Grant County, Indiana - Chapter 19, 1886 (part 1 of 6)

Chapter 19

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Contents Page

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Former Occupants Prehistoric Races

Scientists have ascribed to the Mound Builders varied origins, and though their divergence of opinion may fora time seem incompatible with a thorough investigation of the subject, and tend to a confusion of ideas, no doubt whatever can existas to the comparative accuracy of conclusions arrived at by some of them. Like the vexed question of the Pillar Towers of Ireland, it has caused much speculation, and elicited the opinior:s of so many iearned antiquarians, ethnologists and travelers, that it will not be found beyond the range of possibility to make deductions that may suffice to solve the problem who were the prehistoric settlers of America. To achieve this it will not be necessary to go beyond the period over which Scripture history extends, or to indulge in those

That this continent is co-existent with the world of the ancients cannot be questioned. Every investigation, instituted under the auspices of modern civilization, confirms the fact and leaves no channel open through which the skeptic can escape the thorough refutation of his opinions. China, with its numerous living testimonials of antiquity, with its ancient, though limited literature and its Babelish superstitions, claims a continuous history from antediluvian times; but although its continuity may be denied with every just reason, there is nothing to prevent the transmission of a hieroglyphic record of its history prior to 1656 anno mundi, since many traces of its early settlement survived the Deluge, and became sacred objects of the first historical epoch. This very survival of a record, such as that of which the Chinese boast, is not at variance with the designs of a God who made. and ruled the universe; but that an antediluvian people inhabited this continent, vill not be claimed; because it is not probable, though it may be possible, that a settlement in a land which sway be considered a portion of the Asiatic continent, was effected by the immediate followers of the first progenitors of the human race. Therefore, on entering the study of the ancient people who raised these tumulus monuments over large tracts of the country, it will be just sufticient to wander back to that time when the flood-gates of heaven were swung open to hurl destruction on a wicked world; and in doing so the inquiry must be based on legendary, or rather upon many circumstantial evidences; for, so, far as written narrative extends, there is nothing to show that a movement of people too far east resulted in a Western settlement.

The First Immigration

The first and most probable sources in which the origin of the Builders must be sought, are those countries lying along the eastern coast of Asia, which doubtless at that time stretched far beyond its present limits, and presented a continuous shore from Lopatka to Point Cambodia, holding a population comparatively civilized, and all professing some elementary form of the Boodhism of later days. Those peoples, like the Chinese of the present, were bound to live at home, and probably observed that law until after the confusion of languages and the dispersion of the builders of Babel in 1757, a. M.; but subsequently, within the following century, te old Mongolians, like the new, crossed the great ocean in the very paths taken by the present representatives of the race, arrived uu the same shores, which now extend a very questionable hospitality to them, and entered at once upon the colonization of the country south and east, while the Caucasian race engaged in a similar movement of exploration and colonization over what may be justly termed the western extension of Asia, and both peoples growing stalwart under the change, attained a moral and physical eminence to which they never could lay claim under the tropical sun which shed its beams upon the cradle of the human race.

That myaterious people who, like the Brahmins of to-day, worshiped some transitory deity, and in after years, evidently embraced the idealization of Boodhism, as preached in Mongolia early in the 35th century of the world, together with acquiring the learning of the Confucian and Pythagorean schools of the same period, spread all over the land, and in their numerous settlements erected these raths, or mounds, and sacrificial altars whereon they received their periodical visiting gods, surrendered their bodies to natural absorption or annihilation, and watched for the return of some transmigrated soul, the while adoring the universe, which with all beings they believed would be eternally existent. They possessed religious orders corresponding in external show at least with the Essenes or Theraputee of the pre-Christian and Christian epochs, and to the reformed Therapute or monks of the present. Every memento of their coming and their stay which has descended to us is an evidence of their civilized condition. The free copper found within the tumuli; the open veins of the Superior and Iron Mountain copper-mines, with all the modus operandi of ancient mining, such as ladders, levers, chisels, and hammer-heads, discovered by the Frenck explorers of the Northwest and the Mississippi, are conclu- 'sive proofs that those prehistoric people were highly civilized, and that many flourishing colonies were spread throughout the Mississippi valley, while yet. the mammoth, the mastodon, and a hundred other animals, now only known by their gigantic fossil remains, guarded the eastern shore of the continent as it were against supposed invasions of the Tower Builders who went west from Babel; while yet the beautiful isles of the Antilles formed an integral portion of this continent, long years before the European Northman dreamed of sétting forth to the discovery of Greenland and the northern isles, and certainly at a time when all that portion of America north of latitude 45° was an ice-incumbered waste. Within the last few years great advances have been made toward the discovery of antiquities whether pertaining to remains of organic or inorganic nature. Together with many small, but telling relics of the early inhabitants of the country, the fossils of prehistoric animals have been unearthed from end to end of the land, and in districts, too, long pronounced by geologists of some repute to be without even a vestige of vertebrate fossils. Among the collected souvenirs of an age about which so very little is known, are twenty-five vertebra averaging thirteen inches in diameter, and three vertebre ossified together measure nine cubical feet; a thigh-bone five feet long by twenty-eight, by tweive inches in diameter, and the shaft fourteen by eight inches thick, the entire lot weighing 600 lbs. These fossils are presumed to belong to the cretaceous period, when the Dinosaur roamed over the country from East to West, desolating the villages of the people. This animal is said to have been sixty feet long, and when feeding in cypress and palm forests, to extend himself eighty-five feet, so that he may devour the budding tops of those great trees. Other efforts in this direction may lead to great results, and culminate probably in the discovery of a tablet engraven by some learned Mound Builder, describing in the ancient hieroglyphics of China all these men and beasts whose history excites so much speculation. The identity of the Mound Builders with the Mongolians might lead us to hope for such aconsummation; nor is it beyond the range of probability, particularly in this practical age, to find the future labors of some industrious antiquarian requited by the upheaval of a tablet, written in the Tartar characters of 1700 years ago, bearing on a subject which can now be treated only on a purely circumstantial basis, may have begun a few centuries prior to the Christian era, and unlike the former expedition or expeditions, to have traversed northeastern Asia to its Arctic confines, and then east to the narrow channel now known as Behring's Straits, which they crossed, and sailing up the unchanging Yukon, settled under the shadow of Mount St. Elias for many years, and pushing South commingled with their countrymen, soon acquiring the characteristics of the descendants of the first colonists. Chinese chronicles tell of such a people, who went North and were never heard of more. Circumstances conspire to render that particular colony the carriers of a new religious faith and of an alphabetic system of a representative character to the old colonists, and they, doubtless, exercised a most beneficial influence in other respects ; because the influx of immigrants of such culture as were the Chinese, even of that remote period, must necessarily bear very favorable results, not only in bringing in reports of their travels, but also accounts from the fatherland bearing on the latest events.

With the idea of a second and important exodus there are many theorists united, one of whoin says: "It is now the generally received opinion that the first inhabitants of America passed over from Asia through these straits. The number of small islands lying between both continents renders this opinion still more probable; and itis yet farther confirmed by some remarkable traces of similarity in the physical conformation of the northern natives of both continents. The Esquimaux of North America, the Samoieds of Asia, and the Laplanders of Europe, are supposed to be of the same family; and this supposition is strengthened by the affinity which exists in their languages. The researches of Huniiz Se er boldt have traced the Mexicans to the vicinity of Behring's Straits; whence it is conjectured that they, as well as the Peruvians and other tribes, came originally from Asia, and were the Hiongnoos, who are, in the Chinese annals, said to have emigrated under Puno, and to have been lost,in the North of Siberia."

Since this theory is accepted by most antiquaries, there is every reason to believe that from the discovery of what may be called an overland route to what was then considered an eastern extension of that country which is now known as the " Oelestial Empire," many caravans of emigrants passed to their new homes in the land of illimitable possibilities until the way became a well-marked trail over which the Asiatic might travel forward, and having once entered the Elysian fields never entertained an idea of returning. Thus from generation to generation the tide of immigration poured in until the slopes of-the Pacific and the banks of the great inland rivers became hives of busy industry. Magnificent cities and monuments were raised at the bidding of the tribal leaders and populous settlements centered with happy villages sprung up everywhere in manifestation of the power and wealth and knowledge of the people. The colonizing Caucasian of the historic period walked over this great country on the very ruins of a civilization which a thousand years before eclipsed all that of which he could boast. He walked through the wilderness of the West over nor rested until he saw, with great surprise, the remains of ancient pyramids and temples and cities, larger and evidently more beautiful than ancient Egypt could bring forth after its long years of uninterrupted history. The pyramids resemble those of Egypt in exterior form, and in some instances are of larger dimensions. The pyramid of Oholula is square, having each side of its base 1,335 feet in length, and its height about 172 feet. , Another pyramid, gituated in the north of Vera Cruz, is formed of large blocks of highly-polished porphyry, and bears upon its front hieroglyphic inscriptions and curious sculpture. ach side of its square base is 82 feet in length, and a flight of 57 steps conducts to its summit, which is 65 feet in height. The ruins of Palenque are said to extend 20 miles along the ridge of a mountain, and the remains of an Aztec city, near the banks of the river Gila, are spread over more than a square league. Their literature consisted of hieroglyphics; but their arithmetical knowledge did not extend farther than their calculations by the aid of grains of corn. Yet, notwithstanding all their varied accomplishments, and they were evidently many, their notions of religious duty led to a most demoniac zeal at once barbarously savage and ferociously cruel. Each visiting, god instead of bringing new life to the people, brought death to thousands; and their grotesque idols, exposed to drown the senses of the beholders in fear, wrought wretchedness rather than spiritual happiness, until, as some learned and humane Montezumian said, the people never approached these idols without fear, and this fear was the great animating principle, the great religious motive power which sustained the terrible religion. Their altars were sprinkled with blood drawn from their own bodies in large quantities, and on them thousands of human victims were sacrificed in honor of the demons whom they worshiped. The head and heart of every captive taken in war were offered up as a bloody sacrifice to the god of battles, while the victorious legions feasted on the remaining portions of the dead bodies. It has been ascertained that during the ceremonies attendant on the consecration of two of their temples, the number of prisoners offered up in sacrifice was 12,210; while their own legions eontributed voluntary victims to the terrible belief in large numbers. Nor did this horrible custom cease immediately after 1521, when Cortez entered the imperial city of the Montezumas; for, on being driven from it, all his troops who fell into the hands of the native soldiers were subjected to the most terrible and proionged suffering that could be experienced in this world, and when about to yield up that spirit which is indestructible, were offered in sacrifice, their hearts and heads consecrated, and the victors allowed to feast on the yet warm flesh.

A reference is made here to the period when the Montezumas ruled over Mexico, simply to gain a better idea of the hideous idolatry which took the place of the old Boodhism of the Mound Builders, and doubtless helped in a great measure to give victory to the new comers, even as the tenets of Mahometanism urged the ignorant followers of the prophet to the conquest of great nations. It was not the faith of the people who built the mounds and the pyramids and the temples, and who, 200 years before the Christian era, built the great wall of jealous China. No: rather was it that terrible faith born of the Tartar victory, which carried the great defenses of China at tho point of the javelin and hatchet, who afterward marched to the very walls of Rome, under Alaric, and came there, and, like the pure Mongols of Mexico and the Mississippi valley, rose to a state of civilization bordering on that attained by them. Here for centuries the sons of the fierce Tartar race continued to dwell in comparative peace until the all-ruling ambition of empire took in the whole country from the Pacitic to the Atlantic, and peopled the vast territory watered by the Amazon with a race that was destined to conquer all the peoples of the Orient, and only to fall before the march of the arch-civilizing Caucasian. In course of time those fierce Tartars pushed their settlements northward, and ultimately entered the territories of the Mound Builders, putting to death all who fell within their reach, and causing the survivors of the death-dealing invasion to seek a refuge from the hordes of this semi-barbarous people in the wilds and fastnesses of the North and Northwest. The beautiful country of the Mound Builders was now in the hands of savage invaders, the quiet, industrious people who raised the temples and pyramids were gone; and the wealth of intelligence and industry, accumulating for ages, passed into the possession of a rapacious hurde, who could admire it only so far as it offered objects for plunder. Even in this the invaders were satisfied, and then having arrived at the height of their ambition, rested on their swords and entered upon the luxury and ease in the enjoyment of which they were found when the vanguard of European civilization appeared upon the scene. Meantime the southern countries which those adventurers abandoned after having completed their conquests in the North, were soon peopled by hundreds of people, always moving from island to island and ultimately halting amid the ruins of villages deserted by those who, as legends tell, had passed eastward but never returned; and it would scarcely be a matter for surprise if those emigrants were found to be the progenitors of that race found by the Spaniards in 1532, and identical with the Araucanians, Cuenches and Huiltiches of to-day.

Relics Of The Mound Builders

in some hasty effort neglected to qualify his sentence by a reference to the numerous relics of antiquity to be found throughout its length and breadth, and so exposed his chapters to criticism. The valley of the Father of Waters, and indeed the country from the trap rocks of the Great Lakes southeast to the Gulf and southwest to Mexico, abound in tell-tale monuments of a race of people much farther advanced in civilization than the Montezumas of the sixteenth century. The remains of walls and fortifications found in Kentucky and Indiana, the earthworks of Vincennes and throughout the valley of the Wabash, the mounds scattered over Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Virginia, and those found in Tlinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, are all evidences of the universality of the Chinese Mongols and of their advance toward a comparative knowledge of man and cosmology. At the mouth of Fourteen-Mile creek, in Clark county, Indiana, there stands one of these old monuments known as the "Stone Fort." It is an unmistakable heirloom of a great and ancient people, and must have formed one of their most important posts. The State Geologist's report, filed among the records of the State and furnished by Prot. Cox, says: '"'At the mouth of Fourteen-Mile creek, and about three miles from Charleston, the county-seat of Clark county, there is one of the most remarkable stone fortifications which has ever come under my notice. Accompanied by my assistant, Mr. Borden, and a number of citizens of Charleston, I visited the 'Stone Fort' for the purpose of making an examination of it. The locality selected for this fort presents many natural advantages for making it impregnable to the opposing forces of prehistoric times. It occupies the point of an elevated narrow ridge which faces the Ohio river on the east and is bordered by Fourteen-Mile creek on the west side. This creek empties into the Ohio a short distance below the fort. The top of the ridge is pear-shaped, with the part answering to the neck at the north end. This part is not over twenty feet wide, and is protected by precipitous natural walls of stone. It is 280 feet above the level of the Ohio river, and the slope is very gradual to the south. At the upper field it is 240 feet high and one hundred steps wide. At the lower timber it is 120 feet high. The bottom land at the foot of the south end is sixty fect above the river. Along the greater part of the Ohio river front there is an abrupt escarpment rock, entirely too steep to be sealed, and a similar natural barrier exists along a portion of the northwest side of the ridge, facing the creek. This natural wall is joined to the neck of an artificial wall, made by piling up, mason fashion but without mortar, loose stone, which had evidently been pried up from the carboniferous layers of rock. This made wall, at this point, is about 150 feet long. It is built along the slope of the hill and had an elevation of about 75 feet above its base, the upper ten feet being vertical. The inside of the wall is protected by a ditch. The remainder of the hill is protected by an artificial stone wall, built in the same manner, but not more than ten feet high. The elevation of the side wall above the creek bottom is 80 feet. Within the artificial walls is a string of mounds which rise to the height of the wall, and are protected from the washing of the hillsides by a ditch 20 feet wide and four feet deep. The position of the artificial walls, natural cliffs of bedded stone, as well as that of the ditch and mounds, are well illustrated. The top of the enclosed ridge embraces ten or twelve acres, and there are as many as five mounds that can be recognized on the flat surface, while no doubt many others existed which have been obliterated by time, and though the agency of man in his efforts to cultivate a portion of the ground. A trench was cut into one of these mounds in search of relics. A few fragments of charcoal and decomposed bones, and a large irregular, diamond-shaped boulder, with a small circular indentation near the middle of the upper part, that was worn quite smooth by the use to which it had been put, and the small pieces of fossil coral, comprised all the articles of note which were revealed by the excavation. The earth of which the mound is made resembles that seen on the hillside, and was probably in most part taken from the ditch. The margin next to the ditch was protected by slabs of stone set on edge, and leaning at an angle corresponding to the slope of the mound. This stone shield was two and one-half feet wide and one foot high. At intervals along the great ditch there are channels formed between the mounds that probably served to carry off the surplus water through openings in the outer wall. On the top of the enclosed ridge, and near its narrowest part, there is one mound much larger than any of the others, and so situated as to command an extensive view up and down the Ohio river, as well as affording an unobstructed view east and west. This is designated as ' Look-out Mound.' There is near it a slight break in the cliff of rock, which furnished a narrow passage way to the Ohio river. Though the locality afforded many natural advantages for a fort or stronghold, one is compelled to admit that much skill was displayed and labor expended in making its defense as perfect as possible at all points. Stone axes, pestles, arrow-heads, spear-points, totums, charms and flint flakes have been found in great abundance in plowing the field at the foot of the old fort."

From the " Stone Fort" the Professor turns his steps to Posey county, at a point on the Wabash, ten miles above the mouth, called "Bone Bank," on account of the number of human bones continually washed out from the river bank. "It is," he states "situated in a bend on the left bank of the river; and the ground is about ten feet above high-water mark, being the only land along this portion of the river that is not submerged in seasons of high water. The bank slopes gradually back from the river to a slough. This slough now seldom contains water, but no doubt at one time it was an arm of the Wabash river, which flowed around the Bone Bank and afforded protection to the island home of the Mound Builders. The Wabash has been changing its bed for many years, leaving a broad extent of newly made land on the right shore, and gradually making inroads on the left shore by cutting away the Bone Bank. The stages of growth of Jaad on the right bank of the river are well defined by the cottonwood trees, which increase in size as you go back from the river. Unless there isa changein the current of the river, all trace.of the Bone Bank will be obliterated. Already within the memory of the white inhabitants, the bank has been removed to the width of several hundred yards. As the bank is cut by the current of the river it loses its support, and when the water sinks it tumbles over, carrying with it the bones of the Mound Builders and the cherished articles buried with them. No locality in the country furnishes a greater number and variety of relics than this. It has proved especially rich in pottery of quaint design and skillful workmanship. I have a number of jugs and pois and a cup found at the Bone Bank. This kind of work has been very abundant, and is still found in such quantities that we are led to conclude that its manufacture formed a leading industry of the inhabitants of the Bone Bank. It is not in Europe alone that we find a well-founded claim of high antiquity for the art of making hard and durable stone by a mixture of clay, lime sand and stone; for | am convinced that this art was possessed by a race of peopie who inhabited this continent at a period so remote wie neither tradition nor history can furnish any account of them. They belonged to the Neolithic, or polished-stone, age. They lived in towns and built mounds for sepulture and worship and protected their homes by surrounding them with walls of earth and stone. In some of these mounds specimens of various kinds of pottery, in a perfect state of preservation, have from time to time been found, and fragments are so common that every student of archeology can have a bountiful supply. Some of these fragments indicate vessels of very great size. At the Saline springs of Gallatin I picked up fragments that indicated, by their curvature, vessels five to six feet in diameter, and it is probable they are fragments of artificial stone pans used to hold brine that was manufactured into salt by solar evaporation.

" Now, all the pottery belonging to the Mound Builders' age, which I have seen, is composed of alluvial clay and sand, or a: mixture of the former with pulverized fresh-water shells. A paste made of such a mixturg possesses, in high degree, the properties of hydraulic Puzzuoland ¥nd Portland cement, so that vessels formed of it hardened without being burned, as is customary with modern pottery."

The Professor deals very aptly with this industry of the aborigines, and concludes a very able disquisition on the Bone Bank in its relation to the prehistoric builders.

Hieroglyphics Of The Mound-Builders

The great circular redoubt or earth-work found two miles west ot the village of New Washington, and the " Stone Fort," on a ridge one mile west of the village of Deputy, offer a subject for the antiquarian as deeply interesting as any of the monuments of a decayed empire so far discovered.

From end to end of Indiana there are to be found many other relics of the obscure past. Some of them have been unearthed and now appear among the collected antiquities at Indianapolis. The highly finished sandstone pipe, the copper ax, stone axes, flint arrow-heads and magnetic plummets found a few years ago beneath the soil of Cut-Off {sland near New Harmony, together with the pipes of rare workmanship and undoubted age, unearthed near Covington, all live as it were in testimony of their owner's and maker's excellence, and hold a share in the evidence of the partial annihilation of a race, with the complete disruption of its manners, customs and industries; and it is possible that when numbers of these relics are placed together, 2 key to the phonetic or rather hieroglyphic system of that remote period might be evolved.

It may be asked what these hieroglyphical characters really are. Well, they are varied in form, so much so that the pipes found in the mounds of Indians, each bearing a distinct representation of some animal, may be taken for one species, used to represent the abstract ideas of the Mound Builders. The second form consists of pure hieroglyphics or phonetic characters, in which the sound is represented instead of the object; and the third, or painted form of the first, conveys to the mind that which is desired to be represented. This form exists among the Cree Indians of the far Northwest, at present. They, when departing from their permanent villages for the distant hunting grounds, paint on the barked trees in the neighborhood the figure of a snake or eagle, or perhaps huskey dog; and this animal is supposed to guard the position until the warrior's return, or welcome any friendly tribes that may arrive there in the interim. In the case of the Mound Builders, it is unlikely that this latter extreme was resorted to, for the simple reason that the relics of their occupation are too high in the ways of art to tolerate such a barbarous science of language; but the sculptured pipes and javelins and spear-heads of the Mound Builders may be taken as a collection of graven images, each conveying a set of ideas easily understood, and perhaps sometimes or more generally used to designate the vocation, name or character of the owner. That the builders possessed an alphabet of a phonetic form, and purely hieroglyphic, can searcely be questioned; but until one or more of the unearthed tablets, which bore all or even & portion of such characters, are raised from their centuried graves, the mystery which surrounde this people must remain, while we must dwell in 2 worid of mere speculation,

Vigo, Jasper, Sullivan, Switzerland and Ohio counties can boast of a most liberal endowment in this relation; and when in other days the people will direct a minute inquiry, and penetrate to the very heart of the thousand cones which are scattered throughout the land, they may possibly extract the blood in the shape of metallic and porcelain works, with hieroglyphic tablets, while leaving the form of heart and body complete to entertain and delight unborn generations, who in their time will wonder much when they learn that an American people, living toward the close of the 59th century, could possibly indulge in such an anachronism as is implied in the term "New World."

The Indians

The origin of the Red Men, or American Indians, is a subject which interests as well as instructs. It isa favorite with the ethnologist, even as it is one of deep concern to the ordinary reader. A review of two works lately published on the origin of the Indians treats the matter in a peculiarly reasonable light. It says.

'"' Recently a German writer has put forward one theory on the subject, and an English writer has put forward another and directly opposite theory. The difference of opinion concerning our aboriginals among authors who have made a profound study of races is at once curious and interesting. Blumenbach treats them in his classifications as a distinct variety of the human family; but, in the threefold division of Dr. Latham, they are ranked among the Mongolide. Other writers on race regard them as a branch of the great Mongolian family, which at a distant pent found its way trom Asia to this continent, and remained here for centuries separate from the rest of mankind, passing, meanwhile, through divers phases of barbarism and civilization. Morton, our eminent ethnologist, and his followers, Nott and Gliddon, claim for our native Red Men an origin as distinct as the flora and fauna of this continent. Prichard, whose views are apt to differ from Morton's, finds reason to believe, on comparing the American tribes together, that they must have formed a separate department of nations from the earliest period of the world. Theera of their existence as a distinct and insulated people must probably be dated back to the time which separated into nations the inhabitants of the Old World, and ave to each its individuality and primitive language. Dr. Robert sen. the latest authority, attributes, in his " Races of Mankind," an Asiatic origin to our aboriginals. He says that the Western Indians not only personally resemble their nearest neighbors - the Northeastern Asiatics - but they resemble them in language and traditions. The Esquimaux on the American and the Tchuktchis on the Asiatic side understand one another perfectly. Modern an- thropologists, indeed, are disposed to think that Japan, the Kuriles, and neighboring regions, may be regarded as the original home of the greater part of the native American race. It is also admitted by thet that between the tribes scattered from the Arctic sea to Cape Horn there is more uniformity of physical features than is seen in any other quarter of the globe. The weight of evidence and authority is altogether in favor of the opinion that our 80- called Indians are a branch of the Mongolian family, and all additional researches strengthen the opinion. The tribes of both North and South America are unquestionably homogeneous, and, in all likelihood, had their origin in Asia, though they have been altered and modified by thousands of years of total separation from the parent stock."

The conclusions arrived at by the reviewer at that time, though safe, are too general to lead the reader to form any definite idea on the subject. No doubt whatever can exist, when the American Indian is regarded as of an Asiatic origin; but there is nothing in the works or even in the review, to which these works were subjected, which might account for the vast difference in manner and form between the Red Man, as he is now known, or even as he appeared to Columbus and his successors in the field of discovery, and the comparatively civilized inhabitants of Mexico, as seen in 1521 by Cortez, and of Peru, as witnessed by Pizarro in 1532. The fact is that the pure bred Indian of the present is descended directly from the earliest inhabitants, or in other words from the survivors of that people who, on being driven from their fair possessions, retired to the wilderness in sorrow and reared up their children under the saddening influences of their unquenchable griefs, bequeathing them only the habits of the wild, cloud-roofed home of their declining years, a sullen silence, and a rude moral code. In after years these wild sons of the forest and prairie grew in numbers and in strength. Some legend told them of their present sufferings, of the station which their fathers once had known, and of the riotous race which now reveled in wealth which should be theirs. The fierce passions of the savage were aroused, and uniting their scattered bands marched in silence upon the villages of the Tartars, EE gic 0 to damon" Onear hi eteyceee tea ea hurrying bands halted in ae rise; b t Tar aa pe es anton and offered pled 43 artic 7 wee eae ei served. Henceforth ace was 0 : th . tae eet, a eisely the same relation to them a SF eee sh villages do to the Northwestern Indians of the present; obtaining all, and bestowing very little. The subjection of the Mongolian race represented in North America by that branch of it to which the Tartars belonged, represented in the Southern portion of the continent, seems to have taken place some five centuries before the advent of the European, while it may be concluded that the war of the races which resulted in reducing the villages erected by the Tartar hordes to ruin took place between one and two hundred years later. These statements, though actually referring to events which in point of time are comparatively modern, can only be substantiated by the facts that, about the periods mentioned the dead bodies of an unknown race of men were washed ashore on the European coasts, while previous to that time there is no account whatever in European annals of even a vestige of trans-Atlantic humanity being transferred by ocean currents to the gaze of a wondering people. Towards the latter half of the 15th century two dead bodies entirely free from decomposition, and corresponding with the Red Men as they afterward appeared to Columbus, were cast on the shores of the Azores, and confirmed Columbus in his be lief in the existence of a western world and western people.

Storm and flood and disease have created sad havoc in the ranks of the Indian since the occupation of the country by the white man. These natural causes have conspired to decimate the race even more than the advance of civilization, which seems not to affect it to any material extent. In its maintenance of the same number of representatives during three centuries, and its existence in the very face of a most unceremonious, and, whenever necessary, cruel conquest, the grand dispensations of the unseen Ruler of the universe is demonstrated; for, without the aborigines, savage and treacherous as they were, it is possible that the explorers of former times would have so many natural difficulties to contend with, that their work would be surrendered in despair, and the most fertile regions of the continent saved for the plowshares of generations yet unborn. It is questionable whether we owe the discovery of this continent to the unaided scientific knowledge of Columbus, or to the dead bodies of the two Indians referred to above; nor can their services to the explorers of ancient and modern times be over-estimated. Their existence is embraced in the plan of the Divinity for the government of the world, and it will not form subject for surprise to learn that the same intelligence which sent a thrill of liberty into every corner of the republic, will, in the near future, devise some method under which the remnant of a great and ancient race may taste the sweets of public kindness, and feel that, after centuries of turmoil and tyranny, they have at last found a shelter amid a sympathizing people. Many have looked at the Indian as the pessimist does at all things; they say that he was never formidable until the white man supplied him with the weapons of modern warfare; but there is no mention made of his eviction from his retired home, and the little plot of cultivated garden which formed the nucleus of a village that, if fostered instead of being destroyed, might possibly hold an Indian population of some importance in the economy of the nation. There is no intention whatever to maintain that the occupation of this country by the favored races is wrong even in principle; for where any obstacle to advancing civilization exists, it has to fall to the ground; but it may. be said, with some truth, that the white man, instead of a policy of conciliation formed upon the power of kindness, indulged in bel- _ligerency as impolitic as it was unjust. A modern writer says, when speaking of the Indian's character: "He did not exhibit that steady valor and efficient discipline of the American soldier; and to-day on the plains Sheridan's troopers would not hesitate to attack the bravest band, though outnumbered three to one." This piece of information applies to the European and African, as well as to the Indian. The American soldier, and particularly the troopers referred to, would not fear or shrink from a very legion ot demons, even with odds against them. This mode of warfare seems strangely peculiar when compared with the military systems of civilized countries; yet, since the main object of armed men is to defend a country or a principle, and to destroy anything which may oppose itself to them, the mode of warfare pursued by the savage will be found admirably adapted to their requirements in this connection, and will doubtless compare favorably with the systems of

Manners And Oustoms

The art of hunting not only supplied the Indian with food, but like that of war, wasa means of gratifying his love of distinetion. The male children, as soon as they acquired sufficient age and strength, were furnished with a bow and arrow and taught to shoot birds and other small game. Success in killing a large quadruped required years of careful study and practice, and the art was as sedulously inculcated in the minds of the rising generation as are the elements of reading, writing and arithmetic in the common schools of civilized communities. The mazes of the forest and the dense, tall grass of the prairies were the best fields for the exercise of the hunter's skill. No feet could be impressed in the yielding soil but that the tracks were the objects of the most searching scrutiny,and re-ealed at a glance the animal that made them, the direction it was pursuing, and the time that had elapsed since it had passed. In a forest country he selected the valleys, because they were most frequently the resort of game. The most easily taken, perhaps, of all the animals of the chase was the deer. It is endowed with a curiosity which prompts it to stop in ita flight and look back at the approaching hunter, who always avails himself of this opportunity to let fly the fatal arrow.

Their general councils were composed of the chiefs and old men. When in council, they usually sat in concentric circles around the speaker, and each individual, notwithstanding the fiery passions that rankled within, preserved an exterior as immovable as if cast in bronze. Before commencing business a person appeared with the sacred pipe, and another with fire to kindle it. After being lighted it was first presented to heaven, secondly to the earth, thirdly to the presiding spirit, and lastly the several councilors, each of whom took a whiff. These formalities were observed with as close exactness as state etiquette in civilized courts.

The dwellings of the Indians were of the simplest and rudest character. On some pleasant spot by the bank of a river, or near an ever-running spring, they raised their groups of wigwams, constructed of the bark of trees, and easily taken down and removed to another spot. The dwelling-places of the chiefs were sometimes more spacious, and constructed with greater care, but of the same materials. Skins taken in the chase served them for repose. Though principally dependent upon hunting and fishing, the uncertain supply from those sources led them to cultivate small patches of corn. Every family did everything necessary within itself, commerce, or an interchange of articles, being almost unknown to them. In cases of dispute and dissension, each Indian relied upon himself for retaliation. Blood for blood was the rule, and the relatives of the slain man were bound to obtain bloody revenge for his death. This principle gave rise, as a matter of course, to innumerable and bitter feuds, and wars of extermination where such were possible. War, indeed, rather than peace, was the Indian's glory and delight, - war, not conducted as civilization, but war where individual skill, endurance, gailantry and cruelty were prime requisites. For such a purpose as revenge the Indian would make great sacrifices, and display a patience and perseverance truly heroic; but when the excitement was over, he sank back into a listless, unoccupied, well-nigh useléss savage. During the intervals of his more exciting pursuits, the Indian employed his time in decorating his person with all the refinement of paint and feathers, and in the manufacture of his arms and of canoes. These were constructed of bark, and so light that they could easily be carried on the shoulder from stream to stream. His amusements were the war-dance, athletic games, the narration of his exploits, and listening to the oratory of the chiefs; but during long periods of such existence he remained in a state of torpor, gazing listlessly upon the trees of the forests and the clouds that sailed above them; and this vacancy imprinted an habitual gravity, and even melancholy, upon his general deportment.

The main labor and drudgery of Indian communities fell upon the women. The planting, tending and gathering of the crops, making mats and baskets, carrying burdens, - in fact, all things of the kind were performed by them, thus making their condition but little better than that of slaves. Marriage was merely a matter of bargain and sale, the husband giving presents to the father of the bride. In general they had but few children. They were subjected to many and severe attacks of sickness, and at times famine and pestilence swept away whole tribes.

Explorations By The Whites Earliest Explorers

The State of Indiana is bounded on the east by the meridian line which forms also the western boundary of Ohio, extending due north from the mouth of the Great Miami river; on the south by the Ohio river from the mouth of the Great Miami to the mouth of the Wabash; on the west by aline drawn along the middle of the Wabash river from its mouth to a point where a due north line from the town of Vincennes would last touch the shore of said river, and thence directly north to Lake Michigan; and on the north by said lake and an east and west line ten miles north of the extreme south end of the lake, and extending to its intersection with the aforesaid meridian, the west boundary of Ohio. These boundaries include an area of 33,809 square miles, lying between 37° 47' and 41° 50' north latitude, and between 7° 45' and 11° 1' west longitude from Washington.

After the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, more than 150 years passed away before any portion of the territory now comprised within the above limits was explored by Europeans. Colonies were established in Florida, Virginia and Nova Scotia by the principal rival governments of Europe, but not until about 1670-2 did the first white travelers venture as far into the Northwest as Indiana or Lake Michigan. These explorers were Frenchmen by the names of Claude Allouez and Claude Dablon, who then visited what is now the eastern part of Wisconsin, the northeastern portion of Illinois and probably that portion of this State north of the Kankakee river. In the following year M. Joliet, an agent of the French Colonial government, and James Marquette, a good and simple-hearted missionary who had his station at Mackinaw, explored the country about Green Bay, and along Fox and Wisconsin rivers as far westward as the Mississippi, the banks of which they reached June 17, 1673. They descended this river to about 33° 40', but returned by way of the Illinois river and the route they came in the Lake Region. At a village among the Illinois Indians, mags pelts and his small band of adventurers were received in a friendly manner and treated hospitably. They were made the honored guest: at a great feast, where hominy, fish, dog meat and roast buffalo meat were spread before them in greatabundance. In 1682 LaSa"e explored the West, but it is not known that he entered the region now embraced within the State of Indiana. He took formal possession, however, of all the Mississippi region in the name of the King of France, in whose honor he gave all this Mississippi region, including what is now Indiana, the name " Louisiana." Spain at the same time laid claim to all the region about the Gulf of Mexico, and thus these two great nations were brought into collision. But the country was actually held and occupied by the great Miami confederacy of Indians, the Miamis proper (an- 'ciently the Twightwees) being the eastern and most powerful tribe. Their territory extended strictly from the Scioto river west to the Illinois river. Their villages were few and scattering, and their occupation was scarcely dense enough to maintain itself against invasion. Their settlements were occasionally visited by Christian missionaries, fur traders and adventurers, but no body of white men made any settlement sufficiently permanent for a title to national possession. Christian zeal animated France and England in missionary enterprise, the former in the interests of Catholicism and the latter in the interests of Protestantism. Hence their haste to preoccupy the land and proselyte the aborigines. No doubt this ugly rivalry was often seen by Indians, and they refused to be proselyted to either branch of Christianity.

The "Five Nations," farther east, comprised the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondaguas and Senecas. In 1677 the number of warriors in this confederacy was 2,150. About 1711 the Tuscaroras retired from Carolina and joined the Iroquois, or Five Nations, which, after that event, became known as the " Six Nations." In 1689 hostilities broke out between the Five Nations and the colonists of Canada, and the almost constant wars in which France was engaged until the treaty of Ryswick in 1697 combined to check the grasping policy of Louis XIV., and to retard the planting of French colonies in the Mississippi valley. Missionary efforts, however, continued with more failure than success, the Jesuits allying themselves with the Indians in habits and customs, even

The Wabash was first named by the French, and spelled by them Ouabache. This river was known even before the Ohio, and was navigated as the Ouabache all the way to the Mississippi a long time before it was discovered that it was a tributary of the Ohio (Belle Riviere). In navigating the Mississippi they thought they passed the mouth of the Ouabache instead of the Ohio. In traveling from the Great Lakes to the south, the French always went by the way of the Ouabache or Illinois.

Francois Morgan de Vinsenne served in Canada as early as 1720 in the regiment of * De Carrignan"' of the French service, and again on the lakes in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie in the same service under M. de Vaudriel, in 1725. It is possible that his advent to Vincennes may have taken place in 1732; and in proof of this the only record is an act of sale under the joint names of himself and Madame Vinsenne, the daughter of M. Philip Longprie, and dated Jan. 5, 1735. This document gives his military position as commandant of the post of Ouabache in the service of the French King. The will of Longprie, dated March 10, same year, bequeaths him, among other things, 408 pounds of pork, which he ordered to be kept safe until Vinsenne, who was then at Ouabache, returned to Kaskaskia.

There are many other documents connected with its early settlement by Vinsenne, among which isa receipt for the 100 pistoles granted him as his wife's marriage dowry. In 1736 this officer was ordered to Charlevoix by D'Artagette, viceroy of the King at New Orleans, and commandant of Illinois. Here M. St. Vinsenne received his mortal wounds. The event is chronicled as follows, in the words of D'Artagette: '"' We have just received very bad news from Louisiana, and our war with the Chickasaws. The French have been defeated. Among the slain is M. de Vinsenne, who ceased not until his last breath to exhort his men to behave worthy of their faith and fatherland."

Thus closed the career of this gallant officer, leaving a name which hoids as a remembrancer the present beautiful town of Vincennes, changed from Vinsenne to its present orthography in 1749.

Post Vincennes was settled as early as 1710 or 1711. In aletter from Father Marest to Father Germon, dated at Kaskaskia, Nov. 9, 1712, occurs this passage: "Les Francois ttovent itabli un fort sur | le fleuve Ouabache ; ile demanderent un missionaire yet le Pere Mermet leur fut envoye. Ce Pere crut devoir travailler a la conversion des Mascoutens qui avoient fait un village sur les bords dumeme flewe. Crest une nation Indians qui entend la langue Illinoise." Translated: "The French have established a fort upon the river Wabash, and want a missionary; and Father Mermet has been sent to them. That Father believes he should labor for the conversion of the Mascoutens, who have built a village on the banks of the same river. They are a nation of Indians who understand the language of the Illinois."

Mermet was therefore the first preacher of Christianity in this part of the world, and his mission was to convert the Mascoutens, a branch of the Miamis. 'The way I took," says he, " was to confound, in the presence of the whole tribe, one of these charlatans [medicine men], whose Manitou, or great spirit which he worshiped, was the buffalo. After leading him on insensibly to the avowal that it was not the buffalo that he worshiped, but the Manitou, or spirit, of the buffalo, which was under the earth and animated all buffaloes, which heals the sick and has all power, | asked him whether other beasts, the bear for instance, and which one of his nation worshiped, was not equally inhabited by a Manitou, which was under the earth. ' Without doubt,' said the grand medicine man. 'If this is so,' said I,' men ought to have a Manitou who inhabits them.' ' Nothing more certain,' said he. ' Ought not that to convince you,' continued I, 'that you are not very reasonable? For if man upon the earth is the master of all animals, if he kills them, if he eats them, does it not follow that the Manitou which inhabits him must have a mastery over all other Manitous? Why then do you not invoke him instead of the Manitou of the bgar and the buffalo, when you are sick? This reasoning disconcerted the charlatan. But this was all the effect it produced."

The result of convincing these heathen by logic, as is generally the case the world over, was only atemporary logical vietory, and no change whatever was produced in the professions and practices of the Indians.

The church building used by these early missionaries at Vincennes is thus described by the "oldest inhabitants?' Fronting on Water street and running back on Church street, it was a plain: building with a rough exterior, of upright posts, chinked and daubed, with a rough coat of cement on the outside; about 20 feet wide and 60 long; one story high, with a small belfry and an equally small bell. It was dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. This spot is now occupied by a splendid cathedral.

Vincennes has ever been 4. stronghold of Catholicism. The Church there has educated and sent out many clergymen of her faith, some of whom have become bishops, or attained other high positions in ecclesiastical authority.

Almost contemporaneous with the progress of the Church at Vincennes was a missionary work near the mouth of the Wea river, among the Ouiatenons, but the settlement there was broken up in early day.

National Policies The Great French Scheme

Soon after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi by La- Salle in 1682, the government of France began to encourage the policy of establishing a line of trading posts and missionary stations extending through the West from Canada to Louisiana, and this pelicy was maintained, with partial success, for about 75 years. The traders persisted in importing whisky, which cancelled nearly every civilizing influence that could be brought to bear upon the Indian, and the vast distances between posts prevented that strength which can be enjoyed only by close and convenient intercommunication. Another characteristic of Indian nature was to listen attentively to all the missionary said, pretending to believe all he preached, and then offer in turn his theory of the world, of religion, etc., and because he was not listened to with the same degree of attention and pretense of belief, would go off disgusted. This was his idea of the golden rule.

The river St. Joseph of Lake Michigan was called "the river Miamis"' in 1679, in which year LaSalle built a small fort on its bank, near the lake shore. The principal station of the mission for the instruction of the Miamis was established on the borders of thi river. The first French post within the territory of the Miamis was at the mouth of the river Miamis, on an eminence naturally fortified on two sides by the river, and on one side by a deep ditch made by a fall of water. It was of triangular form. The missionary Hennepin gives a good description of it, ashe was one of the company who built it, in 1679. Says he: " We fell the trees that were on the top of the hill; and having cleared the same from bushes for about two musket shot, we began to build a redoubt of 80 feet long and 40 feet broad, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon another, and prepared a great number of stakes of about 25 feet long to drive into the ground, to make our fort more inaccessible on the riverside. We employed the whole month of November about that work, which was very hard, though we had no other food but the bear's flesh our savage killed. These beasts are very common in that place because of the great quantity of grapes they find there; but their flesh being too fat and luscious, our men began to be weary of it and desired leave to go a hunting to kill some wild goats. M. LaSalle denied them that liberty, which caused some murmurs among them; and it was but unwillingly that they continued their work. This, together with the approach of winter and the apprehension that M. LaSalle had that his vessel (the Griffin) was lost, made him very melancholy, though he concealed it as much as he could. We made a cabin wherein we performed divine service every Sunday, and Father Gabriel and I, who preached alternately, took care to take such texts as were suitable to our present circumstances and fit to inspire us with courage, concord and brotherly love. * * * The fort was at last perfected, and called Fort Miamis."'

In the year 1711 the missionary Chardon, who was said to be very zealous and apt in the acquisition of languages, had a station on the St. Joseph about 60 miles above the mouth. Charlevoix, another distinguished missionary from France, visited a post on this river in 1721. In a letter dated at the place, Aug. 16, he says: "There is a commandant here, with a small garrison. His house, which is but a very sorry one, is called the fort, from its being surrounded with an indifferent palisado, which is pretty near the case in all the rest. We have here two villages of Indians, one of the Na =n5 the other of the Pottawatomies, both of them mostly

} iristians; but as they have been for a long time without any pastors, the missionary who has been lately sent to them will have no small difficulty in bringing them back to the exercise of their re. ligion." He speaks also of the main commodity for which the In, dians would part with their goods, namely, spirituous liquors,

Indians Attacking Frontiersmen

More than a century and a half has now passed since Charlevoix penned the above, without any change whatever in this trait of Indian character.

In 1765 the Miami nation, or confederacy, was composed of four tribes, whose total number of warriors was estimated at only 1,050 men. Of these about 250 were Twightwees, or Miamis proper, 300 Weas, or Ouiatenons, 300 Piankeshaws and 200 Shockeys; and at this time the principal villages of the Twightwees were situated about the head of the Maumee river at and near the place where Fort Wayne now is. The larger Wea villages were near the banks of the Wabash river, in the vicinity of the Post Ouiatenon; and the Shockeys and Piankeshaws dwelt on the banks of the Vermillion and on the borders of the Wabash between Vincennes and Ouiatenon. Branches of the Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Delaware and Kickapoo tribes were permitted at different times to enter within the boundaries of the Miamis and reside for a while.

The wars in which France and England were engaged, from 1688 to 1697, retarded the growth of the colonies of those nations in North America, and the efforts made by France to connect Canada and the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of trading posts and colonies naturally excited the jealousy of England and gradually laid the foundation for astruggleat arms. Afterseveral stations were established elsewhere in the West, trading posts were started at the Miami villages, which stood at the head of the Maumee, at the Wea villages about Ouiatenon on the Wabash, and at the Piankeshaw villages about the present sight of Vincennes. It is probable that before the close of the year 1719, temporary trading posts were erected at the sites of Fort Wayne, Ouiatenon and Vincennes. These points were probably often visited by French fur traders prior to1700. Inthe meanwhile the English people in this country commenced also to establish military posts west of the Alleghanies, and thus matters went on until they naturally culminated in a general war, which, being waged by the French and Indians combined on one side, was called "the French and Indian war."' This war was terminated in 1763 by a treaty at Paris, by which France ceded to Great Britain all of North, America east of the Mississippi except New Orleans and the island on which it is situated; and indeed, France had the preceding autumn, by a secret convention, ceded to Spain all the country west of that river.

In 1762, after Canada and its dependencies had been surrendered to the English, Pontiac and his partisans secretly organized a powerful confederacy in order to crush at one blow all English power in the West. This great scheme was skillfully projected and cautiously matured.

The principal act in the programme was to gain admittance into the fort at Detroit, on pretense of a friendly visit, with shortened muskets concealed under their blankets, and on a given signal suddenly break forth upon the garrison; but an inadvertent remark of an Indian woman led to a discovery of the plot, which was consequently averted. Pontiac and his warriors afterward made many attacks upon the English, some of which were successful, but the Indians were finally defeated in the general war.

British Policy

In 1765 the total number of French families within the limits of the Northwestern Territory did not probably exceed 600. These were in settlements about Detroit, along the river Wabash and the neighborhood of Fort Chartres on the Mississippi. Of these families, about 80 or 90 resided at Post Vincennes, 14 at Fort Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, and nine or ten at the confluence of the St. Mary and St. Joseph rivers.

The colonial policy ofthe British government opposed any measures which might strengthen settlements in the interior of this country, lest they become self-supporting and independent of the mother country; hence the early and rapid settlement of the North. western territory was still further retarded by the short-sighted selfishness of England. That fatal policy consisted mainly in holding the land in the hands of the government and not allowing it to be subdivided and sold to settlers. But in spite of all her efforts in this direction, she constantly made just such efforts as provoked the American people to rebel, and to rebel successfully, which was within 15 years after the perfect close of the French and Indian war.

Amerioan Polioy

Indians. Therefore, directly after the conquest of Vincennes by Clark, he engaged a scientific corps to proceed under an escort to the Mississippi, and ascertain by celestial observations the point on that river intersected by latitude 36° 30', the southern limit of the State, and to measure its distance to the Ohio. To Gen. Clark was entrusted the conduct of ,the military operations in that quarter. He was instructed to select a strong position near that point and establish there a fort and garrison; thence to extend his conquests northward to the lakes, erecting forts at different points, which might serve as monuments of actual possession, besides affording protection to that portion of the country. Fort "Jefferson"? was erected and garrisoned on the Mississippi a few miles above the southern limit.

The result of these operations was the addition, to the chartered limits of Virginia, of that immense region known as the " Northwestern Territory." The simple fact that such and such forts were established by the Americans in this vast region convinced the British Commissioners that we had entitled ourselves to the land. But where are those " monuments" of our power now?

Indian Savagery

As a striking example of the inhuman treatment which the early Indians were capable of giving white people, we quote the follow ing blood-curdling story from Mr. Cox' " Recollections of the Wabash Valley":

On the 11th of February, 1781, a wagoner named Irvin Hinton was sent from the block-house at Louisville, Ky., to Harrodsburg for a load of provisions for the fort. Two young men, Richard Rue and George Holman, aged respectively 19 and 16 years, were. sent as guards to protect the wagon from the depredations of any hostile Indians who might be lurking in thecane-brakes or ravines through which they must pass. Soon after their start a severe snow-storm set in which lasted until afternoon. Lest the melting snow might dampen the powder in their rifles, the guards fired them off, intending to reload them as soon as the storm ceased. Hinton drove the horses while Rue walked a few rods ahead and Holman about the same distance behind. As they ascended a hill about eight miles from Louisville Hinton heard some one say Whoa to the horses. Supposing that something was wrong about the wagon, he stopped and asked Holman why he had called him to halt. Holman said that he had not spoken; Rue also denied it, but said that he had heard the voice distinctly. At this time a voice cried out, "I will solve the mystery for you; it was Simon Girty that cried Whoa, and he meant what he said," - at the same time emerging from a sink-hole a few rods from the roadside, followed by 13 Indians, who immediately surrounded the three Kentuckians and demanded them to surrender or die instantly. The little party, making a virtue of necessity, surrendered to this renegade white man and his Indian allies.

Being so near two forts, Girty made all possible speed in making fast his prisoners, selecting the lines and other parts of the harness, he prepared for an immediate flight across the Ohio. The pantaloons of the prisoners were cut off about four inches above the knees, and thus they started through the deep snow as fast as the horses could trot, leaving the wagon, containing a few empty barrels, standing in the road. They continued their march for several cold days, without fire at night, until they reached Wa-puc-canat-ta, where they compelled their prisoners to run the gauntlet as they entered the village. Hinton first ran the gauntlet and reached the council-house after receiving several severe blows upon the head and shoulders. Rue next ran between the lines, pursued by an Indian with an uplifted tomahawk. He far outstripped his pursuer and dodged most of the blows aimed at him. Holman complaining that it was too severe a test for a worn-out stripling like himself, was allowed to run between two lines of squaws and boys, and was followed by an Indian with a long switch.

The first council of the Indians did not dispose of these young men; they were waiting for the presence of other chiefs and warriors. Hinton escaped, but on the afternoon of the second day he was re-captured. Now the Indians were glad that they had an occasion to indulge in the infernal joy of burning him at once. Soon after their supper, which they shared with their victim, they drove the stake into the ground, piled np the fagots in a circle around it, stripped and blackened the prisoner, tied him to the stake, and applied the torch. It was a slow fire. The war-whoop then thrilled through the dark surrounding forest like the chorus of a band of infernal spirits escaped from pandemonium, and the scalp dance was struck up by those demons in human shape, who for hours encircled their victim, brandishing their tomahawks and war clubs, and venting their execrations upon the helpless sufferer, who died about midnight trom the effects of the slow heat. As soon as he fell upon the ground, the Indian who first discovered him in the woods that evening sprang in, sunk his tomahawk into his skull above the ear, and with his knife stripped off the scalp, which he bore back with him to the town as a trophy, and which was tauntingly thrust into the faces of Rue and Holman, with the question, "Can you smell the fire-on the scalp of your red-headed friend? We cooked him and left him for the wolves to make a breakfast 'upon; that is the way we serve runaway prisoners."

After a march of three days more, the prisoners, Rue and Holman, had to run the gauntlets again, and barely got through with their lives. It was decided that they should both be burned at the stake that night, though this decision was far from being unanimous. The necessary preparations were made, dry sticks and brush were gathered and piled around two stakes, the faces and hands of the doomed men were blackened in the customary manner, and as the evening approached the poor wretches sat looking upon the setting sun for the last time. An unusual excitement was manifest in a number of chiefs who still lingered about the council-house. Ata pause in the contention, a noble-looking Indian approached the prisoners, and after speaking a few words to the guards, took Holman by the hand, lifted him to his feet, cut the cords that bound him to his fellow prisoners, removed the black from his face and hands, put his hand kindly upon his head and said: " [ adopt you as my son, to fill the place of the one I have lately buried; you are now a kinsman of Logan, the white man's friend, as he has been called, but who has lately proven himself to be a terrible avenger of the wrongs inflicted upon him by the bloody Cresap and his men."" With evident reluctance, Girty interpreted this to Holman, who was thus unexpectedly freed.

But the preparations for the burning of Rue went on. Holman and Rue embraced each other most affectionately, with a sorrow too deep for description. Rue was then tied to one of the stakes; but the general contention among the Indians had not ceased. Justas the lighted fagots were about to be applied tothe dry brush piled around the devoted youth, a tall, active young Shawnee, a son of the victim's captor,sprang into the ring, and cutting the cords which bound him to the stake, led him out amidst the deafening plaudits of a part of the crowd and the execrations of the rest. Regardless of threats, he caused water to be brought and the black to be washed from the face and hands of the prisoner, whose clothes were then returned to him, when the young brave said: "I take this young man to be my brother, in the place of one I lately lost;

I loved that brother well; I will love this one, too; my old mother will be glad when I tell her that I have brought her ason, in place of the dear departed one. We want no more victims. The burning of Red-head [Hinton] ougbt to satisfy us. These innocent young men do not merit such cruel fate; I would rather die myself than see this adopted brother«burned at the stake."

A loud shout of approbation showed that the young Shawnee had triumphed, though dissension was manifest among the various tribes afterward. Some of them abandoned their trip to Detroit, others returded to Wa-puc-ca-nat-ta, a few turned toward the Mississinewa and the Wabash towns, while a portion continued to Detroit. Holman was taken back to Wa-puc-ca-nat ta, where he remained most of the time of his captivity. Rue was taken first to the Mississinewa, then to the Wabash towns. Two years of his eventful captivity were spent in the region of the Wabash and IIlinois rivers, but the last few months at Detroit; was in captivity altogether about three years and a half.

Rue effected his escape in the following manner: During one of the drunken revels of the Indians near Detroit one of them lost a purse of $90; various tribes were suspected of feloniously keeping the treasure, and much ugly speculation was indulged in as to who was the thief. At length a prophet of a tribe that was not suspected was called to divine the mystery. He spread sand over a green ' deer-skin, watched it awhile and performed various manipulations, and professed to see that the money had been stolen and carried away by a tribe entirely different from any that had been suspicioned; but he was shrewd enough not to announce who the thief was or the tribe he belonged to, lest a war might arise. His decision quieted the belligerent uprisings threatened by the excited Indians.

Rue and two other prisoners saw this display of the prophet's skill and concluded to interrogate him soon concerning their families at home. The opportunity occurred ina few days, and the Indian seer actually astonished Rue with the accuracy with which he described his family, and added, "You all intend to make your escape, and you will effect it soon. You will meet with many trials and hardships in passing over so wild a district of country, inhabited by so many hostile nations of Indians. You will almost starve to death; but about the time you have given up all hope of finding game to sustain you in your famished condition, succor will come when you least expect it. The first game you will succeed in taking

The prophet kept this matter a secret for the prisoners, and the latter in a few days set off upon their terrible journey, and had just such experience as the Indian prophet had foretold; they arrived home with their lives,"but were pretty well worn out with the exposures and privations of a three weeks' journey.

On the return of Holman's party of Indians to Wa-puc-ca-nat-ta, much dissatisfaction existed in regard to the manner of his release from the sentence of condemnation pronounced against him by the council, Many were in favor of recalling the council and trying him again, and this was finally agreed to. The young man was again put upon trial for his life, with a strong probability of his being condemned to the stake. Both parties worked hard for victory in the final vote, which eventually proved to give a majority of one for the prisoner's acquittal.

While with the Indians, Holman saw them burn at the stake a Kentuckian named Richard Hogeland, who had been taken prisoner at the defeat of Col. Crawford. They commenced burning him at nine o'clock at night, and continued roasting him until ten o'clock the next day, before he expired. During his excruciating tortures he begged for some of them to end his life and sufferings with a gun or tomahawk. Finally his cruel tormentors promised they would, and cut several deep gashes in his flesh with their tomahawks, and shoveled up hot ashes and embers and threw them into the gaping wounds. When he was dead they stripped off his scalp, cut him to pieces and burnt him to ashes, which they scattered through the town to expel the evil spirits from it.

After a captivity of about three years and a half, Holman saw an opportunity of going ona mission for the destitute Indians, namely, of going to Harrodsburg, Ky., where he had a rich uncle, from whom they could get what supplies they wanted. They let him go with a guard, but on arriving at Louisville, where Gen. Clark was in command, he was ransomed, and he reached home only three days after the arrival of Rue. Both these men lived to a good old age, terminating their lives at their home about two miles south of

Expeditions Of Col. George Rogers Clare

In the summer of 1778, Col. George Rogers Clark, a native of Albemarle county, Va., led a memorable expedition against the ancient French settlements about Kaskaskia and Post Vincennes. With respect to the magnitude of its design, the valor and perseverance with which it was carried on, and the memorable results which were produced by it, this expedition stands without a parallel in: the early annals of the valley of the Mississippi. That portion of the West called Kentucky was occupied by Henderson & Co., who pretended to own the land and who heldit at a high price. Col. Clark wished to test the validity of their claim and adjust the government of the country so as to encourage immigration. He accordingly called a meeting of the citizens at Harrodstown, to assemble June 6, 1776, and consider the claims of the company and consult with reference to the interest of the country. He did not at first publish the exact aim of this movement, lest parties would be formed in advance and block the enterprise; also, if the object of the meeting were not announced beforehand, the curiosity of the people to know what was to be proposed would bring out a much greater attendance.

The meeting was held on the day appointed, and delegates were elected to treat with the government of Virginia, to see whether it would be best to become a county in that State and be protected by it, etc. Various delays on account of the remoteness of the white settlers from the older communities of Virginia and the hostility of Indians in every direction, prevented a consummation of this object until some time in 1778. The government of Virginia was friendly to Clark's enterprise to a certain extent, but claimed that they had not authority to do much more than to lend a little assistance for which payment should be made at some future time, as it was not certain whether Kentucky would become a part of Virginia or not. Gov. Henry anda few gentlemen were individually s0 hearty in favor of Clark's benevolent undertaking that they assisted him all they could. Accordingly Mr. Olark organized his expedition, keeping every particular secret lest powerful parties would form in the West against him. He took in stores at Pitts- burg and Wheeling, proceeded down the Ohio to the " Falls," where he took possession of an island of a about seven acres, and divided it among a small number of families, for whose protection he constructed some light fortifications. At this time Post Vincennes comprised about 400 militia, and it was a daring undertaking for Col. Clark, with his small force, to go up against it and Kaskaskia, as he had planned. Indeed, some of his men, on hearing of his plan, deserted him. He conducted himself so as to gain the sympathy of the French, and through them also that of the Indians to some extent, as both these people were very bitter against the British, who had possession of the Lake Region.

From the nature of the situation Clark concluded it was best to take Kaskaskia first. The fact that the people regarded him as a savage rebel, he regarded as really a good thing in his favor; for after the first victory he would show them so much unexpected lenity that they would rally to his standard. In this policy he was indeed successful. He arrested a few men and put them in irons. The priest of the village, accompanied by five or six aged citizens, waited on Olark and said that the inhabitants expected to be separated, perhaps never to meet again, and they begged to be permitted to assemble in- their church to take leave of each other. Clark mildly replied that he had nothing against their religion, that they might continue to assemble in their church, but not venture out of town, etc. Thus, by what has since been termed the "Rarey'? method of taming horses, Clark showed them he had power over them but designed them no harm, and they readily took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. |

After Clark's arrival at Kaskaskia it was difficult to induce the French settlers to accept the "Continental paper'' introduced by him and his troops. Nor until Col. Vigo arrived there and guaranteed its redemption would they receive it. Peltries and piastres formed the only currency, and Vigo found great difficulty in explaining Clark's financial arrangements. "Their commandants never made money," was the reply to Vigo's explanation of the policy of the old Dominion. But notwithstanding the guarantees, the Continental paper fell very low in the market. Vigo had a trading establishment at Kaskaskia, where he sold coffee at one dollar a pound, and all the other necessaries of iife at an equally reasonable price. The unsophisticated Frenchmen were generally asked in what kind of money they would pay their little bills

"Douleur," was the general reply; and as an authority on the sub. ject says, "It took about twenty Continental dollars to purchase a silver dollar's worth of coffee; and as the French word "douleur"' signifies grief or pain, perhaps no word either in the French or English languages expressed the idea more correctly than the douleur for a Continental dollar. At any rate it was truly dowleur to the Colonel, for he never received a single dollar in exchange for the large amount taken from him in order to sustain Clark's credit. - Now, the post at Vincennes, defended by Fort Sackville, came next. The priest just mentioned, Mr. Gibault, was really friendly to "the American interest;" he had spiritual charge of the church at Vincennes, and he with several others were deputed to assemble the people there and authorize them to garrison their own fort like a free and independent people, ete. This plan had its desired effect, and the people took the oath of allegiance to the State of Virginia and became citizens of the United States. Their style of language and conduct changed to a better hue, and they surprised the numerous Indians in the vicinity by displaying anew flag and informing them that their old father, the King of France, was come to life again, and was mad at them for fighting the English; and they advised them to make peace with the Americans as soon as they could, otherwise they might expect to make the land very bloody, -etc. The Indians concluded they would have to fall in line, and they offered no resistance. Capt. Leonard Helm, an American, was left in charge of this post, and Olark began to turn his attention to other points. But before leaving this section of the country he made treaties of peace with the Indians; this he did, however, by a different method trom what had always before been followed. By indirect methods he caused them to come to him, instead of going tothem. He was convinced that inviting them to treaties was considered by them ina different manner from what the whites expected, and imputed them to fear, and that giving them great presents confirmed it. He accordingly established treaties with the Piankeshaws, Ouiatenons, Kickapoos, Illinois, Kaskaskias, Peorias and branches of some other tribes that inhabited the country between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi. Upon this the General Assembly of the State of Virginia declared all the citizens settled west of the Ohio organized into a county of that State, to be known as " Tllinois " county; but before the pro. visions of the law could be earried into effect, Heary Hamilton, the British Lieutenant-Governor of Detroit, collected an army of about

30 regulars, 50 French volunteers and 400 Indians, went down and re-took the post Vincennes in December, 1778. No attempt was made by the population to defend the town. Capt. Helm and a man named Henry were the only Americans at the fort, the only members of the garrison. Capt. Helm was taken prisoner and a number of the French inhabitants disarmed.

Col. Clark, hearing of the situation, determined to re-capture the place. He accordingly gathered together what force he could in this distant land, 170 men, and on the 5th of February, started from Kaskaskia and crossed the river of that name. The weather was very wet, and the low lands were pretty well covered with water. The march was difficult, dnd the Colonel bad to work hard to keep his men in spirits. He suffered them to shoot game whenever they wished and eat it like Indian war-dancers, each company by turns inviting the others to their feasts, which was the case every night. Clark waded through water as much as any of them, and thus stimulated the men by his example. They reached the Little Wabash on the 13th, after suffering many and great hardships. Hereacamp was formed, and without waiting to discuss plans for crossing the river, Clark ordered the men to construct a vessel, and pretended that crossing the stream would be only a piece of amusement, although inwardly he held a different opinion.

The second day afterward a reconnoitering party was sent across the river, who returned and made an encouraging report. A scaffolding was built on the opposite shore, upon which the baggage was placed as it was tediously ferried over, and the new camping ground was a nice half acre of dry land. There were many amusements, indeed, in getting across the river, which put all the men in high spirits. The succeeding two or three days they had to march through a great deal of water, having on the night of the 17th to encamp in the water, near the Big Wabash.

At daybreak on the 18th they heard the signal gun at Vincennes, and at once commenced their march. Reaching the Wabash about two o'clock, they constructed rafts to cross the river on a boat-stealing expedition, but labored all day and night to no purpose. On the 19th they began to make a canoe, in which asecond attempt to steal boats was made, but this expedition returned, reporting that there were two "large fires'' withina mile of them. Clark sent a canoe down the river to meet the vessel that was supposed to be on her way up with the supplies, with orders to hasten forward day and night. This was their last hope, as their provisions were eutirely gone, and starvation seemed to be hovering about them. The next day they commenced to make more canoes, when about noon the sentinel on the river bronght a boat with five Frenchmen from the fort. From this party they learned that they were not as yet discovered. All the army crossed the river in two canoes the next day, and as Clark had determined to reach the town that night, he ordered his men to move forward. They plunged into the water sometimes to the neck, for over three miles.

Without food, benumbed with cold, up to their waists in water, covered with broken ice, the men at one time mutinied and refused to march. All the persuasions of Clark had no effect upon the half-starved and half-frozen soldiers. In one company was a small drummer boy, and also a sergeant who stood six feet two inches in socks, and stout and athletic. He was devoted to Clark. The General mounted the little drummer on the shoulders of the stalwart sergeant and ordered him to plunge into the water, half-frozen as it was. He did so, the little boy beating the charge from his lofty perch, while Clark, sword in hand, followed them, giving the command as he threw aside the floating ice, " Forward." Elated and amused with the scene, the men promptly obeyed, holding their rifles above their heads, and in spite of all the obstacles they reached the high land in perfect safety. But for this and the ensuing days of this campaign we quote from Clark's account:

"This last day's march through the water was far superior to anything the Frenchmen had any idea of. They were backward in speaking; said that the nearest land to us was a small league, a sugar cap on the bank of the river. A canoe was sent off and returned without finding that we could pass. I went in her myself aud sounded the water and found it as deep as to my neck. I returned with a design to have the men transported on board the canoes to the sugar camp, which I knew would expend the whole day and ensuing night, as the vessels would pass slowly through the bushes, The loss of so much time to men half starved was a matter of consequence. I would have given now a great deal for a day's provision, or for one of our horses. I returned but slowly to the troops, giving myself time to think. On our arrival all ran to hear what was the report; every eye was fixed on me; I unfortunately spoke in a serious manner to one of the officers. The whole were alarmed without knowing what I said. I viewed their confusion for about one minute; I whispered to those near me to do as I did, immediately put some water in my hand, poured on powder, blackened my face, gave the war-whoop, and marched into the water without saying a word. The party gazed and fell in, one after another without saying a word, likea flock of sheep. I ordered those near me to begin a favorite song of theirs; it soon passed through the line, and the whole went on cheerfully.

"JT now intended to have, them transported across the deepest part of the water; but when about waist-deep, one of the men informed me that he thought he felt a path; we examined and found it so, and concluded that it kept on the highest ground, whichit did, and by taking pains to follow it, we got to the sugar camp with no difficulty, where there was about half an acre of dry ground, - at least ground not under water, and there we took up our lodging.

"The night had been colder than any we had had, and the ice in the morning was one-half or three-quarters of an inch thick in still water; the morning was the finest. A little after sunrise I lectured the whole; what I said to them I forget, but I concluded by informing them that passing the plain then in full view, and reaching the opposite woods would put an end to their fatigue; that in a few hours they would have asight of their long wished-for object; and immediately stepped into the water without waiting for any reply. A huzza took place. As we generally marched through the water in a line, before the third man entered, I called to Major Bowman, ordering him to fall in the rear of the 25 men, and put to death any man who refused to march. This met with a cry of approbation, and on we went. Getting about the middle of the plain, the water about mid-deep, I found myself sensibly failing; and as there were no trees nor bushes for the men to support themselves by, I feared that many of the weak would be drowned. I ordered the canoes to make the land, discharge their loading, and play backward and forward with all diligence and pick up the men; and to encourage the party, sent some of the strongest men forward, with orders when they got toa certain distance, to pass the word back that the water was getting shallow, and when getting near the woods, to cry out land. This stratagem had its desired effect; the men exerted themselves almost beyond their abilities, the weak holding by the stronger. The water, however, did not become shallower, but continued deepening. Getting to the woods where the men expected land, the water was up to my shoulders; but gaining the woods was of great consequence; all the low men and weakly hung to the trees and floated on the old logs until they were taken off by the canoes; the strong and tall got ashore and built fires. Many would reach the shore and fall with their bodies half in the water, not being able to support themselves without it.

"This was a dry and delightful spot of ground of about ten acres. Fortunately, as if designed by Providence, a canoe of Indian squaws and children was coming up to town, and took through this part of the plain as anigh way; it was discovered by our canoe-men as they were out after the other men. They gave chase and took the Indian canoe, on board of which was nearly half a quarter of buffalo, some corn, tallow, kettles, ete. This wasan invaluable prize. Broth was immediately made and served ont, especially to the weakly; nearly all of us got a little; but a great many gave their part to the weakly, saying something cheering to their comrades. By the afternoon, this refreshment and fine weather had greatly invigorated the whole party.

"Crossing a narrow and deep lake in the canoes, and marching some distance, we came to a copse of timber called ' Warrior's Island.' We were now in full view of the fort and town; it was about two miles distant, with not a shrub intervening. Every man now feasted his eyes and forgot that he had suffered anything, saying that all which had passed was owing to good policy, and nothing but what a man could bear, and that a soldier had no right to think, passing from one extreme to the other, - which,is common in such cases. And now stratagem was necessary. Thé plain between us and the town was not a perfect level; the sunken grounds were covered with water full of ducks. We observed several men within ahalf a mile of us shooting ducks, and sent out some of our active young Frenchmen to take one of these men prisoners without alarming the rest, which they did. The information we got from this person was similar to that which we got from those taken on the river, except that of the British having that evening completed the wall of the fort, and that there were a great many Indians in town.