, on the west side of the St. Joseph. N earing the wigwams, the Indians stopped and sought to undress him: but finding the task rather difficult, the}' became quite angry and Morris himself, in rage and despair, tore off his uniform. Then tying his arms behind him with his sash, the Indians drove him forward into the village. Speedily issuing from the wigwams to receive the prisoner, the Indians gathered about him like a swarm of angry bees, giving vent to terrific j-ells - " sounds compared to which, the nocturnal bowlings of starved wolves are gentle and melodious." The largest portion of the villagers were for killing him; but a division arising between them, as to what was best to do with him, then was developed a vociferous debate. Finally the Canadians, Godfroy and St. Vincent, who had followed him to the village, came forward and interceded with the chiefs in behalf of their prisoner. A nephew of Pontiac was among the chiefs, a j-oung man, possessing much of the bold spirit of his uncle, who heroicall}' spoke against the propriety of killing the prisoner; and Godfroy insisted " that he would not see one of the Englishmen put to death, when so many of the- Indians were in the hands of the army at Detroit." A Miami chief, called the Swan, is also represented as having protected the prisoner, and cut the sash binding his arms. Morris, beginning now to speak in his own defense, was seized by a chief called the White Cat, and bound to a post by the neck; at which another chief, called the Pacanne, rode up on horseback, cut the band with his hatchet, giving Morris his freedom again, exclaiming " I give this Englishman his life. If you want Enghsh meat, go to Detroit or to the lake, and 3'ou will find enough of it. What business have you with this man, who has come to speak with us? " The determined words of Pacanne had the desired effect. A change of feeling began to show itself: and the prisoner, without further words, was driven out of the village, whither he made his way to the fort. On his way, it is stated, an Indian met him, and, with a stick, beat his exposed body.

His position was yet most critical; for while the Canadians in the fort were disposed to protect him, they were yet loath to lay themselves liable to distrust, and the same warriors who had taken him to the village were now lurking about, ready to embrace the first opportunity to kill him; while the Kickapoos, near b}', had sent him word that if the Miamis did not kill him, they would whenever he passed their camp. On considering whether he should pi'oceed on his journey to the Illinois, his Canadian and Indian attendants strongl}' urged him to go no farther; and on the evening of this day they held a council with the Miami chiefs, wherein it became more evident that his situation was most perilous. Messages were continuall}- reaching him, threatening an end to his life, should he attempt to fulfill his mission, and a report was also conveyed to him that several of the Shawnee deputies were returning to the o-arrison expressly to kill him. Under these circumstances, he speedil}' pushed his bark toward Detroit, where he arrived on the 17th of Septeniber.

The expedition under Bouquet penetrated to the center of the Delaware towns, and into the most extensive settlements of the Shawnees, about 150 miles from Fort Pitt. With a large body of regular and provincial troops, he soon humbled these tribes, and compelled them to deliver all the prisoners in their possession. During the frontier struggles, for some years prior to Bouquet's campaign, hundreds of families along the borders had been massacred and many carried away to the forest by the Indians; and when Bouquet started on his expedition to the interior, he was eagerly joined by many who, years before, had lost their friends. Among the many prisoners brought into the camp (over 200 in all), 'husbands found their wives, and parents their children, from whom they had been separated for }-ears. Women, frantic between hope and fear, were running hither and thither, looking piercingly into the face of ever}' child. Some of the little captives shrank from their forgotten mothers, and hid in terror in the blankets of the squaws that had adopted them. Some that had been taken away young, had grown up and married Indian husbands or Indian wives, now stood utterh' bewildered with conflicting emotions. A young Virginian had found his wife; "but his little bo}', not two years old when captured, had been torn from her, and had been carried off, no one knew where. One da}-, a warrior came in leading a child. x'Vt first, no one seemed to own it. But soon the mother knew her offspring, and screaming with joy, folded her son to her bosom. An old woman had' lost her grand-daughter in the French war, nine years before. All her other relatives had died under the knife. Searching with trembling eagerness, in each face, she at last recognized the altered features of her child. But the girl had forgotten her native tongue, and returned no answer, and made no sign. The old woman groaned, and complained bitterly, that the daughter she had so often sung to sleep on her knee, had forgotten her in her old age^ Soldiers and officers were alike overcome. " Sing," said Bouquet to the old lady, "sing the song j-ou used to sing."' As the low, trembling tones began to ascend, the wild girl seemed startled, then listening for a moment longer, she burst into a flood of tears. She was indeed the lost child, but all else had been effaced from her memorj', save the recollection of that sweet cradle song. The tender sensibilities were foreign, as a general rule, to the Indian heart; indeed, they held such emotions in contempt; but when the song of the old lady was seen by them to touch the captive's heart and bring her again to a mother's arms, they were overcome with sympathy. Many captive women who returned to the settlements with their friends soon afterward made their escape, and wandered back to their Indian husbands, so great was the change that had taken place in their natures.

