Huntington County, Indiana - Chapter 4: The Period of Preparation, 1914

Early Explorations in America - French Posts in the Interior - Conflicting Claims of France and England - The French and Indian War - Huntington County a British Possession - Pon¬ tiac's War - Conquest of the Northwest by George Rogers Clark - La Balme's Expedition - Indiana a Part of Virginia - The Northwest Territory - Campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne - Treaty of Greenville - Territory of Indiana Organ¬ ized - Early Treaties of Cession - Tecumseh and the Prophet - Battle of Tippecanoe - War of 1812 - Campbell's Expedition into Indiana - Mississinewa Battle Ground Association - Indiana Admitted as a State - Location of the Capital - Its Influence on Settlement - Evolution of Huntington County.

Although Huntington County was not called into existence as a sep¬ arate political jurisdiction until 1834, the events leading up to its settle¬ ment and organization had their beginning more than two centuries before that date. In order, therefore, that the reader may better understand the evolution and erection of the county, it is deemed proper to notice in this chapter the development of these two centuries, begin¬ ning with the first explorers who visited this country.

Not long after the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492, three European nations began to vie with each other in estab¬ lishing claims to territory in the New World. Spain first laid claim to the Peninsula of Florida, whence expeditions were sent into the interior ; the English based their claims upon the discoveries made by the Cabots, farther northward along the Atlantic coast; and the French claimed Canada by reason of the expeditions of Jacques Cartier in 1534-35.

Spain planted a colony in Florida in 1565 ; the French settled Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1605, and two years later the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, was established by a company chartered by the crown. The French then extended their settlements up the St. Law¬ rence River and along the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie. Before the middle of the seventeenth century, J esuit missionaries and fur traders had pushed their way westward into the very heart of the Indian country. In 1660 a mission was founded by Father Mesnard at or near Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the same year Father Claude Allouez made his first pilgrimage into the interior. Upon his return to Quebec, two years later, he urged the authorities there to encourage the establishment of missions among the Indians, each mission to be accompanied by a colony of French immigrants, but it does not appear that his recom¬ mendations were acted upon, or that any effort was made to establish permanent settlements in the region he had visited. After a short stay in Quebec, Father Allouez made a second journey to the country about the Great Lakes, and this time he was accompanied by the missionaries Claude Dablon and James Marquette.

In the year 1671 Father Marquette founded the Huron Mission at Point St. Ignace. The next year the region south of that mission was visited by Allouez and Dablon. In their explorations they met the chiefs and head men of the tribes that then inhabited the country about the head of Lake Michigan and are supposed to have traversed that part of Indiana lying north of the Kankakee River. These Jesuit missionaries were probably the first white men to visit the territory claimed by the Miami Indians, though some writers state that Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, crossed the northern part of Indiana on the occasion of his first attempt to discover the Mississippi River in 1669. This is quite likely an error, as the Jesuit Relations give an apparently well-authen¬ ticated account of a voyage made by La Salle down the Ohio River in 1669-70. If La Salle and his associates landed on the right bank of the Ohio during that voyage, they were doubtless the first white men to set foot upon Indiana soil. In his report of his voyage down the Ohio, La Salle mentions "a very large river (the Wabash) coming into it from the north."

In 1671 or 1672 La Salle crossed the northwest corner of the state, and in 1673 Marquette and Joliette crossed over from Mackinaw to the Mississippi River, which they descended as far as the Indian Village of Akamsea, not far from the mouth of the Arkansas River. Six years later La Salle established Fort Miami "at the mouth of the St. Joseph River of Lake Michigan, then called the River Miamis." This fort was destroyed by deserters in the spring of 1680, but the following January it was rebuilt "on the right bank of the river at its mouth." After several futile attempts, La Salle succeeded in descending the Missis¬ sippi River to its mouth, where on April 6, 1682, he laid claim to all the territory drained by the great stream and its tributaries in the name of France, giving to this vast domain the name of Louisiana, in honor of the French king. This claim included Huntington County, as well as the entire State of Indiana.

The claim of France was not yielded by other European nations without a contest. Spain claimed the interior of the North American continent through the discoveries and expeditions of Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto, and the English laid claim to the same region because of royal grants of land " extending westward to the South Sea." The claims of both Spain and England were ignored by the French, however, and that nation began the work of building a line of posts through the Mississippi valley to connect their Canadian settlements with those along the gulf coast near the mouth of the great river. In July, 1701, Cadillac founded the post of Detroit. The next year Sieur Juchereau and Father Mermet were commissioned to establish a post and mission "at or near the mouth of the Ohio River." Some historians have endeavored to show that this post was located where the City of Vincennes, Indiana, now stands, but the known facts do not bear out such a statement, even though the exact location of the post is not certain.

There appears to be considerable uncertainty as to when and where the first post was established within the present State of Indiana. There is a vague account of a French post having been founded at the head of the Maumee River, where the City of Fort Wayne is now situated, as early as 1672. This is probably an error, as old maps of the Wabash Valley bearing date of 1684 show no posts within the present limits of the state. Goodrich & Little's History of Indiana says: "It is certain that Post Miami (Fort Wayne) was established in 1705," but the authors give no corroborative evidence that such was the case.

Quiatenon was situated on the Wabash River, eighteen miles below the mouth of the Tippecanoe River and not far from the present City of Lafayette. W. H. Smith's History of Indiana (p. 17) says: "The best record is that this was the first post established in what is now Indiana by the French. No effort was ever made to plant a colony there, but it became in time quite a prominent trading point. There are reasons why this point should have been selected as the best pos¬ sible place for the establishment of a post. It was the largest village of the Quiatenon Indians, was in the center of the beaver country, and Was easily accessible. It was, also, the head of navigation, so to speak, on the Wabash. That is, it was where the cargoes had to be transferred, owing to the rapids in the river, from the large canoes which were used on the lower Wabash, to the smaller ones that were used between Quiatenon and the portage to the Maumee. For trading purposes no better place on the Wabash could have been selected."

