Posey County, Indiana - Chapter 6, 1886 (part 3 of 6)

Oliver prepared a letter, announcing to Gen. Harrison his safe arrival at the besieged fort, and giving an account of its beleaguered situation, which he dispatched by his friendly Shawanees, while he concluded to take his chances at the fort. Brave Logan and his companions started with the message, but had scarcely left the fort when they were discovered and pursued by the hostile Indians, yet passing the Indian lines in safety, they were soon out of reach. The Indians now began a furious attack upon the fort; but the little garrison, with Oliver to cheer them on, bravely met the assault, repelling the attack day after day, until the army approached to their intemperance rendered him unfit for the command, was confined in the "black hole," while the junior officer assumed charge. This course, was approved by the General, on his arrival, but Capt.Khea received very little censure, probably on account of his valuable services in the Revolutionary war.

Sept. 6, 1812, Harrison moved forward with his army to the relief of Fort Wayne; the next day he reached a point within three miles of St. Mary's river; the next day he reached the river and was joined at evening by 200 mounted volunteers, under Col. Eichard M. Johnson; the next day at "Shane's Crossing" on the St. Mary's they were joined by 800 men from Ohio, under Cols. Adams and Hawkins. At this place Chief Logan and four other Indians offered their services as spies to Gen. Harrison, and were accepted. Logan was immediately disguised and sent forward. Passing through the lines of the hostile Indians,he ascertained their nuniber to be about 1,500, and entering the fort, he encouraged the solaiers to hold out, as relief was at hand. Gen. Harrison's force at this time was about 3,500.

After an early breakfast Friday morning they were under marching orders; it had rained and the guns were damp; they were discharged and reloaded; but that day only one Indian was encounterei ; preparations were made at night for an expected attack by the Indians, but no attack came ; the next day, Sept. 10, they expected to fight their way to Fort Wayne, but in that they were happily disappointed; and "At the first grey of the morning," as Bryce eloquently observes, " the distant halloos of the disappointed savages revealed to the anxious inmates of the fort the glorious news of the approach of the army. Great clouds of dust could be seen from the fort, rolling up in the distance, as the valiant soldiery under Gen. Harrison moved forward to the rescue of the garrison and the brave boys of Kentucky and Ohio."

This siege of Fort Wayne of course occasioned great loss to the few settlers who had gathered around the fort. At the time of its commencement quite a little village had clustered around the military works, but during the siege most of their improvements and crops were destroyed by the savages. Every building out of the reach of the guns of the fort was leveled to the ground, and thus the infant settlement was destroyed.

During this siege the garrison lost but three men, while the Indians lost 25. Gen. Harrison had all the Indian villages for 25 miles around destroyed. Fort Wayne was nothing but a military post until about 1819.

Simultaneously with the attack on Fort Wayne the Indians also besieged Fort Harrison, which was commanded by Zachary Taylor. The Indians commenced firing upon the fort about 11 o'clock one night, when the garrison was in a rather poor plight for receiving them. The enemy succeeded in firing one of the block-houses, which contained whisky, and the whites had great difficulty in preventing the burning of all the barracks. The word " fire " seemed to have thrown all the men into confusion ; soldiers' and citizens' wives, who had taken shelter within the fort, were crying; Indians were yelling; many of the garrison were sick and unable to be on duty; the men despaired and gave themselves up as lost; two of the strongest and apparently most reliable men jumped the pickets in the very midst of the emergency, etc., so that Capt. Taylor was at his wit's end what to do; but he gave directions as to the many rallied the men by a new scheme, and after about seven hours succeeded in saving themselves. The Indians drove up the horses belonging to the citizens, and as they could not catch th«^m very readily, shot the whole of them in the sight of their owners, and also killed a number of the hogs belonging to the whites. They drove oflf all of the cattle, 65 in number, as well as the public oxen.

Among many other depredations committed by the savages during this period, was the massacre of the Pigeon Roost settlement, <jonsisting of one man, five women and 16 children; a few escaped. An unsuccessful effort was made to capture these Indians, but when the news of this massacre and the attack on Fort Harrison reached Vincennes, about 1,200 men, under the command of Col. Wm. Kussell, of the 7th U. S. Infantry, marched forth for the relief of the fort and to punish the Indians. On reaching the fort the Indians had retired from the vicinity; but on the 15tli of September a small detachment composed of 11 men, under Lieut. Richardson, and acting as escort of provisions sent from Vincennes to Fort Harrison, was attacked by a party of Indians within the present limits of Sullivan county. It was reported that seven of these men were killed and one wounded. The provisions of course fell into the hands of the Indians.

Expeditions Against The Indians

By the middle of August, through the disgraceful surrender of Gen. Hull, at Detroit, and the evacuation of Fort Dearborn and massacre of its garrison, the British and Indians were in possession of the whole Northwest. The savages, emboldened by their sue- cesses, penetrated deeper into the settlements, committing great depredations. The activity and success of the enemy aroused the people to a realization of the great danger their homes and families were in. Gov. Edwards collected a force of 350 men at Camp Eussell, and Capt. Russell came from Yincennes with about 50 more. Being officered and equipped, they proceeded about the middle of October on horseback, carrying with them 20 day's rations, to Peoria. Capt. Craig was sent with two boats up the Illinois, with provisions and tools to build a fort. The little army proceeded to Peoria Lake, where was located a Pottawatomie village. They arrived late at night, within a few miles of the village, without their presence being known to the Indians. Four men were sent out that night to reconnoiter the position of the village. The four brave men who volunteered for this perilous service were Thomas Carlin (afterward Governor), and Eobert, Stephen and Davis Whiteside. They proceeded to the village, and explored it and the approaches to it thoroughly, without starting an Indian or provoking the bark of a dog. The low lands between the Indian village and the troops were covered with a rank growth of tall grass, so high and dense as to readily conceal an Indian on horseback, until within a few feet of him. The ground had become still more yielding by recent rains, rendering it almost impassable by mounted men. To prevent detection the soldiers had camped without lighting the usual camp-fires. The men lay down in their cold and cheerless camp, with many misgivings. They well remembered how the skulking savages fell upon Harrison's men at Tippecanoe during the night. To add to their fears, a gun in the hands of a soldier was carelessly discharged, raising great consternation in the camp. Through a dense fog which prevailed the following morning, the army took up its line of march for the Indian town, Capt. Judy with his corps of spies in advance. In the tall grass they came up with an Indian and his squaw, both mounted. The Indian wanted to surrender, but Judy observed that he " did not leave home to take prisoners," and instantly shot one of them. With the blood streaming from his mouth and nose, and in his agony " singing the death song," the dying Indian raised his gun, shot and mortally wounded a Mr. Wright, and in a few minutes expired ! Many guns were immediately discharged at the other Indian, not then known to be a squaw, all of which missed her. Badly scared, and her husband killed by her side, the agonizing wails of the squaw were heart-rending. She was taken prisoner, and afterward restored to her nation.

On nearing the town a general charge was made, the Indians fleeing to the interior wilderness. Some of their warriors made a stand, when a sharp engagement occurred, but the Indians were routed. In their flight they left behind all their winter's store of provisions, which was taken, and their town burned. Some Indian children were found who had been left in the hurried flight, also some disabled adults, one of whom was in a starving condition, and with a voracious appetite partook of the bread given him. He is said to have been killed by a cowardly trooper straggling behind, after the main army had resumed its retrograde march, who wanted to be able to boast that he had killed an Indian.

September 19, 1812, Gen. Harrison was put in command of the l^orthwestern army, then estimated at 10,000 men, with these orders: "Having provided for the protection of the western frontier, you will retake Detroit; and, with a view to the conquest of upper Canada, you will penetrate that country as far as the force under your command will in your judgment justify."

Although surrounded by many diflBculties, the General began immediately to execute these instructions. In calling for volunteers from Kentucky, however, more men offered than could be received. At this time there were about 2,000 mounted volunteers at Vincennes, under the command of Gen. Samuel Hopkins, of the Kevolutionary war, who was under instructions to operate against the enemy along the Wabash and Illinois rivers. Accordingly, early in October, Gen. Hopkins moved from Vincennes towards the Kickapoo villages in the Illinois territory, with about 2,000 troops; but after four or five days' march the men and officers raised a mutiny which gradually succeeded in carrying all back to Vincennes. The cause of their discontent is not apparent.

About the same time Col. Russell, with two small companies of U. S. rangers, commanded by Capts. Perry and Modrell, marched from the neighborhood of Vincennes to unite with a small force of mounted militia under the command of Gov. Edwards, of Illinois, and afterward to march with the united troops from Cahokia toward Lake Peoria, for the purpose of co-operating with Gen. Hopkins against the Indian towns in that vicinity; but not finding the latter on the ground, was compelled to retire.