The British having subdued the tribes of the northwest, and completed definite treaties with them at Niagara, contemplated a further move to the west and north, with the purpose of securing the country and posts along the Illinois and Mississippi. Of this Pontiac soon became aware, and leaving his place of seclusion on the Maumee, with four hundred of his chiefs, about the close of autumn he passed up to Fort Miami and after a short stay to the Wabash, and on to the Mississippi, arousing the tribes at ever}' point to prepare to meet and destroy the English. Having gained the French settlements and other places where the French traders and habilans were to be met, and where the flag of France was still displayed, he received encouragement from the French fur traders and engages^ who dreaded the rivalry of the English in the fur trade. They insisted that the king of France was again awake, and his great armies were coming; "that the ba3-onets of the white-coated warriors would soon glitter amid the forests of the Mississippi." But Pontiac seemed doomed to disappointment and failure; and after repeated efforts, having visited New Orleans to gain the aid of the French governor of Louisiana, he returned to the west.

Determining to try the virtue of peace proposals in advance of the army, Sir William Johnson sent forward two messengers, Lieut. Eraser and George Croghan, to treat with the Indians on the Mississippi and Illinois. After many hardships, and the loss of their st.ores, through the severity of the winter, they reached Fort Pitt, whence, after some delay. Eraser, with a few attendants, made his way down the Ohio for a thousand miles; then coming to a halt, he met with very rough treatment from the Indians. A short time afterward, in the month of May, 1765, Croghan, with some Shawnee and Delaware attendants, moved down the Ohio as far as the mouth of the Wabash, where the party was fired upon by the Kickapoos and several of the attendants killed. Croghan and the remainder were taken prisoners, but finally proceeded to Vincennes, where, finding many friendly Indians, they were well received, and the Kickapoos strongh' censured. From that point they went to Ouiatenon, arriving there on the 23d, where also Croghan found many friendl}- Indians. Here he made preparations for a council, and was met by a large number of Indians, who smoked the pipe of peace with him. Soon receiving an invitation from St. Ange to visit Fort Chartres, further down, Croghan, accompanied by a large number of Indians, left Ouiatenon. for that point, and had not journeyed far when he met Pontiac and a large body of chiefs and warriors. Pontiac shook the hand of Croghan, who at once returned with the party to Ouiatenon, where a great concourse of chiefs and warriors were gathered.

Pontiac complained that the French had deceived him, and offered the calumet and peace-belt, professing concurrence with the Ouiatenon chiefs in their expressions of friendship for the English. At the conclusion of this meeting, collecting the tribes here he had desired to meety he soon took up his line of march, followed by Pontiac and a large number of chiefs, and set out toward Detroit, crossing over to Fort Miami and the village arljacent. Having kept a regular journal of his mission, from which the foregoing is principally drawn, he wrote at this point:

"August 1st (1765). The Twigtwee village is situated on both sides of a river called St. Joseph. This river where it falls into the Miami [MaumeeJ river, about a quarter of a mile from this place, is lOO yards wide, on the east side of which stands a stockade fort somewhat ruinous.* The Indian village consists of about forty or fift}' cabins, besides nine or ten French houses, a runaway colony from Detroit during the late Indian war; they were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment, came to this point, where ever since they have spirited up the Indians against the EngHsh. ***** The country is pleasant, the soil is rich and well watered. After several conferences with these Indians, and their dehvering me up all the English prisoners they had, on the 6th of August we set out for Detroit, down the Miamis river in a canoe."

Arriving on the 17th of August, he found many of the Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Ojibwas, and in the same council hall in which Pontiac had poured out his impassioned orator}^ to seduce the Indians into his great conspiracy, Croghan convened the relenting tribes, and addressing them in their own style, succeeded in extracting terms of peace in September, and a promise from Pontiac that he would visit Oswego in the spring to conclude the final terms of a treaty with the commandant. Sir William Johnson. Croghan then returned to Niagara.