Vincennes is universally conceded to be the oldest permanent settle¬ ment in the state, but the date of its establishment is veiled in the same uncertainty as that which attaches to other posts. There is a tradition that some French traders located there about 1690, married Indian wives and in time induced other Frenchmen to locate there, but La Harpe's journal, which gives a rather comprehensive account of the events that occurred in the Mississippi Valley from 1698 to 1722, makes no mention of such a settlement. David Thomas, of New York, visited Vincennes about the time Indiana was admitted into the Union as a state, and after making investigations wrote : ' ' About the year 1690 the French traders first visited Vincennes, at that time a town of the Piankeshaw Indians, called Cip-pe-kaugh-ke. Of these the former obtained wives and raised families. In the year 1734 several French families emigrated from Canada and settled at this place. The first governor, or command¬ ant, was M. St. Vincent, after whom the town was named."

In another place in his manuscript Thomas gives quite a different account of the founding of the post and the name of the commandant. Says he: "About the year 1702, a party of French from Canada de¬ scended the Wabash river and established posts at several places on its banks. The party was commanded by Captain St. Vincennes, who made this his principal place of deposit, which went for a long time by no other name than 'The Post. ' "

The reader will notice the difference in the name of the founder as given by Thomas, as well as the date of the establishment of the post. In one place he says it was M. St. Vincent and in another it is given as Captain St. Vincennes. His real name . was Francois Margane ( or Morgan) de Vincennes, but the date when he first visited the Wabash Valley is not definitely settled. Dillon, in his History of Indiana, says: "It is probable that before the year 1719 temporary trading posts were erected at the sites of Fort Wayne, Quiatenon and Vincennes. These posts had, it is believed, been often visited by traders before the year 1700."

Dillon is regarded as good authority. If his statement is correct, it is more than likely that some of the early traders visited what is now Huntington County before the beginning of the eighteenth century, and they may have traded trinkets for furs where the City of Huntington now stands. The forks of the Wabash, about two miles west of the city, was a favorite spot for Indian councils and gatherings at a very early date, and though there is no evidence that a post was ever located there, it is not beyond the limits of possibility that some of the early French explorers stopped there on their voyages up and down the river and formed friendly relations with the Miami Indians.

General Harmar visited Vincennes in 1787 and wrote to the secre¬ tary of war that the inhabitants informed him that the post had been established sixty years before. This would indicate that the town was founded about 1727, which is perhaps not far from the correct date. Monette says it was settled in 1735, and Bancroft agrees that date is "not too early."

The conflicting claims of the French and English culminated in what is known in history as the French and Indian war. In 1759 Quebec was captured by the British and the following year the French government surrendered all the posts in the interior. Soon after the surrender Major Rogers, an English officer, took possession of the post at Detroit and sent detachments of troops to the posts at Fort Wayne and Quiatenon. By the Treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, all that part of the Province of Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi was ceded to Great Britain, and what is now the State of Indiana became subject to British domination.

In April, 1763, a great council of Indians was held near Detroit, at which the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, known as "high priest and keeper of the faith," one of the greatest Indian orators of his day, revealed to his fellow chiefs the will of the Great Master of Life, as expounded by the Delaware prophet, and called upon them to unite with him in a grand uprising for the expulsion of the hated British, the recovery of their hunting grounds and the preservation of their national life. He showed them how the English were in undisputed control of the lands along the Atlantic coast and pointed out that: the region about the Great Lakes and the broad valley of the Ohio were still in the hands of the Indians. He was wise enough to see that between these two sections the Allegheny Mountains formed a natural boundary, behind which he urged the Indian chiefs to assert the Red Man's supremacy. Taught by the defeat of the French that he could expect no assistance from that people, he depended entirely upon the loyalty of his own race to carry out his plan. His oratory and logic won the day. Encouraged by other chiefs, when informed that the English were coming to take possession of the posts surrendered by the French, he sent back the defiant message: "I stand in the way ! ' '

Pontiac's warriors captured the posts at Fort Wayne and Quiatenon, but the one at Vincennes was not molested, because it was still held by a French garrison, with which Pontiac was on friendly terms. His war ended, however, as all contests end in which an inferior race attempts to resist the onward march of a superior one, and' the subjection of the Indian tribes was made more complete by Colonel Bouquet's march into the interior of the country, forcing the natives to enter into treaties to keep the peace. On October 10, 1765, St. Ange, the French commander at Vincennes, turned over the post to a detachment of British soldiers, under command of Captain Sterling, who immediately promulgated a proclamation prepared by General Gage formally taking possession of all the territory ceded to Great Britain by the Paris treaty. From that time until the beginning of the Revolutionary war, the English established but few posts in their new possessions, but those at Fort Wayne, Quiatenon and Vincennes were strengthened and at the commencement of the Revolution were occupied by small garrisons, the British depending largely upon the strength and loyalty of their Indian allies to prevent the colonists from encroaching upon the Ohio Valley - a mistaken idea, as the history of subsequent events will show.