Immediately after the discharge of the mutinous volunteers, Gen. Hopkins began to organize another force, mainly of infantry, to reduce the Indians up the Wabash as far as the Prophet's town. These troops consisted of three regiments of Kentucky militia.

commanded by Cols. Barbour, Miller and Wilcox; a small company of regulars commanded by Capt. Zachary Taylor; a company of rangers commanded by Capt. Beckes; and a company of scouts or spies under the command of Capt. "Washburn. The main body of this army arrived at Fort Harrison Nov. 5; on the 11th it proceeded up the east side of the Wabash into the heart of the Indian country, but found the villages generally deserted. Winter setting in severely, and the troops poorly clad, they had to return to Yincennes as rapidly as possible. With one exception the men behaved nobly, and did much damage to the enemy. That exception was the precipitate chase after an Indian by a detachment of men somewhat in liquor, until they found themselves surrounded by an overwhelming force of the enemy, and they had to retreat in disorder.

lu the fall of 1812 Gen. Harrison assigned to Lieut. Col. John B. Campbell, of the 19th U. S. Inf., the duty of destroying the Miami villages on the Mississinewa river, with a detachment of about 600 men. Nov. 25, Lieut. Col. Campbell marched from Franklinton, according to orders, toward the scene of action, cautiously avoiding falling in with the Delawares, who had been ordered by Gen. Harrison to retire to the Shawanee establishment on the Auglaize river, and arriving on the Mississinewa Dec. 17, when they discovered an Indian town inhabited by Delawares and Miamis This and three other villages were destroyed. Soon after this, the supplies growing short and the troops in a suffering condition, Campbell began to consider the propriety of returning to Ohio ; but just as he was calling together his officers early one morning to deliberate on the proposition, an army of Indians rushed upon them with fury. The engagement lasted an hour, with a loss of eight killed and 42 wounded, besides about 150 horses killed. The whites, however, succeeded in defending themselves and taking a number of Indians prisoners, who proved to be Mun- «ies, of Silver Heel's band. Campbell, hearing that a large force of Indians were assembled at Mississinewa village, under Tecum- 8eh, determined to return to Greenville. The privations of his troops and the severity of the cold compelled him to send to that place for re-enforcements and supplies. Seventeen of the men had to be carried on litters. They were met by the re-enforcement about 40 miles from Greenville.

Lieut. Col. Campbell Bent two messages to the Delawares, who lived on White river and who had been previously directed and requested to abandon their towns on that river and remove, into Ohio. In these messages he expressed his regret at unfortunately killing some of their men, and urged them to move to the Shawanee settlement on the Auglaize river. He assured them that their people, in his power, would be compensated by the Government for their losses, if not found to be hostile ; and the friends of those killed satisfied by presents, if such satisfaction would be received. This advice was heeded by the main body of the Delawares and a few Miamis. The Shawanee Prophet, and some of the principal chiefs of the Miamis, retired from the country of the Wabash, and, with their destitute and suffering bands, moved to Detroit, where they were received as the friends and allies of Great Britain.

On the approach of Gen. Harrison with his army in September, 1813, the British evacuated Detroit, and the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Miamis and Kickapoos sued for peace with the United States, which was granted temporarily by Brig. Gen. Mc- Arthur, on condition of their becoming allies of the United States in case of war.

In June, 1813, an expedition composed of 137 men, under command of Col. Joseph Bartholomew, moved from Valonia toward the Delaware towns on the west fork of White river, to surprise and punish some hostile Indians who were supposed to be lurking about those villages. Most of these places they found deserted; some of them burnt. They had been but temporarily occupied for the purpose of collecting and carrying away corn. Col. Bartholomew's forces succeeded in killing one or two Indians and destroying considerable corn, and they returned to Valonia on the 21st of this month.

July 1, 1813, Col. William Russell, of the 7th U. S., organized a force of 673 effective men at Valonia and marched to the Indian villages about the mouth of the Mississinewa. His experience was much like that of Col. Bartholomew, who had just preceded him. He had rainy weather, suffered many losses, found the villages deserted, destroyed stores of corn, etc. The Colonel reported that he went to every place where he expected to find the enemy, but they nearly always seemed to have fled the country. The march from Valonia to the mouth of the Mississinewa and return was about 260 miles.

Close Of The War

The war with England closed on the 24rth of December, 1814, when a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. The 9th article of the treaty required the United States to put an end to hostilities with all tribes or nations of Indians with whom they had been at war; to restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the rights and possessions to which they were entitled in 1811, before the war, on condition that such Indians should agree to desist from all hostilities against the United States. But in February, just before the treaty was sanctioned by our Government, there were signs of Indians accumulating arms and ammunition, and a cautionary order was therefore issued to have all the white forces in readiness for an attack by the Indians ; but the attack was not made. During the ensuing summer and fall the United States Government acquainted the Indians with the provisions of the treaty, and entered into subordinate treaties of peace with the principal tribes.

Just before the treaty of Spring Wells (near Detroit) was signed, the Shawanee Prophet retired to Canada, but declaring his resolution to abide by any treaty which the chiefs might sign. Some time afterward he returned to the Shawanee settlement in Ohio, and lastly to the west of the Mississippi, where he died, in 1834. The British Government allowed him a pension from 1813 until his death. His brother Tecumseh was killed at the battle of the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813, by a Mr. "Wheatty, as we are positively informed by Mr. A. J. James, now a resident of La Harpe township, Hancock county, III., whose father-in-law, John Pigman, of Coshocton county, Ohio, was an eye witness. Gen. Johnson has generally had the credit of killing Tecumseh.

If one shonld inquire who has been the greatest Indian, the most noted, the " principal Indian " in North America since its discovery by Columbus, we would be obliged to answer, Tecumseh. For all those qualities which elevate a man far above his race; for talent, tact, skill and bravery as a warrior; for high-minded, honorable and chivalrous bearing as a man; in a word, for all those elements of greatness which place him a long way above his fellows in savage life, the name and fame of Tecnmseh will go down to posterity in the West as one of the most celebrated of the aborigines of this continentj - as one who had no equal among the tribes that dwelt in the country drained by the Mississippi. Born to command himself, he used all the appliances that would stimulate the courage and nerve the valor of his followers. Always in the front rank of battle, his followers blindly followed his lead, and as his war-cry rang clear above the din and noise of the battle-field, the Shawnee warriors, as they rushed on to victory or the grave, rallied around him, foemen worthy of the steel of the most gallant commander that ever entered the lists in defense of his altar or his home.

The tribe to which Tecumseh, or Tecumtha, as some write it, belonged, was the Shawnee, or Shawanee , The tradition of the natioa held that they originally came from the Gulf of Mexico; that they wended their way up the Mississippi and the Ohio, and settled at or near the present site of Shawneetown, 111., whence they removed to the upper Wabash. In the latter place, at any rate, they were found early in the 18th century, and were known as the " bravest of the brave." This tribe has uniformly been the bitter enemy of the white man, and in every contest with our people has exhibited a degree of skill and strategy that should characterize the most dangerous foe.

Tecumseh's notoriety and that of his brother, the Prophet, mutually served to establish and strengthen each other. While the Prophet had unlimited power, spiritual and temporal, he distributed his greatness in all the departments of Indian life with a kind of fanaticism that magnetically aroused the religious and superstitious this part of the country; but Tecuraseh concentrated his greatness upon the more practical and business affairs of military conquest. It is doubted whether he was really a sincere believer in the pretensions of his fanatic brother; if he did not believe in the pretentious feature of them he had the shrewdness to keep his unbelief to himself, knowing that religious fanaticism was one of the strongest impulses to reckless bravery.

During his sojourn in the Northwestern Territory, it was Tecumseh's uppermost desire of life to confederate all the Indian tribes of the country together against the whites, to maintain their choice hunting-grounds. All his public policy converged toward this single end. In his vast scheme he comprised even all the Indians in the Gulf country, - all in America west of the Alleghany mountains. He held, as a subordinate principle, that the Great Spirit had given the Indian race all these hunting-grounds to keep in common, and that no Indian or tribe could cede any portion of the land to the whites without the consent of all the tribes. Hence, in all his councils with the whites he ever maintained that the treaties were null and void.

"When he met Harrison at Vincennes in council the last time, and, as he was invited by that General to take a seat with him on the platform, he hesitated; Harrison insisted, saying that it was the '^wish of their Great Father, the President of the United States, that he should do so.'* The chief paused a moment, raised his tall and commanding form to its greatest height, surveyed the troops and crowd around him, fixed his keen eyes upon Gov. Harrison, and then turning them to the sky above, and .pointing toward heaven with his sinewy arm in a manner indicative of supreme contempt for the paternity assigned him, said in clarion tones: " My father? The sun is my father, the earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will recline." He then stretched himself, with his warriors, on the green sward. The effect was electrical, and for some moments there was perfect silence.