About the period of the first snow, the Forty-second regiment of Highlanders, a hundred stronc^, having moved down the Ohio from Fort Pitt, commanded by Capt. Sterling, arrived at Fort Chartres. The dc Us of France was soon lowered, and, in its stead, the English planted their standard. When spring came, Pontiac, true to his word, left his old home on the Maumee, for Oswego, where he soon arrived, to make a great speech, and '-seal his submission to the English" forever. With his canoe laden with presents he had received at the great council of Oswego, he proceeded toward the Maumee, where he is said to have spent the following winter, living in the forest with his wives and children, and hunting like an ordinary warrior. In the spring of 1767, considerable discontent was manifested among the tribes " from the lakes to the Potomac." The Indians had been disturbed in the possession of their lands, and began the commission of atrocities along the frontier. Pontiac had strangely kept out of the way. That he had been party to the agitation along the border, was not known, but manv had their suspicions. For two years subsequentl}', few, if any, but his immediate friends, knew of his whereabouts. In the month of April, 1769, however, he again visited the Illinois, and though his object was unknown, the English were excited by his movements. He soon afterward went to the French settlement at St. Louis, where he was

* It is worthy of notice that an English guinea dated 1765, the year of Croghan's visit, was found on the site of this old fort, and is now in possession of the writer. It is probably a specimen of the first British gold used to purchase An murdered. The account of his death is, that he was killed by an Illinois Indian, of the Kaskaskia tribe; that havinf^ feasted with some of the Creoles of Cahokia, opposite the site of St. Louis, he became drunk, and while he was entering an adjacent forest, the murderer stole upon him and dispatched him with a tomahawk. It was said that the assassin had been instigated to the act b}' an Englishman of the name of Williamson, who had agreed to give him a barrel of whisky, with a promise of something besides, if he would kill the Ottawa chieftain. Says Gouin's account: "From Miami, Pontiac went to Fort Chartres, on the Illinois. In a few 3'ears, the English, who had possession of the fort, procured an Indian of the Peoria nation to kill him. The news spread like lightning through the country. The Indians assembled in great numbers and attacked and destroyed all the Peorias, except about thirty families, which were received into the fort." Thus, the death of Pontiac was revenged. His spirit could rest in peace.

Epoch Of Savage Triumphs

Revolutionary -period. - The British flag had no sooner waved in supremacy over the western frontier, than its lustre began to wane, and the power it represented began to lose its prestige on the American continent.

The principles from which grew the American revolution were already asserting themselves, and the thunders of a new war which was destined to change the policy of nat'ons, began to be heard. During all the long years of the struggle for independence, the western frontier was the scene of savage warfare, and, instigated bj' the British, and ty their own revengeful instinct, the tomahawk and scalping knife were again seized by willing and ruthless hands, in the west, and long were held suspended, like the sword of Damocles, over the heads of the hardy setders of the western frontier. These settlers were born in the midst of danger, and were warriors almost from the cradle. Even the women were of heroic mold, often themselves defending their homes and loved ones from danger, and alwa3's encouraging their husbands and brothers, and teaching their children, to bravel}' sustain their manhood in all the trials and dangers which surrounded them. So, when the war for independence came, when it was found that Great Britain, not content to meet her unruly sons in the open battle field, was secretlj' inciting the Indians to a murderous war along the frontier, there was little difficulty in raising hard}' bands of brave men, skilled in the warfare of the woods, burning to avenge the slaughter of near relatives by their savage foes. With an iron will and endurance, these brave men responded to the call of country, and sprang to the defense of their hearthstones, no matter how humble the roof which covered them, and went forth to conquer gloriously, or perchance die a fearful death by torture.

Clark, sent by Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia, with a volunteer force to attack the British outpost at Kaskaskia, in 1778. The history of this campaign under its great-souled commander reads in some particulars like a chapter from the romances of the cla3's of chivalry. The expedition resulted in the capture of all the far western British posts, Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes, in the face of largely superior forces and almost insuperable difficulties. The forts were manned by Americans, and the prowess of Clark's gallant forces soon made his name a terror among the Indians. Virginia extended her jurisdiction over these parts by creating the county of Illinois, and even the French settlers at Vincennes became friendly and peace seemed assured.