In December, 1777, Gen. George Rogers Clark presented to the Virginia Legislature a plan for the capture of the British posts in the Northwest, particularly those at Kaskaskia, Vincennes and Detroit. Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, approved Clark's plan, and the Assembly appropriated £1,200 to defray the expenses of a campaign against the posts. Clark made his preparations with the greatest secrecy, and early in the spring of 1778 four companies of infantry, commanded by Capt. Joseph Bowman, John Montgomery, William Harrod and Leonard Helm, rendezvoused at Corn Island, in the Ohio River, opposite the present City of Louisville. On June 24, 1778, this little army em¬ barked in small boats and drifted down the Ohio River to Fort Massac. There the boats were concealed and the march overland toward Kas¬ kaskia was commenced. That post capitulated on the 4th of July, with¬ out a struggle, and Clark sent Captain Bowman against the post of Cahokia, near the present City of East St. Louis, which also surrendered without resistance.

Encouraged by these two bloodless victories, Clark began his prep¬ arations for the reduction of Vincennes. At Kaskaskia he learned that Father Gibault, a French priest, was favorable to the American cause and determined to enlist his co-operation. A conference was arranged with the priest, who admitted his sympathy for the American colonies, but on account of his calling declined to become an active participant in a movement which might subject him to severe criticism and destroy his usefulness in the church. Nevertheless, he recommended a Doctor Lafonte, whom he knew to be both capable and reliable, to conduct the negotiations for the surrender of Vincennes, and even promised to act as adviser to Doctor Lafonte if he could do so without exposure. Accord¬ ingly, Doctor Lafonte explained to the French people living at Vincennes that they could break the yoke of British domination by taking the oath of allegiance to the American cause. This they did cheerfully, and sur¬ prised the Indians in the vicinity by displaying a new flag over Fort Sackville, which guarded the post. They explained to the Indians that their old father, the King of France, was once more in control, and was mad at them for forming an alliance with the English, advising them at the same time to make peace with the Americans to prevent their lands from being deluged with blood. Captain Helm was sent to take command of tha post, hut this proved to he a barren victory.

In October, 1778, the Virginia Legislature formally assumed au¬ thority over the territory conquered by Clark and passed an act provid¬ ing that "All citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia, who are already settled, or shall hereafter settle, on the northwestern side of the River Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois county," etc. By this act the states of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio were claimed by the Colony of Virginia. Before the provisions of the act could be applied to the newly conquered territory, Henry Hamilton, the British lieutenant-governor at Detroit, started down the River Wabash with a force of 480 men - 30 regulars, 50 volunteers and 400 Indians - to rein¬ force the posts. On December 15, 1778, he recaptured the post at Vin¬ cennes, the American garrison at that time consisting of Captain Helm and one man, though this little garrison of two refused to surrender until promised the honors of war. Immediately after the surrender the French citizens were disarmed and before many days a large force of hostile Indians began to assemble near the post.

Clark was now in a perilous position. His army, never very strong, was weaker than when he left Corn Island in June, and it was essential that part of his force should be detailed to hold the posts already cap¬ tured. It was in the dead of winter, he was far removed from his base of supplies, provisions were scarce, and there were no roads open through the country over which his men must march on foot against Vincennes. Yet, in the face of all these difficulties, Clark refused to abandon his campaign. When he learned, late in January, 1779, that Hamilton had weakened his garrison by sending his Indian allies against the frontier settlements, he resolved to attack the post. Hamilton's object was to collect a large body of Indians at Vincennes early in the spring, and, as soon as the weather would permit, drive out the Americans. Knowing this to be the plan of the British commander, Clark realized that prompt action was imperative. He therefore built a large galley or bateau, called the "Willing," which left Kaskaskia on February 1, 1779, with a supply of ammunition and provisions, two four-pounder cannon, four swivel guns and forty-six men, under orders to drop down the Missis¬ sippi and ascend the Ohio and Wabash to Vincennes as quickly as possible.

With the remaining 170 men available for the purpose, Clark began the march of 160 miles across the country. His men were frequently compelled to wade through creeks and marshes where the water came up to their waists, but all obstacles were overcome, and on the morning of February 18, 1779, the little army was near enough to bear the report of the sunrise gun at Fort Sackville. For three days Clark waited in the swamps for the arrival of the "Willing. " A hunter from the fort was captured, and from him Clark learned that Hamilton had but eighty men in the fort. Fearing the return of some of the Indians before the Willing put in an appearance, Clark determined to attack at once. On the morning of the 21st two canoes were secured, in which the men were ferried over the Wabash. Clark then wrote the following proclamation, which he sent to the people of Vincennes by the hunter who had been captured a few days before:

' ' Gentlemen : Being now within two miles of your village with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and not being willing to surprise you, I take this method to request such of you as are true citizens and willing to enjoy the liberty I bring you, to remain still in your houses ; and those, if any there be, that are friends of the king, will instantly repair to the fort and join the hair-buyer general and tight like men. And if any such as do not go to the fort shall be discovered afterward, they may depend on severe punishment. On the contrary, those who are true friends to liberty may depend on being well treated; and once more request them to keep out of the streets. For every one I find with arms on my arrival, I shall treat him as an enemy.

Clark's allusion to Hamilton as the "hair-buyer general" had ref¬ erence to that officer 's attempt to incite the savages to greater cruelty by placing a price upon the scalps of white settlers and the colonial troops.

In his report on the expedition, Clark says that he had various ideas on the supposed results of his proclamation. He watched the mes¬ senger enter the village, and saw that his arrival there "created some stir," but was unable to learn the effects of his communication. A short time before sunset he marched his men out where they could be seen. In his report of this movement, he says: "In leaving the covert that we were in, we marched and countermarched in such a manner that we appeared* numerous."

The ruse was further strengthened by the fact that Clark had several stands of colors, which were fastened to long poles and carried in such a manner that they could be seen above the top of the low ridge, behind which his "handful of men" were performing their maneuvers, thus creating the impression that he had several regiments at his command. A number of horses had been captured from duck-hunters near the post. These were now mounted by "orderlies," who rode about in various directions as though engaged in carrying orders from the commanding general to his subordinates. One of these orderlies would disappear behind one of the ridges and soon a flag would appear above the crest, moving toward a common center. Occasionally strains of martial music could be heard as the ' ' regiments ' ' took their places in the formation for the attack.