The Governor, then, through an interpreter, told him that he understood he had some complaints to make and redress to ask, etc., and that he wished to investigate the matter and make restitution wherever it might be - decided it should be done. As soon as the Governor was through with this introductory speech, the stately warrior arose, tall, athletic, manly, dignified and graceful, and with a voice at first low, but distinct and musical, commenced a reply. As he warmed up with his subject his clear tones might be heard, as if " trumpet-tongued," to the utmost limits of the assembly. The most perfect silence prevailed, except when his warriors gave their guttural assent to some eloquent recital of the red man's wrong and the white man's injustice. Tecumseh recited the wrongs which his race had suffered from che time of the massacre of the Moravian Indians to the present; said he did not know how he could ever again be the friend of the white man; that the Great Spirit had given to the Indian all the land from the Miami to the Mississippi, and from the lakes to the Ohio, as a common property to all the tribes in these bordem, and that the land could not and should not be sold without the consent of all ; that all the tribes on the continent formed but one flation ; that if the United States would not give up the iands they had bought of the Miamis and the other tribes, those united with him were determined to annihilate those tribes; that they were determined to have no more chiefs, but in future to be governed by their warriors; that unless the whites ceased their encroachments upon Indian lands, the fate of the Indians was sealed; they had been driven from the banks of the Delaware across the AUeghanies, and their possessions on the "Wabash and the Illinois were now to be taken from them ; that in a few years they would not have ground enough to bury their warriors on this side of the "Father of Waters;" that all would perish, all their possessions taken from them by fraud or force, unless they stopped the progress of the white man westward; that it must be a war of races in which one or the other must perish; that their tribes had been driven toward the setting sun like a galloping horse (ne-kat a-knsh-e ka-top-o-lin-to).

The Shawnee language, in which this most eminent Indian statesman spoke, excelled all other aboriginal tongues in its musical articulation; and the effect of Tecuraseh's oratory on this occasion can be more easily imagined than described. Gov. Harrison, although as brave a soldier and General as any American, was overcome by this speech. He well knew Tecumseh's power and influence among all the tribes, knew his bravery, courage and determination, and knew that he meant what he said. When Tecumseh was done speaking there was a stillness throughout the assembly which was really painful; not a whisper was heard, and all eyes were turned from the speaker toward Gov. Harrison, who after a few moments came to himself, and recollecting many of the absurd statements of the great Indian orator, began a reply which was more logical, if not so eloquent. The Shawnees were attentive un- til Harrison's interpreter began to translate his speech to the Miamis and Pottawatomies, when Tecumseh and his warriors sprang to their feet, brandishing their war-clubs and tomahawks. "Tell him," said Tecumseh, addressing the interpreter in Shawnee, " he lies." The interpreter undertook to convey this message to the Governor in smoother language, but Tecumseh noticed the effort and remonstrated, " No, no; tell him belies." The warriors began to grow more excited, when Secretary Gibson ordered the American troops in arms to advance. This allayed the rising storm, and as soon as Tecumseh's " He lies " was literally interpreted to the Governor, the latter told Tecujnseh through the interpreter to tell Tecumseh he would hold no further council with him.

Thus the assembly was broken up, and one can hardly imagine a more exciting scene. It would constitute the finest subject for a historical painting to adorn the rotunda of the capitol. The next day Tecumseh requested another interview with the Governor, which was granted on condition that he should make an apology to the Governor for his language the day before. This he made through the interpreter. Measures for defense and protection were taken, however, lest there should be another outbreak. Two companies of militia were ordered from the country, and the one in town added to them, while the Governor and his friends went into council fully armed and prepared for any contingency. On this oc casion the conduct of Tecumseh was entirely different from that of the day before. Firm and intrepid, showing not the slightest fear or alarm, surrounded with a military force four times his own, he preserved the utmost composure and equanimity. No one would have supposed that he could have been the principal actor in the thrilling scene of the previous day. He claimed that half the Americans were in sympathy with him. He also said that whites had informed him that Gov. Harrison had purchased land from the Indians without any authority from the Government; that he, Harrison, had but two years more to remain In office, and that if he, Tecumseh, could prevail upon the Indians who sold the lands not to receive their annuities for that time, and the present Governor displaced by a good man as his successor, the latter would restore to the Indians all the lands purchased from them.

The Wyandots, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Ottawasand the Winnebagoes, through their respective spokesmen, declared their adherence to the great Shawnee warrior and statesman. Gov. Harrison then told them that he would send Tecumseh's speech to thePresi- dent of the United States and return the answer to the Indians as soon as it was received. Tecumseh then declared that he and his allies were determined that the old boundary line should continue; and that if the whites crossed it, it would be at their peril . Gov. Harrison replied that he would be equally plain with him and state that the President would never allow that the lands on the Wabash were the property of any other tribes than those who had occupied them since the white people first came to America; and as the title to the lands lately purchased was derived from those tribes by a fair purchase, he might rest assured that the right of the United States would be supported by the sword. " So be it," was the stern and haughty reply of the Shawnee chieftan, as he and his braves took leave of the Governor and wended their way in Indian file to their camping ground.

Thus ended the last conference on earth between the chivalrous Tecumseh and the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe. The bones of the first lie bleaching on the battle-field of the Thames, and those of the last in a mausoleum on the banks of the Ohio; each struggled for the mastery of his race, apd each no doubt was equally honest and patriotic in his purposes. The weak yielded to the strong, the defenseless to the powerful, and the hunting-ground of the Shawnee is all occupied by his enemy.

Tecumseh, with four of his braves, immediately embarked in a birch canoe, descended the Wabash, and went on to the South to unite the tribes of that country in a general system of self-defense against the encroachment of the whites. His emblem was a disjointed snake, with the motto, "Join or die!" In union alone was strength.

Before Tecumseh left the Prophet's town at the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, on his excursion to the South, he had a definite understanding with his brother and the chieftains of the other tribes in the Wabash country, that they should preserve perfect peace with the whites until his arrangements were completed for a confederacy of the tribes on both sides of the Ohio and on the Mississippi river; but it seems that while he was in the South engaged in his work of uniting the tribes of that country some of the Northern tribes showed signs of fight and precipitated Harrison into that campaign which ended in the battle of Tippecanoe and the total route of the Indians. Tecumseh, on his return from the South, learning what had happened, was overcome with chagrin, disappointment and anger, and accused his brother of duplicity and coward- ice; indeed, it is said that he never forgave him to the day of his death. A short time afterward, on the breaking out of the war of Great Britain, he joined Proctor, at Maiden, with a party of his warriors, and finally suffered the fate mentioned on page 108.

Civil Matters 1812-'5

Owing to the absence of Gov. Harrison on military duty, John Gibson, the Secretary of the Territory, acted in the administration of civil affairs. In his message to the Legislature convening on the 1st of February, 1813, he said, substantially:

" Did I possess the abilities of Cicero or Demosthenes, I could not portray in more glowing colors our foreign and domestic political situation than it is already experienced within our own breasts. The United States have been compelled, by frequent acts of injustice, to declare war against England. For a detail of the causes of this war I would refer to the message of President Madison; it does honor to his head and heart. Although not au admirer of war, I am glad to see our little but inimitable navy riding triumphant on the seas, but chagrined to find that our armies by land are so little successful. The spirit of '76 appears to have fled from our continent, or, if not fled, is at least asleep, for it appears not to pervade our armies generally. At your last assemblage our political horizon seemed clear, and our infant Territory bid fair for rapid and rising grandeur; but, alas, the scene has changed; and whether this change, as respects our Territory, has been owing to an over anxiety in us to extend our dominions, or to a wish for retaliation by our foes, or to a foreign influence, I shall not say. The IndianSj our former neighbors and friends, have become our most inveterate foes. Our former frontiers are now our wilds, and our inner settlements have become frontiers. Some of our best citizens, and old men worn down with age, and helpless women and innocent babes, have fallen victims .to savage cruelty. I have done my duty as well as I can, and hope that the interposition of Providence will protect us."

The many complaints made about the Territorial Government Mr. Gibson said, were caused more by default of officers than of the law. Said he: " It is an old and, I believe, correct adage, that ' good officers make good soldiers.' This evil having taken root, I do not know how it can be eradicated; but it may be remedied. In place of men searching after and accepting commissions before they are even tolerably qualified, thereby subjecting themselves to ridicule and their country to rnin, barely for the name of the thing, I think may be remedied by a previous examination."

During this session of the Legislature the seat of the Territorial Government was declared to be at Corydon, and immediately acting Governor Gibson prorogued the Legislature to meet at that place, the first Monday of December, 1813. During this 3'ear the Territory was almost defenseless; Indian outrages were of common occurrence, but no general outbreak was made. The militia<-men were armed with rifles and long knives, and many of the rangers parried tomahawks. 1/ In 1813 Thomas Posey, who was at that time a Senator in Congress from Tennessee, and who had been officer of the army of the Revolution, was appointed Governor of Indiana Territory, to succeed Gen. Harrison. He arrived in Yincennes and entered upon the discharge of his duties May 25, 1813. During this year several expeditions against the Indian settlements were set on foot.

In his first message to the Legislature the following December, at Corydon, Gov. Posey said: " The present crisis is awful, and big with great events. Our land and nation is involved in the common calamity of war; but we are under the protecting care of the beneficent Being,who has on a former occasion brought us safely through an arduous struggle and placed us on a foundation of independence, freedom and happiness. He will not suffer to be taken from us what He, in His great wisdom has thought proper to confer and bless us with, if we make a wise and virtuous use of His good gifts. * * * Although our affairs, at the commencement of the war, wore a gloomy aspect, they have brightened, and promise a certainty of success, if properly directed and conducted, of which I have no doubt, as the Presidenf and heads of departments of the general Government are men of undoubted patriotism, talents and experience, and who have grown old in the service of their country. * * * It must be obvious to every thinking man that we were forced into the war. Every measure consistent with honor, both before and since the declaration of war, has tried to be on amicable terms with our enemy. * * * Yon who reside in various parts of tlie Territory have it in your power to understand what will tend to its local and general advantage. The judiciary system would require a revisal and amendment. The militia law is very defective and requires your immediate attention. It is necessary to have good roads and highways in as many directions through the Territory as the circumstances and situation of the inhabitants will admit; it would contribute very much to promote the settlement and improvement of the Territory. Attention to education is highly necessary. There is an appropriation made by Congress, in lands, for the purpose of establishing public schools. It comes now within your province to carry into operation the design of the appropriation."

This Legislature passed several very necessary laws for the welfare of the settlements, and the following year, as Gen. Harrison was generally successful in his military campaigns in the Northwest, the settlements ia Indiana began to increase and improve. The fear of danger from Indians had in a great measure subsided, and the tide of immigration began again to flow. In January, 1814, about a thousand Miamis assembled at Fort Wayne for the purpose of obtaining food to prevent starvation. They met with ample hospitality, and their example was speedily followed by others. These, with other acts of kindness, won the lasting friendship of the Indians, many of whom had fought in the interests of Great Britain. General treaties between the United States and the Northwestern tribes were subsequently concluded, and the way was fully opened for the improvement and settlement of the lands, consequently upon the people of Indiana Territory, but after all it came far short of conferring as many privileges as are enjoyed at the present day by our Territories. They did not have a full form of Republican government. A freehold estate in 500 acres of land was one of the necessary qualifications of each member of the legislative council of the Territory ; every member of the Territorial House of Representatives was required to hold, in his own right, 200 acres of land; and the privilege of voting for members of the House of Representatives was restricted to those inhabitants who, in addition to other qualifications, owned severally at least 50 acres of land. The Governor of the the Territory was invested with the power of appointing officers of the Territorial militia, Judges of the inferior Courts, Clerks of the Courts, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Coroners, County Treasurers and County Surveyors. He was also authorized to divide the Territory into districts; to apportion among the several counties the members of the House of Representatives; to prevent the passage of any Territorial law; and to convene and dissolve the General Assembly whenever he thought best. None of the Governors, however, ever exercised these extraordinary powers arbitrarily. Nevertheless, the people were constantly agitating the question of extending the right of suffrage. Five years after the organization of the Territory, the Legislative Council, in reply to the Governor's Message, said: " Although we are not as completely independent in our legislative capacity as we would wish to be, yet we are sensible that we must wait with patience for that period of time when our population will burst the trammels of a Territorial government, and we shall assume the character more consonant to Republicanism. * * * The confidence which our fellow citizens have uniformly had in your administration has been such that they have hitherto had no reason to be jealous of the unlimited power which you possess over our legislative proceedings. We, however, cannot help regretting that such powers have been lodged in the hands of any one, especially when it is recollected to what dangerous lengths the exercise of those powers may be extended."

After repeated petitions the people of Indiana were empowered by Congress to elect the members of the Legislative Council by popular vote. This act was passed in 1809, and defined what was known as the property qualification of voters. These qualifications were abolished by Congress in 1811, which extended the right of voting for members of the General Assembly and for a Territorial delegate to Congress to every free white male person who had attained the age of twenty-one years, and who, having paid a county or Territorial tax, was a resident of the Territory and had resided in it for a year. In 1814 the voting qualification in Indiana was defined by Congress, " to every free white male person having a freehold in the Territory, and being a resident of the same." The House of Eepresentatives was authorized by Congress to lay off the Territory into five districts, in each of which the qualified voters were empowered to elect a member of the Legislative Council. The division was made, one to two counties in each district.

At the session in August, 1814, the Territory was also divided into three judicial circuits, and provisions were made for holding courts in the same. The Governor was empowered to appoint a presiding Judge in each circuit, and two Associate Judges of the circuit court in each county. Their compensation was fixed at $700 per annum.

The same year the General Assembly granted charters to two banking institutions, the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Madison and the Bank of Vincennes. The first was authorized to raise a capital of $750,000, and the other $500,000. On the organization of the State these banks were merged into the State Bank and its branches.

Oeganization Of The State

The last regular session of the Territorial Legislature was held at Corydon, convening in December, 1815. The message of Governor Posey congratulated the people of the Territory upon the general success of the settlements and the great increase of immigration, recommended light taxes and a careful attention to the promotion of education and the improvement of the State roads and highways. He also recommended a revision of the territorial laws and an amendment of the militia system. Several laws were passed preparatory to a State Government, and December 14, 1815, a memorial to Congress was adopted praying for the authority to adopt a constitution and State Government. Mr. Jennings,the Territorial delegate, laid this memorial before Congress on the 28th, and April 19, 1816, the President approved the bill creating the State of Indiana. Accordingly, May 30 following, a general election was held for a constitutional convention, which met at Corydon June 10 to 29, Johathan Jennings presiding and Wm. Hendricks acting as Secretary.

" The convention that formed the first constitution of the State of Indiana was composed mainly of clear-minded, unpretending^ men of common sense, whose patriotism was unquestionable and morals were fair. Their familiarity with the theories of the Declaration of American Independence, their Territorial experience nnder the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, and their knowledge of the principles of the constitution of the United States were suflBcient^ when combined, to lighten materially their labors in the great work of forming ar constitution for a new State. With such landmarks in view, the labors of similar conventions in other States and Territories have been rendered comparatively light. In the clearness and conciseness of its style, in the comprehensive and just provisions which it made for the maintainance of civil and religious liberty, in its mandates, which were designed to protect the rights of the people collectively and individually, and to provide for the public welfare, the constitution that was formed for Indiana in 181ft was not inferior to any of the State constitutions which were in existence at that time." - Dillon's History of Indiana.

The first State election took place on the first Monday of August, 1816, and Jonathan Jennings was elected Governor, and Christopher Harrison, Lieut. Governor. Wm. Hendricks was elected to represent the new State in the House of Kepresentatives of the United States.

The first General Assembly elected under the new constitution began its session at Corydon, Nov. 4, 1816. John Paul was called to the chair of the Senate pro tem., and Isaac Blackford was elected Speaker of the House of Kepresentatives.

Among other things in the new Governor's message were the following remarks: "The result of your deliberation will be considered as indicative of its future character as well as of the future happiness and prosperity of its citizens. In the commencement of the State government the shackles of the colonial should be forgotten in our exertions to prove, by happy experience, that a uniform adherence to the first principles of our Government and a virtuous exercise of its powers will best secure efficiency to its measures and stability to its character. Without a frequent recurrence to those principles, the administration of the Government will imperceptibly become more and more arduous, until the simplicity of our Republican institutions may eventually be lost in dangerous expedients and political design. Under every free government the happiness of the citizens must be identified with their morals; and while a constitutional exercise of their rights shall continue to have its due weight in discharge of the duties required of the constituted authorities of the State, too much attention cannot be bestowed to the encouragement and promotion of every moral virtue, and to the enactment of laws calculated to restrain the vicious, and prescribe punishment for every crime commensurate with its enormity. In measuring, however, to each crime its adequate punishment, it will be well to recollect that the certainty of punishment has generally the surest effect to prevent crime; while punishments unnecessarily severe too often produce the acquittal of the guilty and disappoint one of the greatest objects of legislation and good government. * * * The dissemination of useful knowledge will be indispensably necessary as a support to morals and as a restraint to vice; and on this subject it will only be necessary to direct your attention to the plan of education as prescribed by the constitution. * * * I recommend to your consideration tlie propriety of providing by law, to prevent more effectually any unlawful attempts to seize and carry into bondage persons of color legally entitled to their freedom; and at the same time, as far as practicable, to prevent those who rightfully owe service to the citizens of any other State or Territory from seeking within the limits of this State a refuge from the possession of their lawful owners. Such a measure will tend to secure those who are free from any unlawful attempts (to enslave them) and secures the rights of the citizens of the other States and Territories as far as ought reasonably to be expected."

This session of the Legislature elected James Noble and Waller Taylor to the Senate of the United States; Kobert A. New was elected Secretary of State; W. H. Lilley, Auditor of State; and Daniel C. Lane, Treasurer of State. The session adjourned January 3, 1817.

As the history of the State of Indiana from this time forward is best given by topics, we will proceed to give them in the chronological order of their origin.

The happy close of the war with Great Britain in 1814 was followed by a great rush of immigrants to the great Territory of the Northwest, including the new States, all now recently cleared of the enemy; and by 1820 the State of Lidiana had more than doubled her population, having at this time 147,178, and by 1825 nearly doubled this again, that is to say, a round quarter of a million, - a growth more rapid probably than that of any other section in this country since the days of Columbus.

The period 1825-30 was a prosperous time for the young State. Immigration continued to be rapid, the crops were generally good and the hopes of the people raised higher than they had ever been before. Accompanying this immigration, however, were paupers and indolent people, who threatened to be so numerous as to become a serious burden. On this subject Governor Ray called for legislative action, but the Legislature scarcely knew what to do and they deferred action.

In 1830 there still lingered within the bounds of the State two tribes of Indians, whose growing indolence, intemperate habits, dependence upon their neighbors for the bread of life, diminished prospects of living by the chase, continued perpetration of murders and other outrages of dangerous precedent, primitive ignorance and unrestrained exhibitions of savage customs before the children of the settlers, combined to make them subjects for a more rigid government. The removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi was a melancholy but necessary duty. The time having arrived for the emigration of the Pottawatomies, according to the stipulations contained in their treaty with the United States, they evinced that reluctance common among aboriginal tribes on leaving the homes of their childhood and the graves of their ancestors- Love of country is a principle planted in the bosoms of all mankind. The Laplander and the Esquimaux of the frozen north,, who feed on seals, moose and the meat of the polar bear, would not exchange their country for ihe sunny clime of "Araby the blest."' Color and shades of complexion have nothing to do with the heart's best, warmest emotions. Then we should not wonder that the Pottawatomie, on leaving his home on the Wabash, felt as sad as jEschines did when ostracised from his native land, laved by the waters of the classic Scamander; and the noble and eloquent Naswaw-kay, on leaving the encampment on Crooked creek, felt his banishment as keenly as Cicero when thrust from the bosom of his beloved Rome, for which he had spent the best efforts of his life, and for which he died.

Histoby Of Indiana. 12T

make a call upon the militia of the county to equip themselves instantly and march to the aid of their bleeding countrymen. Thereupon Gen. Walker, Col. Davis, Lieut-Col. Jenners, Capt. Brown, of the artillery, and various other gallant spirits mounted their war steeds and proceeded to the army, and thence upon a scout to the Grand Prairie to discover, if possible, the number, intention and situation of the Indians. Over 300 old men, women and children flocked precipitately to Lafayette and the surrounding^ country east of the Wabash. A remarkable event occurred in this stampede, as follows:

A man, wife and seven children resided on the edge of the Grand Prairie, west of Lafayette, in a locality considered particularly dangerous. On hearing of this alarm he made hurried preparations to fly with his family to Lafayette for safety. Imagine his surprise and chagrin when his wife told him she would not go one step; that she did not believe in being scared at trifles, and in her opinion there was not an Indian within 100 miles of them. Importunity proved unavailing, and the disconsolate and frightened husband and father took all the children except the youngest, bade his wife and babe a long and solemn farewell, never expecting to see them again, unless perhaps he might find their mangled remains, minus their scalps. On arriving at Lafayette, his acquaintances rallied and berated him for abandoning his wife and child in that way, but he met their jibes with a stoical indifference, avowing that he should not be held responsible for their obstinacy.

As the shades of the first evening drew on, the wife felt lonely; and the chirping of the frogs and the notes of the whippoorwill only intensified her loneliness, until she half wished she had accompanied the rest of the family in their flight. She remained in the house a .ew hours without striking a light, and then concluded that " discretion was the better part of valor," took her babe and some bed-clothes, fastened the cabin door, and hastened to a sinkhole in the woods, in which she afterward said that she and her babe slept soundly until sunrise next morning.

Lafayette literally boiled over with people and patriotism. A meeting was held at the court-house, speeches were made by patriotic individuals, and to allay the fears of the women an armed police was immediately ordered, to be called the " Lafayette Guards." Thos. T. Benbridge was elected Captain, and John Cox, Lieutenant. Capt. Benbridge yielded the active drill of his guards to the Lieutenant, who had served two years in the war of 1812. After the meeting adjourned, the guards were paraded on the green where Purdue's block now stands, and put through sundry evolutions by Lieut. Cox, who proved to be an expert drill officer, and whose clear, shrill voice rung out on the night air as he marched and counter-marched the troops from where the paper-mill stands to Main street ferry, and over the suburbs, generally. Every old gun and sword that could be found was brought into requisition, with a new shine on them.

Gen. Walker, Colonels Davis and Jenners, and other officers joined in a call of the people of Tippecanoe county for volunteers to march to the frontier settlements. A large meeting of the citizens assembled in the public square in the town, and over 300 volunteers mostly mounted men, left for the scene of action, with an alacrity that would have done credit to veterans.

The first night they camped nine miles west of Lafayette, near Grand Prairie. They placed sentinels for the night and retired to rest. A few of the subaltern officers very injudiciously concluded to try what effect a false alarm would have upon the sleeping soldiers, and a few of them withdrew to a neighboring thicket, and thence made a charge upon the picket guards, who , after hailing them and receiving no countersign, fired off their guns and ran for the Colonel's marquee in the center of the encampment. The aroused Colonels and staff sprang to their feet, shouting "To arms! to arms!" and the obedient, though panic-stricken soldiers seized their guns and demanded to be led against the invading foe. A wild scene of disorder ensued, and amid the din of arms and loud commands of the officers the raw militia felt that they had already got into the red jaws of battle. One of the alarm sentinels, in running to the center of the encampment, leaped over a blazing camp fire, and alighted full upon the breast and stomach of a sleeping lawyer, who was, no doubt, at that moment dreaming of vested and contingent remainders, rich clients and good fees, which in legal parlance was suddenly estopped by the hob-nails in the stogas of the scared sentinel. As soon as the counselor's vitality and consciousness sufficiently returned, ho put in some strong demurrers to the conduct of the affrighted picket men, averring that he would greatly prefer being wounded by the enemy to being run over by a cowardly booby. Next morning the organizers of the ruse were severely reprimanded.

provisions^ even though it be necessary to seize them. The next day four baggage wagons, loaded with camp equipments, stores, provisions and other articles, were sent to the little army, who were thus provided for a campaign of five or six weeks. The following Thursday a squad of cavalry, under Colonel Sigler, passed through Lafayette on the way to the hostile region ; and on the 13th of June Colonel Russell, commandant of the 40th Regiment, Indiana Militia, passed through Lafayette with 340 mounted volunteers from the counties of Marion, Hendricks and Johnson. Also, several companies of volunteers from Montgomery, Fountain and Warren counties, hastened to the relief of the frontier settlers. The troops from Lafayette marched to Sugar creek, and after a short time, there being no probability of finding any of the enemy, were ordered to return, They all did so except about 45 horsemen, who volunteered to cross Hickory creek, where the Indians had committed their depredations. They organized a company by electing Samuel McGeorge, a soldier of the war of 1812, Captain, and Amos Allen and Andrew W. Ingraham, Lieutenants.

Crossing Hickory creek, they marched as far as O'Plein river without meeting with opposition. Finding no enemy here they concluded to return. On the first night of their march home they encamped on the open prairie, posting sentinels, as usual. About ten o'clock it began to rain, and it was with diflSoulty that the sentinels kept their guns dry. Capt. I. H. Cox and a man named Fox had been posted as sentinels within 15 or 20 paces of each other. Cox drew the skirt of his overcoat over his gun-lock to keep it dry; Fox, perceiving this motion, and in the darkness taking him for an Indian, fired upon him and fractured his thigh-bone. Several soldiers immediately ran toward the place where the flash of the gun had been seen; but when they cocked and leveled their guns on the figure which had fired at Cox, the wounded man caused them to desist by crying, " Don't shoot him, it was a sentinel who shot me." The next day the wounded man was left behind the company in care of four men, who, as soon as possible, removed him on a litter to Col. Moore's company of Illinois militia, then encamped on the O'Plein, where Joliet now stands.

Although the main body returned to Lafayette in eight or nine days, yet the alarm among the people was so great that they could not be induced to return to their farms for some time. The presence of the hostiles was hourly expected by the frontier settlements of Indiana, from Vinoennes to La Porte. In Clinton county the inhabitants gathered within the forts and prepared for a regular siege, while our neighbors at Crawfordsville were suddenly astounded by the arrival of a courier at full speed with the announcement that the Indians, more than a thousand in number, were then crossing the Nine-Mile prairie about twelve miles north of town, killing and scalping all. The strongest houses were immediately put in a condition of defense, and sentinels were placed at the principal points in the direction of the enemy. Scouts were sent out to reconnoitre, and messengers were dispatched in different directions to announce the danger to the farmers, and to urge them to hasten with their families into town, and to assist in fighting the momentarily expected savages. At night-fall the scouts brought in the news that the Indians had not crossed the Wabash, but were hourly expected at Lafayette. The citizens of Warren, Fountain and Vermillion counties were alike terrified by exaggerated stories of Indian massacres, and immediately prepared for defense. It turned out that the Indians were not within 100 miles of these temporary forts; but this by no means proved a want of courage in the citizens.

After some time had elapsed, a portion of the troops were marched back into Tippecanoe county and honorably discharged ; but the settlers were still loth for a long time to return to their farms. Assured by published reports that the Miamis and Pottawatomies did not intend to join the hostiles, the people by degrees recovered from the panic and began to attend to their neglected crops.

During this time there was actual war in Illinois. Black Hawk and his warriors, well nigh surrounded by a well-disciplined foe, attempted to cross to the west bank of the Mississippi, but after being chased up into Wisconsin and to the Mississippi again, he was in a final battle taken captive. A few years after his liberation, about 1837 or 1838, he died, on the banks of the Des Moines river, in Iowa, in what is now the county of Davis, where his remains were deposited above ground, in the usual Indian style. His remains were afterward stolen and carried away, but they were recovered by the Governor of Iowa and placed in the museum of the Historical Society at Burlington, where they were finally destroyed by fire.