But when the news of Clark's success reached Detroit, bj' way of the Maumee, Hamilton, the British governor, determined to recapture the posts. With eighty regulars, a large number of Canadian mihtia, and 600 Indians, he ascended the Maumee, crossed over to the Wabash, and made a rapid movement upon Vincennes, thinking to take the fort b}' storm, and destroy all within the garrison. When the enemy approached, Capt. Helm, who was in command, was not to be dismayed. With an air as confident as if the fort were full of soldiers, he leaped upon the bastion near a cannon, and swinging his lighted match, shouted with great force as the enemy advanced, "Halt! or I will blow3'outo atoms!" At this the Indians precipiLately took to the woods, and the Canadians fell back out of range. Fearing that the fort was well manned, and that a desperate encounter would ensue, Hamilton offered a parley. Capt. Helm declared that he would fight as long as a man was left to bear arms, unless permitted to march out with the full honors of war, which was after some parle}^ agreed upon, and the garrison consisting of Helm and five men all told, marched out, to the astonishment of the British commander. But Helm was afterward detained in the fort as a prisoner.

The season now being late and unfavorable, Hamilton took no further steps toward the capture of the other posts till spring. In the meantime Clark, toward the last of January, 1779, received information of the recapture, and on the 7th of February, with 130 men, he took up his line of march through the forest for Vincennes, a distance of 150 miles, ordering Caplain Rogers, with forty men, on board a large keelboat, with two four-pounders and four swivels, to ascend the Wabash to within a few miles of the mouth of White river, there to await further orders. The march through the wilderness was one of peril and hardship. The river bottoms were inundated, and, as they moved through these lowlands, the soldiers were often, while having to feel for the trail with their feet, compelled to hold their guns and ammunition above their heads. Their food on the march was parched corn and jerked beef. At length, on the evening of the 23d of February, arriving within sight of the fort, Clark ordered his men to parade about the summit of a hill overlooking the fort, keeping them marching for some time. By this stratagem the British commander was led to believe a large force was approaching - at least i,ooo men, he thought, with colors plainl}- visible. During the night a ditch was dug to within rifleshot of the fort, and before da^'-break, a number of men were stationed there to pick off the garrison, and every gunner showing his head was shot by the unerring hunters. On the 25th the fort was surrendered, and Hamilton, Major Hay and a few others, as instigators of Indian murders on the frontier, were sent to Virginia to answer for the crimes charged upon them. They were put in irons and held for a time in close confinement in retaliation for the massacres that had occurred, but were finall}- released at the suggestion of General Washington. This achievement oa the part of Clark and his brave comrades left them in possession of all the lower portion of .the west until the close of the revolution, when, at the treatv of peace with tjie British in 1783, on the basis of its having been conquered and held by Col. Clark, Great Britain conceded all of this region to the United States.

At the period of the revolution Kekionga had become a place of much importance, in trading and tnilitary points of view, and as such, ranked next to Detroit and Vincennes. It was, according^, occupied by the British as a post or seat of an official for Indian affairs. Col. Clark, on the capture of Vmcennes, had meditated an expedition against this place, as well as against Detroit; and though he seems never to have abandoned the idea, yet he could not succeed in his arrangements. But while the subject was still fresh in the minds of Clark and the inhabitants of the lower Wabash, another individual made his appearance to undertake what even the daring Clark with greater resources, did not deem prudent to venture upon. This was La Balme, a native of France, who had come to this country as an officer, with the French troops under La Fayette, in 1779. It is not known whether he came to the west on his own responsibility, or whether he was directed by some authority; but he is found in the summer of 1780, in Kaskaskia, raising volunteers for an expedition against the post of Kekionga, with the design in case of success, of extending his operations against Detroit. At Kaskaskia, he succeeded in obtaining only twent}- to thirtv men. With these he proceeded to Vincennes, where he sought recruits. But his expedition was looked upon as a forlorn hope, and it met with the encouragement, generally, of onl_y the less considerate.

It is quite certain, that though a generous and gallant man, he was too reckless and inconsiderate to lead such an expedition. Sometime in the fall of 1780, with as is supposed, fifty to sixty men, he proceeded up the Wabash on his adventure. He conducted his march with such caution and celerity, that he appeared at the village of Kekionga before the watchful inhabitants had warning of his approach. The sudden appearance of a foe, unknown as to character, numbers and designs, threw them into the greatest alarm, and they fled on all sides. La Balme took possession of the place without resistance. It was probably his intention, in imitation of Clark's capture of Kaskaskia, to take the village and its inhabitants by surprise, and then by professions of kindness and friend- ship, to win them over to the American cause; but the inhabitants, including some six or eight French traders, eluded his grasp. His occupation of the village was not of long duration. After making plunder of the goods of some of the French traders and Indians he retired and encamped near the Aboit creek, not far from the place where that stream was crossed by the Wabash and Erie canal. The Indians having soon ascertained the number and character of La Balme's men, and learning that they were Frenchmen, were not disposed at first to avenge the attack. But two of the traders, Beaubien and La Fontaine, indignant at the invasion and plunder of the place, were not disposed to let the invaders off without a blow, and incited the Indians to follow and attack them. The warriors of the village and vicinity rallied under the lead of their war chief. Little Turtle, and falling on La Balme's camp in the night time, massacred the entire party. La Balme's expedition may not have been impelled by the most patriotic motives, nor guided by wise counsels, nor attended with results beneficial to the country' ; yet it is an interesting event connected with the earlj- historj^ of the upper Maumee valle}'.