These evolutions were kept up until dark, when Clark moved out and took a position in the rear of the village - that is, on the side farthest away from the Wabash River. Lieutenant Bay ley was ordered to take fourteen men and open the attack on the fort. One man in the garrison was killed in the first volley. A number of the citizens, who had managed to keep their arms concealed from the British, came out and joined the besiegers. This addition to his forces enabled Clark to extend his lines until the fort was surrounded. After a siege of two days and three nights, Clark demanded a surrender on the morning of the 24th, when he sent the following message to Hamilton :

"If I am obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is justly due a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession - for, by heavens ! if you do, there shall be no mercy shown you. ' '

Hamilton replied that he was "not to be awed into doing anything unworthy of a British soldier, ' ' and the firing upon the fort was renewed. Clark's men were all skilled in the use of the rifle, and they did not waste their ammunition. Their bullets found their way through every crack and crevice with deadly effect. Some of the soldiers begged for permis¬ sion to storm the fort, but Clark felt that it was much safer to adhere to his tactics of harassing Hamilton until he was ready to surrender. He had not long to wait, for in a little while a flag of truce was displayed above the walls of the fort and Hamilton asked for an armistice of three days. Clark, suspecting that Hamilton was merely hoping to delay oper¬ ations until some of his Indians would hear of the siege and come to his relief, promptly refused to grant the request. The British commander then asked Clark to come into the fort for a parley. Some officers might have acceded to this request, but Clark was not of that class. He refused thus to place himself within his enemy's power, but offered to meet Ham¬ ilton for a conference at the church, some eighty yards from the fort. As there was nothing else to be done, the British commander, accompanied by Captain Helm, who was a prisoner, came out to the church. Again he asked for a suspension of hostilities for three days and again his request was flatly denied, Clark informing him that the only terms he considered was " Surrender at discretion." This was a bitter pill to the haughty Briton, but it had to be swallowed. The fort, with all its stores, arms and munitions of war, passed into the hands of the Americans and the next morning the people of Vincennes saw the Stars and Stripes floating from the flagstaff.

Two days later the Willing arrived, and with this addition to his force Clark felt that he could hold the post against any body that might attempt to recapture it. Learning that some supplies were on the wray down the Wabash to Hamilton, Clark sent out a detachment to intercept the boats and prevent their turning back, in case the men in charge of them heard of the surrender. On the 29th about $50,000 worth of goods were thus captured and added to the supplies that had been surrendered with the fort.

Clark's army had been so weakened by the arduous campaign, and Washington and his generals were conducting such a vigorous campaign against the British in the East, that reinforcements could not be ob¬ tained, hence the movement toward Detroit had to be postponed. In 1780 a French officer named La Balme, who had come over with La Fayette, enrolled a force of about sixty men at Vincennes and Kaskaskia and marched up the Wabash River, with the intention of capturing the post at Fort Wayne, after which he would increase his force and move against Detroit. His expedition was not encouraged by the authorities, but late in the summer he set out on his mission. This expedition passed up the Little River, through what is now Huntington County, to the portage between that stream and the St. Mary's, descending the latter to the Indian Village of Kekionga (Fort Wayne), which was found deserted, the Indians and traders having fled at the approach of La Balme. After plundering the stores of the traders, the expedition retired down the Little River to the mouth of the Aboite Creek, about four miles east of the present Town of Roanoke, where a camp was established. The In¬ dians, upon learning that many of La Balme 's men were French - a nation with which the Miamis had always been on friendly terms - were disposed to let the incident pass without further notice, but the traders, chagrined at their losses, finally succeeded in inciting them to attack the camp. A strong force of warriors, led by Little Turtle, surrounded the camp, and in the fight that ensued every man of La Balme 's little expedition was killed. This battle was fought but a short distance east of the present County of Huntington.

There was great rejoicing in Virginia and the Eastern colonies when it was learned that Clark had captured some of the western outposts. Says Levering: "The results of this campaign were far-reaching in the settlement with Great Britain four years later, when the final treaty of peace was ratified. As a consequence, all the territory between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes became a United States possession. ' '

Through the conquest of the Northwest by General Clark, what is now the State of Indiana became a part of the Colony of Virginia, and a tide of emigration followed. On January 2, 1781, the Legislature of Virginia adopted a resolution to the effect that, on certain conditions, the colony would surrender to Congress its claim to the territory north¬ west of the Ohio River. Owing to the fact that Congress was then busy with the conduct of the Revolutionary war, no action was taken on the resolution. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolution and estab¬ lished the independence of the United States, was concluded on Sep¬ tember 3, 1783, and ten days later Congress agreed to accept the cession tendered by Virginia more than two years before. On December 20, 1783, the Virginia Assembly passed a resolution authorizing the delegates from that colony then in Congress to convey to the United States "the title and claim of Virginia to the lands northwest of the river Ohio." The cession was formally made on March 1, 1784, and the present State of Indiana thereby became territory of the United States.

On May 20, 1785, Congress passed " An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in western territory, ' ' and on the 15th of June following a proclamation was issued forbidding settlements north¬ west of the Ohio until the lands were surveyed. This ordinance and proclamation led the Indians to believe that their lands were about to be taken from them for white settlers and they grew restless. By treaties in 1768, between the British colonial officials and the chiefs of the Five Nations and the Cherokee, it was agreed that the Ohio and Kanawha rivers should form the boundary between the Indians and the whites, the former relinquishing all claims to their lands along the Atlantic coast and in the valleys of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, in return for which they were confirmed in their possession of the country lying west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Indians claimed that the acts of Congress and the proclamation of the President, relating to the lands northwest of the Ohio, were in violation of the treaties of 1768. This was true, but Congress proceeded upon the theory that, as most of the tribes in that region had acted with the British during the Revolution, the new Government of the United States had a perfect right to repudiate the treaties made by the British provincial authorities. Late in the summer of 1786, some of the tribes became so threatening in their demonstrations that General Clark was sent against the Indians on the Wabash River and General Logan against the Shawnees on the Big Miami. In October of that year a garrison was established at Vincennes.

On July 13, 1787, Congress passed an act, or ordinance, "for the government of the territory of the United States northwest ot the River Ohio," and on October 5, 1787, Gen. Arthur St. Clair was elected by

Congress to the position of Governor of the Northwest Territory. The Indians now became certain that their lands were to be settled by the pale face race and began making hostile demonstrations. On January 9, 1789, General St. Clair concluded a treaty of peace with some of the leading tribes at Fort Harmar, on the Muskingum River. This treaty was not kept by the Indians, and late in September, 1790, General Harmar led an expedition into the Indian country. On the 14th of Octo¬ ber, Harmar was within a day's march of the Miami Village of Kekionga, where Fort Wayne now stands. Colonel Hardin was then sent forward with one company of regulars and 600 militia to make a reconnaisance, and, if practicable, take possession of the village. Upon arriving at Kekionga, Harding found the place deserted, and the village fell into his hands without any attempt on the part of the Indians to resist his taking possession.

After remaining at the Indian village for three or four days, Hardin resumed his march westward. On the 19th, when near the northeast corner of Huntington County, he found himself suddenly confronted by about one hundred Miami warriors, under the command of Little Turtle. The yelling of the Indians threw the militia into a panic. In his report of the engagement Hardin said : ' ' Many of the militia threw away their arms without firing a shot, ran through the Federal troops and threw them in disorder. ' ' Little Turtle was not slow to take advantage of this condition of affairs, and Hardin was signally defeated, with a loss of twenty-two men. The Indian loss was not learned. The bad behavior of the militia kept the expedition from being a complete success, and early in November Harmar returned to Fort Washington, having lost 183 men killed and a number wounded. While Harmar was operating about the headwaters of the Maumee River, Major Hamtramck marched up the Wabash River from Vincennes, destroying several deserted Indian vil¬ lages, but finding no enemy to oppose him.

The expeditions of Harmar and Hamtramck had the effect of keeping the Indians quiet for about a year, but in the fall of 1791 General St. Clair found it necessary to organize an expedition against the tribes in Northwestern Ohio and about the headwaters of the Wabash. On No¬ vember 4, 1791, St. Clair's camp, near the present Town of Fort Recov¬ ery, Ohio, was surprised by a large body of Indians, led by the redoubt¬ able Little Turtle, and the army was almost annihilated. Shortly after this defeat, St. Clair resigned his commission as major general, and Anthony Wayne was appointed to succeed him.

From the spring of 1792 to August, 1793, Wayne was busy in re¬ cruiting, organizing and equipping his army. While this was going on the Government appointed Beverly Randolph, Timothy Pickering and

Benjamin Lincoln as commissioners to negotiate treaties with the In¬ dians. Councils were held by these commissioners with the Indians at various places, hut nothing was accomplished.

In the spring of 1794 Wayne marched with his army into the Indian country. On August 20th he won a decisive victory in the battle of Fallen Timbers, after which he fell back up the Maumee River and on September 18, 1794, selected a site for a fort at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers. The fort was completed in October and was named Fort Wayne. From this point Wayne sent out messen¬ gers to all the leading Indian chiefs, inviting them to come to Fort Greenville for the purpose of making a new treaty, but the season was so far advanced that the council was postponed until the following year. During the months of June and July, 1795, councils were held with several of the tribes, all of which sent representatives to a grand council at Fort Greenville, where on August 3, 1795, was concluded the treaty of Greenville, one of the most important Indian treaties in the history of Ohio and Indiana. It was signed by eighty-nine chiefs, distributed among the several tribes as follows : Twenty-four Pottawatomi, 16 Dela¬ ware, 10 Wyandot, 9 Shawnee, 11 Chippewa, 3 Miami, 7 Ottawa, 3 Eel River, 3 AVea and 3 Kaskaskia. One of the Miami chiefs was Little Turtle, who had administered such a drastic defeat to General St. Clair nearly four years before, and who afterward owned a reservation in what is now Union Township of Huntington County.

By the Treaty of Greenville the United States Government was granted several small tracts of land for military posts, two of which - at Fort AVayne and Vincennes - were in Indiana. This was the first cession of Indian lands in Indiana to the United States. The Govern¬ ment was also granted the right to build or open roads through the Indian country. One of these roads was to run from Fort Wayne to the Wabash River and down that stream to the Ohio. This road passed through what is now Huntington County. For these concessions the United States agreed to give the Indians goods valued at $20,000 and an annuity of $9,500, in goods, forever, which was to be distributed among the tribes as follows: To the Delaware, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Wyan¬ dot, Miami, Ottawa and Chippewa, $1,000 each; to the Kickapoo, Wea, Pinakeshaw, Eel River and Kaskaskia, $500 each. The United States further agreed to relinquish claim to all other Indian lands north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes, ceded by Great Britain in the Treaty of 1(83.

On May 7, 1800, President Adams approved an act of Congress dividing the Northwest Territory into three territories - Ohio, Indiana and Illinois - and six days later Gen. William Henry Harrison was

By the Treaty of Greenville, the United States had agreed to allow the Indians to remain in peaceable possession of their lands north of the Ohio River. Had that provision of the treaty been kept sacredly by the Government, Huntington County and the whole State of Indiana might possibly be inhabited today by red men. But it was not long after the treaty was concluded until the white man began to look with longing eyes at the rich valleys and broad prairies of Indiana. Before a decade had passed pressure was brought to bear upon the national administra¬ tion to negotiate a treaty with the natives, whereby these lands could be acquired by the Government and opened to settlement. When Con¬ gress divided the Northwest Territory, as above stated, the Indians doubtless wondered by what right the white man's government stepped in and made laws affecting territory which had been guaranteed to them ''forever" by a treaty. But they were soon to learn that the word £ ' forever, ' ' in the white man 's vocabulary, meant until such time as the Indian could be persuaded or forced to ' ' move on. ' '

Not long after General Harrison assumed the reins of government in the Territory of Indiana, he began making preparations for a new treaty with the Indians. A general council was called to meet at Fort Wayne on June 7, 1803, at which time the right of the Delaware tribe to certain lands lying between the Ohio and Wabash rivers was recog¬ nized ; the post boundaries at Vincennes were definitely fixed, and the Delawares relinquished all claim to the post tract at that point. General Harrison was at the council and there made the preliminary arrangements for a treaty afterward concluded at Vincennes on August 18, 1804, by which the Delawares "for the considerations hereinafter mentioned, relinquish to the United States forever, all their right and title to the tract of country which lies between the Ohio and Wabash rivers and below the tract ceded by the Treaty of Fort Wayne, and the road leading from Vincennes to the Falls of the Ohio."

This treaty began the disintegration of the Indian lands in Indiana. Having secured the recognition of the rights of the Delaware Indians to certain territory, it was a comparatively easy matter to induce the chiefs of that tribe to cede the land to the United States. The most northern point of the cession of August 18, 1804, was not far from French Lick, in Orange County. True, the country now comprising Huntington County was not directly affected by this cession, but the treaty marked the beginning of a policy that ended by all the lands in the state passing over to the white man 's government.

Delawares, refusing to recognize the right of that tribe to transfer the land to the Government. General Harrison therefore met the Piankeshaw chiefs at Vincennes on August 27, 1804, and concluded a treaty with them by which the tribe reliquished title to the tract in question for an annuity of $200 for five years.

Another treaty was concluded at Grouseland, near Vincennes, on August 21, 1805, between General Harrison and the chiefs of several tribes. In this treaty "the Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel Rivers and AVeas explicitly acknowledge the right of the Delawares to sell the tract of land conveyed to the United States by the treaty of the 18th of August, 1804, which tract was given by the Piankeshaws to the Delawares about thirtyseven years ago."

At the same time the AVea and the Eel River tribes ceded to the United States a large tract of land in Southeastern Indiana. Some of the Indian chiefs who were not participants in these treaties began to see that it was only a question of time, if the policy was continued, when all the lands guaranteed to the Indians by the Treaty of Greenville would become the property of the white man. Most of these chiefs had been accustomed to look upon Little Turtle, the principal chief of the Miami Nation, as one of the wisest men, a leader whose opinions were always entitled to respect. But when he bowed to the inevitable and joined with the other chiefs in disposing of the lands of his people he was branded as " an Indian with a white man 's heart and a traitor to his race. ' '

Under these circumstances, many of the chiefs were ready to abandon Little Turtle and follow a new leader, when, in November, 1805, a prophet arose among the Shawnees in the person of La-la-weth-ika, then about thirty years of age. He went into a trance, in which he claimed to have seen the spirit world, and came back with a message from the* Great Manitou to "let tire-water alone, abandon the white man's cus¬ toms and follow the ways of our ancestors. ' '

After his vision he changed his name to Tensk-wa-ta-wa (some¬ times written Elsk-wa-ta-wa) , which in the Shawnee tongue means "The Open Door." This name was selected because he claimed that he was to be the means of opening the way by which the Indians were to regain their lost power and the lands of which they had been dispossessed. He took up his quarters at Greenville, but the Miamis, who still had faith in their own chief, Little Turtle, were jealous of his influence. In order to break, or at least weaken, his power among the young braves of the tribe some of the old men among the Miamis declared him to be an imposter. Says Mooney: him the scoffers and boldly announced that on a certain day he would prove to them his supernatural authority by causing the sun to become dark. When the day and hour arrived and the earth at midday was enveloped in the gloom of twilight, Tenskwatawa, standing in the midst of the terrified Indians, pointed to the sky and cried : ' Did I not speak the truth? See, the sun is dark!' "

Tenskwatawa went a step farther in his claims to supernatural power and shamelessly asserted that he was the reincarnation of the great Man-a-bo-zho, the mighty " first doer" of the Algon quins. His follow¬ ers increased in numbers, but it soon became apparent that something more than prophesy and a display of supernatural ability would be neces¬ sary to restore to the Indians their birthright.

As Pontiac had taken advantage of the preaching of the Delaware prophet, more than forty years before, to organize a general uprising among the Indians, Tecumseh (the Shooting Star), a brother of the prophet, now came forward as a temporal leader and undertook the work of cementing the tribes into a confederacy for the purpose of re¬ sisting further encroachments of the hated pale-faces. Tecumseh and the prophet were sons of the great Shawnee brave, Puk-e-she-no, who was killed at the battle of the Kanawha in 1774, when the prophet was an infant. In the spring of 1808, a great many Indians came from the country about the Great Lakes to visit the prophet and his brother at Greenville. Knowing that it was Tecumseh 's object to inflame the pas¬ sions of the Indians, the peaceable Miamis and Delawares entered a vigorous protest against these visitations, and to avoid an open rupture with these tribes the two brothers removed their headquarters to the Pottawatomi village on the Wabash River, a short distance above the .present City of La Fayette, which village then became known as "Prophet's Town."

Shortly after establishing himself here, Tecumseh notified General Harrison that the Shawnee and the tribes associated with them would never consent to the occupation of the Indian lands by white men until the tribes gave their unanimous consent, instead of the few who claimed to own the lands. The wily chief then began his active propaganda, visiting the chiefs and head men of the different tribes to secure their co-operation in his plan and, if possible, induce them to take up arms against the invaders of the Indian domain.

While he was thus engaged another treaty was concluded at Fort Wayne on September 30, 1809, whereby two large tracts of land in In¬ diana were ceded to the United States. The first included practically all the present counties of Fayette, Wayne and Randolph, and the second embraced approximately the counties of Vigo, Clay, Owen, Sullivan,

Greene, Monroe and Lawrence. This treaty so incensed the Shawnees and their allies that they commenced a series of raids upon the frontier settlements. To protect the settlers, General Harrison, in the fall of 1811, went up the Wabash and near the present City of Terre Haute built Fort Harrison, which was completed late in October.

Harrison then started for Prophet's Town, presumably for the pur¬ pose of forcing the Shawnees into a treaty of peace. Before reaching the village, he was met by a delegation, November 6, 1811, and arrange¬ ments were made for a ' ' talk ' ' the next day. Harrison was not forcibly impressed with the sincerity of the members of the delegation, and when he encamped his army that night, upon a piece of high ground near the village, he placed a strong guard about the camp and issued orders for his men to "sleep on their arms." Events proved that his suspicions were well founded. Just before daylight the next morning the Indians, led by the prophet in person, made their attack, intending to surprise the camp. But the surprise was on the other side. The precautions taken by Harrison now demonstrated his wisdom as a military commander. His camp-fires were immediately extinguished and his men fought on the defensive until it was light enough to see clearly, when they charged with such fury and enthusiasm that the Indians were completely routed. Above the din of battle the voice of the prophet could be heard har¬ anguing his warriors and telling them that through his supernatural power the bullets of the white men would be rendered harmless; that the pale-face cowards would be driven from the Indian hunting grounds. His followers evidently believed him, for they fought like demons, but without avail. In this action, known in history as the battle of Tippe¬ canoe, the whites lost 60 killed and 100 wounded. The Indian loss was much heavier. After the battle Harrison burned Prophet's Town and then returned to Vincennes. Some of the Miamis from the Upper Wa¬ bash were in the battle, and it is said that Louis Godfroy, a Miami chief, gave the signal for the Indians to attack.

At the time of the battle Tecumseh was in Tennessee, urging the chiefs in that state to unite in a general movement for the expulsion or extermination of the whites. He hurried back to Indiana, and upon his arrival at Phophet's Town it is said that he called his brother a fool for bringing on an engagement prematurely, took him by his long hair and shook him until his teeth rattled, and declared that he ought to be put to death for thwarting their plans through his fanaticism. Not Jong after this Tecumseh went to Canada and .joined the British army, in which he was made a brigadier general. He fell at the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813.

In December, 1811, a memorial was sent to Congress by the people of Indiana, asking for admission into the Union as a state. Before any action was taken by Congress, war was declared against Great Britain, and for the next three years the attention of the National Government was fully occupied in the conduct of that war. In this conflict, known as the War of 1812, some of the tribes in the interior acted in accord with the British and brought the war very close to Huntington County.

In May, 1812, an Indian council was held at one of the villages on the Mississinewa River, at which one of the Miami chiefs, said to have been one of Little Turtle 's closest friends, voiced the following sentiment :

"We feel happy that we all appear of one mind; that we all appear to be inclined for peace ; that we all see it would bring ruin to us to go to war with the white people. We, the Miamis, have not hurt our white brethren since the Treaty of Greenville. We would be glad if the chiefs of the other nations present could say the same. We will gladly join our brothers for peace, but we will not join you for war against the white people. We hope our brothers, the Pottawatomies, Kickapoos and Winnebagoes will keep their warriors in good order and teach them to pay more respect to their women and children than they have done by going and murdering innocent white people."

Notwithstanding these protestations of friendship on the part of one of the leading Miami chiefs, General Harrison wrote to the secretary of war under date of October 13, 1812, that the Miamis had "dug up the hatchet and are engaged in committing depredations upon the frontier settlements." The letter further stated that this tribe had attacked Fort Harrison, besieged Fort Wayne, and that on several occasions his messengers or supply trains had been attacked and captured, although the tribe still claimed to be neutral.

The American post at Detroit had already fallen into the hands of the British. Its commanding position, with the co-operation of the Indian tribes in the interior, placed practically all of the Wabash Valley at the mercy of the enemy. It was therefore deemed the part of wisdom to overcome the Indians before attempting to recapture Detroit, and an ex¬ pedition was planned by the Government against the Indian villages in the Miami country. This expedition was commanded by Lieut. Col. John B. Campbell, of the Nineteenth Infantry. His force consisted of Captain's Elliott's company of that regiment; part of a regiment of Kentucky Dragoons, commanded by Colonel Simrall; Major Ball's squadron of United States Dragoons; Captain Butler's Pittsburgh Blues; Alexander's Pennsylvania Riflemen, and some other troops - 600 men in all.

inhabited by Miamis and a few Delawares. His men rushed into the town, killed eight warriors and took forty-two prisoners, thirty-four of whom were women and children. With the exception of a few cabins, the village was then burned by Campbell's orders and the prisoners were confined in the houses that were left standing. Campbell then took part of his force and marched down the Mississinewa for several miles, burn¬ ing three deserted villages and killing a large number of cattle.

That night Campbell formed his camp in the form of a square, near the Mississinewa River, in the northern part of what is now Grant County. During the night the Indians, enraged at the killing of their cattle and the burning of the three villages, gathered a force of some three hundred warriors and marched toward Campbell's camp, which was attacked with all the fury of the savage a little while before day¬ break on the morning of the 18th. Fortunately, Colonel Campbell had caused the reveille to be sounded at 4 o'clock, and he and his officers were in council when the Indian war whoop was heard at the northwest corner of the camp. Although it was bitterly cold, and the ground was covered with snow, every man immediately ran to his post and the sur¬ prise intended by the Indians failed to materialize.

As soon as it was light enough to see with certainty, Captain Trotter's company of Simrall's dragoons was ordered to charge. At the same time Captain Markle's company of Ball's dragoons also charged, and the Indians were thrown into confusion. Campbell then ordered John¬ son to support the charging troops, but the Indians were completely routed before he could bring his men into action.

The battle lasted about one hour and resulted in a loss to Campbell's force of eight killed and forty-eight wounded. Two of the latter died within a few days and seventeen were carried in litters to Fort Green¬ ville. One of Campbell's officers afterward reported 107 horses killed in the engagement.

Although this battle occurred 'in Grant County, it is a part of Hunt¬ ington County history, for the reason that some of the Indians that took part in the attack on Campbell's camp lived in the latter county. Accord¬ ing to Indian tradition, Little Thunder, a nephew of Little Turtle, was in command of the Indians.

Early in the summer of 1909 a movement was started in Grant County to set apart the old battle ground as a national park. Wabash and Miami counties joined in the project, and on Sunday, August 29, 1909, a picnic was held on the site of the battle, with more than ten thousand people participating. At the close of the exercises a perma¬ nent battle ground association was organized, with Maj. George W. Steele, formerly a member of Congress, as president.

John T. Strange, of Grant County, was elected to the state senate in 1910 and secured the passage of an act "To perpetuate battlegrounds and other historic sites." This act, which was approved by the gov¬ ernor on March 6, 1911, provides that the common council of any city, the board of trustees of any incorporated town, or any association organ¬ ized for such purpose, and not for profit, shall have the power to acquire and hold such sites, exercising the right of eminent domain if need be to acquire title.

The association was then incorporated and was enlarged to include the counties of Grant, Howard, Miami, Wabash, Huntington, Cass and Blackford. The business of the organization is conducted by a board of directors, consisting of one from each county. In 1914 this board was made up of the following gentlemen : Grant County, John T. Strange; Howard, Conrad Wolf; Miami, Charles A. Cole; Wabash, Frederick King; Cass, Dr. J. Z. Powell; Blackford, E. E. Cox; Hunt¬ ington, Israel H. Heaston, who is also the treasurer of the association.

So far nothing has been done in the way of establishing a park, but the object of the association is to acquire, by purchase or condemna¬ tion proceedings, a tract of fifty acres, including the site of Colonel Campbell's camp, and set it apart as a reservation, that the valor of Colonel Campbell and his men may not be forgotten, and the historic importance of the battle they fought there in the winter of 1812 may be preserved to future generations.

The memorial of December, 1811, having failed to accomplish the purpose for which it was submitted to Congress, a second one was ad¬ dressed to that body by the people of Indiana Territory under date of December 14, 1815. This time their efforts were crowned with success. On April 19, 1816, President Madison approved the bill for the ad¬ mission of Indiana into the Union as a state. On May 13, 1816, delegates to a constitutional convention were elected. The convention assembled at Corydon, the territorial capital, on the 10th of June and completed its work on the 29th of the same month. The first state offcers were elected on August 1, 1816; the Legislature then chosen met on the 4th of November; Gov. Jonathan Jennings was inaugurated on the 7th, and on December 11, 1816, Congress, by joint resolution, approved the admission of the new state.

When the Territory of Indiana was established in 1800, the seat of government was located at Vincennes and remained there until on March 11, 1812, when the Legislature passed an act providing that "from and after the first day of May next, the seat of Corydon, Harrison county." At the time the state was admitted there were but thirteen organized counties within its limits. The greater part of the land, in- eluding Huntington County, was still in the hands of the Indians, but the Legislature of 1820, foreseeing that the time would come when the Indians would be dispossessed, passed an act, approved January 11, 1820, providing for the appointment of ten commissioners "to select and locate a tract of land, not exceeding four sections, for a permanent capital." The act also provided that such tract should be somewhere near the geographical center of the state. After visiting several locali¬ ties, the commissioners selected the site of the west fork of the AVhite River, where Indianapolis now stands, which was confirmed by the General Assembly on January 6, 1821. The establishment of the capital so near the center of the state encouraged the settlement of the central and northern portions and wielded an influence in the negotiation of the Indian treaties mentioned in the preceding chapter.

While many of the facts related in this chapter are of a broad, general nature, they have been introduced to show the evolution of Huntington County. First, the territory now comprising the county was claimed by England, France and Spain. Second, through the explorations of La Salle it became a part of the Province of Louisiana and a dependency of France. Third, by the Treaty of 1763 it became a British possession. Fourth, through the conquest of the Northwest by George Rogers Clark, it was made a part of the territory claimed by the colony of Virginia. Fifth, by the cession of the country northwest of the Ohio to Congress in 1784, by Virginia, Huntington County became territory of the United States. Sixth, it was made a paid of the Northwest Territory by the Ordinance of 1787. Seventh, from 1800 to 1832 it was part of the un¬ organized Territory of Indiana. Eighth, it was erected as a county by the act of February 2, 1832, and was organized as a county by the act of February 1, 1834, since which time it has been a separate subordinate political division of the state.