Last Exodus Of The Indians

In July, 1837, Col. Abel 0. Pepper convened the Pottawatomie nation of Indians at Lake Ke-waw-nay for the purpose of removing them west of the Mississippi. That fall a small party of some 80 or 90 Pottawatomies was conducted west of the Mississippi river by George ProflBt, Esq. Among the number were Ke-wawnay, Nebash, Nas-waw-kay, Pash-po-ho and many other leading men of the nation. The regular emigration of these poor Indians, about 1,000 in number, took place under Col. Pepper and Gen. Tipton in the summer of 1838.

It was a sad and mournful spectacle to witness these children of the forest slowly retiring from the home of their childhood, that contained not only the graves of their revered ancestors, but also many endearing scenes to which their memories would ever recur as sunny spots along their pathway through the wilderness. They felt that they were bidding farewell to the hills, valleys and streams of their infancy; the more exciting hunting-grounds of their advanced youth, as well as the stern and bloody battle-fields where they had contended in riper manhood, on which they had received wounds, and where many of their friends and loved relatives had fallen covered with gore and with glory. All these they were leaving behind them, to be desecrated by the plowshare of the white man. As they cast mournful glances back toward these loved scenes that were rapidly fading in the distance, tears fell from the cheek of the downcast warrior, old men trembled, matrons wept, the swarthy maiden's cheek turned pale, and sighs and half-suppressed sobs escaped from the motley groups as they passed along, some on foot, some on horseback, and others in wagons, - sad as a funeral procession. Several of the aged warriors were seen to cast glances toward the sky, as if they were imploring aid from the spirits of their departed heroes, who were looking down upon them from the clouds, or from the Great Spirit, who would ultimately redress the wrongs of the red man, whose broken bow had fallen from his hand, and whose sad heart was bleeding within him. Ever and anon one of the party would start out into the brush and break back to their old encampments on Eel river and on the Tippe- canoe, declaring that they would rather die than be banished from their country. Thus, scores of discontented emigrants returned from different points on their journey;, and it was several years before they could be induced to join their countrymen west of the Mississippi. -

Several years after the removal of the Pottawatomies the Miami nation was removed to their Western home, by coercive means, under an escort of United States troops. They were a proud and once powerful nation, but at the time of their removal were far inferior, in point of numbers, to the Pottawatomie guests whom they had permitted to settle and hunt upon their lands, and fish in their lakes and rivers after they had been driven southward by powerful and warlike tribes who inhabited the shores of the Northern lakes.

In 1831 a joint resolution of the Legislature of Indiana, requesting an appropriation by Congress for the extinguishment of the Indian title to lands within the State, was forwarded to that bodyi which granted the request. The Secretary of War, by authority, appointed a committee of three citizens to carry into effect the provisions of the recent law. The Miamis were surrounded on all sides by American settlers, and were situated almost in the heart of the State on the line of the canal then being made. The chiefs were called to a council for the purpose of making a treaty; they promptly came, but peremptorily refused to go westward or sell the remainder of their land. The Pottawatomies sold about 6,000,000 acres in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, including all their claim in this State.

In 1838 a treaty was concluded with the Miami Indians through the good oflSces of Col. A. C. Pepper, the Indian agent, by which a considerable of the most desirable portion of their reserve was ceded to the United States.

Land Sales

As an example of the manner in which land speculators were treated by the early Indianians, we cite the following instances from Cox's '' Recollections of the Wabash Yalley."

At Crawfordsville, Dec. 24, 1824, many parties were present from the eastern and southern portions of the State, as well as from Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and even Pennsylvania, to -attend a land sale. There was but little bidding against each other. The settlers, or " squatters," as they were called by the speculators, had arranged matters among themselves to their general satisfaction. If, upon comparing numbers, it appeared that two were after the same tract of land, one would ask the other what he would take not to bid against him ; if neither would consent to be bought off they would retire and cast lots, and the lucky one would enter the tract at Congress price, $1.25 an acre, and the other would enter the second choice on his list. If a speculator made a bid, or showed a disposition to take a settler's claim from him, he soon saw the white of a score of eyes glaring at him, and he would " crawfish" out of the crowd at the first opportunity.

The settlers made it definitely known to foreign capitalists that they would enter the tracts of land they had settled upon before allowing the latter to come in with their speculations. The land was sold in tiers of townships, beginning at the southern part of the district and continuing north until all had been offered at public sale. This plan was persisted in, although it kept many on the ground for several days waiting, who desired to purchase land in the northern part of the district.

In 182Y a regular Indian scare was gotten up to keep speculators away for a short time. A man who owned a claim on Tippecanoe river, near Pretty pi-airie, fearing that some one of the numerous land hunters constantly scouring the country might enter the land he had settled upon before he could raise the money to buy it, and seeing one day a cavalcade of land hunters riding toward where his land lay, mounted his horse and darted off at full speed to meet them, swinging his hat and shouting at the top murdering and scalping all before them!" They paused a moment, but as the terrified horseman still urged his jaded animal and cried, "Help! Longlois, Cicots, help!" they turned and fled like a troop of retreating cavalry, hastening to the thickest settlements and giving the alarm, which spread like fire among stubble until the whole frontier region was shocked with the startling cry. The squatter who fabricated the story and started this false alarm took a circuitous route home that evening, and while others were busy building temporary block-houses and rubbing up their guns to meet the Indians, he was quietly gathering up money and slipped down to Crawfordsville and entered his land, chuckling to himself, " There's a Yankee trick for you, done up by a Hoosier."

Harmony Community

In 1814 a society of Germans under Frederick Rappe, who had originally come from "Wirtemberg, Germany, and more recently from Pennsylvania, founded a settlement on the "Wabash about 50 miles above its mouth. They were industrious, frugal and honest Lutherans. They purchased a large quantity of land and laid off a town, to which they gave the name of " Harmony," afterward called "New Harmony." They erected a church and a public school-house, opened farms, planted orchards and vineyards, built fiouring mills, established a house of public entertainment, a public store, and carried on all the arts of peace with skill and regularity. Their property was " in common," according to the custom of ancient Christians at Jerusalem, but the governing power, both temporal and spiritual, was vested in Frederick Eappe, the elder, who was regarded as the founder of the society. By the year 1821 the society numbered about 900. Every individual of proper age contributed his proper share of labor. There were neither spendthrifts, idlers nor drunkards, and during the whole 17 years of their sojourn in America there was not a single lawsuit among them. Every controversy arising among them was settled by arbitration, explanation and compromise before sunset of the day, literally according to the injunction of the apostle of the New Testament.

About 1825 the town of Harmony and a considerable quantity of land adjoining was sold to Robert Owen, father of David Dale Owen, the State Geologist, and of Robert Dale Owen, of later notoriety. He was a radical philosopher from Scotland, who had become distinguished for his philanthropy and opposition to

Christianity. He charged the latter with teaching false notions regarding human responsibility - notions which have since been clothed in the language of physiology, mental philosophy, etc. Said he:

" That which has hitherto been called wickedness in our fellow men has proceeded from one of two distinct causes, or from some combination of those causes. They are what are termed bad or wicked,

"1. Because they are born with faculties or propensities which render them more liable, under the same circumstances, than other men, to commit such actions as are usually denominated wicked; or,

" 2. Because they have been placed by birth or other events in particular countries, - have been influenced from infancy by parents, playmates and others, and have been surrounded by those circumstances which gradually and necessarily trained them in the habits and sentiments called wicked ; or,

" Every society which exists at present, as well as every society which history records, has been formed and governed on a belief in the following notions, assumed as first principles:

" 1. That it is in the power of every individual to form his own character. Hence the various systems called by the name of religion, codes of law, and punishments; hence, also, the angry passions entertained by individuals and nations toward each other.

" 2. That the affections are at the command of the individual. Hence insincerity and degradation of character; hence the miseries of domestic life, and more than one-half of all the crimes of mankind.

" 3. That it is necessary a large portion of mankind should exist in ignorance and poverty in order to secure to the remaining part such a degree of happiness as they now enjoy. Hence a system of counteraction in the pursuits of men, a general opposition among individuals to the interests of each other, and the necessary effects of such a system, - ignorance, poverty and vice.

During the administration of Gov. Whitcomb the war with Mexico occurred, which resulted in annexing to the United States vast tracts of land in the south and west. Indiana contributed her full ratio to the troops in that war, and with a remarkable spirit of promptness and patriotism adopted all measures to sustain the general Government. These new acquisitions of territory re-opened the discussion of the slavery question, and Governor Whitcomb expressed his opposition to a further extension of the " national sin."

The causes which led to a declaration of war against Mexico in 1846, must be sought for as far back as the year 1830, when the present State of Texas formed a province of New and Independent Mexico. During the years immediately preceding 1830, Moses Austin, of Connecticut, obtained a liberal grant of lands from the established Government, and on his death his son was treated in an equally liberal manner. The glowing accounts rendered by Austin, and the vivid picture of Elysian fields drawn by visiting journalists, soon resulted in the influx of a large tide of immigrants, nor did the movement to the Southwest cease until 1830. The Mexican province held a prosperous population, comprising 10,000 American citizens. The rapacious Government of the Mexicans looked with greed and jealousy upon their eastern province, and, under the presidency of Gen. Santa Anna, enacted such measures, both unjust and oppressive, as would meet their design of goading the people of Texas on to revolution, and thus aflbrd an opportunity for the infliction of punishment upon subjects whose only crime was industry and its accompaniment, prosperity. Precisely in keeping with the course pursued by the British toward the colonists of the Eastern States in the last century, Santa Anna's Government met the remonstrances of the colonists of Texas with threats; and they, secure in their consciousness of right quietly issued their declaration of independence, and proved its literal meaning on the fleld of Gonzales in 1835, having with a force of

500 men forced the Mexican army of 1,000 to fly for refuge to their strongholds. Battle after battle followed, bringing victory always to the Colonists, and ultimately resulting in the total rout of the Mexican army and the evacuation of Texas. The routed army after a short term of rest reorganized, and reappeared in the Territory, 8,000 strong. On April 21, a division of this large force under Santa Anna encountered the Texans under General Samuel Houston on the banks of the San Jacinto, and though Houston could only oppose 800 men to the Mexican legions, the latter were driven from the field,nor could they reform their scattered ranks until their General was captured next day and forced to sign the declaration of 1835. The signature of Santa Anna, though ignored by the Congress of the Mexican Hepublic, and consequently left unratified on the part of Mexico, was eflfected in so much, that after the second defeat of the army of that Republic all the hostilities of an important nature ceased, the Hepublic of Texas was recognized by the powers, and subsequently became an integral part of the United States, July i, 1846. At this period General Herrera was president of Mexico. He was a man of peace, of common sense, and very patriotic; and he thus entertained, or pretended to entertain, the great neighboring Republic in high esteem. For this reason he grew unpopular with his people, and General Paredes was called to the presidential chair, which he continued to occupy until the breaking out of actual hostilities with the United States, when Gen. Santa Anna was elected thereto.

President Polk, aware of the state of feeling in Mexico, ordered Gen. Zachary Taylor, in command of the troops in the Southwest, to proceed to Texas, and post himself as near to the Mexican border as he deemed prudent. At the same time an American squadron was dispatched to the vicinity, in the Gulf of Mexico. In November, General Taylor had taken his position at Corpus Christi, a Texan settlement on a bay of the same name, with about 4,000 men. On the 13th of January, 1846, the President ordered him to advance with his forces to the Rio Grande ; agcordingly he proceeded, and in March stationed himself on the north bank of that river, within cannon-shot of the Mexican town of Matamoras. Here he hastily erected a fortress, called Fort Brown. The territory lying between the river Kueces and the Rio Grande river, about 120 miles in width, was claimed both by Texas and Mexico; according to the latter, therefore. General Taylor had actually invaded her Territory, and had thus committed an open act of war. On the 26th of April, the Mexican General, Ampudia, gave notice to this effect to General Taylor, and on the same day a party of American dragoons, sixty-three in number, being on the north side of the Eio Grande, were attacked, and, after the loss of sixteen men killed and wounded, were forced to surrender. Their commander. Captain Thornton, only escaped. The Mexican forces had now crossed the river above Matamoras and were supposed to meditate an attack on Point Isabel, where Taylor had established a depot of supplies for his array. On the 1st of May, this officer left a small number of troops at Fort Brown, and marched with his chief forces, twenty-three hundred men, to the defense of Point Isabel. Having garrisoned this place, he set out on his return. On the 8th of May, about noon, he met the Mexican army, six thousand strong, drawn up in battle array, on the prairie near Palo Alto. The Americans at once advanced to the attack, and, after an action of five hours, in which their artillery was very effective, drove the enemy before them, and encamped upon the field. The Mexican loss was about one hundred killed; that ot the Americans, four killed and forty wounded. Major Ringgold, of the artillery, an officer of great merit, was mortally wounded. The next day, as the Americans advanced, they again met the enemy in a strong position near Resaca de la Palma, three miles from Fort Brown. An action commenced, and was fiercely contested, the artillery on both sides being served with great vigor. At last the Mexicans gave way, and fled in confusion. General de la Yega having fallen into the hands of the Americans. They also abandoned their guns and a large quantity of ammunition to the victors. The remaining Mexican soldiers speedily crossed the Rio Grande, and the next day the Americans took up their position at Fort Brown. This little fort, in the absence of General Taylor, had gallantly sustained an almost uninterrupted attack of several days from the Mexican batteries of Matamoras.

When the news of the capture of Captain Thornton's party was spread over the United States, it produced great excitement. The President addressed a message to Congress, then in session, declaring " that war with Mexico existed by her own act;" and that body, May, 1846, placed ten millions of dollars at the President's disposal, and authorized him to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers. A great part of the summer of 1846 was spent in preparation for the war, it being resolved to invade Mexico at several points. In pursuance of this plan, General Taylor, who had taken possession of Matamoras, abandoned by the enemy in May, marched northward in the enemy's country in August, and on the 19th of September he appeared before Monterey, capital of the Mexican State of New Leon. His army, after having garrisoned several places along his route, amounted to six thousand men. The attack began on the 21st, and after a succession of assaults, during the period of four days, the Mexicans capitulated, leaving the town in possession of the Americans. In October, General Taylor terminated an armistice into which he had entered with the Mexican General, and again commenced offensive operations. Various towns and fortresses of the enemy now rapidly fell into our possession. In I^ovember, Saltillo, the capital of the State of Coahuila was occupied by the division of General Worth; in December, General Patterson took possession of Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, and nearly at the same period. Commodore Perry captured the fort of Tampico. Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, with the whole territory of the State had been subjugated by General Harney, after a march of one thousand miles through the wilderness. Events of a startling character had taken place at still earlier dates along the Pacific coast. On the 4th of July, Captain Fremont, having repeatedly defeated superior Mexican forces with the small band under his command, declared California independent of Mexico. Other important places in this region had yielded to the American naval force, and in August, 1846, the whole of California was in the undisputed occupation of the Americans.

The year 1847 opened with still more brilliant victories on the part of our armies. By the drawing off of a large part of General Taylor's troops for a meditated attack on Vera Cruz, he was left with a comparatively small force to meet the great body of Mexican troops, now marching upon him, under command of the celebrated Santa Anna, who had again become President of Mexico.

Ascertaining the advance of this powerful army, twenty thousand strong, and consisting of the best of the Mexican soldiers, General Taylor took up his position at Buena Vista, a valley a few miles from Saltillo. His whole troops numbered only four thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, and here, on the 23d of February, he was vigorously attacked by the Mexicans. The battle was very severe, and continued nearly the whole day, when the Mexicans fled from the field in disorder, with a loss of nearly two thousand men. Santa Anna speedily withdrew, and thus abandoned the region of the Eio Grande to the complete occupation of onr troops. This left our forces at liberty to prosecute the grand enterprise of the campaign, the capture of the strong town of Vera Cruz, with its renowned castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. On the 9th of March, 1847, General Scott landed near the city with an army of twelve thousand men, and on the 18th commenced an attack. For four days and nights an almost incessant shower of shot and shells was poured upon the devoted town, while the batteries of the castle and the city replied with terrible energy. At last, as the Americans were preparing for an assault, the Governor of the city offered to surrender, and on the 26th the American flag floated triumphantly from the walls of the castle and the city. General Scott now prepared to march upon the city of Mexico, the capital of the country, situated two hundred miles in the interior, and approached only through a series of rugged passes and mountain fastnesses, rendered still more formidable by several strong fortresses. On the 8th of April tlie army commenced their march. At Oerro Gordo, Santa Anna had posted himself with fifteen thousand men. On the 18th the Americans began the daring attack, and by midday every intrenchment of the enemy had been carried. The loss of the Mexicans in this remarkable battle, besides one thousand killed and wounded, was three thousand prisoners, forty-three pieces of cannon, five thousand stand of arms, and all their amunitions and materials of war. The loss of the Americans was four hundred * and thirty-one in killed and wounded. The next day our forces advanced, and, capturing fortress after fortress, came on the 18th of August within ten miles of Mexico, a city of two hundred thousand inhabitants, and situated in one of the most beautiful valleys in the world. On the 20th they attacked and carried the strong batteries of Contreras, garrisoned by 7,000 men, in an impetuous assault, which lasted but seventeen minutes. On the same day an attack was made by the Americans on the fortified post of Churubusco, four miles northeast of Contreras. Here nearly the entire Mexican army - more than 20,000 in number - were posted; but they were defeated at every point, and obliged to seek a retreat in the city, or the still remaining fortress of Ohapultepec. While preparations were being made on the 21st by General Scott, to level his batteries against the city, prior to summoning it to surrender, he received propositions from the enemy, which terminated in an armistice. Tliis ceased on the 7th of September. On the 8 th the outer defense of Ohapul tepee was successfully stormed by General Worth, though he lost one-fourth of his men in the desperate struggle. The castle of Chapul tepee, situated on an abrupt and rocky eminence, 150 feet above the surrounding country, presented a most formidable object of attack. On the 12th, however, the batteries were opened against it, and on the next day the citadel was carried by storm. The Mexicans still struggled along the great causeway leading to the city, as the Americans advanced, but before nightfal a part of our army was within the gates of the city. Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled, and the next morning, at seven o'clock, the flag of the Americans floated from the national palace of Mexico. This conquest of the capital was the great and final achievement of the war. The Mexican republic was in fact prostrate, her sea-coast and chief cities being in the occupation of our troops. On the 2d of February, 1848, terms of peace were agreed upon by the American commissioner and the Mexican Government, this treaty being ratified by the Mexican Congress on the 30th of May following, and by the United States soon after. President Polk proclaimed peace on the 4th of July, 1848. . In the preceding sketch we have given only a mere outline of the war with Mexico. We have necessarily passed over many interesting events, and have not even named many of our soldiers who performed gallant and important services. General Taylor's successful -operations in the region of the Kio Grande were duly honored by the people of the United States, by bestowing upon him the Presidency. General Scott's campaign, from the attack on Vera Cruz, to the surrender of the city of Mexico, was far more remarkable, and, in a military point of view, must be considered as one of the most brilliant of modern times. It is true the Mexicans are not to be ranked with the great nations of the earth ; with a population of seven or eight millions, they have little more than a million of the white race, the rest being half-civilized Indians and mestizos, that is, those of mixed blood. Their government is inefficient, and the people divided among themselves. Their soldiers often fought bravely, but they were badly officered. While, therefore, we may consider the conquest of so extensive and populous a country, in so short a time, and attended with such constant superiority even to the greater numbers of the enemy, as highly gratifying evidence of the courage and capacity of our army, still we must not, in judging of our achievements, fail to consider the real weakness of the nation whom we vanquished.

One thing we may certainly dwell upon with satisfaction - the admirable example, not only as a soldier, but as a man, set by our commander. Gen. Scott, who seems, in the midst of war and the ordinary license of the camp, always to have preserved the virtue, kindness, and humanity belonging to a state of peace. These qualities secured to him the respect, confidence and good-will even of the enemy he had conquered. Among the Generals who efiectually aided General Scott in this remarkable campaign, we must not omit to mention the names of Generals Wool, Twiggs, Shields, Worth, Smith, and Quitman, who generally added to the high qualities of soldiers the still more estimable characteristics of good men. The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo stipulated that the disputed territory between the Nueces and the Kio Grande should belong to the United States, and it now forms a part of Texas, as has been already stated ; that the United States should assume and pay the debts due from Mexico to American citizens, to the amount of $3,500,000; and that, in consideration of the sum of $15,000,000 to be paid by the United States to Mexico, the latter should relinquish to the former the whole of .New Mexico and Upper California.

The soldiers of Indiana who served in this war were formed into five regiments of volunteers, numbered respectively, 1st, 2d, 3rd, 4th and 5th. The fact that companies of the three first-named regiments served at times with the men of Illinois, the New York volunteers, the Palmettos of South Carolina, and United States marines, under Gen. James Shields, makes for them a history; because the campaigns of the Rio Grande and Chihuahua, the siege of Vera Cruz, the desperate encounter at Cerro Gordo, the tragic contests in the valley, at Contreras and Churubusco, the storming of Chapultepec, and the planting of the stars and stripes upon every turret and spire within the conquered city of Mexico, were all carried out by the gallant troops under the favorite old General,, and consequently each of them shared with him in the glories attached to such exploits. The other regiments under Cols. Gorman and Lane participated in the contests of the period under other commanders. The 4th Kegiment of Indiana Volunteers, comprising ten companies, was formally organized at Jeffersonville, Indiana, by Capt. R. C. Gatlin, June 15, 1847, and on the 16th elected Major Willis A. Gorman, of the 3rd Regiment, to the Colonelcy; Ebenezer Dumont, Lieutenant-Colonel, and W. McCoy, Major. On the 27th of June the regiment left Jeffersonville for the front, and.

subsequently was assigned to Brigadier-General Lane's command, which then comprised a battery of five pieces from the 3rd Regiment U. S. Artillery; a battery of two pieces from the 2nd Regiment U. S. Rrtillery, the 4th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers and the 4th Regiment of Ohio, with a squadron of mounted Louisianians and detachments of recruits for the U. S. army. The troops of this brigade won signal honors at Fasso de Ovegas, August 10, 1847 ; National Bridge, on the 12th; Cerro Gordo, on the 15th; Las Animas, on the 19th, under Maj. F. T. Lally, of General Lane's staff, and afterward under Lane, directly, took a very prominent part in the siege of Puebla, which began on the 15th of September and terminated on the. 12th of October. At Atlixco, October 19th; Tlascala, November 10th; Matamoras and Pass Galajara, November 23rd and 24th; Guerrilla Ranche, December 5th; Napaloncan, December 10th, the Indiana volunteers of the 4th Regiment performed gallant service, and carried the campaign into the following year, representing their State at St. Martin's, February 27, 1848; Cholula, March 26th; Matacordera, February i9th; Sequalteplan, February 25th; and on the cessation of hostilities reported at Madison, Indiana, for discharge, July 11, 1848; while the 5th Indiana Regiment, under Col. J. H. Lane, underwent a similar round of duty during its service with other brigades, and gained some celebrity at Vera Cruz, Churubusco and with the troops of Illinois under Gen. Shields at Chapultepec.

This war cost the people of the United States sixty-six millions of dollars. This very large amount was not paid away for the attainment of mere glory; there was something else at stake, and this something proved to be a country larger and more fertile than the France of the Napoleons, and more steady and sensible than the France of the Republic. It was the defense of the great Lone Star State, the humiliation and chastisement of a quarrelsome neighbor.

We have already referred to the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory, and Indiana Territory by the ordinance of 1787; to the imperfection in the execution of this ordinance and the troubles which the authorities encountered; and the complete establishment of the principles of freedom on the organization of the State. The next item of significance in this connection is the following language in the message of Gov.Eay to the Legislature of 1828: "Since our last separation, while we have witnessed with anxious solicitude the belligerent operations of another hemisphere, the cross contending against the crescent, and the prospect of a general rupture among , the legitimates of other quarters of the globe, our attention has been arrested by proceedings in our own country truly dangerous to liberty, seriously premeditated, and disgraceful to its authors if agitated only to tamper with the American people. If such experiments as we see attempted in certain deluded quarters do not tall with a burst of thunder upon the heads of their seditious projectors, then indeed the Republic has begun to experience the days of its degeneracy. The union of these States is the people's only sure charter for their liberties and independence. Dissolve it and each State will soon be in a condition as deplorable as Alexander's conquered countries after they were divided amongst his victorious military captains."

In pursuance of a joint resolution of the Legislature of 1850, a block of native marble was procured and forwarded to Washington, to be placed in the monument then in the course of erection at the National Capital in memory of George Washington. In the absence of any legislative instruction concerning the inscription upon this emblem of Indiana's loyalty. Gov. Wright ordered the following words to be inscribed upon it: Indiana Knows No NoETH, No South, Nothing but the Union. Within a dozen years thereafter this noble State demonstrated to the world her loyalty to the Union and the principles of freedom by the sacrifice of blood and treasure which she made. In keeping with this sentiment Gov. Wright indorsed the compromise measures of Congress on the slavery question, remarking in his message that " Indiana takes her stand in the ranks, not of Southern destiny, nor yet of

At the session of the Legislature in January, 1869, the subject of ratifying the fifteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution, allowing negro suffrage, came up with such persistency that neither party dared to undertake any other business lest it be checkmated in some way, and being at a dead lock on this matter, they adjourned in March without having done much important business. The Democrats, as well as a portion of the conservative Kepublicans, opposed its consideration strongly on the ground that it would be unfair to vote on the question until the people of the State had had an opportunity of expressing their views at the polls; but most of the Kepublicans resolved to push the measure through, while the Democrats resolved to resign in a body and leave the Legislature without a quorum. Accordingly, on March 4, 17 Senators and 36 Kepresentatives resigned, leaving both houses without a quorum.

As the early adjournment of the Legislature left the benevolent institutions of the State unprovided for, the Governor convened that body in extra session as soon as possible, and after the necessary appropriations were made, on the 19th of May the fifteenth amendment came up; but in anticipation of this the Democratic members had all resigned and claimed that there was no quorum present. There was a quorum, however, of Senators in office, though some of them refused to vote, declaring that they were no longer Senators ; but the president of that body decided that as he had not been informed of their resignation by the Governor, they were still members. A vote was taken and the ratifying resolution was adopted. When the resolution came up in the House, the chair decided that, although the Democratic members had resignedj there was a quorum of the de-facto members present, and the House proceeded to pass the resolution. This decision of the chair was afterward sustained by the Supreme Court.

At the next regular session of the Legislature, in 1871, the Democrats undertook to repeal the ratification, and the Eepublican members resigned to prevent it. The Democrats, as the Republicans did on the previous occasion, proceeded to pass their resolution of repeal; but while the process was under way, before the House Committee had time to report on the matter, 34 Republican members resigned, thereby preventing its passage and putting a stop to further legislation.

Theeventsof the earlier years of this State have been reviewed down to that period in the nation's history when the Eepublic demanded a first sacrifice from the newly erected States; to the time when the very' safety of the glorious heritage, bequeathed by the fathers as a rich legacy, was threatened with a fate worse than death - a life under laws that harbored the slave - a civil defiance of the first principles of the Constitution.

Indiana was among the first to respond to the summons of patriotism, and register itself on the national roll of honor, even as she was among the first to join in that song of joy which greeted a Republic made doubly glorious within a century by the dual victory which won liberty for itself, and next bestowed the precious boon upon the colored slave.