Kortlnoest Territory. - The need of some form of government for the growing settlements in the west, together with the fact that large numbers of the soldiers of the disbanded armies of the revolution were read}' and willing to emigrate and found new homes, if guaranteed the necessary protection of the laws, led congress to hsten to their demands, and in 1787, the ordinance was passed which created the 'f North West Territorj'," and provided a government therefor. This territory consisted of all of the lands lying northwest of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, and comprised all of what are now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Virginia ceded all her rights in the territory to the United States, and her example was followed by all the other states which claimed title under their original charters, which generalU' granted them the lands to the westward indefinitely.

In July, 1788, the seat of government was located at Marietta, Ohio, in the place called " Campus Martius." General Arthur St. Clair, a distinguished officer in the revolutionary war, was appointed governor, Winthrop Sargent, secretar}', and three judges formed the executive council. The governor and judges were authorized to adopt for the new territor\', laws from the other states not inconsistent with the ordinance, and under the laws so enacted the territory thrived for many years.

For the most part, the settlers of the northwest territor}- were men who were valiant soldiers and had spent much of their fortunes in the revolutionar}' war. Such was the character of a party of emigrants, under the leadership of General Rufus Putnam, which left New England in 1787-8, and descending the Ohio, began the settlement of Adelphia, later named Marietta, bringing with them, and re-establishing there, mart}' of the primitive habits and customs of their ancestors. First erecting substantial buildings for their families, they set about the organization of a church and a "school, toward which all contributed " with a right good wiir"; and these were the first institutions of the kind established in the northwestern territory.

A year later, in 1789, the first settlement was formed at or near the present site of Cincinnati, Ohio, which was first called Losantiville. Fort Washington was established there, and it was from that point that the first movement under Gen. Harmar was made against the Indians at the present site of Fort Wayne, under the administration of General Washington, in October, 1790. It was also from that region, which, at an early period was known as the settlements," that came most of the earlier settlers of Fort Wayne, then still known as the Miami village or Omi.* The subsequent expeditions of Gens. St. Clair and Wayne also started from Fort Washington.

During 17S0, 1781, to 1785-6, difficulties had arisen between the colonial government and the Spanish on the lower Mississippi, as to the navigation of that river, and the possession of a large part of the western territor}', and there was much trouble with the Indians of the west, more especialh' along the Ohio, which continued to embarrass the settlements for some time. In addition to these troubles people in the southwest, early in that period, began and continued for several j-ears, to manifest considerable dissatisfaction. The government had permitted the Spaniards of the south to control the navigation of the Mississippi; many privations had come upon the people of the west in consequence, and "distrust of the government had gradually given rise to a desire for dissolution, especialh' in Kentucky, which, at that period was yet a part of Virginia. Washington had recognized this, and soon presented important suggestions, as he had done before the revolution, relative to the organization of commercial and navigation companies, as the best means of protecting and cementing the interests of the east and west. In a letter to Gov. Benjamin Harrison in the year 17S4 he strenuously urged the importance of binding together all parts of the Union, and especially the west and east, with the indissoluble bonds of interest, with a view^ to prevent the formation of commercial and consequent political connections with either the Spaniards on the south, or the English on the north. He recommended the speedy surve}- of the Potomac and James rivers; of the portage to the waters of the Ohio; of the Muskingum, and the portage from that river to the Cuyahoga; for the purpose of opening a water communication for the commerce of the Ohio and the lakes, to the seaboard, which he denominated as an object of great political and commercial importance. To Richard Henry Lee, in the same year, Washington wrote : " Would it not be worthy of the wisdom and attention of congress to have the western waters well explored, the navigation of them fully ascertained and accurately laid down, and a complete and perfect map made of the country, at least as far westerly as the Miamis running into the Ohio and Lake Erie, and to see how the waters of these communicate with the river St. Joseph, which empties into Lake Michigan, and with the Wabash ? for I cannot forbear observing that the Miami village points to a very important post for the Union."

