Vermillion County, Indiana - Chapter 2: Pre-Historic and Indian Races, 1913

Perliaps no better, reliable account of the Mound Builders and Indians who lived, labored and died within the domain now known as Vermillion county can be given, at this date, than that prepared from facts compiled by that student and correct writer, Hon. John Collett. hence the following descriptions of those who inhabited the country prior to the coming of the white race, should be credited largely to him. and as he was the state geologist and in a position to know whereof he wrote, it will be taken as nearly true as mortal man can now hope to arrive at conclusions drawn b\- him and made a part of the state's record.

When first explored by the white race, this county was occupied by sa\age Indians, without fixed habitation, averse to labor and delighting only in w ar and the chase. Their misty traditions did not reach back to any pre\-ious people or age, but numerous earth-works are' found in this region of such extent as to require for their construction much time and the persistent labor of many people. Situated on river bluffs, their location combines picturesifue scenery, adaptability for defense, convenience for transportation l^y water, and productive lands. These are not requisites in the nomadic life of red-men, and identify the Mound Builders as a partially civilized people. Their mounds and other works are of such extent that it required years of labor, with basket and shovel, to erect such coordination of labor as to indicate the rule of priestly government or regal authority: they were certainl}' to that extent civilized. Their work in its vastness shows that governments were necessary, which must have had civil power to request and require the necessary labor. The implements found in the graves, mounds and tombs were more often domestic and agricultural, and indicate a peaceful, obedient race. Their temples were defended by bulwarks of loving hearts rather than by warrior braves. Many of the religious emblems and articles of utility made of stone point back to the earliest forms of sentiment represented by the fire and sun worshipers of central Asia and give a clue to the reason w^hy their favorite habitations and mounds were as a rule never placed beneath the eastern bluffs of streams, but on the other hand were so located in ele\-ated positions, or on the western bluffs, that when the timber was cleared away and the lands reduced to cultivation, a long outlook was given to the east and to the sun rise, from which direction their expected Messiah, or ruler, was to come. Similar customs still prevail in Mexico.

Traditions intimate that the tribes were driven southward, from the northern portion of the continent, and these traditions are corroborated by the discovery of relics in this region made from material found far to the north.

Clusters of mounds are found in Vemiillion county, on Mound prairie, near the Shelby battle ground and nearly all along the track between Eugene and Newport, many of them from twenty to forty feet in diameter, four, five or six feet high, and the clusters containing from ten to eighty mounds. One memorable mound is situated in the northern part of the city of Clinton, from which earth was removed for road building about 1830. In it were found stone implements of the Mound Builders accompanied with copper beads, fi\e copper rods, half an inch in diameter and eighteen inches long, showing that it was one of the earliest of the Mound Builders works, while they were also accompanied with other implements imported from the north.

Another, on the Head farm, near Newport, had copper rods, or spearheads and smaller stone implements. These were probably burial grounds. A majority of them contained no relics, but were simply abandoned mounds of habitation. Mr. Pigeon, in his volume called "Dacoudah," says he noticed figured mounds of men and beasts on the south bank of the Little Vermillion, three or four miles from its mouth. A burial mound, near the northeast corner, contained a chief in a sitting position, in the center. Radiating from his body, like the spokes of a wheel, were five persons, slaves or wives, to wait upon him in the other world. His useful implements for the other world were a great number of copper beads from a half inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter, seven copper axes, one of which contained unmelted A'irgin silver, as it occurs at Lake Superior, varying in weight from two to eight pounds, and seven copper rods (spear heads), with pots and crocks, containing black mold, as if it were food. The streams near their homes afforded fish for food, and the implements found indicated that they were skilled in handling fish spears and gigs. The soil surrounding their homes was always the choicest, with the addition of beautiful and engaging scenerw The relics found in their mounds show that in their more northern home, in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, the common northern material, the striped slate and copper, was abundant. In Vermillion county relics of this character were scarce and precious, if not holy. At more southern points, striped slate implements of northern stone are very rare, while the precious copper could no longer be used in implement making, but was beaten into the iinest of sheets and bent over ornamental pendants. All these, and the customs of their burial, indicate an Asiatic origin, and prove conclusively that in their migration to this region they passed b}' more northern regions, including Lake Superior.

Afterwards the northern barbarian came, of an intermediate race, between the Mound Builder and the red man. The Mound Builders were driven away by this irruption, their property seized, many of their wives made captives and adopted by the new people. Many of the customs of the old people consequently remained with the newcomers, and the latter also deposited their dead in the old mounds over the remains of the more ancient people. The number of individuals thus found buried together, number from hve to two or three thousand. Their graves and relics from the tombs are the onh' story of their lives. Throughout all these a deep spirit of religious devotion is indicated, as well as the belief in the existence of another world and that implements of a domestic nature were necessary to the comfort of the departed.

On the Moore farm, three miles northwest of Eugene, Mr. Zeke Sheward. in making an underground "dug-out"' for the storing of vegetables, on a small mound surrounded by giants of the original forest, found at the depth of three feet, and at least one foot below the surface of the surrounding soil some pieces of metal about the size of a teaspoon handle, and one coin. On analysis they were found to be made of lead, antimony, and tin. The coin had in relief easily identified figures, of a worshiped crocodile of Egypt, or a hoh" water dog of America, and wood characters, much resembling those of China, or Hindostan. Prof. W. D. Whitney, of Yale College, one of the most thorough linguists of America, believed the characters to be Arabic, but of so ancient a (late that the Oriental Society was unable to read them. The director of the British Museum, in London, determined them to be ancient Hindostanee, but of so early a date no scholar in England could read them. Trees, and their remains, indicate an age of more than two thousand years.

In March, 1880, while a companv of gravel road workers were excavating gravel from the bank on the ridge at the southwest corner of the Newport fair ground, five human skeletons were found, supposed to be the remains of Indians buried at that point at an early day. In the gravel bank along the railroad, at the southeast corner of the fair ground, another skeleton was found. No implements of war were found with the bones, but ashes were perceivable, which would indicate that they were the remains of Indians. After burying the dead it was their custom in some parts of the country to build a fire over the corpse. !\Iany of the skeletons thus discovered, as well as a large portion of the bones of the lower animals, on exposure to the air, crumble away so easily that it becomes impossible to preserve them for exhibition. A collection of a dozen skeletons shows by measurements of the thighbones found that the warriors, including a few women, averaged over six feet and two inches in height, ^^"ithout animals for transportation, their bones were made wonderfully strong by the constant carrying of heavy burdens, and their joints heavily articulated, and the trochanters forming the attachment of muscles show that they were not only a race of giant statute, but also of more than giant strength.

Many relics from these mounds, as well as from the surface of the earth elsewhere, have been collected by old resident physicians, and others, especially Prof. John Collett, late state geologist, and Josephus Collett, and an interesting museum may here and there be found presenting a great variety of arrow points, spear heads, stone axes, tomahawks, pestles, mortars, aboriginal pottery, pipes, ornaments, bones of Indian skeletons, etc.

.\t the adx'ent of the white man to the Wabash \alley the Indians had virtually ceased from their long warfare and were living in a quiet state. They had no villages or places of permanent residence. In the summer time they remained at one point and in the autumn and winter elsewhere. They lived in wigwams made of deer skins and buffalo robes, which could he easily removed from place to place, or be substituted by others made from the bark of trees. The first white settlers saw all along the banks of the creeks and rivers circular holes in which Indians had cooked their food, and at night would sleep upon the ground with their feet hanging down in the warm places made there in the manner described. The Wabash ri\er was by them called Wahbashshikka; by the French, Ouabache; the Vermillion was called Osanamon, but by the French, a name which signifies yellow, red or vermillion, afterwards translated into English as Yellow river.

The Miamis occupied a portion of what is now Vermillion county, but their general territory was east of the Wabash. They were a tall, straight race, of handsome countenance, especially the maidens, and were bra\e and terrible as enemies, kind and faithful as friends.

Then there were the Kickapoos, or Mosquitans, originally from the north and northwest, who occupied the regions south and southwest of the Big Vermillion river, but occasionally, by comity of neighbors, camped for a greater part of the time north of the Vermillion, on their neighbor's territory. The Pottawatomies, also a northern tribe, owned the territory and their rights were recognized by the government in treaties. Vermillion county was at that time and had been for some years the home of each tribe, who at the zenith of their power had their headquarters at the Big Springs, a half mile south of Eugene, and the place was known among the whites as Springfield. There the councils of their confederacy were held and decisions as to wars and other troubles adjusted. The great treaty with the British merchants was made, and the governor of Virgina took possession of immense tracts of land on the lower Wabash. jNIany of the early settlers recollected the meetings held there, comprising eight hundred to one thousand individuals. The Pottawatomies were of a somewhat subdued disposition, somewhat stoop-shouldered and of unpleasant countenance: on the other hand, the Kickapoos were a warlike race, quarreled some with all other tribes, and only happy when giving and receiving hard blows.

It is believed that the French missionaries passed down or up the Wabash as early as 1702, possibly two years earlier than that. The missionaries, being Jesuits, were successful in winning converts among the savages. Near the Indian village on section 16, township 17, range 9 west, on cutting down a white oak tree, the rings of growth over the scar made by a white man's axe showed that the incision was made not later than 1720.

It was about 1790 when General Hamtramck led his expedition of Indian volunteers and militia from Vincennes to attack the non-aggressive Indians and their village on the old Shelby farm, near the mouth of the Vermillion. These were the weakened remnants of the now almost extinct Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. This was their favorite camping ground, the confluence of the rivers giving them opportunities for taking fish, which were then very plentiful. The terrace lands above were filled with thousands of plum bushes and grape vines, and it was known as the "great plum patch." The expedition, in two columns, crossed the Indian ford at Eugene, just north of where the mill dam was later constructed. Thence they marched in a circuitous manner to attack the \illage in the rear, when the direct division should attack it at the same time from the south. The warriors and braves were off on a hunting expedition, and there were none to molest or make afraid the "gallant" soldiers, except the broken down old men, the women and the children. It is no wonder that later gn the Indians of this region took part in the battle of Falling Timbers and Tippecanoe.

La Chappelle is the name of the first trading post established in the Vermillion village, near Hamtramck's battle ground, the northwest quarter of section 33, township 18, range 9 west, bv M. Laselle. afterwards for many years one of the distinguished citizens of Logansport, this state, .\nother trading post was subsequently established by an Englishman on the John Collett farm, sections 9 and 16. It was the custom of the French traders here to strike small medals, in size less than a silver quarter of a dollar, with a few figures and initial letters upon them, and tack them upon the trees at the mouths of the tributaries claimed, as a sign of possession.

The Indians at the southern end of this county did their trading at stockades in Sullivan and Knox counties. Among the earliest traders were two brothers, Frenchmen, named Brouillet. For some reason the Indians of that region entertained a strong enmity toward one of the brothers. He was captured and brought to their village, near the mouth of a creek south of Clinton, that now bears his name. At once it was decided to burn him at the stake, and to the stake he was fastened with buckskin thongs. After the men had ceased talking, the squaws, according to Indian custom, had a right to be heard. An aged squaw, who had had a son killed in warfare, demanded the right to adopt the prisoner as a substitute for her lost son, and whilst the privilege was generally granted, on this occasion the demand was refused, although she pleaded earnestly and long. In her \'\ild but heroic determination, she seized a butcher knife and, before anyone could interfere, cut the prisoner loose, pointed to a canoe on the sand shore of the Wabash, and told him to run and save his life if he could. He did run. Pushing the canoe out into the water as far as possible, and giving it directive force toward the middle of the river he sprang aboard and, lying flat in its bottom, paddled it into the stream beyond the reach of the Indians" rifles and escaped. This incident gave the stream the name of Brouillet's creek.

The Brouillets took wives from the Miami tribe. The wife of the elder Brouillet belonged to the family in the line of promotion to the chieftainship. On his death the mother returned to her people, and the children were entitled, according to law, to their proper home and position among her people. Her eldest son grew up an enthusiastic and vigorous young man, and became one of the chiefs of the Miamis. He was equitable in his dealings, energetic in his duties, and a great commander. His prudence served in a great measure to settle any difficulties with his white neighbors, who were constantly ' encroaching upon his territory and often inflicting injustice upon his people. Frequently, the young men desired to avenge their wrongs, but he was able to prevent the butchering episodes of Indian warfare and retaliation.

Joseph Collett, Sr., after surveying through the then swampv grounds of Hendricks and Montgomery counties, found that his camp was without provisions, and all, including himself, were more or less sick. On the return march of Gen. W'illiani Henrv Harrison's armv to Fort Harrison, now the city of Terre Haute, he directed the others to go and secure food, and leave him on the bank of the Raccoon creek in a little tent. Chief Brouillet came to him, offered his services to kill game and to dress and cook it, and tenderly care for him, which he did as well as could a woman. Fifty years later, Mr. Collett could only recall the experience and scene with tears in his eyes, and declared Chief Brouillet was one of the best looking men that ever trod the banks of the Wabash, and that he was as kind hearted as he was brave.

In the march to Tippecanoe the Confederate Indians had prepared an ambuscade for Harrison's army at the narrow pass between the high, rocky bluffs and the Wabash river, at Vicksburg, near Perrysville. The army forded the river near Montezuma and marched up on the west side of the river and thus avoided that ambuscade. They crossed the Little Vermillion, near the railroad bridge of later years, passed up the hollow just back of where Joseph Morehead later settled. Remnants of their corduroy road and bridge might have been seen a quarter of a century later. On tliat march the useless shooting of a gun was prohibited, and even loud talking, under penalty of death. Judge Naylor, of Crawfordsville, who was one of the volunteers, tells the incident that on Oak Island, on S. S. Collett's farm, a frightened deer jumped over the outer rank of men, and finding himself penned in, ran in various directions, over the enclosed space, and although the soldiers needed fresh meat they were not permitted to shoot the animal. It was allowed to get away in safety. On the two spring branches, on the John Collett farm, sections 9 and 16, corduroy roads were to be seen as late as 1890.

The army marched as close to the ri\'er bank as possible, for the protection of the pirogues and keel-boats, which carried corn for their horses and pro\isions for the men. Spies reported that on account of low water further navigation was impracticable at Coal Creek bar. The boats were landed on the Collett farm, near the later-day ferry known as Gardner's Ferry. It was determined to build a stockade on the farm of the late J. W. Porter, at a point known as Porter's eddy, and that it should partially overhang the river, so as to protect the boats and their stores. Such a fort could usually ha\e lieen built in one day, but in the bustle and hurry of handling they lost half their axes in the water. One of these was a long time afterwards found, and it was considered curious that a new axe, unused and mounted with an unused handle, should be found there, until Judge Naylor explained the fact that many axes were there lost on the occasion just mentioned, while the men were (16) busily engaged in building the stockade. Persons were still living in 1890, in this count)', who remember seeing portions of this old stockade.

The Kentuckians and the mounted rifle men recruited their horses on the rich blue grass pastures, in the river valley bottoms, on the Porter and Collett farms.

A sergeant and eight men were left to guard the stockade. About seven days afterward a wild looking soldier returned, reporting a disastrous battle at Tippecanoe, the defeat and destruction of the whole army, and that he alone was left to tell the stor}' ; that they must quickly destroy the post and retreat to a safe place. The sergeant's reply was, "I was ordered to hold this post: I shall do so. And as for you. deserter and coward, my men will put you u]ion the ridge-pole of the stockade, and tie your feet together. If the Indians come you will catch the first bullet and shall be the first to die. \\\' \Aill die at our post of duty."

The army marched through the prairie region, west of Perrys\-ille, to where State Line village now stands, and near which place they passed the north boundary of this county, and from which point the line of march and camping places has already been described.

Major James Blair and Judge J. M. Coleman settled on section 16, between Eugene and Newport, before the land in that region was offered for sale by the government. The prairie was known as Little A/^ermillion, or Coleman's prairie. These two men had always been pioneers. Blair liad been one of the heroes of Perry's victories on Lake Erie, and later held conspicuous positions of honor and trust in the community and state; but at this time he and Coleman were peace-makers bet\\een the Indians, whose confidence they had, and they knew that Indians, if properly treated, could be trusted.

Se-Seep, or See-Sheep, a small, bow^-legged, stoop-shouldered, whitehaired man a hundred and ten years old, was chief of the Pottawatomies and their allied Kickapoos. Their territory ranged from the Little Vermillion to Pine creek, including the north half of Vermillion county, all of ^^'arren and the west half of Fountain. Se-Seep had been a gallant fighter in the defense of his people and country at the battle of Fallen Timbers ( ^^'ayne's \ictory), and afterwards in the terrible defeat of his people at Tippecanoe. Bra\e and heroic in battle, after signing the treaties of peace with the American authorities, he was faithful and trustworthy and finally became a reliable friend of the white people. He became the hero of a serio-comic incident wherein Noah Hubbard, who settled on Indian lands where Cayuga now stands, became the Ijutt of ridicule. Hubbard was cultivating a portion of a ten-acre tract. One dav the Indians crossed at the Armv Ford and "stole" roasting ears and squashes as rental. Hubbard found Se-Seep with some ears of corn and two squashes in the folds of his lilanket, and he undertook to castigate the chief with a cane. Se-Seep did not scare, but, dropping the vegetables and corn, chased Hubbard out of the field with a stick. Then Hubbard went to Blair and Coleman and demanded that the}' should call out the Rangers and the mounted riflemen, declaring that the Indians were destroying his property, and that the)- should l)e dealt with and punished. The}- refused to call out the Rangers, but said he might notify them to assemble at their house the next morning. He did so, and the next morning some of the riflemen also assembled and commenced shooting at a mark. The Indians had camped for the night, a mile to the north, at the famous Buffalo Springs. Blair introduced to the Indians the n-iatters of difference, and concluded tn have an imitation Indian pow-wow. Accordingly, he and Coleman, who had been chosen as arbitrators, repaired to a plum thicket, with a well-worn Testament, a wooden-covered spelling book, a dilapidated almanac and a remnant of an old law book, as authorities. Here they held a sham court, chattering gibberish antl gesticulating like Indians, and finall}- rendered the following : That the two litigants settle the whole matter by a fist fight. The decision was no sooner announced than the little old Indian chief, who was dressed onl}- with a blanket-belt, threw- it oft' and made rapidly for llulibard. Of course the latter ran as fast as he could, mounted his pony and was soon out of sight. The Indians, who are scarcely ever known to laugh, indulged heartily on this occasion.

Se-Seep was finall}- nuirdered in a foul manner at Xebuker's S])rings. I'ountain county, at the age of one hundred and ten years, by a lazy, vicious Indian named Nanmqua. He had a splendid son, who, at the age of seventeen }ears, was killed by falling fifty feet from a tree, wdnile fighting a bear, near the residence of John Collett.

Although no battles or skirmishes in connection with the war of 1S12 took place in this county, the "A'ermillion countr\-" wa> two or ihree times crossed by belligerents. From a copy of Gen. John Tipton"s journal it is learned : Tipton was an illiterate man, but a daring fighter, and in the autumn of 1811 he, as a ]:)rivate in Captain Spencer's Harrison County Riflemen, journe}-ed fron-i Corydon, that county, down the ^Vabash to Fort Harrison, four miles north of Terre Haute, and up the same stream again, in the Indian can-ipaign which ended in the bloody battle of Tippecanoe. The company comprised forty-seven men, besides ofificers, and these were joined b}- Captain Heath and tw-ent}--two men. In going down the river they guarded a keelboat of provisions for Camp Harrison, and concerning this trip it ma}- be quoted: "October 6. - We moved early; one mile came to the river at the coal bank; found it was below the Vermillion half a mile; we took coffee; moved after the boat started down. The coal bank is on the east side of the Wabash. We went through a' small prairie; crossed the river to the west side; went in on the head of a bar and came out on the lower end of another on- the west side ; went through a small prairie, then came to a big prairie, where the old Vermillion town was. We crossed the Wabash half a mile above the Vermillion river's mouth, before we came to the above town. Crossed the \'ermillion ri\er, took a south course through timbered land, and then through a prairie with a good spring and an old Indian hut. then through a beautiful timbered ground to a small creek, and stopped to let our horses graze; then went through a good land with a ridge on our right out of which came four springs, and for two miles nothing but large sugar and walnut. The hill and the river came close together. We found a good coal bank fourteen miles l>eow Vermillion. We then crossed to the east side, went three miles and camped with the boat; after coming twenty miles and finding two bee trees, left them."

"We moved early. Two of the oxen missing. Three of our men sent to hunt for them. We crossed Raccoon creek. Saw our men who went to guard the boats on the 29th ; they left us. We came to the river where we camped on our return from Vermillion on the night of the 6th ; thence up to the ford. Saw our boat guard just crossing the river. We halted till the army came up, then rode the river, which was very deep, then camped. Our boat-guard and the men who went to hunt the oxen came up, when we left the guards. We took a north course up the east side of the Waljash, crossed to the w est, with orders to kill all the Indians we saw. Fine news ! The governor's wagon was left this morning in consequence of the oxen being lost. All the army crossed in three hours. We drew corn.

"Friday, November i - I was sent with eighteen men to look for a way for the army to cro«s Little Vermillion. Marched at daybreak; came to the creek ; found and marked the road ; waited till the army came up ; went on and camped on the river two miles below the Big Vermillion ; Captain Spencer, myself and three others went up the Big \^ermillion ; returned to camp. General Wells, with forty men, and Captain Berry, w ith nine men, had come up. Our camp marched in front today, as usual, which now consisted of thirtyseven men, in consequence of Captain Berry and Lindlex- ])eing attached to it.

threatened to break the officers. I staid in cam]). The army staid here to build a block house on the bank of the Wabash three miles below Vermillion, in a small prairie. The house twenty-five feet square, and a breastwork from each corner next the river down to the water. Took horses and drew brush over the prairie to break down the weeds. This e\-ening- a man came from the garrison ; said last night his boat was fired upon. One man, who was asleep, was killed. Three boats came up, unloaded ; went back, taking a sick man with them. One of Captain Bobb's men died tonight."

"Sunday, the 3d. - A cloudy da}-. ^Ve moved early. Our company marched on the right wing today. Crossed the big Vermillion, through a prairie six miles, through timber, then through a wet prairie with groves of timber in it," etc.

Thus has been quoted all of General Tipton's journal that pertains to the march through Vermillion county. Under date of November 7, 181 1, he gives an account of the battle of Tippecanoe, in a paragraph scarcel\- longer than the average of his journal, as if unaware that this action was of any greater importance than an insignificant skirmish. Tipton was promoted from rank to rank until he was finally made general. His orthography, punctuation, etc.. were so bad we conclude not to follnw it in the above extracts, save in a few cases, like spelling "staid."

Nearly every entry in his daily journal not quoted opens with the statement that the weather is very cold. He also makes occasional reference to the soldiers drawing their rations of whisky, from one to four quarts at a time.

In Harrison's march to Tippecanoe his boats (pirogues) could not pass Coal Creek bar, spoken of above, under date of October 31st. and for their protection he built a stockade fort at the head of Porter's edd}-. the precise location being the northeast quarter of section 9. township 17, range 9 west. Here he left the sergeant and ten men to guard them. The remains of the heavy timbers were still to be plainl}' observed in 1839. Corduroy or pole bridges, buried in mud, might have been seen in 1890. on the spring branches on the farms of Hon. John Collett, S. S. Collett and the Head family, sections 9 and 15, town-ship 17, range 9 west. General Harrison also had caches (places for the safe keeping and hiding of fond) in this county along the Wabash.

According to the treaties. General Harrison made a purchase for the government, the northern line of which, west of the Wabash, extended from a point directly opposite the mouth of the big Raccoon creek northwesterly. This tract was opened for white settlement long before the southern portion of the county was, which remained in the possession of the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies for a few years longer.