It was not a custom with the French, at any of their settlements in the west, to make large purchases of lands from the Indians; small tracts about their settlements invariably served to supply their wants. At the treat}' of Paris in 1763, these small grants about the forts of Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, etc., were all that they ceded to the British, and at the close of the revolution, in 17S3, when Great Britain transferred her western claims to the United States, she might be said to have had no right to convey anything but what she had previousl}^ received from France, excepting the guarantee of the Six Nations and the southern tribes to a part of the land south of the Ohio; and it could be asserted that none of the territory claimed b}- the Miamis, western Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots or Hurons, and some other tribes still to the west and north could be ceded to the United States by this treat}-. But a different view of the matter was taken b}' congress. Concluding that the treat}- guaranteed to the United States the full right to all territory then transferred, and at the same time considering the right of the Indians to the territory as forfeited by acts of warfare against the colonial government during the struggle for independence, the government made no movement toward a purchase of the lands from the Indians, but began to form treaties of peace with them, and to suggest its own boundar}' lines.

The stipulations of the treaty of October, 17S3, had contemplated one great council of all the tribes; but in March, 17S4, this plan was changed to that of holding councils with each separate tribe or nation; and the commissioners appointed by the government to superintend these affairs, refusing to pay further attention to the subject of a general council with the northern tribes, in October, 17S4, against the wishes of Red Jacket, Brant, and other chiefs of the Iroquois, terminated the treaty of Fort Stanwix.

It was in this way that the United States obtained the right possessed by the Iroquois to the western territory, north and south of the Ohio. Though publicly and honorably concluded, the legality was questioned by, many of the Iroquois, who claimed that the treaty was with only a part of the Indian tribes ; and that it was the desire of the tribes that the United States government should treat with them as a body, including all the Indians bordering upon the lakes of the north. In January of the following year (17S5), a treaty was concluded with the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas; but the legality of the former treaty seems not then to have been questioned, by the Wyandots and Delawares, at least; and yet it was asserted at a general council of some sixteen tribes of northwest Indians, in 1798) that the treaties of Forts Stanwix, Mcintosh, and Finney (the latter at the mouth of the Miami), were the result of intimidation, and held only with single tribes, at which, they asserted, the Indians had been invited to form treaties of peace, but instead forced to make cession of land. In Januar}', 1786, a third treat}' was held b}' the United States, at Fort Finney, with the Shawnees; and the Wabash tribe being invited to be present, would not go. In 1789, confirmatorj' of preceding treaties, the - fourth and fifth treaties were held at Fort Harmar, one with the Six Nations; the other with the W3-'andots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, and Sacs; and it seems, from speeches made at a subsequent council of the confederated tribes, more particularly of the lake (1793), that they would not accept these treaties as at all binding upon them. Said one of the chiefs at this latter council:

"Brothers: We are in possession of the speeches and letters which passed on that occasion [council convened by Gov. Arthur St. Clair, in 1788], between those deputied bv the confederate Indians, and Gov. St. Clair, the commissioner of the United States. These papers prove that your said commissioner in the beginning of the year 17S9, after having been informed bv the general council of the preceding fall that no bargain or sale of any part of these lands would be considered as valid or binding, unless agreed to by a general council, nevertheless persisted in collecting together a few chiefs of two or three nations only, and with them held a treat}- for the cession of an immense country, in which they were no more interested than as a branch of the general confederacy, and who were in no manner authorized to make any grant or cession whatever.

"Brothers: How then was it possible for you to expect to enjoy peace, and quietly to hold these lands, when your commissioner was informed, long before he held the treaty of Fort Harmar, that the consent of a general council was absolute^ necessary for the sale of any part of these lands to the United States."

From these facts it will be seen why the expeditions of 1790-91 and 1793-94, with the efforts of 1811-12 and '13, met with such stubborn and relentless resistance from the Miamis and other tribes, as detailed in subsequent pages. The impression that they would without remuneration or merc}', be despoiled of their lands and at length driven away, seems to have gained possession of the tribes of the northwest before and during the early campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne; and the Miamis - though, as it would seem from Gamelin's journal, a strong spirit of unity did not prevail among the different tribes before and during 1780 - led the way under Little Turtle, with formidable effect.

A/i Indian War Cloud. - With a feeling of bitterness toward the United States, small bands of Indians had begun in the spring of 1789 to attack the settlements along the western borders of Virginia and Kentuck}'. The secretary' of war, General Knox, in a report to the president, June 15, 1789, presented this subject as follows: